Home > Tarian Alpha (New Tarian Pride #1)(12)

Tarian Alpha (New Tarian Pride #1)(12)
Author: T.S. Joyce

When he set his teeth gently on her shoulder, she panicked. She didn’t want to die. She reached out and swatted him, hooking her claws into his fur coat, right at his ribs. Another hiss.

He didn’t even flinch. He let her claws stay right where they were and ran his long tongue up the side of her neck, over and over, until she retracted the claws from his hide. Her heart was going ninety-to-nothing, threatening to race out of her chest completely. Ronin laid half on top of her, one massive arm thrown over her body, pinning her down as he cleaned her slowly. Minutes drifted by, and still, he didn’t kill her. He didn’t even put her in her place. And eventually, she relaxed, muscle by muscle, and closed her eyes, enjoying the affection. Outside of her parents, had she ever experienced affection in this form? She couldn’t remember. She remembered being a cub and getting clawed and bitten by the dominant cubs of the Pride. The only good memories she had in this form were the hours she’d spent alone in the woods, with no one there to scare her.

Ronin stood suddenly and made his way across the playground. Just…left.

Confused, Emerald sat up and watched him meander off. He was tricky. He walked slow and lazy, but she knew he could turn into a killer in no time flat. Still…she’d just been getting used to him, and now he was heading into the woods. Heading away from her.

She didn’t like that.

Maybe she would just trail behind so she could see where he was going, but still be able to run away easily. Feeling like an escape artist genius, Emerald stood, twitched her tail, and then crunched through the snow after him. At the tree line, he slowed and came to a stop, then watched her over his shoulder.

Is he waiting for me? That’s dangerous. Everything is dangerous.

She stopped, too.

He sat.

She sat.

They stared.

What now?

A roar sounded behind her and, on instinct, she bolted for Ronin. Hell no to getting eaten by a stranger lion! She would rather be eaten by him.

Ronin was standing now, looking at something behind her, and she skidded to a stop beside him. His ears were perked up, but his mouth was hanging open and he was panting slightly. Relaxed for the most part. Across the playground were a trio of adult male lions and one lioness.

Was it the Old Tarian Pride or the New Tarian Pride? From Ronin’s reaction, she thought this was his Crew. He strode toward them, unhurried. Okay then. Emerald scampered behind him, dragging her belly through the snow, trailing just far enough back that he couldn’t turn around and swat her. Not that he was showing any signs of aggression, but a wuss could never be too careful. She wanted to roll her eyes at herself, but again, the lioness controlled this body.

He ran his face down the side of the lioness first. Rose? It was probably Rose. She guessed so, since the lioness came straight over to Emerald and greeted her. Like a nice lioness. Like Rose had done. Emerald lay frozen in the snow like a fucking lion-cicle while Rose bumped her forehead against hers. The male lions approached slowly, bobbing their heads as they stared at Emerald.

This was her nightmare. They were all dominant brawlers, and now she was definitely going to die.

Ronin was larger than all of them and wary. He paced away and then back as the others approached closer to Emerald, step by tentative step. The lions seemed only curious, but Emerald wasn’t used to Prides. She wasn’t used to so many dominant lions around her at once, and she couldn’t breathe. She rolled over on her side. Please don’t hurt me.

One of the males was braver than the rest and sauntered up to her. He pushed his nose against her shoulder and then her neck. This was okay. He was just checking her out. Everything was okay. But when he placed his paw on her ribs and put pressure on her, Ronin snarled and swatted him right off her. The lion fell hard in the snow, and then Ronin herded him away aggressively. His body was tensed up, every powerful muscle rippling, the warning in his throat deafening. Rose laid beside her, tail twitching as she watched Ronin back the lion into a snowdrift. The other three males were inching away, tails down, ears flattened.

They all felt like Alphas, even the lioness beside her. These were the Tarians she remembered.

Emerald backed away, her belly making a trail in the snow. The three males bolted behind her, and now she was trapped between them and the fight. They had lowered to the ground stretched their necks forward, sniffing at her tail. Rose hissed but she didn’t seem too bothered by them.

Suddenly, Ronin let off a whoof sound. It was a chuffing. He did it over and over, his rib muscles flexing with each call he gave. The others trotted away a few steps, ears erect, eyes on their Alpha. A lion roared in the woods, then another and another. Ronin was calling them. Why? Emerald didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to be in the middle of whatever was happening. Her submissiveness only set off dominants. It made them defensive. Her lying here in the snow like some dead thing made them instinctively want to fix her, like she was a wounded member of the pride. It made them want to fix her…or end her. She was confusing them all, like she always did, and confusion in lions led to aggression. Look at Ronin, charging the three males. Charging his own pride because of her. He was trying to protect her, but from what? His own people. Stupid lioness.

