by Milly Taiden
“What are you doing here, Josh?” Her voice never wavered and she met his gaze without flinching. This was her turf. She was the Prima of the pride and there was no way in fucking hell she’d let some little boy try to intimidate her. Not now, not ever.
“Miranda, you need to choose a mate,” he inhaled sharply. The action was followed by a lick of his lips. “Fuck, Andi. You’re coming into heat and I can’t take this much longer.”
Did this piece of shit really think he’d just come up on her and she’d give herself to him because he brought his friends? He was so very fucking wrong. She gave a loud growl and curled her hands into fists. “Josh, you better rethink coming any closer.”
He stopped for a second. She saw the lion in his eyes. His beast wanted her, no matter the cost. This wouldn’t end well for anyone. Her lioness was prepped to push out of the skin. She wanted out, and she wanted out now.
“Hurry it up,” one of his friend’s said. She remembered him, but his name wouldn’t come to her at that moment. “We want Cat now. You said this wouldn’t take long then we could have her.”
Those words froze the blood in her veins. Cat was barely fifteen. She stayed with her grandmother most of the time, helping care for her. How they knew she was in heat worried her more than her own skin at that moment.
“You can wait,” Josh growled. “Cat isn’t going anywhere.” He started taking off his shirt slowly, his large muscles bulging with every movement of his arms. He was a good looking guy, but she didn’t want him. Why was it so hard for this moron to realize his getting naked was not going to make her want him either?
She especially disliked his inability to understand her words. If she said no, then it was no. Period. End of story. Josh was hardheaded and used to getting his way with women. Right now, his attention was focused on her and what he saw as his due for being the biggest lion in the pride.
Her mother used to tell her to be careful with men. Some of them just didn’t understand that a woman could make up her mind and choose not to share herself with him. That was Josh’s problem. He refused to understand. The boy had little common sense. It was sad, too, he was five years younger than Andi and had more body than brains.
Her instinct told her to go, but the alpha in her stood firm. “Josh, go back to the main house. I have business to attend to.” She clenched her jaw and hissed. “You’re getting in my fucking way, and I’m losing patience quickly.”
He shook his head and continued stripping. The guys to either side of her moved closer. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed them fidgeting. Josh spoke again. “I think you need to be convinced into seeing that taking me for a mate won’t be such a bad thing.”
The lioness in her wanted to rip his fucking face off and lick his blood off her paws. She, on the other hand, wanted to ensure Cat’s safety. The only way to do that was to run and keep them away from the young one.
She saw an opening and took it, darting to her right when the guy moved to her left, closer to the one behind her. She wasn’t stupid. She couldn’t fight all of them like this. The lioness needed out. She could kill each one-on-one, but when faced with four men in a shot, she’d be overpowered. Any man would be.
SIX
She’d caught them off guard. Idiots. Only kids would assume she’d stand there and let Josh do whatever he wanted with her. The sound of a loud growl came from behind her. The lioness argued with her to stand and fight. That beast was going to get her killed.
Andi knew better than to listen to her now. Dashing through the trees, she moved closer to the road, trying to get them away from the cabin. She did a quick glance back. They were still hot on her tail and way too close to the cabin, which she could see just up ahead.
A loud growl sounded out of nowhere. Josh was close and coming at her fast. Branches cut at her arms. A new set of crunching leaves were followed by a growl sound from her right.
They’d spread out, trying to cage her in again. Lord save her from horny-ridden men-boys. The lioness urged her to shift, but she damn well loved her jeans and didn’t want to rip them to shreds. She’d just bought them!
Fucking hell! The lioness won. She got a burst of speed and let the bones crack, muscles tense, and skin turned to fur so flawlessly, she didn’t slow. Now she ran on all fours. A loud hiss escaped from her lioness. Pissed wasn’t even the word at this point. Andi wanted blood.
Someone tackled her to the ground. One of the men chasing her. She knew by his scent it was Josh.
“Relax and let it happen,” he said through their animal bond.
“Fuck you!” She wiggled underneath, her animal’s body shaking from anger. All her life, she’d been taught to stand up for herself and her people, and this asshole was not going to be the first to make her feel weaker because she was female.
As she struggled to get him off, she could hear the other lions talking through their animals.
“We’re not far off,” one guy said. “I want to get my hands on Cat.”
“Don’t worry, brother,” a different one said. “I’ll hold her down for you.”
“What about the old woman?” a third asked. “Do I just kill her and this way we all have our way with the kitten?”
Andi growled loudly, her lioness ready to kill all four men but most especially the one breathing over the back of her head, trying damn hard to bite down on the back of her neck to hold her still for mating.
His hind legs pushed at hers to spread her open for ease of entry. She continued to shake, not holding still long enough for him to be able to do more than lay on top of her.
“Stop this, Andi,” Josh said into her head. “Things will be easier once I’m in charge. You’ll get all the dick you need and a man that can lead for you. And baby, I know you need some cock. No woman is ever this uptight once I’ve fucked her a few times.”
