Claiming Her Mates Complete Series Collection

by Dia Cole

  Gabe bared his teeth and moved the lever between his legs.

  The helicopter pitched to the side.

  Screaming, I braced my hands against the ceiling of the helicopter. “Ah fucking hell. Stop that!”

  Gabe had the nerve to laugh as he righted the aircraft. “You should see yourself. I think you were close to pissing your pants.”

  Forgetting my fear of heights for the moment, I grinned. It’d been ages since I’d heard Gabe’s deep rumbling chuckle. He hadn’t so much as told a joke or cracked a smile in years. Not since Tasha ordered him to murder his entire family. And who can blame him? The male had literally lived everyone’s worst nightmare. I never thought he’d recover from it. But then Havana had come along.

  She’d healed Gabe physically and emotionally. For that I’d be eternally grateful. Not that I wasn’t already eternally grateful to her for choosing me as her mate.

  My spirits rose higher than the fucking chopper. Havana had bonded with me! Me. Liam the Skull Crusher. No longer would I be the unchosen giant that females, both Lykos and human, backed away from in fear.

  The stupid grin on my face faded as the memories of watching other males be chosen over me time after time flashed into my mind. Before the familiar hurt could take root, I pushed it away. It didn’t matter anymore. They didn't matter anymore. It was Havana and me now. Well… technically me, Gabe, Doc, and Havana now. But I didn’t mind sharing.

  I looked over at Gabe who was staring straight ahead.

  “That’s something you don’t see every day,” he said pointing out the windshield.

  I followed his gaze and grunted. It was a nice view if you were into snowy mountain ranges and pine trees that looked like rock candy lollipops reaching up to the sky. Mmm. Lollipops. My stomach rumbled reminding me it’d been hours since I’d last eaten. Before we’d left, I caught a whiff of what Doc had been cooking. Pork chops. My favorite. I rubbed my belly wishing Gabe would turn the flying death trap around.

  “There’s the ski resort,” Gabe said nodding at the cluster of buildings appearing in the distance.

  I glanced down at the empty ski lifts. I didn’t see a single zombie anywhere. Where are all the undead?

  “Probably buried under the snow,” Gabe answered, reading my mind. “That’s the hotel, and that’s the lodge,” he added, flying the chopper straight toward two buildings. The taller modern square building had to be the hotel. It connected to the more rustic-looking ski lodge via a glass-enclosed walkway.

  Motion inside the walkway caught my attention. “Are there people in there?”

  “Not sure. Let’s get a closer look.” Gabe did a slow flyover.

  There was a shark frenzy of bloody bodies inside the glass tube. All were slamming themselves against the door leading to the ski lodge. It didn’t take more that a heartbeat to realize those things were zombies. There was only one reason they’d be trying to take down the door.

  Gabe cursed, coming to the same conclusion. “There are survivors in the lodge.”

  Fuck. I clenched my hands into fists. “What do we do?”

  Before Gabe could respond, a deep voice boomed inside my mind. “Thank the fates you’re here.”

  Gabe stiffened, obviously hearing the same voice. “Nathan, are you inside the lodge?”

  Nathan? As in Nathan Steele, the Alpha?

  Gabe nodded his head slightly in response to my unspoken question.

  “Yes. What the fuck took you so long?” The Alpha’s voice carried a mixture of relief and anger. “I’m here with Mira and nearly a dozen human survivors. Look to your left.”

  Gabe and I looked over at the ski lodge.

  The silver-haired male leaned out a window and waved at us. Even from this distance I could see lines of tension on the Alpha’s face and dark red stains covering his dress shirt. What the hell happened to him?

  A small female face appeared in the window next to Nathan. Based on the child’s long, silver-streaked hair, it had to be his daughter, Mira.

  On one hand, I was happy the young Alpha female had survived, but on the other, I sensed bringing her and Nathan back to Sanctuary would complicate things. I didn’t like complications.

  I knew Gabe hadn’t searched for the Alpha male, up until now, for the exact same reason.

  Gabe glanced at the two seats behind us. “We won’t be able to fit everyone.”

