Conri (13 page)

Sarai turned her back on the male and faced her mate.
Conri was standing, his hand twitching by his side. She had never seen him
wear, let alone draw a sword. But there was one attached to him now. She held
her arms out to her side, “He bears the mark.”

A beat and then a loud clank reverberated behind her.
Sarai turned to see her guards had kneeled. “Are you satisfied king Conri?”
Liam said.

“King William,” Conri amended, “Have you come to take
my kingdom or my wife?
Or both?”
Conri added as an
afterthought.

Sarai gasped and looked at the man who had been
telling to truth. He was, indeed, her great-grandfather. He held his hand out
to her but she shook her head. Even if he was the king of the race she knew she
outranked him. He was over a hundred years old and would have long turned over
the crown to his heir. If he had no other heirs then the crown would pass to
her- now that she was a leopard. He slowly dropped his hand and Sarai wondered
if the look on his face was sorrow.

“Neither.” William said slowly. “I do not have any
other heirs. When my true-mate was killed by her father all those years ago I
never took another. Sarai is my only heir.”

Yup, she was right.

“Was she always destined to become a queen?” Conri
looked a little lost and Sarai wanted to comfort him.

“I have searched for her for many years. I thought the
journal would help me find her. But I never knew where my true-mate had fled
to. I have searched the land for many years. It wasn’t until I heard a human
was in search of the journal too that I knew it was here. I met up with the
Rogues and they aided me as long as I helped them obtain one thing.”

“Females.”
Sarai said.
William nodded. I found the journal the same time you did and it was the
journal I sought, not you- well, you know what I mean.”

“But you asked me if we had met. Did you know then who
I was?”

Liam/William shook his head. “You smelled familiar but
I couldn’t be certain.”

“So why come now?”

“You were a human; I needed them to turn you for you
to claim your birthright. I would not deliver you to the reprobates. For when
you were turned, unmated…”

Conri growled so low Sarai shivered. “He gets it; even
I would not have been able to protect you.”

“So you come now, after my turning, after my mating-
for what?”

Liam spread his arms and smiled, “Is it not obvious? I
want to be with my daughter.”

“Your daughter died in childbirth having my mother.”

Liam nodded, “And I never met her, or your mother. But
I have you and we are the only ones still alive.”

“So you do not seek the kingdom?” Sarai asked.

“My legacy has passed to you daughter.” William looked
up at Conri, “And now to you. Since you are mated her blood flows through you
now to, does it now- son?” Liam cracked a smile and Conri’s lips twitched as he
nodded. “Then you, wise King, have just been promoted.”

Conri looked at Sarai.
“All hair
Queen Sarai!”

The resonating “Hail Queen Sarai!” surprisingly made Sarai
a little uncomfortable.

“Worry not daughter, you will rise to it.” Liam said
as he watched her. She swore she saw pride in his eyes. Sarai loved her birth
father, but he was weak and he had given up on life when her mother had died.
She had a chance at another father, one who was strong and would walk into a
lions den- so to speak- if it meant he cold see her; even if it meant his
death.

But he hadn’t died and she had him now. As she stepped
forward and he opened his arms to her, she wondered fleetingly if Intuition
worked with family too.
 
Sarai was truly
home now. Wrapped in the arms of her father she had a family. She was loved and
needed. She was Sarai, Queen of the Leopards.

Sarai woke to someone knocking fervently at her door.

“What time is it?” Conri asked groggily.

“To early for someone to wake us.”
Sarai grumbled as she threw the covers off of her. She and Conri had only been
asleep a few hours. The past six weeks had been one long festival. She was
celebrating her mating, celebrating her father’s arrival and setting roots,
celebrating another birth and celebrating the near end to winter. The storm had
mostly let up and though the ground was still covered in snow forecast
predicted the coming weeks would bring the beginning of spring. Sarai couldn’t
wait to get out and feel the sun on her skin.

So much had changed. Core had come to her and Conri
asking for permission to ask Lilly for a mating. Conri had laughed and said the
permission was not his to give; the only person who could give that was Lilly.
And to everyone’s surprise she had fallen over herself to accept. Apparently
she had been harboring feelings for him all along. Their mating had been part
of the six weeks of celebration.

Meanwhile Sarai had spent every night of those six
weeks exploring her mate’s desires. Dawn brought another day of celebration and
dusk brought another night of pleasure. Lilly had heeded Sarai’s request to
train the newly turned Delta legion, Morgan. He was progressing nicely.
 
And Sarai was devising plans to speak with
Cai
about her promotion. She
didn’t know if the female wanted out of servitude, but if she did Sarai was all
to willing to promote her.

Sarai threw on her robe and opened the door, “What
is…”

“Sarai!”
It was Flynn and he
was in a state.

“What is it?” Sarai was sudden awake and alert.

“Please, please I beg you.”

“Stella?” Sarai didn’t even bother with clothes when
Flynn nodded. She synched her robe tight and started running.

“What is the problem my friend?” Conri asked as Sarai
ran, she hadn’t even heard him come out of bed.

“She’s… she’s…. I don’t know. She is in a ball on the
floor and will not move, will not eat. For the love of God my female will not
even talk to me.”

“We all know how much she loves to talk.” Conri meant
it to be calming, a little humor in a dire situation but Flynn was past
distraught.

“How long has she been like that?” Sarai asked as she
took the corner toward the guard’s quarters.

“Since yesterday.”

