Feral Awakening (The Feral Series-Book 2) (15 page)

 Kat clenched her fork
in her hand and briefly considered stabbing it into the waitress’ plump rear
end for a moment. She didn’t want her touching Ronan. Hell, she had practically
shoved her boobs in his face while she put his plate in front of him. Rage
burned through her system as she watched the woman’s hand caress the muscle
under her fingers. If the woman didn’t back off Kat was going to explode. Who
did she think she was anyway? Of course she didn’t really know the situation
between her and Ronan, still, he was clearly here with her! An angry buzzing
began to pulse through her veins as Kat contemplated the many places she could
stick the fork. Ronan muttered a reply Kat didn’t hear and the waitress was
gone again.

 After Ronan’s second
try she realized he was saying her name. “Kat.” Touching her arm he ducked his
head so he could see her eyes. “Kat.” Kat looked up at him meeting his gaze. “Shit.
Kat keep your head down.” The alarm in his voice got Kat’s attention.

 “What?”

 “Dam it Kat. Your eyes
are glowing.”

 “What? They are not.”

 Picking up the shiny
metal napkin dispenser, Ronan held it in front of Kat’s face. Kat looked at her
reflection to see two glowing green eyes staring back at her. Her eyes were
glowing just like Ronan’s did. In that moment Kat’s whole world came crashing
down on her head. Kat could do nothing but stare at Ronan in shock. “Oh my God.
Lykan eyes. I have Lykan eyes!”

 Ducking her head Kat
put her palm up next to her temple so no one would see her freaky glowing eyes.
Oh my god! Ronan was right all along. How could this have happened? Was her
mother a werewolf? Was she really her mother at all? What would happen to her
now? How in the hell was it possible that she was a Lykan? Oh God. Oh God. This
was so not happening!

 Ronan wisely watched
Kat process everything in silence. Seeing her hand begin to shake he reached
across the table and held the one that still laid on the table, trying to sooth
her with his touch.

 When Kat looked at him
next the glowing had stopped. She sat frozen in her seat, staring blankly at
her dinner. “Kat, eat your food. When we leave here I will answer your
questions.” Ronan’s gentle tone finally broke through her shock and she nodded
her head and numbly picked at her food without really tasting it.

 Finally, she believed
him. He wasn’t sure what had set her off but he was grateful it had happened. She
needed to accept what she was. Replaying the events of what had put Kat in such
a rage he realized that it must have been the waitress. Ronan was suddenly
filled with a sense of satisfaction. Apparently she wasn’t immune to the bond
after all. His little female didn’t want the other woman touching him.

 Kat vaguely registered
that several more people had come into the building and that the seats at the
bar were beginning to fill up. Ronan suddenly tensed and stopped eating to
watch three new customers walking in. A low growl rumbled softly from his
chest.

 Glancing up to see
what had Ronan on edge Kat watched as Tammy wrapped her arms around one of the
men in greeting. The guy was huge, his hair was long enough to brush his broad
shoulders and a tattoo wound its way down one of the arms he wrapped around Tammy’s
waist. He lifted the giggling waitress off her feet with one arm as he returned
her hug while grabbing her plump ass in the process. The two men he came in
with were a little smaller but they had the same menacing look about them. They
both had on leather jackets with ripped jeans and shit kickers and one had a
long chain that hung from the waist band of his pants. Apparently Tammy really
did have a thing for burly, biker types. All three of them looked like they
must have just rode in on motorcycles.

 Kat was startled as
the man suddenly looked directly at her as though he had known she was watching
them. The look in his eyes changed from curious to suddenly focused and hungry.
To Kat’s alarm, the two men he was with looked her way also. Kat broke eye
contact and looked down at her plate. A sudden chill ran down her back and she
was filled with anxiety. She didn’t like being the center of their attention. Something
about the men made her very nervous.

