Hunted by a Jaguar

by Felicity Heaton

  Damn, the elf was good. He would thank him later but right now, he wanted her back in his arms. He needed to feel that she was safe.

  Bleu’s hand clamped down on Kyter’s bare shoulder and the black jagged claws of the elf’s armour bit into his flesh as he shoved Kyter behind him.

  Kyter stumbled and flailed as he came dangerously close to the edge of a ledge, his eyes shooting wide as he saw the thousand-foot drop to the rocky slope of the mountain below. He barely managed to stop himself from falling over the edge and tripped a few steps forwards, placing some distance between himself and certain death, before looking towards Bleu, an angry snarl balanced on his lips.

  Had the elf been trying to kill him?

  Iolanthe shot him a glare that made him forget about taking things up with Bleu. Why the hell was she angry with him?

  “Iolanthe.” Bleu’s stern tone had her gaze leaping to the elf male and Kyter’s blood boiled, a red mist descending as the two elves locked gazes.

  Kyter growled, flashing his fangs, and pounced, placing himself between Bleu and Iolanthe. He shoved the male elf in the chest, sending him stumbling back towards the edge of the ledge.

  “Back off,” Kyter snarled and his nails transformed into claws. “The female is mine.”

  Bleu’s violet eyes lost their dark edge and gained an incredulous one as they briefly flickered to Kyter.

  “What the hell did you just say?” Bleu looked beyond Kyter’s shoulder to Iolanthe and the darkness returned in force, turning the elf’s expression murderous. “Explain this to me, Io.”

  “Io?” Kyter growled at that one and turned on Iolanthe too. “So it’s okay for him to call you a pet name but it’s not okay for me? Why the fuck is that the case? Because he’s an elf?”

  His face fell as something dawned on him and he grabbed her shoulders, pressing his claws into her armour as he searched her violet eyes.

  “Is he your lover?”

  She paled and her eyes slowly widened.

  Son of a bitch. He was.

  Kyter turned on Bleu with a dark snarl and fur rippled across his shoulders. He flexed his fingers as his claws grew longer, breaking through his skin as darkness swirled through his veins, awakened by a violent need to remove the elf’s head so Iolanthe would only have eyes for him.

  He was her male.

  Not the elf.

  Bleu dared to look beyond him at Iolanthe.

  Kyter roared.

  “Keep your damned eyes off my fated female.” He launched himself at Bleu.

  Bleu sidestepped and Kyter almost skidded off the edge of the ledge, back peddling fast to stop himself from plummeting to his death. He spun on his toes and roared as he saw Bleu standing right next to Iolanthe.

  He sprang at the male and Bleu didn’t dodge him this time. Kyter grinned as he slammed into the elf, his claws raking over the male’s shoulders as he grabbed them and shoved him hard, sending him crashing into the black wall of the mountain. Bleu grunted, his eyes brightened and he hissed, flashing long white daggers.

  The elf kicked him hard in the back of his right ankle and Kyter bellowed as fire spread up his healing leg. The world whirled past him in a streak of black and his back slammed into the jagged rocks, his breath leaving him in a rush as pain exploded across his ribs and along his spine.

  Kyter managed to get his arm free and wrapped his hand around Bleu’s neck.

  Bleu drew back and cocked his fist.

  Iolanthe shrieked.

  “Brother!”

  Bleu stopped dead. Kyter blinked. Brother? He looked at Iolanthe at the same time as Bleu did and then slowly edged his focus back to the male elf.

  “Brother?” Kyter said, unable to get his voice above a weak whisper as it tried to sink in and he fought it, not wanting it to be true.

  Bleu smacked Kyter’s hand away from his throat and took a step back.

  “Older.” Bleu folded his arms across his chest and scowled at him. “You want to explain what you have been doing with my little sister?”

  Before Kyter could even think of a way of answering that question without the elf removing his heart from his chest, Bleu turned on Iolanthe again.

  “And what the hell is this about you being in deep with assassins?”

