by Becca Van
“Tessa keeps telling everyone she’s no better than anyone else around here,” Alice said. “But let me tell you, we couldn’t have asked for a better Alpha female.”
Melissa turned back to face Tessa and saw the embarrassed scowl on her face.
“I am no different than anyone else, Alice.” Tessa sighed.
“Yes, my queen,” Alice said with a smile. Tessa just groaned, then turned to face Melissa again.
“So do you have any questions, Melissa?”
“Um, no. I think you’ve covered everything for the moment. If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know.”
The two women spent the next hour chatting and getting to know one another. They were so analogous to each other, Melissa felt as if they had been friends for years.
Melissa stopped talking when three large, very handsome men walked into the kitchen. They ignored Melissa until they had greeted Tessa with mind-numbing kisses.
“I’d like you to meet my mates. This is Lucien, whom you’ve already met, and this is Raphael and Gabriel. This is Melissa, Damian and Luke’s mate,” Tessa introduced them all to each other.
“We’ve met. How are you, Melissa?” Lucien asked.
Melissa stared at him, trying to figure where she’d seen him other than at her mates’ cabin, then the light popped on. “I’m fine, thank you. It was you in the forest?”
“Yes. Rest assured I would never eat you, Melissa,” Lucien said and then laughed.
Melissa nodded her head. Embarrassment tinged her cheeks a bright red, she was sure.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to insult you Lu…uh, Alpha. It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” She looked from one man to the other. God, what is in the water around here? All the men in the pack were absolutely gorgeous.
The three Alpha males took their places at the table close to their mate. They tried to cajole Melissa into opening herself up to them and by the time she started to relax, she felt like she fit in here, like she was meant to be a part of this family, just like she was meant to have met and mated her men.
Damian and Luke entered the room half an hour later and instead of taking a seat at the table, they each came over to her and took her mouth in passionate kiss. She was a little uncomfortable showing affection in front of so many other people, so Melissa refused to look at them. She lowered her head and hoped the hair covering her face was hiding her hot cheeks as her men took seats at the table. She and Tessa continued to talk and then even more men entered the dining room. She tried to ignore her men but it was impossible. Every time they were near her, their delectable scents surrounded her. Finally, she turned to face them.
“Did you find where the breach was?”
“No,” Damian answered, and then sighed. “We still have people working on it.”
Alice served a scrumptious lunch of steak, vegetables, salad and warm dinner rolls and after eating her fill, Melissa decided to go for a walk outside.
She wasn’t used to being around so many people and was feeling rather overwhelmed. She didn’t bother to tell her men what she was going to do and was sure she would get into trouble for her oversight, but she just needed a little time alone. There was so much going on in her head she was getting a headache.
Melissa carried her plate into the kitchen, rinsed it, and put it in the dishwasher. Then she moved toward Tessa, stopped behind her and leaned down to whisper in her ear. She didn’t get the chance to speak.
All she heard was the sound of glass shattering then a searing pain radiated from her back through to her chest before she fell to the floor.
Chapter Nine
Luke howled with fury and Damian’s roar of pain joined his. They sprang from their seats as their Alpha and Betas surround their mate and ushered her from the room. Luke knelt down next to Melissa, Damian at his side, and when they saw the amount of blood covering their mate and still pouring from her chest, they knew the wound was life threatening.
Damian ripped open Melissa’s shirt and after elongating a claw, he shredded her bra. The hole in her chest was big and Luke didn’t know if they had enough time to save her. Damian removed his shirt, placed it on Melissa’s chest and applied pressure. Luke called to his wolf and his own claws erupted from the tip of his fingers. He slashed his wrist and held it to Melissa’s open mouth, watching as his life’s essence dripped into her mouth. When he thought that he’d given her enough of his blood, he covered Damian’s hand and took over trying to stem the flow of blood seeping out of his mate. His brother clawed open his own wrist and gave her some of his life-saving blood, too.
Luke didn’t even realize he was crying until a teardrop plopped onto Melissa’s breast. Her breathing was shallow and he could hear that her heartbeat was sluggish, but there was nothing more he and Damian could do. Now it was just a waiting game to see if their mate accepted or rejected the conversion.
He was only vaguely aware of the pandemonium around him, but he never took his eyes off of Melissa. The other Omegas had shifted and bolted from the room, no doubt to find and eliminate whoever had shot his mate, but he didn’t think that Melissa had even been the target. Now that he thought back, he remembered that she had been standing between their queen and the large bay window.
“She wasn’t supposed to be the victim,” Damian said in a voice hoarse with pain.
“I know,” Luke replied, and cleared his throat when it came out a little tremulous.
“Lift the shirt. I want to get a look at the wound. If our blood has done what it’s supposed to, it should be starting to heal.”
Luke glanced at Damian and then slowly lifted the cotton shirt from Melissa’s chest. He nearly collapsed with relief when he saw that the wound was a little smaller. Their DNA was now coursing through their mate and she was starting to heal.
“I want to get her back to our house as soon as possible,” Damian said.
