Freeing A Lion: BBW Paranormal Lion Shape Shifter Romance (Sleeping Lions - Shifters Prime Book 2)
Authors: Harmony Raines
Tags: #General Fiction
Freeing A Lion
Sleeping Lions
(Book Two)
*
Note from the author:
My books are written, produced and edited in the UK where spellings and word usage can vary from U.S. English. The use of quotes in dialogue and other punctuation can also differ.
***
All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written consent of the author or publisher.
This is a work of fiction and is intended for mature audiences only. All characters within are eighteen years of age or older. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, actual events or places is purely coincidental.
© 2016 Harmony Raines
Kindle Edition
Despite a past she has been hiding from for two years, curvy girl Lottie joins an animal rights group to help the animals kept in appalling conditions in a nearby circus. But when she lifts the tarp, and takes a photo of the caged lion, what she sees will change her life forever.
Or should that be shift her life forever!
Tricked into being a circus lion by a sadistic lion tamer, Daniel is trapped, with no end to his suffering in sight. They have exactly the right kind of leverage over him to keep him under control.
But he longs to be free, to go across the border to Shifters Prime, and live like a normal shifter.
However, Daniel is about to find out that fate moves in very mysterious ways, and when a stranger looks into is cage, he knows she is his mate.
Can she help him escape? Can she help him achieve the impossible, and return to Shifters Prime?
When her past catches up with Lottie, it seems the rescuer will be the one in need of rescue, and who better to do so than a handsome hunk of lion flesh.
The only problem; you can only enter Shifters Prime with a visa, which she doesn’t have … unless you are a shifter … which she isn’t …yet!
This is the second book in the Sleeping Lions Series, Living a Lion is already on sale.
Harmony Raines Newsletter
For special offers and new releases
After waiting outside for over an hour, the rain had finally soaked through Lottie’s coat.
So much for its claim to be waterproof
.
However, nothing was going to deter her from what she had come here to do. Animal cruelty was not a thing she could tolerate, and she planned to take pictures of the lion the despicable Cartwright Brothers used in their shows.
Animal Respect Not Cruelty, the action group she belonged to, had been monitoring the circus for some time. None of the animals were kept in ideal conditions, but the lion was the most shocking of all. When not being forced to do tricks in the ring, he was kept in a small cage, which was permanently covered.
Tonight, Lottie had volunteered to sneak into the secure area where the animals were kept and take photos. The plan was to go to the media, social media. If they could get enough people to sign a petition, then the circus would have to act, or risk being boycotted, which would put them out of business. Either way, the animals would have a better life.
A sound off to her right made her duck behind a trailer. She was around twenty feet away from the lion’s cage, and as usual it was covered up completely. The idea was to get close enough to peel back the tarp and take a few pictures of the poor creature, without disturbing it. No one was sure exactly how secure the cage was. And a lion on the loose would divert sympathy away from the campaign to get him freed and sent to a conservation area where he could live a normal life, and instead he would be hunted.
Lottie ducked down and looked under the other trailers for any signs of movement. But there was nothing; it all looked quiet.
Now or never
. Her nerve nearly left her, but she had come this far and she had to complete her part of the job, not for anything other than the poor caged creature.
Taking herself firmly in hand, she made her feet move. This had seemed so much easier in the volunteering stage. Now, faced with seeing the lion close up, she was experiencing a mixture of awe and fear of what might happen.
“Only one way to find out,” she said to herself under her breath. Moving forward, she made her way as quietly as she could towards the lion’s cage. Her heart thumped loudly and every sound made her nervous, but she had to do this.
Camera at the ready, she eased herself behind the trailer holding the cage, then she eased the tarp up an inch then two. Standing still, she listened. If she heard the lion close up to where she was standing, she would put the tarp down and move away. But all she could hear was something eating, teeth gnawing at bones.
Tensing, ready to lift up the tarp higher and duck under it to snap a picture, she tried to imagine where he was in the cage, by noise alone. Yet the more she listened, the more something didn’t sound right. The gnawing wasn’t loud enough, the teeth chewing on bone didn’t seem big enough.
Nothing for it. She lifted the tarp, took the picture and then ducked down out of sight, waiting for the beast to come at her. But there was no sound. No sound at all.
