Authors: Tigertalez
“Yeah, and hope he doesn’t question which shifter
council you’re from.” Kace obviously tried to sound teasing, but he looked
edgy.
“It shouldn’t matter. All councilmembers in every
council can reach across borders. Now, the rest of you go with Slate. If
anything goes wrong, let me know. We’ll handle what we’re faced with when it
happens. Good luck.”
They pulled up to the white two-story ranch-style home
he grew up in. From the outside, with its little white fence and well-kept
yard, nothing looked wrong, but Slate felt the prickles of the hairs on the
back of his neck stand up. Something was
terribly
wrong. Nausea rolled over him, fed by his worry and nerves as he slowly
approached the door. His hip burned pain through his side from the physical
effort combined with the tight tension he couldn’t shake. Kace stood on his
right, and
Vin
on his left. Dex and Pierce were right
behind him, and Fabian brought up the rear guarding Katie.
Slate steeled his nerves and focused himself, then
reached out and pressed the doorbell. The electric chimes could be heard behind
the door while they waited for a response. Heavy footsteps were heard
approaching before the knob twisted and the door swung open. The scents of
blood and pain could be smelt escaping.
A strong, blond man with a form that didn’t quite, but
almost, equaled Slate’s, answered the door. His eyes grew wide in surprise at
first, then narrowed followed by the heavy scent of rage and loathing.
Before he could snarl something verbally abusive,
Vin
cut him off. “Are you Carl Payton?”
“Yes, b—”
“We are here on orders from the shifter council to
inspect your home and question any other occupants in the domicile.” The cold
edge that crept through
Vin’s
voice sent a chill down
Slate’s spine.
“You’re n—”
Vin
continued, ignoring Carl’s
attempts to rant. “I am also here as a representative for the vampire council.
If you resist, I would have to report the offense to the vampire council.”
Slate knew that wasn’t a small matter as the vampire and shifter councils’
alliance was often strained. Watching
Vin
work was
intimidating. “You can call your alpha if you wish. However, he is with a
member of the shifter council as we speak. I’m sure the interruption would be …
forgiven.”
Psh
, not likely,
Slate thought as
Vin
continued.
“Now step aside and let us conduct our search.”
To Slate’s relief, although red faced and sputtering
in his ire, his father stepped aside.
Vin
remained
with him while the rest filed into the house. The entry was right next to the
living room. Slate could see a few pillows askew, but nothing more out of
place.
The group followed the smell of blood down a hallway,
which opened up into a small dining room connected to a kitchen that was
divided by a counter.
The walls had holes in the shapes of heads and bodies,
and the table had blood on it. The blood stained trails that had dried on it
indicated that it was put there when the table was on its side. Debris peppered
the floor with bits of wall and glass. Cupboards in the kitchen were open, and one
was cracked and hanging on one hinge at an angle.
The scraping sound of a brush on a tile surface drew
his eyes in that direction. On the other side of the counter, in the kitchen,
on her hands and knees, was his mother. Her posture didn’t seem right to him,
and she was scrubbing the floor slowly. A rusty red colored the trail of soap bubbles,
and the strong odor of blood in the area left him no doubts to what she was
cleaning up.
Slate closed his eyes and gathered in his emotions. He
would see to her, and his sister, before he gutted his father.
“Mother?”
His voice sounded a bit rusty to his ears, but he
lost it completely when she turned to look at him.
Her body moved as if
pain,
and he had no doubt she was. Her face was swollen and discolored by bruising.
Her right eye was swollen shut, her left one nearly the same. Her lips were
swollen and split, and her nose had to be broken. Slate’s stomach dropped hard
in his gut, nearly causing him to retch. No one should have to go through that,
let alone his loving mother. Guilt slammed into him then. If he would have told
his mother what his father did to him, and come back sooner, he could have
prevented this. Right now he was thankful she was alive.
Glass and ceramic crunched under his footing as he
hurried over to help her stand when he saw her trying to make the effort. She
was clearly in a lot of pain, perhaps even had broken ribs. His concern about
possible internal bleeding was interrupted when she lightly wrapped her arms
around his waist and sobbed. She sobbed so hard that he had to hold her up. His
eyes prickled with tears that he couldn’t stop from spilling down his flaming
cheeks. He ignored his own pain to keep his arms wrapped protectively around
her. He hadn’t been able to see her, let alone hug her, since he left, and it
filled a broken part in him to be able to hold her now.
Another set of arms wrapped around them, and the scent
of his mate surrounded him and helped soothe his shattered emotions. He
regained control of himself and pulled her back.
“Mother, this is my mate, Katie. Baby-Kate, this is my
mother, Beverly.”
He watched Katie send his mother a warm smile. “Hi,
Beverly, you raised my perfect soul-mate, and I must say you did a super
perfect job. I’m also a registered nurse. How about you let me take care of you
while these guys do their own thing?”
Slate kissed his mate on the temple, and did the same
to his mother. “Mom, where’s Elise?”
Beverly’s face crumbled and began to cry again, “S-she
locked herself—” Beverly had to take a few quick breaths before she continued. “She
locked herself in her room when she was able to get away from him. I blacked
out after that, and when I came to, the door was broken apart and she was gone.
I don’t know if she got free or not.”
Dex stepped forward, and he looked agitated. “Which
room was hers?”
“Top of the stairs, last room on the right.”
Dex hurried out of the room before she could finish,
with Pierce and Kace following. He knew they heard her though because vampires
had the same hearing as shifters.
While Slate and Katie helped Beverly to a chair,
Fabian was busy on his cell.
“I
zent
a text to Tyler. ‘e’s
on ‘
eez
way with
ze
alpha.”
