Daxon's Heart (Ravenwood Panthers Book 3)

  Daxon’s Heart

  Daxon’s Heart

  Lynn Howard

  @2021

  Published by Twisted Heart Press, LLC

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Your non-refundable purchase allows you to one legal copy of this work for your own personal use. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload, or for a fee.

  Disclaimer: This book may contain explicit sexual content, graphic, adult language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable. This e-book is for sale to adults ONLY, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Lynn Howard will not be responsible for any loss, harm, injury or death resulting from use of the information contained in any of its titles.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, places, businesses, and incidents are from the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual places, people, or events is purely coincidental. Any trademarks mentioned herein are not authorized by the trademark owners and do not in any way mean the work is sponsored by or associated with the trademark owners. Any trademarks used are specifically in a descriptive capacity.

  Chapter One

  Ryanne looked over her shoulder for what felt like the tenth time as she held her arms out in front of her, pushing branches out of her way. As long as she could keep from stumbling and falling like the women in movies, she’d be okay. She had a jump on the assholes chasing her down the hill and speed had never been an issue.

  No. The issue was who she’d hidden and left behind, doing everything she could to keep the attention on her and away from Penny.

  “Damn it,” Ryanne grumbled as she pushed her mass of thick curls from her face. Had she known she would end up running headfirst through thick trees and bushes she would’ve pulled her hair back.

  But how could she have known? She and Penny had been out on their annual camping trip. They’d done it for the last three years without a single issue.

  Until tonight.

  Ryanne could always Shift and take off into the night. But Penny couldn’t. The sisters shared the same mother, but different fathers. And Penny’s father was as human as their mother.

  If Ryanne Shifted and ran away, Penny would be left defenseless. This was the best she could offer for now. Even if Ryanne released her animal, she couldn’t fight off four wolf Shifters while keeping her baby sister safe.

  As much as she hated putting the distance between herself and little Penny, it also meant putting distance between the four males and Penny. That would give her sister the opportunity to make a run for the car and lock the damn doors. Shame she wasn’t old enough to drive. That was still a long way off.

  Crunching leaves and twigs to her left let her know the assholes were splitting up. They were going to try to flank her. Not a chance. If anything happened to Ryanne, Penny had no one. Literally no one.

  Both of their fathers had been MIA since before either of them had been born. Ryanne wasn’t even sure whether either man knew the sisters existed. And their mom died of an overdose when Penny was barely two years old. Great start to a life.

  But Ryanne had done her best through the years. She’d made sure there was always a roof over Penny’s head and food in her belly. Maybe neither of them had a crap ton of luxuries, but they were happy, healthy, and safe.

  Until tonight.

  Who were these guys and why the hell were they coming after Ryanne? If they had known about Penny, they hadn’t mentioned it. They were probably those guys who were kidnapping women and selling them to other Shifter groups to add to their harem.

  Yep. Ryanne knew all about that shit. All female Shifters did. As soon as the laws had changed forbidding Shifter males from forcing a female into a pairing, groups like the ones after her began to emerge. Sore freaking losers. They simply couldn’t allow women to live their lives and choose their mates.

  The scents in the air changed as she ran further from Penny. But the men were still behind her, also moving further away from Penny. That was exactly what she’d planned.

  Unfortunately, she hadn’t planned much more than that.

  Smells of asphalt and exhaust let Ryanne know she was close to a road. That meant cars. Which meant witnesses even the rogue assholes wouldn’t want. They might have been psychotic, but they weren’t stupid. Human witnesses could out the entirety of the Shifter race. And Shifters weren’t immortal. Ryanne knew without a doubt the humans would hunt them down, experiment on them, and kill them.

  People tended to fear what they didn’t understand.

  Pushing her legs even harder, Ryanne almost cried with relief when the sound of an approaching vehicle met her ears.

  And then she had a moment of fear when she realized the headlights were moving toward her way too quickly as she darted onto the road. She wasn’t sure whether she could get across before the car ran her over or if they’d be able to stop in time.

  Her fear was squashed as the tires squealed against the asphalt and burning rubber filled the humid night.

  “What the hell?” she heard a woman say from inside.

  The rogues burst through the trees, and, unlike she had believed, didn’t stop when they spotted a vehicle full of people. They simply kept running directly for her, their faces twisted in rage.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” a male said as he stepped out of the vehicle and jogged around the front. “You okay?” he asked, but his eyes were on the approaching males who weren’t slowing.

  Oh no. She’d meant to keep her sister safe, not put a bunch of humans in harm’s way.

  Wait. These weren’t humans. She could smell fur. A lot of it. And it was definitely coming from the male standing a foot in front of her, his body vibrating with energy.

  This dude was on the verge of Shifting.

  Turning her eyes toward the SUV, she watched as three more males and two women climbed from the vehicle. The women were human. Ryanne couldn’t detect any fur from either of them. Although they could be flight Shifters – they didn’t put off any scent.

