by E A Price
“Grrr.”
“My dad had a correction stick he used on my knuckles when he thought I really deserved it.” Truths just kept on tumbling out of her. “Like if he saw me looking at a boy or if I tried to wear a skirt that was above my ankles.”
“Rawr!”
He grasped her arm, and she couldn’t help the gasp.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” he growled, so sincerely, so forcefully she quaked a little. But it also brought her some warmth, some comfort in believing she was secure with him.
She was not someone who felt comfortable around anyone. Even before her stalker. Friendships had always been banned by her parents – they believed friends would lead her astray. Not that it stopped her from making a couple in school, but it meant it took her weeks and months before she could feel even a little relaxed around new people. Even with Elise, it had taken six weeks before Mary could manage more than one-word answers. Thankfully, Elise was a patient and unendingly bubbly person.
But she was strangely comfortable around Tomas – enough to tell him about her family without prompting.
“I believe you,” she murmured staring up at him.
They gazed at each other for a few moments.
“Let go eat.”
*
“This is nice,” murmured Mary.
Tomas grunted. The steakhouse was fine. He didn’t usually eat there – hardly ever. Once or twice for his birthday but usually they ate at home – because it was cheaper and they were unlikely to be thrown out of their own home. Last time they ate out one of his brothers bit the waiter because they ran out of chocolate pudding. Not a pretty memory.
“Do you come here often?”
“No.”
Mary sagged a bit, and he realized he wasn’t being very friendly. Though he didn’t like how so many males from both his leap and the nearby lion pride were looking at Mary. Nosey bastards.
“Usually I eat at home,” he added.
“Me too.”
Alone he wondered? How many boyfriends had Mary had? Would she laugh when she found out about his lack of experience?
“I haven’t been to a restaurant in two years,” she admitted staring at the menu.
“Me either.”
She looked up in surprise. “How come?”
“No one to go with, and my family usually get thrown out of restaurants.”
Speaking of which, the owner of the restaurant appeared at that moment looking incredibly nervous.
“Ah, Tomas… your, um,” gulp, “younger brothers aren’t here, are they?”
Tomas shook his head.
The man let out a breath. “Then you can stay, but I’ve got my eye on you.”
He growled lightly, and the owner jumped before fleeing.
“What was that about?” whispered Mary.
“Last time, my brother set fire to the curtains.”
“Oh, my!”
“My mom ordered that dessert they set on fire…”
“Cherries Jubilee?”
Tomas nodded. “It kinda got out of hand.”
“Ah, that’s why it’s been two years.” Mary nodded in understanding.
He winced as he admitted, “That was three years ago – there have been other things since then but not at this restaurant.”
“Oh.” She smiled in mild amusement.
“How come you don’t eat out?” he asked politely.
The smile faded, and he detected a little fear ripple through her. “No one to go with. I like staying home.”
He sensed she was lying or at least not telling him the full truth about that and it bothered him. Make her tell you growled his beast. Then find the bastard responsible for scaring her and rip them to shreds. He was considering that when she interrupted.
“Tell me about the other things?” Tomas looked blank. “I mean, the other things your brothers have done in restaurants.”
Tomas paused. On the one hand, he would make her laugh. On the other, his family’s antics may scare her away. Though to see her smile, it might be worth the risk.
“Well, one of my brothers once wandered back to the kitchen and got mistaken for a dish washer. He earned eighteen dollars before they realized. First time he ever willingly did the dishes.”
Mary giggled behind her hand, and Tomas felt a little easier. Whatever troubled her, he would find out, he just may have to be a little patient.
Grrr.
Sixteen
Tomas was waiting for Mary to come out of the bathroom. Lunch went very well. He managed to keep up the conversation – a rare achievement for him - with tales of his brothers’ antics. He had her laughing throughout the whole meal, and it was the sweetest, most dick-hardening sound in the world. He had made her happy, but he hadn’t done himself any favors. As if being around her wasn’t hard enough.
His jaguar howled as he noticed two lion shifters he, unfortunately, went to school with coming towards him. Terrific. He hadn’t noticed them while he was eating lunch, but then, his attention was centered on Mary. Naturally, the lions spotted him – he was harder to miss than a blimp.
“Hey, Harry!” called one, loud enough for plenty of people to look around in interest.
Tomas grumbled under his breath.
“Who’s the female?” asked the other.
“None of your business,” snapped Tomas.
“Take it easy, Harry,” said the first, grinning.
“Yeah,” added the other, “short, dumpy, lazy-eyed girls aren’t our thing.”
They burst into laughter, and Tomas snapped. His jaguar roared as he punched one in the gut and grabbed the one who insulted Mary by the throat. There was screaming and yelling around him, but he wasn’t paying any attention. His jaguar brayed at him, and he couldn’t help himself. He just wanted to inflict some pain.
The lion on the floor got up and grabbed a chair, hurling it against Tomas’ back. It broke, shattering and Tomas snarled, training golden eyes on him. The large lion faltered, fear entered his expression, and Tomas could scent a hint of urine.
He started backing away, and Tomas tossed the other lion at him, throwing his whole body at him, knocking them down like they were bowling pins. He roared at them. He was going to…
“Tomas?”
