Page 13 of Savagely Mated (Shared Mates #1)

R afe

“She stole our van.”

I’m trying not to laugh out loud, but it’s difficult.

Kirin got what he deserved for being an arrogant prick, and Einar got what he deserved for thinking this was going to be simple.

I knew the moment we saw that girl fight the cardinal’s guard that she was going to be the kind of handful we’re not ready for.

I was against this plan from the beginning, the abduction part of it anyway.

She’s been raised by that academy for as long as she’s known herself.

She’s not going to turn on them because three men she got into a fight with decided to kidnap her.

I wanted to meet her next time she snuck out and try to befriend her slowly, but the other two didn’t think that was a good idea.

They wanted her under their control. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be that simple, and it turns out I was right.

“I know she stole our van,” Einar curses at me, spitting the words as if he wishes they were worse.

He likes to maintain self-control no matter what the situation, which means I like to see him rattled.

What we’re trying to do has always been an insane long shot.

We’re outsiders. Rebels. We know the truth, but knowing the truth doesn’t mean anything.

“We should leave her alone,” I say. “She’s loyal to the academy, and she believes in the king. We’d have to un-write everything she knows about the world.”

“We can’t,” Einar growls. “She’s our mate. We can’t abandon our mate.”

“Abandon her? We can’t get her to stay,” I snort.

“She’s afraid and confused. None of this is being handled properly. Ridiculous situation,” Einar says.

Kirin is just trying to breathe. He’s managed to sit up, though he is still looking pale. Nut shots take some time to recover from.

“Let’s go get her,” he says.

“Long walk back down that hill.”

“Then we make the fucking walk,” he curses. “You can stay here in the woods and go feral if you want, Rafe. But I want a mate. I want to live a life. I don’t want to spend the rest of my days fighting a pointless battle. We just got handed a gift.”

“That gift kicked you in the balls.”

“That’s how life is sometimes,” he says, getting up to walk it off. Kirin is a tough guy, even though he looks like a runway model.

Truth is I’m excited by our little mate. I’m not so excited by sharing her with these two. Einar has already taken charge of her as if he owns her. He was the one who put her in his lap and tried to handle her like she’s some soft little female on a date.

That’s not who she is.

She’s an animal.

She needs to be treated like one.

Darcy

I’m in a stolen van, and it’s almost five in the morning. The bells are going to rouse the academy pretty soon, and I’m not going to be there. My room will show signs of a struggle, and the window is going to be open.

Wait. Will they think it’s a sign of a struggle, or will they think I’ve just abandoned my duties and not bothered to clean my room? Hard to tell. I think I’m going to be in trouble either way. We’re not allowed to be abducted.

As I drive, and worry, there’s still a tingling between my legs, a feeling of excitement and regret. Excitement because I just experienced the most primal feelings of sexual need I’ve ever felt in my life. Regret because I left them all behind.

I had to. I don’t belong in the mountain wilds.

I belong in the city. I know the academy thinks otherwise, but I’m going to find a way to be a king’s guard.

I’m going to patrol the castle and keep the king safe from all the people that want to hurt him.

That’s what I’ve been trained to do all my life.

That’s what I was made for. I wasn’t made to fuck three men like some kind of animal.

I’m making the right decision. I’m doing the right thing. The fact that it’s starting to feel very, very wrong is just how things feel sometimes. I should be used to that. I’m used to a low-level sense of almost constant guilt anyway.

I’m going to go back to the academy and tell them what happened, and I guess I’m going to get detention or whatever.

Weee Ow! Weee Ow!

Flashing lights behind me indicate that an officer of the law is trying to pull me over. Great. That’s all I need. I don’t even have a license. I should, but I missed the driving module. Some of the guys taught me on the side later on, but I never got official approval.

I pull over and I wait for the officer to approach. He’s wearing three insignia: the Cardinal, the Nile, and the King. That gives him authority from all three branches of power. That also means I can be in a lot of trouble.

“Get out of the van.”

I do as I am told. Officers have serious fire power, more than I can outrun. It’s frowned upon to shoot down a drone, but it is a terrible thing to assault an officer. I have to do what he says.

“Mind if I check the van?”

I shake my head and think about running. The street’s too open. Nothing to hide behind. There are a few crowds of people, but I bet they’ll scatter if a cop shouts.

