Page 4 of Hers to Love
Chapter Three
Boom!
Ata flinched and ducked as another round was fired in her direction, and she half ran, half stumbled in the direction of the ATV she’d used to get into the forest and had left down by the river. Fucking bastard had found her. Zac Cooper was not going to give up and leave her the hell alone.
Trying to control her breathing, and concentrating hard, Ata used her ability to send her enemies in the opposite direction. It was not an easy thing to do. She heard one of the men shout out that “the stupid bitch”—and she could only assume he meant her—must have gone toward the river and fear slammed through her. A sob escaped as she tripped over a tree root and fell, pain spiking through her ribs as her side made contact with the ground. Her fear overwhelmed her pain, and she quickly scrambled to her feet. If she could—
Ata stumbled and almost fell again when she heard a sound like nothing she had ever heard before. A cross between a roar and an enraged scream that she had no doubt had to have come from an animal, and somehow, she knew it was Taika. And from the sound of it, he was not a happy shifter, and he was heading in her direction. She shouldn’t be surprised. He’d told her he was coming for her.
Her breathing sounded overloud in the forest for a brief moment before she heard the terrifying sound of a man screaming in pain and fear. Heart in her throat, Ata spun to face the forest behind her, fear spiking at the sound of rapid gunfire, and men shouting at each other to run. Taika had found Zac’s men. She stood for a few moments, listening with a morbid fascination to the sounds of Taika, and another gorilla by the sounds of it, ending the lives of the men who had been hunting her. What kind of person did it make her that she was okay with that?
Ata held her breath when the sounds suddenly stopped and the forest fell eerily quiet. “Shit a brick!” she whispered as she realized that meant the gorilla was no longer occupied with the men with guns, and would be free to head in her direction.
Cursing, she pushed herself to run a little faster. If she could get to her ATV she stood a chance. In her condition, and having lost her shiny new Glock back where she’d been shot, there was no way she could take on the men hellbent on taking her back to Zac Cooper and a damned deluded gorilla. Ata ignored the little voice within her that told her he would never hurt her. The bastard had killed her Nanny-ma, and that crazy little voice within her could just kiss her ass.
She slid gracelessly down the bank in front of her, landing on her feet with more luck than skill. Ata ran to her bike, threw her leg over it, grimacing at the fire that shot through her side and arm as she reached for the handles, and thumbed the starter. Movement in the forest to her right caught her eye as the bike roared to life, and she turned. The sight of a huge gorilla walking toward her on all fours, eyes glowing eerily in the dark, the moonlight shining on the silver fur across his broad shoulders had her pausing. She should have been shitting herself, so scared she was beyond reason, but she wasn’t.
This was Kong. Taika Morgan in all his shifter glory, and glorious he was. Every move was made with purpose, his eyes never leaving her, and she felt her body react in a purely physical way to the look of determination in his eyes. He looked very much the apex predator stalking his prey, and in this case that was her. The thought that this man, this shifter, this powerful being was coming for her had her insides warming more than she would have thought possible in this moment. Ata moved her thumb over the gear lever and popped the machine into gear, and saw Taika’s eyes narrow at the telltale noise the machine made in response.
Ataahua had never been a mind reader—that was more her Nanny-ma’s area of expertise—but she could read expressions very well, and despite him being in his animal form, she had no doubt what Taika’s current facial expression said.
Don’t you leave me. Don’t. You.Fucking.Dare!
It was odd how clearly she could read that on his face, but for her, the reaction she had to that order was very typical. Ata arched her brow in challenge, shot him a grin, then gunned it, opening the throttle completely on the powerful ATV and hanging on for the ride. She heard his snarl of displeasure even over the load roar of the motor. She knew he was charging after her. Ata didn’t have to look back to know that. She could feel it along a bond within her that she wasn’t going to examine to closely for fear of what it might mean. She simply leaned lower over the bike, watching the road ahead of her in the headlights of the bike and sent a silent prayer to the heavens.
She’d come here to kill her Nanny-ma’s murderer, and take back what was stolen from her. What scared the hell out of her in this moment was the fact that she might actuallybehis mate.
