Warrior Invasion: A Science Fiction Alien Mail Order Bride Romance (TerraMates Book 10) (23 page)

She turned on Keelyn first, since she was the closest. She wasn't sure she could trust herself to even speak to Mac right now, since it was obvious he knew everything.

"What the hell just happened, Kee? Tell me Bane and Naythan did not just turn into wolves before my eyes. Tell me my pregnancy has gone horribly wrong, and I'm hallucinating all of this. Or in a coma, dreaming some really weird shit."

Keelyn tried to sooth her, saying words like 'I know this must seem crazy,' and 'let me explain.'

"The little wolf Naythan ran after so panicked- tell me that wasn't tiny little Ash."

When everyone just stared at her looking guilty as sin, she yelled the words louder, "TELL ME! Tell me
something,
damn it! What the hell is going on? Did you know? Did you know your fiancé was a wolf? Let's start there,
sister.
"

She spat out the word sister like she was already condemning Keelyn for being personally responsible for everything she'd seen tonight.

Keelyn nodded at her.

"Yes, I knew Bane was a wolf. Not when we met, but I knew when I brought him here. I knew when I accepted his proposal."

"And Naythan?"

"And Naythan."

"And Sandra?"

"Sandra is human."

"Mac?"

"Mac isn't a wolf, he's..."

"He isn't?"

Her eyes swung to Mac, pinning him where he stood.

"Bella, I was going to tell you..."

"But you didn't! She says you're not a wolf."

"I'm a bear. Bane's my best friend. He has been since we were cubs. His wolf pack adopted me..."

"You kissed me, knowing you were all shifters? Knowing this family hates shifters? Hunts them, in fact? You let me open myself up to you? Were you laughing at me as I told you that I thought Sammy was one of you? That he put an animal inside me? Is that what
you
wanted to do? You let me start to fall in love with you and you said nothing?"

Her mother's voice pierced the air then, "Sammy was a shifter? What is it with this family getting attacked by shifters? Do we have a 'rape me and leave your spawn here' scent on us?"

All chaos and commotion stopped, as every eye swung toward Enid as she finished speaking.

"What? Why do you think your granddad hunted them so mercilessly? Why do you think your father did after him? They are evil bastards who leave nothing but pain and fear and unwanted babies behind them!"

Keelyn was the first to speak.

"What do you mean, mom? Who was raped by a shifter?"

"I just told you! Your grandmother."

"You never said. We knew great grandma was attacked, right after they moved here, but no one ever said grandma was, too. And he raped her?"

"You think I wanted it to be common knowledge that I was born of an unholy union between a virgin and a beast?"

"What the hell are you saying, mom?"

"I'm saying your grandmother was attacked, and left with child, just like Bella. I was that child. She was about Bella's age when it happened. Your grandfather took pity on her and married her, not knowing how I'd come out. They fell in love, over time, but never had another child. I think I broke her, to be honest. That's when your grandfather started hunting them.

Your dad knew my blood line, but he was willing to marry me anyway. By the time we married I'd already gone through puberty, of course. So we knew that since I hadn't shifted by then, that I never would.

I was trying to find a way to tell you Keelyn, since you were marrying, that the odds were against your children being beasts, since I never shifted, but that you also carry diluted shifter blood. All you girls do. You need to watch out for any kids you have, just in case. But hell, if Bane is one too, the odds are great that your kids won't be kids, they'll be cubs. Just like Ash there. Is that what you want Keelyn? I was trying to find a way to break it to you. I was afraid that you'd hate me, knowing you carry shifter blood, since you made it your life's work to hunt them down, just like your father, and his father before."

"That's funny," Keelyn muttered. "You were afraid to tell me that I might birth a shifter with this marriage, and I was afraid to tell you the same damn thing."

Bella's knees went weak, and she started to sit, but there was nothing behind her to sit on.

Mac's arm appeared around her waist, holding her and guiding her back to the swing they'd enjoyed every night since the first one.

She wanted to shake off his arm, in principal if nothing else, but she realized she needed him or she would have already been on her ass, down in the dirt.

She tried to turn on him, to accuse him of betraying her with his hidden shifter blood, but she couldn't move her mother's words aside long enough to do so.

Oh no, her mother's revelation had managed to eclipse the fact that Keelyn had brought shifters here, willingly, and was set to marry one.

"I'm surprised, Keelyn, that Bane even bothered to ask you to marry him the human way. Usually his kind just takes what they want, from my understanding anyway, with a bite like your grandmother wore," Enid continued.