Ronin gave off three short roars again, and the other lions in the woods appeared in the clearing, trotting toward them. Was this the entire Pride here now? Rose arched her head back and roared, too, and the three closest to them joined in.

And what did Emerald do?

She laid there like a bump on a log.

And hated herself.

She had been born into this powerful body, but with a weak soul, and for what? What good did it do her? It only confused her and every shifter around her. She wrecked the balance.

Ronin herded the lions toward the old trail leading through the woods, leaving only her behind, and she understood. He’d told her before she didn’t belong here. Her place was to stay invisible.

So she watched them all leave. And when Ronin turned around, she wished she could smile at him. It’s okay. I understand.

But he trotted back to her and swatted her on the ass. Was this the part where she was going to die? No, he was trying to get her up.

Good luck, bucko, my lioness doesn’t mind anyone— With a hiss, Emerald stood up and slunk beside him. And when he followed his Pride, she stayed right there at his side.

Well…this was new.

The Pride kept stopping and waiting, eyes on her, eyes on Ronin, back to her, back to Ronin.

Ronin was Alpha. He should’ve been in front, leading them all. But instead, he was walking slowly beside her. She didn’t understand.

There was a soft rumbling every time Ronin exhaled a frozen breath, and every ten steps or so, he would swerve into her and rub his body down the side of hers. The first time he did it, she went to her belly. But he’d protected her. He hadn’t hurt her. He was being patient and walking with her. So each time he moved toward her, she tried a little harder to stand her ground until her lioness rubbed her face against the side of his thick mane.

And inside, Emerald wanted to cry with happiness. Because she’d never been okay around other dominant lions, but Ronin made her feel safe. Who was going to mess with her when she was under his protection? No one. He was king here.

And the more she watched him, content to walk with her at the back of the Pride, the more she realized something.

An Alpha and a Pride were only as strong as the weakest member—and that would always be her. She was better off in Cassius’s Pride where she could cause dissention in the ranks just by being herself.

She understood that, but as she walked through the snowy woods with these powerful animals, feeling like she was a part of something…she selfishly wanted to stay.

Chapter Nine

Why wouldn’t her hands stop shaking? She tried twice to tie her boots, but she messed up the bow both times. She would probably never get used to Changing in front of people. The others had Changed back to their human forms, seemingly unaffected, like they did this all the time in front of each other, but for Emerald, it was different. Changing had always been a secretive thing in the years she’d been rogue with her family. She’d hid what she was, and taught her lioness to feel almost…ashamed. And realizing that made Emerald a little sad. She’d been part of making her lioness invisible without knowing it. She tried again to tie her shoe, but her silly trembling hands messed it all up again. She could feel everyone’s attention on her.

“Here, let me,” Ronin murmured, kneeling in front of her.

“Ronin, get up,” she whispered. “You shouldn’t be kneeling in front of me. You’re Alpha.”

“You don’t really understand what being Alpha means, do you?” he murmured, frowning up at her as he finished tying her shoe. His eyes were still bright gold, and made her heartbeat stutter a bit.

She didn’t understand what he meant, but before she could ask, a dark-haired man from Ronin’s Crew, Kannon, he’d called him, strode by. He was bare-butt-naked and didn’t cover his swinging dick at all. On a frozen breath, he muttered, “Yeah, well, you don’t know what being Alpha means either, Ronin.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ronin snarled, standing.

“It means we all know what you’re going to do,” he yelled, rounding on him. The man had fresh claw marks on his arms and ribs. Maybe he was one of the lions in the fight outside of the cabin earlier. “You’ll leave us here and go guns a-blazing at Cassius alone. Right? Because of this girl?”

The others were gathering around now.

“It’s not your fight,” Ronin murmured.

“It is! You’ve made it our fight. We are backing you. We went against our friends and family to back you.”

“And when it comes to fighting the Old Tarian Pride? Huh, Kannon? What will you do? How will you feel? Because we just had a meeting and you were all still sympathizing with them.”

“Is it loyalty you’re questioning?” Kannon growled, his eyes the color of sunlight. “Because if you’re really questioning if we would have your back…then why the fuck are you here? Why the fuck did you take this throne?”

   
Most Popular
» Nothing But Trouble (Malibu University #1)
» Kill Switch (Devil's Night #3)
» Hold Me Today (Put A Ring On It #1)
» Spinning Silver
» Birthday Girl
» A Nordic King (Royal Romance #3)
» The Wild Heir (Royal Romance #2)
» The Swedish Prince (Royal Romance #1)
» Nothing Personal (Karina Halle)
» My Life in Shambles
» The Warrior Queen (The Hundredth Queen #4)
» The Rogue Queen (The Hundredth Queen #3)
romance.readsbookonline.com Copyright 2016 - 2024