Tabatha woke up and glanced at the clock. Three a.m. She looked around and didn’t see her mates. Getting up, she went into the bathroom and sat carefully on the toilet. She listened and heard nothing, no noises. When done, she walked into the living room to investigate where her mates had gone. Coming around the corner, she noticed her mates, asleep, in each other’s arms on the floor. They lay there sound asleep entwined in each other’s arms. She never saw such a beautiful sight. She knew they had made love to each other the passion smell still lingered in the air. Tears rolled down her face.
Will they ever love me that way? She made her way back to her bed, alone.
She awoke when the sun rose. She looked at the clock, six a.m. Crawling out of the bed, she threw on a dress because her ass still burned. Tabatha walked into the kitchen and didn’t say a word to her mates. She started the coffee and looked out the window at the lake. It looked so peaceful.
She grabbed a cup of coffee and made her way down the pier. She didn’t dare sit down, so she just stood at the end of the pier staring out at the lake.
How can I get past what they did to me? Her mates treated her like a child, but she knew she acted like one yesterday. She just hoped Melody wasn’t too mad.
Tabatha ran her toe in the water. She knew warm water would soothe the burning of her butt so she threw off her dress and dove into the lake. The warm water stung at first. Pulling herself up onto the float she laid down on her stomach, staring at nothing. She felt someone watching her and looked up. Her mates stared at her from the pier. She ignored them and closed her eyes. She heard the splash and knew they would be there in a minute. The pier sank as they lifted their bodies up onto to it.
“We need to talk,” Hoyt stated and sat down next to her. Water dripped down onto her legs. Chax sat next to her and rubbed his hands up and down her legs. She used every ounce of will power to ignore them.
“Don’t you know you mean everything to us? Especially to me? I’m free because of you. I can walk in the light now. I know what love is. If you die, I die also,” Chax whispered into her ear and rubbed her neck.
“If this is your kind of love, I don’t want it,” Tabatha stated. “You don’t understand this, but I need some freedom. You’ve taken my life and my freedom away from me. I like to go to movies, shopping, and do things. You can’t keep me prisoner in my own home. Then you tie me down and spank me like a child. I am not a kid. I told you to send a guard and I didn’t complain about it,” Tabatha stated calmly.
“I am sorry, but we’re new at this. We can’t lose you. You can do the same things you’re used to, but all we ask is that you give us time. You have to keep the guards with you.”
“I told you I wouldn’t complain about the guards.”
“The danger isn’t over. That demon wasn’t the one who put the snakes in that box,” Chax stated.
Tabatha sighed and rolled over into the water. She swam back to the shore and turned to stare at her mates, pulling her dress on.
The woods always soothed her. She looked up and started to walk down the beaten path. She needed to think. Tabatha knew her mates followed as she made her way up the path towards the top of the bluff. “When will your parents be here?” she asked, looking out at the view as she came to a clearing in the forest.
“Mine will be here tomorrow, and Chax’s father will be here the next day,” Hoyt said, walking to one side of her and slipping his arm around her waist.
She pulled out of his arm, “I don’t know what I did wrong, but what you two did is uncalled for. I have blisters already popping up on my ass thanks to you two.” Tabatha walked over to a big stone and gently sat down. Her butt burned on contact. “You two come into my life and in the past forty-eight hours have changed my body, lied to me, spanked me, and claimed me without any say from me.” She looked over her shoulder at Hoyt. “You have even planned my bonding ceremony without even asking me what I would like. Did you ever think maybe I’d like to have a normal wedding? No! I need time to think, just go…” She whispered the last part and stood. Her butt couldn’t take anymore sitting.
“Tabatha…” Chax tried to say something, but she cut him off.
