The air in Jake and Angela's bedroom began to shimmer and Jake was out of the bed in an instant. Lane nearly yelled out when he opened his eyes and found himself staring at six feet five inches of pissed off Jake growling defensively. Jake relaxed when he saw it was Lane and then stared at the woman in his arms.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"I need Angela." Lane said. Angela scooted to the edge of the bed and with some effort managed to lift her heavily pregnant frame off the bed.
"What happened, Lane?" she asked looking at the red headed girl in his arms. She was bleeding heavily and she was pale and unconscious against Lane's chest.
"Vamps. She's mortal Angela and she's my..... She's my friend." Lane said not wanting to tell his sister in law what she really was. Hell he didn't want this mean little red headed slayer to be his mate anyway!
"Follow me. But fast she doesn't look like she can last much longer." Angela said. She waddled from the room and Lane and Jake both followed her. She led them into a spare room and motioned for Lane to lay the girl down.
"You guys leave. I'll do what I can for her." Angela said. Lane started to protest but Jake grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room.
"Do what she says." he said. Lane took one more look at his mates pale face and then turned and left the room. Jake followed him down to the living room.
888
(Angela.) Jake said as he sat on the couch watching Lane pacing the room like a caged animal. He had never seen his little brother look this close to a panic attack. He hadn't said a word in ten minutes and Jake was sure that was a first.
(What?) Angela asked. Jake could tell she was irritated by his interruption.
(How is she?)
(I healed her stab wound. The bruises and cuts will have to wait until later.. I'm just too tired.) he could hear the disappointment in her voice.
(It's ok love.) Jake replied. He knew that healing powers took a lot out of even the most powerful immortals and his Angela was almost eight months pregnant.
(You can send Lane up now. She still unconscious but she'll be ok.)
"Angela, says we can go back up now...." Jake didn't even have time to finish before Lane was running up the stairs. He ran into the room and found Angela sitting on the edge of the bed looking down at the slayers sleeping form. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that some color had returned to her freckled cheeks.
"She's going to be ok." Angela said standing up and laying her hand on his arm. Lane hugged her tight and laid his hand on her belly.
"How are you, little sister? How is my bambino?"
"I'm tired. Your bambina is just fine." she replied. "How is my favorite brother?" Lane looked down at her and could see the worry in her eyes. Leave it to Angela to make him feel like the biggest ass in the world. There was no way he was going to tell her about the drinking and women. She would kill him.
"You know me. Been hanging out and having fun." he said flashing her his grin. She smiled up at him and he worried that any moment his head was going to turn into a giant donkeys ass.
"You need to get back to bed, Angela. You're exhausted." Jake said taking his wife's arm gently. She happily let herself be pulled into the warm, hard, muscular circle of his arms.
"Thank you for helping her." Lane said as he looked back at the woman lying in the bed. Angela nodded and Jake led her from the room shutting the door behind them.
Lane walked over and sat down in the chair next to the bed. He looked down at the woman laying there. He realized he didn't even know her name. Angela had cleaned the blood from her and changed her into one of Jordan's silk gowns.. Lane knew it had to have been Jordan's because she was the only person in the house who was almost as tiny as this mystery woman.
Her glasses were off and laying on the bedside table and Lane realized she wasn't as ugly as he'd first thought. Even with the bruises and cuts she was actually kind of pretty. He stood up quickly. This was insane! She was a scrawny little slayer and he had to get away from her. Damn this whole mate thing! Now that leggy brunette the subs had scared away a week ago, she was mate material. He quickly walked out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom. He took off his bloody clothes, showered and changed into sweat pants before walking back to his room.
He lay in his bed staring at the ceiling and cursing fate for having such a horribly twisted sense of humor.
888
The next morning Angela went into the spare room where Lane's mystery woman still lay sleeping. She had expected to find Lane here but he was gone. Angela pulled the blankets tighter around the stranger. Jake came into the room and laid a hand on his wife's shoulder.
"How is she?" he asked. She shrugged.
"She'll be fine.. She just lost a lot of blood and needs to sleep." Angela reached out and laid a hand on the girls face. She closed her eyes and focused her energy willing the cuts and bruises to heal.
