Page 3 of Roar Letter Word

“Well …” Addie admitted.

“Come on, Addie,” Franny said. “You can’t tell me you’re not interested in finding someone. I know you better than that. You were always leaving rehearsals early so you could go on blind dates that never went anywhere.”

She was certainly right about that part, especially the “never went anywhere” bit. Once, she went out with a guy who gave her an entire speech about all the ways the Kaiser could have won World War One and how much better the world would be if he had. Addie hadn’t cared much about World War One trivia going in, and somehow, she cared even less coming out.

“Well, I’ll give you that. But why should I think the guy for me is going to be some shifter from outer space?”

“Think of it as expanding your dating pool,” Gerri explained. It was obviously a speech she had given more than once. “Right now, you’re dating people who come from the particular region of the planet Earth that you happen to live in. I’d be offering you a dating pool of the entire planet of Nova Aurora, as well as several of the other settled planets.”

“And anyway,” the woman added with a smile, “haven’t you ever suspected that maybe you were made a little different? That you were looking for someone who wasn’t like the normal people around you?”

“You’ve got me there,” Addie said, slightly ruefully. “I mean, you don’t end up being a pop star without thinking you’re better than every human alive.”

Franny smirked. “I really thought about this. You think I’d drag you out of bed this early in the day if I didn’t know it was a good idea?”

“I didn’t say I was in,” Addie replied. “I said she had one good point.”

“But are you in?” Franny asked. “Come on, yes or no.”

Addie wasn’t sure. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d gone looking for a relationship, thinking it would fix everything, and ended up alone and hurt.

And yet, what was there to do but to keep trying? Because there had to be someone out there for her. There just had to be.

“I’ll give it a try,” she said. “I’m in.”

TWO

MAHES

“Nothing beats soaking up the sun and getting a little vitamin D,” Mahes announced as he stretched out in his poolside chaise lounge. “Luckily, today is the perfect day for it.”

There was no way for Mahes Tellahn to know whether it was the lion or the person in him who loved lying by the pool under the sun. Maybe the two weren’t quite so separate. After all, he was both of them.

He was a large man, larger than humans or Earth shifters, and even when he was in his humanoid form, the lion subtly shaped his body. There was something in his short black hair and well-trimmed beard and mustache that suggested the glorious mane he wore when transformed. His muscles, large and visible as he lay with no shirt, kept something of the sleekness of the giant cat he became. Most of all, his eyes carried the leonine confidence and absolute knowledge of his own majesty.

A flying transport bike shot over the pool. Mahes followed it lazily with his eyes.

The pool was bright, and its water reflected the deep purple skies of Nova Aurora. Like most of Mahes’s possessions, the pool wasn’t just an ordinary pool. Water tumbled over rocks and down one of several tall waterfalls. A waterslide emptied just next to the bottom of the lowest waterfall, and next to it sat a bubbling hot tub.

And yet, more than anything, Mahes just liked to sit next to the pool in the sun, listening to the waterfall. He was a king, after all, one of many on Nova Aurora, and he enjoyed knowing that his territory was beautiful and that he owned it.

Mahes wasn’t a complicated man, or at least, he didn’t think of himself as one. He wanted to be surrounded by beautiful things, and he wanted to be left in peace.

The important word in that sentence wasthings. Mahes didn’t need or want other people around him. They’d just take away from the peace of listening to the water.

Unfortunately, trouble always had a way of finding him. Today, it came in the form of Ruzyll, his chief of staff. That wasn’t too uncommon. Ruzyll was the second-in-command of the Tellahn Lion Pride. Most trouble came to Mahes through Ruzyll.

Ruzyll, with his golden hair and quick movements, also bore the appearance of a lion, but a very different one. Where Mahes was confident and slow-moving, knowing how powerful he was, Ruzyll was quick and even nervous. The two of them were complete opposites, and that was why they worked so well together.

“There’s a woman who wants to speak to you,” Ruzyll said, stopping in front of Mahes.

“There are always women who want to see me,” Mahes smirked at his own joke. "Is there any particular reason I should be interested in talking to this one?”

“It’s Gerri Wilder, sir,” Ruzyll replied.

Mahes sat up and lowered his sunglasses.Gerri Wilder, huh? Well, at least that’s something different.

“Did she say what she wants?” he asked.

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