The Panther's Rival

by Emilia Hartley

  Alec shook his head vigorously. “No, sir. That guy brought it in. Said he had extra and he was feeling generous since he’d fought with his girl and she was finally letting him make it up to her. There’s more if you want some.”

  Nova’s head snapped up. “What did you say?”

  “There’s more if you want some?”

  “No, before that.”

  “His girl was letting him make it up to her. Guess they’d had some kind of fight and he was bringing her Chinese to make it better. Seemed a little strange, but there you have it.”

  “Who was it that brought in the food, Alec?” Mac asked. He was watching Nova’s face more than anything else.

  “That guy that brings us dinner. The one from the tavern? Shoot, I’m so bad with names.”

  “Well I’ll be damned,” Nova murmured. He stared up at the sheriff. “I know who it is, Mac.”

  Amara took a bite of sweet and sour chicken and chewed while she watched Mitchell struggle to use his chop sticks.

  “Damn it, I can never get these stupid things to work,” he complained, spilling rice all over his plate.

  Amara couldn’t help but laugh. “Here.” Reaching over, she adjusted his fingers to where he was holding them properly. “There you go. Try now.”

  Obediently, he picked up another bit of rice, and this time it didn’t fall. “You are amazing, you know that?”

  She grinned. “I try.”

  “I’m sure. Nova’s a lucky man.”

  “I tell him that every day.”

  Mitch laughed. “I’m sure you do. But does he realize how lucky he is? I mean, truly? You’re beautiful, smart, funny. Does he understand that the woman he’s getting deserves to be treasured?”

  “He knows, Mac,” she assured him. “Don’t worry, Nova’s a really great guy. And he’s good to me.”

  “I don’t know, Mara.” Mitch shook his head. “I’m not sure he’s good enough for you.”

  A little uncomfortable, she patted his arm. “Thanks. You’re sweet.”

  “I’m serious. There’s no one else like you. I know I’m with Zoe and everything, but the girl has some major issues, and I just…I don’t think it’s going to work out.”

  “No? Oh. I’m sorry, Mitch. I know how much you cared for her.”

  “The thing is, I’m just not sure there is anyone out there for me.”

  Sympathy washed over her. “Sure there is. You’re funny, sweet, kind. You own your own business. I may have helped make it what it is, but hey.” They both smiled. “You’re still successful. You’re handsome, and you pick up some mean Chinese food. What woman wouldn’t want you?”

  “I knew it,” Mitch whispered, staring at her. “I knew it.”

  Frowning, she stared at him. “You knew what? Mitch? Hey! Damn it, Mitchell, get off me!”

  Their food fell to the floor as she fought to push him off, but Mitch just kept coming. His body was on top of hers and he had her back pressed into the couch, pinning her down. She managed to wedge her hands between their chests, but that didn’t stop him from trying to kiss her.

  “I knew it,” he said again. “I knew you couldn’t actually love that guy. I knew you always wanted me. I just had to convince you of it. The roses. You used to talk about roses when we were younger, how romantic you thought they were. I thought you would know they were from me. I thought you would ditch that guy and come tell me you loved me once you realized how perfect we are for each other.”

  “Mitchell, get off of me.” She was beginning to panic. His voice had turned into that of a stranger. How could she have been so blind?

  Finally, he sat back, and Amara scrambled to the edge of the couch and tucked her knees against her chest. She gaped at him. “Oh, my god,” she whispered. “Nova was right. It was you.”

  Chapter 18

  Mitch grinned back at her. “Of course, it was me. Who else would it have been? Don’t you see? We belong together.”

  Amara just stared. “You sent me the roses. And the bugs? The rotting flowers? That was you, too?”

  Ashamed, Mitch reached for her hand. When she snatched it away, he nodded as if he understood. But the whole situation was incomprehensible. What was it that he understood? “I’m sorry about those flowers,” he said. “I was angry. You and Nova…you should have been with me. You would have been if that asshole hadn’t come into my bar that day. He blinded you with lies, Amara. He isn’t a good guy. He threatened me.”

