The Mating Project (20 page)

"Hands off
the prisoner, miss," the stoic guard told her, and Maria's cat hissed at
the bear.

"Malachi
isn't a prisoner. He's my mate, and he just saved my mother’s and my lives. Let
him go, damn you."

"I've got
my orders, miss."

"And I'll revoke
them. This is my house. You heard my daughter. Let the man go." Her
father's voice came to her rescue, and Maria breathed a sigh of relief when
Malachi's arms pulled her in close.

Silas, too,
appeared at her back, and, cocooned by her mates, she let the tears fall.

****

A heavy silence
sat on the room as they waited for news. Maria's father had taken charge after
the kitchen incident. He hadn't looked at Maria once, but he hadn't tried to
pry her away from Silas and Malachi either. Even now she sat between them,
clutching one hand each. Malachi had cleaned up somewhat, having borrowed one
of Carter's shirts of all things, whilst Silas had explained who they were.

He had charmed
her mother instantly, and her eyes had grown wide when he'd pulled down his
shirt and had shown both her parents Maria's mark on his shoulder.

Maria had
stiffened her shoulders against the rebuke she'd been expecting, but her mother
had simply pulled an
embarrassed
looking Silas in for
a hug, and her father had sniffed him and nodded.

Her father’s eyes
had narrowed, and he'd surprised them all by turning round to a shouting Anton
and telling him to
shut the fuck up.

The cougar
shifter had rallied against the two guards holding him down, but he'd been no
match for the two bears.

"You can't
talk to me like that. You, a mere councilor, should be bowing at my knees that
I'm willing to take your whoring daughter off your hands."

Malachi had shot
off his feet ready to do some more damage, but her father had stopped him.

"You lay
another hand on him, you'll be arrested. If you care about my daughter, you
stay out of this, and
you,
De Souza,
I remind you again, this is my
house,
and original or
not, the rules apply to you, too. As of this moment I revoke any prior claim
you might have had on my daughter, and I ban you from my house.
You as much as come within a few feet of my territorial lines, I'll
claim the ancient blood rites, and my boys and I will hunt you down."
He turned away from a spitting De Souza. "Now remove that scum from my
property, please, guards."

Carter and Jake
had growled their agreement, and De Souza had finally shut up. The bear
shifters had bundled him out of the house, and they had all been prisoners in
their own house since then.

De Souza could
not touch them on her father's lands, but he was gathering his cronies and his
influence to further denounce all their names. Maria was desperate to see Emmi.
The human had come through surgery all right, and her little boy was making
good progress in special care, but her life still hung in the balance, and that
meant Cole Jackson hadn't left her side.

Without his
influence they were stuck, and it was slowly driving everyone ‘round the bend.

"Tea,
anyone?"
Her mother's voice broke the silence, and Maria shook her head.

Silas sighed and
stood up to take a cup of the fragrant brew of Judith.

"You know,
my mother always used to say a good cup of tea cured all ills." Silas
shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "I'm not sure it does, but I did
develop a liking for tea."

Smile, little cat, it will be okay.

His voice in her
head did kick her lips up a bit.

Call that a smile, baby? You'll turn the milk sour
in my cup.

Get out of my head, Silas.

No, I rather like it there. Shame wolf boy can’t
hear us. He knows we're talking. Look at that scowl.

This time Maria
did have to laugh, because Malachi was indeed scowling. He bared his teeth at
Silas, and the human threw his head up in mock horror.

Oooh
, look the scary
wolf look
.
Should I run away frightened?

Perhaps you should.

Her mother's tea
cup clattered to the floor, and the sound made them all jump.

"Gunnar,
they're talking to each other. Look."

Finally she catches on. I know she's your mum, but
seriously, talk about blonde.

Oy
,
you, that's my mum you're talking about.

Silas took
another sip of tea and winked at her. Her father frowned and for the first time
since the incident looked at her.

"That's
impossible." He stepped closer and sniffed Silas again, and Malachi's wolf
growled.

"Quit sniffing
him, cougar. He's not a damn dog."

Oh, and
wolfie
has finally
caught up. I swear that cougar must have hit him too hard.

Silas, what are you playing at?

Making a point, little cat.
Just making a point.

Silas whistled
in seeming nonchalance, and Malachi shot out of his seat and stepped between
Silas and her father.

"Look,
wolf. I appreciate that you saved my daughter's life…" Gunnar Anderson
looked pained, and he balled his hands into fists. "Twice now, and she
seems to think you're her mate, but you haven't claimed her, and this is none
of your concern."

"That's
where you're wrong, Anderson," Malachi said.

Her father's
cougar rose up, and her brothers, too, jumped to their feet. Maria would have
intervened, but her mother and Anastasia stopped her as the men's animals
growled at each other.

"Let them. They
need to hash this out."

One of the
triplets chose that moment to wake up, and Anastasia scooped the little boy up
and handed him to Maria.

"Here, look
after your cousin, lest you decide to do something stupid. His sister will no
doubt demand my … there you go, it's feeding time. Let me sort her out while
you and mum hold the boys."

Sure enough the
third baby woke up, too, and Maria's mum cradled him while Anastasia fed the
little girl.

Carter and Jake glanced
across, their attention momentarily diverted, and Carter's eyes narrowed when
Silas took the little boy out of Maria's shaking arms and expertly moved him up
to his shoulder.

