Claiming Bite

by Silvia Violet

  I didn’t want to die. And I really didn’t want to die like this, scared and violated as they mocked me and my mate.

  “Boss, can we?” The one who’d tranqed me asked.

  “Take him up to the playroom. If you fuck him on this concrete, you’ll end up smashing his head open. I don’t want him to die yet,” the man I was now sure was Leon said.

  The one who’d first asked if he could “have fun” with me grabbed my arm and yanked me forward, making me stumble. My stomach heaved. I brought my hand to my mouth trying to stifle it, but I couldn’t. I managed to turn away from him as the contents of my stomach came up. He kicked me, making me fall to my knees, banging them against the concrete as my stomach heaved again.

  When I was finished, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

  “Now we’ll have to hose him off,” one of them protested.

  The one who’d grabbed me before yanked me by my hair, making my head threaten to explode. “Come on, slut, it’s time you find out what real men are like.”

  These lions could never be the men King and his brothers were. Maybe I at least could keep King’s memory in my mind as these men destroyed my body.

  Before the lion got me to the stairs, a man who was small by lion shifter standards burst through the door. “Stop!”

  Leon growled. “Do you remember who you’re speaking to?”

  The newcomer bowed his head. “Forgive me, sir.”

  “Tell me why you dared interrupt us, and I’ll consider it.”

  “It is in your best interest, sir, to keep King’s mate alive and relatively unharmed. If you give him to these idiots, you know they’ll take things too far. They can play with him after you’ve dealt with King or you can have him for yourself. You are aware that this human isn’t simply King’s new plaything. He’s King’s mate.”

  The shifter who’d grabbed me let go of my hair and pushed me away. Could that be fear in his eyes?

  “Is that true?” Leon demanded.

  I wasn’t sure what to say. It seemed from the smaller man’s intrusion that I was more likely to survive this night if I admitted to it, but it also gave Leon more reason to kill me, knowing how badly that would hurt King.

  “Make him answer,” Leon ordered one of his men.

  Before the man could touch me, I blurted out, “Yes.”

  The man who’d just burst in spoke again. “We need to keep this boy whole in order to lure King to us.”

  Leon muttered something I couldn’t understand, but then, louder, he said, “The human stays untouched. You lot will have to find someone else to amuse yourself with for now. Aidan, take this human to a guest room. Secure him and guard the door. He’s your responsibility. I doubt I need to explain what will happen to you if he is damaged.”

  “No, sir, you do not.”

  Leon looked at me then. “Go with him, before I change my mind.”

  Somehow I found the strength to walk across the room and up the stairs despite my head pounding and my legs feeling like jelly. My whole body was sore as if I’d done a killer workout the day before.

  Aidan didn’t speak. He simply turned and motioned for me to follow him. The door to the stairs opened onto an opulent hallway. It seemed that Leon or whoever was responsible for decorating this house liked to display his wealth in every way possible. Enormous chandeliers dangled from the ceiling every few feet and elaborate gold wall sconces held flickering candles. Every photo and piece of art was framed in gold, and there were small tables lining the hallway with marble and gold statues placed on them. I paid attention to the path that we took, looking for any possible escape routes, but I was unable to see any exterior doors as we moved through the house. We ascended a carpeted staircase, then Aidan stopped in front of the first room on the right.

  “Please enter,” he said, opening the door. I didn’t like the idea of being trapped in a room with him, but he had been the one to save me from all the men in the basement.

  As soon as I entered the room, I grabbed a blanket from the bed and wrapped it around myself.

  Aidan closed the door behind himself, but he stayed on the far side of the room. “I would’ve brought clothes with me to the basement, but I didn’t think I would be permitted to give them to you.”

  I wanted to trust this man’s kindness, but I couldn’t. “Is this a good cop bad cop game, or what?”

  “No, I’m simply one of the few of my kind concerned more with our future than with physical displays of strength.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that you will find clothes and a flashlight in the closet, and if you pull on the coat hook attached to the back wall you will have access to a room where you may hide until I find a way to get you out of here.”

  “But Leon said that if I escaped, you would—”

  “I have a plan, but you cannot be a part of it. I intend to secure my family’s future—before my brother puts us in further jeopardy—and then I will see that you are returned to your mate.”

  How was he going to see to all that? Did he have others working with him? “How do I know I can trust you?”

  Aidan shrugged. “You don’t. But Leon will kill you unless King gets to you first, so if I were you, I’d take a risk on me.”

  “Is King on his way?”

  “From what I know of King, he will stop at nothing to get you back.”

  He was Leon’s brother? I had no way of knowing if this was some ploy, a sick game Leon found more fun than watching his men use me, but what choice did I have but to trust Aidan? I didn’t want to face Leon again, so if there was a chance I wouldn’t have to, I’d take it.

  “If this is real, then thank you. I won’t forget what you’ve done.”

  “You’re welcome. There may come a time when I need something from you. I hope you will be willing to return the favor.”

  “You have my promise.”

  “Good. Now hide. There’s no telling when Leon might change his mind about leaving me alone to guard you.”

