The Lion’s Forbidden Mate

Downstairs, she could hear her entire family getting ready. Not just Mark and Leslie, but her mother and father as well. But the list didn’t even end there. Her grandparents were here and so were her aunts and uncles who had come with all of her cousins. Each and every one of them was excited that Lucy was off today and that she was setting out on the grand adventure to find a husband and hopefully have a chance at bringing home the greatest addition to the pack that they had ever experienced.

It was no small feat that she was leaving town. Klinesdale was a small little town in the Montana frontier and wilderness that believed in strong, wholesome values, the independence that the wilderness left them. She had a good life with them and they had raised her the best they thought was possible. There was no way that she was ever going to be able to hold anything against her parents. Sure, they were marrying her off to someone today, tomorrow, or sometime in the future, but that was her pulling her weight with the world of her family and of her people. She didn’t hold that against them. She was going to have to get married one day and she knew that she was going to have marry a Shifter. It just made sense to her that she would do the best for her family. Besides, it’s not like they picked out the person for her. That was insane.

She grabbed her purse and headed down the stairs to the living room where they were all waiting for her. She hugged them one by one and Lucy listened to all the strange and bizarre advice they gave her. Some of them were a little more encouraging about things that they probably shouldn’t have been. It made her blush, but the moment she made it to the car outside where her parents were going to take her to the airport in Billings, she knew she was going to miss all of them. She’d only been back from college for a little while, but she had already gotten used to all the same faces that she’d grown up with.

But, today was a new day and there was an adventure out there waiting for her. Tonight, she was going to be in New York City and she was going to be starting the crazy and exciting life that was destined for her. She felt all the nerves and all the excitement inside of her piling up, making her feel like she was a freshman in college all over again. She had friends all across the country and she knew she’d be able to see a lot of them again with this job, but as she eventually stood in the vast corridor of the airport, about to go through security, she felt so scared.

“We love you, Lucy Bear,” her father said, hugging her tightly and kissing her on the forehead. She felt his familiar tick on her skin as his mustache brushed her skin. She smiled and hugged him tight. She didn’t like that she would miss six months with them.

“I’ll call you when I get there,” Lucy said as she hugged her mother who wasn’t crying, but she was awfully close to it right now.

“We love you, sweetheart,” her mother said. “Take care of yourself and don’t do anything you’re scared of doing. We know we’re asking a lot of you, but you’re still our daughter first and foremost. You take care of yourself and make sure you’re making smart decisions.”

“I will,” Lucy promised them.

As she turned and headed toward the security checkpoints, she felt terrified, but she knew she was about to embark on a grand adventure and, if she was lucky, she would end up getting a chance of finding the man that she was going to spend the rest of her life with.

* * *

New York City was more terrifying to her in person than she had ever anticipated before. The moment she could look out the window and see the glistening lights of a million different buildings and a trillion different bulbs, all glistening, blinking, and shining like diamonds in the darkness, she knew that she was the luckiest girl in the world. There was nothing more exciting than being young and visiting the grand city of New York. She wondered what it was going to be like here. They were only going to spend a few days here before they set out on the tour, but she wanted to explore and she wanted to see everything that the city had to offer. What was it like here? What was the food like? She could only imagine the art galleries that she could visit. She gripped her own sketchpad close and she exhaled with excitement.

The moment she hit the ground, she felt like she was in another country and JFK was officially the most terrifying experience that she’d ever had. It was like she’d been kicked off in some unknown world and she was expected to find her way easily. She took baby steps and tried to keep her head as she tried her hardest not to freak out and have a massive panic attack right in the middle of the airport. The terminal was bustling and flowing like a river of a massive network of people, all of them completely aware of what they needed to do, except for her. She felt like a fish out of water and considered walking right back down the terminal and straight back onto the plane so she could return to Montana where she belonged.

But, as she got her luggage, she called her parents and told them that she was safe and she put on the bravest face she had and she wouldn’t let them know how terrified and scared she truly was. No, she was going to be the brave explorer they had sent out to find a husband and she wasn’t going to let them see her down. She knew that somewhere in this airport, there was someone who was going to help her and she was determined to find them. So, when she hung up on her father and mother, she took a deep breath, pushed away her nerves and told herself that she was going to be the brave girl they all knew and that they all needed her to be.

The person she was supposed to contact, and be working as an assistant for, was named Lynn Lincoln. She was the head of the tour for a band of Shifters known as “The Pride.” They were one of the most famous Shifter bands in the world and they were rather exclusive and mysterious. Honestly, Lucy had never heard of them before and when she was told that she was being sent to work with them, she wasn’t excited at all for the musical aspect of the group, since she was much more into the folk scene than the pop scene, but either way, it was the experience of a lifetime. So she sent Lynn a text telling her that she was here and waited for her instructions as to what to do next.

JFK was the kind of airport that felt like it was a world in and of itself. It was like there was an entire civilization built around the small shops and the restaurants that were built all around the walkways and the passages that led to the hundreds of different terminals and boarding areas. When she got the text telling her that one of her future coworkers was there to pick her up, she headed toward the direction of where he was supposed to be. His name was Justin Powers and that was the extent of everything that she knew about him.