Sebastian was not going to give in first, he didn’t have to be part animal to know how to fight to be an alpha. He stood his ground staring at the other man waiting for him to break first. Aeslyn huffed and shook her head at them. She turned and leaned close to Sebastian’s ear. “Walk away first and I’ll invite you into the shower with me, I promise to make it worth your while.”
Sebastian’s heads argued with each other, finally, his lower region won the battle. With a growl of his own, he left and went to get in the shower. That took a lot of effort, he didn’t feel the least bit guilty as he stripped down, he deserved a prize from her after that.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Aeslyn’s two worlds collided and it was as bad as she expected it to be. Ash was always protective of her, even if they were only a couple of months apart he acted like the much older brother.
She didn’t think Sebastian was wimpy but she had no idea how strong he was, not many shifters stood toe to toe with Ash but her mate didn’t bat an eye.
As soon as Sebastian was out of the kitchen she turned back to soothe Ash. “I promise everything is okay. If it weren’t for him I’m not sure I would have survived the shooting, it was bad. If I think too much about it I actually get a little nauseous. I’ve never come that close to dying before.” She didn’t have to be strong around Ash, she wasn’t afraid to let the tears well up in her eyes. He wrapped her in his arms and held tight.
“I guess that leaves me no choice but to owe him a debt now. I promise not to kill him or let anyone kill him but I’m still not promising to be nice to him.” His hand rubbing a circle on her back calmed her.
“He’s my mate,” she whispered against his chest. Ash pushed her away from him and searched her face, “Don’t worry about the business or our apartment or anything yet, we’ll get it worked out later.”
Multiple emotions flashed across his face, “No, fuck Gerri.” He turned and stormed out of the house, leaving Aeslyn gaping after him. She stood stunned for a minute, how could he say no? You can’t deny your mate, was their business that important to Ash that he would try to force her to not claim Sebastian? And what was with cursing Gerri, no one used her name in vain. She half expected lightning to come down and strike him as he walked.
She heard his tires squeal against the road as he took off, she’d give him time to cool off before talking to him again.
Sebastian was waiting for her and she had promised him a treat. The glass shower door was slightly fogged up but clear enough she could see him with his arms up against the wall and his head resting on his forearm. The water trailed down the muscles of his body, the curve of his ass had her itching to dig in with her claws.
She opened the shower door and crept up to lean against him. Her arms wrapped around him and rubbed his chest. Her fingers trailed downward and found him hard and ready to go. She wrapped one hand around his cock and took his balls in her other hand. She stroked and massaged him while her breasts rubbed against his back. It didn’t take long for him to start bucking, her own breathing was ragged with need.
She spun him around and pushed him against the wall, lust burned in his eyes, his chest rising and falling rapidly with his pants of breath. Thoughts of him standing up to Ash flitted through her mind, it made her erratic with need. She got on her knees and took him all the way into her mouth till he was hitting the back of her throat. For a few minutes she forgot about his pleasure and took her own, she didn’t worry about him finishing too soon. All she cared about was how good he tasted and how hot his ass was with her hands holding him still.
Reality crashed back into her as she was lifted off the ground and put against the wall. She wrapped her legs around his hips, he slid straight in, both let out growls of satisfaction at the same time. His thrusts were hard and fast, her back was repeatedly slapping against the tile. Thank god her bullet holes were closed or she would have ripped them open.
Right when she thought she was going to shatter into a million pieces he roared in her ear and came. She held on and let him ride the orgasm out. “I know I’m not your doctor but I’m pretty sure that was more exercise than you are supposed to get this soon after an injury.” He kissed her temple, her cheek, and down to her mouth. “You are the most incredible woman I have ever met. Thank you for breathing life back into me, I hadn’t realized I had shut a part of myself off until now.”
“You are quite welcome, it’s tough work fucking you but someone’s gotta do it.” She grabbed the bottle of shampoo from the shelf. “You really want to thank me, you can make sure I’m squeaky clean.”
Aeslyn turned around and stood under the water. It was his turn to explore her body and do what he wanted, and she was going to let him do whatever he wanted.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Sebastian hung up the phone with his mother, she agreed to let the boys stay longer and he was grateful she didn’t ask any questions. He stared down at their cribs, he hadn’t been away from them this long since the day he met them. Pictures of the day they were born hung on the wall, a thought penetrated his mind.
A knot settled in the pit of his stomach, he found Aeslyn in the kitchen cleaning up the rest of the breakfast dishes. “So, I just thought of something, the shower sex was amazing, so good in fact I just realized we didn’t use protection. Is there any chance you are on birth control?”
Aeslyn grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the kitchen table. “I know you don’t know a lot about shifters so there are a few things I need to explain to you. First of all, we can’t get STD’s so you don’t have to worry about that from me. Second, mates are a real thing in our world. Every person has that one other person that is meant for them. We recognize our mate as soon as we meet them. Once you’ve found each other you have to be together, it can drive you to a point of insanity if you deny it.” She leaned forward, “This next part is going to get deep,” she paused waiting for him to nod, “you are my mate. If you choose to accept me I can claim you and there is a possibility you could become a shifter too.”
