Bobcat: Tales of the Were (Redstone Clan)

by Bianca D’Arc

  Then he began to move. His gaze held hers as their bodies began to a slow groove…like dancing…naked…in bed. Yeah, her disjointed thoughts probably wouldn’t make a lot of sense to anyone else, but she knew what she meant. She knew nothing had ever felt this good, this perfect, to use Bob’s word.

  His pace accelerated and her fingernails sharpened on his back. He seemed to like it and she knew the cat within him didn’t mind. Mating between shifters often got animalistic. In fact, Bob’s hands were digging into the bedding on either side of her head. She wanted to feel them on her skin and she wouldn’t mind if he went clawed. In fact, the cat inside her craved it.

  She ran her fingernails down his back and he growled, moving even faster. She was whimpering now, little mewls from her inner bobcat spurring him on as her passion rose higher and higher. She came with a little yowl she tried to suppress, scratching him, which only made him seem more determined to drive her wild. Another climax took her by surprise, followed by another. One long orgasm had her in its thrall for long, long moments as he finally came deep within her, growling and allowing his clawed hands to pull her close.

  He crushed her to him while they both shook with the most amazing pleasure. She hadn’t known her body was capable of such a thing. Maybe it was the desperate situation they were in. Maybe it was the threat that this could very well be their last time being together. Maybe it just was the way they were learning each other and the fact that she’d never had sex with her true mate before she met Bob. As they got to know each other better and made love over and over, maybe it would continue to get better.

  So far, that had been the trend. Each and every time they’d been together, they’d gotten better at knowing what each other wanted and needed. This time the claws had come out early. She loved the feel of the little pinpricks of his sharp digits against her back. And she liked the way he responded to her scratching. Judging by what had just happened, he really liked it.

  “I hope I didn’t hurt you,” she thought aloud. “I didn’t mean to claw you.” Maybe he hadn’t liked it as much as she’d thought in the moment? As her head cleared, doubts came into her mind.

  “Hurt me?” He gasped as he disengaged from her body and rolled to the side. Even as he separated them, he kept his hold on her sated body, keeping her close to his side. “Honey, you can hurt me like that any time you want. I loved your little claws. I want to feel them more often. Every day for the rest of our lives wouldn’t be too often for me.”

  “You’re sure?” She was worried she’d drawn blood, carefully inspecting her fingers. No blood. Thank the Goddess. “I didn’t mean to get so carried away.”

  He leaned in and kissed her cheek, still breathing hard. “I loved it. I love you, kitten.”

  A knock on the door to the bedroom broke the blissful silence.

  “Time to roll,” Joe called through the door. “That is, if you two can tear yourselves away from each other for a few minutes.” They could hear him chuckling as he walked away.

  “I’m going to kill that fucking wolf,” Bob mumbled at her side, sending Serena into a fit of giggles. They were both wiped out by their amazing climax, but they also both knew it was time to get going.

  Smells wafting from the kitchen drew Bob’s attention the moment he opened the bedroom door. Somebody was cooking and from the quiet clank of dishes and the water rushing through the pipes of the old house, it sounded like the platoon had turned the old folks’ kitchen into a makeshift mess hall.

  “Smells yummy,” Serena said, popping up beside him.

  He could hear her stomach grumbling, even as his did. Food had been both scarce and cold the past couple of days and he was more than ready for a hot dish of whatever they were cooking up.

  When they entered the kitchen, they found half the platoon eating off of flowery china from the kitchen cupboard. One of the men was frying fish on the stove while another was gutting more of them near the sink. Where they’d gotten the fresh fish, Bob didn’t know, but it was likely there was a stream nearby. Apparently werewolves also made good fishermen.

  “You guys certainly made yourselves at home,” Serena commented with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

  “A soldier needs fuel in his body and ammo in his weapon,” Joe said unapologetically. “When this is all over, we’ll thank the owners of this house properly. If they’re still around.”

