The Lion's Love Child (10 page)

“You have lived many places?” he asked with real curiosity.

“Yup, the year we were initially planning to do here would have been the longest we’d been anywhere consecutively.  It is usually a new place for us every six months,” she said with a bit of longing for the road in her voice.  

“How does that work?” he questioned, in no hurry to end their conversation.

“Well, usually we study a few populations of the same species in different locations and make comparisons.  This was to be our first in-depth study of one population because of all the oddities that have been observed in the lions on the nature preserve, which we can now explain but never reveal to anyone.  I’m not entirely sure what we will say in our final paper,” she said thoughtfully.

“So you don’t just study lions?” he asked, truly curious.

“No, she and I have studied animals all over the world.  That's what brought us here in the first place; the fact that we had never done a study in Africa before.  We have tried to take as much from the opportunities offered us as possible.  We had plans to see as much of the world as we could before she settled down and had kids.  Who knew where it would lead?”  She was sure that he could tell that the fact did make her a bit sad.  She knew now that their days of traveling were at an end, whether Grace admitted it to herself or not. 

“I know she is committed to staying here now, but what will you do?” he asked as though he could read her mind.  His eyes were intent on her face as he asked the question, as if he were trying to discern the answer from her expression rather than her words.

“I'll be here for a bit yet.  I'm not sure when I'll leave.  We were supposed to be here for another year anyway, after we submitted our initial results the university agreed to fund it. That means I have a while until I need to decide and that way I can be around for all the baby’s firsts.  There is enough biodiversity to do a lifetime of research here, but I don't want to be a third wheel to their happiness. 

“Plus, I had plans to travel the world.  Just because Grace isn’t coming along anymore doesn’t mean that I should let go of that dream.  Maybe I'll just swing back through every few years to make sure Luke has his aunt Shannon.”  The thought of breaking up their little family weighed heavily on her heart, but she knew that there would come a time where she would be in the way.

Jason’s expression turned dark before he said “Well, I better get back to work.  My leader won't appreciate me dawdling.  I'd hate for him to see it as a sign of dissent.”

She knew the time had come to bring up the next evening.  “Grace asked me to invite you to dinner tomorrow night.  She would like to get to know you better,” she explained, trying to be persuasive.

“Will you be there?” was all that he asked.

“I might be,” she said, a little confused.

“Then I might be as well,” he said pointedly.

“OK, I'll be there,” she conceded.

“As will I,” he said.  At that, she turned and went back to tell Grace.

Jason was so absorbed in watching her go that he did not immediately sense Dylan standing directly behind him.

“What did you feel last night when you looked at her for the first time?” Dylan asked directly.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Jason said as he turned to face his leader.  “She is clearly lovely but I have no plans to pursue a human and she has no plans to stay here.”

“Sometimes,” Dylan said with a smirk, “our plans have little to do with what we do.  Did she not take your breath away?  Did not the earth seem to stop spinning, just for a moment, as you fully comprehended just how beautiful she is to you?”

“You over-estimate her appeal,” Jason said defensively.

“I don’t think that I do.  I saw the way she took your breath away last night and I see the way she affects you now.  You’ve chosen her,” he said bluntly.

“I have not chosen anyone.  When I do find a mate, she will be one of our kind.  I will have a mate and children and a family of my own.  She cannot offer me that and I have no interest in less,” he said, staring towards the hut where he knew she was as he spoke.

“You have already considered her for the role then?” Dylan pressed.

“No,” he defended.  “I am simply telling you why your insinuations are crazy.”

“I think you have done little since you first saw her than think of what a life with her would be like.  That is what your mind does when you find your mate.  It will only get worse if you try to stay away from her.  It will begin to feel like an itch under your skin that you can never seem to cure.  Her face will pop in to your mind at the oddest of times, until every thought is consumed with her. 

“That's what happened when I tried to stay away from Grace.  That’s why I came back to her.  I know she thinks that it's because I realized she had the child, but in truth when you try to keep yourself away from your mate, you begin to go mad with want,” he said, his thoughts consumed with the dark times when they were apart.

“So that is why you have chosen her over our people?” Jason asked his cousin.

“I have chosen her for our people.  How could I ever lead them, when every moment of my life was filled with the agony of being apart from my mate?  I would have gone mad.  I would have led us all to hell.”  With that, he turned and went back to work.

Jason lingered a moment longer, listening to the sound of Shannon’s heart beat from a distance and wondering if what Dylan said might be true. 

CHAPTER EIGHT

The lions returned again the next morning to finish the necessary repairs and to fortify the walls surrounding all three parts of their odd little home.  Though she heard Jason’s voice through her walls, she purposefully avoided him throughout the day, disturbed a bit by her attraction to him.

Shannon was finishing getting ready for what she knew would be an awkward evening when she heard a knock at her door.  It seemed odd to her that Grace or Dylan would have come to the outside door, but she dutifully answered it.

Standing before her was Jason, his wild hair slicked back, making it even easier to get lost in his dark eyes.

“You're here, why aren’t you in Grace’s hut for the dinner?” he said in an accusatory tone.

