Jungle Freakn' Bride (23 page)

“Excuse me?”

Screw Acat and his traditions and secrets. This was Ruth
,
a
nd she needed Carlie to save her before it was too late.
“You heard me. Leave now before you end up accidentally hitched to a pair of men. These guys escorting us are all part of the tribe
,
and the part about them stealing women and making them their brides
?
T
otally true. I’m a prime example. And if we don’t get you out of here –”

“Hold on a second and back up. What do you mean accidentally hitched to a pair of men? I am not getting hooked up with one man, let alone two. Well
,
not again at any rate.”

Again? Shit. Carlie almost forgot about her initial impression. Sniffing almost audibly, she again scented the two men and lingering aroma of sex.
It brought to mind images no sister wanted
to visualize
.
Eew.
Carlie’s eyes went wide
as she added together the smell and her sister’s pink
-
cheeked
embarrassment
.
The equation almost blew up her mind.
“What did you do?”
Ruth
,
h
er baby sister
,
had done the horizontal tango with two men? What the freakn’ hell was going on?
Who did she need to kill?
Where were the men in question
now
?

Not just men,
her cat rumbled in her mind.
Dogs.
But fierce ones if Carlie’s interpretation of her jaguar’s mental impression was correct.
How could this situation have gotten more complicated?
Cats, dogs. What next?
Giant mice?

“Long story. I’ll explain on our trip back, right after you tell me how come you’re not freaking out more that some dudes thought they were going to kidnap you and force you to stay married to them.”

First off
, w
hile they threatened to force her, she’d now managed to escape.
She wasn’t helpless anymore. As for a
returning home
? For some reason, the very idea made her recoil so she didn’t think before speaking.
“I’m not going back quite yet.”

Strolling at her side,
Ruth
suddenly
dug her heels in and stopped walking. “What do you mean you’re not coming back? Of course you are.”

Carlie stopped moving forward and turned around to come back.
“Eventually. But first
,
there’s some stuff I need to do here.”

“Stuff. What stuff? Hold on a second. You’re not actually taking this whole marriage thing seriously
,
are you?”

Our mates,
her cat purred. Hell no.
She refused to be married.
Forget the scars they had to prove it. Surely a few bite marks wouldn’t hold up in a court of law?
“No. Yes. Like I said, it’s complicated.”

“Carlie. You can’t stay here. You don’t belong here.”

Didn’t she
,
though? She couldn’t deny a peaceful affinity to the
living
green
space around her. The lush
moistness of life in all forms giving her a serenity she’d never achieved in any city or sculpted outdoor oasis.
She meant to tell Ruth that too
,
b
ut Acat beat her to it in his usual dominant style.

“I disagree.” A
s he
stepped forth
, she couldn’t
suppress
a quiver, a spurt of warmth at seeing him
. Dressed in only a small loincloth,
his muscles bulged and Carlie just about creamed herself remembering that body against hers
,
t
h
at mouth
, t
hose hands
…

“Who is that?” Ruth asked.

Mine!
She almost spat the
covetous
word, not liking at all how her sister stared at her male. S
he’d tear her hair out. Rip her
—

Whoa
! This was Ruth
,
h
er sister, who definitely didn’t have the hots for Acat
,
a
n
d even if she did, it was crazy for Carlie to feel such jealousy.
S
he knew who to blame for the change in her mental temperament.
With a glare to freeze even the most hot-blooded of creatures, Carlie planted her hands on her hips.
Eyes locked with Acat, she
purred in a voice no one would have called sweet
,
“Ruth, meet my soon
-
to
-
be ex-husband, Acat. And this is my other pain in the ass, Chaob.”

“A pleasure to meet the sister of our mate. And soon to be a true sister of the tribe.”
Acat
tilted his head in
Ruth’s
direction
, but his gaze never wavered from Carlie’s
.

She saw the challenge in
his eyes
. The taunt.
“Not happening, Acat,” Carlie snarled.

He didn’t even have to gesture to the men around them to make his point clear.
“The choice is not yours to make, datura.”

Ooh. He threw the gauntlet. Now he’d done it.
He t
hreatened to do to Ruth what he did to her.
Like hell.
“That’s what you think
,
” Carlie replied a tad too sweetly. “You will let my sister leave before your warriors start fighting over who gets to keep her.”

“Keep me?” Ruth squeaked.

His
blue and gold
eyes flashed as Carlie faced him head on, not backing down.
Why did she get the impression he enjoyed
the fact she engaged him toe to toe
?
“A challenge has already been issued.”

