Roaring for Him (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (Wicked in Wilder Book 1) (8 page)

Seth slowly rolled to his feet and balanced on three legs. The idiot stared at Mitchell, nearly challenging him again, but finally broke contact and limped into the forest. Presumably back the way he’d come. As soon as the other male was out of sight and hearing, he allowed his shift to wash over him. What was normally a gentle wave of sensation was a now a roaring rush so that between one step and the next, he was on two legs instead of four. The transition healed most of his wounds, the smaller cuts sealing in that swift change. The deeper wounds ached but he knew those would be gone soon.

He wasn’t sure about Tilly. He wasn’t sure how half-shifters dealt with injuries.

Mitchell padded forward, approaching slowly so she knew exactly who came toward her. Pain-filled golden eyes met his and he crouched when he reached her side. Slowly, he reached for her, his hand stroking over her head and finally around her face to cup her snout. “Tilly, baby? Can you shift for me?” She whimpered and leaned into his touch but remained in her feline form. “I’ll take that as a no then,” he murmured. “There’s no road here. Can you make it to the SUV? Or do you want me to carry you?” Another whimper, but she rose to her feet, backing away while she shook her head. “Okay. I won’t carry you. We’ll take the walk at your pace. I’m gonna stay human in case you need me.”

He just hoped a natural human didn’t come upon them. It’d look real nice through their eyes—a full grown, injured lioness with a naked, blood-covered human at her side.

His decision seemed okay with Tilly. She slowly turned toward the other side of the creek, her steps careful as she covered the expanse. He was thankful it was shallow at this bend and the water didn’t reach beyond her legs. When they reached the opposite bank and she didn’t bother shaking the water from her coat, he knew she was in a lot of pain. That knowledge had him aching to hunt Seth and finish the job he’d started. But Tilly needed him, which meant he’d have to wait.

But he couldn’t remain at her side for long. His responsibilities as alpha required he address his pack and tell them about Tilly. Tell them to stay the fuck away from her and get the fuck over the fact that his mate was a lioness. Because if shit like today happened again… he’d kill them.

Mitchell wasn’t sure how much time passed, how many minutes or hours it took to travel from the stream, but the parking area finally came into sight. The parking area that held more than just his SUV. Kade’s vehicle was situated nearby, the beta leaning against the front bumper while Marcia and Tilly’s sister Phoebe paced. The direction of the breeze altered, sending their scent toward the trio, and as one they focused on her.

While Kade hung back, the two younger females rushed forward. Their anger palpable, a near physical thing that whipped at him as they approached. Marcia kept her gaze low, attention solely on Tilly while Phoebe’s alternated between worry directed at her sister and pure rage at him.

He hated himself enough. He didn’t need hers as well.

“Tilly!” The girls shouted at the same time and he suddenly found himself pushed back as the two teens took over, both leading his mate toward Kade’s vehicle.

“Where the hell do you think you’re taking her?” he growled.

While Marcia acted as a wolf should, Phoebe growled—growled!—at him and bared her bear’s fangs. “I’m taking her home.”

“I’m—”

“Alpha, we need you at the pack house.” Kade jumped into their conversation. “I was in town with the girls when I got a call from the house. Seth is there spouting a bunch of bullshit about you attacking—”

“You bet I fucking attacked him!” Kade’s surprise was unmistakable, but Mitchell wasn’t done. “He fucking went after my mate and I’ll be damned if I’ll let that happen without punishment!”

His beta’s eyes widened, revealing the white surrounding his irises. “Oh, shit. Tilly…”

“Is my fucking mate and if some asshole thinks…” He fought for calm and found it elusive. “If some asshole thinks he’s gonna fucking touch her and get away with it, he’s delusional.”

“Shit.” Kade ran a hand through his hair but Mitchell’s attention was torn from the beta by the vehicle door being opened.

He swung his gaze to Kade’s SUV and spied the teens assisting Tilly into the back. “That’s not happening,” he growled and strode toward the trio. One teen had her arms wrapped just behind Tilly’s front legs, helping her place them on the bumper, while the other supported her hind legs. “What the hell do you two think you’re doing?”

Mitchell immediately stepped in, easily pushing Marcia back and taking over for the two girls. Tilly grunted as he assisted her into the SUV and she immediately flopped to her side. It was then he realized her wound still seeped blood. He spun and glared at Phoebe. “Why isn’t she healing?”

