Merrily Mated (Ouachita Mountain Shifters 3) (8 page)

The confession, spoken with such conviction, such reverence… it threatened to bring him to his knees. Did his female really love him? His eyes darted away so she wouldn’t see the fear there.

“Your love feels like strong arms wrapping me up tight to shield me from the world. It feels like a promise to never leave. It feels like a butterfly trapped in my belly, because it scares me a little, but excites me more. It’s always been that way. Scary but exciting.”

He brought his gaze back to her, and saw nothing but truth in her eyes.

“Yeah?” He fingered her cheek, loving the silky skin there.

“Yeah.”

Scary but exciting. Like an adventure waiting to happen.

Something built in his chest. Something explosive and wonderful. The bond. And the more she talked, the more he could feel exactly what she described, even if it seemed impossible.

“You love me.”

She nodded, giving him a watery smile. “And you love me. I know because you were willing to sacrifice your feelings in order to make me better. Willing to help me heal whether or not you received anything in return.”

Ryan pressed his forehead to hers and let their new reality sink in. This was happening. This was true.

“I feel it,” he breathed. And it felt so good he had to bite his cheek to keep tears from his eyes. Because no fucking way were they both going to cry.

Layna clung to him with her arms tight around his neck, and he pulled back to stare into her eyes. “You’re mine?”

She nodded, letting the wetness roll down her cheeks. “I will be forever. Like you said. Christmases and grandchildren and Facebook posts.”

“My Layna.” It sounded different now. Realer. And it made him want to fly. Climb a mountain and shout it from the top. He wanted everyone to know. His mama—he really should call her—his clan, the people of Weston, Santa fucking-Claus, anyone who would listen.

“My Ryan.”

And, oh. That sounded perfect too. He belonged to her, body, heart, mind, and soul.

He bent, capturing her lips and kissed her hard, promising their future would be legendary. Brushing his mouth over her jaw, he worked his way lower, sucking the tender skin of her neck and leaving a trail of tortured pink along the column of her throat.

His hands were callused and rough, but he hoped they weren’t too hard for her because he planned on touching her everywhere starting with the soft tits that pressed into his chest.

Ryan swept his fingers up her hip, over her toned waist, finding home on one precious mound. He squeezed, her nipple pebbling against his palm while she let out a satisfied moan. He grinned against her other breast. Pulling these sounds from her would never grow old.

With his tongue, he traced a circle around her nipple, looking up to see her watching him. Her eyes were pleasure-glazed and intent on his next move.

Exactly how he wanted her.

Eyes still locked on hers, he took the tightened bud into his mouth, sucking and rolling it against his tongue. She rewarded him with another gasp and her hands raking his hair.

Fuck. He didn’t know if he could keep going slow.

Desperately, her nails clawed a path down his neck and over his shoulder while he lapped at her sensitive nipples. He was lost in her body, loving her taste, her feel, her smell…

So when she let out a violent hiss followed by a snarled, “
What the fuck
?” Ryan was completely thrown.

His gaze flew to her face and what he saw there both turned him on and gave him pause.

Layna’s cougar was close to the surface, her eyes flickering from cat to human, slightly glowing with the power of her shifter.

Hot as fuck.

But what had him worried was the way she glared at him accusingly. Fuming. Like she was about to eat him, and not in a good way.

“
Who marked you
?”

Chapter Eight

Ryan’s lusty mouth frowned and he looked utterly confused, but Layna had no time for that. Not when her cougar was clawing her to shreds with jealousy. Someone had given her male a mating mark, and damn it, when she found out who, there was going to be a fight.

He was
hers
. No one else’s. And no mark would change it.

Her stomach curled and she shook with despair. He’d been with another in the clan. How could they come back from this? How could she trust him? Sure, it was before they were a couple, but… one of her clan. The idea that another of their females knew what it was like to be taken by him… it was unbearable.

“What are you talking about?” He sat back on his knees, rubbing at his sternum. No doubt he could feel her panic and disappointment through their connection.

The bond. At least there was no bond with another. There couldn’t be if his bond was with her.

“Someone marked your shoulder,” she accused, the words tasting like bile.

“Oh, that.” His shoulders sagged as if bleeding his tension. He looked so relieved she wanted to punch him.

“Was it Doc? I will cut a bitch. Bailey?
Who
? You better tell me right now, Ryan, or so help me god, I’ll—”

“Mason,” he rushed out. “It was Mason.”

Layna’s jaw snapped shut in surprise. That wasn’t a name she anticipated coming out of his mouth.

“Mason?”

A slow smile curved Ryan’s lips, and he looked like he wanted to laugh. “Yeah, Mason.”

Layna narrowed her eyes. “He gave you his mating mark?”

That wiped the grin from his face faster than a windshield wiper and a squashed bug.

“What? No. God, no. This was an accident,” he said, gesturing to the mostly healed claw mark on his arm.

Layna sat up, raking her hands through her hair. “An accident? Explain.”

