by Joyee Flynn
“Yes,” Cyrus growled, getting a strange look from Riley. “You will let me tend to you right now.”
“No,” I whispered, looking at Riley with a pleading expression. “This isn’t how I was supposed to meet my mate.”
“Oh fuck,” Riley gasped and glanced at Cyrus. “You need to choose then. Who do you want to treat you?”
Well, wasn’t that a fucking question if I ever heard one. Have my brother-in-law see and hear everything or my stranger of a mate. My head started spinning, and I realized I was going to pass out before I decided.
“Pick me now, amante,” Cyrus ordered, his soft lips pressed against my ear. “Take my hand and show Riley that you will let me treat you. I will make all this go away and take care of you from now on.”
It sounded so nice, so inviting. Just give it all over to my mate and he’d handle everything. I reached for his hand, noticing it was bigger than mine, and nodded as I blacked out.
* * * *
Cyrus
That was all the acknowledgement I needed. Hell, my mate was now passed out so it didn’t really matter anyways. But when I felt something wet against my pants, I realized his injuries might be a lot more serious than he was letting on and it might take both of us anyways.
“Fuck!” Riley snarled. I glanced at him and followed his gaze. Yup, there was blood leaking out of the end of the tarp and dripping all over my scrub pants, the scarlet droplets standing out in stark contrast to the pale green color of the fabric.
“Let’s go,” I said quickly, not willing to waste another second with this patient. Especially since he was my mate. We pushed the gurney through the double doors into the side entrance to the clinic. The bright lights and white walls of the hospital assaulted my eyes as we sped down the hallway with Damian.
This would go down in the most fucked up first weeks of a new job in history. I’d been here a whole five days, learning the ropes of the warrior hospital, getting to know Riley, and settling in. Now I met my mate, he could be dying, and god only knew what we would find when we lifted the tarp.
“Oh my god,” Riley cried out, tears filling his eyes as he slowly peeled away the tarp from my mate’s wounded flesh. I sucked in a harsh breath through my teeth. Damian was covered in blood and more wounds than not. “Did they try to skin him alive?”
I wondered the same thing but didn’t stop to ask. I shouted for the other staff of the clinic. Since Riley had the place built, he’d hired one nurse, one administrator, and I was the newest addition. And it was all-hands-on-deck time.
I felt bad for the two women as we barked out more orders than any sane person should have been able to handle.
“Get Desmond here now! We need his blood,” Riley ordered the administrator, Mara. We’d apologize later for being so harsh, though I’m sure they understood. We weren’t yelling at them because they did anything wrong. It was more just the situation.
“He’s on his way,” she replied, looking as if she was bracing herself for impact.
“What? You called him? I told you not to tell anyone.” Riley was seething and looked as if he would eat her for lunch as we worked on Damian.
“No, you told Janice not to tell anyone about the patient you were going to help,” she replied, shaking her head, her lips pressing together to form a thin line before she spoke again. “I didn’t know that was the same patient that the pilot was talking about when he radioed in that he had Damian Marius and was on the way back here. I thought you were driving some—”
“Fine!” Riley snarled, shaking his head and throwing his hands into the air. “But we need to all have a sit-down and work on our communication real soon.”
“Yes, doctor,” they both said quickly. As if knowing we were talking about him, Desmond came racing in the trauma room, Elena hot on his heels. Both of their faces wore expressions of distress.
“Janice, set up a direct IV,” I ordered as I quickly made sure my mate’s groin was covered from his parents with a sheet.
“What happened?” Desmond growled.
“We don’t know and we don’t have time for questions,” I snapped, mostly because the not knowing was killing me as well. “His pressure is going down along with his heart rate. If we don’t get more blood, strong blood, into him now, he will die.”
Desmond’s face paled as he looked at his youngest son.
“Shit, he’s going into shock,” I told Riley.
“Oh no he’s not,” Elena said firmly and grabbed her husband and turned him to face her. Staring directly into his eyes, she shouted, “Desmond Marius, you sit your ass down so we can help Damian.”
