Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

E lliott wouldn't have guessed how many visitors the park had over the course of a day. Especially on a day that had gotten all grey and gloomy. But it wasn't actually raining, and for all he knew, that counted as a nice day in Ireland.

It was fun, though. Part of him wanted nothing more than to go be with Aoife and see what was happening. But the truth was that for obvious reasons, he didn't get to spend a lot of time in his lion form, especially in public. Being admired was great, and the lion, which was generally a huge lazy beast, was delighted to pace and prowl and pounce and behave like a great golden goof. There were short breaks where he could laze, although nothing long enough for him to hop out of the enclosure and shift to human form. There kept being people around. Not necessarily at his enclosure, but within eyesight, so he was stuck.

Not stuck, his lion said happily. Preening .

That, Elliott had to admit, was absolutely true. So they preened and showed off and enjoyed themselves until the park closed…at which point, all the park employees came over to see the lion on loan. Elliott skulked around, fully aware that a sulky lion was almost as much fun as a playing one, but not quite willing to actually go into the back of the enclosure to hide. His lion was having too much fun.

Then Aoife arrived, and the lion insisted on showing off. Big stretches, tossing his mane, roaring a few times just for effect. Aoife worked her way around to the edge of the gathered employees so she could watch him better, and leaned on the glass, smiling. Elliott desperately wanted everybody to leave so he could find out how the rest of her day had gone, but no, they were hanging out, chatting, chuckling, and generally not giving a rat's ass that Elliott's fated mate was right there and he couldn't talk to her!

A thick man—not fat, really, just solid and the same width from shoulder to hip—went over to Aoife's side and folded his arms across his chest. "I'm going to need that explanation. Everybody was all over the radios all day talking about your friend who rode the bison. I can't even tell you how many safety violations that is, Aoife. Dr. Kelly's asked me to write it off as 'one of those things that happens sometimes,' but it's not. That doesn't happen. The lads at the gate said he was a circus performer. That's mental. So what really happened?"

"Peader." Aoife made a face and glanced into Elliott's enclosure. "I actually only met him today. For all I know, he is a circus performer."

"He jumped on a charging bison from the ground in front of it," this Peader person said with a grimly incredulous note. "That's not a circus performer. That's a superhero ."

"And we're all really lucky nobody was filming it," Aoife said firmly. "Nobody was hurt, and that's what really matters, right? He's certainly not going to do that again."

"He shouldn't be allowed back in the park! Neither should those other lunatics!"

"My friend was trying to help," Aoife said. "If that girl hadn't had an appalling meltdown when she got in trouble for breaking the rules, nothing alarming would have happened at all. I think Dr. Kelly is right this time, Peader. We got away with it, so I think we should pretend this one didn't happen."

"There were investors here," Peader hissed. "There'll be complaints!"

Aoife blinked up at him, then smiled. "Sure and listen to yourself, Peader. Who's going to believe a man jumped on a charging bison and rode it around the enclosure like a bronco? If we all say it didn't happen, who are they to say it did?"

Peader gaped down at her. "Are you saying we lie about it?"

"I'm saying we take the most likely story and make it the truth," Aoife said reasonably. "Which seems more likely, that a spoiled, angry kid made up a story about somebody riding a bison, or that somebody actually did ride a bison? We need to keep the park safe." Aoife glanced toward Elliott again, and he knew she wasn't thinking of the wildlife park at all. She was trying to protect his secret.

Our fierce lioness, his lion whispered. She defends her pride against even the largest males.

"Besides," Aoife said, suddenly sharpening as if she'd realized something. "Molly and her mother were both melting down when this thing—uh, didn't happen. I think there's a really good chance they actually didn't see anything at all, and the one person in the group who definitely did said she wouldn't mention itWe may be worried over nothing, Peader. Why don't we just see how it plays out?"

The thick man eyed her suspiciously. "You really think that's possible?"

"I think if that kid had seen somebody riding a bison, she would have wanted to do it herself, and had a whole 'nother meltdown at not getting to," Aoife said. "And her mother would have backed her up, because that woman doesn't seem to have the sense God gave a goose. No, honestly," she said, brightening. "I think we may really be in the clear."

