Lion's Share by Rachel Vincent
“Take care of her,” he warned Jace over my head, while I slowly suffocated against his chest.
“You know I will. You two watch out for Mel and Isaac, okay?” Jace pulled me free from my brother’s grip. “They’re going to need a lot of help.”
“We’ll do what we can,” Teo promised. He thumped Jace on the back as we clomped down the front steps and onto grass. “We love you guys.”
“Love you too. But we gotta go.” I gave my brother one more hug, then started pulling Jace toward his rental car.
“The council’s not really going to let you go, you know,” he whispered, as we waved goodbye to Des and Parker, who were playing in superhero capes on the lawn.
“Then they’re going to have to catch me.” I dug the keys to his rental from his pocket on the way toward the car, then slid into the driver’s seat, adrenaline buzzing beneath my skin. He got in as I started the engine, and less than a minute later, I pulled out of the long driveway and onto the road. I didn’t have so much as a suitcase to my name.
But I’d never felt more in control.
Jace took my hand as I drove, and together, we watched the Lazy S fade into nothing in the rearview mirror.
EPILOGUE
Jace
Abby finally fell asleep about an hour from the border, with her head propped against the window of the locked passenger’s side door. Her hair fell over her face, hiding her profile from me, but I could still hear her voice in my head, chattering about all her plans.
Finish college in the free zone.
Get a little house in the free zone.
Make new friends in the free zone.
Do whatever the hell we want, in the free zone.
She was high on the possibilities, and I couldn’t blame her. But she didn’t fully understand the danger. I would fight to the death to protect her, but I was only one man, and the free zone was the equivalent of the Wild West for shifters.
I wanted her to have everything she wanted, and I wanted to share all those things with her—more than I’d ever thought possible. But she deserved more than an anonymous existence in a lawless place, a constant source of fascination, curiosity, and desire to dozens of strays who’d never seen or smelled a female member of their own species. She deserved the comfort and security she’d grown up with. She deserved a support system and a true community.
And I was damn well going to give it to her.
I dug my phone from my pocket and dialed from the favorites menu.
Titus answered on the third ring. “Today’s the big day, right?” he said in lieu of a greeting. “Did it go like you expected?”
“Not even close.” I glanced at Abby as she shifted in her bucket seat, but her eyes never opened. “They didn’t just take my territory; they kicked me out.”
“Ouch. Sorry, man.” Something clicked over the line, and a washing machine began to slosh. Titus had been in a fight—he only washed his own clothes when he got blood on them. “But you know my door’s always open if you get tired of serving at the pleasure of whoever they gave your spot to.”
“Yeah. About that. Exactly how wide open is your door?”
“What does that mean?”
“Abby defected. We’re headed your way right now, if you’ll have us.”
A door closed, and the sloshing got softer. “You’re bringing a tabby into the free zone? Jace, they’ll start a war over this. You have to take her back.”
“Not gonna happen, man. I’m ready to put our plan into action with a drastically accelerated timeline, but she and I are a package deal. Take it or leave it.”
Titus growled, but there was no real anger in the sound. “You know I can’t do this without you.”
“That’s kind of what I’m counting on,” I admitted with another glance at Abby.
Titus took a deep breath, and I recognized both exhilaration and anxiety in the sound. “So, we’re really going to do this?”
“Effective immediately.”
“Okay. We’ll meet you at the border in an hour.”
I hung up the phone and couldn’t stop smiling.
A couple of minutes from the border, I shook Abby’s shoulder. “Ab. We’re almost there.”
She sat up, wiping a shiny spot from her chin, and her brown eyes brightened instantly as what I’d said sank in. “Mississippi? The free zone?”
I nodded, smiling. “Another word for it might be ‘home.’”
Her smile widened and she stared out the windshield, where the Welcome to Mississippi sign had just appeared on the side of the road. Then she held her breath until we’d passed it.
“That’s it!” She turned to me, still beaming. “We’re home.”
