Sebastian

I was in heaven and hell simultaneously.

For the first time in my four years as a pride enforcer, hell had nothing to do with physical pain after a brutal fight. Sure, my freshly healed ribs were bruised again, making breathing a bitch; the deep cuts on my arms were burning furiously; my face felt swollen from the punches I'd been unable to avoid in my efforts to get to Samantha faster. But none of those things were to blame for my personal hell at the moment.

The petite female in my arms was. Having her small form resting against me as we rode on the back seat of the SUV, her sweet scent filling my senses, her face so close I could count every freckle, see those delicate eyelashes flutter against her cheeks, feel her warm breath against my neck... It was heaven. But it was sweet torture as well.

She was in my arms and yet I could not touch her the way I craved. Pull her tighter against me, explore every delicious curve of hers with hands, lips and tongue... I could not mark her as mine the way my tiger was demanding while it paced maddeningly in my mind. It was a constant battle against the inner animal to keep my teeth from elongating and sinking into the crook of Samantha's slender neck to leave the mating mark.

All I could do was hold her during the ride home while she was unconscious and vulnerable. And hope that she would accept me once she came to her senses.

She had to understand why I'd taken her against her will. There was no place for a lone female in today's reality when even the unmated ones within a well-protected shifter group got targeted. She should ask Anna, who had been pulled into a van while me and Dean had been waiting to pick her up outside the mall. We'd lost that van in traffic and had it not been for Rory's access to street camera feeds, we would have never found the kidnappers' base and rescued Anna.

I didn't know how Samantha had managed to stay out of trouble on her own until now, but from here onward she wasn't going to face the dangers of our world alone.

With me and Dean protecting her, there was never again going to be bruising on her face. Or a tear in her tender skin on one cheek. She would never again have to experience the terror I'd seen in her eyes today.

That was, if she stopped fearing her fated mates.

My gaze lifted from the female in my arms to regard the newest addition to Samantha's mate... collection? Menage? Harem? I didn't know how the fuck this group of ours should be called.

Nor did I know how Dean and I were going to share our female with a fucking stranger.

"Start talking, panther," I snapped at him when I caught him looking at Samantha. "Who are you and why were you with the hyenas?"

The male shifted in the passenger seat as if uncomfortable. "Isn't it better to talk after we get to your place and Samantha is awake and okay?"

"No. Until I know exactly what your deal is, you're not coming anywhere near her again." The Omega should be grateful I hadn't left him tied up next to the hyenas for the police to find. "Now spill!"

The Omega turned to face the windshield. "I was simply trying to help her. I didn't want anyone to get hurt, least of all my... fated mate."

I knew why he hesitated there at the end. I myself had yet to come to full terms with the fact that I'd found my match. I'd thought I didn't need a female as a permanent part of my life, I'd thought I was complete, but coming into contact with Samantha... It had changed everything.

I still growled low in my throat at the reminder the panther was Samantha's mate, too.

"Welcome to Samantha's Studs Club, bud!" Dean said cheerfully from behind the wheel.

I bared my teeth. "He's not a member of any club, Dean. He was in the basement parking with those lowly fuckers, remember?" A traitor they'd called him, from what I'd overheard during the fight.

"Yeah, but he fought them for our sweetie, Bas."

I scoffed. "Fighting is not the word I'd use. More like rolling around while getting slashed to death."

"I'm no fighter and I will not apologize for it," the panther said firmly, eyes on the road ahead. "I did my best, both to save Samantha and beforehand to prevent an innocent from getting hurt during the robbery. But who could plan for a lady to pop out of nowhere and try to single-handedly fight crime?"

"A robbery? That's what you and the hyenas were there for?"

"Wait," Dean butted in, "you mean to say Samantha went all vigilante on your group? Like a red-headed Black Canary or something?"

I groaned. Dean and his obsession with comic books... As usual, my smiley friend was not grasping the seriousness of the situation.

"She had the moves, I can tell you that," the panther replied, his fascination clear to hear. "Like some martial artist, she took out our two human helpers before I could get out of the truck and warn her there were more of us."

"And you needed human helpers because...?" This was my interrogation and I was not getting sidelined. Not that I didn't glance down at Samantha, imagining her in a tight bodysuit.

Fuck. Now was so not the time to be sporting a boner.

"Lucian – the pack leader – wanted humans for the easy jobs. In this case, they had to load some expensive bikes on the truck. None of us shifters were to get off the vehicle unless the shit hit the fan."

