Chapter Eleven
CHEV
PAIN WAKES ME up, and I immediately know it’s from Vanessa.
I’m out of bed in a heartbeat, my bear bursting from my skin as I lunge for the bedroom door. A loud snarl I’m unable to control spills from my throat as the pain in my shoulder grows, the feeling slight as it travels through the mate bond.
My thigh tingles, almost even burns, as my mark calls out to me. I’m hardly aware of anything happening around me as I barrel down the hallway, desperate to find Vanessa.
Charlie rounds a corner, her eyes wide as she spots me, but she’s smart enough to jump out of the way. Her fear must travel to her mates because, within seconds, the smell of demons surrounds me.
There are flashes on either side of me as Aziel, Gray, and Silas try to teleport into my path, but I’m moving too quickly. Silas manages to appear in front of me, but it’s a mistake.
I bite the limb he throws in my direction, and I use it to toss him against the nearest wall. There are shouts, many of them, but they go in one ear and out the other as I tumble down the stairs. My paws slip against the steps, my bear form unaccustomed to using stairs, so I practically roll down them. I don’t care.
I need to find Vanessa.
I slow as I run through the corridor the children play in, narrowly avoiding running into them. Even Cassia moves out of the way, a scared scream tearing from her throat. I’ll apologize and let her chew on me later.
I’m faintly aware of Aziel yelling my name, but I ignore every one of his calls as I finally burst out of the house. I break the front door in the process, the wood splintering as I slam my body through it. I’ll fix it later.
The pain in my shoulder remains, and it’s all I can think about as I take off in the direction of the female facility. My bond guides me toward Vanessa, and I run to her as fast as possible. I’ve never felt her pain before, so I know it must be severe.
Vanessa should still be in bed, but she’s in pain. Something is wrong.
My bear releases another howl into the forest, the loud noise echoing as I hurry to my mate. I want everybody to know I’m coming. Whoever has hurt Vanessa will die today, and I want them to know it.
When the fence surrounding the facility enters my line of sight, I lower my head and slam into it. The metal forms around my skull before breaking apart. It hurts. Fuck, it hurts, but it’s not unbearable. I would crush a thousand fences for my mate.
“Chev!”
Aziel appears in my path.
He may be my dearest friend, but at this moment, he’s nothing more than an obstacle keeping me from saving my mate. I charge, fully intending to crush him, but my feet are swept out from underneath me by a tricky fucking incubus.
Gray yanks my ankles, and he tumbles alongside me as I fall. I’m immediately trying to get back up, and I snap my teeth in his direction when he throws his torso over me to try to keep me down. Gray is brave but weak, and I kick my hind legs into his belly just as Aziel joins in to help him.
Aziel is strong, and he successfully manages to pin my bear. I snarl, my spit hitting him in the face and mouth as I wiggle and kick, trying and failing to break free.
Silas appears near my head. “Vanessa’s okay!” He grabs my jaw and forces me to look into his eyes. “I was just at the facility. She’s taking a self-defense class with the other females, and she made a wrong spin and twisted her arm. She tore the muscle, but she’s okay.”
He’s covered in blood from when I bit him, but his injuries seem to have healed. He holds out a phone, and an image of Vanessa is on the screen. She’s sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree as she holds an ice pack against her shoulder. She looks confused.
I’m sure she wasn’t expecting a bloody Silas to appear and take a photo of her.
My bear is skeptical, and I huff as I lean forward to smell Silas. He wears my mate’s scent, and I wiggle closer to ensure it’s fresh. I know the fate doesn’t like me, but he still brings his body closer to mine.
Yes.
The smell is fresh.
I’m too worked up to shift back into my skin form, but my bear no longer tries to fight. Aziel releases me before lunging at Gray, his body shaking. Aziel seems just as agitated as me, maybe even more so, and he buries his face against Gray’s neck. Gray glares at me. I don’t care.
I try to stand, but I’m unsuccessful. I hurt myself falling down the stairs, and smashing my head against the metal fence didn’t help. I shouldn’t have done that.
A tense silence stretches over the four of us, and it continues until a panicked Charlie comes bursting into the area. She narrowly avoids a large tree as she whips around in her golf cart, and she accidentally runs over Gray’s ankle in her path toward me.
The incubus curses, clutching the limb to his chest, but I’m not worried. He’s well-fed, and he’ll heal quickly.
