Chapter Fifteen
Ranger prowled in the darkness, relying on Thorne to lead the way to Boris Small. Kraven and Hope told him to trust the male, and for the most part, he did. The male didn’t scent of lies or anything other than worry for his pride.
The night was cooler up in the mountains, and the terrain was a little harder to maneuver through than back in Mississippi, but in their panther form, there was no need to stop and take breaks. An owl flew from its perch on a tall limb, hooting once before it disappeared into the darkness. The faint sound of thunder rumbled off in the distance. The threat of rain made a distinct scent in the air, causing his panther’s nose to twitch.
Thorne’s panther slowed as they came to the edge of the tree line overlooking a large log cabin. Ranger shifted to his human form and counted only two cars in the driveway. A male sat in a chair by the door, his head tilted forward as he slept.
“They’re not too worried about security if the guard is asleep,” Ranger mumbled, keeping his voice low.
Noah, Booth, and Storm gathered around his legs in their panther forms, swaying with the need to go in and take out this male. Ranger felt his brother’s tension and need. It matched his own. Boris Small was just on the other side of that door. His mate’s freedom was only minutes away.
“I see movement,” Ranger whispered. “Is that Boris?”
Thorne’s panther cackled, narrowing its amber eyes. Ranger shifted quickly and joined the other males as they rushed out of the tree line. As they approached, he listened for any movement surrounding the home and found none. Ranger wasn’t quite sure if that was a good thing or not. Their kind were hunters and had been bred to be stealthy, ensuring they could sneak up on their prey undetected.
The group didn’t make a sound as they crouched low to move down the steep hill. Each panther took their time as they crossed the gravel driveway and reached the stairs. Ranger’s panther licked his lips, awaiting the taste of his enemy’s blood.
It was time.
The male on the porch stirred as their paws made contact with the wood. When the Guardian awoke, he only had a moment to gasp before Noah was on him, ripping his throat out with one well-placed bite, ending the man’s life.
Thorne’s beast ran headlong into the wooden door to the cabin, splintering the wood as what was left fell from the hinges. Ranger followed the rightful alpha to the pride and found the male they’d come to kill. Boris Small was standing in the living room, surrounded by several males. Two of them were in human form. The other three were panthers.
Boris Small folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes, zeroing in on Thorne. The male whimpered but didn’t cower, pushing back with his own powers. The push must’ve been enough to make Boris stall in his commands, giving Thorne the opening he needed to pounce.
The other two males shifted, shredding their clothes in the process. They went for their leader as the three original beasts circled Ranger, Noah, Storm, and Booth. Ranger heard Storm’s panther let out what sounded like a demonic chuckle before digging his claws into the hardwood floor, leaving deep gashes.
One of the males roared as he attacked. Ranger stepped to the side and caught the male around the neck, taking him to the ground. The male bucked and snarled, tossing Ranger to the side. He felt a pain in his gimp leg, but that wasn’t going to stop his attack.
A vision of his mate filtered through his panther’s mind, forcing the animal to rage when the male attacked. Ranger’s panther twisted and struck the male’s neck again. This time, he ripped it from his body, spitting it to the ground. When he looked up, all of the males were engaged.
Boris was backed into the corner with Thorne standing over him. Both men were bleeding from different wounds, but neither of them looked to have been weakened from the fight. Noah yelped once, but quickly took his opponent to the ground, leaving three of Boris’s Guardians left alive.
Ranger pushed at his panther, calming him from doing too much. He wanted the male’s life for what he had done to his mate, but the kill was rightfully Thorne’s.
One moment, Boris was cowering in the corner. The next, he was standing stark naked as a human. His body was covered in bite wounds that seeped blood. His dark hair was matted and in disarray around his harsh face.
“Hmmm,” Boris laughed, his eyes falling on Ranger. “I scent that sweet female on you.”
Ranger answered with a vicious snarl.
