Freeing the Feline (7 page)

“I know that.”

“Which means I need to tell you that Amia left her phone in here when she hurried out earlier. I thought about making a call but didn’t. It’s under the mattress.”

Logan pushed up and rose from the bed. “I’ll grab my phone and give it to you. Things have changed now. You’re my mate. That makes you part of this pride.”

“I have a phone I can use. It’s hidden in the woods with the rest of my stuff. I just haven’t had a chance to go get it, yet.”

“I’ll take you. I’m curious to see where you hid it. We’ve been all over the woods and found nothing.”

“I’ll show you.”

He reached down and took her hand, tugging her up. “Time to get up and dressed.”

“Logan.” She said his name quietly when he moved to rummage on the floor for their clothing.

“I’ll give you one of my shirts to wear for now,” he said, turning back to her as he sorted what he’d picked up. “It’s going to be huge. Sorry about that.”

“Logan,” she said again.

“Yeah?”

“It was a hunter who shot you, wasn’t it?”

He nodded, absently reaching up to rub the scar he’d always bear.

“Is he still living?”

Logan shook his head. “Reno killed him.”

“Good,” she said with a nod. “I hope he ripped his fucking heart out.”

Logan grinned. “Bloodthirsty, aren’t you?”

“No one will ever threaten my man. You are mine, and I protect what’s mine.”

He jerked her up against him and took her mouth in a savage kiss. It was wild heat and unbridled passion. His tongue ravaged the interior of her mouth, owning her. She nipped his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, tasting it on her tongue as he pulled back. His hand fisted in her hair as he held her in place.

“You’re mine, Clara. You will never place yourself in front of me when there is danger. I protect what’s mine. I won’t deny you the fight, but don’t ever think to try and deny me, either.”

“By your side,” she vowed. “Always.”

He nodded, loosening his grip until he cupped the back of her skull. He guided her mouth back to his, the kiss soft and lazy this time. She knew he was remembering that moment in the lab when she’d tried to place herself between him and Reno. In her defense, Reno had been a fully shifted tiger at the time, and she’d taken one look at Logan and felt the mating call scream through her. She’d been completely off-guard in that split second with only one thought in mind. Protecting her mate.

“I’ll go grab you a shirt,” he said as he slowly eased away from her. “Then we’ll go talk to Tah and get your gear.”

“The phone call?” she asked.

“You’ll get to make it. I’ll make sure Tah doesn’t have a problem with it,” Logan assured her. “He’ll understand where your loyalty lies now that we’re mated.”

She watched Logan pull up his jeans and turn to leave the room. Where her loyalties lay? Not as easy a question as Logan seemed to think. Yes, she was loyal to her mate and understood that, as such, she would be expected to show loyalty to his pride. But that didn’t mean she could just turn her back on her uncle and the shifters that stayed with them. And Lydia? What about her? How did she tell Amia that Lydia was alive and well and had been living with shifters this whole time? Clara was Logan’s mate, but that didn’t make everything else magically disappear.

“What do I do?” she whispered, praying for some divine guidance since she didn’t have a clue.

Logan ran into Tah in the hallway. Tah inhaled deeply and sighed.

“I see you took my advice and mated Clara.”

“Yes,” Logan confirmed. “She’s mine, Tah. I did what our hormones have been demanding of us. I know you remember how this mating thing consumes you.”

Tah nodded his head. “You’ll find yourself even more consumed with Clara now. She’s a part of you. Mating is so much more than marriage is.”

“You okay?” Logan asked.

“Tired,” Tah admitted. “I wanted to find you. Hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“What’s wrong?” Logan asked then grabbed Tah’s arm, his eyes huge with panic. “Abby? Did something happen? Did the transfusion not work?”

He felt the tension leave Tah as a genuine smile took over his face. “Abby’s fine. She’s resting, actually resting. Her cheeks are rosy with color. It was like watching a miracle the way she seemed to revive with my blood. That’s why I headed up here to catch you. I was hoping to talk to Clara, to offer her my thanks. I’d like to see if she and I could start fresh and talk.”

