by Jenika Snow
“Miss, are you okay?” Emma scanned her gaze up and down the woman. She was thin, almost too thin. Her arms and face had bruises covering them, her bottom lip was busted and swollen, and a trail of blood was moving down the side of her temple.
“I…” the girl said. “I … the men…” She turned and faced Emma, and although her eyes were open, and she was staring right at her, the girl was not really looking at Emma. She was in shock, clearly, and hurt badly. “He was there and then just gone.” She mumbled again, and on instinct Emma looked at what she had thought was a log. No, not a piece of wood, but a body.
“Come on, sit in the truck and get out of the smoke. We’ll get you taken care of.” The girl didn’t fight Emma as she helped her to the passenger side of the truck. Once she was inside she got in the driver’s seat and pulled up close so she was right in front of the person lying on the road. She darted out of the truck and moved quickly to the man on the ground. He was shirtless, and his jeans looked like he had been wearing them for a decade straight. He was filthy, and beat-up, and if not for the fact she saw his chest rise and fall, she would have thought he was dead. His face was away from her, and so she slowly moved around him, got down on her haunches, and stare at his face. Then realization slammed into her, and she reached a shaky hand out and pushed a strand of his dark, long and matted hair away from his face.
Her mate.
“Oh God.” She didn’t know how to take what was happening right now. This wasn’t just a shifter male, but her mate, and he was near death in the middle of the road. His face was covered in a thick beard, and one side of his face was so swollen and bruised that it was unreal. But amidst the unpleasant scent of blood and dirt that surrounded him, her clouded leopard rose up and rubbed itself under her flesh. Chills raced up her spine, but she knew she couldn’t sit here and think about what was happening. She would have to worry about the whole mate thing later, because right now if she didn’t get him and the girl someone where safe where she could really look at their wounds, she didn’t doubt they would die.
She closed her eyes, swallowed roughly, and when she opened them again she took a deep breath. “What in the hell happened to you guys?” she said to herself softly. This man wasn’t just a shifter either, but a hybrid shifter of lion and tiger breeds. He was a hybrid, the same as the girl. One was unusual as it was, but both of them being hybrid made this whole situation way off. She needed to get him to the truck, but he was huge, despite clearly looking like someone had done a number on him.
She stood and raced back to the truck to grab her purse. Although she knew she wouldn’t have any reception, right now she was frantic to do something. She grabbed her cell phone, looked at the signal, and cursed when it read NO SERVICE. She looked at the man again, and then went back over to him. She had no idea what kind of internal injuries he had, if anything was broken, or if moving him would do more harm than good, but she couldn’t leave him here. Even if she wanted to she couldn’t get past him on the road, and going all the way back down the mountain in reverse what not something she could maneuver safely. Besides, that would take too much time, and her clouded leopard told her that she needed to move swiftly. She’d have to try to move him, because right now she had no other options. This road led to the farm and nowhere else, so there was no chance of another car coming.
“Okay, big guy, we have to get you off of the road and into my truck.” She glanced at the girl, and although she looked like she was still zoned out, Emma wouldn’t be able to move him without her help. She went over to the passenger side door, opened it, and grabbed both of her hands. “Listen, I’m not sure what in the hell happened with you guys, but he’s hurt really badly, and you don’t look like you’re in much better shape.” She kept the whole “mate” thing to herself, for right now at least. She didn’t know who this girl was to him: a lover, friend, or maybe his prisoner? The girl stared at her, and Emma reached up and brushed a piece of her dirty and matted blonde hair behind her ear. The girl flinched, and Emma knew she had clearly been abused, but was it by the man lying on the floor? “Did he hurt you?” Emma asked softly, praying that wasn’t the case. It was unusual for a shifter to just up and find their mate, rare to some even. She would be devastated if her mate was a kidnapper or … she shook her head, not about to go there.
The girl blinked a few times, and looked over at the man again. “N-no.”
Emma stared at her, not wanting to push her because she was already rattled, but knowing they had to hurry.
“He saved my life,” she whispered.
Emma exhaled a relieved breath. “Do you think you can help me get him in the back of the truck?”
The girl turned back and faced Emma. She nodded. “I can try.”
Emma helped her out of the truck, and they made their way over to him. “What’s your name?” She couldn’t be more than twenty, and maybe even that was pushing it.
“Annabelle,” the girl said and stared at the male.
“Okay, Annabelle, let’s get him in the truck, and I’ll take you back to my farm. It’s only about fifteen minutes from here.”
The girl nodded, yet still focused on the hybrid male.
“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
Annabelle nodded. “He saved my life,” she repeated.
It took some maneuvering, but they finally got him into the back of the truck. Once Annabelle was back in the passenger seat and Emma was in the driver’s side, she didn’t waste any time in hauling ass to the farm. It was a rough ride, and Annabelle had since passed out. Maybe from exhaustion, or maybe her helping Emma had just been too much. Either way, Emma was freaking out.
