Mated to the Cougar Read online

  I kissed him back. He melted against my lips, like he’d worried I may never kiss him again. “I was going to fight tonight, no matter what,” I said, meeting his eyes. “And you’re not going to lose me. I belong to you.” I moved his hand down to my back, sliding it under my shirt so he could feel where he’d marked me.

  “Forever?” I think he was holding his breath waiting for my answer.

  “Forever.”

  FITNESS AT FORTY

  BY ARIELLE OWENS, STAFF reporter

  Numbers don’t lie. But do we ever like to lie to ourselves about what they mean. Forty is the new thirty. I gained twenty pounds but my pants still fit. Call it creative math, call it a self-esteem boost, but on my fortieth birthday, I decided to get real about what those numbers actually meant.

  Forty isn’t so bad, but it’s not the new thirty. It deserves better billing than that. It’s a new beginning, and it was the perfect time to make some changes in my life. My first step was to call Reinvention and sign up for personal training.

  “It takes twenty-one days to start a new habit,” Dylan Wylde, my trainer, warned me. More numbers. “And that can be a long time if you’re doing something you hate. Fitness and healthy living aren’t a one size fits all program. The secret is to do what you love, and supplement those things so that you’re able to do it better.”

  Dylan had his work cut out for him with me. I’d never willingly set foot inside a gym before. When I was younger, I used to like to rollerblade. To find what I loved to do now, Dylan got me out of the gym. We explored the mountains, and then worked the muscles that supported my workouts to make our hikes and runs easier. Because I was enjoying myself, I actually started to look forward my sessions with Dylan and didn’t mind all the stretching and the heavy lifting.

  Working out is only half the battle. Fitness is a whole body commitment. My favorite takeout places are probably starting to worry about me. I’m fine. In fact, I’m better than ever. “It’s not about denying yourself,” Dylan told me. “It’s about finding ways to make your favorite things better for you.” Homemade stir fry, cauliflower pizza, and dark chocolate are all delicious substitutions to my diet. I’m still eating the things I love, and I don’t feel like I’ve denied myself anything.

  Take care of yourself, too. “Lots of water and rest are equally important,” Dylan said. “And if you can, treat those sore muscles to a massage.”

  Back to numbers. What can I expect from my new habits? “Fitness at any age is unique to where your body is at that time,” Dylan explained. “If you haven’t worked out in five years, you can’t pick up with the same workout you used to do. Your body changes, and it will react differently. The goal, at any age, is to be healthy and happy. Don’t try to be the person you were in the past. Try to give yourself the best future you possibly can.”

  Great advice, Dylan. I’m looking forward to the future.

  Reinvention Personal Training is located on 1765 Mountain View West in Woodland Park. Dylan Wylde is currently accepting new clients. Shifter friendly. Pregnancy programs can be designed for you. Call (719) 555-1234 to make your appointment.

  THANK YOU!

  I hope you’re having as much fun reading this series as I am writing it! If you enjoyed Mated to the Lion, please take a moment to leave a review. And please stay in touch! The voices in my head keep me pretty close to my computer, so I’d love to hear from you! My website has a blog where I talk about book stuff and whatever else comes to mind, I’ve always got Facebook and Twitter open, and I send out newsletters with new releases and cover reveals. And sometimes treats.

  Who doesn’t like treats?

  Want an exclusive look behind the scenes? Join Kristen’s Backstage Pass, my Facebook reader group.

  Keep reading for chapter one of Destined to the Pride. You know Daphne’s got something to say about the pride. Doe and the Pride is the conclusion of Colorado Shifters, and everyone gets their happily ever after. But don’t worry! There’s more shifters! I’ve included chapter one of the first book in my Sawtooth Shifters series, Forever Home.

  Happy Reading!

  Chapter One Destined to the Pride:

  One thing is for damn sure.

  “I’m not going to stay on this mountain with those bitches that tried to kill me!” I shrieked, pacing the living room. If I wasn’t beyond exhausted, there was a good chance I would have shifted back to doe. But the dried blood from the attack was still on my nose, and the bruises and welts all over my body throbbed. I didn’t have anything left to give tonight.

