Shifter Town 3 - Big Cats Don't Purr (5 page)

“No, I didn’t.” She scooted out the passenger seat and Kinsey all but clawed her way out, pausing only to look at Rona stretched out in the back seat.

“I don’t want to leave her,” Kinsey said. For the record, neither did Rift. He’d never thought he’d be back on the run after all these years and would need to worry about what to do with his cat. Now leaving her in the car seemed cruel. Texas wasn’t known for being cool this time of year.

“Pop the trunk,” Sawyer said, and he did, even though he had no idea what she was up to. He heard the whir of a zipper and then the soft jingle of keys as she held out a second set. She gave a small shrug. “I used to lock myself out all the time.”

“Great. Nice to be able to leave the AC running.” A good thing he’d parked in some shade. He still didn’t like leaving Rona in the car, but at least now she shouldn’t get that hot. Besides, lions would make fast work of a meal.

Fighting a grin, he made sure Rona was settled, giving her a quick pat before heading into the restaurant. Sawyer was already seated at a booth, Kinsey stretched out across from her, making sure to take up her whole side. Her bright blue hair clashed with the red vinyl, and he could hear the screech from her headphones clear over here. Damn that kid was going to ruin her hearing.

Then again, with her shifter abilities, who knew? Though hell, it made
his
lion’s ears ache, and he didn’t have the buds jammed into his ears. And then the smell of real food, the rich breakfast fragrances, hit his stomach like a ton of bricks.

Sawyer had to be just as famished, and the hungry glean to her eyes as she surveyed the customers already seated, shoveling food into their mouths, confirmed it. Rift slid into the booth beside her.

“She ever shut those damn things off?”

“When she eats.” Sawyer grinned and passed him a menu.

“Hi, there,” the waitress said as she sidled up to their booth. “Name’s Mindy, I’ll be your server today. What can I get ya’ll to drink?”

“Cherry Coke.” Kinsey said, swiveling her iPod off.

“Ditto for me.” Sawyer said and glanced at Rift.

He nodded. “Same.”

“And I think we’re actually ready to order.” Sawyer flashed him a grin. He hadn’t even opened the menu yet.

“I want the pancakes and fried chicken,” Kinsey said. “With a double order of bacon on the side.”

“Is that all?” Sawyer asked, her eyebrows arched in a gentle tease.

Kinsey held out the menu to the waitress. “Um, no. Can I have a side of scrambled eggs too?”

“I think your meal comes with hash browns, Kins,” Sawyer said.

“Yeah, but I’m hungry enough for the eggs, too. I’m
starving
. Besides, I wanna take a piece of bacon back out for Rona.”

Rift gave a quiet huff of appreciation. “You weren’t kidding when you said the girl eats.”

Kinsey narrowed her eyes at him, but Rift ignored her, turning his attention back to the waitress.

“Ok,” the waitress said as she finished scribbling it all down. “And you?”

“I’ll take a blueberry pancake supreme with a side of hash browns and bacon.” His eyes skidded to Sawyer.

“I’d like your French toast sampler.”

“Oh!” Kinsey leaned against the table. “I want a ham and cheese omelet, too.”

Rift gestured for the waitress to jot it all down. What was one more full meal? At this rate, if they gorged enough they might make it the rest of the day with only bathroom breaks slowing them down.

“Anything else?” Her eyes looked ready to bulge but she held her smile intact. He wondered how often she had to serve lion-shifters in this part of town. Further south, the prides got thicker, but up here...he couldn’t think of another pride for miles. Maybe a few rogues, but not a family.

“Nah, that’ll do.” She was going to need help bringing all the food out as it was.

“Great, I’ll get right on that.” She disappeared only to reappear a few minutes later with a small loaf of bread, butter melting over the top as she set it in the middle of the table. “To tide ya’ll over.”

She flashed him another grin and disappeared.

