The Bexley Pack

-Raven

“We’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

I look over at my son and try to reassure him that we’ll be able to get away from the trouble we accidentally got mixed up in. I have to put on a brave face, be confident, but I’m not sure how far we’ll have to run before we’re safe. We’re betting on Alaska, still in the States, but big enough to get lost in.

I glance back from the road to Venn. He’s grown, he knows the threats that were made to our lives because he heard them himself. I can still see the fear there and look back to the road.

“Let’s try to find a place to stop for the night, I’m too tired to drive.”

“What if-”

“No, we’ll be fine. We’re in Montana, about halfway there.”

“Okay.”

He doesn’t sound as panicked and for that I’m grateful. I’ve never steered him wrong before and I hope I’m right this time as well. I look back over at him, his blue eyes still wide with fear.

“We’ll sleep then grab a burger and get back on the road.”

He smiles then everything goes black.

-Skye

I see headlights coming down the road that borders our pack’s land. Unusual, but not so much that I worry. Sometimes people cut across here headed to bigger places. I turn back to where I saw my older brother head off to continue patrolling the borders. I don’t get far when I hear the loud crash of a tree and something metal.

“River!”

My brother catches up as I run in the direction of the crash. I see lights, but don’t hear anything else. Hope whoever was in that car is okay. I clear the trees and stop. One of the big pines is laying across where the engine should be.

“Shit! Come on, Skye!”

I run behind River to the road and smell blood before we reach the wreckage. Shit! River reaches the driver’s door and yells for me to get the passenger. I snatch the door open and hear River force the driver’s door open, the metal screeching. I smell blood and fear as I check the male strapped into the seat. He’s got a pulse, strong, guess the impact must’ve knocked him out. There’re cuts from the broken windshield and tree branches on his face and arms. I pull my wolf close enough to use his eyes and claws to cut the seatbelt. The dark-haired male looks young, but I think he’ll be alright.

“Got him!”

I look over the car and see River holding a blonde female.

“She’s alive, but I think her leg is broke. We need to get them to the clinic.”

My brother lets out a howl calling our pack and I feel my wolf’s need to answer. Settle down, we’re already here.

Three men burst from the tree line and fall in around us as we run to the clinic. Two miles isn’t far for wolves full of adrenaline. I hear Locke talking to someone, probably on the phone to his father, our Alpha, Thorin. Aurora is waiting in the lobby as we rush through the double sliding doors. I watch her look the male and female over then has us follow her to the back.

“Put them on the beds. The female here. What happened?”

I put the male down on the bed and back away.

“Tree fell on their car.”

“The female, pretty sure her leg is broken.”

I can see her better now. She’s got cuts across her face and neck, looks like her eye is starting to swell too. I feel something, a pull, slight, but I’m not sure why or towards what.

“Everyone out.”

I follow the others out into the lobby where Thorin is waiting for us.

“What happened?”

I lean against the wall while River tells him what we know, which isn’t much. Thorin nods and looks us over.

“We need to get her car towed. Have we heard anything? Are the injuries bad?”

I clear my throat as Thorin’s eyes shift to me.

“The male has some cuts, but seems fine, just knocked out. The female was worse off; River thinks her leg is broken.”

“It was at a bad angle when I opened the door.”

We fall quiet for a few moments before our Alpha addresses us again.

“River and Skye, you two stay here in case Aurora has questions for you. Locke, you and Gos go get that tree off the car then clear the road. Nash, wake up Lorne and get the wrecker to the car. Let’s get this handled before anyone else comes across it.”

Aurora finally comes out into the lobby as Locke, Gos, and Nash get back. She looks at us the turns to Thorin.

“I’ve patched them up. The male is fine, a few cuts and bumps, but he’ll be fine. The female seems to have taken the brunt of the damage: broken leg, black eye, some bruises and cuts to her face, neck, and arms. She’ll be alright, but she’ll need rest.”

“Dad, I think we have some news too. I think they were running from someone or something. There’re two small bags of clothes in the back, but not much and they’re not packed. Looks like the clothes were grabbed and tossed into the bags. You can smell fear all over the car.”

“Maybe before they went unconscious?”

I shake my head at Nash.

“We got there right after it happened. I didn’t hear the brakes or the tires. Doubt they knew what happened.”

Gos nods and looks to Thorin.

“Think Locke’s right. The fear was strong enough that it couldn’t have been from the accident. Smelled like they’d been scared for a while.”

Thorin nods then looks back to Aurora.

“Any identification on them?”

“Found a wallet on the male. Nothing on the female.”

She hands the black leather wallet to Thorin and I watch as he goes through it then pulls a license out.

“Here Dad, think this is the female’s.”

Locke hands over a small blue wallet and Thorin goes through it then pulls another license out.

“Same address, different last names.”

“A couple maybe?”

Thorin looks between the two licenses before shaking his head.

“I don’t think so, River, the female is almost exactly twenty years older than the male.”

“Her young?”

