Destined to the Pride Read online

  Chapter Five

  “WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR face?” My best friend Chloe squinted at me in disbelief and possibly disgust, her mouth hanging open. She walked through the threshold of Ari’s doorway, holding her swollen belly protectively. “And what are you doing here?”

  “Things got a little crazy on the mountain.” My plan was to tell her as little as I could get away with about the challenge. Chloe was one of the few people who actually supported my relationship with Leo. Too much information might change that. “And I’m helping out a friend.”

  “Did someone attack you?” Chloe paced in front of the couch. Ari had already left for work. I didn’t think she was ready but she insisted it was best to get back to her routine. Now I was without a routine and I didn’t want to be alone. Not that I was afraid of anyone attacking me here, but it would give me way too much time to think. Since thinking was the last thing I wanted to do, I called Chloe. I was maid of honor for her upcoming bonding ceremony, and I really needed something good to look forward to after this awful weekend.

  And I really wanted to see another doe. I needed to reconnect with who I was and stop focusing on what I wasn’t.

  I took a deep breath and motioned for Chloe to sit on the couch. She stuck to the edge, not even close to relaxed. Her hands were glued to her belly, like if she let go something would happen to the baby growing inside her. “The pride challenged me.”

  “Daphne!” she gasped, then jumped up and practically landed in my lap, hugging me so tight I swear I felt the baby kick. After she pulled away, she ran her finger lightly underneath the scab that still marked my cheek. “But you’re still here. You won.”

  If I said anything, I was going to burst into tears. I nodded.

  “How?”

  “Ari, the woman who lives here, jumped in and fought for me.” A tear slid down my cheek. Seeing how this upset Chloe made me realize how much danger I’d actually put myself in.

  “What about Leo?” She narrowed her eyebrows, suspect. “He’s your mate. Why did some girl I’ve never heard of before have to step in? He should have ripped those cougars to shreds.”

  “He was held back.” The image of it kept playing through my mind. Dylan’s teeth sunk into Leo’s mane, gripping him by the scruff. The hatred for Dylan began to creep back in.

  “If we had any idea you were in that kind of danger, no one would have ever let you stay on that mountain.” Chloe’s declaration was a punch in the gut. The mate had dictated my whole life. Everything I’d wanted to do had to be put on hold, because every year it was possible I’d be ready to shift. College, training for the national gymnastics team...nobody’d let me do any of those things. Now I’d found my mate and the herd still wanted to tell me what to do.

  I’d had enough.

  I tipped my chin up. “There’s nothing to worry about. I’m not going back to the mountain.”

  Chloe’s mouth fell open. “Did you guys break up? Because...”

  In our herd, the mate was forever. But I’d mated outside of the herd. Still, in his pride’s tradition, Leo had claimed me. That was their version of forever. I had the three raised scars on my lower back to prove it. When I was doe, they were visible on my flank like a brand. “No.”

  “Okay.” Chloe backpedaled. “Why don’t you stay with your parents? Do they know you’re here? The girls are going to be pissed if they find out you’re in town and you didn’t come see them.”

  “Because.” My heart ached at the mention of my little sisters. It had been easier to get into Woodland Park lately now that the weather had improved, and I could see my family more often. But Gods, I missed them right now. “I don’t want them to freak out. Like you are right now. And I’m not sure what our plan is yet. This all happened over the weekend. I’ve got this under control, Chloe. I promise. I’m fine.”

  “I want to believe that.” Chloe’s shoulders slumped and she looked down to her belly one more time. “I thought Leo was the best thing that ever happened to you. Now I’m not so sure.”

  CHLOE SEEDED DOUBT in my mind. I was totally distracted all day as we looked at flowers and figured out chair rentals.

  I hadn’t heard from Leo since he left with Dylan last night.

  Last night was the first night I’d spent alone since I’d met Leo. He found me in the forest like herd legend said he would. He brought me back to his cabin and claimed me long before he’d marked my body. We never had any need to call or text one another before today. The silence was choking me.

