which of them you will choose?”
This conversation was agony, but she
would have it.
His mouth stopped against her shoulder
blade. “I’ve wanted to learn a bit more
about the pride before making an
irrevocable decision,” he said, his voice
frustratingly devoid of inflection. “Who
would you have me choose, Ava?”
Now he wanted her to pick her own
rival? “I couldn’t make such a choice for
you. She must be strong and fast—”
“Tolerant, progressive in her way of
thinking…” His mouth glided back to the
nape of her neck.
Ava gritted her teeth. He was taunting
her now. She knew as well as he what
was required of the Alpha’s mate. “Firm
enough to rule in your stead.”
“Wise enough to rule without
violence…”
“Large enough that none of the other
lionesses could physically threaten her
to get their way…”
Landon suddenly grew very alert at her
back. “Has someone been threatening you, Ava?”
She rolled her eyes, not caring that he
couldn’t see the gesture. “I’m the runt of
the pride, Landon.
Everyone bullies me. It’s practically the
national pastime.”
His arm tightened almost immeasurably
against her stomach, the muscles
suddenly iron hard. “Your brothers
allow this?” he growled.
“My brothers can’t be everywhere and
even if they could, a lioness should fight
her own battles.” Ava smiled wryly. “Or
be smart enough to give in when a battle
with someone twice her size is
imminent.”
“That isn’t how I want my pride to be.”
Landon’s body was impossibly tense. It
was like being in bed with a marble
statue.
“We can’t always get what we want,
Landon. Shifter prides have been a
hierarchy of strength for as long as
anyone can remember. I don’t think
they’re going to suddenly start changing
now.”
“We will change,” he vowed. “We may
be animals, but that doesn’t mean we
have to abandon all reason. The weaker
ones should not be punished. No one
should be allowed to decide who is eligible to breed and who isn’t.”
“It keeps the gene pool strong,” Ava
countered, having memorized all of the
arguments that were supposed to comfort
her in the knowledge that she would
never be allowed cubs of her own. As a
tiny, albino lioness, she was practically
considered deformed.
“Survival of the fittest does not include
breeding restrictions,” Landon snapped.
“And a select coalition of males being
allowed to breed with the females is just
as ridiculous.”
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Serengeti Heat
“Even if, as the Alpha, you decide the
coalition?”
“There are no conditions on decency,
Ava.”
She twisted around in his arms until they
faced one another. His expression was
fierce, determined.
Ava smiled a little at his idealistic
resolve. “Zoe said you wouldn’t force
the strong young males to become
nomads as you were forced out of your
pride. Don’t you fear that one of them
will overpower you and toss you out of your home?”
“If we did not micromanage every
aspect of their lives and forbid them
from ever having sex with the females,
then I imagine the young, strong males
would be much less likely to want to rip
my head off.”
Ava gently stroked a finger across his
cheek. “It is a lovely idea, Landon.
Justice and equality for all often is. But
do you really think you can accomplish
all that? Change our wild and savage
ways?”
His green-gold eyes held hers steadily.
“Not alone.”
Ava tucked her chin and snuggled close to him, burying her face against his chest
to avoid his penetrating stare. He would
need a true queen as his consort if he
was going to accomplish his dreams for
the pride. “Then you had better choose
wisely,” she murmured, closing her eyes
against the painful knowledge that she
could never be that choice. Not for him.
Not for the pride.
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Chapter Nine
Landon’s first sensation upon waking
was hunger, and not the hunger that had
consumed him during the hours of the night before and well past dawn. His
stomach felt like it was wrapped around
his spine, consuming itself in a futile
quest for sustenance.
He realized he hadn’t eaten since before
seeing Ava in the bar last night. Lion
shifters had naturally high metabolisms
and between the sexual marathon and the
extra energy expended from the one time
they’d shifted, he felt like he’d been
starved for a week, rather than fasting
for a matter of hours.
His stomach growled ferociously, but
Landon didn’t move. He held himself
perfectly still as Ava sighed and rubbed
against him in her sleep. She was half
sprawled across his chest, her long white-blonde hair blanketing them both.
