Redeeming Rue AP4

by R. E. Butler

  Dionne turned to Dag and said, “Why can’t you just go get her son? I don’t get this whole business.”

  James grunted in agreement.

  “The laws —” Hanai started.

  Dionne cut him off. “Nuts to the laws. The laws can go fuck themselves with Gerarli’s tiny dick for all I care. She’s a fucking white panther for fuck’s sake! She should have been revered and honored, not mutilated and tossed aside. I could kill her parents right now, I’m not fucking kidding.”

  “Language,” Dag reprimanded.

  “I’m pissed!” she snarled.

  James said, “Tell us what you found out, Hanai. I agree with Dionne. I’m a cop. Half our family are cops, and every lion in this house wouldn’t allow a hair on that kid’s head to be harmed, let alone Rue’s.”

  She was about to tell James that getting human law involved was a terrible idea, but Hanai beat him to it.

  Hanai rested his hands on the open pages of a large book. The pages were yellowed with age, the edges gilded. “We have already told you that it’s futile to involve law enforcement. If they smell so much as a sheriff’s badge near them, they’ll bolt. Dom will die, painfully, and Veruka will never be safe. The Rite of Dekray is a way around the laws. It’s a loophole of sorts. Veruka will be required to answer for her crime of disobeying clan law by having a child. She is not technically breaking her banishment because she never stepped foot into clan territory or attempted to contact them. But having a child when you’re forbidden is just about the worst thing a panther can do. It’s nearly unforgiveable.”

  Rue hadn’t wanted to admit that she was hoping that she might make it past dawn to see what James and John would do with more time and less clothes. Too bad words were being tossed around like unforgiveable and forbidden.

  “Tell us about the rite,” James said.

  She listened to Hanai explain that the rite was performed when a clan member atoned for whatever sin he or she had committed against the clan with his or her own blood. The dekray was the name of the tool used to draw blood. She knew what it was although she had never seen one used. It was a whip, very similar to a cat-o-nine-tails, but at the end of each knot of leather was a pronged hook meant to grab flesh and rip.

  John’s face paled considerably. “How many strikes with the whip?”

  “I don’t know what Gerarli will accept, but tradition is one for every instance of offense, for example, one strike for every year that Domino has been alive,” Hanai said.

  Rue shook her head. “No one could handle seventeen strikes with that thing. I wouldn’t survive.”

  James made an aggravated sound. “You’re not going to get hit with anything, Rue. I’ll take your strikes.”

  Alarm filled her. “What? No!”

  He bared his teeth at her. Again. “You are mine, and I will not let you be harmed. I will take your place and save Dom.”

  She stared at the serious male, and her heart cracked a little bit. Before she could respond, Hanai said, “You can’t take them all, John. No one could. Since you both marked Rue, you can share them.”

  James shook his head. “We can’t both be out of commission after the whipping. I’ll do it alone.”

  She turned to him and he gave her a look that brooked no argument. She slipped her arms around his neck and leaned against him. Words didn’t belong in this moment, and she wasn’t sure what she would say anyway.

  “I need to do some more research,” Hanai said. He left the book on the table and walked outside, heading toward the field where they were parked.

  Dionne spoke, “I know that you are all newly mated, but we haven’t seen our cousin in a long time.”

  “I’ll make coffee, since I don’t think any of us will be sleeping tonight,” John said.

  Rue moved to help, but James held her tightly against him.

  “Just got you, not letting you go.” His voice was growly and demanding.

  “I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself for me.”

  “We’re mates, Rue. We’re meant to bear each other’s burdens. I would die for my kids. I would die for my grandkids. And I would die for you. When we get through this, John and I are going to mate you properly.”

  The growl in his voice sent shivers down her spine. He chuckled in her ear and she tilted her face up for a kiss. “You’re dangerous, James Fallon.”

  “Only to those who try to hurt the people I care about.”

