The Lion's Shared Bride (9 page)

“Of course it is. But they’ve shown their hand—even if Anna got the worst of it, it’s better than not knowing specifics.”

“I think there’s more going on.”

Nina eventually found herself standing, not sure of when precisely in the conversation she had gotten up; she felt the tension rippling through the room as both men’s focus shifted onto her, and had begun her pacing.

“Okay,” she said finally, cringing as her voice came out slightly too loud. “Okay. We need to have a conversation.” Nina took a deep breath and sat down, finally gathering up enough courage to look at the two men watching her so intently.

“Have a sip of your beer, love, it’s getting warm.” Nina pressed her lips together but sat down on the couch, picking up the glass bottle and taking a quick sip.

“You’re… were-lions.” She tripped over the unfamiliar word, glancing from Soren to Aedan. They nodded. “That’s… that would be like, werewolves, but lions instead, right?” The fact of it exploded in her mind and for a moment she could barely breathe. She had thought—like any person in their right mind—that shapeshifters of any kind were strictly the work of an imaginative mind, stories to while away dark nights that had become a pop-culture trope.

“Basically, yes,” Soren said, giving her a bright smile. He acted as if he was proud of her for being smart enough to figure it out and Nina felt a flare of resentment. “We live in groups like regular lions—a Pride.”

“But don’t regular lions have one male to a bunch of females?” Nina frowned, thinking that the arrangement they had proposed was almost literally the opposite of natural. Aedan shrugged.

“We’re still humans—or part-human. We have mates, usually one man to one woman.” For a moment, Nina grappled with that concept; so it would appear that even among were-lions, the arrangement that Soren and Aedan had proposed was at the very least unusual. “Typically, males guard their mates very jealously.” He smiled slightly. “Females too.”

“So…” Nina took another sip of her beer, setting the bottle down and sitting back on the couch. “Explain to me exactly what is going on and why it is that you need to share a mate.” Aedan glanced at Soren.

“It’s mostly a matter of how we explained it to you before,” Soren said. “Aedan needs a mate because in order to belong to a Pride, he must have a mate—he was rejected by the Pride he was born into when he was still a child, and a lone male lion is considered dangerous to the Pride.” Nina’s mind flashed on the different TV specials she had watched over the course of her life featuring lions, and shuddered.

“So why—why do you need to share me with him?”

Soren smiled sadly.

“The breeding pool in my Pride is tapped out. We’ve cross-bred and interbred so much that our offspring are… well, they aren’t doing very well.” Soren shrugged. “I was told by people among our kind who know much more about it than I do that I needed to mate with a human, to spread out the genetic diversity. And so our idea was that, if we had the same mate—if we shared you—we would take care of two problems at the same time.”

Nina sat in silence for a long moment, thinking about the explanation. Before the incident in Soren’s back yard, she had been halfway to accepting their proposition that she be shared by them; she had had misgivings, but none of them seemed quite as important as the fact that the two men who apparently still wanted to share her were shapeshifters who transformed into lions. She wasn’t sure what aspect of the situation was more concerning: the fact that two men wanted to share her, the fact that they were were-lions, or the fact that they had purposely avoided telling her they were were-lions. “If I hadn’t discovered it on my own,” she said slowly, glancing from one man to the other and then determinedly looking at the bottle of beer in front of her. “When would you have told me?”

She heard one of the chairs creak, and looked up as Aedan spoke. “We would have told you when the weekend was over, when it was time to make your decision,” he said firmly. “We weren’t going to try and hide this from you forever, love—but we wanted you to get to know us as people first.” Nina had to admit to herself that it was fair of them to want her to be as least prejudiced as possible; but at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel manipulated. They had been keeping her fed, just a little bit tipsy, and thoroughly sexually satisfied the entire day or so she had been with them—it wasn’t fair of them to stack the deck even further.

“I’m sorry that you had to find out about us in probably one of the worst possible ways,” Soren said, leaning forward and catching Nina’s eyes. “If things had worked out the way we planned, we would have told you, let you see us transform in a safe, controlled way, let you get to know us in that form.”

“Yeah, well, if wishes were fishes,” Nina said, looking down at the coffee table. She took a deep breath; the fact of their existence was slowly working its way through her brain, becoming more and more real and somehow less terrifying. She scrubbed at her face and exhaled. As her shock began to disperse, however, the situation started to assert itself more strongly; she remembered the sight of a Pride of lions standing in Soren’s back yard, the prelude to his transformation. “What exactly was going on earlier—when you… changed, I guess?” She looked at Soren.

