Holy. Fuck.
If the Grim Reaper had come to aid Ronin, that meant these were his people—the Daughters of Beasts.
The New Tarian Pride had been so colossally outnumbered by the Old Tarian Pride, their allies, and the council…but Ronin had allies of his own.
As the Old Tarian Pride aimed for Ronin and the Daughters of Beasts, a freckled woman stepped from the shadows, her dark hair whipping in the wind as she lifted her hand. Her face transformed into a snarl as she flicked her fingers, and one of the charging lions was thrown to the side, slamming into a tree with a deafening crack. Lightning struck all around the clearing, illuminating everyone, lifting all of Emerald’s fur with static. Witch.
Behind them, a trail of fire blew from the sky, illuminating the underbelly of a dragon. Fiery red scales, and holy fuck…Vyr Daye was here.
Emerald closed the distance between her and Ronin, but he didn’t need her protection. The hurricane wind from the dragon’s wings was scattering the attackers. All around her, lions were crouching, slinking off toward the woods, hissing, tails down. The lionesses were hunkered down, but they weren’t running. Beautiful badasses.
Pride surged through her as she watched the Old Tarians fleeing. As she watched the council scattering like roaches.
How could they ever look strong after this?
How could they ever truly rebuild after this?
Cassius had murmured those awful words as he’d left her room. I win.
But as she ran her face down the side of Ronin’s tattered one, she knew Cassius had been wrong. Ronin was alive. He was still strong, bloodied and battered perhaps, but not even swaying or favoring injuries.
He leaned into her touch and then nudged her behind him. He filled the night air with something she hadn’t even been able to imagine. A victory roar over the Old Tarians.
And the Reaper and the Daughters of Beasts answered.
And the surviving New Tarians answered.
And the lionesses answered.
The dragon answered.
And Fury…well…she answered, too.
He’d come for her. He hadn’t left her, hadn’t abandoned her to fight what was happening on her own. He’d come here tonight, right in the middle of the new council rising to power, and changed the course of this Pride’s destiny.
Ronin wasn’t just the Alpha of the New Tarians anymore.
He was the true Tarian Alpha.
And Emerald had never been prouder to be a part of something.
She’d never been proud of being born a Tarian before, but in this moment, as she lifted her own roar with the others…she was.
Everything was different now.
Chapter Fourteen
“Are you all okay?” she asked the women sitting around the living room.
“No,” Sora said, her bottom lip quivering with the admission. She cradled her warm mug of hot cocoa closer and tried to smile at Emerald. “But we will be.”
Emerald perched on the arm of the couch and looked around. Two hours ago, this cabin’s furniture had been covered with sheets. This place hadn’t been lived in since the Pride split. “You know you don’t have to stay in this place. It’s not girls vs. boys like the other Pride. You can all live where you’re comfortable. Rose even lives outside of the territory line, if any of you ever wanted to live in town or anything.”
“Why are you telling us this?” Annamora asked. “Does Ronin not want us here?”
“Ronin most certainly wants you here,” he rumbled from the open doorway.
Orion stepped out of the way to let him pass, exposing his neck. Ronin clapped him on the shoulder. “You look like hell, man.”
Indeed, Orion was sliced and diced from claw marks. He’d gone to war right alongside his sister, Sora, and the lionesses. “Speak for yourself,” he said, wincing. “You look like hamburger.”
Ronin laughed. “I fuckin’ feel like it.”
Ronin was a sight for sore eyes. Emerald hadn’t seen him in a couple hours, not since they’d all come back to the territory. She’d missed him. Sitting next to him in his truck on the drive back, his hand on her leg, her holding onto his arm for dear life as they stared ahead silently in shock, hadn’t been enough time for her to truly feel safe again. And Ronin was safety.
Now, it was all sinking in. They were okay.
He pulled up a chair right next to where she sat on the arm of the couch and brushed his fingertips across her knee before he spoke. “You’re all welcome here. I can’t imagine what you went through, but I saw you all tonight, and you protected Emerald. In a way, you protected me.” He shook his head slightly. “I don’t even know you, but I was so damn proud. This isn’t like the other Pride, though. You can choose to stay and pledge to my Pride, or you can go anywhere you want. You. Aren’t. Trapped. Not anymore.”
Emerald swore she heard at least three sighs of relief.
Annamora looked at Ronin’s hand on Emerald’s leg. “You picked good.” Her expression was raw and open, her eyes rimmed with tears when she looked up at Emerald. “You changed everything for us. You gave us some fight.”
