It was Hayden’s twenty-first birthday, but instead of celebrating, he had worked all day. And his night didn’t look as if it would be anymore exciting.
The kid did the same thing every night.
He went back to his condo alone.
The only change in his routine had been two bottles of beer the kid had picked up at the store. Hayden didn’t have any friends, of that Gregory was certain. He had spoken to no one but his co-workers and the store clerk in the past three days. Gregory suspected that was the reason the council wanted him brought in.
Unlike wolves, cat shifters didn’t live in packs. But they were still far from the solitary creatures people imagined them to be. They needed interaction with their own kind—thrived on it.
When they didn’t get it, they quite often became depressed.
That, in turn, led to them becoming feral. Feral cats were dangerous. Too dangerous to be allowed to remain in society where they could harm humans or worse, kill them. And that was without mentioning the touchy subject of humans finding out about shifters.
With a drawn-out sigh, Gregory turned away from Hayden’s condo. He couldn’t drag the job out much longer, but he didn’t want to grab the kid on his birthday. He’d give him the night at least. Let him drink his beers and celebrate his birthday, then in the morning, Gregory would take him back to base.
He didn’t want to take the kid in at all, but he had no choice. If he waited any longer his superiors in the council would send someone else to finish the job.
The fact that Gregory hated Vegas made the job even more difficult. On the main drag, the cacophony of noise and the abundance of tacky neon was murder on the eyes and ears.
The place was a paradox.
It offered hope and the prospect of a better life, but it rarely delivered—filled to bursting with people that wanted to lose themselves, that had ended up living there because they had no place else to go. People arrived with optimism and often left in despair.
It sucked the soul right out of you.
Or maybe that was just what it was doing to Gregory.
If he could just make his goddamn dick calm down long enough to get near the young jaguar and grab him, then he’d be out of this shit hole in no time. He needed to get back to Texas.
He had work to do and a score to settle.
When Dean, a high ranking member of the supernatural council, had killed his partner Ashton for no good fucking reason, Gregory had made a promise to himself that Dean wouldn’t get off scot-free.
One way or another, Gregory would do what the council had failed to do. Dean didn’t deserve impunity. He would pay for what he’d done. It wasn’t that Gregory wanted revenge—he wanted justice and he wouldn’t rest until he’d got it.
Gregory suspected Ashton wasn’t the only person Dean had killed. He was sure Dean had been responsible for the death of Ashton’s mate Tania, along with several other council members’ mates who had been killed in recent months.
Gregory just needed to find the proof—he could do nothing without it.
To do that he needed to be in Texas, but of course, his job meant he had to be prepared to travel all over the country at a moment’s notice. It was unavoidable, but sometimes he was his own worst enemy. He should have been home already, not skulking around Vegas watching a young man that intrigued him so much he’d all but forgotten about his responsibilities.
His superiors would be furious if they found out…
He had enjoyed his work for the supernatural council when he was younger, had always loved the thrill of the chase. Back then, he’d thought he had been doing something good, something worthwhile. But the older he’d got, the more disillusioned with the council he had become. They didn’t always play by the rules and there were too many corrupt members within the council ranks, men that were only out for themselves. Everyone had an agenda it seemed. So much so, it had become impossible to know whom to trust.
Over the years, Gregory had witnessed first-hand how some of the council members treated shifters that didn’t belong to a community or a pack. Many were treated little better than animals. As he walked back to his rented unit to attempt to get some sleep, Gregory tried not to think about what would happen to Hayden after he handed him over to his superiors.
He couldn’t allow himself to think about that.
He had to believe that the council would do the right thing.
When the early morning sun made its first appearance on the horizon, Gregory grabbed a quick shower and change of clothes and doubled back to the street outside Hayden’s condo. Hiding behind a battered old Ford, he waited for the young jaguar to appear then watched him lock up and cross the street, heading in the direction of the diner.
The kid hunched forward as he walked, keeping his eyes to the ground. He looked as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. Moving out of his hiding place, Gregory began to follow Hayden down the street.
He felt for the kid, he really did.
He wished there was something he could do to help him, but his hands were tied. He had to take Hayden in, because if the council sent in other operatives, Gregory would be in a shit load of trouble he didn’t need.
Every few steps Hayden tugged at the waistband of his jeans to pull them back up his narrow hips. They were at least a size too big for him and dragged along the ground as he walked. The grey T-shirt he sported was threadbare and so washed out it had probably started its life as black.
Gregory wasn’t an expert on fashion, but Hayden’s clothes didn’t look like they’d been picked out to meet a current trend—they looked as if they were the only things he could find to fit him in a thrift store. Gregory couldn’t help but wonder what sort of life the young shifter had led.
What had happened with his family?
And how in God’s name had he ended up in this dump?
The report the council had given him to read on Hayden before he’d left for Vegas had been brief—the kid’s age, address, the name of the diner he worked at. The report had said that Hayden’s parents had kicked him out at sixteen, but it had held no information about the first three years he’d been on his own—nothing until he’d arrived in Vegas and started working at the diner.
