Mate Magic (7 page)

Chapter 10

Bailey walked out of Insatiable but didn’t see Paul’s truck parked anywhere. Maybe she should go back in and call him. Nah, she didn’t want to upset him anymore than he already was. She could wait a while. Bailey sat down on the curb looking around the plaza. It was six at night and there were quite a few people milling about.

Bailey
heard tires squeal to her left and before she could even stand, there was a very large man standing in front of her wearing a black mask over his head. His hands came down on her upper arms and as he grabbed her he swung her around and into the van.
Shit!

Bailey
’s head hit the side of the van and her stapled flank hit the bench seat. The air was knocked out of her lungs. She hunched over and dry heaved while trying to catch her breath.

As the doors closed
Bailey thought what the hell, she hadn’t done anything, and then passed out.

Bailey
woke, still in the van, but she could breathe this time. She looked around and saw the man talking to the driver in hushed tones, “I thought he’d claimed her. This one has no claiming scent.”

“Maybe he hasn’t got around to it yet.
This is the Alpha’s mate; I saw them in the same car. We need her…”

She didn’t wait around to see what they needed her for.
They thought she was Shana, the Alpha mate.
Dumbasses.
They hadn’t even tied her up. Bailey eyed the van door which was unguarded and launched herself out. She felt her wound pull but she kept going right out the back.

As
Bailey rolled out of the van and hit the asphalt, hard, she was praying that she wouldn’t be hit by another car. She was sturdy but probably wouldn’t survive being hit at freeway speeds. She grimaced in pain and stayed in the fetal position in the middle of the road. She was chanting, please don’t pass out, please don’t pass out, please don’t pass out; when she heard tires squealing again. God, please don’t be the van.

*****

Paul saw Bailey being taken into an unknown van by a very large man. Dammit, he shouldn’t have been late but he’d been making cookies with Trevor and lost track of time. He hadn’t realized it until Trevor got a glazed look and then said, “You’re late, and if you don’t leave now you won’t be able to catch them.”

Paul
had no idea what Trevor was talking about but he knew never to question him, so he ran out of the house and cursed the fact Bailey didn’t have a cell phone. He pulled up to see the action and he followed the van closely, hoping Bailey wasn’t being hurt in the back. When the van door opened he saw her propel herself out the back as large beefy hands tried to grab for her.

She tucked and rolled but ended up in the middle of the road, huddled in a ball.
She had blood on her side where her old wound was. It was almost healed with her super shifter healing but something must have opened it.

Paul
stopped his truck and sprinted to her side. He had already called Jake and let him know to alert the pack to a threat. Bailey was hurt but he couldn’t just leave her lying in the middle of the street. He picked her up and placed her in the cab of his truck. He noticed the van kept going and the license plate was covered.

Bailey
was hunched on the seat not making a sound. “Bailey, I’m taking you to the hospital.”

She looked up and into
Paul’s eyes. “Take me back to Alpha house. I need to talk to Jake and Shana. Please.”

“You’re about to pass out from pain and you want me to take you home.
You need a doctor.”

“
Paul, I appreciate your concern, but all I need right now is another staple gun and to speak with Jake.”

Paul
was flummoxed. “I really want you to go to the hospital. This isn’t right.”

Bailey
pulled her hand from her side and placed it lightly on his forearm. “I’m fine. Please, we need to get to Alpha house and warn them. I know I’m protected with you.” And then she passed out again.

Paul
called Jake and updated him on the situation. He changed coarse so he could take her to Alpha house. He called Blake and asked him to pick up Bailey’s purse that was probably on the sidewalk in front of Insatiable.

He looked over at his mate and placed his hand on her thigh.
He wanted so much for her to be okay. When he felt heat in his hand he looked down and saw his hand was glowing and so was Bailey’s thigh. Shit, shit, shit. What was happening? Oh God, did he hurt her?

Bailey
’s eyes opened and she turned her head to the side to watch Paul. Surprisingly she didn’t have much pain anymore. How long was she out? She sat up and had a slight twinge in her side. “Whoa, I feel good. How long was I out?”

Paul
looked over at her. “I’m a bit freaked out actually. You looked pretty bad and I was trying to give you comfort so I touched your leg, and we sort of glowed. I thought I hurt you but you started to pink up. How do you feel?”

“Great actually.”
Bailey remembered their previous encounter and she blushed. “Paul, I’m really sorry I acted poorly earlier. In the store.”

Paul
’s mouth fell open. “You have to be kidding me. It’s not your fault, Bailey. I shouldn’t have gotten mad and acted like a bull. I should have just told you that I…like you.”

Bailey
smiled. “I like you too. You’re a great friend.”

Paul
sighed. “Yeah, I’m a great friend, and I will be until you are ready to see that I like you…more than a friend. I think you are honorable, honest, smart, funny and sexy.”

Bailey
stuttered. “But you like that mean woman. She made you smell…ya know…” Paul smiled at her blush.

“No,
Bailey, it was you. I don’t like that evil mean woman. I could never like someone who was blatantly mean for no reason. You have all the qualities I look for in a woman, or a mate. Have you had that talk with Jake about mating yet?” Paul knew he was pushing it but he couldn’t stop. All this pent up lust was getting to him.

The truck pulled into the gravel driveway of Alpha house but neither
Bailey nor Paul moved. She scrutinized him waiting for him to say ‘just kidding’ or ‘who would like a scarred virgin dummy.’

Her door was pulled open by
Jake who ran his hands over her bloody wound. She heard Paul’s low snarl and held her breath. Jake removed his hands and said. “I apologize. Bailey, can you walk or would you like Paul to carry you?”

