by Tigertalez
“Fuck yes!” he growled against her lips. He felt his orgasm begin. His balls rolled in their sack and pulled hard against his body, his body stiffening, and he roared out his release. His canines plunged through his gums, and he didn’t hesitate to sink them into her neck. He cried out as tight muscles clamped down around his dick when Katie’s orgasm rolled through her.
Slate could feel beads of sweat gather and roll down his face. His lungs deeply expanded trying to draw in enough air. He studied her face. Her short, light brown hair clung to her forehead, and her lips were red and plump.
“Good morning, Baby-Kate. I’m sorry I had to wake you, but I needed your help.”
Her smile warmed his entire chest. “After that wake up, you can ask me to do anything you want and I don’t think I could deny you.”
Chuckling, he leaned down and placed small kiss on her soft lips before rolling off. “You made me promise not to get up and move around without your say-so.”
Her face took on a serious look. “Let me take a look.” Slate slowly pulled out of her and rolled over onto his side. She leaned over and examined his injuries, taking more time at his hip, which was the worst injury. Almost all of his other injuries were superficial, and some were already gone. Slate kept in his grimace as she pushed on the skin around the area.
“Still not enough to go without supervision. Come on, let’s go.”
Slate inwardly groaned. He hated being so weak, especially in front of his mate. After he was done in the bathroom, Katie wouldn’t let him even go down for breakfast. Instead, she propped him up in bed and brought up a tray loaded with pancakes, sausages, scrambled eggs, a bowl of fruit and a glass of orange juice. He would have complained about not being able to go downstairs, but his mate stayed and ate her meal with him, which he liked even better.
“After we’re done eating, I want to go downstairs and help Betty with the dishes. Is that all right?” she asked.
“Like I could deny you anything.” He leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek. “I think while you are doing that, I’ll do something I haven’t done since just after I left home.”
“And what is that?”
“Call my mother.” He tried to hide the hurt in his voice, but from Katie’s expression, he didn’t think he succeeded.
“You haven’t called your mother since you left home? Why?”
Slate hadn’t admitted it to many people, and only Alphy knew the reason why. But Slate didn’t want to hide anything from his mate, no matter how much shame it gave him. He let out a sigh before he began his tale. “Years ago, my father wanted to force a mating on me with a lioness. He didn’t believe in mixed breeding, and not only was she a lioness, she came from money. I knew it was wrong and I also wanted a true mate mating, so I refused. He gave me an ultimatum: mate her or leave and never come back. When I chose to leave, I thought my father was being somewhat kind by driving me to town, but instead, he had pulled to the side of the road, sucker-punched me, and beat me until I couldn’t stand.” The admission brought him the heavy feeling of shame and embarrassment.
“Oh Slate, I’m so sorry.” Katie’s hands found both of his, and she held them as she listened.
Slate looked at their joined hands, unable to look her in the eyes just yet. “He had threatened to hurt my mother and sisters if I ever contacted them, but I was very close with them, so once I had a place, I risked calling her one more time and gave her my contact information. I kept in contact with them in secret ever since. I sent letters and gifts to a secret P.O. Box that I paid for. I still have it for gift purposes, but we use email now.”
“If calling them puts them in danger, why would you do it?”
Slate looked into her eyes, pouring as much sincerity as he could through his eyes. “Because I promised her if I should ever find my mate, that I would call her. There is so much to tell her now, and I can’t hold it in. I love you so much, and I want to tell her about it. My father should be at work right now, so it should be fine.”
Katie sighed and looked at him thoughtfully. “Okay. Do you want me with you for the call?”
Slate gave her a small smile. “No, but thank you, Baby-Kate. I want to talk to her first before I introduce you.”
Nodding her head, she leaned over and let her heated lips caress his before gathering the dishes and heading downstairs.
