Chapter 13 – *Shifter Romance*

Kaitlin glanced up at The Iron Pit and frowned. This didn’t feel like a good idea anymore. She couldn’t explain why, she just got the sense that something wasn’t right.

Rhys placed an arm around her waist and Brent came up on her other side and together they walked through the open double doors of the bar.

The inside of the bar was pretty basic; wooden bar along one wall, bar stools at it, wooden tables spread throughout and a snooker table at the back.

“Do you see him?”

She scanned the bar looking for Malachi but it had been years since she’d last seen him and he’d probably changed a lot in that time.

Her gaze landed on a table in the back near the snooker table and she frowned. That guy could be him, she mused. He had the right hair and height. As if sensing her attention on him, the guy glanced up and she sucked in a breath. It was him alright. He hadn’t changed at all.

Malachi’s face showed surprise and he stood up slowly.

“Is that him?” Rhys asked, seeing that she was staring at him.

It took a few seconds for his words to sink in and when they did, she nodded slowly.

Brent and Rhys shared a look before walking forward; leaving her behind and she frowned, wondering what they were doing. She hurried to catch up and pushed between them as they reached the table and threw a glare at each man.

“Kaitlin?”

Her attention moved to Malachi. “Long time, no see, huh?” She allowed herself to remember him back when they’d been close. He’d had a recklessness about him that had drawn her in like a moth to a flame. What with her father not letting any boys near her, Malachi had been the only one brave enough to try. He’d come and sneak her out of the house in the dead of night and whisk her off to wherever she wanted to go in his beat up old car. It was on one of those nights they’d had sex.

“You’re here with wolves?” He asked, bringing her back to the present. He was staring hard at the men on either side of her, a frown on his face. “You’re father agrees with this?”

Kaitlin shook her head and grimaced, “Not exactly. It’s a long story. Can we join you?”

Slowly, Malachi sat and gestured to the unoccupied chairs. They all sat and stared at Malachi while he stared almost unblinkingly at Kaitlin. It was unsettling and she shifted in her chair.

Rhys began to growl, a low rumble deep in his throat that sounded both possessive and aggressive. She shot him a quick glance and felt the anger radiating from him towards Malachi. Placing her hand on his thigh she managed to get his attention and she shook her head. He momentarily closed his eyes and she felt him relax beneath her fingers.

Kaitlin began to pull her hand back but Rhys grabbed it and put it back on his thigh and covered it with his own. She gave him a smile and then returned her attention to Malachi whose gaze was locked on the table top where her hand had disappeared.

“I left my family and the compound,” she admitted.

That got Malachi to look at her and his eyebrows had risen in surprise, “Why? You were safe there.”

She shook her head and laughed a little. “No, I wasn’t. My father has been using me as a pawn in whatever game he’s playing, for years. That included getting rid of you. He got me involved with Tito not long after you…left. He’d probably promised him a virgin and when we—well it ruined that plan.”

Malachi was watching her intently, “You left the compound because he played you into having a relationship with Tito? Christ, Kaitlin, that’s nothing compared to what he could have done,” he said snidely.

Kaitlin slammed her open right palm onto the table top, hard. A loud crack filled the room and she gritted her teeth against the pain that spiked up her arm. “There was more to it than that! He used to make my puma go mad, helped the two of us separate by using his Alpha. He didn’t help like a father should, he hindered me; blamed me for it all. I nearly died!”

A soft keening sound came from Rhys direction and Brent gently eased her wrist into his hold where he assessed the damage she’d done to herself.

“It’s a clean break; she should heal fine, and quickly.”

As he spoke, the pain began to dull and she let out a shaky breath. “It’s already starting to heal,” she told them.

“You should change to speed it up,” Malachi told her. They glanced across at him in silence, obviously having forgotten he was still there.

“I agree,” Rhys told her and urged her to her feet. Brent and Malachi quickly got to theirs too and followed them as they moved across the bar to the door. Luckily for them, there were some woods directly behind and Rhys steered her around back.

“Strip.”

She raised a brow at his order and watched as his jaw tensed. She could tell he was still pissed about Malachi’s reaction to her and was taking it out on her. And she wasn’t going to let him. “No!”

His eyes began to glow amber as he stared at her in the darkness. “Cat, you need to change to heal your wrist.”

“What I don’t need is to be ordered about. If I wanted to be, I’d have stayed with my father!”

Rhys head snapped back like she’d physically hit him.

