His Fated Mate: A Werewolf Romance

*Warning: Contains graphic scenes

Rowan

“Damn,” Fiona said, her eyes wide, staring at the spot once occupied by Viona and waving her hand to clear the purple smoke covering half of the kitchen. “Did that just happen?”

“It did and now we’ll play hell finding her again,” I announced and sighed, raking nervous fingers through my hair.

“Isn’t anyone gonna address the fact that I’m a pure fairy?” Kat asked, holding the broken shards of glass, a look of bewilderment etched on her face.

“I’m sorry, Kat.” Fiona reached out and rubbed her shoulder. “I am still trying to process all this supernatural stuff. An actual witch just disappeared before our very eyes!”

“Listen, Kat… it makes sense,” I told her. “Quinn would never pass up the opportunity to study and experiment with a pure fairy. At first, when I thought you were human, I figured it might have been one of his more noble ventures, but people frown upon using humans for research. But everything he does, I frown upon. I bet he removed your wings so people would mistake you as a human, and he could continue his sick experiments.”

“But my parents! Why would they allow him to do it?”

Rian piped up, “Think about it… your parents were obviously both fairies, too, and they died in a plane crash, right?”

“Yes, but what does that prove?” Kat asked, her voice cracking.

“Maybe Cormac had them killed.” Rian shrugged with a sympathetic grimace. “Or perhaps he was blackmailing them and it forced your parents to give him permission.” He stared at his feet, averting Kat’s gaze.

She stormed to the bin and dropped the broken plate inside and picked at her hands to remove the small pieces before glaring at Rian. “Well done, Rian! Bloody brilliant how you worked that out!” Kat’s eyes still rested on Rian, a challenge in them. “Our tumble in the sheets wasn’t very memorable, nor does it make you an expert on me or my family!” Kat lifted her lips in a cocky sneer.

“Hey, that’s not what I—” Rian attempted.

“Shut up, Rian!” Kat growled. “So perhaps my parents didn’t give a shit about me? That’s what you’re really saying… that they were selfish and cared more for themselves than their child. You have me pegged, big guy. The unlovable Kat.” She clapped her hands and stared at him with a deadpan expression.

While my heart ached for Kat, my lips twitched, watching my brother with his enormous foot in his mouth. It seemed their romp between the sheets hadn’t rendered Kat love-sick or impressed her much. I was enjoying her barbs piercing my brother where it hurt far too much. Rian was used to the birds he bedded, falling head over heels… not this one.

“Fair play, Kat.” Rian held out his palms, but I saw a muscle twitch in his jaw. She had wounded his ego. “You and Fiona have had a lot happen, and I was only trying to be helpful. And I’m sure your parents loved you. We know Cormac’s a sneaky and evil man, and I’m sorry for speculating.” His expression grew rueful.

“Don’t worry over me. I will find out why they let him remove my wings. Maybe he extracted theirs too, since my parents never walked around sporting wings.” With her forehead wrinkled in concentration, she rubbed at a spot between her eyes.

“A fairy living among humans would have to be real powerful to suppress their wings,” I stated. “But if that was the case, they could hide their offspring’s wings as well…” I beetled my brows and looked over at my chastised brother, seeing the moment my words sank in.

“You’re right, Rowan.” Rian’s brows rose to his hairline.

“But what does it mean? If they were powerful enough to hide their wings… why not hide mine and Fiona’s instead of letting that beast of a man cut us up?” Kat’s ire had turned to an unfamiliar emotion as fat tears dripped from her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. Fiona placed her arms around Kat and whispered something before wiping the moisture from her friend’s face. Kat nodded and returned the hug.

I may be an alpha werewolf, but I’d be a liar if I said it wasn’t a touching moment and it made me uncomfortable. I cleared my throat. “Let’s eat. We will all feel better after a good meal.” I held my grumbling stomach. “Kat, I promise to find the answers you and Fiona seek.” She smiled at me and we all headed for the table.

Rian made his way to the cabinet and took down a new plate for Kat. I figured it was his way of apologizing for being an insensitive arse. He reached Kat with a nervous smile and set the plate in front of her. She grunted without acknowledging him, and I coughed to cover my bark of laughter. Rian shot me a ‘you’re a bloody jerk’ scowl before taking his seat.

After a few moments of silence, while we all concentrated on the food, Fiona said, “I did well speaking with Cormac this morning and he doesn’t suspect a thing. He thinks Kat and I are in New York and insists that we return by Saturday.”

“That’s fantastic, lass,” I ventured, concentrating on my meal.

“I’m not finished.” She gave me a stony stare that felt like Karma biting me on the ass after laughing at Kat chewing up my brother and spitting him out.

“Excuse me. Please continue…” I looked up from my plate, saw Rian smirk, smiled at Fiona, and listened, giving her my full attention.

“I want the folders with the photographs before I proceed with any more details.” Fiona met my smile with a serious and grim look.

“Of course. I will hand them over as soon as we finish eating. Rian and I have to go into the city. I wanted to go over them with you, but we can discuss everything in the morning.”

“Wait,” she said, shaking her head. “You lads are going out this late? Into the city?”

“Yes. We have work to do concerning Sexflex and a shady witch to find again.” I shrugged and watched her face turn pale.

“Are you going to look for more of those creatures or the people passing around the drug?”

“Both.” I avoided her gaze, pretending to be interested in my casserole.

“But it’s so dangerous,” she said, her voice just above a whisper. “What if you have to fight something worse than that vampire thing?”

