Page 32 of So I Won a Werelion

“That sounds athletic.” Another laugh. She reached into the basket, handed me a sandwich, and unwrapped one of her own. “Do you think you’ll coach snowboarders at your cousin’s ski resort?”

Shut it down, my lion groaned. I was willing to go as slowly as she needed. I had forever. Even if the last fucking thing I wanted to talk about was snowboarding.

“No.”

She frowned, studying me. “What are you gonna do?”

I took a bite of my sandwich. It was my first time to the mercantile since I’d been back, and it was just as delicious as I remembered. “I was planning on getting settled with my pride, until I almost kissed my best friend at a mating ceremony, and then a fairy dragmother insisted she could help me make her my mate.”

She laughed. “No. Really. One of us has to have a plan, because I just quit my job today.”

“We don’t have to worry about that right now. It’s time for both of us to take some chances.”

Wendy didn’t answer. She took a sip of her champagne and another bite of her sandwich. I knew exactly what she was doing: retreating.

I had to make her feel safe with me.

“Can I see the artifact?” I asked.

“Sure.” She put down her food and reached into the bag.

“Wait.” I turned toThe Mating Gamecrew. “Shut off the cameras.”

There was no telling what she’d found. It could be an antique, or some other relic. But if this was really the Scepter, we needed to show it the respect it deserved. My ancestors had kept this a secret for generations, and the least we could do was exercise good judgment.

Bibi and Marissa looked at each other and nodded, and Bjorn switched off the camera and stepped away from it.

Wendy pulled the relic from her bag and placed it in my lap.

“It kinda looks like a dick.” Couldn’t believe those were the first words out of my mouth when she showed me the legendaryartifact, but there was no other way to describe it. Two round bases at the bottom, and a round top to the foot-long shaft.

“Sweet moon, it does.” She ran her fingers over it. My lion groaned, wishing she was doing that to me. “I was so shocked that I found it…I didn’t even think of that.”

Then the power hit me.

For a moment, I forgot to breathe. It was like the night had been swallowed by fire and I’d been transported to another time.

Yet I was in the very spot I’d chosen for the date. Surrounded by my ancestors, looking through their eyes. This body didn’t belong to me. It was a vessel, and it had a message for me, and I better pay attention.

My pride had gathered around a fire. Wolves were there too. The Scepter was there, in all its phallic glory, gold letters glimmering in the flames. Human me couldn’t quite make out the message, but the body I was in understood it on a different level.

A woman stood in front of me. I had to be hallucinating, because she looked like Wendy, but she was completely naked. Soot from the fire and dew from the heat covered her skin, and her full, heavy breasts swayed as she moved to what sounded like a chant accompanied by a drum. I couldn’t understand the words, but I knew what it meant.

In the vision, I put my hand in hers and rose from the earth. My mouth found hers, and we started moving together in time with the rhythm of the music.

This woman belonged to me.

She turned around when the kiss broke, showing me her bare, smooth shoulders. It was an invitation to mark her.

Here? Now? In front of our pride and all these packs?

The smell of arousal filled my nostrils, and I realized everyone around us was fucking.

“Gabe! Are you okay?”

I dropped the Scepter on my leg and blinked to shake away the vision. Wendy crouched beside me with her hand on my arm. It sent a completely different energy pulsing through my veins, but that vision wasn’t done with me yet.

An image of the ancient woman flashed before me, in the same position as Wendy.

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