Her Lion Guard - The Complete Series Box Set (BBW Shifter Romance) (22 page)

Blood budded up from the cut, tiny roses against the paleness of her flesh. Jonas winced for her, visibly restrained himself from reaching for Mary-Lou and brushing the red liquid away. Mary-Lou turned her eyes to the window, to the darkness beyond, and waited for the word.

“Now.”

“Gloria,” Mary-Lou said and felt the air shift, felt something heavy and warm and unreal press against her. “Gloria,” she repeated, a bit unsure and a lot scared as the
thing
moved, slid over her  hands and up her arms and throat like liquid warmth. Like tangible light.

“Gloria—” Mary-Lou gasped – it was in her mouth, in her eyes, in her ears—! She choked on the last intonation of the woman’s name, spat it out like water. Like blood.

GLORIA!

Mary-Lou had no time to scream as darkness rushed and over took her.

B
OOK
3

HER LION GUARD 3

RACHEL RED 

C
HAPTER ONE

Mary-Lou did not yet know it, but she had not been awake for more than a week.

One week. Jonas’ hand trembled where it rested against Mary-Lou’s arm, the muscles beneath his fingers soft and unresponsive. Dead.

Jonas shook his head, squeezed red-rimmed eyes shut in automatic denial. No. Mary-Lou was fine. Mary-Lou
would
be
fine, would awaken any minute and glare up at him with emerald-cut eyes and demand what, exactly, Jonas thought he was doing looming over the bed. She would.

She should have, seven days ago.

Jonas blinked furiously against the burn in his eyes, clenched his teeth together to trap the desperate roar that wanted to tear up his parched throat. Too long. Mary-Lou had been gone much too long, was lying in enchanted sleep like a Princess of a most unfortunate tale. A coma, the doctors said. A spell, Rowfer groused.

Jason had responded with a heartfelt
fuck off
. If they were not helping, they were wasting his time. Jonas had lost too much time already.

Nearly a week after Mary-Lou’s collapse, only pack was allowed in their home. Jonas grew more and more reluctant to let
anyone
near Mary-Lou as time passed. As day seven slowly trickled to an end, he found himself growling if someone as much as touched the door handle.

Speaking of.

“Go  away, Cara,” Jonas rumbled, eyes not straying from Mary-Lou’s face. Her features were soft with sleep, expression open and vulnerable in a way she rarely allowed when awake. To think that not so long ago all Jonas had wished for was to see her exactly like this—

“You need to eat, Jonas.” Cara’s voice carried a reprimand even as it stuttered over syllables, the young fox very much unused to ordering her Alpha around. “Some sleep would do you good, as well.”

“I told you to
leave
,” Jonas growled, eyes flashing as he glared narrowly at the closed door. He could
feel
Cara blanch on the other side, could taste the sudden spike of anxiety and anger spice the air.

“Fine!” Cara harrumphed, intimidation giving way to exasperation, “Be that way. I am sure Mary-Lou would be
thrilled
to find you starved and half-delirious when she wakes up!”

With that, the Fox stormed away, leaving Jonas with the conflicting urge to apologize and bite her throat in admonition. Cara was right, and she was not: The rational part of Jonas agreed with the young woman, understood that he could not allow himself to weaken when his lover was so vulnerable. The more primal part of Jonas’ brain, however, demanded that he stay at his mate’s side – that he forsake all else until Mary-Lou was well again. Rationality had not been winning so far: Fear ran rampant in Jonas’ head, the events of the past month still much too fresh in the Lion Shifter’s mind. He could not leave Mary-Lou alone. Not for a moment, not for a second – not ever again.

“What’s that about starving yourself?”

Jonas blinked; perhaps sleep
would
do him some good. He was beginning to imagine things. Like Mary-Lou’s eyes opening, her lips moving around half-heard words.

“Jonas?”

The Alpha jumped in his seat, jumped on the bed,  almost – caught himself just before he could do so and crush his mate into the mattress. Mary-Lou regarded him with shock-blown eyes, blinking slowly in the tight embrace in which Jonas had captured her body.

“Mary-Lou!” Jonas rasped. He pulled away from Mary-Lou for a moment, needing to reassure himself that his mate was indeed awake and cognizant. Mary-Lou smiled tentatively, more than a bit thrown at the eagerness with which Jonas studied her face.

“W-what happened?” she finally croaked out, grimacing at the sharp pain in her throat. A thought seized her mind at Jonas’ pained expression; Mary-Lou put two and two together and sighed, “How long?”

“A week,” Jonas told her. Mary-Lou flinched, briefly squeezing her eyes shut. She quickly opened them again at Jonas agonized whine; right. “I am sorry,” she said, repeated the sentiment with a soft kiss to Jonas’ lips. She knew it was not enough – could not imagine the pain her mate, her pack must have gone through as she laid unresponsive before their eyes.

Jonas hummed softly in the kiss, eyes half-closed in bliss. The animal within him purred, happy and content to have his mate – his Alpha – by his side once again.

“It is alright,” he mumbled against her lips, “I would have waited much longer. I would have waited forever.”

That’s precisely why I am sorry
, Mary-Lou thought, hiding a pained grimace behind a wan smile. She was not as strong as Jonas, not as invulnerable, and one day she might—

Well. There was no need to think of that right now.

“Jonas, I am fine,” Mary-Lou said once. Jonas had pressed a glass of water to her lips, helped her sip at its contents until her throat did not feel quite as raw. One week; Mary-Lou shuddered. “It was not – I was not unconscious. Not really.” She smiled at Jonas’ mistrustful expression and pressed closer into her mate’s side. “You should probably tell the others I am awake,” Mary-Lou said reluctantly. She did not wish to share Jonas, not quite yet, but it would be cruel to keep her family from knowing she was well even a moment longer. “I would rather not repeat the story twice.”