  “He did what?”

  “Last night. When I called your phone? He threatened me.”

  “You put a rock through his window,” she reminded him.

  “He had it coming. He should keep his hands off my girl.” Lunging forward, he was on her again, and this time she couldn’t keep him away. His lips found hers and his tongue darted into her mouth. It tasted of salt mixed with sweet and sour sauce.

  “I’m not your girl,” she tried to tell him, but her words were blocked by his mouth. Instead, she bit his lip. She bit it hard enough to draw blood.

  “Damn it!” Mitch yelled, yanking away from her. “You bitch.” The back of his hand slapped across her face, and she could already feel the ugly red welt it would leave. Tears bloomed in the corners of her eyes. “Now look what you made me do.”

  Nova screeched to a halt outside Amara’s house. The doors to Mac’s SUV shut behind him. He motioned for the two cops to follow. He led them around the side of the house, then motioned for them to stop. Nate stepped forward out of the shadows. “Anything?” Nova asked.

  Nate shook his head. “No, they’re just inside, watching a movie. The volume’s too loud for me to hear what they’re saying. Are you sure this is the guy, Nova?”

  “I’m sure. Did you call for back up?”

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  “Good.” He turned to Mac. “He’s inside. From what we can tell, they’re watching a movie. But I don’t think we should go in all at once.”

  “Nova, who is this?” Mac asked.

  “He’s a friend of mine. I asked him to keep an eye on her house for me.”

  “You trust him?”

  “With my life.”

  “Okay. Then what’s your plan?”

  “I think I should go in alone. Now, hear me out. If I can coax him outside, we might have a chance of arresting him without any chance of Amara getting hurt. If we ambush him, he’s likely to use her to get away. Isn’t that how these things work?”

  Mac frowned. “In theory. Shit, Nova, we’ve never had anything like this before. I’m a small-town cop. We don’t get hostage situations here.”

  “Then we do this my way.”

  “Really, Sheriff?” Alec asked. “We really think this was the tavern guy?”

  Mac nodded grimly. “Mitch. Yes, unfortunately, we really think it’s him. Nova, lead the way.”

  “Alright,” Nova said, rubbing his hands together. “I’m going in.”

  Moving slowly, Nova crept to the back door and eased it open, careful not to make a sound. He shut it just as quietly as he could. Keeping his back to the wall, he edged over to the doorway and peered into the living room. What he saw made his stomach tighten with fear.

  Mitch had Amara sitting on the couch while he paced in front of her spouting a monologue.

  “For years, I was in front of you, waiting,” Mitch told her. “Waiting. For years, I kept thinking that one day, you would turn around and realize that I was the perfect man for you. And for years, you ignored me.

  “Then you met that stranger. You met Nova.” He spat his name like it was poison. “And everything I had been waiting for was stolen from me. You never saw me after that. You only saw him. And now, after all the time and effort I put into being the perfect man for you, you want to run off and marry him?

  “You betrayed me, Amara. I even started dating Zoe in hopes that it would make you jealous. And for a while, I thought it worked. But then, like everything else, you put my relationship with her to the back of your mind. You forgot
about me again. So I had to remind you.

  “I had hoped that the roses would make you think of me, but they didn’t. I couldn’t understand it. How could someone so smart and so beautiful not realize who they came from?”

  “How would I have pieced that together, Mitchell?” Amara wanted to know. “They were roses. And then they were bugs. You called me and hung up. You put a rock through my fiancé’s window and you left threatening letters. Why on earth would I think that was you?”

  But I should have, Nova thought. I should have known it was him.

  “If you knew me better,” Mitch whined, “you would have.” Going to the window, he stared out into the night. “Then tonight, I thought maybe you had finally seen the light, but you’re just as blind as ever.”

