It didn’t mean anything. She picked up one of the romance novels, it had a really hot, buff guy on the cover. He was covered in tattoos and wore the role of bad boy like a second skin. The title read My Inked, Stepbrother Billionaire. The subtitle declared that this book was the first in The Werebears of New York Series.
Stepbrother.
Werebears.
What had happened to the book world in her absence? Since when was stepbrother the new flavor of the day? Bears? What happened to good old-fashioned wolves?
Tanya put the book back down. Maybe later. She took a look at the time on the cell phone screen. Three whole minutes had passed since she’d last tried to call. Two more minutes and she’d try again.
With nothing else to do and since she always needed to pee, she used up the time by doing just that. As soon as she got back in bed, she dialed again and this time someone answered but it wasn’t Zane.
“My lord,” the unknown voice said. He obviously had read that it was Brant’s phone on the caller ID.
“Zane please.”
“Who the fuck are you? And why do you have Brant’s phone?” A rough growl. There were still screaming noises in the background.
Tanya raised her eyebrows. Her pregnancy bitch hormones kicked in. “Who the fuck are you? Where is Zane?” Before he could answer, she raged on. “I need to speak to him right now so I suggest you put him on the line or fucking else.” She felt like saying…do you know who I am but only just managed to hold back. No one liked a person who threw around that line so she wasn’t about to start using it any time soon. Even if she was sorely tempted.
She grimaced. Ever since finding out about the baby she’d been trying really hard not to swear but was apparently failing dismally.
“Whatever you do, do not harm or attempt to rut with the king. I happen to know the queen and I can say with certainty that if you lay even a single finger on him then you will be sorry…as in lose your head sorry.”
It was then that she realized that the idiot on the line thought that she was one of the crazy vampire females that were running around, and that she had somehow gotten her hands on Brant and his cell phone.
“The female that is with Zane right now will probably be executed right behind you.”
Her blood ran cold. There was a female with Zane. What had this female done that was so bad that it would warrant losing her head? Tanya didn’t want to know. At the same time she really needed to know. “What do you mean?”
Is she fucking him?
Hurting him?
“Don’t play coy with me. If any of you vampire females so much as touch either of the kings you’re in for a world of hurt. Take my advice and forget whatever it is you are doing. Hopefully, you will get to live. Ignore my advice and you will definitely die. My lady will ensure of it. She has a temper.” He mumbled the last.
She so did not have a damned temper. Did she? “Who is with Zane?” Her voice was shaky.
“It’s none of your goddamned business, female. I’m done with this conversation.” The male voice said, causing her to lose her temper.
“Where is he?” She screamed. “Who is with him?”
The line went dead. So she dialed again. There was no answer.
It was around about that time that Brant burst into the room. “What is going on?” He growled. “What’s wrong?”
Tanya relayed the telephone conversation trying not to sound as frantic as she felt.
****
For mother fucking sakes.
He knew how it sounded, how it looked but there was no way in hell that Zane had evoked that bullshit lore. That he was rutting like an animal with some female. A female that was not their mate. Brant refused to believe it.
Not after Zane had tore into him yesterday when he thought that he and Allison were about to start a rut fest. Brant could still feel the sting and the burn as Zane’s fists had crashed against him, when the male’s hand had closed around his throat.
No fucking way.
How the hell did he explain that to Tanya? He wasn’t about to inform her of the whole Allison episode. It would only make things worse.
“Trust me on this. Zane is not with some other female. No way, no fucking how.” He took her face between his hands and looked deep into eyes of the fairest blue. When her lip quivered, he almost fucking lost it. Couldn’t stand to see her in any type of pain. “Believe me, Cenwein, because it’s true.”
Tanya nodded as her eyes slowly filled with unshed tears. “Okay,” she whispered.
Brant dialed Zane again for the fifth fucking time. Still no answer. He swore he was going to kill him. The male had promised to stay in touch. This was not staying in fucking touch.
He needed to gain some control. If he lost it, then Tanya would think all the bullshit was true. He could not let that happen.
Brant sat down on the bed next to her and pulled her into his arms. For a while now he had known that his mate could never be completely happy or satisfied unless she was with both of them…together. Well, he would have to do his damnedest to try and make up for Zane not being here.
Her shoulders shook softly as she sobbed and buried her face into his chest. “I do trust him.” She said over and over again as if trying to convince herself of it.
“There’s a lot of shit going down at the castle. Loads he is having to deal with right now. Let’s give it a few hours and try again. I know for a fact that there’s a logical explanation for this and it doesn’t involve Zane’s dick in another…” Maybe he should try and rephrase that. “Zane doing something he shouldn’t.”
His little human nodded, making little hiccupping and sniffing noises. “I know,” she croaked.
“He loves you and this baby too damned much. He also knows that I would kill him.” Brant gnashed his teeth together, forcing himself to calm the fuck down.
Tanya laughed, sounding more hurt in that moment than she had when she was sobbing. If there was one thing he hated, it was feeling useless and right now he was the king of useless.
Willing his muscles to relax. Using easy strokes, he rubbed a hand up and down her back. Holding her tight and close.
