Lion's Quest

by Eve Langlais

  “She’s not going to hurt us. Are you, Fluffy?” She whirled toward the yeti, who backed away, head cocked, watching them both warily.

  “She doesn’t understand you.”

  “I disagree. She is totally listening to us.”

  “Grawr,” Fluffy replied in the affirmative.

  Whereas Peter frowned. “It does seem more docile than expected.”

  “She.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “How can you not?” Nora repeated mockingly. “Although I am flattered your head isn’t turned by just any lady in fur.”

  “I don’t believe in fur, although I do like steak.”

  “Depends on the fur. If I was wearing it, you’d stroke it.”

  Something gagged. Her poor Fluffy obviously had a hairball.

  “I can’t believe we found the place in the book.” Peter spun around, slowly taking in the massive cavern covered in a sheet of ice as heat from the fissures in the ground froze. A heavy mist hung a few feet over their heads. A few openings led off the room, and it was tempting to check them out. After.

  First, she had a box to open.

  Fluffy stood in front of the pedestal.

  “Move, Fluffy. I’m here for the treasure.”

  Her new pet bared her teeth.

  “Now, now, is that any way to talk to me? And to think, I was gonna find us some meat for dinner tonight.”

  Fluffy gagged again.

  Wait. Was her new pet a vegetarian? Or more horrifying, “Are you a vegan?”

  Fluffy shook her head.

  She sighed in relief. “But you’re trying to tell me something. I’m going to go on a limb and say, stay away from the box.”

  Fluffy went wild bobbing.

  Even Peter took notice.

  “Is it because there’s a curse?” Because all fairy tales had one.

  More frantic bobbing that led to Peter mocking. “It is becoming obvious you’ve watched too many movies featuring animals as people. That thing is most definitely not trying to tell us anything other than we look tasty.”

  “You can be really close minded, you know.”

  “Being strait-laced is what got me out of the hospital,” he muttered.

  “The world is full of things that seem inexplicable,” she said, her attention drawn by a noise.

  Fluffy’s head angled as well. It appeared they had company.

  “Science will eventually explain everything.” Peter, with his human ears, hadn’t noticed.

  “No it won’t.” Her firm belief.

  He finally heard the approaching herd of humans, their attempts to be stealthy far from subtle. “Someone’s coming.”

  “I’m hoping it’s the guys who stole the key.” It would be kind of them to deliver themselves into her paws.

  Five men ran into the room—because their females were obviously too smart to tangle with Nora. They were armed with regular guns, not tranquilizing darts. That didn’t stop her new pet from trying to protect them.

  Fluffy uttered a roar and waved her arms as she ran for them, only to get shot.

  “Fluffy! No!” Nora yelled as her new best friend hit the ground and rolled into a crack hissing with steam.

  Nora snarled as she faced the humans. “I will tear off your face and eat it,” she yelled. Only to realize a second later she couldn’t keep her promise. Unless she planned to kill Peter too. He’d probably notice if she turned feline and started chewing on people.

  She had to settle for running at the humans. A bullet grazed her shoulder. Not incapacitating, but since they might get luckier than a Stormtrooper and manage a headshot, she pretended to go down.

  Peter didn’t like that. “You mother fuckers. You shot her.”

  “We’ll shoot you, too, if you don’t get out of the way,” the leader of the group boldly stated as he sauntered forward.

  The thud of a fist hitting flesh resulted in a howl of pain and a guy shouting, “Want me to shoot him?” Him being Peter, who’d slugged the leader of the humans.

  She’d have to protect him. She dug her fingers into the ground and prepared to spring.

  “Not yet,” said the fellow rubbing his jaw. He smirked as he pulled out the key and waved it. “I say we let him see what’s in the box then kill him so his ghost can have all kinds of regret.”

  It was the stupidest thing she’d ever heard, and yet the fellow seemed so pleased with himself. Smug fucker. As he strutted past her, she coiled herself, ready to pounce, only to freeze as a new player joined them.

