CHAPTER SIX #3
A frown mars the long face of the beast, but again, he shakes his head and points to himself. “Alad. You Johnrutledge. Yes?” He repeats our words, seeming to grasp English grammar and vocabulary much faster than should be possible.
Possible? It’s impossible he should be alive.
“Alad. Am shedu. Lamassu.” He cuts the air with his paw and shakes his head.
He gestures from his head to his tail. “Shedu.” He lifts onto his hindquarters and gestures to his penis, earning shocked gasps from all of us.
“Shedu.” He points at his furred appendage as long as my hand.
“Lamassu.” And points with his paw at the area between my thighs.
I have no idea how long it takes for any of us to recover our wits after the mortifying explanation, but at least the beast has made himself clear.
Mary recovers her aplomb faster than the rest of us, though her face is flushed as red as mine must be. “I believe Alad is trying to tell us that the female version of him is called a lamassu, while the male version is called a shedu.”
Alad frowns at her before gazing at me again. “I am?” He gestures to me. “Karu?”
“Me?” My voice squeaks from my throat. I swallow. “I am Charlotte. Miss Charlotte Butters.”
A look of satisfaction crosses his face. “Char.Lot. Mīnū.” He pounds his chest. “Char.Lot. Alad.”
I open my mouth, but no more words escape. Unless I’m wrong, and I could be, I think he’s claiming me. Mīnū sounds an awful lot like mine. And from the looks on the others’ faces, they believe the same thing.
Mary shakes her head. “No, Alad. Charlotte is not yours.”
“Mīnū.” He shakes his head in frustration and casts a glance at the ceiling before adding, looking at me, “?u-ma an-nu?”
But I don’t understand. All I can do is look confused and shrug my shoulders.
At the same time, a mad desire to go to him, to lean against his strong, muscled body and have him nuzzle into me, takes all my willpower to withstand.
I want to comfort him, because I can’t begin to understand what it must be like to wake from stone and try to communicate after…
well, after at least a thousand years, if not more.
And at the same time, I want to draw comfort from him. Selfish, maybe, but for the first time, someone—someone magical—wants me, not Mary. And it makes me want to touch him.
I clasp my hands in my lap, preventing them from doing anything untoward.
For a while, none of us speaks. Even Lord Peterson finds himself devoid of words. Alad looks between us before rolling his eyes.
His gaze fastens upon me once more. “Ki?” He gestures around the room.
“The British Museum.”
His head cocks to the side, like a dog questioning an impossible sight, before his face firms. “He u-zu, e-zu mu-nam-ma.”
The need to try to translate, which I suspect we’re doing incorrectly anyway, disappears as he suddenly transforms into an impossibly tall, human-looking male with wings. A body honed by combat and fire, a body as muscled and strong as his lion’s shape, makes us gasp in unison.
Not only does his head brush the tall ceilings, he’s naked. Very naked. A male member at least twice the length of Mr. Swanson’s and twice as fat spears upward. Erect. Magnificent. Enough to send a caverning sensation between my thighs just looking at it.
Tearing my gaze away is impossible until he springs forward and grabs my hand amidst outraged gasps and Mary’s cry.
He drags me into him so my free hand collides with his hard warrior’s thigh.
When our skins collide, my gloves lying in the carriage where I left them, lightning arcs between us again.
A look of satisfaction crosses the shedu’s face. “Inu ?u-nigin, ki??ur ni?in.”
I don’t need to understand these words, either. His look of possession is enough. For some reason, this beast wants me. And for some reason, I don’t mind.
More than not mind. I like his attention.
No, I’m terrified of his attention. Hot and cold shivers race up and down my spine, but the heavy sensation between my legs deepens. He’s going to ruin me.
Heat flushes from my toes to my head. His member is right at face level. I can’t turn my face away enough to ignore it. Too large to fit inside me, surely. Too massive to…
But my thoughts fade as a buzzing in my head grows louder.
By the time Mary surges to her feet, Alad has already dragged me halfway to the door. “Wait! You can’t take her.”
She rushes towards us, but Alad turns and roars like a lion, stalling her.
Her hands twist together as his wings unfurl, too large for the cavernous room.
They punch the walls as he transforms into a full lion form, complete with lion head, everything except his arms and hands that hold me locked to him.
His breath washes over me, hot but not fetid, as he roars again, a clear warning not to interfere with what he wants.
Mary takes a step closer. I feel the muscled giant tense.
And I tense as well, waiting for the inevitable, whatever terrible thing that might be.
If he kills her, I’ll never forgive myself. I’ll never forgive him.