by T. S. Joyce
Tired of glaring at his wide shoulders, she made her way to the back of the SUV and pulled out her heavy suitcase. She dragged the thing behind her like a dead body. Why? Because she wasn’t exactly rolling in the dough, and she’d had the damn thing since she was sixteen. Both wheels had broken off long ago. So she looked real graceful as she lugged the suitcase behind her across the stupid swinging bridge. Good thing she wasn’t afraid of heights because midway through the journey to BFE, the bridge got to swaying in the wind, and she was tossed from side-to-side with nothing but air underneath her and a river with jagged rocks for a bank far, far below.
“Hurry up!” Derek yelled from the other side, his voice echoing through the valley. He was still only carrying the contract, so of course it was real easy for him to scamper across the bridge of death.
“Asshole,” she muttered under her breath as she used her lioness strength to hoist the suitcase to her hip and stumble across the rest of the bridge like a drunken pinball.
She hoped her contract gave him a papercut.
Behind her, Annamora’s chestnut-colored hair whipped in the wind, but the woman didn’t even try to move it out of her face. She just walked like the bridge didn’t affect her at all. But when the breeze blew her hair away, Emerald saw the single tear that dampened her cheek. It glistened in the light from the sunset. The woman wiped it away quick as a flash before glancing at Derek and then back down at her feet as she walked.
Sometimes Emerald thought the submissives were the toughest kind of people.
She knew that the title Queen of the Tarian Pride meant nothing because she was female, but in this moment, she swore to herself she would figure out a way to repay Annamora for her kind words in the car and make her life better, if even just a little bit.
Emerald’s black hair probably looked like a bird’s nest by the time they made their way up to the porch of a large cabin. Her cheeks were definitely red on account of all the fury she still had coursing through her veins, and she was beginning to sweat. She hadn’t been nervous to meet Cassius until now. In fact, she hadn’t thought about him much at all. Sure, she’d looked up his picture on the shifter registration site online, but he just looked like a man. A big muscle-man with a shaved head and a big scar running down one side, right through his eye. She hadn’t even been able to tell his eye color in the picture on the government site. He was a dominant enforcer the Old Tarians had brought in to try to revive the council with all Tarian members. Ha. If they succeeded, the council would have all lion prides ruined in a year, tops.
Wise shifters didn’t put monsters on thrones. The Tarian Pride had never figured that little gem out, though.
Okay, she could do this.
Derek reached for the door handle.
Maybe Cassius would be a fair mate. Not a love-match, but perhaps he wouldn’t be as bad as she’d feared. Maybe he would like her and protect her, listen to her and—
“Where the fuck is my stew?” came a bellowing demand from inside.
Derek gave her an empty smile. “Your mate.” And then he shoved open the door.
There was a sprawling dining table right in the middle of the great room, and at the head of it sat Cassius. He slammed his fist on the table. “Sora, I swear to God, if I don’t have that bowl in front of me in five seconds, I’m going to beat your ass.”
The Sora in question was a platinum blond-haired, mouse of a woman who was standing in the kitchen on the other side, ladling stew into a bowl as fast as her shaking hands could work.
“Fuck!” Cassius yelled, startling the two brunettes sitting on either side of him. Twins? “I hate training new ones.”
“By training, he means beating,” Derek murmured. He was definitely trying to scare Emerald, and it was definitely working.
“Come here!” Cassius yelled.
“Coming,” Sora whispered, speed-walking toward him, her neck exposed.
“I wasn’t talking to you, bitch.” Cassius dragged his attention to Emerald. “I was talking to you.” He clasped his hands in front of his chiseled jaw and arched one dark eyebrow. His eyes blazed a brighter gold as he looked her up and down, pausing on her curves.
Emerald wanted to retch. She’d never had a man look straight through her before, like she was nothing. Like she was a ghost.
“Little thicker than I like.” He twitched his head. “Perky tits, though. Hair needs to be dyed. I don’t like black hair.” He leaned back in the creaking chair and stretched one leg out as he narrowed his gaze at her. “Those eyes, though. I heard about your eyes. That’s where you got your name, right? Because they’re so green.”
