by Sadie Hart
But as Rift captured her hand in his, stilling her gentle caresses, Sawyer was reminded that he was only one man.
They had four on their tails.
Rift couldn’t possibly be enough. No matter how much she wanted him to be.
***
Tavis hesitated outside of his brother’s door. He could hear the woman crying, her soft pleas obviously falling deaf on Dougal’s ears. She should have known better. Dougal had little mercy for anyone, even his own brother. With a grimace, he lifted his hand to knock.
Tavis Slade knew better than to beg, but his brother would not be happy that they’d let the little bastard offspring and her protector get away. Not that Tavis was particularly happy about it himself.
Dougal had promised him Sawyer Grant, right from the moment she’d joined the pride. Now what would he get? Leftovers from one of his brother’s thugs? Because that was all Sans and Jerome Scott were. Ex-rogues and thugs that Dougal used to keep the Slade pride in their family. Every lioness Tavis had ever touched had been fucked over by all three of them before being offered to him. Sawyer was supposed to have been just his. The muscle in his jaw ticked. Instead, she’d run off with Jenna’s mutt. Jenna, who’d been Dougal’s personal little prize.
He barely kept the scowl off his face as his knuckles rammed down on his brother’s door. If Dougal had just kept his own bitch under control, Tavis might still have his.
“What?” Dougal’s voice snapped from the other side of the door.
“It’s me.”
The door jerked open a second later and Dougal towered in the entrance, blood on his face. Tavis could feel his brother’s lion just under the surface, boiling with barely constrained aggression. With a glance past Dougal, he spotted Jenna sobbing on the bed, her arms and legs bloody with bites.
“She deserved to be punished,” his brother said, leaning against the doorjamb.
“For a child she popped thirteen years ago? Or being clever enough to lie to you?” The moment the words left him, he regretted them.
Dougal leaned into him, his face a bloody snarl. His teeth were red with Jenna’s blood. But what he said wasn’t anything Tavis had seen coming.
“For fucking the same bastard that killed our sister and then for lying to me to hide his bastard spawn. The same spawn your precious little bitch stole from me.”
He felt like his brother had punched the wind right out of his lungs, and Tavis swayed. No... “Rift Callahan?”
He twisted his attention to Jenna and saw the truth all over her pain-filled face, even as Dougal whispered, “Yes.”
Bloody spittle struck his cheek, but Tavis didn’t care.
“How’d you find this out?”
“When I went to her little house at the edge of the pridelands. I found this.” He turned and snatched a picture of the desk beside his door. He spread out the wrinkled picture and passed it to Tavis. The face of Rift Callahan stared up at him from the glossy print.
The moment the photo landed in Tavis’s hand his fingers spasmed of their own accord, crumpling it in his fist. Rift was one man Tavis wished he’d killed a long time ago.
Dougal gave a low growl. “So did you find them yet?”
“No.” But for the first time since they started this search, Tavis really cared. That little girl wasn’t just some pissant his brother wanted dead.
She would be the key to luring Rift out of hiding.
He stared at the crumpled photograph in his hand. “Would Sawyer know about Rift? Would she take Kinsey to him?”
They both turned to look at Jenna then and the woman cried out, fear twisting across her face. “Yes. Yes. She saw the file.”
“The file?” Dougal took a dangerous step towards her.
“The PI file. I hired one to—” Dougal launched across the room and grabbed her by the throat, hauling her off the bed. “Where is he?!”
“Here,” Jenna sobbed. “The other side of the state, but Texas!”
Dougal flung her to the ground, his shoulders heaving with rage.
Tavis watched, feeling nothing for the woman. He was already beginning to put the pieces together.
“I want a location,” Dougal said and Tavis knew before Jenna could even say it.
“Dave’s Cavern. A little dive bar off the highway out west. Sans and Jerome said they caught up with Sawyer and the kid there. She was with a male lion.”
A roar ripped out of Dougal and he spun on his brother. “And they let them get away?”
Tavis jerked his head in a nod. “Don’t worry. This time, I’m going with them. I guarantee we’ll find them.”
