Chapter 7

His hand hasn't left mine, and I don't know how I feel about it. My emotions and senses are tangled, snarled up and overwhelming. I should be afraid of him, and maybe I am a little, but I can't help but feel that there is a ring of truth in his words. As wild as it sounds, Ras truly seems like he wants to take care of me.

Heat rises through me, and I shiver as I remember his promise to make me scream.

"Ras." I squeeze his hand. "I really need you to answer my questions." The dude might be talking now, but his concentration is shit. Unless his focus is on me. Then it's like some heat seeking sex missile. My insides clench.

I really need to stop thinking about sex. I especially need to stop thinking about the fact that he's already touched me. I have a feeling it's going to really mean something to him, what with all this mate talk.

He cranes his head, and I follow his gaze. The roof is mostly collapsed, signs of birds nesting in the exposed beams splatter and splotch their way all over the floor. Despite the makeshift skylights, the light is dim, and it's taking time for my eyes to adjust. The ruined castle reeks of must and decay, tattered fabric waving against the walls in the cool breeze.

Ras is silent, and it concerns me. Has he lost his ability to talk again? I am so not in the mood for more charades.

I follow behind him as he tugs me along, stepping over rotting furniture remnants. Something scurries in a shadow, and my nerves jangle at the sound of claws on stone. A hallway is blocked off by fallen rocks, a staircase half gone further in. We press through the house, and even though it's weird, I'm thankful that he keeps me close.

This place gives me the creeps. There's something off with the light here, like the shadows are too dark and the places where it should be bright aren't the right color. It's like a shitty Instagram filter blots out all the natural light. The thought of Instagram causes me to reach for my phone, and I stop abruptly when I realize it's gone. No more social media.

Well, maybe that part isn't so bad.

Fresh air buffets my face, and I squeeze my eyes shut as we pass into another room. It's bright. I blink, and my jaw drops.

The entire back of the castle is blown open.

Ras sinks to his knees, finally releasing my hand as he covers his face. A keening noise begins low in his chest, and a wave of discomfort and sadness washes over me. Without thinking, I stroke a hand over his coarse blonde hair.

"It's okay," I murmur, and it's like someone else is in charge of my body. It's not that I want to see him upset, but I hadn't necessarily planned on comforting him, either. Seeing him in pain… it hurts me. There is a jagged ache in my chest that makes no sense.

Super fucking weird.

He draws me to him, burying his head against my stomach, his arms pressing around my waist. I make soothing noises, both alarmed and unable to stop, stroking his head. It's intimate but not sexual, and a small piece of me relishes being able help him. The rest of me is completely confused.

I'm not sure how much time has passed once he raises his head, his eyes fixed on me.

"I don't know how old I am," he says. He hasn't moved, and the vibration of his voice sends a bolt through me. "Hundreds of years, before I fell asleep."

"Okay. Of course, you are. I'm twenty-six." Sure, why not? Immortal lion, interdimensional travel, seems legit. I only speak because he seems to want a response, but this would be way more than a May-December relationship than I would have ever guessed. Not that it's a relationship!

He lays a cheek back against my stomach, and this time, it does feel sexual. I freeze.

Ras pulls away again, standing in a graceful, fluid motion that leaves me breathless. He's really tall, and even though I'm pretty tall for a woman, he towers over me.

"Do you want more answers?"

"Yes," I breathe, staring up at him. What my body wants and what I want are two different things, so answers seem like the safest bet. I blink twice.

He's so intense, and all that focus is on me. Heat radiates from him, and even now, his fingers trace along my back, in a pattern I recognize from earlier.

"You awoke me. Today. This morning. When I fell asleep, my home was whole." He makes a sound of frustration, turning back to the gaping hole where the back wall must have been. It's clear that his home has been decaying for a long time.

"I slept as a lion."

"A cat nap." I slap a hand over my mouth, completely surprised by my random statement. Shit. I hope he's not going to be mad at that. My ex hated when I said whatever popped into my head.

Instead, a side of his mouth curves up, and he lets out a low chuckle. "Something like that." Then the smile disappears, replaced by a pensive look, his brows drawing together. "It must have been a long time that I slept. I only ever heard of ones like me losing speech if they spent too long in one form. I've never known anyone to be as far gone as I was." He takes a lock of my hair and rubs the strands together. "You centered me. Coming home, to where I am… where I was, strongest, also helped."

