Talon (Rise of the Pride, Book 1) (13 page)

As her fingers danced slowly up his arms,
Liberty moaned when his large hands came up to cup her face. The
action was very human-like, and she had to admit that having a man
hold her like that made what they were doing okay in her book. If
you’d asked her weeks before if she’d have sex with Talon Shaw,
Liberty would’ve laughed in your face.

But right now? If he ripped her clothes from
her body, there would be no denying this man. She would give him
everything.

Liberty let out a gasp when her tongue moved
over the sharp canines in his mouth. The coppery taste of blood hit
her senses the moment he pulled away, his eyes now completely
amber.

“Talon?” she whispered, unsure if he was in
control or his panther. She knew he heard her by the way his head
tilted to the side, those eyes raking over her body as if he was
preparing himself for a feast.

“I’m sorry,” he growled, his voice deep and
gravely. Talon stepped back, his fists were now at his sides in a
tight ball. His eyes dropped to the floor and it took a few
minutes, but his breathing started to even out. If she didn’t know
any better, Liberty was sure he was calming his beast.

“Talon,” she started, taking a hesitant step
forward, but froze when he growled. “What did I do?”

“Nothing,” he sighed, his voice back to
normal, but he still didn’t lift his eyes. “You did nothing
wrong.”

“Obviously, I did,” she huffed, folding her
arms across her chest. She did it more to cover up her hardened
nipples than she did to show her displeasure in him stopping and
backing away. Then it hit her…she was aroused and he could…
Oh
God!

“Yeah,” he smirked, just the corner of his
lip kicked up into a wicked grin, and a knowing one at that.

“Shit,” she swore, turning away to walk into
her kitchen. She had to get his mind off of her arousal and back on
what the hell he was doing at her home. “What did you come over
for?”

“To visit,” he said, taking the seat she
offered. “I haven’t seen you much this week.”

“The bar has been busy,” she explained. “That
new warehouse opened up two weeks ago and we’ve had a lot of new
faces.”

“Any problems?” he asked, taking a seat at
her kitchen table. He looked at home there and Liberty had to shake
those thoughts from her mind. That damn book was interfering with
what was reality and what was made up to make a woman swoon.

“No,” she said, opening the refrigerator.
“Water?”

“Please,” he said from right behind her.
Liberty jerked and then spun around, coming in contact with his
muscular chest.

“You are beautiful,” he cooed, pressing his
lips to hers just once. The water bottle slipped from her hand as
his scent washed over her. Talon caught it and smirked knowingly as
he walked back over to the table.

She watched him. His jeans fit his ass
perfectly, his legs were long and thick. As he took his seat, she
turned her head to find somewhere to put her eyes that wasn’t on
his luscious ass. Holy hell! She really needed to stop the dirty
thoughts about this man.

Just as she settled down in the seat next to
him, a strange look crossed Talon’s face. Liberty sat forward, her
hand automatically going to his arm. The muscles there were
tense…hard. His body tightened before he leaned his head back and
let out a mighty roar.

“Talon!” she screamed. “What’s wrong?”

“Evie!” he cried out, his chest expanding as
he released another mighty roar.

“Talon?” Liberty questioned, afraid of what
was happening. A jolt to his body sent his chest forward, his back
arched in his seat. Liberty froze when his canines shot forward.
His eyes opened and they glowed amber.

“My pride,” he cried, lunging for her.

His arms caged her body, spinning her until
her back pressed against the kitchen wall. His large body was
shielding her from an unknown enemy. Liberty swayed slightly as the
rush of the sudden movement washed over her.

The front door burst open and three very
naked men ran inside, their hands holding clothes. She didn’t have
time to say anything before they were dressing rapidly, their eyes
trained on their leader as if he held all of the answers they were
seeking.

“Alpha,” Savage began, rushing forward to
place a steady hand on his leader’s shoulder. It was then that
Liberty felt Talon’s body shaking, nearly vibrating uncontrollably.
“Step away from your mate. You’re scaring her.”

“Talon?” Liberty murmured, unsure if she
really wanted to see his face. Had it changed? “What’s going on?
Tell me.”

When he turned toward Liberty, she wished
she’d never asked him, because the look on his face was pure
anguish and something else…guilt. His eyes were still amber, but
the skin circling his mouth had transformed. The muscles around his
lips had thickened, and Liberty realized that he’d partially
shifted.

“One of my pride is gone,” he snarled. “One
of the young girls has been taken.”

“Who?” Savage growled, taking a protective
stance beside his alpha.

“Evie,” he answered, the skin around his lips
returning to normal. Talon’s eyes still remained the color of his
panther. “I felt a burst of fear from the child. She called out to
me, but then she was gone. The pride called out to me as one only
seconds later.”

“Easy,” Winter said, touching Talon’s
shoulder as the alpha swayed, the palm of his other hand pressed
firmly to the center of his chest.

“What can I do?” Liberty asked, placing a
hand on Talon’s arm.

“We need to go,” he stated, taking Liberty’s
hand and pulling her toward the front door. She grabbed her bag,
but didn’t protest as he made his way down the porch steps,
shouting orders for Winter to lock up and get to the bar to watch
over Liberty’s sister, Nova.

“Whoever hurt my pride will pay with their
life,” he promised, opening the door to his truck and setting
Liberty in the passenger seat. “Buckle up.”

“W…Where are we going?” she stammered.

“To my home,” he said, rushing around the
vehicle. Liberty buckled her seatbelt and didn’t say anything as
Talon’s tires threw gravel as he rushed from her driveway to head
right into the heart of the pride of panthers…with his human mate.
This could be a disaster.

