The Alpha's Forbidden Mate (Blood Moon Lynx Book 2)

by Ravenna Tate

  “I think I’m finally beginning to understand what you mean when you say you take care of each other,” she’d told her mate.

  “It’s about time.”

  Gavin, Laredo, and Hidalgo had come over to ask her to walk them through what happened that morning. Although she’d rather forget every detail, she knew how important this was because Makenna’s village would not see it the way Gillian told it.

  “Arizona left for work, and I knew he’d be home around noon. I read for a while, got sleepy, and decided to take a quick nap. I had my alarm set so I wouldn’t be sleeping when he arrived. When I woke up, I thought the alarm hadn’t gone off and I’d slept through anyway, but the noises I heard weren’t from Arizona.”

  Makenna held the cup of tea to her lips. Gillian took a sip before giving the girl a grateful smile. She had barely left Gillian’s bedside in three days. “Thanks. That is really good.” It tasted like a combination of chamomile and peppermint, and it had a calming effect. Plus, it had taken away the pain in her body with amazing speed.

  “It’s Leah’s special concoction.”

  Of course it was. That woman was truly gifted.

  “The noises I’d heard were from Ricky and Josh. They ran into the bedroom and I tried to get to the bathroom and lock myself in, but they were too fast for me. One of them grabbed for my phone but it went flying across the room. Oh, wait … I forgot that part. I called Arizona when I heard voices in the house that I didn’t recognize. I was still on the phone with him when Ricky and Josh came into the bedroom.”

  “They…” She still wanted to vomit when she let this memory surface. “They started touching me. My breasts, my arms … they … I told them Arizona was on his way, and that I am his mate. I said they’d die for touching me. They said he was at work, and no one would know who had done it. I knew that meant they were going to kill me.”

  “Did you see a weapon?” asked Gavin.

  “You mean other than the fact they’re shifters and I’m just a human? No. I saw nothing but their stupid grins and the hate in their eyes. I reminded them that any alpha male would be able to detect the scent of another male, even on a dead human, and that seemed to distract them for a moment. They weren’t the brightest stars in the sky, were they?”

  She swore Laredo was trying to stifle a laugh.

  “That’s when I kneed Ricky in the balls. He went down like a shot, and I tried to do the same to Josh, but he was too quick. He slapped me…” She put a hand up to her face. That still hurt like a bear, despite the tea. “He called me a bitch and a cunt. I punched him, but again he moved too quickly and I hit his arm instead of his gut.”

  “It’s amazing you were able to get in any wounds to them,” said Hidalgo.

  “She’s not a weak female,” said Makenna.

  “Gillian, they would have died for what they did regardless.” Hidalgo gave her a pointed stare. “And you were right. Any of us would have been able to detect who touched you. You’re the mate of an alpha blood moon lynx. Those two would have died, and everyone in their village knows it.”

  That helped a great deal with her guilt. “Thank you for telling me. After I punched Josh, I turned around to try to run into the bathroom again, but Josh caught me from behind and wrapped his arms around me. He squeezed, and I passed out.”

  To try to tamp down the panic that threatened to surface at this memory, she closed her eyes for a few seconds and took several deep breaths. “When I woke up, I was flat on my back and Ricky was sitting on me. My bra was gone, and Josh was tugging on my panties, laughing as I tried to hit Ricky. I was dizzy. I heard a car, and then I heard a roar.”

  Gillian glanced around the room, but Arizona wasn’t there. Then she remembered. He was at work. “The roar must have come from Arizona, because he came charging into the room in his lynx form. For a split second, I could see the emotion in his eyes. He saw what they were doing to me, and he was filled with rage. But it was only a second or two at most before he charged toward Ricky. Ricky never had time to shift. He was dead so fast. The smell of his blood made me retch.”

  “Had Josh shifted by then?” asked Gavin.

  “Yes. He was also no longer next to me because I was able to roll over before I vomited. I didn’t see Arizona kill Josh, but I heard it. It was over quickly. After that, I realized you three were there, as well as Leah, her daughters, Makenna, Stone, and Fiera. Canyon and Luke were at work, I think.”

  “That’s right,” said Fiera. “They were in Seattle. I went next door to the Benedict house and told everyone you needed help. Cletus ran to get the Elders, and after they went to your house, Cletus stayed in the town square and told everyone what had happened.”

  “He did?” That surprised her.

  “Yes. Gillian, you missed all that. There was a mob. They wanted to march to Makenna’s village and just start killing everyone. It took the rest of the Elders and the entire Council to calm them down.”

  “What’s going to happen there?” she asked Gavin.

  Hidalgo snorted. “Despite the fact that two of their males tried to rape a mated female, they showed no remorse. Sage went to the village with several Council members to tell them what happened, but he insisted Ricky’s and Josh’s fathers meet him in the woods. They came with a few others to get the bodies, but refused to meet with us to discuss it.”

