Page 69 of A Lion's Heart
As he approached she could sense the wariness. He didn’t know how to approach her or what to say either. There was an all-consuming weight that pressed inside her now, filling her completely when she had no idea how empty she’d been all this time. She moved then, standing and turning to face the lion. The cats stood only ten feet apart, staring each other down. It was most likely a sight to behold, the majestic golden spotted jaguar and the illusive white lion, surrounded by an almost exact replica of the rainforest from which they had originated.
The lion made a sound, a low growl that was his signal to her cat that this was a friendly visit. They’d been in these forms together before, running, challenging one another and bonding, she thought now with a start. This had been happening since day one. She walked slowly toward him and completely around him. He did not make another sound, nor did he move, something he would most assuredly never have done with any other cat this close. When her tail was toward his head as she made her second circle around him, he growled once more. She paused and lifted her head to immediately pick up the new, more intense scent that surrounded them.
Even in cat form, theircalorwas recognized.
Nisa slowed, the cat’s bones bending and adjusting until her human limbs extended, her body shifting slowly to her full human form. For a few seconds she remained on her hands and knees, her head held down as she took in the large animal still standing beside her. Lifting her head slowly, she looked up at the lion.
He was a marvelous creature. His mane was thick and fluffy, pure white as it stood out against the dark green of the backdrop. His body was massive, huge paws and flanks that only provided a glimpse into the power he could project. He was at least 6.5 feet long from head to rump, with a long curving tail. And then there were the eyes, the ones she’d looked into on so many occasions. The cat’s eyes were different than the man’s in that they were brighter, clearer, and deadlier. They were, right this moment piercing deep into her soul, touching not only her cat, but the woman, as well.
“Why are you here?” she asked, coming to her feet and continuing to stare directly into his eyes. “Why now?”
The lion did not make a sound, only waited for her to continue.
“I wasn’t expecting you,” Nisa continued. “I thought I was coming here to lead. To be a part of the solution for our kind. I wanted to make a difference. But you showed up.”
She remained in front of him, in what would look to any human like a naked woman standing before a vicious killer. His eyes stayed trained on her.
“You lied to me. You touched me. You made me think about mates and all that entailed. I wasn’t prepared for any of this,” she continued and moved along his side.
“But,” the word came out as barely a whisper as Nisa lifted a hand and touched his mane.
It was soft, just like the man’s hair had been when she’d run her fingers through it. She continued, letting her fingers trail down his back. He did not move, but for his steady heartbeat. And she continued to run her hands along his fur knowing that on the man, this was where the scars were. But they were deeper, Nisa thought suddenly. Decan’s real scars were much deeper than the ones she was able to see.
“I saw you in that cell at the SIC,” she told him as she came around the other side of the cat’s body. “I know what they did to you there.”
Decan shifted into human form then, pausing on his hands and knees, his head bowed down.
“That no longer matters,” he said slowly.
“But it does,” she replied. “Because it’s you. It’s a part of you that I don’t know because you didn’t tell me.”
“Nisa,” he said and looked up at her.
She shook her head and backed away from him. “I don’t know anything about you. I don’t know you but I’m supposed to be mated to you for the rest of my life.”
“You know that we are connected. You smell thecalor,” he told her.
“None of that was in my control!” she yelled. “None of this is. Before you showed up I knew what I wanted. I knew where I stood. Now, there’s nothing. You’re the Faction Leader now and I get to continue being the Assembly Leader’s daughter.”
He came to his feet then. The male body just as magnificent as the lion’s had been.
“I won’t be Faction Leader without mycompanheiroat my side,” he told her.
“Why?” she asked. “Why us? Why now? What is it that you really want to happen now, Decan? Because I don’t know. You came to me as my bodyguard. Never once did you say you wanted to rule this zone. I let you touch me because the arousal was too much to ignore. I gave you my virginity. Yet, you gave me nothing of you. I don’t even know where your tribal tat is!”
She knew she sounded irrational. Knew that she should be reacting in a totally different manner, but Nisa hadn’t lied. She didn’t understand any of this. The why or the how and she didn’t know what was supposed to happen now.
He turned his back to her then and Nisa wondered if she’d asked too many questions, or if the answers she required were simply too much for him.
“I want what both of us want,” Decan finally replied. “Neither of us agreed with how your father handled things with the shifters. We don’t agree that we should be locked down here, hiding from the humans. Each time you went above ground without his knowledge you were screaming that very fact. At the same time you wondered why Keller’s bunker wasn’t recorded on the maps as all dwellings in Oasis should have been. You were torn between being loyal to your father and hating what he’d made you…and all of us become. I was the only one in a position to put things in motion.”
“You were the only one cold enough to not only betray your tribe by openly going against our leader, but to do so while lying to my face,” she spat. “I never lied to you, Decan. I never kept anything from you, not even when thiscompanheirostuff scared me to death.”
“You never lied?” he asked as he whirled around to face her. “You sure about that Miss Perfect Daughter to the Perfect Assembly Leader? Because I don’t recall you coming to me the night before last and saying you knew I was planning something and that you were going to follow me above ground to kill some humans!”
“Because you would have tried to stop me if I had,” she spat.
“Exactly!” he yelled again. “That’s what you do when you try to protect someone you love, Nisa. You keep them out of harm’s way. I didn’t know what to expect up there and I didn’t know you would come waltzing into my life and changing all the fucked up parts until they suddenly seemed bearable. All the pain and rage I’d kept stored inside began to make way for all these new emotions. Ones that had me changing my priorities to the point where my own team questioned me. That’s not how I work. It’s not how I was trained.”
