She needed to talk to Lena. Unload on her, really. She envied her friend. At least her fated love had been an unrequited high school crush. Jessa didn’t know how to begin a relationship without all the build up.
She scowled at another clump of weeds and yanked them out, dirt clinging to the roots.
“Jessa.”
The voice stroked down her spine. She quickly stood, and found Cenek easing the garden gate closed behind him. She soured on the narrow footpath behind the townhomes. Pity the park behind the homes hadn’t been paved over for a parking lot. Maybe then the rumble of car engines would give her some warning of unwanted guests.
“I rang the front bell, but there was no answer.”
“So you decided some light breaking and entering was the next step?” She snapped.
What motive could Cenek possibly have for showing up? He wanted to help with the hunters, sure. The why of it bothered her. He’d caused enough damage in her life without appearing at her home. She didn’t want to stick around and see him burn everything to the ground.
“I don’t think checking your backyard counts as breaking and entering.”
They stared at each other like two strange cats sizing the other up. Jessa sighed and wiped her forehead. She glanced down at her gloves and immediately regretted the action. She didn’t need to look like some dirty-faced orphan when booting Cenek from her life for good.
“I suppose I should thank you for not mentioning our connection last night.”
“I couldn’t be sure you hadn’t told them. I didn’t want to be run out without a chance to offer my help, and see you.”
“Ah, so you admit what you did to me was something that would cause people to be upset?” She struggled to keep her voice calm.
It’d been years since they were last alone together, not since she left Prague to continue her European adventure without him. They’d argued over where to go next, and said hurtful things to one another in the process. Instead of apologizing for her end of the fight, she’d packed her bags and bought a train ticket. She figured she only remembered their breakup so clearly because of what had happened after.
He shook his head. His black curls were loose around his face. Jessa wasn’t surprised to find herself recoiling from him, rather than enjoying the sight. The strength of her reaction startled her. Her chimera chattered happily, and Jessa wanted to grumble. Damn mate mark.
“I was young and in love and mad with power,” Cenek said.
Jessa’s desire to grumble amped up even more. It was a shitty explanation for cursing an ex-girlfriend into being a shape shifter. “That doesn’t sound like an apology.”
“No, I suppose not. But would you really give up all that power even if I could undo it?”
Jessa’s ears hummed with white noise. After the time she’d spent trying to find Cenek to remove his curse, after the years she’d gone through attempting to control her shifts, and he admitted he couldn’t undo the magic he put on her.
Her beast growled. It’d moved in permanently, and it didn’t like the talk of eviction. No matter that it was never a possibility, if Cenek could be believed. It was happy with having a mate and an existence.
Well, sweetie, you’re here to stay, Jessa shot back at the creature.
She eyed Cenek. Even if her beast was happy to exist, she hated Cenek for the violation. He’d done his magic on her without warning, and she’d suffered for it. All because she ended their brief romance. “Why are you here?”
“I felt your danger, here.” He placed his hand over his heart. “I had to come find you and make sure you were fine.”
“My danger?” She scoffed. “What about the danger you put everyone around me in? Who knew the animal I would shift into, or even where. I could have killed someone because of your reckless use of magic!”
She poked hard into his chest and was happy to see him take a step back. She continued to rage at him. “And my ‘danger’ only happened because of what you did to me! I would just be another anonymous human if it weren’t for you, warlock.”
She wanted to slap him when she saw his lips pick up in a smile. He thought she was funny, did he? If only her chimera was on her side right then. They could form some claws as sharp as any lion’s and carve an apology from Cenek.
He shrugged and took another step back when he saw the glint in her eyes. “The world works in mysterious ways, Jessa. You used to believe that.”
“When I was young and impressionable. Now I know it’s just a big, crazy crapshoot. You try to break up with a boyfriend, and you may just end up with a bad case of the shifties.”
She scrunched her nose at a sudden thought. First, Cenek made his appearance, then he claimed to be bonded to her emotions. What else could go wrong? “How much do you feel from me?”
