Talon (Rise of the Pride, Book 1) (10 page)

“Garrett,” she warned.

“Is the
pride
giving you problems?” he
asked snidely, his eyes cutting toward Talon. She didn’t miss the
way he emphasized the word pride, the jerk. When she looked over
her shoulder, Talon had turned around on his barstool. He was
glaring at her and the sheriff. She tried to give him a pleading
look, but his features didn’t change. When his eyes moved to where
she still held her wrist to her chest, his eyes sparked amber and
he started to stand. She shook her head slightly, hoping and
praying he got the hint and didn’t come over to investigate.

“No, they are not,” she replied. “I’ve
already made an announcement in here once, and I sure as hell don’t
want to have to do it again. They are welcome here and as far as
I’m concerned, this is neutral territory. There will be
no
problems in my bar.”

“Good,” he nodded. “Glad you have that under
control.” Even though he said it to appease her, Liberty was sure
he was being a bit sarcastic.

“Hey, sis,” Nova interrupted. “I’ll take care
of this so you can get on out of here. Ms. Beatrice is waiting for
you.” Liberty started to ask what she was talking about. She didn’t
need to go over to her neighbor’s house, but Nova threw her a wink
and nudged her out of the way. She really owed her sister for that
little move.

Nova would probably cash in that favor before
the week was out.

God, she had to get out of that bar. Maybe if
she hid in her office for an hour, the sheriff would leave and
she’d be able to head home without him asking questions or being a
genuine pain in her ass. Oh, he meant well, but even as he was a
fair man, he still thought there was a chance between them. There
never was and there wouldn’t ever be a chance. He wasn’t her
type.

A knock on her office door had Liberty
groaning, afraid to open it to see who was standing on the other
side. Setting the letter opener aside, she stood up and walked to
the door, pulling it open to find Talon towering over her. His body
was so large that he took up the entire space of the door frame…and
then some.

“Shut the door,” he ordered, eliciting a
shocked response from Liberty.

“What?” she asked, confused at the look on
his face.

“You never open a door without knowing who is
on the other side,” he stated. “Now…close the door, Liberty.”

She smirked at him and slammed the door in
his face, only to hear two quick raps on the wooden frame.

“Um, who is it?” she sang out.

“It’s Talon,” he replied. “May I speak with
you?”

She cracked the door to see him standing in
the same position he’d been in only a few seconds ago. The thought
of letting him into her office sent a thrill and about a million
dirty thoughts through her mind. Clearing her throat, she stepped
aside and drew her arm out to the side in a silent invitation to
enter the room.

“What did you want to talk about?” she
asked.

“Our date,” he said, his voice rumbling with
its deep richness. She had to fight to keep from closing her eyes
in bliss just from the sound.

“Is that all?” she asked with a smile. She
remembered the flower delivery and grinned some more.

“No,” he said, apparently not a man of many
words.

“And?” she pushed.

“Is the sheriff your mate?” he asked,
frowning.

“Hell, no,” she bit out. “Never.”

“Good,” he replied, his tone completely
changing. “May I see your hand?”

“Why?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. In
fact, her hand still tingled with the creepy-crawly feeling and she
found herself rubbing it against the material of her jeans.

“Does it burn?” he asked, almost in a
whisper. When she looked up into his eyes, they’d turned amber
again and she found it fascinating. It wasn’t like anything she’d
ever seen before. His ice blue eyes were still that color, but
parts of the blue were now amber and they seemed to glow. The amber
parts were just little pin pricks of color.

“It feels weird,” she admitted. When he held
out his hand, she automatically raised hers for him to take into
his warm grasp. The moment his fingers came in contact with her
wrist that was now a little pink from her rubbing it, the feeling
diminished. Her eyes shot up to his and then she saw it…his canines
had descended. “Talon?”

“I could kill him for touching you,” he
hissed, still caressing her wrist. “In my world, a male doesn’t
touch someone else’s mate…ever.”

“Why?” she asked breathlessly. He continued
to stare at her wrist, not into her eyes.

“When our kind finds their mate,” he began,
raising his eyes to meet hers. “If an unmated male touches her, it
will cause the female pain. I don’t know why this is. It has been
said that it was nature’s way of protecting the mates. They are
precious to the males.”

“But we are not mated,” she whispered,
watching his eyes return to their natural color. When his canines
receded, she felt like asking him if he could make them reappear.
It was incredible to her how these people changed into an animal;
and seeing his body transform, even slightly, interested her. She
thought back to the book of Nova’s, and shook her head to keep from
going all glassy-eyed remembering one of the intimate scenes she’d
read before coming to work.

“Not yet.” He sighed. “If you are touched by
a male and it is unbearable, I need you to tell me. It’s very
important that you have my touch to heal you.”

“Even if the man has no intentions to mate
me?” She snorted. “So I’ll never be able to touch a man again? What
about here at the bar? What if someone grabs me?”

“No man should ever grab a woman,” he roared.
“And if a man ever grabs you, I want to know his name.”

“You can’t go around killing men for touching
me,” she said, looking down at her wrist, seeing how the skin had
returned to its normal color. The icky feeling had disappeared. How
weird was that?

Instead of a reply, Talon growled and turned
for the door. “Winter and his men have been at your home since
nightfall. If you need anything, call me, or just yell for Winter.
We have excellent hearing.” The door closed and she was left
staring at the door.

With Talon gone from the room, she felt more
alone than she ever had before. His presence didn’t linger, and she
immediately wished he’d stayed.

The thought of this mate stuff didn’t bother
her as much as it should, and that scared the hell out of her.

