Lion Conquers All by Krystal Shannan

11

AARAV

Her fingers slid across his skin ever so lightly, like blades of grass blowing in a gentle breeze. It took everything in him not to close his fingers around her hand. To squeeze. To pull her hand to his mouth and kiss it.

Instead, he let his hand lay still. Let her explore at her own pace. The energy rushing into him was overwhelming. And she was barely touching him. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to kiss her. To claim her.

None of that now.He had to calm himself. Calm his lion. They had to be patient. She needed slow. Something terrible had happened, perhaps something even worse than what he’d first imagined.

Anger bubbled in his chest, but instead of allowing it forward in a growl—a promise of vengeance—he purred. She had liked it when he held her the first time. The purring had been a pleasant experience for her.

Her fingers curled around his wrist. She leaned back in the seat. He could feel the tension melt away from her.

“I like that. It makes me feel—”

He glanced away from the road at her for a moment. She’d positioned herself so that she could touch him, but he couldn’t grab her. His palm was empty, while her hand wrapped tightly around his lower forearm. Not that he wasn’t perfectly capable of moving and trying to hold her hand…

She didn’t want to hold his hand.

Or couldn’t yet.

Her face was peaceful and relaxed. Her eyes half-closed while the purr rippled through her body from where her hand connected to his arm. Her hair was tied back in a hurried way, little pieces were coming loose from the elastic and draped beautifully across her smooth skin.

“Safe.” She whispered again. “I don’t understand why a sound would give me that illusion.”

“It’s our connection. You can feel the soul call. You can feel the trust wrapped up in the magick.”

“I’ve seen this happen before. I’ve seen the obsession. The possessiveness. It’s terrifying to think about you being that way about me.”

“Have I behaved in a way that has given you cause to be terrified of me?” His chest clenched, waiting to be told that he indeed had been too much. That she never wanted to see him at her house. That she wanted him to stop coming around the little bit that he did. It would hurt. It would be like ripping off a limb. But he would do it. He would do anything she asked.

“No, Aarav. Never.”

The way she said his name gave him a little hope. Her tone belied interest and regret in the same breath. What did she regret? He almost opened his mouth to push a little, but grit his teeth down instead, using the pain in his jaw to distract himself from the pain in his heart.

If she was going to finally share something with him, it wouldn’t be because he’d coaxed or tricked it out of her. It would be because she was ready. Because she trusted him enough to share the broken part of her soul. The part that she kept so deeply buried that most people around her didn’t even know she was hurt.

He watched the road.

He continued to purr.

He continued to drive her truck with one arm while she somewhat clung to the other laying between them on the console. Her fingers were still tightly wrapped around his forearm.

Aarav’s eyes flickered to the rearview mirror. Ava was driving his squad car. Ryder was in their truck behind her. And Gaven was bringing up the rear.

“I only want your happiness, shuarra.” He let the Reylean term slip naturally from his lips. It’s what she was to him. His body. His soul. His beast. Everything in him recognized her as his mate. And she wasn’t correcting him. She wasn’t denying it. He would take every tiny little inch she would willingly give.

She didn’t look at him. Just kept her eyes staring out the windshield.

“Seven years ago a man sold me to traffickers.”

Aarav searched his mind for the meaning of the word. The only definitions rising to the top had to do with vehicles moving on roads and that didn’t make sense.

“I don’t know that word, I apologize.” He kept his tone low and soft.

“They buy women. Sell women. Sometimes men and children too. They are slavers.”

Those words hit his gut like he’d swallowed a rock. Bile boiled in his stomach, threatening to push the rock back up his throat and choke him.

It was worse.

What had happened to her was worse than what he’d imagined.

His stomach tightened again. The rock sank deeper.

He breathed through his mouth to control the urge to vomit.

“Dalmeck.” He hissed the curse out under his breath.

She gave a half barking laugh. The laugh of a person who had escaped her demons but hadn’t beaten them.

“Is that word like when we say fuck? I’ve heard all of you at one point or another use it. It sounds like a good angry curse. I’d use it, but anyone around me that wasn’t one of your people would think I’d lost my mind.”

“Dalmeck, doesn’t have an easy translation. That’s why we still use our own language. But you are correct in your assumption that fuck is a close equivalent. Or at least the attitude behind the curse. The word dalmeck doesn’t refer to a sexual act between two people like your word does.”

“Yeah. Fuck can mean a lot of different things. It can be positive or negative. It’s like the ultimate curse word.”

“Connie. How did you come to live in Mystery? Has this always been home for you?”

“No. I’ve only been here about five years. I used to…” Her words trailed off. “I was a nurse before I came here.”

“Don’t you still somewhat have that role here in town?”

“Yes, but I can’t tell anyone that I’m a nurse. Being an EMT was pushing it already. Please don’t tell anyone. I shouldn’t have told you. It slipped out.”

“Of course. I would never betray your confidence. At least not intentionally.”

