A much bigger reason for not moving onto pack lands was, of course, Tris. Banished by his brother for joining the SEALs. And not because Samson had an issue with the military but because their father didn’t want one of his sons moving out from under his thumb—or at least that was my conclusion after hearing about the incident from many pack members recently.
Tris was my mate. Established. Samson was still holding out in so many ways. I believed if I approached him and said Tris was not in my life, he’d welcome me into the alpha house, but I could never make that move.
And, it would never work. Destiny spoke. My wolf, interpreter of destiny she was, was confident.
As I walked into Samson’s home and up the stairs to his office, I entertained the hope perhaps he’d changed his mind. How long could a man keep away from not only his mate, but also his twin. Mirror twins, they had some opposite qualities, like the way their hair curled and flecks of gold in the opposite eyes. Didn’t identical twins almost share a soul? Some thought so, especially where shifters were involved.
I rapped on the office door and waited for him to call, “Come in,” before entering. My hoped fizzled as I saw him standing, facing the window, tension in every fiber of his body. If he’d decided to make nice, he’d have looked more relaxed.
“Hi, Samson.” What else to say? I stood just inside the door, not really wanting to go in and sit down. I just wanted to go home. To go to Tris, where it didn’t hurt so much just to be in a room with him. My wolf ached.
“Christie. I’m so glad to see you.” He turned from the window, and my heart twisted at the pain on his face. I wanted to run to him, embrace him, tell him everything would be all right. But then, as usual…he opened his mouth and said more words. “What has Tris been telling you?”
“Excuse me?”
He paced toward me, arms outstretched, so I thought he might have the same thought I had. Was he going to hug me? He’d tolerated his brother a little when I was hurt, when I broke my leg and seemed unable to heal, but since then, they no longer saw each other so far as I knew. And any affection he’d shown me, outside of a word here or there, was gone.
And this time was no different. Instead of hugging me, he let his hands drop to his sides and stopped a couple of feet away. “Are you two mated?”
“Do you really want to know?” I closed the distance, going right up on my toes to glare into his eyes. “Why? Writing a book? Or are you finally willing to accept you are also my mate?”
I wobbled on tiptoe, and he grasped my shoulders and steadied me. “I need to know what is going on in my pack.”
“Really? Is that what you’re telling yourself? What next? Will you be going door-to-door, asking all the pack members who they’re sleeping with? Maybe just follow them on social media.” Although I was very angry at what he’d said, I was madder when my voice broke mid-sentence. “Samson, you can’t do this. Not to me, not to us.”
“Which us do you mean?” he growled, but before I could answer, he jerked me against his chest and his lips crashed down on mine. His tongue sought entrance, and he was in total command of the kiss. My feet dangled inches from the floor. At least, I thought it was inches. For sure, dangling. And my brain buzzed with hormones and emotions I couldn’t have named if I tried.
Then, as suddenly as it started, the kiss was over, and he turned me toward the door. “This is going nowhere,” he bit out. “Just go.”
I spun back. “You couldn’t be more right, but next time you want to summon me here, remember that.”
I cried all the way home.
Chapter Four
I would have been better served if I hadn’t gone to lunch and then to meet with Samson. Not only had it taken time I needed for my studies, like listening to class, reading the chapters assigned, and writing a twenty-five page paper due in two days, but my visit to the pack lands had resulted in my being so emotionally wrung out, I wasn’t fit to do any of it.
Something had to change. And it had to change before I lost my scholarship. I didn’t have the money to get through the rest of my degree without it. The thought was enough to help me get a grip on my runaway emotions. I dug in my purse and found a travel pack of tissues to wipe away the remains of my crying jag. I had to get my butt inside and get started on the heaps of homework. There was nothing I couldn’t accomplish if I put my mind to it. Or so I told myself. Climbing out of the car, I snagged the strap of my book bag and slung it over my shoulder, followed by my purse.
I trudged up the walkway to my front porch, but before I could lift my keys, the door swung open.
