Her Lion Protector [The Protectors 3] (Siren Publishing Allure) Read online

  “Are you hearing me, baby. This. Is. Not. Your. Fault.” To emphasize his point, he kissed her between each word, until nothing but sweet, fragrant woman remained curled in his chest, and she drew a shuddering breath into her lungs.

  “I don’t deserve you, Sir,” she whispered, and Leon laughed.

  “Maybe not, but you’re stuck with me, pip.” Leon puffed out his chest and shook his mane of blond hair over his shoulder with a grin. It had the desired effect, because Rebecca’s lips twitched and she poked him in the chest.

  “Arrogant, much, Sir?”

  Leon waggled his eyebrows, which made Rebecca’s grin deepen.

  “With good reason. I mean have you see seen the size of my—”

  “Ego?” Rebecca interrupted him and giggled, and the earlier tension between them evaporated at that light hearted sound coming from his girl. He frowned at her in mock annoyance and she made a big show of studying him.

  “Not what I was referring to, minx,” he said and flexed his hips, so that his hard cock dug into her ass.

  A moan escaped her, but she bit her lips, and shook her head.

  “Oh, you mean the size of your nose, Sir. Well, I must say it is rather…No, no tickling…I’m sorry. Nooooo.”

  By the time he let her come back up for air, tears, of laughter this time, streamed down her cheeks, and Leon kissed them off her face.

  “Let’s get you two home and into bed,” he said, and Rebecca sobered, when he put his hand over her abdomen. “I have a good feeling about this one, pip.”

  “Oh, god, I hope so. Mum said the usual…”

  “It’s up to the fates?” he asked, and Rebecca rolled her eyes and scowled. The action meant she screwed up her little nose and Leon’s lion purred. She grinned at him and shook her head.

  “I shall never understand why he likes me doing that so much,” Rebecca said and stuck her tongue out at him, before she clambered back over to her side.

  “Well, I could explain it, but if you don’t get it after all those years, there is no hope for you, pip.”

  Rebecca made a non-committal sound in the back of her throat, and Leon grinned.

  “Your mother is right in one respect though,” he said and put the car back into gear.

  “Hah, that woman is always right. It’s infuriating.” Rebecca rolled her eyes again, but the love she felt for her mother came through loud and clear nonetheless, and Leon smiled.

  “The fates did bring us together, and I refuse to believe they will not grant us a child.”

  Rebecca sighed and frowned.

  “Maybe, I just wish they wouldn’t make it so damn hard.”

  Leon had to smile at that.

  “Pipsqueak, since when have we done anything the easy way. I mean right from the start…”

  Chapter Two

  Ten years earlier

  “Mum, really, can I go now? I’m not hungry.” Rebecca barely hid the whine in her voice. To show open defiance would only make her mother drag this dinner out, and Rebecca had places to go and people to see. She so needed to get out of here. As though yesterday’s birthday party hadn’t been cringe-worthy enough. She was eighteen, not eight, for flip’s sake, yet she’d had to endure balloons, pass the freaking parcel—thanks to the myriad of pack youngsters which had been in attendance—and many a young pup, who thought they were god’s gift to a fledgling witch on the cusp of her powers.

  Man, sometimes it sucked so badly being her, and right now was one of those times. At least Melissa was on her side. The hippy human and she had become friends at college, much to Rebecca’s parents’ consternation. She was a bad influence, apparently. Rebecca inwardly rolled her eyes, and winced when stabs of heat rolled over her exposed forearms.

  “Ouch, what was that for?” She looked up all ready to glare at her mother, but Joanne Hastings simply gave her that look, and she swallowed the angry retort bubbling at the back of her tongue, and fisted her hands to stop herself from giving into the impulse to zap her mother back.

  She would only block her, and no doubt ban her from going out at all, and everything…her whole life depended on tonight going the way she’d planned it to.

  “You know full well what that was for, young lady. Now, eat, if you want to go out. That Melissa won’t feed you. What are you going to do at her house, anyway?”

  Rebecca briefly glanced up at her mother, and shrugged her shoulders.

