Chapter 58 - Mated
Trey drove as quickly as he could to Sonya's beach house. When he pulled up, he saw a black SUV parked in the driveway. He ran to the front door and kicked it in. What greeted him was not what he expected.
Two men were lying in puddles of blood. Dominick, his sister's mate, was missing a leg, and the other man was missing an arm. They had stopped bleeding because of their lion's blood, but that wouldn't help them grow new limbs.
Trey ran through the house looking for Cat and went into a bedroom where he saw a broken chair, torn rope, and Cat's shredded clothes on the floor. He continued running through the house, looking for her while getting more anxious when he kept coming up empty.
He finally went out to the back deck and was shocked at what he saw. There was a huge lioness, not much smaller than Atlas, lying on the deck. She stood up when she saw Trey and stared at him.
Trey recognized the light blue eyes and knew it was Saira. She was beautiful and unique, just like Cat. Her paws and tail were black, while the rest of her was shiny gold. Saira whimpered at him, and he smiled as he walked up to her.
"Hello, my lovely lioness. It's good to meet you too." Trey rubbed her soft head, and she began purring loudly, causing him to laugh. Saira suddenly jumped on him, knocking him to the ground as she licked his face.
Trey rolled around, laughing as she continued to lick him. He could feel Atlas' excitement at seeing Saira and decided it was time for them to meet.
"Saira, I'm going to shift into Atlas so you can meet him." Saira stopped licking him and sat down with a little growl.
Trey stood up and shifted into Atlas, not caring about his clothes. Right now, the lions needed to see each other. Atlas didn't want to intimidate Saira, so he sat down and let her approach him.
Saira walked over to him and rubbed against the massive lion purring. He purred just as loudly as she continued rubbing against him. Saira walked back to his face and licked him, giving Atlas a lioness kiss. He returned her kiss and licked her face.
Trey was happy that his lion finally had his lioness. As Saira continued to rub against him, Trey felt Atlas' arousal and knew he had to stop him before it went too far. Besides, he wanted to get Cat out of there and back to their beach house.
Trey shifted back to human form, and Saira followed suit, shifting back to Cat. Trey held his chuckle when a naked Cat looked around, confused as she was on all fours on the deck.
"Are you okay, Cat?" Trey asked as he helped her up. She jumped into his arms laughing, and he knew she had forgotten they were standing outside with nothing on.
"I'm great, Trey. Did you see Saira? Isn't she fantastic?" Trey smiled down at her as he brushed the hair out of her face. He was worried being kidnapped again may have pushed her back from the progress she'd made, but that didn't seem to be the case. If anything, he could tell she was stronger and more confident.
"She's beautiful, just like you are, my lioness. You know, now that you've finished the transition, you can mark me so we can be fully mated. Once we do that, you can mindlink me like you do, Saira." Cat started jumping up and down in excitement.
"Let's get to the beach house so I can mark you." Cat started to walk around the house to the front, where the truck was, when Trey stopped her.
"Uh, Cat, we may want to go in the house first." She looked at him in confusion.
"Why? There's nothing in there but a couple of mangled men." Cat thought about how easily Saira had ripped the leg and arm off those men. If only she'd had her for Leo, Caleb, and all the others.
"Sweetheart, I don't think you want to drive down the street naked. We might get pulled over." Cat looked down, and instead of being ashamed of her body or embarrassed like she usually was, she started laughing.
"I guess you're right; we may cause a scene. Do you think your sister has any clothes in this place? I'm glad she didn't come with you, Trey, or I may have ripped her head off." Cat walked into the house and looked at the men lying on the floor. They were still alive but looked unconscious.
She and Trey went to the master bedroom and found some clothes. The shorts and t-shirt were too big for her, but she didn't care as long as she had something on. The men's clothes were small, but Trey said he would make do.
They drove the short distance to their cabin and went inside. Cat wanted to shower before she marked him to get the smell of Sonya's clothes off her. Trey showered when she was done, not wanting to sidetrack her. He was anxious to feel Cat bite down on him and claim him as he had done with her.
When they were done, he had Cat sit on his lap the same way she had when he marked her. He then leaned his head to one side, and she let her instincts take over as she bit down on him. She felt her fangs going deeper and deeper into his flesh.
Cat felt the sparks that seemed to fly around them, binding the two of them together for life. When she pulled back, Trey had a glazed look in his eyes and a goofy smile on his face.
*"Now, you're mine forever."* She heard his voice in her head, which startled her at first. Then she smiled at him before kissing his cheek.
*"I'm yours, and your mine. No one can come between us now. I love you, my strong, handsome lion."* Cat laid her head on his shoulder as he stroked her back. The heat and electricity from his touch were even more intense. She felt sorry for humans who don't have this deep of a connection with their partners.
