Claiming His Lioness (Shifter Wars)

by Kerry Adrienne

  Some things had changed in the past year. The Sentinels had let her pass by, knowing she was lion, even though she could tell they were a little uptight about it. A year ago, they would’ve confronted her.

  She scanned the area, noting where her friends had fallen. Where Max had been tortured and mocked by the bears. Where he had died. Her visions played tricks on her and she closed her eyes to scent the blood and sweat that covered the battlefield not that long ago.

  The ground near the cave was hallowed with the blood of her people. The battle had to have meant something. If the shifters could come together—not something she’d thought possible before the human invasion—maybe the deaths wouldn’t turn out to be in vain.

  She took a long, slow breath to steady her nerves. Shifters needed to stick together. Humans were the true enemy—building pipelines across the park and maybe even worse, experimenting and killing other shifters.

  After Marco had healed, Alicia had paved the way for the lions to visit Shoshannah if they wanted, though this was the first time Lara had done so. Not many lions had taken the bears up on the chance to visit the cave spirit, but no violence had broken out when they did. The uneasy truce held, but the sense was that it was tenuous at best.

  Maybe Shoshannah would tell her how the lions could defeat the humans and stop the pipeline, even though that seemed a tall order for a spirit.

  She glanced back at the forest. It looked so safe, but it held many hidden dangers. People were everywhere, it seemed.

  On the way here, she’d had to dodge a group of humans who were checking out the land with instruments and equipment. They weren’t approachable, and it was clear that the men were from the oil company and were scoping out the interior of Deep Creek. She’d eavesdropped on their conversation but hadn’t heard anything noteworthy.

  They’d already figured out where the pipeline would go—the map had been evidence of that—so the fact that they were in other areas was concerning. What were the humans doing in the forests of Deep Creek?

  Once they had one pipeline built, maybe they planned another. She’d have to tell Mason as soon as she saw him. They needed to research AllOil further and see if there was any useful information on the web that might tell about future developments.

  Not that they were likely to post about killing the animals around the pipeline, but maybe they had overall pipeline plans posted or maybe the stages of implementation posted. Companies liked to brag about expansion, and getting permission to cross the park was no small thing.

  Bottom line? There had been some shady dealings.

  The human senators and representatives had sold out the park to the highest bidder. It wasn’t a new concept—it happened a lot as companies tried to get around regulations in order to make money. Though their grant was legal, it didn’t seem ethical.

  Too many humans of the wrong kind were in Deep Creek.

  She pushed her hair out of her face and took a deep breath. Things were happening so fast. Even if all the shifters worked together, keeping Deep Creek from becoming an environmental hazard was going to be a challenge.

  So many questions. Lara scanned the woods. For now, she was alone. No bears in sight, no wolves, no lions. And thankfully no humans. Her imprisonment had left its mark on her and she was more unsure of herself than she could ever remember being. She missed the comfort of having Mason at her side, but she’d never tell him that. Unease picked at her brain like a crow on roadkill.

  Maybe the shifters wouldn’t win this battle. Maybe this would be the change to Deep Creek that no one but the humans wanted.

  She picked up a pebble and flung it into the underbrush. She’d figure things out. She always did. Whether that meant going to Cara again, or helping the bears, she would do it. Deep Creek was her home and she wouldn’t lose it like she’d lost so many other things, including family.

  As long as Mason and Marco didn’t find out the truth about her, she’d be okay with the lions. Her gut clenched at the thought of how angry Mason would be if he knew. She pushed the thought away.

  She’d never tell anyone.

  She tossed another rock, watching it arc through the trees and bounce on the ground.

  The ancestral spirit guided all shifters, or so Lara had heard. Alicia had told her how to approach the spirit and call her to the lake in the cave. She’d told her the details of requesting Shoshannah’s presence but had made it clear that the spirit didn’t always appear. The spirit was fickle. Still, Lara wanted to talk to Shoshannah.

  All of this might be a waste of time, but what did she have to lose?

  Lara paused, taking a deep breath. If the spirit was mad at the lions, she might take it out on Lara. No, that was silly. Shoshannah represented all shifters of all types.

  She hoped the spirit would approve of her plan of protest.

  Lara had placed sign-up forms and informational posters in Oakwood and Henredon, and had put in calls to the media, both local and national, to get coverage of the event. She’d never organized something like it before, but with the help of her lionesses, she hoped to pull it off. Maybe Shoshannah would have some tips on the march, too.

  She also needed to talk to her about the laboratory where shifters were being held against their will as research subjects. Who knew how bad it was? Surely Shoshannah would help her.

  If the spirit came to talk. Lara sighed. The shifters needed help now more than ever, and the weight of the looming danger weighed on her, like paws gripping her heart.

  Before entering the cave, she paused a few moments. She wasn’t afraid of Shoshannah, but the spirit did make her nervous. No one really knew the extent of Shoshannah’s powers, and if the humans ever found out about her, they’d try to capture and exploit her. Much like Cara and the shifter laboratory. Lara shook her head.

