by Stormy Glenn
“Soon. I want to get him settled first. He’s a little frazzled right now. Ezra and his boys paid the house a visit a few days ago to try to force Rue and his friends to leave.”
Zus knew Mike wasn’t surprised that his mate was a man. He had never hidden the fact that he preferred men. Neither had his brothers. Everyone in the pride knew. If his forever mate had been a woman, he would have accepted her for the gift she was. He was just lucky Rue was a man. His man.
“I’m not surprised, Zus,” Mike said, his expression pensive as if he had something share but wasn’t sure if he should. “We’ve been hearing rumblings, Zus, the boys and I.” Mike nodded his head toward the other construction workers hard at work on their current project. “We thought they were just grumblings, but now I’m not so sure.”
Zus frowned. “What sort of grumblings?”
“You know Ezra has always had it out for your family ever since that thing with your parents. Everyone knows it. Ezra pretty much isn’t silent about how he feels he got cheated when your mother married your father. That man has had a hatred building in him for almost forty years. That’s a lot of hatred.”
Zus nodded. Mike wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know. “I don’t know how he found out about our forever mates so fast. We haven’t told anyone yet. We planned to do that at the next pride meeting. Ezra and his boys intended to either force them to leave or kill them. While they had us busy outside, Peter snuck in the backdoor and tried to attack our mates. Stefan stopped him, but he got shot in the process.”
“Shot?” Mike’s eyebrows shot up. “Is he okay?”
Zus nodded. “They were using silver bullets, Mike.”
“Fucking bastards!”
“I think Mikhail is going to banish them at the next pride meeting.”
“He should. Ezra Craigen and his boys are nothing but trouble.”
“I know Mikhail hoped that things would settle down after our parents were killed, but they just seemed to escalate. Going after our mates was kind of the last straw. I refuse to—” Zus paused when Mikhail’s unique ringtone filled the air. “That’s Mikhail. I have to take it.”
Mike nodded and stepped away to give Zus some privacy. Zus hit the answer button. He could hear Mikhail yelling before he even got the phone to his ear. His brother sounded frantic, his voice high and loud. “You’re yelling, Mikhail. I can barely understand you.”
“The house is under attack!” Mikhail said in a voice just as stern but without the yelling.
Zus stilled, nightmare visions he preferred not thinking about starting to come to life in his mind. “What?”
“Jace called. Someone is attacking the house again. They are throwing tear gas canisters in through the front window.”
Zus started running around the front of his truck, heading for the driver’s seat. “Is it Ezra?”
“Yes, and he brought company.”
“I’ll meet you at the house.” Zus yanked his door open and tossed the phone inside. “Mike, get the guys and meet me at the house. Ezra and his boys are going after our mates again.”
Zus didn’t wait for Mike’s answer. He knew the man would do as Zus said. Mike was a good foreman. They had worked together ever since Zus had taken over running the job sites. They worked well together. Zus respected Mike and felt the man did the same for him.
More than that, he trusted Mike to have his back.
Zus knew he broke more than a few traffic laws as he raced back toward the house. He didn’t care. He had forgotten one very important thing when he left the house this morning. He forgot to get Rue’s phone number. He had no way to contact his mate and make sure nothing had happened to him. He would fix that just as soon as he found his mate.
Zus slowed his truck when he reached the driveway to the house. It was a long driveway, but Zus could still see several vehicles parked along the dirt road leading up to the house. He pulled over to the side of the road and got out. He sniffed the air as he started for the house, trying to discern how many people he was up against.
There were more than fifteen different scents, which meant that his mate was in the fight of his life. Zus shifted as he raced toward the house, intent on killing anything and everything between him and his mate.
Zus jumped onto the back of the first man he reached, ripping his throat out before the man knew he was being attacked. He moved to the next man, snapping his jaws and sinking his teeth into the man’s arm until he heard bone snap and the man screamed. Zus dropped the man’s arm when he fell to the ground, cradling his broken arm, and moved on to the next guy.
He jumped on the next guy, taking him down to the ground. He growled into the man’s face, baring his long sharp teeth. The man screamed, a sour scent filling the air. Zus jumped back, glancing down to see a wet stain appearing in the man’s jeans.
Gross.
Zus shifted. He pointed back down the road he had just run down. “Go, and don’t come back. If I see your face again, I will kill you.”
The man jumped up and started running so fast he tripped over his own feet and face-planted in the ground. When he scrambled back up, blood ran down his face from his nose. Zus watched for a moment as the man ran down the driveway, barely missing getting hit when several more vehicles pulled up the drive.
Zus tensed, just knowing that the luck he had been experiencing since he found his perfect forever mate had just ran out. When the vehicles came to a stop and people started piling out, Zus made a quick prayer that he died honorably and whatever he did today made it so that his mate survived.
Just as he readied himself to shift and attack, Mike jumped out of one of the trucks and ran toward him. “What can we do?”
Zus’s jaw dropped when he realized that nearly their entire pride was arriving to help in the fight.
He almost smiled.
