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Standing outside the main house of the pride, Sheila waited for Logan to finish dealing with the aftermath of the fire. Her stomach was churning. Who wanted Logan dead? Or was she who was supposed to die? Was this a warning?
Karina, Logan’s mother, had helped her find some clothes and had led her to the space where the children played during the day. There were none at the moment. With the commotion over, the mothers had taken their offspring home.
Sitting on a bench in the dark, Sheila gathered her legs to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. It had been such a wild day and evening. She shivered with dread when she remembered the attack on Karla. The healer would not let things go.
Then she smiled when she remembered the pleasure Logan had given her. Shivers of delight spread through her. She wished she could talk to Eva about it. She wanted her best friend to laugh and share their sexual experiences. But Eva was home and her mate was dead.
Home. Sheila didn’t know where home was anymore. Was it with the family that adopted her? With the pride of her mate? Or where the half-shifters were created?
The snap of a twig made her pay attention to her environment. She squinted but couldn’t see shit in the dark forest. Was that a shadow moving closer? The air shifted next to her. Before Sheila could turn to see who it was, something hard hit the back of her head. Nothingness took her in an instant.
*
Soot and sweat covered Logan from head to toes. The fire was finally extinguished. Only his personal things had suffered. The structure of the room was intact. His carpet, though... His soft carpet! His tiger snarled in fury. And his mate! Someone had threatened his mate.
Sheila! Where was she?
“Trick, where’s Sheila?”
“With your mom.”
Logan went in search of his mother. He found her in the nursery, singing a child to sleep. There were five mothers and about thirteen children in the large nursery. He went straight for his mother. She smiled when she saw him coming.
“Logan, darling, is everything okay?”
“Yeah. Surface damage only. Where’s Sheila?”
“I left her in the front garden. Karla came to get us to help with the babies, but Sheila wanted to be alone for a few minutes.”
“Damn it! She wasn’t supposed to be alone.”
“I’m sorry, Logan. I didn’t know.”
Karla came to stand next to his mother, holding a sleeping girl.
“I’m sure she’s fine, Logan. She has a lot of fight in her. Too bad she can’t bother to give that energy to help the pride.”
“Karla...”
His mother’s tone warned the healer that she should thread carefully. The other woman shrugged and left.
“I’m going to find her. Stay here and protect the cubs. Patrick is securing the perimeter of the house. We’re on lockdown until we know who the hell attacked tonight.”
Logan left the nursery, heading for the front garden. It was the place where the kids liked to play. She should be safe. It was close to the house. Then again, someone had tried to burn down his home. And the note said he had another traitor in the pride. Could the fire be a way to get Sheila out of the house and unsupervised?
Reaching the garden, he sniffed. Sheila’s scent lingered in the air, but she wasn’t there. Panic rose inside Logan. His beast paced, restless. She wasn’t there. He approached a bench and smelled his mate’s blood. A nail had scraped her skin. Next to the bench, he saw a thick branch fallen like it belonged there. He knew it shouldn’t. The area was clean of limbs, so the smallest children wouldn’t fall because of them, or on them.
Logan picked up the branch, scenting Sheila on it. Pieces of her hair tickled his nose. It was enough to tell him someone had taken her. The beast inside him leaped to the surface of his mind. Logan didn’t fight him. Unlike other times, the shift happened almost instantaneously. The roar of the angry beast told the pride that he was on the hunt. If they hurt his mate, he would feast on the body of the kidnappers.
*
Sheila came to her senses with a pounding headache. She was bobbing up and down like she was on a river. The scents were not right. People she didn’t recognize were touching her.
“Damn, the bitch is heavy.”
The man talking was holding her against his chest and was running. Sheila fought to think of what had happened. The fire. The garden. Someone had kidnapped her again. Damn them to hell! Disoriented but growing angry, she fought. She would not take the abuse.
“Stay still, you little slut!”
The bastard growled in her ear. It was a snarl, like a dog’s. Was he a wolf?
“Careful, Cain wants her alive.”
“Shut up, Rusty.”
“Fuck you!” Sheila lunged, biting the cheek of the shifter holding her. He dropped her like she’d burned him. Hands and feet tied, she landed on the hard ground with a loud thud and a wince of pain. “Another bruise,” she thought wryly.
She kicked the feet of the other man, a human man, her nose told her, but did little damage. The bastard just laughed and picked her up like a sack of potatoes, throwing her over his shoulder.
“I’m going to warn you right now, girl. If you bite me, I’ll shoot you in the legs. With your legs intact, you’ll have a better chance of fighting and escaping the Doc and his mad house. If you’re crippled, you’re dead.”
Tears welled up in Sheila’s eyes, but she didn’t bite his ass. She felt the barrel of the weapon settled against her thigh. Time. She needed to buy some time. Logan will figure out she was gone. Hopefully. Whatever it took, she would not give up.
Inside her, her panther paced, enraged by the situation. In the distance, a furious roar broke the silence of the forest.
“God dammit! Hurry, Brendon. We’re almost at the pickup spot.”
