Tarian Alpha (New Tarian Pride #1)(16)

“Wow,” Em said on a frozen breath. “And he was the one who took you in.”

“Yeah. I know I didn’t find my place until I was seventeen, but it feels like between Rose and him, I had it all right. Maybe not a lot of people would think that way, but for me…well…I’m grateful for what I had.”

“Was he good to you?”

“Very. Very hard on me, but very good. He didn’t do anything that wasn’t teaching me a lesson. He turned me into a man.”

“I would like to meet him someday,” she said softly, her eyes on the ground again as she walked.

Staring at her profile, trying to read her expression, that’s when it hit him. It had been bothering him that he couldn’t figure out what was different about her. Ronin pulled her to an abrupt stop and hooked a finger under her chin, lifted her face. The bruising had faded, barely even there, the swelling gone, and the split in her lip was just an angry red line that would be nothing more than a faint scar in a day or two.

“Your healing.”

“What about it?” she asked, gripping his wrist.

“It sped up.”

“Oh.” Em brushed her fingers over her cheek. “My lioness came back.”

See? Not fragile, his inner lion rumbled.

Huh.

“My mom passed away a few years ago,” she said suddenly. “And it’s just been me and my dad ever since. I don’t feel sorry for myself and I don’t want pity that she’s gone. I talked about it with Dad so much. I feel lucky I got that much time and the relationship I had with her. She was really good to me. My best friend. And I just hope to be half the woman she is someday.”

“I remember your mom,” Ronin said thoughtfully. “I’ve been remembering a lot since I moved back here. She was a badass like your dad. One of those intimidating Tarian lionesses you didn’t fuck with. And I remember how the council treated her and your dad when they found out you were born a submissive. They stripped your family of their rank in the Pride, dropped them to the very bottom. Good on your parents for leaving. They deserved a better life.”

“We left the night after Leon had your blood on his hands. We left with almost nothing and rebuilt our lives completely. It was scary but worth it.”

“Did you have boyfriends?” he asked carefully. “Not that I care…just…making conversation.”

She was slightly ahead of him now and tossed him a mischievous grin over her shoulder like she’d heard the lie in his voice. He was glad he had a beard. Beards hid blushes.

“I had a few. All humans.”

“Whoa, scandalous,” he teased.

“I wish. I am a boring good girl and zero percent scandalous. I think my life would be different if I had rebelled. Human boys didn’t care about me being submissive. Shifters…well, they have more of a problem with it.”

“What do you mean?”

I tried to date a bear shifter when I was a few years out of high school. At first, when we were getting to know each other, it was easy and fun, but he would get domineering. I don’t even think that was his natural habit. I think that was just his bear’s reaction to my lioness. She’s…”

“She’s what?”

Em inhaled deeply and heaved a sigh. “She makes me invisible.”

Why did his chest hurt at her admission? “You’re wrong, Em. You couldn’t be invisible if you tried.”

“That used to be my biggest fear,” she said, picking her way through a narrow passage of brush.

“What?”

“Being invisible.”

“Mmm.” Every instinct in him wanted to trail his fingers down to the small of her back as she moved with him, just to touch her. But he didn’t. She deserved better than any future he could offer her. “And what’s your biggest fear now?”

She turned to him and gave him a sad smile. “Not being invisible enough.”

Fuck, she was talking about Cassius. About his attention on her, about him hunting her.

She perked up and forced a smile. “I’ve just figured out where you’re taking me.”

“You recognize it?”

She looked around the woods. “At first, I didn’t. This trail is really old. Probably no one has been out here in years.” Her dark eyebrows lowered over those striking green eyes. “Have you been out here since you moved back?”

Ronin shook his head. “I didn’t even think about this place until I realized who you were. Now it seems fitting. We’ll see it for the first time together.”

Lifting her chin, Em twirled her wrist regally and then offered her hand, palm up. “Shall we, then?”

He shouldn’t touch her. If he did, he would want more. That’s what had happened when he’d hugged her earlier, but Emerald was an addiction he didn’t understand. She quieted the anger inside of him, and it felt good to think of something other than war. It felt good to think of love instead. Love? God, he needed to get ahold of himself. And he would. After one more touch. After he touched her, then he would probably get ahold of himself again.

Ronin slid his hand against hers, squeezed it, and dropped them to their sides, and then he led her through the last of the trees into the clearing. And as they came to a stop in the untouched snow, he didn’t let her hand go. He didn’t want to. It was warm and soft and little against his large one, and he wanted to take care of something fragile right now.