Authors: Tigertalez
A tall, thick man, with a chinstrap beard, tore into
the room wearing only his pants. He looked at the scene and hollered, “Enough, Slate!
Attenhut
!”
The giant wild man jerked and straightened to a
military attention stance. His partially shifted state retreated just a little.
Henry picked Katie up and started to leave, but the
madman jerked and growled, then hissed at Henry.
He actually freaking hissed!
Henry froze. Katie was so shocked that she felt her
insides quiver and shake, and she tightened her hold around her dad’s neck.
“What the hell is going on, Slate?”
The half-naked man’s voice was rough with authority.
Two men were holding him back while another one,
similar looking to the doctor, stood behind Dr. Rossi. The angry man didn’t
take his eyes off her and her dad.
“Put her down!” he spat.
Henry placed her feet on the ground, but Katie
whimpered. She didn’t want to let him go. “I need to put you down, sweetie. I
can’t defend you if I’m holding you,” he said gently.
She hated his reasoning but understood. She tried hard
to convince her muscles to let go, and after a few moments of battle with her
will, she was finally able to. She couldn’t stand on her own, however, so she
fell back against the wall and slid down to the floor. Big golden brown feline
eyes followed her movements. Now wasn’t that just a creepy feeling? She could
totally relate now to any prey.
He stared at her for moments, freezing everyone where
they were while they waited for his answer. As afraid of this shifter that she
was, a bloom of attraction warmed her lower belly. His sun-bronzed skin clung tightly
over his bodybuilder physique, topped with short blond hair turned black at the
tips, and as he calmed, his eyes reverted back to human, revealing a rich
caramel colored brown eyes. He held up his hands. “I won’t hurt you. I am so
very sorry for scaring you. I’m Slate, Slate Payton. I’m a lion shifter, and
you’re my mate.”
A shiver zipped up her spine, and her stomach flipped
with pleasure from his heated stare,
distracting
her momentarily from fully comprehending his claim
.
Several men around the room swore, including her dad
overhead. The half-naked man, whom she figured was the new alpha, tilted his
head back and closed his eyes for a moment. “Everyone needs to exit the room,”
he groaned. He brought his head down and pinched his fingers over the bridge of
his nose then looked up and around at the exiting men.
“Seamus,
you, too.”
All the men obeyed but her dad. Henry stayed standing over
her, which brought a growl from the blond man. The man, who
must
be the alpha, looked towards Henry,
“Henry, you, too. He won’t hurt her, you know that now.”
She looked up at her dad, curious what he was going to
do. He looked down at her. “Do you want me to go?”
Katie quickly shook her head. She didn’t trust her
voice at the moment. She was too shaky from the fright.
Henry looked back at the alpha. “She doesn’t want me
to leave, so I won’t leave her.” Katie expected the alpha to punish her dad for
arguing against an order and was afraid he would forcefully remove him.
Relief flooded her when the alpha only nodded. “All right,
you stay. Serves you right, Slate, for freaking out your mate, my mate, and
Tom’s mate.” He growled a bit then turned and left the room.
Chapter Three
Slate wanted to growl back at his alpha as he left the
room. When he came downstairs, his nose picked up a sent that caused his dick
to go half hard in a near instant and he didn’t realize he had followed the
scent until he had the door open and saw Seamus’ hands groping the breast of a
woman whom he immediately realized was his mate. It put him in a rage like
nothing else. All he could think about was strangling a man he considered a
friend.
Now his mate sat on the floor, pressed against a wall
as hard as she could. He could scent the acrid bitterness of her fear, and it
hurt him deeply. He’d never meant to scare her. She was the one person,
specially made for him, who would complete him. She already meant more to him than
his own friends.
He walked slowly around the bed. He would have stood
in front of her but the shifter hovering over her wouldn’t move. He wanted to
growl and remove the offensive being, but his mate had asked him to stay, so he
meant something special to her, therefore to him,
damn it.
He just hoped the shifter wasn’t her husband. Some shifters
took spouses instead of waiting for their destined mate.
He kept his voice low, and calm, and looked the man in
the eyes, “Please move, I won’t harm her. You know I won’t. I
can’t
.”
The man didn’t lower his eyes in submission to Slate’s
higher rank, which didn’t sit well with his lion, and the concern that he may
be a boyfriend or husband to her, really didn’t help. His lion paced, growled,
hissed and clawed inside his head, wanting to get out and maul the other
shifter into submission. He fought with everything in him not to lose control
again.
The shifter didn’t move and even dared to look Slate straight
in his eyes. “You already
have
hurt
her. Not all hurt is physical.”
Just like that, the wind was knocked from Slate’s
lungs without a single physical blow, further validating what the man had just
spoken. With just those words, it caused him to bleed inside. The man was right.
He’d scared his mate. Scratch that, he’d terrified her. After catching his
breath, leaning on the balls of his feet, he slowly squatted down to look his
mate in her big blue eyes.
“I am truly sorry. I promise you are safe with me.
Please let me prove myself to you.”
She didn’t move for a second,
then
slowly shook her head, and her scent started to change from fearful to angry.
“You attacked the doctor! Who was
trying
to
help
me! If you were my mate, you
would
want
me to be helped, not
keep
me from help!”
Oh boy
, he thought,
she’s
pissed
. He would be slightly relieved that she wasn’t afraid of him
anymore, but he got a sinking suspicion this anger may cost him his mating. He
had made a costly mistake by losing control. Hell, he shouldn’t have even
opened the door. He had no right to, and now his mating was jeopardized. His
stomach fluttered into a soured state at that thought.
No!
He thought to himself,
I
won’t stop trying to earn her back, ever.
His lion agreed with that
thought. No matter how long it took, they wouldn’t cease to earn her back.
