A Lion's Pride

by Susan Bliler

  Trying to copy Deacon, she tried to do as he’d just done, but when she sucked in a breath, it came back out on a sob.

  Not wanting Deacon to see her crying over Carter, she ducked her chin and turned away from him, but he grabbed her from behind and just held her while she cried.

  ***

  Goddamnit! Carter shoved Leila off him. “Woman,” he snarled, “the next time you touch me without permission, I’m taking it up with your Alpha.”

  Leila’s eyes rounded before she dropped her arms and quickly backed up, blinking up at him with her fake lashes and pouty lips. “But, Carter, I thought we . . .”

  “You thought wrong,” he cut her off. “And I don’t know how many times I have to tell you no, but this is the last.” Jamming a finger at a table by the stage the band played on, he ordered, “Go back to your pack. Now!”

  Flattening her hand exaggeratedly on her ample bosom, Leila huffed before snapping her eyes and stalking away.

  Pissed, Carter dropped into his seat as did Rall beside him.

  “She’s buggy,” Rall groused.

  She was, but Carter was just glad that Maia hadn’t been there to see Leila’s show. Leila had probably kissed him on purpose too, pissed because she’d seen Carter dancing with Maia. Leila was what shifters referred to as a “better spreader.” She was always willing to spread her legs for an advancement in position. She chased Alphas, Primes, and Apexes thinking if one of them claimed her that she’d be a Phena, Prima, or Apia. It was pathetic, and her crushing herself into Carter pissed him off. He was glaring in the direction of Leila’s pack table when Zander rushed up out of breath.

  “She saw you!”

  Confused, Carter simply stared at him and waited.

  “Maia!” Zander rushed out. “She saw you kissing Leila.”

  Fffffffuck! Shooting up out of his seat, Carter scanned the crowd and growled, “I wasn’t kissing her! She kissed me.”

  “That ain’t how it looked,” Zander chastised.

  Annoyed, Carter snapped, “Fuck you, man!” Eyes still frantically searching, he grew panicky when he couldn’t find Maia. “Where is she?”

  Zander was already moving. “She ran outside.”

  Ran outside? Motherfucking fucker! Carter shoved Zander out of his way as he raced for the door.

  Chapter 16

  Maia tried to control her tears and the humiliation washing over her. She didn’t want Deacon to see her crying like this over Carter, but the tears just kept on coming. She couldn’t help but wonder if Carter had made her get dressed up and excited about the festival just so he could bring her here and embarrass her. It didn’t seem like something he’d do, but . . . he’d just done it.

  Behind her, Deacon’s chest was rumbling with a rolling growl, but his arms stayed tight around her.

  “Maia?”

  The familiar booming voice had Maia tensing.

  “Maia!” the voice called again, and fear ripped through her as she turned stunned eyes on Ramsey. His long legs devoured the deck as he stormed toward her.

  Her brother’s face was a mask of shock that quickly morphed into rage as he took in her tear-soaked face and Deacon’s arms holding her from behind. In four long strides, he closed the distance between them, and without a word, he punched Deacon hard right in the face.

  “Ramsey!” Maia screamed as Deacon released her and stumbled back. She reached for Deacon, but he was already righting himself. She didn’t even get a chance to ask Deacon if he was okay because Ramsey grabbed her arm and pulled her to him as he bent. Seething, he demanded, “What in the fuck are you doing here?”

  A flare of anger surged. “Carter brought me!”

  Ramsey’s eyes slid to where Deacon righted himself. Deacon’s face contorted into a mask of rage as he balled his hands into threatening fists that had Ramsey’s lip ticking up in a snarl.

  “Stop it!” Maia hissed. “This is Deacon; he’s Carter’s brother.”

  “I know who the fuck he is,” Ramsey sneered. His hold on her tightened a fraction and grew almost painful. “What are you doing here, Maia?”

  Angry and embarrassed, Maia jerked her arm out of his hold and gritted out, “Dancing! What are you doing here?” But he didn’t need to answer. She already knew, and that knowledge had more hurt slashing through her. Ramsey being here proved her suspicions right. Eyes leaving his, she checked behind him, and sure enough, there was her clan.

