Page 35 of Kitty Cat

Shaking his head, he put that thought out of his mind and got up. They had more pressing worries right now.

“They’re coming our way, I can feel them getting closer. Have you got any clothes my size?”

“Yeah, Daunte has some stuff in the guest bedroom, next door. Help yourself.”

They got dressed and he headed downstairs just in time: Jas, Coveney, Daunte and Ian arrived on her front porch, in animal form.

All of them stopped dead, and shifted.

“Holy fuck.”

“I knew it!”

“Seriously?”

Rye smirked. The mating bond had changed him, he knew it; he felt quieter, more confident. He couldn’t quite place it; obviously, though, his pride could tell the difference.

“Dude you were always scary but you basically look like a freak now. Have youseenyour eyes?”

He hadn’t; turning to the closest window, he smiled at his reflection. Freak was right. His normally grey eyes had been replaced by cold, electrifying blue pupils and the marks she’d started on his back had changed, forming patterns that would look like tattoos if they hadn’t been blazing amber, like liquid fire was running through his skin.

He rather liked it.

“So, she was your mate. How unexpected,” Daunte said. Yet, the man was smirking smugly. “And I believe that means I win our little bet, guys. You all owe me and Tracy two-fifty for the mate thing, and two-fifty because they’ve fucked within a week. Pay up.”

Rye just shook his head; sothatwas why Tracy had given him a nudge. Devious little thing.

While he was happy about the mating, now wasn’t the time to linger on it. Ace came down from upstairs, fully dressed; she’d also taken a shower, washing his scent off. He didn’t like that bit, but he’d remedy it soon enough.

His three Enforcers and his Beta bowed down as she came to stand next to him, hands over their heart, silently showing their acceptance of her as their Alpha female now. He felt how awkward Aisling was, so he moved on to get to the point.

“I felt something through the pride link?”

The others stopped joking around, instantly growing somber.

“Yes. Kim is gone,” Jas said.

The instant the words crossed her lips, Rye realized that the most useless member of his pride wasn’t anywhere. And by that, he didn’t mean to say she’d popped out in town. He also couldn’tfeelher, not even faintly. As he was the Alpha, he felt every member of his pride.

That could only mean one thing. She’d left the pride.

If that had happened to any other one of his cats, he would have noticed it immediately, but as the useless, passive one he paid no attention to, she’d slipped by unnoticed. He’d had a great many things to think about of late.

“Fuck.”

“She left before I came back,” Jas added. “We waited all night - I figured she might just be out partying or something - but when I called this morning, she said she wasn’t coming back, and hung up on me.”

She didn’t sound surprised, or upset for that matter. Nevertheless, Rye felt responsible.

“I’m sorry Jas, I have no clue when that happened - she never said anything.”

If she had come to him, he might have tried to dissuade her from leaving, for Jas’s benefit.

Maybe.

His Enforcer shook her head, “No,I’msorry for asking you to let her in the pride. I keep hoping, but you know some people are just…”

Neither of them completed that sentence. Kim was a shallow, egocentric, megalomaniac pain in the ass, and they were well rid of her, if Jas didn’t mind.

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