Authors: Tressie Lockwood
“Holt is dead,” the woman blurted.
Sienna gasped. She recalled the name when Stella mentioned it, something about two men fighting at a plant.
The woman went on. “W-We all feel it when Toron lets go of his power. If it’s out of control, it overwhelms us. Right now, he’s in trouble, and we have to gather around him to help him.”
Sienna left the woman at the door and yanked her bag open to find fresh clothes. She lugged them on and ran fingers through her tangled hair while searching for her brush. “Holt was…”
“Toron’s brother.”
Sienna stood at the back of the crowd. Every now and then, she got a quick glimpse through the doors to see Toron. His closed expression didn’t allter even while those around him sobbed and shouted in anguish. The little Sienna had been able to gather about Holt, he was a good man, gentle, and without a doubt, not alpha. He loved his people, and they loved him, most of all Toron. The fight he’d gotten into with the other shifter about fixing the books had gotten out of hand, and the other shifter had transformed and killed him. Nothing brought home to her more just how wild these people were and that they were not human.
When their leader stood in the community building watching over his little brother’s body, Sienna felt his pain just like everyone else. Toron didn’t cry, but the fact that even Sienna had trouble remaining on her feet, spoke volumes about his suffering.
People went in and out of the building, with more pushing to get inside. While there weren’t many people in this town, there were too many to all fit at once. Sienna waited her turn. She wanted to offer her condolences to Toron, but it felt like she’d lost her own little brother, and she was an only child. She pushed through the crowd, and the closer she came to Toron, the more weakness stole over her. At one point, she didn’t have the strength to go farther. She stopped where she was and peered in his direction. Stella stood on one side of him, and one of the men on the other.
Neither seemed to be of any use. In fact, Stella sank to her knees and covered her face with her hands. Sienna frowned. Enough was enough.
She found a surge of energy and weaved her way through. When she reached his side, she slipped her hand in his. To her surprise, Toron gripped it as if it were a lifeline. They remained together saying nothing, and then she tugged on his hand. He leaned toward her, and she rubbed a thumb over the back of his hand.
“I know it hurts.” She paused to clear her throat and pulled in a deep breath. Now she knew why Stella and anyone else in Toron’s vicinity were useless. Power rolled off of him like he had opened the floodgates. She didn’t have to imagine how he felt. His pain weighed her down.
Sienna abandoned the gentle stroke in favor of squeezing his hand as hard as she could, just to clear some of the pressure. “We can’t take any more, Toron. You are not alone, but you are hurting your people.”
He blinked at her, confusion clear in his blank gaze. She found a spark of anger, small though it was, and smacked his cheek. He jerked back and scowled at her.
“Damn it, look around you. This isn’t their pain.” She swiped at the tears on her cheeks. “This isn’t mine. It’s yours. Nothing could convince me of how much you loved your brother than this, but we can’t take any more, Toron!”
Toron spun and scanned the room. His eyes widened, and she saw his comprehension, his remorse at what he’d done to his people. How powerful did a man have to be to affect an entire town’s emotions? The second he woke to what he’d done, the pressure dissipated, and a collective sigh spread in a wave over the crowd.
“Everyone outside, please,” Toron announced, and no one had to be told twice. They were relieved to go and take a break from the torment they had experienced. Sienna started to walk away, but Toron took her hand again. “Not you.”
She longed to go with the others but stayed where she was.
When the door closed behind the last person, Toron raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. Then he drew her into his arms. “Thank you. All I seem to have shown you is my weaknesses.”
He must be crazy. “I’ve seen nothing but strength.”
“That’s the inheritance of the alpha. Anyone becoming the leader of the pride, today or tomorrow would take it on to protect the people. I abused it.”
“You had reason to. You couldn’t predict how you would react to losing him.”
He released her and hitched his shoulders, pushing his hands into his pockets. “I could have when I lost my father.”
She put a hand to her mouth.
