Forever Mate: Mikhail & Jace (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Read online

  “Look, I’m sure we can work this out,” Bay started. Always the peacekeeper. “We just need to—”

  “Leave!”

  Jace felt the blood drain from his face when the man suddenly pulled out a gun and pointed it at them. It was a big fucking gun. He glanced out the window real quick but saw that Mikhail and his brothers would be no help. They looked like they were in a fight for their lives outside.

  Jace, Bay, Rue, and Liam were on their own.

  “Now, look, dude, this isn’t—”

  “I will only tell you once,” the man said as he waved the gun at Bay, “get out now or die, and believe me, I’d much rather shoot you where you stand.” The man’s lip curled in disgust as he sneered. “Can’t stand queers, always fucking things up, thinking they’re better than the rest of us.”

  “Okay, we’re going,” Bay said. “Just don’t shoot.”

  The hell they were.

  Jace liked it here. He liked Mikhail. He wasn’t going to let some stupid redneck with more balls than brains ruin it for him. He growled again and started forward. He didn’t have a clue what he was going to do, but he wasn’t leaving without a fight.

  After that, things seemed to happen in slow motion. Jace jumped toward the man. The redneck raised his gun, pointed it at Bay, and pulled the trigger. Jace felt terror flicker through his body as he turned, knowing he would see his best friend lying in a pool of blood.

  He was wrong. Instead, a large blur of white jumped between Bay and the bullet. Jace heard a loud roar, and the blur crashed to the floor. It lay there for just a moment then jumped up and leapt at the man with the gun, attacking him.

  Jace turned away, unwilling to watch the redneck be torn to pieces. That was just gross. Unfortunately, the dwindling sounds of the man’s scream were almost as bad as watching. Then, as suddenly as it all seemed to start, everything stopped. The room was silent. No one moved as if everyone were frozen in place.

  Jace turned back and almost threw up. Blood was splattered everywhere, bits and pieces of the stranger littering the floor. Yeah, that was really gross. He looked up when the large white tiger climbed to its feet and turned toward Bay. A long mournful yowl came from the creature before it limped several steps toward Bay.

  Before it could reach him, Bay started backing away.

  The tiger stopped, yowled again, and then collapsed down on the floor. Jace pushed past Bay and rushed to the side of the fallen animal. Mikhail, Yuri, and Zus were all outside, so Jace knew this had to be Stefan.

  He couldn’t let Mikhail’s brother die. It would devastate Mikhail. He started running his hand over the bloodied tiger, searching for injuries. There was so much blood. Jace couldn’t figure what belonged to the tiger and what belonged to the dead man.

  “Get away from him, Jace,” Bay shouted.

  Jace glanced over at Bay just in time to see the man push his hand through his hair and pull on the ends. Was he fucking nuts? Bay just covered his mouth. Jace shook his head and jumped to his feet to run to the door.

  “Mikhail,” Jace shouted, “Stefan’s been shot.”

  He glanced back when he heard another soft yowl come from the tiger. Stefan was struggling to his feet, looking at Bay like his world was coming to an end. Jace didn’t know what had happened between the two men, but now was not the time to figure it out.

  Bay looked totally freaked out. His hair kind of stood on its end as he ran his fingers through the black strands. The man paced back and forth, stopping every few steps to look at Stefan, his forehead wrinkling in confusion.

  Stefan yowled again, making Bay jump. His face paled. Jace wanted to roll his eyes. Bay was being ridiculous. Jace felt like bitch slapping the guy when he just stared at Stefan as the tiger wobbled to his feet.

  When Stefan started to stagger toward the back door, Jace glanced out the front door. He knew Stefan shouldn’t be leaving, but he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to stop a four-hundred-pound tiger. He just hoped Mikhail hurried up.

  “Stefan’s been shot? But that means—” Bay shook his head as he slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

  “Yes, Bay,” Jace said softly as he sat down next to Bay. “That was Stefan.”

  “But…how?”

  “They were born this way.”

  “They?” Bay looked sick to his stomach.

  “Stefan and all of his brothers.”

  “Fuck, Jace, why didn’t you tell me?”