"There, now she looks better." Angela said pulling her hand away. Jake kissed Angela's dark hair.
"Why don't' you go on down and get a bite to eat and tell everyone about our guest. I'll stay up here in case she wakes up." Angela nodded and kissed him gently before leaving the room. Jake moved the small chair across the room and sat down. His eyes stayed locked on this stranger. He could tell by her scent and Lane's scent together that this woman was his brothers mate. He felt sorry for his brother. Jake had been scared when he'd learned his own mate was mortal, learning that your mate was not only mortal but a slayer who hated immortals had to be one hundred times worse.
888
The first thing Joey noticed when she woke up was that her body was not sore. She raised her hand to her chest where the knife had gone in but there was nothing there. Then she noticed that she was wearing a silky gown and laying in a bed.
She couldn't see a thing without her glasses and she reached her hand out to the bedside table beside her and grabbed them. She slipped them on and nearly screamed when she saw the man sitting across the room looking at her with intense golden eyes.
Even sitting, she could tell he was tall and he was covered in layers of lean muscle. He looked a little like Lane but instead of the boyish good looks that Lane had this man looked rugged, dangerous and deadly. He didn't move a muscle as he sat there with his long legs stretched out and his arms crossed over his chest but Joey knew that when he did move it would be with a deadly grace.
"Who are you?" she demanded ready to leap from the bed and defend herself if necessary. He smiled and Joey noticed that even though it could never take away all the deadly intensity of his face it did lighten it and give him a more friendly appearance.
"I know I'm sexier than my little brother but unfortunately I'm taken." he replied. Joey's eyes widened in surprise. Who in the world would be with someone like that? He looked like the definition of a hard abusive man to her.
"By who?" she asked before she could stop herself. Just then a pretty, dark haired very pregnant woman waddled into the room carrying a plate of food.
"By me." she said smiling at Joey. "But you wouldn't want him anyway. He's an asshole." Joey turned her shocked eyes back to the man in the chair. She knew what happened when you insulted an immortal. They turned into killing machines. She looked at him expecting to see him bristling with fury at the insult but instead was shocked speechless when she saw how his golden eyes were now looking at the dark haired woman with more love than she had ever seen.
"I'm your asshole, love." he replied. The dark haired woman smiled at him returning the look of love.
"And I am the luckiest woman in the world." she said. Then she made a face of pain and laid her hand on her stomach. The man was out of the chair and at her side before Joey had time to blink.
"Are you ok?" he asked his voice full of fear.. Fear? Love? Immortals weren't supposed to feel things like fear and love. And if this was Lane's brother then that meant he was a werewolf too.
The woman laughed and laid a gentle hand to the big mans cheek.
"I'm fine, Jake.. But I think this little one is going to have her daddies temper. She nearly kicked a hole right through me!" Joey just stared at them.. She was so confused and her head was spinning. She had no idea where she was. Lane was nowhere to be seen. And the immortals were not acting the way she had expected them to. They seemed almost normal!
She was anticipating that at any moment they would turn on her. They would try to kill her since that was all immortals were good for. She looked around the room for anything that could be used as a weapon to defend herself but saw nothing.
The dark haired woman walked over to the bed and Joey sat up quickly. If the dark haired woman noticed her fear she gave no indication.
"Hi. My name's Angela." she said instead as she held the plate full of eggs, bacon and toast out to Joey. "I promise it tastes good. Rebecca is the best cook you'll ever find."
Joey's stomach growled loudly and she realized that if she was going to have the strength to escape she was going to have to eat. She reached out and quickly took the plate from Angela's hand. She started to eat quickly and Angela stayed where she was on the edge of the bed.
"So what is your name?" Angela asked.
"Joey." Joey's eyes widened when a tall, tan, long legged blond bombshell in a black halter top and mini skirt walked in the room carrying a glass of orange juice. Oh my god how many of them are there! Joey thought to herself.
"I brought you something to drink. Mom tried to send up some of her earthy tea but I saved you from that horrible experience." Joey took the juice out of the blonds perfectly manicured hand.
