Cloe: Two for the Bite of One

by Jana Leigh; Kerri Good

  “What happened?” He mom yelled in the phone at her.

  “Men came to the diner, asking all these questions, and then told Dad that he had a message from someone named Oliver. He said something about the Seer"s Prophesy was back in play.” Cloe said briskly and held the phone with her shoulder as she opened her safe. There was the stash of money her parents had given her many years ago, along with a new identity that they renewed every few years. She by passed all of those, and grabbed her weapon that was stored in the back. It was a gun loaded with silver bullets.

  Her father told her she should never use it unless she was threatened. Though one of the wolves who were in her father office was her mate, she did not know whether she could trust him.

  “WHAT? Where is your father? Why are you calling me? Where are you? Have you already left?” She screamed in her ear. Her mother was a small dainty little woman and small wolf. She had long black hair and was the most beautiful woman in the world to Cloe. She was also a force to be reckoned with. Most of the members of the Pack respected her father and knew that he was the strongest wolf in the Pack. They feared her mother, because she was loose cannon.

  “Dad is with the strangers in the Pack meeting room. I am just calling to ask, how serious is this? I refuse to leave until I know exactly what is going on. Dad is safe, with the rest of the Enforcers. Teague is there. I am in my office, getting some stuff together.

  Besides, I thought you should know I couldn"t leave. One of the men that came today is my mate. I have no intention of becoming one of their Chosen, but I still can"t deny my mate.” Cloe said calmly.

  “NO, ignore it, you have to leave. Remember what your father and I told you. I am serious; I told you last year, I did not care how old you were. This is not up for debate.

  If someone mentioned that damn Prophesy, you leave. We will contact you when you can return. At least go to your house and stay there until your father can talk to them.” Her mom yelled.

  Shit, she was almost thirty years old and she just got sent to her room? Damn it, she was the Beta of this Pack. She had fought her way here fair and square. She would be damned if she were going to run and hide in her house and wait for someone to tell her it was safe to come out. “Mom, you know I can"t do that.”

  “Cloe, I have told you time and time again. You are one of the Chosen. These people could be trying to trick you and steal you away. Oliver may have given up, but we never did. I knew you would be called on to fulfill the Prophesy; it was a matter of time. But if they are trying to catch you, if you stay, you will play into their hands.” He mom said urgently. “I will go and see what is what, and call you. But you must protect yourself. I know you know how to do that.”

  “Mom, I can handle this. I am the Beta of this Pack, and I do not run away from anything. As for the Prophesy, we both know that it will never work, at the first sign of trouble it will fold again and then where will we be?” Cloe replied angrily.

  “Please, for me.” Her mom begged and Cloe closed her eyes and knew she was going to do what her mom asked.

  “Fine, I will give you thirty minutes, but I am staying in my office, I can always get out the back. Call me when I can come over to the house. If you don"t call, I am coming over.” Cloe said and hung up on her mom. She was frustrated and pissed off, something she had not felt in a longtime. When she was in college, her father sent an Enforcer with her to protect her. At least it had been Teagan, but still it had pissed her off.

  Cloe threw the phone in her bag and gathered everything from her safe. She needed to be ready in case her father ordered her to leave. She did not want to, but she knew that if push came to shove, she would not defy her Alpha.

  She walked out to her bike slowly, looking across the street at where her father and Enforcers were all having a meeting that she should be attending. Swallowing that pill was proving to be very difficult. She was just putting her helmet in the storage, when she saw the car careening around the corner at the end of the street. Cloe squinted to see if she could tell who was driving, but she did not recognize the man behind the wheel. What she did see was the guns pointed out the side back windows on either side of the car.

  Running into the middle of the street, she pulled the gun from her waistband and began firing. The two Enforcers that were standing in front of the Pack house jumped for cover, but also began firing at the car. They had at least gotten a few shots off, before the rapid-fire from the automatic weapons erupted in the main street. Cloe reloaded her gun and swore she only had this one clip of silver bullets left.