Smiling, Sheila fought. Her tiger was coming for her, but he needed a direction to follow. One thing she had sensed, the males wore no scents. Well, she could fix that.
Sheila unsheathed her claws, raking them down Rusty’s thighs, ripping the pants in the process. The scream was like a beacon in the dark forest.
“Fucking bitch!”
The man stumbled and fell. Sheila took advantage, launching away from his shoulder. She rolled on the ground. The other male, Brendon, came for her. She rolled away when he lunged to grab her tied hands.
“Get her!”
“I’m trying. The fucking bitch is fast!”
Brendon finally got her legs. Sheila lunged forward, digging her claws into the guy’s arms, leaving behind deep, jagged claw marks.
“Ah! Fuck this!”
The bastard released her tied legs, and Sheila scrambled to get away. Then she heard the click of a weapon.
“I’m just going to kill the bitch. I’m not dying because of her.”
Sheila’s breath was coming in hard pants. She looked at the shifter that was about to put a bullet into her head. The other man, Rusty, was nowhere to be seen. In the commotion of Brendon and her fight, he had fled.
Behind Brendon, Sheila saw the gleaming eyes of a cat. She smiled.
“Guess what, dog boy? Your friend is gone. But mine are here.”
The tiger creeping behind the shifter leaped before Brendon could turn and point the weapon. The scream didn’t reach far. It wasn’t even a fight. The crunch of bones breaking sounded like branches cracking. It was such a natural sound, blending with the night. Then, quiet. She waited. The Alpha tiger came forward, nuzzling her.
“Ewe, you have blood on your muzzle.” She complained but rubbed the gigantic head nudging at her.
“I’m tied up. Can you shift and let me loose?”
Seconds later, Logan kneeled naked next to her. He pulled her into his arms, squeezing the breath out of her.
“Sheila, baby. I thought I lost you.”
Logan grabbed her face and kissed her. And kissed her. And kept kissing her.
“Ahem. Do you want us to leave you alone?”
Patrick and a few others stood around them, grinning. Sheila blushed. Logan grabbed her face again, giving her a small kiss before he let out a long sigh.
“Do you have a knife?”
“I brought Sheila’s belt. It didn’t catch fire.”
Logan took the knife belt his mother had given her. Was that hers? She thought...
“Thanks Trick.”
Logan cut the bonds, careful not to cut her skin.
“Here, put them on. I don’t want them off of you.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Really? Even when I shower or I’m sleeping?”
“Keep them close,” was all Logan said.
He helped her up. Sheila assessed the situation quickly.
“Where are we?”
“Near the pride’s border.”
She pointed to the dead Brandon. “That’s a wolf shifter. There was a human man as well. I cut his legs. Do you have his scent? I cannot believe the fucking pack is involved with humans.”
“We lost his scent at the river. But now we have a pretty good idea how they came in to avoid detection. We’ll secure the perimeter.”
“Okay, people, back to business. The patrols will run in teams of four for the rest of the night. We’ll have a meeting to inform everyone of the situation and the extra shifts.”
The Beta took control of what Sheila assumed were Rangers or soldiers. Logan pulled her into his arms. He couldn’t seem to stop touching her. Sheila buried her face into his chest, rubbing her scent into his skin.
“I can’t scent you,” he sounded panicked.
“What?”
“You don’t have a scent.”
“How did you find me? I thought...”
“I followed the bond. But I can’t scent you. You are in my arm and I can’t scent you.”
“Hey, they probably gave me something to erase the trail.”
“Yeah. Probably.”
Sheila leaned into him, caressing his chest. “How about you carry me back to the house? That way, you can feel me until my scent comes back.”
He lowered his head, nibbling on her lips.
“Yeah. That’s a good idea.”
“And we can stop at the healer to take some of my blood. Maybe she can identify what the substance blocking the scent is.”
“Yes, that’s also a good idea. You are full of them tonight.”
Logan picked her up, heading back to the house. Sheila felt drained.
“What time is it?”
“It was about two in the morning when I found out you were missing. I think it’s going on three and a half now.”
Logan sounded dead tired. He had fought the fire, too.
“I’m sorry for all the trouble today. I swear I’m not such a pain in the butt, usually.”
Logan kissed her head, and she cuddled closer to his body heat.
“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault. You were being kidnapped. Again. I thought our borders were secured. Apparently, I was wrong. That’s on me. You should have been safe here.”
Sheila heard the recrimination in his voice. She cupped his face.
“Hey, someone threw fire into your home to distract you. I say that’s a good excuse.”
“Did they hurt you?”
“I have a new bruise on my butt. Maybe you can kiss it to make me feel better.” She teased to focus him on other, more pleasurable, things. She needed the relief as well.
“I most surely will,” Logan purred. “I will also inspect every millimeter of your body to make sure you don’t have any other bruises.”
“The bump at the back of my head where the bastards hit me. Maybe you can massage the spot.”
“Yes.” The agreement was a purr.
Sheila chuckled and let her mate carry her away, enveloped in his powerful scent. In his arms, she was safe.