by Kim Fox
“Umm,” she said nervously as he moved his head toward her. He sniffed the side of her face and the sound was loud in her ear, but she was laughing because it tickled so much.
She was smiling when he pulled away. “Can I…” she said, slowly raising her hand.
He sniffed her palm and then licked it. It was more of a friendly lick and less of an I-want-to-see-if-you-taste-good-because-I-want-to-eat-you kind of lick.
Her courage increased and she reached up and stroked his cheek. The lion closed his eyes and purred.
“You like that?”
He purred again.
She laughed as she stroked the rest of his face, feeling his hard whiskers scratching against her arm. “You’re not so bad when you’re not dragging me around like a rag doll, are you?”
Soon, she was digging her hands into his thick mane and rubbing her cheek against his as they got to know each other. He was soft and smelled good too, like the summer sun.
The lion rolled onto his back and stretched out for a belly rub. Tempest grinned as she sunk her fingers into his fur and started scratching. He purred long and hard. The cat was in heaven.
She was so distracted that she didn’t see the shadow moving in the darkness until it was too late.
Sloth came running out of nowhere and lunged on Ryder’s lion, attacking him viciously. Well, with as much viciousness as an old obese lazy cat could muster.
The lion rolled back over with a whimper. He opened his massive jaws and roared at the crazy house cat. It was so loud that Tempest’s ears rang after.
Sloth wasn’t intimidated. He opened his fat little mouth and roared back, although it was more of a puttering squeak than a roar.
Still, Ryder’s lion was backing up, pulling against the chain of the handcuffs as he tried to get away.
“Don’t be scared,” Tempest said, trying to swallow the laugh that was bubbling in her throat. “He’s harmless.”
She scooped up Sloth in her arms and giggled as Ryder’s lion paced from side to side at a distance, unsure of the fat little gremlin.
“It’s okay,” she said in a reassuring voice. “Follow me. I’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt you. Right, Sloth?”
Sloth looked at the lion and swiped his paw in the air.
“Oh, stop,” she said as she walked over to the pool area. She dumped him on his usual chair and gave him a few belly rubs until he fell back asleep.
She turned back to her new lion friend. “That takes care of him. Let’s go back and finish getting to know each other.”
The lion swung his adorable tail happily as he followed his new crush.
Chapter Thirteen
Ryder
The helicopter came the next day, on a Tuesday afternoon.
Ryder had just finished making love to Tempest and they were lying on the bed panting. The handcuffs still linked them physically while their bond linked them spiritually. Ryder heard the ominous whomp whomp whomp before her and sprung up to a seated position.
“Give me a minute before you go pee,” she said as she tried to catch her breath. “I can’t move my legs right now.”
He extended his handcuffed arm as he jumped out of bed and peeked out the window.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Get dressed,” he barked. “Now.”
She was up in an instant, throwing on her clothes without asking any questions.
He made sure she grabbed the wand that she kept in the flower vase when they were hanging out at home and watched as she quickly tied her wavy brown hair in a bun and shoved it inside.
“Let’s go!
They ran outside just as the helicopter was touching down. The rest of the boys were there, waiting and watching.
“This could be the General,” Grant said, looking ready for a fight. Mack and Bryce started slapping their shoulders as Logan rolled his neck from side to side.
The inside of the helicopter was stuffed with muscular men. Shifters. Ryder could smell them. A polar bear, a wolf, and was that a black bear or a grizzly? He couldn’t tell with the helicopter whipping the air around.
“They have a skin shifter in there,” Grant warned in a tight voice.
Ryder inhaled and smelled him. Skin shifters always had a distinct smoky smell like burnt charcoal. This suddenly got more dangerous. Skin shifters could slide their consciousness into any animal and control them. And for fighters whose biggest weapons were giant lions, that wasn’t someone you wanted to go up against. A skin shifter could take over your lion and use it against your own friends.
A tall good-looking man in an army uniform hopped out first. He had salt and pepper hair and looked like he could star as a General in a Hollywood movie.
“The Angel of Death,” Tempest whispered under her breath. “Is hot.”
Ryder turned to her with a frown.
She bit her lip nervously. “Did I say that last part out loud?”
The General didn’t look happy as the three shifters and one skin shifter emptied out of the helicopter behind him. They held long black guns at their chest, and at first, Ryder wondered why a shifter would carry a gun until he remembered Grease’s warning about the anti-shifting serum. One dart from one of those guns and his lion would be asleep until nightfall.
“Where is my target?” the General shouted over the roaring of the rotating blades.
“He got away,” Grant shouted back. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to pass on the job.”
The General glanced up at the sky and cursed under his breath. “I was hoping I could count on your crew for this and future jobs. My organization has deep pockets.”
“We don’t want anything to do with your organization, General Hunt,” Grant shot back.
The General showed the slightest bit of surprise in his eyes at the mention of his name. “It appears my reputation has proceeded me. I’m flattered.”
“You shouldn’t be,” Grant answered in a firm voice.
The General glanced back at his four men who were standing behind him in a line. They were all in uniform, looking ready to break something.
