Their Runaway Mate (14 page)

Chapter
Thirteen

Anna opened her puffy eyes to the light of the sun flooding the little room where she slept. They stung from the amount of crying she did the night before and she didn’t really want to have them open, but she also couldn’t go back to sleep, so she didn’t see the point in lying in bed with her eyes closed.

She gingerly climbed out of bed and made her way to the en-suite bathroom, where she peed, and then brushed her hair so she looked presentable when she left the room. Then she reluctantly made her way out of the bedroom and down the hall to the living room, where she’d watched Alyssa and her mates make love the night before.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” came a cheery welcome from Jessie, who sat at the dining room table that separated the kitchen and the living room. “Sleep okay?”

Anna couldn’t bring herself to speak yet, so she nodded her head as she stood in the entrance taking in the scene. Jessie sat at the table with a large plate of eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast, with Peter, who had the same amount of food in front of him, but didn’t pay any attention to it because he was too busy reading the newspaper. Alyssa stood in the kitchen, cooking, and when she looked over at Anna from the stove, she smiled and waved her toward the table.

“Sit down, doll,” Alyssa said. “I’ve almost got your breakfast ready.”

Anna slowly made her way to the table and sat down in the seat Jessie pulled out for her before sitting back down in his chair.

“Thank you,” she whispered to Jessie, who just gave her a cheesy smile and began piling his food into his mouth again.

Alyssa placed a plate of food in front of Anna, as well as one in front of the empty chair at the table, and then plopped down into the chair and picked up her fork. Then Peter finally put the newspaper down and joined Alyssa and Jessie as they started eating.

“You can never wait until she’s at the table before you start stuffing your face,” Peter chastised Jessie.

“I can’t help it. It always smells so good and I just have to eat it.” Jessie replied with a sheepish grin.

Alyssa just chuckled then looked at Anna who hadn’t even touched her plate. “Eat up, Anna. You’re going to need your strength for our shopping trip today.”

“Yeah,” Peter interjected. “Besides if you don’t start eating soon, Jessie will finish his and snatch yours.”

“Hey, I only do that to you,” Jessie argued, making Anna giggle a little.

Peter gave him a stern look that didn’t quite meet his eyes, and then smirked as he resumed eating.

Anna picked up her fork and stabbed a sausage link a bit too forcefully, gaining a hiss from Jessie.

“Jeez, girl,” Jessie commented. “Remind me to never piss you off.”

Anna felt her cheeks heat from embarrassment and quickly ate the sausage to keep herself from smiling.

“Speaking of,” Alyssa spoke up. “Did you enjoy the show last night?”

Anna’s eyes shot to Alyssa and she almost choked on her piece of food. “Excuse me?”

Alyssa smiled deviously, “I said, did you enjoy the show last night? Peter and Jessie love it when people watch.”

Anna’s face flared and she knew she probably looked as red as a ripe cherry, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I heard some noises and…”

“It’s fine,” Alyssa said, laughing. “Like I said, the boys love an audience. What did you think?”

Anna just stared at her, wondering if she truly wanted an answer. Then she looked at the two men who had stopped eating and looked at her as if they were waiting for her to reply.

She looked down at her plate, then back up at Alyssa. “I thought it was beautiful,” she said wistfully.

Alyssa just gave her a soft smile and reached for her hand to squeeze it gently, “Thank you.”

“Can I ask you a question, though?” Anna said.

“You just did, but go ahead and ask another,” Alyssa teased.

“How did you get the scars?” Anna asked, but then wished she hadn’t because of the frown that suddenly marred Alyssa’s face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Alyssa reassured. “I promised you I would tell you our story and that’s a part of where the scars came from.”

“You don’t have to tell me though,” Anna insisted, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable about probing into their business.

“I want to,” Alyssa stated. “I think it may help you become more comfortable around us and trust us more.”

“But I’m already beginning to trust you. I don’t need to butt into what doesn’t pertain to me.” Anna argued.

“We want you to hear this, Anna,” Jessie suddenly said, his voice more serious than Anna had heard it, so far. “It’s important to us.”

Anna looked at each one of them, then looked at Alyssa and nodded, “Okay.”

“Well,” Alyssa began. “Jessie and I grew up in the same Pack together and knew from an early age that we were destined to be mates, so when we both came of age, we claimed each other. Then about ten years after we were mated, World War II broke out and Jessie, along with a lot of males from our Pack went off to fight in the war…”

“Wait,” Anna interrupted. “World War II? How old are you?”

Alyssa chuckled and answered, “I’m one hundred and ten, Jessie is one hundred and twelve, and Peter is the baby of the group at only ninety-two.”

