Eyes on the Pride (Awakening Pride Book 8) (13 page)

Abby gasped, eyes going wide. Calloway remembered Darby mentioning Dale Tahmond’s name to Abby and Tah, but she hadn’t gone into much detail or shown a picture.

“As you can see, he looks remarkably like you, Tah.”

The others crowded around, each wanting a look at the man Darby spoke of. Calloway kept his position against the wall. He’d have plenty of time to look later, when he and Darby were back in their cabin.

“He disappeared?” Abby asked.

“It was the early 1900s. He mated and began gathering a small pride of followers. They traveled and ended up in New Mexico, but the Native Americans were unwilling to have what the Navajo referred to as skinwalkers close to them. They feared Tah and his pride until the night they saved a young Navajo boy’s life. No one ever spoke of what happened that night, not even the watchers who witnessed it. The boy was close to death when Tah and his two best friends came across him. They saved his life and returned him to his family. The boy’s grandfather was a respected tribal elder. The tribe still refused to allow the pride to settle near them, knowing their people would never believe skinwalkers wouldn’t hunt them and kill them in their sleep. There was a secret tribunal though, one the boy’s father was a part of. It consisted of members from several Native American nations. They promised the pride a place of refuge. Two days later, Dale Tahmond and the shifters he’d gathered to him disappeared. They were never seen again. Two watchers disappeared with them.”

“And none other appeared until our Tah?” the professor asked.

“No,” Darby confirmed. “I believe it was with his disappearance that things first began to change and watchers took a more active role. It was his watcher actually, who changed it, a man named Ebidiah Lane.”

The words seemed to hit Abby hard, and Calloway practically saw her mind spinning.

“We were only to watch and record, but Ebidiah changed that when he stepped in for Dale Tahmond and saved his life. I’m afraid most of his journals were lost, Abby, but I’ll share everything I can with you.”

Abby nodded. “I have several things I can share with you, as well.”

“Tell them what else the watchers have done,” Tah ordered Darby.

“We’ve followed Ebidiah’s lead. We not only record, but we step in and protect when we can.” Darby paused and took a deep breath. “We’ve even infiltrated the enemy, joining with hunters when the opportunity presented itself.”

“What the fuck?” someone muttered.

“It allows us to have inside sources. These are the people who contact you with information when one of you is captured. These are the people who risk their lives to help set you free. They blow up labs, foul up testing and information and do it all at personal risk. We don’t just watch. We’re in the fight with you.”

“That explains the contacts,” Gabriel muttered, and several heads nodded as if that were something they’d been wondering about.

“Some of them,” Tah agreed, glancing toward Gabriel. “But there’s more.”

“And it involves my father,” Gabriel stated with a grunt. “I knew the bastard was up to no good. It has to do with all those codes we found, doesn’t it? What did the bastard do?”

“Isaac recruited people and sent them to join with the hunters. Civilians with little to no training.”

“Fuck,” Reno swore.

“We’ve received an SOS about one of them,” Darby said.

“Someone we believe to be the MQJ mentioned in Isaac’s papers,” Tah added. “Darby made a phone call, requesting help and information. We’re waiting to hear back from them now.”

“Daniel and Murph are still out in Montana. Dusty and Reed left a few days ago to check on them. That gives us four in the field when you get a call, Darby,” Reno said.

Calloway had forgotten about the two Native American members of the pride. Darby had been looking forward to meeting them. Calloway’s guess was she thought they were either linked to the original Navajo family Dale Tahmond had helped or to the tribunal that had helped the earlier pride disappear. Possibly both.

“And I’ll need to know everything you’re told,” Reno continued. “This could be nothing more than a trap. Send out a distress signal and wait for one of us to respond. We’ve been through too much to take any of this at face value. Hope that doesn’t offend you, Darby.”

It was funny how Reno’s thoughts were the same ones Tah had expressed when Darby had explained it all to the alpha. Of course, Darby believed such a trap would be for the watchers and not for the pride, but she’d already expressed that to Tah so Calloway doubted she’d bring it up again.

