by Jane Jamison
“I’m not sure how much more of this I can take,” muttered Mars. “It might be better to change and make her shoot me in the head. At least then, it would be over with.”
“Shut the fuck up, man,” ordered Charlie. “Don’t ever talk like that again, or I’ll whoop your ass. You got that?”
Mars nodded then chuckled. “As if you could.”
“You’re damn straight I could.” Yet Charlie’s tone was lighter than before.
“That was my sister.”
Mars twisted toward his friend. “It was?”
“Yeah.” But John bowed his head. “That was Joy.”
“She came to find you.” Win clapped John on the shoulder. “That’s a good thing.”
“Not if she gets her head blown off.” Mars cringed the minute the words were out. “Sorry.”
“No, you’re right. No matter what Kit says, she’ll keep looking.” John lifted his gaze, pride mixing with worry in his eyes. “She’s stubborn that way.”
Mars had been afraid for the woman. Yet another feeling had struck him. When he’d first heard her voice, his cock had twitched as though he’d suddenly heard a voice he’d recognized. As though he’d known the woman. “She sounds great.”
“She is,” answered John.
Charlie shot Mars a questioning look. “She sounds great?”
“Yeah.” He met his brother’s eyes. “I got the feeling that I knew her.”
Win picked up on his underlying meaning. “But you don’t.”
Mars picked up a small rock and tossed it through the bars. “Not yet, I don’t.” But he wanted to. Yet it was too soon to say anything more. The way things were going, he’d never get that chance.
Win shot him a telling look. “But you want to?”
“Yeah. But the feeling was more than that. I felt like she’s supposed to be important to me. To us. That she’s already important.”
“She would’ve been if she’d found us.” Charlie groaned. “Either that or dead.”
Mars jerked his head toward John who appeared lost in his own thoughts, but Mars didn’t want to take the chance. “Now who needs to shut the fuck up?” he warned in a soft, low voice.
“Are you saying you’re drawn to her?” asked Win.
Mars gave it more thought, trying to recall the way he’d felt listening to her voice. “Yeah. Weird, huh?”
“Not necessarily.” Win looked to John, obviously not wanting to say too much with her brother right next to them. They’d told John about The Allure and finding their mate before they’d bitten and changed him, but talking about a man’s sister as a possible mate was a touchy conversation. Even more so when the man’s sister might be in danger.
“I felt it, too,” said Charlie, keeping his voice low. “Win?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I was concentrating too hard on hoping Kit didn’t lose her cool. Damn it. Figures I’d miss out.”
“There’s no use talking about it now.” Mars closed his eyes, shoving his lion back down. When he opened them again, he saw a young boy peeking at them. He was on his feet in the next moment and grabbing hold of the bars. “There’s a kid over there.”
Win and Charlie were next to him fast enough. The three of them stared at the child holding the stuffed bunny.
“Does anyone know him?” whispered Mars. “How the hell did he get in here?”
“The kid’s as skinny as a rail.” Charlie motioned to keep their voices low. “Probably snuck through a broken board or something.”
“I think he’s the Knott family’s kid. Levi is his name. He doesn’t talk much. Maybe not at all. But then again, I don’t really know him or his parents,” answered Win.
“Hey, kid.” Mars hated that the boy jumped back behind the large bale of hay. “Please, kid, don’t run away. We won’t hurt you. I promise.” He smiled, trying to reassure the boy.
After a few tortured moments of waiting, he saw the boy peek back around the hay. He sucked in a hard breath and forced himself to remain calm—at least, outwardly calm. “Hey, Levi? That’s your name, right?” He flattened his hand against his chest. “I’m Mars Mesa, and these are my brothers and my friend.”
Take it easy. Don’t scare him off.
When the boy still didn’t answer, he tried again. “Listen, Levi, we need your help. We’re locked inside this cage and can’t get out.”
Levi blinked then moved away from the hay. He clutched the toy bunny to his chest.
“Does he talk at all?” asked Win in a whisper.
“Beats the hell out of me,” answered Mars. But the kid didn’t need to talk to help save them. “Levi, are your parents at home?”
At first, he wasn’t sure the boy had heard him. Was he deaf and mute? Then, Levi nodded.
Mars smothered a shout of victory. “Listen, Levi, you have to tell your parents that we’re here. That we’re locked in a cage and can’t get out. Tell them that we’re being held captive.”
So far, Levi’s face had held no emotion. Suddenly, he made a face, drawing back his lips into a grimace. He snarled, mimicking the snarl of a lion.
“I think he knows what we are. Is that good or bad?”
Mars ignored Win’s question. “It’s okay, Levi. We won’t hurt you. We won’t hurt anyone. But you have to help us. Please, Levi, go tell your parents that we’re here and we need their help.”
Levi’s face went emotionless again as he rubbed the rabbit against his cheek. Then, slowly, he shook his head.
“Please, Levi, you have to help us.”
Yet before Mars could finish speaking, the boy disappeared behind the hay. The creak of a board came and went.
“Levi!” Mars cringed at the sound of his shout. The last thing he wanted was for Kit to find the boy. Would she harm a child? He couldn’t take the chance. Feeling defeated, he slumped and stared at the bale of hay, trying to will the boy to return.
