Protected by the Beta

by Bethany Shaw

  She panted, resting her forehead on his shoulder. Essex smoothed his hands over the back of her head and ran his fingers through her hair. That was amazing.

  “My beautiful love, I’m only just getting started,” Essex said.

  “What?” she asked. She jerked back from him, startled by his declaration.

  “Huh?” he asked reaching out for her. Realization dawned on his face. “You heard my thoughts?”

  “Thoughts? No. I heard what you said.” She shook her head. He’d said it, right?

  “No. You heard my thoughts. It’s okay. Our connection is strong. The more times we are together, the stronger it will become.” He touched her cheek with his hand and smoothed it down her cheek. “Are we moving too fast?”

  She looked away from him and opened her mouth to answer. The first thing that came to her mind though was no. Weren’t they moving too fast? Shouldn’t she be backing away from him and telling him they needed to slow down? Logically, that’s what she should do, but she didn’t want to.

  “Haven?”

  “No. No, we’re not. I’m just... I’m just not used to this. I feel so comfortable with you already.” She ran a hand through her hair.

  “Are you starting to believe in soul mates yet?” he asked, placing a gentle kiss on her lips.

  She wanted to laugh and tell him, no. But she couldn’t. “I’m not sure.” Was it possible that he was her soul mate?

  Chapter Eight

  Haven turned her marshmallow over in the fire. It was hard to get it a nice golden brown. She’d already burnt two of them and had given them to Essex to eat.

  The fire was hot, and coupled with the heat of the night, it was making sweat bead on her brow. It was stifling, but damn, did she want a s’more.

  She pulled her poker from the fire and blew on the marshmallow before carefully taking it off the end and smashing it on top of the graham cracker Essex had waiting for her. He put the lid on and switched her the poker for the finished s’more.

  “Do you want any more?” he asked.

  She eyed the treat in her hand for a moment. “Maybe one.”

  “Go ahead and have a seat. I’ll be over in a second.” He nodded at a log that was a little further from the fire than the others. Maggie and Lucas were already sitting there, but there was plenty of room for her and Essex.

  “Hi,” Maggie greeted as Haven sat down. “How are you doing?”

  “Is Essex making sure that you have everything you need?” Lucas asked.

  “He’s been very accommodating, thanks,” Haven said. She scooted so she was comfortable and took a big bite of her s’more. The marshmallow oozed out from the graham cracker, and she had to take a bigger bite to keep it from falling on the ground or her clothes.

  “I’m glad to hear you are settling in. If you and Essex need anything, please don’t hesitate to let Maggie or me know,” Lucas said with a smile.

  “Thanks.”

  She took another bite of her s’more and waved to Essex when he grinned at her. He pulled off the marshmallows and put them on to the crackers he had put on a plate. Then he put the poker back in the fire and made his way over to them.

  He plopped down next to her. “Take however many you like. I’ll eat the rest.”

  She did a double take of the plate. There were at least eight on there. She’d have a belly ache if she ate that many.

  Maggie leaned into her. “I envy their metabolism. It must be nice to eat all the crap you want without repercussions.”

  She nodded her agreement. “Doesn’t it ever make them sick?” she asked.

  “Nope.” Maggie shook her head and laughed. “They don’t get sick often, either. High metabolism and the ability to fight off infections before they even become a problem.”

  “Nice.” She’d have loved that as a child. She always had one earache after another growing up.

  “There are perks to everything.” Lucas picked up Maggie’s hand and kissed it. “You didn’t have to worry about spontaneously changing into a wolf while you were a child.”

  Maggie giggled. “I suppose there is that.”

  “That’s never happened,” Essex said with a laugh.

  “No, but it could.” Lucas gave Essex a pointed look. Essex waved his hand dismissively.

  Haven couldn’t help laughing. It was nice to feel like she was a part of something, that she had friends and people she could talk to. Would living here be so bad? No. No, it wouldn’t.

