by T. S. Joyce
“False, my cat is called She-Devil. I’m Annalise,” she said with an easy smile. She reached across the table and shook Kaylee’s hand.
“Why is your panther named She-Devil?”
“Because she’s an out-of-control demon when she has her body,” Barret said. “I really need another burrito. I don’t feel good.”
“Why are you a child?” Benson asked. “You just ate three of them. You aren’t dying.”
Barret wrapped his arms around his middle like his stomach hurt from lack of sustenance.
Kaylee pursed her lips to control her laughter as Anson continued. “You know Jenny. She basically still hates you, which you’ll realize by all the scathing passive-aggressive remarks she’ll make throughout this meal. And that strapping hulk-pecker beside her is the reason this crew is clinging to the Appalachians. That would be our stubborn and fearless alpha, Benson, who doesn’t give a single crap if the lions are trying to take our territory. He is cool with getting us all killed.”
“Wait, the lions are taking your territory?”
Benson smiled tightly. “No chance in hell.”
“Momma, Raif is a black lion!” Bentley said. “That’s basically what a panther is, but he won’t grow no mane like me.”
“Hi, Raif. It’s very nice to see you again,” Kaylee said with a smile for the little blond boy. His and Bentley’s hair were almost the same shade.
“Why did no one introduce me?” Barret said, looking around with an offended look on his face as everyone else went back to eating.
“She already met you at the bar.”
“So, she met Jaxon, too!”
Anson’s sigh tapered into a growl. “And this is Barret, the least important member of the C-Team. There. Introduction made.”
“Dick,” Barret murmured.
“Sensitive diaper baby,” Anson said around a bite.
“You suck, and I hate you all,” Barret muttered, leaning back in his seat and glaring at Kaylee’s burrito as she took a bite.
Bentley set a single black bean on the table in front of the pouting Barret. He’d always been a good sharer.
“Hey, you remember when you ruined our lives?” Jenny asked Kaylee. “Anson might have forgotten, but I have more people to protect than just him now.”
The bite in Kaylee’s mouth turned to cement, and she gulped it down as the table went silent. Anson’s hand went tense on her leg, and he warned, “Jenny, don’t.”
“No, it’s okay,” Kaylee said. She inhaled deeply and said, “I hurt Anson when we were kids, and it hurt his family too, including Jenny. I made a dumb decision and told the wrong person he was a panther shifter. I betrayed him, and I’ve paid for it every day since.”
“How?” Jenny asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Guilt,” Kaylee admitted. “You didn’t move on, and I don’t blame you. I didn’t move on from what I did either. It’s my biggest regret, and I’m really, really sorry. That kid isn’t me anymore. I have him now.” She gestured to Bentley. “He came out a lion, and now I live to protect the shifter side of him.” She bumped Anson’s shoulder gently. “I’ll protect him, too.”
“Holy shit,” Barret said. “Ho knows how to apologize.”
“Call her a ‘ho’ one more time…” Anson dared him.
Barret got the letter H out before Anson slapped him upside the back of the head so hard Barret spit out the single bean Bentley had given him. It went bouncing across the table. Unable to help herself, Kaylee snorted a laugh, then clapped her hand over her mouth to stop it. It shouldn’t have been funny because she’d just been called a ho, but everyone just sat there staring at the little bean in the middle of the table. Then Benson chuckled, and so did Greyson. Jaxon and Annalise cracked up, and Anson stared at Kaylee like See? I told you they were weird.
Thunder boomed outside again, quieting their giggles. Storm clouds had darkened the sky, and outside the big picture window of the restaurant it was pouring rain.
“Won’t last long,” Anson murmured, pointing a fork toward the window. He said it easy enough, but his hand was tight on her thigh, exposing his tension.
“You don’t like the rain?” she asked softly.
“Does any cat like the rain?” Barret scoffed, like the answer should’ve been obvious.
“Uh, yes? Bentley likes it fine. He can sit and stare at the rain for hours.”
“Clouds are my favorite,” Bentley said.
“Mine, too!” Raif said excitedly.
Jenny was frowning at the boys, but her look softened when Raif said, “My panther don’t like the water, though. He gets scared and wants to go back inside my body.”
