Fighting A Lion: BBW Paranormal Lion Shape Shifter Romance (Sleeping Lions - Shifters Prime Book 3) (6 page)

“Walk to the border, Misty.” Kieran turned, putting himself between Lance and Misty.

She didn’t move, she just stood there, and he turned his head slightly to the left and said more forcefully, “Walk to the border, Misty. Go. Don’t look back, don’t worry about me.”

And in that moment he saw her expression change. He knew that she believed him, that he had not set her up and that he would protect her.

Because we are her mate
, the voice in his head said. And that voice was right and Kieran was about to prove it.

What was she supposed to do? Should she leave him? The border was so close. So close she could smell it, so close that she could run to it, enter the Prime, the place she had longed to return to for so long.

But he was her mate, and the need to protect worked both ways. She knew that he thought it was his job, but this was a partnership, a partnership that she could not escape from, because if he died, part of her would die too.

“Go Misty, go.” And he pushed her away from him, trying to get her moving but she stood there, trying to assess the situation, trying to see if there was any way she could help him. Or they would both die here together.

“She’s not going anywhere. If she runs, we shoot you.” Lance knew he had the upper hand.

She placed her hand on Kieran’s arm. “No, Kieran, we go together.”

“Go,” he growled, and she saw the flash of something cross his eyes; his beast was so close. Despite his collar, his animal side was fighting to be set free.

Maybe that was the answer: she should just rip his collar off and release his beast, let him rip them to pieces, but then she looked down towards the border. If Kieran murdered them, as his beast, even in self-defence, they might escape Lance, but they wouldn’t ever get across the border. The guards would just kill them where they stood.

On this side, shifters had no rights. The guards would shoot them dead, just as they would shoot a rabid dog.

She had to think fast; she turned around and ran down to the border guards as the sound of a gunshot ripped through the air.

“Those guys are trying to hurt my friend,” she screamed in panic, pointing towards where Kieran was now fighting the three men. Thankfully, he looked unharmed.

“Backup will be on its way,” the border guard said. He had his gun raised, looking through his sights at the scene only fifty feet away. “I take it he is like you, a shifter?”

“Does it matter?” she asked. “They have guns and he is unarmed. We don’t have time to wait.”

“I am not leaving my post. For all I know this is an ambush, some of your kind trying to storm the border and escape.”

“No, we want to go back, that’s true. But we have no contracts, they are trying to kidnap us.”

She looked back to where Kieran had thrown one man to the ground, and was about to take out another one, when a truck filled with more guards appeared. Instead of waiting for the guards to control the situation, Kieran turned and ran to the border. There was a moment when Lance raised his gun, ready to fire at Kieran, but then he was overpowered by the guards.

This was their chance; it was time to go home. “I’m ready to go across the border.” She looked at the guard, wanting to speed things up. “Can you test me now?”

The guard before her assessed the situation, and she thought he might object, but he seemed to want to be rid of the two shifters. “Do you have a contract?” the border guard asked, pulling something that looked like a gun from his pocket, while looking up to where Lance and his two bullies were being surrounded.

“I did have, but it’s been paid off. Those guys up there, they attacked me, and took my purse, so I have no proof.”

“As long as you have muted DNA and you don’t come up on our records, you can pass.” The border guard pressed the gun against her neck and it stung almost as bad as when she had been slapped by Lance.

Kieran was only five feet away, still running full tilt. For a moment she thought he was going to keep going, and not stop, which would have made things worse. Misty reached out her hands to grab him and he slid to a halt beside her, panting heavily.

“We need to go,” he said breathlessly.

“No, we have to do this properly.” She held his hand tight, not wanting to let him go.

“You are clear, Misty Blue.” The guard looked warily at Kieran. “Am I testing you too?”

“Yes.” Kieran’s eyes locked with hers as the guard took his blood and then went back into his guard house to check the details. Looking along the border wall, she felt a tremor of fear when she saw the guard, his big gun trained on them, watching for an excuse to fire.

The wait seemed endless, and to make it worse, the guards who had captured Lance and his men were heading their way.

