“No can do.” Logan went back to eating another burger.
Geez, she missed her lioness metabolism. She’d forgotten how much shifters could eat in one sitting.
The word “fuck” echoed across the parking lot, and Logan’s engine flared to life. Kiera turned to see a blue Ford Raptor turning in.
Logan called out, “Sorry, Cat-Woman, I’m not up for a row tonight.” Whatever that meant.
After Logan peeled out of the parking lot, Beast parked in his place. He didn’t get out, though, just sat behind the wheel and trapped her with his sparking gold eyes. Why was he so riled up that his animal was this close to the surface? She hadn’t done anything wrong.
Or maybe he was the one hunting her now. A shiver blasted up her spine, so she jogged into Frankie’s and out from under his glare. Surely he wouldn’t go murder-kitty in a public place. She was safe here. Probably.
She ordered her food, but when she turned around, the only tables available were against the front window. Being in Beast’s direct view would’ve been nerve-wracking enough, but as she made her way to the table in the middle, Beast strode toward her across the parking lot.
He wore a black sweater that clung to his perfectly defined shoulders and chest. It tapered at the waist, giving him a delicious V-shape that caused her mouth to plop open. He was jogging, hands shoved in his pockets so that his dark jeans hung low on his hips. A strip of stomach was exposed, and even from here, in the dim light of evening, she could see the muscles over his hips that delved into his pants. His face was turned, as if his attention was on the motel, his flawless side on display. Beast could’ve been a model if not for the scars on the other side.
He pulled the door open and locked gazes with her. There was a moment where they just stood there, looking at each other from across the restaurant. His breath came quicker. He rubbed his hands together as if he was cold. His eyes were the bright gold of his people. Of the people she used to be a part of. She was shocked again by how tall he was, how broad shouldered…how handsome despite the marred left side of his face.
Beautiful man, ruined soul.
Before he moved toward the counter with supernatural grace, he angled his face away from her, exposed his neck ever so slightly. Why would he do that? She was no threat to him. She was no threat to anyone. The oxygen had been sucked right out of the room. She sat slowly on the edge of the seat, perched carefully for an escape.
Twice while he was ordering, Beast turned his profile toward her, as if he was looking at her with his peripheral. He was careful not to make eye contact, though, as he took a table three down from hers. No one was between them, so they sat there, watching each other from the edges of their vision, ignoring each other, and ignoring the lightning-like electric currents that zinged through the air between them.
Warmth pooled deep in her belly. What was happening?
The ding of the entry doorbell dragged her out of her trance. Kane walked in, eyes green with those elongated dragon pupils like he was worked up, too. He gave the back of Beast’s head a death glare, but Beast responded to him before he even saw the dragon.
“I’m not here to chase her off.”
“The fuck you are.”
“How did you know I was here?”
“Dustin stole something from me.” Kane’s voice shook with rage. “He’s got it in his head he wants to be your friend, so I can guess what he did with it.” Kane loudly pulled a metal chair away from a newly vacated table right near Beast’s booth, sat in the chair backward, and finally, finally, gave Kiera his attention.
Kane still looked mad as hell, and the faint scent of smoke filled the air as his glowing eyes locked on hers. “You okay?”
Beast made a ticking sound behind his teeth and leaned back in his bench seat. “She’s in no danger from me, and you know it.”
“I don’t want her pushed out.”
“I’m not pushing her out!”
“What’s going on?” Kiera asked, utterly baffled.
“Go on, tell her, Beast. Why are you here?”
Beast gritted his teeth so hard his chiseled jaw twitched. He shook his head, denying Kane, but his eyes never left Kiera.
“Tell her!” Kane snapped, power slamming through his words. “Why are you here?”
“Because I can’t stop thinking about her.” The words came out choked, as if Kane had dragged them from Beast’s throat. His cheeks turned red, and he stared out the window. His fists were clenched on the table.
