The doom passed through his chest and stomach. His tiger paced, anxious and not happy with this situation.
“Where did they go?” he asked Maya.
“Priscilla said there was probably a problem at the pride and not to worry if they left. And she did, but with Lyle, I guess.”
“Lake,” Gerri called out as she got closer to him. Her eyes searched the area around them. “Lake, dear, since Priscilla isn’t here, I need to know what happened that night at the restaurant?”
Lake’s brows drew down. “What restaurant? When?”
“The first time you met Priscilla.” Gerri’s eyes narrowed.
“What are you talking about?”
Gerri’s voice grew rougher as if her own animal wanted out. “You’re mates. We both know that. But after your first date at the restaurant, Priscilla said I’d been wrong and you weren’t the man for her.”
“The first time I saw Priscilla was at the modeling shoot.”
Gerri’s lips pressed into a line. “You went on a date with her. Or…someone did. If it wasn’t you with her, then who?”
What the actual fuck? Could his brother have taken his place on that date? But why?
“Now I understand why the emails between you and me seemed strange,” Gerri said, crossing her arms in front of her chest, attitude clear in her stance.
“I haven’t gotten an email from you,” Lake told her. “I would remember.”
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as if trying to control her temper. “Obviously not. But your brother did.”
“What?” He swiped his fingers through his hair. What was going on? Had Lyle taken Priscilla home?
“Give her a call right now,” Maya suggested a look of pure fear in her eyes. “Check on her. Now.”
Lake dialed her number, but she didn’t pick up. He tried again. Straight to her voicemail. Then on a whim, he dialed his brother. He didn’t pick up either. Was that coincidence?
Gerri put a hand on his arm, her eyes conveying her concern. “Lake, something’s really wrong. You need to find her.”
A rumble rose in his chest. His tiger knew they needed to find their mate and his frustration grew with every passing second. “I don’t know where they could’ve gone.”
Maya’s eyes lit up. “She said something about problems at the pride. Maybe they went there.”
He would move heaven and earth. “I’ll find them.”
He’d make sure Lyle wasn’t up to anything sneaky with his mate. Lake headed out the door toward his brother’s car. At least he’d get there quickly. He had too many questions and not enough answers. His tiger roared under his skin. Lyle was up to no good, and everything in him told him Priscilla needed him.
Chapter Nineteen
Closing the adorable cabin door behind her, Priscilla glanced around the main room. It was cute inside with a kitchenette, fireplace, and furniture that looked comfy.
Lake stood in the middle of the room, a scowl on his face.
“What’s wrong, Lake?”
He snorted. “For what I paid for this place, there should be champagne and the fireplace roaring.”
Priscilla draped her coat over the chair of a two-person breakfast table and stepped into the small kitchen. “I’ll make something to eat,” she said out loud. And maybe you’ll chill the hell out. The last time she’d seen him this snappy had been on their messed up first date. Was he having second thoughts about mating her? Thinking he’d chosen the wrong woman?
“Fuck me. Goddammit!” came from the fireplace. “How the fuck are you supposed to start this? There’s no gas switch. Shit, it’s real. How the hell do you light a log on fire without gas?”
Priscilla swallowed hard. Maybe now wasn’t the best time to proceed with mating. By the way Lake was acting, he might tear out a chunk of her flesh instead of just biting.
Lake stood and paced. “Fuck the fire.” He gestured to the one door that probably opened to a bedroom. “Go in there and take your clothes off.”
Oh, hell no. He wasn’t talking to her like that. That was it. She’d had enough of his shit. She walked toward him. “Lake Walker. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you, but you’d better get your ass out of this attitude of yours or there’ll be no mating tonight. If this is how you are when you get nervous, then we have some serious talking to do.”
Fists on her hips, she stood before him, strong and sure, as an alpha female should be. Which was why she wasn’t prepared for what happened next.
