The Liger's Mark

by Lacey Thorn

  Finally, they stepped outside, and Holt was parked at the curb, car idling. He reached across and threw open the door then Reed helped her in before moving back from her and shaking his arm while giving her a concerned look.

  “Jesus, girl! You’re on fire.” His gaze met hers, and she watched his eyes widen with surprise. “Shit! Get her out of here,” he ordered Holt. “We’ll follow. Instinct says we need to get the hell out of town, but I don’t know if that’s safe or not.”

  “I’m fine,” Kenzie said, knowing what he was seeing and reacting to. “Here’s your first look at a shifter in human skin.”

  “Follow me,” Holt told Reed and the door closed.

  “You need to talk to me,” Holt said as he pulled out. “Your eyes are glowing, and your skin is so hot you turned Reed’s arm red, probably his side, too. What’s going on with you, Kenzie? Is it your animal?”

  She rolled her head on her shoulders and shook out her arms. She was twitchy, and part of her still wanted to go back and tear the six men apart limb by limb. God, she should have asked more questions about shifting and dealing with the animal inside while she was around the others. She’d never anticipated this, though. Her animal had always been quiet. Was it normal for it to react in such a way at the sight of hunters?

  “Kenzie?” Holt said, demanding her attention.

  She met his glance and noted the way his gaze skimmed over her. She knew what he was seeing. The glowing eyes, the arms wrapped tightly around herself as she fought to hold herself together. Her teeth gritted, jaw taut and neck corded as she scrambled to maintain control. She didn’t remember any of the others going through something like this. She really needed to call Zane or Diane.

  “We’ve got a problem,” Holt said, and she glanced up to see he’d made a call through the onboard system in the car. His gaze bounced between her and the road.

  “The problem is my mate is off running around with you instead of cooling her heels with the rest of your pride.”

  She heard Gabriel’s voice, felt his anger like a lick of fire over her already heated skin and moaned while shaking her head.

  “No,” she snapped. “Call Zane. Call Tah. Anyone, but him. Not him.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Gabriel demanded, suddenly sounding alert, and she wondered if something in her voice was responsible.

  “You could say we’re in a bit of a clusterfuck here,” Holt admitted. “We’ve picked up a tail. Group of six that we’re certain are hunters.”

  “Fuck!” Gabriel’s growl filled the car as if he were in it with them. “I’m on my way, but not close enough, at the moment.”

  Kenzie sat up straight, a growl of rage filling her chest and echoing in the car as she heard the sound of someone whispering to Gabriel, someone female.

  “Um, that’s the other problem,” Holt spoke over Kenzie. “Our girl is changing.”

  “She’s not our girl. She’s my mate,” Gabriel said, voice hard and cold.

  The female whispered again.

  “Who the fuck is with you, mate?” Kenzie demanded.

  “A friend,” he said, and all she heard was the suggestion in his voice. The implication that she was traveling with a friend. Rage almost consumed her.

  “Hate to interrupt this conversation,” Holt said. “She’s burning to the touch, her eyes are glowing, and I’m pretty sure her incisors have grown.”

  Kenzie ran her tongue over her teeth, feeling the truth of Holt’s statement. She hadn’t even noticed. The eyes, yeah. The skin, definitely. Teeth, not so much.

  “Her animal is pressing for release,” Gabriel said. “Fuck, my bite must have brought it out.”

  “Oh, I’m sure something about you brought it out,” Kenzie told him. “The beast if feeling pretty feral, at the moment. I’d suggest you keep a safe distance.”

  “How close is your tail?” Gabriel asked.

  “Close enough I can feel their breath on our neck,” Holt said.

  “Get her out of there. Lose the tail. Take her somewhere out of the way. A campground if possible. Call me with the details. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Gabriel sounded almost as enraged as Kenzie was. “Know this. If anything happens to my mate, I will kill you.”

  “You’re not fucking laying a hand on him! I’m not yours, you bastard,” Kenzie snapped. “I told you that when you left.”

  “Kenzie.” Her name was a growl.

