Kingdom Of Fangs

QUINN LOFTIS

Copyright © 2023 by Quinn Loftis

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

For Jessica

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Prologue

Kidnappers Should Not Have Plump Lips.

“Life is interesting. Why, you ask? Mostly because I never thought I’d be kidnapped by an Italian gigolo. But here we are. Also, I just saw a man turn into a panther. So, there’s that, too.” ~Katy

“So this is how my life ends.” Katy sighed and attempted to twist her wrists in a very futile effort to loosen the cable ties securing them. “In a white van. Very cliche, by the way.” She rolled her eyes at Antonio and the other sleazy looking dude sitting next to her. “I mean, you couldn’t come up with something more original than kidnapping me in a white van?”

“Seriously?” Antonio snapped and ran a hand through his hair while his gaze darted around the vehicle. Katy noticed the beads of sweat on his forehead and his disheveled-looking clothes. Very un-Antonio. “That’s what you’re concerned about? That we didn’t get a fancy car to take you in?”

Katy shrugged. “I’m just saying. Maybe you’ve all watched one too many movies where the chick gets abducted and thrown into a white van. But that’s not the point.” She shook her head and blew out a quick breath in an attempt to get her hair out of her face. “The point is, I’m going to die—”

“You’re not going to die.” He heaved a deep sigh.

“And no one will know all the great things I would have done in my life.” Katy kept talking as if he hadn’t just rudely interrupted her grieving moment. “I mean, c’mon, man. Did you think I planned to work in a pizza place forever? Did you think that would be my only contribution to society?”

“What plans did you have?” A smooth voice from beside her asked.

She turned her head to look at Sleazeball Number One. That’s how she’d come to think of the three men in the van. Sleazeball Number One had bleached-blond hair, green eyes, an eyebrow ring, thin lips, and a surprisingly seductive voice. He could have been cute in a punk rocker sort of way, if his gaze wasn’t creepily crawling all over her. And if he wasn’t, you know, a kidnapper. Sleazeball Number Two was the driver. He had pitch black hair, eyes that were also black, which was eerie, but were most likely dark brown in the proper light, because who in the world had black eyes? He had a very square jaw that could no doubt handle a pretty strong punch and very plump lips… which annoyed her. Kidnappers should not have plump lips. That left Sleazeball Number Three. A man she’d known for three years. And though she’d known he was a douchebag, she’d never thought he was capable of something so despicable as abducting a person. I seriously need to reconsider my ability to judge a person’s character.

A snapping sound brought her attention back to Sleazeball Number One.

“You in there?” He snapped his fingers in her face again.

Katy darted forward, her mouth ready to take a finger off, but he pulled his arm back before she could clamp down. “It’s rude to snap your fingers in a person’s face.”

“It’s also rude not to answer a question,” he countered.

Katy scoffed. “I don’t think anything I do with respect to you three could be considered rude. You’re abducting me. It’s pretty much par for the course for me to be a complete bitch. The audience would cheer me on.”

“Can’t argue with you there.” Sleazeball Number One nodded his head and folded his arms across his chest before leaning back into the seat. “But we digress. You were just about to tell us of all the things you planned to share with this world, should you not have been taken against your will, which could possibly end in your untimely demise.”

She narrowed her eyes on him. She greatly disliked that he seemed to have a first-rate vocabulary. Kidnappers should sound like thugs. She crossed her ankles and shifted in her seat in an attempt to find a more comfortable position, but the seats were hard as rocks, and there must have been a broken spring where she sat because something kept poking her in the butt. “I was going to go to college, then veterinary school, and then study endangered species and save them.”

“I never knew that.”

Her head swiveled to look at Antonio where he sat on the opposite side of Sleaze ball Number One. Antonio’s brow drew low as he studied her.

“It wasn’t your business,” Katy said simply.

“Endangered species, you say?” Sleazeball Number Two asked from the driver seat. It was the first time he’d spoken since she’d been shoved—kicking and slapping and clawing but not screaming because screaming in New York City wouldn’t even earn a person a passing glance, so what was the point?—into the van. “It just might be your lucky day, Little Girl. You could get to help with that without going to college for ten years.”

As she stared at his eyes in the rearview mirror, she noticed, for the first time, that his pupils were vertical slits. Katy blinked and then looked again. Nope, she wasn’t imagining things. They still looked like reptilian eyes. And they were no longer black, but now seemed to be a golden color. He smiled at her, and her gaze dropped to his mouth. She saw a row of razor-sharp teeth that were definitely not human. “What the…” She breathed out while her mind moved a mile a minute, attempting to reason out what she was seeing.

“I think our guest is starting to see past the glamour.” Sleazeball Number Two looked back at the road.

