“I’m tired of their games. I don’t want any part of this,” the man said, sitting down on the porch steps.
“So why were you guys even here?” Chad asked him.
“This place has been abandoned for a long time. I’ve settled into the area here, but the others are just passing through. They use this place to crash whenever they’re in town. I told them something smelled different this time. So why are you guys here? And what the hell is a squirrel doing with this pack of mutts?”
Chad laughed. “Can’t you see the resemblance? These are my brothers!”
The man shook his head in annoyance.
“I’m serious,” Chad continued; “My fraternity brothers. We all go to the ARC. Chase just bought this place last week and you and your buddies apparently upset his girl. Wolves are pretty territorial, and he’s really pissed.”
“I teach over at the ARC. My girl showed up here with a friend earlier. I told them to get out of here. These guys, well, they tend to find trouble. We’ve done a lot of terrible things over the years. Some really bad, I won’t lie. Then we were incarcerated for years and—” He shook his head as a shudder wracked his body. “I don’t want to talk about it, but I’m never going back there again. My brothers, they just don’t seem to have learned anything and are running wilder than ever. I don’t know what to do about it,” he confessed. “Which one is your friend who owns this place?”
“Big, black, scary wolf taking the lead.” Chad pointed to me and I briefly shot him a look. Having to stand there and listen to the two of them prattle on was not helping the situation.
I stared down the biggest of the tigers as they all walked in circles within the perimeter we held. I could see from their movements they were used to fighting together. They were trying to intimidate us, but it wasn’t going to work.
I tried to calculate the time. Kyle was coming with even more reinforcements and judging by what I’d just heard from Chad’s conversation with the tiger that surrendered, we needed to not only get them off my property, but contain them.
For the first time in my life, I wished there was a jail for shifters. Sending them to a regular prison seemed like the cruelest punishment possible, as they’d never be able to shift while there. That alone could drive a sane shifter crazy, and I suspected these tigers weren’t entirely on the sane side.
I had thought I was overreacting by calling in all my favors to run off a couple tigers squatting on what had been a mostly abandoned cabin in the woods until a week ago. My agitated wolf and my heightened temper, knowing how scared they had made Jenna, led to this. I hadn’t thought they were going to fight back. I simply wanted to intimidate them off my land and ensure they wouldn’t consider returning.
I had been wrong. These guys were looking for a fight. The gleam in the eye of the biggest one told me he would enjoy it, too.
He lunged in my direction, but I held his gaze and didn’t budge. He tested a few others and to my relief, none of my brothers backed down, though a few began to snarl. When they moved towards Matt, his jaguar roared, causing one of the tigers to back up. It was their first sign of weakness. I could work with that.
Studying them more closely, I noticed that the two milder ones kept looking back to the man on the steps. I still wasn’t sure if he was setting a trap I’d regret, or genuinely wanted no part of it. I only hoped that if it came down to it, Chad would keep him occupied long enough for us to snare him within our circle and not take an attack from behind.
In the blink of an eye, everything changed. The lead tiger lunged my way, but this time he didn’t stop. He went straight for my throat, but I was too quick for him as I rolled us both sideways until I was on top with the advantage. It was clear he did not like being pinned on his back.
The circle tightened and despite protests and attempts, my brothers would not let the remaining three pass and assist. I snapped my teeth and snarled then I growled in warning when the tiger tried to squirm from under my hold.
I didn’t want to hurt the guy, but neither would I back down if he persisted. We were in another standoff. I felt him loosen his grip and relax beneath me. I knew it was a trick and pretended to let up some, too. The second I did, he pushed back full force, as I had expected.
He was stronger than I estimated, and managed to get to his feet. We circled each other. He roared, but all it did was piss off my wolf even more. I had to fight to maintain control and not fully give in to my wolf. If I did, I knew I would kill this tiger. I growled back and watched the fur on his neck stand up.
