by Stormy Glenn
Jackie yanked open the back door and ran right into a large, very firm muscular chest.
Nope, his bad luck was still with him.
“Let me go!” he shouted when Boone grabbed him.
“Jackie, stop.”
Jackie refused to stop. He dropped his stuff so he could claw at the arms holding him prisoner. Ice spread through his stomach as he struggled. A nauseating, sinking despair wrapped around him when Boone’s arms simply tightened.
“Please,” he begged.
“Jackie,” Boone said in a voice much softer than Jackie expected, “I’m not going to hurt you.”
Jackie gave a choked, desperate laugh. “You’re a shifter.”
“Yes, I am,” Boone agreed, “and I won’t hurt you.”
Jackie was furious at his vulnerability to Boone. Just being held against the bigger man made him want to curl up and purr.
“I don’t believe you,” he spat out contemptuously.
Something sad flashed through Boone’s brown eyes. “I know, but it’s the truth. No matter how you feel, you are my mate. I’m incapable of hurting you.”
“Then let me go.”
Jackie’s eyes widened when he was suddenly freed. He took a quick step back out of arm’s reach. He doubted he could get away if Boone decided to go after him, but at least he wasn’t pressed up against the guy anymore.
He could breathe.
Barely.
“Why do you want to talk to me?” Jackie asked.
“Because you know about us.”
Jackie’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “So?”
“That kind of information is dangerous in the wrong hands.”
“I know that!” He was not an idiot.
“We need to know how much you know about us and who you’ve told.”
Jackie shook his head. “I haven’t told anyone. I was warned not to.”
Boone’s eyes darkened. “By who?”
“The council.”
Boone’s eyebrows rose swiftly. “You’ve spoken to the Feline Council?”
“Well, Elder Hamilton, but he said he was from the Feline Council.” Jackie’s face clouded with uneasiness. “Was he lying?”
“No, no. Elder Hamilton is one of the council members. In fact, my brother Simon is training under him.”
“Oh yeah, I remember him.” The brown-haired man had shadowed Elder Hamilton’s every step.
“You’ve met my brother?”
Jackie nodded.
“When?”
Jackie opened his mouth to answer, then remembered where he was and who he was talking to. Or at least, what Boone was. He snapped his mouth shut and shook his head. Meeting Simon and Elder Hamilton was during a time he’d rather not talk about, let alone think about.
“Jackie—”
“You need to go.” Before he shattered and threw himself at Boone. He was close, hanging on to his control by a thread.
The shifter just smelled so damn good.
“If you know about shifters, then you know about mates, what that means to us.” Boone’s words were spoken with a hint of anguish, but it was nothing compared to the pain on the man’s face. “How can you dismiss me so easily?”
Jackie swallowed hard, trying to manage a feeble answer. “I know shifters are dangerous. I know that they don’t care about who they hurt to get what they want. And I know that despite the laws your great Feline Council has set down, there is no punishment for shifters who break those laws.”
Boone stared for a moment, his gaze intense, searching. “Who hurt you, baby?”
Jackie gasped before spinning around and marching back through the house. He wasn’t about to share his nightmare with Boone, or any shifter.
He slid across the hardwood floor when he tried to stop quickly. His living room wasn’t vacant. The man who had introduced himself as Alpha Hugh Marshall sat on his sofa.
The man lifted one eyebrow as he looked at Jackie. “Are you ready to talk?”
“You need to leave. I didn’t invite you here.”
Hugh sighed. “Jackie, look, I’m not leaving until we talk, so you need to wrap your head around that.”
“I’ll call the council,” Jackie threatened.
Hugh chuckled. “Call them. I’ll wait.”
Well, hell.
Chapter Six
Boone trailed after Jackie, knowing his brother would stop the man’s flight for freedom. His heart ached at the pain he had seen in Jackie’s eyes and heard in his voice. Something horrible had happened to his mate, and shifters were responsible.
Boone wanted to kill them.
