by Anna Lowe
Rebel Lion
Aloha Shifters: Pearls of Desire
by
Anna Lowe
Book 3
Rebel Lion
Copyright © 2018 by Anna Lowe
[email protected]
Editing by Lisa A. Hollett
Proofreading by Donna Hokanson
Cover art by Kim Killion
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental.
Many thanks to the wonderful members of my Plot Wizards group for all their support and ideas, and a big thank you to star beta readers Jen, Cindy, Colleen, Beth, Renee, Linda, and Sherry!
Other books in this series
Aloha Shifters - Pearls of Desire
Rebel Dragon (Book 1)
Rebel Bear (Book 2)
Rebel Lion (Book 3)
Rebel Wolf (Book 4)
Rebel Alpha (Book 5)
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Desert Wolf: Friend or Foe (Book 1.1 in the Twin Moon Ranch series)
Off the Charts (the prequel to the Serendipity Adventure series)
Perfection (the prequel to the Blue Moon Saloon series)
Contents
Other books in this series
Rebel Lion
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
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue
Sneak Peek: Rebel Wolf
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Rebel Lion
Lion shifter Dell O’Roarke has never been serious about life, but life is about to get serious with him. The beautiful stranger who’s just arrived in Maui isn’t looking for just anyone — she’s looking for him. And that’s not just any surprise she’s brought along — it’s a baby who looks a hell of a lot like Dell. Soon, he discovers there’s more at stake than his lifestyle as a swinging bachelor. Vengeful shifters are hot on the stranger’s heels, making Dell wonder… Are they after the woman, the baby, or him?
Ad executive Anjali Jain hasn’t taken a vacation in years — and she sure isn’t on vacation now. She’s simply keeping a promise, and then she’ll get back to climbing the corporate ladder. But there’s nothing simple about taking care of a baby — or handing that baby off to a handsome, mysterious stranger who feels like a long-lost friend. Easygoing Dell isn’t her type, but the more he reluctantly reveals of his hidden, soulful side, the deeper she falls in love — and the more mysteries she discovers. How can one man possibly awaken so many lusts and desires at the same time? What evil forces lurk behind the brutal murder of her best friend? And why does she have the feeling there’s something not quite human about the murderers — or about Dell?
Chapter One
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* * *
Dell stopped halfway on his usual morning walk from his home to the plantation house, digging his bare toes into the ground. He closed his eyes and tipped his chin up to the tropical sun, tanking up on that little bit of spare energy he’d need to get through the day. A first anniversary of the worst possible kind.
He took a deep breath. The sky was a perfect powder blue, the temperature just right. Palms swayed in the wind, and a songbird sang at the top of its lungs, looking for a mate. But for all the beauty of his surroundings, a dark cloud followed him, and even going through his usual yoga routine — twice — didn’t help. Sorrow didn’t shake off the way water or dust did, and neither did regret.
Quentin, stop! he kept wanting to yell. But it was too late.
He squeezed his eyes shut, but that didn’t stop the memories from playing out in his head. Memories from another time and place. A place with bombed-out ruins and edgy mountains, where the only color was the red of a lone poppy that had sprung up at the edge of an abandoned field.
Be right back, Quentin had said.
Dell watched helplessly as his brother stepped away from the road on the outskirts of a ruined village he couldn’t remember the name of anymore. Two boys had kicked a ball out there, and Quentin, ever the hero, was heading over to fetch it for them.
Don’t worry, man, the IED guy had drawled. We cleared the whole place.
An itch set in at the back of Dell’s neck, and he’d gestured wildly to Quentin.
I have a bad feeling, man. Just sto—
Halfway through stop, the mine exploded, throwing Dell against the Humvee. Getting to his knees took ages, and when he finally swayed to his feet, mumbling his brother’s name, Connor and the other guys were holding him back.
Don’t look, man.
Stay right here.
You don’t need to see.
But he had to see, because there was no other way to believe. Shifters weren’t invincible, but they could take a lot. Surely, Quentin would be okay.
But Quentin wasn’t okay. After ten years of active duty in their elite Special Forces unit — and only a month away from discharge — his brother was dead.
No, Dell had kept screaming. No.
It wasn’t so much about death, because that was a possibility they had all accepted from the start. It was more that fate had taken the wrong man. The better man. Why hadn’t it been him?
“Quentin,” Dell whispered, wishing… Well, wishing a lot of things.
Inside, his lion bared its teeth, gunning for something — or someone — to claw or maim. Too bad destiny was too much of a coward to take on face-to-face.
“Dell! Dell!” an excited young voice called.
He snapped his eyes open and forced on his best smile. “Joey! Morning, kiddo.” He tousled the little boy’s fiery red hair. “Sleep well?”
Joey nodded eagerly and took his hand. “Mommy made pancakes, and I saved you one.”
Dell’s smile took on a more natural curve. “No way. You saved one for me?”
