Taming the Warrior

by Samantha Bates

  Mark was starting to sweat again although he didn’t think it was anything to do with the sun this time. He wished they would do it already, although what he wanted them to do he wasn’t sure. He could hear her laughter before she hung and returned to them.

  "So who would like to start explaining why you were following us."

  Looking around at the overgrown lane he felt a moments panic, there was no escape, there was no chance that he would get the car out, there was no chance that he could run into the bushes with wolves close by. It was time to accept what was coming.

  Tom jumped in before Mark could put his foot in his mouth; right now Mark was jumpy and agitated so Tom didn’t want him to make an already grim situation worse.

  "Listen I think you have the wrong impression, we just wanted an autograph from Mr Drakos."

  It was that smile again, inside he was cringing at her smile and he had no damn idea why. Suddenly the sun seemed to shrink away allowing a sharp breeze to drift around and chill him. Absolutely no-one else moved.

  "Really so you need guns and weapons to get an autograph, not to mention the stolen car, which was mighty stupid considering you were both released from jail only three months ago. Try a different answer."

  As her voice dropped an octave, Tom was speechless, unfortunately Mark wasn’t.

  "Fuck you bitch."

  He was expecting the men to lash out, what he wasn’t expecting was for the woman to pull her fist back and plant it on Mark's nose. Nor did he expect her to sweep Mark's feet out from under him when he moved forward to retaliate. With Tom on his ass, Tom decided to wait.

  "So now are you ready to talk, time is running out." Looking around him, Mark faced Luke Drakos mega superstar prepared to see the shock of a superstar seeing such violence, what he saw was a look of adoration towards the woman with a little pride mixed in. He had no idea what to say to her, if he told them then he was as good as dead, if he didn’t he was dead anyway.

  Then a saviour came, one he was not expecting to see. The woman cursed, Mark was shouting for an ambulance, and Tom breathed a sigh of relief as the police car made its way to them.

  The woman knew them, and as they arranged for her to give a statement Tom prepared to make a call he was not looking forward to making, but at least he would be safe in the lock up.

  Chapter 21

  Driving away, Ellie was furious with herself for failing to find out what she needed to know before the police arrived. She hadn’t expected them so quickly; Imogen had given her ten minutes before calling them.

  Luke was oddly silent; he had seen a side to her that not many saw, the brutal and aggressive side that had a tendency to scare people. Ellie would understand if this changed their relationship, it irked Ellie that a man could be strong and ruthless without being perceived as different, but when a woman acted this way it was perceived as different and rarely in a good way.

  As Ellie drove them to pack land, the atmosphere was charged in a way she didn’t understand. Discreetly glancing at him, she couldn’t read his face; she had seen the way men outside of pack looked at her, perceiving her too dominant, too up front and way too intimidating and now it appeared that Luke would also join the band of people who wanted females to sit in a little box of their choosing.

  "Spit it out Luke, whatever you have to say I can guarantee that I have heard it before."

  Although Ellie wasn’t sure she would feel okay hearing from Luke how badly he now perceived her, she couldn’t let the silence sit between them.

  Taking a deep breath, he sighed with his words. "That was sexy as hell."

  Flinging her head to face Luke it was only the honk of a horn that reminded her that she was driving.

  "What?"

  As she steered them back into the correct lane, her brain tried to process how she felt about Luke's words. Did he genuinely see her as sexy even after seeing her with those men?

  "Be serious Luke."

  "I am serious that was hot and damn hot, my Jaguar was going berserk to get out and protect you even though you didn’t need it. It was unreal."

  By the time they arrived at the gates Ellie still had to formulate a response, but his words had confused her. Her brothers came racing to meet them with May trailing behind.

  "Ellie, Ellie, May wants us to study. Can you tell her please?"

  May was smiling not at all concerned that Ellie would undermine her. "Afraid not boys, May's the boss, but I would be willing to take you guys out on the quads after homework if you are quick."