  Leo sat on the couch, looking as drained as I felt. His head hung as he balanced his elbows on his wide knees. “They aren’t going to get away with this. Calm down, Daphne. Let Ari sleep.”

  He couldn’t be serious. I jerked my hand in the direction of our bedroom. We wouldn’t be sleeping in it tonight. “Calm down? Sorry, I can’t be calm right now. That woman is the only reason I’m standing here.”

  I’d never met her before tonight. Now I owed her my life. Especially since one was lost while saving mine.

  “That’s because Dylan held me back,” Leo growled. He hadn’t talked to his brother in years, but tonight Dylan showed up ready for a fight. The fight that gave the rest of the pride the opportunity to pounce on me.

  I knew when I opened my eyes in the forest and saw Leo that my life was going to get complicated. It was our herd’s tradition to shift when we were ready to mate, then to venture into the forest on Halloween night and find him. No one ever expected me to find a lion. In human form, we were like any other couple. But as animals, we had both Soldier Mountain and my hometown of Woodland Park in an absolute uproar.

  “What are you going to do about that?” I stopped my pacing and braced myself for the answer. There was no good one. Dylan was here, spending the night in our bed with his mate, the woman who saved my life.

  Leo shook his head. “He fucked things up. Bad.” He and Dylan had talked while I stayed with Ari. She’d been unconscious for hours, lost too much blood and a baby she didn’t even know she was carrying. Fucking things up was an understatement. How Leo could even reason with Dylan after all of that was beyond me. “He swears he didn’t think the girls would take it so far with you. And he had no idea Ari would fight.”

  For me. Ever since I’d arrived on Soldier Mountain as Leo’s mate, the cougars of the pride had taken serious issue with me being here. Lions didn’t mate with does. End of story. And does couldn’t beat cougars in a fight. Their threats started off as passive aggressive, but the longer I stayed, the bolder they became. Even though they’d threatened to fight to my death on the full moon, which was last night, I never believed they’d have the guts to actually do it. But as Dylan challenged Leo, the girls saw their chance. One by one they turned cougar, surrounding me while I was still human. Fear always made my doe side rise, and there was no pushing this one down. I shifted.

  They attacked, snarling and slashing me with their claws, biting through my fur, sinking their teeth into my flesh. The pain was enough to make me pass out, but I didn’t have that luxury. I have no claws, and my teeth weren’t made for meat. I screamed for Leo, but Dylan had him by the scruff. He couldn’t get to me. I tried to run but the cougars were everywhere. They multiplied when they shifted, I swear. They had me where they wanted me. If Ari hadn’t stepped in, I’m sure I’d be dead.

  I collapsed on the couch, and Leo pulled me into him. It seemed like forever since he’d held me, even though it had been this awful night. I never wanted to let him go. The night sky began to brighten outside our window. He took the blanket off the back of the couch, draped it over me and lay back. He stroked my hair and his body rumbled with a faint purr.

  “Did he explain why he did it?” I asked softly. Like he possibly could. It was too much of a coincidence that Dylan showed up on the night of the challenge. Rumors swirled around the pride for weeks that the cougars would try to lay claim to Leo on the night of the full moon, loudly enough for me to catch wind
of their plan. We’d known Dylan was in town, but we’d heard nothing from him until tonight. Last night, we tried to go talk to him, but that ended badly, too.

  Not as badly as tonight, of course.

  Leo sighed. “There’s a lot of old hurt. I’m not innocent in this either. I was a kid, and I did a lot of things I regret. Dylan couldn’t fight for himself, and when our pride fell apart, I didn’t help him.” He stared at the ceiling. “But that doesn’t excuse what he did tonight.”

  “Dylan couldn’t fight for himself?” I picked up my head, wrinkling my nose. He was taller than Leo by a couple of inches, and solid muscle. “I find that hard to believe.”

  “He was the runt.” Leo and Dylan were twins, and while they shared similar features, they were by no means identical. Leo was in amazing shape, basically a professional athlete, but he was leaner than Dylan. Leo’s shaggy blond hair was curly, and Dylan’s was darker, long and wavy. They both had the same hazel eyes. “He was small, skinny, and unsure of himself. I was ashamed of him. The cubs in the pride picked on him, and I made things worse. When the attacks started in our pride, our parents sent us away. He wanted to stay with me. I said no.” The last word broke.