“Everything. When you’re happy, or sad. Angry. Needy.” He grinned smugly, then turned serious. “Or I did, until last night.”
Everything? Shit. Jessa’s cheeks blazed red. He felt every time she’d been with someone else? Though, judging by the rate she was flying through batteries, hadn’t been often. But he’d still felt those lonely nights.
Until Sam. The connection halted last night, when she’d been with Sam. When she’d mated with Sam. Her cheeks flushed again. The mate mark served some good, at least.
Cenek stepped closer to her and brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. “Come away with me, Jessa. We can leave all this nastiness with the hunters behind.”
She furrowed her brow. He’d been all smooth assurances and gung-ho about his supposed desire to help the pride last night. Now, he couldn’t wait to abandon them to their fate. The hunters wouldn’t stop. It seemed unlikely they wouldn’t retaliate against a group of shifters that foiled their plans.
“You’re wasting your time. I’m a mated woman now. I won’t abandon my pride.” A sense of calm flowed through her at the words. Her chimera almost purred. It was certainly happy at the words and Jessa accepting her place with Sam. She wanted to deny the beast, but couldn’t let Cenek see her turmoil. At least he wouldn’t be able to feel her conflicted emotions now that she’d been marked.
He pressed close to her. One large hand smoothed down her spine and pulled her flush against his body. “I bet there’s some little part of you left that still wants me.”
She looked up into his dark, dazzling eyes. She’d thought she loved him, once, before they started fighting all the time and he took over the trip that was supposed to declare her independence to the world. Even outside of their complicated past, she could see he was a handsome man.
One that she wanted nothing to do with. She and her chimera both cringed at being so close to him. His scent washing over her, at one time her favorite thing in the world, made her want to gag. She struggled to push him away and froze when the air around them filled with male arousal.
Then his lips crashed down on hers. Her eyes went wide and her brain went dead. Her chimera reacted more quickly that she did, firmly closing her mouth against any tongue intrusions.
The crack of wood shocked Jessa into action. She summoned the strength to push Cenek away and felt his smile on her lips before he stepped back. She’d rip those lips off his face if he tried a stunt like that again.
Sam stood at her gate, the one Cenek had closed behind him. The top was mangled and the entire thing hung askew. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
His face was a conflicted mess of rage and hurt. She could see his claws poking out from his fingertips, a sure sign that his lion was ready to surface. To maul Cenek or her, she couldn’t be sure.
“Sam, it’s not what you think.” She muttered. She couldn’t force her voice any higher, but she knew he would hear her. Shame blazed hot across her cheeks.
Cenek chuckled low in his throat when Sam spun around and walked away.
“Trouble in paradise? We both know your penchant for running away when times get tough. I can have us on a plane in hours, Jessa.”
She turned back ar
ound and was happy to see Cenek take a cautious step back at the fury on her face. Her jaw set, she invaded his space just as he’d invaded hers. She pulled her hand back and slapped him with the force of her chimera behind the blow. “Don’t you ever come near me again,” she hissed.
***
Sam didn’t remember driving back to the pride house, but he was thankful he’d gone there. He needed to let his lion loose and run off some of his aggression. It was that, or confronting the warlock. His lion relished the idea of tearing out the warlock’s throat and gnawing on the tongue that dared to touch their mate.
Their mate. Sam growled. It was his mother’s betrayal all over again. His gut knotted uncontrollably, and he felt like he would be sick at any moment. No wonder his father drank himself into oblivion. It was the only way to numb the pain.
His mate had chosen someone else. Every instinct in him said to rip apart the interloper. But those same instincts also urged him to never hurt Jessa. Hurting the warlock would hurt Jessa because she chose him.
She chose another.
The Levesque men were cursed to always lose their mate to someone else.
