“And she will be, Mundo,” Mars reassured. “But don’t you think you should be in there with her, not out here with us? She’ll want to see you when she wakes up.”
“It was driving me crazy sitting in there, watching her, wondering if she was going to wake up...if she was ever going to wake up. Nightmare.” He swallowed back his misery. Closing his eyes a second, he tried to think of something other than his mate but failed. Instead of the obvious, he focused on Pinkie’s mission. It felt like a lifetime had passed since his brother had gone off on a reconnaissance mission, but it was only a handful of hours. “Has Pinkie come back?”
Mars shook his head. “No. But he called in. He’s on his way back. We were right. One of the Tigers who recently got busted is in one of the jails on Christie’s circuit. The guy Pinkie set on squealed like a pig. Apparently, this guy is one of the lieutenants.” Mars shrugged. “They wanted to get a message to him like we thought.”
Mundo cleared his throat. “Any idea of the message?”
“The name of the informant who ratted them out. He’s on the inside with this lieutenant. They had a knife they wanted Christie to pass on to the lieutenant too.”
He shuddered. “Fuck. This couldn’t be worse, could it?”
Mars snorted. “Of course it could. Your mate could be in that barrio waiting for news on why she’d been abducted. Instead, she’s claimed, in your bed, and carrying your cub.”
“You’re right,” he whispered. “I need to stop being so gloomy.”
“Only natural,” Mars murmured. “Learning you’re a dad after the first claiming is bound to be a shock, bro. I mean, foot-in-mouth Major isn’t wrong—I didn’t think it was even possible either.”
“Me too.” He shivered again and said, “She can’t go back to work for the DOJ, can she?”
Mars grimaced. “To be honest, I’m surprised something like this hasn’t happened before.”
“Yeah, me too.” Mundo sucked in a breath. “I wonder how hard it will be to convince her she’s in danger.”
“She was pretty passionate about her work earlier,” Major added, unhelpfully. “She was proud of the fact she was helping people pro bono, but maybe the baby will help convince her private practice is the way to go. It’s not like she has to stop being a dentist, period. She just can’t work with inmates anymore.”
“Everything happens for a reason,” Mars murmured sagely. “She was there to meet you, Mundo. Her work put her in the right place at the right time.
“No, your meeting has been achieved and your mating has already borne fruit. The usefulness of her work in the prisons has come to an end. She might fight it, but she’ll understand why you’re making the suggestion. She’s not a fool, and she was quick enough to judge you, so she’ll be annoyed but understanding when you do the same with her work.”
Mundo looked unconvinced but nodded. Clambering to his feet, he murmured, “You think we’ve heard the last of the Tigers?”
Mars shook his head. “I doubt it, but not where Christie’s concerned. Once she quits, her usefulness comes to an end.”
“Fuck, we have to stop pissing off these Latino gangs.”
Major’s half-wail had both of them snickering. “He’s right,” he commented to Mars.
“I know he is, but what the fuck can we do?” He jerked a shoulder then stood up too. Clapping Mundo on the back, he said, “We’ll worry about that shit another day. We have the biggest patch of turf in Channelview and over into downtown Houston. We’re still an MC to be reckoned with. But, if more of us finds our mates, it might be wise to start fortifying this place. Three mates on this property is enough to bring me out in a cold sweat at night.”
“Bulletproof glass?” Mundo asked, thinking of how a stray, ricocheting bullet had struck Annette and almost killed her.
Mars shuddered. “Without a doubt, but also reinforced walls, stronger gates, hell, even a siege fucking tower. If I have to go medieval on these fuckers’s asses to keep our mates safe, then I will.”
“Three mates?” Major questioned then frowned when Mundo and Mars cocked their brows at him. “You said three mates,” he clarified. “But only you and Mundo have found yours.”
“Shit, I was supposed to keep my mouth shut.” Mars grimaced. “Kiko’s found a mate among the women.”
“From the cartel shipment?” Mundo asked, mouth agape.
“Yeah, but don’t call them that. They’re more than fucking chattel.”
He grunted. “Yeah, sorry, man. I was just...”
Mars shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Just make sure you don’t say it in front of Kiko.”
“I thought he was more irate than usual,” Major murmured, looking pensive.
“Yeah, well, he can’t speak to her, can he? Doesn’t speak Ukrainian. Plus, they’re all shit scared of men, which doesn’t help, especially when you consider Kiko’s goddamn size.”