He ran his fingers through the soft
strands. Often a shifter’s human mane
would resemble the pelt of their other
form—in his travels, Landon had once
met a tiger with gold hair and black
stripes at his temples—but he had still
been surprised by the pale luminescence
of Ava’s coat when she shifted the night
before.
White lions were rare in their feline
counterparts, perhaps one in a thousand
born with the anomaly, but they were
practically unheard of among the shifter
culture where any hint of the unusual
was brutally bred out. Landon had never
seen a white lioness before last night, which made him wonder where Ava had
been hiding during all of the gatherings
over the last three months. He was sure
the unusually bright sheen of her fur
would have caught his eye in any form.
She curled toward him instinctively in
her sleep and Landon smiled. She was
so skittish when she was awake, always
holding part of herself away from him,
hidden behind her enigmatic pale gray
eyes. For all that she gave of herself
generously, as purely uninhibited a lover
as he’d ever had, she always kept that
part of her safe. Separate.
Except when she slept. At least her
subconscious was willing to
acknowledge that she belonged with him.
Landon didn’t know when the decision
had been made, but sometime between
that first teasing taste of her scent in the
bar and their lazy post-coital chats as
dawn broke, he had made his choice.
Ava was the only lioness he could
imagine taking as his mate. She would
not cling to outdated traditions, but
would help him bring a sense of
humanity into their less than human
world. She would support him, argue
with him when he needed it, and was
brave enough to step between him and
his prey when his ire was up, strong
enough to face down his misdirected
anger. She was ideal.
Serengeti Heat
Now all he had to do was convince her
of that fact.
She was so eager to run from him, his
little mate. So ready to hand him off to
someone she had decided was more
suitable to rule beside him.
Landon tightened his arms around her
sleeping form. His stomach grumbled
again and again he ignored it. There was
no food inside his bungalow. None of
the sleeping quarters on the compound
were set up with kitchens. In the
communal living environment of the
pride, all meals were taken at the mess hall. It had taken Landon some time to
accustom himself to eating with his
pride, after the years he and his sister
had spent fending for themselves, but he
had found, much to his surprise, that he
enjoyed the familial feeling the large
community meals inspired.
Attendance at mealtimes was not
required, even the pride-first oriented
lions had too much feline independence
for that. Snacks were always on hand in
the kitchen for those who chose not to
dine with the group, for whatever
reason. So his and Ava’s absence at
breakfast, which they had long since
slept through, at least wouldn’t be noted.
If they were still missing at dinner, it might raise some alarms—and Landon
might die of hunger, if the ache in his
stomach was any indication—but he was
hopeful he would be able to convince
Ava to become his consort before then.
His plan consisted largely of keeping her
trapped in bed until she said yes.
Not terribly sophisticated, but hopefully
all the coercion she would require.
He stroked her hair away from her face
and she hummed and sighed against him
as she slept. He had worn her out, poor
thing, but it seemed her heat had finally
subsided. The scent of her no longer
demanded that he wake her just so he
could make love to her again. Their
libidos were finally allowing them some rest.
He wondered how the rest of the pride
would react to their pairing. She wasn’t
who they would have picked for him, if
he’d put it to a vote, which he had
actually considered doing at one point,
when all of the candidates had seemed
identical in ambition and appeal.
Landon was still trying to find his way in
the pride, for all that he was their leader
now. He’d been a nomad, responsible
for only himself and Zoe, who was
entirely capable of taking care of
herself, for so long. Without the
protection of the pride, they’d had to be
constantly on alert, never knowing when it was safe to shift or hunt, always wary
of exposure, being caught and turned into
a science experiment.
He had been constantly tense, waiting
for the ax to fall, always on edge, but
life here in the pride was one hundred
and eighty degrees different.
The pride owned all of the land for
miles in every direction around the
ranch. Security measures to keep out
prying eyes—even some that distorted
satellite photos that might compromise
them from space—
were in place all around the compound.
Every member of the community
contributed, some within the ranch, those who chose working in nearby towns, but
the rhythm of life here was slow and
easy.
