by Vivi Andrews
“Amazing,” he murmured to himself. He
noted a dozen similar figures, each
readily identifiable, scattered on ledges
around the room. “You like carvings?”
She flushed and squirmed, but this time
there was a quiet pride beneath her
nervous fidgeting.
Landon smiled broadly. “You made this?
It’s beautiful.” He stepped toward her,
brushing his thumb across her cheek.
“My little Ava has a hidden talent.”
Her pleasure at his praise visibly
evaporated and she flinched away from
his touch. “I’m not your little Ava.”
That remained to be determined.
“Fantasy time is over, Landon,” she
went on coldly. “We’re back in the real
world now and in the real world I live
in the smallest cabin on the ranch. Not
because it’s cozy. Because I am the
smallest, weakest, most pathetic lioness
around and I can’t fight for a better one.”
She waved one arm, the gesture taking in
all the little possessions that made the
place her own.
“These things are only mine because no one else wants them enough to bother to
take them from me. And you think, what?
That I’m your queen? Wake up,
Landon.”
He caught her waving hand and linked
their fingers, holding tight when she tried
to yank free. “I think you’re my mate.
You are what I need. You’re right for me and right for the pride.”
He tipped her face back with the hand
that still held her carving, staring into
her eyes, searching their depths for the
secret key that would unlock her doubts.
He wanted nothing more than to kiss
away her fears, but the wildness in her
eyes held him at bay. He may be the
Alpha now, but he knew fear.
“I’ve lived wild, Ava, without the
protection of the pride. I understand
picking your battles.”
“I don’t pick my battles.” She knocked
his hand away from her face and jerked
her fingers from his hold. “I fear battles.
Your mate can’t be a coward, Landon.
And that’s all I’ll ever be.”
“Ava, I don’t—”
“Why are you doing this, Land—?” Her
voice broke on his name. She shoved
away from him and moved as far away
from him as she could in the cramped
space. “You can’t actually want me. Is
this some kind of game to you?”
Tears trembled on her lashes. All her
barriers were down. She gazed at him
with a vulnerability that made his heart
ache in his chest. He reached toward
her, aching to pull her into his arms and
protect her from everything that could
ever hurt her. Even himself.
“Ava, no. Of course n—”
“Landon! ”
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49
Vivi Andrews
The roar came from Ava’s porch, giving Landon just enough time to jump out of
the way before the door exploded
inward, flying off its hinges as the Minor
brothers stormed into the already
crowded cabin.
Michael was back. And he’d brought
reinforcements.
There was no more terrifying sight,
objectively speaking, than the four
behemoth older brothers of the woman
one had recently screwed in every way
physically imaginable coming at you
with murder in their eyes. Unless it was
the sight of the woman you love in tears.
Landon braced himself for the beating he
so richly deserved.
He was mildly surprised when fists
didn’t immediately start flying toward
his face.
“Outside! No brawling in my house!”
They all turned to look at her. The tears
were a memory and in their place was
the icy, distant mask that had greeted him
this morning.
Landon vaguely noted that Ava hadn’t
said no brawling at all. Apparently, she
thought kicking his ass was okay, so long
as they didn’t wreck her house to do it.
Her brothers filed out, silent and grave,
but Landon hesitated, his heart tight. He couldn’t leave her like this. Ava
watched him steadily, her face closed to
him again, any ground he had gained in
the last few minutes erased. The cool
strength in her gaze only convinced him
further that he had made the right choice,
but she clearly didn’t agree. He’d had
his shot to convince her she was his, and
obviously he’d fucked it up.
Outside, Tyler barked his name. “I’m
leaving,” he shouted back, reluctantly
putting action to the words and mentally
adding, for now. He hadn’t given up yet.
Landon stepped out onto the porch to
face the firing squad and quickly moved
to the open area in front of Ava’s cabin
where he’d have the best
maneuverability if they suddenly
decided to jump him. Not that he didn’t
deserve a few good licks. He’d known
he was betraying their trust, but that
hadn’t stopped him. Landon wondered
idly if anything could have stopped him
from claiming Ava. Frankly, he doubted
it.
The Minor brothers ranged around him,
taking position at compass points to box
him in, but staying out of his reach.
