by Celia Kyle
“Again,” he kept his voice even, but he wanted nothing more than to make her submit and shut her fool mouth. “The why isn’t the issue right now. Do we have everyone here?”
Darcy’s expression turned mutinous, her jaw clenched, lips pressed tightly, but not another word was said. His tiger urged him to force her to her knees and bare her throat. Unfortunately, there really were things more important than making an example of the female.
With a sigh he dropped his head back and took a slow, deep breath. Everyone was stressed—him included—and roaring wouldn’t solve the problem.
A warm, furred body rubbed against his thigh, and he absently reached down, running his fingers through the thick pelt. He lowered his gaze, attempting to identify the purring cat and glared at the were. Narrowing his eyes, he shoved the feline away. “Dammit, Hawke, I’m not petting you like a cub.”
The tiger merely opened his mouth, tongue lolling out like a dog’s. “Go shift, if you can. I wanna talk to you and Braden.” He looked over the gathering of his pride. “We need a head count to see if anyone is missing. We can go from there.”
Hawke’s tail twitched, those amber eyes giving him a look that said the tiger wasn’t so sure it wanted to listen.
“I don’t have time for you to be ballsy, cat.” Ares breathed deeply, letting his own feline forward. They were sitting in the middle of hell, he had a million things on his mind, but his main duty was to be strong for the pride. Allowing his orders to be questioned wasn’t a show of strength.
“Do as you’re told. Now,” he growled, baring a fang.
Hawke sniffed his displeasure like only a cat could before turning and making his way through the group.
“You can’t just…” Darcy’s voice grated on his fucking nerves.
“Enough.” He didn’t temper his roar in the slightest. “I’m done. Right now, Darcy.” He realized he’d let the woman get too close to him, to become a friend of sorts. At least in her mind. In Ares’s, she was another employee and pridemate. One who knew more than most, but still a subordinate. “More important shit is going on right now than your little temper tantrum.”
Darcy stomped down the stairs, feet pounding on the steel-supported wood steps. “That woman—” she pointed at Zoe, a sneer on her lips, “—is the cause for all this.” She continued to stomp her way into the gathering of cats. “And I can’t believe you are going to stand there and let her—”
Darcy screeched and dove forward, claws extended, as she raced toward Zoe. He should have seen it coming, should have recognized Darcy’s intent, but he’d been so focused on getting to Zoe and figuring things out with the pride that he’d missed the depth of her anger. He saw it now, though. The question was, could he stop her before she got to Zoe?
He watched Darcy from a distance, her long, midnight hair flowing behind her as she leapt. A peppering of orange and black rippled over her skin, her inner tigress emerging as her fury drove her forward. Her fingers snapped and reformed first, nails thickening into her tiger’s claws as she flew.
Ares could either go for Darcy and delve into a catfight or pounce on Zoe and get her to safety.
In the end, it was neither. Neither because he didn’t have to worry. Not when his pride surrounded Zoe. Hawke may have been ordered to search out Braden, but he was suddenly there, shoving Zoe away while hissing at Darcy. And as for Darcy… Emma was the one to stop her mid-flight, her tiger’s bulk slamming Darcy sideways and across the slick flooring. But when the female would have regained her feet, Emma was there, crouching over Darcy’s body, her fangs bared and a growl escaping her chest.
Pinned. Sweet Emma, one of his more easygoing tigers and the pride’s omega, pinned one of the pride’s strongest females.
Because she’d threatened Zoe.
The pride rumbled, tails flicking, claws clicking on the wood floor as they waited for him to react. Hawke kept Zoe back, and then Gannon and Murphy stepped forward as well. On their outskirts stood their gentle Josie, who wouldn’t hurt a fly. Yet, she looked like she’d happily take a chunk out of Darcy.
Damn. Zoe had only been in their lives for five minutes. True, they’d been together for two weeks before life went to hell, but it hadn’t been this Zoe. The one that emitted strength that tasted and felt like his own. They were devoted to this Zoe.
