Anton tried to break the lock on the door again, his muscles straining. “If anything happens to her, I’ll hold you accountable, you vicious bitch!”
“That hurts.” She pouted. “Sometimes, as a mother, it’s my job to do what’s best for my children. I won’t allow you to screw up your life or your position as future alpha of this pack. I’ve waited a long time to see my son take his rightful place and I’ve suffered a loveless mating that will end soon—when your father has an accident.”
Horror jolted Anton. “What?”
“I only mated Elroy to be the mother of a future alpha. He never loved me, and he’s so stupid he doesn’t even realize how much I’ve grown to hate him over the years. He’s too soft. He allowed that half-breed bastard of his into our territory when he should have killed Grady the second his pathetic human mother dumped him on us! Even she knew trash should be thrown away. Then Elroy allowed that bastard to mate a human! It’s not right, and my mate doesn’t bother to consider what I want or how it made me feel to know he would never kill that bastard to make me happy!”
“Grady is my brother.” Anton started to pant, fighting the urge to transform. His wolf wanted to tear his mother apart. It didn’t understand the bars would contain it but he did. “And my father…you’re planning to kill him too?”
“Both of them are useless to me.” She shrugged. “They are weak. You’ll be a better alpha for the lessons I’m about to teach you. Never show your enemy mercy. It’s kill or be killed. We’re werewolves, not puppies.”
“You’re sick and demented.”
She shrugged. “But I’m cunning. You’re locked up, your father is out in the woods waiting to fuck me, and at this moment, that pest you fucked is about to be removed from our territory.”
Anton’s gut twisted. “What have you done? Who’s going after Shannon?”
“I called the local pride leader. He was very interested to learn about her.” Eve smiled coldly. “It seems they had no idea of her existence. He was more than happy to come tag and bag your pet.”
“No!”
“Yes.” She backed up into another cell, bent, and withdrew a weapon from underneath a pillow on the cot. “I’d love to stick around to watch you suffer a little longer after what you’ve put me through recently, but your stupid father will get impatient if I don’t show up soon. He’s always demanding sex.” She lifted the tranquilizer gun to point at Anton’s chest. “The doctor will arrive tonight before this wears off. I’ll have cleaned up your cage by then and your father believes I want a romantic vacation at our cabin by the lake. He won’t find you. I’ll keep him there.” She winked. “’Night, sweetheart.”
Anton leapt away from the bars but he had nowhere to hide. Pain stabbed his shoulder. He grabbed the dart and jerked it out. Dizziness struck him, despite how quickly he’d removed it, and his knees collapsed under him. He crashed painfully to the concrete floor, his mother’s laugher filling his ears.
Shannon would be helpless, unprotected, and in danger. He fought the drugs but everything turned black.
* * * * *
Shannon had just taken a soda from the fridge when a knock sounded on the door. She started a little and stared but didn’t go near it. Anton would just walk in. Yon also could enter the apartment. Whoever stood on the other side of the door could be dangerous.
It could be another woman sniffing after Anton, she thought. She remained still, held her breath, and hoped they’d just go away.
They knocked again.
She didn’t move until something hit the door. She saw the frame shake. Another loud blow made wood snap as the door buckled. Terror gripped her and she dropped the soda, her gaze darting around the room, searching for a weapon or a way to escape.
The door gave completely under the third assault. Two large men entered, both of them just over six feet tall, blonds, with tanned skin. Their matching green eyes and features assured her they had to be brothers or closely related. Both men examined her while her heart hammered. Fear kept her immobile.
The one on the right sniffed and smiled. “Hello, little red. Don’t bolt on us. We’re not werewolves. Smell.”
She just stared at them, terrified. They obviously believed she could tell what they were if she sniffed the air. Her mouth opened but nothing came out.
The one on the left frowned. “I don’t think she can. Smell the humanness of her?”
“I mostly can’t get over the stink of dog, Mark.”
The other one snorted. “Damn. They do reek.”