At the sight of my mate, the one who looked exactly like the one who had brought on the crying storm, my hastily gathered calm shredded and I dropped my bags and flung myself into his arms, weeping as if my heart would break. I don’t know what he thought, but instead of asking me a lot of questions, he just scooped me up and carried me inside, right to my bedroom. Holding me in one arm, he tugged the comforter and top sheet back and laid me on the cool smooth sheets.
“Let’s get your shoes off, mate,” he murmured. “Then I’ll get you something to drink and maybe a snack. We can snuggle up in bed and watch a movie.”
“I-I can’t watch a movie,” I sniffled. “I have all this work to do, or I’ll be in big trouble at school.”
“Did you eat lunch?” His stern tone caught my attention, and I swiped a hand across my eyes. “I bet you need to eat.”
“I-I had lunch at the diner with Wendi, and I ate almost as much as she did.”
“Wendi ate a lot?” Oh crap. Trust him to pick up on that. “Brandon said she wasn’t eating much.”
“When did you see Brandon?” My attempt to distract had better work. I’d only left her a few hours ago after swearing to keep her secret. “Did he stop by?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Wendi asked him to fix the leaky faucet in the bathroom, and he came over and had a sandwich with me after. Why didn’t you tell me the faucet leaked?”
“I’d forgotten.” Honestly. It was in the guest bathroom, where I almost never went, but Wendi must have noticed when she was over last time. She was always trying to make sure the house I rented from her was in great shape. Best landlady ever!
“Brandon will be glad Wendi is eating again,” he mused.
Sometimes, I almost didn’t remember Brandon was Tris’ brother. Or Samson’s. How did they get such a mellow relative? He got along with both and never let himself be drawn into their disagreement.
“He will,” I agreed, worried he was still on the Wendi topic. “But it’s not hard to gobble the best cheeseburgers in town. I also had onion rings.”
“And saved none for me?”
Okay, I had him now. The onion rings were his weakness. “Sorry! You weren’t there. Anyway, I’m still full from lunch. And I need to get started on my homework.”
“Okay. How about this?” He tugged the covers up over me. “Half-hour nap. When you wake up, you’ll be refreshed and can get your homework done.”
“And what will you be up to while I work?” It just occurred to me how early he was home, too. I hoped everything was okay at work.
“I’ll be making you an amazing dinner for when you’ve finished all your work.”
I wanted to tell him no on the nap, but my eyes were weighted and it wasn’t going to happen. I did need the break. “Okay, maybe I’ll be hungry by midnight.”
“Ha-ha. I’m sure you can finish sooner.” He stroked my hair back from my face. “And after you eat, you can tell me all about what my brother did to upset you so much.”
I blinked at him. “Is it so obvious?”
“Pretty much. Now, rest.” He tucked me in tight and kissed me on the lips. “I’d better get out of here, or I won’t be letting you sleep.”
Slinging an arm around his neck, I tried to keep him here, but he extricated himself. “Sleep. You’re entirely too tempting, but I know how important your education is to you.”
“And what if I don’t?” My sass
was interrupted by a jaw-cracking yawn. “You gonna spank me?”
His grin melted me as always. “Nah, I think you’d like it too much. Let’s save that for kink night.”
“Is that a thing?” Sleep was getting farther away. “When does it start?”
His laughter trailed behind him as he left for the other room.
My dreams took me places I’d never been before. And not every dream was with the same brother.
Chapter Five
A knock on the door had my heart all aflutter. Could it be Samson? Coming here to tell me he’d been an ass and everything was okay and then take me to bed? Probably not, but as I tied the belt on my robe, I couldn’t think of who else would have the nerve to knock on my door so early.
“What the hell? Do you regularly get visitors at…?” Tris grumbled then fumbled around on the nightstand for his phone. “Six in the damned morning. Hell, I bet even the birds aren’t awake yet.”
I made my way to the front door, but before I could get there, he stopped me, one hand on my biceps. “Wait, we don’t know who it could be, and those people who were behind the Kelli and Laney’s kidnapping are still out there. We can’t be too careful.”
