Seduced By The Lion Alpha (5 page)

It was then, listening to the birds, that I realized something. The small forest critters were strangely absent, and I cocked my head in Leon’s direction to ask why.

“Where are the squirrels?” I asked. Part of me wondered if he had eaten them. Either through capturing and cooking them or through… other means. I winced a bit at that. Had he just torn them apart as a lion? The thought was both gruesome and strangely… intriguing. I shifted uncomfortably, wondering where the thought was going. Wherever it was, I wasn’t sure I liked it.

“They don’t like shifters,” said Leon.

I blinked. “Why not?” It made a bit of sense. As a lion, Leon would no doubt scare them off. He was large, powerful, and predatory. The thought brought a flush to my cheeks. Of course the creatures would be scared of him. But that didn’t explain why they would flee when he was human, especially if the birds weren’t affected by it.

“They seem to sense the magic within us, and they don’t like it,” said Leon. He shrugged, muscles rippling, and flipped his hair out of his eyes. “I’m not sure why, but I do know that most animals either go on the offensive or take off running whenever I get too close.” Like a dog or cat straying too close to a squirrel in the city, I thought. They always took off long before the animals could get a hold of them. Cars killed more squirrels in the city than anything else, as far as I knew.

“That’s… odd.” It took me a moment to find the right word. Even then, I wasn’t sure if it was the word he wanted me to use. But it was true – it was odd. Odd that animals would be so terrified of magic. Odd that a shifter could not blend in around animals. I wasn’t much for speculation around the supernatural, as I hadn’t grown up believing in magic or other such things, but even I knew that this seemed like a strange shortcoming in the otherwise magnificent magic of these powerful – and
gorgeous
– people. I swallowed hard at that last thought and tried not to look at Leon. It was useless. My eyes were constantly drawn to his flawless beauty. To his shaggy hair, his golden skin, his feline eyes, and his powerfully and gorgeously cut physique. Just seeing him flexing  as he moved from spot to spot in the forest stirred heat deep inside me and set my knees quivering. I swallowed hard and forced myself not to lick my lips. I wanted to lick him. It was a thought that struck me strangely but deeply. I wanted to reach out and touch him, stroke him, suck on his neck, do things to him I had never dreamed of doing to another human being.

But then, Leon wasn’t any other human being.

“Are you all right?” asked Leon, jerking me out of my thoughts, which had strayed to wondering how hair-covered he was.

“Um…”

“Your heart rate is increasing.” He didn’t look over his shoulder as he spoke, so he couldn’t see the look of shock on my face, but I’m sure he heard it in my voice.

“
What?”
I asked, staring at him incredulously. I stumbled a bit as I spoke. How did he know these things, and why hadn’t he said anything before? Oh God, if he could hear my heart beating… I felt my face heat up from embarrassment. Did he know of my attraction then? Of my deep-seated want to be close to him, to touch him, to embrace him? Did my heart reveal that much, or did he have another way of sensing it?

“I can hear your heart beating,” said Leon, as though I hadn’t already figured it out. “And I can also tell when your core temperature is rising.”

“Okay…” I drew out the word and scowled at him, hands shaking as I stuffed them into my pockets. “What else can you do? What can all shifters do?”

Leon was silent for a minute as we walked. He seemed to roll the words over in his mind as his eyes gained a faraway look. But even in his distant state he still moved with the graceful slink of a cat. I stumbled over myself a few times just watching him walk. The flick of his hips, the roll of his shoulders, it was all breath-taking and exhilarating. I could barely keep my breath. The want, no, the
need
to reach out and touch him made me want to scream.

“It depends on the shifter,” he said, finally. I didn’t bother to shake myself out of my more lustful thoughts this time. The low growl of his voice only served to enhance the mental image I had. “Feline shifters have the advantage of eyes and ears, along with our physical prowess-” I smirked at the phrase, he had no idea. “-but other shifters have other abilities. It all depends on our shifted creature.”

I nodded. “So, what, does your pride use your abilities all the time?” I asked. Leon jumped up onto a fallen log and darted across it. Once across, he held out his hand to me so I could follow.

“Yes and no,” he said. “My pride is small, as I said. I only have about half a dozen females left, maybe less. So we tend to stay away from humans. Because of this, I actually don’t know if we are always using our abilities, as we simply don’t have a benchmark to check.”

“So how does pride life work, exactly?” I asked. I imagined lions in their cages at the zoo overlapped with those on the plains of their homelands. Those images were fast replaced with images of lions running through jungle, though I knew that wasn’t true, and the trees were replaced with skyscrapers made of glass and steel. The concrete jungle, so to speak.

“What do you mean?” asked Leon.

“You live in cities, or at least close to them; you obviously hunt, whether for animals or for mates; and you live in a polygamous relationship with six women.” I counted the facts off on my fingers. “I’m trying to figure out how it all works.”

“My beta and I actually share the lionesses of the pride,” corrected Leon. I raised an eyebrow at him. Before, I’d been skeptical about the polygamy of his lifestyle, but now I was merely curious. My earlier scorn and judgment was gone, replaced with a gentle curiosity.

“Oh?” I turned to him as we walked and urged him to continue on.

Our path carried us over a small hill and through trees so tall I could scarcely see the tops as he spoke. “We live in the forests, in much the way you would expect, but we also have jobs in the cities. We need supplies, food, shelters, and those are things which largely require money.” He sighed. “Unfortunately. We used to be able to live solely on our own, but that simply isn’t possible anymore.” He laughed. “That’s not to say it isn’t fun. We live together, eat together, play together, and love together. We only go into the cities when we need to and most of our funds come from our hunting.” A wistful look passed his face. “Until today, I didn’t think anyone ventured this far into the forest.”

