For Toron's Pride

by Tressie Lockwood

  She wanted him to grow into a strong and confident man someday, just not an alpha. Since Simeon had an excessively happy personality and she raised him among humans, she didn’t worry about it too much.

  When they were dressed and had eaten breakfast, Sienna first dropped Simeon off at his preschool and then took the train to her boutique. She still had to go over the numbers and review some new designs she’d been working on. Every now and then, she created a new dress and then used local seamstresses to make a limited run of them. Usually, they were a hit in her store. This practice was small potatoes, and if she really wanted to go national, she would have to think bigger, but right now she had all she could do managing her store. That was enough, and no project was going to take time away from her little boy.

  Period.

  Halfway through the day, Sienna’s cell phone rang. She worked through a couple more numbers before looking at the display. When she did, her chest constricted. The call came from Simeon’s school. Sienna answered in a hurry.

  “Hello?”

  “Ms. Young?” Sienna recognized Simeon’s teacher’s voice.

  “Sienna, please. Ms. Gaby, what’s wrong?” She called the teacher Ms. like the kids did and hadn’t broken herself of the habit even while she insisted the woman call her Sienna. “Is Simi okay?”

  “To be honest, I’m not sure.”

  Sienna scraped her chair back and stood, a knot in her stomach. “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve never seen a rash like this—if it is a rash.” Ms. Gaby hesitated. “I think you better come pick him up.”

  Sienna drew her drawer open and retrieved her purse from it. “Explain.” She didn’t apologize for the clipped tone.

  “It looks like…goodness, you’re going to think I’m crazy, but his ear looks like it’s furry, and a little out of place. Maybe he always had a slight defect but—”

  “Hold the fuck up!” The floor dropped out from under

  Sienna even as her temper rose. “My son is not nor has he ever been defective. “

  “I-I-I didn’t say that. I would never—”

  “I will be there in half an hour.” She disconnected the call and rang Hawke. After it went to voicemail three times, she locked her office and ran toward the front of the store.

  “Karen, I’m going to be out the rest of the day. Please lock up.”

  She didn’t wait for an answer but jetted to the street and hailed a taxi. All the way to the school, scenarios ran through her mind. Simeon could not be shifting. He was too young, wasn’t he? Besides that, he was human. Even the hospital hadn’t detected any abnormalities in his blood at birth.

  Her heart raced, and tears sprang to her eyes. No, this couldn’t be happening. His teacher was wrong, or stupid.

  Sienna phoned Hawke several more times and got no answer. When she arrived at the school, she tossed the cabbie his money and bounded from the vehicle. Her heels beat a rapid staccato on the floor as she hurried toward her son’s classroom. As soon as she hit the door, she spotted him toward the back by himself. Why hadn’t they taken him to the nurse’s office, and why wasn’t his teacher at least comforting him. Simeon tugged at his ear, rocked, and whined. Tears flooded her eyes.

  “Baby, Mommy’s here.” She opened her arms walking into the room, and Simeon ran to her. She hoisted him into her arms and covered his ear with her hand, but she had already seen it. Simeon had partly shifted into a lion cub.

  She didn’t give an explanation or ask questions. They hopped into another taxi within minutes, Simeon on her lap.

  When they were home, Sienna sat Simeon on his bed and knelt down in front of him. “Simi, honey, Mommy needs you to change back, okay?”

  Her son looked at her with wide eyes, confusion obvious in his expression. “Change?”

  She bit her lip, hesitant to come out and say what she now knew he was. To have thought he would turn out any different when both of his parents were shifters was just plain stupid. Sienna touched her baby’s ear, covered in soft fur. Just as his teacher said, it had changed positions, having moved a tad higher on his head. To think Ms. Gaby must have been in a near panic seeing it. Sienna could only hope the woman put it down to a weird reaction to something Simeon ate, which was unlikely, but their existence needed to remain hidden.

  When Simeon started to whine again and tug at his ear, Sienna heaved him onto her hip and paced the small room.

