13. Leonard

Leonard

She was considering it. He could see the thoughts tumbling through her mind as Charlotte worked through all the possible permutations of what he’d said, what he meant, and what the possible outcomes were. He fucking loved that brain of hers, always looking ahead, even if she was a little off balance right now.

“Mr President?” Wilson said from the doorway.

Fuck. Not now. Not right fucking now! She was almost there, he knew it. Her scent had started to change from one of fear and shame to interest. She was open to the idea of them pursuing more. Why she couldn’t feel the steady demand of her beast to drag him into the first enclosed space they could find and shag themselves until their bond was complete, he wasn’t sure, but his own lion was driving him mental.

Over a year since she’d had sex? He couldn’t think of anything else. His cock had been hard as a rock ever since she’d uttered it, and he’d barely been able to function mentally since.

Mate, mate, mate, his lion chanted, urging him to take matters into his own hands and pull her into his arms. She’d melt into them, submitting freely to their dominance, and they’d reward her with the dicking of a lifetime. Then, and only then, once she’d had so many orgasms she was limp and listless, would they claim her for all time. She was theirs, and nothing was going to take her away.

Except drama, it seemed.

“What?” he practically snarled, not turning to face the man.

“The news outlets— You need to see this. You both need to see this.”

“Fuck,” Charlotte whispered, her face going pale.

Yes, that’s what he wanted to do, only now her mind was elsewhere, her scent changing once again to that of fear. He couldn’t mate her when she was afraid, not until she was safe and happy. He had to do whatever he could to protect her, then she’d finally see he was suitable, a good and caring provider for her and their future young. The thought of tawny little owls flapping around this monstrosity of a building filled him with a joy he’d never thought to experience. His cock once again throbbed with his pulse, the need to fuck her, claim her, and breed her.

Yet she was turning away from them. Why?

That was when he saw Wilson standing hesitantly in the doorway, the man’s eyes widening before he dropped his head in submission. Which was when Leonard realised he was growling at the man.

“Mine,” he snarled.

“Yes, sir, Mr President. Yours. She’s all yours,” the trembling man replied.

Charlotte rounded on him. “Snap out of it, Leonard. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but we’re in the middle of a fucking crisis, and I’ve already fucked up once. We need to see what this is and start damage control.”

When she turned her back on him and walked angrily away, pain speared through his heart. She was rejecting him? No, fate couldn’t be that cruel. To finally reveal his fated mate to him, only for her to not only not recognise the call, but to turn him down flat?

A stinging sensation on his cheek brought his head snapping up, an angry growl on his lips, only for it all to die when he saw the amber eyes in front of him. Those eyes belonging to his mate.

“I don’t know what’s going on, Leonard,” she said quietly. “My owl is going insane, but whatever is up with our beasts, we need to set it aside for now. People are relying on us, and I have no intention of letting them down. Hormone haze be damned. Are you going to help me, or not?”

Hormone haze? Was that what this was? Fuck. He couldn’t think straight, not past the need pulsing in his veins.

“Wilson,” he rumbled.

“Sir?” the man positively squeaked.

“Get my doctor up here with a suitable treatment for my apparent hormone haze. Tell him to move slowly or my lion will take him out. It appears I’ve found my fated mate, but that’s going to have to wait until we deal with this.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You,” they heard Wilson snap as the door closed behind him. “Go to the clinic, fetch Dr Watson, tell him it’s the same thing as yesterday, but a male this time. He’ll understand. Make sure he understands to tread lightly and move slowly.”

“Yes, sir,” someone replied, almost in a parody of Wilson’s previous response.

“You,” Wilson said, singling someone else out. “Guard this door. Let nobody in or out other than the good doctor. President’s orders.”

“He didn’t order that,” the man said, and Leonard recognised Zeke’s voice, the guard who had shown an interest in his mate. His lion rumbled angrily.

“No, he didn’t,” Wilson agreed. “However, I’m quite sure he can hear us, and he’s not protesting. Besides, if he was thinking straight right now, he would have done it anyway. He’s not in immediate danger, but you will be if you go in there to confirm.”

