Dev's Mate (Shifters on the run Book 2)

by Serena Simpson

  Her sponge dropped, and she found her mouth opening in shock. Mate? Her animal growled its satisfaction in her mind. He’s our mate. No, no she refused to even consider that line of thinking. She promised herself she would never get that caught up in a male again.

  There was the sound of sharp teeth snapping together in her mind. He’s our mate, and we want him.

  Her animal functioned on hunger, finding a mate, as well as killing what did it know about love. Nothing! It knew nothing about it, but she remembered how love hurt when it came from a man. No love. Stepping out of the shower she reached for a towel and dried off. She wasn’t making any sense, and she knew it. How could he be marvelous and still she was scared to even think love was a possibility? There was no logical reason except that she had been hurt. That should be reason enough. The thought of love was shoved into the back of her mind, and the thought of allowing him to care for her was what she would focus on.

  “Hi, I can see you’re going to be a shower hog. I think we’ll need a bigger water heater if you decide to stay.”

  The glint in his eyes and the way he showed her his teeth when he smiled told her he was teasing her. She wanted to shut it down, but she liked it.

  “Showers are healthy.” She walked over to the bed. Her nightwear consisted of shorts and a tee she found that looked comfy.

  “I was waiting for you to finish before I ordered us room service. What do you want?”

  “I’m starving. How could I be so hungry?”

  “Honestly you want to eat. You starved your animal, and until its satisfied, you’re going to feel like you could eat everything. What about a thick steak? I don’t know what you are, but I bet red meat sounds good right about now.”

  He was right it did. She’d love a thick steak her animal wanted it rare its concession to not getting it raw, but she was going to have to insist on medium with just a little pink in it.

  She gave him her order then laid back on the bed surprised by how comfortable she was with him.

  “I thought we could watch some television.”

  She propped a pillow behind her back and watched as he turned on the news. There was a male on that looked familiar.

  “Is that…”

  “Yes, the man who tried to abduct you.” He turned the volume up.

  “There were three of them they kidnapped my wife and then did this to me when I tried to save her.” He had a leg and an arm in a cast. They were driving a black SUV, but they probably ditched it by now. We were just starting to try for a baby. She could be pregnant already with those killers.”

  They flashed a picture of her with her red hair and gray eyes. It was older, so she had some additional weight on her, that should make them think twice before they said she was the woman in the picture.

  “How could they? How could he?”

  “They’re the government nothing is above them, remember that. What do you want to do?”

  “I always thought if I had black hair it would make my gray eyes look mysterious.”

  “It’s hard for me to imagine you with black hair but I’m sure you’ll be sexy as hell.”

  “You think? I want to cut it also.” He ran his hand through her long hair allowing it to flow through his fingers.

  “Short or long you make my cock hard.”

  She found herself humming a little ditty she happened to know. He didn’t give her some declaration of love but knowing she made him hard made her wet enough to wish she was alone so she could take care of the problem.

  His eyes were shining as she looked up at him. He knew what she was thinking, but she didn’t care because he was making her feel like she was worth every effort, every thought he put into her.

  “I’ll ask Lore or Ben to go out get some black dye. Is there a specific brand?”

  “I can’t believe I’m about to say this but tell them to get the one that looks the best to them. Did I just leave the fate of my hair in the hands of two males? Tell them I need scissors look for a hair store and tell them I need a new pair for my business. I also need clippers and anything else they recommend at the store.”

  He picked up the phone and told them what was happening and what she needed. The knock on their door told them food had arrived. She went into the bathroom turning on the sink as he answered the door. She waited until he called for her before she came out.

  “This is my life now, hiding.”

  “Not for long. Soon you’ll change how you look, and then we will wait to see if they splash my face, or Ben’s, and Lore’s over the news.”

  “Do you think that will happen?”

  “No, I think they have too much to lose by telling the world we’re still alive after they proclaimed us dead.”

  They sat down at the table and started to eat. “Tell me what did a young Rissa want to do when she grew up?”

  “Promise you won’t laugh.”

  “Umm, can I wait until I hear what it is before I promise?”

  Her arms went over her chest pushing her breast up which captured his attention.

  “I promise.” He wasn’t sure what he just promised. All he could think about was touching her.

  “Remember your promise.” She took another bite of her steak closing her eyes and savoring the taste before she told him. “I wanted to be a singer, but not any singer I wanted to be a star. I was going to stand on stage and hold the whole world in my hand with the sound of my voice.”

  “What stopped you?”

  “Soon after high school, I fell into the wrong crowd. That wasn’t supposed to happen to me I was the good girl. When I finally escaped, all I wanted was to work a job and hide in my apartment. I no longer desired national attention. Life sucks and then insists we live it.”

  “I agree but sometimes life is amazing, and without realizing it life gives you the perfect partner. Life brought you here, so I’m willing to cut it some slack.”

