by Shea Balik
Tearing Down Walls
Miracle Book 5
By
Shea Balik
Tearing Down Walls
Miracle 5
Finding one’s mate should be the greatest moment in a shifter’s life, but for Chadwick Ramos, who had been waiting for his mate since he was five, he was no longer sure he wanted a mate. At least not the one fate had given him. A dominate Alpha, who would sure want to tell him what to do, was not his idea of the loving mate he’d always dreamed of.
Saber Thorsen knew his immense size was an effective deterrent to those wanting to start trouble. He just hadn’t expected it to have the same effect on his mate. It would take a lot of patience and understanding to change Chadwick’s mind but for his mate, Saber would do whatever it took.
If only they had time. But with the challenge for the Council coming up, it would take a miracle for Saber to not only win, but to survive the battle. It was probably asking too much to also win the heart of his mate. Then again, that’s what their town is about, finding a Miracle.
Copyright ©2017 by Shea Balik
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Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2017
Cover by: Harris Channing
Edited by: Avril Stepowski
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
EPILOGUE
About the Author
CHAPTER 1
Sounds of fighting rang out all around Chadwick Ramos. The battle was intense and several times Chadwick didn’t think they’d come out victorious. That feeling had been hammered home when the Council sent in another five hundred soldiers when it appeared Chadwick and his friends just might win.
Roars of pain and desperation were heard as men and women sought to survive. For Chadwick and his friends this was so much more than defeating the Council. It was about the right to live their lives as they saw fit without having to constantly look over their shoulders for someone wishing to kill them for their sin – being gay.
A slight disturbance in the air behind him was all Chadwick needed to alert him to someone about to attack him from behind. Even though the fatigue of fighting for hours was wearing on him, Chadwick had turned and swung his sword, effectively killing the man who thought to sneak up on him.
Admittedly, it was a close call, as the Council’s soldier had nearly managed to severe Chadwick’s head from his body. Thankfully, even as exhausted as he was, Chadwick’s reflexes were still faster than most.
That was thanks to the training he and his four best friends had forced themselves to endure for the day when their sexuality would be discovered and they had to fight for their lives. At the time, Chadwick would have rather died than pretend to be someone he wasn’t.
But now? All that changed when they’d been forced to flee their former pack. When they’d arrived in Miracle, Oregon, Chadwick had thought his friend and now Alpha, Edrick, had been crazy to buy the abandoned town. But it had taken less than a week for Chadwick to fall in love with the nearly falling down town. Now he refused to allow anyone, much less the bigoted Council, to kill him and deny him the freedom he finally managed to find.
So he fought. That there were three men he was facing didn’t faze him. He wouldn’t have cared if he were facing a hundred men by himself. Chadwick planned on killing each and every one of them so he could get back to living the life he’d always dreamed of having. One without restrictions on whom he had sex with.
A roar of outrage nearby had the hairs of Chadwick’s body rising in fear. Based on the scent of terror emanating from the men he was currently in battle with, the sound had scared the crap out of them, too. Chadwick would have enjoyed their terror more, but the searing pain coming from his sword arm hit him, telling him he’d been injured before he’d known there was a problem.
When Chadwick tried to raise his sword, his arm wouldn’t cooperate and one of the three men before him took full advantage. Chadwick’s training kicked in and he dropped before the man’s sword had gotten close enough to inflict damage. At the same time Chadwick glanced down at his arm to inspect the damage.
Blood poured from a gash in his upper arm. That wasn’t a bullet wound, like he’d assumed since he hadn’t felt anyone near enough to cut him. It had been inflicted by a blade. As one of the three men came at him, Chadwick rolled to avoid him while getting a look behind him.
An ape, who’s look of rage and the promise of death stood behind him with the shredded remains of a Council soldier at his feet. “Shift,” the ape demanded. The word had come out guttural and barely formed since he was shifted into his animal form, but Chadwick could still understand him clearly.
The injury was severe enough that Chadwick should listen to the advice, but he also was a far more effective fighter with his swords. He’d have to give them up if he shifted into his mountain lion.
In the blink of an eye, the ape had moved and wrapped a hand around two of the soldiers Chadwick had been fighting, snapping their necks before they even knew what was happening. The third guy barely had time to scream before he was lying in a bloody heap at the ape’s feet.
“Shift,” the ape demanded as he faced Chadwick once more.
The sheer authority in the ape’s voice had Chadwick starting to obey as fur popped out along his body. But he wasn’t about to be told what to do, especially by this man. “No.”
