Three Mates, One Destiny (3 page)

Marcus must’ve smelled the same thing as he rushed forward with no caution whatsoever. Sebastian cursed and hastened after the other man. They’d both been taught to save innocents when they could, and this person, whoever he was, seemed to be the victim of a feral.

Marcus knelt on the dirty pavement and wiped the grime off the stranger’s face. A pale, young face appeared from beyond the filth, the beautiful features marred by agony. He looked so quite young, and he’d suffered from the attack of a feral.

“It’s okay,” Marcus whispered. “We’re here to help.”

Marcus took off his jacket and wrapped it around the young man.

“Tell me, what’s your name?”

“Ross,” the victim answered weakly.

“All right, Ross,” Marcus said. “We’ll take you to a hospital.”

“I don’t have any money,” Ross somehow managed to say.

Marcus predictably ignored him and took the boy in his arms.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sebastian said. “We’ll take care of it. Don’t worry.”

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The pursuit for the ferals would have to wait. First, they needed to take care of the young man who’d somehow ended up a casualty of a war not his own.

Since their appearance in the world, spirit wolves had established support bases in most of the large cities in the world. Chicago didn’t represent an exception. Even if it was quite a distance away from their home, they could still find a clinic here to take care of Ross.

They headed out of the alley and toward their car. The sight of the vehicle reminded Sebastian of his frustration with Marcus. “You should have stayed here, Marcus,” he told the other spirit wolf. “I could’ve taken care of this myself.”

“Well, I couldn’t know that if I didn’t come with you, right?”

Marcus shot back.

They glared at each other, and Sebastian looked away first.

Sometimes, Marcus’s eyes saw far too much. Seeing Ross there, on the ground, covered in blood, reminded Sebastian of another day, when he had been the one to kneel next to Marcus’s bloody body.

He’d thought Marcus would die for sure, but through some miracle, or rather, because of their leader’s help, the other man pulled through.

The memories still lingered, though, forever at the forefront of Sebastian’s mind. Marcus was not only Sebastian’s partner and best friend, but also his mate, the other half of his soul. Sebastian had been against Marcus even coming back to work, but his mate insisted he couldn’t rest any longer, lest he go insane.

Marcus’s soft voice reached out to him. “Bastian… I’m fine now, really I am. You don’t have to worry about me anymore.”

Sebastian grunted, acknowledging the words without having a real reply for it. He needed to focus on their current task, not on his personal problems with Marcus. But as they left the alley, Sebastian realized his first impression had been both true and false. Even in the clear air, Ross smelled like feral, and his state seemed to be worsening.

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Sebastian scanned what little he could see of Ross’s skin, until at last, his eyes fell on the young man’s shoulder. An ugly bite lay there, hidden under the grime. It looked infected, and Sebastian knew it would only get worse from there.

“Ah, fuck,” he and Marcus said at the same time.

Marcus hastened the pace even as he tried to get Ross’s attention.

“Ross, listen to me. Can you hear me?”

Ross moaned, but cracked his eyes open. “What? Yes, I can hear you.”

“Okay, good. Can you tell us what happened? It’s very important that you do.”

For a few seconds, Ross didn’t speak. When he finally did, the words came out in bursts, weak and almost incoherent. “A man… He said he’d give me money. I didn’t want to, but I was hungry, so hungry.”

Sebastian cursed under his breath. He hated having to make Ross relive the experience, but they needed to know what they could expect.

“We came here. I agreed to…with my mouth…” Tears streamed down Ross’s cheeks now, and his body trembled. “I can’t… I’m sorry. I can’t.”

“It’s all right, Ross,” Marcus said. “Don’t think about it anymore.

You’ve said enough.”

Sebastian nodded at his friend. They’d have to wait until Ross recovered a bit to figure out who’d done this. Hopefully, then, they would manage to piece together what Ross hadn’t told them.

* * * *

Anger swelled inside Marcus, hot and bright. Ross had been bitten by a feral. Marcus himself suffered from a serious injury after such an attack, and he knew how horrible it could be. The wounds had threatened his life, in spite of his spirit wolf nature. The advanced
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healing abilities helped him heal in the end, but Ross didn’t have such luck. How much had this human suffered at the hands of the ferals?

