I pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders and eyed him even more warily. “Are you an alien?”
“No, we’re called shifters. We don’t just turn into an animal. The animal is part of who we are, so we’re able to shift at will.”
I hissed, “I fucked a lion?”
His eyes narrowed. “You fucked me.”
“You just said the animal is part of who you are.”
“I meant, in this form, we have certain traits that our animal counterpart has. Most shifters hear better than you can imagine. We can see better than any human in the dark. Our sense of smell is off the charts. And our personalities tend to shadow how our animal would act in the wild—but that’s not always the case.”
“You said ‘most’ shifters.” I eyed him hard. “How many shifters are there?”
“A lot.”
“How much is a lot?”
“Roughly thirty percent of the world’s male population.”
I could only stare.
He snorted, peering down his nose. “You humans killed each other off. That wasn’t our doing. It’s the shifters now who are trying to keep your race from complete annihilation.”
I nibbled on my bottom lip.
Something was off there.
“Why would shifters care if humans exist? Wouldn’t it be easier if we didn’t?”
His jaw clenched. He peered back out the window.
Finn’s lips curved. “You’re very intelligent, Poppy.”
Godric grunted, his eyes staying on the scenery.
Cassander sat forward and placed his elbows on his knees. “We need humans because shifters are all males. Our mates are human.”
“Mates?” My brows creased.
“A mate is chosen by magic. A perfect counterpart to their shifter male. But the shifter doesn’t know who the person is until after they have sex and a test is done.”
“So shifters are magic?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of test does a shifter perform on an unsuspecting human after sex? You would want to know, so I imagine you do it every time, right?”
“We do. And it’s very simple.”
“What?”
“Another shifter pricks their hand. If it heals instantly, then they are an actual mate to whoever they slept with.”
“Magic makes it heal?” I was catching on.
“Yes. Shifters and mates are immortal.”
I sucked in a lungful of oxygen. “You can’t die?”
Cassander peered down at his hands and picked at his leather pants. “There are two ways a shifter can die. One is their mate kills them. The other is the seer kills them.”
“What’s a seer?”
He cleared his throat. “There’s only one seer alive at one time. The seer has special abilities. But the seer’s primary job is for killing. If there’s a shifter who goes insane over time, the seer takes him out. Or if a mate or shifter want their existence gone—forever is a long time to live—then the seer performs an investigation to see if it is for the best and handles it accordingly.”
Godric growled deep in his throat.
I glanced at him but quickly peered back to the man giving me all the answers. “Does a shifter actually need a ‘mate’?”
Cassander was right.
Forever was a long time to be with someone.
“Yes. They are the only people we can breed with.”
I blinked, finally getting there. “That’s why the shifters are really helping to save the human race. It saves them from extinction.”
Finn smirked. “Bingo.”
My eyes slowly squinted in distrust. “Wait. You said you’re immortal. If you’re immortal, then you heal fast, right?”
Cassander nodded, still picking at his pants. “We do. Heads grow back. Hearts grow back. Even if we’re burned down to ash, we form again.”
I snorted. “Then why didn’t Godric’s finger heal?”
The train went completely silent.
“So you’re lying to me,” I accused.
“We’ve told you the truth. You just haven’t put it all together yet.” Godric turned his stunning eyes on me, his gaze unwavering now. “The reason why a different shifter has to perform the test on the human is that a mate’s shifter or a shifter’s mate can physically hurt each other. The test would read that the human wasn’t a mate if her sex partner did it since a mate’s shifter can hurt them. They wouldn’t heal.”
I blinked.
Stared. Trembled.
Almost hyperventilated.
I choked, “What are you saying?”
Godric’s golden eyes didn’t falter. “You’re my mate.”
My hand shot out in front of Cassander. “Cut my finger.”
Godric hissed through his clenched teeth.
Cassander closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.
Finn pulled out his knife with a long sigh. “Give me your hand.”
“Why not him? He’s obviously a shifter.” I glared, my body trembling in shock at Godric’s declaration. “I’ve seen him shift, not you.”
Finn explained calmly, “Cassander is our seer. It won’t work with him.” He flicked his free hand at me. “Now give me your hand so you can see the truth and start to process it all.”
My nostrils flared in suspicion, but I placed my trembling hand in front of him. “Fine.”
His blade flashed so fast I barely saw it.
As in, a human can’t move that fast.
I flinched at the sting. “Ow!”
Godric growled. It wasn’t human. There was a lion’s growl coming from inside his chest. He hissed, “You cut too deep.”
“I apologize, but she needed to feel it.”
I jerked my full gaze from Godric, swallowing down the hysteria choking me from the noise he made and peered down at my hand. There was a line of blood on my palm, and a cut down into the flesh. But, as I watched, my skin knit itself together so fast, I would have missed it if I’d blinked.
I wiped the blood on the blanket.
My body started trembling for a new reason.
