Paintings took up much of the wall space, excluding the door and singular curtained window. The paintings depicted the forest I usually walked through. I smiled. They were beautiful creations, full of color and warmth. I could almost picture myself in them, walking down the pathways and counting the flowers as I went. Some of the paintings depicted details I’d never picked out. I saw a painting showing off a bird’s nest high above the trees, nestled in the thinnest of branches. The painting that caught my attention the most was the one which depicted the flowers and bushes at night. In the center of the painting, just big enough to be noticed, were a pair of glowing eyes, hiding in a bush. I shivered, imagining what it would be like to see such a pair of eyes at night.
Would I run, like I had with the lion man? Or would I stare, like I did with the tiger? I wasn’t sure, and, truthfully, I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out.
The man reappeared in the doorway with a glass of water and a sandwich. I took both gratefully and downed most of the water in one large gulp. The glass clinked as I set it down on the end table, and I fiddled with my hands while I stared at the sandwich. Awkward silence filled the room for a moment, and then the man cleared his throat. I looked up at him. He smiled at me. His smile was warm and wide, and it wrinkled the skin around his eyes. His eyes were honey brown, and filled with a depth that made me want to sink into them. I felt my body relax just a little bit more into the bed. Despite knowing that the man wasn’t technically possible, I found myself drawn to him. I felt safe in his company, even knowing what he was capable of. And I felt calm. I wasn’t sure why I was taking this all so well, but I was, and I could live with that.
“So, what’s your name?” he asked. His smile brightened even further, and he sat down at the edge of the bed. I pulled my legs up to keep myself from touching him. I wanted to know if his skin was as soft as it looked, if the muscles would tense under my fingertips. I swallowed hard, and felt my face heat up again. He would have callouses, I reasoned, on his hands and feet. Or perhaps not. Perhaps the thick hardness of paws didn’t translate to the rest of his body. It made me lick my lips. I could feel myself being drawn toward his golden hands. I wanted to touch them, to feel them, to track the pads of them with my fingertips.
I shook myself, blinking hard. What was going on with me? “Lauren,” I said, licking my lips. My voice cracked a bit from the rawness of my throat. I tried to ignore it. But my throat was scratchy from screaming, and the rawness ached with every word I spoke and every harsh breath I took. I forced myself to breathe deeply through my nose. That brought the musky and animalistic scent of the man to my nose. It washed over me in a wave, and I tried not to sway from how much I ached to be closer to it.
“Lauren,” he echoed. He sounded like he was rolling the name over in his mouth, drawing it out and testing it on his tongue. I licked my lips again. I liked the way my name sounded on his lips. I wanted to hear it again. I wanted to hear him say every word in the world. With a voice like that, I could imagine even the phone book would sound interesting and seductive. Rows upon rows of numbers and nothing else. It would be fine by me, just to hear him keep speaking. And if he wanted to say my name that way, over and over as well, I wasn’t about to complain. “My name is Leon.”
I snorted. I couldn’t help it. I snorted, clapped a hand over my mouth, and dissolved into disbelieving laughter. Leon stared as though he couldn’t believe me. I grinned back, my face straining against the strength of my smile. I couldn’t believe that his name was actually Leon. Despite everything I had faced today, I had to admit, that name was the most ridiculous. I could handle lions and tigers in the forest next to the city. I could handle one of them turning into a man and saving my life. I could even handle seeing said man naked. But learning his name was Leon? That was simply too much.
Leon was still staring at me. Now his expression had morphed into one of curiosity. I tried to stifle my giggles so I could respond to the look, but ended up snorting again. I covered my mouth, forced myself to take a few deep breaths, and smiled.
“Lion,” I said simply. He paused, stared at me with narrowed eyes, and then broke out into a wide smile. Moments later he burst into laughter. It reminded me of the earlier roars of the lion. But these were calmer, happier. I liked them. I liked him. I joined his laughter, and together we laughed in the little room in the cabin, shaking so much that I was afraid we would topple off the bed. I couldn’t believe it had never occurred to him that his name was essentially his… What did I call it? Race? Species? I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t even sure how any of this was possible.
