Fated for Forever [Kindred of Arkadia 3] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) (19 page)

three gulped.

“She’s so tiny and cute. But to tell you the truth, she’s scary as fuck too,” the taller lion said.

The wolf grinned.

“And we wouldn’t want it any other way.” The other two lions grinned in return and they resumed their

patrol.

Chapter 16

“Don’t pick up any glass. And don’t lift anything heavy. Don’t breathe in any cleaning fumes, in fact

don’t help. Just sit there,” Aleks said as he paced in front of the table where Rebecca, Ashby and Nic sat

waiting on their to-go order of breakfast muffins at the diner.

“Aleks, don’t worry, we won’t let her do anything. She is strictly going for moral support. Right

Ashby?” Nic said and Ashby nodded.

“And to tell us what to do and point and laugh when we do it wrong,” Ashby added.

“Hey! You’re supposed to be on my side, just for that, I am adding snarky comments to my agenda.

Muwhahaha.” She sniffed dramatically and sipped her tea.

“OK, baby, I gotta run. If you see anything suspicious let me know immediately. Ashby, we did a

walkthrough of the shop and apartment yesterday and have everything we need. Luckily all of the damage

was to the shop, the upstairs looked untouched. Still be careful with the glass. If the smells get

overwhelming take breaks. The smell of candy, cake and sour ice cream was too much yesterday so we

weren’t able to pick up the intruder’s scent.” Aleks crinkled his nose, leaned down and kissed his mate

before heading toward the door. He paused, turned back around and his eyes narrowed at Rebecca.

“Stay out of trouble, I mean it.” He turned back and the door shut behind him. Rebecca rolled her eyes.

“OK, boys, time to boogie,” Rebecca said as Connor handed her a box full of muffins and a small box

of bacon for Sebastian.

They waved good-bye to Ma and Connor before heading to the ice cream parlor. When they walked in

Rebecca looked around, her eyes sad. She passed Nic the muffins and immediately scooped Sebastian up.

“We have to be careful Sebastian, we don’t want glass in your wittle paws.” She kissed the top of

Sebastian’s head as he settled down in her arms purring. Nic wiped down one of the few unbroken chairs

and held it out for Rebecca.

“OK, missy. Park it,” he said and placed the box of muffins on one of the tables. He turned and looked

at their pitiful inventory of cleaning supplies.

“Ash do you have any more bags? This lot isn’t going to cover it.” Nic pointed to the single box of lawn

and leaf bags they had brought from the ranch.

“I have some more upstairs, be back in a second,” Ashby said as he ran up the stairs.

When he got to the landing he saw that Aleks had left the door open. Shaking his head, he pushed open

the door and headed to the kitchen. He got down on his knees, rummaging around under his sink. Finally

he found the two boxes of bags he had been looking for. As he stood, he looked up, and clear as crystal he

saw the reflection of someone standing behind him in the polished metal of the refrigerator. He spun

around and dropped the boxes he hand been holding. A vaguely familiar man stood in front of him holding

a gun tipped with a silencer. He felt his heart try to climb out of his body through his throat.

“What do you want?” he demanded. The man was about to answer when Rebecca and Nic burst

through the apartment door skidding to a stop when they saw the stranger with the gun.

“You two, over there, next to him! Now!” the man screamed as spit flew from his lips. Nic edged in

front of Rebecca and they walked over to where Ashby stood. Both men took defensive positions in front

of their Alpha Mother.

“Why are you here?” Ashby asked.

“As if you didn’t know!” the man screamed. Ashby shook his head.

“I don’t know, really I don’t. I don’t even know you.”

“He is mine. He was going to talk to me that night, I just know it. Then you came along in your tight

jeans, tempting him. Swaying him to you. We are destined to be together.” The man’s voice rose to a fanatic

crescendo. Ashby gaped at the man.

“Oh my God, I remember you! You stood in front of me in line at Purgatory the night Gabriel claimed

me. You were the raccoon with the cologne,” Ashby exclaimed.

