by T. Cobbin
“You have no claws, buffalo.”
Buffalo? Was Master a shifter too? Danielle had a whole mountain of questions. If she survived this, she was going to ask each and every one of them. Out of the corner of her eye, Danielle watched Master pick up the knife she’d seen earlier. Danielle shivered, fear etching over her skin when he raised the blade to her throat.
“Who needs claws when modern man can supply such wonderful sharp blades held by fingers?” Master replied sarcastically.
Prue cocked her hip and shrugged. “I have your son.” She grinned maliciously.
Danielle was shocked; she’d never seen such a look on the teacher’s face before. She was always so sweet. Like honey wouldn’t melt in her mouth. It was such a drastic change Danielle had to shut her mouth because it had fallen open in surprise. Danielle felt Master’s muscles tense. Leo had told her that all emotions had scents to them, and he said a lie did too. Had Master tensed because Prue had lied? Or did she really have Ollie?
“You won’t be able to hide him forever. I’ll find him. If I have to leave this damned island without him for now, I will. Once this little bitch is back where she belongs, I can make more.”
Bile rose in Danielle’s throat at the thought of Master throwing her back in that room and raping her.
“Aww, didn’t you know that she might not be able to have any more children?” Prue asked, satisfaction running in her voice. “She had some trouble when Ollie was born.”
Oh God, what was her friend playing at? Master could cut her throat here and now. And how could Prue lie so well?
It was then Danielle caught Prue staring at her intensely between looks at Master. After she stared at her, she’d briefly look down. Danielle couldn’t get her mind to work with that damn blade at her neck. She already knew Maser had nicked her, she could feel the warm trickle of blood seeping down her neck. Did Prue want her to drop? Stamp on his foot? She wasn’t sure.
A growl rumbled from Master’s chest, and the blade suddenly dug more into her skin.
“Fucking females,” Master cursed, his ire sounding in his voice. “My son caused you some damage, did he?” he asked in her ear, his hot breath skimming across her skin. “He started well.”
Danielle could hear pride in his voice as if he had somehow done it himself or had taught her boy what to do. She mentally snorted. Her son was nothing like him!
“Not as much as I will once I get you home.” Master’s mouth was so close to her ear she could smell his breath.
Suddenly, his head next to hers disappeared.
“Get out of the way, ape!” Master boomed behind her. The blade he held at Danielle’s neck dug in deeper, making her gasp. “I will cut her!”
“How about I swap her for your son?” Prue asked.
No… Danielle mentally shook her head. Prue wouldn’t do that. No please, she silently begged.
“Why do you want this whore? Fancy her, do you? Going to share her with Leo?”
Prue smirked and wiggled her eyebrows. “What if I do? What if we do?”
Master’s chest panted behind her. Did the thought of her in a threesome make him more aroused? His free hand came up and cupped her bare breast, and he squeezed it forcefully, making her wince. He pulled her closer to his body. She closed her eyes for a second, breathing deeply, as she tried to stop her mind from going over the images of his past rapings.
Leo...she had to think of Leo. He’d made sweet love to her. His kisses soft against her lips.
“I like your idea, ape, but any threesomes will be with me in it. I was training my second, but it looks like I chose unwisely. Now, I will only tell you once more—get out of my way. My whore and I are leaving.” Master sneered behind Danielle. He nudged Danielle forward a step by pushing his chest against her back. He didn’t remove the knife.
The first sign that Prue had thrown something was when Master’s roar filled Danielle’s ears. A small red-handled blade that had been on the draining board near Prue stuck out of Master’s forearm. Danielle watched in astonishment as Master cupped his arm and pulled the blade from it, then he spun around. Danielle turned her head and saw him reaching for something behind her. Instantly, realization kicked in—earlier Prue had been giving her a signal to get down.
Master, however, had his back turned so there was no need to roll away from him. Danielle ran toward her friend.
“Come on,” Prue commanded, grabbing Danielle’s hand and urging her to run faster down the hallway.