“Me too, but we can’t move her until both wounds have closed completely. Hopefully the one in her back is already closed, but I’m not willing to risk moving her to look. She can’t afford to lose any more blood.”
“We’ll wait.” Damian brushed the hair back from Melissa’s face.
“She looks so damn pale and fragile. We can’t lose her, Damian.” Luke again lifted the shirt to peek at her injury and saw that it had closed a little more and he finally realized that he wouldn’t lose the woman he loved more than his own life.
“Her heartbeat is increasing and her breathing is slowing,” Damian whispered. “We’re not going to have to live without her.”
“Thank God.” Luke looked at Damian and saw that his brother was also crying. Neither of them said another word to each other. They didn’t have to tell each other how they felt or how scared they had been, or still were. It was there in their expressions for anyone to see.
Luke and Damian sat beside Melissa on the floor for an hour, until her flesh was completely closed. Luke removed his T-shirt and between the two of them, they got it on Melissa without jostling her too much. When she was covered, Damian carefully lifted her into his arms and would have headed toward the front door to take her back to their cabin, but Rafe was just coming down the stairs and stopped them.
“Bring her up to one of the guest rooms. Until we catch whoever hurt your mate and tried to kill mine, you can stay here. It will be safer.”
“Thank you,” Luke said, and then he and Damian followed him to the spare bedroom.
Damian gently lowered Melissa onto the mattress.
“If you need anything, just ask.” Rafe frowned at Melissa and then left, closing the door behind him.
Between Luke and Damian, they removed Melissa’s clothes and then Luke carried her into the adjoining bathroom. Damian had rushed ahead to start the water in the bath and Luke didn’t hesitate to step into the rapidly filling tub. He trusted that his brother had checked the water temperature so their mate wouldn’t be too cold or get burned. After washing Melissa from head to toe, including her hair, and ma
king sure all the blood was gone from her body, they dried her off and put her into bed. Hopefully their mate would wake up tomorrow, but since they’d never changed a human to werewolf before and neither had anyone else in the pack, they really had no idea how long it would take for her to recover.
“I’m going to go and see if the other Omegas have found any sign of our shooter. Call me if there is any change.” Damian leaned down and kissed Melissa on her forehead, then walked to the door. After one long, lingering look, he left.
Luke kicked off his shoes, climbed on the bed, and then gently pulled his mate into his arms. He breathed in her sweet scent but underlying that he could already smell her forming wolf. He closed his eyes and prayed to the gods, thanking them for not taking his mate when he and his brother had only just found her.
* * * *
Melissa woke up feeling like her whole body had been hit by a truck. Her muscles felt achy and tender. Her skin felt as if a thousand ants were crawling all over and underneath it. She groaned as she eased over onto her side from her stomach.
“Are you all right, honey? How do you feel, Mel?” Luke asked.
Turning her head, she saw Luke was lying on the bed next to her, his head propped up by his elbow and resting on the palm of his hand. She turned her head to the opposite side, noting Damian was also lying beside her.
“Wh-What happened?” she asked in a raspy voice. Her throat was so dry. Damian grabbed a glass of water from the bedside table. He propped her up and helped her take a few sips. Finally, she shook her head and collapsed back onto the mattress. She felt so damn weak and wondered if she’d been sick, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remember.
“You were shot, sweetheart. You nearly died,” Luke explained, his face pale and taut with what looked like a mix of fear and rage.
“Who would want to shoot me?” she asked. Her voice sounded husky, like she hadn’t used it for a while.
“He wasn’t after you, my mate. He was trying to kill our queen, Tessa. You moved in behind her at the wrong moment and were shot in the back. The bullet came out of your chest and, from what we could see, just missed your heart. Your lungs were damaged and it was touch and go whether you would survive.”
“Oh my God.” Melissa pushed the covers down, lifted the T-shirt and stared at her chest. When she saw no wound, she looked at her men with confusion. “You…I…you…”
“Take deep breaths, baby.” Damian smoothed a hand up and down her arm. “Don’t panic. All is well.”
“We had to…” Luke began but Melissa cut him off by placing her fingers to his lips.
“Don’t say it. I don’t want to hear it.”
“Melissa…”
“No, Damian, I’m too tired to deal with anything right now.” And it wasn’t a lie. Melissa was having a hard time keeping her eyes open and finally decided it was futile to fight the fatigue assailing her, and closed her eyes.
The next time she opened her eyes, she felt much better. In fact, she felt so energetic she thought she just may jump out of her own skin. Neither Damian nor Luke was in the room, so she pushed the covers away and cautiously sat up with her legs over the side of the mattress. She was pleased when she didn’t feel dizzy or weak and headed for the bathroom. After taking a shower and brushing her teeth and her damp hair, she went in search of some clean clothes and was pleased to find a bag with new things in it. She hoped they weren’t meant to be for someone else, but since she didn’t have anything with her she decided to put them on anyway.
She was just about to open the door and head out, but hesitated when she heard voices. They sounded really clear, as if whoever was talking was standing in the room with her, and that’s when she knew. Her men had done what they had to to save her life. Her stomach churned with anxiety and her knees nearly buckled with fear.
