by Stormy Glenn
Still, even drenched in blood and fear, my mate was the sweetest-smelling thing I had ever encountered. I couldn’t wait to discover what he smelled like when he wasn’t terrified.
I doubted that would happen until he felt safe, and right now, he didn’t. He had good reason not to feel safe. We were both being held captive by humans intent on using our shifting abilities to line their pockets. If we didn’t escape soon, I wasn’t sure how much longer my mate would make it. His desperation was almost tangible.
His fear was even worse.
I had to do something about that, and the only answer was to get us out of this hell we were in. I just had to figure out how to do that.
I lifted my mate just a little higher, tightening my arms around him. I would die before I let the guards get him again. I didn’t know exactly what they had done to my mate, but I could guess. They needed to die for that alone.
I curled my hands so I wouldn’t hurt my mate when my anger forced my claws out. My poor, sweet little mate. Did they know he was an omega when they took him? Did they understand how much they were hurting him?
Did they care?
I stiffened when I heard movement at the end of the tunnel. I hadn’t gone all the way back to my cell because I knew they would shoot me with their drugged darts. I was afraid of what might happen to my mate if I went into a rage. The mate pull was strong, but was it strong enough to save him if I was out of my mind and running on pure adrenaline?
When the noise faded away, I relaxed and went back to watching my mate.
He was staring back.
“Do you know who I am?” I asked.
The man nodded.
“You’re a lion?”
He nodded again.
“I’m a panther.”
“I know,” he whispered. “I can smell it.”
I lifted an eyebrow.
The omega’s face flushed and he dropped his gaze. I reached over and lifted his face until he looked at me once again.
“You never need to look away from me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” This was harder than I thought it would be. Considering how big I was, I had always assumed my mate would be smaller than me, but I never expected to have to deal with an omega. I went to brush the hair back from his face again, but stilled when he jerked back. “I won’t harm you.”
He didn’t look as if he believed me.
“My name is Samson.”
“Henry.”
I felt a smile tug at my lips. “Henry.” There was still wariness in Henry’s eyes, but it was fading with each passing second. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Henry. I’ve waited a very long time.”
I moved slowly when I lifted my hand this time. I wanted to give Henry plenty of opportunity to move away if that’s what he needed to do. I considered it a win when he didn’t pull away. He just watched me until my hand brushed his cheek, and then his eyes snapped to mine.
The fear was back.
“Remember, I will never hurt you.”
Henry continued to watch me with wary eyes as I brushed my hand over his cheek, down his throat to the juncture where his neck and shoulder met.
“I bit you already, but I’ll be doing it again.” I glanced over to meet his eyes. “You should already be feeling the mating pull.”
I was surprised when Henry’s eyes widened. “What?” I asked.
“Omegas don’t get mates.”
I chuckled until I realized he was serious. “Who told you that, Henry? It’s not true. Every shifter gets a mate.”
He should know that.
“Omegas don’t.” Henry sounded so sure.
“If omegas don’t get mates, then why do we both feel the mate pull?”
Henry’s eyebrows drew together. “I don’t know.”
“I do.” I leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of Henry’s head. I didn’t miss the slight inhale that came from him, but chose to ignore it. “And I can promise you, omegas get mates just like every other shifter.”
When I lifted my head and looked down at Henry, the man had tears in his eyes. I quickly sniffed the air to see if he was afraid. He didn’t seem to be, but…
“What’s wrong, Henry?” I asked in a soft voice, almost a whisper.
I needed to remember to be gentle with Henry. He had been horribly abused. The bruises on his skin attested to that. I couldn’t go all beast on him. It would make my mate scared of me, and that was the last thing I wanted.
“The guards”—Henry swallowed hard—“they beat me pretty badly. I don’t think I can go another round with them.”
I clenched my jaw for a moment. “I know, Henry.”
Henry’s brown eyes snapped to me. “You know? But how did you…you smelled them on me.”
“I did, and I will kill them for what they did to you. I’m just glad you were strong enough to survive the beatings. I am blessed to have found you.”
“You know I can smell a lie, right?”
I lifted my eyebrow again. “Am I lying?”
“No, but…” Henry’s frown deepened.
“I have this friend. We used to just be coworkers, but recently we became part of a pride and we developed a friendship. He was out on an assignment when he accidentally shot his mate. Granted, he didn’t know the guy was his mate at the time, but he still put a bullet in his spine. Now, Sinclair is in a wheelchair, and will be for the rest of his life.”
“How could he shoot him?”
“It was an accident, Henry. Sinclair got in the way of a bullet meant for someone else. Stone had already fired the shot. There was nothing he could do. He spent the next five years denying himself his mate because he felt guilty.”
“Oh.”
“Not to worry.” I smiled at the sadness I could see on Henry’s face. “They’re together now and very happy.”
“Does it hurt him?”
I chuckled as I pictured how pissed Sinclair got when he crashed his wheelchair. “Only when he falls out of his chair or runs into something.”
“You shouldn’t laugh.”