Joey was a really sweet kid who liked all the shifters of Koakea Plantation — Connor, Tim, and Chase. But saving pancakes was a special honor reserved only for Dell. Which was sweet as anything, but scary too. What would happen the day the kid figured out he was hero-worshiping the wrong guy? Being a lion shifter was all well and good, but if the boy took a closer look…
Dell scrubbed his beard as he walked, tempted to finally reveal the truth. You got the wrong man, kiddo. No hero here. Just the underachieving younger brother of the real thing.
And honestly, he had no issue with that. He loved his life. He loved the freedom he’d worked hard to achieve, even if his family didn’t understand. It was just that he didn’t feel compelled to live by any rules but his own.
The problem was, Joey needed heroes. He needed to believe Dell was capable of selfless, superhuman feats. Joey�
�s dad had been killed in a dragon fight, and though Dell didn’t know the details, it was pretty clear that Joey and his mother were hiding out on Maui from danger of some kind.
So, yeah. Joey needed stability and security. Dell couldn’t burst the kid’s bubble now.
“Yep,” Joey said, tugging him on. “I put syrup on it and everything.”
“Awesome. High five, man.”
Joey jumped up for the high five, and Dell whistled. “Whoa there. Pretty soon, you’ll be the highest jumper in our pride.”
Joey laughed. “Mommy says to call us a weyr.”
Dell flapped a hand. Leave it to Cynthia to use such an old-fashioned term. The other dragons of Koakea called their eclectic little group a clan. So did Tim and Hailey, the bears. Chase, the wolf, never corrected anyone, though he preferred pack. But Dell…
“Lions live in prides, kiddo.”
“But you’re the only one.”
Dell laughed, hiding the pang that set off in him. Not only was he the only lion at Koakea, he was one of very few lion shifters anywhere. And of those, he was the sole rebel. Lions were supposed to be regal, responsible. He kept his hair long, his beard scrappy, and when he laughed, he laughed long and hard. All in all, closer to a laid-back surfer dude than king of the jungle.
Dell joked the feeling away with his usual line. “The world can only take so much perfection, you know.” He touched his blond hair for good measure, making Joey laugh.
“Mommy says—”
A sharp ahem cut the boy off, and Dell looked up to find Cynthia glaring from the top porch stair. The woman loved that top stair, and she loved to glare, though the edge had dulled in the five months they’d known each other. Nowadays, her pointed glares were more a matter of habit than principle.
Dell let his eyes sparkle, teasing her. You know you like me. Admit it.
His winning grin could make most women blush and giggle. But Cynthia frowned, as cool and unemotional as a five-star general. Which fit, considering she was co-alpha of their growing shifter pride.
“Morning, Cynth,” Dell called in his jauntiest voice.
She sighed. “Good morning, Mr. O’Roarke.”
She spoke those same words every day and in the same pained, you really test my patience tone, and it never bothered him. But this time, her voice seemed a carbon copy of his mother’s a long time ago.
Morning, Quentin, his mom would call to his older brother — like he was her sunrise, her pillar of happiness, her source of light.
Then she would turn to Dell and sigh, Good morning, Wendell, like she already knew he would mess up at some point that day and she might as well steel herself for the inevitable while she could.
Dell took a deep breath. He didn’t blame his mom. He never could get things as right as Quentin did. In fact, he’d given up trying. But, hell. His mom had loved him anyway. Cynthia, on the other hand…
“Dell wants my pancake,” Joey announced, rushing up the stairs.
Dell slid his hand over the rail he’d sanded himself. When they’d first arrived at Koakea, the plantation house had been a mess, and it had taken weeks to nurse the place back to its former glory. Now, it looked great. Joey and Cynthia lived upstairs, while most of the ground floor — the kitchen, parlor, and the huge porch — was shared space. Most shifters lived that way — everyone in their own little dwellings centered around a communal meeting area.
“So nice of you to make those pancakes for me, Cynth.”
“Cynthia,” she murmured. “And I made them for Joey.”
Cynthia seemed to have a personal rule never to show fondness for anyone but her son. Dell’s buddy Connor had a theory that Cynthia came from one of those blue-blooded dragon families that were more about power and tradition than love, and Dell believed it. Just about the only adult Cynthia had a soft spot for was Chase, the youngest of the three Hoving brothers. He sat at the table, wolfing down a stack of pancakes. But then, everyone had a soft spot for Chase.
“Morning,” Chase murmured, grabbing a napkin and wiping hurriedly at his chin.
Chase had a coarse, clunky way with manners — as he did with just about everything in the human realm. The guy had grown up as the lone shifter in a regular wolf pack, and he’d only come out of the wild in his late teens. Much as his half brothers tried to civilize the guy, Chase’s background showed.
Women ate it up, though. There was something about Chase’s combination of sheer size, scruffy good looks, and lost-puppy eyes that they loved — not to mention his shy, near-lack of social skills.