Lake’s arm moved, and the next thing she knew, she was on the floor, and the side of her face was on fire. “You hit me,” she gasped, her voice rising in anger. Fury spread wings inside her. “Are you fucking crazy?”
This is clearly a mistake and he was not the man for her.
“No. And don’t you raise your voice at me. I’ll slap you again if you disobey me.” He stood over her and pointed to the bedroom, intimidating her with his larger size. “Now, get in there and take your fucking clothes off. And get under the sheets, so I don’t have to look at you,” he said with disgust. This was the person she met at the restaurant. Asshole in the first degree.
Did Lake have a split personality? This guy was nothing like Lake. It was like a whole other person. She eyed him, looking for something different. Something to help her understand.
How could someone be so different? It was like siblings. The firstborn, a lot of times, was nothing like the second child. A thought came to her. No way this could happen, she told herself. Lake would’ve told her. Not if he didn’t think about it.
“Hey, Lyle?” She called out, waiting to see what would happen.
“What?” he growled.
She gasped. Holy shit. Lake and Lyle were twins and fucking identical.
He ran his fingers through his hair and scowled down at her. “Well, I guess the pussy is out of the bag.”
She was nearly speechless. “What the hell is going on?” She scooted to the upholstered chair and pulled herself up behind it, using it as a buffer between them. Though she knew it wouldn’t do shit to protect her. She was on her own.
His smile turned sadistic, similar to how it was in the car. “You and I are going to mate. Then I’m getting you pregnant.”
“Like hell, you are. Over my dead body. I’m not your mate.” She argued.
He took a menacing step closer to her. “No, you’re Lake’s mate, and that’s why I am going to tie you to the bed and fuck you until you are full of my cum. Oh, and carry out the mating process if I can keep from throwing up.”
Her jaw fell open. “What?”
“When Gerri emailed Lake to say she wanted him to meet you, I thought this was my chance to finally screw him over once and for all. The mate to an alpha should be tall, long hair, beautiful to look at, and,” his eyes glowed gold and his voice turned into a snarl, “skinny.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. God. How was she going to get out of this mess? This man was fucking crazy and a spineless jerk. “You forgot dumb and mute.”
Lyle finally smiled. “That would make her fucking perfect then. All she needs to do is spread her legs when I tell her to.”
“Hate to tell you this, Lyle, but that sounds like a blow-up doll to me. You should get one of those...if you don’t already have one,” she snorted. “Release some of the tension you got going there.”
In a blink, he had her pressed to the door, a hand around her throat. “Listen up, bitch,” he growled into her face. “You’ll do as I say, and then we can leave. After the elders in the pride confirm you’re pregnant, then you will go away, so I don’t ever have to see you again. Got that?”
She spit in his face. “Got that?”
He tossed her across the room. She flew through the air, landing on the wooden floor and rolling to the fireplace, knocking over the little shovel that scoops ashes from the fireplace and the poker.
Fucking hell that hurt everywhere. She was sure she had a broken bone or ten. A groan escaped her throat
when she tried to stand. Her dress was torn, and one of her shoes was missing.
“Get up,” Lyle snarled, removing his coat and loosening his tie. “Let’s get this over with.”
Priscilla lay on the floor, barely moving. Her hand landed on something hard and cold. It was the round bar of the log poker she’d knocked over. She slid it against her side when Lyle was untucking his shirt.
“If I have to come over there,” he muttered, “it won’t be pleasant for you.”
“Fuck off, pussy dick.” She pushed herself up, then Lyle had her around the throat again. With his eyes drilling hers, she wrapped her fingers around the poker then drove it into his side. Hopefully, she popped a lung or a kidney.
He fell to the side, and she sprang to her feet. She had no place to hide in the little cabin, so she would test her luck outside. Yes, there was snow, but at least she’d be running from him instead of cowering against the wall.
She ran out the door, and her shoeless foot didn’t feel the snow on the front porch. Not yet, but it wouldn’t last long. She ran down the driveway, the only path she could see in the moonlight. If she could make it to the road, maybe someone would stop and help. With her adrenaline pushing her into overdrive, she ran down the steep drive.