Hammocks were strung between the
bungalows for long afternoon naps in the
sun.
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41
Vivi Andrews
The shifters were deliberate in their
actions, productive when they needed to
be, enjoying a lazy reprieve when they
didn’t. The pace of life here was a
replica of their Serengeti cousins rather than the frenzied, worker-bee mentality
of the average American human.
It had taken some getting used to for
Landon, but he had come to love it,
though he’d never felt that he truly
belonged. Until last night. Until Ava.
Somehow she had made him feel like
one of them. He had been searching for
an in, trying to earn the acceptance that
he’d already been granted, and then last
night, between one heartbeat and the
next, Ava had brought him home. He
didn’t want to lose that feeling any more
than he wanted to lose her. Though, now
that he felt like a true member of the
pride, he knew he would not lose that
sense.
Losing Ava was a much more real
danger.
How was it that the woman he’d been
seeking, the one he knew instinctively
was meant to be his mate, didn’t want
the position? Could she have so little
She was extraordinary, and it fell to him
to convince her of that. If he didn’t die of
starvation first.
She was soundly asleep. Maybe if he
slipped out quickly to grab them some
food, he could be back before she—
His thoughts broke off as the door to the bungalow slammed open, ricocheting off
the wall with a deafening bang.
Ava sat up, abruptly awake. Landon
shoved her behind him, already
crouched to protect her, as Caleb, the
second oldest, and largest, of Ava’s four
brothers burst into the room.
“Ava’s missing!” he shouted then
stumbled to a halt when he recognized
his sister’s pale eyes peering at him over
Landon’s shoulder.
Michael, the youngest of the four,
plowed into Caleb’s back as he stormed
into the room behind him.
Then he looked up and saw what had shocked his brother into immobility.
Michael reacted first. He shifted
instantaneously, one moment a large,
heavily muscled young man, the next a
massive, dark golden lion with a jet
black mane that had still not grown to
full maturity. Caleb shifted a fraction of
a second later. Larger than his brother,
with streaks of reds and browns in his
dark mane, he was fully grown and a
much more formidable opponent.
Caleb sn
arled and instinct consumed
Landon. Something threatened his mate.
He launched himself off the bed, shifting
in mid leap to land in front of them on all
fours, roaring his rage, his hackles high beneath his own golden mane.
Caleb matched his height at the shoulder,
but his body was heavier. Landon knew
his superior speed and maneuverability
would be little advantage with Michael
there, younger but still dangerous in his
own right, to even out the fight. In the
blind rage filling his mind, there was no
question as to whether he would fight
them. He would protect his mate.
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Serengeti Heat
Caleb shifted his weight on his haunches. Landon braced to receive the
attack, when suddenly a small white
lioness leapt between them, hissing at
the dark pair and batting a paw at
Caleb’s muzzle. Her claws were not
extended, but the big lion jerked his head
back and coughed in surprise and anger.
Landon snarled to hear the aggressive
sound directed at his mate, but Ava’s
small, lithe form crowded him back,
pressing him away from her brothers.
She rubbed her head beneath his chin
and leaned her slight body against his,
maintaining herself as a barrier between
him and the other lions. Landon let her
herd him away, reason slowly returning
as he realized her brothers would never hurt her, no matter how his instincts
might scream otherwise.
Ava purred loudly, the vibration
soothing him. She shoved against his
body until he lay down, separated by the
length of the room from her brothers. She
then turned and hissed angrily in their
direction.
Both of the lions took a step back, their
taken-aback reactions oddly human.
Caleb shifted back first, hastily reaching
for the clothing that had been all but
destroyed by his rapid shift. Nudity was
not scandalous among the pride where
they all walked in two skins, but
apparently finding his little sister naked in bed with his Alpha had given Caleb a
newfound respect for modesty.
Michael remained in lion form, as
Landon suspected he would until he
himself shifted back.
Caleb wrapped the remains of his shirt
around his waist like a loincloth and
extended a hand to the white lioness.
“Come with us, Ava.”
Landon couldn’t contain the low growl
that rumbled in his throat. They would
not take his mate.
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