Tarian Alpha (New Tarian Pride #1)(22)

They all felt like Alphas, even the lioness beside her. These were the Tarians she remembered.

Emerald backed away, her belly making a trail in the snow. The three males bolted behind her, and now she was trapped between them and the fight. They had lowered to the ground stretched their necks forward, sniffing at her tail. Rose hissed but she didn’t seem too bothered by them.

Suddenly, Ronin let off a whoof sound. It was a chuffing. He did it over and over, his rib muscles flexing with each call he gave. The others trotted away a few steps, ears erect, eyes on their Alpha. A lion roared in the woods, then another and another. Ronin was calling them. Why? Emerald didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to be in the middle of whatever was happening. Her submissiveness only set off dominants. It made them defensive. Her lying here in the snow like some dead thing made them instinctively want to fix her, like she was a wounded member of the pride. It made them want to fix her…or end her. She was confusing them all, like she always did, and confusion in lions led to aggression. Look at Ronin, charging the three males. Charging his own pride because of her. He was trying to protect her, but from what? His own people. Stupid lioness.

Ronin gave off three short roars again, and the other lions in the woods appeared in the clearing, trotting toward them. Was this the entire Pride here now? Rose arched her head back and roared, too, and the three closest to them joined in.

And what did Emerald do?

She laid there like a bump on a log.

And hated herself.

She had been born into this powerful body, but with a weak soul, and for what? What good did it do her? It only confused her and every shifter around her. She wrecked the balance.

Ronin herded the lions toward the old trail leading through the woods, leaving only her behind, and she understood. He’d told her before she didn’t belong here. Her place was to stay invisible.

So she watched them all leave. And when Ronin turned around, she wished she could smile at him. It’s okay. I understand.

But he trotted back to her and swatted her on the ass. Was this the part where she was going to die? No, he was trying to get her up.

Good luck, bucko, my lioness doesn’t mind anyone— With a hiss, Emerald stood up and slunk beside him. And when he followed his Pride, she stayed right there at his side.

Well…this was new.

The Pride kept stopping and waiting, eyes on her, eyes on Ronin, back to her, back to Ronin.

Ronin was Alpha. He should’ve been in front, leading them all. But instead, he was walking slowly beside her. She didn’t understand.

There was a soft rumbling every time Ronin exhaled a frozen breath, and every ten steps or so, he would swerve into her and rub his body down the side of hers. The first time he did it, she went to her belly. But he’d protected her. He hadn’t hurt her. He was being patient and walking with her. So each time he moved toward her, she tried a little harder to stand her ground until her lioness rubbed her face against the side of his thick mane.

And inside, Emerald wanted to cry with happiness. Because she’d never been okay around other dominant lions, but Ronin made her feel safe. Who was going to mess with her when she was under his protection? No one. He was king here.

And the more she watched him, content to walk with her at the back of the Pride, the more she realized something.

An Alpha and a Pride were only as strong as the weakest member—and that would always be her. She was better off in Cassius’s Pride where she could cause dissention in the ranks just by being herself.

She understood that, but as she walked through the snowy woods with these powerful animals, feeling like she was a part of something…she selfishly wanted to stay.





Chapter Nine


Why wouldn’t her hands stop shaking? She tried twice to tie her boots, but she messed up the bow both times. She would probably never get used to Changing in front of people. The others had Changed back to their human forms, seemingly unaffected, like they did this all the time in front of each other, but for Emerald, it was different. Changing had always been a secretive thing in the years she’d been rogue with her family. She’d hid what she was, and taught her lioness to feel almost…ashamed. And realizing that made Emerald a little sad. She’d been part of making her lioness invisible without knowing it. She tried again to tie her shoe, but her silly trembling hands messed it all up again. She could feel everyone’s attention on her.

“Here, let me,” Ronin murmured, kneeling in front of her.

“Ronin, get up,” she whispered. “You shouldn’t be kneeling in front of me. You’re Alpha.”

“You don’t really understand what being Alpha means, do you?” he murmured, frowning up at her as he finished tying her shoe. His eyes were still bright gold, and made her heartbeat stutter a bit.

She didn’t understand what he meant, but before she could ask, a dark-haired man from Ronin’s Crew, Kannon, he’d called him, strode by. He was bare-butt-naked and didn’t cover his swinging dick at all. On a frozen breath, he muttered, “Yeah, well, you don’t know what being Alpha means either, Ronin.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ronin snarled, standing.

“It means we all know what you’re going to do,” he yelled, rounding on him. The man had fresh claw marks on his arms and ribs. Maybe he was one of the lions in the fight outside of the cabin earlier. “You’ll leave us here and go guns a-blazing at Cassius alone. Right? Because of this girl?”