Argus: Accepting the Challenge (7 page)

Jacob growled and nodded.  “We should go over there right now and bring her home.  We can take care of her better there.  The thought of her lying there all alone and confused is driving my lion crazy.  He is clawing and biting to get out and get to his mate.”

“Mine too.  But we have to play this slowly.  She’s human.  Plus we have that other situation to think about.  I have already called Ryan and told him to expect us at the end of the week.  I am not sure she’s going to be willing to go with us that soon.”  Argus said.

“Damnit, finding your mate is supposed to be fun and exciting.”  Jacob said and then stopped when he was near the bathroom door.  “Oh shit.”  He said and walked into the room.

Argus frowned and then followed him, thinking there was a rodent in the bathroom or something but the scent hit him, and he almost fell to his knees.  Cinnamon and honey, which is what it smelled like.  And passion, the only kind of passion their mate could give.

“She is touching herself.”  Jacob said with a wondrous tone and looked to the vent on the side of the wall.  It must be connected to her bathroom.  They could hear the shower running and then a soft female moan. 

“Shit.”  Argus said and shifted uncomfortably because his cock suddenly got hard as a rock.  Their little mate was right next door and she was hot, wet, and ready for them.  Jacob turned and looked at Argus and smiled.  He walked slowly to his mate, grabbed him by the back of the neck, and pulled him in for a kiss.

Argus met his mate’s mouth with a fierce determination.  He needed to feel a connection with one of his mates.  His lion was turning in circles on the inside, impatient to finally claim his mates.  He did not know if he would be able to control him for long.

Jacob pushed his tongue against his lips and he opened his mouth allowing his mate access.  They ate at each other desperately as they smelled the arousal of their female mate. 

Argus took control of the kiss, thrust his tongue in his mate’s mouth, and savored his taste.  Jacob stepped forward and ground his hard cock against Argus and he moaned.  They had to stop; the bargain they made was to wait for their mate to claim each other.  It was important to both of them, but at that moment, neither of them could think straight.

Argus pulled back first and leaned his forehead against Jacobs.  “We have to stop.”

“I know, but her scent is driving me mad.  With you in the same room and all of our scents combining, it is almost more than I can stand.”  Jacob whispered.

“Let’s plan a way to get our little mate to accept us.”  Argus said and pulled back and stepped out of the small room.  They needed to focus.  Skye was not going to know what hit her come tomorrow.

Chapter 4

Skye rolled over and groaned.  Crap, she had a food hangover.  Last night all she could imagine was her and two men that conveniently looked like Jacob and Argus.  Making love to them repeatedly until she was exhausted.  Instead, she had eaten her way through a half gallon of Bunny Tracks, five candy bars, and a box of Fancy Cakes.  Then after watching The Notebook, she ordered pizza at midnight when she could not sleep.

Damnit, she could not stop thinking about them.  What had they done to her?  One second she had been happily escaping her ex and now she was drooling over two guys.  It was crazy, she did not even know them, and yet she felt a pull toward them.  If they had been in the same room as her last night, she would have fucked them instead of eating her way into a food coma.

She pushed herself up on the bed and looked around.  Wrappers were everywhere.  Groaning again, she stood and began to clean up the evidence.  Putting them in a small trash bag, she looked down at her clothes she had slept in last night.  She had not bothered changing out of the sweatpants and t-shirt, she had put on after her shower last night.  Skye shrugged her shoulders and thought she looked presentable enough to walk out to the dumpster.  No one would be there anyway.  It was light out.  All the people that stayed in the motel would still be asleep or gone.  Who cared what she looked like?  When she came back, she would take a nice long shower, get cleaned up, and then make her plan. 

She decided last night; she needed to get out of here.  She had enough, get the car, fill the tank, and hit the road.  Maybe when she stopped the next time there would not be handsome strangers that kept her up at night.

Skye pulled open the door and screamed when she realized someone stood in front of it.  The strange man was facing the other way and he jumped and turned looking for the threat that he thought was there.  A nervous laugh escaped her throat and he frowned while he looked at her.

“Uh, can I help you?”  She said slowly looking around to see if anyone was out and about.

“No, but is there something I can do for you Queen.”  The man said.

“Sorry, my name is Skye.  You must have me confused with someone else.”  She said and was relieved the strange man had gotten the wrong room.  He was handsome too, but she could not stop thinking about the two men.  She did not need anyone else to dream about.

The man laughed and he shook his head.  “Sorry, my name is Ari.  I believe you are Skye?  Jacob and Argus assigned me to look after you.  You know after the man broke into your place last night?  They were worried about you.”  The man said and she frowned.

“What?  Jacob and Argus?  The men I met yesterday hired a body guard for a perfect stranger.  Are they nuts?  I don’t need a body guard thank you very much.  As you can see, I’m fine and dandy.  You can send a message to you employers.  Thanks but no thanks.”  She said and shouldered her way around the man and walked to the dumpster.  She stopped and braced herself, before winding up and throwing the bag in the tall trash can.  This is when she hated being so short.  If she missed, the garbage would come back at her.

She heard another laugh from behind her, so she straightened up, held her head high, and walked back to her room.  “Rude.”  She said and slammed the door.

“Skye, I am sorry.  I didn’t mean to upset you.”  Ari called out.  She could tell that he was worried about offending her and the good girl in her refused to let him feel bad.

“Fine, just let your bosses know, I can take care of myself.”  She called and walked to the bathroom where she froze when the voice called back.

“You can do that yourself, they are right next door.”  Ari called and she looked at the door and then the wall wildly.  Here.  They were still here?  She ran to the door, yanked it open, and confronted the man.

