Chapter Ten
Bram knew the moment he reached the truck that something was wrong. His wolf’s hackles rose and everything in him shouted in alarm. He dropped the box and spun to grab Thea just as she was yanked away from him by a large male and immediately surrounded by a handful of other males.
“Let my mate go,” Bram said, his fangs and claws extending as his wolf let out a furious howl in his mind.
The male holding her grabbed her hair and pulled her head roughly forward to expose her mark. “What, this thing? Easy to cut out. Your mating is meaningless to the nest. She’s coming to South Carolina on the orders of her alpha. If you interfere, you’ll die…slowly.”
Bram brandished his claws. “I’m not dying today. You, though, should make peace with your maker.”
As if on cue, his pack appeared, and a melee ensued. Kash and Crimson both had their wings out and brandished swords, and Logan and Gideon went all claws and fangs like Bram did.
He left his pack to deal with the others, stalking toward the male who tried to pull Thea away.
“Don’t come any closer,” the male said.
Thea whimpered, her eyes bright with fear, and it was then that Bram saw the male’s fingers had elongated into dark yellow talons and they were digging into her throat. Blood trickled from under one dark claw.
His vision hazed with rage. It was tempting to shift, but in the time it would take to wrangle himself from his clothes, the male could take off with Thea and that wasn’t acceptable.
Getting her to safety was the only thing that mattered.
Her eyes met his and he saw in the green depths that she trusted him one-hundred-percent. With a small nod he pulled his cell from his pocket, then chucked it suddenly at the male’s head. He involuntarily jerked his head to avoid being hit and Bram took the moment of his distraction to get between him and Thea. He bodily separated them, knocking the male’s hands away and shoving him hard. Thea gasped and scampered out of the way of danger while Bram lunged and toppled the male to the ground before he had time to react.
He grabbed his collar and lifted his shoulders, slamming him into the ground with all his might. He slammed him again, his wolf coming out even more and adding to his strength. The male’s talons raked against his arms, but his heavy coat didn’t shred under the assault.
Someone landed on Bram’s back and the wind gusted from him as he went face-first into the ground, the male under him pulled away by someone else. He felt talons at his throat and then there was a grunt and a male fell to the side, the weight off his back.
Bram grabbed his throat and didn’t feel any cuts as he rolled to his knees and turned around.
Thea, brandishing half a mason jar lamp, had used it to take out the male on his back.
The male who’d grabbed her was struggling to get up, but the others were incapacitated thanks to Bram’s pack. Rising to his feet, Bram pressed his boot into the male’s chest.
“You said her alpha sent you? For what purpose? And how did you know she was here?”
The male glared at him. Bram leaned into his foot, putting pressure on his chest. A rib cracked and the male grunted.
“Her parents told her to come to South Carolina and she refused. The alpha sent us to bring her by any means necessary. They were watching.”
Thea joined him. “I know you.”
Bram looked at her. “From your nest?”
“No, he’s an enforcer for the other nest’s alpha. How did you know I was here? Why didn’t you check at my parents’ home?”
“They know you moved.”
She looked at Bram in shock.
Logan walked over. “We need to leave. Now.”
Bram snarled.
Crimson put his hand on his shoulder. “We don’t have any authority here, not in this town or even this state. You get some leeway protecting your mate, but she’s safe now. Anything else you do to him or the others would be retaliation and unlawful.”
“Let’s go,” she said. “I want to get the hell out of Indiana.”
Bram leaned forward and stared at the male, letting his wolf out enough so that his cheeks were dusted with dark fur.
“If I ever see you again, I’ll take it as an act of war and protect my female by any means necessary. Get your friends and get the hell out of here.”
He gave him a shove with this boot and the male rolled away, rubbing his chest as he staggered to his feet.
“Make it quick, sweetheart,” Bram said. “Grab whatever you can. I’ll stand watch.”
She hurried into the apartment. Kash joined him while the others went inside with her to get what they’d packed. They hadn’t even been there that long. It was disturbing on many levels that they’d tracked her to the apartment. If he hadn’t been with her, she would’ve been taken for sure. She wouldn’t have been able to fight off so many males intent on taking her.
“This is fucked up six ways from Sunday,” Kash said.
The males were moving away from them, grumbling and shooting dirty looks, many nursing visible wounds and bleeding.
“Definitely.”
When the males were gone, Bram still couldn’t relax. His desire for retribution was riding him hard and he wanted to chase those males down and make them pay for the terror he’d seen in Thea’s eyes.
For the terror he’d felt at how very close he’d come to losing her.
Thea was suddenly wrapping her arms around him and holding herself close.