  “Then we’ll take trips.” Nathan said in an authoritative tone. “The children go first.”

  Children? My gut twisted. I hated the thought of any child in danger.

  Gabe didn’t miss a beat. “We can fly them to Sanctuary and come back for the rest.”

  “We have to hurry. I don’t know how long the skywalk door will hold. Can you land on top of the lodge?” Nathan asked.

  “Negative,” Gabe responded looking at the pitched roof. “What about the parking lot in front?”

  “That’s a no-go. I’ve barricaded the Ackermans downstairs, but if you land on the ground, there’s a chance they’ll get out and attack you.”

  “Who are the Ackermans?”

  “Think super fast zombies that regenerate injuries,” replied Nathan. “Trust me. You don’t want to run into them.”

  Fast zombies? I didn’t like the sound of that.

  “How many Ackermans are there?” Gabe asked.

  “Two. Paul and Linda are nearly impossible to kill and they’re not dumb like the other zombies. They’ve come close to dismantling the barricade twice.” The tightness in Nathan’s voice betrayed the danger he and the other survivors were in.

  “It’s a good thing we came along when we did,” I said privately to Gabe.

  Gabe nodded and turned his attention to the hotel. “What if I landed there?” He flew the chopper to a large hotel balcony overlooking the skywalk. It looked as if the balcony belonged to the hotel’s restaurant. Snow-covered tables and chairs were stacked near French patio doors, leaving a wide-open space to land the chopper.

  I sent the Alpha a mental image of the location.

  “That’ll work. I’ll carry the children over the skywalk, and hand them up to you. Stand by.” Nathan broke off the connection with us.

  Gabe slowly lowered the chopper down. The whirling rotor blade turned the snow on the balcony into a mini blizzard around us.

  We both held our breaths as the landing skids touched down. When it didn’t seem as if the balcony would collapse, I unbuckled my harness and started to open the door.

  “Wait for the blade to stop,” yelled Gabe.

  “Fuck that. You keep the chopper running. We may need to fly out of here at a moment’s notice.” I jumped out of the cockpit, and then keeping my head ducked down, I ran to the railing on the edge of the balcony. From there I could make out Nathan climbing out of the ski lodge window.

  Displaying enviable strength, the silver-haired Alpha male pulled himself onto the roof with one arm. Besides his bloodstained shirt, he wore a pair of shredded dress pants that looked as if they’d gone through a shift. He had something strapped to his chest. It took me a second to realize it was an infant.

  Ah hell.

  While I was digesting the fact that we would need to care for a tiny babe, Nathan braced one arm on the roof and reached the other arm down.

  A gray-haired human female appeared in the window. She helped a young boy, around the age of five, climb out.

  The Alpha grabbed the boy and maneuvered him onto his back. Once the boy’s hands locked around his neck, Nathan reached down to the window.

  The old woman was already lifting his daughter up toward him. Tendrils of the girl’s silver-streaked hair flew around her face.

  Nathan grabbed Mira, secured her on his left hip, and reached down to the window again.

  Fuck. How many babes are there?

  This time the human handed him a toddler dressed in a blue snowsuit.

  After snatching up the toddler, the Alpha male stood. With the toddler in his right arm, his daughter in his left, t
he older boy on his back, and the infant strapped to his chest, Nathan carefully made his way across the sloping ski lodge roof toward the skywalk.

  My blood iced over as I watched his slow progress.

  When he finally reached the skywalk, he shouted, “Do you have a rope?”

  I realized there was at least a dozen feet between the top of the skywalk and the balcony. In wolf form, the Alpha could have easily covered that distance, but there was no way he could shift with the precious cargo he carried.

  “We need rope!” I mentally shouted at Gabe.

  “There’s some in the back.”

  Ducking to avoid the lethal blade, I ran to the chopper door and wrenched it open.

  “There,” Gabe said, motioning at a coil of thick rope strapped to the back of his seat.

  I quickly uncoiled it, secured one end to the landing skids, and then ran back to the balcony railing.

  Below, Nathan was slowly crossing the top of the skywalk. His bare foot knocked free a large clump of snow that tumbled three stories down.

