inside, put the door down, and shut off the engine.
Turning to look at Chance, Jes said, “This is by far the strangest thing that has ever happened to me, but I don’t care. The only thing I care about right now is never seeing Danika in that much pain again. When she’s shifted and not in pain any longer, then we can talk about what our relationship means. When that’s settled, we’ll deal with the joining of our two groups together behind the safety of the compound’s walls.”
Chance felt a weight slide off his shoulders. Jes was offering to bring the pride into the compound. He knew that his father would gladly go wherever Chance needed to be to take care of his mate, and the simple fact that they had not found a permanent place to live yet made it seem as if he, too, had been waiting for Danika’s arrival.
“Fate’s a funny thing,” Chance said as he opened the passenger door and maneuvered himself and Danika out of the truck.
“Right? With a warped sense of humor.”
The moment that Jes opened the door into the house, Danika began to wake slowly. Her beautiful face tightened with pain, and small anguished noises came from her parted lips.
“I’ll give you the grand tour tomorrow,” Jes said, pressing a few buttons on a keypad next to the door leading out to the garage and arming a security system.
With long strides, Jes headed towards a grand staircase and Chance followed right behind him. Danika was still out of it, but she was definitely waking up from whatever drug Shaylee had given to her.
On the second floor, Jes turned down a hallway and walked to the end where a set of carved double doors stood open. Candles flickered on every flat surface in the large room, and a covered tray sat on a long dresser against one wall.
Jes began to unbutton his shirt with one hand as he pulled the covers back from the king-size bed. “My right-hand, Ley, set all this up. He won’t disturb us until I call for him in the morning, but you’ll be seeing a lot of the old fellow.”
Chance laid Danika down on the soft sheets and brushed her hair back from her face. She was beautiful, with delicate features and a lush body. Tugging the blanket away from her, he tossed it aside and looked down at her as he followed Jes’ lead and started to undress.
Jes, now naked, climbed up onto the bed on her other side and undid a leather tie at the side seam of the skirt and loosened it, pulling the long skirt off of her short but shapely legs. Resting one hand on her knee, Jes looked up at Chance as he stood, naked, next to the bed.
“Let’s wake up our mate, Chance,” Jes said, smiling, “and help her shift.”
Chance climbed up on the bed and knelt next to Danika, placing his hand gently on her stomach. The moment his hand touched her skin, her eyes fluttered open.
And then she cried out in pain.
Chapter 6
Danika felt as though she drifted in warm water. Her body was languid, her mind calm. She knew there was something significant happening, but she just couldn’t muster the ability to care. Vaguely she recalled being given something to help her get into this state, and whatever it had been, she thought the substance should definitely be bottled and sold commercially.
She began to feel a light, tingling pain in her back at her shoulder blades. Her fingers and gums were aching. With each passing moment, her body began to slip away from relaxation and towards pain. She wanted to struggle against that feeling and stay in her current state of quiet nothingness forever. But her body had other plans.
Her vision began to clear as the pain turned from tingly to white-hot, as if burning swords had been shoved down her back.
“Ow, fuck!” she shouted.
She was rolled, and she landed on a warm, solid male body. A hot, rigid cock nestled against her pussy and she moaned, blinking until her vision cleared entirely and she stared down into the