Ivory paced in her living room. She felt edgy and unsettled and didn’t know why. She and the boys had been shut inside her apartment for the past three days as they put every resource towards finding her stalker. They had reached out to all their contacts – witch, familiar and human alike – to gather information. So far, they had come up with exactly zip. The cameras were indeed military grade but their origin and purchase couldn’t be placed. They had no luck tracing the stationary used – it was generic and could be bought from any supermarket in the country. There were no prints and the DNA left on the underwear she had received wasn’t in any database. What’s more, their panthers hadn’t been able to detect or follow any scent.
With three days of seclusion, she hadn’t needed to use her glamour and her magic had been recuperating. She had been doing her own research into spells and she had finally convinced them to allow her to scry for the location of the stalker. It wouldn’t reveal his identity but she should be able to find his whereabouts. They were going to give it a try just as soon as Seth returned from the post office.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Ronan asked, engulfing her from behind in his strong arms.
She shook her head, “I don’t know. My cat feels restless. Something’s wrong. I can feel it.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing. My cat gets that way sometimes when its cooped up for too long. We haven’t been outside much recently. She probably just needs a good run,” Ronan assured her.
It made sense. Her panther did get restless when she didn’t shift for long periods of time. It was one of the reasons why she had chosen this location for her home. The dense forest at the base of the mountain appealed to her cat on every level. But this didn’t feel like she wanted to go on a hunt. This was more of a nervous tension. Like she was waiting for something to happen. An air of repressed violence had hung like a sinister cloud ever since receiving the photos. And she had a feeling it wasn’t going to stay repressed for much longer. A sudden loud bang had her jumping like a startled rabbit.
“Easy. It’s just Vaughn. He doesn’t know how to close doors quietly like a normal human being,” Ronan joked.
Sure enough, Vaughn stomped his way into the room, “Hey, what’s up?” he asked, picking up on her obvious tension.
Ronan rubbed her shoulders in comfort and answered; “Ivory’s panther is feeling a bit jumpy. Needs to get out.”
“It’s not that,” she declared, shrugging away from him, “Something’s wrong. Where’s Seth?” she asked suddenly.
“He’s fine. He was going to pick up your work mail and grab a few supplies, remember? He’ll be back soon,” Vaughn assured her.
“That only takes a few minutes – it’s not far. How long since you last saw him?” That nervous feeling was now turning into anxiety. Before any of them could answer, Ivory’s phone beeped with an incoming text. She eyed the phone as if it were a snake about to strike – it was bad news. She could feel it. With trembling hands, she picked it up – and promptly felt her stomach drop when she saw Seth’s number; ‘I have one of your rent boys. The woods. Ten minutes. Come alone or more of this ...’ Less than a second later her phone vibrated and pinged once again – only this time a photo immediately popped up on the screen.
Her breath rushed from her lungs, her muscles going lax as the phone dropped from her hands and clattered to the floor.
“Ivory! Ivory, what is it?” Ronan’s voice sounded tinny in her ears as she sucked in air, trying to get a hold of herself. Now was not the time to fall apart. She needed her anger – not her fear.
A spine-chilling roar echoed around the room, forcing Ivory’s eyes up and past a concerned-looking Ronan who was kneeling in front of her. Vaughn had picked up her phone and had seen what she had seen; Seth bruised and bloody and pinned to a tree, his left hand impaled with a knife into the trunk behind him. His eyes were closed – he must have been passed out. At least Ivory hoped he was only passed out. The alternative didn’t bear thinking about. Besides, her stalker – whoever it was – was obviously using Seth as leverage. He wouldn’t kill him. He needed him.
Brushing aside Ronan’s hand, she stood firming her jaw, “I have to go.”
Vaughn met her eyes as Ronan snatched the phone from his hands, a low whine sounding from his chest. Vaughn’s eyes were glowing with his inner animal – a pure predator ready to hunt and destroy the adversary who had dared to touch his mate. Ivory knew hers were the same and as she looked towards Ronan, his claws were already out and flexing as if he were already envisioning her stalker’s death;
“Let’s go,” he growled.
Ivory felt her heart stutter. She was not jeopardising anyone else she loved – wait, loved? Did she love them? She wondered one second and then realised that yes, she did – so very much, in the next second. She loved them – all three of them. They were hers and she was theirs and there was no way she was allowing any of them to get hurt more because of her. She raised her chin, “He said to come alone. I’m going alone.”
The tension in the room seemed to cause the walls to expand and the air to thin. Both Ronan and Vaughn had stilled at her words. Ivory had one second to gulp before they both stalked forward, reaching her in two strides. They backed her into the wall behind her – dominant alphas enforcing their will over their woman. Ivory shivered, feeling her body respond to the display in the way her nipples tightened and her sex clenched hungrily. It was completely inappropriate and they didn’t have time for this but she simply couldn’t help it. Her breath quickened and she licked her lips, two sets of green eyes following the movement as if entranced.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Vaughn’s voice was so gravelly, she could barely make out the words. Eyeing his mouth, she figured that was probably due to the fact that his canines had extended and were pressing against his bottom lip. A quick glance to her left showed that Ronan was in a similar state, his chest expanding under the force of his breathing and his height towering over her as his animal exerted its dominance.
She had to stop this before things got too out of control – they were acting on their instincts right now. Their animals were in charge, in fear for their mate, and although she understood it – felt it – she needed the men to be in charge. Besides, she wasn’t willing to be a submissive mate, obeying her male partners’ every command just because she was the only female in the shadow. She had been taking care of herself since she was eighteen. She was a strong, independent woman and a powerful witch on top of all of that. She really wished her powers would work on them so she could flatten them to a wall until they calmed down. But after a few days experimenting with them, she had accepted the fact that they had been telling the truth – her telekinesis and her spells had no effect on any of them. That only left her words as a weapon.
“I need you to listen to me …” she began.
Twin growls met her ears, causing goose bumps to erupt over her skin, “No, Ivory. We’re done listening and you’re done talking. We’ve done things your way and done nothing but talk and listen for days. It’s our turn now,” Vaughn informed her.
She tried to open her mouth again only to find it crushed by his mouth. His plundering was swift but thorough and she was left breathless when he pulled back, tugging on her hair to keep her attention; “We are going to shift and follow you into the forest. End of discussion.”
His arrogant tone, made her hackles rise, “He said to come alone. Are you willing to risk Seth’s life for mine?”
“Yes. You are our woman, our female. Seth would expect nothing less,” Ronan pinned her to spot with his words, “No-one will see us and no-one will be expecting two panthers to be there anyway,” Ronan pointed out.
Ivory felt her reactive fear decrease a little when she heard that logic. He was right. Although she could hardly believe they would be willing to risk losing their long-term lover just to keep her safe, she couldn’t help the way her heart skipped a giddy beat upon hearing the words. They loved her too. They must. Without further ado, the two men she loved beyond comprehension shredded their clothes as they morphed into huge, sleek, black panthers in her living room.
Her pulse picked up when she thought about that ‘L’ word again. She had only met them two weeks ago. She knew it was fast but she wasn’t going to diminish the moment by qualifying it in any way. Regardless of the exceptional, highly emotional circumstances they had met under, she realised that none of that mattered. She loved them and she was going to revel in the discovery.
Just as soon as they got the fourth member of their quartet back.