Jared hit the floor in the living room of the house that Zev had sent him to last time. Hard. His body screamed in pain from the bolt and the damage of being thrown into the kanon. She was not as soft as one might think. He growled as he pulled glass shards from his ass cheek and back.
Zander appeared in the back corner of the old, stone, part basement and part torture chamber of the home in Ireland he’d been squatting in. The triplets had already shoved Daniel into a cell. He looked at the whelp, stuck in panther form and bleeding on the cold floor. Smiling, he ran his hands over the bars of the cell. He noticed the whelp was out cold, or pretending to be. He unzipped his jeans and pissed on him.
Daniel woke with a growl and glowered at him, unable to shift or do anything thanks to the fucking collar. Roaring, he tried to attack Zander through the bars.
“Morning sunshine. So you ready for the next part of my plan? You know, it’s funny to see you in that cell. Like father, like son, I guess. Except you won’t have to rot in it like your old man did for how many years? Not that you gave a shit about him or the rest of your family. But soon we’ll see how much they care for you. See if blood is thicker than water, as the humans say.” He fixed his jeans and smirked at the whelp.
‘I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU COCKSUCKER! I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU!’ His sides heaving, he glared at the Liger. He wanted to have his heart in his hand so Daniel could squash it before Zander’s dying eyes. ‘What the fuck do you want, Bitch?’
Zander laughed at Daniel’s rage and heard the whelp’s phone go off again. He saw it lying on the bench outside the cell and picked it up. “What I want, is for your family to die. Every last one of you fucks. Slow. And you will, but first, let’s see who’s been texting and calling you?” He unlocked Daniel’s phone and saw Brian, Paula, and Drew had been blowing it up.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” He read the texts and laughed.
“Daniel I hope you’re okay please cub. Get back to me ASAP. Brian. Let’s see. What to tell him? I’m fine managed to get away from the fuckers, and I’m hiding out. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be in touch when I’m healed. Have you heard from my father?” Texting as he spoke, Zander looked at Daniel.
“Next. Oh, this one is from your girlfriend. She’s worried about you. What to say? I got it. How about... Leave me alone bitch. I found someone else. Let’s add a photo of you with someone else. No?” He looked up with a smirk at Daniel’s snarl. “No, a video of you fucking another female.” Zander grinned and used his magic to make it happen. He hit send and moved on to Drew’s message as a text from Jared came in. “Bro where are you? You missed work, and I heard you were attacked. What’s going on?”
Daniel’s rage mounted as the Liger texted his best friend and father back that he was just fine and laying low. Once he was done, Zander smashed the phone so they couldn’t track him. “As I said, let’s see who cares now.”
Daniel growled. He couldn’t believe that Zander had done that to Paula, using his phone. The Liger needed to fucking die. He reached through the bars and tried to grab him with his claws. ‘I’ll kill you, motherfucker!’ Roaring his rage, Daniel lunged repeatedly, but Zander stood just out of reach and laughed as he tried to break through the cell.
Zander grabbed his arms and yanked him forward, into the bars, stunning him. Zander let go when the whelp went limp and hit the floor hard. Laughing, Zander shook his head. “Calm down, Junior. And put some clothes on.” He ghosted Daniel some pink sweats. “There bitch, cover up your tiny dick and balls. I now see why Lions are the king of the jungle. Panthers have no meat at all. Tiny little thing, ain’t ya?”
Daniel stumbled back, dragging his head across the floor, leaving a blood trail. As his vision cleared, he saw the sweats, tore them apart and hissed at Zander. ‘Fuck you, psycho. Why don’t you do us all a favor and make a successful attempt at suicide?’
“If I did that, then who would be here to brighten your day?” Zander grinned at him. The basement door opened, and the trips came in.
“Well, it’s all set. All we have to do, is bring him to the spot.” Jet said.
“Great. You ready to see your grandparents, whelp? I know I am.”
Daniel glared at all three of them and swore that he would see them all dead at his feet, even if it killed him. He waited as Jet opened the cell and walked over to him.
“Let’s go whelp. We have a trip ahead of us.” Jet snarled.
