Ground training, p.25
Ground Training, page 25
part #1 of Immortal Outcasts® Series
“One at a time,” he said evenly.
The noise in her head lessened tremendously, and she sensed it then—pain and sadness. It was coming from Sweetie. Charley hurried to his stall and opened the door. She entered and went right for him, her hand finding his head. Sadness engulfed her when she saw the look in his eyes and sensed what he’d been desperate to tell her—goodbye. She teared up. “I’m not ready to let you go, but I would never ask you to stay for me. Not when you’re in this much pain.”
Sweetie nuzzled his head against hers.
Tears tracked slowly down her cheeks as she kissed his head. “I’ll get something to help ease your pain.”
He huffed.
She smiled through her tears. “I know you’re tough, but I also know how much you’re hurting right now. Let me help you.”
He nodded and then nibbled lightly on her hair, which was in a loose bun.
She rubbed his head more and eased back. She exited the stall and was surprised to find that Gus was not only right there but had opened the doors to the other stalls. “Gus?”
He didn’t respond.
She turned to close Sweetie’s stall, but Gus put himself in the way. “You have to move, and I need to close the other stalls before one of the horses runs off.”
Leave it, he said in her head. Trust me. Trust them.
“They could run off and get hurt,” she countered. “I know we haven’t had any incidents of dead animals on the property in days, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe for them. And I’m not sure that pack of huge coyotes is out of the area yet. Don’t even get me started on the—”
Before the words could leave her mouth, the distinct sound of a mountain lion’s roar filled the area, making her blood run cold. She grabbed Gus and forced him into Sweetie’s stall. She tried to get Winslow too, but the dog darted away, barking like mad. Charley shut the stall door and looked around for something to use to fend off the mountain lion. Her gaze landed on a pitchfork that was next to a wheelbarrow.
She groaned. “I have got to get something better than a pitchfork for home defense.”
Taking what she could, she grabbed the pitchfork and hurried to the next horse stall. She latched it shut before the horse could exit. She went to Chesapeake’s stall next. The horse pushed out and past her. Charley set the pitchfork down and tried to coax the mare back into the stall.
Chesapeake wasn’t having any of it. She snorted and stared past Charley at the opening of the barn.
Cringing, Charley looked behind her, already knowing what would be there—the mountain lion. True enough, it was there, filling the entranceway. It snarled, and she tensed and then grabbed the pitchfork again. She held it like a weapon, desperately pushing out with her mind to each of the horses, trying to get them to stay in their stalls and stay as calm as possible.
It didn’t work. Everyone except Sweetie came bursting out of their designated areas.
Charley screamed and darted forward, terrified they’d be harmed.
Winslow barked happily at the mountain lion as if it were no longer a threat to her. She stopped barking long enough for Charley to hear howls from outside.
The mountain lion snarled and leaped into the barn, going up and over several of the horses as if they weren’t even there.
The horses should have freaked out. They knew a predator when they saw one. They didn’t. In fact, Chesapeake radiated nothing but affection for the large cat.
“Are you nuts?” spat Charley. “He can kill you!”
Snarls came from outside of the barn. She knew right away it was the coyotes from a week ago. She heard men shouting and then the sounds of a fight. She focused on the mountain lion, aiming the pitchfork at it.
“Get back!”
Chesapeake and Winslow had the nerve to push her back and stand in front of the lion as if they were trying to protect it from her. Like she was the actual threat. Not the huge cat that was more than capable of tearing their throats out.
“Charley!” shouted Ace from outside.
The snarling intensified. Fear for Ace filled her, and she stood there, torn between rushing out to help him and staying to defend her horses and dog from a predator they didn’t seem overly concerned with.
Chesapeake connected with Charley mentally, pushing the need for her to trust the mountain lion at her.
Charley lowered the pitchfork somewhat, staring harder at the cat.
Its green gaze bore into her, and its mouth curved up in a way that looked almost like it was grinning at her. Instantly, her head filled with thoughts of Jesse and his disarming smile and with how she’d been unable to shake the feeling that there was something off about him.
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head in disbelief at the crazy thought that ran through her head. There was no way in hell the mountain lion was actually Jesse, right? That was simply too far-fetched. Too out there. Even for her.
She ran down the list of crazy things in her life, from how she could talk to animals to how a man who hadn’t aged a day in twenty-five years could turn into a horse and how he’d spent the night banging her brains out. With a grunt, Charley lowered the pitchfork all the way to the barn floor. “Jesse?”
The mountain lion nodded.
Charley gasped. “Shut the hell up! No way.”
The mountain lion had the nerve to shrug.
Another thought hit her. “The coyotes—they’re like you, aren’t they? They can turn into men too?”
“Charley!” shouted Ace as he hurried into the barn. He was back in the sweatpants again, but they were torn open in spots, so was the rest of him. He had claw marks in various locations and was bleeding.
She dropped the pitchfork and ran for him. “Ohmhygod!”
He caught her and hugged her to him, getting blood on her. He kissed her forehead and shook faintly. “Darlin’, I thought they got to you. That I was going to lose you…again.”