“What do you mean they are here?  I thought they lived near here.”  Skye shouted and looked around expecting the men to suddenly appear.

“They do.  They just didn’t want you to be alone.  You know, with the break in and all.”  Ari said smoothly.

“Who are these guys?”  She whispered and slammed the door and went to the bathroom quickly.  She needed to get ready and leave as soon as possible.  They were probably stalkers or serial killers.  Who put a guard on a complete stranger?  She thought and quickly brushed her teeth and then jumped in the shower.

Unlike the shower she had the night before, she was fast.  Washed all the important body parts and then hopped out.  Skye brushed her hair and pulled on a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt.  Sitting next to the phone, she made the first call to get the hell out of town.

Her car would be ready and waiting for her, as long as she had the money in the afternoon and as long as they hadn’t found out, she had basically stolen the car, she would be good.  The mechanics did not look like the kind that would ask questions though, at least she hoped.  Now the fun part.  Skye dialed the restaurant, and was ready to tell Ronnie to stick it where the sun did not shine, when one of the other waitresses answered the phone.

“Hey Skye, boy you are a popular person in here today.  Ronnie is sittin’ with your boyfriend right now; they are laughing and joking like they were old friends.  I think you’re going to get a raise.”  The blonde said.

“Shit, what’s his name?”  Skye said and closed her eyes hoping that it was one of the guys next door, although she could not imagine them sitting down with greasy Ronnie shooting the shit and talking.  It would be like a King sitting with a hillbilly.

“Bob.  He’s nice as nice can be.  Said he was waiting for you to come over so he could surprise you.  Oh, I hope I didn’t ruin it.  He seemed so excited.”  The woman said worriedly.

Skye closed her eyes again.  “No it’s fine.  I’ll be there when my shift starts.”  Skye said and hung up the phone.

“Fuck, fuck, double fuck.”  She yelled and then stood up and started throwing things into her bag.  She needed to leave fast.  Who would have thought that Bob had enough ambition to actually follow her?  It was probably because she took his car and the last of his drinking money, the dumbass.  She shivered and played over the last time she saw him in her mind.

***

Skye had just gotten home from a very long shift and was tired.  She walked into the cramped little apartment she shared with Bob and frowned.  He was asleep on the couch again with beer cans and pizza boxes littering the floor around him.  She’d just worked twelve hours, because someone called in sick and he was getting drunk with her tip money.  She’d become pissed.

“Bob, damnit, wake up.”  She had called slamming the door behind her.  The man had groaned and rubbed his hand over the white tank top he had been wearing.  He used to be somewhat handsome.  At least passable, when she met him.  In the last year, he had gained a beer belly on her money and some serious hygiene issues.  She had complained about it several times, and went so far as getting him a basket of soap and deodorant.  That only pissed him off because she wasted money that he could have used drinking.

“Bob, get your ass up.”  She yelled again and waded her way through the trash.  “I’ve been on my feet all day today, and I’m not going to clean up after your sorry ass.” 

Bob popped up off the couch and grumbled.  “Shut the hell up woman.  I have a hangover.” 

“You need to get up and clean this mess.  I’m serious.  I refuse to keep cleaning up after you and your buddies.”  She said with her hand on her hip.  It was the first time she had actually stood up to him, but one of the ladies at the restaurant where she worked told her that she was little more than a slave to Bob.  It had made her feel embarrassed and worthless.

Bob turned on her and she saw the rage in his eyes and thought that maybe she should have waited.  No, she thought straightening her spine and standing to her full height and looked back at him defiantly. 

“Bitch.  You’ll do whatever the hell I tell you to do and like it.  I own you.  Who else would take your sorry ass?  Now get this place cleaned up and start dinner.”  He growled and looked at her closely waiting to see what she was going to do.

Skye bit the inside of her moth and tried to make a decision.  She wanted out.  She had planned to do this when she got more money together but now seemed as good of time as any.  “No, I will not be your slave any more.  Either you start getting a job and help out around here like you used to or you can leave.”  She said quietly.

Bob roared.  “What the fuck did you say to me?  I’ll say this one more time woman and you had better listen closely.  You belong to me.  I think maybe you need a little reminder of that.”  He said and stalked over to her.

Skye cringed when she saw the fist coming to her face.  She ended up letting him go on for hours yelling at her and hitting her occasionally while he popped beer after beer while she cleaned up.  She wanted to make sure that she could make it out of the house alive when he passed out.  If she talked back, he would have beaten her to a pulp and then she would have been stuck.  Instead, she decided to take the abuse until he passed out and then she was gone.

What scared her most was that he thought of her as a possession.  Skye had not realized how sick and demented Bob actually was.  She just thought he was a lazy drunk, but he was truly crazy and she was well rid of him.

***

Now he had found her.  Shit, she was going to have to be very careful.  Her door could be seen from the window of the restaurant.  Bob was probably sitting there watching for her right now.  Ronnie had surely told him where she lived.  This sucked.  She felt the panic rising in her chest.  She was having a panic attack, she was sure of it.

Lying down on the bed, she tried to take a deep breath and calm herself but tears rolled down her cheeks and she curled up into a little ball.  How had everything gotten so fucked up?

Chapter 5

Argus and Jacob had worked most of the night.  Each of them only sleeping when the other was awake, to make sure their mate was safe.  They had gotten a lot done.  Argus had made the plans for leaving to Colorado to include Skye.  While Jacob had worked on their plan to woo their sweet little mate.

They talked about the best way to make a human know that they were interested.  If she were a shifter, they would have just staked their claim.  But since neither of them had any clue how to handle a human, they had been forced to look on the internet and see what the hell courting was all about.  It was kinda confusing, why did women insist on flowers and candy?  And dinner and dancing?  What was that about?