Page 13 of All's Fair in Lion and War
He stood from the floor and breathed deeply. Her sweet spicy scent filled his lungs. “You’re my responsibility. You cannot leave.”
“Dalmeck!” Her tone was bitter and full of anger again. “What’s stopping me from walking out that door right this second. Are you going to tie me up too? I am—” She stopped herself from saying her name. Saying who she was…why?
That was the last straw.
The pain was too much.
The fear of losing her was too great.
He snarled and released his beast, shifting into his lion right there in the middle of the mostly dark cabin.
He bared his teeth and roared, enough to make her shrink into the couch, trembling and afraid. He would do anything to keep her safe even pretend to threaten her if that’s what was really necessary.
His beast stretched and then sat down behind the couch where she was huddled under the blanket he’d given her.
“This doesn’t change anything.” She eyed him from over the back of the couch. “I’m a lion too.”
He stared.
He licked his lips.
Stared some more.
Her light was beautiful. He would be able to stare at her for as long as he lived. It would be enough.
Her eyes flashed for a moment, her lion rising to the surface, but it didn’t last. The glitter faded.
Fear replaced it and Saul was saddened again. Her lion was no match for his and she knew it.
He’d done that to her.
He’d made her afraid of him.
And he still didn’t even know her name.
4
Lorelei
She was in a structure.
The clothes on her body didn’t belong to her.
The scent of another male—not her mate, not Tallix—filled the air around her. Where was she? Where was her mate? Why did she hurt? Why didn’t she remember what’d happened?
“Tallix?” Her voice sounded weak and unsure. That was unlike her. She was a queen. Why was she acting like a beaten servant? Unacceptable.
She sat up slowly and took in her surroundings. It was quiet. The structure looked like a dwelling. A warm fire burned in a strange metal contraption close by. She was laying on a bed of cushions.
And there was a lion.
A massive male lion was resting near the door of the dwelling.
The magick of thesoul callshined from him like pure moonlight. He was glowing. For her. But if this male was glowing, then it meant her husband, her mate, the love of her life was dead.
Invisible fingers wrapped themselves around her heart and squeezed until she couldn’t breathe. The pain was excruciating, like someone was pulling her apart from the inside. Her lungs seized up. Tears burned her eyes, blurring her vision. A desperate cry clawed its way up her throat, but she swallowed it back down, refusing to show weakness.
She was a queen.
