Warrior Invasion: A Science Fiction Alien Mail Order Bride Romance (TerraMates Book 10) (22 page)

Not only was Bella not confirmed as his to protect, she didn't even know he'd scented her as his. And the man he most wanted to protect her from was already dead. There was no way to give his mate closure, to defend for her, to
kill
for her to show his loyalty and love.

Her greatest fear was a ghost, and he had no way to hunt a ghost for her.

"I haven't told anyone about this Mac, but I have a theory about Sammy."

"You do?"

She nodded again, not meeting his eyes.

"When he pulled me into that barn, he changed."

He waited for her to continue, not wanting to speak in case he spooked her. Her gaze was turned inward, she was seeing things he wasn't privy to, so he waited.

The seconds dragged on though, and he got the feeling she needed a nudge over the edge.

"Changed how, Bella? You can tell me anything."

A few more moments passed, and he had just started to think that she must have changed her mind about talking to him when she spoke again.

He expected her words to come out quietly, softly, so he was surprised when they spilled out in rushed gasps instead.

"It was like he had turned into an animal. I mean, he didn't shift into anything else, but it seemed like he could have. Like he wanted to, but didn't. Or couldn't for some reason. Like if he let himself go completely, he wouldn't be able to keep doing what he was doing to me. So he held his shift, right there on the edge, so he could stay human like me, to hurt me with his human parts. But that if he could have had his preference, he would have let go. And become something else."

"So you think..."

She finished his sentence before he could.

"I think Sammy was one of
them
. One of those
shifter
things Keelyn hunts," she said, her voice dripping with disgust.

Her words were picking up speed now, like they were making the most of finally being uttered and wanted to get out before she could pull them back to her.

"Maybe he came after me to hurt her? To show the hunter, and our whole family, that they could get to us. I've wondered why he didn't kill me, though. And hang
me
in the center of town, instead of himself. Now that would have been a message to my family, right? So why let me go? Did he know he was leaving me with his spawn? Is that why he let me go? Did he think that forcing me to carry one of
them
inside me was worse than death? And if so, why kill himself? Why not hang around and watch what came of his seed?"

"Is it? Is the thought of carrying a shifter inside you a fate worse than death?"

He waited for her answer, not even allowing himself to breathe.

"What do you think?" She almost spit the words.

"I mean, now that you know. Now that you know I think it's more than a rapist's baby inside me, that I think I'm carrying a shifter rapist's baby of some unknown species inside me? Would
you
want me? Would you have kissed me like you did, if you knew some animal had left its young in me?"

"Of course. I care about you very much already. What happened to you was not your fault. Whatever you carry inside you is half you, and will therefore be beautiful, and courageous, and spunky and amazing. As to your real question, do I care if it is a shifter in there? No, I don't. Honestly, I have no issues with shifters of any species. I have an issue with rapists, human or shifter. But would that baby's genetic makeup make me feel differently about you? Never. Nothing could, Bella.

It's probably the worst time on the planet to tell you this, but I adore you. There isn't anything you could tell be about yourself that would change my mind about you. Shifter baby or human baby, it's not your fault. It's not the baby's fault. I've heard you say the same thing, that it's not the baby's fault its father is an ass. I agree with that very much. And human ass or shifter ass, it doesn't change anything for me at all.

I like you, Bella. Very much. I'm glad Sandra couldn't make it to her mother's, I'm glad Keelyn and Bane are marrying, because both of those things happening has let me stay here and get to know you more. I'd love to stay longer, to see you through this pregnancy. I'd love to see where our relationship goes, no matter what you carry inside you."

"You aren't disgusted by the thought of it being a shifter's spawn?"

"No, I'm not. I told you, I have no issues with shifters, just with asshole rapists. Let me ask you this, if Bane was a shifter, marrying Keelyn, would you support her? Or if I was a shifter, courting you, kissing you? Is the thought of carrying a shifter's baby so bad? Or is it the not knowing that gets to you? Not knowing why he picked you, or wondering if maybe you left the house ten minutes earlier, or ten minutes later? Does being a shifter matter so much?"

