Page 3 of Pretty Little Kitty

“Handle this,” Matias ordered, refusing to look at Kia like he was no longer worth the alpha’s attention. “Then escort him to the border, but don’t cross it.” His voice dropped to a menacing growl, yet Kia caught every word. “Make it very clear to your cheetah that he is not to step foot on my land without my permission.”

Your cheetah. Suero visibly tensed at Matias’s words.

If Kia excelled at one thing, it was pissing people off. He seemed to have a natural talent for it.

The men revved their engines, the roar of their bikes echoing as they pulled away, leaving Suero to deal with the situation.

This wasn’t going to go well. Kia should’ve thought this through more carefully.

“Why are you here?” Suero asked without turning around. His hands rested on his hips, shoulders tight with tension. The heat of Suero’s anger was more intense than the sun beating down on Kia. It reminded him of the time Suero had been tasked with interrogating him at that factory.

Back then, Suero had been relentless, his questions sharp and clipped, each one delivered with a scowl. But after an hour of getting the same answers from Kia, the wolf had begun to soften.

There was no chance he’d soften today.

“I wanted to apologize.” Kia exhaled, trying to steady his nerves. “I should’ve given you a reason why I stopped talking to you.” He bit his lip, wondering if he was wasting his time.

Judging by how Suero refused to turn around, it was clear the man had moved on.

“I shouldn’t have come. Don’t bother escorting me. I know my way home.” This mess was Kia’s doing, yet he felt as if he’d been punched in the gut.

“That’s not what I was ordered to do.” Finally turning around, Suero avoided eye contact. Then his jaw tightened, clearly angry Kia was even there. “My alpha ordered me to escort you, so you’re getting on my bike, and I’m taking you to the border.”

Kia’s gaze flicked toward the gleaming navy-blue motorcycle with its sleek black accents. The chrome sparkled in the late morning sun, polished to perfection.

“You know I’m afraid of motorcycles,” Kia reminded him, his voice barely audible. He’d rather sprint home in his cheetah form than mount the roaring beast.

Years ago, his cousin had convinced Kia to ride with him. Jared not only sped recklessly but also crashed. Kia’s back still bore the scars from the most painful and terrifying experience of his life.

It was only rivaled by the time in the factory, where he had witnessed Matias coldly execute men at point blank, and fearing he would die too.

“Maybe you should’ve thought about that before coming here,” Suero retorted sharply.

Kia took a step back, fear tightening his body. Suero wasn’t a novice like Jared had been. In fact, he appeared to be a seasoned rider.

But Kia’s mind didn’t care how skilled the wolf was. All he kept seeing was Jared losing control, the sickening plunge of the motorcycle, his own screams echoing before the world went black. He’d regained consciousness in the dim light of Xavier’s guest room, with his uncle sitting in a chair, keeping watch over him. Xavier had scolded him for his recklessness.

However, Kia had noticed the concern in his uncle’s eyes and the strain in his voice. Despite his tough exterior, Xavier cared deeply for him.

“It’s a twenty-minute ride,” Suero argued, clearly frustrated.

Kia refused to debate this. Without another word, he turned and walked back toward the woods, determined to hide the tears threatening to spill. He’d come all this way, risking everything to see the wolf, only to confront the cold reality that Suero wanted nothing to do with him.

“I guess walking away is what you do best,” Suero snapped.

Kia whirled around, not bothering to hide the tears in his eyes as he jabbed a finger in Suero’s direction. “What did you expect would happen between us? Did you really think your alpha would ignore the fact that you were seeing a feline? Or maybe you believed my uncle would be thrilled that his troublesome nephew had finally found someone willing to take me off his hands.”

His bitterness spilled over just as a few customers entered the hardware store, throwing him curious glances. From the start, he’d known a relationship with Suero wouldn’t work out, but he’d been so enamored that he’d chosen to ignore the harsh truth.

That was until he’d foolishly asked his uncle if anyone had ever dated outside the cheetah species. The look Xavier shot him had been nothing short of hostile. The sheer disgust on his face had prompted Kia to end things with Suero before his feelings had gotten too deep between them.

Yet, there Kia stood, devastated and desperate to escape the humiliation he had caused himself.

Chapter Two

The air hummed between them, every second stretching into eternity. The way Kia gazed up at him, the vulnerability in his green eyes, nearly broke Suero’s heart.

But Kia had already done that by disappearing, leaving Suero pining for the feline and obsessively rereading their text conversations a million times like an addict.

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