“Yup.” I put on my right blinker and swerved gently toward the rest stop just past the state line.
“You need a break? I can drive some more.” Abby unbuckled her seat belt as I pulled into an empty space near the restroom. Then she froze as five large men stepped out of the shadow of the building, headed straight toward us. “Jace…” She sniffed the air but couldn’t have caught much of their scents from inside the car.
“It’s okay. They’re friendly.”
I pulled her jacket from the backseat and set it in her lap, then opened my door and got out. Abby joined me, zipping her coat, and I could hear her heart pound as her hand slid into my grip.
The man at the center of the group stepped forward as I tugged her onto the sidewalk, and her pulse began to race. “Abby, this is Titus Alexander.”
Her eyes widened. She recognized the name.
Titus smiled and turned on the charm, but unlike most of the women he met, she only smiled politely and shook his hand. None of her clothes fell off at his feet.
“Titus and I are going to turn the free zone into a real territory,” I said, and her brown eyes widened. “We’re going to make it a home, and you’re going to be safe. You’re going to have everything you ever wanted. Here. With me.”
“And with us.” Titus waved his wildcats forward, and they held their hands out for her to shake, each one of them large, and powerful, and polite. “Abby Wade, welcome to the Lion’s Den.”
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading Lion’s Share! I hope you’ve enjoyed the first Wildcats book, a spinoff of the original Shifters series, which launched my career, and if you haven’t already read it, don’t forget to check out “Hunt,” the short story that bridges the two series and sets up the events in Lion’s Share.
When I ended the Shifters series in 2010, I thought I’d run out of stories to tell in that world. Then when I was revising the “Hunt” story four years later for an independent re-release, a throwaway line about Jace’s tenure as Alpha sparked the idea that became the basis for the Wildcats books. What if there was a Pride made up entirely of strays? How would the Territorial Council react? What challenges would this new Pride face? Who would lead it? How would its social and political structure differ from what we’ve seen in the established territories? And most importantly, how will all those strays ever find love in a world that rejects them based on their very nature?
Readers ask me all the time for more books set in the Shifters world, and now that I have a great spinoff concept, I’m happy to oblige! I hope you have as much fun reading them as I’m having writing them!
If you liked Lion’s Share, I hope you’ll consider reviewing it wherever you review books, because as an indie series (I’m putting it out myself, rather than selling it to a publisher), the Wildcats books depend entirely on my own publicity efforts and readers’ word of mouth. And if you’d like to be updated about new releases, contests, and cover art, click here to sign up for my (low volume) mailing list.
Thanks again for reading!
Rachel Vincent
Rachelvincent.com | Twitter | Facebook
About the Author
Rachel Vincent is a former English teacher and an eager champion of the Oxford comma. She shares her home in Oklahoma with two cats, two
Also By Rachel Vincent
Shifters
Stray
Rogue
Pride
Prey
Shift
Alpha
Unbound
Blood Bound
Shadow Bound
Oath Bound
Soul Screamers
My Soul To Take
My Soul To Save
My Soul To Keep
My Soul To Steal
If I Die
Before I Wake
With All My Soul
Coming Soon
The Stars Never Rise
Menagerie
Acknowledgements:
Thanks must go, first and foremost, to my husband, who has put countless hours into my career in the form of artwork, web design, brainstorming, and moral support. You are my anchor and I love you.
Thanks also to Rinda Elliott, my long-term critique partner, who critiqued Lion’s Share as well as the entire Shifters series.
Thanks to Jennifer Lynn Barnes for untold hours of Panera-fueled writing and company, and for being the first to utter the phrase, “You should write a new adult Shifters spinoff!”
Thanks to Rachel Clarke for invaluable beta reads and for endless cheerleading.
And thanks most of all to all the Shifters fans who asked for more.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Epilogue
A Word From Rachel
About Rachel
Also By Rachel Vincent
Rachel Vincent, Lion's Share