The guy checks the van, then pokes his head back around to look at me with a scowl. He walks up to me with a swagger.

“So you’re a rebel.”

“No, I’m not. I’m a student at the academy.”

“Academy’s for boys. Besides. It is 4.59 a.m., and you’re in a van rife with rebel tech.”

“That’s because I stole the van from them.”

He doesn’t believe me. And even I think that sounds pretty lame. Sounds like an excuse. Sounds like I am a rebel trying to pass myself off as a decent, law-abiding, law-upholding cadet.

“I’m wearing pajamas. Academy pajamas. Would I be wearing these if I wasn’t from the academy?”

“You’re wearing a cloak.”

“Oh, shit. I am.”

“Turn around.”

This is going terribly. The street feels sticky on my feet as I turn around.

“Put your hands behind your back. I’m arresting you on suspicion of rebel activities.”

“I’m sorry, sir. I can’t.”

I didn’t want to do this. It’s dangerous. It’s stupid. It’s probably going to get me killed.

I run.

He grabs me by the cloak, but I shed that like a lizard shedding a tail, and I run for my life. I can’t shift again right now. Last time I did that, I passed out. I can’t risk losing consciousness with an officer of the law chasing me.

This is so stupid. I should outrank this guy. I should be a king’s fucking guard. But I’m not. I’m just a naked woman running for what feels like her life through the streets of Eclipse.

Thank God I am fast, and it seems like the officer isn’t used to chasing.

He’s more of a pull people over and give them a ticket sort of an officer.

I am used to running through the city, too, so I do what I usually do.

The problem is it’s hard not to attract attention when you’re naked.

I’m just glad that it’s very early morning and most people are asleep.

I do the usual trick of finding clothes hanging on balconies, dress myself on the run, and swing by a bakery to steal a croissant, before heading not to the academy, but to Jory’s shop.

There wasn’t much on the line, so I’m wearing someone’s shirt that comes down just below my ass cheeks and not much else.

Hardly appropriate attire for, well, anything.

I know Jory rises earlier than most to stoke the furnace and get things going for the day. He’ll be around.

I startle him as I come through the back door. I haven’t done this in months, so I guess he’s not expecting it.

“Fuck!” He curses out loud and drops something that was probably hot. “Darcy, what the hell are you doing?”

“I think I’m in trouble, Jory.”

“When are you not?” He smirks the question as he recovers from his shock.

“I’m serious. You know how I was here, getting my saber sharpened? And all the duels? Those guys are after me, and now the cops are looking for me, and…”

Anyone else would freak out, but not Jory.

“Do you want some coffee? Maybe a croissant? Or some clothes?”

“Please.”

Jory feeds me and gives me coffee. I’m so fucking tired. It has been a horribly long night, and my head is all over the place.

If those guys who abducted me catch up with me, they’re going to be so fucking mad. Not just because I stole their van, but because I’m pretty sure I got it confiscated by law enforcement as well. It was a pretty fancy van.

“When are you going to settle down?” Jory asks the question with a lopsided grin, but his tone is tinged with a note of seriousness I don’t like.

“You sound like Sevilla.”

Sevilla is his girlfriend slash fiancée. I haven’t seen her much lately, because, well, she doesn’t like me and thinks I am a bad influence.

“She’s right about a lot of things. We’re old enough to take things seriously now. Mistakes we make now are going to follow us. It’s not like when we were kids and they just got brushed off. What we do matters.”

“You sound worried, Jory.”

He gives me a look that I recognize from when we were kids. It’s the one he used to get when he’d really, really fucked up. I feel my stomach sinking in sympathy for him, even though I’m the one currently on the run from the law, some kidnappers, and probably in deep shit with the academy.

“What’s wrong? What have you done?”

“I think I got her pregnant,” he says.

“Shit. What’s she going to do?”

He looks at me aghast. “What do you mean? She’s going to be the mother of my children. Always was going to be. It’s just a little earlier than we planned.”

Sure it is.

One second Sevilla is all about plans, the next she’s forgetting how pups are born? I don’t think so. Oh, well. She’s good for Jory. Whatever that means. I hear people say it enough so it’s got to have some kind of meaning.

“In that case, congratulations!” I hold up my coffee and give him a smile.

“Yeah. Thanks. But see, it means…”

“What?”

I shove a pancake into my mouth so nothing stupid can come out of it.