FavoriteObsession, page 30
Ella dropped to her knees beside him, gaze locked to his face. He met her shocked eyes. “What are you?”
“I don’t know.” He gave the only answer he could.
She stared at him a long moment more before shifting her attention to the broken lock. She yanked off her coat and tossed it over his hands. “We need to hide that.”
He breathed a sigh. Ella might live and breathe justice but she too knew sometimes rules had to be broken or remade, especially when it involved her loved ones. “Yeah, we do.”
With the evidence wrapped in Ella’s jacket, he stood and strode toward Zoe’s apartment, being careful to walk at a normal pace.
Kade emerged with Zoe cradled in his arms. She beat at his chest with balled hands. “Put me down, you…you, Neanderthal!”
The fierce expression stamped on Kade’s face reflected his answer.
Josh hurried to Mira who exited behind them. He pulled her into his arms, but her stiff body didn’t ease in his embrace. He kissed her anyway. She didn’t open to him. “What’s wrong?”
She gave him a wan smile. “Nothing. I’m just upset.”
“You sure?”
She slipped from out of his arms and ran a shaky hand through her hair. “Absolutely.” She pointed toward where Zoe pummeled Kade’s back as he tried to get her into the back seat of the ’Cuda. “I better go help Kade. Your sister isn’t too happy with him.”
Josh reached for her as she stepped away. She avoided his hand. He let it fall to his side. This wasn’t the time for cuddling anyway. If one of the firefighters rounded the building and saw Kade and Zoe, there’d be a scene. “Okay. Be safe, kitten. I’ll stop over after this is taken care of. We have a lot to talk about.”
She peered at the still burning bar. “Kade put out the word to the others. Everyone who can is looking for Micah. Rafe and Jazz are coming out here to help you.”
He nodded, it was easier than arguing. Jazz would be upset too. She loved the place.
He followed Mira with his eyes until the ’Cuda drove away before heading toward Zoe’s apartment with the broken chain wrapped in Ella’s jacket. He tossed it in the back with the rest of the junk, turned and almost barreled over Ella. She stood with her arms crossed and a worried expression on her face.
“What?”
“Did you guys have a fight? Your girlfriend looks ready to run.”
He shook his head. “Nah, Mira loves me. She’d never leave me.”
Ella raised a brow. “Isn’t that what every guy who dates Zoe thinks?”
Well, shit. It was. He dismissed her with a shake of his head. When a shifter loved, it was for an eternity. “Mira and I are basically married, Ella. She’s never getting rid of me.”
* * * * *
Mira stood with her arms wrapped tightly around her and stared out the window of Kade’s house. Her mind spun and she kept coming back to one conclusion—the singles wouldn’t be content until she took a mate…a shifter mate. Even if they believed she and Josh had formed a bond, they wouldn’t accept it.
Micah or one of his followers would kill her human mate and all of Josh’s loved ones. Mira didn’t doubt Micah’s threat. The fire today had proven he’d follow through with it. Then there was his promise to find Molly and take her head.
Mira groaned. She refused to give Micah what he wanted, but how was she supposed to protect everyone from the danger he posed?
Helplessness choked her. She willed the tears away. What was the point of crying? What was the point of anything? She couldn’t escape her destiny. The longer she fought it, the more people she hurt.
Kade’s offer came back to her. He’d allow her to continue to be with Josh. She’d keep it a secret. If it meant holding on to him, she’d do anything. She also knew Kade would do everything in his power to protect Josh and his family. They’d get Shifter Affairs in place. There were also shifters who worked as PIs and offered protection services. Rafe knew plenty of them. She’d use her savings to buy their services. It had to be enough. Her only other option would be to leave.
“I can’t walk away from him.” She pressed her hands to her eyes. “I love him.”
She went over the details of the dream she’d had and sighed. Defeat sat heavy on her shoulders. She slumped, broken in body and soul.
The door opened and Kade walked in alone. The troubled expression he wore told her why. Zoe had dismissed him. Again.
