Claiming Her Mates: Book One

by Dia Cole

  Mason’s sinfully full lips quirked up. “This isn’t about your taxes.”

  Damn, these were the sexiest cops I’d ever seen. I almost wanted them to arrest me. Maybe this is about the internet stuff? I folded my arms over my chest. “Last time I checked being a cam girl wasn’t illegal and—”

  Gabriel cleared his throat interrupting me. “Enough. We’re running out of time.” He stepped forward and stared into my eyes. “Ms. James, come with us now.” His voice rang with a strange tone.

  Rubbing my temple where my head suddenly ached, I said, “Don’t I have a right to an attorney and a phone call?”

  Gabriel’s mouth fell open as if I’d shocked him.

  “Mistress Robin,” the professor wheezed from the VIP room. “I think I need to see a doctor.”

  Gabriel stepped by me, slid open the curtain, and cursed. “It’s one of the infected.”

  I peered around his muscular shoulder and found the professor slumped on the floor with his shirt in his lap. There were even more dark veins running across his chest. “Can you get your shirt on, Dr. Sullivan?” I asked with a calmness I didn’t feel. “Max is calling you a cab. You can take it straight to the hospital. We can call an ambulance if you want…”

  “No. A cab is fine. Thank you.” The professor slowly pulled on his shirt with shaking hands. In that moment, he looked old and frail.

  Feeling sorry for the man, I reached into the top of my boot and pulled out his money. “You can have this back since we didn’t—”

  “Move away from him,” Gabriel said, grabbing my arm. “He’s infected with the virus.”

  “The virus?” I echoed. Is he talking about the canine flu?

  “Keep the money,” the professor said with a wan smile. “It can be a holiday advance. I’ll come back and collect my…punishment when I’m feeling better.”

  “Thank you,” I replied, not knowing what else to say.

  Gabriel tugged my elbow. “Come on. This way.” He pulled me toward the main part of the club.

  I caught a whiff of his scent—smoke and leather. The dark masculine smell made my insides tighten.

  Mason fell into step beside us. “We’re parked out front.”

  Sandwiched between the two hot men, my knees weakened. Maybe I can ask them to handcuff me? I quickly bitch slapped my libido. Get a grip, Vana. It figured the first men I’d be attracted to since my breakup with Nathan would be cops wanting to question me.

  We’d almost passed the side stairs to the dressing room when I remembered my things. I stopped short, dragging Gabriel back a step. “I need to change.” No way was I going to walk into a police station in my dance outfit. Besides, I didn’t want to leave the rest of my money here where it could grow legs and walk out of my locker before my next shift.

  Mason let go of my arm. “Okay.”

  Gabriel frowned. “We don’t have time—”

  “Couldn’t we spare her a minute?” Mason asked, interrupting the taller man.

  I beamed at the blond, deciding I liked him more than his gruff partner.

  Gabriel gritted his teeth and nodded. “Just one minute.”

  Relieved, I rushed up the stairs. When the men tried to follow me, I held out my hand to stop them. “You can’t come back here.” Max was the only guy allowed in the dressing room and it was only because he barreled his way in like a bull whenever he felt like it.

  “Hurry,” Gabriel ordered, looking down at his watch.

  Wondering what crawled up his butt and died, I headed backstage and made a beeline for the empty dressing room.

  It wasn’t much, just a row of vanity mirrors and a bank of lockers. I went straight to my locker and pulled out the duffel bag that held my purse, makeup, toiletries, spare dance outfits, the wad of ones I’d milked out of the professor earlier in the night, and most important, the bottle of pain pills my back would soon be begging for. I quickly chewed the pills and dry swallowed down their bitter taste.

  After throwing a skintight black dress over my skimpy dance outfit, I shrugged into my long charcoal wool jacket. My aching feet pleaded with me to ditch my boots, but I’d neglected to bring other shoes.

  My cell rang as I was closing my locker door. I answered it to the shriek of my roommate, Sydney.

  “I can’t believe you talked me into this, Vana!”

  “What?” I drew a blank for a moment before remembering she was covering a private party for me. “Are you at that bachelor’s party?”

