Taze (Rise of the Pride #11) - Theresa Hissong Page 0,19

her during their training. They were both so young back then.

He had protective instincts. Hell, he was a Guardian, and that was one of the number one traits to have when applying for the position. He’d always been the one to watch over his family, and most of that was from his father training him at an early age, but the rage he felt at Calla being put in front of the people who were possibly bringing Khat to the rogue alphas was all consuming.

He’d always felt close to her. She’d recently celebrated her twenty-second birthday, and Taze was going on twenty-six. When he was first accepted into the Guardians and had finally gotten his mind right when it came to the females training, something inside him had been drawn to the young female. He’d taken it upon himself to train her despite her brother’s protests.

Malaki was a problem, and Taze was starting to put the puzzle pieces together regarding why he was hell bent on keeping Calla away. Malaki was like any other brother, wanting to protect the female at all costs, but Taze just couldn’t get over how…intense he was. Savage had a baby sister, and even the big, scary ass Guardian wasn’t as close to Sophia.

He turned off the shower and ended up in his bed with more questions than he had when he showed up at Calla’s door the night before. With any luck, he’d get some sleep, but as the hours ticked away on the clock, Taze couldn’t shake the feeling the two of them had kept a lot of things that happened during her kidnapping quiet. He even doubted the alpha knew what was going on.

Talon looked over the reports and cursed as he read off the names of the passengers sent to Colorado the night before. Sixty percent of those captured were female. It was obvious the alpha was smarter than the FBI and the pride were giving him credit for when it came to this new war.

The rogues had already hijacked two delivery trucks meant for local pharmacies. When the shipments were located, all of the controlled drugs were missing. It didn’t take long to realize the rogues were suspects after a surveillance video was acquired showing two males and a wolf attacking the driver.

It killed Talon to know those humans were being turned and brainwashed by some sick son of a bitch. He couldn’t figure out who Holden Manzelli was, and it was driving him mad. He’d consulted with Garrett on several occasions, and it was a tough decision to ask Calla to do some snooping once he’d found out she’d seen the Amburo brother and sister together.

He’d known things would be tense when she walked into the closed-door meeting with the information in hand. Seeing Taze and her brother still at each other’s throats didn’t surprise him. He’d been trying for years to get those two males to get along. The only thing left to do was to use his magic to force them to submit and behave, but he didn’t want to do that.

Calla was fighting her own battles, and while Talon knew the female was going to be mated to Taze just from the mating scent he produced at the meeting, they both needed to work things out with Malaki.

The healer had come by early that morning, requesting a private moment with Talon as he finished up his breakfast. Harold stuck to his strict patient/healer rule of keeping most things private, but when it came to someone’s safety, it was important for the alpha to know.

Calla had lost consciousness the evening before when Taze had stopped by her house. The anxiety was the culprit for the episode, and Harold had been concerned when she gave him a little information as to why it had happened.

He’d known about her anxiety issues, and he’d even noticed she held her head higher in the training facility. Since she’d turned twenty, things had changed. She’d come to him with a plan and a speech in place to get his approval for her to start law school and take a job with the humans. The Guardians had expressed their concerns, but Talon knew she wanted to help the people of her species. And he allowed it, because with the new ways of the world, they were going to need someone to represent them should the time come when it was needed.

The last thing he wanted to do was to cause more stress for