Hearts Unleashed: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection

by C. D. Gorri

  “Well, I guess none of them did, and from what I hear, Lenox managed to survive this war, even though most of his pack did not. That werewolf’s got as many lives as us cats.”

  Takoda removed some more of the brush from the cave entrance and went in. To his surprise, he encountered a girl. She couldn’t have been more than 15 kitten years, as his best guess. Her long hair spread around her shoulders and shielded most of her face from him as she coward from the sight of him entering the cave. Her almond-shaped eyes widened as he stepped closer to her.

  “Please! Don’t hurt me! I’ll do anything you say. I swear. My alpha is dead, and I may be young, but I know the laws.” She scurried away from him, towards a corner in the cave.

  Her cognac-colored eyes darted in every direction as she spoke. Clearly, she was looking for a quick escape from him. But when Nayati entered the cave, the girl curled back up into a ball and proceeded to sway back and forth in the tiny dark corner she retreated to in the cave. Her eyes and face appeared to be in a fixated, catatonic state. She must have realized she had no way to escape and fell into a panic. Takoda felt a tremendous weight forming deep within his chest for the poor girl. Because of everything he’d seen in this war, sympathy was a fleeting feeling for both him and Nayati. Too many times he’d come across a field, praying to the gods that at least one of them from the massive amount of bodies could be saved. Most of the time there were either no survivors or a shifter who refused to be saved.

  The pain grew heavier and deepened as he inched closer. It was becoming harder for him to breathe.

  “I’ll be your slave if I have to. That won’t bother me. I just don’t want a sentence of banishment. Please!” Her eyes fixated on the cave wall in front of her.

  Once Takoda was close enough, he kneeled down beside the teen and brushed her wavy and unruly hair away from her eyes. She shuttered at the gesture.

  “It’s okay, nüttüühai ~ nittüühai.” He started.

  Her eyes suddenly locked onto his. Something he assumed wouldn’t happen so easily. He then noticed she searched his for the meaning behind his words.

  Crap! She doesn’t speak our language! I was so sure she did!

  “I’m sorry. I said, dear. It was silly of me to assume you spoke Shoshone. I have no intention of hurting you. What’s your name?”

  “Treasure.”

  “That’s a pretty name. I’m Takoda, Alpha of the Shoshone pride here in Wyoming.”

  “I know of you.” She said as she swallowed hard and concentrated her gaze back towards the wall. “You are a very powerful alpha warrior. I’d be honored to be taken into your pride and work for you as you see fit.”

  Treasure.

  It was a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Takoda was in awe of this girl’s essence that seemed to drip from within every word she spoke. Her speech, though calculated, unsure of trust, also seemed to radiate throughout the cave, giving him a sense of warmth in the dank surroundings.

  All his thoughts were about protecting her from any more harm that would come to her in this god-forsaken war. He hated to see someone so young having to make such hard decisions. And though he felt lucky to have stumbled onto her so he was able to protect her, sadly, that meant he needed to protect her from his own pride of Omegas.

  Takoda hadn’t chosen a Luna Queen yet. He didn’t want to mate with any of the Omegas in his pack, but they all still tried to vie for the position, kicking and swiping at each other to win his affection. To have another female in the mix, especially one so young, could make things hard for Treasure.

  All the Omegas beat on each other. It was an unfortunate standard in prides to show dormancy over the other Omegas. And Takoda couldn’t bear to see this Treasure go through any of that. The mere thought of her hurt made him want to pummel the rocks in front of him.

  His only choice would be to ask another alpha to take her in. Nayati already had a Luna Queen, making him the most logical choice to take in a young Omega. Treasure would be safe in his pride.

  “Take me with you? Please? I can’t survive on my own. I’m not strong enough.” The girl said as she latched onto his arm and let out a breath.

  A sense of warmth washed over him, and Takoda smiled at the girl. In all the split decisions he had to make about rogues in this war, this one seemed to be the easiest of all. Her touch was gentle, soft. She wouldn’t hurt any of their prides. If anything she’d be a great asset as he and Nayati trained her for adulthood.