The throbbing that started in his arm where he’d been sliced open made him realized just how stupid he was being. Shifting would heal the injury, or at least enough that he could continue fighting. If he left it, Chadwick would most likely have to go find Nole, Edrick’s mate and their doctor, to be stitched up.
With the battle still raging around them, Chadwick couldn’t just walk away when he could resolve the issue on his own. But the unholy glow that came from the coal black eyes of the ape staring him down, didn�
��t allow Chadwick to do so. He’d be damned if he was going to follow the ape’s orders.
To do so would only ensure the rest of his life he’d be bowing to the shifter and Chadwick didn’t bow to anyone. Not even this ape shifter, who, if they won this battle, would most likely run the council.
It would still require the ape shifter to face the current head of the council in one on one battle in a ceremonial ring but based on the ape shifter’s sheer size and deadly fighting skills, Chadwick couldn’t imagine him losing.
Two more soldiers came their way, but they didn’t get within ten feet of Chadwick before the ape shifter killed them in a bloody attack. Then he strode to Chadwick, the fur along his body receding, his face reshaping into a human. By the time he stood before Chadwick, the ape was gone and the man stared him down.
It shouldn’t be possible, but the man was far scarier than the ape. Deeply tanned skin covered more muscle than any one man had a right to have. Every inch of this man was chiseled into a fighting machine that Chadwick couldn’t imagine ever being defeated.
Dark hair hung down past his shoulders with neatly trimmed dark facial hair that gave the man before him a sinister air that promised death. Yet, all Chadwick could imagine was running his fingers through that thick mass of hair and having the man’s firm lips taking his mouth in a brutal kiss that left no doubt as the man’s intent.
“I said shift,” the man, Saber, said, his dark as night eyes daring Chadwick to continue to defy him.
The man was an alpha to the core and it took everything within Chadwick to stand his ground instead of obeying. “No,” he said definitively. “Now, get out of my way, there is still a battle being fought.”
But the man didn’t move.
When another soldier dared to try and attack from behind, Saber only turned enough to snap the guy’s neck before once more facing Chadwick. “Stop being so stubborn. You are losing too much blood to let it heal on its own.” Those dark eyes glanced down to the way Chadwick barely gripped his sword. “You can’t even hold your sword properly. How do you think you’re going to fight?”
The blood loss wasn’t helping with Chadwick’s lethargy. He felt his eyes close.
“Chadwick, shift,” Saber demanded.
Whether it was the exhaustion from his injury, or Saber’s tone, Chadwick wasn’t sure, but before he could stop it, his body contorted, bones popping, muscles shifting, until his four paws landed on the ground. Disoriented for a moment, Chadwick stumbled and landed on his side.
Seconds later, Saber shifted into his ape form once more and tore through five Council soldiers that must have decided to use Chadwick’s weakness as their opportunity to attack. Chadwick must have lost more blood than he’d thought, for he could barely lift his head off the ground, not that he needed to have worried. Saber would never let anyone harm Chadwick.
It was weird. Chadwick used to dream of this moment when he was a small boy. Yet, now that he’d met Saber, a huge part of him screamed for him to run as far from Saber as possible.
It took Saber hardly any effort to dispatch the Council’s soldiers. Then he was kneeling on the ground once more in his human form, lifting Chadwick into his arms. “Don’t worry, Kitten, I’ve got you.”
“Don’t call me that,” Chadwick mumbled, the words thick in his mouth. He hadn’t even remembered shifting back into his human form. That couldn’t be a good sign. This shouldn’t be happening. Shifting healed his wound. His body should be replacing the lost blood. So why was he about to pass out?
“I don’t know,” Saber said. “You hiss and claw just like a kitten who doesn’t know better.”
There was humor in Saber’s voice that Chadwick didn’t appreciate. “Put me down before I show you just how sharp my claws are.” Happy that his voice sounded a bit steadier, Chadwick took stock and felt his body start to regain its strength.
Not that he was back to full power but at least he no longer was going to faint. He wasn’t sure he would have been able to live down that humiliation, especially in front of Saber. “Put me down,” Chadwick demanded.
Saber only chuckled and tucked him even closer to his chest as he moved through the battle like no one could touch them. What had Chadwick cursing the man holding him was that no one did touch them. Saber already had an overinflated ego, the last thing he needed was proof he was invincible.
“I’m fine,” Chadwick insisted. “Now, put me down. My friends need us fighting.” Chadwick wasn’t about to let his friends down when they needed him. They’d been friends since they’d been in diapers and had each other’s backs even when Chadwick, at the age of five, had announced he’d one day have a male mate.
None of them had turned their backs on him. Instead they kept his secret and started making plans for the day when they would have to run.
