Predator's Fire

by Rosanna Leo

  Even though the women boasted amazing abilities as shifters, most of them thankfully never had engaged in all-out battle before. And although he knew the men would be doing their damndest to ensure their mates never saw real combat, they all agreed the ladies might need a few pointers, if only to defend themselves.

  Killian had never seen anything like it. The women had all shifted, including Nina. Facing a small cluster of tiger men, stood Gioia as her polar bear, Marci as her lynx, and Nina as her jaguar. Several other women from the lodge staff joined them, and they were flanked by lady eagles, wolves and mountain lions. Lia and Charlotte, being in a family way, stood off to the side because if they fought, Ryland and Bart would have had heart attacks.

  Bear Gioia advanced on one of the tigers, baring her teeth, letting out a fearsome roar. She lunged toward him and he ducked out of her way. She tried again, falling when he leaped to the side, his feline movements smooth and agile.

  Soren stood on the sidelines, cheering her on. "My money's on you, baby. Get 'im!"

  Killian could see the tiger, a kind man named Attila, was bigger and stronger than Gioia. He could tell the man didn't want to hurt her and wasn't quite giving his all. Unfortunately, Crane's group would not have the same sort of consideration. He leaned over and said a few words to Matyas, their fighting coach. "Tell him to stop going easy on her. The girls need to know what they’re up against."

  Matyas frowned, understanding. He, in turn, called Attila over and whispered to him.

  When Attila prowled back toward Gioia, he growled and struck at her with his massive claws. Gioia hesitated, just for a split second, and dropped to the ground, rolling out of his way. As he scrambled forward, she reared back and pounced on him, encircling the back of his neck with her jaw, effectively winning their battle. The surprise on his tiger face elicited a few laughs among the group.

  She shifted in sheer surprise and delight, her naked form straddling the tiger. "Woo hoo! I killed you." She patted his furry head. "Well, not really. I wouldn't do that to you, Attila."

  Soren hurried forward with a long coat and covered her nakedness, his face red. "Hey, gorgeous. How about climbing off your defeated tiger? He's looking a little embarrassed."

  She looked down at herself and pulled the coat more tightly around her. "Oops, sorry, Attila. Didn't mean to jump your bones in all my glory." She laughed and slid off him and went to console poor Soren, who looked more mortified than Attila.

  "Now," Matyas called in his booming voice. "Nina is next. Your sparring partner is Jani."

  Jani, a massive feline with great hunks ripped out of his tiger ears, advanced. Killian crossed his fingers as he appraised his mate's make-believe foe. Jani looked as if he'd been in a few scraps in his lifetime, and his catlike smile clearly illustrated how much he enjoyed them. Nina breathed in deeply and chose her stance. At a couple of hundred pounds smaller than the tiger, she’d need to fight wisely, even a little dirty.

  You can do it, Killian encouraged. You just need to get him to the ground so you can reach his skull.

  There was no response. Instead, she lifted her head and eyed Jani, who paced before her. Her jaguar might bear the posture of a warrior, but Killian spied an intense gleam in its eyes.

  Nina?

  Again, nothing from her.

  He indulged in his own pacing. Damn, she'd been quiet all morning, yet strangely perky. She'd awoken, pensive, but had plastered a fake smile on her face. Seeming miles away, she’d had to ask people to repeat their conversations because she hadn’t tuned in the first time. She'd barely eaten, seeming uninterested in her food. And every time he looked her way, he'd found her gazing at him, her face full of determination. He’d questioned her once, but she’d insisted she was fine.

  He hoped she wasn't shutting him out again. He knew this situation bothered her. Hell, it bothered all of them, but he needed to know she could protect herself in case anything happened to him.

  As Jani circled before her, he shifted into human form, just long enough to trash talk Nina into action. “You’re going down, little jaguar. My friend Attila might have a soft spot for the ladies, but you will have to fight hard to defeat me.”

