A door closed, and the sloshing got softer. “You’re bringing a tabby into the free zone? Jace, they’ll start a war over this. You have to take her back.”
“Not gonna happen, man. I’m ready to put our plan into action with a drastically accelerated timeline, but she and I are a package deal. Take it or leave it.”
Titus growled, but there was no real anger in the sound. “You know I can’t do this without you.”
“That’s kind of what I’m counting on,” I admitted with another glance at Abby.
Titus took a deep breath, and I recognized both exhilaration and anxiety in the sound. “So, we’re really going to do this?”
“Effective immediately.”
“Okay. We’ll meet you at the border in an hour.”
I hung up the phone and couldn’t stop smiling.
A couple of minutes from the border, I shook Abby’s shoulder. “Ab. We’re almost there.”
She sat up, wiping a shiny spot from her chin, and her brown eyes brightened instantly as what I’d said sank in. “Mississippi? The free zone?”
I nodded, smiling. “Another word for it might be ‘home.’”
Her smile widened and she stared out the windshield, where the Welcome to Mississippi sign had just appeared on the side of the road. Then she held her breath until we’d passed it.
“That’s it!” She turned to me, still beaming. “We’re home.”
“Yup.” I put on my right blinker and swerved gently toward the rest stop just past the state line.
“You need a break? I can drive some more.” Abby unbuckled her seat belt as I pulled into an empty space near the restroom. Then she froze as five large men stepped out of the shadow of the building, headed straight toward us. “Jace…” She sniffed the air but couldn’t have caught much of their scents from inside the car.
“It’s okay. They’re friendly.”
I pulled her jacket from the backseat and set it in her lap, then opened my door and got out. Abby joined me, zipping her coat, and I could hear her heart pound as her hand slid into my grip.
The man at the center of the group stepped forward as I tugged her onto the sidewalk, and her pulse began to race. “Abby, this is Titus Alexander.”
Her eyes widened. She recognized the name.
Titus smiled and turned on the charm, but unlike most of the women he met, she only smiled politely and shook his hand. None of her clothes fell off at his feet.
“Titus and I are going to turn the free zone into a real territory,” I said, and her brown eyes widened. “We’re going to make it a home, and you’re going to be safe. You’re going to have everything you ever wanted. Here. With me.”
“And with us.” Titus waved his wildcats forward, and they held their hands out for her to shake, each one of them large, and powerful, and polite. “Abby Wade, welcome to the Lion’s Den.”
Dear Reader, Thank you so much for reading Lion’s Share! I hope you’ve enjoyed the first Wildcats book, a spinoff of the original Shifters series, which launched my career, and if you haven’t already read it, don’t forget to check out “Hunt,” the short story that bridges the two series and sets up the events in Lion’s Share.
When I ended the Shifters series in 2010, I thought I’d run out of stories to tell in that world. Then when I was revising the “Hunt” story four years later for an independent re-release, a throwaway line about Jace’s tenure as Alpha sparked the idea that became the basis for the Wildcats books. What if there was a Pride made up entirely of strays? How would the Territorial Council react? What challenges would this new Pride face? Who would lead it? How would its social and political structure differ from what we’ve seen in the established territories? And most importantly, how will all those strays ever find love in a world that rejects them based on their very nature?
Readers ask me all the time for more books set in the Shifters world, and now that I have a great spinoff concept, I’m happy to oblige! I hope you have as much fun reading them as I’m having writing them!
If you liked Lion’s Share, I hope you’ll consider reviewing it wherever you review books, because as an indie series (I’m putting it out myself, rather than selling it to a publisher), the Wildcats books depend entirely on my own publicity efforts and readers’ word of mouth. And if you’d like to be updated about new releases, contests, and cover art, click here to sign up for my (low volume) mailing list.
About the Author
Rachel Vincent is a former English teacher and an eager champion of the Oxford comma. She shares her home in Oklahoma with two cats, two teenagers, and her husband, who’s been her # 1 fan from the start. Rachel is older than she looks and younger than she feels, and she remains convinced that writing about the things that scare her is the cheapest form of therapy—but social media is a close second.
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