Page 14 of Her Lion Lover

"But I have to find her. She's my mate!" Leo insisted.

Number Three shrugged. "Come back next term. We'll have dealt with the dragon by then, and all the girls will go to the next ball. Get a ticket to that, and try your luck with her then."

"When does next term start?" Leo vaguely remembered the start dates for his own university, but Mirror Academy was a private college. They could start and finish on any dates they wished.

One and Three stared at each other, before both shrugged. "Two or three months, maybe? The dates will be on the Academy website."

"What is a web...sight?" Dark Ages Dude asked.

Three sighed. "It's on the internet, idiot."

Dark Ages Dude's face lit up. "You mean the mirror you use to watch the naked people? Because the internet is for porn?"

One rolled his eyes. "Seriously? If the headmistress finds out you've been watching porn over the school internet connection, she'll take our computer privileges away. And I am not willing to forego my web comics because you needed to watch Andy's Anal Adventures episode sixty nine for the dozenth time."

"But it's the best one!" Three protested. "Watch it with me in the morning, and I'll show you!"

"No, thanks. I have better things to do than watch that filth. It's addictive, and rots your brain. Besides, people have been cavorting naked since the very first people. If you really wanted to fit in with the people of this time, you'd be using the computer to study philosophy and science and history, so that when you meet someone you connect with, they might be interested in getting naked with you, instead of you watching other people pretending to do things you can only dream of." One sniffed.

"I'll watch it with you," Dark Ages Dude said eagerly. "I love it when they..."

Leo just shook his head. Gargoyles were unnatural. And apparently addicted to porn. "Excuse me. If you could stop discussing porn for just a moment and tell me who I need to ask to get the address of the girl who left her shoes at the ball last night, I'd appreciate it." He shook the shoes, hoping that would get their attention.

"Email the headmistress. She probably won't tell you, but she might tell you the school's mailing address, so you could send them to her, and maybe let you include a note to the girl in with them, so she can contact you if she wants to. Maybe." One looked him up and down. "Don't hold your breath, though. If you're not really her fated mate, you won't hear a peep. Or you might have to wait until school goes back next term."

Leo nodded his thanks and returned to the car.

He'd draft up an email to the headmistress, all right. He'd write something so persuasive that the woman couldn't help but help him. Then he'd give it to Cat, who'd turn it into a plea so irresistible, Leo would be on his mate's doorstep by morning, shoes in one hand, engagement ring in the other.

Hmm. He should probably stop by a jeweller's on the way home, then. He knew his mother had a collection of heirloom jewellery that would be perfect for a wedding ring, but he also knew it was better to let his mate pick her own ring, if she was going to be wearing it for the rest of her life. An engagement ring she'd only wear for a few months – less, if he had any say in it – before he replaced it with something better.

An engagement ring had to send the right message. It had to say he loved her, cherished her and would provide for her all their days together, but it also had to be pretty enough that she couldn't resist putting it on. Definitely a diamond, something as flashy at the crystals adorning her lost shoes.

Leo grinned and gunned the engine. He couldn't wait to see her face when he got down on one knee. Actually, he couldn't wait to see her face, full stop.

He hoped she liked cats...

EIGHTEEN

Each day at home brought new horrors to light. When Lily had opened the garage to take her father's car grocery shopping, she'd found it was gone, along with the little hatchback Lily had inherited from her mother.

Her stepmother, Cadence, had sold them both to fund her lavish lifestyle.

Mum and Dad's housekeeper, Maria, had answered her phone when Lily called her, but flatly refused to come to the house, as Cadence hadn't paid her for the last month of work. Even when Lily herself offered to pay Maria whatever Cadence owed her, Maria wouldn't take it.

"You should get out of there before she loses the house. Go find yourself a job and somewhere else to live. Don't let that woman take you down with her," Maria told her.

Lily thanked her, both for the advice and all her hard work over the years, and ended the call. Of course she couldn't leave. This was the house she'd grown up in. No matter what Cadence and her daughters had done to it, she owed it to her parents to stay.

The next day, cleaning up the chaos in the living room, she found a pile of papers that told an even more desperate story than the empty garage. Page after page of overdue bills, final notices from every utility, plus credit card statements for dozens of credit cards, all unpaid, in between letters congratulating Cadence on opening a new credit account, with the gum still stuck to them from where the new cards had been attached.

Several times a day, Courteney appeared with her nails painted a different colour, before filming them on her phone in whatever room had the best light.

Every night, Chloe came home with bags of food, clothing and fitness equipment she'd bought with one of her mother's collections of credit cards.

Cadence spent her days visiting friends at their homes, or at various health and sporting clubs where they still accepted her myriad credit cards.

The day after that, the power went out, followed by the water being cut off.

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