Dire Wolf Mates - Chapter 48: Chapter 48

She blushed at the turn of her thoughts. Ooh, she could just picture him in his dress blues, doing a little striptease that ended with one of them bound to the bed and the other in charge.
Grrr.
“Stay back!” Montgomery waved the vial and growled.
Sheila refocused. Yikes. Here they were with a madman waving around some sort of poison, and she was thinking naughty thoughts of Leo and a pair of handcuffs.
Okay, so she was proud of him. Proud of her Prince and his chosen career. Of the bravery it took to face criminals such as this, every single day. He could’ve simply stayed home and lived the life of pampered royalty, but he didn’t. He’d worked hard and put his life on the line to protect Shifters and normals alike.
Her she-Wolf growled low and deep inside her. Sheila never minded bending the rules before, but now that she had her own personal police officer, she vowed to be more mindful just as soon as they stopped this traitor.
“How can you rule with that Dog at your side?” Montgomery snorted and pointed at her wildly.
“She is my fated mate, surely you know what that means,” Leo tried again.
“So what? Your father said he couldn’t live without his fated mate, but when I got rid of your whore mother, he hung on. I had to fix his mistake, but he wouldn’t die! Then I decided to get rid of him for good, so you could takeover under my and the elder’s guidance but look at you! You ruined everything! I’ll kill you and your slut, too!” Montgomery shouted and spittle ran down his chin.
The snarling valet turned on the three of them with his Lion bursting forth. His animal was wiry and lean, strong despite his age, but Sheila wasn’t worried. She’d seen her mate’s beast, and this man was no match for him. Her only worry was for the King who’d slumped onto his side, remnants of whatever that was oozing from his mouth. He must’ve imbibed some before they’d gotten there.
“Get back!” Leo shouted.
George dove to tackle the shifted Montgomery while still in human form, but the Lion swatted him away like a fly. Poor George crashed into the dresser. Hitting his temple on the sharp corner, he crumpled to the floor.
The big Cat roared and hissed, leaping over the bed, he crouched in front of Sheila. Before she could blink, Leo was on him. Her mate had half-Shifted. Holy hell, that was rare and spoke to his power.
His arms and legs tore through his clothes, building in bulk and muscle. His hands shifted into his beast’s claws while maintaining most of his human face and biped appearance.
This sort of half-change was not something many Shifters could pull off. It required great reserves of strength, discipline, and that special supernatural power that made them what they were. Sheila watched in awe as Leo squeezed and squeezed, keeping his stance tight as he crushed the Lion’s throat between his powerful arms.
His eyes locked on hers, glowing gold with his beast, and Sheila nodded for him to go ahead. This was about more than revenge for his mother’s death, and for the attack on his father. It was about more than his threat against his mate. This was about a Lion King fixing a very real wrong within his Pride.
“It has to be done,” she said, and with her words Leo struck, snapping the neck of the mad Lion, and tossing his carcass to the floor.
Sheila jolted across the room and gripped him in a fierce hug, ignoring the sounds of footsteps headed their way. She had her mate in her arms and reveled in the fierce way he clung to her.
“Are you alright?” he asked, and she nodded.
“Yes, you?” she returned.
Her heart was pounding, and shivers raced through her body. It was the adrenaline, but it was more too. Their matebond wrapped around her strongly. Through it, she felt all his love for her, as well as his anxiety over the present situation.
“Car, Car,” mumbled the King, and they both rushed to his side.
“Easy, father,” Leo said and checked his father over for signs of physical harm. The older Lion coughed and retched over the side of the bed, a sour stench came from the poison he vomited, and Leo wiped his face with a cloth. Sheila went to check on George.
“He’ll be fine,” she said, and returned to where her mate stood next to his father.
Sheila crouched down and gingerly lifted the medicine dropper. She sniffed the tube and her she-Wolf growled. Whatever it was, it was clearly poisonous.
“What is going on in here?” Aunt Patricia’s voice rang through the room as she and Ariella, along with another older man, burst through the doors. She leaped to her son’s side with her daughter in tow.
“George? Donovan? Leo? What’s been happening here?” the Lioness spoke a mile a minute and Sheila answered her, trying to calm her.
“Yes, George is okay, just a bump on the noggin’. Montgomery there was poisoning the King with this,” she held up the dropper.
“That’s a pretty big noggin’, little bro,” Ariella snorted at her little brother, who was moaning and groaning for all he was worth.
“Shyaddap, daughter. Now come on, cupcake, open your eyes,” Patricia said, rocking her son in her arms.
“What is wrong with the King?” the stranger asked.
“You’re the Pride healer? I’m Sheila,” she began.
“Sorry,” Leo said, “this is my mate, Sheila Rand. Sheila, this is Tom Royce, the Pride healer.”
“Pleasure,” he said and began taking the King’s temperature. “So, why have you canceled my appointments with the King these last few weeks?”