“Oh, yesssss,” Kinsey said and snatched a chunk off the end. Rift’s stomach fully agreed with her, letting out a rumble the size of a roar. He reached for it, his lion clawing up his gut at the thought of food. Kinsey growled when he took a chunk off the end. Sawyer shifted in her seat and looked out over the restaurant. He froze.
Hell
. He was right. They didn’t get a lot of shifters in here, at least not lions. Had this been a shifter restaurant the waitress would have recognized them for what they were.

And she’d have known how unlikely it was that even a small group of lions would share a meal peacefully. One small loaf of bread in the center of the table was asking for trouble. And while the man in him was trying to be rational, the lion in him didn’t want to share. He’d suffer it for Kinsey. She was blood after all. A cub. But as far as the beast inside him was concerned, the lioness could wait.

Except, for a man that was a dick move, and he knew it. Rift blew out a frustrated breath and then reached over and snatched the loaf away from Kinsey, snapped it in three, and handed them each a piece. Kinsey snarled but when Rift bared teeth back at her she settled down.

“Eat.” He told Sawyer. “I’m not a complete asshole.”

Kinsey grinned around a mouthful of bread. “Just a little one.”

“Swallow before you talk.”

She rolled her eyes at him, completely undeterred.

“Besides, the bacon order will be a rougher share than bread. And I swear I’ll do my best to keep the claws in.”

The grin that slid over his face was all play, and Sawyer relaxed enough to pick up her portion of the bread. Rift couldn’t help but smile when she almost downed her third whole. That, despite the protest from his inner lion, was worth it.

Though by the time the rest of the meal arrived, he was almost ready to regret it. His stomach clenched painfully at the scent of the food, and the moment the bacon platter hit the table, he could feel all three carnivores rising to the forefront. And not a single one of them wanted to share.

Kinsey snarled like a rabid raccoon. Grabbing the platter, she jerked it over to her side of the table.
Like hell.
He was getting
some
of that bacon. With a snarl, Rift reached across the table and cuffed Kinsey lightly against the side of her head before dragging the plate back to the middle. The girl grumbled, but didn’t fight him as he split the plate into thirds once more.

Splitting the bacon didn’t stop the little rascal from stealing from both of them, but at least she had to risk getting her head swatted every time she tried. A low murmur protested to their right but Rift ignored them. A man was allowed to defend his food. Especially from someone who had half the menu sitting in front of her.

Breakfast was a no-chatter zone, but full of loud snarls and irritated rumbles. All three of them ate hunched over their plates, shoveling in the food like they’d found the freaking Holy Grail. Rift snaked a hand out to steal a piece of French toast from Sawyer and she swatted back automatically, snatching her plate off the table.

He’d have laughed if Kinsey hadn’t used the moment to swipe his last two pancakes, almost shoving them into her mouth whole. Syrup drizzled across the table between his plate and hers, and there was a sticky line of it down her chin. The little thief. His eyes narrowed and she gave him a pancake-filled smile full of satisfaction.

Rift lifted his fork and pointed at her. “You’ll pay for that.”

And just as quickly as she’d robbed from him, he made off with her omelet.

By the time the last of the food had vanished, Rift had downed his pop and two refills and was stuffed, his belly rounded. Hell. He was ready to snooze. The yawn burst out of him before he could stop it, snapping his head back hard enough his jaw clicked. Sawyer gave him a sleepy smile and nudged him toward the edge of the booth.

“We should go,” she said. “Wasted enough time as is.”

Nothing like eat and run. There wasn’t much that scared his lion half and right now, and sleep hit pretty high on his priorities. Surely they could deal with trouble when it came.

As if reading his mind, she held out her hand and said, “I’ll drive.”

That worked. He could use the nap. Rift slid out of the booth, dumping a few bills on the table for a tip and paid the rest up at the bar. “I call back seat,” and to ensure he got it, he wrapped one hand around Kinsey’s neck and shoved her in the passenger’s side. Then he plopped down on the tiny-ass seat, stuffed an arm between his head and the door and curled around his cat, soothed by Rona’s soft purrs.