  She heard the woman murmur something and envisioned her touching him to offer comfort.

  “Stay the hell away from me,” Kenzie advised, voice soft.

  “Too late,” Gabriel warned. “I’m coming for you. This time, I’ll make sure you understand what it means to be an obedient mate.”

  “I’ll make sure you know what it means to be a neutered one,” she vowed.

  He laughed, and the sound skittered across her senses like a sensual caress.

  “Be ready, mate,” he told her, and the line went dead.

  “Why would you call him?” Kenzie demanded of Holt.

  “Because you’re not thinking,” he said. “Did you listen to anything that happened before we got to Colorado?”

  “Of course, I did.”

  “I’m not talking about the group of hunters that showed up. I’m talking about before that when Tah fell into a coma-like sleep, his body raging with fever.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah,” Holt said. “Logan told me about it. Scared them all. They were afraid they were going to lose Tah. It was before he learned to shift, when his lion was first starting to assert itself.”

  “How did he get through it?” Kenzie asked.

  “Abby,” Holt said. “I know Reno played a part, but it was Tah’s mate who pulled him through.”

  “He left me, Holt. Gabriel’s not my mate.”

  “As much as I wish that were true, I don’t believe it. I know you don’t, either. I see the hurt in your eyes. I see the need. For him. I’d like to kill him. Gut him and leave him for dead for the pain he’s putting you through, but I know that would only hurt you worse.” He reached across the console and gripped her hand tightly with his. If the heat burned him, he didn’t let on. “Whatever is going on with you right now, you need him. He should fucking be here for you.”

  “I’ll figure it out,” she promised. “I don’t need him.”

  “I swear I may punch him out for this alone,” Holt swore.

  “For the fever?”

  “For turning you into a fucking wuss.”

  “What?” she demanded.

  “Look at you. What the hell did he do to you?”

  “He left me,” she practically screamed.

  “So what?”

  “Excuse me!” Kenzie gritted out, jerking her hand from his and glaring at him.

  “You heard me,” Holt stated. “So what? I’ve seen you take more than your fair share of bumps and bruises, and never once has it turned you into the sniveling woman before me.”

  “Sniveling?”

  “You’ve always been strong, confident. You get knocked down, and you bounce back, stronger than before. You barrel through life as if you have something to prove,” Holt told her.

  “This is different,” she said.

  “So do something about it,” Holt said. “You just ran back to the cabin with your tail tucked between your legs. Crying, for Christ’s sake. You think I’m pissed because you mated someone? Hell, no! I’m pissed because in doing so, you let him break the woman inside you. You want him to stay then you fucking give him no other option.”

  “I don’t know if I can,” Kenzie admitted.

  “Bullshit,” Holt countered. “I’ve seen Tah and Abby. She rules him with an iron fist. Same with Reno and Amia, and Clara and Logan. I’m sure Diane and Zane will be the same. The men may think they’re in charge, but they live and breathe for the women they’ve mated. Vic is mated, now. Do you honestly think she’d act this way?”

  Kenzie took a deep breath. Holt was right. She’d
seen it for herself with most of them. Even when Zane had been upset with Diane, all she’d had to do was look at him, and he’d melted. Could she do that with Gabriel? Could she make her mate want to stay with her?

  “Your mate will be with us soon,” Holt said. “You need to remember who you are before he does. Find that woman, that warrior, and introduce her to your mate. Show him exactly who he stands to lose. This beast that’s surfacing in you. Use it to fuel that warrior. You may not be my girl anymore, but at least my girl was a fighter. The mated woman beside me is a poor substitute for her.”

  She felt the truth of his words all the way to her soul. She’d let circumstances break her. She’d let her emotions control her instead of controlling her emotions. Holt was right. It was time to remember who she was. If Gabriel told her again that he wasn’t meant to have a mate then so be it. Only this time, she would be the one to walk away. She wouldn’t be back.