“It takes time. She’s not like
you
.” She said the last word as if it were a curse, spurring his anger and Marcia whimpered in response.

Dammit.

“Alpha.” Kade stepped near. “You need to—”

“I need to help my mate.” Tilly whimpered and he ignored his beta’s pleas. His gaze clashed with her pain-filled eyes and he leaned into the SUV, stroking her head once again. “You’re mine, Tilly McBride.” Another whine. “I’m gonna take care of you.”

“Alpha, you need…”

“To help my mate.” He finished the sentence, refusing to listen to anything else. Tilly nudged his palm, pushing his hand from her face. “What do you need, baby?” She prodded him again, brushing off his touch. “Tilly?”

“She wants you to go to your pack,” Phoebe growled low and his wolf didn’t rise to the bait. It recognized not just the fact that Phoebe was their mate’s sister, but also she was extremely protective of the lioness. Which was a good thing, even if she was a pain in the ass.

“How the hell do you know that?”

Phoebe snorted. “Nearly eighteen years of living with her? She needs time to heal and she, more than anyone, knows what it’s like to have responsibilities. If Seth is spouting crap and you took him down, that’s gonna have repercussions.”

“See? The bear gets it,” Kade cut in and he caught Phoebe’s glare at his beta.

“We’ll get her home and patch her up. No need to worry yourself,
Alpha
.” Another sneer, but his wolf still didn’t object to the teen’s behavior. It was as if the animal already accepted her as part of his family and didn’t care about her disrespect.

“You’ll take her straight home?” he murmured, refusing to tear his gaze from Tilly.

“Straight home. Meat. Water. Bed.” Phoebe repeated his mate’s needs by rote, and it made him think this wasn’t the first time an injured Tilly had been cared for by the young girl.

“Do you need supplies?”

“No. We always keep extra meat in the freezer and she’s got a couple of roasts defrosting in the fridge. We’ll be fine.”

They’d be fine. “I’m sending over a delivery from the grocery store anyway.” He’d call them on the way to the pack house to make sure Tilly—and Phoebe—got what they needed. “I’ll be by later tonight to check on you.”

Mitchell leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her furred forehead, a kiss of comfort and caring. Fuck. He wasn’t a “caring” kind of guy, but with Tilly… he was.

He stepped back and gently closed the back door before he faced the two women. “Drive slowly and don’t stop. Food should be at the house in an hour. Marcia, stick with Tilly and Phoebe while I deal with this bullshit.”

Phoebe rolled her eyes. “Yes, Oh Lord and Master.”

Sarcastic pain in the ass. Yeah, she was, but she didn’t hesitate to snatch the keys from Kade and circle the SUV without another word. She climbed behind the steering wheel while Marcia slid onto the passenger seat. He and Kade stepped back as the vehicle roared to life and Phoebe navigated the SUV with ease. It wasn’t long before she was roaring down the road.

“Was that smart? Sending Tilly off with the girls?” Kade murmured.

Despite the pain in his heart and worry over Tilly, he smiled. “You forget it’s not a seventeen year old girl driving that SUV, it’s a fully grown bear. She may be immature, but she’s deadly. With Tilly hurt, I have no doubt Phee will go momma bear on anyone who tries to get near her.”

Most likely, me included.

He’d deal with that drama when the time came. “Let’s deal with Seth’s bullshit. I let him live the first time,” he faced off against Kade, letting his wolf’s rage push forward. “I can’t promise I’ll do it a second.”

By the time he’d settled the pack, publicly censured Seth, and made sure everyone in the pack knew Tilly and her sisters were not only allowed on pack lands, they were
welcome
, it was pushing three a.m.

Through it all—the drama, the snarls, the whines and growls—he kept up a constant stream of calls between him and Phoebe. Though their conversations typically consisted of: She’s sleeping… still sleeping… guess what? She’s sleeping…

No matter how many times he got the same message, he kept calling if only to feel close to her.

As soon as he was free, he went to her. The lights in the house had been off, his mate and her sister tucked in for the night, but he’d needed to be
there
even if it was as a wolf sleeping on the porch. Which was what he’d done. He’d crept into the shadows, stripped and shifted before taking up position across the threshold of the front door. Her scent surrounded him, the innate flavors of her family wrapping around him in a comforting cloak and the aromas chasing him into sleep.