“Go ahead and kill me,” he grunted. “My Guardians have already been sent to find the female and kill her. Hope was to be my breeder, and then I was going to give her over to the Community when I used her up, but now, she’s just a waste of space.”
Ranger’s panther locked his legs, raising his hackles at the mention of his mate. The roar that came from his mouth stunned all the panthers in the room. Thorne shouted out a warning, but because he wasn’t Ranger’s alpha, his command held no weight.
Ranger shifted in mid-air, taking Boris to the ground. Roars and snarls echoed throughout the room behind him, but the most satisfying sound was when his human fist connected with the male’s face.
“She is mine, motherfucker!” Ranger’s canines reemerged with his anger, his eyes glowing amber. His panther wanted out, but he wasn’t done yet.
“She was mine first,” Boris chuckled, spitting blood in Ranger’s face.
Time froze for only a few seconds as Thorne growled low in his throat. When Ranger looked to his right, he saw the rightful heir to the North Carolina pride place his hand over his heart. “I’m sorry for the things that were done to your mate. I step aside and give you the right to end this, Ranger Coleman, Guardian to the Shaw Pride and mate to Hope Alexander, a female wronged by her own kind.”
All hell broke loose behind Ranger. Animals snarled and yelped as his brothers took out the remaining Guardians. Boris began to shift, his body morphing within seconds. Ranger’s panther pushed for release, but was stunned when a panther bumped into the back of his legs, knocking him off balance. He quickly recovered his footing, spinning around to reface his enemy, releasing his hold on his human self. As his face began to change, Ranger’s panther screamed out when Boris’s canines sunk into his human leg…the one that had already been mangled by the bear all those years ago.
Blue lights lit up the night as Winter surveyed the sight before him. Thirty humans dressed in black robes stood in the road at the entrance to the pride, chanting their hate for their kind. The sheriff and his deputies stood guard to keep the peace.
“Stupid human laws won’t let us just kill them,” Savage mumbled as they sat in the small shack by the gate.
“Yeah,” Winter snarled. “It’s frowned upon.”
“They can stand out there all they want, but the first one to step on this land or threaten my mate will regret it,” Savage warned.
“And the human laws will override our own,” Winter replied, trying to keep a level head. He also wanted them away from his mate. The need to keep Nova and their unborn cub from harm was strong, and he’d do anything to keep them safe.
“Not if I eat them,” Savage rumbled.
“Touché,” Winter chuckled.
“Abominations!”
“Round them up!”
“Are you sure I can’t just eat them?” Savage complained, picking up his phone. He frowned at the screen and looked out the gate. “Dane is with Hope. They have movement behind the cabin.”
“Fuck,” Winter growled, shooting up from his seat. “Call backup for the gate, Savage.”
“Go!” Savage ordered. “Talon is on his way to meet you at Ranger’s place.”
“I knew those men weren’t alone,” Winter snarled as he took off at a dead run, hoping he got to his brother’s mate and his fellow Guardian in time.
As he passed the alpha’s home, Winter saw two of the pride’s older males standing at the door with rifles in hand. He breathed a sigh of relief knowing that his mate was in there, protected. He could worry about his duties and Nova would be okay.
A flash of light caught his attention as the sheriff appeared, his angel wings fluttering as they disappeared. That shit still made him pause. As a former human, the things he now knew had once been fairy tales and myths.
“The Community has recruited hundreds of followers in the last forty eight hours,” Garrett complained. “This is just the beginning. I have deputies posted all over town. Everyone is on alert.”
“Come with me,” Winter barked. “Dane says there is movement around Ranger’s place.”
Three males caught on camera at the back of the property.
“Let’s go.” Garrett growled at the incoming text from the alpha, taking off at a dead run alongside Winter. Kraven joined them as they reached the end of the driveway. Hope’s brother didn’t say anything as they ran in silence.
As they approached, both men froze when they heard a feminine shout and one angry panther. Winter didn’t have any care in the world when he put his shoulder into the solid wooden door, splintering it as he plowed through. What he found there froze his heart in his chest.
