Brooke, Leah - Panthers' Prey [Black Panthers 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (39 page)

The looks in their eyes as they raked over her, though, turned her on more than anything else.

Intrigued by the camaraderie and their apparent familiarity with each other, she raised a brow, slightly nervous at the looks she kept getting.

Sitting in one of the chairs to pull on her sneakers, she pretended not to notice that all six of Marc and James’s friends shared impatient looks with each other and appeared to be struggling to keep quiet, their attention divided between her and her
mates
.

“What’s wrong with you guys?”

With a look at his friends, James zipped his jacket and grabbed hers from the back of the chair.

“They want to jump in with their opinions but, knowing that you’re our mate, they’re doing their best to hold back.”

Bailey tried to take her jacket from him, sighing when he held it just out of her reach. Turning, and aware of the men’s sharp attention, she hid a wince as she slipped into the warm coat.

“I don’t need your permission to go to Duke’s. I want to see these guys in action.”

Joe sighed. “They’re not going to do anything except talk.”

Nodding, Bailey zipped her denim jacket and started out.

“Since you’re only going to talk, there’s no reason I can’t go.” After all the trouble those men had caused her, she’d be more than happy to join in any fight started at Duke’s.

Marc caught her before she made it to the door, the deep threatening growl emanating from him just spiking her temper even more.

Turning, she poked him in the chest.

“Don’t you do that growly thing at me. You don’t scare me.” She’d die of embarrassment if they had any idea how much that sound they made intimidated her.

Gritting his teeth, Marc tightened his hands on her shoulders. “I’m not trying to scare you. You make me so fucking mad I want to shake you.”

Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her close, the desperation in his hold both unexpected and needed more than she realized.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get over the fact that you were shot. If anything had happened to you…”

Bailey held on to him, absorbing the feeling of being safe and warm, meeting James’s eyes as he crossed the room to her.

“Marc, I—”

Reaching her, James touched her hair.

“You have your own business to run. We’re going with you—” He held a finger to her lips when she started to object. “And while we’re sitting there at the bar, in plain sight of dozens of witnesses, Joshua, Mitch, Dane, and Graham will pay a little visit to Duke’s and convince his nephews and their friends that you and Captain’s Den are off-limits to them.”

Joe grinned and stripped off his jacket.

“And Vincent and I will make sure there are enough panther sightings tonight to confuse the hell out of Marc’s nosy cop.”

Irritated at their logic, Bailey pulled away from Marc, immediately missing his warmth.

“Okay, I get it. I just don’t like it. I don’t need somebody fighting my battles for me—”

Joe’s brows went up. “You’re family now.”

Joshua and the others nodded. “And you’re a woman.”

Feeling her temper rise, Bailey took a deep breath, preparing to blast them. Only the touch of James’s palm curving against her cheek stopped her.

“You’ll have to forgive us. This is all new to us. None of us ever thought we would find a woman we could have such a bond with.”

He glanced at Joe, who nodded once, his jaw clenched.

Rubbing her cheek with his thumb, James smiled. “We’ve seen what happens when a mate is no longer around. Thankfully, Joe and Leland have the chance to find theirs. If anything happened to you now, I don’t think Marc and I would ever recover. Be patient with us, baby. We’re just scared of losing you, and, I’ll admit, a little overprotective.”

Shaking her head, Bailey laughed softly, her anger at them melting away.

“You sure know how to take the wind out of somebody’s sails, don’t you?”

Deciding they looked far too smug, she poked James in the chest.

“Look, I understand what you’re trying to do, and I’ll do whatever I can to keep Brown from knowing the truth—God, I can’t even believe
I
believe it—but I’m not happy about missing Duke’s. I’ll bet it’s going to be a hell of a show,
and
I’m used to taking care of myself, something
you’re
going to have to get used to. All of you have been fussing over me all night, or didn’t you think I noticed when you kept coming in to check on me, even though Marc and James were right there with me?”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Joe lifted a brow. “You’ve been injured. We had to make sure you didn’t get a fever. And we had to change the bandage after you got it wet in the shower.”

Blinking, Bailey looked at each of their innocent expressions in turn. “None of you has left me alone for a minute! I couldn’t even get dressed by myself. You watched me constantly, even arguing about what I ate and drank.”

Mitch and Joe looked at each other as though she’d lost her mind.

Marc frowned. “What if you’d gotten dizzy? What if you moved wrong and ripped those stitches?”

Mitch nodded and shook out another one of the tablets he’d given her last night. “And you needed to eat to heal. You needed to drink to stay hydrated. Now that you have, here’s another pain pill. Make sure you don’t drink anything alcoholic today. I’ll be by later when it’s time for another antibiotic tablet.”