Kane’s face changed completely. In an instant, the anger disappeared, morphed into confusion, and then settled into realization. “What?” he asked low.
“You fuckin’ heard me, Alpha.”
There was a loaded moment between the two brawlers, then Kane stood in a rush and looked at Kiera. The dragon had left his eyes to leave them soft brown, like the Kane she’d seen in Apex. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come.” He made to leave but hesitated by Beast. He ran his hands down his dark whiskers and murmured, “Beast—”
“Don’t.” Beast twitched his head and kept his gaze on the window.
Kane swallowed hard and turned to Kiera. “Please come see me tomorrow. Come to my mountains. Talk to me. I’m asking you as a friend not to leave until you can convince me you’re okay. I won’t be able to stop looking for you again if you don’t.”
“Okay,” she murmured.
And then Kane left without a look back. He strode across the darkening parking lot, got into his Bronco, and pulled away. Surely, he wouldn’t leave her here with Beast if he thought she was in danger…right?
“Number one-sixty-five and one-sixty-six,” a bored-sounding teenager said over the intercom.
That was her, but when she stood to retrieve her food, Beast gestured for her to stay put and muttered, “I’ve got it.”
When he set the tray down in front of her too hard, her burger bounced. He carried his own tray back to a table one closer to her. He didn’t seem inclined to speak, but she had questions, so after a few minutes of munching in silence, Kiera moved one table closer to him, and now only one empty table separated them.
Beast cleared his throat and moved to that table, cast her a quick glance, inhaled deeply, and then went back to eating one of his three hamburgers and mini Mount Everest of tater tots.
Kiera was drawn to him. She wanted so badly to sit across from him while they ate. She didn’t mind quiet. Her life had been bathed in it, and Beast seemed like a man of few words. What she did mind, though, was the lingering fact he was a murderer.
“You smell scared,” he said, his voice low and growly. He wasn’t meeting her eyes, but she could see a bit of the color of his every once in a while, and they weren’t human.
“I know who you are.”
“Nobody knows who I am.”
“You’re Beast of the Calamity Pride.”
He ghosted her a glance and huffed a breath. His lip snarled up. “So you know my name. Doesn’t mean you know anything about me.”
“Alpha ten years, from age eighteen to twenty-eight. Your pride had twelve females in it—”
“Stop,” he demanded.
“One of the biggest prides in North America. You were a legend—”
“I said stop,” he uttered louder, sitting up straight.
“—until you murdered your entire pride,” she gritted out. He should fucking know she wasn’t some prey he could follow around. She wasn’t the hunted. She’d been through hell and back and wasn’t about to fall victim to some serial killer in a pretty package.
Beast snarled out a terrifying sound, eyes locked on something out the window. In a blur, he stood, chucked his food in the trash, and then bolted out the door. He ran his hand roughly back and forth over his short hair as he jogged to his truck. At the door, he turned back around, his face so full of pain it hurt to look at him. Chest heaving, he locked his gaze with hers and scrubbed his hand down his dark blond facial scruff. He yanked the door open to his Raptor and pulled out a no
tebook. He bit off the lid of a permanent marker and spit it into the car, then scribbled something as he strode back toward the window. When he reached it, he slammed the notebook against the glass, right in front of her face.
You don’t know me. No one does. You’re wrong.
“About what?” she asked.
“Everything,” he barked through the glass, his eyes flashing with such conviction it stole her breath. He walked away, his furious golden gaze lingering on her over his shoulder. And then he loaded up into his Raptor, and spun out of the parking lot.
I can’t stop thinking about her.
Kane had forced the truth from the titan lion. Perhaps he wasn’t hunting her. Perhaps he was as curious about her as she was about him.
She was wrong about everything? Every rumor she’d ever heard about Beast had painted him as a monster, but now she wasn’t so sure. He’d been hurt when she mentioned what had happened. His body had been shaking. This whole time, she’d thought Kane had made a misstep by letting a true killer into his crew, but Kane was smart. He always had been, and clearly devoted to his mate. What reason would he have to let someone who murdered an entire pride into his crew?
