by Jana Leigh
Argus: Accepting the Challenge
Book Ten
By Jana Leigh
Editing: Kerri Good
Published by JLK
Smashwords Edition
No part of this book may be reproduced, or transmitted in any form, or by any means. Electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
© Copyright 2012 Jana Leigh. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author
From the Author: Thank you to all those who have sent encouraging email and messages.
You can check out my web site: janaleigh.webs.com. Alternatively, contact me on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Jana-Leigh/252352951490534.
Email: [email protected]
The name Jacob was given to me by one of my readers. I have had trouble thinking of good strong names for all of these books. But I felt like taking it a step further, and included her name in the book. So Thank You Seila, enjoy your character!
Prologue
King Argus Leon, the Southern Pride, sat at his desk overlooking his domain and worried. His Pride made the decision he wanted, but he was concerned that he was putting them in a bad position. He had a small Pride, but one he was dedicated to and proud of, moving them was a risk. They were the misfits, the ones no one else wanted because of their pedigree, or lack of. Putting them in direct contact with pure breed shifters could cause problems. Not that he didn’t have plenty of pure breeds, he did. Argus prided himself on the fact that he took any shifter that was a loner, outcast or just plain different; that wanted a family and community to call their own. They had all become accustomed to each other and accepted each other’s differences. Unlike most communities that were selective and only allowed certain breeds, his pride welcomed shifters that asked to join and would follow the laws of his Pride. Generally, feline shifter groups were the worst, cats they were kinda prissy. He heard that Quin and Jaden were accepting of all creatures, however, he had not spoken to them personally to assure himself his Pride would be safe and accepted when he took his place on the New Council.
It had been three months since Ryan, King of the Northern Pride had sent out the call looking for shifters born on the 1st of the month during certain years. Since then he had been distracted. His loyalties split between his destiny as one of the chosen and to the Pride that he had built. Although, he was abandoned as a young cub, this Pride had taken him in and raised him together. His adoptive mother and father were wonderful people. Lena never treated him differently than any of her other children. Even when it became obvious, that he was stronger than her children were. She knew that he would be the leader of the Pride. Lena raised him to be an honest and good leader. His father, who was responsible for setting up the community, had not wanted to be leader even though he was a leopard Alpha. His mother was a cougar and helped him realize his potential. So when he became of age he secured the community by becoming the official leader. Since he was a lion, they became the Southern Pride. None of the members had challenged his strength or authority, happy to just be a part of a Pride. Luckily, at the turn of the century when land was cheap, his parents had purchased hundreds and hundreds of acres. At the time, they only wanted running and hunting grounds. Then in the fifties, oil and natural gas had been discovered there. So the Pride never needed to worry about money.
With some of the members of his Pride being mixed breeds or hybrids, and thus outcasts from most of the pure bred Packs, Prides, and Dens he felt he had to protect them, his Pride, and his responsibility. When he looked at the list of members of his Pride, he thought of John and Dana, a wolf and a cougar who had a child that when shifted it looked like a dog, with a cat’s coat and whiskers, and then there was Georgie, a bear and cheetah combination which was hard to describe. They had suffered in the past with ridicule and shunning, he vowed he would not allow that to happen again. He just needed to remember that he’d addressed the Pride and explained all about the New Council and him being one of the Chosen. He laid out his concerns and then put it to a vote. Damn, he was proud of his Pride, they had supported him unanimously. Suddenly he sat up in his chair. Mom would be ashamed of me if she saw me hemmin’ and hawin’ like this, he thought. Come on Argus, grow a pair! If any shifter dares hurt my people, I’ll just maul ‘em a little til they see things my way!
The Southern Pride was just outside Dallas in wide open country. They called it a gated community, but it was really his Pride. They had walls and gates put up years ago to keep the humans out. When they wanted to run, they did not want to fear being seen. People probably would think it was a Zoo in here if they saw them shift. There were so many different shifters in his Pride; they could probably fill a Zoo. Argus chuckled as he looked out the window and saw his newest Pride members eating leaves from the top of the trees surrounding the lake. Yes sir, his pride had the only North American shifter giraffes as part of their pride. In the wild, they might be considered prey, in the Pride they were Daniel and Asha a couple of retired runway models from New York. Their humans preferred the U.S.to Africa and having heard of his Pride through the shifter grapevine, asked to join so they could settle in and start a family. He was happy to have them. The best way to make peace between groups was to let the children grow up together. Children knew how to play, and make friends, they accepted everyone
Argus sat back and thought about his childhood. If it had not been for his best friend, Jacob, he probably would have gone down the wrong road. Jacobs mother Seila always said that Jacob was his conscience; Seila was best friends with Lena which made things worse. She loved to tease them about being together all the time. Where one was the other was certain to be close by. Just recently, both women decided it was time that their fun loving sons needed to settle down. It had gotten to the point where he was avoiding Sunday dinner, so was Jacob. This was a sacrifice, because Lions loved their home cooked meals.
