Chasing Cindy Pt. 03

"You're mated?" I asked him. I figured that I didn't need to guard my choice of words. If Miguel was in a gang with humans, then there was good chance they knew about our kind.

Miguel nodded his head. "Yep. Been with her a year now. She's going to have my cub in a few months."

I was afraid that Miguel was going to have to get the ok for my request from the leader of the gang. He didn't have the final say so in what they did, after all. I understood the chain of command, but my anxiety made me impatient.

I needed eyes on that warehouse yesterday. So, I was surprised when he told half a dozen of his men to get their asses over to the warehouse and watch it like hawks. He gave them instructions to do exactly as I had asked.

"How much do you want for this job? Your boys are going to be in harm's way if those fuckers try to leave with my woman. Name your price for your help." I said.

I wanted him to know that I understood what I was asking his friends to do. I couldn't offer anything but money for their assistance, but I needed them to know that they also had my appreciation...and my loyalty if they were ever in a jam.

"Let's talk about what happened to you earlier." He replied, ignoring my question altogether. That made the hair on my neck stand up. Men like Miguel and his gang were all about making money. As a mated shifter himself, he knew he could pretty much ask me for any amount, and I'd find a way to come up with it.

"The only reason for you to have that kind of...episode..." Miguel began uncomfortably. "Would be if another man was fucking your mate."

I was suddenly on my knees again, wishing I was dead before he could say anything else. The implications of what he had already told me were pretty self-explanatory. And my fury was almost strong enough to cancel out the pain I was in. Almost.

But I still didn't quite understand why I felt like my crotch was exploding. I breathed through the excruciating pain as much as I could while I implored Miguel with my eyes to continue. I needed to know what was happening to Cindy.

"It's the mating bond, bro." He added. "Now that you're mated to her, it will be painful for her to have sex with anyone else. And you'll share that pain every time it happens. That's part of the connection you have now."

Holy Fuck. My Cindy was going through the same agony I was at that very moment? Well...that shot my plans all to hell. There was no way I was going to wait for my back up to get there. Once I could stand up again, I asked Miguel for all the guns and ammo I could carry. I was going to get my girl back on my own if I had to, or die trying.

"Call your men back, Miguel." I said. "After what you just told me, I can't wait for my crew to get here. And there's no way that this isn't going to get bloody if I don't have my reinforcements to stand with your men. I don't want to get your people killed needlessly. The only one who has to take a bullet in the end is me."

Miguel got on the phone and called back all but one of his men from the warehouse. I assumed he wanted to leave a lookout until I get back there. I was grateful for that. But I was surprised and a little irritated when he told me not to leave yet before he went into his house. Five minutes later, he came back out with a small arsenal in his arms. He gave them to me, and I was ready to leave when he stopped me.

"I have a pregnant mate. So I know what you're going through. If anybody was holding my woman, there'd be hell to pay. Six of my men will meet you at the warehouse. They all know what's up. And they're all single. They won't be leaving behind any mates or family if they get hurt or killed."

Whoa. I didn't see that coming. "Thanks, man." I said, getting a little choked up at what was being offered to me. The men I'd be meeting didn't even know me. They were simply following orders. "If I get out of this alive, I owe you." I added before I took the weapons and ran back to the warehouse.

Ricardo knew what was going down by the time I got there. I had met up with Miguel's men, and one of them told me that a sentry that had been posted on the roof of the warehouse had spotted us just as I got there.

Fuck it. I was ready to fight. Ready to kill. All six of the men I was with were shifters. And they didn't bother to say more than hello to me before we spread out. Luckily, there were only two ways out of the building. I took two of the men to the front door with me, and the other three went around the back in case Ricardo tried to sneak out with Cindy that way.

I kicked in the front door and immediately jumped back as the doorway was barraged with bullets. I had expected that to happen. The second I knew Ricardo's men were reloading, I signaled my men to open fire. I don't think I would have trusted human men to have the keen eye sight and razor sharp reflexes that it would take to avoid hitting Cindy in a gun battle.

We were quickly able to get inside the warehouse and take out four of Ricardo's men. I didn't see Ricardo, Cindy, or the two fuckers I had roughed up when they had shackled me to the bed.

I'd recognize their mugs anywhere. That's when I heard Cindy's scream coming from the back of the building. It figures that fucker would try to sneak out the back with her like the snake he was.

My woman was naked and beaten up. The only ones left in Ricardo's crew were the two I had already been planning on killing. The tables had turned on them, and this time they were the ones who were outnumbered. Ricardo was holding a knife to Cindy's throat. She was crying and shaking so badly that he could barely keep a grip on her.

"Let my mate go. And I'll give you the mercy of a quick death." I snarled. Cindy wasn't even looking at me. It was clear she had been terribly abused in the short amount of time that she had been with those fuckers.

"A quick death?!" Ricardo bellowed. "Do you know who the fuck you're talking too? I'm the most deadly rogue in the country, you piece of shit! Nobody tells me what to do! Now get out of my way or I'll slit the bitch's throat!"

Cindy looked into my eyes then. I could see that she had meant it when she told me she'd rather be dead than live as a sex slave. The desperate, terrified, pleading look in her eyes made me feel like shit for letting this happen to her.

I knew I couldn't rush Ricardo while he had a knife to my woman's throat. And I also realized in that panic filled moment that Cindy would need to have a part in taking down Ricardo if she was ever going to recover from her ordeal. I did the first thing that came to my mind, and hoped that I was making the right choice.

I locked eyes with Cindy and said one word. "Shift."

I knew that if I had done anything but commanded her to shift, that maybe she would have frozen and been unable to shed her human skin. She had been brutalized, and she was weak from everything that had happened to her. The mating bond made sure that she would do whatever I told her to, no matter what the circumstances were.

Her body immediately began to change, and in that split second when Ricardo lost his grip on her, I shot him in the shoulder and he dropped the knife. I could have killed him outright, but Cindy deserved to take his life herself. I didn't know if she had ever killed before, and I would have taken over if it proved to be something that she couldn't stomach.

By the time Ricardo had stumbled a few feet away from her, Cindy had completed her transformation and had pounced on him. She didn't waste any time, raking her claws across his back. He screamed and tried to crawl out from under her.

But she was much bigger and stronger than he was in her panther form. He never had a chance when she used her fangs to rip out his jugular. Ricardo's death was far too quick for my liking. I would have made him suffer a lot longer.

Cindy didn't change back to her human form. She clearly felt safer as a panther. I could understand that. But there were still two more men to deal with. They had dropped their guns, knowing that they were doomed. My tiger was itching to come out and rip them apart. But I didn't know if Cindy could handle any more bloodshed.

"Do you want me to kill them?" I asked Cindy as she rubbed her long, sleek body against my legs. "Or should I let our new friends have some fun?" I added, pointing to Miguel's men.

I was glad none of them had gotten killed. There were six of them, and only two of Ricardo's goons. It was hardly fair odds. But those assholes were going to die. Whether it was by the hands of one of us, or all of us.

Cindy pushed against my legs until I got the point that she wanted me to sit down. I did, and she climbed onto my lap and got comfortable before she looked at Miguel's men and let out a long, low, growl. It looked like Ricardo's men were going to piss themselves when my new allies surrounded them.

"Boys," I said with a smile while I petted my mate's head. "You heard the lady."

THE END