Prey (9 page)

Trace knew his secret and had
accompanied him on a few assignments. The tiger was as ruthless as
he was. El helped Gunter raise the cub when they found him in
India, buried under the weight of his dead mother. From the time
they discovered him he never uttered a word, but if you wanted
another shifter at your back, Trace was definitely the beast for
the job.

El gripped his shoulder. “Nae is
sleeping.”

Trace’s eyes widened.

“
Don’t look so surprised,
we had to rest eventually.”

A half smirk lifted the side of
Trace’s face.

“
I think she tried to
break me. I’m not the young lion I use to be.”

Trace rolled his eyes.

“
I bet I can still kick
your ass.” El chuckled. His smile faltered. “I don’t know what the
hell is going on, but I intend to find out. I need you to watch her
until I find out who the fuck is stalking our pride. I’m going on a
hunt. In the morning take Nae to Trots; I’ll meet you
there.”

Trace nodded. He shifted within a few
steps and trotted off into the darkness.

El embraced his animal and accepted
the reformation of his body, allowing his lion to take control. Fur
sprouted from his skin as he dropped to his knees. He raised his
head and snarled. Smaller mammals scurried to find shelter among
the trees. He leapt off the porch. It was time to find some
answers. El bounded into the forest, running at top
speed.

***

Nae flipped over. Bright light poured
over her face, and she blinked several times before fully opening
her eyes. She rose up on her elbows and swiveled her head,
searching the room for her missing bedmate. The sun’s beams bled
through the sheer curtains which billowed in the soft breeze,
blowing through the screen. She fell back against the pillow and
wiped a hand down her face. All the debauchery of the previous
evening hit her like a punch to the gut. She was in deep trouble,
and she only had one person who would actually believe her. Shay
would know how to extricate her from the situation she’d gotten
herself mired into.

When she swung her legs off the bed
and planted her feet on the floor, she groaned as she stretched the
sore muscles of her calves and thighs. Her hand grazed the bite
mark at the hollow of her throat, and she flinched. Somehow, she’d
dropped down the rabbit hole and landed in a world which was as far
from wonderland as it could get. Hell, the animals she found
herself surrounded by probably ate the damn rabbit. Dragging the
sheet off the bed, she wrapped it around her and left the room in
search of her clothes. Voices bantering back and forth reached her
as she maneuvered around an overturned hall table. She listened for
El’s voice, when she didn’t hear it, she crouched down to pick up
the heavy lamp laying at her feet. Cautiously, she eased up to the
edge of the wall.

“
We can hear you stumbling
around back there. Come on out. No one’s going to hurt you.” It was
Gunter’s voice.

Nae dropped her arm but held on to the
base of the fixture as she stepped into the great room. The heads
of three people turned and stared up at her expectantly. She knew
two of them, and the one guy she didn’t know winked. Her lips
inched up at the corners.

“
Ya know if El catches you
flirting with his woman, he will hurt you.” La eyes widened, and
she exaggerated her blinking as she took on a look of
innocence.

“
Shut up La it was a ‘hey,
how are you, welcome to the family, get comfortable’ wink.” The
unknown man answered before adding, “I’m Aristotle by the way. My
buds call me Ari.”

Nae lifted the lamp. “Nice to meet
you.” She angled her body in Gunter’s direction. “Where is
El?

“
Don’t know. We thought
he’d be here.” Gunter’s gaze drifted to her neck before he lifted
his eyes to meet her stare. “Being newly mated and all.”

Nae clutched the sheet tighter in her
fist. The flush of heat started at her neck. “Woke up alone. Sorry,
I can’t help you.”

Gunter rubbed his chin. “We can’t find
Trace either.”

“
Who is Trace?” Nae lifted
her shoulders.

La leaned back in the cushions. “You
met him, my brother from another mother and daddy, too. Come to
think of it. Ya know tall, silent, and brooding.”

“
Ohhh. Yeah, no I got
nothing.” Nae pressed her lips together. “Regardless since you’re
here I need a lift to the airport.”

