Okay, that made him sound ungrateful, when he was anything but. Still, he wasn’t used to Graver being anything other than cordial with him. They were buddies, always had been since his elder brothers had passed on. J had made it a point to watch over the whole family. Graver’s dad had always been a bit of a shithead to his mate. Not that he’d been handy with his fists or anything—no Shifter, friend or family, would have allowed that to continue—but he’d been shit with money and drink. Both had slipped through his fingers like they were running out of supply.
It had been J’s honor to watch out for the Graver family, and it seemed he’d been repaid with a blood sacrifice.
The thought had him sitting back against the raised support of the stretcher. It wasn’t showing Graver the gratitude he deserved by screwing up his healing, was it?
Aaron seemed to sense the reason why J had moved back, because he smiled softly then looked over at the doctor who also appeared to be a little more content with Justiss taking it easily.
“I need to run some tests on you.”
J shook his head. “That’s not necessary. I can feel the wounds, and I know they’re healing.” To Graver, he said, “You must have lost a lot of blood. You probably need to shift as badly as I do.”
“My head aches too. Do you think the Shift will stop that?”
J shrugged. “Can’t make it any worse, can it?”
“Are you sure I shouldn’t run a blood panel or something?” the little doctor asked, clenching and unclenching her fingers on her knees. “I mean, you’re here now. Would it do any harm to make sure you’re both okay?”
J shot Graver a look, which prompted the younger man to round the foot of the bed, drop down to a crouch in front of the woman, and murmur, “I swear to you now, if we needed medical assistance, I’d let you do whatever you needed to get us better. But magic has healed us. It’s why I did what I did to save Justiss. It was the only way he’d survive.”
She studied Graver a second, staring at him intently before she swallowed. “He was that close to death?”
“Closer,” the younger man said with no hesitation.
Her fingers shook as she lifted a hand to rub her temple. “This is crazy.”
“It’s really not,” Justiss inserted, a tad wryly. “The truth is, our world gets a whole helluva lot crazier.”
Graver shot him a look, one that was supposed to quell him, but he just shrugged. Shaking his head, Graver grumbled, “I wouldn’t have picked this particular moment to tell you, but he’s right. There’s crazier stuff that goes down in our world, but this is one of the rare few. Blood sacrifices aren’t common—certainly not between men.”
Her head tilted to the side at that, and Justiss knew her curiosity had been struck. That made sense though. Only the best doctors were invited to learn about healing Shifters, and the ones who applied usually did so because they were curious as hell about the supernatural. So, it made perfect sense that this little doctor would be intrigued by Graver’s words.
“Why don’t blood sacrifices happen between men?”
“Because the Goddesses usually want something wacky in return,” Justiss inserted, trying to lighten the mood before it got too serious. The very fact the woman was reacting to both of them told him what the Goddesses wanted in return: for the two of them to share a mate. He wanted to stall the conversation before things got too tense or serious.
“Something wacky?” she asked, brow puckering.
Graver shot him a look. “Usually, they want something humans would consider outrageous,” he conceded. “But between a mated pair, for example, they just drain some of the Shifter’s magic, take some of his power and give it to the injured party.”
Her frown deepened. “So, that means that blood sacrifices, technically, are to save the human females mated to Shifters.” She looked to Justiss, who nodded, and his response had her whistling. “So, you really broke the mold by saving another Shifter, didn’t you?”
Graver scraped a hand down his stubbled jaw. He made a face. “The jackass means a lot to me.”
“I can only imagine.” She blew out a breath then let her fingers play with the hem of her shirt as she murmured, “My name’s Antonia. But you can call me Toni or Tonia. Either suits.”
Graver smiled. “I’m Graver, but my given name is Aaron. He’s Justiss. If he ever had a given name, I doubt he’d remember it. The old bastard’s been Justiss since before the nineteenth century became the twentieth.”
