by Eliza Gayle
“Be careful how you handle this, Akira. If you don’t want anyone out there to die, then I suggest you do what I say.”
Despite the wave of sheer terror rolling over her at the menacing tone of his voice, her own proclivity to violence increased, really pissing her off.
She rolled her eyes at him. “I’m getting sick and tired of you treating me like an idiot. I came to help you and, damn it, that’s what I’m going to do.”
He snorted, and she shot him a hard glare, daring the smug son of a bitch to laugh at her.
“Babe, you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. Unfortunately, we don’t have time for a sit down chat for me to explain. It’s time to go.”
Without words, she grabbed her backpack and slung it on her back. She reached for her shoes and headed for the door, not bothering to look behind to see if he followed her. At the moment, she didn’t care. His trust issues grated on her nerves and she needed out of this situation. The sooner the better.
As she started down the stairs she felt the now familiar push of him at her mind. “Kira, wait.”
Giving him a small break, she answered without even looking back, “We don’t have time to chat. They’re moving in.”
“Where are they now?”
She hesitated. “Right outside our room, preparing to throw a nerve gas can.” As soon as she spoke, breaking glass sounded from the direction of their room, causing them both to take off in a dead run. In seconds the soldiers would ascertain they’d fled, giving them precious little time to get away.
“I think we can just make it to the car.” She picked up speed, daring him to keep up. They rushed down the stairs and sprinted across the parking lot.
A few yards from the car, Kira came to an abrupt halt, causing him to crash into her back. She tumbled forward but Lucas snaked his arm around her waist and caught her before she hit the ground.
“What the hell are you stopping for?”
“Something isn’t right. I can feel it, but I don’t see it.” She twisted in his arms, breaking his hold. “We’re missing something important here. Almost feels like...” She began frantically looking around for a clue or a sign of what “it” was.
As Kira tried to find out what pulled at her, the pounding of boots scrambling down the stairs behind them grew louder.
Lucas jumped in the car and started up the engine to leave. “Get in the damn car now!”
“I can’t. Something’s really wrong here and I’m—I’m trapped.”
“Yeah, I’m about to get captured again, something I’m completely against. Are you planning to watch the torture this time?” The waves of his anger pushed at her, trying to force her to do what he wanted. But something else already had her in its grip, keeping her riveted to the spot from an unseen source until she figured it out.
She turned back to the motel, searching for signs or a clue, but all she found were four pissed off men emerging from the stairwell and running towards her. They carried some very angry looking weapons now aimed directly at her chest.
“Stop right there.”
She held up her hands in a gesture of surrender. When the first man stepped forward, a menacing growl sounded behind her. Oh boy, if Lucas was losing it this was going to get messy.
When the man in front of her peered over her shoulder, the sight must have frightened him. He took several steps back, keeping his eyes on Lucas instead of her.
From the corner of her eye, she watched Lucas jump from the car, his body changing as he moved. Bones crunched and shifted, teeth elongated, clothes ripped. Claws on his hands and feet sprang free, and dark fur rippled along his skin. He grabbed her with his hands, which were all too quickly becoming paws, pushed her across the passenger’s seat, and roared at her, “Drive!”
Holy shit, drive the damn car, Kira.
Thanks to the adrenaline coursing through her, along with years of military training, she gunned the screaming car out of the parking lot like a demon bat out of hell as the men behind them opened fire.
Bullets bit into the metal of the car as she swerved back and forth and focused on escape. As Kira rounded out of sight of the motel, one last shot hit the back window, shattering the glass.
Keep going, Kira. Don’t hesitate. Lucas’ voice in her head was both urgent and strangely comforting as they cleared the area with no sign of a tail.
Seeing Lucas go through his change from a maybe six and a half foot, heavily muscled man to a sleek, powerful looking cougar had been more than a little scary.
She’d grown up hearing the stories about his clan, but neither she nor anyone she knew had ever actually seen one in their shifted form.
They were known as solitary, independent creatures who didn’t like to associate with other clans and usually spent great periods of time away from their own families. Especially the males.
After all these years she’d never quite believed until she witnessed it with her own eyes.
Minutes clicked by as she contemplated what to do next. He sat in the seat behind her but she was afraid to look. How would she feel looking into the eyes of her lover in the face of a big cat? She tried nudging his mind to hear his thoughts, but he was locked up tight. Now what?
Taking in a deep breath, she lifted her gaze and glanced in the rear view mirror to see nothing. She jerked around in momentary panic to find him lying across the back seat with his head resting on his paws and his eyes closed.
A soft gasp escaped her. He wasn’t just a cougar, he was the cougar. The legendary black cougar she’d heard stories of, the one everyone said didn’t exist, the one she’d encountered one day as a child...the one she’d spent years searching for. Even after she’d eventually convinced herself had to have been a dream.
A dream. It all made so much more sense now.
Well hell, she’d have to find a safe place for them to stop so they could finally have a talk. She needed some answers and it was way past time for him to know the truth, and damned if she didn’t want to admire his new shape. Her curiosity was killing her.
