Free The Mechanic's Mate by Mikea Howard Page B

advantage over Domek. But that had always been Eridon’s game. Avoiding physical combat as long as he could, he would try and get the upper hand by just messing with his opponent’s head. He used to refer to himself as a ‘Master of the Mind’, stating that within minutes he could get into anyone’s psyche and know their weaknesses.
    “Would you actually fight me for her?” Eridon glared at him. “She’s not worth it you know. She’s just some motherless city rat dying for any man’s attention, a natural submissive, ripe for my picking. Sadie may insist she fought the bond, but she didn’t. That’s why she’s mine, Dom. You know it too, or I would have smelled you on her. Your superior morals just won’t let you do that. She’s someone else's mate. My mate, and it drives you crazy every time you smell me on her.”
    While the bastard tried to goad him into a fight, Dom needed to calm himself. Eridon always angled for an edge up during battles by pushing him into a rage. When Domek lost all logic, his strategies faltered. Not this time. This time it meant more than just some battle for hierarchy, but a battle for salvation. Sadie’s salvation. He’d never let his old beta have her back, under any circumstances. Not to mention that Domek recognized his deception. After years of dealing with him, he picked up some of Eridon’s little tells, like the occasional scratching at his hip.
    Eridon straightened sauntering toward the den. Domek’s clear wolf vision showed that his old beta’s temples started to go a bit gray when he brushed the messy black hair from his face. Approaching closer, the werewolf’s expression seemed void of any emotions, even his usual arrogance. Domek, with ears raised, also moved forward, with his forehead furrowed. His muzzle creased with lips lifted high and nose puckered, teeth bared. Hackles raised, he adjusted his stance in a crouched position, ready to leap the moment that bastard got close enough. The tip of his tail, now raised high, began twitching to one side. Dom had all of his attention bearing down on Eridon at that moment.
    The rogue stopped just outside of range, but remained close enough that even though he dropped the volume of his voice, Domek heard him perfectly.
    “Fine, Dom, have her . . . for now. She’ll end up running back to Eureka, and back to me soon enough. When the chippy clears her addled mind and remembers she left behind the one thing that has ever meant anything to her . . . realizes I know the precise location where she left it.” He turned, walking away.
    Once he disappeared from Domek’s line of sight the click of a switch being tripped, followed by the whir of a small machine sounded. He must have activated the arm Sadie made. Once the noise stopped, Eridon shouted, “Oh and train her well while you have her. But make sure to ready her for me; she is mine and I will have her again. You remember how I like them prepared don't you, Dom? How is Kara’s sister doing by the way? Did she ever get her mind back, or is she still the babbling mess I left behind?”
    The memory of Kara’s twin sister’s fading sparkle after Eridon destroyed her struck the final blow on Domek’s control and he charged out after him. Eridon, already in wolf form, had started running away. The clank of the metal striking the ground betraying the direction he headed. Giving chase for a moment, Dom remembered he’d left Sadie behind, unprotected in the den. He stopped and ran back. Surely that sack of shit wasn’t working alone, and he’d just left her vulnerable.
    He found Sadie alone, still curled in a ball. Her eyes closed tight, the fur around them glistened wet. He nudged her hindquarters forcing her out of it. Popping to her feet, she bared teeth snapping in a wild manner at him. He backed away giving her a moment to come back to herself, because he understood her panic. It almost swallowed him too, but not for the same reasons.
    Eridon had been successful in