Samantha

I should have known my good streak wouldn't last. The fun I had had at my two dates yesterday. The deep sleep I had gotten thanks to Dean's scent surrounding me and Bas staying far enough away for my fears not to act up and for my needy tigress not to be displeased. The smell of cooked breakfast waking me up in the morning... Something bad was bound to happen soon rather than later.

While I had been walking towards the kitchen, I had overheard Dean and Sebastian talking. Something about a text message, the Omega not wanting me and an investigation. It was easy to conclude that the news about Eric I had been anxiously awaiting had arrived, but something wasn't right. Starting with the two males plotting in the kitchen.

Oh, they did look mighty fine in their tiny towels in matching blue color. Everything they had to offer – with one long outlined exception – was on full display, more tempting than the several portions of food I could smell in the glass bowls on the table. Just one of the guys in a towel would have been overwhelming but both of them standing side by side? My ovaries might as well have exploded at the sight. My tigress licked her muzzle in my mind, projecting the image of me licking those abs one by one before exploring what lay under the towels. I went red.

But that didn't mean I would let Sebastian and Dean off the hook. They were talking against Eric. They were planning something that I wouldn't like and who knew if they would have told me, had I not walked in on them conspiring by the kitchen sink. Anger replaced the surge of lust and I went even redder in the face.

"What won't I forgive you for?" I rephrased my question when the first time I got no answer. They simply stood there, staring.

Dean was the first to move – he began scratching his chest. "Morning, sweetie. We can explain, but... how about some sausages and stirred eggs first?"

I crossed my arms over my chest, remaining by the door so as to stay as clear-minded as possible. "I'm listening."

Sebastian mimicked my stance and looked pointedly at Dean.

"What? Why should I do all the explaining, pal?"

"Because you promised to let her know about any developments with the Omega. Go ahead, Dean, tell her."

"She should eat first. Seeing that text message on an empty stomach..."

"She is standing right here, guys!" I lost patience. "The message?"

Two minutes later, I had read Eric's text message, reread it and then read it once again. I could read it a fourth time, but it wouldn't make a difference. Everything was clear.

"This message wasn't written by Eric."

"Darlin'. With the risk of angering you further, I'll remind you the panther is a stranger. He might have made you come once, and hard, but that doesn't mean you know him."

And here I had thought I couldn't get any redder. "This isn't him!" I left my position by the door and went to place my phone on the table. "Just look at the wording, both of you."

On second thought, asking them to stand on either side of me wasn't a smart idea. Being sandwiched between two tower-clad hunks could short-circuit my brain even when the text message's meaning had killed my mood. But it was too late to change my mind, so I proceeded.

"'Baby,'– when the hell has Eric called me that? – 'Safe 4 now but need $ to leave country.' – He said he would come back to me, and now he is suddenly moving abroad? – 'Send to this account... Will let u know if all good. Love u.' – Eric proclaiming he loves me for the first time in a text message? Come on now. This is something a scammer would write, not Eric."

Dean nodded to my right. "I thought the message strange myself upon receiving it. Not to mention he was supposed to call, not text when safe."

Sebastian grunted to my left. "You call bullshit, but I say it's quite possible the Omega wrote this. You're his fated mate, Samantha, but right now he has pressing problems to think about. Like getting away from the hyena pack and the police he thinks we've sent after him. Leaving the country is the safest bet, and who else to turn to when short on the funds he needs for such a trip?"

"His sister?" Dean suggested.

"Her fated mate's accounts have been frozen by the police, so she will need the savings she has for herself. Because I highly doubt she would just pack her bags and go with her brother, leaving her fated mate to brave the justice system alone."

"Hmm... You've got a point there, pal. Then again, would Eric leave his sister behind? We've already seen that he cares more about Monica than his own hide, or he wouldn't have stuck around with the hyenas giving him so much crap."

I sighed. "Guys–"

"The Omega claimed the pack was treating him like shit. He might have been bullshiting us, for all we know."

"Bas, you saw how Lucian was beating the crap out of Eric in that parking lot."

"Guys–"

"The Omega had turned against him!"

"For Samantha's sake, Bas! Back when Eric didn't even know who she was! And now that he does, you think he would simply use her as a travel piggy bank?"

"Everything is possible until you rule it out, Dean! Trust has to be earned. You–"

"Guys!"

My growl did the job. Both of them shut up and looked at me, standing between them as I still was.

With their full attention on me, I nearly forgot what I had been about to say. Darn their intense gazes and commanding presences.

Good thing I was hard-headed and as persistent as a cat with a tuna can when it came to someone I cared about.

"It doesn't matter what you think about Eric," I told them, looking at one then the other, "because I believe he didn't send that ridiculous text." Dean scratched his chest and Bas' scowl deepened, but I continued. "Meaning he might be in trouble. Someone has the phone you gave him and that someone knows about me and how I was waiting for Eric to tell me he got someplace safe."

"Monica," Dean muttered. "That adds up to what my contact saw."

My eyes widened. "You know more?"

"Umm... yes."

