Lion Conquers All by Krystal Shannan

20

CONNIE

Something was hugging her. Not tightly. But there was a weight on her back. And something was breathing…heavily. Almost snoring.

Her face was buried in a mountain of fur. She didn’t remember falling asleep with any of her throw pillows. She pushed up a little and her heart lurched in her chest and froze. Time and space also ground to a short halt.

Lion.

Giant lion.

It was laying on its back, sprawled like a relaxed dog, head to the side, mouth open, tongue lolling out almost touching the floor.

She was on it’s chest.

The weight on her back was one of its legs.

The lion was hugging her.

Son of a two-headed fish. What the hell?

She turned her head slowly. Her door was still bolted in place. Nothing amiss—except the massive hole in the wall next to it where the lion had obviously torn his way inside.

He’d said he would stay by the door. What’d happened? Did his lion take over and decide to destroy her house like an untrained dog and then haphazardly pull her out of bed and sleep with her…and how the hell had all of that not woken her up?

To be honest, she was strangely much less anxious waking up with Aarav’s lion that she would’ve been had it been him. His lion didn’t elicit any bad memories or pose any threat to her—except the obvious one of eating her.

But Reyleans didn’t eat people. At least not good people. She was pretty sure they’d made some bad ones disappear. Still, she didn’t think that they’d eaten them.

She looked back at the lion. His eyes were open, and he was staring at her.

“What the hell happened to my wall?”

No response. No look of shame. He kept staring at her. And she knew perfectly well he could understand her in his beast form. All the others could.

“Don’t play dumb with me. I’ve been around your kind long enough to know you know exactly what I’m saying.”

The lion licked his lips and his legs tightened on her back.

What the—

His head moved toward hers and a huge sandpapery tongue slid from her neck up the side of her face. It wasn’t slobbery like a dog. It didn’t really feel bad at all, it scared her a little cause his mouth was open and coming toward her face. She hadn’t fought though. She froze again.

He licked me.

Then he did it again. The other side of her neck, all the way up her cheek to her hairline.

“What are you doing?”

He gave her face a couple more licks and tried to lick a little further down her neck, nuzzling his face closer and closer to where her breasts were mashed to his chest.

“Hey!” He still didn’t respond like he could understand her. She was starting to doubt her knowledge. What if Aarav was different? What if cats weren’t the same? It’s not like she’d questioned Kann or Saul or Tor about their differences.

The lion shoved his enormous snout toward her chest again, like it was a saucer of milk he couldn’t ignore. The only thing really slowing him down was his giant tusk-like front canines. He was being so careful not to hurt her with those teeth.

She popped him on the nose, and he chuffed like he was surprised she’d struck him. Then he nosed his way past her hands and licked her damn face again.

She couldn’t stop the laugh that rolled up from her chest. It felt so good. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d really laughed.

“You’re crazy. You know that, right?”

His front paws squeezed on her back like a hug and kneaded into her tight muscles, like a house cat would do. She could feel his claws, but they were retracted. He was being so gentle.

His cat was playing with her. Genuinely playing.

He took another swipe at her face with his tongue.

She laughed again, swatting at his nose.

Without thinking, she grabbed one of his tusks like it was a handlebar for his face and pulled until she could stare him right in the eye. “You were a very naughty cat. Have you seen my wall?”

She let her gaze drift to the wall and then back to him.

The beast shook his head back and forth like he was telling her no.

“No?”

He shook his head again and continued to knead her back with his paws and then he started to purr.

Damn the purring. It was like some sort of opioid for her system. Not this time. She shoved against his chest, letting him know she wanted off his chest. He didn’t hesitate to allow her to move, which she very much appreciated. Bonus points to the cat.

“You can’t distract me with that purring every time.”

The lion licked one of his paws absent-mindedly, like he wasn’t concerned at all with her scolding remark. In fact, she was quite sure that he purred louder in response.

“Aarav, what happened? Why are you in my bedroom?”

The beast let out a long sigh, rolled over to his feet and a moment later the man she trusted and respected and who had promised to sit outside her door last night was standing next to her bed.

“I’ll fix the wall. Or pay Owen to fix it. Whatever needs to be done. I’m sorry.”

“But what happened?”

“You had a nightmare.” He took a step closer. “Your screams. It sounded like someone was killing you.”

Connie’s shoulders sank. She’d hoped to avoid having one of those the same night Aarav was in her home. She’d hoped that knowing he was there would’ve given her enough peace to sleep restfully, but the stress of the day had been too much. She’d been foolish to let him stay. She should’ve forced him to go home.

She wasn’t his problem.

She wasn’t anyone’s problem.

She refused to be.

“Could you understand me?”

A small boyish grin tugged at one corner of Aarav’s mouth. “Yes, my beast and I were having quite the inner argument about his behavior, but he insisted that playing with you was important. He wants you to be comfortable around him and not frightened. And he said it wasn’t fair that I always got to spend time with you.”

