Prince of Fate (Lions of Pride Island Book 2) (9 page)

She’d always have her heart broken if he stayed in those races. She’d never have a calm life with the man she loved. And one day, she might lose him horribly.

How could a man who was so thoughtful in so many other ways not realize that?

She stood at the doorway, wondering whether to go after him or let him face his demons alone, as he wanted to, when she saw movement in the brush.

She jumped back and slammed the door closed, locking it.

Shit.

Someone was out there.

A knock sounded on the door. “Brenna, you in there?”

She didn’t answer.

“I saw your
prince
leave,” Barker’s voice said, sarcastic.

“What do you want?” she snapped.

“You know what I want, baby,” he said.

She let out a frustrated breath. She just needed to stall until Cain came back. He would come back, right? Once he was feeling like himself again. Until then, she’d have to protect herself.

She walked into the kitchen and retrieved a large knife. She held it carefully and walked to the side of the door, staying beneath the window so she couldn’t be seen.

She heard Barker testing the lock. “We’ve always been meant to be together, Brenna,” he said in a slimy voice. “Ever since you were young.”

“You’re gross.”

“Ox didn’t think so,” he replied.

“You don’t know anything about him. He was stupid to come to you for medical bills, but he was a genuinely good person and assumed the best of others. But if he were here now, he’d think you were scum, too.” She took a deep breath. “And I’m never,
ever
going to mate with you. So you might as well get off my porch
now
.”

“You don’t want to say that,” he said in a dark tone.

She gritted her teeth. “You can’t threaten me anymore,” she said. “I don’t care what you do. I’m not coming out there, and Cain will be back any minute.”

He was quiet. “So it’s Cain now, is it? You’re on first-name terms?”

She laughed. “Far more than that. We’ve been very… intimate.” She was tired of letting this man just walk all over them, letting him come into their house and threaten her while she tried to hide it from Bee. Bee was happy and safe at Theresa’s house, so she could speak her mind for once.

“I’d die before I mated you,” she said.

“That could be arranged,” he grated out.

She heard something clicking and narrowed her eyes.

“I’m going to give you one more chance to come out, though,” he said. “Your choice if you want to die, but it’d be a waste of such a pretty body.”

“And that’s all I am to you, a body,” she snarled.

At least with Cain, she’d always felt like more than that. Like a person, one whose hopes and dreams were important. She wished she’d reacted better about the race. When she was done with this weirdo outside, she’d find him and try to hear his side of the story.

There was no answer from Barker outside. Just more clicking and then a suspicious crackling. A smell she didn’t like. Smoke. Gasoline.

Had he just set her house on fire? Seriously?

“Not a huge fire, Brenna. But it is going to get hot in there. You might want to think about leaving.” She could almost hear the smirk in his voice. “Even if I am out here waiting.”

She ran to the other side of the cabin, pulled back the curtains, and saw the grinning face of one of his goons.

No chance of a back window escape. She pulled back the curtains on the front window to see the corner of the porch burning, the flames quickly licking their way up the old wooden stairs toward the front door.

Her heart thumped at the thought of fire destroying her grandpa’s beloved cottage.

She thumped at the window, trying to get Barker’s attention, but knew it was fruitless.

She wouldn’t get him to put out the fire. It was what she’d known all along. The man was truly crazy.

And she’d driven Cain away by not understanding him. But she’d wanted to. She really had.

What would Cain want her to do right now? Wait inside the slowly burning house in the hopes he could get back before she died of smoke inhalation? Or go out and take her chances with Barker?

Either way, at this point, her grandpa’s cottage would probably burn. She just had to decide what risk to take.

She looked out at the forest. Her hand on the wall began to feel warm, and she saw the tips of flames reaching up to the window.

The fire was rising. It’d be hard to even get through the front door.

“If you want to come out, Brenna, we’ll be happy to break you out through the back window,” Barker yelled, sounding gleeful. “But you won’t have much choice in about a minute.”

Her heart pounded painfully. It was starting to get hard to breathe. But what would happen to her if she went out there with Barker? Something worse than death? Torture? Rape? Death? All of the above? She only knew he was evil, and she didn’t want to put herself in the hands of someone who could just set fire to someone else’s house.

She got down on the ground on her hands and knees, knowing the smoke would rise, and crawled back to the front window.

She peeked out and couldn’t make out much beyond the smoke around the cabin and Barker and his men with their smug-but-starting-to-seem-worried faces.

Cain had to be out in that forest somewhere. He had to be. But whether she could wait until he got back remained to be seen.

C
ain was frozen in a nightmare
, watching everything happen precisely the way it had the night of his father’s death. When he’d lost so many of his family members.

It was everything he’d been running from, and now that he was reliving it, it was as bad as he’d remembered.

He breathed in air and marveled at how real the smoke smelled, how he could actually hear the crackle of flames. Then the world slowly faded around him, and green trees replaced burning black ones.

His heart was thudding, but he was back in the present, the paralyzing fear of the moment gone.

He sighed. Would that be enough to keep the demons at bay for a while?

A therapist told him he would need to face the memories sometimes if he wanted to get better. But Cain had been better at facing death instead.

