“Talon wants the pride to meet you,” Liberty announced, a smile lighting up her face. Jade could tell instantly the alpha’s mate was beyond proud of the shifters who were a part of her pride. “Tonight, we will have a pride gathering here at the house, and he wants you to be our guest.”
“That’s very thoughtful,” Jade replied. “I really appreciate that.”
Jade’s pride would’ve never thrown a gathering for a possible new member. They’d just set them up with a place to live and tell them to make sure they introduced themselves to the rest of the pride. It was obvious she’d come from a pride who did things the old way…like not letting a woman do anything other than cook and raise young.
“Also, we are going to introduce you to one of our Guardians,” Liberty continued. “His name is Booth, and Talon has asked him to train with you.”
“He wants to know if I’m capable of protecting you and your land?” Jade pressed.
“Yes, and your position is also selected by me,” Liberty informed her. “Talon has final say on everything, but when it comes to this pride house, I am the one who makes the decisions.”
It was a soft warning. Liberty could make or break Jade’s chance at becoming a part of the pride. It wasn’t that hard to like the female. Jade felt at peace around her, and she didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot. Plus, being around this female was different than how her beast felt being around the alpha.
“If you give me the rules, I will obey them,” Jade promised, holding out her hand to seal the deal with a firm handshake.
“The only rules around here are to care for others as if they are family, be kind to the elders, and protect those who need protecting in a time of need.”
“That’s doable.” Jade said, rubbing at her flat stomach when it began to rumble. “What time is dinner?”
“The females are arriving now with prepared foods,” Liberty said. “If you’d like to come down and meet everyone, you are more than welcome. I think Talon will introduce you as we all sit down to eat though.”
“I’d like to meet everyone,” Jade agreed. “And I guess you should introduce me to the Guardian who will be training with me.”
“He’s a good male, and he’s one of our best Guardians,” Liberty blushed. “He’s quite handsome, too.”
“I am not here to find a mate,” Jade warned. “I don’t want to do anything other than protect and fight for a pride who will honor me as one of their own.”
“I think you’re going to fit in just fine, Jade.”
She hoped so, because going back to her family was out of the picture. If she did return to her old pride in Missouri, she was certain she would be killed for her actions.
“Come downstairs and meet everyone,” Liberty urged.
As they descended the stairs, Jade heard the sounds of laughter and she paused momentarily. In her old pride, they never really congregated at the alpha’s home unless there was Guardian business. Usually, Cedrick Gentry, her alpha, gathered the males to discuss business, and most recently, safety. Jade decided to take matters into her own hands and learn to protect herself. She didn’t have any brothers, and her father was too loyal to their leader to teach her anything. The last thing she wanted to do was be a sitting duck when the Community came.
The sunken living room was much bigger than she had thought when she’d arrived earlier. Several males stood around, and they tried not to gawk at her, but the ones she knew were Guardians watched her carefully out of the corners of their eyes. She knew the alpha had told them, but she wouldn’t cower in fear.
“Jade, I’d like for you to meet Booth,” Liberty announced, pulling her from her thoughts.
“We’ve met,” the tall, dark-haired male grunted as her eyes swung around to see him approach. He didn’t lift his hand to touch her, and for that, Jade was relieved. She wasn’t here to meet a male, and she sure as hell didn’t want a mate. Mates set rules and banned females from doing more than making cubs. She wasn’t ready for a cub yet…maybe never.
“You have?” Liberty asked, her eyes darting to Jade.
“I didn’t know his name or I would’ve told you,” Jade replied. “He was at the gate when I arrived.”
“Oh, okay,” Liberty stated. “I’ll leave you two to get to know each other. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me, Jade.”
“Thank you,” she replied, watching the alpha’s mate disappear through the doorway to the left of the living area. From what she could see, the kitchen was just as massive, and it was filled with pride members, mostly female, setting out bowls and trays of food.
“My alpha asked me to train with you,” Booth said.
“Are you going to be able to train with me, or are you going to stare at my tits again?” she growled in frustration, lowing her voice.
“Baby girl, I promise you, your tits aren’t going to distract me when I lay your ass flat on the mat,” he replied, leaning in close to her ear, but he wasn’t close enough to touch. Jade closed her eyes when the scent of sweet musk crossed her nose. She tightened her thighs and held her breath. He smelled too good. “If you are here to train and fight, I am the one who is going to see if you can prove your worth to our pride.”
“When do we start?” she asked, a little breathless.
This male wasn’t going to take it easy on her, and she knew it. His eyes flashed amber as he pulled away, but the scent remained. “Five a.m. in the gym. It’s on the backside of the building out the back. I can meet you here beforehand.”
“No thanks,” she scowled. “I know where it is.”
“Good, I’ll see you then.” He winked and walked away.
Oh, tomorrow was going to be fun. She’d never backed down from a fight with her human trainers, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to be intimidated by a Guardian three times her size.
