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  “Amazing,” he murmured to himself. He

  noted a dozen similar figures, each

  readily identifiable, scattered on ledges

  around the room. “You like carvings?”

  She flushed and squirmed, but this time

  there was a quiet pride beneath her

  nervous fidgeting.

  Landon smiled broadly. “You made this?

  It’s beautiful.” He stepped toward her,

  brushing his thumb across her cheek.

  “My little Ava has a hidden talent.”

  Her pleasure at his praise visibly

  evaporated and she flinched away from

  his touch. “I’m not your little Ava.”

  That remained to be determined.

  “Fantasy time is over, Landon,” she

  went on coldly. “We’re back in the real

  world now and in the real world I live

  in the smallest cabin on the ranch. Not

  because it’s cozy. Because I am the

  smallest, weakest, most pathetic lioness

  around and I can’t fight for a better one.”

  She waved one arm, the gesture taking in

  all the little possessions that made the

  place her own.

  “These things are only mine because no one else wants them enough to bother to

  take them from me. And you think, what?

  That I’m your queen? Wake up,

  Landon.”

  He caught her waving hand and linked

  their fingers, holding tight when she tried

  to yank free. “I think you’re my mate.

  You are what I need. You’re right for me and right for the pride.”

  He tipped her face back with the hand

  that still held her carving, staring into

  her eyes, searching their depths for the

  secret key that would unlock her doubts.

  He wanted nothing more than to kiss

  away her fears, but the wildness in her

  eyes held him at bay. He may be the

  Alpha now, but he knew fear.

  “I’ve lived wild, Ava, without the

  protection of the pride. I understand

  picking your battles.”

  “I don’t pick my battles.” She knocked

  his hand away from her face and jerked

  her fingers from his hold. “I fear battles.

  Your mate can’t be a coward, Landon.

  And that’s all I’ll ever be.”

  “Ava, I don’t—”

  “Why are you doing this, Land—?” Her

  voice broke on his name. She shoved

  away from him and moved as far away

  from him as she could in the cramped

  space. “You can’t actually want me. Is

  this some kind of game to you?”

  Tears trembled on her lashes. All her

  barriers were down. She gazed at him

  with a vulnerability that made his heart

  ache in his chest. He reached toward

  her, aching to pull her into his arms and

  protect her from everything that could

  ever hurt her. Even himself.

  “Ava, no. Of course n—”

  “Landon! ”

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  49

  Vivi Andrews

  The roar came from Ava’s porch, giving Landon just enough time to jump out of

  the way before the door exploded

  inward, flying off its hinges as the Minor

  brothers stormed into the already

  crowded cabin.

  Michael was back. And he’d brought

  reinforcements.

  There was no more terrifying sight,

  objectively speaking, than the four

  behemoth older brothers of the woman

  one had recently screwed in every way

  physically imaginable coming at you

  with murder in their eyes. Unless it was

  the sight of the woman you love in tears.

  Landon braced himself for the beating he

  so richly deserved.

  He was mildly surprised when fists

  didn’t immediately start flying toward

  his face.

  “Outside! No brawling in my house!”

  They all turned to look at her. The tears

  were a memory and in their place was

  the icy, distant mask that had greeted him

  this morning.

  Landon vaguely noted that Ava hadn’t

  said no brawling at all. Apparently, she

  thought kicking his ass was okay, so long

  as they didn’t wreck her house to do it.

  Her brothers filed out, silent and grave,

  but Landon hesitated, his heart tight. He couldn’t leave her like this. Ava

  watched him steadily, her face closed to

  him again, any ground he had gained in

  the last few minutes erased. The cool

  strength in her gaze only convinced him

  further that he had made the right choice,

  but she clearly didn’t agree. He’d had

  his shot to convince her she was his, and

  obviously he’d fucked it up.

  Outside, Tyler barked his name. “I’m

  leaving,” he shouted back, reluctantly

  putting action to the words and mentally

  adding, for now. He hadn’t given up yet.

  Landon stepped out onto the porch to

  face the firing squad and quickly moved

  to the open area in front of Ava’s cabin

  where he’d have the best

  maneuverability if they suddenly

  decided to jump him. Not that he didn’t

  deserve a few good licks. He’d known

  he was betraying their trust, but that

  hadn’t stopped him. Landon wondered

  idly if anything could have stopped him

  from claiming Ava. Frankly, he doubted

  it.

  The Minor brothers ranged around him,

  taking position at compass points to box

  him in, but staying out of his reach.

