Shadow Of A Mate

by SA Welsh

  Kyle’s jaguar chuffed with approval. They were stronger now, too, his power must be spreading to them through the blood oath they took as his betas. It was an unexpected consequence. But Kyle wasn’t going to complain about it. Going up against Katrianna, they’d need all the help they could get.

  Neither set of betas looked away from the other, and Kyle’s jaguar receded enough that he could intervene before things escalated. No one could know about his alphahood coming to fruition. It would destabilise the pack. His father’s betas wouldn’t react well to what he and Papa had done.

  Hell, Kyle wasn’t sure he was reacting well.

  “Kyle! Are you leaving now?” Mam ran through the medical hall doors, pulling Nikko with her. Those two hadn’t let go of one another since Nikko woke up. Nikko’s head stayed dipped, the painfully thin man looking at the floor and not interacting with anyone except Mam.

  “Yes, we’re going now,” he said quickly, trying to keep his expression neutral.

  At the mention of him leaving, Nikko finally looked up. “You’re going after the witch who hurt your mate?”

  As far as Kyle knew those were the first words Nikko had spoken. From Mam’s gasp of surprise he was right. Nikki said the words slowly and deliberately, as if Nikko wasn’t used to talking.

  Kyle met his brother’s eyes that mirrored his own and nodded. “Yes. I don’t know how much anyone has told you, but Jay doesn’t have long and we need to find the witch as soon as possible.” Kyle knew from experience that sometimes people tended to overlook you and not tell you anything when you were quiet in a pack.

  Of course, that was before he grew two feet and gained enough muscle to lift a truck. Not literally...not yet, anyway.

  Nodding, Nikko bit his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood and Kyle quickly closed the distance between them so he could pry his brother’s lip away from the abuse. “If you want to say something, say it. Don’t hurt yourself.”

  “I want to come with you.” Nikko rushed on when Kyle and Mam instantly opened their mouths to shoot down the idea. “I was broken. Jay saved me, he showed me that I have a family—a pack—that came for me...fought for me. He showed me that if I came back that I could be loved—” Nikko lifted the hand that was glued to Mam’s “—I owe him everything.”

  Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place. Any other time, almost any other mission Kyle would take the heat and let Nikko come and hope his brother could regain some of the control the hunters had taken away. But he couldn’t afford to do it now. With Jay in critical condition and his jaguar all over the place, Kyle didn’t trust himself to protect Nikko with all of his attention focused on saving Jay.

  Mam sent him a look over Nikko’s shoulder but Kyle was too geared up to decipher it. Was it a take him with you look or was it a don’t you dare even consider it look?

  Mack came up on his right and Tryst on his left. He knew they’d stand by whatever decision he made.

  In the end he agreed with his gut. “Then look after my mate while I’m gone. Keep him safe for me.”

  Bony shoulders slumping, Nikko accepted his words and didn’t argue.

  “I will be more than happy to spend time with you when I get back, but you cannot come with me now. Mam only just found you and you’re in no shape to keep the pace we’ll be travelling at. I’m sorry. I hope you understand.” Kyle turned away as Nikko’s face fell.

  They couldn’t afford the liability now. Nikko was too weak and Kyle was damned if he was going to let Jay’s hard work go to waste.

  Thinking about Jay, his new senses reached out.

  Jay was the only thing he cared about. He heard his father pacing in his room, felt the barely restrained aggression and need to dominate coursing through the alpha jaguar. Yet Arthwr still stayed in the room, voice so calm most people wouldn’t know anything was wrong.

  “...and then Kyle looked up at me with his wide eyes full of tears and asked me to save his puppy. Obviously I couldn’t, Mr. Scruffy’s heart problem was too far advanced and all we could do was make his last few days amazing. We went to the beach, went hiking, let the pup eat anything and everything it wanted—steak, ice cream, cake and a bucket load of bacon. Kyle grieved for months after. When the tears finally stopped, Kyle didn’t have that innocent spark anymore, that assurance and certainty that life would turn out fine. I don’t want to even imagine what would happen if we lost you, Jay. So you need to fight, son, fight harder than you ever have before to hold on...”