Talon and Dane were in panther form, two males being ripped to shreds by his brother and alpha. Another male, in human form, was squaring off with Ranger’s mate. She whimpered as she swung her fist, connecting with the male’s eye. She shook out her hand and raised them again. “How does it feel to get your ass kicked by a female, Chuck?”
“Hope!” Dane snarled, making a move to give aide to the Guardian’s mate, but she threw her hand out for him to stop.
“Hope!” Talon barked when he shifted. “Back away from the male.”
“Sorry, alpha,” she snarled. “This one is mine.”
“Come on, Hope, focus,” Kraven urged, ignoring the other males and their alpha as they looked at him in shock. Winter was so confused.
“You are in pain from touching another male,” Talon warned, moving closer. Winter positioned himself to the female’s other side, noticing that her fists were covered in Chuck’s blood. He didn’t want to touch her, but they needed to take the male into custody.
“Don’t really care right now,” she huffed. “Please, alpha. Let me kill him.”
“Calm down, Hope,” Talon said, holding out his hands when she snarled. “Ranger is not here to relieve your pain. I need you to let us handle this.”
“Yeah, bitch,” Chuck rolled his eyes. “Let the males do their job. Know your place for once.”
“Fuck,” Dane whispered under his breath, throwing his hands in the air. Winter frowned at his brother, but didn’t have a chance to ask him what the hell he was doing when Hope gave out a demonic laugh.
“My place is to rip out your throat for the things you did to me,” Hope replied, her canines growing thick in her mouth.
“Hope,” Garrett warned, but when Winter looked over at the sheriff, he had a knowing smile on his face. “I’d like to question him.”
“What did he do to you?” Talon inquired, stepping closer to the female.
“This is the man that held me down as I was cut open and marked for Boris Small,” she raged.
“You’re fucked now, asshole,” Dane growled. Winter looked toward the male with a raised brow. Dane shrugged and said, “You haven’t seen her fight, huh?”
“Hope,” Talon warned again.
“Please, alpha,” she begged, not taking her eyes off her opponent. That alone told Winter he’d missed a lot when it came to their new pride member and mate to his brother. “I am begging you. Do not order me to stand down.”
“She can handle herself,” Kraven announced, but his eyes were still on the scene in front of him as he watched his sister bounce on the balls of her feet.
“I’m getting tired of this,” Chuck said, taking it upon himself to rush the female.
Before the males could come to her aide, Hope spun on one foot, bringing the other up to kick the male in the side of his head. Chuck let out a grunt of pain when Hope made contact, hitting his temple with her heel and knocking him to the ground. The male had a hundred and fifty pounds on the female, but she was trained…obviously more than the stunned male on the ground.
“Finish this, Hope,” Kraven barked, his canines thick in his mouth. “Come on, girl. Let your panther free.”
“Just the way you taught me, brother mine,” she growled, crouching low.
Hope’s clothes shredded as she shifted. A warning was shouted by the other males, but she pounced on Chuck, clamping her teeth around his throat. With a snarl, Hope’s panther made the kill, spitting his severed throat to the ground next to his lifeless body.
Talon rushed to her side when the female shifted, collapsing in pain as a human. The males backed away as their leader grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped her up, lifting Hope into his arms and rushing her from the home.
“I’m taking her to Harold until Ranger can return,” he growled. “Clean this up.”
“I’m going with you,” Kraven announced as he came to Talon’s side. The male whispered something to Hope and she smiled and nodded her head.
They watched as Hope closed her eyes, only whimpering once from the pain of touching another male. Most females would’ve been screaming, but this one only tucked her head and let the only male who could touch her besides her mate and brother, carry her to safety.
“Holy shit,” Winter breathed, looking around the small cabin. Blood and death were everywhere.
“Ranger found himself the perfect mate,” Dane announced proudly.
“She’ll kick his ass if he gets out of line,” Winter chuckled, nudging Chuck’s lifeless body with his foot.
“No doubt,” Dane answered.