  As the coffee brewed, she sat at the kitchen table with her two mates and her cousins. Exhaustion stretched her thin, but she knew she couldn’t sleep. Dom was out there with her family. She hoped he was not being harmed, but she didn’t trust her former clan one iota.

  Dag tapped the table with the sugar spoon. “You need to stop blaming yourself, Veruka. Gerarli has always been off his rocker. He’s obsessed with a pure panther clan. He banished his nephew, Race, for going on a date with a human girl two years ago. I told your father that Gerarli needed to step down so more level heads could prevail or they were going to find themselves in a clan with no members because Gerarli kept banishing them.”

  “I thought banishment was just for dire offenses,” John asked.

  “It should be. It’s an old custom, anyway. No modern clans banish, at least not in the way that Gerarli does, with branding and death threats. Race was told that if he ever showed his face to the clan again that they would kill him on sight.”

  “Damn,” James muttered.

  “Why do the clan members put up with it?” she asked. “It’s one thing for my banishment, but to banish another for dating a human? That makes no sense.”

  “No, honey, your banishment doesn’t make sense. You were one of only a few females in your clan, and they drove you away for a genetic anomaly. No other females have been born into that clan. It’s why Race dated a human. He reached out to us for help when it happened, and we took him in and helped get him on his feet,” Dionne said.

  Dag looked thoughtful suddenly and excused himself from the table. Dionne looked after her husband and sighed. “He’s upset because he mourned you. Gerarli has lied to us all these years. I bet your shift is beautiful. Being solid black is fine for hunting at night, but being pure white must be an amazing sight.”

  Rue smiled and touched her braided hair self-consciously. She’d never considered anything about herself to be beautiful, least of all the color of her fur that had been the cause of her banishment. She wondered how different her life would be if Gerarli wasn’t there. She wouldn’t have had Dom. Or met James and John. All the lonely nights and the fear of being found would have never happened, but she was a stronger person for it.

  John rubbed her back with the flat of his palm, and the touch soothed her frayed nerves.

  As dawn drew near, James took her upstairs to clean up. The cool water on her face helped clear her head, and the clothes that she borrowed from his sister-in-law Samantha helped her feel more put together. When she and James came back downstairs to the kitchen, she was surprised to see that it was filled with males. Four females stood off to one side. She recognized the young blonde as the girl who was mated to her cousins.

  John drew her over to the females and introduced them as his sister-in-law, Samantha, his niece Lachlyn, his daughter, Jilly, and Melody, a female lion and member of the pride.

  James’ son Alek came over to them. “I’m taking the girls and kids to Uncle Rhett’s. Callie is there with the kids, and Ethan is going to stay with us. Eryx is on his way.”

  Rue looked at John. “What’s going on?”

  “The pride is standing with you. We’re taking the females and the kids away to make sure they’re safe, but the rest of the pride is with you, with us, all the way.”

  The show of solidarity nearly undid her.

  Alek said, “Welcome to the family, Rue. I’m looking forward to meeting your son and getting to know you both.”

  She blinked at the tears that threatened and smiled at him. “Thanks, Alek.”

&nbs
p; The women all said goodbye to their mates, except for Jilly, who came up to Rue. “I wish they weren’t making me leave, but Wyked is worried that I’m going to be a target because I’m newly bonded and I’m not a panther. I say let the panthers come, and I’ll gut them if they try to mess with me.”

  John groaned. “Jilly.”

  “What?” she asked indignantly. “Rue is my sorta, kinda step-mom, and they’re trying to take her from me before I even get to know her. It’s inexcusable.”

  The declaration from Jilly, who she hadn’t even really met yet, made her mouth go salty and her eyes sting. Twin males pushed through the crowd and joined Jilly. Rue knew who they were immediately because they looked just like Dag had at that young age. She couldn’t tell them apart, but at the moment she didn’t need to.

  “You’re going with the mates, Jilly, and it’s not negotiable,” one said.

  She opened her mouth to protest but the other put his finger on her lips. “Don’t, kitten, please. We’ll come for you as soon as our cousins are safe. If we’re worrying about you getting hurt, we won’t be worth anything for what comes.”