“That was the consequence of me not having a mate—and of me being the Alpha of the Pride,” he said, holding her gaze. “The woman you saw was another member of the Pride, my double-cousin Anna.” Nina frowned in confusion at the term. “I told you, we’re very inter-bred.” Soren smiled slightly. He took a deep breath and exhaled. “When I became Alpha of the Pride, I defeated another lion who was interested in the title; he decided to leave, rather than submit to my leadership. His brother is still in the Pride and wants him back—he is on the verge of challenging me. I suppose he thought killing Anna would demonstrate his power.”

“Where I’d say it demonstrates that he’s a poor leader; of course Anna would tell you about Giselle and the others behind him—what good Alpha doesn’t have ears in the Pride?”

Nina glanced at Aedan, frowning.

“So…” she said, coming to a conclusion. “What you’re saying is that there’s a hostile takeover, and people are now dying because of it.” She remembered what Aedan had said while he was holding her down in the bed; that even if he could let her leave, the lions ranged outside would kill her. “How exactly am I supposed to feel comfortable joining a—a Pride of lions—when my own life will probably be in danger?” She looked from Aedan to Soren. Aedan smiled slightly and glanced at the Alpha; Soren’s bright blue eyes flickered with something akin to amusement.

“That’s a really good question,” he said. He combed his fingers through his hair and sighed. “If you were my mate—along with being Aedan’s—you would have our protection. We would be settling the problems that we’re both facing, and things would settle down.”

“But how can you be sure that Alex is just going to—to roll over? I mean, if he wants his brother back in the Pride…” Nina shrugged. It only made sense to her that someone who had already gone so far as to kill someone wasn’t going to stop just because the Alpha fixed a different problem.

“The support around Alex is mostly because I don’t have a mate, and because I’ve allowed Aedan into the Pride without a mate. That support will evaporate.” Soren paused. “As for Alex himself, I can take him.” There was something cold in his voice—something Nina didn’t quite want to contemplate. Just how Soren could take Alex, she was fairly certain she didn’t want to know the specifics of.

Before she could ask another question, however, Aedan piped up, smiling broadly at them both. “You look hungry, Nina; small wonder you’re feeling crabby. Let’s get some food in you, and take a break from talking about such serious things.” Nina glanced at both men, for a moment determined not to be distracted or manipulated; but it was obvious that she wasn’t going to get any farther with the two men—not at the moment at least. She sighed and picked up her beer, drinking down a third of it quickly.

“This isn’t over,” she promised them both. Aedan stood in a quick, feline movement, and Nina found herself submitting to the inevitable.

CHAPTER NINE

If Soren didn’t have the impending coup of his Pride to occupy his mind, he thought, watching as Aedan chivvied Nina to eat some more food, he would happily forget the Pride even existed and spend the rest of the day convincing the mercurial woman that her best interests lay with him and the other man.
Almost a shame we can’t let her really make her own choice,
he thought wryly. Once she had seen him in his other form, neither he nor Aedan could let her go; not bearing their secret. She may not know it yet, but Nina was now destined to be theirs, shared between them, come hell or high water.

“I suppose I should have been more curious about why there was cat mint in the tea you gave me,” Nina said to Aedan, finishing off the last bacon-wrapped date with a murmur of satisfaction that sent a hot wave of desire through Soren’s body.
You’ve had her all day—at least until the Pride showed up,
he reminded himself.
Time for Aedan to work his magic.

“And if you ever want to guarantee that both of us will drop everything to come after you,” Aedan said, grinning irrepressibly at the woman they both had marked as their own, “all you have to do is put a little in your bath water and walk through the house after.” Soren chuckled.

“Do you want to ruin any possibility of us ever getting anything done?” Soren asked the other man, standing and picking up the empty plate.

“Wanted her to have a fair shake, you know; only right that she should know our weaknesses.” Nina was smiling—for the first time since she had discovered their true natures, smiling genuinely, her eyes no longer wary or full of bitterness or sarcasm. The fear-scent in her pheromones had gradually dissolved, and the undercurrent of desire was starting, gradually, to come back.
God above, if I’m already this attuned to her…
Whether or not Nina knew it, and even if there wasn’t the Pride to consider, Soren knew that he had to keep her—that they both had to. He could smell Aedan’s scent-mark on the woman, alongside his own. It added a distinctive counterpoint to the sweet, warm, spicy scent she radiated, deepening it, making it that much more interesting. No one in the Pride—no were-lion in the world—could mistake who she was.

