Bear’s Fated Mate

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

“Help me get him onto the sofa!” Bree called out.

A scurry of feet came down the stairs. Vixa, Greg, and Anne all raced towards her voice. Bree panted and leaned against the wall. The brute was heavier than she thought he’d be.

“This isn’t groceries,” Anne laughed. “He’s cute, though.”

“Put him on the sofa,” Bree panted. “He’s wounded. CASO is out wandering the beautiful streets of New York today. . We interrupted their stroll, apparently.”

“Don’t you dare put him on the sofa! It’s new! The last one was soaked with blood stains within the first week! I saved for two months to buy that damn thing! Put him on the floor!” Vixa snapped.

“He saved me,” Bree shook her head. “Put him on the sofa, Greg.”

Greg looked between the two women.

“Sorry, Bree, but you know I have to side with my girl,” Greg said, taking on the weight of the man’s heavy form.

“Who is he?” Anne asked.

The small blond girl wrapped her arm around Bree’s shoulders and led her to the sofa.

“I don’t know, but he’s one of us. He’s f*****g weird, though. Claimed he smelled me and all sorts of s**t,” Bree laughed. “He saved me, though.”

Bree almost said that he ripped out the CASO agent’s throat, but decided to keep that detail to herself. Her blood was still pumping fast. She had to protect the man that Greg was laying at her feet. He had saved her life at a very high risk to his own.

One of the group, a little bobcat named Deva, died last year from a poison bullet wound that ate through her side. It had been a very painful death that stretched over a week.

Remembering Deva’s small frame twisting in agony set Bree into action. She wasn’t going to watch her mysterious, yet very handsome savior suffer the same fate.

She dropped from the sofa onto her knees and crossed the small distance between the sofa and the man. His face was contorted in pain. Vixa had the first aid kit ready and Greg was bringing down a bucket of hot water to clean the wound. He set it next to Vixa. Bree reached out to stop her as she wrung the excess water from the rag and moved towards the man’s arm. She was too slow.

A primal growl bubbled from the man’s throat and his uninjured arm swung in a wide arch. His fingers bent in a claw-like manner and he only missed Vixa by a few inches.

“Damn,” Vixa blinked as she dodged the blow.

“Here, let me,” Bree said.

Her words were meant to be kind, but her eyes narrowed on Vixa. The tall red head blinked her brown eyes twice and backed away.

“She’s bitchy today,” Vixa whispered to Greg.

Bree pursed her lips and sighed. Vixa was her best friend, but sometimes she was too much of a drama queen. Usually, her comment would have sparked an hour long bickering match that drove both Greg and Anne out of the room. Today Bree chose to ignore it. She had a more important task ahead of her.

Bree settled on her knees at the man’s side. His tense muscles relaxed a bit as he attempted to turn towards her. The small movement jarred his injured arm and the man mumbled in his sleep. A thin layer of sweat was already forming on his face, chest, and arms. Bree hoped it was because of the pain, but she feared the poison was already beginning to take its toll on his body.

“Anne, bring him so water,” she snapped and then added more softly, “please.”

“Sure,” Anne said and scurried off into the kitchen.

“I’m going to wash your wound,” she said to the man. “No taking a swipe at me. I’m not against punching an unconscious wounded person, even if he did save my life.”

A small smile tugged at the corner of the man’s mouth. He was fighting the poison racing through his veins. Gently, Bree wiped away the blood as best as she could. The man growled under his breath.

“Shh,” she cooed to him. “I have to get this bullet out so Greg can test it. If it’s the same poison they used on Deva, we have the antidote now. It was a day too late for her, but we’ll have it for you. If it’s not the same,” Bree sighed, “well, if it’s not the same we’ll figure something out. You’re not allowed to die, you know. I don’t even know your name yet.”

“Blake,” the man hissed through gritted teeth.

Bree was startled. How was he awake despite the poison pumping through his veins? Deva had been out cold within minutes. He was even stronger than Bree had originally thought.

“I’m Bree,” she whispered.

Anne re-entered the room carrying a glass of ice water. Blake fell silent and still again.

“Give him a drink and then I’ll get the bullet out,” Bree nodded to Anne.

Anne approached the sleeping man very cautiously. She held the water out before her as if it was an offering to a god. She knelt carefully next to him and moved it towards his lips. Blake growled and her hands began to tremble. Anne moved slowly towards his lips.

Blake’s powerful jaws snapped open and latched onto her hand. Anne squeaked and jerked away.

“Blahk,” Blake shook his head. “Rabbit.”

“I’ll take care of it, Anne,” Bree smiled softly.

She took the cup from Anne who was cradling her hand against her chest.

“Bite me and I’ll bite you back,” Bree said.

A smirk tugged at the corners of Blake’s mouth.

“Pervert,” she whispered.

She managed to get Blake to swallow a bit of the water. Next, she went to work getting the bullet out of his arm. She ignored Anne’s whimpers from the corner of the room. The blonde had never had a strong stomach for blood. Bree could hear Vixa in the kitchen and Greg making his rounds of the house to check security. The CASO agents were getting braver and braver. They had never attacked in daylight before.

