Savage Kiss

by Milly Taiden

  Sage slapped her forehead. “No, Mom, I wouldn’t. Thank you for realizing that.”

  Isaline’s shoulders dropped. “Where will you go?”

  “I don’t know. There’s some rentals I’m gonna check out,” she said. She’d been thinking about it since she returned home from the trip. At first, she’d hoped Feral would follow up his kiss and ask her out, but that didn’t happen.

  He never called. That had been disappointing. Okay, it had been more than disappointing. After she’d cursed him to hell and wished he’d never kissed her, she decided she had to get a life. She could possibly meet more sexy men if she got out there.

  “Oh!” Mom gasped. “What about your dad’s old fishing cabin?”

  “What cabin?” Isaline frowned.

  “I totally forgot about it,” Mom told them. “After he died, I didn’t want to think of things that would bring back the pain, so I had the cabin shut down and never went back. You girls were young when we stopped going there once he got sick.”

  Sage stared at her mother, thinking back to her youth. “I remember going swimming near a lake house. Is that the one?”

  “Yes, dear. That’s the one. It’s actually not far from Zuri. It’s at the edge of the mountain, about forty minutes from her if you wanted to use it. Only twenty minutes from town.”

  She made a face. “But I have to buy furniture and stuff. I was looking for a furnished place.”

  “No! That place was our second home. It’s already fully furnished and has three bedrooms. Not huge bedrooms, but the master is pretty big and when your father passed away, I got all his stuff taken out and brought here. I even got a new bed thinking I’d rent it out or sell it, but then couldn’t do it. Too many personal memories, so I just closed the place up.”

  “Really, Mom?” Sage asked, excitement blooming in her chest. “I can use that cabin?”

  “Absolutely, darling. It’s yours, too.”

  Sage hopped up and hugged her mother tightly. “Thank you, Mom.”

  Isaline squealed. “I know just the gift for you. Just wait. This is going to be so fun!”

  The next day found Sage cleaning the cabin and putting her stuff away to make the place more her style. She had just put clothes and blankets in the closet when someone knocked at the door.

  It was Isaline and a few of the other teachers from the theater school.

  “We’re here to welcome you to your new home,” Isaline winked. “Don’t worry, I brought food.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t eat it on the way,” she laughed.

  Each of the women walking in had a tray of something in hand. Her dining room table was full of food and drinks.

  “You guys didn’t have to do that!”

  Isaline snorted. “Of course we did. If there was no food, how the heck are we supposed to celebrate?”

  “Isa, I wish you cooked more than you ate,” she joked. “Because if more people tried your chocolate cake, they’d have you working on it full-time.”

  Isaline stuck her tongue out at her. “I only make that for you guys. I’d need to be bribed a lot to make that for the shop.”

  “I don’t know how Mom hasn’t gotten you to make that for sale.”

  Isaline shrugged. “We have a deal. I’ll eat all her healthy crap and lose weight but she won’t mess with my cake.”

  “So…” Tara, her co-chair at the theater school, sidled up to her. “I hear you met a tiger on your last business trip.”

  Sage gave Isaline a look. “Really? What in the world are you telling people?”

  “Oh, stop,” Tara laughed. “We’re all curious because we haven’t seen you dating anyone interesting in so long.”

  She groaned. “This is why you can’t live in a small town. Everyone knows everyone’s business.”

  “Just spill it,” another teacher said. “Was he really a tiger in bed?”

  “No,” she choked. “He was a shifter. A tiger shifter. I don’t know if he’s a tiger in bed.”

  “Yet,” Isaline finished.

  The group of women hollered and cheered.

  “When can we expect to meet this wild man?” Tara asked, filling her wine glass with a freshly opened bottle of Pinot Noir.

  “I don’t know,” she said honestly.

  There were boos and awws but she shook her head and smiled. “I really don’t. Sorry, guys, but he lives two hours away in Colorado. But unless I get a new job to do there, I don’t think I’ll be going that way any time soon.”