  Ryanne couldn’t speak. She gasped in breath after breath as she watched the males pull their shirts over their heads and drop their pants to their ankles. The only ones still clothed were the male who’d first rounded the hood to stand guard in front of her and the females.

  Why wasn’t he Shifting and joining the fight with his friends?

  Staring up into his face, she winced as the sounds of pops echoed in the air as the men’s bones rearranged inside their bodies.

  “Oh shit,” one of the rogues said as three massive black panthers stalked toward them.

  One of the bad guys Shifted without stripping, exploding from his clothes, and turned into a dark gray wolf. But his animal wasn’t nearly as large as any of the panthers. Another guy Shifted. But the other two turned on their heels and took off into the woods.

  “Oh, hell no!” the woman said and took chase after them.

  “Campbell! Damn it!” the guy blocking Ryanne said and turned his head toward a panther. “Brax. Your mate just took off into the woods.”

  A large black head turned toward the woods then took off after the two males and the woman. Campbell. Campbell an
d Brax. Ryanne had two names, at least.

  Where was Penny? Was she in the car by now? Had she listened to Ryanne and hid under the seat and locked the doors? God, Ryanne hoped so. Because if she had stayed hidden in the woods and there were now rogues running toward her instead of away from her…

  The panthers fought the two wolves while Ryanne watched from behind the big, tattooed guy holding an arm in front of her as if to keep her from going any closer. She had no desire to get closer to the claws and teeth ripping into each other. She had to get to her sister.

  “I have to go,” Ryanne said, attempting to push the man’s arm down.

  “You’re safe. We’re good guys. I promise,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at her.

  His bright gold eyes held her captive for a few seconds before she got her wits about her. She refused to acknowledge the sensation the simple look from this man sent through her body. Nor the voice that chattered in her head and begged her to move closer to him, to inhale his scent until her lungs were full of nothing else.

  “I’m not scared of you. I –” But she snapped her mouth shut. They might very well have been good guys. Or they could have been exactly like the jackasses who’d chased her through the woods and would use Penny as a pawn to get Ryanne to go with them willingly.

  The two panthers were no longer fighting. Ryanne pulled her attention from the oddly sexy man in front of her, then wished she hadn’t. The wolves were dead on the ground, their eyes frozen open in death. Blood soaked their fur, matting it to their lifeless bodies.

  “Oh my gosh. I think I’m going to puke,” Ryanne said, slapping a hand over her mouth and turning her back to the grisly scene.

  Doubling over, she bargained with her stomach - if it would keep the contents where they were now, she promised to never wander into the woods again.

  A hand touched her back and made gentle circles. “Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Slow breaths.” His voice was deep and soft and soothing.

  After a few deep inhales, Ryanne straightened and looked only at the guy at her back. “Thanks.”

  “They’re gone. You can look now,” he said.

  Slowly, Ryanne looked in the direction where the dead wolves had been. They were nowhere to be found. She was sure if she moved closer, she would see the large blood stains where the men had died.

  She had no intention of doing that. No. She needed to find Penny and get them the hell out of there and safely behind locked doors.

  The panther and the human woman who’d run into the woods hadn’t returned. But the other two were now missing, as well. Ryanne had to go. She had to get to Penny. She had to make sure her baby sister was safe, put as much distance between them and this place, and never plan another camping trip as long as she lived. It wasn’t worth the risk. She just hadn’t figured anyone would have been so deep in the woods.

  From the small amount of gossip she’d heard from the very few Shifters she knew, the rogue Shifters who were stealing women and trafficking them chose easy targets. In Ryanne’s mind, that meant women walking alone at night, runaways, women like that. She had never thought they’d be wandering the woods looking for a lone female.

  Or had they caught her scent and hunted her?

  That last thought sent ice blasting through her system. As long as the rogues were still out there, no female was safe.

  “I really have to go,” Ryanne said, once again trying to push past the behemoth blocking her path.

  “I promise you’re safe. I’m Daxon. The other guys were my brother Brax, our Alpha Aron, and Mason. The woman was Campbell. That’s Charlie,” he said, pointing to the woman standing near the big SUV. “We’re not going to hurt you.” He reached forward and ran a hand down her arm. For such a large male, his caress was insanely gentle and sweet. “What’s your name?”

  Should she tell him her name? Could she possible trust this guy? She wanted to. Oh, she wanted to so badly.

  But trust didn’t come easily for Ryanne. She’d been burned too many times in the years since her mother had died. Hell. She’d been burned by her mother and her slew of boyfriends who had traipsed in and out of the house since Ryanne was a baby.

  But as Daxon stared down into her eyes, she had a hard time seeing him as another source of pain.

  “Ryanne,” she breathed out, then turned her eyes to the woods as the three men and one woman walked out of the thick press of trees.

