Pride Mates

by Jennifer Ashley

  “You touch Kim, you die,” Liam said clearly.

  Everyone stopped talking. Liam walked toward Fergus, his boots loud on the stone floor. Fergus wanted to run—Liam saw that in the man’s eyes, his stance, every inch of his body.

  Liam wouldn’t let him run. Fergus was his inferior; he had to obey Liam, and Fergus knew it, no matter how much he blustered. The instincts Fergus boasted about would force him to acknowledge his own weakness.

  Kim had a power that Shifters lacked: the power to see all sides of a situation clearly, no matter how scared she was or how angry. She could argue with conviction, she could find a flaw in the other person’s obsession and tap it until he opened his mind and saw what she saw.

  Fergus would never see anything clearly. But Liam did. At least, Liam had before Justin had ripped off his Collar and made his brain scramble.

  Liam’s emotion and instinct warred with his reason, and none of them won. The wind outside grew colder, a bad storm for certain. Liam smelled the icy hail in the clouds, electricity that would fork down on the city at any moment.

  One thought stood out from the others: Fergus had to be stopped. If Liam let Fergus go today, he would continue to push to “free” the Shifters, continue his awful experiments, making his victims crazed and violent while he honed the process. Fergus couldn’t control his ferals yet, and, Fergus-like, he was trying to make other people clean up his mess. For him, the end always justified the means.

  “Kim is right,” Liam said, surprised his voice was so calm. “You are an asshole. You’ll set Shifter against Shifter. We’ll kill each other long before the humans even know there’s trouble. We’ll each want our families to survive, and ours alone. Our gene pool, our pride. The Shiftertowns, the living with other species—you’re right, that’s artificial.”

  “Exactly my point,” Fergus said. “We get Sean’s Collar off him, we get the Guardian—who can stop us?”

  “I can.” Liam came to a halt in front of Fergus.

  He saw Fergus’s pupils change to slits, his nostrils widen, his body emanate fear. He was not far shy of wetting himself. He tried to cover it by puffing out his chest with false bravado. “You can’t touch me. I’m your clan leader.”

  “You are weak.” Liam’s voice was completely flat.

  “I outrank you,” Fergus said abruptly. “It’s me first, then Dylan, then you. You can’t beat me.”

  “Liam fought Dylan and won,” Kim said. “Last night.”

  “What?” Sean stared.

  Fergus’s face whitened until it was almost green. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, girl. No one can best Dylan. Only me.”

  Kim went on. “You’ve been out of the loop. Liam defeated his dad. Liam isn’t happy about it, but he did.”

  “Shit,” Sean whispered.

  “That doesn’t matter,” Fergus tried. “I am still clan leader.”

  “You are nothing.” Liam sounded strange, even to himself. “I have no ties to anyone outside my family. Michael would be easiest to kill. But I think it’s more important to kill you.”

  “Crap.” Sean braved Liam’s wrath to grab Kim and pull her well out of the way of Liam and Fergus.

  Liam fought the urge to take Kim back and rake his claws across Sean’s face. He forced himself to let Sean go; Sean was protecting Liam’s mate from the enemy. Fergus would use Kim to distract Liam, and Sean was right to get her out of the way. Liam’s bloodlust still wanted him to throw Sean down for touching her, the need burning through him.

  Deep down, his love for Sean, his brother, boiled up, wanting his attention. It showed him visions of himself and Sean and Kenny, playing together as cubs, wrestling until they fell asleep in a pile in exhaustion. When they were older, talking about the world and speculating on females and what it would be like to be with one. Celebrating when Kenny took a mate, and again when Sinead became pregnant. Sean and Liam holding each other the day Kenny had died, weeping profusely.

  Memories of love, frustration, joy, and family were being erased by the adrenaline, the need to fight. Fergus wanted to do this to all Shifters everywhere. He’d destroy them.

  Liam fixed on Fergus again. He toed off his boots and peeled away his T-shirt. Fergus watched with a sneer, then smiled and began yanking off his own clothes.

  Fergus attacked while Liam was still shifting. Liam rolled out of the way, his limbs crackling and stretching, muscles moving into new positions. Fergus leapt again, and this time, Liam spun out of reach and came to his feet as his wild Fae-cat.

