Captured by her Cougar (Cougar Creek Mates Shifter Romance Series Book 2) Read online

  “Look, Ivy, I’m not a member of Archangel. I don’t know anything about them other than the fact they hunt non-humans, and I didn’t know what Alexander was involved in, I swear it. I only found all of this out recently, and that was by mistake.”

  Ivy leaned closer still, a frown tugging at her dark eyebrows. “A mistake?”

  Gabi nodded and settled her hands on her lap, stared at them as she thought about that day at the mansion. “I remembered the beautiful photographs you and the other photographers had taken of big cats, and I really wanted to get some printed into a book for Alexander for his forty-fifth birthday. When he was out, I went into his office and his computer was on. It wasn’t exactly difficult to guess his password… but I found more than the pictures I was looking for on his computer though.”

  And she had wished from the second she had been foolish enough to let curiosity get the better of her that she had just logged out and walked away.

  “What did you find?” Ivy covered her hand with her own one, curled her fingers around it and clutched her palm.

  Gabi closed her eyes, because she wanted to shut out the images of what she had found, but they tormented her anyway, flashed across the darkness and had her close to covering her mouth as bile rose up her throat.

  “There was a folder on the desktop, and I was only looking for photographs, I swear…” She swallowed hard. “But when I opened the folder… I found… there were… pictures.”

  “Pictures?” Ivy’s soft voice curled around her, offering encouragement and support that did nothing to ease Gabi’s nerves.

  She was being ridiculous. Ivy knew about Rath and Storm, and the things Alexander had been involved in. There was no reason to fear telling her. If anything, there was every reason to want to tell her, because it might mean her freedom.

  But remembering what she had seen that day, it had her struggling with her words and the strength to say them.

  She swallowed hard again, shut out the visions of what she had seen, and pushed onwards.

  “Alexander holding a dead jaguar in one picture… and then… a shot taken a minute later… he’s in the same location in a jungle but he’s holding… a… dead… woman.” Gabi had to swallow again to stop the bile from rising, clenched her knees and opened her eyes, stared at the flames to burn away the gruesome image of her half-brother holding a dead woman. Her gaze leaped to Ivy as her heart started to pound. “I meant to leave then, but I ended up reading some of the files… reports on locations and missions, and ‘hunts’ that had gone well.”

  Her throat closed and her strength faltered, voice going quiet as she remembered everything that had happened.

  “I never really believed what I read… what I saw… not until I saw Storm change and attack Alexander. He’s really…”

  Ivy nodded. “They can shift into the form of a cougar, but they’re peaceful, Gabi. They don’t want to hurt people.”

  Gabi found that impossible to believe. Not the fact they could shift into a cougar, but the fact they were peaceful and didn’t want to hurt people. Storm wanted to hurt her, and she was sure others in the area wanted the same thing. None of them trusted her.

  God, if Ivy hadn’t been here, would Rath have ordered her execution already?

  Her heart skipped a beat at that and she couldn’t stop her eyes from jumping from Ivy to Storm.

  He tilted his head slightly to his left, so his profile was to her, and frowned, his sandy eyebrows dipping low over his golden eyes as the corners of his profane lips turned downwards.

  “Gabi,” Ivy whispered, pulling her focus back to her as she rubbed her hand where it still gripped her knee. “They just want to live their lives in peace, the same as humans do.”

  And the same as some humans, they were willing to kill to achieve that peace.

  “You were telling me about that day in Alexander’s office.” Ivy’s gentle tone soothed her fear and she pushed away from thoughts of Rath and Storm hurting her, and focused back on her friend.

  Because she was sure that convincing Ivy was the key to convincing Rath and saving herself.

  “Alexander caught me,” she whispered and blew out her breath as every ounce of the fear, the terror, she had felt that day came crashing over her again. “He was so angry with me, Ivy… and I was so afraid. I thought if he had killed those people, he might kill me… he’s always resented me and what our mother did… so I pretended to buy into his shit, thought if I acted as if I hated these non-humans too as he ranted about them and how they had killed his father and destroyed his life, and how they all had to die… that maybe I could get away and everything would be fine.”

  “It wasn’t fine?” Ivy prompted and Gabi shook her head.

  “I ended up pulled into things. I’m not sure whether he thought maybe we were bonding, finally becoming family, or whether he just wanted to scare me.” Gabi shifted her focus back to the log burner, watching as the flames flickered, getting low now as their fuel started to run out. “I didn’t know he was tracking you and the others. I was shocked when he came to the mansion and said we were going on a trip. I thought it was for his business, because when I spoke to George about it, he said that Alexander had cleared a large amount of funds from his account for the trip and had marketed it to him as an opportunity he couldn’t miss.”

  “George?” Ivy frowned. “George Bentley?”

  Gabi nodded. “He’s my fiancé now.”

  She mustn’t have sounded happy about that, because Ivy’s frown stuck.

  “When did this happen?” The brunette leaned closer still, her hazel eyes soft. “I don’t see any ice on that finger.”

  She glanced down at her left hand as Ivy released it. “It was Alexander’s idea. He told me I had to do it for the family. George is a banker, ridiculously rich, and Alexander needed his money… because his business was in trouble.”

