by Aspen Grey
Hell, being a working boy was a dangerous profession anyway, even under normal circumstances. Since I’d been keeping an eye on them, I’d seen them fight off an alpha in a convertible, saw four of the other boys jump an old fat guy trying to scam them out of fifty bucks and a slew of other wild encounters that would be stories enough for one person’s entire life. But these boys experienced that in a single week. I’d almost had to break my cover and intervene a couple of times, but it had never gotten that bad—thankfully. But it broke my heart, and I’d thought countless times of going over and approaching them, but every time I tried, something held me back.
First of all, it was completely unprofessional and probably against some kind of law or code of conduct. Picking up someone while working? Criminals even? If any of the higher-ups found out about that, I’d be in deep shit, no doubt about it.
Second of all, fated mates? I wasn’t even sure I believed in stuff like that, and even if I did, how could an alpha have two fated mates? That wasn’t normal, right? People formed couples and had families that way. How many people lived in a three-way relationship like that and were actually happy and weren’t wild swingers going to sex parties and loaning each other out to strangers every weekend? I’d run into a few of those in my time on the force.
No, that’s not me, I thought as I watched Jace and Sasha walk hand in hand down the street and slowly pulled my car up to the edge of the alley so I could keep a better eye on them. I want real love. A real relationship.
They couldn’t possibly be my fated mates. Even if that was a real thing, there would only be one of them, not two.
But still, I couldn’t shake the feeling I got when I looked at them. They were my angels. My beauties. Rays of sunshine in the darkness brought into my life by working the job I did. From Sasha’s messy brown hair to Jace’s more stylish blond fauxhawk, to the way they moved and the lines of their bodies—all of it was meant for me, as though God himself had created them with me in mind. For the first time, it felt as though I’d have a real chance at something meaningful in my life beyond my career.
Murders, rapes, theft, betrayal—all of these things were daily occurrences in my line of work, and despite the fact that these two boys were working the streets, I could see they weren’t bad guys. They were victims of circumstance, or for some reason, didn’t believe their lives were worth anything and had given up. They were close, but not lovers, I could tell that much. Something was missing in their lives, and I couldn’t keep myself from thinking that was me.
I pulled onto the street as they turned down the corner at the end of the block and followed behind them quietly, going fast enough to avoid attracting the attention of the rest of the boys. My car was pretty nondescript, as it wasn’t department issue, and I was in plain clothes and pretty good at blending in, so the risk of anyone spotting me as a cop was low. I still didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention—not while I was keeping an eye on my angels.
Please get a cab or an Uber, I thought as I watched them walking. There’s a killer out! Don’t you know that?
Of course they knew. Word traveled fast on the street—faster than in the precinct, but I guess they figured they were safe.
I kept following them, keeping my distance as they made their way towards their apartment. I just needed to be sure they were safe and then I’d go back to my beat. But not until I was sure.
We passed the seedy bars as they started to close up and the drunk clientele spilled out into the streets. A big drunk bastard reached out and pinched Sasha on the butt and I had to restrain myself from getting out of the car, knocking him out and dragging him in on assault charges.
Jace handled it well however, spitting on the guy and knocking him back over a cactus that took his legs out from under him and sent him sprawling onto his back. I chuckled.
“Good job.”
They kept moving and I kept a safe distance behind, just to make sure. They’d be gone soon and I knew that, so I rolled all of my windows down the rest of the way so I could get a complete nose full of their scents before they vanished inside for the night.
Fated mates…I thought as I took in their mixture of scents that blended together like a gourmet dessert. Could it really be?
But as I began to lose myself in my own thoughts, I heard a crashing sound and looked up to see the most terrifying thing I could imagine; the killer, eyes crazed and wild, clutching a length of old pipe, racing towards my angels. I don’t know how I knew it was him, but I did.
Instantly, my fangs extended and any doubt I had about whether Jace and Sasha were my fated mates fled from my mind. I slammed the gas pedal and sped towards them.
Here I come, my angels. Here I come!
Chapter Four
Sasha
The killer!
I barely had the time to process what was happening before Jace was throwing me out of the way of the snarling maniac, a pipe held high above his head, obviously aimed for my head. I grunted as I hit the ground hard. The impact knocked the wind out of me, and I choked for air as I scrambled away from the attacker.
I looked up as Jace shifted, tearing out of his clothes and shifting into his panther form, his beautiful brown coat rippling as his muscles tensed as he squared off with the killer. I saw the bastard’s eyes go wide as he realized he had jumped a couple of shifters. I could smell him—he was an alpha—but obviously had been used to preying on human boys, and in his drugged-up state, he hadn’t even noticed our scents.
Our attacker howled angrily and shifted, shredded his already tattered rags and morphing into the most hideous beast I had ever seen. His coat was pocked and speckled as though he was suffering from some kind of deadly illness, and he was missing several teeth, unfortunately none of them being his fangs.
I gasped as my wind came back and shifted, joining Jace’s side as we faced off against him. For a brief moment I thought we had a chance against him—after all, it was two on one right?—but then he moved and I realized we were completely fucked.