Booth closed the door to his new cabin and took off on foot toward the gym attached to the Guardians’ dorm. Well, it wasn’t so much for the single males anymore. Most of them had homes built or almost done. It’d been a year since Talon had ordered more cabins to be built. With only Malaki and Taze left to plan their homes, the twelve-room dorm would be turned into a guest quarters if it was needed.
A look at his phone said it was five minutes until five when he approached, walking around the far side of the building, coming to a halt when he almost tripped over the female.
“You’re early,” he surmised.
“I’m always early, Guardian,” she teased, and climbed to her feet.
He flipped the light on and walked ahead of her, stepping aside to hold the door open. Jade didn’t seem like the type of female to accept chivalry. So, Booth was surprised when she nodded and said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied, releasing the door when she passed through.
“Nice facility you have here.” She whistled, looking around at the equipment. Booth noted how she kicked off her shoes before stepping on the blue mat that covered most of the floor. There was a no shoe policy in the gym, and he was sure it was that way in the human ones, as well. Shoes could fly off and clobber someone. Plus, you held your footing better without them.
“Do you have gloves?” he asked, setting his bag on the bench by the door.
“Ah, no,” she frowned. “I left a lot of things at my old pride.”
“That’s okay, we have some.” Booth walked over to the storage closest and removed a new pair from the box on the top shelf. “See if these fit.”
He didn’t dare touch her, or even try to help. There was no need. She pulled them on like a pro and adjusted the last strap with her teeth. “I want to work with the focus mitts today.”
“Sure,” she replied with a nod, and began to stretch after removing her cotton shirt. She wore nothing but a black sports bra and shorts that barely covered her long, muscular legs. Booth had to look away. He’d already been caught staring at her, and he wasn’t going to make that mistake again. His beast pushed at his skin when her scent
reached him.
“Okay,” he said, tightening the last of his own straps. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
The first jab was strong, the second stronger. Jade backed off and held her gloves up exactly like she should. With each punch thrown, the female breathed at the right times, she kept her footing steady, and she never took her eyes off the enemy.
“Good, good,” he said as he dropped the mitts. “Let’s try the standup bag.”
He picked up the bag and moved it to the center of the mat. “Are you going to call out what you want me to do, or am I going to show you what I know?”
“Show me what you’ve got,” he suggested.
For the next fifteen minutes, Jade kicked, punched, and jabbed the bag, not once losing sight of her goal. He was curious to see how she was at hand-to-hand combat with another female. There was no way he’d offer to fight with her since she was already a matured female. Plus, between her scent and the lust his beast was feeling toward her, Booth wasn’t certain he should be putting his hands on her.
“Evie, one of our female protectors, will be here soon,” he announced after Jade took a break to cool down. He’d pointed to the door leading into the small kitchen and suggested she get some water. The female was already sweating, a soft sheen covering her body. “I want you two to spar, maybe do some ground work.”
“Sure,” she panted, downing the bottle of water she had grabbed.
Evie arrived a little later, and they got down to work. Evie was the perfect opponent for Jade, and the two seemed to get along. There were no harsh words spoken to the female, and Booth found that a little odd.
Why was Jade so standoffish to the males, but acted respectful toward the females? The only answer he had to that was her upbringing. She never told him, or his alpha, exactly what transpired to make her leave her pride, other than their disapproval of her fighting.
Booth had a feeling he knew exactly what had happened, but he wouldn’t push her to talk about it. He’d seen his fair share of abused females in his life, and he also knew a female like Jade would take the bad and mold herself into a killing machine to protect her heart instead of dealing with the things that had happened to her.
Chapter Five
The male kept watching her with a keen eye, and it made Jade uneasy. His icy blue stare bore into her like he could read all of her thoughts and her innermost secrets. She didn’t like that at all.
“Alright, you two,” he called out once Jade had Evie pinned. The female tapped out, and if his count was correct, they’d tied in their sparring. This young female was fierce and damn good. She was trained well. “I think we’ve done enough for the day.”
It saddened her to see a female who was allowed to train with the other Guardians and not have to sneak out to learn with males in a human facility. Being a shifter, she had to control her beast when she was there, and at times, she had to hold back a little since she was stronger than most human males.
“That was great, Jade,” Evie said, using a towel from her bag to wipe her face. “Want to grab some coffee at my place?”
“Yeah,” she agreed, smiling at the female. She looked similar to Jade, but where Jade was tall and lean, Evie was shorter and her muscles more pronounced. “I’d love to, but I need a shower first.”
“Grab your shower,” Evie insisted. “I’ll wait in the alpha’s kitchen for you.”
“You two have fun, but be back here in the morning at the same time,” Booth announced as he pushed out the door.
Jade relaxed and slumped into her chair. Evie’s brow raised and Jade waved off any questions. The male was so damned good looking, and she’d had to keep up her badass shield while he was around. She didn’t want to look like a helpless female to him. He exuded power, and she liked it more than she should.
“I’m ready,” Evie said as she slung her bag over her shoulder.
