Lions and Tigers and Bears (8 page)

The compulsion to rear away from his appalling touch died as the name he called her sank in. He’d called her Liddy, and that meant he knew who she really was.
Wh-who are you? What do you want with me?

The male’s tongue lolled along her neck and up her cheek.
He thrust his hips forward and the head of his cock pushed against her anus. She pressed her lips together to hold in her whimper. She was stronger than this, so much stronger.

My name is Hidari, and I want you, Liddy. I want you as my queen. I want your help in proving to all the others what a failure Kevin is at leading this pride. He’s afraid to show anyone other than his own kind what he is. Afraid to show the people of this city what they have to truly fear in shifters. He was never meant to be ruler, Liddy. I was. Everything of his should have been mine. You should have been mine. I’ve already started showing the people of Hanover what they have to fear from me, from us. Now I’m ready to take what is mine, starting with you, right now.

* * * * *

Kevin woke from a nightmare to the sound of Liddy’s terrified roar. He jerked to a sitting position and quickly remembered where he was, in prison and the sound of Liddy’s roar had to have been part of his nightmare.

Oh God, Kevin. I’m sorry. So sorry for not listening.

He shot to his feet with the thought. Liddy’s thought.

The roar hadn’t been part of his nightmare, it had been real and she was in trouble. She was also almost fully his mate now, that their thoughts could be so perfectly clear to one another while miles apart.
Where are you, Liddy? What’s the matter?

Gathering place. Hidari—the lion from the other night. You were right. He’s the attacker…he’s trying to claim—

Her thoughts were cut short by a keening wail that twisted at Kevin’s heart.

Now what the hell to do? He had asked her not to go after the real attacker and she had done it anyway, and now that lion was touching her, hurting her.

He would not kill her!

Kevin rushed to the cell door, grabbed hold of the bars and shouted, “I need out. Now! Someone is going to die if I stay in here another second.”

The first of the night guard’s laughter echoed off the walls. “Right buddy. We let you out of there and all that’s gonna happen is a whole lotta people are gonna die.”

Kevin turned to the second guard—a blond man who looked to be in his late twenties. He’d come on shift before Kevin had fallen asleep. Two guards had been assigned to watch him since he’d been brought in this morning, and each new guard was filled in on his being shifter and his supposed murderer status. Unlike the other guards, the blond hadn’t looked at Kevin with disgust, or tossed degrading words his way with the news. The blond had looked at Kevin with something closer to empathy.

Earlier he’d taken it to mean the guy simply believed in the words “innocent until proven guilty”. Now, he prayed otherwise. Now, Kevin implored to the guard with his mind.
Please, if you are what I think you are, let me out of here. I’m not the real attacker, but I know where the real attacker is, and right now he’s trying to kill my mate. Your future queen.

“What if he’s serious, Jack?” The blond’s gaze nervously shifted from Kevin to the other guard.

Jack snorted. “‘Bout as serious as all the other bozos we get in here, trying to say they’re innocent. Don’t listen to a word he says.”

Liddy’s shrill cry rang through Kevin’s ears and he forced himself to concentrate on the blond, on the fact the man had heard his last thought.
Don’t listen to what I have to say then, listen to what’s in your mind. I’m your ruler, your king. I can prove it to you. I can shift into my lion form if that’s what you want. I am not a killer, not unless you make me stay behind these bars while my mate dies.

Sweat beaded on the blond’s forehead as his gaze shifted again, several times. Finally it landed on Kevin and turned accepting. With a nod, he turned back to his partner and raised his gun. “I’m sorry about this, Jack, but I don’t have a choice.”

Jack’s eyes went round. He reached for his gun, then paused at the click of the other man’s. “What the fuck are you thinking, Dillion?”

“That he’s innocent.” He waved his gun toward the corner, and used his free hand to pull the key ring from where it hung at his side. “Move over there while I let him out.” Jack looked from Dillion’s gun to the corner, and Dillion roared, “Do it already!”

