Prologue
Yaeger
12yearsago
"Well, if it isn't Yaeger. Always got your nose in a book, Mama's Boy."
Fuck! Couldn't he go one day without being harassed by Toby and his friends? Was that too much to ask for? Apparently so. "Leave me the fuck alone, Toby."
"Ohhh, Mama's Boy thinks he's tough." Toby knocked the book he held out of his hand. "Show me what you've got, Mama's Boy."
After years of being bullied and harassed, he'd had enough. "I challenge you." A challenge was an official fight in the Pride between lions overseen by the Alpha.
"Are you sure you want to do that, Mama's Boy?"
"Positive," he growled.
They made their way to the Alpha's home and Yaeger knocked on the door.
"Yaeger, Toby. What brings you two by?"
"Challenge has been made," Yaeger told him.
"Then challenge we shall have. Prepare yourselves," the Alpha told them and the boys began to strip, before they shifted and two lions stood where only moments before they were boys.
Yaeger roared at Toby before he attacked, swiping at him with his claws. Blood flew and something in him snapped. All the years of pent-up rage came flowing to the surface, and he attacked with a vengeance. He got Toby pinned and before the Alpha could shift and intervene, Yaeger went in for the kill, ripping Toby's throat out.
By then there was a crowd and shocked gasps echoed around the clearing in front of the Alpha's house. It was against their laws to kill a fellow pride member.
Yaeger shifted back to human form as the horror of what he'd done sank in. "I…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I was just so angry," he started.
"Your remorse makes no difference. One of our sacred laws has been broken. You killed a Pride member. This brings me no joy. Yaeger Delacroix, you are hereby banished from the Bayou Royale Pride. You have until sunrise to gather your things and be gone. If you are found in Pride territory after sunrise, you will be put to death."
Yaeger hung his head. He was eighteen, and now he was going to be alone in the world. He made his way home to pack what he could. This was going to break his mother's heart.
"Mama, I have to leave the Pride," he told her when he entered the house, and then he told her what happened. Her wails shattered him, and he held her as she cried.
When her tears subsided, she pulled from his arms. "You're strong. You can make it on your own. Just don't let your anger control you ever again. Promise me."
"I promise, Mama." With that, he went and packed.
The sun was beginning to lighten the sky as he headed to his car. "Take this," his mother said, handing him a thick envelope. "It's all the cash I have on me." His mother always had wads of cash because she preferred that over cards.
"Mama, I can't take your money."
"Don't argue with me, Son. You need it more than I do. The Pride will provide for my needs until I can replace it. Take care of yourself out there and remember your promise."
"I will, Mama. I love you," he said, wiping the tears from his eyes.
"I love you too, son," she said, wiping her own tears.
With that, he climbed into his car and left New Orleans and Louisiana behind, destination unknown.
Chapter One
Yaeger
12yearslater