“Actually—”
“I don’t care,” he cut her off. He snapped his finger and held out his hand, and like a little sewer rat, Derek started to scramble toward his Alpha.
Before she could change her mind, Emerald lurched forward, reached out, and yanked the contract from Derek’s hand. She held it up, threatening to rip it down the middle. “I want to see my father first.”
Fury flashed across Cassius’s face, and he stood. And stood. And stood. Good God, the man was tall as a mountain and built like a brick house.
Derek laughed and muttered, “Oh, she has a death wish.”
The females were all frozen with their heads down, even Sora, who had skidded to a stop and was staring at the bowl of steaming stew, chest heaving.
Emerald tried to hold Cassius’s gaze. Truly, she did. She tried harder than she’d ever tried at anything in her life, but inside, her lioness was panicking, and she had to lower her eyes. Emerald’s entire body started shaking as he approached her slowly. She focused on his thick-soled boots, clomping closer and closer. The floorboards didn’t even dare to creak under his weight.
“Did you just come into my den and demand something of me?” he asked.
“Y-yes.”
“Without the stutter, bitch.”
Emerald inhaled deeply and nodded as she said, “Yes.” Her stupid voice cracked on the word, though.
Cassius grabbed her lower jaw and yanked her face up toward his. “If I didn’t want you lookin’ pretty for tomorrow, I would beat that demand right out of your fuckin’ face.” His voice held such terrifying conviction, she had no doubt he wanted to hurt her. His grip tightened on her jaw. It hurt, and she flinched. At her reaction, he grabbed her harder and then slammed his lips against hers. All she could feel was searing pain for the one second he kissed her. When she pushed off him and threw the contract at his face, the back of his hand hit her so hard and so fast, she was slammed down onto her knees.
Stars orbited her peripheral vision, and there was a loud roaring sound in her ears along with a high-pitched ringing. Someone was yelling. Yelling? She couldn’t make out any words. Her head was ripped back, the hand in the back of her hair too rough, and Cassius glared down at her, turning her face from side to side. “Tell them to only photograph her from the left side tomorrow,” he snarled. And then he released her and strode toward Sora. He yanked the bowl of food from her hands and yelled, “Everyone get the fuck out!”
The women all jogged out the front door, heads lowered, but they all blurred together because Emerald still couldn’t see straight. Her face hurt so bad. She’d never been struck before, and perhaps she was in shock.
Gentle hands were pulling her, tugging her toward the door. Annamora? Emerald wanted to help, but she reached for her suitcase.
“We’ll get it later,” Annamora whispered as quiet as a breath.
Derek was outside already by the time Emerald and Annamora hit the front porch. He was talking to a group of men, a dozen at least, all huge and muscled with glowing eyes and snarls on their faces. They all looked different and the same at once.
“Is that her?” one of them asked. “The new mate? Is that her?”
“The new mate?” Emerald murmured.
“There are four of you,” Annamora whispered from behind her. Was she hiding behind Emerald?
Oh my gosh, oh my
gosh, oh my gosh. She wasn’t the only mate? What the fucking fuck?
“She has the look of the Lawsons,” one of them said, scratching the dark beard on his jaw. “But she feels submissive as fuck. Why does Cassius keep pairing up with submissives?”
Uh, because breaking submissive women fuels his gigantic ego? Idiots! She wasn’t even a psych major, but that much was plain and obvious after spending two minutes with their Alpha. That man was seriously messed up.
“Her face is already bleeding,” another said low to Derek. “Is she one of them willful ones?” Why did he look hungry when he asked that?
“If…” Emerald clenched her hands at her sides to calm her nerves. And then she wiped her bleeding lip, smearing red across the back of her knuckles. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve had a long day of travel and would like to clean up before I properly introduce myself to everyone.” And then like she was in a dream, she floated down the stairs and through the grumbling crowd toward the woods. She didn’t have one freaking clue where she was going, only that she had to get away from everyone so she could properly fall apart.
