Lost Roar (3 page)

“We have spent three hours chatting, that makes it a date and that makes it my pleasure to treat you.”

Nicia cocked her head. “Thank you?”

“You are welcome. Now, let’s go instruct you in the fine art of dancing.”

She found a fluttering in her stomach that spurred a slight smile. The anticipation of fun was so long forgotten it had been hard to recognize it.

Every other word out of her mouth became, “Sorry.”

Braxton grinned and kept moving her around the dance floor. “If you keep apologising, I will begin to suspect you are Canadian.”

She laughed. “I am just so frustrated that I keep bumping into everyone.”

He leaned in and kissed her.

She froze in place as his lips coasted across hers, sending small trips of sensation through her.

When he lifted his head, he smiled. “What, no apology for colliding with my face?”

To her surprise, she was moving with him, dancing easily through the crowd.

“I believe that that one was your fault.”

His arms were around her, but his body wasn’t pressed to her in an offensive way. Instead, there was an inch of space between them, rapidly heating up.

A few other males had tried to cut in, but she had snarled at them and they had left.

“Did you know that you show fang when you snarl?” Braxton had seemed rather pleased.

She shrugged. “I suspected as much. I had spent over a year in my other form when the raid occurred. It took a while for me to stop opening parcels with my claws.”

He laughed out loud, and the noise made her smile again. They were coming faster and each time, something inside her loosened a little. Who knew that something as small as a smile and sense of humour would be so important to feeling like she belonged?

They danced for hours, until her feet ached. When she was exhausted, she whispered, “I think I need to go back to the Open Heart now.”

He smiled brightly. “May I escort you?”

She smiled back. “Please. I have enjoyed this evening.”

“Me too.” He offered her his arm and they walked out of the bar and through the streets of the Crossroads.

At the namesake of the Crossroads, he stopped to kiss her again.

The vulnerable feeling of being kissed with her back exposed caused her to stiffen up. She remained tense until he stroked her back and ran his hand up to cup the back of her neck. The small bit of protection was what she needed. She leaned up on her toes and returned his kiss with enthusiasm, learning as she went.

She heard him growl low, and his arm tightened around her. She could feel every ridge and muscle of his torso as well as the thick bulge of his erection.

Nicia held onto his shoulders for balance, but she didn’t need to. He wasn’t letting her go anywhere.

The moment he bit her lip, she snarled and pushed him back, using her strength to topple him over. She was still in his arms, so she went with him, but instead of letting her go, he held her tight and started laughing.

Scowling, she pushed free of him. “Why did you do that?” Scrambling to her feet in heels was difficult. So was being covered with his scent.

“If I said I was testing you, would you kill me? I wanted to see what you would passively put up with.”

She wrapped her arms around her belly. “Why?”

“I wanted to make sure you weren’t going with me because you were afraid to say no.”

She snorted and started stalking away. “Saying no has never been a problem. The one time I try to say yes, I am bitten by a damned dog.”

“Nicia!” He called to her but she kept walking.

When he grabbed her arm, she extended her claws and swiped across his chest.

Braxton took the hint and grunted at the impact.

Nicia stalked back to the Open Heart, greeted Teebie politely and licked the blood from her claws as she headed up the stairs. He didn’t taste half bad.

* * * *

Braxton touched the wounds left by the claws of the woman he thought could be his mate. “Damn it.”

He headed to the first aid station and rang the bell.

Four minutes later, Lee appeared, and she winced when she saw his bloody chest. “Damn, Brax. I thought she would go for you.”

He sighed. “She did. I fucked it up by trying to play with her a little.”

“Her sense of humour is still developing.” Lee opened the door and waved him inside.

“What can you tell me about her?”

“Specifically? We were part of the same community, but we weren’t allowed to socialize much. I visited her once she was trapped, but there wasn’t anything I could do.” Lee sighed.

“Take off your shirt, Brax.”