She eased back from him and tried to assess his injuries.
Ace caught her and kissed her to the point her toes curled.
She pushed on his chest, trying to avoid any spots he was sliced open. “Stop! You’re hurt.”
He met her gaze and grinned. “Nah. These are just scratches. I’m pretty much just horny again, but before I can handle that, I need to handle the assholes outside. I thinned them down, but there are still more out there. I needed to find you first to see that you were okay.”
She stood there for a second, positive he was insane. “I’m not sliced up like I went ten rounds with a food processor and lost!”
He stiffened. “Darlin’, you’re shouting.”
“Of course, I’m shouting. My husband is a total dumbass.” Charley covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes widening. She lowered her hand slightly. “I didn’t mean to call you that. I have no clue why I said it. I don’t expect marriage out of you. I get this was about having a good time and—”
Ace put a finger to her mouth, silencing her. He then kissed the tip of her nose. “You said it because, in your heart, you understand what happened between us when I claimed you.”
“Claimed me?” she asked.
“I love you,” he said, shocking her to her very core. “I need you to do something I know you’re terrible at. I need you to stay here, out of the way of danger, while I go handle this mess.”
Out of the way of danger? Did he miss the fact there was a huge mountain lion in the barn with them? Charley twisted around to find Jesse wasn’t where she’d last seen him. She caught movement from the rafters of the barn and glanced up quickly to see the smallest bit of yellow tail showing before it vanished in the darkness.
She considered telling Ace about Jesse but resisted for now. His focus didn’t need to be split.
Winslow barked and ran toward Ace. She wiggled and pushed her side against his leg, wanting affection from him.
He patted her head quickly, his focus going to Chesapeake, who was there, making eyes at him. Ace stiffened. “Uh, why is that mare looking at me like she wants to get busy?”
Growling from outside pulled his attention from Chesapeake. He touched Charley’s cheek. “I love you. I’ll be right back. Stay here.”
She caught his hand.
“Charley, don’t fight me on this,” he stressed. “I need to know you’re safe.”
“I wasn’t going to fight you on it,” she replied, tearing up. “I just wanted to tell you that I love you too.”
“Oh, well, in that case,” he murmured before stealing another kiss.
She blinked rapidly and then watched as some of the slashes on his skin began healing over before her very eyes. She poked him in the chest. “I knew your wound was worse in the barn than when we got in the house!”
“You’re shouting again,” he returned, kissing the tip of her nose again. “I’ll be right back, and you can finish yelling at me then.”
Charley resisted shouting more as he rushed out of the barn and straight for danger. She twisted around and went for the pitchfork once again. She looked up. “Jesse, if you’re still there, you better get your furry ass down here and explain yourself.”
The mountain lion jumped from the rafters and landed with ease, and virtually no sound a few feet from her. He then drew upward, morphing from a huge cat into a man before her very eyes.
She’d seen Ace turn into a horse and back again, but that had been when she was only four years old. Her child mind hadn’t fully wrapped around what she’d witnessed. Now, at almost thirty, she found her adult mind struggling as well. Her jaw dropped open at the sight of Jesse standing there in all his manly glory.
Lindy had thought the man was lick-worthy when she’d seen him at the bar in jeans and a T-shirt. If her best friend ever found out this was what Jesse looked like naked, the man would need to take out a restraining order or shift into cat form and hide in the mountains. Charley wasn’t even sure that would save him from Lindy.
Unlike when Ace had been naked in the barn, Jesse made no move to cover his exposed groin.
Charley let out an annoyed breath and jabbed the pitchfork toward him slightly. “Start talking, Cat-Boy.” She paused and tipped her head. “Ohmygod, that’s why Bill keeps calling you Kitty-Scat and other things.”
Jesse groaned and rolled his eyes. “He’s just pissed he isn’t able to shift forms. He has form envy. Now, what would you like to know from me?”
“Why are those coyotes after you?” she demanded.
His brow creased. “Me? Sweetheart, they’re not after me. It’s you they’re here for. And it was you they wanted a week ago, in the storm on the road. I tried to warn you.”
She stared blankly at him. “That was you warning me? For future reference, jumping on the hood of someone’s truck and snarling at them does not a warning make.”
He shrugged. “Not my fault your gifts don’t easily extend to shifters when in shifter form. You need to work on connecting mentally with us more often, so you’re not so terrible at it. Had you been listening fully, you’d have heard me telling you to get to safety.”
She lowered the pitchfork. “How did you know I was in trouble at all? Did you sense them from the rescue?”
“I’d been tracking them,” he said before glancing over his shoulder toward the entrance of the barn. “Your mate could use my assistance. He isn’t going to want it, but he needs it.”
“Why won’t he want it?” she demanded.
Jesse glanced away. “Technically, I work for Dynamics Corp—or what he and his people call The Corporation.”
That was The Corporation Ace had been going on about when she’d first found him in the intake barn? She stiffened. “Wait, the same people who are trying to be the financial backer for this rescue are The Corporation? The bad guys?”
