by Jenika Snow
She walked up the bedside table and set the tray down. There were two bowls of water and some clean gauze on it. “You’re at my farm that I share with my brother. I found you yesterday in the middle of the road—”
“The young girl I was with, where is she?”
“Annabelle?”
He nodded, feeling himself and his animals start to worry because she needed to be okay.
“She’s in the next room. She’s woken up off and on, eaten a little, but…” She cleared her throat and looked down.
“What?” He raised his voice, not meaning to yell, but so fucking frustrated and confused with the situation that he couldn’t control himself. He hated that she flinched and took a step back. Roake felt like an asshole, a cruel male that had just met his mate and was treating her disrespectfully. He scrubbed a hand over his face, breathed out, and when he was about to apologize because she was only trying to help, the bedroom door slammed open the wall. The male that stood in the doorway was clearly her brother, and the scent of his clouded leopard, and the fact he was pissed, had Roake’s own animals instinctively coming up.
“It’s all right, Jason,” Roake’s mate said, and although he knew he shouldn’t act like this because these shifters were clearly helping him, he was wounded, angry, and wanted to fucking figure out what the hell was going on.
“Do you remember anything?” she asked, and grabbed a chair to sit beside the bed. She might have the scent of being afraid, but her inner animal was strong, and she was pushing that fear aside. The fact she was coming so close to him when he knew she could smell how feral he was right now, told him his little female was tough. But he couldn’t handle a mate, not now, and probably not ever.
“Is Annabelle okay?” Roake asked again, and made sure to keep his voice low and as nonthreatening as he could handle at that moment.
“My mate is fine,” the male gritted out, and Roake looked at him with narrowed eyes.
Mate?
“She’s yours?”
The male nodded, but his jaw was still clenched tightly.
“Then why the fuck are you in here and not tending to her?” Roake said low, deadly, and did not mask his animal anger. Roake may not have any sexual desire toward Annabelle, but he took her under his protection, and after all of the shit she had been through he didn’t want her hurt anymore.
The shifter male growled low, but when he opened his mouth to say something his mate stood and placed herself between Roake and her brother.
“Jason, please, not now.” She spoke low, but didn’t speak softly enough that Roake couldn’t hear her. After a second Roake’s mate said something else to her brother, and the shifter finally growled again, narrowed his eyes in Roake’s direction, and turned to leave. He didn’t shut the door behind him, but that was okay because Roake didn’t want to frighten her anymore than he already had.
She faced him again, but before he could speak she held her hand up. “Before you say anything else, I want to explain a few things.”
He snapped his mouth closed, clenched his jaw, and knew that if he wanted to find out what was going on, and what his next move was going to be, he would need to show some control and keep himself in line.
“Okay, I knew that when you’d wake up this was going to be hard for you. I don’t know what you and Annabelle went through, and I don’t know if you’re responsible for the explosion in the forest, but you can’t talk to me or my brother in that way.” Her expression hardened. “We are helping you, and you’re in our house. You need to show us some respect, and in return we will show you the same kind.” Her expression softened, and she smiled. “We just want to help and figure this out, too.” She cleared her throat, and then said in a softer tone, “Besides, we’re mates, and that’s something else that we will have to deal with.”
Well fuck, all it took was one woman to make him feel like an insensitive fucking asshole.
“You’re right.” He had never apologized in his life. He had always done whatever the hell he wanted, not cared about the repercussions, and allowed his animals free rein to handle his aggression and the violence in his life. A shifter male could be a prick on the best of days, but being a hybrid, and having two animal strengths inside of him, meant that he was doubly aggressive. “I’m sorry, but the shit Annabelle and I have been through—” He glanced away, wanting to be back in that underground prison and kill those men all over again. He wanted to take that kill away from Annabelle, because she would always remember that, and it would haunt her. She was a soft, gentle female, and should have never been in that situation to begin with.
His mate nodded, and then smiled, and Roake swore the fucking room lit up.
“Okay, well how about I get rid of these dressings, and then you can get cleaned up and get something to eat?” She grabbed the chair and sat down.
He nodded, didn’t take his eyes off her, and knew that if he wasn’t careful this female could control a lot about him. He didn’t even know her name, but that didn’t matter, because she was his mate, the one person that was born to be his.
“What’s your name?” He watched her throat work as she swallowed, and although she was trying to be strong and not seem affected, he could smell the effect he had on her, especially when that scent was her arousal. He was still hard, and despite it being the most inappropriate time for that reaction, it was unavoidable. She just smelled so damn good, looked so fucking gorgeous, and his animals were trying to claw out of his body and get closer to her. But he was just as strong as they were, and refused to relinquish his strength to them. Besides, he was still weak, and it would take several hearty meals, rest, and his wounds healing, for him to be able to let them roam free.
She lifted her head and stared at him, and the odd shade of green that was the color of her eyes drew him in. She looked like she may have a touch of Asian influence in her genes. With her slightly almond shaped eyes, long, thick dark lashes that matched the color of her hair, she looked exotic.
