Free A Prideless Man by Amber Kell Page A

apart.”
    “So better to destroy an entire species than let his son die?”
    “I don’t think that was his original goal.”
    Cameron looked sad for a moment. “It doesn’t excuse his actions but I wouldn’t mind someone loving me that much. Besides, lately I get the impression Melinda is in charge now.”
    “I doubt it. Dr Everett broke up with her. I think he’s finally seen her true colours.”
    “We can only hope.”
    A PRIDELESS MAN
    Amber Kell
    55
    “Let’s see if there are other people to rescue.” They walked through the strangely circular corridor to discover five more shifters tying up some workers. None of them knew why the cells were unlocked or where the guards had gone. There were mostly medical workers around.
    “This gets weirder and weirder,” Lou said. He looked back and forth to the group of shifters, two males and three females. They were all golden with matching gold eyes.
    “Lions?”
    They nodded with an eerie synchronicity.
    “Who’s the leader?”
    “He’s gone,” one of the female felines offered. “He disappeared one day after he challenged Melinda about lying.”
    “They said he left.”
    “But he would never just leave us,” one of the male lions said. “He was a good leader.” The other lions nodded.
    “Come with me. If we get out of here we can try and find your alpha.” Smiles all around. He felt like he just offered candy to a group of kids. They all looked so damn young. It made sense that Andrew would want to experiment on lions the most. It was the closest he could get to his own son’s DNA.
    “I’m Lou.”
    “I’m Danice,” the most vocal of the females spoke. “This is Liza, Jane, Arturo and Rickey. Our alpha is Cesar.”
    Lou’s mouth twitched at the alpha’s name but he resisted comment. “Do you know if there are any more shifters around?”
    They all shook their heads.
    “Grab their door keys.” The humans looked pretty calm for people trussed up. “We could interrogate them?”
    Worry crossed their faces.
    “No, Melinda wouldn’t have told them anything. They’re worker drones,” the puma said, watching their expressions.
    From the little he knew of Melinda that was probably true. “We need to find out what’s going on. We’ll do better if we stick together.”
    “Or we’ll get recaptured together,” Cameron piped up.
    A PRIDELESS MAN
    Amber Kell
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    James growled at the puma. Lou watched with amusement as the other shifters stepped away from the annoyed cat.
    “Together, I meant that was a great idea. We should travel together. Safer,” Cameron said stepping carefully backwards.
    “Good. Stick with me.” Lou nodded for the others to go ahead. They were only too eager to get away from the growling kitty.
    “Easy, babe. No reason to scare the sweet ones.” He got a flash of fang from the white lion.
    Chuckling, Lou followed the others, completely confident his mate would come after him. Lou was marked with James’ scent and he knew the lion wouldn’t let him go no matter what. As soon as they got back to his house and his lover returned to his human form he was going to return the favour and mark the man until he knew he was claimed in return.
    The others ran like they knew where they were going—a path that came to a screeching halt when a dozen dead soldiers lined the hall.
    “Oh, shit, the coyote got out,” Cameron said with a whistle.
    “What coyote?” Lou asked though he was afraid he knew where Dennis’ sister went, but memories of Dennis’ sad eyes made him ask, “What was her name?”
    “Who?” Danice asked.
    “The coyote.”
    “Crazy lady,” Cameron said. “She never talked to the rest of us. She was kind of damaged. They usually left her in her cell. I think they were afraid of her.” Looking down at the pile of ravaged bodies Lou decided they had more than a little reason to be. “Where do you think she’d go once released?”
    “Who knows?”
    He watched James sniff the mauled bodies holding back