The hilarity of the situation got to her, and Bailey would have burst out laughing if not for the serious looks on their faces.

She hadn’t been on the receiving end of such caring and concern before, but she had to admit that it was hard to resist.

“Okay. At least I’m going to get to watch Joe and Vincent in action.”

* * * *

Staring toward the door, Bailey mixed another drink, setting aside the rum bottle she’d just emptied.

“What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall at Duke’s. I’d love to see their faces when they get a look at Joshua.”

Marc paused in the act of taking a sip of club soda and set the glass back down again, his stonelike expression in sharp contrast to the storm in his eyes.

“Just make sure
you
keep your eyes off of Joshua.”

Bailey blinked and burst out laughing, drawing the attention of several customers, who smiled and eyed her indulgently. His jealousy seemed so ridiculous under the circumstances, making her a bit giddy. It hit her suddenly that she’d laughed more in the past week than she had in years.

Leaning forward, she kept her voice low, knowing they would be able to hear her even over the loud music.

“You’d have to be blind not to notice Joshua. I can only feel sorry for the woman who turns out to be his mate.”

The reminder that shape-shifters more or less had the choice made for them always depressed her, and she cursed herself for ruining her own good mood. Turning away, she set out the drink orders she’d just made.

“Bailey, you know that we wouldn’t be with you if we didn’t want to be, don’t you?”

The concern in James’s tone pulled at her. Nodding, she picked up the empty rum bottle and glanced at both of them.

“I know. It’s just that sometimes I wish—forget it. I’ll be right back. I’ve got to get more rum.”

“Damn it, Bailey!” Marc started to come after her, but she shook her head, gesturing toward Ricky, who eyed her in concern.

“We’ll talk later.
In private.
Ricky, I’m going back to get more rum. I’ll just be a minute.”

She turned away, wishing the subject had never come up. After being deserted and feeling unwanted most of her life, she had a hard time coming to grips with the fact that Marc and James had decided she was their mate even before they had gotten to know her.

She figured it would be an issue she would have to deal with for some time and hoped that one day she could get past it.

Loving both of them didn’t help. It only made her feel more vulnerable.

She only knew that they were the best thing that had ever happened to her and she couldn’t just walk away.

At the same time, though, she wanted to keep her independence.

Blowing out a breath, she searched the racks for the rum she needed, determined to put on a smile when she went back out there and hoping they’d just drop the damned subject.

“I knew your watchdogs couldn’t watch you every minute.”

With a gasp, Bailey spun, dropping the bottle of rum. Before she could do more than that, a hard hand clamped over her mouth, and she found herself dragged toward the back door.

Recognizing the men as the same ones who’d tried to burn the place down the previous night, she fought furiously. Rage and adrenaline gave her added strength, but it wasn’t enough to get away from the man holding her.

With a hard arm wrapped around her waist and another hand over her mouth, he half dragged, half carried her through the door and outside.

The man holding on to her reeked of whiskey and sweat, his movements clumsy, but surprisingly strong as he pulled her outside.

“You made us all laughingstocks. What kind of tricks are you pulling? How the hell did you do that with those panthers last night?”

As he pulled her outside, the one with the broken arm stood aside and slammed the door behind them.

“Yeah. How the hell did you make it look like you rode off on a panther’s back?”

Bailey heard the door click closed and knew that it would lock automatically, cutting off any chance of getting back inside.

Without the light coming from the storeroom, it was pitch black behind the bar. Realizing they must have done something with the street lights, she tugged harder, desperate to get away. She feared that Marc and James would come tearing around the corner any minute and turn into panthers, giving themselves away.

Panicked, she sunk her teeth into the hand over her mouth, grimacing at the taste, and stepped to the side to ram her elbow into the stomach of the man cutting off her air, breaking his hold.

The man holding her cursed as she broke free, keeping his voice at a furious whisper.

“You fucking bitch! Get back here. Where the hell is she? Get her. She knows too much.”

Bailey took several clumsy steps backward, scrambling to put some distance between herself and the men, but stopped almost immediately, scared they would hear her. She had no idea what the hell they thought she knew and started to wonder if they’d somehow confused her with someone else.

Frozen in place, she prayed they couldn’t hear the furious pounding of her heart in the dead silence and made a conscious effort to slow her breathing. Memories of the night she’d been attacked before threatened to choke her.

Moving carefully despite every instinct to run, she glanced around, trying to make out their forms, but the absolute darkness made it impossible to even see her hand in front of her face.

“Spread out. She’s right here. Come on, bitch. Scream for your boyfriends.”

The taunting voice, that of the man who’d been holding her, came from directly in front of her, much closer than she’d expected.

Being as silent as she could, she took several steps back. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of white, a brief glimpse of what she assumed had to be the second man’s shirt.