by Amy Sumida
“You like that, huh?” I laughed a little when the cheering got louder. Then they fell to the ground all at once. Let me tell you, standing on a dais while a room full of gorgeous men fall to their knees to worship you, is not half bad. I highly recommend it. “Okay now, what did I say about that?” I waved at them futilely. “Come on you guys, get up, please.”
They slowly got to their feet and they all had similar looks of disbelief. Shit they were abused children, and they were expecting me to pull the rug out from under them at any second. Get abused long enough and everyone starts looking like a rug-pulling Bogeyman. Even my connection to them through the love magic couldn't erase the ingrained behavior that all those years of abuse had wrought.
“I’m not Nyavirezi,” I said clearly, addressing them without a hint of uncertainty for the first time.
The love magic may not be able to burn away their memories but it was able to guide me. It knew exactly what they needed, exactly what needed to be said and done for their well-being. I didn't have to know how to lead them, the magic would show me the way.
“I’m Vervain Lavine,” I continued and I saw the whole assemblage grow still. “There will be no fear between us, no humiliation, no abuse. Instead, I will do my best to protect you from those who would harm you. I promise to guide you and help you, if you promise to guide and help me as well. Together we can become a true pride, a real family. We can make this gift into something great, something powerful. What do you say?”
They cheered again and I found myself blinking back the tears. For the first time, I felt a sense of fate, of destiny. I wasn't struggling in the shadows anymore. I was exactly where I needed to be. No confusion, no fear, no indecision. This was something that was all mine. I would lead the Intare on my own and I wouldn’t have to worry about werewolf father-in-laws or hurting the feelings of an old boyfriend who happened to be the God of Thunder. If I made mistakes, my lions would help me through them. We would be strong together. We would be a family. No matter what else came or went, we would stand side by side through it.
We were Intare.
I stepped down from the dais and they stalked forward to surround me. They didn’t flow like the Froekn but they had their own form of grace, or rather beauty. They moved like confidant hunters, muscles bunching and limbs moving in motions you only see in cats. A rolling in the shoulders. Hips lifting at strange but sexy angles. It was graceful in the way that martial arts can be graceful. Beautiful but with an deadly undercurrent.
Lucian came forward. He took my hands in his and lifted them to his lips as he lowered his forehead to mine. It felt very formal, almost like a ritual, and a part of me recognized it instantly. Then his scent washed over me, through me really, as if it melded into my cells from where our foreheads met. The smell of him was unique, like nothing I'd ever smelled before, and I knew I could recognize him anywhere by his scent alone. I could pick him out of a crowded room blindfolded.
I realized then that he wasn't truly mine until that moment. This last step was integral. This was our true bonding. The love magic didn't hold a candle to the magic of the Intare. This was truly knowing someone on a depth that even love couldn't go. Love is a risk, an action of faith in what you believe someone to be, this was the actual knowing. I didn't need faith. From the top of his head to the soles of his feet, I knew Lucian like I knew myself, and I wondered if this was what Trevor felt, how he knew me.
As soon as I had the thought, I knew this was a different connection than what I had with Trevor, a different kind of knowing. Trevor may know me as intimately but he didn't know the way my blood flowed, my heart pumped, or my muscles clenched. He couldn't see the layers of skin, tissues, bones, and organs or stop them with a thought. I gave a small gasp and Lucian backed away so another could take his place.
I swallowed hard, my mind racing. I'd been told I could kill them but to have it displayed so clearly to me right after I committed myself to protecting them, was distressing. I pushed the thought away for a better one. If I could hurt them, maybe I could help them as well. It was worth looking into. Later. Right now I had to focus on the rest of my lions.
By the time I got to Aidan, I was riding high on a cloud of kitty pheromones. I smiled at him brightly and placed my hands in his. Our foreheads met and my scent index made a new entry labeled: Aidan. Instead of pulling away though, he angled his face so we connected one more time.
I heard the lions make a low warning growl and knew Aidan was pushing things. Like his lips to mine. I felt his hands slide up my back as his tongue slid against my mouth. I reacted automatically; I pulled back and slapped him.
Aidan barely moved, he even continued to hold me, but his eyes heated. Not with anger but with lust. I guess it’s true, you never forget the first woman who slaps you. I raised an eyebrow and he smiled seductively. When I tried to pull away, he held tight and dropped to his knees.
“My apologies, Tima,” he bowed his head but quickly looked back up at me. The lions settled a little as power was reestablished and part of me wondered if it had been a test. “I just wanted a taste.”
“No tasting the Tima,” I wagged my finger at him as I finally extricated myself from his grip. “You’re a free lion now,” I motioned with my hand. “Go find yourself another woman to taste.”
“I have a feeling,” he said as he stood, “that none will be quite as sweet.”
“I’m sure you can find plenty of sweet women,” Darius growled from my left, and Fallon took a place on my right. Aidan moved away as the pair took my hands and I was immediately comforted by their gallantry.
I knew I could trust them all, that every single one of those men would die for me in a heartbeat. I knew what kind of men they were, who was honorable and who was playful but there is a difference between getting to know someone and instantly knowing them through magic.
