Raising her hand, she knocked. Then took a step back, trying to think of what she would say when her mom opened the door, or would it be her dad? She wasn’t sure which one of them would be easiest to deal with. None of them. She should go, it was a mistake to come back here. They should sort Kane’s problems out first.
And then the door opened.
“Amara, honey is that you?” Her mom’s voice was quiet, uncertain, old.
“Mom, are you OK?” Amara asked.
“Oh my, oh my, it is you. Thank the heavens.” Her mom threw open the door, the fly screen banging out of the way as she dashed forward, her arms outstretched.
Amara crumpled. Only Kane’s arm supporting her kept her on her feet. Her emotions were too jagged for her to think straight. So many questions wanted to spill from her mouth that in the end nothing came out, but when her mom enveloped her in her arms, she knew no words were needed and her fears about coming home were unfounded.
“I thought we would have to wait two years; I can’t tell you how we’ve worried about you. Your dad hasn’t been able to forgive himself for what happened.”
“Where is he?” Amara asked, looking past her mom and into the house beyond.
“He’s not here. The boys have some extra work over on The Rise and he goes and helps them most days. He’s too old, but he can’t bear to be around here without you. So they work ’til late, he comes home exhausted, eats, and then goes to bed. Then he begins again. They are trying to raise the money to pay off your contract. Many of the others in the village are helping too, an extra shift here, an extra hour there.” Her mom swallowed a sob. “I’ve been so worried about him,” she whispered.
“There is no contract,” Amara said. “He won’t have to work any longer.”
“Oh, Amara. I can’t believe you are here,” her mom sobbed.
“Do you mind if we go and meet them? Do they come home the usual way?” Amara asked.
“Uh-huh, I’ll go put some extra steaks on.” Her mom pulled her close again, hugging her as if she never wanted to let her go. “I can’t believe it; your dad will be so happy about you being home. I mean, truly, I thought he had lost the will to go on.”
“Well, I’m here now, Mom, and I can’t wait to see him.” Amara pulled back, wanting to see her dad and tell him none of this was his fault.
“You will forgive him won’t you, honey. He still can’t work out what happened,” her mom said, tears in her eyes.
“There’s nothing to forgive, Mom. I’ll tell him that,” Amara said. “Coming, Kane?”
“Kane, oh, I never … this is your mate?” her mom asked, as if seeing Kane for the first time. “He is your mate, not the owner of the contract come to ask for money?”
“He is my mate,” Amara said. “Although it was his uncle that owned my contract. But like I said, the contract is paid. Let’s put it behind us.”
“You mean he isn’t one of us?” her mom asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
“Yes, he is one of us. Look, it’s a long story, why don’t I go meet Dad and the boys and then I’ll tell you all about it,” Amara said, eager to go to her father. It meant so much to her to be able to tell him none of this was his fault, that he didn’t cause the problem, but was in some way a victim too.
Amara hugged her mom again, barely able to let her go. This was her home, and standing here with her mom made her feel safe.
“Go. I can wait,” her mom said, and stood by the door while Amara and Kane walked back down the path, away from the house.
“Oh, we brought a friend with us,” Amara said, suddenly remembering Frasier, who was sitting in the truck with the engine running still. “Can he come in?”
“Send him in. If he helped bring my daughter home, then he is welcome,” her mom said.
“OK. He’s a bear, by the way,” Amara called, as she went round to the truck and opened the door to talk to Frasier.
“If he brought you home, he is welcome,” her mom repeated, followed by, “even if he is a bear.”
Amara smiled. It was good to be home.
“My mom will feed you, Frasier. We’re going to meet my dad and my brothers,” Amara said to Frasier, who switched off his engine.
“You mean I get to spend the evening stuck in the lion’s den,” he said, but looked relieved everything was OK.
“Don’t worry, my mom won’t eat you. Her name is Mara, be polite, please,” Amara said wickedly and then shut the door and took Kane’s hand. “Come on, this way.”
And then she changed mid-air, her lioness taking over, running through the village streets. Kane stood and watched for a moment, and she realised how surreal this must seem to him. If lions ran loose around the towns and cities on the other side of the border, men with guns would be on the scene in seconds to destroy them before they killed or maimed anyone. Here it was a normal part of life.
Amara ran fast, surefooted, over her home territory. She took the path that ran up to The Rise, where her father and four brothers were working. Swift and silent, she wanted to surprise them and when she rounded the corner, to be met by five men, who all looked up in unison, and stared at her, she knew that was exactly what she had done. Sliding to a stop, she stood still, her sides heaving from running, and simply looked at the five faces she had thought she might never see again.
“Amara, is that you?” her dad said, stepping forward, his face filled with disbelief, his expression saying he thought he must be dreaming.
She shifted into her human form, and simply said, “Yes, Dad, I’m home.”
Amara had never seen her dad cry. But when he held her in his arms, her shoulder was soon soaked through with his tears of joy.
“I can’t believe it. This is real, this is for good?” he asked.
“Yes, Dad, the contract was false. You were pushed into it because someone wanted to find a mate for a lion. There’s so much more to explain, but for now, let’s go home. I have missed you and everything here in Satoma Pride Lands so much.”
