by Maggie Walsh
He really wanted to go up to the guy and introduce himself and then take him home and roll around in the sheets with him for days. He wanted in this guy’s body in the worst way and was shocked by his reaction. He had never felt like this about anyone before. He wanted the beauty before him, but he wanted him forever. He wanted to grab him, make love to him, and keep him always. Where the hell was all that coming from? Sure, he’d had a boyfriend or two, but it was never anything like this. He just wanted to consume this guy, to hold him, and claim him as his own.
Then something happened that shattered his mind and gripped his heart. The sexy naked man shifted into a fucking bobcat. This beautiful creature before him, the one he wanted to have as his, was one of the very things he was hunting. He tried to pull on his anger and kill the abomination. He pulled his gun from his waistband and pointed it at the large feline, but his hands began to shake. Sweat broke out on his brow and his stomach twisted in disgust. He couldn’t catch his breath and his heart began to squeeze within his chest like someone held it in their grasp. He lowered his weapon and his symptoms eased. What the hell was going on with his body with this guy? No, he needed to destroy the beast before it hurt another innocent person. But Frankie’s voice sounded in his head, telling him that this man was not to blame. That this gorgeous man-cat in front of him didn’t do anything wrong.
He put his gun back into his waistband and withdrew the tranquilizer gun he carried in case he came across one of them. He raised his arm and took aim. The bobcat turned and looked in his direction. Their eyes met and Milo froze. He could see the man behind the eyes of the beast, and he could see his fear. Milo needed to figure out what all this meant, but he couldn’t let the beast get away. He pulled the trigger and shot the bobcat. The feline yowled in pain and swayed on its feet. It stumbled a little before it dropped to the ground. A noise caught his attention in time to see a massive fucking wolf coming at him. He reloaded the tranquilizer quickly and pointed it at the wolf. He shot it, and the thing released a ferocious growl, and then dropped to the ground.
It took another shot to get the creature to stop fighting against the effects of the tranquilizer. Once Milo was satisfied both animals were out cold, he picked the bobcat up and carried it to the house. The animal felt good in his arms, like it was meant to be there. Milo couldn’t understand these feelings he was having, but he liked them. He carefully laid the creature down on the floor and chained it to the leash he had attached there. Milo gently ran his hand down the feline’s side and noticed how soft the fur was. He stared at the bobcat for a few minutes as he continued to stroke its coat.
Hesitantly he left the creature and went back for the wolf. He had been a lot heavier than the bobcat and Milo had a hard time carrying him, but he was able to get him back to the house and chain him up, too. An hour later, they woke up and Milo tried to order them to shift, but they looked at him like he had two heads. Then the wolf shifted into a man and that’s when things got really weird.
“Shift back,” Milo ordered them in his most commanding voice. But they just tilted their heads and stared at him. The wolf straightened and lifted his hind leg. He scratched behind his ear and yawned big, then lay down on his belly, crossed his paws, rested his head on them, and closed his eyes.
“Did you hear me, you stupid animals? Shift back, now,” he commanded again and slammed his hands down on the table next to where the bobcat was chained up. The wolf jumped from the sound, lifted his ears up, and stared at him. “I know you’re shifters. The dude told me this town was full of them. I was about to move on from this hick town when I saw you shift from a blond kid into this bobcat,” Milo said.
But the feline only whined and looked at the wolf. The wolf growled and the cat relaxed.
“I know what I saw, so you know what? I’ll just kill you. It’ll probably be easier for me to kill you as an animal anyway.” He stepped away from them and went to the table. Milo was scared shit and didn’t want to kill them, but he needed to get rid of their kind. They were a danger to the human race. Then he heard Frankie’s voice in his head again. “Are they the danger or are you?” He grabbed the gun that was lying there and turned back to his captives. But when he turned back, he was momentarily stunned to find the wolf gone and a naked man standing there. “I knew it,” he hissed.
“What is your problem with us anyway? We don’t know you. What did we do to you to make you want to kill us?” the naked guy asked calmly.
“Your kind killed my brother,” he sneered. “My kid brother, Frankie, was all I had left in this world and one of you freaks killed him. All he wanted was to go away for a few days. He wanted to go hiking in Napa and try to get over our parents’ death. Is that too much to fucking ask?” he screamed.
“No, man. That’s not too much to ask,” the naked guy said calmly and with compassion. Milo was taken aback by the sincerity in the man’s voice and in his eyes. “I’m sorry to hear you lost your folks and your kid brother, really I am. But that has nothing to do with us. We didn’t kill him.”
“Your kind did, and because of that I made a promise to my little brother that I would avenge his death and kill every last one of you until I get the fuck that killed him.” Milo could feel his resolve loosening. He was struggling with himself about killing these two. He didn’t want to talk to them. He just wanted to destroy them like he did with the others. Talking with them made them human, and he didn’t want to think of them that way.
