Freeing the Feline

by Lacey Thorn

  “I’ve never been so upset in my life. What is wrong with you guys? We’re a family. Family, damn it!” Abby yelled.

  She looked as if she might burst into tears. He hated to see Abby upset. They all did. Tah was the Alpha of their pride, but Abby was the heart.

  “Why don’t I take Amia back to our room for a bit,” Reno suggested.

  Logan understood what he was trying to do—ease the tension by removing Amia. But it was too late for that. Abby was livid and turned all her anger onto Reno as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Logan shook his head and couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for Reno. Even Tah stepped back and looked at Reno with incredulity. Abby vibrated with fury. She stepped right up to Reno and glared up at him.

  “Are you challenging me?” she demanded, hands on hips, looking as if she might start breathing fire any minute.

  Damn! Logan had never seen Abby like this.

  “I said I wanted the three of you out of here. Now. You need to fix whatever is going on. Work. It. Out. Now.”

  “I need to check on my mate,” Reno grumbled, but Logan saw him cast a glance at Tah.

  “You’re mate is fine. Probably nursing some bruised knuckles to go with her bruised heart.” Abby turned to face where Clara and Amia were sitting slightly apart from one another. “Amia, Clara and I are going to sit down and chat, and no one, and I do mean no one, will leave this fucking room until we have it hashed out and settled. Do I make myself fucking clear?” She was all but roaring at the end.

  Reno gave a sharp nod. Logan almost laughed as he watched the big tiger shifter skirt around Abby to go squat in front of Amia. He spoke softly to her and kissed her tenderly before standing once again.

  Abby turned all her fury onto Tah then, and man was she a sight to behold now. “I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but I will not have this in our home. Our home, Tah. Mates coming to blows. Reno and Logan almost following suit. You will fix this, or so help me I don’t know what I’ll do. We need each other. This isn’t a game we’re playing. Lives are on the line here. All three of you have almost died. We’ve killed people and buried them in the fucking woods! We will not start turning on each other!”

  She was right. Abby was absolutely right, and Logan felt all his anger fade away.

  “You better go,” Clara whispered to Logan. “She looks pretty pissed.”

  “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” he asked.

  “I don’t think Amia meant to hit me,” Clara said. “She’s hurt. She just needed someone to strike out at. I’m the perfect target.”

  “That doesn’t make it okay,” Logan uttered, but he wasn’t angry anymore.

  He couldn’t help the grin that tugged at his lips. For the first time since he’d walked into the control room last night, he felt as if it might be all right.

  “We’ll fix this,” he promised. “This is home. This is where we belong.”

  “Anywhere you are is home to me,” she whispered. “I’m falling in love with you.”

  “Me, too,” he whispered back.

  “Logan!” Abby yelled.

  Logan shared one last smile with his mate and winked at her before standing and turning to Abby. “Yes, ma’am. I’m leaving.” No way was he going to have Abby ask him if he was challenging her.

  She stopped him on his way past her and grabbed his hand. “He loves you, Logan.”

  “I love him, too,” Logan assured her.

  It didn’t matter if she was referring to Tah or Reno. It applied to both of them. They were best friends, brothers. Somehow in all the chaos of what they’d been through, they’d lost sight of that. They’d gotten so wrapped up in doing everything they could to make sure they were secure and protected, that they forgot some other important things. It was time to start remembering.

  He glanced up and saw Tah and Reno heading out the front door and moved to join them. The Professor rounded the corner and Logan paused for a minute. The little man looked angry as hell, which was something Logan had never seen. Usually the Professor seemed lost in whatever he was studying at the time, only coming up for air when he needed more blood. Logan hoped he wasn’t out for blood at the moment. The Professor passed an icepack off to Diane and glared at Logan as he walked by.

  Tah and Reno stood on the porch, waiting as the Professor stepped out with Logan right behind him.

  “Sit,” the Professor ordered, pointing to the chairs and lounger on the porch.