Given how sore and tired he felt from reliving that night, he wasn’t sure it was the better option. But in some ways, it had helped. He’d realized just how young he’d been, how little there was he could do, and how much his dad had cared. His dad had made his own choices, and even if Cain hadn’t been frozen by pain, there was nothing he could do about it.

He should have faced it all earlier, though he knew there would be more things to work through in the future.

But with Brenna by his side, he could do it. After all, thoughts of her had been the only thing that had made him decide to stop running when all he wanted to do was flee.

His nose perked as he looked in the direction of Brenna’s cottage. He realized he was still smelling smoke. And not just the burning of trees. Something different.

Gasoline?

He jumped up, still in lion form, and ran as fast as he could through the brush and trees back to the cabin. When he skidded up to it, he let out a roar as he saw it engulfed in flames.

Grief flooded through him and then momentary fear, but then he fought through it. He was an adult now, strong, and his mate was inside.

Without thinking, he charged through the burning remains of the front door and into the house. Fire was all around him, singing him, but he sprinted through the house, looking for her. She wasn’t downstairs or upstairs. She wasn’t in the house at all, thank heavens.

He heard creaking, felt cinders fall, and knew what was coming.

He bounded out of the cottage just as the whole thing began to collapse around him.

It fell into a burning heap just as he escaped, and his pulse pounded as he looked at the home that had been such a huge part of his childhood.

Thunder cracked overhead, and he looked up at the clouds in relief as it started to rain. But it wasn’t enough to put out the fire. He shifted to his human form and ran to the tiny shed where Ox kept an extinguisher. He sprayed it over the remains of the house that were still burning as the rain fell. All the while, his brain was screaming to know where his mate was.

He stepped back from the house and scented the air. He could smell her, light and floral. He changed into his lion again and sniffed along the ground. There was the familiar scent of that man, Barker.

Had he done this? Had he taken her?

He charged in the direction of the scent. He didn’t have a lot of time. The rain that was beneficial for stopping the fire was the opposite when it came to tracking a scent.

As he galloped down the muddy dirt road, his heart pounding, his legs burning, feeling like everything in his world would be meaningless if something happened to Brenna, it occurred to him this was how she must have felt about him racing.

Thinking about the person you loved being in danger sucked. It sucked beyond anything, and he couldn’t believe how stupid he’d been not to see it sooner.

He’d been so caught up in his own selfish reasons that he hadn’t been able to see how it would feel to someone who cared about him.

And Brenna cared about him. Maybe even loved him. The thought was incredible, made him feel just that much more desperate to be back at her side.

Her scent was becoming stronger, but so was the rain. He ran under the rumblings of thunder as fast as his body could carry him. He saw a cabin in the distance, lights on inside. He could see silhouettes through the windows. Someone struggling.

They had his mate.

And he was about to kill all of them.

* * *

B
renna struggled
in the chair she’d been tied to. Her hair and clothes were singed. She’d held out as long as she could, but the house had burned faster than she’d expected. And she figured there was no point in dying before she could see Cain again. At least this gave her the chance to be rescued.

Or the chance to escape. But who was she kidding? She’d gone out with a knife and they’d quickly subdued her and then driven her here, brought her inside, and tied her to this chair.

She sighed as she watched Barker rant and pace, talking about his rejection and how he knew better than her and how offended he was that she’d made him go that far.

Right, because she was the one who made him do this.
Not
.

“Let me go, Barker.” She demanded. “You don’t want to do this.”

“Do what?” He walked closer. “Have you at my mercy? No, I really do.”

He touched her cheek, and she recoiled. “Don’t touch me.”

“You don’t get to really decide that,” he said. “You’ve been such a bad girl. Making me burn your cottage. Little Bee will be sad about that.”

She felt sick. “You bastard.”

“Careful,” he said, touching her lips with his thumb and then grabbing her chin roughly and tilting it up so she had to look at him. “You don’t want to make me angrier than I already am.”

She spat in his face. “I don’t give a shit. You’re a nightmare. I hope you rot.”

His eyes narrowed in anger.

“Cain’s going to be here any second, and you’ll be sorry,” she said.

“You chased him off,” Barker said. “What makes you so sure?”

“He loves me,” she said. “I love him.”

Barker rolled his eyes. “Like I care. But you’re sure he’s coming?”

She nodded, and Barker motioned for the other men to untie her. That confused her, until she saw the evil glint in his eyes as he came closer.

“Guess I’d better hurry and mate you, then.”

Fear struck through her, and she lashed out, trying to reach his eyes with her nails as he caught her around the shoulders and tried to pull her against him.

He screamed as one of her fingers dug into his cheek but simply shook her and pushed her down to the ground. She rolled, trying to stand, but he pinned her down, his knee over her chest, making it hard to breathe. She struggled still, and he took his knee off her to straddle her, giving her an opening.

She brought her knee up into his crotch, hard, and fought back a laugh as he groaned and slumped over. She pushed him off and got to one knee before he jerked on her wrist painfully. She pulled away from him, and he stood, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her against him. She fought him, trying to get to the door, and they slammed into the front window, where rain was splattering rhythmically.