  Liam couldn’t stop his roar. It came from deep within, the beast finally free. It proclaimed that this place was his, not only the warehouse or Shiftertown, but everything for miles: the city, Hill Country, as far as Liam could roam. He was clan leader, and Fergus was nothing. As it should be.

  The roar shook the building. Beams shifted, and loose bricks and plaster rained to the floor. Michael started screaming, his screams becoming yowls as he shifted into Feline form. Sean dragged Kim outside, straight into a pouring rain.

  Liam closed his mouth, shook out his body, and leapt on the terrified Fergus.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  “Can you get him free?” Kim yelled at Sean, over the frenzy of violence inside the warehouse.

  “If he’ll hold still.” Sean grabbed the chain that had been linked to the wall. Michael continued to snarl and thrash, the manacle cutting into his paw.

  “Michael.” Kim knelt next to him and reached for him but got scratched for her pains. “Michael, sweetie. It’s all right.”

  Michael knew damn well it wasn’t all right. Inside, two enormous wildcats fought for dominance, and they wouldn’t stop until one was dead. Their snarls sounded over the thunder that boomed through the alley. The building heaved when the two battling Shifters smashed into a wall.

  If Fergus wins, he’ll kill the rest of us. Or maybe Fergus would keep Kim alive to be his sex toy, which was not something she wanted to think about. Still less did she want to think about Liam losing, dying, Sean having to send him to dust.

  Sean yanked the chain, hook and all, from the wall. Michael yowled, then took off down the alley, the chain dragging behind him.

  “He’ll run home,” Sean said. “You go too, Kim.”

  “I’m not leaving Liam.”

  “Kim, damn it, I don’t know what’s going to happen in there.”

  “Why don’t you go? Round up Dylan and everybody to come and stop Fergus.”

  “With Liam like that? Too dangerous.”

  “At least you’d be safe. Fergus won’t let you live, and Liam keeps thinking you want me for yourself for some reason. He might kill you in his frenzy.”

  “Oh, and you’ll be safe from him, will you? I’m staying, Kim. I’m the Guardian.”

  He meant he’d have to dispatch the loser with his magic sword, sending his soul into the next world. From Sean’s grim look, he feared it would be Liam.

  “Then I’m staying too,” Kim said. Inside, the two Shifters fought like crazy, foam and blood flying. “I love him.”

  “Fine then. We’ll die together.”

  Sean marched back into the warehouse. The rain changed to a pelting of pea-sized hail, bouncing on the alley floor.

  “Perfect,” Kim muttered.

  The hail came down so fast it piled on the pavement before it could melt. Kim ducked into the shelter of the building, afraid and angry.

  The two Shifters rolled over and over, and Sean stood back like a referee, his sword ready. Weeks ago, Kim wouldn’t have been able to tell the fighting wildcats apart, but she knew Liam now. He and Fergus were matched in size, but Liam’s cat was thicker with muscle, his coat darker, his eyes a deeper gold. Right now his eyes glittered with hatred, and his teeth were fully extended as he snapped them at Fergus’s neck.

  Fergus scrambled out of the way, half shifting back to human to do so. Liam followed him, pinning him again. The wildcats clawed and bit. This was worse than the fight between Liam and Dyla
n, because there’d never been love lost between these two. Rage and hatred burned in the thickly humid air.

  Thunder boomed outside, and then a bolt of lightning struck the roof. Kim screamed as bricks came down around her.

  She saw Liam turn to her, drawn from the fight. In that moment, Fergus, his hide nothing but bloody strips of skin, pounced on Liam’s back. His mouth was open wide, jaws ready to snap Liam’s spine in two.

  Sean shouted. Kim couldn’t hear him over the thunder; she just saw his mouth open. Liam whirled in time, closing his teeth on Fergus’s throat. He ripped, and blood sprayed across the floor.

  Fergus went down in a heap. Liam stepped back, his fur red with Fergus’s blood, and roared his victory. His eyes held fire, joy, and triumph.

  Sean walked forward with his sword. Liam stopped him, rising into his human form as he moved, his body covered in scratches and angry bruises. He went to Fergus and nudged him with his foot. The wildcat’s body flopped against the floor, blood spilling from a pool beneath it.

