“You shittin’ me?”
“Nope. She was heartbroken that the man she was destined for would stick his dick in so many women knowing he might find her someday, let alone having babies with so many. But the icing on the cake was knowing the bastard had no qualms about leaving all of us in the dust once he found her. She said she couldn’t trust him to do right by their children if they had any and anything ever happened to her.”
“Damn, Gray. I knew you had it rough, but that’s some shit.”
“Why do you think I cringe every time I hear my name?”
“Maybe we need to come up with a new road name for you?” Knox meant well, but I figured that’d just cause more issues with the guys.
“Nah. It’s all good. How about we just get back to the fuckin’ clubhouse so I can release some tension? I might not be knocking up any panther bitches in heat, but damn if I’m not rearing to get my dick wet now.”
Knox adjusted himself. “No shit. It is uncomfortable as fuck being around one in heat that’s been unclaimed.”
Chapter Three Hundred Seventy-Seven
“What the hell are we supposed to do with a stray?” Knox asked me. I glared at him, knowing he was only doing his job by asking the question.
“She’s mine,” I growled despite knowing he meant no harm.
Knox held his hands out in front of him, a gesture of surrender. “Hey now, you know I didn’t…”
“She’s mine!” I repeated, cutting off whatever bullshit he had been about to spew at me.
“Wait. You mean, yours, as in your mate?”
I tipped my head up and down in a quick nod, but refused to tear my gaze away from the woman who was trying hard to heal from her attack. “Smelled her blood, and it sung to me before I even got near her.”
“That changes things. I’m calling church. You want me to pass along your claim or you going to leave her side long enough to do it yourself?” His words seemed like a challenge, even as I knew they weren’t. The only thing I could figure was that having my mate lie before me, injured and unclaimed in a clubhouse full of shifter males, was fucking with my head. Sure, I had claimed her in words, but that didn’t amount to fuck all in our world. A true claiming had to take place for it to mean anything. A mutual exchange of bites, and fuck… What was I doing? My thoughts were all over the place.
“I can’t leave her,” I finally managed to bark out at the man who had been my friend for years. Knox must have understood, because he left the room without another word, leaving behind a prospect in case I needed anything. He truly understood I couldn’t leave my woman. “My father once told me about the bond,” the prospect, a newer kid whose name I hadn’t bothered learning yet, mentioned. “He said, even when unclaimed, you feel your mate and their pain. You trust it to no one else.”
I nodded my agreement because the kid was right, or at least his father had been. “Your dad suffered through his mate being hurt?”
“He did. Suffered even more through her death. Found a way to get dead not long after her.”
“That how you ended up here with us instead of your own leap?”
“Our alpha helped my father meet his fate. Told me he was only half alive and useless as he was. Also told me he wouldn’t be opposed to dispatching the weak link my parents left behind.”
“Fuck!” Knox hissed out from the door, apparently he hadn’t gone far just yet. “You know that was bullshit, right?” Knox laughed at the boy’s surprised look. “I smelled the alpha on you the moment you came sniffing around here. That stupid fuck didn’t want you sticking around long enough to offer a challenge.” The prospect appeared completely taken aback. “Think on it, kid. You’ll come to understand. Hell, just glance around the men of this club. I’m sure every single one of them would have taken your old alpha out in a matter of seconds.” The kid nodded, as did Knox. “You’ll be fine here. We’ll grow you into your potential. For now, stick close, do what he needs until I can get back here.” Knox tipped his head in my direction, gave me and the injured woman lying on the bed one last look, and then he was gone.
“I will,” the prospect called out, but Knox was already gone by then.
I turned my attention away from the kid and leaned in to sniff my mate, still unable to determine if she was leopard or what. Frustrated, I huffed out, “Why can’t I tell?”
The kid shrugged, as if I’d been asking for his answers. Wet behind the ears about life as he was, it wouldn’t have occurred to me to do so. Still, the kids spoke anyway. “She’s one of the hidden.”
“What?” I laughed at him and turned to look at the shaggy brown hair that hung loosely around ears too large for his baby face. Hell, now that I got a better look at him, I realized there was no way the kid could even be 18 yet. His brown eyes grew hard and determined, not appreciating my mocking laughter. I toned it down a bit to preserve his ego. “That can’t be, it’s an old legend, nothing more,” I informed him.
He shrugged his shoulders as if he couldn’t care less that I was wrong. “Legends are often facts passed down. Just because they’re rare doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.”
“A shadow cat though?” I asked on another laugh, unable to help myself. Shadow cats, also known as ‘the hidden’, were always female and never belonged to any one species until after they met their mate. They were either pure silver or pure black of coat and
