by Dara Fraser
“So, Samantha.” Zara pulled her from her drooling stare. “I have absolutely no idea what you do or don’t know about lions and mating, but seeing how competently you just stoked my brother’s pride, I am guessing you know at least a little bit.”
She had thought she had been cleverer than that. At least Leo hadn’t seemed to notice.
“Actually, I know jack spit. I just could see how the whole idea of hunting for us seemed to make them prance around like peacocks and figured it was a predator thing.”
“It is, mostly, but also a mate thing. They feel the need to provide for us and protect us, which is why I let Dylan think I do nothing all day but grow cubs.” Zara leaned in closer. “I actually have a whole online business setting up websites.” The two of them really were made for each other.
“So, tell me what do you want or need to know, and we shall start there.”
Well that was the question, wasn’t it?
“I’m not really sure what I don’t know, so here are the things I do know and the things I have questions on so far. I know mates are fated and that we only get one. I know the stupid mating call is riding me hard and making me lose focus on all things other than him. I know most mates find each other and boom, they mate, but we have this whole prophecy thing so…yeah.” She took a deep breath and prepared for the embarrassing questions burning a hole in her brain. “What does this biting thing entail? What will change after we mate? How does this whole clan thing work? Will I have cubs or foals? And if you know anything at all about this lion and unicorn thing, please help a girl out. I feel so in the dark.”
“So basically…you need me to tell you all the things.” Zara said it as if it were the best thing she had heard all week.
“That about sums it up.”
“Let’s get to the kitchen, then. I’m thinking you will need a lot of iced tea to get through this, and by you, I mean I will deny having more than a few sips, so don’t even think about ratting me out.” Dylan and Zara were so the perfect match.
Samantha followed a waddling Zara.
“When are you due?” From the look of her, she was past due, but since everyone kept mentioning cubs, plural, Samantha figured she had a ways to go.
“About three and a half months, four if I go full term.”
“Holy crap, how many are there?” Samantha wanted to take it back, but it was too late. She figured maybe a month tops, almost four was insane.
“I like you.” At least Zara wasn’t mad. “The midwife thinks three. Frank thought five, though, so who knows?”
“My money’s on Frank.” How on this green earth could anyone raise five cubs at once?
“Yeah, mine, too. Good thing the clan mothers all help when the cubs are born. Can you imagine?”
Samantha just shook her head. She could, in fact, not even begin to fathom five at once. “Unicorns are usually singles.”
“Chances are that even if you have cubs, they will be singles, too, then.” What a relief that was. Not that she had even formally mated yet. “That stuff seems to lean towards the mom from what I have seen. One of the benefits of clan verses pride living. We live with all kinds of people and mating pairs. You are our first unicorn, though, so much of what I say will be guessing or from stories.”
“Understood.”
Zara poured two teas, drank one down completely, and refilled it before passing one to Samantha. She took a sip and almost spit it out. Sweet tea. Not what she was expecting.
“You’re perfect for my brother,” Zara teased as she snagged the tea back and guzzled it down. “He doesn’t understand how amazing this is, either. I’ll grab you some water, but my story is still that you drank it all.”
“Good luck with that.” She reached for the cup Zara offered and drank away the last of the syrup water Zara had named tea. “I won’t offer you up, but there is no way Leo will believe I drank that.”
“Fair enough.” Zara sat at the kitchen table and Samantha chose the seat across from her. “So we shall start with the biting because that is the one conversation I think would be best my brother doesn’t actually overhear.”
“He mentioned biting after kissing, so I’m guessing you’re right on that one.”
“So, mating one oh one…” Zara held up a finger as she shared each step. “Fate gives lion a mate, lion gets down and dirty with said mate and bites her, forever bond is formed, they live happily ever after.”
“That sounds kind of too easy.” Not that she wanted it to be super complicated, but there had to be more to it. Right?
“There’s a bit more but not much.” Zara got up and poured another cup of tea. Samantha could only imagine the sugar rush Zara must be on by this point. “So my brother and you found each other and you both feel the mating call, right?”
“Right.”
“So for lions and the other shifters I know, once that happens, the need to bite starts to take hold. Mind you, I only know mated shifters who are predators in animal form, so I have no idea how it works for unicorns.” Zara leaned in close. “Do you want to bite my brother?”
“I don’t think so. I mean when we kissed, it was all I could do to stop, but I don’t remember wanting to bite.” Zara looked at her with what was almost sympathy. “Is that bad?”
“Bad? No, but it means I am not altogether sure how you will form the bond. For Dylan and me, once we both bit, the bond was formed, but we are both lions.” Zara stopped talking but looked like she had more to say, so Samantha just waited. “You are both part of something greater than just a mating, so my guess is whatever happens, it will be amazing.”
“Maybe, but I still don’t get that part, either.” Samantha finished her water, waiting for Zara to add some clarification, but the silence started to drive her batty. “So I know we catch each other and I guess that means mating, but then somehow we disappear as the sun and moon both eclipse, and then boom, life is happy? It is all too much to wrap my mind around.”
“My brother is an ass.”
