Authors: Joyee Flynn
“I’m sorry, Diets, you can’t leave,” Curtis said firmly.
“The fuck I can’t,” Diets growled, and I heard skin smacking and guessed someone shoved the other one. “What are you going to do, keep me prisoner?”
“Don’t, Curtis. Please, just let him leave. It’s what he wants,” I sniffled as the first tears escaped. “He doesn’t want us, okay? Just leave him be.”
“No!” Curtis shouted, and I could feel his anger and grief. “No! I won’t lose you, my angel cheetah. I won’t let you die because he’s too scared to deal with this! He could have everything, have you, and he’s going to walk away. We could be a real family and make you happy if he’d pull his head out of his ass. He can’t leave!”
“It’s not what he wants, big guy,” I whispered as I stood up. I felt the couch and made my way to the door, counting my steps. “Let him go.”
“I won’t lose you because he’s an idiot,” Curtis cried out.
“Why would you lose him? What do you mean let him die?” Diets asked in a frantic voice. “Why is anyone dying?”
“If Shem doesn’t claim his mates within forty-eight hours of scenting them, he dies,” Curtis choked out. “If you deny him, he will get sick and die, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I won’t lose him.”
“He told you that?” Diets asked.
“Yes.”
“Bullshit.” Diets laughed, and it wasn’t a nice laugh. Oh god, that was just the knife in the back. I crumbled to my knees as he howled so loudly it was as if he was slapping me over and over again. I couldn’t hold back the tears, sobbing as I curled into a ball. “Why is he crying?”
“You’ve just rejected him, called him a liar basically, and signed his death sentence,” Curtis answered with a snarl. “Why do you think he’s crying?”
“This can’t be real. He can’t die because of this,” Diets denied adamantly. “You guys are trying to trick me. This is some type of scam.”
“Why? Why would we lie, Diets? What would we have to gain from trapping you as our mate? It’s forever. You think we’d want a mate forever that didn’t want us?”
“I don’t know, but things like this don’t happen,” Diets shouted.
“What can we do to make you believe us at least? Let’s start there,” Curtis begged as I sat up and shook my head.
“No,” I whispered, but they ignored me.
“I don’t know, Curtis. You’re going to get some other shifter or vampire, which I still can’t believe is real, to feed me the same crap. How does this end? You need a human sacrifice for something, and you guys trick people this way?”
“No,” I said louder this time.
“What the fuck, man? Because I’m a vampire I sacrifice humans? That’s bullshit,” Curtis yelled back. “We’re not trying to hurt you! Being mated to Shem is the best thing that ever happened to me. He’s amazing. Fate gave you the chance for immortality and happiness on a silver platter, and you’re just going to walk away?”
“What do you expect me to say? Sure, sign me up and let’s fuck until we drop?”
“No!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. That finally got them quiet. I turned to where I knew Curtis was. “Just stop, okay? He wanted me until he knew what I was, doesn’t that tell you something? Do you think he’ll ever change his mind about us or ever want us? Just let him go.”
“I can’t do that, angel. He leaves, you die in two days. And then I die because I’m tied to you. You forget that part about being mated to a vampire. You die, I die, and not only could I not make it through losing you, but there are a lot of people who count on me. What about your family? What would they say if they found out you were going to die because our mate was running from you?”
“You know what they’d do,” I answered, shaking my head. “They’d break the bond before I died. But you know that’s wrong.”
“Wait, there’s a way to break this bond?” Diets asked with such venom in his voice I could almost feel it. “Nice of you guys to leave that tidbit out. Let’s do that. Let’s break this bond so everything can go back to normal.”
“No, we’re not breaking the bond,” I said firmly when Curtis started to speak.
“Why not? He’s willing to let you die,” Curtis grumbled. “I love you, Shem. I’d do anything to keep you alive.”
“What’s the big deal? How do you break a mating bond?” Diets shouted.
“Someone has to die,” I yelled back, my heart in shambles at the way this was turning out. “Curtis is saying my brothers would kill you so the bond was broken and I wouldn’t go into heat and then overheat and then die. Okay? That’s how you break the bond. Someone dies. And no matter what, I’m not willing to let you die. Whether you claim me or not, want me or not, you’re my mate.”
“You’re serious,” Diets whispered, and I heard him plop on his butt. “And you’d die to keep me safe if I don’t agree to mate with you?”
“You don’t want me because I’m a shifter.” I shrugged and went to stand but stopped when he grabbed my arm to keep me sitting. “Nothing I can do about that. I can’t change what I am anymore than you can. So you want to run, go, okay? You don’t want me now because of what I am, fine, leave.”
“It’s not what you are that bothers me, Shem,” Diets said as he moved closer to me. “It’s all of this. There are shifters and vampires and mates, and it’s too much. I’m not any less attracted to you knowing you’re part cat or whatever. This isn’t about me rejecting you. It could be any shifter. It’s just too much to take in. A few hours ago I was a fireman, a normal guy who thought this kind of stuff was in the movies.”
“Then we dump all of this on you.” I nodded, trying to understand. “Let me ask you something then. If Curtis didn’t drop the bomb that I’ll die if I don’t claim you, would you ever have come back? I mean, if he’d let you leave, would we have ever heard from you again?”
