Chapter Ten
Ava gazed back and forth between her
brothers and her lover. This was not
how she had imagined her night with
Landon ending. Though, to be truthful,
she hadn’t envisioned it ending at all.
Knowing a fairy tale has to end and
picturing herself actually walking out the
door were two very different things.
And she had known. She did know. It
was time for her to leave. But that didn’t
make walking away any easier.
Ava took a step toward Caleb’s
outstretched hand. Landon lunged to his
feet, growling, but Ava knew better than to think his possessive posturing was
anything more than instinctual reflex. It
wasn’t like his emotions were involved,
after all.
Ava hissed at him over her shoulder,
urging him to back down, not to make a
fuss. Across the room, Michael growled
low. Landon couldn’t stop her, not with
her brothers here. Perhaps their
presence, mortifying as it was, was for
the best.
Ava continued across the room. Landon
didn’t make another sound, though she
could feel his green-gold eyes tracking
every twitch of her tail. She padded past
her brothers without pausing and out into
the late morning sunlight. She didn’t stop to await the scolding she knew was
coming, instead breaking into an easy
lope, heading toward the tiny bungalow
she’d claimed for her own.
Michael followed, all but stepping on
her tail, until she spun and swiped at
him, snarling irritably. The youngest and
most impulsive of her brothers backed
off a few steps, but continued to dog her
steps until she leapt up onto the small
porch in front of her place and whipped
around to hiss at him. Caleb was beside
him, once again in his lion form, and
they easily could have bullied their way
into the bungalow after her and
demanded answers she was in no mood
to give, but instead they surprised her by darting off to the other end of the
complex. Doubtless to round up her
other brothers to present her with the full
force of their anger. Ava shuddered, her
fur rippling over her body. What a
lovely thing to look forward to. Being
taken to task for finally doing something
for herself. Finally stepping out of the
protective bubble her brothers had built
for her at birth.
Ava turned and smacked the door open
with her paw, pleased for once that the
doors on her house never latched
properly. She started to pad toward her
closet, but whipped around with a snarl,
sensing another presence in her small
sanctuary.
Her place wasn’t large or luxurious, as
all of the premiere accommodations
belonged to the strongest members of the
pride. Ava had intentionally chosen the
smallest, most squalid shack in the
complex, the Serengeti Heat
one that no one would bother to steal
from her, and turned it into something
remarkably cozy. Cozy, but still barely
large enough to turn around in, and
certainly not large enough for anyone to
hide from her.
Shana wasn’t trying to hide though. She
very much wanted her presence to be
known.
One of the few lions Ava had ever seen whose hair didn’t match her pelt, the
tall, muscular redhead stood in front of
Ava’s vanity. Gilded by the sunlight
streaming through the window, Shana
was breathtaking, statuesque and
completely self-assured. She toyed with
a piece of jewelry, unconcerned by the
threat of the white lioness crouched only
a few feet away.
“Oh, don’t stop on my account,” Shana
said, waving a hand magnanimously.
“By all means, change.”
As Shana did not seem inclined to give
her privacy, Ava didn’t see much of an
alternative. She shifted into her human
form, straightening the kinks out of her
spine that always seemed to accompany the shift, and turned to pull a sundress
out of the closet and over her head. She
turned back to Shana, clothed, but by no
means comfortable.
“What do you want?” she asked bluntly.
She realized her error as soon as
Shana’s eyes flared with surprise. “My,
my, look who’s finally grown some
teeth.” Shana let the pendant in her hands
drop to spin at the end of the chain. “Are
you so certain your lover will protect
you, little Ava? He isn’t known for being
steadfast. Trust me.”
Ava fought not to wince visibly. It had
been foolish to hope no one would know
about her night with Landon and downright idiocy to think the other
females vying for position with him
would not respond to her implied threat
to their aspirations. She should have
known that Shana would come to take
her down a peg. She just hadn’t expected
the reminder that Landon had slept with
the gorgeous redhead to sting quite so
viciously.
“No comment? Don’t tell me you’ve lost
your courage already? Poor little Ava.”
She continued to spin the pendant and
Ava’s eyes flicked down, attracted by
the movement, then held by recognition.
It was hers. Ava had bought the green-
gold stone in town less than a month ago
on impulse.
