by Marla Monroe
“Did they shoot you before or after you ran?” Aaron asked her.
“After. They shot at me as I ran, but I had gone a good quarter of a mile before one of them got lucky and hit me as I was jumping a ravine. The ravine was wide enough that it slowed them down so I could get away, putting enough distance between us that they couldn’t catch up before I was back on pack land. Then you found me,” she said.
“Did you feel odd at any time while you were out running?” Levi asked.
“Um, yeah, but I didn’t realize it until they were suddenly on top of me. I realized that I hadn’t scented them before they were that close. I should have. They weren’t wearing anything to mask their scent. It was as if something was blocking me from smelling them. I can’t explain it to you.” She risked a glace to see if she could read Levi’s thoughts on his face. She couldn’t.
“Do you think you were just deep in thought and missed them?” he asked.
She shook her head and instantly regretted it. The headache pounded to the point that she was feeling a bit nauseous. She struggled to think back, making sure she was remembering correctly.
“No, I should have smelled them. I’m never that preoccupied. It was as if suddenly they crossed a barrier and I could smell them.” She rubbed her temples with both hands.
“What’s wrong? Is your head hurting?” Aaron asked.
“Yeah, it is. I don’t know why. I didn’t hit it on anything.” She stopped and looked up. “Did I?”
“Not since we’ve been with you,” Levi told her. “We didn’t check your head, though. Harper will be back in a little while. He can check you over again.”
Levi and Aaron exchanged worried looks. They weren’t telling her something. Well, something else. They weren’t talking about the mating heat that was driving her crazy but wasn’t affecting Levi. She wasn’t sure about Aaron. He kept touching her as if he couldn’t not touch her. No, they were keeping something else a secret between them.
“Harper removed the bullet, so your body is healing naturally now. You should be fully healed in a day or two,” Aaron assured her. “Do you want something for a headache?”
“Please. I’m going to be sick if it doesn’t ease up soon. I have Ibuprofen in the cabinet by the sink.” She pointed toward the bathroom.
Aaron straightened up and walked over to the bathroom, disappearing inside. He returned a minute later with a glass of water and the bottle. She accepted the glass of water and the two pills he shook into her hand. Once she’d swallowed them, Gabby handed the empty glass back to Aaron with a shaky smile.
“We need to talk about the mating heat, Gabby.” Aaron began.
“Now is not the time for this, Aaron,” Levi snarled, stomping across the room to look out the window. “Harper will be back at any moment. We can discuss this later.”
Gabby cringed at his tone, but she didn’t miss the briefest moment of fear and distress that crossed Levi’s face before he hid it and admonished his brother for bringing it up. What had that been about? She’d never known Levi to be afraid of something. None of the Shoewater men knew fear like most of her kind. They were brave, stoic men who looked out for their pack. It was why no one had ever challenged anyone in their family or complained about them. They took care of their people no matter what.
“He’s right, Aaron. You don’t need to say anything,” she quickly agreed.
“We talk about it once he’s gone, Levi.” Aaron stared hard at his brother. The other man gave him a small, stiff nod.
Gabby relaxed a little more. She hoped they wouldn’t talk about it at all until she felt more herself. Right now, between the headache and the pain in her hip, Gabby didn’t think she could handle discussing something so personal and painful to her with the two men who had the ability to crush her emotionally in the first place. She certainly couldn’t take it with the headache pounding in her skull.
The sound of someone knocking on her door in the other room reminded her that Harper, their healer, was supposed to be coming back. She figured it was him now.
“I’ve got it.” Aaron hurried out of the room.
“Is the headache easing up some?” Levi asked.
“It hasn’t been long enough yet for the medicine to kick in, but I’m fine,” she said, avoiding his gaze.
“Gabrielle, I—”
“How are you feeling, Gabby?” Harper interrupted Levi when he walked in talking. “Aaron said you have a headache. Let’s take a look at your head, young lady.”
Gabby couldn’t help but wonder what Levi had been about to say before he was interrupted. For some reason, she thought it would have upset her, so she was grateful the healer had come in when he had.
Harper sat on the edge of the bed as she scooted over to make room for him. He checked her eyes with a small flashlight then gently ran his fingers over her head, lifting it to check the back as well.
“Does anything hurt when I touch it?” he asked. “Are you having any trouble seeing? Blurred vision, double vision?”
“No. Nothing hurts, and my sight doesn’t seem to be affected at all. Just the headache. It’s making me sick to my stomach, though.”
“Have you taken anything? If not, Ibuprofen would be safe for you,” he said.
“We gave her some just before you arrived. Hopefully it will ease the pain soon,” Aaron told him.
“Good, good. My first thought is that whatever magic she stumbled into is the cause of it,” he said.
“Magic?” she gasped. Gabby looked from Aaron to Levi, then back to Harper. “What magic? Why do you think I was around magic?”
Levi sighed. “When Harper started to check you out after we brought you home, he sensed magic on you, a dulling spell.”
“Were you even going to tell me?” she asked, staring at the two men with a frown.
“We would have gotten around to discussing it, Gabrielle. We were trying to find out what you knew before we told you, though. Once we had told you, everything would have been because of the magic, and you might have missed telling us about some detail thinking it was due to the magic Harper sensed on you,” Levi explained.