“I told you that I would be,” she said defensively.  He smiled down at her, as though he found her prickly nature charming. “I’m just finishing getting ready.”

“I thought perhaps it was a ploy to make sure I came. I know you are invested in my bonding with Grace,” he teased.  It was so odd to her that this was the man who had come to their home aggressively just days before.

“I am.  You will really love her if you get to know her,” she explained, trying to convey to him just how important that it was for him to get to know Grace.

“Perhaps you are right,” he said with a smirk.

“I usually am,” she said with a laugh.

“You aren't afraid of me at all, are you?”  he said, his eyes turning gentle as he looked down at her.

“No,” she said too quickly, as it elicited a chuckle from Jason. “Should I be?” she asked thoughtfully, wondering why he had asked the question.

“No,” he said with a knowing smile, “but I had imagined a human who knew our secret would behave much differently.”

“Why would I?” she asked, trying to understand why he would think such a thing.

“I was raised to believe that your kind would try to destroy us if you ever knew we existed,” he said, the darkness returning to his eyes.

“I can't speak for my entire species, but I can tell you that you don't scare me,” she said, looking deeply into those dark eyes as she spoke.

“That is very, very good,” he said as he moved even closer to her. 

Though he moved slowly, each motion was deliberate, like a predator stalking its prey.  His hand went to the nape of her neck and before she fully comprehended what was happening, his lips were upon hers.  His other hand rested on her cheek and a shiver of pleasure went through her.  She had never experienced any kiss so sensual in her life.  She returned his kiss gladly, trying to take all that she could from the moment.  He growled in approval and his hands began to stray, exploring the curves of her body.  She did her best to suppress her moans of pleasure, but when his hands found their way to her bottom, she could no longer keep her arousal hidden.  He squeezed her butt in approval, pulling her even closer to him.

It dawned on her then that this might be the only moment that she would have with him, given his distrust of humans.  She wasn’t entirely sure why he was kissing her, but she wanted to make the most of it.  Her hands explored the strong muscles of his stomach, the lines of his rib cage and his rippling back.  She wound her fingers through his hair, pulling his mouth even harder against hers.  He growled against her lips, as though his inner animal was very much in control of the moment.  It didn’t scare her, though.  It only aroused her further.  He pulled his head back from hers and looked down on her with satisfaction at the sight of her swollen lips and passionate gaze.

“Oh my,” she gasped, unsure what else to say.

“That was...” he began to say, before he was interrupted by Grace barging in to the room.  He took a step back from Shannon then and she immediately felt the loss of his heat close to her.

“Shannon, you’re late,” she scolded, before noticing that her friend was not alone. “Oh, hello Jason,” she said in shock, taking in the sight of them together and realizing what she had interrupted.

“Grace, thank you for the invitation to dine with you this evening,” Jason said, though his eyes never left Shannon’s face.

“You are always welcome. We will be eating down in my part of the cabin.  Dylan is there now with the baby,” she explained, eager for him to leave so that she could talk to Shannon about what she had just seen.

“I believe I will go and join him.  I will see you at dinner, Shannon,” he said, his eyes lingering on her as he left the room.

“Yes, I will see you there,” she murmured breathlessly.

As soon as the door closed behind him, she raised her hands to fan herself off, her skin still on fire from his touch.

“What did I just walk in on?” Grace squealed.

“He kissed me,” she said in awe.

“He kissed you?” Grace asked in disbelief.

“Yes,” Shannon said, unsure of what else to say.

“On the mouth?” Grace asked, clearly trying to wrap her mind around what had happened.

“Where else would he kiss me?” Shannon asked haughtily, then the thoughts of all the other places he might kiss her made her skin sizzle all over again.

“This is crazy,” Grace exclaimed.

“You're telling me,” she said, still trying to get the flush to leave her cheeks.  She had no intentions of letting him know just how much he had affected her when she walked in for dinner.

“How was it?” Grace said.  The banality of the question struck Shannon.  It was a question Grace had asked her 100 times, but it seemed so odd amid their current situation.

“Amazing,” she said, pausing to reflect on just how amazing it had been.  “Maybe the best I have ever had,” she added. 

“This is certainly going to make things interesting,” Grace said with a playful grin on her face.

“I suppose it is,” Shannon said, without Grace’s glee on the subject.

“Well, let's go join the boys,” Grace said with a gleam in her eyes that made Shannon a bit uncomfortable.

“Yes, I suppose that we should,” Shannon said reluctantly.  What she truly wanted to do was curl up in her bed and savor the sweetness of the moment that she had just shared with Jason.  She was very sure that it was only going to get more complicated and messy from that point and she wanted to hold on to the feeling she had in that moment.
 

   ***

“Well, you have certainly been busy,” Dylan said as Jason entered Grace’s cabin.

“How much did you hear?” said his cousin in an annoyed tone.

“All of it.  I have the same hearing that you do,” Dylan replied, a little surprised that his cousin hadn’t realized he would hear everything, as close as he was to them.

“I feel a fool for being so drawn to her,” Jason admitted.

“Then she is your mate?” Dylan asked, not at all surprised.

