Rondy’s priority was Cecily. Mine was keeping us all safe, and Cecily’s was coming up with ideas to keep the cops at bay. Rondy walked into the shop and did his job. I did mine.
I circled around the tourist-crowded shops smelling two distinct male odors. We would be leaving tonight when I picked up Rondy and Cecily.
The cats spotted me first. I glanced over my shoulder and the two men were charging my way. I ran, leading them away from our hotel. I needed to grab our things and also get the car. I entered a neighborhood a half mile from the beach and began jumping fences. I stayed in the shadows as much as possible and finally realized I wasn’t being followed.
They might have already had my scent trail and returned to the hotel to wait. I approached the hotel cautiously, but they weren’t there. Their scent was nowhere around. I loaded our things into the Honda and drove back to the boardwalk and the boutique. I followed Rondy and Cecily’s scent to a different hotel on foot and then went back for the car.
I caught Rondy peering out the window as I pulled up. He was out the door immediately with Cecily a few seconds behind.
“Get in. We need to change hotels. My scent will lead them here.”
They piled in the car and I took off. Cecily didn’t care if I drove the Honda, but she still wouldn’t let Rondy drive. I found it funny, though it irritated the crap out of him.
We found another hotel, and because we were all exhausted from our day on the beach we needed sleep. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning,” I told them. I couldn’t help thinking that Florida was a horrible idea. I knew this was cat territory and I should never have agreed to come here. If we ran across any others and survived, we were heading north. I didn’t care how bad Rondy wanted to see Disney World, I’d tie him up and throw him in the trunk.
I would keep my clan safe.
Chapter Eighteen
Ivan
The Moor mentally sent me the information I needed while I drove the van up north. He and Becca spent a night at the beach on the gulf. He smelled the cats, but Becca didn’t want to be there when the problem was taken care of. She had to be the most non-threatening vampire I’d ever come across. Strange for a vampire, it was exactly what The Moor loved about her.
The van was equipped with steel shielding—a cage on wheels is how I thought of it. It would hold the females and child, but I would need to intimidate them into remaining quiet. Not that the thought bothered me at all. Teaching them to obey and stay the fuck away from me would get us off on the right foot.
I drove the entire day and purchased a hotel room for the night. Sniffing out the cats would be easier in wolf form. At midnight, I slipped out of my clothes and placed an overly large dog collar around my neck. After I shifted, the collar gave the illusion that I belonged to someone. My size would keep most people back and the collar would have them thinking I was a very large dog.
I’d left the hotel room door open a crack and now pushed it fully open with my nose. Grabbing the handle and pulling it closed was a little harder, but I managed. One of the hotel key cards was wedged under the van’s rear tire and I was set. Vengeful wolf blood pumped through my veins. If I was lucky, in the next few hours, I’d be killing cats.
Staying to the shadows, I could still move quickly. It was a Tuesday night and the ocean-side town was quiet. An hour later, I picked up the scent—two separate male signatures. No females. The women were hidden somewhere probably being tortured when the males decided to give them attention. Not that I cared. A good cat was a dead cat—male or female.
It took another hour to locate the pride’s location. They lived outside the city limits in a home that was larger than our two shacks, though in about the same condition. There were no lights on inside. I got a strong whiff of the females. They didn’t worry me. I’d take out the males first.
I headed back to the hotel, shifted, recovered the keycard, and let myself back into the room. I grabbed my small bag and keys. The van ride was short. It was now three in the morning. I waited another hour before making my approach on four paws.
I went through the glass window without feeling the sharp pain as several pieces of glass lacerated my face. I had only one goal in mind. A male cat in human form slept on the couch. He wasn’t dressed, and before I could spring in his direction, he shifted and hit me head on. Seconds later, the other attacked. My jaws tightened around the throat of the first one as razor-sharp claws scored through the thick fur on my back, slicing skin. I tossed the first cat aside and slammed backward into the wall to dislodge the second cat.
What I didn’t expect was more than one-hundred and fifty pounds of female to charge me. Her mistake. It would be one less cat to transport. I tossed the male aside knowing he would be back on me in an instant. I grabbed the front leg of the female, spun, and twisted it. She screamed while trying to back away, but I took hold of her throat.
“No, please.”
The cat I’d first thrown had shifted. He crawled toward the woman.
“Let her go. Take me, I won’t fight you.”
What the fuck?
I dropped the female and she shifted while rolling away. “No, no, don’t hurt him,” she begged. Using her body, she stayed between me and him. He gently placed his arms on her shoulders as he moved around to protect her.
I turned slightly at a loud growl behind me. The other male was little more than a teenager, but he retained his cat form, ready to go another round. I shifted to human.
I looked back at the first male. “Tell him to shift or I’ll kill him.”
“Treson, shift,” he said.
The young one, Treson, gave a roar of frustration before he returned to his human form.
“We have no quarrel with you, wolf. We live here in peace.” The scent of fear filled the room.
I moved back as the younger cat slowly circled me and took up his stance in front of the female.
They were cats, but they protected their women. Strange. I knew there was another female and a child around, but I didn’t see or hear them. “Where is the cub?”