“You’d better. Or we will never get him for what he did to our sister.”
And that was something neither one of them could live with.
***
Rift woke with Sawyer still pressed to his chest, her breath warm against his neck, her legs tangled in his, the sheets wrapped around them. Damn. He wanted this moment to last forever. He gave a small, contented rumble and angled his face to look at her. Soft morning sunshine gave her skin a porcelain glow. Lifting one hand, Rift ran a fingertip down the edge of her jaw. Beautiful.
Then her face tilted into his touch, her lips so tempting, and he leaned down. His kiss was gentle at first, just a brush of skin on skin, the lightest of touches. Sawyer moaned in her sleep, her hand tightening on his shoulder, and Rift couldn’t stop himself now.
He kissed her awake, his lips molding hers in the morning light, soothing, seducing. He nibbled along her bottom lip until she made another small sound and her lips parted, letting him in. Rolling her onto her back, he braced himself above her and deepened the kiss. Tasting her. Exploring every contour of her mouth, feeling her tongue dance with his. He knew the moment the haze of sleep slipped away and she woke in his arms.
She stiffened, just barely, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, one hand slipped up to the base of his neck and played in his hair, tickling, teasing. Then she gripped him there and kissed him back with enough force Rift nearly lost himself in the tide of sensations pouring through him.
He broke the kiss first, angling his head to kiss down the side of her cheek, then to the curve of her neck. He nipped along the skin, felt her fingers tighten around the back of his neck, holding him to her. “Rift,” she whispered, his name just a breath in the air between them.
A soft, subtle plea.
He nipped at her pulse, where he could feel her heart hammering wildly. His hand slid under her shirt, trailing small circles up her belly, reaching higher as Sawyer arched into his touch. She made another quiet, pleading sound, and Rift turned to steal her lips with his again. She caught his bottom lip between her teeth instead, just as Rona meowed from the other bed.
They both froze.
The cat meowed again, louder. Insistent.
Damn cat. Rift pulled away, his lips curling back to snarl, when he watched the cat leap onto Kinsey’s chest and rub her head against the girl’s cheek. “Rona,” he hissed, just as Kinsey gave a tired groan and lifted a hand to scratch the cat behind the ear.
The cat called again and Kinsey pulled her in for a quick hug. “Hungry?”
“Shit,” Rift breathed and rolled off Sawyer, his heart slamming in his chest. Sawyer threw the sheets off him and rolled out of bed. Rift watched her toss Kinsey the bag of cat food as she made a beeline for the bathroom. God damn cat.
Rift lay there feigning sleep until Sawyer relinquished the bathroom to Kinsey. He gave a low grunt once the kid was out of the room and dragged his ass out of bed. “Sawyer...” he began, and she shook her head.
“That probably shouldn’t have happened.”
“Why?”
But she didn’t bother to answer.
Just grabbed their things and bolted for the car.
Chapter Seven
Sawyer leaned her head against the passenger seat and closed her eyes. She’d kissed him. Fucking kissed him. Hell, she’d been on the verge of doing a hell of a lot more than that before R
ona woke Kinsey.
She heard her own low groan and pressed her fingertips to her temples. Kinsey had been right there. If she’d waked up without them knowing, just a little bit later, she could have seen a heck of a lot more than any girl her age really should. Her cheeks heated. Sawyer never would have forgiven herself.
The car door jerked open, startling Sawyer out of her self-flagellation, and Kinsey slid into the back seat with Rona trapped in her arms. “Where’s Rift?” she asked, a little breathy.
Kinsey grinned. “Turning in the key. Maybe the next motel we should get two rooms.”
Oh. God. Sawyer twisted in her seat and stared at her, horrified. “You didn’t.”
Kins rolled her eyes. “I’m not stupid. You were all fire engine red and dad was awkward as all get out while you were in the restroom. Something was going on.”
Sawyer shook her and turned away. “We are so not having this conversation.”
“You like him, don’t you?”
“Drop it, Kinsey.”
“But...”
