A Kitty in the Lion's Den (2 page)

She took off down the hall, knowing that if she allowed her father to pair her with a male as cruel as he was, her life would end up like her mother’s had: disappearing in the middle of the night after an argument on how her mom wanted out of “the life”. It was just herself and Konstantine, her older brother, who was shamelessly following in their father’s footsteps, and would one day run the business.
 
Her brother was just as apathetic and ruthless as Viktor, and asking him for help would be fruitless, not to mention dangerous since he would see it as a betrayal of the family. Konstantine might be her brother, but she didn’t care for him, not when she had seen him hurt countless people with little thought or regard. She passed guards at every corner, and although they were meant to keep them safe, they were also meant to keep their enemies out, which were plenty. She went into her room, closed the door, and leaned against it. She looked around her perfectly gilded room, smelled the vase of fresh lavender the help had placed on her side table just that morning, and knew she had to escape. Even if Marlon had been a kind and gentle male, she still wouldn’t have stayed. But Marlon was far from the male she envisioned herself being with. He was cruel, sadistic, and took pleasure in degrading and causing pain in others. He was nearing forty, and although that wasn’t too old if she had loved him, the truth of the matter was she despised him. He disgusted her, and she knew as soon as he had her as his wife the pain would be in the form of verbal and physical abuse.

Kettah didn’t dare speak her thoughts aloud, not when every part of the house was bugged for “protection”. But living with the mafia, when there were people just right outside the door waiting to “off you” had every available precaution being taken. Kettah lived in a beautiful golden cage, but it was a cage nonetheless, and she was a prisoner. Tomorrow she would leave under the pretenses of going to the spa. It sounded like an easy enough task, but there was always someone watching, always someone tailing her, and not because her father worried about her safety, but because he didn’t want one of his enemies taking her and using her as collateral against him. It would be tricky slipping away from the goon that followed her out of the house, but it wasn’t impossible. Besides, she had been thinking about this, calculating how this would all play out, for so long it was ingrained in her brain. God, she just hoped this didn’t end up backfiring, because the repercussions were enough to have her skin crawling.

Chapter Two

“
Yo
, boss, you have that requisition for that ’05 Ford engine?” Maverick looked up from the stack of papers strewn across his desk. Liam, Trace’s son, leaned against the frame and wiped his greasy hands on an equally greasy rag.

Maverick leaned back in his old ass chair, the metal squeaking from his weight, and the stench of motor oil filling his nose.
“Yeah, sent that in last week.
It should come in today.” Liam nodded, and glanced over his shoulder. The kid was just as big as his fucking dad. Trace Dakota was a burly polar bear shifter that owned the bar and grille Dakota Dark’s. It was also the place Maverick worked occasionally as a bartender, not because he needed the money, but because the work was a distraction that helped to keep his mind occupied on other things than maiming and killing, and silenced the edgy need that was a living entity inside of him. It didn’t matter if he moved to Alaska, or if he became a priest, there was still anger, violence, and pent-up aggression inside of him, feeding his lion until it was like a wildfire consuming him.

“You working at the bar tonight?”

Scratching the stubble that lined his cheek, he nodded and eyed the young bear shifter. Liam was the spitting image of Trace, right down to the green eyes and dark hair. He was also a big bastard, almost as big as Maverick, and that was saying something since he wasn’t small by any means.

“Nah.”

Liam nodded slowly. “It doesn’t look like you got much sleep last night.”

For being in his twenties Liam was a smart and perceptive fucker. Maverick didn’t even bother responding, just glared at him. He had known Trace for the past six years, since the first day he moved to Sweet Water. Maverick had been getting drunk at Slater’s, the sleazy bar on the outskirts of town. Trace had walked in, sat his ass on the barstool next to him, and the two of them just started bullshitting. One thing led to another, and before he knew it he was befriending the polar bear. Then a year later shit had hit the fan with Trace and his then-wife, Karla. Maverick had shown up at Trace’s house just in time to stop Trace from killing the guy Karla had been fucking behind his back. That had been years ago, and now Trace was mated to a wolf with a little one on the way.

