Fighting For Their Mate

by Vella Day

  * * *

  Ford shifted back again and rushed over to Bailey. He knew it had been too soon to let her in on their little secret, but Ty had urged him on; said she was their mate and had to learn about them sooner or later.

  “Bailey, are you okay?” Fuck. Now what was he supposed to do?

  Ty slipped onto the bed next to her and moved the hair from her face. God, but she was beautiful. Her porcelain skin, delicate blonde lashes, and those lips were doing things to his body that shouldn’t be allowed.

  She moaned and Ford breathed a sigh of relief. Bailey wet her lips then opened her eyes, shifting her gaze between them. “Oh, thank God. I thought I saw a wolf.”

  Ty picked up her hand and Ford was thrilled she didn’t pull away. “You did see a wolf, honey. You asked for proof that werewolves existed, and Ford proved it to you. It uses a lot of energy, but we can shift at will.”

  She shook her head. “Werewolves are pure fiction. You used some kind of parlor trick.”

  “No. We are who we say,” Ford said. “Your Brad and Tom weren’t fictional either. That wolf you saw who you claimed was about to attack you? We think it was Tom.”

  “No fucking way.”

  Ford nodded. “We’re thinking it was a trap to get you ladies alone in a hotel room.”

  She shook her head. “Like you’re doing right now?”

  Ty let go of her hand. “What can we do to convince you that we’re for real? Do you want me to shift?”

  She hesitated. “No.” Her denial came out soft. “I want the truth.”

  Ford sat on the end of the bed. “You asked for it. Here’s what we know.” When Bailey nodded, his energy soared. “Just like with the human species, there are good wolves and evil wolves. Given what we are, we can’t exactly call 911 when there’s a skirmish since the world isn’t ready to find out about us, so we have to take care of crime ourselves. That’s partly why you don’t know we exist.”

  “You said you were members of some Pack?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you like the Special Forces of werewolves?”

  Ty chuckled. “I like that description. It’s pretty damn close.”

  Ford explained about the bad Colters versus the good Pack members. “When the head Colter, Paul Statler, took over for the last head The Pack captured, he moved from Florida to Canada.”

  Ty nudged him then turned his focus to Bailey. “You need to understand that our chemistry isn’t the same as humans. If you cut us, we’ll heal in seconds. Break our leg? We can walk again with a minute.”

  She squinted her eyes, acting as if seeing that would help her believe them better. “Nothing can harm you?”

  “A few things can. One is a particular kind of poison that is administered via a bullet. If we’re shot anywhere but the heart, we can survive, but not for long unless we get the antidote, which isn’t easy to come by.”

  “That’s only for regular werewolves,” Ford said. “We’ve been enhanced.”

  “Enhanced? Like you’re part robot?”

  Ty chuckled. “No. All of our parts are our own. Ford and I have been injected with a serum that makes us immune to this poison.”

  Her brows furrowed. “So you’re immortal?”

  “Not quite. If someone rips out our throats, we’ll die.”

  She hissed. “That’s ghastly.”

  Ford took over. “This poison is the worst enemy for the average wolf. Someone—and we really don’t know who—was able to figure out a way to inject a werewolf with a serum that makes him immune to not only this poison, but should he be shot in the heart, the hole seals up right away.”

  Bailey sat there a moment, her gaze bouncing all over the place. “That’s quite extraordinary.”

  “It is.”

  “So your only vulnerability is if your throat is ripped out?”

  She had listened. “Yes. Here’s the kicker. The serum is made from human blood. Yours, your sisters, and all the other women’s.”

  Bailey’s face paled and her shoulders slumped again as if she’d taken another blow to the stomach. “I feel like Alice in Wonderland, and that I’ve been dropped down a rabbit hole where nothing appears real.”

  “I’m sorry,” Ford said. “It’s overwhelming to us, too.”

  We should tell her why she’s so important, Ty telepathed.

  If we want her cooperation, we need to. “I’ve heard,” he continued, “that this serum killed a few of these bad werewolves by mistake.”

