by Celia Kyle
He changed tactics. “It would be best if you left. There are a lot of people,” he opened his eyes widely, a hint at what kind of people he referenced. People who weren’t really people. “Who don’t like you.”
“I’m sure there are.” Probably more than a lot. Probably all of them. She wasn’t sure how many tigers there were, but she had no doubt the entire pride hated her. “But I’m going up that mountain, and you’re going to let me.”
Flynn sucked in a harsh breath, mouth parting and eyes widening with… surprise? “What…” He shook his head as if trying to clear it, but his gaze never left hers. “How did you…”
“Let me go.”
He trembled, the small shakes enveloping his body, and she waited until he seemed to calm. She wasn’t sure what’d just happened, but she didn’t care. She merely wanted to get to Ares. The longer she was delayed, the stronger the need became.
“It would be best if you stayed in town. There are a few openings at the inn.”
She raised her eyebrows. “With all these other women hanging around?”
He shook his head, eyes blinking rapidly. “I… The inn will have a room for you.”
“So they can cut my throat in my sleep?” she asked, only half joking.
But Flynn’s gaze became serious, his eyes intent and filled with emotion she didn’t recognize. “They may want to hurt you, but they can’t.”
Not won’t, but can’t.
A horn honked, interrupting their conversation.
“I’m going to see him, Flynn.”
He swallowed hard, his throat working, and his attention dropped from her and to the ground, his head held at an odd angle. “I can’t stop you, but it would be best if you go to the inn for the night.” He hesitated, face turned toward the ground, but he looked at her through his lowered lashes. “There’s a full moon. The forest will be off limits to nonresidents.”
Another honk, this one blaring and long, and Flynn glared at the offending vehicle. The driver might not have heard his growl, but Zoe did. Instead of fear, she felt… the need to comfort and soothe him? Weird.
“All right. I’ll stay at the inn for tonight, but I’ll be there tomorrow. Your whole pride can stand in my way, but it won’t stop me.”
“They can’t stop you,” he grumbled and dug in his pocket, tugging his cell phone free. “I’ll call ahead.”
With a short nod, she turned the car’s wheel, pointing her vehicle left while all the visitors before her turned right.
She had a place to sleep, now all she needed was a plan. Something beyond praying anyway.
Chapter Three
Ares reminded himself he couldn’t kill one of his tigers. At least, not at the moment. It’d lessen morale. After they got through the clusterfuck, he could take Flynn out back and…
“Say that again. Real slow for me.”
The tiger squirmed beneath Ares’s gaze. He felt bad for going all alpha on the tiger’s ass, but he was struggling with his two halves. A sense of calm wasn’t anywhere on his radar.
“Zoe is in Wilden. At the inn, specifically.”
He wasn’t going to kill this tiger, he wasn’t going to kill—
“And you felt that was acceptable? That it was a good idea to let her check in and then you got her settled—”
The male obviously had no sense of self-preservation. After all, he interrupted his alpha. “I didn’t get her settled. I didn’t go near her room.”
“Don’t. Lie,” he hissed at Flynn. “I smell her on you.”
And that enraged his cat. The beast continued its sounds inside Ares’s head. Snarling and growling and roaring.
Flynn lowered his head farther. The male was one of the strongest of all the prides in the US, but he was nothing beneath Ares’s glare. “They were giving her a hard time.”
They. Emma and Noah, owners of the Wilden inn. Two of his tigers. Young and full of life, expecting their first cub, and fiercely devoted to the pride. Especially Emma, since she was their omega. As the one who sensed the swirling emotions in the tigers, she always felt the need to comfort and soothe them when necessary. She hadn’t been able to do a damned thing for Ares.
As for Zoe… the woman definitely caused some tigers to need comfort, so of course Emma and Noah would give her a hard time. She’d threatened their peace.
“I can’t fault them for that.” And he’d never censure them for it, either. “So why did you intervene?”
