She cleared her throat and he was suddenly shooting up from his chair to look at her, visibly startled.
“Ingrid…?” he asked, pulling himself from his chair.
“Good morning.” She greeted, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. Leo nodded, if a bit awkwardly, before motioning toward her seat.
When she was sitting, he followed, watching her with eyes that were so full of so many emotions, it was almost overwhelming. “I have a favor to ask.”
“What kind of favor?” Leo inquired, not daring to move.
She hesitated for a moment, glancing away from his gaze to pick at a grape. She brought the berry to her lips before biting down.
She didn’t notice the way his eyes followed the movement raptly. “A message.”
As expected he said nothing, but when she met his gaze he didn’t seem closed off. If anything, he looked grim.
“There’s a cabin, a little ways down from here. It belongs to my friend. She let me use it as a vacation spot, and it’s the reason why I ended up all the way out here. I haven’t seen her in five months and she’s the only person that ever really gave a damn about me in that town… It would mean the world to me, if you could find a way to tell her that I’m okay.”
Leo said nothing for a while before he took in a deep inhale.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
Ingrid’s shoulders slumped, she had expected this. It had been worth a shot. Nodding, the brunette began to push out of the chair before Leo spoke again.
“Because it’s time you probably gave her that message yourself.”
That she hadn’t expected. Ingrid whirled her attention on Leo, her eyes wide as she processed the words he had said. “…Wait… what?”
Leo gave her a small smile, the ghost of a very snarky grin he had given her cheekily five months ago.
“You’ve been here long enough, Ingrid. You suffered because of my mistakes. For the longest time I was trying to convince myself that I wasn’t anything like that wolf who had killed my sister but… here I am doing the same thing to you.”
Ingrid gaped.
“Hold on… you’re nothing like he was.”
Leo shook his head again and his main of tussled brown hair fell over his eyes, obscuring those emotions from her sight.
“That’s not for you to worry about. I can’t keep you here anymore when you don’t belong to me.” The words sent a zing through her body, made her suddenly so strangely aware of everything.
Strangely aware of him.
“Thank you for… delighting me with your conversations.” Leo said before straightening in his seat.
“I’ll speak with Gerard about ensuring your safe drive home.”
Wait.
“You will be compensated, for your trouble here, and if all goes well,”
What was going on?
“I’m sure you won’t ever have to see us again.”
He gave her one final smile before he stood up and gave her a short nod. Ingrid felt herself stumble to her feet just as he turned around before she could stop herself, she was flinging her hand forward and gripping around his sleeve.
With a tug, he stopped short but didn’t look at her.
Ingrid could feel her heart ramming in her throat, her mind pulsing with his words and the strange sensation caking against her chest.
“Wait…” She whispered. What was happening? “Hold on, let me just…” She stammered.
He turned and he looked at her, expression unreadable as he met her gaze easily. This beautiful, horrible man Ingrid had come to know for the past five months in ways she had never expected.
All she had ever wanted was to go back home. She wanted it more than anything, even when there was no chance of her heading back, she wanted to head back and find peace in knowing she was safe in her apartment.
Why is this happening?
But instead… she could only remember the nights where she couldn’t sleep. She remembered how she had felt when she had driven out of the town, had allowed her hair to fall past her neck for the first time in years… and how she knew that even though she had so many things left to do…
Why was it that the idea of leaving made her want to cry?
Tears welled up in her eyes for reasons Ingrid couldn’t understand.
“Are you… being serious?” She asked, unsure if she could believe Leo.
Even now after everything.
He nodded, “You can leave now, Ingrid. You’re free.”
And when he pulled away, Ingrid couldn’t move to stop him again.
Leo walked out of the room and Ingrid couldn’t understand why her chest hurt so much or why she was suddenly so uncertain about leaving this place.
Chapter 14
He couldn’t allow himself to see her cry after all that had happened. It was honestly, one of the weirdest moments of his life. Weirdest, being the choice word, because he never had expected this sort of situation to happen.
Leo had lived for many years, used to keeping to himself and staying away from the eyes of that species that were so damn curious they rivaled his most primitive relatives, the cats.
It was mind-boggling really, to try to understand such an ignorant, but curious race. While their weapons and lack of acceptance for that which was difference, their insatiable desire to learn more made them almost harmless.
Like lemmings, his father had compared them, simple creatures that didn’t need much looking into to be understood.
He had completely expected a lemming when he had taken Ingrid. He had expected a frightened little mouse who would simply do as was ordered and sit back for fear of her life. Instead, she had fought back with fire and words, and a passion he had never before seen or experienced from any other creature.
Each conversation left a thrill to burn in his blood, made him itch for the next time he could provoke her with his words and make her explode into a series of words that made her hair whip around her like brown flames. Ingrid was special. Ingrid was nothing like the frail creature he had expected…
And Leo found himself falling in love with her before he even had a chance to realize how.
For those months, he endured her curiosity and her ability to sass him back because it entertained him, but more than that, because it made him feel alive.
