If This Is The End!

Us

Stone’s POV.

Something takes over. Something primal. It’s as if my wolf has surged forward and taken control without shifting. My mouth no longer feels like my own as my teeth clamp down on Mickey’s neck. As the copper tang of his blood hits my tongue, I’m flooded with emotions. I know this feeling. I’ve had it once before. It’s the forming of the mate bond. A bond that is supposed to be reserved for wolves and only wolves. A tear of pure happiness escapes me because I never thought I’d bond with Mickey like this. I never knew it was a possibility. I knew he was my mate, destined for me and my wolf had been pushing me to take this step with him, but I didn’t think it could actually happen. Not like this. Then my happiness is shattered when Holly shrieks in fear.

“Mickey! s**t, Mickey, I’m so sorry. Wake up, please wake up,” Holly cries. My eyes come into focus and I take in the scene beneath me. Mickey is slumped on top of Holly, rivulets of blood run from each side of his neck, dripping onto Holly beneath him. I pull him off of her, rolling him onto the bed next to her. He’s completely motionless.

“Mickey!” I shout. Shaking him to try and wake him up. What have we done? Holly jumps straight into nurse mode, assessing his injuries. The twin bite marks are easily visible, even in the low light. I jump from the bed and turn on the light on my way out of the room so Holly can see better. I wet two washcloths in the bathroom before rushing back to Mickey’s side. He lays there, a broken, bleeding mess and it’s all my fault. I never should have perused him. I knew my wolf wanted to bite him and I stupidly thought I could resist it. Holly takes a cloth from me and holds it to one of the wounds. I do the same on the other side.

“He’s okay,” she sighs.

“No he’s not, look at him!” I shout. I’m furious at us both.

“Calm down, feel the bond, he’s fine,” she says calmly. I look at her, and she has her eyes closed, a soft smile on her face. I close my eyes and search for the bond. It’s there. Strong and sure. The three of us connected, and the strongest of us all is Mickey. He shines bright and fierce.

“I never knew he was so powerful,” Holly whispers in awe.

“He’s amazing, isn’t he? And he’s barely scratched the surface of what he can do,” I grin in pride. “What do you think is happening?” I ask.

“I think he’s just overwhelmed with the bond, he’s not hard-wired for this like we are, and we hit him with a double whammy. Give his body and mind time to catch up,”

“I’m doing an update,” Mickey mumbles. I laugh in relief and happiness. He’s okay, we didn’t kill him.

“Take your time, do you need anything?” Holly says softly.

“Sugar,” he groans.

“Is your blood sugar low? Stone, get him something sweet,” Holly instructs, and moves her hand to his wrist, checking his pulse. I grin and shake my head. He's such a needy little thing.

“It's you Holly, you're the sugar,” I snort.

“Oh, then I can certainly help with that,” she leans down to kiss him. I'm going to have to watch these two. If I'm not careful, I’ll end up playing the third wheel to them. I can feel Mickey’s love for me through the bond now. It’s so great it almost hurts. I can also see the spark of a love for Holly. He’s not there yet, but it’s a start, so delicate right now, but with the potential to be something strong. Like a seedling that’s just sprouted, with time and care it will erupt into a mighty oak. I move the cloth away from Mickey’s neck to assess the wound.

“It’s healing,” I tell them excitedly, interrupting Holly's exploration of Mickey’s mouth.

“I thought you two were wolves, not f*****g vampires,” Mickey huffs and pushes himself up on his elbows.

“I’m sorry, I really don’t understand what happened. My wolf took over, but I didn’t shift, those bite marks though… they’re clearly wolf mating marks,” I rub at the back of my neck nervously. I’m not sure if he fully understands what happened, and I’m not sure how he’s going to react. I can feel him through the bond; he feels at peace and content. Let’s see how long that lasts when he realises the gravity of the situation because we’ve just tied him to us for life.

“It was the same for me. I lost all control. I thought I was shifting, it felt like the start of it, but then it didn’t happen,” Holly admits.

Mickey moves to get up, and I offer him my hand. He takes it and I pull him to his feet. I grip his chin and lift his face to meet his eyes.

“Woah,” I say when I look at his eyes.

“What?” he scowls at me.

“Go check in the mirror,”

“I better not have lost my purple! I like my purple,” he stomps off, butt naked, to the bathroom and I shake my head at him, my sassy little witch.

“Let's get in the bath,” I tell Holly as I follow Mickey to the bathroom.

“This is freaking amazeballs!” Mickey says as he studies his eyes in the mirror. I turn on the tap and put the plug in the bath before coming to stand behind him in the mirror.

“You like it?” I ask with a grin.

“Damn right I do, I have as much purple as Derry now,” he beams, and then his face drops as he remembers his cousin. I can feel his guilt that he forgot she was missing for a few moments.

“We will find her,” I tell him, placing a kiss on my now-healed bite mark on his neck. He shudders at the contact.