  ****

  Essex wrapped his arm around Haven’s shoulders as he led her up the stairs to his house. He reached out with his free hand and opened the door. There was no need for locks in Emerick. No one would dare steal from someone here. Werewolves could smell everything, which is why he knew something wasn’t right the second he stepped into his house.

  He loosened his grip on Haven and put himself in front of her at the same time the lights flickered on.

  Four men stood in the room. The door clicked shut behind him. He looked over his shoulder. No one was behind him, so whoever had closed it must be on the other side. Correction: they had been on the other side. A fifth man teleported into the room.

  “Haven, run, get help,” he told her keeping his voice calm.

  She inhaled a deep breath and went to go to the door but shrieked. He spun around to check on her. She clasped her wrist and tears pooled in her eyes. The palm was burned. Red blisters covered the inside of her hand.

  Bastards. One of them must be a witch, and they must have spelled the door. They were trapped in the house.

  “Stay behind me.” He took a protective stance in front of her, but it wasn’t soon enough.

  Two men hurtled toward him at a supernatural speed. Vampires. He hated vampires. He was quick, but nowhere as quick as they were.

  Essex crouched down and braced for impact. Normally he’d move, but if he did that they’d plow right into Haven and he couldn’t let her get hurt. One man hit him from the right and the other from the left. He grunted as they shoved him backward. His back collided with the wall, knocking the wind out of him. Once he had his back against something, he kicked out with his right leg and mashed his heel down on top of one of the men’s shoes. The guy howled in pain and loosened his grip slightly.

  Essex jammed his elbow into the man’s throat and then swung his fist up to hit him in the nose. With one side free, he turned to the other guy on his left. He went to punch him in the face, but the vampire was quicker and caught his fist instead.

  The vampire shoved him backward, making his fist hit the wall behind him. He really needed to shift to put up a fair fight, but there wasn’t time for that. The thirty or so seconds it would take him were ones he couldn’t afford to lose at the moment.

  “Leave him alone,” Haven screamed. The man holding him stumbled forward. His eyes widened and he began to ash away.

  “Holy shit. I didn’t know if that would actually work or not.” Haven stood, still holding onto a stake, even though the vampire had flaked away and was now a pile of ash on the floor.

  “Most myths are usually true,” he said. Including the one where they heal rapidly, and the guy on the floor was probably almost healed. He snatched the stake out of her hand and jabbed it into the vampire that had first attacked him.

  “Good to know.” Haven turned to face the three other men in front of them at the same time he did.

  He flexed his palm around the stake as he watched them, inhaling. These men weren’t vampires. They were demons. He could tell by their smell. Each supernatural creature had their own scent, and come to think of it... He sniffed again. No, it wasn’t possible. Haven smelled like a witch, but a small part of her also smelled like a demon. It couldn’t be.

  Now wasn’t the time to worry about it, anyway. They were in the middle of a fight.

  The three demons seemed content to just stand there for a moment, until one took a step forward.

  “The last Goode and the last Baker. This will be a fine day indeed.” He
took a step toward them and pulled out a long blade from a sheath tucked into his belt loop. “I can make this quick and painless.” He grinned from ear to ear. “Or we can do this the hard way.”

  “Do you really think we’ll just stand here and let you kill us?” Haven asked with a snort.

  The demon smiled. “I do so love a good fight.”

  Essex chanced a quick glance at Haven. Somehow she had a knife in her hand, too. Where had that come from? Maybe from the same place she’d gotten the stake. It didn’t matter right now.

  “Teleport and get help,” he said quietly even though the demons could probably hear them.

  “I can’t. I already tried that. I ended up in the kitchen.” She held up the knife. “At least I grabbed some weapons.”

  So that’s where they came from, he thought.

  “There is no chance of escape. Several of our witches have made sure of that. Just as they’ve ensured that no one will hear your screams. And I do so enjoy listening to people scream.”

  Essex growled. He didn’t know how they were going to get out of this, but somehow, they would. It was one thing for him to be injured, but he couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to his mate.

