“A happier liege?” Jalin sounded so hopeful it near broke Sasha’s heart. There was nothing to do to fix things the way Jalin wanted, but Sasha couldn’t exactly explain that to him. Somehow a conversation of how he wasn’t going to get happy because his fated heart was a lynx who didn’t want to be mated with him… nor would the coven accept that their prince was bonded to an absentee cat…. Yeah, that wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have. Not to mention he had to have an heir at some point. That he couldn’t get out of, gay or not. There were some, such as his uncle, who believed he should already have an heir, especially since his parents and his only sister were dead.
“And pointing out that hanging out at a straight club isn’t exactly my thing won’t do any good, will it?” He could simply refuse, but Jalin had never asked him before, had never shown such concern for his mental well-being before.
“No, sir. I know you’d rather attend an event at one of the BDSM clubs or maybe go dance at one of the many gay nightclubs, but since you refuse to date, refuse even a dalliance, for some reason, those options mean little for you right now. So—”
Sasha jerked forward as his hands convulsed on the steering wheel. He slammed the gearshift into neutral for a moment as he tried to figure out what had just happened. Never in his two-hundred-plus years had his body betrayed him like that. Ever. Trembling, Sasha tried to think, but all he could focus on was an immediate need to get to Trace. Now! Right now!
Fumbling, Sasha put the car back into gear and peeled out of the parking lot, not caring if there were cops or oncoming traffic. He only knew he had to get to Trace.
“Sasha!” Jalin’s panicked voice cut in, and the way he said it told Sasha it wasn’t the first time he’d said it.
“What?” he snarled as the Hellcat careened around a corner, tires squealing loudly as they gripped the road. Sasha had no idea how, but he knew he was getting close to Trace. He followed the pull he felt, determined to get to his heart as fast as he could—hopefully without hurting anyone in the process.
“What’s going on?”
“Trace” was all he managed to force out as he slammed into the parking lot of a club. Sasha didn’t even pay attention to which one, just jerked the car into park, threw the door open, and, after nearly strangling himself, managed to get free. He then took off across the parking lot as fast as he could—a fact a tiny voice murmured would get him in trouble if anyone noticed, as he would seem to have simply disappeared. Not that he cared right then.
He could scent Trace and fear, two things that should never be together, as far as Sasha was concerned. Then he heard a female voice say, “Papa just told me to kill you first.” Immediately after, the tang of blood flooded the air. Trace’s blood!
“No!” he bellowed as he entered the alleyway. Sasha would have gone after the two fleeing vampires but for the crumpled form of Trace bleeding heavily on the filthy, wet ground.
Sasha dropped to his knees beside Trace as he hissed for Jalin to make sure they were safe. He then scooped Trace into his arms. It was difficult to see how bad the damage was, as the blood was so thick in the air it pulled at Sasha—it would any vampire. He was more worried about saving his heart than in tasting the male in his arms, no matter how sweet he smelled.
He ripped his button-down over his head and used it to wipe away as much of the blood as he could to see the actual damage—he just hoped it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Ha!
There were a series of deep puncture wounds made so violently, the edges were little rips and tears in Trace’s neck. Sasha was pretty sure there was no way they could be stitched up, nor would they heal on their own. Not unless the lynx could come out, but since Trace was unconscious, that wasn’t going to happen. The weird thing was every one of the punctures had missed his carotid artery.
Gods, but how he’d wanted to taste his mate, but not like this! Never like this!
He tried applying pressure to the wounds, even though he knew it wouldn’t help. How could he heal his heart and not lose it at the same time?
“Unless you’re prepared for him to die, you’re going to have to seal those wounds, sir,” Jalin said as he approached slowly from the opposite side of the alley, hands out, palms turned up. “Not even a shifter can heal all that. He’s lost too much blood.”
“I know.” Sasha swallowed hard, knowing saving his fated heart was likely to cost it as well. There was no way a shifter would be okay with a vampire tasting their blood on the best of days, much less after such an attack. Trace would likely equate him with the monsters who hurt him, but Sasha couldn’t let Trace die. “Pull the car around to the access.”