She narrowed her eyes at him, not sure she believed his explanation right then.
“Now that you know, do you remember feeling anything odd as you were running that might have been a ward or magical boundary you crossed?” Aaron asked as he frowned at his brother.
“I’m not sure. I remember that when I realized I wasn’t on pack land anymore everything seemed so silent and still, muted even. Do you think that was the result of magic?” she asked.
“Maybe. The magic I sensed clinging to you was probably a dulling or dampening spell. The dulling spell diminishes your senses so you can’t pick up on things as easily. The dampening spell actually works more on you to curb your abilities, reducing your wolf to what amounts to an exceptional human. I think what you encountered was a dulling spell,” Harper explained.
“So it kept her from sensing the men?” Aaron asked.
“Basically, yes. It covered their scents and any noise they made as they advanced on her. It would have dulled everything around her.”
“Fuck!” Levi’s face turned red as he stomped over to the door to stand with his back to them. Then he turned back around, in control once more, his face neutral.
“I guess that’s why everything around me got so quiet all of a sudden,” she said.
“So you were standing still when that happened? You weren’t actually moving toward them?” Harper asked.
“No, I had stopped running, but I was sort of walking around in a clearing trying to figure out where I was.”
Harper nodded his head, looking thoughtful. Levi and Aaron just stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate. When he didn’t say anything for several long seconds, Levi apparently got tired of waiting the man out.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“I thought at first that maybe they had the practitioner with them, working the spell while t
hey walked, but now I think the area she walked into had the spell attached to it. More than likely she triggered it when she crossed into their territory, and it dulled everything so she wouldn’t detect them approaching until it was too late. It probably did double duty in that it notified them someone was on their land. It might even have been sophisticated enough to tell them who it was, as in a shifter versus a human, maybe even a wolf shifter versus a cat shifter.” Harper nodded his head. “The more I think about it, the more I think that is what happened. She ran into a magical trip wire that triggered the dulling spell and notified those men that they had someone on their land.”
“We need to find out who owns that land,” Levi said.
“I’ll get someone on that right now,” Aaron said as he pulled out his phone and walked into the other room.
“They were probably defending their territory,” Harper said. “Gabby presented a threat to them, so they tried to kill her.”
“That’s not acceptable,” Levi said with a snarl. “We don’t automatically kill trespassers. We find out why they are here and then escort them off of pack territory as long as they haven’t caused any trouble. Killing off trespassers is a great way to draw unwanted attention to ourselves.”
“I agree. It’s quite possible that they don’t share our idea over that, though.” Harper gestured for Gabby to lay back and turn on her side.
“Once we find out who owns the land, we’ll decide how to approach them about shooting our wolves. There was no reason to shoot her when she was running away and leaving their land,” Levi said.
“What if they were just humans who thought they were going after a natural wolf? I mean, the wolf population around here is quite high, and they’ve been known to hunt their cattle. They might not know anything about us or the spell,” she argued. “What do we do then? I don’t relish the possibility of not being able to run because some man believes that I’m killing his cows.”
“Either way, they are dangerous. First we find out who they are and feel them out. Then we will make the decision as to what to do about them. If they are somehow utilizing magic to mask their presence, they could cross over on our land. We just don’t know what they are up to or capable of. ’Til then, no more running alone, Gabrielle.” Levi sent a stern look her way.
Gabby wasn’t about to go running like that again, but having Levi tell her not to struck a nerve. Still, she kept her mouth shut. He was the Alpha in line to lead. It wasn’t a good idea to challenge him at all. It didn’t stop her from glowering at him.
His eyebrows lifted when he caught it, but he didn’t comment. His only obvious reaction was one corner of his mouth quirking into a slight grin.
Asshole. I’m lucky he doesn’t feel the mating heat. He’d be bossing me around all of the time if I was mated to him and Aaron.
Her wolf didn’t agree, and deep down, she didn’t either. She wanted them as her mates more than anything. The longing in her soul overwhelmed her at times. Right now, it was a dull ache that pulsed when she was near them.
The need to belong to them seemed so archaic and outdated to her, but it was the way of their kind and a deeply embedded part of their wolf’s nature. She could no more deny it as she could deny her wolf existed. Of course, by not claiming her as their mate, they were sentencing her to a slow death anyway.
Maybe going crazy first wouldn’t be so bad. At least then I wouldn’t know why I was hurting or why my wolf had left.
Everything about them affected her in the most basic of ways, leaving her panties wet and her nipples diamond hard. She was thankful for the covers protecting her from their sharp eyesight, but their impressive noses were a different story.
“You’re doing well, Gabby. Keep the stitches dry another two days. By then they would have dissolved into your skin with your healing. Don’t move around much until then, either. I’ll check on you tomorrow morning.” He turned to the men. “Call me if you need me. I’ll keep my cell close to me at all times.”
“Thank you for taking care of her, Harper,” Levi said.