There was a picture of Hayden that had been captured from a distance, but the kid was barely distinguishable. In the photograph, Hayden had his head to the ground, his shoulder-length hair and bangs covering his face.
Quickening his pace, Gregory all but caught up with the young cat shifter, walking no more than ten feet behind him. The closer he got, the harder his dick became. He cursed under his breath and kept on walking. What the hell did he find so appealing about the young jaguar?
Hayden was pretty, for sure—his body slim and lithe, just Gregory’s type—but Gregory had never experienced this level of attraction before. And he’d never had this much trouble controlling his damn libido.
“Hayden!”
The jaguar stopped walking and turned to face him, pinning him in place with a narrow-eyed glare.
“Who are you? How do you know my name?”
When Gregory caught his first glimpse of Hayden up close, his breath caught in his chest and the words he had planned to use on Hayden, to get him to come quietly, stuck in his throat. Hayden’s icy blue gaze burned into his mind and imprinted on his soul.
And his scent…
This couldn’t be happening. “I, uh…”
“What do you want from me?” Hayden eyed him warily.
Gregory took a step closer then pulled in a deep breath to confirm his suspicions. He couldn’t smell Hayden’s cat at all, which was odd, but his body reacted to the shifter just as he’d thought it would. His hands broke out in a sweat and what felt like tiny currents of electricity zapped him everywhere at once.
His heart raced and his eyes and teeth threatened to shift to their cat form. He had to work hard to contain his cat, to force it inside himself. Gregory had never felt anything like it before and kn
ew he wouldn’t again. The feelings, the sensations rolling around in his body, were unmistakable. He didn’t need to have experienced them before to know exactly what they were or what they meant.
Hayden was his mate.
“Uh, my name is Gregory Hale.”
Gregory held out his hand for Hayden to shake.
It trembled uncontrollably as it inched towards the young man.
Hayden’s eyes widened and he looked at Gregory’s hand as if it were something that could bite him. How the hell was Hayden so unaffected by their meeting? Gregory wanted to pounce on Hayden and rub himself all over the jaguar, to bathe him in his scent.
But Hayden didn’t seem to recognize their bond at all.
If he did, he wasn’t acknowledging it.
“How do you know who I am?” Hayden demanded.
Gregory knew he should tell Hayden he worked for the supernatural council. It was paramount that Hayden go with him. But his instinct to protect the shifter was so strong he couldn’t bring himself to utter the words. And there was no goddamn way Gregory could tell the council that Hayden was his mate.
Council members were discouraged from mating, and after the spate of killings that had occurred recently, he couldn’t take the chance. Not after what had happened to his partner Ashton’s mate.
The official story was that Tania had disturbed some thugs that had broken in to burgle their house while Gregory and Ashton had been away on an assignment. But the fact that other council members’ mates had died in much the same way had convinced Gregory that the council was behind her death, even though he hadn’t been able to prove it yet.
Ashton had thought he’d found the person responsible for her murder and he’d died getting revenge, but Gregory was certain Ashton had killed the wrong man. He was convinced Dean was behind the murders and when he found the proof he needed, he would make him pay.
No.
Gregory would not willingly hand over Hayden to the council, no matter what it cost him. For once in his life, he didn’t give a damn about the consequences. He’d fight every single member in the council if he had to…anything to keep Hayden safe.
“There will be men coming here to get you, Hayden.” Gregory kept his voice as calm as he could so that he didn’t spook the young shifter. “If you come with me now, I can protect you.”
At first, Hayden looked at him as if he was crazy. But then a faint trace of fear reached Gregory’s nose and Hayden began edging away. His eyes darted around as if searching for an escape route.
Crap.
Gregory couldn’t have that.
Maybe he needed to be firmer with his mate, more direct.
“Running won’t do you any good. I know the diner you work at and I know where you live.”
Gregory didn’t want to frighten the kid but how else was he going to get him to listen to him?
Whatever you do, Hayden, don’t run.
Hayden started running.
“Fuck!”
Gregory took off at breakneck speed. Hayden was fast, but as they raced through the busy city streets, Gregory started to gain some ground.
“Hayden, wait!”
Hayden veered left, away from the direction of the diner and sprinted across a busy intersection, narrowly missing several passing cars. They honked their horns repeatedly, swerving to avoid him, but none of them stopped. Christ, if the kid wasn’t careful he was going to get himself killed.
“Goddamn it, Hayden. Wait up!”
Gregory picked up his pace, pushing his legs to work harder and, to his relief, Hayden ran into a narrow alleyway.
This could work to Gregory’s advantage. He prayed the alley would lead to a dead end. He couldn’t very well keep chasing Hayden around the city all day.
The kid was fast, and Gregory had ten years on him.
Gregory thanked everything that was holy when the alley ended with a ten-foot brick wall. Unless Hayden had some major jumping ability, he wouldn’t be going anywhere.
“Hayden, please!”
Hayden spun around when he reached the wall. His eyes were wide with fear and Gregory could see the small, prickling movements that rolled over the jaguar’s skin.
