Freakn' Shifters Bundle (3-in-1) (16 page)

Speaking of which, “I told her we were bringing her to Toronto with us.”

“And? I see you have your balls still.”

Javier grinned. “She called me a few names and accused us ordering her around, but she didn’t say no.”

“Think she’ll let us mark her before then?” Ethan asked hopefully.

“My friend, I think short of a disaster tonight, nothing will stop her.”

Fate had a bitching way, of course, of making people eat confident words.

A frantic phone call by an almost incoherent Naomi several hours later saw them racing in Javier’s Lexus to reach her. They found her standing over her brother’s bed at her parent’s home. The young male appeared bruised and battered, but in good spirits judging by his toothy grins. His source of humor? His livid sister who cursed while she paced and recited in gruesome detail the damage she’d inflict on the ruffians who’d attacked him.

“How dare they!” she ranted. “Attack my little brother? The nerve! When I find them, I’m going to carve their testicles off and feed them to the birds. I’m gonna break every bone in their body, then run them over with my car. Wait, my car’s broken. I’m gonna borrow a truck then, a big one and—”

Chris, the injured younger brother, rolled his eyes. “
Thank fuck you guys finally got here. She hasn’t stopped since she got here. Please tell my whack job of a sister to leave this one alone. As soon as I’m out of this bed, the boys and me are going to mete out some justice, wolf style.” Chris grinned, his canine teeth showing.

“Ethan, please take Naomi downstairs for a drink of water. I think she’s thirsty.”

“Am not,” she retorted.

“Ethan?” Javier gave his friend a look. With a nod, Ethan didn’t bother arguing with Naomi, just scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder, caveman style. She, of course, shrieked and pounded at his back, but anchored by Ethan’s thickly muscled arm, she couldn’t escape. Screaming invectives that dwindled as they left, Javier sighed and turned to face Chris.

“You probably don’t have long before she escapes him and comes back even louder than before.”

“Thanks, man. I swear, I thought I was going to kill myself if she didn’t shut up.” Chris rolled his eyes.

“Your sister is understandably upset you were injured.”

“Yeah, well, she’d be even more pissed if she found out if my beating was a warning to her.”

His words froze Javier. “What did you say?”

“The four meatheads who jumped me were hired muscle. West coast boys judging by their accents. They took me by surprise coming off the college campus.” Chris’s face, the parts not purple and blue already, reddened with embarrassment.

“Those are bad odds for anyone, my friend.”

Chris scoffed. “I betcha my sister’s boyfriend downstairs wouldn’t have even broken a sweat.”

Javier inclined his head and smiled. “Yes, but he’s special. Four would have been enough to take me out, though. What did they say to you to make you think this is related to Naomi?”

“It didn’t make much sense. One of them grunted something like, ‘Tell her to back off if she knows what’s good for her’ and the other said ‘It would never work.’ What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Puzzlement creased Javier’s brow. “The mystery deepens.” Before Javier could say anything else, movement at the door made him turn sharply. An ashen faced Naomi stood in the doorway. Ethan appeared behind her, his eyes stormy. He shrugged at Javier’s look.

“They attacked you because of me?” she asked her brother in a quiet tone that made Chris blanch.

“Now, Noami, don’t— ”

“Don’t what? Freak? Beat you for not telling me in the first place?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Naomi whirled and moved to leave, but Ethan stood in her way. “Move or I’ll hurt you again,” she growled through gritted teeth.

Ethan’s hand dropped to his groin and he moved aside.

“Ah shit, you better go after her,” Chris groaned. “When she gets like this, you never know what will happen. Just don’t get too close. She bites,” he warned, followed by a muttered, “And she says we have a temper.”

Worried now, he and Ethan tore down the stairs after her in time to hear a door slam shut.

“Where is she?” he asked.

The oldest brother, Derrick, shook his head. “She’s gone out back to the woods. But I wouldn’t recommend following.”

“Come on,” he urged Ethan, ignoring the warning as he skirted past her family who appeared to be planning something on the dining room table. The brothers appeared grim, but the father grinned like a mad wolf.

“Hot damn, Meredith,” yelled Naomi’s father. “Her beaus are gonna try and corral her while she’s in one of her moods.”

The muttered “Good luck’s” weren’t exactly reassuring. They exited the house via the back door in the kitchen, Meredith waving them through with a sly smile. They were in time to see the last of Naomi’s clothing hit the ground before she called forth her wolf.

A rapid glance around showed nobody watching, but still…Javier hesitated to strip.

Meredith’s soft voice came from behind him. “All the houses edging the woods are owned by folks who know. Your secret is safe here. Keep in mind, when you find her, she’s gonna be pissed. Are you ready to handle that?”

Ethan already out of his shirt and working on his pants, grunted. “She’s cute when she’s angry. We can take whatever she dishes. She shouldn’t be alone.”

Javier joined Ethan in stripping, breathing out when Meredith left them. While nudity per say didn’t bother him, the idea of stripping in front of Naomi’s mother did.

Naked, he glanced over at Ethan. “She’s gonna be faster than your bear. We’ll handle this like we do in the game. I’ll run her down and flush her back to you.”

Ethan grinned. “Sounds good. My bear could use the exercise. See you in a few.”

Quieting, Javier closed his eyes and called his jaguar.
Come on, old friend. Time to find our mate before she does something to hurt herself.

His beast bounded forward in his mind and took over, reshaping his body and dropping him to four limbs. The change itself no longer hurt much, experience having taught him to accept his other half. In his cat form, he retained his sense of self and intelligence, but lost his ability to speak. He did however gain enhanced senses. And an urge to piss on everything, a part of the whole mark-the-territory thing all felines suffered.

