KIKO (MC Bear Mates Book 3)

by Becca Fanning

  “You know that’s an invitation, right?”

  “What is?” she asked with a frown.

  “That you’re in bed.”

  She laughed. “I was cold, uncomfortable, and a little concerned. Bed was the best place for me. I didn’t sleep. Just needed a little time to process, that’s all.”

  “I get that,” he murmured and sat down at the foot of the bed. Half-turning toward her, he cocked one leg up on the edge so his boot remained hovering off the covers—he was house trained. What a sight for sore eyes that was. “I wish things were more restful, but there’s always something going on, Mischa. I can’t lie to you about that.”

  “I don’t expect you to,” she immediately countered. “I’m not a little girl, Kiko. I understand the world I’m in, and I’m no longer terrified by it.” A smirk crossed her countenance. “It helps that I can hear what people are thinking.”

  “People? Not just me?”

  She pursed her lips then nodded. “Everyone I’ve come into contact with so far. But, to be honest, I haven’t been with Christie or Annette today, so I don’t know if it’s just Shifters I can hear or humans too.”

  He pondered that a second. “Not sure which would be more useful, to be honest.”

  “Hearing everyone, of course. I might as well be of some good now I can’t help around the clubhouse.”

  Kiko must have heard the pout in her voice, because his head tilted to the side in confusion. The picture was so perfect. It was a trigger back to the day she’d first seen him in his Bear form. He’d held that exact same posture. “Why do you sound mad?” he asked, perplexed.

  “I’m not mad, not really,” she denied truthfully. “Just a little lost, I guess.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I had a role here. Now, that role isn’t there anymore.”

  He frowned. “I’m confused. What happened when I went to the Council meeting?”

  With a sigh, she hoisted herself up. Resting back against the white cushions—who’d have thought a big, rough biker would like white cotton sheets? Not the cheap stuff either, the expensive gazillion thread count—she admitted, “I went down to the kitchen. I knew I was late for breakfast, but I thought I’d be in time to help out. The guys down there wouldn’t let me.”

  “Of course not. You’re a mate, not the help.”

  The cut-and-dried tone to his words had her stiffening. “Is that how you saw me before?”

  His snort of derision sliced through her umbrage. “No. I saw you as my mate. It wasn’t my choice that you started cleaning up around here and cooking for us. No one asked you to do that. I made sure of that.”

  The snap to his tone had her scowling. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means, you took on those chores yourself. And I didn’t mind what you did so long as you stayed here. If you wanted to clean, if it helped you feel like you earned your keep or made you think you’d found a home for yourself, I was all for that. Now you’re mated, officially, and it’s different. It goes against every bit of honor a Bear has to have you wait on him. I told you, Mischa, mates are sacred. Even before the claiming, the guys weren’t happy about having you serve them. But you didn’t know we were Shifters, so what could they say? That’s changed, so they’re establishing the proper set up again. Plus, once the women started leaving and the brothers knew what you were to me, we all had to be careful around you. None of us wanted to upset the status quo and trigger your departure.”

  She scowled at him. “That makes no sense. Well, some of it does. I get why you wouldn’t want me to leave. But the bit about not letting me work here? That’s crazy.”

  “Makes sense to me,” he retorted, scowling back at her. “Why do you want to cook for dozens of men anyway? And clean up after us?” His shudder made the bed wobble. “You must be nuts if you enjoyed that.”

  “I didn’t enjoy it,” she snarled. “But it gave me purpose, and that’s what I needed—what I still need. I can’t just lie about the place all day every day.”

  “A lot of the other women were happy to do that. I know Annette had to talk to them about pulling their weight.”

  Mischa let out a hiss. “That’s so unfair. It was okay for me to lounge about because I’m a mate, but the others had to ‘pull their weight.’”

  “I never said it was fair; it’s just how it goes. We treat all women with respect and diligence, but we’re not going to be taken advantage of. Not all of the women were as pure of heart as you.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him, sensing a sudden tension that had appeared out of nowhere. Even though she’d had her magical powers for less than a day, she was coming to recognize that as his ‘don’t think so she doesn’t know what’s going on in my head’ stance. “What happened?”

  He opened his mouth, but she glared at him, demanding to know it all. “Some of them came on to me. A lot of them tried it on with the brothers.”

  Shock flushed through her. “They wanted to have sex with them?”

  He grimaced at her astonishment. “Well, it’s part of the Shifters’ blessing that we’re attractive to other species.”

  Mischa wafted a dismissive hand at that. “I didn’t mean that. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Not after what we went through, and not when we realized what was going on and what they were going to do to us. Why trade that life for a similar one?”

