Tarian Outcast (Page 11)

She didn’t know why, but she felt protective over Sora. Silly her, since the woman was obviously a lion shifter and had teeth and claws if she needed them. What she probably didn’t need was a human guard listening to her pee, but whatever.

In the restroom, Katy was washing her hands when Sora exited a bathroom stall.

“You won’t be allowed.”

“What?” Katy asked.

“In the Tarian Pride. I see Kannon touching you and looking at you, but he can’t keep you. He’s a lion shifter. If he were human, you could be together. If you were a lion, you could be together. But humans and lions don’t mix. We aren’t like other shifters in other Crews.”

Katy just stared at her, the water running hot over her hands.

“I loved a human once,” Sora whispered, stepping closer. She looked so scared. “And I was punished. Don’t get him punished. If you actually care about him, take the bite.”

“Take the bite?”

“Let someone Change you.” Sora blinked hard, and her eyes rimmed with emotion. “My biggest regret was not giving my human mate a bite. I didn’t Turn him, and then I got shipped off to another Pride. He’s not an option anymore. I have so many regrets…”

Katy didn’t understand. “You…wanted to bite…him?”

“No. I wanted someone else to do it. I wanted him to be a lion so he could claim me, but I was too chicken to do it myself, even when he asked me to. I couldn’t bring myself to hurt him. Those lions out there? The New Tarians? They’re better than the Old Tarians, but they still believe in tradition, and they’re careful. It’s ingrained in them. If you aren’t one of them, you’re an outcast.” Her voice dipped to a whisper. “And Tarian outcasts don’t exist. They get rid of them. Do you understand?”

“No,” Katy said on a breath. “I don’t understand at all.”

“Get. Bitten,” she snarled, grabbing Katy’s hands. “I can feel something between you. I can see it. I see more than other people. More than other shifters. I can see bonds. You have one. It’s faint. I don’t know why. Maybe you just met or you’re uncertain. But it’s purple.” She widened her eyes and squeezed Katy’s hands as she repeated. “Purple. That color is real. I had that color with my human. Leave now before you bond to him more and ruin him or take a bite. He won’t be able to leave you alone soon. He’ll need to be around you. You stand no chance at all if you’re human.” She gave her a significant look, and then in a rush, she left the bathroom, the door swinging closed behind her.

What. The. Hell?

Katy stood there staring at the door handle, breath shaking on every exhale. With all the purple bonds, lion bites, and shifter politics, she was starting to figure out how dangerous a Pride could be. This was a lot. Too much, perhaps. She needed to think. Right now, her head was swirling with tequila and a mountain of unexpected information.

She turned and looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes looked wide and frightened and her cheeks pale. She pinched them a little to put some color back in, straightened her hair, and made her way back out to the bar to excuse herself.

As soon as she rounded the corner, she looked up and met Kannon’s eyes. He’d been mid-laugh, but his eyebrows lowered the second he saw her face. Are you okay? he mouthed.

There was such care swirling in his dark eyes, and her heart thumped harder with the relief she felt at seeing him. No. She was about to leave and think everything through, but being around him, even in the same room, muddled her thoughts even more.

It seemed like a big cost to spend time with him. Was he worth the risk?

She made her way to him and looked around. “Where is Drea?”

He twitched his head to the front window where she was standing outside on the phone with a mushy smile on her face. Probably talking to Donnie or her kiddos.

“You look upset,” he said. “Did someone mess with you?” His eyes flashed gold, but then they were back to that pretty chocolate brown. It happened so fast that, for a moment, she thought she imagined it. “You’re safe, Katy.” His voice held such conviction.

Being safe sounded nice…

But…

The talk of bonds and bites rattled around in her brain, and she didn’t want to be an outcast.

“I think I should get going.”

His frown deepened, but he nodded. “Okay. Go tell Drea we’re loading up while I pay the tab. I’ll be out in a minute. Hey,” he murmured as she turned to go. When he touched her elbow, her skin tingled there. Felt good. “Tell me you’re okay.”

