Tamed for the Lion

by Annabelle Winters

  “But those men . . .” Lacy said, swallowing and blinking again as if she was trying to stay on point. “They were Shifters, weren’t they?”

  “Yes,” said Darius, sniffing the air to check for those dark Shifters’s scent. No sign of them, which was strangely troubling. Who were they? They weren’t part of Murad’s army—at least not while Darius and Everett were there. Was the Black Dragon somehow recruiting more Shifters while in hiding? Or was something else going on?

  “Why were they—”

  “I don’t know,” growled Darius, finishing her question in his mind. “I don’t know, Lacy. I thought they were here to kill you and your sister. Perhaps they were here to kill me and Everett. I just don’t know.”

  “Why would a Shifter want to kill another Shifter?” Lacy said, her eyes going wide as she pulled her knees up close to her chest and leaned forward.

  Darius snorted, shaking his mane as he smiled at her. “Were you always in control of your bobcat?” he asked quietly.

  Lacy took a breath and furrowed her brow. “No,” she said softly, a shadow coming across her face. “Tracy and I . . . we were wild during the early years following our first Changes. Luckily we had the open mountains of Colorado to run wild in, or else . . .”

  She trailed off, and Darius narrowed his eyes when he saw the bobcat flash its wild streak through her gaze.

  She is still wild, whispered his lion from inside, growling in approval. And you will have to tame her, King of the Ring. Damn, it’s going to be fun.

  “Or else what?” Darius said, forcing her to finish her sentence, to say it out loud, to acknowledge that every Shifter had a darkness in them—had the Darkness in them.

  A shudder passed through Darius’s lion as memories of the Black Dragon floated past him like it was from another life. Memories of his mission: To hunt and kill other Shifters, send their animals back to the Darkness, increase the Black Dragon’s dark power! His lion had been focused on that mission, accepting it like it had been hypnotized, programmed, wound up and set into motion like a machine. But that was gone now! How? Why? When?

  When she arrived, whispered his lion, and suddenly Darius made the connection—all the connections.

  “Holy shit,” he muttered as he thought back to that chaotic scene in the circus. “Those dark Shifters were there to kill you and your sister! But they didn’t get to you in time! Once you and your sister came face to face with your mates, the dark Shifters backed off! It was like there was no point in killing you!”

  “I don’t understand,” Lacy said, shaking her head and biting her lip. “None of what you’re saying makes sense, Darius. I don’t understand why Shifters are hunting other Shifters. And I don’t understand why they’d stop hunting me if . . . when . . . I mean now that I’m . . . we’re . . .”

  Darius turned his head sideways and raised a lion-brow as he listened to this confident, articulate woman who’d just talked her way into a lion-tamer’s job now stammer and stumble on saying what was glaringly obvious: That they were mates! Mates!

  “Mated Shifters are mated forever, through space and time, life and death,” said Darius, repeating the words his grandparents had whispered to him all those years ago. “Which means that if you kill a mated Shifter, its animal doesn’t split from the human soul and return to the Darkness! That’s why the Black Dragon has to kill Shifters before they meet their mates!”

  “Black Dragon?” said Lacy, shaking her head as her frown cut deeper. “Is that as bad as it sounds?”

  “Yes,” said Darius. “Sheikh Murad. Dragon Shifter gone feral. Wild. All dark.”

  “I saw some footage of a dragon Shifter from a couple of years ago,” said Lacy, her eyes widening. “It burst through some coffee shop in Milwaukee! Destroyed the building and flew off with a woman in its talons! The media dismissed it as a hoax, but there’s no doubt something destroyed that building.”

  “That was Adam Drake, the green-and-gold dragon,” said Darius. “Sheikh Murad’s son. The only creature alive that can kill the Black Dragon.”

  “Well, that sucks,” Lacy said, trying to smile even though Darius could see her sharp mind putting together the bits and pieces of information. “Killing your own father is probably a bummer.”

  Darius laughed, shrugging his heavy shoulders as his lion’s body trembled. “Yeah. Total bummer. But maybe he won’t have to kill Papa.”

