Mate or Fate

by J. L. Berry

  As Cole continued to breathe in the gas, placing his trust in his mate, his body eventually relaxed as he became unconscious. Jess signalled for Elijah to use his free hand to hold the mask in place while his other continued to keep Cole’s arm in the correct position. Jess quickly changed her gloves in an attempt to retain some sense of sterility before she picked up her instruments once again. The bullet was clear as she parted the soft tissues surrounding the shoulder. She clamped her forceps over the top before twisting it free. A huge grin spread across her face as she felt a sense of accomplishment at being able to fix her mate. Blood pooled from the wound now the bullet was removed so Jess packed it with swabs to stem the bleeding.

  “You can let go of his arm now and turn off the gas,” she instructed Elijah.

  “Do we need to worry about the bleeding?” he asked.

  “No, now the bullet is out his wolf healing will take over and I won’t have to do anything else. Neat huh.” Elijah had never seen anything like it so was easily impressed. “This was actually fairly straightforward compared to my non-magical patients.”

  As she removed the swabs Elijah could see the bleeding had already stopped and the muscles had become a healthy colour once again. Jess placed a dressing over the wound to keep it clean while Cole continued to heal.

  Cole was starting to come round and he mumbled incoherently while his fingers twitched. The thunder of engines could be heard rolling into the car park of the clinic. Puzzled Jess removed her gloves placing them in the clinical waste bin and putting her instruments into the sink ready for them to be sterilised tomorrow.

  “Are you okay watching him while I go see what’s going on out front?” She asked Elijah.

  Elijah nodded but his face was tight with anxiety, everything had gone far too smoothly so far and he knew it would catch up with them sooner or later.

  Jess left the guys out back as she headed towards reception. She peeked through the blinds drawn across the window to see who was outside. Two jeeps were parked haphazardly in the lot while a handful of men were scouting out the building. Jess recognised one of the men who remained by the jeeps, leaning on the hood. He was a brute of a wolf that controlled his pack mates with an iron fist. They came into town every few months to pick up supplies, never lingering long but long enough to upset anyone they encountered with their rude abusive attitude. Given what the guys had told her about the Raptors Jess was convinced these wolves belonged to that pack.

  She ran back to the prep room, “Guys, we’ve got company.”

  “Shit!” Elijah swore. He knew it was the Raptors without even having to go and check.

  “Hey, you’re back,” Cole murmured with a silly smile on his face, “Isn’t she pretty Elijah... and smart, she’s super smart too.”

  Cole was clearly high from his anaesthesia which wasn’t going to help the situation. He tried to get himself standing and move towards Jess but stumbled as his legs wobbled beneath him. Catching him before he could fall Jess warned, “Easy there lover boy.”

  “You love me?” Cole looked at her with a sleepy hopeful look on his face.

  “I....I....” Jess had no idea how to answer that. Could you not love your fated mate? It wasn’t exactly the time or the place to have that conversation plus she barely knew Cole even though he was her mate.

  Elijah smirked at her despite the gravity of the situation, “Think you guys can bench this conversation for when we’re not being hunted by dogs?”

  Jess glared at him, “Well have you got any smart ideas of how to get out of here?”

  “Hey, it’s your clinic and you’re the one who’s super smart so what do you suggest?”

  “I could distract them out front while you escape out the back? Jess suggested.

  Cole growled deep from his chest, “I’m not leaving you behind.”

  Well there goes that idea her wolf grumbled.

  “Well I have one more suggestion but you’re not going to like it....”

  Chapter 32:

  Jess wheeled the last of the clinical waste bins to the curb ready for collection before turning to head back into the clinic.

  “Not so fast Doc,” a chilling voice halted her causing goosebumps to rise up her arms.

  She turned to face the source of it, unsurprisingly seeing the man she had watched leaning against the cars in the parking lot. Members of his pack stood behind him menacingly trying to intimidate her. Jess gulped and her anxiety climbed as her wolf whimpered with their close proximity. Beta Harrison seemed satisfied with her reaction to them and sneered at her cowardice, “We’re looking for two men who passed through here earlier today.”

