The Lion and the Unicorn (Lionsville Shifters Book 1)

by Dara Fraser

  Samantha sat up and looked around for a clock. Not finding one, she climbed out of bed and walked to the window, hoping the sun would give her an indication of how long she’d slept. Pulling back the curtain, warm sunlight hit her face. It looked like her nap had turned into an all-night snooze fest. Part of her wanted to scold herself for wasting the time, but her body hadn’t felt so strong in months. She’d clearly needed the sleep.

  The bedroom was on the back side of the house, and for the first time since she arrived, she took in the view. They were most likely on the side of a mountain and, unless her ears were deceiving her, they were a long way from anyone else’s home or a main road. There was a clearing with what looked like the remains of a small garden and behind it were trees. Glorious trees. They were in the woods, her most favorite place to be.

  Samantha opened the window and shifted partially so that her ears could hear better. Most shifters were in one form or the other but never both. Samantha had always been able to shift only her ears. Her mother told her it was an amazing gift. Being homeschooled for two months until she could learn how to control her “horse” ears had her disagreeing with her mom on that point. She had since embraced it and used it when she wanted to be more familiar with her surroundings.

  Her initial instincts were correct. They were, from her guestimate, a good mile from the closest road. She also heard a river in the distance. She would have to explore that soon. If Frank and Leo were right, she would be here awhile. Might as well get familiar with her surroundings.

  Samantha practically jumped out of her skin as the door behind her opened. She had been so focused on hearing things through the window that she missed the noises in her immediate surroundings.

  “Sorry,” Leo apologized. “I heard you up and thought you might like some coffee.”

  Coffee was good. She turned from the window to collect her bounty. Leo’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. Suck, she forgot to change her ears back.

  “Whoa, I didn’t know anyone could do that.” He walked toward her as her ears retracted. “Frank said you were powerful, but I thought because of the whole unicorn thing. Can you teach me how to do that?”

  Well that was not the reaction she had been expecting. Thinking she was a freak was on the list. Thinking she was a mutant was there as well. Being in awe, yeah, that one never crossed her radar.

  “Umm, I don’t know. Maybe?” Could she teach him? No one had ever even asked her how she did it, much less wanted to learn how. True, it was only her parents and a few cousins who knew but still. His reaction was…refreshing. “I could try I guess. It does come in handy.”

  “I would imagine so. How far can you hear that way?” He took a step forward with the coffee which she greedily accepted. “Wait, how did I sneak up on you?”

  She took the first sip of her coffee. It was magical. It even had the perfect amount of milk in it. “Frank?”

  “Frank had me sneaking up on you?” His bewildered expression was priceless.

  “No, Frank told you about my coffee?” She took another sip. “It’s perfect.”

  “Oh that, naw. That was pure luck. You liked your iced tea unsweetened, so I figured no sugar, and it was hot, so I figured milk.”

  It was adorable how much thought he put into deciding on her coffee. She took another sip, which turned into a chug. She was worse than a college kid at a frat party with their red cups.

  “So you used reasoning. I like it.”

  He reached for the now-empty cup and she handed it to him. His hand brushed hers and she wanted it to come back and stay. She wished she had a girl to talk about this darn mating stuff because if a brush of his hand had her feeling all squishy, she knew she was in over her head.

  “And…”

  “Oh. Right.” She had let the brush of his hand distract her. This could be very, very bad. “When my ears are out, I can hear about a mile all around, but I can hear farther if I focus them on a specific direction. My guess is I heard about two miles out back. That is where the river is, right?”

  “It is. You heard the river.” Amazement filled his voice.

  “Yeah, but that is why I missed you coming in with yummy coffee.” He smiled at her appraisal of his coffee-making prowess. “Don’t lions have amazing hearing?” They were the best predators, so it seemed to fit that they could hear well.

  “Yes and no.” He walked toward the door and she found herself willing him to stay. This mating pull was getting out of hand. “When I am in lion form, I can hear the tiniest rustle in the grass but only for short distances. That is why we are such good predators. I could never hear two miles away though. That is impressive.”

  He stopped when they reached the open door. “I’m going to make us some breakfast. I left you new clothes and a towel in the bathroom. I figure we can drive into town today and get you some girl clothes.” He seemed to think of everything. “I would have picked some up before you arrived but I would have been guessing on sizes…and me buying clothes for a woman probably would have seemed weird to the clan and started unnecessary gossip.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate that.” She tapped the side of her mug absentmindedly. “You keep calling your pride a clan. Why is that?”

  “That is a pretty new change, past few decades, I would say.” He looked like he was going to take a step toward her but stopped himself. “Pride is still used by some of the elders, but for the most part we say clan because we are no longer a pride of only lions. There are lions, wolves, a dragon, a few panthers, and various others. Soon, I hope we’ll add a unicorn.” That had her blushing.

  “Oh.” Samantha was not sure how to respond. She hadn’t even grown up in a herd, so the possibility of being part of a clan was both foreign and exciting.

  “I’m going to make breakfast.”

  She loved how he let her “oh” response be the end of it. He must have seen her blush. Who was she kidding? Of course he did, she could still feel her face burning.