  Jace shrugged. “Well, to tell you the truth, I was a little bit busy with my own tiger. And I kind of figured Stefan would tell you himself.”

  Bay stared down at his hands, twisting his fingers together. “I think he tried to,” Bay whispered. “I was just too stubborn to listen to him.”

  “That sounds about right for you.” Jace chuckled.

  “Christ, Jace, I was just so angry at him for fucking me without a condom and then lying about it. I just—”

  Well, that explained a lot. Bay had serious issues with not using condoms. He had a close friend die after catching something deadly, and he was a fanatic about safe sex.

  “You do know he can’t give you anything, right?” Jace asked.

  “Yeah, I’m starting to figure that out,” Bay said as he climbed to his feet. “I need to find Stefan and talk to him.”

  “We need to find Stefan and see how hurt he is.” Jace rolled his eyes and pointed to the small trail of blood leading out of the kitchen. Talking was the least of their problems right now. “I don’t think he’s going to last long with a bullet in him.”

  Chapter Eight

  Mikhail raced back into the house, skidding to a stop when he saw the blood everywhere. He quickly scanned the room until he spotted Jace standing by Bay then ran over and wrapped his mate up in his arms.

  “Are you harmed, mate?” Mikhail’s heart thundered in his chest until Jace shook his head.

  “No, this isn’t my blood,” Jace said. “It’s Stefan’s and his.” Jace pointed to what was left of Peter Craigen, and that wasn’t much. The man had been torn to shreds.

  “What happened?” Mikhail asked as he glanced around at the carnage, swallowing hard when his stomach threatened to rebel. The dining room looked like a war zone.

  “He came in the back door.” Mikhail tightened his arms around Jace when the man shuddered. “He had a gun, Mikhail. He was trying to force us to leave. He—”

  “He tried to shoot me,” Bay said quietly.

  Mikhail’s eyes snapped to Bay. The man looked unhurt. “And?”

  “Stefan got in the way then tore the man apart,” Jace said. “Stefan’s shot, Mikhail. He took off out the backdoor.”

  “What?” Mikhail roared.

  “He’s in his tiger form, Mikhail.”

  “Fuck!” Mikhail pushed a hand through his hair. This was so not good. If Stefan was hurting and he spent too much time in his tiger form, he could stay that way, never becoming human again. He’d go feral. “We have to find him.”

  “Mikhail?”

  Mikhail turned when he heard Zus’s voice. Rue stood right behind the man. “Stefan’s been shot.”

  The blood drained from Zus’s face. “Where is he?”

  “Jace said he took off.”

  “We have to find him!”

  “Yuri and I will go,” Mikhail said, knowing Zus would agree. “Stay here and protect our mates.”

  Zus nodded.

  “Tell me where the first aid stuff is,” Jace said as he started pushing Mikhail toward the backdoor. “The boys and I will get things ready back here and clean this mess up.”

  Mikhail grinned. Jace was the perfect mate. “The first aid kit is in the bathroom cabinet at the top of the stairs. Is there anything else you need before I go?”

  “Take that thing with you.” Jace’s finger shook as he pointed to the dead body on the floor.

  Zus leaned down and picked the body up without saying a word and carried it outside, Rue right on his heels. Several sighs of relief filled the room whe
n the body disappeared out the door, reminding Mikhail that while his mate and friends seemed somewhat accepting of their nature, they were still new to the shifter world.

  “Jace, we need to talk when I get back.”

  Jace paled. “Talk?”

  “Nothing horrible, baby.” Well, Mikhail didn’t think being the alpha of his pride was horrible, but he could be wrong as far as a human was concerned. “I just want to fill you in a little more about life here.”

  “Yeah.” Jace’s baby-blue eyes were big and rounded as he glanced around the bloody room. “That would be good.”

  Mikhail winced. This was not making a life with him look very good. He was supposed to protect his forever mate. He had promised he would. And the first time violence came knocking, he was outside fighting while Jace’s life was being threatened.

  He owed Stefan big time.

  “I’m sorry, Jace.” Mikhail didn’t think he could say it enough.

  “Just go,” Jace waved his hand in a dismissive motion. “Find Stefan and bring him home.”

