by Jade White
“What are you doing here?” she asked in place of a greeting.
“Dylan asked for help to get the whole place back in shape,” he said, gesturing to the temporary patches on the walls of the nursery and the damaged doorframe of Grace’s cottage.
“How is that possible? He's been here since you left last night.” she asked skeptically, trying to read some sort of truth in his expression.
“A benefit of our unique skills,” he said with a smirk. “He can command us all from miles away. It’s rather annoying, but an effective way for him to communicate.”
“And you agreed?” she questioned playfully.
“Yes, well, it isn't what I would choose to do but he is my cousin and my leader,” he grimaced.
“How sweet,” she said with feigned admiration that caused him to chuckle.
“A few of the others from our pride will arrive soon. Dylan told me to come ahead so that you weren't taken off guard,” he explained. There was something in his eyes that told her he had more to say; that he was holding something back.
“How thoughtful,” she said as she heard the baby’s cries. He had never much liked to be left alone. “Oh, Luke’s fussing. I'm going to run in and grab the baby.”
“May I meet him?” he asked hesitantly. She wasn’t entirely sure that it was a good idea, but she realized that Dylan would not have asked him to come if he thought the situation was dangerous. She also thought that it would be harder for him to take a stand against Dylan if he loved the baby as much as the rest of them did.
“I guess,” she finally said. “Let me go get him.”
She was back in a moment with the squirming baby in her arms. Though he had quit fussing, he was still wiggling about, sensing the tension in her.
Jason stared at the baby without speaking for some time. The child, sensing his scrutiny, stared back at him. Shannon wondered if he could tell that Jason was his family, because the baby seemed to calm down relatively quickly as they stood there in silence.
“He's a fine child,” Jason finally said, looking up from the child and into her eyes.
“Yes, we certainly think so,” she said, unable to suppress her smile at his words. She was truly proud of the beautiful baby that she and Grace were raising. She shifted the baby then, resting him on her shoulder.
Looking down at his sweet face, everything that they might face in the coming months from Dylan’s pride would be worth it to be able to be a part of the child’s life. She looked up to see Jason staring intently at her, his expression full of curiosity and wonder.
“How can you have such love and devotion for another woman's child?” he said, unable to hide his disbelief at what he was observing.
“Grace has been my family for a very long time. Besides, I don't know that I will ever have a child of my own. It's nice to enjoy being a part of the life of a child.” The baby made a soft cooing sound of approval in her arms that made her laugh aloud as she ran her finger down his sweet cheek.
“And why is that?” he pushed.
“Well, to put it in terms that you can relate to, I don't think a mate is something that is in my future. I've been on my own for a long time. Grace is as close as I have to family and I am fine with that.” She had long ago come to terms with that fact that a family of her own was not in her future. In truth, she would have turned her back on the entire concept years ago if not for Grace’s insistence.
“Why is that?” he asked gently.
“My dad split when he found out my mom was pregnant and she died when I was 12. I bounced around in foster homes after that, until I went to college.” She did her best to keep any trace of emotion from her face. The last thing that she wanted to do was look weak in front of this man.
“I'm sorry,” he said with surprising tenderness.
“People go through worse things every day. I really never thought I would be close to anyone again but Grace didn't give me much choice. When we met our freshman year she decided to adopt me into her family and that was that.” It was the truth, too. Grace had sensed that Shannon was alone in the world and decided that she just couldn’t allow that to continue.
“She seems to have a charisma about her that draws unlikely people to her,” he said with contempt.
“You really should give her a chance. She is an amazing person,” Shannon said defensively.
“Getting to know her won't change my mind,” he said, suddenly guarded.
“They make each other happy and they sure made a cute baby. Here, hold him.” With that, she practically shoved the baby in his arms. Nobody, she knew, could stay mad with a baby that cute in their arms. He seemed shocked at first, but he soon relaxed and took in the sweetness of the moment. It was clear to her that he didn’t have much experience with babies, but he was tender enough.
“He has Dylan's eyes,” he said with surprise. She could sense that his guard had already lowered.
“I think so too,” she said with a smile. As he grew more relaxed, so did she.
“We were raised together, you know,” he said without taking his eyes from the baby. She knew that he was really asking if she knew how it was that he came to be raised with Dylan, about what his father had done.
“Yes,” she said without elaboration or judgment.
“Where are Dylan and Grace,” he asked, as though he was quite ready to change the subject.
“They went for a stroll a bit ago, but they should be back soon,” she explained.
