Nischal [leopard spots 9] (10 page)

But Nischal didn’t stop stripping his clothes off.

“Nisch, I’m not waiting here.” Why was he arguing? He’d managed not to get arrested up to this point in his life. Did he really want to push his luck?

“Yes, you are,” Nischal said as he dropped his shorts to his ankles.

Preston’s mouth went dry as need enveloped him. He couldn’t think when there was a gorgeous, hard cock right
there.
“Uh. What?”

“It’s easier for me, because I can shift and get across the property to the clinic quickly. I’ll get Sabin, then we’ll both be coming back to you. It’d be more help if you’d stay here and have the car ready to go for us in case we need a quick escape.” Nischal came around the car and grabbed Preston roughly. “Please, wait here.”

Preston opened his mouth to argue and Nischal plundered his mouth. He owned Preston in that moment, when he used his teeth, lips and tongue to turn Preston into a needy, whimpering man.

Of course, as soon as Nischal let go of him, Preston was pissed off. “Oh no, you don’t use sex to manipulate me.”

Nischal turned wide eyes on him. “I wasn’t, I just wanted to taste you.”

“Well, shit,” Preston muttered, because he could feel the truth of that in his bones. That weird link between them, the one he could sometimes hear Nischal’s voice in his head through, was flaring up and exposing Nischal’s true intentions to him.

“Fine. I’ll wait here, but if you and Sabin aren’t back in twenty minutes, I’m coming for you both.” Preston hacked for a few seconds and Nischal frowned.

“Maybe you should have your throat looked at again.”

“It’s just sore,” Preston rasped. “Not even as bad as when I get strep throat. That’s a very singular kind of hell right there.”

“Strep throat?”

“It’s a throat infection that makes me absolutely miserable,” Preston explained. “Please don’t worry about this.” He touched his bruised skin. “It’s really not that bad, I’m just fair-skinned and I bruise easily. I’ll take more ibuprofen,” Preston offered. “Right now. Just hurry up and be safe, okay?”

Nischal looked like he wanted to argue, but he finally just took Preston’s mouth in another domineering kiss. When he released Preston, Nischal shifted almost instantly.

It was breathtaking to see a man turn into a leopard, or vice versa, and Preston would have sworn the world tipped beneath him, but he didn’t keel over so he considered that a win.

Nischal turned tail and ran, leaping an impressive and truly astounding distance in no time at all.

Preston checked his watch. He had meant what he’d said. If Nischal wasn’t back in twenty minutes, with or without Sabin, Preston was going after them both.

Chapter Ten

It had been a long time since Nischal had been free to hunt. His escape had been more about doing just that—escaping. He’d managed to run down a rodent or two in sheer desperation for food, but he hadn’t truly hunted.

While he wasn’t stalking his brother, it still reminded him of the careful way he used to patiently hunt. The skills were instinctive and came back to him as if they had always been a part of him, and Nischal supposed they had been.

The tall grass swayed as he moved through it silently. There was enough of a breeze out to cause the leaves on the trees to stir, to make a little noise should he need the cover.

But Nischal was as stealthy as death retrieving a soul. He moved with intent, no step wasted. The scents of earth stirred beneath his claws, of grass and trees, of small animals skittering for safety, all put Nischal in the right mindset for what he was doing. He wasn’t a man in leopard form, but a mighty, intelligent beast who wouldn’t be stopped.

Nischal began moving faster once he detected no threatening smells in the surrounding area. His brother had better still be at the clinic, but if he wasn’t, Nischal would follow him all the way to Arizona, or anywhere he went, and he’d free Sabin.

There was a tall chain link fence surrounding the vet clinic. A couple of corrals were off to the left, but he paid them no mind. Security lights lit up the back of the building. A steel door promised to be a trial for him should he have to break through it.

Windows were nonexistent on the back side of the building. Nischal scowled and stalked the fence line. As he turned the corner to the right, he saw several windows. No doubt they’d be hooked up to the building’s alarm system. Even in a small town, Nischal would bet there was a risk of the place being broken into for the narcotics inside.

He paced a few more steps then turned and ran around back when headlights appeared down the road. His heart hammered against his ribs. There was no other sound outside but the whine of the approaching vehicle’s engine.

