Warrior Invasion: A Science Fiction Alien Mail Order Bride Romance (TerraMates Book 10) (16 page)

The quiet shuffling turned into footsteps, and Bella's grip tightened around the shovel, fully prepared to knock whoever was headed her way right on their ass.

Never again,
she thought, as the cause of the sounds turned the corner, stepping into her sight.

The man stopped short, seemingly as shocked as she was to see someone else out here in the dark.

They stared at each other for a few seconds in silence. She recognized the tall one, the one named Mac, but she still held tight to the shovel.

She watched as he took her in, looking her up and down.

She imagined she looked a sight, standing in front of the porch swing, ready and willing to do some swinging of her own. Towards his head. Or maybe his balls. He was way too tall for her to do much damage to his head.

His eyes softened as he looked at her. His gaze no longer held the heat from before. She figured as much. She was damaged goods after all, and she knew he knew it.

No, his gaze held no heat, or pity, thankfully. Just surprise at finding her out here, about to aim a shovel at his gut.

"It's a beautiful evening."

"It was..." she answered, not relaxing her stance in the slightest.

He didn't seem to notice.

"You're one of Keelyn's sisters. Bella, right?"

"What of it?"

"Would you mind if I sat out here with you for a while? It's all a bit overwhelming inside. I'm more used to just being alone, or with Bane's pa...family."

"I'd rather you didn't."

She expected him to argue his case, or at least ask her why she was still standing there halfcocked and fully prepared to come at him with a shovel, but he only nodded his head.

"Fair enough."

He dipped his head in her direction, making her think that if he'd been wearing a hat he would have tipped it toward her.

Weird.

He stepped around her, aiming at the door she'd snuck out of earlier.

As he opened the door to go inside, curiosity got the best of her.

"You aren't going to ask me about the shovel?"

She heard a deep but soft laugh escape him before he answered.

"After hanging out with your sister, that seems quite normal. Goodnight, Bella. I'm sorry I intruded."

And with that he closed the door with a quiet thud, leaving her alone in the dark, and almost sorry she'd chased him off.

Chapter 2

Mac let himself into the house after speaking with Bella.

Before he could even process their conversation, starting with how bad he felt for startling Bella, and how much he wished he could hunt down and kill the already dead reason she reacted to strange noises in the safety of her own family's garden by grabbing a shovel to use as a bat, he ran into Bane.

"Any luck?"

Mac knew exactly what his friend was referring to, and he just shook his head no, saying, "You think you had it hard scenting Keelyn as your mate? Try scenting Bella. Yeah, you had it pretty bad, a were-wolf scenting a were-hunter as his one true love. I'll give you that. I'm even sorry I laughed so hard when it happened, karma and all. But at least Keelyn didn't jump at every sound, turning on you with a shovel aimed for your gut."

Bane couldn't help himself, he laughed at Mac as he remembered Keelyn turning on him in the forest with a bow and arrow aimed at his crotch.

"Actually, minus the shovel, that's exactly how we started."

"So there is hope?" Mac asked, almost sarcastically, with only a tiny bit of pleading thrown in for good measure.

"There is always hope, my friend. My wolf steered me right, as will your bear. You'll break through her defenses, Mac. I have every faith."

"She never did let loose of the shovel. If you peek out there, she's probably still standing there, ready to swing."

"At least she didn't kill your mother," Bane said, referring to his own situation with Keelyn. "Bella will be child's play compared to Keelyn. You've just got to flash her some of that werebear charm."

"So," Mac replied, turning the tables on Bane. "You've told Keelyn's mom that you two are mated? That her daughter, the were-hunter, has been tamed by a wolf in human's clothing?"

"Not exactly."

"I didn't think so."

"But, we aren't talking about Keelyn right now. We were talking about you, and your pregnant, shovel swinging mate."

"She can't be my mate, Bane. Surely I scented her wrong."

