The Mate Challenge (BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Sassy Mates Book 4) (13 page)

She’d just finished getting dressed when Claude showed up at her door. He didn’t look at her in the eyes, which raised an alarm in her.

“Claude? Is everything okay?”

He nodded. “Yes. I came to see you to let you know I am still...I’m trying to find out who is requesting the human blood.”

He shifted from foot to foot and kept throwing glances over his shoulder.

“Do you have anything you want to share with me?”

He jerked his gaze back to her face. “No. I’m just...I’m just gonna go. I’ll be back later.”

She blinked and he’d gone. Unease settled in her gut. Claude had been a blood relative and one of her best friends. She didn’t know how to process his unusual behavior. She summoned Marxius to her room, hoping he’d be able to shed some light on the situation.

“Mistress, you called?” Asked her six foot wall of muscle personal guard.

“Yes. Claude. Put someone on him.”

Marxius’s outward appearance didn’t change. “For how long?”

“Until I figure out what he’s hiding from me,” she said, lifting a glass of blood to her lips. She needed to feed before she left or she’d end up with cramps like she’d had the previous night. She’d gone too long without feeding and paid the price with pain.

Marxius nodded. “I’ll have a team follow him. I heard he was getting ready to go, so I’ll get on that now.”

“Marxius,” she called out, stopping him as he reached the door. “If you find out anything at all that I should know, contact me immediately.”

“Like what? Humans?”

She pursed her lips and nodded. “Yes. I don’t know what has him so agitated, but if he’s one of the people I need to stop to save some lives, so be it.”

Mason turned to face Jake and Caleb. “They should be here soon.”

“And you’re sure about these guys?” Jake asked, his expression impassive.

He’d been worried at first, but seeing them fighting on his side against the vampires and getting the teens safely had solidified his trust.

“Yes. I looked into them. Trevan Stone’s pack lived a quiet life until they were torn apart by a group of vampires. His brother was the Alpha. He and the family died, leaving a handful of his pack struggling for a leader,” Mason filled up a mug with beer and sat down. They’d taken Aric’s bar as a place to meet. Aric had closed it up while he and Jordan were away.

“Why didn’t he assume the leadership?” Caleb asked, his hand shooting out to grab the mug sliding on the counter toward him. Jake followed up the beer with a bowl of pretzels.

“Apparently he didn’t want to be the leader. The pack was so torn up that those left felt the area was bad luck and took off,” Mason replied.

“So he was just passing through?” Jake moved to their side of the counter with his own beer.

“Yeah. They happened to go to that human bar to ask about a place to stay when they were approached by one of Rahound’s men.” Mason took a gulp of his own beer.

“Did you put someone to check out that bar?” Jake asked Caleb.

Caleb nodded. “I sent some of Jaxon’s men out there. They’re not known by Rocco’s men so I am hoping they can find out more about what it is they’re planning with the vampires.”

The bar door opened and Trevan and his friends entered the bar.  Mason watched the shifters for a moment. He didn’t get a bad vibe about them. They appeared to be loners, not looking for a pack but to keep moving.

“Trevan, come meet the true Rahound leader.” Mason pointed at Caleb. “This is Caleb Rahound. Alpha to the Rahound pack. Rocco is trying to steal his pack from him.” Then he cocked his head to the side at Jake. “And that’s my brother Jake Wolfe.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said, shaking their hands. “This is Roen Girard and Alain Thorpe.”

“Can I offer you some beer?” Jake asked. “I’d offer women, but my wife would probably sense I even mentioned the word and come down here and kick my ass.”

Mason grinned. “You can’t offer women. You don’t have any to give.”

Jake laughed. “Hey, I will have you know, I own the hottest place they can go to meet women. It’s not called the Naked Wolfe for nothing.”

Trevan and his friends laughed. “We heard about your spot. Good place to pick up some screaming females was what we were told.”

Jake handed them some beer. “See? Word gets around.”

“Anything you can tell us about Rocco and his plans?” Caleb went straight to the important questions.

Trevan pulled a seat from a nearby table and turned it to face the group, taking a seat. Alan and Roen did the same with other chairs at the same table.

“We got a call today,” he said.

Caleb’s features drew tight with tension. “What did they want?”

“They have another job for us,” Trevan replied. “More kids. So that guy wasn’t the only vampire they’re sending blood to.”