  She swallowed hard and clutched her hands in front of her, twisting her fingers together, her gaze downcast. Kyter could only stare at her as her meek behaviour made it all sink in too fast for him to handle. It wasn’t a twisted joke. Bleu was her older brother.

  “How could you come back here after what happened last time? I barely got you out alive,” Bleu snapped and advanced on Iolanthe, and her head dipped lower.

  Where was the fearless beauty Kyter knew her to be now? He didn’t like seeing her like this, subservient and afraid. He refused to see her like this.

  “Back off,” Kyter growled and both Bleu and Iolanthe looked at him.

  Bleu’s eyes narrowed and Kyter had the feeling that the elf was sizing him up for a coffin and blaming him for Iolanthe’s situation.

  If he had realised that she was Bleu’s sister, he wouldn’t have fallen for her.

  Kyter stiffened.

  He had fallen for her and he had fallen hard, and he really didn’t think her status as his friend’s kid sister would have changed that even if he had known it from the start. She’d had him on a leash since the moment he had set eyes on her in the fae town.

  Iolanthe’s expression softened and her purple eyes warmed, holding his and entrancing him, revealing a touch of concern and tenderness that left him feeling he wasn’t alone. She had fallen for him too.

  Bleu snorted, shattering the moment.

  “I had to come.” Iolanthe’s tone held the same sharp and commanding edge he had heard in Bleu’s voice so many times. Now he knew where she got it from, and where she got half of her expressions from too, particularly the one designed to make people feel as if they were dirt on her boot and unlikely to survive another second without being wiped out. “I needed to get the artefact.”

  She held a small silver dagger out to her brother. Bleu snatched it and didn’t even look at it. He kept his eyes locked on Iolanthe, a bitter and disappointed edge to them that had her close to lowering her gaze again.

  “I do not give a damn about an artefact. I give a damn that you are in trouble with assassins. Assassins, Io.” Bleu lowered the dagger to his side.

  Kyter wanted to ram it into his jugular.

  “It isn’t as if she has a fucking choice.” Kyter pushed away from the wall and came up beside her, and she flicked him a glance that told him that she welcomed his support. He had her back. He always would.

  “Kyter is right. I have to give the artefact to Fernandez. If I do not deliver it in four days…” She lowered her gaze again and stared at her brother’s boots. “He is going to kill me.”

  Bleu barked out something that Kyter thought might have been a vile curse, because Iolanthe flinched and backed into Kyter, her left shoulder pressing against his right side. He wanted to sling his arm around her and pull her against him, but Bleu was looking as if he would take any excuse to restart their fight. Manhandling his little sister in front of him would be too much for the elf male right now. Kyter resisted the urge, willing to give Bleu some time to grow accustomed to what was happening between him and Iolanthe.

  He would only give the elf time though.

  He wouldn’t leave her.

  She was his female and Bleu would just have to get used to it.

  “We should take Iolanthe to Underworld while we figure out what to do,” Kyter offered and Bleu shot the suggestion down with a black scowl.

  “I am taking my sister to somewhere she will be safe.” Bleu held his hand out to Iolanthe. “Come, Sister.”

  Kyter bristled and stepped in front of her, shielding her with his body, his bare chest heaving as he fought to contain his growing need to protect her. He wanted to give into that powerful urge, even when he knew that fighting Bleu wasn’t
the answer and it wouldn’t gain him any favour with Iolanthe.

  It wouldn’t exactly make him feel very good about himself either. Bleu had proven himself a friend and they had been growing closer over the past month. He didn’t want to wreck that friendship by letting his instinct to keep his mate safe overrule his heart and common sense. Bleu wasn’t his enemy. He was a valuable ally.

  “I can protect her,” Kyter said, adopting a firm tone that he hoped would leave the elf little room to argue. “She will be safe at Underworld… with me.”

  Bleu snarled, flashing fangs as his pointed ears flared back against the sides of his head, visible through the tangled strands of his black hair.

  “You are doing a wonderful job of keeping her safe,” the elf bit out and advanced on Kyter, the murderous look back in his darkening eyes. “She has assassins after her!”

