by Sadie Hart
“Yeah, but I’m hungry enough for the eggs, too. I’m starving. Besides, I wanna take a piece of bacon back out for Rona.”
Rift gave a quiet huff of appreciation. “You weren’t kidding when you said the girl eats.”
Kinsey narrowed her eyes at him, but Rift ignored her, turning his attention back to the waitress.
“Ok,” the waitress said as she finished scribbling it all down. “And you?”
“I’ll take a blueberry pancake supreme with a side of hash browns and bacon.” His eyes skidded to Sawyer.
“I’d like your French toast sampler.”
“Oh!” Kinsey leaned against the table. “I want a ham and cheese omelet, too.”
Rift gestured for the waitress to jot it all down. What was one more full meal? At this rate, if they gorged enough they might make it the rest of the day with only bathroom breaks slowing them down.
“Anything else?” Her eyes looked ready to bulge but she held her smile intact. He wondered how often she had to serve lion-shifters in this part of town. Further south, the prides got thicker, but up here...he couldn’t think of another pride for miles. Maybe a few rogues, but not a family.
“Nah, that’ll do.” She was going to need help bringing all the food out as it was.
“Great, I’ll get right on that.” She disappeared only to reappear a few minutes later with a small loaf of bread, butter melting over the top as she set it in the middle of the table. “To tide ya’ll over.”
She flashed him another grin and disappeared.
“Oh, yesssss,” Kinsey said and snatched a chunk off the end. Rift’s stomach fully agreed with her, letting out a rumble the size of a roar. He reached for it, his lion clawing up his gut at the thought of food. Kinsey growled when he took a chunk off the end. Sawyer shifted in her seat and looked out over the restaurant. He froze. Hell. He was right. They didn’t get a lot of shifters in here, at least not lions. Had this been a shifter restaurant the waitress would have recognized them for what they were.
And she’d have known how unlikely it was that even a small group of lions would share a meal peacefully. One small loaf of bread in the center of the table was asking for trouble. And while the man in him was trying to be rational, the lion in him didn’t want to share. He’d suffer it for Kinsey. She was blood after all. A cub. But as far as the beast inside him was concerned, the lioness could wait.
Except, for a man that was a dick move, and he knew it. Rift blew out a frustrated breath and then reached over and snatched the loaf away from Kinsey, snapped it in three, and handed them each a piece. Kinsey snarled but when Rift bared teeth back at her she settled down.
“Eat.” He told Sawyer. “I’m not a complete asshole.”
Kinsey grinned around a mouthful of bread. “Just a little one.”
“Swallow before you talk.”
She rolled her eyes at him, completely undeterred.
“Besides, the bacon order will be a rougher share than bread. And I swear I’ll do my best to keep the claws in.”
The grin that slid over his face was all play, and Sawyer relaxed enough to pick up her portion of the bread. Rift couldn’t help but smile when she almost downed her third whole. That, despite the protest from his inner lion, was worth it.
Though by the time the rest of the meal arrived, he was almost ready to regret it. His stomach clenched painfully at the scent of the food, and the moment the bacon platter hit the table, he could feel all three carnivores rising to the forefront. And not a single one of them wanted to share.
Kinsey snarled like a rabid raccoon. Grabbing the platter, she jerked it over to her side of the table. Like hell. He was getting some of that bacon. With a snarl, Rift reached across the table and cuffed Kinsey lightly against the side of her head before dragging the plate back to the middle. The girl grumbled, but didn’t fight him as he split the plate into thirds once more.
Splitting the bacon didn’t stop the little rascal from stealing from both of them, but at least she had to risk getting her head swatted every time she tried. A low murmur protested to their right but Rift ignored them. A man was allowed to defend his food. Especially from someone who had half the menu sitting in front of her.
Breakfast was a no-chatter zone, but full of loud snarls and irritated rumbles. All three of them ate hunched over their plates, shoveling in the food like they’d found the freaking Holy Grail. Rift snaked a hand out to steal a piece of French toast from Sawyer and she swatted back automatically, snatching her plate off the table.
