Walk on the Wild Side

by Christine Warren

  How the hell had he gotten lucky enough to find her?

  She looked up at him with those beautiful wide eyes, and he saw them start to twinkle.

  She tugged his hand. "Marcus, huh?"

  "Marcus Alexander," he replied, his voice gruff with unspoken emotion. "And not even my mother ever called me that."

  "Hmm. And why didn't I know that before now?"

  His lips twitched. "Probably because I didn't tell you."

  "Hmm."

  God, he loved this woman. This had gone beyond recognizing his mate. When he looked at Kitty, he recognized his heart.

  "I'll make you a deal," he said, pulling her into his arms one more time and cuddling her briefly against him. "After I get everything settled here, I'll take you back to the cabin and we can play twenty questions. When was the last time you played a good game of that?"

  He watched her blush at the reminder of the other game they'd played that afternoon and grinned.

  "It's been a while," she admitted, stroking her hands over his back. "You may have to remind me of the rules."

  Max bent his head and brushed his lips over hers, relishing the way she instinctively stretched up to meet him, the way her lips parted at his slightest touch. "The rules are very simple."

  He kissed her.

  "In fact, you only need to remember one."

  He kissed her again.

  "Oh?" she whispered, and this time she kissed him. "And what rule is that?"

  Max pressed his mouth to her for a long, deep kiss, and when he pulled back he was smiling. "Now that I've caught you, I get to do whatever I want."

  IT TOOK A SERIOUS ACT OF WILLPOWER FOR KITTY NOT to give in to her newly acquired nervous habit and press her hand to her stomach as she gripped Max's hand and followed him out of her father's bedroom. She knew a large portion of the pride would be waiting in the other part of the house, and worse than that, she knew her ex-step-mother and half siblings would be there as well, just waiting for the chance to tear out her throat. She trusted that Max wouldn't let them, of course, but that didn't erase the nausea-inducing knowledge that they wanted to.

  Before she and Max left the bedroom, he had spoken softly and urgently for a few minutes, letting her know what was going to happen. Most important, he'd told her, let him do the talking. In the best of circumstances, he would present himself in front of the pride, give them the official news of the death of the Felix, and lay ceremonial claim to the title himself, after which everyone in the pride would greet him as the new Felix and they would all live happily ever after.

  In reality, after he proclaimed himself Felix, the other male members of the pride would be given the opportunity to challenge his right to the title. "Challenge" being a euphemism for trying to kill Max and seize the title for themselves. Max could not honorably refuse any of these challenges and would be forced to fight all comers in order to prove himself worthy of leading the pride. He hoped the number of challenges would be small, if any were offered. He'd been Martin's heir presumptive for a long time and most of the pride liked and respected him, but he wanted her to be aware of the possibilities.

  After the challenges, or maybe before or during, depending on what Nadalie had in mind, any member of the pride who did not wish to accept Max as Felix would be given the opportunity to leave peacefully. Then the remaining members would be acknowledged as belonging to the pride, Kitty included if she wanted it, and, again, they would all live happily ever after.

  God, Kitty had never wished for anything so hard in her entire life as she wished for the first possibility. But as she'd acknowledged before, she'd never had that kind of luck.

  As they passed through the hallway, Max paused to speak to the large man who had been guarding Martin's door when they arrived.

  "How many are here, Steve?" Kitty heard him ask.

  "'Bout fifty or sixty inside. Maybe four hundred out."

  "Four hundred and fifty Leos," Kitty repeated to herself, swallowing hard. And if Nadalie had gotten her way, they all probably hated Kitty's guts by now.

  But Max didn't seem fazed. He just nodded his thanks and continued to guide Kitty toward the front door. As they approached it, the chatter she could hear coming from the living room abruptly died and Drusilla stormed out to meet them.

  "Nadalie tells me she saw—"

  Max cut Drusilla off with an impatient gesture. "Not now, Dru," he said. "I have no desire to repeat any of the same information a hundred times tonight. If you want to talk to me, listen to me, or discuss something with me, you can do it outside."