“The battle is nearly over,” Saber told him. “The Council has lost and you are in no shape to fight.”
“Don’t tell me what I can and cannot do,” Chadwick told him as he squirmed to get out of his arms.
But Saber moved Chadwick back into position and apparently freed one of his hands, because Chadwick felt the sharp sting of that hand on his ass. “Stop it,” Saber demanded. “I admire that you are willing to stand up to me. Hell, it will prove useful since I tend to be quite domineering, but I also won’t allow my mate to die because he’s too foolish to understand he is in no shape to fight.”
Chadwick groaned in dismay. Even though there had been no doubt in his mind, it was Saber saying it that made the situation a little too real. Chadwick may have always wanted to find that one person created just for him, but the last thing he needed was an overbearing alpha-type thinking he could tell him what to do.
He’d just found the freedom to be who he was and he’d be damned if he was going to let anyone tell him differently. Especially an overbearing, alpha-type, who thought everyone should bow down to him. Chadwick might not be able to do anything about it, but he didn’t want Saber as his mate.
CHAPTER 2
Watching Chadwick fight the Council’s soldiers had been like poetry in motion. It had been awe inspiring to witness such an efficient warrior. That Chadwick was Saber’s mate only made it that much better.
Saber Thorsen had spent his youth as one of the Council’s soldiers. It still galled him that he’d been nothing more than a puppet in his younger years for a group who thought themselves Gods. Much to his regret, Saber knew all too well the Council’s evil intent.
His father, Karlin, had been one of the original members of the Council. He’d helped to bring peace between the species. Unfortunately, not everyone had wanted that peace. Saber had been only a soldier for a few years when Refugio Costa had Saber’s father killed. It hadn’t been a challenge for a seat on the Council as Saber had recently issued. It had been cold blooded murder.
“I said, let me down,” Chadwick demanded as Saber led him from the conflict raging on around them.
That his mate didn’t fear going toe to toe with Saber had him smiling. It was something Saber had always worried about finding his mate. Saber wasn’t an idiot. He knew he was scary. Most people ran the moment they met him. Yet, his mate not only didn’t do that, but challenged him. It had Saber hopeful for a future for them.
“That’s not going to happen, Kitten.” Just because he admired Chadwick’s spunk didn’t mean Saber was going to give in either.
“I told you not to call me that,” Chadwick demanded. Claws dug into his shoulder and Saber found his arm going numb. It had taken just a few moments for Saber’s nerves to fire back to life, but Chadwick had used the distraction and leapt from Saber’s embrace to face him like the warrior he was.
His grey eye’s grew dark as if a storm was coming. “We may be mates but that doesn’t give you the right to manhandle me. As you can see, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
Saber flexed his arm, making sure he hadn’t lost full use of it. When he didn’t feel any issues, he smiled at his mate
. “I’m impressed.”
Chadwick rolled his eyes. “So the fuck what? Just stay away from me.”
That his mate actually thought any of this was a warning to Saber had him laughing.
Chadwick narrowed those pretty eyes at Saber. “What the hell is so funny?”
Saber stepped closer until they were nose to nose. “That you think any of this will stop me from taking what is mine.” Saber was more than willing to give his mate some latitude but they were still mates. The sooner Chadwick got that through his head, the better.
Chadwick’s body stiffened at the challenge and Saber found his cock becoming painfully hard as his mate stared Saber down. Saber had never had a type when it came to lovers in the past. For him, it was more about convenience than who he fucked. Yet, when he looked at Chadwick, he knew his mate was perfect for him. Strong-willed, well-muscled - a fighter to the core.
“Try anything and you will find your balls removed from your body while you sleep,” Chadwick spit out. Then, as if dismissing Saber, his mate turned on his heel and stormed away.
For a moment Saber nearly stopped him, but he preferred not to test Chadwick’s resolve to castrate him. Plus, he’d gotten what he’d wanted. His injured mate was out of the fight that still raged behind them. He might have stretched the truth about it being over.
He might want to go after his mate and prove Chadwick wasn’t as unaffected by him as he pretended, but Saber needed to help fight the Council’s soldiers if they had any chance of winning. His men would put a major dent in anyone the Council sent their way, but Saber also knew he was still a better fighter. He’d been training to fight the Council since his father’s death a hundred years ago.
He’d been waiting for the time when he could challenge Refugio and change all that the Council currently stood for. When he’d received the call from Brecken Shaw, the Alpha of the Snow River Pack, Saber had felt something within him shift. Up until that moment, he’d feared he’d never find the men and women willing to put their lives on the line to make their world something they could be proud of.