The trees opened up to the ten acres of property that she shared with her brother. Emma might call it a farm, but it wasn’t one in the country sense. They had the one mare, a small coop of chickens that provided enough eggs for them and the diner they supplied for Sunday morning breakfasts, their two cows that they milked, and a few other animals that grazed the property. The house was of the cabin style, but in a town like Sweet Water, where the residents were mainly made up of the shifter variety, there was nothing “traditional” about anything.
She drove up the gravel driveway and parked in front of the house. Jason opened the door, and Tubs immediately darted out and proceeded to plop his fat kitty ass on one of the rocking chairs. Jason stopped when he saw Annabelle, and then she watched as her brother glanced at the body in the back of the pickup. She saw him mouth “what the fuck”, and any other time she might have smiled. Today was not one of those days. She climbed out of the truck, glanced at the sky for a second, and felt a chill race through her at how ominous it looked.
“What the fuck is this? You leave for groceries and come back with a passed out girl and a … corpse?” Jason didn’t say it in a joking manner, and in fact looked scared as hell when he stepped up to the back of the truck and looked at the male. “God, Emma, you didn’t hit him, did you?”
She hurriedly went over to the tailgate and put it down. “No, of course not. I found him lying in the middle of the road on the way up here, and her,” she pointed to Annabelle, “came stumbling out of the woods. She said he saved her life.”
Jason looked from the shifter male to Annabelle.
“Can you grab him and I’ll help her inside?”
Jason nodded and went over to get the hybrid out. She walked over to the passenger side, opened the door, and caught Annabelle before she fell out. The little shifter moaned and slowly blinked her eyes open.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Annabelle said and closed her eyes again.
Emma glanced at her brother who was carrying the shifter—her mate—fireman style over his shoulder, but right before he walked past her and into the house he topped, inhaled deeply, and let out this low, deep growl. Could Jason scent that the male he held was her mate? He’d only be able to smell her emotions, nervousness, and her animal clawing to get out. He turned just his head and glanced at Annabelle, who was p
artially awake, but so out of it that she could barely stand on her own. “Jason?” Her brother stared at Annabelle with this almost predatory look on his face.
He slowly pulled his gaze back to Emma, and said in a low, deep voice, “She’s my mate.”
And she’d just stepped into the Twilight Zone.
Chapter Four
Emma sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the bedside table closer to her. It was cocked to the side, with the lamp on it but pushed all the way to the edge. She had gauze, ointment, hot water and rags, and even a suture kit spread out on the surface in front of her. The hybrid male was lying on the bed in a spare room, and Annabelle was in the next room. It was an hour after she had found them, and after she had gotten all the supplies and tended to Annabelle’s wounds, she was now working on her mate. She closed her eyes and opened them again, feeling weird for thinking that. Yes, he was her mate without a doubt. She couldn’t even describe the feeling when she had first seen him and that knowledge had slammed into her. It was like a recognition, a sense of belonging and comfort. It was so weird given the fact he was unconscious, and had been through hell.
Emma stared at his side. He had some nasty cuts and bruises that merged and intersected with the dark lines of his tiger heritage. It was strange to see actual evidence of one of his animals on his human form, even if it was tiger stripes on his side. She glanced at his other side, and saw that he was marked there, too. The lines started right under his arms, and stopped below his waistband. How far did they really go? She felt disgusting for thinking such things, especially when that thought was accompanied by the image of him nude. He was injured, unconscious, and she couldn’t even control her emotions right now.
She put on her rubber gives, grabbed a fresh and sterile four-by-four of gauze, and poured some peroxide on it. She had used the hot water to clean off the blood and grime from his face and chest, and just seeing the scars and wounds that covered his back was enough to have her gut clench. And then he had the marks that circled his wrists, ankles, and even neck, and she knew that this man had been someone’s prisoner. She had him propped on his side, and brought the soaked gauze to one of the clear whip marks between his shoulder blades. She winced, knowing he was out and couldn’t feel it, but not able to stop the empathy that moved through her body. Her animal rose up, angry at whoever did this to its mate. If they could control a man that was as tall and most likely very muscular at one time, and that house two very deadly predators inside of him, she wouldn’t have been match for them. That still didn’t stop her from feeling anger on his behalf, and for wanting to do damage to the ones that had hurt him and Annabelle. If she felt this strongly about this stranger, she could only imagine what Jason was feeling right now.
She might be feeling this strong connection for him, a man she hadn’t even met before, spoken to, or knew what the color of his eyes were. But a male shifter took the possessive and territorial to a whole different level. They could be scary about it, deadly even, and not afraid to hurt someone seriously if they threatened their mate. Emma may keep to herself, and stay busy with her small farm, but she had a few friends in town that were mated. Luke Landon, the cougar shifter doctor of Sweet Water was a close friend, as was his mate, Alice. Then there were the Wylde brothers. They were bears shifters that owned Wylde Construction and had helped them repair the barn last year. They had come up, with their mates and children, on several occasions for dinner, and Emma had seen the way the males were with their women. It was something Emma always thought she’d never want nor need. She had so much to do with the farm, and if she didn’t keep her head in the game she could very well lose what her parents had worked so hard to build.
