by T. Cobbin
Danielle shrunk back behind the bed until only the top of her head was visible.
“Don’t you hide from me, slave,” Vance roared.
Danielle didn’t move. Leo carefully watched his lawyer’s body language in case he decided to launch himself toward his mate.
“I said look at me,” Vance hollered. His muscles bunched, he looked ready to shift and charge. Leo decided it was time to distract the male and take him out for good.
“Shall we take this outside like gentlemen?” Leo asked Vance coolly while he animatedly looked around at stray pieces of splintered wood.
There was already a fair bit of damage caused by both of their beasts. Leo could repair it—that wasn’t what bothered him. He just wanted to get Vance out of the house and away from Danielle. Leo knew the first thing his woman would do was run to the children. He only hoped she wouldn’t leave the island and not return.
“Our beasts will need more space, don’t you think?” Leo asked.
Vance’s attention once again turned to Leo. Leo stared the man down, waiting for his reply. He intended to take Vance out—rather it was inside or outside of the house—and then spend the rest of his life making infant babies with his mate.
Vance snorted. “You think you can lay claim to my slave? She isn’t fucking worthy of us fighting. Just accept she is mine.” Vance shrugged as if Danielle was nothing. “Sloppy seconds and all.”
Leo’s temper began to rile. His mate was sloppy seconds to no one. She was beautiful, honest, loving, and his. She was a survivor.
Leo’s patience with this man was reaching an end. “Vance, make your choice, man. You’re beginning to piss me off.”
Vance opened his mouth to speak, but Leo quickly shut him down; he didn’t want to hear any more shit.
“Last chance,” Leo offered.
Vance sneered, but he walked past Leo and down the hallway, showing his back. A blatant message indicating Vance wasn’t scared of him.
“Leo?” Danielle crept from beside the bed, one of her eyes wide, her face pale and bruised. “Don’t fight him please. I have enough money to run and hide again. You, Prue, and Gracie will be safe. He doesn’t want you. He wants me.”
Leo gestured she should come to him. His heart sang when she did. Her body slammed against his, her head buried against his chest, her arms curling around his waist. He could feel her tears dripping down his skin.
He cooed gently, trying to calm his mate. “Look at me, sweetheart.”
The pleasure he felt watching her raise her head and do as he asked made his heart sing. But seeing the sorrow and pain in her eye—the one that wasn’t swollen shut—instead of happiness, brought a cloud over that pleasure. He was going to kill Vance for harming his mate.
“I’ll be okay. Don’t run from me,” he pleaded. “I’ve just found you, and you said you’d become my mate before I left, didn’t you?”
Danielle nodded, tears still falling down her face.
“If you are really uncertain that I’ll win, sit in the boat and have the engine running. You will find all you need to live and stay safe in a waterproof case underneath the front seat.”
Leo hoped that she’d never need that case. Inside was enough money to live off until his parents contacted her. Once the case was opened, a message would be sent to his father’s phone, and the homing beacon would send constant messages until its battery died. Leo could only hope that if anything ever did happen to him, his parents would find her and keep her safe.
“Leo, please don’t do this. He could ki…” She swallowed a couple of times.
Leo raised a hand to cup the undamaged side of Danielle’s face. He thumbed her cheek, wiping away some of her tears. “I’ll be fine. Now go. Stay with our children until I come for you.”
Danielle’s head swiveled toward Prue.
Leo shook his head and smirked. “She’ll be fine.”
Danielle turned her beautiful eyes back to his. “How can you know that? if Mas…Vance wins and can’t find me, he might take her.”
Leo chuckled, thinking of Prue being a captive for Vance. “No, babe, that will never happen. I can promise you.”
Danielle opened her mouth to speak but Leo cut her off.
“Prue’s tough. She can take care of herself. I can hear her heart beat and can tell she is already waking. Now go. She will meet you.”
With a final glance toward Prue, Danielle raised up on her tiptoes and placed a swift kiss onto his lips, then ran down the back stairs.
“What the fuck?” Prue groaned.
