Chapter 4
ISLA
Archer launched himself out of his chair and had his hand wrapped around my mouth quicker than a jackrabbit.
“You can’t say that shit, ever. The entire world has ears, and if it isn’t someone Bob has in his pocket, it’s someone from the Pride in this area who wants to use it as blackmail, or as a way to get in with the Chatsville Pride.
Don’t say that out loud ever again, okay? ”
I wanted to laugh at his overreaction, but then I looked at Wyatt. He looked almost green, which was interesting, given his naturally golden complexion.
I nodded, and Archie released my mouth. “Okay, got it.”
Bohdie chose that moment to fly into the kitchen, scrambling onto his booster chair.
He was short for his age, but I was fairly certain he was going to have a growth spurt soon.
He was beginning to eat like a horse. Or a hungry lion, I guess.
I was going to have to get a second job just to feed him.
Axel came over to take the pancakes from my hand, placing them in the center of the table. He leaned close and whispered in my ear, “It’s not that we don’t agree with you. We all loved Kara, too. It’s just better we don’t say it too loudly.”
The feel of his hot breath brushing against my ear, his lips so close, sent tingles buzzing their way down my spine. All I could do was nod dumbly.
“Pancakes!” Bohdie’s squeal of delight was so loud that my eardrums threatened to shatter. I slapped my hands over my ears and screwed up my face.
Wyatt clicked his fingers in front of Bohdie’s face to get the little boy’s attention.
“Hey, Bo. Remember how yesterday we talked about Lala getting a lion, like the one you have?” Bohdie nodded, stuffing nearly half a pancake in his mouth.
“Well, she’s new to it, so everything sounds super loud and smells really strong. So no yelling, okay?”
“And no farting at the table,” Archer added, and I gave him a stern look. Archer shrugged. “He’s a boy. You’ll thank me one day.”
Axel pulled out a chair for me, and I sat down, feeling like someone important.
No one did those things for me, or any woman that I’d ever seen.
I smiled at him over my shoulder, grabbing a pancake from the stack before the whole thing was devoured by hungry lions.
I noticed Archer and Wyatt waiting until Axel grabbed a pancake.
“What’s with that?” I asked Wyatt, who’d always been the easiest to get answers from. Apparently, it wasn’t a trait he’d grown out of.
“Axel is the most dominant. Our lions like to let him eat first. Axel doesn’t give a crap, but some things are just ingrained in our DNA.”
Weird. This whole thing was weird. I had a billion questions, but if I opened my mouth and asked them, it was like this whole thing would be true. It would be more than just good senses and great hair. Would I begin to submit? Would I turn into a lion?
That last one was the question that had kept me awake most of the night, but I wasn’t ready to ask.
“What do we do now?” I asked, rolling my pancake and eating it with my hands. Syrup dripped onto my fingers, and I licked off the sugary goodness.
I looked up to find the guys all watching me intently, their faces varying degrees of turned on. I looked at my hand wrapped around the pancake—which now looked more phallic than any breakfast food had the right to be—and felt the stickiness of syrup around my lips.
Whoops.
I put my pancake back on my plate and picked up my fork. Clearing my throat, I tamped down the arousal that stirred deep in my belly. “So? Anyone got a plan?” I prompted again.
Archer pitched his voice low. “We have to leave here as soon as you’re packed.
We’re safer on the move for now. We’ve got a little cabin in Nebraska, which is outside any Pride lands, so we can lay low there for a while.
We should be able to discuss your”—his voice dropped real low—“suggestion there.”
I struggled to remember my suggestion as the deep gravel of his voice wrapped around me, making me think of many other suggestive things I’d like to do. I had no real answer, so I just nodded.
“Are we moving again, Lala?” Bohdie’s voice cut through the fog of lust, and I looked over at my son. Because that’s what he was. Mine. I would kill Bob and anyone else who tried to hurt him.
“Yeah, kiddo, but that’s okay. You’ll like where we’re going. There’s lots of trees and nature.”
“And you can run around in your lion form,” Wyatt added, making Bohdie’s eyes go wide.
“Really?” He barely whispered it. I’d made him promise not to do it in public, and then I’d gotten so sick, we couldn’t leave the house. My heart broke at the look of hope on his face. I’d been denying him something he needed, and the guilt hit me like a brick wall.
I wasn’t equipped to raise a shifter. What had Kara been thinking?
I stood and collected the empty dishes, putting them in the dishwater. Axel stood behind me, his hands resting on my shoulders. “You’ve done a good job with him. Never doubt it. Go pack what you need, and we’ll take care of this.”
I couldn’t help but lean back into his hands, letting him run them up and down my arms, soothing me.
“We’re here now, Isla. You aren’t alone. I won’t let you go again,” he whispered in my ear, and I let out a huge, wracking sigh that threatened to turn into a sob.
I nodded, my eyes on the floor. I stepped away from him, but he hooked a finger under my chin, lifting my eyes to his. Then he leaned forward and kissed me lightly on the lips. It was such a brief touch, but the electricity that hummed between us was anything but average.
I blinked at him, stunned. He ran a hand through his short golden hair. “I’m sorry. That was probably badly timed. But I just needed…” He trailed off, clearing his throat. “You’ll have to pack light. We can come back for everything later.”
Leaning forward, I kissed him lightly again. Because I could. Because everything could be taken away tomorrow, and I wanted to kiss him. Then I turned and walked out of the room, beckoning Bohdie to follow.
Once we were in his bedroom, Bohdie pulled out his suitcase and began packing everything. It broke my heart that he was so good at packing up his life at five. But it wouldn’t be forever. Not anymore.
I began folding his clothes, putting them in one side of his suitcase as he placed his few toys in the other. “Why did you kiss that man?” he asked. I held back my grimace. Parental mistake number one for the day, and it wasn’t even nine yet.
I continued folding, letting my hair fall forward to hide my blushing cheeks. “Because I cared for him very much once upon a time, way back before you were born. We were close friends. And I think he likes me too.” I looked up, trying to judge Bohdie’s face.
He wasn’t like a normal kid; his thoughts weren’t written on his face. He could keep things inside, bottle things up. It made me feel like a bad parent when I didn’t know if he was sad, or angry, or if he wanted something desperately.
“Do you like them, Bohdie? Archie and Wyatt? Axel? Does it bother you that he kissed me?”
Bohdie thought about it, stuffing his toy dinosaur into the suitcase beside his Etch A Sketch and his fluffy lion.
“I like them. Archie is funny, and Wyatt is nice. Axel is scary. But he makes me feel…” He paused, clearly struggling to find the word in his five-year-old vocabulary.
“Right? Like my lion feels right.” He frowned at the mention of his lion.
He hadn’t forgiven his other half for biting me, I don’t think.
It really hadn’t been his fault. I’d freaked out.
One minute, I was cuddling a human boy, the next, I’d had my arms wrapped around a lion cub.
My surprised scream had startled Bohdie, and he’d bitten me.
Neither of us could have known how close to dying I would come.
I breathed a sigh of relief that the guys had shown up when they had.
I didn’t really believe in God, but someone must have heard my pleas.
My eyes filled with tears, and I choked back a sob. “That’s good, kiddo. That’s real good. How about you finish this, and I’ll go do my bags, okay?”
Bohdie just nodded and continued on, and I moved to my room so I could let the tears out where no one could see them.