Beneath the Skin: de La Vega Cats, Book 3

by Lauren Dane

  Gibson shifted and the cat took over. The night flooded his senses as he breathed in deep. Cats around, yes. And not his cats. Other cats.

  They crept up the hillside, melting into the shadows, not making a single sound. The cat needed to avenge. Needed to get rid of the threat to its mate. The human up in the house wanted to hurt the mate and that could not be allowed.

  The cat wanted to rip and tear and go home to his petite mate. He was not interested in rules or judges.

  There were no humans outside and the cat paused to scent the wind. Other cats, but they wore the human skin and were not nearby. Birds. Harsh smells of the machine the humans moved in. The scent that came with the exploding weapons they carried in their hands.

  He growled but kept it quiet as the cats all surrounded the house. The human, the father to his human, made a sound, a quick, quiet huff of sound that ordered them all back down the hill they’d crept up.

  The cat didn’t want to go. The cat wanted to hurt those in the house like they’d hurt his mate. But the call was impossible to ignore, and at last he turned and crept back the way he came, down the hill to where the others had gathered again.

  There was speaking and the man shoved up from deep inside. The cat fought him. The man would care about rules the cat had no use for. But in the end, the human pushed hard enough and emerged with a flash of magick and stood.

  “There are no guards that I could see. Cats in the house most likely but they’re in human form right now. And one human.”

  “Let’s go back up there.” Gibson got dressed quickly, strapping his weapons back on. The cat was frustrated it didn’t get to hunt but the man was relieved they didn’t have to spend days out in the weather looking for their prey. This felt fated. And so he took point, and they headed back up the way his cat had gone. Off the main drive, but it wasn’t so steep the man would stumble.

  And once they arrived at the house, Cesar simply walked up to the front door and knocked as Max headed around the back and he and Galen to the sides. Armando was in a nearby tree with a sniper rifle should anyone feel the need to run.

  “My name is Cesar de La Vega, and I have a grievance with you and yours.”

  The human who’d opened the door started to close it, but Cesar kicked it open again, knocking the human back to the ground. Max came in through the back and Gibson headed through the window.

  And there, in the dining room, cowering under the table, was his cousin.

  “Alberto de La Vega, come out and face your accusers.” Max thundered this in his best alpha voice. It was so compelling Gibson felt it in his bones. He turned to see his father with his boot on the throat of the human still on the ground. “Don’t move, human. You’re very fragile and I’m not ready to break you. Yet.”

  “Get out before I call the cops!”

  Gibson yanked the phone from the wall. “I don’t think so, human. I told you back in my office that we don’t hold ourselves to human law. You stepped into our world and our law is what counts now.”

  Max had Alberto by the back of his shirt and tossed him through the doorway, and he ended up in a heap with his human collaborator.

  “Search the house. There should be several more. No one leaves.” Gibson turned his attention back to his cousin. “Alberto, what do you have to say in your defense?”

  Alberto was all bluster, but his fear filled the room. “I have nothing to say to you! Murderer.”

  “Your father wasn’t murdered. He was killed in a challenge. A challenge he called to the death like a fool.”

  “I claim protection—”

  Alberto shut up when Gibson punched him. “You are owed no protection of any kind. You have declared war on de La Vega. You have broken the covenants. Your actions have rendered you outside our laws and as such I am well within my rights to execute you right now.”

  His father growled before warning Gibson. “Don’t you forget, boy. I called it first.”

  Alberto whined from his place on the floor. “You and your family are a murderous bunch.”

  “Says the sniveling coward who condemned his entire jamboree to summary execution. It is because we have obeisance to the law that we spared them because they are not responsible for your crimes. But you are responsible for them and you will answer for them.”

  The human tried to speak again and Cesar pushed harder with his boot. “Your feelings are irrelevant. You hate us enough to help one of our own kill us? You’ll be given a real reason to hate and fear us now.”

  Three more cats were tossed into the living room and then one more.

