Primal Song (11 page)

Ram didn’t even stop to think about what he was doing. He slammed the truck in gear and tore out of the Picous’ driveway. His claws sprang out, his fangs scraped his lips, and goddammit, his mane was sprouting again despite the trim Claudette had given him after dinner. He was going to kill the bastard.

Chapter Six

Gravel flew when Ram slid to a stop next to Daisy’s house. The door was closed but grunts and groans accompanied by thumps reached his ears the minute he got out of the cab. He paused for one second, scenting a very familiar cougar. His eyes narrowed on Daisy’s door, his hands curling into hard fists.

He climbed the steps of the porch and tried to calm his breathing, but with the stink of another cat near his mate and the sounds of what could only be shifter sex thundering through the house, it proved impossible. He kicked in the door with a roar, tearing into the house like a freight train.

At first he didn’t see them. Then he heard grunts and pants on the other side of the sofa. Springing the seven feet between the door and the couch, Ram landed on the cushions prepared to tear Monk away from his female.

The cougar shifter had Daisy pinned to the ground. She’d somehow twisted her body so she could lock her legs around Monk’s head. Neither of them could move much, holding each other in place in a stalemate. If either of them had one less piece of clothing on, Ram would’ve killed the cougar immediately. As it was it took him a few minutes to realize they were both fully dressed and there wasn’t the slightest scent of arousal in the air.

“What the hell is going on?” Ram demanded, plucking the cougar off his female and flinging him across the room.

Ram followed Monk who hit the opposite wall, sliding down to slump on the floor. He could have let it go—Monk didn’t smell lustful—but the way he’d had Daisy pinned meant he’d left his scent all over her lovely body, which as far as Ram was concerned was punishable by pain. Lots and lots of pain.

He picked the slightly smaller male off the ground by his throat and banged him against the wall a few times. His lion wanted to tear the cougar’s throat out for touching his mate, but Ram had enough wits about him to keep from shifting. He didn’t want to kill the male, just hurt him. A lot.

A firm but soft hand gripped his shoulder. “What the hell are you doing?” Daisy demanded as she pressed hard in an excruciating spot that forced him to drop his prize. “You can’t kill him!”

He spun on her, noting how utterly adorable she looked with her bright-red toenails, soft lounge pants and thin shirt. Her nipples pressed against the cotton of her top. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Snarling, he went for Monk again.

“Hey! Seriously, I will arrest your ass if you lay one more finger on him,” she warned with a slap to Ram’s shoulder.

“I thought you wanted him dead.”

She scowled. “I do, but what we want and what we get are two different things. I was just going to rough him up a little.”

Monk choked, interrupting Ram and Daisy’s discussion. “You were trying to kill me,” he accused, his dark-green eyes flashing.

“If I wanted you dead, I’d have just shot you,” she defended herself.

Ram didn’t like the continued interaction between them and wrapped his arm around Daisy, pulling her hard against his body until they fit together like a puzzle piece. She glared, no doubt ready to tear him a new asshole, but he stopped her angry words with a kiss.

The minute their lips met, she melted. Her mouth opened to allow his tongue entry and her arms slid up to encircle his neck. Her easy acquiescence lit a heat in Ram’s groin that should’ve set his pants on fire. He gripped her round ass in his hands, kneading and squeezing roughly.

“Do me a fucking favor and mate her before she kills someone,” Monk said.

Daisy broke off the kiss and lunged at the cat, claws out. Ram snagged her around the waist, holding her away from Monk, who was trying to straighten his clothes. The heat of his need left him a little fuzzy around the edges and he wasn’t feeling too kindly toward the cougar for interrupting them. He roared a clear warning at the other cat.

“Sorry,” Monk said with a twitch of his lips that suggested anything but remorse.

Daisy almost got away from Ram but he caught her again and tried to soothe her. “What’s going on here, dammit?” he demanded of the cougar. “Did you attack her?”

Monk’s jaw dropped. “Are you fucking kidding me? That crazy bitch clawed my car!”

The cougar’s outrage burned away some of Ram’s anger. “What kind of car?” Ram asked curiously. “I noticed it across the pasture, but was in too much of a hurry to check it out.”

“1965 Mustang with the original paint job until Fast Claws McGraw touched it.”

Ram whistled. “Nice. Original engine?”

