Page 65 of Lion Conquers All
“Is Aarav okay?” Raj stepped away from Kann toward Connie, ignoring everyone else in the room. “Have you heard from him?”
Connie nodded her head slowly. “Yes. He texted. They are digging the kids out of a cave. Or Col is trying to.”
Raj shoulders visibly sank. Some of the tightness left his face. He put a hand on the back of the couch and took a deep breath. “I suppose this is who I have to thank for the hole in my chest.” He eyed Sean and cracked his neck.
“Now listen here, I didn’t shoot a man. I shot a lion.” Sean took a brave step forward. “I’ll not be accused of something I didn’t do.”
“Mahadhri?” Raj looked to Naomi and she gave an almost imperceptible nod.
Raj leaped over the back of the couch, shifting into his beast in the air and landed in front of Sean. Raj put a paw on the man’s chest and Sean’s back hit the log wall with a hardwhack.
Connie winced. That’d hurt.
Raj roared. Loud. And snapped his teeth right in Sean’s face.
The human paled. His eyes were wide. “Please. God. Liam, I didn’t mean it. Tell them. Ma’am. Please. I didn’t know. I’m sorry. I won’t tell anyone. Never. I promise. Please don’t let it eat me.”
Naomi sat down in a rocker near where Sarah was standing.
Sarah was silent, mouth slightly open, hands clutching her at her sides, shaking like she was standing in freezing weather naked.
“Itis Raj. And he’s not going to eat you, he’s just pissed that you shot him and he’s making sure you don’t forget it. Ever.” Naomi sipped her coffee and glanced over at Connie.
Connie swallowed silently. She didn’t know whether or not to be mad for Sean or glad that Raj was frightening the shit out of him and Sarah so that they’d never tell a single soul for as long as they lived.
None of the Reyleans had evertriedto scare her, not since Ava the first time they’d met, and Connie was grateful for that. She didn’t consider the Reyleans dangerous, not any more than a rifle in the hands of a hunter. They werepeoplethe same as anyone else…they merely came with a few extra modifications.
Where did it go from here though? They couldn’t hope to scare a whole town into silence.
Raj took his massive paw down from Sean’s chest, ripping the human’s shirt a little with his giant razor claws. Then shifted back into his human form.
“Apology accepted. Next time you see a predator minding it’s own business, kindly let it be.”
“He will. And I thank you for sparing my cousin. I know you didn’t have to, but you’re good people and I appreciate that about all of you.” Liam grabbed his cousin’s arm and shoved him toward the front entry. “Anything ye need, Naomi. All you have to do is ask.”
“Thank you, Liam. Goodbye, Sean.” She gave a dismissive wave and turned back to Connie. The two guys hurried out of the cabin, half-way slamming the door behind them. “So tell me.” Naomi’s demeanor changed at the drop of a hat. A mischievous smile curved her lips. “Was that a blush on your cheeks I saw earlier when Aarav texted?”
Dammit.
Connie slouched deeper into the couch cushions, wishing they could swallow her whole. How the hell did Naomi notice her reaction to his last text whileeverythingelse had been going on?
27
AARAV
It’d taken over an hour of Col’s dragon digging for the mountain to stop falling. But as soon as Col had shifted into a man, the tribe had returned to his side.
The tree Callum and the other wolves said stood close to the mouth of the cave was all but uncovered. The trunk was battered and gashed, branches had been stripped off, but the marker still stood and it gave them hope they were getting closer.
“Can you hear anything yet?” Owen asked, shoving a large hunk of granite away from the cave.
“No.” Col’s face was grim. The unspoken truth none of them wanted to face was written in his expression—that they might be too late.
“This is the mouth, we’ve made it.” Callum dug at smaller bits of rock at the very top of the heap until his arm disappeared between the stones. “If we can get this opening just a bit wider I can get in and look around for them.”
Col climbed up the jagged pile of rocks and pulled at the ones nearest Callum. Aarav waited at the bottom. His heart climbed up into his throat. His pulse pounded so loud in his head he couldn’t hear anything else.
They had to be alive. Please let them be alive. After all this time.