  “This isn’t your fault.” I couldn’t imagine Leo being a bully, even though that’s what he was claiming. He always treated everyone with kindness and respect. Well, except for those crazy cougar bitches. They got what they deserved. “He’s an adult now, and he shouldn’t have come up here with his claws out.”

  “Right. He says he wants to make things better and be in my life, but after tonight’s stunt, I’m not sure what he really wants,” Leo said, his eyelids fluttering in a fight to stay open.

  It made perfect sense for me to tell Leo to forget about his brother. But it wasn’t that easy. I had three little sisters. They were much younger than me so we never fought, but I couldn’t imagine turning my back on them for any reason. Leo had already done it to Dylan once. I couldn’t suggest he do it again.

  Ari, Dylan’s mate, was the only cougar willing to fight for me. That meant more to me than I even had words for. I didn’t want to walk away from her. She wouldn’t be welcome on Soldier Mountain anymore, either.

  And I meant what I said. I wasn’t staying on this mountain. Leo may have learned his lesson about loyalty late, but I was his claimed mate. He was coming with me.

  Keep reading Destined to the Pride now!

  Chapter One—Forever Home

  Shadow

  The plan didn’t change because we were prisoners.

  We weren’t meant to be in one place for this long. Wolves needed to move, needed to hunt. Ryker, the bastard who captured us, knew it, and he’d set it up so we could only hunt each other. Chained, starving, and wallowing in our own filth. The worst part of it was that we’d been outsmarted by one of our own.

  We had the three Lowe brothers in our sights when we’d been caught. We’d meant to scare them away from Ryker’s farm, and avoid a pack war. Little did we know what horrors were actually harbored here. Now we were all in a fight to survive.

  A sliver of the moon lit the open doorway. The dull roar of the crowd rose with the old man’s arrival. No surprise. Nothing on Ryker Farm happened by accident.

  “All right, beasts, I’m upping the ante this month.” Ryker curled his tobacco-stained lips in a nasty smile. Still in his human form, he was skinny as we were, meanness consuming him. All that was left was flesh, bone, and a black heart. No soul. Ryker had every advantage over us. He knew our secrets, our traditions. He knew how to keep us weak. The new moon did us no favors, we relied on its power for our energy. Every month he starved us, beat us, and kept us in complete darkness when we should have been reveling in the moon’s full beauty. It kept us from shifting back to pissed off men. “Whoever wins gets set free.”

  My brothers and I looked at each other, wary. We never saw eye to eye with the Lowes, but they were on the same page with us on this one. Ryker’s promise wouldn’t come without a catch.

  Ryker threw food on the ground. Fucking kibble. The Lowe brothers scrambled for it, pride replaced long ago by the need to survive. Anticipation gnawed at my empty belly. Growls rose from the other side of the pen. Probably made for pigs, we didn’t have room to turn around without hitting another body. Even if we did, our chains were too short to allow it. No place to get away from anyone’s thoughts, especially my own.

  The old farmer cackled as he brought the bag closer to us. My brother Baron nipped at the sack. For that he was rewarded with a boot in the face. Kibble spilled from the torn burlap. “You want to be greedy? That’s all you savages get.”

  Good. We’d be hungry for the fight.

  “Who are we sending out?” my brother Dallas asked, gaze fixed on me. My brothers expected me to have the answers, but it was impossible to think straight with the chain cutting into the skin on my neck. Anger and hunger swirled through my body, mixing together and becoming a dizzy anger. Every time I looked at my brothers, the less I thought I could save them. I couldn’t show weakness, especially with the Lowe brothers close enough to smell it. They’d been calling us weak for years. They’d be picking us out from between what was left of their teeth if I gave them the chance. Dallas lowered his voice, so only the four of us could hear it. “Are we going with speed or strength?”

  He was dying for me to say speed. Last month Ryker had paired him against Xavier, and the fight got called with X’s paw on Dallas’ throat. X hadn’t shut up about it all month. Both wolves were raw, bloody, and barely breathing when they were thrown back in the pen, chained so healing properly was a luxury. I wouldn’t exactly call it a victory, but revenge would be so sweet.

