Gio laughed softly. "There's going to be a lot of cleanup."
Max sat on a bench. Gio took a seat beside her, and she settled against him with the confidence that she belonged there. His chest no longer ached in the old way, the medallion having become fully part of him now. But it felt warm and full.
"I'd like to stay with them for a while to help put things back to rights." Max's voice was tentative.
"Of course. As long as you like." But his mind was already turning to all the possibilities that were now open to him. The cultists were no longer pursuing him. He could stay here as long as he wanted. He could go anywhere in the world.
As if reading his thoughts as usual, Max said, "Do you think they're really gone? That you're free?"
"I think with Javic on our side, their numbers decimated and their power source destroyed, they'll be pretty easy to deal with now." He touched his chest. "I'm no longer separate from my lion. And I'm not afraid."
My lion.He had thought of it at first as a creature apart from himself, an unwanted intruder in his body. But he was now realizing that the medallion had only given him something he'd had all along. The lion was his strength and his protectiveness, his spontaneous and instinctive side. It was a valued and integral part of him, and as he leaned against Max, he could feel the lion within him stretching out in silent contentment.
"You really don't mind staying here for a little while?" Max asked, sounding worried. "If you'd like to move on, I'll happily come with you."
"Max, I like your family. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. After that ..." The possibilities filled his mind, but it kept coming back to one thing. "What are your thoughts on Italy in the springtime?"
MAX
"This is beautiful,"Max breathed.
When Gio had said that he had a villa in Italy, she hadn't been sure if the pictures in her head would do justice to the reality. But this was everything she had imagined and more. The house was low and rambling, made of sandstone and adobe, surrounded by flowers, fountains, and statues. There were sweeping fields of olive trees and grapevines, and on a hill below the house, a beautiful spring that was the first place Gio took her once they had dropped off their meager luggage at the house.
The spring bubbled up from the hillside and flowed into a pool. There was a stone lion on one side of the pool, and Max recognized it at first glance; actually it gave her a chill, because it was so like Gio's lion form. It was clearly supposed to have a matching partner on the other side of the pool, but now it stood alone.
Max knelt to brush her fingers across crumbled stone on the empty side of the pool, the foundation for a statue that was no longer there.
"This is where you changed?" she asked quietly.
"Yes, my friends saved my life by bonding me to the original statue. Now I am the lion, and it is me."
Max was caught up in the beauty of Gio's smile and the vivid, glowing health in his face. Seeing him now—happy, healthy, whole—made her realize how tired and wan he had been when she had first met him.
She felt whole, too. She hadn't realized how empty and alone she had felt without her clan until she had them back on her side again. Things would be very different under Sofia as the alpha, Max knew now. The cruelty and abuses of Nacio's rule were things of the past. She looked forward to a bright and hopeful future for her clan.
But at the same time, her life was no longer with them. Her family would always be there for her, and she felt a soft inward thrill at the idea that because of Gio's stonewalking, she could always visit them in their mountain stronghold any time she wanted. There was no need to take days getting there.
Which meant that she could live wherever she wanted, and have whatever she wanted.Everythingshe wanted. Family, freedom, love. A bright, wild joy filled her, and for a jaguar shifter, that kind of delight knew one outlet. This hillside looked as if it was made to run on. She could feel her legs quivering with the urge.
She looked around. There was no one in sight, only ranks of olive trees.
"You know, I just had a thought," Max said. She began to unbutton her shirt.
Gio's eyes grew dark with desire. "I like this thought."
"But you haven't even heard it yet," Max laughed, stripping off her jeans one leg at a time.
"So far, I like where this is going."
"Run with me," Max said, shedding the last of her clothes at the edge of the pool.
Gio's eager look as he took in her naked body turned into a rueful grin. "That's not where I thought this was leading."
"Really?" Max winked at him over her bare shoulder. "Don't be so sure. Catch me if you can."
She shifted as she dropped to all fours. She was away in an instant, leaping up the hill.
Glancing back, she saw Gio shift with fluid grace, clothes and all. Delight filled her all over again, seeing how smoothly and easily he could shift now. He came racing up the hill after her, stone paws thundering.
