Kellen's Tempting Mate (4 page)

His fingers unclasped the front closure, cool air hitting overheated flesh. She tried to remove his T-shirt, but he bent his head, covering the nipple he’d pinched first and sucked it into his mouth. Her knees threatened to buckle, the only thing keeping her up was his arm behind her back.

“Oh god, Kellen. I think I could come from just that.” Her fingers splayed into his dark hair.

Straight white teeth bit down, tugging on the flesh. He growled before doing the same action to the other side. Laikyn felt her body spiraling close to orgasm.

She reached her hand out to rub him, wanting to feel his warm flesh beneath her fingers. The electric shock of feeling his smooth skin sent her over the final step into bliss. She cried out, shocking both of them as her body twitched, needing to be filled.

Kellen worked his hand under the elastic of her yoga pants. The moisture surely coating his fingers, but Laikyn was so far gone she gave no fucks.

“You came.” He made it a statement. Awe lacing his voice.

Two fingers slipped inside her. “Yes. God, I want you. It’s been too long.”

Her hands reached for his belt buckle, asking for permission. His nod had her opening the fastening. The ringing of Kellen’s phone made them freeze. With his hand in her pants, hers reaching for the big cock ready to spring free, they stared at each other.

“The only people who’d be calling me would be Rowan, or Xan.” He pressed his forehead to hers.

“You should probably get it then.” Her voice shook. Her pussy tightened around the digits still embedded inside her.

Kellen slowly withdrew, keeping his eyes locked on Laikyn, he brought his fingers to his mouth and sucked, licking them clean. “You taste better than anything I’ve ever had.” His eyes held hers. “Mine, Laikyn. All fucking mine.” Reaching into his back pocket he pulled out his cell. “This better be fucking good.”

****

R
owan stared around the apartment, using the device specially made to detect if there were any listening or video recorders, pleased to find none. His mate followed him around, her cute little ass staying as silent as him, and trying to copy all his moves. If he didn’t watch it, she’d be a better soldier than he’d been.

“So, no creepers set up cameras to watch her while she slept?” Lyric asked once they were in the kitchen.

He shook his head. “Nope, unless they came in and removed them after the girls left last night, which is a possibility.”

Lyric’s shocked expression showed she hadn’t thought of that option. “Shit. Is there any way we can find out if there was any in here?”

Hating to disappoint her, he tapped her nose. “Sorry, darlin.”

She sighed. “Alright, then we need to do some recon.”

Damn, he fell a little more in love with his mate every day. “Do you smell anything off?”

“It reeks of male cologne, which I happen to know Laikyn would not be entertaining any man, who bathed in something this strong.” She waved her hand in front of her face. He was still getting used to the enhanced sense of smell, and agreed with her. Whoever, or possibly more than one person had been in Laikyn’s home recently wearing way too much of the stuff, for even a human.

Rowan froze as he heard the almost imperceptible sound of two sets of feet outside the door. He checked his weapon, and looked to see Lyric had also pulled her own shiny new specially designed Ruger from the back of her jeans. He motioned with his head for her to go into the back room as he recognized the smell wafting in. Whoever had been inside while Laikyn had been gone, was back. He planned to show them the error of their ways real quick like and be back home in time to bed his mate.

Leaning casually against the sofa, his gun pointing straight at the door, Rowan watched the big men enter. The shock on their faces was quickly replaced by anger.

“Who the hell are you, and what did you do with Laikyn?”

“I think I’ll be asking the questions, pup. Why the hell are you entering someone’s apartment without an invitation, and just who the fuck are you?” He let his voice go deeper, the command evident, noticing the dark brown of both men’s eyes had an eerie red tinge flash in them for a moment.

“We ain’t pups, boy.” One of the blond men stepped further into the space.

Rowan stood straight, letting them see he wasn’t intimidated by facing two men. “You are in my friend’s apartment. Uninvited, I might add. You’ve been here in the last week, although she hasn’t been. Again, uninvited. Now, tell me why I shouldn’t call the cops on your asses?”

He watched the two look as if they were having an internal conversation, and then it hit him. They were. These two men were not human. Or no more than he was. He sucked in a deep breath, sifting through the heavy cologne to the men beneath, detecting a faint whiff of wolf. However, he didn’t think they were a hundred percent shifter. “What the hell are you?” Not one to beat around the bush, he asked the question that needed to be answered.

