Cat's Wolf (A Shifter Romance Novella) (5 page)

Rhys’ eyes cooled considerably. “I
don’t think that’s a good idea. We should be heading back.” He stood. “Get your
stuff and we’ll go.”

Kaitlin stood there feeling like a
failure. Both as a woman and a shifter.

What did it say about her if she
couldn't even tempt her mate into bed?

Fighting back tears, she collected
her belongings, went outside and climbed in the SUV, not daring to look at him
in case the dam broke inside her.

Chapter 7

Two hours later the car pulled up
on the outskirts of the cat clan boundary and she reached for the handle, eager
to get away.

“Wait.”

She hesitated for a second, her
fingers still holding the door catch. “Why? So you can have another go at me?”

Rhys sighed, “I wasn’t angry with
you. It was your father—”

Pulling the handle, she pushed the
door open and climbed out. “Whatever,” she muttered, still too upset to listen
and slammed the door before starting a brisk walk down the street.

“Kaitlin,” he called, “wait up.”

If anything she sped up, hoping
he’d be deterred by the thought of running into a group of cat shifters. She
heard the car door thud shut and then footsteps closing in behind her.

Or not,
she thought grimly.

“Go away.”

“No.”

“Rhys!”

He grabbed her arm and pulled her
around to face him. “We need to talk about this.”

“About what? The fact that I’m a
failure?”

Rhys glared at her. “You are
not
a failure!”

She snorted and wrenched her arm
out of his hold. “Just leave me alone!”

Turning, she walked away quickly,
feeling the calming effect as she passed over the boundary and into the cat
clan compound. Taking a deep breath, she tried to forget about the man she’d
just left on the other side.

It didn’t stop her hearing his
curse or the rev of his car’s engine as he drove off.

“Bastard!” She muttered darkly.

Kaitlin stopped off at Misha’s on
the way home so she could calm down. Her mum would smell the anger rolling off
her and jump to conclusions while her dad would probably question it at length.

Especially after what she’d found
out.

“Ugh!” She cried, suddenly frustrated
with everything. The magazine she’d been looking at flew across the room to
thud against the wall.

Misha glanced across at her but
said nothing. She was still pissed off at her about that night at the club and
they’d barely spoken since she’d arrived. Misha was laid on her double bed
while Kaitlin was sat on the plush two-seater sofa on the far side of the room.

Dropping her head into her palms
she swore at length.

Her friend sighed loudly and shut
the magazine she’d been studying with a snap. “What’s up?”

“Everything,” she muttered. Her
friend snorted. “My life is seriously fucked up, right now.”

“If you say so, Kait.”

She lifted her head to glare at her
best friend. “Look. I found something out about my dad and Tito. Trust me, it’s
fucked up.”

“They’re not…?” Misha asked, eyes
wide.

“What?—No!”

Her friend got up and padded across
to sit on the seat beside her, tucking her legs beneath her so she was
comfortable. “Then what?”

Kaitlin hesitated, for a second
wondering if her dad had orchestrated her having Misha as her best friend,
before answering. “My dad’s been controlling my life since I was knee high,
including who I…become involved with.”

“Tito’s under your dad’s thumb?”

“Yes.”

“Holy shit!”

Kaitlin grimaced. “My thoughts
exactly.”

“What are you going to do?” Misha
asked, her eyes wide.

She shrugged. “I have no idea.”

Her friend bit her lip and shot her
a curious look. “So if you weren’t with Tito last night, were you with…?”
The
wolf
.

Kaitlin groaned. “Yeah, that was
one big disaster.”

Misha grinned, “I’m sure it wasn’t
that bad.”

“No, it was worse. My puma tried to
commit suicide.”

Although Misha was her best friend,
she’d never told her about her issues controlling her animal. She’d never told
anyone
.
She was worried it would make her sound weak when she wasn’t.

“What?!”

She let out a long sigh and met Misha’s
gaze. “I’ve never told you but I...I don’t have control of my puma when I
shift. Last night, she ran from Rhys and if not for him using his Alpha I would
be dead right now.”

“God, Kait!”

“I know. I have no idea what to
do.”

Misha’s lips twisted. “What about
this wolf? Do you trust him?”

“He saved my life last night.
Rhys,” she started and then broke off. Should she tell her friend that Rhys
believed her to be his mate? It wouldn’t hurt. “Rhys believes me to be his
mate.”

Kaitlin glanced across to catch her
friend reaction and laughed at Misha’s stunned face.

“Trust you to get the enemy,” she
said.

Instantly sobered, she said. “Rhys
isn’t the enemy.”

Misha’s hands raised in a placating
fashion. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. If you trust him, so do I.”
Her gaze went out of focus as she thought on something and a blush stained her
cheeks. Kaitlin wondered what her best friend had been thinking about but
didn’t get chance to ask as Misha stood and walked across the room to pick up
the magazine she’d been studying before. She promptly hid behind it before
saying, “I just don’t think your dad will feel the same way.”

Instantly forgetting her friend’s
reaction she let out a groan and she pushed to her feet. “I need to be getting
home. Can I borrow some of your clothes? I smell of wolf.”

Her friend’s nose scrunched up at
the reminder and she walked over to her wardrobe and grabbed a top and some
jeans for her.

“Thanks.”

Hurriedly changing clothes, she
said a quick goodbye to Misha and headed to her house a few streets away.

Walking straight into the house she
heard raised voices coming from somewhere deeper in the house and wondered who
her father was furiously exchanging words with.

Heading to the kitchen in search of
her mother, she was surprised to see she wasn’t there. Her head turned in the
direction of her father’s office. Was her mum in there too? Council business?
Or about her?

