CHAPTER 16
August ran hard, his broad paws silent on the forest floor as he wove swiftly through the low hanging branches and scrub. It wasn’t his natural terrain, but he had one hell of a leader to follow.
Talon raced ahead of him, a huge tiger bent on tracking the scent of his sister through the dark woods, not slowing even when the trees grew thicker, making it more difficult to weave between them at speed.
It pushed August to do the same, even as his muscles began to tire and the urge to rest grew inside him.
He couldn’t rest.
Maya needed him.
All that stood between him and her was a punishing twenty mile run across mountains and through dense forest.
He would run three times that without stopping if it meant seeing her again.
Saving her.
He was almost there.
Gods, he hoped he wasn’t too late.
Fuck it. Even if he was, he wasn’t leaving without her and he knew Talon wasn’t either.
They were taking her back.
And he would kill the bastard who had her to set her free.
His heart soared as golden light flickered through the trees in the distance ahead of him, and he caught the scent of other tigers in the area, markings left on the trees to ward off other shifters and declare the area as the territory of a pride.
Talon growled, letting him know that he had seen the fire too, and had smelled the tigers.
They were close.
Someone roared ahead of them.
Talon suddenly accelerated.
August struggled to keep up, fighting to remain on Talon’s tail, refusing to let him reach Maya first, without him. He needed to be there, had to be the one to save her. A selfish desire but one he couldn’t quite control as he pushed himself harder, lengthening his strides, and started to catch up with Talon and come up beside him.
The big tiger growled at him, golden eyes flashing with displeasure.
August growled right back at him.
Ahead of them, two more roars broke the night, together with the unmistakable sound of a fight.
What the hell was happening at the Altay pride?
Talon broke cover just ahead of him, and he followed a second later, didn’t even hesitate as he hit the clearing and the small village of cabins nestled in it. He kicked off, sailing through the air over one large tiger to land on the back of another. The tiger growled as he sank his fangs into the nape of its neck and bit down hard, turning that growl into a pained whimper.
The big white tiger that had been thundering towards it snarled at him, giving him the same damned look Talon had back in the woods, one that reeked of irritation.
Grey.
Talon had warned him not to attack any white tiger with black stripes in the vicinity of the pride, because it was his brother.
It certainly made it easier for August to make sure he avoided attacking a friend in the fight.
Although Talon blended badly as he launched at two more tigers, hitting one in the side with his shoulder to knock him away and sending a paw slamming into the head of the second, driving his face down into the dirt.
Grey growled and pounced on the one Talon had knocked aside, savaging him with his claws and fangs.
August finished with his tiger and looked around at the fight, searching for Maya.
He couldn’t see her.
He stood on the dead male and lifted his nose to the air, dragging it over his teeth to scent her.
Talon tossed his opponent aside, glanced his way and did the same, sniffing the air for his sister.
Grey growled and looked towards the largest cabin.
August roared and kicked off, launching himself towards it, heart hammering against his ribs as he caught her scent. Grey was right. She was in there.
With Pyotr.
The thought of that male touching her had him ripping through the first male foolish enough to attempt to stop him, using the agility that came with his smaller size to his advantage, moving too swiftly for the male to strike or bite.
He clamped his teeth down on the male’s throat as he twisted the tiger beneath him and growled as he yanked his head upwards, ripping a hole in it. Blood sprayed over his paws and his chest, and the male shifted back to his human form, gasping as he struggled to hold on to the life slipping from him.
August didn’t stop to watch him pass on to his ancestors.
He started running again, leaped over another tiger who tried to attack him and didn’t look back when the male let out a pained snarl and the scent of blood in the air grew thicker. Talon and Grey were following him, tackling any foe that tried to stop him, giving him a clear run at saving their sister.
He wouldn’t fail them.
He grunted as something slammed into his side, knocking the wind from him, and hit the dirt, rolling across it to land just right of the cabin.
He growled, shook his head as he tried to get his bearings, and pushed up onto his belly.
His senses sparked.
August sprang backwards, narrowly evading the male tiger that landed where he had been. The male growled and turned, kicked off and leaped towards him. August leaped left, dodging him again. The male’s right paw slammed down onto his tail, claws raking along it to the tip as August moved it, pulling it free. Fire burned up the length of his tail and the scent of his own blood joined the others in the air around him. Damn. He tamped down the pain, locked it away and refused to let it overcome him.
The male rose up onto his back legs, standing far taller than August would if he did the same.
Snow leopards were smaller, but that just meant he had to be a little more cunning in a fight, and a little dirtier.
The male tiger came at him.
August shifted back into his human form and hurled himself towards the huge fire to his right. He twisted at the waist as his hip hit the dirt, blindly grabbed one of the logs and swung it upwards, towards the four hundred pounds of tiger about to land on him.