Daniel waited and then pounced on him, trying to make a break for it. Rocky locked a thick arm around his throat and dragged the panther to the floor, not letting go until he was either out cold or dead. The more time they spent with the whelp, the less he fucking cared which it was.
Zander shook his head and took hold of one of Daniel’s paws, smacking Rocky’s shoulder to let go and grab an arm or leg. “The little fucker is heavier than he looks,” he growled motioning for Jet and his brother to lend a hand. Once they had the panther off the floor, he ghosted them all to the Morgan house.
Daniel was barely conscious when they arrived and looked around warily. His vision made a lame attempt to focus, and he tried to ask where the fuck they were. All he could manage was a chuffing growl.
Jared sat in the Rover. Seeing them appear, his blood boiled, as he watched the lion shoulder his son. The triplets kicked in the door of his parent’s home. Zev had ordered Jared to wait for ten minutes before going in and to make sure they didn’t leave. “Oh, they won’t be leaving alive,” he growled, his hand curling into a fist.
Zander leaned back on his heels, swaying under the panther’s weight as he bellowed, “Morgan! Get your old ass down here now! Don’t make me kill your precious grandson, burn your house to the ground and kill you two, slowly!” He laughed when the door gave way and followed the trips inside.
Jared stepped out of the Rover and waited, hoping his parents weren’t home. Not able to take it anymore, he started for the house. Glamoring himself again, he stopped at the door and listened to the yelling for his parents that continued inside.
When nobody showed after a few minutes, Zander pulled out a blade and shrugged Daniel off and onto the floor. Grabbing a handful of fur and skin, he yanked Daniele’s head off the floor and held the knife against the kid’s throat. “Get the fuck out here or so help me, I’ll kill the whelp right here! You can clean his blood off your floor. You fucking cowards!”
The blade nicked the side of his neck, making Daniel hiss in pain. ‘They’re obviously not here, you fucking psychopath!’
Zander growled and slammed the blade’s pommel into Daniel’s mouth. “Shut up, you little bitch. I’m counting to three, Morgan. You’d better come out if you care anything for this worthless piece of shit!”
Brenda and Frank stood still as stone in the attic, hearing Zander yelling. “We can’t let him hurt Daniel. Jared will never forgive us.” Brenda whispered, looking at her husband.
Frank growled and nodded. “I’ll go. You stay here. You need to make sure the Liger doesn’t find what we have hidden.” As he spoke, Edge appeared and stared at them. “No matter what you hear, you stay here. Do you hear me?” Frank eyed his wife and the ancient Kanon demon.
Edge could hear the slayer yelling and let out a hiss. He couldn’t stand by and let the Panthers be hurt. They’d already lost too much.
Frank ghosted into the room with Zander. “Let my grandson go before I ram your head up one of your fairy asses.” Frank Morgan had lived too long and lost too much to let someone like Zander Landon scare him. The Liger had no idea of the power he and his family held. The cub may have grown up in their home, but he’d been sheltered from the truth. Hell, even Jared didn’t know all of it. They’d seen far worse than Zander’s limited imagination could threaten. Frank was not afraid of him.
Zander grinned wickedly as Frank appeared and brandished his blade. Still holding Daniel by the scruff of the neck, he threw the whelp to the side and ordered the other three to grab the one he wanted. “Finally you show, Old Man. Now
where is the old whore? I want you BOTH here. She’d better appear soon, or you can watch me torture your precious whelp of a grandson and then kill him. Now bring the bitch out here or so help me, I’ll make you live to regret it.”
Frank narrowed his eyes at the Liger. He had no idea what this was about or why Zander was turning on them after they’d raised him as one of their own. “My mate is not here. So whatever this is about, we can talk about it, man to man. Or in your case, man to scum bag. Let my grandson go now. Last warning. Next time, I’ll be standing over your dead body.”
Before Frank could blink, Zander pulled a needle from his pocket and stabbed it into Daniel. As he pushed the plunger down, Daniel screamed.
Daniel watched the exchange between Zander and the man who must be his grandfather. He’d seen pictures, but he’d never met the patriarch of the Morgan family. His body twitched when he felt a prick in his neck. Unbearable burning bled through his body. He hit the hardwoods and screamed in agony as the drug dug its hot fingers into Daniel’s gray matter, twisting and burning until he couldn’t tell what was real and what was a nightmare. Blinking up from the floor. The room changed, his grandfather and the others disappeared. Heather and Angel, the hyena piece of shit that she’d shacked up with when Jared had been taken away, appeared.
