Claimed by Honor (Bestian Creek Pack Book 1) Read online

  “No, I’m not going to mate you.” He paused. “Tonight.” He smiled again and even gave a chuckle. “I like you though. You may get your chance one day. I see the way you respond to my body, and I can smell your response as well.” Her cheeks became pink and he knew she was embarrassed. That confused him. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I can be blunt at times. I won’t try anything tonight. I promise you that.”

  Anna’s heart was racing, but she knew she would be okay. She needed to calm down and make sure she was ready for what was coming in a few hours. She had no idea what time it was or how long it would before shit hit the fan, again. It had been a strange day for her and she was doing her best to stay calm and focused. She could handle a lot of shit, and this wasn’t going to be what broke her that’s for sure.

  Anna had begun to drift off to sleep when she felt Honors arm reach across her body and tuck in under her side. She’d been the little spoon by default, and it had been a long time since she had shared a bed of any size with a man, let alone a tiny one.

  He had put off so much body heat they didn’t even need the nasty blanket that had been on the bed when she was thrown into the cage, and she had to give him some credit, he knew how to snuggle. For being as big as he was, he didn’t take up a lot of room. She accepted the arm around her without protest and she instantly became calm and comforted by it, she quickly faded off to sleep.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Anna, wake up now.” Honor was whispering in her ear and jostling her for good measure.

  “What is it? What’s going on?” She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands and tried to sit.

  “The fire alarms are going off. It’s time to get out of here.” He hauled her to her feet and made sure she was stable before he released her. “I need you to listen to me very carefully, do you understand?” She looked up at him with tired but determined eyes and quickly nodded her head. “What I’m about to say is going to sound crazy to you right now and you are probably going to want to scream or run from me, please don’t. I would never hurt you so remember that.” Again, with determined eyes she gave a quick nod.

  He wondered how someone who had never known about a shifter before or been in any kind of situation like this could be so calm and collected. “I am a Shifter, and I come from a family of canines. That means I can turn into any form of animal with canine genetics. That includes everything from a wolf to a small domestic dog. To get out of these cuffs and through these narrow bars I have to shift into something very small. I don’t like turning into small animals for a few reasons, the obvious one being that it isn’t my natural shifting form. It takes a lot of energy to shift that small.” He gave a light chuckle. “Please don’t pet me. Even though I have been told I’m very cute. You may not think of me as sexy after this, another reason I hate this part.” He gave her a wink and for some reason he cared a whole hell of a lot about how she viewed him. This was a necessary evil he would have to risk to get her and everyone else out safe.

  He began to shift his body. His bones began to shrink, as his joints made loud distinguished popping noises. He contorted his neck and arms into painful positions, but within a few seconds he was out of the cuffs and instead of the huge muscular man his human form had been, a tiny black Chihuahua stood in front of her.

  He didn’t want to look at her face right now and just needed to get the humiliation over with and get back to the mission. He popped his tiny body through the cage bars. Looking back through them, he saw a wide-eyed Anna staring at his new form, and down she went.

  “Oh damn. There she goes.” Fire murmured from his cage right before he shifted down to a similar form.

  Honor began shifting to his skin and wished he was back on the other side to catch her unconscious body and make sure she didn’t hurt herself on the way down.

  Now completely shifted, he looked over to Cage 5 to see Fire coming up from his small form.

  “One hallway, left, third door. That’s where the keys are.” Fire said. Honor nodded his head in understanding, and they took off towards the doors after giving one last glance to Anna. “She’s going to be okay, Honor. Her head hit the mattress and I think she could use the sleep. She looks like hell.” Fire chuckled and Honor gave his friend a swift but light-hearted punch to the chest.

  He knew damn well what she’d been through. Her rough appearance was easy to look past with her beautiful dark green eyes that complimented his own, and her upturned nose made her look like a snob, but with one word reassured him she had a kind heart. She was so brave and had done everything she could to keep a level head. Right up until she passed out, that is.

  Honor’s dick pulsed. He pulled back his thoughts of Anna and pushed through the double doors, Fire right beside him. They sprinted down the hall to make up time. They passed the twelve solid metal doors in the long hallway, made a left at the end and counted. “One, two, three. There you are, sweetheart.”

  The doors in this section of hallway were all made of wood. He backed up and kicked the storage closet door in. There were shelves on his left but on the back wall there was a metal box, he opened it and there were dozens of keys, all individually labeled. “That was easy enough,” he said with a grin.

  He turned toward the shelves and grabbed a pair of sweats and handed them to Fire. Then, grabbed himself a pair and slid them up over his legs. He slipped the keys to Cage 3 and Cage 5 into the front pocket and headed back to the cave.

  Anna finally came to, but unfortunately passing out didn’t help her forget what she just saw. A man just turned into a dog, a small dog, a very small dog. “Fuck,” she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

  Just then the doors burst open and the boys came barreling through. “We have to hurry. I heard the elevator coming down from the first hallway, we have about two minutes to get our shit together. He unlocked Cage 3 as Fire rounded Cages 3 and 4, getting to his cell and grabbed the unconscious woman still sprawled on the bed.