  “What about how well you knew her?” Nova asked, stepping into the room. From the couch, Amara gasped, and Mitch spun around, his face tight with anger. “Did you ever once stop to think about how she felt? You say you waited for her for years, but did you ever tell her how you felt? You didn’t, did you? And now you’re throwing a tantrum because she chose me. I did tell her how I felt. So, if you have a problem with someone, it should be me. She chose me. So, let’s go outside and settle this like men.”

  “What are you doing?” Amara mouthed silently.

  “Trust me,” he mouthed back.

  Mitch glared at them both, fury taking over his expression. “You think you’re so much better than me? You? You are nothing. Just a stranger passing through. I am everything to her.”

  Nova cocked a brow. “You were.”

  And then Mitch charged. “She belongs to me!” he hollered.

  His shoulder barreled into Nova, hitting him hard in the stomach. Nova stumbled back and crashed into the kitchen, his foe on top of him. He knew he could shift and tear the human to shreds, but he had sworn an oath to his Pack. He would keep his secret from the humans at any cost. He only hoped his back up came in after him.

  Mitch’s fists pummeled his chest, his face, and Nova let him. He could have killed him easily, even as a man. But stalker or not, he was Amara’s friend. And he was hoping to be enough of a distraction that she could get away. He should have known she’d never leave him.

  Using Mitch’s distraction, Amara raced to her bedroom and pulled open the drawer to her bedside table where her gun was stashed. Sliding the clip home, she clicked off the safety and ran back into the kitchen.

  Nova was on the floor, on his back, doing barely more than keeping Mitch off his face. Mitchell, on the other hand, appeared to be taking out all of his issues on Nova’s body.

  “Freeze, Mitch,” Amara hollered, levelling the gun at him. “I promise you, if you lay so much as another finger on him, I will shoot you.”

  “Amara,” Mitch whimpered, gaping at her, “I don’t understand. Why would you hurt me? He’s trying to take you from me. I’m just trying to stop him.”

  Horrified, she stared at him. “You’re sick, Mitch.” She cocked the gun. “You need help. Get off of him, and I’ll make sure you get it.”

  Slowly, he got up and stood with his hands raised. Amara used the gun to motion him into the living room. She looked at Nova. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine,” he said, rubbing his jaw. “Just a little sore. Are you?”

  She nodded. “What should we do with him?”

  “Mac’s outside with the car. They’ll take him to county tonight.”

  Mitch gasped. “You would betray me like this, Amara? You, of all people? After everything I have done for you, you would let this asshat send me to jail?”

  “You deserve to be in jail, Mitchell,” she answered solemnly. “You’re sick.”

  Taking out his phone, Nova called Mac. “Yeah. Everyone’s fine. We’ve got him. It’s safe to come in.”

  Before she could stop him, Mitch took a knife from his pocket and lunged at Nova with a scream of fury. Amara didn’t so much as blink. After everything she’d been through, she’d had enough. Her finger squeezed the trigger and the gun gave a kick as the bullet exploded from the gun and flew straight into its target.

  It hit Mitch in the shoulder, sending him flying backwards. He crashed into the refrigerator and slid to the ground, leaving a trail of crimson blood in his wake. He stared at her, his eyes wide and glassy with pain. “Why?” he rasped. And then he passed out.

  Amara stood where she was, her hand trembling, just as the front door crashed open.

  “Nobody move!” Mac hollered as he, Alec, and Nate scanned the room. “Amara? What happened?”

  “He pulled a knife, Mac. He went after Nova. I had no choice.”

  “Is he dead?”

  “No. Just knocked out.”

  Mac’s brow furrowed. “Good. Alec, call it in.” The deputy disappeared. “Lower your weapon, Amara.”

  But she didn’t move. It wasn’t until she felt Nova’s hands on hers that she understood what was happening. Turning, she stared into his eyes.

  “It’s okay, baby,” he told her. “It’s over. You can let it go now.” Taking the gun from her, he put the safety on and handed it to Mac. “There now. It’s over.”

  With a sigh of relief, she fell into his arms, and let Nova wrap her up tight.

