Dane (Rise of the Pride, Book 8)

by Theresa Hissong

  “I’m going to clean you, Cole,” she whispered, leaning over to kiss his brow. “You are just starting your change. You have three days of this, but I’ll be with you for all of it.”

  Talon helped Liberty from the truck, but she didn’t need the help. Thanks to her advanced healing, his mate was already back to normal from the surgery to save their cub’s life. She looked as beautiful as she did the day she’d mated him and became his wife by human laws.

  “I’ll get him,” Talon offered. “Go inside and take it easy.”

  “I’m really fine, Talon.” She smiled, taking the diaper bag he handed her from the floorboard.

  “Let me have a moment with my son,” he begged. Liberty chuckled and stepped back as he released the carrier from its spot in the backseat. His son was fast asleep, and he wanted nothing more than to wake him up so he could teach him the ways of being a shifter.

  “Da Da?” a little voice called out from the front porch. His daughter, Ember, stood there with bright, blue eyes. Her hair was in pigtails, but there was a childish wonder in her eyes as Liberty returned to the door to pick up their daughter. “Be Be?”

  “Yes, that’s your baby brother,” Liberty said, kissing her cheek. Their daughter squirmed from her mother’s arms and dropped to the ground. She ran toward Talon and stopped at his side.

  “See!”

  “Let’s get inside and go to Mom and Dad’s room so you can meet him,” Talon offered, running a calming hand over his daughter’s head.

  Liberty held out her hand in a form of encouragement for Ember to follow. As he saw the two most important women in his life standing at the threshold of his home, waiting for them to enter, he looked down at his newborn cub. “We have to take care of them. It’s going to be tough at times, son, but it’s what an alpha does for the ones he loves.”

  As requested, his home was vacant. It was very important he announced the birth of his cub as tradition dictated, but with Cole on day two of his change, they would have a short ceremony that evening as the sun set. Savage and Axel were in charge of setting up the circle for the evening.

  “Don’t fuss yet, little man,” Talon snickered as his cub began to squirm. “Your mama isn’t far away, and she has what you need.”

  Inside the bedroom, they spent the next few hours together as a family. Winter was in charge of the pride in his absence, and he needed the time with his family.

  He climbed on the bed with Ember tucked against his chest. They both watched as Liberty fed the cub, and he only left the room to make food for them all. It was odd having such a quiet home, and peace again in his life.

  Three of the men with the cartel had been taken down by his men, yet one was remaining. As per shifter law, Dane was given the right to kill the man who’d shot Cole, but since Cole was being transformed into a panther, Dane was giving his right over to his mate. The last remaining man was being held in a secret location by the sheriff until Cole was ready to end his life.

  The military wanted to meet with Talon at a later date, but the thought gave him pause. He didn’t want to get into any business with them. He wanted to keep things the way they were. His pride was growing by leaps and bounds. Dane had already requested a home built for him and his two mates. Winter would be overseeing the construction that would start the next day. As fast as his Guardians were finding mates, Talon had made the call early that morning to start building more cabins in the mated section of the pride. The dorms were clearing out, and with the expansion of the pride, he was going to have to look into bringing new members in. He wasn’t quite sold on the idea at the moment, but it was there. He wanted his shifters safe, and with the arrival of more cubs, they were going to need all the protection they could find.

  Dane woke from the latest sedation and blinked to remove the sleep from his eyes. How long had it been since Cole had been shot? He sat up from the couch in the healer’s home and stretched. His hair hung over his eyes, and he pushed away the strands as he saw the healer enter the room.

  “How are you feeling?” Harold asked, then took a seat in the chair to Dane’s left. He didn’t miss the fact that the chair was between Dane and his mate, Cole.

  “Groggy,” he yawned. “How’s Cole, and where is Olivia?”

  “She’s with him,” Harold informed him. “She’s been here the entire time.”

