Home > Taken by the Tiger (Alpha Claimed #2)(4)

Taken by the Tiger (Alpha Claimed #2)(4)
Author: Milly Taiden

She didn’t look for Ryan, but she knew he was in there. Her body knew. She barely ate and did more drinking than she ever had in her life. After her speech, which was short and sweet, unlike Balgair’s funny toast, she stuck to Jade’s side. Guilt held her there. She was the maid of honor and should’ve been helping out in anything that was needed instead of going off and letting some hot, handsome stranger fuck her brain dead.

The cake was cut and all that was left was the bouquet toss. She watched the single women smile at each other and try to stand where they thought the flowers would land. Then Jade glanced at the group and frowned.

“Get your ass in here, Parker,” Jade called her. “You’re single, too.”

Ah, crap. She stood at the back, as far as possible from the group, and smiled tightly at the people around her. Jade acted like she was tossing the bouquet, but stopped. She did that a few times and the women were shoving at each other as if she were tossing an actual man at them. Then Jade turned to face them and threw the flowers right at her. The bouquet hit Parker in the face and landed in her hands.

The crowd laughed and everyone cheered. The single women glared at her, and she laughed at the amount of anger some of them displayed over flowers. Parker didn’t believe in that shit. She didn’t think at all that she was the next one getting married and wanted to tell them, but if those girls were angry over the flowers, clearly, they felt the bouquet toss meaning was real.

After that, she hugged Jade and the groom. She kissed Ben and Brody and rushed over to Balgair and his husband to say goodnight.

“Want to do lunch this week?” Balgair asked while hugging his husband who was in a conversation with another guest.

“Yeah. Let me see how my week looks. I need to find a job. And I have charitable work to do.”

Balgair rolled his eyes. “You’re such a goody two shoes. Show off. I do community service, too.”

She grinned and raised her brows. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. I do stuff here and there,” he said, waving a hand dismissively at her. “Anyway, I’ll call you.”

She hugged him and kissed his cheek. “Do that.”

Finally glancing around the salon, she searched for Ryan, but didn’t see him. She used that moment to make her escape. Her car was already at the front, and she slipped the valet a tip before taking off. She slid into her Lamborghini Veneno and sped off. She would never spend the kind of money it cost to buy that car. Her grandfather had given it to her as a gift when she graduated college.

She had to stop herself from speeding on her way home. It was easy with a car that went zero to sixty in the blink of an eye. She only kept it because it reminded her of her grandfather. He’d been a true entrepreneur. He opened a small autobody shop to fix cars.

Then he grew his business as more and more people liked his work. Within ten years, he had several locations across the U.S. Then a larger company offered to buy him out. He was smart, though. He got shares of the company and made millions off the sale. The family was set. But he wasn’t done. He started a non-profit to help college students going into technical colleges.

When she got to her building, she tossed the keys at the doorman and stopped to kiss his cheek. “Hey, Harry.”

“Hello, Ms. Nolan,” the elderly doorman greeted. He reminded her so much of her grandfather, it was why she refused to move from the penthouse apartment into a regular house. She didn’t need the penthouse either, but it had also been a gift from her grandfather, and she had a hard time letting go of the stuff he’d given her.

She got to her apartment and took the dress off and set up a bath. Lying in the warm water, letting her muscles relax, she thought about what she was supposed to do with herself. She’d been traveling from country to country with various agencies, helping provide food and basic necessities for those in extreme need. Now she was home, and she wasn’t sure how to fit in.

Parker had always felt like an outsider in her own family. Had it not been for Jade and Balgair, she wouldn’t have had a childhood. Though Jade’s parents hadn’t been rich, they hadn’t been destitute. And Balgair’s family was well off like hers. But Jade had done the good daughter deed after college and taken care of her ill parents. Balgair had married and had his own life. What did Parker have?

She thought about Ryan. Tonight she thought about what she wanted. A man to love her. But for how long? It scared her to commit to anything long-term. What if she messed up? She saw how her parents lived. They stayed married for looks. What she’d seen tonight with Jade and her husbands and Balgair and his hubby was not normal. In all her years, she’d seen only a few couples like that.

Her parents were the norm. Jade’s parents, too. People no longer in love but dealing with each other because they didn’t know how to let go. Or because, in her parents’ case, of what society would say. Or how much it would cost to let go.

She hated that. And it scared her to think of being in a relationship that would eventually end up there. She wanted to be loved forever. She wanted to love someone forever. That’s why she didn’t do commitment. Because she knew it was rare to find a lifetime love. But too many people were living with relationships that had died off years ago and remained roommates. The thought of that killed her. She wouldn’t be her parents.

After her bath, she slipped on her robe and heard the doorbell. A delivery bag hung from the handle.

Enjoy your dinner.

Harry.

She really loved that old man. She would make sure he was taken care of forever. Just like her grandfather took care of her.

 

 

Chapter Five

 

 

Ryan Wade hated that the Pine Pride had suffered the loss of their leader. After finding his grandson, Eaton West’s heart stopped one night, and no one was able to wake him. The majority felt he probably died from heartbreak since his daughter’s body had been found and his grandson wanted nothing to do with him.

Ryan, Eaton’s nephew and newly appointed Pride Leader, had his work cut out for him. The pride had turned on itself. The younger generation was not caring for their elders as they should. In fact, he was hearing of abuse on elders by the young.

“You look a little pissed, bro,” Barrick Wade, his identical twin brother said, waltzing into Ryan’s office and sitting on his office sofa. Barrick was younger by one minute, but that minute made all the difference when it came to becoming pride leader.

Not that Barrick wanted to be pride leader. He knew that he was Ryan’s right hand and Ryan wasn’t going to be alone doing the job. He’d split everything between them and made sure his twin helped him out. “What’s going on? Anything I can do?”

“These kids. Are we seriously seeing abuse on our elders?”

Barrick growled. “It pains me to say yes. I’ve broken up at least three fights this week between younger tigers and elders. It’s like they lost their fucking minds and all respect for our people.”

“What the hell had Eaton been doing here?” Ryan asked, frustrated. He’d moved away from the pride so he could handle his security company, but he still visited from time to time. He and Barrick were too busy growing their business to also keep track of what was happening with the pride.

Barrick shrugged and put his feet up on the coffee table. “I guess he was just consumed with guilt the past few years. He didn’t realize shit was going downhill.”

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