by Cardeno C.
He crouched down, put his mouth to Johnnie’s ear, and, his voice barely audible, said, “You go around on the other side of the stream until you get to the southern end of the clearing and I’ll chase them toward you.”
Though Johnnie wanted to explain that they couldn’t get that far apart, unlike Hugh, other lions didn’t move from one form to another so seamlessly and he couldn’t risk making noise by shifting. Besides, Hugh surely understood that problem.
“During the festival, you were almost as far from me as the furthest spot on that route and we were separated by booths,” Hugh whispered.
Widening his eyes in surprise, Johnnie thought about the fall festival. Hugh had insisted that Johnnie have fun, which he said meant participating in the events. The clearing had been so crowded and filled with rides and games that Johnnie had lost visual contact with Hugh almost immediately. But he had stayed focused on their connection all afternoon and never once did it stretch dangerously. Because he hadn’t been able to see Hugh, Johnnie didn’t realize how far apart they’d gotten so he was surprised to hear Hugh had been more than a row or two away.
In ten years serving as Hugh’s Siphon, Johnnie didn’t remember ever being able to separate anywhere near that distance, particularly when their visual connection was broken. But if Hugh thought it was safe, Johnnie would do it. He rubbed his cheek against Hugh’s chest affectionately and then turned and started the journey around the clearing. He trotted as quickly as possible while still remaining vigilant about the ground in front of him to avoid snapping a loud branch. Unfortunately, all that focus on the dirt and vegetation, distracted him from noticing another lion nearby until he was practically on top of Johnnie.
The sound of steps and cracking leaves registered first and Johnnie initially thought Hugh had discerned a weakness in their connection and was coming after him. He was so worried about the possibility that he had endangered Hugh that he turned and ran in the direction of the sound. It wasn’t until the scent hit him that he became aware of his mistake and by then it was too late.
Larry Ridley was leaping from behind a tree, ears flat, teeth bared, and claws extended.
Though he would have liked to roar loud enough to get Hugh’s attention and warn him about the danger, Johnnie couldn’t. As a younger lion, he had tried to make that particular sound and found he wasn’t able to come even close to a roar. So instead, he snarled and snorted as he batted at the lion who had pinned him to the ground.
Claws and sharp teeth dug into Johnnie’s skin as he and Larry rolled from side to side. Thankfully, none of the injuries were to his throat and eventually Johnnie managed to get the upper hand. He pinned Larry to the ground and almost had his teeth around Larry’s jugular when a piercing pain shot through his head. With a whimper, he slumped to the side and shifted into his human form as everything went dark. Unable to move, he expected more bites, but instead, he was left alone on the cool earth, trying to catch his breath and open his eyes.
“Why’d you do that?” hissed Larry. Apparently also having shifted into his human skin.
“He was about to kill you.”
Another voice? Someone else must have approached when Johnnie was distracted by his fight with Larry. He was going to have to do a better job of paying attention to his surroundings.
“Are you out of your mind? There’s no way he could kill me!”
“Didn’t look that way to me,” the person grumbled and Johnnie finally realized it was Dennis Jones.
Why would a pride member attack him? For that matter, why would Larry attack him? Johnnie’s head swam and he made himself stay still. He was wounded and vulnerable and his best chance of escape was Larry and Dennis thinking he was dead. From the force of that hit to his head, he should have been dead.
“I had it under control. Did you have to bash him so hard? And did you have to aim for his head?”
“He was in his lion form. I was trying to stop you from getting killed. How in the hell was I supposed to do that other than hitting him in the head? You should be thanking me that it worked!”
“I’m not thanking you for destroying our lottery ticket. We needed him alive!”
“Calm down, Larry. He’s not dead.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down. He isn’t moving and he shifted into his human form. That happens when we die.”
“Do we make noise when we’re dead? Because the Siphon is…” Dennis paused. “What the fuck kind of sound is that?”
“I don’t know,” Larry said from right beside Johnnie. A hand wrapped around his throat and it took all his restraint to stay still. “Is he…I think he’s purring.”