“She…” Flynn sighed, and his posture changed from one of a tiger submitting to his alpha and to the alpha’s friend. It was a simple shift of bearing, but it was easy to see. “I had no choice.”
“Yes,” he nodded. “You did. You’re a tiger. Your loyalty is to me and the pride.”
“And her,” his friend added.
“No—”
“Yes. I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but she told me I wasn’t stopping her. She told me what she wanted, and that she’d get her way, and my tiger,” he hesitated. “My tiger wanted to make her happy. It wanted to submit. It wanted to do any-damn-thing to make her smile. It didn’t like that she was afraid of us.”
Ares jerked back and froze, confusion uncurling inside him while his tiger merely chuffed its… happiness?
“I know, right?” Flynn’s eyes were wide with a surprise that matched Ares’s. “I couldn’t say no. I made a couple of suggestions she agreed to, but when she said she was staying, my cat forced me to make her comfortable. I sent her to Emma and Noah’s, but they were being difficult.”
“How could they deny her and you couldn’t?”
“She was asking, not telling. She didn’t make it an order.”
“You should have let her be, then.” And saved Ares the knowledge that Zoe was so close. The inn wasn’t deep within pride lands, but it was hidden from the road by heavy trees. It was normally used by visiting shifters, the clients limited to tigers and the occasional wolf or bear. Lions were just assholes who didn’t like to associate with others.
“You didn’t hear her. You don’t know what it feels like.” Flynn shook his head. “My tiger took her words as an order as if they came from you.”
“Not possible.”
“You sure?” Flynn raised his eyebrows in question.
No, he really wasn’t, but there had to be some sort of explanation. “I want her gone.” He let his worries for her—the cat’s worries—come forward. “I need her gone, Flynn. You didn’t hurt her, but…”
He wasn’t sure none of the others had the same restraint.
“They won’t. They can’t.”
“I’m pretty sure they could. I know if I let Claire loose on her—”
“Loose on who?” Claire breezed into the room, and he inwardly cursed.
“No one.” He glared at Flynn, willing the man to remain silent. When Flynn kept his mouth shut, he focused on his sister. “Can I help you with something?”
“Does a sister need a reason to visit her brother?” She fluttered her lashes, eyes open widely and flashing him a look of pure innocence.
Right.
“No, but you always do.”
Claire huffed. “Fine. I want permission to run with the Woodgate pride.”
“No.” He didn’t hesitate with that answer.
“That’s it? No.”
“Yes.” Ares didn’t like the Woodgate alpha, and he sure as hell didn’t like the males who made up that group of tigers. As the national alpha, he didn’t have to like everyone, he just had to fight to protect them. He would, however, keep Claire away from ’em. There were more opportunistic males in that pride than all of the US. They’d savor any chance to tug on Claire’s tail, tradition or not, willingness or not, Ares’s approval or not.
Nope, not happening.
“Ares, that’s not fair.” She even stomped her foot, and he wondered if he could get away with killing her when she should have been drowned when she was a cub.
“Life isn’t fair. Prides are restricted to their c
urrent territory. Period. We run as we always have.”
“Not as we always have because—”
“Claire,” he warned. His patience had been at its end before she’d shown up, and now it was even worse.
“C’mon, Claire,” Flynn murmured. “It’s time to go.”
Ares kept his narrow-eyed stare on his sister, not stopping until her gaze was firmly locked on the ground. He didn’t tear his attention from her until Flynn escorted her from the room. As they turned for the hallway, he yelled one last instruction. “Hunt up Braden and send him over.”
With Zoe popping up as if she hadn’t caused hellacious chaos, all their careful planning was shot to shit. His tiger paced and purred in the back of his mind, aching to be set free so he could chase her down.
When he didn’t immediately do as it demanded, the beast dug its claws into his head, the captive cat scraping against his flesh even though it was locked within human skin. He sucked in a harsh breath and leaned over his desk, catching his weight with his hands as his knees threatened to buckle. It wanted out. It wanted to be free. It wanted… her. Even as it was furious over the way her actions endangered the pride, it wanted her at its side.