Bella looked toward Keelyn, expecting her to deny their mother's words, but Keelyn flamed bright red instead.

Suddenly Bella remembered thinking she saw something on Keelyn's neck, when she and Bane announced their engagement.

Enid also picked up on Keelyn's reaction.

"Hmmm, I'm not surprised. Did he even ask you before he bit you? I didn't think so. Sandra? I assume you've been hiding your own mark. Does your mother know?"

Sandra looked like she was torn between telling Enid that it was none of her damned business, and worrying about her husband and infant son running off into the woods.

She seemed to decide that nodding was the best way to acknowledge Enid, while also staying out of it, and watching the shadows for her husband and child.

Bella finally spoke up, "Even Mrs. Mitchell knows? Everyone but me and mom, then. Ivy?"

She looked to Ivy, quite sure that she hadn't known either, but since there seemed to be a hell of a lot going on around here that she'd had no clue about, she wouldn't have been surprised if Ivy had known as well.

Ivy's face was as white as Keelyn's was red.

"Ivy, are you alright?"

Ivy didn't answer Bella, but addressed Enid instead.

"What kind of shifter, mom?"

"What do you mean?"

"What kind of shifter raped grandma?"

"I don't know," she answered, thinking. "Odd, but she never said. He raped her as a man, and I never shifted. I have no idea Ivy, why?"

"Just curious," Ivy uttered, her words fading off.

Ivy looked as shocked as everyone else, so Bella assumed she, Enid and herself were the only ones kept in the dark about Bane, Naythan and Mac.

Obviously Sandra had no issues with marrying one of them, since she seemed very worried about both her husband and her... what did her mother call it? Cub. Plus, Sandra said her mother knew as well.

Keelyn though,
she thought.
How could she be ok with any of this, let alone tie herself to one of them?

"Kee, how are you ok with this? Did Bane's bite get into your blood and warp your brain?"

"What are you talking about, Bella?"

"You hunt and kill werewolves, how in the ever loving fuck did you end up bitten by one? Is that how? He bit you before you knew and his bite warped your brain?"

"No! Well, yes, to be honest, he did bite me before I knew what he was, but his wolf scented me as his mate."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"It's a long story, Bell. I'll tell you everything, I promise, but not now."

"Can you really think of a better time? So he bit you and made you one of them, then?"

"No! He hasn't
turned
me, he just
claimed
me. It was a mistake. Look, I know this sounds bad, but I made mistakes, too. I was the one who killed his mom, to start with..."

"You killed his mother? Before or after he bit you?"

"Before. Years before. As a matter of fact it was his mother who was my first kill, she was the one who..."

Keelyn stopped speaking so suddenly Bella thought she was going to hurt herself trying to suck the words back.

Bella tried to put Keelyn's words into some kind of meaning, but her mother beat her to it.

"His mother was your first kill? You mean your fiancé's mother was the one who killed your father?"

Her words got louder and more shrill as the question went on.

"And you are still going to marry him? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Wait," Bella finally caught up some. "His wolf-mom killed dad, you killed her, and now you two are... And you brought him here? With reinforcements? What the fuck, Keelyn?"

Bella turned to Mac before Keelyn could even answer, "Let me guess, you knew all of this?"

Mac's jaw tightened, and his eyes closed in a pained expression, but he nodded that yes, he was aware of everything.

"Well son of a bitch. This has been a night full of information, hasn't it?"

Chapter 10

Mac kept an eye on Bella as she absorbed everything that had been tossed at her while Ivy and Keelyn both tried to pull more information out of Enid about their grandmother.

Bella wouldn't meet his eyes, and that fact tore him apart inside.

If only Ash had waited one more day, she would have heard most of this from me.

Of course, the bits about their grandmother would not have come from him, but his guess was that Enid would have said something even if the news had been broken more gently. If that had come out after he'd had a chance to tell Bella himself, and after she'd had a chance to get used to the idea, maybe... nah, that was harsh news no matter what you thought about shifters.

Mac shifted his attention to what Keelyn was asking, and what Enid was responding.

"Do you know for sure Grandma was raped by a shifter? If you never shifted, and you don't know what his animal form was, maybe she was mistaken?"

"I said I don't want to talk about this anymore."

Never mind, no help there,
Mac thought. He turned his attention back to Bella.

She was crushed, he could tell. He could scent so many dark feelings pouring out of her, he almost couldn't sort them. Confusion, betrayal, hatred, fear. She almost made his eyes burn with the intensity of it.

