Their Runaway Mate Page 2

“Where are you going?”

  It wasn’t Drew, oh no, Anna knew that voice. It was the same voice that haunted her dreams the night before, when she did finally get to sleep. It was the man from the night before, Drew’s lover. She didn’t want to turn around. She didn’t want to face him, knowing he was even more beautiful than Drew, and pretty much her competition. Although, there was no competition, he had Drew way before she even got a chance and to be truthful, she never really even had a chance.

  “Out?” it came out as a question instead of a declaration. As if she needed to ask this man permission to leave the house.

  “Do you always take your suitcase when you go out?”

  “Uh, I’m going to spend the weekend with friends. I’ll be back Sunday night.” Anna had never been a good liar, but she thought that as long as she had her back to him, maybe he would buy it.

  “Turn around please,” the man said. It sounded as if he’d gotten closer.

  Anna gulped, she felt faint. She slowly released the doorknob and turned around. She plastered a smile on her face to act as if this was nothing of importance, but by the look he gave her, she knew he knew it was fake.

  His brow furrowed with the frown on his face, “Why are you leaving, Anna?”

  Great, he knew her name and just hearing him say it made her body tingle with excitement and her core heat up.

  “I told you,” she tried to keep her face a mask of indifference, but could tell she was failing. “I’m going to stay with a friend for the weekend. She is having some man issues and needs a friend to lean on.”

  Okay. a) Anna didn’t have any female friends and as soon as Drew woke up and joined this little event, he’d verify that point. b) The only woman having man issues, now, was Anna and as much as she needed a friend to lean on, the only friend she knew of that she’d turn to; also happened to be the man she had issues with, Drew.

  “Let’s talk shall we.” He suddenly stated as he reached passed Anna and opened the front door wide to wave the cab away.

  Damn it, what did he do that for?

  The door closed silently and he turned to her, his hand caught her elbow and he began to march her toward the study. Anna panicked. This was the same room she witnessed them having sex, she couldn’t go in there. She tried to dig her heels in and yank her elbow out of his grasp, but he just squeezed tighter.

  “What did you get rid of my cab for?” she almost screeched. “I don’t want to talk to you. I want to leave.”

  It was no use. She was in the room and sitting in one of the two chairs in front of Drew’s great big desk, while the man leaned against it in front of her. The image of the night before flashed through her brain and she pushed it away. It wouldn’t do any good to get horny right now.

  “First we talk. Then, if you still wish to leave, you can leave,” he said gruffly, “Now tell me the truth. Where are you going? And, why?”

  He towered over her, his eyes assessing her. She felt like a child being chastised.

  “I-I…”

  Just as she began to stutter her response, Drew strolled into the room, “Carter, why is Anna’s suitcase by the front door?”

  He stopped in the middle of the room and took in the scene. Anna felt herself flush at his surprised look.

  “I was just asking her the same thing,” said the man she now knew as Carter.

  Anna couldn’t bring herself to look at either of them, so she just looked down at her hands in her lap.

  “I’m quitting,” she whispered, doubting they’d have been able to hear her.

  However, she was wrong because suddenly Drew was there kneeling at the side of her chair, forcing her to meet his eyes.

  “You quit? Why?” asked Drew.

  Anna noticed that now it appeared it was Drew’s turn to panic.

  “Aren’t you happy here?” asked Drew, with a look of confusion.

  Anna fought back the tears that stung her eyes and threatened to make an appearance. She’d been happy here. Happier than she’d ever been before in her life, but it was all an illusion. She’d been delusional to think anything more than friendship would come from her relationship with Drew.

  “No,” she croaked. “I’m not happy and I want to leave.”

  Her heart broke at the look of hurt that appeared in Drew’s eyes. Now he looked like he was about to cry.

  “What did I do wrong? I’ll fix it.”

  Why would he think he did anything wrong? Why would he even care?

  “You did nothing wrong,” came Carter’s stern and cold response. “She is just a selfish little brat that wants more than she’s entitled to.”