  Ethan was watching Luke with a look of expectation on his face. "Hey boys, if you go for a run would it be possible for my Jaguar to come too? He doesn’t know the land here, and it would help to have tour guides."

  It was Ethan who agreed for all of the boys, and it was Ethan who ran off more motivated than earlier. Luke followed her as she made her way to the study, where May had the boys painting small planets.

  "What's the problem I thought you would enjoy a practical project?"

  She knew that there would also be additional learning; May was trying to help the boys with science by making it more exciting. Looking at the planets and the things the boys were telling her about them, Ellie could see that they were taking it all in.

  "Mom and dad are arranging the barbeque, we want to go, but May won't let us yet and I am starving." Oliver was rubbing his stomach to emphasise his point.

  "Then I suggest you hurry." The boys did exactly that, when Ellie sent them to change May jumped in with questions for Luke.

  "Can I ask a few questions?" May didn’t give Luke a chance to make the decision before launching her questions. "So when you shift what does it feel like, also how dominant is the Jaguar, and would you be willing to provide some blood?"

  May tried to ask more questions, except Ellie came to Luke's rescue by appealing to her sister's better nature. "May sweetie, please take a breath I am sure that Luke would like to talk with you, but can we do it later. However, while you are waiting for later let me give you something to ponder. Luke's Jaguar is quite dominant, and as he has to keep this side of him a secret it is hard to manage, so do you have any tips to suppress it without resorting to medication?"

  As twins, Ellie and May were incredibly close so Ellie knew that May was deep in thought when she started slowly pacing the room while thinking out loud. "I am not sure that you can suppress the animal even using medication. You would have the ability to potentially dull the senses of the person, which may have an impact on the animal, however once the medication is expelled from the physical system, the animal will fight even more to prevent a recurrence of the feelings."

  Luke was listening with interest. "So what you are saying is that, if it dampens the person it could do that to the animal albeit temporarily, but then the animal would fight for a stronger hold."

  With her glasses and somewhat mussed hair, she resembled a stereotypical slightly eccentric scientist. "That would be my hypothesis, which we could test for validity, now we could arrange…"

  The sentence was interrupted by the stomping of feet and the impatience of three young boys, one of whom was extremely excited. "If you are a Jaguar can we watch you shift?" Logan was asking yet Ethan was the one listening.

  "Sure, I think." Luke looked to Ellie for agreement and waited until she nodded as they headed outside with May was shouting after them.

  "Wait, Let me get my camera." Luke seemed a little panicked at the prospect of being filmed making it Ellie's turn to reassure him. By the time May returned, the boys were more than a little fidgety with impatience.

  Handing Ellie a video camera, May proceeded to prepare her digital one as Ellie groaned, "May do I have to, I always miss some millisecond of something and then you get cross with me."

  With little concern May brushed off her Ellie's anxiety. "I don’t get cross, but if you did everything I have taught you, it wouldn’t be a problem. Boys move to the side, Luke I am ready when you are."

  Seeing the hesi
tation on Luke's face amused Ellie as did the words that preceded the look. "I am not sure that I can shift on demand."

  Seeing the boy's faces, Ellie nudged May. "It's too much pressure May. Luke don’t worry, we have all the time in the world."

  Closing his eyes, Luke commanded the shift with Ellie watching in amazement as the strong, handsome man decreased in height and increased in length, she watched the emergence of glossy black fur, expanding paws and piercing green eyes.

  "ELLIE." Mays angry tone brought her back to reality, looking at her hand, she cursed before pleading for forgiveness at the fact that she hadn’t even lifted the camera, let alone filmed it. Seeing her face May left muttering.

  Ellie went to make amends while the boys showed Luke where the quads were. She found May in the study clearing up after the boys.

  "I am so sorry May, I don’t know what happened." May didn’t get cross often; she was normally too caught up in what was happening in her brain, the only thing that agitated May was peoples inability to follow her science.

