Her Fated Mates (House of Wolves and Magic Book 2) Read online

  The large brown wolf eyed me up and down. His amber gaze took in his unconscious friend, my bloody fists, blood spattered clothes, and the fact that he was now on his own against two wolves and one crazy bitch, and decided he’d had enough. He turned and ran like the fucking coward he was.

  His brown shape was lost amongst the trees almost immediately, the shade and dappled sunlight making him almost impossible to track visibly. Could he loop around and attack us again? Sure. Did I actually think he would do that? Not after seeing his friend be turned into a gory mess. When he came back, because I had no doubt that a wolf like him would want revenge, he would come with more than enough friends to outnumber us and put us down.

  I wouldn’t let that happen.

  “You two okay?” I asked, looking over at my mates as I stepped over the unconscious or possibly dead man.

  They both shifted into their human forms so easily that it sent a pang of jealousy through me even now, when I had just kicked ass and had reason to be proud of myself.

  “I’m fine, angel. A few scratches and bites, maybe a twisted ankle, but nothing that won’t heal in the next day or so. Are you okay? Some of the noises you made… They made my blood run cold.”

  “I’m fine. A bit banged up, but as you say, nothing that won’t heal. Micah?”

  “Fine,” he replied, though he looked a little pale, as though he was about to collapse any moment.

  “Come on, let’s get inside. Get you both cleaned up,” I said as I walked over to my younger mate and offered him my hand.

  Micah slipped his hand in mine, not caring an ounce about the blood that stained my skin. I began to lead him over to the door to the cabin, wanting to get him somewhere he could rest as soon as possible. We hadn’t planned on getting in a fight when we went for our run, so I was sure that his body and endurance had been maxed out today after only just feeling recovered enough from the silver poisoning.

  “What about him?” Micah asked as we started to move away from the body on the ground.

  Roman was already there, crouched down and checking the guy’s pulse. “He’s alive.”

  I made a noise of surprise. The beating I’d given him had been a thorough one. If he’d been dead, I honestly wouldn’t have been shocked.

  “I’ll tie him up, but we should find somewhere to hold him until we decide what to do.” Roman wiped the blood that had stuck to his fingers off on the leaves surrounding the man’s limp form before he pushed to his feet. “I think there’s some rope over by the wood pile. You two go get cleaned up, and I’ll take care of him.”

  I nodded at him as I tugged on Micah’s hand. Roman could see just as well as I could that we were on a timer for when Micah collapsed. How long it was until that timer went off, we didn’t know, so better to get it taken care of as quickly as possible. Now was not the time to figure out our next move, as much as the idea was weighing on me already.

  How long would Jax give us before coming after us again? My gut said it wouldn’t be long, and though my wolf was quiet, I had the sense that she agreed.

  8

  Nina

  I got Micah into the cabin and directly into the shower. He was covered in dirt and blood, though I hoped and suspected that most of it wasn’t his.

  “Not going to join me?” Micah asked as I stepped away from the shower. He looked slightly forlorn standing there, gloriously naked with water dripping down his body, as though the shower was going to be incredibly lonely without me.

  “We both can’t fit in there and actually get clean. I’ll wash up in the sink and shower later.”

  Micah shrugged and pulled the shower curtain closed. The stall really was tiny, and part of me wondered if it was built that way to encourage the user to keep the shower short. Whatever the reason, the two of us would be squished if we tried to use it at the same time, and I was worried about Roman handling the unconscious shifter on his own.

  It wasn’t that I thought he was incapable of moving or tying up said shifter, but more that we didn’t know how long he’d be down or what he’d be like when he came to. He was a good fighter, strong, fast, trained, not just a battering ram like his buddy, which was why he was so dangerous.

  My clothes would have to be burned at best, or at least go in the trash. Could I get blood stains out? Yes. Did I want to mess around with that for a workout T-shirt and leggings? Not really.