Thorin puts the wallets in his coat pocket then looks at us.

“We won’t know for sure what’s going on until one of them wakes. Aurora, can you at least find out if they’re related? I want one of you here watching them until we know why they were afraid and what may be after them. Be alert until we find out what we’re dealing with.”

“I can run a test and should have an answer by tomorrow about whether they’re related.”

“Good. We know they’re not shifters, one of us would’ve smelled it and they would’ve recovered by now. Human’s don’t usually get stuck here without a reason.”

Aurora leaves, probably to run her test and maybe get us at least one answer.

“Not the Moon Goddess shit, Dad.”

“Son, she decides our destined mates, she makes sure they cross our paths. And none of you are mated yet. I swear our pack will die off it was up to you males.”

I look around the room and see them all looking around too. I know Locke claims not to believe in the Goddess, Luna, but he’s never denied believing in a mate that’s destined to be with us until our dying breath. Thorin waves us toward the hallway and I don’t like where this is going as I glance over at Locke.

“What’s your dad up to?”

We fall in behind Thorin as he heads toward the room where the male and female are recovering.

“Trying to marry his son off so he can get grand-young”

River laughs at Locke and Nash shakes his head.

“Or get one of us married off.”

We know we’ll find our mates eventually, but just because we’re male doesn’t mean our mate will be female. Doesn’t always work out that way and we get what Luna decides is the best for us whether it be a human, a wolf like us or a different kind of shifter. Locke shakes his head as we enter the room. At thirty-seven, our future Alpha is older than the rest of us, but it's Nash that leads the enforcers. There’s nervous energy in our group as we spread out near the door. If one of these humans is our mate, this will change our entire life.

Locke looks around and sniffs the air then shakes his head.

“Not this time, Dad.”

He didn’t have to say it, if his mate was in here, he would’ve started giving off a scent that would’ve told us that he was trying to attract his unclaimed mate. I feel the pull again, slight, unfocused, but there. What is going on? I look over at the female and see her leg has been set in a cast. She looks peaceful and I wonder what she was running from. I walk toward the bed wondering why Aurora didn’t cover her broken leg with the blanket that covers the rest of her.

“Skye?”

“Yeah, Locke?”

I’ve never thought much about older females, never really saw them as anything except respected members of our pack and a mate to a shifter that would rip someone apart for upsetting them. There’s something about this female. I pull the blanket over her left leg and narrow my eyes at the darkness around her eye. Even bruised as she is, she's beautiful. Standing beside her bed, I see strands of silver and white mixing into her blonde hair.

“Skye?”

“Yeah?”

“You, uh, you alright?”

“I’m fine, River.”

I watch her chest rise and fall then see her take a deep breath. For just a moment, there was a smile; maybe she’s dreaming. I reach out to touch her face and growl as something grabs my wrist.

“Don’t.”

I turn to see Nash holding my wrist and snarl at him.

“What the fuck is your problem, Nash?!”

“You don’t know what’s going on right now, do you?”

“Back off.”

I glare at Nash and show my teeth letting him know I’m not kidding. The fuck is his problem? Nash lets go of my wrist, but doesn’t move away.

“Skye!”

“Stay out of this, River!”

“You’re scenting the room.”

“The hell are you talking about?!”

I step in front of Nash and growl; he needs to back up or I’m gonna hit him. I hear our Alpha chuckle before he speaks, but my eyes don’t leave Nash.

“Nash, back off. I don’t think Skye’s comfortable with you being that close to his injured mate.”

Thorin’s words are like ice water over my head. I watch Nash back away before I look to the Alpha who’s smiling at me. Goddess save me, you’ve gotta be kidding me.

“Thorin-”

“She’s your mate, Skye, we can tell. Until we get those results from Aurora’s test, we don’t know for sure if that male is her lover or her pup.”

I growl as my wolf denies anyone’s claim on our female.

Mate! Mine!

“Easy little brother, we’ll have an answer tomorrow.”

I turn back to her and catch the slight smile again then the deep breath she takes. She’s breathing in my scent, the scent meant to attract my mate. I want to touch her, but Thorin’s right, we don’t know if she’s the male’s mother or not. I sigh and close my eyes.

“You all go ahead, I’ll stay.”

“You sure?”

“That’s my mate laying there hurt, Locke, I’m not going anywhere.”

My mate. The female is my mate. I sit in a chair in the corner and watch her. Fuck. I scrub my hand over my face and sigh. It's not that I don’t want my mate, she’s just not what I imagined her to be.

I wanted my mate to be a shifter, didn't matter if she was a wolf like me or some other animal. Never once did I ever imagine her being a human. Humans are fragile and she wouldn't be able to protect herself in a town of shifters. She doesn't look like she's tall and that's something that I did want in my mate; I wanted her to be shorter than me and have some weight to her like my mother. I like my females soft, I don't like feeling their bones when they're lying beside me.

Mate! Mine!

My wolf is pleased with her, guess he doesn't care that she's not like us.

