Unleashed by Shadows (By Moonlight Book 10) (17 page)

Cale approached without flash or fanfare, stepping almost quietly into the arena to encourage a lukewarm reception.

“Show them, Mick,” Casper Lee encouraged in a whisper.

On cue, Cale let loose an eardrum-splitting cry that rattled the unbreakable glass and his opponent’s nerves as he transformed. Becoming not a just a dog of war.

But a God of War.

CHAPTER TWELVE

They rode toward the Quarter in silence, MacCreedy using the rearview to keep an anxious eye on their passenger in back.

Cale sat motionless, yet seemed to vibrate with compressed movement. His quick breaths jerked and stuttered. Hands dangling limply between spread knees twitched and trembled. He kept his head down, but the memory of his hugely dilated pupils had Silas increasingly worried.

Noting his unvoiced concern, Nica pointed. “Turn here.”

Frowning at her suggestion, Silas complied. The road led, not toward the city, but far from it, narrowing, roughening as signs of civilization grew few and farther between. Finally, nothing but darkness and tangled scrub edged the bumpy lane.

“Pull over.”

Shooting her another puzzled glance, Silas steered off the edge of the road where ground sucked at the tires and the smell of dank bayou overwhelmed the senses. He shut off the engine and turned to her fretfully. “I’m a city boy. There are few things I dislike more than two-tracking in the swamps away from street lights and a good restaurant.”

She smiled at his agitation. “Relax, hero. I’m not asking you to get out of your comfort zone.”

Cale finally looked up to murmur, “Don’t tell me. This is where I get out.”

Nica glanced over the back of the seat, smile cool and narrow. “This is where we get out.”

A rusty laugh. “Where no one will ever find my body.”

“That’s a thought,” she mused. “But not the one I had in mind. I was thinking of room for you to run the toxins out of your system, out here where there’s no one you can harm.”

“No one but you.” Silas’s disapproving stare went from his pregnant wife to the dangerously edgy Cale. “I don’t like this.”

Her hand brushed his taut cheek. “I can keep up with him better than you. We can’t take him back into the city like this. You know I’m right.”

He looked back at Cale, eyes glittering fiercely to warn, “No harm will come to her.”

Cale snorted, muttering, “I’m more concerned about me than her.” He shoved the door open and stepped out into the dank air, hating the place, these circumstances, and himself for what he’d done this night. But he knew Nica was right. He couldn’t return to Kendra still pumped from the drug racing through his blood. He was too unstable, and there was no way to hide it. He stared glumly out into the darkness then down the twist of what could barely be called a road, hoping for the later as he asked, “Where to?”

Nica joined him and nodded toward the unknown and unseen as she pulled her hair back into a severe knot and eased out of her heels. “You first. Don’t worry. I’ll be right behind you.”

“And I shouldn’t worry about that?” He gave a fatalistic sigh and let the meager grip on his self-control fall away, surrendering to the violent storm of energy the way he had in the arena earlier that evening. Where he’d ripped through everything in his path with a mindless brutality.

The taste of his opponent’s blood returned to fill his mouth. He ran, becoming what Lee released within him, a mindless, instinct-driven creature, as basic and fierce as the ones who’d spawned his clan, who’d known nothing but marauding and massacre and lived for the thrill of it.

What he was born to be as a son of Bram Terriot.

That immense primitive power carried him deep into the heart of savage surroundings. He plunged through snarled thickets filled with predators like himself, spurred onward by the urgent war drum of his heartbeats. And by the sound of Nica MacCreedy ever at his heels.

He gave up trying to shake her. She was as relentless as he, driven. Her persistent shadow goaded him to an exhaustion so great, the strength in his legs folded even as the wildness in his heart howled for him to continue on.

She found him on his knees, slumped over, wet brow resting on crossed arms. Breaths tore from him in huge, raw gulps as tension trickled down into loose tremors, leaving him vulnerable in body and spirit.

“Is that all you’ve got, Shape-shifter?”

“Every last drop. Is this where you kill me, Assassin?” There was no fight left in his hoarse question.

