Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

CALVIN

Kiara wasn't the morning type. She got up for work because she had to, but she was never happy about it. Since we were in the mountains for who knew how long, I figured she'd sleep in, but she climbed out of bed just after dawn like usual. I groaned, burying my face in the pillows.

"Where are you going?"

"I haven't gone for a shift in a while. My lioness needs to stretch her legs."

That got me up in a flash. "Can I come?"

She was standing by the bathroom door, looking over her shoulder at me with a frown, but the miles of naked skin and curves were distracting. My mouth went dry and my dick perked up, and I didn't hear what she said until she came closer and beaned me in the head with a pillow.

"Are you even listening?"

"Not even a little bit. We should let your lioness out and then spend the rest of the day in bed. I have a few more tricks I learned on the internet I want to try, and–"

I ducked when she swung the pillow again, grinning wildly as I picked up my own. She was faster than me, but I got a few hits in before she snatched my weapon away and pinned me to the bed. She might've won the battle, but with a naked goddess on top of me, I definitely won the war.

"I'm going for a shift. You're staying here. I don't want you wandering around right now. I need to meet with Aiden first and see just how locked down you need to be. You should be safe out here, but I'm not playing games with your safety."

I couldn't help but pout. I wanted to see her animal. It was still surreal that people could turn into animals, and it wasn't every day you could say you've been in the same room as a lioness. I wanted to know if she'd let me pet her.

"No."

"No, what?" I asked with a frown, sitting up when she climbed off me.

"No, you can't pet me."

My mouth fell open. "Holy shit. Are you a mind reader too? Is that like a shifter thing?"

She rolled her eyes, a grin pulling at her lips. "No, doofus. It's written all over your face. I'm not a pet cat."

"Oh, come on! You're seriously going to tell me you can turn into a lioness and you won't even let me see? I'm dying of curiosity here, gorgeous. Please?"

She crossed her arms, glaring at me, so I switched tactics, giving her my best puppy dog eyes.

"I promise I'll stay inside the compound and won't complain once if you let me see."

With an irritated scowl, she threw up her hands. "Fine. But get dressed first. I don't want you outside, so you'll have to open the doors for me. Shifting twice in a few minutes hurts like a bitch."

"Seriously?" I scrambled out of bed, grabbing the pajamas I wore for maybe five minutes the night before. I snatched my glasses off the nightstand, and I kept my shoes off so she knew I was serious about not leaving. I wasn't in any hurry to run into that asshole again any time soon.

Once she was satisfied I was ready, she closed her eyes and let her animal out. It was pretty fast, but a little unnerving. There were several pops, like bones breaking, and a blast of energy that brushed over my skin. Then I blinked and there was a lioness standing a few feet in front of me.

I got the feeling that Kiara wasn't fully in control when the she-cat started stalking toward me. My eyebrows went up, and I lifted my hands in surrender, but that didn't stop her from pouncing on me. Luckily, I was still close enough to the bed that I had a soft landing, but she was heavy and I still let out an " oomph ."

A noise that was like a cross between a low growl and a purr filled the room, and when I opened my eyes, I was face to face with an actual lioness. A huge grin spread across my face, and she didn't do more than grumble in discontent when I reached up and ran my hands through her fur.

"You're really selling the goddess idea, gorgeous. I bet some religions way back when were dedicated to someone like you. I'd worship you without question."

That got me a lick from my chin to my hair, which was a little gross. It also wasn't pleasant. Her tongue felt like sandpaper. I pushed her away with a laugh, and she went willingly. I doubted I could actually get her off me if she wasn't in the mood to move. When she hopped off the bed, I followed her out of the bedroom. I couldn't help running my hand down her back. She got me back for petting her by swatting me with a paw on my ass. I yelped and jumped out of the way with a laugh.

"Alright, alright! Not a house cat! I get it!"

I danced out of the way when she swiped again, opening the door to the hallway for her. I walked backwards towards the main areas of the house, pointing a finger at her.

