Kailani's Pride (The Cassidy Pride Book 1)

by Sage S Wolf

  I gave a hard shake of my head and neck, breaking her hold and knocking her to the floor and then quickly readied myself for her to come at me again. She didn’t. Instead, she turned her attention to something behind me. I turned my head to see Kailani still standing in the spot I’d left her, mouth agape, eyes wide in shock.

  Leandra took advantage of my attention being on my mate and came at me again. This time managing to sink her teeth into my shoulder, making me roar so loud the walls shook.

  No matter how much it hurt, I couldn’t let her get to Kailani.

  Rearing up on my back legs, I caused the lioness to lose her grip on my shoulder and stumble back. Turning quickly, I grabbed her by the throat and flipped her onto her back. I kept my mouth on her, slowly applying more pressure until finally she submitted and shifted back. Only then did I release her and shift back with a groan. My poor body had taken a beating today.

  I turned my attention back to Kailani. “Are you okay?”

  “Holy shit. You’re a… a freaking lion! Oh my god.” Kailani stuttered, starting to hyperventilate.

  The poor girl was white as a ghost. She must be in shock.

  I rushed over and wrapped her in a hug. “It’s okay, Kailani, just breathe. Slow, deep breathes.” I rocked her side to side, trying to get her to calm down before she passed out. “Breathe in and count to three, breathe out and count to three.”

  “You’re naked.” She said, once her breathing had calmed a bit.

  I chuckled. “That I am.”

  “Is my aunt gonna be okay? Is she dead?”

  I squeezed her a little tighter. I couldn’t help it. “No. She’s just unconscious. Hopefully, she’ll wake up with a clear head and not try to kill us again.”

  Kailani shifted in my arms but didn’t pull away. “Are you gonna get dressed before then?”

  “Yes,” I gave her side a playful squeeze and she squeaked. My mate was ticklish. “I need you to close your eyes before I release you and then I’ll hide inside the doorway while you go grab me some clothes from the truck. If you want to that is. I’m not trying to boss you around.”

  Kailani closed her eyes and pulled away. “I’ll do it, but only cause you stopped my aunt from mauling my face. Let me know when you’re hidden.”

  I stepped inside, grabbing my boots before poking my head around the doorway. “You’re good to go.”

  “K.” I watched Kailani go to the truck and grab me a fresh set of clothes. She ran back. “Here ya go.” She handed me the clothes before turning back around.

  I heard her aunt start to stir. “Kailani?” She called out quietly.

  “Kailani, you should let her know you’re here just don’t come in until I’m dressed.” I didn’t want her to come in while I was still naked.

  “Kailani,” Leandra called out again, a little louder this time.

  “I’m right here, Auntie.” Kailani gasped. “Goddess, she’s naked too, Blake. We need to get her a blanket.”

  I finished tying my boots and then pulled my sweater over my head. “You can come in now,” I told her. “I’m decent.”

  Kailani shot through the front door, going straight to her aunt and looking her over.

  She shot me a dirty look, telling me she’d found some sort of injury. “She’s bleeding.”

  “Hey, I had to hurt her a little to get her lioness to submit to me,” I reminded her. “I’m not sorry I saved her. A stronger alpha would have put her down.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes, Kailani. That’s what we do to shifters that succumb to the madness. It’s what’s best for them at that point. Next time her animal might not submit, and my lion won’t stand for her hurting you or anyone else. I’ll have to put her down.”

  Kailani’s eyes filled with tears. “Don’t talk that way. She’s the only family I have left. I won’t lose her.”

  Leandra placed her hand on Kailani’s arm, making her look down at the older woman. They looked similar, sharing similar facial features and the same color eyes. “He’s right, my girl. Having you here with me was the only thing holding my lioness back.” I grabbed a throw off the back of the couch and covered her with it. “I’ve spent all these years inside my head suppressing my madness as best as I could while trying to function enough to keep you fed and a roof over your head.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me what you were? What I was?” Kailani choked out, stopping to wipe her tears. “I feel like my whole life has been this big lie.”

