When A Lioness Snarls (A Lion's Pride Book 5) (16 page)

Low, menacing growls and hisses filled the room with impending menace as bodies clad in black wear with the club logo on their breasts emerged from pockets of shadow. Scentless and quiet, a perfect dozen in total, with Charlemagne as the thirteenth.

Of the twelve, only three bore a bat shape—the captain of the whams and two more, none of whom were the right size or look for the bat dude Jeoff had seen on the roof.

“Is one of your staff missing?” Arik asked Charlemagne as Jeoff perused the expressions on the human faces. Could they all turn into giant bats? And were they truly not shifters as Charlemagne claimed?

“All of my servants are accounted for. Perhaps your pet dog is mistaken.”

“I know what I saw.” Jeoff pushed forward. “Unless there are more bat dudes than these running around the city, then someone here did it.”

“If what you claim is true, then one of my servants is committing the most foul insubordination.” Charlemagne fixed his gaze on his people.

“It is not insubordination to want to feed.” The unassuming fellow suddenly snapped his head up from his subservient pose, and his eyes blazed. The resemblance was faint, his human guise somehow narrower of face and more aquiline of nose, but there was no mistaking the expression or the words.

The club owner’s face turned cold and hard. “We do not feed from the animals.”

“Too late. We have already had a taste.” The guy licked his lips. “They were delicious. And you, the master who thinks he knows everything, never had a clue. We stole the animals from under your nose, from this very club.”

At the admission, many of the lionesses growled and pressed forward. Arik held up his hand, and they halted, but their gazes promised retribution. “You’re the one who emptied their houses and wiped them clean?” Arik asked.

A sneer curled the lips of the male confessing. “My friends and I have learned a few things about covering our tracks. This isn’t the first city we’ve played in, but those were the first of your kind. And not the last.”

It was all Jeoff could do to not dive at the guy and tear out his throat. Only knowing his death would assure Luna’s stayed his paw.

Patience, my wolf.

It seemed Charlemagne was less than impressed by the knowledge his servants had acted without permission. “Treason against your master is punishable by death.”

“What we have done is not treason, but a change in command. We tire of your rules. It is time we commanded the weak on Earth, as we were meant to.”

“We? Who is this we?” Charlemagne sneered. “I see the blood you ingested has addled your wits because you seem to forget I made you. I can unmake you.”

“Not if we kill you first. Kill him!” screamed the fucker.

And that was when all hell broke loose. Mostly because the lionesses recognized a challenge when they heard one. Black fabric went flying as bodies morphed into giant bats. It seemed like most of Charlemagne’s servants were part of this rebellion. They hissed, fangs long and menacing before lunging for Charlemagne, who, in a single blink of an eye, just wasn’t there. But the attacking whams did find someone willing to fight.

Lionesses dove on the winged bats, most having traded soft skin for softer fur. Those intent on rebellion fought with grim intensity, their incredible strength and speed making the lionesses truly employ their finest skills. A duo of the whams appeared to have surrounded Charlemagne, who frowned but did nothing to stop the carnage of his treasonous servants. The outcome seemed certain, the golden army outnumbering the whams, which was perhaps why one of them, Jeoff noted, was trying to get away. The one Jeoff needed alive.

He ran after the leader of the rebellion, his voice a guttural growl. “Where is Luna? Where did you put her?”

“Nowhere you can reach, dog,” was the mocking reply.

As the bat dude whirled, looking for an exit that didn’t require him dying, Jeoff got close enough to lunge. The fucker was too fast. The beast took wing, soaring to a spot too high for Jeoff’s leap to reach. For the second time that day, he had to watch as the monster bested him.

He’s getting away.

And there was nothing he could do about it. High above, the monster smashed one of the blacked-out windows, escaping into the night sky. Despite how fast Jeoff ran for the outside, he couldn’t see where the bat dude went. And he was no closer to finding Luna.

Fuck.

T
hat fucking hurts
.
The side of Luna’s head throbbed, a painful and ignoble reminder of her defeat. It was enough to make her want to go back to sleep.

Wake up.
Her inner lioness slapped at her.

She wrinkled her nose.
Don’t do that. Wanna sleep.
The lethargy in her body was much too compelling to ignore.

Rouse yourself. We’re in danger.
An insistent cry by her lioness that Luna only sluggishly responded to. She just couldn’t seem to make herself care. There might not be sunshine drugging her into taking a nap, but there was definitely something urging her to keep her eyes shut and relax.

We can’t relax. He’s going to come back.

He who? Jeoff? She wouldn’t mind him coming to snuggle with her. She might even share her sunny spot with him. Especially if it got him naked.

