Kane moved lazily from the chair, picking up his coffee cup as he headed for the full pot and, hopefully, the patience to deal with Taber. Of all the Breed males, Taber had to be the most temperamental. And Kane figured it was just his luck that this one decided to try to step in and berate him for his behavior with Sherra.

“Scuffle with me?” Taber growled. “You make it sound like a wrestling session. I could take your throat out, Tyler.”

“You could try.” Kane poured his coffee and fought back the weariness dragging at his mind. He had been awake, it seemed, for months. The arousal was growing nightly, leaving him sleep-deprived and patience-worn.

When Taber said nothing else, Kane turned back, lifted a brow in question and waited. The Breed males could be unpredictable on the best of days, and though they did an admirable job of not resorting to violence, he was aware the potential was there.

Taber shifted, staring off for a second, his shaggy black hair falling over his face before he swiped it back carelessly and turned back to face Kane.

“I was there when she realized you weren’t coming back. I was there when she lost that kid and when she nearly died,” Taber snapped. “You weren’t. I’m sick of seeing her hurt because of you, Kane. Lay off her.”

“Go back to your mate and play kitty tricks,” Kane retorted, growing angrier as the other man watched him. “Do you think I can’t imagine the hell she went through, you purring bag of mismatched genetics?

Do you think there’s a chance in hell I’m going to let her continue to torture the hell out of both of us because of her damned stubborn pride? Get a clue, Williams. Not any longer.”

Taber’s body shifted dangerously, his eyes glittering with jade-colored fury as a growl rumbled in his chest.

“You’re a smart-mouthed bastard, Tyler. Count yourself lucky you’re Callan’s brother-in-law and Sherra’s mate, or I’d kill you for that.”

Kane snorted. “Don’t let that stop you from trying. I’m sure Merinus would forgive you pretty quickly.”

He set the cup on the small island counter, gearing for battle. He’d just as soon kick this arrogant panther’s ass than look at him right now.

“Let up on her, Kane,” Taber ordered again. “You don’t have to stay on her ass so much.”

“I have yet to get on her ass.” Kane smiled tightly. “And when I do, you won’t be invited to watch. Unlike your other brother, I’m not exactly into an audience nor do I need any help.”

Tanner’s sexual practices were getting out of hand, but no more so than Kane’s libido was. If he didn’t get Sherra into a bed fast, he was going to go certifiably insane.

“This isn’t about Tanner,” Taber reminded him furiously. “It’s about Sherra. And I’m warning you…”

“Don’t make that fucking mistake.” Kane’s voice lowered dangerously. “Don’t even attempt to warn me of shit, Taber, because that’s where we’ll fight. She’s my woman, my mate, my business. Stick to your own and stay the hell out of mine.”

“You’re killing her.” The growl was becoming deeper, harsher. “I won’t let you continue this, Kane.”

“I dare you to stop me,” Kane sneered. “I’ll kick your cat ass all over this kitchen, Taber, if you even try.”

“All right, children, break it the hell up.” Roni stood in the doorway, her hands propped on her curvaceous hips, her blue eyes snapping with anger as she glanced at her mate. “What the hell is wrong with you two? This is not the time for this.”

“Roni, this doesn’t concern you,” Taber warned softly as Kane shook his head, his hand rising until he could pinch the bridge of his nose irritably.

“Lord save me,” he muttered. “Is the moon phase in the wrong fucking place or something? Some kind of weird Feline male PMS?” he asked Taber confrontationally. “Man, mating has not chilled your ass out any.”

He was pushing the other man and Kane knew it. He knew it and refused to back down from it. He was sick of the growling, the snarling and the resentful looks he was given, more often than not, from the other man.

“Taber!” Roni was nearly screaming as she grabbed her mate’s arm a second before he jumped for Kane.

Kane let a slow, cold smile shape his lips.

“Let him go, Roni. I’ll deliver his pelt later.”

“Damn you, Kane, shut the hell up,” Roni yelled as Callan, Merc, Tanner and several others rushed through the other side of the kitchen, coming to a surprised stop at the scene that awaited them.

“What the hell is going on here?” Callan asked softly, his voice rumbling, his amber gaze less than pleased.

“Hey, Garfield, your brother here figures he can order me back from my mate since he’s a happy little

purr-boy with his own. Perhaps you should advise him otherwise.” Kane leaned his hip against the island counter, though he watched the furious panther carefully. “I simply let him know he could kiss my damned ass to hell and back because it’s not going to fucking happen.” He directed his less than polite comments to the growling panther in question.

Roni had placed her body in front of her mate’s, a death grip on his arms now.

“Callan, do something.” She turned to the Pride leader at her mate’s low order to release him immediately.

Kane watched his brother-in-law from the corner of his eye, saw the strain in the other man’s face, the indecision. Tanner shook his head and mumbled something beneath his breath that had Callan glancing at him sharply.

“Kane, let it go,” he finally said meaningfully. “Just walk away, man. For all of us.”

There was weary resignation in Callan’s voice, a sense of sadness that had Kane’s own instincts kicking into overdrive.