  “I...I..I’m sorry I’ve not seen anyone new... well except you of course,” she stammered.

  “Really? One of the men was injured and in need of medical assistance.”

  Jess gave him a puzzled look, “You do know I’m a vet right? You should try the Doctor’s surgery on the main road.”

  “Come now Doc, we both know you’re not just a vet,” Beta Harrison toyed with her, “The Doctors are the ones who called to tell us about the men so I know they were in this sleepy town of yours but weren’t treated there. Which means they either skipped town, or someone else helped them?”

  Jess willed her heart to stop pounding in her chest. She knew the wolves could smell the fear coming off her in waves.

  Please please please she willed the Moon Goddess.

  “I don’t treat humans,” she replied forcefully with more courage than she felt.

  Beta Harrison’s eyes twinkled with humour, “But you do treat wolves, don’t you.”

  With a snap of his fingers all but one of his pack members entered the clinic, moving left and right in pairs no doubt to search the building. Jess stood transfixed to the spot as she held her breath. The men searched the clinic room by room and crashes could be heard as supplies and equipment were tossed aside.

  “Seriously?! You can’t trash my clinic!”

  “Tell me where they are and we won’t need to,” Harrison challenged her. He fixed her with a piercing stare using his Beta aura to try and dominate the situation.

  “I don’t know who you’re talking about!” She shrieked back at him.

  “We’ll see.”

  Soon after the men exited the building, “They’re not here Beta.”

  “Any sign they have been?” Harrison asked, his eyes never leaving Jess as he watched for signs of deception.

  “... We’re not sure,” one answered begrudgingly.

  Beta Harrison’s eyes swiftly moved to his pack member as his jaw clenched and his nostrils flared.

  “How can you not be sure?” He seethed.

  “The whole place has been bleached.”

  Jess smirked for less than a millisecond before schooling her features back to a neutral professional expression. Beta Harrison spun back to face Jess, just missing her telling smile. He stalked towards her pure rage filling his eyes. In a heartbeat he had her gripped by the throat as he dangled her a few inches off the floor. Shocked, Jess started gasping for breath as his hand clamped tighter around her windpipe crushing the cartilage. Tears poured down from her eyes as she stared at him wide-eyed, unable to plead for her life.

  *Beep, Beep, Beep*

  The sound of a lorry reversing sounded in Jess’ ears before the comforting sound of the compressed air from the brakes being applied. The driver jumped down from the cab slamming the door behind him. Beta Harrison dropped Jess to the floor before taking a step back; he didn’t want to have to deal with witnesses. It made things more complicated than it needed to be.

  Jess felt her knees give way slightly when she hit the ground as she stumbled to find her feet. Her hands instinctively went up to her injured throat as she gasped in much needed air. The driver had walked around to the back of his vehicle and finally come across the awkward group of people standing outside the back of the clinic.

  “Everything ok here Doc?” He asked Jess suspiciously. The driver had
been collecting from the clinic since Jess was a student and knew something was off. Beta Harrison gave Jess a knowing look as she considered her options.

  “Hey Jerry, yep all good. Do you need me to sign for these?” She gestured to the waste bins ready for collection.

  “Here you go,” he handed his clipboard over to her as he eyed up the strange men in front of him. Jess signed for the collection before handing the board back for him to check. There was no secret note asking for help or anything, just a normal signature. His eyes met hers once more, “All good, I’ll get loaded up.”

  Jerry lowered the ramp for the lorry and started to wheel the large bins on to the back, securing each one in place. When he turned around he saw everyone moving back inside, a thought which unnerved him. There was something about those men that he just couldn’t put his finger on. When he stared at them before he could have sworn he heard one of them growl.

  Back inside the clinic Jess looked around at all the mess the men had created and felt her blood boil.