Monk grinned. “It’s mint from top to fucking bottom. Took me a few—”

“You sold my house!” Daisy cut in, still struggling in Ram’s hold. “You’re lucky I didn’t castrate you.”

Ram winced at the statement even as his balls tingled with the need to make his mate submit. The lion did not like the cougar’s scent coupled with the scent of her anger. It wanted her on all fours, ass in the air and pussy dripping with desire.

Monk’s retort shook him out of his lustful thoughts. “It was mine to sell. And you know this isn’t just about that.” He wiped a hand over his face, suddenly looking exhausted. “I was eighteen years old. Cut me a little fucking slack, dammit.”

Daisy’s gasp almost knocked her off her feet. “I’m supposed to forget you fucked my cousin and then told everyone at school about it? That you broke her heart and made sure she’ll never want to come home again?”

“You beat the ever-lovin’ shit out of me for it!”

“I wish I would’ve castrated you instead!”

They were nose-to-nose, glaring at each other and bristling with anger. Ram frowned. “All of this is over something that happened, what, twenty years ago?”

Two sets of eyes swung around to glare at him. “Fifteen,” they both spat and turned back to weigh each other with their stares.

Ram rolled his eyes. “Okay, fifteen years ago, Monk hurt your cousin’s feelings, you beat the shit out of him for it and you’re
still
fighting about it?”

“He’s an asshole,” Daisy announced with clenched fists.

“And you’re a psycho bitch,” Monk shot back. “All the shit you’ve pulled over the years I’ve let go because I know how close you and Kitty are. I figured I deserved it, but goddamn it, Daisy, we’re too old for this.”

The tension in Daisy’s body suggested she strongly disagreed, though she said nothing. Ram didn’t trust it. He also didn’t want to get involved in the feud between them, but this was the second time he’d been witness to it. And as much as he loved Daisy when she was pissed off, he also scented a touch of hurt.

His plans for stripping his mate and riding her until dawn flew out the window. He sighed. Ram thought he’d never see the day when a rock star was more reasonable than a couple of small-town shifters. The world had gone crazy.

“Let’s talk about this like adults, okay?” Ram suggested, tearing Daisy’s attention away from staring a hole through Monk’s skull.

“What?”

He shrugged. He wore a polo shirt with a pair of khaki slacks and dress shoes. He’d obviously done himself up good to look less like a musician and more like a successful, acceptable mate for her parents. She bit back a dreamy sigh. He was so damn sexy no matter what he did— or didn’t—wear.

“I just think you two need to talk out this…” he waved his hands between Monk and Daisy, “thing and get it off your chests.”

Her jaw dropped and all thoughts of his sexiness dissipated. “Are you out of your fucking mind? I have nothing to say to that jackass.”

“Because you’d rather act like a spurned lover,” Monk shot back.

“I wouldn’t touch you with someone else’s hand!”

Ram roared loud enough to blow Daisy’s hair back. When he finished, she glared at him, though she didn’t open her mouth again. Her ears were still ringing.

“We’re going to sit down and talk about this,” Ram said in a dangerous tone that sent desire dancing through her body.

He grabbed her around the waist, hoisted her off her feet and carried her to her brand new sofa. Daisy was too stunned by his strength to fight. No one had ever picked her up as if she were as substantial as a pillow. Hell, she couldn’t remember anyone outside of Ram ever picking her up.

Her body went liquid at the thought of how he could use his strength in bed. She wouldn’t have to pretend to be weaker than he was. He also wouldn’t whine if she got a little overexcited and squeezed him with all of her strength. Ram was a prime male unlike Kyle who’d complained when she hugged him too hard.

He dropped her on the sofa and settled in next to her. He took up a lot more room than he should have. Monk edged closer as though making sure Ram had a good hold of her before he eased onto the recliner across the room.

Daisy turned her nose up at the cougar. She didn’t want to hear anything he might have to say. He’d been a thorn in her ass for years. Yeah, she probably should just ignore him, but baiting and annoying the hell out of him had been her way of making him pay for hurting Kitty for so long it’d become habit.

Ram slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her snug against his side. He was warm and sturdy. She stifled another dreamy sigh. Could she really do what Kitty said and just go with the flow? She studied Ram’s profile while he stared at Monk with hard eyes. If she went along for the ride he’d break her heart.