“No, you come waltzing into my home and tell your brothers they can stay, without even asking me. You change me into a demon that I don’t know anything about. And you claim to love me. How can that be, Chax? Do you know anything about me? Both of you know nothing about me. Sure I like to be dominated in the bedroom, but I can get that from any man, and I have. But what about romance? Maybe I wanted our first time to be with candles all around, flowers.” She stopped and looked at both of them. “You two are the most handsome men I know. Did you ever think I might want to explore your bodies? Have you ever told me that you think I’m beautiful? No.”
“Will you come and have breakfast with us and talk to us?” Hoyt asked before she could say anything else.
“I’ll be down in a minute. Just give a few minutes alone. I know Chax’s brothers are watching.”
Tabatha watched them walk back down the bluff. Tears slipped down her face.
“You know they do love you?” Nicor, Chax’s brother, said behind her.
She whipped around and glared at him. “Don’t do that. You scared the crap out of me. I know they feel something, but we’ve been together what? Forty-eight hours? How can someone love someone so quick?”
She started to walk down the hill slow.
“You haven’t been around our kind. You don’t what it’s like to have a mate. You’ve been raised as a human. I know being a demon is hard. Most of our kind don’t find a mate. My brother is very lucky to have found the both of you. He won’t give up, Tabatha.”
“I’m not asking them to give up. I just want to be asked once in a while or to be just held and told I’m beautiful.” She glanced up at him. “Do you know what it’s like to hear you’re a freak of nature and your own kind want you dead? It hurts I’m a freak.”
The cabin came into view and she saw her mates standing on the deck waiting for her. “No, I don’t know, but I know if you told them what you felt they would listen. Give them a chance.”
“Thanks for listening, I’ll try.” She smiled up at him and turned to walk up the porch stairs.
Tabatha took a deep breath and let it out. She did feel something for them, but love them, she just didn’t know. There was something there stronger than she had ever felt with other men, but she didn’t know if it was love or not. She looked up at Chax, meeting his smiling countenance.
“We have set up some food on dining room table waiting for you.” She stepped into the living room and stopped when she saw the candles and flowers scattered everywhere.
Tabatha walked slowly around the room, taking everything in when she noticed the dining room table lit by candles, and breakfast waiting for them. Tears formed in her eyes when saw the red dress hanging on the door behind the table. She smiled, hugging Chax tight.
“Thank you. This is so beautiful, and I loved the dress. I didn’t know if it would be there or not.” Tabatha reached up, pulling his face down and kissing his mouth softly. Then she moved to Hoyt who stood with his arms out, and she went into them willingly. She hugged him and kissed him. He led her to the chair to sit.
She eyed it for a moment and sat carefully down on it. She growled when her ass hit the seat. Her mates knew better than to laugh. They sat down next to her and heaped food on her plate.
“Hey, what do you think I am, a cow? Slow down.” Tabatha laughed.
The phone rang and she started to get up, but Hoyt shook his head.
Hoyt answered the phone while she dug into her food. Her stomach rumbled. Hoyt came back to the table, sitting down with a frown on his face. Tabatha put her fork down, looking at Hoyt. “Okay, give it up. What else has gone wrong?”
“It seems my grandparents are also coming to our ceremony. They haven’t left their home in years,” Hoyt stated, digging into his food with a smile on his lips.
“
Okay, that’s a good thing,” Tabatha stated, digging back into her food. “Don’t scare me like that.” She peeked up at her mates.
“Can I ask where Melody is?” Tabatha stared back down at her food. She heard Hoyt set his fork down, and looked up at him.
“Shane and Ben took her to visit Shane’s parents for the day. We wanted some time to spend with you before everyone starts to come for the ceremony. The pack will start arriving tomorrow to help build the pack house before the ceremony.” Hoyt cupped her face in his hand.
She smiled, rubbing her face into his hand. “Are Shane and Ben furious with me?”
“They’ll get over it. They know Melody had a part in you two taking off,” Chax said around a mouthful of food. She laughed as a drop of syrup fell onto his chest. Tabatha stared up at Chax. She lifted up and leaned over the table licking the syrup off his bare chest.
She could see the heat rise up in his eyes. Tabatha always did have a fantasy involving syrup or cool whip.