  “Don’t be so hasty.” Tara grinned, her long nails tapping her wine glass. “You never know. He might have been so smitten with you that he’ll come here and see you.”

  Sage shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  She chose not to share with them the fact that he had promised to see her and never showed.

  The rest of the afternoon was spent laughing and talking. Opening gifts her friends had brought for the impromptu surprise party and relaxing. Her sister Zuri promised to come by later with her mate.

  With all the torn gift wrapping scattered about, spiraled ribbon laying around, and opened boxes, the mess from the party felt overwhelming, but Isaline took the dust pan out of her hands and clucked her tongue. “No. You are going to grab those last boxes at home while I go to the store and buy some cleaning supplies. We can do this later.”

  She glanced around the room and sighed. “I guess. I’m not in the mood to clean anyway.”

  Isaline curled her arm over her shoulders. “I’ll see you here in about an hour. Zuri should be here by then, too.”

  Leaving the house a disaster was the last thing she wanted, but they could clean it in a little while before anyone else showed up.

  As they headed out the door, Isaline ran her hands over the antique baseball bat next to the door. “It’s funny how this cabin was all about fishing for Dad. Except for this bat. Signed by Babe Ruth. It’s the one thing he refused to take down even though it went against the outdoorsy décor.”

  Sage smiled, remembering how her dad used to boast Babe Ruth had been friends with his dad and signed the bat to him before he passed away. “You know what’s funny? Dad never even followed baseball.”

  Isaline giggled. “I know. I don’t think he realized we noticed, though. He was too proud.”

  Sage left the cabin first and headed for the house to get her boxes. It would be her first night in her own place since forever ago. God, she really needed to grow up and stop being a hermit. How was she supposed to meet the love of a lifetime by staying locked up at home?

  You already met him. He was a big tiger and you’re still dying to find out if he’s as wild in bed as he seems.

  She really had to stop that kind of thinking. Feral wasn’t going to magically show up and ask her out. And even if he did, he was supposed to have seen her before she left Colorado, not a week later.

  13

  Duke Behar paced behind his office desk. That pain-in-the-ass Feral had to go. The damn tiger was keeping him from the gold deposits buried in the mountainside. And the fucking alpha idiot didn’t even know about the lost mine. Which was how he wanted to keep it.

  It’s not like the bastard needed the money. With the ski resort and all the successful businesses his pride had, they were set for years, possibly generations. How could he tap into their success to make himself rich?

  Everything he’d tried so far had been miserable failures. But he’d tried to be subtle, nice even. His initial attempts at legal claims to the land were laughed at by the Terai pride. More recently, he’d sent teams of his men into their territory to scout where homes were and what the cats were up to.

  Coming upon the vacant cabin earlier was a bonus. A little chaos with a blazing fire was just what they needed. But then his own men fucked up the perfect opportunity to take down the alpha. How many fuckers did it take to put out that damn tiger? He lived through several of his tigers attacking him.

  The more chaos he could create for Feral, the better. May
be the cat would get tired of all the headaches and simply give them access to the land. Right. When hell freezes over.

  It was time to take stronger action against them. Let the Terai pride know how serious he was about his demands for the land. They didn’t need it. It sat untouched.

  He could sabotage the ski resort. The snow would start falling at any time. That would shut down the entire mountain, but that would also free up their security guys to roam the area and ruin any other plans.

  Maybe that little brat niece of Feral’s could be used. One of the teams reported back that they saw the child with a human walking in the forest. That was surprising. Feral kept a sharp eye on the girl. And the child being with a human was even more unbelievable seeing how much Feral loved humans. If Duke could get his hands on her, she would make a great exchange.

  He wondered if Feral would ever find a mate. That would make a delightful hostage exchange. He’d put a couple of guys on the alpha’s tail to see where he went when he left the pride lands. If the man had a hottie stashed somewhere other than his cabin, Duke was going to find her.

