Argus: Accepting the Challenge

By Jana Leigh

Argus know who he is and what his destiny it. He is one of the Chosen, now he has to step forward with his Pride and take his place. Before he can, circumstances change and he has to take care of business before he leaves.
Jacob is Argus’s mate. They have known for a long time, but they waited to find their female before claiming each other. He has searched for years for their missing mate, suddenly she appears only miles from their Pride, and she is human.
Skye doesn’t want or need another man in her life; she is running from her ex already. So, when two men approach her and tell her the most amazing story about shifters and mates, she refuses. She does not need another crazy man in her life, let alone two.
Warning Sexually explicit content inside. MMF

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jana Leigh
• Release date: Mar 12, 2012
• ISBN: 9781452489698

Jana Leigh

Jana Leigh lives in Colorado surrounded by her family and friends. She loves writing and meeting new people!

Book preview

Argus: Accepting the Challenge

Denver Pack

Book Ten

by Jana Leigh

Published by JK Publishing, Inc.

© Copyright 2012 Jana Leigh

Reissued May 2016

Rights & Permissions © 2012 JK Publishing, Inc.

Cover, art and logo © Copyright 2012 by JK Publishing, Inc.

All rights reserved.

ISBN# 978-1-452-48969-8

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Dedication

The name Jacob was given to me by one of my readers. I have had trouble thinking of good strong names for all of these books. But I felt like taking it a step further, and included her name in the book. So thank you, Seila, enjoy your character!

Table of Contents

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Books by Jana Leigh

Excerpt from Reaching Rissa

Prologue

Argus sat at his desk and shuffled the papers around like he was actually concentrating. He had a small pride, but one he was dedicated and proud of. They were the misfits, the ones no one else wanted because of their pedigree, or lack of. Cats were curious creatures. They were prissy. At least that’s what Argus and his pride thought. They were mostly combinations of different breeds, they had a wolf and a cougar who had a child that when shifted it looked like a dog, with cat ears. Argus was one of the only purebred shifters here. Argus Leon, that is what they called him when he was found.

Ever since he had gotten that message from Ryan, the leader of the Northern Pride, he had been distracted. Although he was abandoned as a young cub, this pride had taken him in and raised him together. His adoptive mother had been a wonderful woman. Lena never treated him differently than any of her other children. Even when it became obvious that he was stronger than her children were. She knew that he would be the leader of the pride. Lena raised him to be an honest and good leader.

The Southern Pack was just outside Dallas in wide-open country. They called it a gated community, but it was really his pride. They had walls and gates put up years ago to keep the humans out. When they wanted to run, they didn’t want to fear being seen. People probably would think it was a zoo in here if they saw them shift. There were so many different shifters in his pride they could probably fill a zoo.

Argus sat back and thought about his childhood. If it hadn’t been for his best friend, he would probably have gone down the wrong road. Jacob was his conscience. Jacob’s mother, Seila, always said that. Seila was best friends with Lena, which made things worse. She loved to tease them about being together all the time. Where one was the other was certain to be too. Just recently, both women decided it was time that their fun loving sons needed to settle down. It had gotten to the point where he was avoiding Sunday dinner, so was Jacob.

It was only natural that when he became the leader of the pride that Jacob would be his second. Although Jacob liked to tease that he could take over at any time, together they were very powerful. He had always had an inner sense of strength that seemed to be more than the other cats showed. Argus was a lion. So was Jacob, although he had a little cougar in him too. Argus was pure lion, King of the Jungle, and the largest lion on the continent. He knew because he made it his business to know these things. His pride meant everything to him, and he was going to make sure that no one would try to take it away. So far, he hadn’t faced many challenges for his pride, he wasn’t worried, and he knew he would beat any that came.

His pride was a little different from most. His policy was the man made the beast. He didn’t care what type of cat they were, they were welcome as long as they had the right philosophy about life. He admitted he could be a little arrogant, cocky, and sometimes downright annoying, but that was mostly due to Ryan. The leader of the Northern Pride. Argus grinned when he thought of the man. He was so easy to tease, and make his face turn red.