  “Did you sedate her?” Dane growled, knowing that if his mate had gone feral, someone would’ve had to touch her to hold her still. He prayed it was one of the females who’d been with Olivia the entire time.

  “Actually, no.” Harold shook his head, a slight smirk pulling at the corner of his lip. “We thought we were going to have to a few times, but she was in protective female mode. Kind of reminded me of one of our females with their cubs.”

  “She didn’t have any distress?” Dane asked, his eyes going wide at hearing the healer’s words. How had she kept from going insane?

  “She did a few times, but she controlled it,” Harold said in amazement and stood up from his seat. “You have a very strong mate, Dane. Would you like to see both of them? Cole has already turned.”

  “Thank you.” He nodded and rose to his feet.

  Harold left him at the threshold. When he entered the room, Olivia was there, resting her head on the pillow next to Cole’s huge panther. “Damn, he’s huge.”

  “I thought so,” Olivia snickered as she lifted her head. Dane smiled and joined her next to their mate. “He hasn’t woken up yet.”

  “He will,” Dane promised, pulling her up from her seat. He just held her close, using his hand to stroke her hair. The scent of his mate drifted across his nose and he buried it in her long, blonde hair, inhaling deep. She’d been around Cole so much over the last few days, she scented of him, too. “Have you eaten?”

  “Not since early this morning,” she said. “The healer said Cole could be like this for another twenty-four hours.”

  “He could,” Dane nodded in agreement. “We don’t have any way of predicting when a new panther will come out of it, but we do know, he will want to run as soon as Talon arrives to give him blood to bring him into the pride.”

  “Where is Talon?” Olivia wondered.

  “I’m sure Harold is calling him now.” Dane held out his hand for his female mate. Her fingers threaded through his large hand while her free arm wrapped around his waist. The touch of her cheek against his chest made the panther inside him purr.

  “Are you okay?” she whispered and pulled away to look up into his eyes. He saw the amber sparks in her eyes, so he knew she was worried.

  “I’m less agitated than I was on the way here,” he said. “I guess someone told you what happened?”

  “Talon sat me down yesterday and explained everything,” she replied. “I’m just so happy you were there.”

  “Same,” he agreed, remembering the moment the male shot Cole in the chest. He would forever have that image in his mind. No one could’ve prepared him for the amount of desperation and anger he and his beast had felt that night. He wouldn’t wish it on any of his pride brothers or sisters.

  Olivia released his hand, but kept her other arm around his waist as she reached over to run her fingers through the soft fur on the top of the panther’s head. The beast purred in response. That was a great sign. He recognized his mates and, from what they’d seen of others, meant Cole may be coming out of his transition sooner than they thought.

  “He just needs to wake up,” she whispered. “I need him here.”

  “I’m betting he will wake up within the hour,” Dane guessed, hoping to ease her fears.

  The front door to the healer’s clinic and home opened. Talon, Winter, and Nova entered. The couple left the alpha and disappeared down the hallway. His alpha’s powers were working on everyone around him. There was a happiness to the alpha Dane hadn’t seen in two years. Dane knew it was because of the birth of the new cub.

  “Have you had the ceremony yet?” Dane asked as Talon entered the room
.

  “You didn’t miss anything,” he said with a smile. “We’re waiting on your mate to awaken before we reveal our cub.”

  “Does anyone know the sex of the cub yet?” Dane teased, relaxing when Talon took a seat on the other side of the exam table.

  “Not even Nova, and she’s not happy about it,” Talon snickered.

  “Traditions and all that, huh?” Dane laughed when his alpha gave him a lop-sided grin.

  Even with the changes within his own pride, Talon kept many of the traditions of the past. Presenting a cub to the pride was one of them he had stuck to, and Dane respected him for it. Times were changing, and keeping pieces of who they had been in the past made this new transition into the human world a little easier.

  He glanced at his mate, who was still stroking Cole’s ear, wondering what she would look like round with their cub. Did it really matter which man’s seed made the cub? As one mated trio, they would raise and love the cub regardless. The gods had given Dane his desires, and he would repay them by caring for Cole and Olivia with his life.

