Overcoming His Pride (7 page)

“We don’t publicise that often.”

“But I had thought I’d bonded to James’ mother. That didn’t stop me from ageing.”

“You never bonded with that bitch,” Marlen snapped.

“She claimed I was her mate.”

“She just used you. I don’t know why, but she never mated with you properly,” Chen insisted.

“I wonder why?” It wasn’t the first time that idea had filtered into his head.

“Maybe you should ask her,” Chen said.

“Maybe I should. She still thinks she can convince James to go with her.”

Marlen snorted. “That’s because she hasn’t met his mate. She’d better vacate town before Lou returns.”

“Yeah. I warned her that James would want his mate. She was quite upset to hear he was gay. It ruined her great baby-making plan.” A niggle of unease settled in Andrew’s stomach. “I don’t think she’ll just give up though. She’s not the type. I should go check on James.” The urge to get a visual inspection of his son rode him hard.

“Let’s take a shower and we’ll go with you,” Chen said.

His concern must’ve transmitted to the wrens because they didn’t fuss. Instead they rushed him to the bathroom to clean up and didn’t even take time to fondle him along the way.

Chapter Four

Chen herded his mates out of the bathroom and went about fetching their clothes. He’d watched over Marlen for years, now he had a second mate to keep an eye on. With Andrew’s mating, James had also fallen into Chen’s guardianship. He had to keep the family together. If anything happened to his son, Andrew would be devastated.

They had just finished pulling on their clothing when someone knocked on the door.

“Andrew!” Talan shouted from the other side.

Chen rushed to open the door and yanked it open.

“James is missing. I smelt two strange female lions in my territory. I followed it to James’ scent, then they disappeared. One smelt a bit like James. I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Me too. James’ mother came to visit. She wanted him for a breeder. I told her he was gay, but apparently that wasn’t enough of a deterrent. We have to get him back.” Andrew had paled at Talan’s news.

“Do you know where her pride is?” Talan asked.

“No.” Andrew slid a shaking hand through his hair. “She didn’t say. The only way they could’ve taken James is if they knocked him out. He wouldn’t have left without telling me. They can’t have taken him far.”

Chen held Andrew tight. Close enough he could feel the rapid pounding of his mate’s heart.

“Maybe she holed up nearby,” Marlen said.

“I’ll put out the word for everyone to keep an eye out,” Talan assured them. “I’ll also call around. Someone knows where she is.”

“Thank you,” Andrew said.

Marlen wished he could do more, anything at all to ease Andrew’s pain.

“James is one of us. He might have come to shifting late, but he’s a member of my pride.” Talan left after reassuring Andrew he’d find James if it were the last thing he did.

“She’s not going to hurt him. Not if she needs him to breed,” Chen tried to reassure Andrew. His mate was seconds from breaking apart.

“My worry is what she’s going to do to get him to mate. It’s not like he’s going to get an erection for a woman. He isn’t bisexual.”

“Maybe they’ll give him pretty boy pictures and let him jackoff,” Marlen soothed. The other wren shifter cuddled Andrew from the other side.

“You know artificial insemination doesn’t work for female lions,” Andrew said.

Chen tilted his head. “No, I didn’t know that. It works for avian breeds.”

Andrew frowned. “I’m going after my son.”

Before Marlen could stop him, Andrew slid out of their embrace then headed for the door.

“Oh no you don’t.” Chen rushed to catch up, Marlen at his side. He grabbed Andrew’s arm. “You aren’t going anywhere without us.”

“I don’t want you two hurt,” Andrew protested.

“We’re tougher than we look.”

Marlen nodded his agreement. “And you’re human.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Andrew looked genuinely curious, as if his human fragility had nothing to do with whether he could handle himself or not.

“Where’s my mate?” Lou’s booming voice echoed through the pride house. Lions scattered down the hall.

Andrew raced towards the sound. The wrens chased after him. Chen grabbed Andrew’s arm when he went to approach the bear shifter.

“Where’s James?” Lou asked. “No one can tell me.”

“He’s been kidnapped by his mother.” The despair in Andrew’s voice had Chen tightening his grip.

He refused to let his mate throw himself on the other shifter’s mercy. It wasn’t his fault that James had been taken.

Lou frowned. “I’m tired of people stealing my mate. You have horrible taste in women.”

