Tarian Alpha (New Tarian Pride #1)(28)

Annamora sighed. “Well, they didn’t do you any favors. You probably got spoiled, and now you’ll have to adjust even more to life here. You smell like another male. You’ll set off the Pride if you go to a meeting smelling like Ronin.” She stood and then disappeared into a bathroom in the hallway, and a few seconds later, Emerald could hear the sound of shower water. Annamora returned and shooed her into the bath. And as she helped her undress—a very awkward situation for two strangers—Annamora’s lips barely moved as she whispered, “Orion’s makin’ sure Derek stays away from you. That’s why he’s posted up outside. Derek is making it real obvious he hates you, and that’s bad. Pretty Emerald, you made a dangerous enemy in that man. Ronin killed Dalt, and now Derek is Second. He’s almost as bad as Cassius. Be wary around him, okay? Don’t provoke him. You need to fit in here perfectly for a while, like a puzzle piece. Make people want to stick up for you. Trust me,” she said, raising her delicately arched eyebrows high. “You don’t want to be alone here.”

“Why did you come here?” she asked before she stepped into the shower.

“What do you mean?”

“Why did you stay with this half of the Pride?”

Annamora shrugged up one shoulder and had the saddest set to her mouth when she murmured, “None of the girls here had a choice. Same as you.”

And as the blonde left the room, Emerald was overwhelmed with sadness. Same as you.

That wasn’t right, though. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t okay to get bullied by chauvinistic males and pigeonholed into a shitty life just because they weren’t seen as important. Males here had won the lottery because they were born dominant, and with a dick. Well, fuck their dicks and fuck their dominance.

“Annamora?” she asked just as the girl hit the hallway.

Annamora peeked her head back in. “Yeah? Do you need something?”

“Yes, I need something. I need you to be ready.”

“For what?”

“I’m going to get us out of here.”

It was a test. Her reaction would tell Emerald whether she passed or failed, because for all of her lioness’s faults, she was a fantastic judge of character and honesty.

Annamora dropped her gaze, frowning at the tiles on the bathroom floor. But a second later she huffed a breath and lifted gold eyes to Emerald. “Is it better over there?” she whispered.

Emerald nodded.

Her throat moved as she swallowed, and her voice shook only a little when she said, “Then okay.”

Emerald let Annamora’s agreeance wash right through her instincts, and the lioness approved.

Brave Annamora, every bit as submissive as Emerald, and every bit as tired of the hand she’d been dealt.

It didn’t matter how broken a person became. If they got pushed hard enough, that relentless pressure would create a window of opportunity. A chance to grow. To change. To become stronger. To become unbreakable.

Emerald had made a promise to herself when Annamora had helped her before that she would repay her. And she would—with a better life. Somehow.

Her mind raced through her quick shower, and she dressed in a hurry. No make-up because she didn’t care what anyone thought of her here, and she towel-dried her hair as best she could before following a fidgeting Annamora out of the cabin and down the row of one-room cabins to the big house at the front of the territory.

“The other girls are already inside,” Orion enlightened them as they climbed the porch stairs. Derek was waiting on the porch, leaning on the railing, his gold eyes narrowed and tracking Emerald’s every moment. She’d never felt so hunted as she did under his gaze. It made her stomach churn. “Your nose is crooked,” she observed. “I gave your face some character. You’re welcome.”

Derek didn’t say a word, just tracked her with his gaze as she made her way inside. His empty smile made her skin crawl.

She missed Ronin. And not just the safety he enveloped her with, but…Ronin himself. She closed her eyes for a second and imagined his lips on hers. She then steeled herself and pushed her way through the crowd gathered in the living room. There were towering lion shifters everywhere. There were so many dominants in one room, she fought the old urge to run. To hide. To be invisible.

Hurt them back.

If she hadn’t been here before, she wouldn’t have known where the kitchen was. There were that many Pride members here. “Excuse me,” she muttered, pushing past a trio of giants who purposely blocked her path.

Her politeness didn’t move them. Instead, they clumped closer together and glared down at her with the devil himself in their smiles. More of them gathered behind her, blocking off her view of Annamora. Emerald’s lioness didn’t like being separated from her friend, and a growl rattled her chest.

“Your face looks all healed up,” one of them said. “I can’t decide if you look prettier with a shiner or not. What do you think, Carl?”

The Carl in question walked around her, and for a split second, she could see Annamora. One of the males was holding her in place by the back of the neck, and she was giving Emerald a warning look. Careful.

“She belongs to Cassius,” Orion growled.

“Shut the fuck up,” Carl said, lurching at Orion.

And Orion, to his credit, didn’t back down an inch. He stood up straighter and his eyes blazed white as he glared down Carl-the-megachode.