  Cloe flinched a little when the windows on either side of the street began exploding. She only hoped that people had heard her gunfire and took cover before these assholes started to shoot. Aiming, she pulled the trigger and grinned when the driver slumped to the side, and the car began to swerve, one down she thought as she felt the first bullet enter her leg. Swearing, she ducked behind a car parked in front of her.

  She heard her father howl, and peaked around the edge of the car to see where the car stopped. It had been heading away from the Pack house to her side of the street, and when she looked, she saw that was indeed, where it went. Crawling around to the other side of the car she was hiding behind, Cloe once again peaked out from behind the car and she saw three wolves, all scrambling from the car. Clearly, she had killed the driver since he remained unmoving in the front seat.

  Cloe growled and sat back. Her leg was on fire and she looked down to see the blood flowing freely. It was not healing like she would have expected, which could only mean one thing. They shot her with a silver bullet. Damnit, who the fuck were these assholes?

  She thought and leaned back against the grill of the car. She pushed with her good leg until she was halfway standing, leaning on the hood. The men who had shot her were firing at her father and her Enforcers, keeping them pinned to the other side of the street. She was the only one who remotely had a chance to stop them.

  Cloe checked how many bullets she had left and grimaced. She had better make it good, because she only had four shots left. Closing her eyes and thinking about the training her father insisted she had with guns. You would not think a wolf would need to learn how to shoot, but she was thanking her father silently, for encouraging her to learn different self-defense techniques when she was younger.

  She took a deep breath and then leaned over the side of the car and braced her arm on the hood. Cloe made sure that they were still focusing on the Enforcers across the street, they were, and she pulled her hand up with the gun and held it firmly with her blood covered hand. Taking another deep breath, she fired. One, two, three, down they went and Cloe wanted to cheer, but instead she fell to the ground, and fought to stay awake. She needed help, and since she was the only doctor in town, she needed her assistant. That was Teagan; he had completed nurses training while he guarded her in California.

  “Cloe?” She heard her father call in the distance. She was too weak to answer him; instead, she laid there thinking about how pretty the clouds were. Shit, she was losing too much blood, she thought in a moment of clarity.

  “Fuck, Alpha she has been shot. Get her into the clinic.” Teagan yelled. “Well Darlin", you have done a number on your pretty tattoo. Blaine is gonna be pissed.” Her friend said to her and she smiled. On her left leg, she had a tattoo of her wolf, it had taken weeks for Blaine to get it done, but it was awesome. The bullet must have gone through her leg around her tattoo.

  “S"okay, will give him a reason to poke me again.” She slurred. “Gonna need a transfusion.” She mumbled and looked at her friend. Teagan and Cloe had discussed this at length a few years ago. She had confided in him her past and everything her father told her. They joked about her being one of the Chosen, but they also knew that someday, someone would come for her. Her father thought, once they found the kidnapped girl, the Council would seek them out, for some reason she did not think these assholes were from the Council.

  Cloe"s gift from the spirits had been in m
edicine. All of her knowledge and abilities, she knew, the Gods gifted to her. She did not want to waste them. Regardless of whether the Council wanted her to or not, she was going to help the shifter community. She was not going to waste her gift, nor was she going to help a weak Council. Her father and mother explained about the Rogue Pack, they planned for every situation that she may need help. Cloe did a lot of research on the wolf anatomy. She discovered that silver poisoning did more things than they thought. The silver would not allow the wound to close, but also the silver, once introduced into the blood, could cause blood cells to attack one another. For a wolf to survive these injuries and not be bed ridden, they needed a blood transfusion. The new blood cells would attack the silver and heal the wolf. Teagan and Cloe discovered when they were in California that they were perfect blood matches for each other. Cloe had been running tests with their blood to see the difference in the male and female shifter, when she discovered the match. After doing extensive tests, Cloe had discovered how fast she could heal if poisoned by silver.

