Lion Conquers All by Krystal Shannan

33

A week later…

CONNIE

Connie propped herself up on a pillow in her bed and sipped the coffee Aarav had left on her nightstand. It was like heaven in her mouth. And her mouth felt like two-week old guacamole that’d been shoved into the back of the fridge and forgotten. Furry didn’t even begin to describe the terrible sensation. She needed to brush her teeth, but the coffee could happen first.

Coffee could always be first.

There could be more coffee after the teeth brushing too.

She put the paper cup from Lily’s back on the nightstand and sniffed. The scent of sweat filled her lungs and nearly made her gag. She needed a shower and her whole room needed to be deep cleaned. Possibly with bleach. She could smell sweat and dirt and someone had sprayed her perfume somewhere. And not one bottle. She could smell every single one of them mixed together and it was terrible.

Also, she was naked in bed.

Sex with Aarav came to mind, but currently she felt like she’d been run over by a tractor. That wasn’t from sex. That was from something else. There was also this vague memory of feeling sick. She remembered Aarav holding her. And maybe some other people in her bedroom. But nothing was clear.

Her body felt strange too. Even though she was exhausted, she felt lighter. Stronger. Her back didn’t ache like normal either.

Connie climbed out of her bed and walked over to the bathroom. The need for a shower outweighed all other things right now. She had to get that rank smell off of her body at least. Bed next. Then room.

She flipped on the light and a quiet yelp escaped her mouth. Her hair looked like a family of rats had made a nest in it.

Last week.

She shuddered and prayed no one had seen her like this—meaning Aarav. He wasn’t ready for this hair. Or this smell.

She sniffed herself again and almost retched. Again. How did she smell this bad after one night? It had to be morning. He’d left her coffee. It was fresh. Still had ice in it.

Connie turned on the shower and climbed in. The sensation of getting clean was amazing. She grabbed her shower brush and started on her arms and then her shoulders and then she froze. She dropped the brush and put her the palm of her hand on her shoulder where she’d been scrubbing.

Was she that tired that she’d forgotten where the giant scar was that came over one shoulder?

She climbed out of the shower, soapy and dripping and turned around in front of the mirror. Peering over her shoulder, she stared at her back. A back she didn’t recognize. A back without a single blemish or scar.

There was nothing.

Nothing but smooth skin where crisscrossing stripes of pain had once covered her like a web she could never escape. And now they were gone.

Shower.Food.

An unfamiliar voice in her head pushed at her conscience.

She did want a shower. And she was hungry.

Connie peered over her shoulder a few more seconds and then climbed into the shower again. Several rounds of shampoo and conditioner later, she finally felt more alive. And she smelled acceptable. That was the most important thing.

Damn, she had smelled so bad. Like boy socks in a gym bag that had been forgotten in a hot trunk for a week bad.

She ventured back into her room and tried to breathe through her mouth. Pulled on some clean sweats and a t-shirt. She needed to call the sheriff’s office and let them know she was taking a day. They could page her if there was an emergency, but otherwise she was taking some vacation.

They’d found the kids.

She dropped her hairbrush. It clattered on the wood floor very loudly.

They’d found the kids. She remembered the women—the magick-benders—healing them. Had they done something to her? Was that why her scars were gone?

But when had it happened?

After sex last night? Amazing sex. Sex she would never forget with the best man she’d ever known.

But why was that the last thing she remembered?

“Aarav?” She leaned toward the enormous hole in her wall and called his name again. “Aarav?”

No sounds. No footsteps. He wasn’t here. No one was here with her.

Food.

There was that weird voice again. She was used to having conversations with herself in her own head, but this voice was new.

She picked up her brush and finished detangling her hair, grabbed the coffee from her nightstand, and headed for the kitchen.

There was a note on her kitchen counter in Aarav’s handwriting.

My dearest mate, if you wake this morning it will have been eight days since the magick-benders put you to sleep. I pray to Fate morning and night that she sees fit to give you back to me. I had to run into town to check on a few things for work, but I’ll be back soon. I hate leaving you, not knowing when you’ll awake and what you’ll awake to. I hope your beast is…

Connie shovedthe note away and took a couple steps away from the counter.

No. No. No.That couldn’t be right. He’d turned her? Without saying anything? Without giving her a choice? How could he do that? He knew her history. He knew had difficulty trusting.

