by Tamsin Baker
Maggie cried out as Lacey felt her body loosen and begin to fall. The world turned on its axis, and she heard a tortured animalistic whine as everything went pitch black.
****
Panicked, Dylan shifted back to human and clothed himself in a pair of jeans as he dove to catch his mate. His knees hit the rough timber of the deck hard, but he ignored the sharp jarring pain that ran up his thighs as Lacey limply landed in his lap. Phew. He’d got to her in time. Not wasting a moment, he brushed the dark strands of hair away from her pale face and neck so he could find her pulse point. Pressing two fingers against her throat, he held his breath until he felt what he was searching for, the steady beating of her heart. His shoulders sagged with relief.
“She’s alive, Ryan, she’s alive.”
“Thank fuck for that!”
Squeezing his eyes closed he cradled her against his chest for a moment. He sensed Ryan kneeling before him. Without a word he knew his brother needed to reassure himself that she was okay, that she’d merely fainted. Dylan pressed a kiss to Lacey’s clammy forehead before he gently handed her over to his twin. The moment she was safe in his brother’s embrace he whirled around on a growl.
“Max, you had no right! Lacey is our mate, not yours. It was our decision on when we would tell her our truth!”
He took a menacing step toward his arrogant brother, who, like all of his siblings, was now in human form. He would pay, in flesh, for harming his mate…
“Dylan! Stop!”
His father’s booming voice cut through the night air like a whip, and a primal instinct took over Dylan’s body and rendered him motionless. That was the voice of his Alpha. It was a tone that no cheetah in their coalition could disobey and one his father very rarely used.
“Max was impulsive with his decision to speak and act as he did tonight, and he will receive punishment. But that punishment will not be by your hand, son. I will not stand for my children fighting with such violence as you intended to inflict on your brother, Dylan. You and Ryan shifted along with all of your brothers. None of you are blameless. Go with Ryan and take your mate home and care for her, knowing that I will handle Max. Neither you nor Ryan will seek any further justice in regard to the matter.”
Dylan whined a little, but he bowed slightly to his father. His blood still boiled and needed an outlet, but he would not go against his father’s orders. Especially since his father was right. He or Ryan could have stood up to Max before they all shifted. Dammit, he was so used to following his older siblings’ lead. But none of them were mated. He and Ryan were the first to find their mate, so they were all in completely uncharted territory. This was going to be up to him and Ryan to work out. He needed to remember that and not allow his brothers to put stupid ideas in his head. He moved to follow Ryan down the steps to their car where he opened the door for Ryan to climb in with their mate, his heart still racing and his throat dry.
He closed his twin and their mate safely in before moving around the front of the car to the driver’s door. Just before he opened it he took a deep breath, paused and looked up to the house. His fury had dampened a little, and he was grateful his father had stepped in. He didn’t want to hurt any of his family. He loved each one of them. He could see now he hadn’t really been mad at Max, but the situation. He would have never forgiven himself if he’d permanently maimed any of his brothers like he’d intended to do to Max. With a heavy sigh he opened the door but froze as he heard his father’s voice echoing out from the house.
“Max, you will spend a full ten days in cheetah form in the feeding yard at the zoo. That should give you ample time to think, and next time you want to come between a cheetah and his mate, you will think twice before you do it. You should have at least discussed revealing our truth to Lacey with the twins before you went ahead and did it.”
A shudder ran through Dylan as he slid into the car and drove toward their home. That was harsh. The feeding yard was what they called the smaller enclosure at the zoo where they kept a pair of cheetahs that were feed twice daily near a platform people could come and watch from. Normally, the shifters never went in there. There wasn’t room to run at full speed and having people oohing and ahhing over them while they ate was downright degrading. Maybe he should have just knocked Max out. It would have been kinder to him. Dylan grinned as he guessed his brother was probably wishing for the same thing about now. He eyed his twin and their mate.
“How’s she doing?”
