Page 11 of Lion's Second Chance King

And I believe all of it. “Is it just because I saw you two turn into lions?” I ask. “Or, wait. I saw a lion turn into you first. Is that why?”

“Why what?” Aunt Kaitlyn asks and I realize I’m verbalizing some of my internal thoughts but not all of them.

“Why do I believe this so easily?” I ask. “Why aren’t I in… uh, denial?”

She smiles. “It is who you are. You’re a little ahead of schedule, which is why Daniel kept saying three more years. You’ve come into your own as far as your heritage is concerned. You know it’s true even before you’re told, and that’s why you accept the truth.”

“Because I’m a lion shifter. Wait. No. I’m not. I’m not one.”

“You’re not a shifter but you’re still a lion, Mackadoodle.” Mackadoodle. I haven’t heard her call me that in a long time. It was her pet name for me until I was five or six. Now, it comes out with serious live events and steps forward. The last time was when I graduated high school.

“I don’t understand what that means,” I say.

“Nobody really does,” she says with a smile. “If you were never told, you would have grown up knowing something about you is different but you wouldn’t know what it is. We don’t know exactly what it means. We know that there are certain things that all of you have in common. You’re all very intelligent. You will have a shifter child if your mate is a shifter. You’re destined to succeed at whatever you choose to do.”

I stare at her and I can’t think very clearly because I’m focused on the shifter child thing. I’m focused on the shifter mate, thing. “Why did you ask me if Daniel and I are serious?” I ask.

“Because you two are a good match,” she replies, “far better than you imagine.”

I don’t really have a chance to respond to that. Before I can, the cabin door opens, and Daniel steps in. There’s so much I want to say to him and so much I want to ask him. I can’t bring myself to do anything other than reach for him and hold him tightly.

Chapter Twelve

Makayla

With my arms around him, it feels to me like everything is right in the world. The sound of his heartbeat is familiar, as is the feel of his body. The smell of him is… Well, how did I never notice that I can tell the difference between how he smells and how other people do? Or is that me just coming into my… Hell, I don’t know. My lion abilities, I guess. Maybe I’m going to be discovering a lot of those sorts of things.

Who cares now?

Right now, he’s back and that’s all that matters to me.

Wait a minute. It sure as hell isn’t all that matters! I pull back and ask, “Now what?”

“You’re safe.”

“No. Uh uh. No two-word reassurances. I want to know a real update.”

He looks at me and I can see the indecision in his eyes. He makes the decision, though. He says, “Sixteen are dead. I killed all but two of them as lions. I led them away from your house before it happened, the six that were there. The two killed as humans are here in the country from Angola and they were clearly killed by a lion. When the authorities get involved, they will assume these men were smuggling lions illegally and this carnage was the result.”

Okay, that was candor I didn’t expect. I don’t know, actually, how happy I am about demanding it.

“Your garage door is already replaced. Your window is replaced as well. The lion who tried to take you, his body anyway, is gone. There is no evidence that anything happened today. You’re safe for now.”

“For now,” I say, “why did they want me?”

“Because you are royal. Kidnapping you gives them leverage. In addition, you can produce lions of royal blood. That is a powerful asset as well, from a political standpoint. They might have forced marriage and an heir, giving them a seat at the table with the kind or even setting the stage for a coup.”

“That’s why I’m only safe for now,” I say quietly, “and I won’t be fully safe until when, when I’m infertile?”

He says, “I won’t allow any harm to come to you,” and then sees that I’m in no mood for reassurance like that. He quickly adds, “Until you’re past bearing young or until you have a legitimate mate.”

“A legitimate mate?” I ask. Then I wave off his attempt to reply. “I get it,” I say, “the whole point of kidnapping me or breeding me… Is that the right word? Hell, is as good as any. The whole point of kidnapping me and breeding me is to give legitimacy to their claims against the throne. If I’m already legitimately mate to someone, there’s no advantage. Is that right?”

He seems surprised until Kaitlyn says, “She’s ahead of schedule, Your Highness.”

“She told me that before, too,” I say, “because I was able to accept all this so quickly and… what the fuck? What the actual fuck? This is the second time she’s called you that. Your Highness? Are you the king?”

“She calls me Your Majesty,” he says. “She calls my father the other way.”

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