  Mikhail nodded and headed for the door.

  “Mikhail.”

  “Yeah, babe?” Mikhail paused at the doorway and glanced over his shoulder. Jace had his arms crossed over his chest, and he was tapping his foot. Mikhail was in trouble. He knew it. He had obviously done something to piss Jace off. He just didn’t—oh!

  Mikhail raced back across the room and pulled Jace into a kiss that made him wish they were back upstairs in bed versus chasing after his wounded brother. He was still a little stunned that one little man—no matter how gorgeous he was—could make his cock ache so damn much just from a simple kiss.

  “I’ll be back,” Mikhail huffed when he lifted his head, trying to draw air back into his lungs. He would have worried about how affected he was if he didn’t see the lust burning in Jace’s dazed blue eyes.

  “I’ll be here,” Jace replied.

  Mikhail pecked Jace on the lips just for good measure then headed out the door. Yuri was waiting on the back porch for him. Mikhail arched an eyebrow. “Zus?”

  “He’s staying behind to protect our mates.”

  Mikhail had never been more thankful that he had more than one brother than he was in that moment. As much as he knew he needed to go find Stefan, leaving his mate behind and unprotected unsettled him.

  Zus would keep the mates safe, which was good because Mikhail really needed Yuri with him. Besides the fact that Zus was the most viscous of them all, if Stefan refused to shift back to human form, Mikhail would need his biggest brother to help carry Stefan’s heavy furred ass back to the house.

  “Let’s go.” Mikhail started to shift until he saw a shadow fall over him. He growled as he spun around, claws out and ready, until he saw Bay standing behind him. “What do you want, Bay?”

  “I’m going with you.”

  Mikhail wanted to argue. He really did. He was pretty pissed at Bay for rejecting Stefan. His brother was a gentle soul. He needed someone to love him that knew that and understood it. Bay did not seem like that guy.

  One the other hand, Bay was Stefan’s mate and it was forbidden to interfere between them. As his mate, Bay had the final say in what happened to Stefan.

  “Fine, but I’m not waiting for you so you had better keep up.”

  “I’ll keep up.”

  Mikhail chose not to shift since he had Bay with him. He left that up to Yuri. It would take a little longer to track Stefan in two-legged form, but Yuri was one of their best trackers. If anyone could find Stefan, Yuri could.

  Mikhail could hear Bay huffing and puffing behind him as they hurried through the forest after Yuri. For a city boy, he was doing pretty well. He was keeping up for the most part, and surprisingly, Bay didn’t make as much noise as Mikhail thought he would.

  Mikhail paused at a small grove of trees and waited for Bay to catch up. Yuri was ahead of them, but after following the trail of blood drops for awhile, Mikhail had a pretty good idea where Stefan was headed.

  “Anything?” Bay asked as he caught up and stopped, resting his hands on his knees as he bent over and breathed deeply.

  “There are some blood drops that Yuri is following, but we’re pretty sure we know where Stefan is headed.” When Bay merely arched an eyebrow, Mikhail rolled his eyes. “Stefan has a spot not far from here that he likes to go to be alone. I suspect that’s where he went.”

  Bay stood up straighter, his eyes roaming the thickly wooded landscape. “Where?”

  “Uh…it’s a spot down by the creek.”

  “That makes sense. That’s where I’d go.”

  Hmm. Maybe Bay would be a good fit for Stefan after all. Well, if the two of them could get their heads out of their collectives asses. Maybe when everyone was safe, he would lock them in a room together until they worked out their differences.

  Mikhail turned and glanced out over the woods to hide his sudden grin. That sounded like a fantastic plan to him. And he had just the room in mind. His parents had a detention room built into the basement in case they had any problems with anyone in the pride. It would work for his purposes just fine. He just needed to find Stefan and get him back to the house.

  Mikhail stiffened when he heard a sudden roar. He knew that sound. Mikhail took off toward the woods and the sound of that roar, Bay hot on his heels. It didn’t take more than a moment to reach the small grassy area on the edge of the creek.

  Yuri was kneeling on the ground next to a white tiger, his hands pressing down on the bloody wound in Stefan’s shoulder. Mikhail quickly ran over and dropped to the ground on the other side of Stefan. He reached down and curled his fingers in Stefan’s fur, needing to the contact with his sibling.

