Table of Contents
Contents
Cover Credit
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
About this Book
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Epilogue
From The Author
About The Author
Cover Credit
Christopher Coyle
darkandstormyknight.com
Riley’s Pride
Book 1
Sandra R Neeley
Copyright © 2019 SANDRA R NEELEY
All rights reserved.
Thank you for purchasing and/or downloading this book. It is the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and/or distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes without express written permission from the author.
Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales, is purely coincidental. The characters are creations of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademarked ownership of all trademarks and word marks mentioned in this book.
For everyone who ever wondered if they’d survive to see tomorrow
— tomorrow always comes, and it brings hope and fate fulfilled.
About this Book
Riley’s Pride, Book 1
There’s a new Alpha in town. He’s tried for too long to make a life in a place with more than its share of Alphas. His Panther has decided enough is enough. His Mate has renounced him as a result of a grave misunderstanding, and he’s struck out on his own, forging a new future and a new Pride that will welcome all who have struggled to find their place. He will be their Alpha — they will live by his rules. Together they will make a new life in the hills and mountains of Missouri. They’ll build a life to be proud of, a life that will welcome all their Mates, if they are lucky enough to find them. A life his own estranged Mate will hopefully be drawn to. It will be dangerous because the shifters that have struggled to find a place are usually the most unpredictable, those that never fit anywhere else. But that’s what makes life interesting isn’t it — danger, unpredictability and love?
Welcome to Riley’s Pride.
Warning: Intended for mature audiences. This book contains some use of the “F” word and others, explicit violence, abuse both real and inferred, and sexual situations that may be disturbing for some readers. If you are offended by these subjects, please do not buy this book.
Prologue
A week before Riley left his old life behind.
Excerpt from — Bam’s Ever, Book 5, Avaleigh’s Boys
It was Sunday mid-morning, and everyone was smiling, laughing, enjoying being together, being healthy, being family. Breakfast at the main house was a major event, and they each contributed to the meal. Just as they all sat down to eat, the front door opened, and Everly called out, “Hey, is it okay if we join you?”
Bane grinned huge, glad his brother and Everly had sought them out this morning. “’Course you can, just not sure we have enough for Bear,” he laughed.
Then Everly walked into the kitchen, followed closely by Bam. And everyone jumped up to greet him, hugging him, patting him, the women kissing him. He hugged them back, truly happy to be alive, to be with his family and to be in control of himself again.
“You’re back!” Maverik shouted excitedly.
“Yup. Woke up in the middle of the night, and there I was, human, lying beside my Ever. Best feeling in the world,” he answered.
Then Maverik spied the claiming mark on his neck, “You dog! She mated you!”
Bam blushed deeply and pulled Everly to him, hugging her. Then he pushed her long curls back, and Maverik kicked it up a notch, “And you mated her, too! Damn, dude, you didn’t waste no time!” He got up and went back around to Bam, hugging both him and Everly, looking first from one then the other, “I am so fucking happy for you. No one deserves happy more than you, Bam. I love ya, man. I do.”
Bam hugged him back, “I love you, too, Mav. Thank you for being my friend. And for kicking my ass into gear when I needed it.”
Maverik grinned at him, “Hey, you kicked mine into gear, I kicked yours into gear. It’s what best friends do.”
They took their seats, and it wasn’t long before there was another knock at the door. Kaid looked up, looked around the table again like, we’re all here, then crinkled his brow, “Who the hell could that be?” he got up and went to the door.
A few minutes later and they could just barely make out his voice, intentionally talking low. Then they heard another, one they recognized, say, “She won’t fucking take my calls! I need to talk to her. I’m leaving, Kaid. I need to explain why I’m leaving.”
Maia looked at Valerie, who was sitting next to her. Valerie reached out and took her hand. Maverik stood, his face stony.
“Tell me you want him to leave, Maia, and he’s leaving,” Maverik said.
“I want him to leave,” she said, not looking up.
He made to walk around the table, and Delilah stood, cutting him off. “You are handling this wrong, Maverik Ass. It is not your decision to make.”
Maverik was taken aback, “Did you not hear my daughter just tell me that she wants him to leave?”
“I did, but I also believe that if she does not handle this, he will never stop. She must face him.”
“She does not have to face him if she doesn’t want to!” he said, voice raised.
Delilah regarded him quietly - then she tilted her head and asked, “Would you have stopped pursuing your Valerie if anyone else had told you to? Or would you only have stopped when you heard it from her own lips?”
He didn’t answer, only glared at her.
Maia spoke from behind him, still seated in her place, “I’ll face him, Delilah. But I’m scared.”
Delilah, still looking at Maverik said, “I shall stand with you. Come, little Wolf.”