Katy looked at Sleazeball Number One and noticed he watched her intently. Like she was the one with the creepy eyes and piranha teeth. She studied his face in turn as she thought back to all the things Lola had told her and Maddie. How she’d seen the features of the new guys they’d met in No Name Pizza change, revealing their animal nature. “Beastwalkers,” she whispered. Sleazeball Number One’s face shimmered when the moonlight lit it up briefly. Scales. He had scales on his face.

“In the flesh.” Sleazeball Number One smiled. His lips stayed closed, leaving her to wonder if he, too, had pointy teeth. Though when he spoke, she hadn’t noticed them being pointy.

“You hadn’t noticed the scales, either,” she muttered to herself.

“I’m Slick.” Sleazeball Number One said with a bow of his head.

“Of course you are,” Katy said dryly.

Slick just smirked and then motioned with his head to the driver. “And that’s—”

“The Head Boy of Slytherin House?” Her eyes darted to Sleazeball Number Two, who simply chuckled.

“No, though that’s a good one.” Slick nudged her shoulder. “His beast form is a snake, but as far as I know, he has no affiliation with Death Eaters. His name is Myron.”

“He doesn’t look like a Myron.” Katy didn’t know who the hell he looked like, but Myron was entirely too tame a name for someone who turned into a snake.

“What name would you give me?” Myron asked. His gaze stayed on the road.

“I don’t know.” She frowned. “I’ve never named a snake.”

Antonio cleared his throat, causing Katy to jump. She’d completely forgotten he was there, which should have been impossible, considering this was all his fault. Her head snapped to the side as she shot him her death glare. “And what about you? You suddenly seem like a snake in the grass, so it would be fitting.”

“I’m not like them.” Antonio sighed, suddenly looking twice his age.

“You just work for them?”

He looked away from her. “Sort of.”

“How do you think Lola is going to feel when she finds out you’ve signed my death warrant?” Perhaps Katy enjoyed a little too much how her words made him flinch.

“We told you. You’re not going to die,” Slick said. “In fact, your life will be much better than it is now.”

Katy pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes on him. “How, exactly, is my life going to be better after being taken against my will from my friends and family?”

Slick uncrossed his arms and laid one across the back of the seat. “Well, you won’t have to work in a pizza joint, for starters. In fact, you won’t have to work at all. You’ll be taken care of, provided with everything you need and want. You’ll be revered, considered precious, because you are. Men will fight for your attention, hoping to win your affection.”

Her eyes widened at his description. “Not that I have any sort of insecurities, but why on earth would men do that?”

“Because of what you are.”

“A woman?”

His lips turned up in a crooked smile. “Yes, but you’re way more than that.”

The word popped into her mind and slipped out of her mouth before Slick could continue. “Animus.” Another thing Lola had explained to her and Maddie. But Lola had said Katy wasn’t one. She said Katy would have seen the tattoos on the guys move and the changes in their appearances. She looked at Slick, and this time, his entire face was covered in scales, but only for a few seconds. Then it returned to his human appearance. She looked over at Antonio. “That’s why you took me?”

“Well, it certainly wasn’t for your sparkling personality and pleasant company.” His surly tone made her want to slap his handsome face.

“Don’t listen to Antonio,” Myron waved a dismissive hand. “He’s just ticked because he didn’t get the girl he wanted. He’s under the impression that if he’d grabbed you and your friend, then he’d have gotten to keep her. Though where he got that idea, I have no idea.”

“Because your king promised me,” Antonio snapped. “He told me if I got them both, then Lola would be mine.”

“She’s an animus,” Myron hissed, and the sound was scary as hell. “You’re unworthy of such a female.”

“You’re all unworthy of any female simply because you have to kidnap one in order to get one,” Katy snarled. Oddly enough, fear hadn’t been her go-to emotion, even when she’d first been forced into the vehicle. Instead, she’d jumped straight onto the anger train. And she was riding that bitch all the way to the beastwalker king who’d ordered her and Lola to be taken. Animal or not, Katy was going to give him a piece of her mind. If she was so valued, he most likely wouldn’t hurt her. Or at least that was what she’d keep telling herself, because being angry made her feel more powerful. Being scared just made her feel helpless.

“You’ll change your mind once you choose a mate and you realize how much he cares for you.” Slick’s tone of voice suggested he completely believed that BS.

“Hmm.” Katy nodded. “Riiiight. This unknown animal man cares for me so much that it won’t be a problem that he had to get me by kidnapping. Sounds like a real winner.” She slapped her thigh with her bound hands. “Grab a marriage license and sign me up for that guy.”

“It’s better than being mated to a flea-infested, mangy mutt,” Myron called back, his voice laced with agitation. Apparently, she’d hit a nerve.

“What?” Her eyes darted from Slick to Myron. “Are you talking about a dog? And why would you say that? Dogs are loyal. I doubt someone from the Dog Kingdom would kidnap a woman.”

Slick and Myron both laughed, and it took long enough for them to gain their composure that Katy began to feel stabby.

