Devin

by Dana Archer

  Devin circled the pond, inwardly cringing at the sight of his pride leader’s nostrils flaring. Yeah, Devin too could smell his scent on the woman. She reeked of him. He tucked her more securely against his chest to hide her mate mark and her wounds but wasn’t sure why he bothered. He wouldn’t be able to hide his sin for long.

  Kade’s gaze locked on to her shoulder. He stiffened. “I meant for you to capture her, not mate her.”

  Devin motioned to the woods with a jerk of his chin. “There were more of those lion shifters in the woods. They attacked me, and I accidentally hurt her. I had to do this.”

  The lie sat heavy on his tongue. Truth be told, he’d been too far gone to know if his actions had been accidental or not. He hoped they had been. Otherwise, he didn’t deserve to live.

  “Explain, Devin. How did you hurt her? I want to know everything. Now.”

  Devin turned her body to expose the marks on her belly, his sin.

  Kade cursed and glanced from the sealed wounds to his face. “You soul-bonded to a stranger? How did you manage to pull that off?”

  “I didn’t soul-bond to her.”

  Kade flicked his gaze from the woman’s shoulder to Devin’s face. Confusion pinched Kade’s brows. The lines marring them faded a moment later, and he nodded. “You had to have, but you were probably too far gone to realize what you were doing. I’m sure that helped the woman as she didn’t pick up on your worry for her.”

  “I didn’t soul-bond to her.”

  Kade sighed. He lowered his voice. “You had to have, Devin. There’s no other way to mate a human.”

  Eyes closed, Devin reached inside himself to confirm he wasn’t confused about what he had done. The sight of his cats lounging in an open metaphysical field greeted him. No cage in sight.

  Great. Years of work down the drain. How was he supposed to restrain them?

  The question sped his pulse. He shoved away that concern for the moment and focused on the reason he’d stepped into their realm. His soul overshadowed it, acting as their sun. It didn’t exactly brighten their world, but it offered some light, leaving the field in a perpetual state of dusk, but the empty hole in his soul cast a dark shadow over the grass, exactly as he’d expected it would.

  He met his alpha leader’s gaze. “I didn’t soul-bond to her.”

  Kade pinched the bridge of his nose. “Devin, you had—”

  “Soul-bonding is not the only way to take a mate. She didn’t need to be exposed to my crazy cats for me to stop her from dying.” He cleared his throat. The lump was back, choking him. “Today, anyway.”

  Kade closed the distance between them. Fury pulsed from him, and his aggression stirred Devin’s cats. Each big feline stood, body tensed and fangs bared, ready to meet the threat approaching them.

  “Tell me you didn’t do what I think you did.” Kade growled the words in Devin’s face.

  The familiar rage gripped him, tinting the world red and fuzzing his view of Kade’s face. Devin stroked the female’s side with his thumb. The slight contact pushed his anger back, allowing him to think.

  “It was the only way. She was dying. You understand? I had no other choice. She was too far gone to take my blood. Licking her wounds would’ve done nothing. I pierced organs.”

  Kade pivoted on his heel and strode to the small sports car. Bracing his arms against the open door, he hung his head. Several minutes passed while Kade seethed. Devin focused on the female’s steady heartbeat to keep his anger at bay.

  Finally, Kade turned. “You’ll finish it. Do you understand me? Once she’s stronger, you will soul-bond to her.”

  Devin’s first instinct was to snarl at the blatant order he had no intention of fulfilling, not without talking to the female. She might wear his claim, but it wasn’t one she’d chosen.

  “I didn’t lick her mate mark. It’ll just be another scar. And she won’t even know she’s mated to me unless I tell her which I have no intention of doing any time soon.” Or maybe ever. It all depended on her and her reaction to him.

  “That’s impossible.” Kade tilted his head. “Once our mating instincts are triggered, there is no pulling back empty-handed.”

  “Yeah? Tell that to the majority of our males who only enter into the breeding bond.”

  “That’s different. Those unions are deliberate. They want kids to carry on their genes. That’s it.”