  “I need you to do everything I ask, don’t scream, and don’t do anything stupid. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.” She said quietly. Be brave or fake it. He turned and left the cage once she gave him a simple smile. Fire came into her field of view carrying the unconscious woman. “Is she alive?”

  “Barely, I looked her over last night while you both were sleeping, she seems to have a head wound near her temple. I smell chemicals on the wound. They attempted to nurse her in some way. Do you know this woman, Anna?” He lowered her lifeless body so Anna could move the woman’s caramel colored hair from her face to get a good look.

  “I don’t know anyone here, unfortunately. I’m here on vacation to get away from the city.” She gave a noticeable shiver. “Look where that got me.”

  Honor put his hand on Anna’s shoulder. “Why did you do that?”

  “Do what?” She looked confused. But moved her hand over his and turned to look at him.

  “You did a weird shiver thing with your body and you got goose-flesh all over.” His hand on her shoulder warmed her inside and his curious gaze met hers then he looked at his hand and quickly removed it.

  “I was just thinking about how if I died here no one would know where I was or what happened to me. I still have a couple days of vacation left and I would just be gone. What if she dies? We don’t even know her name.” She began to cry, and she was so tempted to pull him close to comfort herself. He was warm and showed compassion. But they needed to get out of here and she needed to pull her big girl panties on and get this shit done.

  “I understand.” Honor said and looked down at her. “I promise I will not let you die. I like you. You can stop crying and get your head back on your shoulders. When we get through this and we’re on the other side of those gates you can break down. Until then get your ass in gear.” That pep talk sounded better coming from him.

  “Thanks, I was just telling myself that.” She wiped the wetness from her cheeks with the back of her hand and gave a thumbs up. “I’ll be fine.” She cl
osed her eyes and let herself have one big sigh to calm her nerves, and opened them coldly like she had shut off her emotions. “Let’s go.”

  “Do you have some superpower I don’t know about?” He looked at her in confusion. “You just went completely blank, and you almost don’t smell like anything at all anymore.”

  “Of course not.” She said sharply as if that was the dumbest thing he could have asked. “You’re the one turning into fuckin’ chihuahua’s and shit!” She rolled her eyes, but that didn’t stop him from giving his accusatory gaze.

  He darted his head to the doors. “I hear the guards coming down this hallway. They’re checking prisoners. Stay here behind these doors until they’re taken care of.” She nodded. “You’re going to hear loud noises, please stay in here. No one is going to get to you, I promise.”

  She cleared her mind once again and nodded. She could do this.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Anna walked through the double doors separating the cage area from the hallway of cells. Both guards were laying on the floor, one was Gary, the smoker, and the other she didn’t recognize. She followed the men down the first hallway and down the other two hallways, all identical, until they made sure everything was clear and there were no more guards.

  The noise coming from the people in the cells was getting louder and louder as they watched the group walk past them. Banging and clanking on the metal doors, begging to be out and free.

  “How long have these people been in here?” She asked Honor who she was told to follow closely. “They’re getting wild and loud. Are they criminals? Is it safe if we let them out?” All these seemed like logical questions but that didn’t stop Honor from laughing at her.

  “They’re shifters, Anna. Their animals don’t like being caged up in here. They could go feral, yes, but none of the males down here are. That takes months, and no one has been here that long.” He looked at her and she frowned. She still didn’t like the fact that he laughed at her questions. “I don’t think so at least.”

  “That’s not funny.”

  “You’re going to be fine. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  Once the hallways were clear, elevators and stair entrances jammed, Fire bent down and placed the unconscious woman on the floor softly so she wouldn’t get injured. He was gentle in his motions and Anna could see the care he took with her. She watched Honor as he dug in the metal box that contained all the keys to the doors on this floor. He handed her twelve keys. Anna didn’t count them but decided since there were three hallways and three of them that they all got the same number of doors to unlock. She let herself have another calming sigh and opened her eyes to see Honor looking at her weird.

  “What?” She was startled he was standing so close to her face.

  “Nothing. Listen to me. The beating on the doors and the roars, growls and yelling you hear is all excitement. These men will not hurt you.” He stood up tall and with a voice so loud she had to cover her ears he shouted. “You will not hurt her, will you?”

  “No.” One unison growl sounded from every full cell of her hallway. And all grew quiet.

  Anna was a nervous wreck, but with one command he had made everything better and calm. “Thank you.” She whispered, but she didn’t look at him. It was as though the power he wielded over the men in the cells overpowered herself and she couldn’t look him in the eye.

  A thick feeling hung over her and as he walked off to his hallway it went away, but the banging on the cell doors rang out again. She wasn’t scared anymore. She looked down at her keys and grabbed the first one.

  “B-200.” She grabbed the key and turned the stiff lock, pulled the bar locking the door and it sprang open when the man inside pushed as hard as he could and burst free. It startled her and she fell back and landed on her ass.