“What? I haven’t canceled anything,” Leo growled, and Sheila placed a hand on his arm.
“I see. Well, someone has, using your seal. Now here, help me turn him over.”
The healer and Leo worked together to turn the King onto his side so the man could begin an examination of his spine.
“Excuse me, gentlemen,” Sheila interrupted. “Boys!” she yelled when they didn’t answer.
Every pair of feline eyes locked on her, and she straightened her shoulders. Bunch of pussies! It seemed Cats really didn’t like to listen, no matter how big or small they were.
“The King has been poisoned with this, I figured you might need it,” Sheila said and held up the discarded medicine dropper.
“Give me that, carefully,” Tom held out his hand.
“Sorry, mate,” Leo mumbled.
He took her hand in his and kissed it. She could see he was riddled with worry, and she could not blame him.
“No need,” she assured her mate.
Really, there wasn’t any call for him to apologize. The last few minutes had been quite a lot for anyone to go through. Even Princes had their limits, she supposed.
“Thank you,” Leo said once more as the healer investigated the contents.
“This is Carbofuran. It’s a pesticide with the greatest acute toxicity known to man or beast, cats especially,” he told them. The healer’s outrage was echoed by everyone in the room.
“Farmers in Africa use that on wild lions to stop them after they’ve killed one of their Cattle. They lace the carcass with it and sometimes poison entire prides with the stuff,” Ariella snarled, and her outrage was damn near contagious.
“In a Shifter, with our fast metabolic structure, only large doses would be lethal. If Montgomery were dosing your father daily with this amount, it would cause confusion, loss of control physically, diminished motor skills, memory loss, and eventually paralysis. Ultimately, the loss of all normal neurological function followed by death, but that would only occur after months of this torture,” he explained angrily and grabbed his medical bag.
“What can you do for him?” Leo asked.
“I am going to start by hooking him up to an IV and flushing this junk out of his system. Here, hang this bag of fluids from that post,” he gestured to one of the grand columns that surrounded the King’s bed.
“Okay, you two got this.”
Sheila squeezed Leo’s hand and turned to the women who were helping George to stand.
“Can you three get some bodies in here to clean this mess? I want only the most trusted Lions,” she instructed.
“Yes, Princess,” Aunt Patricia replied with a wink and pointed to her neck.
Sheila felt her cheeks warm. Holy crap! She was blushing, and fuck it all, yes, she was now officially a Princess.
“You got it,” Ariella agreed.
“Yes, ma’am,” George replied.
“Sheila,” Leo called her name, and she returned to his side, certain now that things would get done.
“Mate,” she walked into his open arms and nuzzled his neck, thoroughly enjoying the pressure of his arms as they squeezed her to him.
“Tom says my father will be okay,” he told her, and she felt his joy at the news reverberate through her as he kissed her temple.
It fucking amazed her they had gotten to this place, but here they were. Together. And she knew now, she was never letting him go. Sheila’s place was right there beside her mate. She wanted to share every woe and triumph, every battle and victory—even the defeats, with him.
Equals. Lovers. Soul mates. Friends.
“Thank you so much. Gods, I love you.”
“Of course. That’s what mates do, pussycat,” she said, and ran her hands over the remnants of his ripped shirt. “Come on, let’s get your father settled.”
“Are you gonna call me that all the time now?” he asked with mock anger.
“Maybe,” she replied and winked saucily.
Sexy man. My very own Prince.
They spent the next few hours re-calling in the King’s guard. All of them had been sent away over the last few weeks by the now dead traitor. After they disposed of Montgomery and cleaned the King’s chambers, Aunt Patricia entered the bedroom and insisted she was going to stay by the King’s side until the man could send her away himself.
“I might not be your aunt by blood, Leo Crowley, but I was your mother’s best friend. My children are your honorary cousins and I absolutely insist you march off to your room and take care of your mate. Look at her, poor thing, she’s dead on her feet!”
“What?” Sheila gasped, outraged by the notion, but then she caught the twinkle in the older woman’s eye and played along.
“Yes, uh, I could use some food, a shower, maybe a rubdown,” she suggested and shrugged.
Leo’s protective male instincts flared, and he swept her off her feet before she could blink. His chest rumbled with his Lion. The beast within him purred as he carried her to their room, and Sheila swallowed her moan. She never knew a purr could be so sexy.
“Mate,” she nipped the sensitive skin at the base of his neck and loved the tremor that ran through him.
What a lucky Dog I am!
Three weeks later…
Leo entered the King’s interview room with Sheila on his arm resplendent in hip-hugging denim and a soft white blouse that emphasized her womanly curves. The leather cut she wore over it sporting the DWMC patch had him drooling with the desire to strip off all her clothing, save for that one particular article.
He caught her wide-eyed stare and shrugged. Not like he could help it. The female aroused him every second of the day. The feisty Dire Wolf snickered, and he couldn’t help but pinch her right on that spectacular ass of hers. She yelped and glared back at him despite his innocent expression.