  Leandra sat up, keeping the throw wrapped around her. “I was going to tell you after your first shift on your sixteenth birthday, but you never shifted. I thought maybe you’d ended up human like your dad. It’s not uncommon for a human and shifter cub to not carry an animal.”

  “While that’s very true, Kailani is a shifter. I can smell her lioness, she’s an omega and I’m not sure how you didn’t scent either of those things yourself,” I held out my hand to help the older lioness up. “Why don’t you go put on some warm clothes while I try to fix this door. We can continue this conversation when it’s not freezing in here.”

  Leandra took my hand and let me pull her to her feet. “I’d appreciate that since you broke the door to begin with.”

  “I can see where Kailani gets her sass.” I laughed, helping Kailani to her feet too. “You got any tools in this house?”

  I think we all knew I wasn’t fixing the door without buying a new one. Until then, I just had to make it so the busted one would shut for the time being.

  "Under the sink in the kitchen,” Kailani pointed toward the doorway at the other side of the room. “I’m gonna go see if my aunt needs any help after your lion beat her up.”

  My lion let out a small growl. “He saved her. I thought I already explained this.”

  Kailani gave me a beautiful smile. She needed to do that more. “I know. I just felt like busting your balls.”

  I chuckled and my lion settled. “Consider them busted.”

  ~12~

  Kailani

  I went to my aunt’s room and knocked on the closed door.

  “Are you okay in there?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.

  Despite my joking with Blake, I was still quite shaken about this whole thing. My aunt and new friend were lion shifters. Friend? Did I see Blake that way now? I was a bit surprised that I did.

  If I ignored the fact that he was a control freak, he seemed like a decent person. He’d helped me get home and helped my aunt stop being a murderous lion. Yea, he was a little weird with the whole mate thing, but he wasn’t being pushy or creepy about it. He was respecting my space and the fact that I didn’t trust him. I wasn’t counting the moment he almost kissed me. We both had gotta caught up in the moment.

  “Did you really come to check on me or are you just trying to get away from that handsome mate of yours?” My aunt's voice startled me from my thoughts.

  “Sweet baby jesus!” I squeaked, grabbing my chest. “I’m gonna die from a heart attack at this rate.”

  My aunt smiled and patted my shoulder. “I think you’ll be fine, Kailani. You’ve always been a strong girl.”

  Blake came down the hallway, his face full of concern. “Everything okay back there?”

  I had to smile at him. His panic face was adorable. “Yep. I’m just a little jumpy right now. You find any tools to fix the front door?”

  “I found a screwdriver and nothing else. We’ll need to go to the hardware store and get another door or at least grab some material to fix this one.” He looked at my aunt. “I’m sorry, by the way. For breaking your door and the whole fight thing.”

  Aunt Leandra reached out and squeezed Blake’s hand. “Don’t worry about it, Cub. I’m glad you were able to get my lioness to back down. She’s been driving me mad for too long. It’s nice to be in control of my thoughts again.” She smiled.

  “And your mate?” Blake asked, his eyes starting to glow.

  Aunt Leandra looked down at the floor. “He’s not dead, h
e just didn’t want me.”

  “Impossible,” Blake growled. “That doesn’t happen with shifters, and you know it. Someone had to have made him leave you and I’m gonna find out who it was, just like I’m going to find out what was done to Kailani to keep her lioness suppressed. We’ll figure this out, ladies. You have my word as alpha and as Kailani’s mate. I will take care of and protect what’s mine.”

  I knew he was serious, but I laughed anyway. “Easy there, Romeo. We’d have accepted your help without all the alpha and mate stuff. We still don’t know if it’s true. I certainly don’t feel like declaring you as mine.”

  “You’ll believe him once your lioness wakes up, Kailani.” Aunt Leandra squeezed my hand.

  I looked between Blake and my aunt. “Guess we’ll have to wait and see,” I wished I had the confidence in all this shifter stuff like they did. “Shall we get to Jack’s before he closes?”

  Aunt Leandra snaked her arm around my waist and pulled me into a side hug. “Yes, we shall, my girl.” She smiled at Blake again. “You ready to fix my door, Alpha?”