“
Why?” Ari cocked his
head.

“
To take a flight.” Nae
dipped to put the lamp down. “I need to go home.” She waved her
hands. “All of this is beyond my realm of… Hell, I want to go
home.”

Ari’s eyebrows came together. “I
wasn’t asking why you needed a ride. Your SUV is parked in the
driveway.”

“
Oh. Well then, it was
great meeting you all.” Nae backed up.

Gunter cleared his throat. “As
entertaining as it might be to watch El finally lose it, this isn’t
the time to push his buttons.” He leaned forward on his knees. “Get
dressed. I bet El and Trace are probably at the bar. You can work
out your issues with El, and then maybe the rest of us can get down
to business.”

“
I think I like my
original plan.” Nae lifted her chin.

“
It wasn’t a request.”
Gunter rose and took a few steps in her direction before stopping
and smiling. “We’ll wait right here for you. El would murder me if
I let something happen to you.”

Nae pursed her lips. “Sure, let me get
my clothes.” She shuffled deeper into the mouth of the hallway
before turning her back and seeking out the bedroom she’d shared
with El.

She pressed the door shut
with a soft
click,
flipped the tiny switch in the middle of the knob, and then
turned around to survey the room. Sunlight poured in from the
single window, brightening the area. The night stand was on its
side, and the contents littered across the floor. Linear black
marks marred the walls where the metal headboard had gouged the
surface. The mattress was lying cockeyed, off the box spring and
half on the floor. Long multiple slits split the tufted material at
awkward angles. The fabric had curled away from the cuts to expose
the cotton padding and springs. Bedclothes were in a tangled heap
and partially hung over the footboard. A touch of blue in the
corner caught her eye. She dropped the sheet and rushed over to
pick up her jeans. Her phone tumbled out of her pocket, and she
swiped her finger over the blank screen.

It didn’t flash on. She
rubbed harder and realized it was completely dead. Tossing it to
the floor, she lifted her jeans up and stuffed one leg, and then
the other into the denim pants. She spun in a circle looking for
her blouse.
Fuck it
. She ran to the closet and snatched it open. A few suits
hung in the back along with a couple of club vests, T-shirts and
polo’s filled the front in a myriad of colors. She yanked a shirt
off the hanger and hurried to put it on. One way or another, she
was getting the hell up out of there without the goon squad on her
heels.

Tiptoeing to the door, she placed her
ear on the wood and listened. Boisterous laughter confirmed her
jailers were still in the house. Careful to skirt the various items
on the floor, she made her way across the room to the window and
said a prayer it would open. She fit her fingers beneath the ledge
and heaved. No movement. Nae reared back and studied it. She struck
the heel of her hand on her forehead, and then reached out and
flicked the latch on top of the pane. The glass went up smoothly. A
few taps at the corners of the screen, and the panel popped out,
dropping into the shrubbery below before she could catch it. The
faint metallic bang made her glanced over her shoulder at the
bedroom door. When nothing happened, she sat on the window sill,
pulled her legs in tight against her, and worked her way around to
face the outside.

She jumped.

The iron frame of the screen crumpled
under her feet and thorny branches scratched her arms as she pushed
through the foliage behind the flower beds. She leaned forward to
check the house’s entrance and sighed in relief when no alarms were
raised. A hasty look around and she found her truck a couple of
feet away from her, parked in-front of El’s vehicle.

She took off running.

Her steps thundered in her ears as she
moved from grass to the cement pad adjacent to the house. She
rounded the back of her SUV and skidded to a stop. Gunter leaned on
the door smoking his cigar.

He pulled the brown wrapped tobacco
away from his lips and blew a ring of smoke above his head. His
eyes crinkled at the corners. “Took you long enough.” He chuckled,
and then yelled out. “Let’s get going, I got El’s mate out
here.”

“
How?” Nae shook her
head.

“
I’m a Hyena. I got a good
nose and great ears. I have been around a long time. El’s father
was my best friend.” He pushed off the truck and gripped her by the
elbow. “I hate chasing folks, so can we make this easy on all
parties involved and just go to Trots?”