“Usually I don’t,” I said quietly. My voice trailed off as new images of the shifter life came into my mind: lions and humans lounging by the water and living in cabins together; lions racing through the forests only to flip into humans at the last second; lions fighting together and enjoying life to the fullest, without the hustle and bustle of the cities to slow them down or to stop them. I sighed, wistful. The life of a shifter seemed so calm, so peaceful, compared to the lives of the people I lived with. If the worst they had to worry about were territory wars, then maybe shifter life was the best life to live. It helped, I thought, with a sidelong glance, that the leader of the pride was as attractive and kind as Leon.

“It sounds lovely,” I said after a bit of silence.

Leon nodded. “That it is,” he agreed. “I couldn’t imagine living any other way.” And, thinking about it, I could definitely see why. After living so peacefully for so long, what must he think about the filth and noise that was the city? What must he think of the people who wandered into the edges of the forest, disturbing his home? What must he think of
me
? I nibbled on my lower lip and looked away from him.

“Are you all right?” he asked me, and I managed a weak nod, though I could tell he wasn’t convinced.

“Are
you
all right?” In the thirty seconds between my nod and my question, Leon had changed. His hair hung limp now, his hands shaking as he stuffed them in his pockets. His entire body seemed to be slowly coating itself in a layer of sweat. Short, fast breaths puffed into the air around him, hot and smoky enough that I could feel the residual breeze from them. I had to stare. This didn’t look healthy or natural. I’d never seen someone look so sick so quickly.

“Yes,” he rasped, and it was my turn to not believe him. But I didn’t press, not at that moment. I was trying to sort out my feelings. A hard swallow made me ground myself, but it wasn’t enough. Staring at Leon as he sweated through his shirt was making my body thrum. And it only took a moment for me to realize that he was staring back.

“Are you sure?” I asked again. He stared at me, his steps slowing down until we were standing across from one another. “Leon?”

In an instant he leapt forward, wrapping his arms around me. I didn’t have a moment to wonder what he was doing, for in the next instant he had pressed his lips to mine. Fire ripped through my body and I threw my arms around him. Hot, wet heat poured between our mouths and I lapped it up with a vigor I didn’t know I possessed. Our tongues danced . I struggled for air as we entangled ourselves together.

Then the moment was gone. Leon pulled back, panting hard and staring at me. His pupils were so wide, his eyes were pure black. His gaze so intense that I could not tear myself from it. Distantly, I knew I was panting, but I could feel nothing but for the intense heat that pooled along every inch of my body.

“Leon,” I managed. It was a breathy sigh of a word, dancing in the air between us. He growled, low and hungry. He came at me again, and this time I met him in the middle.

CHAPTER FOUR

  Leon’s growls rolled through my body as he pushed himself against me. We stumbled backwards, bodies aching and shaking with raw want and need. I hit a tree, the bark pushing hard against my back. I arched toward Leon, half out of pain and half out of lust. He bared his teeth and dragged them across my neck. It was too light to break the skin, but the pain was there. It brushed my skin, sending lightning sharp sparks of hunger through my body. They rolled into my stomach, swirling lower until the heat between my legs made me want to clench them together and
rub.

A low laugh erupted from Leon’s throat, rumbling across my skin. He tugged at my shirt, tearing it over my head and throwing it into the fallen leaves all around us. I tossed back my head and it hit the rough bark of the tree. The breeze danced across my bare skin. Leaves stirred around my feet. The hair on my arms rose up, and I hummed. The cool breeze shook me to my core. It tangled with the heat deep in my stomach and curled around my arms. I gasped, feeling the cold dance across my nipples. My bra was gone, dangling from one of Leon’s hands. He smirked at me, eyes black as night, and lunged for one of my breasts.

His teeth were sharp, but they came just short of breaking the skin. I gasped, loud and hot as he wrapped his lips around my nipple and sucked. His teeth grazed the sensitive skin and I squirmed. My lust was getting unbearable, and my pants were hot and uncomfortable.

“
Leon,
” I managed. And he chuckled again. It rolled into a low growl as I buried my hands into his thick hair. I could feel the heat coming off me in waves. I could feel the heat coming off him in a constant stream. It burned my fingertips and my breasts. Everywhere he touched, heat exploded across my body. A spider web of heat and wet and want.

“Yes?” The word was breathed into my throat. His mouth followed. He planted hot kisses against my throat. He moaned, rolling his entire body toward me. He pushed his body against mine, panting against my throat as he continued to press down kisses. The kisses trailed lower and lower, lips finding my collar bone, my breasts again, and even lower. His lips and tongue lingered at a nipple. He nipped and tugged at it with his teeth, drawing it out. His tongue swept circles around the pert flesh, dancing gooseflesh across my arms and breasts. I gripped his hair with one hand and gasped. The other hand grabbed the tree behind me for support. The bark bit hard, sparking the smell of blood. I didn’t care.

“More,” I breathed. “More!” Leon obeyed. His tongue swirled lower and lower, trailing down my stomach and stopping at my belly button. He lapped at the little hole, tickling it. His nose nuzzled my stomach. He was uncharacteristically gentle, but only for a moment. Seconds later his hands were digging hard into my hips. I slid down the tree, my knees buckling. He grabbed my legs below the knee and wrapped them around my waist. My back dug hard into the tree behind me as I was pushed back up the tree.