His tiny mate stumbled out the bathroom, shock on her pretty face. He looked around the restaurant at all the fearful faces.
“We’re leaving,” he growled, and slipped an arm around Mary’s waist, practically carrying her out the door.
He put her in the truck and ran round to the driver’s seat, getting out of there as quickly as possible. His fists curled tightly around the wheel, almost breaking it. He was a little ashamed of the way he acted, though his beast just thought he should have done more. Those lions could easily live with only one ear between them.
Calm, he told himself and his beast. Calm. No ear ripping today.
He flicked a look at Mary, and at least he couldn’t see any terror on her face.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered.
He hadn’t lost it like that in a long time. He thought he was past that. Thought he could control his temper. He could even stand to hear the nickname Harry without trying to thump anyone. But those asshole lions had taken it too far.
“Did you know those guys?” said Mary.
“Yeah.”
“Were they your friends?”
“No,” he snorted. “Went to school with them.”
“Oh. Why were you fighting?”
“They said something they shouldn’t have.” Under-freaking statement huffed his animal.
“Oh.”
“Sorry if I scared you.”
“You didn’t.”
“I didn’t?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He threw her a smile that she returned, pleasurably surprised. Now if only everyone else would be so understanding.
*
“The hell were you thinking, cub?” snarled Roberto, the leap�
��s prime.
Tomas didn’t say a word, and Roberto sighed, used to Tomas’ silence. He worked as a leap enforcer, and was by far the least chatty out of all of them – and getting small talk out of any of them was like trying to squeeze orange juice out of a stone.
“Was the leo pissed?” asked Antonio.
The lion pride’s leader was known as the leo. The pride lived not far from them, and while Roberto may not be friends with the leo, they were friendly. Or rather, they respected each other and didn’t try to do anything crazy like start a mini shifter war, but that truce usually relied on both the leap and pride members not trying to tear each other to shreds.
“No, he called, but he was of the opinion that those two probably deserved it.”
“They deserved it,” grumbled Tomas.
“Next time don’t try and teach them a lesson in a restaurant – take it outside,” rumbled Roberto. “You’re barred from the restaurant, and they’ve sent a bill for the broken furniture.”
Antonio looked at it and tsked. “I don’t believe all the furniture in that place combined is worth this much.”
“Nevertheless, Tomas will foot the bill.”
He nodded. It was worth it, though the fact that he hadn’t been able to control himself had been a little worrying. Still, his temper tantrum hadn’t worried Mary – and her opinion was the most important in the world to him.
“And considering how pissed off I am, you can run an errand for me tonight.”
“But Mary…”
“Will manage without you. This is not a request!” howled Roberto.
Tomas and his jaguar huffed but submitted to their prime. As much as he wanted to be with Mary, he wasn’t about to commit ‘suicide by prime’ to be there. That would just be pointless.
Well, if he hurried he could make it back quickly, he supposed.
Seventeen
Mary was bored and at a loss of what to do. She wished Tomas was with her, entertaining her with more stories about his horrifying brothers.
They had enjoyed a lovely lunch. Well, apart from the last part. But that only really bothered her because it had bothered Tomas. Mary was surprised at how unaffected she was by Tomas’ show of violence; she was usually so jumpy over everything. Sure she was surprised but not fearful. The incident seemed to upset him more than her.
She wondered if it had been about her. If those other men had said something about her.
Mary wouldn’t be surprised. She could see it on the faces of the people in the restaurant. What’s he doing with her?
Tomas was big, muscled and handsome. She was small and dowdy in comparison. It was certainly written on the face of their waitress. She beamed at Tomas every time she came by and even rubbed her breast against his arm. He didn’t even look up at her. For some reason, his eyes were glued to Mary. It made her feel special. After ten years of trying to fade into the background, of trying not to be seen, it was nice that someone actually was looking at her.
She was considering what she should do for dinner when Julia, Tomas’ mother arrived at the house. Mary hoped Tomas was with her, but after a good look over the woman’s shoulder, there was no huge jaguar shifter looming.
“I know that Tomas is running an errand for the prime, so my mate insisted I invite you to dinner.”
“I, ah…” She thought of Tomas’ reaction earlier when his mom tried to invite her for lunch. “I don’t…”
“C’mon, honey,” she said in an almost pleading voice. “You don’t come my mate will just come and find you.”
Worryingly that sounded like a threat, but before she could ponder that, Julia took her hand and gave her a gentle pull. “C’mon.”
Mary wasn’t about to be mean to a pregnant lady, so she gave in and just went with the flow. She was introduced to Tomas’ brothers who while they shared similarities to Tomas, looked more like their bullish father. The brothers all grunted at her, and Tomas’ dad, Ray eyed her with speculative displeasure. It was a mystery where Tomas got all his charm and rugged good looks.
The brothers were loud and obnoxious and sniggered constantly. Since they regularly snuck glances at her, she had to imagine much of their humor was directed at her.
Julia was ineffectual. She tried yelling at her offspring, but they paid her no attention. Ray was uninterested in telling them off, in fact, he chuckled along with them when they made rude comments. The only thing she was sure of about Tomas’ father was that he disapproved of her.
