Page 22 of Lion's Little Scamp

“What are you doing?” Talia asked, sounding intrigued.

“Looking for our backtrail,” Irish said just as she saw what she was looking for – the trail they had made in the leaves and debris getting to this point. “Come on, we’re going back to the barn.”

Following their trail back down the mountain was slow going as it was getting dark. “Do either of you have a flashlight?”

“No. Why?” Poppy answered.

“Hang on,” Talia said as she opened her backpack and began to dig through the contents. “No flashlight, but how about a glowstick?”

She pulled out a handful of the plastic sticks that glowed for hours once they were broken.

“That might work. But we only need one,” she said when Poppy grabbed for one as well.

“Why can’t I have one too?” Poppy whined.

“Because if we all have one, it won’t help us see any better, we might run out of glowsticks before we get back to the institute.”

“I want my Papa,” Talia said through chattering teeth as she handed Irish a glowstick. She put the rest back into her pack.

Poppy wrapped the other girl in a hug and patted her back. “I know. We’ll get back soon. Don’t cry.”

While Irish could not wait to have Harrigan hug her in welcome, she took a deep breath to stay strong. She might be the youngest of the three, but it was obvious the other two were still stuck in some kind of Little headspace even though their situation was growing more dire by the moment.

She wanted to yell at them to toughen up, but knew that would only earn her more tears. Besides, she might be the only one of them with any survival experience. Breaking the glowstick, she aimed the light at the ground and found their backtrail once more.

“Come on,” she called as she started following the path of disturbed leaves, pine needles and footsteps.

She froze in her tracks a few minutes later when a huge tawny gold lion bounded into view and stopped just a few feet in front of her.

Harrigan stopped as soon as he saw Irish. She looked tired, cold, and startled. He froze, afraid to move for fear of scaring her.

The other two Littles moved up to stand on either side of her. They all looked nervous, but none of them had seen him in his shifted form. Hearing the other men approaching, he dropped to his belly before returning his gaze to Irish.

His mate stepped forward, shrugging off the others when they tried to stop her. She approached slowly, holding one hand out. She acted like she was approaching a strange dog, and not the man she would spend the rest of her life with.

But that was to be expected, though he hated it. He wanted to grab her up, take her home, and spank her ass for taking off into the forest without telling him. Then, and only then, would he snuggle her, cuddle her, and finally, mate her and claim her as his own.

When Lonergan and Diego joined them, their Littles ran to their sides, blubbering apologies and excuses and their Daddies scooped them into big hugs.

Instead of shifting, Harrigan remained on his belly, his gaze locked on Irish. She closed the distance between them, slowly but steadily.

He remained on his belly but crawled toward her, needing to feel her touch. When her hand brushed over his head, ruffling his fur, he began to rumble his pleasure at her touch. She worked around his head and ruffled the longer hair that covered his neck before easing an arm over him to give him a hug.

He gave a rumble of happiness before looking to Lonergan for the man’s help.

“I think he wants you to climb on his back,” the institute’s director said.

“He does?”

“Need some help? It’s just like riding a horse, only you’ll be lower to the ground,” Diego added.

Irish looked and him then moved to his side before bending so her lips were close to his ear. “I’ve never ridden a horse before, so please take it easy on me.”

Harrigan nodded his big head, then waited as she threw one leg over his back. Diego helped her put on her coat, then gave her his clothes before getting her situated on his back with her hands buried in his mane.

The tiny squeal she gave when he stood up had him wondering if he should shift and walk back with her instead of taking her back in shifted form. Then he began walking and she giggled. The sound went straight to his cock.

“This is so cool,” she whispered just loud enough for him to hear.

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