His mind was reeling, he knew about soul mates but this seemed to be on a whole nother level. “What happens to you if we don’t stay together?”
“It’s hard to say, it’s different for everyone. Some people go insane, some die, one thing's for sure you never really live a full life. I don’t want that to sway you though, I know you didn’t ask for any of this and I would never ask you to be with me if you didn’t want to. Once you’ve claimed your mate you are bonded for life. We usually end up dying around the same time, one unable to go on living without the other. We don’t get sick and we live longer than the average human so it’s not like you are risking having a short life because you are tied to me.”
Nausea rolled through him, this was more serious than he expected and he honestly didn’t know how to process it. He was wondering why he was attracted to her so fast and desperate to be with her but he couldn’t have imagined it was a life or death situation for him to be with her. And did he even want to be a shifter?
He needed time to think and ironically it was his competition who was going to give him the distraction. He could see Ash walking up the sidewalk to the house, “I guess I don’t need to worry about him stealing you from me if you’re mine, right? Does he know yet because he is going to be devastated?”
“There has never been anything between Ash and me so you were never in jeopardy of me choosing him over you.”
She couldn’t actually be that clueless, could she? “You know he’s in love with you right?”
She looked at him, confusion written all over her face, “No, he’s my brother. He’s never felt anything towards me.”
“I actually feel a little bad for the guy now.” The doorbell rang ending their conversation. He left her at the table, he could see she was analyzing her relationship with Ash to see how she missed it.
He swung the door open, both men stood staring at each other without saying a word. Finally, Ash held out his hand, “Aeslyn says
she might have died if it weren’t for you.” Sebastian shook his hand, not saying a word, “I wouldn’t have been able to survive if something had happened to her. I owe you now so I will make sure we find the person who’s after you.” With that, the man shoved past him and headed towards the kitchen.
Ash handed Aeslyn a bag of clothes than sat down with a huff. Living with her all these years knowing she didn’t return his feelings must have been torture for the other man.
“You two be nice, I’m going to get dressed.” She took the bag and left the kitchen. It didn’t matter how early in the day it was, this situation was a good enough reason for a beer. He brought three bottles to the table and handed one to Ash. Neither man spoke, they sat there staring daggers at each other for the three minutes she was gone.
“Okay, let’s get down to business.” Aeslyn marched back in still pulling her hair into a ponytail as she sat down. “A couple of days ago your grandmother had her friend hire us to come down and watch out for you, apparently she had a dream you were in danger which obviously proved to be true.”
Sebastian held his hand up to stop her. “Both of my grandmothers are dead, there is no way this came from one of them unless you mean one of them reached out from beyond the grave?”
Aeslyn and Ash shared a glance, she was laughing, Ash looked ready to murder someone. “What did I miss?”
“The woman who hired us, Gerri, is well known in our world because she runs a paranormal dating agency. It would appear she tricked me into finding my mate.” Ash growled next to her, Sebastian ignored him and waited for her to continue. “She’s an unusual woman and even though she could have told me what you were to me knowing I would have come to find you she chose to make it more of a game. That’s something she’s famous for doing, and I fell right into her trap.”
“Fucking Gerri.” Aeslyn’s face snapped towards Ash.
“You can’t keep saying that, you know how powerful she is, she can probably hear us now and is going to give you hell when she sees you again. You don’t question her.” Aeslyn admonished Ash.
“I don’t care if he’s your mate or not, you belong to me, we’ve been together since birth. Gerri has no right to break us up. We have a good life together, I can make you happy.”
Sebastian sat quietly, he didn’t know enough about their politics yet to get involved.
Aeslyn glanced at Ash horrified, “You know I can’t walk away from him, he is mine.” She rested her hand against Ash’s cheek. A look of pure anguish on his face, “You will always be my best friend but we were never meant to be lovers. You have a mate out there too, once you meet her you’ll realize you were wrong to ask me to deny my right to happiness.”
“Let’s just talk about the case then we can talk more about this in private.” Sebastian couldn’t believe Ash wasn’t letting up, even he was getting the gravity of the bond he was forming with Aeslyn.
She turned back towards Sebastian, he could see she was trying to control her anger. “Even though Gerri sent me to you it’s obvious she was right about your safety. We need to know who is trying to hurt you. I know you want the boys to come home, help us figure this out and life can return to normal.”
Sebastian sat back, racking his brain for the tenth time since the shooting. “I honestly don’t know, I don’t have enemies, I’ve never done anything illegal, I’ve never even been in a fight outside of combat.”
“Pussy.” Ash rolled his eyes refusing to look at Sebastian.
“Connor and I both have the guy’s scent, if you don’t know where to start then we need to lay a trap for him. I already caught him following you at the water park and again at the bar and it’s obvious he knows where you live. I think you need to go out today, go somewhere very public so he doesn’t try shooting again. Connor, Ash and I will follow you at a distance.” She leaned forward and grabbed his hand, “I know you can take care of yourself so if possible let the guy take you, we won’t lose you, but we need to get him and find out why he is doing this and make sure this ends with him.”