The blades of the helicopter slowed to an idle and Ryder could tell more or less who was what. The first guy on the left was a scrawny guy with orange hair and an Irish flag tattooed on his neck. He was the smallest and must have been the wolf shifter.
The next was a huge black man who Ryder guessed was hiding the polar bear. The skin shifter was next to him. He had stubble on his cheeks with a wry smile.
The last was a scary looking beast who was having a staring contest with Mack. He must have been the grizzly bear. Ryder could feel the thick tension in the air between the two apex predators. They both looked like they were praying for their alphas to give them the go-ahead so they could get at each other’s throats.
The General looked at each of his soldiers and then nodded to the black man. He surged forward with a grin as he yanked off his shirt, revealing his huge muscular torso. He dropped his gun and flexed his body, letting his bear come raging forward.
The polar bear was huge and Ryder’s body tightened as he stood up on his hind legs and roared.
“Put us in coach,” Ryder said to Grant. “Let them see what that wand can do. They won’t come knocking again after that.”
Grant looked at him then at Tempest for a few seconds and then nodded.
“Bring out your cat,” Tempest said. “Let’s see if these guys are scratch proof.”
“Really?”
Tempest nodded. “We bonded last night. It’s all good.”
He grinned as he let his lion come. His body flexed and burned as golden fur sprouted out of his skin. He felt the familiar searing in his hands and feet as the claws burst out. But as quickly as it started, it was done, and his lion was standing beside Tempest, snarling at the furry white threat in front of him.
Ryder watched from within as his lion and Tempest walked a few feet, closing the distance before stopping. They had found their groove the night before and were able to walk be
side one another without Tempest falling over.
He could feel his lion’s heart pumping as adrenaline surged through his veins. He was glaring at the polar bear as the bear stared back. Tempest reached into her bun and pulled out her wand, keeping it close to her side.
Ryder felt the tense situation in his lion’s tight muscles. This wasn’t like any of the other fights he’d been in. These guys had a skin shifter and darts filled with anti-phasing serum. Not too mention his mate was here as well. Grease had told them what this man did to mates and it made him even more uneasy, worrying that it could happen to Tempest.
The tension mounted with every second that dragged by until it was almost unbearable. The men watching, the rotary blade straining with every turn, the vicious polar bear growling, the fat orange cat stalking toward him in a crouched position—Wait… What?
Just as Ryder realized what Sloth was doing, the stupid obese cat leapt into the air and attacked his lion’s head with a vicious squawk.
“Bad, Sloth!” Logan shouted, rushing forward to shoo him away as he sunk his teeth into Ryder’s lion’s ear and scratched at his face.
The lion roared in frustration as the fat cat hung on, attacking with everything he had, which wasn’t too much.
At least it cut the tension. The men by the helicopters were howling with laughter. Ryder even caught Tempest giggling at the embarrassing scene.
Logan pried the obese cat off and tossed him down, sending him scurrying away with a soft kick to the ass.
“That’s enough!” General Hunt shouted. He wasn’t smiling. Ryder wouldn’t have been surprised to hear if he had never smiled once in his entire life.
He turned back to his men, about to give the order when a voice rang out behind them. Ryder’s lion turned and Ryder took a breath of relief when he saw his neighbors walking up behind them. The six grizzly bear shifters who lived on the ranch next door were walking over.
“We heard a helicopter,” Maximus said as they approached. “So we came to check it out.” He slapped a hand on the biggest man among them. He was wearing nothing but a loincloth and had his massive chest on full display. “And we brought the Hulk this time.”
Grant grinned. This fight just tilted in their favor.
“We also smelled a barbecue,” one of the twins, Tito, said. “You’re going to feed us right?”
“The Grisly Grizzlies, I presume,” General Hunt said, narrowing his eyes on them. “I had plans for you.”
“We heard about your plans for us,” Maximus said with a heated stare. “And for our mates.”
“This is the dude?” Kneecap said, stomping forward as he punched his fist into his meaty palm. “The dead man who wanted to kidnap my Kennedy?”
The General rushed forward and grabbed the polar bear shifter’s gun off the ground. He pointed it right at Kneecap and motioned for the men behind him to do the same. “Take their animals out.”
The barrels of the guns lit up in flames as they fired at Ryder and his friends. They were fast, but Tempest was faster.
“No!” she shouted as she waved her wand up just in time. The magic spewed from the tip of the red wand, freezing the darts in place. The men shot more, emptying their rounds of darts, but Tempest managed to catch them all.
“What… is that?” General Hunt gasped as he stared at the wand in her hand.
His wide eyes turned from her hand to the darts that were frozen in the air.
With a flick of her wrist, Tempest released the hold on the darts and they fell harmlessly to the ground.
General Hunt glanced from the darts to Tempest to Kneecap to all of the threatening shifters who now outnumbered him. He slapped the polar bear’s ass and then punched the side window of the helicopter, alerting the pilot that they were about to make a quick getaway.
The rotary blades sped back up as the polar bear shifted back into his human form. The three shifters and the skin shifter climbed back into the chopper, leaving General Hunt alone on the grass.