  Nina growled and the sound echoed in the woods around them. Killian decided not to bother her with his telepathic queries so she could plan her attack. It would take all her concentration and will to best Jani. Even in human form, the man looked like an MMA fighter. In tiger form, he looked like a nightmare. He sat on a log and bounced his knee, nervous for her. He knew the tiger wouldn’t hurt her, but he certainly wouldn’t give her an easy pass either.

  Jani shifted back into tiger form, bared his teeth and charged. Nina’s jaguar darted away and circled around him, her movements sure and swift. Larger shifters like Jani had strength on their side but smaller shifters could sometimes defeat them by tiring them out.

  As she led him on a chase through the nearby trees, the other shifter women cheered. “Go, Nina,” shouted Lia. “Slam that tiger’s ass!”

  “You own him,” concurred Charlotte, wriggling in her spot as if she wanted to change places with Nina, just for the sport.

  Killian had to hand it to his mate. She didn’t let up. Every time the beefy Jani made a play, lashing out with huge claws, she managed to evade him. She ran up a tree trunk, no longer reticent about climbing, and he lagged behind her. She jumped down again with ease, whereas Jani stumbled, looking a little winded from his descent. As hard as he chased her, she put up the best of defenses.

  And then, her eyes flashing with that weird intensity again, she turned and faced him and snarled. He held his breath as Nina went on the offensive for the first time. She crouched low, her fangs bared, and became the stalker she was born to be. Jani actually reared back for a moment, taken aback by her fearsome demeanor. Slowly, she crept around him, sticking low to the ground. He held his spot, turned his head to watch her, and she struck like lightning. All at once, she pounced atop him and delivered the pretend kill shot by clamping down on his head. If the fight had been real, Killian had no doubt she would have pierced his skull and ended him.

  She jumped off Jani and bowed her head in gracious acknowledgment. The tiger man shifted and stood proud, unashamed of his nudity. He peered at Nina’s jaguar, no doubt miffed at being shown up by a smaller shifter, and a woman, to boot. However, in his frank gaze, Killian spied reluctant respect.

  “What do you feed the women on this island?” he mused aloud in his thick Hungarian accent. “Rocket fuel?”

  Nina remained in jaguar form and turned to Killian, her face blank even in its animal guise.

  He strode over, arms extended for a hug. “That was awesome. You fought well, sweet thing.”

  She bowed her head to him and nuzzled his waist, her cat eyes averted.

  “Aren’t you going to shift back, baby? I have your clothes.”

  She shook her head.

  Okay, he replied, using their silent line of communication. Want to go for a run to get rid of that excess adrenaline? I’ll come with you.

  Her eyes widened and she shifted with haste, burying her face in his shoulder.

  “Hey,” he said, wrapping a sweater around her bottom. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she whispered, giving him that eerily calm smile again. “I just…I’d like to be alone for a little while. I need to collect my thoughts. Do you mind?”

  Even though his jaguar roared in objection, he admonished the beast, not wanting to smother his mate. He acknowledged he’d acted every inch the dominant Alpha male recently and didn’t want her to think he didn’t value her feelings. Hell, she’d shared everything with him, her body and soul, and if she needed a bit of alone time, he couldn’t deny her.

  He couldn’t deny her a goddamn thing. If she wanted him to watch The Bachelor with her, he’d do it with a smile on his face and a bowl of freaking popcorn in his lap.

  She grabbed the sweater and threw it over her torso, an
d then slipped into the jeans and shoes he’d held for her. And then Nina did the strangest thing. She touched his face and traced every line from his eyebrows down to the curve of his mouth. As she did so, her touch light and poignant, she smiled.

  “I love you, Killian. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

  He frowned. Something was wrong. Or was he being paranoid? “I love you, too. Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

  She removed her hands from his face and shoved them in her pockets. “Yup. I just need some air.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you at the pub for lunch?”

  Her mouth tightened and she blinked hard. “Sure.” She turned around and ran into the woods, her teasing scent lingering like a ghost.

  Shaking his head, sucking back the sulfur taste of worry, Killian returned to the fight training and sat on his log.

  Need some air, his ass.

  No, something was wrong and she was going to tell him what it was, in minute detail.

