Tarian Alpha (New Tarian Pride #1)(31)

Cassius stood and flicked on the light switch. Emerald winced and blinked hard, wishing her eyes would adjust fast.

“Listen to that heartbeat race,” he murmured.

“Mmmm, the answer is yes then. You can get creepier.”

“Keep it up, bitch. You’re just making my blood boil.” He canted his head the other way, narrowing his eyes on her. “You are much more interesting than you were before. I assumed you were a mouse, but you don’t feel like a mouse. Your face looks better. Quick healer.” Why did he sound so suspicious? He walked over to her and dragged his gaze down her body. Kneeling slowly, he murmured, “I think you will be very fun to break.”

Emerald didn’t even try to stop the snarl in her throat. She offered him an empty smile to match his. “I think you already did.”

“Hmmm.” He leaned forward and parted his lips to say something more, but the door opened.

“The rest of the council is asking to see you,” Orion murmured. He looked as pale as a ghost, and his nearly-white gaze flickered to Emerald, and then back to his Alpha.

In disbelief at what Orion had just said, she asked, “The council?” Please let there be some mistake.

The soulless smile stretched across Cassius’s entire face. “Take heart, my queen. Not only have you landed yourself the most powerful Alpha, but I’m the head of the new council as well.”

No combination of words had ever made her feel quite as sick as those. “No,” she uttered in horror.

“As of today, the council is complete and in charge of the lion shifters again. First order of business is to annihilate the weak Alpha who took you from me and killed my Second.” His voice was a gritty snarl, and his eyes swam with insanity. “Ronin dies tonight, along with every member of his Pride who fought against me.” And as he stood and walked away, his voice echoed behind him. “I win.”

Emerald laid there frozen as Orion closed the door.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” Annamora whispered.

“This is really bad!” another of the lionesses whispered, sitting up.

“What do we do?” Annamora asked. “If they snuff out the New Tarian Pride, we are all stuck. There will be nowhere for us to run!”

Fingers flying, Emerald typed out, Ronin, I’m fine. I’m fine!!! Run and hide! Send.

Two seconds went by with no answer, and it was too much.

You can’t be here. Send.

The council is back. Send.

Cassius leads them. Send.

They’ll kill you! Send.

The only answer was a sudden yelling and chaos outside.

And then the cabin rattled with the roaring of the lions.

Emerald bolted for the door, but it was locked. She yanked on the doorknob so hard it broke off. So she put her fingers through the hole she’d made, rested the sole of her foot against the wall, and yanked at the door. It splintered.

“What do we do?”

“You stay here or you fight,” Emerald said, just as the door gave way and came flying inward. Huffing breath, she rounded on the girls. “You want a better life? You protect the ones who can give that to you. If you are fine being treated like the shit on their shoes here? Then you stay in this room and do nothing. We always have a choice! The Old Tarians tried to convince us we don’t, but we do. And tonight, that’s your choice. Pick a Pride. Choose wisely because your quality of life depends on it.”

The girls looked terrified. These weren’t Old Tarian warrior lionesses. The dominants here had been replacing them gradually with females who were submissive, who they could control. These weren’t fighters. But they’d asked what to do, and the rest was up to them.

Annamora and Sora stepped forward at the same time. Tears were staining Sora’s cheeks, but she lifted her chin primly and said, “Orion, get out of the way.”

It was then that Emerald felt it—the heaviness behind her. She turned to find the platinum blond man with the scary ice-colored eyes glaring at her, his lip snarled up, and his canines too long. Too sharp.

“Sora—”

“I cannot be treated like this and survive. I choose to survive.”

“Me, too,” Annamora rushed out.

He looked at Emerald, who shrugged and said, “I’m mostly here to fuck shit up.”

One of the girls snorted behind her, but she didn’t know who because, currently, she was blowing right past a growly Orion and sprinting for the front of the house. Inside of her, Fury, as her lioness had apparently deemed herself, was ready, waiting for the signal to take her skin. She needed logic, though, first.

Step one: Find Ronin.

Step two: Save Ronin.

Step three: Bone Ronin.

Step Four: Have, like, seven baby Ronins.

Step Five: —

Ack! An impossibly strong hand went around her throat and forced her through the open doorway and out onto the porch. The edges of her vision blurred as Derek pulled her to him. His breath was hot on her face when he asked, “What the fuck have you done?”

“Nothing…yet,” she choked out, gripping his wrists, trying desperately to pry him off. She couldn’t breathe!

Ronin’s voice was in her head. Fight dirty.

Emerald took her hands from his wrists, grabbed his shoulders and slammed her knee upward into his fragile little ball sack as hard as she possibly could.