Focusing on the road once again, she began plotting where to stop and what she’d say to him. He wasn’t going to like the truth. If he even believed her. The truth always seemed stranger than fiction.
Thinking about the narrow escape, she remembered the strange sensations she’d encountered as she’d approached the car. And why weren’t they being pursued? Whoever they were had gone to great lengths to find them to just suddenly let them go.
I’m missing something critical here, I just know it. Now she had to figure it out before it was too late.
17
The car came to an unexpected stop, making Lucas sit up and look around. He must have finally dozed off because it had turned dark outside. No problem for him now because of his superior night vision when in cat form.
Kira had parked them at the far side of a rest area but had pulled the car as close to the cover of woods as she could. A fat moon shone through the trees, enticing him.
He turned and gazed at Kira. She just sat there with her head on the steering wheel, not moving. Was she scared of him? He didn’t smell fear. It was more like—he lifted his head and sniffed—anxiety or anticipation. He couldn’t be sure.
He debated shifting back to human form but it had been too long since he’d done this and he wanted—no, needed—to get out and run and be alone for at least a short while.
He pushed his upper body between the two front seats and nudged his nose against her hand and purred to get her attention. She jumped at his touch, turning to finally face him. For one quick moment he spotted an unexpected emotion—sadness—in her eyes before she went blank.
“Do you need help getting out or something?”
Her voice carried a rich and husky tone, the kind of sound that skittered right down his spine, causing a strong shudder. Yes, I need to be alone for a while. He gentled his own tone in her mind, trying to gauge her openness to him. Can I trust you to be here when I get back?
<
br /> Exhaling what he guessed to be a heaping sigh of frustration, she simply said, “Yes.”
Kira leaned across the seat and opened the door and turned back to stare out the windshield. Whatever thoughts ran through her mind, she likely needed some time to deal with them as much as he did.
He bounded out the open door and into the woods faster than the normal human eye would notice. If he’d caught the attention of anyone, all they’d recall was a black blur they couldn’t identify.
After hours of running, hunting and thinking, he couldn’t find a way to stop his body from craving her. Or the burn of need driving him mad. He had left her alone in the car because the animal needed freedom. But what he’d really needed was to get away from her to clear his system, exhaust his body with a run, and get his mind to a more lucid state that didn’t include thoughts of her tight body squeezing his cock every few minutes.
Finally giving up, he returned to the car, shifting back to human form on his way. He found her curled on her side across the front seat, fast asleep. Her red tresses seemed to glow in the moonlight and he couldn’t resist reaching down to stroke her cheek to discover if her skin was as delicate as it looked.
It was.
He had so many questions that needed to be answered but, for now, he just wanted to taste the curve of her neck below her jaw. He moved in next to her, inhaling her spicy scent, licking her curves as he went.
She stirred and mumbled his name in her sleep but didn’t awaken. He liked the roll of his name from her tongue. Mmm. Stroking her back in a light massage, he lifted her hair away from her neck to continue his tasty adventure, revealing a small tan birthmark at the base of her head he instantly recognized as the mark of a mate.
Startled, he yanked his fingers away. “What the fuck is that?” When her body jerked awake at his booming voice, he caught sight of the Glock curled in her hand he’d failed to notice before.
Not concerned about the gun or in giving her time to react, he continued, “You have the mark of the cougar on your neck. Who the hell are you?” His heart thumped in his chest, a tell tale sign he was going into a full-blown rage as the implications of her birthmark began to sink in.
Rolling over to face his anger directly, she rested the gun on the seat beside her and spoke plainly. “I am Akira MacDonald of Clan MacDonald of Dragon Tail. I’ve been trying to tell you for two days who I am, but you either refuse to listen or the time wasn’t right to keep pushing.”
His eyes narrowed and brow creased into a scowl as he processed her big revelation.
“You should have tried harder.”
She shrugged. What had seemed impossible before was now proven true by the mark she carried, which only complicated the situation. His back stiffened. “If what you said is true and you’re part of the Dragon Tail clans, then you’ve committed the ultimate betrayal of your kind. Your actions are punishable by death in any of the clans and a hunter will be dispatched to pass judgment on you. One of my hunters, in fact.” He slammed his fist into the dash, relishing the pain. “Why the hell would you betray us like that? You have to be one cold fucking bitch.”
“Whoa, what the hell are you talking about?” she demanded. “I haven’t committed any crimes.”
“The fact you’re working with a group responsible for kidnapping me and who have been trying for days to make me shift on command makes you guilty of the ultimate clan betrayal. I don’t even have to give you a trial.” He shook his head as he pushed through the car door away from her and paced across the parking lot. “Not to mention I'm a Guardian. Don’t you realize how serious this is? No one takes a Death Enforcer and gets away with it. No one.”
He needed to get away from her. This was even worse than he’d originally imagined. He or one of his brothers would be responsible for taking her life. Deserving or not, he didn’t know how he could handle that. Rage and heat consumed him and every instinctive bone in his body screamed to protect her, take her...claim her.
18
As he walked away, Kira opted to let him go—for now.