Would Ross even be able to survive?

Marcus didn’t smell death on him, but his state would only deteriorate from this point on. Many of the humans bitten by ferals didn’t live through the infection. And even if Ross did manage to defeat the physical wounds, his ordeal would cause him to turn into one of the things that hurt him in the first place.

For Marcus and Sebastian, the issue represented a humongous problem. They were hunters. They killed ferals, weeding the savage beasts out, ensuring they didn’t pollute their kin even more. What would they do now, with this feral offspring in their grasp?

Together with his mate, Marcus entered the car. Sebastian got behind the wheel, while Marcus took the backseat with Ross. The young man lost consciousness, and Marcus knew they needed to find medical attention as soon as possible, or there might not be anything left to save.

But where could they go? Their clinics would not receive a feral.

In fact, if they even considered bringing Ross there, the other spirit wolves would just kill Ross and be done with it. Hell, he and Sebastian should have done it. Even doubting went against their rules.

The letter of the law clearly instructed them to show no mercy to the ferals. All those who didn’t agree would be punished. But Ross was so damned young. He didn’t deserve this.

“This is so fucked up,” Sebastian growled. “We can’t let him die.”

Marcus nodded, his mate’s emotions blending with his own. He knew his near death put a great strain on the other man, and he seemed a step away from snapping. Marcus feared for him, and for this reason, he’d come with Sebastian, managing to convince the Magistrate to reinstate him as a hunter.

He and Sebastian had been together forever, ever since they’d been pups. For Marcus, Sebastian meant more than his own family.

Unfortunately, it was Marcus’s kin who kept him from revealing their
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mating to the spirit wolf society. So much time had passed, and yet his parents refused to accept Sebastian among them.

Marcus wouldn’t have cared, except Sebastian decided to lay low and keep their mating to themselves. At first, it hurt, but then Marcus understood it was no one’s business but theirs. Their leader, Wolfram Rozenstadt, probably suspected, and Marcus might have to tell him soon. But other than that, he didn’t care about what other people thought of him.

On occasion, his and Sebastian’s opinions clashed, but this time, Marcus couldn’t agree more. They couldn’t abandon Ross to his fate.

As they considered their options, Marcus’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He retrieved it and stared at the display in disbelief. Why would the Magistrate be calling them? Marcus only had Wolfram’s number because of the incident in Trier, the mission to watch over Wolfram’s mates which led him to be injured. He’d never once used it, and he wouldn’t have dared to do so now.

Hesitantly, Marcus took the call. “Hello, My Lord,” he greeted the Magistrate.

“Greetings, Marcus. I’ll get right to the point. You’ve found a young man bitten by a feral.”

It wasn’t a question, but a statement. Marcus froze, not knowing what to say or do. Sure, he’d been aware of his leader’s powers, but he’d never witnessed its direct results before. For crying out loud, they’d only just run into Ross five minutes ago. “Y–Yes, My Lord.”

“You will take him to the Hart compound. Doctor Andrew Blunt will be waiting there for you. Now go to the airport. I will make arrangements for an aircraft to be at your disposal.”

Marcus couldn’t help but be awed. His leader always went out of his way to try and help every injured human. He understood and appreciated Wolfram’s concern. After all, they all bore the blame for each and every human death. In the end, the ferals originated from spirit wolves, twisting the pure nature of their original race into
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something entirely different. If anything, he felt thankful Wolfram understood and supported them.

“Thank you, My Lord,” he told The Magistrate. “We will go there at once.”

“Contact me once you land at the Hart compound. Good-bye.”

Wolfram ended the connection, and Marcus was left staring at the cell phone in disbelief. The revving of the engine snapped him out of his daze. “I guess we’re heading toward the airport then,” Sebastian said.

Marcus put his cell phone back in his pocket. “Go. We need to hurry.”

As Sebastian drove off, Marcus held onto Ross’s feverish body, caressing the human’s hair. He desperately hoped they’d reach the Hart compound in time and Doctor Blunt would be able to help them.

