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Chapter1
Thomas
“Get the fuck out of the way,” Thomas growled at the glowing lights ahead of him. With his sharp shifter reflexes, he weaved between cars, eating up pavement faster than he should be comfortable with.
Thomas caught his reflection in the rearview mirror as he sped home.
His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep and the grief he let himself dwell in earlier. He kept his eyes on the road as his car sped down the highway, his hand searching the middle console for an old bottle of eye drops. He didn’t want the pride to see him as anything less than put together … even for his mother’s funeral.
He steered with his knees as he carefully doused his eyes with the cooling, calming liquid.
Thomas tossed the bottle back in its place and slammed the console lid shut.
The truth was he was completely grief-stricken from the loss of his beloved mother. Part of him knew it was just a matter of time, given her long fight with ovarian cancer. The other part was still in disbelief that she was gone. She was the only person he had left on this entire planet, and now she was no longer here to guide him.
He let out a sharp gasp as the realization hit him that she wasn’t there with him any longer.
“How am I going to get through this without you?” he asked the air as if his mother was there.
What pissed Thomas off the most was that if they’d caught it in time, she might have lived a full life. When doctors finally detected it, they gave her roughly ten years, but his mother’s stubbornness was as strong as his own. She’d rejected any kind of treatment because of the side effects. To her, it was too much to risk as the matriarch of the pride.
“And I was too much of a fucking dumb ass to step in.”
Thomas slammed his fist against the steering wheel.
If only he’d fought her harder about her taking care of herself. How naïve he’d been to believe that she could manage this on her own. Her strength had been her greatest weakness in the end.
It was so great, in fact, that she hadn’t let anyone know, including him, just how bad it had gotten. If he’d had a clue, he would’ve been by her side, easing her pain and guiding her into the light.
Instead, she’d died alone in her bed, and Thomas had to find out from a phone call.
Too late for regrets now.
Now Thomas was back and wasn’t planning on going anywhere. He had to claim his birthright as alpha and run the Leone pride with an iron fist.
He was ready, and it was well past time.
The only good thing to come from his mother’s passing was that it fueled him with a burning anger that he intended to use to his advantage in his decision-making regarding how things were going to run in the future.
He loved his mother, but she’d been so kind-hearted that Thomas wasn’t sure what to expect when he got home. She’d been the heart of the pride, but now with her gone, there was no one there to be the voice of reason. Thomas knew just how power-hungry the lot could be when it came to who reigned over the pride.
Thomas pulled into the cemetery, finding the burial spot immediately. It was hard to miss, given the amount of people and pride members that had shown.
“Fuck,” he breathed, trying to swallow the grief tearing at him.
It shattered him yet brought minuscule joy to his heart, seeing the overwhelming number of people here to see her properly laid to rest. So many came to bid their last farewells, both from the community and the pride alike.
Thomas entered through the mass of people, and a silence settled over him.
Everyone knew who he was. He just hadn’t been here for a while. Now he was there permanently.
He tried to suppress bristling anger when he sensed a surge of animosity from several of the male pride members.
Did they really think I wasn’t coming back for this or the pride?He wondered, looking around to see which of the faces seemed the most disgruntled by his attendance.
There were a few, but most were quick to avert their eyes back to the casket.
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