“All right, well I’m heading out. I’ve got a date with puma tonight.” Liam grinned, and Maverick cocked a brow. “All right, not a date, but she is due at my place in an hour, and she isn’t a cock-tease.”

Yeah, Liam was more of a fuck ‘
em
and leave ‘
em
type, but the females were willing and okay with only sleeping with him once. One would think a small town wouldn’t have so many willing females ready to spread their legs, but Maverick had learned a long time ago Sweet Water wasn’t the typical small town. Besides, Maverick really didn’t have any room to talk. He had never had a relationship that was more than a few hours and ended with him and the female he was with getting off. It was too dangerous, too risky, and he wasn’t the type of male that was good for a female in any way, shape, or form.

“Sounds good.”

Liam tilted his chin and turned to leave. Maverick stared down at the papers on his desk, and sighed. This new life was mundane and boring, but that was how he fucking liked it. He was always on alert though, always holstering his Para-Ordnance P-14 at his lower back. That would never change, and he would always be on alert, always expect an enemy to be right behind him ready to take his ass out. Maverick may have been known as a silent killer back in the day, and in fact could still take someone out without regret or making a single sound, making sure his identity stayed hidden was imperative.

He looked out the window in front of him, which showed the small garage. He had a hefty amount of money in his account when he had left the profession, but that was blood money, and he didn’t want a trail, even if they did think he was dead. If they noticed the money gone they would have known he was alive. So, he had started fresh, worked his way up, and now made good money doing honest work. What he needed right now was a good, hard fuck, preferably with a female that wasn’t from Sweet Water. He could always go to Sugar Rush, a small town with about five thousand residents, and with a ratio that had humans outnumbering shifters. It was only about two hours away from Sweet Water, and that was just enough distance that he wouldn’t have to worry about the female he fucked being a clinger and tracking him down. It wasn’t that he preferred a human female to fuck over a shifter, but he did like the fact a human wasn’t as keen with their senses like a shifter was. Although Maverick was the master of hiding what he thought and felt, there was a spilt moment, right when the pleasure of release took over, that a part of every person was bared open. And a shifter could pick up on that, so he tended to stay away from fucking shifters.

He finished up his paperwork, which took him a little over an hour, and closed up shop. His Harley sat right inside the garage, all gleaming and looking fucking good. The sun was starting to set, but instead of going over to his bike he climbed into his truck, cranked the engine, and headed toward Sugar Rush for a good fuck with a random female.

****

Kettah was jarred awake when the sound of brakes squealing sounded all around her. She looked around, noticed the only ones left on the bus were herself and a man who had boarded at the same time she had back in
Tandale
. The interior of the bus was dark and smelled faintly of human sweat, but what she sensed even more strongly was the
stare
of the man a few seats across from her. Suddenly the interior lights flared to life, and the crackle of the speakers turning on broke up the silence.

“Last stop.
Please exit the bus.”

Kettah’s heart started to pound, and she tried to look out the window, but since it was dark outside and so bright inside, that made visibility next to impossible. The other guy on the bus stood and cast one more glance her way. He was a bigger human, looked somewhat in shape, and had a ball cap on his head, which made trying to gauge his reaction difficult. He turned and made his way off the bus, and she swallowed the lump that was lodged in her throat. She checked her watch and checked the time. It was ten at night. Since ditching her cell because she knew it had a tracer on it, she was living on the few hundred dollars in her
purse,
and the clothes on her back. Grabbing her purse, the only thing she had been able to take with her when she decided she was going to run, she stood on shaky legs, and made her way toward the front. The bus driver stared at her through the massive mirror right above his head.

“Excuse me, but where are we?”

“Sugar Rush, Miss.”

She looked out the front door, saw a town up ahead, and turned back to the driver.

“Are there any other stops?
Maybe a bigger city?”
She wanted to blend in, and a small town didn’t seem like it would help her out with that. “I bought a ticket for Columbine.” And this certainly wasn’t the larger city that was still nearly a half day of travel away from Sugar Rush.
As it was, she had only been traveling for ten hours, and that wasn’t nearly enough distance to separate herself from
Tandale
.

“They didn’t tell you at the ticket counter that this is the last stop for the night? You have to wait until the morning pickup at eight, and they will take you the rest of the way per your ticket.”