“Jesus, you scared me for a minute. I’m so glad Abby is doing better.” Logan heaved a sigh of relief. “And I’m hoping for a fresh start here for Clara, as well. I’d like for you and Reno to accept her as part of the pride now that we’re together.”

Tah nodded. “I’ll say something to Reno. She’s your mate. That makes her family. We still need to talk to her, though. Who knows what else she might be able to tell us?”

“We’ve talked about that. I’d like to take her to get her stuff. She hid it before she triggered the alarm. She has a phone she can use to contact her Uncle Thomas. She seems to think he’d be the best one to talk to you and fill us all in on everything they know. I think she’s a little overwhelmed by all this.”

“All this?” Tah questioned.

“Us mating. The pride. You.”

“So Reno was right about her deferring to me.”

Logan nodded. “I haven’t had a chance to discuss it with her, but I can tell she views you with a sort of reverence.”

“Do you mind if I speak with her before you leave?” Tah asked. “I’d like to let her know how much what she shared means to me, to us.”

Logan felt his cheeks heat. “Let me get her a shirt first. I sort of ripped hers earlier.”

Tah threw his head back and laughed. “I’ve been there. I can go grab something of Abby’s if you want. They look like they share a similar build. At least before Abby became pregnant.”

“That’d be great.”

“I’ll bring it up. I’d appreciate it if you’d bring her to the office before you go out. I’d really like the chance to set things right with her.”

“No problem,” Logan assured him. “Let me just grab a shirt for me and I’ll head down with you. Be quicker that way.”

“I’ll run ahead and grab something and meet you back at the stairs. I don’t want to disturb Abby.”

“Sounds good,” Logan agreed.

He hurried into his room and grabbed a fresh shirt and tugged it over his head. He’d left his socks and shoes in Clara’s room so he shoved his feet into a pair of sneakers. He’d get the others when he took her a shirt. He’d have to talk to her about moving into his room. They were mates now. It just made sense. He definitely didn’t want to think about not having her in his bed from now on.

Never had sex been like that before. Was that they way it was with mates? More intense? More sensual? Just more on every level? He could easily recall the feel of her flesh against his. Nothing had ever felt so right. He hadn’t been lying to her when he said he hadn’t been with a woman since he’d left the Marines. It wasn’t that they hadn’t offered, either. He’d left the bar with a few but had ended up taking them to their homes and leaving them there…alone.

It wasn’t even that he hadn’t been interested. He had. But there’d been no follow-through. It just hadn’t felt right. He’d been teasing when he said maybe he’d been waiting for her, but who knew? Maybe he had. Maybe some part of him had known that there was someone far greater out there that was meant just for him, a love that he needed to be ready for. He’d seen stranger things happen, like finding out your best friends were a lion and tiger. Now he was mated to someone just like them.

Which made him sit down for a minute and catch his breath. He’d mated a shifter, a lioness. Clara would turn into a lioness at some point while he stood watching. What would that be like? To watch his mate become something so different, to be different and yet, still be Clara? He’d always been on the same side of a situation as Reno and Tah. This time he wouldn’t be. He’d be the one standing on the porch with their mates watching them run off with his mate. It was a weird concept to wrap his head around.

He was all about being a team player, but what would he do the first time he and Clara faced battle together? He knew it was coming. They all did. It was only a matter of time before another band of hunters came in looking for them. And from what Clara had said, the group Harlan had been with had been nothing compared to what they might face. They were still stretched thin with not enough people around on their side. Could Clara change that with one phone call?

So much to think about and take in. Things were changing so quickly. Every day seemed to bring something more, and rarely were there answers without more questions. Life was interesting, that was for sure. But it was all starting to take a toll, as well. They were essentially flying blind. Tah had been captured. Reno had been captured. They’d been attacked once, and Amia had been tagged by the Blanes. She could have led some of them to Colorado. They wouldn’t be able to pinpoint where her signal had disappeared, but they would know to look in Colorado. So it could be just a matter of time before someone stumbled across them.

Chances were, Finn taking the tracker wouldn’t matter in the long run. The Blanes would know something was up when they found it abandoned somewhere. It might buy them a little more time, but the cold hard truth was that they needed to be prepared for a major war to happen. They needed weapons and people. People they could trust. What they didn’t need was Finn, Murphy and Zane off running around instead of being there where they needed them.

