by Fel Fern
For a second, he caught Cas’s dark eyes. He expected them to be dull and resigned to their fate, but they weren’t. A slight nod of her head told him she understood he only playing at being hurt.
They gagged both of them, slapped silver cuffs on their wrists, and shoved them in the backseat of Trig’s pickup.
“Don’t look so gloomy, biker. Your spunky little green-eyed consort is about to join you. I’m sure he’d appreciate watching me and Trig have at your queen.” Razor chuckled.
Lars felt bruised, bloody and sure as hell pissed. Patience. Count to ten, he reminded himself. Outside the truck, he could hear Trig and Razor having an argument.
“I’ll do Des in myself in without your help,” Trig was saying.
“You can’t manage anything yourself, Trig. You nearly revealed yourself to your pard today, and I’m not about to let you fuck up months of planning.”
Months of planning. It was the second time Lars heard the phrase.
“Fine. We’ll lock up these two and get Des,” Trig conceded, sounding sullen.
Hearing Des’s name made his blood boil.
I have to calm down. If I lose my temper now, I wouldn’t be able to help anyone. It took him longer to calm his breaths and slow his increased heartbeats. If they broke the Leopold Pard’s queen and consort, the part wouldn’t just fall apart, it would simply break.
Was Trig intending to rule the pard by force?
Either way, Lars didn’t figure him for the mastermind, so he was only probably a collaborator. It didn’t matter what his role was. Lars always made good on his promises. Trig was going to die horribly, and so was Razor.
Cuffed with silver, Lars’s metaphysical leopard was contained inside him, but he caught Cas’s eyes beside him. Whatever it was he was planning, Lars knew he had her cold approval. Now they just had to wait for the right moment to escape.
Chapter Eight
In the teachers’ break room, Des smiled at the message Cas texted him, telling him the introductions went well at the garage. Des tried calling her, but she didn’t pick up. It didn’t matter. Maybe she was busy, and besides, her text was a few hours ago.
“Just a few more hours, babe,” Des muttered, glancing at the clock on the wall.
It was his turn to watch detention, but after that, he was free. Although Des loved his job and loved teaching kids most days, it was pure torture knowing what awaited him at home.
His leopard had felt a faint energy, like a suggestive tug, a while ago. Even if he was on the other side of the city, he was drawn to the undeniable metaphysical connection between Lars and Cas.
Knowing there was a third spot there, waiting to be filled and complete, nearly tempted him to miss his classes and drive to the garage. Breathing in and out, Des tried to contain the desperate and eager cat inside him.
The leopard consort in him wanted to rub itself cheekily against the sleek, midnight-black fur of his new king and beautiful queen. Closing his eyes, Des recalled how incredibly hot it was sharing Cas with Lars last night, and finally having the biker inside him.
Lars’ cock was long, thick and beautiful, and Des wanted to feel the man ride him again. Cas’s face looked so alive and exquisite, too, and it felt like ages since he’d last seen her so expressive.
The image was so powerful and so vivid, it made him horny. Des looked down at his jeans, dismayed by the size of his erection. Perhaps he could take care of it in the men’s room. He jerked when the door to the break room opened, and a dumpy woman peered in.
“Mr. James? Someone named Mr. Summers is on the line for you.”
“Uh. Great.” Des awkwardly tried to act nonchalant as he shifted in his chair, hoping Mrs. Morgan’s eyesight was bad as he assumed.
It seemed only natural that he always introduce Cas as his wife during staff parties or events. There were fewer questions asked and the last thing Gerald wanted was to spend hours with stuffy academics.
The call bothered him, though. Why the hell would Trig be calling him on the school line, when all the cats in the pard knew his cell phone number?
The dumpy, gray-haired woman gave him a scrutinizing and scorching gaze, making him feel like a guilty child caught doing something wrong.
“Desmond. Should I tell your poor wife you’re watching porn during break?”
“What?” Des choked, staring at the darkened screen of his phone.
