Fighting for her Mate: Shape Shifter Paranormal Romance (Sassy Mates Book 5)

by Milly Taiden

  “Yeah, okay, Ray. And if I call, be ready to off them.”

  “You got it, Rocco.” Ray slipped his phone back into his pocket and stared at the infants. He wasn’t sure what to do now. “You babies seem happy. Which is good. I don’t want to hurt any of you. I guess you all should just play or something.”

  Three sets of eyes stared up at him. A shiver ran down his back. There was something different about these babes. They looked at him like he was the enemy. He would swear the biggest one had a scary gleam in his eye, like he was going to get even.

  Then suddenly, all at once, they started crying.

  “No, no, no, babies. Don’t cry. Everything is good.” He hurried to the list Tonya left. When babies cry, 1) give them a bottle. He went to the fridge and plucked out three of many stacked on the shelves. “Hey, babes, it’s Miller time.”

  He handed the bottle to the first one on the floor. The boy wouldn’t take it. “Come on, kid. Give me a break.” Were they too young to hold their own bottles? Shit.

  Fifteen minutes later, the three babies sat on the couch--pillows, blankets, and clothes tucked in and around their small forms keeping them upright. He held two bottles for the boys. The female child started screaming. He put down one bottle and held hers. Immediately, that neglected boy started screaming.

  He set down the second boy’s bottle against his stomach and picked up the first one. The second boy wiggled around and the bottled rolled off the sofa to the floor. Ray let go of the girl’s bottle to pick up the one on the floor. She screamed immediately. He wiped the nipple on his shirt and shoved it in her mouth.

  The first boy squealed; Ray saw the bottle he held had pulled out, and stuck it back in. The second boy leaned on a loose pillow, rolling sideways onto his sister. Ray put both bottles down, creating instant screaming. He scooped up the roaming child and put him back into the middle and re-stuffed the pillow and blanket between him and his sister. The other two were still screaming.

  Putting bottles into open mouths, quietness reached his ears, until the middle boy screeched. Ray looked around for his bottle. It wasn’t anywhere. He picked up the kid to see if it had rolled between the sofa cushions. He slid his hand behind the material-covered square onto something squishy. His finger poked it, then he wedged the item between two fingers.

  He lifted out a used condom, contents still intact. He yelled and threw it as quickly as possible, not caring where it landed. The two babies still on the sofa laughed and gurgled. “You think that’s funny, do you?” He set the kid back on the cushion and re-tucked the padding. All three started crying.

  Ray fell to his knees in front of the sofa and pulled at his hair. He took a deep breath. He could do this. After juggling three bottles (he realized he’d stuck the bottle that fell on the floor into the girl’s mouth, when it should have been the second baby’s, so he took her old one and gave it to her brother. They were twins, they had the same germs, right?) for ten minutes, the children were content.

  Now what? He went back to the Tonya’s list. Be sure to burp after feeding. Okay, that was easy. He’d seen women do this all the time. He picked up the girl and she burped right away. Easy peasy. He had this.

  Ray picked up the first brother. He patted and patted and patted. Then instead of the burping noise from the mouth, he felt it come out the diaper end. And come out. And come out. Shit. Literally. He pulled the kid away, holding it under the arms, and set it onto the sofa carefully. That would have to wait. Hopefully the last burp will be quick.

  “Okay, kiddo. You’re the end of this disaster. Let’s do this fast. What do you say?” Ray hefted the big boy to his shoulder. “Man, you’re heavy compared to the other two. You’re going to be strong, aren’t you?” In response to his question, the infant jerked, then threw-up a mouthful of milk inside Ray’s shirt collar.

  The lukewarm liquid rolled down his backside to his waistband. He slapped a hand over his mouth to keep his own throw up from going down the front side. He put the child on the floor, swept the other two to the floor, then rushed to the bathroom.

  He ripped his shirt off and shimmied it over his back to wipe off the liquid. Well, it smeared more than come off. Three wails floated from the other room.

  SIXTEEN

  Barbara set a bowl of potato salad on the dining table followed by Tristan with a platter of rare-grilled steaks. This lunch was heavier than her normal deli sandwiches with pickle spears. But since all the boys except Jake were gathered around the table, Tristan saw a good opportunity to break out the grill.

