Overheated air engulfed Ellery as they stepped inside, just as it had a week before.He quickly scanned the room.
Ryland he knew.There were half a dozen other men—half a dozen lions—who he had no way of recognising from his previous visit.And, there, standing right next to Ryland, was a smaller lion.He was staring straight at Ellery, as if a ghost had walked into the room.
Any questions that might have lingered in Ellery’s mind regarding whether Arslan had informed Kefir that the man he’d met the previous week would be returning to the lions’ den were answered in that moment.No one was that good at feigning shock
Stepping forward, remaining outwardly calm and in control of his every action, Ellery stopped directly in front of Kefir.The boy was beautiful.There was no other word for it.
Big brown eyes stared up at Ellery.His lips were slightly parted.As Ellery watched, Kefir’s tongue flicked out to moisten those lips, calling up the memory of that same tongue exploring his skin a week before.
Ellery nodded a greeting.“Kefir.”
The little lion swallowed.“You…you came back.”
“Yes.”Ellery smiled slightly.Kefir was pretty when he was speechless.
Settling his hand on the small of Kefir’s back, he gently led him away from the rest of the group, toward a sofa in a quieter part of the room.“Are there any rules about where men sit at these meetings?”
Kefir shook his head.As he lowered himself onto one end of the sofa, Ellery sat next to him.
With the blindfold finally gone, he felt more than entitled to make up for lost time.He ran his eyes leisurely over the little lion’s body.He was all lean lines of muscle, his form barely obscured by a smattering of pale blond hairs.
As he watched, Kefir drew up his feet onto the sofa in front of him and curled his arms around his legs.The posture hid far too much of his body.It seemed to do so more by accident than design and be born more out of habit than anxiety.It still grated on Ellery’s nerves a little, and he itched to reach out and rearrange the boy into a more pleasing shape.But he forced himself to resist the temptation to start issuing orders while he was still cautiously feeling his way forward in a culture he wasn’t familiar with.
Knowing exactly what he’d do with Kefir if the boy had wandered into a leather club was one thing, but it didn’t really help him in the lions’ den.Far better to move warily and have everything he wanted in the long run than grab at something he’d like in that moment and see everything slip through his fingers.
“I’m glad you came back,” Kefir said, as their eyes met again.
“So am I.”
The sound of a car stopping on the gravel driveway pulled at Ellery’s attention.He looked up, just in time to see half the lions in the room turn their gazes away from him and Kefir toward the window.
“Luther, Blaine.”
Ellery glanced across to the two brats.The car’s arrival didn’t seem to interest them in the least; they were both still glaring at him as if he were offering them some sort of mortal insult merely by existing.
Ellery raised an eyebrow, silently inviting them to speak up if they had anything to say.
“Whenever you’re both ready,” Arslan bit out, any small amount of patience that had been in his voice a moment before, rapidly draining away.
Luther caught hold of Marrick’s wrist and tugged him along in their wake as they strode out of the room.The boy’s back was covered with deep scratches, vivid scars that might well never fade from his skin.Ellery frowned after the trio as they disappeared from sight.It had obviously been too much to hope for, that all the subs who wanted to play with lions would have found good masters among them.
“He likes them.”
Ellery turned back to Kefir.
“The scratches,” the little lion whispered.“Marrick says they make him feel good—alive.”
Blaine and Luther marched back into the room before Ellery had a chance to question that statement.A new human sacrifice stumbled along between them.Marrick obviously had very little part to play in retrieving him.He wandered in behind them, looking slightly embarrassed, and more than a little bit amused by the fools his boyfriends were making of themselves.
The moment the sacrifice reached the rug in front of the fireplace, both lions abandoned him to flank Marrick again.The newcomer stood alone before the fire.
His anxiety was obvious.It only increased as no one approached him for several long minutes.The whole room seemed to be waiting for some sort of signal, for another shifter to move first.
As many pairs of eyes still rested on Ellery as upon the bound and blindfolded man being offered to them, but, eventually, someone stepped closer to the new guy.
He reached out to the man, tracing a line down his spine, making him startle.A glance to Arslan and the lion seemed to remember his manners.
“If you wish to be released, you must say the word ‘spear’.Understand?”
