by Becca Van
“It’s not a strong bond,” Wen whispered as if scared of jinxing the tenuous connection they had with their mate.
“No,” Mit agreed.
“We’re going to have to give her time to get used to us,” Wen said.
“I know.”
“Do you think she’ll accept us as her mates?”
“I wish I knew, Wen. Help me get her settled.” Mit carefully moved out from behind Krysta, supporting her head so she didn’t hit it on the headboard and then they gently pulled her back down until she was lying on her side between them.
“Look,” Wen said as he stared down at Krysta’s body.
Mit looked where Wen was. Their mate was already beginning to heal. He just hoped she would accept them as fast as her body seemed to be accepting the connection between the three of them.
But something told him it wasn’t going to be that easy.
Chapter Three
The moment Krysta’s conscience surfaced, she knew something was different. She felt lethargic and sluggish but underlying that sensation was a humming of energy. There was also another presence close to her and as she surfaced more, keeping her eyes closed, she knew that there was more than one person nearby.
She tried to remember where she’d been and what she’d been doing before she fell asleep. The memory of fighting the demonic flashed across her mind and the other beings who had appeared to help fight the shadow demons. As she remembered that she had a hard time not tensing and giving away the fact that she was awake.
“Open your eyes, love.” The smooth, deep baritone sent shivers up and down her spine.
With a sigh of resignation, Krysta opened her eyes, blinking a few times to clear her sleep-blurry vision. The moment her eyesight cleared she couldn’t help but gasp as she saw the two men sitting on chairs near the end of the bed. Her heart stuttered and began racing in her chest as she looked from one handsome man to the other. She’d never been this close to them and she was having a hard time controlling her body’s responses to their proximity.
“Where am I? Who are you?” Krysta cleared her dry throat and then her mouth gaped open as one of the men stood and raced from the room. He moved so fast he was almost a blur. When she realized her mouth was hanging open, she quickly closed it. She licked her dry lips, ready to ask the next question rolling around in her mind, but before she could the other guy was back. He was, standing close to the side of the bed and her, holding a glass of water in his hand. He offered her the glass and she reached for it gratefully. Her fingers brushed against his and she had to bite her tongue to hold in a gasp when shocks of electricity coursed through her body and centered right in her breasts and pussy.
She drank deeply until the glass was empty before handing it back to him, and she nearly sighed with relief as he moved away from her and took his seat once more.
“My name is Mitry Mosi and this is Weni Oba. What’s your name?”
Krysta wasn’t sure she should tell them anything just yet. Not until she was sure she was safe.
“Where am I?” she asked as she looked around the room.
“You’re in our home base near Great Salt Lake in Utah,” Weni answered.
She couldn’t help peruse his sexy body. Weni had been the one to get her a drink of water. His hair was so dark it looked black, but she could see tints of brown threaded in. However, it was his eyes that drew her like a moth to a flame. They were a bright green color which contrasted with his bronze skin coloring and dark hair dramatically. His jaw was strong and stubborn looking, which was graced with a five-o’clock shadow. His shoulders were very wide and his chest was so muscular it looked like he was about to burst out of his T-shirt. Even if she hadn’t seen him and the other man from a distance she would have known they were very tall. Both of the men’s legs seemed to go on forever and it looked as if the chairs they were sitting in were way too small for their height and bulky frames.
She glanced over to the other guy and met his light blue almost translucent gaze. The only time she’d ever seen eyes that light had been a Malamute dog. She felt as if he could see into her very soul and it made her decidedly uncomfortable. His hair was dark brown and although his jaw wasn’t as rugged as Weni’s, the aura of power emanating from him gave her the chills. She was going to have to tread carefully because she had a feeling he would be hell to deal with if she got on his bad side. As those thoughts coalesced, she noticed the lines near his eyes which made her rethink that first appraisal. Maybe he was just trying to intimidate her with the way his arms were crossed over the wide, muscular chest and how he kept his gaze locked to hers as if he was trying to stare her down. Those lines by his eyes denoted that he was quick to laugh and was maybe a bit of a jokester, but right now he was nowhere near having his funny bone tickled.
Krysta mentally shook her head and brought her mind back on track. She wasn't about to let either man intimidate her so she cocked her eyebrow and crossed her arms over her sheet-covered body. She hadn’t tried to sit up because she was only in her underwear and when she found out why her clothes had been removed and who had taken such a liberty while she was unconscious, she was going to give them a piece of her mind.
It was really hard to portray arrogant demand while she was still lying flat on her back so she unfolded her arms, gripped the edge of the sheet, and sat up. She scooted back to lean against the pillows and headboard behind her, before crossing her arms again. “What?” she finally prodded as she glanced from Mitry to Weni and back again.
Her heart was racing and she was panting, although she wasn't sure her reaction was fear. Since she didn't want them to realize that she was attracted to them, she decided to go on the offensive. Hopefully being a little aggressive would keep them from seeing her body's responses.
Just thinking about their unusual names had her thinking about their origins and her heart flipped in her chest. Her mind went off on fantastical tangents and her muscles began to tense.