  Her head snapped up and she gaped at Carter. Did he know that she was upset because she’d fallen for Drew and now knew she couldn’t have him?

  He glowered down at her, “She probably thinks by acting this way we’ll offer her more pay. The fact that we allow her to live in our house and take care of everything for her, while we still pay her, isn’t enough.”

  Wow, never mind, he was way off the mark.

  Then a thought popped into her head. Perhaps if she agreed, they’d let her leave without a fuss. She stood up and turned to face both of them.

  “That’s it. You got me. I know you both are rich and I think you are cheapskates trying to rip me off.”

  Drew stood as well and just gaped at her for a moment. It wasn’t true, damn, they paid her way more than anyone could really expect. Especially, since they let her live in their mansion and took care of everything for her. She’d always felt guilty about it every time she received her paycheck.

  Then he glared at her, good, angry Drew she could deal with, hurt Drew, not so much.

  “Okay, fine. Leave then. Let us know where you end up and we’ll send your final paycheck there,” said Drew angrily.

  Anna was stunned for a moment, but then she heard Carter practically bellow, “No.”

  Both her and Drew looked at him in shock.

  “She is not leaving this house. We did not spend so long searching for her to let her just walk out the door. I don’t care if she is a selfish, cold-hearted bitch. We brought her here for a purpose.”

  Okay, that was unexpected, a bit hurtful, and confusing as hell.

  “I’m quite sure you can find another accountant to suit your needs.” Anna couldn’t help but glower at them both.

  Carter just laughed coldly. “You think we brought you here to take care of our accounts? You are just out of college and have no real accounting experience. Why would we hire you?”

  Man, this guy knows how to dig deep. Anna couldn’t help the tear that fell down her cheek.

  “I’ve been asking myself that since I started,” she answered truthfully.

  He just smirked, “The first honest thing you’ve said so far.”

  Anna couldn’t help it anymore, this man was really pissing her off, she just snapped, “Fuck you, asshole!”

  The moment her hand met his cheek the room fell under a dead silence. Her other hand flew to her mouth in shock and her eyes felt like they were going to fly out of their sockets.

  Drew looked from her to Carter and back again, while Anna waited for Carter’s reaction. Almost instantly, he grabbed her by the arm and began to drag her out of the room. Anna fought but then stopped as she realized he was probably kicking her out as she’d wanted. However, then he took a completely different direction and started marching up the stairs. Anna started fighting again, fear coursing through her body.

  “Stop, where are you taking me?” She yelled.

  “I am taking you to your room. Where you’ll stay until you learn to grow up,” Carter growled back.

  Drew followed on her heels. “Carter, calm down. We don’t need to do this.”

  They’d reached her door and Carter had flung her onto her bed before he turned to address his lover. “Do what? Put up with this insolent brat because she’s our only means of ever having a family?”

  Anna sat there shocked. Did that mean what she th
ought it meant? Did they just hire her to give them children? Nothing was making sense now.

  “No, we don’t have to be cruel to her and not give her a choice in the matter,” Drew spat back.

  “You were the one who wanted to find her so badly. I was fine with it just being us,” Carter’s voice had reached new octaves by this time. “Now you want to give her the choice of walking out on us, and taking our chance at pups with her?”

  Wait, pups? What?

  Drew gave Carter a withering stare, “Carter, watch what you say in front of her.”

  “No, I will not watch what I say. In fact, I think we should just show her now. Let her decide after that if she wants to run off and blab to the known world about our existence, while she is taking away our heirs.”

  “Carter, you are being a belligerent idiot right now and I think you need to just calm down.”

  Anna sat, in stunned silence, as Drew went to pull Carter from the room, but Carter pulled away and suddenly began to shake all over. Anna heard the sound of bones cracking and clothes ripping as she watched Carter’s body begin to reshape itself, until finally a large black dog sat in front of her growling. No, correction, it was a large black wolf.

