SixBarkPackTabooMobi (11 page)

Soft as silk, I heard in my ear, “Too late.”

Before I could react, a crinos paw clamped on my muzzle and pulled me backward farther into the bushes.

Chapter Seven

How
in hell
could I have been so stupid as to not had my nose and ears up? Let me tell you, for the first time in my life, I’d been concerned about someone besides myself. It had been a little all-consuming.

Stupid.

Unbelievably stupid.

Thank Gaia the paw that nabbed me was Bark’s. But he was furious. Putting it mildly.

The minute I realized it was him, I stopped my clawing and hissing, but that wasn’t until after I’d sliced him on the legs a few times. Yeah. That didn’t set too well. And believe it or not, my squalling came at a juncture between Uzi-fire. Friggin’ of course!

So...my family knew I was out there, in trouble.

It only took a second for Barklay to get me on the ground. I could tell he wasn’t sure about me, if he could trust me or not. He didn’t let me go very fast.

In fact, he watched my face for a long time--endless seconds?--before easing out, “You run. I chase.”

I tried to read his meaning. I felt like I’d been hunted down. He looked angry enough to eat me alive.

His eyes blazed. Glowed. There was no question, if he gave me an inch, I’d run. I’d take off, as fast as I could, running for my dear life.

Maybe he read that in my eyes, or felt it in the heave of my chest, the race of my pulse. Honestly? I was paralyzed with fear. Thought I was facing death.

Crinos werewolf fangs are horrifying at any angle, but from below? Knowing your throat and belly are exposed? You can’t even swallow.

Bark peered at me, tipping his muzzle, sniffing my fear. His nose huffed, riffling the fur on my chest.

Tickling my nipples, making them harden.

Yes. There is a certain titillation in stark terror. A tingling jittered between my legs, and I knew moisture seeped from me.

Wept for what we’d had?

Arching his back and neck, so he could look between us--the scent must’ve hit his nose within seconds--he grumbled under his breath. Something about Gaia helping him, being cursed, accentuated with a “Fuck.”

Just hearing him say that word made me wet.

He groaned. Then he licked. Just a tongue flick, that curled up inside of me--ever so briefly--before he said, “I have an urge to piss all over you.”

So, okay. That made me blink and wrinkle my nose, and hiss, “Get off of me, you stupid, rutting dog!”

It bugged the hell out of me to lie on my back in full cougar. Hated being belly up like that. At his mercy.

Not that I’d minded it before, but he wasn’t getting off. Literally.

Only seconds had passed, but I think my fragrance befuddled him, had him hung--snicker--up so bad he just crouched over me, his tongue out of his mouth, looking at the way my lips swelled in instant readiness. Yep. The lower ones.

I can’t help what my body does when he’s near me. When I know he’s turned on.

But somebody had to think. One of us had to do something before we both ended up dead. It didn’t matter which side caught up with us. His relatives, or mine, we were in trouble. And I couldn’t do anything, on my back, in full cougar.

So I began to shift.

That knocked him out of his little stupor. Might have given him a panic, because he held me down while I went through the crinos--though I wasn’t moving otherwise. I could have slashed him, though. He was that close to me--literally on top of me.

He gave me the inch-space I needed to do the shifting. When my face blinked to a more human appearance, he let go of my jaw.

Again, he said, “You run. I chase, cat.”

Swallowing hard, I whispered, “K.”

He kissed me!

Of course, I gasped in surprise.

My family is much more attuned to rustling bushes than I am. Definitely do more ‘woodsy hunting’ than I do. Men. Why are they always into the killing? They headed straight for us. We heard the car doors slamming, yelling.

Yes, they opened the gate. The extra vehicles, (all except the one that had taken Daddy, and Tommy to the house,) came out, took off in different directions. Leo had to be in one of them.

I didn’t need Bark to tell me that they were surrounding the area they’d heard me hiss from.

Bark, however, looked pointedly down at my body and said, “Cat. You gotta shift.”

Shift to cougar? I frowned.

