He’d enjoyed fucking her lioness body then, and he had enjoyed claiming her human form. Connecting with Ariela in any shape left him longing for an intimacy he couldn’t explain.
“What do you want? What do you hope to gain?”
Shoc stepped closer to the cage, dangerously close, only he’d underestimated his opponent, the man before him. He bowed his head and lifted that soulless gaze. “I want to hang the lion who murdered my brother, but I want to kill you for another reason, Sanchez.”
“He wants to use you to send a message to the rest of Vegas,” Jagger’s voice resounded.
Ariela rushed to Sanchez’s side. She squeezed his bicep and whispered, “Let him handle this. He probably has a reporter or two with him.”
Sanchez glanced down at his erect cock. “Perfect,” he muttered.
Ariela stripped off her slacks and pulled her shirt down over her hips. Thrusting her pants in front of him, she smiled and said, “Put them on. I’ll tell him to make sure they only get a shot from the front.” She slapped his ass and he jolted forward. “I don’t want every woman in Vegas to be after you.”
“After me?”
“If they see that fine ass of yours—”
“Ariela, please.” Jagger showed himself then. Another man accompanied him.
Sanchez held his hands in front of his cock. Ariela’s slacks covered his penis, but he wasn’t happy about using her pants for protection. He stepped in front of her, blocking her from view.
“How sweet,” Shoc said. “You can fuck her in front of me, but you don’t want her two mates to see her partially dressed.” He glanced at the men next to him. “Jagger, Leon.” He sighed dramatically. “I was about to explain my goals to Sanchez.”
“Your goal is to make others in this city fear you,” Leon said in a flat voice.
“Leon is right,” Ariela said. “The only reason you want to kill Sanchez is because you believe it will earn you the respect you desire, the respect your brother never had.”
“My brother was a god in this town.”
“A god?” Ariela balked at that. “He was cruel to his employees. He was disrespectful to other businessmen. He drugged and abused Sanchez. He didn’t die because Sanchez wanted to kill him. He died because he provoked a lion who had a violent reaction to….”
“You!” Shoc screamed. “This killer murdered my brother because of his attraction to you! He became highly agitated. I’ve interviewed the handlers. I’ve spoken to our employees—”
“Your employees?” A woman’s voice filled the basement then. Followed by a group of reporters, the lady waved a handful of papers in front of Shoc. “Mr. Shoc Matheson, there’s a court order to remove you from the property. You have there in your hands a copy of your brother’s will. Your brother left you exactly ten dollars, so you—and the courts—would know he acknowledged you in his will, but didn’t want you to have any sizeable amount of his estate.”
“This is absurd!”
Sanchez swung his gaze at Leon. The man was stoic, yet his eyes hadn’t stilled. He seemed to peruse the area above them, studying the elevated floors.
“We’re here to escort you out, Mr. Matheson.” Two Las Vegas street cops stepped forward. One placed his hand on Matheson’s back.
“We need the key to the cage,” Sanchez told them.
“You can rot there for all I care!” Shoc snarled.
Leon whipped around then, just as Shoc sprang to his feet—and took to the air in a panther’s form. He landed 20 feet away, and ran.
Shifting too, Leon bounded out of the basement, following Shoc down a corridor and up a flight of stairs. The metal flooring above them allowed those on the ground to watch the fight through the grooves. They could easily see the clawing and tumbling as the smaller cat became prey to one of the most dangerous predators in the world.
“Jagger, no,” Ariela said, shaking her head at her other mate.
Sanchez draped his arm around her shoulder and drew her against him. Together, they stared up in anticipation. Only one beast would leave as the victor.
Cameras rolled. Reporters began spouting off about the events leading up to the grand exotic animal event, a name one of the reporters had given the misunderstood war.
Shoc led Leon into the rafters, and the cats continued to battle out their differences, striking with claws and bodies, gnashing teeth and extended incisors. Whimpering filled the air. Jagger hurried to the cage and tried to loosen the bars. “You need to get her out of here.”
“I’m all for that,” Sanchez said, wishing he could do something to help Leon, the man who’d obviously been willing to sacrifice everything in order to draw Shoc away from Ariela.
A guy had to respect a man who was willing to die for the woman he loved.
Jagger hurried away and returned a few minutes later with an ax. “Stand back,” he said. He swung and struck. The lock popped off the latch at the first blow.
Ariela rushed out of imprisonment and leapt into Jagger’s arms. She showered him with kisses as Sanchez stood back and watched, admiring the way she moved freely around a person she so clearly loved.
It was then when a bigger truth hit him. She responded to him in much the same way.
Chapter Fifteen
Hours later, all of them were back at their desert compound. Jagger had taken the time to show Sanchez around, and Ariela felt an overwhelming sense of relief when the men returned to the poolside, where she’d awaited their return.
“No word yet,” she whispered, cocking her head and studying her mates. She missed Leon then, and couldn’t help but wonder what they might have been doing at that very moment if he’d been there with them. “Jagger, think about this. Leon couldn’t see the future. Maybe he isn’t part of our future.”
