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

by Serena Simpson

  “Why would he lower himself to be in that room?” Ben asked.

  She waited for an answer. The name Peterson had never been uttered before she met them, but the females she was held with all believed there was a mastermind behind what was happening to them.

  “What if he is the one putting mates together?”

  “Why did you say that?”

  “Don’t you think it’s weird I just happen to be attracted to you, and you happen to be attracted to me? If I was truthful I wasn’t really attracted to my last boyfriend, he was just there, and it was easier than searching for someone I wanted to be with.”

  “If we go with Rissa’s theory then he would want to be in the room. That’s what I would want.” Lore looked around the Jeep meeting each of their eyes.

  “Why?”

  “I would want to see how Dev was going to react when he came in and found his mate had been raped, not just raped but defiled and maybe beat beyond recognition.”

  “He gets off on it.”

  “I agree with you, Dev, but I think it’s more. What if he thinks of it as research? He’s created these unions, and now he wants to see how they work.”

  “Maybe, but it feels like there is more to it than that. I agree he wanted to see my reaction to what was happening to Rissa, but this feels personal. Not personal in the sense that he knows us, but personal like he’s somehow invested in what happens to us.”

  “Do you think he wants us to prevail?” Ben asked.

  “No, I think he wants us to fail in such a dramatic fashion that his point whatever it is will never be forgotten.”

  “What do we do now?” Her throat was still hurting to the point that she regretted talking.

  “First you sip at this, it will help your throat.” He placed the bottle against her lips and tilted it slightly until she could take sips from it. Next, we find a place to stop for a while, refuel, and get a good meal.”

  “They’re not going to stop coming after me.” Her eyes drifted close because she didn’t want to see the truth when he realized he was going to have to let her go.

  “I know. Right now, Peterson or someone else is cursing themselves because they didn’t have you directly brought to their facility. I’m glad, it was easier to rescue you from the hotel room.”

  Lore merged onto the highway, and they lapsed into silence each lost in their own thoughts until he pulled in front of a motel.

  “How much longer until we get to your land?”

  “We’ve decided to take the long way and do some doubling back. It won’t be anytime soon.”

  She nodded, they were being careful something she now needed to be too.

  Dev came back with keys and led her to their room. She stood staring at him just inside the door unable to get any sound past the constriction in her throat.

  “Take a shower.”

  She nodded her head grabbed her bags and slammed the door behind her. Stripping she got in the shower and let the tears roll. She wasn’t crying because she was scared or hurt. Those were legitimate things to cry about, but her tears were full of fury. Her body shook in anger. No one had the right to treat her that way to hit her as if she was nothing. The tears dried up, and her shoulders straightened, she wouldn’t let them get the best of her. They wanted to take the only good thing she ever found, and she wouldn’t allow that to happen, but one day they would regret ever meeting her.

  She dried her hair with a towel and decided wash and go was the best thing she ever did with it. She dressed in a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt so that Dev wouldn’t see the bruises on her body.

  There was a smile plastered to her lips when she walked into the other room. “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”

  “Then I better feed my lioness.”

  “I’m a lion?” A real smile curved her lips as her cheeks got bright at the thought. “You know what that makes me, right?”

  “What?”

  “I’m a badass. Watch out Mr. Bear I might knock you down and eat you for dinner.”

  “I like the sound of that. In fact, I have something you could suck on, I’m sure it will fill you up.”

  “Did you just? Yes, you did!” She found herself sitting on the bed and wiping tears of joy from her eyes. He just made a dirty joke, it wasn’t that funny, but she never got to that part of a relationship where someone teased her about sex.

  “I see you think I’m teasing. I mean every word.”

  He sat by her pulling her into his arms as his lips caressed hers.

  “You’re so beautiful and strong. I saw you fighting back, and I was so proud of you.”

  She opened her mouth, and his tongue entered kissing her deeply.

  “I thought you might not want me.”

  “I will always want you. I hate Peterson, but at least he somehow knew which female was the right one for me. You’re my mate, and I never want to let you go.”

  “We should talk about this.”

  “We will after I feed you. I found a nice restaurant, I thought we could have dinner just you and me.”

  “I like the sound of that.” She rubbed her nose against his throat breathing in his heady scent before she stood up.

  “Rissa, you don’t have to pretend.”

  She looked up her gray eyes stabbing him. “I pretended for years with Roger. When I finally got away, I pretended again that everything would be okay. When I worked for Paranormal Today, I pretended that was where I wanted to be. When the government took me and placed a lion inside of my body, I told myself it was time to stop pretending. I no longer believed that everything would be okay or that I had a right to claim that thought. Then you came into my life challenging me, making me smile when I wanted to be filled with rage. You ran with me when I was an animal, you accepted me. Somewhere between the time you told me you would always come for me and the time you saved me, I truly stopped pretending. This isn’t an act. I will not let them steal one moment of the life I get to live with you. I’m hungry what about you?”

