“For a souvenir,” Kane said, picking up the bracelet he had discarded earlier.
“I am not sure I want to keep my collar,” she said, picking up the cold metal.
“You should take it, you never know when we might need it,” he said.
“I am never putting this thing on again,” she said.
“I wasn’t talking about you.”
“I can’t think that I would ever be so cruel as to put this one another shifter’s neck,” she said with a shudder.
“Oh, I don’t know. I could think of someone I would like to collar.”
Amara liked the sound of that. There would be no need to fight if they could stop Serrif changing into his lion.
But she doubted things would ever be that easy.
Chapter Seventeen – Kane
“Frasier! Just the person we were looking for,” Kane said as they got to their cabin and the big bear appeared around the corner.
“What can I do for you?” Frasier asked good-naturedly.
“Have you ever been to the Talamo Pride Lands?” Amara asked directly, catching the bear off guard.
“The Talamo Pride Lands. Well, let me think,” he mused.
“Is this where we pay you a bribe?” Kane asked, putting his hand in his pocket and drawing out his wallet.
Frasier's hand, lightning fast, covered Kane’s. “Put that away. I don't take bribes. If anyone sees you giving me money, they will think I’m in the pocket of a human and I don't want that.”
“What, do you want to go inside? That way no one will see,” Kane said.
“No. Like I said, I don’t take bribes. Your uncle has paid me to look after you. If this is important, then I will tell you, but I don’t like people asking where I have and haven’t been, and who I might have seen, when I may or may not have been there.”
Amara laughed. “You lead a complicated life.”
“I do, and a dangerous one at times. So please, whatever I tell you stays between us.”
“Absolutely,” Kane said.
“Then I think we should go inside. I could do with some coffee, so why not come over to my place,” he said, turning and walking off, expecting them to follow, which of course they did.
“Nice place,” Amara said, looking around the cosy cabin. Kane had to admit, even though he had been brought up in the big mansion belonging to Darius, he would have been quite happy living in a cabin like this with Amara and their kids. It made him happy that she wasn’t like some of the socialites he had dated, who judged everyone by the size of their house, or their bank balance.
“Thanks. It’s where I call home when I’m over this way.”
“So you don’t live here permanently?” Kane asked, becoming more and more intrigued by this man. His uncle had kept so much from him, including his contacts over in Shifters Prime.
“No, me and my brothers work the border, or the frontier as it’s called by most people. Anyway, we move around a lot, depending on where business takes us,” Frasier said, putting the kettle on to boil.
“And what exactly do you and your brothers do along the frontier?” Kane asked. “I take it some of your work has a lot to do with my uncle.”
“It does. We are finders.”
“Finders?” Kane asked frowning.
“Yes, we find buyers, or sellers, for goods. Then there are people. People are often good at needing to be found.”
“What kind of people?” Amara asked.
“Mainly those on the run. Sometimes the people from the other side want us to find those who have run from their contracts, but we won’t touch things like that.” He looked at Amara pointedly.
“My contract is paid,” she said.
“Honey, your contract never really existed.”
“What?” she asked, going pale.
“You were another thing I found.”
“I don’t understand,” Amara said. “Why wasn’t there a contract? My father told me he owed money, and that’s why I went.”
“You went because they needed rich boy here to remember who he was. You were sent to wake the lion.” Frasier poured the coffee and handed her a cup. “Sugar?”
“No, thank you,” she said. “My parents lied to me.”
“Your family wasn’t in on it. They’ve been trying it for a while, getting potential mates to get close to Kane, so that his lion would wake up. They were afraid that it had been asleep too long.”
“You’re making this up,” Kane accused.
“Believe what you like.” He gave a mug of coffee to Kane and leaned back on the counter to nurse his. “I am about the only one who has nothing to hide here. So believe me or not, but I want you to be going into this with your eyes open.”
Kane shook his head. “OK. Whether what you say is true or not…”
“It is true,” Frasier said.
“Is there a tree in the Talamo Pride Lands that is carved into the face of a lion? It has a cherry tree next to it that blossoms white in the spring. I remember it, or at least my lion remembers it.”
“There was one; I never saw it. The new pride leader had it cut down. The carving was of your father, Remus. Rumour is, Serrif couldn’t stand the sight of the thing, so he took an axe to it.”
“But it was there. I saw it, and next to it my lion remembers my father. He’s holding hands with my mother, they look so happy,” Kane said.
“And they most likely were, but nostalgia isn’t going to help you now.”
“That’s where you are wrong,” Kane said gruffly. “It gives me the desire to fight.”
“And that brings us to the other thing your uncle paid me to do. You need to learn to fight before you take on Serrif.”
“I can fight.”
“Not as a lion, you can’t.”
“We had a thought about that,” Amara said. “What if we simply put a collar on Serrif?” She held up the silver collar that had hung around her neck.
“That won’t work. To gain back what was stolen from your family, you have to fight him in the old way; he invoked Pride Law. You have to fight him as a lion if you want to succeed.”
“And my uncle told you to teach me?” Kane asked. “Why am I not surprised.”