  “Hang tight, dear. We will fix this. I need to talk to Nayati over here, first.” He said to her in a faint whisper while patting the back of her hand that latched onto his arm.

  She released her grip as Takoda turned to face his lifelong friend. The warmth that he felt from the seemed to dissipate all too quickly, making Takoda mourn for the loss of the moment with her.

  “I already see where this is going. I get what you are thinking, but is that really a good idea?” He said with outstretched palms.

  “Nayati, you, more than anyone I know, have come to understand how my Omegas act. They’d try to kill her the first chance they got. The only way to protect her is to place her in a pride that already has an established Luna Queen.”

  Nayati let out a long breath and crossed his arms.

  “You do realize we wouldn’t be having this conversation if you took on a mate.”

  “I’m not into any of the Omegas—you get that—right?.” Takoda said as he shrugged his shoulders.

  “The forever perpetual bachelor,” Nayati said, as he shook his head and chuckled. “Alright, fine. I’ll take the kid in. But with two conditions. One, I can tell that you have some sort of protectorate bond with her so you will have to be in her life in some capacity while she is in my pride. Two, once she becomes of age, she should become a part of your pride. This is non-negotiable because, in all honesty, I’ve never seen you want to take on such a protectorate role with a female before. I am certain some time with this girl will help you figure out what you want in a fated mate. The gods know you haven’t been successful looking for just a mate.”

  Takoda let out a long breath before answering his friend. He was right. There was something about the girl that was different, and Takoda couldn’t figure out why he had such an affinity to want to keep her safe. None of the other casualties meant anything to him before, but this girl did. He was completely compelled to keep her safe from all the blood and gore of this horrible war that will not solve anything among the shifter race. It was in their innate nature to fight for territory, and his heart sank at the thought of this Treasure being caught in the middle of it all.

  “You are right. There is something different about her. But she’s only a cub. I couldn’t possibly take care of a kitten of her age. I don’t know the first thing. That is why I’m asking for your help.”

  “And I am offering it so long as you take her back into your fold once she becomes a full-fledged adult. The law has always stated that whoever comes upon the lone first—”

  “Is the one that must take them in. I know. I remember.” Takoda said as he let out a sigh. “Fine, deal.” He clasped his best friend’s forearm with his hand. Nayati returned the clasp with his own as a symbol of the agreement being solidified by them both.

  Chapter One

  A decade passed since the Civil Were War. The war, led by the werewolves, extended into all the shifter race and nearly decimated the entire shifter community. Prides and packs that once boasted thousands of members before the war were reduced to a mere hundred almost overnight once the fighting began.

  Takoda didn’t want to see such devastation again in his existence and often prayed to the gods that peace would remain for a lot longer than the ten years that already came to pass. Living in peace proved to be a goal he always wanted to spread in his community. But as far as others in neighboring packs or prides, he knew he lacked the authority and control over even the slightest of bickering that ensued.

  Shifters lived decades, sometimes centuri
es longer than normal humans. And like humans, they doted on their family with love, affection, and also showed a great sense of dedication. But shifters had one huge character flaw. They are prone to squabbles. This recent one he was now having with his lifelong friend, Nayati, threw Takoda for a loop. The growing rift between them seemed to come out of nowhere because no matter how much the prides and packs around the two of them argued, Nayati always seemed to have Takoda’s back. That is, until now.

  Nayati led an argument that all of Wyoming should be his territory. He thought this partly because his pack had grown in numbers over the past six months, something most prides or packs still struggled with even 10 years after the war. But his primary reason for wanting all of Wyoming was because his tribe was indigenous to the land, whereas Takoda and the lone wolf known as Donovan, settled here sometime after.

  At first, Takoda assumed the great council would dismiss Nayati’s claims. And simply because Takoda’s ancestors lived on half of the Wyoming territory so many centuries ago that it became too difficult to distinguish in the Shoshone and Cheyenne tribes which pride had settled on the land first. The land, especially Mount Sacagawea, remained a shared and neutral living territory to the Shoshone and Cheyenne tribes.