“I hope she picks me as her mate.” Slick gave her a wink. “I want to get the chance to tell the Alpha that she called his kingdom the ‘Dog Kingdom.’ Don’t you know that would raise his hackles?”

“You said mangy mutt,” Katy pointed out, feeling strangely defensive of this Alpha and his kingdom. “What am I supposed to think?”

“Wolves.” Myron’s gaze locked onto hers.

She jumped when she felt cool flesh against her arm. She dropped Myron’s stare to turn and find Slick running a finger across her shoulder, along the lines of the wolf tattoo she’d gotten. “You bear the mark of a wolf, which might make one of those mangy mutts think you belong to them. But a tattoo can be removed and replaced easily enough.”

Her eyes felt like they were going to pop out of her head as her heart squeezed in her chest. Katy didn’t like the idea of her tattoo being removed or changed. Suddenly, Roan’s words came flooding back as she looked down at the wolf on her shoulder. “You’re not an accident, Lola. And that Callon was the male you were drawn to is not a mistake. The Creator has changed the way our people mate. For as long as we have existed, our kind found their other half much like humans. They met, fell in love and then chose to spend their life together. Due to some poor choices our kind made, there are consequences to our actions. Though Visata has also blessed us for our decision to right our wrongs. Our kind can no longer look for a mate that they can choose. Visata is giving one mate for each male. She will be his and his alone, and he will be hers.” She slapped Slick’s hand away and covered the tattoo with her hand. The question of why she’d gotten the wolf was no longer a question. She was an animus. “Holy hell, I’m supposed to be mated to a wolf.”

Chapter 1

If You Don’t Like It, Go Suck On A Lemon.

“I keep thinking that I can’t possibly be surprised by what’s coming next in this reality. How could I be? I’ve read hundreds of paranormal romance books. I’m better studied on this than a second-year med student is on human anatomy. It just goes to show that reading about something and experiencing it are two very different things.” ~Lola

Lola felt the oppressive weight of fear and worry pressing down on her as they entered the lobby of Leonidas Global, Inc. So much had happened in such a brief span of time. Only a day ago, her life had been mundane. Okay, well, not exactly mundane, considering for the past few weeks she’d been seeing moving tattoos and strange men called beastwalkers partially shifting into wild animals. But that was before she really knew that what she was seeing wasn’t a figment of her overactive imagination. Now she was aware of the truth.

The supernatural beasts she’d imagined were only in books were actually real. She was apparently something called an “animus”—destined to be the mate of a lion-shifter prince. She’d like to take a moment and revel in the fantastical world that had been revealed to her, but how could she? Her best friend Katy had just been betrayed and abducted by someone they’d all believed was a friend. Lola had always thought Antonio’s obsession with her was unhealthy, but she wouldn’t have ever imagined he was capable of human trafficking. And why had he done it? Surely he hadn’t thought kidnapping her best friend was somehow the way to win Lola’s heart.

“I swear I’m going to cut him up into tiny pieces and scatter him on the pizzas as a topping if anything happens to Katy.” Lola’s voice didn’t remotely sound like her own. This version of Lola was dark and malevolent. She didn’t like the way it felt, yet she did like the illusion of power. “Because, seriously, how the heck could I actually cut up a man with a pizza cutter? Good grief, Lola. At least be realistic about how you will maim him.”

“I was going to ask how you’re holding up”—Callon’s deep voice interrupted her thoughts—“but considering you’re talking out loud to yourself, I’m going to take that as a sign that you’ve not shut down and escaped inside your own mind.” His tone was gentle as he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. His golden eyes scanned her face. Lola searched his expression for any emotion that might echo her own anxiety and sense of helplessness. But all she saw staring back at her was determination and grit. Callon was not defeated in the slightest. He looked ready to go to war, and the gleam in his eye made her think he might actually be excited about it.

“You’re not secretly a psychopath, are you?” She was only half joking. She’d hardly known the guy a few days. Ted Bundy’s girlfriend was with him for years—years—and didn’t have a clue he was knocking chicks out with crowbars and hacking them up.

Callon’s lips tipped up in a crooked smile. “If I told you everything about myself in the beginning, there’d be no mystery left in our relationship.”

“That’s a resounding yes,” Maddie offered from Lola’s other side. “Totally a psychopath, but we need him right now, so just go with it. It will probably help if he is a bit psychotic. You can dump his feline butt after we get Katy back.”

“Harsh,” Roan muttered from somewhere behind them.

“I only speak the truth,” Maddie called back. “If you don’t like it, go suck on a lemon.”

Lola’s eyes widened as she leaned closer to Maddie. “Is this your worry for Katy talking, or did something happen between you and Mister Swirly Eyes?”

Maddie took a deep breath, let it out, then offered a weak smile. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be bitchy.”

