Lion Conquers All by Krystal Shannan

19

AARAV

The sound of her tears on the other side of the locked door was like someone raking their claws over his heart. He’d never seen a bedroom door with locks like hers. And it was made of metal too. He put a hand on the cold steel. She was serious about nobody getting into her bedroom.

But what hurt worse than being locked out was the realization of the level of fear she felt on a regular basis to live like this. His soul cried out for his mate’s pain. It was so much more than he’d even imagined.

She was there. Just on the other side of the door. The floorboards creaked when she’d sat down.

He leaned against the wall opposite her door and let his back slide down until he was sitting, staring and struggling to figure out what to do next. Did he wait? Did he try to talk to her?

She’d wanted the kiss. He’d felt that through the connection growing between them.

She liked his beast. His lion’s purr made her feel safe. She’d admitted as much.

Carrying her to the bedroom had pushed her too far…but surely she hadn’t thought he was going to ask for more? Had she?

By the gods, he’d been so stupid.

Yes.His lion growled. Stupid man.

Oh, shut up. You didn’t try to stop me.He pushed back at his beast internally.

“Connie, I wasn’t trying to get more from you. I just. I thought to put you in bed. I didn’t want you to feel pressured and I think I achieved the exact opposite.” He slid across the hallway and put his back to the steel door. He was closer to her this way. He couldn’t touch her, but at least he could touch what she was touching.

She didn’t speak. Her quiet sobs didn’t pause either.

“Please forgive me.”

“I do, Aarav. I know you didn’t mean me any harm. My heart knows that…” Her words stopped. She sucked in a deep lungful of air. “It’s my mind that’s truly broken.”

“That’s not true. You’re not broken. I meant what I said.”

“It’s kind of you to say that, but I get up two or three times a night to check the locks on my door. Normal people don’t do that.”

Protect. She needs us.His beast was furious. Even with her locks, she still didn’t feel safe. Her fortress was an illusion she’d built to convince her mind to rest—at least for a few hours at a time. It explained why she often seemed a little exhausted. Why the dark circles under her eyes were worse some days. The energy she had to expend to live so vigilantly had to be astronomical.

“I’m going to stay right here beside the door if that’s okay with you. Can you try to get some rest?”

There was a long pause. Then the sound of her climbing to her feet.

He heard her moving around. A door opened and closed. A toilet flushed. Water ran. Once he finally heard the springs in her bed squeak a little, he breathed easier.

She was in bed. She was silent. The crying had stopped. Her heartbeat had steadied.

He took a deep breath and let his head rest against the door. He let his eyes drift closed. He dreamed of a time where his mate had no locks on her doors and no locks on her heart.

The dream was brokenby a scream that brought his beast straight to the surface.

Aarav jumped up from the floor and growled. What was attacking? The storm was howling outside. He could hear the wind and feel the cold. Had someone come into the house? Maybe something hit her bedroom window?

He calmed his body and listened. No extra heartbeats. No scent of intruders.

Another scream cut through his heart. That broken haunted sound was like a blade carving off slices of his soul.

“Connie?” He slammed his fist on her bedroom door. “Connie.” He shouted her name louder. “Connie, wake up.”

She was dreaming.

It was a nightmare.

It was the most logical explanation, and he couldn’t get to her. He couldn’t help. He couldn’t stop her pain. She was less than fifteen feet away and he was helpless.

Another scream.

And another.

She was thrashing in the sheets. He could smell her fear and her sweat and her panic.

“Connie.” He shouted again, pounding on the door. “Connie, let me in. Please.”

Get to her. His beast was losing his mind right along with him. Now.

He shifted right there in her hallway and clawed at the door. His claws scraped the paint from the steel door, but it still didn’t give.

He roared his frustration and sliced at the wall instead. His long talons went right through the sheetrock like it was made of paper. He did it again and again, the sound of her pain and fright driving him into a frenzy. He couldn’t hear anything else. See anything else except the goal in front of him. He would not be denied. He would get to her if he had to tear her damn house to the ground to do it.

Sheetrock crumbled around him. Two by fours snapped and splintered and minutes later he was crawling through a hole in the wall and pulling her from the sweaty tangle of sheets and blankets on the bed.

His beast was pissed that he’d shifted back, but he’d needed to feel her against him. Have his arms around her. She was thrashing and still screaming and fighting him like he was the enemy.

She still wouldn’t wake up.

“Connie.” He hugged her to his chest and purred. It didn’t help. She couldn’t hear him through her panic. She was drenched with sweat and vacillating between screaming and sobbing.

Mine. Give her to me.His beast roared in his head, fighting for control. She needs me.

Her shirt had ridden up in the back and his hand touched her back. He’d never seen her in anything that showed skin. Long pants. Long sleeves. Shirt tucked in with a belt holding everything in place. And now he knew why. And he was as angry as his beast about the truth.

Raised lines criss-crossed her back.

She bucked in his arms. An arm flailed loose and smacked him in the face. Then her fingers curled and she clawed at his neck. The bite of her nails in his flesh were nothing compared to the burn of empathy coursing through his veins.

Fury built in him with each scar he traced.

They were everywhere.

Let me have her.His beast was so close. Claws were biting through the tips of his fingers.

Aarav laid down on the ground, his arms wrapped around his mate, and he released his control. His beast jumped forward, shifting his body, and spreading out over nearly every square inch of floor space on the side of the room.

Connie was against his chest. His front legs were wrapped around her like arms to keep her in place. And then he purred.

And purred.

And purred.

The sound echoed in the bedroom, louder than the howl of the wind outside.

The vibrations were so much stronger in this form. The rattle from his chest shook through her body and the fight left her slowly, seeping out of her muscles like a poison that was finally wearing off.

No more screams.

No more cries of pain.

The magick between them coursed from his body into hers and his beast gave her everything he could. They didn’t have a bond yet, not a true one, but he tried. He fought to push anything toward her the magick would allow.

She continued to settle.

A shudder slipped through her every so often, but the breaks between were getting longer.

Her heartbeat slowed to a normal pace.

The smell of fear disappeared from her scent.

Her breathing evened out.

Then she snuggled into his body, wrapping her fingers tight into his long mane.

The agitation in his mind slipped away and he focused on her. The soothing feeling of the steady rise and fall of her chest. The sound of her heartbeat.

She’d needed him. He hadn’t left her. He would never leave her. Not again.

And he purred, pulling her deeper and deeper into the calm oasis of their soul call.

She would have a good night’s sleep, even if he didn’t close his eyes once tonight.