A Lion After My Own Heart (12 page)

He's down on all fours, growing, a massive animal, tufted tail lashing the air, his mane thick and streaked with black. I can't help it; I stagger back. He's easily twelve feet long, powerful and graceful, the king of beasts, a lion of such nobility and power that I'm awed.

He turns at last to regard me, his blue eyes incongruous and self-aware in his leonine face, and I have to fight the urge to drop to one knee. I never expected him to be so large, so muscular, so savage and royal at the same time. He
chuffs
, blowing out a blast of air, and then throws his head back and
ROARS
.

The sound shatters the night. I feel it in the depths of my chest like bass at a dance party. It causes the windows to rattle in their casements behind me, and every instinct in my frail human body urges me to turn and
run
. The roar rises into the darkness, and in it I hear defiance, anger, sorrow, and determination. Goose bumps break out across my whole body.

As his roar is ending, it's suddenly joined by a series of howls. Wolf howls. I turn, startled, and see wolves emerging from the trees, with the largest one of them all stepping out through Honeycomb Hall's front door. Blake, I realize, and his pack. The six or seven wolves move to stand as a group in front of the lion, and as their howls die down the shifters regard each other.

Alexander looms over the wolves. He's much bigger, easily twice the size of Blake, and he regards them with a confidence and calm that radiates from him like an aura of power. Blake lowers his head, and as one the rest of his pack does the same.
They're bowing to him
, I realize with a thrill. Alexander's tail lashes the night, and then he turns and looks over his shoulder at the forested hills that lead up to the cairn.

The moment freezes. Now? Is he going to challenge his father now? I thought maybe tomorrow, or the day after...?

But no. Alexander turns and without further ceremony runs toward the trees, Blake's pack at his heels. In a moment they're gone, disappearing between the trunks.

I hug myself tight. I try to listen, to hear anything, but they're well and truly gone. I turn and startle - Rachel is standing on the porch, a shawl wrapped around her curvy frame, her face set and grave.

"You've done a good thing," she says.

"I have?" I don't know. Have I? "Can I even take responsibility?"

"You're not responsible, but you have had an influence, and a good one." Her voice is stern as she stares out at the hills. "The ritual I spoke of has only ever been used as a punishment. It's unnatural, and while it might give Alexander the solution he thought he wanted, it's a terrible path for a shifter to walk."

I nod. Intuitively I had known that. "But now, he's going to confront Aurion."
And fight to the death
, I almost add.

Rachel sighs. "It has to be done. Aurion was once a good leader, or so I understand. He and my grandmother were lovers once. But when his mate was killed, a poisonous seed was planted in his heart that blossomed and grew. He's become twisted over time, lost to his hatred and pain. It's right that he be challenged and deposed."

"Killed," I say, my voice harsh.

Rachel finally looks at me, and her eyes are deep and mysterious. "Only if he wants the fight to be to the death."

"He will," I say.

"Then that's his decision." Rachel looks back to the dark hills. "Either way, we'll know soon how this is going to be resolved."

I shiver at those words. I almost can't believe that Alexander may soon be fighting for his life. I step up next to Rachel and turn to stand beside her to watch the dark slopes.

Be careful, Alex
, I whisper to him in the depths of my heart.
Come back to me. Please don't leave me alone.

Chapter 14

Oh, glory! To run on all fours, to feel that fire burning through my veins, my claws digging into the dirt, my vision penetrating every shadow, my body bounding through the woods with effortless grace. It's been too long since I've let my lion come roaring forth, and it's as if the world has gone from monochrome to full color. How could I ever think of divesting myself of this power and vigor forever? How have I kept this part of me suppressed for so long? I push myself, exulting in my body, leaving the wolves behind. They're lithe and quick, but I am the king, and nobody can match me.

I know these hills. I grew up here, and though I haven't returned in almost two decades, I race toward the cairn as if it were yesterday. The whole forest can feel my approach. I can sense the spirits of the woods fluttering with alarm and excitement, word of my arrival spreading like wildfire ahead of me. Shifter patrols fall back, not daring to challenge me. Nobody will oppose my approach. I am the son of Aurion, and though I have been gone for years, no one seems surprised by my return.