“The woman is more stubborn than you are.”
Instead of asking why—she didn’t need to be reminded of how her decision would affect her friend—she announced, “I’ve chosen my mate.”
Kade paused mid-step. “You have?”
She forced her feet to move and ignored the violent thrashings of her cats. Inches from Kade, she tipped her head and met his golden eyes. “Yes.” She took a deep breath that sapped the life out of her instead of giving her courage. “I want you to mate me. Now.”
Chapter Thirty
Josh climbed out of his SUV and grinned at the sight that met him. Mira stood near a bench where Zoe sat stiffly and glared at Kade’s back. Kade watched him approach with guarded eyes, but Josh’s were locked onto Mira’s back. Her gorgeous patchwork hair teased the edge of her bottom and shone in the afternoon sun. Another billowy skirt, the fuck-me boots she’d worn earlier and a light turtleneck sweater clung to her torso and accentuated her small waist.
He let his gaze roam over her. Pride welled. She was fucking beautiful and all his.
Mira glanced over her shoulder and the cold, distant eyes that met his sucked the happiness out of him.
“It’s about time you got here.” Zoe waved at Kade. “He insisted I hang out so I can be a witness or something since all the other shifters are out looking for the freaky-looking guy who burned down the bar.”
Josh glanced between Mira’s indifferent eyes and Kade’s angry ones. “What’s going on?”
“I have—”
“No, Kade. I will tell him.” Mira stepped forward. She lifted her chin and captured his gaze.
Josh’s heart raced. “Tell me what?”
“Kade and I are mated.”
Silence stretched as if the world awaited his response.
Finally, Josh laughed. “Kitten, I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you can’t mate two men. You’re already mine.”
Her gaze dropped to his nose. She linked trembling hands behind her back. “What we feel is the mystical connection that sometimes forms. Love, some people call it. It doesn’t count in the Council’s eyes and I’m tired of fighting them so I…” She focused on his shoes and took a deep breath. “So I decided to accept my destiny.”
Rage rose turning the edges of his vision red. He blinked it away before it took hold. “You lie, Mira.” He thumped his chest. “I feel you here. Your pain, pleasure, anxiety…it all resonates through me. I felt no passion from you these past few hours, only sadness and desperation. Do not feed me any lines about leaving me.”
Her eyes widened before she closed them. “Zoe, now that you’ve heard our news, please sign the letter to the Council informing them of my bond with Kade so they know I’ve fulfilled my obligation.”
Zoe stood and moved to his side. She reached out and grabbed him before he could rush forward and shake some sense into his stubborn woman. “Fuck that, Mira. If you want to cheat on my brother, go deal with the shit you’ve caused on your own. I want no part of it.” She flicked her gaze to Kade. “You’re all goddamn liars and I have no room in my life for any of you.”
With that, Zoe released him and walked toward the house.
“Mira, I know what you’re doing, but you don’t need to worry anymore. I’m not going to die so easily on you.” Josh closed the distance between them and wrapped his fingers around her upper arms. “I am your destiny, the mate the golden goddess allowed you to choose.”
“No you’re not, Josh.”
He lifted her chin and stared into glistening eyes. “Don’t cry, kitten. Your goddess has visited me too. She said the night you declared you belonged to me in the bar sealed our fates. You chose me, then and there.” He wiped away the tears from her cheek with his thumb. “I am your mate, the only one you’ll ever have.”
“No!” She shoved away. “No, you’re making stuff up. The goddess can’t visit you. She can only connect to pride leaders.”
Josh reached for her. She scrambled backward, tripped and nearly fell. She righted herself but her eyes darted around. He stilled. “Love, calm down. Let’s sit down and talk. You’re overreacting because of what happened today.”
“Overreacting? You could’ve died! Micah meant to kill you.”
“But he didn’t.” He spread his arms wide. “Look, I’m fine.”