He put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. “Come on, boys, I think we are going to have a celebration tonight.”
Her brothers gathered around her. “Thank goodness you’re back, Amara. Dad has been incredibly miserable since you left,” Tallis said. “Whereas we were more than happy to eat your share of dinner.”
“Not anymore, boys. Let’s all have a beer and we can listen to what Amara has to say. Then I can decide whose hide needs skinning for making me lose my beautiful daughter,” her dad said, looking ten years younger as he hugged her tightly.
“No one needs their hide skinned. I guess I had to go so I could come back,” she said philosophically.
“What, did they teach you to talk in riddles over there, Amara?” her eldest brother, Sean, asked.
“No. But I met my mate, and he is the rightful heir to the Talamo Pride Lands,” she said proudly as Kane rounded the corner and stopped, watching them with his amber eyes.
“Well. I always said you were a good catch,” her dad said, “And it looks as if I was right.”
Amara felt light and happy, as if she could float on air. For tonight she was going to forget about what was ahead and allow herself to be happy with what she had right here and right now. Because one thing she had learned was you should never take your future for granted.
Chapter Twenty-Three – Kane
“And he hopes to beat Serrif in a fight?” Amara’s dad asked quietly, while Kane was preparing to spar with one of her brothers.
“Yes. He will do it, Dad,” Amara answered, and he was pleased to hear her sound optimistic, that she wasn’t just saying what he needed to hear.
“Well, Tallis here is Amara’s youngest brother. Now, that doesn’t mean he is the weakest.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Tallis said sarcastically.
“I mean it. You are the quickest out of them all,” her dad said.
“That’s because he’s not matured like the rest of us,” Sean, her eldest brother, quipped,
puffing out his broad chest and flexing his arms. Kane wasn’t looking forward to taking him on, but he knew he would have to, sooner or later.
“If he wants to make sure he can beat Serrif, then he needs to be able to take you all on and hold his own, if not beat you squarely. Serrif will not play soft. He’ll go for the jugular. So I suggest you all help Kane as much as possible to train for this.”
The brothers had all agreed, leaving Kane feeling grateful, and also overwhelmed.
Kane seemed to have had a whirlwind introduction into what it was like to live with a large family. Last night they had all sat around the table together, with chairs borrowed from the porch, so they could all sit together, including Frasier. They had talked, laughed, and even cried over Amara’s return. He was just grateful they had taken to him, accepting him as Amara’s mate, despite his uncle’s actions.
“Now, look for Tallis’s weakness,” her dad, Albert, said. “Everyone has one.”
Kane stretched his muscles and prepared to change into his lion. He wanted to get this right, despite the pressure he felt, because if he screwed up his shift, he would be left feeling stupid, and naked, in front of his new family, and they might not take him seriously at all.
“Take your time, son,” Albert said, winking reassuringly at him. “You’re amongst friends who want to help you.”
“Or take your head off,” Tallis said, although he smiled good-naturedly as he came over to Kane. “Ready?”
“Yes,” Kane said, trying to convey confidence when he felt anything but. These men had grown up together, fighting in their lion form, in the same way normal human boys would wrestle with each other in the playground.
“We’ll go over to the village square; it’s made for this kind of thing. Or at least it is now, we had to do some renovations when we moved here,” Tallis said.
Tallis was right; the central area of the village had been cleared and sand put down on top of the grass to create a fighting ring. This made Kane more nervous. “You guys fight a lot?” he asked.
“Sure, it’s a good way to release tension. Stops us having any real bust-ups. Well, that’s the theory, although Brandon and Sean are known to be more than a little tense around each other. Twins, you see, and Brandon argues that just because Sean was born six minutes earlier, does not give him the right to think he naturally has more authority. Brothers—although you’ll probably know all about that,” Tallis said.
“No. I don’t. It was just me and my uncle,” Kane said as he entered the square.
“I thought Amara said you had brothers.”
“Somewhere, I believe, but I don’t even know if they are in the Prime or whether they crossed the border too.” Throughout the long journey, Kane had spent so much time thinking about what Serrif had done to his father, he had forgotten that there were two other men like him. Orphans. Even though it was only their father who was dead, their mother had abandoned them to whatever fate had in store, and lived all her life with the man who killed her husband.
He felt unfair in his criticism of his mother. Yet part of him wondered why she hadn’t taken her sons and kept them safe herself. If she had hidden away, no one would have found them. Or maybe she should have left with Darius, who was more than capable of keeping them protected and safe.
“Kane,” Albert said sharply. “First rule, get your head in the game.”
“I’m ready,” Kane said, shaking off his thoughts of the past. He needed to keep his wits about him if he didn’t want to end up knocked out by one solid swipe of Tallis’s paws. For he had no doubt Tallis knew how to fight.
“Then bring it, O Lion King,” Tallis bowed theatrically and then in an instant he had shifted into his lion. A great big, well-muscled lion, who in no way reminded Kane of the man he had been only seconds earlier.
This shocked Kane. So the lion part of him didn’t reflect the man. Did that mean his lion looked wimpy and weak, whereas he believed himself to be muscular and strong? Was he going to be a laughingstock?
