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Sheila’s panther was purring inside her head. Content and safe, she burrowed deeper into the cocoon of warmth, feeling the hard body nestled behind her. Logan’s arms came around her, pulling her even closer. Sheila sighed.
They had returned to the house when the morning sun was already bright. His—their—pride mates smirked, chuckled and Patrick had out right laughed when they saw them.
“Doing the walk of shame, Alpha pair? Sheila, you’re walking a bit bow-legged.”
Their mixed scents didn’t lie. She had blushed, but Logan had swiped the Beta over the head.
Then, they had taken a warm shower and went to bed. The exquisite exhaustion of orgasms hit them both, and they had fallen into a deep sleep.
Logan snuggled closer. His body heat was a fire surrounding her. Sheila tried to get some breathing room, but his hands left her waist. They roamed up her naked body, cupping her breasts. Grinning, she reached between them, fisting his hard shaft. Logan mumbled something. Sheila looked back to see he was still asleep. His hands played with her nipples until they turned to small pebbles.
Biting on her lip, she fought back a moan. Logan’s tongue licked the lobe of her ear, trailing down her neck to suckle on the mating mark. He pressed little kisses on that spot, making her tremble in anticipation. His fangs scraped her skin. Sheila tightened her grip on his cock.
“Sheila.”
Logan’s groan in her ear sent shivers of pleasure through her. He pushed her face to the mattress, then pulled her ass up, settling her on her knees.
“Logan? What-”
When she looked back this time, her mate was awake, but his eyes looked dazed. Was that the cat watching from behind his half-lidded eyes? He spread her legs, finding the perfect spot behind her. Gripping her hips, Logan entered her slowly to the hilt.
“Oh, Goddess. Logan.” Her whimper made him chuckle. Sheila’s lower belly hurt. The tip of his shaft pushed against her cervix.
“Gods, you are beautiful, my mate.”
His words made her chest tighten. Was the boulder settling there created out of joy, or fear? After the last disastrous weeks, she couldn’t trust the happiness trying to sneak into her life.
Logan stroked her back, then her chest, gripping her nipples and squeezing. She heated at his caressing hands.
“Oh!”
“Oh, fuck, Sheila. Your pussy is clenching around me. You like a little pain with your pleasure, baby?”
She whimpered. What should she say? Yes? No? She wanted to agree, but what if he thought her a freak? Logan released a breast, slapping her ass. The smack of the hit and the surprise sting made Sheila arch her back. Her core contracted instantly, giving away her desire.
“Logan!” The sting of his blow transformed to heat, rushing up her spine and to her pussy. Her mate chuckled.
“There’s no need to say what you like, baby. I can feel it. Deep in my chest, I can feel your pleasure.”
Still impaled to the hilt, he rotated his hips. Sheila swallowed hard, fighting back tears. The bond. The bond that she had forced on him was strengthening. She felt it, too. His pleasure sang through her soul, entwining with hers.
“Hmm, now you are worried.”
Sheila looked back, scowling at him. “You know, this isn’t sexy anymore.” His laugh caused the shaft penetrating her to rub her inner walls, spiking her arousal. She tried to pull away. She would not stand there, ass in the air, taking his shit. Logan pulled her hips back, slamming into her.
“Oh!”
“Where do you think you are going, baby? We are not done. We will never be done. What’s that human saying? Until death separates us. And even then, even in the afterlife, you will be mine, Sheila. Mine forever.”
The possessiveness of his words should have annoyed or scare her. Instead, her cat purred in agreement.
“Yours?” The question came out in a long breath.
“Mine.”
Logan pulled her back on to his length again. Sheila gasped. She felt every ridge of his cock, and every inflamed vein separating her folds. Each stroke built her pleasure and sent fire through her entire body. The fast pace pounding he gave her sent her over the edge faster than she thought it was possible.
“Logan! Goddess!” Sheila cried out, not caring if anyone heard. Her hands fisted the sheets, ripping the fabric as her claws released without her volition.
“Ah. Fuck, baby! I’m almost there. Almost... Ah! Fuck!”
Hips jerking wildly behind her, Sheila felt his cum shoot hard on the wall of her cervix. Jet after jet, her mate filled the greedy cave of her pussy. The warmth spread through her belly, making her sigh in pleasure at the calming feeling.