He made his move to attack and I sidestepped him. He shifted direction and knocked me to the ground, but I was back on my feet before he could advance further. He tried to come in low, but despite the incredible size of my wolf, his tiger was much larger, giving him no advantage there. He tried to go high and come at me from above, but that was easy to roll away from.
Steadily and slowly I moved us towards the house, cornering him at the porch and protruding bay window. He spit and snarled when he realized what I had been doing, and then he made his first direct attack. I barked for the others to hold back, leaving him to me, even as his large paw swiped at my hind leg and made contact that caused me to howl out in pain.
The fight was on. I bit out, catching his front right arm as he moved to strike again. He snarled, pulling back. That gave me time to steady my feet. My leg was throbbing, but I pushed aside the pain and instead channeled it towards the tiger.
He was injured from my bite, so I went for his left side. I missed his arm but landed a chunk out of his side. He growled and hissed back. Still cornered, he had nowhere to go. The fear in his eyes was evident and my wolf had tasted blood. I gave a menacing growl that had him backing up even further against the house.
That’s when I noticed the commotion around us had stopped.
“Stan? Just give it up, man, we’ll find a new place to hang,” said one of the three tigers my brothers had trapped who was now standing naked—still surrounded, but surrendered.
The tiger I was fighting roared in anger. He was alone, trapped, injured, and scared. I took a step back to give him a little space. He seemed to be more subdued, but I didn’t know how much of it was for show.
The standoff finally ended when his body shook and he shifted back to human form. My leg was injured pretty badly, so I didn’t want to shift back yet, as we heal faster in animal form.
“Who the hell are you?” he spat out, obviously still in anger.
So much happened all at once in that moment—whirring sounds from above indicated helicopters arriving which were Kyle’s reinforcements, and lastly, out of nowhere, a beautiful panther appeared. Of course I knew instantly it was Jenna. Her violet eyes gave her away, but more than that, I’d know my mate in any form.
Seeing me injured didn’t sit well with her. She roared and hissed at Stan, positioning herself between us to protect me. She was the scariest beast I’d ever seen, and even Stan cowered in response.
Boots on the ground came running.
“Stan,” I heard a stranger’s voice say from behind me, and I watched the large man fold in fear.
“No, please, no. Don’t let them take me,” he begged.
“I think it’s time you and I had a little visit,” Jacob Winthrop said. I had never met the man before in person, but I had spoken to him briefly on the phone over the holiday break when he’d called the house looking for Maddie, Liam’s mate. The man had a very distinctive voice, one you didn’t forget.
“Chase,” another voice boomed from behind me. I turned around quickly, putting my back to the tiger for the first time. I knew that voice; it was Kyle, and I was safe. Even still, I felt Jenna guarding me from behind as she continued low hisses at the man.
My fraternity brothers were mostly scattered now. I saw several walking back towards the cars, some in their skin and some still in their fur, no doubt going to get their clothes.
I stared at Kyle and motioned my head towards the house.
<
br /> “Go on, we’ve got this,” he told me.
I turned back to Jenna and nuzzled the side of her face. She stopped hissing and looked at me. I nodded my head towards the door. She reluctantly followed. Chad opened the door for us and we walked in and headed to our bedroom before shifting back to human form. Most shifters were perfectly comfortable with nudity, but I had absolutely no desire to show off my mate in that way to all my brothers, both of blood and fraternity.
“You really did bring in the full cavalry, huh?” she teased as she opened a drawer and took out an outfit we had bought the previous weekend to leave there. She grabbed some clothes from my drawers too and tossed them on the bed.
“I thought I told you to stay away until I gave the all clear,” I scolded.
“I tried. I just couldn’t sit there and do nothing and think about what may or may not be happening. I was envisioning the worst, and from what I walked in on I’d say it wasn’t too far off. What if something had happened to you? What if you’d been hurt? I would never have forgiven myself.”
