Freeing A Lion: BBW Paranormal Lion Shape Shifter Romance (Sleeping Lions - Shifters Prime Book 2) (2 page)

If Lottie had any sense, she would put as much distance between her and the circus as she could.

Yet as she walked away from the circus, the image of his face, his forlorn expression, haunted her. Maybe because it mirrored the same expression she saw in her own eyes when she thought of the family she had lost.

Walk away
, she said to herself.

I can’t
, was the reply.

The day dragged on. His head was sore and his eyes gritty, he had found no sleep, and no peace, since her visit last night. She had made things so much worse, something he could never imagine possible, when his life was so damn miserable anyway. Yet her face, the first new face he had seen close up for over two years, had been so beautiful, her skin so soft to his dirty, mud-caked fingers.

“Time to get up, ya mangy lion,” the voice of his keeper, his main torturer, Trevor, called.

Daniel got up and moved to the door of the cage, waiting patiently for the man to come and remove the collar. He did as he was told, because he had no choice.

Trevor poked his head under the tarp, opening the door just enough to reach in. Daniel stretched his neck forward so his keeper could undo the clasp on his collar. “Now, you remember. No biting or scratching. You know what happens if you don’t behave.”

Daniel didn’t respond; that was the best way to behave around Trevor. Instead, Daniel pretended to be listless and docile, although inside he was waiting for the chance to escape, so he could rip Trevor’s head off his shoulders. But they had him cornered, and they knew it. So his escape was a dream, while his reality was a nightmare.

“You know what you have to do. Once the collar is off, you change. No one can see you unless you are a lion. If they do, you know what will happen.”

This was the same thing they went through every afternoon before the show. Trevor never wavered in his instructions. Daniel wondered why he wasted his breath; they both knew Daniel couldn’t fight him. They both knew exactly what would happen if Daniel disobeyed.

The collar left his neck and the transformation happened immediately, just how Trevor liked it. Fur sprouted out of his skin, teeth that longed to sink deep into Trevor’s jugular erupted from his jaws, and sharp claws that would rip Trevor to shreds grew from his fingertips.

Daniel, now in the form of a lion, stood with his head down, waiting for the rope to go around his neck, and then he was led, like a big dog, out of the cage. This was the only time his feet touched the ground, his giant lion paws feeling grass under their pads, his tail twitching and his mane catching the breeze, ruffling, a soft caress.

Like her hand
.

“Don’t drag behind,” Trevor said, pulling the rope. Any self-respecting lion, or any self-respecting human, would have fought him, would have made a run for it. But Daniel had long lost his self-respect. And running was impossible

Trevor led him to towards the big top. He could hear the crowds, hear their voices rising in excitement at the prospect of seeing a lion, in the flesh, doing tricks. Daniel shuddered. He wanted to flee, to escape this life. But how could he? And if he did, where could he go? Where would
they
go? Because he could never leave without Lea.

The curtain drew back and Daniel was led into the back of the stage. Here Trevor took the rope off, donned his hat, and took up his whip. The show was about to begin.

“Remember, you want to look fierce, or Lea might get hurt.”

Daniel stood with his head down, feeling degraded, yet inside his temper fought for release, fought to be allowed to take this monster’s head off. Yet as soon as Trevor was introduced as
the greatest lion tamer
, Daniel summoned his restraint and ran into the ring roaring.

He had to do as Trevor asked. He had to stay here, and stay alive, or Lea would be alone and he didn’t want to think of what would happen to her then.

He ran around the ring, going through the motions as Trevor cracked his whip. Standing on a stool, rearing up, pretending to disobey Trevor, and watching the crowd look uncertain and then cheer as Trevor bent the lion to his will.

If only they knew.

And then, as he was going around the perimeter of the ring for the final time, he felt her presence. He had never let himself be aware of anyone in the audience, not individually: they were all a baying mob to him. However, he caught her scent, and then he searched for her, and their eyes met, he slowed, and ignored the sound of Trevor becoming impatient, telling him to move.
Or else
hung in the air.

