From Pack to Pride (4 page)

“We lost both of them.”

“Oh,” Adrian walked over, awkwardly patting the other shifter on the arm. The poor guy was hurting but Adrian was pretty sure if Talan smelled Adrian’s scent on the other man, Dillon would be hurting in a whole different way. “I’m so sorry.” His heart went out to Dillon, he didn’t know what he would do without Kade. For the first time he realised there might be a real reason behind the lions’ ritual.

A low growl raised the hair on Adrian’s arms. It was both frightening and a little sexy.

“Step back from me very slowly,” Dillon whispered.

With slow motions Adrian removed his hand from the other man and took a careful step backwards. Turning around, he was face to face with a really pissed off alpha.

“Is there a reason my mate was touching you?” Talan asked Dillon. His voice was so low and gravelly Adrian almost didn’t understand the words.

Talan’s eyes were all cat.

Adrian could smell the fear rolling off of Dillon. “He was explaining why lion mating was so cautious. I touched him because he was in pain.” FROM PACK TO PRIDE

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Some of Talan’s feral expression faded. “I appreciate your compassion, Adrian, but it would be best if you refrain from contact with other males until we are bonded.”

“I understand,” Adrian said. Antagonising Talan’s lion would be a bad thing. He didn’t want Dillon’s guts ripped out because Adrian felt bad for the other man. At this point he didn’t even know if he was going to be bonded with Talan, but Adrian didn’t think this was a wise time to point it out.

“I-I’ll go and do something.” Dillon fled the scene.

There was a moment of silence following the departure of the other cat.

“Dillon explained the process?”

“More or less.”

Talan stepped closer to Adrian. “So you know today all we should do is kiss.”

“That was what I understood out of the conversation.” It was hard to sound nonchalant when all Adrian wanted to do was throw himself at the big lion.

Adrian let out a contented sigh when Talan took him into his arms. He didn’t want to admit it yet, but being wrapped up in Talan’s embrace felt as if he was coming home. It settled something deep inside. His wolf recognised the one he might want to keep.

Talan hid his smile as he heard the happy sounds his little wolf made. Leaning down, he nuzzled the other man’s neck, placing soft kisses along his warm skin.

“Are you taking liberties?” Adrian asked. “I’ll have you know I’m not that easy. You have to feed me first.”

Talan laughed against Adrian’s neck, nipping the tender skin with an affectionate bite.

“Hey, Dillon said kissing, not biting.”

“Dillon doesn’t know everything.” Talan tucked his nose in the nape of Adrian’s neck and inhaled. Fuck, his wolf smelled amazing. The lion lurking just beneath the surface wanted to take the other man down and claim him properly, but the more cautious human side held Talan back.

Dillon’s story was more than just a lesson in mating; it was a fact. It would destroy Talan if he killed his future mate because he rushed things.

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“Let’s go get some food. Talla should have dinner ready.” With a longing glance at his mate, Talan led the way to the dining room. There would be time tomorrow to touch all that glorious skin.

The noise in the dining room was deafening.

Half the number of lions made three times the noise as a wolf pack. Of course the wolves ate in a covered longhouse exposed to the outdoors and the lion’s dining room was inside a mansion decorated in rich woods and silk draped walls. Adrian’s sensitive wolf hearing twitched at all the sounds but he knew he’d have to get used to it at least for the foreseeable future.

It took him a moment to realise there was a pattern to everyone’s movements. Adrian was almost certain he’d entered a time warp when he saw the men sitting around the table while the women waited on them.

What the hell?

Talan led him to a spot to the right of the head of the table.

“Have a seat,” Talan said, indicating the chair.

Adrian’s butt barely touched the chair before a pretty lion was next to him with a giant plate laden with three steaks, a mountain of potatoes and a pile of greens so microscopic he wondered why they’d even bothered to add them.

“I’m Talla,” the lion said, placing the plate before him, “Talan’s youngest sister.”

“Nice to meet you, Talla,” Adrian said, “but next time you don’t need to wait on me. I can get my own food.”

Talla gave an unladylike snort and shot a look at her brother. “I already like this one more than you.”