Bentley looked concerned. “I won’t let the rain hurt you,” he promised in that little squeaky voice of his. “I ain’t scared. It’s just water drops.”
Raif looked thoughtful and then brightened up. “I like it after the rain! When it’s all muddy! That’s when we play.”
Now Jenny was smiling, and she cast Kaylee a quick glance that wasn’t smoldering hatred anymore. “We have this tradition...” The alpha’s mate sighed. “Maybe you could come up to our territory and let the boys play.”
“Oh. Like a play date?” Kaylee asked, trying and failing to hide the hope from her voice.
Barret was frowning hard. “I hope by boys you mean men because I started this tradition and I’m playing, too.”
The lights flickered but held on the next roll of thunder.
Ben stared at his mate for a moment, then cleared his throat and announced, “Tonight, we ride. Anson, you said they were yours, so if they betray us, it’s on you. Kaylee, you and your cub are invited to Red Havoc territory. Don’t make me regret this.” He twitched his chin toward the door, and now his eyes were bright gold with tiny pupils. “Let’s load up.”
Anson offered his hand from where he was sitting and helped her up. She didn’t need it, but she liked touching him, and she liked that he cared about her like that, so she allowed it. She even intertwined her fingers with his like a brave little human, and her cheeks caught fire when he smiled down at her and kissed the side of her head quick.
Raif and Bentley walked in front of them, both still munching on the last of the quesadillas. Raif was telling Bentley, “We’re gonna get so dirty, but that’s okay because I’ll let you wear some of my clothes after Mom hoses us off, and then no one can get us in trouble for getting mud in the house.”
“I like getting muddy,” Bentley said solemnly.
Kaylee didn’t miss the absent smile on Anson’s lips as he watched them, and she loved how it brightened when he arched his gaze to hers. “He looks like you.” Before she could respond, he told her, “Stay here, and me and Bent will pull the car around.” He asked Bentley, “Ready to run for it?”
“Yeah!”
“Look both ways this time, boy,” he called over the rolling thunder.
As she watched them jog to the Bronco in the rain, Kaylee’s heart fluttered around her chest like a dove trying to escape her rib cage. Anson yanked the door open and lifted Bentley inside without missing a beat, then slid behind the wheel and gave her a view of his perfect profile, hair dripping wet as he waited for Bentley to buckle himself in. He was talking, smiling while he did so, and she wished she had shifter hearing so she could make out what they were saying.
Dig, dig, dig that bond. Dig it out of the grave and give it air to breathe.
What was this feeling in her chest? Was it…? Nah, it couldn’t be. She tracked the Bronco as he pulled it out front for her, and a warm sensation filled her from the inside out. It was as if she’d taken shots of her favorite tequila.
It was happiness—that’s what she was feeling.
She scrambled in as soon as the Bronco stopped, but couldn’t get the wrecked door closed, even with two tries. Anson leaned over her and yanked it inward hard enough to rock the truck and murmured, “Only the finest chariot for my queen,” with a cheeky grin.
It was a downpou
r now, little water missiles catapulting to earth in the low beams. Anson hit the gas, but then slammed on the brakes and skidded to a stop on the slippery gravel. Someone was standing in the middle of the lane.
It was Arden, clad in dark jeans and a forest green sweater that clung to his massive musculature. His hair was dripping wet, and his face was canted to the side. It wasn’t his animal stance that was terrifying, though. It was his eyes, full of gold fury, that held her frozen to the passenger seat.
“He’s being dangerous,” Bentley said softly from the back seat.
Correction, the alpha of the Cold Mountain Pride was dangerous. From the look on his face, it seemed he could tear a man apart limb from limb if he was so inclined.
A snarl rattled Anson’s throat, and when she glanced over at him, he looked just as frightening. His face was twisted in fury, as though he was half-shifted already. He hit the gas and didn’t slow down when the lion shifter didn’t move. At the last moment, Arden stepped neatly out of the way. Kaylee couldn’t take her eyes from the rage on his face as they passed, and unable to help herself, she twisted around in her seat. He just stood there, in the middle of the road, watching them leave with a look that sent chills trembling up her spine.