  As Barbara pulled out her chair from the table, her cell phone rang. She hurried to the kitchen and unplugged it from the charger. The caller ID read Jake Wolfe.

  “Jake! How’s Vegas?”

  “Hey, Mom. Vegas is interesting. We’ve seen some horrible things. If this is anything like Caleb’s pack, then you need to get the alpha out fast.”

  “Hold on, dear. I’m putting you on speaker at the table. Your father and the boys are here. And Caleb and Ellie.” Everyone’s plate was filled with meat and potatoes.

  Tristan swallowed. “Hello, son. How are things there?”

  “Hey, Dad. It’s surprising, that’s how it is. This Grady Harris dude was one messed-up wolf. We’ve made lots of friends and a few enemies.”

  “What have you discovered?”

  “Harris had his fingers in a lot of pies. Including the mafia. He had a sadistic side I’m not going into. We’ve heard stories from pack members that make you want to bring him back to life just to kill him again. Painfully.” He sighed.

  “Do you need to bring in the police for any criminal investigations? I can get with our department here to find out who you need to contact.”

  “Thanks, Dad. We haven’t found anything with solid evidence for prosecution, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see money laundering, extortion, bribery, all that.”

  Mason leaned forward. “Jake, do you want Nate or me to come down to help out?”

  “Or Aric.” Aric crossed his arms over his chest, pissed-off expression shining.

  His mother patted his hand. “You know you can’t go, dear. We need you here right now. You have too much responsibility to be gone.” She leaned closer to the phone. “What about the alpha challenge?” She couldn’t care less about Harris’s deeds. She wanted to know how injured her son may be.

  “Oh, yeah. The council here has given us several days to decide whether or not we want to stay. The challenger is Harris’s cousin, who the pack thinks would be more like Harris than not. Most here don’t want him as their alpha.”

  “Is it too early to know whether you want to stay?”

  “Nic and I talked about that. After hearing horror stories that would rip your heart out, Dad, we realized these people have a lot of healing to do. I think Nic and I can help them get on a healthy path to recovery. But we have a few more days to think about it. Maybe someone besides Harris’s cousin will want the position. Someone good for them.”

  From the far end of the table, the guitar riff for Bad to the Bone played. Nate dug his phone out of his pocket. “Sorry, all.” He looked at the screen. “It’s Karla. She must’ve got my message to come over and eat.” He pushed a button and a screaming voice blasted from the phone. “Whoa, baby. Slow down. What about the babies?” Nate popped up from his chair. “Are you sure?” His face drained of color. The sounds of breaking bones pierced the air. “Fuck! I’ll fucking kill him.”

  Ellie jumped from her chair and grabbed the phone from Nate as his hand started to crush the casing. “Karla, sweetheart, this is Ellie. Take a deep breath with me. Come on, Karla. Deep breath. Okay, now tell me what’s going on. I’m putting you on speaker.” Ellie watched Nate pace.

  Karla’s frantic voice filled the room. “I swear to all that’s holy, I’m going to rip this motherfucker’s balls off when I get my hands on him.”

  “Karla, what happened?”

  “The babies have been kidnapped. I found a note that says surrender t
o Rahound or the babies die.”

  Caleb pounded a fist onto the table. “Too far. He’s gone too far. We go to war tonight, midnight.” He exploded from his chair.

  Barbara picked up the phone with Jake. “Did you hear that?”

  “Goddamn, yes. He hurts one hair—”

  “I know, Jake. I agree with Caleb. Tonight we fight. We’ll call you back later.” She pressed the red icon on the screen, then put her face in her hands. Tristan had Caleb by the shoulders, calming him before he left and did something foolish.

  Ellie put Nate’s phone on the table and snapped her fingers. “All right, everyone, back in your chairs.” The lack of movement aggravated her. “Now, Caleb and Nathan.” Eyes snapped to Ellie. They all felt the alpha pull to obey. Caleb stomped back to the table; Nate dragged to his chair. Her father smiled and gave her a wink and a nod.