“We usually don’t attack humans. If a shifter attacked your brother that means he was a rogue. Our kind has been having problems with rogues, too, over the past year,” the wolf explained compassionately as he slowly moved to stand in front of the bobcat. He was placing his body in front of the gorgeous man that made Milo’s heart flutter. The action made Milo jealous and he couldn’t understand it. Why would he be jealous over the wolf protecting the cat? “Because that’s your job,” a little voice sounded in his head. “You want him and this other guy is standing too damn close. He belongs to you and this guy needs to step the hell away from what is yours.” What? Where the hell did that come from? He didn’t want this guy. He didn’t belong to him and he certainly didn’t want to protect him. He wanted to kill him, didn’t he?
“I don’t give a crap. A freak is a freak is a freak. And you’re all abominations!”
“Abominations are things to be disgusted of. The gods created us for a reason, so therefore we are not abominations.” The naked guy made a point. All things were created by God for a reason–isn’t that what he had always been taught?
“Don’t placate me, man. I don’t give a shit about anything you say. Now prepare to die,” Milo hissed. The naked guy burst out laughing. He placed a hand on his stomach as he bent slightly and laughed hard.
“What the hell are you laughing at?” Milo was in shock. This guy was standing there laughing while he had a gun pointed at his head. Was he insane?
“That movie, oh you know the one―the guy runs around asking about the six-fingered man who killed his father. Damn, what was the name of that?”
“Are you crazy, man?” Milo couldn’t believe this guy.
“No. Come on, you know the one I’m talking about? I am something-something-Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die,” Lexi said in a Spanish accent. “Damn that movie was a classic.”
“The Princess Bride,” Milo mumbled as he tried to control himself. This guy was nuts and all he wanted to do was join him in his laughter. Maybe he was just as crazy?
“What?”
“The Princess Bride,” he answered a little louder.
“Yeah, that’s it!” the naked guy said in excitement. “Thanks, man. That would have kept me up all night.” The guy started to laugh again.
He couldn’t help it―the guy’s laugh was infectious, and he really loved that movie. A laugh broke free from Milo’s throat and he couldn’t stop it. It had been so long since he laughed and this felt good. “How about the part when the guy was paralyzed from
the neck down and his head kept dropping?” Milo said laughing.
“And André the Giant keeps lifting it up,” they both said together, laughing.
“You’ve been mostly dead all day,” the naked guy said with a laugh, quoting a line from the movie.
“Oh that was great,” Milo said and slapped his knee as tears began to fall from his eyes. He hadn’t laughed this hard in years. This was so surreal. He was standing here with a gun pointed at a naked guy and a bobcat and they were quoting lines from one of his favorite movies. What the hell had happened to his life? Once the laughter started, he couldn’t stop it.
“Oooh, how about when they’re in the battle of wits and the guy switches the cups he thinks has poison in it, but then he drops dead?” the hottie said, now in his human form as he laughed hysterically, the sound making Milo’s cock hard again. God, what was it about this guy that got him so hot and horny?
The three continued laughing like loons for a few more minutes. The hottie took a step away from the wall and got closer to him, then his head snapped in Milo’s direction and his eyes opened wide. “Mine,” he whispered in shock.
The bigger guy, the wolf, stopped laughing from the cuties whispered word and stared at him. “You have got to be shitting me?” the wolf asked.
“I wish I was,” the hottie answered and swallowed hard. “Trust me, Lex. I really wish I was,” he whispered.
“What are you two talking about?” he asked in confusion.
The big guy turned to him with a serious face. “This has been a lot of fun, but trust me, my friend, you don’t want to kill us. I know you’re angry and hurt more than anything in the world because what that fucking rogue did to your brother. I give you my oath as an enforcer that I will do everything in my power to help you find the one responsible for taking your brother away from you, and give you your retribution, but you shouldn’t kill us. This young man here”―he motioned to the hottie―“is someone that is going to be very important to you. Probably the most important person you will ever meet,” the big guy explained.
He didn’t understand it, but he felt that what this guy was telling him was true. He got the feeling that if he killed the cutie or hurt him in any way that it would end up killing him too.
“Look, you two seem like nice enough guys and all but―”
“No buts, friend.” The wolf cut him off. “Please, man. I got a family. I got a mate who’s waiting for me. Today is his nineteenth birthday and I’m sure he’s worried sick about where I am. I promise you no harm will come to you and my pack will help you find the rogue that killed your brother. But if you kill us, my pack will find you, and you will beg for death by the time they’re finished with you.”
“He’s telling you the truth,” the cutie said calmly as he took a step closer. “I know you’re hurt and you’re angry, but please don’t do this,” he pleaded.
He could feel their honesty. He knew that what they said was true and he really didn’t want to kill them. God he didn’t want to hurt anyone. But he missed Frankie so much. Someone needed to pay for taking such a beautiful gift from the world. He knew they weren’t responsible for taking his brother from him and he believed them when they said they would help him. He also didn’t want to be responsible for taking anyone else’s loved one away from them. But he had done that already hadn’t he? He took the lives of the other paranormals he found, and he did it without thought that maybe they had a family waiting for them at home. Maybe they had a big brother who would now be left alone in the world? “I have nothing left,” he whispered with pain in his voice. “That fucking vampire took everything from me. It doesn’t matter if I die now. I have nothing to keep me here.”