Jesse flinched before meeting her gaze. “Not all of us saw what we were doing there as bad. Some of us don’t agree fully with what your mate’s side does. Hell, his own people and his own government hunted him, and the others like him for decades. They tried to kill them more times than I can count, wanting to erase any trace of them to hide their mistakes.”
Charley yanked the pitchfork up again. “My husband is not a mistake!”
Jesse grinned. “You called him your husband again. Means you understand that what he did—the biting you during sex and saying ‘mine’ left you claimed, and before you ask, claimed means mated or married in our eyes.”
Charley let the man’s words sink in. She was going to have a very long and very loud talk with her husband when this was all said and done. “What do the coyote guys want with me?”
Jesse watched her closely. “They see what your father did as a betrayal. See, your father used to head a pretty large unit of soldiers who worked for The Corporation. When he defected, taking you and a bunch of other kids from the testing facility, shit hit the fan. A lot of lines were drawn in the sand. Some men crossed the lines and aided him—most didn’t.”
Charley gasped. “Uncle Benat?”
Jesse snorted. “Yeah. Benat jumped over the edge and into the abyss with Samuel. Not a shock. He’d always been loyal to him. Some others went at that time too.”
“What about you?” she asked, still aiming the pitchfork at him.
He didn’t look too worried about being run through. “I thought your father was off his fucking rocker. That the testing they forced us all to endure in attempts to make us better soldiers had messed with his head. I learned about what he had planned and went to the facility to stop him—to kill him.”
Charley tensed.
“Then I got there and saw you and another little girl being beaten by one of the scientists. The asshole was hitting you with a large ladle thing he’d used to stir a vat of chemicals. You and the other little girl were so tiny—so innocent. One second, I was ready to kill your father, and the next, I was killing that scientist instead. I stood there and watched your father and the others who were with him as they gathered you all up and ran. I did nothing to stop them, but I didn’t help them either.”
Charley lowered the end of the pitchfork. “Pretty sure killing the person hurting me counts as helping.”
He shrugged. “I like to kill things.”
She swallowed hard. “Uh, if you ever get bored there is a serial killer dating app I think you’d totally love.”
He flashed a sexy smile. “Already on it, sweetheart.”
Charley remained in place. “Why are you here in Colorado? And why did you apply for the job here at the rescue?”
“You really don’t remember, do you?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Twenty-five years ago, The Corporation discovered your father’s location and learned that he had Benat with him, you, and imagine their surprise—an Outcast—with him. They thought they hit the fucking lottery. They dispatched several teams to retrieve you all.”
“Were you on one of those teams?” she asked.
“No. I was already here,” admitted Jesse. “I’d been watching your father and Benat for weeks. I’d come to pay them back for what happened to me after they fled with all of you. Then, when I saw the attack taking place, I found myself leaping in and protecting you. Then dragging you off to safety.”
Charley dropped the pitchfork and went at him fast, hugging him, ignoring the fact he was naked. He was her mountain lion. The very one she’d been sure had saved her.
He pried her off him. “This is why I hate doing nice shit.”
She smiled. “You’re a softy. Admit it.”
He growled.
She beamed.
He rolled his eyes.
Sweetie’s stall opened, and Gus stepped out. He came and stood near Charley before picking up the pitchfork. He stared off at the wall, but Jesse stiffened.
“Charley, stay here with Gus. Ace really does need my help now,” said Jesse, shifting into a mountain lion once more and rushing from the barn.
Chapter Thirty
Charley watched as Jesse ran out of the barn. She turned to look at Gus, hoping he could add some wisdom to what was happening. She was in way over her head, and she knew it.
Gus pushed the pitchfork into her hands and nodded toward the door.
“I promised Ace I’d behave,” she said.
Gus looked dead at her and lifted a brow as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
He was right. She’d never really listened to Ace before. Why start now?
Nodding, she clutched the pitchfork to her chest and took a deep breath, readying herself for whatever she might find. She ran out of the barn and into the darkness. Charley wasn't a hundred percent sure what she thought she might encounter, but what she saw certainly wasn't it.
Bill was on the back of Engelbert, riding the goat and charging directly at a fully naked man Charley didn't recognize. Engelbert slammed into the man, and Bill let out a giant “yeehaw,” lifting the cowboy hat he was wearing off his head and tossing it high in the air. “And stay down, Coyote-Ugly!”
Jesse was still in mountain lion form and had his mouth clamped around the neck of a naked man. He shook the man violently until the man stopped moving.
Two huge wolves were there, fighting with the coyotes, looking like they were having fun. Next to them was a massive grizzly bear that took a coyote’s head off with one swipe.
A tall man with long dark hair and flawless-looking skin fought with graceful yet lethal precision, all while managing to keep his designer clothing free from blood. And then there was her mate, the man Jesse claimed was now her husband.
Ace had a coyote held high above his head, and it looked like he was about to snap it in two. It shifted form into a man, still high in the air, leaving Ace holding a naked man above his head rather than an animal.
The man sneered as blood dripped freely from his mouth. “We’ll never stop coming for her or for you.”
Ace narrowed his gaze on the man. “I know that voice. You were there that night! You joked about her being killed by the mountain lion.”
