Claimed by Her Panthers (13 page)

Everyone
ignored her as
Draken
continued moving closer to her,
sniffing the air. Owen’s jaw dropped when the Vampire’s eyes
glowed
a bright red.

Huh, maybe we
are about to get our wish after all.

Jenika
for her part
seemed absolutely fascinated by
Draken
. “What is up
with your eyes? How did you do that?
So cool.”

Angelica
began to panic beside him. “Get him away from her.”

Owen
chuckled. “Aww, come on, cupcake. I’m sure he just wants a nibble.”

She
slapped his arm hard, but he saw her cringe, obviously having hurt herself. “I
swear to God, if either of you let her get hurt, I will never forgive you.”

“Dammit.”
Stephan growled from where he stood on the opposite side of her. “You need to
back off, leech.”

“Seriously,
you guys are taking this too far.”
Jenika
continued
to laugh, obviously still thinking this was all a game.

“You
are the one who needs to back off from my mate.”
Draken
all but snarled at Stephan.

They
all froze as Stephan asked, “
Your
what?”

Still
oblivious to the situation that was escalating around her,
Jenika
pushed past Stephan to stand right in front of
Draken
.
“Oh wow. You guys really pulled out all the stops, huh? They look so real.”

The
idiot proceeded to poke at
Draken’s
fangs, which the Vampire
remarkably let her.
Oh fuck
. Maybe
she really was the Vampire’s mate.
“Um,
Jenika
.
There is something you should know…”

“Damn,
they’re even sharp,” she whispered in awe as she nicked herself on one of them.

“
Jenika
,” Angelica called desperately, but her friend didn’t
seem to hear.

Draken
grabbed
Jenika’s
wrist before she could pull back any further. “I
assure you, my sweet, they are very real.”

“Ah,
s-sure,”
Jenika
stuttered, having suddenly snapped
out of her trance. She stepped back, tugging on her arm, frowning when
Draken
didn’t release her. Oh, this shit was going to go
downhill quick. Owen had a funny feeling his mate was going to make him do
something about it. “You really need to let go now.”

Before
he could say or do anything however, his father interrupted. “So you’re telling
us that
Jenika
is your mate now? After all
your
protesting about Angelica being your mate?”

The
Vampire had the decency to look embarrassed, though he didn’t let go of
Jenika
. “I don’t know what else to say except the scent of
Angelica now does nothing for me, however this one’s…”

“This
one has a name and is getting seriously pissed off that people are talking
about her like she isn’t even here.”
Jenika
glared
daggers at
Draken
.

Owen
chuckled,
thinking how appropriate it would be if the
two biggest pains in his arse turned out to be mates. Talk about karma. Now all
he had to do was assure his mate that they could leave her best friend in the
capable care of this leech. Yeah, that so wasn’t going to happen.

Damn.

****

Angelica
stood there in shock, trying to work out what had happened. Last thing she
knew, they were coming here to prove a Vampire wrong. She had convinced the
boys to let
Jenika
come, though even now she didn’t
fully understand why she had had this sudden need to have her friend with her.
She had known the rules, and yet pressed to have
Jenika
come with them anyway. Now that she was here, it didn’t seem as desperate, and
she sorely regretted it, especially with the way that Vampire was eyeballing
her best friend. Words were thrown around by a few, but when she heard the word
scent, it echoed through her mind. And then it hit her. “Oh crap.”

Owen
peered down at her. “What is it, sweetheart?”

“That
day that we met … I was wearing Jen’s jacket. It had gotten cold quickly and
she had brought herself a new one, so she gave me the one she had been
wearing.” Their eyes met, and she could tell he had guessed what she was
thinking. “It was
Jenika
he
was
smelling
all along.”

“Shit,”
Owen muttered, casting a concerned glance at her friend. As much as
Jenika
annoyed them, and they joked about getting rid of
her, Angelica knew her men still cared.
Jenika
did
that to you. Rub you the wrong way continuously until eventually she grew on
you. Owen looked over at Stephan, who had heard their conversation. “Damn, you
know what this means.”

She
saw Stephan frown. “What?”

Owen
grimaced. “We’ll never get rid of her now.” Holding up his finger and thumb an
inch apart, he said, “We were this close to having one of the
leeches
drain her, but now they won’t bloody touch her.”

“Owen!”
Angelica glared at her mates.

God,
they were terrible sometimes.

“Does
someone want to tell me what is going on?”
Jenika
demanded.

Draken
grinned. “It’s
quite simple, my dear. You are my mate.”

“Say
what now?”
Jenika
stared at
Draken
as if he had lost his mind, and Angelica didn’t blame her. Her friend was way
out of her depth.

“
Jenika
, there is something I have to tell you,” Angelica
said, worrying about how her friend was going to react to the news that humans
weren’t the only species around. Something told her that
Jenika
wouldn’t handle it as well as she did, mating bond or not.

“Oh yeah?”
Jenika
raised a brow. “Does this have something to do with
why the hot ones are always gay or crazy?”

“Well—wait,
isn’t it gay or taken?”

“Not
in my experience,”
Jenika
muttered. Angelica wasn’t
sure if she wanted to know what that meant.