  Logan moved immediately. Reno paused and looked at the Professor. He must have picked up on what Logan saw because Reno followed suit and sat in the chair across from Logan. Tah took a few minutes longer. Logan wondered for a minute if Tah was going to challenge the Professor, who was essentially a father-type figure for Abby. But Tah finally heaved a long sigh and sat.

  “I have done nothing but offer support to all of you,” the Professor began. “I open my home to you, give my labs over to help find answers for you. I do research and work long hours, for you. Not because I expect something in return, but because of my deep love for knowledge and understanding, and because that young woman in there is family to me. You think I stay here because my daughter asked me to or because I have nowhere else to go?” He shook his head. “I stay here because each and every one of you have come to mean something to me. I stay because the thought of leaving breaks my heart. Or it did. Until today. I am deeply ashamed of all three of you. I remember when you arrived here, a little battered, tired, but so filled with life and love for one another. You’re the best of friends who chose to see each other as brothers. So where are those brothers now? Because, trust me, those are not the men I see sitting before me.” He turned to Tah then. “You are the leader of this pride. I say pride, not just because it’s what the technical term is for a group of cats or cat shifters but because this is a group of people to take pride in. Or it was. I know it’s hard to find yourself thrust into a role you never knew existed, but it’s yours. Now step up to the plate and be the leader you are, the leader you’ve always been. And a good leader sees the disquiet among his people and addresses it before these things happen.”

  He turned to Logan and Reno. Logan braced himself for what was coming.

  “And you two. You disappoint me the most. At least Tah has the excuse of having a mate, who until very recently, looked like she was at death’s door. The two of you… You have mates who are hurting, both of you, and both of them in similar ways. Reno, you think Amia has been through too much, and you fear for her. Your mate is a strong woman. She survived a living hell without you. I think she could walk through flames unharmed now that she has you. You need to see that, and allow her to see that, as well. You and your mate look at Clara, but you don’t see her. Did you forget that Amia told you Clara had been buried alive as well when she was captured? After they tortured her? Yes, Amia rescued her, but Clara was only sixteen, as well. Plus, the things she’s seen. So much death at the hands of men who are anything but human. I’m ashamed of the way we’ve treated her since she arrived. We fell into the same mold as those we call enemies. It makes us weak, and weakness will tear us apart.” The Professor shook his head and sighed before glancing at Logan and holding his gaze. “Logan. I think I’m most disappointed in you.”

  Logan looked at him incredulously. Why was he the most disappointing?

  “Tah and Reno…” The Professor shrugged. “They’re warriors. But you, Logan. You’re more than a warrior. Just as Abby is the heart of this pride, you are the heart of the three of you. You bring the laughter and the fun. You lost that at some point. I’m not sure if it was getting shot or if it was the slow recovery. I think you might find it again, with Clara. You will be a balm to her soul, freeing her from all the pain her past has held. Find the man you were and don’t lose him again. We need him. All of us.”

  In that moment, the Professor looked incredibly tired and showed his age for the first time since Logan had met him. “Now I’m heading back to my lab so I can get some work done. And
yes, vampire king that I am, I want all of you to stop down and give me some more blood. Suffice it to say, I need it. I may have something for you soon, something for all of us. I just need a few more tests before I’m sure enough to discuss it.”

  “We’ll be there,” Tah promised, standing and putting his hand on the Professor’s shoulder.

  Logan and Reno both stood. Reno nodded at the Professor with respect, but Logan moved close and embraced him.

  “Thanks,” Logan said. “Not just for this, but for all you do for us. Clara and I will stop down later. I know you said you wanted her saliva, as well.”

  The Professor stepped back, nodded and rubbed his eyes. For a split second, Logan was horrified the other man might cry.

  “Abby is right,” the Professor said. “We are family, and this family sticks together. No matter what gets thrown at us.” He turned and walked into the house, leaving them standing on the porch.

  Tah faced them both and held his hands up. “Okay. What do we do to fix this? Because we are going to fix this, and everybody is going to be fucking happy.”

  “I’ve got an idea,” Logan said. “But first.” He punched Reno hard in the arm.

