Seth was not going to stand. He wasn’t going to help these men out. He could see in their beady little eyes that no matter what Seth did, they planned on killing him and Chance. The only thing Seth could do was stall them and pray help came their way.
He moved another inch closer to Chance. Even though Chance had scared the shit out of him by changing into his bear, Seth felt safer with Chance than these two assholes. And he thought living in the city was dangerous?
“I wouldn’t advise you to move closer to the bear,” the man with the rifle aimed at Seth’s head said. He had short brown hair that barely made it past his ears, and one of his eyes wandered as he stared at Seth.
The one with his gun aimed at Chance was bulky, a small potbelly puffing out past his waistline. He had muddy brown eyes and a large tattoo on his neck that looked like an eagle.
This was unbelievable. Seth glanced at the man and then down at Chance. He wanted to ask Chance what to do, but he highly doubted Chance could talk in his bear form. The longer he stared at the dark coat of fur, the more relaxed he was becoming about Chance being a bear. Maybe it was the stress of the situation, but Seth was willing to accept Chance, even in his current form if only they made it out of this alive.
Chance moved and Seth moved. He mimicked everything the bear did. It wasn’t an aggressive move. Chance stood and began to back toward Seth, blocking him from the gun aimed at Seth’s head.
“Don’t you dare put yourself in harm’s way because you are trying to protect me,” Seth said, only his voice was so low that he wasn’t sure Chance could hear him.
Chance gave a grunt and moved a step back. Seth moved with him. He knew that if anyone was outside, at just the right angle, they would be able to see Seth and Chance in the woods. He wasn’t too sure if the two dickweeds could be spotted, though.
“If you take one more step…” The man with the tattoo took a step closer, pushing the barrel of the gun so close to Chance’s head that Seth’s breath caught in his throat.
“We can’t shoot them now,” the other man argued. “There’s a house right over there.” He pointed toward the barn. “They’ll hear the shot.”
Seth prayed the one holding the gun to Chance listened to his partner. His entire body began to shake as the adrenaline began to wear off. Seth thought for sure he was going to shake apart right there in front of the two men. He’d never had a gun pointed at him, let alone a high-powered rifle. He could tell the one with the tattoo on his neck was itching to get a shot off.
“We need to go,” the man with the wandering eye said as he pulled on the other man’s shirt.
The man with the tattoo began to lower his gun, and Seth’s heart began to beat again. The two men slowly backed away. The one with the wandering eye kept looking between Chance and Seth and then over at the house.
But it was the one with the tattoo who had a look of steel in his eyes. He was salivating to shoot them both.
Seth could see it.
Hell, he could feel it down to his very bones.
This was a nightmare, and Seth was terrified that he wouldn’t wake up. That he wouldn’t survive it. The two disappeared further into the woods, and Seth let out a whimper as he collapsed to the ground. He was on his knees, trying to remember how to breathe as tears fell from his eyes. He just couldn’t stop shaking.
“Pa!” Chance shouted once he shifted back into his human form and then he grabbed Seth around the waist and hauled him from the ground. Chance took off toward the house at breakneck speed. Seth had no clue Chance could run that fast carrying someone. But he couldn’t find his voice long enough to tell Chance to put him down.
“What is it, son?”
“Two hunters in the woods had their guns aimed at me and Seth. They were itching to kill us.”
Seth buried his face in Chance’s chest, feeling his body shivering all over. He just had a damn rifle in his face. A rifle! Seth felt so cold that he wasn’t sure he’d ever be warm again, and it had nothing to do with the weather. His life had almost been snuffed out in the blink of an eye.
Seth glanced up when he heard heavy footsteps. The father, along with three of the brothers, took off toward the woods as Chance carried Seth inside. Seth noticed that Chance was naked once the man sat down on the couch, cradling Seth in his arms. “Are you okay, Seth?”
Seth shook his head, feeling so cold that he began to shiver.
“Shit, don’t go into shock on me,” Chance said as he grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around Seth’s body.
“T–Take me home.”
“Just as soon as you stop shaking.” Chance wrapped his arms around Seth, forming a tight hold as the front door opened. Seth tried to jump up when he saw Oscar and Bryce come through the door, but Chance held him firmly.
“Oh crap,” Bryce said as he hurried Oscar from the house.
“Let me up,” Seth demanded as he pushed away from Chance. “Please get dressed and take me home.”
* * * *
Chance knew he wasn’t going to win this argument. Seth had been scared shitless, and he needed something familiar, which would be his apartment. Chance sighed as he pushed from the couch and walked upstairs, getting dressed and then coming back down. He frowned when he saw the living room was empty. He hadn’t been gone but a few minutes.
