“Oh, he spilled everything,” Trick chuckles happily and Roark nods. “Too bad he didn’t know enough.”
“Please, I didn’t want to take her!” he pleads when I draw the cold metal down the opposite side of his face. “He threatened my family. My children.” Tears stream down his face and my instincts tell me he’s telling the truth.
Roark nods, confirming my suspicions. “Howlerz verified his story. Apparently, they live north of the river on the edge of their territory. Seems our boy here was behind on his mortgage payments so Dick and Dupree offered to forgive his debt if he helped them with a delivery.”
“It’s true! I had no idea the delivery was a woman,” he begins chattering on about trucks and banks and a few other things that don’t make sense.
“Shut up!” his boss yells as he lunges at us. X lands a hard punch to his face knocking him out cold as blood runs from his nose.
“Lucky for you, then,” I tell the man when he stops talking. Circling him thoughtfully, I ponder what to do with him, glancing at the boss. My beast wants retribution on everyone who harmed my woman, but I can’t be too hasty in disposing of them. There may be other uses we need them for.
“Find Billingsworth and give him a warning,” I tell the scared shifter kneeling before me, held upright by X. “You tell him I’m coming, and not even death can save him.”
I jerk my head for him to be released and he falls at my feet when his legs fail to support him. Stooping down to grab his chin in my fingers I give one final instruction. “You make sure he knows The Hacker is coming.”
He nods furiously in agreement. “Do that and then take your family far away from Michigan. If I ever see you again, I’ll make sure you join him,” I jerk my head toward Dupree.
“Yes. Yes, yes, yes,” he repeats.
X looks to Roark who opens the door and lets another enforcer inside. “Take his sorry ass outta here and make sure he does what he’s told. I want confirmation he’s left the state.”
“Bet.” They escort him out of the room, leaving the three of us with a knocked out Henri.
I turn to our unconscious prisoner, the fuel of my hatred, and look him over.
“You good, brother?” X asks when all I do is give Henri a sick, twisted smile.
“Never better.”
360
Larken
Fear. Anger. Panic. Rage.
Fear. Anger. Panic. Rage.
Over and over, raw emotions are pounding me, surrounding me in a tidal wave I can’t swim out of. As the massive wave of them crashes over me, my lungs feel as if they will explode. My throat tightens and I can’t breathe and my hands feel as if they are clasped in irons, too heavy to claw at the constricting of my airway.
Panicked, desperate, I allow myself to shift, my cat screaming as she springs forth, teeth bared and hissing at the unseen force of the emotions that threaten to drown me. With her heightened senses, I smell the air around me and feel some of the wave of panic begin to recede. We smell them...our mates, the leopard and the man.
“Safe,” She purrs through our mind, “we are home, we are safe.”
“But we are alone,” I tell her, leaping off the bed to pace the room. Sensing someone standing outside the door, I know he is someone Haught has left to protect me. I sniff the air again and feel my hackles raise. “I do not want him there. I want Haught.”
“Yes,” my cat purrs through my mind. “Want him. Want our mate. Want him now!”
Agreeing wholeheartedly with her, I scream again. I’ll wake everyone in the place to get what I want.
The door opens and I immediately hiss and growl at the man at the door. He holds a hand up to show he’s a friend; I snap at him.
“Larken,” he says, standing still as I continue to snarl at him, “It’s me, Trick. Everything is okay, I’m not here to hurt you.”
I hiss and snap at him again when he tries to step further into the room. He is Haught’s friend, but he also stuck another needle into me; I won’t let him get anywhere near me.
I hear heavy footsteps approaching but it’s not Haught. Trick, his eyes never leaving me, immediately addresses whoever was coming.
“Stay back, man. She’s plenty pissed right now. Do me a favor and go find Hack.”
“Yes!” my cat hisses. “Get him now.”
“I’ll close the door now, I won’t let anyone but Hack come in, okay? Just relax and I’ll leave.”
“You do that, buddy,” I snarl, hissing as he retreats, slamming the door shut.
I begin to pace again. The emotions in the Club are still flooding me but in my bobcat form, they aren’t quite as overwhelming. She’s stronger, she can handle more than I can.
As I’m pacing, a scent begins to wash over me as I hear heavy footsteps pounding toward me. We begin to pant, reacting to the scent of our mate.
“He’s coming,” my cat pants in excitement. I leap back onto the bed, body tensing as his footsteps draw near, stop outside our door. We hear his deep voice speaking to Trick and then the door opens. He’s there, coming to us, shutting the door behind him.
“Hey, little bird,” his deep voice says softly while kneeling on the floor.
With a cry, I leap from the bed and tackle him to the ground. He catches me with ease, his face burying in my neck. He’s speaking but I can’t hear his words over my own purring. I let him hold me close for just a moment, then begin licking his neck, his face, whatever parts of him I can reach. He chuckles and sits upright, cradling me in his lap, his big hands stroking my fur, making me feel safe and protected.
The emotions of the others are no
