AllFreeNovel
Share Us
One of the women slapped a hand over her chest. “Oh my goodness. Is he okay? I think he needs a doctor.”
“What he needs is his alpha,” Stella corrected. Her voice was a purr and accompanied by an adoring glance in his direction. Once again, he heard how Sienna felt about it without turning around.
Karl snarled and snapped at the men holding him. He had half transformed into a lion with thick golden hair, ears out of position in humans, and a tail whipping back and forth over the band of his pants. His curved fingers made weapons with long sharp claws, and the fact that he wasn’t bluffing about using them was evident in the gashes on his captor’s arms and faces.
“Karl took some type of drug. His mother doesn’t know what it was, but instead of burning off at a rapid pace as should happen in one of us, it fractured his mind. If this happened anywhere but inside our community, well, I don’t need to tell you how dangerous that would be.”
Sienna took a few steps toward Karl, her eyes wide with curiosity. When Karl lunged at her, Toron wrapped a hand around her wrist and jerked her backward to fall against his chest. She looked up at him in shock, her lips parted. Toron lost focus in staring at their soft fullness until she began to struggle in his hold. He released her and cleared his throat.
“As you can see, he’s not all there, but I’m going to help him back.” He walked over to Karl, and the shifter broke an arm free to slash at Toron. Toron opened his power. The arm stopped mid-swing. “You don’t want to do that, Karl.”
A lion’s roar rattled all glass in the room, from those sitting on the tables to the windows. A few people put hands over their ears, wincing. Toron took it all in stride. He locked his gaze with Karl’s and felt the madness hit him hard. His will and greater strength were the only things that kept him on his feet as the room began to spin. Rage boiled in his mind, betrayal, sadness, and panic. Toron recognized the emotions for what they were and forged through them. In a low tone, he continued to speak to the teen.
“I’m adding my strength to his to help him heal,” he explained to the others. Talking and helping Karl at the same time was difficult, but it was what he had to do. The new shifters needed to trust him if they were going to remain a secret among the humans. “Let him go.”
“Toron, are you sure?” one of the men asked.
“Obey.”
The hands holding Karl fell away, and Karl threw himself at Toron. His claws dug into Toron’s arms, but Toron didn’t register the sting. “I can’t stop! Help me!”
“I know.” Toron sensed the madness receding, the drug burning from his system, but Karl had worn himself out. He couldn’t calm down or change back into his human form.
Toron dropped a heavy hand on the boy’s shoulder, and Karl whimpered like a newborn cub. He sank to his knees, and Toron held him there, forcing the change. Claws receded, ears repositioned, and his tail shrank until it disappeared inside the back of his pants. When the task was done, Toron ran a hand over his damp face and stepped back. “He’ll be fine now. Take him to his mother.”
Several of the newbies clapped and cheered, but Toron waved them off. He couldn’t help wondering about Sienna’s reaction, but when he turned, she was gone. He stepped toward the exit, but Stella touched his arm. “The wrap-up and warning?”
Toron sighed. She was right. There was more to share, more they needed to know about their kind, and he couldn’t neglect the rest in favor of tripping behind Sienna. “If you’ll all have a seat, there is more I have to tell you on this subject.”
For Toron's Pride
Chapter Four
Obey, he’d said. There wasn’t a doubt in Sienna’s mind that Toron was powerful. What he had done for that boy was incredible. She was impressed, but it scared her too.
When the men were reluctant to let Karl go, Toron hadn’t raised his voice. He didn’t even sound angry. He had uttered one word. Obey. They fell in line like soldiers, and what was worse, she felt it as well. If she had been holding onto Karl, she would have let go.
After a couple sessions where they learned about themselves, their nature, and some of what they could expect, she had a new respect for Toron. However, she also had a healthy fear of him. The man could speak the word, and she would drop her panties in a heartbeat. Not because she wanted him—and hell yes, she wanted him— but because he ordered it. From what she had seen so far, Toron had a way of doing things, and it brooked no argument.
“You ran off.”
She started at his deep tone and peered over her shoulder. More time than she realized must have slipped by. A T-shirt defined the muscles in his chest, and jeans hugged narrow hips. She wouldn’t allow her gaze to linger on the front of his pants. “I needed some air, and how can you be out here with no coat on? Meanwhile, I’m shivering in this thin jacket.”
He shrugged. “I’m used to it.”
She eyed him a second but turned away before it became too obvious she got off on the view. “I thought you were going to say it’s an alpha thing.”
“Why do I hear resentment?”
Sienna sucked her teeth. “I don’t know what your issues are.” She took a step away, but he stopped her. He didn’t say a word, yet she spun on her heel and drifted into his arms. He hugged her close and ran a hand up and down her back. The heat radiating off him helped warm her.
“If I said I want to kiss you, would you deny me?”
Sienna’s eyes ached, she widened them so hard. What the hell did she say to that? “I’m…”
“You’re not with Davon anymore. The two of you broke it off after you found out he turned you.”
Sienna shoved at him and moved away. “Did he tell you that? What else did he tell you?”
