The panther shook its head, hissing at the male. Jade tried to push her human mind away. She didn’t want to look at Booth as a human would, but she couldn’t look away. He was large, so much larger than her. His icy blue eyes bored into her soul. She swore he could read her thoughts just by the way he studied her.
His tan body was covered in muscles and a patch of dark hair trailed from just below his belly button to his thickness. Her panther licked its lips when the muscles in his arms flexed, his fists tightened at his side. The male was a work of art, carved from the strongest stone.
“I. Said, Shift,” he ordered. The panther huffed while she laughed. He wasn’t an alpha, and he couldn’t force her to shift. “If you do not shift and tell me what that was all about, I will personally go to your old pride and kill them all.”
“You wouldn’t,” she gasped as she gave in to the shift back to her human form.
“I assure you, my rage is enough to wipe out an entire pride right now,” he warned. “If you don’t tell me exactly what happened the night you left Missouri, I will lose my shit, Jade.”
“I can’t tell you.” She shivered, wrapping her arms around her stomach. She felt like she was going to be sick.
“Can’t or won’t?” he pressed, moving closer. She tried to step away, but her back landed against the trunk of a tree. He was overpowering when he was angry. The male who’d trained her was gone, and in his place stood a warrior, a Guardian worthy of his title.
“Can’t,” she said through gritted teeth. “Telling you would open up everything I’d locked away inside, and letting that out would be disastrous for me.”
“Are you afraid you’ll look weak?” he pressed, nailing her reasoning.
“I’ve never been weak, Guardian,” she growled, standing her ground. There would never be a time when she would cower. There was never a place where she would show her weaknesses.
“Being able to talk about your past, letting things out, is never a sign of weakness.” Booth sobered. She saw it in his eyes. He’d come to a conclusion as to why she had finally fled, and a pain bloomed in her chest, because she knew he was right.
“I need you to leave me alone, Booth,” she hiccupped, but gritted her teeth.
“I’m not leaving here without answers,” he stated.
“Damn it, Booth!” she snarled when one lone tear escaped her left eye. “Leave me…I can’t do this.”
The pain of rejection hit. It was a harder hit than anything she’d ever experienced in training. There was a crack in her wall where her heart had been shuttered inside her chest. The pain split through everything, shattering her defenses. When the wall crumbled, so did Jade as she fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands.
“Tell me,” he whispered as he fell to his knees in front of her. She couldn’t unhide her face, but she knew he was only inches away. She could feel the heat of his body, and the mating scent overpowered everything else. “Jade, you have to tell me.”
“I…It hurts too badly,” she cried, gasping for much needed air as her body shook from sobbing so hard.
“Let it go, baby girl.” Booth’s harsh voice had changed. She didn’t like the softness to it, and it killed her to hear him use a term of endearment with her. It was all fun and games when they were bantering back and forth during the first few days of her arrival. Now… now it seemed too intimate.
She cried, then cried some more, but she never removed her hands from her face. Somehow, she thought covering the evidence would make it okay, would make him not think she was a failure.
Never in her life had she wanted someone to hold her until now. Knowing Booth was possibly her mate made it even harder not to jump into his arms. She didn’t want a mate, but the gods thought otherwise. They had to have a plan in all of this, right?
“My mother died giving birth to me,” she mumbled through her hands. “My father hated me for it, and often beat that into me with his fists. I raised myself, and when I had enough money, I started training with humans. I heard about the Shaw pride and the rumors about your females. I worked my ass off for a year to be able to best a Guardian during the solstice. The night I left home, I’d come from the gym, but the alpha had been tipped off by one of my pride members who’d seen me leaving the gym. When I was told I couldn’t return to the gym, and I voiced my desire to be a Guardian, I received a black eye and broken cheekbone. My father arrived and basically disowned me. He didn’t even stand up for me. So, I packed my bags and I left, hiding out in a cabin that belonged to one of the human males from the gym. He let me borrow it for two nights while I healed.”