“By who?” Carlie demanded. “She just got here.”

“Why not ask your sister? It seems she was busy on her travels here.”

Carlie whirled on Ruth. “Who did you come with?”

“A bunch of guys. Why?”

“Did you notice anything strange about them?”
Say
,
like flea collars, wet dog smell after a swim, them chasing things up trees
, puppy dog tails
? Carlie bit her lip.

“Strange how? I don’t know what you mean. Can you tell me what’s going on?”

Wouldn’t Carlie like to know
.
She could sense something odd about the scent coming off Ruth, something to do with those males.
Had her sister stumbled upon some rival group of shape
-
shifters
,
o
ne from the canine family? Craning, Carlie could see the handles of stretche
r
s behind the line of naked chests.
Who were they carrying?
What did they have to do with Ruth?
Forget more questions
,
though, Acat wasn’t about to spill more of his precious secrets.

“She has already said too much,” growled
her kitty, his eyes flashing
.
Oops, it looked like she’d found the end of his rope.
“Chaob. You know what to do.”

He wouldn’t dare? He did. Carlie dove in front of her sister and yelled,
“Run, Ruth!”
Probably not the brightest instructions
,
but
it was
all she could think of as she sought a way to get her sister out of this mess.

Too little, too late. D
ust
flittered
in the air, fine particles
she inadvertently inhaled as they danced in the
beams of moonlight filtering through the treetops
.

T
hough
Carlie
tried to fight the immediate languor in her limbs, she could only manage a betrayed glare in Chaob’s direction before swooning in
his
strong arms
.

Prepared,
Chaob caught his mate as she slumped, his heart tight with the last glance she bestowed him.
She felt betrayed.
By him.
But didn’t she defy him first
?

Carlie sought to divulge their secrets
,
s
ecrets that in the hands of the wrong people could destroy them. He had to stop her from speaking.
She knew that
and yet
,
she still
i
ntentionally went against their wishes and best interest.

But isn’t it my fault too?
H
e’d taken
Carlie
as
his
bride
, knowing she didn’t believe in his gods and didn’t hold the same values
. Sure, he’d made no verbal promises, but it didn’t mean he didn’t owe her certain basic expectations
,
such as
the right to request safety for her family and a need to reassure said family
.
However
, some secrets shouldn’t leave the jungle. So,
when duty to his tribe and duty to his bride converged, which path would the gods have him choose?

He feared he might have chosen the wrong one.
Cradling
Carlie
in his arms, he
waited
while Acat swept the sister up and handed her to an unmated warrior, one who’d not shown any interest.

“
Given how quickly she’s adapted, I predict w
e have only minutes before the powder wears off,” Chaob said. “
S
he’s going to come up spitting mad.”

“I know
,
which is why we’re going to split off from this group and travel ahead on our own. Perhaps
i
f we’re out of sight and scent of her sibling, we can reason with h
er, or at least keep her silent until the rite is done.”

“
Or
,
we could let her spend the time with her sister and not get involved. It’s her family. We should trust that
Ruth
won’t do anything that would harm her sister in the end.
”
Yet, even as he spoke, Chaob began to run away from the main group, Acat keeping
pace
beside him.

“
I don’
t
fear them exchanging our secrets. It is the sister I fear.
That human wants our mate to return with her.
”

“Carlie won’t go.” Chaob would have wagered on it
, at that moment at any rate
.

“What makes you say that? You’re the one who keeps saying we can’t keep her in the jungle.”

“I still believe that. I also think that initially
,
Carlie will want to learn more about what was done
to her
. It is once her curiosity is satisfied, I fear
,
we’ll truly have a fight on our hands.
”

“And if you’re wrong and she demands to leave with her sister?
A sister
,
I might add
,
who
could end up accidentally a tribal
bride
,
given the interest she’
s
garnered?”

Chaob flicked a
backward
glance
as if he sought to see t
he warriors
they’d left behind
, m
ost
of them single, a few of them older than
those who
usually got sent on bridal quests.
None
,
he doubted
,
Carlie would approve of.
The men they carried
,
though
?
From what he’d understood, t
hey’d acquitted themselves well in the battle before their capture
,
a
nd their scent was all over Carlie’s sister. “
The wolves you’ve brought are going to fight for Ruth?”

“So they claimed.”

“If they win, then they will change Ruth and take her back to their people.”

“Yes. I would assume.
W
here are you going with this? What does this have to do with Carlie?”