He didn’t take the time to see what Jalin did or didn’t do, or to see if Dimka and Summer had caught up with them yet. Instead he laid Trace across his lap and chest so he could brace him in case he jerked when Sasha healed the wounds. Sasha then bent his head and carefully traced the tip of his tongue along the punctures in Trace’s flesh, lapping up the blood there and closing the wound with the chemicals all vampires had in their saliva, which had prevented mortals throughout history from noticing their feedings.
He couldn’t help the growl that slipped out, or the fact he was harder than he’d ever been in his life, even with Trace unconscious and hurt, draped across him. Trace tasted…. Gods, he didn’t have the words to describe how the lynx tasted or how he affected him. Sasha also knew this would be a hundred times worse on him now, as tasting Trace would start the bond for him, in truth. There would be no one for him for as long as Trace existed, probably not even after. Just that tiny amount, and he knew he was lost to the lynx in his arms. To a male who didn’t want him even as a friend, much less as anything more.
Sasha continued to lick the wounds until there wasn’t a mark left. He couldn’t remove all the blood or the damage inside Trace so easily, he knew, though he would if he could.
Summer stepped into Sasha’s line of sight. “My lord, if you’ll allow me, I’ll carry him to the car.”
“No,” Sasha snarled.
“We need to get out of here before the cops are called. There’s a lot of blood out here.”
Sasha looked up then and nodded, but he still didn’t release Trace. Instead he carefully maneuvered Trace until he could cradle him, then stood and walked toward the SUV Summer and Dimka drove. Summer followed along beside him but thankfully didn’t speak again. When they reached the SUV, Summer opened the back door. Sasha levitated up, still cradling Trace, into the backseat.
Jalin stepped up before the door closed. “I have your keys and will follow you in your car. Are we going back to the coven house or to the lynx lands?”
“Home. Call our doctor.” He was too worried about why Trace wasn’t waking to get much else out. Was it normal for lynx shifters to stay unconscious when attacked like this? He didn’t pay attention as the vehicle started, and then they pulled away from the club.
Chapter Five
SASHA PACED outside the bedroom Trace was currently in. The doctor and one of his assistants, along with Jalin, were still inside with him. It had taken Dr. Niko throwing Sasha out of the room to get him to let go of Trace. If the others hadn’t known there was something more between the two men, they did now. Not that Trace was likely to ever allow Sasha near him after this.
When Dimka and Summer came around the corner together, Sasha stopped and faced them. “What did you find out?” he hissed. “Who were they, and could you track them?”
“Tracking them wasn’t hard, sir, which is why what we found is highly suspect.” Dimka glanced to Summer before he met Sasha’s gaze. “If the hotel room’s items are to be believed, your uncle is behind this. However—”
“What!”
“However,” he repeated louder but without yelling. “It’s all too neat and well laid out for my liking. If they had written a confession and put out a map, it wouldn’t have been any simpler to find the room or the information we now have. I don’t trust it.”
“Nor do I, my lord.”
Summer worried the cuticle of his right thumb before he continued. “Something isn’t right. I have never liked your mother’s brother. He’s far too power hungry, in my opinion, as you know, but this….” He shook his head, brows drawn together. “Having his children do this also makes no sense to me, as you would simply kill both his heirs and then him. Anyone with sense knows this. Well, had the attack worked and Trace died.”
Sasha didn’t want to think about Trace dead, so he focused on the rest of the information instead. “Very true. Family or not, I am not known for my patience or kindness when those I care for and protect are attacked. And attacking this particular tribe is doubly insane.” The last group of vampires to set upon the Glacier Rim Tribe—specifically against Sasha’s sister, Princess Nadia, and her fated heart, Alpha Orin Green—were destroyed to a man. Harming Trace would bring the same once he found out who was truly behind it.
“As for the cat in question” came the doctor’s voice from behind Sasha.
Sasha spun around so quickly he nearly overbalanced himself. “What news of Trace?”