“I need to know he’s alright,” Zeke responded. “You’re telling everyone to stay out, but sending for a doctor. You have to admit, that’s going to raise a few flags with anyone.”

“He’s fine,” Charlotte called out. “A little lost to the world right now, but not in a bad way.”

“Charlotte, is that you?” Zeke asked.

He could no more have stopped his response than he could a tidal-wave. Grabbing Charlotte by the arm, he pulled her behind him, the roar erupting from his throat likely heard throughout the entire building. “She is mine, ” he reiterated for all.

“Oh fuck,” Zeke muttered.

“I tried to warn you,” Wilson replied.

“Knock it off, Leonard,” Charlotte told him, as she struggled to get out of his grasp. “I’m just going to turn on the t.v. We might as well see what the fuss is about, while we’re waiting for Dr Watson.”

As much as it pained him to do so, he let her go. His mate had asked for something, and he would provide it — just as long as she didn’t leave the room.

Charlotte snickered, looking over her shoulder at him, and his heart beat a little faster. “Is that really his name? Dr Watson? Like in Sherlock Holmes?”

Despite his beast’s agitation, Leonard found his lips curling in an answering smile as he nodded. “We give him absolute hell over it too. People kept putting up cardboard signs outside his room saying 221B Baker Street , but he kept pulling them down.”

“Oh no!” she giggled. “That poor man.”

Fuck, that sound. He wanted to hear it again and again. This time his smile was even broader. “I couldn’t have all that paper wasted, so I had a brass plaque engraved, you know, the type they have out the front of clinics?”

She nodded, biting her lip, making him want to do the same. His cock twitched.

“It has his name and credentials alright, but underneath the clinic title and address.”

“What did you do?” she gasped, her eyes wide with delight.

“It says, Baker Street Clinic, 221B Baker Street. Dr Watson, and then all those letters after his name. I had the maintenance crew attach it to the wall with superglue, so you’d have to take half the wall out if you wanted to pull it down. It gets polished every week, and shines just as brightly now as the day it did when it was erected.”

Her gaze flickered then, just for a second as he finished speaking — down to his crotch and then back up again. Erected. Erection. Yes, he could follow her thought process. When she licked her lips, he groaned and took a step toward her.

“Stop,” she commanded, holding up a hand to emphasise it. “You know we can’t deal with this right now.”

Slowly she crouched, careful not to just bend over in front of him, and picked up the remote. As the large flat-screen on the wall came to life, all the blood drained from her face. This was bad. This was oh so very bad, and he knew she was going to have difficulty with this moment for the rest of her life, because there in large bold letters scrolling across the screen was the worst kind of headline for anyone in public office.

Presidential aid caught in sex scandal - secret miscarriage likely cause of shifter overreaction to death in custody.

As the sound started to come through, it only got worse. Pundits from groups known to be openly anti-shifter, were talking about how hormone hazes could affect the thinking of those afflicted with the ability to change forms. That the loss of their unborn child was making them hypersensitive to everything around them, clearly demonstrated by the hysterical nonsense at the joint press conference earlier.

While the channel was one of the less reputable media outlets, it was avidly followed by those with a low IQ and very loud, opinionated mouths. There was no avoiding this, they would have to address the matter, all while two families were quietly grieving the loss of their own children. This was a disaster on a huge scale, and suddenly he found his erection gone. The need to comfort his mate who had sunk to her knees, her breathing ragged, overwhelming everything else.

Which of course, was when a hesitant knock came at the door.

“Mr President?” Dr Wilson called through the closed aperture. “You sent for me. May I come in?”

The deferential and submissive approach was exactly the right one, setting his lion at ease. Mark Watson was someone they knew and trusted. One day, he would tend to their mate and young, but until Leonard had claimed her, the man was getting nowhere near his mate.

“Come,” he ordered.

Rather than going to comfort Charlotte as his beast was demanding, Leonard moved closer to the door, putting himself firmly between the intruder and his mate.

“Oh my!” Dr Watson declared. “You are in a state, aren’t you?”

“What do you mean?” Leonard snapped.

“Your mane is down to your shoulders, your pupils are so wide, I can’t even see a band of gold around the iris, and your fangs are starting to show.