  A woman with russet hair entered the cave, and before anyone could react, she shot two of the humans, aimed at a third, and said, “Put down your guns. Or you all die.”

  Everyone listened.

  Heck, Nora kind of wanted a gun to toss down in homage. That was some fine shooting and threats.

  Rising to her feet, tickled by a sense she should recognize the girl, Nora readied to confront her. Only she was ignored as the newcomer focused on Peter and said, “I am Svetlana Koznetsov! You killed my grandmother. Prepare to die.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Shades of Princess Bride made the woman’s declaration strange. Things got crazier as a tiger stepped out from the tunnel.

  It was his red balloon moment.

  The one that woke him in a sweat at night.

  That made him wish he had a gun.

  The evil tiger that haunted him rubbed against the granddaughter of Irina Koznetsov.

  “I didn’t kill Irina.” Peter pointed. “That did.”

  “Grandmother’s tiger would have never eaten her. She’s owned it her whole life,” Svetlana declared, petting the feline head, obviously not taking note of the glare it shot her way. “It used to babysit me when Grandma had her afternoon naps.”

  “Your grandma’s tiger has a taste for human flesh. Trust me, I know.”

  “It’s a meat eater. It’s in its nature,” defended the stupid girl.

  “How long have you been following me?” he snapped.

  “Since you resurfaced a few weeks ago. Although I’ve been looking since you killed my grandmother and stole the key.” Svetlana kept her weapon steady as she headed for the guy with the key.

  One of the attackers moved. Without turning her head, Svetlana shot him in the leg, and he’d have sworn he heard Nora mutter, “Nice.”

  “What do you know about the key?” he asked.

  “That it’s important. I can’t believe as a child I used it to make that stupid junky light for my grandma. When I showed a picture of it to a friend of mine who studies ancient legends, he just about lost his mind because it was identical to a key in some story he did a dissertation on. Imagine my surprise when I came for a visit to see my grandmother and the damned thing was gone. Stolen. And I found poor kitty locked in a cage with Grandma’s shredded clothing.”

  “Proving the cat killed her.”

  “Because you gave it no choice, locking them in together.”

  He didn’t know how to argue with someone this irrational. “I knew I shouldn’t have come back to Russia.” All his problems stemmed from here.

  “Hand it over.” Having reached the leader of the goons who’d stolen the key, Svetlana held out her palm. The guy hesitated only a second in front of the gun pointed at his face. Her fingers curled around the key. “Now to see what all the fuss is about.”

  “Grawr.” The tiger apparently had issues with the plan.

  “Don’t get pissy with me, kitty. I brought you along to teach him a lesson. So get on with it,” Svetlana snapped.

  As if it could understand, the tiger stepped toward him, but he held his ground. Running would just make it easier for the animal to take him down. Then again, he didn’t put his chances high in hand-to-claw battle either.

  Nora stepped between them.

  The tiger snarled.

  And Nora…

  Well, Nora snarled back.

  He recoiled in surprise. It was rather realistic as cat sounds went.
r />   The tiger paused before sidling as if to go around her.

  “You really don’t want to do that,” Nora said in a soft threat.

  “I’d listen to Nora if I were you,” announced Zach as he suddenly stepped into the cave, hands held out as if unarmed. For a place that had supposedly been hidden for a long freaking time, it appeared to have a lot of visitors.

  “Who the hell are you?” Svetlana asked, clutching the key while pointing her gun.

  “The guy who hates the cold and yet happens to be in Russia, inside a volcano in the middle of a big-ass freezing tundra. Now, are you going to put down your gun, or should I just assume I’ll have to kill you?”

  That was harsh even by Peter’s standards, and this guy was usually Nora’s partner. It only reinforced his belief that Nora must work for the mob.

  Svetlana looked as if she’d argue.

  Zach shrugged. “Have it your way then.”

  “I will!” Svetlana fired, but Zach was already moving, slipping into a thickening mist rising from the vents in the floor.

