Bad Kitty (15 page)

"It's
okay
,
hell cat,"
Rafe whispered in her ear. "You don't need to hide."

"Are you kidding?" she whispered back under
her breath. "I'm doing my best here not to run. The last thing I
need right now is a heaping helping of public humiliation."

His fingers tightened at her elbow and he
leaned forward until his breath brushed her ear. "Trust me, Kitty.
I know what I'm doing. Now step forward and for heaven's sake lower
your eyes before you incite a riot."

She blew out a hard breath. Trust sucked.
Still, there was no denying her limited choices here in this large
space surrounded by these—these— Shit. How had she gotten to this
point again? The one question that kept popping up in her mind
every time she turned around. A little more than a month ago she'd
been pondering where to go on her next vacation. Maybe the felines
were right. She'd done some pretty crappy things in her life and
karma was a bitch after all.

Ready to bite the bullet and get this over
with, she stepped into the shaft of light and faced the pack alpha
with her back ramrod straight and her gaze locked to his. A couple
of the men around her gasped while others growled. Either way, the
scarring on her face shocked them.

"What the fuck did you do to my property,
Rafe? God dammit," the wolf from the clearing demanded in obvious
outrage. If he referred to her as his property one more time...

Rafe growled and she imagined his teeth
bared. "You're kidding right? She was a lot worse than this when
you and the assholes you call friends were planning to fuck her to
death."

The wolf Rafe had called Tanner growled and
bared his teeth. "Fuck you, asshole. You had no right to take her.
Consider it a favor that I allowed you to keep her this long."

A menacing sound far more
dangerous than a simple growl came from Rafe. Anger radiated from
him in fast vicious waves
,
almost taking her breath away. She understood
dominance games all too well and wanted nothing to do with them.
Dog eat dog and whatever. She would have laughed out loud if the
thought of being caught in the middle of this fight didn't scare
the crap out of her.

"You are nothing but trash that doesn't
deserve to be called pack and it's high time I took care of that."
Claws erupted from Rafe's fingers and his skin gave way to fur. His
face elongated and his muscles grew. Her eyes widened in shock at
what she was seeing. The half shifted man now standing in front of
her resembled neither human nor wolf. He'd become a beast.

"Enough." The command startled her. She'd
been so caught up in Rafe's transformation she'd forgotten about
the alpha. Another rush of power filled the room and even she had
to fight the urge to bow her head. "I'll decide who get's to do
what tonight, is that clear?"

Both men slowly backed
down and nodded, but the violence between them didn't dissipate.
Clear as day
,
it
simmered at a full boil inside both men. For the first time in days
her cougar fought for control. Instead of the effort it normally
took to shift, her body threatened to give way to the demand of the
animal and its desire to protect her mate.

"Look at what he did to her. She's ruined."
Tanner turned and faced her. "Why the hell is she not healed?"
Kitty had to bite her tongue to refrain from calling him Captain
Obvious. Either his IQ fell somewhere in the lower level basement
or his flair for the dramatic had robbed him of all common
sense.

"Doc said whoever attacked her used a
particularly nasty poison. Is that your new M.O., Tanner? Can't get
a bitch to give you the time of day so you have to resort to
this?"

"Hell no. What you saw is how we found her.
We didn't even touch her before you showed up."

"Only because I interrupted your sick idea
of a party," Rafe spat.

The Alpha shot Tanner a hard look and
stopped the other man from another outburst. "I've heard more than
my fill from Tanner and his witnesses." He turned to Rafe. "Now
it's time to hear what you have to say and it better be damned
good. You've been avoiding me. Why?"

"Not
avoiding
,
per se.
Doc and I have been treating our patient. There wasn't much cause
to address Tanner's ridiculous claim when her life hung by a
thread. Whatever that poison is, it did a number on
her."

"She couldn't shift and
heal? Even if I hadn't been briefed on her species, I can smell it
all over her." He'd curled his lip as he'd spoken. Like it or
not
,
this is the
kind of reaction they'd get from every wolf. Their DNA had been
hard wired to avoid other predatory species.

Doc stepped forward, flanking her right. "So
far I haven't been able to identify the poison. Whatever it is, it
was meant to be fatal."

Kitty jerked her head in
Simon's direction. She'd known that to be the
case
,
but the
finality of his words shocked her.

"As for the shift. She's done so many times
over the last several days and while it saved her life, it wasn't
enough to fix everything."

Again Kitty's stomach cramped. These weren't
just scars. They were mangled flesh reminders of all the shitty
things she'd done in her life and the bitches who'd sought to set
their world right. After she'd fought through a lot of anger she'd
had to admit they weren't one hundred percent wrong.

"I don't believe them. Whatever happened,
happened while he hid my property up there on his booby trapped
mountain. I ain't stupid you know."

"Come here." The Alpha motioned for her to
move closer.

She didn't want to. With every eye in the
room fixed on her and the disapproving and downright hostile looks
being thrown her way, the only thing she wanted to do was escape.
Freedom.

"Go ahead, Kitty. Trust me, remember?"
Rafe's low rumbled words slid over her, working through her like a
balm to her frazzled nerves. "I trust Burke and you can too."

She stared at Rafe for a
few long minutes and got lost in the depths of his now glowing
eyes. She didn't trust anyone
,
but in this case she had no other choice. She did
as instructed and walked within touching distance to the leader of
this wolf pack.

He focused on her gaze. "I can't decide
whether you're skittish or just plain defiant. Either way it's time
to move on with this show." He reached up and gripped her chin and
turned her face so he could examine the mangled half of her face.
The power innate to a man of his level sizzled through her. Not as
electric as Rafe's touch but a constant reminder that he had the
power to free her or crush her.

