Tarian Protector (New Tarian Pride Book 4) Read online

  “Mmm hmm,” she said, nodding. “I need to get dressed and brush my teeth and…”

  “And what?” he asked, watching her cheeks turn pink.

  She rushed out, “Put on make-up. It’s no big deal. Everything is fine.” She bustled upward, then speed-walked unsteadily into the bathroom down the hall. “Ten minutes, and I’ll be ready!” she called.

  Huh. Okay.

  That ten minutes turned into fifty minutes, though, so he was out front cleaning up the debris from Sora’s little makeshift bonfire from a week ago to keep from rushing her.

  And that was the best idea he’d ever had, not rushing her, because when she walked out of the cabin, she just about brought him to his knees.

  Sora, his once-broken little bird, stepped out onto the porch with her platinum blond hair down and in sexy curls, skinny jeans and a tank top that hugged her curves, a bra that had her perfect tits perked up high, and a full face of make-up that made her look like she belonged in a magazine instead of smiling at a roughneck man like him. Her eyes were all smoked up and made the blue color look almost white, and she had the prettiest shade of pink on her full lips.

  Best part about it all was that, even though she looked uncertain and was wringing her hands and shifting her weight from side to side, like she wasn’t so sure about herself yet… she was still smiling from ear to ear.

  “Shhhhit, Sora,” was all he managed to get out before he had to adjust his boner. He cleared his throat and tried to say something intelligent, but not a damn word came out. Just a groan.

  Sora giggled and pulled the thin strap of a purse over her shoulder. “I found this in the closet. It still had the price tag on it, so never used. I think it’s mine now. Also, I don’t have any money to put in this purse, but I have my cell phone and lip gloss. I feel girly.”

  “You look…” Fuck it all, Ford, say something smooth. He swallowed hard as she came to a stop right in front of him. He had a perfect view of her thick hair, perfect cleavage, and pretty eyes and, holy hell, he wanted to bend her over that porch railing and rip those skinny jeans right down her thighs and make her scream his name. “You look different from how you used to,” he murmured. At the flash of uncertainty in her eyes, he said, “You look even better than I remember. I like you like this. Make-up or no make-up, I don’t care. You’re stunning either way. But that smile. Woman, you sure are finding your confidence. Guess what the sexiest thing a woman can wear is?”

  “Confidence?”

  “Fuck. Yes.”

  She was blushing like crazy, but her smile got even bigger and reached her eyes. She ducked her gaze and leaned in, hugged him quick, kissed him right over his heart, and then made her way toward the SUV. Was it just him, or did she have a little sashay in her hips as she walked away? His purr got louder. What a softie his lion was turning into around her. He didn’t even feel like he wanted to murder anyone right now.

  Victories came in all shapes and sizes.

  Chapter Eleven

  It had taken one week for Sora to come back to life.

  One tiny week, and Ford had gotten her fighting again.

  And that, right there, was magic, but it wasn’t the only magic that existed between them.

  Sora stared at the lavender smoke seeping from her, all the way across the bench seat of the pickup truck, and absorbing into Ford.

  Lavender.

  The purple in it was faint. It was almost, almost white, but the purple existed.

  Sora wanted to cry. She wanted to rejoice and celebrate. Ford wasn’t growling right now like he usually did. He was steady-eddy, hand strong on her thigh as he drove with the other, eyes on the road, then on her, back to the road, back to her.

  Oh, he looked like her personal demon still with those eyes and that animalistic face, but he didn’t growl.

  He. Didn’t. Growl.

  Should she tell him about the purple hues in their bond? Should she tell him he was fixing her? Should she tell him her theory on how she was helping him, too?

  “Are you happy?” she asked just over the volume of an old country song playing on the radio.

  He was quiet for a few moments, a slight frown furrowing his dark eyebrows. “I’m as happy as a monster can be.”

  And that was good enough for her. It was good enough. It was enough.

  In a moment of utter hope, she pulled her cell phone from the purse and added all the people who had tried to help her into a group text: Orion, Rose, Emerald, Katy, Annamora…

  I’m going to be okay. Send.

