Not that she could blame him. It wasn’t exactly a happy story, was it?
“What about her?” she asked softly.
“Mainly why you’re hiding out here and haven’t gone back home. I’m confused, Leila. I can tell you’re a home and hearth kind of girl. I just don’t understand that.”
She shrugged. “I’m not welcomed there.”
“Even after you funded her treatment?” He frowned. “Do they know you stole the money?”
“Of course not! My grandfather would never dream of touching it if he thought it was illegally purloined.”
Jay scowled at her. “So why, when they think you’ve made something of yourself, haven’t they asked you to come back?”
She hunched her shoulders again. “It’s complicated.”
“We have all day to discuss it.”
Kon’s resolve had her bowing her head and staring at the hem of her blouse. She began to pleat it with her fingers as she whispered, “My grandmother got sick a while back. The treatment worked at first. It was only simple radiotherapy, but it stopped the cancer. But there’s something on the Church’s land that’s not good for us. The leaders won’t talk about it, won’t talk about why people get sick a lot on there.” She shrugged. “My grandpappy did. He caused a stir, then he decided to leave the Church, period, because the leaders wanted grandma to stop having treatment. Said it wasn’t God’s will. So, they left, and she carried on having treatment, but she’s been around whatever it is that makes everyone sick too long. She got ill again. Worse, this time. And that’s when the treatments started getting costly.
“Insurance stopped covering them, and though this one is radical and partially paid for by a university because it’s for research, they still have to pay to take part.”
“If he’s outside the Church, why can’t you go and visit your granddad?”
At Jay’s question, she sighed. “He still believes in the Church, lives exactly as he once did, but just off the Church’s land and he refuses to stop fighting for my grandmother’s life—they’re one of the rare love matches. I don’t know what he’ll do when something happens to her.”
Jay blinked. “You mean to tell me that even though he cast the Church aside, regardless of the discrepancies, he won’t let you come visit because he doesn’t agree with you leaving the Church, too?”
She nodded. “I know, it doesn’t make much sense, but it does to him. He left for his wife’s health. I left because I was a modern, flighty girl and didn’t know better.”
Kon shook his head. “You do know how fucked up that is, don’t you?”
She gulped. Nodded. “You two swear a lot.”
Her blurted out comment had the twins grinning at one another. “It’s what we do best, babe,” Jay replied.
She frowned. “But you’re well spoken. Why do you need to swear when you have other words to use instead?”
“Nothing better than dropping an ‘F’ bomb right in the middle of a sentence,” Jay murmured with no small sense of satisfaction.
She frowned harder. “I don’t like it.”
“She’s trying to change us already,” Jay wailed at his brother who just snorted.
“Cursing’s in our veins, sugar. Don’t worry, we don’t mind that you won’t partake in some of our favorite words,” Kon retorted, neatly twisting her complaint around.
She had to smile, just at the cleverness of his dig. “If I flinch or act surprised, that’s why. You have to bear that in mind whenever you do drop this ‘F’ bomb you’re insisting on using.”
“That entire statement sounds pretty permanent to me,” Jay commented. “What do you think, Kon? I reckon someone’s getting used to the idea of being stuck with us.”
Her eyes flared wide at his words. Was he right? Had she relaxed her guard enough to start thinking this was all for real rather than some elaborate joke?
She blew out a breath. “I guess I am.”
“That’s great, sweetheart,” Kon murmured, his tone encouraging as he squeezed her ankle.
“But, I stole from your people,” she said on a low whisper. “They’ll never accept me. I-I guess I should turn myself into the police. That’s the right thing to do, isn’t it?”
Jay scowled at her. “Now who’s cursing? We never turn ourselves into the police. The minute they realize you’re mated to a Shifter, the whole rules change.”
“They do?” she asked, her eyes rounding at that admission.
Kon nodded, his mouth grim. “Unfortunately, he’s right. We have a truce of sorts with the humans, especially law enforcement, but we avoid them when necessary. We deal with that ourselves. And in this case, there’s nothing to resolve. We’ll pay the money back, and all will be forgiven.”
She gawked at them. “But that isn’t right. I should be punished.”
“I’m sure Mars will say your punishment is having to put up with the two of us for mates.” Jay grinned. “He loves us really.”
“Who’s Mars?”
“He’s your boss.” Kon snorted. “Mars Donner? The CEO of the company?”
Her mouth dropped open. “You know him?”
“He’s like our surrogate dad.” Jay shrugged. “He won’t be happy about what you did, but when he knows you’re our mate, that will change everything.”
“But that’s not fair,” she repeated, folding her arms across her chest so she could hug her elbows. She didn’t deserve such an easy path ahead of her. Not after what she’d done.
She’d committed sins. Not just one, but several to get to this point.
It wasn’t right.
“Neither is it right that your grandmother can’t afford to pay for healthcare to keep her alive.” Kon jerked a shoulder. “Life doesn’t always work out the way you imagine it, Leila.”
She blinked at that, because heck, had truer words ever been spoken when she was staring at two men who claimed to be her mates, who could turn into Bears at will, and who were promising to wipe free the crimes she’d committed to save her grandmother?