“Dammit, cat,” he pushed the words past gritted teeth. “Back the fuck down.”
It told him to grow a set of balls and find Zoe already.
His gut clenched, the tiger trying to claw its way out of his body, to force the change on him. It didn’t understand the emotional pain of betrayal. It merely saw his relationship with Zoe and that it was broken. It couldn’t be put it back together without her at his side.
“Yo, Ares?” Braden knocked on the door, the rap breaking into his painful struggle.
He lifted his gaze and opened his mouth, issuing a rough hiss.
His best friend jerked back, eyes widening, but he didn’t immediately drop his gaze. Not like his other tigers. Braden was his second and a fierce feline in his own right. If he hadn’t chosen to follow Ares, the male would have a pride of his own. Instead, he stayed at Ares’s side, helping him control the national prides through knowledge, violence, and bone-deep perseverance.
“What the hell?”
Ares fought for control, digging his fingers-turned-claws into the solid wood of his desk. He wasn’t going to let the beast out. Not now, anyway. He had too much riding on the night.
It was the first full moon after their outing. The town was filled with single females, and more than a few males, looking for tiger tails. They had no idea what they would be doing by snatching one without permission.
A violation of the soul.
“Zoe.” He fought for air, fought to shove the tiger down. “Is in town.”
“Oh. Fuck.” Surprise stole over Braden’s features.
“Exactly.”
“I’ll get rid of her.” Braden turned as if to leave, determination in every line of his heavily muscled frame.
Ares’s reaction was instantaneous. “You will not touch her!”
Braden froze and slowly turned to face Ares. “Oh. Fuck.”
He knew what his second saw. Orange and black fur coating his cheeks, sliding down his neck and emerging to slink over his arms to human fingers turned into deadly claws.
Oh fuck, indeed.
Chapter Four
Well, no one had killed her. That had to be a plus, right? Considering the alternative was death by striped kitty. Right. So, still breathing, and now comfy in a small room at the local inn. She wondered if someone would sneak in and slit her throat overnight.
Of course, that was something she should have thought of, oh, before driving up the mountain and planting herself in a pride of tigers.
Right, she might be panicking a tiny bit.
But panicking was bad. It was like fear. Or it was fear? Fear’s cousin twice removed? It didn’t matter. The point was, it changed her scent. Some—most?—loved the scent and it piqued the average shifter’s predatory interest.
Zoe didn’t want anyone’s interest so she took a deep breath and released it slowly. She silently counted to ten and again and then…
She was ninety percent sure the owners of the Wilden inn were tigers. She knew Flynn was, along with Ares. Connecting dots, she assumed Claire and Braden were as well. She’d met someone named Hawke, too. Hawke. A bird name for a tiger. That thought smashed through the panic, and she finally took a full breath. It’d be okay. And even if it wasn’t okay, there wasn’t much she could do about it. She’d tossed herself into this situation, and it was time to ride it out. Whatever happened, there was no way she could be anywhere but in the middle of Wilden. That weird part of her would allow nothing else.
It wasn’t until she’d crossed the border that she’d finally been able to take a full breath. Not until she’d rolled to a stop beside Flynn that she’d been able to think beyond the bone-deep need to get back to Ares. And Flynn knew Ares. Ergo, the itchiness abated enough for her to think and make a demand of her own.
Zoe padded to the window, her steps quiet as she strode over the plush carpeting. The inn was surrounded by trees, hidden from those passing on the road, but her room allowed her to look beyond them and on to the town below.
Dammit. The small space was overridden by cars, horn blasts poisoning the air. Women filled the sidewalks and streets, uncaring of the trouble they caused. Well, the trouble Zoe caused and they perpetuated.
She wasn’t sure how she could fix things. She just knew she couldn’t stay away.
