Read To Lie With Lions: A BBW Shifter Romance (Wolf Rock Shifters Book 4) Online
Authors: Carina Wilder
To Lie With Lions: A BBW Shifter Romance (Wolf Rock Shifters Book 4) (18 page)
With a cracking of bones he shifted, the cuffs holding his paws twisted behind his back. He snarled and winced as he employed every ounce of strength to tear the weak chain between them apart, shattering the cuffs as he went.
It took a moment to settle and observe, and to know which cat was which. While Malcolm occasionally lunged, Nash could tell that he was confused as well. But finally Nash settled on Cecile. The thin brown circles surrounding her pupils gave her away; Lawrence lacked them and his eyes were pure bluish-white.
Lawrence leapt at Cecile, his teeth sinking into the back of her neck and Nash could tell that he meant to break her bones. He couldn’t wait any longer; he lunged at the tiger and did the same to him, tearing him off his mate and throwing him across the room. The weasel was charging around, utterly helpless, and Malcolm made his way over to his daughter and positioned himself in front of her, a wall of feline protection.
But she didn’t need it. Nash had the upper hand in this fight. Each time Lawrence leapt at him he was greeted with a quick swipe of a gigantic paw or a bite to the neck. The one time that Lawrence managed to get the upper hand, he found his mouth full of thick mane, his teeth unable to sink into the flesh that they craved.
Nash twisted around under the tiger, his paws reaching out and embedding themselves in the cat’s flesh. Lawrence lost his balance, falling over in pain and frustration, as Nash positioned himself on top again, grabbing the tiger’s chin in his mouth.
Lawrence went limp, his body submitting. Once again he’d lost. He’d lost the woman and the fight.
It was Malcolm who transformed first, wrapping a wool blanket from the cot around himself.
“Desiree came with me of her own volition,” he said quietly. “She was never meant for you, Lawrence. You should know that. You’re a shifter and your pride has always gotten in the way. I understand, though.” As he spoke, the cat stared at him, his body at the mercy of the lion whose jaw was still clamped on him. “I’ve lost myself. I’ve lost my instincts, my tiger. I forgot who I was for a while. But I’m a shifter too. We’re not meant to abide by human rules. When we find our mate, that’s it. You know as well as I do that Desiree and I would have died rather than lose one another. She was mine, and I was hers, and the day she died I lost my life.”
From behind him a voice said, “Not your life, dad.” Cecile had changed, covering hersel
f again with the overcoat that was around her on the floor. Spots of blood penetrated the fabric. “I’m still here.”
Nash turned his eyes towards her and saw that she, the strongest woman he knew, was crying.
Her father turned to her and threw his arms around her.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice choked. “For everything. My sweet girl.”
“It’s all right. I lost you but now you’re back,” she said. “Don’t forget who you are again.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Lawrence shifted, near unconscious on the ground.
“Fucking hell. What are you going to do with me?” he moaned, blood trickling down his chest and arms.
“I don’t care what happens to you,” said Malcolm. “This is my home now, this town. And my daughter’s home. It’s populated by shifters, and they’re good. You don’t belong here. Give them back their money. I’ll let the wolf alpha decide what to do with you after that.
“And you,” he said, grabbing the weasel who wa
s cowering now on the floor, “Will be punished along with him or I’ll hang your tiny head on the wall of my study.”
“For the record,” Lawrence muttered, “I still hate you, Malcolm.” With that he passed out.
“I hate you too,” said Cecile’s father.
Cecile draped some clothing over the lion who still stood over Lawrence
as the man shifted, pulling his clothes on. Nash was largely unharmed; worthy of the same title as the horse Flak Jacket.
He turned to Cecile, who threw her arms around him in spite of her wounds.
“We need to get you looked after,” said Nash.
“I need to thank you, young man,” said Malcolm. “I owe you an apology.”
“It’s all right. You weren’t yourself. No apology necessary.”
“Well, let me make it up to you. Your reputation in this town has been tarnished. I can help you.”
“That would be great,” said Nash. “But the one thing I really want is this.” With that, he put his hand on Cecile’s head, the one part of her that seemed unscathed. “We need to look after her. She’s a rare and precious gem.”
“Agreed,” said Malcolm.
Nash called Zoe, who with Colson, Maddox, Kyla and various members of the wolf pack came to guard Lawrence and Fargo until Tristan’s return, which was to occur the following morning. This crime against both humans and shifters was too much to forgive, and while Tristan had issued pardons in past it was widely held that he would offer a stern punishment in this case.
When the prisoners were secured, Nash brought Cecile and her father to the local hospital to have their wounds tended.
“They’ll be fine,” the doctor told him. “Cecile’s wounds are many, but superficial, and she heals remarkably fast. That seems to be her particular gift.”
Nash thought about the theories that were quickly spreading that all shifters had gifts outside the obvious ability to change shape. He had yet to find his own, but the notion that his mate could heal quickly somehow reassured him. He wanted nothing more than to know that if something happened to him, she would nevertheless be protected.
“How are you feeling, gorgeous?” he asked as she sat up on an inspection table.
