25. Chase
Chase
“Shit!” I curse, dropping the egg onto the counter, not caring that it splatters as all five of us move at once, reaching for Cherry.
I couldn’t help staring at her as she slipped from Hunter’s lap and walked toward the back door, apparently mesmerized by the rain. I was about to praise her on how well she was walking, then she tripped over thin air and smacked her forehead on the glass door and crumbled to the floor.
Luckily, I’m closest, and I scoop her up, placing her on the counter so I can inspect her.
“Ow,” she says when her fingers touch the spot.
I grab her hand and pull it away, revealing a giant red welt on her forehead. “You got quite the little nugget there, pretty girl.”
“I feel so stupid,” she says through the bond. I don’t think she meant to project that to us.
“It should heal in a couple of minutes,” Gage says, leaning over my shoulder to take a closer look. “Your wolf should have no problem healing it.”
“Here,” Bain tries to shove me aside as he holds up a bag of frozen peas. I roll my eyes and take a step to the side, not letting go of her hands as he places the ice there. We don’t need to worry about it swelling up, since it will be gone in minutes, so the ice is purely to help numb it.
“Big softy,” I tell him through the bond.
He glares at me as he asks, “You’d rather her be in pain?”
“I have a better way to distract her from it.” He raises an eyebrow at me, so I lift her hand to my mouth and start placing gentle kisses on the inside of her wrist, moving up slowly with each one. Her scent spikes and I smirk at him. “See?”
“What is happening right now?” Cherry asks through the bond, and both our gazes flick to hers.
“Did I say that through the bond?” she asks and I nod.
“Alright, enough of that,” Maddox says, pushing between Bain and me. He might be smaller, but we know better than not to step aside for him. If he pushes in, there’s always a good reason for it.
He lifts Cherry by her waist and pulls her into his arms as she wraps her legs around him. I watch in amusement as he carries her to the patio door, gently speaking to her. “Now, before you were interrupted, something caught your attention out here. Was it the rain?”
She nods, her gaze returning to look outside.
“I want to go out,” she says, reaching for the handle. He grabs it and slides the door open, stepping out with her as the four of us quickly move to follow, shoving each other aside as we each try to get out there first.
He carries her to the edge of the covered deck and sets her down. Slowly, she steps out into the yard, her arms raising at her sides until she’s completely surrounded by the rain. She tilts her head back and laughs.
“I can feel how happy she is,” Maddox tells us. “It’s like… relief.”
The joy she finds in the little things is amusing, but at the same time, it makes me feel sad, like she’s missed out on so much. I take in Gage’s shirt on her and her bare feet and I frown.
“We’re really failing as her mates.” Several heads turn to me in question. “She doesn’t own a single piece of clothing,” I tell them. The words taste like acid in my mouth.
“Fuck,” Hunter curses. “We’re the worst mates in the world. We haven’t even got her a hairbrush or a pair of shoes!”
Maddox’s dark eyes turn to me, and he nods. “We’ll fix it. Can you get started today?”
I nod, happy my pack agrees with me and pleased he’s tasked me with it. “Right after breakfast,” I agree as my eyes move back to Cherry. The rain starts to come down a little faster, and I take a step closer to her, my head tilting as I look at her arms.
“What is that?” I ask in confusion.
“What?” Hunter asks, stepping up beside me.
“Her arms, they’re… smoking.”
“Sizzling,” Gage corrects.
“What the fuck?” I ask as I storm forward into the rain.
I gently grab her wrist, and her eyes open in surprise as she turns her head to me.
“Your arm,” I tell her, pointing to it. “Does it hurt?”
Her eyes move to her skin, and she frowns, pulling her other one in front of her to look at them both.
“No. It feels nice. Refreshing.”
The others surround us as everyone quickly inspects her skin. Gage runs his hand along her arm and tilts his head. “You do feel a little warm.”
Bain presses his giant hand to her forehead as he frowns. “Is she sick? I can’t tell.”
“I feel fine,” she insists. “Better than fine, actually. Maybe it’s an omega thing?” She turns her head to Gage in question.
“Maybe,” he says as he stares at her arm. But I can tell he isn’t convinced. I can’t think of a single reason she’d be hot if she’s not sick. The omega thing makes the most sense. We still know so little about them.