“That would be too kind a fate for what you deserve, for what you did to Silas and his family.”  She crouched beside him and got to the purpose of their isolating race. “Why are you here, Shifter King?”

“You told me to get out of the car.”

“Here in New Orleans,” she clarified.

“Silas called me.”

“That’s too simple. What do you owe him that’s greater than what your own people demand?”

“Why do you care?” he groaned, denying her the truth that shredded heart and soul.

“I don’t. Throw your life away. Turn away from the clan that looks to you as their leader. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“Then why are you bitching at me about it?”

“Because I don’t like puzzles I can’t put together.”

He chuckled, her irritation bringing a small measure of satisfaction.

His amusement sparked wariness. “Is this some trap to spring on him when he’s just begun to trust you?”

“Silas doesn’t trust me any more than you do. He sees what he’s always seen, and there’s nothing I can do to change that. I’m tired of trying.” Cale sighed wearily and rested his brow atop clasped hands. Had he ever been so empty, so beaten, so resigned? “They’re going to kill me, you know. I’m never going to go back home. I’m going to die here fighting Silas’s fight.”

She studied him for a long, silent moment then scoffed, “And you’re just going to let that happen?”

He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter what I do.”

“You’re going to abandon your family? Don’t you care what becomes of your mate?”

“That’s the only thing I do care about. I’ve made her my queen. She’s stronger than you give her credit for. She’ll hold my family together when I’m gone.”

“Not without your heir.”

That cold truth carved through his pride, spilling it from him with eviscerating cruelty.

“You’ve failed to provide her with the one thing that would guarantee her safety.”

Slowly, Cale straightened to sit back on his heels. He lifted his head to stare up at her, expression hard and determined. “You know nothing about me. I always have a backup plan when it comes to protecting my own.”

“And what might that be?”

He simply smiled and dragged himself to his feet, taking a wobbly step back when she reached to steady him. “I don’t need you or your pity. I haven’t forgotten what you told me. That there’d come a time when I’d need your help, but you wouldn’t give it to me. I don’t need anything from you, from any of you.” But after posturing arrogance confronted reality, he added with a bit more humility, “Except a ride back to my queen.”

*

Kendra couldn’t remember a longer evening. Knowing Cale was with Silas gave little comfort when she had no idea what they were involved in. Something risky. Something so dangerous neither would trust her with the truth.

Something had happened to Cale in this city far away from his home. Had changed him, tormented him. Scared and scarred him. All her protective instincts screamed for her to grab him up and drag him back where he belonged, even if the assistance of his brothers was required.

As leader of his clan, his people depended on Cale during this uncertain transition of power from his father’s cruel fists to his broad shoulders. He should be at their mountain top retreat strengthening his hold on the crown, playing diplomat, not here, allowing Silas to manipulate his remorse over past events that had been out of his control.

She paced, fearing she’d lose her soulmate to the darkness he carried inside. Finally, she perched on the edge of one of the chairs, muscles tight, stare unfocused, trying to calm her apprehension by absently turning the huge diamond in her ear. The symbol of his willingness to sacrifice anything for her.

How to reclaim a prince turned king, now made pawn to whatever Silas was involved in?

Kendra sensed him before he opened the door to their sumptuous suite. She stood, scarcely breathing. Impressions channeled through their shared bond. Sensations of pain and exhaustion rubbed against a strange dark energy she didn’t recognize. As if someone else wore his familiar skin.

The main room was dark, lit only by the lurid red of atmospheric LEDs. That light reflected in his gaze as he stepped in and shut the door behind him. For a long, tense moment, they regarded each other, wary, weary combatants as their angry parting words chafed between them.

She broke through that wall with a soft, “I’m so sorry.”

Cale advanced, his steady stare never leaving hers until crushing her up against him, his heart pounding like her own. That frantic rhythm grew faster, harder until Kendra pushed away to regard her harshly handsome mate. As he braced defensively, almost fearfully, she caught his face between her palms, holding him hard to take his mouth in savage possession. Bruising his lips, cutting them on her teeth as she nipped and tugged in her need to devour.

“Don’t you ever leave me like that again,” she panted fiercely.

