Freeing her cheetah embr.., p.1
Freeing Her Cheetah: Embracing The Bond, page 1
Freeing Her Cheetah
Embracing the Bond Series
T. D. Edwards
T. D. Edwards
Freeing Her Cheetah
Copyright © 2024 T. D. Edwards
Published by T. D. Edwards in USA
authortdedwards.com
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover Art: Rebecca Frank
Editor: Megan Records
Formatted by: Elisabeth Garner
Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Note From the Author
1. Chapter One
2. Chapter Two
3. Chapter Three
4. Chapter Four
5. Chapter Five
6. Chapter Six
7. Chapter Seven
8. Chapter Eight
9. Chapter Nine
10. Chapter Ten
11. Chapter Eleven
12. Chapter Twelve
13. Chapter Thirteen
14. Chapter Fourteen
15. Chapter Fifteen
16. Chapter Sixteen
17. Chapter Seventeen
18. Chapter Eighteen
19. Chapter Nineteen
20. Chapter Twenty
21. Chapter Twenty-One
22. Chapter Twenty-Two
23. Chapter Twenty-Three
24. Chapter Twenty-Four
25. Chapter Twenty-Five
26. Chapter Twenty-Six
27. Chapter Twenty-Seven
28. Chapter Twenty-Eight
29. Chapter Twenty-Nine
30. Epilogue
Afterword
Also By
About the Author
Dedication
To my readers, thank you for visiting my world and for your love and dedication to my books and the characters within them.
Acknowledgements
To all the authors who inspire me with their dedication, passion, hard work, and kindness. Kimberly M. Ringer, T. S. Tappin, Sarren Scribner, Elisabeth Garner, and all of the HypeGirlSquad. The amount of support, love, and humor you share with everyone is beautiful. Thank you for your friendship and for including me in your ranks.
Note From the Author
Freeing Her Cheetah is the sixth book in the Embracing The Bond Series, a stand-alone, cheetah shifter, steamy, paranormal romance. A guaranteed HEA where the female character ends up with her forever mate.
Note: Due to explicit language, graphic sexual scenes, and violence, this book is intended for mature (18 years +) readers.
This book contains discussions of stalking, suicide, sexual assault, rape, drug addiction, the death of parents, and homelessness. It also contains forced captivity, violence, stalking, torture, the use of knives, and light BDSM elements such as praise, light spanking, and the use of cuffs.
Chapter One
Saylor
The fingertips of fear slowly pad up my neck.
I pause a second as I hold the pot of coffee over the customer’s cup before filling it up. I keep my smile in place, nodding my head as they thank me. I move on, never looking over my shoulder to where I know they are sitting.
They tried to mask their sick scent with cologne, as if that would hide them; I know their smell. There is a reason they haven’t caught me yet.
I laugh at the sweet older man who cracks a joke. He comes every day and sits in the same booth. He orders a bowl of oatmeal and coffee, no matter the time of day. He lectures me on a healthy diet every time. His wife died years ago, and now he sits here for hours, enjoying the noise of the diner.
I check my other full table, filling cups, still smiling, as if there isn’t a predator at my back.
I take an order and move towards the kitchen, picking up stray napkins and silverware. Ever so slowly, the kitchen comes closer. I walk through the swinging doors, hoping they don’t know my routine. I usually never go into the back to give the orders.
Today will be different.
“Sally, we have a live one,” I yell.
Sally knows the code word.
“Damn, girl. You don’t have to yell. Be patient.” Sally grabs the pen and paper she always keeps in her apron; turning her back on the open window that shows the tables in the diner, she starts writing. “Get some water. Have a seat for a minute, and I’ll get the next order to you as quickly as possible,” she shouts.
“Are they here?” she writes.
“Yes.”
“It was nice knowing you. You know the plan. You have very little time.” She nudges the paper back to me.
“I don’t want them to hurt you,” I write, worried for her.
“Don’t worry. I’ll burn the note. I’m a rabbit. Everyone knows we are crazy fuckers.” She looks at me with determination and sadness. “Get safe.”
I watch her burn the note on the stove and know I have run out of time.
I walk softly but quickly to the bathroom near the back door. I strip down to my skin, shoving my clothes behind the toilet. I reach up to the top shelf and bring down the sealed bag of new clothes. With shaking hands, I use alcohol wipes to rub down my skin everywhere I can reach and pull on the clothes. It won’t eliminate my scent, but it will camouflage it enough that I won’t leave a trail out the back door. Leaving the clothes behind that have soaked up my scent all day will distract them enough.
I hear Sally talking to me in the kitchen as if I’m sitting in front of her.
