Wild Pride (The Kingson Pride Book 1)

by Kristen Banet

  “What’s wrong?” She looked between them all.

  Troy’s head snapped up and he stared at her. It was playful, a bit taunting. Gabe closed his laptop slowly and just took a large swallow of his coffee.

  “None of us slept, Riley.” Andrew chuckled. “And we all ended up down here after trying to get off since… well… you make the best sounds. We all knew that already. We just never knew you could be so… loud.”

  She blushed, feeling the heat pour into her face.

  “I couldn’t have been that loud,” she mumbled quickly.

  “You have no idea, baby,” Zachary chuckled. “You have no idea.”

  “She’s wonderful, the perfect volume, and you all complain too much,” Brenton stepped into the kitchen and gave her a long kiss.

  “We aren’t saying she wasn’t wonderful,” Gabe groaned. “We’re all just mad it wasn’t us.”

  Riley grabbed her morning coffee and used the mug to hide her smile. She leaned into Andrew, who was still looking down at her. He took her elbow and moved her to her spot at the bar, making her sit down.

  “Don’t look at me like that. I have to go to work, and you looking like that is going to make me want to drag you upstairs to see how well you do repeat performances.” He groaned, hot in her ear before kissing her cheek. “You go back on the schedule next week. Excited?”

  “Yes!” She laughed. “I can’t wait to get out of the house again.”

  “I was thinking about making you a manager,” he chuckled. “Less actual serving, more yelling at the servers. You’ve worked in the service industry long enough that you need a promotion.”

  “Really?”

  “Yup and I need you to sign the paperwork to become a co-owner when you come back too.”

  “Andrew!” she put her mug down. “Why?”

  “Why not?” He shrugged, grinning at her.

  “We want you to feel like you have something here,” Zachary smiled at her. “So we’re going to bring you in, giving you more to do instead of just work a dead-end waitress job. College is hard to do here in Wild Junction but we can still train you in business. Maybe you can start selling you art or maybe want to open your own little store here town one day. An art gallery in Denver, who knows?”

  “Guys!” she moaned, taking another sip of her coffee. “You’re wonderful.”

  “We know,” Troy grinned. “And I want you to help me design paint jobs for the bikes. I think that we could have a lot of fun doing that together.”

  “You are all ridiculous,” she laughed, shaking her head.

  “We’re family,” Brenton whispered.

  “Damn right, we are,” Gabe laughed.

  RILEY

  She spent the day alone and only some of it just laying around in bed. Troy and Gabe had a bike that was giving them a hard time and were locked in their garage. Zachary and Brenton needed to go to Denver for business while Andrew was at the diner, which was doing really well.

  She danced around the kitchen, listening to Halestorm’s American Boys, which Riley could totally relate to and understand. She was cleaning up from lunch, wearing one of Brenton’s shirt over her tank top. Her birthday was in a week too and she was pumped.

  She wasn’t paying attention to the front door opening or the footsteps into the house. She had her eyes closed and focused on the music. Then the scent hit her nose.

  Male, lion. Not Brenton.

  She stopped moving and turned to the source. She didn’t scream at the gun pointed at her. She barely made a sound.

  Cameron Slater looked haggard and pleased with himself.

  “Here’s the whore Brenton would betray me for.” He chuckled viciously. “And not a single sound. What, think someone is going to come save you?”

  She stayed silent and pulled her headphones out slowly. She took a step back and Cameron shook his head.

  “Oh no, you aren’t going anywhere. We are gong to have a little talk, then I’m going to put a bullet in you head since you being alive has made me lose everything.”

  “What do you want to talk about, Cameron?” She kept her spine straight and her voice even.

  “Your mother and where she’s fucking hiding,” Cameron snarled at her.

  “I don’t know. I didn’t even know my mother was Isabella Gordon until after you kidnapped me,” She shrugged at him. “And I don’t care to know where she might be either.”

  He shoved her with his free hand and she stumbled back into the counter. She caught herself before she slammed her back into.

