by P. Jameson
She was missing a crucial piece of the puzzle here.
He drew in a long, deep breath, holding it in his lungs an obscene amount of time. When he let it out in a whoosh, all the expression leached from his face with it. Like a western wind sweeping a line in the sand away. The determined frown, gone, replaced by an expression so vulnerable it made her stomach ache.
Owyn’s eyes went wide, making him seem like a little boy, and he cocked his head in curiosity. Like he was seeing her in a new light. His mouth opened but no words came out. No defense of his people. Nothing.
Suddenly Cleaver was right beside her.
“It’s not what you think, Doc,” he said. “Owyn belongs to that clan I told you about. Remember? The mountain cats that don’t mate.”
Christina swung her head around to eye the falcon. She hadn’t believed him when he told her about the clan that didn’t take mates. It went against every shifter instinct not to mate. How could he be right about that?
Many times Cleaver had suggested she join the strange clan. He thought it was the best way to keep her safe from her future mate. But to her, it sounded ludicrous. Shacking up with an entire clan of males seemed counterproductive if she was aiming to avoid male cats.
“It’s the best place for her,” Cleaver said, his eyes saying more. It’s the best place for you.
Her gaze found Owyn’s, but he was still staring at her like he’d seen an apparition. Awestruck and almost… fearful.
“This true? Your clan doesn’t take mates like other cats?”
It took him a second to answer. “We don’t take mates at all. Ever.” His voice was rough like he’d swallowed rocks.
Christina crossed her arms, sizing up the situation like she would any potential trauma. This was the examination period, and if Owyn passed it… well, she and Tana might both have a new home.
“What happens if one of you changes your mind? If you decide you want to mate?”
He swallowed, his thick throat working and causing his tattoo to bob. “Won’t happen.”
“But if it does… what then?”
“Magic, our leader, he’d never allow it. If you met him, you’d see. Anyone who wants to mate has to leave. And even then, never against a female’s will. He’d kill a cat before he allowed a female to be forced into anything.”
Cleaver nodded. “It’s true, Doc. I know this leader. We have history.”
She narrowed her gaze at Owyn. “Your females are allowed to make their own decisions?”
He nodded once. “Always.”
“And your animals allow this? Your cats support this way of life?”
He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut with a clack of his teeth.
“Answer me. Do your cats fight this?”
“Sometimes,” he gritted. “But it doesn’t matter. We’re human as much as we are animal. And the animal listens when we command it. If we can’t control ourselves, we have a clan to hold us to it. But that’s never happened.”
“Yet,” she countered.
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Yet.”
Cleaver spoke in hushed tones even though they could all hear him.
“I think this is a good idea, Doc. For the both of you. Take the panther and go make a home in the mountains where your mate can’t find you.”
Christina stared at Owyn. His eyes flickered with unknown feelings on the matter. She couldn’t read him, but he’d answered her questions, and truthfully it seemed.
“This is your best chance, girl,” Cleaver whispered. “Tucked away in a shed behind a bar? That’s no home for you. No place for a smart female. And I couldn’t live with myself if I ever found you like this.” He gestured to the injured panther.
Damn it. Cleaver was making a case she couldn’t say no to.
Even if the Ouachita clan couldn’t live up to their promises, she’d be better off leaving the bar. Staying in one place too long would make her easy prey. She could take a chance on Owyn’s clan, and if they were full of shit, she’d find a way out. Cleaver and his bears would help her if there was ever need.
Shit. Okay. She was doing this.
“I can’t let her go alone. If you want Tana, I come with her,” she told Owyn.
Slowly he nodded. “Fine.”
“I’ll be ready to leave by morning.”
Chapter Five
Owyn stared at the doctor as she tucked a blanket around the female panther. Christina was her name. It fluttered around in his brain like a tempting little fairy. He wanted to say it out loud, test it out on his lips. Let his tongue feel the syllables.
She’s ours. She’s mine. My female. Want her.
His panther was right. The doctor was his mate.
When all the adrenaline left his system and the cat he’d found in the woods was safe, his senses returned. He’d scented the doctor properly in an attempt to figure her out, and the answer was like a brick to the face.
His mate, and she didn’t even realize it yet. Cleaver’s words burned in his memory. Take the panther and go make a home in the mountains where your mate can’t find you.
The doctor was hiding from her male. Hiding from the horrible future she envisioned with a werecat, not knowing she’d just agreed to live with him in a secluded lodge in the mountains.
Owyn had to tell her.
He had no intention of acting on their mating—he’d never break Magic’s pact, never ruin the beautiful doctor’s heart—but he had to tell her before she scented the connection herself.
No. His animal bristled. Mine. Keep her. Always.
She gathered her bags and walked over to talk to Cleaver. But Owyn wasn’t listening to what they said. Instead he cataloged her every move, the emotions playing out on her face. The way her hand worked to push a strand of hair behind her ear.
There was his female. The one meant for him. He was half in awe of her, half terrified.
He wanted to know everything about her. He wanted to know nothing.
He wanted to touch her, maybe on the cheek. He wanted to stay far away.