  “Do you think they’re dead?” Serena looked worried.

  “No sign of anything like that, ma’am,” Joe was quick to reassure her. “Could be they just packed up and left when the trouble started. Or maybe they’re on a conveniently timed vacation.”

  “Where did the fish come from?” Serena asked, seeming to want to change the subject.

  “There’s a pond out back full of ‘em. Looks like the fella who lives here set it up for just that purpose.” Joe stood up. “I’m going to do a final check outside. Sit down and have something to eat. We’ll be moving out soon. The rest of my guys have already eaten. As soon as these guys are done, we’re out of here.”

  “What’s up?” Bob asked, not sure what had been discovered since he and Serena went to bed.

  John walked into the crowded kitchen at that moment. “The Alpha will fill you in on what we found,” Joe replied. I’ll be back in five and we can discuss the plan of attack.”

  John sat down at the table opposite Bob. “There’s a back tunnel into the mine.”

  “Where?” Bob was surprised.

  “In the basement of this very house. Joe’s guys explored it a bit. It leads to a disused side passage in the old mine.”

  “You’re kidding.” Bob was astounded. Was this some kind of trick or was the Goddess smiling on them to put them in exactly the right place at the right time? “Is it safe?”

  “We think so. I took a look at the setup. Old Jerimiah is a neat bugger. He had an old map of the mine next to a set of slightly rusty keys and a can of oil down by the locked iron door in the basement. There are a series of heavy doors in the tunnel, each locked. I examined the locks. Looks like nobody has used any of them in years. We oiled the hinges and opened a few to explore. Heavy dust coats everything and hadn’t been disturbed until we walked there. The tunnel structure seems sound enough. It’s shored up with old timbers, but the engineering is thorough and the beams aren’t in bad shape.”

  “So we have a backdoor into the mine and the keys to the kingdom?” Serena asked, sounding as amazed as Bob was himself.

  “Looks that way,” John answered.

  “Do you think it’s a trap?” Bob asked, thinking hard about this startling change in their circumstances.

  “It could be, but I don’t think so. Joe agrees, though he’s cautious too. It all looks legit and we think it would’ve been hard to set all this up on the off-chance that we would be here, doing what we’re doing.” John ran one hand through his long hair. “I don’t think the Venifucus expects resistance. They’re probably counting on the bobcat leadership to keep everybody in line and they’ve got my people on the run. They probably think we’re happy just to have escaped with our lives.”

  Joe came back in and sat at the only open spot at the small table. John, Joe, Serena and Bob were at the little table. A few of Joe’s guys were perched on counters or leaning against appliances, eating. One was even sitting on the floor.

  Plates were set down in front of Serena and Joe with sizzling fish and what had to have been canned green beans borrowed from the kitchen cabinets. The guy at the stove, shut off the burner and began to clean up, putting things away and passing the dirty pots to the guy at the sink. They worked like a well-oiled machine, as if they had done this before. Bob supposed they had. Soldiers lived and fought as a unit, and wolves were Pack animals by their very nature. They worked well in groups—better than cats in a lot of cases.

  They ate as Joe sat and unfolded an old, dusty map, placing it in the center of the table. “This was in the basement, near the hidden door.”

  “Hidden?�
� Serena asked, eating daintily.

  “Yeah, the door to the mine wasn’t exactly easy to find. In fact, we didn’t see it on our first sweep through the house. It was cleverly concealed behind a false panel. Waldo there knocked on the wall and heard it ring hollow,” he gestured toward the man just finishing cleaning up the stove. Waldo turned, saluting them with a dish towel and gave a lopsided grin before turning back to his work.

  Bob looked at the map as he ate, noting the markings for doors, passageways and one particularly ominous marking at the back of one of the larger branches off the main tunnel. That one might come in handy. He was familiar with old mine maps, having been involved with more than a few building projects in California where old gold rush mines were either on or near the existing property.