When he heard a truck pulling from the driveway, Chance hurried toward the door. He saw Bryce’s truck pulling away, and Seth sitting on the passenger’s side. Chance assumed Oscar sat between them.
Chance roared as he pushed the screen door open. He watched helplessly as the truck turned at the end of the drive, taking his mate away from him. Chance had an urge to run after Seth, but he knew his mate needed time to absorb what had happened to him. But damn if Chance wasn’t pissed off that Seth had run away like that.
Seth walked through the apartment, showing Bryce where to lay Oscar. His nephew was fast asleep. The riding and helping out on the ranch had tuckered the little fellow out. He had fallen asleep in Bryce’s truck and hadn’t made a peep since. “Just lay him on the bed,” Seth said as he pulled the blankets back.
Bryce laid Oscar down, and Seth pulled his shoes off, covering his nephew before turning on the night-light and closing the door. Seth’s hand lingered on the bedroom doorknob, unsure of what to say or do. He had run like a chicken from Chance, from the whole situation. And now that his adrenaline had worn off, he felt like a rat bastard for leaving Chance.
“You know Chance is probably going apeshit right now,” Bryce said as he took a seat on Seth’s couch.
“I know.” Seth knew that. He had just been thinking along the same lines. The guilt was eating away at him. But what was he supposed to do? Seth had almost died in the woods. He had needed to get away. Seth needed time to himself. He needed to absorb what had almost happened to him and Chance.
Chance had said that they were bound together. That there was no going back. But Seth wasn’t so sure right now that he had made the right decision.
“You should call him,” Bryce said. “I wouldn’t doubt if he was on his way over here.”
Seth hoped not. He needed time to clear his head, and he couldn’t do that with Chance near him. Having Chance so close always made Seth forget the world around him. “I’ll call him. I promise.” Seth leaned against the wall, wrapping his arms around his stomach. “But not right now.”
“What exactly happened in the woods?” Bryce asked as he sat forward. “I didn’t get a chance to find out.”
Seth didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want to relive the events so soon. He decided to give Bryce the watered-down version. “Chance and I were in the woods when two hunters came across us. Chance was in his bear form. The hunters pointed a gun to our heads and threatened to shoot us.”
Even with the condensed version, Seth could feel his heart pounding so hard behind his ribs that he thought he was going to pass out. He could still feel that rifle pointed toward his head, the look of joy in the other hunter’s eyes as he licked his dry lips, ready to shoot Chance. Seth shivered, feeling so cold that he just knew he would never be warm again.
“Do you blame Chance for what happened?” Bryce asked.
Seth opened his mouth to say no, but closed it. Did he? Did he blame Chance for the hunters? “Part of me does,” Seth confessed. “Part of me blames Chance for dragging me into this strange world of his.” Seth couldn’t believe he was saying all of this out loud. But it was true. If he hadn’t been with Chance, the hunters would have never pointed those guns at them. Seth would never know what it was like to see his life almost slip away from him.
The reality of the situation had been too much for him. Seth had needed someplace familiar, someplace warm. His apartment was the only familiar place he knew, besides the diner where he worked. And he wasn’t into breaking down at work. The place was warm to him because he shared it as a home with Oscar. Seth had needed to be here desperately.
Bryce’s hard stare was unnerving. Seth hadn’t done anything wrong. So why was he feeling lower than dog poo for leaving Chance?
“Do you think Chance would put you in harm’s way on purpose?” Bryce asked as he stood, his eyes hard as stone. Seth unfolded his arms, ready to bolt if Bryce became less than friendly.
“I didn’t say that.”
“But that’s what you’re thinking.”
Seth shrugged. “I can’t help what I think. You asked. Would you rather have me lie?”
Bryce ran his hand over his neck, staring at Seth for a moment and then the door. “No, I would want you to tell me the truth, even if I didn’t like it.”
“I have told you the truth, Bryce. I’m not sure what to think right now. A lot has happened to me today. I watched a man turn into a bear and then had a rifle to my head with a promise to have it blow off, all within twenty minutes. That’s a lot for someone to deal with.”
Bryce nodded, but his eyes were telling a different story. Telling Seth that if he couldn’t handle today, he was shit out of luck.
Was their world that bad?
“What aren’t you telling me?” Seth asked.
Bryce shook his head as he headed for the door. “That’s between you and your mate. I’ll talk to you later.” With that, Bryce let himself out.
Seth took a deep breath as he dropped down onto the couch. He wasn’t sure what Bryce was holding back, but he had a feeling he wouldn’t like it. He damn near jumped from the couch when the phone rang. This seemed to be a busy night.
“Hello?”
“How badly have I fucked up?”
Seth sat back on the couch. “I just need time, Chance.”