Zus waved his hand back toward the house. “I want every one of those fuckers dead.”
Mike’s eyebrows narrowed. “As you say.”
As Mike and several of the people with him shifted and started toward the house, Zus knew he had to stop them. As much as he wanted to see every damn person that put his mate’s life in danger dead or dying, he knew he couldn’t.
“Mike,” he called out. “Restrain those that you can, kill those that resist.”
The tiger’s head moved up and down, Mike acknowledging Zus’s order. Zus shifted as well and began working his way back toward the house. The fight was bloody and painful on all sides. It felt like it took forever for the last man to drop to the ground when it was probably only a few minutes. Lives had been lost but thankfully just a few, and all on the opposing side. Still, the loss of life would be felt by all.
No one ever really won when someone died.
Zus shifted back to his human form, turning his head one way and then the other until his neck popped. He brushed his fingers lightly over a healing gash in his side. That was going to hurt for a little while.
“Make sure no one is hurt too badly, and tie up anyone still alive. Mikhail will deal with them later.” Zus stared toward the house. As much as he wanted to go inside and check on Rue, he knew he needed to insure that every last man that had attacked them had been eliminated. His mate wouldn’t truly be safe until all of them were gone or dead. “I’m going to go check around the back of the house.”
Mike nodded and took the rope another man brought him. He was already tying up the first man before Zus even turned and took off around the side of the house. He shifted on the run. As he reached the edge of the house leading into the backyard, Zus slowed and sniffed the air. The scent of blood was thick in the air, making it hard to discern any other scent.
It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to him that Ezra and his boys would only attack the front of the house, but so far there was had been no indication that the fighting had reached the back of the house. Zus just didn’t believe it, and he wouldn’t stop hunting until he knew every last threat to his mate had been eliminated.
Zus slid along the side of the house, hugging the wooden siding. His steps were slow and measured, every step silent as he padded closer to the corner that led to the backyard. Zus knew his suspicions were correct when he rounded the corner and spotted Mark Craigen trying to sneak in through the back door. He seemed to be having a problem getting the door open.
Idiot. Zus would have just kicked in the door if he was the one attacking the house. He would be going into battle. He wouldn’t be worried about the niceties of trying to get a door unlocked.
Growling ferociously, Zus raced toward the man. Just as he reached the porch and went to lunge at Mark, a searing pain ripped through Zus’s back. The agony was so intense he stumbled and crashed into the steps at the bottom of the back porch.
Zus roared and turned to face whatever had attacked him. Even in tiger form, he recognized Joseph Craigen. Zus tried to push the pain to the back of his mind as he faced off against the large tiger. The Craigen were large tigers, but they weren’t as large as the Kугуар boys. Even injured, Zus had an edge over Joseph.
The two men circled each other, Zus looking for the right opportunity to attack. He wasn’t stupid enough to allow his anger to feed his movements. He had seen too many shifters to go down that way. His father had taught him better than that.
Zus jerked back when Joseph lunged at him. Joseph’s jaw snapped together close enough that Zus felt the air displaced next to his face. While Joseph was trying to regroup, Zus spun around and sank his teeth into the tiger’s flank, ripping away a good piece of flesh.
Joseph roared and attacked.
Zus dodged left and then right, swatting out with his paw every time Joseph got too close. He wasn’t really trying to play with the man, but his injuries were enough that he didn’t want to take Joseph fully on until he had a good opening.
And there it was.
As Joseph went to jump on Zus, jaw open so he could bite down on Zus and probably rip his throat out, Zus allowed the shifter to take him down to the ground. Only, he dug hi hind claws into the tiger’s gut and ripped until his body was bathed in hot blood. Joseph roared for all of a second before he dropped.
Zus squirmed until he could push the heavy body off of him and then rolled to his feet. His legs were shaky, barely holding him up as adrenaline ran rampant through his body. It took effort just to keep from collapsing on the ground.
“You killed him. You killed my brother.”
Zus turned his head to see Mark standing there with astonishment on his face—and a gun in his hand.
Chapter Thirteen
Rue’s entire world swirled to a stop as he reached the back door and saw the scene just off of the back porch. A tiger sat on the ground just feet from the porch, covered in blood. Another one lay on the ground right next to the first one, except this one didn’t look to be moving. The large gaping hole in its stomach might have been the reason.
The scene was terrifying but not as much as the gun the only human there had in his hand.
“You killed him. You killed my brother.”
Rue drew in a shaky breath. That voice didn’t belong to any of the Kугуар brothers. Rue would bet his life on it. Which meant the shifter sitting on the ground was one of them. Rue just wasn’t sure which one. Despite that, he knew he couldn’t let anything happen to the tiger. Not only would one of his friends be heartbroken if that happened but so would Zus.
He didn’t even want to consider the possibility that the tiger covered in blood could be his mate. That just wasn’t something he thought he could handle at the moment. His courage was only so strong, and it wouldn’t withstand having the man he loved die right before his eyes.
Rue carefully reached down and turned the bolt lock on the back door, praying that the man with the gun wouldn’t hear the click as the lock pulled back. His eyes darted between what he was doing and the scene playing out in front of him.
