Talon (Rise of the Pride, Book 1) (5 page)

“You, my little cat, are going to work for
me. I want information on the local pride leader.” Franklin stood
from the table and walked over to the girl, running his finger down
her cheek. She would do just fine.

“Don’t touch her!” The boy lunged for
Franklin, but Lenny was faster, kicking the young cat in the ribs.
The boy rolled to his knees and growled low in his throat. All of
the wolves laughed when the boy hissed out in pain. His panther had
tried to push forward, but the spikes in his neck prevented his
transformation.

“You will do as I say or your sister will
suffer,” Franklin teased. Oh, this was going to be easy. The little
cat would do anything to protect his family. Wasn’t that just
precious?

“I’ll do whatever you want,” the boy said in
defeat.

“I’m going to send you on a mission,”
Franklin began. “If you alert the pride about us, I will do
terrible things to your sister and make you watch. You will have to
live with the fact that you watched her die at our hands for the
rest of your life.”

Franklin emphasized his promise by touching
the girl’s cheek again. He lifted her hair away from the collar and
sniffed her neck. He could do something about her scent. She was
ripe for a vicious wolf. He didn’t know how long it would take for
her to be useless to his needs, but he was anxious to find out.

“Okay,” the boy whispered. “What do you want
me to do?” The little boy had no idea how much this excited the
wolves.

The sun had just started to peek over the
horizon, the morning air crisp and cool for the beginning of
autumn. Talon’s panther paced on the outskirts of a wooded area,
not in his territory. A small farmhouse sat a hundred yards away,
quiet and dark. Its occupants were still sleeping nestled in their
beds.

He’d searched for only an hour before he’d
picked up her scent. Following along the Coldwater River just north
of his property, Talon had found her house. He kept to the shadows,
prowling quietly around her door. He felt like a stalker, his
panther’s tongue rolled out into the cat’s version of a smile. In
his cat’s mind, she was his mate and they had every right to be
there.

There were only two scents that covered the
property; Liberty’s and her younger sister, Nova’s. The tiny, two
story home sat back off of the road, but not far enough that it
couldn’t be seen from the window of a passing car. The white siding
appeared to be slightly weathered, the windows were hazy and had to
be original to the century old home. The leaves on the large oak
trees that surrounded the house were just starting to turn yellow
and orange, signaling the change of seasons.

After he’d been kicked out of her bar, Talon
rushed home and shifted into his cat. It didn’t matter what Talon’s
plans were, because once his beast had taken over, there was no
stopping his search for the woman who was to be his mate.

Talon’s panther froze as a sound drifted out
of the house, just a small hint of a noise that only his enhanced
hearing could detect. It was the creek of a floorboard on the upper
level of the home. Laying down behind a thick shrub, the dead
leaves on the ground crunched beneath his underbelly. Even with the
small amount of the dawn’s light outside, the upstairs bedroom
light flickered to life, illuminating the room’s interior. Talon
felt his cat’s heart race, knowing that his mate was the one in
that room. It didn’t take long before a shadow approached the
window. A flash of long, brown hair was the first thing he saw
before she stepped up to the window and looked out into the forest
behind her home. She wore a dark brown sleep shirt with thin straps
over her shoulders. He could barely make out a pair of plaid lounge
pants at her hips before the windowsill hid the rest of her body
from his view.

She shivered once and moved away from the
window, leaving him aching for just one more glance. He didn’t have
to wait long before she returned with a beige colored robe, tying
the sash tightly around her waist. Talon stayed still, watching her
appear lost in thought as her eyes roamed the wooded area with a
look of longing. He told himself that she was the most beautiful
thing he’d ever seen. His panther rumbled in agreement.

After a few minutes, Liberty disappeared
again and shut off the light. Moments later, he heard the unique
sound of another squeaky floorboard on a set of stairs. He slinked
back into the woods and the direction he had come, promising he’d
return when it was dark, just to make sure she was okay.

Chapter Three

The shifters never made it in to the bar and
Liberty had been on edge, expecting them to walk in at any moment.
Mary Grace and Nicole wiped down tables so that they could scoot
several together for a bachelorette party that had found their way
out to
The Deuce
. The bride to be was already unsteady on
her feet and Liberty warned Cole and Luke about serving her too
many drinks.

The night progressed with a local band
singing covers of classic rock songs to keep the crowd entertained.
Nova and Della were carrying out trays of food as fast as Moe could
get them ready. All in all, the night was turning one hell of a
profit, and Liberty was in her element.

As the bar began to empty out and people said
their goodbyes, she snuck a peek at the door, frowning slightly
when she realized that Talon Shaw must’ve taken her warning to
heart and kept himself away from the bar.

“He’s not coming, sis,” Nova said, wrapping
an arm around Liberty’s shoulders.

“Who?” Liberty questioned, drying a few
glasses she’d washed in the bar sink instead of letting them air
dry.

“Your panther,” Nova giggled, stepping away
when Liberty shrugged off her arm. “Guess you scared the big guy
off.”

