by T. S. Joyce
Narrowing his eyes at the glowing screen, Anson connected the call. “What?”
“The Dunn lion has to be raised in a good pride.” The voice on the other line was scratchy and deep, tired.
“Who is this?”
“They’re gonna….” Static blasted through the phone, and only a few words came through. “First war…monster…keep him…Dunn pride.”
Anson shook his head. “Wait, you’re cutting out. What about the Dunn pride?” Panic was flaring in his chest.
“First war, Anson Amos Carter. You have to raise…Dunn cub…monster.”
Fuck. Anson jogged for the front door, searching for more reception.
“I can see you. I can see you. Can’t sleep. I don’t want to fucking see you, but I can see you, and you aren’t raising him. Stop!”
Anson froze. “What do you mean I’m not raising him?”
“I can see him, Anson Amos Carter. He was fine, but his stars changed, and I can’t get there. You have to change his fate. I never win! Keep him from the Dunn pride. Keep him!” The deep voice on the other end was panicked and spoke strangely.
“I don’t understand.” God, it was so fucking loud outside, and the trailer was swaying in the brutal wind.
The windows shattered inward, and Anson ducked as glass shards sliced his bare chest and arms. “Kaylee,” Anson yelled. He needed her to call out and tell him she was okay, but something was wrong, something was wrong, something was so wrong. He bolted for Bentley’s room, but when he got there, the sheets were ripped back and the bed was empty.
Anson froze. Bentley had to be here. He was just here an hour ago when Anson had checked on him.
“Cold Mountain. Dunn. He’s gonna make your boy a monster. Your boy. Your boy. He’s gonna make your boy a monster. If you don’t bring him back, it’ll be on you to put him down someday. First war starts now. That cub has the destiny of a dragon.”
“Who is this?” Anson whispered in horror.
“Beaston. The seer. The watcher. The worthless. I can’t stop anything. It never works. Stall the Cold Mountain. They will take him, and they will gift him to the Dunns. Keep. Him.”
The line went dead, and in an instant Anson went to ripping at Bentley’s bed like he was hidden in there somewhere. “Kaylee!”
“Anson?” she called. “There’s glass everywhere!”
“They have him,” he uttered, checking the closet and under the bed. “Fuck, they have him!”
“What?”
He sprinted out of Bentley’s empty room and grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch as he headed for the door in case Bentley needed it. If it stole every drop of blood from his body tonight, Anson was going to get him back.
Kaylee was wearing an old T-shirt of his and her lambskin boots that crunched across the shattered glass that blanketed the floor. She looked terrified. “What’s wrong?”
“The pride has Bent.” He yanked the door open.
“What?” Kaylee asked. “Arden took him?” She followed him outside, but she couldn’t come for this. Maybe Beaston was a watcher and a seer, but Anson could see what was going to happen, too. He was about to die for Bentley because it was him versus a pride, and he had no time to rally Red Havoc. God, Bentley was probably so scared.
“There’s one way out of these mountains by road, and they wouldn’t have taken him while they were shifted. Wake up Red Havoc, Kaylee. Arden will take him straight into his territory and I have to stop them before they get there.”
“You can’t do this alone!” Kaylee shrieked, pulling hard on his arm. “They’ll kill you, and then what good are you to either of us? Ben!” She screamed louder than the wind. “Ben, Greyson, Barret, Jax, Red Havoc!” She was sobbing but her voice was strong. “I’m coming, too.”
“You can’t, Kaylee! You’re not expendable to me. I can’t keep my head if you’re there. I have to focus on your boy.” My boy, his inner panther snarled. “Stay here,” he said, prying her hands off his arm.
Through the downpour, movement caught his attention. One by one, Red Havoc appeared out of the rain like zombies on a cold, foggy morning.
“They took Bentley. Cold Mountain took Bentley,” Kaylee sobbed, her hands over her mouth as her shoulders shook.
“We’ll bring him back,” Ben snarled as he passed. “Jenny, stay here with Kaylee and Raif.” Lightning struck behind them in the mountains, the booming sound matching the power of the alpha’s orders.
