Page 64 of Lion Conquers All
“Or they’ll eat me, I suppose.”
“I’ve told Col he’s not allowed to consume people, but if it comes down to protecting my family, my children, then yes. That option will be put on the table.” Naomi strolled into the room from the kitchen where she’d been standing out of the way. She sipped on the coffee mug in her hand like Liam and whoever-he-was hadn’t had a bar brawl in her living room.
The stranger whirled to face her. “Who’s this lovely piece of—”
Here we go again.
Before she could take her next breath, Connie had Naomi’s mug in her hand and the tiny woman had the stranger bent at the waist and pinned to the wall with one hand wrapped around his neck. He didn’t try to hit her or fight. His face was turning red from the lack of oxygen, but his eyes were wide with shock like he couldn’t believe what’d happened.
Honestly, no one looking at Naomi would’ve expected that.
Liam stood to the side, arms crossed, satisfied smirk on his face. “Ye were saying? Eejit.”
“You are inmyhome. You attacked one ofmyfamily. You owe me your life. All of it. Every breath you take from here on out is mine. Are we clear?”
Who was Col? Nobody compared to a pissed-off-Naomi.
Connie swallowed as silently as possible. She’d never seen Naomi like this before and she never wanted to again. But it made sense. And Naomi was so much more than the stereotypicalmother of dragonsGoT t-shirts she wore all the time as an inside joke.
The man kept his mouth shut and nodded his head, agreeing to her terms.
Naomi released his neck with an annoyed huff and walked back across the room to Connie, retrieved her coffee mug and started drinking it again. “Liam would you care to introduce your acquaintance. Especially since he now owes me a life debt, I feel like I should know what to call him.”
“What the damn hell?” Sarah spoke from her spot on the edge of the room near the wall of windows. She’d been silent this whole time. “How did you do that?”
“Sarah.” Connie hissed out the woman’s name and shook her head to try and shush her. Now was not the time to ask more questions.
Naomi ignored Sarah and kept her gaze glued to the newcomer. She wasn’t letting him off the hook. Not for a second.
“This is my cousin, Sean. I’m sorry, I will take full responsibility, please—”
“He’s living in Mystery?” Naomi turned her gaze to Liam.
“Aye, he’s only been here a few days. Moved in with me. He grew up here though. I thought he’d come back after they called everyone down. He texted me that he was on his way back.”
“The storm started to let, so I stayed. There are kids missing. Or has everyone gone feck’n mad?” Sean rubbed his neck and straightened, but stayed against the wall.
“You shut it.” Liam’s words were growled at his cousin.
“We knew eventually we wouldn’t be able to hide from everyone.” Naomi turned back to Sean and took a step toward him.
To his credit, the man side-stepped, keeping the distance between them even. Finally the man wasactuallylistening and paying attention.
“We would be having a very different conversation if thatlionyou shot had died. You’re very lucky. I wouldn’t have been able to stop them if Raj had been dead.”
“Ma’am, I don’t understand what’s really going on. You’re stronger than a man who’s downed a cup full of adrenaline and you’re calling a lion by a man’s name and telling me I’d be toast if he were dead.”
“That’s about right. I have to give Aarav props for not tearing you to bits right there on that mountain. That showed a lot of restraint. Instead he tranqed you and called for help for his brother.”
“He considers the lion his brother?” Sean’s forehead wrinkled.
“The lion is his brother, ya dumb fuck.” Liam ran his hands through his hair and growled, not like an animal, but impressive nonetheless.
“There was another lion on the mountain that I didn’t see? I saw a man for a brief second, but no other lion.”
The door to the house swung open. Kann and Raj walked inside. Raj was limping a little. Had a big bandage wrapped around his chest with a slight bloodstain on it.
He looked pretty good for having been taken down by a hunter’s rifle. Those magick-benders weren’t playing around with the healing abilities. Connie found herself more than a little jealous. There had been many times when she’d wished for the ability to help someone who was too far gone for medicine to be effective.
