ChapterThirty-One
The lion stops as if he’s hit a barrier and lies down.
The crowd slips into silence so thick I can feel it pressing in on me. The lion looks at me, his head lifting and tilting, reminding me of its domestic counterpart. But this beast is anything but domesticated.
I drop my arm and limp toward him, ignoring Vega when he yells my name. A strange compulsion urges me on, making me reckless. I know this is stupid, but I keep moving until I’m standing right in front of him.
He hasn’t moved, but he watches me with curiosity as I lift my hand and slowly reach for him. When he dips his head, I press my hand to his nose, sliding it gently up to his forehead and down again.
One more step and I can feel his heat, smell the sawdust in his fur. A single moment of kinship passes between us as I press my forehead against his and run my fingers over his mane. Stepping back, I turn toward the entrance he came from, relieved to find him following me.
My skin crawls at having a predator at my back, but my submissiveness makes me less of a threat, and therefore, hopefully, he won’t eat me. He passes me at the entrance, and as soon as he steps inside, the portcullis drops as if it’s on a sensor, locking him inside once more.
“I’ll be back, big guy. I promise,” I whisper before I turn and hurry back to Blink, half limping, half dragging my leg behind me.
The crowd is going nuts again, calling my name. I see movement out of the corner of my eye and see Law leaping over the barrier separating the ground floor seats from the arena floor.
He sprints toward me and, like Vega before, scoops me up. He kisses me hard and fast before he carries me to the others.
“Once we get you fixed up, I’m going to spank you so hard you won’t be able to sit down for a week,” he growls at me.
I bury my head under his chin, afraid of what I’ll see if I look down. If I close my eyes, I can pretend everything is okay.
“There are signal blockers all over this fucking place, which is actually a good thing given what just happened. But it was almost impossible trying to get a call out of here,” Law tells Vega and Glitch when he lowers me to the ground beside Blink.
“How is he?” he asks.
“He’s hanging in there, but he needs a hospital ASAP,” Vega admits.
“I got out and called Sugar like you asked. She has a team en route, including paramedics. I wanted to be on the safe side. Thank God.”
“Boy Scout saves the day,” Blink croaks, making me jump.
“Hey, how you doing?”
“I think I’m in shock. I swear I heard a lion.”
I look up at the others and grimace. “Huh? Weird.”
“FBI, stay where you are,” a familiar voice yells out.
FBI, my ass. I grin as I look up and see the cavalry is here.
“That’s Sugar now. I’m surprised nobody ran.” I frown at the huge crowd.
“I’m sure they would have, but the gates were locked during the fight, except for the discreet entrance behind Titus’s throne.”
“Well, looks like the man finally did us a favor.”
The sound of the damn portcullis sliding up has me tensing and my head swinging around once more. I relax when I see it’s Sugar and our alpha team.
She runs to me and drops to her knees when she sees my leg covered in blood.
“Status report.”
“I’m fine, Sug. It looks worse than it is. Blink needs the hospital now, though. That crazy bitch stabbed him in the back.” I nod to Deity as the medics move in.
“We’ll take good care of him, Reese. Don’t worry.”