  “He’s awake!” Olivia cheered.

  “That was quick,” Dane chuckled and leaned over his male mate. The beast blinked several times, stretching his legs as the sleep left his mind.

  “Cole,” Olivia whispered, leaning over to kiss the tip of the panther’s nose. “You’re going to be disoriented, but know it’s okay. Dane had to change you, and you’re like us now.”

  The panther chuffed and nudged her hand with his nose. Olivia giggled and kissed the top of his head. Dane waited until she was done to put his hand on Cole’s panther’s body. He felt the warmth and closed his eyes to send up a prayer to the gods for allowing Cole to be changed. If they’d waited on a human ambulance, Cole would be dead. The thought of him not being there made his panther whine.

  “Cole,” Talon commanded, standing from his seat. “Shift.”

  The panther yowled as his body began to reshape into his human self. His tail receded into his body, his arms and legs reshaped and reformed. The hair on his body disappeared in the blink of an eye, and his canines slid up into his human gums.

  “Fuck,” Cole swore as he sat up naked in the bed.

  “Hey,” Dane said, smiling when Cole’s eyes flashed amber. “It won’t hurt next time.”

  “That’s what I’m hoping for,” Cole joked.

  “Do you remember when I asked Olivia to join my pride?” Talon asked as he came around the edge of the bed to face Cole.

  “She had to take your blood,” Cole answered.

  “Are you willing to accept me as your alpha?” Talon continued, raising his wrist toward his mouth, pausing while he waited to hear Cole’s answer.

  “Yes,” Cole replied and stood on solid legs. “I’m going to shift again when I take your offering, correct?”

  “You will,” Talon replied, smiling. “I’m sure your mates will run alongside you until you are ready to return to your human self.”

  “I’m ready when you are,” Cole admitted, looking over the alpha’s shoulder. He smiled warmly at Dane and gave Olivia a saucy wink. “Let’s do this, because I’m ready to be with the people I love.”

  Talon scored his wrist and recited his oath. Cole accepted and took the alpha’s blood, groaning when his panther began to push at his human skin. Dane knew the alpha’s blood would give the panther a boost of power, even if shifting again so soon would tire him if he had done it on his own.

  Dane shed his clothes as Cole’s body began to change. His male mate locked eyes with him as his panther took over. He didn’t want to look away from Cole in his time, and with Olivia on the left side of his body, he couldn’t hear if she was preparing to shift as well.

  Talon ducked his head and backed out of the room, stopping to open the front door. A nose nudged his side, and he broke the eye contact with Cole to see his other mate, Olivia, sitting on her hind legs, waiting for his signal.

  Cole’s panther turned and lifted his head to the sky and cackled, running off into the night. Dane and Olivia followed behind him, turning for the paths the pride had already cut through the forest behind the alpha’s home.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Once inside the forest, Olivia’s panther huffed as she ran. One mate was in the lead, the other trailing behind. She’d never felt so happy in her life. The two men who’d come into her life a year ago ended up not only saving her life, but became her lovers.

  She’d wondered there for a while if she was wrong to flirt with them both, but in the end, it was set in the stars that she would be mated to them both after she’d been changed into a shifter.

  Her newfound power and acceptance into a family like the Shaw pride was something she didn’t even know she needed until it had happened. Her mother would love it here.

  It was going to take some time for her mother to understand her love for Dane and Cole and the complex relationship they had, but she already knew her mother would accept them. If they loved Olivia and they vowed to protect her, mom would be happy.

  She didn’t even realize where they were, because she’d been daydreaming in her human mind when Dane stopped at the edge of a pond.

  Her human mind hummed when he rose to his feet before her and was naked. His cock stood up hard and thick as he approached. “Both of you, shift.”

