Panthers' Pleasure [Impulse 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (20 page)

“Not a good idea,” Rafe said. “You’re too valuable here to be risked.”

“Let him come,” Vilas said. “He’s not usually wrong about being needed.”

With such sobering thoughts echoing through their heads, the party of seven loaded themselves into two trucks and hit the interstate.

* * * *

Never had Chantal regretted her lack of a GPS more. She took the wrong exit off the interstate and became comprehensively lost in a maze of confusing backstreets and one-ways. She felt hot all over as traffic sped past in all directions, everyone except her seeming to know where they were actually going. At one stage she stopped and asked directions at a gas station, but still couldn’t find her way. Trying to navigate when she was blinded by her own tears half the time made her a danger to herself and other road users. Constantly trying to block her thoughts from Rafe and Vilas required total concentration and gave her a headache.

It took her three hours to complete a journey that shouldn’t have taken more than an hour. When she pulled into the hospital’s parking lot it was totally full and she had to go to the overspill across the road on a dimly lit patch of ground.

“Great,” she muttered. “Just great.”

She made a dash across the street, too impatient to wait for the signal to change, dodging in and out of fast-moving cars. Several horns were sounded at her. She ignored them and the rude gestures she saw waved from lowered windows.

“You got a death wish, lady?” one driver shouted as he slammed on his breaks to avoid hitting her.

Probably.

She made it to the main doors without causing an accident, but by then daylight was fading. She was running out of time fast. Endless corridors seemed to open up in front of her before she found her way to Max’s ward. He was sitting up in bed, looking as handsome as always, except for his anxious expression. Chantal threw herself at him and they hugged tightly.

“I’ve been going out of my mind with worry,” she said, holding his face between both her hands and examining it closely.

“Sorry, sis.” He shrugged, looking tired and frustrated. “I have absolutely no idea what happened.”

Chantal knew precisely what had happened, but there was no time for explanations—not now, perhaps not ever. He’d never believe her anyway.

“How’s your leg?” She glanced down at it, but it was bandaged from knee to ankle, so she couldn’t judge how much damage he’d done. “Can you walk on it?”

“Yeah, the stitches came out yesterday. It’s stiff, but no bones broken, apparently. The surgeon said he’d never seen an injury quite like it.”

I’ll just bet he hasn’t.

“Look, Max, are you feeling up to getting out of here right now?”

“Absolutely, but…er, there’s the small matter of my bill.”

“Oh, I suppose you didn’t have anything with you when they found you. Otherwise, they would have known who you were and I would have been contacted.”

“Yeah, that’s what’s so damned odd. Me and my wallet are never separated.” Max shook his head. “The police theory is that I was hit by a car and the first person to find me, instead of calling 911, relieved me of my valuables instead.”

“Welcome to today’s caring world.”
No, don’t think about Impulse and the good they’re doing there.

“Why don’t you get dressed? I’ll go and find the office and handle all the paperwork.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He grinned at her, a modicum of his old self appearing through his confusion. “Quite a role reversal, sis, you looking out for me.”

“I’ll be right back.”

She wasn’t, of course. There were a dozen forms to sign and eye-watering bills to settle. Chantal prayed that her overstretched credit card would take the strain. Fortunately it did, and almost an hour later she and Max were free to leave. The female half of the nursing staff seemed keen to say protracted good-byes to their handsome patient. Nothing new there. Max had turned heads with his good looks, laid-back attitude, and old-fashioned charm for as long as Chantal could remember. Countless women had pursued him over the years, but so far none had been able to tie him down permanently.

“Where are you parked?” Max asked as they finally stepped outside. Heavy raindrops fell on their heads and thunder rumbled in the distance. “We need to get to a hotel and I need to make some calls. Find my car and see if I can figure out who I was with and what happened to me.”

No, you don’t, Max. We need to get out of here in one piece.
“Damn, it’s dark,” she said.

“Not afraid of the dark are you?” Max teased.

