Page 17 of Loving the Lion

CHAPTER FIVE

SALLY WOKE THE next morning alone. Not that she’d expected Bachar to remain with her throughout the night. He was like any other man she’d ever had in her life. Once they had what they wanted, they left. Sighing deeply, she threw the covers off, shivering slightly. While she’d been warm and toasty under the down filled comforter, the room was chilled. No doubt the temperature was turned down because of Bachar’s higher metabolism. One of the few facts she knew about shifters was that their body temperature ran hotter than most humans.

Her body still tingled in places she didn’t know she had nerve endings from the thorough loving she’d gotten last night. No wonder women were throwing themselves at shifters left and right. Last night’s sex with the lion had been amazing with all capital letters.

She smiled when she saw her clothes were folded neatly by the bed along with her phone. She grabbed Bachar’s shirt from yesterday and pulled it over her head. Looking at the time, she realized it wasn’t that late, still early morning in fact. About the time she usually started her day. She walked to the large bank of windows and took in the frozen landscape. Sometime during the night, it had stopped snowing—but not before dumping at least a foot of snow in the area. The roads appeared to have been plowed and looked passable.

She wrapped her arms around her, a sense of dread settling on her. She bit her lip, not sure what she should do. Bachar had assured her that her brother was safe, but something inside her told her that he wasn’t. Or wouldn’t be. Ever since Nick had been born, she’d gotten these feelings. It was the same feelings that had led her here yesterday. Her baby brother needed her.

Hurrying to the bathroom, she quickly dressed, pulling on the underwear that, thankfully, was fully dried before donning her jeans. She skipped her bra, not wanting to take off Bachar’s shirt. She pulled the sweater that had gotten wet last night and was once again dry, on top of it before stuffing the rest of her meager belongings into her backpack.

In five minutes she was stepping off the elevator into the lobby of the hotel. At the front desk was an unfamiliar man. “Hello,” she greeted him. “Is Daniel here?”

She wasn’t sure the other man would help her, but she figured he’d be more willing than this complete stranger. The man looked up, and Sally almost wanted to step back. He reminded her of the hotel clerk in the first hotel she’d stopped at. The one where she’d met Bachar.

“No, he isn’t.” He continued to look at her as if she were wasting his time.

Sally cleared her throat knowing what she was about to do wasn’t wise. “I need a car, please. A four-wheel drive vehicle.” Even if Bachar had allowed her to drive her rental car up the mountain, she was doubtful it could have navigated the road’s current condition.

The man’s lip curled up into a sneer. “And why would I give you a car?”

“Because Bachar—”

At the sound of the alpha’s name, the man seemed to snap to attention—but not in a good way. His eyes narrowed as they raked up and down her frame and she instantly regretted not buttoning up her coat to hide her breasts from his intrusive gaze.

“So, you’re the woman who spent the night with him?” Sally didn’t think there could be any more derogatory inflection in the man’s voice. She realized that the man probably wasn’t a shifter because she knew if any other shifter had heard him, they would have taken him out. One thing she’d learned in her few dealings with shifters was that insubordination and disrespect were not tolerated—especially to an alpha.

She chose to ignore his question. She didn’t think claiming any sort of status with Bachar at the moment would do her any favors. “I was wondering if you could tell me where I might find the Richardson Pack.” Bachar hadn’t shared much information about her brother last night after they had, um, gotten to know each other better, but he had eventually told her the name of the wolf pack that had found him. She felt a little shimmer of guilt at what she was doing, but he hadn’t made her promise not to go find her brother. And, Nick was with a wolf pack. It wasn’t as though she were going to traipse up the mountain, heading in an unknown direction.

If possible, the man’s countenance became even sleazier. “Might have known you’d want to find another one to sleep with.”

“The directions, please?” Sally clenched her hands to keep from slapping the man. She really wished Daniel had been around. Eventually, the man gave her directions which sounded simple enough. Thankfully, it wasn’t snowing again, so, the turn off he described should be easy to find. She put a sliver of steel in her spine and sated again. “I’ll need a vehicle.”

He stared at her a few more moments before moving away. At first, she thought he was going to ignore her request. Then, he was handing her a set of keys. “It’s parked out back.”

She frowned when he didn’t give her any paperwork to complete. “How will I know which one?”

He looked at her as if she were two sandwiches short of a picnic. “Push the damn button.” He motioned to the key fob in her hand.

“Oh. Okay.” Sally blushed, suddenly feeling like an idiot for asking. It had been a legitimate question, though. Who sent someone out to find a car in a parking lot without a little more information?

She failed to see the man reach for his cell phone as she walked out of the hotel.

Bachar tried to suppress a yawn as Tarek drove steadily back down the mountain. As much as it had pained him to leave Sally—leave his mate—he had kept his promise to find her brother as quickly as possible. Because of the storm last night, they hadn’t been able to reach the pack. He’d talked to the alpha by phone and had been assured that the young wolf shifter was safe and sound.

This morning he had called Tarek as soon as he’d awaken—well not as soon as he’d first stirred, he thought with a smile. He had tasted his mate again before leaving the warmth of their bed. She had smelled of him, and his lion had wanted nothing more than to stay and rub itself against her. Even after loving her, her eyes and lips had held a slumberous expression that beckoned him on a level he’d never known existed before.

During those long evening hours, he had stopped fighting his cat, destiny, and fate. Holding her in his arms, he realized he could no more deny her as his mate then he could refuse to take his next breath. She was a part of him. A gift he would cherish the rest of his life.

“Late night?” Tarek asked, his gaze darting to Bachar even as he took the mountain curves at a slightly dangerous speed. Not that Bachar was complaining, he wanted to get back to Sally as quickly as possible.

This morning they had indeed found her brother safe and well cared for. After some discussion with the alpha and elders of the pack, Bachar had agreed to let the boy stay with the wolves. All had agreed it would be the best thing for the young shifter. He had made it very clear that his mate would have access to her brother at any even given time.

Her brother, while remorseful to have left and worried his sister unnecessarily, had shown courage in the face of Bachar’s displeasure. He had, in fact, insisted that he was doing what was best for Sally. His concern for his sister’s safety had been one of the driving factors for him to seek out a wolf pack. He’d been afraid he would hurt her during one of his uncontrolled shifts.

“More like no sleep at all.”

“But you’re not complaining?”