“Yes, you do,” Lola countered.

Maddie scrunched her face up briefly. “That’s fair. I do.” Then she wrapped an arm through Lola’s and latched onto her. “Honestly? I’m terrified, and a little confused, but we’re not going to discuss what I’m confused about. It’s not important. What is important is I’m trying really hard not to freak out.”

“You know that the whole ‘don’t freak out’ order I gave you is now null and void. After everything that’s happened tonight, I’d be more concerned if you didn’t freak out. I mean, seriously, Mads. Katy is gone. We have no idea what’s happening to her or where she’s being taken. And snap.” Lola stopped walking and groaned. “We’ve got to call her dad. What are we going to tell her dad? And your mom.” The wheels in her brain turned at a speed that couldn’t be healthy for her overworked synapses. “What are we going to tell your mom? You have to go home. You can’t just not go home. Then there’s Sal. How can we leave him high and dry without three of his waitresses? I swear I’m going to beat the supernatural hell out of Antonio when I get my hands on him.” She glanced up at Callon, who didn’t look nearly as concerned as he should. Note to self: do research on psychopathic behavior in crisis. She turned back to Maddie. “Thank you.” Lola breathed out.

“For what?” Maddie pulled her arm out of Lola’s and ran her hands through her blonde hair.

“For looking like the world is coming to an end and not like you’re trying to figure out what to eat for dinner.”

“Don’t be offended.” Roan came around and stood a few feet in front of Lola, Callon, and Maddie. Bane, she assumed, was still behind them. “That’s Callon’s normal face.”

“RBBF,” Maddie said flatly and nodded as if it made total sense.

Lola frowned. “What?”

“Resting Beast Bitch Face.” Maddie shrugged. “Totally what he looks like.”

There was a coughing sound behind them that sounded suspiciously like a laugh, and Roan bit his lip in a failing attempt to keep from smiling.

Lola looked back at Maddie.

“What?” She lifted her hands. “You know how I get in a crisis. I say weird shit while inwardly I’m in a corner rocking and drooling.”

Lola started moving again, Callon’s hand still firmly wrapped around her own. “Well, you can call Katy’s dad and say weird shit to him. Maybe he won’t ask a bunch of questions if you just say something so bizarre that he thinks you and Katy are just pranking him.”

Maddie strode alongside her. “That’s probably a good idea, even if I don’t want to be the one to talk to him. You’d totally crumble under any pressure he might push against your story.”

“Maybe just text him, pretend to be Katy, and say her phone died. Use some big, fancy words and say she’s going on a road trip with us. And we’ll tell our parents the same thing. Spur of the moment, completely irresponsible nineteen-year-old thing to do.” She nodded frantically, as if that would somehow make her idea more plausible and less ridiculous than it sounded.

Maddie gave her a flat look. “Because we don’t have a car.”

“We’re borrowing Callon’s,” Lola countered.

“A guy you’ve known all of five minutes.” Maddie held up a finger, stopping Lola from speaking. “Though, considering you might be pregnant with his child, it would be more probable that he would let us use his car. Okay, carry on with your hole-riddled plan.”

Lola held up her own finger. “First, unless kissing is what it takes to make a baby these days, I am no more pregnant with Callon’s child than I could be with Roan’s.”

“Whoa, do not bring me into this conversation. You and I have never kissed.” Roan snapped. “I’m lucky to have made it out of your bedroom alive in the first place.”

Callon growled and pulled Lola closer to him, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders as they walked.

Lola bowed her head. “Sorry about that. For a few seconds, I forgot that he’s a psycho, berserker lion. The point I’m trying to make is I’m not stinking pregnant.”

“You’re awfully defensive,” Maddie said as they reached the elevators.

Lola pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m just going to ignore that entire part of the conversation and remind myself that you’re under a lot of stress at the moment. Let’s refocus on what we’re going to tell all of our parentals so they don’t go to the police and report us missing.”

Maddie blew out a sharp breath and jammed the elevator button with more force than necessary. “Deal.” She growled while stabbing the button again. “Why are these things so freaking slow? And why are we here instead of on a plane bound for New Orleans? That’s where you said the girls are being taken, right?”

Roan placed a hand lightly on her shoulder. “We’ll figure this all out.” Though his voice was gruff, the gentleness in it was unmistakable. “We will have her rescued as quickly as possible, so hopefully a swift road trip won’t make your parents suspicious. But we must be smart. A reckless mistake could risk Katy’s life.”

Maddie bit her lip but gave a tight nod, conceding his point. Lola didn’t miss the way her friend sidestepped around Roan so that his hand dropped from her shoulder. She watched Maddie’s glare as her friend’s eyes shifted between Roan and the elevator doors. Lola couldn’t help but feel that something had happened between Maddie and the Shaman while she and Callon had been away from them in her room. Something that seemed to be unfinished, though both of them were attempting to ignore whatever it was.