He was cute when his overprotective hackles were raised.
“I’m sure they wouldn’t knock if they wanted to snatch me, Tris. Gods, you are jumpy in the morning.”
“Fine, fine. I’m going to make coffee”.” He planted his feet on the floor.
Still, he’d put the thought in my mind, and so I looked through the peephole then snorted.
Of course, it was her.
She was nothing if not unpredictable and full of chaos. I flung the door open, and her hand flew over her heart. “You little shit! You about scared the crap out of me.”
I lunged forward, forgetting her age, since, in my eyes, she was still the spry woman who used to take me hunting for toads in the middle of the night and then tell people it was my fault we were tired because I had nightmares. “You’re here!”
She laughed and wrapped her arms around me, kissing me on the side of the neck. “Looks like it.”
I pulled back, making sure my face read anger, though it was shallow at best. “You haven’t been answering my calls. I was so worried.”
She scoffed and pushed a lock of my long brown hair behind my ear. “So worried you can’t bring your sorry ass over to my house to check, huh? Some granddaughter you are. And now you’re making me stand here like a dumbass.”
Talking as if she lived down the street instead of many miles away, this was my grandmother. She wasn’t sugar and cinnamon and flowery dresses like everyone else’s grandma. No, she was ginger and cayenne, and flowers were for the blue-haired old women—not her.
“Come in, come in.” I took her hand. Her silken skin felt so good against mine. The feeling brought back a flood of memories in an instant. I knew everything was going to be okay if her hand was in mine.
“I smell a male”.” She waggled her eyebrows and rotated her hips in a way most women her age probably couldn’t. Those hot yoga classes had come in handy, it seemed.
“Yes, it’s my mate, Tris. Wanna meet him?”
She rolled her eyes and dropped her purse on the nearest chair. I put her suitcase right next to it on the floor and pulled her into the kitchen. Tris was there, in nothing but some low-slung pajama pants. His back was to us, and Gigi’s hand tightened around mine. “Heavens to Betsy.”
That was the tamest thing I’d heard her say in my entire life.
Tris whirled around, and his cheeks blazed red. I probably should’ve warned him, but this situation was too precious.
“Is this the mate?” she asked, getting her breath, fanning herself a little with a napkin she’d found nearby.
“Hi, um, I’m Tris.” He stepped forward, blush in place, and fidgeting, trying to cover up his nipples, which only sent her into a flurry of laughter. “And yes, I’m the mate.”
He was one of the mates, but okay.
“Well, I’m Gina, Christie’s grandma, but you can call me Gigi. None of that Gram or any shit like that for me.”
Hearing my grandmother say shit almost broke Tris.
“She’s one in a million.” I hugged my Gigi around her shoulders, and she put her hands on her hips.
“Give us a turn around, young man. No need to be shy.”
Tris’ eyes widened then ticked to me, as if he hoped I would save him. I would not be saving him. He’d put me through a lot. It was time for a little payback.
“Go on. Give Gigi a good look at you,” I encouraged, twirling my finger and smirking.
“As you wish.” He made a show of turning around then shrugged when he was done.
“Hot damn, you’ve got yourself one fine piece of ass. No wonder you were sleeping in. I bet you are all…worn…out.”
I snorted, but Tris looked like he might die right then and there from embarrassment. Gigi caught on right away.
“Oh, no need to be shy, Tris. My mates passed on from this life a long time ago, but I’ve still got eyes, and I don’t keep my opinion to myself.”
He chuckled and seemed to loosen up, leaning against the counter. “So, that’s where my mate got it from—the spunk.”
Gigi nodded. “Damned straight. Is the coffee ready or what? I stopped at a gas station outside of town, but that shit was like motor oil. Tasted like it, too. What’s for breakfast?” She clapped and started to fidget around the kitchen, looking in my cabinets.
“Oh, um, yeah, the coffee is ready. Why don’t I go grab us something to eat?”