 “Finish quickly, we
have to go.” Ronan practically growled at her. Normally she would have balked
at his bossing her around but this time she was in full agreement. Ronan caught
Tammy as she was buzzing by them and demanded their bill. No longer hungry, Kat
pushed her plate away.

 “Come here.” Kat
looked at Ronan questioningly but to his relief immediately did as she was told
for once. As she slid into the booth next to him he quickly pulled her flush
against his side he draped his arm around her back. Kat suppressed a groan as
his large palm cupped the back of her neck possessively and began to rub
against her exposed skin. With the first touch of his warm palm some of the
anxiety that she had been feeling immediately began to ease. She was safe here
with Ronan.

Although there had been
many times that he had scared her, deep down she hadn’t actually thought he
would truly hurt her. She didn’t know if it was Stockholm syndrome or what but
ever since that morning in the bed of her truck she had been feeling drawn to
him. Even though he still infuriated her and she hated that he thought he could
just steal her away from her life, she had to admit that she still found
herself attracted to the big jerk.

 Tammy finally
sauntered up with their bill and visibly huffed to see Kat tucked under Ronan’s
arm.

 “Are you sure you
don’t want any dessert? I’m sure we could find something sweet for you to take
home if you like.” Tammy cocked a hip and batted her lashes at Ronan
shamelessly.

 Kat could feel anger
shoot through her system and her hand clenched the denim covering Ronan’s
thigh. With a groan that strangely sounded more like arousal than anger, Ronan
quickly press a couple of bills into Tammy’s hand and sent her on her way.

 “Let’s go.” Ronan
nudged Kat out of the booth and kept her anchored to his side with one hand on
the small of her back. Kat didn’t understand why he wanted her so close when he
usually did everything he could to keep his distance from her. His hold on her
was possessive, like he was trying to make sure there was no doubt that she was
his.

 Walking out of the
restaurant they walked out into the parking lot heading for the truck. Suddenly
Ronan froze and clenched her tightly to his side. As Kat turned to look up at
him she heard the front door of the restaurant slam shut as someone came out. A
low growl rumbled from deep in Ronan’s chest and Kat resisted squirming as the
muscles in the arm that was around her tightened and flexed.

 With a snarl Ronan
turned to face the oncoming threat as he shoved Kat behind him. Kat’s heart
lept into her throat to see that the three menacing men from the bar had
followed them out.

 The three of them
spread out in front of them with the larger man in front. The look on his face
was cocky as he folded his arms across his chest and spread his feet wide. He
clearly thought that he and his friends had the upper hand here.

 “You are trespassing
in my territory.” Kat clenched the back of Ronan’s shirt as she peered around
his back to see the men.

 “We are leaving.” Ronan
knew that he could easily take the half breed Lykan but he didn’t want to put
Kat at risk.

 One of the men
standing next to the leader snorted out a laugh and the leader smiled
menacingly at Ronan, lifting the edges of his dark goatee.

 “Well now, that’s
where you are wrong. You see, you will be leaving, but your little female there
won’t be.” Kat watched as one of the men standing next to him took in a deep
breath and then suddenly his eyes were glowing. Oh God, Lykan!

 “Dam she smells good Terran.
Shit, I think she may be a pureblood.” Kat gasped in sudden fear. Oh my God,
you mean they could smell her! That was so wrong! Dam it, why did everyone know
that she was a Lykan except her!

 Here she had actually been
afraid Ronan might kill one of them but now that she knew they were not human
but Lykan she was not sure if he could take out all three of them. Dam it, she
had wanted to figure out a way to get away from Ronan but not with men like
this. Kat shivered at the hungry look in their glowing eyes. Nope, not good at
all.

 “The female is mine.” Ronan
snarled and Kat watched as the nails on his hands began to turn into razor sharp
claws. For once she was glad that he wasn’t human or he wouldn’t stand a chance
against the three men.

 Ronan held onto his
beast by a thread. No one would threaten his mate. Rage ran through his system
and the need to protect her was overwhelming. He struggled not to lunge at them
and instead wait for their next move.