"Are you still in pain?"

She shook her head. "It hurt like hell when
it happened, but since Rafe rescued me I've had time to heal."

"Any reason I shouldn't honor Tanner's claim
on you?"

Automatically Kitty's gaze shifted to Rafe's
for a second or two before she realized what she'd done and she
quickly averted her eyes. If they suspected that something more
than caregiving had gone on between them, the pack could turn
against them both. "I understand that I broke the treaty by
crossing over into your territory without permission or escort, but
I was running for my life. Are there no exceptions for extenuating
circumstances?"

The intimidating stare continued for a few
seconds more before he turned and faced Rafe. "What do you have to
say about this situation, nephew? Are there extenuating
circumstances?" The two men stared at each other and Kitty got the
feeling she'd walked into some power struggle that had nothing at
all to do with her appearance on their land.

Kitty glared at Rafe and willed him to turn
her way or catch a glimpse of her. Whatever it took to get the
message across that he had to keep his mouth shut. Whatever
punishment short of death this wolf wanted to inflict on her was
better than him sacrificing everything with the truth.

Apparently Tanner wasn't enjoying the
strange power struggle either. "What extenuating circumstances? How
many times do I have to say it? I found her. Pack law states first
come, first serve. That makes her mine to do with as I see fit." He
curled his lip and nodded in her direction. "Even if she's damaged
goods, she should still be able to fuck."

Rafe exploded. His lips
curled back and he swung his arm at Tanner's head. If the pack
leader hadn't caught his wrist mid strike
,
she imagined Tanner would be on
the ground bleeding out. What an ass.

"Pull yourself together
before you blow everything," the older man growled at
Rafe
,
low enough
that only the two of them heard him. "I tell you what." He turned
and faced the pack. "Since my nephew doesn't seem to have anything
else to say and they're both hell bent on fighting over this girl,
then we're going to do this old school."

Murmurs erupted in the crowd and Kitty's
stomach plummeted to the ground. She had no idea what that meant
but her experience with her clan's ancient laws and the building
excitement amongst all the wolves didn't bode well for whatever
this alpha considered old school.

"I'm calling for a good old-fashioned chase
and capture. I'll give her a ten minute head start and whoever
catches her first wins. Agreed?"

"Hell no," Tanner objected. "Pack law
states—"

The old man turned and
rumbled in response. "If you try to quote pack law to me one more
time I'm going to put you down myself. I'm the master here and what
I say goes." He crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. "Unless
of course
,
you're
willing to challenge me right here, right now."

Kitty practically saw steam coming from the
other man's ears but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

"What are the rules?" Rafe asked.

"Rules are for pussies. She runs, then y'all
run her down. The winner decides what to do with her. I don't care
how it happens but no one leaves these woods tonight until this
shit is settled. Am I clear?"

Men and half-beasts erupted into a series of
grunts and howls that made the walls of their community center barn
shake. She spied blood lust in many of their eyes as they stared at
her like the prey she'd just become. A big bay door in the back
rolled up and everyone began to undress. Some neatly folded their
clothes and left them in a pile while others were too far gone in
their shifts to do little more than rip through the impeding
fabric.

Rafe pulled her toward him and bent his head
to her ear. "When he says go, you need to get outside, shift and
run like fucking hell. Don't look back and don't wonder if anyone
is close. Just run. If you head straight east you're only about
fifteen miles from the neutral zone. Most of the pack won't dare
touch you if you make it that far."

Kitty swallowed. "Most?"

His grip tightened on her bicep. "Do you
trust me to keep you safe?"

Did she? As much as she'd enjoyed the past
few days with him, they hadn't wiped out a lifetime of mistrust
still messing with her head. "I'm okay with this," she admitted.
"This gives me a chance and that's all I care about." That wasn't
exactly the whole truth but in light of his pack salivating for her
blood it seemed the smart thing to say.

"I'll catch you," he said with a low rumble
in his voice. "And when I do no more running. You'll be
mine...forever."

The word forever reverberated through her
head. In light of her predicament, forever seemed like a very short
timeframe.

The leader lifted his head and let loose
with a long, loud howl that whipped the rest of the pack into more
of a frenzy. Rafe wanted to keep her safe but in the face of a
hundred or more wolves, the odds were against him. Before Rafe
could say another word, the alpha turned to her with his eyes
gleaming red and yelled, "Run!"

The force of his command
slammed into her and the cat screamed. Instinct kicked in and she
turned and did exactly as he insisted. Hair erupted along her skin
as she moved and her face and teeth began to change. Outside the
building with the sound of wolves howling and growling in
anticipation of a kill, she tore at her clothes and shifted. Bones
and muscles popped more than normal and Kitty was forced to bear a
higher level of pain than from previous shifts. Her cougar
apparently didn't like the new changes left behind by the poison.
Finally after a few agonizing moments where she barely breathed,
the strength of the animal coursed through her blood. She opened
her mouth and the cougar scream filled the night
air
,
obliterating
the sounds coming from inside the barn.

Run. Run. Run.

Chapter Nine

Shit
. He hoped to God she heard what he'd said. He'd seen the
moment her inner animal had taken control and he had no idea how
lucid she'd remain while running for her life. At least she'd taken
off in the direction he'd indicated.

The ten-minute head start she'd been given
felt like hours. He watched the clock tick down constantly and
barely contained the overriding urge to go after his mate.

He had to follow the rules
through this or they'd both be fighting for their lives. Easier
said than done when all he could smell despite more than half the
pack filling the community center was her. The wild scent of the
woman had gotten into his head and nothing else could replace
it.
Mate.