Page 12 of Tamed By the Lion Freak

Someone in the crowd screamed.

His jaws parted, razor-sharp fangs mere inches from Kitty's throat. The beast in him gloated in triumph, urging him to graze her, to taste her blood, to claim her as his own.

Slowly, with a sensuality that seemed at odds with her obvious fear, she pushed herself back to her knees.

“Open,” she commanded.

Leo’s mouth opened wide.

“Don’t eat me,” she whispered to him. And then with a shaky sigh, she placed her head in his mouth.

The crowd went wild, sounds of fright and excitement filled the big top. He could feel the carnival's dark power swelling, feeding on the maelstrom of emotions.

For a heart-stopping moment, Leo teetered on the edge of control. The curse shook through him. He could end her life with a snap of his jaws.

No. He was not an animal. This was not part of his dark bargain. He paid for his sister’s freedom with this curse, but that was all he paid. His soul was still his own. Seconds that felt like hours ticked by. Then, moving with aching slowness, Kitty withdrew.

Kitty's hand came up, trembling slightly, to stroke his mane. The touch was electric, sending shocks of pleasure through Leo's body. Without conscious thought, he lowered his shoulder so she could climb on his back.

The audience was on their feet, cheering wildly. But Leo barely heard it. His entire world had narrowed to Kitty—her scent, her touch, the sound of her ragged breathing.

Her thighs gripped his sides, the heat of her body seeping through his fur. As they began their victory lap around the ring, Leo was acutely aware of every shift of Kitty's weight, every brush of her skin against his.

All too soon she dismounted and picked up her whip. With a few more cracks, he numbly walked back to his cage and laid down to sort out his tangled emotions. He hadn’t expected to feel anything but hatred.

The carnival workers wheeled him out of the big top and put his cage with the rest of the trailers. To his surprise, Kitty soon appeared before him. She had wrapped an old blanket around her revealing outfit.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, her voice choked with emotion. "I'm so, so sorry."

Leo cocked his head, confusion replacing concern. Sorry? For what? The performance had gone exactly as Madame Noir had commanded.

But then he saw the way Kitty was looking at him—not with fear or disgust, but with a deep, aching sympathy. And he understood.

She knew.

Somehow, impossibly, Kitty had seen through the beast to the man trapped inside. The realization left him reeling. He was unable to tell anyone about the terms of his curse. He never thought anyone would recognize that he was human when he was in lion form.

She hurried away and he was left alone with his thoughts for the rest of the night. He slept fitfully. As the first rays of dawn began to peek through the tent flaps, Leo felt the familiar agony of transformation begin. But for once, he welcomed the pain. He needed to be human again. He needed to think, to plan.

Most of all, he needed to talk to Kitty.

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