He had to make this right. Or at least begin to. The words that tore him apart the most was hearing her say 'you let me start to fall in love with you, and you said nothing.'

If he lost her...

"Bella, please listen to me. I never would have hidden who I was from you, but Keelyn thought it best. She wanted to give everyone a chance to get to know us, Bane mainly, before she broke the news. I figured it was her house, her family, her prerogative to do so.

But then I scented you as my mate that very first morning. When you stuck your head out of the chicken coop, hair awry, grinning out at us, I knew you were the only woman in the world for me.

I already knew about what happened to you, but it didn't matter to me, not in the slightest. I knew that you were to be mine, and if you carried a baby inside you, then that baby was meant to be mine as well. To love, to raise, if that's what you chose.

My bear and I want to take care of you. We want to cook for you, and protect you, and soothe your hurt whether that involves bringing you peppermints or fighting to the death for you.

I know you are confused, and hurt. I know you feel betrayed. I know you are pissed. But you also hold my heart. I will move heaven and earth to give you everything you could ever want, you only need ask. I know it will take time to earn back your trust, I just want you to know that I'm determined to do so. Whatever it takes, Bella.

I know you hate my kind, I can smell the hatred coming off of you in waves. I know my words aren't making a dent. But hopefully, one day, you'll change your mind. Until then, well, all I can do is tell you that I promise never to lie to you again. Maybe we can start there.

You can ask me anything, any time, and I will always tell you the truth."

She didn't answer him, but he really didn't expect her to. Actually, with the red and black cloud of fury and anger and betrayal rolling off of her, he was grateful she didn't, since he fully expected any response she aimed his direction right now to include the words 'fuck off.'

His thoughts were interrupted by a rustling in the tree line. He stood to see what was coming their way, and couldn't contain the grin that spread across his face as Naythan stepped out of the woods toward them, still in his wolf form, with Ash's tiny fuzz-ball wolf form dangling from his teeth as his father carried him by the scruff of his neck.

Ash seemed to be sleeping, but Mac knew that carry was designed to soothe cubs, allowing them to be moved quietly and without resistance in case it was needed, for the cub's safety.

How anyone can hate shifters after seeing that ball of fur, he had no idea.

Sandra pounced on them, taking Ash from Naythan and standing back so Naythan could shift human.

Bane stepped out of the tree line right behind him, and was also about to shift when a howl pierced the night air.

Bane paused, listening, as the wolf howl dipped and climbed in pitch. Instead of tearing back into the woods again to confront the newcomer, Bane went ahead with his shift, starting to speak as soon as was humanly possible.

"That's David and Ryker. Do not be afraid, they are members of my pack. It doesn't sound like they are saying hello on a patrol of this area though. They are here for us. This probably won't be a friendly social call. They are two of my best... I guess you would call them...guards. Enforcers, maybe. If they are traveling together, it's something dangerous. If they are coming to tell their Alpha without handling things themselves, it's not only dangerous but it is huge."

"Awesome, of course it is," Mac heard Bella mutter under her breath.

Mac knew Bane had understated what he said when he spoke of David and Ryker, but he guessed he didn't want to scare the women more than they already were. He knew the men in question were some bad ass wolves, and if they were coming to find Bane, there was something seriously wrong back at the pack's den, or at the castle they were paid to protect.

When the wolves got closer, seconds later, they yipped a lot quieter, purely to announce their presence before stepping out of the tree line.

Bane answered back, shouting, "Come forth, in either form. It doesn't matter at this point."

Bane's voice was steady, portraying nothing Mac knew he held inside. He gave no clue to anyone that didn't know him well that his mate's family life had been torn apart moments before. He acted as Alpha to his pack, knowing, as Mac knew as well, that whatever happened with Keelyn's family from here on out would fall into place. Whether it fell in his favor, or not, he still had a pack to run and a castle and King to protect.

He knew Keelyn would go with him, he only hoped her family would accept her decision, since her decision was already made.

The guards chose wolf form, stepping out of the woods and toward where their leader stood, waiting.

Mac had seen the two men, and their wolves, a million times over the years, so instead of watching them come close and shift, he watched the women.

Enid's face held the same hatred and anger Bella's did as Mac heard the men shift human. Ivy's face though, he wasn't quite sure what to make of her reaction.

Concentration. Fascination. There was fear there as well, but Ivy didn't seem to hate them the way Enid and Bella did. Interesting.

