Free Talon (Rise of the Pride, Book 1) by Theresa Hissong Page A

panther. The wetness between her legs was evidence enough
that she wanted him.
    When he’d sent the flowers over, she’d read
the card and smiled. What he’d said was simple.
    Go on a date with me? Text or call me and
tell me, but don’t make me wait too long.
    She didn’t want to seem overly eager, so she
waited for several hours, trying to ignore the card and the hot,
sexy shifter who wanted to be her mate.
    Liberty was still embarrassed that she’d
snuck in her sister’s room after Nova had left and borrowed one of
her silly romance books. She felt she had to do some research, and
boy did she ever get schooled on the subject of alpha males who
shifted into animals. The first hour that she’d skimmed through the
book, she had laughed hysterically, but then the author’s words
started to hit very close to home.
    A shifter was ruled by not only his human
side, but his animal side as well. There was a constant fight of
wills between the two. The human side of the shifter knew how to
fit in with society. The animal side only lived by what was
ingrained in them by way of their nature; hunt, sleep, mate.
Whoever that author was, they must’ve had some inside information
as to these shifters, because Liberty had seen Talon Shaw with
every word written in that book.
    She understood a little better why he’d
kissed her. The urge to claim a mate was predatory…part of his
animal nature. At least he was trying to do things her way, or at
least the way she’d suggested. She’d suggested a date and he’d
asked in the most romantic way possible. What girl would say no to
flowers and a man that looked like Talon?
    “Dinner’s up,” Moe snickered, hauling three
plates onto the counter. One was a triple cheeseburger with
everything, the second plate held three grilled chicken breasts,
and the third had a steak that fell over the sides of the plate.
Oh, and a small basket of fries.
    She was still smiling as she walked out to
hand Talon his monstrous amount of food. She’d seen him put away
twice as much, so this didn’t surprise her. As she flitted around
the bar, checking on customers and helping Mary Grace with tables,
she realized that she should’ve doubled that order.
    When he moaned at the first bite of chicken,
she felt her insides liquefy and heat radiate in the pit of her
stomach
.
    “Thank you,” he said politely after he’d
wiped the corner of his mouth. The moment Talon used his tongue to
swipe across his bottom lip, she felt her knees buckle. Before she
could crumble to the ground, he was there to pull her up by the
elbow. “Are you okay?”
    “Fine,” she lied. “Just lost my balance.”
With a knowing smile, Talon resumed eating, ignoring the sideways
glances of her patrons.
    Voices alerted her to a group of girls
entering the bar. They looked barely old enough to be drinking, if
that. One was tall with long blonde hair, her eyes were ice blue.
The other had dark brown hair, cut into cute pixie. Her eyes were
also ice blue. Liberty immediately knew that they were part of
Talon’s pride.
    With them were two boys who’d been stars of
the football team in town several years back. They were brothers,
and she knew them. They’d been good kids, but the girls were new
faces and they didn’t even look old enough to drink.
    Before she could go check their
identification, a rumbling growl came from Talon’s chest. Liberty
glanced in his direction and watched as his eyes narrowed on the
group.
    “Let me handle this.” He cursed, setting his
napkin by his plate and standing up to his full height. It only
took him two steps before the girls saw him approaching. Liberty
couldn’t see his face from where she was standing, but she could
see the fear radiating from the two girls.
    Talon talked in hush tones, the two girls
nodding at his every word. The blonde one blushed with her
embarrassment, but the other girl stood there with her shoulders
back and her eyes cast up to look at Talon. Hell, Talon