by M. L. Briers
“Sweet Jesus, how many times woman?”
His eyes caught sight of Kate, her eyes were wide and she looked as mad as hell as she steamed out of the doorway and tried to side step him. His pain was the least of his worries as she flustered in front of him. She moved one way and he stepped in front of her. The waves of anger and frustration that rolled from her heightening his protectiveness, as he realised she would be heading straight towards the vampire.
“Kate…” Riff tried to sooth her, but she tried to side step him again, and again he blocked her path. His arms came up on either side of her to keep her in a protective cage, without touching her.
“Move, Riff…” She spat out as she tried to side step him again and he bent his upper body to try to get her to look at him, but her eyes were fixed downwards.
“Kate, what’s wrong?” Riff tried to keep his voice calm and even, his mind wondering where the hell her mate was and what had happened to send her off like this.
‘Dex, Kate’s trying to storm off, you wanna come take care of this?’ Riff pushed out into the mental link as Kate tried to move around him again, but he blocked her path.
“Move…” She cried out in total frustration. She wanted to get as far away from Dex as she could. As far away from what had happened as she could, and yet she carried the reminder in her own skin, how could she outrun herself?
“Kate, I think…” Riff started, but he swallowed hard when her head snapped up and he saw the tears that threatened to over spill her lashes as she shook her head in disbelief.
“You think? I don’t give a damn what you think, Riff. Move…” She tried to sidestep him again and when that didn’t work she aimed her body right at him and tried to just barrel past him.
Riff’s arms came around her. She had tried to steam into him and he didn’t want her to hurt herself, she started to fight against the hold he had on her as he tried to calm her into submission, but she wouldn’t be calmed.
“Kate…”
“Let me go.” She spat out as she twisted and turned within his arms, her hands pushed at his immovable chest and she felt even more helpless than she had when she had realised what Dex had done.
“Kate. Easy now…” Riff locked her against his chest and held onto her until she stopped fighting him. He’d expected tears, sobs, but she was quiet. “What happened, sweetheart?” Riff growled out gently against her hair as she deflated right there in his arms, all of the fight leaving her.
“Please just let me go, Riff.” Her voice was so small that it actually made him wince. What the hell had Dex done now? And where the hell was he?
Riff pulled back to look down at her, his hand cupped against her neck and he saw her wince in pain as a breath caught in her throat.
“What’s wrong, Kate?” She made no move to enlighten him and when he moved his hand down over her shoulder, taking the thin fabric with it, he saw the angry deep wound of a bonding mark that her mate had placed into her skin and he cursed out under his breath. “You didn’t agree to this?” Riff felt his anger roll within him. What the hell was happening to the pack? An alpha who forced his mate to bond, and a vampire that was hanging around like a bad smell, this just wasn’t normal by anyone’s standards.
“Let me go…” Kate asked in a voice so small, it was barely audible.
“Where is he?” Riff growled out, his muscles were locked and loaded, ready to shift at a moment’s notice when Zoe came out of the backdoor, her eyes taking in the scene and she could feel the tension and anger in the air. Could sense the distress in her sister.
“What’s happened?” Zoe stepped forward and Riff spun Kate into Zoe’s arms.
“Take care of Kate. Your damn brother just forced her to bond!” Riff growled out with more menace that Zoe had ever heard in him before. Her eyes widened at the shock of what Riff had told her, that didn’t sound right, it didn’t sound like something Dex would ever do. She folded Kate against her as Riff tore passed them into the house.
“It’s my fault, Zoe.” Kate tried to pull away, but Zoe had just as strong a hold on her as Riff had and she found she had nowhere to go.
“No, Kate. This is all on Dex.” Zoe assured her. No matter what the circumstances of their bonding was, it was her brother that should have been able to control his beast.
