A Mate's Bite(42)

“Not really. I went to the hardware store for repair supplies for the bar and got them to organize some extension cords we have in the storage room.”

He deposited the guy on the bed of his truck and marched back to Karla. She rushed into his open arms. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. We were surprised they were here. I mean they must have been watching us because we didn’t tell anyone where we were going.”

He nodded, his grip tightening on her. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure out what it was they wanted.”

They had to or it could mean things really weren’t getting any better, but worse.





Everyone convened in Barbara’s home. Karla had just returned from the ladies' room when she was tugged down to sit on Nate’s lap. She’d struggled to get off, but with each wiggle, his cock poked her ass, and she didn’t want the others to know how turned on she was getting so she gave up.

“Did you speak to Aric?” Barbara asked Jordan.

Jordan flinched. “I did. He persists on coming home.”

“Then let him.” Barbara lifted a blonde brow, unsmiling. “You’re his priority. He should be here trying to figure out who the hell wants to hurt you.”

Karla stared in awe at Barbara’s features. Her facial lines had pulled tight and her nose and mouth had started to shift. The blue of her eyes glowed with her wolf power.

“I can’t let him cut his trip short for me. I’m supposed to be able to take care of myself!”

Barbara took a deep breath and pursed her lips. “He should be here with you.”

Jordan bit her lip, brows furrowed. “I told him to hold off. If I truly need him, I’ll tell him to come home. I’m trying to be independent here. I don’t want him to need to babysit me. Besides, how will it look to other Alphas that his mate can’t be left alone? I don’t want people to think he mated some weakling who needs him for everything.”

Barbara nodded. Her previously almost feral looking features changed back to the gentle beauty Karla was used to.

Karla knew what Jordan referred to when she mentioned encouraging Aric to continue his meetings. Neither of them liked depending on anyone, especially a man. “At least the enforcers got the one guy and are doing a check on the town for any outsiders. They’re on the hunt for anything suspicious.”

“Thanks for calling them, Nate.” Jordan rubbed her temple and leaned back. “I hope whatever is going on can be figured out quickly.”

“It’s not a problem. They got a cleanup crew to get rid of the other guy. I really think you should consider asking Aric to come home.” He squeezed Karla’s legs as he spoke. “You’ve been downplaying these attacks.”

“I don’t want to be the reason he has to rush back,” Jordan replied. “But if something else happens, I’ll ask him to come home.”

“Can someone explain to me where these humans came from?” Barbara asked, lifting a glass of iced tea to her lips.

“I don’t know,” Jordan answered from her sofa chair, lifting her hands in mock surrender. “I swear I haven’t pissed anyone off lately.”

“If it were Emma, we’d have one long list to work through,” Karla muttered.

Barbara coughed. “Did they say anything that can give us a clue?”

“Only that Jordan was the one they wanted,” Karla replied, giving in to Nate’s hold and softening enough to lean into him.

“What about the guy you got alive, Nate?” Barbara asked.

“According to Jake, he’s not talking. The enforcers have been at him. Normally, we don’t get human men attacking our kind this way, so they’re questioning of the guy is not our normal procedure. But he says he doesn’t know who hired them. They think the other guy must have been the one who set things up. They said he’s telling the truth which doesn’t really help us much.”

Karla wiggled on Nate’s lap and glanced into his eyes. “What kind of stuff are they doing to encourage him to talk?”

Nate’s eyes turned a bright gold. “We have our ways.”

Slivers of fear twisted her stomach into knots. She hoped those ways didn’t mean that people ended up dead.

“Don’t look so alarmed. We can tell when people are lying and telling the truth. We push whenever we get some truth out of them.”

Karla nodded. “What now?”

“We’re cautious until we figure out why those guys wanted Jordan, and then we end whatever threat exists.”

She didn’t like knowing Jordan could be under more trouble. Jordan had finally found her way to happiness, and it wasn’t fair that people continued to try to hurt her.