It wasn’t long and her breathing turned deep and rhythmic. She may not want to admit it, even to herself, but this pregnancy was taking a lot out of her. Both he and Zane had noticed the dark smudges under her eyes. How she rubbed her lower back all the time. She couldn’t even make it halfway up the stairs without becoming out of breath.
Yet, they had both been selfish bastards, unable to keep their hands off of her. Tanya was their mate, their everything. Soon to be the mother of their child. How could she not grow lovelier with each passing day? Her scent had changed as she grew riper with child, making her harder to resist. It wasn’t the same as when she had been in the heat. Not that type of insane inducing pheromone that made a male get hard and stay hard. No, this was something more, something greater. It made him bristle with the need to protect, the need to see her happy by any means necessary. She scented of them together as a family, as a unit. It was the best fucking thing he had ever smelled. It made his dick hard as granite and his heart as soft and gooey as melted chocolate.
Brant knew that Zane had experienced this as well. Had caught the male with his nose buried in Tanya’s hair. There were numerous occasions where Brant had seen him breathing her in, had watched in fascination as the other male’s eyes drifted closed in bliss.
There was more than one occasion where they had exchanged knowing glances. Most of those were straight after he buried his own nose deep into her silky, soft tresses, just as he was doing right now.
Fuck, she was everything to them.
Brant reached for his phone, not surprised when he heard Zane’s voicemail. Where the hell are you?
Chapter 11
When she opened her eyes it was pitch black or it would’ve been if it hadn’t been for her enhanced eyesight.
That familiar stretch of her bladder had her putting her hand to
the lower curve of her belly. As if to tease her, the little one gave a kick. Although she felt the knock at the top of her belly, the motion pushed down onto her bladder making her clench. “Okay, baby.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed, careful to avoid waking Brant. “Give your mom a break, at least until she’s gone to the toilet.” She patted her belly affectionately and was rewarded with another little kick, harder this time. She had to smile despite the added pressure on her bladder.
Spotting the phone on the side table, she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. It was just after one. She shouldn’t. She really, really shouldn’t. Yet, how could she not?
The need to pee could wait. The sudden need to speak to her mate overrode the stretch inside her. Her hand shook as she pushed the call button. Surprised when Zane answered. “Yeah?” His voice sounded broken and raw.
For a second she couldn’t believe what she was actually hearing. That he had really just answered. If it weren’t for the breathing on the other end of the line, she would think she’d imagined it.
“Um…Zane?” She could hear the surprise in her voice which came out as a whisper.
“Tanya?” Now he was wide awake and actually sounded afraid. Why would he be afraid? Had he done something to make him afraid of her? It was so wrong that he hadn’t been available earlier, what if she’d gone into labor? She clenched her teeth, feeling her blood heat inside her veins.
“Where the hell were you?” Her voice sounded shrill.
“What’s happened? Are you okay? The baby…” A low growl with a hint of panic.
“Not that you care,” she blurted. “Where the hell were you earlier?”
Brant rubbed her back. She could feel him move in behind her. “Easy.” He whispered, his mouth against the back of her head.
“What do you mean?” Zane asked. “You didn’t answer my earlier questions. Are you okay dammit?” Now he sounded pissed. He had no right.
“I’m fine. Why didn’t you call back? I know you were with a female earlier. Why? I hope it was good for you. That it was worth it.” Okay, maybe she could’ve worded that a bit better. Maybe asked him instead of accusing him. Zane had never lied to her. Not once. The problem was, she couldn’t stop herself from saying the words. It was as if someone else was inside her. Her raging hormones were taking over, filling her with rage, hurt and jealousy.
“What?” Definitely pissed. “There were some… issues…” Things were sounding worse by the second, his voice was a deep growl. “What female? There were lots of females. My phone broke, this is a loaner device I got from Lance. I retrieved my sim card from my broken phone and there were no missed calls. What the fuck, Tanya?”
Hearing him say her name with anger and anguish just upset her more. “Don’t what the fuck me. One of your team members told me that you were with a woman and couldn’t come to the phone. Why can’t you just admit that you…you… you know?” Damn but that came out sounding needy and just plain…stupid. It was too late to take it back…to take any of it back. Words could not be unsaid. Plus she really needed to know the answer.
Brant’s body tensed behind her, his hands tightened on her waist. Not in a good way. “Stop,” he growled softly. “Don’t.”
“You still don’t trust me?” Zane cursed, a really hard word which he said really softly. It somehow sounded way worse uttered that way.
Her heart clenched. There was an apology at the tip of her tongue but she couldn’t seem to spit it out. Her mouth had gone dry and her throat felt like it was closing. She couldn’t even pull in a breath.
After several long seconds, he continued. “I’m not sure what you want me to do or say. Fuck!” There was a deep sigh on the other end of the phone. Her mate sounded disappointed and upset. Damn, she preferred it when he had sounded pissed. “I’ll be there in the afternoon.” He sucked in a breath. “Be prepared because you and I are going to have a long fucking talk. Put Brant on.”
Tanya handed Brant the phone. By now the need to pee actually caused sweat beads to form on her brow. It was physically painful but she wasn’t going anywhere. Not when her heart was sitting in her throat and her hands were shaking so badly that she had to clench them together across her belly.