His alpha speed was tremendous, and he darted forward so quickly I almost missed it. Then, my right arm exploded with pain as his claws found my flesh and sent me spinning. I slammed into a dumpster, denting it upon impact, and cried out in agony as blood began to spill out onto the pavement.
Jace growled and hurled himself at our attacker, but the hideous beast was too quick and dashed out of the way. Jace’s teeth closed down on nothing but air. He stumbled and fell forward, and I cried out as the alpha whirled and snatched his leg between his jaws and clamped down hard.
No! We’re going to die! I thought as I struggled towards Jace, not even sure what I could do to save him. The alpha spun around, as though reading my mind, and gnashed his teeth at me, Jace’s blood dripping from his cracked lips.
Rage filled me, devouring any bit of rational thought left within me, and I threw myself forward in a last, valiant attack, combing the air with my claws, searching for his flesh. But it was hopeless. The alpha moved aside easily and I watched with horror as his teeth closed in on my neck.
It was almost like slow motion as he came at me, but just as his jaw was about to find my throat, for what surely would have been a killing blow, a fresh new scent hit my nose like a speeding train. Then another alpha, bigger and stronger than the killer, slammed into his chest and sent him spinning. I think I heard some bones crack.
Jace, limping from the wound on his leg, turned to face us and I looked up to see a ferocious alpha-panther with a gorgeous all-white coat standing between me and my attacker, fury in his eyes. When he glanced back at me, I saw something there that almost made my heart stop, and before I passed out from blood loss, a thought that shouldn’t have been possible entered my mind.
My fated mate!
Chapter Five
Jace
“Stay with me!” our stranger-savior screamed from the front seat of the car as he whipped us around another corner at top speed. “Keep pressure on it!”
My
ankle was killing me, but I wasn’t losing blood like Sasha and I was still conscious.
“I am!” I shouted back, my mind a twisted mess of thoughts short-circuiting like frayed wires. We’d been attacked by the killer, that much was sure. But who was this breathtakingly gorgeous alpha that had come out of nowhere to rescue us? And why was his scent so utterly overwhelming? It was almost getting hard to concentrate with it in my nose. It was warm and comforting like a bonfire, and despite having no idea who he was, I felt safe in his presence. In fact, I felt more than that.
“If you don’t keep your hands over that wound, he’s going to bleed out!” the man yelled from the front seat, doing his best to maneuver the car while sliding into a white button-up shirt. He’d managed to scramble into a pair of jeans after carrying Sasha to his car, but the two of us were still completely naked.
“I know, I know!” I shouted back, dripping with sweat and panic. “Just hurry up and get us there!”
We were on our way to the hospital obviously, and I was slightly concerned with the fact that we were both still naked, but I was more concerned with whether or not Sasha was going to make it. I didn’t know what I would do without him. We weren’t really lovers. We weren’t really friends. We were something else, but all I knew was that without him I’d be lost.
“J…Jace…” he murmured, barely conscious.
“Take it easy,” I told him. “We’re on our way to the hospital. You’re going to be fine, okay? You’re going to be fine.”
“Mmmmm,” Sasha groaned in a way that made my heart break. I glanced up at the driver, who was gunning it through the streets as fast as possible, weaving in and out of traffic with incredible precision.
Who was this man and why had he saved us? Why was he helping us? And why was I so attracted to him…?
His arm was bleeding horribly, and with each thump of his heart (which was getting slower every minute), I could feel more and more of his life slipping away from him. My adrenaline was coursing, causing my body to quiver, and the slickness of Sasha’s arm was making it difficult to hold onto him. But finally, I heard the man in the front seat shouting.
“We’re here!”
“Bring us around the front!” I yelled back, but he was already there. The bright lights of the emergency room flared in my vision as he screeched to a halt and leapt out. He came around to Sasha’s side and opened the door.
“Give him to me,” he said firmly as he seized Sasha around the waist. As he lifted him, I slid out of the seat too, my hands still clasped over the terrible wound. I no longer cared about the fact that I was naked, or what people would think when we came racing in. All that mattered was Sasha and I realized at that moment just how much he meant to me and how lost I would be without him. I understood my feelings, but my mind was still trying to grasp the concern of the complete stranger beside me.
“What is your name?” I asked him. When he looked at me, I almost lost myself in his blue eyes. They reminded me of the sky and sparkled just as brightly, so much so that I was taken aback and almost gasped.
“Arnold,” he told me. “My name is Arnold, Jace. And I’m here to help you.”
Jace? He knows my name?
“We need some help over here!” Arnold cried out. Instantly, several nurses in scrubs raced over to us shouting medical jargon that barely even registered in my mind. Something about needing blood, a bed and a doctor, but my head was spinning.
“Let go, sweetie,” someone said from beside me. I glanced to my side and saw a kind-looking nurse with a tourniquet trying to get my hands away from Sasha’s arm.