Shit.
Hayden was about to shift.
That often happened when a cat felt afraid or under threat.
“Stay back!” Hayden warned.
Hayden pinned his back to the wall and spread his arms wide. He closed his eyes and cried out as his face contorted with pain. His chest was rising and falling rapidly and his knuckles bulged as his sharp claws threatened to make an appearance. Gregory took a step closer. He might not have been mated before but he knew mates had a calming influence over each other if they were in close proximity.
Hayden’s eyes flew open. “I said stay back. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“It’s okay. You won’t hurt me. You can’t.”
Hayden drew his eyebrows together then cried out again, from what must have been another burst of pain ripping through his body. He was fighting the onset of the shift, but Gregory didn’t think it was a battle his mate would win. He’d never seen a shifter this close to shifting before that had been able to remain human.
Hayden couldn’t fight it for much longer—the pain would be excruciating.
Partial shifts were one thing but when the whole body began its transformation, a shifter could only go so far before there was no way back.
Hayden blinked and his eyes shifted to their cat form. A low hiss tore from his throat and his limbs began to elongate, his bones lengthening and changing shape in front of Gregory’s eyes.
It was too late, but Hayden still fought it.
The strangest thing was that Gregory still couldn’t smell Hayden’s cat.
At all.
Considering how close Hayden was to a full shift, his cat’s scent should be prominent, but Hayden smelt damn near human.
“Hayden, listen to me.” Gregory kept his voice quiet, soothing. “Don’t fight it anymore, do you understand me? It’s better if you shift. The pain will stop.”
Hayden shook his head and continued to fight against the shift.
Gregory took a step closer and pulled in a deep breath. There was still no trace of Hayden’s cat and when he next met Gregory’s gaze his eyes had shifted back to their human form.
“Ungh!”
Hayden fell to his knees.
His breathing was labored and sweat poured down his face. His bones began to shorten and realign with sickening snaps and cricks. By the time Hayden glanced up at Gregory from beneath thick, dark lashes, every physical manifestation of ‘his cat had disappeared. Gregory couldn’t smell the jaguar inside him at all. If he hadn’t been there to witness it, he would have never believed it possible.
Kneeling on the ground in front of his mate, he placed his hand on Hayden’s shoulder and, to his relief, Hayden didn’t shrug it off.
“How did you do that?” he asked in amazement. “You were so close to a full shift. How did you stop it?”
“Can’t…shift,” Hayden panted.
Now it was Gregory’s turn to be confused. “I don’t understand. What do you mean you can’t shift?”
“Can’t shift—too dangerous. Hurt…people.”
Gregory watched in horror as Hayden’s eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the ground, unconscious.
He didn’t even have time to protect the jaguar’s head before it slammed against the concrete with a loud crack.
Chapter Three
As he paced the floor of his rented unit, Gregory thought about his next move.
He’d managed to carry Hayden back without attracting too much attention but the young jaguar was still passed out on his bed. Gregory made sure the door was locked and the drapes were closed before walking into the bedroom and taking a seat in the small chair beside the bed.
He studied his mate.
Only when he’d got Hayden back to the condo and resting on his bed had he been able to get a goo
d look at him.
Hayden was breathtaking. The only thing that marred the perfection of his face was a deep scar that ran from his left eye down to his lip. Gregory was surprised he hadn’t noticed it before.
He’d been watching Hayden for three days.
How could he have missed something like that? In his defense, he’d been keeping a safe distance from Hayden and the jaguar always walked with his head down, eyes to the ground.
Maybe his scar was the reason why.
The more he looked at it, the more the scar stood out. It appeared to have been there for some time, judging by the color and texture. Gregory had never seen a shifter with a scar like that before. But then, shifters changed into their second form regularly, so any wounds normally had the chance to heal. If what Hayden had said was true, and he hadn’t shifted recently to his jaguar form, that might explain why the scar had never healed.
When the kid woke up, Gregory would have to talk to him about that.
However, it would be best to let him sleep for a while first to let his body recover. Gregory had had never heard of a shifter that fought the shift like that before and certainly none that had succeeded to keep it at bay.
How had Hayden managed to do it?
Unlike wolves, cat shifters weren’t governed by the moon, but Hayden’s body would still have been trying to shift at regular intervals.
How long had he been fighting it, denying his cat?
The near-shift would not only have been excruciating, it would have used up a lot of Hayden’s energy reserves. Gregory hoped Hayden would feel better when he woke up. For the time being, he was content to sit and look his fill while he tried desperately to ignore the effect the young cat was having on his body.
Since he’d started working for the council, Gregory had met many mated couples and he’d heard often what it felt like when a shifter found their other half. But the descriptions had been wrong.
Maybe not wrong exactly, but certainly understated.
Gregory didn’t think he could put his feelings into words as he watched his mate sleep. Wonder, awe and an overwhelming sense of peace were some of the emotions that were the most potent. And that wasn’t even touching on Gregory’s burning urge to protect Hayden.
Gregory's Rebellion (2019 Reissue) Page 2