“So, you’re not leaving me?” Chance sounded worried.
“I can’t, remember?” Seth regretted the words as soon as he said them. He could hear a small intake of breath on the other end, as if he had physically slapped the bear.
“Is it that bad, Seth?”
Seth had never heard someone sound so wounded in his life. He wanted to run to Chance and pull the big man into his arms and comfort him. “No. I just need time.”
The silence almost drowned Seth as he waited for Chance to say something, anything. He was starting to get worried that Chance had hung up the phone.
“How much time?”
Fuck.
Seth couldn’t do this. He really couldn’t. The hurt in Chance’s voice was too much. “Come over.”
Seth wasn’t sure if it was the bond Chance had told him about, or if he had fallen for the man, but hearing the hurt in Chance’s voice was killing him.
“Promise not to get mad?” Chance asked.
Seth knew by the question that Chance was already there. He pushed up from the couch and walked across the room, a small smile tugging at his lips. He opened the apartment door and then gasped.
That wasn’t Chance standing at his door.
* * * *
Christian paced the club, looking at the remnants of the outer wall. How had the vampire hunters gotten into his club, and then back out, without their minds being scrubbed?
Answer. There was a traitor in his coven.
It disturbed Christian that he hadn’t known. Things that important usually didn’t slip by him. Christian took pride in knowing his coven on a more personal level. To think that one of them had fooled him not only angered him, but downright pissed him off.
“I need you to gather the coven,” he said to Christo as he walked around the rubble, assessing the damage. “And have Isla find a contractor to repair the club.”
“Maverick Brac is using a contractor he trusts. Maybe I can call him and see if he will let us use his for a week.”
Christian liked that idea better. He didn’t want strangers in his club, not working on it at least. Maverick’s contractor would be a stranger, true, but Maverick trusted the guy. That made a difference. “I’ll call him after you have gathered the coven.”
Christo dipped his head slightly in a nod and walked away.
“Jacob,” Christian called his newest member over to him. Jacob had been human, dying of a rare blood disease. He was Shelby’s mate, and someone Christian had grown to trust in a very short time.
That was a rare occurrence.
“What’s up?”
The man also forwent the prince title. Christian would never admit it, but it was delightful to have someone ignore his lineage and treat him as a real person. It was refreshing.
“I need you and the bouncers to secure The Manacle. I don’t want anyone gaining access who shouldn’t be here while the repairs are being made.”
“On it,” Jacob said as he went to find the bouncers.
Christian would find the traitor. He would gather his coven at the club. He didn’t want the confrontation at home where his mates and son were.
And when he found who it was, they would suffer greatly before he killed them.
“Seth?” Chance asked into the phone. “Are you there?” No answer.
Chance slid from his truck he had parked in the apartment
building’s parking lot, looking up toward Seth’s apartment. His mate’s living room window faced the parking lot. There were blinds in the window. The blinds were standard-issue for an apartment. One of them was pulled up slightly, and lopsided. Chance was able to see in only an inch, but he saw when the living room light went out.
His heart picked up its beat a little as Chance walked toward the apartment building, phone still pressed to his ear. “Seth?”
Chance didn’t like the fact that Seth didn’t answer, or that he couldn’t hear what was going on. It was almost as if the mute button of Seth’s handset had been pushed. Chance quickly opened the door to the building and raced to Seth’s apartment. Thankfully it was on the first floor.
He hesitated. What if it wasn’t an emergency and he just busted in? Seth was already pissed at him—or so he thought. Busting into Seth’s home wouldn’t win him any brownie points.
To hell with it.
Chance turned the knob, but found the door locked.
A cold weight plunged into his stomach when he heard scuffling noises beyond the door. It sounded as if Seth was fighting. A loud crash made Chance shove at the door with his shoulder, leaning all of his weight into the move. He was a little surprised the door held. Chance took a step back and threw his weight this time. The door crashed open.
“Fuck,” Chance said when he saw Seth pinned on the couch, a vampire feeding from his mate. He knew that vampires had to be invited into a human’s home. They couldn’t just walk across the threshold. Vampires could barge into any shifter’s home, which in Chance’s opinion sucked. So how did this vampire get into Seth’s apartment? Chance was sure Seth hadn’t invited the thing in willingly.
“Get the fuck off of him,” Chance shouted as he raced over to the couch and grabbed the vampire by the scruff of his collar, yanking with force.
“Don’t yank,” Seth begged. Chance could hear the fear in his mate’s voice.
“Why not?” He felt kind of silly standing here having a conversation with Seth while a vampire tried to suck his mate dry.
“Because you’ll tear my damn throat out if you yank him away.”