  “Pity.”

  He smiled for the first time in days. “Agreed. I don’t know why, but apparently they think you have blood that can prevent these deaths in the future.” He held his breath waiting for the rebuttal.

  “Me?”

  “Apparently. The lab in Falling Pines wasn’t equipped to fully test you, so we were asked, as the lead security detail, to escort you to Ogden for further testing.”

  “Oh, my God. That’s terrible, creepy, and horrifying.” She dropped her head back and closed her eyes for a moment as if she was trying to think about all they’d told her. She finally sat back up. “What I don’t get is why risk your life to save me?”

  Tell her, Tyson urged.

  “Because you’re our lifelong mate.”

  Chapter Eight

  Bailey held her hands up in a T. “Say what? Your lifelong mate? Come on, guys. I might be blonde, but I’m not dumb.” What trick were they trying to pull?

  Both of the men moved closer and placed a hand on her thigh. Her temperature rose along with her heart rate. She probably should ask them not to touch her, but she was unable to say anything. They were mesmerizing. Their eyes had lightened and she swore the hair on their faces actually grew. Strange and cool at the same time, but in a scary sort of way.

  “What’s happening to you?” She failed to keep the slight horror off her face.

  Their eyes widened, and then as if they could read each other’s minds, shot off the bed at the same time. When they turned their backs to her, she didn’t know what to think. Had she embarrassed them?

  Finally, they spun around and looked normal again. Okay, that was totally weird.

  “I know this is a lot to take in all at once,” Ford said. “If we could do this any other way, we would. But in about an hour, the lab is going to call Statler and tell him we never arrived. That won’t be good for any of us.”

  She wasn’t talking about them helping her escape, but rather that they’d almost morphed in front of her eyes. “I bet, but can we get back to this mate thing? And why did you look part wolf for a moment?” Bailey needed to get a better handle on everything. None of it sounded like a good thing.

  Tyson looked over at his brother then back at her. “It’s complicated.”

  They sounded like a Facebook setting. “Give it a go. I’m a smart girl.”

  He stabbed a hand over his head. “I’m not sure where to begin. The short of it is that once in a werewolf’s life he meets someone who is destined to be his mate. The catch is that he can have only one mate in a lifetime. If she dies or decides she doesn’t want him, he’s shit out of luck for the rest of his life.”

  “Come on, now. You’re exaggerating. That’s like saying you only have one soul mate. Or that you can only fall in love once in your life. Not buying it.”

  Tyson sucked in his cheek. “It’s the way it is with our kind. Not sure what else I can say.”

  Not all cultures had the same beliefs. “Fine. Continue.”

  “You want to know why you’re the one?” She nodded. “That’s even trickier. Seems there’s no rhyme or reason why two people are paired. Is it fate? Is it set by some cosmic force? An act of chance? No one knows. It just is. I realized it the moment I saw you.”

  Next he’d say he was in love with her. This was becoming creepier by the moment. “And you think that person is me? You don’t even know me.” Perhaps it was stupid to be arguing with the men who held her freedom in their hands, but she loved to debate theories. As a politi
cian’s daughter, it was what she was bred to do.

  Ford leaned forward. “Not yet we don’t, but this is what you need to keep in mind at all times. The wolf in us knows we belong together. It’s an undeniable truth. We will do everything in our power to protect you. You are bonded to us. On the other hand, the man in us needs time to form that emotional closeness the human race calls love.”

  This was coming at her too fast. “Did you say us?” She then remembered they’d said she was their mate.

  She swore they almost looked guilty. “Often times brothers, cousins, or even best friends, will end up with the same mate.”

  She’d play along, but only because she really didn’t want to be in that terrible clinic. Her father had raised her to act calm even under the worse circumstances. “What you’re saying is that I kind of belong to the two of you?” They both nodded, and a wave of horror blasted her and a band tightened around her chest. “Do I get a say in this decision?”

