by Aliyah Burke
She could make out Keane’s breathing as labored but the man never faltered and she wouldn’t want to be in his way for their exit. As they entered the main area, she faced forward once more and moved up beside Keane, bringing the boy with her, so he remained protected by the two of them.
“You’ve got the back, leopard. The cub will be in the front, staying low.”
He gave a nod but didn’t speak.
She wanted to order him to shift to speed the healing process but figured that would be pushing her luck a bit much. He wasn’t a beta or an omega and she had no control or say over what he did.
At the driver’s side, he went through first and into the back. She waited for the cub to climb over into the passenger side, only then did she get in. Gaze locked with the large Komodo shifter across from her, she started the engine.
He flashed fangs at her and she returned the gesture. The wolf within her longing to go kill another but both of their need to ensure that Keane was okay, and by association, the boy, she kept her seat and drove out. No one stopped her but she had no doubt they would be after them.
Back on the road, she asked her Jimmy for more speed, determined to get them farther away from danger before they stopped. Cutting her gaze to the thin cub she gestured for him to sit up and buckle up. Then she looked in the rearview. Keane waited for her, leopard in his gaze. She dug into her pants and tossed him her phone.
He snatched it with a slight wince. She felt bad that she’d not had time to bandage up his injuries. Either of them, but right now, it was pertinent they get away. Far from that group there.
Without looking away from the road, she leaned to her right and opened the glove box for the cub. There was dried mix packets in there. Not what he needed but it would be better than nothing.
“You’re wolf,” he said, unable to disguise the fear and loathing in his tone.
“I am. Eat. You need to heal.”
“Why? So you can just torture me more?”
This time she looked at him. “I don’t torture cubs. But if you want to get out, I will stop right here and let you out.”
“He’s not going anywhere.” Keane’s statement was determined and unyielding.
“Or perhaps you’d be happier in the back and he can sit up here with me.”
“Get some food and come back here, cub. I’ll ride with her. You get some rest.” Another command and one that the boy followed.
It didn’t take long and Keane was beside her once more, no shoes, pants torn and bleeding but at least he was alive.
“You and I need to have a discussion as well, canine.”
This time his rumble was personal and she felt it all the way to her clit.
“I have a spot not to far that we can hole up while you two rest.” That’s all she could give him at the moment.
“Good.” He angled into the back and tossed the boy another packet of food. “Eat it all.”
“Don’t give him to much, if he’s not had a lot, he doesn’t need to be sick.”
“How did you know where to find me?”
She shook her head, not ready to have that talk right now. “Get some rest, leopard. We have about three hours to go.”
With muttered grumbling, he adjusted his seat and closed his eyes. “Just so you don’t think I’m ungrateful, canine, thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” Even as the words left her lips, she couldn’t help but smile the tiniest bit.
The next three hours passed without incident and she pulled into one of her safe houses that she had. Unless you knew what to look for you could walk right by without even knowing it was there. She backed up beside the house and waited for the two of them to get out, then she covered the vehicle after filling up from one of her extra canisters of gasoline she traveled with.
“Go on in. There’s a shower in the back, a bit rustic but it works.”
The cub went in first, steps unsure and hesitant. Her heart went out to him, she got what that was like and hated to see anyone else with that look in their eyes. This time when she moved by Keane, he shifted at the last moment, ensuring they touched.
Everything within her flared to life and need rocked her so hard, her vision wavered. The look in his eyes told her he’d experienced it as well. The worry and anger in his eyes had switched to passion and desire.
As she sent the boy out back to clean up first, she went to her closet and dug through the piles of clothing she had there. Pulling out some things she figured would fit him, she stacked them and searched for some shoes. Tora also located new clothing for Keane. She gave the piles to Keane and gestured out back for him to go. He did after another long, lingering look.
Then she focused on food. They had to be starving. She’d been after Keane for three days and from the looks of things, the child had been having a worse time of it, for a lot longer. Raw meat would probably be the best for him, but perhaps to much for him. She wasn’t sure when the last time he shifted was.
She slapped the steaks on the grill after it heated and figured something a bit cooked may be better accepted by his system. The back door opened and in walked the cub. His golden skin clean but still bore marks of his abuse. He pierced her with his one blue eye.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Food will be ready soon. I wasn’t sure how much meat they allowed you to have and I don’t want you sick. If you feel full or uneasy stop eating. We won’t take it from you but you may need to slow down.”
He stopped about fifteen feet away, still watching her.
“Come sit down.”
“You’re wolf.”
“You’ve said that before, cub. I can’t keep calling you that. What is your name?”
“Nahuel.” He came a bit closer until he finally sat at the table.
“I’m Tora.”
“I heard him call you that.”
“Who was he?”
“I don’t know, he never gave his name. What are you going to do with me?”