Master was already on their tail. “You fucking bitches,” he roared behind them.
Danielle was surprised when instead of heading out the front door Prue pulled her to the main stairs. The pair of them made it halfway up the stairs before Prue turned.
“Run!” Prue shouted at Danielle.
As much as Danielle wanted to stop to help her friend, she ran. Her lungs screamed for air. With one eye swollen shut it was hard to see. Her muscles ached from running up the stairs. Her flab seemed to shake and wobble. If I survive this, I will get fit. She’d never run like this, ever.
The thoughts of her son drove her on. Reaching the top of the stairs, she heard a female grunt and then a male one, then came the thud and groan of someone hitting several steps as if they were pushed or had fallen down the stairs. She didn’t stop to look.
Danielle ran to the master suit, glancing behind her before heading into the room. Her heart and mind rang with glee to see Prue not far behind her.
“I gave him a kick down the stairs,” her friend panted out. Prue shut the bedroom door and then pointed to the two large chest of drawers that Leo’s grandfather had made. “Help me move those against the door.”
Between them they pushed the two pieces of heavy furniture toward the door. Once they were in place they both leaned against them.
“Where are the children?” Danielle puffed out quietly.
“Gracie should be in the hut near the dock. When Ollie ran past me, I told him to go sit with her,” Prue whispered low enough for Danielle to hear, but not loud enough that Master could hear if he was on the other side of the door.
“But if...” Danielle didn’t want to ask what if Master killed them. “What if he kills us and finds them?”
“Gracie is a shifter, remember? Higher senses and all that,” Prue pointed out. “She will smell if he gets near. They will be safe. I hope,” Prue added.
Danielle noticed Prue had copied her, emphasizing he, rather than calling him Master. Danielle told herself he wasn’t her Master any more.
“Once I realized someone else was on the island, I phoned Leo, but before I managed to hide Ollie, someone snuck up on me and knocked me out.”
“So you think the children will be safe?” Danielle asked.
Prue nodded.
“I hope you’re right.”
A thud sounded on the other side of the bedroom door. It reverberated through the furniture the women were leaning against.
“What do we do? I can’t go back with him, Prue. I’d rather be dead.” Tears rimmed her good eye, making things go blurry. It was true; she would killed herself before he took her back to that room.
Danielle was just about to ask Prue if Leo answered her call when what felt like something huge hit the bedroom door again. This time she and Prue were shoved back an inch. The two chest of drawers weren’t going to hold the door shut for long.
Prue rushed over to the window and opened it. “I have an idea.”
Prue ran to the bed and pulled the bedding off. Another thud sounded against the door, and this time the furniture was pushed back enough that Danielle had to push them quickly back in place. When Danielle turned back around she saw Prue had tied a sheet around a bedpost and was currently noosing the rest together and throwing it bit by bit out of the window.
“That won’t take my weight,” she hissed at the tutor.
Prue abandoned what she was doing and came to stand next to Danielle. Prue pushed once more on the furniture when yet another th
ud and grind of furniture moving sounded. “It won’t have to. I’ve just seen something that will help.”
Before Prue could say anything else, the door bashed open, pushing the two chest of drawers squealing across the hardwood floor. Danielle found herself sprawling across the floor on her butt, staring at the open doorway.
A black, horned buffalo stood there, one of his front feet pawing at the ground. The animal was huge, it filled the hallway with its large, bulky, and very hairy body. How the hell did that enormous animal fit in the hallway?
Chapter 14
Danielle stared in horrified disbelief at the enormous black, horned buffalo standing in front of her. In those huge, beady eyes, she saw her own death. Her son growing up without her, Leo without a mate, and Gracie again losing someone she loved.
The animal charged, his head lowered, his horns pointing forward. Danielle found herself frozen to the spot, sitting on the floor where she’d landed. She was just about to close her good eye, because she didn’t want to see her own death, when a female gorilla charged forward with a deep, rumbling growl. She could tell it was a female gorilla because it was smaller than Leo’s.
