“Uh, Mom, what is Aidan doing?”
I squinted in Aidan's direction. Unlike most of the other Intare, he was in his man form, leaping into the air over and over. Above him flew Michael, his wings almost blinding, they were so white. The Archangel had his thumbs in his ears, his fingers waggling, and was blowing raspberries at my lion.
“He's just another cat trying to catch a taunting bird,” I said. “Give him a moment. Birds are always too confident. It's hard for them to comprehend that you don't need wings to fly.”
“I don't know. This is Aidan after all.”
Aidan leapt but shifted as he did, extending his jump and his reach abruptly. Michael's hands lowered and his expression went shocked, then furious as Aidan barreled into him. Angel and lion went tumbling to the ground, and Aidan's jaw wound up around the Archangel's neck.
I smirked. “That's my boy.”
“Whoa!” Brevyn stood up and started to applaud. “Well done, Aidan!”
Aidan pushed off the Angel, shifted back to man, and bowed in our direction. Just as he was straightening, Michael knocked into him from behind and took him back to the ground.
“And that's why you wait until you are safe at home or your opponent is dead before you gloat,” I said to Brevyn. “And double-check that they're dead. With gods and faeries, you can never be too safe.”
“Yes, Mother.”
This was my life. It was normally a damn good one, but then there were moments like this one, when I had to teach my children to double-check the people they killed.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The next day, I was walking down the hallway, away from the library on the second floor of Pride Palace, when I heard a low growl. I looked over my shoulder to see a dark shape emerge from the shadows, indigo eyes flashing within it.
“Kirill?” I scowled at him, baffled.
He huffed and nipped at the air.
“Oh, you wanna play?” I grinned and started to strip. “All right. I could use a little playtime.”
I left my clothes and shoes in a pile and shifted into my lioness form. Kirill bared his teeth in a grin, then jumped for me. I jumped too, toward the stairs. Taking several steps at a time, I leapt to the landing, then the first floor. Men flung themselves out of my way as I ran for the front doors.
Fallon, who'd been on his way outside, held the door open for us. “Have fun!”
“Mommy!” I heard Lesya shout. “Daddy!”
But this wasn't family time. I roared at my daughter, telling her in my lion way to stay put, and kept running. Sweet-smelling grass, taller than me, swept against my face, and beneath my feet, my territory thrummed with magic. Through the pads of my paws, I could feel the potential brewing. Bubbling in excitement. This land was mine because I'd claimed the magic of the Goddess who had previously possessed it, but I had another tie to it—my Fey blood. The Fey had helped the Gods build the God Realm, and the magic recognized that part of me.
The long stalks of grass began to sway out of my way, making my passage easier. With that epiphany, new aspects of my territory magic started to reveal themselves to me. I could do more than alter the scenery; I could literally bend it to my will.
Behind me, I heard Kirill's surprised grunt. Despite his shock, he was gaining on me. I veered left and put on speed, the way opening before me. I didn't actually want to win the race, but I didn't want Kirill to catch me before I got to our waterfall either.
Just a little further. The scent of water moistened my nostrils, and they widened for me to breathe deeply. A green smell added to it—moss and thick-leafed plants. No animals. The beasts of my territory knew to stay away from this place; it was marked by royalty.
I burst out of the corridor of tall grass and into the meadow that fronted our waterfall. A crescent of wildflowers and short, green grass led up to the pebbled shore, and a few moss-covered boulders outlined the small pond. From a great distance above us, a swath of water twice as wide as my lioness was long rushed down the side of the mountain. The sound was both stimulating and soothing, that roar of falling water filling my ears and telling me I was close to our secret spot.
Speeding around the shoreline, I headed for the cliff face. Spray coated my fur and wet my nose, making my whiskers twitch. Sunlight formed rainbows in the mist, giving the scene a touch of fantasy. I stretched out my claws for better purchase as the pebbles turned into rocks, then the rocks became boulders that formed a low wall. I rounded the wall and the cave behind the waterfall came into sight.
Just then, my husband hit me from behind, taking me past the sheet of water to land on the wet stone behind it. We rolled, tussling and nipping at each other. Heart racing, I tried to free myself, but Kirill closed his strong jaws around the back of my neck and held me down. Instinctively, I lifted my tail.
Ever since he'd become the Lion God, Kirill had grown more aggressive. The change had been creeping upon him before then, but becoming his own power source tipped the scales. Although we both technically belonged to other pantheons, we had created a new one together and strengthened the Pride. And although Kirill had started as my Ganza (a sort of right-hand man) and still liked to call me Tima (my Intare title that means “heart”) we were now equals.
I don't know why we'd been able to create a new pantheon. After we'd done it, I began to wonder how it had been possible and the only answer I could come up with was that Kirill had been a part of my pantheon when he became a god in his own right. We had the proper bonds in place, and when the Intare had made vows to him as their god, those bonds intensified. Plus, there was the fact that we'd both been human once, and human belief is what creates pantheons. It's what creates gods.
This new power made Kirill more dominant, especially in his lion form, and the fact that I was previously the dominant one in our relationship magnified his instincts. He needed to prove himself. I knew this, and I knew it was an animal thing. So I let him. I went still, and he slowly released my throat. Setting his paws to either side of me, Kirill reared up and mounted me. A few thrusts and it was over—lions believe in quantity versus quality and mate in quick bursts all day long. Kirill and I wouldn't do that; this was just an appetizer to satisfy our beasts. Once his lion was sated, Kirill pulled out, and we shifted into our main bodies.
With the edge taken off his lust and his need for dominance satisfied, Kirill went calm. He helped me to my feet with a soft smile and pulled me into a tender embrace. A lion embrace—one involving some sweet nuzzling, neck nibbles, and full frontal contact. Due to the shapeshifting, Kirill's hair was loose and swung in a heavy cape around us to weave with mine.