  Shame slashed at her with wickedly sharp claws because she’d been right. Her clan had foregone the festival for all these years because of her, because she was a human and humans weren’t allowed. They didn’t want to be seen with her, and Carter was the same. She wasn’t a shifter. She wasn’t good enough for any of them.

  Ramsey caught her arm and jerked her back to him, but lost in her thoughts, Maia wasn’t expecting it and her heel slipped.

  She crashed hard into Ramsey’s chest, and it, combined with her revelation, pissed her off, so when she righted herself, she yanked on her arm. Ramsey didn’t let go, so she punched him hard in the chest as Deacon crowded in behind her. Heat filled her face as she seethed, “Don’t manhandle me like that, Ramsey!” That fast, she was trembling with fury as she gritted out, “Ever!”

  It was all she got out before Carter appeared out of nowhere and ripped Ramsey’s hand off her. Two seconds later, Ramsey was flying backward. He hit a snow-covered patio table and it toppled over, and Ramsey went with it.

  Startled, Maia’s mouth fell open as her head whipped around. Staring up at Carter she saw that the beautiful sky blue of his eyes was obliterated. His pupils were blown out, dilated so fully that only a menacing black showed with just the thinnest of gold rims. Worse, his wicked incisors had elongated, and his lip was peeled back in a snarl as he caught Maia around the waist and pulled her body back into his in a protective gesture.

  “Take her,” he snarled, shoving her into Zander’s arms as Ramsey got to his feet.

  The crowd that had gathered on the deck fell silent, save for the growls and snarls coming from her clan and Carter’s pride.

  The bears of the Major clan lined up, fists clenched, teeth gnashed, prepared for battle as they waited for Ramsey to join them. In front of her, Carter stood, shoulders hunched, fingers curled into claws as he waited.

  “No!” Maia reached for Carter, but Zander pushed her into Rall’s arms so he could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Carter and Deacon. While Rall was the smallest of the Concolor brothers, he was no slouch, and fight as she may, Maia couldn’t break free. She could only watch in horror as the Concolor Pride squared off against her clan.

  “No!” she repeated more firmly. This couldn’t happen.

  That familiar furious glitter in Ramsey’s eyes as he got to his feet told her that her brother’s bear was seconds away from taking his skin, and if that happened, she knew Carter would unleash his lion and then all hell would break loose. Carter and her boys were outnumbered ten to four.

  “No!” Maia screamed, trying to lunge away from Rall to put herself between Carter and Ramsey, who was stalking toward Carter with a weighty menace that she could feel even without shifter senses. Rall tightened his hold on her.

  Ramsey’s terrifying gaze slid from Carter to Rall as he snarled in a voice polluted with his bear, “Let go of my sister, fucker!”

  “You the one who’s been hurting her?” Carter demanded, drawing Ramsey’s attention back to him.

  All the blood left Maia’s head so fast she swayed. Oh God!

  “The fuck you say?” Ramsey boomed, stepping up and going nose-to-nose with Carter. The two men were nearly identical in height and build, but where Carter was all golden God with sun-kissed skin, Ramsey was dark black hair hanging to the middle of his back with arms darkened by full-sleeve tattoos.

  Ramsey butted his head into Carter’s, but Carter didn’t back down.

  “Are you the motherfucker that’s been putting hands on her?” Carter repeated on a roar.

  Ramsey’s glare
slid from Carter to Maia and then back. “No one hurts her!” he snarled the denial. “What the fuck are you talking about, cat?”

  “He doesn’t know,” Maia breathed in a panic. Whipping her head around, she turned imploring eyes on Rall. “Please! He doesn’t know! It wasn’t him!”

  But Carter kept right on talking, confessing her secret to Ramsey. “Someone hurt her! And I swear to fucking God, if it was you . . .”

  “Stop!” Maia cried.

  Ramsey’s furious eyes were on her now, narrowing as he scrutinized her before they slid to Deacon.

  “It wasn’t any of us!” Carter snapped.

  When Ramsey spoke again his voice dripped with such lethality that it sent chills blasting up Maia’s spine. “What the fuck do you mean someone hurt her?”