He hopped up on the exam table and removed his shirt. It was trashed. She had really done a good job with the fabric.

“Why was she chained up?”

Lee got her kit and gauze and started to clean the claw marks. “From what I heard, her mother tried to escape and her father was going to make an example out of her. He shifted and mauled her. Nicia got in between them and fought him off, allowing her mother to run for it. She was never seen again, but the lion guild had records of her being in a hospital.”

“She has a scar around her neck.”

“The collars that were used had spikes on the inside to keep the females from roaring. They were charged with defending their family homes, but I don’t know anyone who was chained up as long as Nicia was. It is amazing that she is still sane, let alone looking for a mate. She had more reasons than not to distrust men.”

Brax winced as she cleaned off the blood but more from the information he was getting. He had used precisely the wrong tactic with her. Of course. He could track and capture any target, but his luck with women sucked. He could always get their interest, but he could never keep it.

“She was asking me questions about being a skip tracer. Do you know why?”

Lee kept working. “Nissy was always our best hunter. Her family was allowed to shift to chase off coyotes. She knows how to hunt. With only a high school education, there are not a lot of options for her.”

“So, if I offered to make her my partner…”

Lee leaned back and looked up into his face with an amused grin. “That would be better than any roses or present you could give her. She needs to anchor herself in the modern world. The fundamental lion community was a twisted version of reality. She needs something she can depend on. Guaranteed cause and effect.”

He nodded. “So, even after this, you think I still have a chance?”

Lee laughed. “Look at the cuts. She went long but she went shallow. This was a swipe to teach you a lesson. You will be healed in two days if you don’t shift.”

Brax looked down and blinked in shock. The lines stung and crossed from his heart to his hip, but they were indeed very shallow.

Lee put her cotton and cleansing liquid away. “If she had wanted to, she could have broken your ribs and caved in your chest. She likes you, despite her irritation.”

The medic handed him a spare shirt. With shifters, it was probably safer to keep them in stock.

“So, how should I approach her?”

“Start off with breakfast and offer to take her for a run in the meadow.” Lee winked. “It worked for me.”

Brax sighed, “Can I ask you more questions if they come up?”

“Sure, or you can ask Jim. He came at it from the outside as well, and aside from being a pain in the hairballs, he has helped me adapt.” Lee grinned.

Brax nodded. “Thank you. I will take you up on that. This sounds like a messed-up situation.”

Lee patted him on the arm. “Oh, hon, you have only touched the edge of the crazy that occurred in her life before last year.”

Brax pulled the shirt on and winced at the tenderness of his chest. “Why am I starting to think that I got off easy tonight?”

Lee laughed as they left the first aid station. “Because you are a very smart man. Now, get to bed. You are going to have quite the workout tomorrow and having the marks on your chest will play on her sympathies.”

“Will I need it?”

“Consider her a target that you are hunting. Use any advantage you can get.” She left him and headed back to the bar.

Shrugging, Braxton headed for the bed and breakfast. He got more advice and insight than Lee had thought. The raid on the lion compound was whispered about by every species. It was the proof that the shifters were not societies unto themselves. The corruption had spread through other species, and those shifter guilds had moved to stamp it out. The damage control was still ongoing and his current mode of employment.

The more he learned about Nicia, the more he knew that he would enjoy working with her, and he knew she would enjoy spending her days on the hunt.

Now, he just had to convince her he wasn’t a jackass. It was easier said than done.

Attractive casual was difficult to pull off, but Nicia thought she managed it with a silk shell and a draped skort. Strappy sandals completed the outfit, and she braided her hair in a straight column that hung nearly to her waist.

The moment she opened her bedroom door, she smelled breakfast. Smiling, she headed downstairs and stopped short. Braxton was sitting at the table and reading a newspaper.

Teebie entered and gestured for her to have a seat. “The newspaper is one of my personal tricks. Don’t tell Teal and Tony. They disapprove of my sort of magic if it is used too casually.”