Cassius had hit her.
He’d really hit her.
She’d never felt more degraded and disgusted in all her life. Her cheek had a pulse, and her split lip hurt so bad. The tears were falling out of her eyes and she couldn’t even stop them if she tried.
“This way,” Annamora said, grabbing her hand.
Emerald just held it like a kid going to her first day of kindergarten because, truth-be-told, she was hurt and scared and her lioness liked affection and comfort. Always had.
“It’ll be better when you learn the rules,” Annamora whispered in a heartbroken voice. “If you can learn to anticipate his needs…or I don’t know…” The woman’s shoulders sagged. “I didn’t want Derek to find you. I wanted you to stay far away.”
“What?”
“Well…don’t you remember me?”
Emerald stopped and turned to Annamora. “I know you?”
“We’re the same age. So…we did homeschool together for a couple years. There were a bunch of us, but I always remembered you. You were nice to everyone, even when the boys were mean to you. I think you’ll stay nice. All the females here are trying to stay nice, too. I’m sorry,” she blurted out, grabbing Emerald’s hands. “I thought you really got away, then I was the one who drove you back here.”
“Did you have a choice?” Emerald asked.
Annamora shook her head. They just told me to drive to pick someone up. I didn’t know it was you. I think you could’ve knocked me over with a feather when I saw it was you sitting on that curb with your suitcase. I wish it was anyone else. No, it wasn’t my choice to bring you back here. Not at all.”
“Then don’t waste another second on guilt for something that isn’t your fault.”
“Oh, Talon Lawson! Your dad!” Annamora whispered, tugging her toward a long row of small, identical, one room, quick-build cabins. “He’s okay. He’s in one of the small cabins back in the woods, him and this other lady Cassius just brought in last night. I just don’t know which cabins they have them stashed in, so we’ll have to look around a little. Rose, the woman Cassius kidnapped used to be one of us, but she sided with the New Tarian Pride when we all split. She was the only female who escaped. But Cassius brought her back. If you want to see your dad, now is the time. The boys are still back at the big house and Cassius’s mates will be headed to shower while they can. He keeps them close most of the time. The other females are all down by the creek doing laundry. The pipes froze up here a few days ago so there isn’t water for the washing machines right now. Come on. It’s gettin’ dark, so we won’t be seen as easy. We have to be quick, though, and you have to keep it together. Promise me. No going to pieces and trying to escape with your dad. Cassius would catch you. He’s the best hunter I’ve ever known. He’s scary good, him and Derek.” Annamora tugged her off to the side, behind the row of cabins and straight into the brush.
“Why are you doing this?” Emerald whispered, remembering the punishment Annamora had taken the last time she’d offered comfort.
“Because you got hit. And the way you acted…you ain’t never been hit before. But maybe seeing your dad will take some of the sadness out of your eyes.”
“And if you get caught?” Emerald asked.
Annamora sighed and shrugged. “I get in trouble all the time. At least this one will be worth it.”
And that was the mark of a good woman. Someone who knew the consequences of doing a good deed, but did it anyway.
The woods seemed to get darker by the second. The sun had disappeared behind the mountains, and now Emerald could barely see where she was walking. She had good night vision, but the forest was thick and full of shadows. Annamora picked her way right through like a sure-footed billy goat, but Emerald tripped time and time again over the knotty roots and brush reaching for her ankles. It was like skeleton hands reaching up from a graveyard to pull her under, and here she went again with her imagination running wild. She didn’t much like the dark, and neither did her lioness.
A few minutes into their hike, and she couldn’t even see the lights from the rows of cabins behind them anymore. Her face hurt, so did her pride and, truth-be-told, her heart was breaking a little. Everything had been going wrong for a while. She just couldn’t believe she was here, in the Old Tarian Pride camp, bound by a contract to an awful man who would hurt her again the first chance he got.
