“I have yet to get on her ass.” Kane smiled tightly. “And when I do, you won’t be invited to watch. Unlike your other brother, I’m not exactly into an audience nor do I need any help.”
Tanner’s sexual practices were getting out of hand, but no more so than Kane’s libido was. If he didn’t get Sherra into a bed fast, he was going to go certifiably insane.
“This isn’t about Tanner,” Taber reminded him furiously. “It’s about Sherra. And I’m warning you…”
“Don’t make that f**king mistake.” Kane’s voice lowered dangerously. “Don’t even attempt to warn me of shit, Taber, because that’s where we’ll fight. She’s my woman, my mate, my business. Stick to your own and stay the hell out of mine.”
“You’re killing her.” The growl was becoming deeper, harsher. “I won’t let you continue this, Kane.”
“I dare you to stop me,” Kane sneered. “I’ll kick your cat ass all over this kitchen, Taber, if you even try.”
“All right, children, break it the hell up.” Roni stood in the doorway, her hands propped on her curvaceous hips, her blue eyes snapping with anger as she glanced at her mate. “What the hell is wrong with you two? This is not the time for this.”
“Roni, this doesn’t concern you,” Taber warned softly as Kane shook his head, his hand rising until he could pinch the bridge of his nose irritably.
“Lord save me,” he muttered. “Is the moon phase in the wrong f**king place or something? Some kind of weird Feline male PMS?” he asked Taber confrontationally. “Man, mating has not chilled your ass out any.”
He was pushing the other man and Kane knew it. He knew it and refused to back down from it. He was sick of the growling, the snarling and the resentful looks he was given, more often than not, from the other man.
“Taber!” Roni was nearly screaming as she grabbed her mate’s arm a second before he jumped for Kane.
Kane let a slow, cold smile shape his lips.
“Let him go, Roni. I’ll deliver his pelt later.”
“Damn you, Kane, shut the hell up,” Roni yelled as Callan, Merc, Tanner and several others rushed through the other side of the kitchen, coming to a surprised stop at the scene that awaited them.
“What the hell is going on here?” Callan asked softly, his voice rumbling, his amber gaze less than pleased.
“Hey, Garfield, your brother here figures he can order me back from my mate since he’s a happy little
purr-boy with his own. Perhaps you should advise him otherwise.” Kane leaned his hip against the island counter, though he watched the furious panther carefully. “I simply let him know he could kiss my damned ass to hell and back because it’s not going to f**king happen.” He directed his less than polite comments to the growling panther in question.
Roni had placed her body in front of her mate’s, a death grip on his arms now.
“Callan, do something.” She turned to the Pride leader at her mate’s low order to release him immediately.
Kane watched his brother-in-law from the corner of his eye, saw the strain in the other man’s face, the indecision. Tanner shook his head and mumbled something beneath his breath that had Callan glancing at him sharply.
“Kane, let it go,” he finally said meaningfully. “Just walk away, man. For all of us.”
There was weary resignation in Callan’s voice, a sense of sadness that had Kane’s own instincts kicking into overdrive.
“Why?” Kane asked him softly. “I won’t let her go, Callan, any more than you’ll ever let Merinus go…”
“Callan didn’t destroy Merinus,” Taber fumed with primal fury. “I won’t watch you rip her apart again, Kane. Get the hell out of here and off the compound until this eases for her. Now, before they have to carry you out.”
Kane bared his own teeth now. “You better hold him tight, Roni,” he told her softly. “Because I just may have to teach your little kitty some manners.”
Kane couldn’t understand his own sense of rage any more than he understood Taber’s, but it was impossible to miss the murder in the man’s eyes when he set his wife aside and rushed him. Pivoting, Kane moved immediately to meet him when the others jumped between them. Tanner and Merc grabbed Taber, restraining him as Roni’s voice raised in alarm and Callan stepped in front of Kane.
“Enough.” There was no anger in Callan’s voice, no resentment. He watched Kane compassionately instead. “Bloodshed won’t fix this, Kane. Fighting won’t fix it.”
“She’s mine,” Kane snapped.
“And for this reason, I’ve stood aside, just as Tanner and Dawn have stood aside as we’ve watched Sherra suffer since you’ve come here,” he said just quietly. “For Taber, the battle is harder. You see, it was Taber who found her lying in her own blood as she miscarried. It was Taber who heard her tears, what may have been her dying words had he not acted as quickly as he did. It was Taber, Kane, that she begged to allow her to die because she could not face life without you or your child. And it was Taber who swore vengeance for her. You can’t erase eleven years of pain, fury and hatred merely because it was a misunderstanding.”
Kane stared at him in shock before his eyes swung to the piercing, furious gaze Taber had leveled on him. His hands clenched and unclenched, his jaw bunching with his own agony.