Coti's Unclaimed Mate, Book Nine
Iron Wolves MC series
Will they find beauty in the ashes as the fire settles, or will they go up in flames?
Shifters and humans don’t mix, at least not in Coti’s opinion. He’s more than just a wolf though, but his pack and fellow MC brothers don’t know everything there is to know about him, and he likes to keep it that way…until one human female comes along and changes everything.
Renee, or NeNe to her friends hates her life. Well, she didn’t hate it so much when she could count on her friends, but one-by-one they began finding boyfriends, leaving her alone. Suddenly, she finds herself on the outside looking in. A girl from the wrong side of the tracks, she knows she needs to make a change or she’ll end up like her mother, dead.
A connection between two of the most unlikely people seemed written in the stars, but Coti isn’t ready to accept his fate, while NeNe doesn’t want a man who’s a brawler like her father. No, these two will fight their attraction, even if it kills them.
When a new group moves into town just outside of the Iron Wolves territory giving NeNe the opportunity to make extra cash in order to escape, she latches on with both hands. Only is the saying something’s too good to be true going to bite her in the rear, or will her savior come to the rescue? For Coti he can’t seem to shake off the need to keep one tiny human safe, even if it puts him in a perilous position of claiming the female for his own.
***Warning: Contains a shifter that doesn’t want a mate and a tiny human who’s more than a handful “wink”.
excerpt
“Yoohoo, your fairy dragon is here. Oh, now, who do I need to kill for hurting such a gorgeous girl?” Lula asked, going up to NeNe and rubbing her face over the bears head. “Ah, your fur is so soft, sweet one. Come, you and I will go and run through the fields and get right with the Goddess.”
Coti coughed, drawing the pink-haired female’s attention. “Um, Lula, a word please.”
Lula rolled her eyes, then whispered loudly into NeNe’s ear. “These alpha men are so bossy. Coming, sir.”
“Thank you for getting here so quickly. Ah, yeah, so she’s my mate. Can you tell me what’s going to happen?” Coti put his hands on his hips, the sense he was talking to a being who could wipe the ground with his hide had him deferring to her.
The tiny female leaned in. “Psst. Just so you know, I’d never use your carcass to wipe anything. And, she’s unclaimed as of right now. I sense two claims in her, which is confusing the dear bear. You and the beast who put the beast in her. She’s confused, so me and my dragon are gonna get her unconfused. We’ll be in touch. Toodles,” she waved, and then they disappeared.
Coti jerked backward, nearly falling on his ass. “Shit, she just took her. I didn’t get to say bye.”
Damien clapped him on the back. “Simmer down, she’s fine. Lula will take good care of her as will our Hearts Love. Jenna will make sure she’s well enough to come home, or—”
He glared at the man who spoke. “There is no or. NeNe is coming home to me.” His heart ached. His soul screamed worse than when he’d fought an entire pack of rogue wolves who tried to kill a farmer and his family in order to claim their land. The pack of seven grown shifter men, in their prime, had fought dirty, but he’d killed each and every one of them, sustaining injuries that nearly killed him. Yet, the pain from that battle combined with every other one, didn’t come close to what was coursing through him at the thought of never feeling NeNe’s skin under his hands. Never learning all the things that made her who and what she was.
Coti sheathed his swords with a thought, then dropped to his knees, unable to stand. “I thought nothing could kill me. I’ve tried, throughout the years you know? I’ve tested what could and couldn’t kill me. This, losing her, will kill me.” He would claw his own heart out. A man couldn’t live without his other half, the woman who was made just for him. He didn’t care if she was a bear, a sprite, or even a damn dragon. She was his.
Coti felt his two beings expand inside himself, the wolf and vampire, merging. He wasn’t like Damien and Lucas, born with the abilities of a shifter, but essentially a vampire. He was, or had been, three beings in one body, each one co-existing. Now, they merged, strengthening. His vampire half and his wolf rolled around inside his head, then forged to become the man.
“Damn, I think Grasshopper has become the teacher. Should we call dad and Ezra?” Damien asked, backing away from Coti.
Coti rolled his neck, his skin feeling too tight. “We’re on the same side, right now.”
“What the hell is going on?” Kellen growled, his claws out.
“Well, you see, this one here, is like a superhero being. Kind of like Deadpool of the vampire shifter world, I think. Only, he doesn’t look like an ugly avocado that nobody wants to have sex with. Ouch, fuck! Damien, I will beat your ass if you do that again.” Lucas pulled a knife out of his leg.
Kellen pointed the iron claws at Coti. “Alright, so you’ve got some shit to explain. However, we’re about to be converged on inside this mothereffen train car. The last thing I want is to rumble in a tin can with that,” he pointed at Coti. “I say we get the hell out of here and into an open field.”
Xan held his hand up. “I’d just like to point out, that you shouldn’t be pointing your freaky ass Freddy Krueger like knives for claws at someone and saying shit. Just saying.”
“Don’t kill him, yet. We might need him,” Turo implored.
“I can call Creed,” Lucas said.
“Who’s going to open this tin can up?” Bodhi asked, bouncing on his feet.
Coti raised his hands, but the top of the train car groaned, a hole forming within seconds as the upper half was ripped off.
“Yo, anybody home?” Creed asked, looking in through the top. “Ps. I got pants on, so you boys won’t get dick envy. No need to say thank you. Oh, and there’s like twenty freaky ass shifters heading this way.”
Coti jumped out, landing next to the large red-skinned son of Satan. “Thanks, Creed.”
Creed nodded. “No problem. We need to finish this quickly, my female wants me home, so we can watch chick flicks.”
Xan coughed, the sound of pussy made Coti wince. “Don’t kill him, he’s a good fighter.”
Kellen and the others jumped out of the train car, lining up to face the contingent of shifters coming toward them. “Damn, son, you sure do know how to piss off a man.”
Coti raised his head, sniffing. “Let’s show ‘em what fucking with the Iron Wolves will get them.”
He stood shoulder to shoulder with Damien on one side, Kellen on the other, knowing when the bodies settled, he’d have a lot of explaining to do. But first, his claws itched. “Should we offer them the chance to back off and live another day?”
Creed sighed. “Damn, there’s always one of you who has to be the fun ruiner. Hold please.”
The big man in his partial shift walked forward, eating up the space in long strides, his voice booming. “Stop, you vile beasts. If you want to live so you can go and hump your females another day, turn around, tuck your tails and run screaming to your mamas. Continue on your path now, and I’ll render you from gut to throat and feed your entrails to my pets.”
Xan put his hands up under his chin and sighed. “Goddess, I love him. He has such a way with words. If I were female, and not mated to a male as magnificent as myself, I’d totally look down and want him.”
Creed looked over his shoulder. “I knew it, you dirty bastard. You all looked down. There’s no shame in admitting it. First step in all programs is admittance. Damn, I feel them breathing. They’re continuing on the forward journey, which means they went with option B. Why do the idiots always go with option B? Do they think I have no beasts to feed their insides to?” He turned back around, swatting a couple of wolves away.
“Let’s do this,” Kellen roared.