Loving Lachlyn (Ashland Pride Two) (17 page)

Chapter 20

Jericho woke and found only Lachlyn in bed.  She was still sound asleep, and he expected her to sleep for several more hours.  Donning a pair of jeans, he left the bedroom silently and went down into the kitchen.

Alek was sitting with his dad and uncles at the kitchen table.  They all looked unhappy.  Jericho filled a coffee cup and sat down.

“Is Lachlyn still sleeping?” Alek asked.

“Yep.  What’s with all the scowling?” Jericho asked.

James said, “The female escaped last night.

Jericho’s brows lifted.  “Really?  How?”

“We don’t know.  Chase watched her for a few hours last night and then Ray relieved him.  When we went in this morning to take her to use the bathroom, the room was empty,” John said.

“I smelled Micah and Tristan in the room.  We’re certain that they jimmied the door and took her out.  Tristan’s truck is gone,” James said.

“Why was she locked up in the first place?” Jericho asked before he took a sip of coffee.

Alek made a sound of disbelief.  “She’s a female.  She must have had something to do with the bears showing up when they did.”

“Wait,” Jericho shook his head, “she saved Lachlyn’s life.”

Alek’s mouth fell open.  “What?”

Jericho looked around at the surprised looks on the males’ faces.  “Whoever she was, she came around the house in her shifted form and knocked the guy away from Lachlyn.  Then she was thrown and knocked out.”  He paused and then said, “I thought you guys said that the females only cared about themselves?  She sure didn’t act like she was all that into self-preservation.  Her actions freed Lachlyn when I couldn’t help her.  She’s golden in my book.”

The color drained from James’ and John’s faces.  They swallowed hard and looked at each other.  “Is it possible?”  James’ voice was barely above a whisper.

“What?” Grant asked.

“When she woke up and shifted into her human form, she said that she had been raised by her father away from the pride her entire life.  He died a year ago.  She was on her way to King when she met some females who told her the pride had moved to Canada.  She went with them and realized quickly that they had lied.  She said she was held hostage for many months and had nothing to do with the attempted kidnapping of the cubs a few months ago.  She said that she knew the females were planning something bad with the bears and took the opportunity to escape and come down here to warn us.”  James’ voice broke off and he put his head in his hands.  “We didn’t believe her. 
I
didn’t believe her.  Even when she cried and told us she was telling the truth, we called her a liar and locked her in that room.”

John put his hand on James’ shoulder.  “We all believed she had something to do with the bears coming here.  You couldn’t have known if she was telling the truth or not.  The females have spent their whole lives being deceitful.”

Alek said, “I think it explains Micah’s and Tristan’s behavior though.”

“How so?” Aaron asked.

“You guys thought they were trying to keep the female from going into the house when you were going to tie her up.  Maybe they were trying to keep you from touching her.  Remember how protective Ethan and Eryx were of Callie when she was in danger?  That’s how Micah and Tristan acted.”

Understanding dawned on the males’ faces.  James looked even paler, if that were possible, and Jericho wondered if James might pass out.  “I wasn’t listening.  Tristan begged us to let them take care of her, and we forced them to sneak her out of the house like she was a criminal.  Because we treated her like one.”

James pulled his cell from his pocket and found Tristan’s number and dialed it, pressing the speaker button.  It went straight to voice mail.

Tristan’s outgoing message said, “If this is the pride calling, we’ve taken Melody because she’s innocent and she’s ours.  If that means that you never want us to come back to the boarding house, then we’ll abide by your wishes.  Micah and I are disappointed that it had to come to this.  We thought we were members of the pride and equal to the other adults, but we were reduced to behaving like thieves in order to free a female who did nothing to deserve your contempt.”

James cleared his throat after the beep.  “Tristan, I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.  Please tell Melody that we realize now that she was telling the truth and that we’re not going to have her arrested.  Please call and let us know that you’re okay.  Of course you’re our equals in the pride, and the doors of the boarding house are always open, for pride members
and
their mates.”

He ended the call, and all the males looked at the phone.  Grant said, “You just basically invited a female to come live here.”

John shook his head.  “Now, that I think back on it, I can see that she was different.  She said she was raised away from the females her whole life.  We’ve never known what the females say or do to the young ones to turn them away from us, but if what Melody said was true, then she hadn’t met a female until she was an adult. And she really acted as if she hated them.”

“If she spoke the truth,” Aaron said.

“Until we have proof otherwise,” James pocketed his cell, “then we will treat her as a member of the pride, if she wants to be part of it.”  He looked around the table and each male nodded their agreement.  Jericho was amazed at how forgiving the males could be.  They didn’t know this Melody person from Adam, but just knowing that she had saved Lachlyn’s life changed their attitude immediately.  He didn’t personally care if Melody was a lion or if she turned pink and grew two heads when she shifted.  She’d saved Lachlyn.  As far as he was concerned, Melody could move into the boarding house and he’d throw her a party.

By the time Lachlyn woke, dinner was over and he and Alek had spent the entire day hanging around in the bedroom waiting for her pretty eyes to open.  They’d played poker more times than he could count, had organized the closet, and even cleaned the bathroom.

“Hey, Sunshine,” he said and smiled in relief when she finally opened her eyes.

Her voice was thick.  “Hey.”

Alek said, “I thought you were never going to wake up, sweetheart.”

“How long was I out for?”  She sat up slowly and rubbed at her temples.

“About fourteen hours. How do you feel?”

“Like I went ten rounds with a bear.”

Jericho chuckled.  “That’s about right.”

“Is everyone okay?  Was anyone hurt badly?  What happened to your dad?”

