by Alanea Alder
Meryn's grin was decidedly evil. Rheia looked at the smaller woman. "Did I miss something?"
Meryn shook her head. "Nope, just my squire thinking he's clever. Every once in a while I have to remind him I'm not stupid. Anyway! Come on petite commando, let's go see what trouble we can get into today." Meryn took Penny's hand and led her from the room. Beth leaned over and kissed Gavriel, picked up her cup, downed its contents and headed for the door.
Aiden smiled at Beth in commiseration as she walked by him. "Thank the Gods for you, Beth." She winked up at him and walked away.
Rheia put a hand to her stomach. It had taken everything in her to send Penny out and about for the day. What she really wanted to do was scoop her up and run back to Jefferson.
"It'll be okay Rheia. We're not going to lose her," Colton said, pulling her in for a hug.
"I want to take her home, away from here. It's all my fault for looking for her family." She buried her face in his chest.
"You are home, sweetheart," he reminded her softly. "And don't blame yourself for this. If you hadn't contacted them, they would have found out soon enough. Lycaonia isn't that big. We would have had to face this eventually."
Rheia looked up into his eyes and saw the hurt her casual comments had caused. "I'm sorry, Colton, I didn't mean that I didn't want to be with you, or that this wasn't home. I'm just scared and my parent's house in Jefferson has always been a safe haven to me."
Colton kissed her forehead. "I know."
Aiden cleared his throat. When she and Colton turned to him, she noticed that Gavriel, Darian and Keelan were standing with him at the door. "We're going to start drills. Colton, why don't you stay with Rheia today? Adam contacted me yesterday saying something about physicals, so I'm sending Keelan along for one and scheduled for Gamma to get theirs today as well, since they're the ones assigned to guard the clinic."
Rheia let out a deep breath. She was surprised how relieved she felt knowing that Colton would be with her today. But if she and Colton were at the clinic, what would happen if someone came for Penny? She looked past Aiden and bit her lower lip. "What if someone comes for Penny?"
Aiden's face hardened. "Then they'll just have to wait for you two to get back here. No one is taking her away, Rheia, not without you and Colton here," he promised.
"Thank you, Aiden," she said gratefully.
Aiden blushed. "She just grows on you. She already has all the unit warriors wrapped around her tiny finger," he admitted gruffly.
"She's very special," Rheia said leaning into Colton.
Colton turned to Aiden. "You guys head out. I think I want some more cinnamon rolls."
"Call us if you need us," Aiden said and the men left.
Rheia turned to Colton. "You can't possibly still be hungry."
He shook his head. "I'm not, but you should eat some more."
"I don't think I could eat right now, I'd probably throw it up."
"Just one more, you haven't eaten much," he pointed to her half eaten cinnamon roll.
Rheia popped the half-eaten roll into her mouth and chugged her coffee. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and turned to Colton. "Okay, ready."
Colton walked past her and placed three cinnamon rolls in a napkin.
"Colton, I'm fine."
"It's for my snack later, but since you're my mate, if you get hungry I'll share with you." His eyes were filled with sincerity.
Rheia accepted it for the act of affection it was. She knew that if Colton was willing to share his food, his feelings for her were real.
*****
Colton sat between Keelan and Sascha in the waiting area. Rheia was getting things set up in one of the examination rooms and said she would be calling the men back one at a time.
Colton leaned closer to Keelan. "What's a physical anyway?"
Keelan's face became thoughtful. "You know, I don't know. I just thought she'd take some blood or something, but if that were the case we wouldn't need an examination room." Keelan took out his phone and started tapping away at it.
Sascha leaned back and extended his legs out in front of him. "Maybe that's just how she's used to doing things."
They heard a banging and movement coming from the room two hallways down. Rheia was straightening the room after the ferals trashed it.
"Rheia, you okay?" Colton called out.
"Yeah! Just moving this cabinet; be done in a second," she yelled back.
