Fated

  his lips against hers, dropped his hand away from her face and took her hand in his, making a stand and letting everyone know that she was his mate, his chosen one and in that instant, the Pack members watching them realized that they now had a united mated couple watching over them.

  “Come upstairs with me,” Drew said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze as he adjusted the large grocery bags that she’d just realized that he was carrying in his other hand.

  Knowing that she really didn’t have much of a choice and needing to get away from all the shifters watching their every move, terrified that they were going to turn on them and make examples out of them, she returned the squeeze and followed Drew upstairs. He didn’t say anything as they made their way to the elevator or even during the trip upstairs.

  Once he had her in the large penthouse, he simply led her to his bedroom, walked past the bed and brought her inside the bathroom. Once they were inside, he released her hand, placed the bags on the counter and took off his clothes, gesturing for her to do the same.

  Needing to wash this blood off before she did something foolish like start crying, she took her clothes off and joined him in the shower. He still didn’t say anything and for that she would always be grateful. Even when she could no longer hold back the tears and her body began to tremble as she sobbed, he still didn’t say anything.

  He simply wrapped his arms around her and held her beneath the showerhead as the water washed away the evidence of what she’d been forced to do in order to protect him. She’d hated every last second of it, but she’d been so angry when she’d realized what they’d planned to do to him. She’d known that she didn’t have a choice even if it meant that she would once again face exile, or worse. She couldn’t let his Pack hurt him and destroy everything that he’d worked so hard to create.

  She couldn’t let them hurt him.

  “Shhh, it’s okay,” he said, kissing the top of her head as he held her, refusing to let her go as she lost it.

  She shook her head, tried telling him that it wasn’t okay, that it would never be okay, but the only thing that she could get out were choked sobs and more tears as the realization of what she’d been forced to do to keep him safe hit home.

  For the second time in her life she’d been forced to kill someone and she hated herself for it. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t had a choice or that she’d ultimately saved Drew’s life by making an example out of the traitorous bitch.

  “Oh, my God,” she gasped between sobs as reality hit and she realized what they’d been planning.

  They were going to kill Drew.

  For years she’d wanted to kick his ass in a variety of different ways that would have both entertained her and made everything in her world seem right, but she never would have killed him. She hated killing. Yet, today she’d killed for the second time in her life for a man that she’d once swore she hated more than anything, even her old Pack.

  When she’d realized what they’d planned on doing to him all thought had seemed to stop in her head and she’d simply reacted. She’d listened to that part of her that she long ago prayed would never rear its ugly head again. She’d killed that woman to make an example out of her, letting everyone in the Pack know what she would do to them if they even thought about harming a single hair on Drew’s head and she’d done it all with absolutely no remorse.

  She was truly the animal that her father had once claimed her to be and she wished that she could say that she hated herself for it, but she couldn’t, not when it meant that Drew was alive and holding her like she was the most precious thing in the world.

  Then again, the man was a notorious male-whore so he’d probably had plenty of experience of taking care of women, something that she was actually glad of today, because he was giving her exactly what she needed.

  *-*-*-*

  He had no fucking clue what he was doing. One minute he was carrying all that junk food that Kara seemed to love so much, hoping to appease the hormonal beast inside her and the next he was standing in a puddle of blood belonging to one of his Pack mates.

  At first he’d been too stunned to act, but one look from his beautiful mate seemed to make everything click. She’d handled his Pack in a way that had cut down the casualties and probably saved the club. If he had been the one to find out what had been going on, he probably would have slaughtered every single one of them without a second thought, something that would have cost him the club and turned him into a mutt.

  Sometimes he thought losing everything would be the most freeing thing in the world, no responsibilities, no one to depend on him, no one trying to kill him to take everything that he had. There would be nothing and no one to stand in his way and he could finally get some fucking rest and stop looking over his shoulder every two minutes to see who was coming after him. He could see the world, start all over and put his needs first for a fucking change, but when he saw Kara standing there, trembling with rage over what she’d been forced to do, his heart had broken for her.

  His Pack had always hated her, distrusted her, resented her and once he’d marked her those feelings had only intensified, making them hate her even more, but as long as he accepted her, they had to as well. They couldn’t say a word or raise a finger against her after today since it was more than obvious that she was his. Not only had she protected him and all the innocent Pack members who would have been punished because of the greed and stupidity of a few, but she’d probably just saved her own life.

  She did what needed to be done and he knew that she hated herself for it. He could tell in the way that he looked at her after she’d done it with a rebellious little glint in her expression that couldn’t quite cover the absolute misery that was tearing her apart. She hadn’t wanted to kill that bitch, but she’d done it and now she was suffering for it.

  He was so fucking proud of her, he thought as he held onto her as she continued to cry, her blunt little human nails digging into his shoulders as she lost it. This was the first time that she’d ever showed him any kind of weakness and that meant more to him than anything.

  It meant that deep down she trusted him and he would never do anything to make her regret that. So, while she held on to him and cried over a bitch that didn’t deserve a single one of those tears that were rolling down her cheeks, he held her, whispering nonsense to her and telling her how proud he was of her. He promised that everything was going to be okay even though he doubted that the treacherous bitches were done.

  Now that he knew their plan, at least one of their plans, because he sure as hell knew that this hadn’t been their only plan, he would keep a better eye on his Pack and if he needed, he would set an example that none of them would ever forget.

  *-*-*-*

  “The shifters who don’t belong to your Pack weren’t in on the plan,” she said, staring down at the bedspread as she toyed with her fingers, humiliated beyond words.

