“Admit it! You killed my father!”
Li had somehow managed to pin Paul to the ground and had the sword at his neck. He was growling low, unhappy at his current position but unable to do anything about it. The young woman pressed the blade in deeper and the growl turned to a whine.
“Admit it!” She shouted.
There was a ripple of power and the jaguar turned back to human. “Alright! I had the rogues kill him! Happy now?!” He winced suddenly and a steady stream of blood ran down his chest.
The fighting suddenly stopped at his admission and everyone turned to stare at him, some in confusion, and others in hatred.
Chapter 19
A murmur started up somewhere in the back and then it began to part to reveal several of the council members as they stepped over corpses and injured bodies as they moved towards the centre of the crowd.
“What’s going on here?” Katherine asked in her crisp British accent.
Paul growled, “What are they doing here?”
“I phoned them; asked them to be here,” Li spoke without taking her eyes off Paul. “He’s just confessed to sending the rogues to kill my father,” she said to the three other council members.
Katherine gestured minutely and the older of the two men stepped forward. Kaitlin recognised him as Sanjit. He raised a palm in front of her dad’s face and closed his eyes for a second as he did whatever it was he did. “She speaks the truth.”
Katherine frowned down at the Coucil Head. “You know what this means, don’t you, Paul?”
He sneered. “I lose my position and spend the rest of my life in Bau. Of course I know! I made the law, Katherine.”
She gave a delicate sniff and glanced away to gesture to the other man behind her. “Brandon, Sanjit, if you will, please.” Katherine’s gaze rose to meet Li’s. “We’ll take him to Bau personally, Li. He’ll pay for what he did to your father.”
Li nodded once, her eyes hard on Paul.
The two men grabbed her father under the arms and yanked him to his feet. He didn’t fight them like Kaitlin expected; just let them lead him away, back through the crowd and out of sight.
Just like that the tension left her and she deflated like a balloon, her knees going weak and, if not for Rhys hooking an arm around her waist, she would have fallen flat on her face.
“You okay?” He asked softly.
Her gaze raked over the field. Everyone was just stood there, staring at each other wondering what to do now the battle had come to an abrupt end.
“I can't believe it’s over,” she whispered. Turning she wrapped her arms around his waist, her fingers knocking something on his back. It elicited a pained breath from him and she remembered the knife. “Oh, God, Rhys I’m so sorry!”
Kaitlin turned him around and inspected the knife and the wound. “It looks like a clean cut. I’ll remove it and then you should shift, okay? This is going to hurt,” she warned. Wrapping her fingers around the handle, she tugged it out quickly and winced at the wet sound it made. Then cringed at the wounded animal cry he gave as he dropped to all fours and started the change into werewolf.
She’d missed his change last time when they were in the woods together but she watched it all this time as fur sprouted from his pores and his face elongated into a snout. It was magical to watch but from the noises he was making, very painful too.
A minute or so later he stood before her, a beautiful black wolf. He must have easily reached her waist with the top of his head. Kaitlin held out her hand for him to sniff and he did for several seconds before he started rubbing against her fingers and leg, nearly knocking her over. She could see the knife wound on his back and breathed a sigh of relief to see it wasn’t half as bad as it had been in human form, the skin already knitting together. Rhys rubbed his head against her leg again and she lost her balance, falling onto her butt. Laughing, she put her hands up, “Alright, you know it’s me! You can change back now.”
He did and it didn’t seem to take as long this time. Then he was standing in front of her stark naked with a naughty twinkle in his amber eyes. “Oh, no,” she said, shaking her head.
Rhys grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his chest, “You turned me down yesterday too, you’re going to start denting this ego of mine if you’re not careful.”
Chuckling she shook her head and spun him around to check the wound had healed. All that remained was an angry looking pink line, a definite improvement on what it had been five minutes earlier. “I think that would be impossible,” she teased.
A voice rang out in the silence and they both glanced across to see Li addressing everyone. “As you most likely heard Paul Mahone has been removed from his position as head of the council following several incidents that cannot be overlooked, including the death of my father amongst many others including the emotional and psychological abuse of his daughter, Kaitlin. We will be electing a new head and council member as soon as it is possible for us to get together. In the meantime, Ruth Mahone will be head of the Cat Clan. I suggest you all go home, take your injured with you and forget this fight happened. It wasn’t your fault you fell for his lies… Thank you.”
Kaitlin blinked slowly and watched as the young Chinese woman left the field, followed by her men and marvelled at the authority she had over others.
Her attention then moved to her mum who was stood a little to the side, wide eyed. A lot of cat shifters were watching her expectantly and as she watched, her mother snapped to attention and started ordering them about and they obeyed without question. A slight smile curled Kaitlin’s lips. Her mum would be a great leader.
As people started walking past them she turned and started heading back towards Rhys’ car which waited at the edge of the trees. A handful of women cast him appreciative looks as they passed. Giving him a sideways appraisal, she added, “I think we need to get you some clothes.”
He stopped and ran a hand down his chest and stomach, “You’re kidding, right?”
Biting her lip she pulled open the door and glanced over her shoulder at him, “Of course. You know how much I love making love inside this car.”
With a growl, he climbed inside and began showing her how much he loved making love inside his car too.
Epilogue
Kaitlin ran her hand through Rhys’ tousled hair as he ran a finger over her stomach drawing little shapes. His head was cushioned on her chest after a fervent bout of lovemaking.
It had been three days since the showdown between Li and her father and he had been publically denounced and locked up in Bau, the shifter equivalent of Alcatraz. She knew he wouldn’t be leaving for a long time yet and she was glad.
It was a pity they hadn't found that traitor Raoul as well; he could have joined him behind bars. He appeared to have vanished off the face of the earth.
She stared up at the pristine white painted ceiling of the master bedroom, her mind full of these thoughts, as she continued to run her fingers through his hair.
“We need to find that Raoul guy,” she muttered. Rhys murmured his agreement. “And do something about Brent and Misha.”
He raised his head to look at her quizzically, “Like what?”
Kaitlin shrugged, “We could kidnap her from her parents?”
Rhys rolled his eyes and then dropped onto his back beside her. “I don’t think that will work.”
“Then you think of something, genius.” Propping herself up on her elbow, she raised a brow waiting for his suggestion.
“How about you take her out shopping or something and we get the two together?”
Kaitlin shook her head at him, “Her parents don’t like me anymore, remember? She’s been banned from seeing me because her parents blame me for my father being put in prison. Stupid bigoted people,” she growled, “they can't see the forest for the trees.”
His chuckle was low but still earned him a scowl. “Okay, kidnapping doesn’t sound so bad. After all, I’m sure it’s not kidnapping if she wants to come
with us?”
A huge grin broke out Kaitlin’s face, “I knew I loved you for a reason.” Leaning forward she kissed him softly on the lips. “So that’s that sorted. When are we pulling this off, then? And should we tell Brent what we’re doing?”
Rhys shook his head, “Right now, I’m not too bothered about that.” Gently grasping her face between his palms he pulled her down for a deeper kiss. Her lashes fluttered closed and her breath stuttered in her chest.
Who was she kidding? Right now, she didn’t much care about the details either.
The End
Table of Contents
Text copyright © 2013 Leanne CrabtreeAll Rights ReservedChapter 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilogue
Cat's Wolf (A Shifter Romance Novella) Page 10