The bullet slid out with a slick sound and Blake growled again. His body tensed and he gritted his teeth. Gently, Bree set about doctoring the wound the best she could with their limited supplies. Things had been tight since she lost the babysitting gig from the neighbors down the street. After a CASO agent broke out their bathroom window, thinking she was inside their house, Bree couldn’t blame them for firing her. They sorely missed the money, though. The neighbors still avoided Bree and the others, thinking the broken window was due to gang involvement. Bree wished it were that simple.

It wasn’t easy to be stalked, hunted, and assaulted constantly without knowing why. Bree didn’t think it would be very easy even if she did know why, but at least then she and the others would be better prepared to fight against the threat.

She had woken up along with Deva, Vixa and Anne in the bushes outside of the New York Botanical Gardens. None of them remembered what happened before, but a familiar feeling of kinship had knit them together instantly. They all shared similar tattoos. Only the paw prints inside were different.

They met Greg a few weeks after waking up. They had been scrounging the dumpsters behind a popular restaurant, the Marseille. The food was good, but since none of the girls had the funds to pay, they had to resort to eating what had been thrown out.

A CASO agent had descended from the roof and held them at gun point. It was sheer luck that Greg had been wandering the alleys that night. The CASO agent didn’t know how to react to having a gun pointed at his own head. When Greg pulled the trigger Vixa cheered, Deva looked on, Anne fainted, and Bree tilted her head and pursed her lips. You couldn’t interrogate a dead man for answers.

The man grunted in pain. Bree rinsed the rag and wiped the sweat from his brow and face. Slowly she washed down his neck and shoulders. His muscular chest quivered in an effort to breathe. She bit her lip.

He was obviously in pain, but Bree was captivated by the contours of his muscular chest and stomach. His tan skin was a portrait of flawless perfection. She forced her gaze back to his face. He had strong cheekbones and full lips. She swallowed hard and shook her head. This wasn’t the time to consider kissing anyone.

The hours passed and Bree alternated between caring for Blake and pacing the living room floor. She moved a throw pillow from the sofa and placed it under his head. He seemed to be resting a bit more peacefully now. She couldn’t go too far from him, though. Whenever she tried to wander into the kitchen or left to use the restroom, his body would go rigid and tense and he would growl. It was even worse if someone else was in the room.

“You need to get some sleep,” Vixa appeared at her side.

She had been sitting on the floor next to Blake for some time now. They didn’t have a clock in the living room, because the ticking made Anne nervous. A digital clock annoyed Vixa’s eyes.

“I’m okay,” Bree managed a smile.

She didn’t look away from Blake’s sleeping form as she spoke. He was resting peacefully. Bree was wrapped in a blanket and although Vixa couldn’t see, her fingers were entwined with Blake’s. He just rested better when they were touching.

“How did he save you?” Vixa asked.

“He helped me take down one of the guys. Two of them came after me this time. Well, I should say us. He has the mark too. His matches mine.”

“What do you think that means?” Vixa asked.

“I’m not sure, but I’m going to find out. I’m going to stay with him a while longer. I don’t want him to wake up alone. He doesn’t know where he is.”

“Greg doesn’t know what sort of poison they used, but either they upped the general dose or were prepared to find a man of his size. Greg’s working on the antidote, but just be prepared.”

“He’s going to be okay!” Bree said.

Her pulsed raced as Vixa gave her a sad smile. Blake squeezed her hand gently under the blanket and she sighed in relief.

“Where’s his gun?”

“He doesn’t have one that I know of.”

“How’d he stop the agent, then?”

“Martial arts,” Bree lied.

It wasn’t her habit to lie to her friends. Bree was a firm believer in honesty and not lying to the people who watched your back. This time she made an exception. There was definitely something different about Blake, but Bree was sure he meant her no harm.

“Good night, Bree,” Vixa said. “If he makes it to the morning I’ll be surprised.”

“Go to hell, Vixa,” Bree said.

“I’m just trying to prepare you for the worse. I know you’re lonely and that a matching tattoo hasn’t happened before, but that won’t save him.”

Blake growled and Vixa laughed.

“He just might prove Greg wrong.”

“Good night,” Bree said ending the conversation.

Vixa left her in peace and turned the light out on her way back up stairs. Bree grabbed another throw pillow from the sofa and curled up next to Blake. She left a few inches between their bodies, but she could still feel his body heat radiating into her stomach.

Greg didn’t remember where he learned to make antidotes. It was something he merely woke up remembering. They all had various fields of knowledge without explanation. Their lives wove together so flawlessly because of their shared mysterious and unanswered questions.

“Don’t listen to, Vixa. She thinks Greg is the know-all, end-all to everything, but he’s not. Yeah, he’s smart,” Bree laughed. “He’s really intelligent, but she doesn’t know you. She didn’t see what I saw today in that alley. I know you’re going to be okay.”

Blake squeezed her hand again. Bree swallowed hard and moved closer to him. His skin was cooler than before and he was no longer sweating. She rested her head against his uninjured arm. Being close to Blake felt familiar, had she known him before the waking?

Blake grunted as he freed his fingers from Bree’s grasp and wrapped his good arm around her shoulders. He pulled her closer to him until her torso was pressed tightly against his side. She tensed for a moment before relaxing. Closing her eyes she rested her head on his chest. His heart beat was slow and steady as she drifted off to sleep.