by Celia Kyle
He grinned then, his heart already lighter with the depths of her love. “You and what army?”
Elly narrowed her eyes. “Fine, no nooky then.”
Growling, he leaned forward and nibbled her neck, rubbing his scruff along her sensitive skin and nipping her. He let her giggles fill him and lift his heart. “You sure about that?”
“Uncle! Uncle!” He relented and Elly laid her head on his shoulder with a soft sigh. “So, we need a plan.”
“I thought we’d—”
“Yo, lovebirds, we got company.” Joey’s voice cut off their conversation and he pushed Elly from his lap, helping her stand.
In a flash, they each had a gun in their hand and were heading toward the front of the house. Autumn dashed past them to the kitchen and quickly returned, also armed.
Elly was the first to reach a window, back resting against the wall while she peeked through the curtains. Deuce took up position near her, adrenaline pumping through him while he waited to see who’d decided to risk their lives with a visit.
Two SUVs were parked on either side of the driveway as a third screeched to a stop in front of the house. The recognizable sound of a door opening and then slamming shut reached him. That was followed by a voice he knew all too well.
“Damn it, woman. I told you to keep your ass in the car. The. Car.” The roar from Alex, Ridgeville pride’s Prime, preceded the appearance of his mate, Maya. The frisky lioness stomped around the SUV, skirting her snarling mate as she approached the house.
“Hello! Anyone home? The cavalry has arrived!”
“Damn it, woman!”
Maya stopped and faced Alex, hands on her hips. “You keep repeating yourself. Are you coming down with Alzheimer’s? Already? I’ll make you an appointment with—”
“Maya…”
Deuce knew that tone and pushed away from the wall, intent on getting to the couple before their “cavalry” mission got derailed by a blow-up argument. Those tended to end with sex. Wherever they happened to be at the time.
Deuce was not a voyeur.
“You guys stay here,” he called over his shoulder while jogging toward the front door. Of course, Elly was hot on his tail. He’d remember to spank her for that later. At least Autumn stayed put. “What the hell are you guys doing here?”
Both of them shut it and turned toward him, Maya with a blinding smile and Alex with a frown.
With Deuce’s appearance, others from the pride poured from the SUVs and they surrounded him and Elly, all talking at once.
Ricker grumped at his mate, Maddy, over jumping from the car before the area was “secure.” The man was an ex-tracker for the council and had endured his fair share of encounters with Freedom and risky situations. Deuce didn’t blame the man for bitching at his not so timid badass lioness. Maddy’s frown meant the man wouldn’t be enjoying his mate’s attentions for a while.
Brute was losing a fighting battle with his little fox, Elise, as she kept jumping in front of him and he kept pushing her back. The man was more protective, and scary, than any other lion Deuce had ever met.
“I’m gonna bite you on the ass if you don’t let me by.” Elise’s tiny growl was muffled but still audible.
“Promise?” Brute had the look of a well-mated man.
Neal’s bunny mate, Carly, kept biting him.
“Okay, guys, let’s—” Carly was cut off by Neal’s hand slapping over her mouth.
She bit him.
“Carly.”
“What? We should—”
Another muffling grip. Another bite.
“Woman.” This time his voice was a whispered hiss. “Alex is the Prime. You are a bunny. You women need to let him call the shots at some point before one of you ends up lunch.”
That quieted the little rabbit. At least it seemed like the woman had enough of biting her lion.
Maya’s two remaining unmated guards, Harding and Wyatt, stood at the back of the group, each holding one of the Prima’s twins.
Only the Prima would bring her kids along on a mission that required the “cavalry.”
Alex’s roar cut through it all and everyone quieted. The Prime turned his attention to Deuce. “So, you look pretty free for a man who’s been handed over to Freedom.”
He smiled, ignoring the sting of pain from his split lip. “Yeah, I’ve mated a one-woman SWAT team.” He glanced around the group. “Who called you guys?”
