Page 50 of Unmistakable Mate

“Oooh, a possessive one. I thought you were just getting some easy pussy but… are you her mate?”

“Damn right I am and if you say anything else about her, we’re going to have that trouble you’re so interested in.” Zander hissed.

“Oh, damn this is too good.” The little man practically cheered with delight, “You’re human. I can smell it on you. She hasn’t turned you yet which was a bad decision on her part. Where is she right now that she let her poor, weak, little human mate run off into the woods by himself?”

“Fuck you. You think I’m weak? Try me, asshole.”

That made the little man’s eyes gleam and he grinned widely, “You know, I wanted to hurt that little bitch but this is so much better. I’ll just kill you and she’ll never get over losing her mate. It’ll be pure torture.”

“I said, try me.” Zander balled his fists, raising them up to prepare for a fight.

He knew fighting with wolf shifters was a bad idea. They were powerful, far more so than he was. But he wasn’t the kind of man that had ever walked away from a fight and he wasn’t going to start now, not when these two were disrespecting his mate.

“You really think you can fight us?” The taller one looked amused. “That’s cute.”

“I may not know much about wolf packs but I know you’re going to regret coming after Maya, and me.” Zander moved quickly, before his words could even settle, using surprise in his favor and throwing the first punch.

He connected with the tall one’s face and heard the crunch of his nose breaking. His hand throbbed but he only pulled it back to swing again. This time the tall guy saw it coming and feinted to the right. He grabbed Zander by the wrist and twisted, hard. Zander cried out in pain as his arm snapped like a pencil beneath the pressure. The man didn’t release him, just pulled him closer, holding him in place, Zander’s back to his front and the nasty smell of his breath wafted past Zander’s face as he laughed.

“That was a mistake.” he snarled, “But the bigger mistake, was thinking we’re wolves.”

Zander blinked as his vision wavered. He thought for a moment it was because of the pain ricocheting up his broken arm but when he looked again, the shorter man had finished shifting. Zander’s breath caught and fear trickled down his spine as he realized what the man holding him had said.

They weren’t wolves. He had recognized them as shifters and nobody had ever told him there were other kinds. He’d thought there were only werewolves but standing in front of him, right where the nasty little man had been only moments before, was a giant, terrifying, bear.

It was huge. Easily twice the size of the man it had been before. And it roared as it stood on its back legs and swiped its paw through the air.

The last thing Zander thought before he felt the inferno of pain ignite in his belly where the bear shifter ripped him open was that he was never going to get to be a wolf. He was never going to seal the bond with Maya. He was never going to see her again and that meant, he would never get the chance to tell her that he loved her.

Chapter Eighteen

Maya gasped as a lightning bolt of pain split through her stomach. Sweat broke out on her forehead and she nearly doubled over. Only the fact she was still sitting at Darius and Leo’s kitchen table and could grab on to keep her balance kept her from hitting the floor. Fear and panic mixed inside of her like a leaden cocktail and she only vaguely heard the squeak of chairs as the men around her jumped to their feet and rushed around the table to her side.

“What’s wrong?” Leo reached for her first, a hand on her back.

“Are you sick? Hurt?” Darius was on her other side, kneeling down and looking worried.

She shook her head, unable to find the words to tell them that it wasn’t her pain she was feeling. Instinctively she knew that it was Zander. He was in trouble. He was hurt and scared. She hadn’t sealed the bond with her wolf side but the mating had strengthened it enough that even separated from him like she was now, she could feel what he was feeling. It terrified her and she forced herself up.

“It’s Zander.” Her words came out hoarse, as if she’d been screaming and vaguely she wondered if she had. “He’s in trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?” Leo demanded.

“I don’t know.” She was already heading towards the door and pulling her shirt over her head. “I don’t know but I have to go.”

“We’re coming with you.” Darius was back on his feet in a heartbeat.

Leo nodded, following them out the front door, “Can you track him through the link?”

“Yeah. I know which direction to head and it’ll get clearer as I get closer.” Maya tugged her shorts down and dropped them to the dirt. “He’s in the woods. Not far. I have to go. Now.”

Without waiting or giving them a chance to catch up, she slid out of her shoes and took off running barefoot. Her wolf much preferred to shift naked but she couldn’t take the time to stop and remove the rest of her clothes. She could replace the pair of black boy short panties and matching bra. She couldn’t replace her still very human mate.

Maya leaped as she entered the forest, allowing her wolf to surface, and when she landed it was on all fours and her wolf in the driver’s seat. She was vaguely aware of the sound of her brothers behind her but her wolf was on a mission. She had to get to Zander before anything happened to him, had to keep him safe, and her wolf growled at her for not letting her take control sooner.

She should have let the wolf seal the bond. He would have been safer if he had his own wolf. She might not know what was happening but she’d felt the pain and the panic he was experiencing and she knew that if anything happened to him that she would never forgive herself. She’d hesitated and delayed, putting off the mating, and now he was hurt and still human, without the ability to heal himself like he could if he was a shifter.

Her wolf sprinted through the forest, ignoring the trails and taking a straight line to where she could feel Zander’s presence. She weaved through trees at blinding speed and jumped over fallen logs without breaking stride. Her brothers’ larger wolves had caught up to her and flanked her now, keeping just out of her line of sight lest her wolf perceive them as a threat. It was a good thing too because the moment she skidded back onto the path and caught sight of Zander on the ground, bleeding, her wolf saw red.

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