Leo didn’t have time to explain anything as Vance roared something from outside.
“Look after her, Prue.” He glanced toward his friend to see a confused look before a nod.
Satisfied, Leo headed down the main stairs and outside toward his lawyer and woman hater. Leo’s mind went over everything he knew about Vance. He hadn’t been close to him, but the man had been his lawyer for decades.
Again, Leo thought about the amount of times he’d been in Vance’s office. His mate had been maybe a door or two away and he’d never scented her. Leo had never known she was there. What would he have done if he did? Fought for her. There was never a doubt in his mind he would have.
Fate was a fickle thing, to finally find her, to have her accept to become his mate, fully. Only to have the man who’d tortured her for over a year turn up. And for that man to be his lawyer.
“About fucking time,” Vance said as Leo walked out the front door. “I know what you were hoping to do, but hiding the bitch away won’t help. Once I’m done with you I will find her, and my son.” Vance grinned maliciously.
Leo just shrugged. Antagonizing the bastard now didn’t appeal to him. He wanted this over and done with, he wanted to go to his mate and calm both her and the children’s fears.
Leo called to his beast and allowed him to come forth. Once he was fully shifted, he waited for Vance, who was still in the process. Leo’s gorilla stood on its legs and pounded his chest in anger. He wanted Vance out of the way just as much as Leo did, but he wanted to wait until there was a fair-ish fight before lunging toward the buffalo. When the buffalo sidestepped, Leo chuckled and then silently cursed. Seeing the buffalo sidestep was funny, but his amusement soon subsided because his ape went straight past the beast rather than hitting it straight on.
Sliding past the butt of the buffalo, Leo’s gorilla thought fast and swung out a long arm, catching hold of the animal’s tail, causing the huge beast to roar in rage and pain. Using the buffalo’s tail, he yanked on it and swung upward onto the huge animal’s back. The buffalo bucked, its feet stomping the ground. Leo’s gorilla made its way along the buffalo’s spine as if climbing along the bucking animal was an everyday thing, all the way up to its armored head. Grabbing hold of its horns, Leo’s silverback tugged, causing the buffalo’s head to snap back.
If we stand any chance, we need to cut his airway off, Leo told his gorilla. In their mind, Leo received a confirmational nod. He waited only a few seconds while his other half of himself weighed up how to do just that. A decision made, Leo’s gorilla, with one hand still hanging onto the buffalo’s right horn, swung underneath the beast’s throat, while keeping out of the way of its teeth. Using his legs as another anchor around the buffalo’s neck, he used his fingers to feel for its windpipe. Feeling through the layers of muscle and fat, he felt the bumpiness of its windpipe. Satisfaction thrummed through Leo’s gorilla. With a flex of his fingers, Leo’s beast squeezed.
Vance’s beast stomped, bucked, and struggled. Although it was difficult to hold onto its horns with its head shaking and rocking violently side to side, Leo’s gorilla won out. He could feel Vance’s beast weakening, its stomping becoming less so, its snorting non-existent. Suddenly, things changed. The buffalo began losing its heftiness, and its coarse hair began disappearing. Vance was shifting back to his human. Why was he doing that? In his human form Vance wouldn’t have a chance against a silverback.
Leo’s
gorilla pulled back as the horns began to shorten. With nothing much to hang onto, he had no option but to place his feet onto solid ground. But his hand that was around the animal’s neck, stayed there. His fingers were now around a human’s windpipe instead of the buffalo’s. Once Vance was fully shifted, he fell to his feet, a blue tinge to his lips. He executed a waving motion and pointed toward his neck. Leo’s gorilla eased its hold but refused to let go.
“Release me,” Vance wheezed out. Still the gorilla refused. Vance stared up into the gorilla’s eyes with pleading ones of his own. His hands raised into the air, a sign of surrender. “Please,” Vance begged.
Leo urged his beast to release the male, promising him that if Vance betrayed his surrender, he would let his gorilla back out to finish him off. With a growl and a showing of his teeth, the gorilla allowed Leo to take over. Hair receded and muscles and bones realigned until Leo stood with his hand still around the male’s throat.