“Ares,” Darcy grumbled and Emma hissed, opening her mouth wider as she lowered her head.
He slowly made his way through the tense bodies, his tigers stepping aside when they realized his destination. He finally made it to Darcy’s side and crouched next to Emma. He ran a hand down the tiger’s side, stroking her gently and gauging the tension in her body.
“I have her now, Emma.” The tigress remained in place. “It’s okay, now.” He stroked her ear, sliding his fingers along the tip. “Why don’t you go stand with Zoe?” He glanced toward his mate, noting Noah still stood beside her. “Go to Zoe and Noah.”
Emma huffed once and then gave one last, long hiss before stepping back. He couldn’t help but smile. Yeah, Zoe may have brought a ton of problems down on the prides, but she brought something good, too.
“Daniel?” he knew the half-crazed tiger was hanging around. He didn’t get into trouble, but he didn’t stay out of it either. The massive weretiger padded forward, the pride parting for him. When he finally reached Ares’s side, he gave the male his instructions. “Take her to one of the guest rooms. She doesn’t leave. We’ll talk about this incident tomorrow. I have more important things to deal with than a spoiled brat.”
Daniel sneered, a fully human expression on the tiger’s muzzle.
“You can’t expect—” Darcy didn’t get to say much else because Daniel snapped at her, his massive teeth clicking as he just missed her face. If she hadn’t had a cat’s reflexes, she would have been bleeding and missing a cheek.
Nobody said Daniel was even-keeled.
“I can. As your alpha—of this pride and the nation—I can expect you to listen or suffer the consequences.” He was normally forgiving—an alpha who led by respect instead of fear. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t use violence and dominance to ensure his orders were followed. “You’re going to get your ass off this floor and to the guest room. Stay in there overnight and cool off. I don’t wanna see you before eight. Any further discussion can happen then.”
He pushed to his feet and ignored the scuffles as she stood and the growls that came from Daniel as he herded her upstairs. He only had eyes for Zoe.
Zoe, standing firm and tall, not a tremble shaking her frame. A true alpha fem.
Their alpha fem.
His alpha fem.
He was nuzzled as he moved among his tigers, but they didn’t slow him, they were merely connecting with their leader. When he was close enough, he tugged her nearer, enveloping her in a tight hug.
“You okay?”
“She didn’t touch me, Ares. You know that.” Her voice was soft and soothed his inner beast.
“Yeah. The full moon makes us all tense. She’ll apologize tomorrow.” He’d make sure of it.
“I know.” She gently stroked his arm. “I’m fine.”
Yeah, she was. And strong—brave—as hell, too. He wasn’t sure what he did to deserve her.
He huffed and straightened his spine. They had shit to do. “Okay. Let’s get a head count and see where we’re at.”
“How many should we have?”
Ares looked around the gathered group and let his senses spread to search out the felines upstairs as well. “More than we have right now.”
Chapter Eight
“More,” to Ares, meant another thirty tigers, and Zoe was at his side when he found each one. Sometimes they saved tigers from women—or men—and sometimes they saved the humans from the tigers they’d attempted to mate.
When they ushered the last cat into the house, she paused inside the doorway and stared at the group—the pride. Tigers covered every inch of the house, tails and paws taking up space as they str
etched and snuggled together. She’d call them puppy piles, but she wasn’t ready to risk her life just yet.
Ares came up behind her, and she sensed the exhaustion that filled every inch of his body. His cats had all succumbed to the pull of the moon, but he hadn’t. She leaned back, savoring his touch when he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close. They stood for long moments, the seconds ticking past while the last tiger found a spot and settled in. Emma lifted her head from her mate and focused on Zoe, giving a soft, questioning chuff.
“Everyone’s back. We’re going to find our own place to crash for the night.” She could see the last of the tension drain from the female as she slumped down to cuddle with her mate once more.