  “Manhandling her,” Carter supplied, shoving Ramsey again. “Like you just were! Does it make you feel like a big man, pushing around a little human?”

  Ramsey’s gaze left Maia, and then he was rearing back his fist.

  “Stoooop!” Maia screamed, but it was too late.

  Ramsey threw his punch, and then all hell broke loose.

  Chapter 17

  Bears and lions were exploding from skin around Maia, and Rall was forced to release her to rush into the melee. Carter and Ramsey were going at it like they were possessed, and all Maia could do was watch in utter horror. This was her fault. The fragile truce the Concolors and Majors had held all these years shattered in an instant, and it was all because of her.

  Rall rushed to join his brothers in battle, and after just a moment’s hesitation, Maia dashed for where Carter and Ramsey were hammering on each other, still in human form. She only made it two steps when somebody grabbed her from behind.

  Some guy she didn’t know held her by the arms, and when Maia looked up at him, he shook his head. “Uh-uh, lil thang. You let them boys go at it.”

  “Let me go!”

  But the guy shook his head again.

  Head whipping back to the action, she felt her heart stop when Rall disappeared under a pile of grizzlies. “Let me go!” she screamed. But the guy still held her tight. Pissed, she looked down and stomped on his toes hard with the spiky point of her heel. With a bellow, the shifter shoved her away from him.

  Maia flew forward and couldn’t stop herself from going down hard.

  “Maia!” Zander yelled, and it had both Ramsey’s and Carter’s heads whipping in her direction.

  But it was too late. A pile of snapping and clawing fur was almost on top of her, and all Maia could do was lock mournful eyes onto Carter.

  Carter abandoned Ramsey in an instant, and both men were rushing toward her, but Maia knew they wouldn’t make it.

  Throwing up an arm to protect herself, she turned her face away as the brawlers came crashing down on her.

  Just as she was buried, she heard both Carter and Ramsey roar, “Stooop!”

  ***

  Carter poured every ounce of his Apex authority into his command, and he felt a similar lash of power in Ramsey’s simultaneous order too. In an instant, every single shifter out on the deck froze except for him and Ramsey, who were tossing massive beasts off the pile that had buried Maia. Carter swore his heart had seized up. There was a terrifyingly deafening silence filling his ears and his mouth had dried up, while his palms were sweating. He and Ramsey worked in tandem tossing bodies off the pile, neither caring if they were lion or bear. At the bottom, Zander’s bleeding back was hunched over something, and when he peeled off Maia, all the air left Carter in a relieved whoosh.

  “I wouldn’t let anything happen to her,” Zander stated as he staggered to his feet. His shirt was shredded and there were claw marks on his chest, arms, and back, but it wasn’t anything he wouldn’t survive.

  Carter dropped to his knees, pulling Maia into his chest. He crushed her to him and breathed, “Jesus Christ, baby!” He hugged her hard. “You scared the shit outta me.”

  “Come on, Maia.” Ramsey reached for her. “Enough of this fraternizing with lions shit, you’re coming home with me!”

  “The fuck she is!” Carter pulled her tighter into him, but he noticed how tense her frame was. “You can’t keep her safe,” Carter argued, worried about how stiff Maia felt in his arms. “You didn’t even know what was happening with her. She’s better off with us.”

  Ramsey’s eyes narrowed on Carter. “With your pride or with you?”

  Carter got to his feet and brought Maia with him. Finally giving her his full attention, he said, “C’mon, we’re going home.” But when he released her and reached down to grab her hand, she jerked away and took a step back.

  What the . . . ?

  Her gaze was accusatory.

  Brows furrowing, Carter studied her face. His mind was reeling with all that had just happened, and it took him a second to remember that she’d seen Leila kissing him. “Maia?”

  She didn’t get the chance to respond because Ramsey planted his big body in front of her, blocking Carter’s view.

  “She’s a member of my clan and a member of my family! She’s mine and she’s leaving here with me, so fucking move!”