Talon had never wanted to feel his people
call out to him as one, begging for him. The pain that had speared
his mind and body was that of his pride. They were scared, hurting,
and ready to deal out the wrath of a family who’d lost one of their
own. His first instinct was to protect his mate, to have her skin
under his touch…just to make sure she was unharmed.

The guilt that thought caused, he’d put a
human above his pride, ate at him as he hurried to his home. He had
to calm them. The last thing they needed was to have a pride of
panthers running amuck through town, hunting down whoever had come
on his land and taken the female.

He’d hoped to bring Liberty here under
happier circumstances, but this was going to have to do. She was
his mate, regardless if they hadn’t even had a ceremony. Hell, he
hadn’t even marked her yet. That thought had him freezing up,
refusing to leave the confines of the vehicle.

“Whatever you do,” he began, then swallowed.
“You stay close to me until I let them know you are welcome,
okay?”

“I…um, yeah. Okay.” She turned her head
slightly, giving him a hard glare. “Why?”

“Just do it,” he growled, afraid he would
scare her if he said that the panthers may not accept a human being
on their territory.

“I will do it this one time,” she told him.
When Talon looked at Liberty, the blue glow from the lights on the
dash highlighted her beautiful features and her long, brown hair
glowed softly. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and brush
his fingers down her locks. “But you will not keep things from me,
Talon.”

That statement brought him up short. He
remembered his Guardians laughing and teasing him that she was an
alpha among her people. From the hard set to her jaw, he knew that
Liberty Raines was not a female to mess with.

As they entered the front door, Talon felt
Liberty pause at the scene before them. The living room was crowded
with his people. A few Guardians had already shifted, awaiting
orders.

His eyes searched the crowd, finding the
mother of the girl sitting in a chair at the back of the room, her
mate on his knees, trying to console the upset female.

“I will find your daughter, Marie,” he
promised, clearing the emotion from his voice, before turning to
the pride. “I will stop at nothing until this girl is found. I need
my Guardians in my office, now.”

“Alpha?” Harold, the pride’s healer, called
out, his eyes falling on Liberty.

“This is Liberty Raines,” he said, deepening
his voice. “She is human and she is welcome here.” He didn’t say
she was his mate. Now wasn’t the time or the place to make an
announcement. There would be time for that later…at least, he hoped
so. The pride relaxed slightly, most of them nodding their
acceptance.

“Talon?” Liberty whispered, squeezing his
hand. “What can I do?”

“Can you find out who saw her last? Ask the
other teenagers…speak with her parents,” he directed, glancing
around to see half of the pride watching the human that was in
their home. He gave everyone a hard stare, hoping they got the
message that Liberty was welcomed here. “I need you to help
me.”

“I’ll do whatever you need me to do,” she
replied, shifting her eyes nervously to the crowd.

“They won’t hurt you,” he said, just above a
whisper. In a show of his power, Talon cupped Liberty’s face and
placed a soft kiss to her forehead, hoping that if his hard stare
didn’t work, the chaste kiss would be enough to put his scent on
her skin for at least an hour. That’d be long enough for him to
talk to his Guardians and come up with a plan to find whoever was
responsible for the girl’s disappearance. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay,” she whispered, inhaling deep.

Walking away, he didn’t dare look back, but
he could feel her watching him disappear down the hallway to his
office. It took everything Talon had not to return to her, pulling
the little female into his arms and pressing his lips to hers in
front of his pride, but that was going to have to wait.

“What happened?” he asked as soon as the door
closed, searching the room for whoever had an answer. Talon leaned
against the large cherry desk that had been in his family for
hundreds of years. The damn thing weighed a ton and was his
father’s favorite piece of furniture in the house. He’d had custom
bookshelves built into the wall behind the desk, framing the large
window that overlooked the front of the property.

“She was coming home from the main house,”
Noah began. “Her mother was out in her yard and heard a commotion.
The only reason why we know Evie was taken was because her mother
heard a scream and saw two men running away with her daughter
thrown over one of their shoulders. Her father took chase, but the
men had too far of a head start.”

“Has she called out for you?” Savage asked,
his teeth clenched tightly. The Guardian ran his hand through his
brown hair, stopping to pull hard at the longer hair on top of his
head.

“No,” Talon complained. “She’s not
communicating with me at all.” Any member of his pride could call
out to their alpha if needed. It was a magical connection they
shared. It was his duty to protect them, and he’d failed with
Evie.

“What’s the plan?” Dane asked, standing
against the far wall, his hands clasped in front of himself and his
feet shoulder width apart. He was on edge, and when Talon looked
around the room, he saw all of his Guardians were ready to get the
girl and return her to the pride. Even Booth and Storm, who were
already in panther form, were on alert.

“Booth and Storm, I need you to search for
scents,” he ordered, turning toward the others. The panthers
understood him in their animal form and with a nod, sat back on
their haunches awaiting anything else Talon had to say. Savage
would head to Liberty’s home, watching for anything out of the
ordinary there. Winter was already in charge of watching over her
sister, Nova. “Noah, get Kye and bring him in here.”

“Anything else?” Noah asked, already turning
for the door.

“Watch our brother,” he sighed, making eye
contact with all of his Guardians. “If anyone can find Evie, it’ll
be him.” No one said anything, but they all knew that Kye and Evie
had been seen talking over the summer. He would know her scent
better than any of the Guardians. It was tricky, but sending Kye
out to find her may just save the young female’s life.

Noah didn’t need to find their baby brother
because as soon as the door opened, a younger version of Talon
rushed into the room, his eyes glowing amber. It broke Talon’s
heart to see his baby brother on the verge of losing control. He’d
been prepared to deal with his brother’s heartbreak if he found out
that Evie wasn’t his mate. This would be so much worse if she
didn’t make it.