by Kelex
Lane shifted back to his human form and looked to Kai before they both turned to their beastly omega. Before they had to figure out how to get him home, luckily, he began to shift back to human.
Lane scooped him up, and they limped out of Benny’s house together.
Chapter Twenty
Turi awakened bound. He blinked a few times, feeling woozy. Pulling at his bonds, he tried to free his hands, but the cuffs at his wrists were too strong. Casting a look around, he didn’t know where he was.
He drew in a deep breath, searching for clues in the air.
Kai. Lane.
A shudder overtook him as their scents filled his nose. He searched his mind, trying to remember where he was. How he’d gotten there. The last thing he recalled was Benny shooting him.
He looked down at his chest and saw an already closing wound stitched up—and two more of them closer to his shoulder. As he looked about the room, he realized he was bound to sex furniture… although he was still dressed from the waist down. Gazing around, heat filled his face. There were other pieces of padded play benches… and they all smelled of Kai and Lane.
And their play together.
Lust slammed into him, and the voices began to roar inside his mind.
No. Dear gods no.
The door to the room opened, and Lane walked in. A look of relief came across his face. He walked over to the bench Turi was bound to and sat across from him on another.
“Sorry about the bonds. We were trying to protect you.” He took a sip from his coffee. “And us.”
And us? Had he hurt them? Turi saw the cuts and scrapes healing on Lane’s face and feared he’d done the damage.
“What happened?”
Lane didn’t answer at first. He leaned in and offered the cup to Turi’s lips.
“You could free me and I could hold it myself,” Turi said.
Lane lowered the cup a little. “We can’t do that. Not yet.”
Turi cringed. They thought him dangerous… but then, without his serum he likely was. “I’m out of the serum.”
“We guessed. Kai’s on the phone now with Declan. He’s sending a team into the city with more of it for you. They’ve got a helicopter and are gearing up now. Two hours or so. Until then… we just need to keep you calm. Relaxed.”
“Hard to relax when I’m bound to a padded bench.”
Lane grinned. “Trust me. This isn’t the way I imagined you on there.”
Turi met Lane’s eyes and felt more heat slide through him. “I’ll take some of that coffee.”
Lane slid forward, kneeling. He met Turi’s eyes as he held the cup aloft.
Turi held his mate’s stare as he drank and felt the curling need spiraling through his entire body.
Lane took the cup and drank some himself before sitting on his ass, his back against the bench across from Turi. “I’ll keep you company if that’s okay?”
Turi nodded. Lane had a peacefulness about him that Turi appreciated. He needed it desperately as the voices whispered through his mind. “I don’t remember much after Benny shot me.”
Kai entered the room. “Benny shot you?”
Turi nodded. “He saw me working in a club he was in. He was arguing with my new boss… and then he shot the guy. Turned the gun on me and shot me, too. Everything after that is pretty hazy.” He paused, looking at them. “Next thing I know, I’m waking up here. I didn’t hurt anyone, did I?”
“Just a few scrapes and scratches,” Kai fibbed, glancing at Lane. “We’ll heal.”
Turi tensed, knowing it had been more than that. He could see it in their eyes. He felt fur sprouting over his arms.
Lane leaned in and ran a hand over his cheek. “Shhhh, baby… it’s okay. We’re here with you. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Turi held Lane’s gaze and focused on his handsome face.
The voices roared, but quieted in his mind. Turi focused on that hand cupping his cheek. The fur disappeared, and his body relaxed.
“The serum’s on the way,” Lane whispered. “We just need to stay here, together. Stay here with us, okay?”
Turi nodded, focusing on the warmth of Lane’s voice. The skin-to-skin contact. “It feels good… when you touch me. It helps.”
Kai knelt on the floor beside Lane and rested his palm on Turi’s bare chest—between the bullet holes.
More heat crashed into him.
They both laid tender kisses on his flesh. Turi’s head fell back, the sensation stimulating, but not enough to send him to the edge. It was almost torture—a torment that kept his beast at bay.
Here they were, offering themselves to keep him sane.
To save him.
After he ran from them.
Tears stung the backs of his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he sobbed, exhaustion and pain getting the better of him. “I’m so sorry.”
“Shhhhh,” Kai said. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.”
“I hurt you… didn’t I?”
“No,” Lane said firmly. “You didn’t.”
“My beast, then,” Turi cried. “It was still me.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Kai said.
Turi shook his head, the voices rising. He felt his claws extending seconds before Kai swept in and kissed him.
He gasped against Kai’s lips, the kiss knocking him off-guard. Moaning as Kai deepened it, he melted against his bear, hungry for more.
When Kai drew away, Lane moved in to capture Turi’s lips. Slow, lazy kisses, with their hands massaging his bare skin. Their languid torment was too little. He needed more… but they dragged it on, refusing to go any higher.
He was soon lost in their tastes… their touches… forgetting about all that was wrong in his world.
Forgetting about the monster within.
Sometime later, he heard a noise, and Kai immediately jumped to his feet. Everything came crashing back to him, and he struggled with the voices rising.
“Stay with us for a little while longer,” Lane commanded, cupping Turi’s cheek again.
