Page 29 of Bound to the Minotaur
I didn’t look at him again.
Kess.
She was on the forest floor, dazed, blinking up at me with wide eyes behind crooked glasses. There was dirt on her cheek, her lip was split, her shirt torn, and a scratch marred her pale cheek. But she was breathing; alive, and that was all that mattered.
A sob burst from my throat as I dropped to my knees beside her and dragged her into my arms. She didn’t resist. She melted against me, burying her face in my chest. Not even an ounce of hesitation to crawl against me, clutch at my fur, my other form. She knew me, even as the beast, and she did not fear me. “You’re here,” she whispered, heartbreak and relief in her raw voice.
“I’m here. I’m here, Kess. And you’re never leaving my side again. Do you understand me?” My voice was rough, broken. I didn’t care. “I don’t care if I have to chain you to my damn side, you are mine. And I’m never letting you go.”
Her arms wrapped around my neck, and I felt her shuddering breaths; relief, exhaustion. Something inside me cracked, and the beast in me—the Minotaur, the man, the ancient soul—wept with gratitude.
The shift came easily, a wash of warmth that tingled through my flesh. Light bathed my mate, her body tumbling forward as I briefly became nothing but intangible energy. Then I was a man, holding her the way she deserved, with the arms of a human,arms that were damn well going to hold her for the rest of her life.
She sighed, her face tilting up, her expression filled with wonder. “Gregory,” she said, with a sigh that was much better than the whisper from before. Steadier, happier, awed. I lowered my head to hers, kissed her upturned mouth, and drank that sigh deep into my greedy lungs.
“I love you, Kess,” I told her. “You’re my soulmate.” There was no way I was going to keep that to myself now. She needed to know it, should have known it all along. Her pretty sapphire eyes glowed, telling me that shehadknown, but my words pleased her.
Her smile was soft, tremulous, still marked by the stain of blood on her cheek. The injuries that should never have decorated her flesh. “I knew you’d come for me, Gregory. I love you too. I… I’m pretty sure I fell for you the moment I tumbled into your life.” Soulmates loved each other, that was a fact of life, even if soulmates were more mythical than my existence. We all dreamed of finding ours. And still, hearing those words? Actually having her tell me she loved me after seeing my beast, after witnessing my violence? It brought tears to my eyes and left me lost for words.
Thankfully, a rustle in the brush saved me from the tangle of emotions that choked my throat. Avis stumbled out, his fur puffed and ragged, one eye squinting in irritation. He hissed indignantly, shook out his coat, and limped over to us.
“You little bastard,” I muttered, full of affection, relief thrumming through me at the sight of him upright. Silently, Ivowed he’d get all the freaking treats his heart desired. Reaching out to scratch him behind the ears, I chuckled when he swatted at me with a clawless paw—haughty as ever—and then curled up against Kess’s side, as if nothing had happened. That was exactly as it should be.
Kess was smiling softly, her hand dropping to smooth the ruffled feline’s fur. Then her eyes darted to my left, where the sound of labored breathing drew our attention.
The tiger.
He was collapsed a few feet away, massive flank rising and falling with difficulty. Blood pooled beneath him—thick and dark—rapidly congealing in the cold air and soaking into the greedy earth. He coughed, a gurgling, wet sound that twisted my gut. That was not a good sound. Shifters like myself could take a lot of punishment, but clearly that bullet had struck something very vital.
Light shimmered around him. Amber and gold. Fur faded to skin, muscle reshaped, and paws became hands in that blast of light that was as familiar as the passing of time. He lay there, half-naked but still drenched in blood, wearing the ruined remnants of a pin-striped suit.
Kiran.
My mind reeled, though it shouldn’t surprise me to see the olive-skinned male beneath that fur. Hillcrest Hollow didn’t have any other tigers. This was the bastard who’d once threatened this town, working for his vampire mistress and a corporation called Sunworld. Kiran, the polished snake of a man who smiled toosmoothly and had been flirting around town as casually as can be for the past few days. He was the was the last person I expected to see between Kess and a bullet.
I couldn’t reconcile the image—him: bleeding, broken, lying in the dirt like some kind of fallen guardian angel. For a moment, I didn’t know what to feel. Rage? Confusion? Gratitude?
“Why?” I demanded, crawling over to him. The heat of my anger hadn’t cooled, but it was tangled now with disbelief. This man had tried to kill my friend Chardum, had threatened Chardum’s mate, Rosemary, and her land. “Why would you do this? Why would you risk your life for my mate?”
He didn’t flinch. He couldn’t. His eyes opened slowly, the vibrant amber of them dulled with pain. He coughed again, a tremor running through his frame, blood bubbling at the corners of his lips. “I came…” he rasped, his voice frayed and paper-thin, “…to warn you…”
I leaned closer, fists clenched in the dirt, my massive body casting a shadow over his shaking form. His voice was fading, growing thinner as he began to succumb to his injuries. “Sunworld...” He grimaced, his whole face contorting in agony. “They’re not done... coming back. In force...”
His chest hitched, another breath drawn, as if it cost him the world. “Be... prepared…” Then his eyes slipped closed.
“Is he... dead?” Kess asked quietly. Her voice was small, like a child asking a question she didn’t want answered. She’d been through so much, and now that I knew what she’d lived with all her life, I understood just how strong she was, too. But I had hernow, and she didn’t need to be strong for me. Despite her father, she was still a compassionate soul, and seeing this man—this stranger—hurt; it tore at her.
I eyed Kiran’s pale face, the barely-there rise and fall of his chest. “No,” I said after a beat. “Not yet. He’s unconscious. But if someone doesn’t heal him soon, he will be.” Maybe if the bullet had gone straight through, he could still heal, but I doubted that. More likely, that deadly projectile was lodged somewhere deep in his lungs, and that’s why he was struggling to breathe.
Kess frowned, brushing hair from her face with a shaky hand. “What did he mean? That warning about Sunworld?” She didn’t know what had happened last summer, only a few short months ago. I’d tell her later.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, teeth grinding. “But I believe him.” That was the crux of it. I couldn’t see why this man would want to warn us, but dying for it certainly gave the statement some impact. We had to take it seriously.
She looked past me then, eyes narrowing. Her father lay sprawled in the dirt where I’d left him, still breathing, still dangerous, but, for now, out cold. Kess moved stiffly, kneeling beside him. “We need to restrain him.”
I nodded. I tore a strip from his own ruined jacket and tied his wrists, tighter than necessary. Kess helped, silent but firm, her jaw set. Then she used what was left to pad the wound on the tiger’s bleeding chest. It wouldn’t stop the bleeding, but it slowed it down.
“Avis,” I said, glancing at the cat. “Go get Arden.” The cat blinked at me, then darted off into the woods without a sound. He limped a little, but he moved fast and with certainty. It was against every damn instinct I had, but the tiger had saved her life. A debt was a debt. Even to him.