“I need to check her vitals. I won’t hurt her.”

I nod, but watch her, my wolf trusting no one around our mate while she’s hurt. Guess someone told Aurora what happened, that it's my mate lying there, or I’m still putting off the mating scent and she knows. I watch Aurora check her face, the cuts and bruises pissing me off, especially the swollen black eye she wears on the left side of her face, the side that’s facing me. Aurora leans closer to her chest and I growl as she pulls her stethoscope from around her neck. She presses the circle into the opening of her gown and see her look at me as my growl gets louder.

“I’m trying to listen to her heart, knock it off.”

I have to fight down my wolf who’s decided Aurora’s too close. She leans away from my mate then smiles at me as she walks toward me.

“She’s doing fine. Oh, almost forgot, Thorin left these.”

I take the wallets from her and nod my thanks.

“I’m gonna check the male so you can stop growling at me, Skye. I’m not going to hurt your female, I’m trying to help her.”

“I know.”

It's not like I don’t know Aurora is trying to care for my mate, but it's that she’s hurt and I don’t want anyone near her while she’s lying there helpless. There’s nothing I can do to help her yet, I can’t share my blood with her because, though it would heal her, it would bind her to me and she doesn’t even know I exist yet. Don’t think that’s the best way for me and my mate to meet.

Aurora finishes checking the male and tells me he’s doing well. Not sure it's something I should care about. He means something to my mate, enough that when she ran from whatever is chasing her, she brought him with her. Could Thorin be right and it's her young? Aurora asks if I need anything and I shake my head then she leaves me in the silence.

I put the male’s wallet in my pocket for now. I doubt I’m gonna find anything different than what Thorin saw that’ll clear up any of this. I open the little blue wallet seeing a few cards and some cash. I pull her license out and run my thumb over her picture. Her eyes brown as is her hair in this picture. I glance over and see the blonde curls against the pillow. Guess she dyes it, wonder if it's because of the gray I saw. Never understood the reason for a female to fight her age, but if it makes her happy, guess it doesn't matter.

I smile down at the picture; she looks serious, but most license pictures do. I look at her information because I have to know, I need to know my mate’s name. I laugh at the irony of it, but maybe I should’ve expected something like this from the mate destiny has given me, her name is Raven. I look at the address and shake my head. So far from home, what were you running from? I find her birthday and do the math; my mate is ten years older than me. Doesn’t matter to me, not really. I put her license back in her wallet then slip it into my pocket.

I watch the steady rise and fall of her chest until I start to doze off. I get up and pace the room wondering what’s going on with me. I never get tired like this at night. Hell, I work night shift because I don’t sleep well at night. I look back at Raven and wonder if I feel like this because of her. The need to touch her is strong again and I shove my hands in my pockets. My wolf is railing against this, but we don’t know who that male is to her.

I watch her as she rests and see the beginnings of crow’s feet on her uninjured eye. Her age doesn’t concern me except that she could have passed her fertile years already. If I mate her, she’ll live longer, but even the changes my blood would make to her can’t reverse that. I would still take her as my mate, but I would mourn the loss of one day having young of my own. Who’s to say that I can have young? It's rare, but there have been a few shifters who have produced no young. Probably should talk to Aurora about this, she should know more about it than I do.

I head back to the chair near the door, my eyes heavy and I don’t know why. Maybe my mate resting nearby is making me tired as well. I look her over as she lays on the bed checking her once more so I know she’s alright. My eyes shift across the room and see the male still resting on his bed. I sit down and lean my head back against the wall as I close my eyes. I know no one is getting in here without waking me and I allow myself to doze. I know I won't sleep, not for long. Now that I found her, my wolf will only sleep when his mate is beside him.

I wake to the sound of the door opening beside me and I growl as my eyes shift to see who it is. Aurora shakes her head at me and reminds me again that she’s not going to hurt my mate. I stretch and nod at her as she crosses the room to check the male first.

“What time is it?”

Aurora shines a light in the male’s eyes then places her fingers to his wrist as she looks at her watch.

“Around six. Maybe you should get someone to sit with her while you-”

“No one is sitting with my mate while she’s hurt.”

Aurora heads over to my mate’s side and I tense; I can’t help it.

“You need to sleep and eat, Skye.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

I fight the growl as I watch Aurora check her eyes and pulse. Aurora walks to the door assuring me that my mate and the male are still doing well and I remember that I need to talk to her.

“Aurora?”

“Yes?”

“My mate is older than me.”

“Does that bother you?”

“No, but what if she can’t bear young anymore?”

Aurora looks at me and I look over to my mate. I can almost picture her carrying my young, but is it still possible?

“How much older, Skye?”

“She’s forty-two.”

I feel Aurora’s hand on my shoulder and look up at her and see her smiling at me.

“She shouldn’t be too old, but it may be harder for her. When she wakes, I can check her and ask her a few questions if you want.”

I nod as I look back to my mate.

“I just don’t want to try to talk her into having young if it's something that can’t be.”