Rane's Mate (8 page)

Kirby knew she must look a fool with her eyes large and a mouth
that wouldn’t shut, but she didn’t care. Her mind raced with all the
possibilities of these new abilities she would have, and she also realized that
with Rane being what he was, he wouldn’t be scared away by her family.

Snapping her mouth shut, she hugged Rane as tight as possible.
“This is fantastic news. With your super strength, and now my added abilities,
you won’t be scared away by my brothers. For once, maybe I could win a fight,
have a boyfriend. Oh, you could probably kick their arses for me and not even
break a sweat.”

He chuckled, which made his rock hard chest vibrate. Mmm,
she loved his body.

“After everything I’ve just told you, the first thing you
think about and are happy about is that I’ll be able to beat your brothers up? And,
little red, we are a lot more than just boyfriend and girlfriend.”

He growled the last and pulled her lips to meet his. She
melted into his embrace as his hand moved down her back. Pulling her mouth away
from Rane’s, she stared into his eyes. She had so many questions.

“Will I be able to run faster, or do you think you could
teach me to beat my brothers in a fight?”

Rane sat up, pulling her with him, laughing. “You are a
blood thirsty woman.”

She whacked Rane’s chest, but he just laughed harder. “It’s
not funny. I’m serious.”

“Oh, I know you are, that’s what’s so funny. You have just
learnt that you’re mated to a werewolf forever, and you’ll live longer, among
other things, but all that matters to you is that you get payback at your
brothers.”

She whacked him again. “What is so funny? I’m so sick of
being picked last for every family sport thing. That’s not the worst though,
when I was younger, they always picked on me, and even though I have an animal affinity,
I still am not a fan of stick bugs, mice, rats, spiders, and snails. Do you
know what I would find in my bed all the time? I even woke up screaming several
times to mice crawling on me, or bugs, but the worst had to be the two hairy
huntsmen spiders.” She shivered, remembering that morning. “They got worse as
they got older. I never got to date, or make friends, as they were all
terrified of my brothers.”

Rane hugged her tighter in a lame excuse to comfort her, but
it was lost on her, being he was laughing so hard. She whacked him a couple more
times until he let go and she got off the bed. He was laughing so hard she
didn’t think he even noticed.

“It’s not funny. You’re acting just like them, and they’re
one of the reasons I left, so I wouldn’t be picked on, and to make some
friends, be independent, learn to stick up for myself against overbearing
arseholes.” Turning, she started looking for her clothes. All men were idiots!

* * * *

Rane tried to stop laughing, really he did, especially
knowing Kirby was getting cranky and looking for her clothes. The problem was
he and his brothers would never do anything like that to their sisters, but their
sisters would, and did, do stuff like that to them.

“I’m sorry, little red. I’m not just laughing at how cute
you are, I’m laughing because in our house it was the other way around, the
girls would terrorize us.” He grabbed her waist, pulling her back on the bed
when she reached down to get one of her ripped pieces of clothing.

He pulled her into his body, but she remained stiff. He
kissed her shoulder and up her neck murmuring, “I’m sorry. Please don’t be
angry. Come on. I’ll beat up your brothers for you however you want.”

She finally relaxed into him, looking at his eyes and giggling.
“I don’t want you to hurt them. The thought really only crossed my mind for
maybe a second or two.” He smiled at her, and she sighed. “Oh, okay, ten,
fifteen minutes tops. Oh, shoot, fine, I’m still thinking it’s a good
possibility.” He chuckled and she joined in, chuckling along with him.
Snuggling closer into him, she rested her chin on his chest as she murmured, “I
hate to say this, as I’m so comfy, but we should probably head back to Faith’s
and Kane’s. I mean, the reason I’m here this weekend is because of Faith’s
birthday. I know we really haven’t finished discussing everything—”

He placed his hand over her mouth, silencing her. He moved
her off him and on the bed, telling her to stay for a couple of minutes.
Without even bothering to get dressed, he ran out of the bedroom and to the
front door, opening it before the two battered and bruised werewolves had the
chance to open it.

Fuck, something major must have happened. They should have been
healed by now. “Come in. What happened?”

Blake stepped forward. “You and your mate need to come to
Kane’s house now. We’ve called a meeting of every available werewolf.”

