Page 13 of Her Lion Lover

Only then did she dare open the fridge, to see what state that was in.

Empty. Not even a bottle of soy sauce inside. The freezer was the same.

Maybe her stepmother and stepsisters were away on holiday, and they'd told the cleaner not to come until they got back. That didn't explain why there were so many dishes, but that was a mystery she could solve tomorrow. In between doing the laundry, as the fine weather forecast for tomorrow meant she could line dry the dust sheets and keep the dryer for her clothes and the mountain of cleaning cloths she'd used in the kitchen.

"What are you doing here?"

Lily turned around. Evidently her stepsisters weren't on holiday, which might explain the mess. "Wondering why you haven't done any dishes," she said.

Courteney – or was it Chloe? The girls were identical twins, so they were hard to tell apart on the best of days – shrugged and spread her hands wide, flashing her talon-like nails. "I can't wreck my new manicure, and you know dishwashing is terrible on nails. My followers would never forgive me if I ruined this before they could see it. I have to go do a new video right away!" Courteney – for it had to be her, as she was the one who claimed to be a nail art influencer – took off before Lily could say anything else.

Chloe sauntered in, sniffing and screwing her face up. "What is that smell?"

"Detergent and disinfectant," Lily said drily. Funny that the rotten food smells hadn't disgusted her as much as the cleaning chemicals.

"Ugh. Can't you use natural products? I have a reputation as a healthy lifestyle influencer to maintain." She brandished a bag of what looked like takeaway food. "Get out of my way. I need to plate these up and take pictures before they get cold."

Well, that explained all the dirty dishes. Lily wondered what Chloe would have done if she hadn't cleaned the kitchen.

"Don't forget to load the dirty plates into the dishwasher when you're done," Lily said as she left.

Chloe just made a rude noise. She probably didn't even know how to open the dishwasher, let alone load it. Lily couldn't remember either of the girls knowing how to cook when she'd left for school, either. Or her stepmother.

Lily added grocery shopping to her list of things to do tomorrow. Brenda had given her a bag of apples and some sandwiches to take home with her – all the staff were taking things, to stop them from spoiling or getting thrown out, so she hadn't felt bad about taking them – so she'd be able to stretch those into dinner and breakfast, but tomorrow she'd need to get supplies.

One thing was certain: she had no intention of surviving on Chloe's leftovers for even a single day. Who knew what sort of fad diet she was showcasing this week?

Come to think of it, Lily didn't want to know. So she headed up to bed.

SEVENTEEN

It was late afternoon by the time Leo finally woke, and he seriously considered going back to sleep. Of course, the beast part of him would sleep all day if it could, but Leo knew he had work to do. A true CEO never really got a day off, even when he was on holidays.

Yet another reason he might not be cut out for running the company the way his dad had.

But he couldn't leave it to Uncle Jeremy, either.

That problem could wait until tomorrow, though. First, he was going to indulge himself and go find his fated mate. He'd set the shoes on top of the desk, where he couldn't possibly miss them, and he'd head up to Mirror Academy as soon as he'd showered and dressed. She'd be waiting for him, he was sure of it, as eager to see him again as he was to dance with her. And more...

The sun was already setting by the time he reached the gates to the Academy. High stone walls surrounded the property, too high for even him to leap over. And perched on top of the gates...

Leo swore. Of all the supernatural creatures, he hated gargoyles the most. Oh, dragons could best him in battle, but at least they were flesh and blood. Gargoyles were made of living stone, and every bite was like crunching gravel.

"If you're here to enrol, you're too late. Come back next year, when you're done transitioning. You'll have a better chance then," advised the gargoyle perched on the gatepost.

"Transitioning? Huh?" Another one landed on the wall, beside a third.

Number Three hissed, "Are you still stuck in the dark ages? He's talking about gender transitioning. Going from being a boy to a girl, because only girls can study at Mirror Academy." He whacked his friend across the back of the head.

Of course, the blow wouldn't hurt a gargoyle. He just rubbed the back of his head and said, "You can do that? Why would anyone do that just to come here?"

"To find their mate, of course!" Number Three snapped. "Idiot." He addressed Leo, "That's what you want, isn't it? It's all anyone wants from this place. Not an education. Just their magically fated mate."

Leo nodded. "I'm looking for a student. She was at the ball at Tremotino Castle last night. She left her shoes." He grabbed them from the passenger seat and brandished them.

The first one shook his head. "You won't find her here. All the students have been sent home. Some dragon kidnapped a girl. The second one in a row. Wish he'd come here so we could show him what for. No dragon's a match for the three of us." He turned to his friends. "You remember that dragon who was here a few days ago? We saw him off the premises quick smart, we did. No dragon's getting over these walls with us on guard!" He puffed up his chest and spread his wings in what was probably an impressive display among gargoyles.

Leo wouldn't know. He avoided the unnatural creatures as much as possible. Unlike shifters, gargoyles were created with blood magic, stealing them from the very brink of death. Or maybe even after. He'd heard stories...

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