Sawyer saw Rift out of the corner of her eye. His bold swagger, all that muscle packed into blue jeans and a loose t-shirt. Just the memory of his lips on hers, that hard body stretched out over her, and her heart started to race. “Now, Kinsey,” she said, unable to keep the panic out of her voice.
The girl shifted in her seat and then whispered, “Oh. Girl talk later, then.”
“Girl talk never, then,” Sawyer ground out just as Rift opened the door.
“You ladies ready?”
In more ways than one, Sawyer thought.
“For food,” Kinsey said, kicking her feet up against Rift’s chair. “I’m starving.”
“You’re always starving.” But if he really minded, he didn’t show it. Instead he turned the car out of the lot. “What are we hungry for?”
“Just something fast,” Sawyer said and braced her head against the back of her seat. She needed out of this state, and nothing as awkward as eating breakfast with them. She just wanted to get to Idaho, hand them over to Lennox, and get some space. Some time to think.
“Oh, that place looks good!” Kinsey leaned forward between the seats and pointed at a sit-down restaurant.
“No.”
“Relax,” Rift said softly. “You said it yourself, even this far south of pride territory, we’re not going to run into trouble.”
But that was the thing. She wasn’t worried about trouble.
She was worried about him.
Things weren’t simple anymore, though, then again, things hadn’t been simple since she’d taken Kinsey. But she sure as hell hadn’t intended to fall for the girl’s father. Sawyer jerked her gaze away and shrugged. “Fine. Let’s go eat.”
***
Sawyer stabbed at her omelet, swishing the eggs and cheese around on her plate. She wasn’t really in the mood to eat. Rift bumped her leg with his and she looked up, forcing a smile to her face. “I think I’ve eaten enough over the past few days to stuff an elephant. Or ten.”
“And here I thought you were regretting this morning.” He lifted an eyebrow at her, those dark eyes of his seeing far more than she wanted him to.
Kinsey grinned up from her plate, syrup dripping down her chin, and Sawyer blushed. She scooted out of the booth. “I’m going to run to the restroom.”
Rift shook his head and waggled his eyebrows. “Or just plain run.”
“Whatever.” Sawyer twisted away and cringed. And now Kinsey had her channeling her inner teenager. Running a hand through her hair, she headed towards the restrooms, sidestepping around a table as she passed. Sunlight glinted off the windows, just as she heard glass crack in the distance.
Sawyer flinched, automatically dropping to a crouch, her lion right under her skin, when she realized it wasn’t this window. Confused, she scanned the parking lot. Shit.
“Hey!” Sawyer lunged for the door, slamming it open as she sprinted for the tan Honda parked at the back of the lot.
A man in a denim jacket stood whaling away on her car with a baseball bat. With a roar, she rounded on him, only to have him spin, the bat lashing out at her.
Son of a bitch.
The rogue from New Mexico. The one whose brother Rift had killed while defending them.
The man swung at her again and Sawyer dodged to the left, her gaze skimming over her car. Rage lanced through her as she spotted the crumpled, popped-up hood, the smoke rolling off the engine, the slashed tires, the dented doors...
She turned back towards him and hissed.
“Rona!” Kinsey bolted past her toward the car. The man swung and Rift roared from behind Sawyer. Suddenly he was there, wrenching the bat out of the rogue’s hand and tossing it aside.
Punches flew first, and then the rogue lashed out, an open-handed strike as he shifted. His long black mane poured out over his head and neck, his skin and clothes vanishing under fur. Rift shifted a second later and together they crashed to the ground in a flurry of fur, teeth, and claws. Rift aimed for the other lion’s face, one strike after another swiping over the other lion’s muzzle and drawing fresh lines of red over the golden fur.
“Kinsey,” Sawyer snapped and grabbed the girl by her arm, wrenching her backwards and out of the tangle of lions.
“Rona,” the girl sobbed, but Sawyer shoved her into the grass. “I will get her, but you have to stay here. Got it?”
Kinsey nodded, tears still streaming down her face.
