by Milly Taiden
Coming into their pride and thinking he could push her brother around and take over. But with her father sick, she understood how the deranged asshole thought this place was ripe for the picking.
He said the same thing that Shane did about power and prestige. Had Nielson fed her brother and her brother’s friends all that crap? Turning her trusting sibling into a paranoid bootlicker with minions to do as he told them?
But what did the bastard mean about her being locked in the alpha house instead of going to prison? Her to prison? Why, for what?
Pain shot through her head. She had to focus to get out of here. She could shift and try to pry through the metal. She’d have to pound her way out, and he’d hear that from the front of the car. A vibration buzzed her butt cheek. Her phone! The fucking idiot locked her in his trunk with her phone in her pocket.
She pulled it out. There was barely any light for her cat to see by, but it was enough. Theo had texted her about something. She’d worry about it later. She texted back. If she called, Nielson would surely hear with his shifter’s help.
She sent a message for help, but had no idea where Nielson was taking her. He mentioned locking her in the house with Shane. That was as good a place as any. The car stopped. Shit. Time was up. She typed prime house and tapped Send to Theo. Hopefully, he understood what she meant. She dialed 9-1-1 and slid the phone back in her pocket. The trunk lifted and she closed her eyes.
Light hit her face and she tried not to flinch to give herself away.
“Good, the bitch is still out.” That was one of the guys with Nielson in the clearing with Luci at the party. How many more had Nielson talked into going with his plan? What did he promise them? Sex, money, power? What else?
“Bring her inside,” Nielson ordered. She was picked up and carried roughly. Now would be her chance to get away, if she could pull herself together enough to shift. But both guys would have her confined before she busted out a whisker. If she yelled for help, the 911 operator should hear her.
Sucking in a quick breath, she screamed, “Help! I’m kidnapped. Tiger house—” Another pain pierced her cheek and her head snapped to the side.
“Shut up, bitch. Who you yelling to? The trees?” Nielson slapped her again and the guy carrying her almost dropped her. “Put her on her feet.”
The guy obeyed but her knees gave. Nielson wrapped his hand in her hair and dragged her along the gravel driveway toward the house. She tried to defend herself, but he was wise to her fighting abilities and was ready.
He sent a swift kick of his boot to her stomach. “Settle down, bitch. This will be over shortly and you’ll spend a long time recuperating on your back on a bed.” He laughed.
When taken inside, she immediately smelled the familiar smells of the house she grew up in. She was home, but not safe.
His hand still wrapped in her hair, he launched her forward into the living room. “Chain her up on the floor here. I want to keep an eye on her. Make sure if she tries to shift that all her legs pop out of joint.” She rolled to a stop against a wall and hands grabbed her.
She heard several female gasps. As she fought the men binding her, she saw several other pride females, including Joyce, Luci, and her friends restrained and sitting along the wall next to her.
“What the fuck is going on?” Shane came into the room. “You bastard,” he yelled at Nielson. “You said she would go to jail and not be part of this. Her being here is not the plan.”
Plan? Her brother was in on a plan with this cocksucker? And there was that word “jail” again.
Nielson crossed the room and slapped Shane across the face. Her brother cowered. “I say how this game is played and the rules have changed. If she would’ve gone quietly like you said she would, then things would be the same. But NO ONE embarrasses me like she did. She will pay for that. And so will you if you don’t play along.”
Her brother backed toward the patio doors. “I’ve had enough of you. You’ve told nothing but lies from the beginning. You said you could make the pride the most powerful in the country. That others would bow down to us, no longer bully us. But that’s all you’ve done, been a tyrant. Spent our money, raped our women—”
“And what are you gonna do about it, pussy boy?” Nielson stalked toward Shane. “Shift and fight me?”
“Yes, I will, you son of a bitch,” Francesca shouted. She could fight. “Let me loose and they’ll see you lose to a woman again, you fucking wimp.” Oh, that pissed him off. He stomped toward her. She tried to sit up, but with her arms and legs cattle-tied behind her, she had no chance.
She watched as Shane leapt at Nielson’s back, claws forming midair. Then she watched in horror as Nielson swung around, his arm extended with a gun in hand. A gun? What kind of shifter used a weapon like that?
It did the trick, though. The first bullet hit her brother fully in the chest. His momentum carried him forward into Nielson. The second shot went wild and smacked into the fireplace, cracking the gas logs. The far side of the house exploded into a plume of flame.
34
Marcus yelled into his phone and Theo drove like a bat outta hell toward the tiger pride’s prime house. They hadn’t been there before, but GPS in the truck would get them there.
“I don’t know what kind of help is needed,” Marcus yelled. “Get everything out there now!”
Theo hung up from talking to the chief several minutes ago. Fortunately, the firehouse wasn’t waiting around for confirmation of necessity. They were on their way with full artillery, threat of fire or just needed shifter-manpower.
Overhead, several helicopters buzzed by.