  Unfortunately, the meeting with the council didn’t work out the way that Takoda had hoped. Nayati convinced a good many of the elders that Takoda and Donovan should either be banished from the state or submit to Nayati. Some of the council even went further and suggested that if Takoda and Donovan wanted to stay in Wyoming, they should fight the now newly deemed Ultimate Alpha Nayati for the territory.

  Of course, Takoda thought this was crazy, and he had been trying to reason with Nayati and the elders of the council for the last six months. The talks, however, grew less and less peaceful—and to no one’s surprise. Once Lenox, a powerful alpha from the Northeast deemed the Absolute Alpha among his tribe and territory, took up refuge within the state of Wyoming, Nayati changed.

  The decision of allowing such a shifter into Wyoming proved to be something both Takoda and Donovan now regretted making. Ever since the bloody battles of the Civil Were War a decade ago, both Takoda and Donovan took in refugees—something that Lenox proposed he and what little of his tribe he had left had been at the time.

  Lately, Lenox began filling Nayati’s head with lies since he’d come to Wyoming. And it seemed all Nayati spoke of in the past six months was about being the Ultimate Alpha of the prides and packs of the Equality State. He became obstinate and spoke as if drunk on power. This would be something Takoda never considered Nayati to do when they’d been good friends for decades. Nayati, the always calm one, the one more at peace with the pipe at council meetings, had a gift for being the least strong-headed of the bunch in Wyoming.

  Takoda tried to sober Nayati’s thoughts, but everything seemed to come to a head when the day came to bring Treasure into Takoda’s fold, as he had promised he’d do so many years ago to his friend.

  That day, Takoda began reminiscing about the girl Treasure that they both saved a now decade ago and how much he still had an intense urge to keep the girl, now a full-fledged woman of 25 human years, protected. The feud made Takoda contemplate strange things that never crossed his mind before. He didn’t want Treasure in such a toxic situation where both Nayati and Takoda grew at odds with one another. If it were up to just him and not the pride, he’d skip the formalities, take her in, and flee Wyoming just to keep her safe.

  Perhaps those thoughts had something to do with him still remembering their first meeting as a young teen, and perhaps it also had to do with the growing bond they began to share with one another over the course of the past decade. Either way, he needed her safe and protected from Nayati and his wrath.

  Each time Takoda brought up taking Treasure into his fold, Nayati seemed to keep making excuses. It had gotten so bad that Takoda only saw Treasure a handful of times in the past six months, and Takoda began to worry that Nayati wouldn’t keep his promise. The idea of losing her all-together hallowed out his stomach and made his chest ache with a pain he never experienced in all of his 30 human/shifter years of existence.

  The friendship that Takoda had with her bloomed into something a lot different now that she became a full-fledged adult shifter. It was customary that the alpha leader of her pack takes her on her first hunt as an adult. Both Takoda and Treasure planned date after date for this hunt in the past six months, but every time the night was to arrive, Nayati came up with some council meeting that Takoda, as an Alpha, needed to attend. Therefore, both Treasure and Takoda became forced to constantly reschedule the sacred event.

  Tonight was supposed to be the night, as far as was planned between just the two of them. He’d been looking forward to taking Treasure out for her first hunt for months. But now, with this huge rift between him and Nayati, Takoda told Treasure to keep their first hunt a secret from Nayati and the rest of the pride. The plan was that she’d sneak outside Nayati’s compound and meet him on the other side of the mountain to hunt.

  A strange feeling shot through Takoda’s body as he tried to button his shirt for this momentous occasion. He never raised a litter of his own and figured that what he experienced was just nerves for the night to come. He assumed every father has this experience when letting their children out to face the big bad world. But the fact was, he didn’t raise her, and the experience coming over him seemed more like what he experienced on a first date. Though they’d never done more than hug each other, the feeling coming over him seemed more than anything he had experienced in his short and relatively boring, inexperienced life.