“That’s what I thought.” Dr. Niko stared at Sasha a moment longer before motioning him to enter the room. “Come. We may have a problem, and I’m thinking you are the only one who can fix it, my lord.”
“Why? What’s wrong with Tr…?” The words died on Sasha’s tongue when he entered the room and found Trace. Sasha’s worries about why his would-be mate wasn’t waking up were over, as Trace was crouched against the far wall of the guest bedroom. He was obviously awake. However, the strange look in Trace’s eyes and the quiet hissing coming from him didn’t comfort Sasha in the least.
With a loud screech—or what would approximate the lynx version, but with a human voice—Trace launched himself across the room and landed atop Sasha. Too startled to do more than brace himself for the fall, Sasha allowed the shifter to bear him to the floor and kneel above him. Trace then paced around him, snarling and hissing and arching his back if anyone got too close. The only saving grace for his loyal guards was that Trace’s fingers were human instead of being their lynx paws—with their razor-sharp claws.
“Back off, everyone. I don’t know what’s going on with Trace, but he’s not harming me in any way, so stay back.”
The collective yeses were slow to come and in no way happy sounding.
“Jalin, please call Alpha Keith Skyler. Maybe he will know why Trace is doing this.” As soon as Jalin stepped out, Sasha turned his head to search out the doctor. “Any clue what’s going on?”
“I don’t know enough about shifter psychology, but he seems to think he’s protecting you from us. I’ve never heard of such a thing happening, though.”
Nor had Sasha.
“Shifters don’t protect vampires, and definitely not from their own servants and guards,” Summer insisted. “Well, maybe if there was a coup or something and they were especially close, or had been raised and trained as guards, but that’s not the case here.”
Sasha nodded as he thought. Sadly, nothing came to mind to explain Trace’s odd behavior.
“Trace? Can you talk to me?”
Nothing.
“Why don’t you let me sit up and we can talk, hon?”
Hiss….
“Okay, so you don’t like that idea either. You could sit beside me instead of menacing my doctor and guards. I promise not to go anywhere.”
All that got him was a growl. Instead of feeling indignant, as he was certain he ought to feel, it turned him on, the sound shooting straight to his groin—a fact he would deny to his dying day! He knew this was his fated heart, but still, this was a cat man acting like a literal cat…. That shouldn’t be anything but disgusting. And yet….
The longer the strange standoff went on, the more Trace seemed to tune out the others’ presence. He did nothing to try to force them out of the room as long as they stayed on their side. Instead he rubbed his face against Sasha’s face and chest, purring constantly—driving Sasha crazy at the same time and causing his dick to fill to the point of pain, even with all the strangeness. Having Trace so close and wanting to be in contact with him, weird or not, was doing nothing to help him control his desire for the damnable lynx!
When a knock came some time later, Sasha jumped, causing Trace to snarl and hiss, arching his back as his stance became rigid in front of Sasha again.
Keith walked into the room slowly, followed by Jason. Keith’s expression gave nothing away, but Jason looked scared as he looked at Sasha and gasped.
“Trace,” Keith said in a deep rumble. His nostrils flared and he immediately tensed. “Think you dumped enough pheromones in here? You know vampires don’t respond to them the same way we do, right?”
Trace huffed but didn’t move or respond otherwise.
“Move away from Sasha now.”
Trace let out a long, plaintive mewl and collapsed on top of Sasha, his fingers biting into Sasha’s shoulders.
Keith cocked his head to the side before he shifted into his Chosen of Baast form—and damn if that isn’t just as impressive now as the first time!
“Are you claiming him, Trace?” Keith growled, his voice harder to understand in that form but still clear enough. He took a deliberate step forward, his aura so imposing that he seemed to take up half the room. While Sasha did want Trace to calm down, now he was conflicted; he didn’t want Keith to have to hurt Trace to stop him! “Because unless you are, you have no right to keep him. You know that.”
Trace knelt over Sasha and made strange mewling noises that sounded very odd coming from a human body. The pattern seemed almost as if Trace were trying to explain something, but there were no words. Well, no words Sasha could understand.
