Chapter 3
3
A natoly stepped closer, then stopped when he saw the young shifter’s eyes widen.
“I’m Anatoly.” The shifter swallowed, nodded, then wiped his face.
Something had made Anatoly’s mate cry, and he wanted to find out what.
“Who are you?” he asked as he took another step closer.
“Kael.” The word was so low, Anatoly barely heard him.
“Hi, Kael.” Anatoly inhaled, drawing all the scents into his lungs, and filtered through them until he found the one he wanted.
His mate was a shifter, an omega shifter.
Releasing his breath, Anatoly asked, “Want to tell me why you’re alone in the woods, crying?”
“No,” came the muffled response.
“You know who I am.” Anatoly tilted his head, watching his young omega mate peer up at him from behind the arm he now had rested on his raised knees.
He sat on the ground, his legs pulled up as if to protect him, and Anatoly could scent some traces of fear.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Want to tell me why?” Anatoly moved closer, saw the way Kael tracked him.
“I mean you no harm. You have to know that.”
A shrug, then Kael looked away.
“It doesn’t matter,” he repeated.
“Are you already mated?” Anatoly didn’t think so.
He couldn’t scent another intermingled with Kael’s.
“I will be.” Kael quickly glanced at him, then away, and Anatoly wished they had more light so he could see the color of his mate’s eyes.
The color of his hair.
“You’ve been promised to another?” Anatoly knew some packs still did that and maybe that was the case here.
Kael nodded.
“In a few days, I’ll be mated.”
“And you’re fine with this?” Anatoly most certainly was not fine with it.
Kael was his.
His mate.
No one else.
“I don’t have a choice. You had to have picked up that I’m an omega. I don’t get to decide who I mate.”
“You know we’re mates.” Anatoly sat opposite Kael, who watched every move he made.
“You have to know I won’t let you mate another.”
“It’s been agreed. Contracts signed.” Kael blinked, and tears slipped down his cheeks.
Anatoly reached over and gently wiped them away, surprised Kael didn’t flinch away from him.
“You should leave me.”
“Why would I leave you when I’ve just found you?”
“You’re a vampire. Our species don’t get along.” Kael sat up and wiped his face.
“My pack would never accept you.”
“I don’t care about your pack accepting me. I only care that you accept me.” Anatoly watched Kael swallow and drop his head, so his chin rested on his raised knees.
“How old are you?”
“It’s my birthday today,” Kael whispered.
“I’m eighteen.”
“What happened that made you cry?” Anatoly slowly shifted his body around so he sat on the ground next to Kael.
Kael tensed, his eyes glued to Anatoly, and he only relaxed when Anatoly settled.
“I’m not going to do anything, Kael. Not without your permission.”
Kael snorted.
“That’ll be a first.”
“What happened?” Something had to have occurred for his mate to be in the forest crying.
Alone.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Tell me anyway. I’d like to get to know you.”
Kael snorted again and shook his head.
“Fine. It doesn’t matter if you know or not. My pack’s alpha has sold me another pack’s alpha. Nigel, that’s the other alpha, wanted to make sure I’m a virgin, so he…” Anatoly heard Kael swallow.
“He made me kiss him, and he has rank breath. Then he wanted to touch my ass to make sure I was tight enough, because that’s how you know a male shifter is a virgin.”
Hot anger pulsed through Anatoly, and his hands fisted, the knuckles turning white.
He held his breath, willing his anger to disperse, and when he felt that he could respond, he asked, “Were you hurt?” To try touch an innocent like that disgusted Anatoly.
More so, because it was his mate being abused.
“No, but Nigel got what he wanted.”
Kael curled in on himself, and Anatoly raised his arm and placed it over Kael’s shoulders.
He felt the young shifter tense, then he sighed and leaned into Anatoly.
“I will never take something from you that you don’t freely give.”
“I shouldn’t be like this with you.” Kael turned his head and rubbed his face on Anatoly’s shoulder.
“I don’t know you.”
“I’m your mate. Your wolf instinctively trusts me, and he can scent the truth in my words. Just rest against me. I’ll keep you safe.”
“I know you will. How do I know that when we’ve just met?” Kael moved away, then shook his head.
“Why did we have to meet now?”
“Maybe fate knew that you needed me. I know that I need you. I’m…” Anatoly searched for the word to describe how he was feeling.
“Lost, maybe. Despondent. Tired of being alone. Tired of fucking men and women and not remembering anything about them.”
“Like tonight?” Kael shot him a look.
“I can smell you had sex.”
“I did, and it was like all the others. Someone in a crowd who was there. I’ve lived for centuries, Kael, and all that time, I have waited for you. I grew tired of it, though. I began to think that you would never appear. Of course, I’ve had sex with others, but the pleasure was fleeting, because there were no emotions behind it. No affection, no attachment. Tonight was the same. I fucked some guy I barely remember.” Anatoly glanced at Kael, noticed him watching.
“I’ve been waiting for you, Kael, only I never thought we’d meet and certainly not right after I’d been with someone else. I’m sorry for that.”
“Would you be with others if we mated?”
Anatoly immediately answered.
“Not at all. I would never cheat on you. You’re mine, and I’m yours. Just the two of us.” Anatoly watched Kael slowly close his eyes.