“He’ll tell his parents.” Win stared at the hay, too. “He has to, right? He just has to.”
But Mars was doubtful. At last, he put his back to the hay. He wanted to agree with Win, to hope, too, but he couldn’t find it in him. Instead, he thought about Joy’s voice. Was she the one they’d waited for? Or were they simply fantasizing, trying to find hope for a future when the future wasn’t guaranteed? Would they survive and find her? Or would they die in the cage, never getting a chance to meet the woman who could be their future mate?
* * * *
Joy had to try again. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that Kit was hiding something important. But this time she’d be smarter about it.
She’d crouched behind a bush for what seemed like hours. Now she wasn’t complaining about how long she’d sat at the diner until she’d finally had the nerve to ask the owner when Kit would be in to work. He’d given her an intense look, worrying her that he’d find the question odd, but he’d finally told her. A short while later, she’d hurried out of the diner and driven within a mile of the Higrams’ house. After parking her car on a side road, she’d walked to the house then hidden behind the bush and waited.
And waited.
Had the owner been wrong? Had he made a mistake? Or had he purposefully told her a lie?
She was about to give up when Kit had appeared at the door then hopped into the pickup. She’d unlocked the gate then relocked it before getting back into the car and driving it down the road. And still Joy waited, giving Kit more time to make it farther toward town. If Kit caught her snooping around again, Joy feared she would use the shotgun.
Go. Now.
She stood up, grimacing at how stiff her legs had gotten. Ignoring the tingle in her limbs, she rushed to the gate and climbed over it again. She paused, trying to decide whether to go to the house or the barn first.
She chose the house. Maybe, if she got lucky, she’d find key to the lock on the barn door. If not, how would she get inside it?
She tried the front door, ready to find it locked before she moved on to a window. Surprisingly, t
he front door wasn’t locked. Had Kit finally messed up? Or was it a trap?
Joy stayed where she was, uncertain what to do. At last, she slipped inside the house. A dog barked from somewhere at the back of the house, but she didn’t let that unnerve her. Taking care to be quiet, she moved around the house, going from one room to the next.
It’s just a house. Just an ordinary house.
Taking care to return things back to their original place, she looked in drawers and under books, hoping to find keys or any shred of information that would help her find John. But she kept coming up empty.
Going through the kitchen turned up nothing. But the dog she could see chained to the porch heard her. The raucous noise it made set off her frazzled nerves.
“Easy, sweet puppy. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m only going to look around, and then I’ll be gone.”
Its incessant barking was awful, but she moved on, going into the hallway. Please be quiet, she silently urged the dog. Yet it kept on barking.
She was about to go upstairs when she realized that she’d missed one of the other rooms. Opening the door as quietly as she could, she slipped inside the dark room then froze.
Holy shit.
Chapter Four
The room looked like something out of a movie. It was a surveillance room with monitors set up on a wide desk. She stared at the dark monitors. What was Kit watching?
Almost afraid to find out, she slipped into the chair and turned on the monitors, one by one. The first one showed the front yard and the gate.
No wonder she saw me jump the gate.
The next monitor surveyed the back of the house and some of the pasture beyond that. Some cattle munched on the grass. She found a controller near the monitor. When she moved the joystick, the camera shifted, giving her a different view of the pasture.
The third monitor had a view of the other side of the house, including the barn. She studied the image, wondering why Kit had set up cameras in the first place. Or had the Higram family set up the cameras as part of a home security system? But why put in such an elaborate system?
She stopped, her finger suspended in front of the fourth and final monitor. Worry pricked at her skin, bringing her hairs on end.
What will I see this time?
She steeled herself, prepared to see something awful. But why did she think she’d see anything more than more yard and pasture? Yet she did. She was certain she would. Trying to calm her nerves, even knowing it would be impossible to do so, she turned on the last monitor.
At first, she wasn’t sure what she was seeing. Was it a television? She moved closer, staring at the images. Yet her mind fought to tell her she was wrong.
Four men were inside a large cage. Like animals locked in a zoo.
Her pulse thundered in her ears as she looked from one man to the next. Who were they? Why were they locked up like captives?
Yet she knew the answer.
This is what Kit is hiding.
Oh my God.
The fourth man had his head bowed. Yet even before he lifted his head, she recognized him. Still, knowing who he was, when he lifted his gaze to the camera, she sucked in a hard breath.
“John.”
How was this possible? Her brother was locked inside a cage like a wild animal.
“This can’t be real.” Yet she had no doubt that what she was seeing was real.
Her hand trembled as she pulled her phone out of her back pocket. Did Lonesome have a police force? She’d been told enough times that the citizens liked handling their own problems. But did that mean that the town wasn’t on the 9-1-1 system? Her gaze shifted back to the monitor and her brother. “Hang on, John. I’m here.”
A dark image clouded the screen a moment before she felt pain sear through her head. Dropping her phone, she reached for the edge of the desk and missed. Blackness took her but not before she heard Kit’s voice.
“You fucking bitch.”
* * * *
Win took the photo of John’s family and studied it. John, his parents and his sister were grouped together in a big hug. Their big smiles were genuine and it was clear how much they’d loved each other.
