Page 11 of Delivered to My Beasts
“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.
Chapter Nine
Jax
“Why?” she asked and, as she had told us the whole truth, I had to as well. She was referring to why we decided to let her stay when she had come to us under false pretenses.
I fully believed in Fate. Fate had ways of making sure mates stumbled into each other’s lives, even if that meant her methods were shady.
It didn’t matter to me. Even if Imogen stayed here only for protection, it was better than never meeting her at all.
“Because there’s something more here, Imogen.” Her name felt good coming from my lips. “I think there is more to the reason you came here and even more reason for you to stay.”
She stood right next to me, running her palm over one of my chairs, one that I loved so much I kept for myself. Crew called it one of my best and I agreed with him. The hairs rose on the back of my neck as I watched her skin make contact with something I’d made with my own hands. My body tingled with anticipation wishing she was touching me instead of the chair.
Imogen turned her head to look at me as I watched her. “You made this?”
“Yes. I made all of this.”
She nodded. “Thank you for letting me stay. I’m sorry if I put you in danger. All of you. I didn’t want that.”
“What did you want?” I wiped off my already clean workbench. I had to do something with my hands or else I might do something stupid like sweep her into my arms. “What do you want now?”
