Prologue
“I’m so done with this shit, Lance!” Brenda stormed out of the connecting bathroom to his room at the Pride house.
She grabbed the slinky little dress she’d worn earlier that night, tugging it over her semi-naked body. He’d known her since high school. She was a Tiger Shifter too, one of the Pride, and someone he’d once sowed his oats with back in the day.
Just lately she’d been coming on strong, but Lance had nothing to offer the skinny female. As he’d said time and again. After witnessing all the fated mates in the Pride, he was surprised she was stuck on the matter. After all, Brenda was not his. A hard truth his Tiger recognized.
Slowly, Lance blinked himself awake. What time was it anyway? Had the female lost her mind? She’d insisted on coming over after they’d had a few rounds of drinks, but he didn’t touch her except to sleep beside her. Strictly platonic. It was the only way his Tiger would have it.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“You know what,” she growled, “whose underwear is this? I found it tucked inside the face towel!”
The long-legged female tossed a purple thong in his face, but for the life of him he had no idea whose it was. How was a guy supposed to remember a thing like that anyway? Did she say it was in his face towel? Gross!
“Brenda, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” he grunted and sat up, tossing the panties into the trash bin, “We are not a couple. We’re not dating, or fucking, or anything at all.”
“How could you talk to me like that?”
“Like what? You invited yourself here, Brenda, it wasn’t the other way around,” he growled.
Yes, it was shitty. But she better face facts now. Before she went real nuts and smashed his cell phone or something.
“Oh, yeah? Well, what can I say? I thought you were special, but you’re not,” she huffed, tugging on her boots, “But you know something, Lance? You’ll get yours!”
The she-Cat slammed the door to his room and stormed out of the Pride House. Well, shit. That hadn’t gone well at all. His Tiger, chuffed. The Cat didn’t give a fuck about the Tigress’ tantrum. She was not theirs, and besides, he’d been a gentleman.
He hadn’t laid a paw on her. What would be the point? His beast had lost interest in chasing tail some months ago. It was hell to admit.
A man had his reputation to think about after all. So, sure, he tried a little kissing and cuddling. It was about all he had in him for the females of the Pride. The contact worked at first, to sooth his anxious Tiger, but lately it wasn’t enough. In fact, his beast rejected any attempt at physical contact with women.
Lance had no fucking idea how to deal with that shit. Typically, women were fine going out with him. He told them off the bat it was as friends, and they seemed okay with the arrangement.
Clearly Brenda hadn’t believed him. She’d stripped off her dress and gotten into bed expecting something. But he just turned around and went to sleep. Like he told her he would.
The thong though? That was news to him. He had no idea who’d slipped the purple underwear in his room. Probably one of the other unmated Tigers playing a prank. Assholes. He shook his head and got up to take a shower. Might as well get some reps in if he was going to be awake anyway.
The sound of crying cubs caught his attention, and Lance grinned. The Maverick Pride House was crawling with tiny bundles of joy. Literally.
The little cuties were everywhere. At first, that had scared the wits out of a confirmed bachelor like him. But just lately, he’d started to change his mind. In fact, he felt a yearning build up from deep inside.
He was plagued by the soft-hearted yowling of his inner Tiger whenever he heard the tiny, precious cubs. Okay, fuck the reps. He was going to see if he could help the Nari with the little ones.
Now that he had a plan, he jumped in the shower and dressed before heading over to the nursery wing. Unsurprisingly, the Nari was inside with her two twin girls, Milly and Celia. Jessica, her sister-in-law, was there as well.
The redhead was the Pride leader’s sister. The Neta was a good man, and Jessica was a fine Tigress. She was mated to the Pride Beta, a Black Bear Shifter they sort of adopted from the neighboring town of Barvale. Of course, Brayden was a huge mountain of a man and something of a badass.
He loved his mate fiercely and was an excellent second to their Neta. She stood cuddling her newborn cub, a sweet boy named after his father for some dumb reason. Why call him Brayden when Lance was a perfectly acceptable and available name?
“Morning ladies,” he grinned widely at the two mothers.
The females stopped their conversations and turned to face him. Uh oh. He was in trouble. Elissa rolled her eyes at him and shook her head in disappointment, and tsked while Jessica snorted.
What? What had he done now? Were all the ladies in the Pride going to hate on him today?
“Oh, is it a good morning, Lance?” Jess asked.
“Um, is this a trick question?”
“You tell us,” the Nari snarled, then relented her angry stance, “okay, easy there. We ain’t mad at ya, but look, I know you’re all Mr. Playa-playa, but we heard Brenda leave.”
“Yup,” Jessica added, emphasis on the p.
Elissa narrowed her eyes at him, and deftly fastened the diaper of the tyke on the changing pad. Lance wondered how she did that without looking. It was like some intense-mom-sixth-sense shit or something. He didn’t know.
“Oh, well,” he cleared his throat, “Sorry if she slammed the front door, and all.”
“You know, girls talk. And, well, it seems a lot of your dates lately are less than happy,” the Nari inquired.
“If you need advice, on you know, boinking, we can get our mates to talk to you,” Jessica began, but he was already covering his ears.
“Gods, no!” Lance averted his gaze, baring his throat respectfully, but there was no fucking way he wanted any part of a conversation like that.
The Nari held sway over the Pride. Maybe not to the extent of her mate, the Neta, but she was pretty fucking strong in his humble opinion. When she was angry, watch out! Lance did his best not to cross either of these fiercely protective females.
“Hey now, I swear to you, Nari. I did not do a thing wrong,” he explained, “Come on, Liss, Jessi-cat? Brenda and I were never exclusive even when we were dating! And last night was not a date. No nooky. I promise! Look, I don’t even recognize the thong she found in my room.”
“Shit,” Elissa bit her lip, and looked around. Was it him, or did she look just a little bit guilty?
“What?” Jessica asked.
“Yes, Nari, what?” Lance picked up baby Milly and began tickling her tummy.
The sweet cub giggled, and drooled all over him, but he didn’t mind. They were talking now and crawling too, like little speed demons.
Milly and Celia were little dolls as far as he was concerned. Just angels! He adored all the cubs in the Pride. Perhaps that was why he’d just recently started fantasizing having some of his own.
The problem was, Lance did not have a mate. Far as he knew, no one in the Pride belonged to him. It was a sad, lonely feeling. Everyone seemed to be finding their other halves except him.
“Alright, I confess. Hunter and I might have gotten a little freaky in the laundry room on one of the Pride cleaning days, I don’t know, last week or something,” she cleared her throat, but nothing could contain her scarlet blush.