by Maia Dylan
“No big deal? I found you facedown on the floor Cassadee! I lost about ten years off my fucking life!” AJ’s face had turned a little red, and he was throwing his arms around, obviously upset.
“I know, AJ! I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys before but there’s been a bit going on lately!” She passed them her pill bottle so they could read it for themselves. “I have a condition called sickle-cell anemia. The blood cells in my body collapse and can’t hold enough iron in my system. I take supplements because I’m a vegetarian and—”
Sam interrupted her. “What? You’re a shifter how can you—”
“I know what I am! Don’t judge me!” Cassadee frowned and folded her arms over her chest. “I choose not to eat meat that’s my business. The supplements are fine, and when they’re not then I get a little top-up.” She shrugged. It really was no big deal. They were so totally overreacting.
“A top-up?” AJ’s eyes widened as he connected the dots. “You’re talking about a blood transfusion, right?”
Cassadee bit her lip and nodded.
“When was your last one?”
“About thirty-six hours before we met.”
“Fuck! So that’s why the damn Quickening was so late to the party.” Sam’s eyes flashed, and he grinned. “You didn’t smell right until your body had absorbed the transfusion, and then you were you again!”
“Yeah.” Cassadee nodded. “That’s what I think, too. No real way of knowing, but as I think I may need to talk to the hospital about a top-up today. Then I guess we’ll find out soon!” She took her cell phone out of her bag but stopped when AJ sat down beside her and placed a hand over hers. He smiled at her, and then leaned forward to press a soft kiss against her lips, causing her heart rate to kick up a notch again.
“Morning, precious,” he murmured against her lips. “Let us take care of you, okay?”
Cassadee bit her lip. Boy did that sound good to her. “Okay,” she whispered back.
Sam dropped to his knees bedside the bed, palmed her cheek, and kissed her just as sweetly. He pulled back, pressed his forehead against hers, and sighed. “Morning, my Cassie. I’ve just been talking to Ty, and he’s got Chris getting everything ready for you now. Come on, let’s get you showered and dressed then we’ll head down and get you topped up?” He pressed another soft kiss to her forehead, then helped her up. She could seriously get used to this.
An hour later and she was lying on a bed, hooked up to the usual machines with blood dripping slowly into her. She was feeling much better. and the boys had brought her a chocolate croissant and coffee for breakfast. AJ handed her the croissant with the suggestion that she would need the “extra energy.” After taking the croissant, tearing a piece off, placing it gently in her open mouth, and swirling her tongue around the chocolate while channeling her inner porn star, she sassed back, “My energy levels will be just fine. You just make sure you and your brother can keep up.”
Chris groaned. “Please can we keep the sickening I’m-getting-hot-sex innuendoes for when the poor bastard who isn’t getting laid has left the room? Please? Have a little heart, huh?”
He winked at her to show he was kidding. Chris was a great guy. She had gotten to know him a little at the bar, and he was such a wonderful, caring guy. Maybe she should talk to Faith about him and see if there was anyone they could potentially set him up with.
“Oh no.” Chris suddenly walked back away from her, hands out as if warding her off. “No, no, no. I know that look on a woman, Cassadee Shaw. It’s the same damn look Faith gets every damn time she looks at me! Hell, no. I can find my own mate and women and do not need you to help find or trap one for me. You hear me!”
He timed that perfectly and the door closed behind him as his last word rang through the room.
Sam and AJ, who had been watching their friend basically moonwalk out of the room, turned to look at their mate questioningly. Cassadee kept her face innocently blank with just a touch of a what-on-earth-was-that look. Both narrowed their eyes at her, so she batted her lashes and grinned. Shaking their heads, they grabbed some of the supplies they had brought for her so that she wouldn’t be bored. They were going to be there for a while.
Placing magazines, an iPad, Skittles—nom-nom-nom—and two bottles of water within easy reach for her, they settled down to wait for her treatment to finish. She spent the first while talking to them about her disease and telling them what she needed to do to manage it and how she had handled over the years. They didn’t question her about her being a vegetarian, which she appreciated. That was a story best kept for another day.