Yes, he could feel them emerging as the strange male entered their domain. It might be the large conference room in The Seat, but his mate was behind him, and he hadn’t claimed her. Right then, it was his den.

Hesitantly, Leonard reached up to feel his hair, finding only thick, coarse fur at his touch, shaggy and long, it did indeed reach his shoulders. When was the last time he’d lost control of his shift like this?

Looking down again, Dr Watson took another step forward, but it was more than his beast could stand, a low growl rumbling through his chest.

“I thought that might happen,” Dr Watson said with a sigh. “So I came prepared.”

Prepared with what? The thought was quickly answered when the good doctor drew his hand out from behind his back, a large gun in its grip.

“This will hurt, but only for a few seconds,” he said, even as he squeezed the trigger.

Leonard’s lion erupted, his shift ripping through him, shredding his clothes, and revealing his lion in all its glory. Pain seared his shoulder as he prepared to leap at the doctor, followed quickly by a lassitude that swept through him until he staggered. Falling to a heap on the floor, he could only watch in a dazed stupor as the doctor looked past him to his mate.

“Are you alright, Ms Bailey?” Dr Watson asked her, a frown on his face. Despite his calm demeanour, his hand trembled, and the smell of urine accompanied an expanding dark patch at the front of his pants.

Unable to even lift his head, Leonard could only listen for her response.

“I’m fine,” she whispered, shock clear in her voice. “He would never hurt me, I’m his mate.”

Triumph seared through his veins at her acknowledgement. She felt it! She knew it! She also wasn’t denying him!

“Well, he says he is,” she qualified. “My owl is certainly agitated, but I’m sure it’s just the stress. That’s what this probably is too. That little girl was a cat. He has to be relating to that on such a deep level. Of course his beast is wanting to expand the population again, but I don’t think I’m the right candidate. Anyway, that’s a whole other matter. You just got rushed by a full-grown lion. I don’t think I’d be conscious right now. Are you alright?”

How could she stand there and talk calmly with the man who’d shot him? How could she care more about the doctor’s wellbeing than Leonard’s own. Nevermind the fact she didn’t believe he was her mate after all. There was no doubt in his mind, so why was there any in hers?

“Well, I have to admit, I think I aged a decade or so there,” the doctor said with a nervous chuckle. “But he hasn’t shifted back, which means I might need to give him a second dose. I’m just waiting to see if he’s safe enough for me to approach, or if I’ll have to dart him again.”

“I could give it to him if you want?” Charlotte replied. “He believes I’m his mate, so he won’t harm me.”

Dart? Dose? Was that why his head was so fuzzy? He wasn’t dying from blood loss, he was simply drugged? Incapacitated, while some strange male interacted with his mate! His mind was barely coherent enough to process anything, but the next sentence made him want to tear the man’s throat out.

“I’m sure that is the case, however, it would require you to approach me, or vice versa, for me to give you the syringe?—”

Leonard’s snarl interrupted them, loud and rumbling, it made conversation almost impossible.

“Hush, Leonard. He’s trying to help,” Charlotte chided.

His beast didn’t care what the man was doing, but the sound quietened some, because his mate had asked it of them.

“What about if you put it on the coffee table there, then walk back to the door. I could come and get it, and administer the dose?”

“Yes!” Dr Watson exclaimed, making his lion growl again. “Yes, that would work. Very clever. I’ve heard you’re bright. Alright then, let me draw it up, and then I’ll put it here for you.”

The doctor withdrew to a table just behind him, the movement making his lion restless, but satisfied the man was further away from his mate. Quickly and efficiently, Dr Watson prepared a syringe, drawing from not one, but three different bottles, gently inverting the resultant mixture a few times, before changing the tip of the needle to a more fine one.

“This dose is less sedative, and more a counter to the hormone surge he’s experiencing. One to inhibit the mating urge, another to chelate the excess hormones, and the third is a calming agent which will help with his instincts. It will make him a little fuzzy, but allow him to function at an executive level.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Charlotte said, as the man backed away and she approached the table. In order to do so, she had to walk right past him, and he felt his paws twitch with the urge to reach out and pull her to their side.