Argus turned his thoughts to the many other magical beings in his pride. He didn’t think that one had to be a cat to be a part of a pride, he welcomed everyone. Hence the label of misfits. It didn’t bother him at all. He liked having the different shifters and magical people in his pride. It made him very aware of what was going on around the world with the different groups. Hell, the New Council leader probably had no idea how many different shifters there actually were out there. He did, because he had compiled a special book. One that listed all the groups around the world, shifters and magical people included. No one knew about his list but Jacob. Together they had made it and protected it.

He stared at the message from the New Council again and then leaned back and laid his head against the back of the chair. Argus had Jacob send off the message they were bringing someone to Colorado. He was sure the leader of the Northern Pride had been pissed he had waited for so long. But Argus had to think and consider all sides.

Argus knew what this meant, and he also knew who and what he was. He had known right from the beginning when the New Council started. But at the time, he had no desire to leave his nice, safe, comfortable home. Argus wasn’t really good with change. Jacob also knew, since they had talked about it extensively. That was another thing. Jacob. Argus knew the man was his mate, hell, he had known since they were teens, but he had not acted on it. Neither of them had. They decided to wait until they found their other mate. It was becoming increasingly difficult to wait though. Jacob and Argus had made a pact when they discovered they were mates. They knew the facts, that one mate was still missing, so they never took a woman on their own. Argus smiled at the memories he had of them sharing a woman. They had never made love to a woman before; it was only sex, when they found their mate things would be different.

When they told their parents for the first time, Argus had been worried. After all, they weren’t his natural parents or family. What if they thought he was a deviant? He laughed to himself at the stress he had gone through over that. Seila and Lena had laughed and said, We have known for years. Then proceed to tell them how to treat a woman so she felt loved and cherished. Argus had scoffed. Their mate would be strong enough to not need pampering, he thought.

Argus and Jacob talked about their mating a lot, how they would handle each other and a female together sexually; even had a few heavy petting times, but they had not consummated it. The reason was because of his destiny. His adoptive mother had sat him down when he was a teen. She explained that although he was abandoned, she knew he was one of the Chosen. The note that had been left with him had explained it all. She kept it from him until then because she wasn’t sure how to handle it, or if Argus could handle it.

When she saw how strong he was physically and mentally, she explained the whole thing to him about the Prophecy and what the Seer from the Old Council had foretold. Argus thought it was a bunch of hogwash at first. But then he did his own research into the New Council members who seemed to be popping up every day. He knew it was selfish to remain hidden, but he wanted to make sure his pride was going to go along with everything that would happen. He knew he would have to leave and join the New Council. It sucked he would have to do this, but he wouldn’t leave his people. They were either all coming with him or he wouldn’t go. After much deliberation, Argus and Jacob had silently bought a huge amount of acres by the small town. The Council had bought up most of them already, but Argus beat them to the punch on the Eastern side of town.

It was big enough for them to establish a small community for their pride. Argus and his pride had voted last week. Argus believed in his members having a choice. He ultimately made the decision, but he allowed them to all speak their peace about what was happening. The small town of Milliken was growing, although the humans had no clue. The New Council had made a gated community, and the shifters and other magical people who had moved to be part of the New Council Pack had made sure they built houses in the country away from prying eyes.

His land was also well away from prying eyes; he was happy with his pride’s purchase and had already sent people out to begin building. They estimated the whole pride could be there by the end of the year. Of course, he was going to have to tell Quin at some point. The Alpha tended to like to know everything that was going on around him. Argus had spoken to him a few times and like the Alpha, his mate, Jaden, was also a force to be reckoned with, but Jaden was a little more approachable. He had heard stories about the female Alpha. She was full of piss and vinegar according to the grapevine. No one crossed her, or the other females of the New Council. They had bonded together on a few occasions and it had been downright scary the things they came up with.

Argus pulled out the book he had recorded everything in and read it over again.

Quin, Jaden, and Cami made up the tri-Alpha Chosen. Quin was born in January and thus been assigned the position, because he was born first and mature enough to handle the position. He took his position seriously, which Argus liked. Since the man had been in control of the New Council, good things had begun to happen. Argus knew they had moved from Denver to Milliken, Colorado, but the pack had prospered there. In fact, a lot of shifters had decided to join the New Council Pack for support against the