Hoyt’s chair fell backwards. She started to lean back into her chair, but Hoyt came up behind her, lifting her sundress up over her hips.
“Shit, why didn’t you tell us what we did? This is bad, baby,” Hoyt mumbled Chax pushed his chair back and came around to stare at her ass.
“I told you.” Tabatha scooted away from them, pushing her dress back down, the mood totally ruined. Grabbing a muffin from the table and her coffee, she ignored them and walked back outside on the back porch. She felt them come up behind her.
“I bruise easy, always have.” She shrugged. Her muffin crumbled as she tried to take a bite and fell onto the deck. She bent down to pick it up when she felt the wiz of something fly by her ear.
The next thing she knew, she laid flat on the porch floor with Hoyt on top of her, growling. She tried to move, but he wouldn’t let her.
“Stay still! Someone just took a shot at you, Tabby,” Hoyt growled.
Her stomach lurched.
“Chax and his brothers are after them now. We have to get you inside.”
“Well, if you let me up a little, I can crawl to the door.” She heard him cussing up a storm, but he lifted a little but still covered her as they crawled to the door. He pushed it open when she noticed the bullet hole in the door.
Tabby’s body shook when she realized she would have been shot if she hadn’t bent down. Her stomach pitched and she knew she was going to be sick. She stopped moving and lowered her head to the side. Her breakfast came back up all over the porch. Hoyt held her hair back and kissed her neck. Looking up Chax knelt down beside her.
“We got one of them, but the others got away. You can get up now, baby.” Chax helped her up after her stomach stopped heaving. She wiped her face with the back of her hand. They moved her to the couch. Tabby crawled onto the couch and curled up into a ball. Hoyt sat down next to her and rubbed her arms.
She knew Hoyt and Chax worried about her, but she couldn’t stop shaking.
“This has to stop! I am calling in the pack now.” Hoyt reached for the cell phone on the coffee table. “We need to start that house now. We need guards patrolling the grounds. This is bigger than we thought,” Hoyt growled to Chax.
Chax paced back and forth. “Caym is on his way. He has heard that some demons might have joined forces with some local werewolves to stop our joining ceremony. The master is furious. No one has gone against his word in ages.”
“There has to be a reason they’re going after her and her family. We need Ben here now. We need answers about this mess,” Hoyt said, calling Ben.
Tabatha took it all in. “Maybe they don’t want a freak with you guys?” she mumbled to herself. But they both heard and stared at her for a moment.
“Why would you say that? You’re not a freak.” Chax sat down next to her and Hoyt sat on the other side.
“Hell, Chax, they wanted me dead since birth. They’re not going to stop now.” She couldn’t lay there all day, though. It happened. It’s over for now. She tried to get up, but Chax pulled her into his arms and held her. That’s when she noticed her butt didn’t hurt. She looked up into his face. “You healed me, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get punished next time. We’ll just have to be more careful of that tender little ass. Now, I don’t want you to think that you’re a freak, because you’re not. You’re perfect for us.” He kissed her softly.
“When will Caym be here? Why don’t I put some more coffee on since it’s going to be a long day?” Tabatha pushed herself up, needing to brush her teeth and rinse out her mouth. Hoyt glared at her as she pushed his hands away when he tried to grab her. “I need to brush my teeth,” she mumbled.
Hoyt stood right outside the door and waited while he talked to her brother.
Chapter 7
Tabatha stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her face was pale even though her skin tone was a light tan color.
God, my lips are so thin and look at my hair, stringy. Why can’t I have hair like Melody? I have to be in shock I can’t think of anything. She splashed some cold water into her face trying to get rid of the negative thoughts. Her men liked her so that’s all she had to worry about. Tabatha jumped with the pound on the door.
“Tabby, open up, it’s me,” Melody yelled, and banged again on the bathroom door. She smiled and opened the door. Melody flung herself into her arms.