“I know,” Andrew agreed.

“You won’t have to worry about that anymore,” Chen said.

Marlen was on Andrew’s other side.

Lou nodded. “Good. Are you sure there aren’t any more psycho women in your past?”

Andrew shook his head. “No. She was the last one. I had hoped she was dead.”

Chen rubbed Andrew’s back. He couldn’t help the compulsion to soothe his beloved. Andrew would scoff at their quick love, but he didn’t understand the shifter compulsion to bond with their mates. Andrew could still walk away and feel none of the repercussions of leaving them. He wished they knew more humans who had bonded with shifters. They didn’t have anyone to ask for advice.

“I found him.” Talan rushed into the room. “She checked into the Where Motel with another female. The owner hasn’t seen James, but that doesn’t mean he’s not there.”

“Do we know anything about her pride?” Lou asked. “If they are kidnapping males that brings up all kinds of warning flags.”

Talan nodded. “When I heard she was back in town I had KC run up her name. She’s been with a pride in Spokane, apparently it is run by a ruling female. They only bring men in for breeding then toss them out. They have a horrible reputation, so much that no more pride males will deal with them.”

“She did say her alpha was female,” Andrew agreed.

Chen froze. There were always more pride males than females needing a place to live. If no male would touch them, there was something going on. “What do you think they are doing to the males?”

Talan shrugged. “It’s pretty hard to piss off male lions when it comes to breeding, but we don’t have time to track one down and interrogate him. We’ve got to go get James. We have to be smart about this though. If they feel cornered, they might hurt him.”

“She’d hurt her own son?” Lou asked.

“She abandoned him as a baby. I don’t think we can count on her maternal instincts kicking in,” Andrew said.

“We’ll get him back even if I have to crush a few lion heads.” Lou growled.

“I’m coming along,” Andrew said. “I warned her I had a new rifle to try out.”

Chen had never heard his mate sound so vicious. His cock hardened behind his zipper. This might not be the best situation, but his mate was damn sexy when he took charge.

* * * *

The hotel didn’t look like much. Chen eyed it through his binoculars. The others stood beside him doing the same. They were tucked behind a small group of trees across from the motel.

“There’s her car. If she’s hurt my son, I’ll put a bullet in her head.” The coldness in Andrew’s voice snapped Chen’s attention back to his mate.

“Hey, we’ll get him back.”

“Technically she’s in my territory. I can challenge her for taking one of my pride mates. We need to talk to James and make sure he didn’t go willingly,” Talan said.

“You think he might have agreed to go with her?” Andrew asked.

“He has a good point,” Lou said. “James is a curious kitty. If his mother said she wanted to talk, he might have gone with her to see what she wanted.”

“Want us to fly down there and see if we can peek in the window?” Chen offered.

Marlen nodded his agreement with that plan.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Talan said.

“It sure is. What if they get hurt?” Andrew said.

Chen wondered if Andrew noticed he was touching them. Andrew rarely initiated contact. He accepted their caresses but never started anything. He exchanged a smile with Marlen, who also didn’t point out Andrew’s new affection.

“They won’t see us,” Marlen boasted.

Chen nodded his agreement.

“Fine. But if you’re injured, I’m not going to be happy.”

Marlen kissed Andrew’s cheek. “We’ll be careful.”

“We’re always careful,” Chen agreed.

“I don’t want to sacrifice you to save James. Why can’t I have you all safe?” Moisture shimmered in Andrew’s eyes, but he didn’t let the tears fall.

Chen kissed Andrew, a quick peck of affection. “We can take care of ourselves. Don’t worry about us, concentrate on James. This is what we excel at.”

Andrew examined Chen’s expression. He didn’t know what his mate saw, but after a few minutes Andrew nodded. “Okay. Come back safely or I’ll have to go kick some lion butt.”

“You think you can take on a lion?” Talan asked, his voice challenging.

“Well, not you, Talan, but a regular lion. If I had my gun.” Andrew lifted his rifle.

“Easy, Talan. He’s not trying to take over your pride. I think he’s got his hands full with his wrens,” Lou said to the ruffled lion.

Andrew laughed. “Yeah, I definitely do.”