Minutes later, spent, they fell next to each other. Contentment. Complete relaxation. Sheila snuggled into Logan’s side, placing a clawed hand over his pounding heart. She heard the frantic rhythm, and she rejoiced in the knowledge he was just as affected by their lovemaking as she was.
Like an afterthought, Sheila kneaded his skin lightly. It was such a cat thing to do. Under her treatment, Logan purred. Looking up, she smiled. Her mate looked lost in some serious thought. It wasn’t the post orgasmic bliss she was feeling. Rising on one elbow, Sheila stroked his chest in comfort.
“What is it, Logan?”
He looked at her with unsmiling eyes.
“Sheila, have you thought about the future?”
She frowned. “Well, sure.” She wasn’t sure where he was going with that train of thought.
“I’ve taken you several times now. I came inside you.”
Sheila stilled. She hadn’t even considered... “Logan, I...” Her brain froze at the realization. She was so naïve and stupid!
Jumping out of bed, she pulled the bathrobe on her quickly. Before Logan could grab and pull her back, she was out the door in a panic, running away from the man she was falling in love with.
Scared of what might come, she ran through the vast house, not knowing where she was going. She slammed through a pair of double doors and...
The scent of frying meat hit her senses, making her belly growl with hunger. Logan’s mother was flipping the meat in the pan. She looked up when Sheila entered. The kind woman smiled.
“Sheila, come in, darling.”
Then, Sheila’s expression must have registered, and Karina lost her smile.
“What’s wrong, sweety?”
The motherly woman gave the pan to another shifter and walked to where Sheila stood frozen in place. Karina hugged her. Sniffed. Hummed. The woman pulled back and watched her with understanding. She couldn’t take the kindness. Sheila broke down, crying, scared out of her mind.
She wasn’t even twenty! How could she bring a child into the world? She was hunted and her baby would be in danger. Karina allowed her to cry like a frightened baby, guiding her to the kitchen island. Sniffling and blowing her nose in the napkin Karina offered, she felt ashamed of how she was acting.
“Sheila, can you tell me what’s wrong? Did Logan hurt you? I will-”
The furious look in the woman’s eyes told Sheila that whatever Karina had in mind, it would not end well for the big, bad Alpha of the Stone Fury Pride.
“No!” She gripped the woman’s hand, looking into her eyes to reassure her. “He did nothing. Actually, he did something, but it wasn’t only him.” Another tear fell down her cheek. Karina wiped it away.
“You’re pregnant?”
The calm tone in which she asked that question startled Sheila. “What? No! I mean... I don’t know yet. But I could be. We...” How could she tell Logan’s mother that they had sex all morning? The older woman grinned.
“You had wild sex, and he released in you. I know how a baby is conceived, darling. Logan’s dad and I were the wildest of the bunch when we met. I could tell you stories, but I fear you might faint from embarrassment.”
Heat rushed to Sheila’s face. She must look like a freaking tomato.
“Would it be so bad if you two had babies?”
“I’m not even twenty yet,” Sheila whispered-yelled. Her eyes filled with tears again. “And I’m hunted.”
“Oh, darling. Mates come when the Goddess sends them in our path, and babies come when they come. Nothing it’s written in stone. You might be pregnant already or it might take a while for a child to bless your lives. You can’t decide that. Only the Mother can. That’s why human birth control doesn’t work on us.”
“It doesn’t?” That was news to Sheila.
Karina shook her head in denial. “It doesn’t. Didn’t your mother tell you?”
Swallowing hard, Sheila looked down at her fisted hands. “I think she thought she’ll have time.”
“Well, since your mother isn’t here right now, let me tell you, it took me seven years to get pregnant with Logan. And another eighteen to have Sparrow. I’m wasn’t very young at the time and I panicked, much as you did, but for different reasons.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I was older. Forty-two is not an easy age to have kids. I had my habits set in stone. My patience was running thin. Logan made sure of that,” Karina scowled in mock anger. “My boy was pretty much independent. Then his father got sick. His heart slowly failed him. Sparrow was two months old when he passed. Logan took his father’s Alpha title, and I acted as the Alpha female while I was struggling to raise a newborn.”
“How did you manage?”
“I trusted the Mother and the Pride. I had a feeling everything will be okay. It wasn’t easy, but I raised my cubs. Now Logan has you.”