Mark cocked his head, other holding very still while he regarded Shannon. “I’m Mark and this is my brother Adam. We’re puma shifters, and we’ve come to save you from the mangy mutt holding you hostage.”
“Please leave,” she managed to get out. “I don’t need to be saved.”
Adam made a face. “Brainwashed maybe?”
“Or stupid. Maybe she’s so human she’s useless to us.”
“No. Try to get past the reek of dog. Smell that? She’s in heat. She’s coming with us if she’s blooded enough to have that trait.”
The other brother laughed. “And cute.”
“She is good-looking. That’s a plus.” Adam took a cautious step forward. “We’re not going to hurt you. We’re taking you home with us.”
Shannon backed up, trapped inside the kitchen, and shook her head frantically. “No. Leave me alone.”
Her instincts were failing her. The urge to climb didn’t hit her and when she tried to rush at the counter to get over it, speed didn’t kick in, the way it usually did. One of them grabbed her as she struggled to scramble over the top. His hold around her waist hurt when he shook her and hissed.
“Don’t fight me.”
“Let me go!” She kicked at his legs and clawed at the skin of the arm securing her.
He turned with her suspended in his arms. “She’s going to fight. Do it.”
Mark moved in front of her and she watched in horror as he drew back his fist. She tried to twist in Adam’s arms to avoid the blow but pain exploded into the side of her head. She didn’t even get the chance to scream.
Chapter Twelve
“Anton? Wake up, damn it!”
The familiar voice had him struggling to fight off the groggy haze that engulfed him. A hand slapped his cheek and his eyes opened. He stared into his cousin’s face, inches above his own.
Brand frowned. “What happened? Why did you kill a human?”
Anton tried to think around the fog inside his head. A dead human? What the hell?
He realized he lay sprawled naked on a cold, firm surface, and when he turned his head a little, he recognized one of the holding cells in his father’s basement.
“I…what happened?”
“Fuck if I know.” Brand gripped his arm and shoulder, forcing him to sit up. “I came here to talk to Uncle Elroy, found the front door locked, which was weird since it’s always open, and tried the basement door to make sure everything was cool. Instead I only smelled blood and death when I came inside. I found you passed out cold, locked in this cell. Did you go nuts? There’s a dead human two feet from us. Did you two fight?”
A face surfaced in his memory. A woman, a pretty one, with long, curly red hair and bright blue eyes…
His heart raced and he suddenly remembered everything as it clicked into place.
“Help me up.”
“I’m trying. I’m not sure if I should have unlocked the door or not. Are you nuts? Did you have some kind of breakdown?”
“My mother is going to kill my father and Grady. She’s gone after my woman, too.”
“Shit!” Brand gasped, struggling to help Anton up. “So you killed the human trapped in here with you?”
“My mother did it. She used the blood scent to lure me inside the cell.” He got to his unsteady feet, swayed, and knew he’d have fallen on his ass if his cousin’s arms weren’t supporting him. “She drugged me.”
“I can tell.” Brand had to half dra
g him outside the cell. “What do I do?” He helped Anton into the apartment area of the basement.
“There are drugs stored inside the cabinet by the cells. Find a green shot, not a red one. Give it to me.”
Brand dumped him on the couch and darted back toward the cells. Anton gripped his head, the room spun a little, and he fought to remain conscious. It seemed to take an eternity before Brand crouched before him, holding up a green syringe.
“This one? What the hell is it?”
“Naloxone. We keep it and narcotic sedatives here. Shoot me directly in the vein. It will counteract the other.”
“Sounds dangerous. Let me call for help.”
“No time. It works lightning fast.” Anton tried to reach for the syringe but his hand missed by inches, his equilibrium off. “Fuck. Just stick me.”
“Fine.” Brand used his teeth to tear off the plastic tip from the needle and stuck it in the big vein at the bend of Anton’s elbow.
Within a minute his sluggish body responded. The drowsiness vanished. He took some deep breaths and focused on the task at hand.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Get me a phone.”