“There is no need to fear us, little one,” Weni said in a calm, sincere voice. “We would never hurt you.”
What are these people? Are they aliens? Vampires? That would explain the blood-drinking. Gross.
Krysta hated feeling at a disadvantage and decided she would feel a hell of a lot better when she was standing on her own two feet. Grabbing hold of the sheet, she tugged it up as she scooted to the side of the bed and stood, wrapping the material around her as if it were a toga.
“What the hell is going on? Who are you people? Why am I here?” Krysta took a deep breath when she noticed her voice was becoming a little strident and then exhaled as quietly as she could so those two men staring at her wouldn’t hear. However, she had a feeling she wasn’t hiding anything from them and that frustrated her even more.
“What do you remember of last night?” Mitry asked.
“Fighting the demons and then you lot joining in after appearing out of nowhere.”
“How did you know about the shadow demons?” Weni asked.
Krysta rolled her eyes as she glared at the men but from the implacable resolve on their faces they weren’t going to answer any of her questions before she answered theirs. She quickly swallowed the groan of frustration which was bubbling up in her chest and began to pace back and forth beside the bed, kicking the trailing sheet away each time she turned as she tried to get her thoughts into some semblance of order.
“The shadow demons began attacking me a few years back in my dreams.”
“How did you know it was real and not just a nightmare?” Mitry asked.
“I didn’t, not really. At first anyway. When I dreamt of those fuckers trying to steal my soul night after night I got pissed off and started researching them online.”
“You found information of the shadow demons on the internet?” Weni asked incredulously.
“Yes. All myths and legends have some information listed on the World Wide Web. When I found out that the snake god, Apep was the ruler of the demonic and why he wanted to stea
l souls, I decided it was time to learn to fight back. There was no way I was letting an evil shadow demon take over my body and end up dying.”
“What did you do?” Mitry leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his spread knees. Krysta gulped at the masculinity that seemed to be oozing off of both men in waves. Warmth permeated her body, her nipples hardened, and her pussy moistened and softened. She gritted her teeth, silently cursing her traitorous body, and almost blanched when she felt emotions that she knew weren’t her own.
She pushed that tidbit aside for the moment, not sure why she was feeling what they were but planned to come back to it later.
“I found a martial arts and sword wielding expert and asked them to train me.”
“Who?” Weni almost growled that question.
Krysta’s eyebrow lifted as she stared at him for a moment, wondering why he was bent out of shape but shrugged it off. “Why does it matter? This person trained me and I started fighting the demons.”
“How long have you been fighting the demonic?” Mitry asked.
“Nearly two years.”
“Geezus, you could have been killed,” Mitry exploded with anger as he rose from his seat and stalked toward her.
“I probably wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t learnt how to fight. What did you expect me to do? Whimper and cower and wait for those fuckers to steal my soul and take over my body?”
“Calm down, both of you.” Weni rose and moved toward Mitry. He placed his hand on Mitry’s shoulder and she watched in awe as Mitry backed down.
Maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe Weni was the one she should be wary of.
“Do you know who we are?” Weni asked.
Krysta shook her head.
“Yet you didn’t seem surprised when we showed up last night,” Mitry stated.
Krysta nodded and then shook her head. For some reason she just couldn’t lie to either of them. The energy zipping through her body was becoming stronger, but so was her desire for Mitry and Weni. She was also at a loss as to why she could feel their emotions swirling around inside of her, as if she was connected to them somehow. It was very disconcerting and it was kind of scary. She’d thought the demonic were scary when she first encountered them, but they were nothing compared to these sexy, handsome men.
She’d never been attracted to any man before and to have her libido wake up and pine for two men was very perturbing. “I’ve watched you fight.”
“When?” Mitry asked.
“The night that one of the women got hurt and she drank blood from the bald guy.”
“Shit!” Mitry spun away and began pacing.
“Why didn’t you let us know you were there?” Weni asked.
Krysta tried to hide the smirk forming on her mouth and knew she hadn’t when Weni’s eyes lit up.
“What was I supposed to do or say? Hey, dudes, do you need help killing these fuckers? Besides you all popped away before I could get over the shock of seeing the woman drinking blood.”
“How were you able to hide your presence from us?” Mitry asked as he turned back to face her.
“I was lucky enough to be downwind.” Krysta glanced about the room. “Where are my clothes?”
“We threw them away. They had rips and tears from the demonic,” Weni answered.
That statement made her remember how injured she’d been and as she mentally scanned her body for wounds she was shocked to realize that she wasn’t feeling any pain at all. Krysta turned her back to the men and tugged the sheet away from her breasts and stared down under it to see there wasn’t a mark marring her body.
What the fuck?
After securing the sheet again, she turned to face the two men. “How?”
“You were hurt bad, baby,” Mitry said before he sucked in a deep breath. “One of the others brought a doctor here, but you’d lost way too much blood. You were dying.”
Krysta didn’t know what to say next because her mind was in turmoil as it whipped from possible scenario to possible scenario, but when it kept going back to the only logical answer, she found herself voicing the question spinning around in her mind like a broken record.
