Page 72 of Stray Cat

Chill air rushed into the warehouse. While Xav saw only darkness in their immediate area, the glow in the sky beyond came unmistakably from Las Vegas. The occasional flash from light shows on the Strip confirmed it.

The two men were steps away from rushing through an open garage door when it gave an alarming creak. Xav propelled himself and Dean backward as all three doors shot downward, slamming to the floor with a reverberating crash.

“No, you don’t,” Lindsay said above them. “You okay, Xav?”

“Barely.” Xav struggled with Dean who, instead of scrambling clear when Xav pushed him, had locked an arm around Xav’s neck.

Xav went still when he felt the barrel of Dean’s pistol in his ribs.

At the same time, someone hammered on the outside doors. “Parkes. You all right in there?”

“I guess there really are more guards outside,” Lindsay proclaimed through the speakers. “Let’s see, shall we?”

Intense light flared beyond the high windows, and shouts came to them.

“My, those floodlights arebright,” Lindsay said cheerily. “Take your hands off my mate, Mr. Dean Parkes, or I won’t go easy on you.”

“I have a pistol against yourmate, as you call him,” Dean announced. “Come out of there.”

“You really shouldn’t count on weapons, you know,” Lindsay said without concern. “So unreliable.”

“That’s it,” Dean snarled. “I’m done.”

Xav jerked sideways, jabbing his elbow into Dean at the same time. He broke Dean’s hold, but before he could dive out of the way, Dean fired his pistol straight into Xav’s stomach.

Or would have, if the gun had gone off. Instead, it clicked. When Dean glanced at the weapon in surprise, Xav tackled him.

“Nice one,” Lindsay called. “That’s why I lifted your gun and emptied it before I went shopping.”

“Son of a bitch,” Dean snarled as he fought.

“By the way,” Lindsay went on, her words growing vibrant. “Xavier Escobar, under the light of the moon, the Mother Goddess, and before witnesses, I accept your mate-claim!”

“Shit.”Xav gasped.

He took Dean’s blows and returned his own, the two men fighting with swift violence. Xav finally broke from Dean, rolling away from the man across the smooth floor. Dean scrambled to his feet and started to run.

“I love you, Linds!” Xav yelled into the air as he sprang up and charged after Dean. “Shouldn’t there be more witnesses, though? Better ones than this dickhead?”

“Oh, there are plenty ofwitnesses.” Lindsay’s laughter rang out, the most beautiful sound Xav knew. That is, next to her groaning his name when he was buried deep inside her.

The dock’s doors rolled upward once more. The guards Dean had prudently stationed outside the building were now lying on the concrete loading bays in motionless lumps.

Dean pelted out, regardless, Xav right behind him.

“AC,” Dean screamed when he saw his brother illuminated by the floodlights. “I’ll kill you?—”

AC, held between a pissed-off wolf Shifter with a giant sword and a massive man with orange-and-black striped hair, lunged forward. “No, little brother, I’m killingyou.”

An instant later, Xav tackled Dean once more. Blood dripped from Xav’s face onto Dean’s as Dean struggled and spit obscenities.

A pair of familiar combat boots halted near Xav, then Diego calmly bent down and wrapped Dean’s wrists in zip ties. Diego stepped back to allow a thin but surprisingly muscular man with dark hair and midnight eyes haul Dean to his feet.

Xav rolled quickly out of the way. If Stuart Reid started teleporting people, Xav didn’t want to be caught in the field of weirdness.

He climbed to his feet to find Lindsay right in front of him, her green eyes wide with both concern and elation.

She was stark naked, meaning she’d left her clothes behind when she’d shifted, but she showed no uneasiness about the other Shifters and humans surrounding her. She latched onto Xav and pulled him close, holding him shakily.

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