“Of course not,” Darby assured Reno. “I’ve already promised Tah I’ll inform all of you as soon as I hear anything, but I may not know much until this MQJ has been found.”

“By those on the inside, you mean?” Reno questioned.

“Yes. They’ll evaluate risk and see if it’s possible to extract. By the time I hear back, it will all be decided. If they can get to her or him, they’ll be in touch with when and where to pick them up.”

“I think this is enough for tonight,” Tah announced. “I know there’s more you can tell us, Darby.” He shared a glance with his mate. “There are things we can disclose, also. Let’s meet again tomorrow after dinner to go over the more current stuff. See what you can divulge to us about the watchers intel since they infiltrated differing hunter sects. We’ll share what we can.”

Darby nodded, and when Tah stood, everyone began dispersing.

“Darby,” Abby called as Calloway’s mate headed toward him.

He walked to Darby instead, linking their fingers as they waited for Tah and Abby to walk over to them.

“Tah has something to share with Calloway first,” Abby said and glanced at her husband.

“The professor didn’t find anything concerning in your lab work,” Tah rumbled. “There’s an increase in certain markers to show you’ve newly mated. The professor has noted that specific enzymes multiply at that time. He believes it’s in preparation for the transference of that material to the mate. He found very minute traces of a grade of feral fever in your blood, but not enough for alarm.”

“Thank you.” Calloway felt his knees get a little weak at the news. Knowing that brought him so much relief. He’d been doing his best to hold the beast in rein since he’d been on the ranch, refusing to shift when his cougar called. Maybe, he could now. Maybe, it was time to truly introduce his mate to the other half of him.

“We all go in for routine lab work to make sure nothing arises. The professor will set you up on a schedule and keep you informed of the results. You’re not alone anymore, Calloway,” Abby assured him, placing a hand on his forearm and giving it a squeeze. Then she turned to his mate. “Would you join me for a few minutes? There’s something the professor and I have decided to share with you.”

“Of course,” Darby agreed.

“Good. Follow me,” Abby urged and headed from the room. She led them down a hall, past the office they’d first been led to and into another room. The professor was already there. It appeared to be a small library of sorts with several bookcases, overflowing with material. Darby seemed to know exactly what they were.

“Oh my God,” she uttered on an indrawn breath. “Where? How? Whose?” She couldn’t seem to get out a complete sentence, but Abby apparently didn’t need her to.

“From all over,” Abby answered. “The professor collected most of them. There are some from Africa and even a few from Ebidiah Lane.”

“It was all lost,” Darby said, shaking her head in wonder. “I’ll want to read them and record them in the database. They need to be recorded.” Darby seemed ready to argue that point, but Abby nodded.

“We figured as much. I’ve also spoken with Tah about you recording what you see here. He’s agreed, though we will have some conditions we’ll want you to follow,” Abby stated.

“Absolutely,” Darby agreed, without asking for more information. She just seemed excited that she would be allowed to write everything down.

“When you left earlier, I did some research of my own into Dale Tahmond, though I didn’t come across any pictures of him.” Abby still appeared a little shocked at how closely the earlier alpha resembled her own mate, Tah.

“The one we have is the only one in existence that we know of,” Darby explained.

“I know the importance of information,” Abby continued. “It’s what led me to the legend and the man I love. It’s also the way we learn so we don’t repeat the mistakes of those who came before us.”

“Yes,” Darby agreed.

“I’ll work with you on all of it,” Abby said. “That’s non-negotiable. From this moment on, we’re a team. I get access to the database and all it offers, and you get access to this room and all we have to offer.”

Darby nodded. “Agreed.”

Calloway wondered if Darby knew what she was promising and if she even had the ability to make such a promise without consulting her father.

“Meet me here first thing tomorrow morning,” Abby ordered, sounding very much like her mate. “We have a lot to teach one another.”

Chapter Twelve

Darby was lost in thoughts of the next morning when Calloway pulled up outside their cabin and parked. He didn’t move for a moment, and she was perfectly content to stay snuggled up against his broad back. He turned his head and smiled at her before patting her hands and slipping them free of his waist while he slid off.

