The Alpha's Taboo Mate (Blood Moon Lynx Book 1)

by Ravenna Tate

  “And,” said Uncle Chance, “that the Medinas have no right to commit what amounts to crimes and get away with them.”

  “You’re right.” Leah walked over to the group. “What they’re doing is illegal. I just got off the phone with Luke. He believes they’ve finally found what they were looking for. They’re on their way home, and they’re bringing Gillian with them.”

  “A human?” asked Cash.

  “Yes, but she knows about us. They told her because they had to.”

  “What did she say?” asked Fiera.

  “My mate said she wasn’t all that surprised.” Leah shrugged. “Apparently she’s known about our kind for some time now, and had suspected Luke and Canyon were shifters. She’s excited to meet all of us.”

  “Stone and Arizona will want to be here,” said Cash. “They’ve been looking after my house, so this concerns them, too.”

  “Would you like me to call them for you, Father?”

  When her father smiled, Fiera thought it was the sweetest sight she’d seen in a long time. “No. I’ll take care of it.”

  “I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have you back.” Fiera gave her father a tight hug.

  “Oh, sweetie. I never left.” She released the embrace, and he placed a hand on each side of her face. “I’m sorry I doubted your choice of Canyon as your mate. I was wrong.”

  “Don’t worry about that.”

  “No, you need to hear this. I fell apart when your mother passed away. I wasn’t there for you. I gave up. And because of that, Hawke almost got his claws into you. I ignored our family’s business, and I nearly ruined your life.”

  Before Fiera could respond, her father cut her off.

  “Canyon is your true mate. Anyone with eyes can see that. Can you ever forgive me for pushing you toward Hawke?”

  “There’s nothing to forgive. Everything is all right now. You’re feeling so much better, and Canyon and I are mated. Hawke is powerless to change that. This will all be sorted out soon.”

  As her heart nearly burst from joy, Fiera gave him another big hug. She couldn’t wait to tell this story to Canyon. He had saved both of them with his plan to take her to his family’s cabin. It was right he knew that.

  ****

  After Fiera helped Leah and her daughters make the house spotless, they prepared dinner. Leah told her that it wasn’t often they had a human as a guest. Arizona and Stone came over, and her uncles had stayed from earlier. Fiera hoped Gillian was ready for this.

  Gillian arrived dressed in a suit and wore heels. She even carried a briefcase. Luke and Canyon wore jeans and polo shirts to the office, even when they went to Seattle, unless they had a meeting with clients. Fiera wasn’t used to seeing people so dressed up, and as Gillian glanced around at the others, she must have realized how out of place she looked.

  “Don’t worry,” said Fiera, shaking her hand. “Five minutes in this house and you’ll feel right at home.”

  “Canyon said you were kind.” Gillian gave her a sweet smile and eyed her hair. “God, what I wouldn’t give for hair like yours.” Gillian patted her blonde curls. “This mess does what it wants, when it wants to.”

  “I think your hair is beautiful,” said Lissie. “It looks like sunshine.”

  “Well, thank you.” Gillian beamed.

  Fiera agreed with Lissie. Gillian’s entire aura exuded sunshine, with her big blue eyes and easy smile. After Fiera introduced her to everyone, Gillian asked if there was someplace she could freshen up. Fiera took her upstairs to one of the bathrooms away from the crowd. While Gillian was in there, Canyon came upstairs gave Fiera a very erotic kiss.

  “You had a good day, I take it?”

  “Can’t I kiss my mate without a reason?”

  “Oh, you can.” She rubbed her body against his. “You definitely can. But I’m just so excited you found what you were looking for! I can’t wait to hear all about it.”

  He hooked a thumb toward the bathroom door. “What do you think of Gillian?”

  “She’s so pretty. And so dressed up. Does she always look that way?”

  “She had a thing in court today. It’s because of her that we found what we did.”

  “Is that why you had to tell her about our true nature?”

  “She already had a suspicion, but yes. In order to enlist her help for something of this magnitude, she needed to understand the entire story behind why it was so important to us.”