“Chev,” Charlie gasps, throwing herself in my direction. “What’s happening?”
Silas swoops in and pulls her away from me. It’s a smart decision, and I wiggle even farther away. My bear is unpredictable, and he won’t hesitate to bite her if she gets too close. I settle next to Aziel, trusting him to stop me from doing anything stupid, and I lie on the ground as I wait for my body to heal. I’m comforted knowing Vanessa is okay, and I’ll have Aziel check in on her later this morning, this evening, and before bed.
Gray places a hand on my back, mindlessly trying to stroke my fur, and I grumble until he pulls away.
I am no pet.
It takes several minutes until I have enough strength to shift back into my skin form, and I lie face down on the ground as my head heals. Somebody covers my lower body with fabric, and I groan into the dirt to say thank you.
Another several minutes pass before I manage to sit up. Aziel and Gray are leaning against a nearby tree, and Charlie and Silas sit in the golf cart. All four are staring at me.
“Why are you still here?” I ask.
Silas scoffs. “Would you rather we left you alone and vulnerable?”
Charlie elbows him, the action subtle. “Is your head feeling better?”
She climbs out of the golf cart. Silas doesn’t stop her from approaching me this time, but I can feel three pairs of demon eyes watching my every move as Charlie roughly grabs my head and forces me to look down. Pointy fingers sift through my hair, searching and prodding at all my sore spots.
Charlie sighs as she looks them over, and now that my senses have cleared, I can finally smell the blood that covers me. About half of it belongs to Silas and Gray, but the other half is mine. It pours down my head and shoulders, and I frown as I wipe at the wetness on my forehead.
“You’re about healed,” Charlie says.
She returns to Silas. I eye the fate, scanning his arm. His shirt sleeve is missing, but the spot where I bit him looks fine. I look at Gray next. His stomach and chest are covered in blood from when I kicked him, but he seems okay, too.
Aziel was unscathed.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter.
Gray shrugs, always quick to let things go, and Silas hums. Aziel doesn’t respond, but I’m not surprised. His tense muscles and blown-out pupils make it clear that he’s still struggling to hold back his wrath.
Play-fighting is usually enough to rile him up, but I wasn’t playing. I attacked his mates and scared his children. I’m impressed he didn’t kill me when he had me pinned earlier. That’s some very exciting growth on his end.
Gray’s shirt is covering the lower half of my body, and I hold it against me as I stumble to my feet.
“Come on,” Charlie says, patting her golf cart.
Gray, Aziel, and I climb on it, joining her and Silas. The wheels struggle to support our weight, and Charlie complains as she brings us back to the house. We move at a snail’s pace, and we receive many concerned looks from the guards and housekeepers.
Gray and Aziel are gone the moment we’re back, the incubus pulling his mate upstairs. Silas hands me a pair of clothes before Charlie forces me into the kitchen.
Their children peer at me from behind the kitchen doorway. I begin my apologies with the tiny, brown-eyed incubus. He’s the most easygoing of the three children.
“I’m sorry, David,” I whisper. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
He frowns, still hiding behind the doorway, before slowly inching forward. His gaze continually darts toward Silas and Charlie, likely looking toward them for confirmation that I’m safe. I swoop down and pull him into a hug once he’s near, which spurs on Valeria. The twins are always competing, and she sprints forward the second she sees me holding her brother.
“Valeria!” I gasp, lifting her with my other arm.
She touches my head, and I force myself to smile as her eyelids flutter shut. She’s too tiny to see a fate without direct skin-to-skin contact. She can still enter the fated world, but I don’t think she sees anything worth knowing. She won’t until she’s older, but this is still good practice.
I hate it. Shifters don’t like fates, but I’ll make this exception for her.
Valeria opens her eyes with a huff, and I grimace as she kicks me and wiggles in my arm.
“Okay, okay.” I groan, setting her down.
She storms out of the room, clearly angry. I don’t understand, and I turn toward Silas for help. He’s fighting a smile as he hands Charlie some ice for my head.
“You’re heavily involved in her life, so she probably didn’t see anything,” he explains. “She gets angry when that happens. We’re working on it.”
I think that’s the most Silas has ever willingly spoken to me.
“I’ll get her,” David says, also wiggling to be put down.