  The demon in front raised one hand and dropped it. The two demons on his sides raced toward them. At least he could see them coming this time. One went for him and the other for Haven.

  “I’m going to try something,” Haven said.

  She grasped his arm a second before the demon made contact with them. A loud crash sounded behind him, and it took Essex a second to realize that they weren’t in front of the door anymore. They’d moved.

  He whirled around to face the lead demon, who had a puzzled expression on his face.

  “How are you doing that? Witches don’t teleport.” He sobered. “It doesn’t matter. You’ll be dead soon enough, anyway.” He narrowed his eyes scrutinizing her. He huffed and snapped his fingers. Eight more men and three women appeared.

  Essex gritted his teeth. Haven might be able to teleport, but she could only keep it up for so long before someone hit her, especially with so many people in the room.

  She clasped his hand tighter and held her knife up, having apparently come to the same conclusion. They shared a look.

  “I love you,” he told her. He closed his eyes and dropped to his hands and knees, turning into a wolf. His clothes shredded away from his body as his bones popped, snapped, and realigned in place. He chanced a quick glance up at her and said silent thanks that he’d been allowed to complete his transition.

  Her bottom lip trembled. “And I’m falling in love with you.” She turned her attention back to their attackers.

  The Hags let out a battle cry, and everyone rushed at them at once. Essex sprang forward, launching himself at the closest target. He tackled them to the floor and dug his claws into their belly, swiping as hard and deep as he could. He didn’t wait to see if they died before he used them as a springboard to jump at the next person.

  He growled when his muzzle connected with their face. Squeezing his jaws shut, he wriggled his head back and forth. Blood flooded his mouth. His victim shrieked for a second, but it quickly died down as they collapsed to the floor. He went down with them as he unclamped his jaw from their face.

  Something hit him in the side, sending pain slicing through his back leg. He whined but managed to roll away and back up to his feet. Another man was before him. He lifted his claw and swiped it down their body from navel to mid-calf. They cried out and fell backward on their butt. He hopped on top of them and shredded his claws over their belly to finish the job.

  He swung around so his back was to the wall and caught sight of Haven. She was holding her own, popping in and out, occasionally getting a strike in where she could.

  There were still too many people. He just needed to focus on taking them out one at a time. As long as they kept fighting, kept breathing, they stood a chance.

  Three more Hags raced toward them. He reared up on his back legs, hitting one of them in the face. Blood spurted out of the wound, and he swung his claws again, connecting with the man’s throat.

  He’d taken out one, but left himself open for the other two. Their bodies slammed into him and dragged him to the floor. His back hit hard, jarring him and making him wince. He fought to get back to his feet, but the two held him tight.

  No. He wasn’t going down like this. He had to protect Haven. They were supposed to have a life together, raise a family.

  Someone appeared behind the two Hags. He braced for another person to pile on top of him, but they didn’t. Instead, they withdrew a long demon blade and sliced it into the first Hag, then the second. Essex rolled out of the way and clambered to his feet before the dead fell on top of him.

  The demon stood in front of him, his blade poised and ready to attack, but did nothing except hold Essex’s gaze.

  He chanced a quick glance to Haven. Other demons were in the room. They, too, were taking care of The Hags. Haven had her back to the wall and she was breathing heavily, but she didn’t appear to be injured. She had the blade of her little butcher knife pointed toward the demon that stood in front of her.

  The man had the same dark hair as Haven, and as Essex inhaled, he recognized the same scent.

  Everything clicked and made sense. His parents had called off their marriage because Haven wasn’t a pure Goode. She was part demon. He inhaled again and growled. How had he not noticed before? He’d been so wrapped up in her that he hadn’t placed the familiar scent of the Montroses. The demons had been at war with his family for generations, so long that he didn’t even know what the conflict was about.

  “Are you hurt?” the man asked Haven once The Hags had been taken care of.

  Haven held her blade steady and glared at the man. “Stay away from me.”

