He’d been interested in her before, just knowing she was his mate. Seeing her wield her power however, had his pulse racing and his cock harder than it had ever been before. His wolf liked knowing she could take care of herself, even as the man worried that exposing her talent to the three thugs who’d cornered her may have been a huge mistake.
Before he could demand she release them, Sera approached where he and Chance knelt in the parking lot. Her eyes were wary when she looked at them. Without looking back at her assailants, she laid a hand on his and Chance’s shoulder. “You guys can get up now. I didn’t mean to trap you with my voice, just them,” she admitted, pointing over her shoulder at the three men still kneeling in the parking lot facing her car.
He had so many questions, but now wasn’t the time. Noah stood slowly, brushing gravel and dirt from the knees of his jeans. Chance didn’t bother, just stood up and approached the three men who’d tried to force themselves on her.
“How long will they be stuck like this?” Chance asked as he circled the men.
Sera shrugged. “For as long as you need. Until I give them a command to release them, or a vampire slips into their mind and takes over the suggestions, they have no choice but to do as I say, whether they want to or not.”
She intrigued him. He could feel her wolf, knew that she was a shifter, but she had the skills only an ancient vampire should be able to wield. He’d find out how later. First he had a more important question he needed answered. “What did they want with you?”
“I don’t believe you had to ask that,” she said with a snort. “What do you think they wanted? They’re alone, they’re drunk, they smell and they’re horny. They thought they could get from me what they couldn’t get from others.” She smiled, although it didn’t reach her eyes. “I believe they were under the mistaken impression that I was an easy mark.” Face somber, she glanced between them. “What will you do with them?”
Noah ran his hand through his hair. Something about her answer didn’t set well with him. She hadn’t given him an outright answer which means she didn’t outright lie either. He’d find out what she was hiding from him later. Right now, he needed to call this in. “We’ll take them in to the sheriff’s department. You will go directly home so that we can keep you out of this.”
“Now wait a minute, slick,” Sera rounded on him. “I’m not a two year old to be told to go home when I’ve done something naughty.”
Chance snorted. “Do you really want to be here when we call the sheriff’s office and explain to him that you were attacked? As it is, we’re going to take the credit for rescuing our mate, and he’ll believe that. If you’re still here with these men in your thrall, you’ll have a lot of explaining of your own to do.”
“Fine, I’ll go. But don’t think I’ll let you two tell me what to do in the future.” With that said, she spun on her heel on headed back to her car. Within seconds, she was behind the driver seat with the engine revving.
Noah watched as she backed out of the parking lot. If he’d expected her to wave at them as she left, he would have been disappointed. Good thing he hadn’t. True to her word, the spell holding the men docile did not weaken, despite the desire to kill in the men’s eyes. His mate was powerful indeed.
Blessed with a power many would covet or even kill for, it’s no wonder Sera was on the run. Now they just needed to know who she was running from so they could protect her properly.
As Noah watched Sera’s taillights recede, Chance went to their SUV and pulled the plastic zip restraints from their gear. While he called the sheriff’s office and reported the attack against their mates, Chance hogtied the trio. He should have thought to get Sera’s cell phone number so she could undo her compulsion once they had her assailants contained. It wouldn’t do for the men to be too calm when they were arrested.
Apparently the same thought crossed Chance’s as well because he slapped his forehead and muttered, “Dammit! We forgot to get her number so she could undo this. I’ll run in and get it from Willow. As her boss, she should have a number to contact her in case of emergencies.”
Less than two minutes later, Chance returned waving a pink sticky note. “Here you go. You better hurry. The law should be here any minute.”
Nodding, Noah dialed Sera’s number, memorizing it as he did so. When her husky voice came across the line, a burst of lust seared his senses, thickening his cock behind the fly of his jeans and sending goose bumps pebbling across every inch of his skin. Even his nipples had turned into hard little nubs. If her voice alone garnered such a reaction, what would her touch do to him?
