“You know I will.” When Vaughn reached the door, he turned and pointed a finger at Saxon. “Keep an eye on Zane.”
“You know I will,” he repeated Vaughn’s words back as he smiled.
“Later.”
Once Vaughn was out the door, Saxon used his good arm to free his phone from his jeans. He opened his phone and flipped through his Contacts until he got to the Ds. Saxon had worked with Dante a few times before, and despite the fact that the man was a vampire and Saxon was a shifter, the two had clicked, so much so that they had exchanged numbers and made plans to get a drink together sometime after everything calmed down.
Saxon had no idea what Dante would think of this request though. He hoped he wouldn’t be overstepping as he clicked on Dante’s number and hit Send.
Dante Leonidas snatched up his ringing cell phone and saw Saxon’s name.
He and the other Guardians had been on standby when they’d found out their king, queen, and princess had gone to Vance Llewelyn’s meeting. He’d been shocked when the king and queen had insisted they were safe with the shifters and that the Guardians didn’t need to be in attendance. But that didn’t mean Dante was going to neglect his job. The Guardians had been stationed in their vehicles in various locations around the Llewelyn home, prepared to help if they were called. With news that everything was now over, Hunter—his partner tonight—and he were on their way back to the compound.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Dante. Did you hear what happened?” Saxon asked, skipping over any pleasantries.
“Yes, I heard shots were fired and that a couple of you are in the hospital. You are all lucky the royal family made it out alive.” Dante liked Saxon, but he was angry that the people he was in charge of protecting had been in danger.
“Nah, not lucky. Once the gun came out, Vaughn took them to the other room. He would never let anything happen to them.”
“I think you and I might have to agree to disagree on whether or not they were in danger. Lennox and Lexine are escorting them home, so at least we know they are safe now.”
“Good to hear.”
“Who was shot?” Dante asked.
“Zane was shot in the chest.”
Dante hadn’t met that particular cat-shifter.
“And I was shot in the shoulder.”
“You were shot? Jeez, why didn’t you tell me to shut up and quit complaining?”
Saxon laughed. “I understand what it’s like not to be there to protect the ones you are supposed to be protecting.”
Dante supposed he did. Only recently, the daughter of Saxon’s alpha had been in an altercation where she was almost kidnapped. Luckily, she had been rescued by the now alpha of the wolf-shifters.
“Listen, that’s not why I was calling though.” Saxon’s voice had lost all amusement.
“Okay. What is going on?”
“Um...well...”
“Saxon, spit it out.”
“Can you find someone if you’ve fed from them?”
Suddenly, dread filled Dante’s stomach. “Why are you asking?”
“I don’t know if they told you, but Gerald grabbed Phoenix when he escaped.”
Dante swore.
“And I could be mistaken, but I’m pretty sure you fed from her.”
“You’re not wrong,” Dante answered. He glanced away from the road to see if Hunter was following the conversation.
“Is there any way you can sense her through her blood? Can you find her? She...” Saxon cleared his throat. “She has a few issues, and I have no idea what Gerald will do to her. He tries to hide it, but I’ve seen the sick lust on his face. I’m afraid he...”
Dante gripped the steering wheel so hard that he feared he would break it. “You don’t need to spell it out.” And Dante didn’t need Saxon to expand on Phoenix’s issues either.
When he’d met the female, he’d known there was a reason she would hide her shapely body under hideously baggy clothes. Right now, the thought of someone hurting her further than she’d already been hurt upset him way more than he’d ever thought it would.
“So, is there anything you can do?”
“It’s not like it is in the movies. I don’t have a way to find her just anywhere. I have to be close enough to sense her.” One thing he did have going for him was the fact that Phoenix didn’t know how to block him like other vampires did. “But I will do anything I can to find her. I don’t want her hurt any more than you do.”
“Oh, thank God.”
The relief in Saxon’s voice over Phoenix was apparent, and Dante had to wonder if the two of them had some sort of romantic entanglement. On the heels of that thought was a horrible feeling of jealousy that he had no business feeling. “Just tell me where you need me, and I’ll be there.”
“Thanks, man. I’ll text you the details.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Later.”
Dante ended the call and looked at Hunter.
“Sounds like we’re going in search of a female cat-shifter,” Hunter said.
“You okay with that, or do you want me to drop you off?”
Not everyone was super happy about the new alliance between the shifters and the vampires.
“Bring it on. An asshole is an asshole, no matter the species. No woman deserves that.”
Dante smiled his thanks. “I always knew there was a reason that I hired you.”
Chapter Six
KENZIE AWOKE FROM a deep slumber to the feeling of cat whiskers rubbing against her hand.
Without moving from sleeping on her stomach, she murmured into her pillow, “Go away, Abby. There is a reason I bought you an automatic feeder and fountain. Leave me alone.”
Crabby Abby was the cat that she had inherited when her grandmother passed away. As with a lot of cats, Crabby Abby thought Kenzie lived in her house, not the other way around, and every morning, bright and early, she expected to be fed. This was why Kenzie had bought the automatic cat feeder and pet fountain.