“Lions don’t purr.”
“Well, whatever he’s doing, he’s alive,” Larry said quietly, but excitedly. “You smashed the back of his head in, so I don’t know how, but he’s alive.”
“And so are you. Are you going to apologize for yelling at me now?”
“Hugh can’t be too far. Keep your voice down so he doesn’t hear us,” Larry said, ignoring Dennis’s question. He slid his arms under Johnnie’s armpits and began dragging him. “Help me get him far enough away from Hugh that he can’t hold his power and then we’re home free.”
“I don’t know about this,” Dennis said, but he took hold of Johnnie’s ankles and lifted him off the ground.
“Now’s not the time to second guess our plan. Do you have any idea how much a Premier Pride will pay for a young Siphon? And with your asshole Premier gone, we’ll be able to run the Berk pride.”
“He isn’t an asshole,” Dennis muttered.
“Whatever. Doesn’t matter anymore. As soon as we get the Siphon far enough from him, he’ll be dead.” Larry’s breath was labored and his hold on Johnnie slipped. “He’s heavier than he looks.”
He was also healthier than he looked. In fact, he was almost completely healed. Whatever damage Dennis had done to Johnnie’s head must have repaired itself from the purring, same with the lacerations made by Larry. So now Johnnie just had to figure out how to escape from two deranged lions before they got him too far from Hugh. If it had been one on one, he was sure he could have done it, but with both of them against him, he had to be cautious.
“He stopped,” Dennis said.
“Huh?”
“The noise he was making.” Dennis fumbled with his hold and almost dropped Johnnie’s feet. “The purring, or whatever, he stopped.”
“Dennis! Focus.” Larry grunted as he tried to keep a firm grasp on Johnnie’s upper body. “Hugh can’t be far. This has taken too long already. We need to move faster.”
“I think this was a mistake.”
“Damn it! You’re the one who said the Premier was weak.”
“I didn’t say he was weak. I said he was vulnerable because the Siphon almost killed him.”
“Same difference.” Larry growled. “We talked about this. If the Premier can die just from the Siphon jumping off a dresser, he’s at risk anyway. What good will it do for the pride if he dies and there’s nobody there to take over? And if the Siphon is defective, wouldn’t it be better if we sold him? That way we get rid of the problem, earn enough money to last us our whole lives, and have the Berk pride under our control.”
Larry’s explanation made Johnnie realize how much damage he had caused with his suicide attempt. Lions who knew about it could perceive Hugh as vulnerable, which in turn made him vulnerable and put his life at risk. And if Hugh died, the entire pride would be at the mercy of whoever managed to step in. Of course, if Johnnie had succeeded in ending his own life, Hugh would have died too and the pride would have been left in the same predicament. None of that was hard to figure out, but Johnnie hadn’t realized it because he’d been thinking only about finding freedom from the pain of spending every day being utterly and completely ignored by everyone, including the person who was a part of him.
“We’re not going to control Berk,” Dennis corrected. “We can lead the pride.”
“That’s what I said
.”
“No, it isn’t.”
Dennis let go of Johnnie’s legs and walked away. Larry followed him, dragging Johnnie along.
“It’s the same thing. With Hugh Langley gone, the two of us teaming up, and the money from the Siphon in our pockets, the Berk pride will be ours.”
“The money will belong to the pride,” Dennis said. “We can’t keep it for ourselves.”
“That money is going to be ours,” Larry responded angrily. He released his hold on Johnnie, letting him slide to the ground, and stomped away in the direction of Dennis’s voice, which sounded to be at least a dozen feet in front of them.
“How do you figure?” Dennis asked.
“We’re the ones who earned it.”
“Earned it? By doing what?”
“Coming up with this plan! Implementing it! Seeing it through!”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Dennis said tiredly. “Look, I agreed to this because I thought it’d help the pride, but it won’t. We need to stop before it’s too late.”
“It’s already too late!”