  Duke picked up his phone and dialed his strongest man. No answer. Duke dialed his second, then his third best men. Still no one. Where the fuck was everybody? A knock came on his office door.

  With a deep inhale, he recognized two of his dipshit men. As a leader, Duke realized not everyone could be the sharpest cookie in the drawer. There was a job for all intelligence and physical levels, some duties definitely not as advanced as others. How hard could it be to follow someone in a vehicle?

  “Come in, Tarell,” Duke called out as he stopped to gander out the window. Tarell walked in with his brother, Tarrel. Yes, Tarell and Tarrel were quite the team. Quite the big team. What they didn’t have in brains, they made up for in sheer strength. They were also his nephews and his sister kept pestering him to include more of the family in the leadership. He had the perfect gig for them.

  “Tarell,” Duke said as he turned to them, then he was immediately struck speechless. The dumber of the two, Tarrel, had a mullet haircut. Not only that, it was neon fucking blue.

  “What the fuck did you do to your hair?” Duke asked, mouth gaping.

  Tarrel brushed his fingers through the strands then tilted his head back and shook the length free. “Do you like it? It’s just like Joe Dirt’s.”

  Duke’s eyes narrowed. “Does your mother know you did this?”

  “Mom says I’m old enough to make my own decisions,” his intellectually-challenged nephew said.

  “Obviously, she was wrong,” Duke mumbled. Times like this he was sure that he got all the brains and his sister had enough to function, passing down even less to her children. “I need you and Tarrel to tail the Terai alpha.”

  Tarrel gave a goofy grin. “Trick question, right, Uncle? He’s already got a—”

  “Don’t say it.” Tarell slapped him upside the head. “He means to follow the alpha, dumbass.”

  The brother scowled and rubbed the sore spot on his head. “That’s what I was gonna say.”

  Tarell snorted. “Was not.”

  “Was, too,” Tarrel shot back.

  “Was not.” Tarell got into his brother’s face.

  Tarrel raised onto his toes to look down on his sibling. “Was, too.” Then he poked him with a finger in the chest.

  “Shut the fuck up,” Duke yelled. And his sister wondered why he didn’t use the family more often. Jesus fucking Christ.

  “Is that all you want?” Tarell asked. “To follow him?”

  Duke gave that a thought. Just maybe... “You know what?” he said. “I want you two to bring him here to me.”

  “How’re we gonna do that?” Tarrel asked. “He doesn’t like you much, Uncle.”

  Tarell slapped his brother on the chest. “Shut up, T.” He turned to Duke. “We got this, Uncle. I got a plan. We’ll find him and bring him back.”

  Duke waved them out. As the brothers walked through the door, he wondered why they were there in the first place.

  14

  Feral hadn’t needed such a long recuperating sleep in a while. But getting that many injuries had really put him out of commission.

  Thankfully, Hawk and Reysha had watched over the pride along with Gunner and Slate. Now he was finally able to go to Sage and continue his researched romancing a human.

  Full Moon Bay was a small town, surrounded by mountains, easily closed off from the rest of the world. From what he understood, it allowed shifters and humans to live peacefully.

  The sheriff, Tyson Force, was someone he’d met before, so finding out the exact details on Sage’s whereabouts hadn’t been difficult, just slow.

  He drove up a small dirt road, seeing a river curving its way down a mountain as he passed. A couple of miles down, he saw a cabin and a pick-up parked outside. Sage’s home.

  His stomach tightened. This wasn’t the time for insecurity. He had come to spend time with her. He’d organized a special date for her and it would require her agreement or his plans would go up in smoke.

  Loud music boomed from inside the cabin. He got out of his vehicle and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. Fuck. How can someone so small and beautiful make him so goddamned nervous?

  Kicking at the dust on his boots, he knocked at the front door, only to find that the door was half-way open. With a soft push, it showed him the inside of the cabin.

  “Who are you?”

  “Hey, man!” One guy grinned and waved at him, a pair of lacy undies in his grasp.