  “God, yes, you have a say,” Tyson said. “This isn’t some death sentence. All we ask is that you give us a chance. We’ll prove to you that we are worthy. In the end, you get to decide.”

  That made her feel better, but how could one respond to something so preposterous? The first time she’d seen Tyson came to mind. She thought she’d been hallucinating, but now she was convinced she really had spotted the dense hair on the back of his hands and the sharp nails.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Anything.”

  She needed confirmation she wasn’t crazy. “When we first met, did you have a massive amount of hair on the back of your hands?”

  He nodded. “You noticed that, did you? When a werewolf first meets his mate, his body goes into what can best be described as heat. Neither of us has ever experienced it before, because we hadn’t found our mate until we met you, but we know that was what it was. We start to shift into our wolf form. Our eyes turn gold, the hair on our body grows, our bones crack, and our teeth and nails elongate. It takes effort not to shift.”

  “That sounds dreadful. Does it hurt?”

  They both shrugged. “It’s who we are.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  Tyson returned to the bed, but this time he sat at the end. “Don’t say anything. Right now, we need to know what you want to do.”

  “Do?”

  “About your immediate future. We’ll deal with this mate thing much later. We thought it best if you understood why we act the way we do.”

  “I appreciate it.” I think. While this helped explain some of their behavior, it also made things more complicated.

  “You have a few options. Ford and I have decided to tell Statler that when we were at the rest stop, you tried to escape and were hit by a car and died. We’ll say we need to stay at the scene for a few more hours and clean up the mess before the authorities show up. That will give us some time to figure out what to do.”

  That seemed a bit far-fetched, but she was thrilled they were trying to save her. “He’ll buy that? You don’t think it sounds strange that at least one of the customers wouldn’t try to stop you from picking up my carcass, putting it in your car, and driving away? Or that the cops will take hours to arrive at a crime scene?” Canada wasn’t that remote.

  “It’s all we’ve got.”

  “I know we’re in the middle of nowhere, but someone would call for an ambulance. Surely, they’d be there in twenty minutes or less. And secondly, how can you explain cleaning up a scene with people coming and going into the store? You’d have to convince this Statler guy that you killed all of the onlookers so they wouldn’t say anything.”

  Their shoulders slumped. “You’re absolutely right,” Tyson said. “We’ve never had to do something like this before.”

  Strangely, that endeared them to her. She snapped her fingers. “I got it. What if you say I asked you to stop by the side of the road so I could pee? Instead of staying on the same side, I rushed into the road to flag a car for help and was hit?”

  They stared at each other. “I like it,” Ford said. “But if this really happened, wouldn’t the driver call his insurance company or the police?”

  Bailey pictured what might happen. “Either he stops or he doesn’t. If it’s a hit and run, good. If he acts responsibly, you could say he freaked out. He told you that if he got one more infraction on his license, he’d lose his job. You could tell him that I ran in front of his truck, and that it wasn’t his fault. So he takes off.”

  “We may just have to keep you around.” Ford smiled, and it was as if she’d been sucker punched by his beauty. Or was she so tired and scared that anything friendly looked good right now?

  “Could work,” Tyson added.

  It still seemed a bit far-fetched, but if she wanted to be safe, they had to come up with something. “What do you want from me once I play the sacrificial lamb?” They weren’t just going to let her walk out of there. They believed she was their destiny.

  “You can either lie low here while we try to save your sister, or we can put you on a plane home.”

  Home? The idea sounded too wonderful. She searched their faces for deceit, but found none. She mentally pictured herself buying a ticket and stepping on that plane, and immediately recognized her dilemma. “I don’t have an ID. Or any money. My credit cards are still in my backpack.”

  They looked at each other. “Brad and Tom wouldn’t leave evidence behind. I bet they stashed it or trashed it. If we could be sure our calls wouldn’t be monitored, we’d contact someone to check with the hotel in North Carolina.”

  Even if she had a license and her dad wired her money for the plane ticket, she couldn’t leave Tatum. “That’s okay. I won’t leave without my sister, but I won’t lay low either. I need to help.” They just stared at each other. She was a bit creeped out by them always doing that. “Ah, guys?”

