Chapter 2
Steve caught Jared as he crumpled.
Shit, shit, shit.
He moved to get a better grip on his mate, then turned him about in order to lift him.
Holding him close, he sniffed the air and cast his gaze about, hoping to catch more clues that might better identify the men.
There, on the ground. He moved his foot to toe it.
There was money on the ground. He frowned.
Had this been a mugging gone even more wrong?
“Steve? What's wrong? Your wolf...” Jeff's voice trailed off. He stood stock still at the corner of the building, Tim visible just behind, both men raising their noses slightly into the air and sniffing.
Steve's hackles rose as his wolf took in the sight of his two pack mates standing at the mouth of the alley.
“Mine,” he growled.
Tim and Jeff moved apart so that they were both clearly visible and moved their arms and hands out placatingly.
“Okay, yours,” Jeff agreed.
“Yours,” Tim agreed. Both men bared their necks slightly as they spoke.
Steve clutched Jared tighter, bringing him closer to his chest.
“Steve...ummm...you've still got my keys, man. How about I come get them and bring the car round here? Does he need the hospital? Or you can take him home...” Tim's voice trailed off as he approached slowly, keeping his neck bared, hands spread out non-threateningly.
It's Tim and Jeff. The guys I'm not only best friends with, but who I've chosen to be my future betas when I take over as Alpha. I can trust them. I gotta keep cool. Key, shit, yeah, the keys. Still in my hand.
Steve growled softly, warning Tim to not reach for the keys. Instead, he opened his hand and allowed them to drop onto the pavement next to the crumpled money still by his foot. He moved away several paces to give Tim room to collect the keys.
“Not sure if that's his money,” Steve said.
Tim slowly knelt to pick up the keys and the cash. “Okay, I've got it.” He sniffed the air. “So, you think they meant to mug him and instead- Whoa!”
Steve's growl had become a snarl, his eyes shifting to gold and his canines become more pronounced. A glance at his hands showed claws peeking from his fingertips.
“Easy there, guy. You don't want to hurt him.”
Steve willed his wolf to settle back down, unwilling to damage his precious cargo any further. Tim stood up slowly and backed away.
“I'm going to get the car.”
Jeff spoke up. “We can take him to the pack's doctor. You'll be able to stay with him then.” Steve gave a curt nod and walked to where Tim stood.
“I'll be right back,” Tim said as he hurried away.
“I hope he's okay,”Jeff said softly. “Your Mom'll be super happy, right? You found your True Mate.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I did.”
“You see who did this?”
“Not very well. Hoping he did. I've got their scent though.”
Jeff wrinkled his nose, acknowledging the pervasive scents the men had left behind, marking their victim. Steve was spared further small talk as Tim pulled up.
Jared woke to clean, crisp sheets and a room he didn't recognize.
What? Where- oh, yeah. The alley.Then the guy helping me. He must've brought me here. Is this his place?
He sat up, registering his lack of clothes beneath the covers as he did so. He stiffened, recalling the humiliating events of the night before in full.
God, I must have really stunk. No wonder he stripped me.
He flushed.
They pissed on me, but I don't smell of pee.
He scrubbed a hand over his face.
Must've washed me down too. Not that I blame him, but how embarrassing.
The bedroom door opened, prompting Jared to pull the sheet higher. The man had a vague familiarity about him.
Yeah, that's the guy who came to help me after. Why couldn't I have met him at the club instead of those assholes?
“You're up,” the man said. “How are you feeling?”
“I'm okay,” Jared replied, glancing away. He didn't want to talk about the events that occurred in the alley. He'd been so gullible and stupid, and look where that had landed him.
“Your shirt was ruined, but your jeans and stuff are in the wash. I washed you off. I couldn't just leave you like that.”
Jared gave a curt nod.
“I guess I should introduce myself. I mean, I already know your name, saw it when we checked your wallet. Your I.D. and bank card are still in there and so is the rest of your money. We picked up that twenty, put it in with the rest of it-”
“I don't want it! That's not mine!” Jared hissed.
“Oh. I saw it there by you and assumed-”
Jared covered his face with his hands as tears began to seep from his eyes, pressing them across the sides of his nose before removing them. “Those bastards tried to pay me after they, after they...”
The man was by his side in a flash, a hand on his shoulder awkwardly.