The tears were warm on her cheeks, and they angered her. Weak. She always did this, had a chance to be strong and cried instead. All these stupid emotions that were always roiling around in her like little tornadoes. She didn’t really want to see Dad with tear stains on her cheeks and a swollen face and fat lip.
And just as she was about to ask how much farther, there was a commotion up ahead. Rustling. Loud rustling and a grunt. There was a light through the woods, appearing and disappearing as Emerald moved through the trees, but Annamora had started jogging toward the sound, high-kneeing it like she couldn’t wait to meet the scary sound.
No, no, no! A wise woman did not run toward danger!
“Annamora!” Emerald called but her new friend was gone.
Heart hammering out of her chest, Emerald tried to catch up to her, but tripped right on the edge of the clearing. There was a tiny cabin where a man was beating the everlovin’ shit out of another man on the ground. Just…pummeling him with a closed fist over and over. It was dark and the man was cast in deep shadows, but there was something familiar about him. Something about his face…
“We’re being attacked,” Annamora said under her breath, appearing suddenly behind Emerald. “That’s not one of ours. That’s the Alpha of the New Tarian Pride.”
“But…my dad…” Emerald said in a stunned voice, unable to take her eyes off the scuffle. That Alpha was going to kill the man with his bare hands. She’d never seen such raw violence before today.
Annamora yanked on her shirt, but Emerald just stood there on the edge of the porchlight, frozen in equal parts awe and horror.
The Alpha of the New Tarian Pride was a killer.
“Girl, you’re on your own. I have to warn everyone,” Annamora said on a shaking breath, and then she was off into the woods like a bullet.
Wait, what? Emerald turned and bolted for Annamora’s bouncing shadow, but the farther she got from the porch light of the little cabin, the worse the visibility became. She sniffed the air, but there had been a lot of shifters in these woods so everything was mixed up and confusing. This way. No…this way. Emerald skidded to a stop, huffing breath and looking left and right. “Annamora?” she whispered to no answer.
Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! She was afraid of the dark, and now she was in these unfamiliar woods that belonged to monsters with a murderous rival Alpha, and probably his whole Pride was here to kill off everyone, and she was lost! She was the worst at survival ever.
Something rustled to her left, and she fro
ze.
A lion roared suddenly in the distance, and with a squeak, Emerald ducked down and covered her ears. Woods. Dark woods. Woods with lions in them, just like the night Mom and Dad had fled the Tarian Pride. Just like then. Her face was throbbing with pain. Tears of anger and fear over those stupid memories were staining her cheeks and everything was wrong.
More rustling, closer, and she couldn’t hold it back anymore. All the horror of the last year hiding from the Tarian Pride, all the anger when she’d found her dad missing, all the anguish at leaving and signing her life away. the pain in her face and her heart…
She inhaled deeply and screamed.
A hand clamped over her mouth and yanked her back against a solid wall. No, not a solid wall. Nostrils flaring, she inhaled the scent of him. Cologne, man, blood. Something musky. Masculine shampoo? Or beard oil?
The blood was the biggest scent, though. It clung to the lining of her nose and made her want to gag.
“Shhhhh,” he murmured in a deep rumbling voice against her ear.
She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t breathe! Her chest was going to explode as she panted for breath that didn’t feed her lungs. She was panicking. Trapped. And inside, her lioness sat frozen, just like she always did around dominants, and this man was the most dominant she’d ever felt.
She was going to die. Killer. He was a killer. Couldn’t breathe. She looked up to the stars, twinkling through the branches of the winter-bare trees above her.
I’m so sorry, Dad.
And then her vision collapsed inward, and everything went dark.
Chapter Three
Shit! The girl had passed out!
She’d just gone totally limp in his arms. He clung to her, holding her close to his pounding heart as he tracked the trio of Old Tarians racing through the woods a hundred yards off. They appeared and disappeared in the trees, holding flashlights, headed right for the cabin. They wouldn’t find Rose there, though, since she was crouched behind him with her hand resting on his lower back. All they would find was the carcass of the asshole who’d beat on Rose.
