"He shouldn't be allowed back in the park! Neither should those other lunatics!"
"My friend was trying to help," Aoife said. "If that girl hadn't had an appalling meltdown when she got in trouble for breakingthe rules, nothing alarming would have happened at all. I think Dr. Kelly is right this time, Peader. We got away with it, so I think we should pretend this one didn't happen."
"There wereinvestorshere," Peader hissed. "There'll be complaints!"
Aoife blinked up at him, then smiled. "Sure and listen to yourself, Peader. Who's going to believe a man jumped on a charging bison and rode it around the enclosure like a bronco? If we all say it didn't happen, who are they to say it did?"
Peader gaped down at her. "Are you saying welieabout it?"
"I'm saying we take the most likely story and make it the truth," Aoife said reasonably. "Which seems more likely, that a spoiled, angry kid made up a story about somebody riding a bison, or that somebody actuallydidride a bison? We need to keep the park safe." Aoife glanced toward Elliott again, and he knew she wasn't thinking of the wildlife park at all. She was trying to protect his secret.
Our fierce lioness,his lion whispered.She defends her pride against even the largest males.
"Besides," Aoife said, suddenly sharpening as if she'd realized something. "Molly and her mother were both melting down when this thing—uh, didn't happen. I think there's a really good chance theyactuallydidn't see anything at all, and the one person in the group who definitely did said she wouldn’t mention itWe may be worried over nothing, Peader. Why don't we just see how it plays out?"
The thick man eyed her suspiciously. "You really think that's possible?"
"I think if that kid had seen somebody riding a bison, she would have wanted to do it herself, and had a whole 'nother meltdown at not getting to," Aoife said. "And her mother would have backed her up, because that woman doesn't seem to havethe sense God gave a goose. No, honestly," she said, brightening. "I think we may really be in the clear."
Peader eyed her a moment longer, then sighed hugely. "All right. If nobody saw it, it didn't happen. There's enough of that around here anyway."
"Really? What do you mean?"
"If you haven't noticed it, I won't be the one to tell you." The big man walked away, and for the first time, Elliott noticed that almost everybody else had drifted off. The only people remaining had clearly been listening in on Aoife and Peader's conversation, and now that it had ended, were trying to look like they'd been doing anything but. They scattered guiltily, and after another minute or two, Aoife was alone outside Elliott's enclosure.
She tilted her head against the glass, and pressed a palm to it. "Did you catch any of that?" she asked quietly. "I don't know if you understand people or not. And do you just jump in and out, or do you use the doors like a civilized person?" She tilted her chin toward the sky, and said to it, "Not that he'll understand that question if he can't understand people."
Elliott lifted his head, scenting carefully. There were no other people nearby, not that he could smell or see. He backed up a few steps to give himself room, then leaped gracefully over the wall to land with a gentlethumpnext to Aoife.
She nearly jumped out of her skin, which was a perfectly reasonable response for having a 400 pound, four-plus-feet-at-the-shoulder predator land next to you. Elliott was about to shift, but Aoife put a hand out like she might touch him, so he held still instead.
Her hands were very small as they brushed over, then burrowed into his mane, but they also found an itchy spot beneath his ear and Elliott suddenly rumbled, trying not to lean into the touch too hard. He outweighed her by at least threetimes and could knock her over effortlessly. She laughed, clearly understanding that, but leaned into giving him a good scritch beneath the ear. "Does that feel good? Funny kitty."
I am not akitty!his lion protested, genuinely offended.Kitties are small and cute. I am large and magnificent!
You are, Elliott agreed.And if she wants to call us a kitty, she can.
Hnf. I suppose. Because she's our mate, and a fierce lioness.
Elliott chuckled, which in lion terms was a deep rough huffing sound that made Aoife squeak. "Jaysus but that's alarming," she said. "Makes all the hairs on my neck stand up. All right, you'd better shift back before somebody comes along."
Elliott shifted before she'd finished speaking, and to his own surprise, her hand stayed relative to where it had been, curled beneath his ear. Aoife squeaked again, then laughed. "Now that felt odd.Doyou understand people when you're a lion?"
"Yeah, I understand. I just can't talk. Obviously." Elliott felt silly for explaining that, but Aoife smiled.
"Obviously."
"Do you really think the Collinsdidn'tsee me riding a bison?"
"Honestly, the more I think about it the more sure I am they couldn't have. Molly would have been shrieking to join you. Kanvas did, but she was oddly cool about it. She’s not a shifter, is she?”
Elliott shook his head. “No, just a bohemian girl, as far as I can tell.”
“Grand. I think. I don’t know why she was so cool, then. But no, I’m not going to worry my head about it. Come on." Aoife slid her hand down his chest to take his hand. Actual heated sparks seemed to zot through Elliott's body where she'd touched him, and for a moment he wasn't sure he could walk from sheer, outrageous desire.
But her hand fit into his nicely, and she pulled him along with her until he remembered how to walk again. It only involved alittlestumbling. "We have to head out before they lock the back gates against me," she said. "Unless you can jump over them with somebody on your back."
Elliott had a vivid image of being between her thighs, but that was under very different circumstances. "Um, no, I don't think so. Lions aren't built for riding. You're small, and I'm big, so I probablycouldcarry you for a while, but it wouldn't be comfortable for either of us and it'd be a disaster if I had to jump. I do have to come back here tonight," he added a little vaguely. "I'm staying at the park this week."
