Marie Harte - Outfoxed

“She claimed you back, dumbass.” Burke looked at the ceiling as if asking for divine intervention. “Honestly, we had the same parents. I’m not that dense, am I?”

“Not all the time, honey.” Rachel smiled kindly.

Hope unfurled in Grady’s breast, especially when Julia and Ty looked at him with shock.

“Oh my God. She did mark him. What a sneak,” Julia ranted. “I tell her everything, but does she tell me she claimed Grady? No. I have to learn about it from the other pregnant lady in the house. Now I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Cats rule. Deal,” Rachel taunted. “And I still say my kid comes out before yours.”

“Not that your pregnancy competition isn’t funny in its own odd, little-woman kind of way,” Stacey drawled. “But I’d like to know how Grady can be so clueless. You’re mated, yet you’re letting my brother drag your mate around town? And why the hell would Gabby take another after mating you? Then again, she shows some sense going after a Bermin.”

Joy’s mouth dropped open. “She must have overheard us in the cabin.”

Dean blew out a breath. “Oh man. She pulled a fast one on you, bro.” Then he grinned at Ty and Julia. “Nice one. Score one for the silver foxes.”

Ty nodded. “We’re tricky. Remember that.” He rounded on Grady and slapped him on the back of the head, right where Burke had hit him.

“Ow! What the heck, Ty?” He rubbed his head.

“Treat her right or I’ll skewer you from your dick—um, er, innards—to your throat.”

“Nice save,” Julia murmured.

“What he said.” Burke nodded. “It goes without saying we approve.” By we he meant himself and Rachel. The two were inseparable, and now Grady knew what that felt like. “If I could give you a word of advice, tell her you’re sorry. On your knees, Grady. And mean it.”

“I am. I really am.” He felt like a grade-A fool, and the sympathy on the male faces around him told him he wasn’t alone.

“You’ll never be right again, you realize that, don’t you?” Ty gave Julia a knowing look.

“What?” She frowned at him, looking so much like Gabby Grady had to smile. Those silver fox females were so adorable.

Grady straightened up. “She’s complicated, I’ll give her that. And I deserved all this.” He rubbed his ribs and bruised cheek.

“But let’s not forget Joy and Dean’s part in all this,” Stacey spoke up. “Big sister has a penchant for trouble. Like the man-whore.”

Dean looked genuinely irritated. “Call me that again, princess, and you won’t like the repercussions.”

“Oh big word, Dean. But do you know what it means?” Trust Stacey to pull the lion’s tail.

Before Dean got into more trouble, Burke took him by the back of the neck while Rachel grabbed Joy, saving Stacey, who didn’t seem to realize the danger she’d been in. Then again, predator that she was, she’d have eaten Joy and Dean for dessert.

“Well, seems I have a stubborn mate to find.” And get even with . As much as he knew she’d been entitled to some payback, the vixen had nearly killed him by denying their connection. “I’m sorry for all this.”

Burke sighed and kept a hold on Dean, who continued to try unsuccessfully to get free. “I would say this is your fault, but when it comes to the female mind, we’re all a victim, Grady.”

“No shit.” Monty shook his head. “Poor bastard.”

Rachel, Joy and the other women frowned at him.

Ty and Burke shared a knowing glance and said as one, “Good luck.”

Miles walked with Gabby from the diner, still laughing. “Did you see his face? That cat was fit to be tied.”

She tried to laugh, but darn it all, Gabby had felt terrible ever since they’d left the Catamount Ranch. “Yeah.”

“Oh stop.” Miles rubbed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “He had it coming. Hell, Gabby. The only reason you now know the truth is because you overheard him. Though if Joy was involved, there was no way he could extricate himself from the mess without going down. But he should have trusted you before now.”

She nodded. “Miles? Grady and I…we’re mated. I know that.” She felt it with every pore of her being. “But Ac-taw can be mated and not be in love.” She’d seen enough angst in the silver fox clan to know that love didn’t conquer all. Lust and animal attraction could sometimes be enough to join Shifters as mates.

“So you’re not in love with Grady?”

“Of course I am. I meant him.”

Miles walked her to his vehicle parked way in the back of the lot, sandwiched between two large SUVs. The Fox’s Henhouse was always crowded, but tonight it seemed to be extra popular. She noted the number of SUVs in the lot and wondered what she’d missed. None of them looked familiar.

“Honey, if Grady was any more in love, I’d be dead by now. A good thing you had four Shifters to hold him back.” His grin was genuine, and it turned Miles from an aloof yet fearsome predator into a handsome, caring man. “Honestly? I didn’t know he had it in him.”

“What’s with all the animosity between you two, anyway?”

Miles sighed. “It’s a long story that goes back to the third grade. You see, there was this girl—” He stopped in his tracks and sniffed.

She smelled unfamiliar male cougar at the same time he did.

“Gabby, run .”

He moved at the instant a bullet struck him, hitting him in the shoulder instead of his chest. The noise had been muffled, but with so much going on, no one would think anything odd about a few men fighting. Instead of going down, Miles knocked her between his Beamer and another SUV. “It’s Ronnie, Lex’s brother. I can smell him.” The son of his old pride leader, and one of the men who’d tried to hurt Miles and his sisters. A weak little bastard who didn’t have the stomach, or the fortitude, to fight with honor—or so she’d overheard Miles tell Ty the other night. “He won’t be alone. Get out of here.” He shoved his keys into her hands.

Before she could so much as blink, rough hands grabbed her from Miles and gagged her. Someone shoved a needle in Miles’s neck, and she watched him shift into his cat and try to fight three men before he succumbed to the drugs they’d given him. Then a blindfold dropped over her eyes.

She fought hard and almost managed to get away before more hands stilled her.

“And aren’t you a pretty one,” someone with hot breath said into her ear, just before he handed to her to another set of large, mauling hands inside the vehicle next to them. A set-up from the get-go. Poor Miles. She hoped he hadn’t been overly hurt. If they’d drugged him, they probably meant to do more damage before they killed him. But until they found another place to do said damage, she and Miles would have time to make a getaway.

The Shifter next to her rubbed her ass and groped her breasts when she squirmed to escape, before someone in the front seat ordered him to be patient . Then the bastard sat her down next to him and licked her neck, warning he’d bite if she didn’t stop moving.

She froze, annoyed with his laughter. I’m so going to hurt this one. While they drove away, her fox planned and strategized. Oh yeah. These fuckheads were going to rue the day they’d ever grabbed the wrong girl.

Miles didn’t know how much time had passed before he came to. He remained a cat, his front and back paws tied together, trussed up like a hapless herbivore. Though his shoulder hurt like a bitch, and he had a bad feeling the bullet had lodged in the bone, he forced himself to shift back to human, so slowly, so silently, that no one would know. The dickheads in the car with him were smaller cats, so they wouldn’t have thought about such a size difference when shifting. But his human bones were significantly smaller than his feline ones. A plus when needing to escape.