Page 18 of The Suspicious Mate

"Normally, when someone happens onto information like that, they have their minds swept. Vampires have the ability to take memories from humans, but Noa and I were friends, and he petitioned his Alpha to allow me to keep my awareness of the paranormal world. Only those who are completely trusted or mates of paranormals are allowed in on the secret.” Mac looked at him speculatively and then pulled the collar of his shirt to one side and checked his left shoulder, and then did the same and checked his right shoulder.

"You have a scar there; he bit you, didn't he? Noa bonded with you, Kallan." He smiled and shook his head, pleased and disbelieving. "That's why he had to fix his blunder, why he needed to win you over. At some point, he realized who you were." He said with the same lighthearted tone. "You're his mate. This is so cool, so . . . so cool."

Kallan thought his head would explode, and then he began to calm down. His breath evened out, and his heart slowed back to normal. He took a deep breath and looked at his cousin, silently studying his expressions and demeanor. "I think I believe you but man, this is some crazy stuff."

"Yes, I can see why you would think that, but it is real, Kallan, and you need to go back to Noa and talk to him. He is no danger to you. Trust me, I would never put you in danger."

"I know, and I feel awful for running out on him. I should go back."

“You should go back.” Kallan had made his decision to return to Noa when Mac’s front door came down with a thundering crash.

CHAPTER NINE

Noa was disappointed when he pulled back the curtain, and the shower was empty, but it was not surprising. His mate was resourceful, and the whole shifter and mate explanation probably had his mind spinning. He was worried and needed to find Kallan before anything happened to him. The danger to him was very real. He quickly dressed, having a pretty good idea where his mate would go.

"Hey Mac, is Kallan with you?" Mac didn't answer, so he left a message. He then called Kallan's number and also got voice mail. His gut was telling him Kallan was with Mac, so he took off for Mac’s place.

The minute he got into his truck and began pulling out of his drive, he felt a sudden flash of panic. He pulled out onto the road and drove as fast as he could over to Mac's. The panic grew, and soon he was engulfed by a fear that stiffened his muscles and clouded his mind. This wasn't his panic or his fear. This was Kallan's. He was feeling Kallan through their bond. Kallan and Mac were in trouble. He could sense their distress and that the grays were at the heart of it.

Panic hit him again, but this time, it was his own. The thought of those monsters being near his mate was driving him insane. He parked on the curb in front of Mac's house and raced up the walkway to the front door. He didn't wait to knock, simply knocked the door down and rushed inside.

The panic he felt in the truck was nothing compared to the terror that burned through him when he saw the damage to the house, the blood on the floor, and the fact that no one was there. He scented his beautiful mate, Mac, and the distinct acrid stench of Jackal. They took his mate, and that fact caused Noa to shift.

He was unable to restrain his animal. He burst through his clothing, shredding them on the spot as he became the fierce, protective, and vindictive grizzly that lived within.

His sudden agony was felt by his Alpha, who, along with Parc and Zeke, headed for the primary hideout of the grays. It was clear that something terrible had happened, and they could only assume that it involved Noa's mate and the grays. Noa's pain and anguish were so stark that they could taste it in the air. The plan to attack in the morning was scrapped, and the battle was to be immediate. They only hoped that they would arrive in time.

Noa stayed in the wooded areas taking a direct route to the hideout by the railyard. Private yards, private property, fences, barriers, nothing stopped him as he tore through the suburb. He could smell their bitter, pungent odor stinking up the air and could also scent the sweet beauty of his mate. He and Mac were scared, but they were alive, and Noa needed to get to them before the grays carried out whatever twisted ideas they had regarding humans.

His poor little mate, his heart was breaking for the man. He should have taken better care of him. He shouldn't have left him alone when he was so confused and unsure. Noa was beating himself up but quickly set his guilt aside and focused on the job at hand. The building lay straight ahead, and he could easily smell all of them inside. That bastard Axel and his followers were not going to survive this night.

He came up to the entrance and, like before, did not wait and took out the door and the north wall with it busting inside to confront a group of startled and woefully unprepared shifters. They apparently had not expected immediate retaliation for their deeds.

