Page 13 of Mated to Four Bears

“I have a message for you.”The man actually started to twist his moustache around his finger as he talked. The smirk on his face made me want to puke. “From someone you might know. Someone you know very well actually. Antonio…”

I groaned. Fucking hell, of course this was linked to my ex-boyfriend. Antonio may have left me, but now it seemed like he was never going to let me go.

“I can see from your reaction that you know exactly who I’m talking about.” The smirk didn’t leave his face for even a second. “And so, this message won’t be hard for you to understand. See, he has been associating with some very…dangerouspeople. People who don’t take owed money very lightly.”

“His gambling shouldn’t have anything to do with me now. Talk to his girlfriend,” I said coldly.

“Well, unfortunately for you, you’re the person he has entrusted his life to. According to Antonio, you owe him a lot of money, and now he needs to cash in. He can’t keep letting you off the hook when his life is in danger.”

What the hell? This man had come fromnowhereand just appeared in my living room, just to lie to me about what I owed Antonio.

“I owe that man nothing,” I growled, rage surging through my veins. “He’s the one who owes me money. But I know it’s money I’m never going to get back. A scum bag like him will never pay up.”

The more I thought about this whole situation, the more upset I got. How dare he? How dare Antonio do this to me? I couldn’t believe the audacity of it. He had been a bad guy, but this was a brand new low, even for him.

“I don’t think it’s going to be as straight forward as that, Samantha,” the man declared with a drawl. “I think it would be in your best interest to comply with what I’m saying. That way, nothing needs to happen to you…if you know what I’m saying. Yeah, I think you know exactly what I’m saying.”

The threat chilled me to the bone. That last thing I wanted to do was show this man any fear, but it was hard for me to keep it all inside. I folded my arms across my chest and held them tight against me like a protective barrier. The man spotted my wand, but that only made him laugh. He wasn’t afraid of me or my magic.

Then it hit me that probably meant he was magic as well. That was likely how he’d gotten into my home. Talk about going against the Code of Magic. Where was Captain William Osborne now?

“Listen when I tell you I don’t have any money. I’m not joking. I don’t have anything to give you or Antonio. My wallet is empty. I can’t even afford to eat at the moment. I was fired from my job today and I don’t have a thing. So, Antonio is barking up the wrong tree with me.”

Surely, he could see that I wasn’t lying. I even pointed to my handbag that had my almost empty wallet inside. I didn’t want to lose the last couple of dollars I had to my name, but if it kept me alive, then so be it. I would do whatever it took.

“Take a look for yourself and you’ll see.”

He didn’t, though. This man didn’t seem to care. His smirk got bigger because he knew that I was absolutely screwed. He parted his lips, ready to saysomething, but whether it wouldbe good or not, I would never know, because my door slammed open so hard the whole apartment shook.

I was shockedto see two familiar faces in my doorway. Especially when I didn’t think help coming my way.

“Richard? Henry?”

What the hell were two of the Osborne brothers doing here? And why did the both of them have a murderous look on their faces?

9

RICHARD

Thank God for Henry’s nose. Thank fuck for my hearing. We wouldn’t have had a clue that someone had infiltrated Samantha’s home if it wasn’t for our senses. He didn’t come from the outside in, so this was obviously some kind of magic.

“Who the fuck are you?” the man growled at us. “What the hell are you doing here? Were you sent by Antonio?”

Henry and I exchanged a look. Who the hell was Antonio? Why would we have been sent by him? Perhaps this was the name of the ex-boyfriend, and this was all related to him. I couldn’t be sure, but I needed to make sure that I chose my words carefully. A dangerous man like this…there was no telling how he would react.

“You don’t know who I’m talking about, do you?” The man stiffened and his eyes widened. “Shit…” Then he vanished into thin air.

Just as we suspected, this was all magic related, which put us at a massive disadvantage. Even with our bear shifter abilities, it was going to be a struggle to outwit a magical being like that.

“What the fuck was that about?” Samantha gasped as she staggered backwards, falling onto the floor. She pulled her knees up to her chest to hold herself together. “What the hell? Why would Antonio do this to me? Why would he send someone after me?” Her eyes lifted upwards and burned through Henry and me. “What areyoutwo doing here?” she snapped. “Can’t you take a hint? I ran away from you for a reason. Didyousend that guy after me? I can’t believe you would all do something so cowardly.”

“Whoa, wait,” I said, my hands up in a surrendering gesture. “What do you mean? We came in here to help you. To get that guy away from you, not to make things worse.”

She scoffed in disbelief. “I don’t know about that. I don’t think I can believe anything you say. It all seems to be bullshit to me. Everything that’s happened…it’s just too convenient. William just happens to stumble across me during a very vulnerable time, then decides to bring me home instead of taking me to jail. Then when I get away, you justhappento turn up when there is some guy in my home? I think you’re linked to Antonio. All of you.”

Okay, so Antonio was the ex-boyfriend. That made sense to me.

“It’s time to tell you the truth,” Henry said. He sounded so serious that, for a moment, evenIthought he might be about to confess that he was working for Antonio. I sucked in and held a sharp breath, and that was me knowing the truth. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what Samantha must be going through. “The reason William managed to track you down while you were in the middle of doing something bad, and the way we could track you now and hear someone in your apartment, is because we’re bear shifters. Our heightened sensory skills helped us look out for you.”

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