FATED MATES

SHIFTER

"Of course you did." She says, a mischievous smile on her face, her eyes twinkling with mirth.

"I didn't mean that." I reply, then laugh at the mock offense on her face. "Okay, well that was great, too, but I mean it. All of today has been great, and I'm honored that you spent time with me." I say, placing one of her hands over my heart. I look her right in the eye so she knows how serious I am. She must see it, as she closes her eyes, and slowly lowers her head in a nod.

With her hand still on my chest, I walk forward the few steps it takes to be directly in front of her. The new position causes her to have to look up at me. I slowly lower my head and brush my lips lightly over hers. It's a slow kiss, not one meant to turn her on. Just a show of affection. I pull back and her eyes are closed.

"Seriously, thank you for spending time with me today. I loved every minute of it. I'm glad you got to do something you had never done before."

"I had a great time, too. I look forward to any more time we spend together." She turns and unlocks her door, and opens it. She turns back to me and lifts on her tiptoes and places a chaste kiss to my cheek. My skin burns where her lips met my skin, and I feel it deep in my soul, even with as innocent as it was. I close my eyes and savor the feelings she invokes in my wolf and me. "Thank you." She whispers, then turns and goes inside, closing the door behind her. I stand there a moment until I hear the locks engage.

I'm walking back to the car, when Nev, in wolf form, comes loping around the corner of the house.

"Sooo, how did it go?" He asks me through our bond.

"Very well. I'm sure you already know that, though. We have a lot to talk about. Meet me at our place in a couple of hours. Stay here and watch over her."

"It is my honor." He says, lowering his head.

I get in the car, and start it up. I love the feel of the dull purr underneath me. I put in gear and head home.

Once I get there and let myself in, I immediately turn on the Playstation and pull up Netflix. I find the show she was talking about earlier, and without reading the description, I start Season one, Episode One. A few minutes into the show, I'm confused. My brothers and I go hunting all the time and are gone for multiple days. I shrug it off and keep watching. By the time the episode ends, I'm no longer confused. I guess with that kind of hunting, when someone is gone for a few days, it is a source of concern.

I go ahead and start the second episode, even though the guys will be here soon. Sure enough, about halfway through, Nev comes in through the "dog door" and goes to his room. He comes out a few minutes later, in human form wearing a pair of low slung sweats, no shirt or shoes. He goes to the kitchen. I hear the fridge opening, then closing a few seconds later. He walks in and pops the top of a bottle of beer.

"Where's Jamie?" He asks, taking a seat in the couch. "And what in the world are you watching?" He asks, motioning to the paused screen.

"He should be here any minute. And that, my friend, is a show our Skye is apparently obsessed with. She got in the car today and the cutest little freak out. Apparently my car is her dream car, and it so happens to be the car the brothers drive around hunting monsters. I thought I would familiarize myself with the show." I hit the back button and go to the "other episodes" section. My eyes nearly bug out of my head when I see the amount of seasons there are. "Apparently, I have a lot to catch up on. How have we never heard of this show? Have we been living under a rock?"

"We've been living under a rock?" My twin asks as he comes through the door. Nev just chuckles. Jamie drops hangs his keys on the hook and goes to the kitchen. Once again I hear the fridge opening and closing, only this time, he comes out with two beers and hands me one. I pop open the top and take a long pull, the bubbles exploding across my tongue.

"Apparently so." I say, pointing to the television with the beer bottle. "Our Skye is obsessed with this show. Have you heard of it?"

"Yeah, how have you not? I've never watched, though, chalking it up to some show for teenage girls. The stars are huge. Their faces are everywhere. You, brother, are the only one living under a rock."

"I just watched the first episode, and that shit was freaky. Anyway, so I'm sure you felt everything today. I don't want to talk about that right now."

"Wait, I don't want to talk about the one thing, but I do want to talk about why you were furious. It took everything to keep my wolf under control."

"Yeah, I had to force my wolf to run into the woods before he started howling. He was tearing through all kinds of stuff, and killed about seven rabbits. I gathered them up and dropped them at the butcher's."

"Good. Okay, well, she revealed to me something about her past. She couldn't conceal her fear from me, and I asked her about it. Her ex was extremely abusive. The night she left him, he broke her arm." Both of them sit up straighter and their eyes start shining. "I only have his first name, Jared. It even sounds like a slimeball name. What we need to figure out is where he is, and make sure he can't come after her. Permanently. I never want her to fear him again." I say with a low growl, my hand gripping the beer bottle in a death grip.

They both grunt in agreement, then get lost in thought. If they are anything like me, and I know they are, they are both envisioning every horrible thing has every done to her, and picturing exactly what we are going to to enact revenge for every single insult and injury.

"All I know is that she's from Virginia. I'll get more information, or you guys can, as we get to know her better. In the meantime, she's terrified he's going to come after her, so we need to be doubling our watches on her. Nobody gets to her. Not this scumbag from her past, and not Dalton. Asshole seems to think he can just manhandle our mate and get to walk off scot free." I crack my knuckles, then my neck.

I stand up and start pacing, my wolf restless. Oh we're going to find these assholes and put them in their places. I look at Nev and he has a shit eating grin on his face, his head in the clouds. What kind of sadistic thoughts are running through his head. I tap into his feelings, and it isn't what I was expecting.

"What the hell, Nevon!" He jerks out of his musings, his eyes wide.

"What?" He asks, a perplexed expression on his face.

"How can you possibly be feeling that, when we are discussing something so serious?"

"Oh, that." He waves it off. "I was just thinking about the other day, when Skye was leaving, she noticed me. In wolf form. She stopped to pet me, and I couldn't help but give her a big lick across her face." He seems so pleased with himself.

"You kissed her. Without her knowing it was you, or without her permission?" My anger grows at every word I say.

"Well, when you say it like that. You weren't there. She was genuinely happy to see me."

"She didn't know who you were!" I can't believe he would do something so reckless. "I can't believe you would do something like that. The mate bond is sacred, and for you to take something as important as a first kiss from you away from her is inexcusable. You will tell her what you did and apologize profusely, and hope to the gods that she will want anything more to do with you."

"Yes, Alpha." He says, his head bowed to the side, showing his neck. My wolf is satisfied by his show of submission. Nev's power is only second to Jamie and myself, so he rarely shows submission, but this was an order directly from his alpha, and not one he could ignore.

Satisfied that we have a plan in place, I turn the show back on. I'm binging this as much as I can. I want to be able to talk to her about it.