Free Jaguar's Kiss (Lone Pine Pride) by Vivi Andrews Page A

to where she’d tucked her clothes into a crook of the tree. Lila brushed off a fallen log and perched on it as Patch dressed and dropped out of the tree to land nimbly at her side. “I thought you and Roman had a date this afternoon.”
    “He cancelled,” Lila said. She shouldn’t have been relieved when she didn’t have to spend an hour with her fiancé, but she had been. “Seemed like the perfect opportunity to track you down. I’ve missed you, Patricia Marie.”
    Patch sighed heavily. “Lila, we should talk.”
    “My thoughts exactly. You look exhausted. Your heat wearing you out?” Lila knew from experience that the shots to prevent conception did nothing to control the cravings. The hormones could make it impossible to sleep, the restlessness clawing through her body all night.
    “You could say that.” Patch sat on the ground at Lila’s feet. “Lila, about Roman… I know you said I could have at him, but would you hate me if I…if we…”
    Lila blinked, startled. “Are you guys hooking up?” Roman hadn’t said a word. Though they weren’t exactly on comfortable speaking terms.
    Patch blushed.
    “Is it serious?” She felt another surge of relief-guilt at the idea that she might not have to marry Roman after all.
    “No. It’s just a fling. Sowing wild oats, like you said.” Patch groaned and flopped onto the ground. “This officially makes me the worst friend ever, doesn’t it? I’m getting it on with your fiancé. That is so wrong.”
    “If it were a normal marriage, I’m sure I’d claw your eyes out, but you know how it is.” She studied Patch. Did her best friend have feelings for Roman? Was it more than just a fling? “Are you going to be okay with it if I go ahead with the wedding?”
    Patch’s head snapped up at that. “ If ?”
    “Santiago asked me why I was marrying Roman and I didn’t know. It’s one of those questions I’ve never really let myself think about. Because it’s what I’ve always expected I would do. But I can’t seem to figure out if it’s what I want to do anymore. For the good of the pride, I guess.” Lila drew a circle in the dirt with one toe. “Do you think it really makes a difference to the pride if I marry Roman?”
    Patch was silent for a long moment. Lila wanted her to say no. To say there would be no consequences if she just ran off and did whatever the hell she wanted with no thought to the pride, for a change. Really, would the pride fall apart if she and Roman didn’t get married?
    “I don’t know,” Patch finally answered, the words pulled from her slowly. “People are worried. The question of whether we might come out to the humans, the risk of being abducted by fucking scientists—it makes the traditions more important. The Alpha needs a lioness mate, and if you and Roman are already in place as the logical successors, that means no power void if anything happens to your father. Which means no dominance challenges and fighting within the pride. No factions. No bloodshed.”
    “But if I walk away…”
    “It throws Roman’s position as successor into question. Someone might challenge him when your father steps down. Or see it as a weakness in the power structure and challenge your father for dominance right away. He’s strong, but he’s not as young as he once was. There are a lot of new nomads coming in. Some of them are lions who might be ambitious enough to think they can take over the pride.”
    “So not total Armageddon, just the chance that some strange lion might try to assassinate my father. Right.” Sometimes it sucked that Patch was always honest with her. She really would have liked a lie.
    “Sorry.”
    “Yeah.” Lila tipped her face up and looked at the pine boughs overlapping above her. The view reminded her of Santiago’s house. “Are you happy, Patch?”
    “What?”
    “Are you happy? Santiago asked me that and I just went blank. I feel like I used to be happy. We had fun, didn’t we? Before everything