He grinned, very wolfishly. “Fast cat, puss.” In a blink, he shifted to full lupine, his ears flicking one way, then another. And he said, “Go north.”

I shook my head, afraid to say a word, for fear someone,
anyone
,
would hear us.

Bark insisted, “
North
. You run. I chase.”

“Bastets.” My eyes flashed, trying to get the point across. “
Everywhere up there
.”

He smiled. Let his tongue hang. And his eyes flashed. “I know.”

I had to kiss him, then. A quick, pecky, lick and lip press against the side of his muzzle. It was the one direction they’d never expect us to go. All we had to do is get out of there, first.

Turning, I perked my ears, listened, thought hard. This part wasn’t so tough--
if
he’d follow my lead. I mean, I got through, escaped, all the time. I’d just never done it with somebody behind me. A little unsure that I could do it without getting him caught, I looked over my shoulder at him.

Confident, he waggled his eyebrows, the finely burnished hood that now covered his forehead, saying, “You run. I chase.” Quieter, he whispered, “Don’t look back, puss.”

I tried, “I go. You wait until I lead them off.”

He squinted at me like he thought I was nuts, shook his head, and started to argue--and repeat his now favorite phrase. “You ru--”

“K.” I cut in. I mean--I got it. I didn’t stand around talking about it any more. I took off.

Truth is, I don’t know how the heck we got out of there. When I started running, I didn’t look back. I just let my wits take me. I headed due north.

I’m sure my family, when they picked up my trail, took some relief at the common sense of my heading straight for bastet territory, even if they knew I had a werewolf on my tail.

Here again, geography screwed me. Promising myself to pay more attention to maps, globes and world reports in the future. I ran us right to a lake. A big, fucking-ass lake that looked like it was as wide as the day is long.

Instinct? My nose led me to water. I was dying of thirst. A sip later, I’m thinking again,
Did they catch Bark?
I’d lost him.

I considered going back, looking for him. Started to. Paced back and forth all over the side of that lake. Before, finally, I decided that I needed to get moving again.

It took forever to get around that lake. I’m a cat. I don’t swim. But I ran most of the time, hopping into the shallow edge for lengths at a time--hoping that would throw anyone following me off my trail.

I don’t know how long it took. On the far side of the lake, I started climbing. Mountainous outback region with lots of trees and boulders. Natural cat habitat. Lots of old lairs, but nobody in sight--or within scent. I crawled upward until I, honestly, could not move any more. And then I holed up, licked my heart.

There was a surety in my soul that I would not be welcome at the compound ever again, for what I’d done. I could not face ‘my family.’ And I worried whether or not they’d even live through it all.

Oh, I wanted those painkillers right then, but I didn’t think they’d help my heart. Just...take some of the thinking away. I faced something there, though. The fact that my actions do affect others.

Yeah. I cried myself to sleep.

I was so sorry.

When I woke up, I didn’t feel any better. Restlessness had returned to my bones. I decided to keep moving. For days, I slunk through the country, never looking back. Not stopping for much. Staying out of sight, ahead of the wind.

Wandered aimlessly, really, knowing I couldn’t go home.

I don’t know how long I would have kept that up, if Bark hadn’t found me. Maybe forever.

This is how much I’d stopped caring about things...In the light of day, I walked out into the open, shifted full human, stepped into a lake--they were all over up there--up to my breasts. Any deeper makes me nervous.

But I was far enough in to be stuck.

I heard something in the bushes. Just a little noise. The snap of a twig.

That put a panic on my face, had my gaze darting, and my heart racing. There was a little funny to it, when you think about it. I’m sure it looked like something to watch. Nipples skimming the water’s surface, erect the minute fear zipped through me.

So tense, and afraid to move. I remember that.

My throat kept me from calling out. It wasn’t working at all. Not letting me swallow. I was so scared I couldn’t even bring myself to sniff for a scent.

A stranger? Gaia, I prayed not.

Bark? Surely, if it were him, he’d have come right out?

Leo? I know he’d have come out, probably chewing on me. No. He wouldn’t have wasted a second that he could have been showing me his fury.