by T. S. Joyce
She was streaked with soot, sweating through her dirty black tank top, hair wild and wavy from her exertion. Sora was huffing and puffing and utterly exhausted by the time a pair of headlights flickered through the trees. Just over the sound of the river nearby, she could make out the sound of Derek’s old SUV engine. Maybe she would burn the car too while she was on her pyro-spree.
Ford eased it up the last lip of the ravine and maybe Old Sora would’ve straightened her damn hair. But really, who cared what she looked like now? Her vanity had died months ago along with her pride and self-worth.
But when Ford got out of the SUV, his eyes were trained on her, and he didn’t look disgusted.
He looked…hungry.
****
There she was, lookin’ half angel with that billowing blond hair and half demon with those gold eyes and streaks of soot painting her face and arms. She stood beside a fire, smoke curling around her legs like the smog awaited her command. There was no greeting smile like the Sora he used to know, but this Sora, his lion recognized. Her lioness was getting stronger. She was getting angry. Good girl.
He wasn’t much of a smiler these days either, but he allowed one because she should see his approval. And when the corner of her lips twitched up to match his, the ol’ heart in his chest got to pounding harder. God, she was a beauty. Always had been, but now, there was no more innocence. No more naiveté. Now Sora was starting to recognize the hell she could handle, and there was something attractive about that awareness to a man like Ford. He had been so angry about losing the old Sora that, for a while, he’d made the mistake of thinking she wasn’t as beautiful like this.
The old Sora wouldn’t have matched his new nature in any way. But in this moment, he realized the New Sora was sexy as hell.
Little broken bird shedding her downy, untouched feathers and growing the spikes of a dragon. His animal purred.
He closed the door of the SUV and approached her slowly because the soft growl in Sora’s throat told him to tread carefully right now. There wasn’t a submissive cell in his body, but he kept his head angled and his neck exposed so she wouldn’t feel threatened.
She was so beautiful. She’d lost the softness she used to have, lost weight for reasons that made him want to kill her tormentors all over again, but she’d stayed strong. Her fuller curves had been replaced by muscle; her cheekbones were more striking. Her eyes were a lighter gold than he remembered. She looked dangerous. He liked dangerous Sora.
“Burning the past?” he purred as he drew up next to her. If he was a lion right now, he would’ve wrapped his tail around her legs in worship as he circled her.
“Burning the parts that deserve to be burned,” she rumbled. Snarly voice, too. Sexy, sexy Sora.
He leaned in, testing, and murmured against her ear, “Does it bother you that I’m this close?”
“An inch closer, and I’ll claw your face again,” she said, but there was a tiny smile in her voice. He could hear it. Or perhaps sense it.
“Mmmm, you will claw me, Sora, but not like this.”
She raised her chin, and her shoulders lifted with her inhale. “What do you mean?”
The Dark took over his words. “Someday you will be the one to come to me, kiss me, want me. You’ll want me to break the hold your past has on you, and I will. And oh”—he smiled and bared his teeth just a little—“I will break that hold. But you won’t be clawing at my face when I do. You’ll be clawing my back, screaming my name and begging for more.”
A little gasp of breath escaped his little lioness. His little hellion. His little dragon rising. Her gold eyes went round and her cheeks flushed pink, and the wickedness in him purred. She was reacting to him. Him. The new Ford. The new monster. She didn’t think he was all bad, and it made him want to get her addicted to him. And quite honestly, he didn’t care about the future, or the consequences. He didn’t care that he couldn’t keep her. He didn’t care about anything but Sora looking at him like he wasn’t a broken man.
He would stick a fucking spotlight in every shadow of her life and chase away every ghost if it made her happy. “I’ve decided I don’t want to fix you,” he murmured, coming to a stop between her and the fire. The heat was blistering, but it still wasn’t as hot as the pulsing sensation radiating from Sora toward him.
“You…you don’t want me to be normal again? Like I used to be?”