Groaning, Cale found her eager lips once more, whispering hoarsely against them, “I need you, baby. Need to have you, claim you, love you.”

He spun her suddenly, tossing her onto her knees on the leather cushions, forcing her to clutch at the chair’s back for balance. She couldn’t see him, could only hear the rage of his hurried breaths as he tore down her silky pajama pants, impatiently ripping them off her. His hands rushed hot and strong over her hips, her thighs, gripping her knees to pull them wide.

With a low, rumbling sound, Cale Terriot shed human form as hurriedly as his attire, becoming what prowled within. This time, not to destroy life, but intent on creating it.

The clamp of his hand on the back of her head muffled her welcoming cries against the cushions. His guttural growls timed to each deep thrust. No romance. No tenderness. Just biology in its most primitive form, the same way he’d taken her in the woods for their rough consummation. No kissing. No touching. Just the instinctive need to procreate.

Pride. Control. Strength. Those things defining a Terriot male drove him. Things that excited and frightened her when they’d mated on pine-scented earth. Excited and still frightened her now as the powerful male at her back was hers, but somehow still unreachable.

A roar exploded from him as he emptied inside her. Then she understood and shared his furious urgency.

Give me a child.

Cale swept her up, taking her into the bedroom they shared, kicking the door shut. Locking it against the world as last night she had against him.

He carried her to their bed, laying her down on the crisp spread, spreading her so he could bend and taste all of her. Filling her again until she keened in search of satisfaction. Gasping, shaking, crying out as it rolled over and through her.

Give me his son!

*

Stretched out on her belly, completely sated, Kendra touched the back of her mate’s head. He sat on the floor, leaning back against the bed, his breathing still ragged.

“Join me, my king.” She used his title reverently.

Cale found her hand, slipping his fingers between hers to draw it down, brushing his lips along her knuckles. “I hurt you after I promised I wouldn’t.”

Not sure if he referred to their earlier words or his aggressive claim or something totally different, she assured, “Minor hurts, already forgotten.”

“Not by me.” He took a deep inhale, letting it out heavily. Drawing her to the edge of the bed with his despondency.

With all the love in her heart, she whispered, “I forgive you.”

He looked up, such bottomless fatigue in his drawn features, his gaze raw with unexplained misery. “You wouldn’t if you knew.”

She touched his cheek, stroking away the evidence of his anguish, that same tenderness softening her tone as she tried to convince him to tell her, to trust her.

“I’d forgive you anything, Cale. Anything.”  She patted the mattress with her other hand, voice pitched persuasively. “Come up. I need your arms around me.” He couldn’t say no to that.

Entwined together, sharing heat and comfort, Kendra finally fell asleep, but Cale found no escape from his distress.

I’d forgive you anything.

If only she knew.

*

A determined knocking on the outer door woke them. Kendra reached for her mate, wanting to hold him close a bit longer, but he was already muttering as he pulled on his jeans.

“If that’s one of my brothers, I’m going to eat his kidneys for breakfast.” He shuffled out of their room, yawning hugely. There, she heard him stumble over his discarded boots, inciting a grumbled curse.

Kendra dragged on a pair of leggings and one of Cale’s tee shirts. Six o’clock. She was starting to agree with her mate’s choice of breakfast meats when she heard him exclaim, “Hey there, sexy mama!”

Kendra came upon the sight of slender arms wrapped around him, pulling him into a lusty lip lock. With a fierce narrowing of her eyes, she strode across the room intent on serving up whichever Terriot groupie was feasting on her man’s mouth.

Until she got a glimpse of flaming red hair.

“Bree!”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Cale Terriot had never been Brigit MacCreedy St. Clair’s favorite person. In fact, when they were children, she regarded him the way she would an annoying parasite that had burrowed under her young cousin’s fair skin. No matter how much scratching, pinching, and burning she’d done, she’d never managed to pry him loose.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like him. He just had no purpose in Bree’s life. He wasn’t an eligible suitor. He never flattered her, or for that matter paid her much attention at all. He’d been a skinny little thing with the most irritating laugh and a direct stare that could always see right through her artifices. Worse, Kendra adored him and spent her time hanging on his words instead of her own.