  The lab weighed on her thoughts. After having been caged herself, she couldn’t even imagine the agony of long-term confinement. The torture of not being free. What kind of conditions did the scientists keep the shifters in? She shuddered.

  She couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea that shifters were being held against their will and potentially harmed while being experimented on. Cara said the humans hoped to use the research for the good of the world, but was it ethically okay to imprison them like that? The thought of all the locked-up shifters, away from their homes and families, sent a current of anger though her.

  Something had to be done about the lab. Cara had told her the address, but what could Lara do? Cara even implied that she wanted to do something about the lab, too, but what? Just walk in and demand the release of the shifters? Probably not. But she was going to go check it out.

  Lara glanced around again to make sure she wasn’t being followed. She was still alone. The Sentinels were a short distance away, but she couldn’t see them. Hopefully no bears were in the cave because she didn’t really want to deal with any of the hairy beasts today.

  Too much on her mind to be civil.

  Working with the bears instead of fighting them was going to be a change and a challenge.

  Suck it up, and go on in.

  She headed into the cave, blinking in the sudden darkness. A shiver rolled over her. The cave was at least twenty degrees cooler, if not more.

  And so dark.

  She felt along the wall and moved past the first small room, then into the second, larger room. Alicia had told her lanterns were on the wall for use around the lake. Lara grabbed one, lit it, and stepped into the cavernous room where the lake lay.

  A gasp escaped her before she could stop it. The room where the lake pooled was gigantic. Max had talked about how large the lake was and how big the cave was, but nothing had prepared her for the actual size. Lara marveled at the rocky outcroppings and slick paths where water drained. It was like being outside, not in the heart of a mountain.

  The ceiling domed forty feet over
head, maybe more. Rock jutted in all directions, along the walls near the shore and in dripping formations on the ceiling. She held the lantern high, trying to visualize all that lay before her, but in the darkness, she couldn’t see the entire lake. The water was murky and looked deep, though it was impossible to tell for sure. There was likely a spring feeding the lake.

  Swinging the lantern to and fro, she moved across the strip of beach that fronted one side of the lake. She grabbed a striped beach chair from a row of folded chairs and placed it at the edge of the water, setting the lantern beside her on the ground. Alicia had said there were boats available but that it wasn’t necessary to go out on the lake to talk to Shoshannah. The last thing Lara wanted to do was get into a little boat and row out onto the lake.

  Swimming in the lake would be a nightmare. She’d never learned to swim in human form, and she didn’t want to learn in a dark and chilly cave with who knew what kind of creatures swimming in the dark water. A shudder echoed through her, causing the hair on her arms to stand.

  Monsters weren’t always hiding in the dark. Sometimes they camped out in the open.

  Lara waited. The cave was mostly quiet, though water lapped against the stone wall across the lake, and somewhere a trickle dripped on wet rock. She settled into the chair, its squeaking resonating in the chamber.

  Her heart flared with trepidation.

  Shoshannah wasn’t going to appear if she didn’t ask.

  Alicia had said to call out to Shoshannah then wait. Lara felt a little weird about it but cleared her throat.

  “Shoshannah,” she called. “I need advice. The lions need help, and we seek your guidance. Will you come talk?”

  She waited.

  Nothing. Not a sound besides her own breathing and the water. Alicia hadn’t said how long to wait.

  Maybe the spirit was sleeping.

  Did spirits even do that?

  Not wanting to screw up calling Shoshannah, she didn’t try again, feeling that if the spirit wanted to talk back to her, she would. She would know someone was in the cave. She knew everything. Or so it was said.

  Lara gripped the armrests, her knuckles going white. Relax. Nothing to worry about. She consoled herself and waited, closing her eyes and leaning her head back. The weight of silence in the cave pressed on her like a heavy blanket.

  The cave was home to the graves of so many shifters, of every type. She’d heard that the shifter cemetery was in another part of the vast cave, and that was where Max and the other lions who died in battle had been taken. Alicia had also said that the cave was so huge, not all of it had been explored. Some areas even held a luminescent bacterium that infected shifters who weren’t immune. That’s how Marco had almost died.

  But the lake was the centerpiece of the cave system. The lake was what Shoshannah called home. It was the center of the ceremonial arena for the bears, the lions before them, and the wolves at one time. And even before that, all shifters had shared the cave. That was hard to believe. What form had the spirit taken when she represented all creatures?

  She scanned the water, noting that its surface was completely still. She imagined the Loch Ness Monster wiggling beneath the surface, or maybe a kraken, getting ready to burst onto the beach and drag her into the water to eat her raw.

  Her pulse quickened and the urge to run fought with her thoughts.

  The images weren’t helping her relax and she pushed them away. Where was Shoshannah? The spirit had her own timetable and Lara understood that. Still, she wished she’d hurry up and appear.

  A splash echoed from the far side of the lake and she strained to see what had made it. Nothing moved and the ripples on the water slowed.

  Chills raised along her arms. She looked back at the supplies on the beach and saw a large closed trunk. Maybe it held blankets.