Daniel didn’t think about the repercussions, she mesmerised him. He couldn’t believe she was here, that she had returned, why that mattered he didn’t know. Yet he stopped, his head turned, taking in the sight of her in the seat at the back. Her hair was golden, swept up in a ponytail; her eyes were blue like the sky. And he could make out the curve of her breasts, the fullness of her lips.

The whip bit into him. It had been a long time since Trevor had used it. And Daniel knew this was not the last time he would feel the bite of it on his body. He had disobeyed; he hadn’t played his part and he would pay for that.

Yet one look at her, one sense of connection with something outside of the circus, made the punishment that was to come worth it. He only hoped they would spare Lea.

She shouldn’t have come, but she had, unable to resist seeing the lion. Her mind still couldn’t accept that they kept the man in the cage and used the lion in the circus. She had to be sure no one had been playing tricks.

Yet as he went around the ring, she had known it was true. That same lost, haunted look was in the lion’s eyes. And then he had stopped. Stopped and stared at her, and she had known in that one moment that she was going to free him. No matter what it took, no matter how much she told herself she was supposed to keep her head down and out of trouble, she had to help him.

The whip cracked. The lion flinched and then tore his eyes from hers and carried on with the act.

She sat still, finding it hard to breathe. Once the show was over she would leave, and then return tonight when it was dark and free him. The man, not the lion.

That thought freaked her out. Once she released him, what was she supposed to do with him? Send him back to Shifters Prime? All she had to do was get him over the border, and then he could go home.

But what if he had a contract? She would be aiding and abetting an escapee. But she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. She knew how that turned out.

Unable to watch the end of the circus, she got up and walked down the steps, leaving the audience clapping at the bravery of the lion tamer. If only they knew.

She went across the road from where the big top was set up and ordered a coffee from the diner. Sitting in a seat by the window, she just stared out, trying to figure out how this was going to work. She had brought some clothes with her: overalls she had taken from work, no one would miss them, and at least it would cover his tattered clothes and make him almost invisible in the city.

What if he didn’t want to come with her? Or what if he took the collar off and turned into a lion? Did the collar control him, did it really stop the change?

Burying her face in her hands, she tried to rub away the sleep that wanted to claim her. There had been no rest for her last night; instead, she had left Fern and Henry and walked along the river, trying not to feel the dread of being out in the dark on her own. But some habits were hard to lose.

The families leaving the circus caught her eye. The show was over, and children with excited faces were eating candyfloss as they held their parents’ hands. That was her once, a long time ago. Two years, she reminded herself. Those two years were a lifetime.

“More coffee?” the waitress asked with a thinly veiled question of
are you going to sit there forever
.

“No, thank you,” Lottie said, getting up from her seat. It was time to move; she had to sneak back into the circus while there were still people milling about. She would find somewhere to hide and then get to the lion’s cage when it was all quiet.

Going out into the darkening night, feeling the chill on her skin made her shiver. She should be at home, nice and safe, not out here putting herself in danger for a man she didn’t know.
A shifter
. That made her decision worse.

Crossing back over the road, she edged along the fence and then ducked under, heading for the vehicles. From there she would cut across to the trailers. If she timed it right, they would have put the animals to bed and all would be quiet.

One quick look around and she ducked down, keeping low to the floor as she headed towards the cars and trucks the circus folk used when they were on the road. ARNC had discovered that when the circus was pitched like it was now, the vehicles hardly moved and made great hiding places. She chose a truck that was couple of rows in and tried the door; it was open. She slipped inside, settling down in the seat where no one could see her.

Then she waited.

Finally, the noises in the distance subsided, and she prepared to leave the vehicle and head for the lion’s cage. This was it; her last chance to talk herself out of it. Her last chance to avoid danger, of drawing attention to herself.