“What the hell was that?” He gasps.

“It’s my mating mark. We are fully bonded now,” I break the news as gently as possible.

“Well thanks, Sherlock, I’d never have worked it out for myself,” he rolls his eyes at me in the mirror, “I mean why does it feel like that? And will these marks stay like this? I mean I kind of like them, they make me look more badass, right?” His words come out so fast that I struggle to keep up with him.

“I don’t know if they’ll stay this dark,” I run my fingers over the deep red raised skin, causing him to moan, “but they feel like that because it’s a reminder of me and how I make you feel, and yes, they look great on you. They let everyone know you are claimed,” I can’t keep the possessive growl from my voice. He is mine now, and everyone is going to know it.

“Okay cool, so kind of like a shag badge? Now everyone will know we had a Mickey sandwich, this will definitely have people talking,” he chuckles, examining the marks. Something is off about him. I can’t believe he’s accepting this so easily and even seems to be happy about it. I expected tantrums or at least a bit of sass about it, but there’s no hint of anything negative.

“Are you okay?” I ask, studying the bond for his reaction. He nods, but I feel the truth, he’s not okay, he is happy, but it’s laced with a heavy sadness. Holly joins us in the bathroom and I turn off the tap. The bath is full enough. I’m glad Hawk decided to fit these large bathtubs in most of the cabins. Although I think I’ll upgrade it to a bigger one, considering we have three in our mate bond now. The bath is big enough for us all, but it will be a tight fit.

“Well, you look a sight sugar, it’s kind of hot though,” Mickey says, running his fingers over the dried blood smeared across her chest.

“Let’s get cleaned up,” I laugh, stepping into the warm water and holding my hands out to my mates. They each take a hand, and we all sink into the water together. They rest their heads on my shoulders and I relax with a contented sigh, loving having them so close.

“You know I was thinking we might need to upgrade to a bigger bath now there’s three of us, but now I’m holding you both like this, I think I like this size just fine,” I purr. I feel Mickey tense at my words and I look down at him. He’s clutching Holly’s hand that’s resting on my chest. I feel Holly’s concern through the bond, and I push calming vibes and love at them both.

“What’s wrong Mickey?” I ask softly. He shakes his head and squeezes me tighter.

“There’s a pack meet tomorrow at 11, mandatory attendance,” he says, and his words have me on edge. This is much bigger than I thought if Hawk is addressing the whole pack about it.

“What’s happened?” I urge, I can’t wait until the pack meet.

“I had a vision, the pack is going to be attacked, the council are coming for us,” his voice is shaky, and his fear floods the bond.

“When?” I demand.

“I can’t be sure, but we have four days at least,” he sighs.

“That’s enough time, tomorrow you two will pack up some stuff and leave until this is over,” I nod to myself. My mates will be safe.

“I’m not leaving Stone, I have to fight, we all do. Even if we did run, they’d never stop hunting us. I don’t want to live like that,” he sounds resigned. Then realisation dawns on me.

“That’s why you are okay with this, isn’t it? We aren’t going to survive, are we?”

“No, unless we get Derry back or something else changes before then, we don’t have much time. It has really put things into perspective. I’ve wasted so much time that I could have had with you, with you both. I’m sorry I was so stubborn and scared,” he buries his face in my chest. I rub his back in soothing circles and Holly runs her fingers through his hair. We are all silent whilst we process our thoughts and emotions. My instinct is telling me to fight him on this, that he and Holly should leave and go somewhere safe, but he’s right. If we have any hope of the pack surviving, we all need to stay and fight. A few weeks ago, I’d have insisted they leave. Mickey didn’t have the power he does now. He will be a valuable warrior in the fight that’s coming.

“I’m not ready to give this up yet, I’ve only just got you both, and I’ve never been happier. That gives me even more of a reason to win this fight. We will find a way to tip the odds in our favour. Things have already changed since your vision. We are stronger now the mate bond is complete, we can share our strength. And if this is the end… then we are going to make the most of these next few days together,” I say, filled with determination, because I have everything to fight for now right here in my arms. I will kill anyone who threatens to take them from me. For now, all I can do is strengthen the bond to increase our power share, love my mates, and keep them too distracted to dwell on what might happen.

“In the meantime, we have a bond to strengthen, and I’ve had plenty of time to imagine all the ways we can do that,” I purr, sending them a mental image of Holly in my lap riding me whilst Mickey takes her ass. They both moan in unison, and then it turns into a frenzy whilst they both scramble into position.

“So a Holly sandwich this time, does that mean we get a Stone sandwich next time?” Mickey smirks and I growl in protest.

“That sounded a lot like a yes to me. Did it sound like a yes to you sugar?” He asks Holly.

“Definitely a yes,” she smiles before bringing her mouth to mine. And hell, it’s not something I had considered but with these two, I’m willing do anything to please them.