"Then why didn't you say so right away, Dean! What has your contact seen?"

"It's not much, sweetie. When I got the text message last night, I found it fishy and asked Rory to check that bank account number. The owner's name is unfamiliar but the town where that account has been opened is a three-hour ride away from here. Bas and I have some human buds there from my student years; they didn't know about a hyena pack in town but were on board with Operation Watch the ATMs. So... I wired some money to the bank account and let 'Eric' know via text."

"You had your friends watch all the ATMs in town?" Now the investigation I had overheard Dean mentioning earlier made sense. I had though it a police investigation at the time, but boy was I glad I had been wrong. "On the off chance the message's sender would go take the money out right away?"

Sebastian shook his head disapprovingly while Dean smiled sheepishly. "That was the only lead to Eric's whereabouts so I followed it–er, had my buds and their buds follow it. They thought it would be fun."

"And someone saw Monica take the money?"

"A female shifter, my bud said. He's good at distinguishing our kind from his. She was fidgety and kept looking around while using the ATM despite the streets being deserted so early on a Sunday morning."

Yep, that had to be Monica. For once, female shifters being rare worked in my favor.

"He followed her to a family house on the outskirts of town," Dean said. "Didn't see anyone else there, the place looked decrepit. Rory checked and the house is up for demolition next year." Dean scratched his chest again. "That's where my investigation ended, sweetie. Like I said, it's not much..."

"Are you kidding me? That's all we need – Eric's whereabouts!" I felt like hugging him. He'd done all this for me during the night and while at work, without me having asked him. He could have just shown me the text from Eric and that's that.

"Sweetie, we don't know whether Eric is in that house. My bud said he would call if he saw movement around the house but hasn't."

"Or the Omega is in the house with his sister counting the withdrawn cash," Sebastian grumbled. "Planning how to get more out of his fated mate, who is strangely trusting when it comes to the panther."

I rolled my eyes.

Dean shot his friend a look. "That's why I was saying we should take the investigation to the very end. Go check the house out and see the truth for ourselves. If we leave things as they are..."

"I won't forgive you," I finished his thought. He had been right about that. "I can't give a relationship with you two a go knowing you have purposefully left my third mate to who knows what fate." Sebastian opened his mouth to argue but I went on. "After you sent him to that fate by trying to have him arrested."

Sebastian growled low in his throat. "I'm trying to protect you from getting hurt. Again. It's one thing seeing this message and another seeing with your own eyes how the Omega is packing his bags for a trip away from you with your money. Pursuing Dean's lead will only make the heartache worse."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Wasn't it you who said only yesterday that me running from Mother Nature's 'greatest gift' would doom all of us to misery?"

I might as well have smacked Sebastian with a frying pan in the head. That was how stunned he looked.

Dean was valiantly trying to stifle a laugh.

"You can't ask me to accept you and Dean, to put my trust in you only because you're my fated mates, and then tell me Eric doesn't deserve the same treatment."

Sebastian gritted his teeth and said nothing. What could he say? It's hard to argue with one's own logic.

"You also said trust needs to be earned," I got to the end of my little speech. "So give Eric a chance to earn that trust. The trust of all three of us. And if you wish to win my trust and convince me a mating between four shifters is possible, show me you can overcome your territorial instincts when it comes to Eric." I took a deep breath and placed a hand on Dean's chest and then Sebastian's. "Help me find Eric. Please."

My touch elicited a purr from Dean and a pleased rumble from deep within Sebastian's chest. Their eyes shifted to their animal halves'.

"I'm yours, sweetie–er, my help is yours."

Sebastian's gaze was locked with mine and he wasn't saying anything.

"Pal?"

"Fine." He abruptly stepped away and broke our eye contact as well. "I'll go arrange for someone to accompany the pride females in my place. Also, for several pride members to come with us as backup."

Dean smiled, looking relieved. "That's a good idea, Bas. Who knows what we'll find in that house."

I just stood there, hand still on Dean's chest, stunned. Sebastian was doing this. I couldn't image how hard it was for him to overcome his tiger's instincts to keep Eric away from his territory, his mate. Sebastian was doing it for me.

"Dean, you make sure our spitfire gets some food in her system. We leave as soon as I return."

"You got it, pal." Dean took my hand in his and pulled me gently towards a seat by the table. "Come on, sweetie, let's get a long, fat sausage in you."

The joke barely registered with me. I was too busy looking at Sebastian's retreating form.

"Sebastian, wait."

He paused in the corridor just outside the kitchen.

I ran to him and planted a kiss in the center of his chest. "Thank you."

Then I turned to run back to Dean, embarrassed by my spontaneous decision.

A hand caught mine.

I stopped and turned to face Sebastian once more.

He cupped my cheek with his other hand.

I sucked in a breath.

His lips landed on mine for a hard, possessive kiss.

It lasted but a few seconds yet was enough to make my knees wobbly.

Then Sebastian was gone from my side, and I had to pull myself back together. Kissing him – preferably for longer and with tongue – had to wait.

Now it was time to find Eric.