Unless…
Perhaps Beast wasn’t the beast she imagined at all.
The red glow of his taillights disappeared into the evening shadows.
This was the second time he’d run away, and she was just as baffled by him this time as the last.
Chapter Five
Kiera pulled to a stop at the very top of the road that led down into the valley of Kane’s Mountains. It was such a steep drop-off, she couldn’t see the road in front of the nose of her El Camino. She just had to trust that the gravel lane was there.
Trust wasn’t her forte. Never had been, and this leap into the unknown felt like a parallel to trusting Kane. If she went another inch further, she would be in the dragon’s territory and skidding down a road that wouldn’t let her escape quickly.
It was a moment of commitment. She would let Kane in. She would give into her curiosity about Beast. She would risk exposing her pregnancy to get closer to these broken shifters.
But that was the point, right? To ask for help, to seek comfort, to talk to someone…to live.
Kiera eased onto the gas and then coasted down the steep gravel road, foot hovering over the brake until it leveled out. The single lane wound through towering trees. It was January, and most had dropped their leaves, covering the ground in a thick blanket. She gassed it over a bridge, but hesitated at a split in the road. Both were worn and used often; one was gravel, one dirt. Through the bare trees to the right, she could make out a sign, but the words were covered by tree limbs. The gravel road curved off to the left, and behind a grove of trees lifted a plume of chimney smoke. It was as if the dragons were beckoning her.
Kiera pulled the wheel to the left and followed the winding loose-pebble road until it led her to a clearing with a modest cabin. Relieved she’d come late enough in the day that he wasn’t still at work, she parked beside Kane’s Bronco.
The storm clouds above were churning a deep gray color. She hugged her baggy white sweater tighter to her chest. Today she wore leggings and knee-high riding boots. She didn’t know why she’d dressed up. Well…that was a lie. She’d dressed up on the off-chance she would run into Beast in these mountains. Shame heated her cheeks. Her heart had the worst taste in men, but since last night, when the rawness in Beast’s eyes had told her she was wrong about him, she couldn’t get him out of her mind. The way he moved so gracefully for a big behemoth of a man, the way his shoulders stretched his shirt, the way his voice had sounded when he’d admitted he couldn’t stop thinking about her. The way he’d seemed at war with himself before he’d fled last night, like he wanted to leave, but couldn’t until she understood the truth about him.
She’d slept badly last night replaying every moment she’d spent with him—which were few—and every word he’d said. Replaying every rumor and trying to match them up with the man she’d seen before her.
Clearly, Kiera was losing her mind. She was focusing on something interesting perhaps to escape the hard decision that lay ahead. This morning she’d woken up wanting more than anything to keep the baby. Some days were like this, but she’d read pamphlets on adoption, and they all said this was normal. The back-and-forth would likely happen until it came down to decision time. It was torture on her head and heart, so it made sense that both wanted to latch onto Beast and escape the hard parts of her life.
The breeze whipped her long curls around, so she brushed them behind her shoulder, lifted her fist, and wrapped her knuckles onto the wooden door.
There was murmuring coming from inside, but she didn’t have the strong animal senses anymore and couldn’t make out any words. No one answered, so she knocked again, stepped back, and rested on the porch railing to look out over Kane’s Mountains. She would be hard-pressed to find a place as beautiful as this if she searched her whole life.
The door swung open, and there stood the man of her dreams himself. Beast filled up the entire doorway. Kiera froze like a stone and waited for her fear to make an appearance, but it didn’t. Not when Beast had adverted his gaze and exposed his neck to her.
“I think I have to talk to you.”
Kiera frowned. “Okay. But…how did you know I was here?”
“I can smell you, plus—” He jerked his chin to the top corner of the porch where there was a small camera.
