by R. E. Butler
Savage’s jaguar grumbled in his mind, but he pushed the worry away. Squaring his shoulder, he gave Thea’s hand a squeeze. “Whatever’s said, baby, you and I are mated and nothing on earth can change that. Just stay close.”
“You’d need industrial strength solvent to get me away from you,” she whispered.
He snorted and cupped her face. “I’m crazy about you.”
“Me, too.”
“Ready?” Brom asked.
“Definitely,” Savage said.
Their group walked into the clearing, the prowl moving aside to leave a path for them to reach the stage. There were whispers from jaguars, congratulating him on finding his mate. Over the murmurs of happy wishes, was an angry growl, and he didn’t need to look to the stage to know the sound came from Sybil.
Queen Angmar held up her hand and the prowl quieted. She motioned with the same hand, and the group of unmated females approached from the woods and stood in front of the stage. This was the time when, if any of them had found their mate during the Hunt, they’d be with them. But none of the females appeared to have found a mate.
“Will the unmated males approach the stage as well?” Queen Angmar said loudly.
Just as dutifully as the females, the males walked to the stage and stood off to the side, their eyes darting between Savage and the queen.
“Don’t make me repeat myself,” the queen said. She focused intently on Savage.
Everything within him went quiet, a profound understanding filling him. He’d honestly hoped that the queen would honor his mating.
He lifted his left wrist and twisted it to showcase the healed scars that physically bound him and Thea as mates. “I’m mated, Queen Angmar. This is my mate, Thea Greene. She claimed me last night, and we marked and mated each other according to our laws.”
Sybil’s fingers flexed on the book she held, her knuckles going white. She didn’t say anything, but it looked to him as if she was pursing her lips tightly so she didn’t speak.
“Our laws, you say?” Queen Angmar said with a chilling tone. “They’re quite specific, young male.”
Sybil cracked the large book open and bent slightly to hold the book in front of her mother. It was open to a page that had one of the paper markers in it. Savage’s stomach knotted, and he lowered his hand, clenching it into a fist.
The queen read from the page. “Only purebred males and females may participate in the Mate Hunt. If a female other than a jaguar catches a male on the night of the Hunt between sunset and sunrise, she forfeits her claim.”
Thea sucked in a harsh breath.
“Queen Angmar,” Savage said, keeping his voice calm and even, “That’s not what the laws state.” He gestured to his family and friends. “We know that there’s no distinction made in the laws stating that only jaguar males and females can claim a mate during the Hunt.”
“Questioning your queen?” She asked, her brow arched high. “I’m not surprised, from a male like you who shirks his duties to our people.”
“Hey!” Millie said. “My son is an honorable male. I want to see these rules you’re referring to. I just read the laws myself after Savage called and explained that he’d found his mate.”
The queen drummed her fingers on the chair’s arms. “Are you accusing me of something?” Savage could hear the fury in her tone, her eyes flashing gold as she rose slowly to her feet. “I’m the queen. My word is law. If I state what the laws say, that is what they say. Would you like to battle me for the right to rule, Millicent? I’ll gut you in front of your son, and then I’ll beat him within an inch of his life before mating him to Sybil. She found him first, she has the right to mate him. Not this usurper.”
There was a collective gasp from the prowl. Savage stepped forward to block his mother from the queen at the same moment his father pushed her behind him.
“You’re wrong,” Savage said. “You cannot change the laws after the fact. Thea found me first and claimed me. She was wearing my necklace when Sybil came upon us in the woods.”
The queen sat back in the throne, her gaze stoic. Sybil, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to rip his face off.
“Queen Angmar, please don’t do this,” Brom said. His voice was low with a hint of wild sound as if his cat was hovering near the surface. “You can’t claim the laws have been broken when you clearly changed them.”
“I’m the law,” she repeated. She gestured to the male guards who were near the stage. “Take the Bayle family into custody and escort the outsider beyond our territory. Don’t return, little girl, or you’ll be dead at my hands.”