“We were sparring and he couldn’t handle my trash talk. His claws slipped out, and he got my arm.” Ryan shrugged. “It was no big deal.”

She shook her head. This didn’t make any sense. Mason was the most controlled of all the Ouachita cats. He never lost his temper. He was zen to the nth degree. His claws didn’t
slip out
.

“No way,” she argued. “First, we don’t just accidently claw people. Not that deep and not in the place where mating marks are usually found. And second, are you telling me Mason lost his temper?
Mason
? The calmest of us all?”

Ryan frowned, crossing his arms and making his biceps bulge. Damn, her man was built.

“If it wasn’t an accident, then why?”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense.”

Layna rose up on her knees and leaned forward, bracing her hands on his arms. Bringing her nose to the claw marks, she pulled in a deep breath. There was nothing but Ryan’s scent and their mixed arousal.

“That’s really fucking hot, you know. You smelling me.”

She rubbed her nose on the smooth, taut skin that covered well-cut muscle. And then her cheek, letting the feel of him calm her cat.

The mark wasn’t what she thought. She didn’t know what it meant, but it wasn’t a claiming.

“So… just to be clear, you weren’t with any other females?”

His face softened and the corner of his mouth turned upward. “No, baby. There’s only been you since I moved to the lodge. You got in my heart and the idea of being with anyone else just wasn’t right.”

“Yeah?” She was so relieved she felt like a leaf shaking in the breeze.

“Yeah,” he husked, reaching forward and catching her chin between his thumb and finger.

Closing the distance between them, his lips had barely grazed hers when a knock on the door had them jerking apart.

Ryan groaned, resting his forehead to hers, and she mirrored his frustration.

“Not now,” he growled.

“It can’t wait.” Magic’s voice rumbled through the thick wood of the door.

“Shit,” Ryan cursed, dragging a hand through his hair.

“Go away, Magic,” she called over her shoulder.

“I should probably talk to him.” The guilty look on Ryan’s face caught Layna’s attention. “We… uh… I kind of… punched him when I got here.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “You did?”

His shoulders jacked up and his chin jutted stubbornly. “I had to. He wouldn’t let me see you.”

“You punched our leader because he wouldn’t let you see me?”

“Yeah. I did. And I’m not sorry. So if you’re gonna be mad at me—”

She cut him off with a hard kiss.

She wasn’t mad. And chances were Magic wasn’t either. It might seem like a small thing, but Ryan fighting to see her was exactly the perfect reaction. No dominant male would let anyone stand between him and his female. Even if that meant going head to head with the alpha.

Magic’s muffled voice interrupted their kiss. “Look, it isn’t about the damn scuffle in the parking lot okay? Gash is here with me and we have some important information you both need to hear.”

Ryan sighed. “Yeah, okay. Give us a minute.”

Crawling from the bed, he jerked his t-shirt back over his head and then looked at Layna, his eyes combing over her bare body.

“Shit,” he muttered. “No clothes. I left all my stuff in Memphis.” He looked around the room and retrieved his sweatshirt from the floor, tossing it to her. “Put this on.”

She stood and slipped it over her head, pulling it down to try and cover her ass. Ryan eyed her hips where the shirt fell just below her cheeks, and he shook his head, his nostrils flaring.

“Hell nope. Not even close to good enough. Climb back in bed.”

She did as he said, pulling the sheet over her legs. He started for the door, but then doubled back, yanking the thick quilt up over the sheet and tucking it around her hips.

“There.”

Layna hid a smirk.

Ryan stalked to the door and swung it open, letting Magic and Gash through. But they both stopped short upon entering.

“
Fuck
,” Gash hissed, glancing down at his waist.

“Oh hell,” Magic said, rolling his eyes. “This is what you get when you’re dealing with a human. Open a window for fuck’s sake, before Gash has to start humping a chair.”

Layna covered her face. How could she have forgotten. “The arousal,” she explained. “They scent the arousal.”

She peeked through her fingers to watch Ryan’s face as realization set in. His jaw went tight as he glared daggers at Gash.

“Don’t breathe,” he growled, and then rushed to throw open the window.

“Oh. Yeah,” the cat sneered, the scar on his face twisting. “‘Cause I don’t need air or anything.” But he was careful to keep his distance and gaze away from Layna.

“Let’s just get this over with quickly,” Magic grumbled. He looked back and forth between Layna and Ryan. “Gash has been investigating the source of the trap to try and give us an indication as to who set it. In the race to patch Layna up, I don’t think anyone really grasped how odd it was for hunters to be in the woods this time of year. Hunting season is over for anything legal. So that means we’re either dealing with poachers…” He eyed Gash. “Or something else.”

“Something else?” Ryan crossed his arms in that way that made Layna notice all the fine details of his body. There were so many ridges she wanted to lick and bite.

Gash nodded gravely.

“Go on,” Magic urged. “Time to go all in with your clan. We’ll have your back, man.”