“Nonsense,” Jagger said, pulling her against him. “I don’t want to hear you talk like that.”
“I can’t help it. How many times did we ask him to show us the future? How often did we ask him to help us help Sanchez?”
“It was because of this,” Leon said, stepping out away from the trees. “If you’d known what was about to happen, anything could’ve gone wrong to stop the end result.”
“Leon!” Ariela rushed him and threw her arms around his neck.
“Hi, baby,” he crooned, eagerly returning each of her kisses.
“What happened?” Jagger asked.
“I lost him.”
“You lost him?” Sanchez asked, obviously disappointed. “How could you lose him?”
Leon stalked him. “What do you know about a circle of commitment?”
Sanchez’s face went blank.
“Have you heard of it?”
“Yes.”
“What do you know about it?”
“Not much.”
“Apparently there are several nomads in the area. They can’t join a pride because of a circle of commitment formed with shifters from another region. They shift between panther and lion, never aware of which form they might take. They’re dangerous. Let me rephrase; they’re deadly. I’m not sure I could’ve survived if I’d been up against Shoc’s lion form.” He stared at Sanchez. “I need to know how to form one.”
“You should know,” Ariela said. “Shouldn’t you?”
“I don’t, Ariela,” Leon said, “But Sanchez does. And if we can form one quickly enough, we’ll be stronger together as a pride.”
“Is that right, Sanchez?” Jagger asked.
“Yes, but it’s very tricky.” Sanchez sat on the end of a nearby lounger. “Once the pride forms a circle of commitment, no one else can enter their circle. Unlike…say…a human’s circle of influence, a lion’s circle of commitment can’t expand or grow. Once the commitment is solidly formed, no other lions or shifters can join the family.” He frowned. “But the dangers still exist, Leon.”
“Tell us about them,” Jagger said.
“I’ve only known about a handful of circles.�
� He watched Ariela curiously. “I can’t imagine you wanting to know about this in front of her.”
“We don’t hide anything from Ariela,” Jagger told him.
“Would you want her to die if you died?”
“Of course not.”
“Leon?”
“Absolutely not. Why would you ask such a question?”
Sanchez cleared his throat. “My parents were part of one such commitment. They were unstoppable as a pride.” He lifted his head and a sense of loyalty lingered in his eyes. “There wasn’t any way to separate my parents. They stood together, and they were rarely apart in their twenty-four years of marriage. They’d formed several other bonds within the pride. Our neighbors and a couple of their eldest sons were in the circle of commitment they formed. When Mom and Dad died, they all died soon after—each one meeting a similar death.”
Ariela gasped. Her hand flew to her mouth and Leon drew her wrist to his lips, kissing her softly. “Leon, is that what happened to Mom and Dad?”
Jagger closed his eyes, apparently coming to terms with what he was hearing for the first time. “There was always a light of suspicion shining on their deaths.”
“Where did they die?” Sanchez asked.
“South Africa,” Jagger told him.
Anyone could’ve heard a pin drop. Sanchez slowly nodded. “Were they killed on a South African Excursion?”
“Why yes,” Jagger replied. “How did you know?”
“Only a few circles of commitments have formed, and the shifters of each have lived on through their stories long after their deaths. From what I understand, each circle of commitment becomes stronger than the last. How old were your parents when they were killed?”
“Mine and Ariela’s were in their late thirties.”
“And they never said anything to you about this?”
“Never,” Jagger replied, glancing at Leon. “Did you suspect this?”
“At one time,” Leon admitted. “I just didn’t follow up on it. I was too invested in trying to locate you and Ariela.”
“Go on, Sanchez,” Ariela encouraged him before going to Jagger. Discussing their parents’ deaths had always been so difficult for Jagger. Time didn’t heal all wounds. They’d suffered the loss of their parents together and it forever remained a gaping wound, one that on occasion, such as now, festered and bled, refusing to heal.
“My parents were in their early fifties. The youngest members in their circle were in their late twenties. Another circle had members with ages ranging from forty-two to sixty-eight.” He frowned. “Even though we might be stronger together, we could die together or within a few days of one another. As lion shifters, we already face so many trials. Based on the limited information we have about the circles of commitments, I can’t risk Ariela when there’s no way to determine a lifespan.”
“Do you know how the circles form?” Jagger asked, looking to Leon for answers.
Leon shook with laughter. “Use your imagination.”
“We’ll do that anyway,” Jagger said, eyeing Ariela with that lustful stamp of approval in his eyes.
Sanchez shook his head vehemently. “Not unless you want to form a bond that cannot be broken.”
“Are you planning on going somewhere?”Ariela asked him, working her walk as she went to him.
“Not during this lifetime,” he whispered, brushing her hair out of her face. “But I care too much about you to drag you behind me if I’m pulled into another one ahead of you.”