“Sit for a moment,” he urged when she started to follow. “I want you to see something.”

He stripped off his clothes, and Darby laughed, glancing around and wondering if anyone was close enough to see them.

“Shouldn’t we do that inside?” She licked her lip as his flesh was revealed, and her body softened at the thought of lovemaking.

“Soon,” he purred, not stopping until he wore nothing but the moonlight.

“I’m sure you can smell how much I like what I see,” she murmured.

His response was a husky chuckle, but he stepped back rather than toward her.

“Calloway?”

He held up a finger and took a few more steps away from her. “Trust me,” he crooned. She nodded.

He took a deep breath, and only with the first, loud pop did she understand what he was doing, what he was showing her. The man was replaced by beast with every forceful crack as his bones reformed. It sounded painful, but other than the change in his breathing, Calloway never uttered a sound. She watched in awe as he went from standing upright to resting on all fours, fur covering his skin until his human form was replaced entirely by that of his cougar.

She eased off the ATV and inched toward him, her hand out. Man or beast, Calloway was her mate. She caught her breath as his moist nose brushed her palm then she giggled at the slow swipe of his long, pink tongue.

“God, Calloway. You’re so beautiful.” The cougar nudged closer, burrowing his nose into her neck as she wrapped her arms around him and held tight. She hugged him close, running her hands up and down his sides, loving the soft fur against her palms.

“So is it true you can leap eighteen feet into a tree?”

He rumbled, a purr vibrating his chest as she continued caressing him.

“What about water? Do you hate water in this form?”

She swore he snorted at her.

“And smell? They say cougars have a poor sense of smell? Is that true? Does your sense of smell change when you’re in animal form?”

Humans say that. I assure you, my sexy, little mate, I can smell every intoxicating inch of you. How much you want me. How wet you are for me.

He did that sexy rumble/purr thing again, and a shiver of need coursed through her.

“Calloway,” she moaned as the cougar’s tongue swiped over the mark on her skin. “Oh, God!” Shivers went through her as tingling heat seemed to surge into the mark and spread through her body. Was there something about the animal’s saliva that made it more potent? She shuddered, her arms falling away from him to clutch her belly where her desire threatened to rip her apart. “Calloway, I need you.”

She was panting. Her body overheated. Her skin over-sensitized, and she yanked at her clothing, desperate to free her flesh. She felt other hands helping her and knew Calloway was once more with her in human form. He lifted her high against his chest, and she rubbed every inch of him she could, turning in his arms so her nipples felt the solid wall of his chest. She licked at his throat, nibbled along his chin. Between her thighs, she dripped with need. A deep ache centered there, and she knew it could only be eased by his possession.

“What have you done to me?” The question came out as a groan, her voice suddenly hoarse and raspy.

She clung to him as he lowered her to the bed, forcing him to go with her. She sprawled her thighs wide and ran her hands down to his hips, urging him to come into her.

“Now, Calloway!” It was a guttural command, a base need for what only he could give her.

He surged deep with a grunt, and she cried out, her body lifting to surround him, legs and arms pulling him to her. She met him thrust for thrust. She scored his skin with her nails, left nipping bites with her teeth. It was as if his beast had called to some primitive nature within her, and now, she was animal in human form. They rode the tide, her scream overpowering his roar as they both came. Still, she demanded more, and he gave, his cock rising to her commands.

They changed positions. Moving to their sides then onto all fours. She loved the power and depth with him behind her, the way he gripped her hips and plunged hard until she swore they were one. She played with the angle, lifting her ass higher then dropping her torso lower, shifting her body from side to side as she searched for something more she seemed to need.

They were drenched, sweat coating them both, her thighs and his cock slick with the tangible results of nonstop lovemaking. Still, she burned with desire.

“Calloway!” His name was a harsh call, a demand for more, for that elusive…something she didn’t understand.

“You’ve been thinking about what I promised earlier, haven’t you?” he asked, trailing his fingers through her rear cheeks and pressing one digit against her tight pucker, tapping and teasing her with the memory of his earlier promises.