Astrid Cielo (5 page)

Aspen
smoothed her hand over her abdomen and the baby resting there.

"Got
freaky?"

Aspen
knew her eyes were the size of saucers and she couldn't help but laugh when
Destini
broke down into giggles.

"I
guess you could put it that way.
 
Anyways, He didn't claim me and left me three months ago.
 
I moved.
 
I've never told him or anyone, but I watched him for months before I got
the courage to go up to him, and then I did and it was like wham!
 
He was the one.
 
I couldn't stay and see him after he left me,
so I came back to my childhood home."

"So
what made you doubt that he was your mate?"

Aspen
grimaced.
 
This was where it truly got
freaky.

"Before
we came to the hospital, I met Skylar's mate an-"

"Whoa!
He's already mated?"

"Yes
and I'm pretty sure that his mate is also my mate."

"Phew!
No wonder you're freaking out."

Aspen
threw her hands in the air.
 
"I
know! So, do you have any advice?"

Destini
sighed and
patted Aspen on the knee.

"Honey,
if I had that kind of advice then I would still be at home instead of
here.
 
I will say that I believe fate can
get it wrong sometimes.
 
I mean, who’s to
say that biology is always right?
 
Now,
let's go over your discharge instructions and then you go home and rest,
then
tomorrow you can figure this whole
love triangle out, okay."

Aspen
smiled.
 
"Okay."

***

Skylar
left Aspen, his mind churning with thoughts of her caught in another's
embrace.
 
He knew she'd been locked in
the mating heat, knew her body would demand release.
 
But the evidence spoke loud and clear.
 
Aspen abdomen swelled with her pregnancy and
he wished it'd been him that had planted that seed.
 
That was supposed to be his child, his and
Xavier's.
 
Skylar slammed his fist
against the waiting room wall and Xavier was there almost immediately.

"Calm
down, Sky, you don't want to get kicked out of here Aspen needs you."

"She
doesn't need me, Xavier.
 
She just
asked--no demanded that I leave."

Skylar
hung his head.
 
Nobody wanted him.
 
He'd never said it, but he always thought
Xavier stuck around because he had nowhere else to go.
 
Xavier sighed and pulled his arm.
 
Skylar followed, though he didn't know why
anymore.

"It's
time for you to suck it up, Sky.
 
If you
want her then you'll have to fight for her.
 
I saw the hurt in her eyes when she saw you.
 
You hurt her and she's not going to forgive
you easily."

Xavier's
voice echoed in the vacant bathroom.
 
Skylar slammed his hand on the marble sink.

"She's
pregnant."

"Does
it change the way you feel about her?"

Did
it change the way he felt about her?
  
His last words to Aspen were evidence that he and his wolf were in this
for the long haul.
 
Aspen was his mate.

"Of course not!"

"Look,
Sky.
 
I love you, but it's time for you
to focus on gaining her trust back.
 
She
ran for a reason and we've got to figure out how to keep her from running
again."

"Like
you ran?"

Xavier's
growl echoed through the restroom and Skylar winced wishing he could take those
words back.

"I'm-"

Xavier
pinned him to the wall, his brown eyes glowing with his wolf's need to get
out.
 

"I'll
forget you said that, chalk it up to you not thinking straight from this thing
with Aspen, but just to be clear, my circumstances and hers were completely
different and you know that."

Xavier
flashed his teeth mere seconds before sinking them into the place where
Skylar's neck and shoulder met.
 
His dick
hardened instantly and he wanted Xavier with an intensity that had never faded
from the first time he saw him--broken and bloody, fighting for his very life.

He
knew then that he'd love this man.
 
He
just didn't know a little female would turn his world upside down.
 
What were the odds that they'd both have a
second mate?

Skylar
sank into Xavier, wished he could be as put together as he was.

"How
are you dealing with all of this--I mean besides your initial freak out--you've
taken this whole thing surprisingly well."

Xavier
sighed.
 

"I'm
only keeping it together right now because you need me.
 
Believe me
Sky,
I'm
fighting my wolf at every moment.
 