  A loud, angry growl left his throat when he realized what he was seeing. Six men, all buck naked, were dusting and cleaning the cabin. His mate’s cabin. They were touching her clothes. One was folding laundry.

  He roared so loud the men froze and gave him wide-eyed looks.

  “Get out!” Another unintelligible growl.

  The men darted around, trying to get away from his shifting features as he prowled after them in the cabin. They dropped cleaning supplies and rushed out of the door.

  One tried to grab his clothes, but Feral’s piercing snarl made him turn pale and he ran out. He continued growling and roaring until all were gone from the cabin.

  A car pulled up at that point. Fuck. It was Sage. She was glancing at the naked men in shock and confusion.

  “What the hell?” she asked. “Who are those guys?”

  He roared again and the men squeezed into their pickup, still fully nude, and took off, leaving a trail of dust behind. Them.

  “Feral!” she snapped at his growling frame. “Who were those guys? What are you doing here? What’s going on?”

  He cleared his throat and tried to calm the tiger. That was easier said than done. In his mind, he saw the guy touching her underwear and fury continued to flood his system.

  He asked her, “Who are they?”

  She frowned, folded her arms over her chest and glared at him. “I don’t know. You tell me. I leave my house and come back to this?”

  He knew she wasn’t lying and that immediately calmed him. “I’m sorry. They were touching your underwear.”

  Her eyes widened and then her face scrunched in distaste. “Oh, gross. Now I have to wash it all again.” She tried to march past him, but he grabbed her arm and stopped her.

  “I came to apologize.”

  She turned to look at him. “I thought we were past this.”

  Sliding his fingers through his hair, he growled in frustration. “This isn’t how it was supposed to go.”

  Her brows rose and her gorgeous blue eyes sparked with curiosity. “Oh? Explain how it was supposed to go.”

  “Google said I was supposed to be honest and tell you what happened so you understand I am not playing games with your emotions.”

  “Google?”

  He shoved his hand in the pocket of his jeans and shrugged. “I’m not familiar with how to handle human females. Or romance them. I searched on Google.”

  A slow grin spread over her sexy, full lips. “
Why did you come here, Feral?”

  “I didn’t forget you. There was a fire at one of my cabins. Then I was attacked and—”

  Her eyes grew wide with fear. “Oh my god. Attacked? Are you okay?” she asked, her eyes darting all over his body looking for injuries. “Are you hurt?”

  “Not any longer. I was. I had to stay in my tiger and sleep until the wounds healed. It’s what kept me from coming to see you.” He cupped her elbows and took a step closer to her. “Not one moment has gone by where you’re not the first thing on my mind. I knew it might take some time, but after I healed, I had to come here. To see you.”

  She blinked, her flawless cheeks turning scarlet with her blush. “Wait, what do you mean you came here first? When did you wake up from healing?”

  “Today.”

  “And you came to see me?” she asked, her voice low and full of surprise.

  He pulled her closer, until all she could see were his gorgeous gold eyes looking into her soul. “I told you. You were the first thing on my mind. I had to see you.”

  She licked her bottom lip and his body heated instantly. “I didn’t think you would come. You barely know me,” she whispered. “I didn’t expect to see you again.”

  He cupped her cheek, loving the feel of her baby-soft skin under his fingers. “Then let’s get to know each other, Sage.” He leaned down, his lips so close to hers he could taste them. “Let’s spend some time toge—”

  Pain exploded in the back of his skull and darkness quickly followed.

  15

  Sage screamed and jumped back, her heart trying to leap out of her chest. She watched helplessly as Feral fell to the ground in front of her. Behind him, two huge men stood. They came out of nowhere.

  One minute Feral was saying such sweet things and the next the two men had rushed up on them so fast she hadn’t gotten a chance to warn him or even react. Anger and fear for him filled her veins with fire.

  She needed a weapon. Her knife was somewhere in the cabin. The bat! She ran to where it hung by the door and held it tightly in her grasp, as if she were ready to hit a home run.