Not-So-Fated Mates

Chapter 10: An Unexpected Kiss

Layla POV

    Layla walked as fast as she could without causing the boy anymore pain or waking him up. She wasn’t completely sure whether he’d actually passed out from just the pain, or if it was a combination of that and whatever he’d been through. Either way, he was out like a light, and she didn’t plan on changing that, at least until after the doc had taken a look at him.

    Doctor Anders was the pack’s full time doctor, though he had a few nurses on call to help when the work got to be too much for him. Which wasn’t often, for though the wolves did tend to get banged up during training, it wasn’t often they actually needed him. Plus, the shifter genetics ensured it was exceptionally difficult for any of them to get sick. Not that it didn’t happen, every once in a while one of the wolves would come down with the flu or something, it was just a lot more rare than with humans, who tended to come down with something at least once in the winter months, if not the rest of the year.

    Thus, Doctor Anders tended to have a lot of free time. Luckily, he used that free time to compile information and data on what he’d observed from treating the pack, as well as studying their genome to get more information. Since shifters were still unknown to the humans, they didn’t exactly have labs to help shifter doctors better treat their own kind, so most pack doctors studied as much as they could from what they had and, once a year, got together to discuss everything, especially if one of them had made a breakthrough.

    However, that didn’t mean he was always in his office. While little wolf wasn’t in critical condition, not by far, she still worried that she’d have to go find him, and take even more time from fixing his leg. Not to mention, she couldn’t leave him alone, not after how Drake had been acting. True, he had kept his promise not to do anything to the poor little rogue when she’d gone to get her clothes, but that might’ve been because he knew he couldn’t get away with it.

    Finally, after walking down the winding hallways and down the stairs into the basement that served as the doctor’s office/pack hospital, she approached the door and suddenly realized she didn’t have a free hand to open it. She could shift little wolf so that she was mostly using her left arm to support his weight, but it could jar him and cause him more pain.

    She almost jumped when an arm seemed to come out of nowhere and open the door for her. She’d completely forgotten Drake was with her for a few minutes. He’d been so quiet. Maybe he’d gotten the memo that she wasn’t exactly happy with him right now, and chosen to remain silent. Unusual for an alpha, but she’d take it, because, until this kid was taken care of, she didn’t think she could talk to him without snapping at him.

    With a nod indicating her thanks, she walked in, finding Doctor Anders laying on one of the available hospital beds, reading a book. She smiled as he looked up, and as his brows came together in confusion, she said, “Hey doc. We found this kid in the woods with a broken leg. We aren’t sure what happened, he’s been in his wolf form since before we found him, and to top it off, he passed out as we were bringing him here.”

    “Well, then,” the doc replied, blinking at the suddenness of it all. “Go ahead and lay him down on the bed so I can examine him.” As he said this, he indicated the bed across from the one he was currently still perched on.

    He got up as she laid little wolf down, going painstakingly slow so as not to bother him or his leg. Doctor Anders came up to the side of the bed she wasn’t standing by and began carefully checking him over, gently examining little wolf’s leg. He pursed his lips and looked up at her, “I’ll have to do some x-rays to be sure, but I’m pretty damn certain it has healed wrong. I’m assuming that’s why you brought him to me?”

    “Well, yes and no. When we found him his leg was still broken, and I was hoping to get him here before it healed,” she responded, glaring daggers at Drake, who was currently leaning against a nearby corner. He rolled his eyes at her glare and shook his head, choosing to continue remaining silent.

    What the doc said next, however, had him smiling an irritating “told you so” smile that Layla wanted to smack off his face. “Well, it is very unlikely you could’ve gotten him here fast enough,” the doc said, sighing. “Unfortunately, that’s one of the bad things about us all healing so damn fast. Even if you were right there when the break had happened, unless you were just in the yard or barely into the forest, it still would most likely have healed by the time you got here. And since he’s a rogue, I’m assuming you weren’t that close, nor there at the time of the break.”

    “True, we were a good ways out,” she begrudgingly admitted.

    The doc smiled and clapped a hand on her shoulder. “Nothing you could have done, Layla. This boy is just lucky you found him and helped him.”

    “Thanks, doc.”

    “Anyways, I’m going to give him something to hopefully keep him under while I break and set it. You should probably-”

    “I’d rather stay, doc. He was scared shitless of us, and I get the feeling he’s had a bad past. He’s somewhat warmed up to me, so it would be best if I stayed,” Layla said firmly.

    “Layla, I know how you are when you’re feeling protective,” the doc argued just as firmly. “I do not want to be on the receiving end of one of your punches, again.”

    Drake looked at her curiously as her cheeks turned pink. She looked down at the floor and grumbled, “I said I was sorry.”

    “And I forgive you, but only if you get the hell out of here while I do this. I’m not taking any chances.”

    “Fine,” she said, still grumbling. “But only if you get me the second he wakes, and don’t leave him alone. But don’t let anyone get too close, either.”

    “Yes, yes, now get the f**k out of my office and let me do my damn job,” the doc replied with a heavy sigh.