Angel’s cold black eyes drilled through him, the corners wrinkling slightly, the way they always did just before he tried to beat the kid to death. Daniel had learned quick not to call for his mother. Heather didn’t care and was usually too strung out and drunk even to notice. But she’d watch and laugh. That laugh. Daniel would never forget it. Even now, he swore he could hear it...
Turning his head, Daniel saw Heather walk over and squat down beside him, bracing her elbows on her knees as she stared at him with disgust. “Wow. Daniel. You let someone like Zander capture you? You’re still pathetic, aren’t you? Gods, I wish I’d aborted you or let my man here, kill you."
“Wrong choice, Son,” Frank growled.
“Took the words right out of my mouth, Dad.” Zander sneered back.
Jared stood in the shadows hearing his father’s voice and then Daniels’s scream. Not waiting any longer, he jumped through the window and tackled Zander to the ground. He saw Frank rush to help Daniel but was stopped by the triplets. Rolling with Zander, Jared used his powers to make the Liger’s heart slow. Zander grunted in pain, clawing at his chest.
Daniel growled his fury as Angel purred the one thing that had always cut him the deepest and was guaranteed to set him off. “Where’s your old man, whelp? Huh?” Stuck in his hallucination, Daniel’s body shot up from the floor, roaring his fury. He sprang, flying through the air, claws out to attack Angel. “I’LL KILL YOU! YOU ARE SO FUCKING DEAD, ASSHOLE!”
Edge and Brenda listened to the chaos below. “Oh god. My mate and my grandson. Edge, what am I going to do?”
Edge couldn’t stand it anymore. This was all because of him. The Kanon demon appeared in the room below, the broken furniture barely registering before he grabbed one of the ligers by the throat. Tilting his head, he set the thing on fire and dropped it to the ground.
Rocky ghosted out of the demon’s grasp, screaming. Zander saw that the tide had turned and followed suit, leaving Stone and Jet behind to deal with everything.
Daniel jumped on Angel’s back, his claws shredding skin. He growled murderously through mindlink. ‘I’m going to kill you for all you did to me. You, sick fuck. I hope you enjoy hell.’
Frank managed to wrestle Daniel off his back, glancing up when the demon shoved him behind his massive body. “Don’t hurt him, Edge,” Frank growled at the blood on his hand when he wiped at the burning scratches on his back. “He’s not thinking straight.”
When Daniel looked up, he saw Heather. “Seriously? You worthless whelp. You grow up, and you still can’t handle yourself? You’re just like your father. Pathetic.”
He lunged forward and tackled his mother to the ground, roaring his fury. ‘I’ll kill you, bitch! I never did anything to you, and you abused me and then left?’
Edge and Frank did their best to get Daniel under control. The kid was like a two headed otter, all teeth, and claws.
Stone and Jet didn’t notice that they were on their own and they had their prey locked in their sights. Working together and moving as one, they backed Jared into a corner.
Brenda appeared in panther form between Jared and the stalking ligers. ‘Get away from my family!’ She screamed through mindlink. She leaped onto Stone and clawed his face. ‘Come into my home and threaten my blood? Very stupid, whelps.’
Jared let a low growl escape his chest when his mother appeared, momentarily frozen in shock. Instinct broke him out of it and took over when Jet pulled out a taser and lunged for Brenda. Moving quickly, Jared jumped in front of her and took the jolt. His glamor faded, and he hit the floor where he shifted uncontrollably.
His mother roared her rage. The glass in the windows exploded. Sinking her teeth into Jet’s knee cap, she shook her head. Once he was on the floor, she clawed his groin and snarled. ‘My son! My precious baby. What have you done to him?’ Jet screamed and ghosted out with Stone behind him.
Brenda shifted into human form, wearing a long blue dress. Kneeling beside her son, she held him, rocking gently.
Daniel, still insane with rage and hate, screamed when Frank and the demon wrestled him to the floor and pinned him there. Edge blew fire on the wound on his neck while Frank held him still.
