From Pack to Pride (8 page)
Adrian shook his head. “The mating wasn’t complete. We’ll suffer more if I can’t be what he needs and we complete the bonding cycle. I won’t be responsible for other lions challenging him for power because they think he’s chosen a weak mate.”
“Adrian, I can guarantee ya that none of the lions in my pride think you’re weak. You downed a wolf twice your size with one swipe. It was ruthless, vicious and I am fuckin’
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proud of you. If Talan doesn’t realise he’s made a mistake within the week, then he’s not the leader I thought he was.”
Adrian looked sightlessly out the window. “I hope so. I already miss him.” FROM PACK TO PRIDE
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Chapter Six
Talan sprawled on the porch looking at the blue sky and let the sigh roll from his chest.
He missed his mate.
Flicking his tail, he thought about taking down one of the foolish deer that had wandered too close to the house.
A kick to his side had him swiping at the intruder.
“Stop being an idiot and go after him,” Tasha said, kicking him again. “And if you scratch my new boots, I will set your mangy hide on fire.” Sitting down next to him, she continued to ruin the good sulk he had going on.
“Come on, Talan, we all miss him. Dillon is whining about not having any more brownies. The girls are upset because they bought him a bunch of clothes that he hasn’t had a chance to wear, and you haven’t eaten anything in days. You can’t just lie there and pine.
What kind of alpha are you? Go and get your man.” Talan lay down his head and closed his eyes. It was hard to get up the energy when his heart was breaking.
Ouch
. He roared.
Tasha had ripped out some hair from his mane.
“Go. Get. Him,” Tasha shouted.
The pounding on his door had Adrian stumbling towards the noise to stop the horrible racket. His head felt as if it was going to burst. He’d drunk way too much scotch the night before, a habit that was becoming far too common. He snarled when he tripped over the bodies lying on the floor.
Yeah, way too common.
His pack mates had missed him more than he’d anticipated. Not one night since his return had he spent a night alone. The wolves were determined to cheer him up. Little did they know that nothing would make him feel better other than being in the arms of a certain golden-haired shifter.
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The banging started up again.
“Make it stop, Adrian,” Scott, one of his pack mates, moaned from the floor. Scott only wore a pair of boxers he’d pulled on after the pack run last night. Most of the men and women sleeping on the floor were wearing little more than a t-shirt or underwear gracing their toned bodies.
Ripping open the door, Adrian was faced with his greatest nightmare. A pissed off mate coming to see him and finding a house full of mostly naked people.
This was not how he was hoping their reunion would go. He had visions of a fancy dinner with an apology from Talan for overreacting. He didn’t think he’d look to be in the wrong.
Talan’s golden eyes took in the scene. “What the fuck is going on here?” A loud roar had wolves racing for the door. A few even went out the window.
Adrian’s head pulsed with pain. “Is that really necessary?” Talan’s mouth opened revealing a complete set of fangs.
“My head hurts too much for this crap.” Adrian abandoned his spot by the door and stumbled to his bathroom. Blearily opening the cabinet, he grabbed some migraine medicine and chugged down more than a human dosage. It would take a minimum of ten to put a dent in his metabolism.
“I’m sorry if I interrupted your orgy,” Talan snarled.
“Did you come just to be ugly? You know no other shifter will touch me. You marked me yourself.”
There were few shifter rules that translated through every species. Not touching another shifter’s mate was one of those unbreakable laws. Even though their mating wasn’t complete, he was injected with Talan’s mating fluid and was untouchable. If the mating cycle wasn’t finished, the scent would fade after a few months. Until then no one would dare touch Adrian sexually.
“That doesn’t explain why there were a dozen half naked people on your floor.”
“I was depressed. The pack was here to cheer me up. We went for a run.” Talan wrapped his arms around Adrian and pulled him close. “You wouldn’t be depressed if you were home with me where you belonged.” FROM PACK TO PRIDE
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“I can’t go home with you until you are willing to allow me to be a true mate. I can’t be the pride’s protected pet. I will be a true mate or I will stay with my pack.” Talan’s eyes were so pain filled, Adrian felt a corresponding twinge in his chest.