The setting was simple, the stone itself
not particularly valuable, but Ava hadn’t
been able to put it down.
It was the exact shade of Landon’s eyes.
Apparently, Shana had recognized the
color as well, rifling through Ava’s
meager jewelry box as she waited for
her to return.
“Quite pretty, this,” she remarked, too
casually for Ava’s comfort. “I think I
might borrow it. It would flatter me,
don’t you think? Maybe I’ll wear it
tonight.”
“Tonight?”
Shana laughed, not kindly. “Little Ava,
don’t tell me you’ve forgotten. Tonight is
the Midsummer Hunt.” She gave a feline
smile. “I know he hasn’t said anything,
but speculation has been going around
that the Alpha will name his mate
tonight.” She held the pendant up against
her throat. “I’ll look fetching standing
beside him wearing this, don’t you
think?”
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Ava couldn’t speak. She knew Landon hadn’t given Shana any reason to think
she would be his consort, but the larger
lioness’s acid-tipped words brought
home the reality of the situation. She
knew better than to stand up for herself
and t
ry to take back the pendant. Shana
was bigger and stronger and never
turned down a fight, no matter how petty.
A wave of defeat swamped her. Ava
couldn’t even keep possession of one
worthless little pendant.
How was she supposed to keep order in
the tribe as the Alpha’s consort?
Landon would choose another. And
apparently, he would do it tonight. In
time for his new mate to lead the Hunt.
“Well, I’ll be off then,” Shana said
brightly. “You don’t mind if I borrow
this, do you.”
It was not a question. Ava kept her head
down, as the larger, notoriously
temperamental and aggressive redhead
stalked out of her home, spinning the
“borrowed” stone pendant in her hands.
After the fantasy of last night, reality’s
brutality stung. Ava curled up on the
floor beside her twin bed, determined
not to cry.
***
It was galling enough when Landon
realized he didn’t know where the
woman he wanted to make his mate
lived. Doubly so when he had to go
knocking on his little sister’s door to get
directions.
Zoe opened the door on the first knock
and leaned against the frame, scraps of
shredded denim dangling from one
finger. “Missing something?”
Landon felt an unfamiliar heat rushing to
his face when he recognized Ava’s
mangled jeans. He snatched them out of
Zoe’s hand and shoved them behind his
back, though that did nothing to lessen
his sister’s knowing smirk. “I need you
to tell me which bungalow is Ava’s.”
Zoe shot him the look she had perfected as a toddler. The how-is-it-possible-I-share-a-genetic-code-with-this-moron
look. “You don’t know where she
lives?” she asked incredulously.
He ignored the question, waiting and
hoping she would give up the
information without a hassle.
She folded her arms and frowned at him.
“Why do you need to see her so badly?
What did you say to her?”
So much for that hope. “I’m not in the
mood for games, Zo. Just tell me where
she is.” He had to find Ava and convince
her she belonged with him. Preferably
before her brothers returned to rip his arms from their sockets.
Zoe glowered at him, unimpressed by
his demand. “It’s a game if I want to
make sure you haven’t hurt my friend
before I sic you on her?”
“I would never hurt her. You know that.”
“You wouldn’t smack her around or
anything, but you’re still just a big dumb
man and big dumb men say stupid,
hurtful things all the time. Did you really
tell her you thought she was unsuitable?”
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Serengeti Heat
Landon winced. “That was a
misunderstanding.”
“And why’d she run off without telling
you where to find her? Was that a
misunderstanding too?”
“Her brothers showed up,” he gritted
out.
Zoe’s face tightened. “Meddlesome
punks. Trust them to ruin everything.”
She shoved herself away from the
doorframe and sent an acid glare in the
general direction of the Minor brothers’
bungalows.
“Ava’s place is on the south edge of the ranch. It’s that little cabin. You know,
the one that looks like a stiff wind would
blow it right over.”
Landon knew the place, but it had never
occurred to him that anyone might
actually live in the shack.
Let alone Ava.
He made his way to the southern edge of
the compound, giving the Minor
brothers’ turf a wide berth.
He drew up short when he saw Ava’s
cabin—and the hot-tempered lion
standing guard on her rickety front
porch.
