Tane's Mate: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Shifter's on the Run Book 1) (2 page)

She staggered to her feet. Her shirt had been taken off and from the looks of it lying across the chair it had been cut off but her bra was still on although it had seen better days.

With a deep breath, she ignored the ache in her body and made her way across the floor to a dresser. A quick look turned up a t-shirt, which she slipped over her head as well as a hand gun. The gun was tucked away in the corner of the dresser. She did a quick check to see if it was loaded and that the safety was on before she stuck it in the waist band of her pants. That was about all the knowledge she had of guns but she was sure she could point and shoot if forced to.

Taking one last look around the room, she catalogued it. The room looked like it belonged in a large cabin, rustic and well loved. With a shake of her head to dislodge the feelings she shouldn’t be having for Tane, her feet moved to the huge window on the opposite side of the door. In a perfect world, she would have loved to crawl back in the bed and wait until Tane came back in the room and slid between the sheets with her. It was his room; her animal could smell him on the sheets. There was a feeling deep in her chest drawing her to him. It couldn’t be coming from her, and it spurred her on to put space between them. That and the fact that he seemed to want to kill her.

She opened the window slowly, making no sound. Throwing a leg over the windowsill, she slid to the porch below her and began to creep towards the steps. Bending down at the stairs, she crawled down them staying as low as possible. Her animal came to the forefront sniffing the air.

They surrounded her, animals on all sides. She should be able to see them but she couldn’t. All that was left was to hope they didn’t tear her apart before she made it off their property.

She focused on the garage convincing her legs to move. What was the hope that they would leave their keys in the car? Who would take them? There was no way she would be able to walk the property, her legs were barely carrying her as it was. A genuine smile came to her face when she saw the jeep. She took a step and collapsed on the ground out cold.

“What do we do with her?” Five men stared down at her before turning their gazes to Tane.

It was easy, he thought. They kill her and disposed of the body in such a way that would keep anyone from daring to venture on their property. If it was so easy why was he hesitating?

She can cook.

He shook his head in disgust as thoughts of food ran through his mind thanks to one of his animals. Taking a step closer, he breathed in her scent reaffirming what he already knew. Someone had made her like them.

Mate.

Another of his animals spoke up. There was nothing to do but ignore all of them. They didn’t need a cook. Ok, they could use one but not her and there was no way he was mating. Not like he was and he was never going to change. That meant no mate for life.

He brought his hand up to his chest and rubbed the ache that was residing there. She, this woman he didn’t know, was making him crazy. His desire to kill, to rage against the world and what had been done to him, was interrupted. Now all he could think about was her, no wonder he wanted her dead. Even as he thought it he knew he was lying. His world, their world, he looked at the males around him. His brothers for lack of a better word. Their world had changed and this woman was part of the change. He simply didn’t know if it was for good or evil.

“Take her back to the house,” he gave a big sigh.

“We’re asking for trouble,” Jayden said in a voice dead of all emotion.

Of course they were asking for trouble, what else was new? They asked to be destroyed the day they broke out of the prison the military kept them in, but that hadn’t stopped them.

“You’re right and no one has to stay here; you can all disappear. I will understand.” Here was the base they established to lie low. To hopefully keep their actions undetected. The woman’s presence said they had been living a lie.

“I think I’ll stay. I want to know if we can really mate.”

That was Dai. He was putting into thought what all the men were thinking. Of course, Dai could sense his fascination with the beauty that lay at his feet. They were twins, even more so after all the experiments.

The others grunted and Dai picked her up. He was the only one Tane would have allowed that close to her but only because it was obvious that she didn’t affect his twin the same as she was affecting him.

*~*~*~*

She woke up in the same room which meant her escape attempt failed. Well, wasn’t she a regular villain, stealing guns, sneaking out of windows, ready to shoot people. No! And that was the problem. This wasn’t her life. She shouldn’t be on the run from people in black suits who wanted to hook her up to machines and see what she could do. There shouldn’t be real honest to God voices in her head. Leza was normal! Maybe if she screamed it to the mountain tops someone would hear her. More likely they would find her and drop her back into that dark hole. A shudder of fear went through her as she thought of that hole deep in the ground that had been used to punish her. She had to escape.

Turning her head, she saw him—Tane—he was lying beside her in the bed looking much too comfortable. There was no doubt in her mind who he was. The good looking twin. A hysterical laugh tried to leave her mouth. The twins looked the same, just one turned her body on and the other didn’t. Tane turned her on.

“I’m still alive?”

“Seems so. I’m still debating.”

“You must be in charge here.”

“Fishing for information?” He sat up in bed and then leveraged himself against the headboard.

“Not really, anyone with eyes can see you’re in charge. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing, but it seems my life is in your hands.”

“Yeah.”

“Please don’t overwhelm me with all of your words.” She placed her hands over her head as she shook it.

His lips quirked in a smile. “You always been this funny?”

“Nah, not really. I tend to do it when I’m nervous.”

“Maybe you should tell me what you’re running from and why you picked our property to cross.”

What was she running from? Really, it had been a simple surgery, or so they told her. She’d been born with a slight bend in her spine, nothing major but it bothered her every day of her life. A minor ache that could at times take her down faster than a pile drive from a wrestler.

Her new doctor told her of this amazing new surgery that could help her. She could walk without pain. Without pain. It seemed like the future was now the present and she almost couldn’t imagine such a thing. She debated, not knowing what to do and not having any family to ask, but her doctor—such a kindly old man—had convinced her. It was the beginning of the end.

“I went in to have a simple back surgery. They assured me it was simple, that nothing could go wrong. When I woke up my whole life had changed.”

