Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Raine
“Look, I get you don’t want to talk about what happened last night,” Justice, Dane’s VP, says from across the table where we were all sitting. The way he said it, his voice gruff, a bit gravelly, maybe a small amount annoyed, but still there was a gentleness to the way he said it.
“VP,” Dane growls.
“You know he’s right, brother,” Corbin grunts, looking between Dane and me. “We wouldn’t push if we didn’t need to know what the hell was going on. You know it as well as we do. Gotta know what we’re dealing with. All the bullshit circling around the clubhouse, we can’t have any loose ends. Her being yours, if it wasn’t random, then it could come back on us.”
“How could what happened to me come back on any of you?” I ask, not understanding any of this.
They hadn’t pressured me into talking. In fact, while I’d been eating pizza with Karsyn, her daughter Sage, and a woman named Lake, the guys had gone behind closed doors to talk. What that was, I don’t know. But whatever it was, none of them looked happy when they came out. I didn’t have to be a shifter to sense the difference in them all.
Corbin, Justice, Abel, Tucker, and another man named Zander join Dane as they took over our table. I watched Corbin walk right over to where Karsyn was sitting, scoop her up out of her chair, sit, and pull her into his lap. Sage giggled at this, and he’d ruffled the girl’s hair, asking where their son was. Karsyn d lifted and waved a monitor telling him he was in their room. I also saw how Tucker sat right next to Lake, tucking her into his side.
The way both men were, I found sweet, but I didn’t know why they all had to come over here. Well, except our table was where all the pizza was. Pizza and flavor packets. Several different brands, different flavors, different types. Including my favorite.
I loved drinking the dragon fruit ones. It tastes amazing.
Dane, well, he came straight to me, situated himself in a chair so close to me, yet he kept his distance. Like he was close enough, if I moved the barest inch, I could touch him, but otherwise there was no touch. Unless you count his arm against the back of my chair. Still, he really wasn’t touching me there, either.
I wasn’t sure exactly how I felt about this, what I did know was I didn’t like it. It felt off, and I didn’t understand it.
“Because you’re his mate, Raine.” This time, it was Karsyn who answered, her body shifting on Corbin’s lap, her upper body leaning slightly forward. She stretches an arm out in my direction. Without thinking, I place my hand in hers. “If you can trust us with this. Trust your mate, we can keep you safe.” She then lowers her voice. “He won’t be able to hurt you again.”
I knew everyone heard her, that Dane heard her, but the way she spoke was soothing and reassuring.
“My ex sent his buddies to teach me a lesson for leaving him. He didn’t take kindly to the fact I broke up with him,” I find myself saying before I realize what I’m actually saying. Sighing, I figure I might as well keep going. “The men who attacked me last night were supposed to teach me a lesson and bring me back to him. He’s not the kind of guy who . . . well . . . you leave.”
“What’s the fucker’s name?” Dane demands on a snarl. Twisting to look at him, I see the vibrance of his eyes glowing.
“Shit,” Corbin growls. “Dane, calm down.
“Brother, you need to calm down,” Justice remarks, his voice terse.
“What’s his name, Raine?” Dane snarls again.
Slowly, I reach out, touch his chest, and whisper, “Dane.”
“Name,” his voice nearly that of an animal’s.
“Brady Contreras,” I murmur softly, holding his gaze. “Please calm down, Dane.”
Dane’s eyes flash dark brown, nearly black to the blue. Nostrils flaring. But he calms down marginally, his hand coming up to curve around my neck. “You tell me what he did to you. Not now, not in front of everyone, but later, you need to tell me.”
“Okay,” I blurt instantly.
I should tell him it’s none of his business, but seeing him like this, ready to lose it, I can’t. I feel a draw to him, unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. I haven’t done anything more than a few barely there touches and him kissing my forehead, and yet the thought of not having him touch me pains me.
“Good girl,” Dane growls, his eyes flashing once again, his breathing going normal. He blinks and glances around the table before looking back at me. “What can you tell us about this guy?”
“I . . . um . . . I . . .”