“Because you can see when it comes to fighting, I am a master.” Frasier said, flexing his muscles. “No one fights better than a bear.”
“Except a lion,” Amara said.
Frasier laughed. “In your case, little lady, I can believe it.”
“Just remember she’s mine,” Kane said quietly.
“Don’t worry, honey, fighting isn’t the only thing a lion is better at.” She moved over to him and kissed him. “A lady would never look at a bear when she could have a lion in her bed.”
Behind her Frasier laughed. “The whole pride thing really is an inside joke, right? I mean, lions are so full of themselves.”
“Jealous, Frasier?” Amara teased.
“Go get some rest. Tomorrow we’ll start your training.”
But the look in his lioness’s eyes told him that rest was not on the menu tonight.
Chapter Eighteen – Amara
“When you said we would get started, this was not what I had in mind,” Kane said, standing up.
Amara came over and offered him a drink, her face concerned. “I think that’s enough for now.”
“Listen, mastering your lion is one of the most important things to learn.”
“I don’t see how getting him to change and run the same circuit over and over again is going to help,” Amara argued.
“Really? Well, how about the fact he knocked a whole minute off his previous best, that time around,” Frasier said. “Do you know what that means?”
“That he’s getting faster,” Amara answered sarcastically.
“No,” Kane said, passing the bottle back to her. “It means it’s becoming more natural. I no longer have to think about every movement, it comes like second nature.”
“At last,” Frasier said with satis
faction. “Now, go get something to eat. Then pack your stuff up, we’re moving out.”
“Already?” Kane asked.
“Yes. We’re too close to the border here. There is a supply shipment heading this way tomorrow. I don’t think you would want anyone to recognise you.”
“Who is going to care if I’m here?” Kane asked.
“You came across the border to deal with your uncle’s business. There is nothing here but these five cabins. And I know, I may be a little overly cautious, but we don’t get many lions this way either, and the amount of roaring you two did last night means it’s not exactly a secret you’re here.” Frasier stood up and headed for his cabin. “So we move out. Your uncle wanted me to help you, so I am giving you my best advice. I can’t make you take it.”
“We’ll go and pack,” Amara said. “We need all the help we can get.”
“Are you OK?” Kane asked as they walked back to the cabin.
“Yes, just … well, I like it here, I could almost forget what has happened, and what we have to do.” Amara kissed him on the cheek. “I’m happy, and I don’t want to lose that feeling. Not yet.”
“Hey, the way you speak, it makes it sound as though I’m already beaten,” he said, putting his arm around her shoulders.
“No. Not at all. I don’t think Frasier would let you fight Serrif unless he thought you could win,” Amara said. “I’m so grateful to him for helping us.”
“So am I. But you know we might not be able to pick and choose when I fight Serrif?”
“You mean if word gets to him first, and he thinks you are weak, then he may force your hand?” she asked.
“Let’s hope news doesn’t spread fast. And maybe from now on, we should only go lion under the cover of darkness, and no roaring,” he chastised.
“Me roar? You’re the mighty lion king who likes to stand on top of a mountain and tell the world you’re there,” she countered.
“It had to be done. All these years I’ve had that inside me, my lion had to let it out,” he said seriously.
“Blame your lion, why don’t you?” she laughed.
“It’s becoming a bigger part of me with every hour that passes. Like a flower unfurling inside me.”
“I never knew you were so poetic,” she said, turning to look at him. “I see it, you know.” She stroked his cheek and kissed his lips softly.
“And I see you, Amara. I feel every breath you take, and when you move, my eyes are drawn to you,” he said.
“Is that your lion talking too?” she asked.
“No, that’s all me.”
“Damn it, Kane, if you look at me like that, we’ll never leave today.”
His hand stroked her neck and then moved along her spine to rest on her round bottom. “I wouldn’t mind putting off our trip for a few hours.”
“I think Frasier would skin that lion pelt from your back if we aren’t ready. We’ll have all night tonight,” she said, opening the cabin door, although she would rather go to bed with Kane for a couple of hours than begin this journey. She knew at some point she would have to go and see her parents, and she still wasn’t sure how she felt about the whole thing. Was it true they had no idea what was going on with the contract, could her dad be so easily duped? And who exactly was the they Frasier had mentioned?
If it had failed, would she have been left to spend the next two years in the mansion, being a servant, all for nothing?
“Come on, it won’t be that bad,” he said, seeing her downturned face. “You get to spend god knows how many hours in a hot truck, bouncing along uneven roads. What could be more fun?”
“I could think of plenty of things,” she said caustically, and then her voice softened. “But really, being here, with you, in Shifters Prime. I don’t care how many hours we have to spend on the road. It has to be better than having that collar around my neck.”
***
Five hours later, she was not so sure. They had been traveling across country, Frasier deciding that the back roads were best, and she wondered how come he knew these roads so well.
“So you and your brothers,” Amara began. “What do you find?”
“Anything, everything. We’re picky, of course, nothing illegal,” Frasier said over the rumble of the engine.
“Of course not,” she said. “I only asked because we must be going the long way round, and I wondered why that was.”