  “Oh, fine,” she huffed. “I thought Dad was bossy, but you two have him beat in spades.”

  “You love us,” the first one chided.

  She grunted in annoyance, but the happiness in her eyes told Rue that Jilly really did love the twins and that made her happy for her cousins.

  “I’m not bossy. I’m just a dad,” John said.

  “Same difference,” Jilly answered. She hugged John and then Rue. “Be safe. I have a new brother I’d like to fawn over.”

  Rue’s chest tightened. It wasn’t fair to have all this support now, when dawn was coming and her life might be forfeit. She didn’t want James and John to sacrifice their bodies for her. They didn’t know what the dekray could do to flesh. The stories she’d heard of the damage even one strike caused were enough to tell her that even if they split the strikes between them, they would still end up permanently damaged and could possibly die.

  She couldn’t live with herself if they gave themselves up for her.

  Dag clapped his hands as the mates and kids left. “You’re here to stand for James and John and their mate, Veruka. She is my blood and I will speak on her behalf, but your show of support will go a long way in the outcome today. I know that our ways seem strange to you. My clan does not support what Gerarli and his clan did to Rue, or how they kidnapped her son. We can’t change the past, but we can hope for the future.”

  Pretty words, Rue thought, but she really didn’t think that anything was going to change as the sun rose. Someone was going to die; she could feel it in her bones. If she had her way, she would choose herself. Dom could have a chance at a good life still, and James and John would move on and find new mates. Ones who weren’t disfigured with a bounty on their heads. Her heart ached, but she knew what she had to do. She would throw herself on the mercy of her clan and hope that they would end her swiftly and allow Dom to live.

  It was the only way.

  * * * * *

  Dom’s whole body ached from being tied up. The panthers who had come for him had used some kind of wire to bind him. His hands were tied in front of him, the wire cutting into his flesh every time the vehicle he was in hit a bump on the road. His legs were bound as well, and he was gagged and blindfolded. But he still heard everything. The people who had come for him knew he was Veruka’s son. He regained consciousness when he was carried out of the hotel room, and he caught a glimpse of a woman who looked at lot like his mom, and he believed that was his grandmother. Probably one of the men was his grandfather, the other males cousins or members of her clan. They gagged him so quickly that he couldn’t ask them what happened to his mom. She was a fighter, but he was afraid that she had been captured and killed already, and they were coming for him to put an end to him as well.

  He felt like a total idiot. He’d encouraged her to see the ceremony, to check in on her family and finally get a chance to say goodbye, even if it was just her whispering the words to herself in the woods. She had needed to be able to close the door on her past. Years of nightmares were not fair. He had thought this was a way to end her torment, but he’d probably just convinced her to skip along happily to her death. She had told him that her people would kill them both if they ever found out she’d had a son, but he hadn’t really believed that. Not if he was being truthful. In his mind, people didn’t just go around killing other people for having kids with different fur coloring. He loved his white fur. It kicked ass.

  He’d never met another panther outside of his mom, but she said his shifted form was much bigger than any other panther males she’d known. He liked being the biggest. When she talked about moving them to Canada, he’d been skeptical, but then she had said they would call themselves white leopards, and he thought that would work and he’d finally get a chance to hunt and spend time in his shift outside. There had to be a place somewhere where people didn’t care what others shifted into or the color of their fur, and that was where he and his mom belonged.

  He wished he could shift. The bonds were too tight on his body, though, effectively holding him captive in his human form. He hated the helpless feeling that coursed through him, but unless he got out of his bonds, he was a sitting duck.

  The van braked suddenly, and he slid forward painfully on the rough carpet he laid on. He’d have given his left canine for a knife. Or some kind of guardian angel who could come down and kick ass and set him free. The back door swung open with a creak. Someone grabbed his ankles and yanked him out of the back. He groaned as his head hit the edge of the van and his body banged against the ground. Defenseless to protect himself, his head and back had borne the brunt of the fall, and his head spun as pain rocked through him.