Peader eyed her a moment longer, then sighed hugely. "All right. If nobody saw it, it didn't happen. There's enough of that around here anyway."

"Really? What do you mean?"

"If you haven't noticed it, I won't be the one to tell you." The big man walked away, and for the first time, Elliott noticed that almost everybody else had drifted off. The only people remaining had clearly been listening in on Aoife and Peader's conversation, and now that it had ended, were trying to look like they'd been doing anything but. They scattered guiltily, and after another minute or two, Aoife was alone outside Elliott's enclosure.

She tilted her head against the glass, and pressed a palm to it. "Did you catch any of that?" she asked quietly. "I don't know if you understand people or not. And do you just jump in and out, or do you use the doors like a civilized person?" She tilted her chin toward the sky, and said to it, "Not that he'll understand that question if he can't understand people."

Elliott lifted his head, scenting carefully. There were no other people nearby, not that he could smell or see. He backed up a few steps to give himself room, then leaped gracefully over the wall to land with a gentle thump next to Aoife.

She nearly jumped out of her skin, which was a perfectly reasonable response for having a 400 pound, four-plus-feet-at-the-shoulder predator land next to you. Elliott was about to shift, but Aoife put a hand out like she might touch him, so he held still instead.

Her hands were very small as they brushed over, then burrowed into his mane, but they also found an itchy spot beneath his ear and Elliott suddenly rumbled, trying not to lean into the touch too hard. He outweighed her by at least three times and could knock her over effortlessly. She laughed, clearly understanding that, but leaned into giving him a good scritch beneath the ear. "Does that feel good? Funny kitty."

I am not a kitty ! his lion protested, genuinely offended. Kitties are small and cute. I am large and magnificent!

You are , Elliott agreed. And if she wants to call us a kitty, she can.

Hnf. I suppose. Because she's our mate, and a fierce lioness.

Elliott chuckled, which in lion terms was a deep rough huffing sound that made Aoife squeak. "Jaysus but that's alarming," she said. "Makes all the hairs on my neck stand up. All right, you'd better shift back before somebody comes along."

Elliott shifted before she'd finished speaking, and to his own surprise, her hand stayed relative to where it had been, curled beneath his ear. Aoife squeaked again, then laughed. "Now that felt odd. Do you understand people when you're a lion?"

"Yeah, I understand. I just can't talk. Obviously." Elliott felt silly for explaining that, but Aoife smiled.

"Obviously."

"Do you really think the Collins didn't see me riding a bison?"

"Honestly, the more I think about it the more sure I am they couldn't have. Molly would have been shrieking to join you. Kanvas did, but she was oddly cool about it. She's not a shifter, is she?"

Elliott shook his head. "No, just a bohemian girl, as far as I can tell."

"Grand. I think. I don't know why she was so cool, then. But no, I'm not going to worry my head about it. Come on." Aoife slid her hand down his chest to take his hand. Actual heated sparks seemed to zot through Elliott's body where she'd touched him, and for a moment he wasn't sure he could walk from sheer, outrageous desire.

But her hand fit into his nicely, and she pulled him along with her until he remembered how to walk again. It only involved a little stumbling. "We have to head out before they lock the back gates against me," she said. "Unless you can jump over them with somebody on your back."

Elliott had a vivid image of being between her thighs, but that was under very different circumstances. "Um, no, I don't think so. Lions aren't built for riding. You're small, and I'm big, so I probably could carry you for a while, but it wouldn't be comfortable for either of us and it'd be a disaster if I had to jump. I do have to come back here tonight," he added a little vaguely. "I'm staying at the park this week."

"Oh!" Aoife came to a startled stop, looked back at the enclosure, and laughed. "Oh my God. Is that why shifters stay here? Because it's cheaper than a hotel?"

"It's definitely a reason," Elliott agreed. "But also it's fun to be able to hang out in your shifter form in public for a while. We're pretty secretive about it all, you know? It's nice to stretch your legs. And it's a good way to bring attention to parks like this. Unusual animals in for a little while."

"It's been sending me spare," Aoife said darkly. "I've worked here almost four years and…well, now I understand how the elephant got here. Elephants are really hard to move! It didn't make any sense ! But look, but do they feed you? We don't have a lot of spare budget or I wouldn't even be talking to people like that Collins woman."