“Yes, you do,” the cutie said softly and placed his hand on Milo’s arm. A bolt of electricity shot up his arm and grabbed his heart. He could feel that this guy meant something to him, he just didn’t know what. “You can have another family. A big one that will accept you for who you are and protect you. Please give me the gun,” the cutie said and slid his hand down to Milo’s wrist and wrapped his hand around the gun. Milo didn’t fight him. He was tired of fighting. He was tired of being alone, and he was tired of being angry. He just stared at the cutie in wonder. He wanted to be with him. He wanted the things the cutie said he could have. He took the gun from Milo’s hand and held it out for the bigger guy. He took it and stepped away.
“I know you don’t understand any of this, but you will someday,” the cutie said comfortingly and placed his hand on the Milo’s chest, and he felt a peace he hadn’t felt in a long time. He felt the sense of being home. “By sparing me, you spared yourself and two others of tremendous grief and pain. Come with us back to my home and I’ll explain everything to you.”
Milo swallowed as he continued to stare into those amazing gray eyes. “I don’t understand, but something inside me is telling me to trust you. To go with you.”
“I know, I feel it, too,” he said and entwined their fingers. “Oh, by the way, what’s your name?” the cutie asked and smiled at him. God, he had the most beautiful smile.
Milo smiled back and introduced himself. “Milo, Milo Garcia.”
“I like it. Hi, Milo, I’m Josh Stevens and this is Lexi Angel.” Josh introduced them as he pulled Milo from the abandoned house.
The rain pounded against the window and brought Milo out of his memories. When he went back to Josh’s house with him and Lexi, he had been so terrified. Then he met Micah, the alpha wolf who owned this whole town and every business in it. The guy was fucking huge and scary looking, hot as all hell, but scary. While he sat and told the alpha and the council everything he had been through since his trip to Napa with Frankie, he couldn’t help but think, “Who knew the paranormal world had its own government?” The council was a bunch of huge guys just like the alpha. Not quite as large but pretty damn close. It was another of those surreal moments. There he sat, with Josh and Lexi by his side, in front of an alpha wolf, his gorgeous mate, an alpha tiger, a dragon king, the vampire king, the fae king, and the commander of the Legion Warriors. He damn near had a fucking heart attack and shit himself when Lexi explained that the dude was from the Underworld and that angels and demons were real. That God was really real.
But there he sat, explaining to all these leaders about what happened to Frankie and what he did afterward. He got the feeling that he should be straightforward and honest with them. That if he lied he would be in a world of pain. When he was done with his story, they asked a few questions about the man who kept calling him and telling him where the paranormals were, but he didn’t know anything about him. Then the alpha’s mate asked him about his life before the attack. He didn’t know why the man asked, but he felt the need to tell him everything. So he started spilling his guts about his life before the attack, and these fierce leaders just sat there and listened. They didn’t interrupt him and they didn’t judge him. They just listened.
He was shocked when he saw the different expressions on their faces as he told his tale. They smiled at some of his stories, and they looked genuinely upset at others. He could see great compassion and understanding in all their eyes, and it made him feel even guiltier about what he had done. He had been so wrong about these creatures, he knew that now, he could see it from just talking to them. He hated himself for what he had done to those paranormals that he had killed. He was ashamed of himself and regretted that he did all those horrible things in Frankie’s name. Frankie would have been so disappointed in him. He would have been disgusted with what he had done.
Since that first night here, the council had him locked in a cell down in the basement, as they searched for the creatures he had killed and for their families. But they did let him out with a guard a few times a week so that he could spend time with Josh. His mate. He still couldn’t wrap his mind around that one. He had a mate. A gorgeous seventeen-year-old guy that shifted into a bobcat. He couldn’t believe Josh was seventeen, well eighteen now. He was so mature for his age. Even h
is body looked older and more defined than any seventeen-year-old he could remember seeing.
The council explained to him why they were keeping him in the cell even though they all agreed that they too would have done the same thing if they had been in his position. He understood, and he promised he wouldn’t try to escape. That he would stay and face the consequences. They were really good to him, and each member of the council had come to visit him and talk to him. They told him all about their world and what was happening. He was totally freaked about finding out that their world was in the middle of a war and these men were trying everything to get their world back in order and to defeat an evil demigod named Malachi. Wow, talk about going down the rabbit hole.
Then there was the alpha’s mate, Jesse, and his friend Taylor. They came to visit him on a daily basis and would sit and talk to him about how they were once human and lived human lives and what happened to them. Jesse also told him that he and the guy named Bastian could see inside people and see what they have seen, and feel what they have felt. Jesse would come to try to make him feel better about what he had done. Jesse never judged him and always made him feel better. He explained to Jesse that he understood everything he said, but he still felt extremely guilty over the lives he took. They were so nice to him even after everything he had told them.