It was only natural that when he became the leader of the Pride that Jacob would be his second. Although Jacob liked to tease that, he could take over at any time, together they were very powerful. He had always had an inner sense of strength that seemed to be more than the other cats showed. Argus was an Alpha lion. So was Jacob, although he had a little cougar in him too. Argus was pure lion, King of the Jungle, and the largest lion on the continent. He knew because he made it his business to know. His Pride meant everything to him, and he was going to make sure that no one would try to take it away. So far, he had not faced many challenges for his Pride, he was not worried, and he knew he would beat any that came.
He admitted he could be a little arrogant, cocky, and sometimes downright annoying, but that was mostly due to Ryan, the King of the Northern Pride. Argus grinned when he thought of the man. He was so easy to tease, and make his face turn red.
Argus turned his thoughts to the many other magical beings in his Pride. He liked having the different shifters and magical people in his Pride. It made him very aware of what was going on around the world with the different groups. Hell, the New Council leader probably had no idea how many different shifters there actually were out there. He did, because he had compiled a special book. One that listed all the groups around the world, shifters and magical people included. No one knew about his list but Jacob. Together they had
made it and protected it.
He stared at the message from the New Council again and then leaned back and laid his head against the back of the chair. Argus had Jacob send off the message they were bringing someone to Colorado. He was sure the leader of the Northern Pride had been pissed that he had waited for so long. But Argus had to think and consider all sides.
Argus knew what this meant and he also knew who and what he was. He had known right from the beginning when the New Council started. At the time, he had no desire to leave his nice safe comfortable home. Argus was not real good with change. Jacob also knew, they had talked about it extensively. That was another thing. Jacob. Argus knew the man was his mate, hell he had known since they were teens but he had not acted on it. Neither of them had. They decided to wait until they found their other mate. It was becoming increasingly difficult to wait though. Jacob and Argus had made a pact when they discovered they were mates. They knew the facts, that one mate was still missing, so they never took a woman on their own. Argus smiled at the memories that he had of them sharing a woman. They had never made love to a woman before; it was only sex, when they found their mate things would be different.
When they told their parents for the first time Argus had been worried. After all, they were not his natural parents or family. What if they thought he was a deviant? He laughed to himself at the stress he had gone through over that. Seila and Lena had laughed and said, “We’ve known for years.” Then proceed to tell them how to treat a woman so she felt loved and cherished. Argus had scoffed. Their mate would be strong enough to not need pampering, he thought.
Argus and Jacob talked about their mating a lot, how they would handle each other and a female together sexually; even had a few heavy petting times, but they had not consummated it. The reason was because of his destiny. His adoptive mother had sat him down when he was a teen. She explained that although he was abandoned she knew that he was one of the Chosen. The note that had been left with him had explained it all; she kept it from him until then because she was not sure how to handle it, or if Argus could handle it.
When she saw how strong he was physically and mentally, she explained the whole thing to him about the Prophesy and what the Seer from the Old Council had foretold. Argus thought it was a bunch of hogwash at first. Then he did his own research into the New Council members that seemed to be popping up every day. He knew it was selfish to remain hidden, but he wanted to make sure his Pride was going to go along with everything that would happen. He knew that he would have to leave and join the New Council. It sucked that he would have to do this, but he would not leave his people. They were either all coming with him or he would not go. After much deliberation, Argus and Jacob had silently bought a huge amount of acres by the small town. The Council had bought up most of them already, but Argus beat them to the punch on the Eastern side of town.
It was big enough for them to establish a small community for their Pride. Argus and his Pride had voted last week. Argus believed in his members having a choice. He ultimately made the decision, but he allowed them to all speak their peace about what was happening. The small town of Milliken was growing, although the humans had no clue. The New Council had made a gated community and the shifters and other magical people that had moved to be part of the New Council Pack, had made sure that they built houses in the country away from prying eyes.
His land was also well away from prying eyes; he was happy with his Prides purchase and had already sent people out to begin building. They estimated the whole Pride could be there by the end of the year. Of course, he was going to have to tell Quin at some point. Argus had been told by Ryan, that he would like the Alpha Quin, they were alike in many ways; his mate Jaden was also a force to be reckoned with, but Jaden was a little more approachable. He had heard stories about the female Alpha. She was full of piss and vinegar according to the grape vine. No one crossed her, or the other females of the New Council. They had bonded together on a few occasions and it had been downright scary the things he’d heard they’d come up with.
