Serengeti Heat Read online

  Chapter Ten

  Ava gazed back and forth between her

  brothers and her lover. This was not

  how she had imagined her night with

  Landon ending. Though, to be truthful,

  she hadn’t envisioned it ending at all.

  Knowing a fairy tale has to end and

  picturing herself actually walking out the

  door were two very different things.

  And she had known. She did know. It

  was time for her to leave. But that didn’t

  make walking away any easier.

  Ava took a step toward Caleb’s

  outstretched hand. Landon lunged to his

  feet, growling, but Ava knew better than to think his possessive posturing was

  anything more than instinctual reflex. It

  wasn’t like his emotions were involved,

  after all.

  Ava hissed at him over her shoulder,

  urging him to back down, not to make a

  fuss. Across the room, Michael growled

  low. Landon couldn’t stop her, not with

  her brothers here. Perhaps their

  presence, mortifying as it was, was for

  the best.

  Ava continued across the room. Landon

  didn’t make another sound, though she

  could feel his green-gold eyes tracking

  every twitch of her tail. She padded past

  her brothers without pausing and out into

  the late morning sunlight. She didn’t stop to await the scolding she knew was

  coming, instead breaking into an easy

  lope, heading toward the tiny bungalow

  she’d claimed for her own.

  Michael followed, all but stepping on

  her tail, until she spun and swiped at

  him, snarling irritably. The youngest and

  most impulsive of her brothers backed

  off a few steps, but continued to dog her

  steps until she leapt up onto the small

  porch in front of her place and whipped

  around to hiss at him. Caleb was beside

  him, once again in his lion form, and

  they easily could have bullied their way

  into the bungalow after her and

  demanded answers she was in no mood

  to give, but instead they surprised her by darting off to the other end of the

  complex. Doubtless to round up her

  other brothers to present her with the full

  force of their anger. Ava shuddered, her

  fur rippling over her body. What a

  lovely thing to look forward to. Being

  taken to task for finally doing something

  for herself. Finally stepping out of the

  protective bubble her brothers had built

  for her at birth.

  Ava turned and smacked the door open

  with her paw, pleased for once that the

  doors on her house never latched

  properly. She started to pad toward her

  closet, but whipped around with a snarl,

  sensing another presence in her small

  sanctuary.

  Her place wasn’t large or luxurious, as

  all of the premiere accommodations

  belonged to the strongest members of the

  pride. Ava had intentionally chosen the

  smallest, most squalid shack in the

  complex, the Serengeti Heat

  one that no one would bother to steal

  from her, and turned it into something

  remarkably cozy. Cozy, but still barely

  large enough to turn around in, and

  certainly not large enough for anyone to

  hide from her.

  Shana wasn’t trying to hide though. She

  very much wanted her presence to be

  known.

  One of the few lions Ava had ever seen whose hair didn’t match her pelt, the

  tall, muscular redhead stood in front of

  Ava’s vanity. Gilded by the sunlight

  streaming through the window, Shana

  was breathtaking, statuesque and

  completely self-assured. She toyed with

  a piece of jewelry, unconcerned by the

  threat of the white lioness crouched only

  a few feet away.

  “Oh, don’t stop on my account,” Shana

  said, waving a hand magnanimously.

  “By all means, change.”

  As Shana did not seem inclined to give

  her privacy, Ava didn’t see much of an

  alternative. She shifted into her human

  form, straightening the kinks out of her

  spine that always seemed to accompany the shift, and turned to pull a sundress

  out of the closet and over her head. She

  turned back to Shana, clothed, but by no

  means comfortable.

  “What do you want?” she asked bluntly.

  She realized her error as soon as

  Shana’s eyes flared with surprise. “My,

  my, look who’s finally grown some

  teeth.” Shana let the pendant in her hands

  drop to spin at the end of the chain. “Are

  you so certain your lover will protect

  you, little Ava? He isn’t known for being

  steadfast. Trust me.”

  Ava fought not to wince visibly. It had

  been foolish to hope no one would know

  about her night with Landon and downright idiocy to think the other

  females vying for position with him

  would not respond to her implied threat

  to their aspirations. She should have

  known that Shana would come to take

  her down a peg. She just hadn’t expected

  the reminder that Landon had slept with

  the gorgeous redhead to sting quite so

  viciously.

  “No comment? Don’t tell me you’ve lost

  your courage already? Poor little Ava.”

  She continued to spin the pendant and

  Ava’s eyes flicked down, attracted by

  the movement, then held by recognition.

  It was hers. Ava had bought the green-

  gold stone in town less than a month ago

  on impulse.

