Outfoxed (13 page)

Furious anyone would try to harm his mate, he sent her a plea to take cover and set to work obliterating the enemy. He annihilated two mountain lions and suffered a few gashes and scratches down his flank, but he had no intention of losing to some flea-bitten losers from Miami. Fucking Everglade felines.

He wondered where the others had gotten to when he heard Monty’s bark and Ty’s yip echoing in the woods, accompanied by throaty roars. They’d encountered more cats. Figured. Dean would be sure to add a few well-needed licks—he was a great asset in any fight.

He continued to battle, annoyed as fuck when a smaller, more cinnamon-colored cat joined him. He turned to yell at her to leave when three cats came out of nowhere and jumped him. One ripped a hunk out of his shoulder while he sliced into the other’s belly. It went down hard when he pulled out a claw full of intestines.

Gabby pulled the third cat off him, suffocating him with teeth around his throat while Grady fought the other. After some time, his foe dropped, severely injured. He turned to see Gabby releasing dead prey. She gracefully walked over the body to Grady, who felt such pride it humbled him.

“God, you’re beautiful.”
He let her rub under his chin and against his flank, but stumbled when sudden weakness shook his legs.

Another screech, the high pitch of a baby’s cry—a cat’s warning—sounded close. In the distance, Grady heard Monty, Ty and Dean rounding up the others. But two
more
cats stalked him and Gabby. How many had come with Ronnie, that scared little runt? And just where had he gone? He blinked away the dizziness when he saw how the two flanked him, ignoring Gabby for the moment.

Which was what he wanted.

He wavered on his feet, and she nudged him to stand up.
“Gabby, go up the tree and get to safety while I—”

“I’ve been playing with these idiots for hours, Mr. Macho. So don’t even think about telling me to back away. These creeps were feeling me up while you took your time coming to get me.”

He saw red. The weakness that had almost taken over vanished as raw fury consumed him. He screamed and threw himself at the cat closest to him. With claws and fangs, he did a hell of a lot of damage. Yet when he’d finished, he noted Gabby sitting by the other cat, her large forepaw on his chest as he lay panting on his side, bloodied and scratched. His conquering heroine put the concept of smugness to shame.

He smiled at her. Then he laughed through the pain, thinking his mate looked terrific for a bloodied feline who should never have been this close to danger…again.

“Oh hell. Now I have to rescue you too, I suppose.”
She sighed and walked over to him with a sway in her hips. Her tail flickered. Her whiskers twitched and her eyes gleamed like golden coins. Such a pretty kitty.

He told her so, then passed out cold, the sight of her bright eyes the last thing he took with him.

Something wasn’t right. She could feel it.

Joy Bermin crept near the barn, aware of the itch at her back. While Amy and Melissa helped Burke watch over the breeders in the main house—and boy, did those women not like
that
term— she and Stacey had agreed to take a last look outside. Though the ranch had way too much land to patrol, they figured the barn and the cabin closest to the house made the most sense to check.

Her sister hadn’t listened when Joy had ordered her to stay close. Instead, Stacey had given Joy her own orders in that haughty tone she’d perfected at age six. For a younger sibling, Stacey could be annoyingly bossy. A lot like Miles.

Joy frowned. The last update they’d had about her brother hadn’t been good. He’d been shot twice and was unconscious, even though the raptor who’d brought the news insisted he’d recover.

God, she hated Lex and Ronnie. Michael Gates had been the best thing to happen to the pride. Life under his rule had been harmonious. His lieutenants kept things running smoothly, and Quince… She stopped that line of thinking and shoved the handsome traitor out of her mind.

Now instead of sunning on the beach with her sisters or hunting wildlife in the Everglades with the pride, she’d been forced to flee her home. It grated on her last nerve not to attack first. Sitting still while predators circled sucked ass.

She inched into the barn and closed the door behind her. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, strong hands yanked her off her feet and covered her mouth before she could yell a warning. The giant holding her projected no scent, and he dragged her back with ease. Her struggles didn’t make a dent in the steel frame holding her tight.