Nicia smiled and sat down. Teebie poured her a cup of coffee and Braxton ignored her. That irritated her.

“So, Braxton, how long have you been here?”

Teebie froze at the challenge in her tone and immediately moved with more care.

He looked at her over the paper with his ice blue eyes calm. “Two weeks. I have met ten candidates that I considered but none of them were the right fit.”

She scowled and sipped her coffee. “The right fit, like in bed?”

Teebie coughed and disappeared into the kitchen, leaving a platter of muffins, another of bacon and a pot of honey.

He calmly folded the paper. “No, personality-wise. I am a difficult man to be with for a woman who likes to play games. I played some of my own games last night, and for that, I apologise. I would like to start over with you this morning, if I may?”

She was intrigued. “How would you start over?”

“Would you care to go for a run through a meadow? Flat out, no worry about running into humans?”

Nicia propped her chin on her fist and batted her lashes. “I think that would be a good start. Eat up. You are going to need your strength.”

He laughed and they ate until they groaned.

Teebie came back in and sighed with relief. “I thought you were going to maul him.”

Nicia drank her second cup of coffee. “No, that was last night. Today, we are starting over.”

Teebie’s eyes widened, and she looked to Braxton for confirmation.

He shrugged, winced and nodded. Braxton sighed and looked at Nicia. “Well, if you are ready, I believe that we can race as soon as we get to the meadow.”

She replied, “I hope for your sake that you like the colour gold, because all you are going to see is my tail.”

He got to his feet, and when she took his arm, he winked, “Aw, you were in my dreams last night.”

Blushing at the image that put in her mind, she let him lead the way to the meadow. There were shifting cabanas to one side and none were occupied. He nudged her into one of them and took the one next to it.

She heard the rustling of fabric and quickly removed her clothing, placing it neatly on the shelf. She shifted into her lion form and stalked out with her tail lashing.

He was waiting for her, with his ears perked and his head cocked. He was a dark wolf with a pale muzzle and the same ice blue eyes as his human form. She found him very pretty.

He yipped and leaned in with his front paws forward and his butt in the air.

She shook her head and started to trot into the meadow. Once she heard him behind her, she started to run.

Her muscles bunched and released as she dug into the soft turf with her claws. She sprinted through the meadow and continued until she reached the far end; she used one of the trees as a springboard and changed direction, going over Braxton’s head and back through the meadow.

She heard him howl behind her and wanted to roar in response but there was no use. Nothing would come out. At the cabana end, she turned and trotted back into the centre of the meadow, sitting in a patch of dandelions and rolling to her back with her belly in the air.

Braxton came up beside her and sat there panting, watching her wiggle in the grass.

Once she was covered in pollen, she sat up and knew she looked silly.

He didn’t respond in any way except to shift into his human form and extend his hand.

She sniffed him, licking at his hand with her rough tongue. Once she was confident of the taste of him, she tucked her head under his hand and coaxed him into petting her. She let out a happy rumble as he scratched behind her ears and brushed fluff and pollen from her fur.

He sat next to her, and she put her head in his lap, enjoying the trust he was showing in his vulnerable condition.

“You are quite large, Nicia.”

She swatted him with her tail.

He chuckled and dug his fingers into her shoulders in a massage. “It was a compliment. I have seen smaller lionesses before. You are one of a kind.”

She rumbled again. It wasn’t quite a purr, but it was all she could manage.

He touched the scars around her neck, and she tensed. He stilled for a moment and then moved his fingers over the hardened skin. “This must have been agonizing.”

She moved her head and lapped at his thigh in agreement.

He continued to stroke her and she relaxed, gradually shifting back into her human form.

He still stroked her hair after she shifted, running his fingers through the strands.

She was facing his feet, and when she turned to look at him, his expression showed his interest. The erection was a secondary hint. It had been hard to ignore it pressing into the back of her head.