“
Listen,
there is a whole world you know nothing about. Now, this
is going to sound crazy, but I need you to remember this is me telling you. Not
the boys, not a stranger, but me, okay?” She needed to know that
Jenika
was really listening. When she received a hesitant
nod, she continued. “Humans aren’t the only species that exist.”

Jenika
let out a
snort. “Oh come on.”

“Please,
Jenika
, listen,” Angelica pleaded.

Something
in her voice must have tipped
Jenika
off, because the
other woman immediately frowned, growing more serious. “What is it?”

“You
are currently surrounded by a bunch of Shifters.
Mostly
panther, but a few others as well.”
Angelica’s eyes slipped to
Draken
and grimaced. “Oh, and you have a Vampire holding
your wrist, claiming to be your mate.”

“What
the hell have they been telling you,
hun
? Better yet,
what have they been giving you?”
Jenika
eyed her with
concern.

Angelica
sighed in resignation. “I get it. I had to see it for myself, too.”

She
nodded to Owen and Stephan. Her mates knew exactly what she wanted, though they
looked less than thrilled. Angelica couldn’t stop her eyes from roaming over
their fine forms as they began to remove their clothing. The bunching of their
muscles, the smooth, sleek skin that was being revealed … Angelica only
realized she had drifted off into fantasy land when she heard
Jenika
chuckle uncomfortably.

“
Ummm
, okay, I really don’t need to see this.”

“Yes,
you do,” she said, not exactly pleased that her friend was about to see her
men’s goods.

Owen
and Stephan began to shift even before their pants had dropped, and within
seconds, two panthers appeared in their place. Angelica grinned. Her men were
gorgeous in either form.

“What.
The.
Fuck?”

She
drew her attention to an extremely stunned
Jenika
,
who stood gaping at her men.
“
Jenika
.
Are you okay?”

Her
friend had paled considerably, and Angelica was worried when
Jenika
didn’t respond. She had never known a moment where
Jenika
had been stunned into silence.
Ever.

When
Jenika
finally made eye contact with her, it was only
enough for Angelica to see her friend’s eyes roll back and
Jenika’s
body to slump. At least
Draken
had been there to
catch her.

“Damn,”
Stephan whistled, having shifted back.

Angelica
threw a look at him over her shoulder. “Not helpful.”

The
look he gave her made it clear he hadn’t intended it to be.
Damn men.

****

Jenika
had begun to
stir in the car, and by the time they had gotten her back to their place, her
friend was in full in question mode. How could they shift? Were they born that
way? How long had she known? Did she having some freaking bonding thing with
Stephan and Owen? Vampires were real? What else was real?

Angelica
had stayed quiet with that last one, hoping to gain extra knowledge herself.
Finding out Vampires were real had been an accident, and neither of her men
were very forthcoming with information on the subject of other species.

“Seriously,
could you give it a break for five seconds?” Owen muttered as they walked through
their front door.

“Owen,”
she sighed, a warning in her tone.

“What?
She has been going since she woke up, sweetheart,” he whined, his baby blues
twinkling with mirth. “I can’t take it anymore.”

“You’re
right. Since she woke up after having passed out because she found out Shifters
and Vampires are real,” Angelica reminded him. “And now she finds out she is
mated to one. It’s a hell of a shock, guys. Give her a break.”

“Oh no.”
Jenika
shook her head vehemently. “I am no one’s
mate
.”

“Yes,
you are,”
Draken
announced, joining them.

Jenika
shrieked, and
her mates snickered.

“Where
the hell did you come from?”

“I
followed you home. I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he stated.

Jenika
blinked. “You
followed me home? ‘
Cause that’s not creepy or anything.”

“It
is not
creepy
for one to care for
their mate.”
Draken
raised an arrogant brow in
indignation.

“I
think we’ll agree to disagree,”
Jenika
said in her
most condescending tone.

Angelica
cringed. This was going from bad to worse.

“Listen.
How about we all take a seat in the lounge room?
Jenika
has a ton of questions.” Groans met her statement, but she chose to ignore
them. “And I think it would be a good idea for
Draken
to be here to answer any she may have about Vampires.”

Without
giving anyone a chance to respond, she reached for her best friend, dragging
the other woman in to the lounge room. Ordering her to sit, Angelica then
turned to her mates. “Could you get everyone something to drink?”

Stephan
visibly bristled. “Not everyone.”

His
eyes narrowed in on a smirking
Draken
, and she wanted
to slap herself.
“Ah, yeah, no.
Sorry,
Draken
.”

The
Vampire waved her concern away. “Not to worry. I fed earlier.”

“Charming,”
Jenika
muttered beside her, folding her arms over her
chest.

Draken’s
grin grew
impossibly wider. “Well, my dear. Now that I know the thought of me feeding
from another upsets you so, I will gladly come to you for all my needs.”

Yeah, that was
so not helpful.

Angelica
was relieved that the rest of the night’s discussion seemed to run more
smoothly. Still just as many vocal jabs from everyone, but however something
about them seemed tamer. She also felt like she had learnt more than she had in
the last few weeks. Her mates were more open to talking about their world,
which felt like a huge step for her. They always spoke about her being
everything to them, and wanting her to be a part of their world … yet she
always felt like they were holding something back from her.

“One
thing I don’t get—no wait, there is a lot I don’t get, but I’m focusing on this
one. Why on earth would your elders live here?”