Mate Claimed su-4

by Jennifer Ashley

  Iona had a cub of the pride to protect. Iona was a dominant, never mind how big the guy was, and she’d teach him to obey her.

  She changed all the way to panther and ripped into Tiger Man, her wildcat enraged. The tiger was huge, his paws the size of Iona’s head, but she was fast. They fought close, snapping, snarling, tearing, biting.

  Blood flowed hot down Iona’s fur, pain bit into her side, but she kept on fighting. She’d defeat him, rule him, bend him to her will.

  Tiger Man had no intention of bending to anyone’s will. He’d been the only experiment to survive—all these cages were now empty except his. He’d thrived, which meant he was very strong.

  He used that strength to raise Iona into the air and slam her to the cement floor. Iona’s breath crashed out of her, but she rolled and regained her feet, the panther quick.

  She was hurt, gasping for breath, but she would not let him defeat her. To lose would give the tiger control over her, and she could not afford to do that.

  Tiger didn’t wait for her to recover. He was on her even as she stood, his weight dragging her back to the floor. He rained down blows, but Iona fought back, ripping claws across his belly and drawing blood. Tiger roared his pain and smacked his paw across her head, making the world spin.

  He drew back for another blow but something streamed across the room with terrible swiftness, and landed with all four feet against Tiger Man’s side. Iona saw a flash of white and black, then Eric was fighting the tiger, his leopard teeth and claws moving faster than Iona could see. Eric’s Collar sparked once, then went silent.

  A human arm covered with flame tattoos reached down to help Iona to her feet. Iona shifted from her beast to her human form and let Graham help her up. She stood with her hands on hips, breathing heavily, her side bleeding, the claw wounds hurting like fury.

  In the middle of the room, Eric and the tiger fought in a flurry of fur, claws, teeth, and snarls.

  “Eric, don’t kill him!” Iona shouted.

  “Are you crazy?” Graham asked. “That’s a feral—what’s he doing here?”

  “I’m not sure. I think…I think humans created him.”

  Graham stared at her, his gray white eyes luminous in the darkness. “Created him? What the fuck?”

  “I don’t know.” Iona dragged in a breath. “We need to keep him alive and get him out of here. I promised him.”

  Graham rolled his eyes. “Felines.” He shifted to his black wolf form and loped into the fight.

  Graham at first tried to pull apart the two snarling balls of wildcat, but he got knocked into a wall for his trouble. His wolf howled, then he sprang into the fight again, swatting and biting both leopard and tiger.

  A harsh scream rose from the tangle of Shifters, but it wasn’t the tiger. Iona heard the sound with her heart. The agony came from Eric, and she knew in that moment, without doubt, that her mate was going to die.

  Iona shifted back to panther and raced across the room, her own pain forgotten. She grabbed the tiger with her claws, and Tiger Man fought her, completely wild now.

  Graham went for Tiger Man’s throat and missed, the tiger landing Graham a spinning blow on the side of his head. Graham staggered, and Tiger Man went after him. But the distraction gave Iona enough time to drag Eric out of the middle of the fight.

  Eric’s leopard was in deep pain, his lips pulled back from his teeth in silent agony. His Collar was dormant, but Iona knew the pain came from inside himself.

  The humans here had been breeding Shifters to fight for them, Tiger Man had said. No Collars to stop them. But twenty years ago, they’d tried, with Eric, to find a way to control a Shifter with pain.

  Iona wasn’t sure if the researchers would consider Eric a success or a failure, but she didn’t care. She knew only that her mate was in pain, and that she’d die if she lost him.

  Iona, as her panther, lay down over Eric, desperately trying to warm him with her body. Eric’s eyes had clouded over, and she knew he couldn’t see or hear her. His fur was stifling hot and his heartbeat was way too fast.

  A band of iron squeezed Iona’s heart, pain beyond anything she’d felt in her life. If Eric died, she’d die too. She knew that with every breath she took.

  No.

  She rose, her limbs stiff with fury. Tiger Man was beating down Graham, Graham’s wolf fighting desperately, his black fur covered in blood.

  No.

  This was what it had been like in the wild, long ago, when Shifters had fought each other to the death for territory, mates, dominance. They’d also fought tooth and claw to protect each other.

