Dark Fates (A Paranormal Anthology)(52)

Things had been easier when she’d been making very little sense. He hadn’t known her, but he’d certainly known he wanted to. She’d known him, or at least she thought she had, and she wanted him in spite of the truth of who he was.

He stared at the closed door to his—now her—room. What was he supposed to do? It had never occurred to him that he could have a human for his true mate. How was he supposed to woo her? If she were a wolf woman, she’d know they were supposed to be together from scent alone. Then she’d run from him. It was the way of the female werewolves. He’d chase her, catch her, and the rest they’d work out in the bedroom.

Or the living room. Or outside. Or wherever the urge took them…

He shook his head. Picturing her naked, sprawled out on his bed, with her brown hair laid out on his pillow made him hard. The images continued. The blue tips on the end of locks touching the headboard. Her breasts, rounded and large for a woman as petite as she…

Hayden set the tray outside her room on the floor. This wasn’t going to work if he was as jacked up as rocket about to go off. Somehow, someway, he had to get control of himself. He craved the woman more than he wanted his next breath, and she had no f*cking idea who he was.

He hated to do what had to be done. Bringing Savage too far into his business broke the unspoken rule between them that said he left his brother alone and that Savage did the same thing when it came to personal choices. Hayden rubbed his temples.

His mate, even if she didn’t know that was what she was, needed help, and he had to figure out what to do about the True Believers. Why had they targeted him when he was such a completely small opponent? Kill Savage and they might gain some tactical growth. San Francisco was a huge pack. Take out Napa and it would be weeks before anyone would even notice.

“Shit.” He grabbed his cell phone before he could think better of it and phoned Savage. It was too early to reach out to most people, but his brother never slept more than Hayden did. Savage would have been up with the sunrise. He felt like a caged wolf and he stormed back into the kitchen having nowhere he could go that would make him feel better.

“Hayden.” Savage answered on the first ring. “Someone die on Full Moon last night?”

Hayden shook his head. Savage always had a way of jumping to the worst possible conclusion, which was probably why the other man remained alive. “No one is dead. Yet.”

Silence met his statement for several beats. He could almost picture his brother, standing on the deck of his multi-million dollar home overlooking the Pacific. If there was one thing werewolves seemed to know how to do it was to turn one dollar into ten. Maybe it was because they lived longer—or maybe it had to do with their aggressive instincts simple made them more dominant in the marketplace.

Savage always took his calls outside whenever possible. He said he did his best thinking with the wind in his face. In this case, Hayden hoped it worked.

“I was kidding about the death part. But I guess I shouldn’t be making jokes given the current climate. Talk to me, brother. What do you need?”

Hayden appreciated Savage not making him ask. They had enough trouble getting along without playing mind games. Or maybe Savage understood that, in the arena of manipulation, Hayden had been better versed.

“I need a Healer.” He drummed his fingers on the kitchen counter. This was going to get ugly any second.

“That’s not a problem. I can send you mine. He’ll be there in two hours.”

“Thanks but your Healer isn’t going to help me in this. I need a Healer who can fix a human. Do you know any?” Hayden’s limited understanding about the werewolf Healers, who were few and far between, was that their powers worked on other werewolves and didn’t extend past that.

“They’re called doctors, brother, and I would imagine you can find quite a few in the Napa Valley.”

Hayden growled. This was the side to Savage that caused them the most problems. “You know I’m not an idiot. If it was just a matter of a doctor, don’t you think I’d have f*cking done that?”

“Down, boy. I should know better than to bait you after all these years. We can’t even blame Lucian for your poor sense of humor. You never did have one. Why do you need a Healer for a human? Start talking, and enough with this clandestine bullshit. I’m not your mark. You aren’t going to play me. Tell me the whole truth, or I’m hanging up.”

Fuck. “You know you’re only thirteen months older than me, and you’re not even my Alpha. You gave this place to me. It’s officially mine. I don’t have to take this shit from you.”

“Hayden.” Savage growled. “Tell me what you need or call back when you’re not being such an *.”

He knew on some level that he’d called to give Savage a hard time. Pissing off his brother was something he could control. His mate having no idea who he was? Completely out of his control.

“I have a True Mate.” He spoke the words fast. “She’s a human.” He proceeded to tell his brother the whole sordid story from start to finish, ending with how Chelsea had no idea who he was now and how he had absolutely no idea what to do about it. “Do you have any suggestions? Have you ever heard of a human who could do this before?”

“No.” His brother answered fast. “It all sounds like so much crap. If it was anyone else in the world telling me this I’d call foul. But you never lie.”