The boys loaded up in Anson’s Bronco, and he tossed her one last golden-eyed glance before he slammed the door behind him. He said a hundred things with that look. He made her promises. He would bring Bentley back or die trying, and as she watched his Bronco blast out of the clearing and disappear completely, she couldn’t help this awful feeling that she’d just lost everything.
“We have to call the police,” she said, panicking.
Jenny slipped her arm over Kaylee’s shoulders and hugged her up tight. “No, girl. No police. We police our own.”
“But it’s kidnapping!”
“And our boys are about to spill blood in vengeance. A lot of it. Cops are for humans. This is your first hard lesson in shifters. Justice is in our hands.”
“He’s my son, Jenny,” she murmured, barely audible over the screaming wind. The rain was pouring sideways, stinging her cheeks and stealing away her tears. “I can’t just stay here and do nothing.”
Jenny flinched so hard it squeezed the air out of Kaylee’s lungs and hurt her ribs. Just as she was about to ask, “What the hell?” Jenny began dragging her backward slowly, her breath coming in short pants.
“Kaylee?” she murmured, sounding terrified. “When I tell you, you run to my house. You grab the shotgun off the wall, and you shove two shells in it, and you come back out to the porch. Do you understand?”
“N-no. I don’t know how to load a—”
A deafening roar filled the clearing, and Kaylee hunched under the power of the sound and spun around. What she saw would haunt her for the rest of her life, however short or long that would be. Through the sideways, pelting rain, four massive lions stalked forward, the pads of their paws the size of her head. And leading them was Arden in his human form, eyes glowing gold and full of hate as he locked his gaze on hers.
“Oh, my God,” Kaylee whispered. “Where’s Annalise?” she asked, backing away faster with Jenny.
“She-Devil’s in the wind. She can’t help anyway. She doesn’t fight loyal, not without Jaxon here to keep her steady.”
“What do we do?”
“Protect Raif,” Jenny said in a small voice.
“Your boy is in no danger from us,” Arden called, closing the distance between them with graceful strides. “I don’t give a fuck about a panther kid. Jenny Saber, you can go. I’m here for Kaylee. This is your chance to take your boy and survive.”
“And stand by while you hurt Kaylee? Fuck you!” Jenny yelled. Her hand was shaking where she held Kaylee’s, but her voice was booming like a fearless Amazon woman.
“You took my son,” Kaylee accused him.
Arden offered her a feral smile. “Your boy is sleeping in the empty cabin right over there.” He pointed to the second house—one that belonged to some runaway panther named Lynn. “Kidnapping isn’t my gig. I just needed Red Havoc out of the way so I can claim you. Less bloodshed that way. Bentley wasn’t the target, Kaylee. You are. Pretty. Broken. Fierce. Nothing-to-lose. Human. You’re a fucking queen. Mother of a Dunn. You’ll mother mine, too. I wanted you before, but seeing you with that panther did something awful to my lion.” He clenched and unclenched his fists. “That hate fueled a power I didn’t know I could possess. It affected my entire pride like poison. We’ve been bleeding each other for a week, and the only fix? You. You’re the reset. The Dunn cub is the reset. I can see it so clearly now. I can’t have him without you so…Cold Mountain will have both. We’ll be taking this territory tonight while we’re at it. No point in bringing the boy out of land that will belong to me.”
“Kaylee, run,” Jenny said. “Don’t look back, just run!” She gave one last frightened glance before an enormous panther exploded from her skin. She charged the pride.
“Oh my gosh,” Kaylee whispered in horror. She needed the shotgun. What could she do with blunt nails and paper-thin skin? She was no good to Jenny without weapons.
Kaylee bolted for Jenny’s cabin, but the lions were fast, and before she reached the porch, one cut her off. Behind her was the scuffle of war, and Jenny’s panther let off a pained scream.
“She-Devil!” Kaylee screamed in desperation as she reached for a small ax that was sticking out of a chopping block. Just as her fingers gripped the handle, someone yanked her arm painfully backward, and she screeched at the pain in her shoulder. The force helped dislodge the blade though, and she turned around swinging. She sliced Arden right across the face, and he grunted and winced away from her. With a roar, his body exploded, and a black-maned lion ripped out of him. He was huge, as tall as her, and for a moment Kaylee stood frozen in terror.
