Page 3 of Chomp's Challenge

“Upstairs. Resting,” I grunt out through a mouthful of coffee. I’m now on my second pot as thoughts and scenarios run through my mind. I need to figure out how to help her heal the things that my saliva won’t; her heart, her mind, her inner self.

“Tell me what happened,” he rumbles as he starts pacing the living room. With my open floor plan, he can walk a circle around the bottom level without bumping into furniture. Of course, if he keeps it up, I’m gonna need new flooring, but that’s the least of my worries right now.

I go through everything, stopping when I remember there might be body parts floating on the river, and the campsite is probably a bloody mess. “Fuck.”

“Your gator tore shit up, huh?” he questions.

“The motherfucker was assaulting her, Spike,” I growl, instantly keyed up with the memory. “I pulled him off her.”

Spike curses and grips my shoulder. “She’s safe now. You made sure of that.”

I did, but my gator’s bloodlust still burned bright. He wasn’t satisfied. Ripping the two men apart would never be enough after what they did to our mate. Even now, I wish I could go back and do more damage to them, but there wasn’t much left to begin with after my rage.

“I don’t even know her name yet,” I murmur.

Ours, my gator whispers. I shake my head at his statement, because that’s all well and good that she’s our mate, but I know she’s got a name I need to use.

“You stay with her, I’ll get some of the brothers, and we’ll go see if any further cleanup is needed,” Spike advises. “Plus, I’m sure she’s got shit there that we can bring back to you that might help you figure out who she is.”

I nod, liking where his thoughts are going. “Think we should find out where she lived so someone can go and gather the rest of her stuff?” I ask.

“Honestly, Chomp, she might be better off starting from scratch after all you said was going on,” Spike replies. “It’s likely she brought her purse, so she’d have her identification shit, plus most people have a phone. That’s what I’m thinking she’ll want the most. Everything else? The club can get it new for her.”

We can get new for her, my gator says, reiterating Spike’s words, but then adds, just us. My gator is feeling possessive over our mate already. I have to admit I am, too. I like the thought of helping her rebuild her life from the ground up, although I don’t like what she had to go through to get to this point whatsoever.

“Okay. Do you think Kodiak would let Callie come out to the cabin so she could figure out what sizes my mate wears?”

Right now, I have her in one of my T-shirts, along with a pair of my boxers since my sweatpants would swim on her. While I like her being cocooned in my clothing, I’m sure she’d be more comfortable in stuff that fits her slender frame.

“Yeah, since I’m gonna have him go with me to the campsite, that’s not a bad idea, especially if she wakes up. You’re a big fucker, Chomp, and after what you shared, men will probably scare the hell out of her.”

Sighing, I nod. “You’re right. While I plan to be by her side while she heals, she might worry that she’s gone from the frying pan into the fire or something.”

Spike puffs smoke from his nostrils. “That will never happen on our watch, to any woman, ever.”

“I know. Let me know when you’re at the campsite.”

Once Spike is gone, I finish the coffee and start making food. My mate will wake hungry, and I plan to have a variety of foods available to tempt her palate. Since I have no idea what she likes, I cook breakfast items like scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and bacon, but also cut up fresh fruit, toast a few bagels, and slather on cream cheese. Since I’ve got the cutting board out, I chop up veggies and prepare salads, placing them in the fridge to stay cold.

I’m still not satisfied, so I make a few grilled cheese and ham sandwiches and start a crockpot with homemade chicken noodle soup. I figure I’ve got enough of the basics here to cover whatever my mate needs for nutrition. I recently bought cookies and brownies from Beanie’s Brew, a local coffee shop, since they have the best baked goods in town. I don’t think I’m missing a single thing to care for my mate. If I am, I know one of my brothers will pick it up for me without question because that’s what family does for one another.

All that I own is hers now. And I now understand why Kodiak acted the way he did after he met Callie and realized who she was to him. Mates are precious and need to be protected at all costs.

The house is silent, so when I hear the bloodcurdling scream upstairs, my gator is instantly ready to eliminate any threat. I rush from the kitchen up the stairs and into my bedroom, barely touching the wooden boards on my way.

No one will harm my woman ever again.

Chapter

Two

ARIEL

Awareness is slow to return. It feels like I’m trudging through layers of sticky, thick mud as I claw my way out of sleep and into reality. Pain is the first thing that I notice. It’s clinging to every bone and muscle in my body. I feel weakened by it, but not ruined.

How odd.

I wiggle my fingers and toes, blinking as the fog slowly lifts and the memory of what happened to me returns with ferocity. I don’t want to relive every horrid, agonizing minute of it, but I can’t help it. Everything comes rushing back as my fingers clench the comforter until my knuckles turn white. They ache, like the rest of my body does, but they’re no longer covered in blood, dirt, and grime like I remember them being.

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