Finally, the doors slid open, and they stepped inside. Lola leaned into Callon’s strength as his muscled arm tightened around her. Now that her mouth was closed, and she was no longer having her own panic attack, she could feel his emotions. He wasn’t as unaffected as she’d first thought. Though his face remained impassive, the rage coming off him was stifling.

The elevator opened directly into Taras’s spacious office. Lola glanced at Maddie to gauge her reaction. Her eyes were wide, but she was focused on the large windows. To be fair, they were an impressive sight. But if Maddie were able to see past the glamour in the Prime’s office, her attention would have been on the textured terracotta walls, the rough stone floor, and the expensive-looking, exotic woven rugs. It looked nothing like a modern business office.

The Prime stood behind his massive oak desk, concern etched into his leonine features—a mixture between man and beast. Again, Lola looked at Maddie, but she didn’t get the impression that Maddie was seeing anything other than a handsome man who didn’t look quite old enough to have a son Callon’s age.

“My son.” Taras came forward to grip Callon’s shoulder firmly. “Congratulations on your mating. I only wish it were under better circumstances.”

Lyra, the Prima, and Taras’s mate, stood at his side, regal and beautiful despite the late hour. She was in her fully human form. Her brow was pinched with worry, and after looking everyone over, she focused her gold eyes on Lola. Her features softened as she quickly walked over and wrapped Lola in a tight embrace. Callon kept a firm grip on Lola’s hand throughout the hug.

“I am so sorry, sweet Lola.” Lyra’s voice was as gentle as a soft breeze. “This should not have happened. We should have considered that since you’ve become of interest, they might target your friends and family. Typically, an animus is treated with utmost respect and reverence, but the Kingdom of Venom seems to have forgotten the blessing of an animus can only be fully realized if they choose to be with a beastwalker instead of simply being forced into our culture.”

Lola’s body stiffened at the Prima’s words. Her friend was quicker on the draw as Maddie’s voice filled the quiet, tension-filled room.

“What do you mean, ‘forced into our culture’?”

Lyra stepped back, her hands sliding to Lola’s shoulders. She gave them a final squeeze. “We aren’t cruel or evil. But not too long ago, all of our kind made bad choices.”

Lola could see the pain in the Prima’s eyes as they filled with tears. “We’ve all done bad things. No one is perfect. I mean, I’ve done bad things. Maddie, you’ve done bad things, right?” When her friend didn’t answer, Lola turned her head and nodded frantically at her. “Right?” she said again, more sternly.

Maddie blinked several times, looking from Lyra to Lola. “Right,” she said, though it sounded like a question. “I mean, of course. But you know, there’s bad things and then there’s baaaaad things. I feel like the beautiful, yet scary-looking woman is saying they, I’m guessing she means the collective whole of her people, have done baaaaad things. I haven’t buried any dead bodies lately, soooo…”

Lola huffed out a breath and turned back to Lyra. “Not to call your integrity into question or anything, but we’re not talking the ‘burying dead bodies’ kind of bad, are we?” She held up a hand. “Not that I’m judging. I’m totally not judging. It’s not like I haven’t ever thought, ‘Man, I wish that so-and-so would drop dead.’ We’ve all had those kinds of thoughts, right?” Lola nodded. Again, her head was moving a little too fast and, as usual, her mouth wouldn’t stay shut. “But, even if it is that kind of bad, sometimes there’s a good explanation.”

“Okay, that’s totally true. There are some people that just need to be un-alived.”

“Un-alived, Maddie?” Roan asked, his tone dry. “Is ‘murder’ one of those words that’s been canceled?”

“I was thinking it was nicer than saying made dead. And I wasn’t going to touch the M word. But now you’ve done and gone there. So let’s just get the elephant out of the room. Who’d you guys kill? But don’t tell us where the bodies are. Then we can truthfully say we don’t know anything.”

“But you’ll know who we killed,” another voice said.

Lola turned to see who’d spoken.

Wyatt gave her a wink. “Hey, Beautiful.”

A rumble began to build in Callon’s chest.

“Easy, Cal.” Wyatt didn’t look worried at all. “I was just about to wish you both congratulations. I’m not hitting on your mate.”

“Back to the murders,” Rafe, who was sitting next to Wyatt, said. “It would take a really long time to list all the names for the body count. There’s really no point going down that dark hole.”

“Agreed. How’s the tat, Lo?” Kian asked as he walked over to her.

“Her name is Lola.” Callon growled. “And you don’t need to worry about her tattoo. I worry about her tattoo. You worry about me not un-aliving you.”

“There’s the prince we all know and love,” a male that Lola didn’t recognize said.

Callon’s body tensed, and the emotions that had held excitement at what Lola assumed was the idea of taking out his enemies shifted to something more sinister. She placed her hand over his, which was pressed firmly to her stomach. She looked at the guy who’d just spoken. “Who are you?”