“Emma Leno, and that was my brother, Jason.” She put some latex gloves on, grabbed a piece of gauze, dropped it in the bowl of water, and then stared at him pointedly. “And what’s your name?” She gestured for him to turn on his side away from her.
“Roake Bishop.” He hadn’t spoken that name since before his capture, hadn’t even thought of himself as that for so long that it felt weird saying it out loud.
“Roake.” She said his name softly, and then he felt her peel away the bandage that he had on his back. She did that several times, and then he felt the coolness of the damp gauze she started to clean his wounds with. This unknown emotion filled him slowly at first. The longer she stayed silent and tended to him, the more these emotions filled him.
“An unusual name for an unusual shifter,” she said softly again, and the feeling of the water dripping down his body had him closing his eyes. Even before his imprisonment he had never been with a female for more than a few hours at a time. Only having sex with the females had been the safest route, because Roake had always felt this wild energy inside of him. He just knew he wouldn’t be a good male in a relationship. He was too jealous, too wild and untamed most of the time, and he accepted that. With a family that didn’t want him, and even told him that he was nothing but a stain on the Bishop name, Roake had stayed to himself and believed that.
“I’m nothing special.”
She was silent for a moment, but after several awkward moments she finally spoke.
“You’re young.”
Her cheeks turned red, and she glanced away for a second. “Not really. I’m twenty-five.” She looked at him again. “How old are you?”
“Thirty-five.” Fuck, he felt like they were exchanging personal information for a fucking dating show.
No, you’re just not used to being around someone aside from Annabelle that gives two shits about you. This is your mate. Treat her like that.
He breathed out, knowing he needed to grapple with his control. He felt like he was losi
ng it.
“I’ve never met a hybrid shifter before.”
He didn’t respond.
“You’re a lion and tiger, right?” When she cleaned the last wound, and he hadn’t answered, she spoke again. “Turn over.”
When he was on his back he stared at her. She really was beautiful, and his animals were itching to come out, to show her that they wanted her, too. But no doubt if she saw what he looked like shifted, not fully a lion or a tiger, but a mix of the two and probably not very appealing to the eye, she’d be even more frightened.
Because of his dual genes he was bigger than most shifter males, which was saying a lot since they were large to begin with. But he had never cared about what others thought when they saw him shifted because he had been doubly strong. Right now though, just picturing her freaking out, frightened, too, had this sour taste in his mouth. He growled low, not because of what she had said, but because he was pissed at himself. Having her was not something that was realistic. He needed to heal, make sure Annabelle was okay, and then take her to her mother. But then on the heels of that thought he realized that he would most likely come up against some issues with Jason given the fact Annabelle was his mate.
“I’m nothing special, believe me, Emma.” He liked how her name rolled off his tongue, and how it made his animals calm slightly.
“Somehow I find that hard to believe.” She did the same process of cleaning the wounds on his side, too. “You’re a Tion, right? I mean that’s what they call your two animals, right?” She applied the last bandage, but she stilled when she clearly heard the low, dangerous sound that left him.
He hadn’t meant to let the noise out, but it was involuntary. Just hearing that name, that fucking derogatory name, had rage filling him so fiercely that he couldn’t even breathe. Hearing that name brought him right back to that cell.
“That is not a name I associate myself with.” His voice was deep, a rough timbre that sounded more animal-like in quality than human. Her eyes were wide as she stared at him, and she slowly nodded, and then licked her lips.
“Noted.” She glanced down at her lap, and once again he felt like the biggest motherfucker. But he couldn’t help it. Hearing that name meant that he was back in that cell. She stayed silent as she cleaned the rest of his wounds, but he did notice that way she stared at his tiger stripes on his side.
“I was kept in a cell, whipped and tortured, experimented on, and degraded.” He had said the words without taking his gaze off of her. She slowly lifted her head and looked at him, and the empathy that came from her wrapped around him like a damn fucking blanket.
“And Annabelle, too?” She phrased it like a question, but he could tell in her voice she already knew the answer.
“Yeah, and I’m sure other things that weren’t done to me.” Roake didn’t elaborate, but he could tell by her expression that she knew he meant raped. “They called me ‘Tion’, used it in a derogatory manner, and because of that it isn’t a word I want to hear.”
She nodded again. “I’m sorry.”
He smelled her emotions as if they were his own, and Roake wanted to reach out to her, but he wasn’t going to cross that line. She made quick work to clean the rest of his wounds, and then she stood.
“I’ll let you clean up.” She pointed to a room to the side. “There is a bathroom in there, and you can shower and shave, if you want.” She lifted her gaze and stared at him, and Roake’s heart beat a little faster. “I’ll have some food for you out in the kitchen, just across the hall, when you get cleaned up.” She licked her lips, and he could see the reaction she had to him, even though she was just talking to him. The mating call was fierce and powerful, and he felt it, too. “I put some of Jason’s clothes in the bathroom so you can have something clean to wear.”
He opened his mouth, not sure what he would say aside from thank you for saving his ass, but before he could say anything she turned and left him alone.