“I don’t even know why I’m so mad, I just feel all of these emotions welling up inside me like, anger and guilt, and I can’t make them go away…” Kate felt as if she was adrift in a sea that raged around her, but the raging wasn’t something that she could control. It battered against her like the driving wind and rain from a storm, and she was helpless to do anything against it…
“They might not be your emotions entirely, Kate. You might be picking up on Dex’s emotions, but I don’t know if that’s how it is for human’s…” Zoe felt the presence sweep over her as her mate drew near and she sought him with her eyes as he moved towards them.
Zoe felt her body react to the nearness of George, every fibre of her being seemed to spark to life and her senses were heightened with every step he took towards them.
“It is. Let me help her.” George offered as he closed the distance between them and Zoe was in two minds as to what to do. Kate was her sister and her brother’s mate, she felt an underlying need to protect her in the presence of a vampire, and yet that vampire was her mate, and she didn’t truly believe he meant Kate any harm, but still…
“That’s not a good idea, George.” Zoe met his eyes as she put herself between him and Kate. The twitch of a frown at his brow let her know that he was reading the situation right. That she had deliberately put herself in his path to Kate and she felt a rush of guilt wash through her.
“I’m not going to hurt her, Zoe. I’m just going to sooth her, block out some of the emotions she’s picking up from Dex.” George’s tone was quiet and soothing, even for his mate. He could see that Zoe was torn out of loyalty to her pack and he wondered if that would be the thing that stood between them mating.
“She’s Dex’s mate. I can’t just…” Zoe shook her head as if she were having an internal debate with herself over the rights and wrongs of trusting him, and he knew that eventually she would have to come to terms with what it meant to her to put him before her pack.
“Do you trust me, Kate?” George moved slightly to his right so he could better see Kate who was staring up at him with something of a confused look on her face.
“I don’t not trust you.” Kate offered and he couldn’t help the smile that touched his lips, with a quick shrug off his shoulders towards Zoe, he reached out his hand and gently touched the bare skin of Kate’s arm, his eyes darkened as he held her gaze.
“Easy, Kate. Just let the emotions slip away. Concentrate on what you feel and just push everything else out of your mind.” George’s tone was not only velvety rich and smooth, it was lulling to her chaotic mind. Kate felt the emotions that weren’t her own slip away and she nodded her head to George, but didn’t break eye contact with him until he looked away from her first.
“Don’t ever do that to me.” Zoe warned him and saw a smile pull at the corners of his lips as he brought his eyes up to hers, and she saw the mischievousness in his dark gaze.
“Never my love.” He assured her, but even with his word’s, Zoe felt as if he was just placating her worries and she raised a brow at him in what was a warning without words.
“How do you feel now, Kate?” Zoe asked as she turned her full attention back towards her sister, who looked less perplexed and more like her old self.
“Not like there are two people in my head vying for attention.” Kate gave George a small smile of appreciation and he nodded back at her. “Where’s Riff?” She asked just as the loud rhythmic thud sounded from inside the house, bringing everyone’s attention that way.
Riff rolled head over heels down the staircase. Parts of him bounced off the wood and the sound echoed through the house with loud thuds as he went. When he finally reached the bottom h
e was just a mess of arms and legs, and dragging himself up to his full height, he stretched his muscles, swivelling his neck to make sure nothing was broken, as he glared up at his Alpha who stood at the top of the staircase glaring right back down at him.
“Do you not think I know that?” Dex roared out into the stunned silence of the house.
Zoe and Kate stood frozen in place at the doorway from the kitchen, having caught the tail end of Riff’s fall. Kate’s eyes followed Dex’s roar up to where he stood. His eyes were ebony and his face was taunt as his muscles flexed under the confines of his top. He was close to losing control of his beast, the anger that washed through him was powering his wolfs will to be set free. She could sense the danger that Dex posed, feel the sheer menacing ferocity from his wolf, and gasped a breath as she took two steps back.
Dex’s eyes snapped to hers, pinning her under his dark glare as he reached for his mate with his mind, trying to assess her emotional state, and she felt the tendrils of his thoughts probing hers and shook her head as she backed further away.