  “I hope she isn’t overwhelmed by all of us.”

  Arizona appeared at the top of the landing, his eyes bright and a goofy grin on his face. “Where did Gillian go? Does she need any help?”

  As soon as Canyon and Fiera exchanged a glance, Canyon laughed loudly. “Oh, man. Didn’t you drool over her enough when Fiera introduced you? Guess we know where we’d better seat you at dinner.”

  “She’ll hear you.” Fiera cut her gaze toward the door. “I think Arizona is smitten.” Canyon’s goofy grin made Fiera laugh.

  Arizona’s face actually flushed, which only caused both to laugh again. He gave them each a disgusted look and bounded down the stairs. Canyon and Fiera were still laughing when Gillian emerged.

  “Should I even ask?” She gave them a cautious smile.

  “You won’t have to in a moment.” Canyon held out his arms, bent at the elbows. “Ladies, dinner awaits us.”

  As she watched Arizona fawn all over Gillian during dinner, Fiera couldn’t help smiling. He asked asking her questions about her life and work, and it reminded Fiera of the way Canyon had been when they’d first met. She glanced around the table, wondering if anyone besides her and Canyon were paying attention, and frowned when she caught the dark looks her uncles plus Cletus were giving the pair.

  The legend that told of the curse on their lynx packs described a mating between a female vampire and a male lynx shifter. The male betrayed the vampire by taking a human female as a lover. Fiera had heard this story, as had every shifter child, but she had never put much stock in it. For one thing, she had never heard of vampires except in stories, so she had serious doubt they had ever existed to begin with.

  The fear and superstition surrounding shifters mating with humans seemed more tied to their ways infiltrating life in the pack villages, as opposed to any belief that the vampires would return. It didn’t happen that often where a shifter mated with a human, but it certainly happened, and no vampires had come along.

  The Medinas were a prime example of what could go wrong when shifters and humans mated, but the reason they were so powerful and so hated had to do with their shady business dealings. Not because of the humanity of their ancestors.

  Fiera wondered whether her uncles and Cletus believed in the legend, and thus looked on Arizona’s flirtations with Gillian as a threat, or whether they didn’t want him and his family to end up like the Medinas. That was unlikely. Arizona belonged to one of the oldest shifter families in their village, and their fishing business had a solid reputation. Arizona mating with a human wouldn’t change who they were.

  Her father had never been one to put down a shifter and human mating, but her uncles’ reactions didn’t surprise her. They’d been vocal about the subject before. They were superstitious men and believed in the purity of shifter families, but they weren’t fanatical about it as some were.

  It was the venom in Cletus’s eyes that shocked her. Surely the rest of Canyon’s family didn’t feel that way, considering how welcoming they were to Gillian. With the exception of Cletus, that was. What was his story? Of all Leah’s children, Cletus was the one whom Fiera had the least interaction with this past week.

  Perhaps Cletus was upset over something else? Maybe he was worried about the implications of what the Medinas had done? They’d discussed everything Luke, Canyon, and Gillian had found during dinner, and Cletus had remained the quietest of the bunch. This could simply be his way of processing all that was happening.

  As Fiera helped Leah and her daughters clear the table after
dinner, she overheard Arizona express concern about Gillian leaving so late alone. Gillian had driven her car here, following Luke and Canyon.

  “What if Hawke or one of his family members is out there again, watching the house?”

  “We can’t live our lives in fear of Hawke,” said Canyon.

  Pride welled up inside Fiera at the tone of her mate’s voice. He wasn’t going to allow the Medinas to dictate any aspect of their day-to-day existence. She was so grateful to realize that. Just because Hawke hadn’t come around looking for Canyon again didn’t mean he and his family had let this go. Despite that, Canyon refused to live in fear.

  “Still,” said Arizona, “I think one of us should drive with her or at least follow her, just until she reaches the highway. Until we know she isn’t being watched.”

  When Fiera returned to the dining room to gather the remainder of the plates, she caught Canyon’s eye. He gave her a wink and a cute grin that sent shivers down her spine. “You’re right,” he said, cutting his gaze back to Arizona. “Why don’t you go with her, and Stone can follow? When you feel she’s safe, he can drive you back.”