He didn’t know how long he’d been drifting in and out when he heard the soft murmuring from the front seats. Blinking awake enough to focus, he eavesdropped while stifling another jaw-cracking yawn. Food made him sleepy.

“You have five brothers?”

“Five
older
brothers. I think when I left I had two younger ones and a baby sister.”

“Dang. Eight siblings. Holy cow.” Kinsey let out a soft whistle of appreciation.

Sawyer shook her head. “Nine. I have an older sister, too. I left because I got tired of babysitting.”

Sawyer grinned, and as she glanced at him in the rearview mirror he could see the humor in her soft brown eyes. So warm, but there was a layer of resolve in those amber depths. She’d been willing to risk the wrath of her pride to steal his daughter. She’d taken her rusted piece of crap car four-wheeling with a strange man beside her because it might help them get away.

And she handled him like a fox did a hare.

Then again, any lioness who thrived the way she obviously had, in spite of growing up in a pride of five older males... He shook his head. Sawyer could probably kick his ass. Odd how that turned him on more.

“You’re breathing heavy, big man,” Sawyer said and he saw her looking at him in the rearview mirror.

“Watch the damn road.” With a grumble he pulled his ass up to a sit and blinked out into the bright midday sun. “Where are we?”

“New Mexico. Crossed the state line an hour back.”

“On the road again,” Kinsey belted out, completely off-key, but when Sawyer joined her, Rift was helpless to do anything but groan, roll over and go back to sleep.

Chapter Five

“I have to pee.”

Sawyer glared at the girl in the passenger seat, a growl vibrating her chest. Of course she did. Anyone with brains could have seen that coming. “You wouldn’t if you hadn’t downed a two-liter in the past hour.”

Kinsey shrugged. “I was thirsty.”

Fighting back another growl, Sawyer turned her attention back to the road. She preferred to choose her battles rather than ramming heads with the teenager all day. Rift, apparently, had opted out of the whole issue by snoozing most of today.

Which had left most of the driving to Sawyer.

And she hadn’t had a chance all day to see if Lennox had managed to call her back.

The sign for the next exit flashed out of the darkness and rain, caught in her headlights as they barreled towards it. Centered at the top was an S, indicating a shifter town, and the symbol for a gas station somewhere near the exit. Nothing more. A glance at the lonely countryside revealed a light she could barely make out amidst the trees. Sawyer shook her head. No way. Kinsey could hold it. Lion or not, Sawyer didn’t stop in backwater towns in the dead of the night where there was only one gas station—and where she couldn’t be sure it wasn’t smack dab in the middle of some redneck area where they had guns loaded with silver bullets.

“Still have to pee,” Kinsey snapped out as the exit whizzed by.

Sawyer sighed. “It’s raining.”

“Which only makes this worse.”

“I could pull over and let you go pee on the side of the road.”

“Or you could have taken the exit.”

“Teenage shit, getting old,” Sawyer muttered, not for the first time, drawing a smile out of them both. “I’ll pull up at the next rest stop. Promise.”

She thought for a moment Kinsey would try arguing with her, but the girl clamped her mouth shut, reached back to scoop Rona off Rift’s chest, and cuddled the cat, muttering about cruel new versions of torture. Sawyer rolled her eyes.

Ten minutes later she saw an S-marked exit sign advertising a rest stop and pulled off the highway. Kinsey had unbuckled herself, set Rona on Rift, and was out of the car before Sawyer had put it in park. She pelted off through the rain while Sawyer let out a string of curses, jerked the car into a spot, and took off after her.

“Kinsey! Damn it.” The rain soaked right through her shirt as she ducked under the overhang and yanked open the door to the restrooms. With a violent shake to lose the water, Sawyer stormed into the bathroom after her. “You can’t go running off on your own!”

“I can pee by myself.”

Sawyer opened her mouth to snap back at her and paused. Hell. At home in Cane Creek, she wouldn’t have had to worry. No one would snap at her if she walked outside, or if she sprinted off to go say hi to a friend. Jenna had lived on the very outskirts of pride land, and even hidden, Kinsey had had more freedom then than she did now.