  Ivy’s eyebrows shot up. “In trouble? That’s news to me.”

  Gabi shrugged it off. “No one was meant to know. If I married George then all of Alexander’s money worries would go away.”

  “But you don’t want to marry him,” Ivy said, a cautious edge to her voice as her eyes darted between Gabi’s, seeking the truth in them.

  A truth Gabi was all too willing to admit, because she hated the burden of carrying it around in her heart.

  “I can’t stand him. He’s boring… a banker, Ivy. A banker! All he cares about are investments and his stocks, and making money off someone else’s misfortune. God, he’s as dull as dishwater.” Bloody hell, that had felt good to say.

  Ivy’s soft pink lips tilted in a half-smile. “I’m guessing the engagement is off now.”

  Gabi wanted that to be the case, but if she didn’t go through with it, then Alexander’s company, which would now belong to her mother, would go bankrupt and her family would follow it. They would lose everything if she didn’t sacrifice something.

  She glanced at Storm.

  But would it really be worth the price she would have to pay?

  As she stared at his rigid shoulders, a thought struck her.

  Alexander had life insurance.

  She dragged her gaze to Ivy. “What happened to…”

  God, she couldn’t bring herself to say it, felt wretched as she considered what she was about to ask, and her motivation behind it.

  “Storm took care of the body.” Ivy’s voice softened as she said that, and sympathy flared in her hazel eyes.

  Sympathy that made it hit home that Alexander was really dead.

  “I’m sorry, Gabi… but he was going to kill them. They had to protect themselves. You understand that, right?” Ivy’s eyes darted between hers.

  Gabi drew down a shuddering breath to hold the tears back, tears that part of her felt Alexander didn’t deserve, not after everything he had put her through and the way he had treated her for most of her life, and not now that she knew the terrible things he had been doing, hunting people down and slaughtering them.

 
She sniffed and nodded, inhaled and then slowly exhaled, getting control over herself again.

  Her eyes roamed to Storm, and she lowered her voice as familiar fear swept through her, a feeling that had plagued her from the moment she had grown aware of her cage and her jailer. “I’m afraid, Ivy. I’m afraid still… scared that I’m next.”

  Ivy’s warm hand settled on her arm and she gently squeezed. “Nothing bad will happen to you, Gabi. I’ll help you. All you have to do is be honest with them and show them you have nothing to do with Archangel, and that you won’t tell anyone about them. Just convince them they can trust you.”

  She scoffed at that. If only it were so simple.

  “I can’t convince Storm,” she muttered as she glared at his back. “He’s pig-headed and won’t believe me. He’s made up his mind about me. He hates me just because some part of Alexander is in my veins… because I was unfortunate enough to be born into that family. How am I supposed to convince someone who is hellbent on believing I’m going to hurt them?”

  She tensed when the door opened and Storm strode in, his bright golden eyes fixed on her in a way that had a shiver chasing over her skin and her heartrate jacking up.

  He didn’t take his eyes off her as he said, “You’ve had your fifteen minutes, Ivy. Times up.”

  Her first instinct was to shrink away, the bite in his deep voice and the darkness washing across his sculpted features leaving her in no doubt that a terrible fate awaited her when Ivy left, but then the courage she had been gathering, slowly piecing together every time they came to blows, born of a desire to survive and show him that he wasn’t going to defeat her, had her sitting straighter and glaring at him.

  Staring at him without flinching.

  His expression shifted, a flicker of surprise crossing it before he dropped his gaze to Ivy.

  Ivy issued her an apologetic smile as she stood. “I’ll check on you again soon.”

  She wanted to ask her to stay, but she kept her eyes on Storm, refusing to let him intimidate her as Rath led Ivy away.

  When they were alone, Gabi pushed to her feet, turned her back on Storm and swept into his bedroom with her head held high.

  “Where are you going?” he rumbled, deep voice sending a shiver down her spine together with the feel of his eyes as they locked on her.

  She pivoted in the doorway to face him. “I’m going to bed.”

  “That’s my room.” He jerked his chin towards it.

  Gabi smiled. “Not anymore.”

  He stormed towards her and she slammed the door in his face just as he reached it, used the key she had found in his absence and locked it from the inside.

  “You gave up your right to it the moment you took me captive,” she said, loud enough that she was sure he would hear her through the thick wooden panels. “In fact, this entire cabin is mine now, and you’re going to have to either get used to it or let me go.”

  His growl echoed through the door, a feral and dangerous sound that sent another shiver down her spine.

  Followed by words that had that shiver turning hot and achy.

  “I’m never letting you go.”

  CHAPTER 6

  “I’m never letting you go.”

  Storm staggered back a step as those words left his lips. He took another two steps backwards as they echoed in his mind in the tense silence, shook his head to shake them off, and growled as he turned his back on the door and Little Bird.

  He refused to let such a tiny female fluster him.

  She was right, and she was his captive, and it was better she slept in the bedroom. There were no windows in it, so the only method of escape for her would be crossing the living room to reach the front door while he was sleeping on the couch, and she had no chance of passing him without him feeling it.

