Page 11 of Fighting the Lies

“Not my fault I have a magic dick.” Leave it to the lion with his arms around her to make her feel like rolling around on the floor in a fit of giggles when she was facing a death sentence.

“Anyway, back to my father. I remember one night. One of the lioness' was crying. I didn't know why. I sat with her, and we had a tea party. It made her smile again. That was until my father came with another man; his smell was funny. It wasn't until I met Tyler that I realised he was a wolf. My mum was there and told me it was time for me to go to bed. I protested like the spoilt little princess I was in those days. My father snapped at me. Told me I was ungrateful and that would need to change. He looked to the other man, and he nodded his agreement. I got to my feet feeling ashamed that I'd made them angry at me and went to my room. When I looked out of the window a little later, I saw the man dragging the lioness away. My father was there watching. She was protesting that she didn’t want to leave. That she would marry any man in the pack and do whatever he asked but she didn't want to leave her family for another pack. The man shoved her into the car and shut the door. I never saw her again. I asked my mother the next day where she had gone, and she replied that she was doing her duty for the pack. It was shortly after that I woke up in Kas' pack." She exhaled a long breath. The story brought fresh memories to the surface, and they stung.

“Your father had sold her?” Scott quizzed.

“I thought so as well. Many of the lionesses were simply put, consorts to my father's needs. I know that now. Back then, it just seemed like a regular pack. I never forgot the girl. When I was older, I tracked down what had happened to her. My father hadn’t sold her for cash; he’d bartered her. She was soiled goods so would never make an Alpha or Beta’s wife, but she made a good whore for buying the allegiance of the wolf pack. She’d been given to them to do with what they wished, and when she was used up, they killed her and switched loyalty to the next Alpha willing to provide them with a girl." She sniffed back the tears that threatened to fall again. That tea party was so vivid in her imagination, the laughter of the poor lioness. It was probably the last happy moment in her life, and Emma had shared it with her.

“Did you tell Kas?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“What would it have it done? The lioness was already dead. She was no longer suffering.”

“Nothing I suppose.” Scott shrugged his shoulders. “When did you investigate her?”

“Not long ago, actually. A couple of years.”

“Around the same time that your father died!”

The room went silent, and they both just stared at each other.

“You think this is something to do with that?”

“We need to look into all avenues to find possible reasons for this heinous injustice.”

Emma touched Scott’s hand. “You should call Selene and get back to Kas and tell him. My diary. I wrote all the details in there. It’s…”

"It's ok, I know where you keep your journal." Scott grimaced at his confession.

“You’ve read my private thoughts.”

“No, I’ve never read it. I know almost everything about you already though.”

“Scott.”

"Emma, Everything I do, I do it for you."

She giggled. The tension within her dissipating and leaving her ready for the ensuing fight. "Are you going through that Bryan Adams phase again?" She wasn't sure why she said that. It wasn't the moment for them to be joking around. It just felt right.

"What?" Scott stepped back from her and struck a chord on a phantom guitar. He let his head fall forward and proceed to head bang.

"I would lie for you, walk the wire for you....."

He growled out the lyrics in a melodic chorus of feeling.

"He is such a lion."

"Who?" She queried.

"Bryan Adams."

"Why?"

"Oh come on? That voice? The colour of his hair?"

She laughed again. Scott dropped the fake guitar and stepped forward to her. He stroked his hand down her cheek. The gossamer skin warmed under the heated affection of his touch. The damp dungeon no longer chilled her frozen flesh. The air caught in the back of her throat.

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