Fierce Dancer (Sierra Pride Book 5) by Liza Street Read Free Book Online

does want to stay, she needs to call them before there’s a war.”
    Bryan grinned. “They’ll be on unfamiliar ground. And they won’t want to risk their sister, especially if she’s pregnant with my kittens.”
    Tyler’s eyes were wide, and he looked like he wanted to speak, but Bryan’s power over him was too strong. Quentin thought about that—the only way it could be this strong was if Tyler had unsuccessfully challenged Bryan many times over. Tyler must not have agreed with what Bryan was up to.
    Now Quentin knew that what he’d suspected was true—he had an ally.
    As if sensing Quentin’s relief, Bryan scowled. “Tyler. Out.”
    His face furious, with dark splotches on his tan cheeks, Tyler shoved past Bryan and stomped upstairs.
    “At least let her go,” Quentin said, pointing behind his shoulder to Emma. “She’s not a shifter. She doesn’t know anything about us.”
    “She doesn’t know anything about us?” Bryan asked. “She doesn’t know we can turn into mountain lions at will?”
    “That’s what I said.” Quentin frowned. Why had Bryan repeated it?
    Then he turned to look at Emma. She sat up, her eyes wide with horror. She was awake, and she’d heard everything he’d said about shifters.
    “Guess she knows now,” Bryan said with glee. He gave a mock bow toward Emma. “Hi. I’m Bryan, and I’m a mountain lion shapeshifter.”

ten
    Emma’s head ached, and she shivered. The concrete floor was chilly. As she looked around, she noticed the bars. “What are you saying? Why the fuck am I in a cage?”
    “I’m saying we can turn into mountain lions,” Bryan said. “Have you ever heard of shapeshifters before today?”
    She shook her head. “This is completely nuts. Please let us go. We don’t want to have any part of this. At least, I don’t.” She looked at Quentin and felt a pang of distrust, which hurt at the same time. She’d wanted to believe in him. “I don’t know what he wants.”
    His blue eyes looked bottomless. “You,” he mouthed.
    Bryan laughed. “You two are so cute. So, you don’t believe me about the mountain lion inside of me? You don’t think I can change my form, shift into something else? Because Quentin here can do the same thing. He hasn’t shown you?”
    Emma shrugged. This guy was a lunatic. “I promise I’ll believe whatever you say if you let me out of here. I’ll go home, and I’ll believe the whole time that you can…shift…into whatever you want.”
    “Please,” Quentin said, “let her go. Leave her out of this, and we can figure out the Cora situation.”
    “The ‘Cora situation,’ as you call it, is doing perfectly fine without your help,” Bryan said. “She’s going to be my wife, my mate. She’s going to bear my kittens and we’ll turn the Nevada pride back into a thing of beauty and power.”
    “Does your father agree with this plan?” Quentin asked. “Isn’t he still the alpha?”
    Bryan tapped his fingers together. “In theory. He’s off trying to recruit lions to join us. I wonder why he didn’t bring you in? You’re all alone without a pride, right? Something to do with your parents? They destroyed your pride, didn’t they? Hm. I guess you can forget any invitations from anywhere. Bad blood.”
    Emma watched Quentin’s shoulders slump. None of this made any sense whatsoever, but his sorrow struck her in a way she understood. Being left out, being turned down. Alone. That had been her, ever since that fateful affair with the producer’s husband. If only she had known he was married. It wasn’t her fault, just like whatever Quentin’s parents had done wasn’t his fault.
    She wanted the taunting to stop.
    “Fine,” she said, “you marry Cora, give her kittens or whatever. You can’t make any progress on that while you’re holding us hostage.”
    “True,” he said, “but I want to have a little fun, first. You see, sweetheart, I want you to really believe.”
    He started undressing. She looked away,