  In such cases, the old maps were carefully studied to see if the old tunnels could be used in the new designs—some shifters liked to have underground dens or escape tunnels. If the building site was meant for humans, the danger posed by the old mine site was also weighed carefully. Redstone Construction wasn’t in the business of building anywhere children of any species might get into trouble.

  “Behind the false panel was a little vestibule of sorts,” Joe went on with his informal briefing. “Old Jeremiah had built a small shelf where we found the map and that oil for the hinges. Looks like he had it all set up to use as an escape tunnel but didn’t get the chance when the Venifucus moved into the mine.”

  “Suits our purposes to a T, though,” John put in. “If this is viable, we can sneak up on them. They probably won’t be expecting someone approaching from within the mine.”

  Bob was looking at the map, turning it toward himself to see if he could read some of the markings a little better. He tried to put his brothers’ lessons to good use, thinking of the setup from the enemy’s point of view.

  “If they have any forces in reserve, they’ll probably be either here or here.” Bob pointed to a specific notation on the map. “This sign indicates larger caverns with airshafts.”

  Joe cocked his head and narrowed his gaze on the map. “What’s this one mean?”

  Bob smiled and he knew it was a little bit of an evil grin. “On the old gold rush maps I’ve seen in California, that’s the symbol for a bottomless pit. There’s probably a barricade of some sort in front of it. If we’re lucky, it’ll be one of those doors we have the key to. Open that and herd any enemies toward it…” He didn’t have to finish the thought as Joe’s mouth turned up in a grim smile. John looked a little more cautious about the idea of herding the enemy to their deaths, but he was still a predator and an Alpha protecting his Pack.

  “I sent two men out to do recon,” Joe said after a moment. “They should be back shortly. If things are still as they were when I went up there yesterday, I think the tunnel through the mine is our best way in. They’ve got the front entrance too well fortified.”

  Bob finished his meal and handed the empty plate off to the guy still manning the sink. The back door opened and the men who had finished eating went out while two more men came in. The recon team was back and reported what they’d seen. Sure enough, the front entrance to the mine was as heavily guarded as Joe had seen the day before.

  Jezza was still in the front chamber, tied to a chair, set up like bait. There was even a spotlight set up to shine in his face—probably both to help interrogation and showcase their prisoner to anyone who might be watching.

  One of the men had taken photos with his phone and Serena was able to identify two of the bobcat captors as guys who were definitely couriers for the drug trade. They spent about fifteen minutes revising their plan to utilize the sneak attack from within the mine and then it was time to move.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Serena went with the men because really, it was the safest place to be. Hiding on her own in the house or elsewhere wasn’t safe if the bad guys spooked and ran. If she had to be here, she would rather take her chances with the soldiers than being on her own. Plus, if she got the chance, there were a couple of bobcats in particular she would love to claw…or shoot.

  They’d given her a gun. Not a big one, but something she could definitely handle. Rocky had been teaching her how to shoot so she was familiar with the concept and Bob gave her a quick primer on the specific handgun he had given her. She felt better with the heavy weight of it in her hand and the spare clips in her pockets.

  Bob hadn’t liked having her along, but he had seen the sense in what she had to say. He was good like that. Willing to listen to her and give a little when what she said made sense. She valued that. None of the bobcat men she’d known had been even remotely willing to listen to a female.

  The Cascade Clan of bobcats was made up of chauvinist pigs from what she’d seen. She had almost begun to think all shifters were that way, except she remembered her parents. They had been partners. Two halves of a whole. Her father certainly hadn’t ordered her mother around like a slave, and he had valued his female cub. He hadn’t treated Serena as a disappointment because she wasn’t born male. He’d loved her.

  She remembered the love especially.

  But it took seeing the way the shifters on the Lords’ mountain lived to remember it all and realize that there was something seriously wrong in the Cascade Clan. Seriously. Wrong.

