The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 66: Chapter 66

Reg paced back and forth. Even the huge living room that sat at the center of the Pride House wasn’t big enough for him to walk off his agitation. He couldn’t leave on the off chance she might come by to see Elissa. He couldn’t change into his Tiger in case she decided to call him. He was in limbo. A fucking purgatory of his own making.
Stupid impatient fucking shit for brains.
It had been three days since she’d spoken to him. Three days since he’d touched her. Since he’d kissed her lips and buried himself in her heavenly body. Three long fucking days without his mate.
His Tiger scratched and snarled inside of him. Even his beast wanted to kick his ass for fucking things up.
“Dammit!”
Reg ran his hands through his hair, but that just served to remind him of the way she’d run her fingers through it. His sweet shona had stood so close to him when she’d cut his hair, trying to be professional and yet unable to fight the mutual attraction that had flared to life so wildly between them.
As it should always be between mates, his beast recognized with a mournful whine.
She was so beautiful. Smart and funny. Taking her to dinner had been the highlight of his life. Her tiger blossom scent drove him wild, as did her heady flavors. Reg was a blessed man. Christ, he could not get her out of his head.
He wanted to track her down, get her alone in her apartment. Then he could talk some sense into her, make her believe him. After, maybe he would have the chance to lick her into orgasm after orgasm.
Fuck.
Once his brain went there, he couldn’t stop thinking about Gretchen and what it had been like to make love to her. His cock hardened in his jeans, and he cursed his foolish impatience.
His mate was everything he’d ever wanted and more. Provocative and tempting with her many tattoos and the tiny studs in her ears. He loved those colorful highlights she’d put in her hair.
They expressed her sassy beauty in a way nothing else could. She was so confident and gorgeous. The way her pouty pink lips felt pressed against his was as close to the gods as a sinner like him could ever hope to get.
So soft and submissive, she had opened for him like a flower in bloom while maintaining an edge of dominance that left him breathless. Tender and willing, she’d given him everything, and greedy bastard that he was, Reg took.
He forgot Uncle Uzzi’s advice. Forgot the one most important thing. He hadn’t told her a thing about Shifters and mates. His Tiger had been riding him hard, both beast and man desperate to sink into her.
Truth was, he’d lost control. His animal side had briefly slipped into the driver’s seat while he’d been loving her sweet body. He’d bitten and claimed her before he had the chance to explain anything.
A picture of Gretchen writhing on top of the mattress they’d shared flashed through his head. Reg groaned aloud. His dick was threatening to burst a hole through the denim he wore just from thinking about her.
Great. That was all he needed.
“Reg!” Hunter called him from his office, and the younger Tiger went running.
Despite his personal problems, he’d always answer his Neta. In fact, he should probably talk to the man about what he’d done. Marking a human woman with a claiming bite was not something that should ever be done lightly, but his Tiger had been out of his mind with the need to do so.
In plain English, Reg had fucked up. Badly. But maybe, with Hunter’s help, he could fix this. Reg jogged into the office to see Hunter, Brayden, and Mikey, their own Pride doc, sitting around his Neta’s desk. The man himself was just putting the phone down, and he looked mad as hell.
“What went down with Gretchen Kaepernick?”
“How do you mean?”
“You know what I mean,” Hunter growled the words.
Reg’s fists clenched at his sides. He didn’t like this. Not one bit. He didn’t want to talk about Gretchen in front of his other two Pride mates. His Tiger sure as fuck didn’t want to share one sweet morsel of information about her to anyone. She was his. His alone, but even his beast recognized that he had to answer his Neta.
“She is my mate.”
“I see. Did you tell her? Did you explain it to her? What it means to be mated to a Shifter and one of our Pride?”
“No, Neta. Things moved very quickly. I did explain afterwards, but she did not believe me about Shifters. I’ve been trying to get her to see me ever since.”
“You should have tried harder,” Hunter snapped.
Reg bowed his head low under the force of his Neta’s Alpha voice. He was so pissed at himself he didn’t even mind being forced to cower before his leader. He deserved it, and worse.
“Shit. I’m sorry Reg. My Nari is upset, and I get cranky when she is upset. Gretchen is her best friend.”
“I know that. I would never do anything to hurt her. She is my whole life, Neta.”
“I get it, Reg, I do.”
“My Tiger is pressing hard, Neta. He wants me to go to her. It’s all I can do to stop myself⁠—”
“I understand,” Hunter said and stood up.
He walked around his desk, took Reg firmly, yet gently, by the back of his neck and pressed his forehead to the younger man’s. Reg submitted to his Neta’s touch willingly.
There was nothing sexual or weird about it. Shifters were physical beings. In doing this, his Neta was showing his Tiger compassion, while still showing the beast Hunter was in charge.
“Be still,” he growled to the Tiger, and pushed back to look at Reg with glowing teal eyes.
“I have just heard from Elissa. It looks like that love bite of yours worked a little too well. We need to go, right now. All of us.”
Hunter turned to head for the door and the men followed. His words rushed through Reg’s mind, but he did not understand. Something was happening. Something potentially bad.
“What is going on?”
Reg’s heart thundered inside of his chest. Something was wrong. Anxiety twisted his insides, and his Tiger chuffed and snapped his jaws.
“I will explain on the way. Mikey, bring your bag, and tell Lance to come in about an hour with some men to clean up the mess.”
Reg ignored Mikey who was at that moment following the Neta’s instructions. He turned to Brayden who’d offered to drive them in his enormous truck with Hunter riding shotgun.
“Neta, please tell me what is going on.”
Reg’s blood rushed through him, increasing his pulse, and intensifying his agitation.
“Your mate needs you, Reg,” Hunter said with concern lacing his voice. “It seems she is experiencing the Puspa. It is dangerous, as we all know. Not everyone survives, Reg. You need to be ready.”
A deafening silence filled the inside of the vehicle as Reg’s brain tried to wrap around the word. Hunter’s voice was laced with a combination of worry and pride. Reg couldn’t have heard correctly.
Puspa.
His beast chuffed aloud. The Tiger was not shy about letting his own pride show through. The animal was excited and anxious to see his mate’s change.
Puspa was from a Bengali word, the place where their type of Shifter originated. It literally meant “to blossom”, but it’s meaning did not end there. It was so much more to him and his Pride.
It meant Reg and Gretchen’s mating was blessed by the universe. She truly was chosen for him by the Fates to share in the magic that allowed Shifters to experience life in two forms. A miracle truly. His sweet and feisty Gretchen was becoming a Shifter, like him. But it was dangerous.