Tarian Alpha (New Tarian Pride #1)(26)

“It’s freezing, Em. Get back in the truck.”

“This is my choice.” She moved to shut the door but hesitated. Her eyes roiling with determination, she told him, “Thank you. For today. It’s a memory they can’t take away from me.” She ghosted him a sad smile and said it again, “This is my choice.”

She shut the door and made her way on the snowy road past the fence. And this memory right here would be one he would never forget for the rest of his life.

A determined lioness with a protective streak a mile wide, walking a snowy road alone to an uncertain future.

“I should follow her, right?” he asked Gray.

“No,” Gray rumbled. “She made her choice, and look.” He turned one of the video monitors toward Ronin. Half a mile down the road, a black snowmobile was speeding toward them. It was dragging something heavy through the snow. Ronin squinted his eyes, but the snow was creating a rooster tail over whatever was tied behind.

“That’s Derek driving,” Gray murmured, biting his thumbnail as he studied the screen.

“Hmm,” Ronin muttered, shoving open the door. Why wasn’t Cassius here to pick up Emerald himself?

“Em!” he called, jogging after her, but she’d made ground. She was running toward the snowmobile at full speed, screaming something he couldn’t understand.

“Aw, fuck!” Gray yelled. “Ronin! Derek’s dragging a body!”





Chapter Eleven


Emerald could tell it was her father way before she got a clear view of him. Derek’s smile gave it away. “Stop! Stop!” she shrieked, sprinting for the snowmobile that was blasting toward her, spewing snow on both sides. “You’re hurting him!”

Please don’t let him be dead. Please, God, don’t let him be dead.

Her legs burned from running, and every muscle in her body was protesting the cold and the strain, but she didn’t care. Nothing mattered except for Derek stopping his damn snowmobile. He was playing chicken, his laughter echoing through the mountains. He wasn’t slowing down at all.

Tears blurred her vision, and a snarl ripped through her chest. She hated him. She hated all of the Old Tarian Pride. Hated that they thought they could take whatever they wanted and hurt whoever got in their way.

Something broke inside of her as she watched the snow trailing from the blades of the snowmobile onto her limp and lifeless father. Something awful happened to her. Something that hurt. Maybe her heart was breaking.

Closer and closer, Derek rode until she could smell the stink of blood and oil. She wasn’t going to slow down. Her fury wouldn’t allow it. She leaped right as Derek was feet away from clipping her legs out from under her. She catapulted through the air and slammed into him hard, held on and tucked her thumb like Ronin and showed her and hit him as hard as she could. The crack of his nose rattled up her fist and through her entire body. The force hurt her hand and took the wind from her lungs for a moment.

Derek shoved her off of him by her neck, and she hit the ice hard and skidded several yards before she came to a stop. Heart pounding, she forced herself up, ignoring the pain in her shoulder from when she’d hit the ground, and ran for the slowing snowmobile the instant the traction on her boots allowed.

Derek came to a stop, and sobbing, Emerald skidded on her knees the last few feet to her father’s limp body. He was blue, frozen straight through. She patted his cheeks and whispered frantically. “Dad? Dad wake up. I’m here.” She looked up the road. Derek was coming for her, dismounting off the snowmobile, but she didn’t care what he did to her. “Ronin!” she screamed. “Help!”

“You broke my fucking nose, you bitch!” Derek snarled, cupping his hands over his face. Red streamed down his chin.

Ronin’s lion was coming. He was Changed and leading the Pride at a full sprint right for her.

“Dad? Dad, it’s okay,” she said, wiping snow from his face and silver hair. She cradled his head and put her cheek near his mouth, but she couldn’t tell if he was breathing. His face was one big bruise.

“I’m going to kill you,” she promised Derek, frantically untying the rope from her father’s wrists. “It’ll be my greatest accomplishment when I rid the world of your worthless—”

The click of metal on metal echoed through her head. When she looked up, Derek was aiming a handgun at her father’s head.

“Get on the back, or I will pull this trigger. Now!”

Her eyes burned as time slowed. The New Tarian Pride was almost here, but Derek was putting pressure on that trigger with his finger.

“Don’t, don’t!” she cried. “I’ll go. I’ll go!”

“Now!” he screamed, his face going red, his veins popping.

Thank God, she’d already untied her father. She scrambled on, Derek’s hand rough on the back of her neck, and then they were fishtailing out of there. She couldn’t take her eyes off Dad’s body as they did a U-turn and passed him by. Ronin was coming. He was coming. Hold on, Dad. He could help. Please, let there be time for Ronin to help. The metal of the gun was cold against her temple. She wanted to turn and see how close the lions were. They had to be so close. She could feel them. Hear them snarling. But she couldn’t move. Derek would pull the trigger and not care.