"Of course I wonder. I wonder if I had gone to town on a different day, or...well or anything really. If anything had been different, would I still be the same? Does it make it worse that I could be carrying a shifter? Of course it does! Keelyn hunts them, dad hunted them. Hell, even dad's dad hunted them. They are evil brutes who care nothing for anyone but themselves.

Dad always said so. He said that Grandad called them all barbarians and that his mom, my great grandmother, had been attacked when the family first moved here. He didn't say much about her attack, he said he didn't want to talk about it, but that it had been brutal, and inhumane, and well, it would be, wouldn't it? Be inhumane? Since they aren't human?"

Mac felt sick to his stomach listening to the venom spitting out of her mouth. He tried to keep himself calm, to talk to Bella rationally, but his bear was objecting to being called such vile things, especially from the mouth of the one supposed to be his.

"Have you ever met a shifter?"

"Other than the one who raped me, you mean?"

"You don't know Sammy was a shifter. Humans rape. Actually I've heard of humans raping way more often than I've ever heard of shifters doing so. Shifters mate, and bond. They protect what's theirs, they don't rape people, Bella."

"I know what I saw! He was an animal."

"Other than possibly Sammy, have you ever met a shifter? Someone you knew for a fact was a shifter, not a maybe."

"No. And I never want to! Why are you sticking up for them? What do you know about shifters anyway?"

"I've been around a few," Mac muttered, trying to wrap his head around how violently Bella reacted to just the mention of being around his kind.

He heard Bella's fevered words as she kept speaking, but his mind was still processing everything she'd already said.

Spawn, evil brutes, barbarians, brutal, inhumane,
the words she'd called his kind swam around in his head.

There's no way she'd ever accept us for who we are,
his bear roared.

And to think, he'd come out here with every intent of telling her he was a bear, and that Bane and Naythan were wolves. But now? Knowing how much she hated everything he was?

She's wrong about us, about everything,
he tried to quiet his bear.

She's ignorant, and scared. She's reaching for any comfort, putting her rapist in the worst mental box she can imagine,
he thought back at his bear, trying to calm them both, but not really succeeding.

He realized that she needed more time. He'd hurt her if he told her about himself now, about the others.

Shit, the others!

Bane and Keelyn were telling Keelyn's mom right now.

Maybe they haven't said anything yet, he thought. Maybe he could stop them.

No!
His bear roared.
We will not hide who we are any longer! If she will not have us, then so be it.

He decided his bear was right. He'd only kept silent this long out of a need to protect Bella in her delicate recovery, and out of respect for Keelyn's wishes in her own home with her own family.

He knew that the longer he waited to tell Bella, the more not telling her would feel like a betrayal. To his bear, to his culture, hell, once she did find out, she'd more than likely see it as a betrayal of her.

He couldn't in good conscience keep pursuing her, keep kissing her, with her not knowing just exactly who he was. Especially not if their kisses were going to escalate the way they had, the way his bear wanted them to.

His bear was right, there was no way this deceit could go on any longer, especially considering that Bane and Keelyn were probably coming clean with Enid right now.

He wanted it to come from him, no matter what the fall out would be.

He opened his mouth to tell her, but his halting words were drowned out by a heavy, loud crash coming from inside the house.

He and Bella stared at each other for a few seconds, the sounds being so foreign to the quiet night that they were shocked into stillness.

Silence blanketed the night once again, but not for long.

Huge but muffled crashes sounded again. Glass breaking and what sounded like furniture being upended came from inside. Mac jumped up from the swing and headed toward the back door, fighting the growls that were pushing to come out.

His bear wanted to shift, to protect in the best mode he knew of, but Mac knew the sheer size and ferocity of his bear inside the house would do more harm than good. Hell, he barely fit in there in his human form. His bear form would burst the house apart from the seams, which oddly enough, sounded exactly like what was already going on inside.