  Eric was her mate. That meant Iona met any threat to him with violence, and didn’t stop fighting until that threat was dead.

  Tiger Man saw that in her eyes. Iona saw in his that he’d been bred to fight until every enemy in his path was slain.

  So be it, then. Iona attacked him. Tiger Man met her onslaught, as ready to kill as she was.

  Iona would drink of his blood and feast on his bones. She’d scatter his remains throughout her territory as a reminder to all who crossed it what she did to those who threatened the ones she loved.

  Iona fought, ripped, bit, pounded. She would kill, and it would feel so good.

  “Iona!”

  The voice was Graham’s, his harsh, hated wolf’s voice.

  Graham would be next. He’d threatened Eric’s leadership, he’d hurt Eric, and he needed to be eliminated. Iona would finish with the tiger, then tear off Graham’s head and lap up his blood.

  “Iona, stop!” Graham shouted. “Eric needs you.”

  Iona hesitated a split second, and in that second, the tiger got in a blow that stunned her. Iona’s rage returned, and she shifted into her half-human, half-panther form. Kill these males first, help her mate second.

  “He’s going to die.” Graham grabbed for her, but Iona spun out of reach. “He needs the touch of a mate. Shit.”

  Graham took two rapid steps backward as Iona fixed him with her enraged stare, ready to kill. Then she spun around and drove her claws into the tiger.

  “You’re going feral, woman!” Graham yelled at her. “Fight it!”

  No. Iona wanted to be wild. Free.

  No humans Collaring her, no Shifters telling her what to do. No following rituals and their rules—she’d kill everyone here and race away, no ties to any of them.

  Except Eric. She’d take him with her and cure him, and then he’d be hers. No one else would ever touch him again. She’d sequester him in a cave somewhere and have him all to herself. She was an alpha female, and no one and nothing would come between her and her mate and her freedom.

  “Holy Goddess, Iona.”

  Graham’s voice was like the buzz of an annoying mosquito. She’d swat it down when she was done with the tiger.

  Tiger was proving difficult to defeat, but she’d do it in the end. After that, Graham would be nothing.

  She heard, dimly, Eric get to his feet. She didn’t have time to rejoice that he was able to do so. Fight first.

  Blood. Kill. Defeat.

  “Iona.”

  Eric’s human voice was weak and full of pain. The pull of it made Iona turn to him, even as the Tiger drew back to strike her down.

  Iona saw Eric’s green eyes looking at her down the barrel of a tranq rifle. Before Iona could blink, the rifle popped, and a dart thunked into her chest.

  Iona stared at her mate, bewildered, the betrayal hurting more than the pinprick of the dart. “Eric,” she whispered, and then she collapsed.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Eric reloaded the tranq gun Graham had found as fast as he’d ever done anything, and shot the next dart straight into the tiger. The tiger roared and collapsed to the floor, but he didn’t fall unconscious.

  The tiger shifted instead into a large man, with an immensity that rivaled even Shane’s. He had a strong face covered with unshaved whiskers, eyes that remained golden yellow, and hair, while matted with blood, showing the orange and black s
treaks of a tiger.

  Eric stared at him a moment before another wash of pain cramped him. The tranq gun slid from his slack grasp, but Graham grabbed it, loaded another dart, and pointed the rifle at the tiger.

  “Who the fuck are you?” Graham demanded.

  The tiger remained slumped on the floor, watching them with angry eyes. “Twenty-three. I told her.”

  “She said humans…created you?”

  “Yes.”

  “How? How is that possible?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Eric barely heard them. He crawled to Iona, who’d reverted to human form in her slumber, her beautiful limbs tangled on the floor and covered with claw and bite marks.

  He’d seen her eyes before he’d shot her. Feral. His beautiful Iona. Eric had feared so much that her beast would take over, and now it had. Because she’d been fighting to protect him.

  He lay down beside her and gathered her into his arms, burying his face in her neck.

  Help me, love.

  The mate bond warmed him, and the pain receded the slightest bit. The touch of a mate, her scent, that’s what healed.