He’d have laughed if Kinsey hadn’t used the moment to swipe his last two pancakes, almost shoving them into her mouth whole. Syrup drizzled across the table between his plate and hers, and there was a sticky line of it down her chin. The little thief. His eyes narrowed and she gave him a pancake-filled smile full of satisfaction.
Rift lifted his fork and pointed at her. “You’ll pay for that.”
And just as quickly as she’d robbed from him, he made off with her omelet.
By the time the last of the food had vanished, Rift had downed his pop and two refills and was stuffed, his belly rounded. Hell. He was ready to snooze. The yawn burst out of him before he could stop it, snapping his head back hard enough his jaw clicked. Sawyer gave him a sleepy smile and nudged him toward the edge of the booth.
“We should go,” she said. “Wasted enough time as is.”
Nothing like eat and run. There wasn’t much that scared his lion half and right now, and sleep hit pretty high on his priorities. Surely they could deal with trouble when it came.
As if reading his mind, she held out her hand and said, “I’ll drive.”
That worked. He could use the nap. Rift slid out of the booth, dumping a few bills on the table for a tip and paid the rest up at the bar. “I call back seat,” and to ensure he got it, he wrapped one hand around Kinsey’s neck and shoved her in the passenger’s side. Then he plopped down on the tiny-ass seat, stuffed an arm between his head and the door and curled around his cat, soothed by Rona’s soft purrs.
He didn’t know how long he’d been drifting in and out when he heard the soft murmuring from the front seats. Blinking awake enough to focus, he eavesdropped while stifling another jaw-cracking yawn. Food made him sleepy.
“You have five brothers?”
“Five older brothers. I think when I left I had two younger ones and a baby sister.”
“Dang. Eight siblings. Holy cow.” Kinsey let out a soft whistle of appreciation.
Sawyer shook her head. “Nine. I have an older sister, too. I left because I got tired of babysitting.”
Sawyer grinned, and as she glanced at him in the rearview mirror he could see the humor in her soft brown eyes. So warm, but there was a layer of resolve in those amber depths. She’d been willing to risk the wrath of her pride to steal his daughter. She’d taken her rusted piece of crap car four-wheeling with a strange man beside her because it might help them get away.
And she handled him like a fox did a hare.
Then again, any lioness who thrived the way she obviously had, in spite of growing up in a pride of five older males... He shook his head. Sawyer could probably kick his ass. Odd how that turned him on more.
“You’re breathing heavy, big man,” Sawyer said and he saw her looking at him in the rearview mirror.
“Watch the damn road.” With a grumble he pulled his ass up to a sit and blinked out into the bright midday sun. “Where are we?”
“New Mexico. Crossed the state line an hour back.”
“On the road again,” Kinsey belted out, completely off-key, but when Sawyer joined her, Rift was helpless to do anything but groan, roll over and go back to sleep.
Chapter Five
“I have to pee.”
Sawyer glared at the girl in the passenger seat, a growl vibrating her chest. Of course she did. Anyone with brains could have seen that coming. “You wouldn’t if you hadn’t downed a two-liter in the past hour.”
Kinsey shrugg
ed. “I was thirsty.”
Fighting back another growl, Sawyer turned her attention back to the road. She preferred to choose her battles rather than ramming heads with the teenager all day. Rift, apparently, had opted out of the whole issue by snoozing most of today.
Which had left most of the driving to Sawyer.
And she hadn’t had a chance all day to see if Lennox had managed to call her back.
The sign for the next exit flashed out of the darkness and rain, caught in her headlights as they barreled towards it. Centered at the top was an S, indicating a shifter town, and the symbol for a gas station somewhere near the exit. Nothing more. A glance at the lonely countryside revealed a light she could barely make out amidst the trees. Sawyer shook her head. No way. Kinsey could hold it. Lion or not, Sawyer didn’t stop in backwater towns in the dead of the night where there was only one gas station—and where she couldn’t be sure it wasn’t smack dab in the middle of some redneck area where they had guns loaded with silver bullets.
“Still have to pee,” Kinsey snapped out as the exit whizzed by.
Sawyer sighed. “It’s raining.”
“Which only makes this worse.”
“I could pull over and let you go pee on the side of the road.”
