The Lion’s Mail Order Menage

Except that was in his dreams, the dreams he had when he was still young enough to wonder if maybe he would find a woman worth the trouble of telling one day.  This wasn’t a dream anymore.  This was him about to utter the words he had never spoken to a single soul.  He wasn’t a religious man but if he had been, he wouldn’t have even said this in confession.

That’s how deep down he had buried the words.  But there was Meena, all wide eyes and worry, and she was looking to him for an answer that would tell her she was safe.  The only way he knew how to do that was to out himself and hope that she did not run screaming in the opposite direction.

“OK, here goes.  I know that lion is Tyler.  I know it for a fact, Meena, because we’re the same thing.”

“You’re…you’re the same?”

“We are.  That’s how our parents met.  They were in the same pride, or pack, and they fled together to New York.  I know that he’s a shifter because I’m a shifter, too.  We’re the same.”

He thought she would run.  He thought she would call him all sorts of names, tell him that he was crazy and she wanted to go back to Moscow, scary Russian mob boss be damned.  He was so ready to hear something like that coming out of her mouth that it took him a minute to comprehend what it was she actually said, which was something unexpected.

“So that’s it, then.”

“That’s what?  Are you OK, Meena?  Do you want to go?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.  I meant that I knew.  Not that you’re a shifter, but I’ve known since I met you that there’s a secret to you, something that goes deep down to the soul of who you are.  I just didn’t know what it was.  I don’t think I ever would have guessed something like this.”

“Does that mean you believe me?”

“It might.  That depends.”

“On what?  Just tell me what you need for this to make sense and I’ll do it.  Anything.”

“Show me.  I want you to show me.”

It was the strangest feeling, to have her respond as calmly as this.  He had expected tears, screams maybe.  He had expected hysterics and what he got was anything but.  Not only was she not afraid anymore, she wanted to see him shift.  He couldn’t imagine doing anything that would make him feel more naked and vulnerable than that.

He had never shifted just for a person to see him do it.  It would be the same as him asking her to take off all her clothes in the middle of the park.  He felt suddenly impossibly shy and he wasn’t sure he could do it, but he also wasn’t sure he could tell her that.  It seemed like the least he could do after all of this dramatic show, especially with her handling it as beautifully as she had.  It was the least he could do, right?  But could he actually do it? 

“Please, Caleb.  I think I need to see it.  To understand.  I want to see your secret come to life.”

“OK, if it’s important to you.  But you may want to take a step back.”

She smiled, looked at him with eyes that were almost free of fear, and lifted her chin defiantly.  She wasn’t going to step back.  She wasn’t going to be afraid of him, regardless of what form he took on.  She was truly a magnificent woman, the likes of which he knew must be exceedingly rare.

Looking at those eyes gave him the courage to do what she was asking him to and when he looked at Tyler, he saw Tyler give his nod of approval as well.  So everyone was on board with this, too, just like they had been game for the idea of a ménage a trois-type of a relationship.  He might as well get on board, too.  He looked down at his feet, feeling ridiculously self-conscious.  He was going to do this.  He was going to do this.

And then, all at once, his mind and his body went completely quiet.  Whatever ancient blood ran through his veins and allowed him to be this combination of lion and man took over and did away with his fears.  He was a predator, after all.  He was meant to be this way and there was nothing here that could hurt him once his shift was complete.

And the shift itself felt like ecstasy, like the high every junkie in the city was chasing.  It was the closest feeling to org*sm he could get that didn’t involve s*x and it was something he hadn’t allowed himself to experience in too long.  He was becoming too domesticated as he grew older, forgetting the thing that truly made him who he was.

But not now.  There was no forgetting now.  He felt his body expanding, his limbs stretching and growing into more sinew and muscle, his nails extending to claws and his teeth growing longer and so sharp that they could easily have pierced bone.  His body grew a layer of soft fur, his hair lengthening to a mane and then, finally, his transformation was complete.

He heard Tyler’s growl of approval behind him and then his friend was moving to sit beside him. There they were, the two lion brothers in the middle of New York City.  What must Meena think of them now?  What sh*tty luck she had, to be sent from the arms of a brutal gangster to the beds of freaks like them.  She must hate her life, must want to be anywhere but here.

“Beautiful.”

He must not have heard that right.  Did she say beautiful?  So she didn’t think they were freaks?  He was so ready for that but looking at her now, she didn’t even seem afraid.  Actually, she looked completely entranced.  She walked slowly towards them both, never breaking eye contact with Caleb.  Even as a lion, he knew that he would always bow down to her, that he would kneel before her if that was what she wanted.

He put his head on his paws and waited for her to reach him, his heart beating absurdly in his chest.  How stupid was it for him to feel afraid of a five foot tall girl when he was a lion?  He could have easily torn her to shreds.  In this lion’s body, he could see more clearly, feel things on a whole different level than a human would, and then there was the superhuman strength.  None of it mattered if Meena didn’t accept this form of his.

And she did.  She came so close to him that all he could smell was her lavender shampoo and he breathed in deeply, letting the scent calm him.  She sat down between him and Tyler, laying her head against his strong shoulder.

“My lions,” she crooned softly, “my beautiful, beautiful lions.”