Taking Adrian’s hands in his own, Talan kissed the back of each with a brush of his soft lips. “I don’t know what I did to make you think I didn’t value you. I swear, lion’s oath, that you are more precious to me than anything in this world. I didn’t yell at you because I don’t think you can take care of yourself. I yelled at you because it stopped my heart when that wolf came after you. There is nothing on this planet more important to me than you.” Talan’s sweet words filled the gaping hole in Adrian’s heart. “You will let me fight my own battles?”
He watched the shifter swallow hard. Then Talan wrapped Adrian in his arms, pressing him against his chest. “I will try, my heart, but know that it is my first impulse to protect you.”
Adrian decided he could live with that. What he couldn’t live with was not having Talan in his life. The big shifter had wormed his way into Adrian’s heart and he had a bad feeling it wasn’t going to get any easier with time.
“Did you come to take me back home?”
Talan pushed Adrian away so he could look into his eyes. “I have obligations I have to fulfil as the leader of my pride. I’m sorry if that takes you away from your pack, but you’re welcome to visit them whenever you want and participate in full moon hunts. Other nights you can run with the lions. The females are really the only ones who hunt, but they told me they’d be happy to have you along. Actually Talla said if I didn’t bring you back, she was going to tag you like a wild wolf and drag you back home in a crate.” Adrian laughed. He could almost hear the sassy lion saying that exact phrase. “I missed you like crazy,” Adrian admitted. “I even liked your family.” Talan tilted Adrian’s head up so the wolf was forced to look him in the eye. “But did you like me?”
Seeing the vulnerability in Talan’s eyes broke Adrian’s heart. “I more than like you, Talan. I’m in love with you.”
The relief on Talan’s face was painful to see. Adrian hated himself in that moment for causing this sweet man so much pain.
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“I’m glad that I’m not alone. Where’s your bed?” Adrian laughed. “I can see we need to work on your subtlety.”
“No, we need to work on finding your bed. I believe it’s time for my wolf to mark me back.”
“Is that what you want?” Adrian asked. He had to make sure they both wanted this mating.
“More than anything.”
Adrian took Talan’s hand and led him to the small bedroom in the back of his house.
In silence he stripped Talan of his clothing and removed the pair of boxers he’d slept in the night before.
Talan pulled Adrian onto the bed with him. Rolling quickly, he pinned the smaller man beneath his body. The feel of Adrian pressed against him soothed the restless lion longing for his mate. He’d missed Adrian so much it was like an ache. His sister was right, not that he’d ever tell her, but Adrian was waiting for him to come fetch him.
He should’ve come sooner. Adrian’s eyes had dark bruising underneath, showing that his mate slept as little as he had over the past few days.
“I missed you.” He almost didn’t hear the soft words pressed against his skin.
“I missed you too. Now are you going to mate with me or not?”
“Impatient, aren’t you?” Adrian’s green eyes sparkled as he looked up at Talan. “What happened to ‘lions like to take their time’?”
“I’ve waited long enough,” Talan growled. “I’ve waited a lifetime and you’re my reward.”
Adrian’s eyes glowed incandescent. “I’m not a reward. I’m the gift that keeps on giving.”
Talan was taken by surprise when Adrian lifted his hips, locked his ankles behind Talan’s back and rolled them over.
“Sneaky wolf.”
“Yep, that’s me.” Adrian rubbed their noses together, an affectionate gesture completely at odds with the hard cock rubbing against his.
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“Inside.” Talan yearned to feel Adrian inside him. “I’ve never let anyone dominate me before,” he confessed, panting.
“Seriously?”
Talan nodded.
Adrian gave a growl of his own. “I’d better be the last.” It was a cute wolf growl that made Talan want to cuddle his adorable mate. He kept that information to himself as he nodded solemnly to Adrian. “You will be. I don’t want anyone but you.” After all, his mate might be too sweet for words but he was no one’s pet.
It had taken Talan a few days to accept the realisation that his petite wolf could be a stone cold killer if his family was endangered. Not a bad thing for an alpha mate who needed to help protect the pride.