Talan gave her a wide grin. “Me too.”

After putting down Adrian’s plate she moved on to the next male.

Waiting for everyone to get served, Adrian settled for watching the lion’s interact while they got their food. They might be loud but it was a happy loud. Interaction between lions was friendly. Even when one of the male lions slapped a female on the ass, he only received an ear flick and a kiss on the cheek. Adrian figured they were mates or at least bed friends.

Finally the noise abated as everyone was served.

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Moments later Talla grabbed a plate and settled in the empty chair beside Adrian. At least he was pretty sure it was Talla when she gave him a friendly smile and said, “Hi again.”

“Umm, hi.”

Adrian had never thought of himself as prejudiced before, but frankly all lions looked alike. Except for Talan, who was different because of his sheer size. All the lions were large and golden with gold hair, gold eyes and wide smiles. It would be a while before he could tell one pretty gold cat from another.

He’d have to work hard to determine the differences. He didn’t want to call someone the wrong name. It was difficult enough being the only wolf in a house full of lions without offending any of them.

The food was good, but it was difficult to ruin such a good piece of meat, especially when it barely visited the grill. Maybe when it was his turn to cook, he could add some interesting spices. He vaguely wondered if lions liked chilli pepper.

Glancing up he saw that Talan was busy talking to the lion on his left so he turned to Talla, “Do you rotate who cooks?”

Talla stared at him a moment. “How does it work with dogs?”

“I’m a wolf,” Adrian snarled.

Talla rolled her eyes. “Sorry. How does it work with your pack?” she asked carefully.

“Everyone but the alpha takes turns providing food. We eat communally so we know that each pack member is getting what he or she needs to survive and kids are given foods with enhanced vitamins to help with their special growth needs. How do you do it?”

“The females do all the hunting and cooking, the males do all the eating.”

“Oh. I’m not the best cook but I like to bake to relieve stress. Would that be all right? I don’t want to ruin whatever balance your pride has.” Adrian didn’t know what his position in the pride was, as a temporary but maybe permanent guest, but either way things worked out he wasn’t vain enough to think he had the right to step in and ‘fix’ things no matter if he thought the female lions were taken advantage of.

Talla gave him a slow smile. “No, that would be great. Talan would have kittens if we had you cook, but he can’t argue about you baking to relieve stress.”

“What wouldn’t Talan argue about?” Talan asked.

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“Adrian baking to relieve stress. I’m sure he’ll have a lot of it if he’s going to be your mate.”

Talan lifted his lip in a friendly snarl. However, his gaze softened when he looked Adrian over, as if looking for signs of cracking nerves. “If it would make you feel better, honey, you can bake all you want.”

Adrian relaxed beneath Talan’s gaze. “Good. My grandmother gave me a book of family recipes and I’ve only had time to make about half of them.”

“Anything in our kitchen is yours to use. Let us know if we need to buy anything. I don’t know how many baking ingredients we own. Lions aren’t great bakers.” Talan said.

Talla piped in beside him. “We cook to survive, not because we enjoy it. Not one of us could be considered a decent chef. We’ve thought about hiring a cook before but it’s kind of difficult to recruit someone in a house full of shifters.” Adrian nodded. “I can see how that could be difficult.” He didn’t have a solution so he let that conversation lapse.

The rest of the dinner went smoothly as the lions discussed shifter politics, hunting rights and if the new sunroom had enough napping rocks for the winter.

Adrian enjoyed their banter but didn’t participate much. As the new guy he felt more comfortable listening in and basking beneath the gaze of a certain pair of hungry golden eyes.

He was still thinking of those eyes hours later when he fell asleep in his bed.

* * * *

Adrian woke up to see a smiling female lion standing over him. It would’ve startled him, but his sister-in-law did that several times a week, usually because she was sketching him. He was one of the few male wolves she could sketch nude without getting into trouble with Kade. He wondered briefly how she was doing without him.

Instead of freaking out, Adrian gave the woman a friendly smile. She didn’t know it, but she’d just made this strange bedroom feel as if he were at home.

