Chapter 11
Erick
Dressed and mostly put together, I hit the overhead fans to air out the store while we’re gone. The last thing I need is Kade bitching about my pheromones or his sister’s arousal. Normally I wouldn’t care but in this case I do.
After all, he will be my brother-in-law.
The alien head I threw in my haste to get Kylian tethered and naked is damaged. I place it on the counter along with the Paracord, figuring I’ll clean up my mess on Tuesday.
“Are you okay with walking?” I ask as we exit the front door. “It’s only a half a mile into town.”
“Sounds great. Let me put my bag in my truck.” She climbs into her cab, quickly checking her face in the mirror when the overwhelming stench hits me.
Instantly, I’m circling the vehicle that has special winter snow tires and an emergency light bar mounted on the top.
If the average human were aware, they would know we were shifters by our winter vehicles.
No sane person would ride a motorcycle in the dead of winter in Montana, even with studded tires, but we do all the time as long as it’s not actively snowing or we’re traveling with our mates.
We would never endanger our mates—even if they are also shifters.
I crouch down and sniff the tires, my lips curling in disgust. It’s the same scent I picked up in the woods last night. That same mature bear shifter fucking marked my mate’s vehicle. Continuing on, I pop open the passenger door and get a face full of the asshole’s stench.
“I’ll fucking kill him,” I growl.
“What?” Kylian stops applying a fresh coat of gloss to her lips and raises her brow.
“Who the fuck has been marking you as his?” My tone is low, my rage barely leashed as my bear demands blood.
She shakes her head, her confusion plain on her face. “What?”
Slamming the passenger door shut, I rush around the engine and fill her doorway, trapping her inside. “Who have you been with?”
“I don’t know what you’re saying.” Kylian pulls back from me, pure terror taking over her features. I can only imagine what my face looks like right now, my bear on the verge of taking over.
I draw in a deep breath and close my eyes, willing him back. “A male bear shifter has marked your vehicle. It’s all over your tires and your seats. Do you know who he is?”
“I don’t know any bear shifters besides my brothers.”
“What about the guy you were dating in Great Falls?” I clench my jaw, my vision turning red. “The one who walked you into a door?”
“James? He’s not a shifter. He’s just some guy I met at lunch one day.”
James. I’ll fucking kill him. I’ll tear him limb from limb and pounce on his bones until there is nothing left—just like Kade did to his mate’s abductors.
I know this is going to hurt her but there is no space for tact right now. “But how would you know?”
My question lands, her face reddening with anger or shame or a combination of both. “Because I’m not a shifter and can’t suss out other shifters, you mean.”
“Yes.” She is a shifter. She just saw her bear but doesn’t have her senses yet, so unless he revealed himself to her, she’d be as unaware as the human citizens of Broken Falls.
Kylian looks down at her clenched hands in her lap. “I guess I wouldn’t.”
I reach into the cab and place my hand on her thigh.
“I’m sorry, babygirl. I’m not mad at you, but him marking you like this is a huge violation.
Not just of you but of your future mate, which is me.
He might as well have pissed on you in front of me—” a guttural growl rips from my throat “—or worse. I need to know everything so I can assess the threat because I promise you this is fresh and made as a direct challenge to me and our bond.”
She hesitates and then reaches into her bag to grab her phone.
Unlocking it, she scrolls and then hands it to me.
“We met a little over a month ago. Everything was fine until Friday night. I haven’t replied once to him but these are all the texts and transcribed voicemails he’s sent me since I left. ”
“What happened Friday night?” I ask while gripping her phone, fully aware that I’m not going to like what I hear.
“He tried to put his hands down my pants but I told him I wasn’t ready. He wouldn’t stop and pinned me down, but I fought to get him off of me. Then he backhanded me.” Tears roll down her cheeks. “My bear didn’t make a peep. She didn’t feel the need to protect us.”
Yep, I’m going to rip out his fucking throat.
I pull myself back and read the messages from a man with serious self-control issues. He’s a classic narcissist, attempting to gaslight Kylian and throwing a childish tantrum when she doesn't respond. I’ll have to tell Kade so he and his brothers can find this guy if he’s lurking around their home.
Inhaling deeply again, I realize James could’ve followed her here. These markings are fresh and could’ve been made here just as easily as in Fortune Falls last night. I glance around the parking lot and to the woods beyond our property.
“Come on out, asshole. Face me like the coward you are.” I project but even if he is within listening distance, there’s no guarantee he can communicate telepathically. When I’m met with silence, I repeat my words out loud. Again, there is nothing.
“Are we in danger?” Kylian asks.
That she’s including me in her concerns would be touching if I wasn’t feeling murderous. “He won’t touch you ever again.”
I hit James’s number on Kylian’s phone and place it on speaker. She’s spent most of her life being sheltered by her brothers but I won’t do that to her—she’s my partner, my other half, my fated mate.
“You fucking whore!” James shouts without preamble.
“I tried to be nice but now I’m going to make you bleed.
After I gut the asshole who dared touch what is mine, I’ll leave him gasping for air with his entrails out so he can watch me take you over and over again.
Instead of my wife, you’ll be my slave, chained to my bed until you know your place. ”
It takes everything within me to keep my voice low and words steady. “She’s not your fated mate, asshole.”
“Fuck the Fates!” he barks. “You’ll watch me bite and embed my serum into her so many times, her blood will repulse you no matter what the fucking Gods say about it.”
“He already marked me. It’s too late!” Kylian shrieks, her eyes coming to mine as she lies to him.
Technically, I did mark her when I scraped my fangs against her pussy to push her orgasm over the edge. But I haven’t truly embedded my serum and in no way have I properly claimed my mate like my bear wants to. Plus, she doesn’t know I did that, and I wasn’t planning on telling her unless I had to.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about, bitch. I told you, I get what I want and nothing will stop me from owning you,” he snarls into the phone.
“Come on out. Let’s fucking do this.” The challenge is out of my mouth before I can think twice about it.
It’s a hotheaded thing to say that flies in the face of more than a decade of disciplined military training.
I need a plan—an op and a counter-op ready to execute.
Plus, I have to pull Kade into this. She’s my mate, mine to protect, but I have no doubt this asshole will attack her family if he can’t get to her.
He obviously knows where she lives and probably knows more than she realizes.
Actually, if he’s followed her here, I have to alert my pack so we can all protect our mates.
He laughs, and it sounds as deranged as he is.
“Oh no, I’m not going to let you see me coming.
But I won’t let you get too comfortable touching what is mine either.
If you restrain yourself, I might make your death painless.
Not quick, but not as painful as I’m planning right now.
And Kylian? See you soon. Keep your legs closed. ”
The line disconnects, leaving both of us shaking. I’m on the verge of shifting, my bear pacing and stomping and demanding blood.
Kylian is pale, his words having their intended effect. “How can this be happening to me?”
“Come here.” I pull her out of the truck, his stench making me ill, and carry her to the steps of the store.
My instinct is to pull her onto my lap and hold her for a while but that would be suicide—putting her and me at risk of an ambush.
I have to remain ready to react, which I guess is exactly why the asshole said what he did.
I can’t focus on seducing or claiming my mate if I’m always looking over my shoulder.
I unlock the door and pull her back inside, closing the door behind me. “Give me a minute, babygirl.”
I slide her phone into my pocket and pull mine out, bringing up the group text between my pack members.
Me: Cricket / Wiley - where are you?
Cricket: We’re at the diner grabbing a bite. What’s up?
Me: We’ll be there in ten minutes. Kade / Sly - we need to have a conversation. Are you available?
Sly: I’m here with Kash. Everything good?
Me: No. Find Kade. Code Red.