Nodding, Rane went to get Kirby from their room. He almost
forgot about the two werewolves waiting in his hall when he saw Kirby bent over
in one of his black shirts that came to her knees. She seemed to be looking for
her other shoe. “Ah, little red, if we didn’t have to be somewhere now…” He
moved up behind her, growling. She dropped the one shoe she had found and
moaned as his hands snaked up her body. “Mmm, oh my, you don’t have anything
else on.” He groaned.

“Well, if someone hadn’t ripped all my clothes, then maybe I
wouldn’t just be wearing your shirt.”

His groan turned into a growl as he heard the two werewolves
outside chuckle. He rested his head on her shoulder, and then turned her around
to face him. “Wear my shirt. It looks better on you, and I like more of my scent
on you.” Her cheeks blushed a pretty pink. “Don’t worry about your shoes, I’ll
carry you.”

“No, I’m too heavy. You ca—”

He cut her off by picking her up in a cradle hold and kissing
her lips. “Don’t ever let me hear you say that you’re not perfect. You’re light
as a feather.” She laughed when he lifted her above his head several times.
“See, my little red, you are lighter than a feather.”

She reached up and kissed him. “Let’s go.”

They all left the house and ran to Kane’s.

* * * *

They entered a house full of chaos. Once they were inside, Kirby
ran straight to Faith and Sara, who were crying. “What happened?”

Faith blabbered out, “I didn’t see anything. I never saw
anything coming. I should’ve seen it. They have to be okay. She has to be okay.
I sent extra men later when I started to get a bad feeling, but we didn’t really
think they would need them. Who would think they would attack a bowling alley?
They’re going to be okay. They have to be.”

Rane’s mother Della came to Faith and wrapped her arms around
her, whispering, “Faith, you need to calm down. Remember the baby. This is not
your fault. You cannot see everything.”

“But, she, she, he…” Faith blabbered out.

“Shhh, both our best healer and Kane are in there looking at
them. You know he’s the best doctor there is.”

Kirby was starting to fret as well. What the hell had gone
on? She needed more information. Looking around the room, she didn’t see anyone
else she knew. Where were Remy and Bengie? She finally saw someone she knew,
one of Rane’s brothers, Jamie. Walking over to Jamie, she tapped him on the arm
to get his attention. Now, on closer inspection, she could see he wasn’t in
very good shape either. “What happened?”

He didn’t even glance down at her as he stated, “We were at
the bowling alley, all having fun. I never thought they would come to a bowling
alley. There was no warning, no nothing. All of a sudden we smelled the sulphur
and everywhere we looked there were fucking demons. Fifteen, I’m telling you,
fifteen, they swarmed in with minions and zombies. There were only eight of us,
that’s including my sisters, Remy, and Bengie.”

He shook his head like he was trying to dispel a nasty
thought.

“Bengie, he… I don’t think they knew his potential when they
let him go and haven’t come searching for him. He fucking kept three, and I
mean three huge demons from Remy. I…we can’t…can’t…” He shook his head. “And
wow, Remy wasn’t doing so bad herself with minions, but once the four demons
surrounded them, they just...”

He seemed to choke as he spat out, “Remy was amazing. She
set demons on fire, burnt most of the minions that way. Demons are different to
minions, they can take the pain.” A tear fell out of his eye, sliding down his
face. “It felt like hours, although I’m sure it was only minutes, when the
stupid fucking police started showing up and shooting the demons. It made the
fuckers stronger. Finally reinforcements came, but they weren’t enough. Faith
couldn’t, Faith… She didn’t see how many. We didn’t know how many. So they only
sent eight more and we really needed double. All of us fought as best we could
until more help arrived, but with the demons enhanced from the lead bullets the
stupid humans used...”

He glanced behind her, and she felt Rane’s arms come around
her waist.

“I’m sorry, man, one of your human army men is dead and one
is in critical condition. None are as bad as Remy and Bengie.” Tears were
freely rolling down Jamie’s face now as he whispered, “They’re in real bad
shape.” Kirby could barely hear him as he said, “I don’t know if Remy will
survive this. We have had problems as we cannot chance a hospital visit,
especially with Bengie. Remy’s not…”

Faith jumped up from the lounge, Rane’s mother let go of
her. Her eyes turned an eerie color as she seemed to lose focus and yell out,
“Call Arden, he has to come home, now! Call Arden, call him.”