You have no idea!

Chantal was a bundle of anxiety as she slowed her steps to match Max’s awkward ones. He had a crutch the hospital had supplied him with and Chantal supported his other arm. She waited for the signal to change so they could cross this time. No way could Max play chicken with the oncoming cars in his condition. It took forever, but finally the traffic came to a halt and they made it safely across. Chantal’s heart rate slowed a little as she started to think they’d actually make it. They were two paces away from being locked safely inside her car. No one could get to them once they were.

Chantal gasped as apparitions appeared like ghosts all around them. She knew very well that they weren’t ghosts. They were shifters. Lion shifters. And she’d played straight into their hands by getting lost—if she did actually get lost, that is. With the sorts of mental powers these guys appeared to possess, who was to say they didn’t deliberately push her off track?

Their leader stepped forward, an arrogant smile playing about his lips.

“Stay back!” Max stood in front of Chantal and waved his crutch at the man. “I’ll deal with this.” Then he meekly moved to stand beside Chantal again and scratched his head. “Was I just gonna do something?” he asked her, looking bewildered. “Hell if I can remember what it was. Who are these people?”

“Ah, Chantal,” the guy said, his smile broadening. “We meet at last.”

“You know this guy?” Max asked.

“No, I’ve never seen him before.”

“No, but you know who we are and what we want. My name is Boscombe.” He actually bowed. “Alpha lion.”

“Alpha what?” Max asked.

“You haven’t told him yet,” Boscombe remarked.

“My sister says she doesn’t know you.”

“How’s Rafe?”

“Who?”

“Darling, if you want to play games with me, you should have removed his mother’s collar before coming here.”

Involuntarily, Chantal lifted a hand to her throat. Shit, she’d forgotten to remove the diamond choker from around her neck.

The rain fell in torrents, bouncing off the highway like it bore it a grudge, making visibility damned near impossible, for human drivers anyway. Rafe put his panther vision to good use and maneuvered round the slow-moving traffic as though it didn’t exist. Even so, progress was frustratingly slow, standing water and the volume of traffic choking the highway like a clogged artery.

“Damn it, we need to get there!” He thumped the wheel with the heel of his hand. “Every second’s vital.”

“It’s you they want, buddy, not her,” Mikael reminded him calmly from the back seat. “They won’t hurt her.”

“They’d fucking better not.” Rafe growled. “I wanted to get there before dark and pull her out before the bastard lions got themselves organized.”

“That was never an option,” Vilas said, grimacing. “They’ve been one move ahead of us every step of the way. We didn’t give them enough credit.”

“Chantal caused you to take your eye off the ball, just like they intended,” Mikael said.

“Looks that way,” Rafe conceded. “And I thought I’d got all points covered. Just goes to show.”

“What’s the plan then?” Mikael asked.

“To get Chantal out in one piece,” Rafe said, his chin jutting with determination. “That’s all that matters.”

“Er, actually it isn’t,” Vilas pointed out. “The colony needs you, Rafe, and so do I, if it comes to it. If you could avoid getting yourself killed or injured…again, I’d be obliged.”

Rafe removed one hand from the wheel and briefly rested it on Vilas’s thigh. “I’m planning on staying alive, buddy.” He swore when a car cut across in front of him, forcing Rafe to hit the brakes and the truck to swerve across two lanes. “Fucking idiot!” he muttered, fighting to regain control and avoid a collision.

“We don’t need to get involved in an accident,” Mikael pointed out in an infuriatingly calm manner.

Rafe shot him the finger over his shoulder. “This thing with Boscombe and me has got to be sorted today, once and for all,” he said with determination.

“You think he’ll be there?” Mikael asked.

“I’m sure of it. He must know by now that we’re mated with Chantal and that we’ll come after her. He wants a pissing contest with me, has done for a while, and today he’ll get his wish.”

“That’s what worries me,” Vilas said.