“Baby? I’m no baby,” Peter argued.

“Yeah, you are,” Jessie retorted. “You’re my baby, old man.”

Peter growled at Jessie, but Jessie just laughed, “I’ll show you baby when I’m riding your ass later tonight.”

“Why not make it this morning and I might let you pull my hair,” Jessie shot back.

“Just as soon as the women leave, your ass is mine,” Peter growled again, but Anna could tell it was more in lust than anger.

“Why wait until we leave?” Alyssa exclaimed. “I want to watch.”

“You need to worry about your friend,” Jessie pointed out, and Alyssa started to pout.

“Don’t worry, baby,” Peter soothed. “We’ll make it up to you later.”

“Bullshit. If you guys are getting some, one on one time with each other while I’m gone, I want some, one on one time with each of you when I get back,” Alyssa snapped.

“No problem, baby cakes,” Jessie replied. “As soon as you get home, find me in the kitchen of the diner and I will happily fuck you over the kitchen sink after I eat some of your delicious pie.”

Anna was confused and found herself asking, “What does pie have to do with it?”

Jessie just grinned like a naughty schoolboy, as Alyssa’s face turned beat red, which made Anna realize they weren’t actually talking about the food.

“Oh, never mind,” Anna said, then diverted her attention from all three people.

“Anyway,” Alyssa snapped. “As I was saying, World War II broke out and Jessie went off to fight. While he was gone, I met Peter, who had been refused when he went to join the military because of his lung problems. We didn’t call it asthma back then. As soon as I scented him I knew he was my other mate, but I wanted to wait for Jessie to get home to claim him. However, that didn’t stop him from pursuing me and by the time Jessie got home, he was begging me to marry him. Once Jessie did get home, Peter found out that I was with him and decided to try and fight him to stake his claim.”

“Aren’t Peter and Jessie mates as well?” Anna interrupted again.

“Yes,” Peter answered. “But I had never been attracted to men before then, and fought my attraction to Jessie tooth and nail.”

“Great gods did he ever,” Jessie retorted. “But I got him in the end and he loved it.”

“You’re asking for a spanking to go with that ass reaming,” Peter snapped.

“More like begging,” Jessie stated. “I love it when you smack my ass.”

“Enough, before I spank both of your asses,” Alyssa barked.

“Oh gods,” Peter groaned. “Don’t tease me right now, baby. Jessie’s already got me hard enough.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Anyway,” she said loudly. “Peter wanted to fight Jessie, but Jessie just wanted to fuck Peter and told him so, which made Peter avoid me and Jessie both. However, Peter and I still worked together at the local manufacturing plant and Jessie joined the plant after the war, so he could only get so far away from us. Then one day, Jessie cornered Peter in a secluded area of the plant and kissed him and by the time I got there they were all but fucking each other. Actually, Jessie was down on his knees sucking Peter’s cock, while Peter was pulling his hair and fucking his face, it was just beautiful, but when I let them know I was there, Peter pushed Jessie off him and ran.

“Then one night I was walking home from work and Peter jumped out from some trees and surprised me. At least he thought he did, I had known he had been following me the whole time, I just didn’t want him to run off when I let him know I knew. He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder like a caveman, and I was practically creaming myself at his manhandling. Then he took me into the woods a little bit before he put me back down and shoved me against a nearby tree. He kissed me and we frantically tore at each other’s clothes until we were gloriously naked and he was making love to me against the tree.

“That’s when Jessie came up behind Peter, causing him to stop completely mid-thrust. Then Jessie kissed him and continued touching him until Peter finally gave in and kissed him back. Therefore, Peter held me against the tree as he made out with Jessie and I thought I had all but been forgotten, until I felt Peter’s hips start moving again and realized Jessie was guiding him back and forth. Then Peter pushed into me really hard because Jessie had taken that moment to impale Peter’s ass on his cock and began pounding into him, which made Peter pound into me.

“I was pissed off because Peter had seemed to completely forget that he was fucking me, so I ended up grabbing a hold of his head and pulling his hair to make him pay attention. He kissed me, hard, and then played with my breasts while Jessie fucked us. Then as I reached my climax, I bit Peter, claiming him and turning him into a werewolf and Jessie did the same.

“We took Peter home with us that night, thinking we would introduce him to our Alpha the next morning and live happily ever after. However, when we took him to meet the Alpha, our Alpha became enraged because we had claimed a human as our mate and he tried to kill him. Jessie and I defended Peter, which made the Alpha turn on us. Then he sniffed me and scented that I was with pup, so he attacked me.