The ape stood to the side of the buffalo and grabbed hold of its horns. With a body twist, she pulled the beast’s head with such force the buffalo stopped his charge, his head swiveling to the side. The buffalo butted its head toward the ape, trying to pivot the ape from its horns, but Prue managed to hold on.
Suddenly, the giant primate swung up and onto the buffalo’s back, still holding on to those horns. It rode the bucking buffalo like a bronco Danielle had seen on the television. If Danielle hadn’t been in a situation where she was near death, she might have found the scene comical.
The buffalo blew out a deep breath through its large nose, sounding like a steam train, and bucked harder, knocking Prue’s beast off its back and slamming her against the doorframe. Wood splintered everywhere. Danielle was still frozen to the spot as she sat watching everything happen. Two huge animals were fighting in the small hallway and the master bedroom. The doorway now lay in splinters on the floor as well as the bedroom door that had been hanging on its hinges until then. Between the buffalo’s large hoofs, Danielle could make out Prue lying on the floor in her shifted form.
To Danielle’s surprise, she watched as, slowly, the pink skin of the tutor appeared, her hairy and large form shrinking and disappearing. Was she dead? Danielle instantly remembered a question she asked Leo one night.
“Once you’ve turned me, if I was to die in my animal form, would I stay that way?”
“Hey, why are you asking about death? You’re not worried this dirtbag will find you, are you?”Leo asked. Danielle knew Leo had said ‘this dirtbag’ because he hated calling the male who’d held her for so long Master.
“I was just worried that if I was to die in my animal form, it might be distressing to Ollie.” She’d looked up and into Leo’s eyes. “And you. I’d want you to remember me as...well, me.”
“No, sweetheart. If you, or any gorilla shifter, were to die in our animal form, we shift back to being human. Unless, of course, we chose to live in our animal form more than we did our human form. I know of a few that live in the wild in their animal forms.”
What if the reason Prue had turned back to her human half was because she lay there dead? Danielle didn’t have time to ponder much more being the buffalo turned its huge head and his eyes bored into hers.
Danielle was surprised to find the fear inside of her dissipate, and a kind of peace swept through her. If Prue had called Leo, he could already be on the way back. Which would mean her children had a higher chance of survival now that she and Prue had delayed Master from going after them. Gracie and her son would be safe, she knew it. Finally, she found the will to stand. She stood, her back straight and her mind clear.
“I will no longer call you Master. You are the beast that lives inside of you. Ugly, hairy, and someone who knows nothing about women. You are a butthead, just like your animal. Kill me now. You will never get your hands on my son. His father will take care of him.”
She expected to feel her heart pound out of her chest, but instead, it felt like it was beating normally. For the first time since this male had kidnapped her, she didn’t have an ounce of fear inside of her. Looking at the animal that stood before her, she felt years of fear washing away. Her captor was as ugly outside as he was inside. She didn’t close her eye this time; she would look the beast in its eyes.
The buffalo blew a stream of wind through its nostrils, filling the air with the sound of a steam train as he’d done before, only it seemed louder, angrier.
“Guess you didn’t like what I had to say.” She smirked.
The animal lifted its right foreleg and started scratching the floor with it. It almost looked like the beast was winding itself up for a run. As it lowered its head to charge, a loud, thundering sound came from the hallway. Someone huge was running toward them. Danielle immediately knew it was Leo. Her ears filled with the roar of an angry silverback gorilla—her gorilla. So, this was what Prue meant by something that will help. Leo was already there on the island. Her huge, hairy beast stopped just behind the buffalo, then he threw his large hands toward his chest and beat it.
The sound of large coconuts shells beating against each other now filled Danielle’s ears. The buffalo stopped its potential charge and turned toward her man in his shifted form. Ignoring both shifters, Danielle ran to the side of the buffalo and pulled Prue’s body to a safer place. Crouching down beside the bed, she felt for Prue’s pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when a steady beat thrummed beneath her fingertips.
