Hagen, Lynn - Tater's Bear [Brac Pack 22] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (14 page)

Olsen spun around to face the wall, slamming his fists into the drywall as his mate’s cries echoed throughout the room, throughout Olsen’s soul. Tears trickled down his face as helplessness washed over him.

“Which way should I go?” Chey asked. “Tell me,” he cried out desperately.

“Vampire,” Olsen blurted out.

If Tater’s body was fighting this, fighting to figure out what to do, becoming a vampire was the safer route. He wasn’t sure Tater’s human form would survive the chemical raging through his system.

Liquid Wrath was deadly to humans. He had no choice.

0He just prayed his mate didn’t hate him for making the decision for him.

“Then get ready,” Chey warned.

Olsen spun around, watching in a detached disbelief, mesmerized by the sight as Tater’s body convulsed, his back arched, and then he roared so loud that the windows shook. The fangs that were too large for his mate’s mouth began to recede, stopping their retraction when they were the size of what a normal vampire would have.

His blackened claws started to retract as well, normal fingernails appearing. Olsen held his breath, waiting to see what else would happen.

Slowly, very slowly, Tater’s normal coloring began to return. His skin didn’t stop changing though. Not until it shimmered with a paleness that was utterly beautiful in Olsen’s opinion. It was better than the pale green and more ethereal than his usual peachiness.

“What about his size?” Olsen asked as he took a hesitant step closer, watching every single move his mate made.

Chey shook his head as he rocked back on his heels. “I’m afraid that will stay. There were compromises to make, and his size was one of them. He is, for all intents and purposes, a full vampire now. The drug will always be in him, making him aggressive at times, but he
should
be okay. I would blacken out the windows before he awakens.”

Olsen, along with his pa, began to grab blankets and whatever else they could find to shield his mate from the harmful UV rays. When they had sufficiently covered the windows, Olsen turned back to Chey. “Can I go to him now?”

Chey slid from the bed, his face marred with stress lines that hadn’t been there before. He swayed slightly and then laid a hand on the bed to steady himself.

Eagle took a step forward, his hand extending, and then he pulled it away, taking a step back as if afraid to touch Chey.

Olsen never stopped to think what helping his mate might do to the small wolf. “Can I do anything for you?”

The question made Eagle growl, but Olsen ignored the sound. He was worried about the healer.

“No, but thank you. I just need to go home and rest.”

Olsen knew there was more to it than that. But if Chey didn’t want any help, there was nothing he could do. “Thank you…for everything. I owe you my mate’s life. If there is anything I can ever do for you, all you have to do is ask.”

Chey gave Olsen a weak smile as he headed for the bedroom door. He turned as he reached it, staring over at Tater. “He’s going to need blood when he awakens. More than you have to give. Let your womb mates feed him as well. I’m not sure how he will act since he is a hybrid. So be warned.”

Olsen nodded as he crossed the room, crawling onto the bed with Tater as Chey and Eagle exited the room.

“I’m going to head out,” Maverick said as he pushed away from the wall. “Let me know if there is anything you need.”

“Thanks,” Pa said as he walked out with the alpha, leaving Olsen alone with his mate.

Olsen wasn’t sure what was going to happen once his mate came to. He held on to the fact that Tater was still alive and that was all that mattered to him. He curled his body around the man that was twice Olsen’s size now and laid his head on Tater’s massive chest.

He found himself dozing as he listened to the steady beat of his mate’s heart, something he prayed he would hear for a long time to come.

Chapter Ten

Hunger.

Pain.

Thirst.

His mind whirled as he tried desperately to organize his thoughts. They were scattered, forming and then fleeing before he could make sense of them.

A heartbeat.

He could hear a heart beating so close that he swore he could taste the blood in his mouth already. He inhaled deeply, taking in the scents all around him. His fingers curled into tight fists as the heartbeat picked up its pace, thundering loudly. It was so damn close.

His head began to hurt when he found that there were too many sensations barraging him. The sound of the heart, the pain in his bones, and the feel of hunger clawing at his gut were confusing him. He wasn’t sure which one to focus on first.

Hunger.

The clawing in his stomach doubled in its intensity as his body began to pulse with pain. He needed to eat, to drink, to quench this unrelenting thirst that threatened to tear apart his very foundation.

His eyes flew open, grabbing the source of the beating heart as he sank his teeth into soft, giving flesh. The taste exploded in his mouth, making him hold the heartbeat tighter, daring anyone to take his source away.

“Tater!”

He could hear the screaming, clarifying in his mind that there was more than one voice shouting at him, but he was lost in the delicious taste that was easing his hunger, his thirst. His body bucked, and he swung his arm out as his nose was pinched and the source stolen right from under him. He roared as he reached for that ambrosia that was easing his pain.

He whimpered when it was returned. He grabbed it tightly in his hands as he sank his teeth back in. It wasn’t the same. This was different. He wanted to protest, but even though the source had changed in flavor, it was still helping to ease the clawing at his very soul.