Ford chuckled. “Were you ever normal, Sora? And more importantly, did you ever really want to be?”
Her blond brows lowered slightly and her lips parted like she wanted to say something, but no words came out. When he tucked a flyaway strand of hair behind her ear, she didn’t startle away. Tough girl held her ground. He was testing her, he knew, and she might not be ready to be touched by a man, but it wasn’t his way anymore to be gentle. “I’m going to push you and push you and push you until you bite back, and then you’ll only get a tiny rest before I push you again. You can claw me, chew me, spit me out, I don’t care. Fight me all you want. Only when I know you’ll never let another man break you again will I leave.”
“Why would you take the time out of your life to rehabilitate me like that, Ford?” Her whisper trembled, and her face was tilted toward the ground again. Ford hooked his finger under her jaw and lifted her face, shook his head slowly. No, Queen, not like that. “There isn’t anything to look at on the ground, Sora. You keep your head high, you look at the world around you, and you stay ready.”
In a steadier whisper, she repeated, “Why?”
“Because I loved you once.” And I love you still.
Those unspoken words hung in the air between them, but perhaps she hadn’t caught them because something unreadable flashed through her eyes.
Sora’s gaze dropped to his chest and then she pressed her palm against his pounding heart. His skin was on fire where she touched him, and he had to compose his face so she wouldn’t see the hurt. What was she doing to him?
She slid her hand up, up, her fingertips sizzling against him as she went, but with every passing second, it hurt less and felt better. And when her fingertips touched his neck above the collar of his T-shirt and her small hand wrapped around his throat, he rolled his eyes closed at how good it felt to be touched like this. He wanted to kiss her. Wanted to press his lips against hers while she held him in this vulnerable position, but he’d promised her. He wouldn’t do that again. She had to be the one to ease herself into it.
Her eyes flashed with anger and her lips twisted into a bitter little smile as she squeezed her hand around his neck. Tiny Sora with more strength than anyone would guess. She could snap someone else’s neck, but Ford wasn’t so easily destroyed. His neck was too thick and strong now. Too muscular, but still, he’d never been so turned on than now, looking into her furious gold eyes, feeling her squeeze his throat. There was something unexplainable pulsing from her fingertips into his neck. Bum bum bum. Was it her heartbeat trying to match his?
He stepped closer and offered her a feral smile, daring her to squeeze harder.
She didn’t, though. Sora did something that froze him where he stood. She lifted up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. It was a quick peck, three seconds maybe, and then a hard bite to his bottom lip, and then she smiled like a monster, released his throat, and sauntered back into the house without looking back. And right before she disappeared inside, she called over her shoulder. “I love you still, too.”
Chapter Eight
Sora shut the door behind her and pressed her back against it.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered, lifting her fingertips to her lips. They were still tingling from the kiss. She couldn’t believe she’d just done that! She’d willingly kissed a man, and not just any man, but the only one who still had the power to hurt her. The one she actually cared about. The one who would leave.
A week ago, all she’d wanted to do was be left alone until she didn’t exist anymore, but now, the thought of him leaving terrified her. The thought of bei
ng invisible again was starting to terrify her, too. Invisibility wasn’t a blanket that comforted her anymore. It was a weight that made it hard to breathe. She was getting too used to the feeling of power around Ford and the first whispers of confidence. Of tiny victories and accomplishments. Of discovering her new self with Ford as a crutch.
He’d smiled into her kiss. She’d felt his lips curve against hers, and when she’d pulled away, he’d looked down at her with something important sparking in his gold eyes. Pride. How long had it been since anyone had been proud of her? How long had it been since she was proud of herself?
Outside, the fire crackled on, but she couldn’t bring herself to be brave enough to look out the window. Ford would handle the fire; she trusted him to fix her messes until she was strong enough to fix her own.
That steadfast ability to fix things was the leftovers from Old Ford.
