Mated (Dark Ties Book 2)

by A. Vers

  It’s the first time I’ve freely admitted wanting her. At least out loud. And in those exact terms.

  The silence that follows is audible, and I am eternally grateful she stepped out of the room.

  Caine nods slowly. “I got you, cat,” he murmurs and slowly the glow begins to fade. All the lust in the room evaporates like steam through an open window.

  I pat him on the cheek. “Thank goddess.”

  He chuckles. “Not quite, but you let me play with some of your pretty friends tomorrow, and I’ll be whatever you want me to be.”

  Chapter 21

  Nisha

  I hate hospitals. That hasn’t changed. And it never matters if I’m a patient or a visitor. Being inside the too bright building is like gazing through a white tunnel at the past I would rather forget. I wrap my arms around my waist as the hospital’s coldness seems to seep into my bones.

  No one came after me when I walked out of Caine’s room. Oh I’m sure Lilah would have if she wasn’t so worried over the demon. They were all pretty hush-hush over what is wrong with him. But I’ve seen enough needle marks in my life to know he was juiced up with something. Something no one will talk about with me around.

  Hence my walk.

  I trail through the narrow halls like a ghost. Every minute, the crawling feeling under my skin grows. It’s like having an itch you can’t quite scratch.

  Will I change tomorrow?

  Considering the fever filling my skin, it is a very real possibility. And I would be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid. Scared.

  Terrified.

  Tanner made the change look effortless, but some of the pack weren’t so lucky.

  Standing there at the pack building as their grunts were punctuated by the snapping of bones … I shudder.

  “It’s too hot for you to be cold.”

  I turn.

  As though I summoned him by thought, Tanner walks down the hall toward me, his hands shoved into the tight pockets of his jeans.

  My eyes dip of their own accord to his midsection. There is no sign of a bandage under his shirt, but I want to tug up the material anyway. Verify that he is okay.

  “I hate hospitals,” I say honestly.

  He raises a brow. “Is it the smells? Because I totally agree with that.”

  My lips tremble into a weak smile. “The smell is terrible,” I agree. “But the part that bothers me is the memories.”

  Some of the teasing light in his eyes dies out. “You’re fine now—“

  “Not me. My dad.”

  He looks at me and then glances away. “Oh.”

  I chide myself for thinking he would care either way, but it does nag at –

  “What happened?” His voice is softer, closer.

  My head whips over. One tan arm is stretched out toward me, close but not quite touching my arm. And I would give so much for him to even lay his palm on my skin.

  “Cancer,” I breathe.

  His lips contort into a grimace. “Damn.” His palm is shockingly normal feeling against my bare arm. Calloused, rough. I have a flash of what his hands would feel like rubbing up my legs, sides—

  I inhale sharply. “It was years ago.”

  He watches me. “That doesn’t make it easier, Nisha. Were you close?”

  “As close as I could be,” I mutter. “Him and mom had already gone through a divorce.” Another brow raise. “He cheated. Several times, actually.”

  Tanner winces. “Ouch.” And the inflection in his voice sounds like he genuinely means it.

  “We found out a few months later. Mom didn’t want me around him, and by the time I was able to see him … He was so far gone that he didn’t recognize me at all.”

  The cancer had eaten away at his mind as much as his body. Or maybe it was all the chemicals and medicines they had to use to keep him pain free and sedated. The memory of him in that damn bed … He had wasted away to nothing from the towering presence I grew up with.

  And a part of me still resents mom for keeping me away. Dad made mistakes. But so did she.

  Tanner’s hand flows up and down my arm in a tingling caress. “Come back to me, Nisha,” he says gently. I look at him, and his eyes are grey again. The color of his cat form. He offers an almost timid smile. “There you are.”

  “Is that an alpha thing too?” I ask, watching him from under my lashes. “Being able to pull me out of the past?”

  His smile turns sad. “No. But it might be a friend thing.”

  Friend?

  Oh yuck.

  I do not want to be friend zoned with him. Not that I should even be considering anyone after Chuck. Especially not so soon.

  I force myself to smile. “Friend is good,” I say instead, and my stomach takes that moment to grumble. Loudly

  Tanner snorts. “Hungry, are you?”

  My face flames brighter. “No dinner with everything that happened.”

  Some of the grey in his irises fades as he grins. There is something almost mischievous in the expression. Playful. And considering he is a giant cat in his second form, it makes so much sense. “Well, lucky for you, I happen to know this great place …” He starts walking down the hall toward the door.

  I blink and then run after him. “And where is this ‘great place’?”

  He tosses another smile over his shoulder. “You’ll just have to trust me and find out.”

  ***

  Tanner’s great place winds up being back at the camp ground. The man is not only gorgeous, but he knows his way around a grill.

  We sit on the floor of my cabin and eat while Caine sprawls over my unused bed. Horan took up position outside on guard detail, and I am trying hard not to think about why we need a guard at all.

  The TV flickers brightly over the walls, and I am surprised to find the demon watching reruns of old sitcoms.

  Tanner chuckles at my expression. “Don’t say a word,” he whispers as he passes me another burger before turning back to the show playing. “I love this episode.”