“I’m not going to do anything with you.” She flipped the steaks, searing them and grabbed two plates. Moments later, she put a plate with silverware in front of him and one more plate before the vacant chair. When she stepped back, she found his blue eye on her once more.
“You aren’t eating?”
“I think it best I leave you two cats to talk a bit without a female wolf around.” She gestured to the door where Keane stood, hair still wet and looking delicious. “I’ll be back.” While the words were directed to Nahuel, she didn’t look from Keane. He gave her a small nod and she slipped out then shed her human form and took off, grateful for the earth beneath her paws once more.
αβ
Keane leaned against the outside of the house and waited for his wolf to return to him. she’d been gone for two hours and while logically he had no reason to fear for her safety, given what they’d just gone through, he wanted to be able to touch her. More than just a glancing moment of skin on skin.
The forest had begun to settle down for the night, the day creatures getting ready to rest and the nocturnal beings about and exploring. There never seemed to be a shortage of animals around her place and he found that odd but just then her scent filled his nose and he straightened up, just as she walked from the thick thatch of trees surrounding them.
Need poured from him as he stepped forward to meet her. Keane didn’t stop and didn’t ask her for permission, just reached out, sank his hands into her short hair and kissed her. He thrust his tongue deep into her mouth, searching all he could reach.
She reached around his neck and pushed into him, he got the hint and lifted her so she could wrap her legs around him. Content she wasn’t going anywhere, he walked her back up to the cabin and pressed her against the wall.
Tongues twining and fingers touching all they could, his cock was harder than steel when he pulled back.
“Don’t you ever fucking do that again,” he growled, bucking his hips into her, allowing her to feel how hard he was fo
r her.
Her eyes shone in the darkening twilight and his order was countermanded by a growl of her own. “Then maybe you shouldn’t get captured so I wake up feeling your pain.”
He froze. “What did you say?”
“You heard me. Put me down.”
He listened and she went to sit on the single step. Keane joined her.
“You felt my pain?”
“Woke me from a dead sleep, angry and scared.”
Keane angled his body and drew her into between his legs, her back at his chest. “You do realize what this means, right, Tora?”
“For whatever reason you’ve come to mean something to me.”
He waited for her joke tone or some laughter to follow that statement but none came. It hit him, she still didn’t get they were mates. How can she not see this?
“How did you find me?”
“Your bike.”
He furrowed his brow. Pushing one hand back into her hair, he closed his eyes as the soft strands moved over his skin. He could see her because of his leopard’s eyes but this way he could recall her in the daylight as well.
“My bike?”
“I tracked the oil. You have a unique blend in your bike. I remembered it from when we first met.”
God fucking damn it my woman is incredible.
“And had I not been there when you found it?”
“They would have told me where you were, or who gave them the bike. Then that person would have told me.”
There went that lieutenant edge to her tone that got him horny as fuck. His cock pushed hard against the jeans he’d put on after cleaning up. “What is this place and why do you have other men’s clothing here?”
“It’s a safe house that I use when I’m helping shifters escape bad situations. I have all kinds of clothing here. Any age or sex.”
“And Casimir knows you do this?”
“He set it up for me.”
“Well fuck.”
“What?”
“I may actually have to like him.”
“A lot of people do once they get over being scared of him.”
“Never said I was scared of him, canine.”
She burrowed under his chin and he wrapped his arms around her. God help him, he wanted to fuck her until she drew blood on his back and cried his name to the stars above but he knew that wasn’t going to happen. Not with a cub nearby. She wouldn’t allow herself to lower her guard that much. So he would take this willingly.
“What did you learn about the cub?” Protectiveness in her voice again.
Anger unfurled in his gut and he got to his feet, still holding his woman close. “Inside.”
Once there, he carried her to the small living room and put her on the couch, still tucked against him. Keane couldn’t get enough of how she curved into him, sharing her heat and body with him. She was exposed like this and the trust she had for him, humbled.
“He had been taken with his younger brother. He’d tried to defend and protect him but they killed him to show him he couldn’t protect anyone.”
She growled and he understood. His own leopard wanted vengeance for Nahuel.
“After that, they took his eye as well. I don’t understand why they took him. He’s not leopard, but jaguar. They tortured him just for fun. Taking him with as they moved other young ones.” He shook his head. “Before I was taken, I was with a man who spoke about a lynx shifter who deals with slavery of our kind.
“Ryan Harkin.”
“You know the name?” Keane was shocked.
“I’m well acquainted with the scum bastard.” Her wolf leaked free and he held her tighter.
“Why don’t more people know of him and why would my Alpha want to do business with him?”
“He’s good at covering his tracks but I can’t speak for your Alpha. Have you called him?”
“No. I was waiting for you.”
“I said I would be back. He’s leery of wolves and given what was around him, I don’t blame him. I didn’t want him to be more scared.”
“I explained to him you can be trusted. He knows he can depend on you to keep him safe.”