  “This was a conscious choice too. I hurt her, and I refused to let her die.”

  “I get that, but to go to the extreme you did? You gave up your only chance at having a mate, to a human who will die in a few decades.” Kade shook his head. “No. I don’t believe it was as simple as that. This female is important to you, and the goddesses pushed you into a situation where you wouldn’t miss out on her.”

  “The goddesses don’t care about me. If they had, they would’ve saved me from that horrid imprisonment I endured, not wait three centuries before bothering to try and help me. No, this female isn’t some gift from the heavens. She was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  As if she wanted to prove him wrong, she brushed her mouth against his bare chest. The tip of her tongue touched his skin. The slight contact was all it took to get a rise out of him. He turned away from Kade. Not quickly enough. Kade’s chuckle told him he saw Devin’s reaction to the female.

  “Oh, really?”

  Devin breathed through the arousal. Once sure he had himself under control, he glanced over his shoulder and met Kade’s eyes. “I’m male, and I react to sexual stimuli the same as you do. It’s not a big deal.”

  “Not a big deal.” Kade muttered a string of curses under his breath. “You’re taking this whole situation pretty well, aren’t you?”

  He supposed he was, but he needed to stay calm for the female’s benefit. He wouldn’t stress her while she was healing.

  “What else am I supposed to do? I did what I had to do in order to save her life. Now, I’ll deal with the consequences.”

  “Guilt motivated you, then? Nothing else?”

  “Yeah. Guilt. That’s it.” He wasn’t positive he quite believed his own words, but if he mentioned the peace he’d experienced while in her presence, Kade would latch on to the topic of how the goddesses did their best to help their children. Devin didn’t believe a word of it. He and Mira were proof that the goddesses had forgotten them. Or no longer cared what happened to the race they’d birthed.

  “And what are you going to feel once the female dies?”

  “Nothing. I don’t have a piece of her soul, remember?”

  “You don’t need a piece of her soul in order to grieve her death.”

  “Depending on what her story is, I might not stick around long enough to watch her grow old or die.”

  “You’re a fool if you think you’ll be able to walk away from her.” Kade rubbed at his eyes. “And if the unthinkable happens, and she dies before you can tie her irrevocably to you, then you’ll lose your mind completely.”

  Devin shrugged. “Then I lose my mind. You can take my head and put me out of my misery.”

  Kade stepped forward. “I told you to never ask me that. Never.”

  “Then you can lock me in a cage. I don’t care. I will not take the choice out of her hands. I also won’t soul-bond to a kidnapper. Until I get her story, my mated status stays between you and I.”

  Kade snorted. “She wears your bite and smells like you. There’s no way to hide it.”

  “I didn’t lick the bite or her wounds. In a couple of days, there’ll be no way to tell who bit her. She’ll be free to walk away if that’s what she chooses.”

  “Along with a piece of your soul.” Hands clenched, Kade inhaled deeply, then released his breath through clenched teeth. “We’ll talk more about this later.”

  “Much later. She’s got a lot of healing to do before I start asking her questions about us.”

  “You’re right. As soon as she gains consciousness, you’re going to find out where Molly is,
and whether or not she was involved in selling Molly to the Krisban pride.”

  Devin cradled her closer and rested his chin against her head. “I will.”

  “If she’s guilty—”

  “I will get the truth from her first. There’s no need to plan her punishment yet. We know nothing about her. You said so yourself.”

  Kade motioned toward the sports car. “We know one thing. According to her registration, her name is Lena Burnett.”

  Devin glanced at the female—no, Lena’s face. No more lines of pain by her eyes, just the slack, relaxed expression of sleep. “I’ll try waking Lena in a few minutes to find out what she knows, but I doubt she’ll stir anytime soon. The moment she does, I’ll talk to her.”

  “That could take hours. Days.”

  “And? There’s not a lot I can do about it. I’ll ask Xander to search the town for Molly. Maybe you can call Shifter Affairs and find out what went wrong with the retrieval.”

  “I will, but that doesn’t change my concern for you.”