Shit.
The ticket agent probably
had
told her all of that and more, but Kettah had been frantic to get away, looking over her shoulder expecting one of her father’s men to be right there, ready to take her back and make her regret ever trying this, so she hadn’t been concentrating on much else.

“Miss?
Miss, are you okay?”

Kettah snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the driver.

“Yes, I’m fine. You said the next bus will pick up at eight.
Right here?”

“Yes, that’s right.” She swallowed, nodded, and turned to step off the bus, but the driver’s voice stopped her. “I’m not that familiar with Sugar Rush, but I know enough that there is a motel just a ways up.”

She smiled and nodded. She needed to get her shit together, because if the bus driver could see her wariness, then she was going to get caught, and she’d rather be dead than face whatever her father and his men had planned for her. She felt the driver’s stare as she moved away from the bus, and a few seconds later the doors closed behind her and the bus pulled away from the curb. The dead of silence surrounded her, and she wrapped her thin jacket more tightly around her, and fixed her purse so it was now crossed over one shoulder and her chest. There was no sign of the man that had been on the bus with her, and she knew that her nerves were on the verge of breaking. She was paranoid, seeing things that weren’t there, and worrying that everyone was an enemy. But she also knew that a part of her paranoia was justified and that she couldn’t let her guard down for one moment. The town of Sugar Rush appeared quaint, with antique looking streetlamps lining either side of the narrow road, and cobblestone sidewalks. She looked around once more and forced herself to take that first step. She would definitely need to get a room for the night, but every building she passed was closed.
Tandale
was a big city, and it seemed one that never slept, so it was a bit strange to see everything shut down for the night when it wasn’t even midnight. Her stomach chose that moment to growl loudly, and she placed her hand over her belly. Kettah walked for about ten minutes before the sound of loud, but muted, music came to her, and she took a right, following the sound. The small bar that came into view was attached to a motel that looked as old as the town itself. The muted light from the few parking lot lights showed the peeling paint, the roof that was in desperate need of new shingles, and the flickering “OPEN” sign in the front office window.

She walked quickly toward the front door of the bar, gripped the scarred handle, and pulled it open. The sounds of “Sweet Home Alabama” and raucous laughter slammed into her, along with the scent of spilled beer and sweat. Kettah stepped inside, and the door behind her slammed shut. It seemed everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at her. Then just as quickly as everything had stopped it started back up. Kettah looked around the small bar, one with what appeared to be red velvet walls, black studded chairs, and a neon lit bar. She walked up to the bar and set her purse on the counter in front of her. Taking a seat and looking around, Kettah felt very uncomfortable and very out of place. A bartender leaned her elbows on the counter and grinned at her.

“Hey there, little cat.
Haven’t seen your breed before.”
The platinum blonde rabbit shifter eyed her up and down. She was a tiny thing, with light blue eyes, but with tattoos covering both of her arms. “What can I get for you?” She slapped a napkin on the counter in front of Kettah and stared at her in question.

“Uh.”
Kettah looked around for a menu, but apparently they didn’t have them. “You serve food here?” The rabbit grinned wider and nodded. Kettah was hungry enough that she would have eaten just about anything right now.

“Honey, we got the best ribs in three counties. You wait right here, and I’ll set you up.”

“Wait.” The rabbit shifter lifted an equally light eyebrow at her. “I actually need a room, too. I saw the bar was connected to the motel. You wouldn’t happen to know if they have any vacancies, would
you?
”

She grinned. “You’re looking at the owner.” That had Kettah lifting her own eyebrows. “Don’t worry, love, I’ll get you squared away with a room, too.
Just the one night?”
Kettah nodded, and the little pixie of a female headed back behind a door. It didn’t take long for the shifter to come back and set a steaming plate of ribs and fries and a big glass of ice water in front of her. “If you need anything else just let me know. Enjoy.” She gave her one
more big
grin and turned to help other customers. The food smelled so good it made Kettah’s stomach cramp, but then again she hadn’t eaten all day, especially when she’d felt like her stomach was in knots and not about to loosen anytime soon. All she could keep thinking about was that they would surely come looking for her, and the more distance she put between her father and everything that had to do with her family, the better.