  “Where is your wife?”

  “Not here.”

  Gibson reached down and grabbed the human, his father moving from the way as he stood the human up. “So, David Morris, where is my cousin’s wife?”

  Gibson gazed into his eyes, letting his cat show. Fear rolled off David in waves.

  Alberto risked speaking again. “You want to kill her too?”

  “Unlike you, I have no desire to kill my enemy’s mate. But neither do I want her freely wandering and plotting to hurt my mate.” He looked back to the human. “Where is she?”

  He blathered an address through his tears.

  “Tie him up. We’ll take him back for more questioning.” He tossed the human to the ground, where his father quickly bound and gagged him. “Galen, call that address in to Dario. Have her picked up and brought to the holding cells. Be careful.”

  One of the cats Max had brought into the room spoke. “My mom has nothing to do with this! She ran when he told her to. You can’t just kill an innocent cat.”

  “You’re one of his sons then? Hm? Yes, you’d be the oldest. I’d like to refer to your words a moment. Mia Porter is an innocent cat and you tried to kill her multiple times.”

  “That’s not the same!”

  “Why? Because it’s someone you care about instead of someone I care about? Mia Porter is my someone special. You shot her, shot at her and jumped her on a jogging trail. Like cowards instead of cats. You have no honor. We have laws about protection of our young and our mates. You have violated them.” He looked back to his cousin. “As have you. You’re coming back with us and we’re going to have a long talk. And don’t bother looking relieved. You haven’t had your death sentence lifted. I’m just postponing it a while until we clear some things up.”

  He hit his cousin in the temple, knocking him out. “Tie him up. Use the silver-threaded rope. On the others too. Let’s get back home.”

  “I’ll call Kendra to let her know to get her spell ready.” Max hefted one of the cats he’d knocked out and then tied up. Gibson picked up the human and his father took another. Armando brought the car up and they loaded the prisoners.

  He’d have Jack go over every inch of the house. Which was pretty much the only way he’d agreed not to be part of the hunt. The wolves were a powerful ally, as well as being family by that point. But these prisoners were de La Vega business and Gibson would handle exactly how things happened.

  He had a plan and he wanted it to play out back at their building.

  Chapter Fourteen

  It was nearly four in the morning by the time Gibson arrived at his parents’ house.

  Imogene and the others had set themselves up in the living room, napping on the couches and chairs.

  “I’m a fortunate male indeed to be blessed with such a bounty.” Cesar looked at them all and then back to Gibson. “Are you sure about this?”

  Gibson nodded. “Yes. But I want to tell Mia before the news gets out. She’ll be hurt if others know before I get the chance to fill her in.”

  Max nodded. “Good idea. I’ve got your back, in any case.”

  “We’ll talk about that too.” Galen frowned as they all moved toward the women and each one woke up.

  “Why aren’t you nestled in bed?” He picked Mia up, and she snuggled into him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  “Waited for you.”

  “Come upstairs.”r />
  “What happened? Is he…gone?”

  Gibson shook his head. “No. He’s in our custody. As are all the other cats we’d been looking for.”

  “What now? What aren’t you telling me? I can tell when you’re not saying everything, you know.”

  He gave up on getting her upstairs alone and opted for a nearby chair, keeping her in his lap. “I challenged him.”

  She sat up straighter, all the sleep now gone from her totally clear gaze. “What? Why? Why would do you do that? You don’t owe him that. He’s nothing. He isn’t owed any courtesy of a challenge. Gibson!” She struggled to get free but he held her.

  “Wait. Let me explain.”

  “This had better be damned good, buster, or you’re sleeping alone from now on. Offering scum like him a challenge? Why should he get to save face? Why? Huh? He tried to kill you! I know he’s related and I’m sorry and all, but I don’t care. I don’t care about any of them. I care about you. They made their bed. They ran off and then tried to kill you because they are cowards.”

