Serengeti Storm Read Online Free PDF Page B

that? Isn’t that sad?”
    “That was years ago, Mom.”
    Brenna didn’t respond to Shana’s words. She just sipped her Scotch and sighed, shaking her head wistfully. “She was such a nice girl, that Jen. Not like that hussy, Angelina.”
    Shana braced herself for the inevitable comparison. She must’ve heard a thousand over the years. “No one respects a trollop, no matter how many African babies she adopts.” “You know better than anyone how a slut like that thinks.” “A skank is as a skank does, wouldn’t you agree, Shana?”
    But Brenna wasn’t quite that drunk yet. Still in her friendly first bottle of the day. Instead of the biting words Shana was braced for, she just shook her head and gave a misty smile. “So sad.”
    “Yeah. Sad.” Shana said nothing more. Words weren’t power with her mother. They always seemed to become weapons that would boomerang back to her, slicing her open. So she said as little as possible as her mother finished her drink and poured herself another with hands that were surprisingly steady.
    “You went away, Shana-bay,” her mother cooed. “You left me.”
    Shana swallowed back the guilt that rose like bile, involuntary and unwelcome. “I thought you’d understand why. You were always talking about the proud tradition of the lions. You said without tradition we were nothing. That we had to honor Leonus as the Alpha, even though he killed…” She paused and cleared her throat. She knew better than to say her father’s name. She’d already said too many words. Too many weapons getting ready to spiral back on her. “I thought you’d hate the direction the new Alpha is taking the pride.”
    “Of course I hate it,” Brenna said with a vacant smile. “That’s why you needed to stay. A strong mate can turn the Alpha’s head whichever way it needs to go. Why, when your father was Alpha, I don’t think he ever made a single decision without consulting me first.”
    Except the decision to accept a younger, stronger lion’s challenge and get himself killed. He did that all on his own. And then the pride belonged to that bastard Leonus. The words itched to jump out of Shana’s mouth, but she kept them tight to her chest.
    Now was not the time to speak out. Her mother’s nostalgic drunkenness came right after friendly drunkenness. And right before the worst part. At the rate her mother’s glass was emptying and refilling, the worst part wasn’t far away.
    “You have the blood of kings in your veins, Shana,” her mother mumbled dreamily, downing the Scotch like it was apple juice. “You were born to be the Alpha’s mate.”
    “Yes, Mother.”
    “You’re the strongest, Shana-bay. No one can take anything from you that you don’t let them take. That’s the beauty of the pride.”
    Shana studied the worn shag rug to keep from responding.
    Strength was the curse of the pride. Nothing was sure unless you were the strongest. And not even then. Her mother had been the strongest and look what had become of her. She’d won the Alpha as her mate and fought hard to keep him, but it hadn’t lasted. Nothing did.
    Lions rarely mated for life. The strong fought for the right to the best mates. In the pride, mating wasn’t just about procreation. It was about politics and dominance. Brenna’s position hadn’t been based on the Alpha’s love or devotion, but on her ability to dominate the other females.
    In her prime, Brenna had proven over and over again that she deserved to be queen. She’d ruled. And she had wanted nothing less for her daughter. Glory. Power.
    Choosing a mate wasn’t about love. It wasn’t marriage. It was survival of the species. The pride’s version of a divorce was more often than not a brutal brawl that left the unworthy without mating rights. The birth control shots the pride doctor provided could be a punishment for the weak just as easily as they could be prevention for lionesses like Shana.
    For the first time in years, Shana found