He knew questions raged within her but he set her off him to the cushion beside him instead of answering any more.
“I’m going to take your phone and call my Alpha.” Standing, he bent so Tora was blocked between him and the sofa. “Stay here, Tora.”
“It’s night. Where would I go?”
“That’s what I thought the night you ran from me. I thought, it’s night, where would she go but I woke up alone. Don’t make me come looking for you. I’ll be back shortly.”
He claimed one more kiss before walking to the door and opening it, her phone still in his possession.
“How do you know he will trust I can keep him safe?”
He shut the door on her question and had just stepped off the porch when he heard Nahuel’s young voice. “He said you were his mate.”
I’m going to have some explaining to do when I get back.
Part of him knew he had to address this as soon as possible but he also had to let his Alpha know what happened.
He brought up the phone and heard someone say, “Hello?”
It took a second before he realized he’d just accepted a call and it was her Alpha, Casimir Lars, on the other end.
“Tora isn’t available right now, Casimir.”
“Cat,” the word was spat.
“I hear my friend is doing well despite carrying your seed.” The two may have battled together but they didn’t like one another. Although, for their love of Dyana, they would tolerate each other.
“Where is my lieutenant? And why are you answering her phone? Are you the reason she’s been unavailable for a few days?”
“We ran into a bit of trouble but she’s fine. I hate to cut this short, but I have to fill my Alpha in on an orphaned cub we found who’d been tortured and abused.”
His leopard bared it’s teeth at the dangerous growl emerging from Casimir Lars even though it wasn’t in his direction. No one in the shifter world would think that Casimir Lars was a pushover. The man’s reputation for killing first and asking questions second was well known. Hell, it’s part of the reason their Clan had waited so long to work with them, even though Tora came down to help them for a bit prior to the truce now being struck.
“Tell her to call me as soon as she can.”
“Yes sir.”
There were times to play and mess with him and there times where the respect was deserved, this was a time for respect. He hadn’t been lying, if Casimir had set this up for her, then he knew more about this woman and wanted to do what he could to help Tora and that made him good in Keane’s book. He didn’t have to worry about any romantic feelings there, it wasn’t like that between Tora and Casimir. Hell, he didn’t think another person existed on this earth who could turn that wolf’s head now that Dyana was in his life.
Not too much later he was explaining everything that had happened to his Alpha.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, Alpha. My injuries are healing fine.”
“And the cub?”
“Seems extremely resilient for what he’s gone through. Not sure about deeper scars but, he needs to be somewhere he will be safe and protected.”
“Bring him home.”
Keane flicked his tongue over his lips. “He’s jaguar.”
Among their kind, jaguars were the hot heads of the felines. Unpredictable and with hair triggers. Even the leopards tended to give them a wide berth.
“He’s a cub and he needs a clan. Bring him.”
“I will.” He cleared his throat. “One other thing.”
“Only one?”
He smiled briefly before continuing. “When they had me, they made reference to loyalties being tested and that they were looking for eagles. And let’s not forget the Komodo dragon shifter.”
Silence on the line.
“Did you say Komodo shifter
?”
“Yes. He was the one who was going to be questioning me. Huge man.”
“You three need to get here as fast as you can.”
“Her Alpha wants to talk to her, he may want her home.”
“I’ll deal with him, get here. Leave right away in the morning.”
The line went dead.
Lifting his head, he inhaled deeply of the fresh crisp night air. Dawn was a few hours away and they had to be moving. He made his way back to the cabin and stepped inside where one light glowed as Tora came into view.
She held his gaze, one eyebrow went up.
“Mate?”
Chapter Six
Tora needed him to say something, not just stand there and stare at her as if he wanted to eat her up. From the instant in time Nahuel had stated that, her mind wouldn’t stop whirling around. Surely if that were possible, she would know. And wouldn’t her mate be another wolf instead of a leopard?
“We have to leave right away at dawn, my Alpha wants us back there.”
“If you’re planning on leaving, I suggest you start talking because I don’t know what the fuck you were thinking tossing out that word and walking out on me.”
He held up his hands, moving in cautiously. “To be fair, I didn’t tell you, I told him.”
“You know damn well you heard it when he said it to me and don’t try to push this off on a cub. You were the one who told him.”
“I had to get him to trust you. I need him to know you can be trusted and that he should listen to you if I’m not there.”
“Don’t you think you should have spoken to me about this ridiculous mate thing?” Her heart thundered within her chest.
Keane drew up as if she’d slapped him. Eyes going leopard, he fairly leapt the rest of the distance to her. Instinctively, she shifted her weight in case a fight was imminent. It wasn’t meant anything against him, just natural for her.
“It’s not ridiculous. You, Tora, are my mate and we’re going to have to figure this out as we go but it’s not crazy and if you’ll think about it, you’re going to see I’m right.”