  Anna didn’t know whether to scream or pee herself as the wolf bared its teeth at her and stared her down. All she really knew is that she was about to become kibble.

  “Carter, no more,” Drew yelled from the top of his lungs. “What have you done? Now she’ll never be allowed to leave again.”

  Anna’s head snapped to Drew at that remark, but he was too busy yelling at the wolf Carter had turned into. Were they going to kill her now that she knew their secret? Why did she always find herself attracted to the wrong men?

  Drew looked at Anna, “Try to calm down. He can smell your fear and it is making him nervous.”

  “Making him nervous?” she whispered indignantly.

  “Yes Anna, now just calm down and everything will be alright.”

  Almost like turning on a switch her fear went to anger, “Alright? Everything will be alright? Exactly what is right about this situation, Drew? Exactly what is right about any of this? I am not some brood mare for you and wolfie boy here. I am a human being and I deserve to be treated as such.”

  Carter growled in answer and Drew just smirked, “He is treating you as he would a human. He hates humans.”

  Anna wanted to throw her hands up and scream, but she didn’t want to make any sudden movements incase Carter decided she was lunch.

  “Why do you want me then? If you guys hate me so much because I’m human, why even bother with me? Couldn’t you find someone within your own species to breed with?”

  Anna didn’t know why she was no longer afraid of the big bad wolf standing in the room and she didn’t care at the minute. At that minute, she wanted answers and she had enough adrenaline pumping through her veins to get them.

  Suddenly, Carter stopped snarling and sat back on his haunches, but Drew looked just as tense.

  After long seconds of no one speaking, or growling, Drew finally broke the silence, “Why aren’t you afraid of him anymore?”

  Anna looked at Carter then looked at Drew again. She tried to think about the answer, but came up with nothing.

  “I don’t know, I’m just not,” she finally stated. “I still want my questions answered.”

  “We want you because you are the only one who can become pregnant with our seed,” Carter’s deep voice came from the floor, making both Drew and Anna look to him.

  Anna saw that Carter had changed back into a man and now crouched down on the floor completely naked. She couldn’t keep her eyes from scanning over his broad shoulders, muscular abs, and large cock nestled between his thick thighs. His cock twitched at her stare and she turned away quickly to look at the wall.

  “How do you know that I can carry your seed?” she asked, looking at the flowery wallpaper.

  “Because of the way you smell,” Carter said in disgust as he stood and walked out of the room.

  Anna whipped her head around to find Drew still standing there.

  “The way I smell? How do I smell?” she all but whispered.

  “You smell like our mate,” Drew said with a sigh.

  He suddenly looked very tired and sad and Anna wanted to do nothing but go to him and comfort him. However, she remembered they didn’t really want her there, they just wanted to use her to give them babies, and then she would be gone.

  “I don’t want to be your mate,” she stated through the tears clogging her throat. It was partially a lie, she’d wanted to be Drew’s mate, but that was before she found out that he was some big hairy monster, and she was nothing more to him than a brood mare.

  Drew looked like she’d punched him in the gut with the remark for a moment. He looked at her sadly and heaved a long sigh, “I know Anna and I’m sorry, but now that you know, we can’t let you leave.”

  She looked at her hands that lay in her lap as the tears began to roll down her cheeks. She felt the bed dip and saw Drew’s hand as he placed it over hers. She was torn on how to react, she wanted his comfort so badly, but at the same time, she wanted to pull away from him and tell him to never touch her again. Needing to feel a little bit of a connection with someone, she decided to let him take her hand in his.

  He squeezed her hand and said, “Don’t worry Anna we will never treat you badly here. Despite how Carter is acting right now, he’s really a good man. We will take care of you and hopefully in time, you will learn to care for us and accept us as your mates.”

  Anna didn’t want to answer him. As far as she was concerned she was now their prisoner until she gave them babies, then she’d be tossed away like last week’s trash. She had no one in the world that cared for her, not her sister, not Drew, and definitely not Carter. She was beginning to wonder what the point was to even going on if this was all life was going to offer her.

