Lion's Quest Read online

  “Born a lion?”

  “Born a shifter. Skinwalker. Whatever you want to call it. And now, so are you.”

  “I’m a lion.” Saying it didn’t make it feel real.

  What did was an inner rumbling, an instinct that yelled, Danger.

  His ears pricked, his attention too. Nora’s head lifted, and she turned, alert. “We need to get out of here. The volcano sounds like it’s waking up.”

  Saying it pretty much triggered the tremor. The world shook, and suddenly the steam and heat in the room rose a few degrees.

  Zach yelled, “We need to get out of here.”

  “Not without Fluffy.”

  “We don’t have time to go looking for it.”

  “Where’s the box?” Nora asked with a glance at the pedestal. Bare. Box and key gone. Irina and Svetlana too. Cracks began forming in the floor.

  “Let’s get out of here.” Peter grabbed Nora’s hand and went to run, only a fissure erupted, splitting their path.

  Zach didn’t hesitate. He turned into a lion and soared.

  Nora released his hand. “Shift, run, and jump.”

  “I—” He was going to say can’t.

  But if he didn’t, he’d die.

  Nora smiled at him. “You’ve got this. You’re one of us now. Do you know what that means?” She leaned close to whisper by his ear. “We won’t be limited to three times.”

  He hardened as she whirled and bolted, changing as she ran until she was a golden, sleek feline soaring over the crack. Then it was his turn.

  His turn to become the impossible.

  Go, go, lion body.

  He waited.

  Nothing. The rumbling deepened, and the steam jetted hot enough to curl hair. Now or never. He just started running, while praying.

  If I am a lion, then let’s hear me roar.

  More like a strangled grawr, but he, too, made the impossible leap to the other side. Landing on four feet, he joined the other cats.

  Casting a glance over his shoulder, he caught a glimpse of the pedestal a moment before it exploded into blue lava. Blue was hotter than red if he remembered correctly.

  Time to really go.

  They raced up the tunnel to the edge of the volcano and then kept running. His four-legged body more comfortable the longer he wore it.

  Liberating as well. Strong. Without tiring as expected, he managed to run all the way to the helicopter Zach had flown in. They lifted off and not a second too soon, as the plateau it was parked on cracked and lava boiled its way through.

  The good news was Peter wasn’t being roasted in it. His luck had finally changed. He was alive, in one piece, and with an incredible woman that he was pretty sure he loved.

  He laced his fingers with hers, and she turned to smile at him before laying her head on his shoulder. The true treasure, by his side.

  That night, in their hotel bed, he worshipped every inch of her. Kissed her from those succulent lips to the backs of her knees. He drew the line at toes. He licked her until she came bucking against his face.

  He teased her nipples until she humped his thigh so vigorously he worried about chafing.

  He then fucked her. On her back. Knees. Sideways. In the shower. Bouncing her as he walked her back to bed for more fucking.

  And even after all that sex, he wanted her even more.

  Which was why, during their flight home to America, right after a quickie in the bathroom on the airplane, he said, “I love you.”

  “So do I,” she said with a kiss. And followed with, “Just do me a favor and don’t ever tell my sisters.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if they know you love me and that I love you, then next thing you know they’ll have talked you into jerking off into a cup so they can check the motility of your sperm.”

  “But I don’t want kids,” was his dumb reply.

  She patted his cheek. “Me neither. But that won’t stop them from trying. So avoid the oysters at Christmas. They like to lace them with Viagra to give the great-uncles a cheap thrill and piss off the aunts.”

  “Are they lions like you?”

  She laughed. “No one is like me.”

  And that was the lion’s honest truth.

  Rawr.

  Epilogue

  Back in the States, explaining all she had seen proved interesting. Some folks leaned on the skeptical side and assumed the incident in the volcano had triggered a latent gene in Peter. Others pondered the what-if aspect of the strange magic in the box that had escaped into the big wild world.

  Given they wanted to find it, Nora’s new assignment was to try and track down where Irina and her granddaughter went. Most of all, find the box.

  The mission came with a new partner. But that wasn’t the reason Peter spent more time in her condo than at his place. Not that she minded. Waking up snuggled together was fast becoming her favorite new thing.

  Working with Peter was much different than with Zachary. For instance, she’d never had to balance doing her job in between so much sex. Good thing they could be quick when needed, saving the longer sessions for when they went to bed.

  He met her family, and when his sisters started in on him about his potential as a sperm donor, he went into a sad diatribe about his compromised mutant sperm. Then said how perfect Nora was for him because she had mutant eggs from that same radioactive incident.

  She wasn’t sure her sisters believed it, but she found it amusing to watch him try.

  Despite all the change, Peter appeared to have adjusted to his new normal. But the Pride was still spinning with the knowledge that there was a game-changer out in the world, possibly in the wrong hands.

  Had the discovery of the box ushered in the end of everything they knew?

  Or was this a new beginning?

  She had to wonder as she writhed in a patch of sunlight, golden fur soaking in those hot rays until something bulky caused a shadow. She opened one lazy eye to her mate standing there, majestic as fuck with his wildly long mane. Thankfully Peter was not interested in trying to rule and ripping their pride apart.

  He shifted, his long, lean body showing fewer signs of the scars. His hair was thicker. His skin clearer. As if he’d shed the unhealthy and found himself renewed.

  It had an effect on his vigor. Now she was the one scrambling to keep up when he gave her that grin.

  “We’ve got a few minutes before we need to dress and leave for the party.” He arched a brow in invitation.

  She stretched and loved how his gaze smoldered as it eyed her. “So I heard something interesting today from the team studying those fairy tale books.”

  “Oh?” he said, dropping to a knee and lifting her leg over his shoulder to expose her.

  “I found out the name of the hero,” she said. And the reason why he wouldn’t tell her what it was.

  She screamed it when he made her come. “Peter.” The hero who got the happily ever after, the key needed to unlock her lion heart.

  Before Nora and Peter joined the mile-high club but after the volcano erupted…

  The entire flight back to the airport where he’d borrowed the chopper from, Zach didn’t let on that he knew about the stowaway. Nor did he worry too much about them. He could smell the fear of whatever hid behind the storage area where he’d tossed some equipment aboard in case things went sideways in the arctic.

  Nora and her transformed human only had eyes for each other. The hormones rolling off them were distracting. To dump them quickly, he told them to take his rental. He’d catch a ride in a taxi.

  As the newly infatuated couple went off, he pretended to check over the chopper, waiting until they were out of sight to say, “You can come out now.”

  His curiosity had him sniffing and trying to figure out who’d snuck aboard. He didn’t know the scent and wasn’t sure what to expect other than he knew it wasn’t Svetlana or her grandmother. Nor was his stowaway human. He just couldn’t have said what she was. “I know you’re in there. Come
out.”

  The rustling preceded the biggest fucking eyes, a bright and icy blue. Fine features framed by silver and gray hair that hung down over her naked frame. The female blinked thick lashes at him. Her lip sucked in as if she were nervous.

  “Who the fuck are you?” he barked, not at all taken in by her innocent face.

  Only to blink at her unexpected reply. “Fluffy.”

  Gruff and tough Zach isn’t one to fall for a pretty face, but there’s more to Fluffy Aleena than meets the eye, which might make her perfect for A Lion’s Mate.

  More books in A Lion’s Pride:

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