“Hasn’t stirred yet, but her breathing has evened out and her skin isn’t cold anymore.”
That was good. Dylan let the comfortable silence linger as he drove. In a matter of minutes, Dylan pulled up in front of their house and moved around to open the way for Ryan. Dylan took her from his twin and couldn’t believe how right she felt in his arms. Together, they guided her inside and before long they had Lacey settled on Ryan’s bed.
Dylan stepped away and let his brother take over, standing in the door way with his arms folded over his chest as Ryan gently removed her shoes. He sucked at this stuff.
“What do we do now, Ry?”
Ryan shrugged as he moved to stand next to him.
“Guess we just have to wait for her to wake up. She got one hell of a shock and passed out. Thankfully, you caught her before she could hurt herself, so hopefully she’ll wake up soon.”
He nodded at his brother and sent up a prayer of thanks to his father, grateful for the inherited ability for fast shifting he’d been born with.
“Okay. And what the hell do we do with her when she wakes up?”
Ryan rubbed the bridge of his nose. “We need to work out a way to keep her here with us. I was hoping we could make at least a little headway with her before we told her about our truth, but I think we’ve blown that.”
Dylan growled as his anger rose again.
“If she runs from us and refuses to see us ever again … I’m going to make Max’s life hell. Regardless of what Dad said.”
Ryan sighed. “You don’t mean that, and you know it. We’re as much to blame as Max. We didn’t have to blindly follow his lead to shift in front of her. How about you go for a run back to the house and bring her car down here?”
He eyed off his sleeping mate, heat stirring in his groin at how beautiful she was lying on the dark blue comforter Ryan kept on his bed. Lacey showed no sign of stirring yet, so he supposed he did have time to do what Ryan had suggested.
“Go on, I won’t leave her side, and if she wakes up to find you in this mood, it’s not going to help our cause.”
With a snarl Dylan tilted his head until his neck cracked. Stress set off his fight or flight mechanism every time, and man, was he in the mood for a fight. His twin had a point.
“Okay, okay. I’ll go.”
He forced himself from the room then the house. It was hard. His instincts demanded he stay close to his mate, but Ryan was right. He needed to cool off, and Lacey would want her car and belongings close by. Had she brought her handbag into the house with her before dinner? He hoped not. He really didn’t want to have to risk running into anyone tonight. They’d want to talk, but with the mood he was in, he’d be more likely to rip their head off. He valued his family too much to risk that happening.
Standing in front of their home he took a deep breath and looked up at the half moon in the clear country sky. He closed his eyes and called on his magic to strip his clothes and transform him to his feline form.
The moment his four feet hit the ground, he took off at a sprint up to the main house. There was nothing faster than a cheetah going flat out, and he made the distance in no time. He circled her car twice before finally stopping and shifting back to human, his muscles quivering from the run but a delicious feeling of adrenaline pumping through him settled his anger down to a manageable level. He glanced into the car and saw her bag on the driver’s seat. As he opened the door he smelled his mother’s scent and knew she’d placed Lacey’s things out here for them.
He sm
iled as he opened her bag to look for her keys. His mother seriously rocked. He fumbled around in her bag for a moment before guilt had him clenching his jaw. His mother had taught him better than to rifle through a woman’s handbag uninvited. Just as he palmed her key chain, the screen on her phone lit up with a text message. He pulled the phone out to check who it was. Afternoon had turned to evening, and Dylan wasn’t sure if Lacey lived with her parents or a friend who would be worried about her not having returned yet.
The caller ID flashed up “Dead Horse”, and he chuckled. He guessed it wasn’t her housemate or parents. Curiosity got the better of him. He was a cat after all, and he opened the message to see what this Dead Horse had to say.
Where r u? U should b home by now. U betta not b with a man. Ur mine.
