Jaguar's Judgment Read online

  His words cut deeper than she’d ever admit. He was upholding a promise to Nigel. A small part of her wanted his reason to be because he cared about her. Giving Jared her back, she focused her attention on Luna and Blaine. There was no way she’d allow Jared to see her true feelings. That he was the reason why she’d finally looked into her father’s motives and opened her mind to the possibility that Felix was wrong about Ashwood and the other Packs.

  Once the truth was uncovered, she had to stop her father and somehow undo what she’d done, or at least make some kind of amends for her crimes. If killing him were part of it, she’d do it. Felix was no longer the male he once was. Greed and insanity from being separated from his mate had consumed him, blinded him, and blackened his heart.

  “Alphas, I will pledge an oath,” she offered again.

  Blaine threaded his fingers through his hair, but Luna glanced at Jared over Sable’s shoulder. “I agree with Sable. Both of you don’t need to risk your lives. I can send a couple of sentries with her.”

  “No other male will go near her.”

  Sable stilled at Jared’s growled out admission. Her heart pounded, but she didn’t dare look at him. Surely he didn’t mean it the way it sounded.

  In front of her, Luna narrowed her eyes. “What happens if you two walk into a trap and are both killed? What happens to your son then?”

  Jared’s raw energy brushed against Sable’s as he moved in behind her. When he hesitated as if not knowing what to say, Sable spoke up. “Ana is his Godmother.”

  Luna pursed her lips and glanced to Blaine next to her. The leopard Alpha shook his head. “My first priorities are the Pack and my kids. I would do anything to secure their future, including risking my own life. Cam wouldn’t let me do it alone, and nothing I said would change her mind.” He started to pace. “Fuck. You two will have complete access to our resources, and you will do everything in your power to come back alive.”

  Sable nodded. “I plan to.”

  Blaine’s grey stare pinned her, but she didn’t let it intimidate her. He may be an incredibly strong Alpha, but he wasn’t her Alpha. “Do you have a plan?”

  Sable lifted one shoulder and resumed her relaxed pose against the tree. “I have a few. Felix is easy to deal with. My mother is another matter, and considering she’s been in a deep sleep for the last two hundred years or so, she has power stored up. I need to hunt down my mother’s Book of Shadows and do some research.”

  “What kind of research?” Jared asked.

  “The kind I can’t do on the Internet.” She glared at him, challenging the male to act on his impulse or aggression or whatever. If she were going to be stuck with him for however long the mission took, she’d have to push him to his breaking point. There was too much unresolved between them. Not to mention the sexual tension so thick it choked her to be around him.

  At his sides, he fisted and un-fisted his hands. A muscle flexed in his temple as he stared at her. She raised a brow at him in a silent, “Bring it.”

  Luna stepped between them and let out a growl. “I should lock you two up until you deal with that tension, but we don’t have time.” She glanced to Blaine then to Keegan before continuing. “You see, Sable, I have the gift of visions. Although it’s more of a curse at times. I can’t control it, and the future never looks pretty in them.”

  A knowing settled over Sable. She pushed off the tree and reached out to the female Alpha. Blaine let out a warning growl and Sable dropped her hand. “That’s why Keegan approached me with the deal a few days ago. You knew Savannah was coming for me.”

  Luna nodded. “I don’t need to tell you what she’ll do to the den.”

  Keegan broke his silence, and Kieran cleared his throat. From the tension in the males, Blaine included, Sable guessed not many people knew about Luna’s gift. “The wards and security system will give us only a few minutes of warning.”

  “I get it.” Sable held up her hands. “I’ll keep her busy.”

  If her mother wanted her, then she’d have to chase her. Meeting Jared’s gaze, Sable smirked. “Ready to go on the run?”

  He gave a short nod. “After you.”

  Her jaguar pranced in anticipation of the chase. To be chased by their mate after being apart from him stirred a cocktail of emotions. Glee at the thought of being caught and possibly taken by him was knocked down by the reality that he’d broken that bond.