  He loved her, a love he’d fought and denied. Eric had told himself his craving for her was his mating hunger, or his loneliness, but he knew now that it was all her.

  He’d fallen in love with Iona the moment he’d seen her months ago, she sitting in the corner of Coolers in that sexy blue dress, impatiently tapping her straw into her slushy drink. Her lovely face, her lush black hair, and most of all her clear blue eyes had wrapped around him and stolen his heart.

  If Iona had taught him anything over the months, it was that true love wasn’t selfish. Iona had loved her mother and sister enough to hide her Shifter nature so they’d be safe from it. She’d fought her craving for Eric for them.

  When Eric had more or less forced Iona to accept entry into Shiftertown, she’d embraced his family without hesitation. She could have hated them, fought them, derided them for being what she didn’t want to become.

  But Iona had viewed them as individual beings and accepted them each for themselves. She’d loved his sister and his son, formed a camaraderie with Diego and Xav, and had willingly helped bring Cassidy’s daughter into the world.

  Iona had stood up to Graham, she’d protected Eric, and she’d been down here fighting like a demon in this strange human place. Fighting, protecting—not cowering in a corner in terror, as she had every right to.

  Eric loved her for all that, and also for her laughter, her quiet sense of humor, and her strength.

  He stroked her hair. “I love you, mate of my heart.”

  Iona’s eyes cracked open, the lovely blue untarnished by any feral red. “Eric?”

  “Love.” Eric laid his body over hers, trying to pour the warmth she’d given him back into her. He kissed her, her warm lips parting for his.

  “Eric.” Iona’s eyes widened in alarm. “Cassidy. She’s upstairs with Amanda. We have to help Twenty-three. The humans are doing some weird experiments, stealing DNA and things. We have to…”

  “Hush now.” Eric kissed her again, silencing her.

  “You shot me,” she said, a spark of anger in her eyes.

  “I had to, love. You were going feral.”

  Anger fled, and concern returned. “Are you all right? Is the pain still there?”

  Iona touched him as though searching him for hurts, even though her own body was bloody with claw wounds. But her touch stilled the throbbing pain inside Eric and, at the same time, brought one interested part of him to life.

  “I’m better,” he whispered.

  “Are we going to get the hell out of here anytime soon?” Graham asked from where he still trained the gun on the tiger.

  Iona struggled to sit up, pushing her long hair back from her face. “We have to take him with us. I promised.”

  The Tiger Man, still awake, regarded her with groggy eyes. His body was scored with dozens of deep gouges, but still he looked like he’d be willing to go another ten rounds.

  “You want to take him?” Graham asked. “What the fuck is he?”

  Iona got to her feet. Eric decided that watching her long legs unfolding in front of him, all the way to her fine, tight ass, was a wonderful thing. “He doesn’t deserve to stay here and be experimented on,” she said. “I came down here to free him, and I guess getting free triggered his fight-or-flight instinct.”

  “You think?” Graham growled.

  “She’s right.” Eric sat up, not minding being right next to Iona’s fine legs. “No Shifter deserves to be a guinea pig. He comes with us. Tranq him if he gets unruly.”

  “But what are you going to do with him? Take him to Shiftertown to steal our females and threaten our cubs?”

  “We’ll figure it out,” Eric said. “Have faith, Graham. Leaders need that.”

  Graham kept the tranq rifle firmly aimed at the tiger. “I swear to the Goddess, Warden, you are a piece of work.”

  “Argue later. Find Cassidy now. Where is she?”

  Iona reached down for him. “Upstairs. I’ll show you.”

  Eric’s heart lightened as he put his hand in hers and let her pull him to his feet. Mated. They’d help each other, always.

  “Bring him,” Eric said to Graham, the strength of command returning to his voice.

  “Whatever.” Graham scowled at the tiger. “We need to find some clothes to cover that semitruck between his legs.”

  The tiger growled as he got to his feet, but he was finished attacking, Eric saw in his eyes.

  Eric walked up to him. The tiger made another soft snarl, but Eric didn’t flinch. “We’ll help you, my friend. But you obey me.”

  The tiger looked down at him, as tall as any bear Shifter, a glint of defiance in his eyes. He pointed at Iona, never taking his gaze from Eric. “I follow her.”