“So, I take it you know about that?” he asked when our laughter finally calmed down. I nodded. “What do you know?” I knew very little. I knew he had been a lion and then he had been a man. I knew he was not exactly what he looked like now – a regular man. An attractive one, but a regular man, nonetheless.
“There are no lions or tigers around here. Not in the entire state, except for zoos,” I said. I remembered thinking these thoughts earlier. It seemed harder to say them out loud now. Much, much harder. “But there were, earlier. A lion and a tiger. They fought, and then the tiger ran off. The lion…” I trailed off, shaking my head.
“It’s okay if you don’t believe it, I know it’s hard,” said Leon.
But I did believe it, and that was the entire problem. I believed everything I had seen earlier. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt as though I could trust this man in his little cabin. For all I knew, he could have brought me here to kill me so I didn’t tell anyone else about what he was, but I highly doubted that was the case. He seemed too kind to do such a thing.
“What are you?” I asked. I stared at my hands. They were a little banged up, and I had to resist the urge to rub them together. To rub the dirt off them and to rub the cuts and scratches until the dead skin flaked off and I could take a long shower. A shower long enough and hot enough to make me forget everything that had happened today. Nothing made sense. The man before me was a lion, I knew that. But I didn’t know how. I wanted to wash away my confusion alongside the dirt, and try to return to my normal life. But some part of me insisted that life would never be normal again, and, if it was, that I would never forget the man before me. That I would be haunted by his existence and his beauty no matter where I went. My hands itched to do something. I wondered what had happened to my bag. I wanted to draw him. God, I wanted to draw him.
“You are right,” he said, “about there being no lions or tigers in this state outside of the zoos. At least, not technically.” He leaned back on the bed against his hands. Even that simple movement was impossibly graceful. All shifting muscles and tilting shadows from the fan overhead. My hands ached, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to touch him or draw him. Or perhaps it was equal parts of both. “I’m a shifter. So was the tiger you saw earlier today. It was a bit of a turf war. Sorry about that.”
“A shifter,” I echoed. So he was a lion, just like I had thought. I’d known that from the start, but it was nice to have some confirmation.
He nodded. “A shifter,” he repeated. “I have the ability to turn into a lion. I’m part of a pride. I’m the alpha – the prime.” I recognized those words, though largely from stories about werewolves, not lions.
“You lead them,” I said. He nodded. I smiled again. It was nice to have someone confirm everything I’d been thinking since I’d woken up. Still, I felt as though I should have been worried. This man was obviously very powerful, and if he wanted to do something to me… I quickly shuffled the thought off to the recesses of my mind. He’d brought me to his cabin, taken care of me, and saved my life, all in the span of a day. Surely he had earned my trust? I nodded internally and returned to the conversation at hand.
“I do,” he said. He rolled his head, flexing the muscles in his shoulders and neck. I watched lines in his tanned skin flex and shift. My mouth was very dry again. I snagged the sandwich he’d brought me and took a huge bite to hide the way I stared at his appearance. I felt u
nusually possessive as I stared. This man had saved me, and for some reason that made me think of him as mine.
“So what were you doing in the forest?” I asked after I’d eaten half the sandwich. He watched me with curious eyes. If he was a lion shifter, I wondered what other abilities he had. Could he hear my heartbeat accelerating at his lingering gaze? Could he smell the low thrum of desire humming around my body? Could he see the individual beads of sweat that formed on my forehead, despite the cool air? I wondered if he had other supernatural abilities, or if more existed. Telepaths and empaths, telekinetics and witches, perhaps. Did he possess any of those talents? Was he laughing in his mind as I kept tracing back to the images of him before? I didn’t know, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. My thoughts kept turning toward the naked man on the riverbank and trying to push him and Leon into one. It worked well, but the images made my heart beat erratically.