  He chuckled and turned, heading toward the front door. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” My heart fluttered when he winked at me over his shoulder.

  “I felt that.” My aunt whispered in my ear as we followed after Blake.

  “You felt nothing but my newly formed heart murmur from all this damn stress.”

  Aunt Leandra huffed out a laugh. “Keep telling yourself that, Kailani Skye.”

  Blake was waiting by the front porch for us. “Either of you ladies want a lift through the mud?”

  Leandra and I looked at each other, silently agreeing to pass on his offer.

  “We’re good, but thanks for offering,” I gave him a thankful smile.

  He smiled back. “I’ll go open the door for you guys then.” Turning away, he squished through the mud and opened both passenger side doors before getting in and starting the Jeep.

  My aunt and I knew the yard well enough to make it to the Jeep with only the bottom and sides of our boots being muddy.

  Once we were all buckled in, I directed Blake to Jack’s hardware while telling my aunt about what Kavik had done to me.

  “I’m gonna skin him one small piece of flesh at a time and then feed him his dick. I never liked him!” She hissed.

  “You’ll have to get in line and take him after I’ve had my turn, Leandra,” Blake growled. “Fuck, I don’t think hearing about that will ever not piss me off.”

  “Both of you need to calm your cats,” I joked and was rewarded with nothing but crickets. “No one found that funny? It’s like saying calm your tits but instead… nevermind,” I rolled my eyes before seeing the turn up ahead to Jack’s. “Turn left up here and make a right at the first stop sign. You won’t be able to miss the hardware store sign.”

  “Since when do you make jokes, Kailani?” Aunt Leandra asked. “You’ve always been a quiet girl at home.”

  “Don’t know,” I shrugged. “I guess it’s my brain trying to help me deal with everything. Let’s be honest, it wasn’t a good joke.”

  “Got that right,” Blake chuckled, and I playfully pushed his shoulder.

  “You shut your face!”

  “Make me.” He stuck his tongue out at me, and I laughed.

  Aunt Leandra patted our shoulders. “You two are gonna be fine. Even if Kailani never frees her lioness.”

  “I think so too.” Blake agreed, flashing me a quick smile before making the left turn.

  “Yea, I might send him Christmas cards after this. We’ll see. I definitely like his mom enough to send her one.”

  Blake pulled into Jack’s parking lot and parked before pinning me with a look that was full of determination and something else. “I will get you to take off that ring, Kailani. Just you wait and see.”

  I touched the ring I’d once again forgot I was wearing. My reminder to keep my heart safe. “You keep telling yourself that, Blake. But for now, why don’t we focus on fixing my aunt’s house. Then we’ll wait for Kavik to get back so I can get my stuff back and kick him in the balls before moving on with my life.”

  “Okay, you can have first dibs on him just because I want to see you do that,” Blake pushed his door open and got out.

  He stopped and opened the back door for my aunt before coming around and opening mine.

  “Thank you,” I said, sliding out. “Try not to break any more doors while we’re here.”

  Blake snorted. “I hope these bad jokes of yours are temporary.”

  “Never know.” I flashed him a smiled as we stepped through the entrance.

  I headed straight to the register, not missing the shock on Jack’s face when he saw me.

  “I thought you were with Kavik?” Jack wasn’t even trying to play nice.

  “Nope. We decided to go our separate ways a couple of days ago and I took a flight back here with my new friend.” I gestured to Blake.

  ~13~

  Blake

  I stepped up to the counter and gave Jack a brief smile. “You got any interior doors for sale?”

  I could smell that he was a shifter. Wolverine in fact. You might think they weren’t much a threat to a big lion like myself, but you were probably thinking of normal-sized ones. This guy shifted into a two-hundred-pound wolverine armed with claws and teeth to fit. He could do some damage.

  Jack started to growl and tried to cover it by clearing his throat. “Maybe. Who you needin it for, lion?”

  Oh, he wanted to play the call out game. Okay. I leaned forward letting my lion come to the front. “Well, wolverine, I’m trying to fix my mate’s front door for her.”