  “Thanks.” She walked to meet him and placed her hand on his arm. “You really don’t have to go through all this trouble of cooking and going to town and such. Unless...well, unless me wearing your clothes is a bother.”

  “A bother, no. I actually prefer it.”

  She did, too, truth be told. It made her feel safe. This mating stuff was ridiculous.

  “But they don’t really fit and if we are going to find a new peace or whatever my uncle saw for us, you should probably have clothes that don’t fall off of you.”

  With that he walked away. All she kept thinking about as she showered and changed was his comment about her clothes falling off. Darn mating crap. Stronger by the second. She needed to figure it all out and soon.

  Chapter Four

  Any man who makes bacon and coffee is a keeper

  The smell of bacon hit her the second she opened the bathroom door. The grilled cheese sandwich yesterday had been amazing, and she only hoped his bacon skills were just as strong. There was an art to bacon that not many people mastered, but from the smell of it, he was one of the few.

  She was greeted by a huge smile, a plate of bacon, a platter of eggs, and more coffee when she arrived in the kitchen. The only thing missing were biscuits. A timer went off and he opened the oven and pulled out a tray of biscuits. It was official; this lion was the best host on the planet. His jean-clad rear end bending over to grab the biscuits wasn’t too shabby, either.

  “I wasn’t sure all what to make, so I stuck with the basics.” He placed the biscuits on the table and motioned for her to sit. “Well, mostly the basics. I was out of toast so I made some biscuits.”

  “They smell amazing.” Her mouth was watering. She couldn’t wait to dive in.

  “They’re from a mix, so don’t get too impressed.” Biscuits from a mix rivaled any she’d ever had homemade, much to the chagrin of her grandmother. “I can whip up more of any of this if you want more…or I have cereal.”

  She looked at the feast set before her. “I am
sure this is plenty.” There was enough food here for a family of five, easily.

  “I’m a lion.” Ahhh, there was that. “So, as I said, I can make more of any of it.”

  She dug in, all sense of ladylike behavior gone. If fate really sent him for her, he might as well see the full package. Mating was not like dating. There was actually no dating to it. In fact, from what she had heard as a teen, most couples would have completed the mating ritual by now. After all, it was fate. She really wished she had paid more attention to the mating stuff back then.

  It was hard to believe that it had been so many years since she had been surrounded by such silly gossip; since she’d lost her family and gone on the run. While the hurt was still there, it was a hum beneath everything and not the only thing she thought about anymore. Then things like this would happen and bring it all to the forefront. She should know about mating. It was one of those talks you had with your mom.

  “Why are you so sad? Did I do something?” Leo’s voice was low and filled with compassion.

  “Yeah…” His eyes fell. “I mean, no you did nothing wrong. I was just thinking about how much of nothing I know about the whole mating thing and that got me thinking back to when I had a family, so yeah…sad…but not at all your fault.” Samantha felt like a bumbling fool, a whiny bumbling fool at that. “Breakfast is really good.” Samantha knew that wouldn’t save the conversation, but she was hoping it would at least alter the direction.

  “Sorry, this must be really hard for you. Frank told me you were all alone. He never shared it all with me, so if I say the wrong thing or bring up the wrong memory, it is out of ignorance, not anything else.”

  He stirred his coffee, which was black and needed no stirring. She was making him nervous.

  “I guess I did kind of think you knew. You seem to know so much more about all this than me. All I know is to run.” He looked at her, still stirring the coffee. “I would never think you were triggering memories on purpose. You don’t seem that type of guy, and from the stories I was told as a kid, fate might be fickle and have a sense of humor, but she doesn’t make mistakes.” That earned her a smile. Was he worried about rejection?

  “Yeah, I heard that about her, too.” He placed the spoon on the table and reached across to grab her hand. “We’ll figure this all out. I thought…well, I assumed this whole mate thing would be like…different maybe? Like we would both meet and everything would be right with the world.”

  She squeezed his hand in reassurance. He was just as nervous as she was in all of this, and they hadn’t even gotten to the people-trying-to-kill-her thing yet.

  “My sister has a mate. Maybe… I mean if you want…” His poor sister was being offered up as the advice guru in the weirdest mating known to parakind. “She’s nice.”

  “Yeah.” She knew it was putting everyone into awkwardville, but she needed some info. “I mean, if you think she would be all right with that. I don’t mean to drag any more people into my mess.” Wasn’t that the truth.

  “She’d be happy to. Seeing as you’re my mate and all, she would be upset if I didn’t offer. Besides, she’s bored out of her skull waiting for her cubs. Let’s just say her mate is a bit…overprotective and might not be so willing to let her do…anything. She is the epitome of a housewife who sits home eating bonbons. Although she reads books instead of eating bonbons. Silly lion thinks that doing dishes could hurt the babies.”

  She laughed at that. It was funny only because it wasn’t her. Not the cubs part. One day she was all about a big family, but not the not being able to even do dishes part. Men could be so over the top sometimes.