Daniel roared and pushed to his feet when they released him. He took a step before falling to his knees, retching. He vomited black goo, choked on it and almost passed out. Looking up and swiping the back of his hand over his mouth, he growled. Everyone was staring at him. His grandparents. The Kanon demon. Everyone but his father, who was still convulsing on the floor. Rushing to Jared’s side, he froze in mid-step, remembering what he’d just done.
Approaching him cautiously, Frank held out his hand. “Daniel, son, come and help us with your father. Daniel? Son, what are you...”
Daniel took several steps back, before his grandfather could finish his question or touch him. Turning, he bolted from the house, slipping in the mud as rain pelted down on him. The horror of what he’d done, what he might have done, forced him to flee into the darkness as Frank yelled his name.
Jared watched Daniel bolt from the house and his father run after him. He willed his body to stop and get up, but instead it did an uncoordinated flop and face plant.
“Daniel, come back,” Frank yelled. Closing his eyes, he reached out with his powers and returned Daniel to him. He grabbed the boy and pulled him back into the house, putting his arm around him. Frank’s voice was soft, and he spoke slowly, like he knew the kid wasn’t tracking much. “Listen, boy. We all know you weren’t yourself. We saw what that that Liger injected you with. He MADE you see things that weren't there. Everyone is okay now, so come on and relax. Nobody is blaming you. Now stop this foolishness.”
Edge dropped a big hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “You stay right there. Edge doesn’t want to have to sit on you, to keep you here. Listen to Frank, please.”
Jared tried to get up, the look of terror on his son’s face was the only thing pushing him forward. He growled and collapsed. Zev appeared in the middle of the room. Just fucking great.
“You had one job, and you blew it. The slayer is still on the loose.” Zev said, eyeing them all and waving a hand over Jared. The panther’s shifting stopped.
“I don’t care. He was after my family.” Jared’s voice was ice cold. He glared up from where is ass was planted on the floor and ghosted on clothes.
Zev shook his head. “And what about your mate and cubs? Don't you think he’ll figure that out? And you demon, what are you doing here?”
Edge hissed at Zev. “I’m not your problem. Mind your own damn business or I’ll roast you alive.” Zev narrowed his eyes at the ancient Kanon, but it didn’t phase the demon. Edge glanced at the Panthers. They had lo
st so much. Jared had no idea of the pain his parents had been through, trying to keep him safe. He moved closer and touched Jared’s arm. “I want to offer my protection to you until the raggedy ass Liger is handled. I promise to serve you as your parents have served me. I couldn’t forgive myself if you lost your cubs. Any of them.” His eyes turned to Daniel.
Staring at the tall Kanon, Jared thought about what he knew about them. The word no was on the tip of his tongue.
Edge glared at Zev. “You do it. Make it so. Bond me to the panther. He needs me. Do it, now,” he hissed at Zev.
“If I do this, I won’t undo it. Do you want to be enslaved again, Edge? Do you?” Zev demanded.
Jared shook his head, still trying to wrap it around what was going on here and the fact that Zev had just outed the fact that he was mated to his parents. “Wait. Enslaved? I would never do that to him or anyone.”
Edge ignored him and nodded to Zev as he took Jared’s hand. “Do it.”
Zev growled and raked a hand through his hair. He didn’t want to. This would complicate the fuck out of his plans. He was just about to say no when a loud thud distracted them all.
Everything fell into slow motion or fast forward, turning what happened into a blur and Jared passed out. When he came awake later in a bed, his son next to him in form, Jared had no idea how he’d gotten there, but felt a bit more like himself. “Are you okay?” He asked, petting the short black coat of his son. Scratch that feeling like himself thought, his body felt weird.
Daniel opened his eyes when he felt someone touch him. His heart hammered in his chest, but his father’s voice calmed him. When he was able, he mindlinked the male. ‘I just tried to kill my grandfather because of that motherfucking Zander. I’ll be losing Paula too. I don’t want to go back to New Orleans.’ He lowered his head and curled into a ball.
Looking up from Daniel when the door swung open, Jared saw his mother enter the room with a heaping tray of food that smelled amazing. No one cooked like Brenda.
The Mating (Black on Black, #1) Page 21