He touches his forehead to mine, his hands still tangled in my hair. Slowly, he rubs his fingertips across my scalp, and my mouth opens as I sigh. God, I love having my hair played with. It's literally the best, most soothing feeling the whole world, and it's like Ras has a manual and knows which of my buttons to push.

It's dangerous, and I step back, folding my arms across my chest. I stare at him, waiting for anger. Or irritation, or any one of the emotions this would have triggered in my ex.

But all he does is give me a knowing smile.

"Lana," he says, and I steel myself, ready for him to try to convince me to go further, or mate with him, or whatever. "Do you have more questions?"

Oh. Okay. I screw up my face, studying him for any of the red flags that would send Brad into a rage. Ras's arms hang loose at his sides, his expression easy and open. Still, a hint of sadness plays around his eyes, in the way he holds himself, and I wonder who he lost here. Did he have a wife? A girlfriend? Kids?

I push those questions away, surprised. They spark an unfamiliar emotion in me. An ugly one, at that. Jealousy.

"How did I get here?"

His blue eyes narrow, the stiff, cold breeze ruffling through his delicious blonde hair. A muscle in his jaw twitches, and I wait. Something scritches in the shadows, and I make myself ignore it. Probably a rat. As long as it's not a rat-man, I'm going to ignore it.

"Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much?—"

"Ras," I exclaim, snorting out a surprised laugh. Who knew the lion-dude had a sense of humor? Not me!

The grin he gives me is pleased, and I wonder what he'd look like cleaned up. I like the beard, but it's in desperate need of a trim, and his hair is snarled and knotted. I turn my gaze to the moss blanketing the stone floor. He's not my project. This isn't some makeover show. No one is about to pop out of the corner with secret footage of my shredded pajamas.

"Lana," he says, his voice soft. "I do not know how you got here, because that is a secret kept by your House and Houses like yours."

I startle at that, my eyes back on his face. "My House?"

"You are of Alnitak, House Orion." He says simply. With a start, I realize he thinks I know what that means.

Irritation sparks in me. I don't have a freaking clue what any of this means, and between needing a cup of coffee and the adrenaline surge and then let down, I'm starting to get real pissy. His big hand cups my chin, and he raises it to me, turning my face as he does.

It's overwhelming and intense, the way he stares at me, the delight and adoration that flares in his eyes. It puts me on edge, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

"You don't know anything, Lana Kit, do you?"

"I know less than nothing, Jon Snow."

"My name is Ras. House Leo."

"I know." I resist stamping my foot, gold star for me. "But no, I don't know how I got here or where here is! I've been trying to tell you that."

"You crossed planes of existence, you and your sisters. Surely something you did triggered that. There are few Starbound women left, and none can travel realms. Think."

I open my mouth to argue, but he raises his eyebrows, and I clamp it shut, glowering at him. Water drips down the side of a ruined wall, puddling in a dark mossy pool beneath it. I digest his words as I watch it, thinking furiously. All Mina and Ali and I did was go camping, eat marshmallows, talk, and watch the meteor shower.

I freeze, my eyes going wide. Ras makes a low rumble.

The meteor showers.

We made our wishes. The memory of the night whips through me, the bizarre tug in my gut, the feeling of déjà vu.

My mouth is a round ‘o' of surprise.

"See?" That rumble in his chest starts up again. "You do know some things, my mate."

I scowl at him. I'm not his. I'm not even sure what or who I am, at this point.

My wish flashes through my mind. I wished I knew who I was supposed to be. I sit down heavily, my ass plonking against a stone not fully covered by the dense moss.

Oh my god.

The logical part of my brain knows wishes don't come true. It also knows that lions don't turn into men, especially not staggeringly gorgeous men, and it also knows interdimensional travel is the stuff of science fiction. Or magic.

What the what?

I wrack my brains, holding my head in my hands. What did Mina and Ali wish for? Their wishes are fuzzy, and trying to remember the specifics of last night is like trying to tune in to a radio station that's out of range. Ali wished for… adventure and romance. A dark laugh rips out of me, and I hug my knees to my chest. Mina wanted… purpose? Something like that, anyway.

