Lily and the Lion by Honey Phillips
Chapter Twenty-Four
Leotra stared around at the empty warehouse in dismay and growing anger. The building was empty. Only a few portable cages remained behind.
“They were warned.”
“Yes, sir.” Nargan shook his head. “I should have set a better watch, but I didn’t want to tip them off.”
“It’s not your fault.” He had a horrible suspicion that he knew exactly who was to blame. His bastard father. “But search the place. See if you can find any indication of who was here or where they might have gone.”
He didn’t really expect the guards to turn up anything, but a short time later Nargan returned with a Ceekat male in tow. The stench of alcohol emanating from his body was so strong that Leotra almost gagged.
“Found him passed out in the toilet. Says his name is Tothra. He claims he doesn’t know what happened.”
The male blinked at him, his eyes bleary. “I just came to make a purchase.”
“You have enough money to buy a slave?” Leotra asked doubtfully, surveying the male’s ragged clothing.
“Not ‘xactly. I found an unclaimed female so I traded her in.” Tothra surveyed the empty space sadly. “But I never got my end of the deal. Probably why they kept giving me liquor.”
“A female?” he growled, trying not to lose his temper.
“Yeah. They like those. But she was too small. And soft.” Tothra shuddered. “I like ‘em big and hard. Get the old juices flowing, you know what I mean?”
Tothra tried to nudge him, but Leotra pulled away in disgust.
“What was the female like?”
“I told you. Small. Soft. Yellow hair.”
“Was she human?” he demanded.
“Maybe? Sounds kind of familiar. One of your males bought her.”
“One of my males?”
“Yeah. A buk-, a bukh—you know, one of them.” Tothra pointed at the guards.
“None of my males would do such a thing,” Nargan snapped.
“Looked like one of you. Say, you don’t have anything to drink, do you?”
“No,” he said shortly. “Take him away, Nargan. See if we can get more out of him once he’s sobered up.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Leave a few men here to keep searching, but I need to return to the apartment. And to contact my grandfather.”
And somehow he needed to find a way to tell his mate that he might have missed the chance to rescue one of her friends.
Lily paced backand forth anxiously. Leo and the guards had left to raid the slave ring, and he had refused to let her accompany them.
“It’s too dangerous. You will be safe here. The doors are locked, and no one can enter.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about. What if you find Kate or Mary? Or another human? I should be there to let them know that they’re safe now.”
“I promise you that I will bring any humans I find directly to you.”
“I suppose. But please be gentle. I can’t stand to think what might have happened to them.”
“As gentle as a paka,” he promised with a teasing smile.
“Good kitty.”
He gave a mock growl, grabbed her ass, and hauled her against him.
“We’ll come back to this later,” he promised.
Then he kissed her and was gone.
Mata kept her company at first, but the girl was equally worried about Janob and her nervous speculations only added to Lily’s anxiety. In the end, Lily did her best to give her a reassuring smile and sent her off to assist the chef in making treats for the return of the males.
She knew that Leo was strong and fast, and she knew that the guards were well-trained, but as the time ticked past, more and more horrible scenarios tried to creep into her mind. It seemed like he had been gone forever, leaving her nothing to do except wait and pace—which was why she had ended up in the entry corridor. There was plenty of room to move, and at least she would be the first to know when Leo returned.
She finally decided to go check on Mata again, but as she reached the stairs, she heard the outer doors open. She spun around eagerly, a welcoming smile on her lips, but only a single person stepped through the doors—a tall Tajiri male wearing a cloak. Her heart skipped a beat. Had something happened to Leo?
Then the male threw back the hood of his cloak. Chinit.
Leo’s father looked terrible, his elegantly styled mane in a wild tangle around his shoulders, and his face worn and angry.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m going to put an end to this ridiculous nonsense,” he snarled. “The Situni corporation is mine.”
“Not any longer. You need to leave before—”
“Before your precious Leo returns?” He laughed, the sound high-pitched and unstable. “He’s too busy chasing his tail at an empty warehouse.”
“How do you know it’s empty?”
She took a careful step backwards as she spoke, frantically trying to think of a plan. Her heel bumped against the bottom step.
“How do you think? It was my idea. Of course, it was kind of Leotra to warn me in time to get the slaves out of there. I would have hated to lose all my inventory.”
“Your idea?” She gave him a horrified stare. “How could you? They aren’t inventory. They’re people!”
“Not to me,” he said callously.
“Leave our home. Now,” she ordered.
“Your home? Don’t make me laugh. This is part of the Situni Tower. That means it belongs to me.”
She glared at him. “Not based on what I heard this afternoon. It doesn’t sound like anything belongs to you anymore.”
He snarled again. “Don’t you play games with me, bitch. I know that this mating is just a sham.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Of course it is. I told you before. Humans are for fucking, not for mating.”
