Talon (Rise of the Pride, Book 1) (4 page)

“Jesus, she’s fucking beautiful,” Ranger
sighed, shaking his head and taking a seat outside the booth they
were sharing. He looked menacing with his jet black hair and
full-sleeve tribal tattoos that were as dark as his hair.

“And she’s human,” Talon reminded him.

“But she’s a sturdy human.” Ranger wagged his
eyebrows. Noah shook his head as he placed his face into his palms.
Mary Grace was curved in all the right places. Human men ignored
her because of her size, but to a panther…the healthier the woman,
the better she’d handle him. A healthy female carried healthy cubs.
It was the way things used to be, and for their kind, the way it
still was when it came to women.

The thought of sexy, thick thighs had Talon
groaning under his breath when his mind drifted back to Liberty
Raines. She was tiny in his eyes, but to another human, she could
be considered stout. There was nothing wrong with her body. Her
hips flared just enough for his large hands to grasp when making
love. Her breasts were bountiful enough to feed his babe and any
cubs that came after the first. Her skin was slightly tanned, her
hands small but strong. Her lips looked like a cupid’s bow and they
plumped perfectly when she pursed them in thought.

And those thoughts just needed to stop. Was
he that observant of the little woman? Damn, he’d only spoken to
her directly once, and that was only earlier when Terry had caused
a scene.

The night wound down and, before Talon knew
it, Liberty had started cleaning tables and shooing customers from
their seats. As she made the rounds, he watched as she smiled
warmly when she stopped at each table.

“Here’s your tab,” Liberty said, handing
Talon a long slip of paper. They’d accumulated quite the bill.
Talon didn’t even flinch at the amount at the bottom, retrieving
his wallet and pulling out four large bills.

“That should cover everything,” he said,
holding the money out for Liberty.

The moment their fingers touched, Talon’s
spine stiffened and his panther lurched forward. A hot, nearly
debilitating current blazed through his body. His panther roared
inside his head. From the look on her face, Talon knew she’d felt
the odd sensation as well.

“Are…are you…purring?” she stammered, locking
eyes with him. She didn’t cower, nor did she run away. “Um, your
eyes…they change color?”

Talon tried with everything he had to push
his panther back. He knew what the hell was happening and the
revelation stunned him even more. There was no possible way this
could be true.

“Boss, what’s wrong?” Savage growled, his
body stiffening. Every one of the panthers could feel the electric
charge in the air. Something was amiss…something was wrong. Winter,
Savage, and Noah crouched low, defensively, awaiting a threat.
Little did they know that there was no danger. They’d just
witnessed something rare…something unusual.

“Boss?” Winter questioned.

“Um,” Liberty breathed, her eyes still locked
on Talon’s penetrating gaze.

As Talon’s eyes began to clear, his panther
finally relaxed. Knowing there were Guardians around for
protection, he felt his tension ease slightly, but not before the
word slipped from his lips. It was one word…and that word told all
of the panthers exactly what had happened.

“
Mate
,” Talon purred, reaching out to
cup Liberty’s face with both of his hands. As soon as his lips
crashed down on hers, he was lost. He’d found his mate.

And she was human.

Chapter Two

“What the fuck is your problem?” Liberty
snarled, backing away from the man who’d just kissed her in the
middle of her bar. “Don’t you ever do that again!”

She was fuming mad. How dare he come in her
bar and kiss her like that! Not that it was a bad kiss. His full
lips sure knew what they were doing.
Oh my god, Liberty Raines!
Stop lusting over him!

“I suggest you leave,” she insisted, pointing
at the door.

The men that were with Talon circled around
their alpha, whispering in hushed tones. Some of them looked over
their shoulders at her, stunned expressions plastered on their
faces.

“I’m sorry, Liberty,” Talon apologized,
reaching a hand out in her direction. She jerked back, wrapping her
arms around her waist. “You don’t understand.”

“Oh, I understand perfectly well,” she said
with a frown. “Please leave before I call the Sheriff.”

“Come on, boss,” the blonde one said, placing
a large hand on Talon’s shoulder.

“We need to talk,” Talon said, trying to step
forward, but the men pushed him back. Talon’s eyes flared amber
again and a deathly rumble bubbled up from his throat.

Liberty backed away in fear this time,
bumping into a chair. She cried out as her balance was compromised,
sending her spiraling backwards. She braced for impact with the
hard wooden floor, but it never came.

Large, muscular arms wrapped around her
waist, spinning her body to the right. Within a matter of a second,
she was pressed against Talon’s broad chest. The scent of something
sweet and wild invaded her senses, his warmth seeped into her body,
and her eyes closed as she sank into his comforting embrace.

“Liberty!” Talon growled. “You could’ve
seriously hurt yourself. Are you okay?” His fear radiated through
her body. She actually felt the rumble as her face was pressed
against his muscular chest. For a split second, she wanted to
release all of the tension in her body and just hold on to him,
begging him to never let her go.

Like a jolt of electricity had shocked her
body, she jerked back, dislodging herself from his warmth,
realizing that there was no way she could’ve done that with her own
strength. The only reason why he released her was because he wanted
to let her go. Liberty was sure that if he had wanted to keep her
body locked against his, she would have had no way to break
free.