He hugged her tightly, scanning the area for danger as he’d done a dozen times while she’d finished packing.
“You okay, sweetheart?” he asked gruffly.
“I just want to go home. Take me home.”
“Wait,” Crimson said. “Let’s check your cell first, Thea.”
Without leaving Bram’s arms, she handed her phone to him.
“You got some kind of spell to figure out if there’s a tracker in it?” Bram asked.
“What? No, I’m going to check to see if she’s sharing her location, since the male said her nest was watching.”
Bram rolled his eyes. “I just assumed you had some techy kind of spell.”
“Fae magic is a little older than tech you know.”
Bram kissed the top of Thea’s head and watched as Crimson poked around on the cell. “Okay, yeah. Her location is on so that’s how they knew where you were. I’d guess they were at your nest and were told where you were going after we got here. But there could also be other types of spyware on here, honestly. We have some people in the pack who are pretty tech savvy, but truthfully it would simply be easier to just get a new phone.”
“They already know where she’s been if they’ve been tracking her, though,” Bram pointed out.
“True, but it would be better if they didn’t know where she was going forward.” Crimson gave Bram a hard look that didn’t really need words.
Her family and nest most likely weren’t done trying to get to her and they needed to be careful and smart.
“He means we should trash the phone and get you a new one,” Bram said.
She lifted her head. Her eyes were bright with emotion, her skin pale with stress.
“Okay.”
He brushed his lips over hers, his wolf growling softly. He ran his fingers lightly over her throat. The scratches from the male’s talons had healed already, but he could still see them in his mind’s eye, and the blood remained.
Bram nodded at Crimson, who dropped her phone and smashed it with his boot.
“Let’s go home, sweetheart,” Bram said, giving her another gentle kiss.
She nodded silently.
After stopping at the apartment manager’s office to turn in her keys, Bram drove home with Thea glued to his side, her head on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” she asked. “I’m the one who didn’t know my parents were tracking me. I feel like an idiot.”
“How could you know?”
“I just should’ve guessed. I thought I was being so slick and careful by stretching out my classes and moving when they were away, but they knew what I was doing the whole time. I thought I was free, but I was still chained to the nest. To them.”
She sounded so defeated.
“This whole damn situation sucks, sweetheart, but you’re my mate and no matter what their plans are, that’s not going to change.”
He felt her nod against his shoulder.
Glancing in the rearview, he saw Logan behind them.
“I remember when I realized how strict the nest was,” she said after some time had passed.
“Yeah? When?”
“When I was in middle school. I was invited to a sleepover at a girl’s house and my parents wouldn’t let me go. They said that females needed to stay home with their parents until they were mated. I had to tell the girl who invited me that I couldn’t come, and she didn’t understand why. I couldn’t explain it when I didn’t really understand it myself. But they wanted me home to keep track of me and make sure I wasn’t doing anything I shouldn’t. That they let me go to public school and college was a miracle, but that was more my mom’s influence than my dad’s. They’re both pretty old-fashioned when it comes to nest tradition, but my mom was allowed to go to public school because she was dyslexic, and her nest teachers hadn’t been able to help her. The public school had resources and staff who helped her. I didn’t have any problems, but I think she was worried I might and would struggle like she did.” Thea hummed for a moment, lost in thought. “This is all such bullshit.”
He was surprised at her abrupt change of topic.
“Which part?” he asked.
“All of it. Them not accepting you, tracking me on my phone, sending those males to bring me down to South Carolina like some wayward child. I’m an adult for crap’s sake.”
She sat up, leaning away from his shoulder, but kept her hand over his biceps.
“Do you want to call them when we get a phone for you?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll get one as soon as we get to town.”
“Okay. Tell me something.”
“What?”
“No, I mean tell me something to change the topic so I don’t have to keep thinking about how pissed I am.”
“Would you like to know about the mating ceremony?”
“Oh, yeah! When will that happen? Does it mean we’re not officially mated yet for the pack?”
“We’re officially mated because we marked each other. The ceremony is for us to be mated in the eyes of the pack. We can do it during any full moon, it’s really up to you. I’d like to do it during the March full moon, but if you’d like to wait until it’s warmer we can.”
“Why would we wait until it’s warmer?”
“Because the traditional clothes for the female are a corset and miniskirt or leggings.”
“Sheesh,” she said with a chuckle. “But March works for me. The sooner the better.”
He agreed one-hundred-percent.
The ceremony would be presided over by his dad as alpha, with his grandfather and uncle assisting. “He’ll anoint us with ash, olive oil, and blood from a fresh kill. Then we can go for a hunt together and the pack will join us. What do you like to hunt?”
