by Celia Kyle
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
About Celia Kyle
Copyright Page
Chapter One
“I heard that fear eats the soul… As long as it doesn’t come after my ice cream, I’m cool with that. Who said I had a soul to begin with?” — Maya O’Connell, Prima of the Ridgeville Pride and woman who really does have a soul, but not much of one. She gave birth to the Devil’s spawns, after all. Er, she means her adorable, lovable, totally not evil twins, Easton and Weston. Right.
Ridgeville hadn’t changed in four years. At least, the airport hadn’t. The cracks in the tarmac outside Gate A were still present. A few weeds grew through the slender spaces and reached for the sun. A small dandelion peeked past the edge of one break, and Honor had the urge to pluck it from the ground and take it to Carly. The small wererabbit mated to Neal loved dandelions.
Of course, snaring the treat for the woman involved leaving the plane.
She wasn’t quite ready.
The scents of the pilot and flight attendant burned her nose, but they also intrigued her lioness. The man and woman were a mated pair, wererabbits from the Ridgeville Warren. But rabbits were not on the cat’s menu. That was a direct order from Maya, the pride’s Prima. And yet they still scented of prey and aroused the beast. The cat, still half broken and timid as hell, wanted to assert its dominance over those two. It wanted to be strong, able to care for itself.
Her cell phone rang, the soft song filling the Prime’s private plane while it also vibrated in her hand. She didn’t have to look at the caller ID to know who attempted to reach her. After sitting in the taxied plane for two hours and refusing to get out, she figured she should answer.
Honor swiped her thumb across the screen and brought it to her ear. “Hello.”
“Honor, how are you doing?”
She sighed and sank into the leather seat. Some of her tension, the worry and unease that’d chased her across the Atlantic, fled at the deep, masculine voice. “Prime.”
“Mm-hm. You feel like coming out?” Her Prime—Alex—sounded so calm. She wished she felt the same.
She swallowed and fought the rising panic in her soul. “I dunno.”
“Okay.” He paused. “Mind if I come in? We can walk out together.”
Now the panic shoved at her, pushed and struck her. “No.” She shook her head, even if he couldn’t see her. “No.”
“All right. Could you let the pilot and flight attendant go? Their kits are waiting for them at the sitter’s.”
She looked toward the small door at the front of the plane. The attendant had disappeared after Honor’s first snarl and flash of fang. The lion recognized them as delicious game, but she pushed down the need to chase them. They had children. Kits waiting on them, ones who called them “Mom” and “Dad.” She couldn’t tear them from the small ones.
“Yeah, okay.” She drew in a deep breath and cursed herself for the act. The rising fear from the pilot’s cabin teased the beast. “Lemme go in the bathroom first. Lock the door.”
“That sounds fine. Let me know when you’re there.” Alex didn’t seem the least bit stressed. He didn’t sound like a leader handling one of his edgy lions. A lion who was about to lose her shit inside his million-dollar private plane.
Honor rose and padded down the aisle, passing row after row of plush leather seats. All empty. It’d taken one call, a handful of sentences, and then her Prime sent for her. He’d facilitated her return to Ridgeville, and now waited patiently for her to deplane.
Alex generally wasn’t known for his patience.
At the end of the walkway, she grasped the polished handle on the bathroom door and turned the knob. She slowly stepped into the small enclosure, fighting her cat with every flex of muscle. It snarled and growled at her, shoving its instinctual need to dominate forward. After what they endured, they wanted power, control. The animal alternated between regret at its part in what happened months ago and the urge to assert its power over others.
She tugged the door closed and flipped the lock. Before speaking again, she flicked the toilet lid down and then lowered herself to the surface. She stared at the steel-reinforced panel that separated her from the rest of the plane.
“Okay. Tell them to go ahead.” She swallowed the saliva pooling in her mouth.
Can’t eat the rabbits. Can’t kill the rabbits. Can’t eat the rabbits…
The hushed whispers of the mated couple reached her. She couldn’t make out the words, but a new wave of their fear assaulted her.
“Prime.” Her voice shook with the effort.
“You’re not moving. Do you hear me, Honor? You. Will. Not. Move.” The words were a harsh order, her Prime’s displeasure and power imbuing every syllable.
The lion reacted, responded to their leader’s command, and immediately whined. It eased away, softly crying as it was pushed to the back of her mind. “Yes, Prime.”
Finally, the noises of their departure eased, and she didn’t hear a single sound. She was alone. Alone and safe.
“Can you come to me?” The gruff tone was gone, and he was back to the soothing, cajoling pitch.
“Maybe,” she whispered and stood, taking a single step to the door. She stroked the lock, fingers gliding over the shined surface, leaving fingerprints in her wake. “You’re alone?”
“Not a soul is at the airport, Honor. I gave you my word.”
He had. He’d promised no one would be around when she arrived.
“Okay.”
“Open the door.”
She grasped the handle. A flick with her thumb disengaged the lock, and she turned the knob. The door swung open on silent hinges, and then he was there, Alex, her protector. “Prime.”