  Aidan stepped out of the room and I heard the door lock click. I flung open the closet door. As he’d said, there were clothes there: jeans, a hoodie, and a pair of sneakers. I dropped the blanket I’d wrapped around me and pulled on the jeans. They were slightly loose in the waist, but they fit very well considering whoever had placed them there had to guess my size. At least they weren’t tight against my cock cage. I found myself no longer resenting it, but feeling thankful I’d been left with the sign that I was King’s. I pulled the sweatshirt over my head and then shoved my feet into the shoes. They were tight, but if I needed to run, they were far better than trying to escape barefoot.

  After I’d picked up the flashlight, I felt along the back wall of the closet and easily found the hook Aidan had mentioned. I pulled it, and the back of the closet swung open, revealing a small room. I paused and listened, but I didn’t hear anything. It smelled musty, but there was no sign that anyone was there waiting for me. I turned the light on so I could examine the room. There were bottles of water and some protein bars there, along with a stack of books. At least I could survive here for a while. I let the opening swing shut behind me and sank to the floor.

  Please don’t let this be a trap.

  19

  King

  Storm and Bryce were in my office doing their best to keep me calm and come up with a plan for how to respond to the ultimatum Leon had sent. Once the lion who’d burst into my office had recovered from me nearly ripping his throat out, he’d given my brothers a message from Leon. The lion’s leader was giving me one day to step down as head of the council, or he would begin taking away everything that mattered to me.

  I had no intention of giving in to Leon’s demands. Even if there was a chance Leon would be a decent leader of the council—and there wasn’t—he wasn’t the kind of man who made a bargain and stuck to it. He was the sort who would continue to exact more and more.

  I wanted to confront him, to make a show of domin
ance that would put him in his place. He might be strong, but he was nowhere near as smart or as capable as I was, and he didn’t have enough support to rule the council. My brothers wanted to ignore his demands and double our security. I paced my office, wishing I had more space, wishing I could let my wolf take over and run for miles. Suddenly, a jolt of agonizing despair hit me. It took my breath. The room spun around me, and I felt like I might be sick.

  “What’s wrong?” Storm asked.

  “I think it’s Emerson. I think… there’s something wrong. He’s hurt. We have to go to him.”

  Bryce laid a hand on my arm. “Wait. Storm is calling Jax.”

  Storm frowned. “His phone’s going straight to voicemail. Denny’s too.”

  I snarled, pulling away from Bryce’s hold. “We have to go. Now.”

  “You haven’t claimed him yet, have you?” Storm asked.

  I shook my head. Why hadn’t I? He’d acknowledged that we were mates. But I’d been waiting until he was out of danger, and now he was in more danger than ever and less protected than he could be. If I hadn’t been so stubborn, we’d be fully bonded, and I’d be able to track him much more easily. Mated shifters couldn’t speak telepathically, but the sense of awareness of their mate, the feel of strong emotions through the bond intensified once the mate bond was sealed with a claiming bite. Without that, I would have my enhanced sense of smell to help me track him better than any human could.

  “We’ll find him,” Storm said. “I’m calling Arthur right now. He’ll rally all our guards.”

  Arthur was brilliant at coordination, but he wasn’t going to know where Emerson was if he’d been taken by the Crown family.

  “I need to find him. I have to go.” My wolf pushed me, trying to force me to change. I wanted to let go and become the animal. I wanted to track Emerson and tear apart anyone who’d touched him. What if he was…? No, he was still alive. The bond was strong enough to tell me that.

  “He’s readying people to help us. We have to stay calm enough to figure out where they would take Emerson and—”

  Bryce’s phone rang. “I don’t recognize the number, but I’m taking this.” He answered, and his eyes widened. “Yes, that’s my vehicle. What happened to the passengers?”

  The world swam around me. Something had happened to the car. I had to focus. If I paid attention, I could hear the call even in human form.

  There’d been a car crash. The other cars had been abandoned and Jax and Denny and some unidentified men—lion shifters?—had been taken to the hospital, but there’d been no sign of Emerson. My wolf fought for control. Mate. Find our mate. Destroy them all.

  I wanted to let him take over. It would be so much easier to handle this in wolf form where I could let my instincts rule me.

  Storm laid a hand on my shoulder and I realized he was shaking. “Did they say anything else? Is Jax going to be okay? A-And Denny?”

  “They’re in stable condition,” Bryce said. “I’m calling Arthur back and having him send someone to the hospital to check on them.”

  I put my arm around Storm and pulled him to me. He and Jax had been lovers briefly before Jax had come to work for us. Comforting Storm helped me hold on to my human form and focus on comforting him. Bryce came and wrapped his arms around us both. “Just breathe. We can handle this like we’ve handled everything else.”

  Bryce and I had plenty of disagreements, but there’d never been a time when I couldn’t rely on him.

  My wolf growled. Mate. Find our mate.

  We will, I told him, but I kept him at bay. My brother was right, racing around town as a wolf, trying to catch Emerson’s scent, wasn’t the fastest way to find him. While we knew the location of Leon’s primary den, we knew he had another base of operations where he conducted business he wished to hide from the council. We might all be criminals, some of us worse than others, but we had a code of ethics, lines we wouldn’t cross… or at least, everyone had until Leon took his position from his father. I wasn’t sure there was anything he wouldn’t do.