I laughed even harder as I hugged Henry to my chest. He made my heart feel lighter. “I’m not laughing at Sinclair being hurt, Henry. I was just picturing how pissed he gets when he crashes his chair.”
I saw the first sign of Henry’s backbone when he said, “It’s still not nice to laugh.”
I couldn’t have been more thrilled with his disagreement. Not so much the words, but that he felt safe enough to voice them. It might have been just a small bit of progress, but it was still progress. I wanted Henry to feel comfortable enough with me to argue, to rant and rave, to do anything he wanted to do.
“I have another friend who was sent out to eliminate his mate. Once he realized that his mark was his mate, he moved heaven and earth to save him. We all did.”
“Are all of your friends…uh…”
“Killers?”
Henry gulped.
“We’re panthers, baby. That’s what we do.”
“Is that why you’re here?”
“No.” I flared my nostrils to keep from growling. “I was kidnapped and forced to fight.”
“I was kidnapped, too, but they never forced me to fight before tonight. They ran out of opponents. You killed them all.”
I gripped the end of Henry’s chin and lifted his face until our eyes met. “I didn’t want to kill those men, Henry. It was something I was forced to do. Before each fight, they shoot me full of drugs that send me into a rage. The drugs cloud my mind until all I can think about is killing.”
“You didn’t kill me,” Henry insisted.
“I was going to until I tasted your blood and realized who you were to me.”
When Henry’s face paled, I pulled the man back to my chest and tucked his head under my chin. “Remember what I said, Henry. I won’t hurt you. I might have wanted to kill you when I was under the influence of the drugs, but I still stopped when I tasted your blood.”
“But what, Henry?”
“What if you can’t stop next time?”
I sighed and leaned back so I could see Henry’s face. “Even if you don’t think omegas have mates, you know there’s only one way to deepen our bond.”
Where his face had been pale mere moments ago, now it blazed red.
I had to smile.
My mate was cute as fuck.
He was also scared. There was a slight hint of fear in the air. Not a lot, but enough that I knew I needed to reassure Henry.
“I want you to remember that the gods made us for each other. No matter what happens, we belong to each other.” The little sob that came from the man tucked to my chest just about killed me. “You’ll always be mine, Henry, and I’ll kill anyone who tries to take you from me.”
Tears glittered on Henry’s eyelashes when he leaned his head back and looked up at me. I hated to see him cry. It gutted me. But the tears made his big brown eyes seem luminous.
“Do you mean that?”
“I do, Henry. You’ll find I very rarely say things I don’t mean. And I’ll never lie to you, not even to make you happy.”
Henry’s mouth trembled with the smile that spread across it. I brushed my finger over those plush lips, imagining them wrapped around my cock. I smirked when Henry’s face flushed even more. He obviously knew what I had been thinking. More than likely, he smelled my arousal.
“Mates are supposed to be attracted to each other, Henry.”
“I know, I just…”
“You just what?”
“You smell really good. I don’t know if it’s the mate thing or because you’re…well…you’re…”
“I’m aroused.”
“Yeah, that.”
“Henry, you’re my mate. I’m supposed to be aroused by you. In fact, now that I’ve claimed you, I won’t ever want anyone else. You’re it, for the rest of our lives.”
Henry stared for the longest moment before whispering, “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.” I smiled. “I think you’re perfect.”
Henry’s eyes rounded. “And I think you’re insane.”
Chapter Four
Henry
Samson was certifiable. There was no other way around it. He was off his freaking rocker. Maybe all the drugs they’d been giving him had fried his brain.
“How long have you been down here?”
Samson’s dark eyebrows knitted together. “Just a few weeks, I think. Sometimes I can’t remember exactly how long it’s been. I think the drugs mess with my head.”
We needed to get out of there before the drugs made Samson lose what was left of his humanity. I was pretty sure no one would be safe if he lost his mind, not even me, and as big as Samson was, it would be a massacre.
“How are we going to get out of here?”
“I haven’t figured that part out yet, baby, but I’m working on it.”
I really wished he’d work faster, but I wasn’t brave enough to say so. I still wasn’t all that sure of Samson. The guy seemed nice enough, but I’d trusted “nice” before and lived to regret it. It was how I ended up in this situation in the first place.
“There’s this guy in my pack, Gene. He’s in training to be a beta, but I think he wants to be alpha someday. He was nice to me, and a lot of people aren’t because I’m an omega. I thought he was a friend.”
“What happened?”
“One night, Gene said he wanted to go out for a while. He invited me to go along. Because he was in beta training, he wasn’t allowed to leave pack grounds, so he had to sneak out. He warned me not to tell anyone, and now I know why.”
Samson growled. “Why?”
“Instead of taking me to a bar for a few drinks, he drove me to a warehouse where the guards were waiting for me. I don’t know if he sold me or just gave me to them, but he was smiling as they took me away.”
“I’ll kill him for you, Henry.”
My eyes widened as I tilted my head back to stare up at Samson. “You’re kind of bloodthirsty, aren’t you?”
The man just chuckled at me. I was glad Samson didn’t take offense to what I said.