“He’s trouble,” she said quietly.
Anson scrubbed his hand down his face and shook his head hard, halting the snarl in his throat. “He’s just waiting on your choice.”
“My choice?”
“Me or him. Panthers or lions. Red Havoc or Cold Mountain.” Another snarl rattled his throat, and he reached forward and turned up the radio dial.
“But Anson—”
“Kaylee, right now I can’t talk about it.” Indeed, his voice came out too low and growly to be human, and his eyes were the color of liquid gold. They were pleading with her when he whispered, “Please. Later.”
But she’d already chosen. She’d told Arden no to the arranged pairing already. Anson wasn’t in competition with anyone. “But, Anson—”
His nostrils flared, and the growl in his throat got louder as he tossed her a warning look. “No Changes in the car, you understand?” His chest was heaving, and his knuckles were white where he gripped the wheel. “A Change could hurt you and Bentley.” He slid his oversize hand onto her thigh, then slid it down her shorts to her bare skin, and didn’t seem to feel the chill bumps there. “Everything’s gonna be okay,” he murmured.
God, how many times in the last ten years had she wished for someone to say that to her, and here was Anson, struggling to keep his body, but still taking a moment to comfort her.
His panther was apparently demanding silence, so okay. The second he was calm, she would tell him exactly where her heart belonged—with him.
Chapter Thirteen
Anson didn’t settle until they were deep in the Appalachian Mountains. He didn’t calm down as they drove a washed-out one-lane road deeper into the wilderness dotted with ancient trees, or past a fence covered in no trespassing signs that were riddled with bullet holes. He didn’t relax the entire time he zigged and zagged behind a gunmetal gray, jacked-up monster truck, or when he pulled into the wild grass yard in front of the second to last cabin in a row of small homes that sat at the foot of a mountain. The rain had slowed, and the lightning only flashed occasionally in the distance, but right now Anson was the storm.
It was organized chaos when she stepped out of the Bronco. Most of the crew had gathered in front of a blue metal shipping container behind the last cabin or were en route there, jogging through the yards, feet splashing in the mud. Some of them were backing four-wheelers out of the large shipping container, and others were barking orders that were hard to make out with the wind howling like this.
Raif came running for Bentley, a beaming smile on his face, his little hips swiveling as he sprinted. “I asked my mom, and she said we could be on the same tube!”
“Wait, what?” Kaylee asked, concern flashing through her like one of those lightning strikes a few mountains away. “What tubes?”
At that moment, Barret zoomed around the last cabin on a mud-splattered ATV, trailing a black innertube on a rope. Behind him, Ben drove another one, and so did Greyson.
“The boys are going on that?” Her voice came out squeaky.
“Hell, yeah.” Anson’s eyes finally lightened a little as he came to stand beside her, his hands on his hips. “Except there’s no way Barret’s driving them. I will.”
“Slowly,” she said, arching up her eyebrows so he knew she meant business.
“Oh, yeah, turtle speed, definitely.” He was nodding too damn much, and his smile gave away his lie.
“I’m not comfortable with this.”
“With muddin’?” Barret tossed Anson a duffle bag, and he caught it neatly out of the air, then squatted down and unzipped it. He pulled out ski goggles and bandanas and began to fasten them to the boys faces. To Kaylee, he asked, “Do you want pink or purple? I remember you liked the girly colors.”
Distracted, she watched Raif and Bentley flop onto the innertube and hold onto the handles. The bandanas were covering their mouths, but she was pretty sure Bentley was wearing the biggest grin ever right now.
“Uh, purple is fine,” she answered.
Anson stood and put a pair of sunglasses on her face, and then a purple bandana with a white skull jaw-bone printed over where her mouth was.
“What if they get hurt?” she asked in a muffled voice as he tightened the knot behind her head.
Anson shrugged. “He’s a shifter. He’ll heal. Look, Raif’s done this a hundred times and he’s still breathing. Let the boy have an adventure. If he gets hurt, you can lay into me later. Not before.”
“But…he’s little.”
