Six just nodded his head and kept coming toward me. “What was that?” I asked when he was closer.
“Kitty’s an empath. He reads emotions as if they were billboards. He was letting me know your emotional state.”
“You could just ask.” I rolled my eyes when he pulled me in for a hug.
“And you would’ve said you’re fine, which you aren’t.” I felt him breathe in deeply before rubbing his head against mine, his lips brushing briefly over my hair. It was a cat thing, a sign of affection. I didn’t know much about cat shifters, but I knew from my trips to the zoo when I was younger that the big cats always showed affection by rubbing their heads against each other.
“How do you know me so well?” I breathed him in and took comfort in his strength.
“Psychic, remember?” I could hear the grin in his voice.
“I thought I was your blind spot.”
“The mate bond changes things; can’t you feel it?” He wrapped my ponytail around his fist and pulled my head back to look down into my face.
Yes, I could feel it, though I had no idea what it meant for my gift and him. I wouldn’t be finding out, though. I was just going along with him being immune to my gift still because I wouldn’t be using it on him. That was a promise I made to myself, and I only broke it once when I used my gift on my mom as I left. When I figured out what I could do, I’d promised myself that I would never use my gift on someone I loved.
“I can feel the bond. I just didn’t know it changed the effect I had on your gift.”
“It did. I’ll tell you what I saw later.” He kissed my forehead. “But now, I need you to help get us ready for war.”
94
Six
The sun was just setting, Twistie had spent hours this afternoon telling us as much as she could about her skulk. I’d been surprised at the number she’d given me. Her skulk had double the number our club had, but I wasn’t worried. Our cats were mean motherfuckers when you messed with one of ours. Twistie was one of ours now.
I’d had a fight on my hands, making her understand why she couldn’t come with us. I didn’t need the distraction for one, but also, I couldn’t run the risk of Malcolm trying to take her hostage or worse. She would make us all vulnerable, so I needed her to stay.
We had our plan in place to infiltrate their den, which Twistie called the compound. We were hanging back, coming in from the northwest side, which Twistie said was less populated and had lighter patrols. Nobody would’ve come up on the compound from that direction because the boundary was a deep section of the Guadalupe River.
“I’m going up the road in my human form, Oz and Serafina, y’all are with me. I want everyone else to surround the compound already shifted. I will give this son of a bitch one chance to let Twistie’s mom go. I doubt he will take it. Except for the women and the children, we take them all down. Every fucking one of those bastards dies, but Malcolm and his son are mine.”
I could barely feel my injury from the night before. The salve Twistie put on it, coupled with my shifter healing, left only a dull throbbing ache running down my back, but that pain paled in comparison to the rage churning inside me.
My club knew what to do. This wasn’t our first dance with the devil, and Malcolm hardly fit that description. He was a man with an ax to grind. An abuser. A coward. He proved he could take his anger out on a female shifter and a human woman, but I was going to see how he measured up against another man—another alpha. The odds were in my favor, but even if they weren’t, losing wasn’t an option.
We split up, far enough from the compound where my club could shift and get close undetected. Oz and Serafina joined me at the gate. They had a young guy with attitude and anger issues guarding the entrance. He was full of himself and overly confident from the way he looked down his nose as we approached.
“The Dark Leopards coming here? What the fuck do you want?”
“Malcolm’s mate, the one he keeps locked up. I want her.” Not a full lie, I wanted Twistie’s mom, but I wanted Malcolm’s life, too. I would take both.
The little shit laughed and placed a call. Not surprisingly, Malcolm’s men started filing out of the compound. When I saw him, my blood boiled; I recognized the asshole. He’d been sniffing around our chop shop a couple of months back. It was clear he knew dick about bikes and had no reason to be there, so I sent him on his way.
“Well, isn’t this a surprise.”
“Is it really.” It was a statement more than a question. We both knew he knew exactly why I was here. Even if the little shit he had standing guard hadn’t told him over the phone.
“No. I guess not.” He dropped the pretense and the fake smile. His voice deepened, and his anger showed through. “I guess my bitch of a step-daughter did find her mate after all. I can smell her pussy on you from here. Should’ve broken her in myself when I had the chance.”
He laughed when I took a step forward, and Oz had to hold me back. It was his signal that not everyone was in place yet. He was keeping tabs on them through his thoughts. It’s why I’d kept him with me.
“She’s my mate, you fuck, and you will never talk about her like that again or I’ll rip your fucking throat out.”
He just laughed. “You’re outnumbered, cat. You won’t get a chance to touch