Chen smiled. Talan had refused to let Adrian come because his impulsive wolf could’ve got hurt. He’d reasoned the smaller the group, the better their chances. Adrian had reluctantly agreed.

“Are we done chatting?” Lou growled. The bear shifter had a wild glint in his eye as if he were ready to run down there and get his mate back.

“Sorry.” Chen turned to his nest mate. “Ready?”

Marlen nodded. They started to remove their clothing. Andrew grabbed them before they had more than their shirt off. “What are you doing?”

“We can’t exactly shift with our clothes on, the shirt alone would weigh us down,” Chen explained trying to keep his patience. “You’ve been around shifters before.”

“Yeah, sorry.” Andrew glared at the other shifters.

Talan raised his hands. “We’re turning.” He motioned towards the others.

Amid rolled eyes and good-natured ribbing, the other two men turned around.

“Now you can strip down,” Andrew announced.

“You’ll have to get used to this eventually,” Marlen said.

“Maybe. Or maybe you’ll just have to get used to changing in our bedroom then flying off,” Andrew countered.

Chen planted a hard kiss on Andrew’s lips. “We’ll be right back, beloved.”

Reaching into his mind, he transformed. After trilling to Marlen, he flew away.

The motel showed sign of age. The cheery paint job didn’t cover the fact the building was maybe a year or two from falling apart completely. He settled on an overgrown rose bush outside a window and peered inside the gap in the curtain.

A vibration on his branch heralded Marlen’s landing.

He chirped quietly in greeting, not wanting to draw too much attention.

Hopping closer to the window, he peered inside. James lay on one of the double beds, one woman sat on the other. Where had the other gone?

“Gotcha,” a female voice said right before the world went dark.

Marlen screeched beside him. Chen tumbled through the air, crashing into a cloth barrier that smelt of cotton. They’d been captured. Marlen slammed into him. Before he could get his bearings, they were carried away. The sound of a door closing alerted them that they’d been carried inside the motel room. She must’ve used a pillowcase to capture them—they’d been foolish to not have heard her coming. They’d become too cocky about not being detected. They’d forgotten that James’ ex knew they were wrens.

“Is that them?” a different female voice asked.

“Yes, foolish birds. Just so you know, I’ve tied this off with rope. If you transform, you might hurt yourself.” Juliet’s tone indicated she hoped they would attempt the transformation.

“How many people do you think they brought with them?” the unknown female asked.

Juliet shrugged. “Who cares? James isn’t a proper lion, so he has no pride to back him up. Only his father is going to miss him and Andrew will do anything I want while I hold James and his mates hostage. He’ll be putty in my hands.” She purred.

Chen screeched his anger. Now that they’d captured them, he didn’t need to be quiet.

“Hush or I’ll eat you!” Juliet growled.

He held back the angry barrage of scolding chirps he wished to give. There wouldn’t be much time before their lover came for them. It didn’t occur to him even once that Andrew wouldn’t try to rescue them.

A loud roar startled them.

Talan.

“I thought you said he’d be agreeable. What are we going to do with an unconscious man? We can’t exactly drag him home on the plane,” the unknown lion said.

The wrens were plopped down on a hard surface, the woman indifferent to their care.

“I said he’d do it. I didn’t say he wouldn’t need persuading,” Juliet said.

The sound of a slap and someone hitting the wall had Chen wincing.

“We can’t keep him drugged forever! We need a male to inseminate our girls, but you had to have a gay son.” Loud snaps indicated bones were being broken. The still unnamed lion shifter continued her rant. “Why can’t you do one thing right?”

“S-sorry, Mistress.”

“I should’ve known any boy of yours would be as useless as you. We just needed a few more litters to last through the winter. You’ll have to convince him to do the right thing for his family, or I’ll get rid of him like I did the others.” The she-lion growled.

Chen’s stomach swirled. The picture was becoming clear and he didn’t like it. No matter what Juliet had done, she didn’t deserve this. No one deserved to be treated like that.

A bear roar reached Chen’s ears.

“What the fuck is that?” the she-lion snarled.

Chen heard the door open then slam shut again.

It wasn’t until the alpha lion’s footsteps faded that Juliet spoke again. “You two watch over James, okay? And Andrew. They both deserve better than what I gave them. I can’t let her do this anymore. I’ve let her torture me long enough.”