  “Oh, you’re going to kill a feral Black Dragon on the warpath?” said Lacy, smiling as her voice took on a teasing lilt. “Talk about delusions of grandeur. Not to mention that you’re currently in a cage.”

  Darius looked around and sighed. “Oh, right. Well, maybe you’ll have to save the world, then. Wake me up when it’s done, will ya?”

  Lacy laughed, rocking back and forth as she hugged her knees tighter and looked into his eyes. God, she’s beautiful, Darius thought as he felt his lion’s heat roil his blood, bringing out the man in him, the need in him, the need to take his woman, claim his mate, tame this curvy bobcat and fill her with his seed!

  Mine, he thought again. Beautiful and mine! Mine!

  He wanted to stand up and roar, let every beast in the jungle know that the lion had found its mate and all was right with the world! But he knew that all wasn’t right with the world, that although he’d met his mate and had spontaneously been released from whatever hold Murad’s Black Dragon had on him, he had a responsibility, a duty, an obligation. He couldn’t just break through these bars, claim his mate, and disappear into the jungles of Africa. He wasn’t just an animal. He was a man. A leader. A goddamn king!

  And she is my queen, he thought as he studied her face, watched how her chest moved from each breath she took, listened to her heart beat in time with his.

  My queen.

  5

  “Behold! I now introduce the Queen of the Ring!” said the ringmaster in a surprisingly powerful stage-voice as Lacy stepped into the middle of the circus ring, a rush of nervous energy ripping through her as the crowd hissed and booed and called out Darius’s name.

  We want to see the freak! called the crowd.

  Bring out the Lion Shifter! roared the rabble.

  Show us your boobs! hooted some hooligans who were probably drunk and definitely American.

  Lacy heard Darius growl in anger at the assholes who’d shouted that last line, and she almost turned to the billowing purple curtain behind which the lions stood ready to come out at her command.

  “You know what?” growled Darius through the cacophony of crowd noise, his voice coming through so clear that Lacy wondered if everyone else could hear him. “I’m just gonna rip a couple heads off. It’ll just take a minute, and people will settle down after that.”

  “No!” muttered Lacy, almost laughing as both she and her bobcat imagined her lion-mate bounding off the stage and using his powerful paws to knock the heads off the group of what appeared to be drunk American college students who thought they were at a strip club. “I got this.”

  “Better hurry,” growled Darius from behind the curtain, his voice low but still coming through clearly to her. “Or else I’m gonna teach this new generation some fucking manners.”

  “Language, please,” said Lacy from the side of her mouth. She raised her arms and walked to the edge of the stage, standing right in front of the rowdy group of Americans. “Remember, when they go low, we go high.”

  “Did you just quote Michelle Obama to me?” whispered Darius, and Lacy chuckled as she wondered if everyone else could hear the talking lion too. Apparently not. It was loud enough in the arena. “All right then, Queen of the Ring. Let’s see how you handle the crowd. I’ll give you ten seconds before I start eating people.”

  “How about staying quiet for like ten seconds so everyone doesn’t hear you, all right?” Lacy whispered back before standing as straight as she could at the edge of the ring, holding
her arms upright like she was commanding the crowd to simmer down. Incredibly, the audience responded, and Lacy felt a rush like she’d never felt as she surveyed the upturned faces of people from all over the world.

  I could get used to this, she thought as she flashed a smile and kept her feet together. She’d always been confident in front of people, comfortable with her curves, and she smiled down at the drunken morons in the third row and widened her eyes.

  “Did I hear you guys volunteer to come up on stage?” she said. She waited for just a fraction of a second—enough to take some pleasure in the looks of panic as they stared back at her. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have some volunteers! Come on up, guys! Everyone, give our volunteers a hand!”

  The crowd burst into raucous applause, drowning out the feeble protests of the boisterous drunks, who’d gone awfully quiet suddenly.

  “It’s all right, guys,” Lacy said cheerfully as she waited for them to meekly step onto the empty stage and stand there blinking nervously in the spotlight. “I already fed my lions earlier today.”