“Don’t yell at me…you big oaf!” Liberty
sputtered and pushed a long lock of brown hair out of her eyes.
Once she had a hold on her footing, she pointed one last time at
the door. “Get. Out!”

“We will be seeing each other again,” Talon
promised, stomping toward the door, his men following him out
before Liberty could start throwing things at them.

As soon as they were gone, she grabbed a
chair and fell into the seat with a hard thump.
What in the hell
just happened?

Liberty touched her bottom lip, finding that
it was slightly swollen from Talon’s claiming kiss. She could still
taste him there when she ran her tongue over the warmth that was
left where he’d nibbled right before he released her. A low ache
between her legs reminded her that it’d been a very long time since
a man had gotten that type of response out of her. What was it
about Talon Shaw that made her body stand at attention when he
looked at her?

She’d tried to ignore him and his friends for
most of the night, but she knew when he was watching her. Instead
of feeling creeped out by that, she had actually felt…safe. At one
point in the night, a customer stumbled into her side. She was able
to recover quickly, because it was a regular thing for her to have
to deal with drunk people who couldn’t walk straight. She’d seen
Talon from the corner of her eye start to stand, but he relaxed
once she laughed and moved out of the way of the guy heading for
the restrooms.

Talon had watched her and everyone else in
the bar. It was like he was looking for trouble before it arrived.
He’d stayed until closing, and that was not something he usually
did. Was he worried Terry would come back? And why the hell did he
want to talk to her? Was it about the kiss? Could he want to
explain why he had growled the word “mate” after he’d released her?
Or was he being a typical male and wanted to scold her for coming
to his defense when Terry all but told them they weren’t
welcome?

It didn’t matter. She’d been so shocked by
the kiss that she had kicked him out and maybe, just maybe, he’d
take the hint and not return. Liberty frowned to herself and looked
over at their regular table, trying to imagine them not there on
Friday and Saturday nights. Why did the thought of them not being
there cause a knot to tighten in her stomach?

Giving up on trying to answer her questions,
Liberty quickly made the deposit for the night and locked the safe.
Turning off the lights, she took her gun from her purse and slid it
in the concealed holster at her hip. The soft leather material
attached to her pants and since she’d worn it so long, it had
molded to her shape, allowing for the perfect fit. Throwing her
purse over her left shoulder, she tucked her tank top in to her
pants, behind the butt of the gun so that it was easier to reach if
needed. She checked her surroundings, then set the alarm and rushed
out the front door, locking the two deadbolts tight. Once inside
her car, she backed out of her parking spot and turned onto Highway
305, heading south a few miles to her home.

It was after two in the morning when she
finally climbed into her bed, sighing in relief from how exhausted
she was. Although she promised herself not to dream about that
kiss, her night visions were filled with muscular men and sleek,
black cats who followed her, vowing to protect her with their
lives.

The room was dark, the only light coming from
the reflection off an old television that sat on a rickety table in
the corner of an abandoned cabin. He really wanted that panther’s
blood. How dare he take this to the media? If that alpha had kept a
tighter leash on his fucking cats, Franklin wouldn’t have to be
working to contain his wolves and their need for blood and secrecy.
They’d lived undetected for hundreds of years, thousands even. Now,
because of two damn cats, their kind would be subject to being
hunted and killed.

His wolves had seen the news coverage and had
demanded retribution from the alpha who almost let it be known that
there were more than just his fucking cats in the world. Franklin
wondered if the bears were as riled up as his kind was about the
announcement.

It really didn’t matter what anyone else
thought, he knew that the panther leader had to suffer for his
actions. The rule was that no human should ever learn about them,
and he’d be dammed if one young alpha was going to destroy their
entire race by telling all of their secrets.

A noise had Franklin’s skin tightening. He
sensed his two cousins before they ever entered the cabin. The door
was pushed open, revealing the men, and they had brought back
company. His cousins, Lenny and Trevor, smiled as they tossed two
people into the room. The scent of cat caused the wolf leader’s
nose to wrinkle.

“Brought you something,” Lenny sneered.

“Ahh.” Franklin smiled. The two cats were
young. The male wasn’t even into his adulthood yet, and the little
girl was quite the looker. She couldn’t have been more than sixteen
years old, but with her long, blonde hair, she could pass for much
older. The boy’s hair was slightly darker than hers and he was
definitely coming into his prime, but he wasn’t bulky enough to
even have a fair fight with a wolf. Franklin smiled as he saw that
Lenny had fitted them with spiked collars, ensuring they couldn’t
shift. “Perfect.”

“What do you want?” the young boy growled,
his eyes flickering amber.

“
Ah, ah,
ah,” Franklin tsked.
“You don’t want to shift, boy. Those
spikes will kill you.”

“You killed my pride,” he yelled. “What do
you want from me?” The boy watched the young female protectively.
There was enough resemblance to prove that they were siblings.

His cousins had found a very small pride in
the mountains of eastern Tennessee. Franklin had given the kill
order, but requested they bring him the two weakest members, a male
and a female. He needed the cats to do his dirty work, and he also
needed a female. The female would be the cats’ downfall. Those
fuckers would do anything to protect their women.