Sarai went straight to Flynn and Stella’s room and
swung the door open. An Omega female was scrubbing the floor. “She didn’t make
it to the bathroom.” She explained. Sarai only nodded as she veered to the
bathroom. Stella was on the floor, she was sweating and as Sarai bent to touch
her, her skin was clammy.

“Maybe the flu?”

“We do not get common colds.” Flynn supplied.

“Even if our former bodies were
human?”
Sarai asked but knew. Sarai had not even suffered the allergies
she normally did when spring moved into winters place.
 
Sarai touched Stella’s wrist and counted off
the beats, “Her pulse is way to low. Flynn
pick
her up
and take her to the infirmary. Omega, go get Darma and Ebba and have them meet
me there.”

Sarai didn’t wait for response she grabbed Conri’s arm
and took off.

“What do you think it is?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

Sarai smiled and glanced back at her husband. “Could
you not smell it, could you not hear it?”

“Smell what, hear what?”

Sarai shook her head. “I will want Darma and Ebba’s
confirmation but if I am not mistaken,” Sarai stepped through the double doors
and since the infirmary was empty she shed her robe, showing off her naked
body. Conri growled and Sarai saw his eyes change to sapphire. She giggled,
knowing that was his aroused response. She slipped on scrub pants and was
yanking down the top when Flynn walked in with a protesting Stella.

“Set her down,” Sarai said. She flitted around the
room getting the things she needed as Darma and Ebba walked in.

“What would you have from us?” The two females looked
tired but ready.

“Hold her down, she hates needles.”

“NO! No needles.” Stella tried to get up but Darma and
Ebba were on her.

“What is wrong with her?” Flynn’s distraught voice
amused Sarai.

“I am guessing that Stella has been more irritable
lately- probably over the last few weeks?”

Flynn glared at her but nodded.
 
“And she has probably been complaining about
smells- things she used to enjoy that are now driving her insane?” Flynn nodded
again. Sarai inserted the needle and Stella growled at her.

“Chill out friend, you’ll thank me for this in about
twenty minutes.”

“For sticking me like a pin-cushion, not likely.”

Sarai laughed as she patted her friends arm and
attached one end of the tube to the needle and the other end to saline fluids.
“And then,” Sarai directed her questions to Flynn. “She started throwing up,
ohhh
maybe a week ago?”

“How do you know all this and what is wrong with her?”

“She’s dehydrated, severely dehydrated. She hasn’t
been eating or drinking because everything is making her sick.”

“This is all stuff I know! What is making her
sick!
”

“Watch yourself Flynn.” Conri ordered and Flynn
stepped back, scrubbing his face.

“Please… just…”

Sarai smiled as she faced Flynn, she crossed her arms
over her chest. “Congratulations Flynn- you’re going to be a father.”

“What?” Stella and Flynn said at the same time.

“Conri warned me about experimenting in animal form.
It’s the most for-sure way to conceive. Where our human forms are subjected to
cycles our animal forms are not.” Sarai turned to Stella, “My dear friend you
are going to be a mommy!”

Stella’s jaw dropped, Flynn swore and Darma clapped.
Stella started to cry silently but when her eyes met Flynn’s she smiled through
her tears.

“I hope it’s a girl.”

“I hope it’s a boy.”

They said simultaneously. They both smiled and again
in unison they said, “me too.”

I would like to thank my parent’s for always indulging in my
writing. They encouraged me from day one to follow my dreams and I always knew
one day I wanted to write. They constantly supplied me with journals and pens
when I was younger and were always willing to listen to my poems and short
stories.
 

I also would like to thank my best friend Joanna who would
sit with her headphones on for hours in college just so I could write in
silence. True friends like her are hard to come by. I would like to thank my
boyfriend, who only complained a little when he was left to do the laundry or
cook dinner because I had locked myself in the office typing away at a story
that never seemed to be finished. You’re best
Bry
! I
would also like to thank a close friend Ben Oles, for directing me to
DeviantArt
,without
his insightful suggestion I would have this
handsome cover! I’d like to thank God for giving me not only the talent but the
passion for the written word. And also for giving me an eccentric brain that
aids me in creating alternate worlds.

Lastly I would like to thank Andrei for allowing the use of
his
model
.
He is the owner of
Vishstudios
from
DeviantArt
. Click on the links to see more about this
artist.

The intense sequal to the Leaopard King.

Sarai
has embraced her destiny; at least sort of. She is learning how to be a queen
and balance home, duty and her people. As winter melts into spring the compound
has come alive and Sarai relishes in watching her kingdom come back to life.

But
the joys of spending the days with her people and her nights with her mate are
coming to a screeching halt. A trip to tie up loose ends from her human life
upturns a stone no one expected held so many secrets. And when Sarai goes down
that road to explore what this revelation mean she opens the preverbal can of
worms; and what comes out is far more dangerous.

Not
only are they desperately trying to find the cure for female cub deaths before
her best friend delivers. But strangers on the horizon drop in unexpectedly.
Are these strangers’ friends or foe? And what exactly is going on with the
reprobates? Their crimes against the crown are becoming more flagrant by the
day.

With
so much on the line Sarai has to make decision and make them fast; second
guessing
herself
is not an option. And when everything
comes to an explosive end Sarai is left wonder- was it all worth it?

*

This
second installment to the Leopard King
novella
series
is packed with intense battles, love, new characters and deception. Be prepared
for an adventure even Sarai and Conri couldn’t have predicted.