Argus pulled out the book he had recorded everything in and read it over again.
Quin, Jaden and Cami made up the tri-mate Alpha’s. Quin was born on January 1st of the first year of the prophecy and thus been assigned the position, this first chosen one had been born earlier than the rest to by mature enough to handle the position of Alpha and head of the New Council. He took his position seriously, which Argus liked. Since the man had been in control of the New Council good things had begun to happen. Argus knew that they had moved from Denver to Milliken Colorado, and the Pack had prospered there. In fact, a lot of shifters had decided to join the New Council Pack for support against the Rogues.
According to the Seer, the only child born on the first day of the month in certain years was a gift from the Gods. The children were all special, deemed the Chosen. Each of them had a special calling or destiny. Together, with their tri-mates they made up the New Council of shifters that would bring the magical community out of hiding, and let the human world know they existed.
Argus was all for that. He thought the humans would be able to benefit from the shifters just as they would benefit from not having to hide their true nature. There were some who disagreed. None in his Pride, they all agreed that they would prosper if they could live in the open. Argus knew that someone had started a group of Rogues who opposed the coming out. They had been causing a lot of problems over the last year. Again, another reason he had not come out to the New Council. He had to protect his Pride. But the time was coming that he would be unable to hide from his destiny.
Things were almost in place. He looked down at the list again and thought about the Chosen named Josephine. She was the White Wolf of the Pack, rare and unusual. She could feel the emotions and well being of everyone pledged to the New Council Pack. He shivered and wondered if she could feel him yet. He had made his decision, and in a way, it was pledging to the Pack. Her mate Tey was a huge man, and very protective of his wife. He smiled when he thought about the one time that he had seen him. It had been before all of this New Council shit had happened. Argus wondered if the man would remember. They had met in a bar. Tey had been traveling for his Pack on official business. They had tied one on that night, and then ended up being thrown out of the bar because they defended a woman who was being harassed.
Blaine and his mates were the Seers of the group. According to his sources, Kira and Dalton completed the bond with Blaine to allow his gift to become more powerful. He had also heard that as of yet that although Blaine claimed his mates, they had not claimed him. He said that he was waiting for a sign from the Gods. Argus shook his head. Seers were strange people, he thought. If they found their mate, Jacob and Argus had vowed not to wait to claim her and each other.
That was what they were waiting for. Their mate, the one that would complete them. Jacob and Argus had decided that when they had read in the Prophesy that all the Chosen except Jo, would have a tri mate bond. Argus did not know a lot about the Prophesy, but it did say that they would have a child and that child would be the gift they needed, to fulfill their destiny. He could not wait for the day when they found their mate. She had to be a cute lion. How about, sometimes it seemed like they’d sniffed every neck in a fifty mile radius. He was getting tired of people asking him if he needed a Kleenex Jacob had been frustrated, he had told his friend he needed to have patience, although he was quickly losing his.
The Chosen born in the next month, April had not been found yet. That Chosen one and his or her mates will be the liaisons between the humans and the Were. They will travel all over the world promoting the harmony needed for both races to coexist. There were more shifters than just the Werewolves, and making the decision to come out into the open was going to be difficult. All shifter communities needed to be involved in planning the Revelation. Argus knew that this person would be working with him closely, because he was the child of December and the liaison for all the shifter and magical comm
unities. Together they would sort through any issues or complaints from each group.
The next Chosen was the only human. She was the historian of the Council. Her name was Jordan and she had mated with two jaguars named Romy and Larkin. He knew them; they were quiet men, kinda book wormy. They ran a bookstore in the Northern Pride. He always thought they were good cats, loyal. They must have been for Ryan and Ariel to follow them to Milliken. He did not know the whole story there but he was interested in hearing it. If he moved his Pride and Ryan moved his also, there could be territory problems. Cats were funny creatures. That is why they divided the United States in four quarters, so they would not have any territory issues. Argus had someone looking into what Ryan and his mate were planning, but since he heard the latest news about Blaze, he was almost certain that they would be staying.
The twins were next. Casey and her mates plus Reggie, and his Ruby and Levi. Casey and Reggie were the financial wizards of the New Council. Argus looked into their investments and handling of money and had been impressed. The Alpha did not hide anything about his Council, which is what impressed him the most. He wanted all of his members to know where they stood. But the New Council Pack was flourishing under the twins hands. They had doubled their money in a short time with sound investments. It was impressive.