  “How do you not know?” He growled, and she saw the desperation in his eyes. And the madness.

  “She’s been dead to me since I was six.” Riley kept her chin, looking Cameron in the eye. She wasn’t lying and a sane shifter would be able to tell that.

  But Cameron wasn’t sane. Not anymore. He’d been twisted by his hatred for Isabella Amelia Gordon for decades until it had become an obsession.

  “You know something!” He roared, thrusting the gun at her.

  Where the fuck were Troy and Gabe? She flicked her eyes towards the way to the garage. She was fast in human form but she probably couldn’t outrun a bullet. She couldn’t outrun a bullet in any form.

  “If you don’t know anything, I’ll just kill you faster then. So she can feel what it’s like to lose someone.” He growled and she turned slowly. Her back was now off the counter and pointed to the door she needed to get to.

  He stepped closer to her and she took a step back.

  “I’m not sure that’s going to work, Cameron.” She laughed bitterly. “She didn’t show up when I was sixteen and thrown in foster care when my dad walked out on me. She didn’t show up when my ex used to kick the shit out of me and drag me home when I tried to leave. She didn’t save me when I got kidnapped. Why would she care you if you finally finished the job?”

  He stopped advancing and stared at her. She only had a few more steps to the wall she needed to be done.

  “You really must be a completely worthless whore then,” he chuckled, waving the gun around for a moment.

  She tried to bolt for the door but he was able to reach out and grab her, throwing to the floor in the middle of the kitchen. She felt the air get knocked out her.

  “No one is here to save you, little girl,” he snarled. “Your fucking boy toys left twenty minutes ago. I’ve been waiting a week for them to all be gone for this. I’m not letting you run.”

  Troy and Gabe left? They weren’t here?

  She was going to have to save herself then. She stood up slowly, hands out in a fake symbol of submission.

  “Alright,” Riley talked to him, hoping to keep him ranting instead of shooting her. She hoped all the self defense training they forced on her finally paid off. They had resumed those sessions with renewed vigor after her kidnapping. “Just tell me what you want Cameron. Do want me to disappear? Do you want me to help you find her? Maybe if I put out the word that I want to see, she’ll come.”

  “That’s a decent idea,” he growled. “But you seem to be a decent amount of trouble while your breathing as well. This pride has their claws in you and they won’t let you help me. We both know that.”

  She let him get close this time and waited patiently. Her heart was pounding and she tried to keep her breathing steady.

  “Maybe you could show me how good a whore you need to be for my own nephew to ruin me over you,” he snarled. “Or maybe you could just die already since I’m never going to get back what I lost thanks to you. Just like your fucking mother!”

  He pointed gun at her head and she pushed his arm over. He fired and it hit a window behind her. She kicked him in the nuts and held firmly to the arm with the gun, pointing it past her.

  She twisted his wrist and watched the gun fall. She turned all the way and kicked it away as he grabbed her from behind.

  She got her arms and grabbed his shirt and hefted him over her and onto the tile. He went down hard and she dove for the a large knife in the
knife block.

  She didn’t need to be faster then a bullet, she just had to be faster then him.

  She turned to him, seeing him reach for the gun and stand. She didn’t hesitate.

  She shoved the knife into his back and he grunted.

  “Fuck you,” she growled, pulling it back out. He fell back to the tile and she grabbed the gun, shaking. She pointed it at him and fire two into his back, just to make sure.

  She was never going to be a victim again. If someone wanted her dead, they were going to need to shoot first and ask questions later.

  She was still shaking as she pushed her back against the wall, her eyes never leaving the dead body and the pool of blood slowly covering the kitchen floor. She slid down slowly, the gun still pointed at Cameron. She knew he was dead, but with her luck, he would just get back up and try again.

  She kept hold of the knife in her left hand. It happened so fast. She felt the adrenaline crash coming and the tears filled her eyes. The fear was recognizable, pumping through her veins and she started shivering. She fucking survived.