“What bullshit have you been feeding our mate?” The rage was back. Zane’s insanely deep growl aimed at Brant this time.
Tanya could feel the tension coil even tighter in Brant’s body as his breathing turned choppy and his muscles tensed so hard that she felt one of his pecs tic. “I wouldn’t do that, so you can stop right there.” A low vibration that rumbled against her back.
There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone. “I’ll be there as soon as I’m done with that meeting in the morning. Is our female really okay?”
Fuck that hurt her deep. He was still concerned for her even after she had treated him so badly.
“Just for the record…” Zane said.
“Don’t say it. I know you wouldn’t go there. Just get done and get your ass here.” Just like that, the moment was over and most of the tension dissipated. One of his hands was still locked on her waist.
Tears welled in her eyes. She was the biggest idiot alive. She had just all out accused Zane of something that he hadn’t done. Taking deep breaths, she tried hard to hold back the tears and the pain. Even though she knew she should apologize, Tanya couldn’t do it right now. All of her torn up emotions were sticking in her throat. Words were impossible. Instead, she rose to shaky feet and made her way to the bathroom.
****
After getting very little sleep, Tanya woke feeling uneasy about the whole situation. All she needed was to see Zane and to sort this whole thing out. The day seemed to drag, and she became more and more anxious with each passing hour.
At long last, the sound of an approaching chopper could be heard. Although she felt relief, she was also more nervous than she had ever been in her whole life.
She’d messed up and she’d messed up bad.
The moment she had been waiting for and dreading was finally here. Brant threw her one of those half smiles that he did so well. “He’ll give you shit but he’ll forgive you.”
“Says you.”
“I’m serious.” He closed the small distance that separated them, wrapping his arms around her. “Zane would be a fool to give you up and that wanker might be a lot of things but he’s no fool.”
“Don’t call him that.” She couldn’t help but to smile. “He’s not here to defend himself.”
“He is a wanker.” Brant chuckled. “We both are right now.”
“Stop it.” She slapped his chest half heartedly. “Don’t be a jerk.” Tanya pulled a lose strand of hair behind her ear.
Brant lifted his eyes for half a second. “Jerk, wank…all the same if you ask me.” His mouth lifted.
“You are terrible.”
“You are wonderful. Come on.” Brant picked her up. “Let’s get this over with.”
She could feel that he was tense. “Oh no…” It was like a whole horde of butterflies were fluttering around in her stomach. “Are you nervous too?” If Brant was nervous, then she didn’t have a hope in freaking hell.
“Don’t know the meaning of the word, sweetheart.” He walked out into the late morning sunshine. A soft breeze was blowing, carrying with it the scent of pine needles and earth.
Any second now and the chopper would come into view. The butterflies inside her stomach had babies and suddenly there was a whole squadron of the things banging around in there. She felt a little sick. Tanya reminded herself that she had a plan. It was really simple, she would let Zane tear her a new one, keep quiet while he got it all out and then she’d apologize. Profusely and several times if need be. Simple, not really good, but hopefully effective. It wasn’t like she could put on sexy lingerie and bat her eyelids at him.
Just above the trees, far in the distance, the chopper appeared, moving quickly towards their general direction. Fast approaching the drop off zone, the chopper
began to descend. Then there was a loud blast. It hurt her ears, a flash of light momentarily blinded her. The helicopter turned into a ball of flames. It plummeted to the forest below.
Within a split second she was on the dirt, Brant covered her with his big body. She heard the crash as the chopper met with the unrelenting surface of the earth. Heard the sound of twisting and scraping metal.
Terrible screaming filled her ears, which she realized was coming from her. She couldn’t make herself stop.
Brant kept his body pressed tightly to hers for a few moments longer before standing. “Gideon and Lazarus get her inside!” he screamed.
Strong arms lifted her but she fought, needing to get to Zane. Oh God! Zane. Oh God no!
“You two follow me.” She heard Brant snarl. “Eyes open. We’re not alone.”
Chapter 12
It was amazing how time could stand still when you were waiting. How each tick of the clock could feel like an hour. Each minute like a day. The sharp, piercing noise of the pendulum a taunting reminder that there was nothing she could do. Nothing to speed up time and nothing to wind it back.
If only.
Tanya made an agonized noise, sounding more like a wounded animal than a human. Her eyes felt puffy and overly small. Her head felt like it was filled with cotton wool. Her skin felt feverish and pulled too tight. She wished that she could cry but there were no more tears to give. Her heart raced, faster than the damned clock. Her baby was still. So quiet. Did he know something she didn’t?
Pushing her face into the pillow, Tanya tried hard to stifle the tearless sobs. Oh God no! Please Lord no! Nooooo!
“I’m sure they will be back soon, my lady.” Griffin was still crouched at the small opening at the end of the upturned bed. The windows were boarded and the doors were barricaded. His sword was drawn and ready.
“Who did this?” Her voice broke. “Please…” She begged, stopping there because her unspoken request was not something that Griffin could grant. What she was about to say had nothing to do with knowing who the culprits were.
Mated to the Vampire Kings Page 11
