Taken by Her Mate (11 page)

Scrambling his brain for what he said, Shaun remembered the words.

“It must kill you to know I got there first. Addie was such a sweet morsel. She opened to me, Brendan, without force. Addie loves me. She wants me, and I didn’t have to hurt or break her to get what I want. You, on the other hand, would only hurt her to get it. She’d never be wet for you or moan your name on her sweet lips. I didn’t have to force her to beg me.”

“I’m a fighter, Addie. I didn’t know how well Brendan fought. I needed him to lose his edge. The words I spoke didn’t have any meaning. I don’t see you that way. I said the words that would make Brendan lose control. It was low of me to do, but I wanted to win. I needed to win,” he said.

“I don’t understand. You’re a good fighter,” she said, turning her head to look at him.

He saw the confusion in her eyes.

“You’re an alpha’s son,” she said.

“Addie, so is Brendan. He’s an alpha’s son, too, and he may be a mean son of a bitch, but he could still fight. The difference between the two of us was I was fighting for something a lot more important than my pack.” Shaun cupped her cheek. “I was fighting for you. I already told my Dad I wasn’t going to stick around. My only concern was claiming you. I wasn’t lying to you. You’re my main concern. Those words were exactly that, words.”

She nodded her head and settled against him. “They still hurt to hear them from your lips.”

“It was all part of winning. You saw how hard it was for me.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be judging you.”

Rubbing his eyes, Shaun suddenly felt tired. This day, her mating day, had been plaguing his thoughts for some time.

“You can judge me, but as you’re judging me, remember I did this for you and for us. I can walk away from everything, but you I can’t walk away from. They were just words, and I hope you can forgive me.”

He settled down as she sighed. Slowly, her body relaxed against him. Before sleep claimed him he heard the few words she whispered.

“I just want to move forward, Shaun. Let’s do that together, Shaun.”

There was no way he’d ever be able to live with her being upset.

She’s yours. You won, and now you can love her completely.

It was the best thought he’d ever had before falling to sleep.

Chapter Eleven

One week later

Seven days had already passed since Addie’s and Shaun’s time at the cave. She was no longer pleasantly sore, and she found herself missing the ache between her thighs. Although she hadn’t seen Shaun since then, they spoke daily. Things needed to be settled within both of their packs. A mating ceremony needed to be planned. They had both agreed they didn’t want to wait for an extended amount of time before they were mated. Neither one cared about the bells and whistles of a long, planned out ceremony. All they wanted was to be mated.

Addie’s mother and some of the other females in their pack were putting it together. All Addie had to do was show up and be with the male she loved.

Addie would soon be Shaun’s, and nothing would stand in their way. Shaun had already seen to that when he defeated Brendan.

The very thought of spending the rest of her life with Shaun, the male she loved, was better than any dream she could have come up with.

Her sleep for the past seven days had been deep and peaceful, and for the first time since she had been told she was to mate with Brendan, Addie wasn’t filled with dread and worry. She knew she had a goofy smile on her face as she descended the stairs and entered the kitchen. Her mother, father, and brother sat around the table. The scents of breakfast filled the room, and as soon as they realized she had entered
they
all stood. The three of them looked among each other, and a sense of worry surrounded them.

“What’s wrong?” The first thing Addie worried about was if Shaun was okay. “Is Shaun okay?” She took another step into the kitchen. Addie worriedly picked at the hem of her shirt as she stared among the three of them. Fear and anxiety were a tidal wave inside of her, and until one of them spoke and eased her fear that something had happened to Shaun, her worry would only grow.

Jackson cleared his throat. His back was to her, and she stared at their pack’s crest tattooed in the center of his back. He was shirtless, and she found tracing the dark lines with her eyes a bit calming, but then he turned around and all that calmness went out the door.

“It’s about Brendan. He’s left the pack.”

Okay.
Addie didn’t see how that was such a bad thing. They had all seen how volatile Brendan had been, had seen his submission when Shaun took supremacy over him.

“Why do you all act like that is the worst possible scenario?”

Jackson took a step toward her. “We don’t think it’s bad, Addie. In fact, the pack has agreed unanimously that it is for the best that he is gone. We were planning on throwing him out regardless for the way he treated you and several other pack females.”

Numerous females within their pack came forward and gave their stories on how Brendan had brutalized them. When asked why they had never come forward before then, their answers were all the same: the fear that Brendan put in them if they ever told.

“A lot is changing within the pack,” Addie’s father said. He brought her mother close to him by wrapping an arm around her slender waist.

“What do you mean?” Addie could feel something big in the air.

Jackson was the one who supplied the answer. “There is talk amongst elders, pack elders, and alphas on combining the Northern Mountain Pack with Shaun’s pack.”

Addie blinked several times, wondering if she heard right. “Combining our pack with Silver Cross Pack?”

 
“Yes, we all think it will be a good merging, especially since Shaun is the next alpha in line, and…” Jackson rubbed his hand along the back of her neck, and Addie looked between him and their father.

“What?”

“Jackson will be second-in-command, only answering to Shaun when he takes the alpha’s place for our combined packs.”

For several moments Addie didn’t know how to respond. Second-in-command was a prestigious position, obviously, and although their father had been part of the council it was still unusual for a shifter not part of the alpha’s family to have such high ranking authority. There definitely was a lot of stuff changing within their pack, and Addie just hoped it was for the best.

The rest of the morning shifted into a more comfortable routine with laughter and talk of Addie’s upcoming mating to Shaun. She had spoken to Shaun right before she left the house, and his plans to come to see her today made her giddy like a teenager about to go on her first date. But first she had some very important pre-ceremony things to do, things that actually required her to participate in the planning.