  Her chin jutted out. She hadn’t said they’d tried to kill her. Her anger was that they’d tried to kill him. It only cemented his belief that she was his mate.

  The room had gone silent and his mother had that smile of hers. The one she wore when she thought all was right in the world and according to her plans. It was a smile that often scared him. But the female in his lap had claws and she was fully enraged. Which at any other time would have amused him and led to him fucking her senseless right there on the living room carpet. However they were in public and he wanted to explain so she wasn’t angry.

  “I made the challenge because I want to deal with this treachery openly and honestly. If I’d executed him back at the human’s house, it would have been a quietly taken care of problem. I want the whole jamboree to know about this so there is no more sympathy for this creature and his compatriots.”

  She continued to frown. “You could tell them. They’re not stupid. Given the history, what they’ve done, it’s silly to think they’d be resentful.”

  “My deal is this. I made the challenge publicly. The outcome of the challenge will settle the complaint once and for all. If I lose, the cousins who left will receive amnesty. All but Hal Pepper, but that’s done anyway. But if I win, those remaining cousins will be shunned forever. They will be marked for all to see as shunned so there will be no more setting themselves up to be a cancer in anyone else’s jamboree. Their line will end as they can’t reproduce.”

  “You can do that?”

  “Yes.” Kendra spoke from where she sat, giving Gibson a look much like Mia was giving him.

  “If they ever set foot in de La Vega territory or in Smithville territory, their lives will be forfeit. Kendra can do a spell which will key in to each of their DNA, and it will alert us to their presence if they decide to be so stupid.”

  “Their lives are already forfeit! They broke laws. What if the next guy thinks, hey, why not shoot the Bringer with silver, he won’t kill me, he’ll give me a chance to kill him instead?”

  Never one to just lay back and take whatever explanation she was fed. Which was a great quality he wished she didn’t have right then.

  And she wasn’t done. “Why not set it to self-destruct? Like on Get Smart? They blow up if they show up here again.”

  His cat pushed close to the surface and hers responded. He held her close.

  “I don’t like this. At all. I like this zero percent.”

  “You don’t think I can win?”

  She punched him in the arm. “I know you’ll win. I have no worries about that. But these cats will cheat. We have every reason to believe that so don’t even try to argue with me.” She glared at Max, who hid a smile and tried to look severe, but totally missed the mark.

  “I would never argue any such thing. As it happens I agree with you. I voted that they all be executed on the spot.”

  Mia narrowed her gaze in Max’s direction and then sniffed. “Oh. Well. I like you better.” She turned back to Gibson. “You? Not so much right now. However, I’m your second.”

  Gibson stood, nearly spilling her to the ground. “No you won’t be.”

  She pushed right up into his space and it didn’t matter that she was half a foot shorter. “Oh yes I will. I will be your second. I will be in that challenge ring on the day of the fight and my weapon will be hot. I will shoot anyone who even thinks about cheating, and I don’t care what your feelings on that are.”

  “You’re a mate. You need to stay safe.”

  “Please do excuse my manners, Imogene,” Mia said sweetly and then turned back to Gibson. She poked him in the chest. “You can shove your orders right up your butt. You listen here.” She poked him again for emphasis. “I will indeed be your second. I will indeed shoot anyone who cheats. I will break the knees of anyone who tries to stop me. It is my right as your mate—and don’t think we’re not going to talk about how you just spring that on me without any warning—it’s my right as your mate to be your second. I’m invoking that right.”

  That was a very old law and he looked at his mother suspiciously. Mia hadn’t grown up active and well versed in jamboree history. The chances of her knowing that rule seemed very low. But his mother had no guilt on her face over it, and he was confronted by the fact that Mia was right.

  He’d publically declared her as his mate and she’d invoked her rights as such.

  “This whole thing is to keep you out of danger, damn it. That’s not at a challenge ring with a bunch of murderous cats!”

