Claws

Claws

Kassanna

Copyright © September 2013, Kassanna

Cover art by Mina Carter © September 2013

ISBN: 978-1-939151-39-1

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious or used fictitiously. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

Sugar and Spice Press

North Carolina, USA

www.sugarnspicepress.com

The deep croak of the frogs on the semisubmerged log ahead of her added a tenor to the serenade of the crickets and their light chirps. Somewhere beyond the darker recess of a copse of trees the faint rumble of a fan could be heard. Sasha listened to the sounds of the swamp and padded carefully along the banks after having to take a swim when she jumped on what she thought was solid ground. The liquid miasma of Goddess knew what still made her skin itch, and it had been a week since her impromptu dunking. She raised her head and took in her surroundings. Still, the beauty of the place was astounding and reminded her of the Everglades, the wetlands she’d grown up in.

Granted, her current home at Volkshire in the Smokey Mountains was stunning. She sighed. They just didn’t have anything on the beauty of the marshlands. Sasha continued to tread carefully. The last thing she wanted was that damn gator, Etienne, rescuing her again. Sasha was a cat. Her race has been revered for thousands of years by many cultures and that damn prehistoric throwback had the nerve to laugh as he fished her from the water. She gave her head a quick shake. What were the Blaidds thinking? Sharing critical sentinel training secrets by allowing the exchange of guards between Volkshire and Betaille, a consortium of shifters they weren’t familiar with.

Goddess but the idea of spending days in the company of that damn reptile made her stomach clench and her pussy throb. Why did he have to smell so fucking good? Like dark cypress and fresh water. She did a shimmy to shake off the desire that had started to churn in her belly. Etienne towered over her at six foot five to her five foot ten. His dark, wavy hair with the lick that always seemed to fall across his forehead was just long enough for her to run her fingers through. Those gray eyes, sharp cheekbones, and sculpted lips made the devil look positively angelic. That scruff of hair around his mouth…she briefly wondered what it would feel like against the skin on her inner thighs. And those damn jeans he wore seemed to fit him like a pair of custom-made gloves. He was a damn gator for heaven’s sake. On top of that as per Boris, her boss’s, orders she was to keep an eye out for anything unusual. And the mandate from his mate, Nix: if she did notice something strange—don’t ask questions, just kill the mofos.

She accompanied Etienne, Armand, and Loubel back to Betaille ahead of the small committee who would confirm the clan’s pact. The ambassadors would be arriving later in the week with Garmin, the alligator clan’s lieutenant. So far all she’d witnessed was good ole folks who were a bit skittish around strangers. She could understand the sentiment, coming from a small, south Florida town herself and having lived in Volkshire for a number of years. Within a close-knit community, you had to earn their trust. She sat down on her haunches and watched the sunset. The night sounds escalated and a light breeze swept through the area. In a few minutes she would head back to her temporary home.

A faint metallic clicking and a loud
snap
silenced the nocturnal serenade. Suddenly a squeal rent the air. Sasha cocked her head to determine the direction the cries came from and bounded toward the source. Dodging lowlying branches, she jumped over wide expanses of water, skidded to a stop, and changed directions. The sound of voices drifted to her. Her vision sharpened in the dying light, and she quietly wove her way through the underbrush. She lowered her head to peek beneath the leaves. A piglet shrieked and struggled to get free of the ropes tied around its hind legs.

Sasha crawled along the edge of the foliage on her belly. Two men appeared to be arguing in front of the grill of a heavy-duty truck.

“…let the thing go,” one man said as the flame from his lighter licked high before settling and the paper around his cigarette sizzled.

“No. I’m taking the animal home. Put that baby in the backyard and fatten him up. He’ll make a good Christmas dinner when the time comes.” The other guy waved his hand to dissipate the smoke his companion blew into the air.

She turned her gaze back to the little beast and studied his markings. The striations along his fur looked familiar. His front legs were digging deep groves into the dirt. She circled the clearing to get closer to the boar and slipped between two trees. The baby boar caught sight of her and went still. The hunters continued talking. Sasha shifted and, using the side of the old truck as cover, crawled toward the small animal. She knew exactly who the creature was: Darcel, her host’s grandson. She’d seen him running around leading all the other children in games plenty of times since she’d arrived into town.

Sasha lifted her head and glanced over the fender. The first guy lifted his gun and rested it over his shoulder. She returned to the piglet’s side and grabbed the rope that tethered Darcel to the bumper.

“Come on, little guy, you know me, right? Just be still so I can get these knots loose and we can get the hell out of here.” Sasha worked her fingers between the twine.

He stared back at her through black eyes glassy with fear.

After unraveling the knot, she returned to her beast form. One of the men came around the bumper of the vehicle and stopped. She saw the stunned look on his face and snarled. Latching onto the piglet’s thick hide at the back of his neck with her mouth, she streaked past the startled guy. Behind her she could only make out a few of his words as he screamed for his partner.
Panther…shoot it!
Heavy footsteps pounded the ground as she dived through the foliage.

Bullets whined through the air, one burrowing into a tree trunk next to her head. Sasha darted deeper in the shadowed woods. She lowered her head between her shoulders and hunched low between the thick roots of a massive, old oak tree. Dropping Darcel in the hollow, she curled her body around his. The hunters hollered back and forth to each other. In the distance she thought she saw a flare of light. The men’s voices faded as they moved away, and after a while the nocturnal animals resumed their songs.

Darcel shifted and shivered. “Those are bad men. They have lots of dead animals in their truck.”