 “You lie. Your mark is
not on her neck. Seeing as how she is in my territory, she belongs to me and I
will be taking her… now.”

 Kat watched in horror
as the three men partially shifted. Their eyes glowed in the darkness of the
parking lot and their hands were tipped in razor sharp claws. They seemed to
get slightly larger as they transformed but Kat was surprised when they didn’t
shift any more than that.

 Pushing Kat behind him
Ronan also partially shifted and met the two attacking half breeds. The third
hung back, waiting for an opportunity to jump in. Terran roared in pain as
Ronan’s claws slashed down his chest, leaving bloody tracks in their wake. Spinning
around, his booted foot met with the chest of the second male and sent him
skidding across the ground, grinding gravel into his back.

 Seeing an opening the
third male joined in the fight and managed to land a powerful blow to Ronan’s
chin. Realizing too late he only managed to enrage the large Lykan further, the
third man screeched in pain to find his next swing caught in Ronan’s powerful
grasp. The man screamed like a girl as it was twisted around behind him
painfully with a sickening crunch. Crying in pain the half breed was tossed
aside with a now useless and broken arm.

 The second man scraped
himself off the ground and took in the situation before him. His leader fought
with the powerful Lykan but he could see that he was quickly losing ground. Who
the hell was this guy? He fought like some kind of warrior or something. That
dam Terran should never have started in with this guy. He was going to kill all
of them. What started out as just a bit of entertainment for the night was
turning into a life or death battle.

 Seeing Terran get in a
lucky shot that sent the larger Lykan off balance the second male made his move
for the little female. He lunged for her in what would probably be his one and
only shot of surviving this fight.

 Kat yelled as one of
the men suddenly grabbed for her, wrapping his arms around her and pinning her
back against his chest. Kat’s fear was quickly washed away as rage flooded her
small body. With a snarl, she raked her nails across her attacker’s arms and
was surprised to see she actually ripped through his skin.

 If this bastard
thought she was going to be an easy target he was sadly mistaken. The male
snarled in rage and crushed her small body against his chest. Kat could feel
her ribs straining in protest as his grip threatened to crush her.

 Sure that her ribs were
about to be broken, Kat picked up her feet and smashed the heels of her boots
against his shins. Her attacker immediately howled in pain and dropped her to
the ground. Kat was only free for a moment before both her hands were wrenched
behind her back in one of his powerful fists and his weight was again crushing
her beneath him on the hard ground.

 Kat heard Ronan roar
in rage seconds before her attacker painfully jerked her up by her now
imprisoned arms and wrapped his arm around her chest like a steel band. Bringing
his other hand up he pressed a large knife against her neck. Kat froze and as
her vision cleared she could see that Ronan now stood in front of her, fully
shifted. The other two men lay unmoving on the ground.

 “Holy shit!” The man’s
panicked voice gasped in her ear.

 Suddenly spotting the
tattoo that ran down the fully shifted Lykan’s arm, the knife he held to the
female’s throat began to shake. They had known the male was a pure-blooded
Lykan but they had still figured the three of them could take him. What they
hadn’t realized was that he was no ordinary Lykan. Wait, hadn’t the female
called him Ronan? Looking at the family crest on his arm this male had to be no
other than Ronan McLaren. The man was a freaking legend. Dam it, it was rumored
that the crazy son of a bitch had left his pack and gone feral and yet here he
was.

 Ronan could feel
himself being consumed by his beast. This male had dared to hurt his mate and
stood here, threatening her life. Glancing at Kat he was surprise to find his
little female was not sobbing in fear. No, actually she didn’t seem scared at
all. She was pissed off and dam if she wasn’t breathtaking in her rage. Her
eyes glowed a bright emerald green and the low growl that slipped from her full
lips scent a bolt of heat shooting through his veins.

 “Back off McLaren, or
I’ll take her head!” The foolish male began to pull Kat along with him while he
backed towards one of the cars sitting in the parking lot.