“I know the name,” Justice remarks before I can say more. He looks to Corbin and jerks his chin. “You know the name as well. It’s the name we heard regarding that group moving in that deals in?—”
“Fuck,” Corbin snarls, not letting Justice finish. “You sure?”
“You know me. I don’t forget a name or face,” Justice grumbles, shrugging.
“Right, we need Coby to look into this fucker.”
“He’s already on it,” Justice confirms.
I glance between the two men to see them silently communicate something before nodding.
“Well, while they do whatever they’re going to do,” Karsyn speaks up, smiling, “why don’t you, Lake, and me go to town? We could do a little shopping.”
“Shopping!” Sage squeals, arms raising.
“Don’t think that’s a good idea, Syn,” Corbin remarks .
“Raine’s not going anywhere without me,” Dane growls.
“Why not?” Both Karsyn and I demand at the same time. However, hers wasn’t exactly a demand as such. More like curiosity.
“Because you were attacked yesterday, and I’m not going to let that shit happen again.” Dane’s eyes flash again.
Instead of heeding the warning of that flash, I twist fully to him and glare, eyes narrowing to little slits. “We might be mates, Dane, but I’ll tell you like I tell my brother and dad, you don’t control me and you don’t tell me what to do. I’m my own person, and I’ll do whatever the hell I want. If I want to go out with Karsyn and Lake I will. If I want to go home, I will. If I want to —”
“If you want to get your ass jumped again, you do what you want,” Dane snarls, his upper body leaning into me. “You don’t listen, and you go out there, who the fuck knows where those men are. If that fuckin’ ex of yours is already on our radar, then he’s not just a fuckwad ex, he’s an enemy one that could end up using you against us. Against me. So, no, Raine, you aren’t going to do what you want because I’m not fuckin’ risking it.”
Getting to his feet, Dane storms out of the room, going down a hall, disappearing from sight.
“Give him a little while. He’ll calm down. Right now, it isn’t easy for him. He’s got a lot going on,” Karsyn remarks softly, eyes focused on the direction her brother went.
“We’ll talk to him.” Corbin grunts.
“Let him calm down first. His wolf is too close to the surface,” Karsyn states.
“Doesn’t matter if his wolf is close or not,” Corbin informs her. “I’m not only the President of this club, I’m his fuckin’ alpha.”
Karsyn meets my gaze, rolls her eyes, and sighs. “Fine. If you two get into a fight, I won’t be happy. Now, I’m going to get our son. He’s waking up.”
Karsyn gets up and walks away, Sage following behind her closely.
“Why don’t we go outside? Dane should be good so long as we’re on club property. We could get some fresh air,” Lake suggests and looks to Tucker.
“He’ll be all right so long as Raine doesn’t leave the property,” Tucker mutters and looks to his brothers. “Think we need to talk to talk to him about where his head is at?”
Justice looks to me, then to Tucker.
But it’s Corbin who speaks up. “We gotta do what we gotta to make sure our brother doesn’t lose himself.”
Lose himself.
I don’t want him to lose himself, either.
“How do you keep him from losing himself?” I whisper.
All eyes turn to me.
“Only way for sure is for his mate to accept him,” Justice answers.
“But for us, until that happens, if it happens,” Tucker remarks, earning an elbow to the stomach from Lake, “we do what we gotta do to make sure he doesn’t go insane and end up having one of us kill him. That or he loses himself to the wolf inside him, letting the wolf take control.”
“His wolf wouldn’t let that happen,” I blurt, not thinking of the ramifications of my words or what they mean.
“What do you mean?” Corbin demands, brows furrowed.
I swallow nervously and answer him. “Since I was a little girl, his wolf has visited me in my dreams.”
Silence fills the room. No one speaks. I don’t understand it.
“Your mate’s wolf visited you in your dreams?” Lake whispers, eyes wide .
“Yes.” I nod and explain. “I never saw his face until last night, but I’ve always dreamed of him, and in my dreams last night, he explained to me about this and other things. That I won’t understand everything until the time is ready.”
Corbin and the other men shoot out of their seats and stalk out of the room. I wasn’t sure, but from the vibes in the room, it wasn’t anything good.