  “Girly stuff, I told you. Her mum and dad are there. You’ve already spoken to them, and made me look like an eight-year-old, who cannot be trusted. Embarrassing, much? I can look after myself. I do so perfectly well when I’m away at college, and…newsflash. I turned eighteen yesterday. I’m a grown up now. There is no need to mollycoddle me.”

  “Rebecca, that’s enough.” Her father’s deep growl vibrated the table, and Rebecca slammed her mouth shut, and glared at her plate instead. If she thought, she’d get away with it, she’d just storm off, but she wouldn’t put it past Henry Hastings to place her under house arrest. That had happened at her sixteenth birthday, after all. As Alpha of his pack, head of the council, and the leader of the Protectors, her father was used to getting his own way. Resistance was utterly futile, so Rebecca crossed her arms in front of her chest, and stayed silent, even though she was itching to let rip.

  His deep sigh made her stomach churn as did his next words.

  “Baby girl, look at me.”

  Rebecca shook her head and it was her mother’s turn to sigh.

  “We’re only concerned for your safety,” she said, and Henry grumbled his agreement.

  “Your mother is right. You know it’s not safe out there, and—“

  “Oh, poppycock.” Rebecca shot out of her seat with so much force that the chair clattered to the floor with a loud bang, and her father winced.

  “There haven’t been any attacks in ages. I heard you talking to Olaf yesterday, and even if there was anyone lurking out there, you and the others got this place patrolled so well, you’d hear me sneeze from five miles away, so don’t give me that, and besides, I’m not stupid. I’ve been practicing my powers, limited as they might be, and I’m a freaking black belt now. I can look after myself.”

  She ran out of steam when neither one of her parents showed any outward reaction, and she groaned, bent to pick her chair up and sat back down with a humph.

  “And don’t call me baby girl, for cripes sake. I’m a woman, not a baby.”

  Her father’s lips twitched and her mother hid her grin behind her cup of tea, which only annoyed Rebecca more. She continued to glare at them from under her lashes, not that they took any notice. They did that silent communication thing they always did, and Henry cleared his throat.

  “I’m very well aware that you’re a grown up, and you, of all people know what that means. Until you meet the one who will help you to harness and awaken your powers, you’re in danger and—”

  “Oh, of all the chauvinistic things to say,” Rebecca ground the words out through clenched teeth, and Henry’s brows drew together. If she’d had any sense she’d stop right now, but she wasn’t his daughter for nothing. Rebecca had inherited her mother’s red hair, and the temper to boot. Couple that with her father’s single-minded determination, and she never backed down from a fight.

  “If I’ve said it once, I said it a thousand times. I’m not interested in finding the one. If he even exists, and I don’t need some dumbass male to protect me. I can do that myself, thank you very much. I know this all worked out just fine for Mum and you, but it’s not what I want. I want to go to University, and set up my own business, and make something of myself, not stay here and raise cubs. I told you that.”

  Her mother gasped, and a flash of pain crossed her father’s rugged features. It was gone almost as soon as it had appeared, but Rebecca caught it nonetheless, and all the fight went out of her.

  “I’m sorry, you know I didn’t mean that. I mean…argh I just want to have some fun, okay? I don’t want to deal with al
l that heavy stuff. Not now, and certainly not in my near future either.”

  She fell silent, and jumped at the loud toot outside the cottage. Glancing up she could see Melissa hang out of her beat up little car with a big grin on her face. Rebecca raised her hand in greeting and held up two fingers.

  Melissa rolled her eyes and yawned, but sat back behind the wheel, seemingly content to wait.

  “Please, Dad. She’s waiting. I need to go.”

  Again that silent communication seemed to be going on between her parents. It had come as somewhat of a surprise to Rebecca, when she found out that most mated couples did not do that. She’d always assumed it was a shifter thing, but none of the others in their pack seemed to have that unnerving ability. Whatever they were discussing in their heads, they seemed to reach an agreement, because her mother smiled at her, and nodded toward the waiting car.

