“I might know where we can find them,” Natalie told him. “I got one of the lions we didn’t know to tell me what pride they came from. He said they were from the Anastas pride. Are you familiar with them?”
Natalie waited for Kyle to respond. She could tell he was thinking, so she waited patiently. “I know I have heard that name before,” Kyle told her after a few moments. “Let’s go talk to my mom. I am sure she will be able to tell us something.”
“I would like to stay here and make sure everyone is alright,” Natalie told Kyle. “Even if they aren’t hurt, I am sure that they will all have questions, so I don’t think I should leave the mansion right now.”
“I think you’re right,” Kyle agreed. “I’m going to take Craig with me, and we will get back as soon as we can.”
Kyle left to get his brother and see what his mom could tell them about this new mystery werelion pride. Natalie made her way downstairs to check on everyone who had been in the mansion during the attack. She had no idea who all had been there because things had been too crazy, but she knew that they were going to have questions, and she just hoped that she would be able to answer them soon.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Kyle
Kyle ran downstairs to find his brother. Craig was down in the main room pacing, and Kyle could practically feel the anger pouring off of him. He couldn’t blame Craig because he was livid, too. Cain and his mystery pride members had come after their people, and even more infuriatingly, they had come after his mate. He was going to find Cain and take his head. There was no way that Kyle was going to let Cain live after he’d gone after Natalie.
“Craig,” Kyle called his brother’s name, trying to get him to stop pacing and pay attention. When Craig turned around to face him, Kyle saw that his face was covered in blood. Craig had clearly fought hard in this battle, and Kyle was sure that his brother was going to be just as set on taking out the assholes out who had attacked them. “We are going to see Mom. Natalie was able to get the name of the other lions’ pride from one of them, and I am sure Mom will be able to help us with who they are and where to find them.”
“Let’s go,” Craig said, and he took off for the door.
They both shifted and took off to their mom’s, wanting to get there as fast as they could. When they burst through the door, their mom came running to find out what was going on, and they both shifted back to their human forms.
“What are you boys doing?” she scolded them with her hands planted on her hips. “Trying to give your mother a heart attack or something?”
“The mansion was attacked, and we need your help,” Craig told her.
“What the hell are the two of you doing here if the pride leader’s mansion is being attacked? Let’s go.” She started walking quickly for the door, but Kyle lightly grabbed her arm to stop her.
“They are gone for now, Mom,” Kyle told her. “We were hoping that you could help us out with some information.”
“What do you need to know?” she asked them.
“Natalie was able to question one of the lions we didn’t know, and he gave her the name of the pride they came from. It sounded familiar to me, but I couldn’t remember why. He said they were from the Anastas pride. Do you know them or where they might be located?”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” their mother said. “I can’t think of any reason that the Anastas lions would attack our pride. We may not have been actively engaging with them while Jason was around, but they have always been a friendly pride.”
“It wasn’t their whole pride,” Craig told her. “It was about a dozen unknown lions led by three of our own, with Cain Weathers leading them.”
“What the hell is Cain doing with a bunch of outsiders attacking our people and our pride leader?”
Their mom’s tone had changed. Instead of sounding frantic at the idea of joining the fight at the mansion, she now sounded pissed off.
“Cain made it clear that he was pissed no one thought about him when we initially set out to challenge Jason for the leader position,” Kyle told his mother. “My guess is that he’s trying to take the position for himself now, only he is too big of a coward to properly challenge Natalie, so he came in with a sneak attack and brought strangers in to fight his battle for him.”
“That little jackass,” their mother cussed. Considering she never used profanity, it was clear that she was pissed off.
“So, Mom, do you know anything about that pride?” Kyle asked his mom again. He was trying to draw her attention back to the reason behind him and Craig coming here. “The Anastas pride?”
“Yes,” she answered. “They’re not far from here. Just about fifty miles to the north. I’m sure that most of the werelions my age or older will remember how to find them. We used to be allies before Jason came in and ruined our pride’s relationship with all others.”
“Can you come back to the mansion with us?” Craig asked her. “I think Natalie wants to go meet with their pride leader.”
“Yeah,” Kyle agreed with a slight nod of his head, “she wants to see if their leader had any knowledge of his people helping Cain in the attack.”
“Of course,” she agreed.
The three of them shifted and took off to the mansion. When they entered the mansion and Cynthia saw the blood and wreckage caused inside of the great home, Kyle heard her gasp in his mind.
“They brought the fight inside?” his mother asked him with her thoughts.
He could hear the disgust in her thoughts. Cynthia believed in tradition, and she would never forgive him or Craig if they ever did any backhanded things like what Cain had done.
“They snuck in while everyone was sleeping and attacked inside of the mansion,” Kyle told her.
“They should be punished for this, Kyle. Such cruelty cannot go without consequences.”
“Trust me, mother. When we find Cain and those left who helped him tonight, they will be taken care of. They are not going to get away with this.” Kyle could feel the anger rising up within him again while talking about Cain and what he had done here in the mansion. He was going to destroy that traitor when they found him. Nobody would ever think about going after his mate again once Kyle was through with Cain.
