by Desiree Holt
His instantaneous transformation had her on the ground next to a very naked Mateo.
“I told you not to give me your neck.” The air was unbreathable.
“I didn’t.” She was on her hands and knees after rolling over or being pushed over, she wasn’t sure which, with his change. Her voice cracked as she spoke, not out of fear, but out of disappointment. Disappointment in herself.
“Except when you nestled in close, you did. I had to take control of my lion, and he was not impressed.” Mateo wasn’t looking at her as he spoke, and that cut into her hard.
“I’m so sorry.” She wiped an errant tear from her cheek as she pushed back to sit up on her knees. “I didn’t mean—”
“Shhh, my lily, don’t even worry about it.” His hand settled on her shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze. “I should have known better than to show you my lion before you agreed to be mine. I was asking for trouble.” The censure in his voice was directed at himself, not her, and that only made her feel worse. It was her mistake, not his.
“I just…he is so beautiful and soft, and he asked me, or at least I think he asked me.”
“Oh, sweet lily, he asked you to be his mate in a much-too-sly-for-his-own-good manner.” The air lightened by the moment.
His lion had asked her to be his mate. Should she be mad? She couldn’t say, for sure. Part of her wanted to do the human thing and take her time. The magic in her was starting to sing at their connection, no longer staying quiet in the background.
“You’re saying I was almost conned by a lion?”
“Conned, no, but coerced, quite possibly.”
“I might have been okay with that.” She stood up, brushing the dirt from her clothing, Mateo stared at her, jaw open. She hadn’t meant to say it aloud, but now that she did, she wasn’t taking it back. It was the truth. She might, or more possibly would have been okay with it. “You’re very naked.” She pointed to his pile of clothes instead of drawing attention to his chiseled abs or the part of him that was ecstatic to see her.
“Is that a problem?” He stood, and for a moment she thought, or was it hoped, he was going to walk her way. He instead meandered in the direction of his clothing.
“No, well, kind of, yes.”
“Explain.” He stopped dead in his tracks, giving her his undivided attention.
“I need to get back to town and check on things, and with you like this”—she swished her hand up and down, indicating his naked body—“I don’t want to.”
“What do you …?” He shook his head as if trying to shake the thoughts away, thoughts that were physically still evident. “Never mind. I’ll get my clothes back on, and we can go.”
They were halfway down the dirt path before either spoke again. Crina was focused on the what-if’s of her apartment, a subject that had all but left her mind earlier in the day. Mateo was that flipping distracting, in the very best way.
“You do know that no matter what the city decides, I have a place for you to stay.”
“I know, but that doesn’t mean I want to rely on you.” She placed her hand gently on his thigh as she spoke. “I already feel like I’m taking advantage.” He hit a pothole as they turned off the dirt road, and she held his thigh far too tightly for it to be comfortable. She quickly loosened her grip and reached for her purse, wanting to see if her phone had any reception. It did, along with ten messages, all of which appeared to be spam.
After a minute of silence, Mateo picked up their conversation right where it left off. “We have a deal. That’s hardly taking advantage.”
“Am I your fake girlfriend?” The deal was a fake girlfriend for a room and money—their deal broken almost the moment it was struck. Fate or whatever force was at work had them on a crash course, and she was now determined to see where it led.
“No,” he snipped.
“So the deal is over.”
A rumbly growl filled the car.
Crina was not impressed. “Don’t you growl at me, Mateo.” She used what she called her teacher voice. She had never actually been a teacher, but she had the voice down pat. It had done well by her during the evil group projects of her college years and apparently also with her soon to be, hopefully, probably, pretty sure mate.
“Sorry.” At least he had the decency to sound contrite. “My lion wants to protect you, and you just told him to eff off in lionese.”
That made far more sense than it should have, and she wondered how they would ever make a good match if she was so good at hurting his lion. It wasn’t as if she could sit down and hash it out with him.
“What’s wrong with him taking care of you, with us taking care of you?”
“Nothing really. It’s just so fast, and it feels like I’m getting more out of this than you are.”
The car pulled to the side of the road. Mateo turned off the ignition, unbuckled, and faced her with his undivided attention. When his hand reached up to cup her cheek, Crina knew she would agree to anything he asked.
“Oh sweet, sweet lily, how could you ever think that?” His voice was quiet and sweet, his hand caressing her ever so gently. “It’s I who am—getting everything—especially if you meant what you said in the clearing.”
“I did.” At the time she said it, it had been mostly a surprise to her as well. As the moments passed, however, it became clearer and clearer that she wanted to be claimed. Needed to be claimed. The lion part, she still wasn’t too sure of.
“So then, you see my point.”
“I do, but I worked hard to get where I am, and I should be surviving on my own and not using you or your money to do so.” Jumping into this while she was virtually homeless would only cause trouble. Why couldn’t he see that? She hadn’t even brought up what others would say about him behind his back. No, she should settle back into her life and take things slowly with Mateo, just like a good mostly human, should.
“What does your gut say?”