  “I figured as much,” Drew said gently as he placed the grocery bags that she’d forgotten about on the bed next to her.

  “I would still keep an eye on them though,” she said, hating to point out the obvious, but she needed to say something, to do something instead of sitting on his bed, wrapped in a towel feeling do damn vulnerable that she thought she’d start crying again, something that she hated to do and never wanted to do in front of him again.

  “Agreed,” he said absently as he opened the bags and started to take out-

  “Oh, my God!” she gasped as he pulled out HoHos, chocolate dipped Twinkies, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, a jar of strawberry jelly and a jar of peanut butter followed by a loaf of pre-sliced wheat bread and a big bag of Sea Salted Rippled Chips. “What is all this?” she asked even as she licked her lips hungrily.

  Like most shifters, she had a sweet tooth, not as bad as most, but when she was having a particularly rough day all she wanted was a peanut butter sandwich and a box of Twinkies.

  Chuckling that bad boy chuckle that she’d once thought he pract
iced in front of a mirror every day, but now found a little too enticing, Drew whipped out a couple of plates, some knives and made the gooiest peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that she’d ever had the pleasure of devouring.

  Dear God, she didn’t think it was even possible to get that much peanut butter and jelly between two slices of bread, but somehow Drew had found a way.

  “Better?” he asked, devouring his sandwich in two bites before he reached for more bread and made a few more sandwiches that she would never be able to refuse.

  Smiling shyly, because she never thought that Drew could be capable of doing something so simple and so unbelievably sweet that he’d made a crappy day better, she accepted another sandwich from him that was absolutely perfect.

  Chapter 23

  “What the hell are you doing?” Ryan demanded even as he grabbed a second plate and pushed it towards Drew in silent demand.

  “I’m making a Drew Special,” Drew said, unable to help but smile when he thought about the devious little smile Kara had used as she’d shamelessly demanded that he make her two more Drew Specials, and yes, that’s exactly what she’d called them.

  Apparently no one had ever made a better peanut butter and jelly sandwich than him and his mate was a greedy woman. She would probably demand a Drew Special morning, noon and night and surprisingly, he didn’t mind at all. He liked that doing something so simple made his mate happy since most of the mated females used their positions to get whatever they wanted, money, cars, real estate, tropical vacations, jewelry, anything and everything, but his mate wasn’t like any of them.

  She was happy with the little things in life and wasn’t the kind of woman that expected to be pampered and spoiled, her every whim fulfilled without question. The only thing that she expected from him was a few more sandwiches, some Cokes and Twinkies to help her get over what she’d been forced to do earlier.

  “Make me one,” Ryan demanded, licking his lips hungrily while he watched as Drew expertly overloaded both slices of bread with peanut butter before adding the insane amount of grape jelly in the middle that would please his mate.

  “Make your own damn sandwich,” Drew said, wondering why the bastard suddenly thought he’d become his bitch.

  “Fine! I will!” Ryan snapped with a pout that told him that he wasn’t happy about having to make his own sandwich.

  Drew wasn’t sure where that attitude came from considering the fact that the man was completely on his own if he wanted to eat. His mate didn’t make his food and she sure as hell didn’t offer him any food even if there was plenty to go around. Ryan was allowed at the house that he paid for to fuck when the mood arouse and his mate decided that she wanted something and when he wanted to see his kids.

  That was it.

  Drew had never really given it much thought before, but godddamn that was a fucking depressing life. That bitch had him completely by the balls and he was helpless to do anything about it. Ryan wasn’t even friends with his mate, couldn’t stand the bitch and she made damn sure that Ryan knew exactly how she felt about him.

  It was a fucked up situation and unfortunately, it was the way of life for too many of his Pack members. He wasn’t offering to play marriage counselor, far fucking from it, but he now knew that aspect of Pack life was not for him. He wouldn’t tolerate a single second of that bullshit treatment from Kara and he knew without question that she would go for his balls again if he ever treated her with anything less than the respect that she deserved.

  “Oh, what the hell?” Ryan bitched when he went to pick up his sandwich and all the jelly and half the peanut butter came sliding out and landed on his plate with a loud plop.

  Fucking amateur, Drew thought with a pitying sigh as he grabbed a tray, a bowl of grapes, two sodas, another box of Twinkies and placed them on the tray along with the plate stacked with Drew Specials.

  “Did she start listing her demands yet?” Ryan asked with a mutinous glare at the large goop of jelly that had fallen on his freshly ironed shit.

  “No,” Drew said, ignoring the surprised look that his Beta sent him as he headed back over to the fridge and grabbed a half-gallon of chocolate milk to go along with their midnight feast.

  “No?” Ryan asked, looking seriously confused. “She hasn’t made her list of demands known yet? She’s at the start of her heat cycle,” he said the last part almost to himself as though he couldn’t quite believe it.

  “I’m not negotiating our mating,” Drew said firmly, refusing to beg and plead with Kara for her time and attention when she was already so sweetly giving it to him for free, he thought absently as he watched the woman in question march into the kitchen, wearing his shirt and looking close to killing someone.

  When she walked over to the tray, grabbed two of the Drew Specials with a glare and turned around without a word, he realized that he’d taken far too long for the little hormonal bundle of joy.

  *-*-*-*

  “Holy shit, Kara, you’re burning up,” Drew said as he reached over from the safety of his side of the couch and pressed the back of his hand to her forehead.