Page 26 of King from the Sky

Chapter Ten

The crashing soundwoke her from her dream. She was not aware that she had even been dreaming, which was unusual for her because she always used to remember them all, even while she was in them. She had read up on the phenomena before—it was called lucid dreaming—and she had even tried to experiment with it in her youth, but had not had to do that for quite some time. In fact, she had hardly dreamed at all until she met Alex.

The sound was loud and it sounded like it was a bomb exploding right beside her head, spraying glass everywhere. Her skin was being pricked by thousands of sharp little slithers of glass as the window exploded into little bits and sprayed all over the bed.

Her first thought was that there really was a bomb in their room and that they were both going to be dead in seconds. She had always wondered how fast you would die if you were unfortunate enough to have a bomb go off right beside you or if you actually landed on the bomb. The dreams of her childhood were often violent and at one point she had been too afraid to even go to sleep.

But this was not a bomb. A second before Alex grabbed her arm and flung her over the other side of the bed and onto the floor she saw two shadowy figures flying through the mist of glass that was being thrown everywhere. As Alex whiplashed her over his body and onto the hard floor she tried to get a grip on what was happening and the pain that was about to follow.

The floor came up to meet her quickly and took the air from her body. She had tried to stiffen herself instinctively and she immediately regretted that decision as she hit the ground hard and bounced upwards a bit before resting on the floor. She felt the wind leave her body as the pain roared inside of her. Hey eyes closed shut tightly while she tried to take another breath, but she felt it might have been mostly due to the horror that had befallen them once again.

She had not been able to get a good look at the men who were attacking them, but she suspected the mob had found her as she feared they might. It was becoming clear to her that as much as she trusted Alex his decision making skills were starting to get on her nerves as he had placed them in danger several times now. If they made it through this one she made a point to let him know what she really thought about it all.

She could hear the roar coming from Alex as he leapt off the bed and threw his body at the attackers. There were loud grunts from the other side of the bed and a second later Emily saw one of the men flying past the bed and slamming hard against the wall.

She wanted to stay hidden and for a brief moment thought about climbing under the bed, but the idea of being totally trapped like that made her rethink that choice.

That was when she heard the lion roars coming from Alex and she knew that the violence was about to escalate to another level. She wanted to see but at the same time she was afraid to. She hated to admit this to herself because it made her seem like some little girl or a groupie but she loved to see Alex turn into a lion and she loved to see him fight. It was the most exciting and thrilling thing that she had ever seen and she doubted that she would ever get tired of it.

But she was terrified that he would be killed. As tough as he was and as awesome as his powers were he might still be killed during one of these fights and she would be instantly killed next. So unfortunately she was not able to enjoy the fights as much as she had hoped to.

A body fell over the bed, bouncing into the air and landing right beside Emily. She was now face to face with a man that she did not recognize. She could see the anger in his eyes as he recognized that she was there and started to quickly recover from the blow he had just received.

But in an instant Alex was there at the edge of the bed above her in full lion form letting loose his angry roar. The sound of the roar that close to her head made her feel like her ears were about to start bleeding. The pounding in her head felt like it might not quit as a bout of nausea began to rise up from her stomach. She wanted to move as far away from that spot right then as she possibly could, but she was trapped by the bed and the other man.

The man was not the least bit intimidated by the lion in his face. It was almost like he expected it and was not at all surprised. The smug look on his face quickly turned to total rage as he began to get up to prepare for another attack.

Emily did not see a gun on this man. How was he expecting to attack Alex, she wondered?

Alex quickly took a swipe at the man with his claw and sent his body flying across the floor where he landed on top of the other man who was just starting to get up. Both men were injured, but their tenacity was to be admired as they started to climb to their feet again.

Emily was once again thinking about hiding under the bed, but those thoughts were removed from her mind as she saw the two men in front of her shift into lions almost within the blink of an eye.

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. In all of her life she had never seen anyone transform like that but Alex. And now she was face to face with three lion shifters. There were three full male African lions in her hotel room. The fear she was feeling was indescribable. Every muscle in her body was frozen solid and her body temperature felt like it was dropping rapidly as the coldest wave of shock washed over her body starting with her toes and moving rapidly up to her fingertips.

Alex was now in a danger that he had not been in before. He was now fighting others of his kind. Why were they here? And why were they trying to kill Alex? Wasn’t he supposed to be their king?

Alex seemed to be running through those same questions in his mind as he failed to intercept the telegraphed signals that one of the lions was making to him a split second before it lunged into the air. The two lions collided on the mattress as Emily crawled under the bed and moved quickly to the other side where she rolled out and ran into the larger section of the room.

Her mind was racing as she tried to think of some way that she could help Alex. He needed help in any way he could get it. Alex couldn’t possibly fight two of his own kind at the same time could he?

Suddenly she heard a loud roaring squeal as the lion on top fell to the ground unconscious. Emily wanted to cheer and do a thankful celebration, but her mood quickly changed as the other lion ran at her. He was under the impression that she would be easy prey while his friend dealt with Alex until he could get over to offer assistance. Knowing that Alex was their king they had to know how powerful he was.

Emily’s legs froze stiff as she tried to run and instantly fell to the floor. She was suddenly aware for some reason that she was still naked and it felt even more terrifying for a reason she could not put together than if she had been fully dressed. There was something less dignified about dying naked.

She tried to get up but the lion was right there pouncing towards her, ready to sink its huge teeth into her body.

Alex tackled the lion off Emily and instantly began to bite and claw at it. Alex was bigger, stronger, and faster. It was apparent that even among his own people Alex was a very dominant person. That might explain why he was the king of his people. There had to be something in his genes that just spoke to the fact that he was a born leader.

The lion beneath him whined loudly and then it ceased to move.

Emily’s breath began to move in and out of her body in huge gasps, but they were starting to get closer to normal and slow down a bit.

By the time Alex reached her to offer comfort he was his normal self again. The lion was gone. He was covered in sweat and a bit of blood, but his touch still felt good against her skin as he held her in a tight embrace.

Emily could not stop the tears that fell down her face. This might have been the first time that she had seen Alex in real danger where she thought he might not make it out alive. It was different when he was fighting other lion shifters; they were just as strong and superhuman as he was. Or at least she thought they were. But Alex came out on top once again. Emily never wanted to believe that any of that was luck, but she knew that if pressed Alex would tell her that a good bit of his winning was luck. It was like that with everyone after you reached a certain level. Alex had been doing what he did for so long that it was impossible to think that he had not been lucky a time or two.

“Hey, it’s ok,” Alex said as he held her close.