  Iolanthe stepped out from behind Kyter and planted her hands on her hips, looking as if she was on the verge of pulling the silver pin from her black hair and jabbing one of them with it. “They were after me before I met Kyter.”

  Bleu paid her no heed. He kept advancing, each slow step closing the gap between him and Kyter, and Kyter refused to move. He wouldn’t back down and he wouldn’t let Bleu have the upper hand by shifting back a step. It wasn’t in his nature. Jaguars faced enemies head on, and right now Bleu was throwing off a scent trail that said he was an enemy, not an ally.

  “How do you intend to protect her anyway?” Bleu flicked a pointed look down at Kyter’s ankle. “I doubt my sister severed that tendon of yours. You bore no other wounds. They took you down and had you out of the fight with one hit. A male who only needs a single blow to take him out of action is not a male capable of protecting my sister nor one I would trust with the task.”

  Kyter lowered his head, keeping his eyes on Bleu’s, and growled through his exposed fangs. He didn’t need the damned reminder that he had messed up. His pride was still dented from his encounter with the dark-haired male and what had happened. He wouldn’t let it happen again and he wouldn’t stand for Bleu rubbing salt in his wounds. Fur rippled over his shoulders and over his clenched fists.

  “Brother,” Iolanthe whispered, something akin to shock in her voice. Or perhaps disappointment. Both of them were seeing a new side of Bleu, and it seemed neither of them liked it.

  Kyter didn’t take his eyes off Bleu.

  The elf stood barely a metre from him, anger brimming in the cold depths of his eyes, his armour in place and covering his hands, keeping his fingers as serrated claws. Kyter calculated his chances of surviving a fight against the elf. Slim. He had no weapon and the ledge was only a few metres wide, meaning he was at a severe disadvantage. He couldn’t rely on his stronger form. He needed space to fight as a jaguar.

  Kyter flexed his fingers and then curled them into fists. “Iolanthe will be safe with me. What happened won’t happen again.”

  “It happened once. Next time, you might get her killed.”

  Kyter stared hard at the elf male. There was no talking to him. Bleu wasn’t going to listen to a word he had to say. He was hell-bent on blaming Kyter for his sister’s predicament and Kyter was tired of taking the blame for everything.

  “She will be safe with me.” He took a step towards Bleu, rising to his full height and squaring his shoulders.

  “She is safest with me,” Bleu shot back.

  Iolanthe made a noise of frustration and grated out, “I can take care of myself.”

  Bleu turned dark violet eyes on her. “What a fine job you’re doing of that. Assassins? You didn’t think perhaps you should have mentioned it when I last saw you? Or that you should have sent me word?”

  Iolanthe’s fingers tensed against her hips, pressing into the black scales of her armour, and Kyter sensed her hurt. Bleu’s lack of belief in her ability to handle the situation and get herself out of it, belittling her strength, pained her. He knew it to be true because he had been in her position countless times, wanting the one who stood before him to be proud of him, not punish him for his mistakes, or others’ actions.

  “Lay off her.” Kyter narrowed his golden eyes on Bleu and couldn’t stop the dark inky ribbons as they twined around his bones, his demonic genes awakening as he called on every shred of his strength and every ounce of his power, knowing that Bleu would sense it and how dangerous he was.

  How serious he was.

  Bleu shifted his gaze to Kyter, sliding him a look that promised pain. Kyter didn’t flinch. If the elf wanted to fight, he would slug it out with him, and he wouldn’t hold back.

  He wouldn’t stop until Bleu was pissing blood and begging for mercy.

  Iolanthe appearing between them sent his blood from a raging boil to a simmer. Her slender hand pressed against his bare chest, warm on his skin, her touch soothing him. She had her other hand against her brother, holding him back.

  She swung between them, looking at both of them several times. “I will do what I think is right. I am old enough to make my own decisions.”

  Kyter’s shoulders relaxed and he leaned back on his heels, crushing his need to fight Bleu for Iolanthe’s sake when he realised that it was upsetting her. She didn’t show it, but he knew her well enough now to see it in her eyes and in how her hand trembled against his chest.

