Page 13 of Redemption

“Oh honey, I told you I would never hurt you, and I meant it. It’s gonna be alright, I promise. Please, try to calm down.” I held my hands up as if to surrender. Trying to show him I really wasn’t there to hurt him. I heard my front door click closed and Theo must have heard, too. His head snapped in the door’s direction, and he trembled all over again. “Bear… calmly, he’s afraid.”

Bear entered the room with his hands in front of him in the same position mine were. I felt as though we were approaching a skittish animal in the wild. “Hi there, I’m Bear. It’s so good to meet you.” Theo’s eyes went wider than they had before, and his breath hitched. As he was staring at Bear, he sobbed. Confused, Bear looked in my direction. Then we noticed Theo wasn’t looking at Bear, he was looking behind Bear.

Chapter Thirteen

Theo

Myron? Was it possible?Was he part of this? I tossed the blanket to the side and jumped from the floor. I barreled past the enormous man standing in the room’s doorway and landed in Myron’s arms with a grunt and a sob. “Myron, you’re here. You came to save me. You’re my only friend. I knew you would always be there for me!” he gently put me on the floor, and I could hear the alpha behind me growling low and deep. It sent a shiver up my spine. The other, bigger alpha in the door, Bear, I think his name was, was laughing and shaking his head.

Myron froze and removed his hands from me, taking a step back. He was staring at the alpha by the bed. “Prez, I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I never thought.” He lowered his head, looking at the floor.

The big guy spoke first as he stepped towards the other alpha and placed his hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright Teach, he knows you meant no harm. He told me to bring you here to comfort Theo. It’s just that it’s all new and his inner alpha hasn’tgotten the message yet. He knows you would never harm his mate.” The other alpha just nodded and looked at me.

“M-ma-mate?” I squeaked, barely above a whisper.

“Apparently kiddo.” Myron stage whispered to me.

“But mates aren’t supposed to ever hurt you, much less kill you. Why was I kidnapped?” Then the last 48 hours dawned on me. I felt my face flush red, and my body got boiling. “You helped me with my… umm, yeah.” I couldn’t finish.

The alpha nodded at me and smirked. Holy shit, that was a sexy smirk. Fuck, my alpha was hot. I mean HOT. He was bigger than Myron, who wasn’t small, but not as large as this Bear guy. Turning back to Myron I ask “Why are you here? Did you have anything to do with those guys who took me? Gavin was beating me up and I think I passed out and woke up here in, umm, heat, I guess.”

Bear spoke first. “Yes, Theo, we were the ones who took you. We can explain everything about how that came to be here in church tomorrow, but when we reached you, Gavin was beating the hell out of you and shouting really disgusting things about and to you, Clip, another brother took care of him. He’s in the hospital, but he’ll live.”

“Which is more than he fuckin deserves.” Myron did not hide his disgust. “Look at you, sweetie. You’re all banged up and look like you’re in pain. Are you OK?” He always tried to take care of me. He was a great friend.

“I’m alright Myron, nothing is broken. Except maybe my pride. A guy called Doc came in earlier with a guy named Owen and brought me some food and checked me over, gave me some pain pills. It’s not as bad now. Doc said that the President would come see me later, but I guess I’ll wait on him to get here so he can tell me what’s going to happen. Maybe if you guys tell him I’ll gladly leave town and disappear, then maybe he won’t have to kill me. Oh, but wait, what if father already paid him? I’ve onlygot a few days before I turn 25 and then he’ll have access to my money. He’ll want me dead before then.” Turning towards the other alphas. “Do you think he’ll take a promissory note saying that I’ll pay him twice what father will pay? Oh goddess, what can I do?” My legs gave out, and I sunk to the floor at Myron’s feet, sobbing. How can I have a mate? I’m so weak and useless.

Myron dropped to the floor and held my shoulders and the other alphas rushed over and dropped beside me. Bear only ran his hands up and down my upper arm while the one claiming to be my mate wrapped me in his arms. I immediately felt the tension leave my body. The pain in my side slipped quietly into the background and my skin instantly heated. His smell surrounded me better than any blanket I could ever imagine and as I looked into his eyes, my soul felt joy. Like I was safe from everything. Nothing could ever harm me. My jaw dropped open as the realization hit me full force. This was my mate, the other half of my soul. He smiled and nodded. “Have any doubts now who I am to you?” I shook my head as I leaned into his chest and let his peace wash over me. “Teach, go in the fridge and grab Theo a bottle of water, please.”