"I'll bet you have some questions about where you are and who we are don't you? You were unconscious when Lane brought you here last night." Angela said. Joey looked at the big man. Jake is what Angela had called him. He was standing in the corner of the room with his arms crossed. Joey knew enough about hunting and slaying to know that this freak was dangerous. He had the calm deadly energy of a hunter himself.
She looked back to Angela and nodded at her.
"Last night I was dying." Joey said. "Why am I fine this morning? You guys didn't turn me into freaks like you did you?" Angela blinked several times as she looked at her, thinking about how to respond. Jake gave a small growl and ran a hand through his unruly black hair that was a longer than Lane's. The blond raised a brow.
"Excuse me? I am not a freak; I'm hot. I'm a model." she said stretching out her long slender arms.
"Model?" Joey asked.
"Yes. Me and my mate Greg are both models. You should see him. He's so pretty."
"Pretty?" A new man entered the room. He was much taller than even Jake but he was skinny and not a bit deadly looking. "Bethany, you're supposed to tell people I'm handsome not pretty."
"Why? The casting agency says you have pretty looks. You should be proud of that."
"Yea at least you're not ugly like Kent." Yet another woman said walking in the room. This one was short. About the same height as Joey herself and had short spiky black hair.
"Kiss my ass, Jordan. You didn't call me ugly last night." A man replied walking in and wrapping his arm around her waist. He was short and stocky.
"Oh my god how many of you are there?" Joey asked looking at the room full of them.
"Well there is me and Jake. Bethany and Greg. Jordan and Kent. Raquel and Evan and they have two kids Kaylee and Kayleb. And then there is Rebecca and you've already met Lane of course." Angela replied. Jordan did the math in her head... Twelve! She didn't think she could take on twelve of them. She would have to focus on escaping not killing.
"Are all of you werewolves?" she asked. Angela nodded.
"They all are but not me. I used to be a mortal like you but now I'm an immortal mate."
"My mate." Jake added his golden eyes flashing. He could see the way Joey was sizing up everyone in the room. He knew a hunter when he saw one. He didn't want this woman thinking his mate was an easy target.
"I healed you by the way... Seems that's my talent." Angela added. Joey was still thinking about what Angela had said before. She was immortal but not a werewolf.. That meant she didn't have any superhuman strength. If she was mated to the big guy, who was the one werewolf in the room Joey knew for sure she couldn't take, then her death would bring his death.
Joey looked at the smiling pregnant woman sitting on the bed. She didn't want to kill her. But then she reminded herself about what immortals had done to her family and what they always ended up doing if they were allowed to live.
Angela stood up and looked down at Joey. She felt sorry for the girl. She must be scared to death. She remembered how overwhelming this family could be. She was about to tell everyone to leave when suddenly without warning Joey grabbed the fork off of the plate and lunged at Angela.
Joey wasn't even half way to her target when she felt a hand grab her and throw her across the room. She crashed into the wall and fell to the floor before managing to get back to her feet. She found herself looking at the solid rock hard chest of a very pissed off Jake.
Joey was scared. She had been a slayer for ten years but she knew that if she had ever come across an immortal like Jake in that time she would have died. She might just die right now...
Before Jake or Joey could speak Angela came in between them.
"How dare you!" she screamed at Joey. Jake took a step back to allow his mate and her belly room. "I healed you! I fed you! I tried to make you feel as comfortable as I could! Do you know how damn much it took out of me last night to keep you from bleeding to death!? Do you show a single ounce of appreciation for anything that I did? No you don't...." Joey cut off her angry rant by swinging her hand out to hit Angela. Angela blocked her arm with her own and then swung her other hand around and smacked Joey hard across the face.
"You need to learn some damn respect and appreciation!" Angela said. "No one in this house has done a single mean thing to you and what do you do? You call my family freaks and then you try to stab me! You're lucky that Jake didn't kill you instead of just throw you at the wall."
"Repeat that, little sister. What did she do exactly?" Lane asked. Jake and Angela both turned and saw Lane standing behind them looking angry as he glared at Joey.
"The mean little mortal tried to stab Angela with a fork. I don't know what she thought she was doing. I mean Jake was standing right here." Kent replied. Lane took several long strides and shoved Joey hard against the wall. His blue eyes were hard and angry as he glared down at her.