“I don't know.  What I do know is that I was here all day working, I could smell her scent and I could hear her heartbeat, but I didn't see her and I couldn't think of anything else.”  He began to pace then, as though the itch to see her again had returned in full force.

“Oh my, you have it bad already,” Dylan said, surprised himself that his cousin had such strong desires for a human woman.

“I hate this. It isn't right and I can't control it,” he ranted, still pacing around the small room.

“It's an instinct. You aren't supposed to control your impulses,” Dylan said in an attempt to comfort him.

“I will control it,” he snarled.

“How will you do that? You weren't able to control it before you kissed her. How will you be able to now that you have felt her lips against yours; now that you have run your hands across her skin.  I can see it in you now, all you can think of is going back to her and putting your hands on her again,” he said as he watched his cousin work himself into a lather about his feelings for Shannon.

“I will not let a passing infatuation define me,” Jason snapped.

“I hear them coming.  Heed my words before they do, you have waited your whole life for a family of your own.  Don't turn your back on someone you are destined to spend your life with just because she doesn't fit the vision you had in your head.  Don't spend the rest of your life wishing that you had kept her by your side.”  With that, he swept the baby up in his arms and opened the door as the women arrived. 
“What were you guys talking about?” Grace asked innocently as she went up on her tip toes to kiss her mate.

“Oh, pride business,” Dylan replied with a wink.

“Alright,” she said skeptically.  “Dinner should be ready soon. Shannon, will you set the table?”  They had pushed both of their desks together earlier to create a nice little table for the four of them to dine.

“Sure thing.  Come on Lukey, you'll help Aunt Shannon, won't you?” she said as she lifted the baby to her.  Placing him on her hip, she grabbed a stack of plates from the cabinet and went to work, gabbing with the cooing baby as she worked.  The entire time, Jason’s eyes never left her.  The sight of her holding a child was oddly comforting to him.  Soon, images of her holding a child of theirs entered his mind and it filled his heart with such warmth that he thought he might be brought to tears. 

They ate their meal in near silence, with Grace and Shannon doing what they could to move along conversation. 
Clearly
, they both thought,
lions do not take breaks between bites for idle chit chat.

When the meal was over, Grace smiled at Shannon shared some exciting news that had earlier slipped her mind. 
“Shannon, I didn't get a chance to tell you earlier, with all the preparations for tonight, about the telegram we got today at the nature preserve's offices,” she said cryptically, with a grin on her lips.  Dylan gave her an odd look, as though he was surprised she had gone off without him to run such an errand.

“Was it from the university?” Shannon asked, seeming disinterested in their latest summons to return and lecture students on their travels.

“In a way,” she purred, clearly pleased with the secret she held.  “It said ‘be prepared for the d train to pull in to the station in t minus 14 days.’  Whatever could that mean?” she asked with an innocent giggle.

“Dennis is coming?” Shannon squealed.

“Who is this Dennis?” Dylan asked, looking concerned.

“He is a friend of ours, another researcher at the university,” Grace explained.

“Does he visit you in the field often?” Jason asked pointedly, staring at Shannon as he spoke.

“We usually try to visit each other when we shift from one field assignment to another,” Shannon explained, unsure why his expression looked so ferocious.

“He is in Russia now,” Grace asked, trying to calm the situation.

“Yes, studying the Siberian tiger,” Shannon confirmed.

“I wonder where he is going next,” Grace pondered.

“His last letter said he was hoping to do a project with jaguars so he is probably heading back to South America.”

“Any excuse to get back to the jungle with that boy,” Grace laughed.

“And you speak to him often?” Jason asked through clenched teeth.

“We exchange letters very often. It's always nice to communicate with someone who understands our wandering life style,” Shannon said as she took a sip of her wine.

“You're close, then,” Dylan asked.

“Yes, he's probably my best friend besides Grace,” she said honestly.

“Interesting,” Dylan said, throwing a meaningful gaze at his cousin.

“Not really,” she said, clearly confused by the exchange that the two men had just shared.

“I wonder why he is coming the whole way down here,” Grace asked aloud.

“I'm sure he wants to meet the baby,” Shannon said rationally.

“I'm sure that isn’t all of it,” Grace pushed.  “This isn't exactly on the way to South America and he is terrified of babies, we both know that.”

“Maybe he has changed,” Shannon shrugged.

“He hasn't in the six years we've known him,” Grace pointed out.

“People change,” Shannon reiterated.

The gears in Grace's head were turning and it didn’t take her long to put all of the pieces together.  “He is coming to try to recruit you to join his new project, isn't he?” she asked in shock.

“He mentioned it in his last letter,” Shannon admitted.

“What did you tell him?” Grace demanded.

“Yes, what did you tell him?” Jason echoed, looking murderous.

“I told him that we aren't done here and that I'm not ready to leave yet,” she said truthfully, looking back and forth between their fierce faces.

“So he's coming here to convince you with his roguish charms,” Grace said, unable to keep from laughing at her own joke.

“I'm sure that's his plan,” Shannon said with a hearty chuckle.  Dennis was nothing if not a charming fellow.  There were a string of heart broken teacher’s assistants who could confirm that.