But sitting there in the dark, she knew she couldn’t walk away from this. No matter how much she tried to hide from who she really was, she couldn’t. She was her father’s daughter and she had to fight for the downtrodden.

Even if they were shifters
.

Her resolve firm, she opened the truck door and headed to the cages, threading her way through the cars and trucks.

It was then she heard the sound of a man crying out in pain.

Flattening herself to the nearest cage, she waited, her mouth clamped shut but her heart beating loud enough the whole city could have heard her. But they didn’t, no one knew she was there, because if they did, they would have stopped what they were doing.

Her brain was screaming at her to run; this was more dangerous than she could have ever have imagined. And to go any closer was to put herself in more danger.

A cry, muffled as though the person was trying to keep quiet, but couldn’t, filled the air. And then she heard the crackle of electricity filled by a groan of agony. The cry that followed was swallowed, but not before she heard it, and made the connection. They were torturing the lion. They were torturing him because he had looked at her in the ring.

In Lottie’s mind that made it her fault. Now she had to save him, or he would be on her conscience forever, just like the deaths of her parents.

She didn’t stop to think; she didn’t creep around. Instead she ran at them, knocking the man with the prod over. Another man made a grab for her, while the lion man lay on the floor trembling.

The first guy got up; it was the lion tamer. “This ain’t your business, little lady.”

“Really? I think it is my business, I think it’s everyone’s business to see what you have been doing.” She looked at the body writhing on the floor, saw his thick-set, muscled body and wondered why he didn’t fight back, he could overpower these two men if he tried. And then she saw the young girl: she was tied up, a collar round her neck. He was taking his punishment in order to protect her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the other guy, big, tight fists, said.

“Let him go,” she ordered, taking her phone out of her pocket and holding it up. “Or do you want me to send this video viral? Won’t look good for your circus, will it? You beating a defenceless man up.”

“He ain’t no man. He’s an animal. And no one will care,” the lion tamer said, his face ugly with rage, not so elegant without his suit and top hat.

“Want to let social media decide?” she asked, making absolutely sure they saw her phone and trying not to let her hand shake. In truth, she was terrified. This made no sense at all, at least not in a way she could understand. How could they threaten a child?

“Let’s not be hasty. You walked in on us disciplining this one. We have to keep them in place. You know they are dangerous, right?” the lion tamer said, inching his way closer to her.

The man on the ground, the man who was also a lion, was looking at her oddly. It unnerved her, but there was no way she was going to walk away from this. To leave him here would haunt her forever, let alone leaving a child in the hands of such brutes.

Maybe he read all this in her face, she wasn’t sure, but the next thing she knew, he was on his feet. Before the keepers had time to do anything, he rammed into the lion tamer, taking the prod from his hand, and knocking him to the floor. Before the second one could react, he stuck the prod in the man’s chest, making him scream in pain.

Horrified, Lottie stood watching, her body stiff with terror. What had she done? What had she helped free? This wasn’t what ARNC was about. They were about helping animals have a better life, not shifters.

If he killed them, would their blood be on her hands? Would she be an accessory to murder?

Finding her courage, she rushed forward, snatching the prod from him. “You can’t kill them.”

“They deserve to die,” he said.

“If you kill them, you will spend the rest of your life behind another set of bars, or worse.”

He looked at her, really looked at her like no one else ever had before, as if he could see into her soul. The prod dropped from his hand, and instead he drew his fist back and knocked the man unconscious.

Turning, he went to the girl, undoing her rope and lifting her sobbing body. Then he ran back towards Lottie, and she cringed with fear: was he going to knock her out too?

No. He grabbed her arm and propelled them all forward. “Please, help us.” His voice was raw with emotion and hope.

Lottie looked up at him, looked at the small, thin girl in his arms, and knew she was her father’s daughter and that no matter what the cost, she would get them out of here and back to Shifters Prime.