As Myron walked out of the room in the kitchen’s direction I ask, “Why do you call Myron ‘Teach’? I mean, I know he’s a teacher, but you could call him Myron, or even Mr. Jacobs. That’s what I used to call him.” I was so confused. “And what do I call you, Alpha? I can’t just call you mate, can I?”

Placing a kiss on top of my head that sent tingles down my spine “Aww baby, we call him ‘Teach’ cuz that’s his road name.” Jerking his head over to Bear “His name is Nate, but we call him ‘Bear’ and I’ll answer to ‘Mate’ anytime you call me, but I guess you forgot, huh?” Placing a finger under my chin, he lifted my face so he could look me in the eye. I shook my head at him, trying to answer his question. “My name is Eddie, but everyone calls me Mako.” I nodded at him and smiled. “Or President.”my mouth gaped open again, and he used his finger to press it closed, smiling the whole time.

“President? You’re the President? I mean, I’m mated to the President? Wait, President of what exactly?” I felt my brow crease as more confusion took hold.

“Rogue Nation Motorcycle Club. We’re not a gang, we’re a club, a brotherhood. Bear there is the Vice President and Teach is just patched in, but he’s as much a brother as Doc and the other guys.” I guess it all made sense. I had heard of Rogue Nation. Father complained about them and their businesses plenty over the years. He said they were nothing but a worthless gang. I just didn’t see it, though.

“What’s Owen’s, umm, road name, is it?” Now that I was more relaxed, I wanted to know more. I wanted to know everything. Everything that would keep my mind off the inevitable situation with my family.

Bear laughed out at my question. “Bud, Owen doesn’t have a road name, but if he did, I guess it would be ‘Pest’ because that’s what he is most of the time.

Eddie joined in the laughter, “or Chatty Kathy. That boy loves to talk and gossip, but you’ll never find a more loyal man. Either Alpha or Omega. He loves this club to its core. Although if he could have an official title around here, it would be ‘Leader’. He wrangles the Omegas and girls better than any of us ever could, BUT, if you tell him that, we’ll just deny it.” Bear and even Myron huffed laughs and nodded their heads in agreement.

Looking at Myron, “What do I call you now?”

“I guess you can call me Teach, Theo. I’m still a teacher at heart, just some things I teach are different now.” He shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

“What do you teach now?” I was always curious about learning. Maybe if I got to stay here, I could learn something new. Maybe he’d be willing to teach me something new.

“Mostly lessons in humility and treating people as human beings. Not really something you can learn from a book and not something you haven’t already mastered, buddy.” His smile was genuine and shone the kindness of his eyes.

Mako wrapped his arm over my shoulder and pulled my blanket tight, leading me over to the bed so I could sit down while Teach handed me the bottle of water. “Thank you” was all I could manage at the moment. With fear subsiding, I was getting tired.

After downing almost half of the bottle of water, Bear was the first one to speak. “I think maybe we need to head downstairs and let everyone know that it’s all good for the moment. You look like you could use a nap and I think you need to chat with Prez. I just nodded my head. That seemed to be the go-to response lately.

Once Bear and Teach left and the door clicked shut, silence descended on the room. I could hear every breath both of us took clear enough that I could count them, if I cared to. Not that I cared to at the moment. My mind was occupied with so many questions and scenarios. “You want a shower, baby?” Mako gently rubbed up and down my back. I shook my head. He laughed lightly. “You know, one day, I’ll get you to actually speak to me instead of moving your head all over the place.” While the thought crossed my mind to laugh at that, I simply looked at him and smiled the most genuine smile I could. “I think I’ll take your smile over anything right now.” He placed a gentle kiss on my temple. I swear I felt my scalp tingle at the touch of his lips. My smile grew wider, and I dipped my head a bit to hide my reaction. Hooking his finger under my chin and pulling my face up to look into his eyes. “Never hide your reactions from me, baby. Ever. I love I can make you react with just a touch.” My reaction to that was to cuddle tighter into his side as he wrapped his arm tighter around my shoulder.

“I know nothing about being a mate. It wasn’t something I ever thought I would ever experience. Even if I know it won’t last, I’m glad I met you. I hope I was good to you. That is the first time I have done that. I mean, I’ve read about it and it’s not like I controlled what was going on. My mind was floating for a while as my body took over. I could feel the tops of my ears burning with embarrassment.

---