Maya wasn’t silent for long. “Your sister. She gave us the deets—your dad is a dick, by the way, but Alex won’t let me beat his ass—and directions. So, since you’re all safe and sound, do you think she’s got ice cream?”
Alex rolled his eyes and Deuce bit back his smile. “Not sure if she does or not, but you guys can come on in. Elly’s brother is handcuffed to the radiator, but otherwise, it’ll just be us and my sister.”
Elise managed to wiggle past Brute. “Can I poke him with a stick?”
Deuce pinched his nose. In the short time he’d been away, he’d forgotten what it was like around the pride’s women. “No, there is no poking with a stick. He did help a little with my rescue and I haven’t figured out what to do with him yet.” He shook his head. “Come on, you guys can grab something to eat and then get back on the road.”
“We’re not leaving.” The four women spoke over each other and the men groaned. At some point, the men in the pride had handed their balls over to their mates.
Deuce included.
Their pronouncement set off another round of arguing and he sighed, pulled Elly into his arms, and rested his chin on her head.
“Are they always like this?” His mate whispered the words, but the males surrounding them answered anyway.
“Yes!”
Then they went back to arguing.
The only thing that stopped them was two more cars joining their little party in the yard.
One carried his mother and the other held a woman who looked like an older version of his mate.
Great. Mothers.
In a blink, babies were passed off, women were pushed back and told to keep their asses put unless they wanted a spanking. The males formed an impenetrable line before the approaching ladies.
Elly groaned and thumped her head against his chest. “My mother.”
“Mine too.”
“They look really pissed.”
Deuce nodded. “Probably figured out what our dads got into.”
The women’s voices carried past the wall of men.
“I want my baby girl!”
“I want my son. Move aside. Don’t make me turn you over my knee, young man.”
“I will gnaw your dangly bits until not even god can bring ’em back.”
Carly leaned toward Deuce. “I like that one. Can we keep her?”
Hell. His life was hell. Maybe they could find a shifter-free town and settle there. Nothing said he and Elly had to go back to Ridgeville. Nothing.
“Enough!” Alex’s roar set off the car alarms, but it did quiet everyone. “We are going into the house—”
Maya raised her hand. “To have ice cream.”
Alex’s glare at Maya could have killed. “And will discuss what’s been going on and decide where we’re going from here.” The Prime stepped aside and motioned their parents to precede him.
The moment the women scooted past Alex, Deuce and Elly were swept into a barrage of hugs, apologies, and promises of retribution against their respective fathers and brothers. When the mommas weren’t happy, no one was happy.
The world became a volley of assurances, threats, and some downright vicious planning until Alex managed to wrangle them enough so they were on the way to Autumn’s home.
The moment Elly’s mother crossed the threshold of his sister’s house, the woman stomped over to her handcuffed son and kicked him, sneaker-clad foot colliding with the man’s hip.
“Momma!”
“Don’t you ‘Momma’ me, boy. I brought you into this world and you better give me a d
amned good reason not to take you out of it. You tried to get your sister’s mate killed. Killed! The one man made for her, and you and your brothers tried to take that away from her.” Mrs. Martin leaned down and pointed her finger at her son. “I thought I raised you better.”
“Can I poke him with a stick now?” Elise’s question probably saved the male squirrel from his mother.
But it was Maddy’s next words that stunned everyone to silence. “Did anyone else notice that the little squirrel is pregnant? Or is it just me? I guess she doesn’t get to be a snack now, huh? That sucks.”
Deuce froze for a moment, shock holding him immobile, and he turned toward his mate. “Pregnant? And you came in after me?”
Alex cut in. “If it makes you feel better, Maya challenged a tigress when she was carrying the twins. Obviously those two made it into the world okay.”
“Did you beat her ass black and blue?” Deuce had visions of spanking Elly until she couldn’t sit for a week. He was already upset with her over coming into the house, but pregnant… Even if she hadn’t known at the time, it was still a huge risk.
“No,” Maya harrumphed. “It was really red though.”