“Not bad,” she said, smiling at him, her beautiful light eyes sparkling under the hospital lights. “And you?”
Nash looked over at Malcolm, who was sitting some distance away, being tended. He was smiling. This was a wholly new experience for Nash.
“I’m good. Very good. Listen—do you want to go on that date?”
“I guess we never did, did we?”
“No, we certainly didn’t. I think it’s time we spend some time together without distractions.”
“
I agree,” laughed Cecile. “We should do something completely banal like go to a movie.”
“Yes, that.
As long as I can have you, I don’t care where on this earth we go or what we do. And I need to take you to bed. To a proper, warm, comfortable bed. I don’t think I’ve managed to explore every single morsel of you yet.”
“Well, by all means, be my Columbus. Discover me, baby.”
“I will. And I’ll be dividing you into territories to be conquered, just for the record.”
“I look forward to it.”
When Tristan and Nikki returned to their
home with their new baby girl, whom they’d named Trista after her father, the pack and many of the town’s shifters were there to meet the three of them, including Dascha, the surrogate alpha who’d done a poor job of it.
“I’ll be having words with him,” Tristan told Kyla and Maddox when they expressed concerns.
No one blamed Dascha in the end for his inability to function properly. But it was clear that he needed more experience before a pack leader was to be in his future.
“I hear that I have you to thank for the resolution of this situation,” Tristan told Nash.
“You have a lot of us to thank,” said the lion shifter. “I merely did the job that was assigned me.”
“Well, that takes a good deal of fortitude and strength,” Tristan conceded. “People think the tough job is being the alpha, but sometimes it’s accepting another role that’s the most challenging.”
“I’m not great at being told what to do,” Nash admitted. “But I’m getting better.”
“Well, you’re welcome in the pack anytime, Nash. Anytime.” With that, Tristan shook his hand.
The wolf pack, led by Tristan and supplemented with those shifters who’d been involved in taking the crime ring down,
determined that Lawrence Donner would be expelled permanently from Wolf Rock, but not before being given a ceremonial scar. This practice dated back hundreds of years to when pack members shamed a criminal by giving them a physical mark. It had a double use: as the clear trait of a law-breaker and as an identifying characteristic, in the event that the changer Donner should shift into an unrecognizable animal.
In Donner’s case, he was given a
small black tattoo at the top of each ear. Animals tended to have less fur in that area, and so the tattoo would show clearly even when Donner shifted into his various incarnations.
The mark was that of a wolf’s head, snarling.
In the weeks following, the town settled back down. Meetings were held to discuss what must be done in the case of future attacks. Aside from the wolf pack, a task force was organized, which Nash led; it was composed of the strongest shifters in town who would take charge of capturing anyone who threatened the other townsfolk.
Some of the younger shifters who were coming up through the special school were given roles as well, dependent on their particular skills and gifts.
Nash’s parents forgave him, and more than that, his mother threw her arms around him and praised him as a hero, which he had to admit gave him a certain pride and almost made his own terrorizing of the town’s residents worthwhile.
Cecile rented a small house on the outskirts of town and her mate spent most of his time with her, discussing their future together. While he also spent some hours each day at the ranch, helping his parents, she checked in regularly on her father, who was becoming downright philanthropic, helping to fund building projects in town, donating to the Shifters’ School and generally seeming more like his old self.
The only missing link was
Cecile’s sister Estée, who was still in Europe. Cecile had heard from her almost daily for months and suddenly she’d seemed to disappear.
It wasn’t until several weeks had gone by without word from her that Cecile went to their father.
“I don’t know where she is. At first I thought maybe she’d met someone and had just gotten busy, but now I’m worried,” she said.
“Me too.”
Conrad Malcolm summoned the task force to his house, including Maddox, Tristan, Nash and Colson, and discussed the matter.
“I don’t like the sound
of this,” Tristan said. “But I have a thought. Dascha needs a distraction. He’s feeling better; his heat is over, though his love life remains unresolved. He’ll mend just fine, but he’s not fully back to his old self. I want to send him to look for her.”
“
If you think that’s best. The last place she was seen is London,” said Cecile.
“Then that’s where he’ll go. He needs to earn his stripes within the pack again, and this will do it. He’s become a good tracker, Cecile.
If anyone can locate her, it’s him.” Tristan turned to Malcolm. “And don’t worry, sir. We’ll bring your daughter back.”
That night after they’d made love, Nash and Cecile fell into a fitful sleep. Life, they knew, would be perfect if only they could discover that Estée was all right.
Dascha
left the next morning, but first he came by their house to see them. He looked like a healthy, strong wolf shifter; not like the sickly man Nash had met at the cabin.
“I promise,”
Dascha told them before he drove to the airport. “I won’t come back until I find Estée.”
With that, he shook Nash’s hand, hugged Cecile and left them and Wolf Rock behind.
After they’d watched his car disappear into the distance, the two mates entered their house and prepared to begin a long life together, their bond strengthening with each hour that passed.
Book Five in the Series will deal with Estée’s disappearance and Dascha’s hunt. Keep in touch for updates!
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Billionaires and Curves (Taken With You) Trilogy