  The zombies inside the walkway frantically slapped and punched at the glass, following Nathan’s progress like fish in an aquarium. As more and more dead crammed into the small space, spiderweb fractures appeared in the walls.

  Oh fuck. The skywalk is not going to hold.

  “Where’s my rope?” Nathan shouted.

  I tossed the end of the rope over the rails.

  Nathan shifted the toddler and grabbed the rope. Then he tied it around the little guy’s waist. “Bring him up!”

  The toddler started wailing as soon as Nathan released him to dangle in the air.

  I leaned over the balcony and reeled the babe in.

  As soon as I had him, the chubby-cheeked tyke stopped crying.

  “It’s okay, little man,” I said, in a gentle voice, setting him down. Feeling bad that I didn’t have time to comfort the toddler, I threw the rope back over the side of the balcony.

  This time Nathan tethered his daughter.

  It looked as if she was fighting him. “No, Daddy. I’m staying with you.”

  “Sunshine, go with Liam and Gabriel. They’ll take you to Vana. Then they’ll come back for me.”

  “Vana?” Mira’s voice shook.

  More cracks formed along the side of the walkway.

  “Hurry!” I shouted.

  Bloodcurdling shrieks rang out.

  For a moment I thought the babe strapped to Nathan was wailing, but then I caught sight of two shrieking figures racing around the side of the building. One was a tall, lanky male dressed in flannel boxer shorts. The other was a voluptuous dark-haired naked woman whose quivering breasts captivated me for a moment.

  Nathan looked down at them and paled. “Those are the Ackermans!” Moving frantically he unbuckled the baby carrier around his waist and fastened it around Mira. “Hold on tight to baby Sierra.”

  Looking dazed, Mira clutched the babe to her chest.

  The infant began to cry. Her tiny shrieks melded in with the otherworldly cries of the Ackermans.

  Below the skywalk, the dark-haired woman unhinged her jaw and let out another shriek that rattled my skull. Then she bent her knees and jumped on top of the walkway, landing a few yards from Nathan.

  They can jump???

  “Bring them up!” Nathan shouted, and then he spun around to face the woman.

  Instead of attacking, the naked woman sank down on her haunches studying Nathan and the child clinging to his neck.

  The hair on the back of my neck rose. What the fuck is she? Not sure I wanted to find out, I yanked Mira and the wailing babe up lightning fast. Then I quickly untied them and set them down on the balcony next to the toddler.

  One more to go. “Here!” I tossed the rope over the rails.

  Nathan carefully swung the boy off his back and reached for the rope.

  “Mom!” shouted the boy. He ducked between Nathan’s legs, making a beeline for the naked woman.

  “No, Kaden!” Nathan darted after the boy and grabbed him. “She’s not your mom anymore.”

  The woman gnashed her blood-covered teeth.

  That’s the kid’s mother? Shit. “Tether him! I’ll bring him up!”

  Nathan tightened his arms around the boy.

  The child was fighting him. Even though his mother was clearly anything but human, the young fool still wanted to go to her.

  “You have to go with Liam.” With his arms wrapped tightly around the kicking boy, the Alpha male turned toward the rope.

  In a blur of motion, the woman sprang into the air and slammed into Nathan’s back. Nathan and the boy flew off the top of the walkway. Thankfully, a thick snowbank broke their fall.

  Just as I released a relieved breath, the naked woman let out another shriek and followed them to the ground. Immediately she and the tall male started circling Nathan and the boy like hungry sharks.

  Fuck!

  Nathan ripped the boy out of the snow and backed toward the wall.

  He needs my help! “Nathan!” I slung a leg over the rail, preparing to jump down and assist.

  The Alpha male glanced up at me. “Liam, go now! Get the kids to safety!” His shout carried so much Alpha power, it made my head ring.

  Damn him! Unable to fight Nathan’s compulsion, I gathered the children and carried them to the chopper.

  As I jumped in back with the babes, Gabe spun around. “What’s going on?”