“He had no right to kiss me,” she complained,
recalling the hot kiss. In fact, her lips still tingled with
awareness as if it’d just happened. Liberty had confessed to the
kiss earlier in the morning when Nova had caught her staring off
into the woods while sipping coffee at the kitchen table.

“I’ve been reading a lot of paranormal
romance novels.” Nova smiled. “If he claims you as his mate,
Liberty, then you
are
his mate.”

“Seriously?” Liberty gasped. “You actually
believe the crap you’ve been reading in your books is true?”

“Animal instinct,” she purred, fluttering her
hand in front of her face. “It’s so romantic.”

“Romantic?” she choked out. “I’m not going to
be his mate or whatever the hell they call it!”

“Just give the guy a chance, Libby,” Nova
begged, using the nickname that she hated.

“Again…I’m not going to be this guy’s mate,
and don’t call me Libby,” she huffed, heading out from behind the
bar. She needed to find something to do in her office. Maybe the
air ducts needed cleaning or something. Then she could just crawl
inside them and hide for a few days.

Sitting down in her office chair, she grabbed
a deposit slip and started counting money. It kept her mind off of
sexy men and her silly sister. Her crazy ideas about love and soul
mates made Liberty chuckle to herself. That sister of hers was a
hopeless romantic.

“You ready?” Nova asked, peeking through the
crack in the door.

“Yes,” she said, stacking the deposits and
wrapping a rubber band around the two bags.

“I’ll meet you at the car.” Nova left her to
finish her nightly ritual.

Liberty locked the safe and grabbed her bag,
slinging it over her shoulder. As she stepped out of the building,
a breeze picked up, sending leaves scattering across the parking
lot. For a split second, she smelled something familiar, something
wild. Using just her eyes to scan the area, Liberty didn’t want to
startle Nova, who was standing by the car they shared, filing one
of her nails.

“Come on, Liberty,” Nova shouted. “It’s
getting cold.”

“I’m coming,” she replied, glancing over her
shoulder as she jogged toward the car. The hair on the back of her
neck raised and she could’ve sworn someone was watching her.

Her hair blew around her face, the scent
reached her nose again, and then she frowned, wondering if maybe it
was just the full dumpster behind the building. With all of this
talk of shifters, Liberty was a little on edge. Talon had said that
they were not dangerous. So, maybe she was just freaking herself
out for no reason at all.

Nova leaned her head back in the seat once
Liberty started the car, closing her eyes for the ride home. It
only took five minutes for them to reach the house. The tall light
in the yard illuminated the front of their home. They’d had it
installed the day they moved in, because they both worked late and
coming home to a darkened property wasn’t the safest thing for two
young women living alone.

Liberty still carried her pistol, either in a
holster on her side or in her purse, ensuring she had some form of
protection. The town they lived in had a very low crime rate and
the fact that they lived out in the county, consisting of mostly
farms, meant there was a very slim chance something would happen,
but she’d always been taught to be aware no matter where she was or
what she was doing. Liberty’s dad had made sure his girls were
comfortable around guns and had enrolled both of them in a safety
course every few years. Liberty and Nova were more comfortable
around guns than they were around a tube of lipstick.

Nova rushed to the door, unlocking it before
Liberty could take the first step up onto the porch. Both women
froze when a branch snapped near the side of the house.

“Get inside, Nova,” Liberty ordered, pulling
her gun from the holster on her side.

“No, you come inside too,” Nova protested,
her eyes darting around the yard. “We’ll call the Sheriff.”

“Hand me that flashlight,” she told her,
holding her hand out behind her and taking a position in front of
her sister. Nova complied, reaching behind the front door. She
slapped the flashlight into Liberty’s palm, but not without a
whispered curse.

The light beamed to life as Liberty flipped
the switch, shining the light with her left hand. Nova didn’t
protest when Liberty took a step off of the porch, shining the
light toward the woods at the side of the house.

Could someone be following them? She’d been
spooked all night and now there was the sound of that branch
snapping. Could it be an animal? A little voice in the back of her
head wondered if it was one of the shifters, but she immediately
squashed that thought. Talon didn’t know where she lived. Or did
he?

“I don’t see anything,” Liberty announced,
turning off the flashlight as she climbed the steps up to the
porch.

Once inside, she double checked the locks on
the doors and windows, pulling all of the curtains closed tightly
in the front room. She really hoped there wasn’t some creep out
there on her property. With the clientele that came into her bar,
she wouldn’t put it past the scarier ones to do something stupid
like follow her home. She’d pissed off more than a few drunks when
she’d had to kick them out for misbehaving.

Climbing in the bed, she closed her eyes,
exhaustion rearing its ugly head. She’d only slept a few hours the
night before, too busy remembering that heated kiss. Tomorrow she’d
sleep in until early afternoon. She wasn’t due into work until
five. Cole was going to take over the lunch shift to give her a
needed half day off.

Mittens the cat curled up against her chest,
purring softly as Liberty stroked her head. She fell into a deep
sleep, not hearing the snap of another branch right outside her
window.

Chapter
Four