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reach maturity and no longer will the

  females be required to remain with the pride their entire lives. We will foster

  relationships with other prides to

  provide other opportunities for our

  young, rather than seeking isolation in a

  world that is steadily closing in around

  us. Like any species, we must adapt or

  face extinction. We are powerful

  predators, but our social evolution

  leaves much to be desired. We can learn

  much from our human neighbors in

  matters of tolerance and understanding.”

  Though many were still caught up in his

  words, the restless rumblings in the

  crowd were growing now.

  “I do not threaten our traditions,” he

  assured them. “The Hunts will continue,

  but instead of my mate leading the Hunt and selecting those who are allowed to

  participate, it will be thrown open to all

  who wish to participate, but required of

  none.”

  Ava felt a surge of relief at his words.

  The only thing worse than not being

  selected for the Hunt, in her opinion,

  was being selected and then struggling to

  keep up with the stronger, faster

  lionesses. She’d always thought it was

  horribly unfair that her slighter weight

  had not translated into superior speed.

  There ought to be some advantage to

  being the runt.

  “My mate will be my voice in the pride

  when I am not here, but there will be no more ruling by force, no more bullying

  the weaker members.”

  Ava snorted to herself. How Landon

  expected to be able to enforce the no-

  bullying rule was beyond her. Changing

  the format of the Hunt was one thing, but

  he couldn’t just wave a magic wand and

  eliminate the hierarchy of strength within

  the pride.

  “We are both animal and man. We are

  capable of civilized—”

  “Heresy!” A rough, sickeningly familiar

  voice cut across Landon’s, shouting from

  the back of the amphitheatre.

  Ava turned, along with most of the rest of the pride, and watched as Landon’s

  banished predecessor, Leonus, stepped

  out of the shadows. She looked around

  for his enforcer and ever-present

  sidekick, Kato, but the hulking bully was

  nowhere to be seen.

  “Lions rule by strength,” he roared,

  approaching the platform as the pride

  members parted like the Red Sea to

  allow him to pass. “If they do not, then

  what right have you to rule over me,

  Landon King?

  Would you change our very nature, boy?

  Is this what has become of my pride in

  three short months?

  Anarchy over tradition? A destruction of the very values that make us what we

  are?”

  Landon’s voice rose, calm and

  confident, over Leonus’s. “I do not

  demand that you change your values. I do

  not even demand that you live by my

  rules. Only that you do so if you continue

  to live here, at Three Rocks.”

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  “Throwing others out of their homes

  now, boy?”

  “We all have a choice. Live here honorably, or live elsewhere however

  you please.”

  “The only honor is in victory,” Leonus

  shouted. “I have returned to challenge

  you to reclaim mine.”

  A collective gasp swept through the

  pride. It was not unheard of for

  supplanted lions to return to challenge

  those who had taken over their pride, but

  Landon’s victory over Leonus had been

  almost laughably easy three months

  earlier when Landon had been half-

  starved from the uncertain life of a

  nomad and Leonus had been at full

  strength. Now that their positions were

  reversed, Leonus could not hope to

  succeed. Not fairly, at least.

  Ava looked around again, wondering

  where Kato was hiding. She was not left

  to wonder for long.

  A roar not heard in the pride for three

  months echoed across the amphitheatre

  from behind the platform. Leonus shifted

  right behind her and suddenly her

  brothers swept her away from the

  platform. Ava caught a glimpse of

  Landon, already in his lion form, being

  knocked from the platform by Leonus’s

  huge enforcer. They landed in a tangle in

  the space Ava and her brothers had just

  vacated, and Leonus leapt forward to

  swipe at Landon, claws out.

  Ava cried out in protest before her view was once again blocked by her brothers.

  She stared at their immobile backs in

  shock. Why weren’t they helping

  Landon? This was no true challenge, no

  fair fight.

  How could they just stand by and let him

  be mauled?

  She spun, scanning the crowd, looking

  for others springing to his aid. She saw

  Shana, standing back with her head

  tipped to one side as if watching a

  sporting match, with no real interest in

  who came out the victor. At the back of

  the crowd, she could see Zoe shoving

  her way to the front, but by the time she

  got there…

  Whereas Ava was right next to the action, separated only by her brothers,

  standing with their legs planted wide.

  She reached for the tie on her sarong,

  shifting and snaking between Caleb’s

  legs before the fabric had time to flutter

  to the ground.