  “If you come back with green hair like her, I shan’t be pleased. Please stay inside and call us if her parents cannot give you a lift back home.”

  “Yes, Mum, I know the drill. So, can I go then, please?”

  Joanne gave her one last searching look and nodded.

  “Yes, you may, though I would have preferred it, if you stayed here. Leon is coming over, now that his business in the lakes is finished, and I know he’s looking forward to seeing you again. It’s been too long.”

  Her father nodded and smiled. Henry Hastings had taken the orphaned lion shifter under his wing, and Rebecca and he had more or less grown up together, or as much as they could, considering Leon was seven years older than her. He was the annoying, over protective brother she’d never had, and Rebecca rolled her eyes.

  “I still can’t see that skinny runt as a Protector,” she said. “What does he do to kill them? Let me guess they fall over laughing when they see him, and then he pounces.” Rebecca’s lips twitched at the mental images in her head. Last time she’d seen him he had been her height and as skinny as a bean pole. Hardly Protector material in her opinion, yet he didn’t get any of this crap to be careful. It was enough to do her head in.

  “Like I said, it’s been a while. You would be surprised if you saw him now, I think.” There was a curious undertone to her mother’s words that sent a shiver of unease down Rebecca’s spine. She knew that tone of voice. It meant Joanne Hastings was up to something. Sure enough, when she glanced across the table at her father, he, too, grinned in that superior I know something you don’t way.

  “Yes, well, that’s as maybe, but Melissa is waiting, and he’s not here, so we’ll just have to play catch up another time,” she said and turned to leave.

  “Maybe sooner than you think, my child.”

  Her mother’s words made her stomach churn, and Rebecca pushed the insane thought that popped in her head right then firmly to the back of her mind. If Mum thought she and Leon would…hell no. Besides, he wouldn’t want her after tonight. She had a plan…

  * * * *

  Three hours later that plan was fast going down the proverbial toilet. Rebecca leaned against the wall, and fought against the nausea swirling around her tummy. She’d had too much to drink, the pot they’d been smoking had turned her brain into fuzz, and while there had been plenty of boys willing to go for a grope, none of them had been the one she was looking for. No, the object of her lust-filled teenage imaginings wasn’t here. Nor had he been at the last few parties, Melissa had dragged her to. It was getting later and later, and Rebecca was half expecting her father’s patrols to come looking for her, and bust down the door of this ramshackle building. Mind you, as far as she was aware they’d left her part of Cumbria behind and were now on the shores of Lake Windermere.

  “Cheer up, he’ll be hear soon. I have it on good authority.” Melissa’s alcohol-laced breath blew across her face, and she held up the joint she was smoking for Rebecca to take.

  Rebecca went to shake her head and then changed her mind. Ah, what the hell. It would make this place more bearable. She took a deep draft in and started coughing her guts up.

  Melissa laughed and patted her back with enough force to leave bruises.

  “Told you, they had good stuff here, which is why he’ll come. You’ll see. Well, dangnabit, here he comes. Get them tits out properly, and work it, girl. You want him, don’t cha.”

  Before Rebecca could stop her Melissa had popped the buttons on her tight T-shirt so that her lacy bra was exposed in its entirety. If that wasn’t enough her friend gave her a shove, which meant she teetered precariously in her six-inch strappy sandals, and would have ended up on the floor, had her intended target not pulled her up with an arm around her waist.

  “Why, what have we here? Rebecca Hastings?” Heath Fernando’s astonishment showed in his question, as well as the way his dark eyes heated. With her plastered all over him, he got a front seat view down her chest. His lips kicked up in the smirk that made all the girls swoon, and Rebecca’s embarrassment at her outfit fled. She hadn’t been sure about the itsy bitsy mini skirt, and the T-shirt which looked three sizes too small on her, but they sure had the desired effect on Heath now. It had been worth the required gyrations in the back of Melissa’s car to get into the outfit. Her father would have had a fit, seeing her in this getup.

  Rebecca straightened her spine, pushed her boobs out, and fluttered her eyelashes up at him, like she had seen plenty of other girls do.