  What was she going to do? She had no power to make Simeon change back. Even if she did, she had no clue how to activate it.

  “Mommy, I feel funny,” Simeon said with his head on her shoulder. Sienna looked down at her son, and spotting fat tears rolling down his cheeks, her decision was made.

  “Everything will be okay, Simi. I promise.” She stabbed the buttons on her cell phone to dial Hawke one last time.

  When his voicemail picked up, she left a clipped message.

  “Hawke, I don’t know where you are at a time like this. I needed you, but…I’m sorry. I have to go. I am taking Simeon to see his father. I’ll talk to you soon. Bye.”

  For Toron's Pride

  Chapter Seven

  Toron detected the rustle of feathers and waited for his friend to come in through the window. When he did, Toron scratched a few more notes and then looked up. “When will you use the door like normal people, Hawke?”

  His childhood buddy scratched the back of his head, a sheepish expression on his face. “Easier that way, and we’re not exactly normal people, are we?”

  Toron shook his head and nodded toward the closet. “At least put some clothes on.”

  Hawke made use of the change of clothes Toron always left for him.

  “You’re early. Your report isn’t due for another two weeks.” Toron stood and walked around his desk. He leaned on the edge and folded his arms across his chest.

  “I’ll admit I don’t mind hearing how she’s doing.” He started when a new thought occurred to him. “She is fine, isn’t she?”

  Hawke’s movements stilled.

  “Hawke!”

  “She’s fine.”

  Toron frowned. “Why the emphasis? What are you implying?”

  “I haven’t…uh… She’s on her way here.”

  “Come again?” Toron tightened his lips. On one hand it thrilled him to know Sienna was coming back, but there was much more Hawke hadn’t said, and that worried him.

  “Explain yourself.”

  Hawke pulled a T-shirt over his head tugged it to his waist. He wandered over to the window and stared out. No one knew more than Toron how much his friend loved the sky, and he should. After all , he was a bird shifter—a hawk to be exact. “There’s something I haven’t told you all these years you asked me to keep an eye on her.”

  Dread stirred in Toron’s gut, but he remained silent.

  “She was pregnant when she left you.”

  “You’re saying—”

  “I’m saying you have a son. His name is Simeon, and he’s four years old.”

  Emotions battled within Toron, thoughts raged for attention, all of which kept him from forming words. He remained where he was, glad for the desk, so he could have something to grip rather than crush his best friend’s windpipe.

  After some time, he settled down enough to speak. “I asked you to report monthly regarding her.”

  “You never wanted details.”

  Toron sneered. “That’s your excuse?”

  “You didn’t want to know about her life, her career, or even whether she was involved. You told me to assure you she was safe and had a roof over her head, food to eat. Nothing more, you said.”

  Toron pushed off the desk and took measured steps toward his friend. “And it never occurred to you to forget my instructions and just tell me? Not once?”

  “I—”

  “Sienna! What are you doing here?” came Stella’s voice from somewhere outside his office door.

  “Where is he, Stella?”

  Toron started at the worry
in her tone, and he changed directions to wrench the door open. The impact of seeing her robbed him of mobility. Her beauty, defined by that defiant light in her eyes, did him in.

  “Sienna.”

  He spoke her name on a constricted breath, annoyed at his weakness.

  She swept past him holding a tiny bundle in her arms. An oversized coat covered the figure, allowing small sneaker covered feet to peek from the bottom. “Toron, I know this will be a surprise, and I’ll explain everything, but please help him. He—” She broke off, her eyes going wide. “Hawke, what are you doing here?”

  Hawke stiffened. “You made good time. I intended to be gone. I’m sorry for deceiving you, Sienna.”

  “Deceiving me how? What’s going on?” She gasped. “You know Toron. You knew him all along, you bastard.”

  Toron closed the space between the two of them and grasped her chin, forcing her to look at him. He did so just because he wanted to touch her. “What’s wrong, Sienna?”

  Her gaze flitted from Hawke to him and back again, and he noted the wheels turning, her coming to false conclusions. “You knew about Simeon, and you didn’t give a damn.”