Colton smiled and sat back. He knew his mate was on edge about Penny. He was determined to take her mind off her worries later. Even though she hadn't allowed him to claim her, the previous night had shaken him. He'd never had such an intense orgasm in his life, he was practically salivating at the thought of making her his.
"Umm ... Colton." Keelan whispered, his face bright red.
"Yeah?"
"I don't think this is right." Keelan's voice squeaked.
Colton noticed that the area around Keelan's mouth had become pale.
"What is it, buddy?" he asked.
Just then, Rheia stepped into the waiting area. "Okay Keelan, you're first."
Colton was shocked when Keelan actually whimpered and looked at him with stark fear in his eyes. Slowly the witch got to his feet and walked towards Rheia as if he were going to his death. When they disappeared around the corner, Colton started to feel uneasy.
He turned to Sascha. "Do you have your phone on you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Look up what a physical is."
Sascha shrugged and pulled out his phone. After a few moments, his cheeks were tinged pink.
Colton felt his mouth go dry. "What?"
Sascha turned and placed a steadying hand on Colton's shoulder. "Remember Colton, your mate is a doctor, she probably does this sort of thing all the time."
"What sort of thing?" he demanded.
Sascha opened his mouth to explain and then shut it. Wordlessly he just handed Colton his phone. Colton began to skim the article before he read something that made his canines surged through his gums. He threw Sascha's phone at him. "I'll kill him!" he growled and stood.
Sascha grabbed his shoulder. "It isn't personal Colton; she's just doing her job."
Colton walked down the hall towards the examination room practically dragging Sascha along behind him. They were almost to the door when they could hear the voices from inside the room.
"I don't think it's going to go in," Keelan said. Colton could hear the worry in his voice.
"Of course it will, that's what it's designed for."
Colton and Sascha froze, then leaned in closer to the door. Colton held his breath as images of medical devices floated through his mind.
"I think it's too big. Do you have anything that will grease it up?"
Colton turned to Sascha, whose horrified expression matched his own. What was his mate doing to Keelan?
"Okay, it's going in, just don't force it," Keelan said, sounding relieved.
"I've done this before; I know what I'm doing."
"Okay, I think something's wrong, it feels off."
"Seems okay to me."
"Ow! Dammit!" Keelan's sharp exclamation had Colton and Sascha jumping back.
"There, it's all the way in," Rheia said.
"That hurt," Keelan said, sounding dejected.
"It wasn't that bad."
"I have to admit, it looks a lot better. It will probably work a lot better too."
"I hope so; I plan to get a lot of use out of it."
Colton stared at the door as her words registered. He stepped back and kicked the door in. "Like fucking hell you will!" He snarled at Keelan, taking satisfaction in the way the blood drained from his face.
When he stepped into the room and looked around, he realized he had made a terrible mistake. Keelan was fully dressed, sucking on his finger and his mate were standing next to a cabinet, testing the top drawer by pulling it in and out. She hadn't been performing an exam, she had been fixing the drawer.
Fu
ck!
Keelan took one look at him and Colton could see the dawning realization as to what his conversation with Rheia must have sounded like. Without a word he raised the window and jumped out. Since they were on the ground floor Keelan didn't have very far to drop. Colton could see him running around to the front of the building and away from him as fast as he could.
Rheia turned to him shock and disbelief on her face. "What the ever loving fuck was that?"
Colton stepped back to stand next to Sascha; they looked at each other, then turned to look at Rheia.
"Nothing," They said together.
"You can't be here if you do stuff like this, Colton. I need to be able to do my job. Go back to the waiting room and eat your cinnamon rolls," she ordered. She then looked at Sascha. "You're next."
Sascha turned to Colton with a huge shit-eating grin. "Sure Doc, you can fix me up, too."
Without even blinking Colton punched him in the nose.
"Colton! Don't break them! I have to fix them!" she admonished with her hands on her hips.
Colton shrugged and glared at Sascha who was holding his bleeding nose, tilting his head back.
Sascha held up his other hand in surrender. "I deserved that one, Doc," he admitted, sounding nasally.