Kiko was a monster. He was fucking huge. And when he shifted? Jesus wept, and even Mundo backed away—and he was a Grizzly.
“She’s still here, though, so she must feel the connection, right?”
Mars shrugged. “Annette’s been keeping an eye out. Says there’s a connection but that the woman doesn’t understand it, and who could blame her? She doesn’t know we’re Shifters, does she?”
“Speaking of,” Major inserted, a way grimace on his chops. “When are we going to be able to Shift?”
Mars scraped a hand over his head. “I know, I’m feeling the pull as well.”
“Christie hasn’t even met my bear yet,” Mundo groused. “Not that I’m sure she should now. Maybe when the cub is born. I’d probably scare the shit out of her.”
Mars snorted. “Don’t be a pussy.”
“When your mate has been abducted, claimed, and impregnated on the same day, you can bitch at me. Until then, keep your fucking mouth shut.”
There was a twinkle in Mars’s eye, so Mundo kept it at that, but any more and he’d have started a brawl. Mundo’s nerves were on their last bit of strength. He needed nothing else to tip him over the goddamn edge.
“I’ll get Annette to take them out on a trip or something. They must want to go buy shit in the city, right?”
“I think even Ukrainian women love shopping,” Major asserted with a chuckle.
“Good. Well, if that’s a feasible excuse, I’ll get her to take them tomorrow so we can all shift. They’ll need an entourage for back up, especially after today’s foray with the Tigers, so I’ll have to arrange for another trip so the ladies’ guards can shift too. Annette will have to figure out what they want though.” He grimaced. “I’ve got enough on my goddamn plate than figuring out what a dozen Eastern European women like doing in their spare time!”
Mundo’s lips twitched. For the first time since Christie had passed out and he’d learned she was pregnant, he felt amusement. It flickered inside him, bringing with it a warmth he very much needed.
“I’ll go as guard next time. I want to show Christie my bear tomorrow.”
Mars needed. “You didn’t even need to tell me that. Your bear must be clawing at your skin to meet her.”
Mundo grunted. Talk about a fucking understatement.
Chapter Fourteen
Christie stretched then wriggled. The scent of sex, Mundo, and warm sheets filled her nostrils, as did the air freshener in the bathroom and the detergent they used to mop down the halls outside her room.
She frowned, a little disturbed at the scents she was smelling so strongly, but then forgot about it as she carried on wriggling, happy in the nest that was her bed.
Damn, she felt good. She was warm and cozy, and something inside her was settled. Until today, she wouldn’t have been able to put a name to it, but now, she knew it was her soul.
It had been restless for forever, and now that it was at peace, she felt the utter serenity that came as a result.
It saddened her that all her life she’d been seeking Mundo, and all without knowing it. She’
d been seeking him when she’d been with Jake, and she prayed that he’d never felt the lack in her. She’d given herself to him one hundred percent, had loved him as totally as she was capable back then. It was only now she was with Mundo that she realized what she was capable of.
Jake wouldn’t know that though, and she was glad for that. She prayed he was at peace and that wherever he was, he was happy for her.
Because she’d known him well, had known how content he was as a person, and generous too, she knew he would be glad she’d found someone who could make her happy.
And Mundo, though they’d already been through some extreme lows, would take her to highs she’d never imagined possible before.
The life she’d envisioned before him had panned out endlessly, each day passing without her really caring. Her only reason for being was work. She had to get up each morning, she had to pay the bills, and she had to put one foot in front of the other. She’d been alive, but her life had been dead too.
There had been no joy outside of the books she read—no goals, save for plans she made to meet up with family come the holidays. She’d been alone. Utterly alone. But no longer.
She smiled, so damn happy at that moment she felt sure she could burst.
Stretching her arms overhead, she gave one last wriggle then propped herself up on an elbow. She peered around the room, wondering where her mate was because he wasn’t here. Disappointed because they’d only gone at it like rabbits once last night and she’d wanted to start the day off in the best possible way, she glanced out of the window and looked out onto a bland vista. But hell, the sky was so bright it hurt her eyes, and the sun was a glowing ball that filled her with warmth and reinforced her new sense of hopefulness.
She tilted her head to the side then frowned at the note propped on the pillow where her mates head should be.
Come out to the back yard when you wake up. I’ll be waiting over by the East wall.