The two of them walked back to the alpha’s home. Jade left Evie in the kitchen and hurried to the second floor of the alpha’s home. Inside her room, she grabbed clean clothes and jumped in the shower. Within twenty minutes, she’d showered, dressed, and hurried down the stairs to meet the female. Jade did nothing more than curl her long, blonde hair up into a bun at the top of her head.
“My mate is working on some things with his brother and will be gone most of the morning. We should have the house to ourselves,” Evie informed her as they left the alpha’s home.
“Your mate is the alpha’s baby brother, right?” Jade asked. She’d met everyone the night before, but she couldn’t remember everyone’s name. The male, Kye, had stuck out because of his position within the pride. He made her a little nervous, but that was more her beast talking than anything else.
“Yes, that’s him,” Evie replied. “Have you had a chance to check out the land yet?”
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t do much after the dinner last night. I knew Booth wanted me up early to train. So, I went to bed before ten.”
“If you want to run today, I’m free,” she offered. “It’s been a few days since I had a good swim in the pond.”
“There’s a pond here?” Jade asked, hopeful.
“Yeah, it’s in the very back of the property.” Evie brightened. “I can take you.”
“I love to swim, and so does my panther,” Jade admitted.
“We are going to get along just fine,” Evie said, pointing up the gravel road. “My home is at the very end of this road. We are the last, and oldest, home out here. It once belonged to my mate’s mother and was handed down to us when she passed.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Jade sobered.
“It’s been a few years, but we miss her terribly.”
Jade had lost her mother during childbirth. She never knew her, and the only thing Jade knew about her was from the photos she’d found one day in the attic. Her father never spoke of his mate, and by the time Jade was old enough to go to school, she pretty much took over raising herself. Her father was a miserable man without her mom.
The home was older, and everything inside looked to be hand-crafted. The furniture, the kitchen table, and even some of the artwork on the walls. A few things had been updated, but overall, it gave Jade a sense of home, and she loved the cabin.
“I’ve asked the other females to come run with us,” Evie announced after looking at her phone. “Hope and Calla will be here soon. Olivia has to work at noon, and the alpha’s mate and her sister, Nova, are both busy with their cubs.”
Jade had met most of the females the night before. She’d immediately liked them all and had spent a lot of time getting to know one of them. “What about Sofia? Is that her name?”
“Yes,” Evie answered. “That’s the baby sister to Guardian Savage. I’m sure you saw him last night. Hell, you can’t miss him. He’s the biggest one with the scary resting bitch face. Oh, gods! Don’t ever tell him I said that.”
“I won’t,” Jade chuckled. “Yeah, I saw him.”
“He’s not that intimidating,” Evie promised. “He’s actually like a big brother to me. He helped me out several years ago after I’d been abducted as a teenager.”
“Abducted?” Jade gasped. “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened?”
Evie replayed the story about the time she was kidnapped by wolves. She admitted to struggling with PTSD, and went on to explain how Guardian Ranger had secretly taught her to fight after she had begged him.
“So, this is how the rumors got started in the shifter community about the Shaw pride having female Guardians?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.” Evie scowled. “We’ve never asked for Guardian status, because we know the mated ones would go feral seeing their females fighting during the solstice. It just keeps the peace if we stick to protecting the alpha’s home when the males are away.”
“Things have changed so much since our secret has gotten out,” Jade admitted.
“What made you learn?” Evie pressed, taking a sip of her coffee.
“
I realized the males weren’t always around to protect us,” she began, remembering the day the Community made their speech on the national news. “We were scared. I saw the reports of the bodies being pulled out of those research facilities, and I knew I didn’t want to be a victim. I knew my pride wasn’t going to allow it, and my alpha even promised us the males would be able to care for us. I knew it was a lie. There were forty of us and twelve Guardians. They couldn’t be everywhere at all times.”
“How did you sneak out to go to the human training facility?” Evie asked. Jade saw the interest in her new friend’s eyes and she didn’t blame her. What Jade had done was a little outrageous.
“I snuck out, mostly. Other times, I said I was going shopping,” Jade smirked. “I didn’t think it would work, but one time turned into another, and before I realized it, I’d been training for a year.”
“He let you leave during the raids?”
“No, I didn’t start training until it all settled down,” Jade replied.
“Did the humans know what you were?” Evie continued with the questions.
“No,” Jade laughed. “They nicknamed me ‘badass’ because I was stronger than most of the males there.”
“I love it!” Evie laughed. “Well, I have to admit, you were damn good today. It was nice to spar with someone who didn’t go easy on me. We should do that more often.”
“Agreed,” Jade said, holding up her coffee mug for a toast. When the females clinked their cups together, they sealed the deal for working together in training.
Jade was starting to believe, even without the approval to fight for a Guardian spot, she’d found a place she could be useful to a pride.
“How did it go?” Talon asked the moment Booth walked into his office later that morning.
“She’s good,” he admitted, raising a brow. “Like really good, Talon. She wasn’t lying about her training. I’ve never seen a female have that much control over her movements.”
Booth (Rise of the Pride, Book 9) Page 3