  “Watch her,” Harrison ordered before checking the clinic himself.

  His men were right, there was no sign of the fugitives and the whole building smelled strongly of bleach and other chemicals. “I know they’ve been here,” he growled at Jess.

  She maintained her composure as best she could but replied through gritted teeth, “I’ve told you, I haven’t seen anyone and I certainly haven’t treated anyone I don’t know.” As her fated mate Jess felt she did know Cole even though they’d only met a couple of hours ago making it easier to hide her half truths.

  Harrison stalked towards her causing Jess to flinch backwards, her back hitting the scrub sink, “You’re lying. They’ve been here and you’ve cleaned up to try and hide it from me.”

  “The clinic gets cleaned at the end of every day, this is normal!”

  Harrison scowled at her, he knew she was lying but she was good at it. Her arguments were perfectly reasonable and half truths were much more difficult to detect. “Search the bins, search the freezer, search the roof,” he ordered, “There’s something here. We just need to find it.”

  As his men went to search again, this time looking for clues rather than people, Beta Harrison continued to watch Jess. She was calm and collected; although she flinched at the mess his men created she didn’t seem nervous anymore. Either she was telling the truth or it was already too late.

  Shit.

  Beta Harrison growled before charging back outside. The lorry was long gone. He couldn’t even see it on the road. Furious, he stormed back into the clinic determined to get some information from Jess about Cole and Elijah. She needed to pay for deceiving them but he would leave that decision up to his Alpha. As he entered the prep room Jess was nowhere to be seen.

  “WHERE IS SHE?” He roared.

  His pack members came running but no-one had Jess in tow. They had left her with their Beta while they conducted their search and weren’t aware they needed to watch her. The tell tale sound of screeching tyres could be heard coming from the parking lot as they rushed outside once more. Jess was seen speeding away in her 4x4. She had snuck out the front as soon as Harrison had realised his mistake and in the confusion no one had noticed.

  “Get after her!”

  They all swarmed towards their cars in unison, piling in through the doors as the drivers started the engines. When the vehicles pulled away there was a horrible continuous thudding and the cars veered to one side. Beta Harrison slammed his hands down on the dashboard, “FUCK!”

  Rage boiled in his blood as he launched himself out of the car to see the shredded front tyre. As he looked at the other vehicle it was the same thing. By the time they changed even one tyre Jess would be long gone. A glint of metal caught Harrison’s eye as he bent to the ground to pick it up. A scalpel lay abandoned on the parking lot floor. His fist clenched around it.

  You’ll pay for this one Doc.

  AN HOUR LATER JESS pulled into the clinical waste depo her practice used. She quickly headed to the front desk and smiled in relief when she saw a friend of hers was on duty tonight. “Hey Marty!”

  He looked up from the surveillance camera screens surrounding his desk to see Jess’ beaming smile. “Jess! This is a pleasant surprise. Anything I can help you with or is this a social call?”

  “Always happy to see you Marty, but I’ve got a confession to make.”

  Marty’s eyebrows shot up at her statement, “What happened?”

  “Jerry came and did a pick up for us earlier. Only after he left a client called and changed their mind about the body disposal....”

  “Alright alright!” Marty interrupted her, “I don’t want any more details, you know that stuff grosses me out.”

  Jess chuckled, “Kinda wrong place to work.”

  “I do security, no dead body parts or anything else involved if I have anything to do with it.”

  Jess smiled sympathetically at him, “I can go without you, I know which bin to look in. I’ll be five minutes tops!”

  Marty considered her request while Jess gave him a pleading pout. “Alright, I’m going to make myself a cup of coffee. When I get back I expect to see you waving goodbye and all the bins to still be locked up tight?”

  She nodded rapidly, grateful that it was him on duty that night. It looked like fate was on her side today. Marty got up from his seat and headed down the corridor to the break room leaving his keys on the desk. Jess grabbed the keys and bolted for the door. Outside in the high security yard she checked the serial numbers of the nearby clinical waste bins and quickly found the row she needed. Sprinting down the line she sighed in relief when she found the bins from her clinic. Pulling out a pair of cutters she deftly removed the ziplocks keeping the bin closed before throwing back the lid.

