Exhaling heavily, he reluctantly opened his eyes, body freezing at the scene playing out in front of him. Noah, one of the best fighters he knew, was going at Tarun full force. But she wasn’t giving him an inch. He watched, amazed, as she dodged every swipe and darted out of the way of every pounce, all the while getting in hits of her own. And then, she jumped out of the way as Noah charged, throwing him off balance, and a moment later, she had him pinned with her powerful jaws locked around his neck.
“Holy shit,” he breathed.
With a growly huff, she let Noah up, nodding at him to go at her again. And Luke was mesmerized as the fear for her safety slowly eased out of him. She was magnificent. Her tiger was large—not quite as big as Noah’s lion, but still a substantial size. Her black striped orange fur gleamed in the sunlight, her long, razor-sharp claws digging into the dirt with each step. And even from the distance between him and her, he could still see her bright green eyes clearly.
She was gorgeous—and, as he watched her come out on top of every clash with Noah, he couldn’t deny that she was fierce, as well.
Damara walked over, nodding toward Tarun. “Your mate is a badass. Even without training, I think she could have done just fine. I know you’re gonna worry no matter what, but I really don’t think you need to.”
Cocking his head, he studied Tarun’s every move while she fought. Maybe Damara was right. Tarun could clearly handle herself.
Didn’t mean he wasn’t going to keep trying to protect her, though, especially once the pride showed up.
Another half an hour went by before Noah shifted back to human form, panting as he stood. Glancing at Tarun with admiration, he then turned and sought out Luke. “She did amazing. You saw, right? At the end, I wasn’t holding back at all, but she never let me find a weakness. She countered every move I made and bested me. Me.”
A smile formed on Luke’s lips at Noah’s incredulous tone as he grabbed Tarun’s clothes and walked over to her. She was still in animal form, sitting on her haunches and staring at him with what he swore was a grin. Stopping next to her, he wrapped an arm around her, loving the way she felt as she leaned her body into his.
“You’re really something else, you know that? I need to learn to stop underestimating you. That was… I’m not sure I can even find the words.”
Turning her head, she licked his arm, her scratchy tongue rasping against his skin. Backing away, she hunched over, quickly shifting back to her human form. He held out her clothes and she took them, rushing to pull them on.
For most shifters, nudity was a way of life and not a big deal. But she’d been raised with the War Cats, and they’d suppressed their women—until Kian became Alpha and changed the rules. She wasn’t used to shifting around men, and he knew she wasn’t that comfortable with her nudity yet.
Part of him wanted her to get used to it, because he hated her feeling uncomfortable for any reason. But a bigger part of him was totally okay with her rushing to get dressed after a shift. He didn’t mind at all that other men didn’t get to see her naked.
If it were up to him, he’d keep it that way for the rest of their lives.
Once she was clothed, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. He meant it to be short and sweet, but it quickly turned into more as his blood heated, his lion purring deep in his chest. Her tiger answered the call as she pressed her body into his, arching her back and moaning into his mouth.
“Get a fucking room,” Liam muttered with disgust, his accent thick, as he walked by them.
Tarun giggled as she pulled away, lips swollen and hazel eyes shiny with happiness as she stared up at Luke. “Is he always so grumpy?”
Laughing, he shook his head. “He’s quiet, for the most part, but I wouldn’t say he’s grumpy. He just feels most at home in the kitchen or when we’re on missions, and he gets annoyed more easily when he’s not doing either.”
They began slowly walking back to the clubhouse, fingers entwined. “Where did you guys get the name Blood and Bone from? I did a little research and saw that there are a few other Enforcer groups, but everyone has different, unique names.”
“Blake was an Enforcer with another group for his training, and when he was given the go ahead to start his own crew, he came to us. We’ve always been close—more like siblings than friends, so we all joined his crew without hesitation. We tossed around a few names before we came up with that one. Actually, it was Damara who thought of it. She said we were so close, it was like we shared the same blood, the same bones. And from that, we came up with Blood and Bone. It illustrates what we are to each other, but also, it sounds kind of badass. And that’s what we wanted people to think of us as. A group of Enforcers they wouldn’t want to cross. And we’ve maintained that reputation, because generally, if someone messes with us, that’s all that’s left of them. A little bones, a lot of blood.”
Tarun laughed as he held the door open for her. “That’s not boastful or anything.”
He shrugged as he followed her inside. “It’s not, not really. It’s just the truth.” Pausing, he turned toward her as he searched her eyes. “And if you decide to join us, I think you’ll fit right in with our motto.”
Her eyes lit up and she went up on tiptoe to kiss him again. He pushed her up against the wall, sliding his tongue into her mouth, intent on devouring her.
He was just getting started when a throat cleared impatiently from the other end of the hallway. “All right, you two. Put a hold on that and join us in the bar. We have shit to set in place.”
Luke smiled against Tarun’s mouth, nipping her bottom lip, before turning to nod at Blake. The last thing he wanted to do was stop, but they’d have plenty of time for kissing later.
Hopefully, fingers crossed, another sixty or seventy years worth of time.
The loud rumble of a truck pulling into the parking lot, gravel crunching under big tires, hit Tarun’s ears and she smiled. She knew the sound of that truck.
Jumping off of the stool where she’d been sitting as she talked to Damara, she rushed to the door, throwing it open and walking onto the porch as she watched Jameson climb out of his jacked up red Chevy. Vynn and Karis also climbed out, and she threw a wave in their direction as she rushed to her brother’s side.
He swept her up in a hug when she reached him, and she held him tightly, something inside her easing at his touch. She and Jameson had always been close. Their parents had been worthless, and they’d clung to each other growing up. He was basically her best friend, and she hadn’t gone a day in her life without seeing him until she left to warn the Enforcers.
> There was a tiny part of her that was saddened that her mate wasn’t a War Cat. She loved the Enforcers, and she absolutely loved Luke, but they were based in Nevada. It would make seeing her brother a much rarer occurrence.