    “If you don’t do as I asked, I’ll do more than punch you, doc,” she called as she and Drake exited the room.

    As they walked down the hall towards the stairs, Drake suddenly broke his silence. “So, what in the hell was he talking about?”

    She stopped and turned to look at him, only feeling like she was half there mentally. “Um, I kinda broke his jaw a couple of times.”

    He looked at her curiously. “May I ask why?”

    “He…well, one time I’d gotten clawed up pretty good in training, so I got to experience stitches for the first time. Let’s just say I’m not a fan of needles. It’s one thing when it’s a shot, it’s another when it keeps f*****g going in and out of your skin.” She sighed. “The second time, my youngest sister broke her arm, he had to set it and…well, he caused her pain, and I just…reacted.” She gave him a sheepish grin, knowing she probably seemed a bit crazy.

    He surprised her by laughing. “Well, I guess I’m not the only one prone to punching doctors,” he chuckled. At her questioning look, he shrugged and said, “I have had to have more than a few injuries dealt with, and I don’t react well to it.”

    She laughed quietly, rubbing her neck. “Yeah, I understand that. Obviously.”

    His laughing eyes suddenly turned serious. “Are you really that worried about the kid?”

    “What?”

    “You’ve been fidgeting with your hands, rubbing your neck, and though we’re just standing here, you haven’t been still by any means.”

    Her eyes widened. She hadn’t realized she’d been doing that. She looked down at her hands, realizing he’d been right when she saw how she’d been twisting them together. “Uh, wow, I guess I have been.” She looked back up at him. She’d been so mad at him before, but after sharing a small laugh with him and apparently being so nervous, her anger had mysteriously disappeared. She felt unexpectedly vulnerable, and she looked at him, debating whether or not to confide in him. “Yeah, I’m worried about him,” she finally said, looking back down at her hands. “I have no idea what he’s been through, but for him to be a rogue, all alone, at his age and with a broken ankle? I have to imagine he’s been through a lot, and I don’t like the thought of him being in there, alone, with someone he doesn’t know.”

    There was a long silence, long enough that she worried she’d chosen wrong in talking to him about this, but when she looked up, she was shocked to find his eyes had softened, and the most impossibly gentle look had washed over his face. Suddenly, her face was pressed against his chest, and his arms were around her, holding tight enough it was as if he was trying to keep her together. She stiffened, unsure what to make of it, as his enticing scent swirled around her. She gradually softened into it, closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around him in return.

    “I’m sorry,” came his soft voice, muffled slightly as he’d placed his head against hers. She tried to repress a shiver as his voice and his touch sent waves of heat running through her to her very core. “I just don’t know what to say to help you.”She simply nodded into his firm chest, not wanting to let him go. After a moment, he pulled back a little to look at her, tapping a finger beneath her chin to get her to look up. “He’ll be okay, though. The broken leg will heal, and with a she-demon like you looking after him, no one will ever f**k with him again,” he said with a teasing grin.

    She smiled back. “Damn skippy,” she replied.

    One minute, they were staring into each other’s eyes, grinning; the next, their lips met heatedly and her back was against the wall.

Drake POV

If he’d thought this woman was tempting before, she was damn near addicting now. His hands moved across her lithe body as he deepened the kiss, his c**k hardening in his jeans, desperately pressing at the zipper as he slowly ground it against her core, feeling her heat even through their clothes. He bit her bottom lip, making her gasp before moving down her neck, nipping and tasting as he went. She whimpered a little, moving her head to give him better access, and he growled his pleasure in response.

As he moved back up to her lips, he saw her eyes open briefly, looking at him with heat, then, suddenly, they went wide, looking past him towards the stairs to the rest of the house. In his haze of lust, he slowly turned, confused, and narrowly missed the fist that was coming at his face, accompanied by a feral growl. As he dodged, he instinctively pulled Layla behind him and faced the enemy, surprised to find Alpha Richard’s son giving him a murderous glare as he tried to come at him again.

Before he could move, Layla was in front of him, flipping the fucker onto his back and standing over him, her glare just as murderous as his. “What the f**k do you think you are doing, Zach?!” she growled, arms crossed.

He growled, his eyes finding Drake again as he got up. They were practically glowing with the silver eyes of his wolf, and Drake felt confusion growing amongst his anger. He didn’t appreciate being interrupted, much less by a little pissant who wasn’t even an alpha yet, dumb enough to try to take him on. And what the f**k had he even done to the asshole? He hadn’t even met him yet, only knowing who he was from the picture of his family on the wall in the entrance of the pack house.

“Zach!” Layla yelled, when he continued to stare Drake down.

He finally looked at her, seeming to calm the tiniest bit as he looked her up and down. Drake growled again, not appreciating the way he looked at her. Zach growled back, then shook his head and looked at the ground. After a minute, he looked back up at her, his eyes finally back to his typical eye color, which Drake now noticed was brown. “I’m-I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Drake growled, not believing his s**t.

Zach looked back at Drake, anger flashing across his face. “You aren’t part of this,” he growled.