“My apologies.” The man’s light skin was a bright contrast to his pitch black hair that he wore slicked back. His face had severe angles with sharp cheekbones and a defined jaw. Piercing, ice-blue eyes held hers as he spoke. “We’ve actually met, but you met me while I was in my fur.” He motioned to the beautiful female next to him. She too had jet-black hair, which was piled up on top of her head in a messy bun. “I’m Tack, and this is my mate, Faith.”

Lola’s memory surfaced from the day before. Good grief. Has it only been a day? “You’re the white tigers.” She heard the awe in her own voice. How could she not be in awe? She’d seen the pair in their animal form, and they were magnificent.

“It’s nice to meet you in person.” Faith smiled. “Where I can actually speak back.”

“You two change into white tigers?” Maddie shifted on her feet, and her eyes were as big as saucers. She looked like she might jump into a happy dance at any moment. “That is so freaking cool.” She turned to Lola. “Why do you and Katy get superpowers? I want superpowers.”

Lola gave her a dry look. “So you want to be the target of a supernatural trafficking ring? Because, I’ll be honest, Mads, that’s not something I thought you’d ever aspire to.”

“Can we please focus?” Callon’s voice was low and held a hint of a growl.

“Right.” Lola gave a quick nod. “Bad things. Care to elaborate?”

Taras stepped forward and motioned toward the chairs in his office. “You should both probably take a seat.”

“That bad.” Maddie gave Lola a sidelong glance as she took one of the empty seats.

Lola sat in a chair next to her. Her butt had scarcely hit the cushion before she was plucked up by Callon. “Dude, what are you—” She closed her mouth when he took her seat and then put her in his lap. What the ever loving… Lola mentally choked. “What are you doing?”

“Making sure you can’t run away.” A guy Lola remembered from NNP as Drystan was smirking at them.

“You’re lucky there’s not a rope around,” Rafe added. “He’d tie you to him.”

Bane stood across the room with his shoulder resting against the glass of one of the large windows. “Wouldn’t you?” he asked Rafe. “If she was your female?”

“Still eager to die,” Callon bit out. Fur rippled across his arms before disappearing.

“All of you need to keep your mouths shut,” Roan snapped. “Especially you, Bane. You saw what he turns into when provoked.”

“I would like everyone in the room to remain quiet until I am done explaining our sordid past to Lola and her friend Maddie.” Taras’s sharp gaze roamed around the room. “Is that understood?”

There was a collective, “Yes, Prime,” from the others, though Callon only grunted.

Taras lowered himself onto the love seat across from Maddie and Lola. Lyra sat next to him. She rested her hands in her lap, though Lola saw a slight shake in them. Taras leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. The sleeves of his dress shirt were rolled back on his forearms, revealing different tattoos of many animals, all in the feline family.

“For a very long time, our kind has had problems procreating,” the Prime began. “And even when our females can conceive, all of the offspring are males.”

“Uh-oh.” Maddie breathed out softly. “I think I see where this is going.”

Lola frowned. “You do?”

Maddie nodded. “Yep,” she popped the ‘p.’ “Breeding program. You guys were snatching up women in hopes of knocking them up. But you haven’t been able to reproduce with humans, so now you’ve got all these women that are useless to you. And what do people do with useless things?” She made a slicing motion across her throat.

Lola closed her eyes briefly and shook her head as she breathed out slowly. “They don’t have a breeding program.”

The room was silent for several heartbeats.

Lola opened her eyes and looked at Taras, then Lyra, and finally turned her head so she could see Callon. “Right?”

“Not exactly,” Wyatt said slowly.

“Called it.” Maddie snapped her fingers at the same time Lola said, “What!” while trying to jump from Callon’s lap. But his arms were like steel bands holding her down.

“Wyatt,” Lyra hissed. “We do not have breeding programs.”

“We took those women hoping they would eventually want to breed with us,” he said nonchalantly. “What would you call it, Prima?”

Lyra’s sharp gaze stayed on him for a hot minute, and then she looked at Lola. “When we learned of the animi, we realized that it was possible for our kind to mate with humans. Not only bond with them to bring out our beast form but also have children with them. Male and female.”

“How did you figure out that animi existed?” Lola’s hand was wrapped tightly over the top of Callon’s, and her fingernails dug into his flesh. Lola hoped the truth was less horrific than Maddie had guessed, but she didn’t know how that could be.

“One of our males met a human female, and they fell in love,” Taras answered. “Their mating produced a female cub. The first in fifty years.”

