Tabby would have enough to deal with when she found out exactly what he was capable of.
Tabby watched Bunny stalk out of the restaurant, leaving her alone at the table.
Totally humiliated, she waited for the waiter to come and give her the check. She hoped she had enough credit to cover the cost.
How could she expect anyone to understand what it was like to be unjustly Outcast? She was lucky the Pumas had taken her in. At least she hadn’t made the mistake of going to the Poconos Alpha. If her own mate reacted like this, she could just imagine what the Pack Alpha would have been like.
A warm hand covered hers. “Tabby?”
She stared at Bunny, his image wavering before her, and only then realized that she was crying. “I’m sorry.” And she should be. She was an Outcast. Someone no one wanted to be near.
Who had she been kidding? Bunny could go his merry way now. Outcasts had no place in their society. She hadn’t even bothered trying to make her way back into a Pack. As far as he knew, she really was everything her old Alpha had accused her of being.
“Shit.” Bunny crouched next to her, his expression full of sincere regret. “Don’t cry. I’m sorry, Tabby. I didn’t think about how you’d take me walking away.” A soft kiss landed on the top of her head. “Do me one favor.”
“What?” She sniffed.
“No matter how many times I ask, don’t ever tell me the name of your ex-Alpha.”
“Why not?” Her Wolf snapped to attention as his hazel eyes bled slowly to dark brown. A predator looked out at her through them. He looked lethal, ready to take out the world if she asked him to. It was strange to see that look in the eyes of a Bear. She’d thought Bears were more like her friend Julian, soft and sweet with a quirky humor, but Alex’s eyes were those of a hunter. Maybe they were only that predatory where a mate was concerned? “Oh. That’s why.” She knew her mouth was trembling. Hell, all of her was trembling. No one had stood up for her in years, other than Cyn, Glory, Julian and Gabe.
She darted a glance at Bunny and caught him smiling at her. He was still stroking her fingers, sending tingles down her spine. His heat and scent surrounded her, his eyes still a deep chocolate brown. God, she actually felt safe.
How the hell had that happened? She hadn’t felt truly safe since the day her parents and her Pack turned their backs on her.
“Is everything all right?”
She looked up to find the waiter standing by their table, a concerned look on his face. “Everything’s fine.” She pulled a tissue from her purse and wiped her eyes.
“Can we have a moment? I think we’re going to have dessert and coffee. The tiramisu looks really good.” Bunny took a seat next to her, scooting his chair closer, angling his body in between hers and the waiter’s.
Big goof. From the look on his face, he wasn’t about to let anyone near her he didn’t approve of personally. It was sweet, in a caveman sort of way, but could be a real pain in the ass if he chose to act that way at LA. She could feel her lips curving up in a smile at the protective gesture. She cleared the last of the tears from her throat. “I’m thinking of the French silk pie.”
“Two coffees?” The waiter left to fetch their desserts after they nodded, leaving them alone.
He stroked her fingers, refusing to let go of her hand. His eyes turned back to the warm hazel they’d been before she began discussing her Outcasting. “Did you really live in the woods all those years?”
“Yes. If it wasn’t for Gabe and his grandmother, I’d still be living out there.” Or dead. But she wouldn’t say that in front of the increasingly growly Bunny. His chest was actually rumbling.
“Where are you from originally?” The question was innocent, but Bunny’s expression was anything but. In the dim lighting, she couldn’t quite see the color of his eyes, but she thought they might have darkened just a hair.
She decided it couldn’t hurt to answer in a roundabout way. “Georgia.”
“Near Marietta?”
She shot him a look. No way was she confirming that he was right. Besides, she’d probably given it away when she mentioned her uncle worked for his father.
Bunny sighed. “Is there any way for you to join a local Pack?”
“The closest sanctioned Pack is in the Poconos, about two hours away.”
Bunny smiled sweetly as the waiter set the deserts on the table and left. “Ah. So, whereabouts in Marietta is your Pack, anyway?”
Tabby decided to try a little soothing of her own. She reached up and patted Bunny’s cheek. “Down, Baloo.” Bunny looked startled. “For a Bear, you’re awfully growly.” Tabby shook her head before taking a bite of her pie. Mmm, chocolate.
Screw that whole “chocolate isn’t good for canines” shit. After what she’d just gone through, she needed her fix.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. I know a Bear or two, and I thought most of you were pretty laid back.”
Bunny scowled. “And you think I’m not laid back?”
Tabby tried to hide her growing grin behind her coffee mug, but knew she’d failed when Bunny just shook his head.
They left the restaurant in total accord. Bunny helped Tabby onto the bike and climbed on after her, careful not to jar her. “Want to head to my place?” He had every intention of claiming her tonight, but had no desire to do so in her tiny apartment with her roommates down the hall. He took a deep breath. He longed for the scent of his mate to fill all the empty places inside him.
Instead, he caught the scent of something else, something terrible. “Chloe?” And blood. Lots of blood.
“Chloe? What about Chloe?”
“Tabby?” The scent was stronger now, the breeze bringing him his cousin’s pain.
He handed Tabby a helmet, the need to move, to protect his little cousin gripping him with steel hands.
“What?” She shoved the helmet on and wrapped her hands around his waist.
“I need you to hold on.” He started the bike, roaring out of Noah’s parking lot. He ignored Tabby’s squawk of surprise, concentrating only on getting to Chloe.
He turned the corner and found an ambulance, lights flashing in the darkness.
They illuminated the body of his little cousin sprawled on the street, her red hair mingling with the blood under her, around her. The paramedics bent over her body worked frantically to save her.
“Sir!”
He was off the bike and charging for the scene before anyone could stop him.
Chloe was hurt. Chloe needed him. Ryan was going to freak if anything happened to his baby sister. He needed to call Ryan…
Oh fuck. She looked dead. There was a stranger bent over her, obviously not a paramedic. The man had long, dark hair bound in a braid, but that was all Bunny allowed himself to see. “Chloe?” If he could just touch her, he might be able to help heal her.
One of the paramedics stared at him with sympathy in his eyes and shook his head ever so slightly.
Someone was tugging on the stranger’s arm. “Sir, you need to step back and allow us to do our job.”
“I’m a nurse,” the man growled, deep, bass, primal. It went straight for Bunny’s gut. The man was a Bear like him.
He trusted another Bear a hell of a lot more than he trusted a human paramedic.
“How is she?”
The man pushed Chloe’s light jacket aside, baring her shoulders. “She’ll live.”
The weary pain in the other Bear’s voice was a dagger in his gut. “Live how?”
A car screeched to a halt next to them. A blond man stepped out, his eyes concerned. “Let me through.”
Surprisingly, the men did. Bunny, however, wasn’t moving. Not until he scented Puma.