“You realize she’s never been that way before you,” Ares quietly murmured in her ear. “Your presence has strengthened the pride.”
“My presence nearly destroyed your pride.” Tears pricked her eyes, and she blinked back the moisture.
He dropped a soft kiss to the top of her head and then released her. “Enough talking tonight. Let’s find our bed.”
Zoe allowed herself to be tugged along, half-asleep tigers moving paws and tails out of the way so they could reach the stairs without stepping on anyone. It seemed the stairs were the only tiger free place. At least, she thought so until they entered the bedroom at the end of the hall—Ares’s bedroom. The pride had left the space empty, the alpha’s room undisturbed.
“Why…” Didn’t they use this area too?
“They won’t step into their alpha’s domain without an invitation,” he murmured.
“So, issue one.” Her reply was instantaneous. “They’re crammed together like sardines.”
Ares didn’t stop their forward motion, continuing to tug her through the room. “They like it that way.”
Maybe they did, and she was the crazy one, but she couldn’t stop the gnawing guilt from forming in her stomach.
“Ares…” she tried again.
He stopped in his tracks and turned to face her. “Zoe, I wanna shower, and then I wanna sleep a million years. I love the pride, but we’re going to deal with them tomorrow. Right now, I’d pounce first and ask questions later if one of them walked through that door.”
She noticed it then. When she thought he’d looked so strong and in control, he was actually holding on by a thin thread. His golden eyes were bloodshot, orange fur coated his face, and his arms were misshapen as if his tiger merely needed a hint of permission to come forward. But he’d remained on two feet for the pride, for her. She pulled her hand free of his grasp and reached for his face, the lines of his jaw and cheeks now sharper with his impending transformation.
“Ares, let go.”
“I…”
“Shift.”
“But…” Guilt lingered in his gaze.
“I’ll still be here in the morning. The pride is safe. Shift.”
One last flash of regret filled his expression, and then the change was upon him. Arms and legs stretched and grew, his clothes shredding as his human body shed skin and adopted fur. Orange and black with hints of white cascaded down his body, the tiger fully emerging and replacing his two-legged form. She’d seen other shifts, some lasting minutes as weaker shifters fought to adopt their animal forms, while some took mere seconds like Ares. Soon she had a massive cat before her, one who purred and chuffed, rubbing against her and herding her toward the bathroom.
“I’m going. I’m going,” she mumbled, still awed by his change. She wanted to take a moment to stroke him, explore his feline body. She’d been close to wolves in the past and knew more than one bear, but tigers…
Tigers would have to wait another day.
At least, that’s what she thought before they entered the bathroom and she realized the massive tub she used to make fun of was actually tiger-sized.
“Oh, god,” she chuckled. “You made yourself a mini-pond.”
He sniffed in annoyance and padded to the tub, batting at a knob until water flowed freely from the spigot. It’d take a while for the thing to fill, and she was tempted to go back to the bedroom and just flop onto the bed, sweat or not. But he nudged her to the walk-in shower—no door to bother with—not stopping his encouragement until she stepped inside and began her own shower.
“You know,” she peeled off her sweat soaked shirt. “You watching me all tiger-y is kinda creepy. Like inching toward bestiality.”
Ares waggled his eyebrows.
“That’s even creepier.”
He turned away from her, flicking his tail as he disappeared and returned to the quickly filling tub. Rolling her eyes, she focused on getting clean, wondering how the hell the water heater managed to supply the house. Then the warm water cascaded over her nude body, and she didn’t give a damn about anything but the stinging heat and the way it relaxed her muscles. She took her time washing her hair and running the soapy washcloth over her body.
The splashes and sounds of water hitting the tile told her Ares continued his own bath and she let her body relax as fatigue bombarded her. She’d endured fear, worry, excitement, terror… all in a single day. Hell, in fewer than twelve hours. Finally, everything that’d kept her moving—mostly adrenaline—fled, and she found herself utterly exhausted.