"I could eat," Elliott admitted. "It's a lot easier to take myself out for Chinese as a human than ask a zoo to provide me with a giant hunk of meat. Also tidier. But wait, what happened with Ms. Collins?"

"Chinese it is, then. She and Molly left," Aoife said with a helpless shrug. "I have no idea what to make of any of it, and I'll have to explain myself to Dr. Kelly, but lord , what pieces of work those two were. I've no regrets. So," she said, changing the subject as she pulled him back into a walk, "we'll have to take the train back into Cork. I mean, we'd have to anyway, unless you can also sprout wings and fly. The train's the only way into town from the back side of the park. I don't drive."

"I do, but everybody does in Iowa."

"I…" Aoife hesitated. "Have no idea where Iowa is. Except, presumably, in the States."

Elliott laughed. "Yeah. Midwest. Do you know where Chicago is?"

Aoife wobbled her hand. Elliott grinned. "Right. Well, it's the next state west of there."

"Chicago," Aoife said cautiously, "isn't a state."

"True, but I kind of figured if I said Illinois that wouldn't mean anything to you either."

"You are very right about that. Oh, come on, we've got to hurry if we're going to make the train." They ran for it, Elliott outpacing Aoife so easily he wondered if he should stop and pick her up. He slowed and Aoife yelled, "No, no, go, go, get your ticket, I'll be there!"

He ran ahead, but took enough time trying to figure out the ticket machine that Aoife caught up just as the train arrived. She bounced in its doorway, holding it open while a conductor leaned out the window and glared at her. Elliott finally managed to get the ticket and threw himself into the train, laughing, as it pulled away toward a stretch of water that glimmered darkly in the fading light. Aoife, breathless with laughter herself, said, "I thought you were going to have to pick me up and throw me into the train ahead of you, you're so fast."

"I did wonder if I should pick you up like a football and carry you."

Aoife's expression exploded into outrage that immediately dissolved into laughter again. "Oh, no, the awful thing is that probably would have been faster. Oh, my dignity. Being little is impossible. I can't see over anybody's head and I can only reach the third shelf in the grocery stores."

"You'd have to be an actual leprechaun to only reach the third shelf," Elliott objected.

Aoife tipped an imaginary top hat and took a puff on an equally imaginary pipe. "Top a'tha marnin' to ye, laddie! Seriously," she added, much more serious and in another whiplash topic change, "thanks for your help today. It was dumb running all the way into the enclosure like that, but that jump was hot ."

A swell of hope rushed through Elliott. He tried to ignore other swelling, and cleared his throat. "It probably was dumb, but I'm glad it turned out all right. Look, Aoife, there's something I feel like I should tell you sooner rather than later, and it's going to sound like, I don't know, like a lot."

She scooted closer, lifting her lips to just beneath his ear, so they touched his lobe when she murmured, "'A lot' being more than 'I turn into a lion'?"

She smelled so good. Outdoorsy, mostly, but also like some slightly floral-scented something, perfume or deodorant, and just like warm human girl underneath that. Elliott wanted to bury his face in her shoulder and just breathe for a while.

Instead he tried to scrape a few brain cells together. "Possibly, yeah?"

"Umph." Aoife sat back again, studying him. "Okay. Is this a discuss-it-on-the-train thing, or do we need more privacy?"

"Probably more privacy," Elliott admitted.

Aoife offered what could only be considered a leer, which made not only various parts of Elliott sit up and take notice, it also made his lion sit up and take notice. She wants to mate! We should mate immediately!

Not on the train, man! We'd get in so much trouble!

The lion gave a great irritated snort at human delicacy in such matters, and lay down sullenly while Aoife asked, "How much more privacy?"

Elliott, feeling like he was missing an opportunity, but also feeling very, very hungry, said, "Probably a private booth at a restaurant would be enough?"

Aoife threw her head back and laughed out loud, gaining attention from other commuters on the train and obviously not minding one bit at all. "Oh, you're a sound lad, aren't you? I like you, Elliott Harkness. You're grand altogether. I'm starving of the hunger myself. C'mon, then. It's only a few more minutes to Cork, and we can walk down to the restaurant and you can tell me all your secrets."