"I could have left you in that alley to die you ungrateful little witch but I didn't. I brought you here to my little sister so she could heal you because for some damn reason fate decided to be a jackass to me and stick me with you as a mate. But you need to listen to me and listen to me close. There will always, no matter what happens between you and I, be a woman that comes before you and that is Angela and if you ever so much as think about attacking her again Jake won't have to kill you because I'll do it myself."
The room became so silent you could of heard a pin drop. Everyone was shocked. Lane never shoved people. Lane never yelled. Lane never threatened and Lane had certainly never before called a woman his mate.....
Joey found herself unable to breath.. A combination of fear and passion was stealing her breath. Lane felt it too as he kept his body pressed against hers. Finally Joey managed to find the breath to speak.
"Did you just call me your mate?" she asked quietly. Lane stepped away from her quickly. The damn woman smelled too damn good for her own good. Like cinnamon and sugar mixed all together. He looked back at his family and saw their shocked expressions and then replayed what he had just said to Joey in his mind.
Oh shit....
Talk about spilling some major beans that he had been hoping to throw away.
"Mate uh.. Yea I called you mate.. I'm part Australian I call everybody mate." he said and quickly left the room.
"Well I think I need to go out for a run. It's a beautiful summer day no point being cooped up in the house." Kent said and quickly left the room followed closely by everyone else except Angela, Jake and Joey.
"Go on, Jake. Go out for a run with the guys. Joey and I will be fine. Won't we Joey?" Angela asked raising a brow and daring Joey to disagree with her dark eyes. Joey's head was still reeling from Lane's words and from the way his body had felt pressed up against hers.
"I don't fucking think so." Jake said his voice hard as stone. "She tried to kill you."
"She won't try that again. Her and I are going to sit down and have a nice conversation and then if she wants to leave I'll drive her to the bus station in town."
"Angela, I am not leaving you alone with her." Angela turned and looked up at her mates stern face. She put her hands on her hips and glared up at him. Joey looked at the scene and figured she really was going crazy when she had to fight the urge to laugh.
Here was this woman who looked so gentle and helpless standing toe to toe with this giant brute of a man, her big pregnant belly pushed against his waist and her hands on her hips. And Joey was shocked to see that he actually looked scared of her.
"You listen to me, Jake. You might be able to threaten and scare and intimidate everybody else but not me. Joey and I will be fine. She won't try to hurt me again. She was just scared and overwhelmed earlier. You have no idea how intimidating your family can seem when they all crowd around like that with everybody talking and arguing at once. Go out for a run and trust that I know what I'm doing." Jake looked down at his mate, his wife, and sighed. He kissed her forehead.
"I love you." he said.
"Are you going to go out?" she asked. He smiled and nodded.
"Then I love you too." Jake gave Joey one last hard work and she understood the threat in his eyes perfectly.
(I'll be fine. If I think she's going to try something I'll yell for you. I know you'll protect me.) Angela said. Jake nodded and left the room shutting the door behind him.
"Ok now you need some clothes." Angela said looking back at Joey. She walked across the room and opened the wardrobe.
"Luckily Jordan has some clothes left in here and they should fit you perfectly." Angela handed Joey a pair of jeans and a black tank top. Joey took them from her and then stared at her.
"Of course. You need some privacy." Angela turned her back to Joey. Angela really wasn't worried that Joey would try to hurt her again. Even if Joey tried Angela knew it wouldn't work because if she knew Jake, and she did, he was standing right on the other side of that door and listening to every single move they both made inside.
Joey cleared her throat after she'd pulled on the clothes and she held the fork out to Angela who gladly took it from her.
"Hold on." Angela said holding up her finger as she walked as silently as she could to the door. She pulled it open quickly and Jake nearly fell as he stumbled into the room. Angela smiled and handed him the fork as he grinned guiltily.
"Goodbye Jake." she said as she pushed him back out the door and closed it again. She turned back to Joey who looked like she was so confused and overwhelmed she was near tears.
"Okay, Joey, now I think we need to talk."