As she ran, she saw something sitting in the middle of the driveway ahead, but the snow blinded her for the most part.
“Oh, Priscilla,” came Lyle’s growl far behind her. She didn’t stop. “You’ve made a mistake, my soon-to-be mate. I was going to fuck you gently, but now I’m going to tear you apart to make you bleed, just like I’m bleeding.”
The closer she got to the thing in the driveway, she recognized the shape of a car. What was it doing there? She slid around to the driver’s side and banged on the window, then she tried opening the door.
The gods were smiling down on her. She pulled the door out, but it only moved so far before digging into the ground. That was why the vehicle was here. It had bottomed out being too low to the ground. Didn’t matter to her. She jumped inside and slammed and locked the door.
It was still a little warm. Whoever had been in it hadn’t been there long. She noted the hood still had melted snow on it. The engine must have been hot when they arrived. She searched for keys and was surprised at finding them dangling in the ignition. The driver had left without them.
She cranked the car, which started up with a roar. Then in front of her face, a tiger appeared on the other side of the windshield. It startled the shit out of her, and she fell back in the seat. Which was rather far back. The driver had long legs. The tiger snarled, pushing its nose against the glass.
Priscilla touched around the left side of the seat for the power controls and ever so slowly move the seat forward. When she could reach the pedals, she put the car in reverse and gunned the motor. The car jerked but didn’t go anywhere. Of course not. That was the definition of bottoming out–stuck in a rut. She now remembered the Mercedes barely made it over.
The tiger jumped down next to the door, and the next thing she saw was Lyle’s face grinning at her. The door was locked so he couldn’t get in, but that wouldn’t stop him for long. Well, long wasn’t long enough. He drew his arm back, hand in a fist. She launched herself into the passenger’s seat as his fist came through the glass. He grabbed her leg.
“Come now, little mate. It’s time to go inside.”
Priscilla kicked at him with her other foot until he caught it in his other hand. He had dragged her over the space between the seats. Her legs were out of the window when she heard a loud growling from outside the car.
Lyle dropped her feet and spun around to face the trees. “Yes, dear brother, I realize you’re here. How, I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter. You aren’t leaving.”
Priscilla couldn’t help but laugh at Lyle. She’d gathered herself into the passenger’s side, crammed against the door. “You think you’re going to beat the alpha in a fight? Are you crazy?” She spat the words out with all the venom she had in her. “He’s going to fuck you up!”
Before she could figure out what Lyle was doing, the window behind her head shattered around her, and she was yanked out of the car.
“No, my sweet mate. I won’t have to beat him. You’ll protect me.” He held her in front of him, arm around her waist. She watched as he popped a claw from his finger then rested it against the side of her neck, over her jugular.
“I warn you, Lake. If you try to touch me, I will sever her head from her body.”
That scared the shit out of her. She definitely wanted to keep herself in one piece. She liked her head right where it was. Lyle moved up the hill toward the cabin one step at a time, his eyes searching both sides of the forested drive. She couldn’t see anything, but with his tiger eyes, he’d be able to see all movement.
After several steps, she heard the growl again. Lyle whipped them around, the sharp claw digging into her skin.
“Believe me when I say I will slice her throat, brother. I don’t give a shit if she lives or dies. Actually, that’s a lie. I would prefer she die so you’ll wither into nothing. Then I will be the ruling alpha, the rich and famous CEO, and have all the women I can stand.”
Chapter Twenty
Lake couldn’t believe what he heard from his brother. Was he so busy that he never realized how his twin really saw things?
Lake had raced to this hidden hideaway, then coming up the driveway, the snow had hidden a deep gouge, and the sporty car’s front wheel fell in. He’d abandoned the car and took off on foot through the woods so Lyle wouldn’t see him approaching. He didn’t know what was going on, but his brother and his mate at a cozy cabin where no one knew where they were…he doubted they were wrapping presents to put under the tree for Christmas.
