The Tranquil Hunters Pride

by T. Cobbin

  “That’s not going to stop me from going back and packing my own stuff up, sir. I’ll compromise with you though to satisfy your ego. How about you come with me, or I go with a couple of your men? There and back in one day?”

  He was just about to walk over and slap her arse and tell her no chance when pain shot up his right leg. Before even looking down he knew what it was...well, what he was. He’d been so distracted the little cub had not only managed to stalk him, but get close enough to climb the leg of his jeans.

  Holding in a few cursed words at the little pinpricking claws digging into his skin through his jeans, he reached down and hauled the cub up. Turning him over in his arms, he tickled his small underbelly. With a tiny growled meow the cub shimmered into his beta’s son.

  “Got you!” Tommy giggled triumphantly, wrapping his arms around Grey’s neck and rubbing his button nose along his jaw.

  “Yes, you did. I’ll have to be more observant from now on.” Placing the toddler on the floor, he watched him totter over to his father with a proud grin on his face. Shit, his mind wasn’t where it should be. The little bugger shouldn’t have been able to creep up on him.

  Dropping a kiss onto his mate’s head, he went to go find his boots. He was sure Mace would be reminding him of this day for the rest of his life. It had to be his son that fucking crept up on him.

  After giving Mace a few orders and leaving him to it, he and Maddy walked through the woods toward Amier’s. They walked along a well-worn path between the trees. The sun was streaming through the leaves, leaving patterns dancing on the floor.

  “This is stunning.” It was wonderful seeing the look of awe on her beautiful face.

  “I guess you didn’t walk in the woods much.”

  “Not really. It was always work or college or something else that kept me busy.” Maddy walked over to a clump of daffodils growing together and bent down to inhale their aroma. “It’s weird but they even smell different, fresher.”

  Grey smiled as she flitted from one thing to another. It was like seeing a child experiencing something for the first time. Half an hour later they came to a cabin on the edge of pride land. It was a little beaten down but the small garden out front was a picture of color. Different flowers lined a stone path that led to the front door. On one side of the garden was a stone wishing well in the middle of a luscious green lawn.

  “Someone’s definitely worked on the garden more than the house,” Maddy said.

  Grey watched her look around the garden in wonder. He’d only been there a few times himself to make sure all was well. He’d never really looked at the place as his mate was doing now. He was beginning to see things in a new light.

  “Perhaps nature is her thing,” Grey replied.

  “Huh?”

  “He means some shamans have different talents depending on what elements they chose to delve into.” A tiny woman appeared from the side of the cabin. She was a little over five feet tall and had long, blonde hair down to her waist that flowed as the wind blew it. She had a heart-shaped face with plump lips and a small nose that perked at the end. She wore jeans and a tank top that showed off her tanned skin. It had been a few months since Grey had seen her. Although the woman was in her fifties she didn’t look a day over thirty.

  They were distant cousins; she was not only a shifter but a shaman too. That was quite rare, he did know of two others though. The woman had her quirks, like everyone. She lived at the edge of the pride and didn’t enjoy too much contact with people. But Grey made sure that the pride knew she was the one protecting them. He felt what she did shouldn’t be forgotten. If she fell, then the wards would fall and that could lead to disaster.

  “Hi, I’m Amier.” She held her hand out toward Maddy who took it and shook it lightly. “You look a lot like your mother.”

  “She was the one who told me to seek you out, a last spell they cast to give them one more time to talk to me. I wasn’t sure if I had just dreamed the whole thing or it was true.”

  Amier’s lips pulled into a smile and her face softened. “Your mother and father were both powerful. They could have indeed done that. Come, let’s drink some tea and I’ll tell you more.” Amier looked at Grey. “Thank you for bringing her, Alpha. I know you won’t want to be far, but this is something she and I need to do alone. You may wait in the garden. I also know...” She smiled more brightly. “You will shift and prowl.”

  Nodding, he smile back at her. “It is our way, right?”