“Don’t do that…” She hissed, trying to shake him out of her head and not being able to do it. Kate turned on her heels and ran for the back door. She needed to be away from him now. She needed to not have to deal with any of this. It had been one thing after another, one shock after another and she wasn’t one to buckle under pressure, but this was different. This was just damn crazy.
“Kate!” Dex’s hard growl rattled through the house like an earthquake and she practically threw herself through the backdoor, intending to be gone before he was even down the bottom of the stairs. But George snagged an arm around her waist and hoisted her against his hip, stopping her in her tracks.
“No, let me…” Kate tried to squirm away, but George had no intention of letting her go.
CHAPTER TEN
“Never run from the wolf, Kate.” He breathed out quickly against her ear. “The beast will take it as a challenge and hunt you down. Understand?” George asked quickly, knowing the Alpha wasn’t far behind her. “Understand?” He pressed his point and she nodded.
Just as Dex came through the back door George set Kate down upon her feet and raised his hands, palms out to show his beast no challenge, taking a step backwards away from Kate as Dex gave a low growl of warning.
Kate eyed the floor. With just a quick flick of her eyes up towards Dex her whole demeanour showed him just how scared she was right now. He could scent the fear inside her, and instinctively knew that it was because of him and not the vampire.
Dex had heard George’s words. When he managed to calm the damn beast within him he would have to thank the guy for saving his mate from herself. If he hadn’t of stopped her then Dex would surely have hunted her down and taken her, and after what he had done to her this morning… Dex couldn’t think on that now, it still had him riled and he needed to calm his beast. Riff’s damn challenge to his wolf, when he confronted him about bonding with Kate hadn’t helped, but now he needed to rein his beast in, for his mate’s sake.
“Kate?” The deep feral tone of his voice only proved more problematic in trying to calm her fears, and he cursed the wolf within him.
Kate’s mind was swimming in a sea of uncertainty, she trusted Dex not to hurt her, because every fibre of her being told her he wouldn’t, and yet she couldn’t put out of her mind what she had just witnessed, what George had said to her, was she going insane or was Dex actually a danger to her?
“I need… space… a minute… something…” Kate didn’t meet his eyes, she didn’t want too. They would either be ebony black and menacing as they were a moment ago, or they would be eyes that she could melt into, and right now she didn’t want either aspect of him looking back at her.
“I’ll make sure she doesn’t run.” George offered his assurances and Dex eyed him for a long moment, unsure if he wanted to tear the vampire limb from limb or thank him. He went with neither, taking two steps back inside the house he left Kate outside with George, praying that wasn’t the worst decision of his life.
Kate flicked her eyes towards George from under her brows when he took a step towards her, he noticed and stopped.
“Come sit on my tree stump where I’ve found myself in contemplation since finding my own mate.” George offered, trying to keep it light, while soothing her anxieties with his voice.
He didn’t make another move towards her, so she relinquished the defensive poise a little as she eyed the large stump a few feet away. It took her a long moment to actually make her legs move beneath her, they would have preferred to have just sunk to the ground, taking the rest of her with them and leaving her in a nervous heap of uncertainties and neurosis. And she’d like to think her neurosis was due to the exceptional circumstances that she found herself in, and not because she was becoming as insane as the rest of the world around her.
Kate went to sit and nearly missed the stump, tittering on one butt cheek over the edge, she felt Georges hands steady her, lift her over slightly and deposit her back down with both cheeks on the wood.
God I really am losing it. She told herself as she scooted back towards the edge a little when George decided to share the large stump with her. There was plenty of room, it had been a large damn tree, but he was still a vampire and she was still a walking blood bank, so she wasn’t taking anything for granted.
“Aren’t you supposed to die now?” The thought hit her brain and she spat it out, not realising how absurd it sounded until he shot her a look of pure amusement.
“Don’t tell anyone, but I am dead.” He gave her a mock whisper back and she wanted to slap herself on the forehead and pray to the god of stupid people.