Emerald’s voice would crack if she answered right away, so she swallowed a few times before she tried. “When I saw you girls on Cassius? Your lionesses? It was hands down the coolest moment of my life. You’re submissive like me, and I know how hard it is to break a habit of fear, stick up for yourself, and just…let the animal have you. And you all did it tonight.” Warmth streamed down her cheeks, but she didn’t wipe the tears away. They could see her vulnerable. Tonight, these women had become her people. They’d had her back when it would’ve been easier to sit inside and stay safe until it was all over. “If you ever need anything, I’m your girl.”
Annamora stood, lifted her chin proudly, and approached her and Ronin slowly. Then she looked at the other girls before she knelt. “Ronin, I pledge to you because I pledge to Emerald. I don’t know you as an Alpha. But since the moment I met Emerald, my lioness knew her. She’s different. She’s a queen. And if she chooses you, I trust her. She wouldn’t pick anyone who isn’t a worthy king.”
Emerald gasped as the other women fell to their knees. She didn’t understand.
“Ronin?” she whispered, tears just streaming.
But he was smiling. Proudly. He pulled her against his ribs and kissed her temple. And she could feel it, how proud he was of her. That was a real man. That was love. When a man wasn’t intimidated by a woman’s power, but awed by it? That was strength.
She didn’t know what the proper thing to do was, so she did what she wanted. What her lioness wanted. She needed affection, so she leaned in and kissed Ronin tenderly, gripping his shirt because this man had become so important. And then she fell to her knees in front of Annamora and hugged her. She buried her face against the woman’s shoulder, and when she reached her arm out for Sora, they all piled on. She laughed as the girls hugged. Emerald stared at the ceiling fan, amazed at how anything could feel so good. Ronin’s hands were on her shoulders; he was right behind her, always behind her. And the girls were going to be okay. She would make sure of it. Being a queen wasn’t about being better than someone. Or being higher up. It wasn’t about power. Not to Emerald. It was about making other women feel like queens, too. The broken and the kicked, those were her people. The ones who had nowhere to go but up. She’d been there. She’d been sitting on rock bottom waiting for someone to save her, but she hadn’t known she didn’t need someone to save her. She’d just needed Ronin to show her that she could save herself.
And because of that? He would always have her loyalty and the loyalty of Fury. Someday, she was going to explain that to him, but for now, she was going to enjoy the climb. She was going to enjoy the life she would build with him. And build, she would. She’d believed once that she’d been destined for no special fate. But as she looked over her shoulder at her man, cut up and exhausted from defending her, she knew she’d been wrong.
Her destiny was to protect the neck of the Tarian Alpha.
And he would protect hers in return.
Chapter Fifteen
His hand around hers felt like a big moment. He was leading her through the snow toward the big house, but with his hand, his cut, calloused, strong hand, clasped around hers…Emerald hadn’t realized life could be like this.
He turned and smiled. The man bore claw marks on every inch of his body, but he still smiled at her. When he saw her face, though, he stopped and turned, cupped her cheeks. “What’s wrong, Sweet Kitty.”
“I’m just overwhelmed.”
He searched her face, worry swimming in his eyes. “Did they hurt you?”
Her lip trembled. and she rubbed her cheek against his palm, cupping it with her own hand to keep him touching her. “No. I don’t think they could if they tried. I think when I saw Derek dragging my dad behind that snowmobile…”
“No one will ever hurt you or your dad again.” He rumbled, “Look at me.”
She lifted her gaze and gripped the hem of his shirt. It was just them, alone on the trail between the big cabin and where the girls were settling in for the night.
“No one.” He shook his head slowly, and his eyes morphed from blue to that stunning green-gold. “When I saw you running for that snowmobile, for Derek, I was scared for the first time in as long as I can remember. I was scared you would get hurt. And then I watched you beat the ever-loving shit out of his face, watched his shock. I wanted to get to you, but more than that, I was so fucking happy you did that to him. Your protective instinct is so sexy, Em.” When he pulled her close, she could feel it against her cheek—his steady heartbeat. “And then I saw your lioness fight Derek tonight. I could tell you were trying to get to me. Every time I looked over at you, at your lioness posted up, not afraid a bit, smaller than him but going for that neck, going for a kill shot…I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of a person in all my life. You were beautiful, Em. You know that, right? You were lethal grace, relentless. He didn’t make you cower a bit. Big old dominant lion and look what you did. You know how strong you are, right?”