Page 61 of Nicolette

The moment all the magic left my body, it was like I could take a sigh of relief. The pressure of keeping it contained was the only thing I’d been able to focus on. My lioness felt more like herself as we took stock of our condition now that the magic was removed. Slowly I stretched, followed up with a huge yawn, then opened my eyes to meet Nine’s.

“I’m so sorry, Nicolette, that never should have happened to you,” he said, stroking my head.

Not wanting to be on my side anymore, I pulled my legs under me and righted myself. Paws stretched out in front of me, and I let out another yawn that ended in a chuffing noise. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. In a way it made me feel a little drunk. Shaking my head, I tried to clear my senses, but it didn’t seem to make any difference at all. It seemed I wasn’t going to bounce back from this as simply as I thought.

“Where is that motherfucker? He better not be where I think he is because this time, I’ll fucking kill him,” Circus bellowed. “Don’t even try to deny it, Marco. I can pick up his scent the same as you.”

Hearing Circus speak like that to Marco had my hackles raised and my feet padding out of the room to find him. I didn’t recognize the apartment I was in, but I’d only been in three out of the six they had between them. However, since this place looked fairly vacant with only the bare essentials, my money was on this being Dice’s place.

Once I was in what was supposed to be the living room, I spotted Circus holding Marco by the throat against the wall.

Chapter 24

Nicolette

Anger spiked through me.

He had no right to treat what was mine like that. I would never let any of them show such disrespect to him, so why the fuck would I let him do it to Marco. A roar tore out of my throat as I planted my feet, ready for the leopard I was calling out to challenge me. The instant he heard my voice, Circus dropped Marco and ran right for me. Instead of bothering to stop, he dropped to his knees and slid right into me, throwing his arms around my neck.

“Oh, thank God you’re awake,” he sobbed into my fur. “I was so worried you were gone. That he’d done something to you. You’re back now. That’s all that matters. Don’t you fucking dare do something like that again.”

Resting my chin over his shoulder I gave him an awkward hug, but it was the best I could do at the moment. I glanced over to where Marco was picking himself up off the floor, checking to make sure he was all right. Marco spotted me watching him, and he smiled even as he rubbed at his neck, where it was easy to see the points that Circus had dug in his nails. I let out a grunt as my tail whipped from side to side in concern.

“I’m good, babe, promise,” Marco answered, walking toward me. “Circus just caught me by surprise, is all.”

Yeah, I wasn’t buying that story and butted my head against Circus’s shoulder, trying to get him to let go. He didn’t budge, so I used my paw to shove at him, making it clear what I wanted. Yet again, no sign of movement. If anything, he held on tighter. With a hissing yowl, Dice vaulted off the counter to land on Circus’s back, digging his claws into the leopard’s flesh.

“Fucking mangy house cat,” Circus yelled as he released my neck to go after Dice.

The small cat easily leaped out of reach, then shifted, knife in hand, crouched, ready to take Circus on if he wanted to make this a fight. “If you’d listened when she told you to back off, then it wouldn’t have happened. Respect our woman, and I won’t need to claw your ass.”

Polo hadn’t been kidding when he said things had gone to hell. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and focused on my human body, urging my lioness to let me take back control. She was more than happy allowing me to deal with the idiots. Seconds later, I was crouched on the floor, fully clothed for a change. A hand appeared in front of my face, and I looked up to see Polo, his blue eyes lit with happiness. Clasping his hand, I let him pull me up and held on a moment more to make sure I was steady, being on only two feet again.

“How are you feeling?” Polo asked, searching my face for any sign of an issue.

I tried to answer him, but my voice cracked with disuse and being really fucking thirsty. A moment later, Marco handed me a glass of water which I gulped down in one go. “Oh God, I needed that,” I said, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “I was so fucking thirsty.”

“You’ve been out for about two and a half days,” Polo shared. “The worst two and a half days of our lives, I’m pretty sure. As you can tell, things have been a little strained between everyone.”

It was that moment Nine walked out of the bedroom ending a call he’d been on. The second Circus started to move toward him, Nine held out a hand to stop him. “If you lay one finger on me now that she’s awake and fine, I will put your ass in the ground. I gave you leeway, knowing I wasn’t in the right head space either. That being said, this shit ends right the fuck now. I’m your alpha, the leader of this pride, and the president of the Savage Pride MC. You’ll straighten the hell up, or I’ll make you the next example to the rest.”

My jaw dropped at the pure ice in Nine’s tone as he spoke to Circus. Neither of them moved or spoke for what seemed like an eternity, but in reality, it was a minute or two. The energy that crackled between them was tangible, and I worried that Circus was going to push things.

“Understood, alpha,” Circus answered, dropping his gaze first. “You fixed her, didn’t you? I’m the reason she was left in that state for so long because I refused to let you see her, right?”

“Yes,” Nine answered. Nothing in his demeanor relaxed even after Circus submitted, making me feel like something else was going on.

“Nine, what’s wrong,” I asked, stepping past the twins.

“Five members of my pride have packed up their things and left. This makes a total of twenty after they learned what I did to Amaretto,” Nine answered.

“What?” I gasped. “Can they do that?”

“If there is another pride willing to take them, then they’re allowed to leave. The problem is a group of them were single females, and any pride in their right mind would accept them. Out of the surrounding prides, we’ve always had the largest group of women because we are a safe place for them,” Nine explained. “Now they believe, after what I did to Retto, that’s no longer the case. What they don’t realize is that many prides have thrown away tradition and customs, removing the woman’s choice. The exact reasons we had a healthy amount of women and were considered a refuge pride for those who’d been trapped. What if I’ve irreparably damaged things for us by my actions which were meant to protect my people?”

“Oh, don’t even start with that bullshit,” I snapped, my sympathy for him drying up in an instant. “Each and every one of us knows what you did was justly deserved. What the hell did you tell everyone that they feel the need to abandon ship? If I heard that someone tried to sell out a pride member and start a war we couldn’t win, then I’d think you went easy on the bitch.”

“You don’t understand. You haven’t been a shifter for that long, on top of knowing what it’s like to live life without your feline there to protect you,” Nine argued. “That and my people hate when I use my magic. It’s seen as weakness to rely on it.”