I charge through the night, crest the hill, and stalk forward into the standing stones where my father stands in all his cruel glory, waiting for me in turn.

Aurion has always been a massive lion, bigger than any other, but now his mane is shot through with gray and his body is lean where once it was muscled. For all that, he looks to be carved from iron, and I know his strength is still tremendous, his will beyond compare. He sits, calm, his eyes burning like two stars stolen from the heavens and socketed in his skull.

Gathered around him are an array of shifters, all in their beast forms, standing outside the stones, eyes wide, waiting, watching. For decades this moment has been held in abeyance, but finally it's here.

The son has come to challenge the father, for supremacy, for leadership of the cairn.

I stop in front of my father, and deep within my chest like some powerful machine that could power an entire city I growl, a low rumble that would cow wolf or leopard, tiger or hyena.

My father rises to all fours, his mouth opening to reveal great fangs, and I swear that he's smiling.

"I knew you would return, child." His voice is dire, yet strangely fired by gladness. "I knew that you could not deny your true nature forever."

"I've come to end your rule," I say, pitching my voice to carry across the crowd. "Your madness has gone on for too long. It ends tonight."

"Good," says Aurion. "This is as it should be. We shall fight, and he who walks away from these stones will be the elder. Come, cub. Match yourself against me."

"No," I say.

Surprise flashes across his face. "No?"

"No." I step forward, my paws padding silently on the earth. "I will take your position from you without spilling your blood."

"Oh, you will, will you?" He laughs. "Your time amongst the humans has warped your mind. If you think I will relinquish my power willingly, you are a greater fool than I thought."

"I'll take it from you," I say. "I'll force you to step down."

"Then come at me, Alexander!" His words are a roar, and the other shifters step back, suddenly afraid.

"No, Father." I stand proudly in front of him. "My time with the humans has taught me a great deal, yes, but only now have I realized that I can't pretend to be one. I can't deny who I am. And I am not a murderer. I will not kill you. I'm going to take what's rightfully mine. How? By showing you that I'm already the leader of this cairn, and that all these shifters follow me. Not you."

Aurion hesitates, then laughs again. "You are not the elder. I am. What madness is this?"

"I speak the truth. I am the rightful leader. I am the embodiment of the new age. You are a shadow cast by the past. A broken reed that cannot stare into the lights of modernity. You'll plunge us all back into a bloody past. Your hatred will spill innocent blood, and all because you don't understand."

"I understand plenty!" roars Aurion. "I know that humanity is weak, corrupt, and destructive. They cannot be trusted with the power they wield!"

"They are," I say, my calm voice undercutting his fury. "But they're so much more. Ingenious, loving, passionate, creative, wild, and filled with such potential that you cannot comprehend. We are of the wilderness, but we do not change. They are capable of so much more. And the way to see that our future is golden is to work together with them. To offer them the guidance and friendship they need, not the hand of iron dictatorship. Yet this you will never understand. You'll die snarling in defiance before you admit that they are more than scum."

Aurion snarls. "Pretty words. But they don't change anything."

"They change it all!" My roar takes him by surprise, and he actually flinches. I step forward again. "We all know how you suffered when Mother died. But that is the world. What we are given is taken away. What we treasure will not be lost. It will be broken, destroyed, and a true leader remains strong and pure of mind. Yet your loss broke you. You tried to break me in turn, but I wouldn't let you. Nor will I let you break this cairn, or our alliance with the humans."

I turn then and look at all the shifters. "I have returned, and I will not leave you again. I'll make sure we enter a dialogue with the humans. That we grow with them. That we'll be partners. We'll enter a new phase, letting go of fear and intimidation and exchanging it for peace and love. Kindness is not weakness. Aggression is not strength. This is a new world. A new age. And I am the one to lead you into it. Come. Stand with me. Now."

