Page 20 of Shielded By My Mate

I should’ve checked after we dealt with the men, but I was so distracted by Mira that I forgot.

“I’m good. They never saw us coming. There was no time for them to do anything to me,” he assures me.

I nod again, looking out at the two dead bodies lying in my backyard.

“We need to call the Alphas and deal with this,” Julian says, coming to a stop at my side.

Pyrce turns to make the call. “I’m on it.”

My mind is racing as I look around for Mira.

“She’s inside with Ever,” Russo tells me, reading my thoughts.

“She’s okay,” Julian adds. “Rattled, but okay. Christian already checked her out and gave her the all-clear.”

I nod distractedly at my friends. My eyes are locked on Mira, where she sits on the couch with Russo’s mate, Ever. She hasn’t said a word since everything happened. I know it must have been a shock, seeing those men again and then seeing Russo and me kill them right in front of her. I hoped she’d feel safer once they were gone. Now I’m worried I messed up and ruined everything we were building by protecting her.

She looks pale, her hands shaky as she lifts a cup of tea and takes a sip. I grit my teeth as Ever rubs Mira’s back, consoling her.

We should be in there doing that, my bear growls.

I shake my head. We need to get this mess cleaned up. Then we can be with Mira.

Do it quickly. Our mate needs us.

“Okay, Alphas are on their way,” Pyrce says, joining us on the back porch again. “We’ll be looking into them and dealing with the bodies. From what we know so far, no one is missing them. They don’t seem to have roots anywhere or families that will come looking or causing trouble.”

“That’s good,” Russo says. “I’ll be back in a few.”

He jogs off through the trees to his place.

I turn back, staring at the bodies.

“Does this happen often?” I hear Mira ask Ever.

I strain to pick up their hushed conversation.

“Not too often, I don’t think. I only joined the pack a little over a month ago,” Ever replies.

“When you met Russo?” Mira asks.

“Yeah. He saved me. I was running away from my terrible parents. I was adopted and didn’t even know I was a bear shifter. Russo taught me about this world and helped me learn to shift,” Ever replies, smiling lovingly as she reminisces about her and Russo’s love story.

“I’m glad he found you,” Mira says, smiling at Ever.

“Full disclosure, we did kill my parents when they came to drag me back home,” Ever admits, wincing as she says the words. “They were terrible, abusive people.”

“I’m sorry you went through that.”

“Me too, but I can’t complain too much. It brought me here, to Russo and the pack.”

“So, you had to learn about shifters and fated mates too?” Mira asks.

“Yeah. It’s crazy, huh?” Ever laughs.

“It’s been hard to wrap my head around,” Mira admits. “I grew up reading and watching romance movies. None of them ever happened like this. I always thought I would fall slow. Dating, getting to know each other, all of that. It would happen over time.”

“And instead, it’s like BAM! You have a soulmate now.”