Theirs to Claim (6 page)

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“That’s a great way to accept friends who came here worried about you,” Jezzie huffed. “And who the fuck did that!” she yelled, pointing at the mate bites, one on each shoulder that would never heal for the rest of her life, which her shirts now hid. They didn’t hurt or bleed. They were more like tattoos now, to mark her as a mate. Zelina decided to ignore that question. Jezzie pushed past still-staring Doofus One and Doofus Two and pulled Zelina into a breathtaking hug. “I thought I was going to lose you, Z.”

“I told you I was okay, J. I wouldn’t lie to you about that.” Zelina sighed, hugging her friend back to her chest. The reassuring scent of papaya from Jezzie’s hair was like coming home. Some people thought of Grandma’s baked cookies. Others thought of Mama’s home cooking. For Zelina, home had always been Jezzie and her papaya-scented hair cream. That is, until she found her mates. Now they would also be home to her, and Jezzie would have to become a part of that.

“But you wouldn’t give me an address. You know I would worry until I actually saw you.”

Growls at the door, behind Ethan and Jake, stopped Zelina from asking how the hell they had found her as she popped around Jezzie and into the hall. Standing there were her two mates, bristling with anger and staring at the two men in uniforms at their bedroom door. Zelina was sure someone had summoned them when the cops came. The shifters of the compound were trying to pass themselves off as human, and no one would have touched them for fear of exposing their secret. Zelina also knew that Jezzie would have sprouted off about her, and those who knew she was the Lunar of the clan would have let them through. Coming here had been a stupid mistake the three of them hadn’t even known they’d been making.

“Rion, Quin, this is Jezzie, Ethan, and Jake. Remember I told you about Jezzie.”

Rion never took his eyes off his brother, but when Quin looked over at him, relaxing marginally, she knew that he had told him about the phone conversation that had started the most amazing experience of all their lives.

“Ah, Jezzie, Zelina’s best friend. I apologize. We were worried something was wrong when we saw two men at our door and not you. Forgive us. I am Quin.” Quin bowed gracefully to her, and her friend had the nerve to giggle. She actually giggled.

“So you must be Rion, Z’s boyfriend,” Jezzie said to Rion, removing her eyes from Quin for only a second.

Zelina felt herself get hot before she realized it. She walked over to her mates and stood between them, grasping a hand in each of hers.

“Part right, J. But, they are both my boyfriends. Welcome to our home.”

“Well, I think this is our cue to leave. Everything looks all right here, J. See you all later. Um, you guys have a safe night, and don’t hesitate to call if you need something.” Ending with that, Jake and Ethan hightailed it out of there like cartoon characters.

Chapter Nineteen

“You gotta be shitting me!”

“Jezzie, look—”

“No, Zelina.”

Jezzie stopped her, raising one perfectly manicured hand into the air. Her thick hair fell around her shoulders in perfect layers, the coal-black color mesmerizing against her lighter skin. Snapping brown eyes, though, told Zelina it wasn’t the time to admire her friend’s usual chic style.

“Zelina, less than a week ago, you had no boyfriend. I was setting you up on dates. Brian disappears. Like
really
disappears. So do you. Then I find you three days later with one boyfriend, get you tracked down—and you don’t want to know what I had to do with Geez the Sleaze to do that—just to find you butt-ass naked. Now I find out you have two boyfriends. Right . . . This makes sense to someone, so that someone better explain what the hell is going on to me.”

Of the two of her mates, Zelina was surprised to see Rion be the one to step forward. She was at a complete loss for words. There was much she wasn’t sure she could tell her friend, and she didn’t know how to answer her questions without leading to more. She was grateful one of her mates took that off her shoulders. Something else to chalk up to the beauty of mates—she really didn’t have to face the world alone anymore.

“Jezzie, yes, I am Rion. We met under some . . . delightful circumstances,” he finished, winking over at Zelina with a satisfied smile on his face. She returned that smile with a raspberry.

“I’ll be sure to put that to good use later,”
he returned, laughing in her head. She chose
not
to respond to that.