Slate closed his eyes and sent up a silent prayer that his father wasn’t home, then took out his phone. He had kept the number of his mother’s cell in case of emergencies. This was the first time using it. The beeps of his phone toned through the room as he pressed the numbers. Holding the phone to his ear, he focused on his breathing to keep his rapid heart under control. He listened to the ring tones until the voice he hadn’t heard in decades came through the line.
“Hello?”
Slate suddenly felt choked up as tears quickly welled up in his eyes. He coughed a couple of times to loosen it up then spoke. “Hi, Mom?”
A notable gasp could be heard through the connection. “Slate? Is that you?”
“Yeah, Mom, it’s me. Is it safe to talk?” Slate almost rolled his eyes. She probably wouldn’t have said his name if his father was around.
He heard a sob on the other end. “Yes.” He could hear her calling out elsewhere in the house, “Elise, come quick.” Then she spoke to him again, “You father is at work, so we should be fine for several hours.”
In the background, he heard his youngest sister approach. “Yeah, Mom?”
He listened to his mother talk to his sister. “It’s Slate.”
Slate fought tears as he heard his sister’s excited glee. She was still living at home while she attended college, studying biochemistry. He hadn’t seen her since she was six years old. He’d used to be very close with his sisters. They were both younger, and he was very protective of them. His other sister, Layla, was in the military.
“Slate? Oh my eff-ing goodness, how are you doing? What are you doing? Where are you? Why are you calling?”
He laughed as his sister threw questions out at him almost without taking a breath.
His mother’s worried voice carried back over the line. He guessed they each had an ear up to the phone with it between them. “Yes, why are you calling? Are you all right?”
“I’m doing more than all right. I want to tell you some big things that’ve happened. . I’ll start at the beginning. A few weeks ago, Alphy was injured in a mission. Less than a week later he lost both his parents and had to take custody of his younger brother and sister.”
“Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear that.” His mother was always polite and caring. Boy, did he miss her.
“Well, you know how alpha he can be. I’ve written to you about him enough.” He heard his mother and sister agree. “He didn’t have any place to go, but had a relative he never met offer for him to stay with her. When he got there, he felt at home. The territory didn’t have an alpha, and in fact, Betty—that’s her name, Betty—was the only one here, She had kept the territory rights, so he was given the position of alpha, which turned out perfect timing because the very next morning he found his mate.”
“Oh good for him,” his mother said.
His sister interjected, “Wow, that’s a lot to go through in that short of time.”
“Well, it gets crazier. His mate is human. Her mother was married and had her and her brother. Then their father died, and she found her mate in an elk shifter—Tom is his name. They had two more kids. I have a lot of respect for Tom. His alpha told him to send the human son away because he was gay, but instead, he took the whole family and fled. Only, the alpha’s enforcers beat the human boy to near death first.”
He could hear their surprised gasps over the line.
“When Alphy found them, he brought them to the house and called us all in. Once we got here, we were all given a place in the pack. I’ve got a rank, Mom. I’m an enforcer.”
Both women gasped again. He could hear the excitement in their voices
as they expressed their pride in him. His heart beat warmly in his chest being able to make his mother and sister proud, so it made him super excited to tell them the next part.
“After Alphy defeated the other alpha and his thugs, Matteo and I were pitted against each other in an enforcer challenge to decide who got to be head enforcer. I won it.”
He held the phone away from his ear as his mother and sister cheered. After a few moments, when they calmed down somewhat, he finally told them what he had been so excited to say from the start. “That isn’t all.”
“More?”
“Yeah, more? What the heck, bro, you’ve been busy.”
“Heh, well, when we went to take over the herd of the defeated alpha, I found my mate.” Again, he had to let them quiet down before he could continue and answer their questions. “She’s human, but she’s the most amazing woman I have ever met in my life, and I already can’t live without her. I claimed her yesterday, and get this, she claimed me back.”
“A human? How does a human claim you?” His sister was curious.
Slate’s mother sounded concerned. “Did she know what she was doing?”