“I sent him a love letter, on special pretty paper. I told him you would die. I just knew he was waiting

for me.” The man walked back and forth in front of them waving the gun. Nic turned his head a fraction

caught Ashby’s eye and both turned to look at Rebecca, who mouthed a single word.

Kate.

Both men nodded and concentrated on connecting through to the missing fourth member of their Inner

Court.

“If you wanted me dead, why did you attack Gabriel?” Ashby asked, trying to stall for time.

The man turned his faced crazed.

“I didn’t! I didn’t! I didn’t! You were supposed to die, not him. I have a secret. Yes a secret. I’m only

half shifter. The other half is witch. I was raised by my witch grandmother who taught me things. I used a

spell to break your mating bond. It should have killed you! Why aren’t you dead? Poison didn’t work, the

spell didn’t work. But I know what will work. My gun will work. Then he will be mine,” he said in an

insane singsong childlike voice.

“Mating bonds are built into shifters, you can’t break them in us. All you did was drive Gabriel feral,

you son of a bitch,” Ashby said furiously. This man was responsible for all of the pain he experienced in

the past week and had made his mating with Gabriel miserable.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” The man pointed the gun at Ashby.

“Don’t piss off the crazy man with the gun Ashers,” Rebecca whispered.

“I’m not crazy! Step out in front, bitch!” he said, leveling the gun at Ashby.

“No!” Both Ashby and Nic protested. The man started to squeeze the trigger slowly with the gun pointed

at Ashby’s head.

“Wait! I’m stepping forward,” Rebecca said, easing forward until she stood in front of Ashby and Nic.

Sebastian jumped in front of Rebecca and arched his back hissing at the crazed half shifter.

“Is this the best protection Arkadia has to offer? A little kitty cat.” He laughed manically.

“Say good-bye, bitch.” He swung the gun around until it pointed at Rebecca’s small baby bump and

pulled the trigger.

“No!” Ashby yelled and dove to knock Rebecca down. He felt the bullet graze past his arm as Nic

jumped on top of him to cover them with his body. Above them an eardrum-shattering roar filled the tiny

apartment. Nic, Ashby and Rebecca looked up to see a huge saber-toothed tiger standing between them and

the shooter.

Roaring again, the tiger swiped away the gun before jumping on top of the attacker, who was screaming

in high-pitched tones. The screeches quickly turned to blood-filled gurgles as the saber-toothed tiger bit

down on the man’s throat and shook him like a rag doll.

Aleks, Kate, Bran, Caleb and Liam burst through the apartment door. Aleks’s hands shifted as he

advanced on the saber toothed tiger. Rebecca wiggled out from under Nic and Ashby to stand between her

charging mate and the half-ton tiger behind her.

“Aleks stop! Leave Sebastian alone, he saved us!” she said, holding up both hands to stop her mate.

Aleks stopped in the middle of the floor staring up at the tiger that was currently standing over his tiny

mate.

“Sebastian?” he asked incredulously.

Rebecca looked down and wrinkled her nose at what was left of the attacker, before stepping over his

body and moving toward Aleks.

“Yes, Sebastian. He shifted into super kitty and saved us,” she said, beaming proudly.

Ashby knew in that moment he never loved his friend more. The eviscerated man at her feet warranted

only a nose wrinkle and she was looking at her shifted cat like a proud mama. No other could fill the role as

Alpha Mother more.

“Thank you Sebastian. Is that your real name?” Ashby asked, walking up beside the tiger. He picked up

his bathrobe from the sofa where he had left it nearly a week ago.

The huge saber toothed tiger shimmered and in its place a lithe, sandy-haired man stood looking at them

with fearful brown eyes. Ashby wrapped the robe around him. Liam sucked in a breath.

“You knew. You had to know!” he yelled, turned, and left the apartment slamming the door behind him.

“Oh dear. Aleks go after Liam, he’s hurting and needs you as a friend. Oh, and take that with you

please,” Rebecca said, pointing to the bloody body. Aleks opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked at

Sebastian, opened his mouth, then looked at Rebecca who was staring at him expectantly, then closed it.

