Their Chance at Redemption

by Maia Dylan

  Josie wrapped the towel around her as she stepped from the bathroom. Her stomach rumbled at the smell of bacon and other yummy delights cooking downstairs. She padded over to the wardrobe, her gaze drawn to the huge bed with its rumpled sheets as she passed it. Josie felt warmth spread over her face, but couldn’t keep the shit-eating grin from erupting. Her mates might be big, badass lion shifters, but she had more than held her own.

  In fact, she had won this morning’s sexual tussle with both, which meant she got to get up last and enjoy a leisurely shower while both men went down to cook her breakfast. And all three of them wore satisfied grins that said there weren’t really any losers in that particular game.

  It was as she was pulling on a long-sleeved black t-shirt that she felt a wave of anger and urgency slam into her from the mating bond. Josie moved to the door, cursing when she slammed her foot into the door jamb in her haste to get to her mates. Something had happened, and whatever it was it had them both on the verge of shifting. When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she had to jump back as a few of the pride, members she knew by sight and name only, ran past on their way out the door, everyone talking at once. It was a matter of seconds before the house seemed to empty out.

  Josie ran into the kitchen to find Liam talking with two members of the pride and no sign of Kieran. “What’s happening?”

  Liam turned to her as he sent the others outside, his lion clear in his eyes. “It would appear that Rossi has decided not to wait for Caruso. He’s orchestrated multiple attacks on various gang strongholds around the city, and although we have men on the ground, we’re spread too thin to make much of a stand. It would be okay if it was just gang versus gang, but they are fighting in residential streets, and it’s only a matter of time before we see some collateral damage.”

  Dread unfurled within her at the thought of others like her family falling victim to turf wars they had nothing to with, and she moved to stand beside her mate. “Where’s Kieran, and what can I do to help?”

  “Kieran’s on his way into the city with a few of his strongest enforcers to coordinate things there,” Liam said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, tugging her close. “The first thing he did was call for the women and children in the pride to head for a safe house further upstate as a precaution.” Liam shook his head, a glimmer of shame flickering across his handsome face. “I feel like such a dumb shite for even thinking for a moment that he was like my dad.” Josie pinched him hard under the arm. “Ow! What the bloody hell was that for?”

  Josie scowled up at him. “We’re under attack. You don’t get to wallow in shame for being a dumbass. You admitted that yesterday, and we dealt with it. Now move on. Yes, Kieran is an honorable man, but so are you, so what’s next?”

  Liam stared at her for a moment, the love and adoration in his eyes almost too much to handle all at once. “Christ, I love you, woman. You bloody slay me.” He took a breath. “Kitten, Rossi’s got men attacking Violet’s building, too. That’s Kieran’s first stop.”

  Josie inhaled sharply. “Have you heard from her? Is she okay?”

  Liam looked grim, shaking his head. “No, nothing, but Mason and Jacob are both with her, so I know she’ll be fine. The first thing the sneaky bastards who launched this assault did was cut all communications to the building.”

  Just then her cell phone rang in her pocket, and the first chords of “American Woman” filled the kitchen. “Violet!”

  Her friend had loaded the ring tone against her number when Josie first got the phone, and it made her smile every time it rang.

  Swiping her finger across the screen, she almost dropped the device in her haste to lift it to her ear. “Violet! How are you able to call me? We thought Rossi had taken out the communication towers or something to make it hard for you to contact us. Are you okay? You need to get out of there. Rossi and his—”

  “Josie!” Josie paused when Violet shouted her name and realized her friend had been calling her name over and over. It wasn’t the volume that Violet used that caught her attention, it was the complete lack of fear or panic in her voice. “Christ, girl, you gotta let me get a word in edgewise. Yeah, Rossi’s taken down the communications within this sector of the city, but I have my own comms set up, and he couldn’t hope to get anywhere near it. So I take it that you, Irish, and Alpha Kitty are aware of Rossi’s little tantrum?”

  Josie looked up at Liam and rolled her eyes. “Only you would call a damn organized crime syndicate starting a gang turf war in the streets of our city a tantrum.”

