Page 2 of Hers

Susie smiled and nodded. “Of course it’s okay.” She pouted. “I would come over and help paint, but…” She patted her huge baby belly.

“Me, too,” Sandy piped in. She had a decent size belly on her also. She wasn’t too far behind Susie, a month or so, maybe less.

Sammy hadn’t really been a good friend these last several months. Now she thought about it, she hadn’t really seen much of her friends since she’d gotten out of the hospital. Sure she’d seen Susie when she lived with her and her men, but she’d stayed in her room when they were around. She had only ventured out when they were at work or out.

Sandy had called. They’d gone out for a coffee, and Sammy had visited Sandy when she was in the hospital because of when Michael, Greg’s work partner, tried to kill her mates. Sammy winced at that thought and felt a tear roll down her cheek.Oh God, I almost got my best friend killed. If only I wasn’t such a gullible fool. Why didn’t I leave Greg? How could I have not noticed he was taking over my life? My friends wouldn’t have gotten hurt if I’d left him after one of the many times he beat me. Why did I stay with him? Why did I let him destroy my life and hurt my friends?

“I need air. Excuse me for a moment.” Sammy didn’t want them to see her cry. She was sick of being the victim, the cry-baby. Tonight was a happy event, and she wasn’t about to bring it down. Over and over, she repeated what her psychiatrist said to her.It is not your fault. You didn’t cause Michael to go on a killing spree. You did nothing wrong. He would have fixated on someone else, and he would have still killed who he did. You being with Greg didn’t cause these killings.

Stepping out on the veranda she took deep gulps of air, fighting to calm herself down and not break down in front of everyone or run away back to the safety of her house.Shit!She was pathetic. She used to be the strong, tough one in the group. Then her mum had died, and she’d become a wreck. It was around then she’d met Greg. He’d pulled her over for a breath test and seen she’d been crying. He’d talked to her, and their relationship had started from there.

Greg had been controlling from the start. Sammy should have seen his controlling ways, but at first he looked after her as she got her mother’s house packed up and on the market. Sammy had inherited the house and it was debt-free, but she just couldn’t live in the house without her mother.

Sammy had only known Greg for a month before she sold her mother’s place and moved in with him. It didn’t happen right away, but slowly he would put her down because of her weight, or make a comment about how he didn’t like how she acted around her friends. Greg would always organize things for when she had a girls’ night or she would be going to see her friends. He would make her feel so guilty she would cancel and go to his event, or just to keep him quiet and happy, stay at home with him.

Now that she thought about it, she really should never have moved in with him. Sandy had even made a joke to her that he must be hot in bed if she was moving in so fast. Sammy remembered not answering and telling herself that sex didn’t matter, that Greg might be a dud in bed, but he’d said he loved her, and he wanted her. What did Sammy really know anyway? Greg had been her first. She’d made the pact with Sandy and Susie when they were teenagers to only lose their virginity to a man they loved and would marry. Sammy felt guilty knowing she hadn’t kept her promise.

Sammy leaned on the rail and looked out at the pitch black forest. Thanks to Sandy, Susie, and Jane, Sammy knew that sex, making love, could be mind-blowing. Sammy wanted that. She knew Susie and Sandy didn’t care she’d broken the promise. They just wanted her happy. Sammy wanted to have sex and have an orgasm while a man was making love to her. She sighed.Or men.

She hated to admit it, but now she thought about it she was really impressed with Slater and Brock. From what she’d learned about shifters and mates from Gwen, whom she’d been spending a decent amount of time with lately, she knew that shifters found it extremely hard to not be close to or have contact with their mate. Supposedly, they went crazy without their mate’s touch and love. Shifters were usually very bossy with their mates, especially alpha males like Slater and Brock. The two of them never gave up, but when she’d asked for time, they’d given it, and if she asked them to leave, they left. They’d never pushed her to do something she hadn’t wanted to. They hadn’t even whined that she wouldn’t let them claim her.