Brand withdrew a cell phone from his back pocket and held it out. Anton grabbed it, careful not to crush the thing in his hand since anger was pumping him up, and dialed Rave’s number. He got the machine.
“Pick up, Rave. It’s an emergency. Stop fucking and grab the phone.”
Seconds later an out-of-breath Rave answered. “This better be super important.”
“Mom is going to kill Dad and Grady,” he spoke quickly. “And she’s sent someone after Shannon. Maybe more than one. They’re going to be pride. Get to my apartment and protect my woman right now! Mother drugged me and locked me up. Brand is with me. I’ll call everyone else. Get to Shannon now!”
“Is this a joke?”
“No!”
“Fuck!” Rave snarled.
“Go to her, damn it. She’s alone.”
“I’m going.” Rave hung up.
Brand straightened, rushed to the closet that contained an assortment of clothes and pulled some out while Anton dialed Grady’s number. Mika, his mate, answered on the second ring. “Hello?”
“Put Grady on the phone.”
“He’s in the shower. Which one of you is this? I can’t tell you brothers apart on the phone.” She laughed.
“This is Anton. Mom is planning to kill Dad and Grady. Just tell him to watch his back and protect you. This isn’t a joke. Stay there or go somewhere safe but don’t trust that bitch.” He hung up before she could respond.
He dialed Von and Braden but neither of them answered their cell phones. He left them curt, detailed messages, telling them what their mother had set into motion, and asked them to go to his place to protect Shannon. He barely remembered to warn them that she had puma blood so they didn’t freak out when they smelled her shifter genes, if they had missed hearing the rumors.
He hung up and realized Brand gawked at him.
“Don’t,” he threatened. “Yes, she’s mine.”
“I heard you’d hooked up with a woman but nobody said she was a cat shifter.”
“Part.” Anton managed to stand now, his legs steady under him, and jerked the clothes out of his cousin’s hands. “She’s mostly human and it doesn’t matter to me if you approve or not.”
“I didn’t say anything negative.” Brand seemed to recover from his stunned state. “I can’t believe this is happening. I know your mom is mean and she’s done some crappy shit over the years, but Uncle Elroy is her mate.”
“It seems she hates him.”
“Can’t you call your place and warn Shannon?”
“I turned the phones off.” He snarled, jerking sweatpants up his legs. “We were starting mating heat and I didn’t want to be interrupted. Mom sent a runner to escort me here, otherwise I’d still be at home. She said Dad had been severely injured. Didn’t you smell his blood inside the cell too?”
“I just assumed you’d fought with your father when he put you there. Hell of a time for Aunt Eve to pull this shit. It’s near genius. Everyone already hooked up for the heat is nailing each other, and the rest of the pack is either hunting for someone to hook up with or running in the woods for the free-for-all. It’s going to be tough to track down anyone to find help. You said she sent pride after your Shannon? She had to have invited them into our territory and assured them it would be safe. Otherwise there’s no way they’d dare come here.”
“Yeah. I have no idea how many of them to expect, either. My brothers have to get their messages. They’ll come. We all have to take turns patrolling. That means we check them often.” He headed out the door with Brand right behind him. “I need your help. I can’t shift yet and I need a ride home. I also need you to help me protect Shannon. We may be in for a hell of a fight.”
“You know I’d do anything for you, and I never want to miss a good fight.”
Brand jumped into the driver’s side of his truck and started the engine while Anton took the passenger seat.
“Are you going to have a problem helping me protect a part-puma shifter?”
Brand threw the truck into drive. “In college, I fell in love with a human and spotted leopard half-breed.” He cleared his throat. “I never told anyone that before. She just up and left me one day.”
Anton’s eyebrows shot up. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. I didn’t give a second thought to us supposedly being enemies. I just loved her, man. God, it tore my heart out when I realized she’d run out on me. I wanted to mate her but I guess she didn’t want to stand up to her family or our pack. I’ll help you protect your puma.”