She wasn’t like the women of his people, who were fierce and zealous and powerful. Ingrid was hilariously fragile—as all humans were—and he could smell her fear as easily as he could see her anger spike.
But that’s what made her so curious to him.
She fought despite her fear. She displayed behavior that would surprise even the fiercest Lioness… and he wanted her. He ached for her. Badly.
But he could never allow himself. It was the wrong decision.
Send her away or Kill her. Nadya had insisted after the first three weeks of living together.
She cannot be here.
But how could he? He hid from Gerard’s and Nadya’s reasoning with the sole desire to express it was merely a decision to keep entertained.
But they saw through him. Saw through him as easily as it was to pin her to the ground that night when she had discovered them.
Leo realized, the very moment when Ingrid sat down in front of him to listen to his story….that he was in deep.
He realized that his fondness of her wasn’t a simple amusement, but an honest affection. One that was too great for him to try to hold down simply by disappearing for three months.
Realizing this love he had, it ripped him apart because he knew that after all he had done to her, he had killed any opportunity of happiness with Ingrid the moment he told her she would never be able to leave.
Which was why when she appeared and asked him to send a message, Leo found himself unable to do it anymore. He couldn’t keep drowning out her happiness for the sake of his own heart… so he decided to do the only thing he could.
He let her go.
Lucy appeared in his chambers a
few hours that very same day, silent and waiting. “I want you to make sure she is safe,” Leo ordered even as he stared into a window.
“Please make sure that our secret remains safe… but I want Ingrid to be protected… just until I know she will be alright on her own.”
“Sir,” the young woman nodded before slinking away into the shadows.
Leo reached down and pulled a single hairpin from within a pocket in his trousers. He had discovered it between her bed and the nightstand knew that it belonged to her.
It was the only momento he could keep for himself and with a shuddering sigh he squeezed his fingers over the slim metal and allowed his despair to begin to grip him.
A sudden knock at his door surprised him, made him glance up.
“Gerard?” He asked, frowning.
Silence. Must be Nadya then… but why would she knock? Unless something went wrong…
The plan to get Ingrid back to her realm was a tricky one, considering the fact that they would need to hide her scent from their territory. The last thing he needed was his father realizing he had taken a human for play.
Pushing towards the door, Leo pocketed the hairpin back into his pants, clearing his throat from what emotion threatened to choke him. He pulled the door open and felt his eyes widen in surprise.
Ingrid stood before him, scowling at him brutally. Her brown eyes were alight with anger and her dark hair was sticking out from its braid over her shoulder.
It was an expression he had become familiar with over the past months… she only glared at him whenever he pushed her buttons too far.
“You know, I’m angry at you.” She began, not allowing him a moment to register what was going on.
“Righteously pissed off. You keep me locked up here in this stupid place for nearly half a year. You have me watched and stalked by a silent woman who tried to kill me twice! And whenever we had to meet, you would piss me off every single time, do you know that? Like I was some game to you!”
Ah… she was here to get her vengeance. Alright. Leo nodded, remaining silent as he allowed her this opportunity to let out her emotions.
“You know what’s worse?” Ingrid said, letting out a bitter laugh.
“The fact that after, not only realizing you’re a creature from some weird supernatural novel, but that you ended up being a genuinely good person really made me so confused! If I had one idea of you one moment, the next I was being thrown for a tailspin. I was frightened for my life, scared out of my mind! And not once did you even… did you hurt me or threatened me. And now, you just… you just toss me out?”
Leo felt at a loss there. He honestly didn’t know how to reply and felt genuinely flabbergasted.
Didn’t she want to leave? Why wasn’t she already miles away from here?
Ingrid placed her hands over her face, a movement she did whenever she got too emotionally involved in a conversation.
He recognized it easily because he had seen it several hundred times. When she looked back up at him, she was staring at him with a different expression.
“Ingrid… I don’t…” He began before she stopped him by raising her hand.
“Say it again.” She said.
“…Say what again—“
“My name,” she insisted, frowning at him.
“Ingrid.” Leo said, letting her name fall from her lips like had all those times she had shouted at him to quit it.
He said it like it was a precious word, and it had frustrated her then.
“One more time,” She pleaded, taking in a deep breath. Leo felt something then, felt something like hope begin in his heart and end in hers.
“Ingrid.”
“Again.” And she was stepping close to him and he felt his heart begin to run thrills through his bloodstream.
“Ingrid.”
“Once more, “she whispered and she was taking a final step closer to him, her head leaning up to him even as he felt his head dip down toward hers.
“Ingrid.” And then he felt her hands reach up and curl around his neck before bringing him down into a gentle but desperate kiss. Her lips tasted like she smelled, like fresh flowers and grapes against her teeth.
He didn’t understand why she was suddenly in his arms, why she was pulling him tight against her lips but Leo hardly cared for why.