The men gave each other a quick glance before the older one spoke. “We’ll die protecting them. Your fight is with us. Agree that the females and cub walk away.”
My wolf wanted blood—craved the taste of iron and death. Revenge. There wasn’t enough cat blood in the world to feed it.
I noticed the female’s fingers wrapped tightly around the upper arm of her male.
“Morris, I have a problem.”
“Yes,” was his immediate response.
“I need you here because I don’t trust myself to handle a development in the situation.”
The thought left my brain and The Moor stood beside me. The female’s scream was instant.
The Moor held up his hand. “Quiet your female. We mean you no harm.”
Now that was bullshit. He told me to kill the males.
The male wrapped his arms around the female, shushing her quietly. Her entire body trembled as did the young male. Once The Moor showed up, their fate was sealed and they didn’t expect it to end well.
“Grab clothes and let’s sit down and talk.” The Moor glanced my way and I backed up another step.
He gave me a chin nod, so I walked out to the van. I heard the child crying off in the distance.
“Do you want me to collect the child and other female? They ran from the home when I attacked.”
“Yes, if you can do it without causing harm.”
“You take all the fun out of everything.”
His laughter drifted through my head. “Humor and no dead cats? Aliens have obviously replaced you with one of their own.”
Ha, ha, ha. Everyone’s a comedian. I pulled sweats and a t-shirt from the van. Half a mile away, I found the female clutching the child closely to her chest.
Tears ran down her face, but her voice was strong. “Please make it quick and don’t let her suffer.” She stared me straight in the eyes. This was something our two cats back home wou
ld never do.
“Your friends are unharmed. I have no plan to injure you or the child.” She continued staring until I finally turned around and headed back to the house. She stayed about twenty feet behind as her sniffles followed me.
The cats were sitting on the couch, the female practically in the older cat’s lap. The Moor stood back. I walked in and waited for the female to follow. As soon as she entered with the child, the other female jumped up and grabbed the baby from her arms. The two of them cried louder than the child.
“Your females may wait in the other room while we speak,” The Moor said to the older male.
The cat stood and walked toward his mate and the child. He answered The Moor with surprising bravery. “My female is equal in making decisions. All but the child have a vote. If we die,” he looked at his mate, “we die together.”
She noticeably stood taller and met The Moor’s eyes too.
“Then let us sit down and discuss your options.”
I knew what was coming and my wolf didn’t like it. It was one thing to have females. Male cats were beyond what my beast could take.
The Moor grabbed a chair from the small dinette. Wisely, he understood having me sit with them might not be in their best interest. I walked to the door and crossed my hands across my chest with my feet spread wide.
“This is Ivan, alpha of the Southeast pack. I am Morris, vampire of the Southeast clan.”
The older male spoke after taking his a seat on the couch. “I am Mase.” He rested his hand on the woman’s thigh. “This is my mate, Lacy, and our child, Meesha. Our friends are Treson and his sister Marisol.” He took a deep breath, glanced at me, and quickly looked away. “We want no trouble with you and yours. We will leave here today and go north.”
It didn’t matter the situation you put The Moor in, he presided like a king. It must be a vampire thing. He ignored me completely. Neither my wolf nor human side, were happy.
“Would you consider heading south?”
I couldn’t handle it and walked out the door. I expected The Moor to blare into my head, but he didn’t. Hell, the entire situation was my fault and I should have just killed them all. I waited at the van. About an hour later, as the sun began to rise, The Moor came out followed by the new possible members of our clan.
The younger female was the last to get in the back of the van. Mase would travel up front with me because The Moor obviously had a death wish for the cat. Before Mase shut the back door, his mate whispered, “What about the female?”
“Female?” I asked.
Mase sighed. “I scented a lone female cat last night. We followed her, but lost her scent. We planned to look again today. It’s not safe for a lone cat and being female makes her a bigger target.”
Damn, damn, damn.
“Find her and bring her with you.” The Moor said before doing his disappearing act.
Chapter Nineteen
Talya
I barely slept until the sun came over the horizon. That’s when I passed out from exhaustion. It was not what I had planned. My nerves were on edge because we were in danger. I woke to the smell of coffee and food. Cecily and Rondy sat at the small table in the corner of the room near the window.
“What time is it?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes.
“Eight. I didn’t think you’d ever wake up,” replied Rondy.
“Didn’t sleep until this morning,” I said on my way to the bathroom. I shut the door firmly behind me and ignored my empty stomach. I would eat in the car. After relieving my bladder, I washed my face and brushed my teeth. I took a last look at my swollen, sleep-deprived eyes in the mirror and walked out. “We’re leaving now.”
Rondy had a piece of bacon halfway to his mouth.
“Save it and we’ll eat in the car. We’re in danger every second we stay here.”
They didn’t argue and we were out the door ten minutes later. I stowed our bags in the trunk, Cecily opened the door on the driver’s side, and Rondy started crawling into the backseat. The hair on my arms stood straight up and I knew we were screwed.
I hit the top of the car, hard. “Drive, Cecily, and don’t stop.” I yelled and charged the man who came around the corner of the hotel. It would have been better if the place was crowded, but it was a dump and there was no one in the parking lot.