Sasha did the same and wrapped her arms around Darcel’s little body. “It’s okay. We are going to stay right here until they get tired. Then we’ll make our way back to Betaille. Why are you so far from town anyway?”

“I was following a frog.
Maman
is going to be mad at me.”

She combed her hand through the mud-matted curls on his head. “I bet it won’t be as bad as you think.”

He expelled a breath. “You don’t know
maman
.”

Sasha chuckled. She could no longer hear the men but knew they were still out there, watching. With no weapons and a child in tow, she weighed her options in her head. She didn’t need a firearm. She was a Florida panther. It was only two men. She’d faced more than that in a bar fight. If she left Darcel, she could lure the humans away from him.

She glanced down at him. “Do you know your way home?”

He nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“All right, looks like these guys aren’t going to give up anytime soon. After I leave, I want you to count to two hundred, then take off running for home. Okay?”

He hung his head. “I can only count to one hundred and twenty.”

Sasha gripped his shoulders. “That’s fine but don’t move until you count to the end.”

“Okay. Where will you be?”

She rolled her shoulder. “They want to play with animals. I’ll show those idiots who are truly the predators and what’s the prey.” She eased over the thick tree roots and shifted.

Etienne leaned forward in his seat and continued sharpening his knife. It was one of the few days he had to himself. With the partnership with the Volkshire wolves in place and several council members about to invade his hometown, he didn’t think he would get many more days like this for a while. He glanced up and over at the guesthouse across from his. There were perks to this pact though. He’d laid eyes on one of the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen and she just happened to belong to the wolf pack.

Myka had told him the Volkshire pack was progressive as Betaille, but he hadn’t thought it possible until he’d rode up there. They hadn’t quite gotten as diversified as his hometown, but they were close and his kitty was part of a select team of ruthless sentries. So of course he needed her to escort his group back home. Volkshire should have a representative in town for when the pact committee arrived.

Her creamy, peanut-butter complexion gave him a hankering for the sandwich spread. Now he’d never liked peanuts much but damn if he didn’t want to eat her up. She kept her hair braided in one thick plait that ended at the center of her back. Slightly slanted eyes, high cheekbones, a sharp nose, and luscious lips, it was easy to perceive her beast through her features. He could never deny his taste for pussy. Good thing she was a kitty cat. He chuckled at his internal joke and scraped his knife across the sandstone.

The sun had already dipped into Bayou Animaux and Sint’s melodious voice could be heard calling her kin to the house. Her voice grew louder, and he could hear the strain in her tone. He stood up when he heard Percel anxiously call out to Sint. Etienne walked over to the railing and looked down at the courtyard. A small group of fellow shifters had amassed around Percel and Sint. Armand passed by below his stairs.

“Hey, what’s happening?” Etienne called out.

Armand stopped and looked up. “Darcel is missing.”

Etienne slid his knife into the sheath attached to his belt and trotted down the steps. He pushed past his neighbors to come face-to-face with Percel. Weary lines etched his cheeks and forehead. Percel had his arms wrapped around Sint’s shoulders. She clung to him and whispered Darcel’s name.

“When was the last time anyone saw the Darcel?” Etienne questioned the Boar Alpha.

“I’ve been looking for him for the last hour. He knows better than to stray too far into the bayou,” Percel answered absently.

A rusty four-by-four truck came barreling through the cul-de-sac and screeched to a stop, kicking up dust and sending small pebbles flying through the area. Etienne recognized the vehicle and exhaled. There was always some sort of drama with Loubel, and this wasn’t the time for that viper’s issues. He marched up to the truck just as the passenger door opened. Darcel, covered in mud and naked as the day he was born, jumped from the truck and ran to Sint.

Etienne peered into the truck cab and cocked a brow.

Loubel’s thick accent was harder to understand around the rows of fangs filling his mouth. “One of my kin found the little fella in the marsh around our pit. The kid says there are hunters in the area and they’ve got a bed full of dead animals.”

Etienne shook his head. “They were bound to come. They always do. I’ll get with Marree and see if we can’t warn the humans off.”

“No need. I’ve already called her. I have no problem with her doing what she does but two fuckers have already invaded my territory so I’ll tell you like I told her—I can’t guarantee that they will live.”

“I won’t stop you but
this time
hide the bodies a little better. We don’t need no police sniffing around. It was hard enough getting rid of them last time.”

Loubel snorted before continuing to speak. “I thought your pets would eat them long before they were discovered. Those animals of yours are getting fat and lazy.” Loubel smiled, making his face a scary caricature in half shadow under the interior overhead light. “No, son, it won’t be me doing the killing this time. Darcel told me the feline who saved him is on their scent and out for blood.”

Etienne twisted his head and looked over at the guesthouse. It had been some time since he’d seen Sasha. He then glanced at Percel, who broke away from the group and trotted over to them.

“Appreciate you bringing Darcel home.” Percel leaned against the door and stared at the group surrounding his family.

“As the gator likes to say, we take care of our own.” Loubel shrugged. “We ain’t got all night. Them hunters is out there with a panther that may, or may not, be Etienne’s mate.”

Percel snapped his head up. “The Volkshire guard. Hell, she dies and we’ll have wolves all up in our asses.”

Etienne pressed his lips together before speaking. “That girl, Sasha, she can take care herself.” He truly believed that but didn’t like the unease forming in his belly.

“Don’t get me wrong, Tee mated into a strong pack with good resources. But them Blaidd boys, I don’t think they’re all there. More like a few aces short of a full deck. It’s bad enough those damn politicians will be here in a few days.”