by T. S. Joyce
“Oh my gosh!” Emerald whisper-screamed.
“It’s been going off for a while. Jenny is very persistent.” Annamora checked the door. “It took three of us casually searching the house to figure out where Orion kept it.”
“Be quieter,” one of the girls murmured from the cots behind them.
“All I hear is mumbling.” Annamora pouted out her bottom lip and replaced the glass on the table. “Is Jenny-texts-a-lot really Ronin?”
Emerald snorted as she opened his texts.
Em? Can you just tell me you’re okay? I’m going insane.
Two hours later:
Something big is happening, can you get to a safe place? Away from everyone?
Em? Fuck, I need to know you’re out of the way.
Fifteen minutes ago:
We’re here.
“Oh, nooo!” Now was the time for panic.
“What?” Annamora asked.
Should she tell them? Should she trust these Old Tarian lionesses, sitting up in their cots and staring at her with glowing eyes as round as dinner plates? What was the right decision here?
“Someone’s coming!” Maris whispered, running toward her cot.
Shit! Emerald dove for her own cot, and she and Annamora both threw their covers over them. And right before the door opened, Emerald shoved the cell phone under her arm and closed her eyes. Her heart was pounding so hard as the door creaked open. She didn’t dare open her eyes, but she heard him. Heard the footsteps on the floor as he walked along the feet of their cots. She inhaled, but she couldn’t tell who it was. Not Derek and not Orion. And not Ronin. Those, she had memorized.
The clomping boot steps faded away, hesitated at the door, and then the door clicked closed. Something felt off, though. The air still felt too heavy, so she kept perfectly still, kept her eyes closed, slowed her breathing.
Her lioness had pinpointed the exact spot in the room where he was. She could feel him watching her. A soft snarl rattled up her throat before she could stop it.
“You feel different,” Cassius rumbled.
Not being able to see him was the worst part, so she opened her eyes.
“So green. I wonder will you give our cubs those eyes of yours?” Cassius was crouched in the corner, elbows on his knees. It was dark in here, so all she could see was the outline of his form and his glowing gold eyes.
“Could you be any creepier?” she asked. Okay, she didn’t even understand where she’d gotten the courage to talk to him like this. Something was really wrong with her lioness.
The phone vibrated against her arm, and she hugged it closer to stifle the sound.
Cassius stood and flicked on the light switch. Emerald winced and blinked hard, wishing her eyes would adjust fast.
“Listen to that heartbeat race,” he murmured.
“Mmmm, the answer is yes then. You can get creepier.”
“Keep it up, bitch. You’re just making my blood boil.” He canted his head the other way, narrowing his eyes on her. “You are much more interesting than you were before. I assumed you were a mouse, but you don’t feel like a mouse. Your face looks better. Quick healer.” Why did he sound so suspicious? He walked over to her and dragged his gaze down her body. Kneeling slowly, he murmured, “I think you will be very fun to break.”
Emerald didn’t even try to stop the snarl in her throat. She offered him an empty smile to match his. “I think you already did.”
“Hmmm.” He leaned forward and parted his lips to say something more, but the door opened.
“The rest of the council is asking to see you,” Orion murmured. He looked as pale as a ghost, and his nearly-white gaze flickered to Emerald, and then back to his Alpha.
In disbelief at what Orion had just said, she asked, “The council?” Please let there be some mistake.
The soulless smile stretched across Cassius’s entire face. “Take heart, my queen. Not only have you landed yourself the most powerful Alpha, but I’m the head of the new council as well.”
No combination of words had ever made her feel quite as sick as those. “No,” she uttered in horror.
“As of today, the council is complete and in charge of the lion shifters again. First order of business is to annihilate the weak Alpha who took you from me and killed my Second.” His voice was a gritty snarl, and his eyes swam with insanity. “Ronin dies tonight, along with every member of his Pride who fought against me.” And as he stood and walked away, his voice echoed behind him. “I win.”
Emerald laid there frozen as Orion closed the door.
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” Annamora whispered.
“This is really bad!” another of the lionesses whispered, sitting up.
“What do we do?” Annamora asked. “If they snuff out the New Tarian Pride, we are all stuck. There will be nowhere for us to run!”
Fingers flying, Emerald typed out, Ronin, I’m fine. I’m fine!!! Run and hide! Send.
Two seconds went by with no answer, and it was too much.
You can’t be here. Send.
The council is back. Send.
Cassius leads them. Send.
They’ll kill you! Send.
The only answer was a sudden yelling and chaos outside.
And then the cabin rattled with the roaring of the lions.
Emerald bolted for the door, but it was locked. She yanked on the doorknob so hard it broke off. So she put her fingers through the hole she’d made, rested the sole of her foot against the wall, and yanked at the door. It splintered.
“What do we do?”
“You stay here or you fight,” Emerald said, just as the door gave way and came flying inward. Huffing breath, she rounded on the girls. “You want a better life? You protect the ones who can give that to you. If you are fine being treated like the shit on their shoes here? Then you stay in this room and do nothing. We always have a choice! The Old Tarians tried to convince us we don’t, but we do. And tonight, that’s your choice. Pick a Pride. Choose wisely because your quality of life depends on it.”