  I scrubbed my hands, arms, neck, face, everything that looked like it had blood spatter on it. It wouldn’t wash it away completely, not until I took a full shower, but it would be enough so I didn’t feel like it was crusted on my skin.

  “You doing okay in there?” I asked as I toweled off.

  “Yeah, just feeling the effects of all that activity after having to rest for so long,” Micah replied, the exhaustion clear in his voice.

  “Hurry up. I’ll be right outside, so just yell if you need something, okay?”

  Micah responded, but I didn’t quite hear it over the yelling that had erupted on the other side of the door. I dashed out, barely closing the bathroom door behind me, only to find Roman fighting to get the shifter tied up to the ladder that led up to the loft area.

  “You think Jax isn’t going to come for me, shithead?” the shifter yelled. He was a little hard to understand due to the puffy lips, but he made his point clear.

  Roman grunted as he finished tying the knot of rope around the wood rung of the ladder. “I think.” Grunt. “He doesn’t give a flying fuck what happens to you.” Grunt. “Which is why he sent you two bozos out here. He knew that we’d kill you if we had to. Your friend got lucky and got away from us before we could strike the final blow. You? Not so lucky.” When he finished, he sat on the other side of what I guessed was now our prisoner and rolled his eyes.

  Was Roman exaggerating our plans? I thought so. He didn’t exactly seem prone to murder, and I had no doubt that this would be considered murder if we killed this guy and people found out. It would be yet another mark against us.

  As if we didn’t have enough already.

  “Do I need to shut you up again?” I demanded as I came into the shifter’s line of sight.

  “You got lucky, bitch. Or should I say witch?” It was like he was spitting venom at me instead of words, but I couldn’t let it show. I glanced at his face only to see that both of his eyes were swollen shut, which may have been contributing to his anger, since he was trapped with us and couldn’t even see us.

  “I’m no witch,” I said calmly, quietly. “I’m just a wolf who got lucky enough to have two amazing mates.”

  “But you fight in human form? Where’s your wolf, little girl? Too afraid to play with the boys because she knows she’d lose?”

  “Looks like her human form did just fine to me,” Roman said, reminding the other shifter of his presence and making him all the more agitated.

  I glared at him, though I didn’t think he could see me. It wasn’t just his face that was a mess, but his hair was matted with blood as well. I wanted to shave his head in his sleep. Maybe if he got knocked out again, I would. He seemed like the type of guy that would be pissed if something like that happened. I mean, seeing him now, not worried for our lives, I could admit that he might have better hair than me. Which just made me want to shave it off all the more.

  “She doesn’t have to show you shit, asshole,” Micah said, appearing from the bathroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.

  Damn, the boy was fine.

  The hard planes of his chest and the toned abs all drew my gaze to his Adonis lines and what lay just under the towel. Lust hit me hard and fast like a freight train.

  “Keep it in your pants, witch,” the man growled.

  A flush of embarrassment crept up my cheeks. The only way I knew how to deal with it was to change the subject. “Why does Jax want me? Clearly, he’s already heard that I’m mated. I can’t mate him as well!”

  “I already told you, I don’t know. He doesn’t exactly share his plans w
ith the pack. He hands out orders, we follow. Simple. And if we don’t like it, we leave.”

  “I don’t like it. I don’t want to be part of his pack. Why are you trying to force me?” Anger was filling my chest to the point of pain. My lungs felt like they were constricting in my chest, and my heart was thumping just as hard as if I’d actually been fighting him. I didn’t know how to get myself out of this situation, let alone the three of us.

  “Because he gave me an order!” The man practically exploded, the tendons on the side of his neck standing out in stark relief, and if he hadn’t been tied down, then I was sure something in the cabin would have been broken. Possibly even me.

  “We should ignore him, not engage,” Micah said, surprising me. He was pulling clothes from his pack, and when he turned and dropped the towel so he could get dressed, I had to take a long, slow breath to try and calm myself down. Apparently, anger could turn into lust in the blink of an eye. Who knew?

