Page 8 of Delivered to My Beasts (Mail-Order Matings #22)

Duke

I woke before the sun. My bear woke me, as restless as he ever had been, and it had nothing to do with not being outdoors.

And everything to do with the female sleeping upstairs.

Over dinner, she kept the conversation shallow. More compliments about the house and Crew’s cooking. The room was so big. Thanked us profusely for bringing all of her luggage up to her room.

If someone in her life before made her carry her own things, I wanted to pummel that male right into the ground.

No one should be so thankful for the bare minimum.

I knew she was my mate from the first time she touched me. A simple handshake of all things. Her scent. That was all it took.

Except something tells me that Imogen is not here for us.

And I intended to find out what she was here for. I hated to think such things about my mate, but was she here to rob us? Take something from us? Was there some kind of pack war she wanted us to participate in? Was she a spy for another pack or sleuth?

I didn’t roll through these questions lightly either. This was my mate, but I would protect Crew and Jax at all costs.

I held my questions to myself but wouldn’t for long. I put a pot of coffee on, and while we usually did our own things for breakfast, we had a guest now.

No matter what, she was our mate. Before I judged and misinterpreted things, I would make us all a huge French toast breakfast. I pulled out the griddle as the sky lit up outside.

Only a few minutes later, I heard movement in the other bedrooms and upstairs.

Everyone was up and getting ready to come to the kitchen.

I set the spread out. French toast. Bacon.

Fruit. A variety of toppings since I had no clue if she would eat any of them or even eat the French toast at all.

We had rushed into the idea of having Imogen coming here and perhaps being our mate that we hadn’t gotten the time to know her.

Sure, her food choices were trivial, but it really highlighted how little we knew about this person now sleeping in one of our bedrooms.

Not that I was scared. I’d learned over time not to be scared of very much.

But she was here and I wanted to know why.

Crew and Jax filed in. Neither said anything. They both grabbed cups of coffee and sat at the table, lost in thought as I was.

I took a deep breath as Imogen descended the stairs. I would let her eat before I started asking her things, but one way or another, this morning, I would find out the truth.

“You all are going to too much trouble,” she said. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” I answered. “Sit. Eat. Do you drink coffee?”

“Yes, but I can get it myself.”

“No need,” I responded, filling a cup and placing it in front of her.

Crew and Jax and I hadn’t discussed what I was about to do, but I had to find out. For me. For us.

She had her platinum hair pulled up in a bun, and she wore the same jeans as the day before but had a different shirt. A sweater that clung to her curves.

My mate was beautiful by any standard.

“Are you finished eating?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“In that case, why don’t you tell us why you’re really here, Imogen?

Your scent tells a story of fear and nervousness.

You flinched at the owl, even though you’re a shifter.

You are jumpy and have looked out the windows to the forest more times than I have in my five years living here.

I’m sorry to be so direct but I’m a sharpshooter.

Just tell us what’s going on before someone gets hurt.

Not you. Not physically but us. We invited you here because you were a match and a potential mate.

But I have a feeling you’re not here for that reason, and I won’t see my bond brothers get their hopes up for nothing. ”

By the time I was done, I was being killed by the stares from Crew and Jax.

They could be angry all they wanted. I had to know.

She didn’t answer, just shifted in her seat.

“If someone is after you or coming for you, that puts us all in danger. All I’m asking for is the truth.”

“Yes. You’re right, Duke. You all deserve the truth. I didn’t get on the app to find a mate, well, not really. I was looking for a way not to be mated with the monster of a man my father betrothed me to.”

“Betrothed?” Crew said, leaning forward. “What kind of barbaric place are you from?”

“From the Severed Claw Pack.”

Jax’s turn to freak out. “The Severed Claw Pack? The one only hours away? The very one that started the rumor about us? That pack?”

Imogen nodded. Her cheeks flamed with redness. “My father is the alpha.”

I scrubbed my hands over my face. What in the fuck? “Walk me through it, female. How did you find us and even know we were on the app? Were we even matched? I don’t…”

She bit down on her bottom lip and despite her agenda to come here, which we didn’t even know the extent of, I wanted to bite that lip for her.

“I joined the app after hearing some females in town talking about it. They said you three were on the app and were looking for a mate. I…my stomach twisted and I knew that you three were my chance to get out of marrying Mateo and living a miserable life.”

“But we were a match?” Crew asked. He seemed to be stuck on that fact.

“Yes. I didn’t expect that but yes, we were a match. I intended to look for my mate one day, but in the meantime, I had to save my own life. And to do that, I needed protection. I am sure he will come for me. I can’t fight him on my own.”

“We should throw you out,” Jax growled, surprising me.

“You should. I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I was trying to save myself.”

“And this Mateo is that bad?” I had to know everything to make a decision. All of us did.

“Yes. He has slept with most of the pack females, mated and unmated. He has one of them pregnant. Some of his men told me that once we were mated, he would share me with his betas and that I was to comply or be killed or exiled. I didn’t want to believe that, thought it was just lies to scare me. But now…”

Crew stood and put his hands on his head and began to pace.

What kind of male was Mateo? A shifter or a demon?

“So you sought us out. To protect you from him.”

“Yes.”

She hadn’t spoken a lie yet. I had to credit her that.

Jax was barely containing his bear. “Do you want to stay here? We will protect you if you do.”

“If you allow it, I would like to, yes.”

“What would happen to you if we made you leave?” I had to pose the question.

“He would find me. He has wolves under his command. They would find me and either force the mating because of who my father is, or he would kill me.”

“You can stay,” I whispered, not wanting to relay the depth of the hurt I was feeling. “As long as you are under this roof, we will protect you as though you were ours.”

Imogen gripped the arms of the chair and her shoulders slumped. “Really? Thank you so much.”

I nodded, got up, and made my way to the back door and retreated to the one place no one could betray me—the forest.