“We can’t beat these shifters, Jagger,” Leon said. “They’re fast, strong, and when they fight, they fight with everything they can draw upon. They have an inner strength that matches their physical capabilities. I think we need to find out more.”
“I know someone who might be able to help,” Sanchez spoke up.
“Who?” Jagger and Leon asked together.
“He lives in the hills not far from here,” Sanchez explained. “I don’t know much about him, but I do know he moved here to find his mate. He would know about the circles.”
“What’s his name?” Jagger asked.
“Lane Livingston.”
As if his name alone held extraordinary powers, Leon lunged forward, acting as if someone had tugged him across the patio. A bolt of light propelled from his fingertips, and inside a vast translucent bubble, a great image appeared.
“What the—” Sanchez paled as he moved closer, stepping just outside the ringed realm of fantastic carnal images, explicit in every way.
Ariela gasped, too, but stood back so Leon wouldn’t be interrupted, so the extraordinary vision wouldn’t disappear.
Inside the grand illusion, four bodies rocked against Ariela’s outstretched body. Behind her, Jagger clutched her hips, fucking and pounding, penetrating her ass with such magnificent force that the form surrounding them crinkled above the place where his head was positioned.
Lane, the man Ariela had met in the desert, slipped between her lips. His long, meaty cock strummed inside her mouth and Ariela opened wide, aware then of his taste, certain she wasn’t imagining the distinct salty film tantalizing her tongue.
Leon and Sanchez locked arms in the image. They used one another for balance and stroked inside her pussy. Watching such a feat left an impression. No one could move away from the picture Leon painted.
“More?” Leon questioned her in the fantasy. He pulled Sanchez forward as they impaled her with a series of short and broken strokes. Jagger cupped her breasts. He flattened his feet on some sort of golden surface and hammered for an obvious finish, screaming out her name.
At the same time, Lane made his demands. He told her to come, demanded that she take her ride and reach new heights.
As their bodies rocked together, the image became foggy and distorted. The vision of pleasure disintegrated in midair with a distant whisper resounding behind the circle. They were left to listen to the brisk wind carrying the echoes out of reach.
Epilogue
“Thank you for seeing me,” Jagger said, entering Lane Livingston’s home. “I noticed the For Sale sign. Are you moving from the area?”
“It’s been there a while.” Lane motioned for Jagger to sit. “Your assistant said it was urgent. I don’t typically make time for guests. I’m a busy man. What can I do for you, Jagger?”
A distinguished man with plenty of money, Jagger quickly discovered he’d met his match in the shifter before him. “I have an unusual problem, and was told you could help me.”
“I help a lot of people. I’m involved in many charities. You aren’t here as a philanthropist or on behalf of a charity.”
“I’m here on behalf of my wife.”
“Your wife?” A slow smile crept across his face. “What does this have to do with Ariela?”
“I want to protect her.”
“Then guard her with your life.”
“We have a formidable opponent. I need to know how to better prepare for the day when he emerges again.”
“I assume you’re talking about Barlo Matheson’s brother.”
“Yes.”
“I can’t help you with him.” He glared at Jagger then, acting as if he were ready to draw their meeting to a close.
“Can’t or won’t?”
“A little of both.”
“Do you care about Ariela?”
“I’m not her husband. It isn’t my duty to care about Ariela.”
“But you do,” Jagger said. “And I know you can help us protect her.”
“Us?” His eyes flickered with awareness.
“Ariela has three mates.”
Lane cocked his head. “You’re sure about that?”
“Positive.” Jagger knew better but he wasn’t about to play his hand when he was staring at a man with an outstanding poker face.
“Ariela has one true mate, Jagger,” Lane said.
“You believe Ariela belongs only to you?”
“I did
n’t say that.”
“You implied it.”
“We’re finished here.” Lane rose to his feet and walked Jagger to the main entrance. “Don’t come back here, Jagger. If you do, you won’t find me as hospitable as I am today.”
“Tell me about the circle of commitment.”
Lane snarled, but he didn’t comment.
“You know about it. I don’t. Tell me about the circle.”
“The circle will never be complete,” Lane said, pointing at the driveway. “Go back to your wife, Jagger. Enjoy every day you have left together, but understand this: we aren’t friends. We’ll never lie in the same bed together and claim the mate you say is your wife. It won’t happen.”
He’d just started to shut Jagger out, but Jagger caught the door with his arm. “Tell me how to keep her alive.”
“Don’t form a circle of commitment. When her true mate comes for her, he won’t know and he won’t care. Forming that circle could get her killed.”
About the Author
Destiny Blaine is an international bestselling eBook and trade paperback author. Writing in all genres, Destiny enjoys writing about cowboys and shifters, athletes and bikers. You can find out more by visiting her website at www.destinyblaine.com.
In the meantime, if you enjoyed this story, please leave a rating and review where you purchased this title. A completed series with five installments, Rise to Power-Search for Pride books will be available where all eBooks are sold.
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