  “That’s why you should have killed him on the spot.” She sniffed and then poked him again. “I was in Iraq for two tours! I was nearly killed by these scumbag human hatemongers. This challenge ring and these gutless cowards don’t scare me. At all. You got me? I will be there and that is that. When is the challenge?”

  She crossed her arms and each woman in the room got up and moved to stand with her.

  He was totally fucked.

  “You could have backed me up you know.”

  Max snorted. “Why? Kendra would have been mad at me. Our mother would have been mad at me, and your sweet Mia would have been mad at me. I don’t like it when women are mad at me. I prefer it when they all like me and make me smoothies and turkey sandwiches and have sex with me. The last thing was Kendra specific. If I’d taken your side, Kendra wouldn’t be making me sandwiches and she sure wouldn’t be having sex with me. Plus, you’re stupid. Mia is right. She’s got a great eye and she won’t be put off by any sympathy toward an old relative. If Alberto cheats, she’ll see it and deal with it. And the cats in the jamboree will love it.” He shrugged.

  “But she’ll be in the middle of a challenge ring!”

  “Protected by Dario, who will be there with her. No one will hurt her. You know that. She’s safer there than any other place I can imagine. And she’s a badass little cat, in case you haven’t noticed.”

  He huffed an annoyed breath. He was so angry at her, angry at the circumstances that he’d put her to bed and gone out for a walk where he’d met Max doing the same thing.

  “She loves you, Gibson.”

  “Ferociously.” Gibson nodded. No one had ever loved him that way. Oh sure his parents loved him. But this was different. Mia would give her life for him. Which touched him deeply even as it scared the shit out of him. “I can’t live with the idea of her being killed.”

  “She won’t be.”

  “It’ll all be over tomorrow. They underestimate you. Big mistake.”

  “They were raised by a male who thinks strength comes from how much noise you make.” He shrugged. “They don’t know about shit. And that’s to my favor because Alberto is strong. Just not as strong as me. Or as smart.” In fact, they’d found out why the cats had used silver on Gibson that first night but never again, or on Mia. They’d only had enough for that first attack, and they’d run, leaving their ammunition in a hotel room. They’d used regular 9mm ammo from then on, becau
se they hadn’t thought ahead to bring enough silver. The ridiculousness of it, the casual nature of plotting to kill a relative aside, only convinced Gibson that his cousin posed no threat at all in the challenge ring.

  And just maybe he wanted to publicly beat down anyone who tried to harm his mate.

  “But he’s a coward. She’s right, you can’t trust a coward.”

  “I know. I don’t trust him. But I can beat him either way. And if he makes a bad move, I’m under no compulsion not to kill him. He tried to kill my woman, Max. You remember what that feels like.”

  Max growled and began to pace. “I do. Fuckers. If I could rip them all into pieces I would.”

  “Exactly. But if anything happens to me, I expect Mia to be taken care of.”

  Max snorted. “Nothing is going to happen to you. But you know we would. She’s ours just as Kendra and Renee are ours.”

  Mia woke up just a few hours later and snuggled into his body, so warm. She breathed in his scent and gave his side a lick. If he kept her up all night and then dumped this stupid challenge shit on her, she wouldn’t feel bad about waking him up.

  She nuzzled his neck and he moaned softly as he surfaced from sleep. His hands found her ass and held her tight as she kissed and licked over his neck and shoulders. Her cat was protective; her claws came out a moment, making Mia’s mouth water to taste more. To possess this big, strong male in her bed.

  His heart beat steady as she listened, her head on his chest.

  And then she turned her head and sank her teeth into his biceps.

  He snarled, his hand holding her tight, his cock hardening against her belly. “Yes,” he hissed.

  She held on until she knew the mark would show that day when he was in the challenge ring. Everyone would know he was hers. Most especially the piece of shit who’d tried to kill him multiple times.

  Then he pulled her up and rolled on top. “Goddamn.” He kissed her so senseless she nearly forgot her own name and when he released her, her lips were swollen and his taste lay against them.