Claimed by Her Panthers (8 page)

“Yes.
Is that not what I have said twice now?”

Owen
glared at him. “Have you spoken to the Elders? We have a limit on how many le—Vampires
we let in and stay in our division.”

The
Vampire removed a nonexistent piece of fluff. “I was told Mount View is a
friendly city?”

“It
is. But you didn’t answer my question.”

The
Vampire shrugged, and if Owen hadn’t been a Shifter he would have missed it.
“This trip was last minute, and I may have forgotten to talk to the Mount View Elders.”

“Call
them, because I’m not taking you until you get approval.” Owen didn’t wait for
an answer. He stalked off back to the office. He wanted to check this Vampire
out.

At
his office Owen paused, surprised to see Angelica there. He hadn’t seen her
since yesterday, and he was a good two hour flight away from home. He and his
panther were already getting edgy without her. Going to her he hugged her to
him lifting her up for a kiss.
“Hey, sweetheart.
How’d
you get here, and what can I do for you?”

Angelica
smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, her eyes lighting up. “
Jenika
and I went shopping today. I know it’s far from
home, but the best shops are here, because we don’t have anything like the
major center here. I realized how close we were, and after speaking to Stephan
I knew you would be here, so I asked her to drop me off instead. Did Stephan
tell you that I spoke to Joel?”

Stephan
had told him Angelica had called Joel the previous evening. His best friend had
seemed calmer than the last time they had spoken. “Yes, he did. So Joel will be
coming for dinner sometime next week?”

Angelica’s
arms dropped, and she stepped away from him. “Yeah, it’s when he next has more
than a day off. Things aren’t perfect, but I’m hoping that once he sees how
happy I am...” She ran her fingers through her hair. “At the moment he probably
thinks I haven’t thought this through, that my moving in with you was a knee-jerk
reaction to our fight. Come on, a couple of weeks ago I would never have looked
at you the way I do now, nor done what we’ve done. I didn’t even know Shifters existed.
Plus add in the fact you want me to be with two men, and I have only had one
real relationship and that was with one man, not two.”

Owen
could see Angelica was getting herself worked up. He went to her and wrapped
his arms around her. “Sweetheart, it’s okay. I know everything you’ve learned
is a lot to take in.”

Angelica
nodded against his chest. They stood like that for a couple of minutes before
she sighed and moved from his embrace.

“I
didn’t just come to ask if Stephan told you about what we discussed. I came to
tell you I’m all packed. I finished packing all of my stuff, and everything
that is left will fit in our cars. It’ll be nice to completely unpack, maybe
even organize the house. Hell, I haven’t seen very much of it, come to think of
it.”

Owen
chuckled.

“I
don’t find it funny.”

“Oh,
I’m not laughing at you having not seen the whole house. That’s not my fault.”

“Yes,
it
i
—”

The
knock on his door stopped her, and the Vampire from before opened his door
before waiting for permission. “I have spoken to the council. They have given
me a forty-eight hour pass. So it would seem you are right, you don’t like us
in your city.”

Owen
stood in front of Angelica. He didn’t trust the Vampire. He’d wanted to check
him out, but Angelica had distracted him. Keeping Angelica hidden as much as
possible he pulled his mobile from his pocket and called his father, who was on
the council and an elder.
 
“Hello, Father.
I have
Draken
Stevron
in
front of me telling me he’s spoken to the council and got the okay.”

His
father growled.
“Yes, son.
He has a forty-eight hour
window to finish his business and leave.”

“Fine.
I’m flying him
in.” With that he hung up and glared at the Vampire, who wasn’t looking at him
but at Angelica. “Keep your eyes away from her.” He moved so he blocked
Angelica again. “She is none of your business.”

Draken
raised one
blond eyebrow. “I am merely shocked. She is human and has not one mate but two.
I admit she is beautiful. And I would love to—”
  

Owen
didn’t let the leech finish. Using Shifter speed he punched him. The Vampire
snarled and flashed his sharp teeth as he fell to the floor. He got himself off
the floor, and his eyes flashed red as he snapped at him. “I will let that slide,
boy, only because I don’t want to start the war back up again. I remember a
time when I had a couple of you black men as blood slaves. I always did find
your blood sweeter.”

Owen
heard Angelica’s gasp, and he turned to see her she was completely white and
plastered against the wall.

“He
… he …is a Vampire.”

“Ah,
I see you haven’t told her about all the creatures out in the world. Does she
just think Shifters exist? Does she not know what you and your brethren do for
a living?”

Turning
back to
Draken
, Owen snarled, “If you want to get to
Mount View, I suggest you shut your mouth, Vampire, before I shut it for you.”
Draken’s
eyes flared from a deep brown to red before he
nodded and strolled out of the office.

Slowly
Owen walked to a terrified Angelica. “We were going to tell you. We just wanted
you used to the idea of Shifters before you found out other things existed.” He
pulled her into his embrace and kissed her head. “I promise you’re safe.
Neither I nor Stephan would ever let anything happen to you.”

“Oh God.
What other
creatures are there?”

Moving
them to his seat he sat down and placed her onto his lap. Owen stroked Angelica’s
hair, trying to soothe her. “Sweetheart, are you sure you want to know? You
just learnt Vampires are real.”
 

Owen
felt her back straighten against him, and she took a deep breath. “Yes. I want
to know. Rip the Band-Aid off in one
go
, they say.”