“My name is Damien and this is my twin brother Lucas. We are Laikyn’s partners at our clinic. She’s a junior partner. We came by to check on her.” His cultured voice came out smooth.

Lifting his chin, Rowan smiled. “Nice to meet you. Now, how about you answer my question before I get trigger happy.”

“Clearly you know we are shifters like you.” Lucas spoke up, both men took a step away from each other.

Having been in the military for too many years, not to mention an expert in hand-to-hand, he knew they were going to try to split up and attack him. Rowan sighed. “Ah, boys, I really wish you weren’t gonna play it that way.” Faster than either of the twins could comprehend, Rowan got off two rounds, taking out one knee on each man as he flipped over the back of the couch, landing on his feet. He pulled out his second gun, each with a silencer attached.

“Now, I know you both will heal quickly, but I can, and will, shoot you both in the heart, and when I get to the fifth bullet in each one, it’s silver. Pretty sure that one’s gonna hurt like a motherfucker. Care to try me? We’re at number two. Should I keep going, or y’all gonna stop being jackasses, and start talking?”

The one named Damien growled, the sound rivaling Kellen, yet he didn’t move any closer. Blood soaked Laikyn’s floor from the wounds, then faster than he’d imagined, they stopped.

“Well played wolfman.” Lucas looked down at his slacks. “These were one of my favorite pairs, not to mention expensive. Who should I send the bill to?”

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” Rowan said.

Again the two clearly spoke to each other before looking directly at Rowan. The only difference in them was one had a visible tattoo peeking out of the collar of his shirt. Lucas must be the bad boy of the duo.

“We are what you’d call a hybrid. You are a wolf, newly made from what we can tell. Yes?” Damien asked.

“That’s correct. It’s been a few months. What else are you? Ahhhh, don’t even think about it.” Rowan nailed Lucas in the uninjured kneecap. Hearing his yelp of pain didn’t faze him.

“Why should we tell you our secrets, when we don’t know shit about you?” A tick was throbbing furiously in Damien’s cheek.

“I’m down to three bullets in this gun aimed at baby bro here, and four in this one. You both may be fast, but I’m faster, and I’m getting real damn tired of jawing right about now.” He could hold the weapons in his hands for hours and not tire, but these men didn’t need to know that.

Lucas stood straight, the brown eyes definitely had a strange red hue.

“Easy, Luke. I think we should explain our predicament to the good man, and then go from there.” Undercurrents flowed, yet they bounced off of Rowan. He had a strange feeling they were trying to control his mind, which made him grin.

“I’m gonna count to three, then I unload. Oh, and just as a warning, the next bullet out I’ll hit the groin, cause I fight dirty like that. Not, cause I dislike men, but there’s a main artery real close. You ready?”

Damien and Lucas placed both hands over their dicks.

“Fine. May we sit down?” Damien gestured toward the kitchen table.

Rowan inclined his head, figuring Laikyn wouldn’t mind since the leather and wood was a lot easier to clean than the carpet in the living room.

“We were born, not made. Our mother is a shifter, while our father is...vampire. Yes, I can see you were unaware of our kind, or should I say, our father’s kind. Most vampires have found it quite easy to blend in today’s society, even with their limitations with the sun. However, our father found his Hearts Love in our mother, a shifter. Vampires and shifters are similar in that regard. We have searched for hundreds of years for our Hearts Love, yet until we saw Laikyn, no one woman did it for us. It is prophesized that we will meet one woman who will complete our trinity. Until then, we will not feel whole.” Damien and Lucas rubbed their chests.

He understood what it felt like to want something, and think you’d never have it, but hundreds of years? Rowan couldn’t wrap his mind around the magnitude of their situation.

“Alright, let me get this straight. You think Laikyn is your, Heart whatever? Cause let me just forewarn you, my alpha believes she is his mate. Trust and believe he will not let her go without a fight.”

Lucas was up and out of his chair in a flash, throwing Rowan against the wall with surprising strength. “If she agrees to test our compatibility, your alpha will have no say.”

“Release my mate, or I will shoot your brother right between the fucking eyes, and my gun is only filled with silver.” Lyric’s voice had gone low.