At some point Ares finished and came to her, the massive tiger gentle as he batted at the shower’s knob and then carefully grasped her hand between his teeth. He tugged her toward the bed, leading her along, and she realized she didn’t even mind that they both climbed onto the mattress and soaked the blanket and sheets with their wet bodies.
Zoe sighed and sank into the softness, closing her eyes as she relaxed. She reached out for Ares, running her hand through his fur as she sought the quiet of slumber.
Then she was sure a single, masculine word drifted through her mind.
Sleep.
Chapter Nine
Zoe went to bed with a tiger and woke beside a man. A man with a large body covered in carved muscles that made her fingers itch with the need to touch. She reached out, fingers hovering above his skin, and she felt the warmth that radiated from his body. It was another clue she should have recognized. Shifters ran hotter than humans.
How had she forgotten? Now that she thought about it, other little quirks should have clued her in as well. The way others wouldn’t meet Ares’s gaze for long. How they’d listen to him no matter who he spoke with. The twitch of their noses. The massive amounts of meat the group consumed. The way others seemed to flow in and out of the house; they were rarely ever alone.
And for some reason, she didn’t mind. They did get their own space, but she also felt comfortable with all his friends, er, pride members.
“You gonna stare at me all morning or touch me?” His voice was hoarse and filled with his cat’s rumble.
“I dunno. Depends.” She flicked her attention to his face, finding him with his eyes still closed.
“On?”
“On how you feel about me.” There, she laid her vulnerability at his feet.
Like a cat—heh—he snatched her around the waist and tugged her close until their bodies were flush from chest to knees.
“You’re mine. That’s how I feel,” he murmured.
“But I’m responsible for…” So many things.
“Tell me.”
Tell him. It sounded so easy, but guilt made it hard to talk.
“You know I’m a reporter for Tower Sentinel News?” At his nod, she continued. “A friend knows this area, not Wilden in particular, but she knew the mountain had a bunch of little towns. Wilden happened to be deeper in the woods and higher on the mountain than others. I wanted a quiet, secluded space to relax for two weeks. Just somewhere to breathe, without the rush of the city.” A city she secretly loathed. She’d always been more comfortable in open spaces with clean air. “Then I met you and we…”
They fell in love? She thought so. Maybe. If this whole mess hadn’t destroyed everything.
“Keep going,” he mur
mured and cupped the back of her head as he rolled to his back. He encouraged her to rest her head on his chest.
Keep going. Right.
“I texted with Ronnie,” when he stiffened, she rushed on. “She’s my best friend—a wolf.”
He snorted. “That’s gonna be so much fun when she comes to our mating ceremony.”
“Mating what?” She tensed, her heartbeat picking up a rapid pace as the weight of his words struck her.
“Keep talking.” Another soft kiss to her temple.
“I told her about you. In our texts. And then I saw you,” she swallowed hard, remembering the wonder at seeing him transform. She’d watched Ronnie and her family in the past, seen vids of other species, but to watch Ares turn into a massive tiger… It’d been beautiful. “And I took a picture to send to Ronnie because I was pissed that she’d lied to me.”
That had been a big bitch fight.
“About what?”
“She said wolves, bears, and lions were the extent of shifter kind.”
“They’re the only ones who were ready to come out.”
“Yeah,” she drawled. “I figured that out.”
“So how’d we end up in the paper?”
“My editor,” she spat out the words. “My phone… I’m an idiot. I get that. I didn’t realize my work phone was subject to search. That my boss actually monitored what I did with the thing. He read my texts and viewed those couple of pics and ran with it. I didn’t realize what he’d done until the story hit the stands.”
Then it’d been too late.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, regret clogging her throat.
Warm, firm hands stroked her, drifting over her body in a comforting caress. “You have no reason to be sorry,” he murmured. “Your editor has a reason to fear for his life, but you have no reason to be sorry.”
“You believe me?” It was a worry she’d carried from the second she left her house.