“What do we do?” she asked.

“We should run,” Kieran answered.

“The guard up there will cut us down.” Her hands were beginning to tremble. They were so close to home, and she tried to think of a way of out of this. There was only one way for them to stay alive; they had to wait here.

“You two are being accused of theft and breaking contracts.” One of the guards raised his gun, positioning himself between Lance and Kieran.

“He’s making it up,” Kieran said. “I used to fight for him, earned him a lot of money, but now I am returning home.”

“He’s not on the system.” The guard who had taken Kieran’s blood returned.

“Why? Why aren’t you on the system? Who smuggled you across?” The guard’s finger went to his trigger, and Misty felt the world begin to spin very slowly.

“I don’t know; I was only a child. Look, I owe him nothing, please just let us go,” Kieran implored, and she saw his stance change, he was ready to fight. But she was not ready to die. Not here, outside of Shifters Prime.

“That’s the procedure,” the first guard said. “No contract, no records, we throw them back over there.”

“No,” Lance said. “They have something I need.”

“What?” the guard asked.

“He thinks I know something, but I don’t. He kidnapped me and beat me up.” She lifted her chin to show them her bruises, hoping they took it seriously, even though she was only a shifter.

“If they are clear, with no contracts let them go, I don’t want the paperwork that comes with detaining their kind. But these three need to come back with us and answer some questions, particularly why they brought weapons to the border. This is a secure zone, didn’t you see the signs?”

While the guard walked back towards an uncooperative Lance, Kieran grasped her hand and began moving them backwards, towards the Prime, towards safety. When she looked up, she was relieved to see the gun on the wall was no longer pointed at them; instead, it was trained on what was now becoming an argument between Lance and the guards.

“Let’s go.” Kieran turned and they walked quickly towards the big door that stood on the human side of the border. It opened for them and they slipped through. But just as it began to swing closed, there were shots fired, and a shout of, “Drop your weapons, you are in a secure zone.”

Kieran didn’t stop or slow down; instead, he took her hand and they ran, thankful that her ankle supported her weight as they ran through what appeared to be a no-man’s-land, and on towards the other side of the border. As they reached it, there was a shout from behind them, but they didn’t look back, even when a shot was fired, hitting the wood, sending splinters into the air.

Kieran used brute force to pull the door open, and then they were through it. She was home.

Misty fell to the floor and was sick.

Not exactly how she had envisioned her return to the Prime. Dropping onto her knees and kissing the ground, you know, like the Pope did, that was one thing, but being sick in front of Kieran—that was gross.

“Misty, Misty, we have to get up, we have to get moving. It’s not safe even here.” He put his hand around Misty’s waist and pulled her up, half dragging her, and then with growl of frustration, he picked her up in his arms and carried her.

He didn’t want to stop, something was going on. A loud burst of gunfire from the gun on the wall seemed to confirm it. Looking around, he tried to figure out where they could go for cover, but all the buildings looked broken and unsafe. Why wasn’t there anyone here to meet them?

“Hey, over here.” A voice came from the building to their left and Kieran turned, slowing his pace, but not stopping. “This way, I don’t know what you two are up to, but you need to come this way. There’s something going on at the crossing, and you aren’t safe out there.”

“Who are you?” Misty asked.

Kieran made the decision to go towards the voice, scared that any moment now, Misty would get hit by a bullet and die. Carrying her in his arms made him feel as if he never wanted to let her go, ever.

“The best friend you have right now,” the voice called.

Kieran reached the building and ducked down inside. There they found an old man, his face wet with perspiration as if he had been running. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me.” There was a click of a trigger being cocked and he knew there was a gun pointing straight at them. “I’m going to have to ask you who you are and what’s going on.”

“What?” Misty asked, unable to comprehend what was happening.

“There are rules, there is a treaty, and gunfire is not part of that deal. So before I decide if you are worth starting a war over, I need to know everything.”

He felt utterly defeated. They had got all this way, got away from danger, only to be stopped here in the Prime, by one of their own. He had been right to stay away; it wasn’t safe here, despite what Misty had told him.