“She was adopted by a shifter because her half-sister is one, so she knows all about shifters.” Before Slate could go any further, Slate heard yelling. The voice he heard sent a chill down his spine. His heart-rate sped up, and a sick knot formed in his stomach. At that same time, his mate entered the room. She must have seen something on his face or perhaps it was how he was sitting forward with the bedding wrapped into a white-knuckled fist and his claws extended.
On the other side of the phone, the yelling persisted.
“Who are you talking to?” His father’s voice thundered through the connection. He must have known who, which meant he must have arrived home while they were too distracted with cheering to hear him coming in and thus overheard who exactly was on the phone with them.
His mother tried to placate him. “Carl, you’re home early. Is there something you want me to get you? Elise, why don’t you take the phone up to your room?” It wasn’t a question. Slate could tell it was more of a plea.
“No!” Carl yelled. “You will answer me now! Who the fuck is on the phone?”
Slate knew they couldn’t lie. His father would be able to scent it. Slate wanted to hang up so she couldn’t get in further trouble, but something about Carl’s tone caused him to stay. He had a bad feeling about this. Katie was on the bed beside him, giving him silent support.
“Slate is on the phone. He was just telling...” His mother’s subdued and frightened voice was cut off when he heard flesh hitting flesh and her pained cry. He heard Elise screaming and yelling and another flesh hitting flesh sound silencing the screams. This time it was followed by a loud thump, a scuffle and more shouts followed by crashing and then the line went silent. Slate looked at the phone. It had lost its connection.
Slate bellowed out a roar that had his mate smothering her ears with the palms of her hands. His claws extended further, slicing some of the pads of his hands. He heard the crack of plastic and glass as he lost control over his strength, crushing the phone in his shifting hands. If he hadn’t smelt the fear pouring off his mate, he would have shifted and perhaps gone slightly feral. But the smell of his mate snapped him out enough to pull in his claws.
Turning to her, he waited until he was back under control before he took her into his arms. Afraid of a repeat of when they first met, Slate tried to reassure her. “Baby-Kate, I would never ever hurt you in either form. You have nothing to fear from me.” He rubbed her back and tried making his rough voice smoother to soothe her, but he wasn’t sure how successful he was. She still smelt anxious.
“I know you won’t.” Her voice was small, but he focused on it completely. “That first night we met, I only got frightened because you barged in all of a sudden and I didn’t know who the hell you were. The instant mate-pull messed up my already overcharged nerves and startled emotions. I don’t stay frightened for long, and I know you would never hurt me.”
Her admission pleased him greatly. He never wanted her afraid of him. She continued, “I’m afraid for your mom and sister. Even I heard all that. What are we going to do to help them?”
For a brief moment Slate was stunned silent with pride, joy, and hope. His mate didn’t just expect him to help, but planned on helping, too. He didn’t think it was possible, but he fell in love with her even more.
“What’s wrong?” Slate hadn’t noticed Kace, Enzo, and several others were crowding the doorway and hallway. The look on his beta’s face warned him to not ignore the question. With his mother and sister in danger this very moment, he wasn’t about to avoid or ignore it. Slate moved off the bed and closer to his beta. “My mother and sister are being attacked as we speak. I need to get to them right now.”
“Fuck! Where are they?” Enzo wasn’t the beta just because he was besties with the alpha. He was his own force to reckon with, and to have him back him up without question meant a lot to Slate.
“They’re in Tyler, Texas. Their pride runs the Tyler state park, and they have some private property in a forested area adjacent to it.”
“I’ll get Alphy on the line. He’ll need to run the political side. Get packed.” Enzo turned on his heel and made his way through the people as they stepped out of his way.
“I’d like to go with you,” said Kace.
Slate considered Kace. “I won’t stop you but get permission first. Thank you, my friend.”
Behind Kace stood the two newer vampire members, Peter and Marek. Marek spoke. “Let me call Raymond. With as shorthanded as we are here, he may be able to offer help to accompany you, maybe even use of the coven jet.”