I set him on his feet, and he quickly disappears after Valeria. Cassia is next. She’s easy to please, and when she charges for me, I push her to the ground. I feel horrible doing this, but she loves it. She screams out in laughter as she falls onto her butt, and when she tries getting back up, I push her down again.
Shifter children aren’t violent, and I hate when I have to bully Cassia. She jumps back up, and I let her bite my kneecap before pushing her away with my foot.
“That’s enough,” I say. “You lose.”
Charlie snorts, and Cassia tries to growl at me. The noise sounds silly coming from her throat. She’s not a shifter, or any sort of animal, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to imitate me. We make eye contact, and I make a big show of dropping my gaze to the floor.
My submission seems to lift her spirits as she squeals and runs toward Silas. He snatches her up and carries her from the room, heading in the direction where David and Valeria are screaming at one another.
“Sit,” Charlie orders, pointing to a chair.
I do, and she drops a bag of ice on my head. It’s too hot in Wrath, and the coolness on my injuries feels fantastic.
“Do you think Vanessa heard me?” I ask.
Charlie shrugs, her lips pursing. That’s a bad sign.
“You were loud,” she admits. “And you were close to the facility. I’d assume she heard.”
That’s not good. My presence in Wrath is supposed to be secret, and this will scare Vanessa away. She’s doing so well here, and everybody says she enjoys her work. I refuse to be the one who ruins that.
I return to my room, too frustrated to do anything else.
Children scream as they run past my closed bedroom door, but even the happy noises aren’t enough to calm me. Their giggles and laughter usually help. My bear loves children, and I’d be destroyed if I ever did anything to hurt them. Being around them isn’t enough to settle my racing thoughts, though.
Uncontrollable rumbles continue to pour from my chest, the noise growing louder as the hours pass. It’s not the mating call I made yesterday while watching Vanessa through her bedroom window, but it’s a low, displeased sound that I’m fearful isn’t stopping soon. I knock my fist against my sternum in a sad attempt to silence myself, but there is no change.
The noise reaches its peak when the time comes for Vanessa to leave work and return home, and it takes everything in me not to accompany her. I so badly wish to walk her home, but it’s not a good idea after my incident.
I continue pacing the length of my room, my mind and heart in separate places. Vanessa wants space—she’s made that abundantly clear—and I should leave Wrath. I was supposed to keep my distance, and I failed today. I got too close, and now she knows I’m here.
I can’t bring myself to leave, though. I’m a weak male, and my mate is my everything. I have no reason to exist if Vanessa isn’t with me. Now I’ve gone and made things worse.
I’m sure she heard me. Even if not, it’s only a matter of time before the women within the facility begin to talk about the giant bear shifter who broke through the fence this morning. Somebody surely noticed.
Mammon’s going to have a field day with this.
It’s been hours, and I’m sure my actions are already scattered across the headlines of every news channel. Have they discovered who my mate is? Everybody knows I’ve found her, but Echo and I have been working hard to keep Vanessa’s identity a secret.
It won’t take an expert for people to realize I came to the Wrath facility to be near my mate.
I run my hands through my hair, rough with the strands as I force my fingers through the many knots. It’s always tangled after shifting between my bear and skin form, and I attempt to smooth it out before giving up and storming out of the room.
I’ve made up my mind, even if it’s a stupid idea. I need to apologize to Vanessa. She undoubtedly knows I’m in Wrath, and I wish to alleviate the fear I’m sure she’s currently feeling.
Silas and Gray are lounging by the front door, the two squeezed into a chair only meant for one. They both rise the moment they notice my presence. I ignore them, not in the mood for the distraction they bring.
I need to speak with my mate.
I hope I’m not too late and she hasn’t left Wrath, but there’s only one way to find out. I think I’d feel through the bond if she’d left, but I can’t rely on that. I need to see her with my own eyes, and she should hear my apology directly. She deserves that.
Then I will leave.
“Hey, hey, big guy,” Gray says, blocking the front door. “Where do you think you’re going?”
I slow, cocking my head to the side before turning toward Silas. I like Gray, so I will give Silas precisely ten seconds to move him out of my way. Silas blinks, and he crosses his arms over his chest as he plants himself beside Gray.
Are they trying to stop me? That’s not going to happen.