Tiptoeing closer to her father’s
office, she concentrated on the voices within. Her father’s angry voice, her
mother’s concerned one and another male’s. It sounded vaguely familiar.
Kaitlin’s eyes widened when she recognised it and she hurried to the office,
pushing the door open quickly and looking between the three, staying longer on
Rhys’ handsome face.

“Kaitlin,” her mum lifted a hand
briefly before dropping it to her side again, her face going into its usual
blank mask.

Paul Mahone stood slowly and stared
her down, his face showing his anger. “Care to explain where you were last night,
Kaitlin?”

Her gaze shifted to Rhys who was
sat calmly in the chair, his gaze on her like everyone else in the room. She
licked her lips nervously and returned her gaze to her dad. Had Rhys told them
about last night?

“I was… I was with—” he gaze went
to Rhys again, not realising that the action answered her father’s question.

“She was with me,” Rhys added
unnecessarily. “Like I told you she was.”

A low growl filled the room and she
watched her father warily. He could be very unpredictable. “You fucked a dog?”

Her mother drew in a swift breath
at the coarse language but remained silent.

Squaring her shoulders, Kaitlin met
her father’s gaze. “I had sex with Rhys, yes.”

Her lover reached out a hand and
pulled her onto his lap. Kaitlin was sure it was just to piss off her
father—and judging from the bulging vein in his forehead it was working—but she
snuggled into his lap anyway. He nuzzled her neck with his nose, a low growl
vibrating in his chest as he caught her scent.

After a couple of seconds, he addressed
her father again. “Now how about you explain to me and Kaitlin why she can't
control her puma?”

Her father stilled instantly.

Her mother, on the other hand, let
out a low snarl and Kaitlin glanced across to see her mother’s attention was
locked on her husband, a dangerous glint in her eye.

It dawned on Kaitlin then that her
mother had never known the truth.

Oh, no!

Chapter 8

“What is he talking about, Paul?”

Her father shook his head, raising
a hand to wave away her question as his gaze narrowed on Rhys. “Nothing. He’s
just trying to cause trouble.”

Her mum’s gaze moved between their
three faces, trying to find the truth. Her gaze eventually stalled on Kaitlin,
eyes searching.

She gave her mum a slight nod to
tell her that what Rhys had said was true and watched as she transferred her
attention to her husband.

“Why can't she control her puma,
Paul?”

Kaitlin saw the anger flush her
father’s face. “She can, Ruth! You can, can't you, Kaitlin?” His eyes dared her
to say no and she swallowed nervously.

Rhys’ hand clasped hers and it gave
her the strength to tell the truth. “No. I can't,” then added, “no thanks to
you.”

Power was suddenly flowing through
the room and her father took a threatening step towards her. Rhys instantly
blocked his forward motion, moving Kaitlin behind him, and stared the older man
down. More power rolled through the room as the two Alpha’s squared off.

Kaitlin struggled to breathe as it
pushed against the restraints of the room. Forcing her hand up, she clawed at
her throat where she was beginning to burn from lack of oxygen.

“Kaitlin? Kaitlin!” Her mother’s
worried voice barely registered.

The power let up suddenly and she
found herself clasped against Rhys’ hard body, his arms holding her against his
chest as she gasped for air.

Turning, he glared over his
shoulder at her father.

A loud smacking sound filled the
room and Kaitlin glanced up to see a red blotchy hand print on her father’s
cheek where her mother must have slapped him. “How dare you! She is our
daughter, Paul!”

A tic pulsed under his right eye as
he glared at her mum. “And
I
am head of this family, Ruth, as well as
the council. What I say goes.”

Her mum’s chin rose defiantly. “I
won't let you use our daughter as a pawn in whatever game you’re playing.”

Paul snorted and brushed past his
wife to sit down at his desk once more. He indicated with his hand that they
too should return to their seats. Rhys sat reluctantly as did her mum and then
she settled on the arm of Rhys’ chair.

“Tito,” he called.

Kaitlin tensed as the door opened
and she held her breath as her on/off lover walked into the room. She felt his
attention on her like a laser beam; his anger almost burning her skin. She felt
his attention shift from her and let out a soft, unsteady breath.

He came around the desk and stood
beside her father.

At nearly seven feet tall Tito was
an imposing figure and one you wouldn’t necessarily want as an enemy. His dark
hair was messy as usual and his usually twinkling brown eyes were hard and flat
as he watched her. It had her wondering if he
had
cared about her.

The muscles in his arms bulged as
he crossed them over his chest and she couldn't help but admire him. He was a
magnificent specimen of man. He was toned everywhere from hours in the gym and
the sparring he did with his brethren. A small part of her wept at the loss of
him from her life.

A low rumble from her right had her
glancing across at Rhys. He was tense, ready to spring into action at a
moment’s notice—probably in Tito’s direction judging from the glare.

Kaitlin placed a hand on his and he
quietened almost immediately. Turning his hand over, he linked their fingers
together and rested their joined hands on his thigh.

Hearing a snort she glanced up just
in time to watch Tito look away, a sneer on his face. Anger burned through her.
“Get over it already, you didn’t want
me
,” she growled. Rhys’ fingers
tightened around hers but she didn’t take her gaze from Tito.

“You have no idea what I wanted,”
his eyes flared hot when he glanced at her and she had a moment of doubt.

“Silence!” Her father roared, his
gaze on Tito. The other man’s jaw tightened but he kept his mouth shut and
blanked his face of all emotion.

“Kaitlin,” he father began and she
turned to face him, “I really think you should think about what you’re doing.
Going off with a wolf will start all-out-war between us and
them
,” he
spat, his head nodding to Rhys.

“Why?” She asked, confused. “I went
willingly yesterday and will be doing so again when I leave today.”