Ava’s youngest brother, Michael, snapped to attention and spun to face him
when the breeze carrying his scent
alerted him to Landon’s presence.
“Get away from here!” Michael roared.
His hands broke out into claws as his
temper called up his most predatory
form.
Landon shoved the wadded up remains
of Ava’s jeans behind his back and
raised his other hand in classic
surrender. He approached slowly. “I just
need to talk to her.”
“I said get away!” Michael’s spine
bowed as his lion form struggled to
break free.
Landon’s own lion instincts rose in response, the urge to shift and fight
nearly overwhelming. “Don’t think you
can keep me from her, cub,” he heard
himself growl.
Michael bared his teeth in a snarl. He
tensed to spring and Landon braced
himself to take the impact.
“Stop it, both of you!”
Ava appeared on the porch behind her
brother, her pale gray eyes flashing.
“Go back inside, Ava,” Michael ordered
without turning. “This doesn’t concern
you.”
Bad call, buddy.
All of Ava’s ire honed in on her brother.
“It doesn’t concern me? I’m the only one this concerns. Get off my porch,
Michael.”
Michael appeared to realize—much too
late—that he had erred. “I didn’t mean
—”
“I said get away,” she snapped. “I can
talk to whoever I want.”
“But Tyler said…”
“Leave!”
last threatening glare at Landon.
When he was gone, Landon came
forward, drawn toward Ava, until the
look she shot him froze him in place.
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Vivi Andrews
“Just because I don’t want him around, it
doesn’t mean I want you here.”
Landon thought wistfully of the woman
who had curled around him so warm and
accepting in her sleep. There was no
trace of her in the forbidding glower of
the woman on the porch.
“I come in peace,” he offered lightly,
extending the tattered denim toward her.
A flicker of a smile tried to break
through Ava’s glare and failed. “That’s a
pretty pathetic peace offering.”
Levity hadn’t worked, so he tried a more
serious tack. He met her wary eyes
directly, urging her to see his
determination. “We have more to say to
one another, Ava.”
The expression that tried to break
through her anger this time was
heartbreakingly sad and utterly resigned.
“I’ve said all I have to say.”
“I haven’t.”
For a second that seemed to drag on
forever, he thought she would turn him
&nb
sp; away. Then she shrugged and stepped
aside, nodding toward the narrow
doorway. “Come in then.”
He had to duck to cross the threshold
and, once inside, he couldn’t straighten
fully without knocking his head on the
exposed beams of the ceiling. He felt
like a bull in a china shop, his shoulder
nearly knocking a small framed photo of
Ava and her brothers off the wall when
he turned to study the space she had
made her home. In spite of the shabby
exterior, Ava’s cabin had a cozy, if
unimpressive, charm. An unassuming
hominess.
She stepped into the tiny room behind
him and closed the door. As soon as it
clicked shut, the memory of the last time
they’d been alone together rose in his
mind. The room was saturated in her
scent and his body reacted to it, his
instincts screaming that she was his.
Now all he had to do was convince her
of that fact. The confident temptress who
had seduced him last night was gone. In
her place was a meek waif who refused
to meet his eyes.
She leaned against the door and fidgeted
with the knick-knacks on the window
ledge to her right. “So, this is the
reality,” she said, waving a carved lion figurine at the room at large. “Small.”
“It suits you.” He saw her face close off
and internally winced. Evidently not the
right thing to say. As she continued to
fidget and glance around the room,
blushing and squirming, he realized with
a jolt she was ashamed of her home,
even though it seemed homey and
somehow perfectly her to him. “I like it.
It’s cozy.”
The look she shot him was saturated
with disbelief, but she didn’t come right
out and call him a liar.
He wasn’t sure if that was progress or
not.
“When Zoe and I lived without a pride, we didn’t have much of anything. You
learn to appreciate the things that make a
place a home.” He carefully straightened
the photo he’d knocked askew.
She continued to fidget and he reached
out to rescue the lion carving she was
twisting to death. She snatched her hands
behind her back when he brushed her
fingers, relinquishing the carving without
a fight.
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Serengeti Heat
The wooden figure was small enough fit in the palm of his hand, but the details
were so intricate and the artisan so
skilled, he could immediately identify
the form. It was a miniature replica of
her brother Tyler as a crouching lion.