“Very well,” he said plainly. “I hear the rest of the boys approaching. We will begin our work now.” With that, he put the baby back in her arms and she felt his guard going back up.
“Thanks,” she said, a little disappointed. “I'll take the baby up to my part of the cabin so we're out of your way.”
“Yes, well, that would likely be best,” he said as he turned and walked away. She and the baby settled in her room, relaxing on the large round mattress that she had sewn days after their arrival. While Grace preferred to have her cabin divided, Shannon had always enjoyed the openness of hers. She’d pushed her desk against a far wall and the bed to center stage. She had enough pillows on it that it easily served as a lounge during the day and Luke happily snuggled in to wait for his mother’s return.
It wasn’t very long before she heard footsteps outside of her door. Grace swept in the room and crashed down on the mattress with them, sending Luke into fits of gleeful noises.
“Hey, you're back,” Shannon smiled at her dear friend.
“Yes, Dylan joined the men working on my cabin and the nursery. I’m a little surprised that Jason came with them after last night,” she murmured as she leaned down to kiss the baby.
“You mean my temporary repairs weren't up to the King’s standards,” she teased.
“I wouldn't be surprised if he had them all build us a fortress. He's more worried than he wants to let on,” she said with sadness in her eyes.
“You've been together such a short time, how can you tell?” Shannon asked seriously.
“It's odd, but it feels like we have been together all of our lives. We are so connected. I think it has to do with his lion side,” Grace explained.
“Interesting. Speaking of interesting, I had a decent conversation with Jason when they arrived,” she said, attempting to sound casual about it.
“Really,” she said in disbelief. “So it's just me he hates?” Her expression was so dejected that it made Shannon feel even worse about the entire situation.
“I don't think he hates you. I don't even think it has anything to do with you. I think it runs deeper than that. He didn't say much about it, but I think he feels very responsible to his people and to Dylan. I think being put in a situation where he may have to choose between the two is playing on him deeply. Still, he was quite taken with our little man,” she said as she leaned down to tickle the baby’s belly.
They sat there for what felt like an hour in total silence. Shannon spent it fussing over the baby while Grace
seemed to be stewing over something. Shannon knew better than to interrupt her train of thought, so she simply entertained the baby and waited for Grace to reveal her rapidly developing idea to them.
“Go out and invite him to dinner here. Maybe when he sees how I feel about Dylan, he will realize that I am not threat to him,” Grace said suddenly, with a look of relief on her face, as though she had just solved all of their problems.
“Should I pass him a note for you, maybe see if he wants to go to the big dance with you,” Shannon teased, amazed that even Grace thought one social event could fix all of their problems. Teasing Grace was easier than facing the fact that she didn’t think her plan would do much good.
“Don't joke. I need him to like us. If he stands with Dylan, maybe the rest of them will too. Then we will know for sure that Luke is safe,” she said, flashing an innocent smile and holding the baby up in an attempt to tug at Shannon’s heart strings.
“Sure, pull the baby card. Then you know I can't say no,” she said, shaking her head as she stood up and headed for the door.
“That was my diabolical plan,” Grace called after her.
Shannon began to walk towards where the men were working, but stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted Jason. He had removed his shirt as he worked. His tan skin was glistening with sweat in the sunshine. His muscles flexed as he lifted stones into place around the nursery’s back wall. He was beautiful, there was no denying that.
His sheer masculinity as he worked made her heart flutter and her skin warm in a way that had nothing to do with the African heat. She knew, with his senses, that if she faced him like this, he would be able to tell just how much the sight of his body affected her.
She decided instead to fill the water bucket, since it would give her time to gain control of her reaction to him. She also realized that, even though they were all more than used to the heat, bringing water to the men who were making their home safer was the least that she could do. She grabbed the yoke so that she could fill two buckets and headed for the well.
She did her best to keep the image of his bare chest and broad shoulders from her mind as she made her way to the well. Though she did not have much success at that, the balance and physical exertion required not to spill both buckets kept her mind occupied on her way back home. She was so absorbed in her work that she did not realize that all the men had stopped their work and were watching her, none more intently than Jason. Dylan, for his part, was watching Jason as he watched her, and Shannon made a mental note to ask him about it later.
She grew very self-conscious that she was going to spill the water before she reached the men, with all of them staring at her. As soon as she was close enough, she gladly put down her load and breathed a sigh of relief, thanking whatever gods might be listening for keeping her from making a fool of herself.
“Here you go,” she said as mildly as possible. “Thank you all for helping us secure our home.”