The wolves weren’t there anymore, and Logan knew Tah wouldn’t call them back unless it was an emergency. They all knew Jess and her mates were dealing with something big of their own. But the pride did need additional people. Shifters preferably. Or at least those with some knowledge of what it was the pride was facing. But it wasn’t like they could just take an ad out in the paper.

Help Wanted. Anyone with experience kicking hunter ass. Shifting ability a plus.

That wouldn’t go over well. And that left them where they were currently. Overworked and spread far too thin. Three of them had been injured when Harlan Jones had attacked. Tah and Logan had both been shot. Abby had been banged and bruised up. They’d been lucky, very lucky. What happened if luck ran out? What happened if there was an injury Diane and the Professor couldn’t take care of? What if one of them died?

He shook those thoughts from his head. They would only serve to drive him crazy. He headed out the door at a jog and turned for the stairs, expecting to find Tah waiting impatiently for him, or at least waiting to give him grief over taking so long. But he wasn’t there so Logan went on down to the main floor to see if someone else had caught Tah for something.

“Hey, Logan,” Kenzie said. “I figured you’d be in the control room with Reno and Tah.”

“What’s up?” he asked.

Kenzie looked a little uncomfortable.

“Spill it,” he ordered, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Just head to the control room,” Kenzie answered quietly. “You’ll find out there.”

“Fuck!” Logan roared and headed out to see what was going on. If it was more hunters, they were screwed.

Chapter Six

Clara paced the room as she waited for Logan to return. She pulled the phone out from under the mattress and checked the screen to make sure she and Logan hadn’t damaged it when they’d been mating on the bed. Remembering that had her grinning like a loon. Then she paced a little more waiting for Logan.

After several more minutes, she was wound tight. It didn’t help that the phone was just lying on the bed now, mocking her. She should have given it to Logan before he left, sort of out-of-sight, out-of-mind thing. Now all she could think about was calling. Especially since Logan had pretty much assured her it wouldn’t be a problem. He’d offered her his phone, said he’d make sure Tah understood how much it meant to her, and Logan hadn’t exactly asked her to wait. Had it been implied, though?

God, she hated this. She wanted to talk to her uncle and tell him all about Logan. She’d found her mate! Logan wouldn’t care, would he? He’d understand that she just needed to make the call, particularly if it brought them the help they needed. Logan was her mate. Of course he’d support her. And once the rest of them understood she was calling for help and not to bring more trouble, they’d understand, too. At least, she prayed they would because she knew as she reached for the phone she wasn’t going to put it down this time.

It rang three times before anyone answered, and it wasn’t the voice she was expecting to hear when someone finally spoke.

“Walker’s Trading Post. How can I help you?” Lydia’s voice came over the line.

“It’s Clara.”

“Where the hell have you been? We’ve been going crazy looking for you. You can’t just disappear every time you want.”

“Uncle Thomas knew where I was going.”

“Oh,” Lydia answered, and Clara heard something in her voice.

“What is it? What’s going on?”

“Your uncle left just after you did. We haven’t heard from him, either. I thought maybe the two of you were together.”

“God, I hope he didn’t go looking for me in Montana,” Clara said. “I really need to talk to him”

“Montana!” Lydia exploded. “I told you to stay away from there. Do you have a death wish?”

“I’m not there anymore. I moved on. And the rise here is glorious when the sky awakens.” It was the code they were to use if they ever felt they had information about the one they all searched for, the leader they prayed would come. Tah.

“Where are you, Clara?” Lydia’s voice was soft again, quiet and calm. The sudden change was unnerving. “Have you approached anyone?”

Clara felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise. Something was way off with Lydia. She could hear it in the other woman’s voice. Lydia was hiding something.

“Who’s there with you? Who did Uncle Thomas leave in charge of the store?”

“Me.”

Clara knew Lydia was lying then. Uncle Thomas would never leave Lydia in charge. It wasn’t just because he didn’t really trust Lydia. He wouldn’t leave anyone who wasn’t a shifter in charge of the store. No exceptions. A shifter in need of help would usually only turn to another shifter for help, not a human.