by Amber Kell
“Who knows?”
He watched James sniff the mauled bodies holding back the bile rising in his throat. If his lover ate the humans he didn’t think he’d be able to ever look at the man the same again. It wasn’t unusual for a newly changed shifter to lose control. His relief was enormous when James lifted his head and wandered away from the dead humans without further interaction.
“Is there anything you guys need before we leave? Because I’m not coming back here.” It occurred to Lou he didn’t know what was on the outside. Would they even be able to find anyone to help and how would he explain about a white lion?
As it was they barely made it outside before a big van pulled up and Andrew jumped out of the back.
“Oh, thank god you found him. I went to your house and no one was there but I saw the dart on your floor. Melinda never returned to the hotel so I got suspicious. Once I found James missing I guessed she’d bring him here.” As he babbled his eyes took in his son’s new form.
Talan and Adrian came out of the front seats of the van.
The lions all looked immediately to the left, tilting their necks in deference to the presence of an alpha. All except James, who trotted up to Talan and butted his head into the alpha’s thigh.
“I think he wants a pet,” Adrian said with a laugh.
“You’re kidding me!” Talan stared at the white lion in astonishment. “You are not a housecat. I’m not petting you.”
James gave a low, mean growl.
“Fine. I’m scratching.” Talan scratched the white lion behind the ears, under the chin and in the middle of the forehead until the big cat started purring.
“Have you no dignity?” the alpha scolded, lightly.
James stood on his back feet and licked Talan’s cheek.
“Stop that.” The lion shifter shoved James away with a laugh. Unperturbed, the white lion went over to sit by Lou’s feet.
“Everyone in the van, we’ll straighten everything out later.”
“I think Dennis’ sister escaped.”
“What do you mean escaped?” Andrew asked. “People can leave whenever they want.”
Cameron laughed. “Unless crazy Melinda sold you.”
“What?” Andrew paled.
“It sounds like you weren’t aware of a lot of things,” Lou said not unsympathetically.
“Yeah.” Andrew nodded. “Apparently there’s a lot I missed while I was concentrating on my research.”
Adrian patted the man on his back. “Come on. We’ll talk at the pack house.”
Chapter Six
James crouched at the end of the bed, watching the large human with confusion. He kept making odd gestures, waving his arms around, pointing fingers and making odd noises that made less and less sense over time.
Maybe he should’ve gone with the other cats. Unfortunately, he couldn’t leave the big man-bear. He smelt too good, like he belonged to James.
Giving a big lion sigh, he laid his giant head down on his paws and watched the other man pace. Maybe it was time for another nap.
Ow.
He blinked up at the good-smelling man with the bad fur-pulling fingers.
“Stay awake!”
What was the point of being awake? The sun was much more enjoyable absorbing while he napped. He wasn’t going to mention that to the fur-puller though. He gave the man a disgruntled look that had no discernible effect.
The big human-bear man glared back.
A knock at the door had him growling. He knew the smell of another lion in his territory.
“Stop that now,” fur-pulling man-bear said.
Bossy.
The door opened, revealing a lion and a wolf in human form. He growled at the lion-man, baring his fangs, and went over to smell at the wolf-man. The lion-man growled at him, pushing the wolf behind him.
James plopped his head back on his paws, swiping his tail back and forth. Maybe lion-man wanted to play since he couldn’t play with the wolf.
Lou gave a sad sigh.
Talan laughed. “I think the pretty kitty wants to play.”
“Just get him to shift back!” Lou shouted. “He’s gone too deep. He doesn’t even know me anymore. He’s feral.”
“Calm down.” Talan patted Lou’s arm. The bear wanted to rip it off and beat him with it. He would’ve done it too if he didn’t know the sweet-looking wolf would promptly tear out his throat before he could blink.
Looking over Talan’s shoulder the cold look in the wolf’s eyes sent icy chills bone deep. He took a careful step away from Talan who was idiotically protecting his mate from the playful white lion.
“I’m going to see if I can communicate with him as a lion.”
“Okay.” Lou took a deep breath to calm down. He couldn’t lose control right now. He needed to keep it together for his mate.
He looked away as Talan undressed. It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen the other man strip to shift before, but not with the lion’s mate standing a few feet away.
“You can look now.” Adrian’s amused voice told him the other man wasn’t upset with him anymore. He gave the wolf shifter an apologetic smile.
Adrian shrugged. “Sometimes our beast gets the better of us.”
He turned to see the golden lion approach the white lion. James stood up to confront the other cat but his approach was more cautious than adversarial. He leant forward and gave the other cat a sniff. They were evenly matched in height and breadth with powerful chests, but where Talan vibrated with animalistic power, James had more of the curious kitty about him. Lou laughed out loud when James planted his enormous paw on Talan’s nose.
“Ooh, Talan’s not going to like that,” Adrian’s chuckled.
The golden lion gave a snort before smacking James with a big paw, brushing the white paw off his nose. Talan gave a low warning growl at the other cat. James crouched down low, his lion butt wiggling in the air, tailing swinging back and forth with kitty excitement.
