Vision Revealed (29 page)

her still-damp hair. “What exactly did you see, little cat?” he grumbled, his soft,

comforting growl seeping deep into her soul and comforting her.

Fighting off his affection was more than she wanted to do. Jin shook her head, fighting

to see the image again. “He was lying on the ground.”

“Was he dressed?” Josh asked.

Jin shot him a pensive look. “Yes, he was.”

There was a silence between the three of them as understanding made the situation more

urgent. If he’d been lying naked, it meant he died in his fur and returned to his human

form. But lying down with his clothes on was worse. Her sire was hurt, somewhere in the

woods and unable to return to his den.

Kane wasn’t sure it would do any good telling Jin he found her by following his own

scent. It was embedded in her flesh, marking her as his female. He wasn’t fool enough to

know carrying his scent meant she was his. He did know he howled with more

confidence than many due to the reliability of his visions. Maybe seeing Jin’s glowing

face with cubs racing and fighting around her as she met him at their cabin after a hunt

was the best damn thing he’d ever seen in his head. But he knew from experience, getting

from where he stood now to where he would be in the vision wasn’t always a clear path

for him.

Searching the woods as he walked through them, he paid attention to Jin’s scent, noting

which direction she went as much as he hunted, sniffing the area around him for any

unusual smell. He trusted Josh and knew the leopard was honorable. If he found Leo Pard

first, the male wouldn’t touch him. They all agreed whoever found him first would howl

until the others showed up. Kane continued walking, feeling one with this mountain. It

wasn’t so different from the one he grew up on, which was just a few miles from here.

It was undeveloped land, untouched by humans. And as long as it remained leopard

property it would remain that way. He would find out soon how much of this land Jin

owned. One thing he ached to tell her, the cabin she stood outside of with her cubs was

the cabin they’d just left. He wondered when she would next go into heat.

Fighting to keep his thoughts focused on the matter at hand instead of his future with Jin,

he paused, taking in the snow-covered ground around him. They didn’t think to ask Jin if

Leo lay on bare ground or in snow, in a clearing or a dense area with no light.

Something foul reached his nose and he coughed, the repugnant odor immediately

turning his stomach. He recognized the vile aroma and continued searching, fearing the

worst before he saw it. Stepping over several large rocks, he squatted next to one of them,

covering his eyes with his hand for a moment as he willed the spirit of the dead male to

soar and run freely for the rest of eternity. Then touching the cold flesh of the older male,

he slowly turned over the body and was almost positive he stared into the lifeless eyes of

Leo Pard.

“May your soul know good hunting,” he whispered, and then stared at the trees above

him as he howled the howl of death.

The sky was so black and the moon glowed with a white purity to it, Kane watched the

undeveloped path ahead of them by the moonlight. It was after midnight, but the burial

fire and ceremony were complete. Jin adjusted her clothing, her back to him and Josh,

after they’d changed back to their fur. Although the ceremony for their dead was

conducted in their flesh, reaching the place on the mountain Jin said he’d requested to be

buried would have taken too long to reach on two feet.

“Both of you have honored me and my den more than we deserve this evening.” Jin’s

tone was flat, her emotions unreadable. More than likely she was too drained to feel

anything at all. “I know your mate despises me,” she added, focusing on Josh. “As she

very well has a right to do. Please tell her thank you for sending you here.” She reached

the end of the path and faced the clearing where her cabin was. Smoke streamed from the

chimney, promising warmth inside. Jin turned around, hugging her slender frame, and

shook from the cold night air. That or the emotions, which now billowed out of her as

fast as the smoke did above her den. “And tell her.” She swallowed, an overwhelming

sadness drenching the air with its thick smell. “Tell her I’m sorry.”

Jin hurried from the two of them, running to her cabin and disappearing inside with the

door slamming behind her.

Josh stopped in the middle of the clearing in front of her cabin and faced Kane. “Are you

staying here, then? You know your title of hunter will have you howled for no matter

where you claim your den.”

“I know. And yes,” he added, shoving his hands into his pants pockets.

“I’m sure this isn’t an honorable thing to say after finishing such a somber ceremony,”

Josh began, staring at his boot as he dug a hole in the snow with the toe of it. “But it’s

just like Leo Pard to die of his own accord and deny the many of us the honor who ached

to perform the task.”

“Would you have killed him if you’d found him alive?” Kane asked.

Josh met his stare, his eyes flat and void of any clue as to his thoughts. Jin’s sadness still

lingered around them but otherwise, any feelings the male in front of Kane experienced,

he kept well guarded.

“I swore to Jin I wouldn’t lay a claw on him.”

“That doesn’t answer the question,” Kane told him.

“I know.” Josh glanced past him at the cabin. “It doesn’t matter. I’m taking news home

to my mate that the bastard is dead,” he growled under his breath. “But at the same time

we don’t know if what Jin told me is true or not.”

“Did you smell a lie on her?” Kane stiffened. No matter the circumstance or the right

Josh might have to despise Leo Pard, he wouldn’t have the male standing outside Jin’s

den and insulting her.

“No. I believe he told her what she told me.”

Kane nodded.

“You never met Leo Pard.”

“No. I didn’t.” And he had a feeling if he had he might have killed the old male himself,

in spite of the fact he was Jin’s sire. Obviously he all but destroyed his daughter. If it

weren’t for her strong will and incredible craving to know only honor in her life, she

wouldn’t have made it.

“I did.” Josh pierced him with a hard, steely glare, his anger suddenly too much for him

to contain. “I’ll never forget the day he stood as close to me as you are now, staring me

down as you are now, and told me I was his cub. There wasn’t a trace of a lie on him.”

“And you learned it was a lie?”

“When he held Chan in captivity he told her she was his cub,” Josh continued.