I knew the type of men they were but I didn't know what their pasts were, the things that had made them into those men. I didn't have the history with them that would make us friends. That would take time. For now though, it was enough to know them by blood and by magic. It was enough to be able to feel their hearts connected to mine, beating in time with mine.
I knew then why I was called the heart of the Intare.
I pulled back my awareness before it started traveling down those threads between us, and took a deep breath. The ramifications of it all were a little too much for me to process. I needed a distraction.
“Alright gentlemen, time for a tour. Show me the place.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
The men led me around the palace, that’s pretty much what it was, and I tried my best to remember my way. Aidan stayed at my side the entire time, occasionally inserting some comment about the building or décor, but mostly staring at me in an obsessive stalker kind of way. Darius and Fallon kept inserting themselves between us but Aidan kept finding a way back. He was an Intare boomerang.
Finally, we made it through the many, and I mean many, bedrooms which were located on both the ground level and the underground basement level. The palace had two stories but instead of going up, they'd built down. There were two sets of stairs, one grand stairway in front of the library and a narrow spiral set of stairs inside the kitchen that led down into the huge larder and connecting wine cellar.
On the top floor, ground level, was the massive dining hall with huge, curving windows overlooking the grasslands in front of the palace. Next to it was an industrial size kitchen with a huge fireplace, very impressive and I could foresee many late nights spent baking in it. Directly across from the dining room was the armory.
The armory was filled with every weapon a girl could want, and even some for the boys. The firepower was massive but they adorned the walls like forgotten relics. The lions were like me, they preferred the sharp stuff. There were all sorts of swords, a few were even Japanese like my kodachi. I thanked my lucky stars that Trevor had found it after the battle. I love that sword and working the spell to em
power it against gods had taken me over a month. Learning to master it had taken years. Suffice it to say it had sentimental value.
There were also throwing knives and stars, wrist blades, boot knives, chest straps which held blades all the way down, switchblades, hunting knives, butterfly knives, scimitars, gurkha kukris, and even maces. I just stood awhile and sighed, basking in the shiny glory of it all. I think I might’ve said something like, “Oooooohh… pretty,” but I’m not sure, it's all a shiny metallic haze in my mind.
Down the corridor from there was the ballroom. Can you believe the armory was near the ballroom? Darius said it was tactical. I don't know what kind of dancing they'd been doing but it was going to stop.
The ballroom was beautiful though. It was twice the size of the dining room and had mirrors running down one wall which seemed to double the space. The room itself jutted out from the main building and had its own separate veranda with two sets of French doors leading out to it. It was a half-moon shaped veranda as opposed to the rectangular at the front of the palace.
Speaking of the front of the palace, the safari-esque front veranda led to a double door entry, which led into the grand foyer. Basically a large empty space in which to greet guest and show them some of your expensive stuff right away. It didn't make any sense to me since most of the guest would be coming in through the tracing point which was at the back left corner on the ground floor.... the opposite side of the house. So no one was really going to see the stuffed giraffe... and who the hell stuffs a giraffe anyway? Okay, I thought it was kinda cool.
To the right of the foyer, if you were facing the front doors, was the kitchen but to the left was the library, a place I instantly fell in love with. It wasn't quite as big as Thor’s but came in a close second. The first thing I noticed was the enormous curved windows looking out to the grasslands, mirroring the dining room at the opposite front corner of the house. The view was fantastic and the light would be great for reading.
Next, I discovered the large collection of occult and spell books that I’d never seen before and I was looking forward to months of reading. There was mahogany furniture everywhere, tables, chairs, and display cases but it must not have been enough because there was an attached sitting room to entertain in. Hmph, very hoity toity. I loved it.
The common room was just around the corner from the library but right in front of the library was the large wood staircase that went to the lower level. Down there was the larder, a huge chilly room where racks of food filled the floor. Inside it was the wine cellar with its very impressive collection of properly stored wine.
Right next to the larder was the fitness room. What the architect was trying to say by placing the fitness room next to the larder was not appreciated by me. I don't like to work out. I do it because I have to, not because I enjoy it in any way. So the rows of shiny equipment merely made me groan.
The music room, right next door, would have been phenomenal if I had any musical talent, which I don't. So it was merely impressive with its baby grand piano sitting beside towers of stereo equipment, a drum set, and numerous guitars.
What I did find amazing was the humungous theater at the back right corner. You had to pass the laundry room to get to it but the surround sound system in it was cinema quality and would have no problem drowning out the sound of dryers. It had a vintage style with red velvet curtains covering the walls and lots of gold fretwork. There was enough seating for all of the Intare and anyone we might want to invite, in overstuffed red velvet recliners. There was even balcony seating. For a movie buff like me, it was paradise.
The tour ended back on the ground level where they showed me to the master suite which was now mine. It was in the center of the palace, the best place to defend me I was told. It was beautiful and spacious, done in the same Ralph Lauren safari theme as most of the palace was decorated in. It had a luxurious bathroom and a four poster bed made of bamboo but the most amazing part of it was my private inner courtyard.