Aw, he’s so sweet, women would say, batting their eyelashes.
Cute and adorable came in second and third place. The guy could have a different girl every night if he wanted, but Chase was too shy and retiring for that.
Dell checked the clock hanging on the wall — a big, bold-print one Cynthia had put up in an attempt to keep everyone on a strict schedule. Happily, that schedule had grown slightly more flexible since their terse, early days. Cynthia was in charge of the plantation grounds, while Connor, the oldest Hoving brother, was in charge of security. It was an unorthodox, dual-alpha setup, but it was working surprisingly well.
Chase followed Dell’s eyes to the clock and nodded. “We got work soon.”
Dell nodded wearily. Most days, he and Chase worked dinner shifts at a local restaurant/bar — Dell as bartender, Chase as bouncer. But it was Sunday, which meant they had the brunch shift, so he didn’t have much time. Which was just as well. Maybe work would take his mind off Quentin.
He doubted it, though. Even Joey’s friendly chatter didn’t succeed in that.
“Great pancakes,” Dell said a little too loudly between bites, because Chase was giving him that soulful, side-eyed look that asked if he was okay.
Of course he was okay. It was Quentin who was dead.
“You want some of mine?” Chase offered, motioning to the remainder of his stack.
Dell shook his head. He didn’t have much of an appetite. The only reason he ate Joey’s was not to let the kid down.
Joey trotted off into the kitchen to help Cynthia with the dishes, and Dell flopped into a chair, staring into the distance. After years of military service in the world’s dustiest, most hopeless places, Maui seemed especially beautiful. The blues were bluer, the greens lusher than just about any place he’d ever been, and palm trees swayed gently, all calm and serene. Who would have thought he’d end up in a place this nice? He was lucky — he and all his buddies, plus the guys next door at Koa Point. All those battle-hardened shapeshifters had finally found a place to call home. The only one missing was Quent.
“Heya,” Tim said, lumbering up the stairs like the bear shifter he was.
Hailey, Tim’s mate, waved. “Hi, Dell.”
It was obvious from Tim’s morose look that he’d woken up with the same Shit, today’s that day thought that Dell had started his day with. Hailey was all smiles, though, which was good. Smiles were easy to fake — and to hide behind.
“Aloha.” Dell waved, chipper as can be. “Beautiful day, huh?”
Cynthia came out, greeted the others, and snapped her fingers at Dell. “Feet off the table, pl—”
Tim must have shot Cynthia a killer look to cut her off. Dell pretended not to notice while those two had a quiet mental exchange. They blocked their thoughts from him, but he could guess how it went.
Give the man a break, Cynthia. Just for today.
Dell kept his eyes on the ocean as an awkward silence ticked by.
“Hey,” Tim called softly. “You want anything, man?”
Dell couldn’t help a bittersweet smile. That was the problem with having friends who knew you better than you knew yourself. They saw through any act you put on.
Did he want something? Hell yeah. His brother. Alive.
He stood and stretched lazily. “Nah. Just a shower. Gotta work soon.”
Chapter Two
The drive to work was quiet, as it always was with Chase, the worl
d’s least talkative wolf. Dell turned up the radio to cover his own mood. Not that ukulele tunes were likely to cheer him up, but hell. It was worth a try.
“Dell!” A chorus of greetings rang out as he stepped into the Lucky Devil, a second-floor bar at the edge of the water in Lahaina’s historic district.
Chase stayed at street level, guarding the entrance as he always did. There wasn’t much need for security at brunch, but the owners liked having someone there. It was all part of the show: a muscular guy bristling at the door to make sure nobody got any bad ideas, and a pretty hostess to show customers what a great place the Lucky Devil was. Dell’s job, besides pouring drinks, was entertainment, and he was damn good at it. Even on a day like today — or especially on a day like today — he threw everything he had at it. Brunch meant he mixed more juice spritzers than dirty martinis, but still. He juggled tumblers, flipped flutes, and poured into glasses held at arm’s length. Then he’d pluck a plumeria or a miniature pirate flag to dress up the drink and deliver it with a wink.
So really, each of them had a role to play. Chase was the serious one at the door, while Dell was the fun guy. The easygoing one. The one without a care in the world.
If only they knew.
Candy, one of the waitresses, batted her eyelashes. “Hey, baby. When are you finally going to let me take you surfing?” As usual, her sultry tone hinted that the invitation extended to other, more intimate activities.
“Sorry. Been busy working on that shack of mine,” he said.
Candy pouted. “You’re always working there.”
She wasn’t the only one surprised at the effort Dell had thrown into fixing up an abandoned shed over by the creek on Koakea. Maybe a decade of constantly being on the go did that to a guy. Whatever the reason, his inner lion wouldn’t let him rest until he’d made the next bit of progress. It was uncanny, the rush the beast seemed to be in. Like it was super important to build himself a den before some pressing deadline.