Aaron shook his hand, and the healer left. A moment later, they heard the door open then close. Levi and Aaron turned their gazes to her once more. She could see the intent in their eyes. She knew what they wanted to talk about, and she didn’t want to talk right then. She needed to put the talk off for as long as possible. Once they had the conversation, it would truly be over, and she wouldn’t even be able to dream that they both wanted her. She needed to hold on to her fantasy for as long as possible.
“We need to talk, Gabrielle,” Levi said.
Her world shattered as she slowly nodded.
Chapter Six
Levi watched Gabrielle’s face as her emotions flashed across it before she masked them. Her distress was obvious by how her eyes widened and lips pressed together in a tight line. He could smell it on her until she managed to regain control again. It chafed his already raw nerves. He was sure now that she had taken their silence as rejection of her as their mate. Shame that he hadn’t considered that in the first place ate at his insides.
“You don’t have to say anything. I understand that with your position you need someone different as your mate. She will have a lot of responsibilities, and you don’t feel I’m capable to handle them,” she said. She held her chin up, though she didn’t lift her eyes to them.
Aaron growled, his displeasure apparent. Levi had to right this incredible wrong, but how to explain? He didn’t know why he didn’t feel the heat as much as his brother now that they had been cleansed of the residual magic. She deserved the truth, but what was the truth?
“We aren’t rejecting you, Gabby. There are strange things going on, and we had hoped to clear them up before we approached you. But that was a mistake, and we’re sorry for causing you distress,” Aaron said before Levi could think how to tell her.
His brother moved to sit on the bed next to her, seeming unable to resist touching her. He brushed his hand over her head before resting it on her shoulder.
“What sort of things, and how do they affect our relationship?” she asked.
Levi cleared his throat to speak. “First, we found out that we had some sort of residual magic clinging to us. Harper removed it for us.”
“I don’t understand? How does that apply to us?”
“We thought that was the reason for our problem—really just my problem,” he said, wincing. “Aaron is experiencing the mating heat just fine, but I wasn’t at all. In fact, I’d somehow managed to cut off all my emotions. I wasn’t feeling anything and hadn’t noticed it. It had been a slow process, so it didn’t register what I was doing.”
Gabrielle turned astonished eyes to Aaron, then back to Levi. “You mean you and Aaron aren’t actually bond mates?”
“No. We are bond mates. Even Harper agrees with that. Because of the bond, I was feeling some of his feelings and emotions, which masked my inability to feel them on my own. The cleansing helped to some extent, but it didn’t eliminate the problem,” Levi said.
“What about the mating heat?” she asked slowly.
“I feel the heat, but not as strong as Aaron is. We didn’t approach you because we wanted to solve the problem first. It wasn’t the right decision. I can see that now.”
Levi could see the struggle on her face and winced at the tears that were apparent in her eyes. She fought them, but they were there. She didn’t speak at first, giving him time to study her. She was beautiful, smart, sexy, and perfect for them as a mate. Even now his cock was harder than titanium and aching with need to be inside of her. Unfortunately it wasn’t as a result of the mating heat. He’d always had that reaction around her. He wished it was the heat stiffening his dick and not just lust. He liked Gabrielle—a lot.
Aaron’s voice jerked him back to the conversation at hand. He focused on Gabrielle and what his brother was telling her. He had to keep his head in the right place and focus on her and their problems right now. He might want her as a man wants a woman, bu
t that wasn’t all that should be between them. Not by a long shot. He cared a lot about her, but without the mating heat, he might not be able to bond to her, and that could be a bad thing.
Mates were known to go crazy if their intended mate died, leaving no hope of ever consummating the relationship. If one of them died after they mated, it could still happen, but not as often. Normally they managed to deal with the loss, especially if there were children from the mating.
“You don’t feel anything for me?” Gabrielle asked, looking at Levi.
He stiffened, looking down at her. She looked so beautiful, yet fragile at the same time. He carefully chose his words with that in mind.
“That’s not true. I care deeply about you, and I want you. You’re a beautiful woman, Gabrielle. I could easily fall in love with you. I just don’t feel the heat as strongly as Aaron does. I don’t understand it, but it’s the truth. We originally thought the residual magic clinging to us had done something to mask the mating heat, but Harper removed it. Now I can sense it inside of me, but it isn’t ruling me,” he said.
He could tell his words hurt her. Seeing the pain cross her face tore him up inside. His wolf growled at him, urging him to make it right with her. What could he do, though? Lying would only make it worse. Mates didn’t lie to each other. Despite the heat being weak, he couldn’t be less than honest with her. He’d already skirted it by not allowing his brother to at least approach her when he first knew she was their mate.
“What does this mean for us?” she asked in a quiet voice.
Aaron took both of her hands in his. “It doesn’t change anything for us, Gabby. You’re our mate. We want you. We’re just not sure what’s going on and don’t want to hurt you somehow.”
“Not hurt me? What do you think it feels like to know you’re my mates but you don’t acknowledge it or even talk to me? How do you think I felt seeing Levi and Avery together the other night? It nearly killed me to know that they were together like that. What more can you possibly do?” she asked.
Tears glittered in her beautiful expressive eyes. Levi felt the punch of her words and cringed. She’d seen him with Avery. Even though nothing had happened, he felt guilty having even been talking to her.
