Her Brother, Her Mate

I try to relax back in my seat, but I have this aching hole in my chest as the image of Parker’s devastated face flashes through my head over and over again.

“You okay over there?” Mitch asks me, patting my bare leg comfortingly, then resting his hand on my thigh.

I picked it up by his school ring on his finger and tossed his hand back over to his side.

“I guess I lost my chance after you found your mate?” he smirks over to me.

“Oh sweetie, you lost your chance in 10th grade when you took a picture of my a*s and used it as your screensaver.”

“I wanted to have something to smile about every time I looked at my phone,” he held his hand over his chest as if my words wounded him.

“Parker is really your mate?” Mark asked from the back seat.

“So it would appear,” I muttered, looking out the window and watching the lights of the city pass by in a blur.

“Fuckin’ insane, man. Of course it’s the alpha. Every single wolf was waiting anxiously ‘till you turned 18. All of us hoping it was us,” Mark shook his head in regret.

“You included?” I smirked at him in the rearview mirror.

“f**k yeah! Not as badly as my little brother here, but I would have been over the f*****g moon if it was me.”

“I could settle for a pity f**k,” Mitch shrugs, making me laugh.

“You want to face Parker after he feels that?” I asked him.

He noticeably shudders, “On second thought, I’m good. There are too many women out there in need of my services before I find my mate. I hope you have a happy life together,” he goffs.

Happy life together….Yeah right. We can’t even go a week without him making me feel like garbage. So what if I had those pictures on my phone? He had a naked girl in his. A recently sent naked picture of a girl. He probably doesn’t have to save them. Girls probably send them to him willingly whenever he asks.

To answer his demeaning question, no, I never sent a guy pictures of me. I didn’t have to or want to. I used Tinder maybe 2 times and wasn’t happy with the experience. There’s a reason those guys have to use an app to get women.

“Where are we going?” Mitch asks me as he pulls onto Miami beach.

I want to let loose, but I also want to use this time to help with the investigation. Nobody will let me, so I’m going to have to do it on my own. They’re not making any headway anyway.

“Bloodlust. Do you know where it’s at?”

“The vamp club? Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Mitch looked over at me in question from the corner of his eye.

“So sure. If there is a chance of anyone knowing anything about a rogue vampire, we can find out there,” I tell them.

“You’re using yourself as bait, aren’t you?” Mark smiled deviously from the back seat.

“f**k yeah she is. I’m in. Maybe I can hook up with some sexy fair-skinned vampy chick and get some info while giving her a little something something in return,” Mitch shifted excitedly in his seat.

“Divide and conquer, my brother. You claim your corner when we get there, I’ll claim mine. We can just work through all the tail….I mean witnesses until we get something useful.”

“We can get happy endings of our own,” Mitch chuckles.

This is why these 2 can not work together. They feed off each other, diving into any plan, no matter how dangerous, and finding some way to make a game out of it. This is a wildly inappropriate game, but whatever gets them on board.

My phone starts vibrating in my clutch, and I try to ignore it. Thinking about Parker’s face as we left once again makes me cave and I pull the phone from my bag.

It’s Parker.

“What?” I answered the phone snarkily.

“Carli,” he sighs in relief, “Where are you?”

“Why do you want to know? So you can storm over here and tell me more how much of a slut you think I am?” I asked. Mark and Mitch both growled after hearing me say that.

“I don’t think you’re anything, Carli. I was jealous! I wasn’t trying to make you feel like that!”

“You won’t even sleep with me, Parker. Then you make me feel like crap about something you’re doing yourself,” I sneered at him.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to be like that. I got so….so crazy jealous thinking about you dating other guys and acted like that. I’m sorry! Just tell me where you are. I won’t try to make you come back. I just want to be there with you.”

“Why? Because I’m here with 2 other guys?”

“2?!” he shouts, making me pull the phone from my ear.

“I’m hanging up, Parker. I’ll be at Bloodlust. I’m figuring out this rogue vamp thing so I can get off house arrest faster. I can’t w***e around properly while stuck in an apartment with my self-righteous mate.”

“Carli-” I ended the call before I could hear what he said.

“He called you a slut?” Mitch sneers beside me, pulling up to a valet to park his car for him.

“Not in so many words,” I tell him, but don’t elaborate. I don’t want the whole world knowing my mate thinks I’m trash. I probably shouldn’t have answered that call in front of them. He never said it, but why else would he make me feel like s**t about a few hook-ups?

