by Maia Dylan
Kieran grinned back. “I refuse to answer that on the grounds that it will incriminate me and make me look like more of a macho, aggressive asshole than I already do.”
Josie laughed, and Kieran wanted to wallow in the sound of it, but a flash of movement and a shocked scream from behind her had him looking up. He was horrified to see a large black Chrysler up on the sidewalk, barreling toward them. Kieran knew that it was deliberate, and his gaze locked with the man behind the wheel. He could see the fucker’s grin of anticipation from where he stood.
Knowing that every second counted, he reached for Josie, pulling her tightly into his chest as he pushed off the sidewalk with all the strength he had. He propelled them up and onto the hood of a car that was parked beside them, and the Chrysler barreled past them close enough to clip his knee, making him grunt in pain as he turned in midair. He took the impact as they slammed onto the hood, and the Chrysler accelerated away from them with a squeal of tires.
“Motherfucker,” Kieran snarled as he stared after the car. He’d caught a scent as the car rocketed past, and it was one that he knew to be shifter. A lion to be exact, and now that he had that scent he would ensure that he killed the right one when he caught up with the bastard.
“What just happened?” Josie asked in a small voice.
Kieran tightened his arms around her as he looked up at where she lay across his chest. “Are you okay?”
Josie nodded, but he was concerned at how pale she looked. Anger flowed through him at the thought of what might have happened had he not been here to pull her out of harm’s way. She would have most definitely have been killed. He would instruct his pride to hunt down this rogue lion and bring his whereabouts to him.
“You are making a habit out of saving me,” Josie said as she pushed to sit up.
Kieran helped her up and sat up beside her. “Yeah, well, you’re making a habit out of needing it.”
The two of them grinned at each other and reassured the people who had gathered around them that they were okay. Sirens approached as Kieran realized the next few hours would be spent giving their statements and answering questions as to why he and Josie seemed to have been targets twice in less than a week. They were questions Kieran himself desperately wanted answers to. Once he had them, he promised his lion that they would go hunting.
Chapter Five
“Who the fuck have you been pissing off lately?”
Kieran huffed a laugh at the question. “You want me to give you an actual list, Mason? That, as they say, may take some time.”
The three of them had moved into the living room after Violet’s celebratory dinner dedicated to those who’d been there when retribution came to her father. Violet had taken Josie into her office for a Skype conversation with her personal assistant, an older woman who was more mother to Violet than assistant, and who had taken a shine to Josie as well as far as Kieran could see.
Mason shot him a pointed look. “We can narrow that down a little by saying, who have you pissed off so much that they went and took a contract out on you?”
Kieran stared at his pack mate, all humor gone from his expression. “That’s a shorter list for sure.”
Jacob handed him the whiskey he had been pouring them and sat down on the couch in Violet’s living room across from him. “Violet did some research when we suspected someone was after Josie. She originally thought perhaps one of her father’s douches were after a little revenge, either against her, you, or potentially Josie herself. When she ran a detailed search on the Darknet, she found that there was an active contract out on you.”
Kieran leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “What in the hell is a Darknet?”
“It’s kind of like the internet, but there are areas of it that are basically for dodgy fuckers doing evil shit,” Mason said with a shrug.
“It’s locked up tighter than Fort Knox though,” Jacob added. “You have to know some serious coding to be able to get into the damn thing, but from what Violet has told us, if you can access the network, you can find anyone to do practically anything. She showed us the request of the person who put out the contract on your life, and we can tell that there was more than one person who responded to the request.”
“So, there is more than one person gunning for me?” Kieran had to admit to being a little put out that there was an anti-Craigs list sort of thing on a secret network somewhere where people could search for killers, but the idea that someone hating him enough to go for him wasn’t exactly unknown territory. He was the alpha of one of the largest feline packs in the country, and a man determined to rid his city of as much crime as possible. That meant there were shifters and humans alike out there somewhere looking to take him out.
Mason nodded. “Yeah, and the guy was asking specifically about hiring lion shifters.”
Everything in Kieran went still. That could mean that there was someone angling for leadership of the pack. If this lion shifter were to challenge him in a righteous way, then Black Ridge would be his. He thought back to that afternoon when the car that had driven up onto the sidewalk had sailed past him. He had caught the scent of an unknown lion shifter, so it was fairly safe to assume that whoever had taken that contract out, had found himself a lion shifter.
Kieran swirled the whiskey around in the glass he held. “So, gut feeling. You think this is some shifter faction looking take Black Ridge from me?”
The brothers shared a quick glance then shook their heads almost in unison. “Potentially, but we don’t think so,” Mason answered for both of them. “There wouldn’t be many shifters that I would say could take you in a righteous challenge. There might be a rogue or two out there that might have the strength, but I doubt a renegade would be interested in taking over a faction as established as this one. And besides, shooting you or turning you into a hood ornament is not righteous, and they wouldn’t end up taking the pride.”
Kieran nodded as he agreed. It had nothing to do with arrogance or confidence that he backed himself against challenges. He just knew that he wouldn’t give up his family for anything or anyone. If he’d found his mate that weakness might have given him pause. Not that he would ever tell his mate that he considered her a weakness. Josie wouldn’t—
Damn it! She was not his mate, and he had to stop inadvertently thinking of her in that way. All it did was compound the pain of it not being her.
Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind once more, he continued. “So, unlikely that this is a dominance and shifter issue. That brings us back to a human element looking for what? Vengeance?” This time both Jacob and Mason nodded. “Yeah, that rings true for me, too. So, by process of elimination, and to answer your question, Rossi would have to go right to the top of the list.”
“But not right to the top?” Jacob said. “Rossi would be pissed off at you for taking Santiago out maybe, if he's the actual head of the organization, but from what we’ve discovered, he was the same as Santiago, running things in New York. I don’t think he’s the head of that organization, which means there’s another player. One who sits at the top of this shit pile. And he has a hard-on for this town, and he has a hard-on for you. It’s just a matter of time, and they are going to launch a strong offensive.”
Kieran had thought that, too. The streets had been relatively quiet since they took Santiago down. Oh, there was talk on the streets that the drugs and trafficking had started up a while back, but he and his pride were close to shutting that shit down again, the two attempts on his life notwithstanding. That thought had his lion pacing agitatedly within him. Both attempts on his life had placed Josie directly in the path of danger. On both occasions, if he had been a little slower, the outcome could have been catastrophic. Which meant that anytime she was near him he was endangering her life.
“Fuck.” His guttural curse was low, and from the snarls erupting from his pride mates, the essence of who he was as an Alpha was rolling off him. He took a deep breath, pulling it back into himself and
allowing his men to breathe easier.
“We can handle whatever they throw at us, Kieran,” Mason shot a quick glance over his shoulder toward Violet’s office, “and we can be there to make sure Violet and Josie are kept safe.”
“Josie has been put directly in the path of a contract killer because of me.” Kieran’s lion was very clear in his tone. “Now, not just the fucker who’s here in Chicago knows my connection to her, but you can bet the head guy does, too. I should have stayed away from her. She is not my mate. I will not be responsible for that woman getting hurt. That will fucking kill me, and most probably drive my lion on a killing spree the likes of which this city has never seen.”
Jacob leaned forward to stare intently at him. “If you feel that strongly, then how sure are you that she isn’t your mate?”
Kieran sighed, briefly closing his eyes against the pain that grew within him. “Because there is no mating bond between us.” He looked at Jacob and then Mason. “You are both mated. You knew instantly that Violet was the one the Fates had destined to complete you.” Both men nodded, and Kieran pointedly ignored the emotion in their expression he had the horrible suspicion might have been pity. “I did not get that with Josie. I wanted her immediately, and both lion and man would kill for her. But there is no bond.”
Kieran knew what he had to do, and the thought of it destroyed him. He was going to have to force himself to stay away from her and at the same time make it so that she didn’t come near him. The thought of being hurt because he was nearby was enough to ensure he now had the strength to stay away from her. The idea that he was about to shatter whatever illusions she might have had about him had his heart breaking into a thousand tiny little pieces.
He heard the door open to Violet’s office and knew that she and Josie were coming back to the living room. Steeling himself for what he had to do, he leveled a stare at Jacob and Mason.
“Listen carefully,” he said sub-vocally, knowing that neither woman would be able to hear him. “I am about to spin a load of shit to try to convince Josie to keep her distance. It is going to hurt her and me, but you both have to go along with it.” Mason and Jacob looked as if they were about to argue. “Consider that a directive of your Alpha.”
Despite the narrowed stares and angry expressions, they both nodded. Kieran looked up as Violet and Josie walked over to the couch. Josie looked happy and relaxed, and Kieran had to call on every ounce of icy control he could possibly muster.
“Hey, you guys are just in time,” Kieran said in a voice he hoped rang with a joy he most definitely did not feel. “I was just giving Mason and Jacob the good news.”
“Ooo, good news,” Violet said with a grin as she threw herself down in between her mates, and Josie took the chair adjacent to him. “This truly is a night of celebration. Hit me with this good news, Alpha Kitty.”
Kieran hardened his heart. “I found my mate today, and she is everything I ever hoped to find in a woman.”
He heard a pained gasp from Josie, and then the room went deathly quiet. Inside his lion roared his displeasure at the obvious pain his words had caused Josie.
“Really?” Violet asked suspiciously. “Why would you wait until now to tell us? I would have thought that something that big would have been too hard to keep a secret?”
“Tonight wasn’t about me,” Kieran said. “But sitting here with Jacob and Mason, I couldn’t keep it to myself another minute. She’s exactly the kind of woman a man like me will protect, cherish, and love for the rest of his life.”
He risked a glance toward Josie and almost cried out that he was lying his ass off. Her expression was … crushed. Never before had he seen her look so defeated, even on the night Santiago took her to smoke Violet out into the open. Then, in the face of her fear and the pain that fucker had caused by torturing her, she had been defiant and angry. It killed a portion of his heart to know that he had hurt this beautifully strong, amazing woman more than that prick ever could.