  “Me?”

  Kade motioned to Lena. “You realize you won’t be able to leave her side until she’s healed, and the more time you spend with her, the more attached you’ll get. If she decides to walk out on you, she’ll take more than your soul with her.”

  Although the chances of Lena falling for a shell of a man were slim, it didn’t change anything. “If you’re talking about love or some other soft emotion, I never expected a female to stick around me because of it. I’ll be fine.”

  Kade’s knowing gaze held Devin’s. He waited for Kade to call him a liar. Devin had made no secret of his desire for a family or his anger over knowing he’d never have one.

  After a moment, Kade shook his head. “Okay then, I’ll drive Lena’s car. Your mate will be too uncomfortable all scrunched up in her two-seater. The two of you can take mine. We’ll head to a hotel so she can rest.”

  “Great.” Devin carried Lena to the pond to wash the dirt and blood from her sealed wounds. With her tended to, he carefully laid her on the backseat of the ’Cuda and covered her with a spare blanket from the trunk.

  He glanced over his shoulder. “Will you watch her while I clean up?”

  “Of course.” Kade brushed a lock of hair from Lena’s cheek.

  Devin grasped his alpha’s wrist. “Watch her. Don’t touch her.”

  Kade snickered and raised his hands. “Wouldn’t think of it, my friend. That troublesome female is all yours.”

  No. He was hers. The only question that remained was—did she want him?

  Chapter 4

  The blanket of sleep slowly drew away, and Lena smiled. The details of the dream she’d had escaped her, yet a feeling of contentment remained.

  Cool air bathed her skin. The sheets under her body were soft. And the heavy weight of a lover was pressed against her back.

  Lover? What was she doing in bed with a guy?

  She opened her eyes. The darkened room didn’t give her many details. Enough, though, to realize it wasn’t hers. Great. Not only had she slept with a stranger, she’d gone home with him. Not smart. When it came to sex and men, however, she had a long list of regrets.

  She forced back the anxiety. There was no use berating herself. She knew the drill—discuss safety, then get out of here before her one-night stand got clingy. No way was she going to stick around and talk. Or worse, spend the day together. Not happening. She did not do relationships. Been there. Done that. Got the broken heart to prove it. Twice.

  Her lover licked her arm. She sucked in a shaky breath. The swipe of his tongue skipped energy across her skin. She closed her eyes to enjoy his attentions—maybe she didn’t have to leave yet—but his beard tickled her and ruined the experience.

  How had she ended up with a bearded guy? She hated facial hair.

  He moved closer and the hair on his legs rubbed against her thigh. She frowned and focused on the sensation. It didn’t feel quite like hair, more like…fur.

  The memories of the last few hours returned in a rush—the lion shifters who’d tried to steal her adopted sister, the promise she’d made to her dying stepdad, and him, the man who went on a rampage and clawed her stomach.

  Her heart raced, fear replacing the budding desire. Her lashes stuck but she opened her eyes. Slowly, she turned and came face-to-face with a spotted cat, a jaguar, to be precise.

  She swallowed hard and willed herself to remain calm.

  The cat draped its paws over her, pinning her hips to the bed, then lowered its head to her stomach.

  She screamed. One high-pitched shriek followed another.

  The cat morphed into a huge, muscular, and very naked man. She caught a glimpse of wickedly long canines before he rolled their bodies and pressed her back to his chest. He clamped one big palm over her mouth and pressed the other over her hip, silencing and restraining her.

  So nobody would hear her when he ripped out her throat, maybe?

  “Quiet, woman.”

  Her muffled cries embarrassed her. She couldn’t stop them, though. It was him. She’d know his gravelly voice anywhere.

  The room closed in around her, and the memory came rushing back—her screams, the enraged roars of a big cat, the sounds of men dying. Her chest constricted, making it hard to breathe. She had to get away. She bucked and fought, but he draped a leg over her thrashing limbs, effectively trapping her.

  “I’m not going to hurt you. You’re safe. I swear it.”