“You’re back,” Natalie said when she came around the corner. She had a mop in her hand and had clearly been trying to clean up some of the blood that had been spilled.
Kyle, Craig, and their mother shifted back into human form, and Kyle walked up to Natalie and gave her a kiss before he wrapped his arm around her waist possessively and turned back to face his brother and mother.
Cynthia lifted her nose and sniffed in their direction before a wide smile spread across her face. “You two mated!” Kyle’s mother practically shrieked in her excitement.
With everything that had happened since they woke up, Kyle had nearly forgotten that it had only been last night when Natalie and he completed their mating. No one knew about it yet. Natalie looked up at him and smiled when she responded to his mother.
“Yes, we did. We just haven’t had the chance to announce it to the pride yet.” Natalie’s smile fell when she looked around the room at the destruction left behind by Cain’s attack.
“Don’t worry,” Kyle squeezed Natalie trying to comfort her, “we will make time to tell the pride. We won’t let Cain ruin this for us.”
“Kyle’s right, dear,” his mother told Natalie. “Besides, if anyone has smelled your mingled scents, they already know the two of you belong together.”
Natalie cleared her throat. “Thanks. So, I’m guessing since you all came back so fast, you know where we can find the Anastas pride?” she asked Cynthia.
“Yes. It isn’t far. When would you like to go?” Cynthia asked Natalie.
“As much as I would like to leave right now, I think we should give our people some time to rest. Some of them just fought for their lives, and to protect our home, and I think they deserve rest before we head out to visit the other pride.”
Craig spoke up. His lack of witty retorts went to show how angry he was, and Kyle knew that his brother was dying to go after Cain’s head.
“Natalie, I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t think we should wait too long. We don’t want to give him too much time to gather more people and attack again. We need to get in front of him while we have weakened his numbers.”
“Craig makes a good point,” Kyle agreed with his brother.
Natalie nodded. “Alright. We will let everyone rest for a few hours, and then we’ll grab everyone who wants to go and make our way to the Anastas pride.”
Kyle took Natalie by the hand and led her upstairs to bed. They were both quiet while they walked up the steps and into the room. Kyle shut the door and slowly peeled off Natalie’s clothes, then he walked her to the bed and crawled in behind her. He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, and Natalie rested her head on his chest with her arm across his stomach. Kyle bent his head and kissed her hair, letting his lips linger there.
“I love you,” he whispered against her hair.
“I love you, too,” Natalie replied.
“We are going to take care of this problem, and then we can get back to our new lives, together,” Kyle told Natalie.
He was trying to reassure himself just as much as he was her. Ever since they decided to challenge Jason so Natalie wouldn’t be forced to mate such a horrible pride leader, they had faced challenge after challenge. He prayed that this situation with Cain would be dealt with soon and they would finally be able to relax and just enjoyed their lives as a newly mated couple.
He felt Natalie’s head move slightly on his chest when she nodded in agreement. “I sure hope so. Our pride has been through a lot in such a short period of time. Jason might have been a jerk, but it feels like our people have had to fight constantly since we decided to challenge him. Things were supposed to get better once he was gone, and here we are basically engaged in the first war our pride has seen in decades.”
“You can’t think that way,” Kyle told her. He wrapped his arms around her a little tighter. “We cannot predict what future we would have had if Jason remained our pride leader, but I doubt it is one anybody would want to bring back. None of what happened here today was our fault. Cain is a selfish piece of work, and I have a feeling that this little ambush is something he was thinking about long before we challenged Jason.”
Natalie lifted her head to look him in the eye. “You think so?”
“Yes. I doubt he could have organized it so quickly.”
“That makes sense,” Natalie agreed. She laid her head back down, and he ran his fingers through her hair.
“Now, get some rest,” he told her.
She released a breath and snuggled closer to him. Kyle held her tight and tried to let his own mind settle down to rest. He had a feeling that they were going to need it. He worried that the Anastas pride was aware of Cain’s plan and that their involvement was deeper than the few werelions who had come to the mansion to attack them. It was too big of an act for their pride leader to be oblivious. Kyle worried that Cain had made some kind of deal with the other pride that involved them helping him get rid of Natalie and taking her place as leader here. Kyle eventually drifted into a restless sleep, praying that he was wrong and that everything would work out when they awoke.
CHAPTER NINE
Kyle
Kyle was getting shaken, and when he opened his eyes, Natalie stood over him fully dressed. “Honey, wake up.”
Kyle jumped up and out of the bed with his guard up and ready to fight. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Natalie ran her hand down his arm and laced her fingers with his. “No, nothing happened. It’s just been several hours. I spoke with Craig and the others, and we think we should head out for the Anastas pride now.”
Kyle looked around the room for the clock and realized they had slept a full eight hours, or he had at least. “How long have you been up?” he asked Natalie.
“Not long,” she told him. “Just about thirty minutes.”
Kyle threw on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, and they headed downstairs. Everyone was waiting for them, Craig right up front pacing. When he heard them coming down the stairs, he stopped and looked to them.
“I think we should all be in our lion forms when we head to the other pride’s land. I don’t trust that they are not a part of Cain’s plot against us, so we should be ready to fight in case that need arises.”
