When she sat up, she realized she was no longer on the plane. She stared up at a ceiling tiled in black, shiny tiles. The longer she stared at them, the more she realized they looked like scales. Something shifted beside her, and Katy turned her head slowly.

  “Boo.”

  Katy screamed as big, yellow eyes with black, vertical slits stared at her from less than a few inches from her face.

  Chapter 5

  It Would Be Fun To Watch Her Try

  “So apparently I’m going to have a tail. Of all the things to latch onto upon learning that I’m going to be able to shift into an animal, I choose that. A tail.” ~Lola

  Lola fidgeted nervously in the passenger seat as Callon drove them to the Kingdom of Claws’ compound. She forced herself not to think about the last time she’d left the compound. She’d been sure she’d never see it again.

  “I’m sorry.” Callon’s deep voice filled the quiet space. “I’ll never be able to make up for what I did to you. I hurt you.” His words cut off, and she heard the pain in them. Lola felt his anguish flowing off him. “I don’t ever want to be the reason you feel like that again.”

  “Well, considering how strongly we feel for each other”—Lola reached over and patted his thigh—“we will most likely hurt each other more than we hurt anyone else.”

  He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “Why would you say that?”

  “Human nature.” She shrugged. “We hurt the ones we know will love us no matter what. I’m not saying it’s a good thing. I’m just saying it seems to be what happens. Now…” She clapped her hands, attempting to expel the jitters. “We have pressing issues to address, like you not clarifying that you literally meant I would turn into a cat.”

  “Shift into a lioness is a more apt description,” he said wryly. “I may call you ‘Little Cat,’ but the truth is you’re going to be a massive, beautiful, sensual beast.”

  She held up a hand. “Okay, you’re freaking me out. You’re talking about me like I’m a steak you can’t wait to sink your teeth into.”

  He lifted one shoulder in a lazy shrug.

  Not touching that one with any length of any kind of pole. Instead of thinking about that, Lola’s mind raced with questions about what shifting would feel like. “Is it going to hurt?” she blurted out, then, true to her nature, she didn’t give Callon time to answer. “Or will it feel like warm water being poured over me? Or maybe just a tingling sensation through all of my nerves? And how in the world am I supposed to do it? It’s not like I will just wiggle my nose, or my toes, or, or, or⁠—”

  “No other body parts rhyme with nose or toes, Sazzi. You can move on to a different question.”

  “Ha. Ha.” she deadpanned. “I can’t move on because I still don’t have any idea how this is going to work.” Lola sat there, her foot tapping restlessly on the floorboard and her fingers twisting the fabric of her shirt while she attempted to keep her crap together.

  Callon reached over and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “Relax, Sazzi. I can practically hear your thoughts buzzing like angry bees.”

  She blew out a sharp breath, making her bangs flutter upward. “I can’t help it. This is freaking me out a little … or a lot, if I’m being totally honest.”

  “Really?” Callon’s brow dipped low. “I couldn’t tell.”

  Lola turned in her seat to face him more fully, ignoring his little joke. “I mean, seriously, what’s it like? You didn’t answer me the first time, so apparently I’m going to just have to keep asking until you give full disclosure. Does it hurt to have your bones changing shape and reforming? And what about internal organs? How does that work? Do they shift, too?”

  Callon pressed his lips together. He used one hand to steer the vehicle while entwining the fingers of his free hand with one of hers. “You do remember that I only shifted completely myself for the first time just a few hours ago, right?”

  “Exactly,” she snapped. “You have more experience than me. Not to mention you’ve known your entire life—which, by the way, don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’ve never told me exactly how old you are. We will get to that. But only after I master shifting. I’ve been a human my whole life. Reading about things I never thought could actually exist doesn’t count as experience. Not to mention, in all of those books, there were variations to how shifting happened and what it felt like. In some books, it was horribly painful, and in others, it just happened in a blink of an eye, and there was no discomfort whatsoever. Call me crazy, but I’d like the second option, please. If I get an option. Do I get an option? I mean, can I choose not to shift?”

