Her Lion Guard - The Complete Series Box Set (BBW Shifter Romance) (11 page)

     “I need to talk to you.”

     Mary-Lou tipped her head up to look at Jonas, finding his expression serious and focused. She nodded, a bit of apprehension tightening her chest.

     “Excuse us,” Jonas muttered as he guided Mary-Lou up and around the table. Irma threw a knowing glance their way, eyes catching on the book Jonas held under one large arm. Nicholas waved them off and continued to chatter at Sasha, the latter a bit distracted now that Cara had taken Mary-Lou’s seat beside him. Mary-Lou smiled.

     They walked up the stairs side by side, silent. Mary-Lou moved toward the living room but Jonas stayed her gait, shaking his head. Bemused, Mary-Lou followed the blond up a second staircase and to her room – and when had her room been dubbed pack meeting place?

     “What’s up?” she asked as soon as the door was closed, plopping down on her still unmade bed.

     Jonas hesitated, eyes on the floor. He fiddled with the book in his hands – Mary-Lou cocked her head, not quite able to see the title.

     “Is something wrong?” she prompted. When Jonas continued to analyze the dust-bunnies cowering beneath her bed, Mary-Lou sighed and made to get up.

     “Wait!” Jonas exploded into motion, startling Mary-Lou into letting out a yelp of surprise. She fell back onto the bed, narrowing her eyes as she regarded Jonas’ flushed form. “Wait,” he repeated more levelly. He was blushing, Mary-Lou noted; her eyes widened in horror as she realized what he was likely there to discuss.

     “Last night,” Jonas began and Mary-Lou closed her eyes, trying very, very hard to remain calm and mature in the face of the oncoming conversation, “What we did – which was great!” Jonas hurried to add, “Very, amazing, um – but what we did, it set it. Set things into motion and I – I am not sure if you, if you want them to be in motion. You know?” he finished weakly.

     Mary-Lou stared up at Jonas, bemused. The large man sighed and thrust out the book he held between sweaty palms. “Here.”

     Mary-Lou accepted the leather-bound volume – then almost dropped it when she got a good look at its title. “MATING PRACTICES” the cover proclaimed in bold, gold-tinted script.

    “What,” was all Mary-Lou could say.

     “Um,” answered Jonas. “Just – here, let me—” he bent over her and parted the book open to where a long, black leather strap served as a bookmark. “Let me read you this.”

     Mary-Lou made a go-ahead motion, not quite trusting herself to speak.

     “
Most feline Skin-Changers will take a partner by the age of thirty, after long years in the company of a prospective mate
,” Jonas read, pausing every few words to steal glimpses at Mary-Lou’s confused face. “
However,
unexpected pairings do occur. They are often characterized by rapid bonding in the wake of a male’s Bite, and are initially less stable than a more mature mating. If such a bond is unrequited on one or both sides, the risk of—
that’s enough.” Jonas cut off, closing the book with a decisive press of his hands.

     “That was…an interesting story,” Mary-Lou offered after a moment of confused silence.

     “We bonded,” Jonas blurted out in response; Mary-Lou stiffened.

     “You are joking,” she said, “Please tell me you are joking.”

     “I bit you,” Jonas mumbled, shame-faced, “last night – I bit you, and I am sorry, I know you don’t feel the same and I had no right—” he stumbled over his words, and Mary-Lou would have found it endearing had the topic been less horrifying.

     “Sorry doesn’t cut it,” she snapped; Jonas winced, “Sorry doesn’t
fix it
! What now? I am
mated
to you? Just like that? What does that even
mean—
!”

     “Nothing!” Jonas hurried to say, “It doesn’t have to mean anything to you, not if you do not want it to. And nothing will change – I already promised to protect you, to care for you,” he shook his head, “Nothing has to change.”

     Mary-Lou deflated at the sight of Jonas’ miserable face. She was angry – extremely so, and with a very good reason!  But anger would not fix this, either, and at least Jonas was trying. She moved closer to the blonde man, meaning to reassure him, tell him her feelings were not the problem.

     She never got the chance, as the door to her room slammed open and a whole new world of wrong tumbled inside.

    “It’s your parents,” Cara panted, red with exertion, “They’ve got your parents.”

C
HAPTER SIX

“Who?” Mary-Lou demanded as she raced down the stairs, Jonas close behind. Anger fueled her exhausted body even as cold, bitter fear curled in her chest.

     “That asshole, Wiley,” Cara bit out. She jumped the last few steps to the main floor, turning to face Mary-Lou as she gestured to the front of the house, “Ambushed them as they were making their way over here. Don’t know how he and his pack of dogs figured out we were moving them today – even
you
weren’t told!”

     “What happened to their guards?” Mary-Lou growled as she stalked forward, anger tinting her vision black, “To the people who were to keep them safe?”

     “We failed.”

     Mary-Lou halted, eyes wide as her mind attempted to reconcile the familiar sight of Katy and Jenna within her surroundings. The two women were curled against each other on the couch, each heavily bruised and covered in blood-stained bandages. Jenna’s right eye was swollen shut, Katy’s nose crooked and lip bleeding sluggishly down her chin. Both lowered their heads as Mary-Lou stepped closer.

     “What,” Mary-Lou croaked, “What are you – you are Shifters? Both of you?”

     “Yep,” Katy answered, voice lacking its usual pep. “We’ve been guarding you for a long time now, pup.”

     “B-but you work at the Center!” Mary-Lou exclaimed, “And you hate each other!”

     “A cover,” Jenna muttered. “We couldn’t have it so we shared too many shifts; at least one of us had to be off when you were off,” Katy explained.

