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My heart raced within my chest and my lungs burned as I struggled to breathe. I backed away from Cujo and everyone else. It wasn’t difficult to do since everyone was focused on the impending fight between Cujo and the man who’d pissed him off. I stumbled when my foot hit the curb at the edge of the parking lot and at the sound, Cujo turned to face me. Within moments, I was the center of attention of all the men. All of whom, except for Cujo, wore a leather vest with Iron Hammers MC patches on it.
I shook my head, tears leaking from my eyes.
“No. Not with them.”
The confusion that crossed Cujo’s face caused an ache in my chest. He had no clue who these men were. But he’d been arrested last night. He’d done something illegal to have ended up in that cell, and I somehow doubted it was a crime like mine.
Emotion welled up and mixed with memories of my mother thrashing in her sleep with her nightmares from what their club had done to her. My cat hissed and rose up, bigger and stronger than she’d ever been before. Panic hit me for a moment before the shift took over, then I was on all fours within seconds.
“Lily-Rose!”
I turned to the sound of Cujo’s voice and took a step toward him before the man beside him moved forward too. The sight of the Iron Hammers MC patch on his vest had my ocelot hissing again before she refused me any control and spun around then took off into the scrub and away from the men.
It was strange being in my animal form. I’d only ever experienced it one time before and I certainly hadn’t had a chance then to go running or anything. I’d been playing in the big tree in our backyard, climbing way higher than I should have. When I slipped and fell, my ocelot rose up and I shifted before landing on all four feet, unharmed, on the ground. It seemed as though Kevin had been expecting me to shift at some point, because he’d had a bucket of foul-smelling liquid ready to go. He’d splashed it over me and as soon as it hit me, I shifted back to human against my will. I’d been coughing and spluttering from the liquid when he’d sealed the bracelets onto my wrists.
I ran until I was panting for breath, then finding a tall tree, I climbed as high as I could before I located a sturdy branch and curled in a ball and rested. The view from my perch was good and I was sure I’d see anyone coming at me before they saw me, giving me time to plan my next move.
For the first time in my life I was truly free. No bracelets meant that Kevin couldn’t track me. I wasn’t sure about Cujo’s ability to locate me as my mate. Regardless, I needed to leave town. Kevin would search for me, and he’d be relentless. And even without the bracelets, if I stayed nearby, he’d eventually find me. I was near the coast, so that left me with north, east or south as options. The thought of going east toward Nevada had my ocelot growling, so that was out. For now, I’d go south. I might be able to make it down to the border and into Mexico. Surely, Kevin wouldn’t go looking that far, and I could live out my life in this form in the jungle.
My cat purred with approval at that plan, so I rested my head on my paws and decided to risk having a short rest before I left on my journey.
Chapter Four
Cujo
Lily-Rosewasspectacularinher animal form. Even after seeing her, I wasn’t entirely sure exactly what she was. Her coat was spotted like a leopard, but smaller than any I’d ever seen. She was small enough I’d be able to hold her comfortably in my arms. If I ever saw her again.
I turned on Chaos and now that Joaquin wasn’t standing between us, slammed my fist into his jaw. He dropped to the pavement like a rock, unconscious, which hadn’t been my plan. I’d wanted to make him bleed some more before I knocked him out.
“For fuck’s sake, Cujo. Really? Had to knock his ass out?”
I turned to Joaquin. “Would you prefer I kill the fucker?”
He rubbed a palm over his face, but I really didn’t give a fuck if he was beginning to question his decision to take me in. I was out of jail so didn’t care if he wiped his hands of me at this point. I shifted to my wolf and bounded over to where she’d disappeared into the shrubbery. Sniffing around, I found her scent. It was subtly different from how she’d smelled earlier, with a feline musk. Once I was locked onto her, I allowed my wolf to take over as I plowed into the ferns and redwoods and went after what was mine.
She would not escape me.
With my nose to the ground, I kept moving, following her trail and not caring about anything in my path. My low growl sent any wildlife scurrying as I went. She’d run a long way, and her little cat was damn fast. I quickly realized I wouldn’t catch her until she stopped to rest. After a time, I became aware that three wolves were trailing me, I recognized Joaquin’s scent, so I ignored them as I continued on the path to my mate.
When her scent vanished, I skidded to a stop, sniffing around to try to work out where she’d gone. A growl from above had me looking up into the tree canopy. She was tucked up high, way out of my reach. She appeared comfortable on her little perch and I doubted she planned on coming down any time soon.
Since we weren’t mated yet, I couldn’t communicate telepathically with her. I shifted to my human form so I could verbally attempt to convince her to come to me.
“Hey, sweetheart. You wanna come on down?”
The cat hissed at me before she set her head back on her paws. Her tail, which was shorter than I’d seen on other cats, swished angrily in the air. I sighed as I tried to think of something I could say that would convince her to leave her safe perch.
“I know what Chaos said had to make you think we were like your father, but we’re not. He was just talking shit, running his mouth. You won’t ever be forced to fuck anyone ever again.” She raised her head and tilted it, as if asking a question that I completely understood. Dammit. “Yeah, that includes me. Although, I ain’t gonna lie, I’ll be doing everything I can to make it so you want to be with me.”
She just blinked at me for a minute but she wasn’t hissing or growling, so I was counting it as a win. Well, at least I was until Joaquin and the other two wolves with him arrived beside me and shifted. The moment they came into view, Lily-Rose’s hackles went up and with her ears back, she began that low growl of hers again.
Joaquin held up his palms. “Whoa, little kitty. We mean you no harm. Your mate is right, we’re not at all like your father. Chaos talks a lot of shit, but he’d never touch another man’s woman. Hell, he’d never take any woman against her will.”
When I noticed that Lily-Rose wasn’t looking at Joaquin’s face, I followed her gaze to see what held her attention. She was focused on Joaquin’s chest, where his club patches were. I flipped my gaze up to his face as I started to put things together. “Joaquin, do you know what kind of cat she is?”
“An ocelot by the looks of it.” He shifted his gaze from her to me. “Before you ask, yes, they were originally native to southern Texas.”
“She’s focused on your patches, not your face. I don’t think this is about Chaos.” I turned back to her. “Is that right, sweetheart? Is this about the Iron Hammers? Have you had dealings with them before?”
