Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Raine
“Rainy, sweetheart, you need to talk to your brother and dad. They need to know what happened last night,” Mom states softly after kicking both my dad and brother out of the house because they wouldn’t leave me alone. They wanted to know what happened and wouldn’t stop demanding answers. Answers I wouldn’t give them.
“I don’t want to talk about it, Mom. Can’t they just leave it be?” I tilt my head back slightly in order to meet her gaze. For a woman who has two grown children, one way older than me, she still looks young enough to be my older sister rather than my mother. The perks of being a shifter. Longer life expectancy, I suppose.
She told me about shifters and mates long ago when I asked about it. I knew they’d outlive me unless I ended up mated to a shifter. Ironically, it turns out I do have a mate, but I’m not going to think about that right now. I mean, I’d love nothing more than to talk to my mom about it. Tell her what happened. Tell her about my dream. Tell her how Dane saved me. Tell her that the threat of Brady coming after me was something I didn’t want to think about, but it was very much real.
“You know they can’t. It’s not in them. Think of it as an alpha male thing,” she says, waving a hand in the air nonchalantly. “They see one of their women hurt, they lose their minds. It’s not just a shifter thing. It’s a male thing in general. You’re your dad’s daughter, your brother’s sister. They don’t like the idea you were in danger, and they weren’t there to protect you.”
“I’m fine, though.”
“Sweetheart, I don’t have to have eyes in my head to know you are not fine. You’re nowhere near fine. That’s not even using my senses. I can feel your pain, your turmoil, your conflict. Bandit and Sloane told me and your dad that you also found your mate last night. That it’s Dane, Sloane’s ex, over at the Spiked Raiders MC.”
“They have big mouths,” I mutter and drop my gaze to my coffee. “He’s the one who saved me last night. Did Bandit tell you that? He came out of the woods as a wolf and saved me. Protected me, and I can still see him standing over me as his wolf shielding me from my attackers. Even more, I can still feel him gently lifting me off the road and into his arms, his warmth seeping into me.”
Now, why did I share this with my mom? Oh yeah, because she’s my mom. A woman who has raised me as if I were her own. She’s kind and gentle, and when she needs to be fierce, like when I was in middle school and a girl who was known to bully those she deemed less superior to her had taken scissors to my hair while her friends had held me still, and she’d cut my hair. I thought Mom was going to kill the girl, she didn’t but I was never bullied after that.
Mom had also ensured that I’d taken a kick boxing course. She wanted to make sure I knew how to protect myself. Which last night proved that the lessons didn’t take as they should have. I wasn’t able to do anything. They’d gotten to me, taken me down, and made sure they delivered their message.
“Of course, he protected you and made sure you’re safe. He’s your mate. He’d do anything to make sure you were safe and happy,” Mom retorts. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her lean her elbows on the counter, fingers curled around her own mug. “Rainy, look at me.”
Biting my lip, I do as she tells me. “I dream about him,” I admit blurting the words out.
“You do?” she asks, looking surprised.
I nod and take a breath. “I’d never seen his face before, but most nights since I don’t even know, I dream about him. My dreams changed as I got older, from him playing with me to him holding me, but last night the dream was different. I saw his face. I remembered his voice. Weirder still I . . .” I clear my throat and continue, “In my dream, he told me, and I quote, ‘You’re my mate, Raine, everything will work out. You just can’t give up on what fate’s granted us both. Save the man, save the wolf. Save us both. It’s what you were meant to do. It’s what the fates have written for us.’ I don’t know what that means.”
“He said that in your dream?” Mom asks, eyes wide.
“Yeah.” I nod jerkily. “I asked what he meant, and he said in time, I’d find out. Do you think I’m going crazy?”
“No, Rainy, I don’t think you’re going crazy. What I think is you’ve had a connection to Dane’s wolf a lot longer than either of you know and that you surely are his true mate. Fate has a funny way of playing games. They challenge us, throw obstacles in our way, but also place us where we need to be when we need to be there. Does that make sense?”
Not really, but in a way, I get it.
“I get it,” I tell Mom.
“I left him at the clubhouse last night, and he let me go.”
“I know he did, sweetheart, but I also know he didn’t want to. Bandit, as bullheaded as he can be, admitted that to your dad and me. He also told us how he’d gotten in Dane’s face about his womanizing ways and how he has a past with women.”
“Yeah, I heard what Bandit said. I also know Dane played Sloane.” I didn’t like this.
“One thing I learned with your dad is you can’t hold his past against him when it’s not his present. It’s not his relationship with his mate. All you can do is show him that you won’t put up with being played. Show him the woman you are, and if he’s anything like his own dad, then he’ll love you.”
“I knew his dad long ago. I knew Dane’s mother. I knew she was a chosen mate and not a fated one. She was killed by blood witches. That kind of thing has an effect on a man.”
My heart clenches at the knowledge of Dane losing his mother.
“I don’t know what to do about all of this,” I admit.
“There’s nothing to do but be yourself. You’ll know what to do when the time’s right. Let the fates and goddesses show you the way. You let them, they’ll do just that. I’m sure of it,” Mom says gently and reaches out to curl her hand along the side of my face. “Now, will you tell me what happened last night?”
Sucking in a breath, tears well in my eyes. “I can’t.”
“Okay, Raine,” she murmurs and pulls away, eyes still gentle as her voice. “But does it have anything to do with you moving home?”
There’s no hiding the fact my heart starts beating faster, and my breath seizes in my lungs.
She nods, accepting this as my answer. “Right, sweetheart, I’ll tell you this. You can’t hold things like this in, but I’ll buy you some time with your brother and dad. Still don’t think it will stop your mate from demanding answers.”
“What’s that mean?” I ask, only to jump as a knock sounds at the front door.
“Like I said, he’s your mate. He’s not going to let you go. He might have let you come home last night, but I’m sure it was because he could sense you needed to do just that.”
She moves around the counter, heads for the front door, opens it, and steps back. “Good morning, Dane, Raine’s right through the living room, in the kitchen. There’s coffee in there. Help yourself.”
Oh. My. God.
Please tell me my mom did not just invite Dane into the house.
“Thank you, ma’am.” Dane’s gruff voice sends a shiver down my spine.
“Call me, Rena.” Now, that’s something she never even allowed Brady to do.
Holy crap.
I can’t believe this.