  Red and white lights lit the darkness on Amara’s street as they loaded Mitch into the ambulance. People lined the streets, wondering what was going on. Amara watched silently as the stretcher was secured and the doors were shut. She’d shot him in the shoulder. She was a good enough shot to know that she hadn’t hit anything vital, but he’d still lost a lot of blood waiting for the ambulance, which worried her.

  As scared as she’d been, she couldn’t get herself to hate him. The doctors said it was possible that something in his mind had just snapped one day. They also said it was possible that his obsessive tendencies had always been there and he’d just been good at covering them up. Whatever it was, he was the county sheriff’s problem now. She only hoped she never saw him again.

  “Are you okay?” Nova asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Leaning into his touch, she nodded. “You gave me quite a scare back there,” he told her. “You have a habit of doing that a lot.”

  Despite herself, she laughed. “You have a habit of pissing off the bad guys who then come after me.”

  “This is true. Maybe we should both quit doing that, yeah? Deal?”

  Amara chuckled, standing on tip-toes to kiss him. “Deal. Nova?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Can we go get married now, please?”

  And even when the world seemed dark and turned upside down, she found that Nova could still make her feel safe. She couldn’t help but beam up at his grinning face. Nova lightly kissed her nose and held her tight. “Absolutely.”

  I hope you enjoyed books 1, 2 & 3 of my Mountain Wolves series! If you’d like to read book 4, you can check it out here: Complete Mountain Wolves Boxed Set

  Alpha Wolf Protector

  Alpha Wolf Series Book 1

  Emilia Hartley

  CHAPTER 1

  Not again.

  Cynthia eyed her grandmother with a measure of both love and contempt. Every day was the same routine; wake up, get water, make food, clean, get more water, cook, take care of her grandma, and think about Alex. At least, that was the regular day.

  “I need some water,” grandma said.

  And I need a break.

  Cynthia snatched the pail from beside the door and shoved her way outside. What she wouldn’t give for running water, or a flush toilet like they had in the farmhouse.

  Once the door was firmly shut behind her, she punched at the air furiously while the pail dangled on the crook of her arm. She loved her grandma but always struggled for whatever freedom she could get. She slipped into her unlaced boots that sat beside the door and tapped the toe to the ground to make sure they were on.

  Where the hell was Alex?

  Oh, right, he was off driving around recruiting other wolves to help them in their fight against the
bear clans. Didn’t he say he was supposed to return today? Today is almost over and he was pushing the limits of Cynthia’s patience.

  “Great day again, eh Cyn?” her neighbor asked from his rocking chair.

  She remembered herself, coughing twice and stood to her full height.

  “Always,” she replied, Always.

  Cynthia started marching across the tiny town that had sprung up around the farmhouse. Ramshackle houses flanked the one large dirt road that ran the course from the paved street straight up to the farmhouse. A few of the wolves in the area had vehicles, but most didn’t even run, or if they did run they wouldn’t get far.

  A slight breeze blew toward the forest. The cold wind bit at her exposed skin, making her nipples perk up under her sundress. Her small fleshy mounds weren’t much to look at but they still got a lot of attention.

  A couple of the mutts lying around caught sight and she could tell their jeans were getting a little tighter. There were so many new horny boys around now since the clans merged just two months ago, she could have done without them. Still, let them watch, it’s not for them, these were for Alex. If he’d ever get back. In the meantime, she could take care of herself.

  “Hey Cynthia,” shouted one of the dumber ones.

  Just leave me alone.

  “Wanna go for a run later?” he asked with a smile.

  Yeah, but not with you.

  She pushed passed without saying a word and smiled through the frustrating nonsensical flirting. She’d found it easier to not say anything than try to say no. They’d get tired of talking and walk away most the time, but other times they couldn’t get it through their thick skulls.

  The good news for Cynthia was that the water pump didn’t have a line so she could finish her chore quickly and with minimal harassment. The bad news was that the idiot was still trying to flirt and wasn’t leaving her alone.

  “You know, I could take you for a ride in my-”

  “Listen … er” she tried to remember his name which sat on the tip of her tongue.