Aziel is the only one strong enough to do so, and he’s upstairs with Charlie. He hasn’t yet settled from this morning, and I know Gray and Silas won’t go to him for help. They would be stupid to work up the wrath more than he already is, and we all know it.
“Move,” I order.
I inch to the side, fully planning to walk around the pair.
Gray copies me, and I suck in a slow breath before stepping forward and going toe-to-toe with him. He grins, and I only have a second to react before his lust fills my lungs. He knows I hate when he does this, and I scrunch my nose in a sad attempt to stop its effects.
I don’t have time for this.
“It’s not happening,” Silas says, drawing my attention. “You can’t see her.”
I resist the urge to laugh. I’m not a child in need of babysitting. Vanessa is my mate, and these men are in no position to tell me how and when I can communicate with her.
Gray and Silas continue blocking the door. They’re not leaving me with many choices, and I sigh as I mentally accept that I’ll need to fight them. I feel bad for hurting them earlier, but they make it hard to avoid.
Gray’s lust saturates the air around me, the smell just as enticing as it is annoying. I know he’s hoping it’ll calm me, forcing my body into a state of submission that allows him to persuade me to do what he wants. He doesn’t seem to realize its lack of effect on mated shifters.
Our bodies burn for our mates and our mates only. His scent is nothing more than a sweet-smelling annoyance.
The corners of Gray’s lips fall when he realizes his lust doesn’t have the effect he hoped for. I remain still, surprised when he rolls his shoulders back and prepares for a fight. Incubi don’t enjoy violence, but it seems Gray’s willing to make an exception for me.
I’m honored.
Silas remains calm, which isn’t surprising. He’s strong, and he knows it. He’s never tried stopping a shifter from seeing his mate, though. I may have bit his arm this morning, but I will tear it cleanly off next time. I’ve always wondered if demons regenerate limbs.
“Please, Chev,” Gray says. “Leave Vanessa alone.”
I see red. “She is not your mate. She is mine, and as much as I appreciate your meddling, this is my decision to make.”
Silas sighs. “You’re not being rational. We’re trying to help you.” He steps back, and Gray welcomes himself into my personal space. “Vanessa’s your mate. Nobody doubts that, but she’s frightened and wants to be left alone.”
They’re not going to make this easy.
“Do you have mate bonds?” I ask. The answer is no. Demons aren’t blessed breeds, and they don’t have true mates. I turn toward Silas. “Are you so all-knowing that you understand the intricacies of a mate bond?” The answer is also no.
Gray takes my arm, and I brush him off.
“I am leaving.”
I push Gray and Silas aside and reach for the door. Gray makes a quiet noise in the back of his throat and reaches for me again, but Silas stops him.
“Let him,” he says. “But we will be watching, and we will intervene if you upset her.”
I’d expect nothing less.
I step outside and pull off my clothing. I’m quickest in my bear form, and I shift before taking off into the woods. My muscles burn with how fast I push myself, my paws slamming into the ground with each step. I already know the guards won’t let me enter through the front gate as I usually do, so I head toward the hole I made in the fence earlier today.
It hasn’t been fixed yet, and I squeeze through before darting toward Vanessa’s house.
I shift back and yank on my clothes once it’s within my sight, and my heart is beating out of my chest as I approach Vanessa’s front door. I’m terrified of what she’s going to say and do to me, but I have to do this. My female deserves an explanation and apology, and it needs to come from me directly.
I made a mistake today, and I won’t make it again.
The porch creaks underneath my feet, and I stare at her front door for a long minute before knocking. There’s a quiet pattering followed by some rustling, and I scramble back several steps so there’s ample space between her and me.
Vanessa pulls open the door.
I shrink, making myself small so she doesn’t see me as a threat.
She still grows rigid, and I can practically taste her fear. Still, despite it, she doesn’t shut the door. Instead, she runs her eyes down my body, traveling from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet.
I remain silent, giving her time to adjust before I begin my apologies.
Vanessa’s lips purse as her gaze momentarily lingers near my thighs. I know she finds them attractive, and I wish I were wearing my leathers. The Wrath clothing is modest, and the entirety of my legs are covered.
It’s horrible.
I clear my throat as Vanessa licks her lips, softly reminding her of my presence. Her eyes are wide and full of need when she meets my gaze, and I’m faintly aware I’m shaking as she takes another step toward me.
My mate.