The vampire made a low throaty sound. It was a warning. Chance reached around the vampire’s shoulders and grabbed his throat, squeezing with so much pressure that he heard the man sputter and then wheeze.
“Get the fuck off of him,” Chance said as he dug his fingers in deeper. “Now.”
Finally, the vampire removed his fangs. But he wasn’t giving up that easily. He whirled around, using his inhuman strength to knock Chance backward. Chance lost his footing, but managed to stay upright.
He had inhuman strength as well. Being a shifter had its benefits. Chance’s claws unsheathed as he swiped at the vampire’s throat. The vampire anticipated the move and protected his throat as he advanced toward Chance.
Chance had a moment to see that Seth was dazed. The wounds on his neck hadn’t been properly closed, and blood was seeping out quicker than Chance would have liked. It was staining Seth’s shirt, turning it from a light blue to an ugly red.
His eyes snapped to the vampire, and Chance knew the bastard had to die. No one snacked on his mate. He also knew that this was a rogue standing in front of him. He could see the red rim around the man’s black irises. A clear indication that the vampire was rogue.
Chance caught movement and saw Oscar standing in his bedroom doorway. His night had just gotten even more complicated. He knew he had to contain the situation. Oscar wouldn’t be able to fend off a full-grown man, let alone a vampire.
With the quickness of a preternatural creature, Chance grabbed the vampire by his shirtfront and slammed him into the wall nearest the door. He had to get the creature out of the apartment and away from his newfound family. Seth was his mate. And no matter what anyone said, he felt that Oscar was his son.
He was going to protect what was his.
The vampire wasn’t going down so easily. He fought Chance hard as he tried to remove the choke hold Chance had put on him. “This is my family.” Chance growled in his face. “I’ll kill your ass for touching them.”
Chance had a brief second to see Oscar hobbling toward Seth. He could see the boy was trying to run, but with his scarred legs, it was more like a hobble. Oscar climbed up onto the couch, removed his tiny shirt, and pressed the cloth into the open wound on Seth’s neck.
Chance couldn’t be prouder of his son as he turned his attention back to the vampire in his hands. Seeing Seth bleeding and seeing Oscar in the room made Chance snap. His mind was shouting for him to kill the vampire, to protect what was his, what he held the dearest in his heart.
The vampire pushed his hands up in between Chance’s, swung them outward, and broke the hold Chance had on his neck. Chance grabbed for him again, but the vampire fled toward the door, escaping into the night before Chance could grab him. He started to go after the thing, but he slammed the door closed and headed toward Seth.
“Let me see,” Chance said gently to Oscar.
“But he’s bleeding. If I let go, it will all pour out of him.” Oscar had tears in his eyes. But Chance also saw determination as well. The little guy wasn’t going to let Seth bleed to death.
“I can fix him.” Chance laid his hand on Oscar’s arm. The size difference made Chance just stare for a moment as his overly large hand rested on Oscar’s tiny arm. “Please.”
Oscar glanced down at Seth, a small whimper escaping his lips. “Don’t let Uncle Seth die, Chance.”
The boy seemed older than his six years in that moment. He seemed like someone who had witnessed a great tragedy and had survived. And Oscar had. He had seen his parents die in the fire, and he had survived. That must have been a hell of a burden to carry for such a small child.
“I promise.”
Oscar pulled the shirt back, and the blood immediately started to pour from the wound. Chance leaned forward and licked the wound. He let his tongue rasp over the twin holes continuously until the bleeding slowed and then trickled, finally stopping. Seth was pale as he lay there. His skin held the pallor of someone who had experienced blood loss.
“Get me some blankets, buddy.”
Oscar slid from the couch and hobbled to his bedroom. Chance lifted Seth from the couch and laid his mate in his lap, trying to share his body heat. Oscar came back, dragging his blanket behind him. Chance grabbed the blanket when Oscar held the corner up. He waited until Oscar climbed onto the couch and then settled in next to Chance and Seth.
“Thank you.”
“For what?” Chance asked Oscar as he draped the blanket over Seth. Oscar pulled the blanket over him as well. He snuggled in close, laying his head on Chance’s arm.
“For saving my uncle.” Oscar’s words were haunted. Chance knew that the little boy was afraid of losing someone else he loved. He had seen too much in his young years, and Chance was determined to make sure Oscar’s life was secure and happy from now on.
“He’s my mate, Oscar. Do you know what that means?”
Oscar shrugged, his tiny shoulders lifting the blanket slightly as he stared at Seth. “That he’s your husband and you love him?”
Chance couldn’t have said it any better. “Exactly.”
“So who am I?”
Chance pulled an arm from around Seth, who was sleeping now, and placed it behind Oscar, pulling him closer. “My son.”
“I like that,” Oscar said quietly. “I like that very much.”