smacked her arm.
“We’re not impossible to find, but we are extremely rare. That was why I was sold to the man collecting
hybrids. He was going to sell us. He drugged us, made us shift into small animals and kept us in bespelled
titanium cages. We weren’t able to shift into larger animals to escape. Malcom didn’t know and when he
shifted the cage cut him into tiny cube-shaped pieces. We were only able to escape when the man who was
collecting us left. His abused boyfriend came in and let us all out. He told us to run and find Arkadian
towns. We agreed that it would be too easy to track us as a large group and split up. I saw the boyfriend
here in town last week. It’s only a matter of time before that psychopath finds us, and forces us to go with
him.” Sebastian covered his face with his hands.
“Not going to happen, Sebastian. Didn’t I promise you that you would always have a home with me?”
Rebecca asked him, rubbing her hand over his head. He instinctively turned his head into her touch. He
caught himself and nodded.
“I swear to you that no one will take you away from us.” Rebecca turned to Nic.
“Can you drive him back to the ranch so he can get some rest? He’s had a long day,” she said, leaning
forward and kissing the top of his head just like she did when he was in cat form.
“You mean it? I can stay with you even though I’m not a cat?” he asked, his lower lip quivering. She
nodded.
“Of course, you’re family.” She smiled at him and hesitantly he smiled in return. Nic stood and helped
Sebastian to stand on his own two feet instead of his normal four. Slowly they made their way out of the
apartment and down the blood-stained stairs. No one moved until they heard the door shut.
“What next? The Loch Ness Monster?” Bran asked, pacing the floor.
“Like we didn’t have enough to worry about.” Caleb rubbed his face with his hands. Both women
glared at them. Ashby stared the men down, and through his bond he could feel Rebecca and Kate’s
aggravation.
“He’s family, we take care of family. He also saved my life,” Rebecca reminded the men who looked
down at her properly chastised. They looked up at Kate guiltily.
“You’re also forgetting that he’s Liam’s mate. Liam was willing to risk every man in his pride to keep
our boys safe when we couldn’t. Are you saying now that you aren’t willing to defend his mate?” Kate
demanded, tapping her foot.
“No, lovely baby, we would never turn our back on Liam that way,” Caleb said, taking one of Kate’s
clenched fists. Bran grabbed the other.
“We’re just worried about a new threat to the town, that is all,” Bran explained.
“Good, for a moment there neither one of you was going to get any sex for at least a month,” Kate said,
eyeing her men who paled under her gaze.
Rebecca looked around the apartment and down at the bloody floor.
“You know what, I’m freaking starving. Let’s go to the diner, I’m craving steak and eggs.” Rebecca
smiled and Ashby chuckled wickedly. Together they walked toward the door and headed down the stairs.
Caleb and Bran turned a little green and Kate patted them on their shoulders.
“You boys can’t hang with the big girls.” She laughed and followed Rebecca and Ashby out of the
apartment.
Bran turned to Caleb.
“Never, ever, ever piss off those two women.” Caleb nodded. They quickly followed the other three to
the diner.
* * * *
“Liam wait up!” Aleks yelled as he marched down Market Street after his friend. Liam turned, hissed
and kept walking. Aleks rolled his eyes.
“Dammit, Liam, hold up!” Aleks yelled as they passed the diner. Behind him he heard gasps but he kept
walking. Fuck them if they didn’t like him cussing. Finally he added a little speed and caught up to Liam.
“Fuck off Aleks!” Liam said through clenched teeth.
“Can’t. Rebecca sicced me on you. So here I am standing in front of you, when I would rather be
stripping my mate naked and inspecting every inch of her body. I almost lost her again today. Am I with
her? No! I’m with your flea-bitten cat ass! So you better spill your guts and cry or whatever shit you need
to do so I can tell Rebecca I was there for you, so I can get back to my plan of stripping her naked,” Aleks
bellowed.
In the background he heard children begin to cry. He frowned. OK, he admitted to himself that he
needed to watch his language. Liam stared at him blankly.
“You’re totally scared of her adorable psychotic little ass,” he said.
“I am not! And she isn’t psychotic. She’s brilliant,” Aleks protested. Liam nodded.