Page 34 of Claimed By the Damned

He finally looked over at him, and his eyes instantly went to the fresh mark on Zeke’s neck. He flexed his jaw to the point where his teeth strained. “She fucking marked you.”

“Yes, she did,” he replied matter-of-factly. “And I marked her. Why does that bother you so much?”

“Because I asked you fucking not to!” His volume drew the attention of a few strippers passing them, but he didn’t give a shit anymore. He was tired of not being listened to, of having an opinion – a good fucking opinion – that was falling on deaf ears.

“Do you suddenly have something against my being happy? I thought that’s what you wanted for us.”

“I was perfectly happy with our lives before she came along.”

Zeke sighed. “No, you were surviving. That’s all any of us were doing. I don’t understand why you are fighting this so hard, man. Amara is a godsend.”

“And yet, she reminds me of everything I told myself that I’d never want.”

“She’s not your mother, you know,” Zeke stated calmly. “She’s the exact opposite, and if you just took the time to get to know her, you’d see that.”

He rolled his eyes. “You don’t even know her. It hasn’t even been a week. How could you possibly know what she’s truly like?”

For a moment, Zeke stared at him long and hard. “You’re right, it hasn’t been that long, and yet, I know her. I’ve talked to her. Spend two minutes with her, and you’ll see that she’s different. She cares about you too, you know.”

“Yeah, well.” He drank from the bottle again. “She shouldn’t.”

“And yet, she does anyway. Even though you treat her like a whore.” Zeke’s disgust at the way he was treating her was clear in his voice. He was angry with him for it. And he couldn’t blame him.

Drake scrubbed his face with both hands, the stress of the conversation getting to him. “It’s not my intention to make her feel that way, but she needs to understand that this is a fucking terrible idea.”

“It may not be your intention, but that’s exactly what you are doing. And how else is she supposed to feel? You want nothing to do with her, but you have no problems fucking her when you need to get off.” He took the bottle from Drake and downed a swig for himself. “And for the record, she too thinks it’s a bad idea. She’s afraid of what her father is going to do to us when he finds out. Knox and I are the ones pursuing her.”

“Then she’s a smart girl,” he grunted. “We’re no good for her, and her father is no good for us. Why the hell can’t you and Knox see that?”

“Because this isn’t about her father. It’s about her,” Zeke snapped, which was shocking because Zeke was always the calm one. He hardly ever lost his cool. Out of the three of them, he was always the one who kept things from blowing up. “She is the best fucking thing to happen to us, yet you are too fucking stubborn to see that. You are letting your past experience affect you now, even though you swore you wouldn’t let it. You are so afraid of what happened in your past that you’re even willing to let your soulmate suffer at the hands of her own father.” He shook his head. “I don’t even know who the fuck you are anymore.”

In truth, he was having a hard time recognizing himself these days. Knox was the unstable one, but lately, he had felt more unstable. All over a girl. All over this fated mate thing he swore he’d never have because of what happened all those years ago. What he witnessed at such a young age. What drove him from his pack life, taking Zeke with him, was something he’d always felt guilty about, even though Zeke came of his own free will.

This all fell on him. If they got into trouble with a local pack, it all fell on his shoulders to take care of his friends, to find a way to survive through it.

“Here’s the deal, Drake,” Zeke pressed. He leaned back in his chair a little, the muscles in his chest coiled. “Knox and I already marked her. It’s done. We chose to be with her. If you keep this up, if you keep hurting her the way you are, then Knox and I are going to leave with her. You say you’re doing this to protect us and what we built, but we want to build something with her too. We’d prefer it if you were with us, but we aren’t going to force you to do something you don’t want to do. If we have to take on her father and her pack alone, we will do it, but we are not going to let her stay with that monster. And then we will leave. Where would you be then?”

Drake sighed. “How can you be so sure it will even work out between you guys?”

Zeke smirked. “We’re fated, there’s no way it won’t.”

He cursed softly under his breath and looked away. “I just need some time, Zeke.”

His long-time friend shrugged. “Then take the time you need. Just know I plan on working with Knox to get her out of her current situation. After talking to her more this morning, I can’t stand to let her stay there any longer.”

He looked at him from the corner of his eye. When Zeke didn’t explain further, he asked, “What did you learn this morning?”

“Well, it’s bad enough that she tried to kill him herself.”

He raised his eyebrows and looked at him fully. She didn’t seem like the type to kill anyone. “What stopped her?”

“She said she couldn’t bring herself to pull the trigger. But she does want him dead. My guess is it’s more than just emotional abuse. And it’s been going on for years.”

Drake swiped his tongue over his front teeth. He may not want his mate, but the thought of someone else hurting her rattled him. “What are your plans, then?”

Zeke shook his head and tapped on the table. “Don’t know yet. I’m going to talk to Knox, but I think we both know what he’s going to say. This time though, I’m tempted to agree with him. The thought of that asshole hurting her in any way . . .” He paused and grabbed the bourbon once more. After he swallowed, he added, “All I know is that she wants him dead, and I’m tempted to give that to her.”

“You know Knox is going to make this messy, right?”

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