“And I intend to make sure you stay that way.” She pointed toward his SUV then reached for Kade. He took her hand “Go, Josh. Once Kade’s brother uncovers the traitors on the Council and sees them punished, you and I can resume our affair, secretly of course. Until then, I want you to stay away from me.”
It was too much. Josh closed the distance between them and yanked her out of Kade’s arms. “Never. You will never touch another man. You are mine for eternity, in this life and the next.”
“Please don’t be cruel, Josh. I’m doing this for your own good.”
“I’m not. I’m trying to explain to you that—”
A rumble of an engine starting drifted to them. Squealing tires came next.
Kade ran past them, knocking him to the side, and screamed, “Zoe!”
Josh glanced at the other man. Kade hopped into Josh’s SUV and peeled out after the black sports car. Josh tensed as the ’Cuda carrying Zoe skidded sideways down the driveway. She evened out the car and disappeared around the bend in the private road, but a sob from Mira yanked his attention back to her. She ran toward the woods.
“Mira, wait!”
She shook her head, shifted into her tigress form and disappeared into the woods.
A shot rang out. Chunks of grass pummeled his legs. Another blast hit the section of the ground where Mira had just been.
Josh swung his head in the direction of the sounds. A few hundred feet down the tree line from where Mira had disappeared into, he caught a glimpse of a red beard and a plaid shirt. Another gunshot pierced the night, quieter than the last.
It came from deeper in the woods.
Josh cursed and chased after Mira before he lost her for good.
* * * * *
The sound of a gunshot echoed in Mira’s ears. She skidded to a stop.
Josh. Oh gods, no.
She scrambled for footing and turned around. Micah stood a few feet away with the redhead who’d claimed to be Josh’s lover in his arms with a talon-tipped hand wrapped around the female’s throat. She was naked, bruised and bloody. Going by the marks on her hips and thighs and the scent of a male’s release, she’d been raped too. Tears ran in twin lines down her freckled face.
Mira stopped and shifted. There was no use hiding what she was, not when the human’s life was at risk. Mira might not like the female but her protective instincts rose. She knew intimately how it felt to be violated. She couldn’t abandon the girl, no matter what she’d done. The female’s eyes widened, but a plea of help shimmered in them, not disgust or fear. Mira’s heart cracked.
Josh skidded to a stop on the opposite side of them, but Micah didn’t turn around to face him.
“Good of you to finally respond the way I intended, sweet Mira.” Micah scraped the sharpened nails of his free hand over the woman’s cheek. Blood ran in thin rivulets off her jaw. “Now do what I say or the human dies.”
Josh advanced slowly, but Micah laughed without taking his eyes off her. “Now, Zeb.”
Josh stopped and pivoted on his heel a moment before another shot rang out. He stumbled backward. Two more quick blasts and he fell, blood oozing from his chest, stomach and over his heart.
Mira screamed and leapt the distance between her and Micah. She swiped at his head with her clawed hand and ripped his throat out. Another pass and his spine shone through the blood and gore. His limp body toppled. She followed him down and ripped his head from his body.
She pushed away from the dead shifter and ran to Josh. His unmoving body told her the truth. She pressed her fingers to his neck anyway. No pulse. Eyes closed, she focused on her mate bite. No thump. Panic rushed up, stopping her heart. Desperate now, she reached for the mystical tether she’d formed with him and found it severed.
“No, oh gods, no.” Tears blurred her vision. She dropped her head to his bloody chest and wrapped her arms around him. “I’m sorry, Josh.” She snuggled closer, tears rolling down her face. “I didn’t betray you.”
No answer, no movement. Nothing.
He was gone. Dead. She’d lost her one.
His face turned blurry. She blinked the tears away and pressed a kiss to his closed mouth. “Love you.” She nuzzled his cheek. “Always and forever, my mate.”
The human female shrieked. Mira glanced over her shoulder. Two jaguar shifters were dragging the girl across the ground. She fought them, kicking and squirming. The bigger of the two punched her. She cried out.