“
Wait you’re not a
lion?”

“
Hell no. They can be
obnoxious.”

Nae dug her heels in as he started to
drag her along. “Hold on!” She wrenched her arm from his grasp.
“Exactly how many species of you are there?”

La swept by them, stopped, and turned.
“There are quite a few of us. Wolves, bears, big cats even snakes.
I hear there are some gators and boars down South, but I haven’t
met any.” She shrugged. “Oh, and there are rumors that dragons
reside up North somewhere, but I don’t know how true that is. I
have hung out with a couple of witches though. Those chicks were
awesome!” She spun around and continued to the Jeep.

Ari passed on Nae’s other side. He
held two thumbs up. “It’s shifter’s nation baby.” He strolled
around the grill of the vehicle.

Gunter took a deep draw off his cigar
before tossing it to the ground and stepping on it. “Will everybody
get into the fucking jeep?” He enfolded his fingers around Nae’s
wrist. “El should have explained all this to you. Listen, don’t pay
La and Ari any attention. They’re still young.”

“
Hey, I’m almost twenty.”
La called from the backseat.

Gunter opened the door for
Nae. “Like I said,
young
.”

Nae met Gunter’s stare and tilted her
head. “So, tell me exactly how many of you are there?”

“
That’s subjective. Are
you referring to our pride, or in general?” He showed a hint of
fang when he smiled. “Here’s how I see it. Human evolution went one
way. Animal advancement took another bend in the road. Imagine
every predator you can. Now, visualize half of those species being
able to hold a human form.”

Her mouth dropped.

“
Yeah, it’s a daunting
picture, which is why very few of you are even aware of our
existence. With regards to our tribe, as El’s mate, you are second
only to him in our hierarchy. A word of advice, keep a weapon on
you at all times, and I ain’t talking about some dinky metal rod
either.” He angled his hand at the front passenger seat.

***

The acrid scent of gas and oil made
his nose twitch; by products of a vehicle exhaust. He searched for
an automobile. Tracking the smell, he caught sight of a structure.
Not far from an old logging lane El found an old wooden shack. It
sat deep among a copse of towering Evergreens. As he circled the
structure, he spotted the carcass of a deer at the base of a close
tree. Deep grooves in the trunk showed where claws had penetrated
the wood. They were markings, a warning from one beast to another
that the surrounding land was already claimed. He’d been scouring
their territory for most of the night and all of the morning. He
padded over to the doe and pawed at it, flipping it over. Large,
familiar bite marks at the throat told him it was a lion that’d
done the damage. He studied the body. The heart and liver were
missing. Choice pieces to a hungry carnivore.

He took a deep breath, sifting through
the smell of blood and death. The wind ruffled his mane, and he
peered at the sky, thinking. Grey clouds rolled over each other,
blotting out the clear blue. Rain might erase the already faint
trail Reese had left. El turned his face into wind, seeking out the
slim thread of scent which would lead him to the errant lion. The
paw prints he’d found had to belong to Reese, but they didn’t match
the pictures Gunter had shown him. Reese wasn’t the nomad, but El
caught the brief smell of trepidation which would show up every now
and then in the shifter’s odor. He wasn’t the trespasser, but El
would bet his pride that the older lion knew who was.

El doubled back to the road. He would
settle this bullshit today. No one would take Nae away from him.
Perhaps it was time to show his people why he was actually the king
of beasts.

Chapter Eight

The jeep bounced along on the gravel
road. Gunter spun the wheel and took a turn onto a smooth motorway.
The tree tops curved in the growing wind. It whistled through the
crevices of the vinyl top. Dark clouds filled the horizon, and
brief flashes of lightening were followed by loud booms of thunder.
The wind pushed the old vehicle across the two lane highway, and
Gunter quickly righted the SUV. Fat drops of rain splattered the
windshield, battering the body of the vehicle. At top speed, the
wipers did very little to keep the glass clear. Nae hung onto the
roll bar above her head as the jeep fishtailed on the slick
asphalt.