“Sera, it’s Noah Andrews. The sheriff is about to arrive. We have the three men restrained, but if we want to keep your skill hidden, you need to release your compulsion.”
“You’re sure they’re contained?”
“Chance has them hogtied. They’re human. They can’t shift, so they’re stuck that way until someone frees them. They’re not going anywhere.”
“Okay then. Consider them under your control.”
“That’s it, Sera?” He had to ask. It seemed a little too simple to him. If her voice compelled them, one would assume they’d need to hear her voice to be free of the compulsion.
“Yup, that’s it.”
That left him with a lot of unanswered questions, questions that he would need the answers to, as her mate and as a Hunter for the Supernatural Council of Justice. “Can the three of us get together later? To Talk. Maybe get to know one another better. I have questions about you, about those men, what they wanted and what you were able to do to them.”
“I’d rather not.” She sounded annoyed, put upon that he’d even suggested it, maybe even a bit wary, which only intrigued him more.
“Any particular reason why?”
“Because I said no. I worked all night. My feet are killing me. I plan on soaking in a hot bath, reading a good mystery, then letting my wolf loose for a midnight run. She can be a real bitch when she doesn’t get to run when she demands it.”
“Perhaps tomorrow,” Noah murmured. A resounding click in his ear was the only answer, although he was well aware that he and Chance would be joining her on her midnight run. He couldn’t wait to see her wolf, to run by her side through the snow-covered countryside. He didn’t need to ask Chance to know he’d feel the same. Before his thoughts could continue to dwell on his mate, the siren of the approaching police vehicles snagged his attention.
As Chance stood guard over their three prisoners, Noah walked over to the sheriff’s SUV, just as he was disembarking. Holding out his hand, Noah asked, “I assume you’re the sheriff?”
“That’s me. Sheriff Ben Marcum at your service. You can call me Ben.” His gaze scanned over the hogtied prisoners. “What did they do?”
“They cornered our new mate, Sera. Had her pressed against her vehicle. We didn’t take too kindly to that.” Until he knew the sheriff better, he wouldn’t out their mate to this male. Once he earned his loyalty—and Sera’s—then he’d consider it.
Ben laughed, then hid his smile behind his hand. “That’s something I and any other mated male can relate to, especially new mates. There’s been a rash of those lately. Must be something in the air, or the water, or something. Seems every other month someone new is finding their mate. Sera’s a sweet girl. Timid. Always looking over her shoulder as though one step away from running. You have your work cut out for you with that one.”
Noah nodded. “That’s what we figure. Any idea who she’s running from?”
Ben tucked his hands in his pockets. “With the Demon Leonard and cultists still running loose, I haven’t looked into Sera’s background, although I’ve been meaning to because of the fear I see in her eyes when I’m at the pub. If we had more manpower…” Ben shrugged his shoulders. “We’ll take these three back to the station for questioning. With the Demon still free as well as the person who summoned him for whatever purpose, we need to look at anyone who may appear like they’re stalking
a new victim.”
“Chance and I are Hunters. We’ve been tracking and bringing to justice Supernatural criminals for the last three decades, give or take a couple years. If there is anything we can do to help, let us know. We plan to settle here in Serenity now that we’ve finally found our mate.”
“Wonderful. Derek and Quinn may have told you—or not—but we’re in need of more Hunters in our town, especially now. You’d wear a deputy uniform for the humans living in Serenity, but you’d be two of the few Hunters on the town’s payroll. If you’re interested—and your credentials pan out—I’d be more than happy to offer you and your partner a job protecting Serenity and its citizens, human and Supernatural. There’s a lot of shit going down here, and more to come, I fear.”
Reaching out, Noah shook Ben’s outstretched hand. “Then we’re your men.”
Sheriff Marcum nodded, then called out to his deputies. “Deputy Jenkins and Charles, get those prisoners in the vehicles. I want them separated, even during transport. We don’t want to give them time to get their stories straight. You can put one of them in the back of my vehicle and follow me in.”