That motherfucker! She doubled her efforts. The other three stared toward the cabin not far off. Oh how she wished she could find the strength to kill them all at that moment. Her lioness continued to fight, but she didn’t see herself going anywhere with Josh’s much larger body pinning her down.
“Get off,” she hissed at him.
“I plan to get off inside your tight pussy, sweet thing.” Josh laughed in her head. “You’ve been playing hard to get for far too long. I can’t wait to finally have you be mine.”
Her mind screamed for her to get up. Her body strained to the point of pain. She would rather die than let him beat her at being alpha. Even if it was because he used his larger body to dominate. That would only teach her that anyone could take control from her.
She shook her head from side to side and he slid just a little. The movement caused him to place a paw next to her head. Finally. A break. She opened her mouth wide and clamped down on his paw, locking her jaw shut. The disgusting sound of bones breaking became a balm to her angry soul.
He yanked, but she had his paw in her mouth and wasn’t letting go. Fuck you, dick face. This was what he got for trying to take a position rightly hers, in the worst possible way.
He howled in pain, but things only moved faster at that point. One of the other guys rushed up to try and paw at her face, hoping to get her to let go. He was going to have to shred her muzzle apart before she did that.
The other two came closer. She’d slackened her jaw to grab at a new place and break Josh’s paw into smaller bits when something rushed into the pile and shoved Josh off her. She was up fast, glancing around for the missile that hit them.
She didn’t see anyone, but two of the guys were gone. That left Josh and another. Josh was on the ground, licking at his paw and crying in pain. He might have a larger body, but when it came to fighting, he knew nothing about it.
The other lion came at her, his teeth bared and in full attack mode. She ran into the trees. He chased her down. Her animal was doing all kinds of crazy things and she didn’t know why. It ordered her to move and get this kid out of the way.
She was able to lose
him and find a spot to hide. Once he passed, she jumped, dug her claws into his back and bit down on his coat. He cried out and tried to shake her off, but Andi’s lioness was good at hunting and fighting. She dug her claws deeper and yanked, pulling ribbons of the lion’s hide with her razor sharp claws.
The lion gave a good shove and she fell off him. She watched as he took off, running away. She rushed back to the spot she’d left Josh, but he wasn’t there. Her immediate thoughts went to Cat. She darted through the trees toward the cabin.
God, if something happened to Cat or Belinda, she’d never let herself live it down. These people counted on her to protect them. She skidded to a stop when one of the other lions jumped from between the trees. He was bloodied and limping.
She knew she hadn’t done that. He didn’t even bother looking at her. He rushed forward as much as he could with his very broken hind leg. Then, she saw him.
What in the hell? A massive black wolf stood at the top of a rock not far ahead of her. He glanced at her and licked his bloodied muzzle. She didn’t have to ask to know that wasn’t his blood. This was what had knocked Josh off her and had given her a chance to fight. A wolf.
Her lioness did something she’d never done before, she went quiet. The move left Andi shifting from lioness to human and covered in blood. She was too angry to worry about the fact she was naked.
The wolf watched her for a long moment before he, too, shifted. Then he was this massive guy that could give Josh a run for his money in height and girth. Even at almost thirty feet away, she saw how good looking he was. Too bad he was on private land.
“What are you doing here?” she snapped, ignoring her lioness’s interest in the wolf. Nope. Not happening. That was one can of worms she wasn’t going to open.
“Saving your ass, it seems,” he said with a thick rumble. The fucker had a southern accent that went against living in Pennsylvania. Clearly, he wasn’t from around there, was he? Not that she cared or anything. He was trespassing.
“I had things under control,” she lied. She totally didn’t. If he hadn’t shown up, she would’ve had to fight all those guys on her own. That would’ve sucked balls.
He smirked, which on a mouth covered in blood should not have looked sexy, but it did. Obviously, she had bigger mental problems than she realized if she found a wolf shifter covered in her attacker’s blood something to swoon over.
“Sweetheart, you didn’t have shit under control.” He started walking toward her. No, not walking, prowling. Like the wolf was still the one making the moves. Fucking hell, why was she now getting turned on over this?
She stood her ground. Man, she wanted to cover herself so badly. Nakedness wasn’t a big deal in her pride. This guy? He made her feel like she was putting on a strip show.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” she murmured. Damn, the urge to cross her arms over her chest screamed, but she ignored it. Luckily her mass of long hair covered some of her naked chest. She tried not to think about anything lower or she’d turn all kind of colors. “What are you doing here anyway?”
He barked a low growly laugh that her stupid lioness found adorable. Bitch. “I was riding down and stopped to look at the sign up the street. My bike’s GPS was acting up so I had to look at my phone when I heard all the commotion.” His blue eyes glowed with his animal’s power. Goddamn that was sexy. No, no it wasn’t. He was a trespasser. A wolf. All wrong.
SEVEN
Kasen grinned at the beautiful curvy brunette with hazel eyes giving him the death glare. She should be glad he stopped to help, but instead, she tapped her shoe-less foot like he’d done something wrong.
“Well, as you can see, your help is no longer needed.” She pressed her full, luscious lips into a line and continued to frown at him. “You can go on your way now.”
“You have a real problem using the words thank you, don’t you?”