  Toron took a step closer to her, and the tirade faltered.

  She jerked her chin out of his hold to retreat a pace. Before she could tear into him afresh, a small whimper cut her off. Simeon cried out.

  “Toron, help him, please. I don’t know what to do.”

  Something turned inside Toron. He didn’t like to see her this upset. He smelled her terror and sensed her pain as if it was his own. Sienna removed the coat, and a small blond head popped into view. He recognized what happened right away.

  “Give him to me.” He held out his hands, and Sienna didn’t hesitate a moment. She trusted he knew how to take care of their son, and that was enough for now. Toron hefted the boy to his chest and rocked him a little.

  “Everything will be okay, Simeon. You feel my power, don’t you?”

  Toron opened himself to his son, first for comfort, and then he would guide him to change back. Simeon was too young for the change, but Toron knew because he was mixed with both natural and regular lion shifter blood, his body was off the normal cycle. He and his son synchronized with ease, and Toron felt Simeon’s heartbeat as if it were his own. He reached out mentally and touched the small boy’s mind, sending calm and peace. Simeon stopped fidgeting, and where he’d been tugging at his ear, he curled his hand into his chest and fell asleep in Toron’s arms.

  So small. Toron stared at Simeon in wonder.

  “He’s no longer in pain,” Toron announced. He leaned down and whispered in the boy’s ear. “Change back, Simeon. That’s right. Let go.” Toron gave him a nudge in the right direction, and the ear covered in fur went back to normal. The next time Toron raised his head, it was to catch Sienna staring at him, lips parted, and an expression of confusion in her gaze. He turned his own gaze away from hers when he spoke. “Let him rest a while. Unconsciously, he’s been fighting the change all this time, and it’s worn him out.”

  “Isn’t he a little young to change?” Hawke asked. Toron didn’t answer him.

  “I’ll have him put in one of the rooms upstairs,” Toron said and stepped toward the door.

  “No!”

  He paused at Sienna’s vehemence.

  “I mean, I’ll take him, but it’s only for tonight. Then—”

  Toron hesitated and then turned his son over to Sienna.

  He waited until she left the room before speaking to Hawke. “Now, explain to me why you would keep Simeon a secret from me.”

  “I already—”

  Toron pivoted on the ball of his foot and took two long strides to come up before Hawke. He jerked the man in the col ar and smashed a fist into Hawke’s face. To his credit, his friend, being a big guy, only stumbled back a couple steps. He ran a hand across his mouth, wiping away blood.

  “Try it again,” Toron growled.

  Hawke fisted his hands, but Toron didn’t sense an attack.

  His friend wanted only to calm the anger rising inside. “I fell for her. I’m sorry. I knew if you found out about Simeon, you wouldn’t let her stay away, and that meant you and she… I’m sorry, Toron. I was wrong.”

  “Dead wrong.” Toron flexed his hand, examining the reddened skin at his knuckles. As he watched, it faded to his normal skin tone. “I want you out of here for good. I don’t ever want to see your face again.”

  “You can’t mean that.”

  Toron said nothing. He waited for Hawke to get his meaning. After a moment or two, Hawke shed the clothes he’d just put on and shifted to the animal that had been inside from birth. In a flap of wings, he was gone. Behind Toron, the door opened, and Sienna’s scent enveloped him. Toron shut his eyes and heaved a deep breath before turning.

  Her brown gaze struck him in the chest with its beauty.

  “Hawke’s gone? I wanted an explanation from him. I thought he was my friend. He helped me with Simeon tons of times, not even hinting that he knew his father.”

  Toron gritted his teeth. He should find Hawke and rip him apart for enjoying the duties that should have been his. “He showed the kind of man he is, so I don’t give a fuck where he went. What I’m more interested in is you, Sienna. I didn’t know my son existed, but I do now.”

  A tremor seemed to pass over her before she stiffened her shoulders and raised her chin. “Well, like I said, we’re leaving in the morning. I’m not going to stop you from seeing Simeon, so you can come down to New York anytime. Just call first.”

