A Lion’s Mate by Eve Langlais
Chapter Eleven
“Iswear that girl would get in the van if you offered her candy,” Joe declared, watching Fluffy go off with Nonna.
“She would.” No denying that she lacked a certain self-preservation, which made Zach wonder how she’d survived.
“You planning to mate her?”
“What?” Zach halted rather than follow his father up the porch steps. “No. Of course, not.”
“I’ve seen how you eye her,” his dad teased.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” A lie, because he did. Zach stared at her all the time when he thought she wasn’t looking. His father had caught him, and they both knew it wasn’t Zach’s usual style.
“She’d make a good breeder. Wide hips.”
“Dad!” He whisper-yelled his name. “You can’t say shit like that. It’s wrong.”
“Why is it wrong? It’s a compliment. She’s got some fine hips, made for popping out babies. Pretty face. Little rough around the edges, but then again, so are you.”
Zach rubbed a hand over his face. “Dad, I am not making her my mate. She’s a job.”
“A job?” His dad snorted. “Okay. You keep telling yourself that, boy.”
Dad went inside, but Zach paused a moment longer. His dad was wrong. So many levels of wrong. He never intended to settle down. And kids? Other people had kids. He had his cat—who’d followed his father inside.
Was Neffi telling him something, as well?
Still… The thought of it—him and Fluffy?
Nope. And not just because of the species thing. She lacked a maturity he liked in his women. It would be taking advantage of her, and he wasn’t that kind of guy.
He entered the compound and headed for the kitchen. While there was a dining area, many of the residents preferred to prepare their own meals.
He knew he’d find Nonna there, and she had a few friends, chipping in to make food, which meant instant rivalry. Who had the tastiest eggs? Scrambled, poached, served with a béarnaise sauce? Bacon, ham, or sausage? Grits and home fries.
So much delicious shit started coming out of that kitchen, but Zach was only allowed a few bites before Nonna grabbed him by the ear and marched him off.
“Can’t I eat first?” he complained.
“No. I want to know what you did to that girl. She acts like she’s been living in a basement. Eats as if she’s never seen food.” Nonna peered back at the kitchen where Fluffs went to town, demolishing the pile of food.
He rubbed his earlobe and glared. “She acts like that ‘cause I found her in a hidden volcano system in the Arctic.”
Nonna blinked a few times. “Found her? And then what? Adopted her like a pet?” She smacked him.
“No, she adopted me. Kind of. She stowed aboard my chopper, so I asked Hayder to send someone. But they told me to protect her, and then we got kidnapped, and Dad’s house was set on fire, so we ended up here. Which is probably putting you in danger. We should go.”
“Did you just call us weak and old?”
“Never.”
“It’s a smart thing you showed up here. That child was obviously starving.”
“I swear, I fed her. She’s a bottomless pit.”
“She is rather ravenous. I’ve never heard of her kind asking for bacon.”
“What do you mean, her kind? You know what she is?”
“Yes, although it’s been a while since I ran into one. They’re shy and don’t come out of the mountains often.”
“Mountains as in the Rockies.”
Nonna nodded. “Her people laid claim to them a long time ago.”
“How is this the first I’ve heard of bigfoot being real?”
“First off, that term is derogatory.”
“Fine, then. Yeti.”
“They prefer Sas’qets.”
“Sasquatch.”
“That is the more common term, yes.”
“They’re a myth.”
“Because they’re good at hiding in plain sight. It’s said you can look right at one and never know.”
Having seen her camouflage, he understood. “But you knew what she was.”
“Only because she’s not trying to hide. Her scent is unique when taken out of the woods.”
It was. “Where in the Rockies do they live?”
“Everywhere. I’m not aware that they own any one town or neighborhood. They prefer to blend in and live scattered throughout.”
“I wonder if she remembers her home, and that’s why she’s getting me to drive to them,” he mused aloud.
“She doesn’t know where her home is?” Nonna asked.
“She lost her memories. Like I said, she might have been missing for a long time.”
“Doesn’t matter, you should try and return her.”
“Assuming she’s from the Rockies. I found her in the Russian Arctic.”
“Does she speak Russian?”