"But our sweetie was there and she saw the crime in progress, deciding to save the day?" Dean whistled. "Hot damn. I knew Mother Nature would pair me with a fire-y, ass-kicking person like myself."

"Eyes on the road, head out of your ass, Dean," I grumbled. "Panther, why did the hyenas want Samantha? Not enough females in the pack?"

He nodded. "The pack has one female only, and she's mated to Lucian so she's off limits."

Just as I'd suspected. The usual story. When would shifter groups realize that amid the shortage of females, the solution lied not in taking the single ones by force but in tempting them into joining the group? Respect, protection, safety – it wasn't that much that female shifters looked for in a group. It was why our pride had six, all having joined at their own free will.

And now there would be seven females in the pride. Hopefully.

My arms tightened around Samantha on instinct. Even if she didn't choose the pride, regardless of whether she accepted me as her fated mate or not, I would be her protector. I would keep her safe while keeping to the shadows if I had to.

"What was your role in the hyena pack, Eric?" Dean finally asked a good question. "They're criminals, and that's a violent way to live. Not something an Omega would be drawn to, or am I wrong?"

The panther sighed. "You're not. Violence makes me sick to my stomach. Which is why the pack barely tolerate me. They respect aggressive behavior, fights for dominance to prove one's worth. Not someone who makes them calm and relaxed every time a brawl is about to break out. Which is why I was assigned driving duty during the illegal jobs. Scouting before the hits, too."

"That still makes you an accomplice." Perhaps I was wrong to take him home with us. I should have left him at the crime scene after calling the police to come get the hyenas. I could still hand him over to Rory, though, once we got Samantha to the pride.

"Bas has a point, bud. You should have sought another shifter group to join. Damn, any other would have welcomed you with open arms. Our pride included."

"Hm." I wasn't so sure about that. Most believed the rare Omegas to be precious, with their powers to calm the usually restless shifter minds, but I knew better. In some cases an Omega's abilities could come in handy, but it was brute force that did the job the majority of times. As tonight had shown.

The panther sighed again. "I wasn't with the hyenas for lack of a better offer, guys. I simply couldn't leave my sister alone in the pack."

"Damn... That sucks."

"Fuck."

Dean and I exchanged a look in the rear-view mirror. We'd reacted in the same way simultaneously, which was typical of us. After years of living together, we were like an old married couple, finishing each other's sentences and shit.

"Monica might never forgive me for getting her fated mate arrested now. I don't know what I'm going to do."

"Don't worry, bud. We'll get everything sorted out. Let's just get Samantha settled first."

"Precisely." I shot the panther a look while Dean was parking in front of the pride's block of flats. "You're here to keep her calm once she wakes up so she could hear us out. Nothing else." He might have a good reason to work with criminals, but that didn't change the fact that he was with them. I didn't trust him with Samantha. "Got it?"

"We'll see."

I growled. What the fuck was that supposed to mean? He was about to enter our territory and he thought he could call the shots? "What I see, panther, is that you need your face rearranged."

"And what I see, tiger, is that you have anger issues."

"The fuck I have–"

Dean hit the brakes with a screech. "Sorry!" He didn't sound sorry at all. "We'd better get our sweetie comfy before she wakes up and gives us hell. Right, Bas?"

I glared at him in the rear-view window, but he had a point. I could introduce my fist to the panther's face later. "Right. We take Samantha to our apartment. Where she belongs."

I pushed the door open and carried Samantha out of the car, ignoring the Omega's shocked look.

He kept his opinion to himself until we'd entered the building. "You're making things harder for her. She already has so many reasons to be upset with you... I can't work magic. My powers can only do so much, and she'll resent me if I force my calming energy on her."

A mocking laugh escaped me.

Dean glanced over his shoulder at me, halfway done unlocking the door to our shared apartment on the first floor. The upper floors were all occupied by pride members.

"Whether she resents you or not, Omega, shouldn't concern you," I stressed. "You won't be part of her life for much longer. Prison is where you're going, make no mistake."

The panther had the guts to meet my gaze as he replied, "She is my mate, too, whether you like it or not. That makes me as much part of her life as you are."

"Ouch." Dean cringed as he finally opened the door. "Eric is kind of right, pal."

"Shut it." I didn't want to hear shit from my friend right now.

I walked past both males and headed straight for my bedroom, Samantha still limp in my arms.

When she woke up, she would be safe and warm in my bed. Everything else would work itself out.