“I’m a shifter, Henry. We tend to be rather violent in nature. I’m also a panther. That means I have an extra dose of aggression in me. And if that isn’t enough, this man caused harm to come to my mate. Three out of three, mate. He dies.”
After hearing what Samson said, I knew the guy was fucked.
“We have to get out of here before you can do anything.”
“We will,” Samson assured me.
Except, I wasn’t assured.
“How?” I asked. “I’ve been here for weeks. I’d have escaped by now if I could figure out how to do it.”
I thought that was pretty obvious.
“I don’t know yet. I haven’t been here as long as you, and I also haven’t been allowed out of my cell, so I don’t even know the layout of the place.”
I sat up. “I have.”
Samson’s eyebrows lifted. “You have what?”
“Been allowed out of my cell. I’m let out every two days. I clean the cells.”
Samson stiffened. “They make you go into the cells with the other fighters?”
“No, no. I clean the cells when everyone is fighting.”
Just as fast as his eyebrows had lifted, they snapped together as he frowned. “Then how did you end up in the pit?”
“I told you. They ran out of fighters.” I shrugged. “I guess they had some VIPs here tonight, and the boss man wanted to put on a good show for them. He told the guards that either they came up with three fighters or they were going into the pit with you.”
The slow, wicked smile that slid across Samson’s face told me how much he would have enjoyed that. I wondered if he realized he still had a chance. It wasn’t as if the gates were going to magically open for us.
Damn.
The gate at the end of the corridor made a grating noise as it lifted.
Not good.
“They’re coming for us, Henry. They’re going to take us,” Samson said as he slowly stood, then set me onto my feet. “Don’t fight them. I don’t want you hurt.”
“But…”
How could I not fight? They were going to separate us for sure. While I still wasn’t sure I believed omegas had mates, I didn’t want to be separated from Samson. He was the first good thing I had seen in pretty much forever.
I shivered when Samson started to growl. It wasn’t one of those good, happy growls. This one meant someone was going to die.
I hoped it wasn’t me.
When a shadow filled the low light shining down the corridor from the pit, Samson stepped in front of me. I grabbed onto the man and leaned my head forward to rest between Samson’s shoulder blades.
“Please be careful.” If what Samson said was true, he belonged to me. I didn’t want to lose him now.
“When the fighting starts, stay back.”
“Samson,” I whispered as my stomach started to knot.
“I’ll be okay, Henry.”
He said it as though he meant it, but I had my doubts. The guards had guns. They might not shoot real bullets, but those stupid darts still hurt, and they were full of drugs. The guards also weren’t stupid enough to come without backup. I could see three shadows at the end of the tunnel. I didn’t know if there were more than that, but I wouldn’t doubt it.
These guys were mean, sadistic, and brutal.
I had firsthand knowledge of that fact.
One of the guards stepped forward and shot Samson in the chest with a dart. I felt him jerk as he grunted. When the muscles on his back bunched, I knew the drugs were shooting through his system and he was desperately trying to remain in control.
I prayed he wouldn’t kill me when he lost it.
Samson’s v
ivid blue eyes were as cold as ice when he turned to look at me. “Run.”
I didn’t question the command. I just ran toward the other end of the tunnel. I was a little surprised to find the gate to the cell up. It should have been closed. I hurried inside the small enclosure and looked around for a place to hide.
There really wasn’t one.
But there was a metal bucket in the corner. It was about half-full of water. I didn’t know whether Samson was supposed to drink it or bathe with it. Both ideas made me shudder.
Man, we so needed to get out of here, even if it was just so we could feel like regular people again. I would have thought so we could feel human again, but…well…we weren’t human. We were shifters.
And maybe, for the first time in a very long time, I saw that as a plus. I ran over and grabbed the bucket. Trying not to spill a drop of the water, I hurried back down the tunnel.
The fight had moved back into the pit. At least one guard hadn’t made it past the gate. I stepped over his mutilated body and out into the open arena.
Crap.
More guards.
I counted at least five guards surrounding Samson. The snarl on his face gave me hope. He was pissed and he was taking it out on the guards. None of them could get within a foot of him without feeling his rage.
I stood back for a moment, watching Samson in action. He was truly fierce. He stood taller than the humans by several inches. His partially shifted features—the angular jaw and sharp cheekbones—made him seem more vicious.
To me, he looked beautiful.
When two of the guards tried to advance on Samson, he swung out with both arms, knocking them together. They fell to the floor, unmoving. One of the other guards raised his gun and shot Samson with another dart.
I had to wonder if they truly knew what they were doing. Samson was a panther shifter. He was a killing machine. By shooting him full of adrenaline, they were creating a killing machine that wouldn’t stop until they were all dead.
I hoped I wasn’t included in that little group.
When the guard directly in front of me reached into his back pocket and pulled out a smaller pistol, I knew this one wasn’t filled with darts.
I could smell the gunpowder.
I tossed the water on the man, drenching him. As he shouted and turned, I swung the metal bucket and smacked him in the head with it. I wasn’t a panther shifter like Samson, but I still felt a bit of satisfaction when blood flew from the man’s mouth as his head snapped around.