Holding Honor (Ashland Pride Nine)

by R. E. Butler

“Melody said that when she lived with them, there were only a handful of females in the house. But after Jilly defected, the females who had been living near King and watching the male pride headed up here. I wish we knew where Honor was in the house.” He stared at the satellite image of the property.

  “I just hope it’s the right damn house,” Jax said. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “If we drove all this way and it’s not the right place or they’ve moved on, I think my damn cat is going to go on strike.”

  Holden nodded. His cat had been in a constant state of worry for the last seven months. He was surprised he could even really function, given how much he thought about Honor. He wanted her with them, and safe.

  “Do you think she’s scared?” he asked after the waitress dropped off two plates of pancakes and refilled their coffees.

  “She’s pretty strong-willed. I remember her being feisty as hell in school.”

  They’d all grown up in King and gone to the same high school. “Her dad’s the principal of the high school. I just realized that we probably should have called him and let him know that she’s our mate.”

  Jax hummed. “She can call him if she wants, once she’s safely back in Ashland.”

  “She might want to go see him, too.”

  “All in good time,” Jax said. “First we’ll get her home with us, and then we’ll do whatever she wants.”

  “You know what’s weird?” Holden asked as he poured more syrup on his pancakes.

  “What?”

  “I don’t remember my cat really caring about her when we were growing up. You’d think that since we’re mates, we would have felt that connection to her back in King.”

  “I’ve actually been thinking the same thing. I think the curse dampens not only the females’ instincts, but the males, too. Jilly’s mates are panthers and not mountain lions, so they recognized her as their mate.”

  Holden mulled that over for a moment. “I asked Dad once if he thought our mother was his mate, and he said he didn’t think so. But if she’d been willing to marry him and make a family, he would have done it.”

  “It seems to be the way things go for our people. The males just aren’t aggressive when it comes to their mates.”

  “We felt a presence with Honor, though,” Holden said. “We followed whatever our instincts were telling us, and we found her.”

  “I wonder if she sensed us.”

  “We’ll find out when we get to her,” Holden said.

  They finished their meals, cleaned up in the restroom, and got back in the truck.

  “It’s almost nightfall,” Jax said. “We’ll drive as close as we can to the house and walk the rest of the way.”

  “And then?”

  “Then we’ll wait until the house is quiet and break in. Melody said there wasn’t a security system, just locks on the doors. Once we’re inside, we’ll scent for Honor and find her.”

  “Hopefully they haven’t installed a security system since then.”

  Jax nodded.

  Holden was trying to stay optimistic. They’d come this far, and neither of them were willing to leave without Honor. If they had to burn the damn house down to get her out, they would. He just hoped to hell that she wanted to see them as much as they wanted to see her. That one kiss in the woods had been his undoing. He’d thought of nothing else since – his cat clawing him from the inside, anxious to have her in their arms again.

  They parked a mile away and waited for nightfall. Once it was dark, they walked to the house, keeping to the trees and staying out of sight. They waited in the darkness until every light was off, the hours slipping by so slowly that he thought he’d go crazy just from waiting. All the second-floor windows had blinds, so they weren’t able to see inside. He’d been hopeful they would see Honor in one of the windows and know her whereabouts for certain, but luck hadn’t been on their side.

  As they moved toward the house, they looked for alarms and video cameras, but saw nothing. If the females were worried about someone finding them, it wasn’t apparent.

  Just as they drew close to the house, a light came on. He and Jax froze, staring in surprise at Honor, Julia, and Gretchen through the kitchen window. Four other females also stood in the room, all looking furious.

  “This doesn’t look good,” Jax said.

  “Nope.”

  Honor looked panicked, and everything within Holden urged him to protect her.

  “I’m going to take a run at the door,” Jax said. He let out a short growl and rolled his neck. “It’s not a security door, so hopefully I won’t break my neck doing it.”

  “I’m right behind you,” Holden said.

  * * *

  Honor held her breath as the lock clicked on her bedroom door just after midnight. It swung open, and Julia whispered so quietly that if it weren’t for her excellent shifter hearing, she wouldn’t have heard her.

  “Come on.”

  Honor grabbed her pack and slung it over one shoulder. When she was out of the room, Julia closed and locked the door again. Gretchen made a motion with her hand toward the stairwell, and the three moved silently downstairs. Every little creak and groan as they moved made Honor’s heart beat faster. She was sure that everyone could hear her heart pounding, and that any moment, the females would come rushing from their rooms wondering what the sound was.

  The house was dark, and they didn’t turn on any lights as they moved from the stairs to the kitchen. The scents of dinner still lingered in the air. Beyond the large table lay the door to freedom.

  The overhead light turned on, the click of the light switch a loud counterpoint to the utter quiet of the house. As she blinked and shielded her eyes, Honor’s heart sank. Victoria and three females stood in the kitchen. They’d been perfectly concealed in the darkness, and now they obscured her path to freedom. She was so close. She knew she’d never have a chance to get away again. They’d kill her, or keep her locked up forever.

  “Going somewhere?” Victoria drawled.

  “I’m leaving,” Honor said. “Move or I’ll move you.”