  “Wait, what!” Violet asked, shock clear in her tone. “I thought he was just coming after me. Has that douchebag got more men out on my streets? That rat fink bastard, he’s probably using those same shitty tactics as Santiago. Hurting the people in the quietest and lowest economic areas of the city knowing they can’t fight back. Well, he’ll figure it out soon enough that this city has more damn courage and fighters than he’d ever fucking see coming.”

  Violet’s love for Chicago and the people who lived and loved within its borders was endless, and one of the reasons she was loved and respected by so many. “Kieran’s sent the bulk of the pride into the city to help.”

  “Fantastic, let’s see where that piece of shit is.” Josie could hear the telltale clack of a keyboard in the background and knew that Violet was on her computer. “You can bet wherever he is, it’s where the main action is going to be, and Kieran will want in on that. Once we found out Rossi’s name, Dot and I looked really closely at how he works. He’s got a thing for expensive European cars, which definitely works in our favor. Dot’s tapped into the security system for his Jag and we can track exactly where he—oh shit!”

  “What?”

  “Goddamn it! You said that Kieran’s on his way into the city? Fuck! Jacob can’t reach him on his cell.”

  “Violet. Violet!” Josie yelled into the phone, aware that Liam had just gone predator-still beside her. “What’s happened?”

  “Josie, listen to me. Rossi isn’t anywhere near my building or Chicago. He’s—”

  “Here.” Liam’s voice was more lion than man, and when Josie looked up at him, she could once again clearly see his lion looking out at her. “Rossi’s come here.”

  Josie frowned, letting her hand drop from her ear, the phone still in her hand. “Why would he come here?”

  “He’s got men on Violet, but he knows the major prize is Kieran.” Liam moved back from the windows of the kitchen and pulled Josie toward the back of the house.

  “He didn’t think that Kieran would go into the city with everything going on there?” Josie whispered.

  Liam shook his head, his expression grim. “Rossi’s not an honorable man. He knows he can’t take Kieran in a fair fight. Hell, he probably saw what he did to Santiago, and he wouldn’t want a fecking bar of that. No, he’ll want Kieran to come to him on his own, preferably on his knees.”

  Josie frowned as she followed Liam through the hall, trying desperately to walk as silently as she could. “Nothing would make Kieran do that. What’s his end game? He must—”

  It came to her in a flash. The one thing Kieran would crawl for, the one person he would go to an asshole like Rossi unarmed and in his human form for, was her.

  Rossi was coming, and he was coming for her. She was to be the bait to bring her mate to his knees. Josie turned to Liam to ask if perhaps they should try to make a run for one of the vehicles when the front door was suddenly blown off its hinges.

  One minute Liam was standing beside her, and the next he’d exploded into a huge lion, one that stood as tall as she did, with a huge mane, and death flashing in his eyes. Liam’s lion threw back its head and roared its displeasure to the world as he charged the three men that had just stepped across the threshold. Josie screamed as the men fired at her mate, her heart in her throat, fear for her mate nearly dropping her to her knees. She stepped back toward the kitchen, desperate to give Liam enough room to fight.

  Just as t
he lion reached the first man, the massive boom of a gun being fired from behind her had them all turning motionless. Josie flinched and raised both hands in the air as the barrel of a gun was pressed to the back of her head.

  Liam’s roar of rage morphed midway through to the growl of a man as he shifted back into his human form. Josie whimpered at the sight of her man standing tall and proud before her, blood pouring from at least two gunshot wounds that she could see.

  “You hurt her, I’ll eat your fecking heart while you watch,” Liam snarled.

  “I’ll do what the fuck I want.” The man behind her, the one she suspected was Rossi, pressed the gun harder against her head, making her flinch.

  Liam took one step forward but was stopped when one of the men behind him slammed the butt of his gun against his temple. Josie cried out as her mate dropped to the ground. It was a testament to his strength that he wasn’t unconscious, but there was no missing the fact that he was hurt, the steady flow of blood from the fresh wound at his temple a clear sign of that.