“Or you could have taken the exit.”
“Teenage shit, getting old,” Sawyer muttered, not for the first time, drawing a smile out of them both. “I’ll pull up at the next rest stop. Promise.”
She thought for a moment Kinsey would try arguing with her, but the girl clamped her mouth shut, reached back to scoop Rona off Rift’s chest, and cuddled the cat, muttering about cruel new versions of torture. Sawyer rolled her eyes.
Ten minutes later she saw an S-marked exit sign advertising a rest stop and pulled off the highway. Kinsey had unbuckled herself, set Rona on Rift, and was out of the car before Sawyer had put it in park. She pelted off through the rain while Sawyer let out a string of curses, jerked the car into a spot, and took off after her.
“Kinsey! Damn it.” The rain soaked right through her shirt as she ducked under the overhang and yanked open the door to the restrooms. With a violent shake to lose the water, Sawyer stormed into the bathroom after her. “You can’t go running off on your own!”
“I can pee by myself.”
Sawyer opened her mouth to snap back at her and paused. Hell. At home in Cane Creek, she wouldn’t have had to worry. No one would snap at her if she walked outside, or if she sprinted off to go say hi to a friend. Jenna had lived on the very outskirts of pride land, and even hidden, Kinsey had had more freedom then than she did now.
Now, her every move was monitored and harassed. Damn. Okay. Sawyer slumped back against the wall and wrung the water out of her hair. “Sorry.”
“For what?” The toilet flushed and Kinsey made her way out of the stall to wash her hands.
“For being a nag.” That drew a flash of a smile out of Kins. “I’m not your mother and I know it. But hell, you do understand that Dougal wants to kill you, and probably me, as well?”
Whatever color Kinsey had had in her face drained away at that one question. She fisted her hands under the stream of water and watched the bubbles fall over her knuckles. Sawyer saw her knuckles bleed white and her small hands shake a little. “Yeah.”
Kinsey sounded so small, so vulnerable. Sawyer wanted to step closer and bear hug her. Wanted to, but wouldn’t. Kinsey needed to be tough. Lions had to be tough.
“Then why?”
She watched as Kinsey rolled the water around in her palms before she shut it off and popped her hands under the dryer. She looked so defeated. Lost. Now Sawyer felt like shit. Apparently she wasn’t cut out for tough love. A soft groan slipped from her before she walked over and looped Kinsey into a quick hug.
“I’m sorry. I just... we’re trying to stay one step ahead of them, but what if we make a mistake? I don’t want it to cost you your life. ‘Kay?”
Kinsey nodded, quickly swiping at a tear as she looked away. Sawyer knew better than to comment. Sometimes sorrow and guilt were personal. “I miss my mom,” Kinsey whispered, sounding so broken it tugged at Sawyer’s heart. She wished she could scream at Jenna for not being enough of a mother to protect her child. All Jenna had had to do was agree to come. To run. To fight to keep her daughter safe. Anything but just hope that the man who had beaten her constantly would show mercy for her daughter.
But no matter what Sawyer felt about Jenna Slade, she was still Kinsey’s mother. She cradled Kinsey’s head to her shoulder. “I know.”
She held the girl until Kinsey took a shaky breath and pulled away. “I’m okay,” she whispered, wiping at her eyes.
She wasn’t, and probably wouldn’t be for a long time. Sawyer didn’t think being abandoned by your mother was something a kid got over in a hurry. “Do we need to hit the vending machine on our way out?”
Kinsey gave her a small smile and Sawyer laughed.
“You give a whole new meaning to lion’s share, you know.” She bumped Kinsey’s hip with hers and looped an arm around the girl’s shoulder. They trooped out of the restroom, leaning into one another. She was going to make sure Kinsey made it out of this okay. And maybe, when this was all over and she was safe, Sawyer could see about getting Kinsey back to her mother.
A low growl trickled in from her right and Sawyer winced. Rift probably wasn’t thrilled that neither of them had bothered to tell him they were sprinting off into the rain. She squeezed Kinsey’s shoulder and turned towards him. “I’m sorry, Rift. We had to pee—”
Her voice shriveled up and died on the word. The lion leaning against the wall to her right was not Rift. Worse, he had a good twenty pounds on Rift. His eyes settled on Kinsey and his face twisted, lips curling back as he flashed fangs too long to be human.