With Bella on his heels Mac reached for the door handle as an ear splitting howl erupted inside.

That's a werewolf,
Mac realized, but it wasn't a howl he recognized.

It sounds so...young. Oh shit! Ash!

Mac knew that wolf cubs could shift their first time anywhere from infancy to puberty, and he knew from the sounds of destruction and growling coming from inside that baby Ash must be an early bloomer, and that for better or worse, their secret was out.

"What the hell kind of noise is that?" Bella asked right behind him.

He could scent her sudden fear in the night air as she continued speaking.

"It sounds like there's a wild animal in there."

Mac nodded, twisting the handle and opening the door as he responded.

"I'm so sorry Bell, this is not the way we wanted you to find out. If he'd only waited one more day. I was going to tell you, tonight. Just now, in fact. But..."

"Tell me what?" Her voice held dread, fear and the beginnings of a realization she seemed to know she didn't want to face.

The door opened, allowing the sounds inside to get even louder, spilling out into the night.

"No! Don't let him out, I just need another minute! Aww, hell."

The words were Naythan's, shouted in the very second that the sound of the opening door attracted Ash's attention. The wolf cub stopped growling at the human forms inside the kitchen, and in a blur of speed and fur, Ash's baby wolf form darted out the door right passed a chagrined Mac and a white with fear Bella.

Naythan pushed passed the pair as well, waiting until he was clear of the doorway and Bella and Mac before growling, "Damn it, Mac. Now I've gotta chase him down."

Mac didn't even have time to respond before Naythan threw himself forward, four paws hitting the grass where two feet had been a second before.

Naythan took off after Ash as Bane stepped outside as well.

"I'm going, too. To help corral the cub, pack style. You should probably stay here. Your scent will confuse him, turning what Ash thinks is a playful chase he doesn't quite understand yet into a pursuit of a different kind."

Mac nodded, understanding that a bear joining the chase would do more harm than good, at least until Ash learned more control over his wolf form.

Besides, he knew someone would have to stay here and help Keelyn deal with the aftermath of what had happened.

Bane threw himself into his wolf as well, disappearing into the woods at a different entry point than Naythan had, obviously aiming to cut the cub off at an angle, listening to the rustling just beyond the tree line.

Mac swallowed thickly, almost afraid to turn back toward the house, where he was sure he was going to face the worst outcome yet of this evening. For the first time in his shifter life, he wished he could trade his bear for a wolf, just so he could pack hunt Ash with his father and their alpha instead of facing the women of the house.

He knew Keelyn and Sandra would help as much as they could, but it was Bella he was most afraid of. The last thing in the world he'd wanted to do was to disappoint her, or see the look she currently held deep in her eyes as he raised his chin, squared his shoulders, and turned to face his own personal doom.

Chapter 9

Bella turned to Mac, open mouthed, her mind whirling so fast she thought she'd pass out from the dizziness. Her body though, reacted the opposite.

She tried to speak, but her mouth wouldn't obey. She tried to back away from Mac as he stepped towards her, seemingly to explain what the hell had just happened, but her feet were stuck where she stood. Her blood was raging through her ears so loudly that she couldn't hear his words, she could just see his mouth moving.

Time slowed down, but her mind was still ramped up.

Finally she forced words out, one at a time.

"What. Are. You?"

Before she got her answer she noticed that Keelyn, Enid, Ivy and Sandra had also spilled outside. Sandra was pacing at the tree line, trying to see through the trees to wherever the wolves had gone.

Keelyn was close to Bella.

Too damn close,
Bella thought.
If everyone would just back up and let me breathe, that would be great.

Enid and Ivy paced awkwardly, looking off into the woods, but sticking close to the house, and Bella. It seemed like they were expecting her to faint at their feet or something.

It was that realization that finally centered Bella some. They expected her to fall apart, that much was obvious. But what she couldn't decide was if it was because she was pregnant, and possibly in shock, or if it was because they already knew about the wolves in their midst and were waiting to see her reaction to something they'd known all along.