A Leopard's Path (11 page)

Ana lifted her head to gaze into his eyes. “Then we fight together, do everything we can to protect the den and the Alphas. I’m not cowering behind wards, waiting on the witch to make her move. It’s not who I am.”

“I know. That’s why I want you to help me train the Sentinels for Blaine and Luna.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. Her heart melted, and pride straightened her spine a little. “I’d love to.”

Framing her face, he tugged her head down until their lips meshed together. When he broke the kiss, he met her stare, his gold eyes glowing with the desire she felt through their bond. “Ready to go storm the camp?”

“You bet. With any luck, we’ll find a few mutants to take down.”

He tightened his arms around her and nipped at her nose. “You will be the death of me.”

“Not anymore. I can show you through the bond how to track and kill the beasts. Did you forget I’ve been doing it since I was eighteen?” She gave him a quick kiss and wiggled out of his hold.

“While that is true, I am still your mate and will continue to protect you.”

“And I’ll pretend to let you.”

When he moved, she squealed and darted to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door before he reached it. Yet, it was no use. Kieran broke the knob and pushed his way inside.

Laughing, she said, “You’ll have to pay for that.”

One side of his mouth lifted. “They can take it out of the deposit.”

Her laugher turned into a gasp when he stopped in front of her and snaked an arm around her. “What will you do with me?”

He kissed her cheek, then nipped at her earlobe. “Anything I want.” Without another word, he bit down on her shoulder.

Fluid fire pooled between her thighs and she dug her nails into his shoulders as an orgasm rocketed through her.

Mine
. Yes, the woman agreed with the leopard. Kieran Michaels was hers.

Chapter Seventeen

Kieran raised a hand in a silent command to Ana and the two sentries he could sense somewhere in the forest. Coming to a stop at the edge of a clearing, Kieran leaned into Ana. “That’s some heavy fucking magick.”

“Yes. It makes me ill. But there are no wards, strange.” She reached out with one hand as if feeling the air. After a few moments, she pointed and whispered, “Show me.”

He followed her gaze to the open space. Like a veil lowering, the camp appeared. It wasn’t much of an encampment. Only a handful of tents were scattered among the brush. He wondered if a rebel group this small was even a threat.

He felt a slight pull on his subconscious as Ana called to the earth around her. Vines lowered from the trees and crawled on the ground toward one of the tents. He was about to ask her what she was doing, but he caught the rotten scent of mutants.

Ana’s spine went straight and she flicked her gaze to his, then in the direction of the half-human, half-beast creatures. Her emotions flooded the mating bond, fueling his own fight response. His leopard growled, wanting to protect his female while ripping the mutant bastards to shreds.

“Bastards,” Ana spoke the curse as she took off.

“Ana!”
Damn it. Tanner.
Kieran sent the sentry the telepathic curse as he fell in step with Ana.

I see her
, the sentry thought back.

Kirk chimed in.
There are two ahead of you, and two more inside the camp. Tanner and I will take care of the latter.

Good
.

Beside him, Ana stilled and rested her fingers on his forearm. A few yards in front of them, the two creatures she’d tracked stood, scenting the air. These two wore collars. That was new.

“Bastards.” Ana’s curse was a soft whisper before she spoke to him. “I’m not sure what the collars are for besides a means to keep track of them. One of their weaknesses, as Keegan found out, is telepaths. If you flood their mind with your thoughts, it confuses them.”

“I’m not a telepath.”

She cut him a gaze and smirked. “I am, and as my mate you should be able to use the gift.”

He wasn’t so sure about that, but he didn’t have time to ask questions. The mutants jerked their attention to him and Ana and charged. Kieran drew his gun, only to have it knocked out of his hand as one of the creatures tackled him to the ground.

Fuck
. They were faster than he remembered. “Savannah must have enhanced their abilities.” Lifting a hand, Kieran changed it to the claw of his leopard and swiped it across the beast’s face. The mutant screamed and lost his grip, giving Kieran the opportunity to flip the asshat off him.

“Looks like it,” Ana called back.

