Pride Before the Fall (14 page)

The Pride let out a collective growl in agreement.

"Holy crap!" Thomas came bounding out of the back door of the house followed by Nathaniel and Ezekiel. The three boys came to stand in front of the Pride to get a good look.

"Awesome!" Nathaniel exclaimed. Vivian stepped forward and nearly laughed when the twins took a step back. She lowered her broad head to them so they knew she was being gentle. Their eyes begged to touch her. Hesitantly and carefully, each boy lifted a hand to stroke her gold, white and black striped pelt. "You're really soft."

"Yeah, that's so freaking cool. Check it, Z. It's not every day we get to pet lions and tigers and leopards, oh my!" Thomas laughed. Ezekiel smirked but didn't move.

"It's turning into Oz around here." The other twin laughed and pointed to the lion. "That's got to be Conall! Dang, you're big, dude!" The unusually tall boy nearly looked Conall's monstrous lion in the eyes. Vivian was afraid that he wouldn't take so kindly to the petting, but he just lowered his head fractionally and let Nate run his fingers over his bushy blond mane. Yup, even in this form he was buzzed.

Amilynn's paw reached out and snagged Nate's leg, nearly tripping him. The teen laughed and bent to look at her. "You've got to be Ami. Every time I turn around you're trying to lay me on my ass." Ami nipped at his knee, an obvious scolding for his language. He put his hands up defensively. "Sorry, sorry."

"Boys!" called out Sampson from the other side of the Olympic sized pool. "Come help me with this."

"Yes, sir." They all three said in chorus.

Both the twins got one more rub of Amilynn's head before running off to help their father. Ezekiel give Amilynn a look she couldn't place before he dropped his eyes and turned away to go help his family place pieces of a solid cover over the pool turning it into a big dance floor. The tawny leopard was watching him intently, her teeth barely showing as she hissed.

What the hell?

Amilynn?
Vivian asked her mentally, privately.

The leopard snarled.

Alpha instincts took over before Vivian's human brain could process the tiger's actions. She jumped over Conall and sank her teeth in Amilynn's neck, giving her just enough pressure to let her know her attitude and disrespect was not appreciated.

In the house, now. And don't make me have to ask twice,
Vivian threatened. The leopard crawled low on her stomach to the back door of the house where she shifted human again and went inside. Vivian shifted and stalked her into the house, pulling her into the pink and black office. "You tell me what the fuck's going on. That was a lot more than sour grapes over a game of basketball."

Amilynn lowered her head at the authority in Vivian's voice. Her blond hair spilled over her face, but she was silent.

"Amilynn!" Vivian growled, putting even more of a command in her tenor.

"It's no big deal." Amilynn shrugged. "While we were playing ball, his wolf decided it wanted some of my cat. He's a horny juvenile, V. It's nothing I can't handle."

"You're sure it wasn't one of the teenagers? You know kids their age can't control the animal's biological responses well."

"No, this was straight from him."

Vivian sat on the edge of the black desk and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Damn it, Ami. That's Kasey's nephew."

Ami got defensive. "It's not like I'm the one trying to bang him, V. He's the one with the damn hormonal problem, not me."

Vivian looked at her. Now that she was mated, she understood the power of an animal's mating claim. Kasey's wolf had claimed her long before she ever wanted to have anything to do with him, and when it came down to it, he would have never given up. The possibility of Ezekiel's wolf making a claim was farfetched, but if he had, there would be no turning back. The man would only follow the desires of the animal. He would hunt Amilynn until he had her.

Vivian huffed. Hadn't they just has this conversation, only the roles were reversed? "Trust me, Ami. It's just as much your problem as it is his."

"Tough shit on his part because this is not happening." Ami shook her head, crossed her arms defensively.

V groaned. "Let's make it through today and we can deal with this later. You keep your ass away from that boy. Do you hear me? Keep your distance and do not do
anything
that would provoke him."

Ami gave her an innocent, wide-eyed, phony as hell expression. "What makes you think I would ever do something like that?"

Vivian gave her a droll look. "History."