Rian laughed, and I turned to him, furrowing my brow in disapproval before answering, “We will shift into werewolf form if things get hairy. But we can handle ourselves, lass, and you have nothing to worry about. Now… finish telling me about Quinn.”

“Oh, yeah.” She shook her head, appearing to clear her thoughts. “Cormac was angry with me for taking Kat, and he wants us home by Saturday because he’s returning Sunday morning. He confirmed what we saw in his planner… he’s leaving on Wednesday. That means we have three full days to search the house.”

“Good job, lass. Let me grab the folders as soon as Rian and I get changed. You ready, bro?”

“Aye.”

After dressing in black and grabbing extra clothes in case we had to shapeshift, I met Rian in the kitchen where the girls sat sipping iced coffee. I watched Fiona stiffen as I neared her. “Here, lass.” I avoided her eyes as I held out the files. “These are disturbing.” She stared at the offering, appearing hesitant, then glanced back at me before taking them with a clipped nod.

“The guards are outside and we will see you in the morning,” I said with a weak smile.

“Please be careful,” Fiona begged and stood to see us off.

Walking around the table, Rian explained, “These humans turned into creatures from Sexflex strike at night, and we must be there to hunt them down. It’s how we’ve gained most of our information so far.” He rubbed Fiona on the back as he passed her, steering clear of Kat.

I wanted to punch his face in.

“We know what we are doing and will both return unharmed.” He winked, and she smiled at Rian, but it seemed strained.

“Enough flirting, Rian. We’ve got work to do. Good night, ladies, and Kyra… make sure they both have whatever they need.” I strode from the room, vowing not to let Rian under my skin.

As we entered the city, I headed for the nightlife, especially the clubs, raves, and pubs where the young liked to hang out. The zombies, vampires, and goblins liked fresh blood, and so far, those were the only creatures we found connected to Sexflex. But most of them were zombies or goblins. The vampire at the club where I met Fiona was a first for me. However, they all had one thing in common: they liked to hunt in the dark. And once a human became addicted to Sexflex, in time they turned into a bloodthirsty creature and when night fell, they needed fresh victims to survive.

We were on a mission to stop both the spread of the drug and hunt down these confused, insidious creatures. Unfortunately, they were pushing Sexflex quicker than we could kill off the resulting monsters. The results led to a lot of violent, unsolved deaths in the streets and alleyways of Dublin.

“Holy Feck,” Rian shouted, pointing toward a dark side street near a pub called ‘The Mean Fiddler’ where the late crowd comprised mostly university students. And before I could spot what he’d seen, the dank smell of blood flooded my sensitive olfactory.

I turned off the vehicle’s lights and continued on before rolling to a stop, loading my dart gun containing a special poison and grabbing mesh metal gloves and my bag. “Ready?” I asked as Rian pulled on his last glove.

“Aye. Let’s do this.”

As we crept into the darkened alley behind the pub, the stench was overwhelming. We were close and it wouldn’t be a pretty sight. Rian ran ahead of me, shifting as he turned the corner. Now I knew it was serious. Transforming in the middle of the city wasn’t ideal and something we preferred not to do if we could help it.

Once I rounded the corner, I saw the gruesome scene that caused Rian to shapeshift without thought or care. A zombie and goblin fought over a woman whose limbs they had ripped from her body. For a moment, it satisfied the goblin to feast from her torn flesh, while the large zombie, gray-like death in ragged clothes, tore her chest open and I saw her still beating heart.

The horrific spectacle made me slow to shift, but then I did so with urgency. Somehow the woman still screamed, a hair-raising sound filled with terror and I wondered how she was still alive. While Rian pounced on the zombie, I noticed her eyes meet mine and the anguish I saw there caused a red-hot rage to overtake me.

With silent, stealth-like movements, I stalked my prey. The goblin, oblivious to my approach, continued to feast on the woman’s arm and I glanced at her, realizing the light was now gone from her eyes. I opened my enormous jaw, exposing my sharp werewolf teeth, and grabbed the creature by his neck. The attack was quick, leaving the goblin unaware of the impending danger. It howled in pain as I thrashed it left, right, and left again before dropping it to the ground. Its cries ceased, and I used my massive paw to roll the beast over, verifying that it would never again harm another.

However, Rian was having a more difficult time with the zombie. I heard the crunch as his razor-like teeth bit into the monster, its putrid-smelling blood filling the air. Rian wretched and I didn’t envy him for chomping into the nasty, dead flesh. I shifted back and scrambled naked toward my ripped, destroyed clothes and grabbed the dart gun, hoping to stun the zombie so I could dig in my bag for the Glock. To kill a zombie, one had to decapitate or shoot them in the brain. But, as the dart entered near its heart, it crumbled to its knees and rolled around, screeching in misery. “Damn!” I whispered when I noticed the mangled wings on its back. “You can shift back, Rian.” I ran for my bag and grabbed a vial of lavender water and our clothes while the creature withered in agony.

As we both stood naked in the alleyway behind The Mean Fiddler, I threw Rian his clothes and dressed in haste.

“What in the actual fuck?” Rian asked, looking from the winged zombie back at me.

“It’s worse than I thought,” I told him. “Sexflex turns Creatures of Primordial, too. Not just humans! Let me throw this rose water on it and see what happens. You know how fairies hate rose water.” I rushed to the thrashing, wailing creature and dumped the whole vial of liquid on it, causing a guttural cry as its flesh burned.

“Shit! It was a fairy!” Rian said. “This is going to get out of hand and affect all the races.”

I took my gun, pointing at its head, and put the poor bastard out of its suffering.