The crisp night air hit Hope in the face as all of the Guardians surrounded them, keeping a safe distance, but covered them enough for protection. Savage burst through the line, his eyes flashing between icy blue and glowing amber. “Is our boy coming?”
“Yes, Savage,” Mary Grace gritted out as she stopped in her steps to breathe deeply. Everyone around her froze as they waited for the contraction to pass. After a few moments, she relaxed. “He’s coming.”
Savage took over and scooped up his pregnant mate, kissing her lips hard. “My mate.”
Talon emerged from his home and stepped out into the yard, his eyes following the pair as they hurried to Harold’s for the delivery. Booth and Storm followed the pair, armed heavily with assault rifles strapped across their chests. “This could take all night. Let’s get the food served and then we can camp out to await the births.”
Hope took Ranger’s hand as they walked back inside. The females were already making their plates as Ranger pushed her toward the banquet table. “Grab your food.”
A birth was a celebration for their kind. All of the pride would congregate at the healer’s home to await the arrival of the cubs. The females would assist the healer when needed, and Hope was sure that Harold was going to need all the help he could get with both cubs coming within hours, if not minutes, of each other. Hope prayed that the event wasn’t going to be overshadowed with fear of the unknown. At this point, no one knew when the Community would come for them.
“Talon, you must eat,” Liberty fussed.
“You eat first,” he argued.
“Talon,” she snarled in warning. “You need your strength.”
The alpha was used in the place of medicine in their world. His calming magic would settle a female during the hardest part of her labor. Hope remembered Thorne’s father working himself to exhaustion during births in her old pride. She was sure that Talon would do the same.
Hope ate and hurried over to the healer’s home to be with her people as they gave their love over to the two females in labor. It took another ten hours before Winter emerged with his son in his hands.
“I have a son!” he roared, showing his newborn son to the people whom he called family. The worry for his family was a thick mask on his face.
“What’s his name?” someone shouted from the crowd.
“My son will be called Atlas Blue!” he offered proudly, pulling his son to his chest when the cub began to fuss. Winter ducked back inside the healer’s home without another word.
Two hours later, Savage emerged, holding his newborn son high in the air, just as his fellow Guardian had done not long before.
“This is my son, Landon Corvera!”
Hope clapped her hands and wiped away a tear when she saw Savage look at his son with so much love it made her heart ache.
Hope and Ranger would eventually have their own brood of cubs, but today wasn’t going to be that day. She had more important things to do within her pride besides breeding the next generation. It was time to help protect the ones within, trying to live a normal life without the threat of death for being who they were made to be.
The End…
Look for Kye’s story coming soon…
Author’s Note:
I really hope you are loving the pride as much as I love writing their stories. Obviously, there are a lot of things going on with them as each book progresses. Well, stick around, because it’s only going to continue…for a total of 17 books! My brain has been churning over this series, and I will continue to write them as long as the panthers are prowling around in my head.
The town of Olive Branch, Mississippi is a real town, and one that I call home. I was raised here, and after marrying (and living all over the USA) a military man, moved back here five years ago. The town is around 30,000 people, but the outskirts of town is where I have set this series. There are several country roads and farm lands in the county that make up the place where my panthers play. The wooded areas are abundant and the perfect place for my little world of paranormal creatures.
When I’m having a bad writing day, I jump in my car and head out to the area where my characters live. I roll down the windows (as long as it’s not cold or raining) and take in the natural beauty of the country. It helps center me.
The Coldwater River runs through our county. It is a big part of my childhood and this series. As a teenager, I spent many Saturday afternoons fishing and running through the woods that ran alongside this river. It’s very rough terrain, but it’s an area that has a special place in my heart.
The building where I created The Deuce is a real place, but it used to be a mom and pop restaurant out in the middle of nowhere. The pride home is from my own imagination. However, there is a driveway in the same area that has a huge gate and fence, but the home is buried in the woods and cannot be seen from the road. So…let your imagination go where mine did when I started this series. Liberty’s farmhouse is a real home and so is Mary Grace’s trailer.
I tend to listen to southern style rock music (along with my regular rock genre stuff) when I am writing these books. Here are just a handful of the songs on the playlist for the series so far:
“People of the Land” by Lincoln Durham
“The Reckoning” by The Reality of Yourself
“Prodigal” by Blacktop Mojo
“Blood in the Water” by Shaman’s Harvest
“Ball & Chain” by Martin Harley
“Missile” by Dorothy
“The River” by Blacktop Mojo
“Dragonfly” by Shaman’s Harvest
“Hold on Me” by Artifas
“This Pain” by 5 Stories
“Alone” by I Prevail
Thank you and get ready for Kye and Evie’s story…coming soon!
About Theresa Hissong:
Theresa is a mother of two and the wife of a retired Air Force Master Sergeant. After seventeen years traveling the country, moving from base to base, the family has settled their roots back in Theresa’s home town of Olive Branch, MS, where she enjoys her time with family and old friends.
After almost three years of managing a retail bookstore, Theresa has gone behind the scenes to write romantic stories with flare. She enjoys spending her afternoons daydreaming of the perfect love affair and takes those ideas to paper.
Look for other exciting reads…coming very soon!
Ranger (Rise of the Pride, Book 5) Page 14