  There was a knock at the door followed by a swift whistle. He placed her out of sight and opened the door to let Lore and Ben in.

  “We got everything we thought you needed to become a different person. The woman at the store helped us with the hair dye.”

  “What did you tell her?”

  “That you were going to beautician school and this was a class project that you had to get right since it was on your head.”

  “She laughed and said she remembered when her roommate went through that. They spent all weekend making sure that she looked the best for when she went back to school.” Lore gave her a smile while Ben handed over the bag.

  “Thank you.” She poured it out on the bed and then began dreaming about what she wanted to look like.

  “Alright, there’s no need to dye all this hair since I’m cutting most of it off. So, that’s project number one.” She picked up the scissors and clippers and headed towards the bathroom.

  They watched her disappear before looking for a news channel to watch the story again.

  “I like your Rissa. All the woman I have known in the past would have lost their shit if they saw this story on the news,” Ben told him. Lore nodded in agreement this was a lot to have to take in.

  The man said his name was Mark, but they knew better. He was pretending to be an office grunt working for the government. At least half his story was correct.

  “Do you think we should leave when she finishes with her hair?” Lore looked at him before shifting his eyes back to the bathroom door.

  “No. She needs rest and so do we if we want to be in top form.”

  “Who’s that?”

  A male with multiple tattoos was on the news holding a younger picture of Rissa.

  “I don’t know what lies this Mark has been telling, but Rissa belongs to me I’ve been longing to get her back. I miss my little love bug.”

  They eyed each other almost throwing up at the man’s words.

  Dev silently fumed. Did he say she belonged to him like she was a possession?

  “What do you think of m
y masterpiece?” She walked out smiling until she saw the man on the screen. Her body started shaking as she eyed the door.

  “Rissa who is he?”

  “I…I don’t want to talk about him I need to dye my hair.”

  He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly until the shaking stopped.

  “You’re safe here, but you’re going to have to tell me about him, so I know how to protect you.”

  She stepped away from him and reached for the dye the beauty of her hair style long forgotten.

  “Rissa?”

  “He’s the devil, the one that threatens to kill me in the middle of the night.” She slammed the bathroom door behind her and turned on the shower so they wouldn’t hear her crying.

  “He’s dead. She’s in the bathroom crying, and I’m going to kill him because of it.”

  “We don’t know what he did.”

  “Look at him.” They were replaying that interview with him. It was easy to get caught up in the tat’s and call him evil. They could care less about them. It was his eyes they were watching and the sound of his voice when he talked about Rissa. There was nothing loving and caring in it.

  “I know about men like him.” Lore told them about his childhood once, they shivered because he was just like Lore’s father. “I’ll help you.”

  “Do you think he’s working with the military and the government?” Ben asked in an all to silent voice.

  “Definitely, they got a hard on when he revealed himself.”

  “Peterson?” They all went quiet. He was the male behind their torment any of them would gladly rip his throat out and have a beer afterward.

  Dev looked at the screen and promised him death as well as the fool that started all of this. His patience had run out.

  Chapter Ten

  She walked out the bathroom on silent feet hoping that Dev was asleep since the light was off. She edged towards the door needing to be free. He would find her if she didn’t run, he would find Dev and destroy the only good male she ever met.

  “I love your hair. Where did you learn to style like that?”

  She froze, he wasn’t asleep. Instead, he was propped up against the headboard silently waiting for her.

  “When I was a teen I wasn’t allowed to do my own hair, but I did my friends, and I got good at it. I knew one day I would give myself some kick-ass style that the world would envy when I stood on the stage. I was so young back then, nothing could stop me. Little did I know I was about to go down in a fiery crash minus the blaze of glory. Do you really like my hair?”

  “I do.”

  She nodded before she turned around and slowly walked to the bed. She climbed in and over him until she reached her spot. It was unreal to have a spot on the bed with him, but she did. He slept by the door always, and she slept against the wall. He was protecting her even when he slept.

  His finger stroked her hair. It was short just a couple of inches long, and she had shaved one side of her head. She would be able to wash and go unlike when her hair was long, and she loved how her gray eyes seemed to stand out now.

  “I was twenty-one singing in a club when I first met him. He didn’t have any tats yet, but he had hair that never stayed in place. His blue eyes seemed to look right through me capturing my heart and soul. Later I would realize that he really was looking through me. I wasn’t a person to him.

  “He watched me for weeks before he finally got up the courage to ask me out. It was so sweet I could hardly stand it. I was sure I found my dream man.”

  His hand slid across the bed and entwined with hers, telling her without words that he was here with her.

  “We dated and laughed, and I ignored the warning signs. I’d like to say I was young and I didn’t see them, but that’s not true. I saw them I just didn’t believe them. I blamed myself when he acted strangely, wondered what I had done and what I could do to fix it. I don’t think you ever expect the first hit. One night after singing I came home because by now we were living together. I figured it was okay because I knew we were going to get married. I came home to find him waiting on the couch for me.”