Maia stood and placing her hand on Maverik’s arm as she passed said, “It’s okay, Daddy. Aunt Delilah is right.”
Kaid heard Delilah approaching and turned to look at her, surprised when he saw Maia with her. He turned back to Riley, “She’s coming to talk to you. Back up, step off the porch, allow her some space. And a word of warning… though I consider you a friend, Maia’s family. Delilah is with her, and if you piss off either, I can’t promise you Delilah won’t freeze your ass.”
Riley’s eyebrows shot up, but he stepped back and went down the porch steps to wait for them to come out on the porch and talk to him.
Kaid went back inside the house, but stood just inside, watching at the screen door. Maia walked only halfway to the stairs and stood there, Delilah at her back.
“I want to talk to you, explain that I’m leaving,” he answered.
“I already know that. Good luck, travel safe,” and she turned to go back inside.
“Wait! What the hell happened? Why won’t you even talk to me. I’m your Mate, and you treat me like a stranger!” he shouted.
Delilah snarled, “Do not raise your voice to this female.”
He didn’t answer Delilah, but changed his tone, “I miss you.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have stopped coming around,” Maia said softly.
“You know it’s hard, so many fucking Alphas here, and I’m Alpha, too. I’ve told you that before,” he said.
“Yeah, you have. But on the phone it’s just me,” and she lifted her eyes to his, her Wolf flashing in them.
“It’s so hard to talk to you, to need you, to not be able to be near you, or touch you the way I need. And the need just fucking grows, exponentially. I have to stay away. Do you understand? It’s just too much to control,” he tried to explain.
“Then go!” she shouted at him, tired of his excuses, and still very raw from hearing his voice telling the female at his house to take his shirt because it smelled like him.
“I am!” he shouted back. Then a little calmer, “I just need you to understand.”
She looked at him, unbelieving that he wanted her blessing to move on with his life without her, “You’ve got to be kidding?”
“No! I’m not kidding, why is it hard for you to see that I need you to understand. I need you to let me go. I have to do this. Can’t you see that I have to, it’s for the best! You’ll see one day that it was the right thing. It hurts now, but we’ll both be so much better later on. It’ll make the future better for both of us.”
All Maia heard was I want you to let me go, my life will be better without you, so she let him go, “Fine. Riley, I renounce you. I give up all claim on you. I will never darken your life again. Go, leave me, do not look back, I won’t.”
He was yelling, shouting, trying to make her stop speaking, but she powered through it in spite of his shrieking, “No! Don’t do this! Stop it, Maia! Stop it!”
She turned and strode calmly back into the house, closing the door behind her, and found Valerie and Maverik standing there. She lost all control, falling into their arms, crying and sobbing uncontrollably. She was nearly inconsolable. And from the sounds of it, Riley was seriously losing his shit outside. Kaid went back out. Delilah stood on the porch holding him off, preventing Riley from coming back in the house. Kaid hurried to where he stood, trying to come back up the steps. “Riley!” he shouted in his face. Then again, “Riley! Listen to me!”
Riley’s chest was heaving, his eyes were the gold of his Panther, his jaw was squaring as he fought the need to shift. Kaid let loose his hold on his Bear, and in just a moment the snarl of a grizzly was bringing Riley up short.
Riley snapped his eyes to Kaid’s, “Back the fuck off these steps. Control your damn self. Do not make me whip your ass right where you stand.”
Riley snarled, trying to form words, but none came. He gestured helplessly toward the house, and Kaid understood.
“I know. I do. She’s your Mate, and she just renounced you. But she’s young. Things will change. Give it time,” Kaid instructed.
Riley struggled for words again, finally managing, “Need.”
“I know. I’m not sure what’s going on here. Just that she’s seemed lost for a little while. Valerie and Vince are both fiercely protective of her. And you really don’t want to fuck with Delilah or Maverik. Neither wants you around her anymore. But it’ll all clear up. The fates matched you to her. Give her time, do what you need to. Go, build your life, make a place, and if she’s truly yours, she’ll come to you. Have something to offer her when she comes to you.”
Riley’s Panther snarled low and deadly, looking over Kaid’s shoulder at the now closed front door.
Kaid rumbled at him, taking him down a notch, “You need to go now. You need to go before you do damage to our relationship with you. I know you’re torn up. But she isn’t going to see you right now. She just renounced you. Honor her wishes. Go, make a place for yourself. If she’s supposed to be with you, she’ll seek you out.”
“Need to fix…” Riley started.
“You can’t. Not tonight. No matter what you do it will only make it worse. Just go, call her a couple weeks after you get settled,” Kaid told him.
Riley didn’t answer, just looked at the door again.