Tyler, the oldest and apparent
designated spokesman of the group,
grunted. “Will you go quietly or do you
want to do this in front of the entire
pride?”
Landon glanced around. It was early
afternoon, a popular siesta time among
the cats, and there were few bystanders
to qualify as “the whole pride”, but he
stepped out of his defensive stance,
opting for a strategic retreat. Tyler fell
into step beside him as he forced himself
to walk away from Ava, her other
brothers ranging behind.
“Did you know who she was?”
Landon almost wished he could say he
hadn’t. Ava’s only resemblance to her
large, dark brothers, was a slight
similarity in the shape of her eyes. It
would be so easy to claim ignorance and
escape the blame.
50
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Serengeti Heat
“I knew.”
Directly behind him, Michael growled.
Tyler shot him a quelling look and
returned his gimlet stare to Landon.
“Would you care to explain how she
ended up naked in your room?”
Another opportunity to deny his
culpability. All he had to do was say
Ava had walked into his room and asked
to be fucked. It was truth, but it wasn’t the whole story. And Ava being held
responsible for their night together
didn’t sit well with him.
“I foun
d her in the Bar Nothing in town
last night. Brought her back here.”
“That pick-up bar?” Michael yelped.
“Ava wouldn’t be caught dead in there!”
“Mike, shut up,” Tyler said calmly, his
attention never wavering from Landon.
“You brought her back to your place,” he
repeated. “And you knew who she was.”
Landon swallowed. He wasn’t afraid of
the brothers, but he did dread their
reaction. Even more than the fist he was
sure he was about to get in his face, he dreaded the loss of their trust. “I did.”
Tyler nodded slowly, his face revealing
nothing. “Is there anything you’d like to
add?”
Landon considered mentioning she was
going to be his mate, that this was not the
one night stand they assumed it to be, but
Ava was so stubbornly against the idea.
She thought she didn’t want the position
and no one was going to bully her into
taking it but him. Her brothers would
just have to wait, and think the worst of
him, until he could convince her to see
reason.
Landon stopped, facing Tyler squarely.
“No.”
“I see.”
Landon was willing to bet Tyler didn’t
see, but he maintained his silence,
meeting his stare head-on.
At length, Tyler nodded to his brothers.
“We’re done here.”
Caleb and Kane peeled off without
comment, but Michael snarled at
Landon, jostling his shoulder as he
brushed past. Tyler waited until his three
younger brothers were out of earshot
before turning back to Landon.
He didn’t see it coming. One second he
was on his feet, the next he was sprawled out on the ground, holding his
aching jaw. Tyler loomed over him, his
face still dangerously expressionless.
“You so much as look her way again and
I’ll kill you,” he said with icy calm.
“You’re staying?” Landon hadn’t
realized until that moment how much the
idea of them leaving, and taking Ava
with them, terrified him.
“We’re still discussing it,” Tyler said
flatly. “You’ll have your answer
tomorrow if we decide to leave the
pride. See you at the Hunt.”
Ava’s oldest brother walked away
without another word.
One day to convince Ava to become his
mate and if he even looked in her
direction, her brothers would tear him
apart. Landon sat up, cradling his jaw,
and swore with feeling.
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51
Chapter Eleven
Ava normally hated the Hunts—the last
thing she needed was a quarterly
gathering of the pride to remind her how
inadequate she was—but tonight she was
actually looking forward to it. It was
masochistic in the extreme, but she needed to be there when Landon
selected his mate. Her heart needed to
see him do it, officially give himself to
another woman, if it was to have any
hope of letting him go.
He’d seemed to want her so much. He’d
actually seemed to care. Seeing him in
her home, her tiny pathetic cozy little
home, had been both mortifying and
thrilling. Mortifying because he had seen
her as she really was, in her true
environment, but thrilling for that same
reason. He had seen the real her. And he
had wanted her still.
Ava needed visual proof that it had all
been a fantasy. She needed the vicious
slap of reality to crush the hope in her heart that just wouldn’t die.
Her brothers had been lurking nearby all
day, ever since they’d run him off, but so
far none of them had mentioned her
nocturnal activities. She knew it was too
much to hope that they never would, but
she was hoping their surprising lack of
curiosity lasted as long as possible.