A primal roar built up inside him, but he tamped it down as his mind spun with possibilities. Did Lacey have a boyfriend? They hadn’t asked her. Although, considering what she’d saved the guy’s name as in her phone book, he doubted they were involved. Maybe he was an ex that wasn’t moving on? A psycho, possessive one by the looks of that message.
His father’s voice filled his mind. “You’re flogging a dead horse, son.” They’d been trying to get the old tractor to go, but it had died for good. His dad had been right that it was a waste of Dylan’s time, but he’d enjoyed mucking around with it trying to get it to work.
He jumped in the car and gunned the engine before he raced back to his house. He needed to tell Ryan about this, and if it turned out Lacey had a stalker … well, they had some planning to do.
Chapter Six
Soft, evening light flitted in front of Lacey’s eyes as she began to wake up. She took a deep breath and stretched her achy arms above her head with a happy sigh. Then she frowned.
When did she fall asleep? She couldn’t remember even lying down…
Searching her mind for answers, she noticed how warm and safe she felt. It had been so long since she had felt anything other than gut-wrenching fear and loneliness. Mentally shrugging, she concluded it didn’t matter why. She was going to focus on enjoying the sensation for as long as it lasted instead of analyzing it.
“Hmmm.” She smiled as she hummed a little, relishing her newfound peace until she opened her eyes fully and they focused on a strange fan slowly turning above her. She’d never seen that modern, silver light-fan combo before. Panic froze her lungs for a moment as she turned her head from side to side, the swishing sound of her hair against the coverlet loud in her ears. Where the fuck was she?
She sat up so fast she almost winded herself, her heart pounding like a bass drum as she gripped handfuls of the coverlet to steady herself.
“Lacey, it’s okay. You’re safe.”
She gasped as she spun around to face one of the twins.
“Which one are you?” Her voice sounded shrill as she scrambled off the large bed, her eyes darting around the room and cataloguing more details as she pressed her spine against the cool wall. It was a large bedroom. Some photos and other trinkets lay scattered around on the tops of the furniture. The colors were masculine and the room neat. It had to be his room. Which one was he? She turned her focus back onto the dark haired man who stood way too close to her. He took a step back, holding his hands up to placate her.
“I’m Ryan. Dylan will be back any minute. He just went up to the main house to retrieve your car for you.”
Main house? So where was she now? Lacey took short, quick breaths, swallowing several times to wet her suddenly dry throat. She barely knew these guys. They could have done anything to her while she was asleep.
She glanced down and took note of her clothes. Her jeans were still on, buttoned and undamaged. Her blouse was unruffled, and she seemed to be untouched. She did a quick internal log of her body and found no pain or injury. What had happened? She begged her memory to get with the program and help her out.
“Ah, yes, of course. Sorry, Ryan.”
She had cause to feel alarmed, she knew, but the poor guy looked really hurt that she’d forgotten who he was. She hadn’t felt unsafe once with them, so why was she freaking out now?
Because I have a habit of attracting psychos!
She grimaced at the truth in her thoughts and focused back on the man in front of her. Gorgeous brown eyes, spiky dark hair. Which one had he said he was? Ryan, that was it. Now she’d calmed down, she could see it was him by his cool aura, the slightly rounder face.
He smiled gently, dropping his hands down and letting them fall to his sides.
“It’s okay. Some of the people who have known us since birth still mix Dylan and me up.”
Lacey took a few steps towards a framed photo of the twins, trying to focus on something normal. She smiled at the silly shot of the brothers out camping somewhere, before she moved back toward the bed, concentrating on slowing her breathing so she didn’t pass out again. Which considering her current situation was what had obviously happened, it was really the only logical conclusion.
“Ah, I know it’s you, Ryan. I was just a little freaked out for a bit when I woke.”
She continued pacing, the memory of huge cats coming back to haunt her. Had she dreamt that? She must have as that couldn’t have possibly been real.
“How did you know, Lacey?”