  Sex with a couple of the Omegas in his pride wasn’t foreign to him. He occasionally needed to scratch that itch. But an itch wasn’t anything like what his father once told him about love. During Takoda’s first council meeting when he wasn’t more than the age he first met Treasure, his father explained to him about fated mates.

  Son, being with your fated mate is as easy as breathing. I’m not saying that everything will come easy between the two of you, but when you squabble, it will be nothing like the fights over territory. You will both be at peace once you’ve each had time to express your own peace within you.

  He shook his head and tried to eradicate the thoughts creeping into his mind. He wasn’t on a date with her. THIS hunt wasn’t a date. She was a lone cat he was taking in as part of his own pride.

  His?

  The thought didn’t cross him until now. And maybe it was because he never looked at the Omegas as his. They were just part of the pride he accepted—part of the pride he inherited from his father.

  But Treasure?

  She seemed different to him. A true treasure to the pride. She brought him so much joy and wisdom when they’d talk for long hours about the pride members and the roles they played in Takoda’s compound. He ran his pride far different from Nayati, and Treasure was always eager to learn the different nuances between the two prides that were the closest to a family she had known in the last decade. He couldn’t wait to introduce her to the fold as part of his pride and share her vast knowledge and skill.

  Takoda took a look in the full-length mirror in front of him and sucked in a breath as he fussed with his hair to get it to look good. It was the first time he ever wanted to impress a girl. He had never done this with the Omegas in his inherited pride. Never. And now this girl—who wasn’t even officially in his pack—she was still considered part of Nayati’s, was making him entertain ideas he’d never thought of before.

  Am I falling in love with Treasure?

  Chapter Two

  After four more attempts with passing his fingers through his hair, he finally made his way outside to meet with Treasure.

  “Hey, Takoda! I finally broke free. I gave Nayati a bullshit story that I was going out to dinner with my cousin that just flew in to see me. He agreed to let me go, but he didn’t want me to be more than a couple of hours. I doubt that will be enough time to hunt.”

 
“It is traditionally supposed to take up the whole evening,” Takoda said with a slight frown.

  “Well, how about we go out for dinner and try to reschedule again?” Treasure said with a sigh before continuing. “I really don’t think he wants to let me go.”

  “I’m beginning to wonder the same thing. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun. Come on. There’s this large rock up ahead near the trails. It’s the perfect place to leave our clothes once we shift. Race you!”

  He took off as quick as the words came from his lips.

  “Hey, no fair! That’s cheating!” She said with a thunderous giggle.

  He reached the rock in a matter of minutes but tripped on a root that protruded from the ground of a nearby tree. He quickly tumbled to the earth. Treasure was on his heels and tripped over the same root, causing her to fall on top of him.

  “Serves you right that karma took a bite out of you.” Treasure said while giggling once more.

  Her lips were a breath from his, so inviting, so tempting. He tried to reason with his cougar, making the animal fully aware of the fact that he shouldn’t kiss her. It would complicate matters further with Nayati. But his cougar, body, and mind betrayed him as he cupped her cheek and crashed his lips onto hers.

  She tasted like vanilla, a flavor he now craved. Until now, he never realized how parched he was. His tongue parted her lips to drink in her essence.

  The woman’s muscles and lips tensed to his touch at first. But as he began to skillfully suck on her bottom lip, her body softened into the kiss. A guttural growl came over him as she made small circles on his chest with her thumbs.

  Her hands slinked up to his hair and laced behind his head as her kisses began growing needy, possessive. And his inner cougar purred to attention once she ground her hips into his manhood that was straining at the zipper of his jeans. She rained kisses along the side of his jawline until her lips met the lobe of his ear. Goosebumps littered his skin as she gave the lobe a lick before sucking on it. The palm of her hand trailed down the length of his body and cupped his shaft. His erection continued to thicken with desire with each of her strokes.