It wasn’t too late, but it would be if Dennis and Larry stopped arguing and moved Johnnie enough distance from Hugh to snap their connection. Considering how far he had been to begin with and how long they’d been walking, Johnnie was surprised not to sense any disruption in his ability to carry Hugh’s power.
Knowing he wasn’t likely to get a better chance at escape than he had at that moment with the two men bickering, Johnnie opened his eyes just enough to see his surroundings. He had hoped to be able to figure out what direction to run in to get back to Hugh, but without being able to raise his head or do more than squint, from his vantage point on the ground, the landscape looked the same in all directions.
Johnnie’s best bet would be to pop up, run in the opposite direction from Dennis and Larry, and get a better look at the sky to find the setting sun. Then he could head north, where Hugh was watching the elk. But if he ran in his human form, Larry and Dennis would shift into their lions and catch him almost immediately. That meant he had to shift before he could get away and because he wasn’t as powerful as Hugh, his shift would take time and likely get the other lions’ attention.
Much as he wanted to avoid that problem, he had no choice but to shift as quietly as possible and hope that Larry and Dennis wouldn’t notice soon enough to knock him out again. His decision made, Johnnie put all his focus into shifting into his beast. He heard shouts, felt the thud of sticks and rocks, but either he’d had enough lead time to avoid a more thorough attack or Larry and Dennis hadn’t aimed well because before long, he was on four feet, dashing through the brush, the minor injuries he’d sustained during his escape healing as quickly as his pace.
Though Larry and Dennis had managed to transport him a fair distance, as a lion running at full speed, Johnnie made it up in no time, so he soon found himself in the spot where he had been captured. He was about to double back the way he had originally come so he could get to Hugh when a furious roar, loud enough to be heard for miles, shook the trees and ground. Unlike the reaction he’d had to being attacked by Larry, this sound had Johnnie willingly rolling over and showing his vulnerable belly.
Within seconds, Hugh’s massive black lion towered over him. He sniffed at Johnnie’s fur, lapped at the drying blood, and chuffed disapprovingly. After he’d examined every area where Johnnie had been wounded, he straddled Johnnie’s smaller frame and licked his neck and face.
Despite the danger he had just escaped and the possibility that it wasn’t over, Hugh’s affectionate grooming and tender attention aroused Johnnie. He whimpered and fidgeted, his breath speeding up and his dick hardening. It was all he could do to remember that Larry and Dennis were still out there, which meant Hugh’s safety was at risk. Johnnie closed his eyes, blocking out the sight of the gorgeous black lion, and focused on changing into his human skin.
By the time he opened his human eyes, Hugh’s hands were mapping his chest and flank.
“There’s a lot of blood but no marks.” Hugh looked up from Johnnie’s torso and met his gaze. “The blood is yours. I tasted it.”
“I healed.”
Dipping his chin, Hugh said, “I figured.” His nostrils flared, eyes narrowed, and voice deepened. “Who hurt you?”
“Larry Ridley.” Still lying on his back, Johnnie scrambled to sit up. “Dennis Jones was with him. He was part of it, but I think he ended up regretting that.”
“Where’re you going?” Hugh wrapped his hand around Johnnie’s throat, holding him in place but not hurting him.
“They’re still out there and they want to kill you.” Johnnie tried to stay calm, but just thinking about Larry Ridley’s plan to destroy Hugh had him panicking. “We need to catch them before they escape and try this again when we’re not looking.”
Incredibly, Hugh threw his head back and laughed.
“I’m serious. They’re dangerous. Or at least Larry is. I’m not sure about Dennis.”
“What they are is dead.” Hugh curled his hand around Johnnie’s nape and traced his jaw with his thumb. “They hurt you,” he rasped. “Dead men walking. Both of them.”
“They didn’t mean to. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.” Johnnie breathed in deeply, getting calm enough to make sense. “It was all a ploy to get to you. They wanted to separate us enough to break our connection so you’d die. Then they’d take over Berk, sell me to another pride, and pocket the money.”
“They planned to sell you?” Hugh growled.