“Won’t take a minute,” the old guy said. “I can’t allow whatever trouble you are in to affect the whole of the Prime.”

“Listen, we were told to cross the border by the guards, but there were other men there. They want information from me,” Misty said.

“What do they want to know?” he asked.

“About the man who owned my contract,” Misty said.

“He have a name?”

“Listen, I don’t want to expose him. We have done nothing wrong. We don’t have contracts; mine was paid and Kieran has never had one.”

“Then what are you doing on that side of the border may I ask, young man?” the guy said.

“I don’t know, I was taken there when I was a child, it’s all I’ve known,” Kieran answered, wondering if he could overpower this old guy before he had a chance to let a shot off.

The old guy studied him closely. “And who are these other people?” he asked.

“They are an organised gang,” Kieran said.

“Damn humans, if only they could leave us in peace.” His voice was wistful. “I remember when we all lived together. Then word got out…”

“Please, let us go. I’ve waited so long to come home. If it wasn’t for those guys chasing us, we would have just walked across the border, no problem,”

The old guy looked at Misty. Kieran could see tears welling up in her eyes and wanted to make this right for her. It infuriated him that they were in danger once again when they were so close to freedom.

But that danger was now on their side of the border. “Put the gun down, old timer,” a voice said. It was Lance.

They all stood, staring at the two men with guns, who had blood on their shirts. Had they managed to fight their way through the border? Had they killed the guards? The information on Darius must be worth a lot to them, and he wondered if it would be better if Misty just told them what she knew, but that was naive. Once he had what they wanted, Lance would kill them all to cover his tracks.

“Come on, I don’t want to kill you.” He was speaking to the old guy, who still had his gun in his hand. “But we need to ask these two some questions, or specifically the girl. In fact, we might just as well get rid of the little Kitty now, you were not supposed to cross this border.”

“Not going to happen, sonny,” the old guy said. “This is our land. You don’t belong here.”

“I would have to disagree with you there. You see, I believe that humans own all the land. That this place you call Shifters Prime was just given to you as a playpark. But today, you can do as I say; think of me as your master. And in my world, pets have to do as they are told.”

“I think you’re delusional,” the old guy said. “This is Shifter land and you don’t have any rights here.”

This was a stand-off, and Kieran couldn’t see any way the three of them were going to walk away from it; they were outgunned.

“Listen, I’ll go with you, if you just let these two live. I’ll go back with you, and I’ll tell you what you want to know.” Misty took a step forward.

“That’s a mighty fine offer, but you know what, I don’t think Kitty here will rest until he finds you again, will he?”

“Kieran will stay here. This is where he belongs.” She put a hand on his arm, warning him not to do anything stupid. But he so wanted to rip their heads off.

“See, now this is how I think it should go. You tell me exactly what I need to know. And you can all just walk away,” Lance said. “That’s a much more civilised way to handle things. You give me the information, I sell it for a lot of money, and everyone is happy. The information means nothing to you—you’re here now, home. So tell me about Darius Reiner?”

“I don’t know anything, I was contracted to him. He didn’t tell me anything; his business was nothing to do with me.”

“Wrong answer,” Lance said. “You know the rumour going round about him. Well, it’s more than a rumour, it’s almost a certainty. And I think you know all about it. I’m told you are the only shifter employed in his house; I bet you shared cosy chats about the good old days over here.”

“No,” Misty said, shaking her head.

Lance didn’t like her answer. “This is getting us nowhere. First Kieran dies.”

“No!” she said, standing in front of Kieran, moving so fast he didn’t have time to stop her. “I don’t know where you got this idea from, but you’re wrong.”

“I’m fed up of talking to you. It’s time to get a little more hands-on.” Lance stepped forward, and Kieran wanted to tell the old guy to take the shot. But the old guy just stood there, as if concentrating on something else, something in the distance. For a second he thought he was having some kind of seizure. And then Kieran heard it too: a rumble in the distance, not too far away, and moving fast.