Anson cupped her cheeks and hunched down to eye-level. “Kaylee, your cub ain’t gonna be little forever. He’s a mother-fuckin’ Dunn lion. Adventure is good for him. Bonding to a good cub like Raif? That’s good for him. His life is gonna be hard, and serious. Let him have nights like tonight. Let the boy get dirty and have something to talk about with Raif, and with you. I won’t let him get hurt. Do you trust me?”
She sighed and nodded. “You did save his life earlier so…I trust you sort of.”
“Good enough.” Anson smacked her on the ass so hard she jumped, and then he led her to the four-wheeler Barret was on. He didn’t even tell him to get off. He just shoved the giant off the ATV and climbed on while Barret complained about what a dick he was.
Behind her skull bandana, Kaylee allowed one tiny smile. When Ben blasted by, splashing water from the tires as Jenny clung to his waist, Barret jumped and landed hard on the empty innertube behind the ATV. His resounding, “Whoop,” echoed across the mountains.
Raif and Bentley made the same excited sound, but in their squeaky cute voices, and Kaylee couldn’t help the little giggle that escaped her lips. She wanted to stay mad and worried, but deep down, she did trust Anson, and he didn’t seem concerned at all.
Anson was sitting on the ATV with his hand out for her, waiting. With a worried sigh, she slipped her palm against his and threw her leg over the back, then clung to his waist.
“You boys hold on,” Anson said over his shoulder. He wore a black skull bandana over his mouth too, but by the way his eyes danced and crinkled in the corners, he was definitely grinning. Her fingertips itched to pull the fabric down just to see.
Anson eased onto the gas and followed Jaxon and Annalise’s ATV, dragging Greyson across the muddy plain in smooth zigzags. Kaylee stayed twisted in her seat, watching the boys like a hawk on a mouse, ready to jump off and save their lives if they fell, but those two little cubs had death grips on the handles, and Anson was keeping them in a relatively straight line. Mud was splattering from the tires all over them, and as they wound up a smooth trail through the trees, Kaylee relaxed bit by bit, and actually looked around the Red Havoc Woods from time to time instead of just staring at the boys behind her.
Anson slowed over rough patches but sped
up on straightaways and through the trees. The others were gunning it on their ATVs and cackling like muddy maniacs. The woods were full of laughter, including Kaylee’s, and most importantly, Bentley’s.
God, she loved this. She couldn’t stop smiling if she tried, even when Anson pulled to a stop and asked Raif if he wanted to drive. Covered from head to toe in rich, dark mud, the little panther shifter hopped off the tube and bolted for the ATV. He climbed in Anson’s lap as Anson held his arm out stiff for Kaylee to use to get off the four-wheeler.
“Wait,” he said as she made her way toward the tube where Bentley was squirming impatiently.
“Yeah?” she asked, jogging back, her sneakers sloshing through the muddy trail.
He hooked a finger on the bandana that covered half of her face, pulled her close, lowered it just enough to push his tongue immediately past her lips, and then kissed her hard. It was three rough strokes that left her breathless and wanting, but he pulled her bandana up to cover her nose again. “It’s damn good to hear you laugh again, Kaylee. I missed that.”
Stunned, she stumbled to the innertube, her eyes on Anson, even as she settled on the tube next to her son.
She’d missed her laughter too, but not the sound of it. The feel of it. It had disappeared slowly over the years. So slowly she hadn’t noticed its absence, but now it was obvious how very changed she’d become when she’d spent her years outside of this place. No, not just this place…outside of Anson.
He was looking back over his shoulder, black bandana over his face with the gray skull jaw over where his mouth was, his eyes still gold, but happy. Proud, perhaps. His black T-shirt clung to his muscular back, damp from the drizzle that still fell from the clouds, and his triceps flexed as he gripped the handlebars of the ATV.
This moment was bigger than the lightning strikes in the distance. The same power charged the air between them. They were falling into each other. That’s what this was. It wasn’t a convenience, or pretend, or playing house. He was reveling in the little things about her, encouraging her to be a better version of herself…a happier one. He noticed when she smiled and laughed, and he pointed it out so that she wouldn’t let those little accomplishments and changes pass her by without taking stock of the moment.