Talon (Rise of the Pride, Book 1) Read online

  A commotion at the door had Talon snapping out of his thoughts. The remainder of his Guardians arrived fresh off of work from his construction company. Ranger Coleman and Booth Woods smiled at the passing waitress. Talon believed her name to be Mary Grace. She was a looker as well. Her old world looks gained the attention of Ranger, and he laughed when he saw Booth smack his Guardian in the back of his head to get his attention.

  “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.

  “You, my little cat, are going to work for me. I want information on the local pride leader.” Franklin stood from the table and walked over to the girl, running his finger down her cheek. She would do just fine.

  “Don’t touch her!” The boy lunged for Franklin, but Lenny was faster, kicking the young cat in the ribs. The boy rolled to his knees and growled low in his throat. All of the wolves laughed when the boy hissed out in pain. His panther had tried to push forward, but the spikes in his neck prevented his transformation.

  “You will do as I say or your sister will suffer,” Franklin teased. Oh, this was going to be easy. The little cat would do anything to protect his family. Wasn’t that just precious?

  “I’ll do whatever you want,” the boy said in defeat.

  “I’m going to send you on a mission,” Franklin began. “If you alert the pride about us, I will do terrible things to your sister and make you watch. You will have to live with the fact that you watched her die at our hands for the rest of your life.”

  Franklin emphasized his promise by touching the girl’s cheek again. He lifted her hair away from the collar and sniffed her neck. He could do something about her scent. She was ripe for a vicious wolf. He didn’t know how long it would take for her to be useless to his needs, but he was anxious to find out.

  “Okay,” the boy whispered. “What do you want me to do?” The little boy had no idea how much this excited the wolves.

  The sun had just started to peek over the horizon, the morning air crisp and cool for the beginning of autumn. Talon’s panther paced on the outskirts of a wooded area, not in his territory. A small farmhouse sat a hundred yards away, quiet and dark. Its occupants were still sleeping nestled in their beds.

  He’d searched for only an hour before he’d picked up her scent. Following along the Coldwater River just north of his property, Talon had found her house. He kept to the shadows, prowling quietly around her door. He felt like a stalker, his panther’s tongue rolled out into the cat’s version of a smile. In his cat’s mind, she was his mate and they had every right to be there.

  There were only two scents that covered the property; Liberty’s and her younger sister, Nova’s. The tiny, two story home sat back off of the road, but not far enough that it couldn’t be seen from the window of a passing car. The white siding appeared to be slightly weathered, the windows were hazy and had to be original to the century old home. The leaves on the large oak trees that surrounded the house were just starting to turn yellow and orange, signaling the change of seasons.

  After he’d been kicked out of her bar, Talon rushed home and shifted into his cat. It didn’t matter what Talon’s plans were, because once his beast had taken over, there was no stopping his search for the woman who was to be his mate.

  Talon’s panther froze as a sound drifted out of the house, just a small hint of a noise that only his enhanced hearing could detect. It was the creek of a floorboard on the upper level of the home. Laying down behind a thick shrub, the dead leaves on the ground crunched beneath his underbelly. Even with the small amount of the dawn’s light outside, the upstairs bedroom light flickered to life, illuminating the room’s interior. Talon felt his cat’s heart race, knowing that his mate was the one in that room. It didn’t take long before a shadow approached the window. A flash of long, brown hair was the first thing he saw before she stepped up to the window and looked out into the forest behind her home. She wore a dark brown sleep shirt with thin straps over her shoulders. He could barely make out a pair of plaid lounge pants at her hips before the windowsill hid the rest of her body from his view.

  She shivered once and moved away from the window, leaving him aching for just one more glance. He didn’t have to wait long before she returned with a beige colored robe, tying the sash tightly around her waist. Talon stayed still, watching her appear lost in thought as her eyes roamed the wooded area with a look of longing. He told himself that she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. His panther rumbled in agreement.

  After a few minutes, Liberty disappeared again and shut off the light. Moments later, he heard the unique sound
of another squeaky floorboard on a set of stairs. He slinked back into the woods and the direction he had come, promising he’d return when it was dark, just to make sure she was okay.

  Chapter Three

  The shifters never made it in to the bar and Liberty had been on edge, expecting them to walk in at any moment. Mary Grace and Nicole wiped down tables so that they could scoot several together for a bachelorette party that had found their way out to The Deuce. The bride to be was already unsteady on her feet and Liberty warned Cole and Luke about serving her too many drinks.

  The night progressed with a local band singing covers of classic rock songs to keep the crowd entertained. Nova and Della were carrying out trays of food as fast as Moe could get them ready. All in all, the night was turning one hell of a profit, and Liberty was in her element.

  As the bar began to empty out and people said their goodbyes, she snuck a peek at the door, frowning slightly when she realized that Talon Shaw must’ve taken her warning to heart and kept himself away from the bar.

  “He’s not coming, sis,” Nova said, wrapping an arm around Liberty’s shoulders.

  “Who?” Liberty questioned, drying a few glasses she’d washed in the bar sink instead of letting them air dry.

  “Your panther,” Nova giggled, stepping away when Liberty shrugged off her arm. “Guess you scared the big guy off.”

  “He had no right to kiss me,” she complained, recalling the hot kiss. In fact, her lips still tingled with awareness as if it’d just happened. Liberty had confessed to the kiss earlier in the morning when Nova had caught her staring off into the woods while sipping coffee at the kitchen table.