“Tater.”

He whimpered again. Was his source going to be taken from him a second time? He wrapped his body around the beating pulse, drinking deeply.

“Tater. Let Gavin go.”

He hurriedly drank, taking large gulps as fear set in that he was going to lose the very thing that was helping him. He couldn’t allow that. He didn’t want the agonizing pain to return. He lashed out, his hand coming into contact with something as his nose was pinched once again.

“Calm down, love.”

His chest began to expand and contract painfully as he inhaled, looking for the one thing that was sure to free him from this hunger.

There it was again.

He grabbed it, bit into it, and then rolled, trapping it under him as he drank so greedily that he began to gag.

“Slow down, love.”

He couldn’t.

If he did, they would take it away again before he could make the pain go away. He felt someone pushing at him, trying to roll him over. He growled, hissed, and then gave off something sounding like a bark as he was forced to relent.

“Tater. Open your eyes, love. Focus. Look at me, beautiful.”

He blinked a few times, the room finally coming into focus. His eyes locked onto his bear.
His
bear. Tater leapt at the speed of light, tackling Olsen to the floor. He tore at his mate’s clothes, needing to feel his mate’s warm flesh pressed against his bone-chilling coldness.

He heard a door close softly, but Tater was too far gone to care.

“Tater, stop!” Olsen growled.

He knew he had to stop, but Tater felt out of control. His hands shook violently as he ripped Olsen’s jeans from his body. “Help me,” he cried desperately.

His body swayed heavily as his breathing became labored when Olsen shifted, rearing up onto his hind legs, giving Tater a warning roar, his mate’s jaw almost unhinging, and his sharp incisors gleamed in the low lighting of the room.

Tater jumped back, crouching down into a position that readied him for an attack. The bear charged him, overtook him, and then sank his teeth deep into Tater’s shoulders. He knew what Olsen was doing. He was setting boundaries, showing Tater who the alpha of the two was.

His mind fought against the submission, but his body knew better than to fight his mate. It gave itself over to his bear. Olsen grunted, his breath snorting out of his muzzle as he slowly released his hold on Tater.

“Olsen,” Tater whimpered.

Olsen shifted, and his body blanketed Tater’s as his mate held on. “I have you, love.”

“W–What’s wrong with me?”

Olsen nuzzled his face into Tater’s neck, licking at Tater’s skin. “The vampire who attacked you was infected with a lethal drug. It was transferred into your system and almost killed you.” Olsen wrapped his arms around Tater, holding him tightly. “Christian had no choice but to convert you in order to save you. But it went wrong because of the drug. Maverick brought someone in to heal you. You’re a vampire now, love, only a little different.”

“I don’t understand.” Tater knew something was different, physically and mentally. He could feel it.

God, how do I explain this to him?

“What?”

Olsen’s brows drew together as he gazed into Tater’s eyes. “I didn’t say anything.”

“I heard you ask how to explain this to me.” Tater couldn’t understand why Olsen looked so perplexed. His mate’s expression changed in an instant, transforming into shock.

“Tater, love. I didn’t say that, I thought it.”

Tater lay there on the floor, feeling like he was drowning, confusion weighing him down and pulling him under. Nothing made sense to him. “How have I changed?”

“Besides you reading my thoughts?” Olsen smiled. “Well, you’re a vampire, as I’ve said. You’re also twice the size you once were.”

Tater bent his head, looking down at his body. He gasped when he saw that Olsen was right. Instead of his bear being the larger of the two, Tater now overshadowed his mate. And he didn’t like it one bit.

“I want my body back the way it was,” he whispered helplessly. Tater liked the fact that Olsen was the controlling one of the two. This didn’t feel right. He hated it. His eyes snapped up when Olsen’s chest rumbled with a chuckle.

“Don’t worry, love. I’m still the dominant one. Just try and test that, and we’ll see who ends up on his back.”

Tater could hear the teasing in his mate’s voice, but he didn’t miss the challenge that was wound through it.

As much as he liked Olsen dominating him, there was something inside of him that raged against it. Maybe it was his size, or the fact that he was changed now, but Tater knew in his heart that challenging his mate would be a mistake.

Tater might have doubled in size, but Olsen was a force to be reckoned with.

“You got that right.”

Tater’s mouth hung open as Olsen commented on what he’d just been thinking. “That is creepy as hell.”

Olsen laughed as he climbed up Tater’s body, resting his chest against Tater’s. “But I like it. Just think of all the kinky little things we can say to each other when someone else is around.”

Tater laughed at his mate’s way of thinking. “Leave it to you to think of something like that.” In the next breath he was moaning when Olsen reached down and cupped his soft cock. It didn’t stay that way for long. Tater became instantly aroused, his shaft growing under his bear’s skillful handling.

“We can’t,” Tater said reluctantly. There was nothing more that Tater wanted than to feel his mate buried deep inside of him. But he was afraid.