"They're here, right?" I ask, nauseated. "You said they're here?" What if they landed somewhere else?

"I smelled two more women; they were close to you. Smelled similar." He nods, crouching next to me. "They're in this world. My world. Yours, too, originally."

Does this mean I'm an alien? Dad believed in aliens, said it was man's hubris that made him think we were alone in the universe. I inspect my hands, half expecting to see scales or tentacles sprouting. But it's the same pale skin as it ever was.

Ras takes it, a frown on his face, like he's trying to figure out what I'm looking for. His concern makes my heart squeeze, the traitor. I pull away.

"Ras, listen, this is a lot," I push my hair off my face, trying to figure out how to tell him I need space. Space. A panicked chuckle rises in my throat. Not so much the final frontier, after all, then.

He stiffens, and I wait, expecting him to lose it, to rip into fur and claws or something. Then I hear it. The scratching, scritching noise from before. It's louder now, like the rats are converging on us.

The smell of ozone permeates the air, and I blink as the chill intensifies, my breath clouding in front of me. Goosebumps pebble across my skin, and real fear grips me.

"Lana." It's whispered, low. That, more than anything freaks me out. "Get behind me, and whatever you do, do not run."

He pulls me to my feet, pushing me behind his back. Lines bracket his blue eyes as they narrow, his features set in grim determination. He practically vibrates. My stomach clenches, adrenaline pumping through me in a fresh wave.

I don't want to see what he sees.

I can't keep myself from looking, and when I do, I can't even scream.

The thing scratching in the shadows isn't a rat. It folds out of itself, unnaturally long limbs raking the air around it. Vaguely humanoid, claws jut from its feet and hands. I grip his muscled bicep as leathery wings unfurl from behind it. My heart tries to jump out of my chest, every instinct screaming at me to run as far and as fast as I can, despite his order.

Then it raises its head, and I gag as the smell of ozone intensifies. Where its face should be is blank, rimmed in white. At least, I think it's blank at first.

But the white rim is a jaw, full of serrated teeth, and the face that looks blank? It's a mouth. I gag, stuffing a fist into the scream that threatens. It tilts its head, and despite the fact it has no eyes that I can see, the back of my neck prickles with awareness.

It knows I'm here, and it wants me. I know it as surely as any prey animal must. I've never understood why deer freeze in headlights until now.

Ras crouches low. The thick muscles on his back bunch, one arm anchoring me behind him, as if I'll break and run. As if I could do anything but shake.

It stalks forward, the leathery wings pulsing behind it. I step back, self-preservation kicking in despite his warning. I stumble over a stone, and his hand catches my arm, pulling me back against him.

This is how I die.

This thing wants to eat me. It's all I can think, as it scratches across the floor. I came across worlds on a wish only to be eaten in some crumbling castle. The thought angers me. Ras and I weren't done talking, and this faceless monster interrupted. Fuck that noise. I crouch, fumbling for the stone I tripped over, and then I heft it up, holding it against my chest. My heart is pounding, my armpits slick with sweat despite the unnatural chill.

Ras isn't moving. He only holds me behind him as the thing creeps ever closer, turning its head this way and that.

Clamping my lips shut so I don't scream, I lob the stone, sending it skittering across the floor. The creature screams, a high-pitched noise that leaves me dazed, before turning to chase the sound of the stone. Ras explodes into action, and my ears pop as he rips into his lion form, roaring so loudly that the ground shakes.

The thing screams again, but the noise is cut off as Ras crunches down on its head, shaking it like a cat with its prey. It makes a sick crunch as he rips it off, black viscous liquid spilling from the too-long stump of its neck.

I gag again.

He spits the head out, roaring again before sinking his claws into the thing's guts, eviscerating it. I turn away, my hand to my mouth.

My hand is shaking so hard I can hardly cover it. The edges of my vision purple, and I drag in a deep breath, trying to stay upright. Then my ears pop again, and Ras is lifting me up, carrying me again. Black coats his beard.

"It's not safe here," he says.

Before I can respond, he's running again, and I'm nestled against his warm body, shaking like a leaf.