Samantha

This wasn't happening. Just when I had thought my day couldn't get any worse...

"Easy, sweetie, you're safe now."

I bared my teeth at Dean Miller in warning not to come any closer. As if that would scare him off, with me sniffling and my eyes filling with tears beyond my control. I was shaking uncontrollably, too, as the effects of the adrenaline rush were beginning to subside. I'd been on edge for too long, and the post-rush crash was inevitable.

It wasn't helping that my inner animal felt safe now that it was in the company of its two mates. The tigress though the danger had passed and relaxing was in order.

The jaguar stopped several steps away from me, hands raised in the air. Far enough to leave me space to move but not to make a run for it.

Oh, I could try. But even if I managed to slip past him, I would only end up in the hands of the other pride enforcer.

"We'd never hurt you, Samantha," Sebastian Tucker told me, sounding pissed at me for daring to think such a thing.

He said that just after throwing one of the unconscious hyena shifters to the ground like a rag doll.

Nope, absolutely no reason to fear the tiger, folks.

The moment he moved to stand beside Dean, I snapped. "Stay the hell away from me!"

"But, sweetie–"

I growled, claws unsheathed.

My tears chose that moment to come rolling down my cheeks. I was a threatening sight, indeed.

Sebastian took a step forward.

"I said stay away!" I sounded hysterical at this point.

"You heard the lady!"

My gaze shifted towards the man who'd spoken at the same time as the enforcers turned their heads his way.

Standing behind them and to the side was the truck's driver. The one who had arrived with the robbers but had attacked the hyena hurting me. Come to think of it, he'd tried to warn me of the danger at the very start of my ridiculous vigilante mission.

Seeing his bleeding nose and the numerous cuts he sported on his bare forearms and under his shredded T-shirt, he'd paid the price for his good deed.

"Hi there." He smiled at me, sounding calm and relaxed. His dark-blue eyes were focused on me, as if the two enforcers were not growling at him in warning.

"You stay the fuck out of this, panther." Sebastian pointed a claw-tipped finger at him. "The only reason you're still standing is because–"

"Because you're too busy scaring the lady out of her wits?"

Sebastian's hands balled into fists.

"We're not trying to scare her," Dean intervened. He was much more composed than his fellow enforcer, his jaguar not so close to the surface. "We want to make sure she's well. Samantha is our fated mate."

The driver's eyes widened. "Oh."

In any other circumstance, I would have scoffed. I was no one's mate! But right now the situation was too testosterone-laden for me to openly question the males' claim. Plus, I had to focus on finding a way out of here, when I was barely keeping it together.

"Why is she so terrified of you, then?" The panther clearly had a dead wish.

"She isn't!" Sebastian snarled. "She's ours!"

Oh, hell. They were going to fight over me now, like dogs over a bone. If I didn't get torn in the process, I was going to be taken by one of them. Or two of them... Suddenly, I felt like all the oxygen had been sucked out of this place.

"She's about to hyperventilate, that's what she is," I heard the panther say over the pounding of my heart in my head. "Let me calm her down."

"Like fuck–"

"Samatha, is it? I'm Eric, and my nose hurts like crazy."

The pounding in my poor head began to subside. It was no longer so difficult to breathe.

"I think my nose is broken," the panther kept talking, moving closer. "I would appreciate it if you could fix it."

I focused on him and his soothing voice. He had his hands in the air like Dean, but he didn't appear threatening to me like the jaguar. For some reason, I did not fear this stranger.

"Stop right there, panther," Sebastian warned, but not as aggressively as before.

"Wait, Bas... Look."

I didn't get what Dean was muttering about because I was too busy looking at the panther. Eric. He kept coming closer, and I wasn't panicking, for some reason.

"I could ask these guys to fix my nose," he went on, "but their hands seem to be made for breaking noses instead. Will you help me, Samantha?"

A trembling sigh escaped me and I sat on my heels, back against the column. With my fear dissipating, I felt how tired I actually was and could no longer stay upright.

"Well, I'll be damned," came from Dean.

"An Omega," Sebastian rumbled.

An Omega? One of those rare creatures who could calm an entire group of raging shifters with their presence alone? Like a dose of Xanax but in the form of energy that emanated from them should they will it so?

"Hi." Eric was now just three steps away from me, down on all fours to be at my eye level.

Instead of get worse at his proximity, the tension left my body completely with one final shiver.

"Are you cold? Here, put this on." He took off his red-and-blue checkered shirt, remaining in his blue T-shirt. "I hope it doesn't stink."

"Thanks," I mumbled. I put the shirt on autopilot, not really caring about the holes and blood on it. After all, they were there because Eric had put his life on the line for me. I didn't mind his scent either; in fact, I found it pleasant.

"Do you think my nose is salvageable? I suspect right now I could give Baba Yaga a run for her money."

I smiled. I couldn't help it. With shifter healing, it was important to put anything broken back in place as soon as possible, otherwise you risked it healing crooked. But even with a crooked nose, Eric's face would remain attractive. His warm gaze and his kind smile made sure of it.

I extended a hand and readjusted his nose without a warning. Better to spare him the anticipation of pain.

He hissed and reached for the painful place instinctively, his hand brushing against mine in the process.

I gasped as all my senses flared to life. My sight, my olfaction, my skin – Eric was at the center of them all. My tigress was practically purring with pleasure inside my mind.

He stared right back at me, eyes glowing with the closeness of his panther to the surface. "Woah... You... You're my–"

"No." I shook my head. "No, no... It can't be!"

But there was no mistaking the feeling. Especially after I'd experienced it twice already today.

"You must have felt it, Samantha! God, it's amazing–"

"Like hell!" I pushed to my feet, using the column to steady my once again shaking limbs.

Whatever calm and peaceful vibes the Omega had been blasting me with, were no longer having an effect on me. Or he was too distracted to keep them coming. Either way, I was beginning to panic all over again.

"Samantha, wait–"

"No! It's not true!"

What kind of sick joke was Mother Nature playing on me?!

My gaze darted from Eric to the confused face of Dean to the stormy expression of Sebastian. All the while, I kept shaking my head in a perpetual 'no'.

"I'm no one's mate! You hear me? No one's!"

"Wait..." Dean's eyebrows shot up. "The panther's your fated mate, too?"

"Fuck me sideways," Sebastian muttered.

It was in that moment of distraction that I bolted. Willed my rubbery legs to work just a bit more. If they got me out of this shitshow, I was never forcing them into heals agai–

I screamed as a pair of muscular arms closed around me, pinning me to a familiar hard chest. My legs kicked in the air as I was lifted off the ground.

"Hey, put her down!"

"Bas, careful with her!"

I struggled but it was like fighting against bands of steel. My arms remained pinned to my sides even after Sebastian switched to a one-arm hold.

Then I felt his fingers pressing against a specific spot on the side of my neck.

The world went dark.