“I don’t think so.” He’d never even thought to get someone to ask.
“Even if she’s not from the mountains, her kind will know how to connect her to other groups.”
“They’re shifters like us.”
“They don’t think so. My understanding is it’s because they only exist in a sentient version and it somehow makes them purer of purpose.”
“The Sasquatch are snobs?” Could this day get any weirder?
“In a sense, yes. They really don’t like to mix outside their own and have made it clear that they’re to be left alone. They won’t like you holding one of them prisoner.”
“She’s in danger. I’m protecting her like I was ordered to do.” It was a stubborn stance to adopt, and Nonna poked a claw into it.
“Doesn’t guarding the Pride take precedence over any mission?”
“I doubt our king is worried about a reclusive tribe living in the mountains.”
She patted his cheek. “So dumb. You get that from your mother.”
He’d argue, but his mother was dumb. She’d left him behind before he even turned one. Some people shouldn’t have kids. Or mates. His dad never did remarry.
After Nonna left to see if the bottomless Fluffy needed more sustenance, his dad took her place, Neffi curled around his neck.
His father cast a worried glance over his shoulder and whispered, “You can’t leave me here. There’s a dame asking me if I want some custard later on.”
“You love custard.”
“I think she means sex!” His dad’s voice peaked as high as his brows.
Zach had a hard time keeping a straight face. “It’s okay to say no, Dad.”
“And hurt her feelings?”
“You know, maybe you should see how the ranch suits you as an alternative to city living.”
“I’m not moving.” His father was stubborn.
“You won’t have a choice with your house burned down.” He’d seen a message about it on his phone. Total loss. Assumed his dad knew, too.
“I’ll stay in a hotel until the insurance pays out and I can get the place fixed.”
“It can’t be fixed, and you can’t live in a hotel for that long.”
His dad eyed him. “A good son would take his father in.”
“I have a one-bedroom apartment, and I am not sleeping on the couch because you’re deluded.”
“You’re trying to get rid of me.”
“No, I’m worried about you being alone in that house, even if it can be fixed.” The neighborhood had turned rough since the last recession with houses abandoned as mortgages defaulted. Not to mention, with his bum leg and advancing years, his dad shouldn’t be alone all the time. A place like the ranch gave him room and support. Although, maybe he should find a place that wasn’t with Nonna.
“That house is paid for. It’s mine. It’s all I have.” His father was stone-cold honest.
Zach’s throat tightened. “You have me. And my damned cat. Because, let’s both be honest here, she loves you.”
His father glanced down at Neffi, twining between his legs, marking him with her scent. “It started with my lobster mousse. I’ve never seen someone enjoy it as much as she did. She is the gastric connoisseur I’ve been looking for. Right, my love?”
Zach scowled. “You stole my cat.”
“You stole my youth.”
A few more barbs, and then they were hugging.
“You be careful, boy. I might miss you a little if you were gone.”
“Barely. I know. Try not to steal anyone else’s pets,” he said, glancing at his cat, who offered him a nod.
He’d loved her for as long as she would allow it. Now, his sweet princess was moving on.
But so was he. “Fluffy, we gotta get going,” he announced, heading back into the kitchen.
Which resulted in him first having to eat a stacked plate of food while Nonna and friends packed a cooler and picnic basket that required both hands to lift.
According to the GPS, they probably had about eighteen or so hours of driving left before they reached the town of Missoula in the lower end of the Rockies.
He did the trip in fifteen hours, with only a few stops for caffeine jolts and pee breaks.
By the time he pulled into a motel parking lot, the kind with fluorescent-colored chairs on the cement patio outside each room and doors painted to match, he would have slept in his car.
Luckily, he got a room, the inside a mashup of brown and beige tones. Brown swirly carpet. Brown comforter with zigzags of dark blue. Textured, cream-colored textured—the easiest to repair.
Two beds, A dresser with a television bolted to it. A bathroom with a half-sized tub and a shower with decent water pressure.
He pointed to it, and sternly told Fluffs, “No water over the edges.”
“Too small,” she replied with sad-looking lips.
“I need to sleep. Behave,” he admonished. He shoved a chair under the door handle to their room for good measure, and then fell into bed, asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