“I mean, it’s daytime, shouldn’t you be in a coffin somewhere? Upside down in a dark cave? Buried under the cool dark earth? Sparkling like diamonds?” With each scenario she came up with the frown lines in his forehead etched a little deeper and the glint in his eyes got a little brighter.
George gave a sideways lean in towards her, hunching down as though he were going to whisper a secret, and he did whisper. “You watch too much TV…” she turned to look at him and he had just one brow raised in a look that was definitely questioning her sanity, and she couldn’t help but giggle.
“So sunlight doesn’t kill you?”
“Nope. Just makes us thirstier, same as a hot summer day for a human, we drink more.” He shot her a curious look and she flicked him a frown. “Disappointed?” He asked and she rolled her eyes on a half smile.
“I have no wish to see you dead, George.” She rolled his name off of her tongue like it amused her still, before she added. “I have no wish to quench your thirst either.” She assured him and heard him give a small chuckle.
“Well, as it looks like you’re going to be my sister…” He turned to look at her and she frowned for a long moment. “The whole pack thing…” He informed her and she caught onto his meaning on a slight grimace, she still wasn’t fond of that idea either. “Then I have no interest in feeding from you, because it’s very sensual and your Alpha wouldn’t be best pleased.” He finished with a nod of affirmation.
“So who’s stronger, you or Dex?” She couldn’t help but ask, and he raised a curious brow at her again.
“It’s not a pissing contest, Kate. Vampires and Lycans kill each other all the time. I prefer to stay neutral and out of it.” He watched her take that information in.
“So you don’t like to fight?” Kate shrugged her shoulders, that sounded good too her.
“No. I like to fight a little too much, which I why I like to stay out of it. It’s a blood lust kind of a thing, once you have one good fight you look forward to the next and so on…”
“Like an alcoholic?” Kate put in and he took a long moment to think about it.
“No. Yeah, actually. Good point.”
“So, you’re basically a lush…?” Kate offered again and he rolled his eyes and turned his body further around towards hers.
“Enough about my prob
lems let’s talk about you.” He gave her a toothy grin. She was just glad that his fangs weren’t out. She really didn’t need the sight of that right now.
“Me? I’m fine.” Kate shot back, too quickly, it even sounded fake to her own ears and he held out his hand, palm upwards for her to take. He wanted to see if she had the spirit to touch him of her own accord, if she did, he thought she might just be alright with all of this.
Kate looked down at his hand as he offered it to her and her brows shot up to meet her hairline. Wasn’t that like putting your hand in the lion’s mouth? She questioned her own sanity. Am I that stupid? That’s not a question she really wanted to answer. Kate took a slow breath in and lifted her hand, placing her palm against his and waiting for the punch line. Please let this not end badly.
“Kate, I think you’re not really fine right now, but you’re going to be.” George offered gently as he closed his hand around hers and gave her a small reassuring squeeze, and she let out the breath she had been holding as her shoulders finally relaxed. Every muscle in her entire body was clenched so tightly that she could have squeezed out a few diamonds.
“I haven’t forgotten that you punched me in the face when we first met.” He teased and she felt that familiar twinge that was her backbone snapping back into place.
“I haven’t forgotten that you called me a snack… or that you wanted to wipe my memories.” Kate shot back, offering him a playful glare as he grinned at her.
“I guess we’re even then.” He offered and she shook her head.
“Not yet, you stopped me running from the wolf. I owe you…”
“Big time.” He injected and she giggled again.
“Big time, for that.” She agreed and then frowned. “So why can’t I run from the wolf?” Kate asked and he raised his brows and gave a pensive sigh as he prepared to enlighten her on all things Lycan.
Zoe had planted herself halfway between where Dex was brooding upstairs and where George was talking with Kate in the garden. Riff sat opposite her at the kitchen counter and hadn’t looked up at her once from the cup of coffee he gazed into. She knew that like her, he was listening to George and Kate outside, and she noted that a couple of times the corners of his mouth raised in a small smile at one of the Lycan mates words. But she also knew that his mind was still full of Dex.