“As you are someone that means more to Zelina than I think you even know, we will tell you the absolute truth. Please.” He directed her away from the bedroom and down the hall. Jezzie hesitated for a second, looking to Z for confirmation, before she turned and strolled where he directed.

Her heels clicked in the silence in rhythm, her black business suit and white silk blouse looking smart on her thicker form. Of the two, Jezzie was the earthier. She didn’t see it that way, of course. To her, she was fat, further away from the generally accepted stick-thin figure. Zelina wasn’t near that either in a size twelve, but Jezzie took her size sixteen to heart. Most days Zelina ignored her whining about it and moved on. One day she’d find someone who would worship those curves she had, Zelina just knew it. That brought an idea to her head, one she’d have to talk to her mates about later.

The door they stopped in front of interrupted her thoughts. The sitting room was all mahogany and white, from white carpet, to accent walls, to even the cushions on the couch. The wood pieces, though, added warmth and life to the place. If she didn’t believe before her clan made money, she did now.

“Sit,” Rion invited her.

Jezzie sat, watching him carefully and looking over at Zelina from time to time. Rion let her sit in between him and Quin, curling up her legs under her. Quin grabbed a blanket off the seat next to him and draped it over her legs. The move was done with ease, never interrupting the surrounding events, and Jezzie lifted a brow at that. It was too smooth to have been done to impress her, and she knew it.

“Can we trust you?” Rion asked her finally.

“I should be asking you that. It’s my friend you have sitting there beside you. My friend whose life you’ve suddenly entered.”

“I understand. The concession we are about to make to you is because of that friendship and the fact that Zelina holds you close to her heart. Still, my job is to protect. So, I must ask you again. Can we trust you?”

“That’s why you spoke first. To protect Quin from a threat.”

“It is my job, inaestimabilis. It is what I am supposed to do. Do not worry. We will bring your friend into our fold. I think you would kill us if we hurt her.”

“Most likely. Inae-stema-whata?”

“It means ‘priceless,’ Zelina.”

Quin chuckled over their connection, but stayed silent outwardly as Jezzie looked at them. Finally she folded her hands over her lap and nodded her head. “You can trust me.”

“This is the Alpha of the South Texas clan, Tarquin Vespillo. I am his Beta and brother, Centurion. You know the short forms of our names.”

“Brothers? Damn, nice, Z . . . Wait, Alpha and Beta. As in shifters?”

Chapter Twenty

The brothers sat frozen, looking at her in open confusion. If Zelina hadn’t been so surprised herself, she would  have her ass off. She was positive neither brother had ever been stumped in his life.

“So I am guessing she is your mate, so you couldn’t exactly fight your need for her. As your kind is not a large population, siblings mate to one person. She is now your mate, and that would explain the disappearing act and . . . dominance show Rion put on when I was on the phone.”

“You heard that!” Zelina screeched, turning red.

“You were on the phone, and I wasn’t on mute, girl. I was just so worried at the time. I was just trying to find out where you were. Anyway, this is why trust was so important?”

“Why are you not freaking out?” Zelina finally asked. Statue One and Statue Two were still deciding
not
to talk yet.

“Gentlemen, let me tell you what my job is. I am an editor for my company. My genre is fiction, specifically looking at the subgenres of romance, urban fantasy, and paranormal romance.”

“Paranormal,” Quin started.

“Romance?” Rion finished, finally coming out of the fish-out-of-water stare.

“Books about beings like you. You know, shifters, vampyres, witches, mages, or wizards, you name it. The possibilities are endless. I find myself in awe more so than fear knowing that you all really do exist.” She sat back then, hand over her heart. “You are real,” she whispered.

“Then I can tell you the rest,” Zelina said quietly. “I almost died, J.” She got up at Jezzie’s cry, pulling her friend into her arms. “Brian was not human. He was a vampyre, and nothing like the books. He tried to kill me, almost did.” She rubbed the spot on her neck where he had torn through.

“I found her and was able to destroy the fiend. When I smelled her, I knew what she was to us, and I brought her home. At the time, she wasn’t conscious, and when she did come to, we weren’t ready for her to bring in the outside world yet.”

“We had to make sure she chose us before we opened up. Her fear alone after the attack would have had her running from us. We needed the time,” Rion finished.