“Why?” Kane asked him softly. “I won’t let her go, Callan, any more than you’ll ever let Merinus go…”

“Callan didn’t destroy Merinus,” Taber fumed with primal fury. “I won’t watch you rip her apart again, Kane. Get the hell out of here and off the compound until this eases for her. Now, before they have to carry you out.”

Kane bared his own teeth now. “You better hold him tight, Roni,” he told her softly. “Because I just may have to teach your little kitty some manners.”

Kane couldn’t understand his own sense of rage any more than he understood Taber’s, but it was impossible to miss the murder in the man’s eyes when he set his wife aside and rushed him. Pivoting, Kane moved immediately to meet him when the others jumped between them. Tanner and Merc grabbed Taber, restraining him as Roni’s voice raised in alarm and Callan stepped in front of Kane.

“Enough.” There was no anger in Callan’s voice, no resentment. He watched Kane compassionately instead. “Bloodshed won’t fix this, Kane. Fighting won’t fix it.”

“She’s mine,” Kane snapped.

“And for this reason, I’ve stood aside, just as Tanner and Dawn have stood aside as we’ve watched Sherra suffer since you’ve come here,” he said just quietly. “For Taber, the battle is harder. You see, it was Taber who found her lying in her own blood as she miscarried. It was Taber who heard her tears, what may have been her dying words had he not acted as quickly as he did. It was Taber, Kane, that she begged to allow her to die because she could not face life without you or your child. And it was Taber who swore vengeance for her. You can’t erase eleven years of pain, fury and hatred merely because it was a misunderstanding.”

Kane stared at him in shock before his eyes swung to the piercing, furious gaze Taber had leveled on him. His hands clenched and unclenched, his jaw bunching with his own agony.

“I love her,” he said, his voice tight, his chest aching with this new information given him. “I always loved her, and your threats won’t change that. Neither will your hatred. Just as it won’t change the fact that I’m not leaving and I’m not letting up. Every damned one of you might as well get used to that.”

He stomped from the room, his own anger, his pain, overwhelming. His need to watch Sherra, to just know she did indeed still live driving him, pushing him… Destroying him…

Chapter Three

Escape was her only alternative. Sherra knew that staying in the house that evening would mean only one thing—an eventual confrontation with Kane that she had no hope of winning. And losing, at this point, wasn’t an option.

Dressed in the dark, formfitting assault gear worn on patrol, she made her way through the compound to one of the few single houses that had been set up over the months. Tanner and Cabal had taken the small house themselves after Merinus happened to catch them involved in one of their favorite games. In the living room of the main house, nonetheless. On the expensive couch Merinus had chosen herself for the room, the two men had been eagerly convincing one laughing, highly amused Breed female to join them in play.

Since his rescue from a particularly sadistic lab, Cabal had, in his quiet, charming way, drawn several of the compound’s females into his bed, where Tanner often joined them. Tanner, always the wildest of the main Pride, had taken to the ménages like a cat to cream. He and Cabal seemed almost an extension of the other as they charmed the young women into their bed.

For a while, Sherra had actually worried that her adoptive brother and Cabal were far closer than what she considered necessary. Learning the truth hadn’t been any easier to take. They didn’t have a liking for each other so much as they simply enjoyed making everyone crazy. Sharing their women, convincing them to take on two Bengal Breeds rather than one, and immersing themselves in the sexual exploits had become so frequent that Callan had finally ordered them from the main house. To which Tanner had merely laughed and taken the newly built house instead. As she neared the house, she cocked her head, listening carefully for sexual activity. Not hearing anything, she gripped the doorknob, stepped in and stopped in shock.

“Do you have a problem with bedrooms?” she asked, spying the mattress on the floor and the trio still presently joined in the center of it.

The female Breed was either sleeping or unconscious, who knew, sandwiched between Cabal and Tanner, one leg lifted over Cabal’s who rested at her back, his cock embedded in her rear as Tanner eased slowly from her drenched, bare pussy.

“Do you have a problem with knocking?” He ran a hand over his sweat-dampened chest as he collapsed on his back, breathing roughly.

His poet’s face, dark and arrogant, was relaxed with sexual fulfillment, his long black hair, striped with natural gold highlights falling to his shoulders and framing the masculine perfection maturity was bringing to his face.

On the other side, Cabal eased slowly from their partner, grunting at the obvious tight grip around his softening erection before he too lay back, relaxed, replete. His hair was gold with deep, midnight black streaks running through it. As striped as Tanner’s was. It was like looking at two halves of one person. Their features and body build were nearly exact, their deep voices amazingly similar. Sherra often wondered if they didn’t share blood as well as women.

She stared at the woman, now curled on her side as Tanner flipped the sheet over her nudity. He might ride them to exhaustion, relish them to their last orgasm, but he was highly protective of them.

“So lock the door or something,” she snapped, moving into the room to close the door from prying eyes.

“Callan is going to kick your ass if he finds out you’re fucking his guards again, Tanner. And if I’m not mistaken, your little cat there is presently assigned to house detail.”

He cocked one eye open, a charming, knowing little smile tilting his lips.

“Who’s going to tell on me?”