  His eyes darted to Leandra.

  Leandra grinned and shook her head. “Nope.”

  His eyes went to Kailani.

  “Guess that’s me.” One side of Kailani’s mouth tilted up in a smirk.

  His eyes came back to me. “Kailani’s your mate?”

  I pulled Kailani against my side, relieved when she came to me easily. “She is.”

  Jack swallowed hard, his eyes bouncing between us. “And Kavik?”

  “What about him?” I was starting to suspect Jack knew something we didn’t.

  He was beginning to sweat. “Is he still alive?”

  I chuckled. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve never personally met him, so you’ll need to ask Kailani that question.”

  Kailani scowled at Jack. “He was a well-paid asshole the last time I saw him. He might not even be coming back here now that I think about it.” Kailani looked up at me. “Anyway to find out how much Dirk paid Kavik for me?”

  “If he paid you with pride money then we absolutely can find out how much he paid, but I have a feeling he used his family’s money to keep me from finding out what he was up to so I couldn’t stop him.”

  “Look at Jack’s face.” Leandra pointed at him. “He isn’t shocked at all by what he’s hearing.”

  Jack put his hands up in surrender. “I had nothing to do with any of that, I swear. That was all the damn Haywood family. They run this town.”

  I reached out and grabbed the collar of his jacket, pulling him halfway over the counter. “Do you know what they did to my mate to make her not be able to shift?”

  Jack frantically shook his head. “No! I don’t have anything to do with them other than following their rules. I didn’t know she couldn’t shift.”

  Kailani’s hand grabbed my arm, instantly calming my lion. “Put him down, Blake. This is not the way to find information.”

  “Fine.” I released Jack, letting him drop onto the counter with a thud. “Are you gonna tell me if you have a door for us or not?”

  “Yea. I’ve got a few in the back. Follow me.” Jack headed toward the back of the store, keeping a close eye on us as we followed behind him. Once in the back, he pushed open a door that said storage and gestured inside. “Just pick the one you want and leave. I don’t want your money.”

  I grabbed his arm when he turned to walk past
us. “If anyone asks, we were never here. Got it?” Jack nodded. “Good. You can go.”

  As soon as I released his arm, he scurried away.

  “Did you have to be so aggressive with him?” Kailani asked, shooting me a glare as she stepped into the room to examine the doors.

  “Yes, Kailani, when it comes to those I care about. I won’t ever apologize for that.”

  “Stubborn ass,” She whispered. “I think this one will work.” She pointed to the solid wood one with the hole for looking out. The other two doors had windows.

  “Yep. Looks good to me.” Leandra agreed, nodding her head.

  “This one it is then,” I said, going over and lifting the door over my head and carrying it to the front.

  I was half relieved, half disappointed when Kailani didn’t argue over how I was carrying the door.

  Kailani and Leandra got in the Jeep while I loaded the door into the back. I made sure to position it so it wouldn’t bump into Leandra before shutting the back and getting in and starting the engine.

  Leandra placed her hand on my shoulder as we pulled out of the parking lot. “Do you mind making a quick stop before we head home?”

  “We can go wherever you need, Ms. Walker. Just point me where you want me to drive.”

  “I wanna pick up dinner for us at the diner. We’ve all had a long day and I wanna feed you before you fix my door for me. A thank you of sorts from me and Kailani.”

  “Woman,” I chuckled, shaking my head. “I’m the one that broke your door, so there’s no need to thank me for fixing it.” I patted her hand that was still on my shoulder. “How about I pay for dinner as an apology for breaking it?”

  Leandra pulled her hand away with a small laugh. “I can accept that. I don’t know when the last time my lioness fed us. I’m hungry as hell.”

  “Me too,” Kailani admitted, her stomach chose that moment to let out a growl.

  We all laughed.

  “I’ve failed as an alpha if two of my pride are hungry. Show me where this diner is so I can get you both fed.”

  Leandra directed me to the diner that wasn’t far from the hardware store. This town was smaller than the one my pride ran.