Levi (18 page)

“I’m sorry,” Lyndon said as he grew rigid beside Levi. “Maybe I should—”

“No! You should
not
leave!” Levi wasn’t even going to let the man finish the sentence!

“Your family is in danger, Levi. Already their ability to scent has been fucked up. How can you think me being here is a good thing?” Lyndon scowled and Levi could feel Lyndon’s desire to stay as well as his fear. “If I leave now, maybe the other cougar will also leave. Or I can go out, alone, and wait for him. Put an end to this once and for all.”

Levi’s heart did its best to thump right out of his chest and he shook his head. Cheryl stood and walked over to stand in front of them.

She placed a hand on her hip and narrowed her eyes at Lyndon. “And what makes you think I would sit back and be okay with that? This isn’t just about you, it’s about my sons, too. Levi, of course, but Oscar, Drake and Orion were out there too and don’t think for one second they aren’t pissed enough to skin that cat alive.”

“It’s still my problem,” Lyndon growled. He stood up and waved towards the door. “I brought this trouble here and I’ll—oomph!” Cheryl slammed a hand against Lyndon’s chest , sending him sprawling back onto the couch. Then she pointed at Lyndon and wore such a fierce expression Levi wanted to promise to never piss his mom off again.

“You listen to me, Lyndon. As far as I’m concerned, you’re family now, and you can’t tell me you don’t want that. I can see it in your eyes, the longing there every time you look at us!” Lyndon opened his mouth but Cheryl bent closer and thumped him on the chest. “Don’t even start with me. You may think you’re some big bad cougar, but I’ve got a good thirty years on you
and
I raised these boys. I’ve learned tricks for handling stubborn men, don’t think I haven’t!”

Lyndon’s eyes had grown bigger as Cheryl ranted. Levi wondered how Lyndon’s eye sockets held his eyeballs in place.

“But—but I’m not a kid! You can’t tell me—” Lyndon shut his mouth, most likely realising as Levi did, Lyndon sounded like a belligerent son. “I mean, Cheryl, come on! Your family has already been hurt—”

“Please,” Oscar scoffed, glaring at Lyndon. “It just burns, like when I need to sneeze, only a little stronger. Don’t make us out to be a bunch of wusses.”

Lyndon’s cheeks darkened and he rubbed at his temple. Cheryl placed a hand on his shoulder and Levi felt Lyndon shiver, felt the hungry need for approval as it rose in Lyndon.

“I told you, you are family now,” Cheryl re-emphasised. She touched Lyndon’s cheek. “Family sticks together. Now, this cougar has really ticked me off, and I want to find him and make sure he doesn’t hurt
any
of my boys again. Do you understand?”

Lyndon’s resistance snapped, Levi felt it like a rubber band stretched too far.

“Yes ma’am, and…and thank you.”

Cheryl nodded and patted Lyndon’s cheek before looking at Levi. “He’s a good one, son. Got all those protective instincts and trying to make sure no one else gets hurt. You two will take good care of each other.”

Levi was about glowing from his mom’s approval. Oh, he’d known they liked Lyndon, but still, hearing it said just rocked Levi’s world. “Love you, Mom.”

Cheryl smiled and the last lingering bit of anger vanished from her expression. “Love you too. Probably even end up loving Lyndon once he gets it through his head we want him here, no matter what.” Lyndon sucked in a sharp breath as Cheryl continued. “Now, here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll bring everyone back to our house and set up patrols around the place. Levi, you and Lyndon can have the basement room.”

“Thank God,” Oscar chirped, waggling his eyebrows. “Otherwise none of the rest of us would get any sleep!”

“Oscar!” Levi thundered right along with his mom.

Lyndon laughed. Levi looked at him questioningly.

“What? He’s right. I don’t even know how we’re going to keep quiet enough if we’re in the basement, what with y’all’s heightened hearing and all.”

Cheryl blanched and Oscar chortled while Levi tried to melt into the couch cushions. “Maybe we should just stay here.” He had to admit Lyndon had a point, even if it was embarrassing.

“Maybe you two should just count on exercising some restraint,” Cheryl said.

“I vote for gags. They’re a type of restraint.”

Levi, Lyndon and Henry looked at Oscar.

“What?” Oscar asked. “It was just a suggestion. It’s not like I said they should use ball-gags. A simple bandana would do.”

“Jesus,” Levi muttered.

Cheryl pointed towards the bedroom. “Oscar, go see why your other brothers aren’t out here yet!” She snapped the order out in a voice that brooked no argument.

Oscar practically leapt off the arm of the couch. “Yes, ma’am,” he called out, hustling away.

Cheryl harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest. “That boy, God. I don’t know what we’re going to do with him. He’s got a smart mouth.”

“I vote you send him off to a private school overseas,” Levi suggested jokingly. He’d never be able to stop worrying if Oscar were to be sent away.

“You’d have Oscar withdrawals,” Lyndon informed him. “And I like the guy. The whole gag idea—”

“Guh!” Levi slapped a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. “Not when my mom is standing there!”

“Yes, please, spare me.”

Levi peeked at his mom, expecting to see her looking uncomfortable, but Cheryl was grinning like a damned loon. Drake and Orion walked into the living room then, and Oscar was right behind them, grumbling to himself. Drake rubbed at his eyes and Orion yawned.

“Sorry, Mom, we fell asleep,” Drake muttered, his voice sleep-raspy.

“They were curled up on Levi’s—and I guess Lyndon’s—bed.” Oscar wrinkled his nose. “Good thing our sense of smell is screwed up, otherwise they would have probably noticed—”

“Go home,” Cheryl ordered, cutting Oscar off. “You three boys stay together and text Levi as soon as you reach the house. I’ll stay here while Levi and Lyndon gather a few things.”