  “Let’s go eat.” He knew she was strong. Knew it from the moment she opened those gray eyes to look at him, but this was so much more. She went from strong to some indestructible material that you could study for a lifetime and never understand.

  He opened the door and held out his hand. She slid hers into his so trustingly as they left the room. If he met her before he was experimented on, before he fled the government and made an unconventional life for himself, he would have cherished her, thought there was no woman like her. He still cherished her, but now he had an appreciation for her backbone, for the way she endured and dealt with problems, he saw her differently because he was different. He appreciated what he would never have even thought to appreciate in his other life.

  Someone was watching over him in the hell that they were living through.

  “What do you think? Do you want to eat here?”

  Here was a restaurant about three blocks from the motel. They had walked over taking their time as they held hands and talked about nothing.

  “It looks nice.” It had a small intimate feel to it, but the patrons were dressed casually so they wouldn’t feel out of place.

  The lighting was low when they walked in, but it didn’t hinder them. The maître d greeted them.

  “Table for two?”

  “Yes.”

  “I will need to see your reservations.”

  “We didn’t know we needed reservations.”

  He ignored her and picked up her wrist a light shined from it before he did the same for Dev.

  “Follow me your table is ready.”

  They walked through the crowded restaurant. Rissa found herself staying close to Dev, the patrons were making her animal hiss.

  They walked past a table with a couple that was staring at him. The male was big with several braids hanging from the side of his head. The female was petite, he held her by his side.

  The maître d stopped at a table for four. “Enjoy your meal.” He
handed them menu’s after they were seated before he left them alone.

  “Am I just seeing strange everywhere I go or was that strange?”

  “It was strange.” He turned to look around the room there was no sense of danger.

  “I don’t feel any danger, but I get a sense that everything is not what it looks like on the surface.”

  “Can I take your orders?”

  Rissa looked up into a pair of eyes that were opal gray. She blinked before running her hand over her face.

  “Do you know what you want?”

  “I do.” He began giving his order to the waitress before she gave hers.

  “You probably get people telling you this all the time, but your eyes are beautiful and unique looking.”

  “Thank you.” She walked away with a wide smile.

  “Did you see her eyes?”

  “I did, I don’t think she’s human.”

  “What? That doesn’t make sense. How could she be here working if she weren’t human.”

  “We’re not human.”

  “But we’re not working.” Her voice came out in a rush even as she kept it to a whisper.

  “He’s right you know the waitress isn’t human. In fact, no one here is human. They may have been at one time in their lives much like you, but now they are different, just like you.”

  “You.”

  “Me. Allow me to introduce you to my mate.” His hand stretched out, and a female who was standing behind him came to his side.

  “This is Dev and his mate Rissa. They are the shifters I was telling you about.”

  He held the chair for her to sit before seating himself.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Hi, I’m Rissa. I didn’t catch your name.”

  There was a deep growl from Talon that had his mate touching his chest before she began to stroke him.

  “That’s because Talon didn’t say it. Now that he and I are mated no one uses my name to protect me.”

  “Why do you need to be protected?”

  “All females in this world, you can call it the shifter world, but it would be more accurate to call it a world of others, we have one common enemy. His name is Ha’cho.

  Rissa blinked at her with wide eyes. She sighed before shaking her head.

  “I sometimes forget just how much you don’t know. The humans have beings that are loving and kind, then they have those that are hated for their acts against humanity. Ha’cho is a being that is hated for the acts he has committed towards the females of our race.”

  “What has he done?” Pictures of being locked up and tortured came back to her mind along with her recent experience.

  “He killed them.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “He killed large portions of the female population. My mate, as well as others, think I am on the list because I am the first mate to one of them in over a thousand years. Recently he tried to kill the first female mate of an angel. I also believe he is now targeting mates to created shifters.”

  “Why doesn’t he know your name?”

  “Like you, I was human with a few perks most don’t have.”

  “Enough, if you survive long enough then you can know the name she is using now, but this is not why we are here.”

  “Okay,” she drew the word out. “I guess you don’t have a lot of faith in our abilities.”

  Dev stood up and walked over to Talon lowering his voice. “If you ever yell at my mate again, I will make sure you regret it.”

  He laughed. “That’s why I like you and your crew. Take a seat.” His eyes flashed gray lightning.

  The waitress brought over four meals before leaving them alone.

  “Since you are here I take it you have something to tell us.”

  “My mate insisted we deliver the warning about Ha’cho to you.”

  “Ha’cho to the shifters is like Satan to humans?”

  “Yes, except I think he’s worse. I’ve never seen Satan I have seen Ha’cho.”

  “Well, that’s a twist on an old favorite. So, what your saying is he is very real.”

  She nodded her head.

  “You know I need to call you something, I’d like to call you Zayro.”

  “Why?”