“Choppers?” Theo questioned. “Who has black helicopters?”
Marcus snorted. “The only ones I know who have those are the government.” They watched as the whirly birds headed around the side of the mountain, the same direction they headed. There was only one community out here that had people.
“Marcus,” Theo started, “call your boss and ask him for the name of the woman in the Virgin Case. Now that I think about it, virgin and Virgata are really fucking similar.”
Normally, Marcus would’ve laughed at that thought from his roomie. But not this time. He raised his phone and saw there were no bars for reception. “Fuck. No signal here. We have to get closer to the town.”
Coming around a curve, Marcus noted a shadow of smoke in the air. They must be getting close if they were seeing chimney smoke. After another curve, there was more gray floating up. He got a really bad feeling in his stomach.
“Theo, what do you make of that dark haze? Huge ass campfire, by chance?” he asked.
Theo squinted and stepped on the gas. “Too small for wildfire, too big for bonfire. We have a contained house fire. And huge-ass would fit.”
Crossing town limits, they didn’t need the GPS to lead them on, they followed the smoke coming through the trees. A couple more turns took them into the forest and to the fire’s source. Big red engines and water trucks blocked the front of the house engulfed in flames. Both guys jumped out and headed toward the scene.
Seemed others in the community had arrived and were helping with those coming from the house. There were several men, but most were females. Marcus stopped one the girls.
“Was Francesca inside? Where is Francesca?” The girl’s face was smeared with soot and tears.
“She was there, but I don’t know where she is. He had her chained up.” He wanted to ask who, but that wasn’t important at the moment. Overhead, the chopper floated, hanging back from the smoke. Marcus read the big yellow FBI letters on a jacket.
“No, this can’t be happening. This can’t be right,” Marcus mumbled.
Theo looked up at the helicopters. “What?”
“We have to find Francesca now. They are going to arrest her. Or shoot if she resists.”
“What?” Theo shouted.
“I’ll explain later.” Marcus took off. “Francesca!” They searched through the chaotic mess of first responder
s and smoke. “Francesca!” Theo stopped men and asked if they’d seen her. No one had. That meant she had to be in the house.
“Let go of me, prick,” Francesca shouted as Nielson carried her through the woods.
“Not on your life, bitch. You’re my ticket out of here if things get any worse,” he huffed and slid down a slope. “I should just fucking gut you for how you’ve fucked this up. Never has anyone caused me so many fucking problems. And this place was gold.”
“You are an idiot if you think you could’ve taken over this pride. My people would’ve figured out your plan and shaved off your balls with a dull knife.”
“Shut up!” he yelled and pitched her off his shoulder. She landed with a teeth-jarring thud. A helicopter whooshed by overhead. Nielson looked up through the trees tops. “Fuck!” He dragged her off the ground and continued down the hill toward the road.
“You know they’re going to get you, right?” Francesca intended to dig whatever jab she could into him to slow him down. Whoever was in the helicopter, he obviously didn’t like.
“Shut up!” He threw her again and she slid through the trees and into a ditch alongside the road. They were in the open. Hopefully, someone would drive by, see them, and call 9-1-1.
She waited for him to pick her up again, but instead, she heard a bellow and saw a giant bear swiping at the bastard. She’d never seen a bear that big before in nature. Then it dawned on her? “Marcus!” The bear turned toward her. Nielson pulled his gun. Not again, please, not another death of a loved one.
Before the gun fired, a flash of gold slammed into Nielson, sending him sprawling onto to the asphalt. A beautiful lion crouched next to a tree, its tail whipping side to side. Thank god, Theo.
Nielson got to his feet, gun aimed at her. “Either of you make one move and I’ll put a bullet in her head where her pussy can’t do a damn thing to save her.” The guys held their ground. He lifted her from the ditch by her arm and positioned her in front of him. “Now, she and I are continuing on and you both are going to sit right there if you want to see her alive.”
The bear shifted into her gorgeous Marcus. “You’re the prick who caused the accident that almost killed me.”
Nielson brightened. “Ah, so you’re the one who’s been following me for years with the FBI. Nice to meet you, Agent Dumb Fuck. We finally meet.”
“Hollowman?” Marcus said. “Since when did you cut your hair? When you discovered you were almost done suckering the old and defenseless out of their money? All the millions you stole, yet here you are broke and limp dicked.” Marcus shook his head. “So sad. You’re a failure, after all.”
Hollowman smiled. “I’m the one with the gun pointed at your mate’s head. Who’s a failure now?” Marcus’s eyes settled over Hollowman’s and her shoulders.
“Um, I’d still say you are.”
The chopper peeked from around the mountain’s side, with a sniper setup through the open door. Theo sprang from his crouch toward her and Francesca ducked her head as a shot sounded from the helicopter. Hollowman’s head snapped to the side and he fell toward the cliff side of the road. He still had a grip on Francesca.