Diets was silent for several torturous minutes before whispering one word. “Yes.”
“Yes, what?” Curtis asked as he moved closer as well.
“Yes, I would have come back,” he answered. “I just needed to get out of here, think about this. I know I said I couldn’t get involved in your world, with all of this. But I meant right now,
ya
know? Like this was too much to process when you’re sitting there naked and beautiful and everything in me was screaming to say fuck it and be with you. I need time to think.”
“What if you claimed Diets and that was it? Could he just leave then and you’d be safe?”
“I think so.” I shrugged. “I don’t think the lunar cycle affects humans after they mate with us. But my bite when I claimed him would leave a permanent mark on him.”
“And that would keep you alive and give me time to process all of this?”
“Yeah,” I sighed and pulled my knees to my chest. “The day after I met Curtis I started to feel sick from not claiming him. It was awful. I started to overheat, and it felt like thousands of bugs were crawling all over my skin.”
“So what happens? We just have sex?” Diets asked hesitantly.
“I’d shift into my half and half form and take you while on your hands and knees. When we were close to coming, I bite you on the shoulder and claim you as my mate. Once we do that, you’ll be able to feel my emotions when I’m around you and vice versa.”
“Can I see you in that form first?”
“Seriously? That matters to you when we’re talking about Shem’s life?” Curtis snarled.
“I just want all the facts, okay? He’s saying he’ll be able to sense my emotions, leave a permanent mark on me, and tie us together forever. I’m simply asking to see what he looks like when he’s in that form! What if I can’t get it up when he looks like a cat? I’m not into animals!”
Curtis started to talk again, but I held up a hand to stop him.
Diets’s
request was reasonable given the shit we were dumping on him. I stripped back off my jeans before shifting into my half and half form. I turned in a circle to show him what he’d be getting into to, tail and all.
“Okay. You can claim me, but I walk out that door afterwards, and you give me time to think about all of this. No pressure, no more loopholes or bombs to drop, right?”
“No, that was it.” I nodded as I shifted back.
“Why did you do that?”
“I–I can’t kiss you when I’m in that form,” I whispered, suddenly feeling vulnerable.
“Does that matter?” He snickered, and I reached for my jeans again. “What are you doing now?”
“I can’t do this,” I sniffled as I yanked them on. “You don’t want to even kiss me. How can I be intimate with you?”
“You mean fuck me,” Diets growled as he took a step towards me. “I don’t normally bottom, Shem.”
“And I’ve only had sex with Curtis,” I yelled, spinning around to face him. “I saved myself for my mates, okay? It’s like being married in our world. Curtis took me first since I found him first, but I’ve never given him oral sex because I thought my other mate should be my first for that. So just go. I can’t do this as some emotionless one-night stand. I don’t know how to not care about someone and have sex.”
“Cut me some slack, would you? I’m trying here,” Diets sighed. “When did you meet Curtis?”
“A week ago.”
“Christ on a stick,” he groaned at my answer. “You’ve only been having sex a week? No wonder you can’t separate sex and making love.”
“You make it sound like there’s something wrong with me because I can’t!” I ground out, getting tired of his shit. Yeah, we’d dumped a lot on him, but I was done feeling like a freak for so many different reasons. “All humans can’t do it either. Some of them save themselves for marriage, too. Any other reason you think I’m a freak?”
“No,” Diets replied as he reached out and grabbed my arm. He yanked on it so I fell into his lap. Before I could say anything, he crushed his mouth down to mine. I couldn’t help myself. I moaned and opened up for him as I touched every inch of his skin I could reach. “You’re not a freak, Shem. You’re amazing. I wasn’t picking on you, okay? I’m sorry, I’ll stop being an ass.”
“It’s okay. You’ve got a lot to process.”
“That doesn’t ever excuse being a douche.” He chuckled and brushed his lips against mine. “Is there somewhere we can be alone, with, like, a bed? Maybe get a chance to make out for a while before you claim me?”
“Will you ever come back after tonight?” I asked, desperate to know if we’d only have this one time.
“I don’t know, Shem. If I knew the answer to that, I wouldn’t need to leave and take time to think.”
Chapter 6
Twenty minutes later, we were in Curtis’ room without Curtis. It felt weird that Diets and I had invaded his bedroom, but my mate had assured me it was mine as well. And while this wasn’t the ideal situation, he didn’t want me in a strange spare room bed.
“How come Curtis doesn’t need to bite me like you do?” Diets asked as we lay in bed and traded gentle caresses. He’d undressed me before getting naked and climbing into bed next to me. And while I wanted to jump his bones and be over with this so I could deal with him leaving, I was enjoying this calm leisure time with him.
“He feels the need, but I guess vampires can control it better than shifters can. Werewolves don’t have a timetable like cats do. But I hear they get ultra aggressive and have trouble controlling their shift until they claim their mate.”
“What if I have other questions while I’m thinking? Who do I ask?”
“I can give you my older brother’s number,” I whispered and pulled my hand away. “It would be too hard to talk to you and not know if you were ever coming back.”
“But maybe talking would be what we need to get to know each other while I get used to all of this,” Diets replied after a moment. “I mean we’re already skipping the dating part of our relationship. Why can’t we talk for a while and see how I deal and where this goes?”