A Lion’s Mate by Eve Langlais
Chapter Three
Fluffy touched everything in the back seat. And not just with her hands. He’d known toddlers that licked less stuff.
The cabby kept eyeing her in his rearview, his massive unibrow twitching as if it were about to crawl off his head. The cabby—"Call me Gerald”—wouldn’t tell anyone about what he saw. The male didn’t bear the scent of a shapeshifter, but…something else. Someone who didn’t want to be noticed.
“Is your lady friend okay?” Gerald asked in heavily accented English.
“She’s from the country.” Zach kept it simple.
“Ah.” Because that explained everything, even halfway across the world. “Where to?”
Since he had no choice, Zach brought her to his hotel. Nora had a room as well, on a different floor.
An asshole would have interrupted her night of sex and dumped the yeti on her. That same asshole would probably wake the next day, minus his skin. Never get between a lioness and her mate. Right up there with don’t touch great aunt Natalie’s pecan pie unless she serves it to you on a plate.
A good thing for Nora that he liked her. Not many people could claim that distinction. Nora was good people, though. It should be noted he didn’t like Peter. Or Fluffy for that matter. However, he was responsible for her. He’d keep her close until he could hand her off.
Rawr. His inner feline was a little too happy about it.
It’s temporary.
Apparently, his lion had other ideas. Keep.
She is not a pet, no matter what Nora says.
Then his lion uttered something so shocking and rude that he almost shoved Fluffy out of the car.
Take that back.
But his lion smirked and thought it again. Mate.
I don’t think so.
Coward.
He was still having his internal argument when they arrived at the hotel, the building old and rundown with remnants of grandeur. It could use a major overhaul. However, you couldn’t beat the privacy.
“Ooh.” Fluffy had her face pressed to the glass as if it were a fairy tale castle
Zach paid the cabby and then slid out of the back. She kept staring out her side. “Let’s go, Fluffy.”
“M-kay,” she chirped as she hopped out, then took in a deep breath—and gagged.
“Welcome to the smell of civilization, Fluffy. It ain’t pretty.” He rubbed her back as she took in a ragged breath. When she straightened, her face held repugnance.
He felt sympathy. “You’ll get used to it after a while.” It became more noticeable when he returned from a place people hadn’t really penetrated. He loved those kinds of big, open spaces.
Recovered, she glanced around and then pointed to a streetlight. “Sss-sun.” She spoke as if it had been a long time, and her voice still needed a chance to warm up. How long had she been in that cave? Were there others like her?
“Actually, that’s a light.” He pointed to all the illuminated sources and repeated it until she did.
Her brow knitted as if she were thinking, and she glanced at the ground. Then the street with its traffic.
“City,” she stated.
“Yes.” Meaning, she did remember and knew some stuff about the modern world. He pegged her age somewhere between early twenties to possibly thirties.
Fit. Seemingly healthy with all her teeth. Only a few scars that he’d seen.
“Did you used to live in a city?”
Her nose scrunched. She understood but struggled to reply.
Before she could get frustrated, he broke in with, “I’m hungry. Let’s get something to eat.”
Her expression lit, and she smiled as she rubbed her tummy.
Fuck, she was cute, even with her hair a wild mess. He snuck her in the hotel’s side door, and they took the stairs up. At this time of night, no one was in the stairwell.
The steps were a thing of wonder for her. She oohed at them and skipped up and down a few times before laughing as she raced them. He had to whistle at the third-floor landing to get her back by his side.
She arrived with flushed cheeks, and part of her bandage hanging loose. He’d fix it in his room. He’d opted to keep her with him rather than book another one. He wasn’t sure she could be left alone. Not to mention, given how she stiffened and paused, ready to bolt each time she heard a strange noise, it wouldn’t take much to startle her. She couldn’t flee under his watch. He needed her secured until he made her someone else’s problem.
The door to room 304 opened with a swipe of his keycard, and she entered, curious but with her shoulders back. She stalked into the room, sniffing, tense but with surprisingly no fear.
She noted the neatly made beds—two of them because Zach liked the choice of mattresses when he stayed places. She ran her fingers over the fabric cover. He flicked a switch, and the light turned on.
He might as well have set off a bomb. Fluffy jumped. Had she been a cat, the claws would have come out. As it was, she went partially furry and hit the floor before scuttling under the bed.
