The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 128: Chapter 128

“Brenda, get the fuck off me,” Lance growled.
Finally, he found his fucking voice. Anna had just stormed off, and he could not blame her one bit. She deserved an explanation, and she was going to get one. As soon as he rid himself of this vengeful, she-Cat.
“Don’t call me. Don’t contact me. And do not ever touch me again. I found my mate, and it is not you,” he growled with his Tiger barely contained.
Fucking fuck.
He didn’t even know the female would be there tonight. The woman was a troublemaker and probably finagled a ticket from some unknowing schmuck. But why she thought he’d be interested was beyond him.
His Tiger snarled, scratching against his skin. He didn’t want her anywhere near him. When she’d pushed his sweet Anna aside, he almost went nuts. The female had her claws on his chest before he could get his Tiger under control.
It was touch and go, but finally, he’d managed to rein in the beast. Only it was too late. Anna had walked away. The stiff set of her shoulders told him he’d fucked up. He had no wish to harm Brenda, but she needed to get the fuck off him now.
“What the heck, Lance?” Brenda pouted.
“Move,” he growled. “Annalia!”
Lance called after her, moving around Brenda. He dismissed the she-Tiger without a backwards glance. Where did Anna go?
His beast roared angrily. Pissed that he’d allowed Brenda to put her hands on him. Even more pissed that Anna had stormed away. The scent of her hurt and anger clawed at him. Fuck, he had to make this right.
“Lance, what happened?” Uncle Uzzi came growling his way, and it was all he could do not to bowl the Witch over. “Where is Anna?”
“Uncle Uzzi, I fucked up. She walked away. Fuck!”
He pulled on his hair, and turned his head, sucking in air to try and catch her scent. There were too many smells, though. Too much perfume and shit.
“Dammit! She’s my mate. She doesn’t understand. Brenda touched me, Uncle Uzzi. My Tiger was so enraged, I couldn’t move,” he growled, and tried to move around him, but the stubborn man wouldn’t budge.
“I see, and do you think you are in any shape now to go after her? You look like you’re hunting a gazelle. Get a hold of yourself,” Uncle Uzzi snapped his fingers, and blue sparks zapped him.
Ouch.
“Need my mate,” he rumbled, fangs protruding from his mouth.
“For fuck’s sake, control your beast. Come now, move, Lance” He said and grabbed him by the arm.
Uzzi pulled him towards the back of the gala. Luckily, almost ninety percent of those in attendance were Shifters or their mates. If he went furry, there wouldn’t be a huge scandal.
Just a teeny weeny one. Pussy.
Lance growled. His Tiger was a fucking jerk sometimes.
Fuck you, dick. If there was a scandal, it would be fucking HUGE.
Grrr.
Lance was losing his grip on his Tiger. He’d upset his sweet Annalia. That damned she-Cat had touched him and he froze. It was all he could do to stop his beast from reacting with claws and fangs.
A roaring snarl went through him and he felt fur peppering his cheeks, his animal this close to ripping out of him Then it hit him. The scent of chocolate and spiced cherries had him stopping in his tracks.
Annalia.
Mine.
The sound of her familiar voice both soothed and agitated him further. She sounded different, both breathless and annoyed. The combination confused him as he stalked towards the direction her voice was coming from.
“Where are you running off to, little one?”
“Yeah, a sweet little piece like you should be on the dance floor with someone like me. What do ya say?”
It was two men from a local Hyena Pack. Those bottom-dwelling pieces of shit did not belong here. And they certainly did not belong touching his mate.
“Ex-excuse me, I-I am t-trying t-to leave,” she was gasping her words.
He frowned. It was like she couldn’t get enough air. Lance stalked towards them, her gaze darting from the two soon to be dead assholes and back to him like she didn’t know which option was worse. That hurt, but he supposed he deserved it.
Her sudden pallor worried him. Had he done this to her? Fear and anger raged through him. Mostly at himself. But some of it was aimed at the two fuckers who were standing way too close to her.
The larger of the pair of Hyena Shifters lifted a lock of her hair and bent down to sniff. That was all it took. Lance saw red.
“Lance,” Uncle Uzzi cautioned, but he was too far gone.
“Mine,” he leapt across the hall, and had both men by their throats.
The Hyenas were strong, but no match for his enormous beast. Especially when his animal was so enraged. He shook the men, snarling ferociously.
“Annalia! Your pump?” Uncle Uzzi asked his mate, snaring his attention.
The old Witch raced towards the coat check when his mate pointed in that direction.
Pump? Oh shit.
Now it made sense. He turned back to the two struggling assholes and banged them together once to get their attention.
“Get gone,” Lance snarled, pushing the men back.
He ran to where Anna had pressed herself against the wall, crouching in front of her, hands raised.
Fuck, she was scared. Her face was ashen. Tears streamed down her face. Lance had never felt so helpless and frightened in his life. Her scent was sharp.
Hurt, discomfort, fear.
Her emotions batted against him, a thousand blows he more than deserved. And he took them all one by one.
Fuck.
He was a total piece of shit.
“I’m sorry, so sorry. Please baby, I won’t hurt you. Never hurt you,” he murmured. “Just gonna get you help. You can tell me to fuck off afterwards, but I need you to be okay, first.”
Lance lifted her off the floor. He rushed to where Uncle Uzzi was currently rummaging through the closet to find her coat.
“It’s the black one,” Lance told the Witch, cradling his precious cargo close as he sat down on the bench rubbing her back in large circles with his left hand.
