Taking a few steps back, Arslan sat down on the sofa.Ryland followed willingly, lowering himself to kneel on the floor at his feet as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Arslan settled a hand in Ryland’s hair and encouraged him to lean forward and rest his head against his leg, to take comfort in their closeness while he fought for his words.
It took more control than Arslan had expected for him to be able to push the habits of the lecture hall aside and wait for someone to frame an answer they obviously hadn’t properly prepared in advance.It took more patience than Arslan knew he was capable of to accept that he couldn’t expect Ryland to say things as easily as a lion would.
“I gave the money back,” Ryland told him again.
Arslan waited in silence, stroking his fingers through Ryland’s hair.
“The money Kershaw gave me for agreeing to be thrown to the lions, sir,” Ryland finally managed to specify.“I gave it back.”
The words hung in the air between them.Arslan waited for the rest of the story, but that seemed to be it.Arslan cautiously felt his way forward, trying very hard to see the situation from a human point of view when all he really wanted to do was give in to his lion side and make everything very simple between them.
“I didn’t know,” Ryland whispered as he finally looked up and met Arslan’s gaze.
The pain in his eyes stole the breath from Arslan’s lungs.
“It wasn’t until you stood up in front of everyone and said I was better than some cheap whore that I realised you didn’t know he pays men to come here.”
Arslan stared down at him.
“If you come here with no thought of your own gain,” Ryland quoted back to him.He swallowed again.“I gave the money back, sir.”
Arslan studied him carefully.Ryland really seemed to believe that it was possible that anyone who’d seen them lie together in front of the fire could believe that he’d been thinking about money rather than his master.
Maybe, if he had been a lion, things would have been different.Arslan stroked his fingers through Ryland’s hair again, disordering the light blond strands.If Rylan had been a lion, it would only be right that he should be held to account for entering into a situation where he couldn’t have known he’d be safe.But, perhaps without the right instincts to sense such danger…
As Arslan stared down at Ryland, the advice he had been given so long ago replayed over and over inside his head.Don’t expect too much from a human pet.They might live with lions, they may lay with lions, they may even become a lion’s mate, but ultimately, they are still pets.Perhaps an instinct toward self-preservation was too much to expect from a pet.
Taking a deep breath, Arslan let it out very slowly.“The matter is closed,” he finally said, very simply.“You needn’t worry about it anymore.”
Ryland lifted his head and stole a glance up at him.At first, confusion clouded his gaze.As it cleared, he managed a small smile.
Arslan nodded to him, reassuring him that he was certain in his decision.As Ryland relaxed, he leaned closer and pressed a kiss to the nearest bit of Arslan’s skin available to him, just above his knee.Arslan could practically see the tension and the fear drain away as Ryland realised that, whatever he’d imagined Arslan’s reaction was going to be, his master wasn’t going to be angry at his pet for making a pet’s mistakes.
“No one expects a human to be a lion,” Arslan promised, as gently as he knew how.
Ryland frowned slightly.“Sir?”
“No one expects a human to live up to the same standards as a lion, to make the same decisions a lion would,” Arslan explained.“Of course allowances will be made and—”
“No!”
Ryland couldn’t have scrambled away faster if Arslan had raised a hand to strike him.Before Arslan had realised what Ryland intended to do, he had already clambered to his feet.He stumbled away a few paces as if he intended to flee, but when he reached the centre of the room, he stopped and turned back to face Arslan.
Already on the edge of his seat, ready to spring forward and give chase, Arslan stilled.
“That’s not…” Ryland shook his head, his movements sharp and filled with panic.“I’m not asking you to make allowances for me, sir.”
“You don’t need to ask,” Arslan told him “Humans are not lions.I understand that.”He might not like it.He might actually hate it.But he knew it in the way a man could only know something when it had been pushed into his mind every day since he was first old enough to understand what the words meant.
Humans weren’t like lions.Pets weren’t like masters.Allowances had to be made.
*
Ryland closed his eyes so tightly that lights flashed across the inside of his eyelids.When he opened them again, nothing had changed.He was just as screwed as he’d been from the start, except now there was no hiding from that fact.
Seeing no other alternative, he took a deep breath and forced the words past his lips.“I’ll take it.”