He killed the truck’s engine under the overhang on one side of the house and entered through the small service door. It used to be a butler’s sitting area or some such, and had been used as a mudroom under Ethan’s authority. Sam yanked open the interior door to the main room and cast quick eyes to see if he needed to warn anyone away with a growl. Luckily, only Lena lounged on a couch, magazine in her hands.
“Hey, Sam,” Lena called. “How’d it go last night? Ethan said you went after Jessa, and I haven’t heard from her today. This will-they-won’t-they thing is killing me!”
His Queen’s voice didn’t slow him. He doubted even an order from the Alpha himself would stop him. Sam tore through the house with heavy, thunking steps. He had one destination in mind. He could have a nice, long drink and then let his lion have the run of the estate.
He’d just need to avoid where he’d tracked and mated Jessa. He doubted the scent of their pairing had faded away. The memory of it caused enough pain; he didn’t need to immerse himself in the residual smell.
Fuck. His lips raised in a snarl. As soon as he thought he’d won her over, as soon as he had a taste of her delicious curves, and she was out of reach.
His fists clenched and he lashed out. The wall cracked under his powerful blow. A rough circle was left when he pulled his hand free. His knuckles were cracked and red with blood, but already healing.
“Hey, what’s this about?” Lena cautiously poked her head around the corner.
He had to respect the woman. He was as big as Ethan, and most of the other lions in the pride would have slunk away at his outburst, let alone the smaller women. But not Lena. Oh no, she took her role as Queen seriously. She was in it for the good, and the bad. Even if it meant wrangling with large, angry males.
Sam had a lot of bad to get up to. He shook off the sting in his hand and went in search of a bottle in the liquor cabinet.
“Spill it, cowboy. What has you in a tizzy?” Lena continued to follow him. She let some of her lioness drip into her voice and demand an answer. As pissed as Sam was, his lion wanted to obey his Queen.
“She disappeared while I slept. Sneaking off like that, while the hunters are after us? Is she looking to get taken again?” He took a long swig. Straight whiskey, just like his father taught him. A man drank it to put hair on his chest and his emotions at the bottom of the bottle.
He wouldn’t get drunk, at least not the kind he wanted. He’d burn it off long before he could get black out wasted. But that’s what the second bottle was for. If he wanted to get well and truly blasted, he needed to seek out the fae stuff peddled by otherworlder bars. He didn’t think he could stomach the pompous little beauties at the moment.
Worry crossed Lena’s face and Sam felt a pang of guilt. He poured another measure of whiskey down his throat. That’d cure any guilt he had soon enough.
“Disappeared, when? Is she okay? Sam, put that down. We have to find her if she’s missing!” She reached for the bottle, but he held it easily out of her reach.
“She’s not missing. She’s at home. With the warlock. She made her choice.” He took another long draw of the bottle. His mind flashed back to the warlock pulling her close and smoothing his hand down her spine. His lion growled at the image of another man kissing Jessa, and Sam let the noise leak out of his chest.
Lena snorted. “Oh, please. She doesn’t know what she wants until she has it. She changed majors in college so many times that the admissions office started rolling their eyes and feigning breaks when they saw her enter the door.”
“So? What does that have to do with me?” He eyed the bottle. Damn, so much gone already. His head felt fuzzy, but he swallowed down another mouthful of the liquor. It stung on the way down and spread warmth through his body. He needed to get used to it. It was the only warmth he’d be having beneath the sheets for a good long while.
“What I’m saying is that nothing is decided until there’s a mate mark.”
He shook his head. “There is,” he said almost too quietly to hear.
Damn shifter senses. Even as soft as he said it, Lena heard him. Even as a bitten shifter, she understood the implications.
“Oh,” she said.
“‘Oh?’ That’s all you have to say. She mated me and abandoned me in less than a day. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some serious drinking to do.” He tucked another bottle under his arm.
Lena rubbed her nose and muttered under her breath. “Can’t smell anything under all that raging testosterone.”