  “Okay, whoa. Slow down, Lo.” Callon squeezed her hand.

  “I can’t slow down.” She threw her free hand up. “I’m going to turn into a freaking lion. How can I not have a million questions?”

  “Fair enough,” he conceded, his deep voice and calm tone helping bring her nerves down a bit. “But that’s why we’re going to see Riker and Sam,” Callon explained patiently. “They’ll be able to help walk you through it. Sam’s the first animus ever. She is always the one my father sends new animi to. She can deal with any problems.”

  Lola sputtered. “Problems? What problems? Nobody said anything about problems. I mean, to be fair, nobody said anything about anything, so this shouldn’t be a shocker. Mother trucker.” She ripped her hands from his grasp then slapped both on the dashboard. “Why is there so much traffic?”

  “Okay, it’s New York, and maybe take a breath. I shouldn’t have said problems.”

  “Ya think?” She leaned back into the seat and crossed her arms.

  “We’re on a different time frame, Sazzi. You’re having to learn in hours what others get unlimited time to do. As much as I want to give you confidence, I don’t want to set you up to fail.”

  “This is going to be a disaster,” she muttered. “I can feel it.”

  Callon lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. The tender gesture made her insides flutter.

  “It will not be a disaster,” he countered. “You’re an animus—a perfect mate chosen just for me.”

  Lola wanted to believe him, but doubt still plagued her. “What if I can’t do it?” Ugh. The whiney sound in her voice made her want to slap herself.

  Callon’s golden eyes glowed brightly. “Trust me, Sazzi, you’re going to be able to shift, and you’re going to make one hell of a lioness.”

  Lola’s lips quirked up at his confidence. She took a deep breath and tried to release the tension knotting up her shoulders. There was no reason to freak out until there was a reason to freak out. In which case, she’d be the life of that party.

  Forty minutes and one ferry ride later, Callon pulled up to a huge iron gate flanked by stone columns. The mansion itself wasn’t visible from the road. Lola remembered from the first trip that they’d driven down the long driveway before they’d seen it.

  She looked over her shoulder and saw two other cars behind them. “Why didn’t we all just ride together?”

  “I like to have you to myself,” Callon said completely shamelessly. “And everyone else had vehicles at Leonidas Global that needed to be driven back to the compound, anyway.”

  “Hmm, so Maddie rode with Roan?” She watched the other cars. A third came in through the gate and maneuvered down the long drive.

  “Considering he deemed her his responsibility, I imagine he won’t let her out of his sight. The third vehicle is Jaxine and Zephyr,” he told her, as if he already knew she was going to ask. He could probably feel her curiosity. Then again, when was she not curious? “My parents are directly behind us. Roan’s vehicle is the BMW in front of Jaxine.”

  “Roan seems weird about Maddie.” She eyed the dark vehicle as if she’d be able to see through the tinted windows and divine what the Shaman was thinking.

  Lola shifted back around in her seat and saw the large house. She also noticed there weren’t big cats lounging around like the first time she’d visited. “Where are all the cats?”

  Callon put the car in park and turned to her. Lola inwardly squirmed at the serious look on his face. Sometimes he felt as familiar to her as the family she’d known her whole life. And then other times she remembered that she barely knew him.

  “I’m going to say this for Roan’s sake,” Callon said, his tone carefully controlled.

  Lola frowned. “What?”

  “Don’t interfere with…” He made a motion toward the back window of the car where the other vehicles were parking, “Whatever is going on between them.”

  “What do you mean, you’re saying it for Roan’s sake?” Her gaze darted to the other cars and then back to Callon.

  Callon’s eyes narrowed and shape-shifted to his lion form as he spoke. “He may not have a beast in him, but he’s a male. And he’s acting possessive of that female.”

  “That female,” Lola snapped and threw out a hand, pointing in the direction of the BMW, “is my best friend.”

  “I understand that.” Callon’s voice was stern but calm. “She’s not in any danger from him. That’s why I’m asking you not to interfere. He’s in danger from me.”