I want
to take her, sink deep inside her and claim her.
 
I want to sink deep inside you and re-claim
you.
 
I want both of my mates beside me
so much that I can feel my wolf clawing at my sides begging me to take
action."

Skylar's
wolf whined in his mind and he smiled.
 
He
grabbed Xavier's face and brought his own down to kiss his lips.
 
He thought to be gentle.
 
Let his mate know how much he meant to him,
but it instantly became out of control.
 
Tongues dueling as he pulled Xavier closer.
 

A
throat clearing pulled them from their embrace.

"I'm
sorry to intrude, but I've got a few questions and since Aspen will be out in
just a few minutes we've got to make this quick."

Skylar
nodded to Caleb.

"Aspen
is a friend, not just a pride member or one of my good friends.
 
She's like a sister to me, we grew up
together and I can't allow her to be hurt.
 
I don't know what's going on between the three of you, and frankly as
long as Aspen is happy I don't care.
 
I'm
willing to offer you a temporary place within the pride until whatever's going
on is settled, but if you hurt her then I will take all the hurt she feels out
on each of your bodies.
 
Am I
clear?"

Xavier
stepped out of Skylar's arms and immediately Skylar felt bereft.
 
He watched Xavier step up to Caleb, saw the
tension in his body.

"She's
our mate.
 
We'd never hurt her."

Caleb
nodded.

"Be
that as it may, someone hurt her and I have a good feeling it was one, if not
both of you."

Xavier
growled and Caleb flashed his fangs before growling low.
 
Skylar stepped between the two to stop what
could be a setback in earning Aspen's trust.

"It
was me.
 
I hurt her.
 
I didn't mean to do it, but I was
confused.
 
She's ours and we'll take care
of her."

Caleb
nodded and left the restroom.
 
Skylar
took a deep breath and released the anger he felt for Aspen being pregnant with
another male's baby.
 
In the end she
would be theirs and the child would be theirs too.
 

The
house had a simple layout.
 
The entrance
led into the living room which had two hallways, the short hallway to the left
led to a dining room and kitchen and the longer hallway to the right boasted
three bedrooms, a master with a full bath and two smaller rooms with half
baths.
 
There was also a full bathroom at
the end of the hall.
 

What
puzzled Xavier the most was that Aspen slept in one of the smaller bedrooms and
not the master bedroom.
 
He inhaled
deeply and shook his head.
 
Her scent led
him straight to the small bedroom at the end of the hallway.
 
He placed her gently on the bed and stood
back.
 
After an exhausting four hours at
the Pinewood Creek ER Aspen had fallen asleep on the way home and didn't wake
when Xavier placed her in the bed.

"She's
all tuckered out."

Xavier
turned to find Miranda standing in the doorway.
 
Skylar nodded and Miranda sighed.

"Look,
Caleb told me about your...situation.
 
I'm not sure I understand it, but in the end I don't have to.
 
As long as Aspen is happy then that's all I
can ask...Well I could ask for more, but that would just be plain selfish.
 
Anyways, given the situation I'm sure you'll
want to stay here.
 
Given that she's
asleep and can't extend the invitation…consider
yourselves
welcome in her home and the pride."

"Thank
you, Miranda.
 
I know that my first
impression wasn't the best," Xavier said thinking about attacking the male
who'd held Aspen.

Miranda
laughed and her brown curls bounced.

"No,
that wasn't the best impression, but Andrew is more upset about it than I
am...I must say it was fitting punishment for that time when I was a child and
he told me the Easter Bunny would eat my brains on Easter.
 
I still can't look at the Easter bunny the
same."

Miranda
shook her head and turned to leave, stopping and turning when she'd almost
exited the door.

"Oh
and by the way.
 
I wouldn't just crawl into
the bed with her without her invitation.
 
She might freak out...or not?
 
You
know, I'd probably freak out so you guys should err on the side of caution.
 
Anyways, good night."

With
that she was gone and they turned to stare at Aspen who slept so soundly.

"She's
beautiful," Skylar said.

Xavier
nodded.
 
He could distinctly remember
seeing her for the first time.
 