She let out a shuddery breath. Was this her lucky day or what?”
Chapter 3
The next morning, Kon eyed Jay over his mug of coffee in the diner that was attached onto the shitty motel where they’d spent the night.
His bro still looked peaky, if Kon was being one hundred percent honest. His skin was pale, and he had shadows under his eyes.
Pip wasn’t a doctor. She’d never trained to be one, and so they used Toni, another mate bound to the Clan, for official diagnoses.
Pip could heal quicker than Toni ever could, because she was a human doctor with training to help Shifters in emergency situations, but Pip didn’t have a clue what was hit or how badly. She just cured the wounds.
Whatever had happened to Jay must have been intense for him to still look like he was processing the after effects all these hours later.
It didn’t stop his twin from munching on eight rashers of bacon, five eggs, a stack of pancakes, and a waffle with fresh strawberries. If anything told him his twin was back on track, it was the bastard’s appetite.
He looked from the huge feast in front of Jay to the tiny one in front of Leila. She was nibbling on some toast with Canadian ham and an egg.
That was it.
Dear goddess, birds ate more than her.
His breakfast wasn’t as mighty as Jay’s, but that was because he didn’t need the extra fuel after being so injured yesterday. Still, it was enormous in comparison to their mate’s.
“You need to eat more,” he told Leila as she picked at her food.
She blinked at him, batting lashes that swept over those astonishingly violet eyes of hers. They were like something from a character in a video game, they were so bright. They seemed to be luminescent.
“I eat plenty,” she argued, then shot a rueful glance at his and Jay’s plates. “We don’t all eat like our stomachs think our throats have been cut.”
Kon chuckled at that. “I’ve never heard that
before. It’s a good one.”
Jay grinned too. “Mom will love that one.” He wrinkled his nose. “She always complains about how much we eat, but hell, she doesn’t have to feed us. She never cooks.”
Leila’s brows rose. “Never?”
“Nope. Mischa does.”
“Who’s Mischa?”
“Another mate.” Kon shrugged. “You’ll get to know all the names soon enough. But Mischa is in charge of the kitchen.”
“So what does your mom do?” Before either of them could answer, she clicked her fingers. “That’s right, she’s a dentist, isn’t she?”
They both nodded, but Jay was the one to answer—as usual. “A damn good one, too.”
”Didn’t your dad want her to stay at home to look after him?”
“That what happens to all the girls in your Church?”
She cast her gaze down and nodded.
“That place sucks,” Kon retorted, his words succinct.
She flinched at that, but whispered, “I guess to outsiders it does seem primitive.”
“Primitive?” Jay hooted. “The woman’s rights movement happened over ninety years ago, Leila. It’s a long time since a woman only had to think about pleasing the man in her life.”
She started to gnaw at her bottom lip, and Kon had to think she made more of a meal out of that tasty morsel than the breakfast in front of her. “You wouldn’t mind me working?”
The pair of them shook their head.
“Why would we?” Jay answered.
“Not at all,” came Kon’s retort. “If you want to work, work. If you want to stay at home, then stay at home.”
She blinked at what must have seemed like a very lenient and liberal attitude. “You’d be happy if I did either?”
“Yup,” they both said at the same time.
Somewhere between last night’s conversation after he hit the shower to now, Leila had come to terms with the fact she was their mate.
Kon didn’t know how or why or what had happened for that to be so, but he was glad. It made things a lot easier.
Having her kicking and screaming into accepting the mate bond wasn’t fun for anyone. And it wasn’t necessary.
This was supposed to be a joyous time. Nothing more, nothing less.
And he had to admit, if she’d fought it with all her heart, he’d never have made her go through with it.
The mate bond was supposed to bring joy. Not fucking misery.
Still, he was relieved as fuck that that wasn’t the case. They hadn’t particularly said anything as far as he was aware that would have made her more at ease with the future, but all he knew was she was talking about an inclusive future. She hadn’t tried to run off last night. And though she was seated at the edge of the banquette, not at the window where Jay was, he felt no fear that she’d try to hare off and leave them in the lurch.
His instincts were top notch. He was used to watching people after all. Used to monitoring them, and figuring out what they were about to do… He knew all was well with his mate. Knew it like he knew his ugly mug and his brother’s in the mirror.
“You ready to come back to the clubhouse with us today?” Jay asked after he’d chewed down a massive mouthful of food. How he could eat scrambled eggs with waffles and strawberries, Kon didn’t fucking know, but his brother had the weirdest eating habits this side of the Mississippi.
She bit her lip. “I guess. Is that where you live?”
Kon nodded. “For the moment.”
Jay shot him a look. “You know something I don’t?”
“You really want to live in the clubhouse with someone as genteel as Leila?” He cocked a brow at his twin. “They swear more there before breakfast than she’s probably heard in her life.”
Jay grimaced. “True. It might not be the best place for you, Leila, but once things are settled, we can move to the estate. The Clan has this subdivision where a lot of mated couples live. We can live there.”
Leila’s eyes widened. “You’d do that? For me?”
“You’re our mate,” Kon said simply. “Of course.”
She gulped. “T-This still feels crazy. I can’t believe it’s happening.”
