A Curse of Fate (Shifter City Fated Mates #1)

Chapter 35

Chapter

Thirty-Five

T he guardhouse rattled so severely that I wondered if an earthquake had struck right when I needed it to, before remembering that would never be my luck. Nope. It was more likely Jones’ backup.

Or… it was mine.

Goddess. Please be mine.

For the first time, I had a pack behind me, and even though we weren’t on the best of terms, they had made it clear that for the time being I was Reeves’ property.

They wouldn’t take my attempted abduction lightly.

There were no more hits to the door from Jones, and needing to know what was happening, I removed the chair and unlocked what remained of the reinforced door. When I stepped outside, the shaking intensified, and I slowly rounded the corner of the hut to find the gate was open.

Wait… it wasn’t open. It’d been torn from its hinges, the metal lying in tangled heaps with two wolves holding Jones down in the wreckage. Relief hit me hard and fast as my legs weakened. Hunter and Kellan.

Their black and tanned coats were sprinkled with blood and rain as they tore into the beta shifter, and by the time I raced over to them, there was nothing besides a few scraps of blood and bone left.

Two feral wolf gazes lifted from the bloody mess and stared at me, and the sky chose that moment to open up and pour rain on us.

With all the adrenaline racing through me, I barely felt the cold.

Run or stay? I had no idea how far gone these alphas were, devolved to their baser instincts. Would they try to claim me in their primal state? Not that it even mattered—I’d never be able to outrun them. All I could do was face whatever came next.

Hunter stalked forward first, a dark demon with his brother protecting his back. The air shimmered with their dominance, and even an idiot would see that they were hunting me down. I tried to back away, but my feet wouldn’t listen. My limbs trembled as I clenched my fists at my sides, ignoring the ache in my face and ribs. Jones had got in a few decent hits, but there was nothing so serious I wouldn’t heal in a few hours.

When Hunter reached me, his beast stood near my sternum; terrifyingly deep rumbles rocked his chest. Shivers raced over my body, and every part of my system screamed danger.

What was I supposed to do? Should I lower myself? Not look him in the eyes? I had no idea of the protocol when an alpha alpha’d out, but if he was anything like my mom’s pack, I only had seconds before I became the next victim.

Bending, I was about to kneel when Kellan growled, halting me in a weird half-crouch. “I’m really fucking confused,” I whimpered, trying not to meet either of their blazing gazes. “What are you going to do? What do I need to do?”

Maybe I should just pass out and hope for the best. It wasn’t much of a survival instinct, but at least I didn’t have to make a decision about what to do next.

Hunter shifted back to his human form, and alpha energy washed over me in a wave of mocha so strong that it almost pushed me to my knees anyway. Kellan wedged his huge body under my arm to keep me standing, and I hugged his thick, warm fur. His chest rumbles turned softer, almost like a purr, as I used his strength to keep my shaking legs upright.

As I stared at the furious, naked alpha before me, and hugged into the wolf alpha under my arm, I accepted that they weren’t going to hurt me. At least not today.

I don’t have to fight anymore.

Jones hadn’t taken me, and I wasn’t in the hands of a sadistic alpha pack who thought it was okay to buy omegas.

Heat burned my eyes, and if Kellan had been a normal wolf I’d have crushed him with my embrace. “Thank you,” I murmured over and over into his pelt. “Thank you for coming for me.”

Hunter still hadn’t said a word, his face wreathed in such fury that he looked like an immortal god risen from the sea to smite the world. This time though, I knew his fury wasn’t directed at me.

When he held out his hand, I didn’t hesitate to move closer. His touch was surprisingly gentle, the burn of his energy heating my icy fingers as he pulled me closer. “Mate,” he finally rumbled, dark eyes blazing into me as his alpha retained control.

Instinct guided me as I said, “I’m okay, Alpha. He didn’t hurt me.”

Hunter’s expression tightened, his free hand gliding over my side, pausing on my aching ribs. “He didn’t seriously hurt me,” I amended. “And you kept me safe by destroying him. The threat is dead.”

I had no idea if they’d discovered anything useful from the beta before he was torn to pieces, but now wasn’t the time to worry about it.

Kellan’s scent wrapped around me as he shifted back and held me in his arms. His touch was gentle, like he feared hurting me, but I was desperate for more.

I wanted them to wrap me up so tightly that the pain and fear vanished. I wanted to be surrounded by their scents and burned in the heat of their dominance. I wanted to fall apart between them.

“Pretty girl, you took twenty fucking decades off my life,” Kellan rasped against my skin, sounding absolutely wrecked as he buried his face in the space between my neck and shoulder. “What were you thinking leaving the house without us?”