  Right then she didn’t want Drew in her room trying to give her false comfort. She just wanted to be left alone to cry herself to sleep. Drew must have sensed this because he gently let go of her hand and got up from the bed. He walked across her room toward the door, but when he reached the door he stopped. He turned to her and just stood there watching her for what seemed like an eternity.

  “I really am sorry, Anna. I never meant for it to be like this, I wanted to make you happy. I promise I will do whatever it takes to make it up to you.” With that he exited her room, softly shutting the door behind him.

  Chapter Two

  Carter barged into his bedroom and slammed the door behind him. He knew Drew had stayed behind to console Anna and it bit at him hard. He’d only spoken to the girl in the last hour and already he disliked her. He hated how attracted to her he was and how she made him hard as a rock with just the smell of her. He hated that she seemed to have Drew wrapped around her little finger and how she had to be the center of attention. She was manipulative, conniving, and deceitful. She’d tricked Drew into thinking she was this sweet little angel sent from the gods as a gift to them, but in reality, someone from somewhere dark and evil must’ve of sent her. He couldn’t stand the sight of her, even though all he wanted to do was drink her in and taste every inch of her. The one thing he hated most of all about her though, was the fact that she was a human.

  Humans were evil and selfish beings, who took what they wanted from everyone and everything and gave nothing in return, but bloodshed and despair. Drew had given her way more than she was worth when he brought her into their home and gave her a job with premium pay, while still taking care of her every need. The first week she was there they ended up spending hundreds of dollars on a new wardrobe for her. Then Drew ended up buying her an expensive car to drive around in while she went shopping on their dime. Now she was saying it wasn’t enough and she wanted more.

  That’s the way they always were, you give and give and they always want more, which is why when Drew had come to him and said he’d found their mate and she was
human, he automatically dismissed her and refused to meet her. Nevertheless, Drew had continued to see her, relaying the wonderful things they’d do together to him, until finally, Carter broke down and gave his lover what he wanted.

  He’d had to go away on a very important Pack meeting, which ended up lasting almost two months. The Packs throughout California had been having issues with Rogue wolves invading their territory and slaughtering many of their Pack members. His Pack was a large, stronghold that no mere Rogue would be able to invade and attack. However, when the Packs had asked him to come to a conference in order to discuss the situation, as Alpha, he felt it was his responsibility to come up with a way to wipe out these Rogues in order to keep his Pack safe. He went to Los Angeles to meet with the other wolves that held the seat as Alpha in their Packs throughout California. They spent many days discussing and debating what they were going to do about the Rogues, some days converged into other days where they’d just sit in the same board room arguing over who was the supreme Pack in the region and therefore should lead the war against the Rogues.

  Finally, after just over a month, they came to the decision that Carter’s Pack was the strongest in the region and therefore should be the leading Pack when they went into battle, which just added a whole bunch of stress on to his shoulders. He’d talked about it with Drew the night before because Drew was the Beta and would be by his side to address their Pack and organize everything. However, all Drew seemed to be concerned about was the little human woman in the other room that he was presently coddling.

  Carter sat on their bed with his head in his hands trying to cool his raging libido and his fiery temper. His wolf screamed in his head that he needed to march back in the room and just claim her by force, but he knew if he did that he’d probably end up losing Drew in the process. He could tell that Drew had already fallen hard for the scheming little human, which was just one other thing he couldn’t deal with right now. Why did this all have to happen now? Why did she have to be human?

  Drew and he had been together for sixty years, and in those years they’d looked for their other mate off and on, but never really felt concerned about pursuing it to great lengths. Then a year or so ago, Drew decided he was ready to start a family and have some pups, they needed to put more effort into finding their third. Carter agreed with him at the time, but when Drew came home six months before and announced he’d found her and she was human, Carter decided he no longer cared about having an heir and would much rather live out his days with only Drew. However, he couldn’t dissuade Drew, so Carter relented and now they had her and she was everything Carter expected her to be and more.