Hale: Love Me Harder - Alien Paranormal Romance (3 page)

Tori’s scent went in one direction and the Created in another. He quickly informed Sergey before following Tori. Following her proved to be rather easy, she was driving slow, spending more time looking at her rear view mirror than watching the road in front of her.

He followed her up the steps when she finally exited the car and made it to her porch. He decided not to go into her apartment. In such a tight spot she was bound to sense his presence. He didn’t want to spook her. Also it would be hard to keep his hands to himself if he was that close to her. He wanted to pick her up at lunch, throw her over his shoulder, and leave with her.

Suddenly he had an appreciation for the cavemen he’d read about from Earth’s past. The freedom to pick up the female you wanted and proclaim to all that she belonged to you. It must have been an easier time. His other side agreed. Earth’s past reminded his beast of a time when that was acceptable. They were civilized now, his beast’s planet. That was no longer acceptable there either.

He melted deeper into the shadows to keep an eye on Tori. Her skin was so soft, he brushed against her hand when they sat next to each other at lunch. One touch of her was not nearly enough.

He climbed a tree that would allow him to look at her window, it was covered in heavy drapes, but even this far away he could hear her footsteps. The window he was looking at definitely was in her apartment.

He took the time to gaze around the neighborhood. It was not the best place to live. How did she end up here? Tori the wedding planner was not hard or calculating. If she were the other female who came into her office no one would have ever been able to take advantage of her.

Hale watched the ebb and flow of traffic and humans walking up and down the street. Finally he had to grudgingly admit that this was one of the few things his planet of origin did better than earth.

On his planet there were no neighborhoods like this. Everyone lived in a safe and clean community. The Created helped that to happen by fighting and winning against the forces at large that would have decimated their planet for some scientific achievement. War, in his opinion, was not worth it when any achievement would be out of date, sometimes before he turned a year older.

It was worth keeping his planet safe. Because of him and all his brothers the planet was free of not only war, but strife and hunger. The scientists cured most of the diseases since they no longer had to worry about protecting themselves. If you only looked at the surface it may sound like paradise.

Maybe it was to the natural born citizen, but to the Created it was a death sentence waiting to happen. They spent much of their time after they reached adulthood status outside. Didn’t matter the weather conditions, they were out. They slept on the ground and caught their own food. They taught themselves to prepare it or eat it raw. Many days they simply ate it raw.

Earth to him was the paradise. A group of humans hanging around the building that Tori went into caught his attention. Did they also live there? He watched as they went in; there was no lock on the door to the apartment building and anyone could gain entry. He listened specifically for their footsteps and heard them going up several flights of steps, past the door Tori stopped at.

They went to the very top of the building and then there was a soft sound and laughing voices. The group began running knocking on every door and pausing to do something. By the time they made it outside, the building was ablaze and people were screaming for help.

He could already hear the sounds of the sirens as they made their way toward the burning building. They were going to be too late. He looked over to see Tori standing in her window, pounding on the glass. They would never reach her in time.

He jumped from the tree changing in mid jump while continuing to keep himself invisible to the humans around him. Many of them stopped and were pointing now, staring in both awe and fear at the fire that was determined to consume the building.

Moving past them, he ran up the steps and entered the building hearing muffled voices of fear on the first floor. He stared at the steps, but couldn’t leave the others to perish no one had opened their doors to flee. He broke locks as he opened doors on the first floor, the fire had not consumed their floor yet and they’d be able to leave if they moved quickly.

He helped the elderly couple in the first apartment to the porch allowing the humans to take over when he brought them out. The woman who couldn’t see him, but who could feel him, said she would pray for him every day for the rest of her life.

The other occupants of the first floor were streaming out as he took the steps up to the second floor. There was no fire here, but the smoke descended letting everyone know that their time was up and that a fiery death awaited them.

No time for gentleness, he still needed to get to Tori. He kicked in every door hoping to give them a chance to live. He brought them out, carrying most. No one protested or spent worthless time saying what was happening was impossible.

On the third floor he went directly to Tori’s door, the heat from the flames was already causing the paint to blister. The firemen were on his tail and would soon hit this floor to help any stranded individuals out. His beast roared loudly in his ear they couldn’t lose their mate.

He kicked in the door. Her apartment was filled with smoke making it difficult to see. The thick pungent smell was obliterating her enticing scent. He moved to the area he believed to be her living room and went down on his hands and knees.

He crawled until he saw her outline on the floor. She was obscured by smoke and not moving. He grabbed her and went through the bedroom, busting not only the glass, but the thick bars that covered the window.

He landed on a thin patch of grass on the side of the building. Placing her on the ground, he began checking for a pulse.

“Nicholas, she is not breathing. What should I do?”

Chapter Four

“Hale, give her CPR then get her here immediately.”

Pump her chest while counting, breathe and repeat. He repeated the steps talking himself through it to keep his head clear.

Her gasp of air allowed his body to sag and his heart to slow from its painful beat. She would live. Now all he had to do was get her to Nicholas. He needed a car.

“Car service.” Dante pulled up alongside of him.

Dante was one of the Created, but he wasn’t one of Hale’s brothers. Dante was a different kind of Created and he had the knack of being in the right place at the right time.

Hale picked Tori up and climbed in the back with her held securely in his arms.

“Dante, you even freak me out, and I am Created! How did you know to show up here?”

Dante threw him a wicked smile and took off.

“Do you think she will survive this?”

“She will definitely survive the smoke inhalation.”

Those words allowed his shoulders to relax some, it was the unspoken words that still had him on edge. He wanted to question Dante, but understood that when Dante thought the time was right, he would talk, until then nothing more would be said.

Hale eased back in the seat and let go of some of the tension. He had many other things to think about. The Created had been spotted and his identity was confirmed by Sergey.