When he continued just to stare, I shook my head and went back to trying to temporarily close all Damian’s wounds until we had time for more permanent measures. Or he just healed. Why wasn’t he healing like he should? Vampires, warriors especially, healed wicked fast.
A loud crack got my attention and I glanced up in time to see Elena pulling her hand away and a big, bright, red mark on Desmond’s cheek.
“Right, thank you,” he mumbled, rubbing the side of his face gingerly and clearing his throat. “Sorry about that.” His eyes were still wide, but some color was returning to his face.
“Nothing to be sorry about,” Riley said gently as Janice moved them both to sit by Damian’s head and started the IVs. “No one should ever have to see their child in this state. If there was any other way—”
“No, I’m glad we’re here,” Desmond interrupted. “Our boy needs us, and the more people who love him that are around when he’s hurt, the better.”
I raised an eyebrow at Riley as we worked. Was this guy for real? Could this family be so tight that they’d all be standing in here right now as we saved Damian if we let them?
“Yes,” Riley answered as if knowing the unasked questions in my head. “Mating into the Marius family is something I can’t put into words.”
“Well, I hope you meant that in a good way,” Elena muttered. She was sitting there, hooked up to her son, whispering to him softly, but still heard what Riley had said. Oh, she was good.
“Of course, Elena. But after centuries of it just being my grandmother and I, you have to admit your family is slightly overwhelming.”
“I never denied that, but we all love each other and you,” she replied hesitantly, glancing at me. “Welcome to the family. We’ll discuss it later, but I would like to know the name of the man helping to save my son, who also happens to be Damian’s mate.”
“Cyrus Diaz, ma’am.” Wow, she either had a crystal glass ball under that perfectly manicured hand or she was physic.
“Nice to meet you, Cyrus. Now save my son.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I mumbled. Like I wasn’t going to anyways. Just as I was worried things were going to go really wrong, Damian’s blood pressure started to go up. Thank fuck! His parents’ blood was helping.
“Wait, he’s Damian’s mate?” Desmond asked his wife quietly, trying to not interrupt us.
Elena rolled her eyes playfully at her husband and sighed. “Why else would they be discussing what it’s like to be a member of our family?”
“So much wisdom and beauty all in one woman is dangerous,” Desmond said, so much love in his voice it made my heart hurt. Glancing down at the broken, damaged man in front of me, I couldn’t help but hope maybe it would be like that for us one day.
If we could heal him.
“Okay, we’ve got all the immediate wounds closed and there were no internal injuries,” I said, snapping out of my daydreams. “It looks like he tore most of the gashes open by moving. They have some jagged edges but start as though carefully placed and cut with a scalpel.” It was one of the most bizarre things I’d ever seen. What happened to my mate?
“We’ll talk later,” Riley hissed, his eyes darting to Damian’s parents before wiping away some more blood. “I’m going to start healing the bigger wounds. Janice, would you please grab me a few bags of blood?”
“Someone was torturing
my boy?” Elena snarled, her fangs coming out as her eyes started to shift colors. Whoa, that was trippy. They went from a gorgeous kelly green until they were so bright they almost looked iridescent.
“We don’t know, Elena,” Riley answered, not looking at his mother-in-law. Oh, he was so fucking lying. He might not know everything, but he knew something. Of that I had no doubt. “And you know I can’t tell you anything anyways. Let’s just help get him better and then we can piece together what happened.”
“Of course,” she said graciously, nodding her agreement. Her eyes went back to normal, and I realized this was not a woman I ever wanted to fuck with.
Good thing I was about to mate into the family. Greeeeat.
And if that wasn’t bad enough…
“Is he okay?” a man asked as he walked into the trauma room with another one. Damn if they weren’t brothers. I glanced down at my mate, realizing they had the same hair and eyes, big build as well.
“Just how many people are in this family I’m mating into?” I groaned, seriously thinking they might be more than I could handle.
