“He wants Bearden.” Kyla rose from her seat and came to stand by Lindley. “He wants to take the enclave to send a message. The first enclave to drop their barrier and allow in humans needed to be the first to raise it again, I heard him say.”
Linnea nodded. “Your pride burned him out of his territory. He won’t let that go.” She tapped the forest town Lindley had pointed out. “I’d start there.”
Chapter 12
Kyla nearly danced down the steps of the cabin. Nearly. She maintained her composure until she reached the bottom, then whipped around and flashed Lindley a huge smile. “We did it. We have a place to start.”
The sites and prides weren’t much to go on, but they were something. And when she had nothing, that small pile of something felt like a mountain to mine.
“You did it,” he corrected.
He jogged ahead to open the truck door for her. Kyla climbed inside with all the grace she could muster and hoped she didn’t look like a floundering baby hippopotamus. His fault, really, for being so unexpectedly nice to her.
He leaned against her door before closing it. The casual, hotboy move filled her nose with his scent. Baked earth and fresh rainfall, Lindley made her want to press her nose to his skin like a weirdo. Her lioness rolled through her with an echo of the urge.
Maybe she could steal one of his shirts. For posterity. She had to go back to his den eventually.
He quirked an eyebrow at her. “When was the last time you had a drink?”
“Well, I had cocoa with breakfast this morning.” Realization dawned on her. “Ooh, you aren’t concerned about my hydration, are you?”
He barked a laugh. “That tells me everything I need to know. Hope you’re hungry. We’re going out for lunch.”
He shut her inside before she had a chance to object, then hurried around to slide in behind the wheel. She didn’t dare say a word. She felt captured in the moment, stuck with lungs filled with air and waiting for it to be squeezed out of her. She’d woken in his bed and faced a barrage of accusations before he flipped around and promised to keep her safe. They’d started the day nicely, then he’d turned sour on her. Heads or tails, she didn’t know where he’d land.
Kyla mentally flipped a coin and waited to see which side she’d get.
Trees flashed by, occasionally opening up to show single cabins or entrances to neighborhoods. Other homes clustered together like the dens of Lindley’s pride. Smoke curled above the roof of more than one.
Soon, the residential areas gave way to brick buildings and cars lining the street. Kyla leaned forward and grinned.
The place was still lit up for Christmas, though one or two of the shops were actively in the process of taking down their lights and packing away their decorations. Enough bulbs still lit up several storefronts, blinking brightly or simply shining amongst the rest of the decorations, to give her an idea of what she would see in the height of the holiday season.
Men and women walked down the street by themselves or in groups of friends or families. She even spotted a full-grown bear or two plodding along. In the middle of the town! Just… out in the open. Never, ever would that have been allowed under Roland’s rule.
And the smiles. She liked the smiles the best.
“It’s nothing like home,” she breathed.
“That’s called a bonus,” Lindley said with a snort. Still, his lips twitched at the corners and he jerked his chin to the buildings they approached. “On your left and right are the diner and coffee shop. They’ve long been pitted against one another, but don’t buy into it for a second. Tommy, who owns the diner, and Faith, caffeine goddess, are happily mated with a cub.”
“Caffeine goddess?” Her eyebrows arched high. “Did you just call someone a caffeine goddess?”
“Just wait until you have one of her drinks. Wave to the ladies crossing the street. Cranky old boars,” he said, bright smile at odds with his words. He lifted his hand in greeting and continued, “The Old Maids, they call themselves. Town gossips, always sticking their noses in business that isn’t theirs. I’ll probably be getting questions about driving around with that pretty girl three months from now.”
Kyla’s brain shorted out. ‘You think I’m pretty’ wrestled with ‘Sorry for ruining your life’ for dominance of her vocal cords. “You think I’m ruining your life,” she blurted instead.
“Absolutely,” he deadpanned in answer.