  He didn't wait to see how she took his decree, just yanked open the front door and ushered Kitty out before him with a hand in the small of her back.

  Kitty saw the response, though. She saw the look of pure, hateful contempt on the older woman's face and felt her stomach clench. Again. If she'd known that particular organ would be back to its old tricks tonight, she'd have put some Pepto in her purse. She'd been drinking a lot of pink since the car wreck.

  People began to follow her and Max outside, filing out of the house to join those who already milled about in the desert landscape. Kitty saw the doctor in the crowd, as well as the man who'd come to the cabin to alert Max to her father's failing condition. Most of the rest of the crowd were strangers.

  She let Max guide her through the throng, feeling vaguely surreal as the Leos began to follow them through the darkness. She took hold of Max's hand again and gripped it tightly.

  "Where are we going?"

  "Not far." He squeezed her hand but kept his eyes on the path ahead. "There's a vergaderplek nearby. A meeting place. You father had it laid out years ago. It's where the pride holds important ceremonies."

  Kitty nodded and lapsed into silence. That made sense, but it didn't make her any more comfortable with having almost five hundred adult Leos at her back.

  When they reached the site, she stood beside Max and watched as several men began moving around and lighting tiki-torch-style lamps around the perimeter of an area about the size of a baseball field. At one end near where they stood, she saw a large flat rock, roughly rectangular in shape and elevated about three feet off the ground on a pile of other rocks. As people began to gather and position themselves at the meeting place, they all faced that rock. Faced her.

  Kitty held on to Max's hand and worked to keep her expression calm and confident.

  When most of the crowd had gathered, Max squeezed her hand and drew her to stand by the narrower end of the large stone. Then he released her and leapt easily onto the top of it. When he held up his hands, the chatter of the crowd died down and every face turned to watch him.

  "Most of you already know that this is a sad night for the Red Rock Pride," he announced, projecting his deep voice so that it boomed out across the meeting place. "Martin Lowe, who has been Felix to our people for many years, has left us now for his eternal hunt, and we will all mourn his passing. He led us well, with a strong heart and a thick mane, and he will be sorely missed."

  A murmur swept through the pride but quickly subsided when Max resumed speaking.

  "I was with the Felix when he died, and he spoke to me of his wishes. It is my duty as his pride mate, to honor them. As his baas, I seize this opportunity as mine to claim the title of new Felix of the Red Rock Pride. In this way, I vow I will honor the wishes and the memory of Martin Lowe."

  Kitty heard the strength, the pride, and the grief in Max's voice and swallowed against the knot in her throat. She wished more than anything that they could have spent the night like normal people, comforting each other on their loss, alone and quiet with grief and each other. But she understood the power of tradition, of responsibility. She would never stand between this man and what he felt to be right.

  "I claim the title of Felix, and I claim for my own the Red Rock Pride," Max bellowed again, looking huge and proud and fierce. "Does any Leo present wish to challenge my claim?"

  The breath caught and held in Kitty's throat as she hea
rd the words she had dreaded. Her eyes scanned restlessly over the crowd, searching for movement, waiting to see men striding forward with anger on their faces and envy in their hearts. But no one moved. Her heart began to pound as, slowly and cautiously, she began to wonder if her luck might be changing.

  Then she heard a murmur in the crowd and her stomach clenched. She saw a ripple near the front of the crowd, saw someone pushing forward, and then Nadalie, Olivia, and Drusilla emerged from the crowd and lined themselves up in the clear area at the base of the stone, their eyes trained on Max.

  Kitty frowned, unsure of what was happening. Max had told her that only men were allowed to challenge for the position of Felix. Sexist it might be, he admitted, but it was the duty of the Felix to defend the pride from attacks by outsiders and by coalitions of nomadic males who sought to seize control. Because male Leos were so much bigger and stronger than females, the Felix had to be male in order to succeed in that defense. At the time, she had muttered something about sexism, but honestly, she had to admit it made sense. Having experienced the difference between her size and Max's, she thought he had a valid point.