Falling back asleep, she was awoken again by the feeling of cat whiskers. This time, it was accompanied by a deep and odd noise, something like a cross between a meow and a roar. That did not sound like Crabby Abby. Next, her hand was nudged by a cat head that was way too big to be her cat.
She shot up onto her elbows, remembering that she wasn’t at home and recalling everything that had transpired recently. She slowly moved her head to the side and saw the huge animal sitting on the bed, staring at her.
She screamed and moved away, only to fall ass-first onto the floor. She jumped up, ready to run or fend off the big cat, when it attacked her.
Where the hell did it come from?
The cat didn’t move from the bed.
Glancing behind her, Kenzie saw the bedroom was open. “Sawyer!” she yelled for help as she backed out of the room.
The cat meowed but didn’t follow her.
“Sawyer!”
Meow.
As the rest of sleep drained from her and a light bulb turned on, Kenzie got it. “Sawyer?”
Meow, came from the bedroom.
“Sawyer, if that is you, please come out into the hall.”
A second later, the big cat emerged from the bedroom and sat down. He had the same coloring as Sawyer and Sawyer’s yellow-orange eyes.
Kenzie felt like a fool. Of course this was Sawyer. Had she really thought some big cat was loose and broke into her brother’s house? She blamed it on being only half awake rather than a lack of intelligence.
“You tell anyone about this, and I will cut your balls off,” she told him.
The cat stood and backed up a few feet.
“I’m glad we understand each other.”
Meow.
“What are you doing, Sawyer?”
He tilted his head to the side.
This had to be about last night. “You can turn back now. If this is for last night, you got me. The joke is over now.”
After S
awyer had told her that he was going to mark her and make sure everyone knew that she was his, she had pushed him away and explained to him that she couldn’t deal with that right now. She had told him she was tired, gone up to bed, and locked the door.
Then, she had lain there for hours, just thinking. She had heard him moving around the house and thought he would try to talk to her, but he didn’t even knock on her door.
She had eventually fallen asleep and had woken up several hours later to go to the bathroom. The house had been quiet, so she had left the bedroom to see what Sawyer was doing. He had been sleeping peacefully in the guest bedroom.
She had felt a mix of relief and disappointment that he had given up so easily.
She must have forgotten to close and lock the bedroom door when she had gone back to bed, and Sawyer had used it as an opportunity to play a prank on her. She had to admit that he’d gotten her good. She’d been scared out of her mind when she first woke up.
But, instead of shifting back into his human self, Sawyer walked past her, making sure to rub her legs with his body as he passed, and went down the stairs.
Kenzie spun around and chased after him. “Sawyer, this isn’t funny anymore.” She finally caught up to him in the kitchen where he sat down next to the bowls sitting on the floor. “You don’t seriously expect me to feed you, do you? Besides, those are dog dishes. They belong to my brother’s girlfriend’s stupid yappy dog.”
Kenzie had no problem with dogs. In fact, she liked them a lot. She just didn’t like Anna’s dog. Truth be told, the dog didn’t like her either.
Sawyer didn’t move or make a sound.
Kenzie rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m going to make coffee and find some breakfast like a normal human. You can just starve, I guess.”
She got busy with filling the coffee pot with coffee and water and then dug in the cupboard for something to eat. She poured a bowl with cereal and milk and started eating. She turned to lean against the counter to see Sawyer staring at her. He tilted his head to the side, and she had to admit that he looked kind of cute.
“Fine,” Kenzie said as she grabbed the box from the counter. She set her bowl down and filled one of the dog dishes with cereal. “Are you happy now?” She picked up the other dish and filled it with water from the sink. “You don’t get any milk though. I know it’s bad for cats, and I don’t know how this”—she moved her hand around in a circle—“works with you being part human. But until you tell me otherwise, no milk for you.”
Sawyer rubbed up against her again and went to town on the food and water.
She kind of felt bad for him. Cats needed protein to survive. They were carnivores. Again, she didn’t know how that worked with his human half, but she didn’t want anything bad happening to him. She looked in the fridge for something else she could make for him, completely forgetting about her own food.
Sawyer curled up on the floor in front of the couch with a full stomach.
Kenzie followed him in and sat on the couch. “Man, Sawyer, you purr loud.”
What could he say? He was one content cat.
His plan to have Kenzie warm up to him was working. After she had pushed him away the night before and locked her bedroom door, he had known that he needed a new plan of action. She was wary of him. He understood this from the little she had told him about himself, and it was going to take some convincing for her to understand that he wasn’t going anywhere and that he was going to try his best not to hurt her again. He did not take being mates lightly.
In the middle of the night, he’d gotten the idea that Kenzie might be more open to him in his cat form rather than his human form. Most women loved animals. At least he thought that was a correct recollection. If he could get Kenzie to trust Sawyer the Cat, then maybe she would begin to trust Sawyer the Man.
He realized that he should be more focused on getting his memory back, but all he could think about was that it wouldn’t matter if his mate was rejecting him. Mate first, memory second.