  “Because it’s easier?” He made a face. “I’m sorry, Mischa, but you have to know that some people aren’t always willing to work hard to get to where they want to be in life.”

  She clenched her jaw, disliking that he was right. “You don’t think that about me, do you?”

  “I wish you were like that—a little bit, anyway,” he amended when she gawked at him. “You do too much. You always did. I’m glad my brothers have re-established boundaries. I don’t want you up at six a.m., slaving to make everyone omelettes, then rushing around like you have a broom up your butt trying to clean up after the whole clubhouse just in time for lunch. That isn’t your role, Mischa. You don’t have to do that.”

  His tone was tempered so it was like molten chocolate, but it didn’t soothe her or sweeten her up. If anything, it confused her all the more. “What is my role then, Kiko?”

  He shrugged. “Whatever you want it to be.”

  “Like Christie wants to be a dentist again?” she scoffed. “Like you’d let me just be whatever I wanted.”

  “Of course I would. Christie’s situation is different.”

  “And mine isn’t? Whether you like it or not, the cartel who trafficked us probably still think of me as their product. I’m not exactly safe.”

  He slammed a hand down against the mattress. “Don’t you dare say that. You’re not a product.”

  “No? Well, to that cartel I am. And Christie’s been targeted by another gang… Don’t you see? We’re none of us safe, so you might as well wrap us up in cotton wool if you’re trying to protect us from the bogeymen. It seems like we met them all on our own.”

  She knew he didn’t like that. His fury was etched onto the frown lines about his eyes and between his brows. His lips were pinched, and those sea green eyes burned like napalm. “You are safe. No one will hurt you.”

  “I’m only safe if I never leave this place.”

  “A week ago, safety was all you wanted!” he roared.

  “A week ago, I was alone. I had nobody. Now, I’m mated to a Shifter. I have talents that were granted to me by a Goddess I didn’t even know existed. I’m different. I’m not as scared anymore.”

  “How can you have changed so much?” he demanded.

  “How can I not have, Kiko?” Her tone was softer, more gentle, but still insistent. “It’s an about-face, oh, I won’t deny that. But surely you can see how my position has changed. I was content with scraps before, Kiko. You’ve made me see that I’m worth more.”

  “If you’re worth more, why do you want to cook breakfast for hundreds of grumpy, ungrateful bikers?”

&
nbsp; “Because at the moment, that’s all I’m capable of. But, from what you say, I’m going to be around a long time… the possibilities are endless.”

  A groan escaped him, and he got to his feet, turning his back on her as he headed toward the bank of windows on one wall. “You’re going to want to go to school, aren’t you?”

  “Could we afford it?”

  His head snapped around at the question, one she knew had inadvertently caused offence. “Of course we can,” he snarled.

  “Then, why not?”

  He turned back to the windows. “You don’t want to know. Look into doing what you have to in order to get to college here, if that’s what you need.”

  His about-face was faster than her week-long one had been. Too fast. She narrowed her eyes at him. He was hiding something.

  The sudden explosion of a gunshot had her flinching, and her head swung around as she tried to locate the source. But when all was silent and hell didn’t reign free, she focused inward and realized it was a memory. Dear lord, that had surprised the shit out of her.

  It had felt so real. Like the gun had gone off in the room.

  “Annette was shot?” It was the only thing that really made any sense. Otherwise, why else would the thought have popped into Kiko’s head? Christie had been kidnapped, so it was a matter of elimination to figure out Annette had been the one targeted.

  He nodded. Once.

  “Badly, but not enough to have any bad injuries. I mean, she’s fine. And from what I can gather, she and Mars haven’t been mated all that long… What happened?”

  “The day of the Claiming, the cartel came knocking at the MC’s door. They were pissed. They had a tantrum. A stray bullet hit Mars’s window, ricocheted, and hit Annette. She was dying. Close to death.” He gulped. “He had to give a blood sacrifice to save her.”

  Mischa felt a little woozy, because whatever she’d expected, that hadn’t been it. The clubhouse was built like a barracks—high walls, broken glass on their ledges, barbed wire everywhere. She’d thought safety was guaranteed here. It kicked her in the gut to realize she was wrong. “She got hit while she was in the clubhouse?” she asked, needing confirmation.

  “Yeah. Freak accident. Totally not part of the cartel’s plan. But still, that’s how it went down.”

  “What’s a blood sacrifice?” she asked, her tone whisper soft.

