Page 35 of Pretty Kitten

Then, she heard it as it started.

Daunte had never loved his sister as much as he did when she made his mate stay behind. Because she would have died.

It looked like they all would.

Ace was the only one amongst them who hadn’t shifted; in her human form, she was more powerful, as she managed to call to the beast within, using her fangs, her claws, and her raw power to dismember anyone who came close. Rye’s curved canines punctured lungs and he clawed heads clean off. Daunte channeled everything his father ever taught him, becoming one with his beast, letting him loose on their enemy.

But wave after wave, they came at them, unrelenting. He heard the others around the house, although he couldn’t see them. He felt them through the pride link. Some were wounded already.

Three minutes. They’d survived three minutes when the first one died.

Ace yelled out, her ferocity renewed as she felt their pridemate fade through the link.

She turned towards a cheetah to her right.

“You can go,” she told him. “This is a damn massacre, you can just fucking go before…”

The cheetah jumped before her, his claws latching onto a bear’s neck, and ripping it out.

There are children inside, Luke replied through the pride link, like nothing else mattered.

He shouldn’t have been able to speak to them without being officially part of their pride, but the simple fact that he was there now changed that.

Although his attention was entirely engaged in the present moment, Daunte felt he wasn’t the only addition. Ariadna, Sawyer, and Theo had also stayed.

He’d barely noticed them when another one faded away, Daunte couldn’t tell which.

Four minutes, twenty-three seconds had passed.

They were all going to die.

Daunte had barely stopped a bear from slashing through his midsection when he saw another one charge from the corner of his eye. He didn’t have a chance in hell to stop him.

At least his end would be quick.

* * *

The one word to describe his state of mind right now was confused. For a second, he wondered if he was dead and there was an afterlife, contrary to his beliefs. Then, he winced as just about every single muscle in his body hurt; opening his eyes, he saw a hand extended, offering him help standing up.

He took it gracefully.

“Thanks, man.” Then, it had to be said, “Who the hell are you?”

The guy was cocky, dark haired, and a complete stranger. But Daunte was favorably inclined towards him given the fact that after his arrival, close to a hundred bear shifters lay dead in their garden.

“The name’s Jason,” the stranger replied. “We may have an acquaintance in common.”

Then he lifted his head just as a flock of eagles darkened their view. “Pretty, socially awkward, too prompt to give a vow that may haunt her for all eternity.”

Jason’s eyes flashed, turning silver, and a colossal, unnatural lightning bolt tore through the sky.

“That would be my cousin Tria,” he concluded, as three dozen birds fell on the ground, lifeless.

“Well, that was scary. And sexy.” Ace thought it out, before amending, “Mostly sexy.”

Rye lifted a brow, and she just shrugged. “What? It’s not like I haven’t seen you drool over Tria. They’re weird and hot as fuck. Deal with it.”

Daunte wasn’t sure the man needed anything to further feed his ego, but his previously cocky grin turned goofy.

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