“Oh my God. I’m a werewolf,” she whispered. Although she’d already guessed that her men were trying to tell her that very thing when she had first woken up after being shot, she hadn’t been ready to hear it, but having it confirmed by herself because of her enhanced hearing was rather frightening and she wasn’t sure how she felt about turning furry. Of course, she was happy her mates had saved her life, but being a werewolf was a big issue to get her head around.
Then she finally realized that she couldn’t change what had happened and needed to deal with this unexpected turn of events whether she was ready to or not. She walked back over to the bed and sat down. Just as she was trying to shore up her backbone and deal, there was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Melissa called out.
The door opened and Tessa walked in. She came over and sat down beside her.
“How are you feeling, Melissa?” Tessa asked quietly.
“I feel great.”
When she met Tessa’s eyes, she saw the moisture pooling there. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving mine and my baby’s life.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Melissa said, and then when she realized what she’d just said she tried to backtrack. “Shit! That didn’t come out right. Of course I would have tried to help if someone was going to try and shoot you.”
Tessa burst out laughing and Melissa found her laughter contagious and ended up laughing right along with her. She found it cathartic and once they got their mirth under control, Melissa felt a lot better.
Tessa leaned forward and hugged her. “If you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to let me or my mates know. We’re forever in your debt.”
“Thank you, but I’m fine,” Melissa said. She didn’t think she was owed a thing. First, because she had no idea she would end up saving Tessa and her baby. And second, because she didn’t want anyone to make a fuss or feel beholden to her for something she’d done inadvertently. Plus she’d never been a tit-for-tat person.
Tessa released her and rose to her feet. “Are you ready to go down now?”
“Yeah.” Melissa sighed and then she too stood up and followed Tessa to the door. “Will I have to shave my legs every day now that I’m going to turn furry?”
Tessa laughed. “I don’t know, but I doubt it.”
“Where are Damian and Luke?”
“They’re downstairs talking to my mates and the other pack members. They were worried sick about you. One of them was at your side the whole time you were recovering. They really love you.”
Melissa paused at the top of the stairs and stared at Tessa. “They do?”
“Yes. Very much.” Tessa tilted her head and looked at her intently. “You didn’t realize, did you?”
Melissa swallowed audibly. “They’ve never said…”
“They don’t have to. It’s there in their eyes every time they look at you. And in yours when you look at them.”
Melissa grabbed onto the bannister when her knees threatened to give out. Shock permeated her system and her heart skipped a beat. “Oh my God,” she whispered, and then covered her mouth with her hand.
“You didn’t realize?” Tessa asked.
Melissa shook her head.
“Why did you think you came back instead of leaving them when you had the chance?”
“I thought it was the mating musk and the connection I felt toward them. At least that’s what I told myself. How could I have not known…”
“The brain is a wondrous organ, is it not? It seems to protect us from things we aren’t ready for.”
Melissa smiled as joy filled her heart. She was in love with two wonderful men and she was mated to them. She would never have to worry about them leaving or divorcing her. They were bound to each other until they breathed their last breaths. She started down the stairs and followed the sound of her men’s voices to the large dining area. As soon as she entered the room, they both looked up and frowned at her. They pushed their chairs back and rushed to her side.
“Are you okay, baby?” Damian asked.
“Are you sure you should be up, honey?” Luke questioned.
Meliss
a reached up and stroked their cheeks. “I’m fine.”
Damian wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her body up against his. Luke moved in behind her and pressed his front against her back until she was sandwiched between her mates, just where she wanted and was meant to be.
“You were asleep for three days, baby.” Damian kissed the top of her head. “We were so worried about you.”
“Three days?”
“Yes. We were scared you weren’t going to wake up,” Luke said.
“I’m here now and I feel better than ever.”
“Mel.” Damian paused to clear his throat nervously. “There is something we need to tell you.”
“Melissa,” Lucien called out from across the room and stood up. Gabe and Rafe copied his moves and then so did the rest of the men in the room. First, her Alpha and Betas bowed their heads to her and then Lucien began speaking again. “Please accept our gratitude for saving the life of our mate and pup. If there is ever anything you want or need, come to one of us and it will be yours.”
“Thank you, Alpha, Rafe, Gabe.” Melissa nodded her head.
And then the rest of the pack bowed to her and Melissa was so humbled by their show of deference and acceptance it brought tears to her eyes.
“Help your mate to a seat,” Gabe said. “She must be starving.”
Damian and Luke led her to the table and saw her seated. Alice started bringing the breakfast food over and when Melissa smelled the rare steak, her stomach growled with hunger. She’d never been one to want to eat meat first thing in the morning, but she guessed her new inner beast was making its presence known.
She was surprised when she was served first and everyone waited until she had filled her plate before filling their own. And it was then that she realized that each and every one of the people in this room acknowledged her for who she was. Emotion caused the muscles in her throat to constrict and tears burn the back of her eyes.
“Eat, baby, we can hear your stomach grumbling.” Damian nudged her arm.
Melissa ate and when she was full, she sat back with a sigh of repletion and wondered if anyone had found the person who had almost killed her.