He drove past more brick front shops advertising sweets or clothes or books. The road split when it met the edge of a large, snow-covered stretch of land. The leftovers of at least three snowmen dotted the park, with two more in the construction stages.
White clouds puffed out of the mouths of children who played on two feet or four under the watchful eyes of their guardians. Not a care was given that bears mixed with wolves or big cats.
Jasper and Roland wanted to destroy this.
The thought sent a shiver down her spine. Her lioness mewled helplessly against the sense of loss. The idyllic scene wouldn’t survive under the consortium’s rule. The sense of peace would be replaced with sidelong looks and unease. She’d hate to see Bearden become anything like the Levine pride.
“That’s Pierre putting out the menu board on the sidewalk. This might surprise you, but he owns the ambiguous ‘fine dining’ restaurant.”
Kyla turned to see the man standing under a sign with Pierre’s written in a cursive font. She shook herself out of her funk. The day was still bright and good. She'd helped find a start to tracking down Sage. The monsters wouldn't steal her crumb of hope.
“No way. The Pierre?” she teased.
“Yes and no,” Lindley wavered. “His real name is Peter and his French accent is fake, so…”
She laughed softly behind her hand. “Do you know everyone?”
“Pretty much. It’s a small town. Stay here longer than a week or two, and you tend to recognize faces. A few months, and you’ve probably talked to everyone at least once.”
Kyla propped her elbow against the door. “So you’re at what, three or four repeat conversations by now?”
“Clever. The Old Maids are going to have a run for their money with you around.”
She sank back into her seat and watched him from the corner of her eye. This was the old Lindley. He knew how to joke and laugh.
“I’ve been here four years, almost five,” he said softly. “Moved around a lot before that. Worked a lot of odd jobs before settling on the ranch.”
Kyla stuffed her hands under her legs and looked out the window. The answer was a reminder of who had been left behind and who was still missing from the little reunion. Guilt swam through her, doing its damnedest to drag her down into the depths.
She was out on the town, about to have lunch with an old friend from her past, and Sage was… gone. Vanished. A captive in an unknown location.
Her lioness curled up inside her as more emotions rushed at her. More guilt. An extra dose of worry. The sky was open and bright blue and happy smiles were all around, but she felt like she was trapped in a box. An invisible, tiny box kept her caged while everyone else had the freedom to move as they pleased.
Lindley reached across the seat and squeezed her knee. Warmth flared under his touch and crashed through the waves of guilt and foreboding that threatened to consume her.
“Hey. Don’t go quiet on me. We’re going to find her.”
“What if we don’t?” she asked in a whisper.
Dark thought. Too, too dark. She hadn’t wanted to breathe life into it, but it’d grown like a fungus in the dark depths of her mind.
The air grew heavy under the weight of the lion next to her. Kyla struggled to make her lungs work.
“Then we burn them all to the ground,” he growled.
His hand didn’t leave her thigh until he turned into the parking lot of a place called Hogshead Joint.
“Come here,” he said with a jerk of his chin. He bypassed the sign directing customers to the front entran
ce and headed for the stairs across the parking lot.
She followed him up to an open deck. Tables hugged the side of the building with chairs piled on top. Light strands looped around the railing and even reached into the tree growing alongside the far edge.
Lindley went right for the middle of the railing. “Best seats in the house during the warmer months. Not even so bad when they have the heaters running.”
Kyla stepped up next to him. A river lined with ice moved sluggishly below them. On the other side, trees spread out and angled higher with the slope of the mountains. Snow dotted the branches and covered the ground. Nothing seemed to move or make a sound.
“I struggled a lot when I,” he hesitated a fraction of a second, “left. I felt like I was drowning in open air. Quiet helped. Finding a place to center myself kept my lion steady. As steady as possible, anyway.”
“How did you—”
“Know?” He huffed a breath. “You reek of desperation.”
She made a noise in the back of her throat. Her lioness bristled and hissed, tail flicking with irritation. “Rude.”
