Lola glanced up at him and noticed his cheek bones had sharpened and his eyes seemed even more angular.His feline features became more pronounced when he was emotional.
“Of course,” Lyra said without missing a beat and not bothered by her son’s snappiness.“I’ll have to ask you to be patient with my son, Lola,” the Prima said as she gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze before releasing her.“He doesn’t often show what he’s feeling and so when it slips past his shield, sometimes it's not tempered.”Her voice was teasing, but Lola saw the deep love shining in Lyra’s eyes as she looked up at her son.
“Yeah, I’ve sort of gathered that,” Lola said, smiling back at her.She didn’t know what she’d been expecting a Queen of Claws to be like, but she was pretty sure it wouldn’t have been Lyra.
“Why?”Callon asked.
“Snap,” Lola huffed and glanced away.“I said that out loud, didn’t I?”
Callon chuckled.“Queen of Claws?”
“Okay,” Lola said as she started to turn.“Can I just go out and chat with Bitchy Barbie now?”
Lyra laughed.“I told you Tamara didn’t fit here.”
“She had the credentials and she didn’t babble when I interviewed her,” the deep voice she’d heard earlier said dryly.
Lola turned back to find a man who looked incredibly similar to Callon standing a couple of feet from her.He had a stern face, but kind eyes.His hair was shoulder length, wavy and unruly, as if it defied him on principle.
“Lola, this is my father, Taras,” Callon told her.
“King of the Jungle,” she whispered and then slapped her hand over her mouth as her eyes widened so big she was sure they’d pop out of her head.What the ever-loving hell is wrong with me?I was dropped on my head as a child.That has to be it.I’ll have to ask my mom why on earth she let my dad hold me because it totally would have been him that dropped me.Dammit, Dad, really?You couldn't have dropped me on my butt where there was a diaper padding it?
“You’re going to be good for my son,” Taras said, his face morphing into a lion-like features, though not completely.He maintained a humanoid form that was quite fascinating to look at.High cheekbones broadened like a lion, even fur.His brow narrowed and his mouth protruded a bit as his jaw lengthened, but that’s where the transformation stopped.“Does it bother you?”
Lola blinked several times, waiting for his face to go back to a completely human state.After several seconds, she realized he was doing it on purpose.“You’re doing that?”she asked, because, of course, she did.
His lips spread into a smile showing large fangs.“I’m a beastwalker.And though Callon has probably explained it to you, sometimes you need to see something to really accept it to be true.Shall I shift completely?”
“Dad,” Callon said but snapped his mouth shut when Taras snarled at him.
Lola didn’t flinch though her ears might have.“Aren’t you worried people in the building will hear?”She snapped her fingers before he could answer.“Oh, wait, is everyone in the building like you all?Are they all lions?If you’re a feline species does that mean there’s others like tigers, bobcats, panthers?”Her eyes widened as she remembered the guys from the diner.“Panthers,” she nearly shouted.“Wyatt, Rafe, Drystan, Kian, and Roan, they’re all panthers, aren’t they?”She looked from Taras, to Lyra and then Callon.
“Roan isn’t.He’s a Shaman,” Taras explained.“That’s something Callon can explain to you.”
“He did mention Shaman,” Lola looked at each of them as she spoke, “he fits right in with all you beastwalkers because you’re all incredibly good looking.Is that a beastwalker thing?”
Callon’s chest rumbled against her as he made a sound, like Dog did– though this was much bigger– when he was ticked at her for accidentally bumping him while he slept.Onherbed, she might add.
Lola pursed her lips.“What’s got your tail in a twist?”
“You called other males handsome,” Lyra told her with a grin.“Our males tend to be a tad possessive.”She held up her hand, pinching her thumb and forefinger together.
“You do realize that really just makes me want to poke that thorn a little more, right?”Lola asked, unable to keep her trap shut.
“And that’s why I like you, Lola Katz,” Lyra said, her smile growing.“My son needs a strong female.One that will stand up to him, but also stand up for him.”
Lola’s heart skipped a beat as the conversation went from playful to serious in a span of a sentence.“How do you know I’m that woman?You just met me.”
“Do you believe that things in life are left to chance, Lola?”the Prima asked.“Do you think we’re just walking around with happy accidents falling at our feet, or is there something more going on?”
Lola considered Lyra’s words as she looked up at Callon.His golden eyes searched hers.She thought about all the times she’d sat on her bed, pouring her soul out to her diary feeling like there was something missing from her life.“Until,” she muttered as she tilted her head taking in all that was Callon’s handsome features, even when she saw the animal characteristics, “until you.”The vacancy that had been a deep void inside of her– was no longer there.“It’s gone,” she said as the air whooshed from her lungs, still looking into his gaze.“The emptiness is gone.”
Callon’s hand cupped her chin as he leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers.“I know,Sazzi.Mine is too.”
Lola swallowed hard as her eyes brimmed with tears, the wetness spilling down her cheeks and catching in her lips.She desperately wanted to hide away, but couldn’t move, feeling paralyzed by the moment.Some great revelation had suddenly dropped onto her.The room was closing in on her, suffocating her until she thought she would collapse under the weight of the gazes of people she didn’t know, but felt she belonged with.Desperate for relief, she tried to draw in deep breaths to steady herself, but each gasp only made her feel more lost and exposed.
A hand squeeze hers.It was small, unlike Callon’s, so she figured it must be Lyra’s.“This isn’t an accident, no matter how happy it may be, Lola,” the Prima of Kingdom of Claws said, her voice gentle and warm.“You belong with Callon.I don’t fully understand it myself, but I see it.An energy that pulls you together like magnets.I know, maybe, it doesn’t feel like it, but it’s going to be okay.”