“What?” Samantha had seen him be a lot of things and with the exception of the way he tormented Dylan for fun, there was no ass unto it.
“Come with me. I want to show you the lore. He either forgot the story, or he completely missed the point.”
Samantha followed Zara to what turned out to be the future nursery. After counting the cribs, it became clear they were betting on Frank also. Zara grabbed a book from the shelf and handed it to Samantha. It was a picture book titled The Lion and the Unicorn.
“Give this a read. The story has been passed down for generations and somewhere along the line it became a book.” Zara gave her a wink.
Samantha looked more carefully at the book. The illustration on the cover was gorgeous and looked like it started as an oil painting. The author: Sybil Sampson.
“Sampson? Like Leo Sampson?”
“Yes, our grandmother. I believe you met her.”
“She never told me her name. She wrote this?” Samantha began to turn the pages, each painting more beautiful than the next.
“Hardly. This is the story as it was passed down through generations. Well after the editor made it ‘flow’ better.” Zara reached over and pointed to a house in the background of the painting the book was currently opened to.
“She painted these? That’s Leo’s house.”
“It was hers then, but yes, she painted it. Have you seen it before? Did your mom read it to you?” Samantha searched her memory banks. There had been many stories, but she was confident that if this had been one of them, she would have remembered the paintings. They were magical.
“I don’t think so. I wasn’t the best listener when it was story time, but I would have remembered the pictures.” Story time was part of all shifter childhoods, a way to keep the lore alive. Samantha wished she had paid more attention back then. She missed so much.
“Well then, read the book while I go take care of business and I’ll be right back.”
Zara waddled away mumbli
ng about it not being fair that being pregnant meant always having to pee. After that much iced tea, Samantha doubted that being pregnant was the primary factor.
Samantha sat on one of the five rocking chairs in the room and began to read the story. She would have to ask Leo why each baby had their own rocking chair. There had to be a story there.
The book was much like Leo had told her. Lion chases the unicorn and vice versa. New moons, eclipses, yada yada. And then she got to the part where they disappear and the world finds new peace. The eclipses happen the same day, but the part that he didn’t realize or at least mention is that the lion and the unicorn didn’t disappear, they slept. That made no sense. How does falling asleep save the world or end the Theron’s power or whatever it was supposed to do?
“I see you found it.” Zara was back and Samantha nodded, never taking her eyes from the page. They were asleep, but from the looks of it, they were not in a bed, they were under the eclipse. Did they die? She turned the page, hoping for more and found them still on the ground. She kept flipping through pages, missing the words entirely, just hoping to see the lion and the unicorn once again chasing each other.
“Samantha. Samantha, look at me.” Zara’s voice was all business. Samantha looked to her new friend or was it sister-in-law? Zara was now squatting in front of Samantha. “It’s not what you think. You didn’t even read the words once you saw them on the forest floor, did you?”
Samantha shook her head.
“The lion and the unicorn leave this world for a little bit, taking the Theron with them.”
“Oh.” In all of her ‘reading,’ Samantha had failed to pay attention to the actual words. They leave for a bit. “So we come back.”
“Yes, you come back, but you leave the Theron wherever you go. At least their powers anyways.”
“Where do we go?” Samantha was more confused than ever.
“Right now, we go back to the couch because I’m far too pregnant to be sitting like this.” Zara grabbed onto the rocking chair and pushed herself up. Thank goodness Samantha realized what Zara was doing in time to stabilize the chair. She had been so distracted by the darn book that she let a very pregnant woman squat beside her. She should kick her own backside for that. “As to where you and Leo will go? No one knows, but Frank says it all works out, so I’m not worried.”
Zara was waddling away before Samantha could comment. That girl could move for someone as large as she was at the moment. Good thing, since she still had months to go.
Chapter Eight
Bite Me, Maybe
Girl talk was clearly over. As she turned the corner, Samantha almost ran into Dylan who was holding the nearly empty iced tea pitcher, looking none too pleased. Zara stood in front of him, feigning innocence.
Samantha felt Leo come up behind her. It felt nice to have that connection already.
“This is going to be fun,” he whispered in her ear.
“I thought you weren’t going to drink so much of this stuff while you were carrying our cubs.” Dylan’s voice was hurt more than angry, and that took Samantha aback.
“We had company. It’s not like I drank it all?” Samantha sent a silent plea that they wouldn’t ask how much she actually drank. She was fairly sure one near-vomit-inducing sip wouldn’t amount to Zara not having overindulged according to anyone’s barometer. “Besides, it’s decaf.”
“Hey, Leo, does Samantha drink your tea?” Well, at least she wasn’t going to be the one helping Dylan.
“She loves it.” Leo’s voice told her he knew exactly what he was doing to his poor sister. Not that she couldn’t handle this on her own.
“Thanks, that’s what I thought.” Dylan turned toward his mate. “Zara, when you are up all night with dancing cubs on a sugar high, don’t come whining to me, asking me to play rummy.”
“But what if I want to play more than cards?” Zara’s voice was a bit deep.
Samantha turned to Leo. “Wanna leave?”