Mark slides out of the backseat, then opens my door for me as Mitch comes around and takes my hand, kissing it like the playboy he is and tucking it into his arm. Mark offered me his elbow and we walked up to the club, skipping the line and striding right in. Perks of being a werewolf: we look older, more mature, and generally are more attractive than humans. No one questions us as the bouncers open the double doors and usher us in.

“I’m just going to say this. If that a*****e shows up and treats you any way other than the way you deserve, I don’t care if he’s an alpha, I’ll take him out,” Mark whispers in my ear.

I offer him a hesitant, but thankful smile, but feel unsettled hearing him say that. Parker pissed me off, but I don’t like hearing others threatening his life. Even if it is an empty threat.

Inside the club, the strobe lights are dancing through the foggy air. The sweet scent of jasper and jasmine is floating around the darkly lit space, adding to the mystery of the club.

All the bartenders, waitresses, DJs, bouncers and professional dancers are vampires. Mitch looks up at a raven-haired dancer on the platform next to us, a slow, seductive smile graces his lips and his eyes smolder as she giggles above him.

“Happy hunting,” I chuckled in his ear, giving him a quick slap on the cheek before walking off with Mark, who was smirking at his brother.

“Wanna get a drink first?” Mark asked me. f**k, do I.

Mark leads me over to the main bar, his hand resting on the small of my back.

“I’m in the mood for some s*x on the beach, what about you?” he grins at me playfully. I laughed at his crude joke, but nodded, okay with the fruity drink to start with. The bartender can smell we’re werewolves, and doesn’t bother IDing us. He takes the order and gets to work on the drinks.

I cringe watching the bartender making it with double the vodka. Parker’s pleading for me not to drink without him rings through my head, and I feel torn as I lift the drink from the counter.

“Not what you wanted?” Mark asked me, taking a long drink from his own cocktail.

“No, It’s fine. Just don’t let me start dry-humping anyone in a dark corner. Parker will lose his s**t and I guarantee he’s on his way here.”

Mark wiggles his eyebrows at me, “If you start dry-humping me, no chance I’m stopping you.”

“Fat chance,” I smirked at him. Parker will murder him. I’m sure of it. I know for a fact Parker is the strongest warrior we have. He’s stronger than my dad, and I’m sure he’s stronger than his own prissy father too. He’s got an easy-going demeanor, so most regular members of our pack and the younger warriors don’t know how strong he truly is, but our older warriors do. The triples attend training in the afternoons and weekends, and haven’t trained with Parker yet. They don’t know.

Mark leads me to a seating area by the dance floor with a couple of vacant seats. The crowd around it is mostly human, eyeing us appreciatively as we take the seats.

“You’re hot,” some blonde, overly tan chick in a sequined dress yells above the music to Mark. I can tell by her speech she’s drunk. “Your girlfriend is hot too!”

“I’m not his girlfriend,” I smiled at her.

“Really!?” she squeals happily.

“Not from my lack of trying,” Mark grins politely at her, while stroking my bare shoulder with his finger.

I chuckle and give him a ‘What are you doing?’ look. He leans in and whispers, “I hate the smell of fake tanner.”

I laughed out loud, patting his leg sympathetically.

The girl eyed us suspiciously with her friends, “You are dating, aren’t you? The good looking ones are always taken.”

I shook my head, taking a sip from my drink. I’m about to tell her to try her luck with Mitch, who I just saw walking out of the bathroom with the vampire dancer, obviously just finishing his first round of his little game, when my drink is suddenly lifted from my hands and a deep, low growl makes my hair stand on end. The blonde chick is staring behind me with an open mouth, gaping at whoever is behind. I don’t have to look to know it’s Parker. He got here in record time.

“Oh no, we were found,” Mark says in a flat voice, scowling at the figure behind me.

I sighed and turned around, and sure enough there was Parker, looking deliciously perfect, except for his hair which looked disheveled from him running his hands through it too many times. The hair just adds to his charm though. It makes you want to reach out and run your hands through it too.

“Please tell me that’s not your boyfriend either!” the girl shouts out enthusiastically.

I sighed and shook my head, “Nope. He is not my boyfriend either.”

The girl smiles brightly, then stands to approach him, but before she can, Parker growls, lifting me to my feet and slamming his mouth against mine.

“What the f**k! She just said that wasn’t her boyfriend!” the girl yells, stomping her foot.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“He’s not. He’s her brother,” Mark laughed, sitting back and enjoying the looks of disgust on their faces.