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ny of animal screams, roars that filled the mountain, the acknowledgment from the animals that all moved to be near him, in triumph.
He was aware of the Breeds guarding outside, watching him warily now. The sounds of the lions called back to him, roaring out their greeting, their challenge, the echo of the fury they heard inside him.
He roared out again, filling the night with a sound he’d never known he possessed. His head tipped back, rage and triumph and the call for his mate tearing from vocal cords that were now more animal than human.
And the animals answered. He felt their response, felt them moving toward his destination. They were his pride and they would protect what was his. His woman. His mate. Their alpha female by choice and by nature.
The Breed that brought him the Harley stood back, wariness and respect filling his gaze as Mercury strode to him.
The Breed was awed by the sight of him. Eyes so blue they could rival a summer sky, the thick mane of hair flowing back from his savage features, his shoulders appearing broader, his body larger, than ever before.
The Lion Breed male saw something that both terrified and awed him, because this vision was a true Breed. The pure merging of lion and human. And he was enraged. That roar had been one of pure fury, and in it, it had held a message. A message so primal, so demanding, that the Breed himself nearly followed it.
Protect Mercury’s mate.
Ria heard the roars in the exhaustion of her sobs. They still tore from her, but the screams were no longer ripping through her. They were trapped inside her now, flowing out with the tears that had swollen her eyes and left her wrecked, clinging to Mercury’s pillow, his scent the only solace she could find.
The memory of his smile flitted through her mind. The knowledge in his eyes when he stared at her. He knew her. There were things she hadn’t had to tell him. He knew who she was, when no one else ever had, even the Vanderales.
She hadn’t wanted others to see who she was, so she had hidden it. But Mercury had seen her. He had felt her. And now she was losing him.
She had walked away. Should she have fought for him? Her sobs became deeper at the thought. Oh God, she wanted to fight for him. She wanted to claw that woman’s eyes out. Tear her away from Mercury and rip at that perfect hair that had framed those perfect features.
And what good would it have done? Where did love fall into place within mating heat? She had done her homework. She knew there was no denying the heat. And the heat hadn’t been between her and Mercury. At least, not with Mercury.
She was bleeding agony through every pore of her body at the thought of another woman touching him. How would she survive it? How was she going to do her job then walk away?
She curled tighter around the pillow she held to her. She couldn’t stay here. Dane was right. There was no way she could survive it, but she couldn’t survive returning to South Africa either. Where Elizabeth would fuss over her and Leo would watch her with sad disappointment. Because she had messed up and let herself care again.
No, that wasn’t it, she realized. It was because he knew her. He knew she refused to share her hurt, and he’d always been disappointed in her because she didn’t fight when she hurt. She hid, and she tried to heal. And Leo only knew how to fight.
And Dane? Dane always brought her baubles, trinkets and bling when she hurt. As though he knew no other way to try to ease her pain. And she had always taken them, because she had always known it comforted him. Even if it didn’t comfort her.
She was the poor orphan relation because she had allowed herself to become one. Because, as Mercury had accused her, it allowed her to hide. It kept men at a distance, and it kept her heart safe. Because she didn’t want to hurt. Because that six-year-old child still existed within her. The one who knew that life could so easily take the center of her world.
She heard the lions roar outside again, just outside the cabin.
Did animals feel the death of a soul? A heart? Were they moving in like scavengers to partake of the destruction? She had seen the lions on Leo’s estate. Large and powerful, they always attacked the weakest in a group first. The ones that were injured. That couldn’t fight.
For the first time in her life she was willing to fight for something or someone, and she knew the battle was hopeless. A woman couldn’t defeat mating heat.
But he had made her promises. He had called her his mate. He loved her. Love could fight biology, chemistry. It could move mountains.
She shook her head. She would destroy both of them in the process, wouldn’t she?
“From all evidence I’ve gained, as well as the tests I’ve conducted on myself and Leo, I have to say mating heat always comes with emotion.” Elizabeth had stood before her more than a year ago, frowning as she worked, while Ria went through Leo’s transmissions and updated the security of his encryption. “What do you think, Ria? Does love conquer all?”
Ria had looked up from the computer to meet Elizabeth’s gaze.
“How would I know? I’ve never been in love.” She had smiled back at the other woman.
“But you’ve helped me with many of these tests,” Elizabeth pointed out. “The matings are strengthening in the American Breeds, though we’ve had rare matings among Leo’s pride.”
Ria snorted. “Leo’s pride rarely leaves the plains. What are they supposed to mate? The zebras?”
And Elizabeth had laughed at that one, agreeing with her.
“Look at this. Devotion, Ria.” She laid out pictures that had been taken of the mated couples. “Look at their eyes, their expressions as they watch each other. These are more than biological, chemical or pheromonal. That’s why the mating tests are not always conclusive. Sometimes they’re right, sometimes they aren’t.” Ria knew Elizabeth often worked secretly with the Breed scientist Ely Morrey. “This is love. Love, the predisposition for it, or the animal sense that that woman is somehow more perfect, more worthy than others. It begins the mating heat.”