He frowned, remembering what happened in the woods as he and his father fought for dominance.  “My father is gone from this world, Lachlyn.  I saw to it personally.  And the pride is fine.  The bears were taken by your uncle, and they are going to be punished according to den law.”

She looked at him, her head cocked to the side in curiosity.  And then understanding filled her eyes.  Nodding, she said, “They deserve no less.”

Jericho had shared some of what had passed in the woods with Alek and found the male to be very understanding and compassionate.  But he’d already known that he would be.  Alek balanced out the rougher parts of Jericho’s nature, so that between the two of them, Lachlyn had the perfect mate.

After cleaning up, they went downstairs to the kitchen.  To his surprise, Henry came up to him.

“Henry?” he asked, after the boy said nothing, but simply stood in front of him with his head down.

Henry lifted his head and his eyes were filled with tears.  “I’m sorry, Jericho.  I tried to keep her in the house.  I’m sorry.”

He opened his mouth to tell the boy that he didn’t hold him responsible for what happened, but Sam moved from the island and hugged Henry.

“It was my fault, Henry, not yours.  I saw that Lachlyn needed to go outside, but you wouldn’t let go of her.  You were so determined to keep her safe because of what Jericho said.”

Henry shook his head.  “I should have been strong enough to hold on no matter what.”

Sam revealed that she had caused Henry to fall, and in his surprise, he had let Lachlyn go, allowing her to leave the safety of the house.  Jericho put his hand on Henry’s shoulder.  The young male was so tied up in knots that he trembled.

“It’s okay, Henry.  I know from personal experience that when Lachlyn wants to do something, she will do it no matter what.  If she’d shifted inside the house, she could have really hurt you, so it’s good that she went outside.”

Henry sniffled and wiped at his eyes.  “Really?”

He nodded.  “Really.  Thank you for your help, though.  You’re a fine male, and I’m proud to be your friend.”

Henry hugged Jericho and then Lachlyn and Sam, who both apologized and thanked him.

James directed them to sit at the table, and the table was set for them with dinner laid out.  John said that they’d made sure there were plenty of leftovers so that they could eat when Lachlyn woke up.  Even though the pride had eaten earlier, they all sat at the table while the three ate.

Lachlyn asked, “Where is the female who helped me? I wanted to say thank you.”

The table got very quiet.  Lachlyn looked up at Jericho.  “What’s wrong?”

James cleared his throat.  “We made a mistake, Lachlyn.  She was unconscious when we found her, and we assumed that she was like the other females and had been part of the reason the bears found you.  We locked her in the empty storage room and told her that we were going to have her arrested for trespassing.”

Lachlyn frowned.  “But she helped me.  Doesn’t that mean that she’s not like the females?”

John sighed deeply.  “We were too blind to realize that.  She told us she hadn’t been raised with the females and that she wasn’t anything like them, but we didn’t listen.  Micah and Tristan swore that she was different, begged us to let them take care of her, but we refused.  They took her away while we slept.”

“Oh, does that mean that they’re not coming back?  I liked making breakfast with Tristan in the mornings.”

Alek said, “Chase spoke to Micah this morning.  They’re taking her to King to visit uncles she has there.  They’re taking two weeks off work and said they would come back here, but only if she was also welcome.”

“Why do they care about her so much if she was a stranger before tonight?” Lachlyn asked.

Dylan leaned back in his chair and smiled.  “The lucky bastards are her mates.”

“Really?  I didn’t think that the females would mate with anyone.”  Lachlyn looked utterly confused, and it made Jericho smile.

Chase said, “Normally, they don’t, but she wasn’t raised with the females.  When I talked to Micah, he said that she’s not like any female he’s ever known.”

“I think that answers Callie’s question, too,” Alek said.

“What question is that?” James asked.

“If they had a daughter who shifted into a lion, would she turn out to be like the females or would she be normal out from under their influence?  If Melody is any indication, then any female cubs our mates have will be fine,” Alek answered.

“Is she going to be welcome?” Lachlyn asked.

James nodded.  “We’ve decided that as long as she doesn’t start exhibiting the same destructive traits of the females, she’ll be welcomed here.”

John stood up abruptly and walked out of the room.  Jericho looked at Alek who frowned and shook his head.  “John said that he wished he’d been smart like Melody’s father and taken his daughter, Jilly, far away from the pride and the females.”

Jericho felt sorry for John.  He couldn’t imagine raising a daughter and having her suddenly turning against her family.  From what Alek shared, the males weren’t certain what the females said to the girls to make them start to pull away, but they believed it was a combination of threats to hurt them or their family, lies about the males and what their lives would be like if they stayed with them, and promises of how wonderful things would be if they joined with the females when they shifted.  Children could be gullible, and a steady stream of misinformation from a young age could erode any good that the males tried to do with the females.  The fact that Melody had grown up to be as loving as her father had shed light on just how messed up the females were and how much better off the males were without them.

The kids had returned from Rhett’s home that morning and came running into the kitchen, crowding around Lachlyn to give her hugs and kisses and asking when she could shift into her bear form so they could see it.

She gave a surprised look to Jericho.  “I don’t know.  Maybe on the full moon when everyone else shifts?”

The kids cheered, and Jericho kissed her cheek.  “Did I tell you how pretty your she-bear is?”

She blushed.  “Really?”

“Definitely.  She’s small but perfect.  Just like you.”

The blush deepened, and the faint scent of her arousal spiked on the air.  His body tightened in response and he grinned.  Kissing her cheek, he murmured in her ear, “Later, Sunshine.  Eat up.  You’ll need your strength.”

Alek grinned and began to load up her plate with second helpings, which made all three of them laugh.

Lifting his glass, Jericho said, “To the pride.”