Malachi appeared at their side a second later. “Someone’s here.”

Kaitlin watched as her lovers head swung to the darkness of the forest, his eyes searching for something in its depths. He tensed suddenly and pulled her behind him. “You should have changed,” he muttered darkly.

She stared daggers at the back of his head but then she heard movement and her gaze moved beyond him. Something moved and then she saw several pairs of glowing eyes moving closer to them from within the woods.

Her breath caught and she wrapped her uninjured hand around Rhys’ upper arm.

She’d known something was wrong earlier, why hadn’t she said anything? They must have been waiting for them to come back out of the bar, but how had they known? Only the most trusted members of Rhys’ pack had been brought in on their little mission. The same one’s she had met the first night of her being at The Bay. Images of that one wolfs dark stare momentarily flashed through her mind and she gasped. Had he done this?

Kaitlin scented the air but got nothing. Her sense of smell wasn’t as strong as Rhys’, maybe he’d picked up on something.

“Bears,” he growled, a hint of distaste in the word.

“Tito?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Stay behind me.”

She scowled at him. Why did she have to keep reminding people she was a trained fighter? Okay, her wrist had been broken moments before but she was sure she could still fight.

A form appeared out of the trees and they were human. She didn’t recognise the man but he was huge, definitely a bear. Another joined him and this one she recognised. Tito.

A snarl built in her chest at the sight of him.

Tito saw her over Rhys’ shoulder and grinned. “Keeping you locked up already? I’m surprised you’re standing for it, Kaitlin.”

She bared her teeth at him and swore colourfully. He just laughed.

“What do you want?” Rhys asked him.

Cocking his head to the side, he smirked, “I heard there’s a bounty on your head, Alpha.”

“And you’re hoping to claim it?”

“Nothing would give me greater pleasure,” he assured.

Rhys took two steps forward and Brent grabbed her arm to stop her from doing the same. Rhys held his arms out to the sides, “Then come and get me.”

Kaitlin shot a glare up at Brent when he refused to let her go, “What is he doing?” She hissed.

“Showing them why he’s the Boss,” he said with a smile.

A frown marred her features as she glanced across at the two men. What did he mean?

Tito stepped forward to stand a few feet from Rhys while the rest of the bears stayed back to watch. They began to slowly circle around and then suddenly Tito charged with a roar. He wasn’t fast enough and Rhys swiftly sidestepped, turned and tripped him, sending him falling to the floor.

The bear let out an unholy roar as he pushed back to his feet and glared down at Rhys. Then he was attacking again, his fist aiming for the wolf’s face but once again Rhys was quicker and easily dodged the boulder sized fist. When this proved ineffective, Tito began circling again, looking for an opening.

Rhys grinned, “Too quick for you?”

His only response was a disgruntled growl.

Then it was Rhys going on the attack. He was fast, nearly a blur as he punched Tito in the face and stomach repeatedly. Kaitlin missed half of the blows, only heard the sounds of flesh hitting flesh. It took mere minutes until Tito was a bleeding lump of flesh on the floor with Rhys leaning over him, not even breathing hard after the fight.

He glanced at the group of bears, “Anyone else want to try?” They all dropped their gazes to their leader on the floor and shook their heads. “Then take him and get the hell out of here.”

Quickly obliging, they dragged Tito off into the trees and disappeared.

Turning back to them, his gaze instantly went to Kaitlin’s and ran over her, checking she was fine. No-one had been anywhere near her so why wouldn’t she be?

His gaze then went to Malachi. “We need your help but I need to tell you something first. Kaitlin is mine; my friend, my lover, my mate. Understood?” Malachi nodded, his gaze slipping to her for a second before returning to Rhys. “We are at war with her father and there is now a bounty on my head thanks to him. We need your help to bring him down in whatever way possible. If you know anything we can use to bring him down, any secret, we need to know.”

Malachi hesitated, his eyes flitting between the three of them and the woods. Then he let out a puff of air, “I’ll help you bring him down. I’ve been researching him for years since he kicked me out. I have everything in a file at home.”

This was better than they could have hoped for. Kaitlin grinned and threw her arms around him, forgetting about her still healing wrist and let out a grunt of pain as it came into contact with his shoulder. “Thank you, Malachi.”

His hand tentatively patted her on the back, his body tense as he waited for the repercussions of her actions.

She pulled back, favouring her wrist, and stepped back into Rhys’ waiting arms.

“Let’s go get us this folder,” Brent said with a grin.