by Jo Penn
“I’m fine. It is just a scratch.” Mason pushed at Drax’s hand and stopped, holding them up in surrender when he was growled at furiously. “I’m okay, Drax.”
Right now was the time to go cautiously. Shifters were notoriously aggressive when a mate was injured, and a feral Drax was not something he needed right now.
“That smells bad.” Baron crouched on the other side. “Here, I’ll clean him off—”
“Touch him and I’ll tear your throat out,” Drax snarled.
“Look, we can fight later. Right now we—Drax?” Baron looked stunned. “Your eyes are feral. You need to take a deep breath or I have to be all Alpha on your ass.”
Prince Caspar of the fae, Cas to friends, stepped close to Baron and nudged him back.
“It is wise, is it not, to not touch or go near a shifter’s mate?” Every eye turned, mouths falling open. Cas frowned. “You were not aware they are mates? I see Drax has not claimed Mason fully, but the mate threads are there.”
Oh great, just great. Here and now was so not the time for that to come out. Mason heaved a sigh.
“We don’t see mate threads, must be some magical fae thing. We go by scent, which changes after mating and the claiming mark. What the fuck, Mason? You’re my best friend! Why didn’t you tell me?” Baron hissed.
“Mine! He’s mine.” Drax was cleaning up the long, deep gash along Mason’s side with the shirt he’d torn off and the bottled water Mason had been holding. “You’re losing too much blood, mate. What the hell were you doing just standing around talking for?”
Mason winced. “Stop poking it. I’ve blocked the pain but—Oh, damn, block came off.”
Mason’s eyes rolled back in his head and sweat began to bead on his forehead and chest.
Chapter Two
Drax growled low and mean, pressing his hands into the wound, but it was so long and deep that blood basically poured out. How had Mason been standing? Damn wizard never knew what was good for him.
“Okay, Drax, I can see he’s yours, but Mason is injured. You know wizards don’t heal as quickly, and he could bleed out before we get him back to the coven.” Baron was quiet, calm, and gentle. “You have to let us bandage him up and transport him in one of the fae’s vehicles. Laurie can help you bandage him and lift Mason. I’ll drive.”
“Drax!” Cas snapped in his Alpha voice, snapping Drax’s attention to him. “Mason needs to be healed immediately. Laurie will help bandage. Once done, one of my fae will open a portal directly to Mason’s coven. Now, Drax, your mate is bleeding out.”
Drax snarled but nodded. Laurie quickly helped bandage using supplies from one of the SUVs, and Tamsin, a fae, opened a portal. Drax lifted Mason carefully in his arms. All he could smell was his mate’s blood, which just worried him more and got his aggression levels skyrocketing. He pushed this down. Drax needed to see to his mate, get Mason safely back to his coven for healing.
He passed through the portal, a mildly disorientating experience, and emerged in the front entrance hall of the Armstrong coven.
“Oh my Gods, what happened?” Lady Delia Armstrong rushed over, frantic.
“An attack at Minstral by that ancient psycho vampire,” Laurie explained in a rush. “I’ll get the healers!”
“Bring Mason in here and place him on the table, Drax.” Delia quickly led the way into a large sitting room and, waving a hand, tossed the table contents onto the floor. “He always has to fight! I need to assign bodyguards.”
Drax said nothing, his entire focus on Mason, who was dangerously pale and still unconscious. And he couldn’t stop touching the man. The last few months his mate had been fighting him, not letting Drax near but for a few times. He was beginning to feel the strain and desperation, which was dangerous for a wolf like him.
Healers rushed in, assistants carrying equipment. Drax had to cut off his automatic growl at others touching what was his and got a distracted look from Delia, who he’d known for a century, liked, and respected. Jostled out of the way, he moved around so he could still see the healers work and be close.
“Fuck this.” Drax picked an assistant up, moved the woman out of his way, and sunk his hands into his mate’s golden light brown hair.
“How is he?” Delia asked quietly.
“Deep injuries, right down to the ribs, nicked his lung,” one healer murmured.
