Black Storm [Panther Key] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (10 page)

Bryce nodded. “Really. He’ll have one hell of a headache when he wakes up, but he’ll be as good as ever.”

Kate nodded and stared at Jake. She didn’t even realize she was crying until Blake reached up and wiped a tear that was falling down her cheek. She still didn’t understand how she could have these feelings for someone she had only known for a couple of days, but she knew without a doubt that her heart was quickly giving itself to these men. Her men. She had thought of them like that a couple of times before, but this time it felt different, and the thought struck her like a lightning bolt. She almost staggered under its power.

She looked up into Blake’s eyes and then to Drake before looking back down at Jake. These really were her men. Her cat growled its possessiveness, and Kate felt the rightness of it. Before she had an opportunity to examine her newfound conviction, the door burst open, and another man, who looked very much like Brad and Bryce but a little younger, poked his head in.

“Hate to break up the reunion, guys, but we’ve got company. We need to get her out of here, now.” He nodded toward Kate before withdrawing back outside.

Kate felt anxiety surge inside of her. She wondered if more panthers were out there or, worse, bears. Were they the ones who wanted her dead?

Her guys must have felt her fear, because they both tightened their hold on her. Drake pressed his lips to her ear. “We’ll get you out, darlin’. Promise.”

Bryce grabbed the backpacks that had been piled up and slung them over his back before opening the front door. Brad hoisted the still-unconscious Jake over his shoulders and headed outside. Drake brought Kate her shorts, which she quickly tugged on under Drake’s shirt. Blake and Drake ushered her to the door, flanking her on each side.

They walked outside and into a standoff. The man who had poked his head in the door and someone who looked just like him were standing protectively in front of the porch. Two other men were standing about twenty feet from them, facing the house. Kate’s cat growled warningly in her head. Whoever those other men were, her cat didn’t like them.

She heard a growl burst from Blake. “Get the hell off our land.”

“Give us the girl, and we’ll leave.” The man who spoke had black hair that hung down to his shoulders. He wasn’t quite as big as her men or the cousins, but she felt a deadly presence about him nonetheless.

Drake was the one who growled this time. “Not going to happen.”

The man chuckled, but it wasn’t a pleasant sound. “Well, well…it looks like the Taylor cats have found them a mate.” He sneered at Drake. “Too bad for you she has to die.”

A ferocious snarl erupted from Blake. “You’re not going to touch her.”

The man laughed his evil laugh again. “Your family couldn’t protect Jesse Landers. You can’t protect her either.”

Blake stepped in front of her. “And you’re not going to take on six of us.”

The black-haired man shrugged. “We’re just here to see if the rumor was true.” Shivers ran down Kate’s spine as his stare bored into her. Something about his eyes seemed to look into her, through her, like he could actually see inside her mind. He tilted his head to one side. “Now we know.”

Kate shuddered, feeling as though she’d just been violated somehow. Her cat yowled in her head, and she fought the dual urge to either fight or run. She tugged on the back of Blake’s shirt. “Please get me out of here. Now.”

Blake nodded and stayed in front of her while Drake pulled her off the porch and toward the side of the house. The cousins formed a protective wall around her, and they began moving away from the two strangers.

“You can’t hide her from us. She’s an abomination.” The menacing words made Kate’s urge to run grow.

Blake spun and growled at the man. “So are you.”

Kate was rushed around to the back of the house. She caught a quick look at the collapsed roof before her attention was drawn to a small lake behind the house. There was a small dock extending over the water and, to Kate’s horror, a small seaplane sitting in the water at the end of it. But between the fear of being in a small plane and staying here with the two men out front, she’d take her chances in the plane.

Kate was rushed onto the dock and helped into the plane, where she settled into one of the seats and quickly fastened her seat belt. Jake was placed on the floor at her feet, and the other guys took their own seats. Brad and Bryce took the pilot and copilot seats and immediately started up the engine. She was quickly introduced to Cash and Chase, the younger set of twins as they seated themselves in the seats behind the cockpit. Drake fastened himself into the seat facing Kate. When Brad piloted the plane away from the dock and turned its nose toward the longest portion of the lake, Kate’s apprehension resurfaced.

Blake was seated next to her, and he took her hand in his. It seemed as if she could actually feel a calming essence flowing from him and spreading through her own mind. She looked up at him questioningly, and he smiled his sexy grin she loved so much.

“Can you feel it, sweetheart?”

“You’re really doing that?” He nodded at her question. “How?”

Blake kissed the fingers of the hand he was holding. “As our connection grows, so will our ability to not only feel each other’s emotions but to also help each other control certain feelings.”

Kate felt herself relaxing. “That’s pretty amazing.” She looked out the window as the plane sped across the lake and then lifted into the air, skimming over the tops of the tall pine trees on the other side of the lake.

The damage from the storm was clearly evident from the air. Entire stands of trees were snapped in half with their broken tops all laying in the same direction. As they flew over the landscape, Kate saw buildings that had been destroyed and large pieces of debris strewn everywhere. Having grown up in Texas, Kate had seen the damage caused by tornadoes, but she had never seen anything on this type of scale. Tornadoes tended to cause a narrow path of destruction and sometimes even jumped over entire neighborhoods. This damage stretched across the horizon in both directions, leaving virtually nothing untouched. The power of the storm overwhelmed her.

She looked down at Jake on the floor of the plane. If only he would wake up so she could know for certain he was going to be okay. The guys hadn’t seemed concerned since Bryce had made his pronouncement about Jake’s state, but she wouldn’t be comfortable until she could talk to him, look into his eyes, and be wrapped in his strong arms.

