Chapter 4
Saturday night, Axtyn woke from a troubled sleep, his skin prickling like it was crawling with biting ants. His beast roared in his mind, and his muscles were stretched taut. For a few heartbeats, he thought that this would be the moment where he would shift into his minotaur form and forever be a monster. His dreams had been filled with nothing but blood and death.
Had he lost his mate before he’d even found her? Were the dreams about her death?
His thoughts were a jumble, and his beast was rioting. Heaving himself upright, he rested his head on his hands and waited for the pounding headache to disappear, or for the end of his humanity to make an appearance. But just as quickly as he thought he might be shifting permanently, he sensed a presence that he couldn’t explain or ignore. There was…something very good nearby. He had no idea what it might be, but every ounce of his focus became trained on finding the source of the feeling.
He stumbled to his feet. He didn’t bother dressing, staying in only the sweatpants he’d gone to bed in. Unlocking the bedroom door, he opened it slowly. When he determined that the hallway was clear, he took one step outside before returning to his room for his swords. He didn’t normally walk around with his weapons, but something was going on in the warehouse, and he wasn’t about to walk out unarmed.
Adjusting the sheath on his back, he slid both swords into their holders and left his room. He approached the room where the fights were held, slowing his steps as he heard muffled voices through the door.
Axtyn opened the door and stepped into the room to find Wallace and two of his guards in the center of it. One of the guards had a woman over his shoulder, struggling and kicking her legs.
“Put me down, you ass!” she yelled. “I said I’d come willingly, you didn’t have to drug me or manhandle me!”
“Drop her, Stan,” Wallace said. Then he saw Axtyn. “What are you doing here?”
Stan dropped the female on the concrete. She shouted in pain as she landed hard on her side. She had long, white-blonde hair, and when she brushed it away from her face and looked at him, he knew he was in his mate’s presence.
“Mine.”
Her brows rose, and her eyes flashed from blue to gold. He swore he heard a soft, hooting sound.
“What’s yours?” Wallace asked.
Axtyn ignored the question and held out his hand. “Come to me.”
She rolled to her knees, holding her arm, which was bleeding where she’d scratched it when she hit the floor. As she moved to stand, Wallace put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down.
“What do you think you’re doing? She’s my leverage. She’s not going anywhere but to my room.”
His beast rolled under his skin, his temples aching where horns were pushing to break free. “Mine.”
He took a menacing step toward Wallace, and then saw the knife that the other guard had suddenly pressed to his mate’s throat. She swallowed audibly, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears.
“I’m sorry,” she mouthed.
“Let her go. She’s not leverage, she’s my mate.”
“She’s important to Ian. He’ll fight for me to make sure she’s safe. Go back to your room.”
Axtyn was aware of noise behind him as the guards who called the warehouse home came out into the main room because of the commotion. They joined Wallace, unsure of what the issue was but standing with their leader.
“I’ll kill you if you harm her,” he told the male holding the knife. To Wallace he said, “Let her come to me now, or else.”
Wallace snorted as he pulled a gun from his waistband. “Or else what? I promised Ian I’d keep her alive until Friday, but if you push me then her blood will be on your hands.”
His body began to change, his beast struggling to take over to protect their mate. He could tell by the glint in Wallace’s eye that he had no intention of letting her go. Knowing he had to get her to safety, Axtyn let his shift come over him. His body bulked out, dark fur covered his skin, and his hair darkened as it lengthened. His feet turned to hooves, and his head changed to the shape of a bull’s, with large horns sprouting from the sides. He bellowed a war cry as he grasped the handles of his swords and drew them free of their sheaths.
Guns fired, the bullets grazing his skin but not penetrating it as he rushed the group to defend his mate. In the commotion, the male holding the knife to her throat pulled it away to defend himself, and she was able to run to Axtyn for cover. She ducked between his legs and covered her head with her hands. He stood over her, slashing at the males who came at him with knives, guns, chains, boards, and anything else they could find. The air was heavily scented with blood, and the screams of anguish as males were slaughtered was a background noise he didn’t care about. The only thing that mattered was that his mate was safe, and he knew the only way to ensure that was to kill them all.
Every single fucking one.
Wallace lifted his gun and fired, the bullet glancing off Axtyn’s side. “You’re so fucking dead!”
“Not me,” Axtyn said, his voice low with his beast. “I told you to let her come to me.”
“She’s mine, not yours!” Wallace’s voice rose to a screech as he fired again and the chamber clicked loudly, signifying that it was empty. He shoved his trembling hand into his pocket and removed it, bullets clattering to the concrete.
Axtyn leaped forward, taking Wallace to the floor. His hooves pressed him into the concrete as Wallace beat at his legs with his fists. “You’re dead! You leave with her and I’ll hunt you both down. You’ll never be safe!”
Axtyn sliced both swords down, severing Wallace’s head from his neck. It rolled to the side, his sightless eyes staring at the ceiling. Turning slowly, Axtyn listened intently to see if he could hear anyone moving. No one had been left alive, because they’d all tried to kill him and his mate.
Hearing a sniffle, he spun, sheathing his swords and rushing to his mate. He dropped to his knees, too keyed up to shift back to human form.