Dr Watson swallowed hard. “Sooner rather than later, Ms Bailey, he’s already shrugging off the first dose faster than I’d like. It’s been a while since I examined him in his shifted form, something I will remedy when things are calmer. It seems his beast has put on a bit of weight.”

Leonard’s heart thumped at the comment. His doctor thought he was fat? Was that why Charlotte wouldn’t accept him? Her next words, however, stopped that thought in its tracks.

“Really? I think he looks perfect. I’ve never seen him shifted, but he’s a magnificent beast,” she commented casually, even as she rubbed his shoulder, looking for the best injection site.

“Oh, I didn’t mean he was overweight,” Dr Watson said quickly. “He’s just finally come into his own. He’s always been a bit lean and rangy, but now you can see the magnificence of his form in perfect health. It just means that my dosage calculation based on his last recorded weight was a little low.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

There was a sting in his shoulder, and his lion whimpered, but didn’t move as his mate tended to him. The feel of her hands smoothing across his fur was the most heady sensation, second only to how she would feel sheathing his cock in his human form. Pleased with that idea, his beast began to purr.

“Aww,” Charlotte murmured. “I’m glad shifting beasts are the exception to the rule. I think it would be tragic to have a lion form and not be able to purr. It’s not fair that only the small cats have the ability in the wild. I’d love to hear all the large cats rumble in contentment like this.”

The purr stopped. She wanted to listen to other men purr?

“You mean wild ones, right?” the doctor thankfully clarified. “Not shifters, but wild big cats.”

“Oh goodness, yes,” Charlotte agreed. “Not other shifters, ick, no. It’s a very comforting sound, I could only imagine how nice it would be to snuggle up against him.”

The doctor chuckled. “In other circumstances, I’d suggest you do so now, but we really need him to shift back. I fear any sign of affection from you right now would undo the drugs you just gave him.”

“Really? He’ll be that sensitive?”

No! He couldn’t allow this to happen. With his brain starting to come back online, he could already see where she was going with this. She would refrain from touching him at all, the fear he would revert and turn into his beast form again prevailing over all common sense.

The shift back to his human form happened as quickly as the one to his beast. The flow of his muscle and bone from one shape to another seamless and smooth. Something he was inordinately proud of. Leonard and his lion had worked hard to achieve that, building muscle and their relationship, until they were almost one, no matter what form they took. Right now, they needed the human shape, the one with the mouth parts to speak for them both.

“No,” he protested, as soon as his mouth was capable of speech. “The drugs are helping, I’ll be fine. How long will they last?”

Dr Watson sighed. “Probably twelve hours at best. I’ll have to double check the half-life, and the dosages I’ve just given you against your estimated weight?—”

Leonard wanted to cringe at the reprimanding look the doctor gave him. While he’d had his annual physical examination in human form, he had put off having one in his shifted form for far too long, not seeing the importance when he only shifted under controlled conditions. Clearly that was no longer the case. The thought he could have killed the man made him so ashamed, his scalp stung as the last of his made retracted in haste.

“I’m sorry, deeply sorry,” he apologised. “In my arrogance and impatience, I failed to consider the possibility of my being a threat to others.”

“Forgiven, old friend,” the doctor replied. “I need to check your mate, are you going to be alright with that?”

He nodded, sitting up slowly — the drugs indeed were making him a little fuzzy. Yet when he turned to see why Charlotte wasn’t protesting their talking around her, his thoughts clarified instantly.

Ignoring their conversation entirely, her gaze was fixed on him, more specifically his lap. His very naked lap, where the crowning glory of his cock stood very erect and very ready to fill her. Even as he followed her gaze, he saw a bead of pre-cum slowly gathering at the tip, and it thrilled him no end when he looked up in time to see his mate licking her lips in anticipation.

“Wilson,” Dr Watson called, interrupting the tableau. “Don’t come in, but I’m going to need a replacement change of clothes for the president, and myself. We’ll also need enough descenter to flood a swimming pool.”

There was a snicker on the other side of the door, but the aide simply made some comment about being on it, before Leonard heard the man’s steps retreating.