A hand cupping the back of his head snapped his attention back to Adrian.
“Whatever you’re thinking about in that big lion head of yours can wait until after I fuck you senseless.”
Talan laughed. “I completely agree.”
Adrian scooted until he was lying by Talan’s side. “Turn over. It will give me a better angle to fuck and bite you.”
Talan wanted to protest. He couldn’t admire his mate if he was on his stomach, but one look at those green eyes told him this wasn’t open for negotiation. It wouldn’t hurt to let his wolf have his way once in a while.
“Anything you want.” Talan grabbed Adrian’s head and gave him a thorough kiss, letting all of his pent up passion and love feed into the embrace. Pulling away, he was pleased to see his lover’s eyes were glazed over.
With a satisfied smile, he rolled over onto his hands and knees. “I’m all yours.” A warm hand stroked up and down Talan’s spine before kneading his ass.
“Yes, you are.” Adrian’s voice was filled with so much satisfaction it warmed Talan’s heart.
Damn, he loved this man.
Adrian’s hand reached past him to the side table and grabbed the lube. Moments later he felt slick fingers tracing around his hole. Anticipation made him bite his lower lip with his teeth to hold back the needy noises he could feel building up.
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A slap on his ass startled him into looking over his shoulder.
“I want to hear your sounds.” Adrian’s green eyes held a look of command that made Talan harder than steel.
“Yes, mate,” Talan said, meekly. Positioned on his hands and knees, surrounded by the scent of his lover was almost enough to make the lion shifter shoot before Adrian even got inside him.
After much preparation that left Talan shaking with need, Adrian pushed inside.
“Shit,” Talan screamed. Adrian didn’t look much larger than average when he’d felt him with his hand. Inside his body was another story. His mate was fucking huge.
“Shhh. Easy, baby.”
Gentle strokes across his back and soft kisses relaxed Talan enough to let Adrian move in and out easily. Adrian brushed against Talan’s prostate making the big alpha scream.
“Ahh, there it is,” Adrian said with satisfaction.
Adrian adjusted his strokes to rub against that perfect spot, sending Talan into spasms of pleasure. When Talan was certain he couldn’t hold out any more, Adrian wrapped a firm hand around Talan’s cock and pumped it once, twice… Talan came harder than he ever had before.
Still lost in the post-coital haze, Talan barely registered Adrian’s mouth on his neck until teeth piercing deep sent him spiralling into a second orgasm.
Minutes later, Adrian retracted his fangs, lapping at the beads of blood. “Mine, forever.”
Talan slumped into a heap just to the left of the puddle he’d left on the sheets. “We’ll have to clean up in a minute,” he muttered.
“Yeah, we’ll get to that later.”
Still wrapped together, the two mated shifters fell asleep.
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Epilogue
Adrian pulled on his jeans in the cool night air, turning to face his brother. “What?”
“Nice mating mark,” Kade smirked.
“Nice tattoo,” Adrian responded. Since Helen wasn’t a wolf, Kade had gotten a tattoo designed by his artist wife to decorate the traditional mating spot on his neck.
Concern marred Kade’s handsome face. “Are you truly happy, Adrian? Did I make the right decision?”
Adrian pulled his brother into a tight hug. “I’ve never been happier,” he said as he released his sibling.
Kade let out a relieved breath. “What’s it like going from pack to pride?” Adrian laughed. “I’ve learned that as long as I deliver brownies and video games I’m golden.”
“What about your mate?”
Adrian turned and looked at the large lion lying on the boulder overlooking pack lands.
The beast opened its golden eyes and gave Adrian an intent stare as if he was a sleepy deer waiting to be taken down.
“Things are good,” Adrian said, smiling at his mate. “Things are real good. A lion shifter isn’t that different from a wolf. We both want the same things in life. A nice home, a happy family and a loving mate.”
Kade clapped him on the back as he looked towards his own mate. “Don’t we all, brother, don’t we all.”
About the Author
Amber Kell is one of those quiet people they always tell you to watch out for. She lives in Dallas with her husband, two sons, two cats and one extremely stupid dog.
Amber loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at
http://www.total-e-bound.com
.