Coti's Unclaimed Mate

by Elle Boon

  “Err, no golden showers for me.” NeNe shook her head as she spoke, looking at Coti who nodded in agreement.

  Coti stood, tugging her to stand with him. He hated the way her legs shook. His fierce little warrior mate was scared at what she didn’t know. They walked toward Kellen, their hands clasped together.

  “Coti, you’ve been an Iron Wolf for years. I plan to have you around for a lot longer. More than likely you’ll be here long after I’m gone. Do you vouch for your mate NeNe?” Kellen’s deep voice rumbled, his alpha powers melding with the man.

  “I do, alpha,” Coti answered.

  “NeNe, you’re a shifter amongst shifters. Most here are wolves, but to us it doesn’t matter what form you take or if you don’t shift at all. Do you agree to protect pack no matter if they be human or other?” She squeezed Coti’s hand, then nodded.

  “I need you to speak, female.” Kellen’s tone was deafening as it boomed out.

  “Yes, alpha.” She blinked, feeling the heaviness trying to push her down.

  “If you agree to become part of the pack, we connect mentally. Open up to me, NeNe. Giving me access proves you trust that I won’t take advantage of that power.”

  Coti gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze, wanting to give her comfort, knowing she had to do this on her own.

  His mate blinked, then he felt a wall come down between them, keeping him from her. Xan held up his hand, giving a slight shake of his head that kept Coti where he was.

  NeNe allowed Kellen into her mind. His presence wasn’t like Coti’s, yet she didn’t feel as if he was invading so much as just there.

  “Thank you for your trust. I’ll leave you now, but this is the link to me should you have need. I know this is all new to you, but all pack members can reach out to me at anytime here. You might want to mentally knock first in case I’m busy.” His laughter made her smile.

  “Will you be politely knocking as well if you need to speak to us?”

  “Hell yes. Trust me, after accidentally interrupting that sick bastard Xan, I’ll knock before interrupting anyone’s mind.”

  NeNe blinked then nodded. “So, do I bow, kneel, and kiss your ring, or what?”

  Kellen patted her on the head. “You’ll fit right in here, NeNe girl. Alright, let’s have a round of drinks, shall we?”

  “If you mean be another disrespectful female who will forever be a pain in our collective asses, then bottoms up, brother.” Xan agreed, holding his glass up with a smile.

  “His mate must really like him,” NeNe muttered.

  “Nah, I give good head.” Xan winked.

  Kellen groaned. “What did I tell you about TMI, fucker?”

  Coti wrapped one arm around her, grounding them both. Through her link with him and now Kellen, she felt like she was one of them. Even Xan and his dirty mouth, she knew he’d die to protect those he cared about. Her mate accepted a bottle of beer from Laikyn, then he lifted his bottle, holding it in the air. “Iron Wolves,” he said.

  In those two words, she felt accepted. Kellen swallowed his drink whole, sighing like he needed the hard bite of the liquor.

  Xan sat his glass down, the empty glass clinking on the hard table. “Damn fine liquor, alpha.”

  Laikyn shook her head. “It’s not even noon yet.”

  NeNe looked at Coti and his half empty bottle. “It’s five o’clock somewhere, right?”

  Coti grinned and leaned down to kiss her. “Damn straight it is. Besides, we’re wolves. Takes a lot more than a drink or two to get us drunk.”

  She was pretty sure Laikyn mumbled something about a truckload, but Kellen had covered her mouth with his. Seeing how Kellen and the rest of the pack didn’t shy away from touching their mates, whenever and however they pleased, made her feel a little better knowing they’d been aware of her response to Coti. She still had a slight bit of embarrassment knowing everyone would’ve smelled how much she’d lusted after him, but that couldn’t be changed.

  “I need to find my Breezy, too much sex going on in here,” Xan announced.

  Coti coughed, settling NeNe in front of him.

  “You trying to hide your VDL?” Xan asked, quirking his right brow.

  “Why don’t all of you go out to the club and leave me and Laikyn alone so I can take care of my lady’s needs.” Kellen looked up from where he held his mate, his blue eyes brighter than she’d ever seen.