The cell phone slipped from her grasp, clattering to the carpeted floor. She didn’t hesitate, didn’t even pause for a moment. She wrapped herself around his massive body, letting him support her weight. He was the strongest, fiercest lion she knew, and he would keep her safe.
Tears, tears she hadn’t released since that week, coursed down her cheeks. She pressed her face to his chest, drawing his flavors into her lungs. Home. Power. Safety.
Alex rubbed his cheek across the top of her head, and she knew it was the move of a Prime reclaiming one of the members of his pride. He was transferring his scent to her, telling one and all she belonged to him, to the Ridgeville pride.
A deep, rumbling purr came deep within his chest and transferred to her, shaking her gently. Honor’s cat responded in kind, matching the tempo, the rise and fall of the rolling sounds.
Their embrace continued, gradually shifting from one of desperation to soothing comfort. For the first time in months, she relaxed. The hum of their cats eased, slowing until they were quiet.
“Are you ready?” Alex whispered.
“Yes,” she replied, the word soft.
Her Prime eased from her clinging embrace and gripped her wrist, fingers encircling her. He was showing her he was in charge. Showing her he was strong enough to control a lioness in his pride.
She needed that. Especially when the lioness alternated between c
owering fear and the overwhelming need to dominate, to prove it was stronger than someone.
Honor followed him down the aisle and off the plane, not caring she’d left her phone. Her Prime didn’t slow as she rushed after him across the tarmac. His familiar SUV was parked near the building. She didn’t pay attention to where she planted her feet. She trusted him to lead her while she kept her gaze constantly sweeping the area. Her lioness hunted, sought out anyone nearby. No, hunted was the wrong word. Trembled and looked for any reason it should run and hide. It searched for others who could hurt them.
Alex tightened his grip, reminding her no one could injure her if he was close.
She was fine. Safe.
The Prime released her long enough to secure her in the SUV. He strode around the vehicle and climbed in, settling behind the steering wheel. The second his door shut, she engaged the locks. It wouldn’t be much to a lion determined to get at her, but it was something.
“I don’t need details, Honor, but I need to know who hurt you. Who made you this way?” His voice was rough, deep, tinged with more than a little of his lion.
He wanted to know who’d turned her into this trembling mess. Who’d transformed her from outgoing, obnoxious, smiling, sarcastic Honor to afraid of her own shadow Honor?
She rested her head against the window’s cool glass, turning her gaze from him. She willed back the tears and shoved away memories that threatened. “London. The London pride.”
She imagined Alex jerking his head in a quick nod, an action she’d seen a thousand times as she grew up. He started the engine and popped the SUV into gear. She followed their path with her eyes. The tarmac passed in a blur as they approached the fence surrounding the airport. The gates parted, granting them exit, and they roared onto the street.
Mile after mile passed, the SUV zooming along the barren road. “You really banished everyone.”
The Prime grunted. “When one of my lions asks for help, tells me what they need, I listen. You’re mine, Honor. That’s all it took.” If only more Primes held the same beliefs. If only more Primes didn’t have psychotic sons. “The streets will remain empty until we get to the pride house.”
Honor turned to him and whispered, “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” He sighed and scraped his palm over his cheek. It was a move the Prime made when thinking about his mate, Maya. “I can command everyone in the pride but the Prima. She’s still at the pride house with the cubs.”
Honor nodded. She knew it was a long shot to have the Prime, his protection, to herself. “I understand.”
Her lioness bristled at the presence of another female and cubs, of others who would distract the male who protected them, but she soothed the beast. Honor couldn’t be expected to claim all of his time when he had a family.
“I’ll”—the word cracked with a hint of a sob—“I’ll do my best to get over this, to move out as soon as I can.”
“You know your parents or Brute would welcome you.”
Honor shuddered. She couldn’t see her parents, couldn’t see their disappointment or hurt. As for her brother Brute… He was mated to a Sensitive, a lioness with the ability to slide into another’s mind, read their thoughts. Worse, she could manipulate that person. Make them do things, make them want to do things.
No, she didn’t want to be around a Sensitive ever again. Not after London.
“I know. But I need…” She needed to not be around others.
“And you’ll get it. You’ll have to suffer through the attentions of Maya, Easton, and Weston, though.” He chuckled, and her heart lifted a tiny bit. “I’m not sure who will be the worst of the bunch. Maya will want to feed you ice cream and wine. East will order you to feel better already, and West will spend just as much time yelling at East for being insensitive.”
The boys were so big now, so grown up. She’d forgotten life went on even while hers fell apart. The twins were six, one destined to be the Prime someday while the other would become his Second.
“As long as…” She licked her lips, wondering if her continued requests would push Alex over the edge and have him shoving back. “No one else will be there? Not…”
Not him. God knew she couldn’t deal with him. Not now that she’d endured her first heat. Honor suspected his scent would draw her lioness to the surface, and she didn’t think she could tolerate the animal rising that far. She wasn’t ready to face the truth, to face the fact that Grayson was something more than the Prime’s Second. She didn’t want to acknowledge the massive, domineering male was her mate.
