Free Fighting A Lion: BBW Paranormal Lion Shape Shifter Romance (Sleeping Lions - Shifters Prime Book 3) by Harmony Raines Page B

blackberries a little bit further down the hill, so if we collect those … well, we might not like it, but we won’t starve.”
    “I never expected you to turn me to a vegetarian quite so quickly.” That made her smile, and it warmed him more than a fire ever would. “So, how do you know all this?” he asked.
    “My father was into all this foraging stuff.” She went quiet, standing still, and he could tell she was thinking of her past, of her family. A family whom she had not seen for nearly two years.
    “Why don’t we just go there?” he asked.
    “Because I don’t think we can.” She turned to look at him and he knew that he wasn’t going to like what she said. “I’ve been thinking, about Darius.”
    “Not him again.” And the arrogant, petulant side of him wanted to erupt and tell her to stop thinking of another man. Boy, was he jealous.
    And he couldn’t help himself, even though he realised how stupid it sounded. She was his; she would never leave him for someone else. But it got to him, the way she thought about Darius all the time.
    Her voice was firm, with a hint of irritation, when she said, “If you just give me a chance to speak.”
    “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me. But just the thought of you even thinking about another man.”
    “You’ll get over it. Because if you don’t, we will have a miserable life. You don’t own me.” Her voice was defiant, her chin tilted upwards.
    “And there was me thinking that I was a predator and you were the prey. When really, I can see who will wear the pants in this relationship.”
    She laughed. “That is the most sensible thing you’ve said all day. Now, what I was going to say, is that Darius has been hiding his shifter side; at least I think he has, I never saw him shift...” But she was sure. It had been there in his eyes.
    “Go on. Because I’m sure you are right. That has to be what Lance wanted from you.”
    She nodded. “Darius has lived on the human side of the border for years. I mean, a lot of years, and he had a nephew called Kane.” She looked at Kieran, looking for some kind of reaction.
    “Okay, today has obviously made my brain work slower than yours because I don’t see how that matters to us.”
    “How old are you?” she asked.
    “Twenty-two.”
    “Kane was maybe a year or two older than you.” She looked down at the nuts they had collected and then she looked at him, straight in the eyes, making sure he understood exactly what she said next. “He lived his life in secret too. I suspect that Kane was a shifter, that he is a shifter; I never saw him wearing a collar. But I’m positive that is why he came across the border. Something happened to set this whole chain of events in motion.”
    He was beginning to see what she was getting at. “You think that there is some connection? That Darius and Kane kept their secret, for the same reason Philippe told me to keep mine.”
    “Yes.”
    “So this means we’re not going to your herd. You want us to go find this Kane and find out if there is a connection.”
    “I think we have to. I’m not sure if it might be better to go back to where we crossed the border and wait for Frasier.”
    “No, I don’t want to go back there. It’s too dangerous. We still don’t know what is going on. Do you have any idea where this Kane might be?”
    “Yes. It’s to the north. The woman he went with, Amara, her contract was bought by Darius as well. She was a shifter too; she told me her pride was called the Satoma Pride. I think that’s where we should go first. Amara might be there, and if not, they might be able to tell us where she is.”
    He stood still, looking up at the sky, a free sky, and he knew that despite his own reservations, for her sake as well as his, they had to find out about his past and put it to rest. He didn’t want to be with her, to raise a family with her, with the fear of his past always at his shoulder, always affecting his life.
    “Come