~ ZANE ~
"You can't tell anyone, Lia," I said finally. Darkly. "It will freak them out too much. My parents… to them this place is just nothing but threat. They've forgotten that most humans don't even know Dad and the other Chira exist. Let alone Anima.
They don't get it. Seriously, you can't tell them."
"I'm not telling," Lia said hurriedly. "Do you know what my mother would do to if she found out I was here? My Dad got stuck here for a while. You know that, right? He still pales every ti they have to talk about it."
Ah, that was right. I'd forgotten. No wonder she could see the portals. Her dad was a Protector. Which ant, sowhere deep down, she was as well.
"So… this is going to be our secret, right?" I said carefully.
She nodded emphatically, but then turned to smile at . "Which is exactly why you can kiss my ass if you think I'm not coming back. This place is fun."
I knew exactly what she ant—but also that this place wouldn't be fun if I had to be watching out for her every mont I was here!
"Lia—"
"Don't even say it, Zan."
"Here, it's Zane."
"Good for you."
I ground my teeth. "Lia…" I was trying to be reasonable. "You can't just co here whenever you want. I can't watch over you every second—"
"I'm sorry," she turned to face . "At which point did I ask you to watch over anything at all?"
She stared at , her eyes a deep sapphire blue, her skin creamy and hair swirling around her shoulders like so kind of reddish-gold halo.
I t her gaze evenly. "You can't be here without a car and without—"
"You have exactly zero say on what I can and can't do, Zan. And since when have you ever wanted to, anyway?"
There was an edge in that question I didn't understand. But it struck ho anyway. Why did I care? Lia was an adult. Prowling the human world as a lion was stupid in the extre. But if sothing happened to her, it would be her fault, not mine.
Then that image again—a heavy, lioness, sliding off a roof and hitting the ground with a thud that shook the ground.
My blood ran cold. "I don't want to see you get hurt," I blurted.
She stared at without answering, the strangest expression on her face—blank, but as if she was forcing herself to keep it that way.
Fire burned in her eyes, a storm of fierce uncertainty that I didn't understand. And it spoke to sothing deep inside my chest. Sothing that pulled towards her when our eyes t.
But her gaze was so intense I couldn't hold it. I turned back to the road—we were almost back at the Big House. It had a long and winding gravel driveway. Because I drove so infrequently, I needed to concentrate.
So I pretended I was focused on that as I turned the car in between the wide gates and started up the mile-long aisle of trees that wound up the hill to where the house was perched, high over the city, surrounded by tall trees and a wall that blocked it from view to most.
But Lia didn't turn away from . Didn't stop watching . I could feel her eyes on like a whisper on my skin that made the small-hairs rise on my neck.
When we were finally on the wide, cobbled drive that stretched between the house and the three-car garage, I stopped the car perhaps a little too quickly, so that it caught and wobbled and we were both forced to brace against it.
I turned the car off and the night went silent, though a light flickered on in the house above us—the Guardians coming to see if we were safe.
"Do they know you're here?" I asked.
She shook her head. "They know I co through, but I didn't talk to them tonight."
I cursed. "Why not?" If I hadn't seen her, no one would have known! She could have—
"Because I was too focused on getting into the city. I didn't want to delay."
"What for?"
She turned to look at with those simring eyes again. Her throat bobbed and uncertainty flashed across her features—shocking . I didn't think I'd ever seen Lia question herself for even a breath.
"Lia, what were you here for that was so urgent?"
"You," she said simply.
I blinked.
The light over the front door of the massive house beside her flashed on, drenching her in warm, bright light that haloed her skin and hair, but dimd her face as my eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness.
Her half-smile kind of wobbled and she turned away suddenly. "I was just worried about you, Zan. It's no big deal." She pushed the door of the car open in the sa mont that two figures from the house started trotting down the stairs towards us.
"Wait—" I reached for her arm again, but I was too late, she'd already slipped out of the car and was greeting Preston and Khush, the males who'd stayed here to guard the Portal. Phelia—Khush's mate—must have stayed in bed.
The familiar way the males greeted her put to bed any last hope I had that she hadn't done this much. Pushing out of the car, my stomach was tight and simring. I felt sick and suddenly very shaky, and not certain why, as the two males reached her side of the vehicle.
"So good to see you, Lia! I didn't know you'd co through tonight too!" Khush, the older male greeted her warmly.
Then his son, Preston pulled her into a hug, his hand coming up to splay at the back of her neck and he leaned right down, burying his nose in the side of her hair, his lips brushing it as he greeted her quietly.
Ti seed to slow as my eyes zeroed in on that place where his fingers curled at the nape of her neck, gathering her hair… his lips brushing the golden strands as if he would taste her… And his smile…
I sucked at the air as my mind superimposed events of the night over the image of the two clasping each other.
The lioness slipping from the roof.
That serpentine body glowing in the half-light of the club.
Lia in the arms of another male.
Sothing inside snapped.
A snarl ripped out of my throat as my body beca the wind in the trees and the dark clouds overhead.
Instinct shoved around the car and between them in less than the blink of an eye, one hand shooting out to the connect with the male's chest and drive him back, bodily.
With a tortured grunt, he arched in the air—still in slow-motion to my eyes—thrown several feet back to bounce awkwardly onto the stairs.
Ti snapped back to normal as Preston snarled and leaped to his feet, half-crouched, with hands clawed and teeth bared, his back twitching towards the wolf that lived inside him.
"Zan! What—" Khush barked, stunned.
"Keep your hands off my mate," I snarled.
They all froze.
And so did I.
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