“What the hell do you mean, claim, and why is he doing this?” Sasha snapped.
“Wait your turn, vampire,” Keith replied as he continued to stare at Trace.
Trace hissed at Keith. He then huddled over Sasha and again rubbed his face over Sasha’s, purring softly as he did.
“Well, I’ll be damned.” Keith’s voice was gravelly but back to human.
Sasha turned his head as best he could with a human cat trying to keep his full attention. “What? You know what’s going on? I don’t want to forcibly move him to free myself. I could, but Trace would get hurt in the process.”
“In more ways than one.”
“Meaning? I’m in no mood for kitty doublespeak right now.”
“That’s Trace, though it’s not. Well, to be more precise, that’s Trace the lynx, though he’s in the human body somehow. What the hell happened tonight?” Keith demanded. “I only know of one thing that can cause the human side to retreat and leave the lynx in charge like this, and I don’t want to believe you would have anything to do with something like that.”
“We can get to that in a minute. Can you get him to let me up, and what do you mean, claim me?”
“Once you make all the vampires, especially all those unmated, leave your presence, he’ll calm down. He sees them as a threat to his claim on you. As for the claim, just get them out of here, and we’ll talk.”
If this Trace were just the cat side, that might make sense. Instinct not letting the “reasons” for why they couldn’t be mated get in the way?
“Doctor, Dimka, Summer, Jalin, please leave and keep everyone out of my suite until otherwise notified.”
“But we can’t leave you alone with a rogue shifter, sir,” Jalin snapped.
“Really, Jalin? You think Keith is going to hurt me?”
“I was more thinking the cat currently sitting on you, actually.”
“Thank you for your concern, but you know full well I could remove him if I so chose. I don’t wish to harm him, so I’m doing things Alpha Keith’s way. However, clear my chambers now!”
Once it was only Sasha, Trace, Keith, and Jason, Sasha let out a slow breath. “Trace, hon, can you move a little now? Please?”
Trace huffed but finally let Sasha up. Sasha slowly stood and looked aroun
d the room, somehow knowing if he picked anywhere to sit Trace couldn’t easily get to him, it would cause issues. Again. With that in mind, he climbed up onto the bed, shoving the pillows to the headboard so he could prop his back against them. Trace immediately draped himself across Sasha so his head was in Sasha’s lap, facing outward so he could see Keith and Jason.
Keith pulled chairs up beside the bed for him and Jason.
“Sasha?” Jason swallowed hard. “Are you okay?”
“I’m all right, hon. Trace is having a terrible night, though.” Sasha dropped one hand down to pet Trace, enjoying the feel of Trace’s hair as he ran it through his fingers. “I didn’t want to hurt him by forcing him to back off or to restrain him. I could tell he would have fought me, or the others, had they tried to move him. He’s really in no condition for any kind of fighting.”
“Explain this to me, please.” Keith sat forward, his elbows on his knees. “Why is Trace like this all of a sudden? And why is he here? Oh, and why do I smell his blood?” Keith dipped his gaze to Trace for a moment, then added, “And you need to control your emotions. The pheromones are so thick in here that if I’d brought another shifter with me, you would have ended up in a fight.”
Trace pushed closer to Sasha but didn’t make any more mewling noises.
Sasha sighed, not happy about what little information he had to share. He relayed what he knew: finding Trace, the injuries, the fact Dimka and Summer believed it was a setup, the way he’d found Trace when the doctor called him into the room. “Unfortunately I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t know who they are, other than they obviously want to cause trouble between your tribe and my coven, me and my uncle, and who knows what else. Plus there’s Trace and the literal cat-man issue he’s got going on right now.”
“Do you know what’s wrong with him, Keith?” Jason held Keith’s hand tight, but his gaze only left Sasha’s to flit to Trace, and then went back to Sasha. “And are you really okay, hon? I know you seem all right, but he knocked you to the floor and all.”
Fangs with a Heart Page 5