“I’ll kill him,” Booth bellowed, causing Jade to jerk from her spot. Her hands dropped to her sides and she saw the amber glow to his eyes. He was only six inches from her, and once she straightened, his mating scent hit her full force.
Her body relaxed and a wetness pooled between her bare legs. She was naked, and he was too. The obvious erection told her he could scent her arousal. “I can’t mate. It would destroy my dream of becoming a Guardian.”
“Why would it destroy your dream?”
“Because I would be expected to be a mother, and no male would ever let their female fight during the solstice,” she explained.
“I would have a hard time seeing you hurt,” he stated. His hand lifted for a second, but dropped to land on the top of his thigh. “Just know, you are not expected to produce a cub once you mate. There are other females here who have chosen not to have young. There are precautions they take during their heat to keep them from conceiving.”
“Really?” she gasped. She’d never heard of birth control for shifters. It was possible? To have a mate and not produce offspring?
“It’s true,” he nodded. “Talk to Hope. She can guide you better than I can.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to dump all of that on you. I don’t think I’ve cried since I was ten years old.”
“Crying is an emotion to release stress and, Jade, you are under too much of that as it is,” he sighed. “You are an amazing warrior, and I know you could best a lot of males, but being a Guardian is too dangerous for the pride as a whole. Having one male go feral is easily handled, but if you or one of the mated females were hurt, the entire male race of our pride would fight if a female was injured. It’s just not safe.”
“That would include you?” she asked. She’d seen it in the office. Booth had a dangerous side to him that was more lethal than other male Guardians she’d seen. They weren’t even mated, yet he’d lost his shit when the alpha from her old pride had degraded her in front of everyone.
“I would be put down,” he told her, closing his eyes to take a deep breath. “That is why I won’t touch you. If you were hurt fighting during the solstice, I would be killed by my alpha because of my temper, and my beast would fight to the death to see you safe.”
“You don’t have a temper,” she whispered, scooting closer to him. Booth didn’t shy away from her, nor did he warn her from touching him. Not that she was going to touch him anyway, but she wanted to look into his eyes and prove to him that she wouldn’t let him hurt himself or others if she were ever injured. “You are a worthy male, Booth Woods. You and your panther need to know if I were ever injured, I wouldn’t let you harm anyone else. I’d need you by my side to take care of me while I healed.”
“You say that like you want me to touch you,” he replied, his eyes flashing amber as he leaned in to scent her hair. She shivered and didn’t move. His closeness was driving her insane with lust.
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “I can scent your need to mate me, and I know you can smell my desire.”
“It’s a sweet scent like power and wildflowers,” he said with a wink. “I’ve memorized it from the first day you arrived at the pride.”
“With my big tits?” she teased.
“Yes.” He smiled but didn’t look down at her exposed nipples. Her breasts suddenly felt heavy and ached with the need to be touched. All the teasing fled
as a soft breeze fluttered through the trees, causing her nipples to harden even more. The only sound was their breathing and the rustle of leaves on the trees. The cover kept them in the shade, and she wanted nothing more than to fall into the position to have him mount her.
“Booth...” She paused, tracing the angles of his face, memorizing the short beard he’d been growing this week. She imagined the feel of it between her legs, and a whole new desire made her pussy ache.
“Jade?” He’d let her drift off for a moment, but he brought her back by simply saying her name. When she locked eyes with him, his had returned to the amber of his beast, and his canines were thick in his mouth. “I promise to keep you safe from those who wish to harm you, and I promise to never crush your dreams of fighting and protecting your pride.”
“Are you asking if you can touch me?”
“Yes,” he said, his lips parting as he let out a breath Jade didn’t even know he was holding. She quickly realized she was doing the same.
“Tell me to touch you,” he ordered. “Give me permission to see if what we are feeling is real, Jade.”
Booth’s panther was in charge. His canines were thick and his mouth salivated just imagining sinking them into her neck.