  “Are you okay, kitten?” Bob asked her in a quiet voice as the team of men prepared, checking gear and making last minute preparations in the basement.

  They had cleaned the kitchen and the rest of the house to leave it in the condition in which it had been found. Nobody—except maybe the homeowners—would realize they had been there.

  The Alpha wolf had sent a small team of his men around to the front of the mine to catch any bobcats that might try to escape that way. The front door team, as he called them, was also tasked with reporting movements to the tunnel team. They had tiny little radios that fit in their ear canals over which they communicated in some kind of code she couldn’t quite decipher. It must be some kind of military lingo, she supposed.

  “I’m good,” she replied. The seriousness of their situation wasn’t lost on her. They were walking into danger and everything could change in the time it took a bullet to hit its mark. She moved closer, stepping close to Bob and wrapping her arms around his waist. “I love you,” she whispered, resting her head in the space where his shoulder met his neck. She breathed deeply of his reassuring scent and tried to hold the goodness of him inside her—just for a few moments.

  He soothed her, stroking his hands over her back. She knew she had surprised him with her moment of sentimentality, but he was coping. He pulled her closer and his arms went around her back, enveloping her in his warmth.

  “I love you too, my sweet mate. I’m so glad I found you,” he whispered low enough that only she could hear him. She took his words into her heart and held them close.

  A throat cleared behind her and she pulled away from Bob slightly, looking up. Turning her head, she met the sympathetic gaze of the werewolf Alpha. He seemed to understand her fear and his words were softly spoken when he told them it was time to go.

  Bob gave her a final squeeze and then let her go. She stood there, watching while he checked his gear for a final time. He was armed, but he had left his outer shirt in the SUV. If he had to shift, he was ready. The rest of the men were similarly attired. She guessed this was the way shifter soldiers went into battle—ready in human form with human weapons and tools, but able to ditch them quickly and shift if the occasion called for it. That made a lot of sense.

  “It’ll be okay,” the werewolf Alpha spoke quietly at her side while they both watched the soldiers. “We have the Great Spirit on our side.”

  She looked up at the wolf who was so clearly of Native American descent. A lot of shifters had some Native blood in them, but this guy was much closer to the source than most. His face could have been chiseled in granite and there was a nobility about him that spoke to her soul. She knew without a doubt that he was a good man. A g
ood Alpha to his people.

  “I’m glad our paths crossed, Alpha. I haven’t known many wolves besides the Lords, but I’m sorry for the damage done to your Pack and I’ll try to help in any way I can.”

  John favored her with a somewhat amused expression. “You and your mate have already been more friend to us than any of your Clan.”

  “They’re not my Clan,” she was quick to answer. “Not anymore, and never by choice. I suppose I’ll be part of the Redstone Clan after this is all over—if they’ll take a bobcat.”

  Bob paused and turned back to her, having heard the entire conversation. He bent down and kissed her on the crown of her head.

  “What kind of talk is that? Of course they’ll have you. You’re my mate, Serena. They’re going to love you,” he scoffed quietly as the first soldiers began moving silently down the tunnel.

  “As it should be.” The Alpha nodded once and moved into position. He was going to be part of the rear guard, with Bob and Serena.

  And then there wasn’t any more time for talking as they made their way into the tunnel. It was show time.

  Serena thought the tunnel would be ickier than it was. Sure, there were a few cobwebs here and there that the soldiers hadn’t disturbed, but her cat felt an inner sense of adventure she had seldom experienced. The bobcat that shared her soul was actually enjoying this. Serena’s human half had to shake her head in bafflement. The cat was the daredevil side of her personality that loved a good hunt. The human had learned to be a lot more cautious.

  Bob too, seemed to be enjoying this, as did the wolves. Give a predator a chance to stalk prey and they were right at home. If the soldiers had been in wolf form, she would bet all their tails would be wagging with excitement. The thought amused her and made her grin a bit as they passed through the second door, about fifty yards down the tunnel from where they had started in the basement.