Sheila looked down at her hands. What if she was pregnant? Would that be so bad? A small, frail child would be so vulnerable. She and Logan would be vulnerable. Take away their baby and they would do anything to keep it from hurting. Karina’s pat on her arm pulled her back from that dangerous but very real train of thought.
“Don’t worry about it too much, darling. The chances of getting pregnant so fast are slim.”
The older woman left the counter to stir into a boiling sauce. Sheila hung to that idea. Karina was wiser, had lived more than her, had had two kids; she knew what she was talking about. Yeah, she would hang on to that for a while.
“Here, taste this.”
Karina brought her a spoon dipped in the red sauce. Sheila closed her lips over the tip of the spoon. The rosemary and tomato tastes exploded on her tongue. The sauce was hot, but delicious.
“My mother loves to cook, too.”
“Yes, it’s a trait of the maternal females. We love taking care of the pride.”
Sheila eyed the knife holster the maternal female had on. Just beneath her breasts, handles down, the sheathed blades waited to be used.
“Have you always had a fondness for knives?”
Karina chuckled. “Yes. I played with knives since I can remember. The scars on my body from that endeavor are many. What can I say? Maternal doesn’t mean I’m a doormat.”
Sheila shook her head, thinking of her mother. “That’s true.” She let out a long sigh. “I need some air.”
“You can go out through the back door.”
Karina motioned for the exit.
“Thank you.”
The woman took Sheila into her arms. “Be patient with Logan, darling. He has been through a lot. His Alpha position is sucking the energy out of him. Sometimes the stress weights down heavier than a boulder.”
Sheila fought back her tears. “I will.” Pulling away, she exited the house through the kitchen door. She stopped after the first step out. The mid-day sky was clear clouds, infusing her mind with calm.
It seemed like the peaceful days were over. The time when she was just a juvenile in her father’s pride, young and carefree, had passed. One month, in just one month, everything had changed.
Someone had kidnaped her, she had killed for the first time, then took a mate. She’d discovered her channeling power, lost her best friend, and found out she was a half-shifter. Now, an enemy she didn’t know, hunted her. Besides that, Sheila had the feeling that she was starting to love a man who didn’t know how to love her back. Declaring she was his didn’t equal love from her point of view.
She sighed, closed her eyes and lifted her face toward the sky, praying for the strength to put her life back together.
“Hey. Why the glum mood?”
Sheila jumped and turned. The voice coming from behind her was Trick’s. She shrugged like nothing was bothering her.
“I was just thinking.”
“Yeah, really hard and not good stuff. Were you thinking about your family? I bet you really miss them.”
“Yes, my family,” Sheila lied. “You know I have two little sisters? Twins.”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
“They are mischievous brats sometimes. The last thing they did before this madness started was to paint my face while I was sleeping.” It was a blessing to laugh at the memory. “They always liked to push my buttons or use my things. That morning I searched my cabin for their mischief but couldn’t find anything, so I left for the main house. I didn’t look in the mirror, I just dressed and left.”
“Oh, no,” Trick chuckled.
“Oh, no, indeed. Gods! Everyone was laughing at me on the way there. I almost had a stroke when I saw myself in the mirror.” She remembered the lack of control and her amusement disappeared. “I was so mad, I lost control. I almost killed them,” she whispered.
Trick’s serious face told her he understood the danger.
“But you didn’t.”
She scoffed. “Not for a lack of trying. The healer put me to sleep.” Sheila looked up at the sky again. “I was standing here just now and thinking that my life in my father’s pride feels so far away. Like it was a lifetime ago.” Her somber tone brought a deep silence between her and the Beta.
After a few minutes, she looked up at Trick. Looking into the distance, he saw something she couldn’t.
“Sometimes life makes you grow up fast,” he murmured.
“Too fast,” she agreed. Sheila started to say something else to lighten the mood, but an invisible force wrapped around her chest, tightening the breath out of her. The panic of whoever she was channeling was so strong that her legs gave out. Sheila crumpled at Trick’s feet. Startled, he didn’t have time to catch her.
“Sheila!”
She tried to speak, to tell him what was wrong, but the fear kept her words locked away. Trick picked her up, heading inside the house. Sheila shook her head. She needed to be outside. Whoever was so scared out there. She needed...
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Where should I take you? To Logan or the healer?”