“Well, since we’re not going anywhere, we might as well watch TV, right? What do you like?” She looked down at him as she grabbed the remote off the end table. “Never mind. You can’t answer me, and you probably don’t remember anyway.” She aimed the remote at the television.
He heard the thing turn on, but he didn’t bother turning his head. He was much more interested in watching Kenzie.
She started flipping through channels when, all of a sudden, her face fell.
He raised his head.
“Christmas commercials,” she said in a soft voice as she leaned forward while still looking at the TV. “What day is it?” She hit something on the remote and sat back in her seat with an expression of wonderment. “It’s the end of November? I missed Thanksgiving, and now, it’s a month until Christmas.”
Sawyer stood, and Kenzie looked at him.
“Besides Naya, I wonder if anyone even missed me.” She looked around the room. “Bastian’s obviously out of town, which doesn’t surprise me. But what about my dad and sister?” She snorted. “They probably didn’t even notice.”
She looked so sad, and Sawyer didn’t like it, so he jumped onto the couch.
“Whoa. What are you doing?”
He answered her by lying down and putting his head in her lap.
“Uh, Sawyer?”
He shifted his head, so he could look up at her face.
“Ah,” she said with a shrug, “what the hell?” She put her hand on his head and petted him.
Sawyer loved her touch on him and immediately resumed purring.
Kenzie finished brushing her teeth and left the bathroom, only to stop short at the big tan cat sitting on her bed.
She shook her finger at him. “Oh, no, you are not sleeping here.”
Sure, they had spent the day hanging out and getting along. It’d probably helped that Sawyer was a cat all day, but they had still enjoyed each other’s company. She had ended up cooking him two more meals and feeding him. She wasn’t sure what to think about that.
Sawyer responded by flopping down and rubbing his body all over the bed. He probably thought that he had won this.
An idea struck. “Fine. I’ll go sleep in the other room.”
She marched toward the bedroom door and was stopped short when Sawyer jumped in front of her.
He sat down and gave her the cutest look, his amber eyes looking so sad.
“You know, for a cat, you sure have some good puppy-dog eyes.”
It wouldn’t kill her to let Sawyer sleep with her as long as he stayed in his cat form, she supposed.
“Okay, you can sleep with me. But if you shift back into your human self, I am kicking you out.” She held out her hand. “Deal?”
Sawyer put his paw in her hand, and she shook it once.
“Okay, let’s go to bed.”
They settled down to sleep. At first, Kenzie was on edge, thinking Sawyer would try something, but after about fifteen minutes, she could hear his deep breathing, and she relaxed. Before she knew it, she was out like a light.
Chapter Seven
PHOENIX CRINGED AS she watched the motel door open, and Gerald entered the room after being outside to make phone calls. They hadn’t made it far the night before. While Gerald’s SUV had been drivable after he had crashed it, it’d made clanking noises, and he hadn’t wanted to risk going too far in it and having it breakdown. This had earned her a black eye next to the one she’d already sported from when he punched her after her escape. She’d managed to peek at them the few times when she was allowed to go to the bathroom, and they hadn’t looked too pretty.
He had found a cheap roadside motel room to stop and stay, and he’d immediately trussed her up to make sure she wouldn’t escape again. She would have tried during the transition from the vehicle to the motel room, except he had kept his gun on her head the whole time.
He had tied a rope around her wrists and then wrapped the rope around the back of the headboard, so her arms were spread w
ide on the bed. This time, he had gagged her, too. Thankfully, he had tied her feet together and then to the dresser across from the bed. She didn’t know if she could have stood it if she’d had her legs tied spread eagle.
So far, he hadn’t raped her, but he had tried. After he had tied her up, he had stepped outside for a while to use his phone. The cunning asshole had watched her through the open window the whole time, and Phoenix hadn’t been lucky enough to have someone walk by and see her tied up.
When Gerald had stepped back inside the hotel room, she had seen the sexual gleam in his eye, and she had wanted to puke. The thought of the traitorous bastard sticking his gross, nasty penis inside her had almost made her hyperventilate. The only thing stronger than her revulsion was her resolve for him not to know how much she was affected by his threats. Thank God he didn’t know about her past.
Gerald came into the room and pulled down her gag. “Don’t bother screaming. There is no one to hear you.” Then, he used a claw to cut her shirt open and ogled her chest. “I always knew you had a great rack hidden under those ridiculous clothes.”
She hated her breasts. She had developed early, and it had earned her attention that she had never wanted or asked for. It took all her concentration to pretend that she was bored and not trembling with fear and revulsion inside.
She shrugged. “Whatever. They are just boobs. Every woman has them.”
He didn’t even bother looking at her face when he replied, “Not everyone has what you have.”
The man was practically salivating now, and it made her sick.
When he bent down and put her nipple in his mouth, she had almost passed out. She had gone back and forth between hoping she would and that she wouldn’t. If she passed out, she wouldn’t have to endure the torture, but if she did, he would know that this provoked her far more than she was letting on.
She didn’t expect him to raise his head halfway from her and yell, “What the fuck?” He leaned back down and bit her nipple hard enough to draw blood.
She stifled her scream even though she wanted to shake him off and cover herself.
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