  “Now, why don’t we get comfortable in the kitchen and wait for the Alpha to return. He was most upset when I called him to tell him we were visiting.”

  Josie cried out when the man grabbed her by her hair and yanked her into the kitchen. She scrambled for purchase with her feet, her hands going to the man’s wrists in an attempt to lessen the pain in her scalp. She heard Liam curse, then grunt when one of the men hit or kicked him, but Rossi had her head yanked back so far she couldn’t see properly.

  “You must be one amazing fuck to catch the eye of an Alpha like Murphy,” Rossi snarled in her ear crudely as he pushed her down into a chair. “Perhaps I’ll have to sample that pussy of yours once I kill Murphy. You can be my prize.”

  Josie heard Liam’s growl of anger and knew he’d heard what Rossi had said, but then there was nothing but the sounds of flesh being hit, over and over.

  “Liam!” She cried out as she tried to get up and go to him, only to be pushed back into the chair.

  “I would worry less about that Irish bastard and more about what’s going to happen to you, bitch.”

  Josie glared up at the man, and she reveled in his look of surprise at the hatred she knew must have been visible there. “If I were you, I’d be more worried about what Kieran is going to do to you when he gets here. I’ve watched him kill a man in his lion form. It’s not something I thought I’d ever want to witness again. I’m squeamish around blood, so I’m sure even a man with your limited IQ can understand that. But in your case? I’m fucking looking forward to it.”

  Rossi’s eyes narrowed, and she watched dispassionately as he pulled his hand back and slapped her across the face. She took the strike, had been here before, and simply moved with the hit to lessen the impact and breathed through the pain. She felt the frustration and fear down her bond and knew that was Liam. He was frustrated that he couldn’t get to her, enraged by the men in their house, and scared that he wouldn’t be able to save them. But when a burst of red-hot anger slammed into her, she knew that was Kieran.

  And he was coming for her.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Kieran ran through the forest toward his home, urging his lion to move faster. They’d made it to the outskirts of the city when he got the call from Rossi. That prick had Josie, and it would be the last epic mistake that fucker ever made. He had no idea what had happened to Liam or the two members of the pride he had left at the house, so he could only hope that whatever was happening, one or all of them were keep Rossi’s attention on them and not on Josie.

  He was still the Alpha, and responsible for the city he protected, so he ordered his enforcers to the streets to end the bloodshed there as quickly as possible and had to trust in his and Liam’s ability to end whatever trouble lay back at the house. Kieran had no doubt that Rossi wouldn’t have come alone.

  When Kieran was a mile out from the house, he slowed, stalking his way forward, not wanting to alert to his presence those that would no doubt be surrounding the house. Surprise might be the only advantage he had. His lion tensed, and Kieran slipped back a little, allowing his true animal side to come forward. There were two shifters just ahead of him. They weren’t doing anything to hide, nor were they pride. He stalked forward and froze when he caught sight of two massive tigers lying in the dense bush, looking down the hunting path he had been travelling on, their startling blue eyes locked on the trail as if waiting for him to arrive.

  Taking a chance that he knew exactly who they were, Kieran shifted back to his human form. “This is the part where you tell me if you’re here to help or hinder. I’ll take the help, but if you’re here to fuck us over, let’s get to it now. I got places I need to be.”

  The tigers both stood in unison, then stepped out of the bush and onto the trail before shifting in a shimmer of light and magic.

  “Damn,” Rune said with a grin. “I knew what you are, and that you were huge, but I have never seen a fucking animal as big as yours.”

  Kamon shook his head at his brother. “Rune, can you hear yourself? If someone was listening into this conversation, they might think you were referring to Kieran’s dick and not his lion.”

  Rune laughed out loud. “That, too, might be true, but I’m not gonna embarrass us all by taking a look.”

  Kieran growled. “Can we stop with the small talk? Rossi’s got my mate in that fucking house, and he’s going to use her to get to me. If you two are here to help me get her out and end that prick, then let’s get to it. Otherwise get the fuck out of my way and let Liam deal with your shit later.”