Jeoff naked was so much fun to look at. Even better to touch.

Seriously?
Her feline seemed less than impressed with her fond thoughts of Jeoff. It kept yowling about danger.

Tell you what. Why don’t you take care of it?
While she floated on lazy waves.

Ugh.
Such disgust from her lioness, but, at the same time, relief. Apparently, if Luna wasn’t in the mood to drive, then her cat was. Without further ado, her beast side thrust herself past the feeble human shell until limbs burst free of the silly clothing that bound it and paws slipped out of confining boots.

Shaking a tawny head, the lioness stood on her four feet and peeked around. The painful act of change apparently provided the right kind of slap because she noted that, within her mind, her fleshy self struggled to remove the sluggish chains binding her and pay more attention.

Hold on a second. Where are we?

In a very bad place. The lioness couldn’t help but snort. The bad called to her curiosity. What had passed through here?

Nose to the floor, she checked out the space, noting the room was large enough to walk around, but not by much. The only light came from a hole in the wall that allowed scant illumination. Since it was closest, she checked it first and recoiled as she noted the edge of the opening sheared off. Peeking down, she uttered an irritated snarl. Too high to jump and, since she didn’t know how many lives she had left, probably not her best option.

Whirling, she allowed her eyes to adjust for the darkness.

Wood-covered openings in the walls—
those are windows
, her other self yammered—preventing escape. An open door led to a tiled room, not very large with a large dry basin and another hard shell holding only the molded residue of water.

It didn’t smell good at all. And there was no exit in here, just like there was no exit in the next room beside it. So far, a bunch of little chambers that taunted and exhilarated because she’d been challenged. This place thought to defeat her. But conceding was never a choice. There had to be another exit. The fleshy habitats, even abandoned ones, always had an entrance. Returning to the first room, the one with a still gaping hole in the wall, still too high to jump, she stopped and let her head rotate side to side, her eyes filtering the ambient light and shadows to see.

The food preparation area showed no exit. The storage cabinets were exposed, the doors to them hanging lopsidedly or completely torn off.

Taking a step to the far side of the room, she winced at a loud creak. She halted, distributing her weight to all four paws and feeling her position. No further cracking, but she lowered her nose and sniffed. Rot. So much rot.

Watch the walking.
The floor proved precarious, parts of it rotted, the boards sinking under her weight. Having already explored behind her, she logically noted that there was now only one opening left to explore. One more chance to find a path to escape that didn’t involve trying to climb down a smooth surface from a great height.

As with all the other openings, the barrier to it—
door, remember we had those lessons? It’s a door
—leaned against the wall across from it. Sticking her nose out showed only more decay and more openings to explore. Above, the ceiling had partially collapsed, debris and the itchy pink stuff blocking one direction. Looking the other way, she noted a dark opening from which wafted a rank stench that almost colored the air with its foul miasma.

Ooh what’s that?
While she wouldn’t mind going for a peek, the voice of the squishy one advised caution.

The lioness might have ignored it if not for the teensiest of sounds right behind her.

Who dares to come so close?

Preservation controlling her motions, she whirled and dashed at the bulky dark figure standing there, only to miss tearing out his heart as he leaped nimbly out of reach.

Come back.
She wasn’t done playing.

Neither was he apparently. The thing with no scent reached out and tweaked the tip of her tail, a hard-yanked challenge.

He dares touch my tail!
The squishy one inside her was absolutely enraged.

A low snarl rumbled past peeled lips as she pivoted and narrowed her amber gaze on the
thing
that had dared bring her here. The
thing
that dared mess with a lioness.
Rowr
!

Keeping her gaze locked on the
thing
, she darted toward him again, but never made it all the way, as part of the floor splintered and her paw went ramming through the rotted fibers. A startled yelp escaped her, the pain sharp as her forward momentum was rudely halted. To add insult to injury, she was stuck. She yanked at her trapped paw, only to hiss in pain as the wooden splinters dug into her skin.

The squishy one soothed her ruffled fur.
Let me help you.

“Is the kitty cat caught?” The human-shaped mouse with wings—
because I refuse to call him a bat!—
walked toward her. There was something incongruous about a monster wearing black stone-washed jeans and running shoes but no shirt. The normal gear seemed only to emphasize the strangeness of his appearance.

Says the woman who can change into a lioness.

Speaking of lion, better get that paw unstuck so she wouldn’t be at a complete disadvantage. The form swap happened quickly, and even better, she survived it. She’d hoped he wouldn’t use that in-between time inherent in every morph to kill her.