  “As soon I get off Ashwood land, I’ll send the evil love birds a message.” After everyone nodded in acknowledgement, Sable took off into the woods. She didn’t bother to shift because she didn’t trust her cat around Jared. The beast would stalk the male until they both gave in to the desire coursing through her and what she felt rolling off of him.

  The last thing she needed was to lose focus on what she had to do—set a trap for her parents.

  ****

  Instinct and need clouded Jared’s mind as he took off after the female. His female. No. Not anymore. He’d made sure of that a little more than fifteen years ago when he’d ripped apart both their souls.

  He let out a snarled curse and pushed his legs faster, focused on only her scent. Until he’d seen her, touched her, a few weeks back, he never knew how much her pain mirrored his own. How did she deal with it? She’d directed it at her father and turned most of the Onyx Pack against Felix to create a shifter rebel group.

  The gift he used as comfortably as breathing had told him that the moment he touched her flesh. The contact also awakened the broken threads that used to bind them. His heart ached and his body hummed stronger than it had when they’d first met all those years ago.

  Fuck. He couldn’t do it again. It would kill him if the bond broke a second time.

  Slowing to a jog, he sniffed the air. Sable’s ocean scent filled the air, mixing with the dirt and leaves of the forest. Pivoting to his left, he came face to face with her. One side of her sensual mouth lifted. It was all he could do to stay where he was. It’d be too easy to go to her, take her with raw passion, and claim her.

  “What’s your plan, Sable?”

  “I’m not sure yet. I sent a telepathic message to Felix. They should be looking for us somewhere about fifty miles south of Ashwood. That will buy us some time.” She turned to walk down an overgrown path.

  He fell in step with her, careful not to touch her. “Time for what?”

  “To search the ruins of the Onyx den.”

  “Search for what?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He grabbed her arm, bringing her to a halt. “Don’t toy with me.”

  She shoved him away and snarled. “I’m not toying with you. I’m not sure what I’m looking for. Hell, it may not even be in the den. Felix might have everything I need to learn about my mother. If that’s the case, we’d have to get captured to find out what I need to know.”

  Staring into her teal gaze, he saw the truth of her words and the fear she hid behind the multiple shields around her mind and heart. He released her and put some space between them. “You need to communicate with me better. No more short sentence answers.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind, but we play by my rules. Those are my parents we are plotting to kill.” She stormed off.

  After a few yards, she broke out into a run. Jared let her go. He knew the location of the den. Besides, he needed the distance to clear his head before he did something stupid. Like fuck her.

  Chapter Three

  Sable cleared the entrance of the Onyx den by hand, opposed to using her magick to blast away the rocks. Jared had crawled under her skin and stirred desires long buried. The male was growly, protective, bossy, and impossible to be around without wanting to tear his clothes off.

  She couldn’t go there. Ever.

  Damn jaguar. Sable moved through the large common area of the den where the kids used to play. Her chest tightened. None of the kids over the age of five had a childhood. Not like the ones in Ashwood from what she’d w
itnessed over the last few weeks.

  She’d been blind to her father’s sickness for too long. Now she would pay the price unless she could rid the world of the evil that threatened it. Even if it broke her heart to do so.

  Jared’s cinnamon scent reached her senses before the male entered the cavern the den was carved into. Glancing over her shoulder, she watched him study the room. Rocks and other debris littered the place. However, Sable knew her father had set off the bomb deeper inside. The crazy SOB had hoped the whole mountain would cave in when Keegan and the others charged the den looking for Felix.

  “What a waste,” she muttered and took the corridor to her left, not caring whether Jared followed or not.

  Entering her father’s room, she crossed to the large painting hanging over the bed. With a flick of her hand, she flipped the bed on its side with her telekinesis. Then she swiped a hand over the canvas of the painting. The picture grew distorted, then the colors swirled together. A moment later, the canvas faded away, revealing an empty hole in the wall behind the painting.