The guards took a step toward Savage and his family, and he tucked his mate behind him and let out his claws. He felt a strange power wash over him and he glanced behind him to see the witch coven stride through the woods and into the clearing, Thea’s parents and sister at the forefront.
“Guards!” Sybil shouted.
The coven surrounded Savage, his family, and Cannon and his family. Thea’s father raised his hands, which were sparking with golden flames. “Stand down, Queen Angmar. We’ve come to ensure you honor the sanctity of the mating bond between Savage and Thea.”
The queen snarled, dark claws sprouting from her fingertips. “You have no standing here. Be gone immediately, or you’ll be slaughtered for trespassing.”
“I think not,” a feminine voice said.
The queen sucked in a breath, her eyes going wide as a female that looked vaguely familiar walked through the witches to stand between Arthur and Cannon’s father, Dane.
Thea whispered to Savage. “Who is that?”
“It looks like Angmar’s sister, Beatrice, but it can’t be.”
The female in question glanced over her shoulder at Savage, and he saw the scars on her face that looked like claw marks. “It definitely can be.”
The queen rose to her feet slowly as if someone was pulling her up by an invisible string. “Get this ghost out of my territory immediately!”
But no one moved. They were clearly too shocked at seeing Beatrice that they weren’t sure who to follow.
“I have a better idea,” Beatrice said. “How about we show the prowl just how deceitful you and your daughter are being, and how you’ve allowed her to stalk and terrorize a male who had no interest in her. And then, how about we discuss how you allowed the Hunt to continue to be a detriment to our people by not allowing the males and females to choose who they want to be mated to?”
A female from Thea’s coven stepped forward, hands raised up, voice low as she spoke words in a language that Savage didn’t recognize. The queen and princess seemed frozen, their eyes full of terror, their lips parted but unmoving. The female stopped in front of the stage, finished speaking, and then clapped her hands together. The earth shook with the sound. A fog rolled up from the ground and hovered over the stage, surrounding the queen and princess. Then on the fog, like it was a movie screen, the image of the princess running to the queen was visible.
“Mother! I was attacked by a witch and she stole Savage from me!” Sybil was breathless, her face red and her lips pulled into a pout.
“How is that possible? You knew exactly where he was.” Angmar gestured to Sybil, and she lifted her wrist and looked at her watch.
“I thought I did! But something happened to the tracker and I lost the signal, and I had to rely on my senses instead. By the time I found him, there was a female with him, already wearing the necklace!”
“Why didn’t you kill her?” Angmar demanded.
“She had powers! She threatened me if I didn’t leave her and Savage alone. She said she claimed him.”
“Ridiculous,” the queen said, snarling. “I’ll fix this.”
“But how? She already claimed him. It’s not fair! I’ve been waiting for him to turn twenty-five forever.”
“I know, daughter mine. Worry not, mother will fix it.”
“But the laws–” Sybil’s voice ended on a whine and it made Savage wince.
/> “Easy enough to change.”
The foggy scene played on as the queen and princess brought out the books of law and changed them to suit their purposes. Savage was aware of two things when the witch waved her hands in the air and the fog dispersed, leaving the still-frozen queen and princess on the stage. The majority of the prowl had moved away from the stage and were standing with Savage and his family. And Beatrice had a smug smile on her face.
“You can release them, Freida,” Beatrice said. When the two on the stage were freed from the witch’s grasp, the queen stood on shaky legs and let out an angry roar.
“Guards! Protect your queen and princess!”
Beatrice let out a chuckle. “Do you really think that they’re going to follow you now, sister? You showed your true colors when you changed the laws to suit your own vile ways.”
“You should be dead,” Angmar said. “I killed you.”