  Kyle stopped listening, turning back to his mother. He didn’t know how to react to what he’d heard. He didn’t want to think that Jay could actually hear and understand anyone right now otherwise his jaguar would refuse to leave.

  “Are you okay?” Mam’s question drew him back to where they were.

  “Yes, I’m fine, just thinking about Jay.” He didn’t have to say any more.

  His betas didn’t know what exactly had upset him, but they obviously felt his unease because they started saying their goodbyes, giving Mam a quick hug and waving to Cash and Damian. The way Tryst and Mack could switch between deadly serious and foolish was infamous so no one really batted an eye.

  Pretty much everyone liked how it riled Damian and Cash, too.

  “Goodbye, Mam, love you. Tell Papa I love him,” Kyle said. He didn’t meet her eyes in case she somehow figured out what had happened with Papa. She had an unusual knack of guessing when he’d done something bad and this couldn’t really be considered good.

  Alphas who came into their powers were usually sequestered away from their packs for their own and everyone’s safety for a time until they had a firm grip on them and then they’d leave to start their own pack. Nothing about what he and Papa had done was usual.

  “Be careful,” she grit out, looking torn as she let go of Nikko’s hand to pull him down into a hug. He inclined his head and took in a deep breath of her scent. It had an instant calming effect and the new unbalanced powers inside him settled again. She pushed a scrap of paper into his hand. His fingers curled around it and he took one more drag of her scent.

  “We will.” Reluctantly he pulled back and straightened, taking a deep breath. No one had broached the subject of what would happen if he couldn’t save Jay. It was like if no one said it then it couldn’t happen.

  His father’s betas were getting twitchy again and he recognised the building tension. They needed to get out of here now or the alpha cat would be out of the bag.

  They charged out of the main door and stopped short.

  A truck pulled up outside and stopped with a skid, wheels screeching at the rough handling. Rogo was in the driver’s seat. “Your father told me to be ready to leave and that this truck was packed with supplies.”

  They didn’t have time to argue. No doubt Cash and Damian were already running to his father to get some answers. He nodded to Tryst, Mack and Logan. “Get in.”

  Kyle took the passenger side in the front and slammed the door.

  “Logan, fill the others in on our destination and tell them anything else you think we need to know about the area,” he instructed. He noticed Rogo looking at him curiously as if trying to figure out what was different about him, but he didn’t answer the unasked question. Instead, he pulled out his own phone, not the one Papa had given him and dialled the number on the paper Mam had handed him, already knowing he didn’t want to speak to the person on the other end.

  After talking to Merrick, he’d called the transport number Papa had given him. In under thirty seconds the contact had arranged for a private plane to be diverted to a secure airport and told them it would be ready to take off any time.

  It had taken them a few hours driving well over the speed limit to get here and he was conscious that every moment they wasted waiting around was time Jay couldn’t afford them to waste.

  Kyle was just pleased he’d only had to call in one favour. Favours were valuable. And the consequences could be unpredictable. So now Kyle stood with the others o
n the tarmac, waiting for the last member of their party to arrive.

  Though, he still wasn’t convinced this wasn’t a huge mistake. The last thing they needed was another loose cannon. Kyle was holding down that position nicely by himself.

  Hell, on the way up here, he’d snapped at Rogo and looked at Logan as if he were prey, becoming so focused on the wolf that Rogo had had to stop the car so Kyle could run off the aggression and hunger. Logan’s erratic heartbeat had enticed his cat and he’d come perilously close to shifting and pouncing on the wolf like a house cat on a mouse.

  “Hello, cub.” The familiar voice behind him startled him. How the hell had the man managed to get the jump on him? It pissed his jaguar off every time the male slipped under his guard.

  Kyle stilled when the sharp tip of a knife pressed against the base of his spine.

  “Merrick,” he greeted flatly.