  “You know you didn’t ‘drag’ anyone into your mess.” All silliness was gone from his voice and his face. “Frank dragged you in. He could’ve let you continue to run. He chose not to. He liked this outcome better, and we should honor that.”

  Leo grabbed her coffee cup, which was still half full, and walked to the percolator on the counter. He was giving her time to process all he had just said. He might say he didn’t understand this mating thing and he probably believed it, but from where she was sitting, he was nailing it. She held in a giggle from her choice of words. Goodness, she had the humor of a twelve-year-old boy.

  “Does the giggle mean you are feeling better about things?” He placed her warmed-up cup of coffee in front of her then bent down and kissed the top of her head before returning to his seat, as if nothing had just happened. Technically, it hadn’t. A peck on the top of your head was nothing, but somehow her body didn’t agree with that assessment and let out the flock of birds currently residing in her belly.

  “I’ll call my sister when we are in town.”

  Samantha only half listened. Her mind was on that chaste little kiss that was nowhere near her lips and not at all smexy yet somehow had all of her senses tingling. She was in trouble.

  “So does that sound like a plan?”

  “What plan?”

  He all-out laughed. Busted.

  “I was thinking, we go to town, buy clothes that fit you, call my sister, and bring her pie to butter her up before interrogating her on this mating thing.”

  “That sounds like the perfect plan.” She grabbed another biscuit and began to construct a bacon sandwich. “How far is town, and what story do we tell people?” There was so much thought that went into even the simplest of errands. What she would do for a normal life with a stable home and no one trying to kill her.

  “We tell them the truth.”

  She didn’t like the sound of that. ‘Let me introduce you to my fated mate, Samantha, who is about to bring the Theron upon us.’

  “Won’t they…you know…hate me?”

  “They have been waiting for me to find my mate since I took over the clan.” His face lit up. “They will be thrilled I’ve found such a beautiful and intelligent mate.”

  “But I’m a unicorn and the Theron are after me.” He must be in more of a mating fog than she was if he thought that was something anyone wanted to hear.

  “The Theron are after all of us, so don’t even begin that crap.” He was giving her his alpha voice and goodness help her, she liked it. “You being a unicorn will peak some curiosity, sure, but only because of the legend, not because of prejudice or anything.”

  “Legend?” The only thing she could remember was a silly old nursery rhyme. “Surely, not the one about the crown?”

  “No.” He shook his head and chuckled. “Can you imagine being fated to chase each other throughout town and then beg townsfolk for bread?”

  “I do like bread,” she mused.

  “As do I, but we are not part of a British nursery rhyme.” He started to stack their plates, and for a moment she thought this would be another one of his unanswered questions. “This goes back much further than that.”

  He got up with the dishes in hand and walked to the sink. Samantha appreciated the way he thought through things before speaking, but she really wanted answers. In the hopes of speeding things along, she helped clear the table.

  “Okay, so are you still thinking about your word choices, or are you ready to share?”

  “You know, no one else gets to call me on my crap.” He put his arm around her shoulder, leading her to the back deck.

  She smiled at the thought of being the only one to be able to talk freely with him like this. Having never been part of a clan or any pack-like group, she hadn’t taken that into consideration. He was the big cheese and was to be obeyed, honored, and blah, blah, blah. Fate sure had a sense of humor sending her because she was not that girl to submit.

  “You don’t mind?” He seemed to almost like it, but the insecure girl part of her wanted to be sure.

  “Not at all.” They reached the railing at the edge of the deck. The view was spectacular. “It is kind of nice. So to answer your question…” He took her hand and she almost forgot the question she asked in the first place. “This goes back to before written nursery rhymes. The lion and the unicorn is a story
we were all told as kids in the clan.”

  She tried to think back to the stories she heard as a child. Did her mom even know this tale? Did her mom know it had something to do with her future like the stories of the Theron? Samantha wanted to kick herself. Why hadn’t she paid more attention?

  “The lion is the sun and he is in love with the unicorn and constantly chases her around but never catches her.” A memory of the story was starting to come back to her.

  “The unicorn is the moon,” she stated, vaguely remembering. He rubbed his thumb on the back of her hand. That was not helping her focus on the story. Not one bit.

  “The sun can never seem to catch her no matter how hard he tries, and the unicorn finds this funny. In fact, she even hides while the lion is chasing her.”

  “The new moon, right?” This sounded like more astronomy lore than a prophecy.

  “Yes, but sometimes, just for fun, the unicorn pretends to allow herself to be caught by the lion and there is lunar eclipse, and sometimes the lion let’s himself be caught by the unicorn and there is a solar eclipse.” She found herself leaning into him as he told his story. This mating stuff was odder than the story.

  “So basically this is why we get eclipses.” All cultures had these kinds of stories in their lore. Not much special there. “How is that about us? The sun and moon have been going around for...well since always.”

  He turned to face her and used their connected hands to direct her to do the same. “Exactly, but then there was the time that the lion and the unicorn caught each other.” His eye, alit with mischief, leaving the intention of his innuendo clear. Men.

  “And what happened then?” She leaned in closer to him and found herself biting her lip like some pathetic girl in a romantic comedy.