“Speak, Vance, and make it fucking quick. I’m sick of the games.”
Vance sighed; it came out as a hoarse kind of noise as it passed the male’s squeezed voice box. “You can have her. She isn’t worth dying for.”
Leo didn’t agree with that. He also didn’t think Vance would release Danielle that easily. He’d come this far to retrieve her and was crazy enough to want to fight for her. Why the sudden defeat? Leo tightened his hold, making Vance raise his head up and gurgle a little. His bugged-out eyes pleaded with Leo to release him. The stench of urine began to fill the air when the pathetic shifter peed himself.
“Oh, man, you really did that?” Leo asked, disgusted.
“I said you can have her. I’ll take someone else.”
And there it was. Vance would release Danielle only to kidnap and use some other poor woman. There was no way on this earth that Leo would allow that to happen. With the force of his strength and the added power from his gorilla, Leo squeezed his fingers together. He felt a popping sensation. Vance struggled, his hands scraping at Leo’s. Leo released the man’s throat, knowing there was nothing that Vance could do to survive now.
Leo stood back and watched. Vance’s lips turned blue as he struggled to pull air into his lungs. He collapsed to his knees, his fingers scraping at his throat as if he could find the invisible rope that was stopping him from breathing to tug it away. Leo noticed tiny blood vessels popping in Vance’s wide, frightened eyes. He reached out to Leo in a pleading manner; the male knew he was dying.
Guilt gradually seeped into Leo’s mind as he watched the man before him die a slow death. But the thoughts of how many women had suffered at his hands, how Danielle had been scarred and frightened because of Vance, kept Leo from helping the man—not that he could have done much. Finally, Vance went limp, his arms and legs sprawled out in the shape of a star. Leo bent and checked for a pulse. Nothing. He was dead.
Leo stood and inhaled deeply. This was the first life he’d taken, and he never wanted to take another. But to protect his family, he’d do it again. Blowing out a breath, he knew he had to get rid of the body. He didn’t want his children or Danielle to see what he’d done. Once the rubbish had been put out, Leo intended to make sure his family was well. He only hoped Danielle was still on the island. No, that was a stupid hope really. In his heart and soul, he knew she was.
Chapter 15
Danielle’s nerves were getting the better of her, and more than a few times she’d felt like her stomach might spill its contents. It had been a week since Vance had shown up and Leo had taken care of him. And although she hadn’t seen Vance’s body, when Leo told her he’d disposed of the man, she knew Vance would never bother her or her son again. The only real reminder was her bruised cheek and the light bruising around her eye.
But Vance wasn’t the reason she felt nervous. No, today was the day. Leo was making her his, and he hers, permanently. At the same time, Leo would be starting the process off that would make Danielle a gorilla shifter.
She recalled their conversation from last night.
“We can wait to do this if you want. I mean, if you want a wedding and all.”
“I don’t need a wedding to know that we will be together for a long time, Leo. I know in my heart that we are meant to be. I love you. I don’t need a piece of paper to prove that.”
“I’d do anything for you, love. If you want something, you only need to ask.”
“I know.”
“What about the children? Don’t you want to have a small ceremony for them?”
Danielle thought about it and shrugged. “Okay, how about once I’m turned, we order some nice dresses for Gracie, Prue, and I, and suits or some nice clothes for you and Ollie, and we have a small ceremony declaring our love?”
“And my parents?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t leave them out.”
“Okay. We can do that.”
“I have one more thing to ask before tomorrow.” Danielle wanted to ask Leo his opinion about what she should do with the money Kevin had given her. For the first time since escaping, she felt she had no need for it.
“Oh?” Leo’s eyes suddenly sparkled and filled with lust.
Danielle slapped him on his chest. “No, you horntoad. I wanted to talk to you about that suitcase of money. I don’t need it anymore, and if I was honest, although Kevin gave it to me to help, it feels…dirty to have it now.”