  “It is,” she agreed.

  He watched his mate pause in the cabin doorway and glance back at him. Amier gave him a reassuring nod and walked inside. He began stripping. She would be safe with Amier, he had no doubts, but he had to be close to her. They were newly mated. His beast was already pissed at him for letting their mate out of bed, and even more so for letting her leave the fucking house. The air shimmered around him as he released his frustrated beast so he could wander about and hopefully de-stress a little.

  Chapter 9

  From outside the small house had looked run-down, but inside it was drastically different. It was clean and well-kept. Tiny bottles of what looked like herbs and other kinds of stuff were neatly stacked on a huge, white, wooden dresser that took up a whole wall in the kitchen. Besides the black AGA stove that sat in another corner there was only a sink and countertop fridge. In the middle of the kitchen sat an old wooden table with four chairs around it. Maddy sat opposite Amier with a glass of iced tea in front of her. She had so many questions and didn’t know where to start.

  “I know you have a lot to ask. I would in your place. How about you ask one question and we can go from there?”

  “Why did you ask Grey to leave?”

  “Because the man is an Alpha.” Amier chuckled. “He would want to control the situation, maybe ask questions himself, etcetera. This is about you, my dear. Now ask another.”

  “My mother said to seek you out, but I...”

  “You don’t know me. I understand. How about I tell you a little bit about your parents?”

  “Yes, please. I would love to know more about them.”

  “You have always followed your instincts, right? They have often led you out of dangerous situations or given you some kind of help in life?”

  Maddy nodded, thinking back. The foster kid who’d nearly raped her. She’d felt something was wrong, something was coming that she had to be able to protect herself from. The time she’d been sleeping in an alley when she’d woken suddenly and her instincts had screamed at her to move. She ran out of the alley only to hear a massive boom and turned to see bricks, stone, and mortar flying everywhere. The alley she had been sleeping in was no longer there. It was just a pile of rubble and debris from a collapsed building. Another day led her down an alley to find the old woman who rescued her from the streets, Frannie Plad.

  “A shaman has strong instincts. Both your parents were powerful, but in different aspects, so I would say yours would be pretty strong too. A shaman often chooses an element they can handle better than the rest. Your father, however, was one of those rare types who could conduct all of them with ease. There are four elements—fire, earth, water, and air. I myself work with the earth. I am also another rare type of shaman being I can shift too.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. There aren’t many of us. I tend to pick up a lot of emotions, which can become quite suffocating. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish my emotions from others when there are so many people around me. That’s why I live on the edge of pride land. Not only can I keep an eye on the wards, but it’s a whole lot quieter. If anyone wants or needs me, they come here to me. Tranquil Hunter land is warded against humans. When they get too close, they get an urge to turn around and walk in another direction. Your father did that. I am only able to maintain it. You, my dear, with your mother’s powers too, would probably be able to do as your father did.”

  Maddy couldn’t help the giggle that slipped from between her lips as she thought abo
ut Grey’s jeans and the fireworks that morning. “Thinking back over my life, a few things have happened that couldn’t be explained, and I basically ignored it. Like my adoptive parents being killed in a crash that crushed their car, and yet firemen found me inside the wreckage with only a single scratch. They called it a miracle.” Feeling her face heat up, she proceeded to explain about Grey’s jeans and the fireworks, which had Amier chuckling. Maddy stopped when a serious thought went through her head. “Can I hurt someone if I’m not careful?”

  Amier placed a warm hand over Maddy’s. “All magic can have consequences, but you can’t hurt someone intentionally. If you snap a branch off and it falls on someone, it can hurt them. Or if you summon a strong wind, it could blow them over. But you can’t summon any element that could kill, no matter how powerful you are. It’s like an invisible wall, it just can’t be done.”

  “Have you ever tried?” Maddy asked.

  “When I was young my father encouraged it.”

  Maddy gasped in shock.

