by R. E. Butler
“There is no such thing as a legal mating within any shifter groups,” Donovan said. “Even if there were, as Rhapsody stated, she’s alpha of her clan and can choose her mate. Which she clearly has.”
“You killed my brother,” Nyle shouted. “I have the right to fight for the mate who was promised to him.”
Kelley snorted. “Your brother was stomped to death by a moose because he was trespassing. No one here owes you anything. Leave. Now.”
Nyle’s claws extended from his fingers and she could see his fangs descend. “I will leave and expose you all to the humans unless I’m allowed to fight for my family’s honor.”
Donovan looked between Nyle and Kelley. Kelley rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. “I’ll fight for my mate. When I win, you’ll go back to your home territory and never think of my mate again.”
“When I win,” Nyle countered, “I’ll break your spirited mate until she’s a shell of the female she is right now. I like my females broken and submissive.” He scented the air and snarled. “And I’ll take that abomination from her belly myself.”
Rhapsody growled and Kelley took a menacing step forward.
Donovan put his hand up and walked to her and Kelley. “You don’t have to do this. We can drive them from here as a group.”
“No one threatens my mate or my baby,” Kelley said. “I’ll put him down myself.”
Rhapsody’s mouth went dry and her heart thudded in her chest. “Kelley,” she whispered.
He turned to her and cupped her face. Tears leaked from her eyes and he kissed them away. “I’ve been training to fight since I was young, sweetheart. Have no doubt that my elephant and I will keep you safe and keep you forever.”
She grasped his wrists. “I’d be lost without you.”
“You never have to know what that’s like. I’m not going anywhere.” He kissed her gently and then looked at his mother. “Keep her safe.”
“You be safe,” Rowena said as she put an arm around Rhapsody and pulled her back toward the edge of the ring. “He’ll be fine. That scrawny panther is no match for my son.”
“Why did this happen? Why won’t they leave me alone?”
“I don’t know. Some shifter groups have an inflated sense of purpose. They believe that their laws are the only ones that should be followed, regardless of how it affects others. Look at those with him. The two females look frightened beyond belief, and one of the males is very young. He can’t be more than a teenager.”
“This is my fault,” she said.
“How can you say that?”
“Because it’s my parents’ fault that this clan believes I belong to them. If my parents hadn’t promised me to Nyle’s brother, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Rowena looked at Rhapsody with a frown. “Do you really believe your parents did that?”
“I didn’t when Norris said it, but if my parents didn’t make any promises, then how can I explain why they keep coming for me? Any normal male would see that I’m mated and pregnant and know it’s too late to try to take me as a mate.”
“There isn’t anything normal about this clan. I honestly don’t think that your parents said any such thing to them, or that it was a misunderstanding. They’ve stalked you in the name of a promise they have no proof of. This is anything but your fault.”
“Kelley could be hurt because of me.”
“He won’t be.”
Rhapsody wanted to share Rowena’s certainty, but she was too scared. Scared for Kelley, scared for their baby, and scared that somehow in the past her parents had put this into motion.
Kelley jerked his shirt over his head and tossed it aside. Donovan stepped between Kelley and Nyle. Kelley was far more muscular and well-built, a body-builder’s physique to Nyle’s lean, swimmer’s build. But Rhapsody knew that as a shifter, Nyle was powerful even if he wasn’t as muscled as Kelley. She wanted to run between them and put a stop to it, but she knew she couldn’t. Nyle wasn’t listening to her, he was demanding a fight as if there was some honor in trying to take a female from her mate.
Donovan spoke loudly. “This fight is for the mating right to Rhapsody Caine. The winner will be determined when one male taps out or is unconscious. This is not a fight to the death. The winner claims Rhapsody as mate, and the loser leaves with the promise to never return to attempt a claim on the female. The circus and zoo’s secret will remain as such, with no threat of revelation to the humans. Do you both agree?”
Kelley said, “Yes.”
Nyle bounced on his heels and turned to his people, who were lined up several yards behind him. He made a show of slowly taking off his shirt and handing it to one of the two females. She was older but shared similar facial features and Rhapsody figured her for his mother or an older sibling.
Nyle shook hands with the panthers, except for the younger female and male, who were several steps away from the small group. She was curious about their behavior, but decided she didn’t really care. They’d come with the group attempting to force her to leave her mate. Whatever their situation was, it was theirs to deal with and not her business.
As her gaze roamed the group, she saw one of the males, who was wearing black gloves, cup his hands. Nyle smiled and tapped his fingers against the male’s cupped hands, and as he lifted them, his fingers glistened strangely for a moment before returning to normal.
“Did you see that?” Rhapsody whispered to Rowena.
“What, dear?” she asked.
“I…thought I saw something. It’s strange.” Something tickled at the back of Rhapsody’s mind, a memory of something she’d been told as a child. She watched Nyle cross the ring to join Kelley and Donovan.
Donovan said, “You need to agree with our terms, Nyle.”
“Right, right,” Nyle said. “Of course, I agree.”
Kelley looked at Rhapsody and crossed his finger over his heart and tears sprang to her eyes. She mouthed the words love you to him.