  Rune’s expression cleared of all amusement, and he turned into a cold, hard killer in a heartbeat. “Oh, we are most definitely here to help you end that prick. We’ve been watching this house since we got here. Figured Caruso would turn up here, eventually.”

  Kieran frowned. “How did my patrols not see you?”

  Kamon gave him a pointed look. “Because we’re tigers. We don’t want to be seen, we don’t get seen.”

  “We saw Rossi turn up with men in two SUVs,” Rune continued, “twelve men in total. We heard Rossi’s phone call to you and figured we’d wait for you to turn up then clear the perimeter while you went inside and cleaned house.”

  Kieran had heard that tigers were stealthy predators, but to hear that not only had they both been here on his lands for the past few days without being seen, but that they were able to get close enough to Rossi’s car to hear a phone conversation without being spotted? That was some next-level shit.

  Kieran nodded. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll go in and stall as long as I can to give you time. If the shit hits the fan and Liam is incapacitated, I ask that you get our mate out of that house as quickly as you can. Get her to Violet, Mason, and Jacob.”

  Both men nodded, their expressions fierce. No matter what happened in the house, Josie had a chance, and for Kieran that was the only thing that mattered. No longer wanting or needing to approach the house in stealth, Kieran stepped forward.

  “You’re going in there in your human form?” Kamon asked when he stepped past him.

  “We’ve got caches of clothes around the perimeter of the house,” Kieran answered, as he continued. “They’ll be expecting me to come in slow, worried about my mate, and I am. But I also want all their focus on me. It gives you a chance to clear out as many as you can before I have to act.”

  Rune nodded. “Makes sense. We’ll come in as soon as possible, get close to your mate and get her the hell out when we can. If you need to act sooner, how will we know?”

  Kieran paused, looking back over his shoulder. “The screams will be enough of a clue.”

  ****

  “You’re not so fucking tough without that abomination that lives inside you, now are you, asshole?”

  Liam’s head snapped back with the bastard taunting him punched him in the jaw. Again.

  “You want it to be a fair fight, then take off the fecking cuffs,” Liam growled, lifting his head to glar
e at his tormentor. “I don’t need my animal to kill you. He just makes death come a lot faster.”

  Liam reveled in the flash of fear that flickered across the man’s gaze, and he held it until the prick backed down and moved away. Liam could take a few punches, hell, he’d survived worse, but he needed to be able to hear what was going on in the kitchen. He had no idea how long it would take for his body to metabolize whatever this shit was in his system, but as soon as he was able, he was going to rip out of this chair, let his lion loose, and decimate every single of the bastards who’d violated his home. As soon as he’d been shot in the entrance to the house, he knew that Rossi’s men had their bullets coated in that damn substance Violet had talked about. The only fucking problem was he hadn’t gotten around to taking the damn antidote or whatever the hell it was.

  Once he was hit, he was forced through a change, as excruciating as any he had ever been through before, and he’d immediately panicked. As soon as he could sense his animal still within him, the lion’s rage a physical force within him, he relaxed a little. The chemical wasn’t the same as the one Kamon had talked about. It hadn’t stripped him of his animal, just caged the beast for the time being.

  Both animal and man craved vengeance, and neither would be denied. He was especially looking forward to killing the son of a bitch in the kitchen with Josie. Liam had heard the prick hit her, and he was looking forward to ripping the man’s arm off and allowing her to beat him with it.

  He took a deep breath, fighting the wave of nausea that rolled through him and sent waves of warmth and assurance down the mating bond to his mate. Josie was tough, he knew that, but she had to be scared. Not just for herself, but for him as well.

  He caught a scent on the air that flowed through the broken front door. Kieran had just arrived, and Liam had to fight to keep from smiling. The odds of Josie surviving this just increased tenfold. He stayed still, breathing deep and willing his body to remain relaxed. He could feel his lion getting closer and closer to the surface. Knowing that Kieran was now in the kitchen with their mate made it easier for him to concentrate on getting himself out of this chair and getting to the blood and killing portion of his afternoon.