A panther screamed in the woods, so close. With a gasp, she gripped the handle of the ax tightly and bolted toward the gigantic, spotted, black leopard that was barreling toward her. Oh, She-Devil wasn’t coming to save her. She was a bloodthirsty demon that everyone had warned her to stay far away from when she was shifted. But right now, Kaylee needed She-Devil to bleed her. She needed weapons. She needed teeth and claws because she would be good goddamned if Arden dragged her and Bentley into his pride on a technicality. She just had to get close enough for She-Devil to sink her teeth into her. And Turn her.
She could hear Arden behind her, massive paws splashing through the mud, breath heaving as he hunted her, closer and closer until she could feel him, feel his breath on the back of her neck. Her legs burned as she pushed them faster than she ever had before. So close. In desperation, she screamed and leapt forward, right at She-Devil. Time slowed. She was sailing through the air, ax in hand, reaching for the big black cat with the fiery eyes and open mouth, ready. She was hit hard from both sides and closed her eyes on impact.
And then there was deep pain.
Kaylee slammed into the ground and slid a few feet through the mud. She seized immediately, back arching against the mud as she stared helplessly at the storm clouds above. Her shoulder was on fire, and every synapse of every nerve turned to magma, blasting through her body until she was surely dying. Pain like this didn’t exist without the coming relief of death.
She-Devil was doing something unexpected, though. She was standing over her body, hunched down, hissing, swatting out at Arden as he paced closer, his eyes on Kaylee. Arden’s pride were pacing behind him, getting closer with each pass. A long, low, terrifying noise bubbled up through Kaylee’s chest, and now Jenny was here too, black fur soaking wet, red dripping from her belly, hissing, swatting, pacing.
Her crew was here, protecting her dying body. She would die Red Havoc by choice. My crew.
It hurt so bad. So bad. Bentley was never going to understand why she was leaving him. And Anson. She hadn’t said goodbye to her boys. To her family. To her happiness. It wasn’t fair. She’d just found sanctuary, and now it was being stolen from her.
Red rage boiled in her middle, and the scratchy sound in her throat became louder, uncontrollable. Something was growing inside of her. It was pulsing with power. Something angry and protective. Something that wanted to help Jenny and She-Devil. Something that wanted to bleed Arden for threatening her cub.
All of this is mine, she thought in the instant before her body died and became something other.
The screech of pain in her throat turned to a roar, and she let it go. She bellowed as long and loud as she could so those fucking lions knew what was coming for them.
Fuck this storm. Arden raised a hurricane named Hell. She didn’t feel the pain in her shoulder anymore as she pushed upward onto all fours. She was taller than She-Devil and Jenny, and when she looked down at her paws, they were fawn colored instead of black, and her long, curved white claws were digging into the mud.
Stupid Arden.
He hadn’t claimed her.
He’d turned her into mother-fucking Murder.
Curling her lips back over her teeth, she lifted a hate-filled gaze to the alpha of Cold Mountain. For the first time since she’d met him, he looked uncertain. If she could give him the devil’s smile in this body, she would. Beside her, Jenny and She-Devil gave her stunned, sideways glances, then stalked forward with her, ears flat, lips snarled, long white canines bared, vengeance on their faces.
Fury filled Kaylee’s body, and she bunched her muscles then charged Arden. His pride reacted and bolted for them, but Kaylee didn’t care.
This body was made for war.
No longer was she Kaylee the human.
Now, she was Kaylee, Red Havoc lioness.
No longer was she weaponless.
Now, she was the weapon.
Chapter Fifteen
Anson had seen it all. Oh, they’d figured out quick what the Cold Mountain Pride had done when there were no new fresh tire tracks in the mud to follow. They’d planned their hunt well, snuck in through the woods while Red Havoc was panicked. The lions split the crew, and Anson had figured out they were after Kaylee before they were even to the main road.
If Arden had Kaylee, he had Bentley.