Sure, they joked, vied for her attention, and no matter how mean she was they came back to try again. Her resolve was wavering and it was getting harder and harder to be rude and mean. They never got angry, and they had been there when she had broken down outside the hospital when Sandy got hurt because she’d learnt who the shifter killer was. Sammy felt it was her fault. Sammy remembered Brock was furious, but he never let her see it. It was only when she snuck looks that she saw the pure rage and anger at her situation. Brock was gentle with her and told her pretty much the same as what her psychiatrist told her.

Sammy remembered Slater and Brock let her be for a while after the shifter killer mess. Slater had come around only twice to check on her, and Brock had checked on her once. They didn’t come together. It was good. She had almost two months of time to get herself together until they slowly started coming around again and calling her. She should give them a chance. Sammy was extremely attracted to them. They made her laugh, and she always felt good around them. Not to mention her body came alive without even touching them. They always told her how beautiful she looked even when she knew she looked like shit.

Arms came around her waist, and warmth settled through her. Honey and chocolate wafted through her senses, and she felt safe.

Brock leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Quick, let me hold you and talk to you. Please, protect me. My mother is on her way with one of the Brown girls. I’ve told her I don’t need setting up, that I have you, but she doesn’t believe me.”

Sammy felt a sting of jealousy course through her at the fact Brock’s mother didn’t believe she was his mate and was trying to set him up with someone else. Brock nipped her neck sending delicious shivers down her back. He then soothed her with kisses.

“Don’t worry, angel. I’m all yours. No need to get jealous.”

Stupid shifter senses. Her feelings weren’t even private. Brock dodged her elbow and pulled her tighter against his chest as the woman she’d met briefly at the bridal shop the other day came over to them with a tall, stunning, brunette.

“Brock, darling, come and meet the lovely Stella.” Brock’s mother Adelea totally ignored Sammy.

“I told you, Mother. I already have a mate.”

Sammy watched as Adelea raised her eyebrow in the most regal way. “I do not see this mate you have been talking about, and if you’d mated her, she should be here. She hasn’t come and introduced herself, and you don’t smell mated. So frankly I think you’re just being stubborn and making excuses to get out of things. I think your mate is make-believe.”

Sammy told herself to stay quiet, to stay invisible and not say anything, but she was sick of shrinking into the background. Before Greg, she would never have put up with someone treating her like this woman was now. She wasn’t make-believe. She was Brock’s mate, whether she claimed him or not.

Taking a deep breath, she told herself that Adelea couldn’t do anything to her with Brock so close, and behind them there was a room full of shifters and humans. “Hi, Mrs. Bear. I’m Samantha. We met at the bridal shop the other day. I’m one of Sandy’s bridesmaids.”

The penetrating stare Adelea had been giving Brock moved down to her. “I remember you hiding in the corner. Is my son bothering you? Has he put you up to pretending you're his mate so he can get out of events and things I’ve organized? You can say no, and I’ll make sure he doesn’t bother you again.”

Sammy stared dumbfounded at the woman. This was the woman Susie loved? Sandy had told her to watch herself with her. That this woman was amazing the way she worked. On the one hand Adelea had given her an out, but on the other, Sammy knew she’d just been snubbed. Adelea didn’t think she was Brock’s mate.

Sammy felt Slater come up beside her, and he reached for her hand.

“Adelea. I see you’ve met our pretty little mate.” Slater held the hand she wasn’t holding out to Adelea. “Stella, it’s nice to see you again.”

Sammy put her hand down and watched as Adelea turned red, and her back went rigid as she plastered a fake smile on her face. “Slater, it’s nice of you to lend my son your mate to play this game. And I’m glad you’ve met Stella before. You can tell Brock what a wonderful woman she is.”

“No. Brock is mine. Slater and Brock are both mine.” Sammy didn’t know what came over her. All she knew was Slater and Brock were hers. She wasn’t letting anyone have them, bar her.

“I beg your pardon. You must be wrong, young lady. If you were their mate you would be claimed by now. My son and Slater have known you for months.”

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