Page 38 of Ruthlessly Mated (Shared Mates #2)

“My vampire?” I almost refrain from kicking him. Almost. I kick him right in the fucking shin for having the absolute nerve to call Alexander mine. He’s my violator, my abductor, my lifelong abuser. He’s the evil I cannot escape, the arrow that buried deep in my flesh—and Conroy says he’s mine?

“Some reason you’re acting out like a little brat right now?” Conroy lifts a brow at me. He doesn’t seem overly affected, because he’s a big masculine lump.

“He’s not mine. And I’m not his. And fuck you for trying to sideline me here when I’m the only person capable of driving the truck like it needs to be driven.”

“It’s a truck, Kita. Anybody can drive it.”

“I know how it needs to be handled. It’s my truck. I am going to do this.”

Tailor nudges him. “Let her drive. We can run protection. Three are better than two. If you go in to drive, there’s a chance not only will you be hit, or I am hit, but she might come in. Let’s just get her to the truck and she can get out.”

Tailor’s argument is sound, and it saves Conroy arguing with me further. Instead, he pivots to barking cautionary orders at me.

“Keep your head down. Avoid the crossfire.”

“Oh, so don’t get shot in the face? Solid advice, Dad, thanks.”

I gasp as I am picked up off my feet. Conroy’s fists are in the front of my vest, holding me in place as his eyes bore into me with dominant fury.

“I will not have you die,” he says. “So you are going to do what I damn well tell you, or the thrashing you will have to endure will be so painful you will not sit for a very long time.”

“I say we spank her now,” Tailor says. “She has a tendency to forget herself between punishments, and it has been days since she was shown her place.”

I shoot him a furious scowl. He’s fucking me over, and I don’t appreciate it at all. I was a little rebellious, sure, but that’s because my adrenaline is up.

“You can’t show me my place right now. You need me able to pay attention. You need me as on edge as possible. You don’t want me all dopey and post-orgasmic.”

Conroy pulls me close, cupping his hand underneath my ass and pulling me against his crotch. I can feel the hard line of his cock against my pussy as he snugs me into a position that is closer to sexual than disciplinary.

Holding me up with one hand, he uses the other to smack my ass nice and hard. I let out a yowl of pain and grind against him involuntarily as he starts to lecture me in a low, deep voice.

“I’m not going to let you come. I’m going to spank your ass, and I’m going to make sure you know how to listen to orders.

There won’t be any more of this nonsense where you run away, make decisions of your own accord, do whatever you feel like at any time…

and any of the other dangerous things you have done time and time and time again. ”

His hand claps against my ass over and over again, sharp bolts of pain bursting through my flesh as he spanks me up against his body, my legs wrapping around his waist instinctively.

It is so easy for him to turn me on. It’s basically unfair. My stinging cheeks and my pounding pulse are combining to make my pussy wet. I wonder if there’s some way to get fucked here on the edges of the battlefield.

“Tell me you are going to listen, or I’m going to pull your pants down and spank your bare ass in front of everybody.”

“Conroy…” I whine his name. “Please. I am trying to be good. I am trying to do what has to be done. I’m going to be good,” I promise. “I’m not going to do anything crazy. I’m going to get the truck and drive it out the gate into the waiting arms of Alexander, giving him back his maker’s heart.”

“I still don’t like you driving the truck.”

“I think I should. I’m going to have to check the loading anyway. You two will be busy enough keeping stray humans off me, won’t you?”

“She’s right,” Tailor says to Conroy. “She’s safer in the truck than she is outside it. And we know she can drive.”

“Right. We do this clean. We get in. Now. We maybe stop some of the carnage, even,” Conroy says.

I have no intention of stopping any of the carnage. That’s beyond me. All I can do is what I am doing, giving Alexander what he wants.

Conroy smacks my ass, softer this time, secures me close against his crotch with two hands, pulling me against his cock, promising me another breeding, reminding me how much I love it when he fucks me.

For just a moment, we are not standing outside a city being routed by vampires.

We are not listening to the faint but discernible screams of those who are being devoured.

We are not smelling blood and gunfire. We are wrapped around one another, very nearly fucking one another. And I love him.

I love him so fucking much I don’t think there’s anything he could do to me I wouldn’t enjoy. The smell of him drives me wild, makes my hips grind against him, my abs contracting to hump against his cock like a feral, hungry little animal.