“Are you hurt?” someone asked me. The question barely registered. All I was thinking about was Sasha and I tried to follow him through the doors into the back rooms, but was stopped by a nurse.
“Wait right there!” she told me, pressing her palms against my chest.
“I’m going with him!” I shouted and watched as they let Arnold race past me and follow Jace in. “He’s my boyfriend!”
Did I just say that?
Sasha wasn’t really my boyfriend—he was my friend…or something…
The trauma of what had just happened to us had driven feelings to the surface, feelings I didn’t even know were there until now, and I felt as though a sheet of fogged glass had been removed from in front of my eyes.
“You can be with him soon,” the nurse told me. “But we need to take care of that.”
She pointed down to my ankle and as the swinging door in front of me swung closed, I looked down and saw that my wound was actually a lot worse than I thought and I was losing blood myself.
“Get him in here!” a voice shouted, and I looked up to see Arnold waving frantically towards us.
“We have to get him—”
“Just get him in here!” he bellowed, racing towards me and grabbing me beneath the arm.
“Sir, you need to let us handle this,” she protested.
“I’m a police officer!” he snarled. “Detective Arnold Irons and these two men are the victims of an attack. Now stop arguing with me and get him in here!”
Chapter Six
Arnold
That was close…too close…
My angels. I almost lost them.
I looked down at my hands. They were still red despite having washed them countless times in an attempt to get the blood off.
Their blood…
The nurses had managed to stop Sasha’s bleeding first, but he needed a few units to replace what he’d lost. Jace’s injury wasn’t as severe, but he’d still needed stitches. They were shifters though, and would heal more quickly than their human counterparts, but that did little to calm the rage that had taken hold of my heart.
The killer. I’d seen him. Not only that, I’d fought him and let him get away.
After Sasha had lost consciousness, I’d attacked, but the son of a bitch just turned tail and ran. He knew I wasn’t going to follow him—not with Sasha bleeding like that. All I could do was watch as he disappeared into the night.
“Damn it!” I growled under my breath as I sat in a chair in the hallway outside of my angels’ room where they were both resting. I hadn’t wanted to leave the room, but didn’t want to wake them either, so I’d brought this chair over where I could see and smell them. We were safe here in the hospital, of course, but I didn’t want them out of my sight.
The reality of my affections for them was starting to solidify even more having now been in their presence, and I was beginning to feel something tugging at the inside of my chest like a fishhook embedded in my heart.
As I looked at them both, sleeping soundly, their beautiful faces twisted towards each other across the room, a strange thought came over me: if only I was in there between them.
Of course, that would mean I’d have had to been injured as well, and of course I didn’t want that, but sitting outside in the hallway…I somehow felt left out. Maybe it was because I’d been watching them for so long and knew they had already formed a bond that I wasn’t a part of.
They knew each other. They’d lived together—survived together. I was just an outsider to them. What could I expect when they woke up? Did they feel the same thing that I felt? That string of destiny doing its best to tie us together? Or would they simply run from me, back to the dangers of the street?
No. I thought, oblivious to the sounds of the hospital around me. I won’t let that happen. They’re staying with me now.
My place in Serra Mesa wasn’t incredible, but it was in a safe, quiet, secluded neighborhood with only two ways in or out. There was no way they were going back to the streets—not now. It had been hard enough for me to watch them do what they had to do to survive, but I knew that was the only reason they had done it. These weren’t bad guys, they were just victims of life’s unfortunate circumstances, and I was here to change all that.
“Officer?” a doctor said, breaking me out of my stupor by placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Detective,” I corre
cted him.
“Detective,” he apologized. “There are some men from your precinct here. They’re waiting outside in the lobby.”
“Send them in,” I told him. They would want to talk to me about what had happened, of course, and I’d have to let them know that I let the killer go. I’d have to make something up about why I was even there in the first place, but as I was lead detective on the case, that wouldn’t be too hard. As long as I didn’t say, “Oh, I was just stalking my fated mates like I normally do at night,” I’d be fine.
As the doctor walked away, I looked into Jace and Sasha’s room and wished more than anything that I could fix this moment—just this moment and take away all their pain. I hated the fact that I’d done all I could do and they were still lying in hospital beds with their attacker still out there on the prowl.
I have to do something, I thought. But for now, I had to be here for them. They’d wake up soon and I didn’t want them alone in a strange hospital with doctors and nurses as their only company.
I also had to know.
I had to know if they felt the same way I did.
Chapter Seven
Sasha
I woke with a strange, throbbing pain in my shoulder and a mind full of fuzz…that cotton stuff that comes out of an old couch cushion when the owner has let his dog tear it to pieces.
“Wha…” I grumbled.
My eyes hurt, despite being closed. I heard beeping sounds and slowly opened my eyes and squinted to get a view of the room I was in.
A hospital.
Images of my night came flooding back to me.
The guy in the Lamborghini. The alley. His two hundreds.
My heart leapt.
The killer!
“Jace!” I muttered, pushing myself up with the elbow on my arm that hadn’t been hurt. “Jace!”