  “Damn it. I should have known.” She turned and glared at Jared filling up the doorway. “There was some kind of map or something inside a safe that used to be in that hole. I saw my father read it when I was little. He must have it.”

  “Do you think it’s worth hunting down?”

  She shook her head and opened a hidden door in the cavern wall. “No, I don’t think so. I need something personal of my mother’s to locate her Book of Shadows. I’m hoping to find her weakness.”

  “Is there anywhere specific I can look?”

  “Not really. Felix doesn’t trust anyone. Anything he wanted to keep from the others, including me, he hid in here.” She entered the small room and conjured an orb to light up the dark space. The room looked like it’d been ransacked. Papers, books, and a few empty boxes were scattered about.

  Jared entered behind her, and she swore the room shrank in size. She gritted her teeth. She’d never been claustrophobic, but Jared’s large body and his intoxicating scent almost overwhelmed her. Almost. Damn, why hadn’t she sent him to the other side of the den?

  Putting as much space between them as she could, Sable kneeled down to inspect a turned over box. It was empty. Figured.

  “Sable.”

  Her stomach flipped at the sound of her name on his lips. Damn mating hormones. When she glanced at him, she froze at the sight of a wooden box in his hands. She’d seen it only once. Stumbled upon it when she used to use the very room they were now in as her hideaway.

  Her palms itched as she approached Jared. Reaching out, she took the box from him and opened it. A sigh of relief escaped her as the contents she remembered were still in there. “This belonged to Savannah. I feel her energy surrounding it.”

  Jared remained quiet as she pulled out a photo of her mother. So many times she’d wished she knew who her mother was, wished she were there to hold and share secrets with. Childish dreams crushed by the realty of her fucked up life.

  Before she could slam the box shut, Jared picked up a piece of paper with a string of numbers and letters on it that looked like latitude and longitude and turned it to face her. “Where are these coordinates to?”

  “I don’t know.” And she didn’t. That paper hadn’t been in there when she’d last seen the box, which was decades ago. “I know where we can go to find out though.”

  She took the coordinates from him and stuffed them in her pocket. When she moved around him, he grabbed her arm. “Where?”

  Rolling her eyes, she jerked her arm from his grasp. “It’s easier to just take you there. You’ll have to trust me.”

  His jaguar flashed in his eyes, and she could feel the beast’s presence close to the surface, calling to her own cat. As fast as his jaguar had appeared, he withdrew, as if the man took full control of the cat. “You broke that trust when you lied to me.”

  She let out a breath and pushed past him. They were not going to have that agreement, not right then or ever. She’d done what she had to do to protect them both. If Felix had found out she’d mated outside of Onyx, he would have had his mutant assistants hunt Jared down and kill him.

  Her boots clicked against the rock floor as she stormed through the halls to where her room had been. What she needed was to get as far away from Jared as she could. That was exactly what she was going to do after this mission was done.

  Entering her old room, a wave of memories crashed into her. Images flashed in her mind of Nigel at different stages of his young life. The nights she and Ana had spent playing games and drinking wine. All private pieces of Sable’s happiness no one else but those she allowed into her heart saw.

  Her nose tingled and her eyes watered. Those memories were the only happiness she’d had. Felix never allowed the den to be happy and playful. It was as if he had wanted everyone to be as miserable as he was.

  Jared’s soft footsteps behind her broke her train of thought. Closing her eyes, she said. “I never knew my father before he lost his mind.”

  “Have you spoken with Kieran about Felix?”

  She shook her head. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.” She turned to face him. “I mean, the knowledge isn’t going to change my mind. I’ve made the deal, and for once I can’t run from it. Hell, I don’t want to run from it. My father has allowed grief, anger, and greed to eat away all the kindness he may have once possessed.”

  Silence filled the room. Her skin itched and her cat paced. Needing something to do, she walked into the small closet. Tucked into the bottom left corner was a locked box. The black metal container was secured with an enchanted lock, set to Sable’s magickal signature. Only she could open it.