“Did you turn me into a vampire?”
“No.” Weni took a step toward her but stopped when she backed away from him. “We aren’t vampires.”
“What are you then?” Krysta sank down and sat on the side of the bed as she waited for the answer.
“We’re soul sentinels,” Mitry replied.
“What?”
Weni sighed and walked back to his chair, nudging Mitry’s shoulder to get him to do the same. When both men were both sitting down once more, Weni cleared his throat. “We are soul sentinels and demigods.”
Krysta snorted with disbelief but when she didn’t see humor lurking in Weni’s gaze she wondered if they were just downright plain crazy.
Mitry must have seen disbelief in her gaze because he began speaking just as she opened her mouth to make a sarcastic comment. “We have been fighting the shadow demons for almost five thousand years.”
“Five thousand…” Krysta’s mind went blank with shock.
“We were alive when the pyramids were being built. All of us were actually slaves and we knew we would die in enslavement.”
Weni took over. “That was until an elderly man who was too sick and weak to work fell to his knees and took a whipping. We hated the injustice of what was happening and stepped in. Of course we ended up getting whipped ourselves until Ra, the sun god, appeared on the scene.”
“Ra?” Krysta whispered.
“Yes. Ra had been watching Apep controlling the pharaohs as they used humans to build their pyramids and amassed wealth. When we moved in to protect a fellow slave, Ra decided enough was enough. He took control, dispersing the riches amongst the slaves, stripping the pharaohs and overseers of their wealth and power before sending Apep into the bowels of hell.” Mitry shifted in his seat as if he was uncomfortable telling the story.
“We ended up in a place between life and death called the fade.” Weni stood and moved to lean against the wall next to the door. “Ra was there and asked us if we wanted to work for him to help keep the humans safe from the shadow demons. All we’d ever known was slavery and hunger so we jumped at the chance to work on the side of good after being controlled by evil for most of our pitiful lives.
“We were given the gift of longevity as well as phenomenal speed, strength, and keener senses. For the last five millennia we’ve fought to protect the human race from Apep and his evil followers.”
Krysta felt bad for her attitude after hearing their story and the ring of truth to their voices. She couldn’t deny the fact that the shadow demons existed because she’d been fighting against them herself. How could she deny what they’d told her about being soul sentinels and demigods?
“If you aren’t vampires, how come you have to drink blood?” she asked.
“We don’t have to drink blood at all,” Mitry answered. “In fact I think we’ve only ever taken blood a couple of times in all the time we’ve been fighting the demons. We eat and drink just like you do. The only time we’ll take a sip or two of blood is when we’ve been grievously wounded.”
Krysta took a couple of moments to process what they’d said and while she was quickly becoming a believer, they still hadn’t answered one very important question. She wasn’t telling them her name or anything else about herself until she had what she wanted.
“What did you do to me?”
Chapter Four
Mit cursed under his breath when their mate asked the question he’d been dreading again. He’d hoped by telling her the story of how they came to be that she would be sidetracked and forget what she’d asked previously, but he could see by the determined light in her eye and the intelligence in her gaze that she wasn’t giving up until she had what she wanted.
He glanced at Weni, who nodded at him to explain. He took a deep fortifying breath and slowly exhaled, hoping to ease the tension in
his neck and shoulders and keep his shit together, in case she went ballistic when she found out that they had mated her. However, first he desperately needed to know her name. As much as he would have loved calling her baby and Wen little one, he knew that wasn’t going to wash with her for long. He’d seen the way her lips had tightened when he delivered that moniker but since the connection between them was barely there, he couldn’t link with her or even hazard a guess. It didn't matter that Ra had told them what her name was. He wanted to hear it from her own lips.
“Please, will you tell us your name?”
She sighed as she stared at him and then met Weni’s gaze. “Do you have something I can put on? I don’t like being wrapped up in a sheet.”
Mit wanted to growl in frustration but he quelled the urge before he walked to the dresser and rummaged in it until he found a pair of shorts and a T-shirt that had shrunk in the wash. He tossed them on the bed and waited for her to answer with his arms folded over his chest.
She leant forward, snatched the clothes up, and headed toward the adjoining bathroom. Mit ran his fingers through his hair in frustration and was about to ask Wen a question when she paused in the doorway, looking back at them over her shoulder. “Krysta.”
The door closed behind her before Mit registered what she’d said. When he glanced at Weni again, his friend was smiling. “Did she just say Krysta? The way she said it sounded more like ‘twister.’”
“She did.” Wen chuckled. “I like it. It suits her.”
“What?” Mit frowned.
“The name Krysta is Polish in origin and means she knows. Our mate lives up to her name. It says that a woman with the name Krysta is usually wanted by most men but she wants nothing to do with them. Most people love someone called Krysta because she can be wild, fiery, and yet serious and loving.”
“How do you know that?” Mit asked.
“Don’t you ever surf the internet?” Wen asked.
“Not really. I just look for what I need to know and once I’ve found it…that’s that.”