“Your coven has its own jet?” Kace’s surprise was evident.
“Of course, and with all the flying you guys seem to be doing, Alphy should think about getting one, too.”
With the final word, the two vampires disappeared around the corner and down the stairs with Kace following.
Slate turned around to look for his mate. He wondered why she wasn’t by his side, in his arms. What he saw warmed his chest, and he had to rub the spot over his heart to ease the happy ache. She had two overnight bags out, filling them with clothes for both of them.
Without looking up, she gave him an order. “Now get back in bed until it’s time to leave.” Not wanting to argue, he did as he was told. Besides, he knew he would need all the strength he could get once he ran across his father. He had a feeling he would be challenging him.
Chapter Ten
Boy, what a mess the last few hours were, Slate thought. He was aggravated the pride alpha had denied their request to enter their territory.
“Don’t worry, Slate,” Councilmember Tyler Ghost reassured him. “I can work around that by going with you and considering the trip ‘official shifter council business’. All you need is a plane since mine is still in British Columbia.”
Peter and Marek contacted Raymond, putting him on speaker phone. Enzo explained to Raymond what was happening.
“I will gladly support you. I will send four coven members to assist in the rescue. I know your resources have been spread thin.”
“That is very generous of you, thank you.” Enzo addressed the coven leader.
“By the time you arrive at the strip my plane is currently at, it will be fueled and ready to go complete with an authorized flight plan. The men I send will be packed and waiting there for you there. Good luck to you.”
Katie stayed by his side the whole time. She refused to stay behind. He had started to argue with her because he did not want her going into this danger, but she’d cut him off.
“I’m a nurse. If your mother and/or sister are hurt, and with what I heard over the phone, that is a big possibility, my skills will be a vital asset. And I’m not letting you, who are still healing, go anywhere near danger alone. You wouldn’t let me, so you can’t deny me for you. Besides, I talked to Doctor Rossi, and he’s instructed
me on everything I should take.”
Slate heard an amused chuckle coming from the door. Looking, he spotted Kace in the doorway. “Well then you know she will be well equipped.”
“Hi, Kace.” Katie’s voice had a tone that had both men raising their brows, apprehensive to what she was up to. He watched as she leaned to the side and placed a hand on her hip. “Glad you approve. Your injuries have been healing well enough to help, and the others are too busy. I need your help gathering and loading the supplies because Slate’s not in any condition to help.” Katie held up a hand and shot Kace a look that silenced his obvious argument. Slate could only wait until they were just barely down the hall before he leaned back, and held his stomach as he laughed out loud.
Slate was surprised that the coven’s private jet was larger than the councilmember’s jet. This one sported a “lucky” thirteen seats. It was a good thing, too, because it was crowded with nearly a full dozen people.
Before they boarded, Slate made quick observations of the four vampires sent by Raymond, as they made introductions. They were all tall with athletic builds but varied in looks and personalities. The first to step forward had shoulder length, wavy blond hair, and dark blue eyes. He spoke with a French accent.
“Bonjour, Monsieur Payton. I am Fabian Roux. Eetz a pleazure to meet you.”
“Thank you for coming. Please call me Slate.”
After shaking hands, a man with chocolate brown skin, light brown eyes, and well groomed dreadlocks that flowed back and down to just past his shoulders introduced himself next.
“I’m Dex Sully.”
“Dex, thank you for coming.”
A man with nearly true black skin stepped forward. “Vin Byerly.” His head was clean shaven, but he sported a short, tight well groomed goatee.
Last to be introduced was the roughest looking one of the bunch. He had hair styled like Alphy’s, only Pierce’s hair was dark maroon at the base, and shaded lighter the further up it went. It gave it a great shading effect. He had several tattoos and had studs and gold rings adorning his nose and eyebrows, and he had several in each ear. He wore a leather jacket, blue jeans, and black motorcycle boots.