He just needed to find who they were first. With that thought in mind, he stepped into Jackie’s living room. He gave a quick nod to Hugh before returning his attention to Jackie. He wasn’t surprised the man was on the phone. He had heard him speaking with Hugh.
He was surprised by the tight-lipped expression that crossed Jackie’s face as he hung up and put his phone away. Apparently, the guy hadn’t liked what he heard.
“Elder Hamilton says I should tell you what happened because you’re the alpha in this area,” Jackie said as he rubbed his arms, “but I think it would be better if I just packed up and moved somewhere else.”
“No!” Boone didn’t realize he’d shouted the word until Jackie’s frightened gaze turned to him. He blew out a breath as he pushed a hand through his hair. “There’s no reason for you to move, Jackie. You’re safe here. I promise.”
An agonized expression crossed Jackie’s face. “You can’t promise that.”
“I can promise that!” Boone stomped across the room and drew Jackie into his arms. His voice lowered almost to a whisper. “I can promise that, baby.”
Jackie curled his hands into Boone’s shirt, holding on as if Boone were the only thing keeping him from fracturing. “You don’t know what they did, what they can do. You don’t understand how dangerous they are.”
“Who is they, Jackie?” Hugh asked.
Jackie’s voice was muffled in Boone’s shirt when he replied. “The men who took me.”
Boone didn’t mean to growl, but he couldn’t help it. He was a lion shifter after all, and someone had hurt his mate. It was either growl or roar, and he was pretty sure that would send Jackie screaming into the night.
Boone didn’t know if Jackie hadn’t heard it or was ignoring it, but the man just kept on talking.
“They took me right off the street. They grabbed me and tossed me into a van and knocked me out. When I woke up, I was in a cage along with some other guys.” A heart-wrenching sob shook Jackie’s body. “The things they did to us…”
Boone stroked his hand through Jackie’s silky hair, trying to give him comfort. “What did they do, baby?”
“They experimented on us, shot us up with drugs that turned us…turned us…” Jackie’s gray eyes were flooded with tears when he raised his head and looked up at Boone. “They turned us into shifters.”
“Holy fuck! SP7,” Hugh said as he jumped to his feet. “They gave you SP7, didn’t they?”
Jackie nodded. “That’s what Elder Hamilton called it.”
Boone didn’t know whether to shout for joy that his mate was a shifter or rage at the world for what had been done to him. Both options were a possibility.
“Have you shifted?” Hugh asked.
“No, not yet, but Elder Hamilton said it’s only a matter of time. The others…they’ve all shifted already.”
“Baby, you know what those men did to you was wrong, right?” Boone had to be sure Jackie understood that. “Even by shifter standards, it was wrong. We don’t do shit like that.”
“Our brother Tre and his mates, Dennis and Nyle, were the ones who helped free you and bring the others to justice.”
“But not all of them,” Jackie said as he turned to look at Boone. “I think that’s who’s after me.”
Boone frowned. “Who?”
“They called him Drummond. Elder Hamilton said he was human, but
…” Jackie shook his head. “I don’t know if that’s true.”
“It’s true, baby,” Boone assured the man. “Elder Hamilton wouldn’t lie to you.”
Jackie’s eyes clouded.
“Not all shifters are bad, Jackie,” Hugh said. “Most of us just want to live our lives in peace.”
“You liked Kye, didn’t you?”
Jackie blinked up at Boone.
“He’s a white Bengal tiger.”
“Kye?”
Boone chuckled. “He doesn’t seem like it, does he?”
“Bengal tigers are big. Kye is…” Jackie’s gaze shot to Hugh when the man laughed.
“Kye is perfect.” Hugh was all smile. “And don’t let him hear you saying he’s too small. That man rules our household.”
When Jackie looked to him for confirmation, Boone nodded. “He does. Kye has my brother and their mate, Neumus, by the short hairs, and everyone in the pride knows it.” Boone thought that would amuse Jackie, so he was confused when the man’s face paled. “Jackie?”