Ripping
her from the arms of another male had happened as if in slow motion.
 
He'd seen her look of surprise and the tears
that had coated her cheeks.
 
Her black
hair hung around her shoulders with a fringe of bangs drawing his eyes to her
luminous grey eyes.
 
He'd immediately
felt a rage so deep for her tears and the male who'd held her in his
place.
 
He would never forget the way she
sat in his lap on the way to the hospital.
 
It had been surreal.

"I
never thought I'd want a female this much, Sky."

Skylar
clapped him on the shoulder.
 

"I
know, Xavier.
 
I didn't realize I'd want
anyone but you.
 
Our mating wasn't
exactly...normal."

Xavier
laughed and followed Sky from the room.
 
Watching his ass encased in jeans sway as he walked down the hall made
him want to taste each butt cheek before turning him over and sucking his cock
deep into his throat.

Skylar
entered the master bedroom and Xavier wasted no time pinning him to the wall
and pulling his mouth to his.
 
He'd been
in a constant state of arousal since meeting Aspen, but he knew instinctively
that his attentions wouldn't be welcomed yet.
 
Skylar wasn't just any fuck to soothe him until he could rest between
Aspen's thighs, but was his mate.
 
His
wolf already yearned to feel its mate skin to skin.
 
It felt as though they'd not fucked in
forever.
 

Today
had been trying and Xavier longed to feel Sky's cock plow his ass, or his own
cock buried deep inside Sky's ass.
 
It
didn't matter at this point.

Skylar
twisted away from Xavier.

"Stop,
baby, we've got to play it cool, at least for a little while."

Xavier
stared at Sky.
 
He couldn't be
serious.
 
Xavier adjusted himself and
smiled when Sky's gaze landed on his cock.
 
Xavier unbuttoned his jeans and Sky shook his head.

"We
can't.
 
I don't know how she'll handle
this right now, we-"

"We'll
what?
 
Wait?
 
What if she never feels comfortable with us
being together?
 
Am I just supposed to be
happy that I lost a mate?"

Skylar
sighed.

"It'll
all work out in the end."

"And
if it doesn’t?
 
If she doesn't accept us
like we are, a mated pair who wants to add a third?"

Skylar
didn't answer and Xavier hated him for it.

"I
can't take this shit."

Xavier
left Skylar standing in the middle of the bedroom and went to find another
place to sleep.
 
How could Skylar deny
him?
 
Aspen would have to be okay with it
if she were also their mate.
 
But what if
she wasn't?
 
What if she gave Skylar an
ultimatum?
 
Him or her?
 
Xavier
lay
on the
bed and let his worries take him to sleep.
 
He feared that he wouldn't like the answer he got when the time came.

***

Skylar
allowed the change to take him, his human body bending into the shape of a
wolf.
 
He always took a second to marvel at
the feeling of changing into something so primal.
 
A feeling of being, yet not being surrounded
him.
 
Although it was normal, it never
failed to stun him at how he and his wolf blended into one complete soul--two
parts of the same whole.
 
When in his human
form he could always feel his wolf's presence, there but not, and when he
changed into his wolf form that same feeling washed over him, only
opposite.
 

Skylar
took a moment to view his surroundings, the smell of cedar permeating the area
around him.
 
This forest was dense, all
the better for a shifter to hide his or her tracks.
 
He lifted his nose into the air and sniffed,
his nose separating and cataloguing the odors quicker than his human mind could
process.
 
Then, a familiar scent captured
his attention and his wolf was running towards the coppery scent of blood.

Someone
had gained the attention of the Shifter Council, never a good idea in the
shifter community.
 
There were three
basic rules the Shifter Council enforced.
 
Protect our earth and the animals that reside alongside us.
 
Keep our existence secret from the humans
that would not understand us.
 
But
perhaps most sacred of those rules was--All life is sacred and shouldn't be
killed without proper reason, including protecting one's own life, protecting
the life of a mate, child or family, and instances of settling shifter
business.
 

Someone's
actions had brought the human's attention to the existence of shifters and in
the process, and perhaps more importantly, they'd killed without reason.
 
