Hour of the Lion by Cherise Sinclair (reading a book txt) 📕

He stroked his finger down her neck, damp with sweat, the tiny pulse still hammering. Her eyes were closed, the lashes dark smudges on her smooth skin. His body hummed with satiated pleasure. Once she‘d finally relaxed into his control and care, no longer building barriers to protect herself, she was a responsive, generous mate.

He circled her swollen nipples with one finger. The satiny skin had turned a dark red from his sucking and bites.

Her eyes opened, still slightly glazed from passion. "Surely you aren‘t planning to start again, are you?"

He had taken her…many times. He smiled. "No, cariad. I think you have had plenty."

Enough that she had winced with his last entry, although she had been too close to coming to want him to withdraw. He cupped her cheek and kissed her lightly. "I simply like touching you."

Her lips curved, and she leaned into his hand, much like a cat. His heart squeezed. The need to care for her, to make her his own had grown mountain high.

"So what are we doing tomorrow?" she asked, her voice slightly hoarse. The last two times, she had given him everything, inhibitions gone, and her screams of release had echoed through the caves.

"You‘ll meet the Elders, I will warn them in case the shifter-hunters come farther than I expect. We‘ll spend the night and return to Cold Creek, ready for battle."

"You said these people live isolated so they don‘t have to be around humans." Her brows drew together. "Because they hate humans or because they‘re afraid?"

Her brain rarely stopped working, it seemed. "Mostly fear and…" How could he put this?

"When living amongst humans, a shifter must be ever cautious, not just in trawsfurring, but in speech and habits as well. It‘s a strain, and as the Daonain age and become more forgetful, they find it a burden."

"I suppose people might react badly if they knew about you."

He felt his jaw tighten, his hand close in a fist, and realized that as her barriers had disappeared, so had his.

"Calum?" She pushed up onto one elbow. "What… Something happened to you, didn‘t it?"

He stared at the rock wall until she stroked his shoulder, drawing his attention back. Her eyes were soft, worried—for him. How odd to feel a female‘s concern and desire to share sorrow. He‘d never had that with Lenora.

"I was lifemated—married—many years ago." He set his palm over her small hand, keeping it against his face. "She was an only child. Shy. She painted. Much like a sprite, she lived in the moment. She‘d often forget to cook—or burn the food when she did, and would disregard the rules about using the portals or shifting near trails."

He stopped, not wanting to share the horror, but Victoria‘s eyes stayed steady on his. This female wouldn‘t shy away from pain. "The wildflowers had bloomed, and she trawsfurred to visit the alpine meadows. As far as we can tell, a human saw her shift back. When she didn‘t return, I went to look for her." And found her body far too near a hiking trail, her eyes looking up at the sky as if wondering why help had never arrived. The man had used her own blood to—

"The murderer had written DEMON on her chest. We discovered later that he was rabidly religious."

His jaw clenched as the memory kindled his fury. He‘d tracked the killer through the darkening forest, and his fabled control shattered the moment he‘d smelled Lenora‘s scent, seen her blood on the man. By the time his sanity had returned, the ground was soaked with blood, the human‘s body mangled beyond recognition. The man‘s shrieks haunted Calum‘s nightmares for years. "I…lost control and killed him." It had been the last time he‘d allowed emotions to rule his actions.

Calum braced, waiting for Victoria to pull away, to show her horror.

"Of course you did. Good job." She patted his cheek.

Well. After a moment, he remembered what Alec had told him about the bodies littering the bookstore. This female was nothing like Lenora—perhaps like none he‘d known before. In a wolf pack, she‘d be the alpha female.

And that made her submission to him all the more meaningful. An alpha female submits only to her mate. He cleared his throat. "So we fear individual reactions as well as the government‘s reaction. We‘d either be studied like lab animals or simply exterminated."

"That seems a little…" Her mouth pulled down, and she sighed. "Actually, that‘s probably what would happen."

"Aye. That‘s why we have a law that if a shifter reveals the Daonain to humans, he is put to death."

Her gaze turned to the dark water, her jaw tight, and Calum set his hand on her shoulder.

How could he have forgotten she was so new? She turned to him, attempting to smile.

"Come, cariad. We should sleep. Tomorrow will be long." He pulled her closer, nudging her head down in the hollow of his shoulder. After a second of stiffness, she softened and cuddled with him, filling the holes in his soul with her mere presence.

Chapter Fourteen

It was approaching noon the next day when Vic followed Calum down the tiny trail and into the "village" of scattered cabins. "This looks like one of those old west towns in the movies."

"Very close. We bought the property from a mining consortium and fixed up the abandoned cabins."

Deep within the mountain range, the village nestled at one end of a small valley under a light layer of snow. Vic frowned. Things didn‘t look right. There weren‘t any real streets, for one. "Where‘s the Main Street? The stores and all that."

"None." Calum stepped down onto a ledge and turned to help her.

She ignored his hand and jumped. "Where‘s the power lines, electricity, cable?"

"None."

"Too bizarre," she muttered. The scent of wood smoke wafted past. "And everybody has to walk to get here?"

He dropped back to pace beside her on the wider trail. "It doesn‘t take as long in animal form," he said. "A dirt road gets as close as the nearest cliff. In the