“Thanks for that, Graver,” J grumbled, but he wasn’t really pissed. Tonia—he tasted the name and found it more delicious than a stack of freshly prepared buttermilk pancakes—would find out how old he was soon enough. There was no point in hiding it. No point at all. Still, didn’t mean he couldn’t grouse. “Jesus. Talk about making me feel old.”
“You’re really over one hundred years old?”
The awe in his mate’s tone had his lips twitching. “Trust me, it’s not that great.” His smile blossomed a little more as he allowed himself to study her. “Although, it was worth it just so I could set my eyes on you.”
She blushed and he sighed at the delicious sight. Everything about her was creamy and caramel. Her skin had hints of gold, and her chocolate eyes speckled with amber striations. Her hair was a long swathe of dark chestnut, but there were shots of red in the mix, even though it was all constrained tightly in a bun. She was smooth and supple and soft, never mind beautiful, to boot.
And that wasn’t just the mate bond talking. The woman could have been a supermodel with those cheekbones of hers and an innate sensuality he could sense she repressed behind her scrubs, some godawful sneakers, and her stethoscope.
Repression he could deal with; denial was another matter entirely.
“I thought Shifters only had one mate. I don’t understand why I feel...” She let out a deep breath. “I feel like I’m connected to both of you.”
“That’s because you are, sweetness,” Graver admitted, his tone a touch too close to solemnity for Justiss’s liking.
Rather than discuss the details with their confused and bewildered mate present, Justiss let out a moan that had both Graver and Tonia’s attention swinging his way. “I really need to shift,” he whispered, aware he was laying it on a little thick but uncaring because he wanted to talk to Graver alone about the Goddesses’ demands before Tonia was made aware of the ins and outs of the situation.
His mate jumped to her feet and approached his bed, immediately reaching for her stethoscope. She tried to place the pad on his chest, but he grabbed her hand and stopped her. The instant their fingers collided, her eyelids and lips began to tremble. He understood, because the sense of unity was so overwhelming, he felt like he was drowning in it. It felt like nothing else he’d never known. It combined them, connected them, made them one.
But the crazy thing was, Justiss felt the lack of Graver. He knew that for good or ill, they’d have no choice but to work this weird fuckery out because they were a trio not a duo. Now that his hand was held by his mate, he could sense the connection wasn’t complete.
He realized Tonia, even though she had less understanding of this situation than either man did, felt the same, because he watched her hold out her hand, her fingers scrabbling with the blankets as she blindly sought Graver’s atop them. He reached out, linked hands with her, and then did the unthinkable—sought and found J’s.
The instant the three of them were united, Justiss’s headache cleared. He’d been bullshitting before, lying about the urgent need to shift, but his head had been hurting him. Now? It was like his injuries had totally disappeared. Energy flooded their union, blinding them with its bright effervescence and making them all groan with delight.
It was a moment of wonder, of peace, and most definitely, Justiss realized, the calm before the storm.
Chapter 3
“What the hell’s going on?”
Toni sighed when her supervisor shoved open the curtains surrounding the cubicle. T
he whistle of metal rings against the pole set her nerves to twitching with discomfort, but she turned around and looked Peter Rodriguez in the eye. “They’re my mates.”
Rodriguez was a dick. There was no other way to describe him. They tolerated each other well enough, mostly because she wasn’t afraid of him like the rest of the staff were. Toni found if she served him nothing more than the truth, he couldn’t manipulate it to his own ends. But that had changed a month ago when he’d tried it on, she’d rebuffed him, and he’d made an attempt to cop a feel of her boob. She’d told management, only they hadn’t believed her, and then, they’d gone and informed Rodriguez of her complaint.
Ever since, the two of them had been circling each other like wary cocks about to fight.
