Josh climbed out of his SUV and took in the sight that met him. Mira stood near a bench where Zoe sat stiffly and glared at Kade’s back. Kade watched Josh approach with guarded eyes. Josh ignored the glower and focused on Mira’s back. Her gorgeous patchwork hair teased the edge of her bottom and shone in the afternoon sun. Another billowy skirt, the sexy boots she’d worn earlier and a light turtleneck sweater clung to her torso and accentuated her waist.
He let his gaze roam over her. Pride welled. She was beautiful and all his. He grinned.
Mira glanced over her shoulder. The cold, distant expression she wore sucked the happiness out of him.
“It’s about time you got here.” Zoe waved at Kade. “He insisted I hang out so I can be a witness or something since all the other shifters are out looking for the freaky-looking guy who burned down the bar and hurt that shifter.”
Josh glanced between Mira’s indifferent eyes and Kade’s angry ones. “What’s going on?”
“I have—”
“No, Kade. I will tell him.” Mira stepped forward. She lifted her chin and captured Josh’s gaze.
“Tell me what?”
“Kade and I are mated.”
Silence stretched as if the world awaited his response.
Finally, Josh laughed. “Kitten, I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you can’t mate Kade. You’re already mine.”
She linked trembling hands behind her back and dropped her gaze to his nose. “What we feel is merely attraction, maybe love. Whatever label we use doesn’t change anything. In the Council’s eyes, what we have means nothing, and I’m tired of fighting them so I…” She took a deep breath. “So I’ve decided to accept my destiny.”
Rage rose, turning the edges of his vision red. He blinked it away before it took hold.
“You’re lying.” He thumped his chest. “I feel you here. Your pain, pleasure, anxiety…it all resonates through me. I felt no passion from you these past few hours, only sadness and desperation. Do not feed me any lines about leaving me.”
Her eyes widened before she closed them. “Zoe, now that you’ve heard our news, please sign the letter to the Council informing them of my bond with Kade so they know I’ve fulfilled my obligation.”
Zoe stood and moved to Josh’s side. She grabbed him before he could rush forward and shake some sense into his stubborn woman. “Screw that, Mira. If you want to cheat on my brother, deal with the mess you’ve caused on your own. I want no part of it.” She glared at Kade. “You’re all a bunch of pathetic liars, and I have no room in my life for any of you.”
With that, Zoe released him and walked toward the house.
“I know what you’re doing, but you don’t need to worry anymore. I’m not going to die so easily on you.” Josh closed the distance between them and wrapped his fingers around Mira’s upper arms. “I am your destiny, the mate the goddesses allowed you to choose.”
“No, you’re not. I didn’t take a piece of your soul, and you can’t take a piece of mine. Love doesn’t count. Do you understand? I was never meant to have it.” Her voice broke. “Never meant to be happy. I’m supposed to breed.”
He lifted her chin and stared into glistening eyes. “Don’t cry, kitten. Love does count. The Alexander pride’s goddess has visited me too. She said the night you declared you belonged to me in the bar sealed our fates. You chose me, then and there.” He wiped away the tears from her cheek with his thumb. “I am your mate, the only one you’ll ever have.”
“No!” She shoved away. “No, you’re making stuff up. The goddess can’t visit you. She can only connect to Kade.”
“Not anymore.” Josh reached for her. She scrambled backward, tripped, and nearly fell. Mira righted herself, but her gaze darted around. She appeared ready to run. “Calm down. Let’s sit and talk. You’re overreacting because of what happened today.”
“Overreacting? You could’ve died! Micah meant to kill you. He will too. That’s what that picture meant. He’s going to slit your throat!”
“But he didn’t hurt me.” He spread his arms wide. “Look, I’m fine.”
“And I intend to make sure you stay that way.” She pointed to his SUV, then reached for Kade. He took her hand “Go, Josh. Once Kade’s cousin uncovers the traitors on the Council and sees them punished, you and I can resume our affair, secretly, of course. Until then, I want you to stay away from me.”
It was too much. Josh closed the distance between them and yanked Mira out of Kade’s arms. “Never. You will never touch another man. You are mine for eternity.”
“Please don’t be cruel, Josh. I’m doing this for your own good.”
“I’m not. I’m trying to explain to you that—”
A rumble of an engine starting drifted to them. Squealing tires came next.
Kade ran past them, knocking him to the side, and screamed, “Zoe!”
Josh glanced at the other man. Kade hopped into Josh’s SUV and peeled out after the black sports car. The ’Cuda carrying Zoe skidded sideways down the driveway. She straightened out the car and disappeared around the bend in the private road.