  “Have you talked to Leo?” I asked Dylan as soon as he walked in the house, following Ari with a bag of groceries in his arm. Seeing him do something so normal was shocking.

  Dylan looked at me like I was crazy, and he could very well be right. “Not since last night.”

  “How long did you stay out?” I hated the thought of Leo driving on those mountain roads after drinking.

  “We had a beer. He was fine when he left. Call him, Daphne. He’ll have all the answers for you that I don’t.” Dylan rolled his eyes before turning back to Ari like I didn’t exist.

  The worst part of it was I had called him. Reception was crap on the mountain, or he could still be working. Or I could stop making excuses for him. The bottom line was he hadn’t called me back.

  I was starting to think I’d made a big mistake. Leo had never given me any reason to doubt his loyalty. Now I understood why Leo liked control so much. Being this far from the mountain, and from him, I had none.

  Leaning against Dylan’s truck in the cool night, I groaned when I got Leo’s voicemail again. I’d lost count of how many times I called. Now he probably thought I was psycho and was glad to be rid of me.

  I’d almost finished my walk of shame back to Ari’s apartment when my phone started vibrating in my hand. “Hey.” It came out breathy because I practically ran back to the parking lot when Leo finally called.

  “Are you okay?” Leo asked. “You called so many times. You’re freaking me out.”

  “Sorry.” I laughed. “It was overkill. I wanted to hear your voice.”

  “Yeah, I hated coming home to an empty house today.” He sounded so sad. “I was busy.”

  “I figured that. What were you doing?” I was still thinking positive. Ari and Chloe’s voices echoed loudly in my head.

  “I confronted the pride about what happened.” Leo gave me a chance to respond, but I didn’t. “Those bitches should be thrown off the mountain for this. I’m going to make sure they don’t get away with what they did to you.”

  “What about Dylan?” I pushed myself away from his truck. I probably shouldn’t lean against while I talked smack about him. “He was going to let me be ripped to shreds.”

  “He’s my brother.” Leo said quickly. “And I already handled him. He’s got a stake in this, too. He lost a child.”

  “I know that.” I paced back and forth in the parking lot. “I’m not going back there. You can run off Linnea and her friends, but the whole pride wanted me dead. You can’t change that.”

  Leo growled. “I don’t know how long I can do this, Daphne. I hate being away from you.”

  “I hate this, too.” My heart fell into my stomach. “What are you saying?”

  “We need to come up with a plan.” His voice rumbled. “Something that works for the both of us.”

  Chapter Six

  “SO WHAT’S THIS ABOUT a pride?” I asked Dylan as soon as I came back to the apartment. We needed a plan, like yesterday.

  “I don’t know if that’s your concern.” I only had Dylan’s attention for a second before he turned back to the TV and snuggled into Ari. She lay on with her head on his chest, like I’d done so many nights with Leo.

  “If you want Leo to go along with your plan, I think it is.” I hadn’t sat down yet. I stared at Dylan, willing him take his eyes away from the TV. It wasn’t working. “Because he’s not going anywhere without me.”

  Dylan chuckled. “Then where is he tonight?”

  Ari
groaned. “Stop it.”

  “I see the cougars’ point.” His smile was meant for her, like I wasn’t even in the room. “She’s fun to play with.”

  “I can hear you.” I sighed, flopping down into the armchair. “And he’s on the mountain, dealing with the cougars that attacked your mate. What are you doing about that, Dylan?”

  “They’ll pay,” Dylan growled, sitting up quickly, running his hand through his long hair as Ari clung to him. I hated bringing up anything that would upset Ari. I had so much more respect for her than I did for Dylan so far, but he needed to start taking me seriously. “Here’s what I’ve been thinking. I’ve been looking at Mount Deception. It’s not far from Woodland Park, so you girls would still be able to keep your ties to the town. There are some animals up there. I haven’t had a chance to fully explore yet, so I’m not sure how many are shifters, or if there’s any sort of hierarchy there. It’s got some trails and an abandoned ski lift. There’s opportunity there.”