“I can see Mason used magic to block the pain and overcome the injury,” another added.
“I see. But how is he?” Delia demanded.
Drax had to smirk at that despite the situation, but lost his smile quickly and pressed his forehead to Mason’s.
“From now on, you’ve got a dozen bodyguards and those assistants of yours are doubled.”
“I agree, Drax, my grandson undertakes far too much by himself.”
“He’s healing well, Lady Delia,” a healer announced. “It was a clean slice, but tricky with the lung, muscle, and tissue damage. Another twenty minutes, and we should have Mason healed.”
“Good, we will let you concentrate. Xavier? Darling, how did you get here so quickly?”
“We were just in the city when we heard there was an attack. We were on our way to assist when informed Mason was injured,” Xavier said quietly, eyes fixed on Drax.
“I couldn’t guard him all the time, Xavier,” Drax said softly. “He wouldn’t let me, and I had to take down the master vampire.”
“I understand.”
“Please, quiet, we must concentrate to be able to connect muscle and tissue correctly.”
Everyone fell silent. Drax leaned back to watch the healers work. What they did always amazed him, their magic phenomenal, directing it to heal, fusing together skin, muscle, tissue. They couldn’t heal diseases, perhaps halt the progress for a time, and mortal wounds could not be overcome. This one had been bad, but fortunately was being healed fast. Drax just had to keep his head.
Finally, sometime later, the healers were finished and began cleaning Mason of blood. Drax smoothed a hand over his mate’s fair skin, relieved. There was a bit of pink where the wound had been, but that would soon fade with the wizard’s natural healing.
“Thank you, everyone. Please rest the next few days. I know healers have been called to assist others who were in the battle. We have enough healers to attend to those without you four.”
“Thank you, my Lady. A bit of rest and Lord Mason will be fine.”
Drax watched Mason’s ice-blue eyes open and blink up at him, dazed, before looking around the room, then at the table beneath him. Memory must have returned, for he touched his side.
“How do you feel, darling?”
“I’m fine, Grandma.” Mason sat up, shaking off Drax’s hand. “Xavier? What are you doing back here?”
“We heard of the attack and you being injured. Apparently, you lost a lot of blood while blocking the pain with magic. Not a wise thing to do, cousin.”
Mason went to slide away, so Drax snagged his wizard’s wrist, stilling him.
“I warned you to stay back, Mason.”
“That may well be, Enforcer Drax, but I fight and do not take orders from you. I thank you for your assistance and that of your pack in keeping Tudor safe. I’m sure you have a lot of clean up and investigating to do. Do not let us detain you longer.”
Frustrated, tired of his mate’s distance and cold rejection, Drax used his hold on Mason’s arm to place his mate back flat on the table, being careful to not jostle and cause damage to Mason’s newly healed body.
“Do not dismiss me.”
Those beautiful, icy eyes didn’t flinch. Mason refused to answer him, his words directed to Delia.
“Is it not an insult and punishable offence to assault a member of the coven, Lady Delia?”
“Really? You want to go that route?” Drax stroked his thumb across his mate’s jaw. “You’ll want to rethink that, mate.”
“Oh, my, I did wonder! You looked so devastated and worried, Drax. Well—”
“Gran
dmother, I am charging Enforcer Drax with assault. You and Xavier are my witnesses. He has one minute to release me and leave, or I blast him across the room. Fair warning, Enforcer Drax.”
“Dammit, Mason!” Drax did not want to release Mason. He wanted to climb on the table and claim his mate, be intimate. But his wizard was a snappy shit at times, and he knew to give Mason a few hours to chill down. Otherwise, it was war between them.
With a struggle, he released Mason and stepped back, eyes never leaving his mate. It seemed his days were often spent waiting for the right time to approach, and he was over it. The wizard climbed off the table, a little shaky, and paced away, far away from Drax.
“I’m sure you have work to attend to, Enforcer Drax.”
“Oh for the love of…!” Drax planted his hands on his hips, growling low. “This ends, Mason.”