The wall directly across from the bedroom door was one large window broken up only by a set of French doors which opened onto a tranquil inner garden as large as the bedroom and the private bath combined. It was home to some of the most exotic looking blooms I’d ever seen… and I’ve seen exotic, being raised in Hawaii and all. It was a little shocking to see the tropical flowers in the midst of the safari style palace but it somehow made the courtyard all the more precious. I wasn't much into African themed décor so I knew the courtyard would be a sanctuary of sorts for me, a place where I could find peace.
It was as if it had been built for me. The foliage was thick but in an English garden sort of way not jungle. It was harnessed chaos, with riotous color and scents. Swarms of butterflies lived flew everywhere and I was told they hung from the trees in massive colonies at night, looking like monstrous, multicolored wisteria. I was enthralled.
I sat down on a stone bench beside a little pond sparkling with bright fishes, and stared about me contentedly. Around me, the lions dropped to the ground, content as well to bask in the afternoon sun shining down through the screen covered opening above us. The air was sweet with the scent of all the flowers and thick with the lazy flapping of butterfly wings. It was spectacular..
“Tima,” Darius sat on the ground beside me. “We had planned a picnic outdoors but if you prefer, we can move it in here.”
“A picnic?” I was thrilled. I'd expected the day to be about responsibilities, work without fun. But it seemed that the lions had the potential to live like Froekn, filling every day with as much joy as possible, and I wanted to encourage that. “No, let’s stick with your plan. I’d like to see outside as well.”
We wandered out the front doors, down the veranda steps, past a swimming pool complete with massive waterfalls flowing into it (one of them a disguised slide… whoopee!) and a grilling area.
A few of the men were already cooking steaks. They nodded to me as we strolled by and I waved gaily. The smell of the meat made my stomach rumble and one of the cooks laughed and gestured to the growing piles of meat on platters by his side.
“I’ll bring you the choicest piece, Tima,” he called.
“Thank you,” I scented the air instinctively and his scent separated from the rest, sparking in my mind and forming a name, “Ryan.”
The chef smiled wider and went over to start fixing me a plate. Darius guided me to a tree shaded spot covered with large blankets and sat me in the middle of the Intare. They settled around me, some of them heading off to help with the cooking or food distribution but most lounging contentedly.
“Thank you,” Darius was looking at the others as he spoke to me but he turned back to look me in the eyes. “Thank you for giving us our lives back.”
“I would kill a hundred of her to keep the Intare safe,” I swore softly.
“I know, Tima,” a tear slid down his cheek and he quickly swiped it away. “We are finally free. We’re finally a pride, thanks to you.”
“Not just me,” I looked out over the grassy landscape, spotted with flat topped trees, then back at his open face. “You got them to rally behind me, you and Fallon,” I looked over at the regal man on my left, “the Intare made a choice to free themselves. I was merely a tool.”
“No, not a tool,” Fallon took my hand, “a weapon. You were the blade which, once flung into the unknown, unerringly finds the target. We backed you, propelled you, but never wielded you.”
“So,” I squeezed his hand quickly, “we were a pride from the beginning.”
“Yes,” they both spoke at once.
“We may have taken the role of females in a pride,” Fallon said with a thoughtful frown. “But the that role is not completely without choice. In the wild, the males will fight for ownership of the pride but the females will drive off any male they deem unworthy before he can even get close enough to challenge their lion.”
“We may have spoken to the others,” Darius continued for Fallon, “brought them to you, but it was you who
won them over. They looked on you and saw a true champion. Someone they could allow to challenge their lioness. The Intare chose you.”
“I'll try my best to honor that choice.”
I stared back at the open grasslands. The delicate trees gave shade but little cover for the herds of animals that roamed the plains. It was a hunter’s paradise, lots of game and no place to hide. I was shocked to feel a twinge of excitement at the thought of changing into a lioness and chasing my prey. I could almost feel the grass being crushed beneath my paws, the scent of prey on the wind, and my heart racing with the rhythm of the hunt. I had to focus to tear my thoughts away.
The scenery was beautiful but barren compared to Hawaii. I’d grown up with tropical lushness and part of me cringed away from the stark landscape. Another part of me exalted in the change though and it was only a place I’d visit anyway. I wasn’t moving in or anything. It would be just fine. Fine? What was I talking about? I'd just inherited a palace in the middle of a Safari paradise. That’s a little beyond fine.
“Does our land end at the mountains?” I pondered the way we seemed to be surrounded by the tall peaks.
“In a way, yes,” Fallon turned slightly and took the plate from Ryan, who’d come up behind me. He placed it before me before taking his own.
“Thanks,” I smiled up at Ryan and he winked at me before heading back to the cooking.
“And in a way no?” I steered the conversation back.
“Our territory ends at the mountains,” Darius took the helm. “Beyond, there are other god territories but we can’t pass into them without permission.”
“Of course, all the god lands are connected.” Sometimes it was hard for me to remember that the God Realm lay over ours with the Aether sandwiched in between and holding them together like mystical glue.