  Inside Elijah and Cole shielded their eyes from the sudden exposure to light after nearly a couple of hours being enclosed. They were both extremely relieved to see her; no doubt they could have shifted and broken out of there if necessary. But seeing her free and unharmed made Cole’s heart soar at the sight of her. He leapt to his feet cupping her face in his hands as his eyes roved over her checking for injuries. His eyes fell on the scarf wrapped around her neck; it wasn’t exactly the season for scarves just yet.

  “Get a move on,” she urged them, “We don’t have long.”

  Cole jumped out of the clinical waste bin with Elijah right behind him. They closed the lid and Jess secured it with new ziplocks again. Cole removed the scarf from around her neck with one swift pull while she was distracted. The distinct bruising of fingerprints encircled her throat despite her wolf healing.

  Cole’s wolf growled deep from his chest, “Who touched you?”

  “Cole, we don’t have time for this!” Jess pleaded with him as she began to run back towards the front desk. The guys followed hot on her heels and soon found themselves being ushered out the front door towards her car. Jess hung back to deposit the keys on Marty’s desk noisily causing him to stick his head out of the break room door.

  “Night Marty,” she called giving him a wink before leaving herself.

  Jumping in the driver’s seat she breathed an audible sigh of relief, right before she nearly gagged on the disgusting smell coming from the guys hiding in the back of her car.

  “Holy crap you guys stink!” She started the engine and promptly opened the windows before she stuck her head out to take a breath.

  Elijah couldn’t help but laugh, “You did stow us away in a clinical waste bin, what did you expect?”

  “Hey it worked didn’t it,” she winked at them in the back seat as she drove off into the night.

  “Told you she was super smart,” Cole preened, “But don’t think I’ve forgotten about those bruises on your neck.”

  Jess remained quiet in the front seat as she deliberately focused on driving and avoided Cole’s gaze in the rear-view mirror. He leaned in close behind her to whisper in her ear, “Avoid me all you want little mate but I’ll get the t
ruth out of you one way or another.”

  Jess couldn’t help but flush at his suggestive comment, “Cole.... you really stink!”

  Both Jess and Elijah burst out laughing as Cole sat back in his seat dumbfounded at his mate but with a small smile on his lips. Jess smiled at him in the rear-view mirror, love filling her eyes, “You ready to go home?”

  The mood in the car sobered as both Cole and Elijah thought about what that would mean even though Jess directed the question at Cole. He couldn’t stop his eyes welling with tears as he nodded at her, “Let’s go home.”

  “Hey can we stop for a shower first though, not sure I want to show up smelling like a cat’s ass... literally!” Elijah piped in. The car burst in to laughter again as the three of them drove into the night, finally heading home for good.

  Chapter 33:

  Autumn avoided her father as much as possible after the abandoned wedding. She remained in her room only coming down for mealtimes where she would eat with her mother and her father. Luna Grey was extremely unhappy with how her mate had handled the situation between Autumn and Drake. She felt torn between the unconditional love for her daughter and the unbridled innate love for her mate. “It kills me to see the two of you like this,” she despaired over dinner.

  Her plea was met with silence from both of them. Alpha Gray had felt he’d already apologised enough to his daughter, what more could he say to help her understand and forgive him? If he truly thought apologising a thousand times would bring her round he would do it gladly, but he knew his daughter well enough to understand that she needed time.

  The awkward silence continued and Luna Grey could take it no more, she slammed her knife and fork down on her plate before sitting back in her chair and folding her arms across her chest. Alpha Grey looked up startled at his wife’s actions, she was never one for dramatics. “Whatever is wrong my love?”

  “I already told you what was wrong if the two of you don’t start talking I will not be eating dinner with you anymore.”