  “Now is the part where you explain to me how exactly a witch managed to get to my nephew. Do it quickly.” The knife pressed closer and Kyle held in the grunt of pain. Tryst and Mack were inside the small hangar where the contact had instructed them to wait. Kyle had stepped outside for some air because his jaguar was getting restless.

  Something told him Merrick had actually been out here for a while.

  Another shot of alpha power blasted through his system like a super dose of adrenaline. His eyes shifted and his skin rippled with unused energy.

  “No, it’s the part where you stop being an ass and help us save your nephew. I’ll fill you in on the way. You need to move that knife, Merrick.” Kyle’s jaguar uncurled inside him, stretching. “Now,” he growled as his jaguar tried to take over.

  Neither the man nor the animal liked Merrick and the red lynx would make a good scratching post to take out their frustrations on since they couldn’t eat the pretty wolf. The human part of his mind began to fade out, yielding to the harsh demands of his cat to hunt, to remove the threat.

  “Listen, cub—”

  Kyle didn’t listen to any more.

  He yanked the release strap of his weapons harness and as it clattered to the ground, he shifted smoothly and twisted around to face a very shocked looking Merrick.

  As Kyle advanced Merrick stepped back. They continued like this until Merrick’s back hit the metal wall of the closed hangar door.

  “Kyle?”

  Stupid lynx. Kyle wasn’t driving now.

  He scented the air, taking in the smell of their surroundings. Oil. Smoke. People. He growled again, flicking his tail back and forth in annoyance. Why were there people here?

  The leopard betas were close by, he could call them to him if he wished, but the lynx was his. His hunt. His catch.

  Merrick growled at him, but he simply gave a jaguar smile back, full of teeth and the promise of satisfaction.

  Yes, he would enjoy taking down Merrick.

  The shifter was a thorn in his side. Jay wanted a family, someone he could depend on. Kyle gave him that along with Papa and Mam, but his mate still yearned for that blood connection and to know something about his father. Merrick gave Jay hope with one hand and took it away with the other.

  Kyle snarled at the shifter, bunching his muscles and preparing to leap.

  He could see the red lynx shifter debating his options. Kyle knew them all. Run and be caught. Stay, fight and be caught. Call out and hope the others were in their right mind enough to help control him. He roared in anger.

  No one could stop him. He was jaguar. He was alpha.

  “Kyle, snap out of it. You think Jay is going to take this well? Whichever one survives a real fight between us is going to get our ass kicked by my nephew. Your mate.”

  That made his paws falter.

  A sliver of his humanity woke in the darkness of his cat self. Merrick was right. Jay would be mad.

  Merrick latched on to that train of reason. “Yes. Jay will be upset and angry at whoever wins.”

  He snorted in derision. There was no doubt who would win in Kyle’s mind.

  Thinking about Jay caused a weight of grief to settle on his shoulders. He would need Merrick with him to fight against the witch. Internally struggling with himself and his urges, he tried to convince his jaguar not to eat Merrick and thankfully the shifter in question stayed quiet. The last thing he needed now was for a smartass comment.

  His jaguar was so close to backing down, relenting under the threat that Jay wouldn’t be happy with them if they killed his uncle.

  Gradually the rush died down enough that Kyle could break the hard stare assessing Merrick for weaknesses and forced himself away from the shifter.

  Giving Merrick his back possibly wasn’t the smartest thing he could do, but the second he couldn’t see the shifter, the temptation for his beast was gone and he began to calm down.

  Kyle slowly lowered his jaguar body to the ground, his belly touching the cold, rough surface. After a few controlled deep breaths he was able to shift back. Fur receded and his limbs reformed and for the first time since he was a cub learning to control the shifts, Kyle was scared of his cat. What if he couldn’t control the new powers?

  By the time he was fully human again, he was shivering against the tarmac.

  Merrick’s stare bore into his back. “What have you done to yourself?”

  “What was needed,” he replied, standing and dragging on his discarded clothes. Kyle had no desire to have this conversation with Merrick.