“Hell yeah.” Leo grabbed her hand and started them in the direction of the front door.
“Bye, guys,” they yelled back in unison and shut the door behind them, laughter following them. Zara and her mate apparently found the whole scene hilarious.
“Let’s go home.”
She liked the way that sounded rolling off of his tongue. Home. It felt right. She hadn’t had a home in so long.
“Let’s.” Samantha grabbed his hand. “So tell me, how was the hunt?”
“It was fun. I haven’t been hunting with Dylan in quite a while. He’s almost as skilled as I am.”
“Oh really, Mr. Modest?”
“Really. All together, we got two turkeys and four rabbits.” They got to the SUV and he opened the door for her. “I thought maybe we might as well have enough for a decent-sized stew.”
“Confession time. I’ve never actually cured a rabbit hide before.”
His look told her that was no news to him.
“I saw it at one of those living historical museums once and I figure I could find the method online.”
She climbed in and he closed the door behind her with a smirk. She hadn’t been as sly as she had thought. But when Leo climbed in, the smirk was gone. His face was a bit too serious, or was it worried?
“So did you learn everything you wanted to learn?”
“I learned that your sister and her mate pretty much live to annoy each other, you want to bite me but I might not bite you back, and that may mean we never bond…” She hadn’t fully realized the impact of that conversation until that very moment.
“Fate doesn’t work that way.” Leo started the car as if to indicate that that was not up for discussion, but she wasn’t quite ready to let it go.
“And Frank wouldn’t have had me come here if that was the case.”
“Exactly. So, Mate, what else did you learn?”
“Not really that much. We are going to disappear, but all will be good, and your sister likes to guzzle syrup in the guise of iced tea.”
“That she does. Nasty stuff.” They turned onto the dirt road, if it could be called a road. “Last time she drank that stuff, Dylan was a zombie the whole next day at work. My sister decided that she wanted to play board games all night.”
Samantha doubted that was going to be how they spent the night tonight.
“I forgot, she did say we will probably only have one kiddo at a time because I am a unicorn, so no five cribs for us. Can you imagine?” After the words came out, she realized what can of worms she just opened. Welcome to Awkwardville.
“I was guessing that.” Okay, maybe not so awkward. “Usually it goes by the type of shifter the mom is.”
They drove in silence for a few minutes. She was considered by many to be of the most magical of all shifters, yet she knew so little about them. Her parent’s desire to be “normal” and live among humans put her at such a disadvantage right now. Not that she’d had an unhappy childhood, but she definitely missed out on all the facts.
“Are you sad about that?” Leo’s hand rested on her knee; the warmth of it traveling through her whole body.
“Sad about not having five at a time like your sister? Ummm, that would be a no. I can’t even imagine.”
“Neither can she? Did you see she got a different rocking chair for each baby so they would each feel special? She kind of missed the memo that they will all feel special because she and Dylan will love them more than anything and not because they got to sit in a special chair as a newborn.”
“Wait, are you two twins?”
“Twins? No. We’re triplets, but our third lives in Alaska with her mate and their eight cubs.” Eight. That was just insane.
“I think we should pass on the eight-cub thing.” She said it in jest, but there was no way she could fathom having eight babies, one at a time or any other way.
“Frank said we will have five, so no worries there.”
“What?” Frank had been a little too free with his info to Leo and a whole
lot stingy when it came to her. “Five? For real.”
“Naw, I was just messing with you. Frank was really careful with his information. He said he never wanted to change how we live our life because we were afraid of or excited for something he predicted.”
Phew, in so many ways. Knowing the future could easily be a curse as much as it is a blessing. People seemed to forget that. They want to change all of the negative things and forget that sometimes horrible things will happen no matter what you do.
“I only said five because I always wanted five cubs.” He squeezed her knee. “Not that that means we have to have five.” Maybe a short trip to Awkwardville was still in the cards.
“I hadn’t thought far enough ahead as to have a specific number in mind.” His hand stiffened on her leg. “As a kid, I told my mom I wanted a dozen, like in those books, but now, I’m thinking five sounds not too bad. Not five at once though. Your sister is going to have her hands full.”
Samantha glanced out the window. Things were starting to look familiar. They must be getting close to home. Home. She was falling in love with that word.
“She sure will. The older women of the town will be all about helping her when the babies come, but once they get mobile, whoa nelly.”
Samantha pictured five little stubborn toddlers going toe-to-toe with Zara. Yeah, that was going to be interesting, for certain sure. She let a giggle escape at that thought, and Leo immediately pulled the vehicle over.
“What’s wrong?” Oddly she saw a picture of a picnic table with a squirrel on top of it, enjoying a sandwich. It was a ridiculous scene and not at all related to anything they were discussing. She gasped. “Wait, the squirrel?”
“Yes, eating a sandwich.” He turned the car back onto the road. “You saw. I sent you a picture from my favorite book as a child and you saw. ”
“I did. You sent it?”
“I did. I wasn’t sure it would work, but we were close and you were distracted, so it felt like the perfect time. Then you started giggling and I knew you saw it or at least I hoped.”