  Eric felt momentary surprise, but then, it wasn’t so surprising. Iona had been seriously kicking his ass, she had promised to free him, and Tiger had heard Iona insist on making good on that promise. Small wonder this lone Feline would consider Iona his alpha.

  “Works for me,” Eric said lightly. “Iona, lead the way.”

  “And I follow you,” Graham said from behind the tiger. “With this.” He gave the tranq rifle a loving stroke.

  Tiger eyed him not in fear but irritation, and turned to let Iona lead them out.

  The building remained quiet as they followed Iona up the stairs. It was the middle of the night, yes, but the humans hadn’t stationed any guards on this building apart from the one outside the front door. The walls were thick, the basement deep, and apparently no sounds of their battle had reached the guard.

  Eric wondered. When he’d been brought to Area 51 for experiments, he’d not been in this building, but a smaller one, with plenty of humans and military guards swarming it. This was an old building that looked as though it hadn’t been used in a few decades, one guard, no backup, silence.

  Iona told them about the lab upstairs and the people she’d knocked out. She calculated about twenty-five minutes had passed since she’d done that.

  “How about we go up and tranq them?” Graham suggested. “Give us another hour or so?”

  “We get Cassidy first,” Eric said, a little distracted by the fine shape of Iona’s backside as she led them upward. “If Reid can take us all out of here quick enough, we might not have to worry about them.”

  Iona shot Eric a curious glance over her shoulder, not yet knowing about Reid’s gift. She said nothing, however, as she led them out of the stairwell into a deserted corridor. They reached a door with a broken handle, which Iona opened into a hospital room.

  Eric’s blood boiled hot when he saw his sister stretched out on a bed, her hands and feet shackled in place. A mound of clean suit on her chest emitted a little coo.

  “Eric!” Cassidy cried in relief, then her voice strengthened. “Let me out of here so I can kill whatever humans touched my cub.”

  Eric went quick
ly to her, leaning to embrace her in joy and relief. His embrace encompassed Amanda, who opened her infant eyes and burped.

  Cassidy relaxed under Eric’s touch, then she looked past him and stiffened. “What is that?”

  She lifted her head to study the tiger, who stood uncertainly halfway inside the room, Graham still fixing the rifle on him. Tiger Man’s gaze went to Amanda, and he drew a long, shuddering breath.

  “Cub,” he said, then his voice filled with sorrow. “They took mine.”

  “You had a cub?” Iona asked, shocked.

  The tiger nodded. “He died.” His gaze moved hungrily to Amanda again. “Can I see?”

  Graham’s hand tightened on the rifle. “Careful, Iona. Why did you bring him in here anyway?”

  “Because I think he can help break the bonds that hold Cassidy. Have you noticed how strong he is? He’s like a super Shifter.”

  “Come over here,” Eric told the tiger, who still looked at Amanda. “Stay sane, or Graham gives you two shots. Easier on me if you’re asleep.”

  The tiger man nodded. He came forward slowly, moving like a Shifter trying not to startle anyone. His golden-eyed gaze remained on Amanda, the sorrow on his face heartbreaking.

  Cassidy watched him come, expression guarded, but she was letting him. Iona followed, her fingertips on her lips, the compassion in her warring with her protectiveness. Eric knew that as much as Iona felt sorry for the tiger, if Tiger made one wrong move toward Amanda or Cass, Iona would be on him, probably even faster than Eric was.

  Tiger Man reached the table, stretched out one blunt finger, and touched Amanda’s downy hair. He swallowed, his eyes softening.

  “Can you break these?” Eric asked, touching a cuff.

  The tiger studied them, then he hooked his fingers under the metal and tore upward. Cassidy cried out in pain, then the cuff broke from its bolts and clanked to the floor. Cassidy snatched her hand away and shook it hard.

  “Thank you,” she breathed.

  She clenched her teeth while the tiger broke the other cuff, then the ones on her ankles. Cassidy sat up, cradling Amanda, anger making her strong.

  Eric put his arms around Cassidy again, lending whatever strength he could, then he kissed her, took up the equipment Xavier had given him, and started taking photos of the room.