  Mikhail grimaced at the amount of blood covering Stefan’s fur. “How is he?”

  “Is he alive?” Bay asked as he dropped to the ground next to Mikhail.

  “He’s alive,” Yuri said, “but he’s lost a lot of blood.”

  Mikhail whipped his shirt over his head and held it out to Yuri, who grabbed it, balled it up, and then pressed it down over the bleeding wound.

  His face was lined with worry when he looked up. “We need to get him back to the house, Mikhail.”

  “Do you want me to go get the truck?”

  “No, that will take too long. We need to get him back to the house as soon as possible. This bullet has to come out of his shoulder before he bleeds out. It’s sitting on a nerve, preventing him from shifting.”

  Damn.

  Mikhail couldn’t even imagine not being able to shift. He loved being on two legs, but he loved being on four legs just as much. He didn’t know how humans did it. He’d go out of his mind if he only had one form.

  “Keep pressure on the wound,” Yuri said as he slid his arms under the massive tiger. Yuri was the strongest of all of them. He was probably the only one that could have lifted a fully shifted tiger.

  Mikhail kept pressure on the wound as he started walking with Yuri. “Bay, run back to the house and let them know we found Stefan and we’re on our way back.”

  “But—”

  “Now, Bay!” Mikhail put the compulsion of the alpha tone in his voice. He had never met a shifter or a human that could defy an alpha command.

  Bay blinked for moment as if adjusting to the authority in Mikhail’s words and then spun and took off back through the woods toward the house.

  By the time the house came into view, the cloth Mikhail held on Stefan’s wound was soaked. Mikhail was starting to grow seriously worried about blood loss. Even if they got the bullet out, Stefan might not have the energy to shift and heal. He would heal faster than a normal human, but shifting would make the process almost instantaneous.

  The back door flew open when they reached the edge of the yard. Bay came running out, not stopping until he was walking right alongside of Mikhail and Yuri.

  “How is he?” Bay’s voice wobbled, his eyes never leaving Stefan’s furry form.

  “He’s still alive, Bay.” Mikh
ail knew that Bay and Stefan were having problems, but the relief that shook Bay at his words gave him hope that the two men would be able to work them out. “He’ll be fine if we can get the bullet out and he shifts.”

  Mikhail prayed his words were true because Bay didn’t look like he would survive any other outcome. Mikhail also didn’t want to lose his brother.

  Stefan was the youngest of them. He liked reading books and watching the stars, sitting at his drafting board sketching out home designs. He wasn’t a fighter unless someone he cared about was in danger. He never had a bad word for anyone. His soul was gentle, and he needed someone fierce that understood that.

  From everything Mikhail had seen, Bay was just the man for Stefan. He was a powerful human. He might not have the strength to back up his fierceness, but Stefan did. Together—and assuming they worked their shit out—they could be an unstoppable mating.

  Mikhail smiled as his eyes strayed to the ash blond standing on the back porch with Zus and the others. His heart skipped a beat as he thought about what an unstoppable mating he would have if Jace agreed to be his. He just needed to convince the man to stay.

  Chapter Nine

  Jace rubbed his fingers together, grimacing at the blood that had seeped into his cuticles. It was disgusting and gross and reminded him of the mess he had to clean up in the dining room. Jace didn’t think he had ever seen something so horrible.

  Stefan had destroyed the man that threatened them. Granted, the man had been dangerous. He held a gun on them and tried to force them to leave. But still…did Stefan have to tear the man into little pieces? Jace had almost tossed his cookies when he picked up an ear.

  The world Mikhail had introduced him to seemed so damn violent. Jace had been knocked around a time or two, but he wasn’t used to this level of brutality. Staying didn’t seem all that good of an idea. But leaving seemed even worse.

  Jace didn’t know what to do.

  He felt helpless as he watched Yuri carry Stefan into the house and lay him down on the sheet-covered dining table. Jace had considered clearing off one of the beds, but the table seemed better for trying to get a bullet out. They could clean the blood off the wood. It wouldn’t come out of a mattress.