Gash’s expression was troubled. Deep grooves marred his brow and his eyes flashed with the evidence of his Beast. “I would just leave, and spare the clan the trouble, if it wasn’t for…” He shook his head, clearly not ready to explain further. “It’s dangerous if I go, and dangerous if I stay.”

“You’ll stay,” Magic said, his hands hooking on his hips. “You’re an asset to us, and even if you weren’t, you belong here. You’re one of us. Now tell them what’s going down so we can alert the others.”

Gash nodded, the troubled look still firmly on his face. “I have a bounty on my head,” he said darkly. “I thought I’d laid low long enough, but it looks like they’ve found me.”

“A bounty.” Layna frowned. “What the hell. It isn’t like we live in the wild west. What’d you do, skip out on some credit card payments or something? Are we talking a Dog The Bounty Hunter situation here, or what?”

Gash shook his head. “A shadow clan. I used to belong to them. Did a lot of shitty things I’m not proud of. I didn’t like it, being shitty. It’s just all I’d ever known. I was born into it. But I started having these… dreams. Not like, hopes, but real dreams that happen when you sleep. And in them, I saw my mate. To cut a long story short, there were two versions of this dream. One where she lives.” He squeezed his eyes closed, his head lowering to the floor. “And one where she dies.”

“Shit,” Ryan murmured.

“They felt prophetic. Like fate was telling me this was my chance to change my future. To clean up my act and find a way to make sure my mate lived. So I decided to do just that. But like any gang, a shadow clan isn’t easy to break free of. Especially when they’re family.”

“What’s a shadow clan?” Ryan asked. “I’ve never heard you guys talk about one.”

“It’s a lawless clan,” Layna explained. “The one-percenters of the shifter world. There aren’t any in Arkansas, but other places around the country they thrive. Not all shifters are friendly. Some like to use humans as chew toys.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow.

“And not in a sexy way,” she added.

Magic scrunched up his face. “God. You guys really need to fuck already.”

“Tell me about it,” Ryan muttered.

Layna shushed them with a wave of her hand. “So, how do you know the trap was set by them?”

“The clan I ran with was out of Memphis. We worked in conjunction with a wolf pack, mostly supporting a small time mob boss who wanted to make Tunica his bitch. As long as we did his dirty work and left the casino alone, we owned the city and half of the state of Tennessee along with it. There was a lot of money to be had, besides the power trip. But the clan and the pack owned businesses, a cover. To seem legal. The initials of one of those businesses was etched into the teeth of the trap you found in the woods. ACWM.”

“Alley Cat Waste Management.” Ryan’s voice took on a dead tone as Gash flipped his gaze to him. “I met a man named Felix. He was working with my boss, Trent. He owned Alley Cat Waste Management, and he picked up that’d I’d been around werecats the moment we met.”

“Yeah,” Gash confirmed. “Felix is the prez. He’s a bad motherfucker. You got out of there right in time.”

“Why do I feel like it was a little too timely,” Magic mused. “You think they found you by tracking Ryan? It surely wasn’t a secret where he’d lived before transferring to Memphis.”

But something else niggled at Layna’s memory.

“No.” She shook her head, feeling a chill roll up her spine. “This was my fault.”

All three males frowned in her direction.

“Someone called looking for you,” she told Gash. “Said he was a friend but he sounded skeevy as fuck. I was trying to patch him through to your office but when he found out you worked for us, he said he’d reach out to you soon.”

“Well shit,” Gash muttered.

“I didn’t think anything of it. I was going to tell you, but I completely forgot about it until now.”

“Well, this is them reaching out. I should have warned you all about my past before anything like this could happen. All I know for sure is, this is a warning. They’re giving me a chance to go willingly without a fight. But if I don’t… they’re coming for me. And as you can see, they don’t give a shit about hurting civilians.”

Layna scowled. Those cowardly bastards.

“So what are we going to do about them?” Ryan growled low.

Her mate was angry. Maybe even vengeful. As was his right. But there was no place for revenge this time of the year. It was the season of giving and love. It was the season of new beginnings and hope.

Let Santa come first. Let those New Year bells ring, and then it would be on like magic on a unicorn.

“First, we tell the others. Put everyone on alert. Then we wait. Business as usual for our guests. And in the meantime… we prepare. We guard our boundaries, our people. Protect our clan, our mates, and young. At any cost.” Magic’s lips curved into a maniacal grin and his panther eyes flashed forward. “Shit’s about to get
really
real.”

“Yeah.” Ryan nodded slowly, his shoulders hardening with his protective instincts. He glanced at Layna and his expression was a bone deep promise that made her insides jelly. She was so fucking proud to call him hers. “Really fucking real.”

He stuck his fist out, tapping it against Magic’s and then Gash’s.

Christmastime was the season of light, and she was a firm believer that light always conquered the darkness. She had every ounce of faith in her people.

There was no way the shadows would touch them.