by Jade White
“We don't have time for this. We need to get them to safety before the fighting begins,” he said, pushing past the question he had no desire to answer.
“You do love her, don't you?” Dylan asked a bit more simply.
“Yes,” he answered, too tired to deny it any longer. “I tried to fight it but I knew from the moment that I saw her,” he replied, remembering the emotions he felt when he first truly looked at her.
“Is that why you went to her before bringing this to me?” Dylan said. Though his words sounded harsh, his voice was sympathetic.
“I needed her and I needed to know that she felt something for me too,” he said, trying to explain the unexplainable.
“So you slept with her?” he asked.
“Yes,” he replied as memories from the night before played in his head.
“And?” he pressed.
“I never knew contentment until I lay there with her sleeping in my arms,” he said, remembering the sight of her lying beside him.
“Why did they tell you of their plans?” Dylan asked, trying to gain a full understanding of the situation.
“They want me to replace you as leader of the pride,” he said bluntly.
“And you considered it?” Dylan exclaimed with rage.
“I would have been a fool not to,” Jason said, unashamed.
“And you are choosing to stand by me and protect them?” Dylan clarified.
“Yes. They want to kill them both. They haven't done anything to deserve that,” he said, feeling the sudden urge to return to Shannon’s side, uncomfortable to have gone so long without touching her.
“And how do you think they will react when they learn you have betrayed them?” Dylan asked, realizing the danger that Jason was putting himself in.
“They will do their best to see that I don't survive the battle to come,” he said plainly, already having accepted his fate.
“And I will do my best to see that you do survive,” Dylan vowed.
“All I ask is that you watch over her for me if I should fall. I’m nearly sure there is a babe inside her now. Raise him as your own, as your father did with me,” he said, trying very hard to keep the image of Shannon raising their child alone from his mind. It would do him no good in the fight to be distraught at the thought. That was how mistakes were made and lives were lost.
“I will watch after your woman and any child that comes along if anything should happen. This I promise you,” Dylan said solemnly.
“I may be hers but I am not at all sure that she is mine,” he said, wishing that he had told her that he loved her before they slept together and worrying that she might never know.
“Let’s win the battle first and then you will have all the time in the world to find out how she feels about you. Go fetch her now and get her in the cabin with Grace and the baby. There isn't time to get them to safety and even if there were, I wouldn't be able to concentrate if she was too far away for me to hear her heart beat,” he said, looking over his shoulder to the cabin where Grace slept.
“I am beginning to understand the feeling,” Jason said, relieved to be returning to Shannon’s side, even if it was only to last a moment more.
THE FINAL CHAPTER
Jason walked in to the hut but hesitated before waking Shannon. He sat there in silence for a few moments, taking in the beauty of the sleeping woman lying in front of him. She had shifted to her side in his absence, her arms flung out, as though she were reaching for him even in her sleep. She shifted then, moaned his name, and broke his heart. The thought of putting himself in the kind of danger that could cause her to live without him made him ache.
He still was not sure if she loved him, but at least she wanted him. For him, she was now the reason the sun rose and set and he hoped like hell that she would come to feel the same thing for him, if he lived long enough to see it. She shivered then and he picked up the blanket she had flung across her chair and tucked it around her. She sighed and snuggled in, and it brought him a ridiculous amount of joy to have brought her even the smallest bit of comfort.
He lay gently down beside her again, staring at her face lit by the moon. Her hair lay across her cheek and he reached out gently to brush it away. She began to shift and stretch but did not open her eyes. He knew then that he had to break the peace of the moment and wake her. Before he did though, he couldn’t resist the impulse to press his lips to her forehead and pull her close to him once more.
“Shannon, get up,” he whispered.
“It’s not morning yet,” she murmured as she cuddled herself closer to him. In a perfect world, he thought, he would gladly have laid like this forever.
“We have to go to Grace’s cabin,” he said, but she made no attempt to move. Her contentment in his arms brought him such peace that he knew in that moment he would gladly die for her. “You have to come with me now. Our pride is planning an attack and you need to be with Grace and the baby.” He hated to be so blunt with the news, but he needed her to understand the gravity of their situation.
“What?” she exclaimed, sitting straight up and forgetting her nakedness. The glory of her body took his breath away all over again, but the horror on her face brought him back to the severity of their situation.
“They want to unseat Dylan and kill Grace...and you,” he added in hesitation.
“And me?” she asked, more surprised than afraid. He wanted to laugh aloud at the confused look on her face, but knew that he needed to impress upon her just how much danger she was in.
“Yes, as a warning to other human females who might come here,” he tried to explain.