“Go away!” she bit out. Slate nearly flinched at the
distaste she had for him.
“You heard her.” The words from the man standing over
them sounded clipped.
Slate ignored the man. “I’ll leave the room and I’ll
give you time, but you are my mate, and I can’t and won’t keep out of your
life. I’ll leave my number for you if you ever need me. Again, I’m truly sorry
for scaring you.”
His lion roared his anger in his head as he stood up
to leave. It felt like the hardest thing he had ever done when he walked out of
the door. He didn’t even feel this sick when he left his mother and sister when
he had left home.
Outside the door, Seamus, Ryker, Tom, Kace, and Alphy
were all standing in the hall. He knew they could hear what was said in there. Their
hearing was much better than a human’s. He clenched his jaw, trying to get a
hold on his distraught emotions. He cleared his throat. “Uh, Sea man, I
sincerely apologize. I value our friendship, and I hope you can forgive me.”
Seamus looked at him with sympathy. He didn’t bear a
single mark from their scuffle and didn’t even look rumpled. The man always
seemed pristine. “I accept your apology. Please excuse me now. I have a patient
to attend to.” Seamus ducked past the line of men and entered the quiet room.
Slate held his eyes shut tight, to keep them from looking back into the room
before it lightly closed shut. He was certain if he had looked, he wouldn’t be
able to walk away.
A heavy hand with a firm grip patted and clasped his
shoulder. He looked up to see his alpha’s concerned face. “Whatever you
need,
let me know. I’ll do whatever I can to help. Just so
you know, that shifter in there is the man who raised her. Their relationship
is platonic.”
Slate felt only slightly relieved at the news. With
his emotions so enflamed, he could only nod at his alpha and friend. Alphy
turned and headed down the hall, most likely going back to his own mate. The
thought caused a deep pain in his chest. He wanted his mate, and she refused
him. He rubbed his chest.
“Ryker.”
Looking over at the
smaller red headed man, Slate was grateful to see he wasn’t mad at him for attacking
his brother. “Do you have some paper I can use? I’d like to leave her my
number.”
“Sure do, I’ll write it down for her. Be right back.”
The lithe man trotted down the hall.
Slate turned to the last man in the hall. Kace gave
him a lopsided grin and leaned over, tapping Slate heavily on the shoulder.
“Congrats, man, it’s awesome you found your mate. Don’t worry about your
dramatic entrance. Things will turn out in the end, and it will be a great
story to tell your kids.” With another heavy pat, he left Slate alone.
Slate leaned against the wall and listened to Seamus,
through the door, telling his mate what tests he’d like to run and that he’d
like to see her after the mandatory pack meeting they were to have tomorrow. He
was relieved to know he would see her again, but no matter how much he looked
at the positive, he couldn’t settle his stomach. He’d really messed up.
The door to the room opened, just as Ryker came
trotting back. He handed a note page to him. Slate noticed more than one number
on it, but he didn’t let his eyes linger. He held it out to his mate. Relief
filled him when she took the paper, but he could smell her mixed emotions. He
stepped aside and watched as she and the other shifter passed. Her unique smell
wafted to his nose, and he couldn’t help but breathe it in and savor it. She
smelt so good to him, but there was a slightly odd smell attached to her that
he felt wasn’t right. It made his heart hurt more to know she wasn’t well.
Slate followed the doctor, who escorted the two to the
front door. Once he saw them drive away, he turned to Seamus, who was already
shaking his head. “I can’t discuss anything with you.”
A growl escaped. Slate wanted to rip something or
someone up. Ryker stayed behind as his brother went back to the room to no
doubt get it ready for the heavy stream that would visit in the morning. “I
gave her your number, Alphy’s number, my brother’s number, and my number.”
Slate looked at the smaller man and gave him a
grateful smile. “Thanks, man. That was thoughtful.” Slate didn’t feel like
going to bed. He was too upset. “You need any help with anything?”
“Nope, everything’s good ‘til the morn, so I’m heading
for some shut-eye. Night, Slate.”
Slate watched the head of bright red hair disappear
around a corner. He didn’t know what to do with himself.
“You can help me of you wish.”
Slate looked around to see Seamus standing close.
“Huh?”
“I said
,
you can help me if
you wish.”
“Ok,” Slate was thankful for anything to do at this
point. “What do you need?”
Seamus looked as though he was actually relieved Slate
had accepted to help. “I need these blood samples run to the local hospital. I
called earlier before Katie arrived, and asked if they would run some tests.
They’re willing to, but they want someone to stay there while it’s being
processed, and I need to stay here and finish setting up for the morning.”
“I can do that. Where’s the hospital?”
The house was so very silent now that he could hear
the scribble of the pen as Seamus wrote out the directions. Then giving him the
vials of blood, the doctor sent him out the door. As he drove to the intended
destination, he actually felt slightly better. He was still helping his mate by
doing this.
Several hours later, Slate’s back and legs were
cramped, and his butt felt so numb he swore it stayed in the seat when he
finally stood up. The hospital had him waiting in a hard metal chair, and
several emergencies had come in, pushing their tests back a few hours. He was
able to settle enough to get a power nap of a whole twenty minutes before they
chose that time to wake him with the results.
He got back to the house just as members started to
arrive for the mandatory check-up. Tom greeted people at the door and helped
with handing out paperwork for them to fill out. He saw Gale acting as Ryker’s
assistant, writing things down, filing things, fetching things. The little
scamp had her pretty busy. He saw Connie rooting around the kitchen, making
food for everyone, and offering a friendly and warm welcome to the arriving
guests, trying to reassure them and raise their spirits. This left Kace with
the job of assistant to the doctor. Slate wasn’t able to hide his smile from
the disgruntled wolf.