The girls looked terrified. These weren’t Old Tarian warrior lionesses. The dominants here had been replacing them gradually with females who were submissive, who they could control. These weren’t fighters. But they’d asked what to do, and the rest was up to them.
Annamora and Sora stepped forward at the same time. Tears were staining Sora’s cheeks, but she lifted her chin primly and said, “Orion, get out of the way.”
It was then that Emerald felt it—the heaviness behind her. She turned to find the platinum blond man with the scary ice-colored eyes glaring at her, his lip snarled up, and his canines too long. Too sharp.
“Sora—”
“I cannot be treated like this and survive. I choose to survive.”
“Me, too,” Annamora rushed out.
He looked at Emerald, who shrugged and said, “I’m mostly here to fuck shit up.”
One of the girls snorted behind her, but she didn’t know who because, currently, she was blowing right past a growly Orion and sprinting for the front of the house. Inside of her, Fury, as her lioness had apparently deemed herself, was ready, waiting for the signal to take her skin. She needed logic, though, first.
Step one: Find Ronin.
Step two: Save Ronin.
Step three: Bone Ronin.
Step Four: Have, like, seven baby Ronins.
Step Five: —
Ack! An impossibly strong hand went around her throat and forced her through the open doorway and out onto the porch. The edges of her vision blurred as Derek pulled her to him. His breath was hot on her face when he asked, “What the fuck have you done?”
“Nothing…yet,” she choked out, gripping his wrists, trying desperately to pry him off. She couldn’t breathe!
Ronin’s voice was in her head. Fight dirty.
Emerald took her hands from his wrists, grabbed his shoulders and slammed her knee upward into his fragile little ball sack as hard as she possibly could.
He came out of the shadowy woods, jeans slung low, rage in his blazing eyes as he strode toward Cassius, fists clenched, blond hair disheveled, his face twisted into something not quite human. He felt so heavy he filled the entire clearing. Stunned, she watched as Cassius roared an inhuman sound from the other side of the clearing. The chaos of war around them didn’t matter. They were only focused on each other. Cassius, big, dark, soulless Alpha intent on bending people to his will. Ronin, light, strong, steady, protective, knew the value of every Pride member...she’d never witnessed a fight between good and evil like this.
Ronin’s speed as he bolted for Cassius stole her breath away. And as he launched himself through the air, his lion ripped out of him and clashed so violently against Cassius’s animal, she felt the power of their hatred in her chest. She gasped at the raw brutality of their fight—two titans latched onto each other with their claws. Ronin raked his weapons across Cassius’s skin, sank his teeth into him, slapped those monstrous paws against the dark Alpha. Their paws dragged long tread marks through the snow, exposing the black earth underneath like some Jackson Pollok painting. In moments, of the snow was speckled and splattered in red.
Motion caught her attention. As she watched a dozen more lions charging from the shadows, barreling straight for the Alpha fight, she chanted under her shaking breath, “no, no, no.” Some deep instinct told her they weren’t friends. The scarred-up monsters were the new council, here to protect their alliances, here to defend their new throne.
Old Tarians didn’t fight with honor.
Rage pulsed through her veins. Now? Fury asked inside of her.
“Now,” she gritted out, sprinting down the steps and into the yard. She let the lioness have her. This wouldn’t be like every other Change. This would be a broken lioness who didn’t have a single thing to lose anymore.
The pain was blinding as the animal tore out of her. She didn’t mean for the scream in her throat to escape. She wanted to be tough like all the badass males who were locked in battle around her. Bowed on the ground, on all fours, her Change lasted eternal seconds, and the pained sound in her throat evolved. It turned into a sound she’d never heard before. It was an enraged roar.
She opened her eyes and growled as the pile of council lions bowled into Ronin. It was a massacre. No honor. No honor. Old Tarians had no honor.
She dug her claws into the ground and blasted toward them. Three steps. Three steps and then something barreled into her side like a missile. Fury smelled him before she hit the ground—Derek. He was Changed into his lion and was on her before she could get back up. Pain roared through her shoulder as he sank his teeth into her. She reached up and wrapped her arms around him, dug her claws in as hard as she could and raked them down his ribs. He released her and twisted, trying to avoid her weapons, but she wasn’t fuckin’ done. Up again, she leapt at him, scuffled and swatted, took her own licks, but he was on the defense now, backing up, looking confused. What, asshole, you thought I would just roll over and die?
Oh, God, she was present. Emerald was present. She had some control over this body for the first time in her life. Fury was letting her be here. She wanted to cry and scream and rejoice and rage. She didn’t back off an inch, just hissed and clawed, and the second Derek gave her his back, she jumped on him and sank her teeth deep into the nape of his neck. Fuck the mane. It didn’t faze her, and it sure as hell wouldn’t protect him.
Look what you did, Derek. Look what you did.
Ronin. She needed to get to Ronin. Needed to help him. She used the vision of her father being dragged behind Derek’s snowmobile to fuel her. The snap of his spine echoed through her like a gunshot. And in the moments she laid over him, teeth clamped on her kill, she searched but found no guilt.
