Slate's Mistake (8 page)

Slate let out a heavy sigh.
“On my
way.”
He disconnected the call and started them for the alpha house.

Chapter Five

With the ongoing aroma of his mate’s arousal, Slate
felt sexually frustrated. He wouldn’t push her for anything, and maybe,
grudgingly, he understood her reticence. A shifter didn’t need to know their
mate before they mated, but she was human and with the added illness enigma,
she just wanted time.

The drive was short, perhaps because he had so much
going on in his mind that it only seemed that way, but they arrived at the
alpha house and were met by Katie’s dad. Henry held up pants for him as he
excited the car. Then as Slate was removing the scraps from his ruined pair,
Henry jogged around the car and gave Katie a hug. Slate’s lion growled loudly
at the unmated shifter who held his unclaimed mate.

Henry looked over the top of the car at him. “
Relax,
enforcer Slate. You can scent for yourself that I
only have parental feelings towards your mate.”

Being a shifter, Henry knew how to calm his lion
enough not to maul him. In that one sentence he was able to show that he
recognized Slate’s higher rank and claim on Katie, and remind Slate that his
intentions weren’t a threat. Slate grunted with unease as he stepped into the
sweats and pulled them over his naked limbs. Grabbing his boots in one hand, he
made his way around the car and took Katie’s hand to lead her into the house.
Her dad followed behind them.

He was greeted by Seamus first thing in the foyer. “I
just wanted to check to make sure you were unhurt,” he said as he walked around
the group, scrutinizing his form. “You macho types always seem to downplay your
injuries.” After making a full round, he seemed to be satisfied. He turned to
Katie. “How are you doing, Katie?”

Katie shrugged. “I’m fine, thank you.”

“Why don’t you and I go talk while Slate deals with
pack matters?” Seamus swept an arm in the direction he wanted her to go, but
before she could accept, Slate leaned down and brushed his lips over hers once
more. It delighted him and his lion greatly when she didn’t pull back or
hesitate to respond. When he pulled back, he ran the pad of his thumb over her
moistened lips.
 
“If you need or want me
for anything, just ask for me.”

Before they left, Seamus turned to him. “Alphy is in
the kitchen with a few others, waiting for you.”

“Thank you, Seamus.” Slate watched as his mate was led
away by Seamus and Henry. Making his way to the kitchen, he made himself
comfortable while the others greeted him. Ryker was at the table with one of
his laptops, tapping and clicking away at something. Tom, Kace, and Alphy were
at the table as well, discussing matters over supper. His stomach ached in
hunger, reminding him he hadn’t been able to eat yet. Connie put a plate down
in front of where he sat. The scent from the spices and seared meat caused his
mouth to water. He looked up at the woman. “Thank you, Connie, it smells
perfect. Katie hasn’t gotten to eat yet either. Could you make sure she gets
something?”

Connie smiled down at him and placed a hand on his
shoulder. “Already working on it, but I’ll make sure she knows you thought of
her.” She winked and walked away.

Over mouthfuls of food, Slate updated the group on
what happened. He even described what the shifters looked like. After some
time, Katie entered the room. Everyone at the table was old fashioned, and all
stood in greeting to her. Slate went to her and held her hands to his chest.
“You ok?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I just wanted to tell
you good night before I leave.”

Slate squeezed her hands. “Baby-Kate, I don’t think it
would be safe for you to be at home by yourself. It would be better if you
stayed here with us.”

Henry entered the room. “I had the same concern. She’s
not going home.” Henry turned to Seamus. “Could you escort her out to my rig?
I’ll just be another minute.”

Seamus nodded.
“Of course.”
Turning
to Katie, he signaled for her to follow him.

Slate no doubt had a sour look on his face, but he
forced himself to smile at his mate. “Good night then, Baby-Kate.” He pulled
her into a hug and buried his nose into her neck and inhaled. He could tell she
was a jumble of emotions, and he resigned himself to the fact that she would be
better with her father who knew how best to help her though them … for now. And
didn’t that just piss the ever loving hell out of him and his lion. He wanted
to know her better and he wanted to be the one to protect her, but she wasn’t
letting him get closer.