“I’m sorry about not being here earlier. I made Ben and Shane bring me here when we got the call in the car. I had to be here. Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” She stepped back and inspected her.
“I am fine, Mel. Just feel a little sorry for myself that’s all.” They linked arms and walked out into the living room, and saw it filled with pack members already. Demons worked together to setup guards. That’s when she noticed two women who had growled at her at the club. They hung onto Hoyt. They rubbed their bodies up and down his. She saw him growl at them and push them away, but they didn’t back down.
Anger ripped through her body and a growl escaped her lips. She felt her skin burn noticing claws spring out of her hands. Fur started to sprout out of her skin and her bones crunched. She shifted into her werewolf form.
Melody jumped back and stared at her. Her gaze followed hers and noticed the women on Hoyt’s arm.
Tabatha knew others stared at her and watched every move she made, but she didn’t care. She looked at Melody who changed as well. Melody’s fur was black, while hers white. They each went in different directions and circled their targets. The women that attached their bodies to her mate stared and the room went quiet as they circled closer.
Hoyt’s body hardened and she heard his growl. She didn’t know if he growled at her or not, but she didn’t care.
“Stand down, Tabby, now!” he ordered and slowly turned frowning at her. The women looked up at her and smiled.
“Get away from my mate,” she growled into the woman’s head and moved in getting ready to attack. Ben and Shane both held onto Melody. She could do this by herself.
“I won’t warn you again. If any female goes near my mate, I’ll tear their head off. Do I have to prove it to you?” Tabatha asked through the common pack link she found in Hoyt’s mind. She pushed her face into one of the girl’s face and growled. Hands surrounded her waist. Her beast roared with anger as Chax threw her over his shoulder.
“Let me down, you jackass!” She shifted back, just as his hand came down on her ass.
“Shut it! They’re here to protect your ass and you go to attack them. What the hell is your problem?” Chax threw her onto the bed and glared down at her. Hoyt walked into the room and stood next to him.
“They’re purposely flaunting their bodies all over you. You keep telling me I’m your mate, well I don’t share! And I don’t need their protection. I can kick both of their asses.” She glared at Hoyt.
“I have things to deal with right now. I don’t need this crap, Tabby. If you would just ignore them, they would stop. You’ll stop this now. Th
ey’re here to help their Alpha. I won’t have you threaten anyone because of you insecurities!” Hoyt growled.
He had turned to walk out of the bedroom, when the house shook. Screams came from the living room. Tabatha flew past her mates into the living room and ignored the possible danger. Her mates followed behind her.
She intended to shift into her were form when she felt a bolt of electricity run through her body. She glanced down and saw that she had a demon form. Tabatha glanced at Chax but he ignored her.
Her demon form was more powerful as she stretched her muscles. Upon entering the living room she witnessed a lower demon attacking the same female she had intended to attack earlier. The lower demon had the advantage. Chax and Hoyt both fought their demons.
Tabatha growled. No one would harm anyone from her pack.
She landed on the demon’s back she clawed and bit him. He released his hold on the woman and his attack turned towards her.
“You’ll die, you freak,” the demon roared and threw her across the dining room table, but she wasn’t down. She jumped back up, ready to attack again, but Chax stepped in front of her just as the demon’s claw came back to sink into her.
Chax picked up the demon by the throat and shook him, snapping his neck and ripping his head off his body. “No one attacks my mate!” Anger radiated in his words and he attacked another demon that came at him.
Tabatha looked around the room when she spotted one man who stood in the corner of the living room. Hate gleamed in his gaze and an evil smile formed on his face. She knew him. He used to be a friend of their parents. Her godfather, Drake. A memory flashed through her mind, vivid with every detail of that one night. He and her father had been fighting. Now after all these years later, it made sense.
Drake wanted her father to kill her. She didn’t understand at the time, but she did now. Slowly, she made her way to him, never taking her eyes off him. Everything else phased out. He’s responsible for all that has happened to me.
Dangerous Possession: The Claiming Page 7