“Oh my god,” she said, shaking her head. For a moment, he thought that she finally understood just what she was about to face. Then, she innocently asked, “How could they want to hurt Grace so badly?”
“Are you really more worried about your friend's welfare at the moment than your own?” he asked, unable to suppress his laughter at the absurdity of her statement. She was such a wonderful mixture of courage and compassion. He couldn’t believe that he had ever tried to keep himself from loving her.
“Well,” she said, obviously annoyed by his laughter, “it is much more believable that someone would want to kill me than that someone would want to kill Grace.”
“You are unbelievable,” he said as he pulled her close to him once again. He needed to feel her body pressed against him and to hear her heart beat, healthy and strong, before he faced the danger that was to come. She seemed to understand, wrapping her arms tightly around him as though she needed the same thing.
“Why are you standing with Dylan?” she asked with hesitation, her head laying on his chest.
He smiled down at her, amused that she could have any doubt about why he was willing to fight by his cousin’s side. “Because I understand now why he made the choice that he did. Mating is a strong thing, too strong to fight without going mad. Come on, we need to get you settled so we can block the nursery door from the other side,” he said, though he made no effort to more. The feeling of her shallow breath against his skin was too intoxicating. She looked up into his eyes then and he could see the tears threatening from the corner of her eyes. She smiled sadly at him, then pulled back a bit in an effort to get up and do as he asked.
“Alright,” she whispered.
“Wait,” he said, snaring her wrist in his grip and pulling her hard against his chest. His lips crashed down on hers, devouring the sweet gasp she let out at the suddenness of his action. What began as a ferocious kiss, fueled by instinct and passion mellowed in to one of sweetness and desire. He took his time, kissing her thoroughly. He savored the feeling of her soft body beneath him. The silkiness of her skin was magnificent. The scent of her filled his mind and he knew that he would carry that with him in to battle.
For her part, she tried to memorize the feeling of his lips upon hers, of his hands roaming her body, of his eyes locked with hers. He kissed her as though it were a lazy Sunday afternoon, not as if a
hoard of angry lions was about to descend upon them. She felt no embarrassment at being naked beneath him. She wasn’t even ashamed that she wished that he had not pulled on his pants. She wanted nothing more than to lay with him, their naked bodies tangled together.
When he finally did pull back and stand, she asked in a daze “What was that for?”
He stood there, looking down at her with an unreadable expression and simply said, “When this fight is over, you and I are going to talk about last night and the rest of our lives.”
She stood then, still unclothed, and walked across the room toward him. She wound her hands through his hair and pulled his mouth down to meet hers. She pressed her nude body against his, trying to say with her body what she couldn’t quite find the words to express to him. His arms snapped around her like a steel trap, lifting her from the floor to give his mouth better access to her mouth, her neck, her shoulders. All the while his hands gripped her skin tightly as though the closer he held her, the safer she would be.
When he reluctantly put her back down, he asked, “What was that for?” He rested his own forehead against hers, savoring one last moment of physical contact.
“Just come back to me, OK?” she said, her eyes closed, inhaling the scent of him.
“I'll do my best,” he said, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“Do better than your best,” she said harshly. “I need you,” she added, eyes full of emotion.
“God, I can't stand that you won't be within my sight during the fight. I may go mad,” he said, suddenly consumed by the desire to grab her and run as far and as fast as he could before the attackers arrived.
“I won't be far. I promise,” she swore, trying to put on a brave face to comfort him. She knew that she needed to; for him, for Grace, and for Luke.
“If I don't leave you now I won't be able to,” he said, stepping away from her to open the door and staring back at her as he spoke.
“Be safe,” she whispered, unable to say more for fear of losing control of her emotions.
“I swear that I will keep you safe,” he said before leaving.
When he closed the door behind him, she sat on her mattress once more and gave herself over to the tears. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to find a way to be calm while knowing that he was about to risk his life for her and Grace. When she had cried herself out, she quickly dressed in the first pair of jean shorts and tee shirt that she could find. She wasn’t exactly sure what one wore to battle, but it seemed the most appropriate thing in her wardrobe.
***
Jason strode off, not trusting himself to look back. His heart was already beating quickly and his palms were sweaty at the thought of moving further away with her. He knew then that he should have just told her exactly how he felt, in case he never again got the chance to look upon her sweet face. He knew though, that if he turned back to tell her, he would not be able to leave her side again. It took all of his will power, but he forced himself to walk on until he found Dylan.
Dylan was pacing the ground between the wide open of the nature preserve at the girl’s home.
“Cousin, are you ready for what is to come?” Dylan asked meaningfully.