Elly looked at him with wide, faux innocent eyes. “Um, I love you?”
“And I love you. But you’ll still get a spanking.”
“You wouldn’t want to hurt the baby—”
Maya again. “Oh no, spankings don’t hurt the little ones. Promise.”
The announcement of the baby—damn, a baby—elicited another round of hugs and snuggles.
Eventually lions, squirrels, fox, and single rabbit got settled in the living room. Deuce was able to expand on the happenings since he’d left Ridgeville and by the time he was done, the mothers were in tears.
The two women glanced at each other, apparently communicating without words, and then turned to Deuce and Elly.
“I left your father.” Their voices were a chorus.
Before either of them could comment, Joey butted in. “Mom? Wha—”
Mrs. Martin raised her hand to silence her son. “No. The man I mated wouldn’t have done what he did. That man may have said he didn’t agree with his daughter’s choice, but he wouldn’t have had her mate hauled off and delivered to Freedom. Never.”
“Mom, we didn’t know that’s what Karn planned. We just wanted… You know he—”
The older squirrel narrowed her eyes and gave Joey a hair-singeing stare. “You know Karn Pierce is a son of a bitch—beg your pardon, Mrs. Pierce—and you know what the man is capable of doing. The person you don’t know is Deuce and you went ahead and got stupid because of some rumors from dumbassed backwoods assholes. Well, you can keep on listening to them without me. I’m done with all you boys and your father. When you stop wearing your ass like a hat, you can call me. I’ll be living in Ridgeville.”
“Uh…” Deuce wasn’t sure what to say about that.
“Me too. I know your brothers have protected Autumn all these years at your expense. I don’t agree with it, but I accept it. But it’s time I got out from under him.” His mother jerked her head in a quick nod. “He tried to kill my baby. I’ve put up with a lot of abuse from that man, but my baby…” Tears glistened in his mother’s eyes, but she brushed them away.
Heart pounding, he turned to Alex, question on the tip of his tongue. “Prime?”
When in doubt, go formal.
Alex pinched the bridge of his nose and Deuce recognized the lion’s growing frustration. He’d come to the small town to save Deuce and was ending up with two extra squirrels and two more lionesses. He didn’t envy the man.
“Fine. Get everyone packed up and moved. For now, until we can have the ceremony at the next run, you’re welcome in the pride.” Deuce allowed his gaze to flick to his mate’s mother and then back at Alex. “Yeah, even if she is a squirrel, she can join us. We’ll just warn the pride that squirrels are now off their list o’ munchables. They’ll be pissed though. First rabbits, then foxes, and now squirrels. I swear to god, if anyone mates a deer, we’re going to be in trouble.”
Chapter Nine
“Naked in a room full of shifters is okay. Boinking in a room full of shifters is creepy.” — Maya O’Connell, Prima of the Ridgeville Pride, and woman who has been tempted by creepy. What? Alex is hot with a capital “do me.”
Elly looked around the clearing, eyes alighting on the group of shifters. Fuck, gathered lions… Well, and the lone fox. Elly, her mother, and Carly were the only veggie lovers in attendance.
Eep.
“And then I poked him with a stick! Elise wanted to, but I got there first.” Carly’s voice broke into Elly’s worries and she turned her attention back to the circle of women. And the veggie platter.
She took a moment to observe the ladies, focus going from the Prima, Maya, and on to the two pride Sensitives, Maddy and Elise. Then there was Carly, a generally snarky, occasionally bloodthirsty, and insanely loyal rabbit. The cluster was rounded out by Gina, a lioness who’d lived a difficult life. She was still getting over Jenner, a lion who’d betrayed the pride and was Alistair McCain’s cousin. Was being the operative word.
Alistair man was dead. And she was glad.
But the nightmares…
In those, she hadn’t shifted fast enough, hadn’t transformed from four feet to two and killed Freedom’s leader. The terror consumed her in her sleep more nights than not and Deuce talked of her going to a therapist to work through everything.