****
“Fuck!”
Taika, heart pounding from running as fast as he could after his damn mate, roared the curse to the skies, then dropped his hands to his knees, drawing deep gulps of air into his lungs, surprised that they hadn’t burst in his chest. It had taken him a moment to give chase. The slow smile she’d sent his way before hightailing out of here had been sexy as hell, and he’d been stunned for a moment. It had been that small hesitation that had cost him his prey. She’d gotten away, and he was at the edge of his property now and knew it would be pointless trying to catch her before she reached town.
He turned to watch as Remy’s large black gorilla came charging out of the forest. If he wasn’t so pissed that his mate had just run from him, he would burst out laughing at the sight of the large beast staggering to halt, before collapsing to the ground on his back, arms thrown to his sides, his chest heaving in an effort to get enough oxygen.
“What the hell, Remy! You stop for fucking takeout?”
Taika watched as Remy shifted into his human form with a groan, but remained spread-eagled on the ground. “Yeah … a freaking pizza and … a bucket of fried chicken.” Remy panted. “You wanna tell me what the fuck … that was? Who were those assholes back there? And … what the hell is up with that disappearing woman?” Remy jolted on the ground. “Now there’s a sentence you just never think you’ll say.”
Taika huffed a short laugh as he walked back to his second and reached out a hand. “Get the hell up. A few of the others will be here soon, and it would be embarrassing as hell to find their second barely able to stand, and so unfit a short run through the forest dropped his ass to the ground.”
Remy scowled as Taika pulled him up. “Fuck you, man. That was no short run, it was, like, a bajillion miles, and some of us don’t have all that cool extra Alpha mojo shit that makes you bigger, faster, and meaner than the rest of us.”
Taika started back toward his house, his mind whirling. “Those assholes shot my mate. They got what they deserved.”
“Yeah, you said something about the disappearing woman being your mate.” Remy fell into step beside him.
“She ran from me, Remy.” Taika heard the tightness of anger in his own voice. “She thinks I killed her grandmother. My mate knows that she belongs to me, and she ran from me.” From the corner of his eye he caught Remy sliding him a strange look. “What?”
“You seem more upset about that, than you do freaked out by the fact shedisappeared. As in one minute she was there, crouched on the ground before you, and the next she was gone, only to appear miles away getting shot at by the aforementioned assholes.”
Taika scowled. “Yeah. What’s your point?”
Remy threw his hands in the air. “Apparently nothing that’s going to get through your thick skull. If disappearing into thin air is what turns you on, then who am I to question you?”
Two more of his group ran out of the forest in front of him, and he sent them to take care of the mess he and Remy left behind. With land as big as theirs, he was confident no one would ever find out what happened in their forest that night, even if the authorities came looking for the four men. Once he’d given that order, he struck out for his house once more, walking a little faster, wanting to start the search for his mate.
“Can’t believe she just grins at me like she’s fine and not fucking bleeding from a goddamn bullet wound,” Taika muttered to himself, running a hand distractedly through his hair in frustration. “How the hell am I going to find her?”
“Head in town, and go talk to the Jessop brothers.” Remy answered like that was obvious, and Taika stopped to stare at him. “What? You didn’t recognize the ATV she was riding? Oh snap! No, you wouldn’t because you didn’t come down into town with the rest of us last week. The Jessops have added a new revenue stream to the garage and workshop they run. They brought a half dozen ATVs to hire out to tourists, and the one your mate was riding looked just like the photo those boys were handing around.”
Taika’s gorilla chuffed with satisfaction with him. They had a place to start. Taika turned northwest and sprinted for his truck. He’d waited a long time to find the one woman the fates had destined for him, and he was done with waiting. He was going for his mate now. There was nothing anyone could say or do that could stop him.
“Taika!” Remy called out from behind him. “You gonna walk up to your mate with your dick hanging out? I’m not sure that’s the right tactic to take with a woman that can disappear right in front of you!”
Except maybe that. He changed direction to head for his house, and flipped off his second as the bastard laughed his ass off.Prick.