Soren had watched with a mixture of relief and envy as Nina had gradually come out of herself, even going so far as to touch the other man. She still hadn’t come around enough to make physical contact with him, but he knew—he hoped—that it was only a matter of time.
How much time do we have? One more day. One more day in the contract we set with her, a few more after that until Alex challenges me.
If they couldn’t convince her to stay with them, to be their mate, before Alex’s challenge at the Pride hunt, there would be hell to pay. He had counted half the Pride, ranged around his back yard; he knew that they didn’t want Jordan back—they were just doubtful of Soren’s ability to lead. They would accept anyone rather than continue to run the risks of an unattached Alpha and a lone male in the Pride.

Soren came back to the table, shifting closer to Nina; she checked, but didn’t move away as he reached out to touch her hand. “How do you feel?” Soren asked her. The easy, charmed smile on her face faltered, and she swallowed, the lingering fear-smell in her pheromones reappearing in a thin thread of scent.

“Still a little…” she glanced around the room, as if physically looking for the word she sought. “It’s weird. Okay? Two guys want to share me, that’s weird enough. They both happen to be shapeshifters who turn into lions; that brings it to… I don’t know. Some kind of fantasy territory.”

“Fantasies can be fun,” Aedan pointed out with a grin. Soren watched as Aedan’s hand reached out, moving to take Nina’s other hand. Soren stifled a grin of his own as he saw Nina’s cheeks color with a blush. “I can think of a few fantasies I’d love to bring to life with you.” Aedan leaned in close and kissed along the side of Nina’s neck, and Soren felt a low throb of desire at the sight, at the scent of rising mating pheromones in the air between the two of them.

Abruptly, Nina edged away from Aedan, pulling back from both men and looking at each of them for a long, silent moment. “I’m still not sure how I feel about all of this,” she said, biting her bottom lip in a way that made Soren wish he was enough of an animal to just react—without worrying about how she would take it, how it would make her feel. He could remember only too well the utter abandon of her response to him, her reaction to Aedan; the way she had moaned, the look on her face, the taste of her skin under his tongue. Before she had known what they were, when he and Aedan were nothing more than two men who wanted to share her, Nina had come so close to really, truly giving into their desires, to agreeing to give herself to them as their joint mate.

“I promise you, Nina,” Soren said, reaching out slowly to take her hand in his once more. “I swear to you, neither Aedan nor I will ever hurt you. We will never let anyone else hurt you either. If you agree to stay with us and be our mate, we’ll take care of you. We’ll love you. We’ll give you anything you could ever want.” There was a low growl in Aedan’s voice as he spoke, adding his own proviso.

“And if anyone ever tries to take you from us or hurt you, they won’t live long enough to regret it.” Soren watched as Nina shivered slightly.

“While that is certainly…comforting,” Nina said slowly. “It’s a little weird to think of—you killing people.”

Soren smiled slowly.

“You will have to accept that we are half-lions after all,” he told her. “We protect our mates.” Aedan leaned in once more and Soren suppressed the little rush of jealousy that he felt at the sight of the other man nuzzling against Nina’s neck, nipping playfully.

“Even if we could let you leave,” Aedan murmured, his voice full of a purr that Soren could easily recognize, “we can’t let you go now. You’re too delicious. You smell too good. You smell like something that belongs to us.” Soren almost protested—almost interrupted, to tell Aedan to watch his tongue; but he knew that hiding anything more from Nina would just make the situation worse.

“What…” Nina shook her head, shifting away from Aedan slightly. “What do you mean, I smell like something that belongs to you?” she glanced at Soren.

“Your pheromones,” Soren said, taking a deep breath to suppress the bone-deep reaction that the scent of her steadily-increasing arousal gave him. “Your scent. From the moment you met Aedan, and as soon as you walked into the house, we both knew you were perfect for us.” Soren smiled slightly. “You smell good enough to eat, good enough to devour whole. It’s pretty rare that a woman—especially a human—could appeal to two lions at the same time.”

“I’m thrilled,” Nina said, her voice slightly sarcastic. She glanced at them both, wariness still in her dark eyes. “What do I smell like?”