She’d heard his unspoken words whisper through that bond between them. The one that wasn’t purple anymore. The one that was the color of bone. She’d heard the words in her head. And I love you still.
He loved her. This brute monster still had a big enough heart to feel love. For her. For little ol’ invisible her.
She was overwhelmed with emotions. She’d worked so hard to shut down and feel nothing as a survival mechanism, but now Ford was prying open the floodgates of her heart, and there was no closing it back again.
The lioness wanted to go back outside with Ford, but just as she turned and reached for the door handle, a roar rattled the room. She valued survival, so she withdrew her hand and sidled to the window. When she peeked out, the dark lion was there, pacing just on the edge of the glow from the bonfire. God, he looked even bigger than she remembered. Movement caught her attention, and when she looked at her fingertips resting on the window curtain, the white smoke was wafting from her, reaching for Ford. Always reaching for Ford.
Maybe a purple bond couldn’t exist for newly broken creatures like her and Ford. Maybe white was as good as it got. She watched the massive lion saunter one way and then the other, eyes always on the house. On her. Feeling brave, she stood directly in the window and held his gaze.
Inside, her lion watched, never removing her attention from the dominant male outside. He didn’t come any closer to the house, only paced there along the halo of firelight for a few minutes and then made his way back into the woods.
And as she stared after him, that’s when she noticed it.
The ghosts were gone.
Chapter Nine
Sora couldn’t sleep. Not when Ford was out in the woods somewhere. Why was she worried about him? That manimal was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.
Still…it felt too strange being alone in this house to sleep soundly. Plus, she was very busy replaying both kisses with Ford over and over in her head. Her nipples had drawn up into tight little buds against the thin material of her sleep shirt just by her thinking about his lips and the scratch of his beard against her face.
Dark Ford was even yummier than Human Ford.
So, here she laid in the dark, watching the blades of the fan spin slowly above her in the pale moonlight that filtered in through the window. She had questions. Like…how was there still electricity here when most of the Old Tarian Pride was dead and the rest had vacated this place? Who was paying the bills? And who would get this place when the bank foreclosed on it? Or did the Old Tarians own it outright? Was it paid in full? Who paid property taxes on it? Last she checked, ghosts didn’t have credit cards. Also, if she had cubs with Ford, would their lions be white like her animal, or dark like his? And would they have blond hair or black hair? Would they be monsters? She would love them either way. Not that she was meant to be a mother. And not that Ford would ever want cubs with her. How long had he been gone now? It felt like hours. She checked the clock again. Nope, it was just two minutes since the last time she’d checked.
The front door creaked open, and Sora sat up with a gasp. Something was rolling down the hall. F-Ford? That’s what she wanted to say, but nothing came out of her frightened little mouth.
The rolling came closer and closer and closer until…the light flipped on and Sora screamed.
“God, woman,” Ford said, squinting and hunching against the pitch of her voice. “I’m just bringing your things in.”
“Oh,” Sora said lamely, her cheeks heating with the fire of a hundred suns. She cleared her throat and gestured to the suitcase in his hand. “Thank you.”
“Sure. Here’s your cell phone, too. Your asshole dad has messaged a lot. I checked it.”
“You looked at my phone? Why?” She felt a little violated.
“To see what kind of enemies I need to kill to keep you safe.”
She’d been ready to verbally whoop him for invading her privacy, but actually, that was kind of cool of him to do. You know…adding people to his to-kill list on her behalf and all.
She drew her knees up to her chest as he took a seat on the edge of the bed and handed her the cell phone. “You can’t exactly kill an entire Pride, though.”
Ford snorted. “Yeah, I can.”
Okay, that was some confidence. “Well the Deadlies are brutal. I don’t know what I’m going to do about them,” she admitted. “I hadn’t really thought about it after I killed Cassius because, well, honestly, I didn’t think I was going to live long enough for them to push another contract onto me.”
“There won’t be any other contracts.” Ford stared at her steadily, his words smooth as a stone. Huh.