He glanced over at her, catching her gaze with his warm, amber eyes. “Now tell me what happened,” he said calmly.

Daisy shook her head. She wasn’t going there. She couldn’t. She wasn’t sure she could begin to explain her dislike for Monk.

“We all grew up together,” Monk said in a tired voice. “Me, Daisy Lynn and Kitty were inseparable. We did everything together until we got to high school.” He dropped his head back to stare at the ceiling. “But I always loved Kitty.”

“You have a funny goddamn way of showing it,” Daisy spat.

He looked at her with tired eyes. “You think I don’t regret any of what happened? I didn’t just lose Kitty, I lost you as well.”

Ram let out a sub-vocal growl. “Mine.”

Monk rolled his eyes and went back to staring at the ceiling. “It wasn’t like that,” he muttered. “Daisy was my friend, Kitty was…” He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “I’m no good at this touchy-feely bullshit.”

Daisy frowned at Monk and for the first time saw the misery etched onto his face. He looked a lot older than his thirty-three years, the time carving deep lines around his mouth and eyes. It was hard to see the kid he’d been, the one who’d let her tag along behind him while Kitty was taking piano lessons. He was right. They had been friends, very good friends, for most of their lives. It was only the betrayal of knowing how badly he’d hurt Kitty that had turned Daisy against him.

“Why did you do it?” she demanded without meaning to speak at all.

He met her gaze and then looked away, his mouth turning down into a deep frown. “It doesn’t matter now.”

Daisy’s temper, always on a short fuse, ignited. “No, don’t pull this bullshit again. If you want me to stop fighting with you, you’re going to tell me exactly why you took Kitty’s virginity and then bragged about it.” Her fingernails cut into the palms of her hands. “You were our friend, Monk! We trusted you, Kitty loved you, and all you wanted was another notch on your fucking belt.”

He jumped out of the recliner and glowered. “I love Kitty!” he roared, the tendons in his neck standing out. “I’ve always fucking loved her. I was going to mate her as soon as she graduated high school.” He paced, running a hand through his shaggy hair. “After we—afterward I went home and told Dad my plans and…” His words stalled and a muscle bunched in his jaw. “You know how we always thought my mom died when I was a kid?” he asked suddenly.

Daisy frowned, wondering what that had to do with anything. She shrugged against Ram’s warm body. “Yeah, she had cancer, or something.”

Monk shook his head. “She didn’t. Dad finally told me that my mom went…nuts. Flat-out crazy. She tried to kill me when I was young. He had to lock her away and told everyone she died.”

“But…what does that have to do with Kitty?” Daisy asked in a soft voice.

He cleared his throat, his eyes shifting away from Daisy and Ram. “Because it’s happened before on the maternal side of my family and Dad worried I might try something similar with my own cubs.” He turned away from them to stare out the window, his shoulders tight. “I’d never do anything to hurt Kitty, but when I found out my blood was tainted, I couldn’t mate with her. I knew how much she loved me because I felt the same. The only way I knew to make her hate me was to act like I just wanted to get in her pants.”

Bitterness and self-hatred dripped from his every word. As a kid she’d always felt bad Monk had grown up without his mom, but if what he said was true, he had an even bigger burden to bear. Her heart softened despite her lingering resentment of the way he’d handled things.

“You could’ve told her,” Ram said, surprising Daisy. She glanced at him to see his face darken with anger. “You fucked up big-time, man. If Kitty was anything like Daisy, she wouldn’t have cared.”

Okay, if he kept this up, she’d do something stupid and fall for him because she couldn’t help her heart melting at his words. Damn the lion to hell.

“That’s exactly why I did it,” Monk countered. He looked at Daisy. “Do you think it’d be fair to burden her with something like this? She would’ve stayed with me despite my tainted genetics and then we’d both have to live in fear that I’d try to kill my own children one day.”

Daisy stared at the man she thought she knew so well. As Ram said, he’d fucked up. But he’d done it to protect Kitty and their children. Maybe he wasn’t as awful as she’d thought. As the thought crossed her mind she detected a hint of vulnerability in his gaze. She now had a weapon to use against him that would destroy his family’s name in Maison Rouge. The entire town had mourned with the Badeaux family when word came that Carla had died of cancer all those years ago. They’d feel betrayed and Monk wouldn’t be able to hold his head up in town ever again.