The Lion’s Forbidden Mate

As she stood in the kitchen, she pulled a spoon out of the drawer and looked at the clock. She was going to need to make dinner soon. The hardest part of living alone was sticking to a healthy routine. As she pulled her ice cream carton of choice out of the freezer, she heard a distinct sound beyond the walls of her house. Placing the Ben & Jerry’s on the counter, she turned and looked out the kitchen window and saw a truck coming across the snow toward her. There was a fence that led the way up to the cabin for people to follow when the snow got this thick. She tried to remember if she had an appointment today, but she couldn’t remember having one scheduled.

Besides, she didn’t recognize the truck. As it was coming across the thick snow, she tried to think if there was anyone in the pack who might be coming out to visit her or to check on her. Her heart began to pound faster and faster. There was a kind of terror inside of her that came from the paranoia seeping through her. She had punched Violet White in the face and broken it, and she was waiting for consequences. Her isolation had only made her more paranoid, more alert to the possibility of getting attacked by Violet’s lackey brothers.

When the truck kept coming and she didn’t recognize it or think that she might know who it belonged to, she walked back into the living room and grabbed her grandfather’s shotgun off the wall where it had been waiting for a moment just like this. She’d practiced with it during the autumn, becoming a pretty good shot in case there was ever a moment she was going to need it. There was no way she was going down without a proper fight. She gripped it in her hands and headed for the door.

She kicked open the door and stepped out onto the porch, feeling the cold air swirl around her, but it didn’t register. She was still hot. She didn’t like the idea of firing a shotgun this far along in the pregnancy, but she was willing to do whatever it took to defend her child. When the truck came to a stop, she raised it and pointed it at the driver’s windshield.

“That’s far enough,” she shouted as the engine died. “Come on out real slowly.”

The door was kicked open to the truck and she watched as a pair of gloved hands stuck out over the top of the door and the driver dropped down into the snow, taking a few clumsy and awkward steps back before shutting the door. The man who was driving the truck was completely bundled up for the weather and she was certain that she didn’t recognize him as he pulled down his scarf and took off his sunglasses.

At least, she didn’t recognize him until the moment that she did.

For the life of her, she had no hope that she would ever see James again, but when she saw him in front of her, there was a disturbing calm deep inside of her. Everything was restrained, quietly waiting for her mind to kick into gear and to process what she was seeing right now. This was wrong. She shouldn’t be looking at James. He should be long gone and away from here. He was supposed to be with the band and they were supposed to be in New York City. He was supposed to be with his wife.

“Hi, Lucy,” he said, taking a step forward with his hands still up in the air.

She still had her shotgun on him and she blinked a few times. God, she had missed that face, that warm, soothing voice, but this was all wrong. She wasn’t supposed to be in contact with him. He wasn’t supposed to be here either. What was Violet going to do when she found out that James was gone to visit his mistress and his bas*ard child? He had just put them in danger.

“What are you doing here?” she asked him, lowering her shotgun after he stopped approaching her.

“I came looking for you,” he said to her, staring at the wilderness all around the hill and the towering mountains behind her cabin. “It took me quite a while.”

“How did you find me?” she wondered, completely blown away by all of this.

“I bought one of your pictures,” he said with a grin. “It was a picture of a mountain with a storm blowing over it. I had no idea that you could paint.”

“I didn’t either,” Lucy said as he took another step toward her.

She shook her head as he walked toward her. This was wrong and she knew it. It was very wrong. It was dangerous for him to be here and for him to be acting so nonchalantly about it. He needed to protect her and their child. He needed to protect his people, but as he strolled up to her and placed his lips on hers, she couldn’t help but feel the familiar ignition of power and hope inside of her. She didn’t know why he was here, but she didn’t want him to leave. She didn’t want this moment to ever end. She wanted to keep him in her arms forever.

As they kissed, she couldn’t help but picture a world where she was given the chance to have him, their child, and to be as happy as she could possibly be. That was the dream. That was the hope inside of her that she knew she would never have. This had to be a dream somehow. This had to all be inside of her head. If she was going insane, she just hoped her child was delivered safely and that she could stay like this forever. She was completely fine with him kissing her.

As she pulled away, she looked at him and smiled. “Aren’t you worried about the war? What about all the troubles that this is going to cause?” she asked him, shaking her head.

No, her mind was starting to kick into gear again and she understood that this was definitely wrong. There was nothing okay or right about this. He was putting the lives of so many people on the line and they were going to suffer because of his actions.