Taze (Rise of the Pride #11) - Theresa Hissong Page 0,6

in her protective clothing, and they didn’t want humans thinking the same.

“Lucky and Taze will take the back while Tabor and I take the front,” Storm continued. “Let’s get this guy and the drugs tonight.”

Lucky pulled alongside the road, killing the lights on the van. When he approached, Tabor and Storm filled him in on the information while Taze stepped aside to speak to Evie.

“Have you talked to Calla at all?” he asked, but he knew the answer as soon as the female’s face fell. “I’m assuming she is still declining?”

“I think we are wasting our breath with her, Taze.” Evie sighed and tucked her long sleeve shirt into her gloves to keep the material from riding up and exposing her arms to a male’s touch. “She wants nothing to do with the fighting. Calla truly thinks she can make a difference by getting her law degree.”

“I get it,” he replied, shaking his head. “I really do, but we need her here more. Things are getting worse, and the alpha is changing them as quickly as we can round them up.”

“I don’t know what to do with her,” Evie admitted. The sadness in the female’s icy blue eyes was felt throughout the pride. Everyone knew Calla was the best female to add to the Protectors, but she wouldn’t budge.

Taze didn’t know what he needed to say to Calla to get her to come back to the program, but he was going to try everything in his power to remind her what a talented fighter she truly was before this whole Gadaí mess was over.

“Do you want to explain to me what the fuck I scented in the alpha’s office?” Malaki blurted into the phone the moment Calla answered.

Fuck!

“I don’t think I need to explain to you what that was,” she replied as she thumbed through a magazine she’d had laying on her kitchen table.

“Calla, are you two seeing each other?” he pressed. “Are you mates?”

“I have no idea, Mal,” she replied, closing the magazine and tossing it in the trash. “Plus, it’s really none of your business.”

“You are my business,” he reminded her. Calla pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it for a second like it had tried to bite her. She was so tired of his protectiveness.

“Would you quit being an ass?” she snarled. “It’s going to happen one day. I will find my mate, and if we touch, I can’t deny that, and you know it.”

“But him?” Malaki growled. “Really? Taze?”

“Look, you two have hated each other for years,” she began, feeling her canines thickening in her mouth. She felt feverish and achy. Tonight was not the night to get into a fight with her brother over his hatred of her old trainer. “I really wish you’d grow the fuck up, Mal. I have enough stress on me as it is, and with you and Taze at each other’s throats every time you are in the same room, it’s driving me crazy.”

“I don’t like him,” her brother reminded her. She sat heavily on her couch and pulled the blanket over her body as she felt a shiver roll over her exposed skin. “Not since he treated you like shit.”

“He was a male going through his prime,” she replied, rolling her eyes so hard she thought they’d stick that way. “He was barely twenty, and his temper was on edge with the hormonal changes. If I remember correctly, you weren’t much better either.”

“This isn’t about me,” he replied.

“Look, Mal, I’m tired. It’s been a long day, and all I want to do is get lost in some stupid movie on television. Can we hold off on your hatred of Taze Malone for one more night? Hell, one more lifetime?” Calla flipped the covers off her body when her temperature spiked. “Hey, I need to go.”

“Fine, but stay home and away from him,” Malaki huffed as he said his goodbye.

She dropped the phone on the ground and used the back of her hand to wipe away the sweat that had pebbled on her forehead. How was she going to stop Malaki from hating on Taze? The stress of their fighting was getting to her. She felt sick.

Taking some calming breaths, Calla used the technique Harold had taught her when she had been rescued from the wolves and brought into the pride. She hadn’t had a panic attack in a long time, yet this one was just as bad as the others. It didn’t matter how many