  Teagan nodded, and snapped orders to the Enforcers who had arrived to help him get Cloe into the office. Bryan was on the phone in the waiting room, Teagan knew he was calling Cloe's mom, and knew the small woman would be arriving any moment pissed.

  Moving quickly he asked Blaine to assist him in digging out the bullet. There was so much blood.

  He heard a growl and looked up surprised when he saw the man who had been in the meeting with his Alpha. He had come into the room and was sniffing and growling.

  “Mine.”

  “What?” Teagan yelled.

  “My mate.” The man said and stepped closer looking down at Cloe who was still unconscious.

  Darien looked over the woman who he had ignored from the diner. She was beautiful.

  Any other time, he would have stopped and talked to her, but he had other pressing issues, and she had not said much when they were there, which had caused him to dismiss her. How had he missed that she was his mate? Damnit, now she was lying here shot, and hurting, without knowing she was his mate. He should have paid attention; if he had, Cloe would have never been out of his sight.

  “Fuck, she is gonna be pissed.” Teagan laughed and resumed working on Cloe. He pulled the silver bullet from her leg and then began flushing out the sliver that had infected the area, and felt a little twinge of jealousy at the thought of Cloe finding her mate. He had kinda hoped, well never mind, he thought and went back to work on his friend.

  It was going to take too long for her to heal without a transfusion. Teagan ordered Blaine to help him hook up a straight line from him to Cloe. He would give her his blood directly until she began to heal. They could wait for the blood that was stored in the small area behind the clinic, but he was a little worried about her color. She had lost a lot of blood, it would be better to get fresh blood from him; it would speed up the healing.

  Teagan lay down on the table across from her and waited while Blaine hooked them up.

  He was not worried. Cloe was strong, she would recover quickly, and it was the man staring at his best friend as if he was going to eat her, which was bothering him. Teagan, had always been attracted to Cloe, he thought at one time they were mates, and though he felt a twinge here and there, he never felt the pull that his parents described to him.

  But right now, he would gladly rip out this guy"s throat for looking at her.

  The tall man walked around the table, and took Cloe"s hand in his. He bent down and whispered something into her ear, and then kissed her gently on the cheek and stood up to meet Teagan's eyes. “How long will it take for her to wake?” Just then, the door flew open, and Teagan turned to see Cloe"s fierce looking mother standing in the doorway. Shit, this was going to get ugly. Anyone who threatened the Pack, yes, had to deal with the Enforcers and the Alpha. But nothing compared with having to deal with Alpha Adele when she was pissed. He had seen a full-grown wolf cry when she set her sights on him, and that was just for suggesting that Cloe was not strong enough to be the Beta.

  “Cloe!” Her mom cried and ran to the edge of the bed. “Teagan, did you kill those mother fuckers?” She growled when she saw her daughter lying unconscious on the bed.

  “Silver, well I never, dumb ass chicken shit wolves, can"t face her like a real man, no they have to try to weaken her first! That is because they were scared, scared, and weak!” She thundered and ran her hands along her daughter"s leg, assuring herself that she was still alive and okay.

  “Yes, Alpha. They were disposed of, but not by us, by Cloe. She took them all out before we could do anything.” Teagan said with pride in his voice.

  “Of course she did, there were only four of them.” Her mother said and sniffed. “Bryan is coming now; we will have a meeting as soon as Cloe wakes up.” Adele turned to the large man who had stepped back into the corner and smiled. “So you are her mate?”

  Darien felt a little like he was a piece of meat on a hook the way she was looking at him.

  Holy shit, she was more than a little scary.

  “Yes. I believe so.” Darien said stepping forward and holding out his hand. “My name is Darien; I am from the Denver Pack.”

  Adele waved her hand as if she was brushing him off. “I know, just checking.” Darien raised his eyebrows; no one had dismissed him like that before. He was Beta, and one of the most feared wolves in the world next to Devon and his brother. Shaking his head, he wondered what the hell was going to happen next. He started the day going on a routine drive, coming to Milliken to check out another endless lead.