“Believe it,” Jay said with a smile.
“You seem a lot more at ease with the idea today, Leila. Sleeping on it did you some good?”
She bit her lip. Again. Goddess, she was going to make it sore. “I know it sounds crazy but the longer I’m with you, the more right it feels.”
“That doesn’t sound crazy. You’ve told me a lot of shit that sounds insane, but that isn’t one of them. That’s normal, baby,” Jay told her softly, reaching over to squeeze her hand.
When Kon saw the disparate nature of their sizes, he had to shake his head in wonder at the game the goddesses were playing.
One of them was too big for her, never mind two together.
He scrubbed his jaw, hating the stubble there because he’d never kiss her with a beard on him. It would scrape that beautiful skin of hers, and she was too delicate, like fresh cream, for him to rough up with the early makings of a beard.
“This morning, when I woke up, I thought it might be a dream. I was so relieved it wasn’t. Then, I thought you two might have left, that it was all a joke or something. When I saw you on the bed, Jay, and looked over and saw your feet falling off the sofa, Kon, I was so happy… I had to accept that you were everything you told me you were, because two of you?” She shook her head. “I doubt I can handle one of you.”
Kon’s eyes twinkled. “You’ll see.”
“That’s what makes me nervous,” she admitted shyly, ducking her head a little to rob him of eye contact.
With a grin, he shot a look at Jay and saw his brother’s eyes were smoldering. He felt it too.
The joy. The sheer fucking glory of hearing their mate admit she was theirs.
Breakfast tasted a lot fucking sweeter after that, Kon found.
An hour and a half later, they were back on the road. Because Leila’s truck was a piece of shit, and they both had their bikes to haul back to the clubhouse anyway, they were on their hogs. Leila had elected to go with Jay, which Kon was used to so wasn’t offended.
Most of their girlfriends always fell for Jay at first. Kon’s silence discomforted them, until, after a while, they realized there was nothing going on with the silence. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk, it was just he preferred the peace. After being around Jay for a while, and considering he’d been with the chatty mother fucker since day one, they started to understand why he liked things real quiet.
His lips twitched at the thought because though his brother could talk the ear off a monkey, he wouldn’t change the bastard. Not one bit.
Leila would get used to Kon’s silent ways as she’d adapt to the non-stop chatter from her other mate.
Women usually found him intimidating. Jay, though he was bigger and a little bit more padded out, came across as a BFG. Kon just looked like a brick shithouse.
It was a fact he’d long since come to terms with, and wouldn’t ever change because that would involve smiling more.
That was never going to happen.
Dear goddess, Bears would fly first.
As his brother and mate turned off onto the road that led to their clubhouse, Kon would admit to feeling relieved. He’d not liked the fact Leila would be riding on the back of Jay’s hog because his twin was still weak. Squeezing him around the gut wasn’t exactly great for his injuries, and Leila had the look of a first-time rider…
Still, Jay hadn’t complained when she’d elected to ride with him. Kon knew he’d be relieved to get off the bike though.
Hell, Kon would be too. He loved being on the back of his hog, but after yesterday and the last week or so which had been spent traipsing around after Leila, trying to figure out what her game was, it would be great to be back on terra firma once more.
Dust soared around him as he made it down the long, shitty road to the only home he’d e
ver known in all his years. It would be weird to move out if that’s what Leila wanted—and she would. No way would she be able to cope with the insanity of club life—but he’d do it for her.
In a heartbeat.
By the time he made it down there, the gates were open because they’d let Jay and Leila in. As suspected, Jay was wincing as he climbed off the hog … straight into their mother’ arms.
Kon winced at her shrieking, then pulled to a halt and kicked out the stand. As far as he could see, yesterday’s brush with the dirt hadn’t scratched his bike anyway. Thank the goddess. Still, it would have been worth it.
Getting to Jay’s side last night had been beyond imperative.
“And you! I told you to watch out for him,” his mom shrieked as she strode over to him as he took off his helmet.
“I did. He’s alive, isn’t he?”
She glowered at him and stacked her hands on his hips. “How am I supposed to sleep at night if you’re not keeping your brother safe?”
Kon huffed, but there was no point in arguing. Though he was technically the younger brother, by a good twenty-five fucking minutes, that didn’t matter.
It wasn’t that Jay was the golden boy or the favored son. It was simply to do with Jay’s oddity. The whole ‘feel no pain’ thing. It fucked with his head and made him pull stupid stunts that got them both into trouble. Of the moral and physical variety.
“It was a car, Mom. Not a gang set on kicking him to death. What should I have done? I can only corral him so far, dammit.”
Her bottom lip popped out, making him groan. “No, don’t cry.” He grimaced as he stepped forward and wrapped her in a hug. At barely five six, she was tiny in comparison to her twin sons, and she was swamped in his embrace, but that didn’t matter.
She snuffled against his chest, making his t-shirt damp as she huddled into him. Jay shot him a wry look, and their father just eyed his mate with concern.
Kon was under no doubt that this, Christie’s current reaction, was far less panicked than it would have been last night.
JAYDEN (MC Bear Mates Book 9) Page 5