“There’s a pride here,” he whispered as if that was the worst thing in the world. “How did I not know that? Why did Elder Hamilton not tell me?”
Hugh frowned as if he hadn’t thought of that, but now it was at the front of his mind. “I don’t know, but why don’t we ask him.” He pulled out his phone and dialed, then put it on speaker.
“Elder Hamilton’s office.”
“Simon?” Hugh asked.
“Hey, Hugh.”
“I need to speak with Elder Hamilton.”
Simon’s warm chuckle came through the phone. “Yeah, he’s been expecting your call.”
A moment later, the elder’s voice was heard. “Alpha Marshall.”
“I’m here with Boone and Jackie Lee, and the three of us are kind of wondering why I wasn’t informed a new shifter had moved into my territory.”
“Ah, yes, well,” the elder replied. “It was a delicate situation, Alpha Marshall.”
“And I wasn’t informed why?”
“Jackie has a very justified fear of shifters. I was hoping he would eventually feel comfortable enough to be introduced to you, but until that time came, I promised to keep his secret. I wanted him somewhere where he could be looked after until he came to terms with his new life.”
“You mean watched,” Jackie snapped.
“No, I mean looked after. Until Drummond and whoever else was involved in that mess is caught, I wanted you to be somewhere safe. Potter’s Creek is safe.”
“Maybe not,” Boone said. “Someone has been messing with Jackie, paying a few of the neighborhood teens to vandalize his home and shop.”
“What?” Elder Hamilton shouted.
Jackie was shocked by the vehemence in the man’s voice. When he looked over at Hugh, Jackie could tell he was shocked, as well. He was staring down at his phone as if he expected it to suddenly do tricks.
“Jackie thinks it’s Drummond.”
“Damn it. Okay, I’ll send a car for you, Jackie. We’ll find somewhere safe for you.”
“I thought you said I was safe here,” Jackie said.
Boone cupped Jackie’s face in his hands and tilted it back until their eyes met, his determined, Jackie’s filled with fear. “You are safe here, baby. I told you that. I will keep you safe. My entire pride will.”
Jackie frowned, seeming truly confused. “Why?”
“Because you’re my mate.” Boone took a deep breath and tried to relax. “Mates are very important to shifters, Jackie.”
“They are everything,” Hugh added.
Boone shot his brother a smile before looking back at Jackie. “My brother is right. Mates are everything. Now that I’ve claimed you, my pride will protect you. You’re one of us.”
Jackie opened his mouth. Boone quickly held up his hand. “Even if you had been human, you would still be one of us because you are my mate.”
Jackie’s frown deepened, the lines around his eyes seeming more prominent. “Why? Everything I’ve heard about mates makes them sound like arranged marriages and servitude from the lesser shifter to the stronger one.”
Boone glared at his brother when the man burst out laughing.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” the man said as he held up a hand. “But can you see Kye or Neumus being subservient to anyone? Or Benji? Kody?”
He had a point.
Hugh still seemed to have trouble getting himself under control as he continued. “I don’t know where you got your information, Jackie, but it’s wrong. We adore our mates. We love them and protect them, cherish them, until our dying day. We don’t subjugate them.”
Boone was intrigued when Jackie’s face flushed as he mumbled something. “What was that, Jackie?”
Jackie huffed. “I researched it on the Internet…after…we…um…”
“I’m not sure where you searched,” Elder Hamilton said, “but I would be interested in seeing it for myself. If there is information about shifters out there, we need to know about it.”
“It’s probably still in my Internet history,” Jackie said. “I can make you a list and e-mail it to you.”
“Please do.”
“Why would you want to see it if it’s wrong?”
“Because I need to see how close to the truth it really is,” the elder replied. “Someone may simply be guessing, or someone could be spilling secrets they have no right to spill.”
Boone wanted to shout with joy when Jackie swallowed tightly and leaned a little closer. He wrapped an arm loosely around the man’s shoulders, pulling him gently into the curve of his body. He wasn’t sure how much Jackie would allow, but he was going to press his advantage while he could.