Did she really think he was watching porn? Recovering quickly, he flashed Mrs. Morgan a smile. He knew the woman meant well, but sometimes she was a terrible gossip.
“I’m not watching porn. Cas is the only woman who can do this.” He pointed to the bulge in his jeans, making the woman flush.
Smiling, Des went past her and back to the staff room.
Looking at the blinking intercom on his desk, then at the somewhat-empty desks of the staff room, Des picked up.
“Trig, didn’t I tell you not to call me at work?”
“Sorry, man. I just couldn’t risk it.”
The last thing Des expected from the pard enforcer was an apology. While Trig was never openly aggressive to him, Des knew he didn’t respect his authority. The enforcer would only obey his commands after a push from Cas or the other pard enforcers, but he always looked unhappy about it.
Cradling the phone to his ear, Des carefully asked, “Trig, did something happen?”
“Remember the theory someone else was monitoring the pard’s cell phone lines? I have evidence it isn’t a theory, Des.”
A cold chill ran down Des’s spine and all the hairs on his back stood. It was him who came out with the theory. Most of the negotiations Gerald made with the Dark City pard were through his phone. Awhile back, most of the pard also agreed to their king placing tracking software in all their phones in case of an emergency.
“Are you sure, Trig?”
On one hand, Des couldn’t easily dismiss Trig’s information. If it was true and someone hacked into the tracking software, then all the conversations of the pard were being monitored.
Cas didn’t trust him, and Des joked she was being too paranoid. He’d reminded her Trig was one of the enforcers who’d convinced other enforcers like Noah to remain in Leopold City while Gerald and the rest went out to sign the treaty.
Des couldn’t deny he was beginning to feel the weight of other leopard’s stare on him during pard meetings, either. He also didn’t like the rumors that Trig wanted to replace him so he could get to Cas.
“Yeah, I’m sure. I’ve found the fucking bastards who killed our king and brothers, Des.”
“What? How?” Des tried to control his voice, but a bad and unsettling feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. He tried reason. “How are you sure, Trig? The culprits have been nothing but meticulous and careful—”
“Last night.”
Feeling stupid, Des asked, “Did something happen last time?”
“That asshole black leopard you brought in started a fight with the local wolves, didn’t he? Well, the wolves aren’t predictably happy their wolf cubs were taken away.”
Des tried to think about what Trig was saying. Was the enforcer telling him the truth, or was he lying? His first instinct was to call Cas and Lars, but he remembered in panic she didn’t pick up earlier.
“On our way back from lunch, some of the cats overheard a couple of wolves talking. They were saying how Razor was pissed, and he’d wanted payback by taking Cas.”
“Trig, listen to me. Are you at the garage? I need to talk to Cas or Lars.”
“The problem is they aren’t here anymore, Des. No one knows where they went. She isn’t picking up her phone and none of the cats can feel her through the pard bonds. Some of the cats are saying Lars was working for the wolves from the start.”
His fingers gripped the receiver so tightly cracks were running across the cheap plastic. This was all wrong. Didn’t he just feel the amazing connection a moment ago?
Trig was wrong about Lars. Des wouldn’t have carefully chosen
Lars Marsden if he wasn’t sure of him.
“Listen, Des. It isn’t safe talking about this even on a public line. We need you here. I’ve already gathered the rest of the pard.” Trig gave an address and hung up.
Des stared at the receiver blankly for a few seconds. How could the situation spin so out of control so suddenly?
“Damn, Gerald. I’ve tried, but I can’t do this. It’s too fucking hard.” Shame slammed into him the moment the words came out of his mouth.
“You’re too weak to become anything but our king and queen’s fuck toy, Des. You can’t rule.”
Didn’t one of the pard enforcers corner him and just tell him those words at a pard meeting long ago?
There was also one thing he didn’t tell Cas. After hearing that Gerald died, he had briefly considered simply fleeing. He was tempted to convince her to flee, too, but he knew she wouldn’t leave Gerald’s cats.