Sniffing the encroaching evening air, the tantalizing scent of his female drifted to him. With a yowl, Javier sprinted off into the woods, the thrill of the chase firing up his adrenaline.

Wee little wolfie, kitty’s come a hunting. And when I find my tasty treat, I think I’ll have something good to eat.

*

Rage drove her to run. She needed to exert herself, expend the boiling anger at the knowledge that because of her someone had dared harm her family.

Cowards!
She howled aloud, the sound echoing through the woods, a nature reserve set aside by the province to promote wildlife. And right now, given her turbulent emotions, she certainly counted.

To think, Chris thought to hide the reason of his beating from her. Trying to protect her. Idiot. They just didn’t get it. She could handle herself and she didn’t need them running interference for her anymore. She’d fight her own battles thank you very much. Now if only she could figure out whom she needed to kill.

The warning to back off just didn’t make any sense, not without a name or another clue. She so desperately wanted an inkling, someone to turn her murderous focus on. Where she lacked the strength of a male, she made up for in deviousness. She wasn’t stupid. She knew she couldn’t tackle the problem face to face, but there were so many other wicked things she could do to tear their legs out.

Oops, did the bank freeze your accounts? What’s that, did your credit card get reported stolen? Imagine that, someone repossessed your car and foreclosed on your mortgage.
The financial world could be a vicious place for those who didn’t know how to manipulate it. Then, once she’d crushed them, she would give the idiot to her brother.

Vicious plans didn’t take care of her anger, though, only extreme physical exertion would, and maybe, if she was lucky, an encounter with wildlife that thought to get in her way.

As she leapt over a fallen tree, a tingling warning raced down her spine and brought her hackles up.

I am followed.

Slowing her headlong rush, she perked her ears, but heard nothing. A deep inhale brought her only the rich scents of the forest, her quarry downwind.
Friend or foe?
In her mood, she didn’t really care. Peeling her teeth back from her gums, she stalked whatever dared interrupt her.  The rustle of leaves proved her only warning before a large black shape soared from the darkness, its larger body, butting into hers and knocking her off balance. With a snarl, she whirled to grab a bite, but the shadow, feline in scent, leapt back into the gloomy woods.

Javier.
She tore off after him, following the scent he no longer attempted to hide. But the jerk stayed just out of reach, his more agile body, clambering up trees then leaping from branch to branch.

Forced to navigate the pitfalls on the ground, she couldn’t match his speed, and eventually, his limb to limb flight left her without a scent to follow. Not willing to concede to his beast, she kept foraging forward, nose to the ground sniffing.

An acrid stench made her wrinkle her muzzle.
Piss! The nervy cat marked our woods.
Naomi would have probably smiled if she’d worn her human shape. Her family and neighbors would probably have a conniption when they came across the big cat’s territorial claim.

His trail evident once again as he kept to the ground, she followed Javier, his black fur blending so well in the darkness that she almost went right past him, only the flashing glint of his eyes alerting her to his presence.

Pulling her teeth back and curious to see how her wolf fared against the large cat, she lunged at him, throwing her body against his. Taking him by surprise, she managed to knock him over, and she got her teeth around his neck, biting with just enough pressure for him to lie still.

Gotcha,
she thought.

So intent was she on her victory that she missed the movement behind her, but she caught the scent of bear. A roar split the night, and even guessing it belonged to Ethan didn’t prevent her wolf from shivering, especially when she peered up and saw the size of him.

Towering taller than she’d imagined a body could stretch with thick fur, a heavily muscled frame, and great big teeth, Ethan was absolutely magnificent. And kind of freaky in a he-could-totally-kill-me-with-a-swipe-of-his-paw kind of way. She took a step back, then, sat hard on her ass when the great, big, scary bear waved a paw at her and grinned by pulling his lips back to show some teeth.

Her anger, having receded during her hunt of Javier, became completely replaced with mirth as the Kodiak bear sat down and cocked his head, looking like a cuddly teddy.

She shifted back and shook her head. “How’s a girl supposed to stay pissed when you’re acting like the world’s cutest carnival prize?” she snapped, her rebuke tempered with a smile. Ethan lifted hairy paws and shrugged. Naomi couldn’t help giggling. A furry head butted her from behind and she peered sideways to see Javier’s slick feline shape.

She let her fingers rub the fur between his ears, the hair softer than expected. Mischief made her scrub him hard behind the ears while crooning, “Who’s a pretty kitty? You like that don’t you.” A loud purring met her ministrations and she giggled. “Look who’s a big suck. Oops, I mean ferocious man eating panther.”

A snort from behind made her let go of Javier who sank to the ground rumbling. She crossed over to Ethan and wrapped her arms around his thick neck. “Jealous? Don’t worry. I’ve always had a thing for bears. They’re right after butterflies.”

“Is that so?” Javier drawled from behind.

Naomi whirled and grinned. “Would it help if I said kitties came in a close third?” Her smile soon faded though as she realized something very important. Javier stood very naked in front of her, and he was
really
happy to see her. Apparently just as happy as the big body that brushed up against her back.

A step was all it took to bring Javier close enough for her to feel the heat radiating off his body. She tilted her head back and peered up at him, licking her dry lips as anticipation lit a fire in her stomach. “Why did you come after me? Didn’t my family warn you, I’m a bitch when I’m in a mood?”

Big hands rested on the curve of her waist as Ethan rumbled. “I like you when you get all feisty. Besides, we weren’t about to leave you alone.”

“I can take care of myself.” She just couldn’t protect her family it seemed. Anger resurfaced with a vengeance. “I can’t believe they went after Chris instead of me.”

“They obviously know how much your family means to you,” Javier replied, his fingers trailing across her cheek and down her neck, fusing her anger with her increasing desire.

“I want to hurt them,” she growled.

“I know, sweetheart.”