“I was too young to accept leadership, but I remember the anguish, ten times worse than what I feel now.” He looked down at his brother. Sienna noticed they hadn’t laid him in a coffin. The resting place was more like a bed, and his brother looked like he was just taking a nap, not lying in that more familiar ritual of folded hands and dressed in a suit. In a way, the shifter’s tradition was less jarring.
“He was everything to me,” Toron said. “He promised that someday I would take over the pride and that he would be there to help me. Holt never aspired to be an alpha because it would mean he would have to leave.”
“What do you mean?”
“There can only be one.”
Sienna shook her head. “You’re kidding, right? Sounds like a B sci-fi movie to me.”
“I’m serious. The alpha’s nature would allow for only one in a pride. All other males have to support me and not open themselves to being more than that. Otherwise, we will fight.”
“How big is your damn ego?” she almost shouted. “And what do you mean males? What about the women? Or can’t they be leaders?”
Toron spun on his heel and headed toward the exit. She had no choice but to follow, hoping she hadn’t desecrated his brother’s viewing or something with her attitude.
When they were outside in the square, he paused and spoke to her before any of the others could approach.
“Contrary to what you think, I am not some sexist who doesn’t believe women can lead. My mother did so for years on my behalf.”
That surprised her, and she didn’t interrupt.
“Many of our women hold key positions in careers and even in government. When it comes to the pride, we live by instinct. Period. If anyone, male or female, or even Holt rose to challenge my authority and wanted to lead my people, I would kill them. That would not be the decision of a man. It would be the lion in me. I’m sorry if you can’t understand that—or won’t. That is what we are and what we will always be. Now, please excuse me. I have to make things right with them.”
Sienna watched him walk away and the crowd swallow him up. Over the hush in the group, she easily made out his deep voice, strong and authoritative yet apologetic. A wave of healing flowed over them, and she knew he had initiated it. There was so much she could learn, but no matter what he said, there was no way she would fit in here or even wanted to. No single man should have that much control over others, and the fact that it was Toron was even more terrifying. As she had already planned to, she was leaving, that night, and she wouldn’t be back.
* * * *
“Are you serious?” Sienna growled in frustration. She stood on the side of the road, arms folded around her to ward off the chill . Her taxi driver bent over his tire trying to change it. To make things worse, it started to drizzle.
Sienna sneezed and shivered. “I don’t suppose your jack will hold if I sit in the car, huh?”
He eyed her over his shoulder, and something told her even if it did, he wanted her to suffer along with him. She was the one that was sacrificing way too much of her savings getting him to drive her this far. In the next major town, she planned to arrange for a bus to take her the rest of the way home, or if not then a train. She’d be the first to admit her escape wasn’t well-executed, and really what was one more night and half day when Toron planned to send her and Davon home in a comfortable and roomy car?
She sighed. Sometimes she made the most idiotic decisions, ones she regretted later on. What was she proving anyway, by leaving on her own terms? That she was scared of Toron and the attraction she felt toward him?
When lights flashed, and a car pulled in behind the taxi, Sienna craned her neck to see who it was. Surely, someone hadn’t spotted a lone woman and thought to grab her. With the mood she was in, she’d whip her claws out and tear him a new one.
A redirection of the wind blowing the rain brought her the scent of the man stepping from the lavish vehicle, and Sienna caught her breath. Toron. How the hell had he found her?
The rain chose that moment to pick up, and it drenched them both. She stared at the rivulets running off his handsome face, especially over his lips, which were compressed in a straight line. With hair plastered to his forehead in the sexiest way, he glared at her. Her heartbeat kicked up a few notches as she watched him approach, so nonchalant.
He didn’t speak to her, but slipped a hand into his pocket and removed his wallet. He peeled off a few bils from a thick knot and handed them to the cabbie. Then he opened the back door and took her bag from inside.
“Is this okay, miss?” the cab driver asked.
Toron scowled at him, and he fell silent. Although it was pointless, Sienna nodded to the man and allowed Toron to take her elbow to guide her to his car. She folded into the soft seat, surrounded right away with warmth. On the other side, Toron got in and reached into the back seat. He handed her a towel.
“Thanks,” she muttered, ungrateful.