They all nodded in surprise and gratefully walked up to drink. Many of them murmured their thanks as they took their turn, with Dylan nodding in approval as he smiled at her.
Jason approached last to take his drink, lingering after the others had returned to their work.
“You haul water like someone who grew up here,” he said with admiration.
“Yes, well, Grace and I have lived in more rustic places than this. Carrying a bucket of water down a well-defined path is nothing.” The worst place, she thought, though, was when they were stuck in the city for their lecturing obligations. She would far rather haul water than be surrounded by the awful din of the city.
“You have lived many places?” he asked with real curiosity.
“Yup, the year we were initially planning to do here would have been the longest we’d been anywhere consecutively. It is usually a new place for us every six months,” she said with a bit of longing for the road in her voice.
“How does that work?” he questioned, in no hurry to end their conversation.
“Well, usually we study a few populations of the same species in different locations and make comparisons. This was to be our first in-depth study of one population because of all the oddities that have been observed in the lions on the nature preserve, which we can now explain but never reveal to anyone. I’m not entirely sure what we will say in our final paper,” she said thoughtfully.
“So you don’t just study lions?” he asked, truly curious.
“No, she and I have studied animals all over the world. That's what brought us here in the first place; the fact that we had never done a study in Africa before. We have tried to take as much from the opportunities offered us as possible. We had plans to see as much of the world as we could before she settled down and had kids. Who knew where it would lead?” She was sure that he could tell that the fact did make her a bit sad. She knew now that their days of traveling were at an end, whether Grace admitted it to herself or not.
“I know she is committed to staying here now, but what will you do?” he asked as though he could read her mind. His eyes were intent on her face as he asked the question, as if he were trying to discern the answer from her expression rather than her words.
“I'll be here for a bit yet. I'm not sure when I'll leave. We were supposed to be here for another year anyway, after we submitted our initial results the university agreed to fund it. That means I have a while until I need to decide and that way I can be around for all the baby’s firsts. There is enough biodiversity to do a lifetime of research here, but I don't want to be a third wheel to their happiness.
“Plus, I had plans to travel the world. Just because Grace isn’t coming along anymore doesn’t mean that I should let go of that dream. Maybe I'll just swing back through every few years to make sure Luke has his aunt Shannon.” The thought of breaking up their little family weighed heavily on her heart, but she knew that there would come a time where she would be in the way.
Jason’s expression turned dark before he said “Well, I better get back to work. My leader won't appreciate me dawdling. I'd hate for him to see it as a sign of dissent.”
She knew the time had come to bring up the next evening. “Grace asked me to invite you to dinner tomorrow night. She would like to get to know you better,” she explained, trying to be persuasive.
“Will you be there?” was all that he asked.
“I might be,” she said, a little confused.
“Then I might be as well,” he said pointedly.
“OK, I'll be there,” she conceded.
“As will I,” he said. At that, she turned and went back to tell Grace.
Jason was so absorbed in watching her go that he did not immediately sense Dylan standing directly behind him.
“What did you feel last night when you looked at her for the first time?” Dylan asked directly.
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Jason said as he turned to face his leader. “She is clearly lovely but I have no plans to pursue a human and she has no plans to stay here.”
“Sometimes,” Dylan said with a smirk, “our plans have little to do with what we do. Did she not take your breath away? Did not the earth seem to stop spinning, just for a moment, as you fully comprehended just how beautiful she is to you?”
“You over-estimate her appeal,” Jason said defensively.
“I don’t think that I do. I saw the way she took your breath away last night and I see the way she affects you now. You’ve chosen her,” he said bluntly.
“I have not chosen anyone. When I do find a mate, she will be one of our kind. I will have a mate and children and a family of my own. She cannot offer me that and I have no interest in less,” he said, staring towards the hut where he knew she was as he spoke.
“You have already considered her for the role then?” Dylan pressed.
“No,” he defended. “I am simply telling you why your insinuations are crazy.”
“I think you have done little since you first saw her than think of what a life with
her would be like. That is what your mind does when you find your mate. It will only get worse if you try to stay away from her. It will begin to feel like an itch under your skin that you can never seem to cure. Her face will pop in to your mind at the oddest of times, until every thought is consumed with her.
“That's what happened when I tried to stay away from Grace. That’s why I came back to her. I know she thinks that it's because I realized she had the child, but in truth when you try to keep yourself away from your mate, you begin to go mad with want,” he said, his thoughts consumed with the dark times when they were apart.