The tiger hissed and tried to evade, rotating his front half away from August in an effort to avoid the fire.
August didn’t let him.
He shoved upwards, forwards, drove the damn torch into the bastard’s fur and set it on fire.
The male took off, blazing a trail into the darkness.
August rolled onto his front and kicked off, the night air cold on his bare flesh, but the fire burning in his heart keeping him going, driving him onwards.
He leaped to the top of the cabin steps and shoved the door so hard it flew off its hinges and smashed into something metal.
As the light from the fire outside spilled into the cabin, his eyes widened.
A fucking cage?
Was this bastard serious?
Someone growled at him.
August casually swung his gaze towards the owner of it.
The big male tiger hunkered down, his fur already dotted with blood. It coated his mouth too.
August saw red.
He growled and shifted in a heartbeat, met the male as he launched towards him, grappling with him. The moment his back paws hit the floor again, he shoved upwards as hard as he could, driving into the male with all of his strength, tipping him off balance.
The male hit the wall.
August’s gaze zeroed in on his exposed neck.
He snarled and launched forwards, towards it, his jaws parting as he angled his head and aimed for the male’s vulnerable spot.
A huge paw struck him hard in the side of his head, sending him into the wall on his right, and then came again, claws raking over his fur and drawing blood, sending more fire sweeping through him.
A feral roar echoed around the cabin, deafening in volume.
Maya slammed into the male, her bare pink skin marred with blood around her throat and on her hips and thighs. She growled through her short fangs and hooked her arm around the tiger’s throat, dragging him backwards.
Exposing the male’s vulnerable spot again.
August launched at it.
The male broke free of Maya’s grip and barrelled into him, sending him skidding backwards. The bastard didn’t stop. He ploughed onwards, until August hit the wall near the door. He tried to escape, but the male didn’t give him the chance. Sharp fangs sank into his right shoulder and he cried out as pain tore through him, and struggled to hold on to his snow leopard form.
Maya snarled and suddenly the male tiger was gone, ripped away from him and sent flying across the cabin. He struck the far wall and hit the floor, shook his head and growled as he came to face them again.
She stepped in front of August, shielding him with her bare body, facing the male.
Beautiful.
She had every instinct inside him awakening, rising to overwhelm him, from a desire to claim her to a desire to defend her, and all the ones in between.
Before he could even move a muscle, she had kicked off, was on the tiger and fighting him, a wild warrior who stole his breath as she grappled with the tiger, hands clutching his front paws, head ducking and dodging as the male tried to bite her.
She growled and twisted, and threw the male to her left, towards the cages.
Gods.
She glanced at him, that blue corona in her glowing golden eyes again.
Talon had told him her secret. Their secret. August had been right.
She had hellcat blood in her.
On a low snarl, she launched at the male, catching him before he could gather himself, landing on his back and gripping his jaw with one hand and his neck with the other. The tiger snarled and bucked, trying to shake her, but she held on to him, her eyes flashing dangerously as she fought against him, wrestling with his head.
August had foolishly thought he would be the one to fight the alpha for her, that she would need him to come charging in like a white knight to save her. Idiot. Maya was strong. Beautiful. She didn’t need him to fight her battles for her.
She needed him to fight her battles with her.
At her side, as an equal.
She yanked on the tiger’s head as he snarled, grunted and cried out as she fought him, her fingers bleeding as she clutched his upper jaw and pulled, his teeth sinking into her delicate flesh.
She roared as she leaned back and managed to pull the tiger’s head up at last.
Giving August the opening he needed.
This time, he wouldn’t waste it.
They would end this male together.
August ran at the male and roared as he closed the distance between them. The male frantically fought Maya but she held him firm, her eyes almost entirely blue now as they shone with the desire that echoed in August, a deep need to make the male pay.
Gladly.
August growled and seized the male’s throat, bit down hard and locked his jaw, so the male couldn’t break free. The metallic tang of blood filled his mouth and the male struggled, but August held on, biting down harder as Maya fought to keep the male’s head up. The taste of her blood joined the male’s in his mouth and fury blasted through him, driving all the light from him, rousing a dark need to avenge his mate.
He snarled and shook his head, ripping through the male’s neck, spilling his blood.
The male’s struggles slowed, the scent of his blood growing stronger in the air, the warmth of it rolling down August’s throat to his stomach and over his chest.
When the male sagged, collapsing beneath Maya, August released him and staggered back a step, shifting as he did so and landing on his bare backside, breathing hard.
Maya threw her head back and roared.
Silence fell like a shroud over the village.