  Despite looking for his secondary den for months, we’d been unable to locate it. It seemed the most likely place for him to take Emerson. But how would we find it in time? Suddenly, I had an idea. “Damian.”

  “What?” Storm said.

  “I need to call Damian. Emerson’s friend, the hacker. He’s damn good. He found all kinds of stuff about me he shouldn’t have been able to.”

  “That’s right,” Bryce said. “What was his name?”

  “Henley,” Storm said.

  “If he’s Emerson’s friend, then he’ll help us.”

  “Then call.” I forced myself to take a steadying breath. Emerson was still alive, and I was going to find him. Dark thoughts of how this was all my fault because I couldn’t let Emerson go beat against me, but I ignored them as I pulled out my phone and called Damian, willing him to answer.

  “King, I hope this is important.”

  “I need Henley’s services.”

  “He doesn’t need to be involved with any more shifter business.”

  My heart pounded. I’d been taught to never let myself be vulnerable in front of another shifter, especially one as powerful as Damian, but Emerson’s life was at stake and I would risk anything for him. “Leon has Emerson.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Do you think Henley can locate Leon’s hidden den?”

  “If he can’t, then no one can.”

  I wondered again what exactly Damian’s relationship with Henley was. Panther shifters were usually wary to trust anyone. But that didn’t matter now. All that mattered was getting to Emerson.

  “How do I contact him?”

  “I’ll pick him up and bring him to my office,” Damian said. “Meet me there.”

  “Hurry.”

  “You owe me. A lot.”

  “I’ll honor that. I need to find my mate.”

  Damian ended the call, and I pocketed my phone. Panic threatened to overwhelm me once again, but I fought it. I could do this. I could be strong for Emerson. And once I had him back, I could let him go so this would never happen again. I’d focus on my family and on the council. It was too dangerous to bring anyone else into my life.

  “Let’s go.” I knew my brothers would’ve heard the exchange on the phone and that they would follow me. On the way to Damian’s we stopped by the crash site. There were police and forensics teams there investigating, so we couldn’t get close and have them ask questions. That would only slow us down. But I could smell Emerson’s scent along with a few of the lions who had been at my club, the ones that had tried to abuse Emerson the night I’d met him. I would find them and make them pay.

  Henley’s fingers flew over the keyboard as he pulled up CCTV footage and found video from close by the wreck. It was grainy and distorted, but with some manipulation we were able to identify a car with three lion shifters and Emerson inside. My mate was slumped over as if unconscious. My wolf pushed at me. Find him. Now.

  If it hadn’t been for my brothers’ touch, I would’ve shifted and run. They had my mate, and I’d failed to protect him. The one thing I’d promised him I would do. How had I not realized the Crowns would move against me immediately? I should have kept Emerson by my side.

  If my father were still alive, he would laugh at my weakness, tell me I deserved to lose my mate if I couldn’t stand up to the lions better than this. He would never have understood my attempt to negotiate and keep peace among the shifters. He wasn’t one to look to the future, only to grab what he could in the moment. I’d thought I was making real progress. But maybe he’d been right all along.

  There would be no more diplomacy between me and the Crowns. I was going to find them, and I was going to take them out.

  Henley brought up more video footage using satellite feeds and anything else he could grab onto. He managed to trace the progress of the lion shifter’s vehicle out of town and into a forested area, but as the tree cover became more dense, we could no longer see
the car on the road. Henley found his way into property records, searching through layer after layer of identities to find a connection between one of the Crown brothers and a company that had purchased land a few miles past where the car had disappeared from view.

  “I think this is the location you need.” He found aerial footage of the area. We could just make out a roof line through the trees.

  “We found them. Let’s go,” I said.

  Mate. Go get our mate.

  Bryce grabbed my arm and started out the door.

  “Thank you,” Storm called to Henley and Damian.

  I turned, knowing I needed to acknowledge what they’d done. “Thank you.” My voice was more growl than speech, but Damian smiled.

  “Go get your mate and your revenge. Later, you can repay me.”

  My wolf gave his hardest push yet, and Bryce dragged me from the room.

  As we neared Leon’s hidden den, I could smell Emerson clearly. He was afraid and bleeding.

  I snarled, barely human. “They hurt him.”

  “He’s alive and we’ll get him out,” Bryce reassured me.

  I ripped at the seats with my claws and felt my bones beginning to reform.

  Storm gasped and released me from the seat belt. “Bryce, he’s not going to wait.”

  I wrenched open the door and leapt from the car, already half wolf. I’d waited as long as I could. I howled as I took my full form. Then I raced off down the road, following Emerson’s scent.

  I heard the car speed up, but I veered into the woods, letting instinct send me on the most direct path to my mate. I found the house and raced toward it, pushing for more speed. I’d expected guards to be around the perimeter, and I was ready, eager to claw my way through to them.

  The trees began to thin as I approached the house, but I still hadn’t come across any lion guards. My senses were on high alert, and I smelled blood. I focused, separating the nuances of the scent. Lion. Wolf. Emerson. I snarled. Whoever had hurt my mate was going to pay.