I don’t look back at her as I slip out of the bathroom and silently open the back door. I swallow thickly when I don’t sense or smell any shifter. Moving fast, I tie up my hair and add the baseball hat, pulling it low on my forehead.
I take a deep breath and run.
I run fast.
I run as if someone is trying to kill me.
I run as if someone is trying to kidnap me.
I run as if my whole life is at stake.
I run as if someone is trying to control me.
Because it’s all true.
I have to run four miles until I get to the car that Sally left for me. There is an envelope full of money and a backpack full of clothes. I have to get as far as I can from this little town.
This was the plan.
I distantly hear roaring behind me. However, they are still at the diner, and I’m almost in the car. I pray that they don’t hurt Sally. We made plans to reach out when it is safe to. I hope she is alive when I do. I made sure she knew the risks of helping me. I told her all the sick things they had done and what they might do to her. She agreed anyway. She insisted.
My breath is steady when I reach the car and jerk open the door. I don’t waste time starting it and peeling out of the spot. I speed down the road, never taking my eyes off the pavement in front of me. I don’t dare open the windows to relieve the oppressive heat inside. The men that are after me would be able to smell me.
That sounds weird, right?
The world is filled with shifters, vampires, warlocks, and witches. The men tracking me are cheetahs, like me. I’ve been hiding and running most of my life. I’ve picked up tips and tricks over the years, trying to evade the shifters who want to get to me. I know about the smells that identify shifters versus humans. I know the factors that contribute to how long your scent can linger in an area.
My heartbeat is steady, even though fear courses through me. I have learned to control everything that would give me away. For years, I have practiced keeping it all shoved deep inside. If they knew how they affected me, they would use it against me.
I’m sad to be leaving the small town in my taillights. I lived there for six months—the longest out of all the places. It was quiet. It was peaceful. It was home. The people welcomed me with open arms. They knew me by name—or at least, by the name I gave them. I’ll miss being Beth. Plain, quiet Beth who smiles quietly, talks quietly, and listens to everyone.
Every new place, I have a new name. I make a game out of choosing one. I’m surprised I know my real one anymore.
I dream of the day I can live without fear. A day I can introduce myself as Saylor Spade. I think it’s a killer name. I love it. I sigh. I dread picking another one at the next place I decide is safe, even though I pretend to be excited when I have to choose.
I force myself not to look at the seat beside me.
My mother should be next to me.
I loved her. She was my whole life. She protected me always. She gave up everything to keep me happy and safe. She was my best friend. She was my teacher, my protector, my confidant, and my safe place. She knew how to make everything fun and an adventure. There is a hole in my heart where she used to be. I remember fondly our nights sleeping in the car.
We would stuff our faces with chips and snacks from a vending machine and tell stories while snuggled under our thin blankets. We couldn’t go to the movies, so we would make up our own. She would start with the first scene, and I would pick it up, and back and forth we would go. We would always give it a happy ending—life is already sad and challenging enough.
I always marveled at her ability to make it fun to be running for your life. But I must admit, if she were still with me, I would be smiling instead of frowning.
I do not waver in my concentration. I know exactly how far I can go with a full tank of gas. I know the town where I will dump it and pick up the next car. I know where that car will take me. Rinse and repeat.
This is my life.
I do not know any other way. I have been homeless since the age of five. I am thirty-two. Of course, I don’t remember the early days. I try to so I can have more memories of my mom.
I am thankful he sent his lackeys in first. If he had come in, I wouldn’t have been able to get away. I assume he wanted to be sure it was me before wasting his time coming to a diner in the middle of nowhere to kill or kidnap the wrong girl.
I am a cheetah shifter who has lived her life in a car, on the run from the Alpha of a pack of deadly cheetahs.
They killed my father when I was four. They killed my mother when I was twenty-eight. He now wants me. He wants to force me to mate with him.
I refuse to let him.
I will not let him win.
I will find a way to kill him. I will do what I must to get revenge for my mother and father.
That motherfucker will not get away with what he has done. I want him to think I will run the rest of my life. I want him to think I am weak. I want him to think he’s going to win.
Then I will slit his throat and laugh as I watch the blood drain from his cowardly body.
Chapter Two
Elijah
“Ilove listening to a woman's pleasure, but this is getting ridiculous,” I sigh.
“I don’t think they’re going to stop anytime soon,” Logan says, disinterested.
I roll my eyes toward him. “Doesn’t it bother you?”
“No.”
I am super happy for my friend Laken and his brother Bishop. They found a beautiful mate in Penny. Not long ago, they mated and have been living happily ever since. The problem with this is I live in a cabin on their land. It’s deep in the woods, but it doesn’t matter when my cheetah ears pick up any sound from miles around. So I am forced to listen to two very healthy dragons claim their mate. Over and over again. If a shifter is experienced enough, with enough control, they can dim their sensitive ears. But, fuck, I can’t do it all the time.