A trip into town was in order to have a fitting for her new ceremony dress. Her last one was ruined, but even if Brendan hadn’t torn it from her she would have never worn it to mate with Shaun. This was a start of new beginnings, and therefore she wanted something special and untainted by the evil that surrounded Brendan.

With her mother and aunt busily wrapping up the end details, Addie felt her anticipation for next week grow within her. In just a few short days she would become the mate of Shaun McCallum. After that their lives would drastically change as he was initiated in as their new alpha of the Northern Mountain Pack. After everything that went down with Brendan, Alfred had decided it best if he stepped down. Although Jackson had told her they planned on having him step down regardless. Alfred was older, with old-fashioned values. With their packs merging it was time for a change for the better.

Addie climbed in the car and cranked the engine. Jackson and their father stepped out of the house, both deep in conversation. They were going to a pack meeting where everything would be finalized and the Silver Cross would merge with them, and they would only be known as the Northern Mountain Pack.

Pulling away from her house, Addie maneuvered the car down the winding, narrow mountain road. Once she reached the main road it would be another forty minutes until she reached town. It was a blessing and a curse to live so far away from civilization.

She was twenty minutes from the main road when the sound of her tire popping alerted her to her problem. Fortunately, she wasn’t going very fast so she was able to slow the car down and pull off to the side. Addie reached for her cell and climbed out of the car. A look at her driver’s side tire had her heart stopping. She glanced around nervously and turned on her phone, ready to call her father and Jackson. As the phone rang in her ear she looked at her tire once again. The arrow stuck out from the rubber like an evil taunt. She hauled ass back into the car and slammed the locks down. Heart thundering behind her ribs she looked in every direction. There was absolutely no doubt that this was Brendan’s doing.

Maybe she could have convinced herself that a hunter had possibly missed its initial target, but deep down she knew Brendan was the hunter—and she was his prey. When Jackson’s voicemail picked up she cursed and waited for the little beep that would tell her she could start leaving her message. Before any of that could happen though, the sound of shattering glass ringing in her ear and slicing through the side of her face momentarily stunned her enough to drop her phone.

Griping the left side of her face she felt slivers of glass embedded into her flesh. The scent of her blood and the feel of it sliding down her face had shock rippling through her. Brendan stood beside her. His fist was a bloody mess with pieces of clear shards visible in the skin.

Brendan looked feral, crazed, and had his eyes trained solely on her. A bow was slung across his back, and arrows were attached to his hip. He looked like some kind of wild man with a day’s worth of growth on his face.

“Get out of the fucking car, Addie.” His voice was pitched low and filled with enough hatred she could taste it in the air, Addie found herself rooted to the spot.

“If you don’t get out of the fucking car on your own, I’ll be forced to retrieve you myself.” He took a step forward. “And believe me when I say you don’t want to add that to the already long list of things I plan to do to you.”

Brendan’s voice was dangerously low, and there was a crazed look in his eye. Whatever the hell had changed in him it had snapped the tenuous hold on sanity he once had. Her cell phone had fallen out of her hand when her window broke, and she didn’t dare reach down and grab it.

“Please, Brendan, don’t hurt me.” Addie prayed that all of this was being recorded on Jackson’s voicemail.

Brendan’s chuckle was low, deep, and sinister. “Oh Addie, baby, by the time I’m through with you the only thing you’re going to be able to say is my name.” He took another step close and bent down so his face was close to hers. “Now get.
The.
Fuck.
Out.”
He tore the door from the car, metal bending as it finally lay cockeyed to the side.
Brendan’s muscles strained beneath his dirty shirt.
Had he been living in the woods since he left the pack? His unkempt appearance would suggest it.

The fact his wolf was so close to the surface, stinking the air around them with its musky odor of violence and hatred, had fear taking precedence inside of her. The flight or fight instinct was strong within her, but at the moment she knew she had to play along if she had any hope of getting out of this alive.

Running would only anger him, and there was no doubt in Addie’s mind that he would catch her. Fighting Brendan was out of the question. She certainly wasn’t strong enough to take him on. Once she was out of the car he gripped her arm in a bruising hold and tugged her to him. His other hand took hold of her jaw and tilted her head back. The pain he inflicted had tears forming in her eyes, but what was her breaking point was when he slammed his mouth on hers, as if he was staking his claim on her.

“Did you really think running from me would work?”

Addie turned her head from his lips and swallowed the bile down that was rising up her throat.

“Did you actually think I’d let you go, especially to Shaun?” Brendan’s laugh was maniacal, and she shivered as it held onto her like an icy hand.

“You’re mine, Addie, mine to do with what I desire. You were mine before you were even born.” With his hand still tightly around her arm, he pulled her forward. Addie stumbled several times, trying to keep up with Brendan’s long, angry strides.

They walked for over twenty minutes, going deeper and deeper into the woods. Addie knew the woods surrounding her home like the back of her hand, but he was taking her closer to the basin, a deep gorge-like area at the bottom of the mountain. It was just outside of Northern Mountain territory.

Once they reached gorge he led her deeper still. A small, bare cabin sat nestled against the side of the mountain, camouflaged with sticks and leaves. If he hadn’t led her right to it she would have never seen it. The air was moist from the waterfall that fell just on the other side of the mountain and misted water across her face thanks to the downward path of the wind.

How will they find me when the water and wind are washing my scent away?

Brendan pushed her into the tiny cabin, and she fell to the ground. Her knees landed on the wooden floor hard, and she winced.
 
Before she could push herself up Brendan’s boot connected with her abdomen, and she skidded across the floor to land against the wall. Vision blurry from her tears, she stared at the sadistic look of pleasure Brendan gave her.

“I’m going to have so much fun with you, Addie, and there isn’t anyone that is going to stop me.”