“It's okay,” he said through gritted teeth.
Jared decided that what had happened was really just as un-okay with him as it was with Jared, but he was fine with them not talking about it.
“You don't have to tell me. I can guess what those assholes did.
And, like I was saying, ummm...I'm Steve.”
Jared winced as an errant salty tear stung against his tender lip. “Steve?”
“Yeah. Name's Steven Chang and I won't let anyone hurt you ever again.”
Jared studied Steve carefully. Steve seemed to mean what he said. It was oddly comforting, despite not knowing him well at all.
Steve hoped that Jared understood that he meant precisely what he'd said.
No one would ever harm a hair on his head ever again unless they wanted theirs on a platter.
He'd held him in the back seat of Tim's car all the way back to pack headquarters, smelling the scent of the two men's inhumane debauchery all the way.
He'd scented his mate's blood from where his lip had split, his knuckles and palms scraped, and the sour scent of bile that had not completely dissipated despite Jared swallowing it down along with other fluids Steve did not wish to even acknowledge.
He'd felt his mate shiver from the effects of shock, every unconscious moment an eternity that had his wolf clawing to be free.
Mine. Hunt. Kill.
Easy, now. He needs us more right now, Steve had chastised his wolf. It whined. Don't worry. We'll track those bastards down and we'll give them hell to pay.
Their arrival at the upscale tower block of condos that doubled as pack headquarters and living accommodation for the pack's members had been met with a stir.
Rafe had stood at the door as usual for the time of day, resplendent in his doorman's uniform.
When Tim pulled up out front to let Steve disgorge with his cargo before heading to the underground parking, Rafe immediately knew something was up.
When Alan Chang himself hurried into the lobby to greet them, he became aware that whatever was happening was momentous.
This was obviously no mere stray that Steve was bringing in.
“Only allow pack in, no other guests until I say otherwise,” Alan barked.
“Yes, sir,” answered Rafe.
Steve stood in the lobby still holding the smelly human.
“Jeff said he's yours?” the alpha asked.
“Mine,” Steve affirmed with more than a hint of a growl still evident in his voice.
His father took in the state of the pitiful bundle. “Let's get him seen to.” He looked over at the woman manning the reception desk in the lobby. “Lorraine, call the doc. Let him know Steve's found his mate, that he's human, and he's not in good shape.”
“On it,” she said, immediately reaching for the phone to make the needed call.
Steve was amazed at just how fast the grapevine worked.People crowded the hallway outside of his condo before he'd made it all the way up. They all wanted to see if it was true, and to get a glimpse of the Alpha Mate to be.
It had seemed an eternity between that moment and when he at last had him thoroughly sponged off and safely tucked into bed after Doc Schaefer had examined him.
“Keep him warm and he'll be all right,” he'd said, and Steve had done just that.
He'd curled around his mate, keeping on top of the covers lest he spook him after his ordeal, watching the man breathe and looking at the way the soft lamplight caught the fire hiding in the depths of his strands of hair.
In the alley he'd thought initially thought his mate's hair was brown with deep red highlights, but as the light gleamed his drying hair, he could see that it was a rich, deep true red that reminded him of a fine mahogany.
It was a rich color and his locks shone lustrously against the crisp pale gray of the pillowcase.
His lashes were thick and brown with reddish tips.
He admired the fine bone structure, the compact frame, and even the curve of his ear.
I'm a sap. But only for this guy!
He'd only gotten up when his mother came to the door and gestured for him to join them in the living room.
They had important matters to discuss. His appointment to take over as alpha had waited only for him to find a mate, and now he'd found his True Mate.
Someone had harmed his mate, and might come looking for him again.
That could not stand. Thirdly, his mate was male.
That in itself was not a problem, as far as the pack was concerned, but now he had to formally formulate a plan of action regarding surrogacy in order to obtain heirs.
He'd always known this, but had insisted on putting it off because he wanted his future mate to be involved with the raising of said cubs from day one.
The last item on the agenda was of more importance to Steve.
His mate was human and according to the name shown on the identification in his wallet, not one who was an associate of any pack or coven.
This meant that there was probably at least a ninety-nine percent chance certainty that he had no clue about the existence of wolves or vampires.
The discussion had gone back and forth, and now as Steve looked down at his mate, he wondered just how he should broach the subject. He'd introduced himself by name. How to finish that?