  It was then Nora acted, whirling, her foot arcing and connecting, knocking the gun out of Svetlana’s hand then grabbing the Russian girl by the wrist and twisting. Svetlana cried out.

  “Give me the key.”

  “It’s not yours,” Svetlana snarled a second before all hell broke loose.

  Fluffy suddenly popped into view and dove on one of the original goons. Goon number two started firing. Peter heard a roar as the tiger threw itself at him. Everything got fast and slow and blurry and too big at the same time.

  Flying fur. Shouts. Gunshots. Snarls.

  And that was when it happened. Peter began hallucinating again, but this time, instead of thinking he saw a tiger shifting into an old woman, he saw his lover turned into a lion. He blinked, and it just happened. Human one minute, big golden feline the next. The lion slammed into the tiger. They went down in a spitting, heaving mass of fur.

  Then his psychotic break went even deeper as Zach appeared from the mist, a big, naked man who turned into a lion with a bushy dark mane.

  But the shock of his mind making him think that people around him were turning into animals wasn’t what took him to his knees. For that, blame the bullet.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The fight itself didn’t take long, but by the time it was done, more than a few had died. All the goons for one. Zach was already at work, shoving at the bodies with his snout and paws, ridding them in the deep vents lining the volcano basin.

  The tiger lay on the ground panting, not so much injured as old and tired. Nora wasn’t out to kill the old lady, despite the things she’d done. After all, she used to have a grandmother that thought milking virgin goats by mouth would get rid of wrinkles. Sometimes old people did things the old ways. It was up to the next generations to teach them.

  “It’s over, Irina,” she declared.

  The tiger sighed and shifted, fur turning to flesh.

  Svetlana gasped. “Grandmother? Is that you?”

  How could the girl not know her roots? Would they have to bury another body?

  Speaking of which. The tang of blood permeated the air, and it took her a moment to realize some of it came from behind her.

  Peter.

  A whirl and she was on him, pressing her fingers to the bullet wound, trying to stem the flow of blood.

  “We need to stop this.” She needed to keep applying pressure.

  “Wishing you the best with that. In case you hadn’t noticed, my luck is shit.” He coughed and convulsed a little, making the hot liquid gush.

  Panic, rare and unwelcome, made her mouth sour. “Maybe if I cauterize it.”

  “Don’t you dare brand me with that mutant horn.” He closed his eyes and gasped for air.

  “I have to do something.” Anything. She couldn’t just let him die.

  “Show me the treasure.” She almost didn’t hear his whisper.

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “If I’m gonna die, I wanna see why. What’s in the box?”

  “You aren’t dying,” she groused. Still she yelled for Zach. “I need the key.”

  The lion bobbed his mane and stalked for Svetlana, who clutched it to her chest.

  Irina cuffed her. “Let him have it. He’ll tear off your head before you can kill him.”

  The woman gritted her teeth as Zach stalked over, lithe in his movements as he went from lion to man. A very big and naked man.

  “Hand it over,” Zach demanded.

  Svetlana didn’t argue. She dropped it into his palm.

  Zach carried it to Nora, who explained, “Peter wants to see what’s in the box before he gets a few stitches.”

  “I heard. I’ll bring him.”

  “Like fuck is a naked dude carrying me.” Peter gave Zach a side eye that made him laugh.

  “Don’t flatter yourself. I’m into tits and fur, little man.”

  If the situation weren’t dire, she would have laughed. “Let Zach carry you, or you won’t see the treasure.”

  “Is that any way to talk to a dying man? Wait, wouldn’t want to complain. You might actually try and play the violin.” Peter’s wan joke almost earned him a slap.

  This time he didn’t exaggerate. Stupid fragile human.

  They gathered around the pillar where the box appeared welded in place to the stone. It was cold compared to the heat within the basin. Icy cold when she ran her hand over it. It seemed so weird given the cavern was rather warm.

  “I don’t know where to insert the key.” Nora didn’t see a spot. Her gaze flitted to the pile behind and the bleached skulls.

  “Maybe it’s invisible,” Peter said. He was being held upright by Zach. His eyes half shut.