Cherry’s stomach suddenly lets out a loud rumble, making her cheeks turn pink.
“I think it’s time for breakfast,” Maddox says, placing his arm around her shoulder and leading her inside.
Ten minutes later, we’re all in dry clothes, and Bain and I are finishing up making breakfast. My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out, seeing a message from Finn.
“The fox has agreed to meet with us,” I tell Bain through the bond.
He turns to me and nods. “We can pick up some stuff for Cherry while we’re out.”
As we start to plate up breakfast, I can’t decide what I’m more excited about: bathing my mate with gifts or finally finding the asshole who hurt her and ripping his heart out.
“We’re meeting him in the library?” Bain asks as I yank open the door and step inside.
I shrug. “It makes sense, it’s quiet but public enough to be safe.” I weave through the book stacks toward the back, where there’s a fireplace and a few small couches. That’s where Finn told us to meet him.
I drop down on a couch that gives me a view of my surroundings, my back to the wall. Bain chooses to pace back and forth as we wait for Finn to arrive.
I check the time on the clock on the wall about ten times before I smell him. I watch the stacks until a man with fiery orange hair appears. I push to my feet, and Bain stops pacing to stand beside me as he approaches.
He gives us a weary look as he approaches, stopping ten feet from us.
I see his nose twitch and know he’s scenting us.
I did the same. I clocked him as a fox shifter the moment he stepped foot inside the library.
The same way I know the woman working at the front desk is an elemental and the kids in the children’s section are bunnies.
“Chase?” he asks, looking a little less worried now that he knows what we are.
“That’s me. This is my brother, Bain.”
“Brother?” he asks, raising an eyebrow as he looks between us.
“Brother, pack mate, same thing,” I say with a shrug.
“Do you want to have a seat?” he asks, gesturing to the couches.
I plop down as Bain slowly eases himself into the seat beside me, and Finn takes the seat across from us.
“Cody said you’re new in town, and you had some questions I could maybe help with.”
Bain and I had already agreed I’d do the talking, since Bain's way of getting answers was a little too direct for someone who isn’t our enemy.
“We heard you escaped from a human facility that captures supes,” I tell him, deciding to be direct as I rest my elbows on my knees and lean toward him. “We’re trying to track down a specific man, Dr. J. He worked at one of these facilities.”
His lips press together in a hard line as he looks between us. “Why do you want to know?”
“Our mate was held by him for years. He tortured her.”
“We need to take him out,” Bain says as Finn’s eyebrows rise in surprise.
“Your mate, as in—she is both of yours?”
Fuck. I slipped up. I was supposed to act as if she was just my mate. Outside of Erica and her pack, we don't know what anyone else in this town thinks about the whole multiple mates thing.
I press my lips together, unsure how to respond. Bain makes that decision for me when he answers, “Yes.”
“Huh,” Finn says, sounding more curious than anything as he leans back in his chair.
Somehow, this information has made him relax.
He glances between both of us before he seems to make up his mind and starts talking.
“I met my mate, Lexi, at the facility. I recognized her as my fated mate as soon as we both shifted. Which was obviously amazing and terrifying.”
He shakes his head as if lost in thought. “Can you imagine finding the one person fated to be yours and realizing she’s trapped in the worst place imaginable with you and there’s nothing you can do about it?”
I shake my head. Finding Cherry the way we did was bad enough. I couldn’t imagine being in the scenario he painted.
“Well, imagine my surprise to find out I wasn’t her only fated mate.”
My eyebrows raise in surprise. Is Lexi an omega too? I want to ask, but it isn’t relevant right now, and if he doesn’t know about the truth of omegas, he might close himself off.
“Anyway, we managed to escape and kill the man who was experimenting on us in the process.”
“Can I ask what they did to you?” I ask, leaning forward.
“They were obsessed with healing abilities. They took vials of our blood daily. They got bored with me pretty quickly and didn’t seem to care that I was close to death.
Luckily, they didn’t know I’m only half fox shifter, or they never would have tried to get rid of me, which is how I ended up meeting Lexi. ”
“Wait—half fox shifter? What else are you?” I ask in confusion, not knowing what he means by that.
“Oh, I assumed Cody told you.”
“Told us what?” Bain asks, almost growling.
“I’m a hybrid. Half fox shifter, half vampire.”