Sam distinctly heard her, but let the comment slide. He didn’t think Ethan would appreciate him harming his Queen.
“Easy there, cowboy.” Lena danced in front of him to block his way. Her quick fingers snatched the bottle out from under his arm. “Have you, I don’t know, tried wooing her?”
Sam stopped trying to shove past the persistent woman and looked down. “Wooing?”
Lena’s sigh was heavy with exasperation. “Yes, wooing. You know, flowers and chocolate? Taking her out for a date? Anything other than this bass ackward, controlling mate thing that seems ingrained if you’re born a shifter?”
“But she is my mate. I know it.” Sam wrinkled his brow.
“You do, but does she?” Lena rolled her eyes when the confusion didn’t leave his face. “Just because she has some magical stick up her butt doesn’t mean she knows mates from holes in her socks. Listen, I’ve known Jessa for years now. No matter what she is now, she was raised in the human world. You can know down to your marrow she’s the one for you, but you have to convince her of that.”
He shrugged. “What’s the point? She already picked the warlock.”
Lena scoffed. “Cenek? Please. There’s more going on there than you know. I highly doubt she’s interested in him.”
“How could you possibly know that?” Sam growled.
Lena glowered at him before sticking out her hand. “Hi, I’m Lena, Jessa’s best friend. I think I know a little about her. Especially when I say I know something. You big, dumb oaf.”
“Well? What is this big mystery clue you have into her psyche?”
“Oh, no.” Lena shook her head and backed away, the bottle still in her hands. “I’m not getting in the middle of this. You solve the problem you made for yourself. Pulling the shifter card didn’t work, so try doing the human thing and dating her.”
Chapter Five
A repetitive, pounding noise startled Jessa when she stepped out of the shower. She needed to wash away the feel of Cenek on her skin. The first shower hadn’t calmed her down enough, and she still didn’t feel clean after a long, soaking bath. Her third shower gave her a little more refreshment, and she forced herself out before she racked her water bill up even higher.
She rolled her eyes at the continued noise and hoped she didn’t need to call the police to make the warlock disappear from
her backyard. Or maybe someone in the pride. Her chimera liked that idea. They wanted to see the little man chased out of the yard with huge lions swiping at his backside. Jessa chuckled and twitched aside the curtains in her bedroom.
She was surprised to see Sam at her fence. He was unmistakable with the stupid cowboy hat on his head, though she had to admit it probably shaded his face nicely as he worked. He’d been at his task for some time, if she could trust the mess of his clothes and the state of her fence.
Her gate had been replaced, and it hung straighter than before. Sam was working his way along the inside of the fence, checking for loose boards and replacing those that had broken or rotted away. Jessa chewed her lip and debated telling him to leave. She’d been meaning to start fixing up the fence, but it was low on her priority list of house projects. He owed her a new gate, but repairing the rest was asking too much of him.
In the end, she twitched the curtain closed and dressed. She chose comfortable shorts and tank top, and would offer to help Sam. There was no reason for him to be completely responsible for the fence repair. She went downstairs to the kitchen and poured out a peace offering and conversation starter. Cold lemonade chilled the glasses she filled, but she hesitated before opening the back door.
Lord above, she didn’t know what she would say to him. Her stomach flipped and knotted with anxiety. Surely Cenek would come up, and what then? She was mated to Sam now, and he deserved to know the truth of what she was underneath the human side of her. But that explanation would involve Cenek, and she wanted as little to do with the warlock as possible. Would her mate be able to listen to her story and keep his claws under control after?
Lena had brought up a good point during their reunion. Ethan and his pride hadn’t been able to obtain any solid leads on the people behind the attack. The hunters would continue to poke the lions until they found a weakness. And that didn’t even begin to help those they likely already had hurt, or may even be holding captive. If Cenek was true to his word and could help, then he needed to stay involved with the pride.
Embracing Her Lion: BBW Lion Shifter Paranormal Romance (Carver City Shifters Book 2) Page 5