If not, Marcus himself might be forced to kill Ross.

* * * *

Paulie chewed on the pencil end as he took in the information in the book in front of him. Data formed a picture in his head, making him see beyond the boundaries of his current possibilities. Chemistry and medicine had always been his passion, particularly on the veterinarian branch. He’d been blessed with a father very gifted in science who mentored him in everything he needed to know. More so, in the past years, he’d seen and done things other scholars could have only dreamed of.

Seven years back, his dad, Drew, met Trent Hart and Valerius D’Averam. It turned out the two of them were spirit wolves and Drew’s mates. Paulie ended up living at the Hart compound, with his dad. At one point, he’d begun to think of Trent and Valerius as two more fathers. It was a strange existence to say the least, but Paulie had no complaints. He loved studying the feral virus that caused so much
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damage among the spirit wolves and ached to find a cure for it. Here, he’d also found a family and friends who cared about him.

But in the past month or so, Paulie had begun to feel restless. He couldn’t explain it, but often times, he found his mind wandering.

Where, he himself didn’t know, but it bothered him. He no longer managed to focus on his job. So many people depended on him and his father, and he was letting them all down.

They’d come up with a serum that helped ferals fight the virus, but the battle wasn’t over. The Magistrate ordered testing it on feral prisoners, something both Paulie and his dad hated. The serum seemed to be working, but the side effects weren’t encouraging. The treated men started to have suicidal tendencies, and some became insane beyond their feral nature. Paulie suspected they couldn’t withstand the memory of what they’d done during the time they’d been sick. Paulie couldn’t help them with their memories, and it broke his heart to hear their tortured screams.

He snapped out of his musings when he heard the door open.

Drew came in. The moment Paulie saw him, he knew something had happened. To most people, Drew looked perpetually unruffled, but Paulie could see beyond the façade. He noticed the hurt and dismay Drew felt whenever they failed to help someone. Lately, it appeared more and more due to their combined inability to aid the treated ferals. “What happened?” Paulie asked his dad. “Did someone get hurt downstairs?”

Downstairs
represented their code word for the area holding the ferals prisoners. Much to Paulie’s surprise, Drew shook his head.

“We’ve received word from Wolfram. Sebastian Morrigan and Marcus Deacon found an injured human. He’s been bitten.”

Paulie’s eyes widened and he shot to his feet. “You can’t mean…

Dad, the serum isn’t ready! You saw the side effects. We can’t use it as treatment, not yet.”

“I know that,” Drew replied bitingly. “Don’t panic. Wolfram left it up to us if we use it or not. But you know the situation as well as I
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do. Once a human is infected, he or she doesn’t have much chance of fighting the virus.”

Paulie gave his father an apologetic look. It wasn’t his dad’s fault for any of this. They were both trying their best. It just seemed that the only cure for the virus lay in the bond between three mates. No matter what Paulie and Drew attempted, they simply couldn’t replicate it in the lab.

“Sorry, Dad,” Paulie said. “I’m a bit edgy. We’ll see what happens when they bring him in.”

He paused, recalling the names his father had mentioned.

“Sebastian and Marcus? Are they those guys you met at the Magistrate’s mating celebration?”

Drew nodded. “Marcus is a nice guy, among the few who didn’t treat me like crap. I don’t know what to think about Sebastian. He was a bit standoffish. At any rate, it doesn’t matter. You’ll meet them yourself soon enough.”

Paulie couldn’t help but feel nervous. Even if he’d gotten used to the world of the spirit wolves, he remained painfully shy and preferred sticking to his test tubes rather than going out to meet people. The staff at the compound no longer made him uncomfortable, but once in a while, they received a visitor, and Paulie’s comfortable cocoon was shattered. In truth, he’d gotten better at it as of late, and he couldn’t explain the sudden increase in anxiety.

“You all right, kiddo?” his dad asked.

Paulie nodded. “Fine. Don’t worry about it.” It was probably just the stress getting to him.

Drew didn’t look very convinced, but he let it go. “Come on. Let’s prepare the equipment for when the patient comes.” He frowned and squinted at Paulie. “Wait… Is that a gray hair?”