Cas had been by Gerald’s side for a long time, ever since the day he rescued her from her pimp when she was thirteen. The pard belonged to her as much as it belonged to Gerald. The cats knew her, respected her and loved her.
Des meanwhile, was just a lonely kid Gerald picked up. He didn’t have a sad or horrible childhood. His mother was an accountant who happened to be a leopard shifter, and his father was a normal human accountant.
They met over numbers and coffee. They were normal, happy and boring folks. So when the guy he was currently fucking asked Des if he wanted to move into Leopold City, he’d agreed. There was a teaching position in the city, and he was bored of the little town he grew up in.
Their relationship didn’t work out. Gerald found Des wandering in the streets of Leopold City, cold, homeless and hungry.
When Gerald brought him home, Des remembered how Cas reacted. Her leopard queen was attracted to him just as Gerald’s leopard king was, but Cas-the-woman didn’t trust him one bit.
Deep down, Cas wasn’t a hard woman. At the start, she only played pretend with him, but over the months, playing house with her and Gerald had become something real and solid. Gerald may have given him a new family with the pard, but Cas had given him a real home and he enjoyed playing her husband so much he wanted it to be real.
“Cas. Did I really make a mistake?” Des whispered to no one.
He didn’t think he could survive if he found out she was hurt. Just imagining Cas in the hands of men like Razor, men she hated because of her past, gutted him.
Muttering some excuse about a family emergency, Des was in his car in seconds. The address Trig told him wasn’t the place the pard usually met at, but he didn’t think much of it at the time.
The neighborhood he was in wasn’t the best or safest neighborhood in Leopold City. Des made sure to lock his doors and studied the sidewalk he parked on. He was in a residential block, and old and run-down buildings lined the street.
He checked the street and apartment number again, but he didn’t make a mistake. Frowning, Des walked up the steps to the building, ignoring the dealers and pimps outside. They weren’t normally out this early, so Des was certain this wasn’t the most ideal place to live.
Trig was already inside. He waved a hand at him.
“Yo, Des, you sure took your time.”
His skin prickled. Where were the other cats? Wanting to touch the pard bonds, Des reached out for his leopard half, but something fast and hard drove into his ribs. A fist.
“Not so fast, kitty.”
His eyes wildly met Des.
Him? Oh, Gods, no.
Another punch drove him to his knees. He gasped in pain, but the punches kept on coming, distracting him from the change. Des was driven to his knees.
Trig’s partner gripped both his arms painfully behind him, and looped something cold and heavy around them. A second later, Des let out a cry at the painful burning sensation eating at his skin.
“Silver chains, Des. We won’t be taking any chances,” Trig explained.
Des’s eyes caught the second figure. Razor.
Trig’s working with Razor?
Realizing one of their own betrayed them still stung, but it wasn’t unexpected. Des had always suspected Gerald’s death was an inside job, but damn. How could have he been so blind?
“So what happened, Trig? Not happy with the way Gerald was running things, so you bring in the wolves to take over the pard?” Des tasted Trig’s fist this time, but he only spat out the blood.
“For someone who’s supposedly smart, you sure can be dumb, Des.” Trig leaned in close, sneering at him.
“Gerald didn’t like me and I didn’t like him, but the Leopold Pard was considered one of the strongest pards in the area. I hated the pard and I hated its ways. The pard had so many rules and they won’t share the women, but I stayed. It got weak, though, when you came along.”
“So.” Des forced his brain to work. “If it’s me you have a problem with, take it out on me. Not on Cas or Lars.”
Gods, he couldn’t afford to think about his queen and new king yet. If he did, he couldn’t do what he needed to do.
“Pard needed to change. It needed a new king, but you had to stupidly bring in an outsider and have him fuck Cas.” Trig leaned in close and his eyes glinted with extreme hate. “If you can’t man up to your bitch or your pard, someone else will just have to do it for you.”
“Didn’t you get someone else to do your work for you?” Des nodded to Razor. Trig’s fist collided into his face again, and for a moment, he saw stars.