He wrapped an arm around her neck and held her high against him, her toes barely scraping the ground as he stepped back into the living room. His other hand wrapped her waist, reaching for the belt of her pants. She let out a scream and kicked, trying to get his shin, and made contact as he let out a screech. She almost got out of his grasp, but he tackled her to the ground, pinning her there.

Then she heard a loud roar, and everything stopped in the cabin just for a split second as the terrifying sound echoed through them, muted by the rain.

And then came the sound of thundering footfalls.

Cain was coming.

She fought and scratched, but Barker seemed determined to have his way and had extra strength as he pinned her arms over her head and straddled her again.

Tears of frustration bit at her eyes as she struggled.

Cain, hurry.

But just as she thought it, the front door exploded open, crashing forward and smashing into two of Barker’s cronies, knocking them down.

Cain’s huge lion form walked over them, not caring about the creak of wood as he crushed their limp bodies.

His green eyes were glowing as he took in the scene, and he let out a dark snarl. Not a warning snarl, a lethal snarl.

Barker looked at him over his shoulder, and then in the next second, he leapt off of her and transformed. His leaner, darker lion charged into Cain, knocking him off balance as they both rolled out of the house and down the front stairs.

She pulled her clothing straight, heart hammering as she stumbled to the doorway and looked into the rain to see what was going on.

The two lions were circling, snarling, and she knew this would be a fight to the death.

Barker was too crazy for anything else.

“You okay, Brenna?” Cain called out.

“Yes,” she called.

The wind had picked up and was whipping rain around the two lions.

“You’ve broken all of our rules,” Cain said in a low voice. “You’ve committed kidnapping. Attempted rape.” His voice broke on that, too full of anger. “And you did so to my mate. So no one in the world is going to hold me responsible if I end you.”

Barker snarled. “And I’m going to bury your body so no one ever knows what happened and lock Brenna up in my basement so she can never tell.”

Cain shot forward at that, knocking down the other lion. They tussled in the mud, fighting for dominance, rolling each other over. Cain was stronger, larger, but probably tired from the run. And from seeing the fire.

His dad had died in a fire, she remembered. Oh gosh, what had it been like to come upon that burning cabin? She put a hand over her mouth but had to keep watching Cain, just in case there was some way to help.

Barker had the advantage of being both desperate and dirty. He’d lie still and then take a shot at Cain’s eye when he pulled back. He’d run, making Cain drag him back, and then whip around and bite Cain in the leg, hard.

Finally, Cain let out a roar and pulled back a paw. She saw his claws glint in the rain as he extended them for a split second. Then he let go with a powerful swipe, right at Barker’s face, knocking him to the side in a heap.

A small whimper came from Barker where he lay. Cain just gave him a scowl, limping over to take a look.

Whatever Cain saw in Barker satisfied him, and he limped back to his mate. She was sitting on the steps of the cabin, and Cain rested his maned head in her lap.

Then he transformed into his human form, his blond hair wet and streaming over his bare shoulders, his beautiful muscles and long limbs bared. She stood on shaky legs and went inside the cabin. She found a pile of clothes near a couch and grabbed them, bringing them outside.

She handed them to Cain, who started to weakly change.

“I could have fought better, but there has been a lot of adrenaline,” he said. “I didn’t know how to cope when I saw your house on fire. And then, when you weren’t there…”

She nodded. “It’s okay,” she said, putting a hand through his hair as he leaned against her again, pulling her in against his chest.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said. “I’d die if you weren’t okay. I get what you mean about the racing. I get it.”

She looked down at him, abashed. “Cain, about that. I’m sorry I wasn’t trying to understand better…”

“You were right,” he said, not making any move to let her out of his arms or get them out of the rain. He was too tired.

And she had to admit the rain felt sort of appropriate after everything they’d been through. Plus, she felt depleted as well.

“I should call Axel,” he said. “Can I borrow your phone?”

She nodded and handed it to him. It hadn’t been of any use when she’d been attacked because she couldn’t exactly call him while he was in lion form.

He made the call and then went back to hugging her again.

“It’s fine,” she said. “I’m fine. Nothing happened. But what do you mean I was right?”

He sighed. “You were right. I can’t outrun my demons. Have to face them. Faced some in the woods.” He looked up at her, green eyes reflecting the gray clouds. But her heart skipped a beat because he looked more open to her than he ever had before. “I just feel like I didn’t do enough to prevent my dad’s death. I was lame that night. I just froze.”

She nodded, listening quietly.

“I was frozen by fear. I never wanted that to happen again. I kept wondering, was it my fault we lost him? Why couldn’t my body move? Why wasn’t I in control?”

She stroked his hair, sadness moving through her at what he’d been through.

“I was obsessed with facing fear after that, as if by doing anything that scared me, I could make sure I’d never be in that helpless position again. But you were right. I was running. And when I finally let myself remember that night, I realized something important. It wasn’t all my fault. My father made his choice. He didn’t want anything to happen to me, and he didn’t resent me. And I was just young, and there’s nothing I can do about it but move on.”

“That’s very wise,” she said.

“But that means more nightmares,” he said. “Means life will be complicated. Not always fairies and roses.”