“I’ll get that list to you, sir,” Jackie said. “There was a lot of stuff there that was pretty wild, but some of it made sense, you know?”
“I would suggest you talk with Boone and Hugh about any questions you might have. They’re good men, Jackie. That’s why I placed you in Potter’s Creek.”
“Yes, sir.”
Boone leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of Jackie’s head. “Whatever you want to know, baby, just ask.”
Jackie’s smile wobbled, but it was there, and that was something. Boone knew he had to take things slow, but it was hard. Just holding Jackie in his arms made him want to roar.
“Why doesn’t Jackie have a scent?”
“Excuse me?” Elder Hamilton asked. “He doesn’t have a scent?”
Even Hugh gave him a strange look. Boone could understand where both men were coming from. Alphas couldn’t scent their mates until they claimed them. That was how they knew who their mates were.
Boone was an alpha, but he was a minor alpha, if there was such a thing. He had no desire to lead his own pride. He was perfectly happy being the beta for his brother and the Potter’s Creek Pride. He didn’t feel the urge to lead.
“No,” Boone replied, “he has a scent. He just smells human. I can’t scent his animal on him.”
“Oh, well, we don’t have anything concrete to go on. As you know, this is something that has never happened before, but we believe that it was part of whatever was done to him. The others all started smelling like shifter after they shifted for the first time.”
“Do I smell bad?” Jackie asked.
“No, baby, you smell like heaven to me.” Boone was being totally truthful. If Jackie’s scent never changed, Boone would be pretty happy. The guy smelled like the best ambrosia he’d ever scented. “Like dark chocolate and hot chili peppers.”
One of Jackie’s perfect eyebrows rose. “Dark chocolate and hot chili peppers?”
Boone grinned when he nodded. “Decadent and spicy.”
Jackie’s lips twisted as if he was trying not to laugh.
Boone liked that look on his mate. “I love the way you smell.”
“What if it changes?”
“I imagine I’ll still love it, Jackie, maybe even more. Fate doesn’t make mistakes.”
J
ackie lifted both eyebrows. “Fate?” he asked. “You think this was fate?”
“The goddess Bastet protects us, and she only favors those with true hearts.”
“You really believe that?”
“How could I believe anything else?” Boone asked. “You’re standing right in front of me.”
“Huh?”
“Bastet is the goddess of cats, Jackie. She is the deity of protection, joy, dance, music, family, and love,” Hugh said. “She guides us and protects us. She rewards those who are true to her laws and punishes those who are not.”
“Do they have to be shifters to be punished?” Jackie asked.
It was a fair question under the circumstances.
“They have to be shifters or be part of a pride, Jackie,” Elder Hamilton said. “It’s unlawful for us to pass judgment on those who are not of our world.”
Jackie’s expression darkened with an unreadable emotion. “So, Drummond is never going to be punished for what he did to me?”
“He will be punished, Jackie,” the elder said. “Drummond became part of our world when he began kidnapping humans and experimenting on them. He will face shifter justice.”
Jackie slumped against Boone as if those words took away his ability to continue standing. Boone tightened his arms, keeping Jackie pressed close to his chest.
“Deep breaths, baby. Inhaling the scent of your mate calms you.”
Boone didn’t know if Jackie believed him or not, but the man started drawing in deep breaths of air. He noticed the tension slowly leaving Jackie’s shoulders and then the rest of his body.
“Wow,” Jackie said in a low voice as he leaned back. “I guess that really does work.”
Boone smiled. “It does.”
Mates always found comfort with each other. Boone just hoped Jackie would allow him to continue to provide that comfort and not freak out on him. There was a fragile peace between them at the moment. It remained in Jackie’s hands where they went from here.
“So, are there any questions I can answer for you?”
Jackie’s face flushed as he swallowed. “Why am I feeling so hot and achy? Is that because of what Drummond and the others did to me? Is that a shifter thing? What? I’ve felt like I was going to climb out of my skin for days.”