“Yes dear,” he said. He reached down grabbed the body by the ankle and dragged it out of the

apartment. Bran and Caleb winced as they heard the thunk, thunk, thunk sounds coming from the stairs as

the body hit each step on the way down.

“My name is Sebastian. I told Liam my name the day we met in the alley,” Sebastian said.

“Liam said it just popped into his head. Was that because you are mates?” she asked. Sebastian nodded.

“I have weak telepathic abilities,” Sebastian explained, still looking a little dazed.

“Sebastian, why didn’t you tell us? We would have kept you safe,” Ashby said, sitting the smaller man

down on the sofa.

“I didn’t mean to lie. When I first came here I was so scared but then Rebecca found me. And she was

warm and safe. I thought to myself, I’d rather be her cat and safe than a man again. I was scared all the

time,” he said shuddering.

“You must have realized at some point that Liam was your mate, and that he wouldn’t hurt you.” Ashby

wrapped an arm around the man when he began to shake.

“I was sold by my Alpha. I only recently felt safe enough where I was thinking about shifting back. I

knew the one that caged me was close to finding me and I had to warn everyone, I just didn’t know how.

Liam isn’t like my old Alpha, I know that now,” he said as tears began to stream down his cheeks.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but how can you have two forms? I didn’t even know that we had

domesticated cat shifters,” Bran asked. Sebastian shook his head.

“There aren’t any. I’m a hybrid. My grandparents on my mother’s side were a tiger and a wolf and the

grandparents on my father’s side were a lion and a hawk. Each couple produced a half breed baby. Those

babies grew up met, fell in love and had me. True hybrids occur when four individual animals come

together to make two, that come together to make one. I can shift into any animal that I see and my

telepathic abilities may get stronger after I’m claimed by my mate,” Sebastian explained.

“OK, I take back wanting to be a bear. I want to be a hybrid,” Rebecca whispered, eyes wide. Kate

smacked her arm.

“We’re not impossible to find, but we are extremely rare. That was why I was sold to the man collecting

hybrids. He was going to sell us. He drugged us, made us shift into small animals and kept us in bespelled

titanium cages. We weren’t able to shift into larger animals to escape. Malcom didn’t know and when he

shifted the cage cut him into tiny cube-shaped pieces. We were only able to escape when the man who was

collecting us left. His abused boyfriend came in and let us all out. He told us to run and find Arkadian

towns. We agreed that it would be too easy to track us as a large group and split up. I saw the boyfriend

here in town last week. It’s only a matter of time before that psychopath finds us, and forces us to go with

him.” Sebastian covered his face with his hands.

“Not going to happen, Sebastian. Didn’t I promise you that you would always have a home with me?”

Rebecca asked him, rubbing her hand over his head. He instinctively turned his head into her touch. He

caught himself and nodded.

“I swear to you that no one will take you away from us.” Rebecca turned to Nic.

“Can you drive him back to the ranch so he can get some rest? He’s had a long day,” she said, leaning

forward and kissing the top of his head just like she did when he was in cat form.

“You mean it? I can stay with you even though I’m not a cat?” he asked, his lower lip quivering. She

nodded.

“Of course, you’re family.” She smiled at him and hesitantly he smiled in return. Nic stood and helped

Sebastian to stand on his own two feet instead of his normal four. Slowly they made their way out of the

apartment and down the blood-stained stairs. No one moved until they heard the door shut.

“What next? The Loch Ness Monster?” Bran asked, pacing the floor.

“Like we didn’t have enough to worry about.” Caleb rubbed his face with his hands. Both women

glared at them. Ashby stared the men down, and through his bond he could feel Rebecca and Kate’s

aggravation.

“He’s family, we take care of family. He also saved my life,” Rebecca reminded the men who looked

down at her properly chastised. They looked up at Kate guiltily.

“You’re also forgetting that he’s Liam’s mate. Liam was willing to risk every man in his pride to keep