  Something in Carter ripped. It just tore right down the fucking middle and split him wide open when Ramsey called Maia his. She wasn’t Ramsey’s anything, and she sure as shit no longer belonged to the Major Clan. Carter couldn’t contain the savage anger that tore through him at Ramsey’s words.

  Low and hoarse, he bit out one lone word as he dipped his chin in challenge. “Miiiine!”

  His declaration of ownership was a snarl of feral possession. There was no hope of keeping the ferocity he was feeling from his voice or his face. Glaring hard at Ramsey, he silently challenged the bear to try and take what his lion had claimed. And claimed he had. Somewhere between Maia arriving on his ranch and irking the ever-loving shit out of him with her mere presence and her breathing life back into his brothers . . . back into him, he’d decided she needed to stay. But more than just stay. He wanted her. He wanted Maia Major like he wanted his next fucking breath, and if he had to annihilate his alliance with the bears of The Den, if he had to fight every fucking one of them, including the Alpha standing before him, he would.

  Major’s eyes were flashing with a furious glitter that promised the battle Carter was asking for. But instead of fighting, Major kept his eyes on Carter, but angled his chin toward his shoulder. His voice was rough when he asked, “Maia?”

  Stepping around her brother, the skirt of Maia’s red dress whipped in the wind. Sometime during the fighting, her hair had come down too, and it danced about her shoulders in the most beautiful way. She was gorgeous, she was perfect, and she rocked Carter to his core when without looking at him she whispered a pain-filled, “Take me home,” and reached for Ramsey’s hand.

  With a smirk of satisfaction, Ramsey grabbed Maia’s hand and pulled her away.

  “Maia!” Carter gritted out, but she didn’t even look back. “Maia!” he shouted, but she kept on going.

  Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fffffffuck!

  All the fight left Carter and his animal as they watched Maia walk away from them. Carter’s clan followed, and the crowd out on the deck thinned until just Carter, Zander, Deacon, and Rall were left watching the taillights of the Major Clan convoy disappear into the night.

  Chapter 18

  (Two days later)

  Carter hefted the ax high over his head before bringing it down in a sweeping arc. With one bone-jarring hit, the log he’d been aiming for split right down the middle, the two halves dropping with dull thuds on either side of the chopping block.

  “Maybe we should call her,” Rall muttered.

  “No!” Carter snarled. They weren’t calling Maia, they weren’t begging her to come back. This was probably what those fucking bears had intended when they’d sent her over in the first place. She was probably just a fucking plant, a decoy to fuck with their heads.

  Rall kicked the two pieces of wood toward the towering pile they’
d been stacking against the side of the house, before placing another round log onto the chopping block for Carter.

  “You hurt her feelings,” Rall accused.

  His words had ache slashing through Carter’s chest, but he just gritted his teeth against it and lifted his ax.

  His brothers had been pissed at him for two days now. They wanted Maia back. They wanted Carter to go to The Den and explain to Maia that him kissing Leila wasn’t what it looked like. But the more Carter thought on it, the more he thought that maybe Maia leaving was a good thing. Inside, his lion roared his dissent, but he was just pissed at Carter too. His lion wanted Maia back more than anything, but Carter couldn’t bring himself to go pleading at the Major Clan’s doorstep. Maia had made her choice, and that was the end of it.

  Rall continued, “We should at least take her things to her.” Turning his head, he stared at her truck. “She probably needs her ride.”

  Maia’s truck had been moved to just outside the barn, but Carter refused to let his brothers deliver it or any of the other crap she’d left behind. If she wanted her shit, she could come and get it her damn self.

  Setting up another log, Rall grunted and tried again. “Zander said he heard in town that Major is on the verge of going to war with the Red Dead pack. Things are getting serious.”

  Carter had already heard that too. He’d known for months that Major and the Red Dead Alpha, Cree, were seconds away from going at it. If Major and his bears wanted to go picking a fight with one of the nastiest wolf packs in all of Montana, there wasn’t anything Carter could do about it.

  “Maia could get hurt,” Rall pleaded.

  And that was it. With a roar, Carter chucked his ax across the yard and rounded on his brother. “Let it the fuck go! She left! She ain’t coming back, and I sure as shit ain’t chasing her!”