  “Surely they don’t think those two were killed without provocation.”

  “No, I think they believe our story, but what they decide to do about it remains to be seen.”

  “So this isn’t over.”

  “Not by a long shot.”

  ****

  The house was quiet. Arizona had done enough hammering and sawing for the past five days to last a lifetime. The patrols in the village had been tripled. People were angry, not only for what the leopards had done to Gillian, but because they’d killed two patrols to get to her.

  They were calling for outright war, but the Elders and Council had declared their village would not be the ones to proclaim that. Blood had been paid for blood, they said. Their two patrols had been avenged with the deaths of Ricky and Josh.

  As far as Arizona was concerned, nothing the leopards in the other village ever did would make up for what those two had put his mate through. Killing them quickly hadn’t been enough for Arizona. He’d wanted to make them suffer, the way she had suffered. But he’d been filled with so much rage when he saw them on top of her like that, taunting her and laughing at her, that he hadn’t been able to control his instincts. Instead, he’d gone for the quick kill.

  Next to him, he knew Gillian wasn’t sleeping yet. The room they were using in Canyon’s and Fiera’s home was upstairs, tucked into a corner and away from where Fiera and Canyon slept. But Gillian had told him she still felt like she was back home with her mother, and had snuck a boy into her room.

  “I can’t sleep,” she said. “Every noise I hear makes me think they’re up here, walking around.”

  “They’re not.”

  “I know. I’m trying to relax.”

  “I don’t know how you can relax at all.”

  “Having you close helps.”

  All he could do was snuggle closer. “We’re working as quickly as we can on the new homes.” They were building two houses on the Benedict property. One for Stone and Makenna, and now a duplicate of the home he and his family had built for him and Gillian.

  “I know you are. I don’t mean to harass you.”

  “You’re not harassing me.”

  Stone and Makenna had moved out of Cash’s house and were staying in the Benedict home, which likely afforded them far less privacy than he and Gillian had right now.

  She shifted her weight so she could see his face. “I will never be able to stop thanking you for coming home early that day.”

  “I knew you needed me before the call. I can’t explain it. I simply knew I had to leave an hour early. I was ten miles away when you called.”

  “I didn’t realize t
hat. The timeline is still fuzzy for me. I thought it was after noon already.”

  “No.” He couldn’t think about what might have happened if he’d stayed at work as long as he’d originally planned to. Every time he closed his eyes, he still saw his mate, nearly naked, with those two pigs on top of her, laughing at her.

  They hadn’t made love since it happened. The guilt that consumed him every time he thought about asking her to made him desperate, but he needed to erase that image from his mind. Would she be able to again? He didn’t want to appear insensitive, but he also wanted her to know that he was there for her, no matter what she needed. And there was no one he felt comfortable asking.

  “I am so proud of you right now.” He pulled her closer, stroking her hair. “A lesser woman would not have been able to keep her cool the way you did.”

  “Arizona, I was terrified. Not of them. Of what you would find when you got home if they succeeded. I couldn’t get the picture of you walking in and finding me dead out of my mind. That’s what made me fight. Even if they succeeded in raping me, I couldn’t let you come home and find me dead.”

  “Oh, Gillian.” He wrapped his entire body around her and kissed her hair, the wound on her neck, and her luscious mouth. “That was my greatest fear. That I wouldn’t reach you in time.”

  “But you did. You did.”

  She returned the next kiss with a passion that sent his hormones spiraling out of control. Her physical wounds would heal, and their child was safe in her womb. But was she mentally ready for this? He had to ask. It was the only way to find out.

  “Gillian, I want to make love to you, but I don’t want to push you.”

  His heart melted all over again when she cupped his face and gazed into his eyes. “That is exactly what I need right now.”

  It was so easy. They slipped right back into their routine as if the past week had never happened. Her orgasm took a while to crest, but once it did, Arizona was lost in the familiar sensations and sounds of his Gillian. His mate. The woman he loved more than his own life.

  Rather than risk hurting her, he finished more quickly than usual. “Thank you.”

  “Oh, Arizona. Thank you. That was perfect.”

  “Are you sure I didn’t hurt you?”

  “No. It was heaven. Promise me we won’t stop. Even as my pregnancy progresses. I need you so much.”

  As she pulled him closer and wrapped her arms and legs around him, Arizona was certain his heart would burst with joy. “I promise. I love you so much.”

  “And I love you.” Her voice was already sleepy. He let her scent fill his head before he closed his eyes and finally allowed his mind to quiet down enough to drift toward sleep. He was holding the woman he loved in his arms, and there was no place on this earth he’d rather be. Arizona intended to spend the rest of his life making sure Gillian knew how very, very much he loved her.

  The End

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