  “Don’t worry,” Amier said, patting Maddy’s hand. “He wanted to prove to me it wouldn’t happen. He held a rabbit in front of me and told me to use each element on it. Although the poor thing got wet, dry, singed, then blown about, no real harm came to it bar a few scratches that my father healed before releasing it.”

  Maddy blew a breath out in a sigh of relief. “You’re not going to ask me to do that, are you?”

  “No.” Amier chuckled. “I think you understand already.”

  “Please tell me about my mother.”

  “You look very much like her. There wasn’t a bad bone in her body. She was the light in the dark. I was very fond of her. She and I grew up together. We were pretty close until she had the premonition not long after she married your father about you and Grey. After she left pride land we never spoke. She always felt she had to protect those around her. The last time we talked she thanked me for being a good friend and said that one day her daughter would need me. She said if she kept in contact with me Jerrick would use me to get to her.”

  Maddy could see the grief in the woman sitting opposite her. She didn’t know what to say other than “sorry” and even that felt lame.

  Amier took a deep breath and then slowly grinned. “You have a mate outside who’s getting rather anxious. He thinks I’m keeping you too long.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Scent. We shifters can scent many things about a person. Grey seems to have stopped prowling around my home and has decided to shift and is now sitting on my porch waiting for you.”

  “We haven’t even been talking that long,” she said, a little annoyed.

  “It’s okay, you are newly mated. Lion shifters can be pretty intense for the first few weeks. Mind you, they can be pretty excessive a lot of the time. You will learn to handle him.” Amier lowered her voice to a whisper. “We are very sexual creatures, us shifters. Use it to your advantage.”

  Maddy smiled at the mischievous face Amier made.

  “Why don’t you come back tomorrow and we can start your training. Most of your magic will be connected not only to the elements but also to your emotions, hence the fireworks.” Amier lifted an eyebrow in amusement. “So tomorrow I’ll show you something from each element and we’ll see if you are your father’s daughter and can work with each one.”

  Chapter 10

  It seemed like forever since Maddy and Amier had gone inside the house. After shifting and letting his lion out to prowl and set a few markers around, Grey had become bored. He’d heard a few murmurs and a giggle or two come from the house, but that was it. Now he was truly fed up. Yes, he could go do some work, but his mate—his new mate—was in the house behind him.

  Finally, he heard two pairs of footsteps coming toward the front door. Breathing in to gather the incoming scents, he smiled. He swore every ounce of his blood sank south and engorged his cock. Her scent had changed; it was now a mixture of both his and hers, which had his lion rolling over in satisfaction. He wanted to fuck her again, make sure everyone who came within smelling distance of her knew she was his. The human half of him wanted to be with her, in her. Feel himself slide inside her heat.

  He didn’t think his cock could get any harder, but when he saw Maddy walk out of the door with Amier, it did. She looked beautiful. The sun licked at her skin, leaving a glow. Her eyes seemed to shine when she looked at him. When she smiled he could have come in his pants. Standing up, he walked up the steps, grabbed her around the waist, and kissed her as if he hadn’t seen her for a month. He missed her taste, the feel of her soft skin. He pushed his tongue between her lips. Shit, he couldn’t wait any longer.

  She let out a small yelp when he bent slightly, picking her up under her knees and clasping her to his chest.

  “Thanks, Amier. She will see you tomorrow, right?” he asked, not waiting for an answer. His steps grew longer and faster along the pebbled path.

  “Bye, Maddy,” Amier’s voice drifted into the wind.

  Grey ran as fast as he could, holding tight to his mate. When he reached a clearing not far from Amier’s, he slowed down and pressed his lips to Maddy’s.

  “I want you hard and fast, princess, then I will take you slow and loving.”

  “Did you miss me, my lion?” she whispered, her hand stroking his cheek. “It’s hard to be angry at you for being impatient when you seem so desperate.”