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“Good morning,” he managed after glancing down and making sure all the important bits were covered with the sheet. If Talan freaked at a small touch on another man’s arm, a woman ogling his possibly future mate would probably rate a more violent response.

“Good morning. Talan had a meeting this morning and asked that I bring you something to eat,” Talla said.

He recognised her from the night before. She had a faint scar on her right cheekbone, rare for shifters who generally healed from anything.

“You didn’t have to bring me breakfast in bed. I’m going to be here a while, I can get my own food.” He accepted the tray Talla held out to him. On the tray was a plate with scrambled eggs, toast, and more bacon than a pack of wolves could eat. He looked at her quizzically.

“What?” she asked, folding her arms.

“How much bacon did you think I was going to eat?” Talla stomped her foot. “I told Trisha it was too much.” Adrian patted the spot next to him on the bed. “Come. Sit here. You can tell me about the pride and help me eat all this food. I’m pretty sure a hundred and eighty-pound wolf eats less than a two hundred and fifty-pound lion.” Talla smiled and crawled up beside him.

Over the next half hour Adrian learned all about Talan’s early childhood and more about all six of his sisters, Talla, Trisha, Tia, Twyla, Tabitha and Tammy. Eventually the other five wandered in with more bacon and a jug of coffee, large enough to give an entire platoon of soldiers each a really big cup.

Adrian went with the flow and let the chatter run around him as they each tried to top the other with the most embarrassing Talan story. The one where Talan ended up naked by the Catholic Church was his favourite so far. Apparently, there were some nuns in town who still couldn’t look at him without blushing.

“What’s going on here?” Talan growled.

The six women on the bed looked at him unfazed, like cats.

“They’re just being friendly.” Adrian offered. He’d hate it if the girls got in trouble for helping him through his transition from pack to pride. On the other hand the growling was FROM PACK TO PRIDE

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kinda sexy. He wondered what other sounds Talan made in the bedroom. He rearranged the sheets to cover his growing problem.

“They can be friendly once you’re dressed. Get out!” If the expressions on the six women were any indication, it just occurred to them that Adrian was completely naked beneath the covers. As a shifter, he didn’t think to be embarrassed. He’d covered up because he didn’t know the ways of the pride, but in the pack everyone saw each other naked at least during full moon.

“Ooh,” Trisha’s eyes lit up, “let’s peek.”

Survival instinct clicked into place. He was no one’s prey. Adrian’s fangs came out and he could feel his eyes shifting. Letting out a snarl, he snapped his teeth.

The women fled, screaming.

Before long, there wasn’t anything left in the room but a bacon-scented platter, an empty coffee tureen and a large lion shifter staring at him with raised eyebrows.

The wolf in Adrian, sensing the danger was gone, retreated.

Rolling his head back to snap out the kinks, Adrian gave his lover an apologetic smile.

“Sorry.”

“For what? I’m sure they spent the last hour telling embarrassing stories about me.

Besides, I didn’t think wolves could do partial shifts. Lions can only do fangs and eyes but I saw your hands changing too, that was really cool.” Adrian couldn’t help preening beneath the lion’s admiring gaze.

“I’m descended from a long bloodline of royal wolves. My line is one of the few that can partially shift.”

“So you’re what? A wolf prince?”

Adrian blushed. “Technically, but I never use the title. Most titles have been thrown away over the centuries though many still remember us.”

“Do I have to kneel?” Talan teased.

“Only when giving me a blow job,” Adrian said, sliding out of bed. “Excuse me. I’ll be right back.”

Adrian headed to the bathroom making sure the big lion got to see what he was missing by taking things slow. It took a moment for his erection to fade so he could pee. Luckily he FROM PACK TO PRIDE

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didn’t have the gorgeous lion shifter next to him so it was possible, but as soon as he stepped back into the room, he found the handsome man lying half naked on his bed.

Talan had stripped off his shirt and looked more delicious than any man had the right to.

“If you want to stick to kissing, you should probably keep your clothes on.” Adrian stopped a safe distance away from the bed gazing at the big hunk of man lying there. He was pretty certain drool was allowed.