“Larry did. Well, Dennis too, but he said the money would be for the pride. That’s when they argued and—”
“Sell you?” Hugh said, again, his voice quieter but much scarier. “You are not property to be sold.”
That comment left Johnnie momentarily speechless. “I’m a Siphon.” He blinked rapidly. “Prides sell Siphons to other prides or give them to Premiers in exchange for leading their pride.”
Hugh’s expression went from furious to sickened to sad. “You are not for sale.”
They were going in circles. “The money wasn’t the driving factor. It was about taking over Berk. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. They want to kill you so they can take over the pride.” Johnnie jerked his head from side to side and squinted, trying to see if Larry and Dennis were hiding, waiting to attack again. “And they’re still out here.”
Keeping his arm around Johnnie’s waist, Hugh rose. “We need to get you home and clean you up.”
It was as if they were having two different conversations. “Do you hear what I’m telling you? Maybe if we go now, together, we can catch them. I think we were in”—Johnnie glanced around—“that direction.” He looked at the disrupted brush littering the ground and nodded. “Yes. That’s where they took me.” Another thought distracted him from his own point and he looked at Hugh. “When did you get here?”
Hugh drew his eyebrows together and, looking concerned, nudged Johnnie’s shoulder until he turned around. “They hit your head.” Air-soft fingers skittered over his hair. “You’re coated in dried blood.” He turned Johnnie back around. “This looks like it was bad. Are you sure you’re healed?”
“Uh-huh. I purred and healed, just like always. So when did you get here?”
“Johnnie, I was always here.” Hugh cupped both of his cheeks and tilted his head up so their eyes met. “Do you remember that we came to hunt together? We were trying your great new hunting idea.”
His brain was working just fine, but if Hugh kept touching him so tenderly, looking at him with so much focus, and saying his name so sweetly, his heart and his groin would explode.
“Yes, I remember. I’m fine, I promise.” Johnnie gripped Hugh’s wrists. “This spot here is about the farthest distance I was going to get from you on my way to the southern side of the clearing, right? I had to go west to get around the stream and then I’d double back to the east and end up directly south of where you were.”
“Right.” Hugh r
ubbed his thumbs under Johnnie’s chin and across his neck. “You remember.” He sounded relieved.
“Uh-huh. They took me from here and went even farther west.” Johnnie flicked his gaze in the direction Larry and Dennis had carried him. “Were you still in the original spot, watching for me to get to the south? Because that distance has to be farther than we got at the festival.” Johnnie mentally calculated the size of the festival grounds and how long it had taken him to return from where he’d been snatched, running at full speed in his lion skin. “Much farther.”
“I got here at the same time as you,” Hugh said. He slid his fingers over Johnnie’s temples, massaging. “I waited for you to get to the other side of the herd, but it was taking too long so I knew something was wrong. I came after you and that’s when I saw you running over, coated in blood.”
“We’ve never been able to be more than one room apart if the doors were closed and we couldn’t see each other,” Johnnie pointed out. “First the festival and now this. It’s so much farther and, Hugh—” Johnnie licked his lips and looked into Hugh’s eyes. “I didn’t feel any strain on our connection.”
“I didn’t either.”
“Why?” Thought after thought bounced in Johnnie’s head as he tried to make sense of the change. Siphons were so rare that he had never met another one, but he’d heard every detail about what was expected of him. He knew he had to stay connected to Hugh at all times and his experience had confirmed that limitation. Whenever he had gotten too far from Hugh and couldn’t see him, the path between them had instantly frayed, and they’d had to see each other or get closer together to make sure it didn’t snap and endanger Hugh by releasing too much power into his body.
“Stop thinking so hard. We’ll figure it out, but right now, we need to get you home.” Hugh rubbed one huge palm over Johnnie’s bare chest. “You were hurt. From the blood on your body and hair, it was bad.” Hugh’s lips were tight, his forehead wrinkled, and his eyes pained. “If you didn’t have that healing purr they would have killed you.” He shook his head and cleared his throat. “You’re bloody and dirty and I need to clean you up and look at you under the light to make sure nothing’s wrong.”