  “It sounds right. Like when the scientist say this is person zero. You’re the first Zayro.”

  “You have my permission.”

  “Please tell me why you are telling us about Ha’cho. Do you think he will come after me?”

  “I do, but not directly. I believe he will send someone after you.”

  “Roger.”

  “Who?”

  “Roger, let’s call him a bad seed in a garden of bad seeds.”

  “Why would he be interested in Rissa or any of us?”

  “He’s looking for something, no one has an idea of what it is. The female angels may have known, and he destroyed them for it. Created shifters have just really made themselves known, especially the females. Turns out you have powers he wasn’t counting on. Now he’s taking a deeper look at the females.”

  Rissa took a bite of her food. It was a classic steak, baked potato, and a salad. All they seemed to serve here was the basics, but they tasted excellent. She paired hers with a glass of merlot and a glass of water.

  “How did you meet Talon?”

  Zayro smiled, and her whole body lit up with joy. Her hand reached out to touch him.

  “That’s a story for a different day.”

  “What should we do if we meet Ha’cho?”

  “You won’t meet him, but you may meet his emissary. Be on guard. Look for anything out of the ordinary and be cautious of his ability to make you think you’re crazy.”

  “One last bit of advice, claim your mate.”

  They stood up Zayro smile at Talon before they disappeared.

  “Well, we didn’t learn a lot.”

  “You’re running it through that military brain of yours. I’m running it through my female brain. There is a group, a different species on earth that we can label as others. Since humans and others can mate, I bet that one species is an offshoot of the other. This group of people has a Satan of their own, but he can be seen with their eyes when he chooses to reveal himself.”

  “Are you saying that humans don’t really have a Satan?”

  “No, I’m saying that few have seen him, which is a good thing for the world. Ha’cho, on the other hand, is determined to kill females, he’s determined to kill me.”

  “What do you think Talon is?”

  “I was wondering that. He never brought the issue up, but what if he is some type of supreme being?”

  “Like God?”

  “I going to err on the side of caution and say no. Let’s say they are supreme beings but not God’s big G or little g.”

  “I don’t know if I’m buying into this, but your theory does answer one question. I’ve been asking myself how did they find us? If someone followed Talon and spread the word around that would make sense.”

  “Let’s go back to the room.”

  Dev called the waitress over for the check.

  “It’s been taken care of.” She smiled before she winked at Rissa and walked away.

  “Hi, can we talk to you before you leave?”

  The male with the braids and the petite female were standing by their table.

  “Yes,” Rissa said it quickly before Dev could chime in.

  “I’m Eden, and this is Kore, my mate. I wanted to bring you something.”

  Dev stared, looking at Eden closely before Kore was in front of her.

  “Stop,” Eden and Rissa said at the same time. They pulled their males back.

  “I won’t hurt her.”

  “I want to know what she has to say.”

  Eden turned around to press a small kiss against Kore’s chest before she turned back to Rissa.

  “He didn’t want to me come, he felt it was dangerous.” She shrugged. “He’s probably right, but we can’t live our life in fear o
f Ha’cho. That’s not a life.”

  She lifted a vial it was milky white not much to look at. “You’re going to need this. You’ll know when it’s time. If I were you, I would leave it in your Jeep.” She placed it in Rissa’s hand before standing.

  “Wait, where are you going?”

  “I wish I could stay or tell you more, but the decision has to be yours.”

  They turned and left never looking backward.

  “Are you ready love?” She nodded placing the vial in her pants pocket.

  They walked under the stars enjoying the feel of the night air around them.

  “So, that’s it. We’re under attack by three different groups.”

  “No, I think there is so much more to the story.”

  “What’s next?” Her voice shook a little before she got it under control. If this Ha’cho was after her, then she was endangering Dev’s life and the lives of the others, she couldn’t do that.

  “It depends on you. Are we back to square one where I have to show you that I’m not lying, that I mean every word that I have said to you?”

  “It would be really easy to go back there.”

  He pulled her to a bench sitting inside a small park area.

  “Back then I didn’t know you, now I do. I worry about you and even Ben and Lore. I don’t want you hurt because of me.”

  “Do you think we’ll just watch you take off without coming after you? Do you think your running away won’t hurt us? It will destroy me, but it will hurt Lore and Ben also. They care about you and want you to be protected. Do you know what the government wanted me to do?”

  “No.” She slid closer to him until she could wrap her arms around his chest. The shadows in his eyes bothered her.

  “They wanted me to infiltrate a group of terrorist. My ears perked up when I heard that. I could do something useful. Then they wanted me to tear the two youngest daughters apart in animal form. I thought I heard wrong, but I didn’t. They didn’t want the self-declared king of the drug lords dead, the wanted his daughters dead. They wanted to send a message that they could get to him at any time.”

  “You escaped.”

  “I did and ever since I have been taking on missions that ring true with me. The kind that other people might not touch. We hunted down a cat once.”