An inhuman screech cut through the forest. Kieran glanced to Ana to see the creature she fought catch on fire. The dying mutant didn’t only catch Kieran’s attention, but that of its buddy. The male Kieran fought charged at Ana, catching her off guard.

She gripped the creature by the throat as they tumbled to the ground. Kieran’s heart hammered, but he felt Ana’s calm along the bond. How could she be so steady? Kieran ran at them and hit the beast with his shoulder.

Ana screamed, and a searing pain flooded Kieran’s senses. His leopard growled and rose to the surface. Swinging, he hit the mutant in the jaw. The crack of bone breaking echoed off the trees. The creature went limp. A moment later, a shot fired.

“Bastards,” Ana growled again as she holstered her gun.

Glancing at her, he let out his own growl at the gash across her cheek. He reached out, but she kissed him quickly. “There’s no time. We have to get to Tanner and Kirk. I feel a trap brewing.”

She was right. Linking his fingers with hers, he took off toward the rebel camp. There was no telling how many mutants there were. And Kieran had sent Ashwood’s best sentries in there.

When they reached the grouping of tents, Kieran froze wide-eyed as Tanner used his telekinesis to move tents and various other objects around in the air. Beside Kieran, Ana lifted her arms in the air and made circular motions. The wind picked up and she directed it into a small cyclone, then moved it to the objects floating in the air.

A tornado of camp equipment swirled and moved around the area.

Tanner nodded to her. “Cool. The dumbasses are confused by it.”

“How many of them?” Kieran asked.

“About four that we saw. No humans.” Tanner advanced toward them. “Kirk is circling in the trees in cat form.”

A slightly painful tug along the mating bond drew Kieran’s attention to his mate. She was calling magick, yet it was different than before, more powerful. “Ana?”

“Everyone needs to leave the area.” When they didn’t move, she growled. “Now.”

The energy she had raised started to spill over to him, electrifying and hot. He had no idea what she planned to do, but he trusted her enough to listen. “Kirk, let’s go!”

Once he and Tanner were several yards away from the camp, Kirk jumped out of a nearby tree and shifted. “What the hell is your mate doing?”

Before Kieran could answer, a bright blue light flashed as a snap of power crackled through the air. The ground shook, throwing them off balance.

Come on, Ana. Please be okay.

A few moments passed before she appeared. In two steps, Kieran had grabbed her in a tight hug and buried his nose into her neck. “You scared the shit out of me.”

“Sorry. I just reacted and didn’t have time to explain.” She pulled back and framed his face. “It’s over. I cleansed the area, too.”

“Hey, she’s right. I can breathe,” Tanner said. The male stared at Ana for several moments. “What did you do?”

“I built up power I usually keep a lid on. Doing that caused an electronic wave of energy, like an amped up ball of static, only more powerful.” She glanced between the three of them as if unsure. After a moment, she sagged. “Sable shared her magick, the same power she got from her mother, in order to save my life when I was a teen. She taught me to keep it concealed. Now that I don’t need to, it’s hard to keep it controlled.”

The last part was something she hadn’t told Kieran. He worked his jaw but didn’t say anything. He’d wait until they were safely at home. “Can you two run clean up?”

Ana shifted from foot to foot. “Um, there’s nothing to clean up.”

Tanner threw his head back. “What did you do, blow everything out of existence?”

She shrugged. “Sort of…”

Kieran sighed and tugged her into a hug. “I want an explanation later.”

“Promise me a bubble bath, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

“Deal.” He kissed her, only to break it when Tanner cleared his throat. “Let’s go home. The Alphas are going to want to meet.”

****

Sable eased the cell door open, careful not to alert the mutants standing guard at the end of the hall. Once outside, a wave of power washed through her as if whatever had muted her magick was inside the cell. Extending her hand to hover over the bars, she pressed her lips together. The bars were warded to contain her and her magick.

Stupid bitch. She’d only known her mother for a few days, and she’d known she hated her within the first few minutes.

Taking deep, cleansing breaths, Sable didn’t bother to leash her power. No, she’d need it fully online to escape whatever hell-hole her parents were holding her in. She stretched out her senses and was hit with a familiar and painful presence as it brushed against her subconscious.
Fuck. Jared
.

