Page 27 of Chev's Mate

Gray’s shirt is covering the lower half of my body, and I hold it against me as I stumble to my feet.

“Come on,” Charlie says, patting her golf cart.

Gray, Aziel, and I climb on it, joining her and Silas. The wheels struggle to support our weight, and Charlie complains as she brings us back to the house. We move at a snail’s pace, and we receive many concerned looks from the guards and housekeepers.

Gray and Aziel are gone the moment we’re back, the incubus pulling his mate upstairs. Silas hands me a pair of clothes before Charlie forces me into the kitchen.

Their children peer at me from behind the kitchen doorway. I begin my apologies with the tiny, brown-eyed incubus. He’s the most easygoing of the three children.

“I’m sorry, David,” I whisper. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

He frowns, still hiding behind the doorway, before slowly inching forward. His gaze continually darts toward Silas and Charlie, likely looking toward them for confirmation that I’m safe. I swoop down and pull him into a hug once he’s near, which spurs on Valeria. The twins are always competing, and she sprints forward the second she sees me holding her brother.

“Valeria!” I gasp, lifting her with my other arm.

She touches my head, and I force myself to smile as her eyelids flutter shut. She’s too tiny to see a fate without direct skin-to-skin contact. She can still enter the fated world, but I don’t think she sees anything worth knowing. She won’t until she’s older, but this is still good practice.

I hate it. Shifters don’t like fates, but I’ll make this exception for her.

Valeria opens her eyes with a huff, and I grimace as she kicks me and wiggles in my arm.

“Okay, okay.” I groan, setting her down.

She storms out of the room, clearly angry. I don’t understand, and I turn toward Silas for help. He’s fighting a smile as he hands Charlie some ice for my head.

“You’re heavily involved in her life, so she probably didn’t see anything,” he explains. “She gets angry when that happens. We’re working on it.”

I think that’s the most Silas has ever willingly spoken to me.

“I’ll get her,” David says, also wiggling to be put down.

I set him on his feet, and he quickly disappears after Valeria. Cassia is next. She’s easy to please, and when she charges for me, I push her to the ground. I feel horrible doing this, but she lovesit. She screams out in laughter as she falls onto her butt, and when she tries getting back up, I push her down again.

Shifter children aren’t violent, and I hate when I have to bully Cassia. She jumps back up, and I let her bite my kneecap before pushing her away with my foot.

“That’s enough,” I say. “You lose.”

Charlie snorts, and Cassia tries to growl at me. The noise sounds silly coming from her throat. She’s not a shifter, or any sort of animal, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to imitate me. We make eye contact, and I make a big show of dropping my gaze to the floor.

My submission seems to lift her spirits as she squeals and runs toward Silas. He snatches her up and carries her from the room, heading in the direction where David and Valeria are screaming at one another.

“Sit,” Charlie orders, pointing to a chair.

I do, and she drops a bag of ice on my head. It’s too hot in Wrath, and the coolness on my injuries feels fantastic.

“Do you think Vanessa heard me?” I ask.

Charlie shrugs, her lips pursing. That’s a bad sign.

“You were loud,” she admits. “And you were close to the facility. I’d assume she heard.”

That’s not good. My presence in Wrath is supposed to be secret, and this will scare Vanessa away. She’s doing so well here, and everybody says she enjoys her work. I refuse to be the one who ruins that.

I return to my room, too frustrated to do anything else.

Children scream as they run past my closed bedroom door, but even the happy noises aren’t enough to calm me. Their giggles and laughter usually help. My bear loves children, and I’d be destroyed if I ever did anything to hurt them. Being around them isn’t enough to settle my racing thoughts, though.

Uncontrollable rumbles continue to pour from my chest, the noise growing louder as the hours pass. It’s not the mating call I made yesterday while watching Vanessa through her bedroom window, but it’s a low, displeased sound that I’m fearful isn’t stopping soon. I knock my fist against my sternum in a sad attempt to silence myself, but there is no change.

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