Kaid hugged him, patted his shoulder, “Go. Now.”
Then Kaid turned and walked away, going back inside and closing the door, shutting Riley out of Maia’s life.
Riley’s Panther yowled in frustration, then screamed loudly into the silence surrounding him. He fell to his knees, his heart broken.
Sometime later, how long he didn’t even know, Riley finally climbed to his feet, got in his truck and drove away. Leaving his heart behind, in the dirt, outside Kaid’s house.
Chapter 1
It was mid afternoon when Riley strapped the last of his belongings securely in the back of his truck. He looked one more time back at the door that led to the apartment he and Cristie had called home for the last year and a half. He’d never enter that apartment again. This phase of his life was finished. His heart hurt, the heavy sense of loss clinging to him like a cloak. He’d always thought when he left this place, it would be to start a new life with Maia. And he was starting a new life, but Maia was nowhere to be found. She’d renounced him and blocked him from every aspect of her life.
His tear-filled eyes met those of the little girl waving at him and pressing her nose against the window in his truck, making funny faces at him to try to get him to smile. He grinned at her and crossed his eyes, sending her into peals of laughter. If it weren’t for her, he’d be face down in a gutter somewhere having drunk himself into a stupor.
Riley looked around himself one more time, taking in all the smells, sights and sounds of the place he used to call home. He reached into the truck, placed Cristie back in her car seat, strapped her securely in and climbed in. He took a deep breath and drove toward the outskirts of town — he had a new life waiting. One that he hoped one day would bring his Mate back to him.
Twenty minutes later as they drove past the turn off to Kaid’s property, Cristie, strapped in her car seat, started bouncing and clapping, “Mai, Mai, Mai!”
“No, sweetheart, we can’t visit Maia today. We’re going on a trip,” he explained, as his voice cracked. He refused to allow himself to look down Kaid’s drive. If he did, he wasn’t sure he could muster the strength to continue on past it. “Maybe one day Maia will come to see us, okay?” he asked Cristie while she struggled to turn in her seat and watch the turnoff as they left it behind.
“Poppy?” Cristie asked, still looking back at the turnoff.
“Maybe he’ll come, too,” Riley answered.
Riley drove for hours. Sometimes he and Cristie sang songs, sometimes Cristie slept. Every five or ten minutes he’d pick up his phone and check for service. He knew that it was not likely that Maia would call, but if even Kaid or Bane would call him, at least he could check on her — make sure she was okay. He wanted her to be okay. But he wanted her to hurt, too. Because he was dying inside, and if she could feel just a touch of what he felt, he knew she’d reach out to him. He just knew it. His Panther whispered, No, you don’t.
Riley didn’t answer Panther. Panther was right. Riley still had no idea why she’d renounced him, cut him out of her life.
Talk to Mate, Panther nudged.
She won’t see us, he thought back at Panther.
Panther didn’t answer, but sent him a painful look before pacing to the back of his mind and curling up to soothe himself.
It was late when he finally decided that he needed a break from driving. Cristie was getting antsy and so was he. He was driving through a little town when he not
iced a diner back off the main highway. It was connected to a bar, but the diner was separate, so it would be okay to take his daughter into.
He parked his truck and got out to go around to get Cristie out of her car seat, stretching tired muscles as he went.
He pulled open the truck door and unstrapped her. “Come on, baby, let’s go see what we can find to eat.”
He propped her on his hip and started for the door.
“‘Sketti’s,” Cristie said as he entered the diner.
“Okay, we’ll see if they have ‘sketti’s for you,” he answered.
A middle-aged woman with a very gruff disposition greeted them from across the diner. She was wiping down a table and cleaning off the previous customers’ dishes. “Sit anywhere,” she called, barely glancing up.
“Thanks,” he answered. Then, “Do you have a booster seat for my daughter?”
The woman huffed her irritation and without looking back, said, “Fine, give me a minute.”
She came back a few moments later with a booster seat in one hand, a menu in the other. She handed the booster seat to Riley, and made an appreciative sweep from his hips back up to his eyes. Suddenly her demeanor took on a much more friendly tone.
“Well, look at you. What brings you to our little town?” she asked, batting her eyes at Riley.
Riley, already put off from her original attitude, and ever raw from Maia’s rejection, gave her a bit of attitude right back. “Passing through,” he said coldly, then without looking at the menu, he handed it back to her, “My daughter wants spaghetti, and bring me sweet tea, please.”
“Sure,” the waitress said, then with a suggestive tone in her voice, “What about dessert? If there’s anything else at all that you might like, just let me know.”
Riley, irritated, his alpha power on full display, snapped his head up to look her in the eye and said, “Not a thing, not a single thing.”
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