What the heck was going on?
Paul had convinced her that he liked her but he was acting like a beast when Jake touched her, no matter how innocent.

“I’ll walk.
I need to tell you what happened.” She turned to Paul whose eyes had turned the color of his wolf, golden with brown flecks. Uh oh, “Paul, would you be kind enough to get my purse where I dropped it in front of the store? Please.”

“
Blake’s getting it. I want to hear this.”

Jake
looked in between them and then his gaze settled on Paul. “I thought you said she was severely injured.”

Paul
closed his eyes and tried to reign in his enraged beast. “She was.”

Jake
was getting impatient. “Care to explain?”

Bailey
stepped between the two and said, “Maybe we can go inside and talk about it. I’d like Shana to hear this as well.”

Jake
motioned for her to walk in front of him. “Ladies first.”

They walked into the house and
Shana was sitting in the easy chair, with the staple gun in hand and a solemn look on her face. At Bailey’s questioning look Shana said. “Trevor told me I’d need this, and these.” She held up a box of tissues.

Bailey
took a seat on the couch and began re-telling the story of her snatching. She could hear Paul growling and soon enough Jake followed him. Shana was sobbing, crying and her chest was heaving with the effort to try and keep it in. It clearly wasn’t working.

When she was done
Jake was sitting in the chair with his pregnant wife in his lap and he was rubbing her back. “That’s it. Except I was really hurt and when I woke up I felt better.”

Paul
regarded her and said. “I wanted to comfort her so I touched her leg. We glowed for a while and then she woke up feeling better. I think I might have given her some of my magic and it helped her heal, but I didn’t know that was possible.”

Bailey
made an effort not to look up, and kept her eyes on her hands in her lap. She thought, surely, she would be in trouble for being mistaken for someone above her station. It was a gift to be an Alpha’s mate and surely no one else thought that should be bestowed to someone like her.

She wasn’t prepared for
Shana to kneel in front of her and engulf her in a hug. “I never want you to say that again. You’re worthy of the best things in this world. You are the most selfless person I’ve ever met. I am honored to have you in this pack and I am so very sorry that you’ve been put through so much.”

Bailey
looked up with blurry vision to find them all gawking at her. She wanted to run again. She needed to be far away.

It was
Paul who noticed her breathing increasing and the tension in her shoulders. “Maybe we can see to her wounds. She’d probably like a nap before dinner.”

She looked up at him with a thankful expression and it broke his heart.

Shana wiped the last of her tears and took the staple gun in hand. “Strip, I need to see the wound.”

Bailey
removed her shirt but clutched it over her scar. Paul thought it was telling that she didn’t care if her breast was exposed, but she didn’t want anyone to see her scar. Shifters really didn’t care much for nudity but to see her cover her scar he wanted to kill her old Alpha, Allen, for causing the scar and her discomfort.

Shana
noticed it too and looked over to Paul with sad knowing eyes. “It looks good. It tore a bit but Paul’s healing must have helped quite a bit. I’m going to place just a few staples in the middle where it’s gaping just to prevent further scarring.”

Bailey
gave a bitter laugh. “What’s one more scar really? No biggie.”

Paul
growled at her. Not a nice growl but one that said he was on the edge and if she said anything else he would lose it. Luckily Blake walked in, “Simmer down brother. I can’t believe your acting like a total wolf.” Blake turned his smile to Bailey, “Whoa, you must be, like a magnet for pain.” He tossed her purse on the coffee table and of course the heavy dildo sprang out and onto the table.

Every person in the room froze, including
Bailey. The silence was awkward until Shana leaned forward and said. “Hey, I have this same one. Jake got it for me on our honeymoon. It’s amazing.”

Jake
looked at his wife and then at the dildo. “Yep, that’s the one. Good choice, Paul.”

Paul
snarled again as Blake said. “Yeah, but I know my brother and that’s” pointing to the dildo, “just gonna be a warm up. Paul is-“

Paul
roared. “Enough!” And once again silence fell, with the exception of Jake, Shana and Blake’s belly laughs.

Bailey
thought she would never get rid of the redness on her cheeks that was rapidly spreading to her neck. Bailey said, “Uh, I should be going.”

She grabbed her purse and toy and quickly fled to her room.
She actually ran, although she shouldn’t have. She was an adult and had every right to play with adult toys. Damn though, the heated look on Paul’s face had her wishing she was brazen enough to proposition him. It didn’t matter; when she went to work tomorrow she would have one less thing to be ashamed of.
Take that virginity!

*****

Paul sat with the other’s staring at him, for what seemed like forever, before he spoke. “So, whoever these people are, they thought Bailey was your mate and attempted to kidnap her. Why though?”

Jake
was just as confused. “I haven’t upset any of the surrounding packs. I have no idea why someone would want to hurt my mate. It pisses me off royally though, and we’ll have to put extra protection on Shana and Bailey.”

“I can stay at the store with her tomorrow.
Something’s been bothering me though. The man who took her was huge, larger than anyone I’ve seen in town. Also, there was a woman in the store today who seemed to upset Bailey. She was taunting her, unnecessarily.”

Paul
had an epiphany. “I know why she bought that toy. The woman called her a scarred virgin. Bloody hell.” Paul put his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. God, she must feel horrible. Did she know that woman?

Jake
replied. “Bailey can take care of herself, Paul. Giving her pity isn’t going to go over well. I agree it’s a good idea for someone to be with Bailey at the store tomorrow. I’ll keep Shana here, and I’ll call Conner to pick up Trevor and take him to school.”