“Shut up.”
“I just brought Lars, but you had to bring an entire wolf pack to help you in your schemes.”
An uppercut sent Des’s head reeling with pain and his body thumping on the floor.
“It’s not an entire wolf pack, you stupid sack of shit, just Razor and his crew.”
So Razor’s alpha isn’t in the loop? Interesting.
“Shut the hell up, Trig.” Razor gripped Trig’s arm. “You’re letting the leopard manipulate you, asshole.”
Trig shoved his hand back. “I’ve had enough of you bossing me around, Razor. I can do as I damn well please with Des.”
The worn carpeting felt nice on Des’s cheek. While the two men argued, he closed his eyes and tried sending out a subtle metaphysical nudge at Cas. Des’s concentration wavered when a foot met his ribs again. He gasped in pain.
Des stared up to see Trig’s snarling face.
“What the hell did you just do?”
“Trig, you stupid shit. Now isn’t the time to kill him,” Razor interrupted.
“Shut up, Razor. He did something. Some metaphysical shit though the pard bonds.”
Des shut his eyes. His entire body hurt. With the silver and the beating he’d taken, he wasn’t going to be able to do anything else. He just hoped Cas felt his metaphysical nudge and understood he was planning on buying her and Lars some time.
Chapter Nine
Lars had been in his share of nasty situations before, and being kidnapped wasn’t his worst experience to date. He wriggled his hands behind his back, feeling the bite of the silver cuffs. They didn’t hurt as much as he’d expected.
Was it because of the metaphysical pard bonds he’d somehow invoked, whenever he touched Cas?
Being a leopard king wasn’t just an empty title. Touching and brushing against the metaphysical beasts of Cas and Des’s cats in the garage told him power came with being a leopard king. Lars was a man who used all the tools at his disposal, and he was going to use that power to free him and Cas.
“Cas? You have to wake up,” Lars called.
Cas was only a few feet from him. She didn’t answer him, and it worried him. There was a chain connected to his ankle, but he did his best to crawl to her. The limits of the chain still ended a good distance from her curled-up figure on the floor. Lars cursed under his breath.
Her small still form finally moved. She emitted a small sound of pain and the sound lurched at his heart. He wasn’t sure how long they’d been in the dark and d
usty space, but he was betting it had been a few hours. A few hours since Trig beaten his damn queen senseless.
What kind of asshole beat up a woman just to prove a point, anyway?
“How does it feel being helpless while I beat your bitch senseless, Lars?”
At least Trig and Razor hadn’t touched Cas. They said they were going to wait until Des joined them. If they did touch Cas, Lars knew he was going to lose his control and go berserk, and he needed his head screwed tightly in place now more than ever.
“Lars?” Cas asked uncertainly. Her frightened brown eyes calmed down when she saw him. “I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Safe as I could ever be. You have to listen carefully to me, Cas. Do you think you can crawl to me? I need to touch you.”
“I think so.”
Lars heard the sound of chains shifting. He assumed the bastards also tied down her ankle. The dim light finally showed her puffy face a few inches from him. She must’ve seen something on his face, because her lips brushed against his cheek.
“Don’t blame yourself, Lars.”
“I got you hurt. Des has every right to kill me,” Lars muttered.
“These are just bruises, Lars. They’ll heal and fade away. What’s your plan?”
“Kiss me, Cas. I want to taste you.”
She gave him a curious look, but nonetheless locked her lips around him. With their hands tied behind them and with the limits of the chain around their ankles, it was hard to kiss her properly, but Lars savored her warm and familiar taste. He welcomed the instant heat ignited between them, and he’d counted on it.
Just the simple kiss was enough. The great black cat rose inside of him despite the silver wrapped around his limbs. He could sense Cas’s queen similarly waking in her like a dangerous predator. With his beast by his side, he no longer felt weakened by the silver.
Leeching onto the metaphysical bonds between him and Cas, he focused and gathered strength in his arms. Lars tested the cuff again. It wasn’t enough.