  There was the promise, and she, Sora, former Tarian queen, didn’t go back on promises. Not ever. There it was in writing, her oath that someday she would be all right. The proof that she was trying, and there was no going back now.

  Thank God. Ronin will be so happy to hear that. Emerald.

  Proud of you, Sis. Orion.

  Atta girl, hell yeah!! Katy.

  I never had a doubt. Rose

  I hope someday I can be as strong as you. I look up to you, Sora. Keep going. Annamora.

  That last one shocked her. She wasn’t an inspiration. She was a broken piece of glass, hoping that someday she could be tough enough to be whole again. Annamora had been at the mercy of the Old Tarian Pride, too. She hadn’t been a queen, but she’d been hurt by the awful traditions in that Pride. She was the one who’d been strong enough to help Emerald rise up against the males of the Pride. She’d been strong enough to encourage Sora and the other girls to rise up with them. Annamora was the tough one.

  Keep going. Yeah, she was going to do that.

  Before she could change her mind, she texted, Pancake breakfast at Olan’s Pancake Hut. One hour. Meet at the picnic tables out back if you have time.

  It was Orion who responded first. I’m out. Your boy is aggressive. Ladies, my advice for what it’s worth? Don’t bring your mates. No boys allowed and all that.

  Sora snorted and read the thread out loud to Ford. He nodded and grinned. “Orion is smarter than I remember him being.”

  “Ha!” she belted out as she texted that insult to Orion. Ford says you’re smarter than he remembers you.

  Orion texted the eye-rolling emoji back.

  Sora chewed her bottom lip and drew her knees up to her chest as she typed. Also, he told Dad and the Deadlies that I’m claimed. There won’t be any more contracts. Send.

  There was a pause and then, I’ll be ready. Orion.

  Before she could mull that confusing comment over too much, Rose replied. I’m giving the girls the morning off. We’re getting ready. We’ll see you two at Olan’s.

  “Do you mind that I invited the Tarian Lionesses to our breakfast date?” Sora asked Ford.

  Ford shook his head. “Not at all. You need a steady support system. Those girls are good. I have to live alienated from the outside world, but that doesn’t mean I want that for you. You should bond with them. Build memories with them. Go on, invite ’em.”

  She hugged his big-ass bicep and nuzzled against him. The scratch on her cheek burned when she did, but she didn’t care. “I figured out why our cuts aren’t healing,” she said primly.

  He took a right toward town and glanced over at her. “Why?”

  “Because they are claiming marks. Not from our human sides. We didn’t know what our animals were doing. I mean they are marks from our lions. My lioness picked you. Again. You’re mine now, Ford.”

  His laugh was deep and reverberated through the entire SUV. “Woman, haven’t you figured it out yet?”

  “Figured what out?”

  He smiled over at her. “I was always yours.”

  Sora’s heart beat hard against her sternum, and she couldn’t take her eyes away from his dancing gold gaze if she tried.

  Hugging on tighter to his arm, she admitted, “I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

  “Why?”

  “Because things were so bad for so long, and it feels scary to be this happy this fast.”

  “Or,” he
murmured, “you’re due for some happiness. You weren’t meant to be in a gutter your whole life. It’s okay to feel safe, Sora. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “Truth,” she whispered, reveling in the conviction of his words. How had she gotten this lucky?

  Ford turned down the radio. “If we’ve got an hour, I have something to take care of first. There’s a garage in town that has a part I need for my motorcycle. It should only take a few minutes. If I don’t kill anyone.”

  “Well, maybe I should come inside with you to keep you from killing anyone. I’m a very good fighter. I don’t know if you heard, but I killed the Alpha of the Old Tarians. Oh, my gosh,” she said, clamping her hand over her mouth. “That is not funny, and I shouldn’t joke about it.”

  “Fuck, yeah, you should joke about it. That fucker deserved your teeth on his jugular. Fuck him. Fuck his whole Pride. They are exactly where they belong.”

  “He’s dragon poop.”

  “What?” Ford asked fast.

