Chapter Twenty
Carver
“There!” Diesel shouted and, as soon as the words left his mouth, we all took off at a run. She was surrounded and on the edge of a cliff. Behind her was certain death, in front of her, a different kind of death. Being caught by the people she’d run from.
The people who tried to trade her like a commodity instead of a person.
She retreated one more step and then had to flail her arms to get her balance back.
Aries and I got there first, pushed through the group of jerks, and flanked our mate. Diesel shoved the men out of his way and stood in front of her.
“I don’t want them to take me,” she spoke. Her body vibrated with terror. “I’d rather jump from this cliff than live as someone’s lesser mate. I won’t be traded.”
I turned to her. “You think we’d ever let that happen to you?”
She didn’t answer.
Diesel glanced at her over his shoulder. “Over our fucking dead bodies, baby. They won’t touch a hair on your head.”
One of the taller men walked closer, his palms extended. The alpha, if my senses did me justice. “Now, gentlemen.” I scoffed. Like he knew anything about being a gentleman. “This is pack business. Josie is a member of our pack and so I’m the one who says what happens to her. She belongs to us.”
“Fuck you!” Josie’s entire body moved with her curse. I had one hand on her arm, afraid that one wrong move would send her over the cliff. We’d only known each other for a couple of weeks, but I wasn’t sure our small pack would survive losing their mate.
“Who is the alpha of this tiny pack?” he asked.
We all contributed to the pack equally but Aries was our alpha. His power was stronger than ours, naturally. If he was a murderer, he would be the alpha of a huge pack. “I am.” Aries stepped forward.
Josie placed her hand in his as worry tainted her scent.
She was worried about us?
An alpha and his pack chased her for miles and were trying to take her, plus, she’d given herself the alternative of throwing herself from a cliff and she was worried about her mates?
“I think we can come to an agreement here. What are you willing to give us for Josie? She’s been a drain on resources and time and energy since she was born, and she’s of questionable lineage.
There’s no place for her in our pack. So, what are you willing to pay for her?
I’m sure you’ve heard of the other offer on the table.
” His beady eyes darted to Josie and she growled.
“She’s not property. She’s our fated mate, and she’s a part of this pack now.”
The jerk looked around Diesel. “That’s strange. I don’t see any claiming marks. And she still smells unmated to me.”
Fear settled in my chest.
Deep inside, I realized there was no chance for negotiating with these people or finding a way for them to leave.
Diesel must’ve realized it, too. That, plus the anger over referring to our mate as property, made him lunge forward and, in a blur of movement, he turned and grabbed Josie’s shoulders. I had no clue what he was about to do.
The next few seconds moved in slow motion. He whispered something in her ear that made her nod. At the end he said, “I’m sorry, baby.” Aries and I gasped as he jerked her pajama top to the side and sank his teeth into the junction between her neck and shoulder.
Aries didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Diesel pulled back, blood on his mouth. He cupped Josie and apologized again. She looked at me, and my chest cracked open at the sadness. Fuck, I had to mark her too. Aries as well. We had to mark her, here, in the most awful of distress.
Not during mating, when she was relaxed and begging for it.
Not out of love, even though I already did love her.
I muttered my own apology, wrapped her in my arms while I bit her, and then Aries did the same.
“She’s claimed now,” Aries spoke while I held onto Josie. He swiped at his mouth; the corners still held some blood from our mate’s body. “Leave us alone. Go back to your pathetic pack. And don’t use people as property.”
“No!” The alpha lunged at Diesel. Big mistake. My pack brother lifted one large hand and clocked the asshole. He landed backward with a thump on the hard ground.
Diesel took a few steps toward the cowards the alpha had brought with him. They leaned their heads sideways, submitting to his alpha power and I was sure, his muscles as well. “Get this asshole out of my sight before I kill him.”
The men scrambled to get the alpha picked up, and he was carried away, still unconscious.
Diesel’s body heaved with short breaths. He swung around and gave Josie the most pathetic look.
“Come here, mate. Let us take you home.”
Josie pulled herself from my embrace. Tears streamed down her face. She should’ve been furious with us for marking her like that. For claiming her in public, in front of the people who disowned her, treated her like she was less than.
She deserved better, and I vowed right then and there to spend my life making up for this moment.
Instead, she ran to Diesel and jumped. He caught her and held her to his body. Her arms around his neck. On the way back to our house, he apologized a thousand times, never once letting her down to walk. She told him it was okay. She understood.
We were so damned lucky.