Then he remembered—there had been a car in the clinic’s parking lot when they’d driven by minutes earlier. If someone was inside, maybe they hadn’t set the alarm yet, especially if they were expecting someone to come get Sabin.

The back door might not even be locked.

He had to do something, fast. Maybe the vehicle coming wasn’t the one from the cat reserve in Arizona, but it might be and the time to act was now. Nischal backed up several steps then he took the fence in a running leap that had him easily clearing the six foot height. He landed as softly as a leopard his size could and ran straight to the back door.

Just as he put his nose to the knob, he heard the vehicle pulling into the parking lot. Above that, he heard a door opening in the clinic. Nischal shifted. He needed hands. He grabbed the doorknob and gave it a twist.

The door opened without so much as a squeak. The ease of his task so far was making him itch with suspicion. How could it be so easy?

Yet he entered the building without a problem. A sniff assured him that no one was in the back part of the place with him—no one except for his brother and some dogs and cats.

Nischal raced to the large cage where Sabin was sleeping. The cage—a kennel, he guessed—was approximately four by six feet. Sabin was curled up in a tight ball, and the fact that he hadn’t awoken told Nischal his brother was likely drugged again.

“Sabin. Sabby,” he whispered urgently. “Sabby, wake up for me.”

Nischal grabbed the lock on the gate handle of the kennel door. The lock itself hadn’t been snapped closed and he quickly yanked it off. Fingerprints were a slight concern so he decided to take the lock with him and dispose of it later. He’d need to wipe down the doorknob with something, too. Lick it, if nothing else.

For now, he opened the gate carefully and reached for Sabin. “Sabby—”

The second his hand touched his brother’s soft fur, Sabin came up fighting, all teeth and claws and anger. Nischal jerked his hand back, but not fast enough to avoid getting two nasty gashes across his forearm.

He hissed and moved back. “Stop it, Sabby. It’s me. It’s
Nischal.
”

Sabin stopped mid swipe and yowled. He stared at Nischal for a long moment then he shot forward, tackling Nischal and sniffing him ardently before licking his face.

“Ugh. I love you too, but we have to go. Right now the man who works here is outside, but they could come in any minute and then we’ll both be trapped again.” Nischal scratched behind Sabin’s left ear. “Let me up.”

Sabin stumbled a bit as he moved.

“Are you drugged up still?”

The leopard dipped his head in agreement.

“Shit. I hope you can clear the fence.” Nischal picked up the lock that had tumbled from his hand when Sabin had jumped on him. “Come on. Can you shift?”

Sabin growled and Nischal took that for the no it was.

“It’s going to hurt like hell when you finally do. Trust me.” He checked to make sure there was no one nearby still while the dogs and cats kicked up a fuss. It had probably been their racket that had covered up Sabin’s not very friendly greeting.

Before they slipped out, Nischal grabbed a paper towel off a roll sitting on a counter. He wiped the doorknob on both sides. Outside, Sabin arched his neck, pointing his nose in the air as he purred. It was as close to freedom as Sabin had experienced in years, and it made Nischal’s eyes burn with tears of joy.

He wiped the lock off and threw it as far over the fence as he could. Then he shifted and ate the paper towel. Technology could pull prints off it for all he knew. He wasn’t an idiot, he’d seen things even while in his leopard form, had learned, but he wasn’t up on everything by any means.

“Hey! Shit!”

The shout of alarm had Nischal spinning around to see two men and one woman all gawking at him from the side of the building where they stood beside a wide double gate.

Nischal yowled and Sabin crept to his side. Nischal smacked his brother on the shoulder.
Go, go, go!
One of the men seemed different, but Nischal didn’t have time to dwell on it. He shoved Sabin harder and nipped his shoulder. Sabin snarled at him but turned and ran for the back fence. Nischal was right on his heels.

Sabin’s leap fell short and he hit the fence with his back feet, making his landing a hard, painful fall to the ground, but he was out of the clinic yard. Screams and curses from the people who were watching them had Nischal leaping over the fence and pulling at Sabin’s nape with his teeth. Sabin was too slow to get up, but he made it to his feet. Nischal pushed Sabin none too gently and Sabin began loping along the way Nischal had come. He wasn’t moving fast enough. Nischal bit at his flank and Sabin sped up.