“Mates?” Rodriguez scoffed. “Have you been siphoning morphine? Don’t be ridiculous…”
The instant his disrespectful tone registered, Graver’s back stiffened, and he turned on the gangly consultant. If he’d been in his other form, his hackles would be up. As it was, he was just bristling and looking angry enough to spit. J’s grip on her fingers had tightened to just before the point of pain, but he too was tense. Energy was spiking through him that she knew was agitation on her behalf.
Before she could try to resolve the situation, and before Rodriguez even had a chance to finish his sentence, Graver was in her supervisor’s face, his hands close to grabbing the other man’s lab coat collar.
Rodriguez’s eyes were wide as he saw Graver bare his teeth, and Toni was quick to say, “Graver, calm down. He meant no harm.”
“Bullshit,” J snarled. “He disrespected your word.”
She bit her lip, charmed despite herself at the way they were defending her when Rodriguez had done far worse to her in the past. She refrained from saying that, however. If this was their reaction to something so slight… well, hair trigger in no way described their tempers.
She was quite accustomed to that though. Latinos had fiery natures. Her parents had argued nonstop, which more often than not had led to kissing and probably sex. Not that she’d recognized that back then, but hell, it was obvious now.
Resting a hand on Justiss’s stomach—and jeez, talk about rock hard; she had to stop herself from testing the thick pads of muscle—she tried to calm him as she murmured, “Rodriguez, I think you can tell that tempers are a little frayed in here. It might be wise if you just go and return later.”
He pursed his lips. “You have ten minutes left to your shift, Juarez. You clock out on the dot like the rest of the staff.”
“Did I say I wouldn’t?” she snarled, pissed that he was trying to make out she was going to try to take off early. But hell, when she’d been in the bathroom, she’d still had an hour to work. How had time passed so quickly in this cubicle?
“No, but it felt like you were inferring it,” he retorted, tone snooty as fuck. “Mates or no, you still have your duty to fulfil.”
Hell, now she wanted to smack him. Never mind setting Graver on his ass.
Clearing her throat, she murmured, “I’ll clock out once I’ve worked my hours, and when I’ve assured myself my patients are in good hands for the rest of the night.”
He clenched his jaw then eyed both the men still snarling at him. He tugged at his collar and then backed away, almost jumping when Graver snapped his teeth in a mock bite. She raised a hand to cover her mouth in amusement at Rodriguez’s outrage then ducked her head to hide it even more when he backed straight into Betsy, her aid.
Rodriguez rushed off in a flurry of embarrassment, and Betsy scowled at his retreating back. “Well, that was rude.”
“He is rude though, isn’t he?” Toni complained, and they shared a commiserating glance at having to work with some of the macho dicks on staff here. Though there were more female doctors than ever, the men at this particular hospital seemed to have forgotten feminism had ever happened. Some of the surgeons treated the nurses like nothing more than their personal assistants, and this wasn’t just the older members on staff but some of the younger ones too.
Betsy’s nod was grim. “Yeah. He’s rude to the bone. Anyway, I know you’re going off soon, so I just wanted to make sure everything was okay in here. The guys in the waiting room are getting antsy.”
Justiss snorted. “They were born antsy.” He sat up with a deep, heartfelt groan, but the lines of tension bracketing his eyes and mouth weren’t as deep as before. The blood sacrifice was working its magic. Whatever magic that was, she had no idea, but she was just relieved he was feeling better. “I don’t need to be here, Toni. I just need to shift. So, can I get out of here?”
Betsy’s brows rose at his use of her given name, and rather than mention it, Toni murmured, “Betsy, can you get the appropriate paperwork for them to sign?”
The nurse nodded and scuttled away, sharing a backward glance with her as she left. Toni could feel her curiosity, but she ignored it. What Betsy had heard was minimal, but she had no doubt it would be spread around the emergency department before she even managed to get out for the night.
Sighing, she rubbed the back of her neck and hitched her hip against the bed for support. Her earlier fatigue hit her square between the eyes again.
“You look tired.”
Graver’s words had her blinking up at him. “I am. Haven’t been sleeping well since I went on the night shift. I hate working nights.”