"Men! You!" She pointed to Colton. "Waiting room. Now. You need to be far enough away so that you can't hear what's being discussed. Haven't you ever heard of HIPAA?"
"Now that's being mean, baby, I know Sascha's a big boy, but he's a tiger, not a hippo," Colton said grinning.
"Out!" she yelled, pointing to the door.
Colton went to turn and leaned in close to the Gamma Unit leader. "You touch her, I'll kill you."
"I won't be touching her pup, she'll be touching me," Sascha teased.
Colton growled and walked out of the examination room. The bastard flipped him off and slammed the door in his face.
Grumbling he stalked back to the front and threw himself into a chair. Without saying anything to the men staring at him he picked up his snack from Rheia's bag and started munching on his cinnamon rolls.
"Um, Colton..." Colton looked up to see Keelan standing near the front entrance. He waved him over and when he sat down, offered him one of his cinnamon rolls.
"Sorry I growled at you."
"No worries, it must have sounded terrible from your side," Keelan admitted.
"It did."
They sat in silence eating their rolls.
Colton kept turning his head and staring down the hallway. He knew Rheia would never betray him, but the idea of her touching other males made his skin crawl. Savagely he bit into his last roll. The more he thought about Sascha's satisfied smirk they more pissed he became. Again, he knew Sascha would never even think about making a pass at Rheia, but he was in there with his mate, had her undivided attention and was being touched by her.
"Colton, you're growling again," Keelan whispered.
Colton looked over to Keelan and an idea began to form. He looked up and saw that most of the Gamma Unit were patiently waiting for their leader to come out, so that they could resume their patrol around the clinic.
"Hey, Keelan."
"Yeah?"
"Have any good revenge ideas?" Colton asked, his eyes flicking to Quinn, then down the hall to where Sascha was.
Keelan's eyes grew bright and he nodded, his own eyes turning to look at Quinn.
Colton knew that Quinn and Sascha were the ones responsible for turning the young witch purple right after Beth moved in. It looked like it was time Gamma was reminded why they were called the Alpha Unit.
CHAPTER TEN
"Okay, you're free to go. Try not to antagonize Colton on your way out."
Sascha grinned. "I make no promises. See ya later, Doc." He hopped down off the examination table and left the room.
Rheia shook her head. After Colton left, Sascha became the epitome of a perfect gentleman. It was good to know that the unit warriors in Lycaonia were as close as her brothers were at home. Thinking of Radek and the others, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed his number.
"Rei?" Radek answered on the first ring.
"Hey, Radek."
"Where in the fuck have you been? I have been waiting for a phone call for days!" he shouted.
Rheia pulled the phone away from her ear. She had meant to call him sooner, but it had been a hectic couple of days.
"I'm sorry, Radek, I found myself running for my life with my child to an unknown paranormal city where I discover I'm mated to a wolf of all things. Then there's been a break-in here at the clinic and now Penny's grandparents want custody, so I am really fucking sorry I didn't call sooner," Rheia ranted.
"You're mated to a wolf?" the disdain in his voice was clear.
"That's all you heard?"
"No, I heard everything else, of course, and we'll get to that in a second, but first I want to know who thinks they're good enough to be your mate."
"Colton Albright." Even saying his name made her smile.
"Shit, you've already fallen for him." Radek chuckled.
Rheia's mouth dropped. "What makes you say that?" she demanded.
"You should hear the way you say his name, you're a goner. We'll have to visit soon so I can show that pup exactly how loved you are and tell him exactly what will happen to him if he hurts you," he grumbled.
"She's mated to Colton?" she heard Levi ask in the background; evidently Radek had put her on speaker.
"Yup," Radek answered.
"I thought for sure she'd end up with a vampire," Marco chimed in.
"Guys, quiet!" Radek boomed. When he came back to her his voice was gentle. "Now, what is this about Penny?"
Rheia felt her throat close. "Oh Radek, I think I've made a horrible mistake. I wanted Penny to meet her family, if she had any here in Lycaonia, now they want custody." She made the mistake of sniffling.