“Hmm?” He seemed distracted. There was a quiet smile on his face. He was pleased with himself. Now I was almost positive he could hear my heartbeat, and that just made me flush even more deeply. I tried thinking of something, anything, to stop myself from picturing the man. I turned to the other details I could draw. Like the sculpted jaw he had, or the ripples in his muscles. I could draw them like water, or draw him catching a fish with his bare hands – or claws or jaws, if the image struck me. I nodded to myself, pleased I’d managed to control my urges. I turned back to the conversation at hand and tried to get his attention.
“I’ve never seen you or anyth-one like that before in the forest,” I said, frowning. I cringed inwardly at my slip up. He was a man. He might also have been a beast, but first and foremost he was a man. At least, I thought so. It should never have even crossed my mind to call him a thing. But there it was, hanging naked and ashamed in the air before us, waiting to let him judge me for it.
But when he spoke, he ignored my slip up, and turned instead to the question at hand. I was secretly pleased with myself for getting his attention. But he still seemed distracted, although that distraction quickly faded into reluctance and embarrassment. “Ah.” He shook his head, the smile spreading. “Yeah, that’s uh. That’s…” He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly blushing.
“What?”
“It’s mating season,” he said. I nearly choked on my sandwich. Mating season. That meant he was here for women – and probably other lions at that. The second level of depth had returned to his eyes. He studied me closely, waiting for my reaction.
“Mating season?” I echoed. I stared at him with wide eyes and a shaking head. I wasn’t sure if I was amused or mortified. Both seemed like a viable option at the moment. I couldn’t help a tiny laugh, but then I bit it back. I suddenly realized what that second depth in his eyes was. It was lust. It was want. It was need. During the mating season of any animal, an animal had certain urges. That was what I saw in those deep, beautiful eyes. Him fighting his urges. I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted him to. I swallowed hard, and tried to speak around the sudden hot lump in my throat.
“That, uh, that still doesn’t answer my question,” I managed. My entire body was hot. I rubbed my hands against my thighs and breathed through my nose. With every ounce of focus I had, I turned my attention to the pine smell of the house, instead of the look in Leon’s eyes. I tried to focus on anything but the look in his eyes. Anything instead of the heat in his gaze, the flex of his muscles, and the smooth expanse of his beautiful face. It wasn’t working well. I had been raised to look people in the eye when they spoke, and with each word Leon was drawing me in. Drawing me deeper and deeper until I thought I could sink into his voice and eyes and never surface again. And I was completely okay with that.
“I need to find more lionesses for the pride,” he said. “Most prides have at least a dozen, in order to ensure we have plenty of cubs to carry on our legacy. Unfortunately, we lost quite a few in the most recent turf war with the tigers. We only have about five at the moment.”
“Polyamory,” I said. The word felt bitter on my lips. He grimaced.
“It is our nature.”
“Some nature.” I wasn’t sure why I was jealous. Polygamy had never bothered me before – I’d seen it in some of my friends more than once. It wasn’t bad, it was simply dependent on the people within the relationship. If that was the nature of prides, I shouldn’t judge. But I couldn’t help but judge. Despite knowing Leon for only hours – perhaps less, depending on how long I was unconscious – I was thinking of him as mine. Hearing that he had women, and several of them, who were free to touch him, to taste him, to know him intimately in a way my hands and my body absolutely ached for, it made me jealous. It was petty and it was odd, but it was true. I was jealous of these women I didn’t know, simply because they were closer to a man I had only just met.