  Or life vests.

  She opened the trunk and sure enough, there were folded blankets inside. The bears were prepared. After grabbing a red one, she went back to her chair and waited.

  Forty-five minutes later and no sign of Shoshannah. Lara stood, her muscles sore from sitting still in the cold for such a long time. She pulled the blanket around her like a cape. Apparently, the spirit wasn’t planning on showing up today.

  Freaking hell.

  She turned to leave and bumped right into Mason. She hadn’t heard him approach, which was ridiculous since he was in human form.

  “Fucking great.” She tried to push past him, but he grabbed her and held her.

  “What are you doing here?” His voice held annoyance but also surprise. “Did you talk to Shoshannah?”

  “No, she didn’t appear. I was going to talk to her about the pipeline.”

  “And the lab?”

  “I’d planned to ask her about it.”

  “I’m not sure how many more enemies we can take on.”

  “We can’t let the captured shifters continue to suffer. I’m going to find out all I can about that laboratory and then we can formulate a plan to get the shifters released. I’ll break them out myself if I have to.”

  “Promise me you won’t go to the lab alone.”

  “I won’t. But I am counting on you for help.”

  Lara watched Mason’s eyes shift from deep brown to green. He was realizing what his commitment meant. The lions had a lot on their plate.

  “I’ll help you, but our focus needs to remain on stopping the Deep Creek Pipeline first.”

  “Seems like we have two human problems.”

  Lara didn’t want to admit she felt more comfortable in the cave with Mason there. She didn’t even know why.

  The lion annoyed her. It made no sense. She supposed if it was him or a kraken, she’d rather see him, but just barely.

  “I guess great minds think alike.” Mason let her go.

  “Harrumph.” She rubbed her arms. “If that’s what you want to call it.”

  He smiled. “That is exactly what I want to call it.” His smile faded. “But I thought we agreed to solve this problem as a team. Why are you here alone?”

  “You said as a team. I never agreed.” She knew she sounded impudent but didn’t care. “I wanted to talk to the cave spirit and I came. I don’t need your permission.”

  “You don’t. But I think we need to address this issue together. Can we do that?”

  “You mean after you talk to the spirit? You did come here alone, didn’t you? Does Marco know you’re here?” She stepped back. Not going to let him boss her around. Not ever again.

  “He knows I’m here.”

  “Good for him. I’m leaving.” She whirled and headed for the doorway.

  A bright white light shone behind her, casting her shadow out in front.

  “Lara, wait!” Mason called. “Shoshannah’s here.”

  * * *

  Mason shielded his eyes against the brightness that filled the cave. He hoped Lara hadn’t stormed out. He couldn’t see a thing. “Lara, are you there?”

  She bumped against his elbow. “I’m here.”

  He wanted to grin but thought she might take it as making fun of her, so he didn’t. The light wavered, and he peered out into the air above the lake. The light had compressed into a small white ball, and it spun and hovered over the water. He’d heard that Shoshannah took different forms as she chose, but he’d expected her to be a lion, not a ball.

  As he had the thought, the ball of light transformed, spinning more and more quickly until it slipped into a lion’s form. Majestic and regal, the pure white lion sparkled with blips of blues and purples, glittering. The reflection in the lake was dimmer but still stunning.

  A glittery god—well wasn’t that just perfect.

  No wonder the bears hid Shoshannah from the lions. She was clearly something very special.

  He glanced at Lara by his side, her eyes wide and mouth slightly
parted. Gods, she was beautiful. Must be the cave lighting. Her long hair waved as it cascaded down her shoulders and back, and her lips were full and shiny.

  Focus. He turned to Shoshannah. The lion approached the shore, walking across the water toward them.

  “Lions, welcome.” Her voice filled the cave.

  The voice was outside his head and in it, and he closed his eyes. “Shoshannah,” he whispered.

  “It is I. Welcome, Mason and Lara. I’ve been waiting on the two of you to come. The time is at hand that I must speak to you, so you must’ve sensed that I needed to see you.”

  “We’re here.” Lara’s voice was clipped. “We have questions.”

  “I will try to answer what I can.”

  “What can you tell us about the humans building a pipeline through Deep Creek?”

  The white lion sat on the water, her shoulders sagging. “It is true. Humans are trying to put a metal snake across our land, one filled with poison. We cannot allow it to strike our people or spill its blood across Deep Creek.”

  Lara shrugged. “We don’t know how to stop it.”

  “What can we do?” Mason asked. “How can we save Deep Creek? The threat seems almost insurmountable, yet the damage the pipeline could cause would be devastating.”

  “Ah, the bears have asked me the same. I will answer as I told them. The answer will come in time. It isn’t something I know. My guidance is to help you, but you and the other shifters must come up with the solution to save our land.”

  Lara moved close to the edge of the water and stared up at the lion. “We need your help.”

  “My child, I know you’re scared. Let me tell you what I do know.”

  “I’m not scared.” Lara almost shouted.

  “Please, spirit,” he said. “Please share what you have, and we’ll do our best with the knowledge.”