Chapter Five #3
“Lions haven’t always kept written records as well as humans have,” he said, a little shyly. “They need to be brought up to date and fitted together so they make sense.”
“Records?” Marrick wasn’t sure if it was a sensible question, if he was making a fool of himself or not, but Blaine’s hand was stroking up and down his spine in a way that hinted the lion would like to stroke other places, and if Marrick couldn’t maintain the conversation, he knew his only other option was to admit he couldn’t keep up with them both.
That couldn’t happen. He’d battled his way into convincing them he wouldn’t break from the mildest scratch. He wasn’t going to undo all that good work now, not just because he was a bit sleepy.
Kefir glanced up at him. “Records of the prides, of which pride each cub was born into—which pride each cub joined when they left those prides. The leaders remember things, but…” He looked down for a moment.
A slight frown scurried across his forehead, making him look very serious.
“Even the best leader can’t remember everything.
And details can be lost when they pass their knowledge on through each generation.
” Through each word, his tone was carefully respectful, as if the most important thing in his world was making sure he didn’t offend any leader of any pride.
Marrick glanced across to the other side of the room, then back to Kefir. “What does Arslan think of the project?”
“He knows all about how humans keep records; he’s teaching me about it so I can keep our records the same way.
” And, again, it was the tone of voice rather than what the little lion said that actually told the true story.
The fact that Arslan was helping him with it obviously meant the whole world to the little guy.
It was sweet enough that Marrick actually managed to think entirely nice thoughts about the lions’ leader for a few seconds.
“To properly track each pride, the details of each of any humans who join any of the different prides would be helpful.”
Marrick’s smile stayed in place. Mostly because he was too swirly-headed to quickly make sense of what Kefir was trying to tell him. By the time his mind caught up, it was too late to make it clear that he had no intention of joining the pride.
Gradually, Luther and Blaine seemed to decide talking for a little while was a good idea. As Marrick and Kefir’s conversation drew to its natural conclusion, other discussions started to flow around them.
Free to look around the room, Marrick found his attention quickly come to rest where Ryland was sitting at Arslan’s feet.
Arslan was casually stroking his fingers through Ryland’s hair, and Ryland seemed to be far more than half asleep, content to let his master speak to the others while he simply took the rest he needed.
Marrick turned quickly away, only to come face to face with Kefir once more.
The little lion was still sitting on the floor not far from their sofa, watching him very carefully.
There was a touch of concern in his eyes, but right then, Marrick was too exhausted to work out if that was because the little guy was wary of him or worried for him or what.
Marrick looked away, forcing himself to keep his eyes open and his body language alert, demanding from himself that he be strong enough not to drop off in the middle of the damn party.
An entire lifetime passed before the human that had been thrown to the lions that night was taken outside and put into the car, much the same as Marrick had been not so long ago. He’d slept so beautifully that night…
And, now, he’d seriously consider selling his soul for another full night’s sleep just like that.
In the confusion of all the other lions leaving and everything being cleared up, Marrick found himself standing alone in the hallway.
The thought of going back up to their bedroom rushed to his cock as quickly as ever, but hot on its heels came uncertainty.
It was one thing to know he could keep up with the lions’ kinks, quite another to try to keep up with their apparent fetish for insomnia.
Grabbing a long coat from the rack, he walked out the front door and calmly sat down in the middle of the lawn that stretched out to one side of the gravel driveway.
The night air was chilly. It snapped a little bit of wakefulness into him, clearing his head and letting him think coherently for what felt like the first time in years.
Gravel crunched behind him, just once. Either that footfall belonged to someone who had been able to levitate over the rest of the gravel between the door and the edge of the lawn, or it belonged to someone who’d been able to walk that far perfectly silently, but who now wanted him to know he was there.
Marrick looked over his shoulder.
Kefir stood on the edge of the grass. It was the first time Marrick had seen him fully dressed.
“I thought you’d left,” Marrick said.
“I’ve been speaking with Arslan.” He hesitated for the briefest moment before sitting down next to Marrick, quickly pulling his knees up in front of him and wrapping his arms around his legs like a little kitten curling into a ball.
“You should go in,” Marrick told him. “You’ll get cold without a coat.”
“Humans get cold quicker than lions.”
Marrick couldn’t argue with him on that score. He’d hardly been away from Luther and Blaine for a few minutes, but he could already feel the chill seeping into his bones. They might be as annoying as hell at times, but it was hard to deny that lions made bloody fantastic hot water bottles.
Pissed off with himself for feeling uncomfortable just because he wasn’t being kept perfectly snug and warm every second, Marrick glared at Kefir. “If you’re going to tell me to go inside, forget it. I don’t need looking after like that.”
Kefir tilted his head to one side. “I didn’t tell you to go inside,” he pointed out, mild as ever.
Marrick sighed and ran his hand down his face. “Sorry. I’m just…” No, he couldn’t say he was just tired. He couldn’t risk Kefir running back to Luther and Blaine and telling them he couldn’t keep up with the pace.
Tipping his head back, Marrick looked up at the sky again.
Kefir sat silently next to him. He didn’t seem the least offended that Marrick was ignoring him. Which only actually made it all the more difficult to keep on doing that.
“The project—mapping out the lions’ family trees and stuff. Sounds good,” he offered.