“What the hell?” Jake brought his hand up to the back of his head, which felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to it. There was a large knot that hurt when he touched it. He slowly opened his eyes and winced at the bright light that assaulted him. When he was finally able to peel his eyelids open, he saw Kate’s beautiful and anxious face hovering above him.

“You’re awake!” Her excited yell made him wince again. “Oops, sorry!” Her whispered apology sounded much better to his ears.

“Could someone turn off whatever is making that awful racket?” Jake was pretty sure his head was in serious danger of exploding.

Blake leaned down and patted him on the arm. “Not unless you want us to drop out of the sky.”

“Oh. Guess you better leave it on then.” He opened his eyes again and looked at Kate, trying to drown out the maddening sound of what he now understood was the plane propeller.

Kate’s gaze raked over his face and body. “Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t hurt anywhere else, do you?”

Jake started to shake his head, but the motion didn’t agree with him, so he stopped. “No. Just the headache. What happened?”

Drake leaned over him and grinned. “The roof fell on you. Good thing you have a hard head.”

“Ha. Ha. So not funny right now.” Jake slowly sat up and then crawled over to the other vacant seat facing Kate. He pulled himself up into it and leaned his head against the headrest. His head was pounding, and he would have given just about anything for some aspirin. As if reading his mind, Blake reached behind his own seat and grabbed his backpack, producing a bottle of water and a small container of aspirin.

“I figured you might need this when you woke up.” He handed the items to Jake, who wasted no time in getting several of the aspirin down his throat.

“Thanks, brother. At least one of my siblings can show a little sympathy.” He shot a dirty look at Drake and then winked at Kate.

Jake kept his gaze on her. It was good to be awake and out of the house. He couldn’t remember anything about the roof collapsing. All he remembered was standing in his room and shoving things into his backpack and then—nothing. He could do without the headache, but that would pass soon enough.

He was looking forward to getting back on the ground where he could shift. Not only would it help his headache to go away faster, but he had also been dying to run with Kate. They would be able to run all they wanted once they got to their destination. Even though they maintained their thoughts and personalities when they were in their panther forms, their feline instincts and senses were their driving characteristics. Their emotions were much more raw and more animalistic, and it was a primal feeling. It was exhilarating, and Jake wanted to share the experience with his mate.

He continued to watch Kate, captivated by her emerald eyes as she stared back at him. He couldn’t take his eyes off her, and she seemed to be equally entranced with him, if her dilating pupils were any indication. Excitement ran through him at how much more open her thoughts were to him now and how easy it was to feel her mind. Her thoughts gradually transitioned from concern for his well-being to something else. Something a lot more pleasant.

Kate’s eyes took on a glazed look, and her skin flushed an enticing pink. Jake inhaled deeply, and he could smell the sweet aroma of her arousal permeating the cabin. Her honey-and-orange-blossom scent was like a beacon to him. He wanted to make love to her so badly he momentarily forgot that they were in an airplane and their cousins were onboard.

“Uh, guys?” Kate’s voice was strained, and her breathing was shallow.

“Oh, shit.” Blake’s outburst drew Jake’s attention. “This is what I was afraid of, Kate.”

“I’m…I just…” She looked down, and her shoulders slumped. “Sorry.”

Blake pulled her into his arms. “No, I’m sorry, sweetheart. That was stupid of me. This isn’t your fault. You’ve handled all of this so well. I just don’t want you to suffer.”

Jake watched with barely contained desire as Blake tilted Kate’s face up and kissed her gently. Jake felt Kate’s passion flare at the contact, and it fueled his own need.

“Hey, Blake! So not helping, brother.” Jake shook his head and realized the aspirin had taken some of the edge off his headache since the motion didn’t make him feel like his brain had just been scrambled.

“Do you think you guys can keep your pants on for a few more minutes?” The yelled question came from the cockpit. “We can only handle so many pheromones floating around in here before we go a little crazy.” Jake’s focus was still on Kate, and he saw her previously flushed face turn a bright red.

Jake heard chuckling coming from the seats backing up to his. “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t mind a little voyeurism.”

Blake’s warning growl only made his cousins laugh even harder. Jake reached around and smacked Chase hard on the back of his head, since he was the only one Jake could reach.

“Ouch! Hey!”

Jake chuckled, and the distraction was enough to break the sexual tension that had been building up, though Jake knew Kate’s mating fever would need to be sated soon. Kate turned and looked out the window. Jake could tell she was trying very hard not to look at him or his brothers, probably for fear she would lose control of the fragile thread of restraint she was holding on to. Jake settled back into his seat and kept watching her, unable to tear his gaze away from his new reason for living. He would just have to fantasize until they got on the ground.

“Soon, little kitten. Soon.”

Kate kept her eyes turned to the window, though she didn’t really see any of the landscape below her. Her hands were clenched tightly around the armrests of her seat in an effort to keep from launching herself at one of her men. Or all of them. Her pussy was throbbing so intensely she was almost past caring that the cousins were in the plane. She clenched her legs together, resisting the urge to squirm. She was convinced that if she so much as glanced at Drake, Blake, or Jake, she would lose her mind completely and make them take her right then and there, cousins be damned. Her blood felt as though it were boiling in her veins, and she wouldn’t have been surprised if there had been smoke rising from her skin. If she didn’t get off this plane soon, she was pretty sure she would spontaneously combust.

She tried to focus on the ground below, for no other reason than for some much-needed distraction from the maddening arousal. To her surprise, the land below them suddenly ended, replaced by water and dots of green islands scattered across the expanse. A lone highway linked some of the islands, but she could tell many would be unreachable, except by boat. The color of the water ranged from light green to deep blue. The stunning beauty of the water and islands was enough to divert her attention from her frustrating condition, at least momentarily.