“We ran from him and the Pack, but after a month he caught up with us. We thought he had given up and let our guard down, but he kidnapped me when I was coming home from work one night, and by the time the guys found me, he had stabbed me several times in my stomach with a silver knife, trying to kill the baby and me. I survived, but the baby didn’t.

“Peter was the one to kill the Alpha of our Pack and should have been named the new Alpha, but since he was human at one time, the Pack refused his leadership and named one of the old Alpha’s sons, new Alpha. The new Alpha put a price on our heads, so we ran again, this time going across the country to get away from them, which is how we ended up here.”

Anna was quiet for a few minutes while she digested everything. Alyssa, Peter, and Jessie had been through a lot just to be together and she appreciated the fact they shared it with her.

“So, is the reason for the scars because of the silver?” Anna asked.

“Yes,” Alyssa sighed.

“I’m sorry,” Anna replied.

Alyssa just waved it off and smiled, “Don’t worry about it. It was years ago and, hey, I’m still here.”

She stood up, grabbed Anna’s half-eaten plate, and started clearing the table, “Why don’t you go get ready for our shopping trip? Something tells me we can both use some retail therapy right about now.”

Anna silently accepted Alyssa’s request, retreating to her bedroom to dress in her borrowed clothes.

After she was done, she went back into the living room to see Jessie and Peter washing dishes, but no Alyssa. She walked into the kitchen, but just stood there silently, not sure of what she would say to either man. Ever since Drew had chased her off, being alone with a man seemed to be hard, and it was worse when the man was a werewolf.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to worry about speaking to either of them, because Alyssa entered the room, “Ready to go?”

Anna nodded.

“Okay, don’t worry about buying anything today. I know your budget is probably pretty tight, so I will pay for you, and then you can work in the diner with me and the guys for a bit to pay it off.” Alyssa stated.

“Oh, I have enough money, thanks, but I would still like to work in the diner with you, if you’ll have me,” Anna replied.

Alyssa, Peter, and Jessie looked at each other then Jessie said, “Anna, you need to save your money. We’ll take care of you until you can stand on your own two feet. Don’t worry.”

“No,” Anna snapped back, and then flushed with embarrassment for having responded so harshly. “I have over ten thousand dollars. I am more than willing to stand on my own now.”

She looked at them and saw the look of astonishment on their faces then wished she wouldn’t have said how much she had.

“I’ll be happy to pay rent for one of your motel rooms instead of staying here, if you want,” she whispered.

“No you won’t,” Alyssa pronounced. “My best friend will not stay in one of those dingy rooms while you can stay here. It doesn’t matter how much money you have. You need to save it for now, until you figure out what you are going to do. Now come on, let’s go shopping.”

Alyssa pulled Anna out the front door, leaving both men staring, silently, after them.

*****

Anna was exhausted and starving by the time Alyssa decided to take her to lunch at a little bistro in the heart of Vegas. She’d been dragged to almost every shop in the city and had handfuls of different bags, filled with clothes. She’d bought more clothing in one morning than she’d ever bought in her entire life and she wondered how she was going to get through wearing all of it.

“I really don’t think I should have bought so much,” she stated to Alyssa after they placed their order and the waiter left.

“Nonsense,” Alyssa replied. “You ran away with only the clothes on your back. You needed a new wardrobe.”

“Yeah, but I don’t even have a closet to put all this stuff in,” Anna argued.

“There’s a closet in the room you’re sleeping in and what doesn’t fit will go in the dresser.” Alyssa answered.

Anna really didn’t feel like arguing about it anymore. They had had the same argument every time they left another store and Anna decided she should just give in now. It was almost as bad as arguing with Drew and Carter about their multiple gifts.

Suddenly, the thought of Drew and Carter made Anna feel depressed and Alyssa seemed to notice it right away.

“Why don’t you tell me what happened? It might make you feel a bit better,” she coaxed.

So, Anna started from the beginning, when she had met Drew and then told Alyssa how she had met Carter. Then she told her about her family and her sister, and about her sister turning up at Drew and Carter’s house, beaten up. Then she told Alyssa about Cheryl telling Drew she was a part of Cheryl’s evil scheme to spy on their Pack and relay it back to some Rogue Pack and how Drew had believed her and accused Anna of being a lying, filthy, human and threatening to throw her in prison for her crimes, which is why Anna had ran.

By the time Anna was done, her tears fell anew, and their food had arrived.

“So what you’re telling me is that your mates are the Alpha and Beta of the Washington Pack and they don’t want to claim you because you’re human?” Alyssa summed it all up, and Anna just nodded as she stared at her food, her appetite lost. “Well, ain’t that some shit?” Alyssa huffed.

