waves. Still, he knew someone else was there with them.
“What do you want?” It wasn’t one of the nurses. This person smelled different, like some blend of ice and pine trees, a foreign scent moving on the air. He tried to sit up and it hit him. “Himani,” he grumbled out his mother’s name as if it were a curse. What the hell was she doing here after all this time? She hadn’t moved to help her first born, but now she was here and nothing good could come of her presence.
“My son. It’s so good to see you. Don’t sit up on my account.” She switched on the lamp near Sage’s bed, and seeing her standing next to the woman he loved was almost his undoing.
He struggled against the fog in his head, attempting to sit up, but his legs refused to work. A sharp pain ran down from the base of his skull all the way to his waist, shooting down his back. “Fuck. What did you do to me?”
She grinned. “Only what needed to be done. Your brother is a wild card. He is not allowed to return, so you are the next in line. You will be the new leader of the Maddux clan. But there’s only one complication.”
His heart lodged into his throat when she glanced at Sage. He would kill the bitch before he let her harm his mate. “If you fucking touch her—”
“You can’t stop me, dear. That pounding in your head? Tranquilizers. By the time you are able to move, it will be too late. I am renouncing your bond to this cur and you will be mated with one of our kind, one from the Lenox tribe, a woman of my choosing and my blood. And you will do what your brother was too much of a coward to do.”
The Lenox tribe was the whole reason Nik had been caught and placed behind bars. He had refused his mother’s order to marry a distant cousin and renew the bond with the Lenox tribe, making the Canadians’ presence in Louisiana even more palpable than it already was. The last thing Nik had wanted was to bring in another slew of shifters who didn’t know the landscape or the traditions of Louisiana. It had been part of his mother’s plan to control both clans through blood, tradition and legality. Nik had balked at the plan, knowing so much power for someone like Himani would only lead to danger. And the more tigers that roamed the swamps in Louisiana, the more likely they were to get caught.
The Canadians were not known for their subtlety, something their mother carried from her time growing up in Saskatchewan. If the two tribes were joined, Nik swore it would be under his order and by his conditions, not by those imposed thanks to his mother’s need for power. Now Himani was telling him there was another way, another plan in her long line of schemes, and he and Sage were part of it.
His head spun with her words, with the full implication of what she was telling him. It was her intention to break the bond between Sage and himself, to render the tradition null and void. That was when it hit him...what was happening, why she was holding a knife in her hand. If she hurt Sage…
“It’s too late for whatever you plan to say. Your head is spinning so much by now that you can’t make rhyme or reason of anything anyway. Rest assured, I am not going to kill your precious pup. I am just going to break the bond you two share. You are no longer obligated to her.”
When the knife came into contact with Sage’s wrist, Kenyon wanted to scream, wanted to bolt from the chair and tackle his mother, drive the knife into her chest. His head was spinning and his legs were still refusing to work. He felt his fingers elongate, then begin to shrink again, the bones changing their structure. He felt the fur as it pushed through his skin, coating his body. Then he felt emptiness and darkness and he knew he had lost her. Knew she was gone.
* * * * *
The world was slow to reappear before her eyes, and when it did, it was through the flutter of eyelashes at first. She felt like she had slept for days, but she wasn’t refreshed. Instead, she was
“What do you want?” It wasn’t one of the nurses. This person smelled different, like some blend of ice and pine trees, a foreign scent moving on the air. He tried to sit up and it hit him. “Himani,” he grumbled out his mother’s name as if it were a curse. What the hell was she doing here after all this time? She hadn’t moved to help her first born, but now she was here and nothing good could come of her presence.
“My son. It’s so good to see you. Don’t sit up on my account.” She switched on the lamp near Sage’s bed, and seeing her standing next to the woman he loved was almost his undoing.
He struggled against the fog in his head, attempting to sit up, but his legs refused to work. A sharp pain ran down from the base of his skull all the way to his waist, shooting down his back. “Fuck. What did you do to me?”
She grinned. “Only what needed to be done. Your brother is a wild card. He is not allowed to return, so you are the next in line. You will be the new leader of the Maddux clan. But there’s only one complication.”
His heart lodged into his throat when she glanced at Sage. He would kill the bitch before he let her harm his mate. “If you fucking touch her—”
“You can’t stop me, dear. That pounding in your head? Tranquilizers. By the time you are able to move, it will be too late. I am renouncing your bond to this cur and you will be mated with one of our kind, one from the Lenox tribe, a woman of my choosing and my blood. And you will do what your brother was too much of a coward to do.”
The Lenox tribe was the whole reason Nik had been caught and placed behind bars. He had refused his mother’s order to marry a distant cousin and renew the bond with the Lenox tribe, making the Canadians’ presence in Louisiana even more palpable than it already was. The last thing Nik had wanted was to bring in another slew of shifters who didn’t know the landscape or the traditions of Louisiana. It had been part of his mother’s plan to control both clans through blood, tradition and legality. Nik had balked at the plan, knowing so much power for someone like Himani would only lead to danger. And the more tigers that roamed the swamps in Louisiana, the more likely they were to get caught.
The Canadians were not known for their subtlety, something their mother carried from her time growing up in Saskatchewan. If the two tribes were joined, Nik swore it would be under his order and by his conditions, not by those imposed thanks to his mother’s need for power. Now Himani was telling him there was another way, another plan in her long line of schemes, and he and Sage were part of it.
His head spun with her words, with the full implication of what she was telling him. It was her intention to break the bond between Sage and himself, to render the tradition null and void. That was when it hit him...what was happening, why she was holding a knife in her hand. If she hurt Sage…
“It’s too late for whatever you plan to say. Your head is spinning so much by now that you can’t make rhyme or reason of anything anyway. Rest assured, I am not going to kill your precious pup. I am just going to break the bond you two share. You are no longer obligated to her.”
When the knife came into contact with Sage’s wrist, Kenyon wanted to scream, wanted to bolt from the chair and tackle his mother, drive the knife into her chest. His head was spinning and his legs were still refusing to work. He felt his fingers elongate, then begin to shrink again, the bones changing their structure. He felt the fur as it pushed through his skin, coating his body. Then he felt emptiness and darkness and he knew he had lost her. Knew she was gone.
* * * * *
The world was slow to reappear before her eyes, and when it did, it was through the flutter of eyelashes at first. She felt like she had slept for days, but she wasn’t refreshed. Instead, she was
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