  “Nathan’s in trouble,” I said through gritted teeth. “But he compelled me to take these kids and go.” Needing to secure the children, I set Mira and the babe in the seat next to mine and buckled the shoulder lap belt across their small bodies. Not knowing what else to do with the toddler, I pulled him into my lap with his face pressed against my chest.

  The little guy clung to me like a monkey, blinking up at me with thickly lashed brown eyes.

  Nathan’s compulsion drove me to shout, “Why aren’t we moving? Let’s go!”

  Gabe whistled. “You don’t see that every day.”

  I followed his gaze out the side window.

  The naked female stood perched on the balcony railing staring at us.

  Fuck! I didn’t know what she was capable of, but based on Nathan’s fear of her, I didn’t want to find out. “Get us in the air, Gabe!”

  Gabe spun around to the flight deck and seconds later we rose into the air. Suddenly, we pitched to the side.

  “What’s happening?” I yelled, buckling the seat harness around the toddler and me.

  “You didn’t untie the rope!” Gabe shouted.

  “What?” I looked out the window.

  The naked female was underneath us, yanking hard on the trailing rope still attached to the helicopter’s landing skids. Oh, shit!

  8

  Havana

  The dread swirling in the depths of my stomach intensified as Mason and I bounded over the Sanctuary walls in wolf form.

  We raced past the cabin, neither of us even sparing the small building a glance. Following Tina’s instructions we stayed on the road until we came to a small bridge. There, we veered west following a frozen river for a few miles until we came to a thick forest of trees.

  Branches clawed at my fur as we raced by a sign designating the area as part of the Sunridge ski resort. We have to be getting close. We switched directions and headed north.

  It felt wrong to head up the mountain, but according to Tina there was no quicker way down the mountain than the trams that traveled from summit to base.

  Panting, Mason and I climbed until the pine trees abruptly disappeared and we found ourselves on a large mountain peak. We ran to the east side of the summit and looked down. Below us was a wide steep slope, dotted with jagged rocks jutting out of the snow.

  “Look there.” Mason pointed his snout at the cables in the distance. The black cables—hanging dozens of feet off the ground, were stark against the gray sky. It looked as if they’d been strung from the bottom of the mountain, through several lattic
e steel towers, straight to a large metal structure up ahead.

  Mason slowed. “That has to be the tram terminal.”

  Finally! “Let’s go.” I bolted over to the structure only to find an empty platform. “Where’s the tram?” It has to be here. Panic clogged my throat. “Where’s the goddamn tram?”

  Mason followed close behind. “Just relax, love. It’s on its way.” He looked up at the moving haul cable and the whirling gears above our heads. “Remember Tina said there are two trams that run continuously.”

  “Right.” Tina also said the tram terminals had been packed with zombies. Crap. Anxiety chewed at me while we waited. Unable to sit calmly like the golden wolf next to me, I paced in a circle.

  “It’s here,” Mason announced, his gaze fixed on the green-and-silver boxlike tram moving toward us. “Remember the plan.”

  I nodded. My stomach knotted as I settled into position next to him. Every muscle in my body coiled, ready to pounce on whatever dead thing walked out.

  The tram swung into the platform and stopped. The double doors slid open.

  My heart hammered and my breath came in jagged pants.

  Nothing stumbled out. Nothing moved inside.

  Slowly the tension seeped out of my body. Maybe it really isn’t as bad as Tina says.

  “Wait here,” Mason ordered, before cautiously approaching the doors.

  I rolled my eyes. When will he and the others get that I’m the Alpha? Growling, I bounded past Mason and dove into the tram.

  The smell of rotting meat slapped me in the face. My paws slid on the sticky, wet floor and I skidded straight into something soft and squishy. A quick look down made bile rise up the back of my throat. I was standing inside the remains of someone—an almost entirely eaten someone.

  “Serves you right for not waiting,” Mason said, stepping into the tram.

  Letting out a soft whine, I tried to shake my paws free of the viscera, and nearly tripped over the dead person’s legs. Based on the length of the jagged, fully exposed, femur, the deceased had been an adult male. Oh, Jesus. There are teeth marks in the bone. My stomach rolled. Against my better judgment, I looked at the guy’s face. It, and most of the dead guy’s head, was missing.