  “It’s where you beg the Goddesses who gave you the gift of reading my mind to grant you a favor. There’s always a price. Mars isn’t as strong as he used to be. His Bear is a little more volatile, aggressive. He had to hand over some of the magic inherent to the shift in payment for his mate’s life. The Goddesses play hardball.” He ran a hand through his hair. “So far, not a single newly mated male has managed to keep his female safe. Mars on club territory, Mundo outside an MC-owned store, and now you want to go to college!” He bit off a laugh. “Yeah, that’s going to be really easy to guard. That’s why I might sound off. I know you need to spread your wings, and I don’t want to wrap you up in cotton wool, but your first choice hasn’t made that easy on me. This is a learning curve for me too.”

  “I’m not saying I want to go right away, Kiko,” she explained, understanding his point and wanting to ease his concern. “But in the future… I’m just trying to make you understand that I have to do something with my life. I need a purpose. Back in the Ukraine, I was my grandfather’s assistant. I helped him from dawn to dusk. I cared for him, but also acted as his typist, his secretary, whatever he needed me to be. I was good at it too. It wasn’t totally fulfilling, but it was something. I can’t just do nothing with my days. Surely you understand that?”

  His nod was stiff but it was affirmative nonetheless. That had to count for something, right?

  He blew out a sharp breath, and his voice was more tempered when he murmured, “Look, I get what you’re saying, and I’ll talk to Mars about it.”

  “Don’t. I’ll talk to Annette and see what I can do with her. She’s taken over the clubhouse anyway.”

  That had him spinning around on his heel. “What do you mean?”

  She frowned. “She handles all the clubhouse stuff.”

  “That’s Mars’s job.”

  “Well, it might be, but Annette’s stolen the role. As far as I can tell, he deals with business, and she deals with the home front.”

  He scowled, then the tension in his lips softened. She wasn’t sure why, but hell, any softening was a plus.

  “Okay, you deal with her. I need to talk to some people. We need to get you some papers. Good ones.” Because she couldn’t argue with that, she stayed silent. He turned back to her and asked, “In the eyes of my people, we’re married, Mischa. You have a choice… The papers I get will have you down as being married to me. It makes things a lot simpler in the long run, but it’s down to you if you want the ceremony or not.”

  Whatever she’d expected from this conversation, it hadn’t been a proposal.

  Her smile was slow as she gave him the only reply she could think of. “I thought you were supposed to get down on one knee to ask that particular question.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Of course I need help.”

  Annette was so matter of fact, Mischa was taken aback. “You would let me be a part of your team?”

  The other woman rolled her eyes. “Duh. Do I have ‘idiot’ tattooed on my forehead? I only took over this shit because I hardly saw Mars. Plus, when the muse ain’t with you, she ain’t with you.” When Mischa just stared at her, puzzled, Annette heaved out a sigh. “I’m a writer, Mischa. Sometimes, there isn’t always a story to be told. So, I figured if I had heaps of time on my hands and Mars didn’t have any, I could help out. Now I’m involved up to my eyeballs, and I’m starting to drown too.

  “It’s good that you’re offering to help anyway. You’re a mate. It cements your place in the MC.”

  Mischa shook her head. “This is nothing like Sons of Anarchy.”

  Annette chuckled. “You get that in Ukraine?”

  “Of course we do. Eastern Europe might seem a little backward to you, but we’re not in the Dark Ages. We have things called color televisions.”

  Annette raised her hands in surrender. “Sorry. Sorry. But yeah, you’re right. I didn’t think the guys would approve of a chick running the clubhouse calling the shots either, but I was wrong. They haven’t made a peep. Just come to me over the basic shit that Mars is too busy to deal with.”

  Mischa narrowed her eyes at Annette. “You know what he’s busy with?”

  “You asking if he tells me everything?” At her nod, Annette shrugged. “If I ask the right questions. Sometimes I don’t want to though. Look, I like my organs inside me as much as you do. And I like Mars’s inside him even more. There’s been enough shit that’s happened since I’ve been a part of the MC to last a lifetime, and I don’t want it. Mars doesn’t want it either.

  “When Jefferson lost the challenge with Mars, he had no choice but to take over as Prez. Neither of us really wanted that for him, for us. But we’ve taken the role the Goddesses gave us. That’s our lot to bear. But, that doesn’t mean to say we have to stick to the status quo. The last thing I want is to be up to my neck in gang wars and cartel crap. I’m trying to get the MC on the straight and narrow, but you can imagine how hard that is, right?”

  Mischa nodded. “Of course. Close to impossible.”

  “Don’t say that,” Annette groaned, dumping her head in her hands.