  The crowd roared with laughter, and Lacy turned and cracked her whip. Immediately all fifteen lions burst out through the curtain, Darius leading with his head held high, golden eyes riveted on his mate, mane shining under the spotlight.

  My God, he’s beautiful, Lacy thought as her bobcat purred and mewed inside like it really was a kitten—his kitten. It took a moment for her to focus back on the scene, and when she saw the color drain from the faces of her reluctant volunteers, she wondered if she’d made a mistake.

  But Darius was calm, and his lions followed their master’s lead with precision as the lion Shifter did a full round of the circus ring, all the animals in lockstep. They stopped at Lacy’s command, and when she raised her arms again, they all sat on their haunches and stared at the terrified volunteers.

  Lacy relaxed, smiling and turning to the crowd. “What do you guys say?” she called out. “Should we feed them to the lions? Yay or nay?”

  She raised her right hand, thumb up in the air like she was the empress of Rome and this was the coliseum. The crowd hooted and hollered, and Lacy felt a strange chill go through her when she sensed an underlying wildness, like they really were calling for blood!

  “Something’s not right,” Lacy muttered, blinking as she felt her bobcat suddenly thrash inside her like it was trying to get out, trying to come forth, like it was getting whipped up into a frenzy just like the crowd. Her vision blurred as she stared out into the crowd, scanning the faces of humans who seemed no better than animals right then, their faces twisted, mouths wide open, teeth bared, eyes narrowed. “What’s happening, Darius?”

  But Darius didn’t answer, and when Lacy turned to her mate she saw that the lion was standing rigid like a statue, gold eyes focused on a spot deep in the crowd. She followed his gaze and immediately saw them: Those dark Shifters who’d showed up the other day! They were back! Or perhaps they’d never left!

  Lacy had to almost scream at her bobcat to control its need to burst forth, and she could sense the other lions begin to move from their obedient positions. Darius was wholly focused on those other Shifters, and Lacy knew that her mate’s protective instincts were consuming him. He sensed danger to his mate, and nothing else mattered to his animal more than protecting her.

  Lacy herself was feeling torn, and the chants of the crowd simply raised her bobcat’s anxiety as the drunk buttheads in the ring shifted on their feet and stared at the restless lions surrounding them.

  Breakfast for the beasts! howled the bloodthirsty crowd like they’d lost their minds.

  Lunch for the lions! they yelled like it was all a crazy game.

  Thumbs down! they howled like this was ancient Rome and she was Nero.

  From the corner of her eye Lacy could see Darius slowly moving toward the edge of the ring, his attention completely focused on those dark Shifters who seemed to be doing nothing but sitting in the crowd in human form, their faces expressionless and zombie-like, their eyes unblinking but focused . . .

  Yes, focused—but not on Darius or me, Lacy realized as she followed their line of sight and saw that they were staring at one of Darius’s lions: a young male with a streaked, ragged mane.

  “No!” Lacy whispered as she felt the poor dumb animal tense up as if those dark Shifters were controlling it. “Darius! On your left!”

  Darius turned just as that young lion rose up and roared, launching itself with all the power of its muscular haunches . . . launching itself with jaws wide open, savage teeth glistening with drool, eyes blood-red with rage that seemed to come from somewhere outside it.

  Lacy screamed, and then she lost control of her bobcat, her animal bursting forth as it sensed danger to its mate from behind. It was only then that Lacy realized the young lion wasn’t attacking Darius.

  It was attacking the trembling humans she’d called up into the ring!

  Terror and shock whipped through Lacy as her bobcat prepared to meet the young lion in mid-air. She’d fought with her sister before when in animal form; but those fights had been in play, even though they’d both come away with some serious scratches and even a few bites. As a Shifter she was almost certainly stronger than a regular animal, but this lion was no joke. It looked seriously wild, mad, feral. Those dark Shifters were doing something. She didn’t know what, didn’t know how, didn’t know why. She just knew it was happening.