  Chapter Five

  Kenzie paced the room in the out-of-the-way motel Holt had finally stopped at. It was in the middle of nowhere with a nice thicket of woods behind it. They’d taken rooms on the backside. She knew he’d spoken to Gabriel again but didn’t ask. She was doing her best to deal with the fever that had only grown worse over the last few hours. Holt had left her with the order she should try to sleep, but she couldn’t.

  Anxiety filled her. Both from the anticipation of seeing her mate again and from the box, which even now sat on the bed in front of her, taunting her to break the seal and see what was inside. She’d never felt more like Pandora in her life. Still, she merely stared at it as if she might be able to sense what was inside before splitting the tape and lifting the flaps. Now was the time to rip into it and see what secrets it held.

  Instead, anxiety seized her as her animal struggled to assert its will. Her stomach was in knots, nausea gripping her throat and keeping her swallowing in an attempt to maintain control. The last time she’d stepped toward the box, she’d gone to her knees on the floor, cramps ripping through her with an intensity unlike any she’d ever known. She needed to convince her animal just how important it was for her to look inside. For now, she didn’t have a choice but to leave it untouched.

  Holt was supposedly next door with Reed and Dusty, but she knew they were keeping a lookout for the hunting party. They’d done their best to lose them, but hunters had more than shown their ability to track. It would be a long night, especially with the fight waging inside her. She couldn’t go out if she wanted to. Her eyes had shifted to gold again and this time had remained that way. She knew they were glowing by the eerie cast she was viewing things through. It was disconcerting and left her shaky. Plus, growls were a constant rumble in her chest.

  She’d spent so much of her life wishing she was a real shifter. Now, she was reconsidering. Being mostly human hadn’t been so bad after all. The fever was throwing more than just her body temperature off. Her senses were all over the place. One moment her abilities seemed stripped away only to be bombarded by a surplus of sensations a second later. To top it off, her skin ached as if it was being pricked by a thousand tiny needles. Whatever the beast inside her was, it was pissed at being repressed for so long and seemed to want to make up for lost time.

  Leaving the box untouched on the bed, she turned and headed toward the shower. The thought of cool water soothing her skin sounded nice. Maybe it would help ease the ache. As much as she hated to admit it, Holt was most likely right. She did need Gabriel here. She had a feeling only her mate would be able to help her through all the changes surging through her.

  She stripped, tossing her clothes in a pile on the bathroom floor and started the shower. It was cool, and she moaned in appreciation as the water cascaded over her. She leaned into it, bracing her hands on the shower wall as she let it wash over her face, her hair and shoulders. It soothed but was far from enough. She needed…fuck it all! She needed her mate, and part of her hated that weakness.

  She turned off the water and slid back the curtain. The air hit her skin and had her shivering despite the heat she threw off. She reached for a towel and paused. Her senses were still scattered, but she could tell something was wrong. The animal inside was silent and tense. She cautiously stepped out of the shower, keeping her gaze glued to the closed bathroom door.

  She was debating her next move when the door suddenly came crashing in and a large figure loomed in the opening. She dropped to a crouch, growling, and the man matched her actions, falling to his knees while another man loomed in the opening above him.

  Fuck screamed through her head as she faced them, unsure of where to focus. It didn’t matter. Before she could do more than spare a glance, two darts fired simultaneously, hitting her in her shoulder and thigh. Her growl cut off as she slumped onto her ass. Dizziness washed over her, and she fought like hell to cling to consciousness as long as she could. Hunters and their fucking tranquilizing darts.

  “Is she down?” one of them asked.

  “Good enough,” the other answered. “Grab her, and let’s get out of here. We’ve got to move quickly.”

  “She’s naked and wet. Grab the sheet, and I’ll roll her up in it,” the first one ordered.

  She kept blinking her eyes, trying to force them to stay open. She wanted to fight, to bite and claw and punch and kick. But her body was useless weight and nothing more. The second guy came back, and hard fingers bit into her skin as he pulled out the darts and tried to drape the pilfered sheet around her.

  “Is that what I think it is?” the guy wrapping her up asked.