“So in all the time your kind have been in the human realm, no one got together with humans until that couple?” Lola couldn’t imagine how that could possibly be, especially when, so far, all of the beastwalkers she’d seen were extremely good looking. Her eyes jumped to Faith and her mate Tack. Both looked as if they could be straight off a model shoot. Then she looked at Wyatt, Rafe, Drystan, Kian, and finally Bane. Yep, all hot as Hades.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Lola looked at Maddie as the blonde’s brow bounced up and down. “There’s no way human women haven’t been trying to hit that.” Maddie nodded toward all the good-looking men.

Lola bit back a groan. “Can you not speak like a fifteen-year-old boy?”

Maddie rolled her eyes. “Fine. There’s no way human women haven’t been trying to make love to those guys.”

This time Lola did groan, while the males in question all choked back laughter.

Taras interrupted the sounds as he regained Lola’s attention. “To answer your question with more decorum…” He gave Maddie a sharp glance. She managed to actually look sheepish as she dropped her chin. “Our kind did intermingle with humans. But up until ten years ago, none had ever bonded or produced children together.”

Lola leaned in, her eyes wide with curiosity and a hint of skepticism. "So, tell me, how exactly did your members manage to discover more animi?" she inquired, her tone laced with both humor and disbelief. "What was the strategy? Did your guys dive into a frenzy of speed-dating with human females, hoping to strike a match? Or was it something more... drastic, like abductions and coercion?"

“No,” Lyra snapped, her sharp tone cutting off Lola’s words. “We would never allow our males to force themselves on females, human or otherwise.”

Lola felt a twinge of guilt. “Of course not.” She could feel disappointment radiating off Callon. She turned so she could look at his face. His golden eyes were narrowed, and his jaw clenched tightly. “What was I supposed to think?” she asked softly. “I mean, a breeding program, Callon? You never mentioned anything like that.”

“You didn’t have to think the worst about me or my people,” he said gruffly.

Dammit, dammit, dammit. Lola hadn’t meant to make him feel like, well, like a person who would do that. “You’re right.” She took in a deep breath. “I didn’t have to think that. And I will attempt to keep an open mind and reserve judgment.”

Callon’s hand wrapped around the back of her neck and pulled her toward him until her forehead touched his. It was an incredibly intimate gesture despite the fact that they weren’t doing anything. Lola felt the eyes of everyone in the room on them.

“Focus on me,” he whispered, his voice a rough rasp. “What they think doesn’t matter.”

Lola’s lips tilted up slightly. “Anyone ever mention you’re a tad demanding?”

His shoulder, where one of her hands rested, lifted in a lazy shrug.

“For the record,” Maddie’s voice rang out. “I’m not in any sort of committed relationship with anyone in this room and therefore reserve the right to judge right out of the gate.”

Chapter 2

This Probably Wouldn’t Sound Nearly As Bad If It Were The Plot Of Some Cheesy Paranormal Romance Book.

“I feel like there’s several possibilities on how this night could end. At least one of those possibilities involves Maddie tied up by Roan with her mouth covered in duct tape. Does it make me a horrible friend that I’m sort of rooting for that outcome? To be fair, some of the other possible endings are way worse.” ~Lola

“There is no record, female.” Roan's voice dripped with dryness as he casually flicked an imaginary speck of dust from his sleeve. He met her gaze unflinchingly, adding, "And your judgment is of little consequence."

Lola pulled her head away from Callon’s and turned to look at the Shaman. His silver eyes swirled dangerously as he glared at Lola’s best friend, who simply blinked up at him.

“Sooo,” Lola drew out as she looked back at Taras and Lyra. “The couple fell in love and made a baby. What happened next?” She shifted on Callon’s lap and tried not to feel self-conscious over the fact that she was sitting in his lap in the first place.

“As you know,” Taras continued, ignoring Roan and Maddie, “Shaman can sense the magic of an animus. Roan noticed there was something different about the human female that mated with our male. And after talking to her, we found out she’d been able to see past our glamour. She hadn’t wanted to admit it, nor had her mate wanted her to.”

“Why?” Maddie asked before Lola could. “Is there some rule prohibiting you all from revealing yourselves to humans?”

“An unwritten rule,” Lyra answered. “Not so much a law, but you can imagine what would happen if the wrong kind of human found out about our existence.”

Maddie nodded. “They’d want to capture you and experiment on you. Or kill you because they perceived you as a threat. We humans can be awesome sometimes.”

Lola raised her eyebrows, wondering if her own spirit had somehow jumped into Maddie. Why is she talking so much? Maddie’s sudden extroversion was truly unusual, especially in a stressful situation. Maybe she’s in shock.

Taras motioned to Maddie. “Exactly. We desire to keep a low profile. But the decision we made after finding out what this female could do was foolish, uncaring, and something I will forever be ashamed of.”