“Little things like mice and voles or rabbits.”
“There are plenty of all those things in the woods. Plus deer, of course. You’ll be an honorary member of the pack once the mating ceremony is finished. But when we take over the pack when my parents retire, you’ll be alpha female and a full member.”
“I still don’t get why only wolves are full members, except for the alpha female.”
“I’ve asked that, actually. My cousin Jessi’s mates aren’t wolves, my sister’s mates aren’t wolves, and my cousin Micah’s mate is human. They’re honorary members and that won’t ever change for them. Their children will be full members, though. But it’s different for the alpha female. She has to be a full member to have the authority of the position. An honorary member can’t lead.” He glanced at her. “It’s like a loophole. In order to allow for an alpha to take a truemate who may or may not be a wolf, the law has to allow for her to be a full member. But she can’t be a full member until they’re mated, period.”
“Could we change that rule when we take over?”
“We can do whatever we want with the rules, including that. We could make it that any mate is a full member. But it doesn’t really change anything. We still think of the non-wolves as members whether they’re full or honorary.”
“I think I’d like to change that rule. In the future.”
“Then we can.”
She blew out a breath. “We don’t have to worry about that for a long time, though, right?”
“Nope. My parents aren’t ready to retire, and I doubt they will be anytime soon.”
“Good. I’m not really ready to be the boss of anybody. I don’t know the first thing about wolves. Except for what you’ve shared with me.”
“I’ll teach you,” he promised.
“Do you think they’ll come after me again?”
“Those guys? No.” He linked their fingers and gave her hand a squeeze. “They were thoroughly threatened. I don’t think they expected you to be with anyone, especially not shifters who could fight back. Did I say thank you, by the way?”
“For what? Nearly getting you killed?”
“You didn’t nearly get me killed, sweetheart. This is all on your alpha and your parents. But you took that guy out with the lamp. You saved me.”
“I liked that lamp. But I like you a lot more.”
“Good thing,” he said with a laugh. “But you did save me, and I am very grateful for that. It’s why I know you’ll be a great alpha female when the time comes. You stepped up when it mattered.”
She snuggled back against him with a sigh. “Will we be ready if they show up again? The pack, I mean?”
“Yes, definitely.”
He was confident he could keep her safe. He’d nearly failed and he wasn’t about to let that happen again.
Her safety was of the utmost priority for him.
If her family thought they could just grab her out of his hands, they could think again.
He just got her. He wasn’t about to lose her.
She was far too precious.
“Do you like the house?” he asked as he shut off the engine after turning into the driveway of his house.
“Of course. Why?”
“There are others available in town, we could switch to something bigger or in a different area.”
The house had three bedrooms and two bathrooms, with a nice sized yard and a large oak tree in the back which provided shade in the afternoons for the patio.
“I really like it,” she said.
They got out of his truck, and he handed her the house key so she could unlock the door and they could unload the truck. Logan pulled up a minute later and everyone got out.
“Thanks for your help today,” he said as he walked over to them.
“Our pleasure,” Kash said. “It’s a damn good thing we were there.”
“Yeah, for sure,” Bram said with a grimace.
“I briefed your dad,” Logan said. “He wants you to call after you get settled.”
“Of course.”
It took less than an hour to unload the trucks, and then they were thanking their friends for their help and walking into the house.
She toed off her shoes with a sigh.
“Do you want to unpack? Or call your parents from my phone?” he asked, stretching with a yawn.
“Nope.”
He turned to face her. She was staring at him intently.
“Do you want to crash?”
“No,” she said, drawing the word out.
“Then what do you want to do?”
“You.”
Then he picked up the scent of her arousal, all sweet heat and femininity.
“Oh?”
He closed the distance between them and cupped her face. Her skin was flushed, her eyes dilated, and she smelled amazing.
His wolf was doing cartwheels in his head.
She rested her hands on his waist, her fingers dipping beneath the waistband of his jeans. “I’d like to forget about everything that happened for a little while longer. Talking in the truck was really nice, but the time for talking is over. For now.” She gave his jeans a little tug as she took a step back, and he followed her. “Unless you’re telling me how good you feel and how much you like being with me.”
“I’ll definitely talk, sweetheart. But you have to as well.” He grabbed her close and she inhaled sharply. “Be sure to say things like more and yes and right there whenever you want.”
“I will if you will.”
He slammed his lips against hers with a snarl and she moaned softly.
“Yes. More,” she whispered around his lips.
He lifted her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.
“I’m fucking crazy about you,” he said as he lowered her to the bed. “Out of my damn mind over you.”
He was falling hard for his mate.
He just had to fucking keep her safe.