Fear ran cold through his veins, not for himself but for the boys that he is risking orphaning if something goes wrong. But she was right, this needed to end. “Let’s call Connor.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Aeslyn’s stomach was in knots, Connor had readily agreed to their plan but insisted they let the rest of the group help if they wanted to. She wasn’t surprised when every single person who was at the bar the other night didn’t hesitate to risk their lives for him.
One of the hardest moments of her life was leaving him at home to get in position early. The group all had separate cars, they were positioned along the route from his house to the mall. One of them would be in front of and behind him at all times, switching off frequently so it wasn’t obvious he had an escort.
Once they were at the mall they kept a loose circle around him. Aeslyn grabbed a smoothie and sat in the food court facing Sebastian’s back. He walked quietly by the shops, window shopping as he went. She could see the tension in his back, it equaled her own. Sandra and Elliana passed by him, they nodded at each other then turned a corner. She lost sight of him for a few minutes. She made eye contact with Fernando who gave her a thumbs up that he still had sight of him.
A few minutes later Sebastian was back in her view. As they planned ahead of time, he had made a few circles in view of everyone then strolled towards the bathroom. The corridor was long with a lot of doorways, perfect for their killer to be hiding.
He walked slowly, tensing anytime someone glanced at him as he passed by them. He made it to the men's room without incident, he had no choice but to go inside. Aeslyn hated him being out of her sight but she also knew Ash was in the bathroom.
Long minutes passed by, anxiety making her leg shake up and down to the point it was annoying her. All blood drained from her face when she sees Ash dash out of the bathroom and make eye contact with her. He shook his head, mother fucker lost him. Deep down she knew he wouldn’t have let him go on purpose but there was a little niggling doubt in her mind. She was suddenly regretting stationing him in there. The group had all spread out around the food court, facing the hallway. At the same time, they all rushed towards Ash, panic was drowning Aeslyn.
She didn’t have to say a word, Ash grabbed her shoulders, a look of shame on his face. The men in the group rushed past to search the restroom. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened. I was the only other person in there. I saw him come in, I was at the sink washing my hands, he turned down towards the stalls. There was no sound of struggle, he just disappeared.”
Jackson popped his head out and nodded at the rest of the group to come in. Aeslyn followed him around the corner towards the stalls. Everyone stopped at the same time and knew what had happened. There was another door at the back that was for employee’s only. “Connor picked up his scent and went after them.”
Aeslyn peeked in the doorway and saw corridors running both directions. To the shock of everyone except Ash and Jackson, she stripped down and shifted. She heard sounds of shock behind her but didn’t care. A second later she heard Ash in her mind, he had shifted too. Even in his shame, he managed to laugh, “You should have seen their faces when you shifted, apparently none of them know about Connor yet.”
Aeslyn didn’t respond, she couldn’t think about anything except getting to Sebastian. She didn’t know she was waiting for her mate until she met him and now she’d be damned if she was going to lose him this fast. A brief image of the twins popped into her mind, her grief intensified, she realized Ash was seeing what she was thinking. Sometimes their bond was too strong.
“We’re not going to let those boys lose their father, have faith.” Aeslyn tuned him out of her head, she didn’t want to hear from him right now.
She sniffed the air, Sebastian and Connor’s scents were still strong, she could also smell the stranger that had been eluding her. Rage engulfed her, she prided herself on her private eye skills so forgetting to check for b
ack exits was a rookie move. It had to be because she was distracted by thoughts of her mate but what was Ash’s excuse?
She wasn’t ready to believe he let him go on purpose to get him out of the picture. No matter how much he loved her, he wouldn’t do that to her, would he?
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sebastian knew his walk through the mall was a dangerous risk but he felt better knowing his friends and Aeslyn all had his back. He hadn’t been this tense since the last time he was out in the field during his last tour. There is no worse feeling than walking around thinking every person around you was there to kill you.
He entered the bathroom, nodded to Ash then went to the stalls. He was not ashamed of his manhood in any way and Aeslyn sure hadn’t complained but he still wasn’t willing to whip his dick out and pee in front of the other man.
The door at the end of the aisle opened, a man he didn’t recognize stepped out. He held up a picture of Sebastian’s mom at a playground with Christopher and Benjamin. Nausea swept through him. The man pointed a gun at him and waved him to follow him. He had no choice but to follow, the threat was clear and he would gladly die before letting this piece of shit near his boys. He had to hope the lack of sound would trigger Ash to come looking for him. Unless the asshole knew what was happening and was looking away on purpose, he wouldn’t put it past the other man to want him out of the picture.
He walked down the hallway, hands up, the gun poking between his shoulder blades. “Do I know you?”
“We’ll talk soon.” The man’s voice was shaking, that was not a good sign, nervous people tend to have itchy trigger fingers. On the other hand, maybe that meant he could be talked out of whatever he was planning.
They turned a few corners, he was led to a door that had broken open. Sebastian was pushed in and found himself in the mechanical room.
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