She glanced at him under her eye lids. There was so much more to that statement but how could she tell him? Everything was different now. Her hand twitched wanting to beat the side of her head to make the voice stop or was it voices. Sometimes she wasn’t sure. How could she tell him she used to be a simple office worker? She got out of bed every morning, took a shower, and dragged herself off to her nine to five. There was no hero in her, just a woman who got lost in a book or a good movie and wished she could be the next super woman agent.

“I guess this is the part where you leave me to my own imagination and I have to guess in order to figure out what was done to you.”

Opening her mouth he placed a finger on her lips. His finger burned and she wanted him to touch her again preferably with his lips.

“Shh, let me take a stab at it. You tell me where I go wrong.”

“You woke up tied to a bed. Your insides felt like they were moving, changing, and all you wanted was the blood of those who dared tie you down. How am I doing so far?”

Her eyes were wide, but she nodded her head before lowering her eyes, refusing to meet his as thoughts of the blood lust she felt went through her.

She would have torn them apart with her hands and her teeth. There was a violent storm raging deep inside of her. Her body was different. Her mind was as well and the voice in her head growled and raged at being different.

“Can you change?”

Shocked eyes rose to meet his. What did he mean change? Change into what? Wasn’t the fact that she was slowly going crazy enough change for him?

Her head swung to the left when a softly uttered cuss word came through the door.

“It’s breakfast time. I guess you get to prove you can cook, but first I need to change your dressing.”

He brought a large first aid kit over to the bed before going into the bathroom and washing his hands. He opened the kit and put on a pair of surgical gloves before removing her bandages.

She looked down expecting a large hole only to find that it had been stitched up. Not only had he stitched it but it was healing, fast.

“I expected this to heal a little faster, but you’re not too bad off here. It healed much faster than it would have when you were human.”

“What? I am human.”

“Nope. Not anymore. Now you’re a monster, a hybrid, something without a name, but you are definitely not human. Human’s don’t desire to use their teeth to rip into other humans and want to tear them apart. At least I have it on a rather reliable source that sane humans don’t desire to do that. And you, Leza, don’t seem insane to me at all.”

He made fast work of changing her bandages.

She wasn’t human. Her face tried for a look of surprise but she wasn’t fooling herself. The day she woke tied to that bed she knew she was different. No there was no way she understood what was done but whatever it was it hadn’t been back surgery. The up side was that her back didn’t hurt anymore. It was a plus, or so she told herself.

Of course with every plus in her life there must be a minus and the fact that her nails turned into claws was definitely a minus. Oh and there was the little fact that her teeth became sharp fangs. So yeah, she was more than capable of tearing a man apart and maybe she already had. Her mind went hazy every time she thought about it. The only way it could preserve her sanity.

He put away the first aid kit and went to a drawer pulling out a blue button down shirt. Turning to her, he tossed it. She raised a hand and caught it without thinking. Yeah, she had pretty good reflexes too.

“You can put that on; it will be long enough to cover you.”

She peeked under the cover and realized her pants were history. She glanced at the chair to find scraps of them there. He obviously tore them when he took them off of her.

“My animals seem to like you.” His voice came off as non-chalant as he told her. Like a cruise director pointing out an interesting fact that had been said so many times it was now boring.

She gripped the shirt getting up so the t-shirt she had on came down to cover her. With a quick movement, she skated past him and wound up in the bathroom to change.

“There’s an extra tooth brush on the counter and a comb for you to use.”

The toothbrush and the comb were new. Did he send someone into town last night to get them for her? With a shake of her head she abandoned that line of thinking; it would mean he was planning to let her stay. It smacked more of he decided to keep her and that was the last thing she wanted. She was running from men who decided to keep her. That huge hole in the ground loomed in front of her. She squeezed the side of the sink until she was firmly back in the bathroom. There was no chance she would escape.

With a semisweet smile she walked out into the bedroom. The shirt she was wearing hit her knees just like the t-shirt. It was soft and made her want to cuddle into it. Tane was a big male. If she were free she’d be all over him. Rubbing her body against his asking, maybe even pleading, for him to pound into her, to make her sex throb from his thick cock going inside of her. She wanted him to ride her so hard she’d feel him next week, but she wasn’t free.

“Where’s the kitchen?”

“I’ll show you, but first…”

He grabbed her so fast her head spun. He trapped her between his hard chest and the wall. Leaning over, he licked her lips.
Please help
. Her mind spun out of control with one small taste of him.

She opened her mouth inviting him in. He lowered his head and devoured her lips. His tongue went into her mouth like a ruthless dictator taking over, making her hum in pleasure. The feel of his tongue on her made her weak. It was just a kiss but her body wasn’t buying it. He dominated her and she begged for more.

He inched her legs apart bringing his thick bulge to the apex of her thighs.
Help her.
She would give this man anything he wanted for a small taste of what he had to offer. She tilted her hips and rode him wanting the release that was close.

He pulled back. Her hands clutched his shirt.

“Shh, I got you but not yet.” His voice was thick like a dying man pulling away from the last glass of water on earth in order to savor it. “Don’t want to hurt you.”

He hid his face in her neck for a minute before pulling back and gaining his control.

“There. Now you can go cook.”

“Why?”

“Because now you look like you’re mine.”

Her swollen lips paired with her eyes wide with need and her soft lashes slowly blinking agreed with him.

He led her into the kitchen where five men were sitting at a table that looked like it could seat twice as many. Unless she missed her guess, everyone wasn’t here. The only man she recognized was Dai and being twins with Tane made that easy.

“She’s a plant.” A deep voice threw out as he checked out her legs.

“You’re probably right. Stop checking out her legs or you won’t live long enough to find out one way or the other.”

The man grunted but lifted his eyes to her face.

“Last chance. Anyone who wants to leave is free to go. I’ve taken care of the others already.” He gave a subtle nod to the empty chairs. Their group was twice as big but he contacted the others and told them to go to the new location he established.