They were husband and wife; that love was real. So real, in a way, Romeo listened and immediately moved like a magnet to her hand. The sound of the door shutting brought a level of peace to Flora — hopefully, they'd stay away for the rest of the day.
That hope was crushed only a few hours later when Romeo walked in once more, his grimy presence inching closer and closer. Cassandra's protection was as absent as it was limited. Romeo stabbed her paw, and for that, she’d defend her panther’s honor by striking back. She’d have to wait him out. She had to appear weak and broken and wait for him to get cocky enough to come closer.
“So, what are we promising today, little panther?” he asked, crouching down beside her.
She was leaning against the wall, using the entire length of her chain. She glared at Romeo before turning her head away. She didn’t necessarily need him in her direct line of vision; she just had to feel his presence. Feel the space he took up and pinpoint his location.
He got closer, stood closer and peered down at her as if he was the better, stronger animal. She had to give him some credit. He captured a panther, after all. But he was still weak. She was confident he’d mess up soon. His mistake was going to be an opening for her. She just had to be ready to take it.
“I know you’re not ignoring me, little —”
His mistake was perfect. It was too fucking perfect. He took one step closer. That one step was all she needed to leap forward. Faster than he could see and swiped her large paw across his face. She might not have killed him with that blow, but he’d always remember it. Flora Larkspur had struck him deep enough to leave a scar if he didn’t shift quickly enough.
“You fucking bit...”
He rushed out of the room. They both knew a panther was naturally stronger than a fox. If he shifted, he was as good as dead, and with that, Flora had won the battle. She could rest easy, if only for a few more hours until hell reared its ugly head in the form of a pissed Romeo. She had to get out now. But how the hell was she going to get this blood-pinching collar off?
As the blood seeped through her neck where the spikes dug in, she’d yank until she couldn’t anymore. She would yank on that damn leash until the wall gave out, and she’d run like hell. She no longer had the time to wait for Dylan. She had to save herself.
32
DYLAN
Dylan had walked into scenes like these millions of times before. The houses were always dark, even in broad daylight. This was the same as all his missions before: save the victim and kill the capturers.
Except it wasn’t. This was personal. He wanted tokillCassandra and Romeo, but not more than he wanted to save Flora. The urge to save overruled his urge to kill and it threw him off balance. The weight of each step fell heavy but silent, dreading what he’d possibly see. From experience, he’d known there was no limit to the horror the state of the victim could be in.
Every single rug that lined this hall was crooked, except for the last one. Flora must be in the room at the end of the hall. A loud bang sounded from the room she must be in. His heart was beating too hard, and his urge to run was demanding. But he crept through the house as fast as he could, his hand heavy on the doorknob. He sent a silent prayer up to the goddess of the moon, hoping what he’d reveal on the other side of the door wasn’t a sight from hell itself.
It was a kid's room. Pink walls with blood splatter painting the walls and the floor in front of a wardrobe. Quietly, he stepped forward, feeling the coldness of the room even through his long-sleeved shirt. Flora’s panther was standing, ready to pounce. The only thing stopping this predator was a chain collar and leash connecting her to the wall. At least, that’s what Dylan had assumed. There was a piece of drywall barely holding a black box to the wall; chains attached Flora’s panther to the box. Sensing Dylan in the room, Flora’s head snapped toward him. He couldn’t move too fast or get too close in case her panther couldn’t recognize him.
The possibility of her attacking him was very real, but he needed to know that she was okay. He carefully stepped closer when Flora’s panther snarled in his direction. Dylan whipped his head behind him, making sure Cassandra or Romeo hadn't found him yet. He knew his Packmates could take care of themselves, but anything could happen. Dylan was with an angry panther so adding another possessive panther and sly fox to the mix was the last thing he wanted to do.
Edging closer, Dylan was just outside Flora’s reach. She ran toward him, her heavy chain yanking her back. The black box must be heavy as hell. It had fallen off the wall with a loud clang. The box weighed her down to the floor now instead of the wall. Unsure if she had tried to attack him or had attempted to get his help, he reached his hand out slowly to see what she would do.
The panther slithered back up to him, sniffing his hand before pressing the top of her head into his hand. She let out a happy purr at recognizing Dylan. He yanked on the chain hooked on the black box, with no luck of getting it loose. He stuffed his hand in his pocket, taking out a bobby pin he kept on his missions, and tried to unlock the collar around her neck.
Flora’s panther made his job difficult by trying to lick his face. The blood coating both the collar and her fur was no help either, but with a clang, the collar fell from her neck before Dylan could catch it. The sound was loud as hell.
“It’s time to go, kitty cat.” Dylan popped up, starting toward the door. Flora’s panther rushed in front of him, standing protectively between him and the white panther that appeared at the door.
“Damnit.”
Before Dylan could think of how to get them out of this situation without hurting his love, she wasted no time lunging for her captor, scratching across the panther’s face. Flora launched with the right amount of strength and awareness to land an agonizing blow. She fought blow for blow and Dylan couldn’t have been prouder and more terrified.
Being in the same situation again left Dylan with a sense of déjà vu. This time he was trained to fight a panther both in wolf form and human form. Except he didn't have time to pull his dagger, blade, or gun, because a big-ass fucking grizzly bear stood outside the door.
Who thefuckwas that?
When the white panther swiped her paw at Flora, Dylan moved as fast as the human-enhanced body could. He wrapped his hands around Flora’s panther, yanking her to him. The impact pushed them into the kid's bed behind them, just in time for the drooling grizzly to swipe its human head-sized paw at the white panther, slamming it into the wall next to them.
The incredibly pissed off white panther crawled out of the dented wall to face the bear, who left no room for her to recover before lunging at her with its teeth, holding it down by the neck and biting down hard.
Wasting no more time, he kneeled down to make eye contact with his mate. “Please Flora, you're safe, please shift,” he mumbled over and over as the bear continued to rip the dead white panther’s limbs apart. A few pets and prayers later, Flora’s human body curled into his. He quickly ripped off his own shirt to give to her.
“Flora? It's Dylan; we gotta go.” He was met with silence as she focused on the mangled white panther across the room and the grizzly still going at it.
“Who is that?” Her voice was small, not finding the strength to stand.