  “You’re mistaken.” He straightened his jacket and strolled across to his desk to sit down.

  “Excuse me?”

  Toron bent his head over the paperwork in front of him and picked up his pen. “You can leave whenever you like. My son stays here.”

  Her small hands slammed down on his desk, forcing him to look at her. “Who the hell are you? You’re nobody as far as the law is concerned. You’re not even on the birth certificate.” She gasped when the words left her mouth and slapped a hand over her lips.

  Toron took his time standing. “That can be rectified, but aside from that, tell me, what will you do the next time he shifts? What if it’s in front of humans?”

  The guilt that passed over her face allerted him that was exactly what had happened.

  “Do you know the danger you put us in? How about if all of us are hunted down and killed like simple animals?”

  “I wouldn’t let anyone find out.”

  “No, because you had so much control over this situation.” Sarcasm dripped from each word he spoke until she glared at him.

  “I didn’t know it was going to happen, okay? Simi was born just like any other human, in a hospital, and they said nothing about him being different. I thought…”

  Toron considered this new information. “As a side job when he’s bored, Hawke works as a private investigator.”

  “What do you mean when he’s bored? Anyway, I already know about his job.”

  “I mean Hawke doesn’t have to work if he doesn’t want to, but my guess is he had something to do with Simeon’s blood appearing to be human.”

  “You’re saying he switched the records somehow?”

  “Possibly.”

  Sienna glanced down at her hands, clasped together so tight he felt her tension. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

  “What will you do, Sienna?” He stood before her and raised her chin. Electricity pulsed through his being just touching her. Nothing had lessened over the five years since he’d seen her last. He craved her, and beyond that, she seeped into his being, a consummation that refused to be denied.

  Sienna’s eyes widened. He saw her weakness toward him, but then she straightened her spine. She would fight him all the way, and that was good. Maybe he would keep his hands to himself. This problem involved his son and nothing else.

  “I’ll stay,” she muttered.

  He cut off a sigh of relief. They wouldn’t battle on
that head. “Good. You can use your same room, and Simeon can—”

  “Hold up.” She raised a hand. “I’m not staying in your house, number one. I can find a place in town, right? A small apartment to rent? And two, I have my own business that I have to figure out what to do with. All of that takes time.”

  He frowned. “There’s no reason to rent an apartment. I have plenty of extra rooms, and I can arrange for your business to be—”

  “No.” She spun on her heel and started toward the door.

  “Sienna!”

  She stopped. “I’m doing this for Simi, my baby. I’d do anything for him, so it’s not hard to choose him over business, but make no mistake, you are not controlling my life. Not now, not ever. I raise Simi, and I absolutely don’t want him to turn out like you.”

  He narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. “I own several businesses, and I am leader of one of the biggest shifter clans on the east coast. Just what is it that you find so disgusting about me?”

  Probably against her will , her gaze swept him from head to toe, and he saw her linger at the front his pants. Toron’s cock twitched, and her stare skittered away in another direction. “I don’t have to point it out. I truly am sorry for keeping him from you. When I think about someone not letting me see or even know about Simi, I feel faint. I realize he’s not human, but I’m going to raise him as one as much as possible. I think he deserves a normal life.”

  “He deserves to know his heritage.” Toron approached her with caution as if she were an edgy filly ready to bolt.

  “From what you’re saying it sounds like you haven’t accepted what you are, so you can’t know how to help Simeon embrace what he is. Hold on. I’m not trying to insult you.”

  She glared at him. He held up hands in surrender.

  “I’m just saying there is a lot more to us—to me—than you learned over that weekend. I can show you if you like.”

  “I-I don’t think that’s a good idea. You worry about Simi. I’ll take care of myself.” Before he could say another word, she disappeared through the door and shut it quietly behind her. Toron stood where he was listening to the click of her heels echo down the hall . Long after she was gone, her scent lingered in his nostrils.