Mate Set Read online

  “You had no right to interfere,” Grady said loudly.

  “Don’t I? I used to look up to you, my older brother,” Anton shouted. “But not anymore. I saw what you did to her house.”

  Mika jerked the door open, dressed, and stepped out to see Grady and Anton nearly nose to nose, the anger between them obvious, and they looked as though they were about to punch each other.

  “I’m ready to leave. Do you know where my purse is?”

  Anton stepped back from his brother. “It’s upstairs. Let’s go. We’ll grab it on the way out.”

  Grady spun, glaring at Mika. “I’ll take you home. Give me a few minutes to get dressed. We need to talk.”

  She refused to look at him. “We’ve said more than enough to each other. Have a good life. It’s been…” Her mouth closed, unsure what to say. A pleasure? The sex had been. Painful? Very, at times. She took a breath. “Goodbye, Grady. I wish you well.” That was true. She moved then, having to walk behind the couch to get to the door to stay away from him. Anton backed out of the apartment, waiting for her, grim.

  “Mika? Please? Let me take you home.” Grady’s voice was soft. “We need to talk. I need to tell you…” He went silent. “I’ll drive you to your house.”

  She hesitated at the door, could feel his gaze on her back almost as though it were a physical touch. “It’s over now and we’re both free.” She forced her legs to move, walking one foot in front of the other, and knew her heart was breaking with each step.

  Anton led her through the basement, past the cage that had been her home for days, and then up the stairs. Her purse was on a table next to the door, as though it waited for her. She gripped it, happy to have something familiar back in her life, and Anton walked to the back door. He glanced at her as she stepped out into the sunshine. She breathed in a deep breath of fresh air.

  “You can’t blame him for trying to keep you for a few extra days.” He opened the passenger door to a car, his dark gaze sweeping down her. “If it were me, I’d try to keep you forever.”

  Surprised at his words, she looked up into his handsome face that looked similar enough to Grady’s that it hurt.

  He shrugged his broad shoulders. “He’s got issues with human women but I don’t. We should hurry before he grows a brain and tries to stop us from leaving.”

  “He won’t.” She was sure as she sat.

  Anton paused, holding the door. “He’s a fool.” He pushed the door closed.

  Mika glanced at the back door she’d just come from, seeing it closed, watching as Anton got in the driver’s seat, started the car, and pulled away. Grady never came out. She forced her attention forward. Grady was the past and the sooner she left she could get on with her future.

  ———

  “I brought a contractor in here yesterday,” Anton shook his head. “Grady is going to pay to fix everything. By the time you return for another visit, it will look as good as new.”

  “He really did a number on my room.” She wondered if she’d ever come back and how long it would be before she had an urge to return to Bartock. The house would remind her of Grady and she wasn’t sure when she’d be able to face that. She stepped over a broken drawer, moving toward the bathroom. “Thanks for sticking around while I pack up and for offering to take me to the airport.”

  “We took you from it when you tried to leave so one of us should return you.”

  “I appreciate it.” She walked into the bathroom, bent, and grabbed out her travel bag. She packed up her personal items quickly and then turned to leave, nearly walking into Anton’s big body that blocked the door. She gasped, staring up at him. “Sorry. I didn’t realize you were right there.”

  “Grady should have appreciated you but he can’t.” He paused. “You should get revenge on him for hurting you and I’m more than willing to help you do that. I don’t scent fear on you. You realize you’re alone with me, don’t you?”

  “You won’t hurt me.” She didn’t add the “I hope” part that filled her mind. Suspicion was instant as she stared up at the man blocking her way. “Do you and your brothers hate Grady or something? Why are you hinting that I should try to get even with him? You could have let him keep me for a few extra days since I was clueless about when mating ended but you stopped him from doing that by telling me the truth and getting me out of there.”

  The man frowned. “No. We love him. I don’t know what you’ve heard but it’s my mother who is blindly jealous over Grady. She thought she was breeding with our father to give him the next-in-line alpha. She was smug with her place in our father’s life. When Grady showed up, she realized she hadn’t birthed the first son. It really pissed her off. She’s…” he sighed. “I love her but she’s messed up.”

  Her eyebrows arched and she put her hands on her hips. “I see. No. I don’t see.”

  He chuckled and then winked at her. “It’s complicated. We love Grady. To us he’s just our brother but because of our mother putting defined lines down he sees a difference. He told our father he wouldn’t take his rightful place as first-born son because he is part human and he’s a bastard. I think he was afraid I’d hate him if he stepped into the role no matter how much I tell him I was actually relieved. Being active alpha is a pain in the ass. I see my father’s life and shudder at the thought. Grady is fixed on this idea that he doesn’t fit in totally with us but we’re fixed on the idea of showing him otherwise. I believe if he faces his human side and accepts it that he’ll finally come around and the only way to do that is if he accepts a human as his mate. He wasn’t ready to let you go but I pressed the issue when I took you today.”

  “What was the logic behind that? If you think he’s going to come after me, think again. He’s probably making a date with Megan as we speak.”

  He cocked his head, seeming to listen to something, and then chuckled. “I don’t think so. Go along with this.” He winked. “Trust me,” he said more softly. His voice rose. “So I’ll mate you. You can stay in town, live here, and forget all about that brother of mine. If he wasn’t smart enough to keep you, I sure as hell am.”

  Mika’s mouth dropped open and then she tensed as Anton suddenly wrapped his arm around her, yanking her off her feet, pressing her against his body. She stared wide-eyed at him, too shocked to struggle or protest.

  “I can make you forget all about Grady, blondie.”

  “Let her go,” Grady snarled.

  Mika’s head jerked in the direction of her doorway to see Grady storming into her room. He kicked some of the debris out of his way and kept advancing, fury on his features. Anton turned his head, looking bored, and arched a black eyebrow.

  “What are you doing here? Did you come to clean up the mess you made? You can start by taking all the shit out to the dumpster that the contractor had delivered this morning.”

  “I said, let her go,” Grady snarled, reaching for Anton.

  Anton put Mika on her feet as swiftly as he’d grabbed her, spinning to face his brother. “You’re out of heat. She may carry your scent still, but she’s not your mate. She’s human and you’ve done nothing but hurt her. I don’t have your hang-ups.”

  Grady growled. Anton snarled back. Mika was in shock, staring at the brothers, wondering what the hell was going on. Why was Anton trying to make Grady think he wanted her and why was Grady even at her house? The one thing she was sure of was they were about to come to blows.

  “Enough!” Mika shoved forward, getting between the men, glaring up at Grady as she pressed her hands on each man’s chest to push them apart. “What are you doing here?”

  He looked down at her, enraged, his canines extended. “We need to talk.”

  “Anything that you had to say to her should have already been said when you were locked up together,” Anton said softly.

  “She wouldn’t let me.” Grady was furious, glaring over Mika’s head at his brother. “She threatened to not touch me and since I was chained to the damn cot I didn’t have a choice but to