Still, no other lion moved closer to the human in their midst.The whole room was holding its breath.There were few secrets in a pride at the best of times.There wasn’t a man there who’d have believed Arslan if he’d tried to tell them he hadn’t been expecting Ryland to re-join them that night.
Well aware that every nuance of his reaction was being observed, would be remembered, Arslan turned to Blaine and Luther and calmly nodded for them to play out the tradition if they had any interest in it.
Neither needed any further prompting.They both stepped forward, one behind the bound man, one in front of him.The moment Arslan had heard them go through the forms of checking that the sacrifice knew how to end the tradition if he no longer wished to play his part in it, Arslan turned his attention away from them.Staring blindly at the opposite wall, he mentally scrambled to work out what had gone wrong now.
“I’m sorry.”
Arslan glanced to his left.Kefir occupied the other end of his sofa, curled into a neat little ball, more like a kitten than any lion Arslan had ever known.Concern echoed in the little lion’s words.Arslan made no comment.
“He was supposed to become your mate tonight?”Kefir asked softly.
Arslan clenched his teeth.The youngest lion in his pride hadn’t shown the slightest interest in any of the offerings the humans sent to them.As far as Arslan was aware, he hadn’t shown any sort of intimate interest in another lion either.
Arslan forced a deep breath into his lungs as he played for time.Leaders led even when it wasn’t convenient.That knowledge had been part of his psyche for so many years it was no longer something he even thought about.Leaders had to teach the lions in their pride the right way to do things, and they had to answer their questions—even when it hurt.
“It was a possibility,” he finally acknowledged.
“But not anymore?”Kefir asked.
Arslan took another deep breath and let it out very slowly, but he already knew what a leader was supposed to say.“Humans are not like us.Allowances must be made for them.”It was almost word for word what an older lion had told him when he was much the same age as Kefir.“Humans can’t be blamed for not acting like lions—for not acting in a way that a lion might expect.They don’t have our instincts.They don’t belong to prides the way we do, so there’s no one to teach them how to conduct themselves with lions.That can lead humans to behave…erratically.But it’s not their fault.”
Kefir nodded.He didn’t look entirely convinced.Arslan couldn’t truly blame him.He wasn’t at all sure the words sounded believable to his own ears.Talking sensibly about waiting was one thing, but the moment the other lions left the den at the end of the night and all his duties to the pride had been discharged, Arslan had his clothes on and he was in his car heading straight to Ryland’s house in record time.
The man who opened Ryland’s door was young and blond and similar to Ryland in a great many ways.But he wasn’t Ryland.
“Is Ryland here?”
The boy shook his head.The motion was jerky, like a puppet whose strings weren’t quite joined up in the right formation.He appeared to be one step away from a nervous breakdown, and Arslan really didn’t have time for that.
“Where is Ryland?”Arslan demanded.
“I—” The boy cleared his throat and apparently put a lot of effort into remembering how not to speak in soprano.“One of your associates collected him on Tuesday.”
Arslan frowned down at the boy.“What?”
“White guy, built like a brick wall.Tattoo of a snakey-thing on his arm.Ryland left with him and—”
“Where?”
“Didn’t say,” Ryland’s housemate squeaked out.
“If this is some sort of joke,” Arslan warned.
Ryland’s housemate wasn’t so full of fear that he was unable to make room for a healthy dose of righteous anger, given the right incentive.“You think I’m joking about this?If he doesn’t turn up, who the hell do you think is going to be left telling his family that their son’s disappeared off the face of the earth?”he yelled.“Just because they won’t have anything to do with him, that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to be really pissed off with me for—”
“Enough!”
The boy fell silent.
“Do you know where Ryland is?”
The boy shook his head.“He left a message for me saying he was fine and not to worry about him, but he didn’t sound fine.”
Arslan grabbed the boy’s arm and pushed him back into the house.Spotting a living room, he shoved Ryland’s friend towards a battered old sofa.“Start again—from the beginning.”
* * * * *
“I’m sorry I can’t make it to the…to the…” Ryland closed his eyes for a moment.He was calling a professor.He had to keep it together, sound like he was talking about an academic relationship.“I’m sorry that I can’t be at the lecture today.I’m fine, I just—” There were just so bloody many things he couldn’t say.“I’ll be able to explain it all next time I see you.”He hung up before he could make the mistake of saying more, saying something that could maybe be used against Arslan.