“You came to the wrong pride for help if you wanted to be coddled, sweetheart,” he said wryly. He continued in a fierce tone, “You made it out, Kyla. Now you keep moving forward. You don’t let them take you to your knees ever again. That’s winning.” He tapped the wood railing and stepped back. “Take your moment. I’ll grab us seats.”
“Lindley,” she called after him. He stopped, but didn’t turn. “Thank you for showing me your town.”
“It’s yours now, too,” he said over his shoulder.
She turned back toward the icy river to hide her reddening cheeks.
Her entire world had tipped over in a few days. The awful pride and dangling sword of an unwanted mate had been replaced with a wild bunch of misfits and a man who wasn't the killer she'd been led to believe.
Lindley was right. The quiet helped. She felt adrift and connected at the same time. The crisp, clean air flowed into her lungs and helped set her scattered thoughts in order.
She had to keep moving.
What that meant could change in the next hour, but that moment flared as brightly as if it’d been written across the sky. Keep moving meant searching for Sage, yes. It also meant allowing herself the small moments to celebrate the victories. She wasn’t drowning in the open air. She was learning to breathe again.
The wood of the stairs creaked. Kyla turned to tell Lindley she was coming, but froze with her mouth open.
Ricky evened out after the final step. Cold eyes swirled with predation above the sneering line of his mouth. “You sure don’t make yourself hard to find,” he drawled. “Arrogant enclave shifters, losing all their instincts.”
She backed away from him slowly, heart pounding a million miles in her chest. Thuds behind her whipped her around, only to find Tucker slowly rising to his feet.
Three steps would put him between her and the door. Ricky cut off the stairs.
Kyla edged closer to the railing.
“Don’t you fucking think about it,” Ricky ordered.
Kyla threw herself over the edge.
She landed hard. The snow hid an unforgiving ground and she slipped trying to regain her footing, but she made it to her feet. She had to keep moving. Nothing else mattered.
She bolted for the parking lot.
Her breath clouded in front of her face. Her heart pumped hard enough to hear the beats thumping in her ears. Her legs carried her closer and closer. People. She needed people to keep the hunters at her heels from taking her away.
Ricky stepped in her path and she crashed into him face first.
He quickly twisted her around and slammed a meaty palm over her mouth. Strong arms pinned her to him as he chuckled, then licked the side of her face. “Maybe my reward for bringing you home will be putting my mark on your skin.”
Oh, hell no. She was sure there were worse options out in the world, but Ricky was up there. Adjusting her scope to just lion shifters working with Jasper and Roland, he was easily in the top twenty. He’d break her into a thousand tiny pieces just for the fun of it, then expect her to get up and make him breakfast with a smile on her face.
Her fingertips tingled, the press of claws darkening and sharpening her nails. She’d never been able to shift partially. Lioness or human, the in-between didn’t exist for her. She battered back her inner beast; there wasn’t any time for the seconds between her shapes switching places.
She teetered on the edge, and held.
Kyla bit down on Ricky’s hand as hard as she could. The asshole howled and shoved her away from him. She spun around the moment she was free and slashed her claws down the side of his face.
“You fucking cunt!” he snarled, holding his cheek. Blood poured from between his fingers, but the eye he turned on her was filled with murder. “You wait. You just wait—”
His words cut off as a hand wrapped around his throat and slammed him against the side of a van.
“Not another word,” Lindley gritted out.
Kyla sagged in relief, only to straighten again. “Watch out!”
The warning came a second too late as Ricky’s accomplice connected a punch against Lindley’s exposed side. He grunted and staggered to the side, losing his grip around Ricky’s throat.
Lindley turned into the attack, but the two were on the move. Their lions broke out of their skin and they took off into the trees.
Kyla backed up as more people appeared behind Lindley. Concerned faces looked at her, Lindley, the trees on the other side of the river. Murmurs turned to questions she couldn’t comprehend as her lioness twisted and turned inside her.