“Charlotte?” Dr Watson said next. “Can you hear me?”

“Mm?”

“Charlotte? I want you to look at me,” he said next.

Leonard’s gaze snapped to him, watching him for a sign of trying to separate them, but instead of looking at Charlotte, the doctor was watching him.

“Good,” he said, nodding in approval. “I’m not going to take your mate, Leonard, but I do need to take care of her in a way you are unable to. You want your mate to get the help she needs, right?”

“Yes,” he rumbled, unhappy he didn’t have the medical expertise to care for Charlotte. Then again, if she was in a hormone haze as well, he wasn’t sure he wanted her to emerge from it. At least not until he’d speared her on his cock and sunk his teeth into her shoulder. Once she was marked as his, and she had returned the favour and marked him as hers — as if he could ever be anything else now — and once they had fucked their hearts out, then they could return to a semblance of normalcy.

“Charlotte, I need to examine your eyes,” the doctor told his mate calmly.

“Alright,” she said placidly, still staring at his cock.

Her fixed attention made the damn thing twitch, and he could feel a streak of cold as the moisture beading there began to drip down his length, the air cooling it against his sensitive skin. His lips curled in a smirk as her heart rate and breathing began to increase.

“Charlotte!” the doctor snapped, making her jump.

Leonard growled, but made no move to harm the man, because when he looked at him, all he could see was the concern on the man’s face for his mate.

“I’m sorry, what?” Charlotte replied, finally snapping out of her daze.

He was rather proud that the sight of his cock had a somewhat hypnotic effect on her, like he’d waved a magic wand. His beast rumbled in satisfaction. Their cock was a magic wand. He couldn’t wait to share the observation with her when they were in private. He was sure she’d laugh, and then he'd be forced to show just how magical he could make it for her. The anticipation began to build, but he managed to wrest control back from his beast.

Not now. Not yet. First they had to care for their mate, and then they had to deal with this threat against her.

Threat. That was the magic word. Instantly his cock began to deflate, even as his thoughts clarified, the world coming into a sharpness he normally associated with hunting in his beast form. That alone told him it was on board with setting aside their mating in order to protect her. At least for now.

“How much do you weigh, Charlotte?” Doctor Watson was asking her.

After a pause to think about it, she told him. Caught in his own thoughts, Leonard had missed most of the examination, pleased that his beast now trusted the man enough to settle down and let him get on with his job.

Charlotte gave him a figure that confirmed just how light she had felt in his arms earlier, and he watched the doctor frown.

“I’m going to need you to come into the clinic for a full physical when everything is more settled,” Dr Watson said. “While not drastic, that number is a little lower than I would like off the top of my head. I’d like to get an accurate picture of your height and weight to update my records, and then we’ll have a closer look at your diet to ensure you’re both getting the protein you need. I noticed in your interview you mentioned passing out. In light of that, I’m going to be liaising with your assistant to ensure that doesn’t happen again, especially with all the issues surrounding you at the moment.”

His mate snorted. “The last thing we need is me fainting during a press conference and fanning the flames of that idiotic rumour that I’m pregnant. I mean, what kind of moron says, “Oh, she hasn’t had sex in over a year, but she’s pregnant?” Like the baby wouldn’t have been born by now?”

“Indeed,” the doctor replied, his scorn clear in his voice. “While shifter pregnancies are longer than human ones, it’s a matter of a handful of days to a few weeks. They’re still well under a year in duration.”

“Right?” Charlotte asked, miffed. “David is a fucking moron at the best of times, but he really didn’t think all of this through at all. I mean, if he was going to come after me, at least he could have put some creative thought into it. Have me having an affair with an alien, while embezzling the government for enough money to repair his ship so we can escape to the stars.”

What the fuck was she talking about? Worried, he looked at the doctor who nodded and smiled as he rose to his feet, returning to the bag he had brought with him, and pulling out the three bottles and a new syringe. Was he going to dose Charlotte as well? Was that what this was about?