“Tired?”
“A little, but I want to talk with you more.”
“Tell me about your family.” Anatoly snuggled closer, aware the temperature was dropping as they sat on the ground.
“I assume you still live at home.”
“With my parents, Todd and Sherry, and younger brother. Aled, my brother, said we should run away, but Sylvester would hurt my parents.”
“Why don’t you all leave?”
“This is home, and we have friends here. We’d have to travel miles away to another state, or we’d be handed back to Silver Tree. That’s my pack, by the way. If that happened, Sylvester would hurt my parents. I couldn’t live with that, so we stayed.”
“I can make a claim on you.” Anatoly tucked Kael’s hair behind his ear.
“We’re mates. I can come and claim you. That would delay your mating to this Nigel.”
“That wouldn’t stop them. A lot of money will change hands once I’ve mated Nigel. Enough to help the pack out. We’re broke, and we’re suffering. I don’t want people to go without because I didn’t mate Nigel.”
“How much money are we talking about?”
Kael bit his lip as he watched Anatoly.
“Five hundred thousand after we’ve mated, then another five hundred thousand when I’ve given him an alpha.”
“I’ve been around a long time, Kael, and I have more money than I can count. If it is a question of money, then I can pay for you.”
Kael sniffed and shook his head, then wiped his face as fresh tears spilled.
“I never wanted it to be this way. I dreamed of meeting you and it being this romantic event, and here we are on the ground talking about paying for me.”
“Like a piece of furniture,” Anatoly murmured.
“And Matlin wants to fuck me before Nigel. Only I have to keep quiet about that or he’ll hurt my family.”
“And who is this Matlin?” What was it with this pack wanting to have sex with his mate?
“Beta of my pack. He’s creepy and smells of stale cheese.” Kael suddenly laughed.
“I hate my life.”
“Your life has barely begun, and I’m here now. You’re my mate. We’ll figure this out.” Kael leaned on Anatoly and yawned.
“Rest for a while. I’ll keep watch over you.”
“I should go home.” Kael moved closer, sighing softly when Anatoly turned toward him and wrapped both arms around him.
“Five minutes to relax. You’ve had a stressful day. Let me offer you some comfort.”
“I don’t know you.” The words were soft and low, and Anatoly could hear sleep in them.
Kael murmured something, then his breathing evened out, and Anatoly held him.
He’d give him these few moments to rest?—
A wolf stepped out from behind a tree and came closer, its snout in the air.
Anatoly watched it watch him.
Then Kael lifted a hand, and the wolf approached.
Anatoly watched the wolf sniff his mate’s hand, then butt its head against it.
Kael chuckled softly and scratched the wolf behind its ear.
“Bella,” he whispered.
“She’s a member of the wolf pack that lives in the forest. I’ve known her since she was born. I like to come out here to think, so they’re used to me now. I’ve even played with their pups.”
“You like it here.”
“Here is home. Or it was.”
“It can be if you want it to be.” Kael straightened, pulling away from Anatoly.
Bella came closer, her head rubbing against Kael.
She turned her bright eyes on Anatoly, gave a soft growl, then turned and loped away.
“I take it she likes me?”
“She gave you a warning not to hurt me. She must know who we are to each other.”
“I know we’ve just met, Kael, but you have to know I won’t sit back and watch you mate someone else.”
“Can we stop talking about it for now? Please. I can’t.”
Anatoly pulled Kael back against his body and held him tight, feeling him tremble.
“We can. My parents are still alive. I grew up in a little village deep within Russia. All three species live there as well. It always surprises me when I leave and realize how much animosity there is between us all.”
“Do you know why?”
“Something happened many years ago. Centuries ago, but I don’t think anyone remembers what it is now. You would be more than welcome in the village of my birth. We’re a welcoming group.”
Kael’s phone rang, and he pulled it out of his coat and stared at the screen.
“It’s the alpha.”
“Answer it.”
Kael bit his bottom lip, then nodded.
“Sir.”
“The ceremony will be on Wednesday, so you have four nights to prepare. Make sure you perform well. I want Nigel to be pleased with you. I don’t want him complaining to me after the mating ceremony. You will do as he demands. Understand, Kael?”
“What if I meet my mate before then, sir?”
Sylvester burst out laughing, and Anatoly wanted to grab him by the neck and shake him.
“You don’t have a mate, Kael. You’re an omega. You’re only good enough to fuck and have pups. Omegas are born to do as they are told. You will mate Nigel. You will let him have your ass as many times as he wants, and you will give him all the pups he wants as well. He’s paying a lot of money for you. Don’t disappoint me.”
Sylvester hung up, and Anatoly muttered, “I think I might want to hurt him.”
“You heard him. I’m not worth it.”
Anatoly faced Kael and made sure his mate was looking at him when he spoke.
“You are my mate. I have waited decades, if not centuries, for you. I won’t let him mate you off to a shifter who will use and abuse you. Mates trumps everything.”
“Promise me?” Kael’s lips shook, and Anatoly kissed him softly, causing Kael to gasp in surprise.
“I promise. It’s us now, Kael. Me and you and we’ll mate when you’re ready. I won’t force you into it, unlike some in your life. This is your body, and only you get to say who touches it.” And Anatoly would do everything in his power to make sure that happened.