Laying Claim to the Soul (3 page)

Chapter Three

Tabatha paced back and forth in her bedroom. Her mates had been home now for half an hour, and still they hadn’t even bothered to come to her. She knew Hoyt would check on his folks and grandparents, but that shouldn’t have taken half an hour!

“Let’s get this over with, we have guests waiting for lunch,” Hoyt said behind her.

She jumped and whirled around. Both of her mates leaned against the wall staring at her.

“Well, are you going to tell me what happened at the meeting? I’ve only been pacing here for the past half hour!” She gritted her teeth, and counted to ten.

“We’ve been over this before. We’ll take care of everything. All you have to do is work on the ceremony that joins us together.” Chax crossed his muscled arms over his chest, and dared her to say another word about it.

“I have a right to know who is trying to kill me, Chax. How am I supposed to plan anything when I don’t know what’s going on? It’s going to be Christmas in a damn week and I haven’t been able to do crap. I have shopping to do. I need help getting out the decorations from the attic and we still have to go searching for our tree.”

She turned her gaze to Hoyt, “And who are Marcy and Clare? I won’t have trouble Hoyt, I’m warning you now.” She watched them both step away from the wall to circle her. Their heated gaze traveled over her body, but she ignored it and snarled when they got too close.

“You are warning me?” Hoyt snapped and Chax grinned. “You have enough to worry about without worrying about the threat. As to whom Clare and Marcy are, they’re old friends from school. I was raised with them. Their parents will be here in a couple of days for our joining along with my father’s pack. They’re no threat to you.” Hoyt brushed his fingers down her cheek.

“Right, your main concern should be what we’re going to do to you now.” Chax mumbled in her ear from behind. His hands slipped under her skirt and rubbed her butt cheeks. “Where are your panties? Were you waiting for us?”

“Ha, I was waiting this morning, but No-oo. Plus, we don’t have time for this. I need to tell you about the visitor I had last night, while you two were snoring.” Tabatha tried to step away from them, but both of them held her in between them. “Let me go Hoyt. I can’t talk when you’re doing this. I know you know about your mother, Chax, but we still need to talk about her.” She leaned back, pretending to let them have their way, and as soon as Chax released her butt, she escaped from between their arms.

“As I was saying, I had two visitors, well one summoned me actually.” She looked up, and saw she had their attention now.

“We’re listening.” Chax and Hoyt once more cornered her, but this time they had her up against the wall, trapped with no place to go.

“Wol-itelm called me to his planet last night. He’s here now.” She squirmed, remembering his heated gaze and unbuttoned her shirt, while her other two mates looked down. The dragon stared back at them, his eyes blinked.

“Wol-itelm welcome, have you any word as to when you’ll be here?” Chax inclined his head.

The dragon stretched on her breast and moved up her chest to her neck.

“I’ve always watched you Chax. I knew we would draw attention, but something else is going on here.”

“
We have to agree with you.” Chax glanced at her and then to Hoyt.

“Hoyt, your kind has not heard of me, or understood who I am. Will you sacrifice everything to be with us?”

“There is no choice, I’m nothing without them.” Hoyt stated, his gaze never leaving the dragon.

“
Think hard Hoyt, part of your pack will not follow you to where you have to go. Are you willing to give that up? To leave all that you know, when the time comes?”

“I’ll not leave my mates, no matter what.” Hoyt stated with a bite to it.

“
Very well, you all have chosen. I must say, Chax and Hoyt, we have a feisty mate. I thought for sure she was actually going to challenge Lilith last night. We will have fierce sons and daughters.”
His voice deepened and his tongue licked the side of her neck.
 

“I will be around, but we must not let others know just yet. After your ceremony, gather all who are close to you. They’ll be given the choice to go with you or to stay behind. For now, watch your backs. There are those close to you that will try and stop your ceremony. I must go now, but I will be here for the ceremony.”

Tabatha watched the dragon move back down to her breast. She glanced up to see both of her mates glaring.