He looked down at Tori in his arms. His lips formed a small smile as he used his finger to sweep her hair out of her face. Such soft skin. His muscles clenched tight as he tried to lay her down on the seat next to him. Giving up the fight he pulled her closer.

Mate, his other side whispered to him. The nod of his head was his reply. We have a mate and she is beautiful. How could he have come to deserve someone as exotic as Tori? On any other planet she would have never paid any attention to him, not that she was actually paying attention to him now. Would she be upset that he dared to touch her even though he’d saved her life?

‘No!’ His other side protested by shaking his head violently and leaving Hale with a slight headache. You don’t know, he told his other side. Do you remember how the other mates acted? They were not exactly happy at first.

‘Mate.’ A sigh later he nodded in agreement. She was their mate, they would do whatever it took to protect her.

Dante pulled up the drive to Nicolas’s house. “We’re here.”

Hale opened the door still lost in his thoughts.

“Hale,” Dante said.

Hale stopped to look Dante in the eyes.

“What?”

“Everything happens for a reason, remember that,” Dante said.

With a nod of his head he got out the car with Tori cradled in his arms like she was the most precious thing he’d ever come across. With a small shove of his foot he closed the door and began to walk towards the steps where Janis was waiting for him.

“Nicolas said to take her to the second guest room.” Janis spoke to him with a look of concern on her face.

He nodded and ran up the stairs making sure not to jar Tori. He knew his sister would follow.

Janis was Nicolas’s mate. His brother and his new sister hadn’t been together long, but he could see the love on their faces. Janis almost died, twice. Hale had worked around the clock to find her location for Nicolas, but he hadn’t understood what Nicolas was feeling. Now he had a gut full of feeling all tied to the exotic bundle he was carrying.

He walked in to find Nicolas waiting with a stethoscope around his neck. Hale’s lips quivered in another smile, something about seeing his brother decked out as a human doctor always made him smile.

“Place her on the bed.” He did and then stepped back so Nicolas could examine her.

“Her heart has a strong steady beat and her breathing is nice and even. Did you send her to sleep?” Nicolas asked as he checked her pulse.

Hale nodded. It was just another indicator that Tori was his mate. The Created had a talent to be able to send their mates to sleep if need be. He had no idea why. He spent hours thinking about it and in the end decided it was so that they could protect them or pick them up and move fast if need be.

His brothers didn’t agree with his reasoning, but he held fast to it.

“Will she be fine?”

“She’ll wake up with tight lungs and the need to breathe deeply and probably cough; she should recover from it quickly,” Nicolas answered Hale. “Was this attack directed at her?”

“I don’t think so. It happened in a building full of people putting every life in jeopardy.”

Hale allowed his eyes to roam over Tori’s body moving from her feet up until he got to the gently rising chest that proved she was fine. His arms tightened and he felt one claw after another pop out of the tips of his fingers. Get it together, Hale, you have a mate now. You are no longer one of the younger brothers. You have a responsibility, a mate. He inhaled deeply as his claws disappeared; he would do right by her.

“Nicolas, why do you think she may have been targeted?” Janis asked from the doorway where she’d been standing.

“It may just be a coincidence, but I no longer believe in them when it comes to mates. I find it strange that Tori’s building goes up in flames on the same day Hale meets her.”

Janis nodded her head in agreement. Coincidence was something she no longer believed in either.

They walked out the room leaving Hale to sit in the chair Nicolas conveniently placed by the bed. Once again his older brother was looking out for him. It could be that this time, Nicolas understood what Hale was going through in a way that Hale was just beginning to figure out.

Sighing, he sat going through the computer procedures he set up to track the tainted Created. Anything to keep his mind off the softness of Tori’s skin.

“Hale.”

Aran’s voice sounded off in his head. Aran was the oldest brother and the leader of their family. He was also the first to mate. Rena was Aran’s mate and now his sister. She was also the first one the tainted Created had gone after. They thought at the time it was just a coincidence. They knew better now, it wasn’t a joke or even one of their kind after them. No this was much worse than any of them had even dared to think about.

“Aran.”

“Come downstairs.”

Hale stood and looked at Tori’s sleeping form, he didn’t want to leave her. He didn’t want her to wake in a strange room alone and confused. He shook himself. At least she would wake.

He walked down the main staircase that reminded him of his own house and into the game room. They each had one, a big room filled with loveseats and various gaming stations. Nicolas was challenging Janis to a game of pool in which the winner got to do interesting things to the loser.

He moved to the couch to see a very pregnant Rena sitting on Aran’s lap. Could a male look anymore content than Aran. He ran his hand over Rena’s swollen belly and she smiled as she talked to him.

Hale found a place on the loveseat next to the one Niko and Dee were occupying. Niko was the third brother, but he had been the second to find his mate. Dee was hard or so he overheard other humans call her, but in their family she was high spirited and obviously in love with her mate. Dee and Rena had been best friends for years before the brothers met them, and now their antics kept him and his brothers on their toes. Yet it was their acceptance of every new mate that helped to cement them as one large family. A family that was being hunted by something that thought it was the ultimate warrior.

Aran made a move with his hand that had the whole room going still, all eyes were focused on him.

“Sergey,” Aran’s quiet voice rang out. “Tell everyone what you discovered.”

Several months ago they finally met the Created face to face when he tried to destroy them and mate Janis to a Crux’z. Unfortunately they had been too busy fighting for their lives to actually get a good look at the real enemy.

“Hale spoke to me saying he scented the tainted Created around Dante’s restaurant. I was already in the restaurant. We were in the process of leaving. I left Lorali with Dante and his brothers and went after the Created.”

Sergey stilled himself before he began to relate his encounter.