“I was nearly dead,” she said. “I was taken away by one of the healers and nursed back to health. Once I regained my strength, I lurked in the shadows, training my cat and my human side for this battle. I knew I couldn’t take you on when the prowl loved you so much, because I wouldn’t be able to rally them to my side. But how fortunate, that my dear friend Freida recently enhanced her powers with the ability to spellcast for memories for supernatural creatures. I knew you’d mess up. That you’d take things with the Hunt too far. You stole my mate from me. You tried to kill me for the throne. And now you’ve changed our sacred laws to suit your own needs. This ends tonight.”
There was an odd silence that followed Beatrice’s statement. And then all hell broke loose. The queen launched herself from the stage, claws and fangs bared, and Beatrice met her in the center of the clearing.
Savage looked at his family and said, “It’s not safe here.”
“Agreed,” his father said.
“We’ve got your backs,” Thea’s family said.
Their small group, surrounded by the coven, hurried away from the clearing and headed to Savage and Cannon’s home. When they were safely away from the melee, Savage looked at the coven.
“I still don’t understand exactly what happened,” he said. “I’m grateful you’re here, but I’m confused as hell.”
“Me too,” Thea said. “Freida?”
“Let me start at the beginning,” she said with a smile.
Chapter Eleven
Frieda was one of Thea’s mother’s oldest friends, and the woman Thea had called aunt for as long as she could remember. As Freida spoke about how she’d come to make friends with the once-thought-dead sister of the queen, she smiled sweetly at them.
“I’ve been working on memory sharing for ages. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever tried to master. When I heard that you two had found each other on the night of the Mate Hunt, I had a feeling the queen would have a problem with it. I reached out to Beatrice, and she said it was time to confront her sister for all her misdeeds. When you two left for the prowl to meet with the queen, I rallied the coven with me to help you in case the queen tried to separate you.”
Thea hugged her. “Thank you so much.”
Savage shook her hand. “I didn’t want to have to fight the prowl over our mating. There was a part of me that hoped Angmar would honor the Hunt laws.”
“I think it was the last straw with the prowl,” Millie said. “It’s gotten worse each Hunt. The males aren’t enjoying it, and many of the females don’t even try to find a mate. They want what you two found – kismet.”
Thea nodded and slipped her arm around Savage’s waist. He laid his arm over her shoulders and drew her close. “Thank you all for standing with us.”
“What’s going to happen?” Thea asked.
“Well,” Millie said, “Angmar and Beatrice are still battling. One of them will win, and at this point, I think Beatrice wants it more. She’ll defeat Angmar and take her place as leader of the prowl.”
Freida nodded. “She approves of you two finding each other, so assuming she wins this battle, you won’t have to leave the territory or be exiled from the prowl. However, whether you choose to stay here or join the coven, it’s entirely up to you.”
“Do we have to choose now?” Thea asked.
“Of course not,” Brom said. “Take all the time you need.”
“I hope Beatrice wins,” Thea said, looking over her shoulder to where the two females were trying to kill each other. “But what would happen to Sybil if her mother doesn’t retain her place as queen?”
“It depends,” Millie said. “I believe she’d let her live but kick her out of the prowl. There’s no way she’d be loyal to Beatrice after this, and there’s no one who would trust her in the prowl.”
“We’re going to head back to the clearing to support Beatrice,” Brom said. “Are you staying here tonight?”
Thea looked at Savage who said it was up to her. “I’d like to stay here and get to know my new family better. If Beatrice wins, that is. If Angmar is still crazying up the throne, then we’ll need to hit the road fast.”
“Agreed,” Savage said.
“We’ll keep you posted,” Millie said.
Thea watched her in-laws greet her parents and exchange phone numbers, then thank each member of the coven individually. When the jaguars were gone, she thanked the coven for their help. Even though they’d not needed to lift a hand in battle, their show of strength had caught the queen off-guard and set the stage for her ultimate removal from leadership.
She hugged her mom. “Wait. Where’s Anne?”