“Thanks.”
Anton closed his eyes, his body finally leveling off from the drugs in his system, never happier for his ability to heal quickly. The horror of the situation hit. His mother had always been cold, remote, and not the best influence, but mates didn’t kill each other. He’d thought his father put up with too much from the woman—it had always been a bone of contention between them after her poor treatment of his older half-brother Grady—but she actually planned to kill two people he loved.
Three. She was going after Shannon as well.
His cousin drove down the street, breaking every speed law their city had. Anton gripped the door as the truck took a turn too fast.
He loved Shannon. No doubt about it. Somehow it had finally happened, after all the years he’d tried to find a woman to mate. He’d enjoyed sex with other women but none of them had made him feel. He’d suspected he loved Shannon, had started to adjust to the idea, but now that she faced danger, he knew how deeply that love ran. He’d go insane if something were to happen to his sexy little kitten.
The bar came into sight and he spotted Rave’s motorcycle parked in front of the building. Some of the tension eased. Shannon wasn’t alone anymore. Brand locked up the brakes behind the bike and Anton jumped out before the engine died. The front door to the bar had been kicked in but he didn’t give a damn how Rave had gained entry to reach Shannon and protect her. He could replace a door, but never her.
Brand was right behind him when he pounded up the stairs to spot another door Rave had kicked in. He nearly slammed into the back of his shirtless, shoeless brother, standing just inside his apartment, only wearing jeans. Rave spun to face him, snarled, and his claws shot out until he saw who was behind him. He barely missed nailing Anton in the face, his claws missing his throat by mere inches.
“I was too late,” Rave’s grim voice informed him. “The doors were kicked in. I found blood on the bed, hers by the scent, but it’s not fresh.” He paused. “She’s gone, Anton. They took her. I smell two pride males.”
Anton threw back his head and howled his rage. A hand gripped his shoulder from behind. He turned his head but it wasn’t Brand. His youngest brother, Braden, stood behind him. Von had arrived as well. All three males had matching furious expressions.
?
??They took her.” Anton snarled the words. “They kidnapped my Shannon.”
“We’ll get her back,” Rave swore softly. “There’s only one pride close to us. I’ve scoped their territory in the past. I sometimes have to hang out at a biker bar that borders their lands. There’s a lot of rogue activity there and I keep an eye on it for the pack to make sure they don’t cause us problems.”
Braden hesitated. “Are you sure they kidnapped her? Maybe she returned home with them willingly. What the hell were you doing with one of them?”
Von growled low. “Be quiet, Braden. I heard Rave say he found her blood on the bed…?”
“That’s my fault,” Anton admitted. “She’s mine. I marked her. She wouldn’t leave with them if given a choice. She’s terrified of them.”
“They aren’t her pride?” Von calmly met his gaze.
“She’s alone. She’s mostly human, had been warned they’d kill her on sight for being as human as she is, and I’m the only shifter she’s ever spent time with.” Anton turned to study the apartment. He didn’t see any signs of a struggle or damage except the broken door. He sniffed, the scent of two pride males, something he memorized, and rage gripped him again. “I’m going to tear them apart if they’ve killed her.”
“Easy.” Rave spoke softly. “She’s pretty. They aren’t going to kill her.”
Brand shouldered a few of his cousins aside and sniffed near the bed. He softly cursed. “She’s in heat. I’d know that scent anywhere.”
“Oh fuck,” Rave groaned. “That’s worse. We have to find her fast.”
Anton closed the distance between them. “They have some policy about killing the weak. Shannon said her father fled his pride because of his half-human blood. They wanted to kill him for it.”
Rave took a deep breath and met Anton’s gaze. “I know a lot about the cat shifters. The good news is, they won’t kill her―at least not on purpose. The bad news is, they only kill weak males. The females?” He paused. “I don’t want to tell you the rumors I’ve heard about that subject. You’ll go nuts.”