I barreled into the man and we both fell down with me on top of him.
A strong hand wrapped around my upper arm and jerked me up. “What the hell are you doing here, you crazy cat?” was growled into my ear.
This smell wasn’t cat. It was wolf. And I knew this wolf. We’d never met, but Amy and Marcus’s semi-adopted twins had his picture in their room. Fuck.
Ivan.
“Let her go,” Rondy said.
Damn idiot. I gave him a glance and sure enough Cecily stood beside him. I had to get them out of here. “I’ll go with you, but these two need to leave. I only hitched a ride with them.”
Rondy took another step closer, ignoring my pleading eyes. “No, Talya, they’re not taking you back.”
Ivan pulled me closer and even with the shit going on, I took notice of his strong masculine scent. God, it was incredible. He pulled me tighter so my back pressed hard against his chest.
“Humans? Are you out of your mind?” The hot breath of his whisper sent a chill through my entire body.
One second I was pressed against his warmth and the next I was flying.
“No fucking way,” he said at the same time my entire body went airborne and thunked against the side of the building. My head also took a nice hit against the concrete on the way down. I shook it, trying to clear my scrambled brain. I didn’t have time to decipher the look of horror on Ivan’s face because Rondy flew at him before my wits returned.
Ivan barely moved and Rondy was on the ground with a foot at his throat. I pushed off the cement, but before I could attack, Cecily did. Both of them were out of their minds. I’d told them beastkind could and would kill them in a heartbeat. She grabbed Ivan’s shaggy hair and pulled back then struck his nose with her palm.
“Woman,” was all Ivan said as he held her back by the collar of her dress to keep her from inflicting more pain to his face. She kicked his shin, but he didn’t let up on Rondy’s throat. The kid’s face was red and going blue. The cat, who went to the ground with me a moment before, was now on his feet. Ivan pushed Cecily into the other man’s arms so the cat could suffer some of the abuse she was throwing around.
Deadly wolf eyes came back to me. “Who’s the kid?”
I didn’t think to lie this time. Rondy’s life was in the balance. “My friend.”
“What does your friend know?”
I glanced down at Rondy. His huge eyes stared up at me.
“Please don’t hurt him. I’ll come with you.” I would beg. I would do anything to save my friends.
“You are out of your fucking mind. Humans,” he practically spit out. Now it was his face turning red. “They know about us?”
“It’s not their fault. Please.”
“Mase, take the boy and his grandma to the van and put them in the back. I need to have a short talk with Talya.”
Crap, he knew who I was. The gossip about a one-armed missing cat had made it to Florida. Ivan released the pressure to Rondy’s throat and I listened as he sucked in needed air.
“I’ve seen your face. I know who and what you are. You harm her and I’ll skin you in your sleep.” Cecily was not going quietly.
“Shut up, woman.” He turned his glaring eyes to me. “For the love of the Goddess make her shut up.”
She so needed to be quiet, but I knew it was too late. “Cecily, I’ll be okay. You and Rondy do what he says.”
Cecily helped Rondy stand and the cat, who Ivan called Mase, guided them to the van on the other side of the parking lot. I watched him try to assist Cecily inside, but she shook off his help and stubbornly climbed in the back followed by Rondy. The cat kept the back door open, but stood guard so they
couldn’t escape. Not that the crazy duo would leave me.
I heard movement in the gravel and snapped my head back in Ivan’s direction. I knew cats had killed his mate and he wanted all cats dead. So why was he with a male cat?
He stopped inches in front of me, but took a quick step back. “Motherfucker,” he said in the most disgusted voice I’d ever heard.
He was crazy, but I had to make him understand. “It was an accident and it wasn’t their fault. They won’t say a word. There are other humans who know about us. Please, you need to release them. I’ll do anything you want.” I was desperate and I meant every word.
“You have no idea do you?” he growled out.
Crazy, insane, and missing half his marbles; he made no sense. I felt the power of my beast build. Fight or flight. There would be no flight. My friends’ lives were on the line. I’d never in my life allowed my alpha to burst free. For a split second I worried about shifting in my clothes. That would be more dangerous than remaining in human form.
“What the hell are you doing?”
I could no longer read his tone. The power I’d always denied myself grew stronger. I thought it would explode. My legs tensed. My fists clenched. I leapt and Ivan met me in the middle. The force of the collision rattled my teeth. I opened my human jaws and sank them into his shoulder at the same time I forced my knee up aiming for his crotch. I missed my target, but connected with his upper thigh.
“Stop, you little hellcat,” he roared as his arms circled me and pulled me closer.
I tried to twist, but he had me too tight. I flung the top of my head up into his jaw. He stumbled back, but didn’t release me. He swung me around and my legs thrashed in the air until my back slammed into the wall. His fingers gripped my throat.
If looks could kill I’d be dead. “Are you crazy?”
I guess I was because I spit full in his face. I didn’t get what I expected though. Ivan, previous alpha to the largest pack in the country… smiled. And then he did something even more unexpected. His lips crashed down on mine.
Fang Chronicles: Ivan Page 9