“Look,” said Leon, and his voice was firm enough that I jumped. “I understand that human nature is different from our own, but this is how we live. Is that not enough for you to leave it be?” He ran his hands through his hair. “I was trying to find a lioness to keep my pride from dying. That is my duty as a prime. That is my duty to my family. There are always shifters in the city, I just didn’t make it there.” He looked away from me, and I caught the frustration in his eyes as he did so. I bit my lip and tried not to say anything. My eyes watered in shame. I shouldn’t have spoken out. That was a mistake. Leon did not deserve my scorn because of misplaced jealously. That was my fault. I went to say something to lift the tense silence in the room, but I cut myself short. I didn’t know what to say, and I didn’t want to make it worse. Worse still, I didn’t want to impose myself on Leon. We remained silent.
There were a few long moments of silence between us. We both knew why he hadn’t made it to the city – because of me. He had saved me. I had tripped and fallen after freaking out, and he had saved me. I couldn’t thank him enough for that. I would never be able to repay him for that. I ducked my head and clutched my hands together. I stared at the scratches on my hands and tried not to pick at them.
“You know, you’re not bad looking for a human,” said Leon. I snorted.
“That’s a first,” I said.
“Oh?” I gestured to my full figure. To my plump breasts, my wide hips, my thick, powerful legs, and my round stomach. It was a figure I was proud of, one that was in my family history for as long as I could remember. But many weren’t fond of it. Such was the price of modern media. I tried not to let it get to me. Sometimes it did bother me. It bothered me that I wasn’t always looked at the way my friends were. It bothered me that I couldn’t always find clothes that fit. It bothered me that I had to have swimsuits custom-made, which was always expensive. But, for the most part, I liked my body, and I especially liked people who liked it back.
“Ah, the modern media of the world,” he said dryly. “I wouldn’t let it get to you.”
“I don’t. If I did, do you really think I’d still be here?” The words hung between us, and I caught the way he winced, as though he couldn’t quite believe I’d just said that. It was true, however, as dark as it was. I wished I could pull the words back in that moment, despite the truth. He didn’t need to hear that. I was a happy person, and I shouldn’t have let that slip out.
“Still though,” he said, coughing awkwardly. “You are beautiful.” I noticed that this time he forgot the second part of his statement. I filled it in for him.
“For a human?” I asked, leaning back on my hands. It was a good excuse to stare at his body and pretend I was only waiting for a response. He was well built. Not overly muscular, like gung-ho body builders, but enough so that I could enjoy staring at his muscles and imagine him taking me in his arms and lifting me up. I wondered if he had superhuman strength. I licked my lips. That could be interesting to play with.
“For a human,” he echoed. There was a wry smile on his face. The moment between us intensified as we watched each other, each with our own amused smile. I could practically feel the heat coming off of him. My
feet were mere inches from his folded legs. I stared at his eyes. The intensity of the barely-contained want in his gaze made my entire body shiver. The hair on my arms and the back of my neck lifted up. The heat rushed in my gut and in my cheeks. I felt a cold sweat break out across my shoulders. My hands shook. I wanted to reach out, to find out how soft his hair was, to see if the callouses on his hands would be able to hold me down. I swallowed and looked away. Our staring contest was over.
“Well, why don’t you tell me about yourself?” asked Leon. The silence cracked again. I felt the intensity of his gaze once more – the depth of his curiosity coupled with his want. I wanted to tell him to stop staring at me the way he was. I wanted to tell him how it made me feel. I didn’t have the courage for either. I didn’t have the courage to tell him I was feeling the exact same way. That I wouldn’t mind if he grabbed me and kissed me with all his might. I swallowed again and tried to find my voice.
“My name is Lauren,” I said. “But I, uh… I already told you that.” I pressed my lips together and looked away for a moment. I fought the urge to fiddle more with my hands, worried that I’d tear open the cuts. Leon smiled and pulled up his legs. He rested his arms on his knees and watched me with patient curiosity. I wondered what he was thinking. I wondered if he was just indulging me or if he was genuinely curious in what I had to say. I hoped it was the latter. To start with, I decided to go with something neutral, something I thought he would relate to, considering all the paintings on the walls. “I’m an artist, and I like to read.”
Seduced By The Lion Alpha Page 2