  She needed to calm down. Predators liked fear. She took a slow breath in, held it, then let it escape in a soft hiss through clenched teeth. Focusing on the mechanics of breathing helped. So did the utter stillness of the man in bed with her. Did he do that on purpose to convince her of the truth of his words? Or merely so she’d stop screaming? Either way, her fear lessened.

  “That’s a good girl.” He brushed his lips against her temple. “A very good girl.”

  Her belly warmed with the praise. She hated the reaction but couldn’t stop it. She’d dabbled in the bondage scene enough that his words, along with the inability to move, triggered her instincts.

  “Are you going to scream again?”

  She shook her head.

  “Now I want you to relax. Can you do that for me?”

  She nodded.

  “Perfect.” He slid his hand to her throat and massaged gently. “Breathe. Just breathe and let your fear go.”

  She did as he ordered and used the time to assess her body. No sharp pain accompanied her inhalations, and the burning agony in her gut had dimmed to a slight twinge. She wiggled her fingers. Not broken. Had she imagined it all?

  She closed her eyes and drew the memory forth. No, she recalled every vivid detail from the first moment she’d locked eyes with the tiger chasing her to when he’d whipped around at her plea and caught her belly with his outstretched arm. He hadn’t acted as if he’d noticed her or cared that he’d hurt her. He’d yanked his hand back and attacked the nearest lion without missing a beat.

  A chill ran down her spine. The man at her back adjusted his body to press more of his hot skin against hers as if he thought to warm her. Unless he could wipe the images of his cat’s vacant eyes or his face contorted in rage from her mind, he couldn’t counter the ice in her blood.

  “Are you calmer?”

  She nodded.

  “I’m glad. I want you to stay that way, so tell me where the child is, and I’ll let you go.”

  He wanted information from her. That was why he’d saved her life. A human wouldn’t have been able to walk away, given the injuries she’d sustained. She’d been around shifters long enough to know some of them could share their healing ability. The how was a mystery she’d never cared to unravel. She’d been trying to escape their world for years but kept getting sucked back into it.

  “No,” she answered.

  “I need to find her.”

  “That’s nice. We all want things.”

  Her sarcasm came out at the worst possible
times, always getting her in trouble. She bit her lip and berated herself for allowing her attitude to peek out.

  “This is not a game. I have to find that child.”

  No. It wasn’t close to being a game. Lives were at stake, and she’d continue to dangle hers in the crosshairs if it meant saving her younger sisters, one biological and one adopted. Lena had purposely run to give Gwen and Molly a chance to escape. Nothing said by the shifter holding her would convince her to betray them.

  “Well?” The shifter paused as if fully expecting her compliance. “I said, tell me where she is.”

  “No.”

  He growled. With their bodies pressed tightly together, the vibrations from that animalistic sound traveled down the length of her spine. She tensed and waited for him to strike. Torture her, maybe. All the scary things that could happen to a woman in the wrong man’s arms flashed through her mind.

  She choked on bile, anticipating the worst, but all he did was stroke her neck and nuzzle the sensitive spot behind her ear. In the face of the gentle stimulation, her traitorous body relaxed in his embrace.

  Several minutes passed in silence while he cuddled with her as if they were lovers. The soft stroke of his fingertips over her hip and the intimate way he spooned her messed with her mind. Her thoughts drifted to sex. Hard not to, especially with his impressive body pressed to hers.

  She was in bed with a naked shifter, one who’d torn other men apart before her eyes, one who’d nearly gutted her without so much as a blink of an eye. Why wasn’t she afraid? She should be, except the contentment she’d felt when she first woke had returned.

  Not good. The man holding her was her kidnapper, not someone she should want to spend the night with.

  She reached for the memory of what had happened in the woods. The blood and gore, the agony. Instead of her screams, she heard his apologies for hurting her. In place of her pain, she remembered the cocoon of strong arms as he cradled her against his chest and pressed kisses to her face. His actions didn’t make sense. Why touch her so tenderly after callously pushing her body off his claws and letting her drop to the ground?