“Mason cast a spell earlier, Drax. He cannot acknowledge you unless it is to do with Alliance, city, coven, or Council business,” Xavier said calmly. “You are not welcome here unless it is for any of the aforementioned business.”
Drax was stunned. “What? You muttered something, but…you cannot cut me out of your life, Mason. Let’s get that straight, here and now.”
“Please, if I may?” Delia interrupted. Drax was pretty much ready to tear everything in the room apart, but managed to give a nod. “Thank you. Firstly, Mason, darling, you go nowhere without bodyguards in future. That is a direct order from myself. And you do not engage in battle without bodyguards. This is not up for negotiation, grandson,” Delia said firmly when Mason went to interject. “Secondly, is Drax your mate?”
Oh yeah, deny it now, Drax snarled to himself.
“Yes, he does appear to be, in some way. As you can see, I am not claimed and have stated Enforcer Drax is not to be acknowledged.”
“I see. Obviously, as you have been here for quite some time, you two have kept this mateship a secret. Care to tell me why.”
It wasn’t a request. It was an order. Drax was happy to reply.
“We are mates. I would have claimed Mason immediately, but for his protection and your coven’s, I did not. Five years ago, we had Renegades infiltrate our pack, the coven, and the pride. Until we eliminated the threat, it wasn’t safe for my mate. The Renegades would have gone for him immediately to get me out of the way and harm us all.”
“Commendable, Drax, as always you place others first.” Delia nodded, sitting down in a chair. “This did take nearly two years though to finally discover all our leaks and moles. I am assuming Mason supplied potions for you both during that time to withstand the need to claim one another.”
Though this was private, Drax was past all the secrecy and nodded. “Yes.”
“Why then, once this was over, the infiltration, did you not claim my grandson?”
Drax looked Delia in the eye. “He refused me. I place his safety and well-being, those of everyone here, first, and he turned on me. Since that time, I have had to put up with rules of secrecy and rejection.”
Delia was quiet, watching Mason pace. Xavier was not.
“That is true. But also, you refused to move to the coven, Drax. This is where my cousin is needed. You refused and expected him to stop most of what he did for the High Council and the coven and live with your pack. That shows a blatant lack of respect for Mason himself, as well as meeting your mate’s need—providing for him as a mate should.”
Drax growled, frustrated. “It was not as simple as that, Xavier. I am an Enforcer, I have many commitments, and I must protect my pack and others of our Alliance. To be able to do this, Mason needed to stay out of trouble and his time was constantly consumed with work. I was lucky to see him for a few hours a week.”
“A dilemma, but Xavier is correct. Mason is practically the leader of this coven, and his commitments and duties are great with the High Council also. He needs to be here. I understand your commitments, but I wonder, as your duties allow much more freedom, if your wolf wished to dominate, was protective, and somewhat territorial,” Delia spoke quietly, seriously. “It is something to seriously consider, Drax. We do not ask our mates to give up all for us. We provide what they need and assist with what they must do. My grandson has given everything to our kind, continues to do so, as does my Xavier, though he also has his vampire coven commitments plus, now, the Sanchez pride ones. His mates understand this and do all they can to meet his needs.”
Drax felt the reprimand and expected it. After all, he was standing in the witch and wizard coven, or W&W as it was dubbed, and Mason was Delia’s grandson. But he’d had some time to figure things out himself and saw he’d overstepped with his mate.
He inclined his head. “I agree. I was. Over time, I saw this and adjusted. Mason did not provide time. He placed barriers, hoops for me to jump through. Now, I’m done jumping. He’s got his sensitive wizard self in a tizz and taken it a dozen steps too far. This needs to be rectified, so I’m not pretending anymore we aren’t mates. I’m done with waiting for a bit of attention when he deems he has time.”
“Perhaps a mediator would assist to smooth out any issues,” Xavier suggested. “Are you willing to move to the coven, Drax?”
“Yes, my place is beside my mate. This is where he needs to be.”
“Good. Mason?” Xavier raised a brow. “I see we are still in a tizz. A few days may give my cousin time to settle, Drax.”