I don’t want to hear it, especially since now I think of Penny as a sister. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the reason the dragon’s sister, Saphira, decided to travel for a month. Her brothers built her a little cabin on the other side of their house that she barely moved into before she left. She is also a dragon and has become a good friend. Secretly, I think of her as a sister, too. We text back and forth frequently.
“Are lion's ears less sensitive?” I turn back to Logan with my fingertip in my ear.
“No.”
A little bit about my new lion friend.
Months ago, Logan was rescued from a madman holding shifter games in the woods. He was starved, caged, collared, and hunted for months and months. He was offered a place here in the local wolf pack; Kerian, the Alpha, made an exception. They like to gather all kinds of shifters here, but Logan turned the offer down. Then he disappeared for a while—he doesn’t want to talk about it.
For some reason, I like him. We sit on my porch, drink beer, and I talk. He gives me one or two-word answers—it’s our thing. Maybe that’s why I can tolerate him better than others in my new town.
The world is filled with all kinds of creatures that turn into animals and practice magic. The worst are the vampires—I don’t want to talk about all the reasons why. The vampires here are slowly gaining my trust, but I am still uncomfortable around them.
“I’m going to have to invest in some earplugs,” I sneer, glaring in the direction that the sound of the most recent orgasm is coming from, removing the finger.
“Probably,” Logan says before taking a drink. I don’t miss the slight smirk on his lips.
“What’s up with you today? You are a tad less talkative than usual.” I lift the bottle to my mouth as I study him.
“Just a weird feeling.” He shrugs. “Something’s coming.”
“Ominous,” I mumble. “I welcome it. It’s been way too quiet around here.” Logan raises a brow. “You know what I mean.” I wave a hand. “Besides the orgasm givers over there.”
“You like trouble,” he states.
“Well, yeah,” I spit. “It’s been way too long since I’ve killed someone.”
Logan snorts.
I had to get my hands dirty while helping Laken with the threat toward his mate. I regret nothing. The asshole that I buried in the yard had it coming. I have no issue with protecting those that I consider my family. Plus, I may have some control issues.
I pull my cowboy hat lower over my eyes, slouch back in my seat, stretch my long legs in front of me, and cross my ankles.
I love being a shifter—a cheetah. I’m fast in both forms. I have an excellent sense of smell and, of course, hearing. I can heal fast. While in my cheetah body, not much can take me down. I’m smart and scrappy. I will live a very long time. I can shift in less time than you can blink and have honed my skills every day for thirty-five years. I always want to be prepared for any threat.
I don’t have a ‘real family’ anymore. I gave that up years ago—I was forced to give that up. I chose Laken to be my family; now, he has given me more. I will protect them. I would die for them.
“Have you decided to take the job Quinn offered?” I ask.
“Not yet.”
“It’s not a bad place to be.” Quinn is a bear shifter who owns an investigation company. I started working for him after everything calmed down here. You would think I would find the trouble I was after there, but it can get pretty boring. I mostly follow rich assholes that are cheating on their wives.
“Maybe.” He sits forward, his elbows on his knees. “You really like it there?”
“Once I got past working for a grouchy bear and working with a grouchy, deadly vampire—it’s not half bad.” Bash is the white-haired vampire that was working there before I started. He’s four-hundred years old and is seriously lacking in give-a-fucks. He’s mated and is the son of the king of vampires.
“We’ll see.” He looks at me. “I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a construction business.”
“Really?” I ask with raised eyebrows.
“Just a thought.” He shifts around uncomfortably.
“Hey, I’m all for it. That’s something you are good at?”
“I like to build things. I’m good with wood,” he mutters.
I intentionally pass up the perfect opening for a classic joke. “Do it.” Deep down, I want my new friend to be happy. He has too many shadows in his eyes.
“Maybe,” he repeats, turning back to stare into the woods.
We sit in silence, but it’s not uncomfortable. One thing I have realized with Logan is that he needs it. I can’t imagine what it’s like to live as he was forced to for so long. If it would have been me, I would have gone completely crazy.
“Do you want to shift and chase each other through the woods?” I suggest.
“No.”
“Do you want to shift and beat the shit out of each other in the woods?”
“No.” His lips curve.
“Do you want to go to the bar and pick a fight with a human?”
“Maybe,” he concedes.
“Cool. Let me change.” I stand.
“Why?” Logan frowns.
“Logan, these are my good jeans.” I motion down my body. “I don’t want to get blood on them.”