“Don’t be frightened.”
She brushed at the tears on her wet cheeks. Then she threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. “I knew I’d find you! You smell like leather and vanilla. You smell like home.”
She buried her face in his neck and wept, and the sound of her happy tears was enough for his beast to relax and allow him to take back his fully human form. He drew her close, inhaling the scent of snow that surrounded him, just like in his dream.
“My beautiful mate,” he said hoarsely. “I thought I’d never find you.”
“Me, either.” She leaned back and smiled. “My name is Brierley.”
“I’m Axtyn.”
She peeked around him and grimaced. “You killed everyone here. Were…they your friends?”
He shook his head. “I guess you’d call them coworkers? Wallace was the leader. He owned this warehouse and hosted the were-fights.”
“He said that Ian was supposed to fight on Friday or he’d kill me.”
“Who is Ian to you?”
“My friend’s mate. I live in a cabin at the Clear Water Campground, where I work. Angel and her mates live on the other side of the campground. But before she mated them, she lived with me. They came to my cabin looking for her and took me instead.”
“I wish you hadn’t been caught. You must have been terrified.”
“Well, I actually went willingly.”
His brow arched. “What?”
“I smelled you on Wallace’s clothes. I knew that he’d been around you, so I told him I’d go with him on Angel’s behalf. He texted Ian from my phone, but they’re having their mating time so they won’t get the message until Sunday night sometime.”
His eye ticked. “You willingly came? What if he’d killed you?”
“I had to get to you. I didn’t trust him – I mean he was clearly a whack job – but you’re mine. Whatever I had to do to get to you was worth it.”
A growl rumbled in his throat. “It wasn’t worth endangering your life. I would have found you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Did you have any idea how to find me?”
He wanted to tell her that he had, but he wouldn’t lie to her. “I looked for you. Every spare minute I had, I drove around and looked for you. I didn’t have any clue where to find you, but I hoped that my beast would let me know when we were close.”
“What are you?” she asked, her head tipping to the side as she eyed him curiously. “You’re like a bull, but also like a man.”
“I’m a minotaur shifter. I can go to the minotaur form that you saw, and also to a full bull. What are you? You smell like snow.”
“Owl.”
“I’ve never met an owl before.”
“I’ve never met one of you, either. I thought you were a myth.”
He smiled, something he hadn’t much felt like doing until he found her. “Rare, not a myth.”
She looked over her shoulder and shuddered. “What are we going to do?”
He looked at the bodies, realizing that he wasn’t being a good mate by letting her sit in a room with a bunch of people he’d recently killed. “Let me take you to my room. I’ll deal with this.”
She blinked a few times. “You don’t want me to help?”
He snarled. “Of course not.”
She didn’t say anything, just snuggled closer. He loved how she fit perfectly against him; her soft curves and sweet scent were his new favorite things. Wrapping his arms around her, he lifted her up and carried her to his bedroom, where he set her gently on the bed. He straightened and took a step back, trying to clear the wave of arousal that spiked through him. Being close to her made his beast go crazy with need.
She leaned back on one arm and rested her free hand on her stomach. She was wearing a sexy blue nightie, the color a perfect match to her eyes. He was tempted to forget about the bodies, but then he caught a glimpse of the dried blood on her arm.
“You’re injured.”
He moved to the bathroom and grabbed a first aid kit he kept under the sink. Returning to the bed, he dropped to his knees, holding her arm gently and inspecting the wound. It was a rough gash from where she’d scraped it on the concrete, but it was already healing.
“I’m fine,” she said, brushing her fingers lightly through his hair. He shivered at her touch, so sweet and light.
He gently cleaned and bandaged the wound, and then pressed a kiss to the top of her hand. “I’ll be back.”
“What are you going to do?”
He snapped the lid closed on the kit and stood. “This place used to be a meat packer’s. In the sub-basement there are old walk-in freezers where they used to keep the carcasses. I’ll take the bodies down there.”
“Are there people who would come looking for Wallace?”
“No. He didn’t have any family, and he was an asshole, so I don’t think anyone would mind if he just disappeared. The fights are Friday and Saturday nights, so no one would show up here until next week anyway.”
He kissed her swiftly and left, closing the door and heading down the hall to make sure the other rooms were empty. When he’d swept the building and found it empty save for him and Brierley, he headed up to the ground floor and locked the front door. Then he moved the bodies two at a time to the sub-basement. As he tossed each body into one of the walk-ins, he checked their pockets for phones and ID, which he put in a pile on the floor. When the last body was tossed into the walk-in, he closed the heavy door and locked it, leaning back against the cool steel and taking a breather. He was covered in sweat and blood, and he wanted to shower about ten times. After catching his breath, he headed back to his room to clean up and tend to his mate.
Even though he’d killed a dozen males, he didn’t regret a single death. Brierley was his now and she was safe. He would’ve slaughtered a thousand to ensure she was protected. She was worth anything that he had to do to secure her in his life. He just hoped she thought he was worthy of her love. He’d never cared before what anyone thought about him, but he cared now. She was everything to him; he wanted to be everything to her.