Swearing, Jack moved into the corner. “You know they’re gonna catch you, you crazy son of a bitch. They have cameras on us.”

Dillion glanced to the ceiling, where Kevin guessed the cameras in question to be, and the sweat seemed to drip off his forehead. “Don’t listen to him,” Kevin urged, “Let me out, and I’ll guarantee this thing ends on a good note for both of us.” Not that he actually had the power to keep the promise, but right now he’d say anything to get the man moving.

“Yeah. Okay, yeah.” Dillion fumbled the key ring into the lock several times, then finally managed to open it and slide the door free. Before Kevin could thank him and make his get away, Dillion grabbed his arm and tugged him toward the door. “Let me lead, in case anyone sees us walking out. Once we’re outside, we can use my cruiser.”

Dillion turned back when they reached the door and aimed his gun at the other guard. “Get in the cell, Jack. I don’t want to hurt you, man. I really don’t.”

Jack looked at the gun, then disgustedly between Dillion and Kevin, before moving into the cell. Dillion hurried over and locked the guard inside. He returned to Kevin’s side, grabbed his arm and pushed the snout of the gun into his back. “Okay, let’s get moving. The surveillance cameras are intermittent, but someone’s still going to figure out you’re missing within a matter of minutes.”

* * * * *

Liddy had figured out the only way to avert the lion’s claiming of her was by asking him questions, getting him to share his thoughts and reveal why he believed he deserved all that Kevin had.

She whimpered as the male’s teeth sank into her neck with another of his fierce bites.
Sha
ring stopped his possession, but not his tormenting. Hidari’s large paws and needle sharp claws had swiped at her body and left behind countless lacerations in his attempt to make her stop fighting him. The blood from her wounds stained her snow-white fur and stung against the icy coldness of night. She shut out the ache to concentrate on what mattered, freedom for both herself and for Kevin.

Kevin would be stricken when he learned who Hidari was, why he thought he deserved the title of ruler. And Kevin would learn soon. She’d captured his last thought. He’d escaped the prison and was coming for her. It was that knowledge that gave her the strength to ignore her hurt and press Hidari for more answers.

I thought a true ruler had to have full shifter blood to claim the title of king. If your mother was human, then you can’t blame Kevin for what you don’t have.

The male roared in her ear and his teeth sank more firmly into her neck. The warm gush of fresh blood slid along her neck and the metallic scent filled her nostrils. When it was Kevin biting her, the smell of her blood was consuming, stimulating; with Hidari it only sickened her further.

You insolent little bitch. It doesn’t matter who or what my mother was. All that matters is my father was king.

This conversation was the wrong one to be having, but she had no more questions for Hidari she believed he would answer. She would rather share thoughts that upset him and endure pain as a result than have him claim her as his and destroy the bond she’d forged with Kevin.
Kevin’s blood lines are true. His mother was a shifter. She was married to your father. You’re nothing but a bastard, in the truest sense of the word.

The male’s teeth yanked from Liddy’s neck, and the blow to the back of her head was solid and hard. Her teeth snapped down around her tongue, puncturing it until blood filled her mouth. Stars danced before eyes and her head slumped forward. She’d always heard lions could kill with a single swipe of their paw, but until now, as pain rioted through her fuzzy brain, she’d never known how true those words were.

Hidari resettled his teeth into her neck, and jerked her head up.
The only bastard is your beloved Kevin. Your soon to be dead beloved Kevin. I have every intention of seeing that happen myself.

Icicles of rage swept through her, temporarily numbing her to her injuries. No matter what happened to her, she would not let this male harm Kevin. She had to get him to share more, had to get him to reveal all.
How will you see he dies? What power do you have to make that happen? Who are you?

Yes. Who are you, you pathetic excuse for life?

Hidari’s teeth tore from Liddy’s neck with the thought. Kevin’s thought. The ache she’d only just managed to shut out rippled through her skull and then deep down inside her wounded body as she forced her head to turn. Kevin was there, in his lion form, his dark mane and the long dark vee of hair on his chest claiming him supreme ruler. He made the male who held her captive look scrawny, sick.