"Oh no, I was there, remember? After we arrived this morning Ivy led us toward breakfast, yelling something to Bella about needing to collect more eggs, and you went white as a ghost when Bella's smiling faced peered out of that chicken coop harassing Keelyn. I remember exactly how that went down. Want me to refresh your memory?"

Mac thought of Bella's response to him just moments ago in the garden when he answered Bane with her words, "I'd rather you didn't."

"Too bad. After you laughed at me when I scented Keelyn, all covered in dead wolf scent, still wearing a wolf's furr draped over her shoulders? Allow me to remind you how pale you looked when you said, "I've found my mate, Bane. And she's carrying another man's baby."

"Maybe I was mistaken."

"You wish."

"Classy response."

"There is nothing classy about scenting your mate the very first time. Trust me, I know from experience. It knocks you on your ass, but classy isn't a word I'd use to describe it. So, out back just now, did she still scent as your mate?"

"She scented of fear. No, it was more than just fear. She scented of primal, basic panic."

"And?"

"And what?"

"What else did young Bella scent of?"

"Mostly panic. I already told you."

"Mostly? What else was there?"

"I'm not sure."

"Yes you are, you just don't know what to make of it."

Mac hesitated, not trusting his own nose.

"Spill it, Mac. Did she still scent of forever?"

He nodded after a bit, saying, "Yes. She did. My bear has claimed her as ours. She scented of fear, panic, confusion, arousal, and most definitely she scented of forever. She is destined to be my mate, Bane."

"So what's the problem?"

Bane's laughing eyes told Mac he was already well aware of the problem, he was just giving his best friend hell.

"She's carrying another man's cub. Or child. Or whatever. And a rapist's cub, to boot."

"That does make it interesting."

"And she hates me, Bane. My bear has recognized her as my mate, but she is terrified of me. I scare her."

"You'll just have to work on that part then, won't you?"

"When, exactly? We are leaving in the morning to get Sandra to her mother's."

"We don't really need you to go with us. Naythan and I can see Sandra home."

"So I should just stay here? Uninvited, I might add. Me, Bella who hates me, Keelyn who you're abandoning, with Ivy and their mother? With Keelyn the only one knowing I'm a bear shifter? With her family known for hunting and hating shifters? Sounds fun. Maybe I should shift, get a horn caught in my paw out in the woods, and see if they decide to help me or kill me? It worked for Androcles and the lion, right? Everyone knows everything you hear about from the fables are true."

"I'm not abandoning Keelyn," Bane responded, latching onto that out of everything else Mac had said.

"You aren't? How do you figure?"

"Keelyn... wait, nice try. We were talking about you."

"I don't see how this could ever work, Bane."

"Yeah, I know the feeling."

They were interrupted by the one sister not being discussed in secret.

"Don't you two look suspicious, all whispering in the corner. What's going on?"

She was a tiny thing, so very different from both of her sisters in that regard. Her eyes were shining with amusement, but narrowed at them in accusation. Her hands were on her hips, blonde tendrils framing her face, her chin thrust out at them, obviously expecting an answer.

"Good evening, Ivy. Beautiful night."

"Hmm, I wouldn't know. I've been inside trying to corner Keelyn. Every time I get close she gets pulled somewhere else. What's with you guys? What are you not telling us?"

"Nothing," Mac lied. "We were just discussing Sandra. How far is her mom's place from here again?"

"About a day. Are you sure she'll make it there? She already looks like she's about to pop."

"She'll make it on sheer force of will alone. She's determined."

"I understand determination. She sounds stubborn, like me."

"Seems to be a family trait," Bane said, his eyes darting over Ivy's small frame and landing on Keelyn.

"It is. We all have the ability to set our sights on something and go after it. Hunt it down until it falls before us. To latch onto a feeling, a suspicion, and to gnaw at it until you know the truth."

"Sounds painful," Mac grinned down at her, amused by the challenge in her eyes. His bear fought the urge to tease her, to ruffle her hair or to bat at her with a paw to see what she'd do. He wished Bella was like this, would come up to him and challenge him, try to get to know him a bit, instead of being so closed off. He understood it, but he wished the fire he saw in Keelyn, and already in tiny little Ivy, would flash in Bella.