  Victoria chuckled. “Do you really think you can take me?”

  Honor’s fingertips tingled as her cat rose to the forefront. She’d never paid much attention to the beast until she’d been with Holden and Jackson. Their presence had brought her cat out. “Nothing’s going to stop me from getting out of this damn house.”

  “Let her leave,” Julia said. “If she doesn’t want to be here, open the damn door.”

  “She’s one of us and she’ll stay in the pride. I’m the law,” Victoria said.

  Gretchen threw up her hands. “For fuck’s sake. If she doesn’t want to be here, then who the hell cares? I just want things back to the way they used to be. No kidnappings, no prisoners.”

  “If you’re not with me, you’re with her, and that makes you a traitor,” Victoria said. She looked at the females with her – Vivian, Lorie, and Raquel – and Honor could see the determination in their eyes. They were with Victoria, which meant Honor would have to face all four of them if this came to a battle.

  Fury raced through her. “Get out of my way. Let me go, and you’ll never hear from me again. But if you try to stop me from leaving, I will rain a hell down on this place like you’ve never seen.”

  Victoria’s smug smile made Honor’s whole body twitch with rage. “And how will you do anything locked in your bedroom? You’re lucky I let you eat, bitch. Now be a good little female and go back to your room. Unless you want to take us all on.”

  A strange silence settled over the room as Honor faced the females. Julia and Gretchen were with her, but she knew they weren’t going to fight. They didn’t want to leave the house or the pride, and their loyalty to her had come to an end.

  Claws extended from her fingers; her gums ached as her fangs descended. She uttered a single word, but the intent behind it was deadly: “Move.”

  Victoria’s eyes narrowed. She’d just opened her mouth when there w
as a crashing sound as something heavy hit the door. The hinges pulled away from the doorjamb, wood splintering as it clattered to the floor. The females screamed in surprise, shielding themselves as a roar of fury and possessiveness filled the air.

  She would have known that roar anywhere, even though she’d never heard it before. Her cat responded to the sight before her: Jackson, holding his shoulder, stood like a gladiator on the ruined door, his eyes bright amber and his fangs elongated. Behind him, Holden’s hands were tipped with deadly claws and his eyes were the same amber.

  “Babe? Let’s go,” Jackson said.

  He didn’t have to ask twice. She grasped the backpack’s strap and held it tight to her shoulder, taking his hand and rushing from the house. Holden and Jackson flanked her, keeping pace with her strides as they moved further away. She glanced over her shoulder only once, to see Victoria standing in the doorway, hands on her hips.

  “I don’t think it’s over with them,” Honor said.

  “We’ll deal with them together if they try to come for you,” Jackson said.

  The worry that tightened her chest was replaced by a sweet warmth. She wanted to cry and laugh at the same time.

  “Thank you.”

  “Thank us when we’re the hell away from here,” Holden said, squeezing her hand.

  “You got it.”

  Chapter 3

  Jax’s mind was racing a mile a minute as they ran through the woods toward the truck. He thought they’d have to fight the females to get Honor free, but breaking down the kitchen door had surprised them enough that Honor had been able to get away easily. She held his hand tightly as they wove through the trees. He knew she was trusting them to get her to safety, even though they’d only spoken a handful of words to each other. This immediate faith was what he’d been hoping to have. If they’d had to convince her to leave with them, the element of surprise would’ve been lost, and they might never have had another chance to get her free.

  The truck came into view. Holden clicked the lock, the lights flashing twice. Jax opened the passenger door and Honor jumped inside, scooting to the middle of the bench seat as he and Holden got in and slammed their doors. In seconds, Holden had turned on the engine and hit the gas, swinging wide in the street, the tires screaming as he accelerated.

  The silence in the truck was punctuated by a soft purr.

  “Can I say thank you now?” Honor asked.

  “Yes,” Holden said with a chuckle. He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it.

  “How did you know where I was?”

  “Our niece Melody,” Jax said. “She used maps to try to estimate where she’d been when she escaped from the house.”

  “Clever. I wish I’d been able to get a message to you.”

  “What happened when you got back here?” Holden asked.

  “They knew something was different about me, even though I tried to hide it. I didn’t really understand it – and I still don’t – but after a couple weeks I knew I needed to leave. But by the time I was ready, Victoria had taken over the pride and ousted me as leader. The house was locked all the time. I wasn’t allowed to leave for any reason. At night they secured me in my room. The computer and all the cell phones were password-protected, and they watched me like a hawk.” She let out a deep sigh. “It’s been hell being away from you.”

  Jax stared at their linked hands, and then put his arm around her and drew her close, kissing the top of her head. “It was hell for us, too.”

  “I don’t understand what happened between us.”

  Jax glanced over her head at his brother, who took his eyes off the road for a moment to meet his gaze.

  “Tell us what you think is going on,” Holden said slowly, as if he were measuring every word before he spoke it.

  She sat up and blew out a breath. “Well, I started to feel weird when we were coming down to Ashland. My cat’s never really been vocal in my head before, but for some reason she suddenly was. I was antsy, and… I don’t know how to describe it except that I felt like I needed to do something, but I didn’t know what.