His posture was rigid, awkward even, as if he was uncomfortable in his own skin. She’d seen the same kind of righteous look in her own clan members when they’d made their decision with no thought to basic right or wrong, consequences be damned. This shit had to stop. They were not Gods.
She stepped from the car, grabbing the keys, but leaving the gun to rest on the seat underneath her purse. Her point would be lost if she accidentally shot the bastard, deserving or not.
“Hey, Lucas.” She called out to him, stopping him in his tracks. “I don’t think so. You don’t get to rage at me and make all kinds of wild accusations and then just walk away. Who the hell do you think you are?” She was steaming mad and a freight train couldn’t stop her now.
“You invaded my dreams days ago—my dreams, got it? All because i’ve got this fucked up thing in my head that is supposed to be some Goddess given talent. That’s bullshit, you know. It’s a curse. And damn it—I thought you were just a figment of my imagination. But then the dreams didn’t stop, and when I dreamt you were in danger I decided to investigate and found you in a godforsaken cell. A cell, I might add, I let you escape from.”
He turned back to face her and she moved right into his personal space, leaving no question how angry she really was. His vivid green and gold eyes were completely unreadable, as he stood there and said nothing. Somehow void of emotion.
“I don’t even have a clue as to who did that to you or why you were captured in the first place. I only know of your clan and, by association, I felt obligated to help you. Clan secrets are as important to me as they are to you. Why else would I spend my time in the human military if I wasn’t there as the eyes and ears of our councils?” She paused again, waiting for him to say something, and still she got nothing. “To hell with this and to hell with you. I don’t need this and I certainly don’t need you.” Stalking away, she knew that wasn’t true, but she had no intention of telling him now. Asshole.
He knew the truth about her and there was no way he’d want her now. She had half a mind to leave him here stranded and half naked on the side of the road in a godforsaken rest area. If he wanted to get home so bad, he could find his own damned way.
19
Lucas paced. He reeled with the implications of her revelation. As Guardian of his clan, it was his duty to know and understand all of the Dragon Tail clans.
Clan MacDonald was a tight knit community of psychics with a wide range of psi abilities. None were shapeshifters. But they were still a powerful race. Dreamwalking was a very common MacDonald trait, so it didn’t surprise him she’d be in his dreams and even visioning more with her magical connection to the Tallan.
He stopped short, realization suddenly dawning on him as he remembered the specific session of his study covering the female dreamwalking abilities. In psi clans, sexual dreamwalking only occurred at the onset of mating and only possible with their true mate. It was nature’s way for them to find each other.
Oh, shit. No. No. No. There had to be a mistake. It couldn’t be true. He struggled for another answer.
Not only was it impossible, it was against their laws. The uneasy treaty between all the clans clearly stated there would be no interclan breeding.
But deep down, he knew. All the unsettled feelings, the burning need, the insatiable hunger. Fate didn’t make mistakes, but she sure liked to fuck with people.
I am her mate.
Looking around, he realized he’d walked in a circle and was nearly back at the car. Kira stood propped against the hood— tanned, long, smooth legs on display from hip to ankles, contrasting sharply with the baby blue color of her car. With the certain knowledge of being her mate, he took in her appearance in a whole new light, as if he’d never seen her before.
Suddenly starved, all he wanted for dinner was her. Her arms were crossed in front of her body, a sure sign of her displeasure, but little did she know crossing her arms like that cau
sed her breasts to swell at the edge of her tank top.
She must have been cold, too, as her nipples strained against the thin green fabric. Oh, how he wanted to touch them, roll them between his fingertips and rough them up with a flick of his tongue. His gaze moved up to her face and realized while he’d been fantasizing about her nipples, she’d been glaring at him from beneath those inky lashes. Her eyes narrowed in disapproval.
“I’ll take you home, but that’s as far as I’ll go. I’m done here.” Though she spoke in a near whisper, her voice sounded tense and angry, her eyes filled with sadness.
“Kira, you know, don’t you? You know I’m your mate.” Saying it out loud caused his chest to constrict and he struggled to take in enough air. He hadn’t intended on claiming a mate for a very long time, if ever. He liked to play and control way too much.
“I don’t care. We don’t even like each other. We can’t get along for five minutes unless sex is involved. Forget about it. I’m taking you home and then I’m going to forget all about you.”
Unbelievable. Arrogant little wench wants to blow this off? “Oh, we are definitely going to the Dragon, but you are going home with me. We’ll have to come to some sort of agreement regarding our situation. The council will have to be consulted. Even they can’t deny the mating mark.”
“Pfft. Whatever. Those old bastards can’t be trusted. Oh and by the way, here’s your agreement.” She raised her hand and flipped him the bird. “Fuck off! I don’t want you, you don’t want me. It’s a no-brainer.”
God, her mouth really pissed him off and turned him on. She sounded almost irrational now. In fact, in his mind, she was working her way to a punishment. And his brand of punishment she was not likely to forget.
“Get in the car before I do something we’ll both regret. We’re leaving.”
20
Hours later, Kira found herself drifting towards sleep she didn’t want. She’d reluctantly allowed Lucas to drive her car as they headed back to the Dragon.