A sob from Mira yanked Josh’s attention back to her. She ran toward the woods.
“Mira, wait!”
She shook her head, shifted into her tigress form, and disappeared into the woods.
A shot rang out. Chunks of grass pummeled his legs. Another blast hit the section of the ground where Mira had just been.
Josh swung his head in the direction of the sounds. A few hundred feet down the tree line from where Mira had disappeared, he caught a glimpse of a red beard and a plaid shirt. Another gunshot pierced the night, quieter than the last.
It came from deeper in the woods.
Josh cursed and chased after Mira before he lost her for good.
The sound of a gunshot echoed in Mira’s ears. She skidded to a stop.
Josh.
She scrambled for footing and turned around. Micah stood a few feet away with the redhead who’d claimed to be Josh’s lover. He held her in his arms with a talon-tipped hand wrapped around the female’s throat. She was naked, bruised, and bloody. Tears ran in twin lines down her freckled face.
Mira shifted into her human form. There was no use hiding what she was, not when the human’s life was at risk. Mira might not like the female, but her protective instincts rose. Mira knew the pain and shame of being raped. She couldn’t abandon the girl, no matter what the human had done.
The female’s eyes widened, but a plea for help shimmered in them, not disgust or fear. Mira’s heart cracked.
Josh skidded to a stop on the opposite side of them, but Micah didn’t face him. Or appear concerned that he was surrounded.
“Good of you to finally respond the way I intended, sweet Mira.” Micah scraped the sharpened nails of his free hand over the girl’s cheek. Blood ran in thin rivulets off her jaw. “Now do what I say or the female dies.”
Josh advanced slowly, but Micah laughed without taking his gaze off Mira. “Now, Zeb.”
Josh stopped and turned a moment before another shot rang out. He stumbled backward. Two more quick blasts and he fell, blood oozing from his chest, stomach, and over his heart.
Mira screamed and leapt the distance between her and Micah. She swiped at his head with her clawed hand and ripped his throat out. Another pass and his spine shone through the blood and gore. His limp body toppled. She followed him down and ripped his head from his body.
She pushed away from the dead shifter and ran to Josh. His unmoving body told her the truth. She pressed her fingers to his neck anyway. No pulse. Panic rushed up, stopping her heart.
“No, oh gods, no.” Tears blurred her vision. She dropped her head to his bloody chest and wrapped her arms around him. “No. You can’t die. You can’t.” She gave him a little shake. “Wake up!”
No answer, no movement. Nothing.
He was gone. Dead. She’d lost her true mate.
Tears rolled down her face. How could he be gone? She didn’t even get the chance to save him. The goddesses took him. In the blink of an eye. They’d dangled heaven in front of her, then yanked him away.
“Why do they hate me so?”
And why did she bother asking? She’d known the truth for centuries. The goddesses didn’t care about her happiness. They only wanted her kids.
No. They weren’t getting them. She’d kill herself first.
There was a shifter out in Colorado who’d take her head for the right amount of money. Devin had kept his name and number on his cell, just in case the pain of living grew too much. Mira had hated that her twin had sought out the male as a last resort, but at the moment, she was glad. It saved her the effort. One call and she could be put out of her misery.
Her resolve stronger, she blinked the tears away and pressed a kiss to Josh’s closed mouth. “Love you.” She nuzzled his cheek. “Always and forever, my mate.”
The human female shrieked. Mira glanced over her shoulder. Two jaguar shifters were dragging the girl across the ground. She fought them, kicking and squirming. The bigger of the two punched her. She cried out.
Mira jumped away from the lifeless body of the male she loved and attacked the ones who thought to hurt a mortal. She wrapped her arms around the one who’d hit the female and rolled with him across the ground. He snapped at her. Claws raked her sides. She let the fury, the sorrow, and the injustice consume her. She grabbed his head and twisted. The crack of his neck sounded. His body went limp. Not good enough. She let her talons slip from her fingertips and gutted him.
Something hit her. She pressed a hand to her belly. Blood met her touch. A dozen more pops sounded, shaking her body. She dropped to her knees. The world swayed. Three more thumps to her torso and she collapsed. Her head cracked against the ground.
Amber eyes filled her vision. A wolf shifter, one she’d never seen before, pressed his booted foot to her chest.
“Bind her. Rosco wants the Royal immobile so she can’t kill him when he mates her.”
“What should we do with the humans?” Another wolf shifter asked.
“Make sure the male is dead and bring the female.”
The wolf shifter raised his fist and pummeled Mira’s face. By the seventh hit, the world went black and she knew no more.