Katie had left the two huge medical duffle bags on the
table when she joined him, and now she was rummaging through it with
familiarity, getting what she needed to help his mother. She asked her
questions as she looked into her eyes, and examined her facial injuries. Slate
hid his cringe when Katie pulled back the swollen lid and viewed Beverly’s eye.
The white of her eye was red with blood.
Kace came back down with a weird look on his face. It looked
like he was shocked and afraid, and he was most definitely anxious. “Dex thinks
Elise is his beloved.”
“Beloved?” Katie questioned, only glancing up at him
before she returned to her task.
Slate answered. “That is what vampires call their
mate. He won’t be able to confirm it unless he tastes her blood, but in the
meantime, there are other hints.”
“Like going crazy, doing irrational things like you
did when we met?” This time when Katie looked up slightly she gave him a silly
grin.
Slate returned her smile. “Yeah, something
like
that.”
Kace continued, “He thinks she escaped out the window.
They’re following her trail, but I’m not a hundred percent yet and I wouldn’t
have been able to keep up with them. .Even if I could … dayumn, Dex is going
a bit nuts
. I’m not ashamed to say that I think I’ll keep my
distance from him right now. I don’t know if it was the scent of blood that
made him lose control or if it was just the scent of his beloved, but you would
think he was more a hired killer then a man who plays with flowers all day.”
“
Zut
!”
Fabian cursed.
“It
iz
probably both.
What
wude
you do if you
zmelt
your mate’s blood?
Ezpecially
after
zeeing
thees
?”
“Elise? Mate to a vampire?
Oh no.”
Beverly went pale and looked around. Slate shared a look of concern with
Fabian. Was his mother as prejudiced?
“We’ve gotten to know him on the flight down here, and
he is a really great guy,” Katie said. Slate admired his mate for defending the
vampire.
“I am sure he is.” Beverly lowered her voice to a
whisper. “But don’t let Carl know. I’m afraid of what he would do if he found
out.” She placed her hands on her cheeks.
Katie gently lowered them and squatted down to look
his mother in the eyes. “You need to listen to me very carefully, Beverly. I
need you to not let yourself get carried away with fear. Slate is here to
protect you, and he has a long list of people backing him up. This fear you are
living with needs to be shed. I want you to start adjusting your thinking to
doing the right thing, and that is to leave this place. You and Elise can join
us in our pack. You’ll be safe, protected, cared for. That is the right thing
to do, and now is the right time to do it. Don’t let this stop you from making
that leap because you may never get a better chance.”
Slate placed a tender hand on his mother’s shoulder to
back up his mate’s claim. Everyone turned when they heard footsteps coming from
down the hall. Slate could make out Tyler’s scent and the other must be the
alpha. Behind them was Carl with
Vin
tailing him. He
could also make out the sounds of others, possibly the alpha’s enforcers, but
they sounded like they were staying in the living room. Stepping in front of
his mother to shield her from their view, Slate watched the men enter the room.
The alpha stood about as tall as Slate with a bodybuilder’s form and cropped
shoulder length blond hair. His face was a mixture of confusion and anger.
“What the hell is going on here?”
With everyone spilling into the dining room, the space
grew even smaller. Instead of lowering his eyes in submission to the higher
ranking shifter, he looked the alpha directly in the eyes. Both Slate and his
lion had no respect for him. “I’m here to rescue my mother and sister, and I’m
filing for restitution against Carl and you.”
“Me!” The alpha’s voice thundered. He obviously didn’t
like the lack of respect Slate showed.
“Yes! You wasted your time stonewalling us, and your
negligence allowed this,” Slate moved aside, “to happen!”
Everyone who hadn’t seen her yet gasped. Slate let his
growl be heard throughout the room when his mother flinched and turned her head
and the smell of shame rolled off her.
“You cannot tell me this was an accident or that it
was justifiable in any way! We told you what happened and all you did was
fight
us
.” Slate
continued to vent his rage at the now silent alpha.
“This is nobody’s business!” Carl roared.
The alpha snapped around. Slate was surprised with the
look of anger that crossed over his face at his father. “Oh, this is all my
business!” His voice rolled out in a loud threatening voice, challenging Carl
to submit and listen. “I am responsible for the wellbeing of my entire pride. I
refused to believe what they were telling me was true. I even denied his
alpha,” the alpha’s finger pointed in the air at Slate, but he kept his sights
on Carl.
“…rights to my territory to investigate because I
refused to believe that you could ever do this to her.”
Carl spat his denial out. “Why do you assume I did
this to her? All you have is the word of a delinquent outcast!”
Slate inwardly jumped when his mate beat everyone to a
response. “That man you call delinquent is a war vet hero and lead enforcer of
a powerful pack! And as for the outcast, he was thrown out and beaten near to
death because he wouldn’t choose the whore you tried forcing on him!” Slate’s
muscles coiled, ready to defend her from his father as she continued her verbal
smack-down. “You, on the other hand, are nothing but a wife-beating pimp who
couldn’t keep the gifts life gave you because you were too content with your
head so far up your ass you’ve been no doubt living off the peanuts in your own
shit! And you don’t just have his word for it. I’m sure Beverly can attest to
what really happened.”
Tyler stepped forward. “Mrs. Payton, I am Councilmember
Tyler Ghost. Did this shifter, Carl, do this to you?”
Slate was afraid his mother would deny it; most abused
spouses did, and he didn’t know how long she had been abused.
How long has she had to live like this?
When
his mother made an effort to stand, Slate and Katie were by her side helping
her. Once she was fully standing, she looked into her husband’s eyes, “Yes, he
did, and he attacked our daughter Elise as well. I seek restitution.”