  He bolted from his spot and chased after her, finding her within moments. He grabbed onto her arm and spun her around. Her eyes grew wide upon seeing him and her façade crumpled. “You may think I can’t read you, Nina,” he’d said. “But even when you shut me out, I’m still connected. My heart beats with yours. My lungs pump your breaths. And I know something is troubling you.”

  “Leave me alone.”

  “No. Nina, I asked you to trust me, but I need to know I can trust you, too.”

  She began to cry. “Oh, Killian. I’m sorry. I just don’t know what to do.”

  As he held her, it all came out. His mother’s threats and Nina’s intentions to follow suit. Even though he almost fell down when he heard her admission, he steeled himself. “Okay. Let’s talk. I think I have an idea.”

  * * * *

  Nina approached the house in Gemini Grove, the one Killian had described to a T. He’d said it looked like a hoarder’s wet dream and he was right. Stained mattresses were dumped at the end of the drive. Old bags of garbage, strewn all over the property, had been torn open by ravenous animals. No one had bothered to pick the rubbish up and some of it looked months old. The house itself wasn’t unattractive but showed signs of years of neglect. Broken shutters. Chipped paint. A front door hanging at a weird angle on its hinges, like a crooked smile. And boxes of junk littered every space around it, from the long veranda to the garden.

  It made her want to cry at his former living conditions, but she resisted. She’d managed to come through this whole escape business without shedding a single tear, and knew if she started she’d never stop.

  Besides, she wouldn’t show the Moons her tears. They didn’t deserve them.

  She walked up the long gravel driveway, remembering the confusion on Killian’s beautiful face. It had just about killed her to lock him out of her mind, and she was actually relieved when he demanded the truth. It had taken all her fortitude to walk away, her jaguar rending her insides in panic the whole time, but she felt stronger sharing herself with him.

  “Never mind that,” she muttered. “Just get through this next part. Be strong.”

  She walked up the creaky front steps to the house. For a moment, she stared at the door, wondering if she should knock and say, “Hey, it’s me, Nina! I’m here so you can torture and kill me.” Thinking better of it, she just put a hand on the door and decided to walk in.

  We’re in the backyard, came Mary’s disembodied voice. Come around.

  Nina let go of the door handle and headed back down the front steps, winding her way to the spacious backyard. The first thing she noticed as she entered the yard was the blackened back fence, the one to which Killian and his brothers had set fire. The sight sickened her as his memories churned in her gut. Good. She wished he’d burned the whole damn house down, too, and its vile inhabitants.

  “Admiring Killian’s handiwork, are you?” Mary Moon crowed from the dirty back patio, her husband next to her. “He was always a willful child. I’d hoped to break him of his bad habits, but I failed him. I blame myself now.”

  Lawrence Moon put a hand on her shoulder. “You were a good mother. It’s not your fault our boys turned out to be demon seeds.”

  “Oh, please,” Nina cried. “Do you people hear yourselves? You honestly think Killian and Percy and Byron are the demon seeds? It’s amazing they turned into such wonderful men. You should be on your knees, begging their forgiveness for mistreating them.”

  Mary flew at her and slapped her across the face. Nina’s head spun with the ferocity. There was no disputing the elder woman’s strength. She might be twice Nina’s age, but her stealthy movements and force bore all the hallmarks of a mature jaguar.

  She refused to cradle her jaw. Instead, she righted herself and stared the mother-in-law from hell in her beady eyes. “All right. You got what you wanted. I’m here. You could have killed me just now. Just finish it already.”

  “Oh, allow me to enjoy myself a little bit first, girl.” She nodded at her husband. “Lawrence, would you be a dear and tie her to the fence?”

  He hurried over and restrained Nina’s wrists, his face full of adoration for his wife. “With pleasure, my love.”

  Nina tried not to sneer. Clearly Mary wore the pants in this marriage. These two sure were suited. “Love,” she spat. “You don’t know the first thing about it.”

  He dragged her over to the remains of the fence and lashed her to the one section that seemed to have escaped the blaze, wrapping wire cables around her. “You think what you have with Killian is true love?”