  The man held up his hands. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Essex closed his eyes and focused on his human form. In less than a minute, he was human and naked. His state would have to do for now, because he needed to be able to talk. There were a few things he needed to get to the bottom of and there was no time like the present.

  “It’s okay, Haven. You can put the blade down,” Essex said, meeting her gaze.

  ****

  Haven’s eyes teared up when she met his gaze. He was okay. He’d gone down earlier, and she hadn’t seen him for a few seconds. She hadn’t known if he was okay until just now. She blew out a long breath and her racing heart finally began to slow.

  Her gaze shifted to the man in front of her. She swallowed hard, but slowly lowered her weapon, trusting that Essex was right.

  “Thank you for helping us,” Essex said. He walked across the room with a slight limp, stopping briefly to grab a pair of shorts in the laundry room. Essex hopped into them and closed the distance.

  When he was almost to her, the man before her moved his blade and stuck it in front of him. “That’s close enough, Baker.”

  “Stop!” Haven lifted her blade and put it against the mystery man’s throat.

  The man’s eyes widened. He spun so fast, Haven didn’t have time to react. He dropped his blade and grasped her hand, twisting it so he disarmed her. He then lifted her palm to his face and studied the mating mark.

  She wriggled, but his hold was like iron. Her heart pattered harder again, and she fought to free herself, but it was no use. He wasn’t letting go, and she’d just lost her only weapon.

  “You’ve mated with the Baker boy?” he asked with a sneer.

  “Get off me,” Haven snarled, shoving at him.

  “Haven, it’s okay.” Essex closed the distance and put an arm around her.

  The man glowered at Essex a long moment before releasing her. She wrapped her arms around Essex and buried her face into his shoulder. “What is going on?” she asked.

  “Shhh, it’s okay. No one here is going to hurt you. Right, Montrose?” Essex asked.

  Montrose. That name sound
ed familiar to her. Wasn’t that the name of the man her mother had been brokering a peace treaty with on behalf of the Bakers?

  The man Essex called Montrose held up his hands and took a step back. “I could never hurt you, Haven.”

  “But you... you attacked me in the woods.” She pointed a finger at him and then turned to Essex. “He’s one of the men that attacked me.”

  Essex shook his head. “He might have been in the woods, but I don’t think he was trying to hurt you.”

  “What?” What do you mean?” Haven asked, frowning.

  Essex turned to Montrose as if he expected him to answer. The man took a step forward and looked at the ground for a long moment before meeting her gaze. “My name is Alistair Montrose. I’m your father, Haven.”

  “No, you’re not!” She shook her head. That wasn’t true. Her dad was dead. She’d never met this man before, not that she could remember her real dad, either.

  “Edmond Goode was your mother’s husband, but he was not your father, not your biological one, anyway,” Alistair said.

  “I... I don’t understand.” She turned to Essex and waited for him to answer. He’d said he’d tell her the truth and never lie to her.

  Essex made a face but held onto her tighter as if he were trying to protect her. “I’m not sure I do, either. I didn’t realize Edmond wasn’t your father until he showed up here, and I put two and two together.” Essex pointed to Montrose.

  “Your mother Rosa and I had an affair while she was brokering the deal with the Bakers. At some point, she became pregnant. I was young and stupid then, and I listened to and believed her when she said she would hide the pregnancy and no one would find out. My family needed the pact with the Bakers to work, and we couldn’t risk a feud with the Goodes too, so I agreed.” He turned to Essex. “Only the Bakers knew you weren’t a pure-blood Goode. Wolves and their damn noses.”

  “That’s why my family rejected the arranged marriage. It all makes sense now,” Essex said with a nod.

  “Yes. Rosa tried to cover her tracks. She sent The Hags to your parents. My understanding is they were only supposed to threaten your family. Instead, they killed everyone except for you.” Alistair narrowed his eyes and scrutinized Essex. “I’m not sure how you managed to get away.”