Or at least be expressed more playfully, instead of with a shovel aimed at his head.

"You guys are hiding something, I just know it. It will come out eventually, you know. The truth always does," she stared the two men down, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she had to look way up to do so.

Mac smiled and nodded down at her, cryptically quoting, "Not everything that is true needs to be said."

"Hmm." Ivy quoted back at him, "Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away."

Chapter 3

The scent of maple syrup teased Bella's senses until the growling of her stomach finally forced her eyes open.

Coffee, bacon, pancakes, she checked them off in her mind as each individual scent teased her, promising her a delicious meal she knew she'd never be able to keep down. She cursed her growling stomach, knowing it would be crackers for her while her sisters got to eat the wonderful breakfast her mother was preparing.

She rolled over in bed, yanking the blanket over her head to try and block the glorious smells coming from the kitchen, but they seeped under the blanket with her, torturing her in the moments before she was fully awake.

She tried to go back to sleep, tried to postpone the nausea she knew would hit her the minute she sat up to face another new day.

Damn it, why did her mom have to tease her like this?
She thought as her empty stomach and full bladder finally won the battle against the softness of her bed and her will to stay tunneled under her covers forever.

She sat up as slowly as she could, trying to gauge if she could make it down the hall to the bathroom before her stomach tried to get rid of contents it didn't actually possess, or if she'd need to spend a few minutes over her trash can first instead.

She thought maybe she could make it.

She threw her robe on, wrapping it around herself and sliding her feet into her slippers before opening her bedroom door and aiming herself down the hall.

Shit, shit, shit,
she thought as her stomach rebelled, making her gag as she picked up speed, practically running now toward the bathroom.

She vaguely noted odd, pained sounds coming from the room Sandra and Naythan were given the night before. She picked up speed, preferring to wait and wonder what the hell was going on in there
after
she made her own odd, pained, morning sick sounds.

After her dry heaves subsided, she heard a quiet knocking on the bathroom door. She opened the door, fully expecting Ivy's smiling face, a glass of water and a plate of salt crackers filling her hands.

Mac's wide chest met her eyes instead.

After she tipped her head back some to meet his gaze, she heard herself growl up at him, "I thought you would be gone by now."

She watched a dark shadow flit across the back of his eyes before he blinked down at her, and if she hadn't felt like death warmed over she knew she probably would feel bad for being the reason his smiling face clouded over, but another wave of nausea knocked the guilt right out of her.

"Suck it!"

"What the hell did you just..?"

Before she could either finish her outraged sentence, or turn back and make a lunge for the toilet, the huge beast of a man waved something mostly round and white in front of her face before pressing it to her lips and into her mouth as she tried to protest.

"Don't talk, just suck. Give it a second, it should calm your stomach."

At least five different, sarcastic responses fought all over themselves in her head, each one vying for the chance to be the one she spat back at the man filling the doorway before her, but whatever he shoved into her mouth was taking up too much room to be spoken around.

Peppermint,
she noted in the seconds before her hand rose of its own accord to remove the offending chunk so she could tell him exactly what she thought about him shoving things into her mouth without her permission.

He grabbed her wrist before her hand made it to her mouth though, and he held it in his massive, warm grip as he looked down at her.

Watching her work her mouth around the chunk he said, "Once the urge to vomit has passed from sucking on that, come find me. I have something else for you."

And with that said, he disappeared from view.

She stepped forward, sticking her head out into the hall and watching him walk away. He took up every inch of the hallway, she noticed. He even seemed to have to duck some, so his head didn't scrape, until he stepped out into the taller ceilinged living room, and then out of sight.

She turned her head the other way, looking down the hall toward the now high pitched, screechy noises she heard on that side.

She met Naythan's amused face staring back at her. He winked and grinned at her, then withdrew himself back into the room he must still be sharing with Sandra as another panting grunt fell out from behind him and into the hallway before he shut the door again, muffling the sounds some, with him gone from view and the hallway now empty.