He holds his hands up as he takes a step back. “Of course, your Grace.” He winks at Mya, and she giggles.
I frown down at her, and she raises an eyebrow at me. “Do you have to be such a Neanderthal?”
I lean down so I can speak directly into her ear where no one else can hear, “You’d do well to try not to make me jealous, kitten.”
She gapes up at me and sputters defensively, “I haven’t done anything!”
“You in that dress, looking pretty enough to eat and smiling at all my men is more than enough to make me want to claim you right here and now in front of all of them just so they know exactly who you belong to,” I warn her.
I’m pleased to see that her cheeks are flushed prettily when I pull back from her, and her breathing is uneven.
“You’re insufferable,” she breathes under her breath.
“And you aremine.” I press her closer to my side.
The time has come for me to make my announcement. I pull Mya to the stage with me.
“What are you doing?” she hisses at me, but I ignore her. There’s no way I’m giving her a heads-up or a way out of this now. Better to just spring it on her in front of everyone. She already knows the truth anyway.
“Smile,” I order her before I pull her onto the stage steps.
She looks like she’d rather claw my eyes out, and that makes my cock harden, but she pastes a pretty smile on her face instead, no doubt only because there are so many eyes on us up here.
“Ladies and gentleman,” I begin, and a hush falls over the streak. “It is with great pleasure that I officially present to you my mate and your new queen, Mya.”
Mya’s face turns red, and I feel her gaze boring a hole into the side of my head. Just as the crowd erupts into cheers, a roaring voice booms out, “Over my dead body!”
I frown, wondering who would have the audacity to challenge me. My eyes skate over the crowd until I find the source of the voice standing tall and proud in the back of the room.
A growl begins low in the back of my throat as we lock eyes and he strides purposefully toward the stage.
I push Mya protectively behind me, guarding her with my body as the lion king makes his way to the stage with murder in his eyes.
What the fuck is he doing here?
“Get your filthy paws off my daughter!” he roars as he leaps onto the stage.
“I don’t know what you’re playing at, lion king, but—”
“Daughter?” Mya’s confused voice cuts into the conversation. I growl as I feel her step out from behind me.
Lionel’s eyes dart to her and soften as they take her in. “That’s right, child. You’re my daughter.”
Mya shakes her head as she adamantly voices, “No, you’re mistaken. I never knew my father, and my mother died years ago, and I’m just a human.”
Lionel sighs heavily before he confesses. “Your mother and I were in love, but my pack would never accept her. I didn’t know she was pregnant. She ran away from me. I didn’t find out about you until years later, and by then, I didn’t want to upend your whole life, especially if I knew my pack would never accept you if you couldn’t shift.”
He looks at her with new hope in his eyes. “You haven’t shifted into your lioness form yet, have you?”
Mya stares at him as she shakes her head numbly. “No, I told you. I’m just a human. This isn’t true. This can’t be true. My mother never spoke about my father. He was off-limits.”
“Why do you think that is, child?” Lionel asks her gently.
Mya’s eyes rove over him again, and my own eyes flicker back and forth between the pair, noting the resemblances I wish weren’t there. She’s got the man’s stubborn chin, the same shape to her eyes, though hers are blue whereas his are a deep brown. I take in her fiery red curls that wave down around her in a glorious mane. She looks exactly like a fierce little lioness. I don’t know how I didn’t see it before.
The truth hits me square in the chest. Mya is the daughter of my sworn enemy. A lioness, though she’s never shifted, so she must have more human blood in her than lion.
I wait for the crushing sensation of knowing she’s my enemy’s blood to overtake me, but it doesn’t happen. I blink as I realize this changes nothing.