  “Vyr Daye, the red dragon himself, ran cleanup after the Tarian War.” She arched her eyebrows.

  “You mean…?”

  “He fuckin’ burned the bodies and ate the ashes. Babe…he ate them. Oh, my gosh, I just said ‘babe.’ I’m sorry! It’s just that’s what I used to call you, and for a second I forgot that we aren’t those people anymore, and—”

  “Sora,” he interrupted her. “It’s okay. I liked it. No saying sorry, just call me whatever you want. And wow, the Red Dragon really ate the ashes of the dead? So what you’re saying is…Cassius was a piece of shit when he was alive, and he’s piece of shit now.” Ford bit back a smile.

  Sora was trying real hard not to giggle, on account of the unsavory subject matter, but a little laugh escaped her. She cleared her throat and pursed her lips together. “We’re going to Hell for laughing about this.”

  “I was already going to Hell. I’ll save you a seat.”

  Sora laughed really loud at that vision and, for some reason, she couldn’t stop. It snowballed into louder laughter—the ab-clenching, arms around the stomach, uncontrollable kind. She laughed and laughed, and then he was laughing, too. Soon, she was wiping tears from the corners of her eyes. Maybe she was part evil now. Her sense of humor had definitely grown darker.

  He pulled into the lot for Cosmo’s Garage and parked in the way back, as far away from the open garages as possible. He gripped the wheel until it creaked, breathed in deeply, out deeply, in deeply, out deeply, his eyes never leaving the building.

  “Are you okay?” Sora asked softly.

  Ford nodded, but his grip tightened on the wheel. He didn’t look okay. Red was creeping up his neck as he tracked a man with dark hair.

  “I know him,” she said, leaning forward. “That’s Kannon. That’s Katy’s mate. He’s the reason I Turned her.”

  “Fuck,” Ford murmured. He could probably break the steering wheel with a grip like that.

  “He’s okay! He’s nice. He was the one who tried to help us when you were fighting with the Tarians.”

  Ford shook his head and closed his eyes, breath speeding up.

  “It’s okay,” she murmured, pulling out her phone. “I’ll take care of it.” She texted Kannon. Hey, do you have the part Ford needs? For a Harley? Send.

  Kannon yanked a tire off a stack of them in the side yard and pulled his phone out of his pocket, frowned down at it, then responded. Yeah. Are you picking it up?

  Yes! We are in the parking lot. Can you have it ready so I can just run in and grab it? Send.

  Is that dark lion with you?

  Yep! Send.

  Well, he paid over the phone. I’ll get it ready now. It’ll take two minutes.

  Ford was growling low as he watched Kannon saunter back into the garage, carrying a pair of giant tires like they were feathers.

  “You can’t be around males at all?” she asked, slowly starting to realize how hard this must be for him.

  His leg was shaking in quick succession, and he ran his hand roughly through his hair and then down his face. “No. The lion is a dominant asshole that I have no control over. All he wants to do is fight.”

  “Males but not females?” she asked, trying to find a bright side.

  “Yeah, females are safe. I feel protective over women. It’s the men I want to kill. And sometimes the Change happens when I don’t want it to. And sometimes people get hurt when I don’t want them to.” He turned to her, his head hung low. His glowing gold eyes looked haunted as he told her, “This is my life, Sora. That guy, Kannon, could be the nicest shifter in the world, and I would still want to rip his throat out. There’s no rehabbing me, no getting better. I’ve tried everything.” He swallowed hard. “It’s been so easy to get lost up in that cabin with you, but the reality is—”

  “Don’t,” she demanded. “Don’t say a goodbye I didn’t ask for. You don’t get to come in and fix my damage and then leave saying your damage is too big to handle.”

  “This isn’t the life I want for you, Sora. We couldn’t have people over for dinner or do double dates like normal people. There’s no movies, no dinners out. Hell, I don’t even know if I would be okay having a boy cub. You would get dragged right into this lonely life—”

  “It’s not lonely if I have you.”

