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“Dawn is moving to intercept, Cabal and Tanner are joining for animal control. The cats have been restless, Kane. They might not obey standard commands,” the young female Breed at the communications table reported.
“Have Merc ready the cycles,” he snapped back at her. “We’re heading out. ”
Kiowa tensed as he followed Kane at a run, fury building in his mind with each damned second. Damn her, he hadn’t expected her to run. How had she had the energy to run?
“The cycles will make quick work of the distance,” Kane yelled as they approached the sound of powerful motors revving inside a metal shed on the other side of the compound.
“I’m going to beat her,” Kiowa muttered. “Dammit to hell. I warned her. ”
“Goddammit, Kiowa,” Kane cursed as they burst into the well lit shed, the wide doors shoved open.
“How easy do you think this is on her? We should have expected it. ”
But they hadn’t, and because of his lack of foresight, Amanda was in danger. They jumped on the readied, powerful little cycles. Built for speed and mountain runs, the motorcycles were specially designed by Mercury, the towering lion breed who oversaw their care like a mother hen. They shot from the shed at full throttle, spinning recklessly as they took a sharp turn around the driveway that led to the shed and headed up the graveled road into the mountain.
“She’s made it more than a mile from the cabin,” Kane yelled into the comm link. “Heading for the main road. Cats are moving in fast so let’s make this quick. ”
The big cats were getting closer. She could hear their throttled screams echoing around her as though calling out to each other, working in coordination to track her down. Amanda was running, stumbling over brush and logs as she fought to keep from falling and rolling down the mountain. God only knew what lay at the bottom of some of the ravines she had detected. She was fighting to breathe as fear raced through her body and her own weakness slapped her in the face. Surely it would have been easier to steal a cell phone. She wouldn’t be eaten at any rate. She tripped over something. Her own feet maybe as another savage feline scream sounded behind her. Landing on her stomach, she struggled to get back to her feet, coming to her knees and then eyeball to eyeball with the biggest meanest-looking lion she had ever laid her eyes on. He roared. Opened his powerful jaws, displaying a mouthful of razorsharp teeth and roared right in her face.
“I taste really bad,” she snapped, too scared to try to move as he leveled that eerie amber stare at her.
“And I don’t have any meat on my bones. Dad is always telling me I’m too damned skinny… I bet rabbits taste really good…” she whimpered. “Oh God, go find a rabbit. ”
He growled, lifting his lip and displaying the brutal teeth at the side of his mouth. His head was huge, the thick mane that grew from the back of it indicating a mature, able creature in his prime.
“He doesn’t care much for rabbits. His favorite treats are dumb little girls who like to disregard measures set up for their own safety. ”
The female voice had her jerking around, only to earn her a sharp nip on her back from the animal at her back.
She jerked back around, staring in surprise as he roared again.
“Can you call him off or something?” she gasped. The little bite hadn’t hurt, but she would prefer not to have a chunk taken out of her.
“Tiny pretty much does what he wants,” the woman drawled softly, her voice soft, almost melodic as she came around Amanda and hunched down beside the animal. “Don’t you, Tiny?”
The lion butted against the woman, her features too dim and Amanda’s gaze too filled with sharp teeth to pay much attention to how she looked.
The huge animal made a soft snuffling sound as he rubbed against the woman’s leg, obviously content for the moment.
“Good boy. ” She stroked his mane and then amazingly enough, purred with a kittenish soft sound. “Go lay down and I’ll talk to our visitor a minute. Tanner will be here soon with your treat. ”
The lion’s head swung back to Amanda, the look he gave her one of pure male aggravation, but he turned and moved a few inches away, plopping down on the ground and watching her closely.
“I can’t connect with them very well,” the woman kept her voice pitched to that melodic, almost mesmerizing tone. “Just stay quiet and nice and unthreatening and he should be fine until Tanner and Cabal arrive. They’re right behind me. ”
Amanda wasn’t taking her eyes off the lion.
“Was I close?” she asked, her voice barely above a breath.
“Not even close,” she sighed. “Actually, another twenty feet or so in this direction is a hidden ravine. You might not have survived the fall. ”
Amanda lowered her head dejectedly.
“Is it so bad?” the woman asked her then, her voice reflective. “My sister mated with Kane, he’s not a Breed, but he should have been one. Is the mating horrible?”
Amanda flicked a surprised look to the dark form. Still kneeling on hands and knees, she was terrified to move. The lion wasn’t taking his eyes off her.
“Umm. No,” she said carefully.