  “Fuck! She’s mated,” the first one said.

  “I’m guessing that has something to do with the changes taking place then. Did you see her fucking eyes? That animal should be locked down so tightly inside her nothing could set it free. Dr. Talbot is going to love getting his hands on her again.”

  “Double check for the mark. Make sure we’ve got the right animal.”

  He jerked her body over until she was on her side before gliding his fingers across the mark on her hip.

  “Mark’s here,” he grunted and finished wrapping her. He covered her head without concern for her ability to breathe. She couldn’t even move to try and resist.

  “Let’s go,” the first guy commanded again. “Just think, we bagged her. The only survivor of the Gestation Trials. We might get something really special for being the ones to bring her in.”

  They both snickered. She had the sensation of being lifted, but she barely registered anything other than slumping over the guy’s shoulder. She heard a loud thump and only knew it was her head hitting the doorframe when the sheet snagged and had to be pulled free. Their voices were merely murmurs like the buzzing of flies as she dropped deeper under the control of whatever they’d shot into her.

  The good news was she literally felt nothing. The ache was gone. The burn was gone. She swore she heard the animal inside howl in pain. She felt the beast continuing to fight as her body seemed to shut down. She couldn’t prevent it. She was cold, so very cold, and the darkness that wrapped around her was like falling into the arms of a friend.

  Her last thought was of her mate, Gabriel. She could really use an angel of her own right now.

  * * * *

  Gabriel stepped from his vehicle and scanned the wooded area around him. His heart had been beating so fast he feared it would tear through his chest. His mate had almost been taken. He’d known it, as if she’d reached out to him. Then Holt had called saying they needed to move and why. Gabriel had sent them to the only known safe spot close to where they were—a camping ground owned by the Holloway brothers. They were people Gabriel could trust.

  A man Gabriel didn’t know stood watching him. Under six feet but broad shouldered with lean cords of muscle. Gabriel didn’t sense a threat from him. There was something about the other man, some vibe he gave off that seemed to reach out and soothe the beast inside Gabriel.

  “Gabriel?” the man questioned though it seemed he already knew the answer.<
br />
  Still, Gabriel gave a jerk of his chin.

  “I’m Dusty. Holt’s with Kenzie. Two of them got to her while the other four kept us busy. It looks like tranq darts. Shoulder and thigh. Holt said that seems to be their specialty. We caught them as they were trying to get her out of the room. Holt took a bullet to the arm rushing to her.”

  Fuck! He hadn’t known Holt had gotten shot. The other man hadn’t said.

  “Where is she?” Gabriel demanded. Why the hell had she been left alone when they knew they were being followed? When they’d known she wasn’t in control? Someone would pay for that error, and it didn’t matter to him who it was.

  “Cabin on the end,” Dusty said and pointed it out. “She was burning up when we left the diner. Skin so damn hot she nearly burned my brother.” The way he held his arm out as if he’d been the one singed made Gabriel curious. “Now, she’s cold as ice. She was out when we got to her and hasn’t woken up, yet.”

  There was no silencing the growl that left Gabriel’s chest. He heard the door open behind him and gained enough control to remember his responsibility.

  “There’s a woman with me. She’s spent a bit of time as the guest of some sadistic bastards in a top-of-the-line lab. She’s still recovering. Help her into a room so she can rest more comfortably, please,” he said.

  Dusty nodded. “I’ll put her in my room for now. Should I stay with her?”

  Gabriel inhaled, taking in all the scents surrounding them. “No. She’s not in any danger here.” Plus Laramie and his brothers would tear apart any hunter who even tried to creep onto their land.

  Dusty didn’t say anything, just nodded again and moved around Gabriel to get to Laura. Gabriel moved his gaze to the cabin his mate was in and headed there without further delay. He needed to figure out what the hell had happened to Kenzie. He stepped to the door and a deeper growl erupted from his throat as he was forced to knock. He could hear the rustle of clothing, followed by footsteps padding across the floor then the door whispered open to reveal a man dressed in nothing but low-slung jeans.