She smiled, but inside, she felt so many things. Sadness, confusion, the effects of those margaritas…loss. That one she couldn’t understand or explain. Kannon made her happy, and everything she learned about him she respected.

“I’m only here for a few more days, and I don’t want to make saying goodbye any harder than it already has to be.”

Kannon rocked back in his seat and dropped his fingertips from her arm. He looked slapped for a second, but then he nodded. “All right.”

“It’s just I have this life and a job and it’s been so easy to get all wrapped up in…in…you.”

“You don’t have to explain, Katy. I get it.”

“You don’t get it, because I don’t know how to explain this very well.”

“Can I get the check?” he asked Josiah.

“Kannon—”

“Katy,” he said, trapping her in the intensity of his gaze. “You deserve better.”

She opened and closed her mouth. What? She didn’t even know how to respond to that. Better than Kannon? She hadn’t known him very long, but that didn’t seem right. She’d never met anyone she’d been this instantly attracted to. And not just the way he looked…but the man he was. Or the animal he was, maybe, she didn’t know.

“I’m just really confused.”

Kannon put a few twenties on top of the receipt Josiah slid across the counter to him. “I’ll see you ladies back home,” he told Rose and the others.

Sora looked so sad that Katy couldn’t hold her gaze. She felt like Sora looked right now.

“Come on, Human Katy,” he said low, resting his hand on her lower back. “Let’s get you where you’re going.”

And she could feel it—the shutdown. It was her fault. She’d started it first, and he was just respecting her wishes. He wasn’t making some big scene like Dayton would’ve done. He was giving her what she’d asked for, no questions.

And she liked him even more.

She’d come here to escape her real life, and she’d maybe done that too thoroughly, because here she was thinking about a future without Kannon, and it sucked. It was bleak. She would go back and feel empty, probably always have a hole in her chest that asked, “But what if?”

She just needed some time to sort through all of this and think.

Chapter Eleven

Drea was tipsy AF. Katy could tell from the way she stumbled on her way out of Kannon’s truck. And then she turned and leaned back in, pointing at Kannon, who sat behind the wheel watching her with an amused smile.

“Hey! Hey, you, Lionmaaaaan.” Drea slurred. “You’re all right. A little scary when your eyes are all lit up like a bug light like that…” She swirled her finger in the general direction of Kannon’s face. “But you seem nice to my friend, and she could use a nice man after the last one.” She stood back onto her driveway and gestured grandly to Katy, who was sitting in the middle of the bench seat next to Kannon, wishing to God they could do Drea’s drop-off faster. “I approve of you fondling her poontang—”

“Okay!” Katy yelled, reaching for the door handle to close it. “We’re good here. I’ll text you when I get back to the hotel safe.”

“—of watering her delicate flower! Splish splash,” Drea called through the closed door.

“Oh, God,” Katy uttered, mortified. Was that Kannon laughing? She couldn’t tell over the shame that was roaring in her ears.

And Drea wasn’t done. “You’re welcome to rub the magic lamp and see if all your wishes come true!”

“Please drive away now,” she muttered to Kannon.

“What’s your number?” Drea was frowning at her phone, poking the screen. “I’ll send you pictures of Katy when she was in braces. I’ll save your digits under the name Aladdin. Get it? Aladdin and the magic lamp.”

Katy stared straight ahead, her cheeks feeling like she’d fallen face-first into a bonfire.

Through his laughter, Kannon gestured to Drea and said, “I like her.”

“I don’t. I’m demoting her. She’s now just an acquaintance,” she muttered as Drea’s phone clattered onto the concrete.

“Don’t worry!” Drea called out. “It’s not broken! I got a kid-proof screen protector. It works on drunk people too.” She laughed at herself, picked up the mishandled cell phone, and stumbled toward her front door, her purse cradled in her arms like a baby.

Kannon snorted and pulled out of Drea’s driveway. “What hotel?”