  I look between them and roll my eyes. But my grin hasn’t faded since we got back here.

  There is something about the easy camaraderie between all the guys. It really is like being at the station. They have this … family mentality. One you only get when you have seen the fires of hell together and came out to tell stories about it.

  I pull the patty from the bun and take a large bite. Juice flows over my chin, but I don’t care. I’m two full burgers in, and my stomach is still growling.

  Something rough scrubs over my lip. “The hunger will ease after your first shift.” I glance over as Tanner licks the fluid from his thumb. My body heats. “The reason you’re starving now is your body is fueling for the change.”

  I reach for a napkin and clean my face. Mainly to hide what that one motion did to me. Caine catches my eye from his place amongst my pillows. He grins wickedly, and I know that he knows what my body did.

  “What else do I need to know?” I ask Tanner to keep from looking at Caine’s snarky smile.

  Tanner leans back on his hands, upper body flexing under his shirt with the motion. “That depends on the form you take. Wolves are pack creatures by nature. Cats can go without a pack. We aren’t solitary exactly. The other half of us is human after all.” I smile. “But all shifters experience an upswing in power around the full moon. Alphas can control it better, but we are also the ones that feel it first.”

  “Always eat as much as you can before the moon rises. When we hunt, we stay close to reserves and pack land, but I have seen more than one hungry shifter veer towards a town.”

  I flinch and finish my damn burger.

  He nods. “The full moon isn’t just about hunting though. It’s the time to issue challenge to the Alpha, mate, and generally just handle all pack business. The actual run is how we blow off a month’s worth of steam. How we celebrate our victories. Mourn our losses.”

  “A shifter is in tune with the earth, the moon … How everything smells. How th
e lightest touch feels. We can see for leagues, and hear a herd of deer from miles out.” The first thread of silver filters into his eyes as I watch, and even Caine seems entranced with the man speaking. “It’s the shifting of dirt under your pads. How the wind pulls at your fur. It’s the feeling of your pack all around you. Knowing they’re watching your back as you watch theirs.”

  I can’t look away from him.

  “Tomorrow, we will run at Silver Rock. And if you shift … Great. If not, you will still run with the pack.”

  I look at him. “As a human?”

  His eyes flow over me. “You can keep up.”

  My cheeks burn. “Okay.”

  “But there are a few other rules you’re going to need to know.”

  “Like?” I ask, confused.

  “As a shifter, we can be a bit … carnal during a full moon. With the call of the hunt, the adrenaline of the chase …”

  “It makes you horny?” I ask, struck dumb.

  He nods. “I will try to keep the others at bay. Caine will be there too. So you need to stay as close to us as you can.”

  “What about you?” The question slips out before I can stop it.

  “What about me?”

  “Won’t I have to worry about you jumping me?” I try to make it a joke. But it comes out as a plea.

  His eyes flash.

  One second he is leaning back on his hands, the next he is crouched in front of me, all male and wilder than I have seen him yet.

  I gulp.

  God he smells good.

  He cocks his head, nostrils flaring. “If I want you, Nisha,” he croons, his voice lowering and rumbling with something like a purr in its depths. “Then I will take you.”

  My eyes fly wide. “What?”

  His grin is feral, and most assuredly not human. “You are a shifter now. Bitten, sure. But you have shifter blood in your veins. Regardless of if you shift tomorrow or not, every male in Silver Rock will be after you by scent alone.”

  Heart thundering, I can only stare at him. “What do I do?”

  He flexes his upper body and his cheek rubs against mine. The motion is catlike and more of his spicy scent fills my nose in a cloud. I go liquid and only his hot hands keep me upright.

  “You run, Nisha,” Tanner rumbles against me. “You run as fast as you can. Because tomorrow, we will all be hunting you.”

  Chapter 22

  Tanner

  Caine looks at me. “Run because we will all be hunting you?” he mimics my voice.

  I glare and rub my face for the zillionth time since he hauled me bodily from Nisha’s cabin. But even outside, her scent is still in my nose. As it is, she is marked with my scent. And every time I touch her, more of it rubs off on her skin. Hell her skin is like velvet, and I want to touch every damn inch of her.

  The low rumble of my cat spills from my lips.

  Caine scoffs. "Damn cats," he mutters.

  "I would think you prefer me like this," I say, not really focusing on him at all, but letting my senses trail outward. A lone grasshopper bounces off the side rail, drawing my eye back to Nisha's door.

  "I prefer it when you can think with something besides your dick," Caine snaps. "We still have to go look at the dead cats. If you take her now, we won't ever make it."

  My grin is feral. "How do you know I'm not a two pump and done kind of guy?"

  "You're a fucking shifter, Tanner." That gets my attention. Not cat or beast. But my actual name. I look at him. Really look. His eyes are crinkled at the corners and his mouth is pursed. "You guys fucks like you stalk your prey. Slow, languid, like you have all the gods-damn time in the world."

  "A shifter does."

  "Well right fucking now we don't," he tells me, stepping closer in the shadows of the trees next to the cabin. "We need to figure out where the damn Brightex came from. How it got onto pack land, and why they targeted Nisha."

