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Chapter 1
Duke Fairborn swiveled back and forth in the comfortable leather chair and listened to the pride elders as they discussed issues from last month’s meeting. He hated these meetings; they dragged on forever. But as the son of the alpha, he had to be there, particularly, because he was going to take over the pride when his father stepped down. Their pride, like all lion prides in the states, had a hereditary alphaship, passed from father to son for as far back as anyone could recall.
He wanted to be alpha more than anything. He’d been born for it. Had trained his whole life to be in this place. Boring meetings aside, he couldn’t wait to be alpha. Taking a glance at his father, who sat at the head of the long mahogany table, Duke knew he could be a successful alpha, just like his father. His dad, Byron, had ruled for thirty years. The pride flourished under his leadership, and Duke was ready to grasp that brass ring for himself.
There was just one thing in the way.
A mate.
And not just any mate, but one worthy of being female alpha.
“That concludes previous business,” Winston, one of the elders, said.
Duke flicked his gaze to the male and then to his dad, who nodded.
“New business?” Byron asked.
Duke listened as the elders and high ranked pride males went around the table and discussed issues. He didn’t have anything to add. He was the second highest ranked male in the pride, and he’d earned that rank by fighting the other males for it when he was younger. The duties that came with being so close to the alpha included keeping others in line and protecting the alpha from threats. When Duke took over, Lenn, the third-ranked male, would take over as number two. Thankfully, they were good friends, and he knew the male would always have his back.
When the meeting concluded, Duke waited until the elders had all left, and then he swiveled the chair until he was facing his dad.
“I take it you have something to tell me, son?”
“Yeah. I’m ready to take over.”
“You know what you need to do in order for that to happen.”
“Take a mate.”
Byron’s brow arched. “Do you have someone in mind?”
There were two ways that pride members chose a mate – a heart-match or a mate-match. Some lions and lionesses waited their whole lives to find their heart-match, the one person on the planet meant for them. But for males like Duke who had their eyes on the highest rank attainable, waiting for his beast to findthe onewasn’t feasible. He didn’t have to think hard to know that none of the unmated females in his pride were the right one for him. If one of the females was meant to be his mate, he would have felt it in his beast. The mating pull, which came from finding a heart-match, was impossible to ignore.
He could wait and hope to run across his heart-match, but that would mean delaying becoming alpha. He’d rather choose a mate-match and take over, than not do what he was born to do. The reality of his life was that he was in line to be the next alpha, and in order for that to happen, he had to mate a lioness. It wasn’t about love, it was about duty. Period.
“I’m going to reach out to Abbie.” Abbie was the pride’s matchmaker.
Byron nodded. “She’ll find you a suitable mate from another pride.”
There were several prides that called Kentucky and the surrounding states home. The prides mainly kept to themselves, but the alphas did occasionally get together to discuss general pride issues, and during the solstice celebrations, unmated males and females would often gather to find mates or have cubs together. He’d tumbled his way into beds with different females, but had never felt connected to any of them.
“I’m going to meet her this afternoon. I’ll let you know how it goes.”
“Good luck.”
With that, Duke left the meeting room in the first level of his parents’ home, and stopped in the kitchen to say goodbye to his mom. Davina stood at the stove stirring a pot of noodles.
“Stay for lunch?” she asked after accepting his kiss on the cheek.
“I can’t. I’m on my way to see Abbie.”
She turned to him, brows high. “Really? Oh, that’s wonderful!”
Setting the long handled wooden spoon down, she hugged him tightly. His mother was well over a foot shorter than his six-and-a-half-foot frame, and he had to bend to return the hug. His parents had been mate-matched by Abbie, so he knew that a mate-match didn’t have to just be a business decision, but for him – at least for now – it had nothing to do with love and everything to do with becoming alpha.
Her brow furrowed and she said, “Are you sure this is the way you want to go?”
“It’s time for me to be alpha, Mom.”