“No, Booth,” she replied, shaking her head. His beast roared at her denial, but he didn’t let it show. “I just can’t do it now.”
Before he could call out to her, she shifted and ran toward the alpha’s home. He wanted to chase her, but he didn’t. Instead, he kicked himself for begging a female to allow his touch to see if they were truly mates.
He shifted and walked toward his home. Talon had warned him against going to look for her, but he never gave the order as an alpha would. Booth had gone freely, on his own, to find her. The female had been in distress when she’d shifted, and while a female’s tears had never bothered him, the gut-wrenching sobs ripped his heart out. He wanted to find her father and her old alpha and kill them with his human hands.
The moment he reached his porch, he shifted back to human and pushed inside, taking twenty minutes to shower and find new clothes. There was going to be a pride dinner tonight at Talon’s home, but he didn’t want to go. Instead, he found leftover steak in his fridge and heated it up. Even the juicy meat did nothing to tame his anger. He needed to find a Guardian who’d give him a run for his money on the mats.
“Yo,” Savage answered.
“Hey, man,” Booth sighed. “I…I need a sparring partner in a bad way.”
“That bad?” his friend asked. Savage and Booth had a lot in common. They were fiercely protective and would destroy the world to protect a female. The rage that they held at bay sometimes came out, and they worked together to burn it off before it got too bad.
“Can you meet me in ten minutes?” Booth didn’t make small talk. He needed to beat the shit out of something or someone, and Savage was always up for spilling a little blood.
“I’ll be there in five,” he promised. “Start walking there now, and don’t stop to talk to anyone, Booth. I mean it.”
“I’ll be there.” Booth disconnected the call and left the house only wearing a pair of basketball shorts and a pair of tennis shoes. He didn’t need a shirt, because he was just going to shift again after they took a pound or two of flesh from each other.
As he rounded the building, Savage was already inside, flipping on the lights. None of the other Guardians were around, and he hoped Malaki and Taze stayed at the pride’s dinner for a while longer. He needed a good hour or two on the mats.
“Gloves or no gloves?” Savage grunted as he kicked off his shoes and removed his shirt. The two of them were dressed similarly in black shorts, but Savage used a hair tie to pull his longer hair out of his face.
“None,” he answered, finding his way to the center of the mat.
Savage hit the button on his phone to play music while Booth jogged in place, increasing his heart rate. Not that he needed it, because he was already pumped with rage after hearing what Jade had to say about her father and the pride leader from Missouri. It was one thing to not allow women to fight. Hell, it had been the old way even in the Shaw pride until Evie had changed everything with her willingness to train. But to physically assault a female for her choices? That was crossing all kinds of lines.
“Give me your best shot,” Savage taunted, holding his fists up in front of his face. “And while you’re at it, you need to talk.”
Savage dodged the first strike, making Booth’s panther growl low in his throat. The next one connected but grazed off his chin. “I guess you know her old alpha and her father showed up at The Deuce?”
“I did.” Savage grunted when Booth got him with a kick to the ribs. “I’m guessing your rage is because you found out the truth as to why she left them.”
“I did,” he growled when Savage threw a right hook and connected perfectly with his jaw. Booth tasted his own blood but ignored the bite of pain, bouncing on his toes to regain his footing. “She was training on the sly. No one in her pride knew about it. She had been doing it for a year.”
“How did they find out?” Savage asked, ducking when Booth tried to maneuver a quick jab while his fists were down, but the male recovered quickly, avoiding the connection.
“She said someone in her pride saw her leaving the gym, and when her alpha confronted her, she voiced her desire to become a Guardian. His rejection was in the form of a black eye and broken cheekbone. Her father never came to her aide and turned his back on his only cub.”
“Where is her mother?”
“Died giving birth to her.” Booth replayed the conversation in his mind. Her tears still hurt him physically. Seeing the strong woman he knew reduced to a broken shell enraged him.