He started the car and threw it into gear. “I won’t ask why you couldn’t wait until tomorrow afternoon. I am requesting that you do now.”
“Fine.”
They rode in silence back to his house, and she followed Toron inside. Talk about humiliation, it drenched her, but she had to appreciate that he didn’t press the issue. Not more than a whispered good night left her lips before she jogged up to her room and locked the door behind her. She leaned on it and shut her eyes, chest heaving. The man invaded her thoughts and threw her off balance.
Okay, Sienna, just get ready for bed, sleep late, and then you go home. She took a step away from the door, and a knock made her jump. He didn’t have to call out to know it was him. Sienna glanced down at herself. Her blouse, still a little damp, stuck to her moist skin. The thin material defined her bra.
“J-Just a minute.” She rifled through her bag looking for her robe, but couldn’t put her hand on it. The door opened and closed. She froze with her back to him. “You shouldn’t just waltz into a woman’s room without getting permission.”
His hands brushed her shoulders. “May I come in?”
Bastard! Her heart hammered in her chest, and her throat went dry.
“I’m sorry.” He didn’t sound like it. “Your scent is driving me insane. Tell me to go, and I will .”
“You’re a liar.” She chewed on her bottom lip.
He reached in front of her and tugged at the neckline of her blouse. The buttons strained to hold. “You’re wet. You should take this off.”
Without much thought, she began unbuttoning her blouse.
“This isn’t a good idea.”
“So you’re saying leave?”
“Shut up.” She turned and threw herself into his arms.
Their mouths connected, and fireworks exploded. Sienna had always believed novels reserved that kind of, but she experienced it first hand, and it swept her away. Toron cupped the back of her head and dragged her closer with a heavy arm around her waist. No one would disturb them at this late hour. Was she really going to go through with this?
Toron picked up her up and placed her on the bed. He followed her down, his knee weighting the mattress.
Sienna’s hands caught between them, and she luxuriated in the feel of his taut muscles. He paused over her and narrowed his gaze on her lips. “Take off my shirt.”
Sienna pinched each button open, and when the skin halfway down to his navel lay exposed, she pushed the two sides apart and drank in the sight. Unable to resist, she ran her hands over his chest and grazed his nipples. When Toron moaned, she pinched them, remembering how he had sucked hers. Just thinking of it tightened her buds.
Toron allowed only a couple swipes of her tongue over his hot skin before he pushed her gently back and relieved her of her blouse and bra. He paused to examine her from the waist up, and Sienna had never seen such an appreciative look in a man’s eyes.
He ran a finger over her shoulder and down across her breast. Rather than tweak her nipple, he rested the digit there as if afraid to mar her in some way. “Your skin is so soft and smooth. It’s like melted milk chocolate.”
She squirmed under his examination and cursed herself for blushing. He was only a man after all , and she wasn’t a virgin. She didn’t have to glow beneath his compliment. Yet she did anyway.
“I’m just like any other black girl.” Her breath came out raspy, and she hoped he didn’t notice.
He shook his head. “Not like any other.”
Sienna almost said “you say that to all the women,” but she didn’t want to ruin this, their one and only time of having sex. If she went through with it, she wanted the experience to be spectacular, and she so was going through with it.
She pushed his shirt off of defined shoulders and down strong arms, impressed beyond belief. Her breath caught in her throat when he helped her and his biceps flexed bigger.
Damn, this man is…
Toron seemed to lose patience when he unbuttoned her slacks and pushed them over her hips along with her panties. She lay exposed, and he made it more pronounced by dragging her legs wider so he could see between them. An instant of panic rolled over her when she thought of the darker tone of her pussy to the rest of her body. He might have only been with white girls. Would he be grossed out seeing down there?
“Tell me now if you have a problem,” he said, his tone deadpan.
She froze. “Problem?”
He hadn’t raised his gaze from her pussy. “I’m going to lick every inch of your body— every inch, Sienna—so you better speak up if you have a problem with that.”
Goodness, the man tried to make her pass out. She inhaled and released, deciding to get a bit of her own back.