“Show me,” Peter ordered. His brilliant eyes darkened withconcern.
Stifling a sigh, Quain lifted his shirt as far as he could. He winced at Peter’s expression when he exposed the long knife slashes across his stomach and ribs. The bastards liked to slice him with their daggers dipped in some sort of liquid that slowed his healing even further. His torturers had enjoyed dragging out his pain. As wizards, they could’ve ended his suffering whenever they wanted. They chose not to. He probably should be happy none of them had raped him, but he had difficulty feeling gratitude toward his torturers. The lynx community would take care of their own and get back at these idiots who thought they could do what they wanted withimpunity.
Peter leaned closer to examine Quain’s wounds, careful not to touch. “I’ll kill them.” The low and dangerous tone warmed Quain as much as it scaredhim.
Quain eased his shirt back down. “No. I don’t want you anywhere near those assholes. Not unless you have tons of backup. Besides, my family will take care of them.” He would be surprised if hit men hadn’t already been sent to the wizard mansion. They made a big mistake when they kidnapped a lynx seer and thought they could get away with it. His family usually relied on diplomacy instead of violence, but the wizards had crossed a line and the Ilves had to send a message to anyone who thought they could just take a family seer and survive. His family had a reputation of protecting their own. They wouldn’t let it slidenow.
“As long as they punish them thoroughly, that’s fine. If they choose not to do anything, I will exact my revenge. It is my right as your mate.” Peter’s low, feral tone had Quain’s cat purring inside. Viciousbeast.
“Thank you, but I think my father has it under control. I’ll let him know you offered to help.” It would only do Peter credit in his father’s eyes if Peter showed his ruthlessness. The main issue his father would have with Peter would be his ability to protectQuain.
Peter kissed Quain’s cheek. Scents of vanilla and motor oil filled Quain’s nose and swamped him in waves of home and belonging. A piece of his soul he had never missed before slotted into place, completinghim.
Hesighed.
“I’ll ask Oliver, our pack wizard, if he thinks they would go after you again. We can’t chance your recapture. I would think they’d want you back just so you can’t report them for kidnapping you,” Petersaid.
“Too late. I already informed my father. I told him everything. I think someone must have been watching me before because they attacked during my weekly run and killed Craig, my driver. My running path is pretty isolated. If they hadn’t known where I was going, they wouldn’t have known where to find me.” Quain sniffed. “They held Craig’s funeral while I wascaptive.”
His mother had sobbed over the phone, and his father had vowed revenge on the wizards. If Anthony couldn’t remove the bracelet, Quain had instructions to head to his parents’ house and they would seek outside help. He had worried about how they would take the news about Peter, but their joy at his return swept away any concern they might have had for him finding his fatedpartner.
Peter led Quain out of the shop then locked up behind them. “I’m parked overthere.”
Quain followed Peter to a silver pickup with the company logo on the side. It had a bit of a rough look around the edges like a proper workvehicle.
“I use this truck a lot to go to the junkyard and find parts I’m missing for my rebuilds. Sometimes I get lucky. I also let pack members use it when they need to haulthings.”
“That’s nice of you.” Quain climbed into the truck. A bump against the door made a hiss escape his lips, but he swallowed back further sounds. He didn’t need a distracteddriver.
“It’s part of being pack. You help each other out, like a family. For some of us, it’s the only family we have.” The sad tone in Peter’s voice told Quain that his mate had no oneelse.
“You have me now.” He squeezed Peter’s hand. “I’ve never given pack dynamics much thought before, but that makes sense. I mean, we help each other in my family, but we’re much smaller than your group, I would think, and we tend not to live together. Lynx are rather solitarycreatures.”
“I hope you don’t mind that I told Alpha Silver that I found mymate.”
“Of course not.” Exhaustion pulled at him. His eyelids began to droop, but he fought against sleep. If he closed his eyes now, they might not reopen anytimesoon.
“The pack isn’t all wolves,” Petersaid.
“No?” He’d never heard of a wolf pack that had other shifters involved. Sometimes, they mated to humans, but never to other shifters.Strange.
“Nope, you aren’t even the first cat. We’ve got a couple of tiger shifters in the pack—well, only one officially. The other is his brother, and he refuses to join, despite his mate being a pack member. Something about tiger pride.” Petershrugged.
The fondness in Peter’s voice raised Quain’s hackles. He forcibly pushed away his jealousy. “That’s good to know. Why did the one tiger join the pack? Why not stick with his ownkind?”
Peter might be a wolf, but Quain wasn’t about to go running with a bunch of puppies and baying beneath the full moon. He had too much feline reserve forthat.
“Dare is more social. Both of them are mated to pack wolves and like to keep them company during runs.” Peter started up the truck as Quain buckled his seat belt. “I think it’s their way of staying connected to their partners. We also have several fae who come along and sit in the limo during full moons. They have a get-together while their mates run. That group has increased a lot since Anthonyjoined.”
“Do you think the pack will mind me being your mate?” Quain never had to explain his abilities to someone outside the family. Those who benefited from his visions were either related to him or had dealt with his family enough that they didn’t question any advice handedout.
Peter started the ignition and began driving down the road before he responded. “Why wouldthey?”
“Some people won’t believe I’m a seer.” Past experiences of ridicule and scorn had left an emotional scar across his soul. “Do you think they’ll believe I’m a seer?” Quain bit his lip as he waited for Peter’s response. As long as his mate believed in him, he didn’t really care about the pack’s opinion. On the other hand, he didn’t wish to be disliked by Peter’s family either. No one wanted unhappy in-laws. The pack could make life difficult for Peter if they didn’t like hismate.
“Considering Anthony has a lot of magic of his own, I can’t imagine he’ll doubt your abilities. If he does, then we’ll leave and I’ll find another pack. I won’t accept anyone who doesn’t believe us.” Peter’s calm tone didn’t reflect any anxiety over thesituation.
“Us?” Quain perkedup.