AJ’s phone rang, and he excused himself to talk to their unit chief. She and Sam got to talking about the bar. She was explaining about what she would need for a Margarita Madness party that she thought might be fun, an entire evening themed around Mexico that would see them serving Mexican food, listening to a great band, and serving a wide range of frozen and natural margaritas available. When he looked at her strangely when she talked about the frozen margaritas she grabbed the iPad to show him what she meant.
Opening it up she was startled to see it opened to a page that was titled “Our Mate” at the top. What the hell? She scanned down and she felt her jaw drop at the level of detail they had obviously put into it.
“Cassie, baby, what’s up? Can’t find the image you were looking for?” Sam asked from across the room, lounging in one of the armchairs.
“Oh,” Cassadee said as she leveled him with a look, “I don’t think it’s me who hasn’t found what they were looking for?”
When Sam frowned at her and then looked at the iPad in her hands, she waited. AJ came back into the room talking about start dates or something, but she just waited for Sam to make the connection and for the pieces to fall into place for him. As AJ threw himself into the other armchair, Sam’s face suddenly cleared as he worked it out. Cassadee had to stop herself from laughing aloud at his look of horror as he looked at the device then her and back again.
“Oh, shit,” Sam groaned and closed his eyes.
He must have sent something to AJ on their link because he suddenly tensed and whirled around with a similar look of horror written on his face. He even did the rapid to-and-fro looks from the device in her hands to her face. She placed the device in her lap, folded her hands over it, and looked at them both.
“Ah, now you see…well the thing was, we…well,” Sam stuttered and then looked at AJ.
AJ glanced back at Sam, then stepped hesitantly toward the bed and stopped. Placing his hands on his hips he let out a huge breath. “Baby, I got nothing. I can think of absolutely nothing to say that is going to make any sense right at this minute or to get us into the least amount of trouble so I’m gonna go for raw brutal honesty.”
This should be good, Cassadee thought, still fighting not to laugh.
“Sam did it.”
“What!” Sam leaped up and smacked his brother in the back of his shoulder, hard enough that had he not been a shifter Cassadee was sure it would have been dislocated, as he moved past him. “AJ, you spineless fucking toad! We both wrote that useless list, in one of these very fucking rooms not more than a week ago! I’m sorry, honey, we were obviously still on huge doses of pain medication. Shit, I can’t even remember what we wrote! Rest assured we can delete the words and just past your picture under the heading.”
AJ rolled his shoulder wincing as he stepped up beside his brother. “Yeah, baby, it was us, and I agree on the whole highly medicated part, too. We didn’t know what perfection was until we met you. We’ll delete that page—hell reformat the while device. Fuck it, let’s just throw the damn thing away and buy you a new one.”
They both stood there looking sorry for themselves and Cassadee finally couldn’t take it any longer. She laughed and laughed so hard she was afraid she might never stop. AJ and Sam glanced at each other and then stepped to flank the bed. AJ took the device and placed it on the bedside table when it looked like her laughing would knock
it to the floor.
“Babe, did we miss the part where you understood what we’re saying, you accepted our apology, and then we shared a joke? Because I gotta tell ya, the punch line has been missed by the males in the room.”
Cassadee, took deep breaths to try to get her laughter under control. “Just give me a second,” she wheezed. Then a few deep breaths later, she was able to continue. “Jesus Christ, that was the funniest thing I have ever read. Some of it actually made sense, but you lost me when you said that your perfect mate loves to cook and keep a nice home, loves children, never talks back or argues, loves football, and has a huge soft heart. She bakes everything from scratch and makes sure you leave the house in freshly pressed clothes and with a homemade packed lunch. Who in the hell are you mating? Suzy Homemaker?” Cassadee fell about giggling and the boys growled low.
“Yeah, okay, as I said we were on drugs at the time.” Sam grinned. “Now we’d just write your name.”
Cassadee felt her heart melt.