Techs from the hospital stormed into the room, their heavy medical bags in hand. Finn and Killian, his doctors, came in behind them—along with Dr. Banyon.
“Turi, are you with us?” Finn asked, kneeling where Kai had been.
“Barely,” Turi whispered, a growl rising up after.
“We’re gonna take care of you, okay?” Finn said before Killian handed him a syringe with a dose of the serum in it.
Turi nodded.
“This also has something in it to help you relax… you’re going to feel sleepy,” Finn said as he wrapped a rubber band around Turi’s bicep. “Here we go, buddy.”
Finn inserted the needle.
Turi felt a tear slip from his eye and course down the side of his face. Lane leaned in and kissed it before it reached his chin.
“You’re okay now,” Lane said. “We’re okay now.”
“Let’s give it a few minutes to take effect,” Finn said, tossing the needle into the sharps box one of the techs offered. “In the meantime, I need you to step back, Lane. We need to check his vitals and see to this bullet wounds.”
“No!” Turi cried. “He stays.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Lane said, yet he got up and moved.
Seconds later, Turi felt Lane behind him. A warm arm wrapped around his neck and a kiss was pressed to his shoulder.
“I’m right here. Not going anywhere.”
Turi’s stare caught Kai’s before him. He held his mate’s stare as the doctors checked him over.
When their checks were all done, Finn stood up. “I think we can untie him and get him on the heli.”
“We’re going, too,” Kai told the doctor.
“Fine. Get ready to fly,” Finn said, backing away.
Lane and Kai undid his cuffs, and he looked at both men, knowing he truly did not deserve them.
But in that moment, he felt a little selfish and was so very glad they were there.
* * *
*
Back in Bear Mountain…
Lane stretched, his body sore after hours of waiting at Turi’s bedside. They’d knocked him out in the air when his beast had tried to peek through. The tranquilizer had done a damned good job, and now hours after they’d been back, he was still asleep.
The doctors had done all their tests and determined Turi still had a little medicine in his system—but it was low. He had been medicating, but perhaps not at the dosages he needed.
Kai rose from the tiny chair he’d been trying to sleep in and went to the hospital room’s window. He looked out, his shoulders slumped.
Lane rose and crossed to his brother bear. He wrapped his arms about Kai’s waist and laid his head on his love’s shoulder. “I know you’re exhausted. The hotel’s not far. You could go get some sleep while I stay here.”
“As if you’re not just as exhausted as I am?” Kai asked as he wrapped an arm about Lane. “No. I stay until he’s awake at the very least. I won’t be able to rest until I know he’s okay.”
Lane remained quiet, looking at his brother bear’s profile. The room was dark, letting Turi rest. Early morning sunlight filtered into the window, highlighting Kai’s handsome face.
“What you did with him… while we waited… you were incredible,” Kai said before slanting his head and looked down at Lane.
“What do you mean? We were a good team.”
“I was afraid to touch him… afraid to do much of anything. I didn’t know what would set him off. There you were, completely unafraid. You just took him in hand and leant him your strength. Your calm, cool, collected strength.”
Lane chuckled. “I was petrified. I worried every single second that he’d beast out and we wouldn’t be able to contain him.”
“It didn’t show. You were cool under pressure—when it counted most. And you made him stronger. Just like you make me stronger. You’re an incredible man… and we’re lucky to have you.”
Lane held Kai’s stare, unsure what to say.
Kai turned slightly and cupped Lane’s cheeks in his big, strong hands.
“You’re the strong one,” Lane whispered. “You’re the one who charges in and leads the way.”
“No,” Kai said, shaking his head slightly. “No, you’re the strength in this relationship. I rush in, listening to my gut, and it often gets us in trouble. You lead with your heart and your head.” He leaned in and barely brushed his lips against Lane’s. “And I love you for it.”
Lane lifted his hands to Kai’s chest. He could feel the pounding of his brother bear’s strong heart under his fingers. “Without your strength I couldn’t be who I am.”
Lane looked down.
“What’s wrong?”
“I wondered how our dynamic might change if we ever found our mate. I feared that I might not have this same bond with you. That I would be lost… and that first time with him, I did feel a little lost.”
Kai frowned. “You still feel lost?”
Lane shook his head, lifting his stare to Kai’s. “No. I felt lost because I allowed myself to for a split second. You’ve never allowed me to feel it again. I know exactly where I reside in your heart. I’ll never doubt you or what we share again.”
“Good,” Kai whispered with a smile before kissing him silly.
Lane kissed his brother bear back with abandon, feeling lighter than he had in some time. When he broke away, he smiled. “I love you, too, you know.”
“I know,” Kai said with a wicked grin.
When Lane cast a look over to Turi, he saw their mate was awake and watching them with trepidation in his stare. He slid his gaze back to Kai and cocked his head to the side to let Kai know their Sleeping Beauty was awake.
Kai looked and then took Lane’s hand before he walked back over to the bed.
“Welcome back,” Kai murmured with a smile.
Turi looked away from them, and Lane felt a glimmering feeling of self-loathing coming from their omega.