  “I saw the girls get burned up by that dragon and then you tackled me. I don’t know why I bit and kissed you guys, but I couldn’t help myself. And then the pain was so awful.”

  “Pain?” Jax asked.

  “My head hurt like it was going to split my skull apart. I’ve actually had a headache ever since, just a relentless gnawing pain.”

  “Is it still there?” Holden asked.

  “No. It went away when I saw you. I don’t know what’s going on, but I do know that you’re both my mates, which is weird on a bunch of different levels.”

  “Why is it weird?” Holden asked.

  “Because we’re not supposed to mate.”

  “What if I told you that the reason our people don’t mate together is because of a pissed-off goddess and a curse?”

  “I’d say you need your head examined.”

  He snorted. “Seriously, Honor.”

  She looked at him for a quiet moment, her brows drawn. “Really?”

  “It’s true,” Holden said. “We realized the truth about our people when Jilly shared blood with the twin panthers Wyked and Fate. Our people are cursed – specifically the females – by a goddess.”

  Eons ago, the goddess who had created shifters loved the mountain lions the most. The females became jealous of the attention she paid to the males, and tried to oust her from the heavens by attempting to turn other gods against her. In retaliation, she cursed the older females to poison the younger ones with the venom in their claws three times before they turned sixteen, slowly changing their personalities until they became cold and unfeeling. The males continued to want to be in matings with the females, but the females no longer had the desire. The curse meant they wouldn’t even recognize their own children.

  “When you bit me,” Jax said, showing her the scar on his palm, “you took my blood and started to break the curse. Then you kissed Holden and bit him, and the curse was entirely broken for you.”

  “That’s why my head hurt and I suddenly remembered everything from my past?”

  “Yep,” Holden said.

  “What a bitch.”

  “The goddess?” Jax asked. When Honor nodded, he said, “We agree one hundred percent.”

  “How did you find out about the curse through Jilly? And why don’t our people know about it?”

  “The panther clan she mated into has all kinds of history books on shifter groups. They didn’t know we were unaware of the curse. When Jilly shared blood with Wyked and Fate, the curse was broken for her. The clan gave her the book on our people, and she shared it with us.”

  “Did you tell the King pride?”

  Holden said, “It’s common knowledge now, but there aren’t any adult females in the States.”

  “Um, yeah there are.”

  “There are?” Jax asked.

  “There’s a small pride, maybe six or seven females, in central Ohio. They left when I was a kid. When my group left, the females there offered to let us come live with them, but Sandra was their leader. She made it clear that we’d be under her rule if we came to live there, and I didn’t want that.”

  Holden hummed. “Sandra is the Fallon males’ mother.”

  Jax’s brows rose. He knew that James, John, Grant, Aaron, and Rhett all had the same mother, but that they didn’t know where she was. “Is she still alive?”

  “I suppose so,” Honor said. “But I don’t really know. The prides all kind of kept to themselves. Sandra’s group left first, and then mine, then the rest went to live in the town near King until their leader died. Unfortunately, that bitch’s crew came to live with us, and boy could they hold a grudge.”

  “You mean Tanya?” Holden asked.

  “Yeah. When I was with you two in the woods, I ran away because of her.”

  “What do you mean?” Jax asked.

  “They went to Ashland to kill Jilly’s mates. I knew what they were
doing – hell, I drove them there – and I didn’t try to stop them. Even though I felt connected to you two, when I heard the other males come near, I panicked. I thought they’d arrest me or kill me because of what happened.”

  “We wouldn’t have let that happen,” Holden said.

  “I didn’t know that. I was so confused, and my head hurt so much.”

  Jax pulled her close, and she sank against him with a deep sigh. “You’re here now, babe. That’s all that matters.”

  “I’m scared,” she whispered.

  Holden glanced at Jax, then said, “It’ll be okay.”

  “How can you be sure?” she asked.

  “Because you’re our mate,” Jax said. “The curse is broken for you, and that means you’re one of us and part of the pride again. We’ll help you come to terms with everything. You just have to trust us.”

  “I do trust you.” She rested her hand on his chest, right over his heart. “I don’t know why I do, but I do.”

  “Good,” he said. “We’ll take care of you, I swear.”

  * * *

  Holden pulled up to the gas pump at a truck stop and turned off the engine. Honor was asleep with her head in Jax’s lap.

  “I hate to disturb her, but I’ve gotta take a piss,” Jax said.

  Holden chuckled. They’d been driving for several hours, trying to put as much distance between them and the females as possible. Now, the truck was close to empty and he was starving and needed to stretch his legs. He got out, swiped his credit card for the pump, and put it into the gas tank. He yawned, his jaw cracking with the motion.

  Honor sat up and rubbed her eyes, looking at Jax and then him through the open door.

  “Where are we?” she asked.

  “Still in Canada,” Jax said. “It’s a thirteen-hour drive back to Ashland, and we’ve only come about three hours.”

  In another three hours or so, they’d cross into the States, and he’d be thankful to be out of Canada, and never ever go there again.

  “Do you have a passport, sweetheart?” Holden asked.