  Ellie remained standing, leaning on the table. “Okay, we need to make a plan. I agree we do something now,” she glanced at Caleb, “but I don’t know if fight is what we want to do.”

  Nate pushed up from his chair. “We can’t fight. If we do, they’ll kill my kids. There has to be something else.”

  Ellie’s finger motioned him to sit, which he did, grumbling the entire time.

  “Think, Nathan. Don’t react. Emotion gets you killed. How many times has Dad said that?” She glanced at her father; he was serious, but smiling. “Okay, here’s a plan. Nate and I will go to the house with Karla. We’ll call Officer Barrons on the way and he’ll get the appropriate crew to investigate.”

  Caleb said, “I’m going to the alpha house to confront Rocco.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Aric said.

  Mason jumped in. “Me, too.”

  “Wait.” Their father’s deep voice rang with authority. “Caleb, I respect your position and responsibility, but your uncle has offended my pack. He and I will throw down about the kidnapping. If you want to make your challenge at the same time, then we’ll be there to back you. Understand, son?”

  “You got it.”

  The group dispersed in the same direction—toward the cars. Aric, Mason, and Caleb piled into Caleb’s truck. Nate squeezed into Ellie’s car, and Barbara and Tristan loaded into their SUV. From there, they split into opposite directions.

  Ellie glanced at Nathan. “Did you smell anything before we got into the car?”

  Nate turned to her. “I’m too keyed up. What did you smell?”

  “It was like Castor oil or fish oil. I don’t know. It was weird.”

  SEVENTEEN

  Caleb was so pissed at Rocco that he would tear the asshole into pieces. Forget waiting for the right time, he’d fight his uncle as soon as he got to the disgusting house. No need for a big to-do with the pack as witnesses, the enforcers would be enough. But they were his uncle’s men and he remembered how they participated in all of Rocco’s sex-fests at the house. He could see them lying to the pack about the fight or jumping in to help Rocco, cheating for him. Shit.

  He slammed his fist on the truck’s steering wheel. Aric and Mason glanced at him. Aric asked, “What are your thoughts, Caleb? What do you want to do?”

  “I want to kill the motherfucker. What do you think?”

  “To be legal, you know you have to present the challenge and have it accepted. If you kill Rocco outside of that, it’s considered murder.”

  “Yes, I know. Dammit.” Caleb ran a hand through his hair, then slowed for the sharp turn on the mountain road. “I can’t wait any longer. I don’t know what I was waiting for anyway. I guess I was hoping for a sign to tell me ‘now, Caleb. Do it right now.’”

  Mason shrugged. “Maybe the babies are the sign?”

  Caleb shook his head. “No, I feel…I feel something important is going to happen. Something that will scream now. But I don’t know what the fuck it is. It’s been driving me crazy. I’m done with putting this off. Who knows what the bastard will try next.”

  Approaching the next narrow curve, Caleb looked at his speedometer. “Aric, does your dad usually drive this fast? We’re fifteen over the speed limit.”

  Aric and Mason looked at the SUV in front of them and frowned. Aric said, “No. He always stays in the legal range, especially on these curvy roads with steep drops to the river.” As they watched, Tristan took the next corner faster than Caleb dared. The SUV fishtailed. Caleb pressed the brake to slow down before turning.

  Aric pulled his phone out. “What the fuck is Dad doing?” He pushed his speed dial for his mom’s cell.

  Before he had a chance to speak, his mother’s voice came through loud and clear. “The brakes aren’t working. We can’t slow down, Aric. We can’t stop. Remember what your father told you about the safe and all the important papers. Don’t ever forget we love you all.”

  “Mom, you’re talking like—” Aric choked. “Mom, you’ll be fine. Dad taught me well. I remember everything.”

  Caleb thought of his father’s death. He died on roads like these, falling asleep behind the wheel and rolling down to the ravine, his SUV exploding to bring his ending. He thought back to the last conversation he had with his father, just before he died.

  His dad had the latest cell phone technology in the car so the call played through the speakers. He could keep his hands on the steering wheel at all times.