Jonas seemed equally unwilling to move. He solved the problem by letting out a single, low-pitched roar; Mary-Lou laughed as feet clattered up the stairs a moment later, Sasha and Cara bursting into the room like the place was on fire.

“Wha—MARY-LOU!” Cara exclaimed. Before Jonas could as much as warn her off, the Fox had pounced on the bed and its occupants, enveloping the human woman and the rumbling Lion into a teary hug. “I – I missed you so much! We were so worried! What happened? Do you know how weird it was to watch you lay there like a fish out of water? And then there was Jonas’ incessant grumbling—”

“Cara,” Sasha sighed, exasperation and fondness equally present in his voice. The Snake Shifter had moved to the side of the bed, kneeling to take one of Mary-Lou’s hands in his, “Let her breathe, for goodness’ sake.”

“It’s alright,” Mary-Lou assured the younger woman before she could launch into a series of equally incessant and rambling apologies. She then smiled at Cara, at Sasha, let them touch and nuzzle her to their hearts’ content. Pressed against them in return, reassuring herself of their presence and health.

Shifter practices were getting less and less strange to Mary-Lou the more her family was thrown into harm’s way.

“What happened?” Jonas asked some time later, when all four had maneuvered themselves into a pile of limbs and softly-purring Shifters. Mary-Lou sighed, trying to organize her thoughts as she stroked long fingers through Cara’s hair.

“Gloria—lingered,” Mary-Lou said eventually. Jonas let out a low growl, and she hurried to explain: “She did not mean any harm! In fact, it was a favor – she healed me, Jonas,” she smiled, recalling the warmth and kindness that had knitted deep, bleeding wounds shut – righted wrongs that no doctor could ever reach. “She helped me establish order within myself, integrate my powers within my sub consciousness. No more fainting for me,” Mary-Lou finished with a smile. Sasha let out a soft snort and what sounded like,
Will believe it when I see it.

“So what now?” Cara asked. “Can you use your powers? Influence people and whatnot?”

Mary-Lou shrugged in response. “I believe so. It is not something I want to do, mind you,” she explained, “Which is why it was so important for me to learn to control that particular aspect of my…powers. Gloria was an immense help.”

“Where is she now?” Jonas asked.

“Gone,” Mary-Lou sighed, a bit wistful. Having another presence in her mind had been strange, scary. Unexpectedly, having someone else to share her thoughts with – fears and hopes she could not find the strength to utter aloud, even to Jonas – had also been somewhat comforting. Mary-Lou had spent too much time alone, uncertain of what was right – what she was meant to do. Gloria had been a beacon in the dark, her confidence and kindness a most welcomed comfort. Mary-Lou missed her – missed the certainty of her knowledge, the sureness of her words. “She said I was ready, that I did not need her any more, and she… left,” Mary-Lou finished, remembering the cold numbness that had taken hold of her after Gloria’s departure.

The shock of being alone once more within the dark confines of her own mind had been what awoke Mary-Lou in the end. She did not think she would ever share that particular piece of knowledge with Jonas.

“Good,” Jonas said, voice sharp. Mary-Lou rolled her eyes, but did not comment on her mate’s possessive anger. It was a deserved reaction, on his part.

“Alright, enough cuddling. How does dinner sound?” Cara bounced to a sitting position, dislodging Sasha’s arm in the process. The Snake Shifter hissed lowly, obviously more than half-asleep himself. Cara ignored him in favor of grinning at Mary-Lou, “You hungry, Mary-Lou?”

Mary-Lou’s stomach rumbled loudly at the mention of food. The human woman blushed, laughing slightly at the unexpected reaction of her body. “Starving,” she told the amused Fox.

Cara nodded and jumped off the bed, hauling Sasha along with her. “Leave it to us! Come on, Hissy, I need help carrying everything upstairs.”

Mary-Lou laughed, grin softening into a smile as she felt Jonas smother a chuckle against her skin. Her family.

She would protect them with her very life.

Sometime later, after Cara’s sandwiches had been eaten and the present company enjoyed, Mary-Lou had lain down next to Jonas in a bed that was theirs again. Jonas had his arms about her – tight, a bit tighter than he would normally allow himself, but understandable given the situation. He had not told Mary-Lou what he had been doing while she lay comatose in their bedroom; Mary-Lou suspected it had involved a lot of brooding and not much actual sleeping or eating. The thought that she had caused Jonas agony pained her. Although Mary-Lou could not change the past, she was very determined not to repeat its mistakes.

Wiley Turbo was not to be underestimated, pitied, or sympathized with. Never, ever again.

Jonas’ breathing evened out, body slacking in much-needed sleep. Mary-Lou remained awake, mind buzzing with plans and half-formed strategies even as her eyes studied Jonas’ tired face. She knew what she had to do – tomorrow, the day after that. Her entire life stretched before her in a series of flashes, of Herculean tasks. Mary-Lou could not wait to take them upon her shoulders, did not wish to waste a second more when so much depended on her action. Power did not come without responsibility, and hers was vigilance.

Tonight, she would watch  over Jonas.

Jonas woke to the strange feeling of someone watching him. For a moment, he forgot the events of the day prior – panicked at the thought that he had fallen asleep, that he had let his injured mate out of his sight. The Lion Shifter pushed up from the bed in a hurry, muscles bunching in his upper arms as frantic blue eyes sought Mary-Lou’s face.

“Good morning,” Mary-Lou smiled, green eyes gentle as she regarded her mate.

Jonas let out a long, relieved sigh, before collapsing back into the warm nest of blankets and Mary-Lou. “Morning,” he mumbled back, a stupid smile stretching his lips.