“Actually when you say it, it does sound stupid,” AJ muttered, “but in our defense, how were we to know that the Fates would have the perfect woman already lined up for us?”
He leaned over and kissed her, soft nibbling kisses that had her toes curling. When he pulled back, Sam turned her head in his direction and kissed her, too. She knew she was far from perfect, but she wasn’t about to tell these two that. She would talk to them about their mating bond, and then she would need to come up with a plan for dealing with Bryan.
Her mind tripped over something Chris had said, something about a trap. A plan started forming, and she worked on it silently as AJ and Sam took their seats and started talking about what their unit chief had said on the phone. She was going to have to talk to them and Ty and Trent before she could implement it, and she knew they weren’t going to be overly happy with her plan, but if it got Bryan and her father out of her hair in one fell swoop and allowed them to move on with their lives together, then surely the risk was acceptable, right? She was convinced but didn’t think Sam and AJ would be as easily persuaded.
Chapter 7
AJ hefted his kit bag from the back of his truck and walked into Country Blue. Inhaling the scent of home and holding it deep in his lungs. He and Sam had been on a training camp for the better part of the day and he was hungry, tired, and just damn pleased to be home. Sam was at the hospital getting one last sign off from the doctors to declare him fit to work so they could be placed on the roster again.
Chief Holland had really put them through their paces today, making sure they were truly up to the fitness level required to do their jobs. Smoke jumpers had to be in peak physical condition to do what they needed to do in order to save lives. He ached slightly from having to complete the grueling tower run, the bane of every firefighter’s existence. Having to lug twelve 140-pound hoses up twelve flights of stairs just about killed him, shifter or not! It didn’t help that he was competitive and refused to lose against his brother. It was usually a he wins one Sam wins one kind of thing, and today he had come off the winner.
Grinning he remembered taking on Brendan doing the same race a few months ago. He had beaten him but only just. Cody had bet against Brendan but won some cash, which he put on the bar. Yeah, it was pretty awesome being part of a pack.
He looked around the bar. There were more and more people coming in mid-week than there used to be. The bar was nearly full, everywhere he looked he could see people enjoying a drink and the restaurant had a good number in it to. He smiled as Lucy waved in his direction from the front desk to the restaurant. He caught a flash of blonde that had his dick swelling, and he turned to get a better look and there she was. His mate. Cassadee was the one woman who would forever hold the other half of his heart, even if she was too scared to acknowledge it. He caught her eye and grinned at the heat that flickered in her gaze. It had been almost a week since their first night together but the flame was still burning hot, and getting hotter by the minute.
He had just taken a step in her direction when he saw her suddenly frown and her eyes flashed amber. He was slightly confused until a warm, soft body plastered itself to his front and ground against him with a growl. His erection deflated fast as a cloud of sickly cloying perfume filled his senses and he found himself being kissed. Tensing and trying to get away from the part woman, part octopus without hurting her, he yelped when he felt her slide her hand down and pinch his ass. Hard.
“Hmmm, hey, AJ, baby, long time no see.” Her voice was high-pitched and breathy.
AJ tried to stand back a bit from her, but she was insistent. He looked at her trying to place her but was struggling, if the truth be told. He had never slept with her, he knew every single person he had been intimate with, but for the life of him he couldn’t place this woman. She wasn’t a shifter. She had fake boobs, was too thin for his tastes, red straight hair and green eyes. He was about to try to exit the situation gracefully when she was suddenly ripped away from him and flung to the floor. He grabbed onto his mate as she leaped in front of him and made to reach down and grab the woman by the hair.
“Ow! What the fuck is your problem, you stupid bitch?”
Her whining suddenly struck a chord. Nicola Roberts. She had been one of the bad employment mistakes he had made over the past year. She hadn’t lasted long when she found out they weren’t interested in finding a wife and she would actually have to work for a living if she stayed.
“You. You are my problem, and believe me when I tell you, you don’t want to ever be a problem for someone like me,” Cassie growled at her and tried to get out of AJ’s arms. Damn, she was fierce when she was pissed off.