A phone rang, the sound shrill and damn surprising in the quiet though she wasn’t sure why it startled her. It was her own cell phone.
“I like big butts and I cannot…”
Zoe sighed. Obviously her BFF Veronica—Ronnie—got a hold of her phone again during one of Zoe’s Does this make my butt look fat? moments.
She dug the phone out of her purse and swiped her thumb across the screen before placing it to her ear. “Hello, dahling.”
“Hello, whoreface.”
She chuckled and smiled widely, her drama momentarily forgotten. “What’s up?”
“Nothing, simply checking to see if the kitties ate you in a non-happy way.”
Zoe snorted. “There is no eating, nor will there be any eating, happy or otherwise.”
“Uh huh. Says the woman who went into the tiger’s den, chasing after a hot hunk of striped goodness.”
She sniffed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Liar.”
“Bitch.”
“Whoreface. See how we always circle back to the beginning? It’s the cycle of verbal life.”
Zoe chuckled and padded toward the bed, the sound slowly blossoming to an all-out laugh. She flopped onto the soft surface, staring at the canopy above her. “Oh god, I needed that.” Another giggle. “So much.”
“That bad, huh?”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “No, not really. Not yet. I know…”
“What’s coming.”
“No one knows what’s coming, but I do know it won’t be good. He’s gotta be so angry, Ronnie.” More than angry. So much more.
“It’s not your fault, Z. We talked about that.”
But it was.
“I know,” she whispered.
“So I’m not sure why you’re there.”
Zoe sighed. “I need to be. I can’t be…”
“Anywhere else.” Ronnie huffed. “I could come out there?”
She snorted. “Uh, no. I’m not sure if I’m more afraid of the tigers or the women.”
“Eh, it’s all pussy and I know yours is, like, gold plated.” Ronnie hummed. “Oooh, I bet it’s platinum. Gives it that nice reflective surface so Mr. Purrington gets a nice look at himself while he’s lapping up all that…”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” That’s what she got for zoning out on her best friend.
“Your glorious vagina?”
“I don’t know what to do with you.” Zoe didn’t know what to do without Vero
nica, either. They were always side by side when they faced the hard stuff, but this was something she’d have to deal with on her own. No leaning against the big bad werewolf for help this time around. “I miss you already.”
“I know.” Ronnie popped her gum. “But you wouldn’t let me come with, sooo… my sympathy bone is broken. I think I need to see a doctor, even. Got any good docs in Wilden?”
She imagined her best friend waggling her eyebrows and found herself smiling widely again. “I’m sure there are, but we should make sure I don’t get eaten before you show up, huh?”
“Good eaten or bad eaten? Because I’ve seen your tiger’s ass and—”
The sound came from nowhere, yanked from deep within Zoe’s chest.
A hiss. Like a damned cat, she hissed into the phone. “No.”
She clacked her teeth together, swallowing the next word that ached to escape. Mine.
“Tou-chy. Damn girl. Talk about a little bitchtastic there. I’ll keep my eyeballs to myself, but that would be easier if you hadn’t taken those pics, you know?”
Zoe growled. “I thought we agreed that wasn’t my fault.”
“That’s what I said! I’m glad we’re on the same page.” Ronnie sounded way too proud of herself, and Zoe discovered… she’d gotten lost somewhere in the conversation.
Zoe slapped her hand across her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Ronnie…”
“Yes, dahling?”
“I love you even when I hate you a little bit.”
Her best friend snorted. “You love me always.”
“This is tru—”
She was gonna say true. Really. But somehow the cell phone magically left her fingers only to slam against the far wall, shattering into a million tiny pieces.
And by magically, she meant Ares snatched it from her hand and threw it across the room. She met his stare, unable to look away, unable to do anything but drink in his appearance.
He looked the same. She wasn’t sure why that surprised her. They hadn’t been apart for long. Just enough for the bit of happiness she’d found to be destroyed, squashed beneath thin paper and printed words.
