Page 62 of Nicolette

A bark of laughter burst from me. “What the fuck do they know about the magic you hold? Have they experienced grabbing onto a live power line, then telling it you only want to power a single lightbulb and nothing else? God, was the bitch right about you being too soft to do this job?”

Nine snarled, grabbed my throat, and slammed me against the wall. “I will not take shit like that after what I’ve just done to keep you safe.”

“You think stripping Amaretto of her cheetah and forcing her to live as a human is protecting me?” I shot back. “I’ve got a newsflash for you. That bitch is the least of our worries. Do you know how many supernatural creatures LC has control of? He has a whole section of fighters that are mindless killing machines who can’t be trusted not to slaughter the whole building of people should they escape their control. One petty twatwaffle isn’t gonna do shit but clearly fuck with your head.”

“I am your alpha. You will not speak to me like this even if I am your mate,” Nine seethed.

Leaning forward so our noses were almost touching, I whispered, “Then fucking act like it and find your balls, Nine Lives.”

Jerking back his head, he snarled then roared right in my face, anger making his whole body shake. It wasn’t enough, though. I needed to break through whatever hold that bitch’s words had on him. To me, it was obvious he’d been playing what she said over and over again in his head. On top of that, he felt like he’d failed me since his magic trapped me for two days. He needed to get the fuck over himself and lion the hell up to act like a goddamn king.

“So you want me to treat you like dirt, order you around, make you get on your knees, and suck me off whenever I want to prove just how powerful I am? What about making you watch as I fuck someone else just because I want to, and I’m the alpha, so you can’t do a fucking thing about it.” Nine was so pissed as he spoke that he actually started to shake.

Groaning, I let my head bump against the wall as I looked up at the ceiling. “That’s not what good leaders or alphas do at all. You’re missing the fucking point, Nine.”

“Then tell me, in all your years of experience as a leader, what would you do?” he taunted.

Meeting his gaze again, I could see the glow of his lion right there, watching us as intently as his human side was. “I would make the best choice for my people, act on it, then stand the hell behind the decision instead of letting them beat me down about it. You’re their alpha, a man I assumed they respected, but now I’m not so sure. The first time you put your foot down, and people are just up and leaving? Tell me you’ve never stood your ground without telling me.”

Nine opened his mouth to speak, but I shut it down. “No, now it’s time you listened up.”

Ignoring the magic that was crackling around him, I charged forward. “If no one else is brave enough to lay it out for you, then I will. This pride has been poisoned by people like Amaretto. People who use others for the sole purpose of furthering their own aspirations. You’re a fair and caring leader, that’s obvious, but the moment the children act up, you do nothing. How many other people believe the same thing she did about you being too soft to lead?” I challenged, raising a brow in question. “My bet is they only want to be here because they get to live life with no repercussions for their actions. You even fucking fund the habit by providing for everyone with no effort on their part. Make this a safe place for all feline shifters. Keep providing for their needs, but make them fucking respect what they are given by earning it.”

My irritation at this whole situation had me taking the kid gloves off and handing Nine the honest truth. So many of these people had been part of this pride for so long that they didn’t see the problems it had. Then when people like myself arrived with a new perspective, we got bullied and told to shut up and sit in the corner because that was just how they did things. Not anymore, kitties. There was a new alpha bitch in town, and I had some weight to throw around about this shit. If we were going to survive whatever the fallout was from Amaretto, we needed to do it as a team. Everyone might like each other, but they will damn well pull it together long enough to keep us alive through this.

“She’s right, you know,” Rambler said, startling me, having not realized he’d joined us. “They’re given everything with the expectation of nothing in return. When in life has that ever been true?”

Nine turned on his vice president, letting his magic lash out at him, but to my surprise, it just washed right over Rambler like he had a shield up. That’s right. His mother was a witch. He must have picked up a thing or two from her, even if she was a drunk.

“You came to us with nothing. Are you saying I should have made you earn the right to have clothes on your back and food to eat?” Nine demanded.

“Damn right, you should have, or at least set the expectation that while you provided those things, I was going to work for free at the diner washing dishes or some shit to contribute. It would have made it easier to swallow my pride and take the help offered if I knew I was pulling my weight. Eventually, I could, but in my mind, I’m always paying back for those first years of my life here,” Rambler explained. “She’s not saying stop doing the things we do for those who have nothing but make them understand it’s not a free ride. A pride works together to provide for each other. Right now, half the people take and take, relying on the other half to cover the cost of everything. How is that fair to anyone?”

That seemed to surprise Nine. “You’re talking like it’s more than the sweetbutts.”

Circus started to laugh like Nine had just told the best fucking joke ever. “Oh God, are you that blind? Most of those who have already left have done nothing for this pride. None of them worked. They mooched off of us, and then when they noticed you were starting to set some rules, they peaced out. If they can’t live like a fucking parasite off of us, they don’t want to be here. In truth, that works for us because we don’t want them either.”

Nine faced the twins. “You two came to us from an abusive pride. How would you feel if you came to us and I expected you to earn your keep after all you’d been through?”

The speed at which my head snapped to the side where the twins were standing would have broken my neck if I wasn’t supernatural.

They’d been abused by another pride?

Who would dare do that to my sweet boys?

Never mind, it didn’t matter.

They were here, they were mine, and I would never let another person treat them that way, regardless of who it might be. It did, however, explain why Marco hardly reacted to Circus’s attack. He’d experienced it before.

“I suppose we were a little different since neither one of us could lift a finger, let alone a dish or rag, when we first got here. When I was healthy enough to start helping out, Viking had just asked me to start working on the books since the previous treasurer had been dead for almost two years. I’m sure he knew I’d been doing that for the previous pride’s alpha, so I got to work on the backlog of stuff,” Polo shared. “What I’m trying to say is that I did get right to work, and I welcomed it. Having a purpose and something to focus on kept me from dwelling on the fact our father nearly killed us that night Viking came to visit.”

Nine seemed to take a step back and frowned, his anger subsiding. Walking up to him, I took his hand in mine, drawing him to look at me. “You are a good alpha, Nine, but you could be so much better, and that’s why I called you out like that. I’m assuming you weren’t planning on taking over the Savage Pride when it actually happened. Just like anyone would, you kept things the same just to keep your head above water as you learned to be a leader. Now it’s time to make this pride a better version of itself, and with your big heart, it can happen.”

He grasped my chin and simply stared at me for a moment before leaning down and kissing me. “It seems I was in need of a mate far more than I realized because no one else would have been able to talk to me like that and lived.”

“What can I say? It’s just my lot in life to step into the ring and go toe-toe with the prick they put up against me. Guess it was training for how to deal with you and your stubborn ass,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood.

He grinned, making me smile that my plan worked. “Now I think you need to gather the pride together, and I mean every single member. Then we will have a heart-to-heart with them about what happened the other day and expectations going forward. If they don’t show up to the meeting, then we’ll send Dice to go get them.”