  Liam turned away, contempt for his fallen enemy in every movement. As soon as his back was turned, Fergus whipped to his feet, bellowing in dying rage as he launched himself at Liam. Kim shrieked.

  But Sean was there. He stepped between Fergus and his brother, and caught Fergus’s leap on the Guardian’s sword.

  Fergus’s wildcat eyes widened as the sword went through his chest. He’d been dying already, and the blade completed it. The body fell to the ground, silent and still. Chanting in a language Kim didn’t know, Sean slowly withdrew the blade. The big cat shimmered, then crumbled to dust.

  “You weren’t supposed to do that,” Liam snarled at Sean. “His final breath should have been mine.”

  “Yeah, well, I’ve done it.” Sean’s stance was defiant. He’d have done anything, the tiny rational part of Liam realized, to keep from having to send a second brother to the Summerland.

  Again his love for Sean and the wildcat’s jealousy warred within him. “Go,” Liam said. “If you don’t, I might kill you, and I don’t want to lose you too.”

  “Kim,” Sean said.

  Liam’s white-hot rage rose. “Kim stays with me.”

  Sean strode for the door, moving fast. “Kim,” he said again.

  “It’s all right. I’ll stay.”

  Her voice was quiet, a cool note amid the heat. Sean gave Kim one last look, then made himself sheathe the sword and duck out into the deluge.

  Liam was across the floor, pulling Kim against him before Sean’s footsteps faded.

  “Kim.” He loved saying her name.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “I don’t know, and I don’t care.” Liam pressed Kim against the brick wall.

  He wanted her with an intensity he’d never felt before. She was his mate, his, forever. A dim part of Liam’s mind kicked him. You love her. Don’t hurt her.

  “You should get away from me,” he said.

  “What?”

  Liam focused on her eyes. They were beautiful, wide and blue. Like an Irish lake, he’d thought once. He hadn’t changed his mind.

  “Don’t let me hurt you.”

  Kim touched his face. He flinched, then made himself accept her touch. “I don’t want to go,” she said. “Besides, it’s frigging hailing out there.”

  “I can’t go slow. I can’t be nice.”

  She smiled and laced her arms around his neck. She was shaking, but her eyes were soft. “Sounds like fun.”

  “Kim.”

  “Liam.” She kissed the tip of his nose. “I don’t want to go slow. I need you.”

  He kissed her. The bricks scraped his arms as he shielded her from the wall. She wrapped her legs around his hips, her skirt riding up her thighs. It was easy to shove aside the elastic of her thong, to find her opening with his cock. She sucked in a breath, eyes widening, as he slid firmly into her.

  How could he have ever thought that sex in human form was boring? He was content never to do it as a wildcat again. Kim was hot and wet, so easy to enter. She arched against him, her nipples rubbing him through her thin shirt. Liam shielded her from the wall with his arms, the bricks abrading his already bloody skin.

  His adrenaline hadn’t cooled from the fight. He needed this mating. Liam’s heart rocketed, his blood hot.

  Kim’s sheath clenched him, her body and his fitting together perfectly. His mind went blank. All he felt was Kim, all he smelled was her body and her sex, her breath, her hair. He licked her face. He tasted her neck. He thrust into her, his blood pumping. Outside, lightning crackled, blinding flashes followed by booms of thunder. The hail fell like bullets on the roof, balls of ice bouncing in through the wide door.

  “Liam. Yes.”

  Liam squeezed his eyes shut and leaned his forehead on the wall. He shoved himself into her as though he wanted to crawl inside her and be part of her. His shoulders bunched; his breath burned in his lungs.

  Kim shuddered in climax, her feet around his buttocks. The heels of her sandals grated his skin, and he didn’t care.

  Still holding her with one arm between her and the wall, Liam pounded his fist into the brick. Another lightning strike lit the world, and Liam came.

  Sweat poured from him, his body on fire. Kim was screaming, and Liam heard his own voice ring through the warehouse. He was falling. Kim, he had to catch her.

  He landed flat on his back, Kim’s soft body on top of his. The movement slid him out of her hot sheath, and he groaned with loss.

  Kim smiled down at him. “Holy shit. That was…good.”