  “NeNe and I have some things to take care of,” Coti began only to stop when the door to the club burst open without warning.

  “I just got a call from one of my feline friends. We’ve got trouble.” Turo stood in the doorway, his eyes landing on Coti and NeNe. “Shit’s about to go down, boys and girls. Let’s get the females to safety and meet it away from here.”

  Kellen nodded, already moving toward the door with Laikyn next to him. “I’m getting my mate and kids together. Rowan and Lyric are with them now. Have you...” he stopped at Turo’s grunt. “Of course you have. Alright, let’s go.”

  NeNe pulled on Coti’s hand. “They’re coming for me,” she stated.

  “What do you mean?” Kellen asked, turning back to pin her with a hard glare.

  She took a deep breath, linking with him and their alpha. His pride swelled at her show of trust and lack of fear. “Look at my memories. When he turned me, he wanted me. Not one of the other women, but me. I don’t know why, but he was fixated on me when I started there.”

  Through her memories, Coti could see the other man’s constant attempts to engage NeNe in any sort of interaction. What his mate didn’t see, when she looked at him, was the way his eyes hardened, the entire thing flickering to the solid black of his grizzly.

  Kellen flicked his gaze to him, nodded and turned. “NeNe stays with us. If he comes, it’ll be her he’s searching for.”

  “Meaning anyone within range of me is in danger. Maybe I should run?”

  Coti growled, his wolf and beast denying the thought of their mate leaving their side. “You’ll stay with me.”

  “I’m going to the lower level to meet Lyric and the kids. You go do alpha shit,” Laikyn said.

  “Wyck, you and Lou go with her, make sure she’s safe,” he ordered.

  The bar was filled with a dozen Iron Wolves, all ready to do whatever Kellen ordered them. Coti felt the need to warn them exactly what they were up against. “We aren’t facing a pack of just wolves. I know Mac’s a bear, and I fought a lion. I scented wolves, so fuck if I know what else might be in that menagerie of a pack out there. They don’t follow the same rules we do where pack is sacred. I fought a shifter who was beaten down, yet he was a beast I would hate to tangle with if he’d been free. If they have others like him, not on a leash, we could potentially be in for a bloody battle.”

  Arynn and his mate moved forward. The man had recently found his true mate and was the father to two preteen girls. “We ain’t just a bunch of wolves either, Coti. My Sheila’s a fierce dragon. Hell, little Joz is too, damned if that’s not still freaking Turo out,” Arynn laughed.

  Turo flipped Arynn the bird while the tiny Asian woman named Joz stepped around his hulking frame. “Hi, NeNe, we need to have a girls’ night and catch up. So much to talk about, starting with you being a bear, me being a dragon. Do you know the possibilities of that happening are less than...” Turo covered her mouth with his hand, then grunted before picking her up and kissing her silent.

  “Seriously, she knows the numbers and will give us the rundown, later. For now, we need to head out. Ace said the fuckers were moving around, gathering up their strongest to take back their queen. I’m thinking that’s you.” Turo nodded at NeNe

  His wolf rumbled while his beast pushed forward. “Over my dead body.”

  Stillness filled the air.

  “Aw sheot, he’s a vamp and a wolf. That’s fucking awesome,” Bodhi whooped. “Let’s go kick some ass and call it done so I can get home. I was in the middle...” he stopped at Kellen’s warning growl.

  “Mother
fucker, do not finish that sentence or so help me my baby sister will be packing ice between your legs.” Kellen pointed his finger toward Bodhi.

  Coti laughed at the big blond man who mimed zipping his lips while his eyes shined with mirth. “You realize we all sound like a bunch of damn idiots joking before we go out to cause bloodshed, right?”

  Turo swung a gun over each shoulder before passing another to his mate. “Your point?” he asked.

  “Just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.”

  “Same page, same book. Let’s go. No misting for you and your vampiness. We go in as pack. What you do when we get there, or how you get it done, is up to you, but nobody’s going rogue.” Kellen slapped him on the shoulder, leading the way toward the door.