  She had run to him and jumped into his lap so excited to tell him her news. A scout for a major label had approached her. There was nothing official, heck there was nothing unofficial but he promised to come back and listen to her. It was a start, and she had worked so hard for it.

  “His fist came out of nowhere and broke my jaw. I laid on the floor looking up at him thinking had a stranger taken him over. Was this the invasion of the body snatchers in real life?”

  The tears that tracked down her face had come so slowly as her mind tried to understand what just happened to her.

  “He took me to the emergency room and told the doctors I fell down the steps. I agreed because by then fear was setting in. My whole future went up in smoke due to him hitting me. He didn’t want me to sing anymore even though it was my life. It was how I made money. The guy from the record label came back a couple of times but stopped coming because I couldn’t sing with my jaw wired shut.”

  Why hadn’t she left? It was so easy when you were on the outside looking in to say just get up and leave. It wasn’t that easy for her. By the time she could talk or sing again, she knew he would kill her if she left.

  “My jaw, my arm, my leg and then he stabbed me. That’s when I knew that he was going to kill me if I left and he was going to kill me if I stayed. Leaving him wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t simple. I had to do it in the middle of the night when he was drunk from spending time with his friends. I left the state changed my name and never looked back unless I was checking my rearview mirror to make sure he hadn’t caught up with me.

  “I’ve never done anything as hard as that, not even become an animal. Every time I hear of a woman who made it out of an abusive situation I want to sit down and weep for joy that she made it. I know what she went through. Fear is a very real thing that will eat your soul and leave you empty if you let it.”

  She was shaking, she hated that his memory could do this to her after so many years of being away from him. Now he was looking for her again, and if he found her, it would be a death sentence.

  Dev encircled her giving her plenty of time to pull away if she wanted. When she didn’t, he eased her closer until she was tight against his side with his arms closing around her. Slowly he rocked her as she placed her head on his chest and cried.

  “This is stupid,” her voice cracked, and he kept rocking her. “I’m over him, he can’t affect me anymore.” If only she believed that, she could feel his hands against her skin.

  “He liked to hurt me when he…” She allowed her voice to trail off. How could she tell him that? What must he think of her?

  He eased them both down until they were lying on the bed. His hands went to her waist picking her up and placing her on his chest.

  Animal strength, it was sexy as hell. He wrapped his arms around her and didn’t say a word. She laid her head over his heart and listened to the strong beat under her ear.

  Slowly almost reluctantly she began to talk. “He was the first guy I was ever with, I thought I was supposed to feel pleasure, but he quickly let me know I was wrong. The longer I stayed with him, the worse it got. He even liked to tie me up and keep me there for days calling me names I won’t repeat. He did things to me that featured in my nightmares for years.” She talked until the poison, and the bitterness she was keeping on the inside was finally out giving her heart a chance to be free and light.

  His hands were stroking up and down her back making her tired. She gave a big yawn and closed her eyes feeling better than she had in a long time.

  “I’m going to kill him.” His voice was soft, it was a promise, not a threat.

  She fell asleep holding that promise close to her chest.

  *~*~*~*

  He was still holding her when she woke up. His arms were secured around her, and she felt safe. That was a feeling she hadn’t felt since the first time Roger hit her. Ro
ger, when she first met him, she thought he was classically all-American down to his name. She was so sure he would give her the stability she needed as she became a superstar. Eventually, she learned there was nothing in his name except pain.

  There was a point in her life when she thought she was ready to date again. It led her to her off again on again boyfriend. They connected over the fact that they had both been abused, but she knew the relationship wouldn’t last long. When it was over, she vowed there would never be another one. She wouldn’t have another man who had control over her life and could hurt her anytime he wanted to. All she wanted to be was free.

  At least that’s what she wanted until Dev came into her life with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball. He never forced her, held her when she cried, and listened to her. He gave her choices, he would have made the perfect person to hold her down if she became a superstar but that dream was ended.

  Now she was dreaming of his lips on her. She wanted to feel him deep inside of her while she was still her own person and could make her own decisions. For once even if it was only one time she wanted to know what it was like to be made love to because the male loving her didn’t see her as a victim, but a female worthy of love.

  Her fingers slipped under his tee to make small patterns over his chest even as she wished things could be different. If only she had met him before her life was flushed away.

  His hand went over her fingers stilling them. “Your touch is driving me wild. My animal and me, want to touch you, kiss you, and make love to you.”

  She tilted her head up to see his eyes were still closed, but the curve of his mouth showed the struggle he was going through to stay still. She lifted herself up until her lips were over his almost touching.

  “Who said you couldn’t touch?” She lowered her lips to caress his. It was the boldest move she could ever think of doing with a male. The caress of her lips made his mouth open as a small groan of pleasure left him. She pressed closer allowing her tongue to invade his mouth.