  “There’s probably a pride there,” I said, even though no one in town ever talked about Mount Deception. “Most of my herd lives in Woodland Park, but there are others in Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs. Everyone goes to different places when they shift.”

  “True. But the ski area’s been abandoned for decades,” Ari added. “It was pretty popular in the fifties and sixties. I did some research on it today at work. We have to figure out who owns the deeds.”

  This plan was risky, but it had a lot of potential. I had a strong feeling Leo would go for it. “Chloe’s grandmother works at town hall, she’d be able to help.” Both of them gave me a puzzled look. They didn’t know who I was talking about. “My best friend.”

  “It’s going to be a lot of work. We could have more enemies than friends at first. But I want something we can call our own.” His gaze fell back to Ari, and I was so third wheeling it right now it wasn’t even funny.

  “When you say ‘we’, does that include me? I need to know, Dylan. This weekend you were willing to let me die.”

  “Yeah.” Dylan hesitated slightly. “You’re my brother’s mate. You’ve proven yourself.”

  I almost thanked him, but instead I nodded. “How are you going to pay for this? A ski area is a huge operation.”

  “I have some money saved up.” Ari’s head spun back to him, like this was news to her, too. “Eventually we’ll need investors. We’ll start small and once we decide what works, we can grow.”

  It sounded like he’d come up with this plan long before the challenge. “This is why you came home?” I asked. “To start your own pride?”

  His face brightened. “Yeah.”

  I still wasn’t convinced.

  IN THEORY, MOUNT DECEPTION seemed like a great idea. Getting away from those awful cougar bitches, but still staying close enough to everything that was familiar. The best of both worlds. If we could get our hands on the deed to that ski area, our lives could change in ways we’d never imagined.

  We’d also be walking into a whole new set of problems. I didn’t know how a lion went about establishing a pride, but allegiances had been set in Woodland Park long before anyone I knew had been born. If the Deception lions were so willing to follow Dylan right off the bat, we’d have to be even more reason to be wary of them, and why they’d turn their backs on their own pride so easily. If you asked me, Dylan was begging for trouble.

  Honestly, I didn’t care where we went. I wanted to be able to live with Leo in peace.

  “Did Dylan ever tell you why he came back from LA?” I asked Ari as we stood in line for coffee. She could tell I needed company when she came home for lunch and dragged me out of the house.

  “Not more than it was time to reconnect with his brother.” She twisted her face when she looked up at the menu. “I usually get the double mocha frappe here, but that’s so not on my diet.”

  “Get one of those skinny lattes. They sound good.” I pointed to the corner of the board. “Leo never mentioned his brother before the challenge started to come together. This isn’t going to work like Dylan wants it to. We’re walking into new problems.”

  “Do you think Leo will stay on Soldier Mountain?” Ari asked. She ordered a grande skinny caramel, and I got a hot carob and a muffin. My heart was pounding so hard I almost forgot what I was even doing. I’d never considered he’d actually stay there.

  “Gods, I hope not.” I sighed while we waited for our drinks. “He hates all of them. I don’t know what he was doing there in the first place.”

  Ari handed me my drink and we sat at one of the tables in the corner. I loved this place. All the furniture was mismatched, old braided rugs dotted the floor and if I didn’t have anyone to come here with, shelves overflowed with books to keep me company. The lady who’d ran it forever was a member of the herd. She was an awesome baker and I couldn’t resist getting a blueberry muffin every time I came. I always got the same thing here ever since I was a little girl.

  She smiled sheepishly and looked down at her mug before saying anything. “He didn’t always hate those girls so much.”

  “Like, how?” I knew exactly what she meant. Jealousy and anger seethed out of every pore. I didn’t want to think about Leo with any other woman.