Mira jumped away from the lifeless body of the male she loved and attacked the ones who thought to hurt a mortal. She wrapped her arms around the one who’d hit the female and rolled with him across the ground. He snapped at her. Claws raked her sides. She let the fury, the sorrow and the injustice consume her. She grabbed his jaguar head and twisted. The crack of his neck sounded. His body went. Not good enough. She let her talons slip from her fingertips and gutted him.
She stood and turned toward the female. Something hit her. She paid it no attention. A dozen more pops sounded, shaking her body. She dropped to her knees. The world swayed. Three more and she collapsed. Her head cracked off the ground. Amber eyes filled her vision.
A wolf shifter, one she’d never seen before, pressed his booted foot to her chest.
“Bind her. Rosco wants the royal immobile so she can’t kill him when he mates her.”
“What should we do with the humans?”
“Shoot the male and bring the female.”
The wolf raised his fist and pummeled her face. By the seventh hit, the world went black and she knew no more.
Chapter Thirty-One
Josh opened his eyes and glanced around. The inky mist of the goddess’s realm surrounded him. He pushed up and stood on…four legs. A quick peek confirmed his suspicion. He was in his lion’s form.
He shifted with only a thought necessary to bring about the change. No wounds shone on his skin, but the sight of the blood brought all the memories back.
“Mira.” He had to get back to her. She was in danger. He closed his eyes and reached for her. The tether they’d formed was severed. Not willing to give up, he willed himself to wake up. Nothing happened.
“Look at me, child.”
He knew that voice. The goddess. He popped his eyelids open. She stood before him, exactly as she had in his dream.
“Yes, your dream. It is the only way I can connect to the human world now and you have denied me more often than not.” The growled words reverberated in his head as if she’d snarled them next to his ear.
He ignored her irritation and asked, “Mira? What happened? Why can’t I feel her?”
“I do not know. You died and broke the bond you had formed with her.”
“I’m not dead. What are you talking about?”
“Not anymore.” She turned her back on him and glided away. “Walk with me, Josh Conway. Your physical body has not healed enough to support our soul yet.”
“Our soul?”
She stopped and whipped her head to glare at him. “Do you think what I accomplished was easy?”
He didn’t know how to answer since he didn’t exactly understand what she’d done.
“For over a millennium, I have planned this. I have influenced pairings among my children to produce the strongest offspring. Mira’s birth was the culmination of my work. She is my beloved daughter, one of my three children chosen to fix my mistake.”
“Your mistake?”
The goddess started walking. After a moment, she quickened her pace. Josh hurried after her. He stepped into her path. “What mistake?”
“Love is a powerful emotion but so is jealousy. I fell victim to both and damned all of the gods’ children. I regret my actions but I cannot change them.” She swept a hand out to encompass the blackness. “I have been collecting the innocent humans I have unintentionally hurt, soothing them the best I can. They do not belong in my home, but they have nowhere else to go.”
Anger tightened his chest. “You’ve been sheltering the humans who’ve died during failed matings? Why the hell haven’t you told the shifters?”
She snarled. “Do not think to question me.”
Yeah, he shouldn’t, but Devin had suffered over what he’d done to Lena. “Do you have any idea how much they’ve worried about losing their women?”
“Yes, I do, but if my children did not fear the consequences, they might have chosen their mates poorly. Not every female which stirs their loins is the right one for them and human-shifter matings cannot be undone.” She raised her chin. “It was for their own good.”
Josh ground his teeth. The goddess didn’t have the right to decide that.
“I have every right.”
He bit the inside of his cheek instead of continuing to argue. It was a losing battle when she could obviously read his mind. “So this is their heaven?”
“No. This is where they have waited for you to be born.”
He frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She focused on him. “Your offspring will house their souls. They will become hybrids with a tie to both heavens and this realm will be their second home, a place to shift and take refuge if their bodies are damaged.”
He stumbled back. “How—”
“The only way I could. I shared my essence with you, tying your soul to mine in order to give you immortality.”