"We can be there in five hours. Just say the word Rei," Radek promised.
"It takes at least eight to drive down here," she reminded him.
"No, it takes you eight hours to drive down there. It would take Athan five hours, especially after I tell him the clinic where you worked has had a break-in."
"What!" she heard the men's voices break out into chaos in the background. For a moment, the men were talking all at once, mostly saying they were coming to Lycaonia to kick someone's ass. She'd missed this. Suddenly she wondered how Colton would fit into their small family. She smiled, he was such a jokester he'd probably drive Radek crazy. It could be fun.
"Guys! I'm okay. Whoever it was stole a body. There's some crazy stuff happening here, I feel like I walked into the middle of something huge, but I don't have all the pieces to make heads or tails of it. It's frustrating," she confessed.
"Back to Penny. Unfortunately, the paperwork we forged is only valid in the human world, you're in Lycaonia now; her grandparents will have the upper hand. What's Colton doing about it? How is he with our Penny?" Radek asked.
"Colton's wonderful with her. You wouldn't recognize her Radek, she's smiling and bouncing around, and really coming out of her shell. I know it's because of Colton. He didn't hesitate for even a second to accept her as his own. He'll be just as devastated if we lose Penny," she swallowed hard feeling a knot in her throat. She took a breath and continued. "He's letting Aiden's father deal with it, I think he may be important here."
There was silence on the other end of the phone. "Did you say Aiden's father, as in Byron McKenzie?" Radek asked.
"Yeah, Colton and Aiden are childhood friends, Colton asked Aiden to be Penny's Athair, so Byron's doing everything he can for Aiden, if that makes sense."
"Holy shit! The McKenzies are the closest thing you can get to shifter royalty, if we had royalty. She couldn't have better men looking out for her." Radek's voice sounded awestruck.
"You sound unusually impressed, Radek."
"It's because of Commander McKenzie, the older one," Levi called out in the background.
/> "Older one?" she asked thoroughly confused.
"Byron McKenzie, Aiden's father, used to be the Unit Commander before his son took over. Most of us who volunteered to be in Vanguard served under him. I've heard that his son is just as fair and honorable as his father," Radek said.
"So what do you know about Colton?" She felt bad about asking, but she valued their opinions.
"If Aiden is the crown prince, Colton would be the court jester," Marco called out, laughing.
Radek chuckled. "There's more to that wolf than meets the eye. He acts like the laid back Lothario so most people drop their defenses around him. I think he's played the good cop to Aiden's bad cop for so long he doesn't even realize he does it anymore. But I will tell you this, he's good, very good. He's the second highest ranked shifter in all of the units for a reason."
Rheia knew what Radek said was true; she had caught enough glimpses of Colton's wolf behind his eyes to know he wasn't as easy going as he let on.
"You got quiet, kiddo, all jokes aside, is he treating you right?" Radek asked.
Rheia answered without hesitation. "Yes. He's even agreed to wait to claim me."
"Ouch." Radek hissed.
"What?"
"Rheia, honey, I'm sure he didn't tell you, but that will be very hard on him. Every instinct in his body is screaming at him to claim you. He must have extraordinary self control." There was a degree of admiration in Radek's voice that hadn't been there before.
"Wait, I'm causing him pain?" Rheia felt ill.
Radek hesitated. "Yes and no. You have every right to ask him to wait, but in honoring that request, Colton is under a certain amount of mental and physical duress. Whatever you do, don't sleep with him."
"Why?" she asked suspiciously.
"Shit, you've slept with him already, haven't you?"
"Yes. I can't seem to keep my hands off of him," she admitted.
"Poor bastard," Dax murmured in the background.
"What? What did I do?" Rheia asked frantically.
Radek exhaled loudly. She could just imagine him pinching the bridge of his nose. "Pumpkin Dumpling, having sex with you and not claiming you would be like teasing someone for hours on end and not letting them orgasm."