Her Mates by Tamara White
Eight
I wake slowly, the sound of whispering annoying my sleep addled brain.
“She’s definitely in there, I can smell her.”
“She can’t be. Why would they put her so close to us?”
“Maybe it’s a test? They want to see how we’ll react and thought putting her next to us would be a temptation?”
I have no idea who’s saying what, but that last comment hurt. It shouldn’t, because I already feel plain, but even so, my mates shouldn’t care.
“What? Mom wouldn’t do that.”
Guess that’s confirmation that Nate’s out there listening…unless one of the others have their parents here?
I hear more hushed whispers, but I can’t make out what they’re saying.
“Guys! I’m a fucking werewolf, so I can hear you out there!” I shout from the bed, holding back a laugh when I hear them curse.
Guess they didn’t quite think through whispering outside a wolf’s bedroom.
“Can we come in?” Cam calls nervously from the other side of the door.
Sighing, I get up, straighten my clothes, and run my fingers through my hair.
“Fine, you can come in,” I reply, opening the door once I’m sure I look halfway decent.
All six of my mates are standing there with slightly flushed cheeks, obviously embarrassed at being caught whispering outside my door.
I walk away, leaving the door open for them to choose to come in or stay out as they please. I don’t know what they expect, but apparently it’s not me walking away.
“Dani, are you okay?” Nate asks, following so close behind me that he bumps into me when I stop.
“Honestly?” I question, looking at each of them, wanting to know if they’re just asking for the sake of asking in this situation, or if they really care about how I’m feeling.
They nod, all in agreement. I gesture for them to sit on the carpeted floor over by the bed. I sit down, placing my back against the bed for a sense of safety. Jason joins me, sitting on my left side, while Nate sits on my right. Pete, Jonnie, Mitchell, and Cam all sit opposite us. If I stretched my legs out, I’d be touching them.
“I don’t want to upset any of you, but if I’m being honest, this sucks. I thought my world was straightforward, but now I learn I’m destined to lead our people as part of the Alpha Pair. How? I know nothing about our kind. Then there’s you guys.
“Don’t get me wrong, you’re all pretty nice and all, but mates are for life. I’ve only just met you. My wolf likes you, but me? I don’t know you. Any of you. Then there’s the whole if, and I mean a massive if, I get through the trials, then I have to lead a bunch of people and do right by them.
“Then you guys also have to get through them, and if more than one of you makes it through, I’ll be forced to choose. How can I do that when you’re all so close? It would be like splitting up someone’s family. I can’t do that.”
I take a moment to let them think about what I’ve said, hoping my hesitation to form a closer connection will make a bit more sense to them.
Jason wraps an arm around me, pulling me close.
“I’m sorry, Dani. I didn’t think. You have to understand, though, that the population of females has been very low these past few years, so we’ve grown up around men sharing their female mates. We should’ve known it would be different when your father told us who you were, but I guess we were hoping it wouldn’t be.
“I’m sorry if my kissing you has made this harder. I won’t apologize for the kiss itself, because I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way before, but I do apologize for not waiting until we knew each other better.”
I can tell he’s hurt by making this harder for me, but you only live once. I could die during the trials, or someone could assassinate me for being the female in the Alpha Pair. Life’s short and even werewolves don’t live forever.
“Okay, enough of this sad, soppy stuff. Tell me, Dani, how do you plan to juggle all of us? It’s only fair you get to know each of us before making a decision. Well, at least give the others a chance, I know I’m a shoo-in. I bet I’ll even be the next one to get a kiss,” Pete declares cockily. How can someone so hot be so full of himself?
“Not sure yet. I think Alpha Tim gave me this room so we would be close. It would also make us get to know each other.”
I remembered to refer to Tim as Alpha Tim this time. Yay! I’ll get a hang of these rules sooner or later.
“Sounds like something my dad would do. Since we have to spend time together and you have to learn the etiquette of all things wolf, would you like to come to the movie room? We have recliners set up and a projector screen for movies. We can fill you in on some of the important stuff before my mom corners you.
“Don’t get me wrong, my mother is a soft and gentle person, but if she knows your life depends on it, then she’ll drill you until our rules and traditions are second nature.”
I nod and follow the guys out of my room and down the corridor. When we head into the movie room, I can’t believe what I’m seeing. I’m standing here, gawking like an idiot at the monstrosity before me. I imagined, from his description, it would be some sort of small games room, but they have their own private cinema!
There are three rows of reclining chairs sitting side by side in rows of ten. Then there are the beanbags placed around the edges of the room. There’s even a mattress leaning against the wall as if someone has slept in here.
“Is this someone’s room?” I ask, pointing at the mattress, trying to figure out what the hell they would need it for.