  “Sora—”

  “No!” She shoved the door open and got out. “If you don’t want this life for me? Work harder. I’m working. I’m here. You got me fighting, got me improving, got me calling myself on all my shit.” Fury flashed through her veins. He was trying to leave her? To prep her for when he would go? She slammed the door and called over her shoulder, “Your turn.” And then she marched her pissed-off little self over to Kannon, gave him a big hug while glaring at Ford’s furious face through the window, and then she cradled the box Kannon handed her and marched right back to the truck.

  “You good?” Kannon called in a concerned voice.

  “I will be,” she promised.

  “There she is,” Kannon barked out with a smile in his voice.

  She high-kneed her proud ass straight back to the truck, tits bouncing as she went, yanked open the door, tossed the part to Ford, scrambled in, and slammed the door so hard behind her, the SUV rocked.

  Ford was gritting his teeth, his jaw muscles rippling and his snarl was downright intimidating, but so what? She growled back at him, and the noise in his throat instantly died to nothing.

  “Maybe I’m going to push and push and push you until you bite back,” she muttered, using his own words. “If I have to rehab, so do you. I was ready to die, and you came in and made me live. And now I’ve got the hard work ahead of me. You think you’re already dead, Ford? You’re already peaked? You’re maxed out? Fuck that. You’re the strongest man I’ve ever known. If I’m gonna live, so will you.”

  He frowned, searching her face. “I never said I wanted to die.”

  “That’s not what I mean by ‘live,’ Ford. Hiding your animal from the world isn’t living. Giving up every connection with other people isn’t living. That’s how a shifter goes crazy. And I’ll be damned if I do all this work on me and get to living again…without you.” Sora shrugged her shoulder and bit back tears. “You’re my reason.”

  Ford relaxed back against the seat and let off a small exhalation, a tiny gasp. He ran his hand down his beard and shook his head slightly at her. “What are you doing?”

  Sora offered him a trembling smile and looked down at the smoke that only she could see, smoke that was filing the whole car. “When we were together and things were happy and normal, when I was falling in love for the first time—for the only time—our bond was so beautiful. My favorite color was green before you, but it became purple the day you sat in my section and talked to me for the first time. I thought our bond was the most beautiful thing in the world. And I know I seem crazy because other people can’t see it, but that’s just part of me. Ghosts and bonds, emotions sometimes, auras. I see them all. Last week, a Dark
Lion came charging through the Tarians to save a broken girl, and do you know what I saw?”

  Ford shook his head.

  “Thick black smog just…billowing from me and soaking into you, like you were draining my soul. Do you know what I see now?”

  Another shake of his head, but the fury in his eyes had slowly been replaced by hope.

  When Sora held up her hands, the smoke pulsed from her chest, curled around her fingertips like little butterfly kisses, and floated into Ford. A tear fell down her cheek. “First sign of purple.”

  “Fuck,” Ford said on a deep sigh. He rested his head back. “You gonna fix me, Sora?”

  “No,” she whispered. “I don’t want to fix you. I like you just as you are. But the places in your life that I know will make you unhappy? I want to be by your side as you take them back. I’m going to cheer you on and tell you to keep going. I think that was always my destiny, but my road just got all broken up in the middle and I lost my way for a while. No more talk of leaving. As I’m getting back on my feet, I’m realizing something. You came in when I couldn’t stand at all, and you were my spine. You made me feel safe and confident while I learned to stand on my own again. Do you know how important that is? Do you know how special it is to be a backbone for someone? For this, and a hundred other reasons, you have my loyalty. My devotion. For this, and a hundred other reasons, you have me for always.”

  “You’re sure?” he asked softly.

  Her lips just wouldn’t quit trembling as she tried to keep all the tears inside. So she pointed to the healing scar on her face and said, “I have the mark to prove it.”

  Ford reached over and brushed his knuckle across the painful cut, still not healed. “I shouldn’t have marked your face.”

  Sora reached over and touched the claw mark on his own cheek that disappeared into his beard. “I don’t regret shit. I like seeing yours.”

  Ford chuckled, grabbed her hand, and kissed the inside of her wrist, then bit it gently. “Okay.”