“Okay.” Lola held up a hand. “I see where Callon gets his inability to just spit it out. I mean, we’re sitting here thinking the absolute worst, and you just keep hinting at this horrible action. Are there tons of women sitting in rows of freezers somewhere in the basement because you thought they were animi, but then they turned out not to be, so you had to kill them because they knew what you were, and you had to silence them? Did you have to kill their families, too, because they went missing and obviously their families would go to the police and there’d be some serious publicity over a bunch of women going missing? For the love of every woman’s sanity in the history of ever, rip the bandage off already.” Lola breathed heavily as she finally snapped her mouth shut. Everyone stared at her—some with brows raised, some with blank faces, and a couple with grins, as if she were the most amusing thing they’d seen all day. “I mean…” She looked at Lyra and Taras. “Please, could you get to the point?”

Lyra leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. “Shaman began searching for the human women that had animi magic. And when they found them, they took them. They brought them to our territory where they could be exposed to our males in hopes that a connection could be made. The Shaman”—she motioned to Roan—“were required by their own oath to share information. So Roan had to tell the Council what we’d learned. Once the other kingdoms knew, it became a competition. The more females a kingdom had, the more chances for mates, which would allow more males to tap into their beasts.”

“And babies,” Maddie muttered. “Don’t forget that little tidbit.”

Lola felt like she was going to vomit. They’d abducted women. Just like the Kingdom of Venom was doing. “You were human traffickers,” Lola blurted out.

“No.” Callon growled. “We never trafficked. We did not sell or trade women. They are precious and treated as such. They are pampered. Human females in a kingdom have anything and everything they need or want—”

“Except their freedom,” Lola snapped back as she swung her head around to glare at him. “And I suppose there were human captives at the mansion you took me to?”

He stared at her for several heartbeats before he finally nodded. “Captives really isn’t the right word,” he muttered.

This time when she pushed away, he let her up. Lola’s hands fisted at her sides as she walked backward away from Callon. She wasn’t paying attention to what was behind her and bumped into something solid, but it wasn’t a wall. Hands rested on her biceps, steadying her. Callon jumped to his feet, his face changing in a blink from human to something between lion and man. He moved forward toward her.

“Get your paws off her,” he said through a large mouth filled with sharp teeth.

Lola glanced over her shoulder and saw Bane behind her. Good grief. She inwardly sighed and stepped forward, forcing his hands to release her. Then she moved to the side so that the panther was no longer directly behind her.

Taras rose to his feet. “Stand down, Callon.” He grabbed his son’s arm and pulled him back, which was a testament to his strength because Callon certainly wasn’t voluntarily yielding the space. Woah. The Prime is powerful. “She doesn’t want Bane. My guess is that your mate doesn’t want anyone in this room at the moment.”

“Except me.” Maddie raised a hand. “I’ve got no history of snatching up innocent women to make babies with them. So we’re good.”

Lola shook her head and glanced around the room. Recently, she’d been in awe of them because of their uniqueness and supernatural qualities. But ultimately, they weren’t any different from humans. They made stupid choices that hurt others. They made huge mistakes that had huge consequences. She didn’t have any right to judge them, but this? This was something more than calling in sick to work when you really just wanted to read the newest book in a series you love. This was way beyond grabbing a drink in the grocery line only to realize once you were in your car that you’d forgotten to pay for it and then being too lazy to walk back inside and do the right thing. These were people they’d taken. People with loved ones, friends, jobs, and pets that relied on them. And they’d been snatched right off the street because the beastwalkers thought they had a right to take them. No matter the reason, stealing a person is never okay.

“Lola.” Even though his mouth wasn’t fully human, Callon’s voice was gentle. His face still sat in that in-between state. His golden gaze pierced hers as he took another step toward her.

She shook her head and held up a hand to stop him. “No. You have to let me process this. This isn’t the same thing as you turning into a gigantic beast or coming from a completely different realm. This is wrong, Callon.”

“I know.” His chin dropped, and his shoulders slumped forward in defeat. “I know.”

Roan spoke up. “If it helps—”

“It won’t,” Maddie quipped.

“Our Creator has deemed fit to punish us for our actions,” he continued. “That was one of the things I was coming to tell Taras and Lyra tomorrow.” He paused and looked at his watch. “Well, technically today, considering we’ve passed midnight.”

“Does it have to do with what you told Callon when he came into Lola’s room in berserker mode? Because that doesn’t sound like a punishment.”

Roan’s eyes cut to Maddie who leaned back on the love seat, her body moving with the grace of a cat. He spoke calmly, but slowly, maybe because he didn’t think she’d pay attention otherwise. “By the ten kingdoms, Female, would you let me finish?”

Maddie simply shrugged.

Roan focused on the Prime and Prima. “Visata made Himself known at the council meeting. He admonished us for our transgressions, as He should have. We all know that what we did was wrong, no matter how well the females have been treated.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a steadying breath. “Each of the Shaman are delivering this same message to their respective kingdoms. Visata has decreed that the human females who have become potential mates for the Damarians will no longer simply find a male and fall in love. They will be preordained. Each male will have