  The way Arizona nodded reminded Fiera of those silly bobble-head dolls. Stone made a sound of disgust and rolled his eyes. Gillian and Arizona locked gazes, and Fiera’s jaw nearly dropped at the lust in Gillian’s eyes. She cut her gaze toward Canyon, who had spotted it as well. He raised his brows and shrugged.

  Once everyone had said their goodbyes to Gillian, she left with Arizona and Stone. As soon as the door closed, the others broke out in loud conversation until Luke held up his hands and begged them all not to speculate.

  “Let Arizona figure this out in his own way.”

  “Surely he doesn’t mean to make this human his mate,” said Cletus.

  “She has a name,” said Canyon. “It’s Gillian.”

  “What Arizona does is his business, not ours.” Luke narrowed his eyes.

  “Haven’t we had enough trouble from families who let humans into their fold?” Cletus gave them both hard stares.

  “When did you become so opposed to humans?” Canyon stepped closer to his brother until their faces were only inches apart.

  “I’m not opposed to them. But mating with them didn’t do the Medina family any good.”

  “The Medinas were assholes before they mated with humans. Arizona’s family is not.”

  “What’s really bothering you?” Luke placed a hand on Cletus’s shoulder.

  The hair on the back of Fiera’s neck prickled as Cletus shifted his gaze around the room. What wasn’t he telling them?

  “Tell us, son.”

  “Two days ago,” Cletus lowered his gaze to the floor, “Brock approached me in the woods when I was out hunting alone.”

  Brock Medina was Cletus’s age, and one of Hawke’s brothers.

  “And?” Luke’s voice held an edge that Fiera now recognized. He was trying to keep his anger in check.

  “And he said to tell Canyon and Fiera to get ready. He said his family was coming after them.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  So much anger rose up inside Canyon that he partially shifted. And as he did so, he was very grateful that Gillian had already left. Hearing two people who looked human tell you they were shape shifters, and seeing it happen in person, were two very different experiences.

  After reining in his impulses, he walked over to where Fiera stood and put an arm around her. “Don’t be afraid.”

  The look in her eyes was one he’d never seen before, and it made his heart race. “I’m not. I’m pissed off as hell. How dare he? How dare any of them? They brought this trouble down on their own heads. Why can’t they see that?”

  Her gaze cut toward his father. “I hope you, Canyon, and Gillian nail them to the wall. All of them. Report them to the SEC and anyone else that needs to know. Take it to the media. Enough of this crap! They’ve bullied and threatened nearly every family in this village.”

  “That’s exactly what we intend to do, my love. I promise you.” Canyon kissed her, tongue and all, not giving a shit that his entire family was watching. They were her family, too. And he wanted everyone to know how much he adored this woman.

  When Stone and Arizona returned, both men stayed long enough to let everyone know that Gillian had made it home safe and sound, without anyone following her. She’d already called Arizona to let him know she was all right.

  “You have her phone number?” asked Lissie, her eyes bright.

  “Yes.” Arizona ruffled her hair, which Lissie hated. She gave him a ferocious stare as she fixed her hair.

  “Stone and I are going to go home and get some sleep. It’s been a long day.”

  “He just wants to talk about Gillian without getting teased by all of you,” said Stone.

  “You’re a pain in the ass to live with, you know that?”

  “You can move back home anytime you want.”

  Fiera smiled up at Canyon. “Aren’t you glad you never moved in with these two?”

  Every fiber of his being wanted to fuck her. He settled for winking at her instead. “I am now.”

  “And that’s our cue,” said Stone. “Good night, everyone.”

  “We’ll walk out with you,” said Canyon, taking Fiera’s hand. As soon as they reached the porch, Fiera stiffened next to him. “What is it?” he asked in a soft voice.

  “Someone is out there.” Her voice had the same faraway quality as he’d heard described the day Hawke and his father showed up at the house.

  Arizona scanned the dark woods. He had the gift of being able to see in the dark like a cat, but much more enhanced than most of them could. The air felt charged, as though a storm were brewing, but there were no clouds overhead.