“We’ll be seeing you again, boys,” General Hunt said as he backed into the chopper. “And your mates.”
Kneecap lunged forward with a growl as the chopper lifted off the ground.
Ryder watched with an uneasiness in his stomach as the helicopter quickly took to the sky and then disappeared over the mountains.
He would be back… Ryder didn’t like the sound of that.
And neither did anyone else by the uneasy silence that hovered among them.
Tito was the first to break it.
“So, what’s for lunch?”
Ryder, Tempest, and the boys were hanging around the lit-up pool, enjoying the beautiful summer night with a few drinks. They didn’t know how much longer they’d be able to stay on the ranch before the avalanche of debt and unpaid bills smothered them, and they were determined to enjoy it while they could.
Their grizzly bear neighbors had just left after emptying their freezer of all the steaks. It was a small price to pay for the help they brought. Ryder didn’t want to think about what would have happened if they hadn’t shown up.
Grant was a little tipsy as he held up his beer, swaying side to side like a boat on the water. “Award for the toughest bounty hunter on the team goes too.” He bit his tongue, dragging out the moment.
“That’s me,” Mack said with a grunt. “Always.”
“I don’t know,” Ryder said with a tilt of his head. “Tempest keeps saving our asses.”
“Nope,” Grant said, shaking his head. “The award goes to the real killer. Sloth.”
They all laughed as they turned to the fat orange cat who was lying on the pool chair. He raised his head at the mention of his name and watched them with disinterest.
Ryder grabbed a bottle cap off the granite bar and tossed it at him. He missed and it bounced off the chair. “Attack me again, fatty, and I’ll eat you for breakfast.”
The old cat stared at him with what looked like a frown, then closed his eyes, dropped his head and almost immediately fell back to sleep, snoring over the music.
“Do you think they’re going to come back?” Tempest said as she stirred her pink girly drink.
Grant poured himself another beer. “They’ll be back,” he said. “Guys like him always come back.”
“Right now he’s licking his wounds,” Logan said. “So it will probably be a while. You two have time to go get that thing off.”
Ryder and Tempest both looked at the handcuffs attached to their wrists and stayed silent.
It was crazy, but Ryder was dreading the moment. How could he not be forced to listen to her terrible singing anymore? How could he spend the days without being able to look over anytime he wanted and see Tempest’s beautiful face or her round curves? How could he go back to the way it was?
He didn’t want to…
But all good things came to an end eventually.
Chapter Fourteen
Tempest
“It’s this one,” Tempest said as she tried to shove her key in the lock. “I’m sure of it this time.”
Ryder leaned on the metal door of the storage locker and grinned. “That’s what you said the last eight lockers.”
She tried to wiggle the damn key in the lock, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “It was definitely that one over there.”
She dragged Ryder to the storage locker that she definitely wasn’t sure was hers. She tried the key and cringed when it wouldn’t fit.
Ryder just smiled as he watched her.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m in no rush.”
That’s what Tempest loved about this guy. He was so patient with her.
“Okay,” she said when she spotted an orange metal door that looked vaguely familiar. “Definitely that one.”
“Definitely.” Ryder nodded with mock assuredness.
She pulled him over and took a breath of relief when her key slid right in the lock. She clicked it open and then yan
ked the door open.
All of her stuff was exactly how she left it. In a big mess.
“Wow,” Ryder said as he stared inside.
She leapt toward him and covered his eyes. “Don’t look. It’s a mess.”
“Did a hurricane pass through your locker?” he asked with a laugh. “Or was it ransacked by a band of pirates?”
“No,” she said with a sigh as she released his eyes. “That was all me.”
“Is this what our cabin is going to look like back home?” he asked.
“Not yet,” she said with a mischievous grin. “Give me a month or two…”
“Uhh…” Ryder picked up her favorite lamp and tilted his head. “What the hell is this?”
It was a replica leg lamp from her favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story. It stood proudly on her night table for years.
“Do you like it?” she asked with a grin.
“Very classy,” he said, carefully putting it back. “Do you know where the spell is?”
She spotted her yellow and pink running shoes right where she left them and her body filled with dread. Her stomach rolled and it suddenly felt like a heavy weight was resting on her chest.
“Yeah,” she said as she picked up a shoe. She reached in and closed her eyes when she felt the folded paper by the toes.
This was it. Now she would know for sure if Ryder was going to bolt. He wouldn’t be stuck to her anymore. He was free to leave. Free to abandon her and let her go.
A sour taste settled in the back of her mouth as she pulled the paper out and opened it up.
Ryder was standing as straight as an arrow as he watched with a tense expression on his face.
“So,” he said, swallowing hard. “That’s it?”
Tempest nodded as she looked down at it. “That’s it.”
She opened the crumbling paper and saw her mother’s handwriting scratched onto it.
“Here we go.”
“Wait,” Ryder said, stopping her. He put his hand on her arm and stared into her eyes. “I just want to say that I really enjoyed being attached to you, Tempest Kole. It was an adventure of a lifetime.”