A couple of wolves ran for the back door, clearly smarter than the rest. Noa didn't stop them. His bear had their scent, and he would deal with them later. Noa charged through the building in search of his mate, and nothing was going to stand in his way, least of all a few mangy shifters.

His grizzly became enraged when he scented the blood of his mate on the hands of a jackal. He killed the shifter without thought or concern. The guy was slow and, although strong, was a poorly trained fighter. That Jackal was no match for a raging grizzly bear. Noa took him out with little effort leaving the remains strewn about the dirty floor.

Noa stayed on course, following the scent of his mate crashing through walls and killing jackals as he made his way to the second floor of this now unstable structure. His only goal and his entire concentration were on securing the well-being and freedom of his mate and killing every shifter who had dared to lay a hand upon him. His bear was in full control, and he was a single-minded beast.

Kallan was scared out of his mind. Looking around the small room, he felt the hatred of these men pressing in on him and Mac and feared the worse was about to happen. The man who led them was the same man who'd bumped into him and who he'd seen standing outside his apartment the other night.

The man was brutal and rude and smelled bad. He hadn't noticed it that night, but as soon as he broke into Mac's house, Kallan could smell the vilest stench of rotting flesh. Mac said he smelled nothing out of the ordinary, which seemed strange because it was pungent.

He heard one of the men refer to this man as Axel, so he assumed that was his name. He was not overly tall, about five foot nine or ten, maybe. His hair was stringy and black with no real style apart from what his skull cap was able to accomplish. They were all unkempt and wild looking, not in the manner Noa had looked wild but in a mad or insane manner. Noa had been sexy and appealing even when his eyes flashed, and the wildness of his inner being shown through. Noa had never scared him, and God, he wished he were there now.

Noa looked over at Mac, who was seated on the floor beside him and, like him, was tied with his hands behind his back and a rag stuffed in his mouth. He should have stayed with Noa. He could have handled these guys. He knew in his heart that Noa would have prevailed. These beasts could not stand against a grizzly. That thought came out of nowhere, and yet he knew it to be true. These men were shifters too, but they were the dregs and a stain on society.

All of this was true, and a sense of release, understanding, and clarity overtook him. This was Noa. He felt it was his mate who was reaching out to him, to comfort him, and Kallan found himself relaxing in the knowledge that his mate was coming for him. He could hear him downstairs; Noa was there. This was so strange and yet so right and so clear. He wanted to call out to his mate, but the rag made it impossible.

He tried to move and began to struggle against his restraints until Axel came over and backhanded him across the mouth. It wasn’t the first time these guys had hit him. Both he and Mac were bleeding from the beatdown they received upon capture. The guy stepped back, his face a mixture of fear and confusion when in response to the powerful slap Kallan smiled up at him.

Axel yanked the rag from his mouth and got into his face. "Why the hell are you smiling?" He pinched Kallan's chin holding him still and bringing him even closer. "I'm going to kill you slow and painful just as soon as my men take care of that fucking bear downstairs. Your life is but minutes from ending, so why are you smiling?"

Kallan turned his head slightly, baring the scar on his shoulder, and he knew when the man saw it. He saw the shock in his eyes, and the panic, and it was delicious. "That's my mate downstairs. He's a grizzly bear, and he's going to kill you all slow and painfully." Kallan laughed in his face, and the man jumped back suddenly, not so sure of himself or his plans. "That chaos you hear is a grizzly cutting through your gang. Let us go, and maybe he will spare your life. It is your only chance." The man stared at him for a moment as if considering his options, then reached down and grabbed him by the back of the neck.

"I have a better idea." He spat at Kallan. "I'll use you as currency to get out of here, and once I'm clear, I'll spread your parts from here to hell for your mate to find and grieve over." He said the words and delivered the threat, but his eyes were filled with terror.

“I don’t care as long as you die too, and you will. Your life is now measured in minutes." He repeated the man's threat. Just then, they all froze when there came a roar from the outer room followed by a blood-curdling scream, and then the door came down.

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