So much had gone wrong already, and dueling lions in the parking lot was a fast way to have Shifter Town Enforcement bearing down on them. A low, panicked sound climbed up her throat as she turned back toward the sounds. They had to get out of here. Preferably before Rift killed the rogue.
And long before the Hounds showed up.
She started toward them. Rift had pinned the other lion, his huge paws battering down on the rogue, and she called out to him. No lioness would get in the middle of a fight between males, but she didn’t really have an option. But, unlike the rogue, she wouldn’t stand a chance of surviving if Rift turned on her.
“Rift!” He ignored her. “Rift, goddamnit, you can’t kill him!”
He pulled back then, his sides heaving. Sawyer knew it wouldn’t be long before someone else spotted what was happening. And called the cops, or worse, Shifter Town Enforcement. “We have to go,” she whispered. “We’ll be lucky if this isn’t all over the news soon. We have to go.”
Letting out bone-rattling roar, he turned away from the rogue and stepped close to her, blood dripping down his black mane. He took another step and she felt the magick inside him swirl, the lion fading into a man, and suddenly he was standing before her. “We’re out a car.”
“Get across the street to the gas station and start walking north. I’ll catch up.”
He grabbed her arm. “I’m getting your cat, but your daughter needs you right now. She needs you to be more of a parent then her mother was. Protect her.”
His jaw went tight, but he stalked past her towards Kinsey. Blowing out a breath of relief, she jogged for the car. The rogue was groaning, rolling on the ground. No doubt trying to get to his feet. Sawyer ignored him and pried open the back door. “Rona,” she called out. “Here kitty, kitty. Here girl.”
She found the cat under the passenger seat, her claws dug into the floorboard of the car.
“It’s okay sweetheart, I’ve got you.” She leaned around the seat and snatched her phone from the console and dialed home.
Scooping the terrified cat out of the car, Sawyer hip-bumped the door shut. She glanced across the street. Rift and Kinsey were already moving off at a hurried pace. The parking lot was thankfully still empty. Heart pounding, she headed away from the car with Rona cradled to her chest.
The rogue would pick himself up and run if she had any bets. And the car was registered to Sawyer Grant. Lennox could cover that up easily enough.
Right now, though, they needed to disappear.
A tremor ran through her
.
She was out of options.
Then a familiar voice came over the phone, a deep bass rumble that reminded her of every story he used to read her before bed. “And I here I didn’t think you’d ever call your dear old dad again.”
Guilt pricked at her heart. She didn’t call home nearly often enough, and definitely not when she was under cover. “I’m under cover, dad. And I need your help.”
“What’s wrong?” Instantly, Gaston Reyes’s voice turned serious. Deadly.
“I need a ride, please. We’re on foot.” She glanced around and relayed information from the street signs. “Heading north. The people I’m with can’t know I’m STE, but we have a pride on our trail. I didn’t want to bring trouble to you guys.” She gulped down a deep breath. “But I don’t have any other choice.”
“Mace is actually not too far away. He was on a construction job down there for a while. I’ll send him your way. Just hang tight.” Tears welled in her eyes as she hurried after Rift and Kinsey’s retreating forms. “And Sawyer, you know damn well you can always call us.”
“I know.”
“I don’t care if it’s your job, or you, that has the problem. We always have your back.”
The phone clicked off and Sawyer shoved it in her pocket before pressing her face into Rona’s fur. She’d known the pride would help her...though they wouldn’t be thrilled about Rift...but she just hadn’t wanted to bring the problems to them.
They didn’t deserve it.
She knew they’d always come to her aid, always protect her. But some day she’d just like to safe herself for once.
Chapter Eight
Rift didn’t look back until he heard Rona’s soft meow behind them. He turned and spotted Sawyer gaining on them, slow and steady. The cat gave another meow and Kinsey spun, her tear-streaked face transforming to one of joy as she bolted for Sawyer. “Rona!”
She plucked the silver tiger from Sawyer’s hands and buried her face in the cat’s fur. “She’s okay,” Kinsey said, her voice shaking. “Where was she?”