The silence trembles, and then one by one the shifters slink to stand behind me, where Blake and his pack stand. Some cast guilty looks at Aurion, while others move with obvious relief. My father casts surprised then furious glances from one side to the other, incredulous at what he's seeing.

"Stop! I am your elder! I command you to stop! Return to where you were!"

Yet nobody does. In a matter of moments, the entirety of the cairn is assembled at my back, and their faith in me causes me to swell with confidence and determination. I stare at my father where he stands alone. He can tell that this is over. That I've defeated him without lifting a claw. And then, just as I expected, I see him crouch lower, preparing to leap at me. He will force a fight, even if it means his dying in shame, rather than admit defeat.

"Stop," I say, and the sheer authority in my voice stays his attack. "Father. You've lost, but it's not too late for you to change. Just as I changed, so can you. Think of Mother. What would she say if she saw you now, ready to kill your son when he has proven himself the true leader of the cairn? Is this the man you wanted to be when you were young? Is this the man Mother married?"

My words hit him like stones, pierce him like arrows, and his eyes go wide with shock. He snarls again, revealing his yellowed canines, but he doesn't leap.

"Don't do this," I say softly. "Don't throw away your life. Don't make me your murderer. Stop. Let it go. Let go of that hatred. That despair. It's over."

Aurion looks from me to the wall of eyes that are staring at him. He stands alone. Finally he stares at me, and something leaves him, the fight goes out of his body. I can see the change. His shoulders slump, and his head seems to have grown heavy.

"Well done, my son." His voice is weary beyond imagination. "You have truly proved yourself to be a better man than I."

I have no idea how to respond.

"I-I am proud of you." He chokes the words out, though he won't look at me. "Perhaps one day I shall return. For now, you have given me much to think about. To consider." He hesitates, and then, before I can speak, turns and slips away into the night, his tail flicking once before he's gone.

I realize that I've been holding my breath all this time. The other shifters roar their approval and swarm around me. They're celebrating, welcoming me home, but all I can do is watch the space where my father disappeared and fight the pain and gladness that are warring in my heart.

Chapter 15

Rachel and I are waiting in the living room at the front of Honeycomb Hall when the men return. The fire's crackling, and I've fallen into a reverie as I stare at the dancing flames, mesmerized and exhausted. Rachel's reading a book with enviable poise, but all I can do is play over the past few days in my mind and wait.

Then: footsteps on the porch, and the sound of the front door opening. Rachel closes her book and we both rise to our feet as the library door opens and Alexander enters, followed by Blake.

Oh, be still, my heart. Alexander is another man. It's like his sun has come out from behind the clouds. He's resplendent, alive, burning with a fierce vitality that leaves me no doubt at all: this man is a king amongst shifters, and he's staring at me in a way that melts my knees, heart and panties all at once.

"You did it?" I take a step forward and stop.

Alexander nods, and I see that his hair has grown. No longer cropped close to his head, it now falls to his shoulders, a wild mane that I can't wait to bury my fingers in. He smiles, and I feel a flood of heat pass over me as if an oven door has just opened. How can I need him so badly?

"I defeated my father. I'm the new elder of the cairn." His voice echoes with authority and sears its way into my core. It's a delicious rumble, an avalanche of sexiness in which I want to be buried.

"And your father?" My voice is weak. I feel like I'm floating outside my body and watching from six feet above my head.

"Alive. I didn't fight him."

Blake grins and moves forward. "He did a power play. Stole Aurion's authority right out from under him. By the time he was done speaking, the cairn was his, lock, stock and smoking barrel. It was amazing."

Alexander doesn't even glance at Blake. Instead, he extends his hand to me. "Come."

I don't think twice. I move forward, sliding my hand into his.

He looks at Rachel. "We're going to need one of your rooms."

"Take your pick," says Rachel, voice wry. "They're all empty."

"Good," says Alexander, and the way he looks at me makes me want to start moaning right here and now. How did this happen? How did I get connected to such a ridiculously hot man?