He wanted to alleviate her fears. He wanted to scare her off.
But most of all, he wanted to keep her safe. He wanted her secured at their lodge, under the protection of his clan.
Which meant he needed to tell her.
Owyn caught her as she was ducking behind the bar. “Can I have a word with you, doctor?” He glanced at the bears stationed near the pool table. “In private.”
Christina frowned, looking uncomfortable.
“Please,” he urged. “There’s something you need to know before you come with me.”
She seemed to measure him up, determining whether he was a threat. He’d learned one thing about his mate already. She was thoughtful. She didn’t make a move without first evaluating the situation.
“Yeah, okay,” she said. “In the kitchen.”
He followed her through the swinging door, and she stopped just inside, not giving him an inch more space than he needed.
Good mate. Good careful mate.
“What is it?” she asked, but her question stumped him.
Telling her what they were was easier in his mind. Saying it out loud seemed impossible.
He stared into her eyes, blue like the sky in summer. They were pretty.
What he wouldn’t give to be one of those bear bouncers out there. Or a wolf. Or hell, even a bird like Cleaver. Anything normal, with normal mating habits. Anything but a brutal werecat. To have the luxury of getting to know her, and making her fall in love with him, and then eventually marking her and starting a family with her.
What a fucking great life that would be.
But that wasn’t their fate.
“Scent me.” His voice was sharper than he’d intended.
“What?” The doctor pulled back a little, and he tempered his tone.
“You need to scent me, doctor.”
Her face contorted into a skeptical grimace. “Why? And if we’re going there, you need to quit ca
lling me doctor. Christina is fine. Or Doc.”
“Fine. Doc. I need you to take in my scent. Trust me, would ya.”
Her calculated gaze combed his face once more looking for warning signs. But when he leaned in slowly, crowding her space, she didn’t back away.
“The blood might’ve masked it,” he murmured. “Try my neck.”
“This is silly.”
“Please.”
Tentatively, she inched her face closer to his skin and he clenched his fists tight to keep from pulling her into him. He didn’t have that right. Wouldn’t ever.
So close her nose almost touched him, she inhaled slow and deep, dragging his scent into her lungs. He held his breath, unable to fathom how she’d react.
Doc exhaled, her heat skating over his skin like a blessing. Shit, he wanted her in his life. Wanted her to trust he wouldn’t hurt her.
Again, she drew in a breath, stilted and stiff this time. As if she wasn’t sure of what she now knew and needed a confirmation. Owyn stood, stock still, waiting for her, praying she didn’t see him as the threat she’d been running from, but rather a person of worth.
She jerked back, her eyes wide and skeptical. Her head shook back and forth in denial, and he could see it there in her gaze.
The terror.
The defeat.
It looked all wrong on her. This wasn’t the doctor who’d skillfully put the broken panther back together. This was a frightened shell of that female.
She took a step backward, bumping into the counter. Her bag fell off her shoulder in the process, and made a loud thud on the floor. Owyn reached to pick it up.
“No,” she breathed. “You stay back. You stay right there. Don’t come any closer.”
“I won’t hurt you.” Maybe if he came right out and said it, she’d hear the truth in his voice. Maybe that’s all it would take.
She swallowed so hard there was an audible gulp. “You’re my mate?” she whispered.
Stay calm. Answer her questions. Show her what you are.
“Yes.”
“No,” she argued, shaking her head. “No. This can’t be. I’ve been so careful. How did you find me?”
Owyn frowned. “I wasn’t looking. I came here to mourn my friend and then got snarled in this fucking lover’s spat. I wasn’t hunting you.”
“Y-you’re lying. You got me to agree to go with you to your clan. You… you set this up.”
What the hell? What did she think, that he had some elaborate plan with that asshole lion to bring his female to the doctor so he could finagle her over to the Ouachitas? It was absurd. She wasn’t thinking clearly or she’d see how crazy that was.
Owyn shook his head, trying to remain calm.
“You’re wrong, Doc. I didn’t know who you were until after you were done sewing up the panther. My animal was too panicked to scent you. This wasn’t on me. None of this was on me.”
She kept shaking her head, her eyes going wider and wider until it looked like they must hurt. “I can’t trust you. I can’t… I can’t…”
“Woman, listen to me,” he demanded. “Hear what I’m saying. I won’t hurt you. I would never hurt my female. I thought I made that clear out there, while we were working. Nothing’s changed except now you know you’re mine.”
Whatever he said straightened her spine like she’d experienced a jolt of electric shock. “I’m not yours. I belong to no one but myself.”
Owyn snapped his mouth shut, absorbing the sting of her swift denial. Of course he never intended on making her fully his, but still, hearing it from her lips wounded his panther.
And she didn’t leave it at that. “I’ll never belong to a male like you. Mating is not something I ever want for myself. Am I making myself clear? Because if you try anything like the lion did, Cleaver’s bears will be on you so fast—”
“I wanted you know before you left with me to the Ouachitas. I didn’t want you feeling trapped. I could’ve waited until later, but you deserved to know so you could make an informed decision.” He got the words past his throat even though he was having a hard time breathing.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
He swallowed hard, looking away. She’d set her boundaries. Never mating. Never his. Not going anywhere with him.