“Huh?” She glanced back at Ryan who was watching her from where he now sat on the edge of the bed. His warm calm aura reached out to her, soothing her frayed nerves. Damn, he really was a gorgeous man.
“How did you know it was me, not Dylan?”
She took a deep breath and let the air out slowly. “You feel different from Dylan, warmer, calmer, softer. Your face is different, too. Rounder, more serious. And the mole … you know.”
She shrugged as she flapped her hands, still feeling a little strange. Her belly was jumping, and her breath kept catching in her throat.
A door slammed, and she jumped on a gasp, her ribs tightening so it made it hard to breathe.
Ryan rose to his feet and made his way to the closed wooden door and opened it slowly.
“Take it easy, Lacey. It’s just Dylan.”
And like Ryan’s words had conjured him, he appeared in the doorway, the harsher face and aura as easy to see now as the mole on the left side of his face.
He turned towards her, his eyes burning with something intense, before he frowned in concern. “You’re awake at last. You feel all right?”
She nodded her head, tears swimming in her eyes at his question. Why did they seem to genuinely care about her? They’d only meet mere hours ago. What sort of trick was this?
She gulped and focused on keeping her voice at a normal pitch when she answered. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just wondering why on earth I remember seeing cheetahs at your parents’ place. Or did I dream that?”
The twins looked at each other with an intense focus, and Lacey wondered how it would feel to be stared at in such a way. She examined their faces more closely… Were they communicating silently with each other?
“Are you guys doing some special twin mind-meld thing?”
She’d heard stories about twins who could communicate telepathically and feel each other’s extreme emotions.
Dylan turned back to her, and his harsh frown melted into a broad grin and a cheeky glint formed in his eyes. Her traitorous belly turned into a bowl of goo in less than a heartbeat. Dylan was devastatingly handsome man.
“You got it in one, beautiful. Ryan and I can speak into each other’s minds.”
“Okay.” She shrugged and collapsed into a chair by the window, looking out as the last of the sun’s rays sank down over the horizon. It really was beautiful out here on their farm.
“Ah, Lacey?” It was Ryan, she could tell by the tone alone.
“Yes, Ryan?” she said without looking back at them.
There was a heavy silence for a moment. Then she felt his heat as he moved closer to her. His strong fingers under her chin forced her to turn her head to look at them.
/> “Do you remember us telling you about the cheetahs? About our family?”
Lacey frowned, lifting her face away from his touch as her mind dragging up the memory like it was a dusty old file being pulled out of an archive.
She cocked her head as her mind finally recalled what had happened earlier. A gasp escaped her throat as images flickered through her mind. Everything she’d learned came rushing back to her like a tidal wave, crashing over her and overwhelming her once again.
“Oh. My. Gosh.” She had to get away from here. Lacey pushed herself to her feet, and with her arms wrapped around her waist she began backing towards the door, never taking her eyes off the men in front of her. The cheetahs, they were men. Men who could turn into wild cats. Their brothers… them … oh shit!
“You. You’re…” She shook her head as she struggled to remember what they’d called themselves.
“Don’t be afraid of us, we’d never hurt you. We’re cheetah shifters, Lacey, and we have a lot to discuss.” Ryan spoke to her with his smooth voice that calmed her in a strange way—and confused the hell out of her. He made her want to stay and talk to them when she knew she should be running for the hills.
“About what?”
Ryan opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Lacey waited and watched as his eyes went wide and then he finally shut his mouth again. She was almost at the door, and the boys were still standing by the window.
Dylan groaned from his place beside Ryan, crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes with exaggerated impatience.
“About the fact that you’re our mate and we need you to stay.”
“Jeeze, Dylan. Just drop it like a bomb why don’t you? I was trying to figure out how to say it in a way that wouldn’t freak her out.”
“Brother, there was no way to do that, and you know it.”
Lacey’s jaw dropped open as she froze in place just by the door. As the twins continued to bicker with each other her brain repeated what Dylan had said and tried to find a way to make it make sense.