  Tyler, the oldest and apparent

  designated spokesman of the group,

  grunted. “Will you go quietly or do you

  want to do this in front of the entire

  pride?”

  Landon glanced around. It was early

  afternoon, a popular siesta time among

  the cats, and there were few bystanders

  to qualify as “the whole pride”, but he

  stepped out of his defensive stance,

  opting for a strategic retreat. Tyler fell

  into step beside him as he forced himself

  to walk away from Ava, her other

  brothers ranging behind.

  “Did you know who she was?”

  Landon almost wished he could say he

  hadn’t. Ava’s only resemblance to her

  large, dark brothers, was a slight

  similarity in the shape of her eyes. It

  would be so easy to claim ignorance and

  escape the blame.

  50

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  “I knew.”

  Directly behind him, Michael growled.

  Tyler shot him a quelling look and

  returned his gimlet stare to Landon.

  “Would you care to explain how she

  ended up naked in your room?”

  Another opportunity to deny his

  culpability. All he had to do was say

  Ava had walked into his room and asked

  to be fucked. It was truth, but it wasn’t the whole story. And Ava being held

  responsible for their night together

  didn’t sit well with him.

  “I foun
d her in the Bar Nothing in town

  last night. Brought her back here.”

  “That pick-up bar?” Michael yelped.

  “Ava wouldn’t be caught dead in there!”

  “Mike, shut up,” Tyler said calmly, his

  attention never wavering from Landon.

  “You brought her back to your place,” he

  repeated. “And you knew who she was.”

  Landon swallowed. He wasn’t afraid of

  the brothers, but he did dread their

  reaction. Even more than the fist he was

  sure he was about to get in his face, he dreaded the loss of their trust. “I did.”

  Tyler nodded slowly, his face revealing

  nothing. “Is there anything you’d like to

  add?”

  Landon considered mentioning she was

  going to be his mate, that this was not the

  one night stand they assumed it to be, but

  Ava was so stubbornly against the idea.

  She thought she didn’t want the position

  and no one was going to bully her into

  taking it but him. Her brothers would

  just have to wait, and think the worst of

  him, until he could convince her to see

  reason.

  Landon stopped, facing Tyler squarely.

  “No.”

  “I see.”

  Landon was willing to bet Tyler didn’t

  see, but he maintained his silence,

  meeting his stare head-on.

  At length, Tyler nodded to his brothers.

  “We’re done here.”

  Caleb and Kane peeled off without

  comment, but Michael snarled at

  Landon, jostling his shoulder as he

  brushed past. Tyler waited until his three

  younger brothers were out of earshot

  before turning back to Landon.

  He didn’t see it coming. One second he

  was on his feet, the next he was sprawled out on the ground, holding his

  aching jaw. Tyler loomed over him, his

  face still dangerously expressionless.

  “You so much as look her way again and

  I’ll kill you,” he said with icy calm.

  “You’re staying?” Landon hadn’t

  realized until that moment how much the

  idea of them leaving, and taking Ava

  with them, terrified him.

  “We’re still discussing it,” Tyler said

  flatly. “You’ll have your answer

  tomorrow if we decide to leave the

  pride. See you at the Hunt.”

  Ava’s oldest brother walked away

  without another word.

  One day to convince Ava to become his

  mate and if he even looked in her

  direction, her brothers would tear him

  apart. Landon sat up, cradling his jaw,

  and swore with feeling.

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  51

  Chapter Eleven

  Ava normally hated the Hunts—the last

  thing she needed was a quarterly

  gathering of the pride to remind her how

  inadequate she was—but tonight she was

  actually looking forward to it. It was

  masochistic in the extreme, but she needed to be there when Landon

  selected his mate. Her heart needed to

  see him do it, officially give himself to

  another woman, if it was to have any

  hope of letting him go.

  He’d seemed to want her so much. He’d

  actually seemed to care. Seeing him in

  her home, her tiny pathetic cozy little

  home, had been both mortifying and

  thrilling. Mortifying because he had seen

  her as she really was, in her true

  environment, but thrilling for that same

  reason. He had seen the real her. And he

  had wanted her still.

  Ava needed visual proof that it had all

  been a fantasy. She needed the vicious

  slap of reality to crush the hope in her heart that just wouldn’t die.

  Her brothers had been lurking nearby all

  day, ever since they’d run him off, but so

  far none of them had mentioned her

  nocturnal activities. She knew it was too

  much to hope that they never would, but

  she was hoping their surprising lack of

  curiosity lasted as long as possible.

