Blindfolded and ears muffled, she could detect the squish of a horsefly’s feet climbing over a rotting apple a hundred yards away and point to its precise location. But this scent was something she hadn’t smelled before. Not exactly.
Dangerous and compelling with a hint of magic. But most of all, a drumming pain, angry and red, wove through and around him. She held her pounding head, and tightened her grip on her temples to try and ease the throbbing.
The animal’s intense pain called to Alicia, but underneath his need for relief was a darkness and a sadness her empathy couldn’t penetrate or interpret. She reached out with her mind and met anger that blasted her back with a force unlike anything she’d come up against.
Who was this creature?
Tawodi had known the agony that called out through the trees, and flew near to check on Alicia and give her visual guidance and comfort. Though Tawodi couldn’t wield a weapon in her bird state, she could soothe fears.
And warn of danger. And maybe something else. The magic in the air was something Grandmother knew, Alicia was sure of it.
She crept closer, bracing for a possible attack from a creature blinded by its pain. Hesitation fluttered along her skin like the touch of a feather, and fear masqueraded as bravado with each step.
With Tawodi nearby, things would be okay.
Her gran had taught her to have a healthy fear of the unknown.
The large hawk shrieked, urging Alicia onward. She picked up her pace. She had to know what animal lay injured in the underbrush, and she swallowed her dread, letting her mind wander through the real and imagined as she pushed branches out of the way. Tawodi wouldn’t lead her astray.
Ever.
A wall of agony hit her, doubling her over with its intensity. Her head nearly split in two with the massive force of the psychic hit. Struggling to stay coherent, her heart sped and sweat broke out across her back and trickled down her legs.
No!
She should leave. Now. Get out of the woods and far from the Cave of Whispers. Bile flooded her mouth with a bitter, burnt taste following. Clarity filled her mind like the chill of fresh new snow.
She knew the underlying scent. The pain had masked the source at first, but now it broke through like a dark wet rope moving through the laces of suffering. She swallowed hard and tugged the backpack up higher onto her shoulders.
Enemy.
She shivered in the heat, the cold realization sinking deeper into her mind.
A wounded lion lay on the ground, dying, close by. Every muscle in her body tensed into knots and her psyche screamed run, but the sweat of fear kept her feet still. If her heart could’ve pounded any harder, she feared it would break her rib cage.
Lion. She’d not considered that she might come across a wounded one while she searched for bears.
Its life force weak, its pain all consuming.
He was from the pride that had killed Ria. Sen Pal. The same lions that killed friends yesterday and attempted to take the cave from the bears. He might even be the lion that took Ria from her. She stopped as a voice resonated in her mind with a sharp intensity she couldn’t ignore.
Healer. Be still.
“Grandmother?” Alicia whispered. A mixture of fear and anger sizzled up her spine, lighting small fires of stress. How could she possibly help a lion? She’d spent her lifetime hating them and vowing revenge for Ria’s death.
No answer came from Tawodi, but Alicia knew the expectation as she knew her own name. Tawodi had taught her the ways. Alicia couldn’t discriminate. Either she was a true spirit healer or she wasn’t. She didn’t get to choose who she helped any more than she got to choose whether to breathe.
In truth, the wounded chose her, and this lion’s pain had summoned her as strongly as if he’d tapped her on the shoulder. He needed her and she was to tend him, regardless of her feelings.
The odor of his blood filled the air, and his pain rang out like a beacon, dragging her closer. Begging for her help. Alicia shuffled closer, knuckles white from holding on to the pack straps so tightly.
Did she have the fortitude to help the enemy?
Broken bear bodies were piled outside the cave in a heap. The image burned in her mind. She swallowed the bile that singed her throat.
She hadn’t been this close to a lion since that fateful day with Ria. Even during the recent battle, she’d been tending the wounded more than engaging the enemy. She hadn’t seen much of the combat either. Being absorbed in her work had been an advantage.
She pushed the brambles away and sidestepped a large boulder on the side of the path. Whoever this lion was, he must not have been important because the other lions had run off and left him to die in enemy territory.
Or they thought he was dead.
A common soldier. Perhaps a killer or guard. No matter. They’d left him to die in the forest.
She closed her eyes and paused.
Lion.
Don’t miss Taming the Lion by Kerry Adrienne available now wherever Carina Press ebooks are sold.
www.CarinaPress.com
Copyright © 2017 by Kerry Adrienne
About the Author
Repped by Marisa Corvisiero, USA TODAY bestselling author Kerry Adrienne writes in many genres including science fiction, fantasy, paranormal, m/m, erotic romance, and more. In her spare time she homeschools, is a part-time college instructor, editor, and dabbler in most things creative.
You can usually find her posting cat pictures on Facebook and Twitter when she’s not working.
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/1T6PX
Web: www.KerryAdrienne.com
Twitter: @kerryadrienne
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/authorkerryadrienne
Also available from Kerry Adrienne and Carina Press
Waking the Bear
Pursuing the Bear
Taming the Lion
Saving His Wolf
Introducing the Carina Press Romance Promise!
The Carina Press team all have one thing in common: we are romance readers with a longtime love of the genre. And we know what readers are looking for in a romance: a guarantee of a happily-ever-after (HEA) or happy-for-now (HFN). With that in mind, we’re initiating the Carina Press Romance Promise. When you see a book tagged with these words in our cover copy/book description, we’re making you, the reader, a very important promise:
This book contains a romance central to the plot and ends in an HEA or HFN.
Simple, right? But so important, we know!
Look for the Carina Press Romance Promise and one-click with confidence that we understand what’s at the heart of the romance genre!
Look for this line in Carina Press book descriptions:
One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!
Find out more at CarinaPress.com/RomancePromise.
Find out more at CarinaPress.com.
We think you have a good book in you!
Do you write in the below genres? Harlequin’s Carina Press wants to see your manuscript.
• Contemporary Romance
• Romantic Suspense
• Historical Romance
• Paranormal Romance
• Mystery
• Erotic Romance
• LGBT
• Science Fiction & Fantasy Romance
Submit today!
All manuscripts receive a thorough evaluation by a Carina Press editor and a decision within 12–16 weeks. What do you have to lose?
To learn more about our submission guidelines, visit us at CarinaPress.com/WriteForUs.
Don’t miss out!
Sign up for our editorial newsletter and stay in the loop on the latest submission calls and editorial news:
Bit.ly/CPEditorialNewsletter
Get the latest on Carina Press by joining our eNewsletter!
Don’t miss out, sign up today!
CarinaPress.com/newsletter
Sign up and get Carina Press offers and coupons delivered straight to your inbox!
Plus, as an eNewsletter subscriber, you’ll get the inside scoop on everything Carina Press and be the first to know about our newest releases!
Visit CarinaPress.com
Other ways to keep in touch:
Facebook.com/CarinaPress
Twitter.com/CarinaPress
ISBN-13: 9781488028236
Claiming His Lioness
Copyright © 2018 by Kerry Adrienne
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.
www.CarinaPress.com
Claiming His Lioness (Shifter Wars) Page 24