“Ha! No, that’s our ‘we’re too tired to go to bed so we crash here’ mattress. Usually, on the weekend after training, we sit in here, watch movies, and pig out,” Jonnie answers, scaring the crap out of me.
He must have been behind me, I was just too busy taking it all in to notice.
We go over to the massive bookshelf that’s built into the wall and try to choose a movie. It’s an impossible choice with so many to choose from. There must be thousands of movies here. Somehow, we manage to narrow it down to a select few.
“Okay, most votes win. Write down which movie you want and put it in here,” Jason orders, ripping up a piece of paper into small squares for us to write on and moving a bowl into the center of the table.
I don’t know which one to pick. On one hand, Transformers is action packed with only slight romance. I definitely don’t need a romance right now. Or there’s Avengers, which is action packed, has barely any romance, and good versus evil—it’s a no brainer.
I write down my vote, put it in the bowl Jason set between us, and the others quickly follow my move.
Jason pulls out our votes, reading and placing them in two piles before telling us the decision. “Avengers wins,” he declares.
Yes! I grin because I got what I wanted, and then I laugh when Johnnie tackles Mitchell, tickling him. Yeah, tickling him like a child.
“You sneaky son of a bitch. You said you were going to vote for Transformers. You fucking tricked me!” Jonnie growls, tickling his side while Mitchell tries to push him away.
“Dani, help me!” Mitchell pleads.
I shake my head, laughing. No way am I getting involved.
“Please, your mate needs you!” he begs, still fending off Jonnie’s hands.
I sigh, going to help him when Mitchell jerks out, tripping me and making me land on top of them.
“You ass!” I squeal when his hands touch my sides, trying to find my ticklish spot. “You want a fight, you got one!”
I wink at Jonnie and we both go on the offensive, him going for Mitchell’s sides while I attack his collarbone. There’s a sensitive spot inside the collarbone that acts like a pressure point and ticklish spot all at the same time.
“Okay! Okay! I give in! Please stop before I wet myself,” he cries, causing Jonnie and me to bust out laughing. Jonnie offers me a hand up while I try to control my laughter.
Mitchell is sprawled out on the floor, panting heavily, while Nate, Pete, and Jason just stand there smirking.
“Looks like you’ll have to watch it now, Mitch. Dani’s a fighter,” Cam comments from his seat on the other side of the room.
He’s been distant, and while I feel bad, I don’t know how to approach him. I know he’s not his father, but knowing his father is the reason I don’t know my mother is still a lot to take in.
I don’t want to hold it against him, especially if he ends up as my mate, but I can’t just ignore it and pretend that nothing’s bothering me. We need to talk it out and hopefully resolve it. I can’t go around blaming him for something he didn’t do.
I smile at Cam as the others all look away. I’m guessing my smile wasn’t enough to break the tension.
“Cam, can we talk?” I ask him, hoping to tell him my feelings.
“Um, sure? My room’s just across the hall.”
“Alright, you guys start the movie, we’ll be back in a minute,” I instruct, following Cam out the door. Before he closes it, Pete winks at me and I just shake my head. These boys will be the death of me.
Cam’s room is pretty dark and gloomy. I thought it would be brighter and full of light like the others I’ve seen, but instead it’s filled with black linens and dark blue decorations. You can see small splashes of white where it looks like someone has tried to brighten the room.
We sit on the bed, Cam against the headboard with me on the other end, facing him with my legs crossed.
We’re both quiet for almost a minute. Just when I think it can’t get any more awkward, Cam blurts out, “You hate me.”
I’m shocked he thinks that. Hate is such a strong word which I don’t use lightly. I won’t say that word unless I mean it.
“Cam, I swear I don’t hate you. I guess I’m just coping. Part of me knows it’s not you who hurt my mother. Another part of me wonders if you look like him, or whether or not you act like him, and if you’ll do the same thing to me that he did to her. It’s not rational, but it’s how I feel.
“I want to know you as a mate, so that means putting that stuff aside and getting to know you, and not focusing on what I feel for your father. I swear I’ll be honest with you and, if it seems like it’s going to be too hard, I’ll tell you. Is that acceptable? Or is there something else you would prefer?”
“No, that’s fine. I’m happy with that. I would like to tell you about my father, though, if that’s alright? It’s not all sunshine and rainbows with my family. The reason I’m here with Tim and the others is because my father loathes my younger brothers and me.
“You know most of what happened when my dad took over, but what you don’t know is that he was given twenty years. Our society has always been ruled by an Alpha Pair, so when Dad took over, the elders told him he had twenty years to produce a female heir to continue the tradition of the Alpha Pair and their trials. If that didn’t happen, the elders would choose another alpha, or a female born from an alpha in the right age range, to go through the trials.
“Dad mated with my mom and rushed to have children but got me. During my mom’s pregnancy with me, they discovered she was pregnant with twins.