“Fluffy?” Such a stupid name. He really needed to find something more suitable and proper like Melanie or Patricia.
She didn’t reply, so he dropped to a knee, lifted the bed skirt, and peeked. He didn’t see her, which took him aback. He stood and glanced on the other side of the bed. Nothing. He knelt between them and peeked under the second one. Empty, too.
It made no sense. He glanced once more under the bed he’d seen her disappear under. Just shadows, and yet…he could smell her. As if she were right in front of him.
He reached into a seemingly empty spot, and his fingers encountered an ankle. Despite not seeing her, he grabbed and yanked.
Apparently, not a good idea as Fluffy bellowed, heaved, and lifted the bed into the air, sending it crashing.
He eyed the disaster, then her. Shook his finger and said, “Bad. Bad, Fluffy.”
Rather than appear contrite, she eyed her ankle and then him, arching a brow.
He got the message. “Don’t touch?” He nodded. “Fair enough. I won’t touch, but you need to listen. No hiding under the bed.”
“Bed.” She said the word and frowned, then eyed the one she’d wrecked. She indicated it. “Bed.”
“Yes. Yours too since you broke it.” He moved to the bent frame and lifted it. His turn to arch his eyebrow so she would move. He set the frame down in its spot. It was lopsided, but it would hold the mattress. He threw it on top, then the blankets. The pillows, however, he fired at Fluffy.
The first one hit her, and she exclaimed in surprise, only to realize it didn’t hurt. She laughed when the second one smacked her and grinned at him.
A sweet smile that should have warned him. She fired a pillow back, and he caught it. But rather than throwing the second one, she swung it.
He let it connect, then did it right back. Hitting her with the soft plush, her reach better than expected. Faster, too. She clocked him good, and the pillowcase exploded.
Feathers rained down, and her mouth gaped. But in an awed fashion. She laughed as she reached to catch the falling fluff.
He almost joined her. The elation of it filled him still. He’d not had a pillow fight since he was a kid. Seeing the mess, he remembered why his mom had yelled.
“Shit.”
“Shit,” she echoed.
He startled. “Don’t repeat everything that comes out of my mouth.”
“Mouth.” Her gaze went to it, and his mind tried to go somewhere totally inappropriate. He reined it in.
“Are you calm now?” She didn’t seem to be agitated anymore, and the fur had receded.
She glanced from him to the illuminated lamp. “Light?” she asked.
“Yes, light.”
“Food?” she said as she looked around.
“Not yet. I need to order up some room service.” The Pride he worked for would cover the cost. The menu was beside the phone, translated in four languages. He called in a massive order. A little bit of everything since he had no idea what she liked. What did yetis eat? He’d never imagined they truly existed.
Was she the only one?
And what kind of skills did she have other than lots of hair and strength? Under that bed, it was as if she’d camouflaged herself to blend in. She’d practically turned invisible, which if it were a species thing, might explain why yetis had not been encountered much—other than the supposed sightings caught on film.
With almost the entire menu ordered and the kitchen staff bribed to deliver it fast, he left her to explore the space, her expression thoughtful as she ran fingers over everything.
Almost everything. She’d not touched him. She’d barely looked at him. He knew because he was hyperaware of her. Even as he stepped onto the balcony, he kept an eye on her.
He used the privacy to call his boss. Judging by the grumbly, “Hello,” he’d woken the Pride’s Beta, Hayder. It never occurred to him to check on the time difference. He’d been told, though, to report as soon as he could. He’d sent a brief text while in the air. Now, it was time for the full deets.
“Hey, boss. It’s me.”
“Took your sweet time calling. I’ve been waiting since Nora checked in. I fell asleep waiting for you.”
“I ran into some unexpected issues.” And then because he wasn’t one to draw shit out, he added, “I think I found a yeti.”
Dead silence.
“Could you repeat that?” Hayder asked.
“You heard me. I have a yeti. Or something like it. In my possession. She stowed away aboard the bird during our escape from the volcano.”
“Another yeti?” his boss exclaimed. “Nora was telling me about the one that died in the cave. How many were there out there?”
“Actually, I think it’s the same one.”
“Where are you now?”
“Hotel.”
“You brought a yeti to the hotel!?” Hayder practically shouted.
“Yes, except she’s not a yeti anymore. She’s a girl. Woman,” he amended.
Silence hung again. “You brought a woman to your hotel room?”