  He tried to roll to his knees and make a quick escape, but a swift foot to his stomach stopped him dead in his tracks.

  A hand fisted in his hair and gave him a rough shake. “You’re going nowhere, sinner, but to the hell you deserve.”

  Two sets of hands lifted him halfway off the ground and dragged him. The ground under his feet was rough and uneven with tree roots, which made him wonder if they had brought him back to the forest where his mom had been hiding. The panther clans were staying in the field on the other side of the woods from the big house where the ceremony was being held. If he could get the gag free, he could yell for help. Shifters had great hearing, and someone might come to help. He hoped.

  He was dropped to the ground and shoved onto his side. Chains rattled around him, and he felt them being looped around the ties that bound his legs. A lock clicked. Then he felt something cold and metal slide underneath the arm of his shirt and he stiffened. Methodically, his clothes were cut off his body. Dread filled him. Nothing good was going to happen at this point; he knew that for certain.

  Where was his mom? Was she okay? Had they hurt her? He wanted to know the answers to his questions more than he wanted to know what was coming for him next from these psychos.

  Cold chain wrapped around his stomach, looping several times, and then the blindfold was pulled away.

  He stared up at a group of panthers, including the ones who had taken him. Dom’s eyes roamed around the area quickly. He was in the woods as he’d suspected, except now he was stripped naked and chained to tree. Some of the people carried torches; the lights illuminated the area enough so he could see them.

  The one who seemed to be the boss stood a few feet away from Dom. He was overweight, with the belly of a man who spent too much time sitting around doing nothing.

  The male spoke, “The female, whose name we do not speak, broke our laws by spawning a devil’s child, full of sin and a disgrace to our clan. He carries the mark of evil with his white hair. She is the reason our clan has not prospered all these years. The birth of the evil spawn has stunted us, driven us to the edge of poverty and destruction.” He spat out the words, and Dom stared at him in surprise. The guy was a nutcase. Having a k
id who wasn’t anywhere near them caused poverty for a whole clan of able-bodied people? What the hell?

  The clan spoke as one. “The traitor must die.”

  The leader nodded solemnly. “So she must, and she will at dawn. But we need to purge the evil from our midst through blood and flesh.”

  Oh shit. That didn’t sound good.

  The leader looked down at Dom, and his eyes flashed with pure evil. Dom grunted out a few choice curse words to the male, but the gag garbled them.

  “Shift, demon, and show us your true, disgraceful form.”

  Dom growled. He would not shift because they said so, and they couldn’t make him.

  The male stepped forward and smashed his fist into Dom’s face, making his head rock back and smack into the tree he was chained to. “SHIFT!”

  A hand clamped over Dom’s nose, and he stared up in surprise at the leader. Coupled with the gag, he couldn’t breathe. Struggling, Dom tried to shake free of the hand covering him, but the male grabbed the back of his head and held him firm.

  Dom’s vision began to fade, and he felt his body start to go limp. As darkness descended, the hand was taken away, and he breathed in deeply through his nose, struggling to fill his lungs as fast as possible. Dom was aware that the bonds around his wrists and ankles were loosened. Not enough for him to get away, but enough for him to shift. Which he so wasn’t doing. Fuck them. Fuck all of them.

  Another chain was brought forward, and it was locked around Dom’s neck and then locked to the chain around his waist. Dom worked at the gag in his mouth, but it was tied too tightly for him to push it free of his mouth.

  “Shift, demon!” the leader yelled.

  With as much clarity as he could, Dom cursed, “Fuck you.” It came out sounding muffled, but the leader clearly heard the words.

  “Bring me the dekray,” the leader said, straightening. The cold look in his eyes chilled Dom to the very center of his being. He fought not to panic. Losing his shit wasn’t going to help anyone. If his mom were alive and not captured, then she would find him eventually; he just had to hold out. And if she weren’t alive, which he didn’t want to accept, then someone would discover them. He hoped.