Free Freeing the Feline by Lacey Thorn

uttered—not in the very beginning.
    “None of that was her fault,” Clara reminded her. “She’s just as innocent in all of this as you were. You’re wrong about her. You’ve always been wrong about her. Open your eyes, Lydia. I told you, she saved my life. I owe her.”
    “You owe her nothing. If you’d brought her back here like you wanted to, we’d probably all be dead.”
    “Who else is there? Is Gideon there?”
    Gideon had grown up with her dad and Uncle Thomas. He was the one normally in charge when her uncle left.
    “Gideon took Ariel and Griffin to look for Thomas. I need you home now. I don’t care what you have going on. We need you here.”
    “I’ve mated. You know what that means.”
    “I don’t care,” Lydia screeched. “You’re my family. I need you. You have to come back from Colorado, now.”
    Clara stilled and glanced at the phone. “How do you know where I am?”
    “Just a guess,” Lydia said, her voice filled with quiet calm once more. “Come home to me,” she crooned.
    “You’re tracing the call, aren’t you?” Clara asked, a little shocked that Lydia would do such a thing.
    “Come home, Clara.”
    “I am home,” Clara whispered and disconnected the call, cutting off whatever Lydia had been screaming on the other end.
    Nothing made sense. Uncle Thomas was gone and hadn’t checked in? It seemed logical that Gideon would go after her uncle if he’d been gone too long. But Gideon wouldn’t have taken anyone with him. He was very much a lone shifter. He skirted the edges of their makeshift pride, never fully joining. So why would he take Ariel and Griffin with him? Ariel especially. Gideon was all about protecting the females of the pride. He wouldn’t take Ariel with him…unless he thought there was danger.
    Dread filled her. Where was Logan? She really needed Logan right now. God, she needed to leave. She needed to go find her Uncle Thomas or even Gideon at this point. She just needed to find out what the hell was going on. She tried the door and found it unlocked this time. Did Logan leave it that way on purpose? Was he waiting for her to join him in his room? What was she supposed to do? God, she couldn’t focus.
    She shook from the surge of adrenaline coursing through her. There was no way she was going to be able to stay cooped up. She grabbed her ripped shirt from the door and pulled it on backwards so it was opened in the back. She took a deep breath and pushed open the door, then took a tentative step into the hall. When no alarms went off and no one stepped out to stop her, she ventured farther, going to the room she knew was Logan’s. The door was open, but he wasn’t inside. She glanced toward the stairs she knew led to the main level. Where the fuck was her mate? Their connection wasn’t completely formed yet. It would take a little bit longer before she’d be able to sense him and locate him by those feelings. She’d just have to grab one of his shirts and see if she could find him.
    Logan found Reno, Amia, Vic and Tah crowded in the control room. There was no mistaking Clara’s voice as she spoke to someone on the phone. But what phone? He hadn’t taken her his phone yet. Then it clicked in his head. Clara had told him Amia had left her phone in the room when she’d gone up to talk to Clara.
    “You set her up,” he accused Amia, but her face was chalk white and she wasn’t paying attention to him, so he turned to Tah. “What the fuck, man? This is the way we treat mates now?”
    “You’ve mated with her then?” Reno asked, though Logan could see he was keeping an eye on Amia.
    “Yes,” Logan said. “She asked if she could make a phone call, even admitted Amia had left her phone behind. I didn’t think it would be an issue.” Okay, so he hadn’t known she was going to make the call while he was gone. But he trusted her. She’d felt the need to call her uncle now instead of waiting. But that was a woman’s voice on the phone talking to