Joy’s idiot younger sister outside wouldn’t realize another dozen cats waited for her to make a mistake. Joy still didn’t smell them, so they must have been using Hunter spray to camouflage their presence. But how had no one seen mountain lions hiding in the goddamn barn?

“Stop moving.” A low growl accompanied the warning.

She stilled. Oh God, anyone but him.

Quince, that giant asshole, held onto her like glue as he carried her away from the cats lying in wait in the middle of the barn, behind the stacks of hay. It just figured that in the chaos brewing all around, she’d run into
him
. The man was harder to shake than hair frizz on a rainy day.

“Cut it out,” he said on a breath and drew her into the tack room, away from the others. He had an iron forearm around her waist and a hand over her mouth. To her shock, she couldn’t break free. Talk about strong. In a voice too soft to be heard by the others, he breathed, “You need to warn your sister that Lex doesn’t just want her, he wants her broken and begging. She needs to stay far away from Miami.”

No shit.
Joy tried to tell him she wasn’t stupid when he did something unexpected. The black-haired bully pulled her hair aside and licked the crook of her neck. The smooth feel of his tongue turned her entire world upside-down.

“Mated to Chastell, eh?” He chuckled. “I don’t think so.”

She wanted to turn and look him right in the eye. He was the only black cougar she’d ever met, and the one man whom she’d never thought would turn on Michael, their pride leader. Had she ever been wrong. She wanted to tell him what she thought about him, but then a bunch of eagles burst into the barn and startled the cats. On the other end, the barn doors opened, and her sisters hissed behind Burke, who tore apart their opponents’ leader in seconds.

The rest of the rival cats didn’t seem to know what to do. And then her sisters got really pissed. Fur and feathers flew.

She wanted to join in, but Quince wouldn’t let her. “Remember. Warn Stacey. And don’t go getting mated yet, kitten. We have some things we need to talk about.”

He released her mouth, but before she could lambaste him, he stole her breath with a kiss. A hot, melt-your-panties kind of kiss she’d been dreaming about since she’d first learned what men were good for. How unfair for Quince, of all people, to be so incredibly skilled.

“Oh yeah. You’re going to be so sweet.” He held her tightly against his very alive, very erect, lower body.

“In your dreams,” she whispered, not sure why she didn’t just yell for help. But she couldn’t get her lips—or her other parts—to stop tingling.

“Stubborn cat. I like that.” He kissed her again, leaving her dazed and dizzy when he broke it off. “Time to go. See you soon, Joy.”

He faded into the shadows and disappeared, sliding into a crack in the wall that hadn’t been there that morning.

“Well, you planning on daydreaming or kicking some ass?”
Stacey asked from the doorway and yawned, licking the blood from her lips. By her feet rested the feline body of what smelled like Ronnie Gates. Oh hell. Had Quince seen that?

“Shut up. I’m coming already.” Joy stripped to her skin and
turned
, but the fight she’d longed for no longer existed in the whipped cats begging for mercy. The desire to do harm faded under the desire for something else, from a cat she had no right thinking about. The smart thing would be to turn him in to her brother and see Quince pay for his crimes against the pride. But when had Joy ever been accused of being smart?

She sighed. At least she no longer had Dean to worry about. With all this shit going down, no one would care anymore about her stunt with Mr. Trouble. Or as she and Stacey liked to call him, the man-whore. She grinned and slapped one of the aggravating Lex followers on the rump, slowing him down in a hurry when it looked like he planned to escape through a hole in the action. She might have missed all the fun and fighting, but she knew something the others didn’t. They weren’t out of danger yet. She could only hope Grady and Gabby had fared okay.

Twenty-five stitches and some god-awful mewling later—he was embarrassed to admit—Grady lay in a spare bed in the main house surrounded by friends, family and a doctor who should have been drafted by the CIA for her work in torture. She rolled her eyes at him and left after looking down her nose at Ty. Haughty bird.