  “He was with Linnea for a while. As you can imagine, that ended badly.” Ari chuckled when I groaned, then looked out the window. “Come on, Daphne. He’s a good looking guy, alone on that mountain. Our pride isn’t like your herd. We’ll date Mr. Wrong all day long until Mr. Right shows up. What do you think happened?”

  “Are you saying this to get a rise out of me?” I raised an eyebrow. “Because Leo loves to get me all riled up, and you know Dylan does too. If you are, stop. If we’re going to be working together, I need to be treated as an equal. Not the entertainment.”

  “No, I’m not,” Ari said quickly. “I know you haven’t dated before, and this is new to you. But Leo has a past. I never lived on the mountain, so I only heard the girls’ version of the story. I don’t think you have anything to worry about now, but I don’t want you to think Leo has no ties to that mountain, either. This might be harder for him than you think.”

  Leo never said anything nice about any of the cougars in the pride, even before they’d set their sights on me. I couldn’t imagine they’d be holding him back. “He only goes back there for work.”

  “I want the same thing that you do.” Ari sipped her latte. She rested her other hand on her stomach and jumped, the sadness was back. “Dylan really wants to be a part of his life.”

  “See, this is the think I don’t get.” I leaned forward. “I looked Dylan up on the internet. He had a huge clientele in LA, a blog, and even videos on YouTube. He had a really good thing going.”

  Ari raised her eyebrows. “There are videos?”

  “A ton of them.” I wouldn’t tell her how many of them I’d watched. The more I watched, I realized he had a lot in common with Leo. They may not have seen each other for ten years, but so many of their mannerisms were the same. And recorded, their voices were similar. “So I don’t understand why he’d walk away from all of that for a broken down ski area in the middle of Colorado.”

  “He wanted to have a family,” she said quietly. “Whatever that meant.”

  I nodded. It did make sense. I’d been away from Leo for days and I missed him so much I ached. I didn’t get to see my parents and sisters as much as I liked to. For all my wanting to go out and explore the world, I really was a homebody at heart.

  “It’s all going to work out,” I said as we stood to clear our table. “It has to.”

  “I have some errands to run for work. Want to come with me? Maybe we can figure out Mount Deception and call it Park View business.”

  “Sounds good.” I turned back to Ari as I went through the door, and walked smack into another customer coming in. “Oh Gods! I’m sorry.”

  “Look who’s hanging out together.” Linnea’s bright pink lips curled up in a feral smile. “The mountain’s been so m
uch more fun without you, doe.”

  “No,” I said, frozen in the doorway. We were drawing a crowd since no one could get in or out. Linnea couldn’t hurt me here. The coffee shop was owned by the herd. But it didn’t stop my heart from pounding. “Leo will never have you, you murderous bitch.”

  She laughed. The sound was like fingernails on a chalkboard. “I’ve already had him.”

  “Is there a problem?” A man I’d never seen before stepped in between us. He was big and handsome with dark, shaggy hair that fell in his eyes. I knew he was looking back and forth at Linnea and me, but my eyes were locked on Linnea, daring her to do something stupid. She wouldn’t win this time.

  “No,” I answered without looking at him. “There’s no problem at all.”

  “It doesn’t look that way.” His voice was firm and even, and I knew he was some sort of shifter. Linnea’s gaze broke from mine when he turned to her, pointing. “I know you. You’ve been warned to stay out of trouble.”

  I scoffed. “Big surprise there.”

  Linnea shrugged. “Anyone who got hurt that night did it to themselves. And I’m not done with you yet, doe.” She maneuvered around the man, bumped my shoulder as she passed, and winked at me once she got in the coffee line.

  Chapter Seven

  “DRIVE ME TO THE MOUNTAIN.” My whole body still trembled with anger when we got into Ari’s car. I buckled myself in then looked over to her. Her shoulders were slumped forward, and she looked awful. I softened and reached out to her. “I can’t believe we ran into that awful bitch.”

  I was dying to know what that man warned Linnea about before. He didn’t look like a lion. Like everything else, she didn’t take him seriously.