Rafe managed a mirthless chuckle. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, buddy.”

“He doesn’t fight fair.”

Rafe rolled his eyes. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

As they reached the hospital, thunder crashed directly overhead and the streetlights were abruptly extinguished.

“Seems we’re expected,” Mikael remarked drolly.

“She’s here!” Vilas said urgently. “She’s unblocked and she’s in danger.”

Rafe didn’t pull into the main parking lot, sensing that she wouldn’t be there. Boscombe would have made sure she parked somewhere less conspicuous. He headed to the lot on the other side of the road, sniffing the air through a crack in the window, sensing her close by.

“We’re coming for you, darlin’,”
he pheromoned.

“Don’t! They won’t hurt me.”

“Fucking hell!” Rafe scratched his head. “She picked up my pheromone and answered me. I had no idea she’d develop the power so quickly.”

“That’s probably why she was blocking us,” Vilas said, grinding his jaw.

Rafe glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed Mikael nodding. “She wouldn’t be your mate if she wasn’t ultrasensitive,” he said.

Vilas reminded vigilant, perched on the edge of his seat. Mindless of the pouring rain, he poked his head out the window to assess the situation.

“There’s six of them, Rafe,” he said. “Including Boscombe.”

“Numbers are even then. Mikael, your job is to grab Chantal and her brother and get them back to this truck. I don’t want you involved in any fighting.”

“Thank you very much!”

“He’s right,” Vilas said. “You’re more use back at the clinic. That’s where you’re needed.”

“Let’s hope he’s not needed here, too.”

Rafe pulled his truck to a stop next to Chantal’s car. The truck with the other colony members in it pulled up alongside.

“Okay, guys,” Rafe said, flexing his jaw. “It’s showtime.”

He opened his door and strode across the lot toward the place where Boscombe stood with Chantal. He took note of the other lions standing in a loose semicircle behind Boscombe, still in human form.

“Ah, Rafe,” Boscombe said smugly. “How nice to see you again.”

“The pleasure’s all yours.”

“You shouldn’t have come,”
Chantal pheromoned.

“How touching,” Boscombe said, a sarcastic edge to his voice. “But don’t forget you’re not alone, darlin’, and I can hear every word you say.”

“What the hell’s going on here?” demanded a man who was leaning heavily on a crutch. He looked so much like Chantal that he had to be her brother.

“Take your brother to the truck,” Rafe said, his eyes not leaving Boscombe. Thanks to his panther vision, he could see his adversary clearly in spite of the darkness, the rain, and the lack of street lighting. “Mikael’s there.”

Chantal touched his arm but Rafe barely felt the gesture. He was about to fight for the woman he loved, for the colony, for his life. It would be a fight to the death. This feud ended here, and only one of them would walk away.

“Go!” Vilas said to Chantal, his voice icily remote.

“I can’t leave you.”

He quirked a brow. “Really?”

“I want to help.”

“You’ve done enough damage already.”

“I didn’t mean…I—”

“Just get out of here!”

Vilas gave her a little shove, which seemed to do the trick. She grabbed her brother’s arm and headed for the truck, constantly glancing over her shoulder as she went.

“You and I, Boscombe,” Rafe said, his tone silk on steel. “Leave the others out of it. This is between us.”

“To the death?”

“Naturally,” Rafe said, an icy calm enveloping him as he prepared to shift, possibly for the final time.

* * * *

“What the devil’s going on, sis?” Max demanded.

Chantal was crying too hard to answer him. The coldness in Vilas’s tone had shaken her to the core. He blamed her for putting Rafe’s life on the line, of course, but not as much as she blamed herself. She’d tried to protect the men she loved but only succeeded in making matters ten times worse. The thought of Rafe dying thanks to her cavalier attitude caused her knees to buckle and a cold sweat to engulf her body. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and hugged herself, unable to stop trembling. How could she have thought that she’d be able to singlehandedly outsmart the foes who’d bugged the colony for years?