“Yes, sir, Sheriff Marcum,” they both agreed in unison, rushing to obey their boss.
“Humans?” Chance whispered as he joined them.
“Yes,” Ben confirmed. “But darn fine officers. They’ll make great detectives when they decide to test for it. They’ll have to be turned before that happens, though.”
Noah nodded. Keeping secrets from a cop was hard, from a detective practically impossible. Hiding the fact that the town consisted of mainly Supernaturals just wouldn’t happen. Giving the men the option to turn—either shifter or vampire—would be the smartest thing to do when it came time to either promote the men, or come up with a reason to fire them before they discovered the town’s secret. “You’ll keep us informed as to what the prisoners tell you,” Noah insisted, not able to let the previous subject drop. Not when it came to the safety of their mate.
“Of course. By the way, I didn’t catch your full name or your partner’s—for the background check, you understand.”
“I’m Noah Andrews.”
Chance stuck out his hand. “I’m Chance Mercer. We’ve been partnered together in the Supernatural Council of Justice for twenty-seven years as Hunters. We’ll pass any screening you run on us.”
“That’s a long time to be Hunters,” Ben acknowledged.
“It is,” Noah admitted. “We were staying active in the Hunter Corps only so long as it took to find our mate.”
“Now that we’ve found her,” Chance piped in, “we’ll be settling down here with her.”
“Makes sense,” Ben murmured. “You see a lot of the world when the Council sends you out on assignments.”
“Exactly,” Noah agreed. “It gave us a greater opportunity to search for Sera. Now that we’ve found her, I’ve got to admit, I’m glad that life will be behind us.”
“Do they know that yet?”
Noah didn’t pretend to misunderstand. He snorted instead. “The Council will be informed of our official resignation at nine AM on Monday morning when the certified letter arrives at the New Orleans Headquarters’ office.
“I imagine they won’t take the news well.”
Noah and Chance shrugged their shoulders. Noah didn’t really give a fuck what the Council thought. He’d devoted over half his life to the Corps, he was ready to settle down and start a family of his own, raise the next generation.
“Well, I better get my prisoner back to the station and begin questioning him—and his pals. He’s been sitting in the back of my SUV, thinking, long enough. Do you have a number I can contact you at?”
Reaching into his back pocket, Noah pulled out his wallet, slipped out a business card with his and Chance’s cell phone numbers on it. “If you can’t reach either of us, leave us a message or try to reach us at Sera’s in an emergency. We’re planning on making ourselves indispensible to her, so she may not kill us if you try to contact us there. But that’s iffy at this point.”
The sheriff nodded, then gave a backhanded wave as he headed back toward his SUV. As he left, followed by his deputies, a feeling of expectation washed over Noah. By now, Sera was probably neck deep in bubbles, reading a book, believing he and Chance would simply obey her order to leave her alone tonight while she did her thing. She’d soon find out how wrong that assumption was.
Turning to Chance, he let a smile spread across his face. “Are you ready to track down our mate?”
Chance’s own grin turned predatory. He rubbed his hands together in obvious anticipation. “Oh yeah, I’m more than ready.”
“Then let’s go finagle her address out of her boss and head out to her place. I feel like a midnight run and my prey of choice is a certain she-wolf currently playing hard to get.”
“I can so get behind that plan,” Chance enthusiastically agreed, practically running into The Howler beside him.
Chapter Five
The closer they got to Sera’s cabin, the more agitated Chance’s wolf grew, pressing against his human skin, demanding freedom. The wolf wanted to run, to chase down its mate and mark her, claim the she-wolf as his own. He could smell her on the wind, knew that she was out there, ready to run without him and the beast was adamant that she not run alone. Beside him, Noah didn’t appear to be in any better shape. Never had their wolves reacted to another woman this way, she-wolf, human, or other. Just more proof that she was their destined one, their mate—as if they needed more proof beyond their dreams of her and the way her scent sent their bodies into overdrive.