Kefir nodded.
Marrick took a deep breath and let it out very slowly as he lay back on the cold ground so he could continue to stare up at the sky without getting a crick in his neck.
Kefir’s simple silence seemed to suck words out of him to fill the void.
“Do you and your mate find the whole lion-human bullshit really annoying, too?”
“My mate?” He seemed a little unfamiliar with the concept.
“The guy who was just thrown to you—I thought all the unmated lions took a turn with him. You didn’t.”
“It’s not compulsory,” Kefir said, softly.
Marrick glanced sideways at him, not sure what to say.
“Arslan says it’s nothing to worry about. One day, I’ll…take an interest in one of the humans who are thrown to us, and then, I’ll want to play the game.”
“And Arslan’s always right about everything?” Marrick asked, unable to keep a little of the resentment out of his voice as he pushed back his sleeve and stroked his fingers over the scratches Luther and Blaine had left on his arm.
Marrick had seen the look in Arslan’s eyes when he’d spotted the marks, and he’d sensed the change in Luther and Blaine, felt the change in the way they touched him.
Marrick wrapped his fingers tightly around his wrist, gripping just hard enough to hurt a little, just to remind himself that he wouldn’t break if someone wanted to hold him that way.
He wasn’t some fragile little kid anymore.
“Luther and Blaine both care for you a great deal,” Kefir said after a little while.
Marrick nodded. He had doubts about a hell of a lot of things, but that wasn’t one of them.
Suddenly, Kefir stood up and brushed off his jeans. “I should go home.”
Marrick sat up. A sound on the gravel made him look over his shoulder. Blaine and Luther weren’t as quiet as Kefir had been as they walked across it.
Looking back to Kefir, Marrick met his eyes. Kefir had been keeping watch over him, making sure he didn’t disappear until Luther and Blaine had come to find him. As their gazes locked, any doubts Marrick might have had on that score vanished.
“You didn’t tell us you were going outside,” Luther chided as he reached him.
“You didn’t tell me I needed your permission to,” Marrick said, as calmly as he could.
Luther and Blaine sat down next to him, one either side. The warmth of their bodies immediately surrounded him, and damn, he hated himself for loving that.
“We’d tell you where we were going if we thought you would worry about us when we were gone.”
Marrick nodded, still staring down the drive, where Kefir had vanished. The little guy was half his size, and they’d let him walk off into the dark with barely a shrug.
“Any particular reason he thinks I need a babysitter?”
“Kefir? He doesn’t like it when the other members of the pride aren’t happy,” Blaine said, as if that accounted for everything.
Luther seemed to realise it didn’t actually explain a damn thing. “When Ryland disappeared a few months ago, Arslan was frantic. We all kept watch over him until he’d regained the trust of his mate.”
Marrick nodded. A babysitter. As if he’d needed anything else to remind him just how weak and helpless all the lions thought he was.
“We should go inside,” Blaine decided.
Marrick didn’t even bother with a token protest. Within minutes, he was up in their room, toasty warm, perfectly comfortable and miserable as sin.
“You liked the meeting of the pride?” Luther asked.
Marrick nodded automatically.
“We liked you being there.” The serious tone of Luther’s voice finally sank in. His being there had really meant something to them. Luther came to sit on the bed next to Marrick. For once, he didn’t reach out to touch him, to start something.
“It happens every week?” Marrick asked, as the silence stretched out.
Blaine nodded as he joined them on the bed and encouraged him to lie down between them.
“Must cost a fortune,” Marrick mused, more for something to say than anything else.
“You’re sure you’re not upset about keeping the money?” Luther checked.
Marrick shook his head as he moved to rest it against Blaine’s shoulder. “Couldn’t care less.”
Blaine didn’t seem convinced. “Ryland insisted that he be allowed to pay it back on his own terms.”
Marrick nodded, sleepily, guessing that Ryland had probably only been there in the first place because he needed the money. That kind of thing could mess with a guy’s mind. Poor sod.
Closing his eyes, Marrick curled a little closer to the lion’s warmth.
Blaine’s hand stroked down his back, smoothing over his arse until he stopped just short of teasing him. When he took his hand away, the atmosphere around them changed.
“You’re tired after the meeting. You should res—”
“I’m fine.”
They both looked so bloody sceptical. Marrick felt familiar tensions pour into him. Pushing himself up off the mattress, he slid one leg over Blaine’s prone body and straddled his waist. Blaine’s dick was already hard.
The expression in Blaine’s eyes changed rapidly, from shock, to seeing a challenge, and then to confusion over how he could move Marrick from his current position without hurting him.
He’d have tossed Luther halfway across the room if Luther had tried to pin him. Marrick had seen him do it. It was Blaine’s instinctive response to a challenge. Marrick would have given everything to feel his back hit the floor on the opposite side of the room.
It wasn’t about winning the challenge. He had no interest in that. But maybe to be seen as a challenge. Or just to be seen as someone he could play rough with without worrying about it…someone who was strong enough, someone who was healthy enough…
Blaine settled his hands carefully on Marrick’s flanks. He rolled them both very gently to the side and laid Marrick tenderly on the mattress.
Marrick smiled up at him in response, wondering if the expression looked half as forced as it felt.