Owen
really didn’t want to tell her now, and he wished Stephan was here. He thought
he should tell the bad ones first then end with the ones she might think were cute.
“Well, there are Demons, Wraiths, Trolls, and Ogres. They are the ones you
avoid. They are the ones we Shifters kill. Then there are the Pixies and Sirens.
They sit on the border, and you never know how they will be or what kind you’ll
get. Fairies are okay, but they are
kinda
annoying
with their always bubbly happiness and their extreme arrogance. Their need to
be neutral in all things can wear thin, too. I like Mermaids or Mermen. Witches
and Warlocks are pretty cool, too.”

“Um
… wow.
Holy shit.”
She straddled his lap and looked up
at him. “How do humans not know?”

He
shrugged. “A lot do. Why do you think there are so many stories about these
creatures? Human don’t want to know. Some see things and put it down to many
things, being drunk, special effects, hallucinating. Being told by so many
people that what they saw wasn’t real, they believe it. Things like that.”

“I
agree. My mind wants to tell me you’re lying and that I didn’t just see a Vampire.
It took me a while to come to terms when I saw you shift.” Angelica relaxed against
him. “Will I ever get to meet any more of the beings you just told me about?”

Owen
hoped not. Well most of the creatures he didn’t want her to meet. It was bad
enough she’d met a Vampire. “Probably not, although there are quite a few
fairies in Mount View, and I’m sure you’ve met some. I wouldn’t be surprised to
find out that
Jenika
is a Siren. They do have a thing
for trouble.”

While
he may be joking about
Jenika
being a Siren, her
ability to find and attract trouble wasn’t a joke.

 
Angelica thumped him on the chest. “Hey, I
think you just insulted my best friend. And what did you mean by, ‘Shifters
kill them’?”

“That’s
because I did.” Owen said, ignoring her last question as he held her hands
before she could hit him again. Leaning down he kissed her, reluctantly pulling
away when his phone rang and he saw it was Stephan.
Saved by the bell
.
“Hello.”

“Do
you want me to fly back and get Angelica? Your father just called to say your
last passenger who paid for the plane to have to himself is a leech.”

“No.
She can be up the front with me as my co-pilot.”

“Okay.
I’ll be there when you land.”

“See
you then.” Owen hung up and put the phone back into his pocket.
 
“Come on, sweetheart, let’s go home.”

 
Angelica stood, fortunately seeming to have forgotten
about his little slip about Shifters killing Demons and such, and followed him.
Together they walked out the door hand in hand and towards the tarmac.

****

Angelica
sat on the front porch of her new home, staring up at the starlit sky. Tomorrow
night Joel would be coming for dinner. This would be her chance to truly mend
fences and prove to her brother that she was happy, but all the while she
couldn’t help but doubt. Was she doing the right thing? Was she rushing?
Angelica had known Stephan and Owen all her life. She’d always been comfortable
with them, and this last week the attraction she didn’t know she had for them
had grown. Angelica admitted she worried about how the three of them would
work. She had no idea what she would tell her friends, or work. And she was
still scared they had wrecked the relationship they all had with her brother.

The
one thing she did know was she wanted to give Owen and Stephan a chance.
Angelica had never felt anything like the pleasure Owen and Stephan gave her.
She’d never been into sex. With her last two boyfriends it had been something
Angelica had done for them. Sex had never done anything for her. She had always
relied on her vibrator or fingers to get
herself
off,
but Owen and Stephan had given her
her
first orgasm
while a real cock was inside her.

What
she’d learned that evening about other creatures had scared her. Angelica had thought
learning Shifters were real was huge, but to find out other creatures existed and
they weren’t all nice
was
huge. Owen
had explained on the flight home the business he was a part of helped control
the bad ones and helped the better ones get around undetected, although the
governments knew about them as most people in power were a supernatural. She
hadn’t been happy that they had kept something like that from her, and a part
of her still doubted Owen would have said anything if she hadn’t been
persistent with asking him to explain. At least she understood the true meaning
of their matching tattoos now.

Owen
said their flight and protection business worked well. It helped keep everyone
safe, as most
supernaturals
weren’t fond of flying
and signs of what they were would show up.
 
Angelica could see that Owen’s panther was close to the surface as his
eyes were cat eyes, and when they hit turbulence they flashed brighter and his
whole body seemed to shimmer. Angelica could see there would be no way anyone
would miss that on a plane. The security part of the business was helping to
keep watch on the
supernaturals
, and putting down the
bad ones if they need to.
 
The business
was owned by Owen’s and Stephan’s families.

Angelica
hadn’t met many of Owen and Stephan’s family. She’d met both sets of their
parents and two of Owen’s brothers and one of Stephan’s sisters, and Angelica
had met them as Joel’s little sister. What would they think of her being Owen’s
and Stephan’s mate and being with the both of them? Angelica told herself not
to worry about things that she had no control over, but it was hard. For so
long, the only family she’d had to worry about was Joel.

Sighing,
she closed her eyes for a second before putting her iPod earphones in her ears
and turning on her music. She hoped background noise would stop her
thinking.
 
As the music started up she
got comfortable and closed her eyes again listening to the soothing tune and
cleared her mind.

****

Owen
and Stephan arrived after lunch and took the boxes that hadn’t been put in her
car or Joel’s in their own. Angelica didn’t have much as she wasn’t taking
furniture, so once all the cars were packed they drove to her new house. Things
were tense as her brother helped her move, but they could have been worse, she
supposed.

Pulling
up out the front of her new house Angelica got out and grabbed the box on her
passenger seat. Angelica watched in amazement as Stephan held two book boxes
like they weighed no more than a feather. He balanced one box on his knee as he
put the key in the lock and turned it opening the door. He then got the box
balancing on his knee and walked down the hall to the first big room she’d been
in.