Instead he was bringing her in, close and hard against his chest, dragging her into his embrace and nearly stumbling when she met his urgent pecks with something a little deeper. The door slid close with a slam before they were stumbling toward his bed.
He paused for a moment, feeling fire scorch his skin wherever she touched, but hardly had a moment to breathe because she was on him again, kissing him like it was the very last.
Twisting, the pair fell over Leo’s bed, bouncing against the mattress until he felt her hands stiffen against his collarbone.
“You’re a…you’re a lion,” she said between heated breaths.
“Yes…” He answered, feeling his head spin.
“I’m… I’ve never done this…” She said and through the fading sunlight he could see the tentative nervousness playing behind her usually fiery eyes.
“Do you want this?” Leo asked, pushing himself over her and caging her between his arms, more than prepared to let her go the instant she changed her mind.
Instead, she took in a breath and brought him back down.
“I’ve wanted this for ages.” She said against his lips before he felt her hands drag under his shirt and gripping to the strength of his back. A low growl began deep in his throat, before his hands were following hers.
They moved quickly and efficiently, discarding clothes with an urgency that was almost as thick as the atmosphere between them.
Leo groaned hard when he felt her gasp the minute his hands found the full roundness of her breasts, pushing the bra from around the globes of flesh before finding the hardening peaks with intent and desire.
Ingrid let out a moan when his thumbs began to circulate over her nipples, his lips dragging echoes of the movements over her lips and making her gasp and quake at his touch.
“Leo…” Ingrid sighed, wrapping her legs around his waist and urging him to buck against her. Through his pants, he could feel her heat against his hardness, eliciting a powerful friction that made them both grind hard against one another.
But he didn’t want to experience her like this, so he slowed their touches and her inexperienced quickness to a simple rock of hips over hips, wanting nothing more than to draw out her pleasure before it got intense and hard.
Slowly, he dragged her shirt over her head, exposing her to his eyes and hungry mouth. She was not like Nadya, with a slim body and lithe muscles. No, Ingrid was full and thick, with a figure that would make any Lioness stare with envy.
She was curved and perfect in every shape and form and Leo could hardly hold himself back from taking her there and now.
But he had been wanting to taste her for so long, and he wanted to make sure this time would be one she would never forget.
He chuckled when she whined and bucked against him, urging him to speed up as he took his time to unbutton her pants and help her shimmy from her panties.
“Not yet, Ingrid.”
“Can’t we just...?” Ingrid insisted, her body trembling with nerves and desire.
She was high strung, each caress sending her gasping and writhing hard. He wanted her relaxed when he took her, otherwise it would be too painful for her.
“Just follow my lead,” he soothed, placing open mouthed kisses along her jaw line and neck before finding a spot on her neck.
Instinct kicked in and Leo felt the urge to take a bite and mark her, but he had to hold back, knew that he could only do so when she was screaming his name.
The very idea of her letting go to such ecstatic abandon made him tremble, so he continued his pursuit.
She was naked and wanting beneath him, parting her legs for him without a word despite how she bit her lip
and worried her teeth anxiously on the plump flesh.
He was going to make her feel good. That was all he wanted right now.
Lower and lower, Leo sunk down over her belly, trailing her skin with kisses and a steady string of desire that made her let out little mewls with every caress.
She was truly pure, behaving so curiously with every kiss he planted. He could only groan at the thought of hearing her let go.
He nibbled down on her hips, sensing her jump beneath his touch involuntarily. Sensitive hips. He could hardly hold back a grin.
Finally, his hands found the triangle between her legs, and his fingers circled the soft and hypersentive flesh of her pubic area gently.
Ingrid was letting out hard pants now, shaking with every graze that he made to her most untouched of territories.
Finally, he found his prize, and felt her folds—slick and warm—with his fingers.
Ingrid let out a moan, and he began to feel around carefully until he found the very peak of her sensitivity. She let out a shout then, back arching hard when he pressed against the nub.
Mouth watering, Leo ducked down before letting his tongue press hot against her lips, tasting her juices as he lapped up slowly.
“Wha—what are you—?” Ingrid spasmed beneath him.
“Have you ever touched yourself, Ingrid?” He asked after letting his tongue run over her again.
“I—wha?” She stammered, no doubt overloaded with the sensations.
“Touched yourself? Like this?” He demonstrated by dragging his fingers in rhythmic circles over her pearl. Ingrid’s lips were parted, cheeks blotchy red.
She nodded vaguely, her hips already following the movements of his touch.
“Well, I’m just doing the same but with my tongue.”
Before she could ask again, Leo ducked down and lapped against her flesh, making her let out a high pitched gasp. He absolutely loved her taste; gently bitter but warm and completely unique to her.
There was an honest joy in his heart, knowing full well that he was the only one capable of bringing out such sounds from her, the only one she was allowing to do so. He was making her feel good, and that brought him happiness.
Romance: Stranded With The Lion: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (BBW Shifter Romance, Werebear Romance, Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) Page 7