“I think the more important thing here is the fact that she’s a shifter.”
“I disagree on the importance. You brought a woman to your room.”
Not something Zach did often, and Hayder would know since they’d roomed together in college. “It has two beds.”
“Why not get her an adjoining room?”
“She’s a flight risk.”
“Look at you, making up excuses to have a sleepover.”
“If you met her, you wouldn’t even imply that.”
“Is she unattractive?”
“No!” A little too hotly said.
“Too young?”
“No, she’s in her twenties at the very least. But she’s…” Zach sought the right word. “Naïve.” He would never take advantage.
“Can she communicate?”
“A little. I think at one time she probably didn’t live in a cave, but that would have been a long time ago. She’s regressed quite a bit. She’ll require some major help.”
“The kind of help we can only give here.” Here being home in the United States. Where would depend on what she needed.
“She also needs a doctor to stitch up a bullet wound. She dug out the slug, and I cleaned it as best I could.”
“She dug it out?” Hayder repeated. “Damn. Okay. Um, no words, but I do suggest you find some glue or tape. Because for something this sensitive, I don’t know who to call. You’re kind of far from home and our usual resources.”
“No shit.”
“If she heals like us, then just a little something to keep it from tearing open for a few hours should do the trick.”
“I’ll see what I can scrounge up.” A sheet torn into strips and bound tightly should do it.
“Are you sure she’s a yeti?” The doubtful query had Zach shrugging even though Hayder couldn’t see.
“Maybe? I don’t know for sure. She’s sure hairy and lanky like one. She walks on two legs. I think she’s intelligent, and when shifted, she looks like a silver-haired version of Harry from the Hendersons.”
“Of all the weird shit,” Hayder muttered. “I’ll have to talk to Arik about this.” Arik being the Pride king.
“How soon before you can send someone for her?” He wanted her to be someone else’s problem.
“I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
“How long?”
“As long as it takes. This is a bit of a tricky situation.”
“Because she might belong to the Russians.”
“Partially. But don’t forget, she was in that cave with the artifact. The one that changed Peter. She might have been guarding it.”
“You think she has answers to its location?” He couldn’t help the incredulity.
“No, but she might be able to tell us more about what it can do, or if there’s a way to nullify it.”
“Fluffy give us a counterspell?” He snorted as he saw her on the floor, sniffing the carpet.
“We don’t know what she can tell us. So, for the moment, that means you stay close and keep her existence quiet.”
“Ugh.” He didn’t hide it.
Hayder chuckled. “It can’t be that bad.”
Someone knocked at the bedroom door. Fluffy startled and ducked under his intact bed.
He sighed. “I’ll keep her out of trouble.”
“Not just her. Be on the lookout for more of those human mercenaries. Given their intelligence thus far has been uncannily accurate, she may come to their notice.”
“Anyone tries to touch her, I’ll handle it.” But he had to wonder how many humans the competition would send to their death. Given the number they’d taken out already? Apparently, a never-ending supply.
Zach opened the door and juggled his phone to wheel in the cart of food left outside. The desk already had orders to bill him all expenses with a twenty-five percent tip. He always got excellent service.
His boss wasn’t quite done. “We need to find that box, Zach. If you can get her to tell you anything…”
“Yeah, we’ll see about that. She’s not talking much yet.” But he kept seeing hints of confused comprehension. He had a feeling civilization would help her.
“Keep in touch.”
“Yup.” Zach put his phone away and began moving the trays of food to the table. Once he’d covered the surface, he crouched down, lifted the skirt, and saw shadowed carpeting, replete with dust bunnies. No Fluffy. But once more, he could scent her.
“Stop hiding. I know you’re there.” When she didn’t appear, he growled, a firm sound that had her shimmering into view, meaning the ability to hide in plain sight could be turned on and off.
That was so freaking cool.
She blinked big eyes at him, all innocence and trepidation.
He wasn’t about to succumb. “Out from under the bed. Now. And don’t you dare wreck it like you ruined yours!” He wagged his finger.
She moved fast enough that she nipped the tip of it before then sliding out the other side.
He blinked. Well, shit. He’d never seen anyone, or anything, move that fast.
Fluffy used that speed to go after the meal just delivered, sniffing a dome before tipping it and diving onto the first thing she saw. The handful of French fries went into her mouth, and her other hand fisted some more.
“You’d better save me some!”