Zelina liked how they did that, blended and molded until all of them were on the same thought at the same time. Outside of J, she had never had anyone so in tune with her. It was a humbling experience.

“I am so happy you are safe, Z. I wouldn’t know what to do without you.” Tears falling down her face like diamonds, Jezzie pulled Zelina tighter to her chest. Zelina didn’t fight her. She understood the fear coursing through her heart and the thoughts she most likely was thinking. She let her friend hold her until the tears faded and her heart finally slowed down.

“I’m okay, Jezzie. Really I am. With my mates, I’ll never fear again. I’m not lost or gone away from you. I have to admit it is much nicer knowing that you know the truth. I wasn’t sure if I could hide from you all that was going on.”

“Sister from another mister, huh?”

“Always, girl. Always.”

“Alpha, the humans have—”

The shifter who’d barged into the room stopped, nose to the air, sniffing. His cold gray eyes rested on Jezzie for a moment before sliding away to look at a spot over his Alpha’s right shoulder. Black hair, cut military short, exposed a hard face. It couldn’t be considered handsome. One long scar from the left of his forehead down to his chin on the right side marred what might have been an attractive face. Where it came down closer to the left eye, it pulled the flesh taut so that his left eye had a deeper slant compared to its counterpart. His gaze swung back to Jezzie for a heart-stopping minute before returning to his Alpha’s shoulder.

“The two men have cleared our territory grounds. We are secure once more.”

“Thank you, Socha.”

“Socha? Really, no better name than that?” Zelina asked.

“Not his name. It’s a nickname,” Rion responded.

“What? That’s a woman’s name.”

“Tell you later.”

“Socha, this is your Lunar’s sister, Jezzie.”

Jezzie smiled softly to Quin’s explanation of her before standing and extending her hand. “It is nice to meet you, Socha.”

“Andrzej,” he responded to her.

“What?”

“My name is Andrzej. You may not call me Socha.”

“What the hell is his problem?”

“Again, I’ll tell you later,”
Rion sighed.

“You are going to let him talk to her like that?”

“Is everyone allowed to call you Z?”
Quin cut in.

“Of course not.”

“Then he has the right.”

“I am sorry. I was simply trying to be polite.”

Socha didn’t respond to her.

“I see the name fits, though. Unbending and unmoving,” she muttered to herself and went back to her seat. Socha’s gaze swung back to her, surprised, before she smiled at him. He then stiffened and looked away.

“By your leave,” he said then, bowing before leaving the room.

“I bet you water freezes on his ass.”

Chapter Twenty-One

“Jezzie!”

“What? It’s true. He didn’t have to be rude. I was trying to be polite.”

“He doesn’t care much for humans.”

“I didn’t do anything to him. He could have been nicer to me,” Jezzie returned, unconvinced.

“Having your parents killed and then skinned by humans in front of you will do that to a person,” Rion finished.

Jezzie didn’t say another word. Sinking into her seat, she twisted her fingers together. “Oh my God, that’s terrible. ‘Open mouth, insert foot’ moment, I guess. Were they taken by hunters?”

“Yes, but these hunters knew what they were killing. It was a very long time ago, when we tried to live more openly among humans. It is not my story to tell, so I won’t go further than that, but I wanted you to know his actions are in no way personal. All humans, as far as he’s concerned, are enemies.”

“Who can blame him? We know what it’s like, don’t we, Z?”

“Do we ever,” Zelina responded, shaking her head. “Either way, now you know everything that is going on. You know where I am, so we will be able to still see each other and hang out. Nothing has changed, just my location.”

“Yeah, you’re just in the next town over, so it won’t matter much.”

“Next town over! That’s thirty minutes!”

“No biggie, Z, really.”

“Not you, Jezzie. I’m talking to you,” Zelina said, turning toward Quin. “I was over, what, thirty-five miles away, and you smelled me and
ran
that far to save me?”

“I have a good nose?” Quin replied sheepishly. A red streak showed up on his cheeks, and Zelina laughed.

“He is the Alpha, inaestimabilis. His senses are better than all of ours. Take into account that you are also his mate, you have the end result.”