Not that Ridgeville had one, but Alex told her the council would give her whatever she needed in thanks for her actions.
She was being thanked for killing someone.
“I kicked him.” Maddy’s triumphant shout drew her and she smiled.
Elly had heard the story of Maddy’s transformation from doormat to badass.
“And almost broke your toe.” Maya snorted.
“Pft on you.” Maddy again, blowing a raspberry at the Prima.
Which was another thing Elly was trying to get used to. Everyone was so laid-back with the leaders. They were respectful when it was needed, but otherwise, the Prime and Prima were like any other couple.
And that was pretty cool.
Smiling, Elly returned her attention to the clearing, scanning the area and hunting for her mate. Deuce had been so good with her, always attentive and quick to meet her needs now that they knew of her pregnancy. She hoped he’d calm down a little as the months passed.
She found him on the opposite side, standing in a huddle with Maya’s guards. Their heads were bowed and she made a mental note to ask him about the conversation when the run was over. They looked so serious.
“Oh, look, Stone can walk again.” Carly’s voice held more than a hint of über bitch.
At the mention of the gorilla’s name, Elly turned toward the approaching male. When she’d first been rescued, he’d been helpful and caring during a time it was needed most. Then he’d done his damnedest to keep her and Deuce apart.
Forgetting any consequences, she marched right up to the man, cocked her arm back, and let her fist fly. She aimed for the man’s face and was pretty damn happy when blood flowed from the man’s nose.
“Damn it, Elly.” He cupped his face, eyes darkening to black.
Whatever.
“Your mate already put me in traction.” His voice was muffled behind his hands.
“Really?” She brightened at the idea Deuce had taken out some of his anger on the gorilla. “How did I not know this?”
Maya tapped her on the shoulder. “Not that I’m not opposed to beating up a man for no reason, but is there a reason?”
Elly crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes. He—”
“Aw, Elly, take pity on a guy. Deuce kept it to himself. Can’t you do the same?”
Carly stepped forward. “He kept what to himself? You mean Deuce was the one who kicked your ass?” The rabbit turned to Maya. “Alex told Neal that Stone had gotten attacked by one of the council enemies.”
They all turned to stare at Stone and the gorilla held up his hands, palms out. “Don’t look at me. I did some stupid shit that hurt Deuce and Elly, but your men are the ones who did the lying.”
“They lied.” Maya’s voice was a low growl and the woman spun on her heel. She stomped across the clearing and straight for her mate, the rest of the women trailing in her wake.
Stone, nose no longer bleeding, moved to stand next to her. “I should find another pride.”
The second Maya reached the group of men, she began yelling, arms waving, and Alex backed away from his mate.
Elly nodded. “Yes, you should find another pride.”
“Damn.” He paused. “Do you think you and Deuce will get around to forgiving me or should I get used to broken bones and bruises?”
She sighed. “If he already kicked your ass and put you in the hospital, I suppose I can get over it. I’d refrain from lying in the future, though.”
From the corner of her eye, she watched him rub the bridge of his nose and smile when a loud yell floated toward them. “Yeah, I see that.”
They stood in silence, watching the women, Gina included, tear into the group of men. It seemed like forever before Deuce made his way toward her, smile in place.
His gaze shifted to the man beside her and his grin turned into a thunderous frown. In a half dozen strides, he was at her side, nudging her until he separated her and Stone.
“Need something, monkey?”
Elly peeked around her overprotective mate.
Stone rubbed his head, running a hand through his midnight-black hair. “No, man. Just wanted to apologize to Elly. You know I didn’t mean to keep you two apart. I thought—”
“You thought…” Deuce took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Over the past two weeks, he’d been dealing with so much stress with their families he’d taken to counting to ten when he got pissed. Elly secretly believed he should up it to one hundred, but kept her lips zipped. “I’m moving past it. There are more important things in life than dwelling on what can’t be changed.” She nudged her way beneath his arm and leaned against him, smiling when his free hand settled on her still-flat stomach.