They’d be celebrating Christmas in less than a week, and it had been snowing for days. The entire mountainside was covered with the white stuff. The pine trees and white birch trees were heavily laden with ice and snow, making it postcard perfect. He couldn’t wait to romp with his mate and Noah as wolves, playing in the snow like pups. Perhaps then they could move into the cabin before a fire and play a more seductive, intimate adult game of tag. He couldn’t wait to make love to her for the first time, to claim her as theirs. Doing so before a roaring fire worked for him.
Chance snorted. He’d be lucky if she’d didn’t attack them when they joined her on her run. Making love to her anywhere probably wouldn’t happen for quite some time. But he could dream anyway.
Finally, he spotted her cabin in an open field between snow-covered rolling hills. Smoke curled from the chimney, refueling his lusty thoughts yet again. Just as their vehicle started down the long, winding driveway, a white and gray timber wolf darted across the back yard and disappeared into forest surrounding her house. Chance smiled. The chase was on.
After pulling in behind her beat-up Toyota, he and Noah got out of the vehicle and inhaled the crisp night air. Neither exchanged a word, knowing exactly what the other was thinking. Hunt their mate. Mark her. Claim her. Taking in all the scents on the wind, Chance learned all its secrets. Within seconds, he’d pinpointed the direction their she-wolf had run.
Catching the scent of its mate, Chance’s wolf grew insistent, forcing the change on him. His claws began to grow out of his nail beds, his canines lengthened. Fur began to sprout from his flesh. He’d never lost control of his wolf. Never.
Quickly slipping out of his clothes before they were shredded, and he completed his shifting to his wolf form, Chance tossed them into the passenger seat of the SUV and fully embraced his beast. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Noah doing the same thing on the other side of the vehicle.
With head thrown back, the wolf took complete control. He wanted to howl his satisfaction. Forced to drop to all fours as his arms and legs became front and hind legs, and hands and feet became paws, Chance arched his back, feeling the fur covering him from head to toe, the bushy tail wagging behind him. Finally his face shifted into a canine muzzle with massive, sharp fangs. Chance howled a celebration and a warning. His mate would know he was coming. She would run. He’d give chase. And when he caught her, she�
�d know she belonged to him—them—for even the wolf realized he’d have to share with the other, with Noah.
Shaking out his fur, Chance danced around in circles for a couple moments while he waited for Noah to complete his shift. Ready?
More than.
As wolves, they could speak telepathically, something they couldn’t do as humans until their mate bridged the gap between them during the mating ritual. Until they shared her mind, body, soul, and blood neither one would feel complete. Speaking telepathically made hunting their prey easier by coordinating a hunt without their prey knowing their every move. After working together nearly three decades, they’d easily herd their mate wherever they wanted her.
Zeroed in on the direction their mate had taken, Chance took off, his paws sinking into the powdery, freshly fallen snow. Flakes flew in all directions as the two wolves raced across the backyard and through the ice and snow-covered trees behind Sera’s cabin.
As Chance raced through the woods, Sera’s scent grew stronger, muskier, the she-wolf fully aware of the two wolves chasing after her and their intentions. Her arousal thickened, flooding the crisp winter air with her pheromones, invigorating Chance. He ran harder, faster, panting. His cock hardened, ready to mount its mate as wolf or man. It didn’t matter which as long as he marked her as his. Soon.
Once he marked her, whether he fully mated her then or not, no one could deny or usurp his claiming of her. The same was true for Noah. With the strange ability she had to control others, the sooner they marked her, mated her, the sooner they could protect her as her mates and not just as Hunters.
Mates had a lot more leeway in regards to protecting their own and could get away with a lot more than a Hunter following orders from the Council of Justice. That’s just the way it was in the Supernatural community. Mates were revered, honored and protected. You didn’t fuck with a man’s family and expect to live. Hunting down another’s mate was signing your own death warrant. But first they had to mark her as their mate.
Serving Sera Page 3