“Oh dear, he wants to play,” Adrian said. Lou saw the wolf shifter watching the entire situation with avid fascination, his eyes lit with excitement.
“He’s going to get his cute butt handed to him.” As soon as the words left his mouth, Talan leapt, taking down the other cat with his mouth on James’ throat. Lou would’ve interfered if he hadn’t seen the great care the alpha cat took in pinning the white lion.
James went limp in surrender and Talan released him. The alpha shifted back to human form. Quickly dressing, Talan watched James as he pulled on his clothing.
“He’s stuck.”
“What do you mean he’s stuck?” Lou asked. He spun around to look at the white lion. James tilted his head and returned the regard. Some scrap of humanity inside the beast must be aware of Lou or the lion wouldn’t stick around. He wanted his mate back! “He can’t stay like that!”
“I can’t make him shift. Normally if I pegged one of my pride like that they’d shift. He didn’t shift. I think he still wants to play. You are going to need something to shock him out of his lion form.”
“Like what?”
Talan shrugged. “If I knew I’d tell you. I’ve never seen anyone meshed so deeply into his form. There’s almost no human part left.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to be insensitive. Look, James was really into you. And you say you bonded, right?”
“He bonded with me. I didn’t get the chance to return the bond.”
“Damn.” Adrian winced.
“What?” Lou asked. “What’s wrong now?” What else could be wrong? His lover was a lion!
“If you’d bonded completely it might’ve been easier to snap him out of the shift. I think you need to talk to him a lot. Maybe after a while he’ll change back. Do you know if he suffered any trauma at the centre?”
Lou shook his head. “He looked fine when I saw him but he was already in this form. He killed some of the security people but I didn’t get there was any trauma from him.”
“Thanks. I really appreciate any help you can give me. I know it isn’t your problem…”
Talen clamped a hand on his shoulder. “Lou, I’ve known you most of my life. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call.”
Relief rushed through him. It was stupid since Talan hadn’t been able to help but just the thought of having someone to lean on relieved some of his stress.
“Thanks, Talan.” He looked over at the wolf shifter. “Thanks to you, too, Adrian. I really appreciate your help.”
Adrian nodded “I’m glad to, though we haven’t been much help so far.” He got a sympathetic smile from the handsome wolf before the pair left with promises to call if they learned anything.
Lou sat on the couch. To his amusement James jumped up beside him and laid his giant maned head on his lap.
“At least you know where you belong. Though I’d like it better if you were in human form. Don’t you want to be human? We could have such fun.”
The lion tilted his head, rolling his eyes up at Lou as if he were listening.
“Oh, you want to know what kind of fun?”
The lion gave a low growl of agreement.
“Well, humans can be together in all kinds of exciting ways. We can have conversations.”
The lion yawned.
“We could have sex.”
He got a purr but no sign of shifting. “Well, I’m not having sex unless you’re human. I’m not into interspecies copulation, that’s just ten kinds of wrong.”
The doorbell rang, distracting him from the strange look in the lion’s eyes.
Looking through the peephole, he spotted James’ father. He quickly unlocked the door and let the other man inside. “How are you doing, Andrew?”
“I’m doing fine. It’s James I’m worried about. Still hasn’t shifted yet?”
“Not yet.”
“I wonder if it’s because he feels stronger as a lion? He always suffered as a human. It might be too tempting to stay a strong cat then a weak human.”
“But if he shifted now he’d be a strong human,” Lou argued.
“You and I know that but the cat may have a different idea.”
“Maybe. Did you hear anything about Melinda or the escaped coyote?”
Andrew shook his head. “I reported my car as stolen so we could hear from the police if she showed up in the area. I went to your office and talked to Dennis about his sister since he was there with KC trying to find information. I checked the records and a coyote was never one of my test subjects so I don’t know what Melinda might have done to her while she was there. Your assistant said he’d help find James’ mother when we were ready but I want to check with James before I do any looking. I’ve made so many mistakes with him already, I didn’t want to open up any wounds if he wasn’t ready. I don’t know if I can ever be the father he deserves.”
Lou thought over everything the man had done to give his son the best life possible, and despite going about it in an unorthodox way, he knew Andrew Everett did everything he could to keep his son safe from his shifter genes.
“I think James understands you were only trying to keep him safe. You might have some errors in judgement but none in your love for your son.”
Andrew looked sadly at his son. “Hopefully he’ll shift back to human so I can tell him soon.”
Lou gave the oblivious lion a sad smile. “I hope so too.”
Andrew walked carefully towards the lion. “Does he bite?”
“I suppose he could but he hasn’t so far. He’s been very tame.”
A low growling came from James as his father approached.
“I think he knows I kept him hidden for so long. The lion probably hates me.”
As much as he wanted to hate Andrew Everett for all of his son’s suffering, Lou found himself feeling sorry for the man. “His human half knows you tried to do your best. His lion half might have a different opinion.”