  “Good job,” a feminine voice filled the room but it sure as fuck wasn’t Riley’s. She turned to the bar.

  It was like staring at an older reflection with green-hazel eyes instead of her own amber.

  “I knew he was coming after you but I wanted to see how you would handle it,” Isabella Gordon smiled. “You did well.”

  Rage filled her at sight. She had the exact same hair was Riley, the same bone structure to her face. She was taller then Riley, by a good six inches though. She wore a perfectly tailored suit and was tapping her nails, a perfect fucking manicure, on the top of the bar. She looked amused at hell at the scene in the kitchen.

  “Get the fuck out,” Riley snarled, standing up. Isabella’s pretty green hazel eyes widened.

  “Excuse me, Riley? Who told you that you could speak to your mother like that?” Isabella sounded like a fucking house wife from a reality television show.

  Riley pointed the gun at her.

  “Get. The. Fuck. Out.” Riley hissed. “Who told you it’s okay to abandon me for nearly eighteen years? Who told you it’s okay to stay gone when I was tossed into foster care? Or maybe when Trevor beat the fuck out me! How about when I got fucking kidnapped because of you?” Riley was screaming by the end of it.

  Most girls would be happy to reunite with a long lost parents. Riley was furious.

  “Riley-”

  “No!” She snapped, keeping the gun trained on her mother. “When you can answer those questions, then you can come back and try and be a fucking mother. Shit, you knew he was coming and nearly let me get my head blown off!”

  “Now wait a minute-”

  “Get out, Isabella Amelia Gordon. My mother’s name was Lily Stern and she’s dead.” Riley watched the verbal knife stab in Isabella, making the woman gasp.

  She backed away from Riley, her hands up.

  “I stayed away because being dead was safer for you. When your father left, I didn’t want to reveal myself and expose you like the Kingson boys ended up doing. As for Trevor… well you walked into that one. And the kidnapping happened faster then I could respond.” Isabella shook her head slowly. “But you are so tough and beautiful now and I want you to come with me.”

  “No.”

  “Why not? We can be a family again? We could go find your father-”

  “No, Isabella. I have a family. They have names too. Real ones at that. Brenton Kingson. Zachary Woods. Andrew Hicks. Troy Walker. Gabe Walker.” She felt tears well in her eyes again. “ They are my family.”

  “And me?” Isabella looked mad now. Riley was pleased by it, happy that her mother now knew the pain for being rejected.

  “You gave up your right to be my mother. And I don’t need you anymore. I haven’t needed you for a long time.”

  “Others will come after you to get to me, Riley. I can keep you hidden.”

  “I’m not going to be a coward. My place is here and my fights will end just like this one.” Riley was breathing hard. “I won’t be a victim ever again. Not to people like Cameron or to people like you, who only think about themselves. We both know Cameron would have never come after me if you didn’t go and steal from him. Maybe you should just get the fuck out of the business. Disappear. You’re good at it.”

  “I knew I shouldn’t have antagonized Cameron but-”

  “Did you kill his sister? Brenton’s mother? Did you actually do it?” Riley pressed her mother. “Come on, since we’re having this wonderful heart to heart now.”

  “Yes. She was going to turn me over to an enemy I couldn’t deal with so I would stop fucking her husband.” Isabella raised her chin. “And I don’t regret it. Stupid cow should have kept a better leash on her husband.”

  “Something is wrong with you,” Riley hissed. “Do you feel anything?” Riley couldn’t imagine being so unfeeling about killing someone. She felt something about killing Cameron. She wanted to collapse and cry at the loss of innocence. She had never wanted to kill anyone. She didn’t want to now and that included Cameron. She had only done it in self defense.

  “Life’s a game, Riley,” Isabella laughed. “And I played in the big leagues. Now you do too.”

  “You are so fucked up,” Riley felt sick. This woman was her mother.