  Within seconds, Arizona tapped Canyon on the shoulder and gestured toward the western side of the house, where he and Fiera would have to walk to get home. “Hawke,” he whispered, so softly Canyon barely heard him. “Behind a large pine. He’s alone, but he has a bow.”

  Next to him, Fiera drew in a sharp breath. Canyon leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Go back inside.”

  When she shook her head, he grew angry, but the look on her face told him it was pointless to argue. “Go inside and retrieve my bow,” he hissed.

  Understanding dawned in her eyes. “I’ll go and get us something to drink.” She said it loudly enough for anyone close to the house to hear, and Canyon could have kissed her. She’d understood without him having to say it that they didn’t want to alert Hawke to their presence. They wanted to make him think he was safe and hidden, and they had no intentions of doing anything more dangerous than sitting on the front porch to chat.

  After Fiera went back inside, Canyon began talking to Stone and Arizona about nothing, as if they intended to stay on the porch for hours. Every nerve ending was on fire. He’d never been so ready for a fight in his life, and only wished Hawke wasn’t alone. It would hardly be fair, three against one.

  “Your mating party was awesome,” said Stone. “It’s too bad some people in this village didn’t bother showing up.”

  Trust Stone to stir the pot. Canyon and Arizona exchanged an amused glance.

  “Some people weren’t welcome anyway,” said Canyon.

  “At least we didn’t have to inhale that nasty smell,” said Arizona. “Leopards have a stink about them, you know?”

  “Yeah,” said Stone. “Like rotting leaves and petrified shit.”

  As Fiera came back outside, she handed Canyon his bow and quiver. He slung the quiver over his shoulder, forcing himself to keep making small talk with Stone, Arizona, and Fiera. If Hawke could see details this far, he’d know that Fiera hadn’t brought out any drinks, so they didn’t have that much time.

  When Arizona let out a fake yawn, Stone said he was getting sleepy, too. Canyon walked slowly down the steps. “I might as well walk home with you two. You’re both so drunk you’re likely to trip over a tree root.”

  Canyon had no idea how long Haw
ke had been watching the house. If it had been a while, he’d know that Arizona and Stone had left with Gillian two hours ago, and returned only recently. He’d also know it was unlikely either man was drunk.

  Although Fiera stayed on the porch, Canyon noticed she’d also left the front door open. He locked gazes with her, and swore he heard her sweet voice in his head, telling him she loved him and urging him to be careful. He wished telepathy was one of the gifts he possessed. He wanted nothing more right now than to make sure she knew that she was his whole world. Without her, nothing mattered.

  Arizona led them toward Hawke, which was not the direction in which he and Stone lived. If Hawke had been fooled to this point, he no longer would be. They didn’t speak as they walked. It took no more than five seconds for Hawke to emerge from behind the tree, bow drawn.

  Before Stone and Arizona had stopped walking next to him, Canyon had his bow drawn “Go ahead, Hawke. You might kill me, but you’ll be dead, too. Lynxes see much better in the dark than leopards do.”

  “Lower yours and I’ll lower mine. I only want to talk to you.”

  “That’s not what I heard.”

  “My brother has a hot temper.” Hawke made a sound of disgust. “He says things he doesn’t mean.”

  “That’s your problem.” Canyon now had confirmation that what Brock had told Cletus was true, not that he hadn’t believed it earlier. But now he’d feel no remorse for killing Hawke if it came to that.

  “This is bullshit, Canyon.” Hawke sounded agitated, which wasn’t good considering he was holding a loaded bow. “Put down the damn bow!”

  “You first.”

  “Why should I go first?”

  “Because you’re lurking in the dark near my home.” Arizona muttered something about Hawke sounding like a child, and Canyon silently agreed with his friend. “You’re on my father’s land, pointing a weapon at me. You want to talk, lower it.”

  “Send your friends and your mate back inside first.”

  “Not a chance.” Canyon laughed. “You started this, Hawke. You want to talk to me on my land, we do it my way.”