  Lacy closed her eyes as she felt her bobcat’s jaws open wide as it prepared to attack the feral lion. But then she felt the wind knocked out of her, and she hissed in shock as she landed on the heavy carpet of the ring, her bobcat twisting in the air so she could land on all fours, ready to spring back into action.

  But there was no need, because Darius’s lion had heard her warning and with lightning speed had jumped between Lacy and the lion, knocking her out of the way and twisting his massive body in the air so he could use his front paws to push the feral lion away from the screaming drunks, who were wailing like they’d already been ripped down the seams!

  “Stand down!” Darius roared to his lion, but the feral beast was too far gone, and it found its balance and made another rush at the vulnerable humans. “Don’t make me do this!”

  Lacy was almost in tears as she tried to push away the thought that it was she who’d called these poor assholes up on stage, putting them in harm’s way. If they were killed in front of a thousand people . . . people who now knew that Lacy was a Shifter . . .

  The thought froze her as her intelligent human mind keep spinning, replaying the way those dark Shifters had somehow taken control of the lion and made it attack the humans. In front of her Darius was fighting the lion now, both beasts at each other’s necks, claws out, teeth bared, manes flying like battle flags.

  She’d expected the crowd to have panicked and headed for the exits, but when Lacy heard a fresh round of cheers rise up, she was startled to see that most people were standing, fists pumping in the air like this was all part of the show!

  With a roar Darius bit down hard on the feral lion’s thigh, sinking his sharp teeth into the muscle and pulling the lion down to the carpet. But the feral beast barely even reacted, turning its body and slashing Darius across the back with its claws, drawing fresh blood that rolled down his golden fur in streaks.

  “No!” Lacy screamed, leaping at the young lion, her bobcat going right for the feral lion’s throat. She had no choice. She was going to put this lion down, audience be damned!

  “No!” came Darius’s roar, his paws knocking her off her feet once more. “We can’t! It doesn’t know what it’s doing. We can’t put it down! Help me control it!”

  The lion is talking! shouted someone from the crowd as gasps rose up through the cheers.

  It’s Darius the Shifter! cried someone else.

  Shifters versus animals! howled a third person from the rabid crowd.

 
Lacy managed to control her bobcat just in time so her jaws clamped tight before she landed on the young lion. With her hard head she butted the lion square in the nose, which seemed to faze it long enough for Darius to take over once again. A moment later Darius had brought the young lion to its knees, forcing it to roll over and raise its paws in submission.

  “Run, you morons,” Lacy hissed at the cowering, blubbering idiots who were still on the stage, hugging each other and wetting their pants like children. “And mind your manners next time, OK?”

  Darius looked up at her, a grin emerging through his lion’s open jaws. Lacy grinned back, even though there was nothing remotely funny about what had almost happened here. But she couldn’t deny the rush of euphoria that flooded her senses from the action, the joy of teaming up with her mate, the primal pleasure of releasing her animal and letting it do what came naturally: jump, snarl, hiss, fight!

  “You should . . . go,” said Darius in a low voice. He growled once more at the now-calm young lion, glancing down at its injured thigh.

  “What do you mean? We should both go, Darius! Everyone knows you’re a Shifter too now!”

  “I can’t leave my lions, Lacy,” Darius said. “They’ll put them all down! Or send them to zoos!”

  “And what do you think they’ll do with you? With us?” Lacy snapped back at him. “You think the show will just go on like normal? Everything’s changed, Darius. The cat’s out of the bag. The world knows that Shifters exist, and nothing’s going to be the same again. We have to go. We’ll come back for your lions. They’re protected species in Africa. And with all the media coverage, the Moroccan government isn’t going to just come in and shoot them dead! There’ll be too much outrage with the whole world following the story.”

  Lacy glanced up and scanned the crowd. She looked for those dark Shifters, but they were gone. Somehow that didn’t surprise her. Had they already accomplished what they came for? Did they simply want Darius and Lacy to expose themselves as Shifters in front of a thousand iPhone cameras?