  Expecting a lecture she was nonplussed when May smiled. "Ellie it is fine, well it's not, but I understand why you didn’t?"

  Did she, then she knew more than Ellie did. "Why?"

  Coming over to hug Ellie, May whispered in her ear. "You like him."

  Stepping back Ellie tried to deny it which May let her do, only with a sweet smile saying that denial wouldn’t help before she left. Taking a stance of annoyance Ellie met the boys outside. As was usual two of the boys would share one quad and one would share with her, all wanted to share with her mainly because she was fast and exciting, and knew all of the best routes.

  Luke shared their enthusiasm, if he thought it would work he would try to manoeuvre a ride with Ellie. Watching her when he was in animal form, he felt the immense power and strength in his Jaguars senses, the eyesight was enhanced which allowed him to drink her in, his sense of smell drew her into his body and straight into his lungs, he longed for her touch. Seeing her easy manner with her brothers was endearing and showed a different side to that of earlier, one that was soft and gentle.

  Logan jumped on the quad with Ellie, citing that he was not as well-padded as Oli meaning that should they crash he would be more severely injured than Oli. Giving them a minute to race ahead, Luke purred as he raced after them with his limbs stretching in a comfortable run, he caught them in seconds causing the boys to shout and speed up to at least keep pace with Ellie, who was veering off to the right.

  Luke slowed to allow the boys to gain on him before racing ahead again, his Jaguar was enjoying the chase and the freedom. As they raced through the woods and over the hills he took in the lands, which although not his home land and natural habitat, it was close enough right now.

  He had a feeling Ellie was up to something, he opened his senses though he couldn’t feel her until he saw her ahead of him, sat astride the bike with her arms folded, and a massive grin on her face as she gloated at her win.

  Pulling up short, he turned and disappeared from her line of sight. Ellie frowned as she looked for him. Ethan had pulled up in front of her laughing hard.

  "That was cool Ellie, where's Luke?"

  Ellie climbed from the bike wandering around unable to find any sign of him.

  "I do believe he is a sore loser, the thing is boys you have to outsmart your opponent so don’t always look for the easy win."

  She saw Ethan smile in conspiracy before she heard or rather felt Luke drop behind her as he shifted to man.

  "Boys, your sister is right don’t look for the easy win just outwit your opponent." Ellie had jumped at the sound of his voice to the boys delight. "Sorry beautiful, didn’t you know that Jaguars are amazing climbers?"

  Climbing back onto the bike, she dismissed him with a curt. "Shut up Luke."

  *********************************

  Several beers later Luke felt both happy and relaxed, there was no pressure here, and though he had signed numerous autographs people quickly accepted him. Ellie's family were open and so close that he missed his mom's presence and consoled himself that he would see her in a few weeks.

  Now he was sat with the night closing in, listening as people had settled into comfortable discussions. The lifestyle here was that of a community with Ben as the head, it was surprising to see people living together in such closeness without too many dramas.

  "Are you enjoying yourself Luke?" Ben had come to sit by him against a fallen tree stump, and suddenly Luke had a feeling this was not going to be a fun conversation.

  "I am, you have a lovely family here. I have never seen such a large group of people living together like this. I expected hostility what with being a Jaguar."

  "The pack is ferocious, but only when there is a threat to us or when the pack is hurt." Now Luke could see where this was going, Ben was no fool.

  Unsure which way to proceed he took the path that if the roles were reversed would encourage him to respect someone.

  "Can I head this one off, the point that I believe you will get to is that if I hurt Ellie then the pack will act against me?"

  Ben didn’t seem affronted, only realistic. "No quite Luke, it won't be the pack it will be me. I love Ellie and the other girls as if they were my own children so I would kill and die for any of them, but Ellie is different. She couldn’t have been more like me if she had been my child, she is strong, fierce, loyal, protective and cunning, and she is actually a born Alpha. So, if you hurt her, I will not only kill you, but I will make it so slow and painful that you will beg for death and only then will I hand you over to your less adoring fans"

  Luke did not doubt Ben's words, or the potential risk to himself. "I am going to be honest, I wouldn’t want to hurt her although she is not easy to manage, she is so bloody minded and closed off it's like she is afraid."