“But you let him. You could’ve shifted.”

“He made a good argument.”

“But you were in control.”

“Yes, but not the way you think. We share a consciousness. We are one and yet we are also separate. It’s complicated. But you can trust him too. He would die before allowing anything to happen to you. As would I.” Aarav started to take another step and then stopped himself.

“I believe you. Both of you. I surprised even myself when I laughed. The unreal-ness of my situation was just—crazy.”

“You weren’t scared?”

Connie shook her head and gave Aarav a reassuring smile. “No. I wasn’t. Well, for a second. But then I was fine.”

“Good. That’s good. I’m glad. I should go get your coffee.”

Another laugh escaped from between her lips. “You don’t have to do that. It’s still storming outside. Lily might not have even opened the café and your car isn’t here. I have coffee. And food for breakfast.”

“You’re okay, though. Truly? After last night, I—” He crossed the room and reached up to touch her face, pausing at the last second. “Can I touch you?”

“Yes.”

His hand cupped her cheek.

She couldn’t help but close her eyes and lean into the caress. His presence was less and less a stressor and more and more a comfort. She wasn’t quite sure when the change had really occurred. But it had. She was changing.

“Thank you for trusting me, shuarra.”

His hand moved around the back of her head, down to her shoulder. His other arm wrapped around her lower back. He pulled her tight against his chest like he never wanted to let her go.

If he’d had paws at that moment, he’d have been kneading her back again. Which made her giggle—right there against his chest, into his shirt, like a ninny with no self-control.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because I imagined you being a cat again and kneading my back. It’s a happy cat thing.”

He chuckled low in his chest. “I know why I do that. I’m the cat, remember. And I was very happy that you let me hold you and wipe away all your tears from the night before.”

Connie put her hands between them and pushed on Aarav’s chest.

He released his hold instantly. “What?”

“That’s what he… er, you…were doing? Licking my face?”

“Yes. The salt on your skin from the tears last night was very strong. And then he got a little carried away. He was also trying to get a rise from you. And when you smacked his nose, it was the best kind of challenge.”

The tears that were trying to surface disappeared with his last comment and made her smile again instead. “I did that without thinking and that was when I realized he, I mean you… it was meant as play.”

Aarav nodded. “Yes, it was play. And it’s okay to call him he. I often do. There are many instances when his instincts are stronger than mine and I allow him to make decisions or be in control. There are also times when he will force an issue, but those are rare.”

“But he can?” Connie’s stomach clenched and a rock formed in the bottom. “Doesn’t that scare you. What if he shifted without your permission? He could expose everyone.”

Aarav’s face tightened. His lips drew into a thin flat line before he spoke. “He knows everything I know. We share every thought. Our beasts know the risk. I don’t get a turn to shift except every few weeks. Col has us on a very sparing rotation. Our beasts understand and we are doing the best we can to remain hidden. I will not lie though, it is not easy and it is emotionally draining to not have the freedom to shift when the need arises. We are also all very hungry.”

“Why would you be hungry? You eat like a normal person.”

Aarav’s shoulders dropped and Connie could see the exhaustion hanging around him like a cloud. A cloud she hadn’t seen before or hadn’t taken the time to notice because she’d selfishly only thought of her own problems and fears.

“Our beasts require food in their form on a regular basis. It’s hard to explain, but the magick inside us to stay balanced requires that we care for both sides.”

“What happens when you are hungry, like you’re saying?”

“It gets harder to hold back the shift.”

“But you wouldn’t hurt people or—”

“No!” Aarav spoke quickly, interrupting her. “We wouldn’t hurt people. Ever. None of us. Not even if we were dying. But holding back the desire to hunt becomes increasingly difficult. It’s a constant barrage, like a very real, very painful twist in the gut.”

“Like you’re starving.”

He nodded. “Yes. Most of us are. Col and Naomi most of all. All of us, when we get our turn to hunt, bring something back for them after we’ve eaten. Col gives it to Naomi most of the time. He says he can handle it better and refuses to allow her to be in pain.”

Connie’s vision blurred. Tears rose again and fell steadily down her face. The town still watched the Reyleans so carefully. There had been too many “odd” incidents. The people in town knew the Reyleans were connected somehow. Just not how.

And she’d been the one to scold Col and everyone else. She’d told them to be so careful and hide. They’d listened, but it was hurting them. Her friends were suffering in silence to protect all of them—the whole town.

“I didn’t know what I was asking would hurt you. I wanted to keep you safe. All of you. You’re my friends and I didn’t want to lose you. I’m scared that I’m going to lose you.”

“Shuarra. You are not to blame, love.” He took her back into his arms and held her close. “You only spoke the truth. We know you have our best interests at heart.”

He kissed the top of her head, then rubbed his cheek against her hair, then kissed her head again.

Over and over. Until the tears stopped.

She really did hope he was right.