Whether it was the drugs or that Sabin had been hurt going over the fence, Nischal didn’t know, but it took his brother longer than Nischal would have liked to reach optimal speed. Then they were bursting through the trees, into the long swaying grass Preston was parked by.

Nischal passed Sabin then, not wanting him to harm Preston or hesitate. Preston stood up from the seat he’d been leaning against. He peered out towards them and Nischal chuffed at him, sending him reassurances that he and Sabin had both made it. Preston’s vision wasn’t as good as his, and the moon was hidden behind clouds, so Preston had little visual clues to help him out.

“Open the rear passenger door!”
Nischal thought. Preston turned and yanked the back door open then faced Nischal’s direction again.

Nischal came out of the grass and leapt right for the front passenger seat. Preston’s smile was beatific and his relief that Nischal wasn’t harmed or caught was palpable.

Sabin didn’t hesitate to leap into the back seat. He either recognised Preston and knew him for a helper or he simply trusted Preston enough to follow his lead.

As Preston slammed the doors of the vehicle for them, Nischal’s senses began sounding a shrill alarm. He turned his head and stared out of the window and the hair along the ridge of his spine stood up.

Sabin whimpered and lay down in the back seat, but Nischal kept staring, watching, knowing in his bones that they were being watched in return—by something other than a human. The knowledge kept him from shifting.

Preston got in and had them barrelling down the road in seconds. “Who’s watching us?”

Nischal wasn’t surprised that Preston had picked up on the thought. He hadn’t tried to censor it from the man.

Sabin whimpered again and Nischal left off glaring out of the window to make his way into the back seat instead. He got as much of his lower half into the floorboard as he could while Preston took a turn a little too sharply. Nischal shifted.

“Don’t drive like you’re trying to get away,” he advised.

“Right. Right, that’s a good idea.” Preston slowed the vehicle down some. “Any idea who you felt watching us?”

Nischal flicked over the image of the one man who’d stood out at the vet clinic. Tall, dark, deadly, that was the impression Nischal had of the guy. “No name, but there was a man at the clinic. He seemed…different.”

“Different or not, he can’t keep up with a car doing seventy or eighty,” Preston muttered. “I thought it was insane that people in Texas raised the speed limit a while back. Now I’m totally appreciative.”

Nischal listened to Preston but he was focused on Sabin who was shivering and mewling.

“What’s wrong with him? Did he get hurt?” Preston asked.

“I don’t know. It might just be the tranquilisers he’s been subjected to, but he also took a hard fall over the fence.”

Sabin opened one eye and gave him a dirty look at that admission. Nischal smiled at his brother. “Glare all you like, just stay conscious.” His smile felt smug as he continued. “Kapuk wasn’t crazy like we thought, or at least not completely. He was right about shifters having mates, or a mate, rather.” Nischal peeked over his shoulder at Preston. “Now I know why I couldn’t stop staring at him yesterday.”

Gods, it’d only been one day, a little over twenty-four hours. It was mind-boggling, really.

Preston turned on the radio. “I’m so tempted to eavesdrop, but I figure you two might need a little privacy.” Nischal felt Preston pull back mentally as well, without a trace of remorse for doing it. Preston’s generosity and understanding were incredible.

Sabin made an inquiring sound and Nischal nodded. “Yes, that amazing, sexy man Suraj tried to kill is my mate, and he’s…” Nischal lowered his lips to one of Sabin’s twitching ears as Preston nudged the volume on the radio up. “He’s so fucking perfect, so gorgeous, Sabin. He has a twin, Paul. We saw him months ago, do you remember?”

Sabin went still, then he lifted his head up and gave Nischal a sorrowful look. Nischal quietly explained the happenings and findings of the past day. All the while, Sabin didn’t shift. He eventually closed his eyes and lowered his head to sleep, and Nischal thought it wasn’t a drug-induced rest this time, but the true, pure sleep of being free in more ways than one.

Chapter Eleven

After a couple of hours driving down I-10, Preston finally began to relax. His throat hurt worse than he’d let on, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as strep, so he could handle it.

What was worrisome to him was that they might be followed and busted for breaking out Sabin. Surely if anyone had been on to who they were and what they’d done, they’d have been arrested already.