  So why were three women the only one to respond to Max's call for challenges?

  "No one disputes your claim to the title of Felix," Drusilla called out, her voice loud and sharp in the night air. "The pride accepts you gladly. But we do not accept the newcomer in our territory. As pride females, my niece, my daughter, and I wish to exert our right to challenge the new female for acceptance. Either she can accept our challenges and defeat us for the right to remain in the pride or she can show herself a coward, leave now, and never return to Red Rock territory!"

  Well, Kitty thought, her mind spinning crazily. When she put it that way …

  * * *

  Chapter Twenty-five

  KITTY GUESSED FROM HIS LOUD AND VIOLENT ROAR that Max wasn't particularly fond of the idea of her fighting any of her female relatives to the death. Frankly, she could think of more pleasant things to do herself, but as she looked out over the curious faces lining the meeting place and straining to get a look at her, she really wasn't sure what other choices she might have.

  Well, there was one. She could leave. She could pick Drusilla's door number two, turn around and walk away from her father's family. Just return to Tennessee the way she'd intended to all along. If they wanted to think her a coward for that, so be it. She'd know the truth, after all, and she'd know that her retreat was all about her original plan, not about running away from anything.

  Except that's not what it would feel like.

  Turning her head, Kitty looked up at Max as he stood atop the large chunk of sandstone that had given his pride its name. Every muscle in his body had tensed, every fiber of his being proclaiming his outrage. His expression was no longer blank; it was taut with fury, etched in lines of blazing anger. For her.

  Her heart turned over in her chest and Kitty forced herself to accept the truth. If she left now, if she left at all without telling Max how she felt about him, she really would be running away. She'd be running scared.

  It was true that she had never intended to stay here, just like she had never intended to become a Leo, to learn to shift her shape, or to embrace the wildest part of her soul, the part she'd tried to deny while she'd been human. The part that overwhelmed her when she was something else. She'd never intended to form attachments, or even to forgive her father, really. She'd intended to meet him and to show him that she didn't need him any more than he needed her. She hadn't intended to sit by his bed as he lay dying, or to comfort those he'd left behind. She certainly hadn't intended to learn to play chase.

  Or to fall in love.

  But somehow, while she wasn't looking, Kitty had done all those things. She had become a woman who could be at peace with the animal living inside her, who could grow to love it and embrace it, and in doing so she had become more herself than she had ever been before. This time, she finally had grown up.

  Once she realized that, her decision became easy. She had no idea what the future would hold for her and Max, whether they would stay together or drift apart, but she knew that she would never, could never, let anyone take her choices away from her. If she had to fight and to die for the right to make the love she felt last forever, that was exactly what she'd do.

  Well, hopefully not the dying part.

  Calmly, her head up and her expression serene, Kitty climbed up onto the rock beside Max and looked down at the three Leo women.

  "Fine," she said, her voice strong and carrying. "I accept."

  OVER HIS DEAD BODY.

  Max had felt his heart contract from fear when Drusilla had issued her challenge, but that was nothing compared to the blinding rush of terror that swept over him when Kitty appeared beside him and calmly spoke her acceptance. He had no idea what the hell she might be thinking, but he knew that as soon as he got her alone again, he'd be happy to bend her over his knees and beat the sense back into her, ass first.

  She couldn't possibly know what she was doing. He had explained the general concept of a challenge to her before, but that had been when he'd thought she might have to witness him fighting one, not so she could accept one herself. There were pertinent points he had left out at the time to keep her from worrying, and those were the very points that worried him.

  Grabbing Kitty by the arm, he pulled her aside to glare down at her. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

  "Don't you use that kind of language with me, Max Stuart," she said, glaring right back. "What does it look like I'm doing? I've been issued a challenge, and I've accepted it. I thought that was pretty clear."

  "You can't do this."

  She narrowed her eyes at him. "I beg your pardon. I know I may not be the most experienced lioness on the block, but I don't think that gives you the right to tell me what I can and can't do. I'm an adult. I can make decisions for myself. If I want to accept a challenge, that's what I'll do."