“My gut says I should ask you to bite me and make me yours.” She couldn’t lie to him, even if listening to her gut was wrong on so many levels in this situation. Or was it? Had her gut ever led her wrong? The craptastic apartment had led her to Mateo, so not really. Maybe she should just jump in and hold on tight.
“So what do you want to do now?”
His trepidation gave her the last push she needed to take the final leap, to listen to her gut as she had been told her entire life. She leaned forward, giving his cheek a peck before speaking ever so softly in his ear, “I want to go back to the hotel and have you make me yours.”
They probably broke fifty traffic laws getting back to the hotel, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. He was going to be hers, and she was going to be his.
Willpower of Steel
Mateo pulled up to the curb in front of the hotel, left the keys in the ignition, and walked around to her door, opening it like a true gentleman. With a nod to the valet, he offered her his arm and escorted her in. Her body was so on fire for him, she would have been happy with a sprint to the elevator, but Mateo was doing it right.
The elevator opened just as they arrived, thanks to a quick-thinking bellhop. It was amazing the service one received when renting out an entire floor of a city hotel. Card inserted, they began their ascent. The elevator was officially the slowest one in the entire world.
She leaned into his side, his arm protectively wrapped around her, their lust palpable, yet neither made a move. They would have time for that in the penthouse—if the stupid elevator would hurry up.
“So you bite me on my neck, I presume, making us mates?” Being nervous about the actual bite me and turn me into a lion part of the mating, and since the elevator was so stupid slow, she might as well ask.
“If I was in lion form, yes. But, in human form, it’s more fun.” Ohhhh, the sexiness that dripped from his voice as he said fun had her practically ready to jump him in the elevator, proper or not.
“Fun?” She bit her lip, a habit she thought she had broke
n long ago, but she needed proof she was awake and not dreaming, the sharp pinch helping to ground her and give her the proof she desired.
“Fun.” He remained by her side, and she was glad for it. If he moved even the slightest bit, her willpower would’ve been thrown out the window and they would have been getting busy in a nanosecond. “First, I will strip you bare, and then I will worship every inch of your body. And when you are squirming, unable to take another moment of my teasing, I’m going to make love to you. When the moment is right, my canines will elongate, and I will clamp down on your neck. It will hurt, but only for a moment before it is replaced by pleasure you have never even begun to image.”
She was officially panting. He had her more worked up than she had ever been in her entire life and his arm was draped over her, nothing more. Nothing except those words. Words that held such sinfully delicious promises. Promises that she was going to hold him to, but promises that felt like they were missing something. Something important.
“And I will be a lion?” It was the only thing she could think of that he failed to mention. A lion; she was going to be a lion. It was no longer about if she would, only a question of when and how.
“No, my lily. You will be a lion when you decide to claim me.”
Her middle did a belly flip as the last chime went off and the double doors opened. She was going to claim him. He was going to be fully hers, just as she was going to be fully his.
Why is She Here?
They stepped out of the elevator, his arm still draped over her shoulder. She knew if they stopped or, goodness forbid, looked at each other, she would be claimed right there on the floor. She wanted their mating to be a bit more special than that, or at least a bit more leisurely and comfortable, and that required the bedroom.
“Well, lookie who we have here: the cowardly lion and the gyp.” Janis stood in the room with a smug look on her face and hostility Crina had never seen before in her eyes.
“Janis, what are you doing here?” Mateo growled out, the air thickening with each moment.
“We. What are we doing here?” As Janis spoke, out stepped Damien, Betsy, and Samuel from the adjoining room. The only one wearing a knowing smile was Damien. The other two looked just as perplexed as Crina felt. Janis moved closer to them. “I’m officially claiming you, Mateo, as my mate, as is my right as the firstborn alpha female of my clan this generation.” Her wicked smile grew as she prepared to claim her bounty.
“That is why you called us here, you pertinent little brat? You told us we were invited for a pre-dinner soiree.” Betsy’s eyes blazed with fury, and where Crina had originally though Samuel held all the power, she now knew the truth of it. It was all Betsy. The room got heavier and heavier and, with it, the power within her began to stir, lightening the air, but, from the looks of the others in the room, only for her.
“Grandmother, it has been done. You may sanction me later, or actually not, since I won’t be your clan then. Funny how that works.” The dismissive and condescending way Janis treated Betsy was appalling, and from the growls coming at her from three of the four other lions in the room, there was no way Janis simply misstepped. It was intentional.
“You will never be my mate.” There was no room for negotiation in his terms. Any fool would have heard it, but Janis wasn’t just any fool. She was made of pure evil. Crina was sure of it.
“Clan law says otherwise.”
“What exactly does clan law say?” Crina directed her question at Samuel, keeping her tone quiet and confident. Her magic was still building. She wasn’t sure what it was up to, but she trusted it and wanted to buy it some time.
“It says an unclaimed male of alpha descent can be claimed by the firstborn female of her generation if no mating claim has taken place before either of their twenty-fifth birthdays.” Samuel’s voice was morose, as if it was a done deal.