“Like I said earlier, I don’t want Kane to be seen,” Frasier said.
“No one is going to take that much notice,” Kane said.
“You would be surprised. A lot of people deal with your uncle. So your name would be recognisable. I just figured we should stay out of the towns and cities if we can.” Frasier leaned forward and glanced up at the sky. “We should be reaching our destination shortly. We’ll make camp for the night and we can get some training in before dark. I could do with freeing some of these kinks.” He rolled his neck and flexed his hands.
“Camping. You mean we are sleeping outside?” Kane asked.
“Sure are, rich boy. What did you think, I would be laying on a five-star hotel?” Frasier asked.
“Come on, let’s not go there again,” Amara said wearily. The whole journey had been taken up with the two men taking potshots at one another. It had been good-natured on the whole, but she was tired. “You two can go see who can piss the highest once we stop.”
“Men do not do that,” Frasier said. “Or at least Prime men don’t; they have other ways to see who is the best.”
“Enough,” she said. “You two can go and run off, or fight off, all that testosterone. I’ll make us some dinner. You did bring food, right?” she asked.
“Yes. And the spot where we are stopping will already have some wood for a fire. I’ll help you light it and then we can get to training.”
Amara looked out of the window. The sun was low on the horizon, casting its warm glow over the open grassland. Up ahead, she could see trees looming and she figured that was where they would make camp. It made sense, they could pull off the road and no one would see them.
Sure enough, once they entered the trees, Frasier drove on for about five miles before he took a turning on the left, which she would have missed, as it wasn’t a road, more of a track up through the trees. They climbed higher, the old truck’s engine groaning under the strain.
“We aren’t going to have to get out and push, are we?” Kane asked.
“You know, I might ask you to do that,” Frasier said with a wicked grin. “Just for the fun of it.”
But then he turned the steering wheel hard and they almost doubled back on themselves. In front of them, a clearing opened up, and there was an old fire pit and a big pile of dry wood piled under a makeshift shelter.
“Nothing illegal,” she said. “Because this sure looks like the kind of place where bears who don’t want to be found hole up.”
“That’s right, nothing illegal. But that doesn’t mean we don’t find things that don’t necessarily want to be found. Like Kane here. Right now, he does not want to be found,” Frasier said, switching off the engine and getting out of the car.
“I will be glad to stretch my legs,” Amara said to Kane.
“Me too. And to eat. I am starving,” he said, opening the door and climbing down.
He held out his hand and helped her. Amara hadn’t realised how much she had stiffened up on the journey, and if she wasn’t so hungry, she would have joined the men on their run. Instead, she sent them off and began to fill a pan with water. Coffee, and then she would cook a meal from the supplies Frasier had brought along.
Then later, after they had eaten, she was going to persuade Kane to take her on a moonlit walk through the trees. She had a different scratch that needed his attention. And he was the only man who could ease it.
Chapter Nineteen – Kane
Kane squared his shoulders and took a flying leap at the bear. If there was one thing he had learned in the short time he had spent sparring with
Frasier, it was that the bear didn’t have the same speed and agility as a lion—but he sure could pack a punch with his big bear feet.
“The thing you have to do,” Frasier’s advice rang in his ears, “is read your opponent, see what they are going to do before they do it.”
That was how Kane managed to avoid the bear’s claws as they sliced through the air, scratching the surface of his lion hide. A thrill of excitement coursed through him; he was getting better at this. Landing on all four paws, he immediately did a kind of a lion back flip and arced through the air to catch the bear off guard, landing a swipe on Frasier’s jaw.
The bear reeled back, and Kane went for the kill. Or at least his jugular. He wasn’t really going to kill the bear—they needed him—although if he made Frasier’s throat sore, he might not be so inclined to talk so much tomorrow.
Kane opened his mouth, his teeth full of bear fur. And then the world exploded in starlight.
***
“Did you have to hit him so hard?” Amara’s voice came to him from so far away. Her sweet, gentle voice, tinged with annoyance. But not for him, surely not for him.
“He was going to win. And he’s not ready for that,” Frasier was saying. So that was whom she was pissed with. Maybe he should keep his eyes shut for just a moment longer, let her give the big bear a good tongue-lashing.
But instead, Frasier’s voice dropped. “Look, I’m trying to keep him alive. If I let him win, he’ll think he’s ready, and he’s not. Serrif is not going to pussy-foot around, he will kill Kane if he gets the chance. If what Darius says is true, we already know he’s a killer.”
“What do you mean, if what Darius says is true?” she hissed at Frasier. “I thought you were on his payroll.”
“I am,” Frasier said. “But I get paid by a lot of people, and believe me, what comes out of their mouth is not always the truth. It might be what they want people to believe is the truth, but … well. You are a big girl; you know what I mean.”
“All I know is that Kane needs to believe in someone. And that someone has always been Darius.” She was silent, and Kane knew he should open his eyes, but he didn’t; he wanted to give himself a minute to mull over what had been said. And then Amara asked the question that he would have asked, the question that needed an answer.
Living a Lion: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Sleeping Lions - Shifters Prime Book 1) Page 8