Good news, her hand slid free of the hole, albeit sporting a few embedded wooden pieces. All her limbs free, though, didn’t mean she changed back into her beast. If she couldn’t dominate as an animal, then perhaps she could outthink her foe. And another cool thing she could do better in her human shape? Glare, which was what she did from under a hank of hair

Never look afraid.
A rule to live by.

“Who are you? How did I get here?” Like, seriously, how had she gotten here? Last Luna recalled, the flying mouse had her in a chokehold and then tried to give her a hickey. The reminder had her slapping a hand over her neck. The jagged edges from a pair of punctures rose from her skin, dry and healing, but the skin still noticeably swollen. “You bit me!”

“I intend to do more than that, kitty cat. I always wondered why the master said your kind was off-limits. I assumed it was because you were less than tasty. But now I know the truth.” The gray-faced guy cupped his denim-clad groin and leered at her. “You taste delicious. Especially when fresh.” He licked his lips, and Luna knew the proper response for a normal person was to shudder, maybe even cringe.

Normal. Such an overrated word.

Luna gave him the finger. “Up yours. No one is taking any bites out of this body.” Unless his name was Jeoff. For him, she’d make an exception, if he’d still have her. She seemed to recall dumping him before her inadvertent capture.

I might have been hasty. Perhaps we should pursue this a little further.
Or at least have more awesome sex.

Of course, sex would happen only if she lived past the next few minutes.

“Your feisty nature is so compelling. The other couples I snared with my comrades didn’t have the same fire as you and that dog.”

Nice to know attitude flavored the flesh. And to think, all this time, people thought it was garlic that kept them away. “If we’re so yummy-looking, then why did you chicken out and only grab me? Lack of balls? Couldn’t handle us both?”

“I am not a coward. I chose to not take the wolf as a matter of taste. While his kind proved nice to eat, slightly nicer than humans, they definitely didn’t have the same flavor as cat. Turns out I like pussy.” He wanted it to sound dirty, and it did.

Totally gross. She made a moue of distaste. “If that is an example of your pickup lines, no wonder you have a hard time getting girls to go out on a date. Still, you kidnapped the wrong woman. You are not getting any of this.” She gestured to her body, which drew his attention. Good, if he was staring at titties, then he wasn’t paying attention to what she really had planned.

“You can’t stop me from doing whatever I want with you.”

“That’s what you think. I don’t see any drugs this time.” No needles meant she had a fighting chance. She wouldn’t underestimate his speed or strength this time. She had to fight smart against him.
And don’t let him bite you.
The loss of motivation and control was not something she cared to repeat.

Her kidnapper sneered. “I won’t need drugs to subdue you. I only use those when taking a pair. It’s quieter that way. But two is too much work. All that flying back and forth to carry the bodies. Much easier to just steal one and really savor it. Although, I will miss the crying and the pleading. The women really didn’t do well with my dining on their mates in front of them.” He displayed sharp teeth.

He also displayed a villainous ego that enjoyed talking about himself.
Keep it up.
It gave Luna a chance to scout things out. ’Course, the only real choice was behind her. But she wasn’t sure if the hall would lead to a possible escape or just pen her down in an even worse spot.

She’d never find out standing around in the buff. Bending down, she snared the edge of her blouse and managed to get an irritated, “What are you doing?”

“Getting dressed. Since you’re taking your sweet time getting to the point, I’m getting chilly.” And if she had to climb, she wanted a layer to protect her skin.

Fur is best.
You’d never convince a feline otherwise.

“Put these on too.” He flung her skirt at her. “You wouldn’t want me to be distracted with you while in flight.”

“I am not flying with you.”

“We are leaving. Even now, Charlemagne is probably following. But he thinks I’m elsewhere. I played the role of servant and saboteur well.”

“What the hell are you yapping about?” she asked, feeling a little more confidence now that her coochie—as Jeoff would say—wasn’t hanging out.

“Stop talking and come here.”

“Sorry, I’ve already got a guy friend, kind of, maybe.” It was complicated.

“Come here. Now.”

She took a step back and smirked. “Make me.”

He stomped forward, and his foot went right through the flooring, trapping it.

It was the moment she’d hoped for. She bolted into the horror movie hallway, running for the dark shadow, recognizing the elevator shaft for what it was. A way down.

From behind, her kidnapper yelled as his dinner ran away.

Running.
Snuffle. Her lioness expressed her dissatisfaction.

Sulk all you want
. Luna preferred to live. Lionesses might be crazy, but they weren’t stupid. They knew better than to take on odds that were against them. Bad odds were something best dealt with her crew.

And when she found her buds, they’d hunt down this bastard and show him what happened to those who hurt the pride.

If she escaped.