  She came up short as her mouth stopped in mid-motion. Lola pressed her lips together and furrowed her brow. “Umm, why, exactly, is Roan in danger from you?”

  “Because,” Callon growled, “if you bug him about Maddie, and he snarls at you, I’m going to kill him.”

  Her mouth formed an O as she stared wide-eyed. He was totally serious. She could feel the emotions rolling off him. Total confidence and acceptance that that would be his course of action. “Okay. Let’s not kill Roan. I feel like that would be a bad political and religious move.”

  “Oh, it absolutely would be. But if he breathes on you the wrong way, I will flay his entrails from his body.” Callon blew out a breath and clapped the steering wheel. “Glad we got that out of the way. Let’s go meet Riker and Sam. You’re going to like her.”

  As he climbed from the car, as if he hadn’t just said he was going to gut Roan like a fish, Lola stared at the empty driver’s seat. “What the hell have I gotten myself into?”

  “You’re not the one stuck with⁠—”

  “Fraack!” Lola screamed and turned to slap at the person, Maddie, who’d opened the door and scared the living Hades out of her. “Do not sneak up on me after the guy that I’m supposed to spend forever with has just told me he might kill Roan for breathing on me,” she hissed as she clutched her friend by the shirt, pulling her down close. Lola imagined she must look a tad deranged. To be fair, she was feeling a tad deranged.

  “Wait.” Maddie’s face pinched up as she peeled Lola’s fingers from her shirt. “Callon wants to kill Roan? Why? Will he do it for free? Can I watch? Can I help?”

  Lola jerked back, simultaneously pushing Maddie away. “Can you help? Who are you? Katy? No, you can not help kill Roan.”

  “It would be fun to watch her try.” Roan casually strolled by, as if he hadn’t just heard them discussing his demise. “Maddie,” he called back a few seconds later.

  Lola sputtered. “Did he just call you like a damn dog?”

  “Can I help kill him now?”

  Lola climbed from the car and closed the door, probably a little too forcefully, as she matched Maddie’s stride. She saw that Callon, hands fisted tightly at his sides, walked beside Roan. By the time they reached the stairs to the large home, Taras, Lyra, Bane, Jaxine, Kian, and the guy Lola remembered as Zephyr had joined them.

  Callon stepped over to Lola and took her hand as Taras began speaking. She was surprised at how gentle his touch was, considering how tightly his fists had been clenched only moments ago.

  “Callon, you take Lola to the training grounds. The rest of us will go to see the animi.”

  “A.K.A. The Menagerie,” Maddie muttered to Lola.

  “They have, like, super-hearing, remember?”

  “Oh.” Maddie shrugged. “I wasn’t trying to keep them from hearing me. I was being sus.”

  “Good grief.” Lola sighed as she turned to follow Callon. “Please try to behave,” she called back to her friend.

  “I always behave,” Maddie retorted.

  “Says the girl who sent a text to her mom informing her she has decided to go on a completely spontaneous, irresponsible road trip with people she doesn’t know,” Roan said dryly.

  Maddie’s head turned slowly, her eyes glaring daggers. “It’s a lie, obviously, and you know it.”

  Roan’s brow rose as he rocked back on his heels. “Not totally, and what you’re actually doing isn’t any better. You could just go home and deliver pizzas.”

  Maddie’s mouth dropped open, and Lola found herself taking a step toward her friend as her blood began to boil on her behalf. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone else moving. Bane.

  “If you do not want to be responsible for the female, I will take care of her,” the panther said smoothly.

  A strong arm wrapped around Lola’s waist and pulled her back. “Don’t do that again, Sazzi,” Callon whispered. “I wasn’t kidding earlier.”

  “I know.” Lola didn’t bother to lower her voice. “And right now, I’m fine with that outcome.”

  “She is not your concern, Bane,” Roan said coolly. “Taras.”

  The Prime moved closer, but his mate stepped around him and took Maddie’s hand. Lyra smiled at Lola’s friend. “How about I take it from here?”

  “Best plan I’ve heard all day,” Lola offered.