She tried to twist away before he rolled over the side of the cliff, but he held on even in death. She squeezed her eyes closed, not ready for whatever happened next. And she wasn’t ready, for she found herself in the tight grasps of two gorgeously, naked men holding her between them. Where she was always meant to be.
Epilogue
Francesca, Marcus, and Theo sat at a picnic table in the tiger community’s park. Marcus’s family gathered around the grill as usual while the kids played on the playground equipment. Theo’s firehouse crew played cornhole and horseshoes, and the tiger pride mingled throughout, meeting their new prima’s family and friends.
“So,” Gerri said, “this Nielson guy was actually Hollowman that Marcus and the FBI had been looking for.”
“Yes,” Francesca said. “All the evidence of what he was planning to set me up to take the fall was in Shane’s office.”
Marcus added, “It was Hollowman’s MO all the way. He’d setup others to take the fall for the money he stole.”
“Did he really try to set up a breeding scheme in the pride?” Gerri whispered.
“That was his twisted, sadistic plan he fooled my brother into believing,” Francesca replied. “Every chance they had, Hollowman and his minions would target a girl, try to get her drunk or drug her long enough for him to get his rocks off. His excuse was he was making the pride stronger by increasing its population tenfold. Disgusting that my brother paid him for this strategy.
“What my dad and I never knew was that Shane was bullied badly in school when he was younger. That made him the person he is. I think in the end, Shane really did want to protect the pride, but this bastard got my brother in his grasp and used the opportunity.” Francesca sighed. “When Shane and Jim get out of prison, I’m sure they’ll be welcomed back with open arms. I will welcome them, anyway.”
“Did Hollowman get that young lady pregnant in your pride?” Gerri asked. “Is there any way I can help her?”
“I’ll let Juliette know.” Francesca took Gerri’s hand. “You truly are an amazing person, Gerri.”
The blushing lady waved away the compliment. “Hush, child. It’s just what I do.”
“Yeah, but Gerri,” Francesca said, “when will it be time for you to get a mate?”
“Don’t worry about me,” Gerri grinned. “If I’m up to it, one of these days. As for you…” Gerri’s brows rose and she winked.
She leaned in to Gerri’s side while the men were busy talking. “Thank you for setting us up.” She cleared her throat and stared at Gerri’s eyes. “Did you know we’d end up together?”
Gerri gave a wide grin. “Oh, yes. You three are not the conventional triad, but you are a triad nonetheless. A perfect one. And those children are going to love having two daddies.”
The men’s heads jerked to them, both smiling from ear to ear. “This time around, the baby scents like both of us,” Marcus said.
“So we aren’t really sure which one of us helped father her.”
Gerri gave a loud chuckle. “Even better. She will teach you both that you’re her daddies and who fathered her doesn’t matter. Does it?”
“No,” they said at once. “We’re a team. Always have been. Always will be.”
Gerri nodded. “Good. Besides, that girl scents like both of you so I can’t tell either who fathered her. It’s more important that you both love her like your child because for all you know, you both did it.”
Francesca knew deep in her heart that the reason her baby scented like both men was because she’d be both their little girl. Eventually, they’d both father her kids, but right now they needed to be a father team. And her baby would teach them that.
“We both love her already,” Marcus said.
“She’s our baby. All our children will be,” Theo added.
Francesca smiled at her men. “I love you.”
Marcus picked up her hand and lifted it to his lips. “I love you, too.”
Theo came around and planted a kiss on her lips. “I love you, sweetheart.”
“Looks like my work here is done,” Gerri said.
Francesca turned to Gerri again. “Wait. So about finding you a mate…”
THE END
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Piece of Tail - PDA #13
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A female Prowl Leader? Unthinkable. It’s what Becca Duran has dealt with since the sudden, tragic death of her brother. Now, the leopard council demands she mates an alpha, whether she loves him or not. Given no choice, Becca takes a chance on Gerri Wilder’s PDA. It should be simple. Get a match and move on. Except, it’s not. It’s hard
(thick and hard) with large muscles and a panty-wetting smile.
Jaylon Ross has thirty days to find a mate to help solidify his pack or face the consequences of an unhappy council. Forcing his hand, he makes an appointment with Gerri for help, but stumbles into the answer to his prayers in the heart of Manhattan. A sexy, curvy, sarcastic feline he dreams of stroking and wants to hear purr.
The two collide and more than instant sparks ignite with an attraction neither can ignore. Of course, nothing is as easy as it seems. Becca’s past and Jaylon’s present throw a monkey wrench into what should be so simple. Now they fight to find a way to stay together. Oh, and alive.
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
Hi! I’m Milly Taiden. I love to write sexy stories featuring fun, sassy heroines with curves and growly alpha males with fur. My books are a great way to satisfy your craving for paranormal romance with action, humor, suspense and happily ever afters.
I live in Florida with my hubby, our boys, and our fur children “Needy Speedy” and “Stormy.” Yes, I am aware I’m bossy, and I am seriously addicted to iced caramel lattes.
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