Sheila panted, trying to speak. “Channel-”
“You’re channeling someone?”
She nodded. “Fear. Panic,” she fought to whisper the words.
“Okay. Okay. I’ll take you to Logan, then I’ll send scouts through the territory looking for whoever is so scared.”
Sheila motioned to her chest. “Air,” she mouthed.
“You need air?”
She nodded vigorously.
“Hold on, I’m linking to Logan. Maybe your bond can attenuate the income from the other person.”
A roar of fury and two minutes later, Logan pulled Sheila from Trick’s arms and into his.
“Baby, what’s wrong? Tell me what’s happening!”
*
“Logan, Sheila’s in distress! She’s channeling someone!”
His Beta screamed the word through their telepathic bond and his heart stopped for a few seconds.
“Where are you?”
“Back of the house. Just outside the kitchen.”
“Get her inside!”
“She doesn’t want to.”
“She’s a small female. How can she stop you?”
“She hung on to the frame of the door, then bit me!”
If the situation was different, Logan would have laughed. Instead, worry for his mate and the unknown threat propelled him to the back of the house. Taking the corner at a speed that made him slip on the grass, he saw his mate cradled in Trick’s arms. Possessiveness and worry pushed him to yank Sheila from his Beta.
“Baby, what’s wrong? Tell me what’s happening!”
Logan combed his hand through her hair in a gesture of comfort and reassurance.
“Logan, she’s so scared. Please help her.”
He felt his mate’s claws dig into his forearm as she gripped him. Tears flowed down her pale cheeks like a waterfall.
“It’s a woman?”
“Yes. I have the feeling she’s young.”
Sheila’s next cry ripped through his soul. His mate was suffering and he could do nothing to stop it. Taking her face into his hands, Logan kissed her. When he pulled back, she was calmer.
“Baby, can you lock in to a direction? Where is the feeling coming from?”
Sheila shook her head, sniffling and gasping. “No. But she must be close, somewhere in your territory.”
Screaming again, and bowed in his arms. Logan was done! If their mate bond ever permitted him, he will shut down this channeling shit. His mate was not going through life feeling the emotions of everyone around her.
“To all patrols, there is a female in distress in our territory. Find her and let me know her situation.” Logan sent the message to all his enforcers. He stroked Sheila’s clammy face.
“It will be okay, baby. I alerted the enforcers. Everyone will look for the woman.” Holding on to his shirt, Sheila nodded. She trembled like a leaf. A few minutes later, he got his answer from Aedan.
“There’s a young woman at the edge of our territory. She’s in active labor, but she doesn’t look good. Alpha, she has the scent of a wolf.”
Logan looked down at his mate. “Baby, we found her.”
“Thank the Mother,” she whispered through clenched teeth.
Logan focused his energy on dealing with the unknown threat. “Aedan, get that female to the nearest cabin.”
“Uh, boss, don’t think she’s going to make it. She’s bleeding profusely from her nose and from between her legs, but I don’t see any injuries.”
“Shit! I don’t know how her death will affect Sheila. Can she speak?”
“No, I tried. She’s too far into her panic.”
“Damn!”
“Boss?! She just stopped breathing! She stopped-”
Logan heard nothing else Aedan had to say because Sheila took one last breath and went limp in his arms. The tiger inside him roared in despair. His mate was dying!
“No!” He pushed Alpha energy through the weakening mating bond. He did not know if it would work. He was a tiger. She was a panther and a half-shifter. Would his energy even affect her?
Sheila jerked to life in his arms. She took one deep breath, then started coughing. Logan’s heart settled back in his chest. Pressing his forehead to hers, he prayed and gave thanks to the Mother.
In his arms, Sheila trembled like a leaf in the wind.
“I’m c-c-cold,” she stuttered.
Logan gathered her to his chest and looked up at his Beta. He kept their conversation to the telepathic channel. “Get that female to the healer and search her corpse. I want to know if her body is still a threat to our pride.”
“Do you think she’s carrying something?”
Logan stood with his shocked mate in his arms. “I’m thinking they sent her here as a message. Cain, or whoever wants Sheila, knows about her abilities. I’m thinking that’s because of our traitor’s courtesy.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“And keep the double shift patrols at the borders. Someone is playing cat and mouse with us. I have the nasty feeling we are the mouse.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Right now? Take care of my mate.”