I jerked my attention to the man with the golden lion eyes. My chest heaved as I burned inside. “You didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t know,” Godric growled. He leaned forward in his seat, his gaze fueled with fury. “One of my guards was supposed to check after you left the bedroom, but you evaded them. So I sent Jonathan after you. That bastard lied to me. He said you tested negative.”
Finn whistled. “Oh shit.”
“I’m fucking burying him.”
The fight instantly died within me. “I evaded him too. That wasn’t his fault. He was probably scared to tell you.”
“He lied to me.” Godric seethed, his cheeks flushing with anger. “Shifters do not take a mate test lightly. It is our existence, as you stated. I will bury that bastard. And I’ll enjoy it.”
“Godric…” I reprimanded gently.
“What would you have done if your whole life, your entire immortal life, you never understood why you couldn’t die. Why you never aged. Why you had to suffer watching friends grow old and die over and over again…forever.”
My mouth shut. I shivered in fear.
“Exactly. The bastard will be buried.”
I held his furious gaze.
So many thoughts poured through my head.
My top emotion was fear, my back tense with it.
I asked softly, “Why was Cassander following me?”
“Because he knew.”
“And he didn’t tell you?”
He hissed, “The seer keeps many secrets.”
I peered in Cassander’s direction where he still had his eyes closed and was continually massaging his forehead. “Your job sucks, Cassander.”
Under his rubbing hand, silver eyes peeked open. “That is an understatement.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Godric clamped his hand down on my shoulder, keeping me steady on my feet as we exited the tr
ain. “Are you going to faint again?”
I shook my head. “No.”
The world and my life had altered in the matter of a few hours—but I was made of stronger stuff. My father’s genes were potent, and I had them in spades. The existence in which I lived may have transformed, but I would roll with it. I wouldn’t be trampled on by the truth.
We stopped just outside the train to wait for Cassander and Finn. They were talking inside the transport, giving Godric and me a moment of privacy.
I stared at Godric’s house before me.
It was a mansion of white stucco with a red tiled roof constructed on a rocky outcrop, the land reminiscent of a peninsula with ice blue water surrounding it on three sides.
My eyebrows lifted gradually. I didn’t peek up at him as I spoke, but my eyes remained trained on where he lived.
“You’re a lion, right?”
“A lion shifter,” he clarified.
His hand was still tense on my shoulder.
The man had effectively shut down again after all the details of who and what they were had finished on our ride.
I cleared my throat. “Then why do you choose to live here? It doesn’t look like a place a lion would hunker down. There aren’t any trees or sand or tall grass nearby—and it’s so open.”
The area was beautiful, but not wild.
“Really?” he asked in a dry tone.
“What?” I shrugged. “If I were a lion, I wouldn’t live here.”
“I’m also a man, Poppy.”
“So, you like this then?”
“It’s a little extravagant, but yes. I do like it.”
I nibbled on my bottom lip. “Why am I here?”
He didn’t answer, his hand tightening on my shoulder. His massive body crept behind me. The heat flowing off him was delicious, but he was still intimidating.
“Godric, answer my question.”
He bent and placed his lips against my left ear, and whispered, “Do you want to run away? Because I would probably enjoy that. I adore a great chase.”
I ground my teeth together. “You have to ask if you want me to stay here. You can’t just cart me off to your home and expect me to be okay with it.”
I would have said yes.
He still needed to ask, though.
“I never wanted a mate, Poppy. I’ve been abstinent from sex for over a hundred years because I didn’t want one. While I may not be entirely thrilled with this development right now, I won’t run from it. Now that I have a mate, you aren’t going anywhere. Especially when there’s evil lurking after you. I protect what is mine.”
My mouth bobbed. I didn’t know where to begin with all the information Godric had just spewed. In the end, I shook my head, and muttered, “How old are you?”
“Almost two hundred.” His lips grazed my ear.
I blinked and set aside the fact he had been alive before the war had torn the world apart. “You weren’t abstinent for the first hundred years of your life, were you? That means you didn’t mind if you found a mate back then. What made you change your mind a hundred years ago?”
His lips curved against the edge of my ear. “I do like that I have a cunning mate.” He inhaled deeply, smelling my hair. “The last six mate pairings weren’t right. As in, there was something wrong with the magic. That had never happened before. The magic was off. It was tainted with darkness.”
“Oh.” I pressed my body closer to him as a chilly breeze ruffled my hair. “Is this…pairing…between us wrong?”
“I don’t scent any darkness around you.” He inhaled deeply again, and his voice lowered to pure intimacy. “I only smell a woman I’d love to fuck.”
My throat went dry. “Do many women smell like that to you?”
His lips twitched as he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and held me tight against his body. He set his chin on top of my head, staring at the water. “Is that jealousy I hear?”
Maybe a little.
“Not at all.” I cleared my throat. “Answer my question, please.”
His chest rumbled against my back. “I can honestly tell you that no woman has ever smelled as appealing as you do. You broke my abstinence, pet. I didn’t give a fuck about the consequences. I wanted to bend you over and screw you right there on the bar.”