She thought he was a monster, no matter what he’d done tonight to save a stranger.
He nodded, rubbing his hands together and wishing the blood was gone.
“Your decision. But just so you know, mating isn’t for me either. It’s why I took Magic’s pledge. I have no intention of breaking it.”
“What pledge?”
“To be part of the clan, you must pledge to forgo mating. Each of us have, and you and Tana will too.” He hesitated. “If you decide to come.”
“I can’t trust you,” she repeated, and it reaffirmed everything he knew about feline unions. They never worked out. Mandi couldn’t trust Magic, and it cost her life. Trust was the thing missing from the equation. The females were too suspicious and the males were too careless.
“I know,” he said, meeting her horrified gaze. “Even if I haven’t given you a reason not to.”
“I need to think. I need you to go.”
Owyn nodded. “Yeah. I know. I’m leaving at dawn. The choice is up to you. The clan is safe. I am safe. There’s a home for you there if you want it, and it doesn’t come with the price of mating.”
He turned to leave.
“If I say no… what about Tana?”
Owyn glanced over his shoulder. “I’m taking the female with me. It’s the safest place for her. Cleaver isn’t wrong about that. I promise you, she’ll be treated like a queen.”
With that, he walked away from his mate, not knowing if it would be the last time he ever saw her.
Chapter Six
Now…
Owyn pressed the phone to his ear, striving for patience as the line rang.
This was a bad idea.
He and Tana might love each other like brother and sister, but their relationship was a hard one.
Until she’d mated the wolf, Surge, and moved away, they’d done more fighting than anything else. No matter how grateful she was for what Owyn had done for her that night at Cleaver’s, her animal saw him as the person who’d killed her mate and was conflicted about her feelings on the matter.
But the new mating had changed things. They’d grown closer even with the extra miles between them. And there was no one else he could talk to about this. If Tana couldn’t help him, he’d have to wing it.
But shit, Doc deserved better than some fumbling idiot’s attempt at courting her. He had to get this right.
The ring cut off and a deep voice passed through the line. “Yo, cat. Wasssssup?”
It was Surge, Tana’s mate. Not the person he was expecting.
“Dog,” he said as a greeting. “Looking for Tana. She around?”
“Mmmm. Maybe. What do you want her for?”
Owyn rolled his eyes at his bro-in-law’s tone. Surge was a joker by nature. Playful and generally up to no good. The kind of male Tana would never be interested in. Which made their union all the more fascinating. But he was a good male. He took good care of his female and their young, Gracie. Most importantly, he made Tana happy. For that, he had Owyn’s respect.
“I need her uh… advice on a personal matter.” Owyn kept his voice low even though he was in the safety of his own cabin. Shifters had big ears, and none of them needed to hear what he was saying.
“Personal matter, huh?” Surge mused. “What kind of personal matter?”
“None of your fucking business, ya dick. Put Tana on.”
“But see, that’s the thing. It’s totally my business. Everything to do with my mate is my business. So when you say personal, it’s like… if there are weird spots on your ass and you need to ask her what you should do about it. My business. Or if you can’t decide how to shave your face. Disposable or straightedge. My business. Or whether or not you shou
ld have a mustache—that’s a no, by the way—and you think Tana can clear that up for you. My business. See what I mean, cat?”
Owyn took a breath to answer but stopped when Surge said, “Hey! I wasn’t done with that!”
“Hello?” Tana’s snappy voice, a bit breathless, came through the receiver. “Owyn?”
He sighed. “Yeah, it’s me.”
“What’s wrong?” He could practically picture the crease forming between her dark eyebrows as she asked the question.
“Nothing exactly. I was just looking for some uh, female input.”
“Oh.” An awkward silence filled the space. “Owyn, are things okay over there? Have you guys had anymore trouble from Gash’s old clan?”
“No, no. There’s been nothing else from those assholes.”
“What about hunters?”
“No, Tana. It’s nothing like that.”
“It’s just… it’s not like you to call like this.”
Owyn frowned. “I call you all the time.”
“Yeah, but not like this. Not all apprehensive and shit. Tell me what’s wrong.”
“It’s Doc,” he blurted.
“What about her?”
He could hear the fear in Tana’s voice. She and Doc were close, being females taken into the clan at the same time. Not to mention that Doc had saved her life and helped her through the trauma of being infertile because of the bastard who’d attacked her.
But it wasn’t whatever Tana might be thinking.
Owyn tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling. Shit. He was fucking this up.
“I need to know how to win her over.”
The line was quiet for so long he had to check the screen to make sure they weren’t been disconnected.
“What do you mean, win her over? What the hell, Owyn?”
“Exactly what I said. I need to know how to… to… win her. How to make her love me.”
More silence. He was starting to get annoyed by it. If Tana thought he was crazy, she could just say it. She’d never hid her true feelings about him before.
“You know what, never mind,” he rushed out. “I’ll just—”
“Did I miss something? Are you and Doc… are you…? When did you two…?”