The bigger of the two turned his gaze on me, narrowing his eyes. “We’ll see if you’re good enough to mate our baby brother.” Was he serious? I raised an eyebrow from my seated position. He moved closer to me as if trying to intimidate me with his size. I smirked and stood to my full six-ten height, smiling when I had him beat by a few inches. It looked like he was about six eight.
“Are we going to whip them out next?” I asked in a sarcastic tone. “You don’t get a vote in whether we mate.” I nodded down toward the unconscious man on the table, my voice softening until it was just above a whisper as I took in the beaten and battered form that was Damian again. “Only he does.”
“I think he’ll fit in just fine.” Desmond chuckled, shaking his head.
“I swear I’m going to start adopting random women as daughters just to even out the testosterone levels in the house,” Elena grumbled.
And I had a feeling I would need to start drinking heavily to deal with this family.
Chapter 2
Damian
“Hey, amante,” a gorgeous man said as I opened my eyes. “Ay dios mío, you are a looker. I’m going to have to keep both eyes on you at all times.” He smiled sweetly at me, his amber eyes sparkling.
“Huh?” My head felt like a boulder had rolled over it several times, and now it was apparent I had some stranger watching me while I slept? I took a deep breath before blasting the guy and telling him where to shove it. Oh, right. My mate. Whoops. “Not Amante. Damian,” I mumbled, figuring that was as good of a start as any.
“I know your name.” He chuckled as he leaned forward to whisper in my ear. “Amante means lover in my native tongue, mate of mine.”
“Oh,” I replied, clearing my throat and trying not to notice how great he smelled. His scent was wonderful and fresh—a mixture of pine and the smell of being outside right after it had rained. “Who are you?”
“Cyrus Diaz,” he purred in my ear as he moved his body closer to me. How had I not noticed he’d been sitting on the bed with me and was now lying down? I felt my heart rate go up a couple notches as he opened his mouth to speak. His voice was deep and smooth and velvety and amazing. “You don’t remember meeting me. It’s okay, you were pretty banged up. It will come back to you.”
And just like that it did. “No.”
“It’s okay, I got you, amante,” he whispered as I started to shake. I tried to push him away, but arms like steel wrapped around me. “Keep calm and breathe. Nothing is going to hurt you here and everything’s been taken care of. Your only concern is getting better and answering my questions.”
“Your questions?” I asked, gasping for air as my heart raced and I remembered everything. “Why do you have questions for me?”
“Well, your family needs to know, too, but I pulled rank as your mate and said I alone would talk to you.” I glanced up into his kind amber eyes and didn’t know if that was the sweetest thing ever or presumptuous. A little of both probably. “Want to tell me what happened and how you got to that club?”
Just like that my heart broke. “No,” I said as I pushed him away, hard enough to get some distance between us. This nice man would never understand the depravities in my head and what I needed. And I couldn’t be honest with him any more than I ever could my family or friends.
“Really? You’re telling me no?” His voice went cold and hard, and for whatever reason, I found myself stopping my struggles and looking at him. “I think we both know why you were at that club, amante. I want you to tell me right now and I will reward you. But make no mistake, deny me again or ever lie to me, and you will be punished.” I couldn’t keep back the shiver of lust at the idea of him punishing me. “Yes, you will make a wonderful mate.”
I realized he’d busted me. All these years, no one in my life knew my secret, but within five minutes Cyrus knew. “How did you know?” I heard myself asking, shocked I could even have made my mouth work I was so floored.
“Because we are two halves of one whole, amante,” he answered gently, moving us so we were both lying on our sides in bed, facing each other. Cyrus brushed one of my errant chestnut-brown curls out of my face. “Fate would not have given me someone who does not enjoy what I do in life and sexually. So when I finally got Riley to spill what he knew about what happened, I put some of the pieces together. You went there to be dominated, yes?”
