Page 9 of Ruthlessly Mated (Shared Mates #2)

Tailor smirks a little. “Well, you’re obviously intelligent, even if not traditionally educated. It’s important, because you will be raising our babies one of these days, and children get intelligence from their mother.”

“What do they get from their fathers?”

“Safety. Security. Sometimes they get to chase a ball.”

He sips his drink, and I realize that’s something of a joke. He is funny, in a dry, contained sort of way.

“None of you three seem to fit together,” I say. “You’re all so very different. How did you all end up in a port like this?”

“Well, Conroy needed help, and the two of us are helpful.”

“You don’t want to be known either,” I say shrewdly.

“Well, past histories don’t always paint us in the best of lights, do they?”

I’d say Conroy and Tailor are in their late thirties. Tailor might be a bit older than Conroy. Damon is probably late twenties. I’m the youngest of this group by quite a way, and I’m not ready to settle down and forget my mission, even if they are my mates.

I play along, though. I make polite conversation for the evening, and ensure that I don’t sound like I am a flight risk.

I tell Tailor that I’ve left my pack in the Southern Isles, and I’m hoping to make a life for myself here in the lower North.

The Southern Isles are well known for being rougher than the North, less well off, more vampire infested.

A lot of people make their way North, to big cities like Eclipse.

“I’m tired,” I say. “Where am I going to sleep tonight?”

I look around, but Damon isn’t here anymore.

That’s odd. I wonder where he went. To do something useful, maybe.

He seems like the one who does all the grunt work.

He lets Tailor feel refined for not having to get his hands dirty, and Conroy feel powerful for doing the work that Conroy thinks is beneath him.

“You can sleep with me,” he says. “I won’t take advantage of you, I want you to heal up a little before you and I lie together. And I’m going to keep Conroy off you, big beast. He can’t have sole access to you, no matter how much he might like the idea.”

“I’m… I’ve never shared a bed,” I say. “Maybe you can sleep in the bed, and I can sleep at the end of it?”

“Like a dog? No, Kita. You are going to sleep with me like my mate.”

“But…”

I play shy and overwrought. I cover my face with my hands. “I know this seems silly,” I say. “But I… I don’t know…”

He gives me a piercing look, one that feels like it is going right through me. I am afraid for a moment that he somehow knows what I have been up to. Maybe Damon told him my secret, or maybe it’s just written all over me somehow.

“You are a wild thing, and you are trapped, and you hate it,” he says. “You are afraid of me, and you are looking for little escapes. Come to bed, and let me show you how to enjoy being a mate.”

“No.”

“Maybe Conroy’s approach is better for you after all,” he says. “Maybe you need to be made to do what you should do.”

“I can’t sleep in bed with anybody else. Let me sleep at the end of your bed, please. You’re so…” I make a face that sort of implies I am not worthy to sleep in the bed with him. “Fancy.”

“Fancy?” He laughs, but it tickles his ego, and that is all I need to do in order to get the leniency I want. “Alright. Sleep however you are comfortable. If you want to come and get closer in the night, I would not object, but I won’t force you into the bed.”

“Thank you, sir,” I say, throwing in the sir because he seems like the sort of guy who likes that sort of thing.

I curl up at the foot of his bed, lying sideways.

I fit quite well, actually. I’m not particularly tall, and I have always felt much more secure snuggled up rather than stretched out.

Tailor comes and puts a pillow under my head, which I accept.

“Aren’t you going to take your clothes off?”

“I’m used to sleeping in my clothes,” I say. “I get scared if I don’t have my things on me. I wake up over and over thinking someone might steal them from me.”

I am probably going to go to hell for this series of lies, but hell is closer than anybody suspects.

“I am looking forward to learning more about you,” he says. “It is late tonight, but there will be plenty of time tomorrow.”

Plenty of time. Tomorrow.

I lie down and pretend to sleep. I am sure my boots being on the coverlet is driving Tailor crazy, but he tolerates it. I’d feel bad, but I have bigger problems to deal with.

I wait until his breathing changes, suggesting he is asleep.

Then I wait longer still, until his breathing really changes, indicating he is actually genuinely asleep.

I couldn’t sleep if I wanted to. I have to make my escape before the kind of chaos that could rip this port apart forever comes knocking.

These men have no idea what they’ve brought upon themselves. They think having mated me has changed my brain forever, made it impossible for me to leave. They’re wrong. So fucking wrong.

I sneak out while Tailor is still asleep and find the port buzzing with the quietest activity I have ever beheld. People are moving quickly, silently, and definitely without wanting to rouse the port masters.

They’ve been warned.

I can hear the whispers.

When I turn around, I can see sails on the horizon. Red sails.

I run for my truck.

By some absolute fucking miracle, my cargo is on the back, the shipping container locked in place. Yes. This is going to work. Everything is going to be okay.