CHAPTER TWENTY

Kasey stood beside the Pride as his Pack members began to arrive. He introduced each family and let them acknowledge the cats. It took nearly half an hour as a steady stream of people came to greet them. The positive comments coming from Kasey's friends and family gave Vivian reassurance. She could tell Kasey felt pretty good about it too. The people gathered over the newly laid dance floor in a congregation of onlookers.

"Wook mama, kiddy." The voice of a beautiful child took her attention. The fearless little girl ran over to Vivian and stood at her feet. She looked up at Vivian with a jovial smile on her face, her almond-shaped eyes showing no fear, no apprehension.

The mother gasped in horror, fearful the five hundred plus pound tiger would harm her child. Slowly, Vivian lowered her entire body until she was on the ground at the child's feet. She rested her head on her paws, putting the child in the dominant position. The entire Pride followed. Kasey grinned as the cats bowed to the toddler, who threw herself at the cat and wrapped her tiny arms around Vivian's head. The girl's body blocked Vivian's line of sight. Vivian bounced her head twice and the child squealed with glee. She could hear Pack members laughing. Then she sat patiently until Kasey, who was chuckling as well, picked the girl up and held her in his arms.

"No, Muncle Ka-dee! My wanna kiddy. My wide it, my wide it!"

Vivian opened her eyes to see a relieved and happy mother taking the pup into her arms.

"Sorry, Natasha, you can't ride the kitty cat right now."

She is a beautiful baby,
Vivian told him. Kasey relayed the message to the mother.

"Thank you, Vivian. You honor us with your submission."

"Wook at me!" The black-headed child closed her eyes tight, her hands fisted in concentration. She turned into a wolf pup with like coloring.

Beside Vivian, Melissa stirred. Her sister wanted babies so badly she could barely contain her maternal need. She let out a cat's mew and lifted a paw towards the pup.

Kasey took the hint. "I'm sure Melissa would be more than happy to keep an eye on the pup for a moment."

"Are you sure? Natasha can be a handful." Even as she said the words, she sat the wolf pup down. Natasha scurried over to Melissa and began to paw at her nose. Melissa licked the pup and buried her head in the soft fluff. When she started purring, everyone smiled and the girl's mother backed away to join the rest of the onlookers.

When they all gathered, Kasey addressed the crowd. He was every bit as confident and authoritative as an alpha should be. It awed her. Trace had never addressed the entire populace in such a manner with the suave power of Kasey Blackburn. Of course, Kasey's Pack respected him. It was clear by the way every eye turned the minute he began to speak.

"Friends, family, Pack, Clan, and Pride members, we gather together today to celebrate the merging and union of our races. For decades we have lived as a mixed kinship and thrived, our matings producing wolf pups and bear cubs alike and the unity of our family grows stronger every year. Now we embrace a new addition. The Blake Pride has agreed to merge with us, becoming part of the Blackburn umbrella of families. My mate, Vivian Blake, comes to present her Pride as I take her for my own." The crowd applauded. "We would like to now continue a tradition of our people. Will the council members please step forward?" Kasey requested as he went to stand by Sampson.

Beside Kasey lined up three other men and two women. The people morphed into animals: a solid black wolf, a brown and black wolf with a dark muzzle, a snow-white wolf, a gargantuan grizzly, a petite black bear, and a polar bear. Only the grizzly was larger than Kasey's wolf. He would give even Vivian's tiger a run for its money. After a moment, their animals satisfied at seeing each other, they all shifted back to human form. Formal introductions were made.

"I'd like to introduce Alias, who was also in the service of my father before his passing. Alias is grumpy, but we love him anyway." Kasey patted the silent older man on the shoulder. He had been the black wolf. Vivian shook his hand and noticed there was no acceptance for her in his eyes.

They went down the line of people. The white wolf was Helena, Kasey's aunt. Next was the grizzly. In both man and beast, Clayton was nearly seven feet tall and just about as wide. He had a predator's smile and that stuck in Vivian's mind more than his size. The small black bear was a woman named Nina.

"She will talk you ear off if you give her the chance," Kasey warned, teasing, but Vivian didn't miss the look of jealousy Nina gave her, nor the adoring smile she gave Kasey. Great.