Tonight, she took particular care with
her appearance, even though the sarong
she wore would only be discarded when
they all shifted for the Hunt and all
traces of make-up would be absorbed in
the transformation. Ava wanted to look
good when Landon saw her again,
though she avoided analyzing why it was so important that she impress him with
her sex appeal. An appeal she hadn’t
even known she had until last night.
When she stepped out onto the small
front porch of her cabin, Tyler
straightened from his post, leaning
against the rail. He fell into step beside
her, a large, silent presence at her back,
escorting her across the compound like
she needed a bodyguard.
His overprotective posturing was oddly
welcome. Ava was feeling a little too
vulnerable, on her way to watch Landon
choose her replacement in his bed, and
her brother’s presence was a comfort,
even if his intention was to be her jailer
rather than her buffer against the world.
The pride always gathered for the Hunt
in the natural amphitheatre on the far
side of the complex. The ranch had once
been a summer camp and that
amphitheatre was where campers
showed off their amateur dramas on
parents’ day and gathered for weenie
roasts and jamborees, but now the old
pines encircling the space saw
celebrations of a slightly more
bacchanalian nature. Ava had often
amused herself, as she sat in the
darkness during pride gatherings,
wondering how the founders of the
original camp would have reacted
Serengeti Heat
if they could have spied on some of the
“clothing optional” parties that were so
common among the lions.
The lack of clothing was more practical
than puerile—the change destroyed any
clothing not discarded before shifting—
but somehow Ava suspected the old
camp counselors wouldn’t see it that
way.
The amphitheatre was already filling
when they came into the clearing. Tyler
steered her to a spot near the raised
platform where her other brothers had
already gathered. She stopped next to
them and they quickly formed a living
wall around her.
Ava rolled her eyes. There was
protection and then there was annoying,
overbearing, bullying overkill. She
could barely move and she certainly
couldn’t see a damn thing with their
massive backs shoulder-to-shoulder
blocking her view.
How was she supposed to get the
catharsis of seeing Landon with another
and releasing her love of him if all she
could see was a row of bulging
deltoids?
Ava twisted around, trying to get a better
lin
e of sight. There was a gap between
Michael and Kane behind her, not wide
enough for her to slip through, even if
they hadn’t been watching her like
hawks, but big enough for her to see a slice of the rest of the audience.
The Three Rocks Pride, so named
because of the three rocks that marked
the boundaries of the original camp, was
larger than the prides of African lions,
with approximately fifty members at any
given time. Most of those fifty were
mingling behind her, some nude, some
wearing easily disposed of wraps like
her own loosely-tied sarong. In the
shifting crowd, she spotted Shana,
wearing only the “borrowed”
pendant and a feline smile.
Ava forced back the surge of irritation—
and bile—that rose up at the sight of that
smile. Shana may very well be the Alpha’s Consort by the end of the night
and she would just have to get used to it.
Tyler turned to frown down at her when
she couldn’t quite stifle a gagging noise.
Then he turned back toward the platform
and Ava knew, without being able to see
a thing, even before the restless crowd
behind her began to quiet, that Landon
had arrived. She could feel him.
Silence rippled out from the platform.
When the only sound was the all-but-
inaudible hum of excitement,
anticipation of the Hunt firing in every
shifter’s blood, Landon spoke, not
raising his voice, but somehow making
himself heard to every corner of the
clearing.
“Friends…”
Ava half expected him to call out to
Romans and countrymen next, but he
continued on a much less Shakespearean
bent.
“This is our first opportunity to Hunt
together since I arrived among you. I
have had a few months to learn your
ways and find my place among you.
There is a great strength in our pride, but
my rule is going to be a time of change
and that change will begin tonight.”
Some among the crowd shifted uneasily,
but most of the pride hung on his words.
He was a charismatic speaker, their Alpha. Even Ava, who could not see him
through the wall of flesh around her,
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53
Vivi Andrews
was drawn up in the power of his voice.
He held the crowd in the palm of his
hand, wrapped in the draw of his
presence more than the words he said,
but Ava heard every word.
“Our strongest young men will no longer
be turned out of the pride when they