  I whacked Dallas, my paw still sore from last night’s scuffle for food. Ryker had thrown chickens into the pen and the chance at actual meat had all of us slobbering, baring our teeth at each other, brother or not. The spilled kibble still littered the ground below our feet, dirty as we were. Ryker was treating us like livestock, planning to slaughter us in a different manner.

  “Doesn’t fucking matter what you do.” Xavier, no it was Major, called out from the other side of the pen. Xavier was too chicken shit to talk out of turn. “Every single one of us can fuck you up.” Major had trained his brothers to be bloodthirsty, to take what they needed and not look back. Search and destroy.

  I couldn’t argue, it was a pretty good philosophy, and it was shared by most of the werewolf packs in Sawtooth Forest. We were dying out, killing each other. Now in Granger Falls we weren’t much more than a legend. Ghosts. No food and a lack of female wolves insured we’d be history by the end of this generation. I wanted a future, and we needed to change everything or else all we’d have was a past.

  We’d been brought up differently. Yeah, we hunted and killed, but we didn’t destroy. We protected our own. Less prey in the wild had me scared more for my brothers than myself. That mindset didn’t make the Channing pack popular in Sawtooth, but it wasn’t going to matter what anyone thought if we were all dead.

  But what really scared me was being without a mate.

  “I’ll take him,” I growled, pulling on my chain to get as close Major as I could. I’d had enough of his mouth over the last six months. I’d enjoy stomping on it. “Fight to the death.” I’d sunk to Major’s level, but hard time in Hell did that to even the strongest wolf.

  There was no reasoning with anyone during a dogfight.

  Archer nudged my haunch with his snout. “No,” my baby brother whispered. He’d taken my name, Shadow, to heart and become mine as soon as he was old enough to venture away from our mother.

  Major roared with laughter, angry pink skin visible where the chains had worn away his fur. We could understand each other when we spoke, but a human spectator would only hear barking and growling. I glared at Archer. He was weak, there was no hiding it. He hadn’t been a liability until we’d been captured. “You lose, Shadow, and your little pup belongs to me. I’ll make him a man. Somebody’s gotta do it. I d
on’t have time for the babying bullshit.”

  “He’ll never follow you.” Major and I stood snout to snout. The edges of his nose were dry and his threat was empty. My brothers were restless behind me. If I turned around, the Lowes would know my family doubted me. “I don’t plan on losing.”

  “I don’t either.” One side of Major’s lip turned up in a feral smirk. “He’ll be my slave. You can go to Hell with that on your conscience.”

  After a few more rounds of grunts and huffs, both Major and I retreated to our sides of the pen. If we’d had the chance, we’d settle it here. That bastard Ryker made sure our chains were too short to do any real damage to each other. He knew we’d have plenty of pent-up rage for the paying customers.

  They’d get their money’s worth tonight.

  “Eat,” I huffed at my brothers, kibble catching in my dry throat.

  “This shit?” Dallas said, kicking at the kibble. “It’s barely food.”

  No kidding, brother. “We need to be prepared.”

  “I thought you were going in?” Archer’s eyes widened. I pushed more of the kibble toward him. I’d been too busy scarfing down chicken last night to notice if Archer got anything more than feathers stuck to his tongue. Omegas ate last, and I was ashamed I hadn’t taken better care of him so close to the fights.

  “What’s your plan if Ryker actually lets you out of here, Shadow?” Baron asked quietly, not to be overheard by the Lowes. We learned long ago we could only trust each other.

  I glared at Major, speaking loudly enough for him to hear me. “I’m bringing that bastard down.”

  WE MIGHT BE EMACIATED and humbled, but no one would mistake us for meek or common as we were paraded to the ring by Ryker’s thug farmhands. Heads held high, nothing to hide. Even in chains we were stronger than these bastards. We were still proud.

  So close to freedom.

  The air was thick with beer, weed, and sweat. I’d dreamed of this moment since Ryker and his thugs had shot us all with tranquilizer guns and enslaved us.