“Well…technically, I’m still—”
“Technically, you freed yourself from a contract that should’ve never happened in the first place on account of you being a woman and not some fucking piece of meat for sale in a window.”
Sora pursed her lips. How did she explain this in simple terms to a man who wasn’t born in the lion shifter culture? “When a girl is born to a Pride—”
“I don’t give a shit.” Ford’s eyes were completely dead.
“Okaaaay. When an Alpha needs alliances—”
“I don’t care about lion rules, Sora. I care about you. Literally…fuck everyone in the entire world but you.”
Sora blinked slowly. That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her. For a moment, she felt like she was important. “But—”
“Give me back your phone.” He held out his palm.
Sora bristled a little, but did as he asked. He poked a couple of buttons, put the phone to his ear, and looked her dead-ass in the eyes as he said, “Hello, Darnell.”
Oh, shit, Ford had called her father.
“Who is this?” Dad asked. “Why do you have my daughter’s phone? Where’s Sora?”
Sora could hear every word of the conversation thanks to her heightened sense of hearing. A good dad would’ve sounded worried, but her dad just sounded pissed. It’s just the way he was, though. He hadn’t ever been a caring man. Sons were valuable. Daughters were bargaining chips. Orion was the heir to the Pride, and she was nothing more than a trinket that could be used to bargain an alliance.
“You probably don’t recognize my voice,” Ford rumbled. “You knew me once, though. It’s Ford.”
“I want you away from my daughter—”
“She’s not your concern anymore,” Ford assured him. “Really, she never was. You can shove your contracts and plans and alliance negotiations up your ass. She’s off the market.”
“Look here, you piece of human shit—”
Ford let off a terrifying snarl, and Dad went silent. A few loaded seconds went by before Dad murmured, “I want her back home. Now.”
“Done. She is home. Sora is safe in Old Tarian Pride territory. She’s mine now. You won’t get an alliance out of the deal, but if you’re wise and leave her alone, I won’t kill you and your entire Pride. Not much fun for me, but it’s a win for you.”
“Oh, yeah? You’re one man, and you think you can take on all the Deadlies? Who the fuck do you think you are?”
“I’m your new nightmare, Darnell. You know where she is now, and you can hear the truth in my voice. I’ve told you her real location, and now if you get the wild hair to come get her, you can’t say I didn’t warn you. Survive, Darnell. Be a wise Alpha and protect your Pride from me.” His face twisted with fury and his voice came out as pure gravel when he said, “Sora isn’t your bargaining chip anymore.”
“You’re wrong, boy. Sora will be mine until the day she draws her last breath. Paperwork is already signed. In a month’s time, she’ll belong to the Alpha of the Draken Pride.”
“Mmmmm,” Ford purred dangerously. “Sorry, asshole, she belongs to someone else already. Me. She’s claimed. You can send the Draken Pride in, too. Bring everyone. I’ll litter these mountains with your carcasses.”
“You can’t claim a contract lioness!” Dad yelled.
But before the last word was out, Ford had hung up the phone. He tugged her from bed and pulled her in front of a full-length mirror on the wall. He stood behind her, shirtless, eyes blazing gold, dark tattoos painting his arms and chest and shoulders.
She looked so light and tiny standing in front of him in her white T-shirt, blond hair, and pixie face. He looked like a monstrous brute standing menacingly behind her, and she imagined no one in their right mind would even look at her wrong with a man like Ford behind her. He slipped his hand up her arm and then gently to her jaw, pushed her face to the side with his thumb, exposing the dark scratch that just wouldn’t heal on her cheek. He left his big, tattooed hand right there in front of her throat and lifted his chin higher, straightened his spine to his full six-foot-four-inch height. Pride surged through her when she realized what he’d done with that scratch, why it wasn’t healing, and why the claw marks she’d given him earlier still looked so open and raw.
Two broken monsters had claimed each other without even realizing what they’d done. At least…she hadn’t.