Nicola got up, dusting herself off. “AJ, baby,” she whined in his direction and he felt Cassie tense, “who is this woman?”
“This woman,” Cassadee snapped, “is his woman. And if you touch him again I’m not going to be so nice about putting you on your ass.”
AJ felt his dick swell at the possessive tone in her voice. She turned and shot him a look that said, “Really? Now?” And he grinned and shrugged. Yep, pretty much anytime he had her in his arms, with her luscious ass pressed into him, he was gonna have wood.
“Really.” Suddenly, Nicola’s voice wasn’t so sweet and nice any more. Her face changed to a snarl as she got right up in Cassadee’s face and snapped. “Well maybe he feels it’s time for a change. Why the hell would he want ground chuck when he could have prime steak?” Then she put her hand on her cocked hip and thrust out her fake boobs.
Oh, no she didn’t. He held Cassadee tighter fearing that she was about to rip this woman a new one. But then his mate surprised him. She started laughing, hard and practically collapsing in his arms.
“Did you just”—she paused to giggle a bit more—“refer to us both as a piece of meat? Really? Sweet Jesus, AJ, how did you ever let someone so incredibly classy get away?”
The people in their vicinity laughed at Nicola, who turned an interesting purple color and stormed out, hopefully never to be seen again.
Cassadee suddenly spun around to face him and he froze at the amber flashing in her eyes. Hot damn his kitten was all fired up! “Who the hell was that?”
“Umm, that would be Nicola and she used to work here.” AJ grimaced. “We didn’t always hire the best people, which is why Lucy does it all for us now.”
Cassadee crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him some more, the amber had faded though so he knew he wasn’t in too much trouble.
“And just how many more of these bad decisions are going to come and grope you in the bar in front of me.”
She had that haughty voice of hers on that had his engine revving. Looking around he saw entirely too many of his teammates and friends watching them with huge grins and way too much interest. To hell with this.
“Heath, throw this behind the bar for me, would you!” He threw his kit to one of his staff who was paying attention to the floor show, and then he popped his shoulder into Cassadee’
s stomach gently and hoisted her up into a fireman’s lift. Turning he started striding for the door that would lead to the stairs to led up to their apartment.
“Hey!” Cassadee yelped and he heard the laughter in her voice.
“Quiet, woman!” he mock-growled as the crowd, laughing at their antics, parted to let them. “If I am going to be having a conversation where it looks like I may end up looking like an ass, we will do it in the privacy of our own home.” Holding her gently so that he didn’t jar her as he ran up the stairs, he didn’t stop until they were inside, the door locked, and he was able to throw her gently to the bed laughing.
“Okay, so here’s the truth of it.” AJ stood at the end of the bed, still wearing his uniform, his hands on hips. “I was a player, I loved women, and they loved me. I have had sex with more than a few women, but less than a lot of the people downstairs probably think I have. To me, you are my mate. That means my one and only and from now on the only one I will ever fuck will be you.” He pulled his shirt over his head, smiling as she licked her lips and knelt up on the bed, reaching for the hem of her T-shirt. “And I will be fucking you a lot, baby, starting right now.”
He shucked his pants and boots. By the time he had finished Cassie was already lying on the bed, up on her elbows, knees spread showing him his own personal heaven. Her pussy was glistening and the sweet scent of her arousal perfumed the air, making his dick harden. “Damn baby, look at you.” AJ could hear the awe in his own voice.
He threw himself onto the bed, bringing his face close to her pussy. He reached under her and cupped the firm globes of her ass. He lifted her pussy to his mouth and dove right in.
“Ohhh AJ,” Cassadee moaned, bringing a groan from AJ at the desperate tone to the sound. “Oh, baby, you are so damn good at that. I don’t care about the women you were with before we met, AJ.” Her voice trembled with pleasure and she ground her pussy against his mouth, flooding it with her cream. “I know I’m it for you, just as you and Sam are it for me.” She gave a breathy laugh, which had him pulling back to look at her.