  “I love this pack,” Joz whispered.

  “That’s because you’re my crazy little female. You best not get hurt, you hear me?”

  Coti didn’t turn to see what Turo and his mate were doing. If he had a choice, he’d wrap NeNe up in bubble wrap and stow her away from what was to come. One look at her stubborn face and any thoughts of shielding her left him.

  “Such a fast learner.” She pecked his cheek, then hurried forward and out the door.

  Fuck, he was pussy whipped. Twenty-four hours properly mated, and he was wrapped around her like a boa constrictor would his prey.

  “When we get back to your place, I’ll wrap something else around you.” NeNe said through their link, showing him an image of her lips wrapped around his dick.

  He needed to get her to understand it was their place, and now, he was the one sporting a VDL, thanks to her.

  Chapter Fifteen

  NeNe tried to calm her racing pulse. The last time she’d been at the campground, she’d been attacked, twice. Gah, she really hated those memories. This time, it would be different. She wasn’t your average human up against shifters who were ten times stronger than her. Her bear stretched in a lazy way. “I think my bear is tired.”

  Coti enfolded her hand in his while they rode in the back of Xan’s XV. “Nah, she’s shoring up her reserves for the coming battle.”

  She tilted her head to the side, wondering if the animals talked without them knowing. Coti must’ve read her mind since his smile was quick in coming. “They don’t talk, but I know how my wolf is before a fight. When I need to expend energy, like many of us, we’d hit the cage at the club. Inside there, where you and the girls brawled, we can let go without shifting, yet our animals get to stretch within us. Like now, my wolf knows he’s going to get to come out and play so he’s content to chill.”

  “My wolf is always stretching the restraints I put on him,” Bodhi said from the front.

  “Do you think it’s because we were made, not born?” NeNe knew the other man had been turned when he’d been a child thanks to her connection with Coti.

  “Nah, I think he just likes to let me know he’s there.” Bodhi turned back around, conversation seemingly over. “My niece wants a wolf in her. My sister hasn’t decided. Maybe you can talk to them?”

  A feeling of hope swelled within her. When she’d been in the Fey realm she’d gotten a glimpse of his sister and child, but Lula hadn’t introduced them. At the time, she’d been a snarly bear. “I’d like that,” she said.

  “My niece said you looked like a cuddly bear who needed a hug.” His eyes met hers through the rearview mirror, making her laugh.

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I resembled a grizzly that needed to be put down.”

  Coti touched her leg, his touch warm through her jeans. “Even when you were snarling and frothing at the mouth, you were gorgeous.”

  She buried her face in her hands. “You didn’t need to add the frothing part, did you?”

  “It’s best to have honesty in a relationship, my mate says. It’s why she and I are perfect for each other.” Xan nodded like he’d just extolled the best advice.

  “Does your mate always call you on your shit?” Coti asked.

  Xan looked backward, one hand on the wheel while he flipped Coti off. “Absolutely. If she doesn’t yell at me at least once a week, telling me she’s going to cut my dick off, I know I ain’t doing something right.”

  She opened her mouth, then shut it. What the hell the man could do that would cause Breezy to threaten to castrate him weekly puzzled her. “Alright, I give. Why would she do that, and why do you enjoy it?”

  The crazy wolf had one hand hanging over the wheel while he sipped on an energy drink, taking his time before he answered. NeNe was coming to the conclusion the wolf, although one of the most handsome men she’d seen, next to her mate, would make her crazy, too.

  “You see, I like to take things slowly. Everything in her life moves at warp speed, but at our home, I set the pace. Sometimes, it drives her to say things that I then like to punish her for. Now before you get all up in arms, know that my mate is very, very satisfied by the time I finish.” He winked back at her, his meaning clear.

  “Let’s pull the rigs over here and go in on foot. See those vehicles?” Coti pointed at a group of cars. “That’s Ace and his team.”

  “We sure they’re on our side?” Bodhi asked before opening the door.

  Coti nodded. “Yeah, he has strong blocks, but I’m stronger.”

  “Stay outta my head, or I’ll make sure you will wish for eye bleach,” Xan warned.