  “What the fuck?” Reno said.

  “Just settling things up a bit,” Logan said with a grin. “Be glad it wasn’t your face. Now let’s talk.”

  Chapter Nine

  Clara watched Abby pace the room while she held an icepack to her cheek. Diane had brought it to her, saying the Professor had put it together for her. Then Diane had disappeared and left the three of them alone. Abby hadn’t said a word yet. Clara glanced at her then toward Amia. Finally, she couldn’t handle it anymore.

  “I’m sorry,” Clara told them both. “I’ve brought nothing but more confusion and chaos since I got here. That’s the last thing I wanted. And hurting you,” she said to Amia then turned to include Abby. “I never wanted to hurt either of you. I was trying to protect you.”

  “You saved my life,” Abby said. “That’s not adding to chaos and confusion. That’s huge.” Abby wrapped her arms around her belly. “I love my son, and I can’t wait to welcome him into this world. You’ve just made it a lot easier for me to endure the end of this pregnancy before he gets here.”

  “I should have told you immediately,” Clara said.

  “When?” Abby asked softly. “Logan is absolutely right. When did we ever give you a chance to talk to us and tell us things? Certainly not when we had you facing a room full of strangers, yelling at you and demanding things from you. I’m ashamed of how we reacted. It wasn’t right or fair.”

  “People are dying out there, Abby. I don’t blame you for how I was greeted. I was essentially a stranger, one who followed Amia and Reno here without them being aware.”

  “We’ve done so much wrong,” Abby stated. “Look at what happened with Amia. Then with you. We’ve turned into the beast. I want to believe like you do, Clara. That we can defeat the beast without becoming one.”

  Amia finally stood up and moved over to sit on the couch with Clara. Clara tensed up. She couldn’t help herself, and Abby stopped and moved toward them.

  “I’m sorry,” Amia said. “I lost my head. I let the past pull me back and I just…I just snapped. I shouldn’t have hit you. I’m so sorry.”

  “I should have told you when I got here. I should have told you when you came upstairs to talk.”

  “About that.” Amia dropped her head and shook it back and forth. “Reno didn’t realize what I was planning. Vic and I put the recorder in my phone before I went up. Reno knew I was planning to talk to you, but Vic didn’t approach me about the phone idea until just before. We knew you wanted to make a call. You’ve yelled it for a week now. Vic thought we might find some answers if we let you. I agreed with her at the time. But I need Logan to know that Reno never betrayed his friendship. He wouldn’t do that, and I would never ask him to.”

  “Logan and I didn’t become mates until after I spoke to you, after you left the phone.”

  “That doesn’t excuse it,” Amia offered apologetically.

  “What a mess,” Clara said. “I can’t imagine what it did to you to hear Lydia and have her say what she did.”

  “I always thought my mother loved me. No matter what I faced, I always had that little piece of warmth inside me. And now…now I know that she’s been alive this whole time and written me off because of who my father is. And it all makes sense. I wondered every time Marcus would utter the words, blood will tell. I wondered why he kept me alive and didn’t just kill me. I’d be an even more powerful lesson to others if I was tortured and killed. But I think I understand now.”

  “What are you thinking?” Abby asked, sitting on the other side of Clara.

  “I think he expected me to find out she was alive and go to her, lead them to her. He expected her to come after me.” She suddenly started laughing.

  “What?” Clara asked, a little nervously. Was Amia losing it?

  “You have to admit, it’s funny. Both of them saying the same phrase, blood will tell, and meaning different things by it. Him thinking I was so much like her, and her afraid I was destined to be just like him.”

  “You’re not,” Clara said. “I’ve watched you. You’re ruled by your heart, where they are both ruled by fear. I think it’s one of the things that drew me to you and made me want to help you so badly. I called my uncle and Lydia when we were running, when you rescued me and left with me.”

  “You did?” Amia asked.