She’d fought back. She shouldn’t have done that.
She should have done more.
They weren’t going to stop until they had her back in their grasp.
A shadow fell over her. She glanced up to see Lindley standing between her and all the others. Her inner animal paused in the constant pacing and leaned into the familiar presence.
“I can’t stay here,” she said in a burst. “I’m the weak link in your pride and I know what happens to weak links. I don’t want to be culled. Leaving is for the best. They’ve already tried to take me back twice. Sneaking into your territory in the middle of the night is a little understandable. Dark deeds, midnight hour, all that fun stuff. But now they’re trying their luck in the middle of the freaking down with other people around? No, no, no. That just won’t do. Not for me, not for you, not for anyone they put in the middle. Time to mosey on along, partner and—”
Her increasingly incoherent rant died under the sudden press of lips on hers.
Lips.
On hers.
Her lioness recovered quicker than her human half. The traitorous beast melted into the hard kiss and solid chest of the man giving it. A tiny groan worked out of her throat and his mouth softened.
Softened, and moved.
Holy heck, he tasted so good. Felt so good. She was back in the prettiest dress she'd ever owned, delirious after a single dance with the hottest man she'd ever laid eyes on. But no, the rough scratch of his beard pulled her back to the present. This was very real, very much happening.
He pulled her tighter against him, hands going to her cheeks to tilt her head back for him. Her hands fluttered at her side until she pressed them to his abs. Heat blasted off him and a soft growl escaped his chest. Sexy, sexy man. Should be illegal to use all his manly wiles to shock her out of her, well, shock.
Lindley eased back mere inches and searched her eyes. “You’re not going anywhere,” he said fiercely. “I won’t let them take you, we’re going to save Sage, and fuck anyone who gets in our way.”
“Oh.”
“‘Oh’? That’s all you have to say? Fuck, Kyla, I thought steam would come out of your ears as fast as your mouth was moving. Should anyone be able to talk that fast?”
Her cheeks felt on fire. “Well, give me a second! I need time to process that…
that…”
“Kiss?” His lips hitched up in a cocky grin.
She gulped.
Lindley chuckled, devil still on his lips. Kyla didn’t hear a word he said to the others. Some turned back to the restaurant while others streamed past in the direction Ricky and Tucker had fled. She was too focused on the man himself.
Not a murderer, no. A protector. A hero, even. In rusty, tarnished armor that tried to hide the good underneath.
Lindley had changed.
So had she.
Chapter 13
Lindley padded through the snow and did his damnedest to ignore the ache in his chest. He felt like he’d been hollowed out and had his insides replaced with mechanics, then wound up and set on the floor. He hobbled along through his days and his nights, always with an eye or ear turned toward the dens, the roads, the open hills of the ranch.
They wouldn’t get close to Kyla again.
His ears buzzed. The whole world was muffled and dimmed like he’d just left a loud rock concert. He couldn’t stand to follow the threads of conversation for more than ten seconds, and when he did, he wanted to maul the dipshits in his pride for having them.
That kiss. That damn kiss. He shouldn’t have done it. He should have grabbed her shoulders and shaken her out of her shock. Hell, even tossing her into the icy river to emerge hissing and sputtering would have been the better option.
Now that his lion had a taste of her, the beast didn’t want to let her go.
Lindley growled. There was no keeping Kyla. He was a danger to her.
Just another Levine male.
He rounded the barn and loped toward the dens. Lights shined from the windows of several, but one held his entire attention. He couldn’t go there, not yet, but the woman inside never strayed far from his mind.
He slowed as he neared, deep rumble vibrating in his throat.
Dash jumped around the corner and took a swipe at him. Lindley sprang back on his hind feet, then tackled the other male in a grappling hug. They went down in a heap of claws and nips before disentangling and jumping free.
Savage Claim: Lion Hearts Book Two Page 8