Anna smiled a bit, but couldn’t hold it for long, so she tried to focus on forcing herself to eat.

“Hey, hun,” Alyssa grabbed Anna’s hand and squeezed. “It’s okay. Don’t worry. They aren’t going to hurt you.”

“But they already have,” Anna whispered.

“They have? What did they do? I’ll kill them,” Alyssa declared.

Anna did laugh at that, but it was humorless, “They broke my heart.”

“Oh, doll,” Alyssa said, suddenly standing up and rounding the table to hug Anna. “I know it hurts. I’m so sorry. I wish I could make it all better.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Anna stated, pulling away from Alyssa’s hug. “They only wanted me to be a brood mare for them anyway. Why else would a werewolf want a human?”

Suddenly, Alyssa stiffened then stood to go back to her seat, where she sat silently for a few moments, just looking at her plate and frowning. Then Anna realized what she’d done wrong.

“I’m sorry, Alyssa. I didn’t mean you. I know that you love Peter and it’s more than just having babies for you guys,” Anna tried to apologize.

“It’s not that simple, Anna,” Alyssa snapped. “It’s not like Peter, Jessie, and I don’t want babies. We just can’t have them.”

Anna just looked at her silently, afraid of replying.

“After our Alpha had tried to kill me by stabbing me with the silver knife, I had a hard time healing and scarred really badly from it. You saw the scars,” Alyssa said, looking up at Anna. “Well, the scars aren’t just skin deep. I’m scarred on the inside too, and haven’t been able to carry a pup since it happened. We tried for years after we were finally free from being found and every time I would get as far as the first month and miscarry.”

“Oh my god, Alyssa, I’m so sorry. I’m such an ass,” Anna replied.

Alyssa gave a small smile, but then continued, “After the fourth miscarriage I ran away from home, ashamed of the fact that I couldn’t have babies. I thought the only use I was to the guys was having children and now that had been taken away from me, so I was useless.

“However, the guys didn’t see it that way and hunted me down, and they were pissed when they found me. They were angry that I would not trust in their love for me so much, I would throw it all away because we couldn’t have children together. They told me they loved me and needed me whether we could have babies or not, and warned me if I ever ran off on them again, they would tie me to our bed for a month and torture me, not letting me cum, until I learned how to trust them.”

“Wow,” Anna said. “That’s so beautiful. You’re so lucky, Alyssa.”

Alyssa chuckled as she agreed with Anna, but then she became serious, “Anna, I know that Drew betrayed your trust by not trusting you, but do you think he may have figured out your sister was lying by now and regrets what he said to you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Anna replied, not liking where this conversation was going. “I told you, Alyssa, all I was to them, anyway, was a brood mare and I refuse to go back to that.”

“I find that hard to believe, considering you haven’t even slept with them yet. You said yourself that Carter told you he loved you and just wanted to make you happy,” Alyssa argued back.

“They were just lines to get what they wanted. Drew made that point pretty clear when he called me worthless and said he was glad he never claimed me,” Anna’s head was suddenly beginning to hurt.

“He was just angry and confused. I’m sure he didn’t mean it. I said a lot of nasty, vile things when I ran off on Jessie and Peter, but they knew I didn’t mean them.”

“Whose side are you on now?” Anna retorted.

“Yours, Anna, always yours; I just don’t want to see you throw away a good thing because of some stupid words,” Alyssa insisted.

“A good thing,” Anna scoffed. “The only reason they even wanted me was because of some weird chemical scent thing that tells you guys who you will be able to have babies with.”

“They’re pheromones Anna, and humans have the same reaction we do to them, we are just more sensitive and aware than you are. You still feel the pull toward Drew and Carter as they feel toward you. You are just able to ignore it better,” Alyssa’s voice rose as she spoke.

Anna just stared at Alyssa, knowing what she said was true, but not wanting to admit it quite yet.

“It still doesn’t matter, anyway,” Anna finally replied. “Whether or not they were just words, he didn’t trust me and I can’t just let that go.”

Anna stood up and walked out of the restaurant quietly, not caring whether Alyssa followed or not. As far as she was concerned she had enough money to stay somewhere else if Alyssa didn’t want her to stay there anymore, and now she had enough clothing too.

Anna had made it half way down the sidewalk, having broken into sobs, because the pain in her chest was unbearable, when she felt arms wrap around her shoulders and fell into Alyssa’s embrace.

“Shh, Anna, I’m so sorry, doll,” Alyssa cooed as she held Anna, brushing her hair out her face and just letting her cry. “I know it hurts and I’m here.”