  As she darted forward into the cleared

  area, Landon, his golden coat spotted

  with blood from the claw marks across

  his shoulder, shoved with his powerful

  hind legs, throwing Kato’s bulk off him

  and rolling clear of Leonus’s snapping

  jaws. He scrambled away from them,

  freezing in a defensive crouch when the

  small white lioness suddenly appeared

  at his side.

  Leonus and Kato squared off against

  them, hesitating now that the odds had

  been leveled against them.

  Ava snarled, trying to look formidable

  and less like a puny little weakling who

  had never fought for anything in her life,

  never dared dispute her place in the

  pride. Landon stepped forward, his body

  shielding hers from the aggressive

  males, but she would not let herself be

  protected. Not at his expense. She

  stepped forward with him, all but

  shaking with fear but determined to stand

  by him.

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  Then suddenly Caleb appeared at her

  other shoulder, shaking his red-black

  mane. Tyler roared from Landon’s side

  as her other brothers prowled forward,

  aggressively circling Leonus and Kato.

  Zoe broke from the crowd in time to

  feint at the would-be usurpers, hissing

>   and barking. With a ripple of movement,

  the rest of the pride quickly took their

  lion forms, crowding around with bared

  teeth and claws.

  Landon drew himself up and roared, the

  fierce vocalization echoing in the

  amphitheatre. The shadows of that roar

  chased his attackers as they turned tail and fled. Zoe and Michael leapt after

  them, intent on driving them out of the

  Three Rocks territory. Half a dozen

  others quickly joined them, eager for a

  run.

  In the chaos that followed their

  departure, as some shifted back to human

  form and others celebrated the pride’s

  victory in lion form, Landon nipped

  Ava’s ear to get her attention and herded

  her away from the roiling crowd to the

  relative privacy behind the platform.

  He shifted back to human form and she

  followed suit, accepting the sarong he

  whipped off the shelf behind the

  platform and wrapped around her.

  Careless of his own nudity, his eyes raced over her as if to assure himself she

  was whole. Ava’s did the same, her eyes

  drawn again and again to the gashes

  across his shoulder where Leonus’s

  claws had gouged him.

  “Those cuts look deep. You should—”

  “It’s nothing,” he said roughly, brushing

  aside her concern. “What were you

  thinking?”

  Ava blinked, startled by the abrupt

  question. “What?”

  “You could have been hurt, Ava.”

  “You were being hurt, Landon. What did

  you expect me to do?”

  His face twisted, his expression

  conflicted, as if he couldn’t decide

  whether he ought to be angry or elated.

  “The lioness who is brave enough to

  fight at my side, throwing all concern for

  her own safety out the window, is my

  true mate, Ava.”

  His words were like treasures, but Ava

  knew better than to think she’d be

  allowed to keep them. “I’m not strong or

  fast…”

  “No. You’re smart and brave. And you

  tell me when you think I’m being a

  foolish idealist.”

  “You are,” she insisted. “The pride won’t accept me as your mate any more

  than they will accept all your other

  changes.”

  “They will accept you and you will help

  me show them how to accept the other

  changes.”

  “Landon,” she sighed. It was a lovely

  dream, but one of them had to stay

  awake and face reality. “The consort is

  never someone like me.”

  “No, but maybe she should be.”

  “And if the pride won’t accept me?

  What then?”

  “Then we find another pride. It isn’t so bad, you know, being a nomad. I would

  rather be an Alpha without a pride to

  rule than to rule this one without you.”

  He cupped her face between his hands.

  “Be my mate, Ava. Be my love. Be all

  the things that only you can be. Please,

  just say yes.”

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  He was a fool. It would never work, but

  staring into the gorgeous green-gold eyes

  of the man she loved, she couldn’t think

  of a single reason why. All she could

  think was what a miracle it was that he wanted her, lowly little Ava. He saw her

  answer in the tiny feline smile curving

  her lips before she gave him the single

  word that would seal their fates.

  “Yes.”

  Landon whooped and swept her up

  against his chest, spinning her around

  until she was laughing and dizzy. When

  he stopped spinning, he continue to hold

  her pressed tightly against him, her feet

  inches off the ground. His lips brushed

  across hers, a soft question. She

  tightened her arms around his neck and

  answered him the only way she knew

  how, with her mouth on his. Passion

  spiked instantly, sharp and hot between

  them, even though her heat had long since subsided.

  When she pulled back, they were both

  breathless and the light in Landon’s eyes

  promised that she would not be given a

  chance to catch her breath back.