I hadn’t thought about it from her perspective, I just needed to know she was safe. I took a step towards her and grimaced as pain shot up through my leg. I looked down. The wound had already closed and looked like it was days old, but it was still red and very sore.
“You’re hurt?” she questioned, rounding the bed quickly to examine my injury.
“Jenna, it’s fine, really. Another few hours in wolf form and it would be entirely gone.”
As she looked around the cabin, I could tell she was questioning more than just my injury.
“Princess, don’t. Don’t overthink this. I know I overreacted. I just couldn’t stand the thought of anyone scaring you in our home. This is our territory and I had to defend it. I didn’t really expect them to fight back. I’m glad now I did overreact. That big one, Stan, he knows Jacob Winthrop. He was terrified of him, Jenna.”
“I noticed. Who’s Jacob Winthrop?” she asked.
“I don’t really know, aside from that he and his wife took Maddie in when she ran away. That’s Liam’s mate, wife, whatever. I remembered Maddie as Lily’s friend growing up. She’s from a different pack so I never saw her all that often. They’re four years older than me, so I never really hung out with them. I got to know her and her son over Christmas break. Not all of her story made sense. Like, I know Jacob was basically her adopted father and they were close, but Jenna, he’s human. I’m certain of it, so how does he know Stan? It doesn’t make sense.”
“He came with your brothers. I saw him get off the helicopter with the one you called Kyle, Chase. I’m assuming that’s your brother, at least. You guys sorta look alike.”
I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, Kyle’s the Alpha of our pack now. He’d definitely have his reasons for bringing Jacob Winthrop with him. Right now, I don’t much care, as long as you’re okay.”
She closed the gap between us and wrapped her arms around my waist. “I’m okay as long as you’re okay.”
Jenna
Chapter 20
I regretted leaving the property almost immediately. Anita had refused to take me back and instead, drove to campus despite my protests. I sulked for only a few minutes before heading back out and walking to the far side of the campus where the woods began. I had faith that once I’d shifted, my panther would know exactly how to find our mate.
I had been right. We kept mostly to the trees where we could, or silently racing across open spaces, when certain the coast was clear. It hadn’t taken nearly as long as I’d thought it would to get back to the cabin.
I was shocked at the sight I saw there—so many shifters all in one place. They were in their fur and a group of canines were surrounding three large tigers. Jack was sitting on the front porch casually watching and chatting with a very naked Chad. Scanning the area, I recognized Matt’s jaguar mixed in with the canines. There were several solid black wolves, but I couldn’t determine exactly which one was Chase.
Then I heard a howl that caused my stomach to drop. I knew it was my mate. There was no question about it. I raced across the field, and as I rounded the side of the house, I saw him. The large man who had scared me earlier was now cowered in the corner. Another man stood over him and Chase was limping as he guarded this new stranger. Anger I didn’t know I was capable of surfaced. I hissed at the naked man and bared my fangs at him.
When Chase turned his back to the man, I kept my eyes glued on him. It felt right guarding my mate. It made me feel powerful with Chase by my side, just like it felt right to be enveloped in his strong arms now.
I knew there was no place I’d ever feel that safe. I squeezed him closer, trying to reassure myself and my panther that he truly was okay. The smell of desire filled the room and I laughed, smacking his backside. He was definitely okay.
“Chase, there are dozens of men outside waiting for you. Don’t even think about it.”
“What?” he said, pulling back and looking down at me with an innocent grin. “Honestly, I can’t help it. Their smell is in our house. They invaded our territory. I have this all-consuming need to mark every inch of this place, starting with you, my beautiful mate.”
A knock at the door made him tear his gaze away from my eyes. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could have handled his scorching look of desire before acting on it, so in a way, I was grateful to whomever interrupted, but on the other hand, I was quite simply irritated by it.
“Come in,” Chase said.
The door opened. “Jesus, Chase. Can you at least try to control it?” Kyle said, referring to the scent my mate was filling the room with.