"Don't even think about pouncing again. On the concrete floor, you'll break me."

Have you ever seen a lioness roll her eyes? Yeah, neither had I. It was hilarious, and I had to smother a laugh at a wild animal looking annoyed. I wasn't sure who was awake, and I didn't want to be rude by laughing my ass off while people were still asleep.

After opening the front door for her, I hesitated, staring warily at the open field right out front. Big enough for a dragon to land with plenty of room. My eyes darted to the sky, clear blue and not a cloud in sight, but I was still waiting for the dragon to come out of nowhere and kill me.

"Are you sure you should be going out alone? What if he shows up? I mean, he got close to you too, right? He could know your scent or whatever."

She didn't roll her eyes again. She bumped her head against my hip, that purring sound getting louder.

"She's reassuring you," a voice said behind us. When I looked over my shoulder, a man about my height gave me a faint smile. "We're safe out here. The trees are really close together. Aiden has to land in specific spots, or he'd level the forest and end up trapped somewhere. She'll be alright."

Looking back down at Kiara, she tipped her head towards the guy like she was saying listen to him before sauntering out the door. I watched her go with a frown, and once she slipped between the trees, I looked over my shoulder at the guy.

"Should I leave this open, or…?"

He shook his head. "We usually shift back before we go inside. Not many of us shift in the house at all. It feels too confining."

I winced. I hadn't realized I was asking her to do something uncomfortable. "That was my fault. I was curious. Damn. I should've thought of that."

He chuckled, coming closer to offer me a hand. "I'm Christian. I'm Aiden and Andrew's assistant. I live on the other side of the compound opposite your and Kiara's room with my mate, Jack."

Shaking his hand, I plucked at my clothes. "So your mate is the one whose clothes I'm wearing? My bad."

He led the way into the kitchen, talking to me over his shoulder. "It's fine. I'll be heading into town today to pick up some stuff for you, so if you could leave me a list of your sizes and anything you'd prefer, it'd help a lot."

"Small, 30/32, and nerd stuff mostly. If it has a video game or movie franchise on it, I'll probably like it. But don't stress about it. A pack of plain t-shirts is fine, too. Oh, and some exercise shorts would be nice. I like the way Kiara looks at me when I'm working out." I couldn't help but grin. I was winning her over, and after last night, I was pretty sure she felt the same way about me that I did about her. I was definitely hoping for a repeat, and if exercising got me what I wanted, all the better.

Christian didn't seem bothered by my comment, making a note on his phone of what I said before looking back at me.

"Thanks. It's a pain in the ass when I have to coax information out of people to do my job. It's literally what I'm paid for and they act like they're putting me out."

Someone snorted, and we were joined by the dragon shifter and someone I didn't recognize, who looked like they were fighting back a laugh.

"Are you talking about me or Aiden?"

Christian gave him a flat look. "Both of you. At least he doesn't make my job difficult," he complained, gesturing toward me.

I put my hands up in surrender. "Hey, I need all the help I can get right now. I'm not looking to test my luck wandering around with an actual dragon after me."

Aiden's eyebrows drew together as he studied me. "Yes, I'd like to hear more about that. Kiara couldn't tell me much before I had to come get the two of you. Why is Jasper after you?"

I grimaced, wrinkling my nose. "I may have sort of, maybe, hit him in the face with an action figure."

Several jaws dropped, and all eyes were on me.

"In my defense, he had a gun to my head and was trying to drag me out of the store. I thought I was going to die either way, so I figured I'd take a shot at getting away."

The blonde man, who introduced himself as Andrew, shook his head solemnly. "Well, that probably wasn't a smart idea, but I still don't see why he would hunt you for it. And Kiara said he was already arrested not long before?"

I shrugged. She didn't get into the details about the case with me before. Now I understood why. She didn't want me figuring out about shifters when I wasn't a part of all this. Now that I knew, she might be more willing to share. We'd have to wait until she got back to know more.