She glanced at the wall and knew right on the other side of that was Jason sitting in the chair by Annabelle’s bed, probably still running the washcloth over her dirty and wounded face. She had never seen her brother like that, but she supposed she had never felt like this either. How strange that that they had found their mates on the same day? She glanced at the wall clock once more. Emma had called Luke to see if he could come up, but because of the explosion just miles from the farm, and two hikers being gravely injured, Luke was helping save their lives at the hospital. She hoped he’d come here soon, because although she didn’t think Annabelle or this male would die, she didn’t know how serious their injuries really were. It was one thing to tend to an animal that had a small cut, because right now, trying to clean his wounds, even suture up the deeper ones, made Emma feel nervous and unbalanced.
Jason entered the bedroom, and she glanced up from running a fresh piece of gauze over a cut. He didn’t say anything, but she did notice they way he clenched his jaw tightly. He stopped by the small television on a table across from the bed, and turned it on to the five o’clock news. And then he sat there, still didn’t speak, and stared at the screen.
“Jason, are you okay?”
He nodded.
“Is Annabelle okay? Well, as good as can be expected?”
“I don’t know, Emma. I think,” he said gruffly and glanced her way. “She seems to be sleeping comfortably.” He clenched his hands on his thighs and turned back to the television.
“And the top story happening right now in our very own town of Sweet Water,” the anchorwoman said. “What looks to be an underground explosion of some kind has rocked the small town, but officials and volunteers are tirelessly working on getting the raging fire under control. Until further notice residents need to stay in their homes, and out of the polluted air. Keep the roads clear for incoming and outgoing rescuers, and for your own safety.”
The news cut to an aerial view of the Sweet Water forest, and Emma could even see the farm and the property. It was only maybe a few miles away from them, but since they hadn’t been told to evacuate, and the fire seemed to be coming under control, she breathed out in relief. She glanced at the male on the bed once more, and then looked at the dirty rags in the small wastebasket she had set beside him. There had been a lot of soot, mixed with the blood and filth that had covered him.
“Jason, do you think he had anything to do with the explosion?” she asked her brother and glanced at him.
Jason was staring at the male now, and then shrugged. “I don’t know, but I did wonder that about…” He glanced at her. “I wondered that about my mate, too. She was filthy, and smelled heavily of smoke. You said they came from the woods?”
“Annabelle did. He was already lying in the middle of the road.” She pointed to the shifter. “Should we let the authorities know?” Even thinking that had a dark feeling in her stomach. This was her mate, and Annabelle was Jason’s. Turning them in seemed wrong, and her animal bristled at the thought. But if they had done this to their town, and risked lives, they needed to be held responsible for their actions.
Right?
“Let’s just wait until they are conscious, and then we can ask what the fuck is going on.” Jason stood, walked past her, but stopped and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Just be careful around him, Emma. He may be unconscious, but he is also a hybrid shifter, and you and I both know they go well beyond the realm of being animalistic.”
“I know, but we’re mates, and surely he wouldn’t hurt his mate?” She had phrased it like a question, because although mates were supposed to only want to protect the other with their lives, males especially, she really didn’t know how this scenario would play out. And that scared the shit out of her.
****
Roake felt the searing pain move throughout his entire body before he even opened his eyes. There was this great pressure on his chest and the scent of a feline that filled his nose. He slowly opened his eyes, the lighting dull and low. The first thing he stared at was a big fucking cat sitting right on the center of his chest. Sheets and a blanket covered him up to the waist, and that fucking cat was right up in his face. He turned just his head to the side and stared at his surroundings. He was confused and so damn tired, and didn’t know where the hell he was. The low gro
wl that came from in front of him had him looking at the behemoth of a feline again. Roake bared his teeth and hissed out, and the thing got his big ass off of Roake’s chest, and padded away. And then the door opened all the way, and a female clouded leopard shifter was walking through.
She had long, dark hair that reached her waist, and her focus was on the tray she held. But her body was filled in all the right places, curvy and lush. Her hips flared out, her thighs were thick enough they could hold onto him, and everything inside of him stood at attention at the sight of her. She said something low, presumably to the animal, and the cat meowed in response. But it was the scent of her that filled his nose, seemed to rejuvenate him, and had his cock, despite all the pain he was in, punching forward and becoming hard. He was naked under that blanket and sheet, but he couldn’t feel any shame for his physical reaction because of her.
She was his mate.
She lifted her head, and when their gazes locked on each other she stopped. Her eyes were this gorgeous green color, and his balls drew up tight. He could hear the rate of her heart beating faster and harder. Roake saw the beads of perspiration that started to cover her temple because of her nervousness. And lastly, he could see the outline of her nipples through her shirt, and smelled the scent of her pussy. She grew aroused. For several seconds all he did was stare at her, and then he had to loosen his hands because he had the sheets tightly grasped between his fingers.
She was his mate, and what a fucking way to meet her.
“You’re awake,” she said softly, and he heard her swallow. “I brought in some more rags to clean your wounds, but you must be hungry.”
“How long have I been out, and what happened?” He shifted on the bed until he was sitting upright. The pain was there, but he sucked it in and focused on the fact that he wasn’t a prisoner anymore, and that his mate was standing right in front of him.