Hearing silence, Danielle peeked over the edge of the bed and stared at two naked men circling each other. Leo’s skin glistened as if he’d run a marathon. His cock stood at half-mast. His face was the picture of question and anger as he stared at her kidnapper.
“Vance? What are you doing here?” Leo asked, his voice full of venom. He held up his hand and shook his head, as if he already knew the answer. “Nope, don’t tell me. With you trying to get me off the island, and then all this damage, I guess I already know. In all the years I’ve known you, I would never have thought you were a man who liked to hurt women. You are the one my mate calls…” Leo snorted, his lip raising in disgust. “Master?”
* * * *
Leo stared at the man in front of him with total and utter revulsion. He couldn’t believe it. He had always thought he was a good judge of character. How fucking wrong had he been?
Then he thought about all the times he’d been in Vance’s office. Why had he never smelled his mate on the lawyer? Or even in the room? From what she’d told him about her escape, that’s where she’d been kept. He knew her aroma now, peaches and strawberries. It was embedded in his mind and soul. How had he not known? He could have rescued her from the vermin standing in front of him.
“I am her Master. She belongs to me!” Vance snapped, spittle flying from his mouth.
“You believe that? Are you mad? Fucking hell!” Leo shook his head again, appalled at the male’s behavior.
Staring into Vance’s eyes, Leo saw something he had never seen before. Craziness. Stupidity. Insanity. This man had been his lawyer for nearly twenty years and Leo hadn’t seen anything of this side of him at all. Had losing and then finding Danielle driven Vance over the edge?
“What do you mean do I believe? Of course I do. She’s mine,” Vance spat out.
“Your mate?” Leo asked, wanting to see what the male said. There was no way Danielle could be his mate being she was Leo’s.
“No!” Vance yelled, loathing for Danielle sounding in his voice. “She is mine,” he stated simply, as if that was supposed to mean something. “She passes the time until my mate comes along. She has given me a son, and I’ve decided I want more.” The lawyer shrugged.
Danielle gasped. Both men turned their heads toward her.
“And what happens when your mate does come along?” Leo
asked.
Vance straightened his shoulders and simply said, “I’ll kill it.” He pointed toward Danielle.
Leo growled. “I meant what happens to the children when your mate comes along?”
Vance grinned. “As soon as my mate gives me a child, its little bastards won’t mean anything to me. A slave’s kid. They will join it.” Vance glanced toward the bed where Danielle was hidden, then back at Leo.
Leo’s gorilla beat at Leo’s inside. its anger joining Leo’s. The man in front of him was a callous bastard.
“But then, mates for us buffalos are hard to come by. That’s why we can have young with anyone, unlike you apes.” Vance’s lips lifted in a smirk. “You will die out sooner than we will.”
A movement from the corner of Leo’s eye caught his attention. “Ollie will shift, won’t he?” Danielle asked quietly, her face pale. “From what you told me about shifters...” She looked toward Leo. “He hasn’t shown any signs of being a shifter at all though?”
Leo’s heart skipped a beat at seeing the lost look on her face. He wanted to go to her, hold her in his arms, and tell her everything would be okay. But Vance still needed to be taken care of. After he had killed Vance for everything he had done to his mate, he and Danielle would take care of Ollie, no matter if he shifted or not.
“But there is one slight problem with being able to mate with a non-mate, isn’t there, Vance?” Leo questioned. “There is a fifty-fifty chance that the child won’t shift.”
“He will be a mighty buffalo like me,” Vance yelled.
Leo watched with delight that he’d riled the man. His anger would be his downfall in the up-coming fight.
Vance inhaled deeply several times, as if he were trying to calm himself, before he spoke again. “My boy won’t shift as early as you fucking apes. His beast will grow inside and wait until he is strong.” Vance lifted his chin with pride. He turned his attention back toward Danielle. “When I get you back to your room, I intend to try for another son. My father will be so proud of me when he meets them.”