  “Please,” Isabella snorted. “You need to get over it. You and your father. He’s still out there, you know. I don’t know where but I know he’s out there somewhere. My father raised me to be strong and ruthless. You wouldn’t have liked your grandfather, crime lord. Awful man but I won in the end. If there’s any advice I could ever give you, it’s to always win and let no one stop you from taking victory.”

  “Sure, okay,” Riley pointed to the front door with the knife. “You can go now. Don’t come back. If you come on this property to steal anything or bother us, I’ll shoot you. If you try to become involved in my life, I’ll shoot you. I want nothing to do with you. I will not be a criminal like you.”

  Isabella nodded and turned away, walking away from Riley. Riley kept the gun trained on her.

  “Oh, one more thing,” Isabella spun back around to Riley, smiling. Riley could see how a man could want her even with her reputation. Isabella was a gorgeous woman with a sparkle in her eyes that showed a lively woman who could have fun. “Thank you for killing Cameron for me. I don’t like getting my hands that dirty.”

  After that, she was gone. The front door closed and Riley collapsed, staring at Cameron’s body. But no tears fell now. She just stared at what her life had become.

  She saw her broken cell phone on the floor and knew all she could do was wait for one of them to get home.

  Star wandered into the room an hour later and laid next to her purring and finally, Riley cried.

  ANDREW

  Troy and Gabe were stuck on the side of the road. Of course they were. The bike they were testing broke down and they didn’t want to leave it when they couldn’t get it started again.

  Andrew groaned, leaving the diner under Phoebe’s control. He liked that girl. She didn’t give a damn about the rumors or the fall out with Haley, who quit the diner weeks ago over it.

  He jumped into truck and got moving. He found them an hour out of town.

  “What the fuck, you two?” He stormed out the truck, snarling. “You had to bring it all the way the fuck out here?”

  They had the decency to look ashamed, both trying to offer explanations at the same time.

  “Get it in the back,” he growled. “Also, did Riley know you left?”

  He watched them pale.

  “You didn’t fucking tell her you would be out here? You left her alone at the house and didn’t fucking tell her?”

  “We left a note in the workshop,” Gabe mumbled. Troy nodded slowly.

  “Hurry up. There’s no way I’m going back to the diner now. Brenton and Zachary are gone until tomorrow, so you two both answer to me.”

  He hated pulling rank. H
e was technically the third but never really needed to use it. Gabe and Troy were at the bottom since they were younger and acted like. Andrew was the oldest in the group but no one was going to say Brenton or Zachary were immature. And he liked those two in charge. Leadership of a pride didn’t suit Andrew and he definitely wasn’t born an Alpha.

  It took them ten minutes to load both bikes into the back of truck and haul their own asses in to his truck. Gabe forced Troy into the middle and they argued about it.

  “Both of you, just shut the fuck up,” Andrew groaned. He wanted to get home and cuddle with Riley. She always made him smile and maybe after this, she’d be willing to.

  It was a silent drive after that, Andrew cranking the music up loud enough to not even hear himself think.

  It took the entire hour no matter how much Andrew tried to speed. There was fucking afternoon traffic going through town. When they eventually made it home, Andrew looked at the brothers.

  “You will get those fucking bikes off my truck before you do fucking anything else.”

  Then he slid out and left them in the garage, bitching about his mood.

  He smelled the blood before he saw it. The male that he only met in person once before, Cameron Slater. And he smelled death. He turned into the kitchen and saw Riley looking up at him. She had a gun in one hand, and both of her hands were covered in blood. A bloody knife sat on the floor in front of her.

  Cameron was face done in a pool of his own blood and he couldn’t make out what killed him, there was too much blood on his suit. He was dirty, like he had hiked through the forest before he got here.

  “Good afternoon, Andrew,” Riley sounded a little hysterical. “You wouldn’t believe the day I’ve had!”

  He looked back at her and nodded slowly.

  “I can imagine by the looks of it. Why don’t you put the gun down?”

  She looked at it in her hand and sighed. She laid it softly on the floor but didn’t make an attempt to stand.

  “I was holding on to it in case he got back up. Because that’s my luck, right?”