  “I suppose we’d better introduce you to

  the pride,” he said, slowly easing her

  feet back down to solid ground.

  Anxiety tangled in her stomach. That

  was the one hitch in her perfect dream.

  He had said he would be her mate

  without a pride, but he obviously did not

  believe they would repudiate her as his

  mate. What would he do when it came

  time to put actions to his words? Would

  he choose her? Or the pride he had fought for and won?

  Landon leapt up onto the platform,

  tugging her behind him. As Landon

  raised his hands for silence, Ava looked

  out over the crowd. Those who had run

  off Leonus and Kato had returned. She

  saw Zoe looking unbearably smug and

  her brothers frowning up at her as

  Landon held her hand tightly in his own,

  preventing her retreat.

  She didn’t hear the words Landon called

  out over the crowd. Her nerves buzzed

  too loudly in her ears.

  She saw surprise on many faces, frowns

  on some—her brothers among them—

  and, amazingly, smiles on more than a few. The buzzing in her ears diminished

  when Landon raised their entwined

  fingers to his lips, brushing a kiss across

  her knuckles, and a rough cheer went up.

  Ava flinched a little at the sound,

  blinking owlishly. They were cheering

  her? Pathetic little Ava?

  “Now, to the Hunt!” Landon shouted. A

  thousand golden hues of fur sprang out in

  the crowd as the pride shifted. Zoe was

  among the first to tear out of the clearing,

  leading the charge toward the poor cattle

  herd on the menu tonight.

  As the amphitheatre emptied, Ava

  looked at Landon, still standing beside

  her, watching his pride depart with an

  easy smile on his lips and her hand clasped tightly in his.

  “Wouldn’t you like to join them?” she

  asked softly.

  Her lover, her mate, turned to her and

  smiled wickedly. “I only have one kind

  of prey on my mind tonight.”

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  Ava smiled, feeling a female, feline

  power she had never known before this

  man came into her life.

  “You’ll have to catch me first.”

  She leapt from the platform, shifting in

  the air, and landed on all fours in a run.

  She heard a masculine chuckle transform

  into a distinctly leonine sound and the

  sounds of pursuit behind her, but she did

  not look back. She raced through the

  compound toward his bungalow, feeling

  him close on her heels,
knowing he was

  letting her win, matching his pace to

  hers, but she didn’t care. For once it

  wasn’t about being the fastest or the

  strongest, just about running with her

  mate. Laughter she couldn’t express in

  this form bubbled in her heart like

  champagne.

  She bounded up onto the front step of his

  bungalow inches in front of Landon, shifting as he did. His arms wrapped

  around her and he pressed her against

  the door, his stunning heat and strength

  warming her to her core. His mouth

  closed over hers. Ava’s dizzy happiness

  would not be contained and she laughed

  against his lips, coiling her arms around

  him.

  She felt him fumbling for the doorknob.

  He drew back from the laughing kiss, a

  small frown pinching his eyebrows as he

  raised his hand between them. Dangling

  from his fingers was the green-gold

  pendant.

  Ava gasped and Landon arched his brow

  in question.

  “What is it? Some kind of pride mating

  medallion?”

  Ava laughed. “Something like that.” She

  raised her hand and cupped the pendant

  in her hand, smiling to herself. Shana

  must have run here to leave it for her.

  Ava’s eyes filled with tears and she

  blinked them back, surprising herself by

  how affected she was by Shana’s small

  concession. Landon was still frowning,

  now with concern. She reassured him

  with a blinding smile. “You know, love,

  I think your idealistic fantasy might just

  have a chance of working.”

  His frown eased into a cocky grin. “I

  never doubted it for a second.”

  She held the pendant up next to her

  mate’s eyes, comparing the color. She

  sighed, “Perfect.”

  He traced the curve of her face with one

  finger, his eyes trained steadily on hers.

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  She raised up on her tiptoes to meet his

  kiss, a wild dizzy heat spiraling through

  her body at the first brush of contact. He

  shoved the door open and swept her into

  his arms. Landon carried her across the

  threshold and kicked the door shut, all

  without lifting his mouth from hers. Ava

  curled into his arms, a feline smile

  curving the mouth he held captive, and

  purred.

  He laid her on the bed, lowering himself

  beside her and she stretched like the cat

  she was, at home in her skin and in his

  arms.

  “So there’s only a risk of shifting at

  climax when I’m in heat?” she asked him

  as he nuzzled the side of her neck,

  inhaling deeply.