“You killed Joseph.”
Rue’s heart dropped to his toes when he glanced up from the door handle to see Zus kneeling on the ground where the tiger had been mere moments ago.
No! Not his mate.
Rue turned the handle and pushed the door open, sliding out just as soon as there was enough space for him to get through. As he tiptoed across the porch, he pulled two knives out of his pants, one in each hand.
“Joseph attacked me first,” Zus snarled. “You all attacked us, every last damn one of you. Mikhail told you what would happen if you tried to hurt our mates again, and you ignored his warning. You deserve what you get.”
“Your mate doesn’t deserve to live. He’s a human!”
Rue blinked, pausing as he stared at the man with the gun. He didn’t deserve to live because he was human? Rue thought this was about Zus being mated to a man. Where did the whole human thing figure into this fiasco?
“Rue has more right to be here than you or your father ever will. Human or not, he is my forever mate.”
Wicked and somewhat insane laughter flooded the air until Rue felt like covering his ears so he didn’t have to hear it anymore. It was a horrible sound that made him cringe.
“He’s human, so mate or not, he’s going to die. Once my father is alpha, they are all going to die. It’s time that shifters were at the top of the food chain again.” The man raised the gun in his hand, pointing it right at Zus. “And for that to happen, you and your brothers have to die as well. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure your little mate joins you soon enough.”
Rue didn’t wait to hear the gun go off. He threw both knives at the same time, reaching for a new set before they even hit their target. Rue ignored the loud bang of the gun going off and jumped on the back of the man slowly sliding to his knees. He jabbed one knife into the guy’s heart and pulled the blade of the other one across his throat.
The man gurgled once and went down.
Rue grimaced when he pulled back and rubbed his hand across his mouth only to smear blood over his face. He turned and found the nearest bush, barely reaching it before he threw up whatever was in his stomach.
“Sshhh, I’ve got you, love.” Zus’s glorious—yet raspy—voice murmured in his ear as hair was pulled back from his forehead. “I’ve got you.”
“Zus?” Rue collapsed in the arms that wrapped around him, burying his face in Zus’s neck. “Did I…did I…” He couldn’t finish that sentence. He was pretty damn sure he had just killed a man.
Zus leaned back and grabbed Rue’s face between his hands. “You saved me, Rue. That’s what you need to think about. Mark was going to kill me. He was going to kill you. He needed to be stopped.”
Tears sprang up in Rue’s eyes and trickled down his cheeks. Zus wiped them way but more just appeared. He couldn’t seem to stop crying. Zus just held Rue as he cried, murmuring soothing words to him until he was done.
When Rue finally lifted his head, Zus wiped his eyes for him then glanced back behind him. “Do you want your knives back?”
Rue gulped. “Yeah. They are specially calibrated for my hands. Besides, if I intend to stay here then I should probably have some way to defend myself.”
Zus pushed to his feet and then held out his hand to help Rue up. The second they were both standing, Zus took Rue back into his arms. “I swear to you that it’s not always like this, Rue. Usually, things are pretty damn calm around here.”
“I’ve been here for three days, Zus. We’ve been attacked on two of them. I’m not sure I believe you.” Rue jumped when Zus smacked him on the ass. “What was that for?”
“For not believing your mate.” Zus winked. “Your punishment will begin just as soon as this mess gets cleaned up.”
Rue grinned as he walked with Zus around the side of the house. So, maybe he did have the perfect mate after all—a forever mate.
Rue grinned as he watched his mate argue with Mikhail over how to load the moving truck. He wasn’t sure which one of them was going to win the argument, but he was damn sure he was going to end up with a red ass whe
n Zus needed an outlet for his stress. It was almost worth watching Zus growl at his brother.
He pushed away from the window and finished loading the last of his belongings into a box. He was almost sad to say goodbye to the house he had shared with his friends, but not enough to stay. Moving in with Zus and being his fulltime submissive was the culmination of every dream Rue had ever had. Zus was the perfect master, even if he was a mate.
Rue chuckled as he lifted the last box onto his bed and pulled open the lid. He hadn’t informed Zus that he had a toybox of his own. Everything inside, from the numerous butt plugs to the fur-lined handcuffs, had been carefully chosen and packed away for the day he found his forever master. Rue couldn’t wait to get them home and open them up, and maybe misbehave a little so his master would have a good reason to use them.
He was especially looking forward to the wooden paddle he had found in a small shop on the coast. It was padded but beneath the padding were a variety of bumps sure to drive him insane. Rue pulled the paddle out and lovingly ran his hand over the soft surface. His ass cheeks tingled with anticipation.
Just how bad did he have to be?
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stormy believes the only thing sexier than a man in cowboy boots is two or three men in cowboy boots. She also believes in love at first sight, soul mates, true love, and happy endings.
You can usually find her cuddled in bed with a book in her hand and a puppy in her lap, or on her laptop, creating the next sexy man for one of her stories. Stormy welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website at www.stormyglenn.com.
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