The polar bear was a man named Ian. He was tall and had the same white hair as his beast. "Ian is the bears' alpha. He worked with me to merge the bears and wolves in one Pack."

"And it gives me great pleasure to be a part of this history-making day as well. My family and I want to welcome you, Vivian, and your Pride into the family. We pray you will be happy with us."

"I have no doubt, Ian. Thank you so much." Vivian blushed as he kissed the back of her hand.

Kasey had told her it was wolf tradition for the alpha pair to stand at the beginning of the eating line and greet the people as they went through. This was slightly repetitive since she had just done so in her tiger form, but who was she to buck wolf traditions. The Pride was allowed to go first along with the council members and their family. Conall had really taken to Sampson and they stood in line together, no doubt talking about cars. Bianca and Melissa were talking as well while the twins flanked Amilynn, flirting shamelessly. Vivian noticed that Ezekiel was with a group of his friends closer to the back of the line. That was for the best. He was watching Ami and his brothers like a hawk even from a distance.

Once everyone had gone through the line, Kasey and Vivian made their plates and sat down. The conversations at the tables were interesting. She listened to the various topics: politics, the Pride, sports, the children's school, the weather, the Pride, whispers about the unmated members of the Pride possibly mating with the Pack.

This community of people was as varied as any other place in the world. There were older people who sat long after the meal and visited, watching their legacy of children and grandchildren running around. Bianca, Nina and Helena had set up the juveniles to run games in a field below the house. It was a perfect day for such activities. It was cool and breezy, the meadow behind the mansion lush with green grass.

Vivian conjured up some sandals and ditched the boots so she and Kasey could walk down the hill to the game areas. There was everything from archery and a firing range to ring toss and a bounce house—no claws allowed. It was no surprise to find Amilynn had already discovered the firing range. She and Ty were trying to show each other up. The person managing that area had to get out a ruler to see who was more on target. She found Melissa helping out with the kids' booths. Conall was in the parking lot looking in the hood of a hot rod; he had made a new friend and
she
was just as involved with the car as he was.

"What would you like to do, kitty cat?" Kasey pulled her in his arms.

"Is there a kissing booth? I think I'd like to get you in it."

"You want other women to kiss me?"

"I'd monopolize you." She grinned.

"You know, now that you mention it, I think there is a kissing booth over there in the woods." Kasey smiled seductively.

"Really? Maybe we should find it?" Vivian and Kasey slipped off through the trees unnoticed. They went deep into the woods until they could barely hear the crowd of people.

"Here it is." Kasey pointed to a downed tree and he sat on it. He pulled Vivian down on his lap. He was the happiest she had seen him and his eyes were lit from within. "Have I told you how beautiful you are, how happy I am that you're here with me?"

"You can't tell me that enough."

Kasey took her mouth, unable to resist her lips anymore. He grabbed a handful of her hair, bringing her closer. Heat surged to her core and all Vivian wanted to do was make love to him. But responsibility reared its head and she knew that if they indulged right now, everyone would scent it when they went back. "You need to behave, punk," she mumbled as he licked her ear and took it between his teeth.

"Stay with me tonight. I want you in my bed." His hand went under her skirt and cupped her bottom. "I want to make love to you and not worry about anything but how you feel on top of me."

His husky words spoken against her pulse made her close her eyes, self-control fading under his lips. "Kasey, you aren't supposed to be against me on this. It's your Pack that might object to us smelling of sex, not my Pride."

Kasey's head popped up. "We can shift on the way back and take care of that."

Vivian looked into his eyes as she thought it over. Kasey was right, shifting made certain scents go away. "Why the hell didn't we think of that earlier?" Hunger burned in her belly and she all but attacked Kasey. Clothing was shredded and they fell to the forest floor. Vivian thought she might go up in flames before she could get her shirt off. Her hands fumbled with his pants until her claws emerged and she sliced through the belt and buttons.

"Easy there, kitty cat, there's a prized asset beneath that zipper." He swallowed hard, his eyes wide. He had pushed her leather skirt over her hips and thrust his fingers under her thin lace panties to find her wet and ready. He growled, his arousal growing harder. He ripped the panties off and helped her with his pants.