He’d barreled them back to his mate as fast as he’d been able and skidded to a stop in the clearing just as Kaylee had leapt through the air toward She-Devil with Arden behind her, mouth open, front legs curved and ready to envelop her as he clamped down on her shoulder.
His panther had ripped out of Anson before his mate had even hit the dirt. The girls were there, Jenny and She-Devil, holding their ground, not backing an inch from the pride whose focus was on them, and not the hell coming from behind. The Red Havoc boys were Turning into monsters, and no one would escape tonight unscarred.
And then she’d Turned.
Anson had skidded to a stop in the mud next to Ben, Barret, Greyson, and Jaxon. They’d watched as she pushed up on all fours like she already knew how to use her new body. She was a lioness now, lithe, graceful, powerful, eyes glowing gold with the promise of death, and her muzzle snarled up as she showed Arden her long, curved canines. Her roar echoed through the mountains and lifted all the fur along Anson’s back. Lethal mate. Beautiful mate.
In that moment, he’d never thought Kaylee more striking. She hadn’t turned on Red Havoc because she’d been claimed. She was about to go head-to-head with the entire pride right along with She-Devil and Jenny to protect the territory.
He was so fucking proud of her as she charged the massive alpha lion. They clashed like a pair of runaway trains, and she went straight for his neck, ripping, shredding, clawing, snarling. She was destruction. She was a missile. She was beauty. She was a brawler like her son. Like the rest of Red Havoc.
She. Belonged. Here.
In this moment, she claimed her place in the crew.
Ben’s panther bolted forward, and they were off. The girls were holding their own, but were still outnumbered and Jenny looked hurt.
Anson barreled into a lion that was latched onto Kaylee’s exposed back. There was no honor in that asshole going for the exposed neck of a lioness when she was busy in an alpha fight. Anson fought and clawed and bit until his muscles hurt to use. This lion was Second and was trying to protect his alpha from Kaylee, and that meant he would hurt her, or worse, the second Anson let up. He fought until his body was crisscrossed with slashes and seeping red. Because of his fear, it felt like hours. His attention was torn between Kaylee and her war with Arden and his own battle to keep her safe.
The lions scattered suddenly, and Anson backed up toward Kaylee. She was lowered to her belly, a fearsome snarl in her throat as her tail twitched back and forth in the mud. He didn’t u
nderstand why the fight had ended so quickly. Was she hurt? He tossed her another quick glance over his shoulder. Her tawny back was darker in color from the pouring rain, and her fur was tinged in pink from all the slash marks at her ribs and neck, but she wasn’t favoring them. She was hurt, but not like Arden was. She was latched onto his neck, and the alpha of the Cold Mountain Pride was lying on his side, perfectly still.
Anson watched his belly, but Arden didn’t draw another breath. Kaylee had challenged Arden and won. She could take the whole damn pride if she wanted.
The lions were confused, scattering, stopping every few steps to look back as if they didn’t know what to do. Jaxon’s massive grizzly charged them with Greyson and Barret following. They would chase the pride until they were out of the territory completely. Or kill them in the woods. Anson didn’t really care either way. He only cared that his Kaylee had just had her life turned around in a matter of minutes. Never again would she have a choice of a normal life. She’d been Turned against her will, and she’d just made her first kill in a shifter fight. It would take a toll on her sweet soul.
It should’ve been Anson with his teeth on Arden’s neck, but she’d challenged him, and the kill was hers to take. It was her vengeance for the forced claim.
Ben’s panther stood stoically in the rain beside She-Devil and Jenny, watching Kaylee hold onto the neck of that lion. It was one of those moments Anson would never forget. One of those moments where he knew nothing would be the same. Kaylee would never be the same. He was proud of her, but he mourned for the loss of her humanity, too. This wasn’t the life he’d wanted for her. Not like this.
She released Arden suddenly and backed away quickly, her belly dragging the mud, her pupils dilated, her ears flattened. She was scared. Her fury had run out, and the reality of the moment was hitting her. Anson wished more than anything that he could fix this for her.
He strode to her and ignored her warning hiss. She could swat at him if it made her feel better. He needed to touch his mate though, and let her know it was okay to be what she was. He needed to reassure himself that even if she was different now, even if she was more, that she was still here with him.