  Caleb was out of town at a multi-day conference for next generation alphas when he called his dad. His father had just left the weekly board meeting, headed on his way home. The meeting had run long, but it was before ten o’clock.

  They chatted about Caleb’s mother, alpha things, and school. Then his dad was silent for a second then told Caleb he wanted to meet privately to discuss a rumor he heard about Rocco at the meeting. He didn’t want to get into in the car but when Caleb returned, they’d go out.

  Then his dad asked him the strangest question: “Caleb, did someone have Castor oil in the car?” Caleb didn’t even know what it was and asked why. His father said he smelled it when getting into the SUV. Caleb was clueless. They said goodbye and that was the last time he heard his father’s voice.

  Caleb held back emotions that tried to take him over. Now wasn’t the time to lose it. They had another crisis to take care of.

  The next curve was approaching too quickly. He felt helpless. There was nothing any of them could do. The three watched silently as the SUV ahead of them hit the rocky shoulder, smashed through the metal guardrail, and disappeared over the side.

  Caleb sat impatiently in the hospital waiting room. Aric had been pacing the hall forever. Mason vanished some time ago. Caleb had called all the mates to tell them what happened and to get here quickly.

  When he closed his eyes, the horrifying image of the scene flashed vividly in his mind. He wondered how similar his dad’s accident had been.

  After Tristan’s SUV went over the edge, Caleb slammed on the brakes within seconds where the vehicle went over. The two brothers jumped out of the truck before Caleb came to a full stop. He pulled out is phone as he stumbled down the rocky slope toward the mangled SUV and dialed 911.

  Pieces of the black auto littered the bankside. The SUV didn’t drive over the edge, it flew over. Airborne. Then plummeted to the ground. Caleb wasn’t sure, but it looked like the vehicle flipped several times, throwing engine parts and axels and wheels. He smelled gasoline.

  All he could remember was the brothers pulling their parents from the wreckage before the explosion. The force of the blast knocked them all off their feet. Thick black smoke filled the air. First responders didn’t have any problem finding them.

  Time moved in slow motion, yet everything happened so fast. Flashing lights was what he recalled the most. There were so many: multiples of police, fire, and ambulances. He watched as the fire crew brought up Tristan and Barbara on stretchers. They were dead. Had to be. By looking at the SUV, he didn’t see how anyone could’ve survived.

  A son rode in each ambulance when they finally took off, sirens blaring. He remained to give police in
formation to start the investigation. He was having a hard time keeping it together. He couldn’t imagine what the brothers were going through. Wait. Yes, he could. They would have nightmares like he had for years after his father’s accident. Survivor’s guilt would soon set in, even though it was illogical. That’s what the therapist told him, anyway. Logic didn’t work when it came to emotions.

  “Caleb!” Ellie’s near hysterical yell brought him back to the waiting room. He took her into her arms when she crashed into him. Her body shook with fear and sobs.

  “Hey, sweetheart.” He rocked her and rubbed his hand over her back. “They’re going to be fine. You know nothing like this could take out the alphas of the Wolfe pack. They’re too stubborn.” He felt her head move up and down on his chest, but her sobs were still there. He kissed her crown. “Let’s sit on the couch.” He guided her to the worn furniture.

  Karla and Nate, along with Aric and Mason, walked in. Mason handed Ellie a bottle of water. Karla asked Mason if he got ahold of Emma. He said she and Jordan would be there soon. The girls would be able to help Ellie, too. Their mates would help the boys.

  Caleb watched Karla and Nate. He couldn’t believe they were at the hospital when their children had been kidnapped. But then, there was nothing they could do right now. The note left at their house made it clear what was demanded. Plus, they had their cell phones if the abductor called. He was glad they were all together. They would need each other to get through this.

  As the final members of the family arrived, a female in scrubs came to the waiting room corner. “Is the Wolfe family here?” Everyone turned to her.

  Aric stepped forward. “We’re the sons and our mates. What can you tell us about them?”

  The doctor didn’t look happy. “Both your mother and father were in bad shape when they came in. Lots of internal bleeding, some broken bones. Your father was conscious and able to shift to heal his more serious injuries. He’s in recovery where we can keep an eye on him, but he’s stable.