Over his limp body, she zeroed in on the other side of the clearing. Pairs of lions were fighting, but through the battles, she could see Ronin, fighting and clawing his way at every lion within arm’s length. There were bodies in the snow around him, and his coat was streaked with crimson. Every muscle rippled as he turned and went after another. The council was being wary. Probably best, because Ronin looked like a monster. He wasn’t even playing defense. He was actively attacking the lions around him.
There were still too many, though. Which one was Cassius? Was he one of the lifeless lions on the ground?
She released Derek and ran for Ronin. I’m coming, just hold on!
Three lions were on him now, and more were coming for him. She was going to make it. She would get to him. Just protect your neck! If she could just get to him, no one would have a shot at his throat. She would maim anyone who tried. King. Alpha. Her mate. Mine. Fury saw his lion and that was it. He was hers.
She dodged a fight, and then another. One of the lions clipped her leg out from under her as she passed, but she recovered before she went down completely. Heart pounding, she pushed her body faster. It wasn’t until the last possible second that she saw Cassius on her. He was already airborne, arms outstretched, eyes intent on her, claws extended. She tried to duck him, but it was too late. She hit the ground like she’d fallen from a skyscraper and the air whooshed out of her lungs. She writhed in the cold snow, trying to see straight enough to fight back, but she felt claws on her flank immediately. No, no, no! Struggling to drag a breath, she pushed up and time slowed to a crawl. Fifteen yards away, Ronin was under a pile of massive lions, lashing out and biting, showing no fear in his furious glowing eyes. The lions around her were killing each other. There was no help for Ronin, and above her, Cassius had one powerful arm raised, his two-inch claws extended as the death blow came for her, the promise of pain in his gold eyes.
And this was the end. It wasn’t fair. One day with Ronin wasn’t enough. She’d waited her whole life for that day, and it wasn’t nearly enough.
She closed her eyes just before Cassius’s paw made contact with her face. She knew it would hurt bad, so she squeezed them closed as hard as she could. But as one second went by, then another, the blow never came. As she eased her eyes open again, she couldn’t believe what she saw.
Cassius was covered in lionesses.
Just…covered.
Those submissive lionesses he’d been abusing had risen up against him. Those meek little mice weren’t mice anymore—they were motherfuckin’ weapons.
The only thing she could hear was the snarling of the lionesses. The only part of him she could see were his eyes, locked on her, wide with fear. Fear. On Cassius.
Dragging in one shuddering breath, giving her lungs relief from the burn, she stood to run for Ronin, but above the snarling of the lionesses, something else terrifying rose from the woods. The roaring of bears.
Bears?
Ronin was standing against the horde now, but he wasn’t alone anymore.
A scarred-up, black-maned lion was beside him, ears flattened against his head, lips curled back, exposing long teeth. Emerald would never forget the Reaper as long as she lived. She’d seen him when he was born into existence. The council had created him and then used him as their weapon. His empty eyes had visited her nightmares when she was younger, but now he was different. He was standing beside Ronin, daring the council to make a step toward them. This was the old enforcer of
the Tarian Pride, here to back his best friend.
He and Ronin were the same size and had the same promise of pain etched into their monstrous faces. Behind them, more lions stalked forward, and then three massive she-grizzlies charged from the woods, skidding to a stop beside the Alphas.
Holy. Fuck.
If the Grim Reaper had come to aid Ronin, that meant these were his people—the Daughters of Beasts.
The New Tarian Pride had been so colossally outnumbered by the Old Tarian Pride, their allies, and the council…but Ronin had allies of his own.
As the Old Tarian Pride aimed for Ronin and the Daughters of Beasts, a freckled woman stepped from the shadows, her dark hair whipping in the wind as she lifted her hand. Her face transformed into a snarl as she flicked her fingers, and one of the charging lions was thrown to the side, slamming into a tree with a deafening crack. Lightning struck all around the clearing, illuminating everyone, lifting all of Emerald’s fur with static. Witch.
Behind them, a trail of fire blew from the sky, illuminating the underbelly of a dragon. Fiery red scales, and holy fuck…Vyr Daye was here.
Emerald closed the distance between her and Ronin, but he didn’t need her protection. The hurricane wind from the dragon’s wings was scattering the attackers. All around her, lions were crouching, slinking off toward the woods, hissing, tails down. The lionesses were hunkered down, but they weren’t running. Beautiful badasses.
Pride surged through her as she watched the Old Tarians fleeing. As she watched the council scattering like roaches.
How could they ever look strong after this?
How could they ever truly rebuild after this?
Cassius had murmured those awful words as he’d left her room. I win.
But as she ran her face down the side of Ronin’s tattered one, she knew Cassius had been wrong. Ronin was alive. He was still strong, bloodied and battered perhaps, but not even swaying or favoring injuries.
He leaned into her touch and then nudged her behind him. He filled the night air with something she hadn’t even been able to imagine. A victory roar over the Old Tarians.
And the Reaper and the Daughters of Beasts answered.