“Yes, he won’t be able to muster more than ten to stand against you. We can dispatch them if we fight smart,” Jason said, attempting to distract himself with strategy. It was true. He couldn’t think of more than ten of their kind who would join Gunther’s crusade. Many of their kind, despite the world’s impression of lions, were passive creatures.
They might not stand against Gunther when he made his move against Dylan, but they certainly would not stand with him. There were truly only five individuals that he was sure would be with their attacker. They were young, rash members of the pride. Gunther was the only one who had any sort of battle experience and his was limited. Jason was sure that with the strategic minds that he and Dylan had been raised to have, they could easily outsmart their opponents, even if they could not out number them.
Dylan did not look convinced, staring off in to the distance before speaking. “We may win the day, but there will be a cost. There is always a cost to battle.”
“Yes,” Jason said, unable to dispute that. “Still, we will make sure that the women and the child do not pay that price.”
“Cousin, I made you a promise,” Dylan said slowly.
“Yes, and I am grateful,” Jason said.
“Now I need you to make me a promise,” Dylan said, looking directly in to Jason’s eyes as he spoke. “Promise me that you will take care of my family if I fall.”
“I will not make you that promise. The promise that I will make you,” Jason said solemnly, “is that I will lay down my own life to keep you from falling.”
“I will not ask that of you,” Dylan said with the authority of the leader of the pride.
“You do not have to ask it of me,” Jason said. “If there is only to be one of us who will care for Grace, Shannon, Luke, and the baby Shannon could be carrying after this day, I want that person to be you. It is you who have the nobility of your father. You have the stability and devotion to make sure that they all like a good life.”
“You sell yourself short, Jason,” Dylan said with a shake of his head.
“I know the kind of man I am. I am rash and impulsive, but I love her. If I survive this day, I will do everything that I can to be a better man for her, but it will take time. If one of us is lost today, they will need someone who is a better man already. That is you, cousin,” he said, staring off in to the distance as he spoke.
“I believe that you are already a better man for having found Shannon,” Dylan replied gently.
“She makes everything in this world seem like it is worth something. I went through life before so focused on my anger and loneliness that I never realized how beautiful the world is. Do you know how magical moonlight is? I didn’t until I saw it fall across her sleeping face last night. That is why I can accept it if today is to be my last day on this earth; because now I have really lived through my love for her. Even if I only got to experience it for a short time, it’s more than most get in a lifetime. It is more than my father ever had,” he explained, thinking of the rage that had consumed his father before his expulsion from the pride.
“Did my father never tell you what led to your father’s hatred of humans?” Dylan asked.
“No, he always said that he thought it was best not to poison my mind with it. Why? Did he tell you?” he asked in shock.
“Yes, he told me when he knew that his own death was nearing. We had many conversations about what he thought it would mean for me to be a good leader,” he explained, suddenly lost in his own thoughts.
“Be very sure that you want to hear it, especially now that you love a human,” he warned.
“I am sure,” he swore. His mind raced about what could have filled his father with such rage. He had wanted answers his whole life and it seemed surreal that he was on the verge of getting them now, as they prepared for battle.
“As my father told it, your father was a gentle soul when they were young. He said that he was loved by all and that he was the heart of the pride. That only magnified when he mated with your mother, whom he had loved dearly since they were all cubs. She was a joy, my father said. She loved to take her human form and walk amongst the humans in the local village. She was fascinated by them and their culture, which your father apparently found quite endearing. When she consented to be his, truly his, he was so joyful that my father said he had never seen a more satisfied soul in his entire life. Then, she bore him a child, a female cub they called Tamira.”
“I had a sister,” Jason gasped.
“Yes, three years older than you,” he said with sympathy.
“I never knew,” he murmured in a daze. He had always wondered what life might have been life if he had a sibling, someone who would have felt all that he did about their father’s banishment. The knowledge that he had one was astounding.
/> “She and your mother were far from the heart of the pride lands one day when you were but a young cub. They left you behind with your father so that your mother could begin to teach your sister to hunt for herself. It was then that a human hunter killed them both for sport. When they didn’t return, your father was frantic. He left you with my father and went in search of them. He came upon the hunter when he was beginning to skin them for his trophy room.”
“Dear god,” he said, at a loss for words.
“In his blind rage, he killed the man. He tore him limb from limb. He didn’t feed on him though. He said later that he would not have such an evil creature inside of him. My father told
me that he thought his brother’s mind broke then, so lost was he in his grief. The momentary relief that his swift vengeance brought him became his only focus. He began to think that the only way to ease his pain was to exterminate all of the humans to complete his vengeance. He blamed them all for what one man did.