  Over his dead and rotting body.

  "I forbid it," he growled, crossing his arms over his chest so he wouldn't be tempted to wrap his hands around her throat.

  Kitty sucked in a hissing breath and turned a rigidly cold expression on him. "You do what now?" she demanded softly.

  Okay, he realized. Better try another tactic. "I can't let you do this, kitten. It's too dangerous. Dru and the others don't just dislike you; they want to hurt you. Maybe even kill you. I can't let you put yourself in that kind of danger."

  "I don't believe I've asked you to let me do anything. This is my decision, and I've decided to fight."

  He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "Do you have any idea what you're saying? Kitty, Drusilla is the top female in the pride. She's won more challenges than I care to think about, and her lion form outweighs you by at least seventy-five pounds! And Nadia and Liv are almost as big. You only learned to control your shift six hours ago! There is no way in hell I am going to take the chance of you getting hurt."

  She set her jaw mulishly. "Then it's a good thing that it's not your chance to take."

  Max shut his eyes. "If that's the way you feel, then you've given me no choice." When he opened them again, he knew they had to be glowing with anger. "I want you to remember that I intended to do this differently. But you know what they say about intentions."

  Releasing her abruptly, Max stepped toward the front of the rock and glowered down at the three female challengers.

  "I, Max Stuart, Felix of the Red Rock Pride, hereby claim Kitty Sugarman as my mate!" he roared, not caring if they heard him in Utah. "As is my right, I also declare that any challenges to her status must now and forever go first through me!"

  EARS RINGING, KITTY STARED AT MAX IN SHOCK. HE did what? Called her his what? Declared what would go through him? For how long?

  Apparently, Kitty wasn't the only one he'd surprised. Nadalie screeched in fury, and Drusilla used a few phrases that Kitty had never before heard issuing from the mouth of a woman. Olivia just
stared at the two figures on top of the rock with a gaze of pure malice.

  "The challenge has already been issued," Drusilla shouted. "It was given to the interloper before she became your mate therefore, it stands as it was meant to!"

  In one smooth movement, Max sprang off the stone and landed with easy grace toe-to-toe with the woman. "Are you issuing a challenge to me, female?" he purred, his voice soft and lethal.

  Kitty saw fear flare in Drusilla's eyes and felt a moment of pity. No matter how much bigger and stronger than Kitty the other woman might be, she would be no match for a male Leo in his prime.

  Drusilla dropped her eyes to the ground, her face flushed with anger. "No, Felix," she said, but Kitty could see her fists clenching at her sides. Drusilla might be too smart to go up against Max directly, but she was furious about the turn of events.

  "Bitch!" Nadalie screeched, her roar eerie and inhuman in the cool night air. "You stupid, fucking BITCH! This is all your fault, you little slut!"

  Before Kitty had even managed to turn toward the sound, the younger woman had launched herself into the air and into a shift, claws extended and fangs bared, clearly aiming for Kitty's throat.

  Instinctively, Kitty ducked and rolled, trying to get out of the way. She heard a crack at the same time that she reached the edge of the red rock and went over, slamming into the ground below. The fall wasn't far, certainly not enough to seriously injure her, but she hadn't been expecting it, so she hadn't had time to brace for it. Once again, her skull made impact with an unforgiving surface—that must explain the loud cracking sound, she thought fuzzily—and came out the distinct loser. Reaching up, she touched the back of her scalp, remarkably near where her attacker at the airport had managed to slice it open, and her finger came away dark with blood.

  Kitty moaned, but she could barely hear herself over the commotion of the crowd. The cracking sound had been another shot, she realized, and it had driven the crowd into panic. Dozens of people were shouting, and at least one woman was screaming. Kitty could hear Max alternately shouting her name and orders as he arranged for a few of his men to join him in tracking the source of the shot. She registered his shout that she stay where she was, heard him order David to find her, and she tried to push herself up to reassure him she was all right, but as soon as she moved her head, the rest of the world moved, too. Unfortunately, it moved by spinning in crazy circles like a drunken clown on a unicycle.