Chapter Five
Annabelle lay in the bed and stared at the ceiling. She had just woken up about twenty minutes ago, and listened to Roake and Emma speaking. It was easy enough when she was in the room right next to his, given the fact she was a shifter and could hear them as clearly as if she were in the room with them. She didn’t want to be here, and not only because she missed her mother. Things felt weird now that she knew she had a mate, and he was just in the next room over. The first time she had woken up he had been sitting there, watching her. To say it was unsettling was an understatement, but the reality that she had left her prison only to be thrust in a world where a male would want to own every part of her seemed ironic in every sense. She may be young, but in the last year of being the plaything, the degraded object for so many twisted and demented male shifters, Annabelle knew what she wanted in life. And that was not being the mate of a possessive male that looked at her like he wanted her stripped bare for him.
She also knew what they had wanted to do with her and Roake, and had heard some of the guards taunting her with that fact. Being forced to have sex with a man because of the drugs they gave them, and then become pregnant as a result, was so twisted it made her sick. She cared for Roake because they were one and the same, but it wasn’t an emotion that was on any kind of sexual level.
She closed her eyes and breathed out deeply. Her mate, Jason, was so big and strong looking, and the scent of his clouded leopard, an animal she had never come across before, had her inner animals fighting to rub up against him. But why would he want a mate that was damaged goods? If he knew what those shifter guards had done to her, what they had made her do to them, surely he would be disgusted and want nothing to do with her? But it didn’t matter anyway, because even if he did want her, she couldn’t stay here and be a male’s piece of property. And that was how a shifter male saw their mate, right?
Annabelle just wanted to go home.
The few times she had woken up Emma had allowed her to try to call her mom. Dialing her phone number had been so strange, because it seemed like ages since she had done it. But all she had gotten was a disconnection notice. Annabelle had thought her mom would still be at the same house, but why would she when it probably reminded her of the life she had with her missing child?
She sat up and hung her legs over the bed. She was tired, hurt everywhere but was whole, and that was what she was thankful for. If not for Roake and these two shifters she would be dead right now.
“I thought I heard you moving around in here.”
Jason’s voice drew Annabelle away from her thoughts, and she lifted her head and stared at him. “You heard me?” Had he been close, just waiting for her to wake up? Or was he so attuned to her because they were mates that he could sense her awake? That made sense, and scared the hell out of her at the same time, too.
“I brought you some soup that Emma made earlier today, if you’re hungry?” He walked in, and although he was purely alpha, and that was clear by the way he held himself, he moved toward her like he was hesitant. Could he scent the horror of the life she had led? That humiliated her, because she didn’t want her mate, even if she had no plans on staying here, looking at her as if she were really damaged.
“I’m not hungry,” she said softly and moved back on the bed when he came closer. The only scents that came from him were the worry he felt for her and his need to claim her. She may not be afraid of him, but it was a strange situation regardless because of what he was to her. He set the tray that held a bowl of soup, a piece of bread, and a glass of water on it, and then went over to sit in the chair that was pressed against the wall. For several seconds he didn’t say anything, and they just stared at one another. Annabelle wanted to tell him that whatever he thought might happen between them just couldn’t. She was too ruined, and she needed to find her mother. She hated that in the blink of an eye someone’s life could be taken away, and all these regrets started piling on.
“So, Emma says that the shifter that she found with you saved your life?” Jason asked softly
, but he didn’t keep the deep gruffness out of his voice.
She didn’t speak, but did nod.
“Emma, my sister, says you’re banged up pretty badly, but that you’ll heal fast.”
“Is your sister a nurse?” She pulled the blanket over her legs once she had them back on the bed. He was attractive, so much so that his masculinity made every part of her stand at attention. But the reason she didn’t want to look at him was because she had gone to the restroom and saw how the side of her face looked. It was an ugly shade of blue and purple, with swelling that was atrocious. That didn’t even count the way her back looked.
“No, but she’s taken care of all of the sick animals we’ve had on the farm.” Jason leaned forward and rested his forearms on his thighs. “You…” He glanced down, and she saw the way he clenched his teeth. “Are you and the other shifter together?” When he looked up at her she could see that he was trying to keep his possessive anger in check.
“Together?” Oh, she knew what he meant, but she was a little taken back by his forwardness, and she didn’t know why she was. “No, we aren’t together in any sense except that we left out of…” She swallowed hard, feeling her throat dry even further. He continued to stare at her, not moving. Hell, she didn’t even think he was breathing.
“It’s okay. Just eat something and get some rest. We can speak later.” He stood and then nodded toward the tray. “If you’re not hungry for soup I know Emma,” he stared at her, “and me, would love to have you out of this room and walking around. I know there are a lot of questions you have, and so do we.”
She nodded and watched as he turned and left her alone. Annabelle sat there a moment, thinking about everything that had happened. It was strange to be so young, yet feel so old. Annabelle looked down at her clothing. She wore a pair of dark sweats and an oversized t-shirt that Emma had given her. She had only been here for twenty-four hours, but already these shifters had treated her more kindly than anyone else since her captivity, well, aside from Roake. God, Roake. How was he holding up? He may act strong and tough, but she knew he had to be hurting, too.