Trusting anyone but him. And now that trust had been betrayed too.

Her heart felt like it was being pulled to pieces. She loved him. She’d told him she loved him. And he’d done this to her.

She threw the coffee across the room into the sink. The cup exploded, spattering coffee and cream all over that half of the kitchen.

He’d changed her.

Taken her humanity away.

She hadn’t been enough.

He couldn’t handle her scars. The scars she’d learned to live with and had come to see them as a reminder of what she’d survived. She hadn’t given up. She’d never given up. And she’d made it.

With the help of witness protection and the US Marshalls, she’d made a new life here. And it had been good. And she hadn’t needed anyone.

And then the Reyleans had come and wrecked her perfectly quiet little town.

And she liked them.

Dammit.

She really did like them all. They were good people.

And then Aarav had shown up.

And she liked him a lot. She’d fallen in love with him. His patience. His kindness. His quiet rumbly voice.

He was a good man. She knew that. In her heart. In her soul. Every cell of her body recognized him as such.

But this…

She walked back to the counter and picked up the note again.

I hope your beast is gentle and kind.

“My beast?” She paused. “That’s the voice I don’t recognize. It’s you, isn’t it?”

Yes.The voice answered in her head.

Mate sad. Anxious. You feel?

Did she feel Aarav? Like telepathically? Was that even possible?

Yes.

She couldn’t feel anything but her own swirling emotions right now. She looked back down at the note and continued to read.

I know you’re going to hate me. I accept that. I do. I hate myself, but I swear to you on our mate bond that I didn’t know my bite would change you. My beast selfishly wanted to mark you. I selfishly wanted to mark you, but I didn’t know. And even though that doesn’t make up for it, I am so very sorry I took that choice from you.

Please know that I love you with my whole heart and you are not alone. I will never leave you. I will support and love you in any way you allow. And you have a whole Tribe of people who care so very deeply for you. They are all hoping you come back to us soon. And if you’re reading this, our prayers have been answered.

With love,

—Aarav

She crumpledthe note into her hand and sunk to her knees on the floor of the kitchen and cried. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Her lungs burned through the sobbing, the gasping, and trying to breath. The room spun a little and she put her head down on the floor to make it settle.

Aarav hadn’t known…that changed everything.

He hadn’t betrayed her. There was no doubt in her mind. She knew he wouldn’t lie to her about something like that. It was still a shock, but it wasn’t a betrayal.

Moment by moment ticked by. She could come to terms with this new reality. And maybe she would even have some semblance of control by the time he got back to the house.

She took slow, deep, deliberate breaths like her therapists years ago had taught her.

The tears subsided. The sobs slowed and faded.

Eight days.

She’d been asleep for eight days. That reality started to sink in. She couldn’t imagine how stressed she would’ve been had Aarav been in the equivalent of a coma and knowing something this big had happened.

Hungry.The voice in her head prodded again.

“No,” she said out loud.

Hungry.Her beast’s voice said again. Eat.

Maybe the lion wasn’t trying to get her to shift. Maybe she really was trying to get her to eat. It had been eight days after all.

Connie climbed carefully to her feet. She was a little light-headed, but that was from the crying. But it could be from lack of food too. She went to the fridge. A few condiments. A pack of eggs. A plate with a haunch of raw meat sitting on it that surprisingly smelled delicious.

Nope. Not going there. Not right now.

The voice in her head laughed. She could feel the beast’s mirth almost like it was her own. Like she was laughing at herself. It was a strange feeling.

She dug in the drawer where she kept her bag of homemade beef jerky. It was still there. She grabbed a few pieces, closed the fridge, and settled herself on the floor. She chewed on the jerky and leaned back against the cool metal of the fridge and took another slow breath.

The jerky tasted good.

Not as good as the raw haunch smelled, but she could wrap her head around that factoid later.

“I can do this. It’s not the end of the world that I can change into a lion, right.”

Correct.The voice answered with a positive ring.

“How do I control you?”

Again with the inner laughing.

Connie stood up and put the bag of jerky on the counter. Curiosity was winning over fear. What would it feel like to be a lion? To be so big and powerful?

Energy crackled around her, her skin warmed, and then everything changed.