She had to get out of there, and fast.

The dim, dirty stone hallway reeked of rotten meat—the scent the mutants put off since they never showered and hunted for their food. Foul bastards. She made her way down the hall in the opposite direction from the half-human, half-animal creatures.

The smell of burning wood reached her a moment before an explosion shook the building. What the hell?

A moment later, booted footsteps came toward her from behind. Glancing over her shoulder, she froze briefly before taking off in the direction she’d been headed. She recognized the male as Hayden Raines, the wolf Marshal of Ashwood Falls.

“Sable!”

His voice boomed through the corridor and her heart skipped a beat. Of course, he knew who she was. After all, she was on their most wanted list. Picking up speed, she rounded the corner and ran into a solid wall of muscle. The cinnamon notes filling her senses told her who it was. Her jaguar whimpered and shrank deeper inside her.

“Let me go, Jared.” Damn it, why did it hurt to speak his name out loud. Steeling her spine and shoving all emotions out of her mind, she jerked back, breaking his hold. Without a thought, she zapped him with a fraction of her power. He growled but stumbled back. She took the small opportunity to make her escape.

When she reached the door at the end of the hall, she glanced out the small rectangular window. Not seeing or sensing anyone, she pushed it open and eased out into the setting sun. It didn’t take her any time to adjust to the light as she raced across the yard of what she now noticed as a small estate surrounded by cottages. Her cell must have been located in the basement.

She knew the moment Jared stepped out of the building without turning to look. The damned connection from their mating still existed, only as a whisper. Being this close to him flared a desire she hadn’t felt or been able to sate in the last fifteen years.

Damn jaguar.

Not glancing back, she kept running until the group of houses disappeared from sight. Until she no longer felt Jared inside her soul and mind. Only then did she allow herself to stop and drop to the forest floor, letting the tears fall.

Jared was her heart, her mate. Yet, they could never be mated, ever again.

****

It took Jared several long moments to realize what he’d done. He’d let her go, let her escape from his life. No. She was a fugitive, wanted for crimes against the shifter communities.

Fuck
.

The moment he had touched her, he was flooded with her memories of the last few years. Nigel growing up and Sable doing all she could to get him, her, and Ana out of the Onyx den. All flashes of pictures and thoughts, but his ability allowed him to piece it together and make a judgment.

Sable was innocent.

The acknowledgment slammed into him, gripped his fucking heart, and burned in his veins. He’d been a bastard for believing she was anything like her father.

Nothing mattered anymore, did it? He’d broken the bond, hurt both of them in the process, and pushed her out of his life. His jaguar paced just under the surface and nudged him to chase her. The man wanted no part of repeating the heartache in case she’d somehow managed to deceive him again.

The door to the basement he’d exited moments before opened and slammed shut. Hayden stepped up beside him, the male’s scent laced with the sharp notes of anger. “I’m going with the idea that she used her magick on you to escape. Although I don’t see the logic in it.”

“I will track her down.” Jared started moving, not giving the Marshal any time to respond. Sable was his to hunt and bring in. Besides, he was the only one she’d come to because he had their son.

Chapter Eighteen

They didn’t go straight home like Ana would have liked. Instead, they went back to the cabin, both with a sinking feeling that something was off. The dark, heavy power had returned, crawling over her skin like ants.

“I don’t like this. It feels too much like Savannah,” Kieran growled as they entered the cabin.

“If it is her, then she set this up from the beginning to lure you in.” Ana fisted her hands. The witch was looking for a fight, and Ana was going to give her one.

Kieran came up behind her and snaked his arms around her, then pressed his lips to her neck before saying, “We can’t fight her alone.”

“That’s why I called for backup on the way here.” She twisted in his arms and framed his face. His gold irises glowed with an intensity she’d only seen when they’d fought side-by-side when Ashwood was attacked. “I understand the risks, and I feel your fear. But I’m not going to walk away with a threat hanging over your head or anyone else in my family or Pack.”