“Ex-mercenary—”
“What, you think he dropped the instinct to hunt? To kill sick shifters?”
“You said she wasn’t a shifter.”
Now Dustin was messing with him. Twisting words and making him speak in circles, and he wasn’t doing this shit. Three steps to Dustin, and Beast moved to wrap his hand around his throat to get him to stop talking.
At the last moment, Dustin held up a folder that Beast accidentally grabbed instead. The shitty handwriting on the front read Kiera Pierce.
Dustin ducked out of pawing range and jammed a finger at the folder. “I know you don’t want her here, but there are too many secrets in this crew. Like why the fuck weren’t we told Kiera is still in the territory? You I get, but they are leaving me and Emma out of their little secret stalk, too. I snuck in Kane’s house today while you two were at work and found this.”
“What is it?” Beast asked, his voice more animal than man right now. He hated when he got this riled up, hated the gravel to his tone.
“That’s everything Kane dug up on Kiera. You know as well as I do the dragon knows everything about everyone, and he’s got tons of dirt on this one. She’s a total nutcase, Beast.” Dustin snarled up his lip. “And you know what Kane does with total nutcases.”
Beast heaved a sigh. “Yeah. He makes them Blackwings.” He looked suspiciously at Dustin and held up the black folder. “Why did you give this to me?”
“Because like it or not, I really do consider you a friend. I owe you for going to battle with me against the packs. You showed up first, and that counts for something big with me. You freaked the fuck out yesterday when you found out Kiera was a lioness. I don’t know why, but I saw the panic in your eyes, and I don’t want you to leave the Blackwings. Not because of Kiera, not because of anything.” Dustin made his way to the door, but turned just before he left and made an elaborate sign with his hands. He’d been learning American Sign Language for his hearing-impaired mate. “Emma says I should be more open with my feelings. Do you know what I just said to you?”
“I don’t care.”
“I said I love you, too, because I know deep down you—”
“Get out before I kill you.”
“Yep, see you later,” Dustin rushed out with a nod, then disappeared out the front door.
Beast really, really didn’t like the idea of Logan tailing Kiera. Or that she was still in the territory. Or that Kane was keeping secrets from Beast. He’d been Kane’s confidant in the crew—the one Kane came to for advice. He’d been the one Kane had tasked with finding out what Dustin was really up to when he was thinking of betraying their crew to the Valdoro pack. Honestly, right now Beast felt a little demoted. Maybe Kane was going to make Logan his Third.
Beast looked down at the folder. He had respect for dark pasts and really shouldn’t read this. Kiera wasn’t offering it, so it was like he was stealing her secrets, and something about that curdled his stomach. The folder made a slapping sound as it hit the table. Without a look back at it, Beast peeled off his shirt and strode for the bathroom where he was going to shower and refuse to jerk off for the freaking second time today while thinking about that sexy ex-lioness. Maybe she was in heat or something. Maybe that’s why his animal was going mad for her. Or maybe he was just so damn deprived after running a pride for ten years and taking care of the females in heat. They required sex multiple times a day, and going from that to nothing had shocked his system. He wasn’t like this with the other females in the crew at all, but Kiera had him rutting so freaking hard. Probably because of those pretty lioness eyes. And her curves. And her little nose, rosy cheeks, and her hair all piled up, making him want to yank out the hair band and run his fingers through her long locks, flip her over on a bed, and fuck her from behind while gripping that pretty purple hair and…crap. Now he was hard again.
For that little fantasy, he deserved a cold shower, and that was just what he got. He ignored the hell out of his raging boner because he had to get this under control. He felt like a freaking addict right now.
Dustin had said there was dirt on Kiera in that folder, so maybe that was the solution. Maybe if he read all the terrible things about her, he would be so turned off it would cure whatever was happening to his body.
Mind made up and moral compass smashed to smithereens, he wrapped a towel around his hips and strode into the kitchen, flipped open the folder, and yanked out the contents. A medical bracelet fell onto the table. It was splattered with dark brown spots, and when Beast lifted it to his nose and sniffed, he wanted to retch. It was old blood.
Kiera Rain Pierce, age 15, lioness, not to be left unattended. There was a logo on the underside of the bracelet. Apex.
Beast sat slowly in the chair and read the first page. It was a letter written in a kid’s scribbled handwriting. All the Bs were backward. Across the top it read Kiera age 9.
When I grow up I want to be a police woman or maybe a firefighter so I can help people. Henry said girls can’t be firefighters but I’m a lion shifter. I’m strong. I could get in and out of houses really fast and carry people to safety. My mom is a firefighter and she is the strongest person in the world.
Underneath, there was a picture done in crayon of two lionesses, a big one and a small one sitting next to each other. There was a house and flowers in the background with a rainbow across the top of them.
Jesus. A huge part of him didn’t even want to know what happened to her. He had enough of his own shit to deal with.