  Her heart stuttered and almost stopped when she realized Penny was riding on the back of the woman, giggling as if nothing had happened, as if they hadn’t been hunted by a group of psychos.

  “Penny!” she cried out, running to take her from Campbell’s back.

  Setting her on her feet, Ryanne looked her over, turning her around to check her back, running her hands over her head and cupping her face in her hands so she could check for any bites or scratches.

  “She’s okay. Found her hiding in a bush,” Campbell said.

  Ryanne’s wide eyes narrowed as she looked down at her baby sister. “I told you to run for the car. You were supposed to get in and lock the doors and wait for me.”

  “I didn’t want to leave you,” Penny said in her little high-pitched voice. “There were too many guys. I didn’t want them to hurt you.”

  “What did you think you were going to do to help, Penny? You know I can turn into a big cat. You can’t. You can’t fight them. You can’t outrun them. I can.”

  Penny’s bottom lip quivered and tears filled her eyes.

  “Shit,” Ryanne breathed out, pulling Penny to her stomach and squeezing her tight. The tiny five-year-old was so frail in her arms.

  What if someone had found her? What if they’d bit her? At her age, there was no way she’d survive her first Shift.

  “You ready to go home?” she asked, pulling Penny away to look into her tear-streaked face. Penny nodded with a sniffle.

  “Where’s your car?” Daxon asked, moving closer.

  Unfortunately, it was up the hill and about a mile or so away. “Up there,” Ryanne said, jerking her head in the direction where she had parked when they found the spot where they wanted to camp for the night.

  “We’ll give you a ride,” one of the guys said. “I’m Mason.”

  “Ryanne. This is Penny,” she said.

  “I’m Aron. That’s Brax and his mate Campbell. And you’ve already met Daxon.”

  “I’ve already done the introductions,” Daxon said.

  She had already met Daxon. And was fighting the urge to move into his side and let him hold her. She wouldn’t show it in front of these people, and especially not Penny, but that had shaken her to her core. The fear for her own safety was awful, but the terror she felt at the possibility of the rogues finding Penny was more than she’d felt in her entire life.

  “Can we go with them?” Penny asked, still clinging to Ryanne.

  Looking down into her baby sister’s face, Ryanne forced a smile. “Yeah. We can go with them.”

  Honestly, Ryanne would rather not. But the thought there may be more like the assholes whom she assumed were all dead out there made her never want to leave her house again.

  The guy, Mason, climbed into the driver’s seat, while Aron climbed into the front and everyone else piled into the back. Daxon held the door open, waiting for her to get in.

  “I’ll sit by the door. I, uh, get car sick.” She really didn’t want to be trapped between these massive people in case they ended up being not so good after all.

  Daxon tilted his head and studied her a second. His eyes dropped to Penny, and Ryanne was tempted to push her behind her own body to hide her from Daxon’s attention.

  “Okay,” he said. He climbed in and pulled the seat belt across his chest.

  For some reason, Ryanne had assumed he would argue with her or fight her to sit between them.

  The problem now was Penny would be between Daxon’s big body and Ryanne’s. She was still small enough to require a booster and Ryanne
didn’t feel comfortable having her sitting against the door. So, she pulled the seat belt over Penny and clicked it into place before climbing in beside her.

  Mason turned the SUV around and aimed it toward the entrance to the side road Ryanne had taken for their camping trip.

  “Were those rogues?” the small woman, Charlie, asked from behind Ryanne.

  “Seemed that way,” Aron said, glancing over his shoulder to answer her.

  “I thought we took care of them,” Charlie said. She leaned forward and rested her forearms on the back of Ryanne’s seat, acting as if she weren’t intruding on the personal space of a complete stranger.

  “Your boy stopped chasing after the asshole who ran when you got shot,” Brax said from beside Campbell.

  Ryanne whirled in her seat and stared wide-eyed at Charlie. “You were shot?”

  “Long story,” she said with a shy smile and a shrug.

  “Are you okay?” Ryanne asked, turning even more in her seat.

  “Oh, that was months ago. Back in November. I’m totally fine now. Thanks for asking.” She smiled genuinely at Ryanne.

  The guys might end up being the enemy, but there was no way Charlie had a bad bone in her body. Ryanne was generally a good judge of character.

  Which was probably why she had such a hard time keeping her eyes from Daxon even when she felt his on her face.

  Her car was where she’d left it when Ryanne and Penny grabbed their gear and hiked to their camping spot.

  “I have to gather up my stuff. Thank you for helping us. And giving us a ride.”

  She helped Penny from the seat and took her hand. Turning to swing the door shut, she stopped short when she spotted Daxon’s hand reaching out.

  “I don’t think you should go out there alone.”

  His voice was so deep and moved through her like honey. He was nothing like the men she had been attracted to in the past. He had tattoos peeking from the long sleeve of his shirt and down his hands. There were even some on his neck. And his ears sported quite a few earrings. Not to mention his shoulder length hair.