  Liam wanted to answer her, tell her it was the best he’d ever had, that he loved her. He could only gasp for breath. The pain of his fight, the bewilderment of his flooding instincts, robbed him of his voice.

  Kim closed her hand on him, and he groaned again.

  “You’re still hard. I thought you came.”

  Liam nodded. “I did.” Gritting his teeth, he turned her over to put her beneath him and entered her once more.

  Sex had never been like this before. Not free-for-all, no-holding-back, wet and messy sex. Kim laughed with it.

  Not to mention having it on a bare cement floor with a naked, half-crazed, hard-bodied Shifter on top of her while a hailstorm raged outside. Another lightning bolt could strike the building and bring it down on top of them, and Kim didn’t care.

  “I love you, Liam,” she shouted.

  He opened his eyes. Once beautiful blue, they were now Shifter gray-white.

  Kim would be afraid later. Right now, she was as crazed as he was. Was this what he meant by mating frenzy?

  Liam pumped into her for a few more minutes, then dragged in a breath and filled her with his hot seed. Liam collapsed on top of her, breathing hard, his body roasting. He lingered on her, kissing her face and hair, then rolled off onto his back, still breathing as though he’d just finished a ten-mile run.

  They lay still for a long time, Liam’s breathing hoarse, Kim too tired to move. Gradually the hailstorm slackened, the time between lightning strikes increasing. Thunder rumbled in the distance, the storm drifting away, following the river.

  Liam didn’t move, and Kim wondered if he’d dropped off to sleep. She propped her aching body on one arm. “Are you all right?” she asked.

  Liam lay face up, eyes open, his breathing rapid. “I don’t know.”

  “The storm’s letting up. It’s what my mother liked to call a ‘wham-bam, thank you, ma’am’ storm.”

  Liam didn’t answer, didn’t laugh.

  “You know what the storm dying off means,” Kim continued. “It means that Sean and your dad are going to come looking for us. I bet Connor and Glory will too. And Ellison. He was real worried about you when I saw him earlier. In fact, every Shifter curious about what happened to you will be showing up pretty quick.”

  Liam raked his sweating hair from his face. “They shouldn’t.”

  “Like that’s going to stop them.”

  “Kim.” Liam’s face twisted, and h
e wrapped his arms around his chest. “I need to find my Collar before they get here.”

  “Is that what you really want?” she asked in a quiet voice.

  “Fergus was crazy. He’d have destroyed us.”

  Kim noticed he hadn’t answered the question. “You don’t think Shifters can adapt to going without the Collar again?”

  “Not like this.” Liam’s chest expanded with an agonized breath. “We’ll kill each other. Gods, Kim, I wanted to kill Michael. I needed to. Even Sean. My own brother. And the feelings haven’t gone away. If they come to get us, I’ll fight. I’ll kill until someone kills me.”

  “And me?”

  He reached for her. “No. You, I just want to fuck.”

  “I should be flattered, but I have the feeling I wouldn’t last very long. You have stamina.”

  “I’d hurt you. I’ve already hurt you.” He touched her bruised lip.

  “You didn’t. Don’t you get it, Liam? You could have, but you didn’t.”

  “That’s no guarantee, love. I want you so damn bad.” He kissed her swollen lips and drew back, eyes flicking from white to blue to white again.

  Kim touched the red line on his neck. Liam flinched but didn’t stop her.

  “Or you could go,” she said softly. “Run away back to Ireland or something. Live free.”

  Liam closed his eyes, blotting out the awful look in them. “Not without you. I don’t want to live without you.” He bowed his head, resting on Kim’s shoulder. “But Fergus was right. I’d use you until there was nothing left of you. I’d not be able to stop myself.” He raised his head, expression anguished. “Don’t you understand? If I’m this way, I can’t have you.”

  Kim rubbed his arms, wishing she could tell him that everything would be all right. You’ll be fine, you’ll get used to it, you’ll learn to control your instincts. But she had no idea whether it would be all right. The Lupine who’d attacked her in her bedroom had been the victim of Fergus’s experiments, ready to slaughter Kim to torture Liam. She’d seen the way Liam had looked at innocent Michael and at his own brother, as though they were enemies he needed to destroy. She had no idea what kind of crazed being Liam would become.