  “That’s dumb,” she stated, jabbing the key at the box, only to freeze as it went in. “Holy shit. I found a hole.” She shoved it until it would go no more. She then grabbed his limp hand.

  “Let’s do this together,” she said before she held him tight and turned the key.

  It stuck partway. Wouldn’t turn, so she shoved harder and it snapped.

  Her horror emerged in a vehement, “Mother fucker!”

  Peter chuckled. “Guess I won’t be seeing inside it. Just my luck.”

  Fatalistic and she was suddenly ready to cry. She slammed her fists onto the closed box, yelling, “Open up, damn you.”

  To her surprise, and probably everyone else’s, it did.

  “What’s in it?” Peter asked.

  She leaned to look in because she couldn’t see anything other than a pool of darkness. She put her face right into the opening and got downright chilly, as if fingers strummed her inner essence. She sucked in a surprised breath. Cold, so cold, and now inside her.

  She retreated, her breath frosting.

  “Well?” asked Peter. “Did you find treasure?”

  She rubbed her knuckles over his cheek. “I did. Not the kind I ever imagined, though.”

  He closed his eyes. “Me too. Nora.”

  If only they’d had more time. If he’d been a bit sturdier. How she wished he were a shifter like her. Then a simple bullet wound would have just been a temporary irritation. If only she could have one more chance.

  Her lips touched his, and her breath suddenly expelled in a cold rush.

  Peter’s body jerked. His eyes opened, but he didn’t see her, she’d wager, given the shiny film that slid over them.

  He began to shake and shiver, the motion fast enough to make him blurry. She rocked away from him as his form wavered and shook, changed shape. Grew fur.

  What the fuck?

  Zach inched farther away, but she got closer.

  Could it be possible? That cold breath she’d sucked in from the box and expelled on Peter, was it magic? In the book, it didn’t say what the hero and tsarina found. Only that they were granted their wish.

  Her wish. For them to be together.

  And that resulted in a very freaked-out lion.

  Cha
pter Eighteen

  Peter opened his mouth to yell because, fucking shit, his body had just gone through the most traumatizing pain. Only it emerged as a roar.

  Uh. What?

  “Roar.”

  He kept doing it. Every time he opened his mouth.

  “Roar.”

  “Roar.”

  Fuck. No, it still came out as a roar. No!

  The panic was real as he ran, pushing past the interesting-smelling people. The big guy had a bit of a hot spice and musky thing going. Nora was all sweetness and almost enough to distract him from his sprint. However, the full-blown panic was in effect.

  He’d completely lost his mind. He thought he was a lion. He’d be locked in the loony bin forever.

  Before he could make it far, a body tackled him. A golden-furred body that pinned him to the floor. He might have fought except he knew that scent.

  Nora. Wait, how could he know her by smell? And why was it giving him a boner? Oh fuck. How could he be thinking of sex when he’d gone insane?

  Woe is me. He went limp. Might as well wait for the men in the white coats.

  A nose nudged him. A moment later Nora crooned to him, “Come on, you big pussy cat. Stop freaking out. Calm down. It’s not a big deal.”

  Not a big deal? He thought he was a lion.

  He didn’t want to be a lion.

  And suddenly he wasn’t. It didn’t help. Because now he was naked, sitting on the pebbled ground. “Those doctors are right. I am crazy,” he muttered.

  “Not crazy,” a very naked Nora argued.

  Was he imagining that too? “I thought I was shot. But look at me, I’m not hurt. I saw you open the box, only it was empty. And then I thought I was a pussycat. Then you were a giant cat. Maybe it’s the gasses making me hallucinate.”

  “That all happened, Peter. Every bit of it,” she said softly.

  “But…”

  “No buts. Shifters are real.”

  “Real?” He glanced at his hands. It sounded impossible. Yet a moment ago they’d been covered in fur. “How?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe one day they’ll have a scientific explanation, but for the moment, magic suffices. And before you ask, unlike you, I was born this way.”