It started getting very hot in the cramped, stuffy kitchen, and the more annoyed she became, the hotter she was. She pushed her oversized cardigan off and blinked as the noise ceased and she found herself under the scrutiny of Tomas’ brothers. After that, they started being a little more attentive.
*
It was a fairly strange dinner. She knew what a happy family dinner was like – often being invited to Elise’s family house where, as anyone would expect, her family were as lovely as she. Mary also knew what a strange one was from her memories of when she was young. This ranked somewhere between the two. Not normal and happy, but not as crazy as her own.
Julia had risen to wash the dishes, and surprisingly none of the boys or her mate had offered to help. So naturally, Mary offered. It was gratefully accepted by Julia, while her mate, Ray nodded as if this was the most natural thing in the world. As if he expected it of her.
A couple of the boys had been finishing dessert, licking out their bowls. One of them dropped the bowl in the sink splashing water all over Mary, soaking her shirt. They then stared at her and made hooting noises while Mary blushed and tried to cross her arms over her chest.
“We were wrong, she’s got a great rack,” one of them whispered loudly.
Mary tried to lunge for her cardigan, but one of the little buggers, quick as a flash, grabbed it and pulled it out of reach.
“Please give it to me,” she urged.
“Don’t be such a prude,” one of the older ones said.
She expected some kind of chastisement from Ray, but he merely chuckled while Mary flamed in mortification. The mother tut-tutted but that was it, and Mary was about to run out of there when Tomas arrived, took in the scene and heard their whispering.
He roared. Loudly - window rattlingly loudly.
All his brothers looked like they feared for their lives and stumbled to their feet trying to back away as quickly as possible.
“Come now, boy,” said Ray barely glancing up from the paper he was reading. “Boys will be boys.”
Mary watched, her hands covering her sodden shirt as the huge Tomas seemed to grow even more. His eyes blazed gold, and he seemed to fill the small room.
“Tomas, they were just being silly,” said Julia hesitantly.
Tomas looked at Mary, took in her pained expression and took a step towards his cowering brothers. They tried to climb over one another to get away from him.
Julia looked at her mate with frantic eyes but didn’t say anything. Finally, Ray folded his paper and leisurely got to his feet.
He held his hands up in front of Tomas. “Come now, boy; they were just having a little fun.”
“Not fun for Mary,” he growled, the words sounded strangled, almost animalistic.
“It was all just a bit of fun, right, Mary?”
The father gave her a patronizing look. She wasn’t a fun person by nature, but she knew what fun was.
“I ah…”
Ray cut her off. “See?”
Tomas caught Mary’s eye again, and she tried to smile, but it must have looked as painful as it felt.
Tomas took another step closer, and his father looked mildly worried for a couple of seconds.
“I’m going to take the boys out for a run,” said Ray slowly. “Why don’t you take Mary back to the guest house?”
For what seemed like ages, Tomas stared at his father, until eventually, he nodded. The boys almost collapsed in relief. They tried to make a break for it, to run away, but their father slowed t
hem and made them move more unhurriedly. They were acting like Tomas was… well, a real jaguar. A wild one they had to be wary of - like he would snap at any second. As he had in the restaurant, she realized.
“Sorry,” muttered one of the boys, pressing the cardigan into Mary’s hands.
Tomas growled, and the boy nearly tripped over his feet to scamper away. Their father looked at Tomas warily before he left as well.
Tomas trembled, and Mary just stared at him, holding the cardigan. She flinched as his mother pulled the cardigan out of her hands. She’d forgotten the older woman was even there.
“Oh dear,” Julia muttered. “One of the boys must have dropped pudding on it.”
“It’s fine,” murmured Mary as she looked into Tomas’ swirling eyes.
“Nonsense, I’ll wash it for you.”
“There’s no need.”
“I insist, I have some loads to do and…”
“Go to bed, Mama,” murmured Tomas. His voice was deep and sent vibrations right through Mary.
“The washing up…”
“I’ll do it,” he said.
“The laundry…”
“I’ll do it.”
Mary shivered at his voice and thinking her cold, Tomas whipped his sweater off and pulled it over Mary’s head. It was phenomenally too large for her, but the smell and the heat were divine. Plus, he also happened to be bare-chested all of a sudden. She was suddenly faced with acres of caramel, toned skin. Not something she had ever been faced with before. It was quite a nice thing, too!
“Thank you, honey,” said Julie. “I’ll just put Mary’s cardigan in the machine and then I will,” said his mother, though neither of them paid any mind as she left.
Tomas placed a hand on Mary’s shoulder, and she forced herself not to flinch even a little.
“You okay?” he asked, his face was still a picture of tight rage.
“Just embarrassed,” she admitted. “No offense, but I’m not really surprised you didn’t want me to meet them.”
“I should have been here,” he groaned.
“Not your fault.”
She already knew he was in the dog house – cat house – because of his fight at the restaurant. Sadie told her the gossip. She said that according to her jaguar suitor, Lorenzo, Tomas would now get all the crappiest jobs their prime could conjure.