  Kneeling down and laying Maddy on the lush green grass by a small stream, Grey took her mouth again. He fucked his tongue in her mouth just like he was going to do with his cock in her cunt in a minute. Unclasping the button on his jeans, he pushed them down and freed his member, breathing a sigh of relief at the release. He ran a hand up her thigh and under the summer dress Vista had lent her. Reaching for the one and only thong she owned until her clothes arrived, he tore it from her body. She didn’t need fucking panties around him.

  “Hey,” she whined.

  He cut off what she was about to say with another mouth-punishing kiss. Running his fingers through her slick folds, he was happy to find her wet and wanting. Moving to place his shaft at her entrance, he drove up deep and hard until he was balls deep inside of her.

  “Fuck.” He groaned. Shit, it felt like home.

  He let out a roar and began a grueling rhythm. Maddy began meeting his pace, pushing back at him, meeting his every thrust. Her hands gripped around his arms, her nails digging into his muscles. Her whimpers and moans getting louder as she neared her climax. Sweat formed on his brow as he rammed into her over and over.

  “Grey.” His name left her lips as she came.

  Her wet, silky walls clamped tightly around his dick. It was almost painful. His balls drew up, and the tingling down his spine increased. His body momentarily stiffened as finally he jetted his cum deep inside her womb. He lapped gently at her neck where he’d nipped her with his fangs again as their hearts slowed.

  “Wow, you really did miss me. I wasn’t gone that long either. I think I’ll leave you here when I go back and pack my apartment up, the welcome back will be—”

  “I’ve already sent a couple of people to do that. You won’t have to go back.” Grey lifted his head from her neck to look at her face.

  “What?” she asked, the annoyance in her tone crystal clear.

  “Don’t get angry,” he urged. “Jerrick is still out there, and we’re newly mated. I can’t let you go just yet. You need clothes and all, that’s why I sent someone. Please, I’m just trying to keep you safe.”

  “Safe? I have always taken care of myself.” She began pushing at his chest, a deep frown appearing on her face.

  He knew letting her go now would be a mistake. Slipping a hand around her neck and the other under her waist, he held on. “Don’t fight me. Take a breath. Listen to me.”

  He growled, and she paused, a flash of fear flickering through her eyes momentarily, but then they softened. With a tiny nod she closed her eyes, leaning her head back on the grass and lett
ing out a sigh.

  “Will you always be so intense?” she asked in a whisper.

  Kissing up her neck, then along her jaw, he reached her mouth and brushed his lips against hers. “Always at the start a male lion shifter can be rather possessive. It doesn’t diminish, but we learn to control it. You are my mate, Maddy. I have waited since learning of you to finally have you in my arms. It was torture watching you go about your daily life, and that fucking toe rag you worked with...I wanted to tear him limb from limb. But I knew in the end that you would be my reward. Understand?”

  She looked up at him, and he saw acceptance as it filtered through her eyes. She nodded. “No matter what happens I chose you. I accepted, right?”

  “You did, and clocks don’t go back, it can’t be changed.” He kissed her again. “You did,” he repeated. “You’re here. And you’re mine.”

  He rotated his hips as his shaft again began to harden. Satisfaction roared through him when she moaned.

  “Slow and easy now, princess, just like I promised.”

  * * * *

  Over the next few weeks Grey did indeed learn to leave Maddy longer and longer by herself. He was up to about three hours now, then he’d come looking for her and fuck her silly. She swore if he kept it up she would have to walk around on bow legs. The possibility of getting pregnant had also crossed her mind. She mentioned it to Grey one morning as he was getting out of bed, and it made him smile and fuck her again. He wanted her round with his cubs. He also admitted he wanted a big family. The man was insatiable.

  Her apartment had been packed up and her belongings had been delivered to the cabin. Grey had told her that the place was theirs now. One morning she had lain in bed gathering her senses after another night of explosive sex and she heard him grumbling in the shower. She’d gone in to find out what the problem was only to be pulled in with him.