“Easy, girl,” Tailor says, sliding his hand underneath my butt, right between my cheeks, his fingers pressing against my pussy through the fabric of my pants.

This does not make me feel easy. Not at all. This makes me feel very, very uneasy. This makes my pussy walls clench internally and my hips grind. They are doing everything but publicly fucking me and it makes me feel like I am on dirty display.

Alexander clears his throat.

“As much as I am enjoying this display of animal instinct, you are about to lose your window of opportunity, and if that happens, I am certain I will kill at least one of you in a fit of pique.”

Conroy lets me slide down his body regretfully, and all the awfulness of war slides back around us.

“The gates aren’t even open yet,” he says. “We have time.”

“You act like your lives could end at any moment,” he says. “Oh, I suppose they can.”

“We’re going to prepare ourselves for the incursion,” Conroy says, dragging me away from Alexander.

“I feel bad for the people who are dying,” I murmur.

“Don’t worry about them. Worry about yourself. And listen to me. I want you to follow my instructions to the letter,” Conroy says. “When those gates open, you go.”

“Shouldn’t I go now, so I’m there before the gates open? Then I can zip right in when I can.”

“No. Wait until there is a clear path.”

I am eager to run. I want this over with as soon as possible.

“I’m going now.”

Conroy grabs me by the arm, swings me around, and smacks my ass hard. My yelp seems to satisfy him.

“We are going to have a long, hard, painful conversation when this is over,” he promises me. “You have not been taught the lesson yet. You are still thinking that you get to make decisions, you get to get yourself hurt, you get to be reckless and…”

“So we’re just going to lose the advantage the vampires are currently giving us by bickering? Okay. That’s fine. I can’t see why we’d press this advantage now.”

Creeeeeakkkkkkkkkk!

That’s the sound of a city gate being opened against its will, big mechanical hinges screaming in pain as they are wrenched forcefully.

“Alright. Go. Go.” He releases me reluctantly, and with some level of annoyance and fear. I know he hates this. I know there’s more at play here than a tactical squabble. I’m making him watch terrible things again. This could go badly. We could get hurt. We…

Fuck, I cannot keep thinking.

I strip and shift, then grab my clothes in my teeth and run for the city wall. The vampires have gotten the gate open, and the humans will be trying to shut it, and there will be a lot of heat there. I have to trust that Alexander has instructed the vampires to keep me safe.

I sprint as fast as I can, outrunning my mates. I am smaller than them, but I am also lighter and therefore actually faster. I bolt for the truck while bullets fly and people scream and blood sprays. There’s silver in the air, fogging every breath. It burns to breathe.

I get to the truck yard, drop my shift, pull my clothes on, and start getting into the truck. I don’t know what Tailor and Conroy are doing. I am just making sure that I get done what I need to get done.

Out of the corner of my eye, I think I see large wolf shapes throwing themselves at the throats of those in the way.

First I check the truck over quick, making sure nobody got into it and fucked with the material.

It doesn’t look like it. The truck looks like shit, which is a good way to ensure nobody fucks with it.

All around me, death is happening. Over and over, in the most brutal and pointless of ways and it is all orbiting this truck, and this decision I made a while ago.

Ka-Boom!

A sudden detonation shakes the entirety of the city, making the ground beneath our wheels rumble. A light brighter than the sun emanates from the explosion, forcing me to close my eyes and then shield them with my hands because the brightness still feels too bright.

After a few seconds, the light fades. When I open my eyes, the vampires, almost all of them, are dust in the wake of the deployment of the world’s largest UV weapon. Even the stronger ones who can take a little sunlight can’t take that much of it.

There is deep gray everywhere, a near total haze made of vampire dust, a fog so thick I can taste it. The flavor is blood and ash. Wind blows, ever so slightly and the great choking haze washes over me. I see the shadows of my mates moving in the dust, almost completely obscured.

The lack of visibility is accompanied by a raucous cheering from the humans who are thrilled that they’ve managed to vanquish all their enemies in one big explosion.

Hundreds of vampires evaporated. Probably thousands of retinas ruined, but blindness is a small price to pay for not being drained to death, I suppose.

For a brief moment, I celebrate with everyone else, but then I remember we are wolves and we are not wanted. The three of us are the last remaining supernatural creatures in a besieged city full of furious people who are ready to kill and to die. We need to get out of here. Now.

“Come on!”