Help her.
The voice echoed inside his mind. Nails sprung from his fingers, and he had to physically stop himself from shifting. His lion roared, but it was only when it’d quieted that Jay understood what’d happened.
Her lioness had talked to him.
It was impossible. And yet, he’d heard her. What the hell was going on?
“Who are you?” he asked the sleeping woman lying beside him.
She never answered.
Chapter Four
“Can I talk to you?”
“What’s wrong, son?”
Trust his dad to know something was going on, even though they were thousands of miles apart. “I’m with a…woman. She’s in heat, and I offered to help.”
“Of course, you did.”
Jay mentally rolled his eyes. “She says she’s a mixie, Dad, but something feels wrong. I can almost feel her lioness, and the mating urge is so strong, she’s in serious pain. We’ve been…you know, working at it for two days now, but nothing seems to do the trick.”
“Is she on drugs? Alcohol? Meds? Anything that could affect her control and responses?”
“No. I don’t think it’s that. Dad…her lioness talked to me. No half-breed should be able to do that.”
Silence. “No, you’re right. Are you sure she’s a mixie?”
“She says she is. She says she’s never been able to shift. She was born like this from a pure mother. Father unknown. Her mom remarried to a pure. Sounds like she’s got step-siblings, too.”
“Do you trust her? She could be lying for all you know, Jay.”
His lion growled, clearly not appreciating his father’s faithless question. He thought about the past forty-eight hours, how instead of getting better, she was slowly getting worse. The pain in her eyes, the cramps, the spasms she could no longer hide from him. Who’d go through something like that on purpose?
His lion pawed at his insides.
Yes, his animal was right
, he thought. Even more than that, he didn’t think she was that type of person. She was his now, whether she wanted it or not. He’d take care of her, or die trying… “I trust her. My lion does, too.”
“Fine. What do you need then?”
He exhaled. He hadn’t wanted to call his father, hadn’t thought he’d need help at his age, but he’d soon realized he couldn’t do this alone. Not this time. Not with her. “I don’t know what else to do. The urge should be fading by now, but it’s not, and I’m starting to worry about her. She’s exhausted. She’s in pain. I don’t know how long she can last like this.”
“Can you bring her here?”
“I don’t think she’ll cope well with the flight, Dad.”
“Of course. Do you know which Pride she belongs to?”
A shaky voice rang behind him. “Who is it?”
Jay turned around and spotted Alexa crawling toward him, her fingers clenched, her breasts jiggling at every move. “Baby, what are you doing out of bed?”
“I need you,” she replied, lust coating her words. Her eyes were bright, too bright. She appeared completely out of it.
“I’ll be with you in a sec.” He sent her a reassuring smile.
“Who are you talking to?” she growled this time, the lioness taking over. There was jealousy in her tone now. Anger too. Shit!
“My dad,” he quickly replied. “Which Pride do you belong to, baby?”
She stopped in her tracks and frowned. “Red Rock, why? Why are you talking to him now? I need you!”
Red Rock. He froze. “Dad? Did you hear that?”
“I heard. What’s her surname, Jay?” His father’s voice had gone cold.
“Callahan. Alexa Callahan.”
“Why are you telling him my name? Who is he?” She got louder.
He knelt before her and said, “Are you sure you belong to the Red Rock Pride, darlin’? I’ve never heard of the Callahans before.”
“It’s my mother’s maiden name. My stepdad’s Connor O’Shea. Who’s yours?”
“Alistair. Your Alpha.” Her eyes widened so much, he thought she was going to faint.
“Are you okay? Alexa, what’s wrong?”
“You’re talking to the Alpha? About me?” He nodded, unable to lie to her. “No. No, no, no!” She began to inch backward, her limbs not strong enough to carry her. She stumbled, hitting her shoulder against the doorjamb, and yet she didn’t even react to the pain. “He’s going to kill me. He can’t know I’m here. I have to run. I have to...”
Jay couldn’t believe what he was seeing. She was slowly losing it, words pouring out of her without conscious thought. He tried to stop her, but she cringed away from him. Calling out to her, his voice a whisper, he asked, “Who’s going to kill you, Alexa?”
“The Alpha. He can’t know about me. I’m a shame to my family. I’m a mixie. Half-breeds don’t matter. They don’t. He’ll kill me.”
“Dad?” he said through clenched teeth, aware he couldn’t react violently or she’d flee.
“I heard. I think I’ll go pay a visit to the O’Sheas. I’ll call you back.”
As soon as he heard the click on the other end of the line, Jay slid his phone shut and put it back in his jeans’ pocket. “No one will hurt you,” he announced as he crept closer to her. “I’ll take care of you, Alexa. I promise.”
She was still shaking her head, her hair obscuring her face. She racked her hands down her thighs, her nails leaving deep gouges in the tender skin. “He’ll kill me. They told me he would kill me! I’ve been so very good. I have. I tried and I tried and I tried—”
He couldn’t take it anymore. He pounced on her, and using his weight, forced her to lie down on the carpet. She growled, her hands flaying. One fist connected with the side of his head, but she wasn’t strong enough to do much damage. “I’m going to have to tie you up,” he finally acknowledged. “Let’s go back to bed, all right?”
“Get off me!” She tried kicking him with her legs. “I need to leave!”
“You’re not going anywhere. Not on my watch, darlin’.”
“I want you to leave. I don’t need you anymore. I’m fine. I’m just fine!”