Fuck! Mason slammed his beer mug on the counter, spilling liquid on his hand. “It’s like a fucking plague. How many of these leeches do we have to get rid of to stop this?”

Alain shook his head. “We’re not sure, but we got the sense that this person was important.”

Caleb frowned. His eyes flashed with the power of his anger and his animal. “Why?”

“They said not to be late that our contact doesn’t like to be kept waiting,” Roen added.

“When is this going down?” Jake asked. “Do you need backup?”

Trevan shrugged. “Tomorrow. But we wouldn’t be able to tell you details until we’re on the road. They’re secretive about giving up anything until the last second.”

Caleb nodded. “That’s fine. We can intercept you and get the girls. Then we can follow you to your drop off location.”

The others nodded in agreement. Mason hated the idea of bringing Emma into trouble, but he knew she’d probably hang him by the balls if he attempted to do anything without her. Not to mention she was damn good with her guns.

* * *

Emma smiled and turned to the others. “Don’t scare her.”

Ellie and Nic glanced at each other and Nic snorted. “Do we look like monsters or something?”

Emma hopped to her feet to open the door for Aria. “Just be nice.”

“You’re going to have to open the door in order for us to be nice,” Barbara prompted. “I’m sure she’d like to come inside.”

Nic giggled. “Let the woman in, Emma. We promise not to stake her.”

Uh-oh. Vampire jokes. Poor Aria was in for it.

Aria stood at the other side of her door with a smile. “You do know that you have a paper thin door and everything could be heard out here, right?”

Emma sighed. “Yeah, but I still try to control these heathens.”

Ellie lifted a glass of wine. “Welcome, vampy princess. Come drink some wine and trash talk men.”

Aria’s smile grew wide, showing the tips of her pointy fangs. “Thanks, but I’ll pass on the wine.”

“I’d offer to shove a straw into one of my veins but I hear you don’t drink human,” Nic winked.

“Nic!” Emma chastised. “Give her a second before you’re offering to pop her human blood cherry.”

Nic giggled. “Just sayin’, Aria. I’m delicious.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Ignore them. They’ve had a lot of wine.”

Aria sat down on one of the leather sofas. “I thought shifters didn’t get drunk?”

Barbara lifted her own wine to her lips. “We don’t. Seems these two,” she said, referring to Ellie and Nic, “get silly.”

“It’s the feel good endorphins,” Ellie threw in. “Wine makes us feel happy.”

“You and every other woman out there,” Emma laughed.

“How’s searching for your strays going?” Barbara asked, sipping on her wine.

The smile on Aria’s face dimmed. “It’s not yet. But it should be soon.”

Multiple rings and buzzes went off at that moment. Emma and Aria pulled their phones out and glanced at their screens.

“Your pet sent me a message,” Aria said.

“Did she just call Mason your pet?” Ellie laughed. “I’ve gotta remember that one the next time he gets on my nerves.”

“I got the message too,” Emma frowned.

She glanced up and caught Barbara’s gaze. “What’s going on? Any news on the vamps and teens?”

“Seems the rogue shifters were hired for a new job,” Aria read from her text. “Maybe now I can figure out who else in my clan is breaking their diet.”

“Damn,” Nic winced. “I’d hate to have you in charge of my food.”

Aria showed off her fangs. “My people know what happens when they break our rules. There are no second chances.”

“I think we should just raid that club already.” Ellie sat up on the carpet, crossing her legs and hiding her bare feet.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Aria said. “Let me think on that.”

A raid. Wow. That could get really dangerous with the number of vampires in Embraced. Not to mention what if there were humans inside? Would they be hurt? There was a lot to consider before taking those kind of steps.

“It would help us know for sure if there are actual humans inside,” Barbara said, tossing a blonde strand of hair behind her ear.

“I could always go back by myself, but I think they’d hide anything they didn’t want seen before I make it through the door.” Aria mused.

“Hey, it’s just an idea,” Ellie sighed. “It could get us closer to knowing what the hell is going on in that place.”

Emma stared at Ellie for a while. Not only was she drinking the wine like it was going out of style, but she appeared tired and frustrated. She must miss Caleb. Heck, Emma missed Mason and he was only gone for a few hours. It must be hell to not see someone you loved for weeks on end. She didn’t ask Ellie when she’d last seen Caleb for fear she might make her friend cry.