     “They are actually bonded,” Cara whispered; Irma swatted her head as she entered the room, carrying yet more bandages and several bottles of pills.

     “Not important right now,” she snapped, then turned to address the battered duo. “I trust you won’t bleed to death by the time we make it back?” the two women nodded and Irma snarled, “Good. The rest of you – with me. We are leaving now. Mary-Lou, you are free to stay behind.”

    “Like hell,” Mary-Lou growled. 

     Irma nodded, unsurprised. “The idiots have camped a few miles from here,” she explained as she walked them out of the living room, “Their arrogance will be their undoing.”

     Irma led them out and to the front of the Cabin, where Jonathon, Sasha, and old Nicholas waited. Anger crackled like a live cable among them, a desire for motion and violence – they shot off as soon as Irma gave the signal, becoming blurs then dust on the wind.  Mary-Lou made no sound of protest when Jonas picked her up, held onto her tightly as her surroundings swirled out of existence

.

     When the world appeared again, it was dark and heavy with the smell of rotting vegetation. Irma and Jonathon stood at the very front, flanked by Sasha and Nicholas on either side. Cara crouched just beside Mary-Lou, form tense as she scanned their surroundings. They were deep into the forest, deeper than a normal person would dare go – and they were not alone.

     “In the trees,” Irma whispered to Sasha. She then threw her head back and
roared
.

     “WILEY,” she called. “SHOW YOURSELF, COWARD!”

     The forest fell silent, the buzz of birds and bugs disappearing in the wake of her anger.

     “You dare call
me
a coward?” a low, growling voice answered. Wiley stepped forward from the dusk of the surrounding trees, hair and eyes wild. “You, who have birthed a mongrel and lived among
humans
? You, who has exposed our people to weakness and persecution? HA!” He bared his teeth in an ugly grin.

     “Where are they,” Irma demanded. Jonathon growled beside her, body trembling with barely-contained violence.

     “The sorry sacks of human flesh?” Wiley smirked, “Here and there. Soon to be nowhere at all,” he pointed toward the sky and laughed, the sound hacking and ugly.

     “You son of a bitch!” Mary-Lou screamed. She shook off Jonas’ hands and pushed her way to the front, eyes poison-green with her anger. “You call me a mongrel, but what are you? A sorry cur, a beaten
dog
without worth or sense.” She stood facing him, trembling with cold, powerful anger. “Let them go,” she hissed, “Or I will
tear you apart
.”

     Wiley stumbled backwards, face paling with terror for a disjointed second. He collected himself a moment later, managed to summon some of his previous swagger. “Oh, but I will enjoy gnawing on your bones,” he promised and let out a low, thin whistle.

     Jonas jumped to Mary-Lou’s side just as Wiley charged, the two men clashing with a resounding smack. Similar chaos ranged around her as large men and powerful women fell upon them, each more animal than human. Mary-Lou watched as Irma shook into her tiger form and tackled a large hog, watched Jonathon swipe long claws into the stomach of a growling mountain cat. Sasha glistened white-green as he flickered between human and a large, white snake, poison dripping about his snapping teeth. He fought back to back with a determined Cara, the soft red ears flickering atop the fox-Shifter’s head catching the sound of blows before they struck. Mary-Lou watched and felt small, felt useless and afraid – not for herself, but for her family, the pack that fought to protect her but was steadily, surely being overcome.

     Jonas roared and Mary-Lou felt phantom pain eat at her side, terrible and sudden. She snapped her eyes to where the man had stood, finding a powerful, golden-maned lion straining against the teeth of a heavily-muscled wolf. This was Jonas’s Form, she realized – the Other she had not yet seen, had had no chance to meet – and he was in
pain.

     The cold feeling that had weighted Mary-Lou’s chest as she faced Wiley disappeared, to be replaced by a flood of warmth, of
power
. Mary-Lou trembled with it, shook as it seeped in her flesh and spilled from her skin in the form of soft, golden light. The sounds of the fight, the sight of the forest dimmed as the light spread – in a blink, it blanketed all, clean and light.

     The next thing Mary-Lou saw was Jonas’ face. “Mary-Lou!” he called, had been calling for a while now judging by the rising concern in his voice. A bruise bloomed on his cheek, a bite bled awfully about his left bicep, yet his focus was entirely on her – Mary-Lou laughed brokenly and kissed him, quick and chaste.

     “I’m glad,” she whispered, “That you are my mate. That I am yours. I am glad.”

     Jonas looked back at Mary-Lou, momentarily stricken, before he crushed her to his chest.

     “Is she okay?” Cara asked from somewhere nearby. She sounded young and tired – Mary-Lou pushed weakly at Jonas’ chest, anxiety gripping her heart as she remembered exactly where she was.

     “I’m fine,” Mary-Lou rumbled, voice muffled by Jonas’ shirt, “I’m fine- let me go, I have to see—”

     “We are fine, too,” Cara soothed. “Everyone is fine, thanks to you.”

     “What?” Jonas finally released her and Mary-Lou blinked darkness away, tried to focus on the forest and its occupants. “Where is Wiley? The others?”

     “Unconscious.” Jonas said. “Whatever you did, whatever that light was – it knocked them out, to the last one. We are trying to figure out how to carry them back.”

     “To the Cabin?” Mary-Lou exclaimed, “Why would we do that?”

     “Irma wants to hold Court,” Cara explained. “She’s sent a word out that you are to speak. People will come – powerful people, better equipped than us to handle so many troublemakers.” Mary-Lou shook her head, still confused but unwilling to spend a moment more discussing a topic other than the one which most concerned her.