  Heath’s grin deepened and he pulled away from her slightly to look her up and down.

  “It is you. My, you sure scrub up well, for a country bumpkin.”

  The hated moniker stung, but Rebecca swallowed that stab of annoyance down, and licked her lips in a move she’d practiced in front of the mirror. It seemed rather foolish to her, but men seemed to like it, and judging by the way Heath’s trousers started to tent, he did, too.

  It gave her a heady thrill of feminine power, and she grinned and leant in close until her breasts were squashed into his hard chest. Her nipples firmed at the contact, and Heath’s hand wandered to her ass and squeezed.

  “It’s my birthday.” She whispered the words into his ear, while continuing to rub herself against him, all too aware of the dagger looks Monika Forrester threw at her. Everyone knew the blonde had designs on him herself, but, right now, it was Rebecca who had his undivided attention, and she was going to try her hardest to keep it that way.

  “Is that so, bumpkin?” Heath asked, and thrills of excitement raced over her skin, when his hand on her ass trailed lower, until he found the smooth skin where her butt met her legs. When she moaned, he kneaded the flesh there, and Rebecca’s legs turned to jelly.

  “I suppose I best give you a present then?” He grinned and pushed her away from him with the most sinful smirk, ever. “Not here, though, meet me outside in five.”

  With that he turned away from her, and Melissa screeched in Rebecca’s ear.

  “Told you that would work. Man, he was all over you. You showed that Monika.”

  Rebecca grinned and let herself be pulled away. She sure did, but that wasn’t her only aim. Oh no. She would show them all.

  Chapter Three

  Leon emerged from the shrubbery, and crouched low to the ground. The run had done him good, and had blown away the cobwebs and the lingering sense of disappointment that Mrs. H’s phone call had left him with. If he was given to flights of paranoia he’d think Rebecca was going out of her way to avoid him, but that was nonsense. Why should she?

  They might not have parted on the best terms when they’d last seen each other three years ago, but Leon considered Rebecca family, nonetheless, and winding up your little sister is just what you did, after all.

  He grinned to himself recalling her outraged expression, when the balloon filled with ice water had landed right on target. After all, sunning herself like that, she’d been asking for it, and it had forced her to cover up. Positively indecent, all that flesh on show. No wonder all the young pups had been sniffing around.

  She hadn’t seen it like that, of co
urse. No, his little pipsqueak had cursed and chased after him, and he’d been mighty glad that she hadn’t come into her powers yet, otherwise she’d probably have skinned him alive.

  Leon frowned at his animal’s possessive snarl, as he tasted the air, and it shook him out of his memories. The run-down building that was half falling into Lake Windermere was empty now, but the scent of the inebriated humans who had partied here hung around, as did the litter on the grass, which forced Leon to watch where he put his paws. Teenagers…human ones at that.

  Leon shook his head and scanned his surroundings. Had he ever been this reckless? Maybe he had been, but at the grand old age of twenty-five, and newly installed as the Protector of the Lakes those days seemed long ago. He had responsibilities now that he took very seriously, and it was in large part due to the tireless work of the Protectors that the humans who’d partied here so recklessly tonight had been able to do so freely, and safely. Clueless, the lot of them.

  Leon made a mental note to get the local youngsters on the case to clean up this mess in the morning, once they had slept off their hangovers. They would grumble, of course, and blame the tourists, but he recognized too many of the scents for that argument to wash. Not that he could tell them that, but Leon wasn’t the youth leader for nothing.

  If they wanted to continue to learn how to fix the myriad of old motorbikes he kept for that purpose then they would blooming well clear up.

  His lion growled low in his throat, as one scent stood out above all the others.

  It couldn’t be, yet his animal was not listening, intent on following that scent. Familiar, yet different, it drove his lion on to hunt. To stalk what was his. To pounce and claim, which was a ridiculous notion. Nonetheless, Leon gave his beast free reign, and his lion took off, up the path that led away from the main track. A lone motorcycle had wound its way up the incline, and his lion roared, when it dawned on him where the riders were heading.