He’d been at the back window of the cabin when Priscilla stabbed Lyle and ran out. He got to the front just as Lyle came out. His brother’s words slowed him. What did Lyle mean when he said his mate had made a mistake?
Maya thought that he had come back to the mansion to get Priscilla. Had she thought Lyle was him too? Obviously, she figured it out if she needed to put a log poker in his brother’s side.
When Lyle and Priscilla made it up to the flat part of the hill, getting closer to the porch, Lake shifted and walked out of the woods. Yeah, he was stark naked, but cats ran hot-blooded.
His mate gasped. She glanced at Lyle, holding her, then back at him. Had he not told her they were twins? He hadn’t really thought about telling her since everyone in his life knew, so he seldom used the “twin” term.
“I had no idea you had a problem with being the secondary alpha or vice president of the company.” Lake slowly crept toward his mate and Lyle.
“I learned to hide it well since childhood.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me what you were feeling?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Lake. Do you really think I would come crying and begging you for power and status?”
“Well, probably not. You could always be a dick when you wanted to. I’m surprised you were married as long as you were. But what did I know about your life, Lyle? I stayed out of your way so you could do and be anyone you wanted. You weren’t tied down with your future planned out for you. Every hour of your day scheduled with meetings or appearances or trouble in the pride.”
“Oh, dear brother, you make it sound so bad. All that power and money. And you chose this woman to be your mate? What is wrong with you? Do you know how it makes our pride look, our company?” The disgust in Lyle’s voice made it almost impossible for him to control his anger.
“Our pride and business are held in high esteem among the community.” He was within twenty feet of them backed to the porch.
A thought occurred to him.
His face heated with his anger. “You were the one to lie to the teens about the wolves to get me away from Priscilla. But you were the one to warn me about the house being on fire. Were you caught setting it? And you must have my banking password. You took the
money, didn’t you? You called to see where I was when you made the transaction. Why, Lyle?”
“Because with you out of the way, I would be number one. The alpha.”
“And how do you think hurting Priscilla will help you achieve that?”
Lyle’s arm squeezed his mate tighter to him. “Don’t treat me like an idiot, Lake. Losing your true mate will devastate your animal, and you won’t be worth shit to anyone in a couple months.”
Lyle was completely right at that moment. Without his mate, he wouldn’t want to continue walking on this earth. Fear raced through him at the thought Lyle would really hurt the woman he loved.
Lake watched as Priscilla’s eyes widened. Had she not known that tidbit about shifters? A look of determination took over her expression.
She tilted her head down and away from Lyle, then waggled her brows at Lake. What the hell did that mean? Was she going to do something to put her in more danger? He was about to tell her not to do whatever was going through her beautiful head, but he was too late.
He could only watch as she twisted her hip away from Lyle’s body, bent forward away from the claw at her neck, and swing her hand back, grabbing Lyle’s junk and pulling. Lake cringed, knowing what pain his brother was in.
At least Lyle released Priscilla, dropping her to the ground. She scrambled away toward his Mercedes parked nearby. That was as good a place as any.
Lake marched up to Lyle. Lake hadn’t decided if he was going to punch his brother or just kill him. Probably neither. He loved his brother and wanted the chance to forgive him and help him to be happy. His cat was on alert, not liking his decision to get closer. Which wasn’t a good call.
When Lake got within reaching distance, Lyle swiped his claws through the air, just missing Lake’s abdomen. His brother nearly gutted him. He wasn’t playing around anymore. He shifted into his cat, and Lyle did the same, attacking Lake as soon as all four paws hit the ground.
“Lyle, if you would’ve come to me, I would’ve gladly shared responsibilities with you. You always seemed to be off doing your own thing, and I couldn’t take your freedom away from you. I knew how precious it was.”
Scrooged Over: Paranormal Dating Agency Page 9