“Well, at least
you’re
not afraid of needles,” Dean commented. They all turned to look at Ty, his phobia well-known and always cause for ribbing.

“Fu—screw you.” Ty glared but cast a surreptitious glance at his mate.

Dean, Monty, Julia and Gabby grinned. Grady never tired of seeing her smile. But when she saw him looking at her, her humor fled.

Hell. He was back in the doghouse.

Over her shoulder, he saw Dean pointing to his injuries and making faces. He mouthed,
“Use it. You need the help.”

“I don’t even want to know what you’re telling him, Dean.” Gabby slowly turned her head to pin him in place.

He froze. “Oh uh. Nothing. Just wishing him well, Gabs.”

Monty sighed. “Been there, done that. Come on, junior. Let’s see how Burke is doing. With Rachel and the pride so close to danger, I’m sure he about lost his mind.”

“Burke? Nah. Never had one to begin with,” Dean said as they left the room.

Ty stood firm with Julia beside him. “Get to it.”

Grady frowned. “Huh?”

Ty glanced from Grady to Gabby and back again, his brows raised in question.

“Oh uh, right.” Grady cleared his throat, wishing he didn’t have to do this in front of an audience…and that Gabby didn’t look so smug waiting to hear him. But he knew Ty and Julia were showing their support for a reason.

He decided to have a little fun with her. “I’m so sorry, Gabby. For everything.”

“Oh?”

The little witch was going to make this hard. God, he loved her. “I should have told you about Joy and Dean. It honestly wasn’t my idea to make up that stupid story, and I was pissed when I found out. But I never regretted getting to know you, to be with you.”

He saw the love she tried to hide.

“But Gabby, I learned something else after all this. Watching you, seeing how smart you are, how courageous, it taught me something.” Damn. He wished Ty and Julia weren’t staring holes through his forehead. He probably looked like death warmed over. Now he sounded like a grade-A sap and not what his spitfire needed in her life.

“That’s sweet, Grady.” Gabby smiled, her gaze soft and loving. But she still hadn’t told him she loved him, had she?

“Do you accept my apology for misleading you, sweetheart?”

“See, that’s all Grady,” Ty said in an overloud whisper. “Dean could never use a word like
misleading
without sounding wrong.”

Grady glared at him.

Julia muffled her mirth by pretending to cough into her hand.

Gabby looked completely unmoved. “Did you mean what you said before?”

So the woman remembered. “Yes. I love you.”

She beamed. And still she said nothing.

“So that’s why I have to leave.”

Her face froze.

Ty and Julia stared wide-eyed.

“I don’t deserve you, Gabby. You’re beautiful and strong. You saved yourself, and you saved me.” Bullshit. He’d taken out more than a few cats, but he’d degrade himself to get even. “I lied. I took advantage of your kindness.” He considered shedding a few tears but thought that might be overdoing things.

“What?” Gabby shook her head. “You love me, and you’re leaving?”

“I’m no good for you. I want you to have the best, what you truly deserve.” He made his hand shake as he reached for her cheek and thought he’d done a damn good job when he saw panic in her eyes. “You and Miles, you look good together.” He swallowed hard.
Hell.
He wanted to wash his mouth out with soap for saying that. “It kills me to think of you with someone else, but I truly love you. You deserve to be happy.”

He turned his head away, wondering what the silence meant. When he turned back, he saw Julia and Ty had left and closed the door behind them.

Gabby remained. She paced back and forth, flailing her hands as she muttered to herself. She stopped and scowled at him. “Where the hell do you get off telling me what I deserve?”

“Gabby?”

Her red hair fanned her face as she turned, and he remembered the feel of such silk over his lap when she’d taken him in her mouth. So fucking good…

“…right? I can’t believe you’d say that to my face.”

Uh-oh. “I’m sorry.” When in doubt, apologize.