“Perfect.” The rule was her way out. No fighting needed, which was good because she had a feeling whatever the magic in her was building to do would not end well for Janis, and Crina didn’t want to cause political strife for her mate their first day. “By -bye, Miss Needs-to-find-her-own-mate. This one’s mine.” She was being a catty bitch, but Crina couldn’t help it. Heck, the woman didn’t actually even want him. She wanted his power.
“I see no claiming mark.”
“Ah, but that is where a little research might have done you well.” She was still biding time, but the moment was close. Her arms and legs were now buzzing with power. “I am Roma of the ancient line. I don’t need to mark him to make him mine, only to give myself over to his lion, something I plan to do as soon as you leave.”
A roar filled the air. Janis didn’t like the idea of that. Not. One. Bit. Good. It wasn’t for her to like, only to understand.
“I asked both he and his lion separately to make me theirs, to which they both agreed.” Score one for accidentally giving his lion her neck. “Our contract is binding, according to the times of old.”
“You are a woman, and by gypsy law, you can’t make binding contracts, gyp.” Sadly, that would have been correct if there were any men in her line, which there weren’t.
“You. Will. Not. Call. My. Mate. That. Again.” Mateo was livid, and from the slight bow of Janis’s head, throwing off a ton of power. Her magic was holding so strong, she felt the atmosphere change not at all. It had to be there for something more, though. It was buzzing too forcefully not to be.
“Actually, she can.” Samuel stepped forward. “She’s the last of her line. She alone holds the power. All of the power. You’d best let it go.” How had Samuel known so much about her? Could he feel her power? His warning seemed to indicate he did, or at least knew of it.
“Not going to happen.” The last word was barely out before her lion form ripped from her. She was smaller than Mateo, but not by much. She crouched as if readying to pounce. The others just stood there at Samuel’s command, not transforming. How Samuel kept Mateo from transforming, Crina needed to find out later. There was no way he was just letting this happen. None.
Crina should have been terrified, but instead buzzed with power. The lion had no dominance over her. She was Crina, and true to the stories of her youth, her power came alive when she needed it. Power so strong she wondered how long she could contain it.
Janis took one step. Two steps. Three, nope not a third step. The lion tried again. Nothing. Crina had managed to form a barrier between her and the lion. She had no idea how, but it felt strong.
“Janis, change back now,” Crina ordered. Janis completely ignored her, trying to take yet another step with no success.
“This is your last warning. Change. Back. Now.” Crina put as much of her teacher voice into her words as she could, but, yet again, Janis kept trying to come forward, her malicious intent growing ever more obvious with every second.
“Now!” Crina shouted this time, and Janis fell to the floor in human form as Mateo wrapped his arms around her, never once letting his eyes leave Janis.
“How did you stop us?” Betsy seemed utterly perplexed. “How did you stop us all from changing?”
Had she done that? Was that why Mateo wasn’t by her side? She’d assumed it had been Samuel in control. Well, crap on a cracker. That kind of power wasn’t okay. Fortunately, she felt it pulling back and going into slumber once more. It was nice to know it was there when truly needed, but she was relieved at its retreat.
“Roma magic.” It was the simplest answer she could give, and yet it held the truth of it. Her Roma blood had rescued her from one that meant to do her harm and protected her future mating. Not too bad for something that lay dormant 99 percent of the time.
“Give me my lion back,” Janis sobbed, naked on the floor. Crina couldn’t, even if she wanted to. She’d had no idea it was even gone before the sobbing began. Janis had made her bed, and unfortunately it was one she would have to lie in for the unforeseeable future.
Epilogue
The rest of that day w
as a whirlwind. Janis was exiled from her clan. Damien, after admitting that invoking the right of the female alpha was his idea, was exiled also, although his punishment was less horrible since he at least got to keep his lion. Crina wondered if they would see them again. Part of her felt bad for Janis now that she knew what it felt like to have a lion.
Samuel, it turned out, had known her meemaw from his schoolboy days. He hadn’t made the connection to Crina until he felt her power building. He promised to regale her with stories after her honeymoon, or mating moon, or whatever it was called. Both he and Betsy seemed to truly care for Mateo and didn’t seem to blame them for any of the weekend’s occurrences.
True to his word, Mateo fulfilled every last one of his promises he had made in the elevator. Crina absentmindedly reached for her claiming mark. She hoped it left a scar so all could see that she was Mateo’s, heart, mind, and soul. His claiming mark wasn’t as neat as hers was, since it was made by human teeth, and she knew without a single doubt it would leave a very pronounced scar, something she was over-the-moon happy about.
“Are you ready, love?” Mateo was as excited about this as she was.
Crina was more than ready. Her lion had been gentle yet persistent in her call to be set free. They had waited until they were back in the clearing, fearing that a first time shift in a hotel suite would only lead to property damage.
“I was born for this.” She slowly reached down to the hem of her dress, pulling it up and over her head. Her undergarments for the day, nonexistent.
“You are trying to kill me, lily.” The growl in his chest was of the smexy variety, and she gave a little wiggle of her backside to encourage it.
“I need to go back to work tomorrow, so I’m just saving us time.” She winked at him before pushing her lion forward and running into the woods.