You’re just in time for the main event
, Hidari proclaimed with a hiss. His cock returned to the crack of Liddy’s ass, sliding along her puckered anus. The scent of his excitement colored the air as he guided his shaft down and brushed the opening of her pussy. She closed her eyes and winced at the feel of the fluid coated head positioning to enter her. The thought of the lion fucking her when they were alone had been sickening. The thought of him doing so while Kevin watched had her stomach convulsing and the contents threatening to spill forth.

Kevin’s eyes went steely cold. He bared his long, sharp teeth and growled,
Get your paws off her or die!

You won’t kill me.
Hidari’s paw came up and around Liddy’s neck. Pressing lightly at her throat, he continued the swipe of his cock head against her sex.
You won’t risk coming so close, because you know she’ll be dead before you can reach me. You had your chance to prove yourself, Kevin. You lost it.

What chance was that?
Kevin returned, his expression no longer fierce, but bland. His thoughts as calm as if they spoke of the weather
.

Liddy cried out as the Hidari’s cock sank against her sex and rubbed at the lips of her folds, wetting the dry opening with his own fluids. Panic the likes of which she’d never known sliced through her. She implored Kevin to do something with her eyes, knowing if she opened her thoughts to Kevin, they would be free to the other lion, too.

What chance was that?
Kevin repeated calmly, his sedate expression making it seem he was oblivious to her plight, her silent pleading.

Hidari’s cock inched into her body, and her stomach pitched. She reared forward, struggling to escape his assault. The paw at her neck pressed harder, hard enough to steal the breath from her lungs, and the spikes of his teeth clamped down on her neck. Tears of pain, of the knowledge this was the end, filled Liddy’s eyes. She closed them, unwilling to look at Kevin when another male claimed her while stealing her life with the strength of his paw. While Kevin stood idly by and let another male kill her!

She’d trusted him, given him her love, allowed him to come between her and Mama. And in return, he was letting this happen.

The heartache that came with the thought, blistered her exceedingly hazy mind, and then was cut short in a heartbeat as the teeth at her neck ripped free and a feral growl lit the night. Hidari’s cock ceased its inching into her pussy and his weight lifted from her body. Inhaling long painful breaths of icy air, Liddy opened her eyes.

Kevin still stood in front of her.
I had to make time
, he told her,
I’m sorry, Liddy. I would never let him hurt you.
The compassion and guilt that warred in his expression told her just how sorry he was, and that he hadn’t intended to let Hidari harm her. She started to tell him that it was okay, that she understood his actions now when, with a deafening roar, he leapt behind her, where snarls and hisses clashed with the thunder of massive, muscular bodies slamming together.

Liddy’s injured body screamed with effort, but she managed to push to her paws and turn around. A third male, the one who had pulled Hidari from her, was thrown from the depraved cat and landed with a sickening crunch of bones several feet away in the snow. Kevin lunged at Hidari, fighting the lion with his teeth and claws. Crimson soon stained the snow around the pair and gashes lined both of their bodies.

She couldn’t tell who was winning, who was losing, or if Kevin had even figured out who he was fighting yet. She only knew she wasn’t strong enough to go into battle herself, and that if she tried she would only risk getting in Kevin’s way. She moved slowly to the other lion, who had yet to move.

Sinking down next to him, she licked at the long gash on his chest, relieved to find it wasn’t too deep. The lion lifted his head.
I’m…okay. Need rest.

Soon. I promise, soon.
It wasn’t a promise she should make, but right now it was one she needed to hear as badly as the lion at her feet, quite possibly more so.

The hellacious howl behind her knocked all thoughts of promises from her mind. She whirled back, oblivious to her aches, and her heart skipped a beat as horror stole through her body. Both Hidari and Kevin lay motionless and silent on the bloodstained snow. Both of the cats looked dead.