Blind Acceptance (24 page)

He tightened his arms. “It might not be safe for you to go down there right now.

Give Eric a chance to see what’s going on.”

“Why wouldn’t it be safe for me and it’s okay for Eric?”

David felt his anger building.

“Because the men were here to kill you.”

Laynee froze. “Did they say that?”

David sighed. “The one I caught hasn’t said anything, yet, but I caught him breaking into the room you were supposed to be sleeping in.” Laynee leaned back against his chest, wringing her hands. “Don’t worry, love. We’re gonna keep you safe.”

“Just tell me the truth, David. I can handle anything as long as you don’t lie to me.”

He smoothed the hair away from her face. “I’m not gonna lie to you. I’ll tell you everything as soon as Eric joins us.”

Laynee nodded, leaned back, and closed her eyes, breathing in and out deeply.

A couple of minutes later, Eric came through the door. “They’re fine. Our visitors went to their rooms first and tied them up.”

“Did they hurt them?” she asked.

“No, honey. I wasn’t lying. Both of them are fine. They didn’t even knock them out. They wore masks so they didn’t have to worry about anyone identifying them. Maysie and Edward both said they held a gun on them and tied them up and gagged them.”

“How did they get in?” Laynee asked.

Eric scratched his head. “I don’t know. I checked all the doors and windows on the ground floor, and nothing was broken. It almost seems like they had a key.”

Edward stepped into the room. “They had more than a key, sir.”

“What do you mean, Edward?” asked David.

“I checked the alarm to see if they disabled it. Apparently, they had the code to turn it off.”

“Are you sure?”

“I set the alarm myself, every night, religiously. It was the last thing Mr.

Weathers asked me every night. I know I set it last night after Mr. David came back from his long walk. When I checked it just now, it was green, which means it accepted the code and disarmed.”

“How would they get the code?”

Laynee asked. “Do you keep it somewhere written down?”

“No, Miss. I’ve never needed to write it down. To make it easy on me, your grandfather used my birth date as the code.”

“Then how?”

Edward looked down at his feet.

“Perhaps someone gave it to them.”

Laynee froze. “My father.”

Edward cleared his throat. “I noticed you have one of the men trussed up in the hall. Would you like me to phone the police?”

David shook his head. “Not yet. I wanna talk to him first. Maybe he’ll tell us what we need to know to put a stop to everything.” He glanced at Laynee and then up at Edward. “Would you give us some time, Edward?”

He gave a little bow. “Certainly, sir. I think I’ll go and make a large pot of coffee. I’ve heard that policemen love to drink coffee.”

David chuckled as the older man shut the door. “That man is a treasure. You definitely want to hang onto him, no matter what you do.”

Laynee crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re stalling. What is it you want to tell me?”

He sighed. “There’s something you need to know about Eric and me.”

Laynee squirmed. “Let me down.”

He tightened his arms. “Why?”

“If we’re gonna have a serious conversation, and this sounds serious, then I wanna be sitting on my own so I can think clearly.”

David looked at Eric and loosened his arms.

Eric pulled another chair close to the bed. “Here’s a chair for you, love. I’ll sit here on the bed and we’ll all be comfortable.”

She moved to the chair and nodded.

“Go ahead.”

David looked at Eric and shrugged.

“Eric and I come from a very special family.”

“Special how?”

He took a deep breath. “We’re not entirely human.”

Laynee snorted, reached over, and smacked his arm. “You scared the life out of me. I thought you were being serious like you were gonna tell me you were leaving or something.”

“I’m not joking with you, Laynee.”

Her mouth fell open, and her hands tightened on the arms of the chair.

“Do you remember the dog that found you in the forest right after you woke up?” Eric asked.

“Of course. He was huge and probably a stray. He didn’t have a collar. Hey, what happened to that dog that was here before? Maybe he got in when the bad guys left the door open.”

Eric took her hand. “That was me, love. Just like it was me, here in this room, a while ago.”

She pulled her hand away. “What are you saying?”

“We come from a long line of shifters,” David said.

“What’s a shifter? I never heard of such a thing.”

Eric reached for her hand again. “Our race shares our souls and our bodies with an animal. Mine is a timber wolf. I can become the wolf, or be a man, whichever I prefer.”

“You became a wolf, not a dog, right here in this room.”

“Yeah, I did. I heard the noise in the hall, and my wolf felt you were in danger, so he forced a shift in order to protect you better.”

“This is ridiculous. The two of you must think I’m an idiot.” She got to her feet. “If you wanted out of the relationship all you had to do was say good-bye. I wouldn’t have tried to hold onto you if you wanted out.”

David grabbed her arm. “Wait, damn it. Can’t you give us a chance to prove what we’re telling you?”

“I suppose you’re gonna tell me you’re a wolf, too.”

“No,” David said. “I’m not a wolf.”

Laynee sneered. “Right.”

“I’m a Kodiak bear.”

Laynee’s brows shot up as she dropped down onto the chair. For a moment she just sat there. “You can prove this to me?”

David nodded at Eric. “Go ahead and show her.” He took Laynee’s arm. “Put your hand on his shoulder and keep it there so you know we’re telling you the truth.” Eric stood and stripped off his pants.

“What’s he doing?” she asked.

“I’m taking my clothes off. They don’t shift with me, so it’s easier to take them off first.”

She frowned. “I remember the sound of material tearing earlier.”

Eric nodded. “I was in a hurry and didn’t take off my jeans. They’re history now.”

David pressed her hand against Eric’s back and nodded. Eric started the change. David felt the air shift as his brother’s bones began to pop and reshape. They vibrated under Laynee’s hands as he transformed. His face elongated, turning into a muzzle, while hair sprung freely over his changing body. Laynee’s breath was coming faster as he dropped to the floor, his arms and legs changing to support his lupine body.