“No,” he said seriously. “I really can’t, Kyle.”
Kyle just laughed at his discomfort. “Well, you have quite a mess out there. I think we’ve got it all sorted but need you to confirm a few things and let me know what you want my guys to do.”
“Yeah, okay,” Chase said, looking reluctant to leave me.
“You must be Jenna,” Kyle said, extending his hand to me.
I hesitated only a second before loosening my grip on Chase and meeting him halfway. “I am. You’re Kyle, right?”
“That would be correct.” He studied me for a moment. “You have a protective nature that’s not always common with panthers.” He stated this as a fact, not a question. “I noticed it immediately in the way you protected Chase from Stan, even when he was no longer a threat and Chase had his back to the guy.”
“Just because he was in human form didn’t alleviate the threat.”
“You’d be correct, though I fear he posed more of a threat to you than your mate.”
I blushed, taken aback by how easily he called Chase my mate. A noise just outside our bedroom door kept me from dwelling too much on it.
The door burst open as Liam walked in carrying a woman I didn’t know.
“Take it down a notch, dude. I need somewhere to lay Maddie down. Can I use your bed?” Liam asked. Chase nodded. I could see he was still battling a territorial thing.
“Hey, Jenna,” Liam said. “This is my mate, Maddie. Do you think you can do me a favor, and stay with her for a few minutes while we sort something out?”
“Sure,” I said. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Panic attack. Sweetheart, I need you to just keep breathing. This is Jenna, Chase’s mate. She’s going to stay with you, just listen to her voice and breathe. In and out.” He encouraged me to continue chanting with him.
“In and out,” I said.
He nodded and left her side. “It’s them, Kyle. And if we don’t get them out of here now, all hell is going to break loose. I will kill them for what they did to her. Do you understand me?”
I shuddered at the lethal threat. There was no doubt in my mind that he meant it.
“Shit!” Chase said. “Are you telling me that one of those guys out there is Oscar’s father?”
“Yes,” Liam said through gritted teeth as the brothers left the room in a hurry.
I was suddenly alone with Maddie. “Keep breathing, Maddie. In and out, just like Liam said.”
She was gasping for air now but starting to calm down. “I’m sorry,” she managed to get out.
“Whatever this is, you have nothing to apologize for. I’m certain of that. Those guys creeped me out pretty good earlier, too,” I said, holding her hand and stroking her arm in what I hoped was a soothing manner.
She growled, but not in a way that made me jump back. “Did they hurt you?” she asked, no longer struggling for control.
“No, just spooked me a little. They apparently were using the cabin and something about them just creeped me out. They acted like they knew Chase, but I didn’t believe it. Jack, one of the tigers, he warned me to get away, so I did.”
“My friend Anita was with me and we went back to our sorority house and I called Chase to explain what was happening on the way. He said he’d take care of it, which he obviously did. I just couldn’t wait around without knowing he was okay and came back anyway.”
She nodded, calming down some. “I’m glad you did that. I don’t know why one of them would have warned you, but I’m glad you listened. It’s Jenna, right? You’re Chase’s girl?”
I blushed again and nodded. Anita and Matt were the only ones I’d ever said anything to, so having my mating as basic, everyday conversation was completely foreign to me.
She studied me for a bit and when she seemed satisfied with whatever she saw there, she started talking again. “Those Westins, they love fiercely and with all their hearts. Once you’re family, you’re family—period—no questions asked. I know that Mary, Chase’s mom, worries things will be difficult for the two of you. Don’t let that discourage you. She worries about everything for everyone. Westin Pack opened their arms to me and my son, Oscar. He’s different, too. Half wolf, half, um, tiger. One of those striped beasts out there is his biological sperm donor. I thought I had seen them once before, a few months ago. Prior to that I had only seen them the one time . . . the, um, night my Oscar was conceived. They left me for dead when they were done with me.”
Confusing Hearts (Westin Pack Book 4) Page 17