Nyle growled and Kelley turned his attention back to the pending fight, curling his hands into fists as his whole body tensed. Nyle didn’t make fists, though. His hands were loose at his sides, and Rhapsody couldn’t stop thinking that she knew something had happened between the two panthers.
As Kelley and Nyle circled each other, determination on Kelley’s face and smug satisfaction on Nyle’s, she suddenly knew what she’d seen.
Her cat rushed to the front of her mind, and she raced to the ring as Nyle lifted his hands, his claws shining darkly in the lights. “No!” She shouted. “It’s poison!”
She leaped forward, ramming into Kelley’s shoulder and knocking him out of the way of Nyle’s clawed hands as they swung out and narrowly missed Kelley.
Pain seared through her as his claws connected with her chest, ripping through the sequined outfit and cutting into her skin. She hit the ground with a sharp cry. The pain was instantaneous as whatever he’d coated his claws with began to burn. Her skin heated and prickled, her face flushing as her mouth went dry and her vision blurred. She tried to speak, but she couldn’t form any words.
Silence and darkness closed in around her, and her last thought was that if she was going to die, saving her mate was a pretty noble way to go. She wished she wasn’t dying, but it didn’t seem like she had a say in the matter.
* * *
Kelley was ready to fight. He’d never been much of a fighter, actually, because he’d never had a need to fight. But he’d always known how to fight, in case the need arose. His grandfather had told him it was better to be prepared and not need the skills, than to need to fight and be unable. He was fighting for Rhapsody.
It was a fight he didn’t think he should have to fight. The panthers, and their alphas, were lunatics. Only unstable people would say that a mating wasn’t legal or try to get between a mated pair.
The final straw was the threat to their unborn child.
So Kelley would fight, because he was just the sort of male who wouldn’t allow his mate to be
threatened or afraid of anyone for any reason.
As Kelley and Nyle circled, he waited for the panther to make the first move. He was planning to beat him within an inch of his life to send a message to him and his people that Rhapsody was his alone and no one else’s. He saw Rhapsody rush toward him out of the corner of his eye and shout about poison. She moved so fast that when she crashed into him, he stumbled out of the way. The air whistled as Nyle’s clawed hands sliced near his body, but instead of connecting with him, the claws hit Rhapsody mid-air, and she fell to the dirt bleeding and gasping for air.
Kelley leaned over her, clutching her face and watching her eyes darken as if she weren’t able to see any longer. Roaring with fury, he leaped at Nyle and grabbed his head in both hands, twisting hard and swift, the crack of his neck echoing in the suddenly silent tent. His father roared a furious war cry and the memory males around them attacked the panther males.
He dropped to his knees and took Rhapsody’s hand.
“I called for Deneeta, she’s on the way,” Rowena said. “Her pulse is good but getting slower by the minute. What happened?”
Kelley wanted to answer his mother, but he couldn’t find the words. All he could focus on was that Rhapsody’s hand was cold and no matter how often he squeezed it, she didn’t squeeze back.
He fought the tears that threatened. He wanted to be strong for her. “Sweetheart, don’t go. Please, please. Stay strong for me. Come back to me.”
Someone dropped next to him and he glanced up and saw Deneeta. “Let me see the wounds.”
Kelley moved Rhapsody’s arm and grimaced at the four slashes across her chest. The outfit had shredded, offering no protection against the dangerous claws.
Deneeta bent, sniffing at the wounds. “I faintly smell something sour. What happened?”
“I have no idea,” Kelley said. “The alpha panther and I were getting ready to fight when Rhapsody suddenly yelled that there was poison and she shoved me out of the way and took his claws to her chest.”
“So there was something on his claws?”
“There must have been.”
Kelley looked up as his father approached. There was blood on his face but aside from a bruise forming on his jaw he looked unharmed. Kelley blinked a few times and then looked around. Only the young female and male were left, on their knees by the elephant males, hugging each other and crying.
“Her name is Luna. She said if we’d spare her and her brother that she’d help save Rhapsody.”
“Get her the hell over here,” Deneeta said. “I don’t know what poison they used so I would just be shooting in the dark with an antidote.”
Rowena rose to her feet and rushed to the girl, coaxing her off the ground and away from her brother. The trembling girl came near, her face streaked with tears.
“Help my mate, please,” Kelley said, wavering between a plea and a demand.
“You won’t hurt us?” Luna asked, wringing her hands. “We didn’t come here by choice.”
“You have my word as alpha,” Donovan said. “Now help my daughter.”
“The antidote’s in the pocket of the alpha’s cousin. I can get it.” She hurried away, calling to her brother that things were going to be okay. Kelley wanted to believe her, but as he looked down at his unresponsive sweetheart, he couldn’t help but feel as if there was no hope to be found.
He brought her cold hand to his lips and struggled not to lose it.
Luna returned and handed a small glass vial to Deneeta. “Put it on her tongue.”
“All of it?” Deneeta asked as she pulled the cork stopper out and gave a sniff to the contents.
“Yes. Hurry.”
Kelley opened Rhapsody’s mouth and Deneeta poured the contents of the vial onto her tongue. The liquid was clear, but once it hit her tongue it foamed and turned pink. Kelley closed her mouth and held his breath, wondering how things could be so perfect one moment and so heart-breakingly bad the next.