A deeper snarl ripped from Hunter, who had yet to speak a full sentence. Maybe he was afraid of reaming me a new one when I was vulnerable from an attack, or maybe it was his beast in control, with verbal communication the weakest part of a wolf.

The rain didn’t ease up, leaving the three of us completely soaked. Not that the guys had any clothes to worry about—a fact I was trying my best not to think about.

Without warning, Hunter bent and slipped one arm under my legs and the other behind my back, hauling me up into his arms and carrying me wedding style. He set off fast, and unlike my pathetic jog toward the guard house, he didn’t huff a single heavy breath as he returned us to the pack house in record time, a grim-faced Kellan by our side.

Inside, Kellan left me with a kiss on the cheek and the promise he’d see me soon, while Hunter took me upstairs. We ended up on the third floor, which I’d been avoiding like my life depended on it. There were only two doors up here, and he bypassed the one with Slade’s distinct, smoky scent, striding to the other.

When we entered his room, it was a huge space, dominated in the center by the largest bed I’d ever seen. There was also a sitting area and small office setup in the corner. Everything was decorated in charcoals and blues, and it felt like Hunter, especially with his mocha scent permeating the air.

The tight ball of tension I’d been holding in my chest since the attack eased. “Did you find Harry?”

“Dead,” Hunter said shortly as we entered his bathroom, also decorated in shades of blue.

My chest clenched as I recalled the cute redheaded beta. This is my fault.

My fucking fault.

Fighting the darker emotions that threatened to drag me under, my voice came out flat and broken. “How did they get this organized so quickly? There’s no way he could have known I’d come alone or so early, but he was ready for me.”

The heat of Hunter’s skin flared until it burned against mine, and it was clear that he was still far too out of control for this conversation. If anything, I needed to calm him before he went full feral alpha again.

He yanked on the shower lever with so much force I was surprised it didn’t rip from the wall. When the water was warm, he stepped under the stream, and I flinched as the hot stream beat against my chilled skin. After my body adjusted, I tipped my head back and let the cleansing stream wash over me, while waiting for Hunter to set me on my feet. Instead, he took a seat on the large bench running along one side of the stall, keeping me firmly in his lap.

When he dropped his head back against the tiles, I stared at the strong lines of his neck, tracing a path up his bronzed skin until I reached his eyes, which were closed. The tension in his rugged features remained present, but as we sat there in a silence that should be uncomfortable, his anger eased.

“We almost lost you today, Emme.”

The husky rumble of his voice had my eyes burning.

“We thought you’d run at first. The phone was on the bed, no note left to explain what happened or where you’d gone.”

“I’m sorry,” I rasped, feeling like the biggest idiot. “The guardhouse called and woke me up saying that Chelsea had left books for me. I knew she was dropping them off, so I didn’t even think anything of it. You were all in the gym, and I figured I could race down and grab them and get back before anyone noticed. I stupidly forgot my phone—I’m still not used to carrying one around—and I honestly never expected your guards would be a danger to me.”

Hunter’s arms tightened and I was shocked when he lifted me so he could bury his face against my neck, breathing deeply. “We let you down, little omega. I’m the one who is sorry.”

I didn’t fight my strong need to comfort him, pressing my hand against his cheek and dragging my thumb down the scruff of his facial hair. “I promise, you did not let me down. You were there exactly when I needed you. You saved me and killed that asshole.”

His nose traced gently across my throat, and I felt a pulse under my ass as his cock jerked. It was a good thing I remained clothed, because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop him from taking me right now. I wanted Hunter as badly as he appeared to want me.

His teeth scraped across my skin in this deadly game we played. He only had to shift to his wolf canines and he’d break the skin, claiming me in his bite.

“I need you to tell me everything that happened. In full detail.”

I almost missed his question, which felt like a splash of cold water against my heated libido. “Beta Jones called and woke me just before five. He said Chelsea had dropped off some books for me.”

I detailed everything, including how he’d touched me, and his abrupt order to Harry. When I explained how my ribs got injured, his chest rumbled hard enough to jolt said ribs before he forced himself to calm once more.

“I smashed him with a branch, which gave me time to get back to the booth. If they got to Harry, he must have had at least one other shifter out there waiting, so I’m extra thankful I doubled back to the guard’s hut.”

Hunter nodded his agreement against my skin, and I gasped when his lips pressed to my throat, lapping up the water. “I’m never letting you out of my sight again, little omega.”

I already knew this was going to heavily impact my future plans to escape this pack. They’d be all over me now, ensuring I was never alone again. But as Hunter’s lips moved down the neckline of my soaked hoodie, I found that at this moment I didn’t care all that much.