Everyone turned to Faith. Della touched her shoulders.
“Sweetheart, he’s not due back from his away team for three more weeks. They’re
in Canberra, and it will take him hours to get here.”

“I don’t care. Get him here
now
or I will never
forgive you.”

Everyone gaped at Faith. Rane’s dad came up and tried to
pull her in for a hug, but she fought it.

“No, no, he has to come. She’s his mate.”

“Faith, she can’t be Arden’s mate. He would have recognized
her, or said something by now. She’s been friends with you for years. No, she
can’t be.”

Sara spoke through sobs. “No, this is the first time Remy’s
been out here. We never understood why Faith never had sleepovers or invited us
to her house for visits. Faith just never wanted us to, and Remy didn’t come to
Kane’s thirty-fifth birthday party. We have only ever been around your
daughters, Jamie, and Devlin, although recently Kane too.”

Everyone stared wide-eyed at Faith. Her lips were pursed and
her eyes seemed to be flashing with anger. “What? Stop looking at me like that.
It’s not how I envisioned them meeting. I saw it differently, but…” She looked
at Jack and then at everyone. “They’re messing with the future, so I don’t see
why I can’t. If she dies, the future I saw will be out of whack anyway. All I
know is she can’t die.” She glared at everyone in the room, before she added, “None
of you can tell him, or her, why he has to come home.”

Rane growled at the same time as his father and then
everyone gave a reluctant nod. Jack slowly walked away with his phone to his
ear. He arrived back only a minute later. “I told Arden he has to come home
ASAP, family emergency.”

Faith seemed to deflate. She grabbed Kirby and Sara’s hands,
pulling them down the hall. “Come on, let’s go see them. They’re in my poor
brother’s bedroom. He will be okay. They’re all going to be okay.”

Kirby didn’t know what to expect. She tried to think on the
bad side, so she could prepare herself for what she was about to see.

Remy was just one big, purple bruise. Her left arm was
broken, her ribs were wrapped, and she was covered in cuts. One ankle was
swollen, and she was either sleeping or unconscious—Kirby wasn’t exactly sure
which one.

Sara gasped and ran to her side. “How can Arden save her?
Look at her.”

Faith smiled at them both. “You don’t realize how special
you are, do you? Did Tray or Rane explain nothing to you?”

Kirby nodded. “A little bit about the bite.” Whispering, she
added, “The sperm and lock of his penis, that it will all help us to heal and
live longer, and something about how the wolf chooses.”

Faith laughed. “I’m going to let you in on a secret. You
will never find an unmated werewolf over the age of one hundred. His life after
so many years of fighting and killing, even knowing they are killing demons,
minions, and zombies, their souls can’t take it much more without someone to
share the burden, or someone to bring some light into it. Can you imagine
living that life and never having someone to talk to, laugh with, and love? Oh,
they can mate with others, but it’s not the same as a true mate, it’s not their
soul mate. Their savior, their light in their otherwise dark world. I’m not
saying being a true mate is easy. Let’s just say you were made for each other.
You’re a perfect match. Mating with their true mate will always bring the
strongest children and they will always feel loved. It’s also not just the
magic that they transfer over, it’s the unconditional love.”

“How does this save Remy?” Kirby asked.

Faith grinned. “I’m so glad Arden is her mate, because this
is going to take a lot of patience. He absolutely won’t be able to have sex
with her, because of the condition she is in, so he will have to just bite her
shoulder.”

“Arden will find a way to save her, trust me.” They all
turned, shocked to see Kane standing on the other side of the room. They hadn’t
noticed him until he talked.

Faith smiled at her mate, then grabbed Kirby’s and Sara’s
arm and patted them gently as she said, “I’m really sorry, but after the
incident last night, we can’t take any chances. You’re both going to have to
live here, or with your mates. We just can’t chance the demons getting a hold
of you two. But don’t fret. You are some of the luckiest women in the world to
have men like this. You’ll see.” Faith nodded as they sat down next to her
brother’s bed.