  “Our boy is a red-blooded shifter male,” interjected Mary. “He might have enjoyed sniffing around your whorish snatch, but such a union can’t last.”

  “For a shifter to mate, there has to be a meeting of the mind, as well as the sex,” Lawrence continued. “There is no way on earth you can relate to Killian on an intellectual or emotional level.”

  “Why not?” Nina taunted, not struggling. “Because my parents raised me with love and compassion? Because they fed me and clothed me and spent time with me?”

  “Watch your mouth, girl,” Lawrence warned, giving her bonds a cruel yank, cutting into her wrist.

  “No,” she continued. “I won’t watch my mouth. And you know what? Killian loves me. He will never forgive you for doing this.”

  “Don’t be silly,” crooned Mary. “We already have a lovely jaguar girl waiting in the wings for him. Adelaide is also a member of our church and can’t wait to meet him. Once he communes with her, he’ll forget you ever existed. He won’t remember your name once he’s met a jaguar woman worthy of his attentions.”

  “Sure,” Nina said, as bitterness crept into her voice. “Good luck getting him to commune with her. He won’t give her the time of day.”

  Mary stepped forward, enraged, her arm poised to strike again. “I shall deal with Killian! I am his mother and all my boys will listen to me.”

  Lawrence handed her a well-used whip. Nina eyed the instrument, noticing its frayed edges and torn leather. How appropriate she should feel pain from the same whip which caused Killian and his siblings such torture. In a perverse sense, she was almost glad Mary chose the same weapon.

  She and Killian might share one more bond before the day was through.

  Mary smiled at Lawrence. “My dear, would you kindly strip the whore of her top? And then you might wish you step back. I don’t want to strike you by mistake if I become overexcited.”

  Mr. Moon grabbed hold of Nina’s collar and ripped the shirt so that her back was exposed and her sleeves hung in tatters. He stood by, no doubt wondering if he should relieve her of her bra as well.

  She dared to face him. “Um, how about allowing a dead woman a sense of modesty?” She nodded, indicating the thatch of trees at the east end of the yard. “Please? It’s all I have left.”

  Lawrence peered at her, his face contemplative. For a moment, she thought she spied some humanity in h
is gaze, some inkling of kindness. He merely chuckled as he walked to the tree-lined portion of the yard. “Blood spatter is rather messy. I think I’ll watch from a distance.”

  She braced herself as Mary stepped forward and unwound the whip. On her knees, Nina lay her chin on the fence, smelling char and hatred. She imagined her death at their hands, imagined how it might feel to slip away. She always thought she’d approach the moment with terror and desperation. However, she felt only disappointment, saddened by what could have been. The Moons possessed amazing gifts. They’d turned them into something terrible, something inhuman. It made her think of the struggling teens in Killian’s program, and made her so proud of the work he did. She would go to her death to ensure the work could continue. To ensure he could continue with his life. Saying a silent prayer, she hoped Killian would come out of this as unscathed as possible.

  She sucked in a breath, waiting. And then her jaguar, hungry for battle, told her to keep the woman talking, just for a moment more. She turned her head. “I would have been a good daughter to you. Killian told me you tried to be a good daughter to your parents.”

  Mary froze, shock written in the arch of her brows. Once again, Nina wondered if the couple might be redeemed. Had August Crane put his stamp on every part of their souls, or did caring hearts still beat beneath their ribcages? She wasn’t sure, but Mary stared at the horizon, her face white. Apparently, she’d evaded the specter of her murdered parents for so long, but as the memories caught up to her, Nina fancied she saw the Moon grandparents hovering around Mary, wanting retribution.

  “They pushed me from the day I was born,” she whispered. “Nothing I did was good enough. None of my efforts seemed worthwhile. All the attention went to my sisters. My beautiful, intelligent sisters. Beth and June could do no wrong in my parents’ eyes. And even after I gave them four healthy jaguar grandchildren, four sweet babies, they still found me inferior.”

  “Wait. Four? Killian only has two brothers.”