  “I am so sorry!” He was handsome, his dark hair and blue eyes made him look like a damn super model with nothing but a pair of white scrub bottoms on. He reached out with his hand to help her up. “I’m Derek. Nice to meet you.” He took her hand, pulled her up to her feet and wrapped his massive arms around her to give her a solid bear hug. He inhaled a soft, smooth breath through his nostrils and smiled. She couldn’t breathe from the stranglehold and patted his shoulder with her palm, a warning of his potential death grip. He quickly released her. “Sorry again!”

  Well, that was weird. “Hi Derek, I’m Anna.” She awkwardly laughed at the situation and wiggled out of his now gentle hold. She cleared her throat. “Do you mind if I give you half the keys and you can start opening doors?”

  “Hell yeah! Let’s get our asses out of here, boys!” He shouted and all the banging, howling, and growling became even louder than it was before.

  “Thanks.” She said sarcastically and gave him an eyebrow lift and a look that could kill.

  “Sorry, my ki.. I mean, we boys get excited.” He smiled at her and took keys B-207 to B-212 and began opening all the doors so no one was missed.

  She did the same, starting at the end of the hallway and they would meet in the middle. One by one she opened cell doors to grateful men who beamed and hugged her so tight her back cracked. She got a thank you from all of them and they all went to where the elevators were and stood there waiting. There were so many of them. All big burly men like Honor and Fire, with chiseled arms and firm physiques like they all worked the same fitness plan. If she had better senses, she would swear she could sense the testosterone in the over crowded hallway.

  Finally, she came to cell B-206 and let her last remaining key slide into the lock and burst free the giant in the cell. She had gotten good at jumping back just in time to get out of the way of the excited men coming to freedom.

  “All done?” Honor and Fire made their way to her as they made sure all the doors were opened.

  “Yep! I used all my keys. Derek?” She looked at him, red tinted stubble grew from his kind face. “Did you open all your doors?”

  “Yep, everyone is out!” He held up his hand for a high five that Anna couldn’t reach so he laughed and clapped his own hand. “You are so tiny, little human.” And put his palm on top of her head and brought it to the middle of his chest to compare the size difference. “We could make it work though.”

  “Uhh… make what work?” She liked Derek, he was funny and could tell he was lighthearted.

  A low growl came from Honor’s chest and he stepped between her and Derek before she could blink, making sure she was out of Derek’s line of sight. “What are you doing?”

  Another growl came from behind Honor, it had to be Derek making that sound too. “Making polite conversation, man. She isn’t claimed by anyone. I checked when she let me out of my cage. I have the same right to her as you do.”

  Right to me? What the hell was going on with these two? She wasn’t a damn kitten they were adopting, or a puppy. That one made her laugh. “I’m not a puppy you call dibs on you know,” she held back her laughter. “That would be y’all.” Her thick southern drawl she usually tried to stifle came out, she was obviously off her game, but both of them smiled at the joke and it killed some of the tension between them.

  “Oh, she’s got dog jokes.” Honor chortled. He moved to the stairwell door and began to address the crowd of men waiting to get out of this hell hole. “I know you are anxious to leave this place.” The crowd roared to life with wild noises. “But we have to go up. We have young children and baby’s upstairs that need our help. They are our top priority.” The hallway nearest the exit to upstairs was packed with huge muscular men and the longer Honor spoke, the more agitated and angrier the sounds they made were. “Our women have been taken, raped, forced to give up their young.” He began to make noises deep in his chest and his teeth began to elongate. “Our seed has been taken from us against our will and we have fathered children we have not been able to see, hold, scent.” The crowd began to shake their heads like they were shaking off a good punch to the face, their teeth began to elongate like Honors had, and they began to
erupt in snarls and growls.

  Anna had to cover her ears as the noise became deafening, but watching Honor give the speech of his life to these men, his men, made her noticeably wet. Get your shit together. Not the time or the place, or the person for that matter. She tried to focus on the noise around instead of the bulging man shouting above the noise of the crowd, wearing nothing but a pair of gray sweats. She felt someone get close to her and start sniffing, and another.

  “You’re aroused.” A stocky man with brown hair huffed. He took another long breath in.

  “Excuse me?” She was obviously baffled and had no idea how he would even know that.

  “Back off.” Honor growled from behind Anna. She was glad he was there because the men standing closest to her were beginning to scare her, with all their sniffing and low, deep rumbling coming from their chests. The air was becoming too thick to breathe again.

  After the men backed off, Honor made his way to the exit and unblocked it. Everyone who could fit was crammed into the stairwell. “The oldest four Demis are with us and have set fire to a sector on the other side of the compound. There shouldn’t be much security with all the distractions, but there should be a few guarding the children and doctors. Keep your eyes up, and ears on.” Grunts and growls filled the area once again and one loud howl bellowed out. It came from Honor. They raced up the stairs and they were gone in an instant. Anna slid down the wall next to the unconscious woman and tried to calm her mind. She lifted the woman’s head into her lap and waited there until it would be safe to move.

  Honor had instructed most the men to clear the lobby, keep it clear, and make a safe path for the children to get to the gate. He took five males with him, more than he needed but they wanted to be as thorough as possible, and they raced to Level 2 while Fire and his team cleared Level 1. One whistle from his friend and he was up the stairs with a ferocity.