“Look at me, love, it’s okay. You’re okay. Slowly, now, you can do this.” Lance breathed in and out, setting a pace for her to follow, and whispering words of praise when she echoed the motion.
She had some color back, but she was still wheezing. He felt helpless. Stupid. A total asshole. And he was all those things, in that order, too.
“Here.” Uncle Uzzi tossed her medicine to him, and Lance plucked it out of the air with his right hand.
“Here, love,” he held the pump up, shook it once, and she leaned forward to suck in as he pressed on it.
Annalia inhaled the medicine greedily, trembling slightly in his arms like a flower petal at the mercy of a winter storm.
Just as beautiful and delicate, too. She nodded and he held up the pump.
“Again?”
Another nod.
He understood. Lance shook the pump one more time and pressed the medicine into her mouth. Finally, after some minutes, she was breathing calmly.
“Thank you,” her raspy voice met his ears, and he closed his eyes.
She was okay. No thanks to him.
“Annalia, I⁠—”
He wanted to explain, but she shook her head and turned to Uncle Uzzi. He felt her tremble, knew she was weak and hurting. All because of him.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Uncle Uzzi,” her voice sounded rough as she spoke to the other male, ignoring Lance. “Can you take me back?”
“Of course,” Uncle Uzzi told her, sparing one sharp glare at Lance. He took Annalia’s hand, and helped her stand. Then the male led his mate away.
It was too much, too soon. He’d met and lost his mate in the span of a few hours. Lance’s Tiger clawed furiously against his skin. The beast wanted out.
Fuck.
Lance took off outside, allowing his Tiger to surge forward. He raced towards the woods that lined the parking lot, shredding his suit to pieces as his Shift took hold.
The nine-hundred-pound beast that lived inside of him was completely enraged. He’d lost his mate tonight and the knowledge might drive him mad.
He felt her though. She was close, but too far to see. Too far to smell. Uncle Uzzi had her in his car and that was good. He would protect her.
Lance should’ve killed those Hyena fucks for touching her, but she was safe from them now. He wished he could blame the asthma attack on them, but he knew better.
Lance was responsible. Brenda had caught him off guard and he was not in control enough to react. Anna was human. She wouldn’t have understood his struggle to control his Tiger. Worthy males did not strike out against females, and repulsive as he found Brenda’s behavior, she had once upon a time been a friend.
She was nothing to him now. Her behavior was completely unforgiveable. Lance’s Tiger snarled at the thought of the haughty she-Cat.
Uncle Uzzi had her in the metal and glass machine. Anna was in there, and at that very moment, she was moving away from him faster than his Tiger could calculate. Still, the beast gave chase.
Snarling loudly, Lance pushed his long, muscular, feline body hard through the forest that lined the highway. He needed to know she was safe, to see it with his own eyes.
She’d been struggling to breathe, and he hadn’t known why.
Asthma.
His sweet mate had asthma, a very dangerous condition if not addressed. Clearly, she had meds, but if he’d known about it, he would’ve turned down the tickets Uzzi had offered. He would have taken her somewhere with less people, less perfume, less flowers. Less chance of running into Brenda.
Fuck.
He’d fucked this all up. He roared into the night, landing on the snow-covered ground for split seconds before taking off once more. Pushing himself, he followed the sedan from his path among the trees. Until finally, it turned off the highway, into a hidden driveway. Then it stopped.
Good. Home.
Lance waited as his mate exited the vehicle. The driver did not touch her, good thing too. Before he could stop himself, his beast pushed, and he leapt onto the porch as she’d finished waving goodbye to Uncle Uzzi. The car was already driving away, by the time she turned and saw him.
Fuck. She was beautiful as she mounted the stairs. He kept getting little teasing peeks of her legs through the slit of her gown. The red dress had looked amazing on her, and he could only imagine how much better it would look on the floor while he had her splayed and nude atop of the king sized mattress inside his cabin. The fact she was staying there soothed his beast, and he chuffed as she approached him warily.
Mine. My mate.
“Lance?” she questioned, and silly beast that he was, he closed his eyes, savoring the sound of his name on her lips.
Contrary to his nature, his animal—completely at ease in her presence—let his guard down and inhaled the sultry sweet spice that was her delicious scent. Of course, the Tiger hadn’t expected the sweet female to brain him with one of the large metal pokers he had hanging over the outdoor chiminea.
Yowl.
“Go back home to your girlfriend and stop stalking me, you two-timing jerk!”
Annalia turned around and Lance sat there and shook his head. Fuck, that hurt. Okay, so he had followed her home, but he wasn’t a stalker. Maybe. Not yet anyway. Fuck.
He had just wanted her to be safe. Lance stood up on four legs, albeit a little shakily, and chuffed at his mate while she struggled with the keycode. Her breath hitched in her throat, and he growled worriedly.
Surely, she could tell he was there for her. Of course, his beast’s understanding of women was a little more one-dimensional than his human side. Meaning, the Cat expected her to know she belonged to him and act accordingly. He pressed his head against her rear, wanting her attention on him.
Fuck. She was crying. His Tiger growled softly, wanting to ease her pain, but the woman was not having any of that. She spun around, poker still in hand, and smashed it over his skull for the second time in as many minutes.
Pain exploded in his head and for one single moment, Lance’s beast saw two women who looked very much like his Anna, standing before him, looking furious and beautiful. Her lip trembled, and he knew he deserved both blows, but all he wanted to do was comfort her. He felt his change wash over him and in the blink of an eye, he stood before her in his skin, raising his arm when she would have hit him a third time.
“Anna, please, you have to listen⁠—”
“I don’t have to do anything. Now, back off you two-timing pussy!”