Chapter Six

“I’ll pick you up at six,” Talon said as soon
as she picked up the phone. Liberty had just finished the lunch
shift on Wednesday afternoon. It’d been two days since she’d seen
him. With the government breathing down his throat for answers
about his kind, Talon had been at City Hall for hours every day,
answering questions. They’d spoken on the phone for a few minutes
at night before he had to go take care of things for his pride. He
sounded so tired, and Liberty shook her head as she leaned back in
her office chair.

“You must be tired, Talon,” she said. “We
don’t have to do this tonight.”

“Yes,” he growled, the vibration of his vocal
cords could be heard clearly through the line. Liberty had to
clench her knees together from the sound. It heated her core
anytime he did that. Maybe it was a mating thing? “We are having
this date. You are off work tonight and I’m in the mood for a
big…juicy…steak.”

“Okay,” she giggled as a warmth washed over
her at his sexy talk. “I’ll be at the house.”

“No problems today?” he asked, just like he’d
asked every time they’d spoken this week. Whoever the shifter was
that had been on her property was long gone, but Talon refused to
pull the security detail he had watching her house around the
clock.

“None,” she replied. “The guys did a great
job last night, just like they’ve done every night.”

“By the way, my Guardians are there to do a
job, not to have home cooked meals made for them,” he scolded.

“Well,” she chuckled. “I can’t just ignore
them. It’s getting colder outside at night and they are there so
much.”

“They are panthers, Liberty,” he sighed.
“They don’t get cold.”

“But,” she began, then paused when someone
knocked on the door. “Hold on.”

Luke, her bartender, stuck his head in the
door, rattling off several names of liquors they needed to reorder.
She made a quick note of them and brought the phone back up to her
ear.

“Anyway,” she continued, “If they are hungry,
I will feed them. And there is nothing you can do about it.”

“Don’t spoil them,” he warned.

“I won’t,” she lied, knowing good and well
that she would keep feeding the Guardians. Besides, Winter really
liked her fried chicken. “Now, let me head home so I can get ready
for our date.”

“Be careful,” he replied.

“See you at six,” she said, ending the phone
call before she begged him to come over and eat
her
for
dinner.

It was well after three when she arrived
home. A panther she recognized as Dane, because he had an old
injury to his left ear, walked the perimeter of her yard just
beyond the trees. She chuckled when he stopped and tilted his head
to the side, possibly wondering why she was home from the bar so
early in the day. She gave him a thumbs up and unlocked the door to
the house.

She busied herself with a few loads of
laundry and a quick clean of her bedroom and bathroom. After
folding clothes, she ran the hottest bath known to man in her old
claw foot tub, sinking down slowly into the almost neck deep water.
Starting with her shoulders, she lathered up her pink sponge with
the bar of almond and oatmeal soap Ms. Beatrice had brought to her
a few weeks ago. She loved the smell and feel it left on her skin.
A little voice in the back of her mind wondered if Talon would like
the way it smelled, too.

It was six on the dot when there was a knock
on the door. Liberty quickly stood from her chair at the table and
walked slowly to the front door. She ran her hands down the front
of her black dress, straightening the hem just above her knees.
Each step closer to the door sent her heart fluttering with
nervousness. When her hand closed around the knob, she heard a
slight rumble coming from Talon. It was that strange purring sound
he made whenever she was close.

As soon as the door opened, she sucked in a
breath. He was standing there in black dress pants and a sexy blue
button down dress shirt that matched his eyes. He wore a slim black
tie and she had to plant her feet to the ground to keep from
jumping him there on the spot.

“You’re beautiful,” he said, holding out his
hand. The moment their fingers touched, Talon pulled her tightly
against his chest, his lips crashing down on hers. The kiss ended
as quickly as it had begun, and Liberty would’ve asked that he just
come in and forget the date, but this was important…to both of
them.

“You clean up nice yourself, big guy,” she
winked, reaching behind the door for her purse.

“I should blister your ass for answering the
door without asking who was on the other side,” he stated.

“I knew it was you,” she teased, ignoring his
threat. “I could hear you purring from the hallway.”

“Are you ready?” he asked, not replying to
her comment.

“Yes,” she smirked, closing the door behind
her.

His truck was parked next to the house and
she frowned at her feet when she realized she’d have to walk
through the grass to get to the passenger side. She didn’t have to
worry for long because Talon scooped her up into his arms and
marched forward as if he’d done it a hundred times before.

“I can’t keep my hands off of you,” he
purred. He stopped halfway to the truck and pressed his lips to
hers. Liberty let out a moan as he devoured her mouth.

“Let’s go eat,” he whispered after he’d
pulled away.

“Yes, let’s eat,” she blushed, her voice
sounding huskier than it should.

The interior of his truck smelled just like
him; it had a wild, woodsy scent that she found calming. She wasn’t
sure if it was his mating scent or if it was Talon himself. As she
watched him walk around the front of the truck, she tried to calm
her breathing as best as she could. This man…this panther set her
body on fire anytime he was near.

“Are you ready?” he smiled, turning the key
over. The engine roared to life and she felt the vibrations through
the seat.

“I’m ready,” she replied, realizing that her
statement meant more than what he was asking. He reached over and
took her hand, stroking the back of her knuckles. Liberty shivered
and squeezed his hand as he pulled out of her driveway.

It took twenty minutes to get to the
steakhouse in town. The parking lot was only half filled when they
arrived. She noticed how he parked up against the building and
actually backed his truck into the closest spot to the door. She
didn’t say anything to him, but she had a feeling it was for his
own peace of mind.