He’d worked several hours past his regular shift time, and when he stopped in the office to say goodbye to Eryx, he found his brother hard at work behind his desk.
Eryx didn’t look up. “I’m bringing in some patrols from Bracks, and they’re going to cover the night shift for a few days. I’ll want you to patrol tomorrow and Sunday morning. And then we’ll figure out the schedule for next week.”
He was struck by how much his brother had changed in the years since he’d been mated. Before Callie, he’d always been a male who could be counted on, but now that he was a husband and a father, he took responsibility for his own family and the pride like a true leader. He’d always thought of his dad as the unofficial leader of the pride, but as he watched Eryx make plans to run patrols and how he’d stepped right in and taken over, Alek knew he was looking at the head of the pride.
Eryx looked up with a raised brow. “You need anything, little brother?”
Alek smiled at the nickname. “No. I just wanted to say thank you, for everything.”
Eryx nodded. “You’re my brother and that makes Lachlyn my sister. You know that I would do anything for family, Alek.”
“I know. I would, too.”
Saying goodbye, he headed home and found Lachlyn in Jericho’s arms in the family room, the pride surrounding them. He joined them on the couch, and Lachlyn curled against Alek’s side.
“I was so scared,” she whispered.
He looked over her head at Jericho, whose face was stony with rage. “You’re safe now, sweetheart. Jericho and I will keep you safe.”
“And the pride,” Grant said from the other couch where he sat with Aaron and Sam. “We’re all in this together. Someone attacks one of us, they attack all of us.”
A chorus of agreement came from the other adults, and plans were made to keep everyone safe.
Alek just hoped it would be enough.
Chapter 15
Lachlyn couldn’t shake the worry that had settled over her from the moment the SUV tried to run her and Sam off the road. The whole house was on edge. The adults had decided to send the kids to Rhett’s farmhouse just to be safe. Eryx moved his family there as well so they could all be together in one place. Her Uncle Don had arranged for some of his bears to help patrol around town overnight.
The house was quiet without the kids.
She helped Dylan with the lunch dishes and cringed when she heard some of the men arguing over something on television.
“They’re just stressed,” Dylan said, handing her a clean dish to dry.
“I know. I feel bad.”
“Why?” his cousin Chase asked, leaning against the counter.
“This whole mess is my fault.”
Dylan shook his head. “No way. It shouldn’t matter that you can’t shift, and Jericho should have been allowed to be with you, regardless of what his dad thinks.”
She appreciated his sentiment even though it wasn’t realistic. Yes, she should have been able to be Jericho’s mate without his father having a conniption and trying to kill her. And yes, it shouldn’t have mattered a bit that she couldn’t shift. But life wasn’t always fair or right.
“The only good thing that came from it all is that you found Alek,” Chase said as he turned around and put a plate up on the shelf for her.
“It was the best thing,” she agreed.
Hunter came stalking into the kitchen and tugged open the fridge door, grabbing a beer.
“Something up?” Dylan asked his other cousin.
“Ray’s being a dick. Oh, sorry, Lachlyn. Ray’s being a giant male genital.”
Lachlyn chuckled lightly at first and then couldn’t stop the tide of laughter that bubbled up from inside. She knew that it was most likely just her brain’s way of letting go of some tension, but she couldn’t stop laughing. And she didn’t want to. By the time the other men came into the kitchen to investigate the laughter, Chase, Dylan, and Hunter were laughing, too.
“What’s so funny?” Alek asked.
“Nothing, really,” she answered, wiping away stray tears that had escaped.
James clapped his hands together and said, “I think we need to blow off some steam. How about some football in the backyard before dinner?”
There was a chorus of cheers from the group, and Lachlyn sent Dylan off to play, promising to finish the dishes. Henry, who had been allowed to stay at the boarding house instead of going to Rhett’s with the other kids, said, “Are you coming, Alek?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right out,” he said as Jericho joined him.
“You okay, love?” Alek bent and kissed her cheek.
She hugged herself to both men, one arm around each of them. “I am. It’s just been tense around here, and I miss the kids.”
“Me, too. There wasn’t anyone to explain SpongeBob to me this morning,” Jericho said, kissing the top of her head.
“You didn’t have to watch it,” she said and looked up at him.
He shrugged. “I’ve been watching it every day since we got here. I hate to admit it, but I’m a bit hooked on the yellow sponge dude and his pals.”
“At least it’s not Barney,” Alek said ruefully and they laughed.
“Watch us play?” Jericho asked.
“Of course, let me finish up, and I’ll be right out.”
When the last dish went in the drainer, the front door opened. Sam and her mates came in with several sacks of groceries, and Lachlyn helped put them away. She and Sam stood in the kitchen doorway and watched through the screened-in porch as the men played touch football together. Jericho and Alek were on the same team, along with Micah, Tristan, James, and John.
“I could go for some sweet tea before heading out, how about you?” Sam asked.
Lachlyn agreed and followed Sam back into the kitchen and retrieved tall glasses and filled them with ice. As Sam poured the chilled liquid into the glasses, she asked, “How are you doing?”