He turned. Was he seriously thinking of running? No. His eyes caught Amara’s, standing next to her dad, her face bright with happiness. He could not let her down—even if it meant getting beaten to a pulp, he could not run. And Tallis would take it easy on him, wouldn’t he?
Spinning back round, he prepared to change. Then he hesitated. He couldn’t afford for Tallis to take it easy on him; he needed to learn how to fight properly, he had to learn all the tricks these big cats had. Or he would never beat Serrif.
The lion opposite him began to prowl along his side of the town square, his tail swishing impatiently. Kane focused, keeping his lion in his mind, and then allowed him to come forward into the real world, while the man disappeared, his flesh replaced with fur, and a big thick mane sprouted around his neck, a shield against the claws and teeth of his opponent. Frasier had taught him that at least.
Tallis must have been playing fair, or else he would have pounced as soon as Kane had shifted. It would have given him an advantage for sure, because it took Kane several moments to get full control of his body. His tail seemed too heavy, his paws too big and clumsy as he took a step forward and faltered. In the back of his mind he could feel Amara’s presence, feel her concern, something he had never experienced before. He zoned in on her, testing the sensation, seeing if it lasted when he moved away, or grew stronger when he took a step towards the outside of the sand arena.
It was there, a constant, wherever he moved. He would ask her about it later, find out if she experienced it too.
Then his thoughts were ripped away from Amara, as an impatient Tallis roared out his challenge and the battle began.
Tallis leaped forward. Kane dived, rolling over to miss the blow aimed at his head, and in return, struck Tallis on the rump. Tallis slid to a halt, and without hesitation, he swung back for another attack. This was where the lion was different to the bear. Frasier had been content to let Kane do all the running, perhaps because lions are so much swifter on their feet, and bears tire easier. He relaxed and began to enjoy the fight, this was just like business: you had to learn your opponent’s weakness.
They fought, backwards and forwards, circling around as they weighed each other up. Kane was sure he was getting the upper hand and his confidence grew. He began to take more risks, sure he was wearing Tallis down, until Tallis feinted a bite to Kane’s neck, which Kane knew would be brushed off by his thick mane. As Kane turned, ready to make the most of his opponent’s weakness, Tallis bit his leg, not hard enough to draw blood, but enough for Kane to go down on his knees.
Tallis took full advantage and used his body weight to drive Kane to the ground, where he lay panting, feeling stupid and angry. And defeated.
As he lay in the sand, his lungs heaving under the weight of Tallis’s lion, his mind reached out and touched Amara. He felt her concern, he felt her dismay, but he was happy when he couldn’t sense her disappointment. His leg hurt, his pride hurt, but he would live to fight another day.
Chapter Twenty-Four – Amara
“Next time,” she said as they tended the vegetable plot out in the back garden of her mom and dad’s house.
“You think? Sometimes I wonder if I’m cut out for this fighting lark,” he said.
His words worried her. Since Tallis had beaten him last night, he had lost his confidence, his will, to fight.
“Listen,” she said, sitting back on her haunches, wiping the sweat off her forehead. “They have been fighting for years. When we were younger, they fought all the time.”
“And Serrif will have been fighting for years too. I can’t see how I will ever get good enough to take him on.” He plunged the fork into the moist earth and turned it over. “I should find something else to do.”
“And let him get away with it?” she said.
“What if one of my brothers was supposed to be the alpha of the pride. You know I wouldn’t stand in their way,” he said wearily. “I wouldn’t mind a quiet life here.”
“Y
ou don’t mean that,” she said, “I know you, I know what’s in your heart.”
“But what is in my heart is not in my head, not in my paws and my claws. I’m useless,” he said.
She put her fork down. “Come on, the weeds can wait,” She took his hand and led him out through the garden gate, calling to her mom, “We’ll be gone for a couple of hours.”
“Everything all right?” her mom said coming to the door and looking out.
“Everything is fine, we just need some time alone,” Amara said, casting her mom a look that let her know things weren’t fine, but they would be when they returned.
Her mom read the look. After all, she had raised four boys and lived with her mate for long enough to know that sometimes they had to be given something to boost their confidence, and that a mate, or a mother, was the one who knew just what they needed. “Lunch will be around twelve.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Amara said.
“We should finish our chores,” Kane said.
“They will still be there when we get back.” she replied. They walked together, Amara guiding them; she turned down the street and strolled along, enjoying the sun on her face. “You know, ever since we got here, you have been told what you should be doing, who you should be fighting. Maybe it’s time you just chilled.”
“I didn’t know lions knew how to chill,” he said.
“We do,” she said, cutting across the village and heading towards the path which would take them around The Rise, where her brothers were working, along with Frasier, who was glad to be doing some hard physical work. She wanted to avoid everyone if she could.
“Good, because you know when I see lions in books, they seem to lie around a lot. You know, resting after a hard day’s hunting,” he said, capturing her in his arms. “Maybe we can find somewhere private to lie down.”
She laughed. “No, I have something else in mind.”
Living a Lion: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Sleeping Lions - Shifters Prime Book 1) Page 10