Drake rolled his shoulders, coming up to his full height as he walked around Layla and stopping mere inches from the little fucker. “The f**k I’m not,” he replied, looking down at the fool who dared challenge him. “You came after me for no reason. You aren’t even an alpha, and you dared come after me like that, so, yeah, I’m apart of whatever the f**k this is.”

He almost laughed when Zach dared to glare back at him, bowing up to look tougher. Drake smiled evilly at the pup, and watched as the look in his eyes grew unsure, flicking to Layla and back before hardening again.

Suddenly, Layla pulled Zach away by the back of his shirt, then stood between them. “Enough of the male posturing. Zach, why are you even here?”

“I heard you brought a rogue back with you. I was coming to see what that was all about,” Zach said slowly, looking between her and Drake. “Imagine my surprise when I found you practically about to f**k the visiting alpha in the middle of the hallway.”

“What business is it of yours what she does with me?” Drake ground out.

“She’s my f*****g mate,” Zach growled.

Drake’s eyes widened as he looked at the gorgeous woman in front of him, who had growled back at his statement. Obviously, there was more to this story. “I’m not your f*****g mate, Zach,” she spat with vehemence. “You rejected me, remember? So why don’t you do us all a favor and go find Kelly, and leave us the hell alone? What I do and with whom is none of your f*****g business.”

“Fine,” Zach snarled at her. “Have fun being a whore.”

The next thing he knew, he’d somehow moved around Layla, grabbed Zach by his throat, and slammed him into the wall hard enough to have damn near broken through it. “Apologize,” he demanded around his now lengthened canines, the claws that had erupted from his fingers cleaving through the hall behind the i***t.

Zach sputtered, his own claws and fangs growing as he fought for breath, trying desperately to claw and pry Drake’s fingers from his throat, the survival instinct calling for his own wolf. “Drake,” Layla said from behind him, that sound in her voice that told him she was fighting a smile, “he can’t breathe. You might want to loosen your grip if you want him to apologize.”

“Hmmm. You’re right, but do I really want him to breathe?” Drake said, evil smile once again resurfacing.

“Maybe not, but he is my alpha’s son, so it’s probably best you don’t kill him,” Layla responded, her voice still laced with notes of amusement, now laced with the barest hint of disappointment.

He turned to look at her, his smile widening, enjoying this side of her, before he looked back and carefully loosened his grip. Zach desperately gulped in air, looked fearfully at Layla before squeezing out a quiet, slightly broken apology. “Good boy,” Drake said, bringing him away from the wall and lifting him above his head before throwing him on the ground.

After Zach had staggered away and up the stairs, he turned to see Layla looking both amused and troubled as she rubbed her arms and continued to stare in the direction her mate had gone. He pulled her around to face him, his hands on her shoulders as he looked into her gorgeous blue eyes with concern. “Are you okay?”

She didn’t answer for a moment, looking at him, then at the ground. “Yes and no,” she shrugged.

“Did I go too far?” he asked. He didn’t particularly care if he did, even if he would have to explain himself to the alpha later, and he knew the little fucker deserved it. But he hoped it wasn’t too much for her. He knew all too well how the mate bond persisted for years, though the pain from it gradually lessened, and how, even after a long time, it could still mess with one’s head. If this had been an altercation with his mate, he had no idea how he’d take it.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “He deserved it for going after you like that.”

“Honestly, he deserved it more because he rejected you,” Drake said without thinking. Layla stared at him with eyes wide, and he could only imagine he had the same shock on his face. He looked down at the ground, rubbing his neck, and tried to change the subject. “Well, anyways, when do you think the doc-”

A throat cleared down the hall, and both looked over to see the aforementioned doctor looking at them, amusement dancing in his eyes. “Speak of the devil,” Drake said, happy to have the distraction.

“And he shall appear,” the doctor said, finishing the statement. “Anyways, I’ve set the boy’s bone, you can come back in, if you wish.”

“Is he awake yet?” Layla asked anxiously as they both approached the office.

“Not yet, but I gave him something to keep him asleep while I broke the bone again, and it should wear off in the next fifteen minutes or so.”

Layla nodded, about to go in until Drake grabbed her by the shoulder. She turned to look at him, curiosity in her gaze. “What’s up?”

“Are you going to be okay if I leave you to go talk to your alpha about what happened?” He asked.

“Yeah, but don’t you need me there to corroborate what happened? I mean, Zach is probably going to make some s**t up to spare his ass,” she said, rolling her eyes at the thought.

“Even if he does, I don’t think Alpha Richard is blind. He may be more easy-going than alpha’s like me, but I think we both can agree he isn’t stupid,” Drake said with a reassuring smile.

“True,” she smiled back. “I guess I’ll see you later, then.”

“Oh, we will, will we?” A wicked smile spread across his face.

She blushed, her cheeks turning bright red. “s**t, you know what I mean,” she groaned.

Drake laughed before turning to the doc, who was watching them with avid interest. He just winked at the man before he left, laughing softly to himself.

Yes, this woman was dangerous. But damn, she was addicting. As he walked away from her, her scent slowly disappearing back down the way he’d come, he realized he needed more.