“No.” Drax was adamant.
“Regardless of the fact you felt you were protecting your mate five years ago by not claiming Mason, and keeping your mateship a secret, you harmed him and put Mason through a great deal,” Xavier said frostily, and his icy blue eyes, similar to Mason and Delia’s, got that chilled look the Armstrongs all showed when severely pissed off.
“I protected my mate—”
“Unlock,” Mason snapped out the command, undoing the spell he cast earlier to no longer acknowledge Drax on personal matters. He spoke with barely contained aggression. “You took my choices, Drax. You did not ask me. You did not consult. You made a decision that directly involved me and made me go along with it. You don’t get to take away my choices or make decisions for me, regardless if you are an Enforcer. I do not forgive and forget. I do not accept. And now, you wish to move in and be by my side? No, again, I do not accept. You’ve tried to make me do what you’ve wanted, constantly, with no regard but how this fitted into your life. No more. We’re done.”
Drax knew his eyes had gone feral when Xavier elegantly, seamlessly, moved in front of Mason protectively. Yeah, taking on Xavier would be a dumb-ass move. The vampire was stealth and skill, though Drax was pretty sure he could take him. He’d have some bad injuries, sure, and then Xavier’s mate, big Crown Prince of the felines would come gunning for Drax. Then there was Mason, who could toss Drax around the room with a few chosen words, or just knee him in the balls, which Mason had done a few weeks ago.
Right now, he didn’t care. He was sick and tired of waiting for his mate, and if Mason thought that they were done, he was wrong, seriously wrong.
“I may have made a few errors, mate, but you have treated me like a dog you’d kick into the street. Have you mentioned to your family how many times you’ve messed with my equipment, my scouting, my sense of smell and scent? How many times I’ve been injured because of it? Sometimes I do believe you’re trying to cause a big enough accident that I’d be killed, effectively freeing you from our mateship.” Drax had the satisfaction of Delia and Xavier gazing at Mason speculatively. “Or that you’ve put in three complaints about me with the High Council and tried to open an investigation to have me kicked out—”
“I did what was necessary. Not all your methods are correct, Drax.”
Drax smirked. “And that’s what we come back to. My methods. How I dealt with the threat five years ago. I am well aware you are systematically going through the process of taking me out of the Council, and I know why. Easier to control the mate claim if you’ve got more clout.”
Mason laughed
. “Smart, I didn’t know if you were onto that. You play dirty. I play clean and concise. And I don’t mess with equipment, Drax. I don’t do ‘little accidents.’ I go straight for the throat.”
“That is true. It is not Mason’s nature. He comes at you with intelligence, not underhanded sneakiness.” Delia sighed. “Honestly, you are mates! Yes, there appears to be problems and grievances, but enough is enough. This must be resolved.”
“Well, that is simply done, and I did it two days ago with the High Council. I placed a refusal of mateship.” Mason smiled at Drax’s stunned look.
“On what grounds?” Drax got out weakly, feeling like his world was falling apart around him.
“Well that’s easy, Enforcer. You refused to claim me and rejected my merging.”
“Mason.” Drax wearily shook his head. “This is wrong, you know it. I have apologized, I’ve groveled, but my actions were right and true. I am sorry I hurt you in the process and will do all to make up for it. I have learned, Mason, you are powerful in your own right and intelligent enough to know how bad this can get. I don’t want that, but more importantly, I want you, my mate.”
Mason was completely unaffected and turned his back on Drax. “Leave. I do not want you here. Until this matter is resolved with the High Council, I want nothing to do with you.”
“Oh, Mason! Drax is right. You take this too far. You are not innocent in this—”
“Hey, sorry to interrupt.” Urian Starters, Alpha of the Starters pack, walked in. “I was looking for Drax. He’s not answering his phone, and I need some updates on what happened today. I heard you were injured, Mason, good to see you’re better.”
“Thank you. Please, feel free to take your Enforcer. It would be best he does not return. Have someone else from your pack speak to me regarding our Alliance and other business.”
