Tarian Alpha (New Tarian Pride #1)(4)

“Asshole,” she muttered under her breath as she used her lioness strength to hoist the suitcase to her hip and stumble across the rest of the bridge like a drunken pinball.

She hoped her contract gave him a papercut.

Behind her, Annamora’s chestnut-colored hair whipped in the wind, but the woman didn’t even try to move it out of her face. She just walked like the bridge didn’t affect her at all. But when the breeze blew her hair away, Emerald saw the single tear that dampened her cheek. It glistened in the light from the sunset. The woman wiped it away quick as a flash before glancing at Derek and then back down at her feet as she walked.

Sometimes Emerald thought the submissives were the toughest kind of people.

She knew that the title Queen of the Tarian Pride meant nothing because she was female, but in this moment, she swore to herself she would figure out a way to repay Annamora for her kind words in the car and make her life better, if even just a little bit.

Emerald’s black hair probably looked like a bird’s nest by the time they made their way up to the porch of a large cabin. Her cheeks were definitely red on account of all the fury she still had coursing through her veins, and she was beginning to sweat. She hadn’t been nervous to meet Cassius until now. In fact, she hadn’t thought about him much at all. Sure, she’d looked up his picture on the shifter registration site online, but he just looked like a man. A big muscle-man with a shaved head and a big scar running down one side, right through his eye. She hadn’t even been able to tell his eye color in the picture on the government site. He was a dominant enforcer the Old Tarians had brought in to try to revive the council with all Tarian members. Ha. If they succeeded, the council would have all lion prides ruined in a year, tops.

Wise shifters didn’t put monsters on thrones. The Tarian Pride had never figured that little gem out, though.

Okay, she could do this.

Derek reached for the door handle.

Maybe Cassius would be a fair mate. Not a love-match, but perhaps he wouldn’t be as bad as she’d feared. Maybe he would like her and protect her, listen to her and—

“Where the fuck is my stew?” came a bellowing demand from inside.

Derek gave her an empty smile. “Your mate.” And then he shoved open the door.

There was a sprawling dining table right in the middle of the great room, and at the head of it sat Cassius. He slammed his fist on the table. “Sora, I swear to God, if I don’t have that bowl in front of me in five seconds, I’m going to beat your ass.”

The Sora in question was a platinum blond-haired, mouse of a woman who was standing in the kitchen on the other side, ladling stew into a bowl as fast as her shaking hands could work.

“Fuck!” Cassius yelled, startling the two brunettes sitting on either side of him. Twins? “I hate training new ones.”

“By training, he means beating,” Derek murmured. He was definitely trying to scare Emerald, and it was definitely working.

“Come here!” Cassius yelled.

“Coming,” Sora whispered, speed-walking toward him, her neck exposed.

“I wasn’t talking to you, bitch.” Cassius dragged his attention to Emerald. “I was talking to you.” He clasped his hands in front of his chiseled jaw and arched one dark eyebrow. His eyes blazed a brighter gold as he looked her up and down, pausing on her curves.

Emerald wanted to retch. She’d never had a man look straight through her before, like she was nothing. Like she was a ghost.

“Little thicker than I like.” He twitched his head. “Perky tits, though. Hair needs to be dyed. I don’t like black hair.” He leaned back in the creaking chair and stretched one leg out as he narrowed his gaze at her. “Those eyes, though. I heard about your eyes. That’s where you got your name, right? Because they’re so green.”

“Actually—”

“I don’t care,” he cut her off. He snapped his finger and held out his hand, and like a little sewer rat, Derek started to scramble toward his Alpha.

Before she could change her mind, Emerald lurched forward, reached out, and yanked the contract from Derek’s hand. She held it up, threatening to rip it down the middle. “I want to see my father first.”

Fury flashed across Cassius’s face, and he stood. And stood. And stood. Good God, the man was tall as a mountain and built like a brick house.

Derek laughed and muttered, “Oh, she has a death wish.”

The females were all frozen with their heads down, even Sora, who had skidded to a stop and was staring at the bowl of steaming stew, chest heaving.

Emerald tried to hold Cassius’s gaze. Truly, she did. She tried harder than she’d ever tried at anything in her life, but inside, her lioness was panicking, and she had to lower her eyes. Emerald’s entire body started shaking as he approached her slowly. She focused on his thick-soled boots, clomping closer and closer. The floorboards didn’t even dare to creak under his weight.

“Did you just come into my den and demand something of me?” he asked.

“Y-yes.”

“Without the stutter, bitch.”

Emerald inhaled deeply and nodded as she said, “Yes.” Her stupid voice cracked on the word, though.

Cassius grabbed her lower jaw and yanked her face up toward his. “If I didn’t want you lookin’ pretty for tomorrow, I would beat that demand right out of your fuckin’ face.” His voice held such terrifying conviction, she had no doubt he wanted to hurt her. His grip tightened on her jaw. It hurt, and she flinched. At her reaction, he grabbed her harder and then slammed his lips against hers. All she could feel was searing pain for the one second he kissed her. When she pushed off him and threw the contract at his face, the back of his hand hit her so hard and so fast, she was slammed down onto her knees.