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    Pride Before the Fall
    Pride Before the Fall
    Pride Before the Fall
    Ebook118 pages1 hour

    Pride Before the Fall

    By Devon Rhodes

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    About this ebook

    When Brady was given a free pass to sow his wild oats, as long as he's back with the pride before fall, he never dreamed he'd meet his mate...or that his mate would be a man.

    As the pride's alpha heir, Brady knows the weight of responsibility. He's expected to settle down, find a mate and have an heir of his own. But first he's given the opportunity to travel and visit other prides, an unspoken opportunity to get his attraction to men out of his system before he comes home and does his duty.

    Mason has his hands full fostering Jonah, an abandoned teen soon to have his first shift. He doesn't have time to babysit a visiting alpha heir, but duty calls. As the second son of the alpha, he knows his place, and when he's given a task, he does it.

    Brady and Mason realize almost instantly that they are mates...and both also know that it can never come to pass. With the expectations they need to fulfill, this short time together will be the only chance they have to taste what could be. But they are tied together by more than just instinct—old crimes and hidden connections come to light and they are forced to make hard choices between duty and love.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPride Publishing
    Release dateOct 18, 2016
    ISBN9781786514684
    Pride Before the Fall

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      Book preview

      Pride Before the Fall - Devon Rhodes

      Page

      Pride Before the Fall

      ISBN # 978-1-78651-468-4

      ©Copyright Devon Rhodes 2016

      Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright September 2016

      Edited by Rebecca Scott

      Pride Publishing

      This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Pride Publishing.

      Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Pride Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

      The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

      Published in 2016 by Pride Publishing, Newland House, The Point, Weaver Road, Lincoln, LN6 3QN

      Pride Publishing is a subsidiary of Totally Entwined Group Limited.

      PRIDE BEFORE THE FALL

      Devon Rhodes

      When Brady was given a free pass to sow his wild oats, as long as he’s back with the pride before fall, he never dreamed he’d meet his mate…or that his mate would be a man.

      As the pride’s alpha heir, Brady knows the weight of responsibility. He’s expected to settle down, find a mate and have an heir of his own. But first he’s given the opportunity to travel and visit other prides, an unspoken opportunity to get his attraction to men out of his system before he comes home and does his duty.

      Mason has his hands full fostering Jonah, an abandoned teen soon to have his first shift. He doesn’t have time to babysit a visiting alpha heir, but duty calls. As the second son of the alpha, he knows his place, and when he’s given a task, he does it.

      Brady and Mason realize almost instantly that they are mates…and both also know that it can never come to pass. With the expectations they need to fulfill, this short time together will be the only chance they have to taste what could be. But they are tied together by more than just instinct—old crimes and hidden connections come to light and they are forced to make hard choices between duty and love.

      Dedication

      For my reader Tailtiu, who kept on squeaking.

      This is for you. Enjoy!

      Trademarks Acknowledgement

      The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmark mentioned in this work of fiction:

      iPhone: Apple, Inc.

      Chapter One

      Brady froze when he heard a branch break behind him, then sighed, knowing that the coming scene was inevitable. I was trying to make a clean getaway, Vance.

      Yeah, well, this is exactly why I’ve been keeping an eye on you. Ever since you started making all those trips to the city, especially when you started sneaking out huge-ass suitcases with you. His cousin Vance stalked into view. And boxes. Why do I get the feeling that if I checked your drawers and closet, they’d be cleaned out?

      Brady glanced around. He knew that Vance was always on his side, but the last thing he wanted to do was attract attention from any other pride members. Let’s talk somewhere else. He might as well shift here. He was wearing throwaway clothes on purpose, since he’d planned to leave them behind and cross the refuge in his lion form to get to his car, which he’d left as far away from the compound as possible. Come on.

      Vance made a frustrated noise but started to strip when Brady did. Once they’d both shifted, Brady led the way to Vance’s lair, a private niche in the riverbank where they’d spent so much time together throughout their lives, getting away from their pride.

      He’d stashed a small bag with his car keys and an outfit he wanted to keep in there, so he’d planned to head to the lair anyway. Now that the gig was up, he realized that, had he really wanted a clean break, he could have made it happen.

      Subconscious at work.

      In retrospect, it was probably for the best that he explain his decision to leave the pride to Vance. That didn’t mean it was going to be easy, though.

      He crossed the creek and paused to pull air in over his tongue. No new scents, only the faintest trace of Vance and his mate, Joey, probably from last week. Just as he’d left it when he’d been there a few days ago.

      Vance pushed past him, irritation pouring off him. He leapt up first then balanced on the ledge for a token check of the cave before heading inside. Brady jumped easily to the ledge then started his shift before walking in. To his surprise, Vance hadn’t yet shifted back to human. He was pacing back and forth, his tail whipping in displeasure.

      So, what? You drag me here then you don’t want to talk to me?

      Vance growled deep in his throat. "You’re the one who needs to do the talking," he sent through their mental bond. They’d shared that way of communicating since they were young. Then, to their surprise, Joey had also been added to their connection in this very cave when Brady had given his alpha blessing to their mating.

      Brady supposed that adding his bite to Vance’s on Joey’s neck at the time had mentally connected the cougar to them in a way that was typical for alphas and their pride members. It was too big of a coincidence to be anything else. But he didn’t have any hard facts to support that guess. Since the pride was still firmly under the leadership of Garth, his father, he wasn’t privy to all of the details about being an alpha, even though he was born to that role and would—far in the future—eventually assume leadership of the pride.

      Or maybe he should say a pride. Not necessarily this one.

      Vance stopped pacing. "What do you mean—he began to shift—not this one?" he finished aloud in a growly tone as he surged awkwardly into his human form.

      Oops. Must’ve thought that a bit too…‘loudly’.

      It was tough getting used to having to censor his thoughts, though it seemed that the flow tended to go more often in the other direction. Through trial and error, he’d learned that it took just a little concentration to either keep his privacy or block Vance’s and Joey’s mental ramblings, but he hadn’t quite gotten the knack of a consistent wall.

      Brady sighed and faced his oldest friend in the world head on. I have to go. At least for a while.

      Why? I don’t get it. I mean, after everything that went down… It proved that Garth isn’t homophobic. At least not as bad as we’d thought.

      Brady nodded. It had been about two months since they had fought for their lives after Joey had been kidnapped by some members of their pride in a bid for power. Once Brady and Vance had figured out that individuals in their pride, their family, were responsible for holding captive the sick cougar they’d met during his escape from their compound, they’d assumed from Joey’s description of the kidnappers’ leader that it was Garth, their alpha, who was behind it all.

      It had been a shock to everyone, especially Vance, to discover that it was his father—Garth’s twin, Peter—who had been trying to take over their pride. He’d long been thought dead by everyone in the pride, including Vance. In reality, Garth had been unable to follow through and kill his brother after his first coup attempt long ago and had instead banished him, keeping Vance and raising him alongside Brady.

      Vance had had no such compunctions, and when it had come down to Garth’s life versus his father’s, he hadn’t hesitated to pull the trigger and kill the man who had given him life. If it weighed on him—having his father reappear then almost immediately thereafter having to shoot him to defend his uncle—Brady hadn’t been able to sense it affecting his cousin. But Vance had been busy since then. Joey had also been wounded defending Garth in that final altercation, and his recovery process had been a definite distraction for Vance.

      How’s Joey doing? he asked. He’d

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