He had to hide his smile when Ivy's eyes raked over the pair once they had fully shifted.

Her eyes widened, and he could hear her heart speed up. He smelled an aroused scent start to seep out of her.

Mac turned away from Ivy then, to address his adoptive pack's enforcers, and to give Ivy some privacy in her ogling the strangers.

He couldn't help but look at David and Ryker with Ivy's eyes, just for a second, his grin getting harder and harder to hide.

They were a formidable pair, even out of their wolf forms.

They both stood proud and naked before their Alpha, tattooed, muscled, and cocky as hell.

Their words quickly doused his pleasure in watching Ivy react to two very masculine, naked shifters, as they spoke of what had befallen the castle.

"Lions. An entire pride attacked the castle. They got in as a small group of three men and a dozen or so women, looking for work and willing to do anything from housekeeping and maintenance to security, from our understanding," David said.

Ryker just nodded once, letting David fill Bane in.

"Then, once their bellies had been filled of the King's food, and they'd been given beds, they waited until most of the castle slept before attacking. They shifted into their lion forms, mostly lionesses, obviously, but the three males divided the castle into thirds, leading the attacks in a very systematic and deadly way."

"The King?"

"The King lives. He is injured though. Badly. Casualties' were high. More than half of the castle's inhabitants were killed. The lions are holding the King hostage. The lions hold the king responsible for what happened to his queen."

"I thought that had been settled, peacefully?"

"It had been, until the Queen's daughter mated with one of the male lions. Once the young lioness gained some power by bearing a son, she convinced her mate that her mother had been sold from the pride to the King, instead of the joining being a mutual agreement to join the two families. And then once the Queen died like she did, well... Let's just say the pride is now determined to not only take over the castle, which it has. They also plan on killing the King, very publicly, in a month's time."

"Why a month?"

"Their wedding anniversary, Alpha. It was two years before that the lioness married the King, becoming queen, and almost exactly a year later she was..."

"What ransom are they requiring for the King's release?"

"A confession, to start with. They want the Queen's death publically confessed as murder instead of an accident, and, until they get their confession, they are spreading out. If he confesses, they will let him go, alive, days from the castle and told never to return. I don't believe them. I think they will kill him with or without a confession."

"I agree. You said they are spreading out. Spreading out where?"

"To wherever you are, Alpha. They have sworn to hunt you and your new mate down, and kill you both, if they are not appeased. Most of the pride is holding down the fort, but two lionesses have been dispatched here. They won't be far behind us. Some of the castle's occupants escaped, and came to us in warning. We came as fast as we could, but we probably only have hours on them. A day at most, if they stayed til dawn before they departed."

"If they think the lioness was sold to be queen, who do they think sold her? It would have had to be a member of the pride, working with the King, if it was true."

"I'm not sure, Alpha."

"And why do they want me, or Keelyn?"

"You were the witness to the betrothal, they think you also had a hand in selling the lioness. Plus, they think you somehow also took your mate by force."

"What? Why would they think that?"

"They see no other way for a were-huntress to mate a were."

"That makes no sense. If Keelyn was bought and sold, why would they want to kill her? Why not just me, releasing her?"

"They're lions, Alpha. Their fork-in-the-road descendants chase string. Who knows how their minds work?"

Mac had been following the conversation intently. He started to step forward, to offer his assistance in whatever Bane needed, looking to Bella in frustration.

His winning her back, getting her to understand what he'd done, had to wait, and he wasn't sure if absence would help or hinder his cause.

He knew it had to be done though, lives were at stake. He hoped she'd understand, and turned to gauge her reaction to the news thrust upon her, but he didn't see her.

She wasn't there on the swing. Or with her mother or sisters.

"Bella?" He called her, quietly, trying not to interrupt.

Fear shot through him, but he tried to calm himself. She probably ducked into the house, away from all the shifters.

"Ivy, where did Bella go?"

"I don't know, I didn't see her get up."

He looked to Keelyn, who shook her head.

"Bella?" He yelled louder, heading into the house.

He checked every room but she wasn't inside.

He went back outside, practically running Ivy over in the doorway as she started to speak.

"She's not here. And a horse is missing as well. She's gone, Mac."

Chapter 11

Bella quieted the horse as best she could as she aimed him away from the house.

She'd stayed out back with everyone as long as she could, but once the new arrivals came, shifted and started talking about a pride of lions attacking the castle, she was done. She couldn't listen to that any more.