  “I’m hiding in a freaking stranger’s closet wearing nothing but a thong and some pasties.”

  I couldn’t help laughing. “There are worse ways of making two hundred bucks.”

  “You know how I hate dark, cramped spaces. I owe you big-time for this."

  “Yeah, like twenty percent,” I reminded her. Thinking of how little I’d made tonight, I sighed. Serves me right for ditching that job in favor of Max’s request to work late tonight. Family before work, I would’ve reminded myself if he and Donna hadn’t just bowed out of the one event I asked them to attend all year.

  “It smells like mothballs in here,” Sydney said, returning my focus to our phone call. “This has to be the worst night ever.”

  “At least you don’t have two cops waiting to take you down to the station.”

  She gasped. “What? Why?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Crap, girl. Are you in trouble? Do you need me to blow this gig? I could—”

  “No, you stay in that closet,” I said with a tight laugh. “You need the money. We need the money. Besides, they aren’t arresting me.” At least right now. I looked down at my bag, unzipped it, and reluctantly put the pain pills back in my locker. Back pain or no back pain, I couldn’t afford to get busted with illegal meds. “And they’re the hottest cops you’ve ever seen.”

  “Hot enough to make you forget about that asshole Nathan?”

  Not this again. I rolled my eyes already anticipating the lecture.

  Syd took a deep breath. “I know he was rich as Midas and gorgeous as hell, but Nathan was also a cheating son of a bitch. It’s been three months since you two broke up. Time to get back in the saddle.”

  “Right,” I said, agreeing to end the conversation. There was no point in me trying to explain heartbreak to someone who’d never been in love.

  “You need to promise me you’ll give the next guy who goes after you a chance.”

  “And what if the next guy is Phil?”

  She laughed. “Okay, obviously not our pervy neighbor. But you know what I mean.”

  Knowing she could be as tenacious as a Gila monster when she set her mind to something, I sighed. “I promise. Look, I’ve got to go, but I’ll text you when I figure out what’s going on.”

  “Okay. I’m heading right to the airport for my red-eye after this, but I’ll call you as soon as I land.”

  “Have a safe flight,” I said feeling a stab of envy that she had parents and siblings to share the holidays with. It seemed everyone had a family, but me.

  Jade walked through the dressing room door just as I hung up the phone. “Heading out?” she asked with a sniff. Her heavily kohled eyes swam with tears.

  Now, she’s definitely having a worse night than us. “Are you okay?” I didn’t know much about the green-haired woman other than she’d started last night.

  She pressed her trembling lips together and shook her head.

  Damn. I’d been there before. Setting down my bag, I walked over to her side and put my hand on her shoulder. “It’s not always like this you know. They're good nights and bad nights.” Just more bad nights lately. “Things will pick up after the holidays.” I hope.

  Her expression crumbled. “I didn’t make jack tonight.”

  Anxiety ate at me as I glanced at the empty doorway. I’d already made the cops wait far longer than a minute. Torn between the need to comfort the girl and the need not to piss off the officers who might hold my fate in their hands, I chewed my lower lip.


  Jade let out a loud sob.

  Screw it. The cops can wait. I led Jade to the nearest swivel chair. She sat, her chest heaving. “I’m sorry. I’m such a mess.” She swiped a hand across her face, smearing her makeup. “I never thought it’d come to this. Me taking off my clothes for money. And when I finally get desperate enough to do it, I don’t make a fucking cent.” Tears trekked down her face. She was an ugly-crier, something that made me like her even more.

  “It’ll be okay,” I said squeezing her shoulder. Desperation drove a lot of girls to dancing. Me included.

  Jade let out a heavy sigh. “I thought for sure I’d make some good money. I’m so broke I can’t even pay the sitter.”

  “You have kids?” I asked, grabbing a tissue from the counter and handing it to her.

  She gave me a watery smile. “Payton just turned two.”

  My chest tightened. I was a sucker for little ones. Forbidding me from seeing Mira had to be one of the cruelest things Nathan could have done after breaking up with me.