  Olivia didn’t need to be told twice. She pushed at the beast, demanding it get the fuck out. It was time for her human side to be with her two mates. The wait for their next time together had been long, but with everything that had happened, she knew this time together would be special. The fact that he wanted them in the woods only made the idea of mating them both that much hotter.

  “Cole, you need to use your mind to push your panther away,” Dane informed him. “You have to think human…tell your beast you are ready to shift.”

  Cole’s panther shook its head, but it wasn’t a denial. The panther began to transform, reshaping itself into the male Olivia loved. As soon as he was human, Cole stood up and walked over to the two of them. There were no scars on his chest from where he’d been shot.

  “Oh god, what is that scent?” Olivia inhaled, scenting the air. She didn’t know if it was due to her new nature, or the fact that there was actually some type of flowering tree or shrub around, but the scent was like an aphrodisiac. Wetness pooled between her legs. An ache like none other blossomed in her belly. She inhaled again and whined.

  “It’s your male’s mating scent,” Dane growled, pulling her to his chest. She didn’t think twice about wrapping her fingers around his cock. The warm, hard flesh jumped with the contact. Cole’s body pressed against her back, and she used her free hand to stroke Cole from behind.

  “One of you needs to touch me,” she hummed and continued a slow stroke to both of their cocks.

  “I’ll touch our mate,” Cole said, his voice deepening. “You kiss her, Dane.”

  “Gladly,” Dane replied, taking her lips in a rush.

  God, his mouth was like heaven…his tongue like velvet. Cole’s hand moved over her hip as he slipped it between her legs. His tongue licked over the side of her neck that still waited for his bite. She wanted him to mount her and make this complete.

  Dane pulled back, giving her a moment to breathe. The naughty smirk on his face told her the old Dane she knew was back. There was a playfulness about his smile; something she hadn’t seen since before Landon went missing.

  “Spread your legs wider for me, mate,” Dane ordered, using his bare foot to tap her ankle. “I’m going to taste you while your other mate prepares you for your mating.”

  “Oh, my,” she purred as he dropped to the ground. The first lap of his tongue was soft and gentle, but the sensations changed as the roughness of his panther’s tongue took over. Cole’s fingers were pumping in and out of her. She could barely hold herself upright, but she didn’t need to worry. Cole wrapped his free hand around her waist and held her back to his chest.

  “Don’t let her come yet,”
Cole warned.

  “Just priming our mate for you,” Dane assured when he pulled back.

  “Mount me,” Olivia panted. Between Dane’s tongue, Cole’s fingers, and the scent they were both giving off, she wouldn’t need their touch to orgasm. It was going to happen on its own.

  “On the ground, Liv,” Cole ordered, slipping his fingers free. Dane stepped back and fell to his knees. His canines were already exposed, and the sight before her made the beast push to the surface. Her eyesight cleared, everything around her coming into full view.

  “I want you to be with us when I mark her, Dane,” Cole growled. “Just as I was with the two of you.”

  “I’m right there with you,” Dane replied, stroking his cock as Olivia’s head was pushed toward the ground. Submitting to the men in her life was simple. It wasn’t shameful what they were doing. No, in fact, it was right. This was her new life, and she was going to accept the love from both of her mates. The panther inside her roared with approval.

  Cole entered her rough and demanding. She pushed against him as he started to thrust. The slide of his cock sent an awareness throughout her body. Oh, the orgasm was close…so close. She never wanted the magical feeling of their matings to end. Would every time be like that?

  Olivia opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Dane’s cock, thick and right in front of her bowed face. She knew she was supposed to be mating with Cole, but the temptation was just too much. “I want you in my mouth, Dane.”

  Cole’s thrusts were hard, but not so forceful she couldn’t lap at Dane’s cock. The male behind her groaned when Dane moved her long hair off the side of her face so Cole could watch what she was doing.

  “I’m going to mark you,” Cole said through clenched canines. “When I am done, you need to finish your other mate.”

  “Gladly,” she hummed around Dane’s cock.