“Yes,” I sighed, glad I didn’t have to say the words. “I found a man who was attractive enough and seemed to be into my brand of sex. We talked for a while, laid down rules, and the next thing I knew I was barely functioning as if I drank a case of vodka.”
“This man drugged you?” He looked surprised and pissed as his eyes widened but his eyebrows furrowed.
I narrowed my eyes and growled. “I’m not a moron. I’m a trained warrior. No way some human sitting next to me sneaks slipping something into my drink. It had to have been the bartender because he was there when I woke up.”
“So you are not a true submissive,” he replied, smiling widely.
“Wait—huh?” I asked, confused on the sudden topic change. I still wasn’t functioning on all cylinders and I was hurting bad.
“You snapped at me and got defensive. You are not a true submissive who is into the lifestyle.” It was a statement, but I could see the questioning look that he wanted more than that.
“No. I’m not a sub. I’ve been with a few men who’ve trained me as one, but I don’t embrace the full lifestyle.” I raised an eyebrow at him, raking him with my gaze. “And you need to know that up front. I won’t sit at your feet, wear a collar, or follow you around like a wimp. So if that’s what you’re looking for, keep looking.”
“I’m not,” he purred, moving his hands over my chest. I could feel their warmth through the thin fabric of the hospital gown I was wearing. “I do not want weak and needy in my life. But when the bedroom door closes?”
“Yes.” I wasn’t sure how he’d respond. We both knew it meant I was saying yes, I’m submissive in bed and want to be dominated. I just hoped he could handle how I liked to be handled. It was somewhat extreme, and I’d had several tops and Doms tell me I was just fucked up. But then again, they were humans, and blood meant something different to them.
“This is good.” Cyrus’s face lit up with a wide smile. “I think we are to be well suited for each other, amante.”
“You don’t know how far I go to enjoy—” I started to say when there was a loud pounding at the door.
“What?” Cyrus shouted over his shoulder.
“Open the door. I heard his voice. You can question him all you want and get the story, but I’m coming in to see my boy,” my mother answered with a growl from the other side of the door. I chuckled, completely used to her protective ways.
“Su madre es un dolor en el culo,” Cyrus muttered as he rolled out of the bed and got to his feet.
“Did you just ca
ll my mother a pain in the ass?” I asked with wide eyes. My mate shrugged and unlocked the door.
“So you know Spanish.” He cleared his throat nervously then turned to me, his face serious. “She is though.”
“Not really. I had a Hispanic instructor through warrior training, so I know that phrase well. I can pick out a few things here and there.”
“But I’m fluent.” My mother snickered as she opened the door. Cyrus’s eyes went wide, and he realized she’d heard what he said even though he’d been quiet and there had been a door between them. She pulled his shoulder down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You’re a pain in my ass, too.” Her voice was sugary sweet.
“Yes, Madre Marius,” he said in a chagrined voice.
“Damn, you’re tall.” I hadn’t noticed before and probably wouldn’t have because most of us towered over our poor mother. But Victor had walked in the room, and my mate was bigger. “Aww, Vic, you’re not the biggest anymore. Poor you.”
“Snot-nosed little brat,” Victor replied, rolling his eyes, but then he got serious. “We already went to the Council before they heard what happened some other way. While five missing people in DC might not hit the media’s radar, five knowing each other will.”
“You said you wouldn’t tell anyone,” I said quietly, no longer wanting to tease. I glanced around and saw it was my whole family. “You lied to me.”
“No, he didn’t,” Riley sighed. I hadn’t even seen him and Micah come in the room. “I told my nurse not to tell anyone I was going out to help you and would need a bed for you here. I didn’t give her your name though. Mara heard the pilot over the radio say your name, didn’t know you were the same patient, and called next of kin as is procedure. I am sorry, but we did need your parents’ blood to save you.”
“Okay. Um, thanks,” I mumbled to my parents, not liking that everyone was staring at me.
“You okay?” my mother asked gently as she sat on the bed and wrapped her arms around me. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again. Huge mate or not, I will beat you if I ever get a call like that again.”