“My mum’s baking—the good stuff,” Aedan told her, rubbing against her neck and shoulder. Soren moved closer to Nina, leaning in to breathe in her scent more closely. He shuddered, letting out a breath with a little purr, almost a growl, as her spicy-sweet smell filled his nose.

“Sweet,” Soren murmured, dragging his lips along the line of her neck. He shifted, sniffing along the back of her neck—that most intimate of places for any lion. “Spicy, warm. Clove and cinnamon and pepper, vanilla and honey.” He nipped playfully and Nina made a sound, between a surprised yelp and a moan, her trembling deepening. “That’s how you smell to me.”

“That’s—I can definitely see why you would like that,” Nina said breathlessly. Soren pulled back; her cheeks were flushed, the delicate pink spreading down onto her chest.
If we could just convince her to go naked all the time…
he thought, wanting more than anything to rip the borrowed clothes off of her body, to expose her lush curves to his hungry gaze once more.

“I could eat you up whole, little love,” Aedan told her, his voice thick, low and almost growling with desire. “I could get between your legs and just lick up that delicious nectar until you’re tapped out. I’m fairly certain Soren could do the same happily. You stick with us, love, and you’ll never lack for a man who wants to go down on you.” Soren watched as Nina took a quick, deep breath, closing her eyes; the scent of her arousal flooded his nose, making him swiftly hard, his erection like hot lead pooled against his hips. Aedan pulled back just enough to look at him and Soren exhaled, giving the other man a glance.
Be careful. She’s still wary. She’s still edgy. Don’t push too hard.

Nina gave herself a delicate shake, and Soren saw some of the visible signs of her arousal retreating, brought to heel by her will. She inhaled slowly, pulling back from both of them. “I have a weird question,” she said, opening her eyes and looking from Aedan to Soren with nervousness in her gaze. “Do—do either of you…” she blushed, looking down at the table in embarrassment. “Do you have sex in that… in your other form?”

“Never with a human,” Soren said quickly. “If you were one of us, and you wanted to—well…” Aedan shrugged.

“Well then, we’d do our best to fulfill that desire. But since you’re not, you don’t have to live in fear that you’re going to start having sex with a man and end up being mounted by a lion.” Soren snorted, and grinned to himself as Nina chuckled softly, shaking her head.

“That exact scenario wasn’t really what I was thinking, but thanks for the reassurance.” She licked her lips and Soren forced himself to take a slow breath; that flicker of pink against her lips, that suggestion of the mouth he had felt, had tasted, was almost too much to bear.

“We have very good control over the change,” Soren told her, reaching out cautiously and letting his hand trail along her leg. “If Aedan had been able to remain with his Pride, he would probably be Alpha there. Control is drilled into Alpha candidates from a young age.”

“I know I frightened you earlier,” Aedan said. “But you should know that I would never—ever—do anything you didn’t want me to do.” Soren raised an eyebrow; he hadn’t missed the way that Nina had curled up in Aedan’s bed, the way she had shivered and cried.

“I—I had kind of figured that out,” Nina said, glancing nervously at Aedan and then looking away. Soren decided that he would definitely get to the bottom of what had happened between the moment that Aedan had left his side at the confrontation and when he had been able to rejoin the other lion and their new mate.
If Aedan screwed this up for good…
but there didn’t seem to be any lingering traces of resentment or real fear—beyond the level of fear that would come with knowing that both men were half-lion.

“Why don’t you have a nice bath, and Soren and I can flip a coin to decide which one of us gets to worship you next?” Aedan suggested. Soren laughed.

“Yeah, I get that you probably need some space. Take some time to yourself, relax a little.” Nina looked from one man to the other, her lips pressed together and her expression wary.

“But I can’t leave,” she confirmed. Soren shook his head.

“No. You can’t leave. Even if you hadn’t found out about us, you still have another day and night in our company, according to the contract you signed.” Nina took a deep breath and exhaled it on a sigh.

“And now I won’t even be able to leave on Monday.” For a moment she looked so dejected, so hopeless, that Soren wanted more than anything to be able to tell her that she could—that she could leave whenever she wanted. But even if he could suppress his desire to have her, to keep her as his own—and Aedan’s—the risk of her going free was too great. She knew their secret; they had to make sure it stayed with her. And the only option Soren could think of to ensure that was to keep Nina as their mate.