He pulled back and placed a kiss on her forehead then
let Seamus lead her away. Slate’s heart hurt, and he had to turn away or lose
his composure.
 

When she was out of the room, Henry walked over to him
and placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him an apologetic look. This was the
first time Slate felt like the shifter wasn’t against him. “Give her just a
little more time. I know I’m supposed to be on her side, and I am, but I see
that you are
what’s
best for her now. She just needs a
little time to wrap her head around it. I’m in your corner. I’ll keep her safe
tonight. I’m having her sister join us, and just so you know, her sister is
also on your side, even though she hasn’t met you.” He chuckled through the
last part.

Slate appreciated Henry’s encouragement, and it did
ease some tension. He nodded his thanks, and with that, Henry turned and left.
Alphy dismissed everyone.

Kace stopped Slate before he made the rounds to check
the windows and doors. “So tell me how the date went, you know, before the
crazies pulled out your furball.”

Slate chuckled at his friend. “I wanted to claim her
when I first picked her up. She looked and smelled so good, and her lush, curvy
form molded perfectly to mine. I kissed her before she even finished opened the
door and nearly lost myself in it. Not claiming her right then was one of the
hardest things I ever had to do.”

“Even harder than letting her go last night when she
was upset?”

“Yes, even harder than that. But I know she doesn’t
want to be claimed yet, and I’m not about to lose her because of lack of
control. Last night was a testament to that. My lion insists we claim her. It’s
so hard to fight him when I agree with him. But I won’t force her to bond with
me.”

“You’re doing the right thing, man. Like her dad says,
she’ll come around. Just give her time.”

Kace was on watch tonight, but Slate still checked for
himself
to make sure all the doors and windows were
secured before finding his bed and falling into it.

****

Slate jolted awake. Lifting his head, he looked around
into the darkness to see and listen to what could have awoken him. A loud
thump-thud and a crash spiked his awareness. Kace’s wolf’s howl bayed through
the hallway as Slate cracked the door and peered down the narrow space. He
didn’t see anyone, but he could hear a messy battle starting down below.
Initiating his shift, he could hear a vampire hissing and a wolf growling. A
muffled bang and the tinkled smash of shattering glass clattering to the floor
sounded through the home.

Shaking out his fur and mane, he pawed at the opened
door and watched his alpha run by towards Tom’s room, carrying his mate in his
arms. Slate headed to the top of the stairs and descended. Splintered wood and
shards of broken glass littered the floor, and the air was filled with smoke.
The shrill beeping of the smoke detectors blared through the chaos of the
space.

A loud deafening bang and a bright flash stunned him.
He was disoriented and his ears rang, causing him to lose focus. Sharp burning
pain rocketed through his hip, further unbalancing him with the inertia. He
dropped to the floor and endeavored to get up, jumping and rolling as he did.
He felt something like liquid fire race across his belly as he regained control
of his senses. Men, in what looked like black SWAT gear, were invading the
house. Ryker and Seamus, with their eyes blood red and fangs and claws dripping
blood, were fighting with them hand and claw. Kace was in his wolf form, blood
coated his right shoulder and his entire front, from his maw to his paws. He
was currently leaping and bounding between two men.

Two men in black advanced forward with guns pointed at
him. Slate snarled as he maneuvered and struck, taking them both down together.
He slashed at their necks, cutting through, leaving them
gurgling
their final breaths. He didn’t stop to watch. Another shot hit his shoulder,
but Slate didn’t slow or hesitate, sinking his teeth around the shooter’s arm
and ripping most of the meat off, leaving the bone exposed around bloody shreds
of skin.