When Emma was still unsure of her feelings for Mason, she’d tried to stay away from him, but now she realized that she couldn’t. Locking her feelings for him away would do nothing but hurt her. She loved the annoying growly mutt and she was willing to spend her life with him.

Her gut clenched thinking of Mason. Every night she stressed about his being out there, fighting the rogues. Who cared how strong a shifter he was? He was still a man that could get hurt. She hated to think about Mason or any of the others hurt or worse. So she struggled with her fear and watched him go off to fight the rogue battle, all the while wanting to chain him to the bed and telling him he wasn’t going anywhere.

* * *

Mason glanced at Emma on the passenger side. They were getting ready to join the others at the location where the drop off of the girls was going to take place.

It was decided that Aria, Ellie and Nic would help out in case back up was needed. Jake also followed along. Caleb couldn’t attend, but wanted to know as soon as possible if they had the address of the young shifters getting the teens so he could take care of them himself. Mason knew those guys would be up shit’s creek the minute Caleb got a hold of them.

“So what do you think about getting married?” Mason asked casually.

“Wh-what?” Emma blinked, her jaw hanging open.

He grinned, loving the stunned deer-caught-in-the-headlights look on her. Emma was never speechless. “Us. Get married.”

She cleared her throat, clenching her hands on her lap. “Um...why?”

“It’s what people do. You know? Love, marriage, kids?” From the corner of his eye he saw her frowning in thought.

Emma had opened up so much since telling him about her family. But he still saw the insecurity whenever he walked out the door.  He knew she was worried. He sensed her fear and was shocked she never said anything to him about it. His fighting alongside Caleb and the others was stressing her. Her fear had actually helped calm his own. If she was that worried about his life, he knew she had to understand his fear for hers. Her fear was unfounded. He was strong. Could handle anything that came at him. She was a human. And though he’d hoped she’d take to the change, she hadn’t yet.

She’d scented slightly different that morning, but not enough for him to say she would change. The past few hours the scent had grown slightly. He could only hope it meant she’d soon have the strength to be able to continue doing what she loved to do without him worrying about her getting hurt.

“You want to get married?” She asked. There was a slight tremble to her tone.

“It doesn’t have to be now,” he said, hoping he hadn’t scared her. “But yes, I do.”

She turned to glance out of the window, not saying anything else. He waited, worried he’d somehow messed up the path their relationship was on, but she said nothing.

When they got near enough to the rundown shack they were supposed to meet the others, he turned to her. “Emma.”

She glanced at him, her eyes filled with insecurity. “Can we talk about this later?”

“Okay. But we will talk about it.”

She nodded, rushing out of the car to join with the others arriving. She strapped on her guns and knife at her back. Trevan and his friends were parked by the shack. They divided into groups. Closed in on the shack in a circle. He, Emma and Aria headed up through the trees, the van easily visible in the distance.

A group of six people left the shack. A woman and five men.

“You have the slaves?” The woman asked.

Mason glanced at Aria who gasped. Her features turned dark with fury. Aria zoomed into the scene, jumping over the shifters and landing in front of the woman, her heels thumping on the wood of the shack’s steps.

“Chantal,” she hissed, lifting the woman up by the throat and flinging her back to hit the door of the shack, breaking it with a crack.

All hell broke loose at that point. Everyone ran for the shack. The vamps flung themselves at Trevan and his friends. Ellie and Nic shifted, hurdling themselves into the fray.

Emma pulled her guns out and started shooting. Mason helped the wolves. He didn’t shift, not yet. The vampires tried to move fast around them, but Ellie and Nic bit down on legs and arms, holding them in place.

Then Aria flew out of the shack, holding the other woman by the neck and slamming her back against a giant tree. Chantal shoved at Aria, hissing and baring her fangs.

“You did this to me,” Chantal screeched. “No human blood,” she spat. “It goes against our nature.”

Aria swung, punching Chantal across the face. Blood oozed out of Chantal’s nose. Her eyes widened.  Chantal flung herself at Aria, crashing against the side of the shack, bringing down a weak wall.

“I didn’t make the rules! You agreed to them centuries ago.” Aria screamed and swung again.

“What vampire doesn’t want blood?” Chantal lifted her hand and wiped her nose then lifted her fingers to her lips and licked. “Who doesn’t crave the taste?”

“I don’t!” Aria kicked Chantal in the stomach, the move sending Chantal into the fighting zone.