  I gave Jade a once-over. She was pretty in that girl-next-door kind of way. With the right makeup and outfit she’d kill it. “Look, how about I give you some pointers tomorrow night?”

  Her raccoon eyes widened as she studied my face. “Seriously?”

  “Until then, take this.” I fished out two twenties and gave them to her.

  Her eyes widened and then narrowed. “For real?” Like most of us, she’d probably been kicked around by life to the point she had a hard time believing that anyone would do something nice for no reason.

  “Yeah, consider it a welcome-to-the-club present. I was new once too, and I barely made anything my first night,” I said, lying. “I’m Havana, by the way.” I held out my hand to her.

  She shook it. “Melody.”

  “Nice to meet you, Melody. Now don’t waste any more tears on this shithole. Go home and enjoy your baby.”

  She smiled for the first time. “I will.”

  I walked back over to my bag and slung the strap over my shoulder. As I walked through the doorway, I stopped and said, “Hey, if you and Payton aren’t doing anything Christmas Eve you’re welcome to come to my place. I cook a mean turkey with all the sides.”

  She blinked up at me. “Thanks, but we’re going to my sister’s.”

  Of course. It was destined to be me and me alone this Christmas. “Well, I'd better not keep those cops waiting any longer. See you tomorrow assuming they don't throw me in jail.”

  She blinked. “You mean the pirate-looking guy and the hot blond that came in a little while ago?”

  “Yeah.”

  “They aren’t cops.”

  I whirled around. “What do you mean?”

  She dabbed her eye with the tissue. “My stepdad was a sergeant with SVPD before he died. If there is one thing I know, it’s law enforcement and those guys aren’t it. Not by a long shot.”

  My stomach dropped to the floor as I looked toward the side stairs. If Mason and Gabriel weren’t cops, who were they? And what did they want with me?

  3

  Mason

  Gabriel glowered. “We’re wasting time. There’s a goddamn apocalypse happening if you hadn’t noticed.”

  I shook my head at the ornery male. His mood was surlier than ever. “The female just wanted to get dressed.” Although to be honest, I’d prefer she didn’t. I peered through the darkness in the direction the woman had gone. My inhuman eyes quickly adjusted to the dim light allowing me to see the empty backstage area as if hundred-watt bulbs illuminated it. Unfortunately, it gave me no glimpses of the lovely Havana.

  Just imagining her peeling away that tiny black number made me catch my breath.

  What a magnificent creature she was from her slumberous dark eyes, to her generous breasts, to her long legs that I couldn't help but imagine wrapped around my hips. Even the exotic sweetness of her scent was intoxicating. If I never saw the female again, her smell would be branded inside the marrow of my bones for the rest of my days.

  I looked down at my shaking hands. Odd. It’d been years since I’d reacted like this to a female. Although to be honest, spending twenty-hour days at the hospital didn’t lend itself to commingling with the opposite sex. However, commingling was something I very much wanted to do with Havana and maybe more. Like every Lykos male, I dreamed of finding the female who would claim me forever.

  “Get a hold of yourself,” Gabriel snarled into my mind.

  I growled at his mental intrusion. Although speaking telepathically was an ability of our species, it was considered rude to read another’s thoughts. Not that Gabriel cared about offending an Omega like me. As the head Enforcer, the lethal Beta male did whatever he pleased and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

  “She’s a human,” he said in a chiding voice.

  “Is she? You weren’t able to compel her to come with us.” I hadn’t missed the Enforcer’s attempt at compulsion. The strongest members of our species could compel weaker Lykos and humans to do their bidding. Sadly, I lacked that ability.

  “She must be an Atavus,” Gabriel muttered more to himself than to me.

  I nodded in agreement. Given her resistance to his compulsion, it was highly likely she had a Lykos ancestor. Over the years, inbreeding between Lykos and humans resulted in distant generations that carried dormant Lykos genes in their DNA. Although they didn’t shift or have many of our other abilities, their Lykos genes made them stronger than normal humans and more resistant to compulsion. It also made them very attractive to our species. Very attractive indeed. I glanced back over at the stairs willing the lovely Havana to reappear.