*"I love you too, my fierce, sexy lioness. Let's eat something, and then I'm going to show you how good our lovemaking is now that we're mated. It'll blow your mind away. At least, that's what I've heard."* Trey kissed Cat quickly despite wanting to take her on the couch. He wanted to go slow and let her enjoy every minute while he worshiped her.
"If you must eat first, I'll make you breakfast." Cat had stopped talking in mindlink. It was still a little weird for her to speak to someone through her thoughts.
Cat cooked potato pancakes with sausage. She also made fresh squeezed orange juice. After they had eaten and loaded the dishwasher, Trey led her upstairs. Just as he was getting ready to pull her shirt off, there was a knock on the front door.
"Dammit, who is it now? Wait here, Cat. I'll be right back." Trey ran down the steps quickly, wanting to get rid of whoever was bothering them. When he opened the door, he couldn't contain his surprise.
"Aiden, what're you doing here?" Of all his siblings, Aiden was the only one he could tolerate.
"I'm sorry to bother you, Trey, but can I come in for a minute? I need to talk to you about something." Trey didn't feel anything coming from his younger brother that gave him concern, so he opened the door.
He led Aiden to the living room, and they each took a seat. Aiden was a couple of inches shorter than Trey, with the same dark blonde hair, but he had blue eyes.
"Aiden, what did you want to talk about? My mate is waiting on me, and I'm sure you heard that we haven't had the best morning." Trey tried not to sound impatient, but he wanted to get back to Cat.
"Yes, I heard what happened, and that's why I'm here. No one knows this, but I've also found my mate." Aiden looked at Trey sheepishly with a love-struck look in his eyes. He was confused. Why wouldn't Aiden tell their family he found his mate?
"Congratulations, but why have you kept this a secret?"
"My mate Kittana is a human. I love her, Trey, but I'm afraid our family will treat us how they treated you and your mate. I don't know what to do. A part of me wants to leave here and start over somewhere away from all this. I see now why you preferred the company of humans over shifters. They are so innocent and loving. It's unbelievable."
Trey smiled at his brother as he got up and sat next to him on the couch. He hugged him for the first time in years. Aiden was so much like him when he was his age. Stuck in a world, you didn't want to be part of but didn't know how to get out of.
"Aiden, you don't have to stay here. You can do whatever you want. Does your mate live in this area?" Trey was getting an idea, but he wanted to ask Cat first.
"No, she lives near San Francisco but has no family, so she's willing to go anywhere." Aiden felt hope that Trey would help him. He had always looked up to his big brother.
"Let me go get Cat. I have something I want to discuss with you, but I want to check with her first." He nodded as Trey ran up the stairs. He was anxious to meet the woman who had tamed his older brother.
Cat was sitting on the bed waiting for Trey to come back, wondering who had come to the door. Just as she was ready to go down and see for herself, he came into the bedroom.
"Who was at the door?" Cat asked him. She was hoping they could pick up where they'd left off.
"It was my younger brother Aiden. He's still downstairs, but I wanted to talk to you about something. Aiden confided in me that he has mated with a human girl but hasn't told our family. He doesn't want to stay here and has asked me for help. I thought they could go back to Sacramento with us and stay in my apartment. They may also be able to help us out at the group home. Aiden is partial to humans like I am. I also think you may be able to help his mate with the transition to werelion after just going through it yourself. What do you think?"
Cat looked at Trey in astonishment. She thought about what he said, and she liked the idea. If Trey trusted Aiden and wanted to help him, that's all she needed to know.
"I think that sounds like a wonderful idea. Can I meet him?"
"Yes, let's go." Trey pulled her off the bed and kissed her before they headed downstairs. When they walked into the living room, Cat was surprised to see a younger and slightly shorter version of Trey sitting on the couch. She smiled at him.
"Hi, Aiden. I'm Cat." She held her hand out, and he shook it as he smiled at her with the same crooked grin as her mate.
"Nice to meet you, Cat. So you were already a Cat, and now you're a lioness? My mate's name is Kittana, but everyone calls her Kitty." They all laughed that the two human mates already had names that showed they were destined to be werelions.
Trey told Aiden his idea, and he loved it. He ran out to his car, where he had left Kittana to wait while he talked to Trey. Aiden told her he had exciting news, and they walked back to the house where Cat and Trey were waiting.
"Trey, Cat, this is my mate Kittana." Trey and Cat looked at each other in shock. Kittana was just as small as Cat but had dark reddish brown hair and pale green eyes. She was beautiful.
"Hi, Kittana. It's nice to meet you." Cat said pleasantly. She smiled at the young woman, who looked nervous. Cat had a good feeling about Kittana.