“No one.” Her Prime’s assurance was final, solid and sure.
Good. That was good. Wasn’t it?
* * *
Grayson shouldered his carry-on bag and held his breath as he wound his way through the Ridgeville airport. It was filled with shifters, local and not. Ever since the town began hosting others for training as well as welcoming those harmed by Freedom, the place had become a zoo. Almost literally.
Freedom. His lion growled at the thought of the disbanded group. Alistair McCain was their leader. At least until one of their own females—Deuce’s mate Elly—shot him in the head. Freedom and Alistair’s illegal activities came to an end that instant.
He stopped short of running over a wererabbit kit who’d scampered into his path. Her sweet, clean scent hit him, reminding him of what he didn’t yet have.
Cubs.
His lion growled, annoyed they were being forced to endure so many scents at once. Then it snarled over the fact they hadn’t flown across the Atlantic and hunted their mate at any point in the last four years while she attended college. It wanted to start a family, wanted cubs.
Yeah, well, his human half wanted that, too. But he promised her parents and brother he wouldn’t force the issue. He vowed he wouldn’t chase her so he could be with her during her first heat. Whatever she did at that time was her own business.
He still wanted to kick his own ass about that.
A massive male trundled past him, and he drew in his scent, trying to figure out what type of shifter grew men so large. His lungs expanded, pulling air in. He almost coughed and choked on the perfume-laden flavors sinking into him.
Huh. The large man was human. Who knew they came that big?
Shaking his head, he kept moving, following the crowd toward baggage claim and his fucking ride. Then again, he shouldn’t take his anger out on whoever was unlucky enough to pick him up. That’d be saved for his Prime. Why the hell did he have to take a commercial flight?
Grayson finally emerged from airport hell and made his way out of the building and stood on the curb. A double honk of a horn drew his attention, and he moved toward a familiar grey truck parked nearby.
In less than a minute, he tossed his bag into the backseat of Ricker’s truck and then settled in the front seat. The massive, deadly tiger was on edge. The scent teased Grayson’s nerves, awakening his lion and putting it on alert.
The large male was an ex-Tracker for the council as well as Maddy’s mate. Between his military experience and dealing with the Sensitive lioness, the man shouldn’t be afraid of anything. And yet he was anxious as hell.
Grayson was the pride’s Second, and the tiger was part of the pride, but Ricker wasn’t afraid of pissing anyone off. The exception was Alex, and that was only because damn near everyone respectfully feared the male’s mate, Maya.
“Thanks for coming to get me.”
Ricker grunted. “We drew straws. I lost.”
“Nice.” Grayson rolled his eyes. “So, why were you drawing straws? Better yet, why the hell did I have to take a commercial flight?” He’d been traveling back and forth between the council’s headquarters in Chicago and Ridgeville for nearly six years.
He wasn’t going to acknowledge the fact that six years ago he’d felt the first inkling Honor Mauer was his mate… and only sixteen. That had been a mind-fuck of monumental proportions.
The cat was equally attracted and disgus
ted with itself. Yeah, his human half was the same. At least until she’d hit eighteen and suddenly craving his would-be mate was acceptable.
“The plane was needed for someone else.” Ricker shrugged and turned on the blinker.
“Someone else?” He raised his eyebrows. He wasn’t going to be a total dick and tell the tiger there wasn’t anyone more important than him scheduled to fly in. But, really, he was the most important person scheduled to fly in.
“Yup.”
“That’s it? Nothing else?”
“Nope.” The truck slowed as Ricker navigated a turn.
“Who the hell—”
“That is something you can discuss with Alex.” They bounced over uneven ground, the whole vehicle shaking.
Grayson finally realized they weren’t headed toward the pride house. He lived there with Alex and Maya as well as their twins. A handful of other unmated lions whose sole job was to protect the Prime and Prima also resided on-site. Maya had a personal guard as well. Mostly because her awesomesauce ideas tended to land her in trouble.
Before them loomed the expansive field where the pride met for monthly runs in the forests beyond. The vehicle pulled to a stop in the middle of the dirt, hard-packed, faux parking lot created by the pride over the years.
Alex stood dead center, shirtless and shoeless. A pair of shorts clung to his Prime’s hips. Grayson saw they were baggy as hell and easily torn off if the man shifted.
“What the hell, Ricker?”
The tiger shrugged. “I follow my Prime’s orders. I was told to keep my mouth shut and bring you here.” Ricker finally looked to him, the male’s eyes shifted to the gold of his beast. “I also can’t let you leave the area.”
Grayson didn’t like the sound of that, and now he noticed the tiger’s clothing. Baggy shorts, sandals, and a tank top easily shed.
Fuck. What was he walking into? Had he pissed off someone important lately? Was this some kind of punishment?
Whatever it turned out to be, he couldn’t not go to his Prime. With a sigh, he pushed the door open and climbed from the vehicle. He went ahead and tugged his shirt over his head while he slipped free of his shoes. The slacks would be a lost cause.