Page 24 of Her Lion Lover

How she was here, how she'd found him, he did not know...he was supposed to be the hunter, on his private lands that were spelled to keep out intruders.

Then she turned around, and he knew.

Lily.

She'd been his mate all along.

He roared in triumph.

Lily stilled. She turned, and met his heated gaze.

He expected her to run. After all, wasn't that what any normal human would do, faced with a beast of his size and ferocity?

But Lily was no ordinary human. She was his mate, the one human he was allowed to reveal his secrets to.

Leo padded forward.

Lily held out her hand, like she might to a housecat, so that he could sniff it.

Her scent was unmistakeable. He scented her, then licked her hand. He wanted to taste all of her, but not in this form. No, to do what he wanted, he needed to shift back into a man.

THIRTY

The roar was loud enough to hear over the music, and Lily's heart stopped for a moment, waiting for her brain to catch up. The only time she'd heard a roar like that had been at the zoo, a long time ago, and while Leo had said there were wild animals in these woods, he hadn't mentioned...

A lion.

A massive lion who stood as high as her shoulder, with a mane she wanted to sink her fingers into and stroke, to see if he was really as soft as he looked.

The rest of him didn't look soft at all. The powerful predator could take her down in one swipe of his enormous paw. He'd be on her in one bound, he was that close, so she knew it was far too late to run. Even climbing a tree was pointless, as she suspected the big cat was better at that than she would ever be.

If she was going to die, then she refused to go out cowering in fear. Nope. She was going to find out what that mane felt like, even if it was the last thing she did.

Lily stretched out her hand.

And the lion came to her. Like he wasn't a ravenous beast, but he was just as curious as she was.

This had to be the lion she'd seen at Tremotino Castle. Lions were hardly a species native to Scotland. The real question was...how had he followed her here?

His mane was rougher than she expected, like her own hair after she'd been swimming in the sea, before she washed out the salt. His fur was softer, more like velvet, but still resistant, like she was rubbing him the wrong way.

He licked her hand with his scratchy tongue, and she held her breath. Her stepmother had owned a cat when she'd first moved in with Dad, and licking was always followed by savage biting. Was this a precursor to the moment when he'd bite her hand off, or worse?

At least she could say she'd spent her last moments patting a real, live lion. If there was an afterlife, that was definitely something to tell her parents, if she'd be seeing them very soon. Lily close her eyes. She'd accept death now, if it came at the point of those enormous paws or fangs, but that didn't mean she had to watch him attack.

She felt his hot breath on her face. "Just do it," she grumbled, before she actually caught a whiff of that breath. She expected rancid meat, or fish, like her stepmother's cat. But he smelled incongruously like fresh brewed coffee. That couldn't be right. Caffeine wasn't good for cats.

Lily forced her eyes open.

The lion was gone, and in front of her, stark naked, crouched... "Leo? What the hell?"

He rose to his feet, not even bothering to hide...oh, hell, he was huge. And definitely turned on. Definitely not gay. She raised her gaze to his face, so she wasn't looking at his...weapon, only to find herself caught in his unblinking, burning desire.

Desire that seemed to burn her from the inside out, completely ignoring the fact that she'd almost died and the lion couldn't be far away. She should be thinking about running to somewhere she could barricade herself inside, before the lion returned, instead of climbing her boss like a tree and rubbing herself against him like a cat marking its territory.

He grinned. "You're my fated mate. I didn't know for sure until I scented you again, but now I'm certain. I'm going to shred that prenup the moment we get back to the house. But first...we have a marriage to consummate." He advanced, backing her up until her back hit a tree trunk. Then his lips claimed hers and Lily lost the ability to think.

That hard body pressed against hers. Hot and hard and...why was she still wearing clothes? She'd never wanted a man more in her life. One who was obviously ready for her...

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