With his thoughts clearing more and more every second, Leonard began to put the pieces together. She had been affected! Charlotte had been as compromised as he was, and probably from that first moment he’d pulled her into his study. That was the real reason she’d fainted, she’d been overwhelmed with the sudden change of hormones. It wasn’t unheard of. It also explained Bonny Kelsing’s violent reaction to her, because while Charlotte’s scent wasn’t displaying open interest, the lioness had obviously picked up on something that told her Charlotte was competition. A threat to her desire to be bred by a strong male. Something he hated about his species.

The doctor worked quickly, getting Charlotte to remove her jacket and roll up her sleeve, before jabbing her arm.

“Ow!” Charlotte protested, looking down at the bandaid he was applying.

Already Leonard could see her gaze clearing, her slouched posture straightening as she took in her surroundings.

“Why are we on the floor?” she asked, still a little dazed. “And why are you pointing that fucking thing at me?”

Once again, her gaze was locked onto his cock, and once again she licked her lips. He smirked, liking the fact she couldn’t take her eyes off it.

“Because it’s yours,” he told her simply. “You’re my mate, and the good doctor has just given us both a healthy dose of everything we need to put off our bonding.”

“Why would we want to do that,” she asked breathily.

“Sir,” Dr Watson said. “Please, if you could refrain from antagonising her until the drugs can truly kick in, I’d appreciate it.”

He snorted. He wasn’t antagonising her, and they both knew it, but still, he got the gist of what the doctor wanted.

“Because there’s a threat against us specifically, and all shifters in general,” he replied, pleased when she managed to look him in the eye. “Because our people need us to set things right, and to do that, we both need a clear head.”

“Oh fuck,” she groaned. “The press! Fucking David. That’s all real? Oh god, this is the end of my career! What was I thinking?”

“Well, technically you weren’t,” the doctor said unhelpfully, although Leonard suspected the man was only trying to make her feel better. “You were under the effects of mating hormones, which not only clouded your higher reasoning functions, but also lowered your inhibitions. Given what I know of Ms Diaz’s condition, the fact you resigned and then withdrew it, and are now acting in her stead until she can return to work, and your change in habitat seeing your own home is no longer safe, it’s a wonder you were able to think as coherently as you have been. That’s a lot of stress and a lot of change in less than a day.”

“I can’t go out there and say that,” Charlotte protested. “I can’t say I was having a bad day so I mouthed off, and I certainly can’t say that I was lost in a haze of hormones and not able to think clearly. That’s only going to validate their claims that we’re nothing more than beasts.”

“Oh,” Dr Watson replied. “Well, yes. That would be somewhat awkward.”

“I can’t do this!” Charlotte wailed, pure panic on her face, even as her expression continued to brighten. “I can’t fucking do this? I need to resign, and you need to find another pro tem. It’s the only way we’re going to shift the focus away from me and back onto the topic. We need these changes to start happening. We need our lives to matter, and this is the most horrible yet perfect opportunity for us to show the humans that we should have the same rights they do! We can’t do that, if people keep focusing on what’s not happening in my vagina.”

Dr Watson snickered, but Leonard gave her a look that promised what wasn’t happening in her vagina, soon would be. Just as soon as they could get in front of this disaster.

He recalled a conversation he had with a similarly panicked female just five years ago. New to her job, and newly rejected, Grace Diaz had been falling apart. It had taken Leonard days to coax her back into some semblance of the powerhouse he knew her to be, and in his heart he knew that if anyone could help Charlotte right now, it would be his old friend and the biggest pain in his butt, Grace.

Deciding upon a course of action, he pulled out his phone and found her number, hitting the button to call her before handing it to Charlotte. Confused, she took it from him, looking at the screen with a growing alarm.

“What the fuck are you people doing over there, Leonard?” Grace growled, even as rumbled complaints registered in the background.

“Is she talking to another fucking male again?” someone groused.

“Fuck her harder, and get that phone out of here. I don’t care what the hell is going on out in the real world, right now her attention should be on the three men giving her what her body needs, not adding stress to her life!” a second voice replied.

Leonard smirked. Charlotte’s face had turned from horror to intrigue, clearly curious about what her boss was getting up to. Distractedly, she put the phone to her ear. Good. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.