Natalie held up her hand to stop Craig before he really began ranting. Craig had taken on the head guard role at the mansion, and he took it seriously. He might be a fun guy under normal circumstances, but anyone who threatened his family and pride was in for a world of hurt.
“I agree with Craig. Not only will we be in a better position to protect ourselves if we need to, but we’ll make the trip much faster.”
Everyone echoed their agreement, and they all made their way outside and shifted to make the journey to visit the Anastas pride. Cynthia, Kyle and Craig’s mother, along with a few others who were familiar with the route, led the way. It wasn’t long before they arrived, and everyone was cautious when they approached the pride’s territory. When they were about halfway inside the pride’s lands, Kyle began hearing the low rumbling of growling lions coming from all around them. Within minutes, they were surrounded. The Anastas lions converged on them and pushed them all together. They were outnumbered, and Kyle knew that if this situation wasn’t handled just right, they could wind up in a fight that he didn’t think they would win.
One of the lions made his way through the pack toward Kyle and Natalie. He was larger than most of the other Anastas lions, and Kyle could tell by the confidence in his stride that he was in charge. When he stopped in front of Kyle and Natalie, his thoughts filled Kyle’s mind.
“What is your business here?”
Kyle looked around, and it was clear the lion had allowed his thoughts to open up to everyone because there were looks of shock on the faces of several of the lions from their pride.
Natalie didn’t waste any time stepping forward. “We are here to speak with your pride leader.”
The lion looked her over, and then he looked back toward Kyle. “You let a woman speak for you? Ha! Our leader would never meet with a lion who allowed his mate to outshine him. That is no way for a leader to properly lead his pride.”
Kyle saw the hairs on the back of Natalie’s neck stand up. This misogynistic asshole was pissing her off, and Kyle was sure that if they weren’t careful, she was going to show them what a female lion was truly capable of.
“I AM THEIR PRIDE LEADER.” Natalie gestured to the lions in their pride when she spoke. Kyle could hear her release a low, rumbling growl, indicating her irritation. “We are from the Cervella pride. We have come to speak with your leader about an attack on our home.”
Kyle saw the other lion’s eyes grow wide for a moment when Natalie said she was the pride leader. Kyle knew that he had to allow Natalie to stand up for herself, and he also knew she was probably the strongest lion here, but as her mate, he wanted to fight all of her battles for her. Seeing how this Anastas lion was looking at her with disdain made it really hard for Kyle to stand back and let Natalie handle things as their pride leader. He wanted to teach the guy some manners, show him that no one talked to his mate that way, but that would only make Natalie look like the incompetent female that this asshole was suggesting she was.
“I’ll escort you to our pride leader. I am sure he would want to see this—a bunch of werelions following a girl.”
After that, a low rumbling growl permeated the air when Kyle and most of the lions from their pride made their displeasure known. Kyle wasn’t able to bite his tongue any longer.
“You are going to watch your tone when you speak to my mate!” Even in his mind, Kyle’s voice was biting. He was on the edge, and he wasn’t going to stand for anyone else disrespecting Natalie.
The Anastas l
ion just stared at Kyle for a minute, and then he laughed and turned around. When the other lions of the Anastas pride turned around and began following their rude mouthpiece, Natalie and Kyle followed with their people close behind them. They were led to a home that looked a lot like a castle. When then entered the home, they were taken into this grand room that had a raised platform that resembled a stage, and at the center of the stage was a huge, elaborate chair. It was golden, and the back of it was probably six feet high on its own. A man Kyle estimated to be in his mid-to-late fifties sat in the chair looking down on all of them when they entered. He didn’t look happy at all to see their pride entering his home and approaching his stage.
“Dave, what that hell is going on?” the man barked. He appeared to be looking at the lion who had taken charge when Kyle and the rest of their pride were surrounded in the middle of their land.
The lion shifted, and a broad, muscular man stood before them. “Raul, these lions seem to think we had something to do with an attack on their pride’s home. Their pride leader wishes to speak with you.”
Kyle saw the slimy-looking grin that spread across the man’s face when he said “their pride leader,” and he had to clamp his jaw shut to keep from ripping the guy’s head off. Clearly, this guy had an issue with women, and especially the idea of women in power.
The man on the throne, who Kyle had surmised was obviously the Anastas pride leader, looked bored when he looked around the room and took in their pride.
“Well, which one is he?” the man asked. His tone suggested that he was already irritated. “Or are you not man enough to shift back out of your lion form and talk with me face to face?”
His tone was extremely condescending, and Kyle got the idea that it wasn’t just the Dave guy who had an issue with women. Maybe that sentiment was ingrained in the pride members from the top down.
Kyle growled under his breath at the leader’s words and tone, and he shifted back to his human form, intent on giving the leader a piece of his mind. However, Natalie shifted faster than him, and within less than a second, she stood at the front of their entire pride, tall and proud, with her eyes narrowed on the Anastas pride leader. “Oh, trust me, I am more than woman enough to face someone like you. I am Natalie Becker, pride leader of the Cervella pride.”
Promised To The Pride Page 7