Gigi turned and shook her head. “Yeah, you do that hot stuff. Because this kitchen is bare. Christie, did I teach you nothing?”
My cheeks heated. “You did. I’ve just been busy. Haven’t been to the grocery store in quite a bit.”
She looked Tris up and down as he retreated from the room. “I can see you’ve been very busy. I’m surprised you came up for air. But what about the other? Where is he?”
“What makes you think there’s another mate?”
She laughed and poured herself a cup of coffee. “Because you’re my granddaughter. One is not enough. Never will be. Where is he?”
I pulled down my meager offerings of creamer and sugar. “He’s being an ass about it all.”
Wrapping her arms around me, she hugged me tight. “One of them is always stubborn. But let me tell you, from my experience, the most stubborn one is a beast in bed. All that pent-up tension and desire. It’s got to come out sometime.”
“I hope so.”
She cupped my face, and I closed my eyes. There was nothing in the world like the comfort of my grandmother. “Now, where’s my room?”
I gasped. “You’re staying here?”
“Damned straight. I want to get to know my grandson-in-law, and we have some catching up to do.”
Chapter Six
Tris didn’t go home and hide under his bed. He got extra points for courage because my grandmother didn’t hold back. It seemed my relationship had thrown her memory banks wide open, and she was oversharing. However, he did remember some very important things to do at the office, and, late that first afternoon, I made up an excuse about needing to run an errand and fled to pack lands.
I wanted to let my wolf out to run, and I was going to.
Instead of parking up by the alpha house, where I usually did, I pulled off on the shoulder of the road and climbed out, tossing my clothes inside the car before hiding the keys under a handy nearby rock. When I broke my leg and got stuck in human form, I missed the freedom of being a wolf. While I was present to enjoy the process, the wolf was in charge whenever I wore fur, and she thought about things differently than I did, or than the human part of me did…I’d never 100 percent understood how we fitted together, just that it worked.
The cool late-afternoon breeze ruffled our fur and carried the scents of the forest. Dried leaves, moss, various fungi, and lots of small, yummy creatures. Wolf talking, remember. W
e didn’t always hunt, but after the crazy day we’d had, I felt no inclination to stop her from doing what came naturally to her.
We were nose to the ground, following the trail of a rabbit when another, more compelling scent stopped us in our tracks. Oh hell. What was he doing out here? It was the time of day when Samson usually met with his betas and listened to their reports. It was one reason I’d felt comfortable running here.
Turning on haunches, we were about to run toward the car when a sharp bark froze us in our tracks. If I managed to avoid perfect obedience to my alpha, my wolf did not. Not only did she wait for him to lope up to us, she was thrilled about it.
He butted our muzzle and gave a low woof before tearing off into the underbrush. With a regretful glance toward the rabbit’s trail, we followed. Samson in this form was so much fun. He knew all the best places to run, streams to splash in, even a waterfall where we could watch for the occasional trout to spill over. Made for great snacks.
In human form, he was all about administration and pack politics and feuding with his brother, but his furry side didn’t care about those things. His wolf’s relationship with the pack was not one where anyone argued. He barked; the other wolves obeyed.
How did he feel about Tris’ wolf? The thought had never occurred to me before, but as we lay side by side in a patch of cool moss after drinking deeply from the crystal spring he’d led me to, I thought of it now.
They looked almost identical in wolf form, with the exception of the scars they’d both gained as warriors in different armies. Tris, as a SEAL, had fought for his country with no thought for his own safety. One long scar along his calf spoke of a time he’d nearly severed an artery in close combat. Another on his chest was the result of something exploding. He didn’t like to talk about it but, sometimes, when we were together and it was very quiet, he’d start to speak, and I just listened. Another scar, along the back of his neck, had been the one that sent him home permanently. I still didn’t know the story because it was classified and he wasn’t allowed to discuss it, but even a shifter couldn’t survive a severed head, and, looking at that long white line, he’d come close.
Tether: A Shifter of Consequence Tale (Shifters of Consequence Book 6) Page 2