The east wall... She was shit with compass points. She was sure as hell no Girl Scout. Grabbing her cell, she quickly downloaded a compass app and jumped out of bed. When her breasts jiggled, she realized she was naked, and though she’d spent the past week naked with Mundo, she’d spent years waking up alone and fully clothed in PJs. She flushed at the sight of her too large thighs and plump stomach, quickly grabbing the shirt Mundo had worn yesterday and using it to cover herself up.
Just because Mundo loved her how she was didn’t mean she did. Not yet at least. She had to come to terms with the fact the body she’d always considered too much of everything was sexy to her mate.
After years of fad diets—diets she’d undertaken for her husband too—she was accepted for all that she was.
Christ, she was a lucky woman.
Sheathed in his shirt, she grabbed yesterday’s panties and leggings. She’d win no modeling contest but she was decently covered. That was something, right? Plus, who else would be in the yard at this time of the day?
Nobody, she prayed.
So, decent by looks if not by smell—Christ, she needed a shower but her curiosity wouldn’t allow her to wait even five minutes—she dashed out of her room and headed toward the doors that led onto the yard.
She opened the app, stared at it, and aimed due east. She was so focused on the app that it took a second for the growl to penetrate. When it did, she looked up and shrieked. There were at least ten, ten, bears out here.
Her heart stuttered in her chest, and she felt certain she was going to panic, especially when all of them bounded toward her.
Her mouth dropped open, but it was the only part of her that moved. She felt like a deer in headlights, frozen, utterly still as what had to be certain death headed straight for her.
Instead, the bears came to a halt, skidding to stop colliding with her. When they approached, her eyes widened, terror filling her as one prodded her with its snout.
“Please don’t eat me,” she whispered. “I’m mated to Mundo. Remember?”
These guys were Shifters, right? They had to be. They wouldn’t just let wild bears pop into their yard for a get together. Were there even wild bears in this part of the world?
Christ, she didn’t know.
Why didn’t she know?
Before her heart could burst from terror, a huge roar echoed around the yard, and a grizzly—she recognized it from the documentaries—growled at the bears surrounding her. She swore they were pouting as they slinked away, shoulders drooping, casting her long, covetous glances as they backed off.
She just wished the grizzly would piss off too. But as the thought occurred to her, she looked down at her compass app and realized she was by the eastern part of the yard and close to a wall.
Plus, the grizzly was no longer looking so fucking terrifying that she wanted to pee her dirty pants. Instead, it had plopped down on its butt like Pooh bear and was batting a wasp that buzzed around its head.
She gulped, then gulped again as it rolled onto its back and started wriggling on the ground. It was amazingly similar to what she’d just done in her bed. So similar that she had to breathe, “Mundo? Is that you?”
When the bear reared up with what seemed like the bear version of a dopey grin on its face, she closed her eyes.
God help her.
Or was that, Goddess help her?
The man had decided it was time for her to meet his bear, and rather than prepare her, he jumped it on her like this.
Breathing through her nose on the hunt for calm, she propped her hands on her hips and was seconds away from railing at him. But before she could, a scent hit her.
She wrinkled her nose then scrunched it.
What the fuck was that?
Grass, mud. Dirt. Earthy, stinky wet fur. Dung. Sweat. Hormones.
With each smell that bombarded her senses with the power of a nuclear bomb, she felt nausea hit her square in the gut.
Had she ever smelled anything so strongly in all her life?
She didn’t think so. Not even that time she’d dropped a bottle of perfume in the bathroom and it had smashed into a million tiny pieces and coated her feet and legs in the smell for what felt like a lifetime. Jake had made her promise never to buy another bottle for as long as she lived.
She swallowed as another scent hit her. This time it was a fuzzy kind of scent. Ethereal. Wispy. It smelled like blood and something else she couldn’t identify. But it wasn’t blood in a bad way—nobody had been hurt. It was contained.
Within her?
“Mundo?” she asked, her voice shaky.
His tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth in response.
Christ, he looked dopey.
And cute.
God help her.
The grizzly in front of her looked cute.
She really had gone insane.
She got a whiff of pure, pungent bear, and pushed a hand to her mouth. She ran as quickly as she could to the side of the yard, and then bent over and vomited up the little she’d eaten yesterday. When she was retching, the scent of the vomit hit her, and she started retching again, harder this time because there was nothing left for her stomach to evacuate. The vicious cycle was put to an end when strong, warm hands cupped her shoulders.
“Baby? What’s wrong?”
Kenny (Shifter Football League Book 2) Page 74