My lower gut fanned with sensual flame. This mate business frightened me, but I offered, “You smell good too.”
His chest started to shake in silent humor.
“What? You do.” Dammit, it was a compliment.
“Tell me what your little human nose smells.”
“Wildness and spice with a hint of cherries.”
He bellowed with his laughter, my body shaking with his inside his protective hold. “That is precious, pet.”
“Don’t laugh at me,” I groused. “I don’t have a lion sniffer. But you still smell good.”
“It’s kind of cute, really.” He was returning to himself now, no longer the man holding everything in and shutting out the people around him. “Cherries, you said?”
I turned my head under his chin and sniffed his shoulder. “Yeah, it’s still there. Nice and sweet. Is it your shampoo or soap?”
He muttered, “I would never use anything that made me smell like a cherry.”
“Then it’s just you.”
He snorted. “Or you have a fucked up nose.”
“Are you offended you smell sweet?”
He sniffed, not commenting.
I grinned. “Don’t worry, big man. I like it.”
Finn and Cassander exited the train, not bothering to hide the fact they weren’t exactly human. They didn’t take the stairs. The two just jumped out the door, flying through the air toward us.
Cassander’s long fur jacket blew out behind him and whooshed forward as he landed in a crouch. He stood, his attention on Godric, his silver eyes narrowed. “Are you going to let me in your home so we can talk about what happened today? Or are you going to continue to be an asshole, and make me wait on the lawn?”
Finn ran a hand through his white hair. “Cass, can you try to be halfway civil?”
Cassander snorted. “Go stick yourself with a blade, Finn. I am being civil right now.” Silver eyes turned to the man holding me close, waiting for an answer.
The rough waves lapped at the rocky shore.
“Cassander is the only one who knew the monsters were coming. It only makes sense to talk with him about it.” I tipped my head to the side and peered back. “Godric, why won’t you let him into your home?”
The other two looked away.
Godric raised one eyebrow. He answered simply, no inflection in his tone. “Because Cassander killed my mother. She was one of the six wrong pairings, and he chopped off her head when she asked him to do it.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
“Oh,” I whispered softly.
Cassander picked at his fur coat, not speaking.
“Well, I…” I cleared my throat, my voice too breathless from shock. I shook my head and aligned my thoughts. “Didn’t you tell me you value intelligence? No matter who it comes from? It might be a good time to heed your own words.”
Godric’s nostrils flared, staring down into my eyes. “I’ve changed my mind. Having a cunning mate is annoying.”
My red brows lifted. I waited.
Godric knew what the right call was.
The lion—the freaking lion—growled softly in his throat. Then he pierced the seer with a death glare. “I’ll let you inside. This one time.”
Cassander continued to mess with his coat, rumbling with a light tone, “How very kind of you, God. I’m so happy to accept your fine invitation into your home. I’m sure I’ll have the most wonderful time.”
It hit me then. I had thought it interesting before.
But only his friends called him by that nickname.
These two had been close once.
I glanced back and forth between them.
Their eyes shuttered all true
feelings as we started walking down the paved walk to the mansion on the water.
They had been friends. Perhaps the closest.
That was why they were in such pain.
One hid it with anger. The other with humor.
The four of us walked up the white marble stairs that opened to a massive marble porch. There were many cushioned, comfortable seats as if he had company over a lot. Potted trees were placed next to the seats for an interesting form of shade to use in the daytime sun. It brought a little of the forest to his home.
I stopped dead in my tracks and stared.
Then I laughed, holding my stomach. “Oh my goodness. You are so vain.”
Godric peered down his nose. “It’s expensive.”
“And that makes it any better?” I waved my hands in front of the enormous statue right next to his front door. “Is this what you look like when you shift?”
“Yes. Alaric crafted it for me.”
It was a lion. One big ass golden lion.
I knocked on it. “Wait. Is this real gold?”
“I said it was expensive.” He shrugged and unlocked his door, holding it open for us. His brows lowered in thought. “We should probably call the rest of the group. And my father.”
“Do we really need to bring your father into this?” Finn complained as he walked inside. “We can try to handle this on our own first.”
Cassander rolled his eyes and turned his body so he wasn’t close to his old friend as he slid inside. “The man is ancient. If anyone has any advice to give, it’ll be him.”
I still stared at the statue.
“Are you coming, Poppy?” Godric probed.
I shook my head at the waste of money on such a frivolous item and walked into his home. “I’m going to put a pink sparkly bow around that lion’s neck. That is how ridiculous that monstrosity is.”
“Touch it, and I’ll spank you.” Godric crossed his arms.
My eyes narrowed on his. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me.” His gaze ran over my features, and then he walked away through the gigantic foyer. Over his shoulder, he asked, “Where do we want to talk? Office or living room?”
My bracelet buzzed. I glanced down and read the readout. Oh, this will be fun. I cleared my throat, and stated, “Actually, I need to take this call first.”
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