“What? I was going to tell you. You didn’t give me any time.” She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

“You should have woken me the minute my mother was in this house! You don’t know what she is capable of!” Chax’s fingers held her chin, his gaze heated.

Hoyt pushed her arms down and proceeded to unbutton the rest of her shirt and removed it. “On the bed, Tabby! You’ve been bad. It’s time for your punishment.” His gaze fired with lust and he pinched her nipple.

“What? Now you want me?” She glanced once at her mates, than shifted to her wolf form and made a dash for the balcony door. 
“Feed your family yourselves. I’m going for a run. I am tired of these games. I just need air and calm for a few minutes.”

She jumped out of the balcony window, her paws hit the ground running. Tabaha’s anger gave her the energy she needed to move fast towards the top of the bluff. 
How could they do this to her? Didn’t they know she needed to be a partner, not a damn maid to their whims! And I’m not going to some damn strange planet. We’ll be fine here,
she declared to herself and to them.

Get your ass back here!
Chax snapped.

Go fuck yourself.
Tabatha stopped and scanned around her. She heard something, a cry.

She ignored Chax’s demand and moved closer to the noise. Jumping over a fallen tree, a red makeshift cradle rocked back and forth. Her wolf sniffed the box. The whimpers grew louder. Shifting back to her human form, she carefully opened the box. “Oh my God, you poor thing. Who would leave you out in the cold?” She scanned the area again and didn’t notice anything strange. Was it a trick to get to her? An envelope lay in the box next to the baby. Picking up the note she read:

Ms. Spinning,

If my plan comes to frustration, you will find my son. Please forgive my cowardice, but I couldn’t risk his discovery. You are my only hope. My son is a sub-species, half-human and half-demon. I have hidden until the time of his birth, so my mate would be ignorant of my son’s existence. I know in your care he will receive all the love and attention he needs. I’ve left naming him in your capable hands, and according to your time frame, he is two days old. I could never express my appreciation, but hopefully you will know that I want nothing but the best for him.

The note was unsigned.

“Shit, I don’t have anything for you baby, but soon we will.” she whispered and picked him up not even phased by the cold due to the demon and wolf DNA in her. “But what a great Christmas gift you are to us, an instant family.” She wrapped the thin blanket tighter around him.

“You are cute. What should I call you? I can’t wait to show you to your new daddies.” Tabatha turned to walk back towards the house, but her two mates blocked her path.

“What do you have here?” Hoyt glanced down at the bundle in her arms, cautiously.

“It’s the most precious thing in the world. Someone left him for me, here is the note. Will you move please? I’m can’t shift and carry Drake at the same time. He will be our new son.”

She smiled up at Hoyt. “Just think, we’re going to have a family for Christmas. I have to get a stocking for him, his first Christmas bulb and all sorts of things.” All her anger had gone. The precious gift in her arms seemed to settle everything inside her. She lifted the baby up to her face and took in all that baby scent, just sighing.

Her looked down to the bundle in her hands. “Do you like that name? I named you after Wol-itelm. He’s a mighty dragon, and don’t worry about your other two daddies, they’ll come around.” As the little one reached out, and grabbed her finger, a tingling sensation shot through her body.

“What in the…” she locked her knees and stared at the precious life in her hands. Her heart seemed to skip a beat at the thought of losing this baby. He was Tabatha’s. Somehow the little man had chosen.

Chax stepped up to her and interrupted her. “You can’t keep the baby. It has to be taken to the master. He’ll place it with a demon couple to take care of it.” Chax said and waved his hand. Clothes covered her naked form, warming her body, but a cold chill circled around her heart and she shook.

A need to protect her child overcame every other sense. No one would take her baby including Chax or his boss. “The baby is staying. His mother asked me to take care of it, and I will.” If she could have, Tabatha would have transported herself to her room, but she hadn’t learned how to use the powers that came with being part demon, or even knew if she had them.

“I have to go into town and get things for this little one. I’m sure it’s starving. Are you hungry?” She cooed to the baby and walked around her men, ignoring them as she studied each feature the baby had. He had all his fingers and toes.