She raised a haughty brow. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I came down here, gave up my time, hell, I broke my clothes, got full of blood to save your ass and you can’t even acknowledge my help and say thank you.” He saw the shock in her eyes. People didn’t talk to her like that. This got better by the second.
“I didn’t need your help,” she bit out through ground teeth.
“The Nile is not just a river in Egypt.” He laughed.
She rolled her eyes and slapped her hands on her waist, making her gorgeous chest bounce. “Really? That’s the line you’re going with?”
“I’m still waiting, princess.”
“For?”
“My thank you.” He knew saying the words was only going to antagonize her, but damn, if he wasn’t having fun watching her blush from anger and being turned on.
“You’re going to need a chair so you can sit and wait. Or you’ll get tired standing that long,” she threw back, a glint of fire in her eyes. He could be wrong, but he thought she might be enjoying this as much as he was.
“You’re a very anti-social feline.”
She raised both brows and laughed. “Have you met many cats that are social?”
Dammit, she was right. Cats, from the house breed to the shifter kind, weren’t social. They didn’t do people, and quite frankly, he’d never spent much time around one.
“Whatever,” she said. “Get your clothes back on and leave.”
He needed a shower damn bad. The last thing he wanted was to make a bad impression on his future mate. Showing up at her house covered in blood would definitely do that.
“Thanks for the permission, princess, but I don’t think I want to slide into clean clothes with me covered in blood.”
Her cute lips formed into a pout. Kasen loved it when women pouted. Especially when they didn’t realize they were doing it. It was such an adorable, innocent look that made this clear alpha look like a kitten.
She bit her lip and glanced down his body. Heat flared in her gaze. Not that he needed to look into her eyes to know she wanted him. The scent coming off her was driving his animal insane. Just his fucking luck that the wolf would want something totally against his kind. A feline. Lioness at that. Too bad, boy. Gerri got him a mate and the sexy brunette with the hazel eyes wasn’t it.
“There’s a river back there,” she motioned with her head. The blood covering her didn’t take away from her beauty. Especially when it came to her body. The nipped in waist, the wide hips, and he didn’t focus on other areas for fear of looking like an aroused teen in front of her. Her face was pure angel. Wide eyes with a small straight nose, but it was her full lips and stubborn chin that made him want to grin.
Weren’t you looking for a challenge?
He could only hope his future mate was this interesting. He didn’t know what the fight was about, but to have this female stand strong against four males almost twice her size was unheard of.
“Are you joining me?” He wasn’t an alpha if he didn’t attempt to get his way at all times.
She shook her head and curled her hands at her sides. Nerves. Interesting. “I have work to do. I’ll clean up at home.”
“What about the four idiots from before?” He hoped she’d give him something about the story. Right now, he wanted to know more about her. What would drive a woman to assume she could fight four men?
Pride. That’s all he could think of. Well, and stupidity, but he didn’t see anything stupid about this beauty. What he saw was determination and leadership in the way she stood proud, even though he knew she wanted to toss on clothes.
“They won’t be bothering me. I’ll take care of them.”
“Maybe you should have your mate teach those boys a lesson,” he said, taking a step closer to her. Her scent under the blood called to him. His wolf rose at the whiff of her lioness.
She gave a slight grin and her face transformed from don’t fuck with me sexy, to seductively gorgeous. Fuck! This was so not what he needed.
“I don’t need a man to fight my battles. Perhaps your women are used
to that, wolf,” she said the word wolf with a touch of disdain, “but in my world, the cats rule.”
Ouch. Straight to the motherfucking heart. This woman knew just what to say to challenge his wolf. “It’s not all about having a man fight your battles, princess.” He came closer, only a few feet between them now. “Sometimes what you need is a reminder that someone’s got your back.”
She gave him a full blown smile that made his balls ache and his cock jerk. “Someone does have my back.” She met his gaze, her cat in her eyes for him to see. “Me.”
EIGHT
Andi shouldn’t be there. The longer she stayed around the wolf, the less she wanted to leave. She should be back at her pride, sending her guards to kick Josh and his friends in the balls. Possibly stop them from ever procreating.
Her lioness wanted to kill each of them herself, but at that moment, the stupid cat only wanted to watch the wolf. Ah, the wolf. Every time the man moved, his muscles flexed, his abs contracted and all she could think of was licking him. No! Bad, bad cat.
“Are you planning on showing me where this river is, or should I just stand here and stare at you all afternoon?” His smart assery was coming through loud and clear.
“Fine,” she grumbled with annoyance. Not at him either, her anger was fully directed at her very hyper cat and the happiness she was sending through their link. The bitch was happy to spend more time with the wolf. “I just need to check on something.”
Might as well make sure Cat and Belinda were fine. The last thing she needed was for one of those fuckers to return and do something while she’d been distracted with the wolf. Plus, there was a shed next to the cabin filled with clothes for anyone who happened to need them.
Shifters could lose clothes at any point, so everyone kept a visible stash. It helped since teenagers would shift uncontrollably the first few times. Learning to teach the animal who was in charge wasn’t always a quick and easy task.