  Clara nodded. “Your mom might say the things she does, but I remember when she dreamed of you and woke me up calling your name. It was a year before she could talk about you and tell me who you were. Thoughts of you tore her up. It’s why I went to find you. Lydia was growing so sad, so distant from everyone around her, so consumed with a need for vengeance. I thought if I could just find you and bring you home, she’d see that things were okay.”

  “What happened?” Abby asked when Clara paused.

  “Lydia went crazy. She swore bringing Amia back was the equivalent of putting a welcome sign up for the hunters. She was convinced we’d all die.”

  Amia wiped a tear off her face, and Clara gripped the other woman’s hands tightly. “I wanted to bring you with me. I even thought about running with you and trying to find someplace we could both hide. But I was terrified. Finding you was my first trip away from home, and I almost got myself killed. How would I protect both of us?”

  “I didn’t know you thought about that,” Amia said.

  “I used to pretend you were my sister,” Clara confessed. “I’d pretend you were away visiting family and would be home soon.”

  “You are sisters now,” Abby intervened. “As the mates of Reno, Logan and Tah, we’re all sisters.” She heaved a heavy sigh and leaned back on the couch. “We need to be building our mates up, not tearing them apart.”

  “You’re right,” Amia said and glanced back at Clara. “I shouldn’t blame you for things you had no control over. Do you know what happened the night Lydia ran to you?”

  “My father had been captured that day. Lydia admitted you could see a shifter’s glow, the warmth of the animal we hold inside. She said you told her my father glowed and so she went to try and save him. She couldn’t, though. They’d pinned him to the wall with bolts.” Clara shuddered and pushed to her feet, needing a little space before she could continue. “They’d stabbed him in the stomach. He knew he was dying.”

  “Clara, my God,” Abby said with a shake of her head.

  “He sent her away, but she didn’t make it out in time,” Clara continued. “There was a boy watching.” She glanced at Amia.

  “Kellan,” Amia whispered.

  Clara nodded. “He beat Lydia up pretty badly and left her there while he went to call Marcus. Lydia said that was when my dad told her about us and how to reach us. She said she went to get you, but Kellan was there, and she couldn’t. I think she convinced herself leaving you was the right choice to make b
y repeating to herself that you’re a Blane. I think she did it to try to keep her sanity and instead, it drove her insane. I really believe she loves you so much that leaving you destroyed part of her.”

  Amia was crying. Abby was crying. And Clara knew she had tears on her own cheeks, as well.

  “I need to tell you something. Both of you. I’ve been so unsure of what to say and how to say it and that’s why I really wanted to call my Uncle Thomas.”

  “There’s nothing you can’t tell us,” Abby stated.

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” Clara countered. “I can tell you all the medical knowledge I know, though I think there’s someone better to get that from. I can also tell you what I know about hunters. I think Amia and I could both help with that as we’ve both been on the receiving end of a hunter’s agenda. But there are things I can’t tell you, Abby. I may not have heard of the legend you mentioned to me, but I have heard of Tah. I’ve spent my whole life searching for him, only I was looking for someone much older and better informed, someone to educate me.”

  “So you have heard something of the legend. I knew it!” Abby said excitedly. “You’ve just heard it described differently.”

  “I can tell you one thing,” Clara confessed. “The Tah I was expecting is not the man I met. He is, but he isn’t. I see the leader within him. But right now that leader is limited by what he doesn’t know. And that scares me. I’ve always heard of how the Tah will come and save us all. Now? I’m not sure that’s going to happen. I’m not sure of anything anymore.”

  “But this is fantastic news,” Abby gushed. “I was right. We were right. This means more shifters will come. They’ll find him. They’ll have to. And together, maybe all of us can save each other. You don’t need Tah to save you, neither of you do. You saved yourselves. But Tah can be that beacon to people who need one. My mate is strong and fierce and unafraid of doing what is right, what is just. He’s smart and brave and loving. He’s everything you need him to be and so much more. He’s so much more.” She pushed up off the couch and began pacing the room. “We need to clean more rooms up, get this place in shape. Pack in more supplies. They’ll be coming, and we’ll be waiting to welcome them home.”