Levi stood up as his brothers left. He tugged on Lyndon’s hand and stepped aside to give Lyndon room to stand.

“We’ll make it quick, Mom.”

At Cheryl’s nod, Levi and Lyndon hurried to the bedroom. Levi wondered if they shouldn’t take a few bandanas with them.

Chapter Twenty-One

It didn’t take long for Lyndon to pack—it wasn’t like he had much, so he helped Levi, stuffing sweats and jeans and whatever else Levi handed him into a large duffel bag.

“Can’t forget these.”

Lyndon turned and just managed to catch the lube and the box of condoms. “You’re lucky I’m quick with both hands.”

“Not too quick,” Levi said, leering at Lyndon. “I happen to think your hands work at the perfect speed for me.”

Lyndon’s cock began to harden but he was not going to give in to his hormones! “No teasing me, Levi. Your mom is in the living room. Talk about a major cock block.”

“No kidding.” Levi tossed a pair of balled-up socks to Lyndon once he’d tucked away the other supplies.

Lyndon bit his lip then glanced at Levi. Now was one of the times he wished he could pick up on what his lover was feeling because he couldn’t see past Levi’s scowl to the cause of it beneath. Exhaling, he tried to word the questions in his head first then he decided to just ask. “Are you mad about us having to go stay at your folks’ place? Do you wish we hadn’t—”

That was as far as he got. Levi grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. Before Lyndon could do more than start to snarl, Levi kissed him eagerly, so eagerly in fact, their teeth clacked together. The coppery tang of blood reached Lyndon’s tongue, the taste familiar—Levi’s. Lyndon pulled back and lapped at Levi’s lip. When he sucked on the split flesh, Levi moaned. Cheryl’s shout for them to hurry up and quit messing around had Lyndon and Levi springing apart from one another.

“Packing,” Lyndon rasped. “Right.”

They finished up quickly then went into the living room where Cheryl was waiting, tapping one foot in a rapid
tat tat tat.
“I thought I might have to come get you two.” She shuddered and gestured to the door. “Let’s go.”

Levi locked up the house once they were outside on the porch.

Cheryl looked off towards her house then back at Levi. “Did Oscar text you yet?”

“Um.” Levi handed Lyndon the duffle then dug his cell phone out of his back pocket.

Cheryl took the phone and pressed a button, the bright light from the screen illuminating her features as she scowled at it.

Lyndon heard it a second after Levi did. There was a faint whistling then Cheryl grunted and dropped the phone.

“Shit! Get down!” Lyndon leapt, arms wide to encircle Levi and Cheryl both.

He took them down, Henry not making a sound as they hit the wooden porch floor. Levi cursed then grunted as the breath whooshed from his lungs. His cell phone lay several feet away on the ground beyond the front porch steps.

“What happened?” Levi whispered, the words barely audible. “Mom? Mom!”

“Quiet.” Lyndon could feel Cheryl’s heart beating, felt her breath against his cheek. “She’s alive. Stay down for now but get her and yourself inside as soon as I distract this fucker.”

“Come out and play, Lyndon. I’ve grown tired of chasing you around the country.” The challenge in the deep, mocking voice was unmistakable.

It sent chills over Lyndon’s skin as anger churned in his gut.

Lyndon kept quiet and hoped to whatever gods existed Levi would do the same. He held a hand up in the direction where Levi and Cheryl lay, trying to convey his wish for them to remain silent. When a few seconds had passed with no one making a sound, Lyndon took a step back then began moving along the front of the house. He had to duck before reaching the window, not wanting the light from inside to give away his movements. The other cougar shifter’s next words caused Lyndon to stumble as fear iced his veins.

“Do you want to know what I did to those other three pussies?”

Levi’s muffled sob broke Lyndon’s heart. He turned his head and just made out the dark shape of his lover. Knowing Levi could pick up on his emotions, Lyndon tried to send waves of comfort and reassurance to Levi. He needed Levi to stay here, to be safe.

“They aren’t dead yet, but if you don’t get out here, they will be. A bullet to the brain will kill a shifter just as it would a human.”

Lyndon stopped worrying about trying to move unnoticed as another of those heart-rending sounds came from Levi. Lyndon ran, slapping a hand down on the railing and leaping over it to land beside the porch. He headed in the direction of the voice had come from. The asshole was downwind of them, which was why they hadn’t scented him.

Pulling off his clothes was difficult since he didn’t want to stop moving, and Lyndon finally thought,
fuck it,
and shifted in mid-stride. He landed hard; his back legs tangled in his pants but Lyndon quickly freed himself. His senses sharpened and he saw the person who’d been stalking him—and gasped in surprise.

Could have been my twin.
The sick grin on the man’s face stretched wider. He laid down what Lyndon thought was some sort of tranquilizer gun, maybe. Then he shifted, too and yowled a challenge. Lyndon dug in his back claws and threw himself forward to meet it.

The scent of blood, more than one person’s, fuelled Lyndon’s fury even. He didn’t want to have to kill his own kin, but the human and cat both knew he’d probably have no other choice. Lyndon locked down his emotions before he let them get in the way of what had to be done. The cat surged towards him, snarling, teeth bared and eyes flashing. Lyndon called on his cougar instincts, letting them override his human ones. There was no way he could bring this to an end without more violence, he needed to remember that. Talking wouldn’t work against a man who was more beast than human. There was nothing in his attacker’s eyes signifying an intelligence other than the cat’s.

The shrill scream he let out when he leapt was matched by his foe’s. They slammed into one another, claws and teeth tearing at whatever part of each other they could reach. Neither had their legs fully under them when they hit the ground. Instead they rolled and fought for position. Lyndon felt a searing pain in his shoulder when he twisted his neck, trying to sink his teeth into the cougar. He curled his paw and tore into the flesh of his haunches.