August lifted his eyes and looked at Maya where she straddled the dead tiger, her eyes glowing blue and gold, her chest heaving as she fought for air.
Gods, his fated one was beautiful.
A warrior.
She growled low in her throat, eased onto her feet and prowled towards him, a fire in her eyes that said she wanted him, here and now, wanted to stake a claim on him.
Fuck, he wanted to claim her too.
Just not right now.
He held his right hand up to her, turned his face away and vomited.
“August!” Maya was by his side in an instant, the hunger that had been burning in her eyes replaced with concern as she took hold of his shoulders and made him look at her.
He shook his head, swallowed and tried to keep it down, and failed dismally. He quickly turned away and threw up again, just the sight of the tiger beyond her and the blood pooling beneath it enough to have his stomach rebelling.
He stared down at the blood he had vomited up, and threw up again. Fantastic. Not exactly how he had pictured this moment going. Maya should have been throwing herself into his arms right about now.
She rubbed his back instead, making him feel a million times worse.
“That’s a lot of blood,” she said.
So he threw up again.
Hung his head and prayed to his ancestors that the floor would open up and swallow him whole.
Or maybe he could die from shame.
Maya reached for him, but then sharply withdrew her hand. He lifted his head to ask why she didn’t want to touch him, fearing her answer, and his words died on his lips when he found her gazing at her upturned palms.
Blood covered them, seeping from the shallow cuts caused by the tiger’s teeth.
August shot to his feet, snatched a towel from the small bathing area near the right wall of the cabin, and was back to her before she could even turn her head to track his movements. He sank to his knees in front of her, ripped the dark towel in half, and gently bound her left hand and then her right, tying the cloth tight enough that it would stem the bleeding.
He lifted his eyes, but they didn’t make it to hers. They caught on her throat.
He growled and reached for her, pure fury blasting through him as he took in the deep puncture wounds on the side of her neck, where the bastard had clearly gripped her with his fangs.
Before he could touch them, she was in his arms, her face buried in his neck and her arms around him.
He stared at his outstretched hand, absorbing the feel of her against him. She was warm. Trembling. He closed his eyes, wrapped his arms around her and held her gently, keeping her tucked close to him.
Where she belonged.
The feel of eyes on him roused a desire to growl at their owners, but he tamped it down, not wanting to frighten the females as they looked between him and the dead tiger. Tears lined their lashes and tumbled down their dirty cheeks, their relief written in every line of their faces.
Another pair of eyes landed on him.
He looked up at their owner, nodded when Talon stared at Maya, concern edged with fear in his stormy amber eyes. The male nodded, and glared at the cages, and then at the dead tiger.
Talon didn’t say a word. He quietly went to work breaking the locks on the cages and freeing the females, covering them with thin blankets and ushering them outside with Grey’s help.
Maya remained hidden in August’s arms, her warm breath skating over his neck, her bandaged hands resting softly against his back, her arms looped beneath his.
Gods, it felt good to hold her again, to feel her in his arms and know he never had to let her go.
He would never let her out of his sight again.
He smoothed his right hand over her hair and savoured the feel of it, as new to this as she was, unsure what he was meant to do or say. He had never felt this close to anyone, especially a female. He had spent his life keeping relationships short and sweet, all business. He wasn’t sure he had ever cuddled anyone.
It felt fucking wonderful.
He lowered his head and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, breathed her in and closed his eyes.
She drew back, stealing the moment from him, and raised her head, her amber eyes round as she looked at him.
There was relief in them, and hope. A lot of hope.
Something else too, something that stole his breath and stirred a need to kiss her to show her that she wasn’t alone, she wasn’t the only one feeling new things, things that caught him off balance.
Although he couldn’t fall any further than he already had for her.
Her soft gaze dropped to his mouth, and her dark eyebrows pinched in a frown.
He went to wipe his hand across his mouth to clear the blood away, but she beat him to it, rubbing it away with the bandage around her right hand.
And then her mouth was on his.
Stealing his heart all over again.
He gathered her closer, pulled her onto his thighs and kissed her, lost himself in her and the relief that washed through him, carrying away his fears and his strength with it. Gods, he had feared. He had feared he would be too late. He had feared he would lose her. He had feared she wouldn’t want him and that he had been wrong about them.
All of those fears melted away as she kissed him deeply, desperately, as if she couldn’t get enough of him either.
He slipped his arm beneath her knees, wrapped his other one around her back, and scooped her up as he stood, his lips still on hers, their kiss not slowing.
He was going to kiss her every damn step of the way back to the car.
Every step of the way home.
He was never going to stop kissing her.
He was never going to stop craving her.
When she was ready, he would become her mate, her only male.
Until then, he wasn’t letting her out of his sight.
He wasn’t going to let her go again.