“Good.”
She smiled. “I ran into my superintendent friend, Louisa, at the gas station and she said to let you know that they’re going to call on Monday and offer you the job. Congratulations!”
Lachlyn shouted in happiness and hugged Sam. The two hopped up and down, laughing. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks, Sam. I can’t wait for school to start.”
They clicked glasses in cheers, and just as Lachlyn swallowed a sip of tea, she heard shouting from outside. Henry raced into the house, slamming and locking the kitchen door behind him before racing to the front door and locking it, too.
“Henry?” Sam asked, panic rising in her voice.
Lachlyn went to the backdoor and looked out. Through the glass she could see the lions facing off against a small group of males. She narrowed her eyes, straining to see and realized that Detroit was standing among the men.
He really had found her! Her worst nightmare was playing out in front of her eyes. The lions outnumbered the bears, and with just a few words from Detroit that Lachlyn couldn’t make out, most of his men shifted into their bear forms. She grabbed the cordless phone from the counter and called her Uncle Don.
“Detroit and some of his men found us!”
Don cursed. “Are you okay? The kids?”
“The kids aren’t here, and I’m in the house with Sam.”
“Stay put, Lachlyn. I’ll be there as fast as I can.”
Her hands were trembling as she hung up the phone and put it back on the counter. She watched the stand-off and knew she couldn’t just wait inside the house while her mates and the pride fought for her. She had to do something.
She reached for the lock and was pulled bodily back. She gasped in surprise as Henry wound both arms around her and held her close.
“Jericho said to stay in here with you no matter what.” He was taller than her and stronger, but she struggled anyway.
“Let me go, Henry!”
“I can’t. You have to stay in here where it’s safe.”
“No, H
enry, please!”
Half of the lions shifted, including Alek, and the bears attacked. Detroit grappled with Jericho. Could Jericho defeat his father? The man who had trained him? She didn’t know, and she’d hoped to never find out.
Struggling harder, trying not to hurt Henry, she growled, “For fuck’s sake, Henry, let me go!”
Her bones started to ache and her muscles and joints burned as she watched her mates fighting for each other and for her, the pride fighting alongside them.
Her chest tightened and her heart thudded erratically. Her jaws hurt, her teeth tingled, and her fingers curled inward as the knuckles cracked.
Henry wouldn’t let her go. Her bear paced in her mind as her protective nature rose to the forefront of her mind. She had to get outside. Her mates needed her. She looked at Sam, pleading with her eyes for help. Sam frowned but seemed to understand.
“I’m sorry, Henry,” Sam said and jerked Henry backwards, causing all three of them to fall. Sam threw herself onto Henry as Lachlyn stood, unlocked the door, and ran out onto the porch. She raced from the porch, the screen door clacking loudly as she hit the ground. She didn’t make it two steps before a thick arm wrapped around her neck, and she felt the tip of a knife press against her throat.
“You’re a bad girl, you little bitch. You made us come all the way up here to find you.”
She recognized the voice as belonging to Leonitis, one of the men who had helped Detroit hurt her. She watched Alek in his mountain lion form battling with other cats against two bears. Tears burned her eyes, and she felt as though her bones were aching. Her muscles twitched and her gums hurt.
“Let me go, Leonitis,” she said as bravely as she could.
“Never. After we kill off these pussy cats, we’re going to take you and Jericho back home where you belong.” His breath was hot and damp against her ear, and she shivered with dread. “You’ll live just long enough to be the entertainment at our welcome home party, and then you’re gonna die—” His words were cut off as he was ripped away from her body by a small mountain lion. Lachlyn stumbled as relief washed through her.
Then she saw the bears who were fighting against Alek and the others and her blood ran cold. One of the bears grabbed Alek with his jaws, giving him a mighty shake and tossing him aside. Alek’s sleek furred body landed on the grass, and the bear rose up on his hind legs and lifted his paws. She knew what he meant to do. He was going to smash down onto Alek’s body with all his weight. Alek wasn’t moving and couldn’t get away, and everyone else was fighting.
She screamed. The sound that ripped from her throat was pure, animal rage. She raced forward as the bear loomed over Alek; her only thought was to put herself between Alek and the monster that was going to kill him. She lunged forward, covering Alek’s body with her own. Her muscles burned, and her bones cracked as she cried out. She’d never been in so much pain! As she grunted, her body contorted and painful shocks raced up and down her spine. She heard fabric tearing, but she couldn’t comprehend what was happening until she looked at her hands and saw fur pushing through her skin and claws sprouting from her fingertips.
She was shifting!
Happiness flowed through her as she gave herself over to the shift. It hurt badly, as if her body was trying to turn itself inside out, but it meant she could protect her mate. As her shifted form took over, she dug her claws into the earth to steady herself. Her legs were shaky as she stood over Alek’s body and bellowed at the male who was staring at her in confusion.
Lunging forward, she butted him in the stomach, and he stumbled backwards, tripping over another bear. She bellowed again, daring anyone to touch her mate.