He chuckled, the sound dry even to his own ears. “If you think I’m going to believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. Right, let’s go.” He stood up without letting go of her, her body going limp as soon as she got to her feet. Bracing himself against the nearest wall, he turned toward the direction of her bedroom. That’s when her foot found his shin. She tried to run away. She did. Except all she did was crumple to the ground.
“Alexa!” He was at her side in an instant. She laid listless on her side, her pulse far too rapid, her skin a mottled red. He took her in his arms and slowly, carefully, carried her back to her bedroom.
Hurry, Dad
, he thought as her body flopped onto the bed. He wouldn’t be able to take being inactive for long. His lion pawed at him, wanting to help the female, needing for her to be better.
“I know,” he said out loud, his fingers clenching into fists.
Chapter Five
Jay knew he needed his cell, otherwise, it would already lay shattered in a corner of the room. His father couldn’t find Alexa’s stepfather. He’d looked everywhere within the Pride domain, but the man was nowhere to be found. That wouldn’t be suspicious in itself, if any of them had known his wife had a daughter from a previous relationship. Things like that never stayed quiet. They didn’t need to, to be fair. After all, Red Rock prided itself on its numerous members. The more, the merrier, was his father’s motto, and had been for years. So, why had O’Shea hidden Alexa’s existence?
She’d only woken once since her earlier botched escape attempt. She’d tried to sit up in bed, her curves as enticing as usual, her skin just as soft, but her eyes had been dark and her face drawn. She’d cursed him out as soon as she’d realized he’d tied her to the posts; scarves he’d found in her closet now laced around her wrists. He’d tried to make her hear reason, had tried to explain it was for her own good. She’d kicked him. Again.
He sighed as he stared at her prone body. She’d fallen asleep just a few minutes ago, just like that, almost as if she was giving up. He hadn’t moved a single inch since then, unsure of what to do next. If only his dad could find the damn man to interrogate. He knew his father could deal with it, and yet he hated being stuck here with no solution at hand. She was slowly dying, and he couldn’t do anything about it!
He opened his mouth and roared, his lion so close, he knew he would shift at the slightest provocation.
Take it out.
He froze. “What?”
Take it out! What the bad man put inside her. Take it out! I need out!
He licked his lips. Her lioness was talking to him again. That wasn’t a good sign. “What bad man?” he finally asked.
Her womb! Take it out! Take it out!
Alexa’s back arched, her skin rippling almost as if she were going to shift. But she couldn’t. She was a mixie! “I’ll take it out. I promise,” he replied as calmly as he could to the lioness. He let his Alpha tendencies come to the surface and added, “I’ll take care of you. You have my word.”
That seemed to do the trick. She quieted down, and he watched as Alexa’s body lay still once more.
He leaned down, parted her thighs, and took a deep breath. There was only one way to find out if what the lioness had said was true...
* * * *
“Can you get Nathan here?” he snapped as soon as he heard his father’s voice on the line.
“What’s wrong? Is she getting worse?”
“Yes. The lioness spoke to me again. She told me to take out the thing the bad man had put in her womb.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I looked for it, Dad. There’s some kind of implant, like an IUD type of thing, inside her.”
“O’Shea’s a surgeon.”
“I know. I’ve thought about it, and I’m wondering whether he didn’t implant it on her so she wouldn’t be able to shift. That’s why her lioness is so strong. And why the mating urge is slowly driving her crazy. She’s been denying it for so long, she’s going to explode if no one helps her.”
“I’ll tell your brother to fly right out. But, son, it might already be too late. You know that, right?”
Jay stared at the woman he’d had to tie to her own bed for her protection. She’d appeared so strong that day at the airport, acting as if she didn’t need him, or anyone else for that matter. She was no longer that person, and his heart ached at the thought. “I know but…I have to try. I have to.” He wouldn’t give up on her. He couldn’t.
“Did you mate with her, Jay?”
He ignored his father’s question and instead told him to call Nathan and urge him to hurry. He hung up the phone and grabbed his head in both hands. He only had two things left to do now: wait and pray.
* * * *
He nearly decked his brother. One step into the room and Nathan was already whistling in open admiration. “Good catch, man! Dad would be pleased.”
“For fuck’s sake, Nate. She’s dying!”
His brother’s lion appeared in his eyes. “Not on my watch.”
Jay watched as the mischievous little boy of his past became the doctor he was now renowned for. He trusted Nathan implicitly and knew that if there was something to be done, he’d do it. He’d keep her alive. He had to.
And, once his brother learned they’d mated, that the woman whose curves he’d found so enticing was his, nothing would stop him. She would become the Alpha’s mate and stand by his side at all times.
He couldn’t wait.
Closing his eyes for a second, Jay let himself hope for that future with her. He barely knew her. He didn’t even know what she did for a living or how she was as a child, and yet he couldn’t care less. She was his now. Forever.
Chapter Six
The implant fell into the metal basin with a sharp ping. Jay looked at the small and remarkably innocent-looking object…and fought the urge to smash it to pieces. Nathan wanted to take it back to his lab so he could study it; that was the only reason why he hadn’t already grabbed for it.
Alexa moaned in her drug-induced sleep. She was already becoming restless, her head moving from side to side as if she was running in her dreams.
“Is she going to be okay?” he asked his brother, who was tugging the covers back down over her.
“Time will tell. Until we’re sure what... What the hell?”
Jay saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He whirled around only to find her body bowed, the sheet slipping to the floor without a sound. Then she emitted a low growl and flopped back down, only to move and flip over in the next second. Her face now mashed against the pillows, she moved onto all fours and shook her hair down her back.