I need to do something, but how can I help her when she won’t let me anywhere near her? I don’t know what the hell to do. I pound my fist against the wall in fury. My only consolation is that our Alpha’s mate can calm her to the point that she’s still. I’ll do anything to heal Lizzie, to have her whole and happy. But first she needs to let me the hell in. The sooner, the better.
A scowl mars my face as Caleb approaches the door. I don’t want to share her. Fate’s a real bitch.
“She’s not letting you in?” His voice is low, with more than a hint of worry.
“No shit.” I practically spit out the words but he doesn’t flinch at my tone. He’s already used to my bitterness over this situation.
“We should tell her we’re her mates.”
I just barely resist the urge to knock him out. I’m worried about healing our mate and he’s worried about fucking her. I grit my teeth but manage a response. “Do you see the way she looks at me?” I say. He ignores my words like the stubborn asshole he is.
“Let’s just do it,” he says and I shake my head. “It’ll be like ripping off a bandage.”
“I can feel the hate and fear radiating off of her all the way from here and you expect me to tell her she’s my mate.”
“Our mate!” I can’t look at him so I just stare at the wall. “If we don’t, then what’s going to happen when her heat hits? What about three days from now when the full moon comes and we have to claim her?” He’s out of his fucking mind.
“Have to claim her? We don’t have to claim her.”
“You don’t want her?” Shock and disbelief are both present in his voice, but also overwhelming sadness. “How can you not want our mate?”
“Of course I want our mate!” His audible exhale is heavy with relief even though my words came out as a low growl. Caleb is truly out of his fucking mind if he thinks she’ll roll over and let us claim her. Her terror is so thick it drenches the air around me. My next words come out easy. “We can wait till the next full moon. Or however long it takes.”
“I’m not waiting. And I’m not risking her heat coming on and it fucking us over like it fucked over Alpha.”
I finally meet his gaze, which stops him from pacing the hall. “How is he?” I heard him and Lev earlier but tuned them out to give my mate all my attention. Lizzie had been saying something in between sobs but all I could understand was Grace. It’s clear she loves her Alpha and it breaks my heart that she has so much love for her, but only hate and fear for me.
“Not looking too good. She ran from him.”
“What the fuck?” My brow rises with shock. None of this is happening the way it should.
“Yeah, when he caught up to her, she knocked him in the jaw trying to get away.”
Holy shit. The admiration in Caleb’s voice is comical, complete with a cocky grin although the humor doesn’t reach his eyes. No one’s gotten a hit on the Alpha in years. Of course his own mate, a human mate, would get the best of him. It almost makes me smile. Almost. But I don’t. So both of our mates have a bit of a violent streak? I can’t help the fact that the Alpha’s mate hitting him makes me feel a little better about my own mate.
“But she reacts to him.” I saw her melt into him at the offering. Despite being petrified for Lizzie, she was perfectly fine in his embrace. “And that’s the way it should be.” Now I’m the one pacing as Caleb leans against the wall.
He comments, “Yeah and then her heat hit and it freaked her out.”
“Why?” I don’t understand how wanting her mate’s touch could possibly hurt their relationship.
“According to Lev, abducting them, not telling them why, and then fucking them is not a good idea. Judging by how pissed off Devin is, I’m going to have to agree.”
A grimace spreads across my face as I say, “You make it sound way worse than it is.”
He raises his brows and says, “Not really. Anyway, she rejected him after they bonded.”
Oh shit. I’m sure Devin’s hurting after that. “But she’s his mate.”
“He hasn’t told her yet and that’s why I want to tell Liz.”
“It’s Lizzie.” I narrow my eyes as jealousy creeps up on me. Shit, I don’t even like him saying her name. There’s no fucking way we’re going to be able to share her.
“First of all, we need to tell her so he can tell Grace. He won’t tell her because he wants to make sure Liz will be all right first. He’s waiting for us to be ready. I know he’s sacrificed for the pack before, but we’re also hurting his mate. She’s our new Alpha.” He stresses the last bit and I feel my resolve crumble.
It kills me to admit it but I don’t have any other ideas on how to get through to Lizzie. Maybe telling her will help; she can’t get any worse.
“And second,” he continues and Caleb’s authoritative voice brings my concentration back to him. “Stop thinking like that. I hate that you’re all pouty that we’re sharing our mate.” My brows knit together in anger.
“Get out of my head, Caleb.”
“You know I can’t.” At least he has the decency to sound remorseful. “We’ll make it work. Fate fucked us over for a reason, right?” He reaches out and pats me on the back, his black boot kicking off of the wall as he does. “Maybe we’re both too messed up for her on our own,” he adds and grins wickedly before continuing, “but together we’ll be whole for her.” I snort. Real romantic.
“The only problem with that theory is that we’re the same kind of messed up.”
He lets out a low chuckle. “No way, you’re way more fucked up than I am.” He smiles broadly at me and for the first time since I realized that we were going to have to share Lizzie, I don’t resent him. “It wouldn’t kill you to smile, you know?” And just like that, the urge to knock him out comes back. I shove him into the wall.
“I’m just screwing around.” I know he is, but it really might make a difference for Lizzie if I could lighten up some. Scary as hell seems to be the most common description of me from the humans. I decide to change the subject. “Vince back yet?”
“Not that I’ve heard.” I watch as Caleb’s fists clench. He usually doesn’t get his feathers all ruffled. Out of all of us, he’s the lighthearted smooth talker. Vince is in for a world of hurt when he gets back. Nearly everyone in the pack is pissed at him. He was supposed to have Lizzie’s background info ready for us. We already had Grace’s since Devin practically stalked her this past year, but we didn’t know Lizzie was ours until yesterday.
Instead, he hightailed it out of the offering and hasn’t been back since. He felt his mate in the audience but he’s going to have to wait until she’s offered, just like Devin had to. He can’t just take her. I have to believe he isn’t that stupid. It’s been nearly twelve hours since we last touched base with him, though. That’s entirely too long for him to not be up to something that’s going to fuck us over. He can’t be hanging around in human territory; he knows better than that. I shove down my thoughts before they get the best of me.