  The setting was simple, the stone itself

  not particularly valuable, but Ava hadn’t

  been able to put it down.

  It was the exact shade of Landon’s eyes.

  Apparently, Shana had recognized the

  color as well, rifling through Ava’s

  meager jewelry box as she waited for

  her to return.

  “Quite pretty, this,” she remarked, too

  casually for Ava’s comfort. “I think I

  might borrow it. It would flatter me,

  don’t you think? Maybe I’ll wear it

  tonight.”

  “Tonight?”

  Shana laughed, not kindly. “Little Ava,

  don’t tell me you’ve forgotten. Tonight is

  the Midsummer Hunt.” She gave a feline

  smile. “I know he hasn’t said anything,

  but speculation has been going around

  that the Alpha will name his mate

  tonight.” She held the pendant up against

  her throat. “I’ll look fetching standing

  beside him wearing this, don’t you

  think?”

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  45

  Vivi Andrews

  Ava couldn’t speak. She knew Landon hadn’t given Shana any reason to think

  she would be his consort, but the larger

  lioness’s acid-tipped words brought

  home the reality of the situation. She

  knew better than to stand up for herself

  and t
ry to take back the pendant. Shana

  was bigger and stronger and never

  turned down a fight, no matter how petty.

  A wave of defeat swamped her. Ava

  couldn’t even keep possession of one

  worthless little pendant.

  How was she supposed to keep order in

  the tribe as the Alpha’s consort?

  Landon would choose another. And

  apparently, he would do it tonight. In

  time for his new mate to lead the Hunt.

  “Well, I’ll be off then,” Shana said

  brightly. “You don’t mind if I borrow

  this, do you.”

  It was not a question. Ava kept her head

  down, as the larger, notoriously

  temperamental and aggressive redhead

  stalked out of her home, spinning the

  “borrowed” stone pendant in her hands.

  After the fantasy of last night, reality’s

  brutality stung. Ava curled up on the

  floor beside her twin bed, determined

  not to cry.

  ***

  It was galling enough when Landon

  realized he didn’t know where the

  woman he wanted to make his mate

  lived. Doubly so when he had to go

  knocking on his little sister’s door to get

  directions.

  Zoe opened the door on the first knock

  and leaned against the frame, scraps of

  shredded denim dangling from one

  finger. “Missing something?”

  Landon felt an unfamiliar heat rushing to

  his face when he recognized Ava’s

  mangled jeans. He snatched them out of

  Zoe’s hand and shoved them behind his

  back, though that did nothing to lessen

  his sister’s knowing smirk. “I need you

  to tell me which bungalow is Ava’s.”

  Zoe shot him the look she had perfected as a toddler. The how-is-it-possible-I-share-a-genetic-code-with-this-moron

  look. “You don’t know where she

  lives?” she asked incredulously.

  He ignored the question, waiting and

  hoping she would give up the

  information without a hassle.

  She folded her arms and frowned at him.

  “Why do you need to see her so badly?

  What did you say to her?”

  So much for that hope. “I’m not in the

  mood for games, Zo. Just tell me where

  she is.” He had to find Ava and convince

  her she belonged with him. Preferably

  before her brothers returned to rip his arms from their sockets.

  Zoe glowered at him, unimpressed by

  his demand. “It’s a game if I want to

  make sure you haven’t hurt my friend

  before I sic you on her?”

  “I would never hurt her. You know that.”

  “You wouldn’t smack her around or

  anything, but you’re still just a big dumb

  man and big dumb men say stupid,

  hurtful things all the time. Did you really

  tell her you thought she was unsuitable?”

  46

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  Serengeti Heat

  Landon winced. “That was a

  misunderstanding.”

  “And why’d she run off without telling

  you where to find her? Was that a

  misunderstanding too?”

  “Her brothers showed up,” he gritted

  out.

  Zoe’s face tightened. “Meddlesome

  punks. Trust them to ruin everything.”

  She shoved herself away from the

  doorframe and sent an acid glare in the

  general direction of the Minor brothers’

  bungalows.

  “Ava’s place is on the south edge of the ranch. It’s that little cabin. You know,

  the one that looks like a stiff wind would

  blow it right over.”

  Landon knew the place, but it had never

  occurred to him that anyone might

  actually live in the shack.

  Let alone Ava.

  He made his way to the southern edge of

  the compound, giving the Minor

  brothers’ turf a wide berth.

  He drew up short when he saw Ava’s

  cabin—and the hot-tempered lion

  standing guard on her rickety front

  porch.

  Ava’s youngest brother, Michael, snapped to attention and spun to face him

  when the breeze carrying his scent

  alerted him to Landon’s presence.