He had stopped eating, but he hadn’t come towards her. Any minute now he would resume his meal and she would slink away. Any minute now … but the silence endured.
Lottie looked down at the camera and decided the best move would be to check if the picture had come out OK. If it had, she would get the hell out of there. There was little else she could do tonight. Once the picture was uploaded online, events would escalate quickly: pressure would be put on the circus and the poor creature would be sent to a sanctuary.
Flicking the button to view the image, she felt the blood drain from her body, and the ground rose up to meet her bottom, leaving her with wet jeans. Not that she noticed; her whole attention was on the small screen and the picture it held.
Getting her senses back together, she grabbed hold of the axle of the trailer and hoisted herself back up onto her feet. There had to be some mistake.
Lifting the tarp once more, she peered in, only for her eyes to be met by the sad, plaintive expression of a man. He was close to her, so close that if she reached inside, she would be able to touch him, run her fingers along his naked skin, exposed by the torn rags he wore instead of clothes. And touch the cold silver collar around his neck.
“Shit,” she breathed. This was not what she had expected, not what she had signed up for. Taking a few pictures of animals in cages was one thing, but finding the circus lion was a
shifter
was another.
The tarp slipped out of her hand and she shut his face out of her vision. She had to think. This would look bad for ARNC, they were committed to rescuing animals, not shifters. What kind of mixed-up mess was this?
She shook her head, trying to get her comprehension of the situation straight. The circus was using
shifters
in their
show
. Why? Because they were far more trainable than wild animals.
If this got out, it would ruin the circus. Wouldn’t it? People would side with the shifters, wouldn’t they? Or would people really not care? Would it bother them that they were coming to the big top to see the creatures from across the border in Shifters Prime? Creatures that were also human.
Lottie lifted the tarp again. He was closer, his hand reaching out through the bars and touching hers. An electric shock jolted up her arm, sending her back towards the floor, but she grasped hold of the trailer and stayed upright. As she looked up, their eyes met, locked together as he silently pleaded for help.
“What have they done to you?” she asked.
He shook his head, removing his hand and backing away from her.
“Talk to me,” she said. “Tell me why you are here. Is there a contract you have to fulfil?”
It was common knowledge that some of the shifters came over here to work, to pay off a debt. Everything was closely controlled, and the shifter had to sign a contract with an end term date on it. Once the contract was fulfilled, they were free to go back home. Well,
forced,
more like, they weren’t welcome among normal human beings. This unwelcoming attitude was reinforced by the collar a shifter was supposed to wear while he was here. Silver laced with copper, the collar prevented them changing into whatever animal it was that possessed them.
And it was a possession, from what she had heard. Like a bad spirit living inside a normal human.
Was it contagious? She looked down at her hand; he had touched her. Stopping herself from trying to wipe any germs away, she told herself to stop being so stupid, shifters with contracts touched humans all the time. Damn, there were so many urban myths related to shifters, it was hard to filter out the crap.
She released her pent-up breath.
It’s fine.
What wasn’t fine was the photo on her camera. Lottie backed away, ducking down and heading back the way she had come. Once past the trailers she slipped through the fence, nearly getting snagged on it. Her curvy body did not exactly make sneaking around easy.
“There you are,” Fern hissed. “We thought you got caught.”
“No. I’m fine,” she said, straightening her clothes.
“Did you get the pictures we need?” Henry asked.
“Yes,” she answered, and then knew she couldn’t show them the lion …
the man lion
. “But not the lion, I got disturbed and had to run.”
“Damn it,” Fern said sharply. “I knew I should have gone. We’ll have to go back in a couple of days.”
“Maybe the ones I’ve got of the other animals will be enough,” Lottie said hopefully.
“No. We need the lion. A snake and a couple of prancing ponies don’t exactly have the same appeal as a big ferocious lion living in misery.”
Lottie felt ashamed for lying, but she didn’t want them to know. And she didn’t quite know why.
Because she wanted to go back
.
Oh, no you don’t
, she told herself.
You need to lay low
.
Lottie had moved to the city a year ago, to lose herself in a boring job with boring people. Joining ARNC had been a bad idea, she knew it now and ought to leave it all behind. Let Fern go in and take the picture of the lion …
of him
. Let Fern take all the glory and decide which way to play this. Get yourself away from here.