Page 29 of Tamed By the Lion Freak

The crowd reacted with glee, disbelief and terror. Their unease rippled through the air like heat waves, feeding the carnival's hungry magic.

The ambient temperature in the tent dropped ten degrees. Kitty stepped into the spotlight, her new black and silver costume catching the light. The lions entered one by one. First came Nala and Sarabi, their golden coats gleaming, moving with practiced ease to their platforms. They were followed by Leo, his sheer size making the audience shrink back. Even in lion form, she could read the concern in his amber eyes. He took his position, but his gaze never left her. She could see him looking to make that connection they had felt from the very beginning.

There's nothing left to find.

Last came Brutus. The resurrected lion's movements were wrong – jerky and aggressive, his eyes glowing an unnatural shade of green. The magic that had brought him back had twisted him somehow, made him more monster than lion. He prowled to his platform, muscles coiled tight with barely contained violence.

Kitty raised her whip and the act began. The first sequence was simple. Each lion demonstrated their power individually. Nala and Sarabi performed their jumps and rolls flawlessly, drawing appreciative gasps. Leo's demonstration of strength, crushing a steel barrel between his massive jaws, earned genuine screams of fear.

Then came Brutus's solo. He was supposed to leap through a burning hoop, but instead of landing on his designated platform, he charged straight at the audience barrier. Children screamed. Parents pulled them back. Kitty's whip cracked through the air, the sound like a gunshot in the tense atmosphere.

Brutus turned, but there was no recognition in his toxic green eyes. This wasn't the lion she had loved, the partner she had sacrificed her heart to reclaim. This was something else entirely. But she didn’t have it in her to give it more than a passing thought.

The next sequence began. It was a complex choreography of all four lions weaving between platforms in a deadly dance. Kitty stood in the center, her whip directing traffic with mechanical precision. But with each passing moment, Brutus's movements grew more erratic. He snapped at Nala when she passed too close. He snarled at Leo when their paths crossed.

The audience leaned forward, sensing something was wrong but unable to look away. Their unease fed the carnival's power, making the very air crackle with dark electricity.

Then Brutus broke formation again.

The resurrected lion lunged at Nala, teeth bared. The careful choreography shattered. Kitty's whip cracked through the air, but Brutus was beyond control. His magical resurrection had left him wrong, broken. As chaos erupted in the ring, she caught a glimpse of Madame Noir watching from her private box, her dark eyes glittering with satisfaction.

She knew, Kitty realized.She knew Brutus would never be the same. This was her plan all along— to create the perfect storm of danger.

The audience's fear spiked, flooding the tent with power. Sarabi and Nala backed away, but Leo moved to intercept Brutus, putting himself between the maddened lion and Kitty. Their roars shook the tent poles.

Kitty raised her whip, but froze. Leo had shifted position, and for a moment, their eyes met. Those eyes—they were the same ones that had looked at her with such tenderness in his human form, that had pleaded with her not to make the bargain with Madame Noir. Even now, facing down a magically-corrupted Brutus, he was trying to protect her.

Something cracked inside her chest. A hairline fracture in Madame Noir's spell, caused not by any grand gesture of true love, but by this simple act of loyalty. Of choice. Leo chose to protect her, just as she had chosen to sacrifice her heart for Brutus.

Love.

It lived on in her. She could almost see it.

It was far away, but she felt the first tremors of it.

The act continued on when Brutus reluctantly retreated back to his mark. The final sequence was meant to be the most spectacular—all four lions forming a pyramid with Kitty at the top. But as Nala and Sarabi took their positions, Brutus lost it entirely. He shook Nala off his back. As she landed awkwardly, he launched himself at Kitty again with supernatural speed, claws extended, jaw wide enough to take her head off.

Time seemed to slow. Kitty saw her death in those glowing green eyes. She should have felt fear, should have felt something. Instead, there was only the empty acknowledgment that this was how it would end. Maybe she deserved this. Happiness had always been fleeting for her.

But Leo moved faster than thought. He intercepted Brutus in mid-air, the two massive lions colliding with bone-crushing force. They hit the ground rolling, a blur of teeth and claws and primal fury. The audience's screams reached a fever pitch as the barrier between performance and genuine danger shattered.

Nala and Sarabi retreated to the edges of the ring as Leo and Brutus fought. This was no choreographed battle. This was life and death. Brutus's magical strength gave him an advantage, and his resurrected body seemed immune to pain. He tore into Leo again and again, drawing blood, trying to get past him to reach Kitty.

But Leo wouldn't yield. Every time Brutus tried to break away, Leo was there, putting himself between her and the maddened lion. She realized he was protecting his mate, the woman he loved. The woman who could no longer love him back because of the stupid, selfish deal she had made out of fear and insecurity.

"Leo, stop!" The words tore from Kitty's throat as Brutus's claws opened another wound in Leo's flank. "He'll kill you."

Leo's eyes met hers for just a moment, and in them she saw everything – his pain, his determination, and most of all, his love. He would die to protect her.

Something stirred in the void where her heart had been. A memory of warmth. Of connection. Of choosing to love even when it hurt, even when it meant sacrifice.

Brutus lunged again, going for Leo's throat. Without thinking, Kitty threw herself forward, putting herself between the two lions. "No!"

The world exploded in pain and light. Brutus's claws raked her arm as Leo shouldered her back, but it wasn't the physical pain that brought her to her knees. It was the sudden rush of emotion flooding back into her hollow chest— fear, love, grief, joy, all of it at once, overwhelming in its intensity.

The carnival's dark energy recoiled from the pure force of genuine emotion. The magical bindings that had held her heart in stasis shattered like glass. She could feel again. She couldloveagain.

Brutus and Leo were thrown apart from the magical blast. They landed on their feet, but they were staggering. Toxic green sludge dripped from wounds on Brutus’ side. Leo was bleeding red on the sawdust.

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