  Part of me wanted to ask a question that made my stomach churn—maybe we should just let this asshole go? I knew we weren’t going to kill him, at least I didn’t think that was what Roman would actually want to do, though he was staring daggers into the guy’s back. We needed information though. How had Jax known where to look for us? Were the packs working together? There were too many questions and not enough answers, and I didn’t believe that this guy had told us everything he knew, not for a second.

  My feet started carrying me from one end of the cabin to the other, over and over again, while the men remained silent. I couldn’t help but feel like this decision was on me, that whatever I wanted to do would be the tie breaker. Could I become the person that beat information out of someone else though? Was that who I wanted to be?

  Not really.

  I mean, survival was one thing, but this was something else. This would be unnecessary in many people’s view. If the information we were able to glean from him led us to a more secure future, would it be worth it?

  Whatever I decided, I knew I would have to be the one to do it. I couldn’t ask that of Micah or Roman. Even if I said to let him go, we would have to leave at the same time. Hell, we should probably be finding somewhere else to go right now, since the wolf that got away could probably lead Jax and the rest of his pack back to us.

  On the next leg of my pacing, I moved over to where Roman was standing watching me. “What about the other wolf? He got away, right?”

  Roman nodded and pulled his left hand across his right cheek and over his chin. His stubble was starting to actually look like a beard. “He did, but he was badly injured. He might not make it out of the woods, depending on how far they had to travel to get to us.”

  I moved to the guy and squatted down in front of him. “How did you find us? And how long did it take you to get here?”

  “We were given coordinates by Jax. Don’t know where they came from. And I have no idea how long it took. We weren’t exactly watching the clock.” He was starting to sound exhausted, and I was sure his head had to be killing him.

  “Do we have any ice? Anything in the med kit we can use on him?” I asked, looking up at Roman once more.

  My older mate was scowling at me. Finally, after I just kept staring him down, Roman said, “I won’t waste supplies on him.”

  “We can at least ice his face while it heals,” I replied as I pushed to my feet and went about collecting the ice from the freezer and wrapping it in a small towel. When I came back over, I realized that he couldn’t hold it to his face. Stupid mistake. “Do you want me to ice your face?” I asked, looking down at him.

  He turned and looked up at me, or tried to, but his eyes were still swollen shut. “Please.” One word, that was all he said, but it was enough to tell me that he was hurting.

  “If you try and hurt me, I’ll punch you in your broken nose. We clear?” I demanded.

  “Nina—” Roman began, but quickly cut himself off when I shot him a glare.

  We were mates, that much was true, but we still had a lot to learn about one another. He needed to know that I carved my own path. I was my own wolf, whether I had my mates by my side or not, and I would always do what I thought was best. Right now, that was helping our prisoner be more comfortable so hopefully, he would be more willing to share.

  You got more flies with honey and all that.

  I’ve always been more of a vinegar person myself, but it didn’t hurt to try new things.

  “Are we clear?” I asked again when the man at my feet hadn’t responded.

  “Clear.”

  I knelt down next to him and gently pressed the ice to his swollen eye on one side. When I got fresh ice in a little while, I’d switch to the other side, but for now, this was the best I could do. A hiss of pain escaped him as I pressed the cold towel firmly to his skin.

  “How long did it feel like it took you to get to us?” I asked after a while.

  Steady breathing was coming from the couch behind me, and I knew Micah was passed out, probably not by choice, just his body forcing him to take it easy. Roman still stood off to one side, glaring at the man next to me. Whenever his gaze flicked to me though, it softened. I was thankful for that. The last thing we needed right now was a rift between us.

  “I don’t know,” the man said with a sigh. He paused for a while, then added, “Maybe a couple hours?”

  “So if your friend was able to get back to your car, he’d probably be gone by now, is that right?”