Rowan didn’t release his hold on the two guns in his hands, his wolf pushed to the front. “Release me, or my woman will do just as she said. You may take a bite out of me, but I can guarandamntee you, I will fuck you up two seconds later.”

The man’s nails lengthened, his eyes were blood red. One by one he relaxed his fingers from around Rowan’s throat, then stepped back. “You will allow her to make a choice, or the battle that will ensue will be great. Far greater than any you have faced.”

“I’m a SEAL. You don’t know what I’ve faced.” He rolled his neck, easing the constriction around his throat. Damn! The bastard nearly crushed his windpipe.

“Rowan, do I shoot this one, or what?” Lyric asked. She sounded as if she was asking for more sugar.

“Come to me, darlin.”

“I’ve never met two with mental blocks quite so strong,” Damien remarked.

“And I’ve never met two men I wanted to shoot quite so bad, it was taking all my focus not to do it.” Lyric walked backward toward Rowan.

“Now, I’m going to call my alpha, and invite him to this little party. I think this is going to be a nice little sit down, now that we have more information.”

“Luke, come and sit down. I’m pretty sure you and I don’t want to be filled with silver anytime soon. Mother and father would be most displeased. We will speak to their alpha and hear what Laikyn has to say.”

The blond doc crossed his completely healed legs over one another. “What makes you think she’d choose you now, when she clearly didn’t in the years she’s been here with you?”

With his mate’s back to his chest, Rowan felt his wolf settle.

“We were giving her room, and time. Someone thought it a good idea to do this.” Lucas shot his brother a glare.

He pulled his phone out and dialed Kellen’s number. From the sound of the other man’s voice, he was pretty sure he’d interrupted something intimate. Which was a good thing with the way both hybrid men were acting. He hoped like hell Kellen and Laikyn smelled of each other.

The fact they hadn’t answered why they’d been in her apartment while she’d been away still needed to be answered. Kellen would take over when he got there, and Rowan knew for a fact the alpha wouldn’t allow anyone to take away what he thought of as his.

“You realize my best friend is with Kellen, along with Bodhi, right?” Lyric whispered, even though the others could hear.

Rowan nodded, not understanding where she was going with her train of thought.

Her pointy elbow nailed him in the gut. “I love Syn, but she is more protective of those she loves than I am of my Harley, Pixie. Kellen is at the top of the list of people she loves with me right below him. I think she may have had a talk with you a time or two. Imagine the two of them coming in here, and then imagine Bodhi thinking Syn was being disrespected.”

He really needed to make a chart when it came to her thought process. Understanding where she was going with Syn and Kellen, but Bodhi through him for a loop.

“Bodhi has loved Syn since the day he came to the pack as a new wolf. Syn thinks he’s too good for her, so she ignores it. One day, he’ll catch her, but he will still protect her with his life. Those two across from us.” Lyric stared at the twins, deep in their own conversation. “They will be considered a threat. You may think Kellen is going to be the meanest one to enter, but believe me, if Bodhi thinks Syn is in danger, he’s the one you want to watch out for.”

“Duly noted, darlin.” He kissed the side of her neck, inhaling the sweet strawberry scent.

––––––––

K
ellen loved the dazed look in Laikyn’s green eyes. He especially wanted to see her laying on his bed, devoid of all clothes while he pleasured her to distraction. The untimely call from Rowan made him want to throw his phone away. Yet, the other man told him he had the doctors at Laikyn’s apartment, and then sent him the information he’d gotten from them.

Son of a bitch. Vampires? Kellen wasn’t sure what to think about that situation or the men. Had no idea what their abilities were, but knew he wasn’t about to take his mate where the other men were.

“I want you and Syn to stay here with Bodhi.” He stopped as Laikyn shook her head vigorously.

“Not gonna happen unless you plan to chain me to the bed.” Fire lit her eyes.

Damn, he fantasized about doing just that. “Woman, be reasonable.” He stepped back before he was lured back to her gorgeous body. The fact he didn’t need to bend in half to claim that sassy mouth had him wanting to do it over and over again. Her womanly curves fit perfectly to his harder frame. They were made for one another. If only she’d listen to him, it would be exactly as he’d envisioned it.