“Might as well come in and join the party, cat,” he orders. Padding inside the open doorway, Ernesto’s eyes widen as he straightens. Jay tightens his hold on Molly and takes a step back.
“What the hell is this? You have a pet tiger?” Ernesto wheezes out, fear pouring out of him.
“You dumb fuck. You have no idea who you’re fucking with. No, I don’t have a pet tiger,” he mocks. “Shift cat,” he barks out. My cat roars his displeasure, the sound reverberating off the walls, showering us in dust. “Shift or I’ll end her now.”
Fur recedes as bones crack until I’m standing on two feet, chest heaving.
“What the hell are you?” Jay whispers from across the room.
“Let her go.” I snarl.
“Nice of you to join the party, Cat.”
“How the hell did you even this find this place?”
“Oh, a little bird told me. A little red bird,” he cackles.
“Fucking Cherry. Bitch’ll wish she was never born when I get my hands on her.”
“Don’t worry about the whore. She got what she had coming,” he smiles manically, running his tongue over his teeth. “This makes things easier.” Shifting his aim to the left, the wolf pulls the trigger.
“No!” My heart drops as both Molly and Jay falls to the ground, his massive body covering her. I lunge at the wolf, claws extended as he spins toward me, fangs bared, muzzle elongating as he shifts. Blood and fur flies as claws and fangs meet flesh. I snarl, swiping my paw across his muzzle, snapping his head to the side. Pain slashes through my flank, blood coating my fur, turning the orange brown as his claws dig deep. My paw smashes into his side, sending him skidding across the dirt with a yelp.
“Enough!” A shot sounds in the room, keeping me from leaping onto the downed wolf.
Turning my eyes meet the frightened gaze of Molly as Ernesto holds a gun to her head. Tears track down her cheeks, leaving tracks in the dirt covering her face. “Let her go,” I growl.
“And why would I do that?” Ernesto chuckles.
The wolf staggers to his feet with a whine, but my attention remains on the man threatening my mate. Pebbles and loose dirt scrabble under the wolf’s paws as he rushes me, maw gaping open as he aims for my throat. As he reaches me, I roll, raking my claws deep from his neck to his groin. Hot blood splashes onto my face, the smell of his guts making my stomach rumble. He lands in the dirt with a thud, blood pooling beneath him as his lungs rattle with his last breath. My cat grumbles in satisfaction at the dead wolf. Molly’s frightened cry captures my attention. Ernesto’s arm clamps around her chest, gun digging into the fragile skin of her temple, making her wince. Changing back to human, I stalk closer.
“I told you to let her go.”
“Fuck you freak.” Ernesto pulls the gun away from Molly and aims at me. The trigger is pulled, muzzle flashing with the exit of the bullet. Pain sears deep in my chest as Molly screams. Still, I keep going. One, two, three more shots fire before I reach the couple. My arm extends, claws at the ready, and I strike. The soft flesh of his neck disintegrates beneath the sharpness of my claws, muscle, bone and cartilage cleaving his head from his body.
My legs grow weak and my vision blurs. The last thing I see is Molly rushing towards me as darkness falls.
158
Molly
Kellen rushes towards me as the man holding me points the gun in his direction. Blood and gore coat his head and shoulders. Light glistens off the blood coating his dark claws. Kellen’s body flinches as easy bullets pierce his flesh, but his eyes are intent on reaching us. His arm sweeps over my head and I’ll never forget the sound as they cut through the guy's neck. The arm clutching me loosens as he falls away. Kellen’s eyes shudder as he sinks to his knees, his life’s blood running in thick rivulets down his chest.
“Kellen!” My feet slip on the dirt as I reach for him. His amber eyes dim as they roll back in his head as he leans to the side.
“No!’
My hands run over his chest, four wounds bleeding profusely. His shallow breaths are barely noticeable. “No, no, no. Don’t you do this to me, damn it. You promised,” I wail as I hit his chest with my hands. Thundering footsteps reach me as Wraith and Kid clear the doorway.
“Oh shit,” Kid whispers as he focuses on us.
“Help him please,” I plead. My breath catches when I no longer feel Kellen’s chest move.
“Move,” Wraith orders pulling me off Kellen and handing me off to Kid.
“Slash, damn it. You need to shift,” Wraith’s voice deepens, a tone I’ve never heard before as he speaks to Kellen. “Shift now.”
Fur sprouts on Kellen’s arms, slowly covering his torso. It’s not fast like his normal shift, but slow and painful. Each bone cracks and reforms. Muscles stretch reshaping the man I’m coming to love into his tiger. Kellen heaves a sigh as the tip of his tail flicks up off the ground.
“Will he be okay?” I murmur.
“He should be now that Wraith made him shift. He’ll heal that way. It may take a few days. We’ll get Doc to take a look at him and get those bullets out before he heals over them.”
“Oh shit,” Kid whispers looking over the table.
“What? What now?”
“I think that’s,” he swallows hard, eyes closing tight, “Cherry. Or what’s left of her.”
A couple of days later, I find myself in Wraith’s quaint little cabin out in the middle of nowhere. Kellen has finally shifted back into his human self. Doc had said with the severity of his injuries he would stay as