Chapter 16
It had taken Melody a week, but she’d made her way down to Indiana from Canada. It hadn’t been easy. In the town of Field, she learned she was in Ontario, but the small town didn’t have any public transportation running overnight, so she continued on in her shifted form, coming to a larger town. In North Bay, she shifted into her human form and found a bus station, where she caught a bus as close to the border as she could. After getting off the bus, she crossed over into the states in her cat form, praying that she wasn’t being followed. She knew she could have legally crossed over into the states. She had a passport in her bag along with her Ohio driver’s license, but she didn’t want to risk the females being able to pull up data from the government if they were looking for her. And she had to assume that they were.
She reached the outskirts of Ashland on Sunday.
Cherie’s Diner boasted free Wi-Fi on a sign in their window, so Melody shifted into her human form, dressed, and hid herself at the back of the building next to a dumpster that reeked of spoiled milk and garbage. Knowing that the females watched the diner, she couldn’t risk that they might see her inside, so staying out of sight was best. If someone had figured out where she was headed, they might try to snatch her before she was able to warn the males.
Opening the white pages app on her smart phone, she entered in the last name of Fallon and found several addresses. She pulled up the addresses on a map and found two to be on what looked like a large farm and one to be in town. She knew enough from listening to the females talk about the boarding house to know that the majority of the males didn’t live on a farm. Committing the directions to memory, she left the diner and began to walk towards the boarding house.
When she reached the house, she heard the sounds of fighting and knew she was too late to warn them. But she wasn’t too late to fight. If there was one thing her father had instilled in her, it was that where family was concerned, having each other’s back was the most important thing. These males were part of her father’s pride and that made them family.
She dropped her pack at the side of the boarding house and stripped off her clothes, shifting into her form and slinking around the corner of the house. The melee that greeted her eyes stole her breath. Mountain lions fought against huge bears, and men fought against men. A woman screamed and Melody recognized the woman who had been with Alek. A big male held a knife to the woman’s throat. Snarling in rage, Melody leapt at them, knocking the man away from the woman. The knife hit the ground away from the man as he went down. Melody rolled on the grass and found her footing, leaping at the man as he started to rise. He saw her coming, and rolled to his back, kicking up his legs and connecting with her stomach.
She flew over his head and hit the corner post of the screened-in back porch. The wind whooshed from her lungs on impact, and she fell to the ground with a thud, pain radiating through her body.
As she tried to focus and stand to return to the fight, she saw two male lions descend on the man who had thrown her. The woman rose to her feet with a sharp roaring cry.
Melody felt herself slipping away and didn’t fight it, believing in her heart that the pride would protect one of their own.
Chapter 17
Jericho spun deftly, nailing his father in the chest and sending him to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a lion grapple with one of the bears who had grabbed Lachlyn, setting her free.
He froze in amazement as Lachlyn shifted into her bear form to protect Alek, who lay unmoving underneath her petite shifted form.
Stars lit Jericho’s eyes as his father slammed his fist into the side of his head. Jericho went down on one knee, not giving in to the desire to just let the pain take him away into unconsciousness.
“Well, look at that. The little bitch can shift after all.” His father chuckled darkly.
Jericho kicked out, connecting with his father’s knee. The angle was off, so the knee didn’t dislocate, but his father still went to the ground with a howl of pain. All around him, lions fought against the bears, those in human form against others in human form, with the shifted lions taking on the shifted bears. He could smell blood and sweat on the air. This was all his father’s doing. Lachlyn was in danger. Alek was hurt. Jericho’s new family was fighting for him, with him. And it would never stop as long as Detr
oit still breathed.
Jericho rose to his feet and grabbed his father by the collar, drawing him up. “You could have left us alone,” Jericho snarled, his bear clawing under his skin.
His father laughed loudly. “No matter whose thighs you’re rutting between, you’ll always be my son.”
Jericho shook him roughly, his vision straining as his bear tried to break free. “You will not talk about my mate. Ever.”
His father grabbed Jericho’s wrists and squeezed. “You’re sharing a whore with another male. Bears were not meant to share. Someday, you’ll kill the male who shares your mate, and eventually, you’ll kill her, too. You’re just like me, Jericho. My living legacy.”
“I’m nothing like you,” Jericho swore. His father’s allegations tipped his rage from white-hot to nuclear. His bear broke free, and he gave himself over to the shift. His bones cracked and reformed as his body changed. His father’s eyes flashed with fear, and he began to shift as well.
Taking advantage of being faster at shifting than his father, Jericho grabbed his father’s still-human leg in between his jaws and moved as quickly as he could, dragging his father behind him into the woods.
He wanted to end things in the way of bears. The two of them alone. Fighting for dominance. Without the lions watching or interfering. Without subjecting Lachlyn to the sight of his actions. She might have known he would eventually kill his father, but she didn’t need to be burdened with the memories.
He would shoulder those alone.
Loving Lachlyn (Ashland Pride Two) Page 12