The little
fellow gave an almighty burp and then snuggled into Silas's shoulder with a
yawn. Carter and Jake relaxed and grinned at each other, and some of the
tension left her father's frame, as he, too, watched Silas with the baby.

"So what
you reckon our chances are of getting one of these for ourselves, eh wolf
boy?" Silas nudged Malachi in the back, and Maria held her breath. You
could have heard a pin drop in the room, as the nature of the men's
relationship seemed to dawn on them all.

Malachi glared
at Silas and then sought Maria's gaze, and his forbidding features softened.

"Guess that
depends on our girl."

 
He held out his arm, and Maria all but flew
into his embrace.

"Well, I'll
be fucked." Jake's exclamation earned him a reproof from their mother, and
Carter shook his head.

"Seriously,
Maria, you don't do things by half, do you."

The only one who
hadn’t said anything yet was her father, and Maria's insides churned. If he
rejected them all now it was as good as a death sentence for them all.

"Gunnar,
let it go. Just look at them. Really look at them."

Her mother's
voice held the trace of tears, and Maria, too, choked them back as her father
approached.

"Is this
what you truly want, Maria?" he asked.

"Yes, Dad,
it is. I love them both, and they love me and each other. I know it's a lot to
take in, and I didn't plan this to hurt you or to rebel or anything like that,
but Malachi and Silas are my mates."

Her father
seemed to age several years in front of her eyes, and he shut his eyes and
mumbled what sounded suspiciously like a prayer under his breath, before he
held out his hand to a startled looking Malachi.

"Welcome to
the family, then, son." A fleeting grin crossed his features, as he shook
Malachi's hand and then Silas's. "Or should that be sons?" he asked,
and Silas laughed.

"I promise
we'll look after her. These two hotheads need me to keep from killing each
other."

Another small
crack appeared in her father's stern façade, and he opened his arms to Maria.
The soothing scent of home hit her as she stepped into his embrace, and with it
the hope that somehow this would all work out.

"This won’t
be easy. There is still the small matter of De Souza."

Maria tensed,
and her father hugged her tight, before he released her.

"I owe you
an apology for the way I pushed you together, Maria, and I owe you one, too,
son." He glanced at Malachi, and he nodded just once.

"You did what you thought right in
the circumstances. Had I been in your shoes, I'm not sure I wouldn't have done
the same."

Her father's eyes
widened,
and Maria could sense his grudging respect for the other man.

"With your permission, Councilor, I
do have a solution to the De Souza problem, one I wanted to initiate a week ago
and was persuaded against."

An ice cold fist squeezed around Maria's
heart, but before she could say or do anything, Silas pulled her against his
hard body. Dimly aware of Carter stepping up and taking his son off of the
human, she heard Silas in her head.

Let
him do this, little cat. He needs to, and he's right. It's the only solution
now.

"And this
is?" her father asked.

"I challenge him to a duel to the
death."

Chapter
Fifteen

Malachi's wolf whined at the distress
his words caused Maria, but they had to be said. Silas squeezed his shoulder
from behind in a silent gesture of support, giving him the strength to carry
on.

"I know you'll be in possession of
the evidence I've amassed against De Souza by now. The man has been abusing his
position as head of the Mating Project for years now. He's been selling all of
us out and damaging the bloodlines instead of helping to preserve them. No
wonder the fucking man is loaded and thinks he can get away with murder. He's
had a lucrative sideline in shifter trafficking all these years. It makes me
sick to the fucking stomach to think how he abused his position as an original,
and to know that my father was his willing accomplice. He hunted the females
down and brought them to De Souza. The night Maria was caught was one of those
damn hunts. It's rather fitting that he got killed in the process."

Malachi's wolf growled his agreement,
and Silas's hold on his shoulder tightened, soothing his agitated beast. It
felt good to finally get this all off his chest.

"The fucker expected me to just
fall in line, and I told him then that I would have no part in any of this
shit. Being an original gives no one the right to act as though the rules don’t
apply to them. No one would have believed me back then, so I had to leave, to
protect your daughter, to clear my name, and to bring the asshole to
justice."

He glanced back at Maria and was
rewarded with a watery smile.

"Despite appearances I didn't just
leave. I daresay half the council still doesn't believe a word I have to say,
despite the evidence I've amassed over the years. Silas handed it all to Cole
Jackson, and the bear shifter was looking into it, before all this mess
happened. As far as I know procedure every council member will have received
copies of the documentation by now?"

Gunnar nodded just once.

"They have, but I'm afraid your
assessment is spot on. It's your word against his. You're the criminal in this,
and always will be, regardless of the way De Souza behaved at the gathering, or
indeed in the past."

Maria's furious growl behind him made
him love her even more. She was always willing to step in and protect those she
loved, but he was her mate. It was his duty to protect her, and this way she
would be safe. Even if he died in this duel, the slate would be swept clean,
and Silas and she would be able to continue their lives together in peace, and
with the full blessing and support of her family. He wanted to see the two of
them safe above all else. His life wasn't important in this.

"I'm aware of that, but I'm an
original, too. Ostracized or not, it is my right to call out another original
in duel. The fates will decide who
lives,
and the
matter will be settled."

"No, you can't. Tell him Daddy. He
can't do that."