  She didn’t bother opening it, just hugged it to her chest as she went back to the living room where Jared had wandered off to. Stopping next to him, she held out a hand. “It’ll be faster if we teleport.”

  He glanced at her hand then met her gaze. “Where?”

  “To a secure rebel camp in north Georgia.”

  ****

  Jared hesitantly placed his hand in Sable’s. As soon as she linked their fingers together, she teleported them out of the Onyx den. A moment later, they materialized in the back yard of a large house. Jared scanned the area and noted there weren’t any neighbors visible. Trees and hills stretched on as far as he could see.

  “This doesn’t look like a rebel camp,” he growled and stepped away from her.

  “That’s why it’s perfect. Besides, the owner of the house leads this group.”

  Just then, the back door opened to a petite human female with long, caramel blonde hair, holding a rifle in one hand. When her gaze fell on Sable, she relaxed. “Girl, you need to learn to call ahead.”

  Sable jogged ahead until the females met with a tight hug. “You know I like to surprise you.”

  The human pressed her lips together as if hiding a smile. “You need somewhere to hide?”

  “Just for tonight.”

  Nodding toward Jared, she asked, “Who’s your friend?”

  Jared tensed but didn’t pick up any aggression in the human’s scent. It was as if she already knew they were coming.

  Sable glanced at him, then shrugged. “Serenity, Jared.”

  Serenity nodded at him, and he returned the silent greeting. “Ah, I see. Well, you’re in luck because no one else is here. You’re welcome to stay as long as you need. But do explain the house rules to your mate.”

  Jared snapped his gaze to Sable, who refused to look at him. When Serenity turned to lead them inside, Jared grabbed Sable’s arm, drawing her full attention. Before he could pepper her with questions, she said, “Serenity is psychic, fully human, and hates my father more than I do. She can be trusted.”

  Sable jerked her arm free and locked gazes with him for several long moments before turning away. He inhaled deeply, trying to push away the urge to drag her off to one of the bedrooms. The last thing he needed to do was think with
his dick.

  A low growl rumbled from deep within as he followed her through the mudroom to the living room. In the far corner sat a desk with two monitors and a keyboard in the center of the dark wood.

  Sable sat in the high back leather chair and set the metal lock box she’d carried with her on the desk. Then she pulled out the slip of paper with the coordinates and brought up a map program on the computer. “The only house rule is to respect everyone who comes here. Serenity keeps this house as a safe haven more than an actual rebel base.”

  Jared sat in the chair next to Sable and set the wooden box he still held on the desk. Remaining silent seemed like the best thing to do for now as he watched her enter the coordinates. A second later, the map program brought up a location, and Sable cursed under her breath. “Stupid bitch.”

  Glancing at the screen, his heart sank. “Zoom in.” She did as he asked. When the satellite image focused, Jared sighed. “That’s Hunter Ridge.

  She recognized the Pack name. It was one of the last ones Felix had invaded, turning all the members except the Alpha and his family into mutants. The Alpha, Travis Hunter, had set the whole den on fire.

  Jared pulled out his phone, but Sable covered it along with his hand. “Don’t call it in yet. I’m not a hundred percent sure she’s not monitoring us.”

  Sable glanced apologetically to Serenity. The other female just shrugged. “Savannah already knows about this place and just about every rebel camp in the southeast. I don’t sense that she’s figured out you’re here yet.”

  “But she will, and she’ll come. You need to leave when we do. I’m so sorry.”

  Serenity waved her off. “Don’t. I’ll be fine.”

  Something in the way the female averted her gaze as she spoke said she knew her own fate. Jared opened his mouth then shut it. Serenity offered a gentle smile before making her escape.

  “She knows what my mother will do and is still stubborn enough to stay,” Sable grumbled then faced Jared. “I’m not sure we should stay tonight. The longer we are here, the more danger I put Serenity in.”