  “I’ll be fine, Lo.” Maddie made a shewing motion, “Go learn how to have a tail. And if they need volunteers for prey, make sure they put Roan on the list.”

  Callon snorted a laugh as he turned and started walking in the opposite direction. “You can put me down,” she told him.

  “No, I can’t,” he said flatly. “Having you in my arms is keeping me from shredding Roan.”

  She leaned her head back against his shoulder and relaxed. Might as well. “What the heck is his problem?”

  “My guess? He wants her.”

  “I’m sorry. What?” Lola snapped forward, nearly dislodging herself from his grasp.

  Callon readjusted his hold on her body and then pushed open a set of double doors. He continued down a long hallway. Lola wasn’t paying too much attention to her surroundings because she was processing what Callon had said. There’d been a part of her at first, like a tiny part, that had thought maybe there’d been a spark between the Shaman and her friend. But then, Roan had been such an ass... “How do you figure?”

  “He doesn’t want to want her.” Callon pushed yet another set of double doors open. They were outside again, walking down some stairs, and Lola realized they were in what looked like a courtyard divided up into squares. He set her down on her feet and then turned her to face him. Callon took her face in his hands and tilted it back until she was looking up at him. “When you want something so badly, but you don’t think you should want it or deserve it, you do stupid shi—” He paused. “Stuff. You do stupid stuff.”

  “I’m not ten.” Lola rolled her eyes. “You can say shit.”

  “You’re a female, my female.” He leaned closer. “I will speak in no such way around you.”

  “Chivalry is alive and well with the beast.” She smirked. “Does flaying a man open fall under chivalrous acts?”

  “If he deserves it.” Callon’s voice was soft and his breath warm against her face. “Absolutely.” His lips were a hair’s breadth from hers. Lola’s mouth watered, simply remembering what his kiss had tasted like. Before they could fully press together, she heard the doors open behind them.

  “Lola!” a voice exclaimed.

  Callon lifted his head, and the sound of footsteps suddenly stopped. In fact, there was no noise at all. Lola stayed as still as possible, as if she, too, were afraid of drawing the attention of the predator that held the newcomer in his gaze. That predator dropped his eyes to hers, and she sucked in a breath.

  “Where were we?” Callon’s lips hovered just above the curve of her mouth, his breathing as ragged as hers.

  Lola raised her hands, feeling the warmth of his skin through the material at his shoulders and reveling in his strength. The coolness of his teeth touched her bottom lip, followed by a sweep of his tongue so warm she felt it all the way to her toes. She was so completely ensnared by the specimen before her that she’d forgotten they had an audience. And she nearly screamed when a deep throat cleared.

  Callon’s chest rumbled as he pressed his forehead to Lola’s. “Riker.” It wasn’t a nice sound.

  “As important as the mating dance is,” the deep voice rumbled, “there are other pressing matters that require our attention.”

  Heat filled Lola’s cheeks as she pulled away from Callon. He ran his thumbs across her face and knew he was looking at the two-tone vitiligo that he claimed to love. The adoration in his eyes would say his words were true. “We will continue this later,” he promised. Or threatened. It sounded like both.

  Lola straightened her shirt and turned to face the couple, who were taking time to work with her. A tall, slender woman with shoulder-length blonde hair stood about ten feet away. She had a friendly smile and kind eyes. “It’s wonderful to officially meet you. I’m Samantha, but please call me Sam.”

  Lola instantly liked the friendly woman. She returned her smile tentatively. “Nice to meet you, too. Sorry, about the…” Lola pointed between her and Callon. He batted her hand away.

  “I don’t have to apologize for touching my mate,” Callon grumbled.

  Sam waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, please, no apology necessary. They’re quite insufferable. Though no one will ever love or care for you the way he will.” Lola could see the emotions behind Sam’s words in the depths of the woman’s warm, hazel eyes as she stepped forward and wrapped Lola in a hug. “It all feels crazy right now,” Sam whispered, “but I promise it’s going to be okay. You’re right where you’re supposed to be.”