  This seemed to amuse Ben. "You don’t manage Ellie; she lets you in when she is ready. Ellie's biggest fear is losing someone she loves or not being there to save them. When her dad died she was a kid, yet she still felt responsible. When Lucky and her sisters broke down after his death, Ellie stayed strong and closed in on them to protect them further. Whoever catches her heart will be the luckiest bastard, but if they don’t treat her right I will kill them."

  Digesting Ben's words he searched her out, only to find Ellie watching the children with her mom. "Any tips on getting her Ben."

  As Ben stood he burst into laughter. "Wear a hard hat, don’t mistake fear for rudeness and run like hell if she is after you. If you want to see Ellie in action, head to the gym in about an hour."

  Luke wandered for a while until he found Ethan. "Fancy a run young man." As Ethan nodded Luke shifted and ran in time with Ethan. When they arrived at the lake, he shifted back coming to sit by the young man who was watching him.

  "So how's the wolf going?"

  Ethan shrugged. "He talks to me, you know. Is that meant to happen?"

  It hadn’t happened to him, though he had been trying to suppress his Jaguar for as long as he had known it was there.

  "Truthfully, I am not too sure have you asked your dad?"

  He watched this boy with the weight of the world on his shoulders shake his head. "No, I can but I don’t want to worry him. Everyone knows that I am the next Alpha, which sounds great yet I don’t know if I want to be or if I will ever be ready to lead the pack."

  Luke pondered his statement. "When I was your age I didn’t know about my Jaguar, and I wanted to be a super hero. The thing is I changed my mind a hundred times before I even knew I could sing. I think what I am trying to say is that you have time to decide what you want to do in the future, I don’t know your family exceptionally well, but I don’t see either of your parents forcing you to be something you don’t want to be."

  "Maybe."

  He could feel the melancholy emanating from Ethan, his dark hair falling past his ears as his head dropped. "Try him and see, I think your dad will be more worried if you keep it from him and he sees change
s in you that he doesn’t understand. Now how would you like a ride on the world's most dangerous predator?"

  When Ethan giggled he arched his eyebrow. "My wolf just growled at you, he thinks he's the world's most dangerous predator not you."

  Before Luke shifted he laughed. "By the time you are both fully formed I wouldn’t be surprised if that becomes the case."

  Nudging Ethan who climbed on his back, they raced through the dense woods Ethan showed no fear only excitement at the thrill of the run. When they arrived back, Ellie had left leaving instructions that she would return in a couple of hours and Luke was to stay where he was. Following Ben's advice, he made his way to the gym side by side a couple of wolves who were now racing him. He felt as though he was in a parallel universe, a Jaguar with wolves in the woods rather than the jungle or rainforest, it defied belief.

  Arriving at the gym, he shifted and discreetly made his way inside. He wasn’t sure what he expected to see though he could safely say that it wasn’t what he was met with. Ellie was stood in a boxing ring, with gloves and only a head guard to protect her. She was sparring with one of the youngsters teaching him moves.

  Watching her lithe body move round the ring sent a movement straight to his groin, which promptly deflated when Ben came to stand next to him.

  "Keep watching." He did, and when the young one left the ring an older man entered. This was the one with the tattoos, again he looked fierce and intimidating yet Ellie grinned at him.

  "Let's do this old man." He could hear her words although he didn’t believe them. He then proceeded to watch the most spectacular display of pure strength and determination. "Who is he?"

  "His name is Theo, and he is one of the strongest men I have ever met."

  What the fuck was Ben doing? Luke went to move forward with the intention of preventing Ellie from getting hurt. However, Ben's hand on his arm stopped him.

  "Just watch Luke."