Free Lion In Wait (A Paranormal Alpha Lion Romance) by Lynn Red Page B

she’d been trying to sleep the whole time, and between the fire and the pouch under her head, was at least as comfortable as she’d been a hundred other times in her life. But until he settled down by her feet, and she felt the slow, even, rise and fall of the side of him that was against her calf, sleep wouldn’t come.
    Once he was there though? No matter how irritated she was at him being a little too much like John Wayne with his feelings, she couldn’t keep from feeling the comfort he emanated, and shrugging her shoulders against the ground, moving her body a little more against Lex’s.
    With her legs crooked around his curled up form, she felt him purr softly, the way he always did when he, too, felt secure and comfortable. Maybe I’m not crazy , she thought. Maybe I do just need to give him a chance to get used to this new skin, this new... reality. It can’t be easy, it can’t be...
    She drifted off as the moon was at its apex, but still low in the sky. The last thing she remembered before drifting off to dream was Lex moving his head, and draping it over the top of her thighs, the way he’d done so many times before, back in the days before she knew.
    Somehow, with that one gesture, that one simple motion, Cass knew that he was trying to let himself trust her. That he was fighting against his fear, even if it wasn’t exactly what she wanted, was good enough for right then.
    *
    “U p!” he urged, with that strange twist in his speech that Lex had when he was in his lion form. “Cass, up, now!”
    In a half-startled, fully confused tangle of clothes, messenger pouch, and her natural grace, Cass flopped over onto her side, grunted when she hit a rock with her elbow, and shook her head wildly from side to side.
    “Up!” he said again. “Quick!”
    Lex was nuzzling her with his head, pushing against her neck to try and urge her off the ground. “Jeez, if you were that hard up,” she said, blowing a tendril of hair out of her face, “all you had to do was ask. Even after last night I wouldn’t be saying no.”
    He paused, furrowed his heavy, lion eyebrows and let out a soft growl. “Reassuring,” he whispered, “but no, that’s not it.”
    “Guh,” Cass flung one of her arms around, and it smacked the ground hard enough to alert Lex. “Hate it when I sleep like that. Arm goes all numb. Shoulder gets sore.”
    She finally got to her feet, blinked her eyes tight a few times, and then stuck her thumbs in them to clear out the sleep. “What time is it? And why did you wake me up like that?”
    “Past dawn, and listen.”
    “Thanks. That’s very good, very specific, why—”
    That’s when she heard it – a distant buzzing sound, far away but with the quiet of the desert morning, she could still make it out clearly. “What is that?”
    “Four cylinder engine. Dune buggy, probably, four wheeler maybe.”
    “I bet you’re fun at parties,” she said, sticking her fists into the small of her back and leaning backward until she heard an audible pop, and groaned in pleasure. “Wait,” she said, freezing still. “That’s not good.”
    Lex snarled, drawing his shoulders into that tight, ready-to-leap posture she’d seen so many times. He raised his huge head, sniffed the air, and cocked it to one side. “Quiet,” he grumbled. “It’s far, but I can make something out. We knew this would happen. I’m just glad...”
    Cass huddled close to the lion. “Knew it, maybe, but I hoped it wouldn’t. One of those pointless wishes that sits around in the back of your head and you know better than to wish for, but... and there I go rambling out of nerves. Can you hear anything?”
    “An engine. Four cylinder,” he said, “dune buggy or—”
    “Yes, good, anything new?”
    He craned his neck, staring intently into the distance. “Two engines,” he said after a moment’s pause. “Though it doesn’t make sense. Why would he be after us with these things?”
    “You said yourself his truck’s