  They shifted their gaze to her. “Yes?”

  “What’s with all the staring matches?” Tyson pressed his lips together and Ford shifted in the chair. “Tell me. Please. I’m your mate, remember?” At this point, she’d say anything to find out more.

  “We can communicate telepathically,” Tyson said.

  Now she laughed. “Like ESP?” She’d definitely been transported to an alternate reality.

  “Yes.”

  “Prove it.” That might have been stupid to challenge them again, but her world was spinning out of control right now. Werewolves? Mates? ESP? She almost felt like asking them what year it was and who was President just to be sure she hadn’t traveled to another time or dimension.

  The men faced each other with Ford’s back angled toward her. He held up three fingers behind his back. “Tyson can’t see my fingers, can he?” Ford glanced at her.

  “No.”

  “Ty, tell her how many fingers I’m holding up.”

  “Three.”

  They’d probably done this a hundred times at parties. She had a better idea. “Do you have anything I can write on?”

  Ford handed her his phone and brought up the notepad. “Type on this.”

  She typed, “I love Tatum,” and handed it back to him.

  Ford read it silently, and then placed the phone face down on the bed. “Ty, what did she write?”

  He grinned. “I love Tatum.”

  Holy shit. “That was amazing.”

  The smile on Tyson’s face disappeared. Too bad, because it changed his whole appearance. He was already hot, but when he smiled, he was way past amazing.

  Stop it. Christ. She needed to focus on her sister. “How do you plan on freeing Tatum?”

  “We don’t know.” Ford picked up his phone and stuffed it back in his hip pocket. “Before we can figure that out, I need to see about our fate.” He glanced to his brother. “Are we sure about this? It might backfire.”

  “We have no choice.”

  What were they talking about?

  Ford nodded and dialed a number. “Is Mr. Statler in? This is Ford Su
mmerville. It’s urgent.” He stood and paced. “Yes, sir. I’m afraid there’s been an incident.” He relayed how she’d darted across the road, and jumped in front of a truck. The vehicle tried to stop, but couldn’t. That wasn’t quite the way she’d described her death, but it was just as good. “She died immediately. No, sir. We’ll be in as soon as everything is taken care of.” He swiped a finger across the screen.

  Tension rippled across his body. “What did he say?” she asked. The answer would determine her future.

  “Mr. Statler’s tone can best be described as steely with a dash of death.”

  “That happy, huh?” Tyson cleared his throat. “What else did he say?”

  “It’s what he didn’t say that has me worried. Next time we go into the facility, no telling if we’ll come out.”

  Bailey didn’t like hearing that. They might be werewolves as they claimed, but they were nice men who were even willing to let her go. Unfortunately, her options were dwindling fast. If what they said was true, the Colters believed she held the secret to their future—or rather her body did. From now on, she’d have to be super careful. If Statler’s men spotted her, not only would they lock her up without a key, they’d know Tyson and Ford lied about her death. They’d be branded as traitors and killed.

  As crazy as that sounded, she didn’t wish that on them. Some might call her naïve, but she believed these men were good.

  “We need a plan.” It was what her dad always said when he was faced with a tough decision.

  They glanced at her. “There is no we here. You, young lady, are staying put. We don’t want you anywhere near the lab. If they knew you were alive, you’d be a wanted woman.”

  Wanted or not, she wasn’t going to sit around and do nothing. “Then I’ll go to the motel office and call my dad.” Two could play at this game.

  If two men could turn into steel in a flash, these two could. “You can’t do that, Bailey,” Ford said. “It would be like walking one of those little gray aliens up to the White House lawn with the intent of proving to the world they exist.”

  She and her parents had that discussion many times. While her father believed other forms of life might exist, the human race wasn’t ready to learn they weren’t alone in the universe. The stock market would crash; panic would ensue. The same thing might happen if she convinced her father that werewolves were real.