  “I’m not sure how long I was unconscious, but based on how long I’ve been awake, yeah.”

  “Okay, so if we were able to make it to where you parked and the car was gone, then we’d know your buddy left you behind.”

  “Seems plausible,” he replied.

  “Do you think he’d wait? Try and get you back?”

  “No. Ray and I aren’t exactly fans of one another. Probably why Jax sent us together.”

  “Because he wants you to be friends?”

  The shifter snorted. “No, more likely because he found it funny. He knew we’d be at one another’s throats the whole time we were working together.”

  “Does he often do things like that? Force people who don’t like each other to work together?” Roman asked, his head slightly tilted to the side as though he was trying to figure out a puzzle.

  My mate’s voice made the man beside me stiffen. Had he forgotten that Roman was there? I wasn’t sure how, but I could tell that our prisoner was choosing his words carefully. Maybe something in the set of his mouth.

  “He does. In his opinion, forcing us to deal with each other makes the pack stronger, forces us to put aside our differences, or at least that’s the line he feeds us. I don’t think that’s the truth at all. It seems much more likely that he enjoys the animosity that floats around the pack afterward. It’s like he gets some kind of pleasure from it. The more people want to rip each other’s throats out, the happier he seems to be.”

  I knew by the end of his statement, he’d forgotten Roman was there again. My older mate could be so inconspicuous when he wanted to be, something that I would have to keep in mind.

  “Who was alpha before Jax?” The question slid from my lips before I even knew I was asking it.

  “I don’t know. I wasn’t with the pack until a couple years ago.”

  “Which pack were you with before then?”

  “That’s none of your business,” he said, and the tone of his voice let me know that if I pushed, it would only make him clam up.

  “Fair enough. Can you tell me where you guys parked when you came to find us?”

  He seemed to want to keep his mouth shut, to not give me any more information, but eventually, he said, “At the western most entrance to the park. On Randall Road.”

  “Thank you,” I said before pulling away from him.

  I moved back to the kitchenette, intent on refreshing the ice so I could do the other side of his face, when Roman tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the door. I nodded but pointedly
looked at Micah. My younger mate needed to sleep, but if we were going to have a conversation serious enough that he didn’t want our prisoner to overhear, then I felt like Micah should be a part of it.

  Roman nodded and walked over to Micah, who was still sleeping on the couch. As gently as he could, he woke the other wolf and signaled that we were stepping outside. Micah got up and followed, his sleepy shuffle and mussed hair making him all the more adorable.

  How could one man be both adorable and drop dead sexy? Good thing I licked him already so he’s mine.

  I followed them out and stood outside the closed door to the cabin for a moment, listening. The man inside didn’t suddenly start thrashing about trying to escape, so I figured we were okay to talk for at least a few minutes. Micah and I both followed Roman a good distance away from the cabin, and the farther we went, the higher my nerves ratcheted. I didn’t want to be out here, didn’t want to be exposed. Not right now.

  Finally, when Roman deemed that we’d gone far enough, he stopped and turned to look at me as he asked, “So what do you want to do?”

  “What can we do? We aren’t killers, are we? But we can’t let him go because he’ll just lead them back to us, which his buddy might be doing right now anyway.”

  “We’ll follow your lead, beautiful. Just let us know which way to swing,” Micah said, punctuating his statement with a yawn and stretching his arms high over his head.

  “You’d kill him?” I asked, just to be sure of what they were saying.

  “That would be…less than ideal,” Roman replied. He ran a hand through the loose waves of his hair, and suddenly, I wanted to be the one running my hand through his hair. Ever since we’d gotten together, I’d been more frisky than I had ever been in my life.

  I sighed and said, “I don’t want us to become murderers, not if we don’t have to. I just don’t know how to let him go without endangering ourselves.”

  “We can’t. Not without leaving the cabin. Maybe we can let him go once we have a second place lined up.” Roman paced away from us, as though he was just as frustrated with the situation as I was.