Josie looked up as if she sensed him looking at her. “I g-guess congratulations are in order.” The tremble in her voice was clear to all of them. “I am so happy for you. It must be nice to know that there is someone out there who is your other half. Someone that you can rely and depend on to share life’s joys and hardships with whenever they come along.” Her laugh sounded brittle. “I can admit to being more than a little jealous. Of all of you.”
Kieran wanted to rip his own heart from his chest and lay it at her feet, all the while begging her to forgive him for lying to her, something that was physically abhorrent to him. He sat, tensing every muscle in his body to keep from going to her. As painful as this was, it was ultimately to keep her safe, and that was what was most important.
Josie glanced down at her watch. “Oh, my! Look, it’s almost ten-thirty. I’m going to have to go. I have an early shift tomorrow morning at the diner.” Kieran remained quiet as Violet, Mason, and Jacob all spoke over each other, desperately trying to ease her discomfort.
However, Josie was determined to leave. That was obvious when she eagerly accepted Violet’s offer to have her building manager organize a lift home for her. Normally she would view the offer as charity and refused steadfastly, but in this minute her desire to leave was bigger than that.
Kieran held still until she left. He held his body completely immobile, in fear that his resolve would crumble and he would chase after her. As soon as the elevator sounded its descent, he exhaled the breath he hadn’t even known he’d been holding and waited.
It didn’t take long for Violet to come storming back to the couch and glare at him, her eyes turning slightly unfocused for a moment. “You had better tell me what the fuck that was all about, Kieran. I can see from your aura that you were talking a whole paddock load of bullshit. And that you are in as much pain as that woman who just left here with her heart breaking inside her.”
Kieran lifted his gaze to hers. “In the past week she has been shot at and almost run down by a fucking car because she was with me. According to your own damn research, I have more than one contract killing asshole on my ass. I have to find a way to get her to stay away from me and find the strength to keep away from her.”
Violet’s gaze softened marginally. “I can understand that, Kieran, I can. Anyone with eyeballs can see that the two of you have feelings for each other, so I know it must hurt like fuck. But I think you might have left something out of your thinking there, big boy. If she was there during the two attempts on your life that we know of, who’s to say that these assassins haven’t put two and two together and came up with a way to get to you?”
Kieran cursed as he leaped from his chair.
“Calm down for a moment, Alpha Kitty, and let me finish,” Violet said as he ran to the elevator. “The driver who is taking her is one of my team. The car is bulletproof, and he has orders to make sure she gets inside okay.”
Kieran stabbed his finger against the call button repeatedly. “I’m still going over there. I’ll keep off the radar, but will keep an eye on her. Mason—”
“I’ll add her to our roster,” Mason answered, knowing exactly what Kieran was getting at. “One of the pride will be rostered to protect her from now until such time as you deem it unnecessary.”
The lift arrived, and Kieran stepped into it, pushing the car park level with more force than required. For as long as he deemed it necessary? Then Josie Cadman would be protected by the Black Ridge Pride for the rest of her life. If he couldn’t be the one to be there personally, then he would make sure someone he trusted would be.
****
Josie stared at the notice on her door in shock. When she had left Violet’s after Kieran’s announcement, she had figured her night could not get any worse. How could it? Surely hearing that the man you believed yourself more than mostly in love with, who featured in every erotic dream and fantasy you’d had since meeting him had found the one woman he could love was as bad as it could get.
Apparently not.
&
nbsp; Walking down the corridor she had seen the splash of white against the chipped paint of the blue door that led to her apartment and knew instantly what it was. Now that she was closer, it was much easier to read it. FINAL NOTICE OF EVICTION written in capital letters and bright red ink at the top of the page. She’d worked so damn hard to make the money to bring her rent up to date, but had fallen woefully short. And now, she had—she cast a quick glance at the date on the court order taped to the door—until seven tomorrow morning to vacate the premises.
Hand shaking, she pulled the notice off the door and fumbled to slide her key into the lock. After a few moments the door swung open, and she all but fell into her apartment. The sob she had been holding back escaped just as she closed the door. She collapsed against it and slid to the floor. For a few blessed minutes she allowed herself to give into the fear, and the tears that came with it. God, her life had turned to shit since her kidnapping.
At that, a hysterical laugh burst from her, and she raised a clenched fist to her mouth. How the hell had she ended up here? Again. When her parents had been taken from her so violently, their only crime being in the wrong place at the wrong time, she had spent every dollar she had trying to get her sister back. Eventually they took the house, and everything of value that she had, and she ended up on the streets. And she never got an answer about her sister. It had been the lowest point in her life, and now it looked as though she were heading right back down there. Poetic really, considering how crap her life was becoming.
“Oh, for Christ’s sakes, Josie,” she muttered to herself. “Get the hell up off the floor. You’ve got stuff to do before you go find yourself the nearest cardboard box to live in.”
As she pushed to stand, she thought briefly about calling Violet, but dismissed it immediately. She’d listened to them talk at dinner about the fact that the crime in their city was rising and they all suspected that someone had taken Santiago’s position on the criminal totem pole. They had more important things to do than help out with her pitiful life. They had saved her a few months back, but that didn’t make them responsible for her now. Besides, if she were at Violet’s the odds of her running into Kieran’s perfect woman increased exponentially, and her heart just couldn’t take that.