“Yet you two mated.”

“He also told her he never had any cubs with his mate because she wasn’t good enough

to breed with him,” Josh told him, looking pointedly at the cabin behind Kane.

Kane nodded. Leo Pard filled everyone’s heads with lies. “I’d say go with your heart.

Let your visions guide you.”

“They do. I’ve seen my cubs with my mate. They are gorgeous, the best our species has

ever seen,” he offered, suddenly glowing with pride.

Kane wouldn’t voice his disagreement. But since he also saw his future with Jin, he

knew Josh was wrong. The cubs in his vision were a mixture of him and Jin, perfection

didn’t begin to describe them.

“Good hunting to you then.”

“And to you.” Josh started down the path that would take him down the mountain. “Tell

your mate I wish her and her den good luck and good hunting.”

His mate. “I’ll do that,” he called out, and turned to the cabin.

Kane reached for the old doorknob, his attention on his hand as he fingered the cold

metal. It was as he’d seen it in his vision. At the time, the charged energy he’d

experienced while turning the handle led him to believe he’d come upon a great

discovery. Now he understood better what coursed through his veins. Sparks popped up

his spine when he opened the door, stepping foot into the warmth of the cabin. It was the

sensation of coming home, of finally getting to start life after so many years running and

learning what he needed to know to reach this point. He was high from the sensations

washing over him, his insides swelling not only with a carnal lust he doubted he’d be able

to restrain but also with love for a female so powerful nothing would ever extinguish it.

“Is he gone?” There was a wild look in Jin’s pretty eyes when she stared at him, standing

in the middle of the living room. He guessed she’d paced since entering her den, waiting

on him and sorting through demons in her head.

“Yes.” He pulled off his coat and then spotting a nail on the wall by the door, hung it

there then leaned over to take off his boots.

“Why did he die like that, Kane? I can’t make sense of it. He wasn’t hurt. There were no

signs of a fight or an injury.”

“Maybe he took a run and got too tired to return home. You mentioned he wasn’t always

right in his mind.”

“He was delusional ever since I brought him back here,” she admitted, plopping down in

the chair by the fire and resting her chin in her hands. She still smelled of the outdoors,

but the sadness that wrapped around her earlier was gone. Acceptance had settled in and

now Jin simply needed closure. “There were times when his mind drifted and he’d think

it was another time, or that I was someone else.”

“That’s common with older leopards.”

“It was just like him to find an honorable way to die. There was no way Leo Pard would

go out in disgrace.” She looked at him, her expression relaxed, and the glow from the fire

radiant in her blonde, tousled hair. “You see, my sire never once believed any of his

actions were dishonorable.”

“Sounds as if he were delusional for many years.” He placed his muddy, wet boots next

to the wall by the front door and then walked over to her in his socks. “We gave him an

honorable burial ceremony.”

“And I know both of you did that for me, not for him. For that I am grateful. If I’m

forced to carry on his name, at least now the name holds honor.”

“You aren’t going to carry his name anymore.”

She narrowed her gaze on him, frowning although the sudden spike in her scent, thick

and musty with a hint of sweetness like honey, grabbed him and wrapped around him,

drawing him closer to her.

“We’ve discussed this already, Kane. You aren’t going to tell me how things are.”

She’d taken off her sweater and her boots and socks, and sat in the chair, her expression

hard and determined in her snug tank top and blue jeans. They were the clothes he bought

her and showed off her physical beauty to the point of distraction.

“Because I say how things are doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear your mind,” he

growled.

“And if I say how things are, you’re going to hear me.” Her body tightened and he

watched the muscles in her arm flex, accentuating the tattoo that circled her biceps.

“Any time you howl, purr or growl, trust me, my adorable cat, I’ll hear you.” He knelt

before her, cupping her chin in his hand and holding her face inches from his. “Honor

me, Jin. Take me as your mate and I swear you’ll know nothing but love and happiness.”

Her eyes welled with tears although the fresh, clean aroma of happiness grew thick

enough to drown out the smell of both of their lust. “I love you, Kane,” she whispered,

her voice cracking as she murmured the words.

His heart swelled so fiercely he swore it exploded in his chest. They weren’t the words

he expected to hear out of her, at least not right away. But hearing them sounded sweeter,

more erotic and more beautiful than anything he’d ever heard in his life.

“Is that a yes?” he asked, feeling his throat swell although he spoke clearly. He’d be

damned if the first thing she saw out of her mate was him suddenly going soft like a

female.

Jin nodded, biting her lower lip.

“Jin Masters, you’ll never regret agreeing to be my mate. I swear it to you.” He swooped

her into his arms and she wrapped her arms and legs around him.

Leopards didn’t have a mating ceremony, not at this stage. Two leopards agreeing to

spend the rest of their lives together was a private affair. Once they announced their

mating then a ceremony would be offered, traditionally by the male and female’s dens,

and then to bless the new den and bring gifts to help make their den a home. In their case,

they were starting a new line, a new den with no ancestry but with pride and honor and

love that would carry on for many years and many generations after them.

Her bedroom was cooler than the living room but that didn’t appear to bother her, and

Kane felt invigorated by the chill in the air. Jin slid down his body, going to her knees on

the edge of the bed and gripped his shirt, twisting the material in her fists at the collar.

“Do you remember me telling you I’d seen us making love many times in my visions?”

he asked, breathing in her musky scent and then nodding at the bed he’d placed her on.

“I remember.” She focused on undressing him, nibbling her lower lip while struggling

with his shirt.

“I told you the bed in the motel wasn’t the bed I saw.”

“Yeah.”

“The visions of fucking you were very physical but they never showed me your face.

They were more sensations, how it felt being inside you, with mere glimpses of our