Blood at Stake (Warriors of the Krieger Book 2) by Theresa Hissong

office to
make sure there were no bad guys hiding in the filing cabinet or
anything.
    “Geez,” I said, once the men were shut out
in the hallway. “I didn’t miss them hanging around.”
    “Okay,” she said. “Talk!”
    “Well,” I began. “Ashby and I had one night
of really amazing sex, and when I rose the next evening, we were
mated.” Charity opened her mouth to say something, but closed it
quickly and frowned. “I know it’s a lot to take in. Obviously, the
gods wanted this Charity. It’s strange and I’m just getting used to
it myself.”
    “This is strange,” she continued to
frown. “Are you…happy?”
    “I really don’t know what to think,” I
sighed. “It happened so fast .”
    Charity came around the desk, and I stood
up. We hugged for what seemed like forever. The knot in my throat
constricted, and I took a shaky breath. She smelled like sweet
roses and home. I’d missed her so much over the past couple of
weeks.
    “Talk to me,” she demanded. I looked into
her eyes that matched my own and smiled weakly.
    “I don’t know what to think,” I said,
repeating my early statement. The prick in the back of my eyes was
getting stronger. I didn’t want to cry, but I had a feeling it was
going to happen.
    “You’ve already said that,” she whispered,
our arms were still wrapped around each other. Charity pushed the
hair out of my face and closed her eyes with a heavy sigh when she
saw my eyes welling up with tears. “It’s just you and me in here,
Lydia. You can let go now.”
    With her words, I let the tears fall.
However, they didn’t fall…they exploded out of my eyes. Bloody
water trailed down my face, and I blubbered all of the thoughts I’d
been too worried to speak aloud.
    “I…like him, but I…I don’t know him. He’s
sexy and frustrating and protective and caring and…and…oh, Charity!
I don’t know what’s happening to me, to us ! I agreed to move
in with him at the estate, because of my safety as a mate of the Krieger . Stupid humans are after my blood, and I don’t know
why! I’ve been shot, staked and woke up as a mate to a warrior. All
in a matter of days , Charity! Days ! Not weeks, or
months, like it’s supposed to be!”
    “Oh, Lydia,” she cried along with me. “Do
you want me to take you away? You know, you can leave and get some
distance. It’s the only way to break the mating, but it will be
painful.”
    “I know,” I sniffled. It was possible and
could be done, but if you found yourself mated there was a way to
get away from it. The rumor was that the pain of distance would
have you begging for death. That was for a regular mating, between
two mates. How bad would it be to try and break a mating with a
warrior? Would Ashby go insane? Would I? “I like him, and I really
want to try to see where this goes.”
    “Do you think you can love him?” she asked.
Now there was the question I had been holding in the back of
my mind.
    “Honestly?” I looked at my best friend, my
child. She stood there waiting on the answer I didn’t want to
reveal, but if I had to reveal it to anyone, it would be her.
    “Yes, Lydia. Honestly? Do you think you can
love him?” She tucked a stray lock of hair over my ear and waited
for me to answer.
    “I think…I think I already do,” I cried.
    “You have to tell him,” she said, wiping
away my bloody tears.
    “I know,” I said, reaching for another
tissue from the box on my desk.
    We screamed as the office door smashed in
with an explosion of two very pissed off and extremely large
warrior males…our mates. Dragus and Ashby rushed to our sides,
their hands cupping our faces. “What’s wrong?” they asked in
unison.
    “Nothing,” we replied, laughing shakily as
we wiped the remaining tears from our faces.
    “We felt you,” Dragus said, his Romanian
accent thick as he checked over his mate.
    “Baby,” Ashby said, holding me tight to his
chest and breathing out a heavy sigh of relief. “Talk to