Maybe not without reason, Skylar reasoned
with himself as he ran.
 
They probably
held their own reason, but the truth remained that he hunted a cold blooded
killer--one who took human life that bore both the signs of a human's attack
and a wild animal's attack.
 
The
responsible party had already been judged and sentenced, and that's where he
came into play.
 
His job was to end the
life of the one who would take other's lives.
 
He'd trained for this job since he was a child--an orphan nobody wanted.

The
sound of a scream pulled him from his own self-pity and he urged his wolf to
hurry.
 
Trees blurred as his wolf headed
for the clearing he could see a short distance away.
 
Skylar's wolf jumped over a fallen tree and
into the clearing.
 
His wolf bared his
teeth growling at the male that kneeled over its victim, his eyes glowing in
the dimness of the forest as he looked up from his prey and stared at Skylar's
wolf.
 
The male bared his teeth, his
fangs flashing before his skin rippled and he changed from a tall, muscular
male into a formidable wolf.
 
His black,
shaggy hair became midnight black fur that covered a larger than normal
wolf.
 
He snarled, his blue eyes glowing
eerily as twilight settled over the clearing.

The
black wolf circled Skylar's wolf, and when he got closer to the black wolf's
prey, the black wolf attacked, his blow hitting Skylar's wolf in the
flank.
 
Skylar's wolf recovered quickly
and snapped at the black wolf catching him by the hind leg.
 
The black wolf let out a spine-chilling howl
as Skylar's wolf locked his jaw around its hind leg and shook its head to
damage as much of the black wolf's leg as possible.

Almost
too easily, Skylar's wolf overtook the black wolf and sank its teeth deep into
the black wolf's neck, administering the Council's sentence.
 
Dead, the black wolf fell to the forest floor
and slowly changed back into a man.
 
Skylar reasserted his control over his wolf and groaned as he
transformed into a man once again.
 
He
stared down into the lifeless blue eyes of his assignment and a feeling of
desperation settled into his bones.
 
When
would he be allowed to stop killing?
 
In
his mind, his wolf answered,
"When
others stop killing those who cannot defend themselves from us."

Skylar
sighed.

A
weak whimper reminded Skylar that the dead wolf's victim still lived.
 
He approached slowly, his nakedness surely to
alarm the injured human female.

Skylar
sank to his knees, his vision blurring from his tears as he took in the female
who lay before him.
 
Blood covered her
body, no part unhurt or so it appeared from his visual survey.
 
His wolf howled and demanded retribution.

"Aspen?"

"Skylar?"

No
matter how many times he closed his eyes, he would only open them to find a
bloody and broken Aspen.
 
His mate.
 
Aspen
coughed and blood bubbled on her lips.
 

"Don't
leave me, Skylar."

Though
her voice was weak, the plea was strong and tore at Skylar's heart.
 
Skylar gathered his mate, trying to deny the
obvious, into his arms and cradled her close.

"I'd
never leave you, love."

Another
cough and Aspen closed her eyes.
 
Panic
washed over him until her barely whispered words reached his ears.

"But
you did."

"I'm
so, sorry, Aspen, I was confused..."

"I'm
cold, please hold me."

"I've
got you, Aspen.
 
I'm going to get you
help."

Aspen
lifted her hand and her icy fingers caressed his cheek.
 
A sad smile crossed her face and her grey
eyes became dimmer.

"Don't
worry, Skylar.
 
Xavier will take care of
me now.
 
He tried his best."

And
with those weak words her breathing stopped, the faint
lub
-dub
of her heart faded and her body went limp.
 

Skylar
tried his best.
 
He breathed for her and
he tried to get her heart to beat, but she wouldn't wake up.
 
His wolf howled within his mind even as the
human clung to his mate's lifeless body.
 
He lifted her in his arms and walked.
 

Time
had no meaning.
 
Life had no meaning.

Skylar
stumbled, falling with a lifeless Aspen and his face met yet another lifeless
face.
 
Once brown eyes so full of
stubbornness, now blank as he stared into the now dark sky.