Savage jerked his head toward the woods away from the clearing and the prowl’s homes. “Cannon took her into the woods.”
She frowned. “What? Why?”
He said nothing, just raised his brows at her with a curious look.
Then she realized why a jaguar male would take a female into the woods – for privacy. And perhaps sexy times.
“Oh my gosh,” she said, covering a giggle and feeling like a teenager. “Do you think they’re mates or just having fun?”
“Gross,” Luanda said, wrinkling her nose. “Change the subject.”
Thea snickered and hugged her mom again, then her dad. “Thank you so much for coming for us. It was a crazy turn of events.”
“We’re glad we could be here for you both,” Arthur said. “It’s our duty as parents, and in-laws, to ensure you have the best start to your new life. Will we see you tomorrow?”
Thea looked over her shoulder at Savage, whose amused expression had taken a decidedly sexy turn. “Yes. How about dinner? Savage and I have a lot to discuss about our future.”
“I’ll make your favorite,” Luanda said.
She said goodbye to her parents and watched as they headed to wherever they’d parked, joining up with the rest of the coven.
“Do you want me to text Cannon and find out what’s going on?” Savage asked as he took her hand and led her inside his home.
“Why would I want you to do that?”
“Because she’s your sister.”
“Yeah, but she’s a big girl. She doesn’t need me checking in on her and finding out if she’s going to get poked by your best friend. There are some things that a sister just doesn’t need to know. Speaking of,” she turned to face him in the family room, “I have a request.”
“Anything,” he said, shutting the front door firmly and stalking to her. He met her in the center of the room, sliding his big hands to her waist, giving it a light squeeze. “Any fucking thing you want, baby.”
“I want to still be up when the sun rises. Any thoughts on how to occupy ourselves?”
“I can think of a few dozen.”
“Good. Lead the way. Mate.”
He made a sexy sound, half growl and half purr, that made everything within her light up. He swung her up into his arms and carried her out of the family room and down a dark hall. He kicked a door open and walked through, then kicked it shut, leaning back slightly to lock it. The room was dark, save
for the moonlight streaming through the half-open blinds.
As he laid her down on his bed, she cast a tiny spell that caused the illusion of stars to light up against the ceiling. The room lit with pale, flickering gold, made everything look sexy and perfect, illuminated just enough so she could see the hungry gaze in his eyes as he straightened and stared down at her. His shirt disappeared, revealing inch after inch of muscle. And then his boots and socks and jeans, and she realized he wasn’t wearing underwear, which she found incredibly sexy.
Her clothes were next, a flurry of fabric and buttons popped in haste, and then he was over her, and in her, and she was falling over the edge of pleasure into forever, and she’d never been happier.
He kept his promise, keeping her awake with his talented fingers and amazing cock until the sun peeked over the horizon and flooded the room with light. Before she drifted to sleep, tightly held in his warm embrace, she waved her hand at the star illusion and it faded to nothing.
He kissed her cheek, a contented purr in his chest. “I hear Cannon, and I’m pretty sure he’s not alone.”
She hummed and yawned. Too deliciously tired to move. She was happy for her sister and Cannon, and whatever had come from their meeting. Twenty-four hours ago, she hadn’t even known that a jaguar prowl lived in the area, and now she was mated to a member. Life was funny like that, she supposed.
“Kismet,” she said, stifling another yawn.
“What, baby?” His voice was edged with sleep, and she smiled.
“Us meeting. Anne and Cannon, maybe. It’s natural and not forced. Kismet.”
He hummed in agreement, snuggling her a little closer until every inch of her felt warm and protected. She could already feel herself falling for him, this sexy, loyal, amazing male who, in an attempt to hold out for his true mate, hid in the woods and ended up saving the one woman on the planet meant for him. His actions during the Hunt ensured that they found each other.
Call it kismet or a twist of fate or destiny. She was with Savage now because their paths had crossed, and she would be forever thankful for what brought her to this place.