Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Dane
Looking down at the woman, I take in her battered face. With one look in her eyes as she stared at my wolf, I knew who she was to me. I wanted to deny it, but my wolf is refusing to do so. He wants her.
He wants his mate, but that’s not something I can allow.
I don’t need nor do I want a mate right now.
But she’s ours . The wolf grows in my head, clawing at my insides. You cannot deny what fate gives only to us.
Fate my ass.
If that were true, fate wanted me to have someone as beautiful as this one here. She wouldn’t have fucked me up over the years .
My wolf growls again inside my head.
“Knock it the fuck off,” I snarl aloud.
Turning to the trees, I start to walk in the direction, only to pause. How the fuck am I going to explain this to my brothers. Hell, even from here, I could still hear the noise of the party going on. I’m surprised none of them had heard this. Then again, they were all probably focused on other activities.
I glance back at the woman in my arms, and I take in her battered face. Her lip was busted. Her eyes were now swelling. Bruises and blood were coloring her skin. I grit my teeth together to keep from looking down farther to where her shirt was cut open.
Those men seemed to know her. They threatened her. I should have shredded them where they stood. But we have a rule not to kill the humans without cause. I’m sure I had justified cause to take them out for what they did to her, but a part of me that knows there are more wants to find out why they dared touch her, to beat on her the way they had.
“Fuck, she’s my mate,” I say to myself. Speaking that for the first time, something happened inside me I’d never felt before. The two halves of me, beast and man, click together as they never have before. A shout out, my voice grated and harsh. The sound grave to my own ears. I clutch the woman who is mine to my chest and hold her, feeling her chest rising and falling.
I fall to my knees, just holding her. My entire body shakes as I focus on her. Accepting what my wolf realized first. What I wanted to deny. I still want to, but it’s a battle I can’t win. Not when man and beast become one.
It is how it was always meant to be. Never one or the other. We are one. Together, we will love her. Protect her. Give our mate everything she will ever want.
We will. I will. She will never desire for anything .
I clutch her body and stand. It would be faster for me to shift, but I can’t hold her and do that. What I need to do is call Zavier and tell him to bring his truck and medical bag.
“Brother.”
I jerk my head up at the voice of my Prez and see not just him but several other men coming out of the woods, some still shifting.
“What’s wrong?” Corbin demands, eyes going to the woman in my arms. “I heard you as I’ve never heard you.”
“Son,” my dad, Daniel, calls, coming forward, eyes filled with concern, he was watchful. “The connection completed itself, didn’t it?”
“How did you know?” I ask, my voice harsh .
“Because you met your mate,” he retorts, looking at the woman in my arms.
“Move the fuck out my way,” Bandit shouts, shoving through, voice vibrating as he continues to shout. “Raine.”The wolf looks into my arms and snarls. “Fuck. Raine.”
Bandit takes a step toward me, arms out. “Give me my fuckin’ sister. The hell did you do to her?”
I take a step back and snarl. “Get the fuck back.” There’s no way this was Bandit’s sister. My mate was human. The only scent on her right now is that of hers and those bastards who beat the hell out of her.
“Give me my sister, asshole.” Bandit snarls, looking ready to shift and fight me for her.
“Bandit,” I hear Cyrus call out. “Let’s calm down and find out what the hell happened here.”
“Fuck calm right now, Prez. No offense, but my sister is beaten, and I can smell the blood.” Bandit takes another step toward me. “What the fuck did you do to Raine?”
“Bandit,” Corbin calls, snarling and moving in close to me. “Cyrus told you to calm the hell down. If you’d think for a God damned minute, you’d see that he didn’t do a damn thing to her. You’d also smell what the rest of us can. The scent of humans.”
“Heard her screams while running. Came up on the road to see about five men surrounding her. Beating her. Some were kicking at her, others holding her down,” I tell them, holding my mate close. My gaze locks on Bandit. “She’s human. Not shifter. She’s not your sister.”
“She’s fuckin’ adopted, asshat. Raine’s my little sister. Now, give her to me.” Bandit sneers.
Raine. Her name is Raine.
Beautiful. Just as she is.
I shake my head and look down at her beautiful face once again as I murmur the next six words with enough force that I don’t have to see them step back to know all of them do, including Bandit. “I will not. She’s my mate.”
Mine.
I won’t allow anyone to take her from me. I’ll kill them all before they can even try to get her away from me.
“Give me my sister,” Bandit tries again.
“No,” I snarl.
“How about we just get her back to the clubhouse, and I take a look at her?” Zavier suggests.
“That sounds like a good plan,” Dad states. “Come on, son, let’s get her checked out,” he says, coming closer.
I nod. “They were there to teach her a lesson,” I state, talking more to myself than anyone else. I have their scent in my senses. I memorize it and plan exactly what I intend to do to them. They’ll die for what they’ve done to Raine. I won’t allow them to get away with it. I don’t give a damn what it takes or that they’re human. All thoughts go out of my mind about the rules.
Fuck rules.
Humans hurt my mate, and I’ll never let that happen again. I’ll go to war first.