“I think his lion half wants to eat me.”
The feral look in James’ eyes said he might be right. “Do you think injecting him with the antidote will help him shift back?”
Andrew shook his head. “It only worked to prevent shifting. Once shifted it won’t have any effect. Your bodies are extremely complex and he would purge himself of the medication before it had any affect.” There were tears in the older man’s eyes when he said, “He’s beautiful. I kept this from him. This part of himself, because I thought I knew better than nature. What have I done?”
“You saved him. No one knows if he would’ve been able to withstand the transition when he was younger. From what you described it sounds like complete shifting would’ve killed him. The first full shift is the most violent one and if he was already shifting in parts, there was something wrong. I think in his case he was so used to dealing with pain he had built in coping mechanisms that our kind usually have to be taught. In some ways you made him a stronger shifter.”
“And a weaker human,” Andrew said, passing a hand over his eyes. “I understand if he doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
Lou watched as the white lion made his way over to the older man. He sidled close enough to intervene if the lion lunged for Andrew.
“What did you come for?” He didn’t want to be rude but the other man wasn’t really helping anything. In fact, he was probably seconds from having his throat ripped out.
Andrew gave him a sheepish smile. “I wanted to see James’ form again. I only got a brief look at the compound. His mother was a regular lion. I guess there is a genetic anomaly in the family. That’s why she left him. Her lion sensed there was something wrong and she couldn’t overcome her instincts. Once she left I never heard from her again.”
There was a sad look in the other man’s eyes, telling Lou that James wasn’t the only one hurt by his mother’s defection.
“Have you spoken with the other shifters?”
Andrew nodded. “I had no idea Melinda kept them after I took their blood. They were supposed to only come for basic tests and then be released. I’m having an investigator go through her records to find out where the shifters are she sold. The others are looking for their alpha and I promised to help them. Do you know if there’s a place in town to rent for a while? I’d like to get to know my son again.”
“Even if he never turns back to a human?”
“It is my own prejudice against shifters that caused all these problems. My personal issues led to the persecution of a race of creatures my own son is a member of. I feel a responsibility to try and fix the problem I created.”
“I can talk to James’ old landlady. She’ll have an opening as soon as I grab James’ stuff from the place. I’m sure she’d be happy to have someone take over payments.”
“Great.” Relief was bright on the man’s face. There weren’t a lot of places to rent in town.
A shot rang out. Lou grabbed Andrew and pushed him to the ground as bullets riddled the living room wall.
“I’ll kill you!” a woman screeched outside.
“Melinda?” Andrew shouted.
“How dare you ruin everything!” More bullets followed her screaming.
“Keep her distracted,” Lou said. With years of experience he quickly removed his top and pants. Reaching deep into his psyche he pulled out his bear. Imagining the creature in his mind until his bones crackled, his skin sprouted fur, and his body elongated.
Heading for the back door he hit the switch that allowed a bear an exit without being human. It wasn’t possible for a nine-foot bear to be subtle so he didn’t even try to sneak up on the woman shooting her rifle into his home. He ran towards her at full force. He saw her turn, felt her shoot her rifle and as the pain shot through his system he used his massive paw to swipe at the intruder. The bear wanted the evil one to leave his territory. She might accidentally shoot his mate. The little lio
n couldn’t be harmed.
The bear roared when the stupid creature shot at him again. Enraged, he stomped the evil woman, ripping and tearing with his claws until finally she stopped moving.
As his rage passed, the pain took over and Lou gave himself up to the change. Injured, all shifters converted to their human form.
The lion roared when the bear fell to the ground and shifted to a pale, naked human.
His human.
He ran out the open back door and leapt over the downed woman to sniff at the human. The human opened its eyes. He could see red stuff all over, and a memory in the distant part of his mind told him that wasn’t good.
“James, we have to get him to a hospital. I can’t move him by myself.”
James?
A light flashed in his mind. He was James!
Mate of Lou.
Lou?
The part of him who knew his humanity looked down at the human and flinched. He must return. Think human. He struggled to remember the feel of fingers, the wiggling of toes, the smoothness of his non-lion form.
For Lou he had to return.
A burning went through his body as he shifted from lion to human.
“Lou.” His voice was rusty with disuse, rough for not speaking except in a roar.
“I’ve called the ambulance, they’re on their way.”
“Don’t leave me,” he pleaded, ignoring his father to focus on his mate. He could almost feel his mate’s pain.
Lou gave him a shadow of his usual smile. “I won’t leave you, love. Don’t be dramatic.”
James gave a relieved laugh. A pair of jeans dropped by his knees. Looking up, he saw his father standing over him.
“I thought you might want pants. I called the ambulance.”
“Oh, thanks.” He quickly dressed as the noise of sirens came closer.
He crouched back by his lover’s side. “They’re coming, love.”
“I know.”
The next few minutes rushed by in the confusion of the paramedics. James learned later they were hawk shifters. They ran to Lou’s side and pulled out a box that looked more like a tool chest than medical paraphernalia.