Shit, shit, shit. Sawyer forced herself to keep breathing normally, even when she felt Kinsey’s pulse speed up.
One look at the stranger and Sawyer knew he wasn’t far from sprouting claws and fur. He was too far into his beast to give a damn that he was looking at child with murder in his eyes. Then his attention swept past her to something behind her, just as the second man growled. Sawyer felt her heart freeze in her chest.
Against one male lion, she hadn’t had a chance, but Rift would’ve, if they could have gotten to him in time. Against two? She wasn’t sure, but with her as backup, they might be able to make it. Might. Please let it only be two. Sawyer squeezed Kinsey’s arm as hard as she could. She would only be able to give Kins one shot for the door. Hesitation would get them both killed.
Her tongue wet a nervous line over her lips.
“Hey pretty lady,” the man on her right said, his voice vibrating with a growl, and she fixed her attention on the enemy she could see. The man behind her still hadn’t stepped close enough for her to spot him without turning her back on the first lion.
This one looked a good five or ten years older than Rift. His black hair was tousled, greasy.
A rogue. That much she was certain of. He didn’t have the look of a pride male. He was nervous, edgy, and the way he kept tilting his head and scenting, she could see he was trying to figure out if they were alone, or if someone was close by waiting for them. Whether he’d already figured out it was a male rather than a batch of females with her, she didn’t know.
The man behind her shuffled and it was now or never.
Sawyer pushed Kinsey towards the door. The male to her right lunged, and she jerked back in the direction the bathroom, backpedaling until she could see them both. Brothers. They both had the same sharp chin, the same almond-shaped eyes. Both of them had crooked noses, but then again, so did Rift and every other lion male she’d met who’d seen more than a scrap or two in his lifetime. The second one looked younger, but not by much. Rift’s age, then. This didn’t bode well for their chances.
Still, if they both ran for it, Kinsey would never make it to the car alive.
Male lions could be fast when they want
ed to be. Still, in human form, these guys wouldn’t pack quite the punch they would as a lion. It’d be stronger than anything a human could dole out, but it would lack the bone-shattering force of their lion half. Sawyer coaxed her lioness up under the surface, feeling the edgy twist of the beast inside her. The lioness didn’t like this.
She didn’t fight males. Not without her sisters. Sawyer felt her lioness twist a little, as if she were trying to look around, but instead she coaxed the lioness out even more, letting the magick and power sit just under her skin. With it came the added Hound magick she’d received after graduating from the Shifter Town Enforcement Academy. It wouldn’t help her much, but it would give her an edge, an added strength and speed they wouldn’t see coming.
“Go,” Sawyer yelled, and Kinsey bolted for the opening. The younger male lunged for her and Sawyer dived to intervene. She’d be damned if she let either one of these bastards touch that girl.
Both males turned towards her, and Sawyer pulled up, standing square between them. Kinsey faded into the rain and darkness. One of the men grinned, his smile feral in the dim light of the rest area. “Think you’re clever? You’re still here.”
He took a lumbering step toward her.
Just a few more seconds. Just enough to give Kinsey time to get to the car. To safety.
Sawyer grinned between them and took a step back. “You have to catch me first.”
Magick swirled and hummed through her veins as she felt their beasts tune to the challenge at hand. They wanted a fight, a hunt. Well, they were going to get one of those, probably even both, tonight.
She’d give them the chase first.
Now! Sawyer spun away, racing for the rear exit. The males lunged after her, but she was already sprinting for the door. Kinsey would be at the car right now, and if Sawyer had any luck at all, they’d follow her in the opposite direction, like they’d follow a mother leading a hyena away from her cubs.
She crashed into the door and slammed it open as she darted out into the night. The rain made the sidewalk slick underfoot, and she skidded over the cement and onto the grass, running away from the car and further into the darkness. She slipped and caught herself against a tree, only to throw herself forward again, back into her run. Blinking through the rain pouring down her face, she saw a shadow to her left move, right before something slammed into her.