  He slumped onto that couch and stared at the wall as he monitored her with his senses, trying to let the things she had said about him roll off his back. Easier said than done when he was seething, her barbs embedded deep in his heart, tormenting him.

  Gods, half of her conversation with Ivy had him mad at her, and the rest had him conflicted.

  He mulled it over as he watched the dying fire, moved from the couch to kneel in front of the black burner and went to work, clearing some of the ash and stacking new logs on the flames.

  He had the feeling she hadn’t been lying to Ivy, that Ivy’s plan had worked and Gabi had been talking candidly to her, unburdening her heart.

  And her fears.

  Fuck, every time he had felt her fear, he had come close to barging into the cabin to do something that left him reeling, even more confused than ever.

  He wanted to comfort her.

  She had been genuinely terrified of her brother, afraid that he would kill her, and relieved that he was gone. He had felt her relief, and the guilt it had caused in her.

  What sort of bastard made his own flesh and blood afraid of him?

  What sort of bastard made his little sister marry someone she clearly despised?

  He sat back on his heels and focused on her a little harder, until he felt the fear that lingered. Not fear of her brother now, but fear of him. She honestly believed he wanted to kill her.

  She thought he was a danger to her.

  Storm scrubbed a hand over his face and found it impossible to deny that. He was a danger to her, but not in the way she thought. He could see that now, had been blind but no longer. Listening to her, feeling her fear and her pain, had made something clear to him.

  He wanted her.

  It didn’t matter that she was related to the family who had brought harm to his kin, had killed his parents and come close to killing him. It didn’t matter that she had the faintest of ties to Archangel.

  Not anymore.

  He was past that, too far gone to save himself.

  He had realised it when she had told Ivy he was going to kill her, that he hated her and wanted to hurt her, and he had ached with a need to go to her, gather her into his arms and kiss her until she believed otherwise.

  Until she saw the truth he wanted to hide.

  He felt something for her.

  She was beautiful, fierce, fired him up and stood her ground with him in a way that roused his cougar instincts and made him want to dominate her and drive her into submission.

  He groaned and slumped back onto the couch, threw his arm across his eyes and laid there.

  She thought he was dangerous.

  She didn’t know how dangerous she was.

  She was playing a game where she didn’t know the rules, but she was making all the right moves, stoking his aggressive and possessive side in a way no other female had before her.

  She had him on unsteady ground, one that felt liable to buckle beneath him at any moment, had him questioning everything whenever he looked at her—his heart included.

  Gods, if only she knew.

  If only she could feel what he did.

  It pounded in his blood, beat in his heart, and drummed in his soul.

  She was something he hadn’t been looking for, had never even considered for himself, or had ever wanted, but gods, he wanted her now.

  Needed her now.

  More than air, more than life in his breast.

  He had been fucking happy drifting through life without a master plan, doing whatever he wanted with no strings attached, flying solo and just fine that way.

  But now?

  Now he wanted to leave that life behind, craved a future he had never considered before with a ferocity that left him shaken.

  And damn, if this was how Rath had felt when Ivy had walked into his life, then he was really fucked.

  Because it meant one thing.

  Little Bird was his fated one.

  She had been made for him, and he felt that in every fibre of his being, was aware of it right down to his soul, on a level he didn’t quite understand.

  One where he was deeply aware of something.

  He was hers.

 
Storm let his arm fall to his side and stared blankly at the ceiling of his cabin, tried to pretend that feeling didn’t exist and was just a figment of his imagination, but it persisted and had his senses shifting to the female in his bedroom.

  “Fuck,” he muttered.

  What the hell was he meant to do now?

  He couldn’t talk to Rath about it, that was for sure. He couldn’t tell anyone.

  He just needed to pull his shit together and get over it, purge the fever she had started inside him. It wasn’t going to happen.

  He shoved to his feet, crossed the room to the kitchen and yanked the refrigerator open. Thank his ancestors, it was still cold. He grabbed a beer, cracked it open and took it with him onto the deck. A few passing females looked his way, tossing flirty smiles at him as he swigged from the bottle.

  Those looks would have inflamed him once, would have had him lamenting the fact he wasn’t allowed to participate in the gathering.

  Now?

  Now he was more interested in keeping an eye on the passing males, ensuring they didn’t approach his territory.

  And Gabi.

  When he finished his beer, he considered grabbing another, but it had been warmer than he had expected, and left a bitter taste in his mouth. He set the bottle down on the rickety wooden table on the deck at the front of his cabin, rolled the sleeves of his black woollen jumper up his forearms, and walked towards the solar panels.

  He carefully dragged each one into the open, the long cord allowing him to get them all the way to the start of the clearing where the sun would hit them most of the day and fill up his batteries in no time.

  Purely because he wanted cold beer and hot coffee.

  It had nothing to do with getting Little Bird some power so she could have the light on in his bedroom while she sulked.

  He was just positioning the final one when Taya approached him.

  “Has Rath spoken with the human?” Her tone was soft, but something in it set him on edge and made him want to growl at her.

  He straightened to his full height and looked down at her. She flicked her brown hair over her shoulder and tossed him a smile that did nothing to ease his mood.