“When we were born, my sister was born without a heartbeat, and I was tortured for it. Dad would get drunk at his pack parties, and once everyone had left for the night, he would shackle me in the basement. I stayed there, until one day Jason and Nate came back for Jason’s phone after a party when they heard my cries of pain.
“They rushed in, knocking him out before stealing me away. The next day, Tim tried to call the elders’ council for justice, but they had no proof except my wounds and the words from Tim, Jason, and Nate, which didn’t mean much since they were my friends.
“Turns out my mother had cleaned up the evidence of what he’d been doing to me. Tim said I wasn’t going back and used his authority as alpha to convince the elders to let me move in with them. Since Jason is almost an alpha as well, they couldn’t deny his request with two alphas and four soon to be alphas in residence.
“After the meeting was held, I asked my mother why she helped him, why she didn’t want to get free of him. You know what she said? She said I was an ungrateful monster who killed their only hope of keeping the throne.
“That was three years ago. Since then, I only have contact with my parents on ritual occasions like the birth of my three younger brothers. Turns out as soon as I was gone, they started trying harder than ever for a girl, but it hasn’t happened. I guess it’s fate’s way of making sure the right person leads us.
“My parents are heartless. I want you to know, no matter what happens between us, I will never be like my father. I knew he was harsh growing up with the punishments I received, but I never thought he could murder someone in cold-blood just for power, and for that, I’m truly sorry.”
Wow! To think Cam has gone through so much and has turned out the way he did is astonishing. If I went through something like that, I doubt I’d find the will to keep going. But here he is with friends who care and a mate that can whoop his ass. A mate who was going to distance herself based on the actions of his father. God, I’m a horrible mate.
“I’m so sorry. You’re incredibly brave, you know that? Going against your father and the person who’s pretty much in charge of your society. I’m not sure if I would have been able to. If I pass all my trials, I promise I’ll make him pay. Not only for my mother, but for what he’s done to you. No child should suffer through that,” I vow.
He smiles solemnly, hanging his head to hide his expression from me.
“Cam, that tattoo on your chest…is it for your sister?” I ask, thinking of the tattoo I saw when we sparred yesterday.
It looked like a howling wolf, but when I got close, I could see it was protecting something, I just had no idea what it was.
“Yeah, do you want to see it?” he inquires, his head jerking up with a blinding smile. The tattoo must mean a lot to him if he has such a reaction at the possibility of showing it to me.
When I nod, he lifts his shirt off over his head, and I try not to get distracted by his beauty. There, over his heart, is a wolf howling at the moon. Underneath the wolf is a baby, swaddled in a pale pink blanket, just barely visible.
Unless you were up close, you wouldn’t know what it is, but it’s definitely a baby. How heartbreaking.
He lost his twin sister in the womb, he didn’t get to grow up with her, but his parents blamed him for her death. What sick, sadistic people could think a fetus could harm another in the womb?
I reach out to touch it, waiting for his approval, when he pulls my hand to his chest. I run my hand over the baby protected by the wolf. There are scars under the tattoo, but I don’t ask. I don’t think I could handle the answer.
“Turn around,” I demand. I need to see how bad it is.
When he turns, I gasp and stifle a sob.
“How?” Scars cover his back. Some are smooth while others are lumpy, as if the skin was ripped open and left to heal without stitching it closed. It should be impossible for scars this big to be here when we heal so fast. I wouldn’t believe it if I couldn’t see and feel them myself.
“My father had a special whip he liked to use. It was lined with pure silver,” he whispers hesitantly.
Holy motherfucking son of a bitch! What kind of cruel person could do this to their own flesh and blood?
“I’m so sorry. You should never have gone through that. How do you stand seeing him again? I doubt I could face him after that without showing him a beatdown,” I state, offering a tentative smile.
He grins back at me, and I can see sadness in his eyes, but also hope. I just pray I’m not the one to squash it.
“Come on, the boys are probably wondering what’s taking us so long,” Cam says, throwing his shirt back on, effectively ending the discussion about his parents.
I’m disappointed I can’t admire his body more. I wonder if he’s embarrassed by the scars.
We walk back into the cinema—I would say movie room, but it’s definitely a cinema room. I guess no one wanted to watch the movie without us, because they’re all sitting around on the mattress and somehow another has been added. Where the hell did it come from?
“Come on, let’s start the movie,” Cam declares, throwing himself in a recliner while I sit in front of him between Pete and Jonnie. I lean my body against Cam’s legs, smiling when he pushes his leg against me. He needs the comfort, and I’m more than happy to oblige.
“So, Dani, you ready? We’ll watch the movie and try to teach you what we can. Maybe you can test your knowledge out at dinner?” Jason suggests with a slight smile. I guess things are going to be a bit different between us now.
“Alright, just go easy on me. Learning is not my forte.”