His canines thickened in his mouth, the sounds of her sobs echoing in his mind. How could a male do that to his own offspring?
“Again, Booth,” Savage taunted, accepting the punches he was given. Booth coughed when Savage got him in the ribs again. He was losing focus thinking about the female.
“She’s my mate, but I won’t touch her, now.” Booth grunted, taking another kick to his ribs. The pain was wanted. Hell, it was needed. The pain he took from his fellow Guardian somehow felt like he was taking the pain from Jade, absorbing it so she didn’t have to.
“You’re an idiot,” Savage accused, connecting with another right hook.
This time, the blood pooled in his mouth and he spit it on the mat to his left, coming back for the male. His panther snarled in his head, wanting to quit this back and forth game. The predator wanted to spill his own blood.
One right hook split Savage’s lip.
The next rebound caught Booth above the eye. The warm trickle of his blood did nothing to stop him from advancing on his partner. The sting of blood in his eyes did not impair his vision since his beast was pacing just underneath his skin.
“I’m can’t mate a female warrior,” Booth growled, taking another hit to his eye. The blood poured faster, and the scent of it sent him flying into Savage’s chest, knocking the male on his back. Booth jumped up, bounced on his feet, and brought his fists back up in front of his face. “My beast couldn’t handle her being hurt in a fight. I’d have to be put down.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” Savage promised, taking another hit to his lip. The male tucked his chin, blood dripping onto the floor. The amber haze to the room and the amber glow to his opponent’s eyes told him their beasts were agitated. “You’d care for her, Booth. We know you would.”
“Do you remember yourself during her change?” Booth reminded him, tossing out the feral rage Savage had felt when his newfound mate was changing into what they were. “Four of us had to hold you down, and if it wasn’t for Talon being in there, you would’ve taken us all out to get to her.”
“That’s different,” Savage said, climbing to his feet. “Mary Grace was still human, and she’d almost died!”
“Doesn’t matter,” Booth retorted. “She’s a female, and she was
hurt. I couldn’t bear to see my mate in pain. There wouldn’t be enough sedative in the healer’s home to knock me out.”
“You’re a pussy,” Savage accused. “If she’s your mate, then you need to claim her, because if you don’t, another male in this pride will. She’s beautiful.”
That set him off. Knowing there were another eight Guardians and several other males in the pride who were unmated sent Booth into a snarling frenzy, throwing his punches toward Savage, but Savage wasn’t letting him off that easily. The sounds of fists meeting flesh and bone echoed through the gym.
“Booth! Oh, my god!” Jade screamed from the doorway to the gym. His body twisted around, crouching low when he heard her voice. The sound startled him, and he thought she was in danger. He was poised and ready to strike out at a real enemy, but he paused when he noticed she was all alone. “What have you done to each other?”
“Leave us, Jade,” Savage warned. “Booth needs this.”
“He doesn’t need to be beaten bloody, Savage!” she snarled and marched across the mat. Booth moved his body to put it between her and the male. She noticed it and paused. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” he replied through his canine teeth. His face had partially shifted during the height of his fight with Savage, and he knew the lacerations to his face were healing as quickly as he’d gotten them, but the blood was everywhere. “Why are you here?”
“I moved into the dorms a few days ago.” She frowned. “I heard you two fighting, and I came down to see who was here.”
“You. Live. Here?” Booth barked out the words. There were single males still living in the dorms, and she had been here during the time Talon had warned him against seeing Jade.
“Why wouldn’t I?” she scowled, her brows pinching together. “There are plenty of open rooms available. Taze and Malaki live on one end, and I live on the other. Plus, I only see them at breakfast now anyway since they are working on their cabins.”
“You have breakfast with them?” he growled, feeling his beast’s protective side swell. She’d been around unmated males for three fucking days. Three days they could’ve charmed her into their beds. Three days those little punks could’ve touched her.
Booth (Rise of the Pride, Book 9) Page 6