  Just as quickly, as the woman came into the room, she left and Darien shook his head.

  This was going to be a problem, he thought. Darien pulled out his phone and called the office of the Denver Pack. Surprisingly enough, Quin answered the phone. He quickly explained the situation, and arranged for a group of Enforcers to drive to Milliken immediately. He found one of the Chosen and needed extra protection. Quin was pissed when he found out the Rogue had already tried to attack. It seemed like they were one step ahead of them, and they could not figure out how. Jaden, Devon, and Darien all thought there was someone working on the inside, they just could not seem to figure out who.

  Cloe groaned and he stepped up to his mate. She was gorgeous, Darien thought, not some little wilting flower either. He hated it that she was hurt though, if he had his way, she would be with him all the time and no one would get close enough to hurt her. She was a Beta and exuded power, his perfect match. Her beautiful eyes looked at him, trying to focus and she said, “What the fuck happened?” Teagan laughed and pulled the IV from his arm and then stood and did the same for her.

  “Blood loss, silver poisoning.” He said shortly, Cloe hated long explanations.

  “Shit, did I get them?” Cloe said with her eyes still closed.

  “Yep, and still had a bullet to spare, not that you needed it.” Teagan laughed.

  “Good, hate to waste good ammo.” She said and then opened one eye. She saw the man who had been in the diner with her father leaning against the wall watching the two of them talk. Her mate, she wondered if her father had figured out yet who he was.

  “What?”

  “Nothing, just trying to figure out what is going on. You are the Beta of the Pack and the doctor of the Pack. How exactly does that work? You shoot someone then patch them up so you can torture them?” Darien laughed.

  “Uh, no, I usually don"t have to shoot anyone. In fact, we have had no problem in our little town until you drove in. I would venture to guess that it is your fault that they were here.” Cloe drawled and pushed herself up.

  “Yeah, well we need to talk about that.” Darien said reaching out to help her.

  Teagan growled at the man. Darien looked at him surprised and felt his wolf rise to the surface a little, and he growled back. Cloe looked up at both of them in surprise and laughed. “Whoa, testosterone boys, tone it down a little.” When neither of them backed off Cloe looked back at them and frowne
d. “Teagan?” Teagan shook his head and looked at his friend. “Mine.” He growled and pulled her toward him.

  Cloe laughed and looked at her longtime friend and said, “What the hell?”

  “No, mine.” Darien growled and pulled her other arm. She felt like a doggie tug toy between two very large dogs.

  “Dude. STOP.” She yelled, and the door once again was thrown open and her father strode into room and with a glance assessed the situation.

  “Cloe, go in the other room with your mother, clearly we have an issue we need to deal with.” Bryan ordered and pointed to the door. As if she was going to actually do what he asked. Damnit, she was sick people telling her where to go when they were deciding her life.

  “Dad, I am not leaving until we figure this out.” Cloe said and folded her arms sat back on the bed. Her leg was still hurting, and she did not want to have to take pain meds.

  There was no way she was going to leave the room so the „men" could discuss this around her.

  “Fine, Teagan, what is going on?” Bryan said and rolled his eyes. He had raised his daughter to be strong and independent. She made a good Beta; she understood the Pack and the rules. But when it came to mating, she had no clue. Bryan remembered the words of the Seer like it was yesterday. Cloe would have two mates, and become pregnant soon after meeting them. He and his wife had not told this part to her, because he knew his daughter, and knew that she was going to be pissed.

  Bryan had questioned the Seer back when she had first revealed the Prophesy. He wondered why the New Council needed to have a child in order to claim their seat on the Council. It was the one question the Seer never answered. She had just told them that all would be revealed when the time came. After doing a lot of research over the years, Adele and Bryan both thought that when one of the Chosen had their child, they would receive another gift from the Gods. This of course was just a guess, but he thought the gifts were actually the key to completing their destiny.