  “She belongs to Nathan,” Gabriel growled.

  Bloody hell. A sharp ache flashed through me at the reminder the female was off-limits. Why didn’t I find her before Nathan did? I gritted my teeth. Is she his mate? No. Alphas didn’t take mates and even if they did, humans and Atavus didn’t mate with our kind. Well, not in the share-a-lifelong-bond-until-death kind of way. However, there was nothing preventing our kind from enjoying the pleasures of their flesh. Something I’d never been tempted to do. Until now.

  Gabriel scowled. “She’s a complication we don’t need. Especially now. I don’t know what Nathan is thinking sending us after her.”

  I took a deep breath and brought my thoughts back under control. “It’s not our place to question the Alphas.” The Alphas gave the orders, and we followed. Something I’d discovered the hard way when Tasha, the ruthless Alpha female who ran our faction, educated me on the natural order of our species. I swallowed down the bitter taste in my mouth.

  “Don’t I know it,” snapped Gabriel.

  I couldn’t help glancing at his eye patch. Not for the first time, I wondered what he’d done to warrant Tasha’s cruel punishment.

  Gabriel paced back and forth in front of the red velvet curtain. “Tasha ordered me to bring you and Nathan back to Winterhaven ASAP. If that doesn’t happen…” His expression darkened.

  Thud.

  We both looked over at the red curtain.

  “What the…?” Gabriel swiped the curtain open.

  The infected human male was lying prone on the ground. Based on his shallow breathing, he was not long for this world. The faint pulse of his carotid artery seemed to flutter along with the beat of the music coming from the speakers on the wall.

  I fisted my hands, torn between wanting to help and wanting to get the hell away from him as quickly as possible.

  “There’s nothing you can do,” Gabriel reminded me.

  That wasn’t entirely true. I reached for the syringe in my jacket pocket. I hadn’t tested this substrain of the antivirus yet. So far my research had been confined to samples of the Z-virus in petri dishes. Conducting a human trial without thorough testing went against my medical ethics.

  The human moaned again.

  Screw ethics. I might be this man’s only chance. And if it worked, we’d have a proven cure to stop the spread of the vir
us before it destroyed all humanity. Filled with resolve, I ran over to the human and grabbed his arm. Frantically, I searched for a vein that wasn’t necrotic.

  “What are you doing?” Gabriel asked as I slid the needle into the human’s cephalic vein.

  “Trying to save him,” I murmured, pressing the plunger. Injecting directly into the bloodstream would disperse the antivirus faster than an intramuscular injection and right now time was of the essence.

  Gabriel pointed at the dark veins covering the man’s arms and chest. “Is that from the vaccine?”

  “Yes. The necrosis likely originated at the shoulder, that’s where the vaccine was given.” Bloody hell. Why hadn't the CDC extensively tested the vaccine before distributing it? “Hopefully, this works.”

  Gabriel watched me with narrowed eyes. “I thought there wasn’t a cure.”

  “There isn’t one yet, but I’ve been experimenting with the blood of our species. We’re immune to this virus, like all viruses, and if we could confer that immunity to humans—”

  “Our blood is poison to humans,” Gabriel interrupted.

  As if I didn’t already know that. “I’ve been working to suppress the toxicity of our blood while enhancing the immune—” I broke off as the human on the floor convulsed. Panic gripped me. “No!”

  The man let out a bloodcurdling cry. Blood poured out of his eyes, nose, and mouth—the signature reaction to Lykos blood poisoning. With a loud shuddering gasp, the human went still. He didn’t draw another breath.

  Regret pounded through me as I looked down at the empty syringe. “I killed him.” Damn it. I never should've attempted a live trial. I’ve just robbed this man of several hours of life. With a curse, I threw the syringe across the small room.

  In a rare show of empathy, Gabriel rested his hand on my shoulder. “He was already dead. If anything you put an end to his suffering.”

  There was truth to his words. The last stages of the Z-virus were devastating and at least I’d saved this man that harrowing fate. Letting out a deep breath, I pushed myself to my feet and followed Gabriel out of the room.