  He didn’t say anything else as he finished assembling the weapon harness and heading for the hangar door. Merrick still stood in front of it, tense and gripping the hunting knife as if ready to defend himself if Kyle attacked. The reminder of the threat made his jaguar stir again and Kyle took a steadying breath. He wasn’t sure he would be able to regain control over his jaguar if it forced its way out again.

  “Move, please.” Kyle avoided Merrick’s gaze but he could feel it like a search light passing over his face.

  “You need to be vigilant, Kyle. Your jaguar isn’t meant to carry the weight of the alpha strength yet, it’s not mature enough. It’s like giving a baby a nuclear weapon.”

  “My father thought it was the only way to get the upper hand on the witch and Logan said that no one had managed to kill a witch as powerful as his mother before. What else was I supposed to do?” Now Kyle did meet Merrick’s gaze, ignoring his dislike for the man. He was honestly desperate to know if there was another way this could go down.

  “I don’t know, cub. I don’t know.” Merrick’s head shook back and forth, wafting scent at Kyle that was so much like Jay’s it made his cat mewl with sadness. He just wanted his mate.

  “Then keep quiet unless you have something useful to contribute,” he said quietly.

  Kyle reached up to thumb his temples as pain radiated from the tension spots.

  When they’d loaded everyone onto the plane, the pilot had asked whether they required him to fly them or if they were just bringing the plane back once they were done.

  Merrick apparently had a licence to fly so they’d told the pilot to go. From the outside it had looked unlikely they’d be able to get in the air never mind make it to their destination. The pilot and Merrick had looked at him in that patronising way that made Kyle want to put his fist through the shifter’s face, and explained that if there was a hijacking plan afoot what plane were they likely to target, the little battered one that looked like scrap or the shiny new one that looked like it belonged to someone important.

  What kind of person plans for things like that?

  The outside may look like it was held together with duct tape and a wish, but the inside was as flush as a millionaire’s mansion, with individual spinning, cream leather armchairs, a drinks bar and even a bedroom in the back. Kyle had learned a lesson about judging a book by its cover here.

  He was also coming to the conclusion that he hated flying. His jaguar had been unsettled ever since the wheels had lifted off the runway.

  The air was too thin. He could hear the
moisture in the air crystallising on the window. The streams of wind parting as the plane sliced through them felt like physical blows as the sound increased until Kyle started to lose his breath.

  They were too high up. It had been too long. His jaguar needed to be on the ground, in the open and not subjected to every minute shift of air pressure as the aeroplane soared through the sky.

  Every bump of turbulence the small craft encountered felt like a devastating earthquake that could topple countries.

  Why wasn’t anyone screaming? This wasn’t normal, natural or even remotely okay with him. If he was meant to fly, he’d damn well grow fucking wings.

  His claws came out and sank into the cream leather arm of the chair as the plane bounced on a pocket of warm air.

  Concentrating on not freaking out, Kyle counted backwards in his mind from a hundred. That did nothing. His ears twitched when he picked up on a hair catching on the air vent, creating a whistling effect that irritated his sensitive hearing, like the high pitch tone of a radio picking up interference.

  Kyle looked around at the other passengers on the small aircraft, but his betas and Logan seemed fine, sleeping with their legs stretched out and resting on the chair in front. Rogo and Merrick were in the cockpit, but he heard their conversation in the background of the maddening sound and they sounded unaffected.

  Knees jumping with nervous energy, Kyle jammed his palm against his forehead and tried to block out the sound. He gritted his teeth until they hurt and the muscles in his jaw cramped but the sound didn’t stop burrowing into the back of his skull. Blood trickled from his nose onto his lips and he brushed it away angrily.

  Eventually not breathing took its toll and Kyle slipped into unconsciousness.

  “Kyle? Open your eyes for me, okay? Come on, mate. I don’t know how long you can be here.”

  He knew that voice. Jay, his mate.

  Eyes flying open, he searched for the source.

  He gently placed his hands on Jay’s beautiful young face and looked into his mate’s eyes. He could almost believe this was real. Jay’s cheeks were even warm under his palms.