“I’ve informed the master about the child. He wants him brought to him.” Chax announced, keeping pace with her.

“You did what? You had no fucking right! He was left for me and I’m not letting him go. So you can just go tell, the master you have a home for him!” Her stomach clenched, tears formed, and her nose got all stuffy, as she made her way towards her home.

“He is part demon, and needs to be with his kind, Tabatha. It’s up to the master, you have no say.” Chax tried to reach around her to grab the baby.

“It you touch this baby, I will personally cut off your dick, and shove it up your ass!!” She growled as the demon inside her rose.

“Tabby, calm down, you can’t shift with a baby in your arms. You know he’s right. The baby belongs with its own kind.” Hoyt rubbed her back, and tried to comfort her.

She shrugged away from his touch, “Have you forgotten I’m half demon, and so are you Hoyt. Chax is full demon. We can raise him fine. He’s half demon. What better people to raise him and I’m going to!” Tabatha didn’t know what was going on, but the thought of someone stealing him from her took her breath away and brought out every maternal instinct she had.

Tabatha ran up the stairs to the back porch, and turned, glaring at her mates. “Don’t try and take him, Chax, I won’t allow it.” Tabatha flung open the back porch door, and ran in without saying a word to anyone. Her living room was now filled with guests and Christmas decorations.

“Melody, I have to go to town and get supplies. Will you come with me? I need you to hold Drake for me while I drive.” Grabbing her purse and the keys to the Blazer, she turned to a room full of shocked people.

Tabatha’s jaw dropped, her body shook with anger and fear. The one person who could take her child away, now stood in her living room right in front of her. The master of demons glanced down at the bundle in her arms.

Chapter Four

“You know he belongs with us. Let me see him.” Satan held out his arms for the child.

“Draco please help me!”
she waited, but got no response, all three of her men had let her down once more.

Hoyt cleared his voice behind her, and she knew her mates stood behind her.

“But the woman left him for me. He’s part human and 
needs
to be with us,” she pleaded, as tears dripped down her face. It was as bad as the day she buried her parents. She reluctantly placed the baby in his arms. Turning, she looked at her mates, but couldn’t even stand to glance upon them.

“I thought I had suffered the worst pain ever, burying my family, but I was wrong. You asked me to give you time, to trust you, but you do this to me without even talking to me. Would you do the same if I were pregnant? Tell me to get rid of it?” Tabatha hissed, earning gasps around the room. “The ceremony is canceled! Out of everything that has happened this has been the worst. For the past few months I’ve let the two of you take control of everything. I’ve had it. I don’t know why, but that child means more to me than you can understand, but you wouldn’t even try to hear my point of view or see how I felt. I’m done listening until you can open you heart and ears.”

Sobs wracked her body. Tabatha didn’t understand what was happening to her. It felt as if someone had just ripped a part of her away. All three men had ignored her. Turning, she stared at the baby in the master’s arms. She glanced up at the master and he just stared at her, his head tilted to the side.

“I’ll never fit in your world, or anyone else’s, it’s just too much.” She turned, pushing through the people who gawked at her. Tabatha kicked a box of decorations out of the way as she escaped to her room, slamming the door. 
I just need to shut the world out for a minute. There has to be a reason for this. I have to try and figure out what the hell is wrong.
She whispered to herself in her head.

Tabatha crawled up onto her bed grabbing a pillow to lay across her knees that where pulled up against her chest while she rested on the headboard of her bed. They had ripped her son out of her arms and now an emptiness was there, surrounding her heart.

He was her son! She had already connected to him. The bond was sealed.

Her breast burned as if the tattoo was forming again. He was back and Wol-itelm wanted to talk. But she didn’t want to speak to him at all. Didn’t want to talk to anyone, but…

“Where did you go?”
Was all she asked before
 
the room started to darken and spin around her. Tabatha heard Wol-itelm’s shouts as the burning sensation grew stronger on her breast. The last thing she saw was the quick flash of Drakos’ gaze when everything once again went black.