“I know you wouldn’t. And I want you to know that I appreciate you so much. You’ve brought small slivers of joy into my life that I never thought I’d have again. I know it’s just coffee. And I know it’s you that chops my firewood. And you always seem to know any time anything breaks in my house. I feel like if I cornered Henrietta she’d tell me that she tells you any time I order something for the house.”

Small slivers of joy.

His heart doubled in his chest, but tears burned at the back of his eyes. His sweet shuarra had been so hurt. And it was such an old wound. He wished she would tell him who they were so he could hunt them all down and rip out their throats. He and his lion would destroy all her pain if she would let them.

“It’s true. I bribe Henrietta with donuts weekly to get a report on anything that you might need. Truthfully, I don’t think she does it for the donuts.” He turned the truck over the bridge and headed down the road that would lead them toward Gaven’s property.

“I figured. How did you know to bring Tara with Owen?”

“I don’t want to come across obsessive, but I watched you long enough to learn that you are very uncomfortable when alone with a man.”

“You called Ava and Ryder for me, didn’t you? To hike with us.”

“Yes. I knew you had hurriedly committed to help out of the goodness in that giant heart of yours, but you hadn’t thought it all the way through.”

“Thank you for that. I was holding off a straight-up panic attack the further I got from my truck.”

“Of course. I want you to be safe and happy. That is my only goal.”

She sniffled and wiped her face with her other hand.

“Please don’t cry. What have I done?”

“No, no, it’s not you. I just…I can’t be for you what you want me to be. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to. It’s not fair to you. That’s why I’ve worked so hard to make sure I wasn’t giving you false hope.”

“You are honorable to try and protect me, shuarra, but that isn’t your choice to make. Fate made the choice for me. You are my mate. I will be content to watch over you as a protector for the rest of my life if that’s what you need. If all you can ever tolerate is holding my arm or touching my chest when you’re sad and need comfort.”

“Aarav, how can you say that? How can you be okay with not having a real partner, a wife, the chance for a family.”

“You can’t know that for sure. In eight months you went from ignoring me completely to sitting in a car with me letting me purr for you. Telling me your story. Admitting to me and to yourself that I make you feel safe. There’s always hope.”

She was sobbing now. Tears were running down her cheeks. She hadn’t let go of his arm yet. Not yet.

“There isn’t any hope for a family. Not with me. All of you want kids. I see the way everyone looks at their babies. It’s the same way I do, but—”

He waited. He didn’t speak. It was the longest ten seconds of his life.

“I can’t have kids.”

“Because you fear what happened to you?”

She did that dead laugh again. The laugh that broke his heart into a thousand pieces. The laugh that bared all her pain.

“No, I can’t have kids because the assholes who had me locked up for four years as a slave made it so I can’t get pregnant. Ever.”

Aarav didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t even realized that was a possibility. This world was so different from Reylea. The technology was mind boggling. The complexity of their lives.

His poor mate. Not only had she been a slave, been subjected to debasement and pain and suffering…How did he make her understand that it still didn’t matter to him?

“See. No one ever knows what to say to that.”

He snarled, a little angry that she would think so low of him.

She yanked her hand away.

He parked the truck in Gaven’s driveway and turned to look at her. “Forgive me for being angry, but you don’t give me enough credit. First of all, I didn’t even realize that was a medical possibility. I know that women aren’t as treasured on this planet. It is difficult to comprehend, but I accept it as a cultural difference. But you have to give me a moment to hurt for you. With you.”

“I don’t want to lead you on. I don’t want you to invest all this time in me and then regret that you did it. I’m not what you want, Aarav.”

He reached for her hand and wrapped it between both of his. She was so small. Shaking like a leaf. “But you are. You are more to me than the sun and the moon. You’re the air I breathe. Your heartbeat tells mine to continue beating, Connie. Whether we have children or not. Whether you ever feel comfortable with me holding you, or kissing you, or any type of sexual relationship, I’m your mate. I’m not going anywhere. Even if you never invite me into your home. Even if we live separately forever and ever until we are old and grey. I will be there with coffee on your porch every morning. You will never want for anything if I can get it for you.”

She stared. And stared. And stared.

The silence was painful.

But she had listened. Really listened to him this time. At least he hoped she had. It seemed like she had.

She unsnapped her seatbelt.

The rock in his stomach dropped a little further.

She was going run.

Dalmeck.

He’d ruined it. All his hard work and he’d probably set himself back another year. It was fine. He could deal with it. He hadn’t lied. Nothing he’d said wasn’t true. He would do anything for her. Everything she would allow and he would never abandon her.

Her fingers gripped his palm tight.

She squeezed his hand.

His gaze snapped to hers for a second.

Then she moved. She folded up the console between them on the front seat and slid her body over next to his. Leaned her head into his chest. And slipped both arms around him.

He didn’t move. He kept his arms out away from his body, away from her body, worried that touching her would send her somehow break the moment.

“Purr for me, please.” Her voice was so soft, so broken, and filled with pain.

He accepted the invitation and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to his chest. Breathing in her scent. Her sadness. Her pain. He would take it all if she would let him.

And his cat purred.

She didn’t think there was hope, but this moment. This moment right here, right now, proved her wrong.