A loud roar brought everyone’s attention to a very
pissed off, eighteen hundred pound Kodiak alpha bear. White foamy spittle
dripped down his finger sized canines and lined the edges of his open mouth. He
struck, leaping at the two nearest invaders, crushing them underneath his
weight, and striking a claw out across another man’s face, snapping his neck
and ripping much of the skin on his face off. He didn’t even stop to see what
became of his victims, he just kept going, biting through the mask of another,
adding the crushing sounds of the man’s skull to the now terror filled men.

Slate
didn’t stop and stare. Using the diversion to
his advantage he swung his claws out and did what he could to slash through the
attackers. He stayed low, swiping their legs to bring them down and then went
for their throats, ignoring the burning pinches of blades and bullets that
sliced at him. The chaos didn’t last long, and as soon as Slate looked around
and saw no enemies standing, his body stopped pumping him full of adrenaline
and he collapsed.

He didn’t even have the strength to shift and barely
heard Ryker, over the ringing in his ears, shouting for Seamus to come help
him, before everything went black.

****

Alphy looked around at the gore that saturated the
floors. Once he woke to the sounds of battle, his instinct from decades in the
service kicked in. Only this time he had a mate to think of, so he rushed her
to Tom’s room and headed down to join the battle, and what a bloody battle it
was. He had to prioritize what needed to get done and in which order. Right
now, Ryker and Seamus were working together to save Kace and Slate.

Kace had stab wounds in his shoulders
and
side and one on his flank, but no vital organ or arteries were punctured, so after
a lot of stitches and some shifts and he should be all right. Slate’s condition
was much worse, and Alphy felt some fear creep into his chest at the thought of
losing his friend.

Alphy did a quick pass over the bodies, disarming the few
who were still alive. He would call Tom down to assist, but he really felt a
strong need for the two women to not be left alone, so he moved as quickly and
efficiently as he could. Once he was done with his walk-through, he leaped up
the stairs and encountered four more bodies outside Tom and Connie’s room. One might
have been one of the rogues that attacked Slate earlier as there were partly
healed slashes on his arm. The sight was sickening, with half of the back of
his skull blown out and bloody chunks of his brain littering the ground, but
Alphy didn’t flinch from the sight. Alphy raised his voice to be heard through
the door. “Tom, are you and the girls ok?”

The door opened, and Tom, holding a shotgun, peered up
and down the hall before resting his sights on the alpha. “Yeah, the bastards
tried taking the women. They were specifically looking for Gale to ransom for
the pack money.”

Before Alphy could say anything, Gale ran past Tom and
into his arms. Alphy held his mate as he finished giving his orders. “Call
Henry, I need him and Katie down here and anyone else they can trust. Both
Slate and Kace are down. Seamus can’t work on them both, and Slate is in real
bad shape. I’m worried about him. We also need help patching up and guarding
the prisoners.”

“We can help.” Gale’s voice was strong, but he could
still scent her nerves.

“Honey-bear, it isn’t just broken glass and wood down
there. Men have been killed.” Not that she couldn’t see the nasty mess they
were standing in, but it really was worse downstairs.

Gale looked up at him with the fire in her eyes he
loved so much. When they had first met, her emotions had been all over the
place because of the three weeks of hell she and her family endured while being
hunted across the country by the very psychotic alpha he killed that left him
in charge of this herd. But since he defeated the alpha, and he had given her
love and stability, her true strong and caring nature had been emerging. She
had no problems standing up to him when she thought she was right.

“I’ve seen gore. I can handle it. It won’t be
pleasant, I get that, but hiding us up here isn’t protecting us. It’s weakening
you, therefore weakening us, so unless you have some better excuse than some
flimsy ‘men have been killed’, then you can just stow it.”

Alphy smiled down at his mate. Somehow she made him
like losing these little arguments, and being an alpha, that was actually
saying something. “All right, Honey-bear, but I warned you.” Alphy grabbed some
shorts and his cell and led his mate downstairs while Tom made the calls.
Connie and Gale surprised him by going straight to work. They both assisted
Seamus while he and Tom started sifting through the bodies and debris, securing
the survivors.