  “Get away from here!” Michael roared.

  His hands broke out into claws as his

  temper called up his most predatory

  form.

  Landon shoved the wadded up remains

  of Ava’s jeans behind his back and

  raised his other hand in classic

  surrender. He approached slowly. “I just

  need to talk to her.”

  “I said get away!” Michael’s spine

  bowed as his lion form struggled to

  break free.

  Landon’s own lion instincts rose in response, the urge to shift and fight

  nearly overwhelming. “Don’t think you

  can keep me from her, cub,” he heard

  himself growl.

  Michael bared his teeth in a snarl. He

  tensed to spring and Landon braced

  himself to take the impact.

  “Stop it, both of you!”

  Ava appeared on the porch behind her

  brother, her pale gray eyes flashing.

  “Go back inside, Ava,” Michael ordered

  without turning. “This doesn’t concern

  you.”

  Bad call, buddy.

  All of Ava’s ire honed in on her brother.

  “It doesn’t concern me? I’m the only one this concerns. Get off my porch,

  Michael.”

  Michael appeared to realize—much too

  late—that he had erred. “I didn’t mean

  —”

  “I said get away,” she snapped. “I can

  talk to whoever I want.”

  “But Tyler said…”

  “Leave!”

  Michael left, but not before he cast one

  last threatening glare at Landon.

  When he was gone, Landon came

  forward, drawn toward Ava, until the

  look she shot him froze him in place.

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  47

  Vivi Andrews

  “Just because I don’t want him around, it

  doesn’t mean I want you here.”

  Landon thought wistfully of the woman

  who had curled around him so warm and

  accepting in her sleep. There was no

  trace of her in the forbidding glower of

  the woman on the porch.

  “I come in peace,” he offered lightly,

  extending the tattered denim toward her.

  A flicker of a smile tried to break

  through Ava’s glare and failed. “That’s a

  pretty pathetic peace offering.”

  Levity hadn’t worked, so he tried a more

  serious tack. He met her wary eyes

  directly, urging her to see his

  determination. “We have more to say to

  one another, Ava.”

  The expression that tried to break

  through her anger this time was

  heartbreakingly sad and utterly resigned.

  “I’ve said all I have to say.”

  “I haven’t.”

  For a second that seemed to drag on

  forever, he thought she would turn him

&nb
sp; away. Then she shrugged and stepped

  aside, nodding toward the narrow

  doorway. “Come in then.”

  He had to duck to cross the threshold

  and, once inside, he couldn’t straighten

  fully without knocking his head on the

  exposed beams of the ceiling. He felt

  like a bull in a china shop, his shoulder

  nearly knocking a small framed photo of

  Ava and her brothers off the wall when

  he turned to study the space she had

  made her home. In spite of the shabby

  exterior, Ava’s cabin had a cozy, if

  unimpressive, charm. An unassuming

  hominess.

  She stepped into the tiny room behind

  him and closed the door. As soon as it

  clicked shut, the memory of the last time

  they’d been alone together rose in his

  mind. The room was saturated in her

  scent and his body reacted to it, his

  instincts screaming that she was his.

  Now all he had to do was convince her

  of that fact. The confident temptress who

  had seduced him last night was gone. In

  her place was a meek waif who refused

  to meet his eyes.

  She leaned against the door and fidgeted

  with the knick-knacks on the window

  ledge to her right. “So, this is the

  reality,” she said, waving a carved lion figurine at the room at large. “Small.”

  “It suits you.” He saw her face close off

  and internally winced. Evidently not the

  right thing to say. As she continued to

  fidget and glance around the room,

  blushing and squirming, he realized with

  a jolt she was ashamed of her home,

  even though it seemed homey and

  somehow perfectly her to him. “I like it.

  It’s cozy.”

  The look she shot him was saturated

  with disbelief, but she didn’t come right

  out and call him a liar.

  He wasn’t sure if that was progress or

  not.

  “When Zoe and I lived without a pride, we didn’t have much of anything. You

  learn to appreciate the things that make a

  place a home.” He carefully straightened

  the photo he’d knocked askew.

  She continued to fidget and he reached

  out to rescue the lion carving she was

  twisting to death. She snatched her hands

  behind her back when he brushed her

  fingers, relinquishing the carving without

  a fight.

  48

  www.samhainpublishing.com

  Serengeti Heat

  The wooden figure was small enough fit in the palm of his hand, but the details

  were so intricate and the artisan so

  skilled, he could immediately identify

  the form. It was a miniature replica of

  her brother Tyler as a crouching lion.