Justiss’s big strong hand came up to cup her shoulder. He rubbed the taut muscle there and murmured, “You recognize what we’re saying is true, don’t you, Tonia?”
“That I’m your mate?”
“Yeah. That we’re your mates.”
She swallowed then whispered, “Yeah. I feel it. It’s insane, but I feel it. Even through my exhaustion… which is very telling.” Her grin was weak but meaningful nonetheless.
“No pressure for tonight, no pressure for tomorrow night, but why don’t you come with us? We’ll make sure you sleep.”
Justiss’s remark prompted Graver to say, “You’ll be safe with us.”
The crazy thing was, she didn’t doubt that. This connection that had arced between them made her feel more comfortable with them than she did with colleagues she’d known since she’d started working here! And she’d been here for her residency… Still, Justiss and Graver had treated her with more decency than Peter Rodriguez ever had.
Trust didn’t come easily to Toni, but when it did come, it arrived in the bucket loads. Trouble was, she shouldn’t have been feeling so much and so soon, and all without feeling that much concern. A woman couldn’t be too careful nowadays, and these two were huge.
That being said, she could do no less than admit, “I know I will.” She meant every word. “I don’t know how I know it, but I do. Where do you guys live though?”
“At our clubhouse. Over in Channelview.”
She grimaced. “Wouldn’t you prefer to stay with me?” She tugged at her bottom lip. “What I know about mate bonds could be summed up in a paragraph, but I know it’s a very intimate time. Do we want to be in a,” her grimace deepened, “clubhouse?”
Justiss’s soft chuckle made her insides melt, and she had to shore up her resolve at the gentle sound. “An intimate time is one way of phrasing it.”
Graver rolled his eyes. “Stop teasing her.”
Justiss’s grin was quick. “I tease everyone.”
“Yeah, and it never stops being annoying.” Graver sighed, then to Toni murmured, “You can trust us to keep you safe at the clubhouse. It’s not all Sons of Anarchy,” he tried to reassure her. “It’s our Clan house too. We’re there a lot. For business and pleasure.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Well, my business is in the city, not in the sticks.”
Justiss cleared his throat. “Logistics are irrelevant, Graver. Let’s do as the lady wants. She’s right; her place will be far more comfortable anyway.”
“But we need to shift, Justiss,” Graver argued. “We can’t just do it in the suburbs.”
Though she understood the logic of that, she really didn’t want to go to some shitty MC clubhouse in the middle of nowhere with two men she barely knew. Just because every part of her seemed to know them, it didn’t stop her from recognizing the fact she didn’t know them. She was too rational to forget that, even though every part of her was singing a song at simply being in their presence.
The two sides of her nature were at war. Ms. Reason and Logic were up in arms against Ms. Heart and Passion. Considering the latter never won, it was being battered and repeatedly rammed square in the gut. Normally, it died a death with little effort. This time, however, it was very different.
These two strangers were shoring up Ms. Heart and Passion’s defenses, enabling that half of her to fight back and to actually get some punches in.
It all created a very unstable emotional state, one that she was far too tired to even think about beginning to process. All she knew was, he was right. She didn’t want to be apart from them. That was the last thing she wanted, as crazy as it seemed to Ms. Reason and Logic.
She decided to lighten the mood, so with a yawn, murmured, “You’re not going to take me back to your lair and chop my head off, are you?”
Both men shared a look and then straightened up—Justiss as much as he could on a hospital gurney—and in somber tones, almost as one, murmured, “We promise your safety is paramount.”
She wrinkled her nose. “How did you two know to say that? I didn’t know Shifters could read minds.”
“We don’t. But we spoke similarly because it’s the truth. Nothing matters more to either of us than your safety… your happiness,” Graver told her earnestly. “We’d never dream of hurting you.”
Justiss And Graver (MC Bear Mates Book 4) Page 4