Joy was a pretty brunette with amazingly clear light blue eyes. The streak of blue slashing down the side of her hair matched her eyes, making them seem even bluer. “I know you’re her brother and all, so maybe I shouldn’t say this, but, damn, she’s hot. How’d you keep Kit from taking the photo?” When they’d come to in the cage, they’d realized that their phones and wallets had been taken.
“I always keep it stuffed inside my jeans’ front pocket. My mom used to keep this same photo tucked inside some part of her clothing. She said it made her feel like we were right next to her. After she passed, I took up the habit. I know. It’s kind of a weird thing for a guy to do, but still…” He quickly wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye before it could fall. “I guess Kit missed it.” John took the lined and faded photo back. “And, yeah, if I thought you had any shot with Joy, I’d watch you like a hawk.” He glanced around the cage. “But the chance of that ever happening is basically zero.”
“You never know.” Win took the photo back. He couldn’t get enough of looking at Joy’s image. Her eyes compelled him to keep staring. “If I had a woman like this waiting for me, I’d move heaven and earth to get to her.”
John’s chuckle was the first good sign Win had heard from his friend in a long while. “Just stay away from my sister. All of you.”
“What the fuck, man?” objected Mars. “We’re good enough to change you, but not good enough to mate your sis?”
“Mate her? Now hold up, guys. I’m not sure I’d want my sister hooking up with werelions.”
Charlie planted himself in front of John, but the challenge wasn’t serious. “Are you saying we’re not good enough for her? ’Cause if you are, we have a problem.”
John reached for the photo and missed. “I’m not saying that at all. It’s just that I’m not sure being a werelion is a good choice for anyone. Shit. I barely got changed before I ended up in a cage.”
“He has a point. At least, from his perspective,” said Mars.
Win moved away, his attention still fixed on the photo as he put his back to the others. “She’s beautiful.” He didn’t say it, yet there was more.
All he had of her was a simple image, yet he felt more than he should simply looking at it. To him, the other people in the photo disappeared. He felt drawn to her, the need to touch her, to hold her, to keep her safe searing a rising lust that was going straight to his growing cock.
Suddenly, his imagination took hold, taking him to a place he would probably never be.
Joy lay on her back, her brunette hair spread out around her head. The blue streak had feathered apart into many thinner strands. Her eyes were wide and staring at him, but he saw no fear in them. Instead, her need for him, her desire, glistened in them. Her breasts were full, her areolas caramel colored. He glanced down to find that the curly mass of hair below matched the hair on her head. Except, of course, for one thing.
“You should put a blue streak in your pussy hair.”
She smiled. “For you? Sure.”
“For me. Yes, you’re all for me. At least, until I share you with my brothers.”
“Your brothers?”
“Yeah. My brothers.”
Pleasure of a different kind whipped through him. As they’d planned most of their lives, he and his brothers would share one woman. One mate.
“Joy. Open for me.”
She did, sliding her hands over his shoulders as she spread her legs wide.
“I need you, Win. Now.”
He growled then plunged his cock into her pussy. He saw his entry in the widening of her eyes and the gasp of her breath. He saw his cock go deeper as her eyes clouded over with lust. Sensations he’d never experienced with any other woman rolled through him.
Elation.
Victory.
Yearning.
Surety.
Safety.
Joy. Pure, simple joy.
“Okay. Enough gawking at my sister, Win. Give me back the photo.” John came to stand behind him and put his hand on Win’s shoulder.
Win didn’t want to give the photo back. But what was he supposed to do? Tell John that he was having erotic fantasies about his sister? All from a photo? Slowly, he twisted the upper half of his body around, trying to keep John from seeing the bulge in his jeans, and reluctantly handed it back to John.
John’s hand was on the photo when his gaze darted toward the barn’s entrance. His whisper held anguish and confusion. “Oh, shit. Joy?”
* * * *
John ran to the side of the cage as Kit dragged his unconscious sister into the barn. Was she dead? “What the hell did you do to her?”
“Fuck.” Charlie gripped the bars to John’s right. “Is that your sister?”
“It is,” said Win. “It’s her.”
Win and Mars were at the bars, too, yet John barely noticed their presence. He stared at Joy, desperately hoping to see a sign that she was still breathing.
Please, don’t be dead.
Fury burst alive in him as his lion roared its vengeance. If Kit had killed Joy, he’d spend the rest of his life hunting her until he could make her pay. His lion snarled, telling him to shift and claw Kit until only pieces of her remained.
Only Charlie’s hand on his shoulder kept him from shifting. “Don’t, John. Don’t give Kit an excuse to kill you. Or her. You have to keep it together for your sister’s sake.”
Win put his hand on John’s other shoulder. “He’s right, man. Think of Joy. She’s still alive. I can smell that she’s still alive. Take a big breath, and you’ll understand.”
John’s lion roared, demanding that he change and attack. Instead, shaking with the effort to be calm, he drew in a long, deep breath.
She’s still alive. I can smell her breath.
It was shallow, but he could still smell it. Relief shuddered through his body. Losing his sister would’ve killed him.