  My eyes widen. "Protective of her now too?" He scowls. "I'm just saying. You have a thing with the women who come into this group."

  That small step turns into a crowding one as he glares at me. "Even the Asmodai respect their other halves. When you find a true armandour, you protect that partner. You treasure them. Because there is nothing else on any plain like the pleasure they can bring you." He jabs a finger into my chest. "Nothing."

  Gone is the playful demon. Even the asshole I have come to deal with the last few weeks. No, this is a side of Caine none of us have ever dealt with. This facade is almost painful to see. To witness.

  I don't make him move back. And I don’t shove at his fucking hand. Instead, following the instincts of my cat, I grip his shoulder and give it a tight squeeze.

  "We’re going back to Silver Rock, Caine. And we will figure out where the Brightex came from." His ruby eyes flash. "And I promise what happened to Lilah will not happen with Nisha. You have my word. She may not be mine, but we still protect the innocent. No matter what. And I know I can count on you to have my back."

  His breathing catches. And if my hand was not on his body, I would’ve never known because his expression never changes.

  Still, he remains quiet, watching me. Or maybe weighing me as only a creature of Sin can. It's like being tried in front of the Fates, a jury of my peers, and Saint Peter all at once.

  He nods.

  I squeeze again before letting my hand fall. "But you really should consider changing."

  That breaks the icy cast.

  He looks down at the clothes he donned this morning. They are now torn from the scuffle in the woods, and a bit of demon ichor stains the hem of one sleeve. It's far from his normal slacks and silk button up.

  He makes a sound of such complete disgust and steps off the porch.

  “Where are you going?” I ask, trying not to laugh.

  “To change, cat. We must return to Silver Rock. No one can see me in such rags.” He steps down the line to his cabin, and I can only shake my head.

  This version of the demon I’m only too familiar with.

  Chuckling under my breath, I head back inside to get Nisha ready to go.

  We have dead cats to examine and a man to find.

  ***

  I park my truck at the edge of the lot and frown at all the shifters so close to the rec hall. A massive bonfire has been lit in the old pit of the clearing and even more of the kin dance and party around the warm glow.

  But there is no one near the trees. No one looking for the man with the rifle loaded with darts of Brightex.

  Caine leans against the dash. “They scoured the woods already?”

  A familiar dark head sits on one of the picnic tables, a longneck in hand.

  My hackles rise and a low growl spills from my lips. “Fucking, Callus.” I climb from the truck and am vaguely aware of Caine’s door slamming behind me as I stalk over the gravel.

  The alpha glances up as I near, his face emptying of the smile from seconds before.

  I grab him by the fucking shirt and sling him from the tabletop. He rolls in the loose stone and comes up in a crouch.

  “The fuck is your deal?” he demands.

  I snarl. “Are you gods-damn kidding me? Why isn’t the pack searching the woods?”

  His eyes flash and he runs a hand through his hair and smoothes his shirt as he rises easily. “We got the dead rogues from the trees. There is no reason to keep looking.”

  Caine’s hot hand closes over my arm as soon as my foot rises to close the distance between myself and the Alpha. “T.”

  My teeth grind so hard they should snap. I peer at him. “Let me go.”

  His hellfire gaze roils with anger. “Look at the pack.”

  It takes everything in me to still the beast inside long enough to turn my head.

  Most of those present have moved closer, their eyes glowing softly in the darkness. I catch more than one set of shifted hands and long white teeth.

  Near the rear of the group, Ebony and her thetas wait, arms crossed and loose smiles curving
their lips. Though both massive men sport glowing irises, of all the shifters within distance, only they remain human in appearance.

  Pack alliance.

  The minute I touched Callus I drew a fucking line in the sand, and all my careful maneuvering went up in proverbial fucking smoke.

  Pack protects pack, and the day I walked away years ago guaranteed the people of Silver Rock are no longer mine.

  All except Ebony.

  My eyes lock on hers.

  She raises a brow, and I can see the waiting. Any order I give, she’ll follow it. Not Callus. But me.

  Her dark eyes flick behind me, and I know who is approaching more by scent that even that one small motion.

  Nisha’s scent swirls over me like a fucking balm and the cat inside me damn near purrs.

  “T?” Her voice is soft, like she isn’t quite sure she is supposed to speak.

  I reach one hand back without looking, and her small fingers slowly intertwine with mine. Callus’ eyes spin to the gold of his beast. But with her touch more than Caine’s, something in me loosens. Eases.

  I exhale. “There was a human on pack land. One with a rifle loaded with a dangerous drug called Brightex.” My voice is clear, concise. “This drug can harm even the kin.”

  Several of the shifters still, their heads turning as they exchange long looks.

  “The two rogues my team and myself dispatched were most likely dosed with Brightex. That means the human was capable of dosing them and bringing them here. To Silver Rock.”

  “My team and myself have fought this drug before.” I stop, jaw working as every fucking supe we buried months ago rises to the surface.

  Soft, yet calloused fingers move up my forearm and Nisha’s body presses in tight to my side. My eyes flutter before I can stop them.

  I turn my head and find her brilliant sea green eyes luminous in the dark.