Leo tugged her against his body and kissed her temple. “We can do several things. If you want to keep it, we can put it in a bank account for you. If you don’t want it, we can give it to a charity. Or if you want to see it physically do something, how about with the help of some of my money, we buy a building and turn it into a women’s refuge?”
Danielle peered up into her man’s face and smiled. “The latter sounds great.”
Danielle resumed her pacing. How would Leo feel about making love to her again? He’d been so distant in that respect since New Year’s night. The last few days Leo had held her in his arms at night and she’d drifted off to sleep, but he had continued to shy away from any actual lovemaking.
A knock at the bedroom door had her pausing. “Who is it?” she called out.
“It’s just me, dear,” replied Leo’s mother. Her voice was soft, and yet Danielle had seen the power that voice had over her husband. If Honey was to so much as utter a single word around her husband, Joe would listen with all ears. It was then Danielle observed Leo when she herself spoke to him. It tickled her to discover Leo did the exact same as his father; he listened intently.
Leo’s parents had arrived two days after the incident with Vance. Joe had moaned they would have been there a day earlier had their flight not been delayed and the traffic been lighter. Danielle and the children, along with Prue, had quickly recovered, but Danielle found Leo often berated himself. He kept re-visiting Vance’s office in his mind, telling her that he wished he’d known she was there, and asking why he hadn’t scented her, sensed her. He could have rescued her.
He’d held her tightly every night since saying the same thing. “If only I knew, I could have rescued you.”
Danielle knew it was going to take some time for them both to mentally recover. But together, she was sure they could.
As soon as Danielle had met Leo’s parents, she could see the love they shared. It was as bright as a shining star in the middle of the night. It was powerful, intense, and could burn for hundreds of years. They didn’t hesitate to show the love they had for their son either. Danielle found it amusing to see her nearly seven-foot man blush each time his mother kissed his cheek or his father hugged him.
“Come in.” Danielle turned to greet the woman who’d just knocked on the door. She couldn’t believe how young Honey looked for her seventy-eight years. She didn’t look a day over forty. I hope I look that good when I’m her age, Danielle thought wistfully.
“You look as nervous as I felt the day of my mating.” Honey chuckled, walking toward Danielle.
She pulled Danielle into her ar
ms and held her firmly for a few minutes. Danielle held on tightly, her heart aching. She had never been hugged like this from her own mother, and at first, it had felt alien, but now, it felt like home.
Honey cupped Danielle’s face and raised it up so she could look into her eyes. Honey looked at her the same way Danielle looked at Ollie…with a mother’s love.
“You won’t remember the bite. You won’t even feel it.” Honey comically wiggled her eyebrows, and Danielle could feel the heat from a blush hitting her cheeks. “Joe and I will be here to help Prue with the children, as I’m sure Leo will barely leave your side. Has my son explained everything to you? Do you have questions?”
Danielle shook her head. “No, no questions. He has told me everything. I won’t feel anything after I, umm…” Heat flooded to her already warm cheeks.
A knowing smile crossed Honey’s lips.
“When I wake,” Danielle continued, “I will see, hear, etcetera, all the better, and I will be physically stronger. Then once I’ve eaten and such, he will talk me through my first shift. That isn’t what makes me nervous.”
“Oh?” Honey asked and steered them both to sit on the edge of the bed.
Danielle sighed. “It’s actually Ollie I’m worried about.” She met Honey’s knowing eyes. “Leo told me that Kevin was also a shifter, only he was an elk. Which means my son could have a fifty-fifty chance of being either buffalo or elk. But to date, he’s shown no sign of being a shifter at all. What if Leo mates me tonight and Ollie doesn’t have one of their shifter genes? What if he doesn’t have the extended life?” Danielle knew she was blathering but couldn’t stop. All the questions she had about her son seemed to come out at once. “What if he dies before me? And if he does have the shifter gene, and he’s a buffalo, will he turn out to be like Vance? Will he—”
“Stop,” Honey ordered.
Danielle felt the power in her mother-in-law-to-be’s voice wash over her, halting her worried babble.