The whole process took less than a minute. When it was over, David released his grip on her hand and watched as she stroked down Eric’s muscular back.

“Is it really Eric?”

“Yeah, honey, it’s him. He’s almost three feet high at the shoulders and six and a half feet long including his tail.

I’m guessing he weighs in at around a hundred and twenty-five pounds, give or take.”

“Can he understand me? Does he know who I am?”

“He’s perfectly cognizant in his wolf form. In fact, he’s even more protective of you in this form. Remember you said that it almost felt like we had duel personalities? You were probably sensing our animals. Wolves, the same as bears, mate for life.”

She stroked her hand down his back.

“What are you talking about?” She squealed when the fur beneath her hand turned into warm flesh.

Eric changed quickly and grabbed her hand. “Laynee, love, you’re my mate.”

David took her other hand. “You’re also my mate, Laynee.”

She shook her head as if in a daze.

“What exactly do you mean?”

Eric kissed her palm. “Fate gives us one mate, one soul mate, if you will. A person that’s perfect for us in every way.

Once we find that mate, we’ll do anything to protect them and keep them happy for the rest of our very long lives.”

“How can I be a mate to both of you?

By your own admission, one of you is a wolf and the other you said was a bear.”

David kissed her hand. “We’re not sure why Fate gave us the same mate, but you’re definitely mine as well. My bear knew before I did.”

“Maybe it’s because we were raised as brothers,” Eric said.

“You were raised as brothers because Latan, Ethan, and Kitania took you from the home. Are they shifters, too?”

“Yes, our whole family is,” said David. “Our folks are wonderful people that thought they couldn’t have children of their own, so they took in a bunch of us boys and gave us a home filled with love and acceptance.”

“Are they wolves or bears?”

David laughed. “Our fathers are wolves, but our mother is part wolf and part feline. When she shifts, she’s a small, black house cat.”

Eric leaned forward. “Our brothers include a wolf, a hawk, and a coyote.”

“I thought there were six of you.”

David nodded. “After all the years of adopting, my mom finally got pregnant and had a baby girl. Rennia takes after both our fathers and mother. She can shift into a wolf or a cat, whichever she prefers.”

Laynee shook her head. “This is too unbelievable. I feel like I’m gonna wake up any minute and find out I’ve been dreaming. Your family must have some really interesting get-togethers.”

David took her hands. “You’re not dreaming, love. You’re our mate, and if you accept us, we’ll spend the rest of our lives making you happy.”

She frowned. “Earlier you said your
long
lives. How old are you guys?”

David laughed. “I’m thirty-seven, and Eric’s thirty-five.”

“That’s not so old.”

“No, it’s not,” Eric, said. “But we live a lot longer than humans.”

“How much longer?”

David shrugged. “It’s not uncommon for a shifter to live a couple hundred years, although we never look that old.

Once mated, a shifter’s aging process slows remarkable. We don’t show our age until we’re very old.”

“So what happens when I die off and you’ve only gone through half your life?

Do you find another mate?”

“No, it’s not necessary.” David kissed her fingers. “Once you mate with us, your aging will change to match ours.

We’ll be together for a lifetime of love and happiness.”

“I don’t understand. What do you mean, when we mate? I thought you said we’re already mates.”

“We know you’re our mate, but to make it official, Eric and I have to give you a mating bite.”

Laynee shuddered. “You wanna bite me?”

Eric scooted closer to her chair. “It’s only painful for a second, and then it’s very pleasurable. At least that’s what we’ve been told. Neither of us has been mated before.”

“We do it during sex,” David explained. “That way we can distract you from the initial pain, and then you don’t feel anything but enhanced pleasure.”

She cocked her head. “Where do you bite me?”

Eric placed his hand on her neck.

“Right here, where your neck meets your shoulder.”

“And mine would be in the exact same place on the other side.”

Laynee stood and walked away. “I really am dreaming. This has to be the strangest dream I’ve ever had.”

David groaned. “You’re not dreaming, woman. You’re ours and we can’t just walk away.”

Her head came up, and she made her way back to her chair. “You have to bite me to make me your mate. Is that right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Eric ran his hand over her head. “I promise we won’t hurt you.”

“If you bite me, will it make me one of you? Would I become a shifter and be able to turn into an animal?” She leaned forward in her chair. “Could becoming a shifter cure my blindness?”

David suppressed a groan and closed his eyes. When he opened them, Eric’s eyes were filled with anguish. He took her hand and watched as Eric took the other one, pressing a kiss against her knuckles. “I’d give my soul to be able to tell you that our bite would give you back your sight, but it can’t.”

“What our bite can do is slow your aging so you live and enjoy the same lifespan as us, and you’ll find your injuries will heal a little faster. You won’t even get sick as much. You might become a little faster, and your hearing and sense of smell will improve, but we can’t give you back what you don’t already have.”

“Laynee, we wanna spend our life with you, but it has to be something you want as well. We’d never force you. But I have to tell you, I’m already one hundred percent in love with you.”

“That goes for me, too, Laynee.” Eric kissed her hand. “I love you more than I ever thought possible. You’re the first thing I wanna see every morning and the last thing I wanna touch before I go to sleep at night. I wanna make a life with you.”

“I…oh, God…I love you, too, both of you. I never thought I’d get a chance to love anyone, the way my father kept me locked away. Having the two of you in love with me is like having every wish I ever made come true all at once.” She reached out a hand to both men. “I wanna be your mate, but I don’t know what to do.”

David grinned and kissed her palm.

“You don’t have to do anything, love.

We’ll take you to bed and make love to you at the same time. Then, at the right moment, we’ll both bite your shoulder, and you’ll be ours from then on.”