Lane sat down on the edge of Turi’s bed and took his hand. “Stop. Whatever you’re thinking… just stop.”
“But I’m right. I don’t deserve either of you. And now… after seeing the kind of love you two share. There’s no way you will ever see me the same way.”
Kai moved to the other side of the bed and sat across from Lane. “You won’t know unless you give us the chance. You have to stop pushing us away. Stop running.”
“You weren’t the only reason I ran.”
“Why did you run?” Lane asked, squeezing Turi’s hand.
Turi was silent a moment before he lifted his head. “I’ve had at least three children. You have every right to refuse the claim.”
Lane said nothing for a moment. Nor did Kai. It wasn’t exactly a surprise, but still—hearing the truth of it from Turi’s lips was difficult to hear.
Again he squeezed Turi’s hand, searching for the right words and unsure any would fit. “That is no reason for us to refuse the claim.”
Turi met his stare, his eyes bright with emotion.
“Did you truly think we wouldn’t want you if we knew all that?” Kai asked him.
“Yes,” Turi answered.
“Well, you were wrong,” Kai whispered.
“Dead wrong,” Lane said.
Turi’s eyes brightened again, but he said nothing.
“What they did to you has no impact on how we feel for you,” Kai added.
“You already knew, didn’t you?” Turi asked, his voice breaking slightly. His eyes shined with unshed tears.
“We knew there was a chance, but we didn’t know for sure,” Lane answered. “Turi… I can’t even begin to imagine the weight you carry around with you.”
Turi was quiet a moment. “I feared you’d reject me… and it was easier to reject you first. It would hurt less.”
“Only… we won’t reject you,” Kai said. “You don’t need to carry that heavy burden alone anymore.”
“You shouldn’t have to.”
“We will. We want to,” Lane said. “You are worthy of love. You are deserving of affection. All you have to do is open yourself and let us help.”
“I want to,” Turi whispered. “I don’t know how.”
Kai lifted Turi’s closed fist to his lips and kissed the knuckles. “Stop fighting, for one. Stay here in Bear Mountain. Continue your treatment. With us at your sides. Let us lend you strength… just as Lane lends me his. Just as I lend him mine. We are stronger together.”
“I’m not strong,” Turi said. “At all. I’ll only make you both weaker.”
“But you will be strong. In time,” Lane said. “With our help.”
“We’re not going anywhere, so you might as well let us,” Kai said with a smile.
Turi grinned slightly, and Lane sensed maybe they’d gotten through.
But he’d already thought that a time or two before.
He could only hope this time was different.
Only time would tell.
There was a knock on the door as Declan walked in, Royce behind him.
“Hey,” Kai said, turning to look at his brothers. “I haven’t had a chance to thank you for sending the cavalry in.”
“Don’t mention it,” Declan said.
Concern etched his face as Declan’s stare went to Turi. “We need to have a conversation about what happened. And what we need to do next.”
“What do you mean?” Lane asked.
“Your mate stole serum, left the valley while still under several doctor’s care, and then ki—”
“Can we talk out in the hallway?” Kai said, interrupting his brother.
Lane released a breath; thankful Declan had been cut off. They’d not told Turi all that had happened and weren’t sure he was ready to hear it.
“What? No! What did I do?” Turi asked.
Kai ushered his brothers out, casting a look over his shoulder.
Once they were gone, Turi glared at him. “What did I do?”
* * * *
“He doesn’t know about Benny and the others he killed,” Kai said. “And I plan to keep it that way for a while. Until his emotional state is a little stronger.”
“Benny’s not dead,” Declan said.
“I went with another team there after your call—to see what we could do to help our uncle. Benny survived, though it was close,” Royce said. “Jack and Mary almost didn’t let us in—and once Benny was talking and coherent, he summarily kicked us out.”
“Benny might end up looking for some retribution,” Declan said.
“It won’t come immediately. His scars were pretty deep. He’ll need a bit of rehab before he’s ready to strike,” Royce said. “And we can help protect your mate from Benny.”
“Thank you,” Kai said. “What of the other two? Benny’s guards.”
“Lost causes,” Royce said. “They were long dead by the time we got there.”
Kai winced.
“That’s why we’re here,” Declan said. “We need to cage your mate—for the safety of the den and himself.”
“No!” Kai said. “He’s already better. The doctors said he still had serum in his veins… it just wasn’t enough. A couple of days here in the hospital and then he can stay with us. We’ll watch over him.”
Declan shook his head. “I can’t be looking over my shoulder, wondering if he’ll harm the residents of this city.”
“We’ll take him up to the inn. Use one of the cabins. Almost no one is there.”
“My family is,” Royce said. “We live at the top of the mountain.”
“So you’ll be close if anything bad happens,” Kai said. “Which it won’t.”
“And what of my children, Kai? You met my cubs. My mate. Are you willing to put them into danger?”
Kai sighed, knowing he couldn’t ask that of Royce.
One of Turi’s doctors, Killian, walked up to their conversation. “I assume we’re talking about our guest inside?”
“I’m trying to determine where he goes next,” Declan said.
“We should be able to release him in a few days. Once we get enough serum back into his system,” Killian said.
“See,” Kai added.