So getting the animal back didn’t stop the paranoia. Her heart hurt for Kane. She dragged her attention back to Beast. “I think I have to talk to you, too.”
Beast stumbled forward out of the doorway like someone had pushed him, and behind him, the door slammed closed. Okay then.
Beast straightened up to his full height and looked down at her, his eyes impassive, his hands clenched formally behind his back. He wore a white thermal sweater the same shade as hers over dirt-smeared hole-riddled jeans and scuffed-up work boots. His eyes looked so blue right now, like a spring sky. He hadn’t shaved again, so his dirty blond beard was thicker today. Still didn’t cover up the scars, not even close.
Beast made a tick sound behind his teeth and angled his scarred side away from her. “Don’t like when people stare at them,” he ground out.
She had to form this next question carefully because she wanted to know how to feel about those scars, and if she pried too hard, he would shut down on her. “Did you get them defending yourself?”
Beast shook his head.
Kiera cleared her throat delicately and tried again. “How did you get them?” Because if his answer was killing his pride, she was gone.
“Protecting my pride.”
Such potent relief flooded through her, it almost buckled her knees. “I can still hear lies,” she whispered, wringing her hands in front of her belly. “Am I in danger alone with you like this?”
Beast huffed a disgusted sound and shot her a dirty look. “No female has ever been in danger from me.”
She waited until he didn’t dance around the question.
“No,” he said clearly, his voice trilling with honesty. “I would protect you, not hurt you.”
“Do you want to take a walk with me? I came to see Kane—”
“Lie.”
Kiera swallowed hard and tried again. “I came to see Kane and hoped to see you.”
“Better. Yes. I will walk beside you.” He said it oddly, though, like it was an oath.
Sometimes he said things strangely. He responded stiffly, and for some reason, it made her smile. His discomfort around people rivaled her own.
“You’re laughing at me,” he ground out as he led her down the porch stairs and toward the gravel road.
When Beast put a good ten feet between them, her smile deepened. “I’m not laughing at you. You remind me of me.”
He cast her a confused frown. “You said you needed to talk to me.”
Kiera nodded and stooped, picked up a stick fr
om the middle of the road. “I wanted to apologize for making assumptions. I don’t know your story. I listened to rumors, but rumors have hurt me before, too.”
“How?”
Kiera dragged the end of the long, craggy stick along the gravel, creating a line as she walked. She was avoiding the hell out of his gaze because the lion looked at her as if he could see through her. It was unsettling, and especially now when she was going to give him something big. “My mom was rogue. I wasn’t raised in a pride. The local pride made up whatever stories they wanted about how we lived. And when she died, those rumors made sure I wasn’t taken in by them. My mom had a friend in there, a low-ranking female named Tammy. She’d wanted to adopt me as her own, but the alpha male and the other females wouldn’t allow it. They thought I would taint the pride, taint the bloodlines. They thought I was from stock that couldn’t function in a pride. I had a social worker. I called her Mrs. Lindsey, who was really nice, and she tried really hard to get the pride to take me in, but all those rumors about my mom and me stomped out that opportunity.”
“And then you ended up in Apex.”
Kiera’s attention snapped to him.
He was walking with his hands still clenched behind his back, but only eight feet separated them now.
“I don’t want to talk about that part,” she said softly.
“You don’t have to. I already know all about it.”
Kiera put a couple extra feet in between them for that. It felt like a betrayal. “You checked up on me.”
“Kane has your files. I read them. I didn’t want to, but I thought if you were pitiful, I would think about you less.”
She huffed a shocked breath. “And?”
“I think about you more.” When a long snarl rattled his throat, Beast shook his head hard.
“Apex wasn’t my choice, but it was the law at the time. Shifters that belonged to the state were given to Apex before they were allowed to be adopted by humans. And I’m not pitiful, Beast. I went through something hard, but I’m still here. Do you see tears in my eyes while I talk to you about this? Those stopped a long time ago.”