She lifted her chin defiantly, even as he prowled closer. “Leo doesn’t seem to agree with you.”
“Oh, he agrees with me. He just needed someone gullible enough to go along with it so that he could claim his inheritance.”
For the briefest moment, the old doubts washed over her. Was it possible that Leo had known about the clause and had just been using her all along? Chinit must have seen the hesitation on her face because he smiled triumphantly.
“I don’t believe you,” she said, with all the conviction she could muster. “He’s handsome, wealthy, and charming. He could have anyone he wanted.”
“Yes, but if he chose a Tajiri female, he would be mated for life.” Chinit sneered at her. “You’re disposable. As soon as he gets tired of fucking you, he’ll take off that collar and be free to do whatever he wants.”
The momentary flicker of doubt disappeared, replaced by a deep certainty. She knew Leo. She trusted him. She gave Chinit a sweet smile and pushed her gown away from her neck.
“This isn’t disposable. A mating mark is for life.”
His eyes blazed with fury, and he raised a hand, claws fully extended.
“We’ll see about that. I’ll cut it out of your flesh before I let him choose a human over me.”
Her instincts screamed at her to run, but she knew he could catch her. Instead, she reached behind her, finding the metal sculpture of the lovers.
Chinit took a step closer, and she ducked, twisting as she did to grab the statue with both hands. She whirled back around and swung it against his extended arm as if she was swinging a baseball bat. The bone broke with a sickening crack, and he howled, but the rage on his face only intensified. He seized the statue with his intact arm. She tried to hang onto it, but he was far stronger and it slipped out of her grasp.
“I’m going to enjoy making you pay for that,” he snarled. His hand clenched painfully around her wrist as he started to drag her back down the corridor.
Leotra racedthrough the entrance doors just in time to see his father grab hold of Lily. His roar filled the enclosed space as he charged at them, prying Chinit’s hand away from her and throwing him against the wall.
“You dare. You dare to lay a hand on my female. It will be the last thing you ever do.”
Terror filled Chinit’s face as Leo advanced towards him. He relished the sight, fury racing through his blood, but then Lily’s soft hand touched his arm.
“You can’t kill him, Leo.”
“He touched you,” he growled.
“Yes, but he’s your father.”
“Not any longer. He is a despicable male.” His eyes flicked to her face, hating to break the news to her. “I’m sorry, love. The warehouse was empty. The bastard warned them.”
“I know,” she said quietly. “He told me.”
Chinit began to laugh, despite the blood running down his face. “It certainly took you long enough to work that out. And you can spare me your righteous indignation. You have your own human slave.”
“She is not my slave. She is my mate.” My everything.
“How touching,” Chinit sneered. “But I am still a member of House Situni.”
“No, you’re not. I spoke to Grandfather on the way back here. As of now, your access to any Situni assets has been terminated. You have no business, no property, and no funds.”
He stepped back and gestured to Captain Nargan, waiting silently behind them with his squad. “Take him away.”
Chinit howled in rage but he was no match for two of the big Bukharans.
“I think I broke his arm,” Lily murmured as Chinit wailed.
“Good. My fierce mate.” He pulled her against him and buried his face in her red curls. “Can you ever forgive me?”
“Why do I need to forgive you?”
“I was the one who warned him. It’s my fault that the slaves are gone.”
“You didn’t know. I didn’t like him, but I had no idea that he would stoop that low. What’s going to happen to him?”
“He will face the Imperial Court. A nice little stint on a prison planet might help him see the error of his ways.”
“And your grandfather really cut him off?”
“He did. That’s how I knew he was here. We saw that he had accessed the outer doors when we were terminating his account.” He shuddered at the memory of the terror that had raced through him when he realized Chinit had gone after Lily. “Yet another reason I am at fault. I locked the doors but it never occurred to me that as a family member, he would still have access.”
“It’s all right. Everything worked out in the end.”
Her hands stroked his arm soothingly, even though she had been the one in danger as a result of his actions.
“I don’t deserve you.”
“Probably not.” She grinned up at him. “But I’m not sure I deserve you either. We’ll just have to work on that. I have a few suggestions.”
“Oh?”
“I think we should start with a nice peaceful swim. And then it’s your turn to lie back while I have my way with you.”
His guilt disappeared in a wave of desire as he lifted her into his arms and headed for the roof. It was a sacrifice he was prepared to make.
A very long time later, Leotra stared up at the night sky. The lights of the city prevented him from seeing the stars, but he knew that they were there. Millions of stars and millions of planets, but somehow, miraculously, Lily had found her way to him.
She slept peacefully in his arms, worn out by her efforts in the pool. Her very remarkable efforts, he thought with an appreciative flex of his cock at the memory. He realized he had forgotten to tell her about the possibility that one of her friends might have been in the warehouse, but Nargan already had a search in progress. There would be time to tell her tomorrow. They had all the time in the world.