Which was where he’d stayed until Phoebe tripped over him at 7:30 a.m. on her way to school. That was also, coincidentally, the beginning of his hunt… for Tilly.

The woman managed to be everywhere he
wasn’t
and it rankled him that an alpha wolf couldn’t manage to hunt his mate through their small town. First she somehow slipped past him while he slept on her porch—he wasn’t telling a soul about that—and now he couldn’t find her.

Mitchell could have continued playing phone tag. He could have sent flowers with a note asking her to call him. Hell, he could have given up, accepted that his pack was a cluster fuck of bigoted assholes, and left Tilly alone.

Staying away from her was like asking him not to breathe.

He was done with phone tag, flowers made him sneeze, and Tilly was his. And he’d tell her that just as soon as he ran her to ground.

Mitchell’s beta caught up to him just as he pushed on the door to Lush. His palm was flat against the glass, pressing just hard enough for the door to slightly part and let the cool air blow toward him through the crack. The floral scents of lavender and vanilla invaded his senses, filling his nose with each inhale. He fought the urge to sneeze, to blow away the overwhelming flavors, because it would have meant sneezing on his beta. Since his beta was trying to keep him from chasing after Tilly, maybe sneezing on him was a good thing.

“Mitchell, slow down, man.” Kade jogged the last few steps between them until they stood side-by-side.

Slowing meant it’d take him even longer to find Tilly. Not happening. “What’s wrong now? Somebody better be dead.”

If Mitchell had his choice, it’d be Seth. The asshole was causing problems.
Real
problems. He’d been a dick before Tilly came into his life, but now the male was making a true nuisance of himself. It’d begun the night Tilly came to the pack house and quickly escalated yesterday with his attack on the lioness. Oh, he’d claimed innocence, a desire to protect pack lands. Then Seth launched into apologies about continuing the fight against Mitchell, chocking it up to adrenaline from the initial assault on Tilly.

Everything inside him still ached to tear Seth’s head from his body. Quick and easy and then a lot of his problems would disappear.

But he couldn’t. Mainly because he always tried to be a fair but firm leader. There was no disputing the fact that a lioness was on pack lands and Mitchell never made an announcement regarding her permission to have unrestricted access to the forest. He’d erroneously assumed the fact that she smelled like him and was running with him would
mean something to his wolves
.

Obviously not.

Kade sighed, dragging Mitchell’s attention back to him. “Maybe you need to chill out a little.”

“I will,” he assured his beta. Then Mitchell promptly ignored him by pushing open the door to Lush and striding into the purely feminine domain. “As soon as I find Tilly.”

He flashed a smile at a customer, the woman’s face flushing red as she hurriedly replaced the bra she clutched. Another customer squeaked and ducked behind a rack. When her half-hidden gaze landed on him, he winked. He craved Tilly like his next breath, but he could appreciate a beautiful woman—or two.

“Mitchell…” Kade groaned.

“Go pick out something for your new mate,” he growled, no longer willing to have an audience for what was to come.

“My mate isn’t… she’s not…” Kade sputtered and the warm scent of frustration and embarrassment reached him.

Mitchell came to an abrupt stop and slowly turned toward his beta, eyebrow raised. “Darcy’s not what?”

Kade’s face was flushed red. “Uh… You know… Darcy’s not…” Kade waved his arms to mimic Tilly’s curvy shape.

Mitchell could have done without the rounding gesture from his beta and the moment Kade finished the move, the wolf realized it probably would have been smarter to remain silent.

“She’s not beautiful like Tilly? Curvy and lush? Gorgeous in silk and lace?” At least he assumed she would be. “My female’s body is gorgeous,
she’s
gorgeous. More beautiful than any other and should one soul state otherwise, I will kill them.” He snarled the last words, ensuring his threat was received.

Kade paled and swallowed hard. “I was just saying—”

“Don’t,” he snapped. “You should say nothing.”

Mitchell returned to his path, ignoring the low whispers from the other customers as he made his way to the register at the back of the store.

The female at the register—Emma—smiled wide. “Hey, sexy. That was some hot stuff right there. Very feral. I like it.”

His wolf preened at the compliment while also bristling over the fact that it came from a woman who was not their mate.
She
needed to compliment them. “I’m looking for Tilly.”