  “Trust me, I don’t want to see any of your dirty bits, sicko.” Coti popped the door open without waiting for Xan to reply, holding his hand out for NeNe to slide across to him.

  She allowed him to help her down, taking in a deep breath. “Yuck, what is that smell?”

  “That, my sweet newbie, is the stench of bad shifters,” Ace drawled.

  Coti held his hand out to Ace, pulling him in for a back-slapping-hug. “Thanks for the other night and for this. How many are with him?”

  Dalton sighed. “About thirty, but most are green. He and his crew have turned humans. I would say only a dozen are born, not that the made ones are weak, but he’s not giving them what they need to survive in the long run. It’s like they’re toys to them.”

  Kellen growled. “How did I miss this?” He waved his hand at the compound before them. Standing upon the hill, they could see the layout, which was large.

  Coti squeezed his shoulder. “I didn’t even realize there were shifters there until I almost fell upon them. There’s something or someone shielding them. Hell, probably both,” he snarled. He thought of NeNe and the way she’d turned almost instantly instead of days began to make more sense. “Could there be Fae amongst them?”

  A chorus of fuck echoed around them.

  “I’m gonna give the Cordells a call. I know they don’t want to leave Jenna’s side, but we might need them.” Kellen looked around, meeting each man’s stare. “I’m not going to lose a single one of you because I was too confident.”

  Seconds ticked by while they waited. NeNe flexed her fingers in and out, moved her head back and forth like she was preparing for a fight. “Calm, armina,” he whispered next to her ear. The waiting was getting to him as well.

  “Yoohoo. Did someone phone a friend?” Lula asked, her pink hair pulled into an intricate bun on top of her head.

  Coti blinked, staring at the tutu around the dragon female’s waist. “Um, Lula, did you just come from dance class?”

  Lula stood on her toes, twirling in a circle. “No, but I would totally rock at being a ballerina. Wait, do ballerinas rock?” She tapped her lip. “Never mind that. We gonna go slay some baddies who put bears in people who don’t ask for them?”

  The ground shook behind them as Creed arrived, splitting the concrete from the force of his landing. “Oops, my bad. Lula, can you fix that?” He pointed at the ruined area.

  Lula smiled like he just gave her the golden key, then the ground smoothed out. “Bam, who’s your dragon?” She held her hand out for Creed.

  The man moved through them, tapping Lula’s raised palm. “You are. We doing this
, or what? Damien and Lucas will be along shortly. Probably right after we do all the hard shit, so they can pretend they helped.”

  A stir to Coti’s right had him shoving NeNe behind him. Damien appeared with Lucas, scowling at Creed. “You’re a damn cheater.”

  Creed blew on his fingers, the black nails growing longer. “There’s two of you. How is it cheating if I shove one of you in order to beat you to where we are going?”

  Lucas lunged toward his brother-in-law, while Creed hopped backwards laughing. “You shoved me into a damn realm, asshole.”

  “Did your brother get you out?” Creed blinked innocently back at them.

  “That’s not the point, you dick. What if I couldn’t have traced him, or the realm you sent him was like the soul fuckers one?” Damien roared.

  Creed rolled his eyes, looking toward Kellen. “Listen to them, crying like babies. You made the bet you could beat me here. You didn’t lay any rules out. I, however, do have enough sense to not want to upset my Raina by offing one of her beloved brothers. You’re welcome, by the way.” He turned and began walking toward the compound.

  “Can I kill him?” Lucas asked.

  “Many have tried, all have failed. You’re welcome to put forth the effort, though. I would like to inform you I’m recording your threat for future use.” Creed didn’t turn, his finger tapping his head.

  “See, that’s why I love that crazy bastard,” Kellen said.

  “Why, because crazy is as crazy does?” Damien growled.

  Kellen nodded. “Pretty much.” He began following Creed.

  “You realize that wasn’t a compliment, right?” Damien asked.

  The alpha held up his middle finger on both hands. “Potato, tomato as a great female says.”

  Lucas groaned. “He’s quoting our Hearts Love. We’re so screwed.”