A moment later, the door clicked closed behind Arslan and Ryland.
Marrick continued to stare at the wooden panels for what felt like several lifetimes.As much as he wanted to hate Arslan, Marrick had to admit he had a really annoying habit of being right about certain things.
“I won’t belong to men who treat me as if I’m made of glass.I won’t let you treat me as if I’m not strong—or as if I should be scared of the whole damn world.I’m not that person.”And, suddenly, the words were all out there, hanging in the air between them.“If that’s the kind of pet you want, you’ve got the wrong guy.”
Blaine’s hand came to rest on Marrick’s shoulder.Marrick tried not to care that his touch was still overtly careful.“You will tell us what kind of pet you want to be—what kind of master you want?”he asked.
There was no room left for lies.No energy left for lies either.“Someone who’s willing to let me feel alive,” Marrick whispered.
“Alive?”Luther echoed, blankly.
Marrick felt every muscle in his body tense as he pushed forward despite all his reservations, all his fears.“What my parents were talking about—when they said I was ill when I was little.It wasn’t just a normal kids-get-sick kind of thing.”
Luther stroked his fingers up and down Marrick’s spine, obviously trying to soothe him.
“Can you imagine lying in a hospital bed for years, watching life go on around you, passing you by?I didn’t feel like I was dying—I felt like I was already dead.Can you imagine how that makes you feel?”
Blaine pulled him closer as if to protect him from the very memory of it.
“I promised.I don’t know if I believe in God or not, but I know that I promised someone—something—that if I got the chance to get out of that hospital, if I got the chance to feel alive, then I’d do it.Nothing would stop me.”
Luther’s temple came to rest on the back of Marrick’s head as he wrapped his arms around Marrick’s waist.
Eyes closed now, Marrick kept going when a huge part of him wanted nothing more than to stop, to just let the lions pat him on the head and tell him everything was okay.“I’m not an idiot.I don’t have a death wish.I don’t take stupid risks.But I won’t live my life following the rules of any man, or any lion, who makes me feel as if I’m suffocating under a million layers of cotton wool.”
“You…want to be scared?”Blaine asked.
“Scared.Hurt.I want to go the edge of what I can take and ride the crest of it.Feeling the fear and doing it anyway—that’s what makes someone feel more alive than anything,” Marrick whispered.
For several long seconds, the whole world was silent but for the sound of his racing pulse.“Can you accept that?”he eventually forced himself to ask.
“It’s not that simple.A master has to look after his pet,” Luther said.
“Because Arslan says that’s the way it has to be?”Marrick asked.
“Because it’s the way things have always been between lions and humans.Because…”
Marrick looked up as Blaine hesitated.
Suddenly, the lion’s expression changed.“We should all rest now.We’ll talk when we wake up.”
Marrick parted his lips to respond.
“I know you won’t obey every order we ever give you,” Blaine told him, very seriously.“But just this once—obey this one just because we ask you to?”
Marrick wasn’t sure if it was the need in Blaine’s voice or if it was his own desire to take what was being offered that made him nod his agreement.
He was too exhausted to care about the future.If it wasn’t going to work, if he’d come back only to find he was going to have to leave again the next day, then at least he could get a good night’s sleep first.
* * * * *
Blaine stalked slowly along the edge of the shrubbery, hunting for the perfect moment.His paws didn’t make a sound, they barely even disturbed the grass, as he watched his prey wander out into the middle of the lawn behind Arslan’s home.The human looked in every direction before turning back towards the patio that extended out from the back of the house.
Just as the human lifted his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, Blaine pounced.
Marrick’s back hit the ground hard.His eyes opened very wide as he came face to face with Blaine in his feline form for the first time.“What the—!”His words deserted him.His mouth opened and closed, but no sound emerged.
One set of instincts demanded that Blaine should pull away, he should apologise for forgetting his manners with a human, for forgetting that they were not designed for rough play—especially not when he was in his shifted form.But another kind of instinct, just as strong, demanded that he claim his mate—that he hold on to this human, that he keephishuman both safe and exactly where he wanted him to be.