  She didn’t want a collar.

  She didn’t want a master.

  She didn’t want a male who treated her as a possession, something he owned.

  Both he and her brother were guilty of doing such a thing, trying to control her and making her do as they wanted.

  He sighed and risked his balls by settling his left hand in the small of her back. She looked down at his arm and then up into his eyes, a soft look in hers. The corners of her lips twitched, as if she wanted to smile but couldn’t quite manage one. He smiled for her, raised his other hand and placed it over the one she held against his chest. He curled his fingers around her slender hand, pressing their tips into her palm.

  “What do you want to do?” he said in a low voice he hoped conveyed that he was sorry he had lost his head again and had tried to make her decisions for her.

  It was her life on the line. She was entitled to decide the path she would take to save it, no matter what.

  Iolanthe looked between him and Bleu again, her eyes lingering longest on him. She sighed.

  “I hate to say this, but Bleu is right. His apartment is within the castle of the elf kingdom, and the assassins cannot enter it. It would be the wisest choice. I would be surprised if any of the assassins could slip into the elf kingdom. Besides, I need access to the library there.” She took the dagger from Bleu and held it up for Kyter to see, clutching the twisted black and silver hilt of the short double-edged blade. There was writing on it. Strange symbols. “We need to know what the inscription says if we are going to find your father.”

  He felt Bleu’s gaze shoot to him. “Father?”

  Kyter wasn’t in the mood to explain. He was too tired and everything was catching up with him, including the fact that Iolanthe was still talking about using the artefact to give him his vengeance.

  He took the dagger from her, surprised that she let him and that she trusted him with it when it was the price for her life.

  Her life.

  He slid the hand on her back around her waist and pulled her against him, filled with a fierce need to hold her and feel her in his arms. He wrapped both of them around her, pinning her against him, and pressed his cheek to hers.

  “Don’t disappear like that again,” he whispered and tightened his hold on her, clutching her and crushing her to his bare chest.

  “I will not. I wanted to protect you. I thought—”

  “I know what you thought,” he interjected and closed his eyes, absorbing the feel of her, his strength fading as it sank in that she was safe and back with him. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He would do a better job as her male. He would keep her safe. “It hurt… the thought that I might have lost you
.”

  His throat closed and he couldn’t voice the rest of what he wanted to say.

  She managed to wriggle her arms free beneath his and he sighed as she wrapped them around him, pressing her palms to his bare back, and feathered kisses across his shoulder.

  “That would never happen.” Her light tone held a teasing note and she settled her cheek against him as he rubbed his against hers, taking pleasure from the feel of her skin on his and her scent. “I do not seem to be able to escape you.”

  He smiled at that and pressed a light kiss to her cheek. “I will never let you escape me.”

  Bleu grunted. “We are leaving.”

  Iolanthe pulled back, looked over her shoulder at her brother and nodded.

  “We can discuss everything back at the castle once I gain permission for you to remain there, and I will arrange access to the library for you.” Bleu caught hold of her arm and tugged her out of Kyter’s embrace, and not-so-subtly inserted himself between her and Kyter, wedging them apart.

  Iolanthe sighed.

  Kyter wanted to throttle Bleu, but he could also understand where the male was coming from and that it would take a while for him to get used to Iolanthe having another male in her life.

  By the sounds of things, Bleu had saved Iolanthe’s life more than once. In Bleu’s eyes, Kyter was probably another problem to rescue her from, one he would handle in tandem with saving her from the assassins.

  The elf was just going to have to deal with the fact that Kyter was going nowhere, at least not until Iolanthe was safe from the assassins forever.

  After that?

  It was down to Iolanthe.

  She was right and it was her decision to make, not his nor Bleu’s.

  Kyter wanted to be in her life, and he would fight to stay with her and make her see that they belonged together, but in the end, he would abide whatever decision she made.

  He only hoped the feeling that had come over him earlier, when she had looked at him, and the deep primal instinct it had awakened in him was right.

  She had already made that decision.

  She wanted to be his mate.