Rowena knelt next to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and the other on Rhapsody’s.
“Mom,” he whispered, his throat raw.
“It’ll be okay.”
“How can you be sure?”
“It just has to be.”
Chapter 14
It felt like he’d been waiting an eternity for signs that the poison in his mate’s system had been counter-acted by the antidote. The minute hand had swung around the clock too many times for him to count. His vision blurred with tears every time he looked away from her.
He wanted to bring the alpha panther back to life and kill him all over again.
He wished that Rhapsody hadn’t put herself between him and the alpha to save his life. His impulsive, amazing mate had taken his place.
He didn’t deserve her.
But he sure as hell didn’t want to let her go.
He brought her hand to his lips again. He’d kissed it so many times. Her fingers were chilled, and she hadn’t moved at all. When he stared hard at her throat he could see the flutter of her pulse. At least she was alive. But she was still trapped by the poison.
The memory had removed the bodies of the panther males. The only two left alive were Luna and her brother. Kelley wanted to ask Luna if the antidote was supposed to take a long time, but he’d already asked her several times. Her answer was always the same: it would work, but it needed time.
He bit back the snarled words that swam in his mind.
Just how fucking long was it supposed to take?
Focusing on his mate once more, he said, “Come back to me, Rhapsody. I’m not the most patient male, and you’re slowly driving me crazy here. Please, sweetheart. I need you.”
He felt the tiniest of movements in his hand. He stared at their entwined hands and wondered if he was literally going crazy and his mind was playing tricks on him or if he’d actually felt her move her fingers.
He stared at their hands until his eyes watered from strain, unwilling to blink until something happened.
Her index finger twitched.
His lungs burned as he held his breath.
Her finger twitched again, followed by the others. “She moved!”
“Oh!” Rowena said, as the fingers of both of Rhapsody’s hands began to move. “I knew it would work.” She brushed at the tears on her cheeks with her knuckles.
“Because you never give up, Mom,” Kelley said, resting his head on her shoulder.
“Well, I am wonderful, but it’s what moms are for.”
Rhapsody’s eyes fluttered open and her bottom lip moved a little.
“The antidote is working,” Luna said. “She’s still paralyzed from the poison but it’s working out of her system fast now.”
“I should thank you but I also hate you because you came with the panthers,” Kelley said.
“I understand,” Luna said. “You have a wonderful, caring family which I have not had aside from my brother. Nyle was my cousin. I’m not sorry he’s dead.”
Kelley tuned out the young panther and leaned over to look in Rhapsody’s eyes. “Sweetheart? You were poisoned and you have an antidote in your system, which is finally working. You just need to hang on a little more and you’ll be good as new.”
“The wounds are healing, but they might scar because they’re so deep. She can shift and try to heal them further when she’s able,” Deneeta said.
Kelley kissed Rhapsody’s forehead and breathed out a silent prayer of thanks. “I don’t care if you end up with scars, I’m just so damn thankful you’re alive. I wish you hadn’t thrown yourself between me and that asshole. I’d be poisoned a hundred times to keep you safe, my sweet soulmate.”
The corner of Rhapsody’s mouth quirked up. He kissed it.
Donovan squatted down on the other side of Rhapsody. “We’re going to dispose of the bodies. We’ll be back before dawn. You got things handled here?”
“Yeah,” Kelley said. He sat up and scrubbed his hand over his face. Now that Rhapsody was healing, he could co
ncentrate. “They’re all dead?”
“Except for Luna and her brother. The two males and older female with him are dead.”
“The female?” Kelley asked.
“She attacked us,” he said. “She made her choice.”
“What will happen to the two?”
“We’ll decide it later. For now, they’re going to stay under guard in one of the empty trailers. I spoke to the girl and I don’t believe she knew what was going to happen or wanted to even be here.”
“How many more fucking panthers are going to come after my mate?”
“My brother and I are the last of our clan,” Luna said. “No one will be coming for her or you or anyone else.”
Kelley glanced at her and the way she stood protectively in front of her brother. He didn’t know her and he sure as hell wished he’d never laid eyes on her, but he believed she was telling the truth.
“We can talk tomorrow,” Kelley said.
“See you at breakfast,” Donovan said as he stood.
“Thank you,” Kelley said.
“For what?”
“Standing with us. Helping us.”
“It’s my job, Son. Rhapsody’s our daughter now and no one fucks with my kin.”
Rowena left to take the two panthers to one of the trailers and Deneeta kept vigil with him until the antidote had worked completely and Rhapsody was able to move and talk. It took nearly two hours for her to be free of the poison. She sat up, cursed several times, kissed him on the lips, and then shifted into her cat form.
She flopped to the ground with a groan, her whiskers twitching. The gold sequined outfit was still mostly on, and he couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up his throat. He’d never seen anything quite as absurd as a black panther wearing a bathing suit with a sheer skirt, but his mate could clearly make anything look adorable.
She gave him a disgruntled looked and he kissed the top of her furry head. “I can laugh about this now because you’re safe. And you also look hilarious.”