  Tonight, she took particular care with

  her appearance, even though the sarong

  she wore would only be discarded when

  they all shifted for the Hunt and all

  traces of make-up would be absorbed in

  the transformation. Ava wanted to look

  good when Landon saw her again,

  though she avoided analyzing why it was so important that she impress him with

  her sex appeal. An appeal she hadn’t

  even known she had until last night.

  When she stepped out onto the small

  front porch of her cabin, Tyler

  straightened from his post, leaning

  against the rail. He fell into step beside

  her, a large, silent presence at her back,

  escorting her across the compound like

  she needed a bodyguard.

  His overprotective posturing was oddly

  welcome. Ava was feeling a little too

  vulnerable, on her way to watch Landon

  choose her replacement in his bed, and

  her brother’s presence was a comfort,

  even if his intention was to be her jailer

  rather than her buffer against the world.

  The pride always gathered for the Hunt

  in the natural amphitheatre on the far

  side of the complex. The ranch had once

  been a summer camp and that

  amphitheatre was where campers

  showed off their amateur dramas on

  parents’ day and gathered for weenie

  roasts and jamborees, but now the old

  pines encircling the space saw

  celebrations of a slightly more

  bacchanalian nature. Ava had often

  amused herself, as she sat in the

  darkness during pride gatherings,

  wondering how the founders of the

  original camp would have reacted

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  if they could have spied on some of the

  “clothing optional” parties that were so

  common among the lions.

  The lack of clothing was more practical

  than puerile—the change destroyed any

  clothing not discarded before shifting—

  but somehow Ava suspected the old

  camp counselors wouldn’t see it that

  way.

  The amphitheatre was already filling

  when they came into the clearing. Tyler

  steered her to a spot near the raised

  platform where her other brothers had

  already gathered. She stopped next to

  them and they quickly formed a living

  wall around her.

  Ava rolled her eyes. There was

  protection and then there was annoying,

  overbearing, bullying overkill. She

  could barely move and she certainly

  couldn’t see a damn thing with their

  massive backs shoulder-to-shoulder

  blocking her view.

  How was she supposed to get the

  catharsis of seeing Landon with another

  and releasing her love of him if all she

  could see was a row of bulging

  deltoids?

  Ava twisted around, trying to get a better

  lin
e of sight. There was a gap between

  Michael and Kane behind her, not wide

  enough for her to slip through, even if

  they hadn’t been watching her like

  hawks, but big enough for her to see a slice of the rest of the audience.

  The Three Rocks Pride, so named

  because of the three rocks that marked

  the boundaries of the original camp, was

  larger than the prides of African lions,

  with approximately fifty members at any

  given time. Most of those fifty were

  mingling behind her, some nude, some

  wearing easily disposed of wraps like

  her own loosely-tied sarong. In the

  shifting crowd, she spotted Shana,

  wearing only the “borrowed”

  pendant and a feline smile.

  Ava forced back the surge of irritation—

  and bile—that rose up at the sight of that

  smile. Shana may very well be the Alpha’s Consort by the end of the night

  and she would just have to get used to it.

  Tyler turned to frown down at her when

  she couldn’t quite stifle a gagging noise.

  Then he turned back toward the platform

  and Ava knew, without being able to see

  a thing, even before the restless crowd

  behind her began to quiet, that Landon

  had arrived. She could feel him.

  Silence rippled out from the platform.

  When the only sound was the all-but-

  inaudible hum of excitement,

  anticipation of the Hunt firing in every

  shifter’s blood, Landon spoke, not

  raising his voice, but somehow making

  himself heard to every corner of the

  clearing.

  “Friends…”

  Ava half expected him to call out to

  Romans and countrymen next, but he

  continued on a much less Shakespearean

  bent.

  “This is our first opportunity to Hunt

  together since I arrived among you. I

  have had a few months to learn your

  ways and find my place among you.

  There is a great strength in our pride, but

  my rule is going to be a time of change

  and that change will begin tonight.”

  Some among the crowd shifted uneasily,

  but most of the pride hung on his words.

  He was a charismatic speaker, their Alpha. Even Ava, who could not see him

  through the wall of flesh around her,

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  53

  Vivi Andrews

  was drawn up in the power of his voice.

  He held the crowd in the palm of his

  hand, wrapped in the draw of his

  presence more than the words he said,

  but Ava heard every word.

  “Our strongest young men will no longer

  be turned out of the pride when they