Marrick nodded as if he understood what Kefir was trying to tell him.A moment later, when Ryland and Arslan stepped into the room, Kefir and Marrick rose to their feet.
When Kefir would have stepped forward, Marrick caught hold of his arm again.“Make sure you teach him about what kind of master you want, too.”
Kefir looked over his shoulder at him.
“That’s the way it works,” Marrick told him.“Sometimes, you have to speak up and tell your master what you want.Ellery’s a good dom—he’ll understand if you speak up about what’s important to you.”He thought about that for a moment.“It probably wouldn’t hurt if you kind of stress your submission and throw in an extra couple of ‘sirs’ when you do it, but make sure that you do it.”
Kefir nodded.Taking his arm out of Marrick’s grip as politely as possible, he stepped forward to stand next to Ellery.
Ellery caught hold of Kefir’s arm and guided him to stand behind him instead.
Dominants look after submissives.Ellery knew full well that his sub was stronger than him, stronger than any human, but in that moment, as he squared off against the other lions, his first instinct was to put his sub behind him out of harm’s way.
“If you’d all like to stop making fools of yourselves before the others get here,” Arslan suggested, as he walked calmly through the middle of the standoff and took his seat.“Now would be a good time.”
Luther spun around to face Arslan.“You can’t think it’s right!You’re the one who says that our traditions exist for a reason.”
“They do,” Arslan said, as he welcomed Ryland to kneel at his feet.“Every one of them.”
“Then, Ellery is Kefir’s pet—if anyone should be wearing at collar, it’s him!”Blaine snapped.
Arslan looked past them both to where Kefir stood, just about able to meet his leader’s gaze over his master’s shoulder.Pulse racing, all he could do was pray.
“I’ve never said that Ellery is not Kefir’s pet,” Arslan announced.“If a man wants to give his lover a piece of jewellery, that’s his business.It changes nothing in the eyes of the pride.Kefir is still responsible for Ellery.He’s still answerable for his conduct the same way any other lion would be.Our traditions still exist.”
While Kefir continued to stare across the room at Arslan, the leader of the pride transferred his attention to Ellery.
At that exact moment, the door opened, several of the other lions in the pride bounded into the room, all of them talking at the same time.Arslan turned his attention to them and began a conversation with the first lion to catch his eye, just to make sure everyone knew he considered the newcomers to all be far more interesting than the standoff that had been playing out a moment before.
Luther and Blaine turned back to Ellery, but they didn’t seem to know what to do with him.While Kefir watched, they retreated toward Marrick.The grip they took on him turned his skin white and brought a smile to his lips.He grinned at Kefir as he was dragged away to a quiet-ish corner of the room.
Ellery turned his back on them all as he gave his complete attention to Kefir.Looking up at his master, Kefir waited for his verdict.
“What exactly are they to Arslan?”
The question sounded very important, in ways Kefir didn’t really understand.He tilted his head on the side.“They’re the same as we all are—members of his pride, sir.”
“And what exactly does that mean?”Ellery asked.“That they’re answerable to him?”
Kefir nodded.
“That they belong to him,” Ellery pushed.“That you belong to him?”
Kefir hesitated.Their conversation didn’t seem to be about Luther and Blaine at all.“We all belong to the pride, sir.”
The car pulled up outside then, pulling everyone’s attention to the window, and the drive beyond it.A second later, Luther and Blaine strode out, a rather happy looking Marrick being dragged along in their wake.
The sacrifice was led in, but Ellery didn’t seem at all interested in watching what happened in front of the fire that night.He led Kefir over to a chair on the far side of the room.
Sitting down, he encouraged Kefir to rest with him, half on the chair and half on his lap.
Snuggling against Ellery, automatically doing his best to warm him up to a lion’s temperature, Kefir glanced across the room.His gaze fell on Marrick.A human dom expected his sub to tell him about important things.
“I don’t think most lions like doing as they’re told,” Kefir whispered.
“Oh?”
“Arslan, he doesn’t… He’s not like a human dom.He doesn’t want anything like that with us.”Kefir looked up at Ellery, not sure how to explain it.“It’s like at the university?”he offered.
