Lion Alpha's Broken Mate

Chapter 3

Once outside he stopped and took a deep breath of fresh air. After taking a second breath to calm himself down, he heard the doors behind him open. He knew without having to look that it was Jackson and Drew. “Where’s Nathan?”

Drew chuckled. “He’s staying to give the girls a ride home. We all came together in the SUV. I don’t envy him the ride. Melody looked thoroughly put out. I doubt if we’ll see him until tomorrow though. I think Renee has him wrapped around her little finger.”

Jackson, quiet around everyone but Tony and Drew, laughed. “Yeah, you mean her ring finger. They’ll be married by the end of the year.”

“I’ll take that bet,” Drew laughed. “They’ll be married by the end of the month. He’s got it bad. So what do I get if I win?”

Jackson rubbed his chin with his fingers while he thought about it. “If you win, which you won’t, I’ll take your patrol shift for a week.” He held his hand out and waited to see if Drew would accept the wager.

Drew didn’t even think about it. “If you win, I take your shift for a week.” It was widely known that Drew hated patrol. Patrol around the property was something that was done alone and Drew preferred company, says being alone gets him in trouble because it gave him too much time to think of things to get into.

Tony shook his head and couldn’t help but grin at their antics. “Drew, you know that’s an unfair bet. You have inside knowledge.”

At Jackson’s questioning glance he explained. “Drew was with me yesterday when Dad was discussing that Nathan and Renee were going to announce Saturday that their mating ceremony was in two weeks. For some reason they didn’t want to wait.”

When Jackson shot a glare at Drew, he merely shrugged with a good-natured grin. “You know I’ll do anything to get out of patrol.”

“At least he has a good one. She’ll take care of him.” Tony gestured with his arm and they all started walking toward his truck. He was going to have to talk to his dad and get his take on the Melody dilemma. Right now he just didn’t know what else he could do to convince her that he didn’t want her. It needed to be done soon, before the situation got so far out of control that his dad was forced to make a decision that would cause the whole Pride to get involved.

He looked over at Drew when Jackson burst out laughing. He was doing an impression of Melody. His back was ramrod straight; one hand was on his hip, which was c****d to the side putting all of his weight on one leg and leaving the other bent. He had a haughty expression on his face as he held his other hand up like he was inspecting his nails. “It’s not being a snob when you know your place,” he repeated in a high voice. Tony and Jackson looked at each other and burst into another round of laughter. Drew always could make them laugh, no matter the situation.

They reached his truck and climbed in. He had brought his Dodge so there was plenty of room for all three. Tony was glad he’d had the foresight to go home and swap his work truck for this one. They all would never have fit into the little Toyota he drove for work. He started the truck and carefully backed out of the parking space.

The traffic light turned red as soon as he pulled out so he eased to a stop. “I feel like going for a run.” All of his friends knew that he went for runs when he was stressed about something or just needed to think. His dad encouraged him to run the stress off instead of just holding it in. The light turned green so he eased forward, turning the truck and headed out of town toward home.

“Oh, no,” Jackson stated with a pained shake of his blonde head. “The last time we went for a run we didn’t get back until three in the morning. I barely made it to work the next day.” Tony didn’t bother to mention that the last time they ran, Jackson had been the one in need of a stress reliever. “Just drop me off at home. I promised Mom I’d put her new curio cabinet together. I might as well get it done tonight.”

Things had been a little rough around Jackson’s house the last couple of years. His dad, Andrew, had been a soldier doing a sweep of the northern perimeter when a rogue lion had come through heading south. He’d had no backup and rogue lions were especially dangerous simply because of their unpredictability. He had come out of it alive but barely. All lion changelings healed faster than normal humans and very rarely scarred. Andrew was confined to a wheelchair. His voice was forever changed due to the wound the rogue lion had inflicted trying to rip his throat out. They had found him in time to save his life but his spine had been damaged beyond repair. Their healer, Katrina, had done everything she could but in the end Andrew hadn’t been able to walk properly.

Lately he had taken to drinking; trying to ease the depression of never again being able to shift. Recently the result was more abusive in nature; he wanted everyone else to be in as much pain as he was. Ronnie had talked to him about it several times and was sure that he was going to have to step in soon. A week ago in one of his fits, Andrew had completely destroyed a cabinet that Jackson’s mom, Angela, had kept all of her beloved knickknacks in.

“Okay,” Tony said. “No problem. If you need any help, call me.” They were almost to the gates of the subdivision and Tony could feel the adrenaline starting to run through his body in anticipation of the run. He had yet to find anything that could be so relaxing and so exhilarating at the same time.

“What are you going to do about Melody?” Jackson had asked the question. Drew would have waited until they were alone.

“I don’t know. She’s steadily getting worse. I’ve done everything I can think of but nothing is working. I think I’m going to talk to Dad and see what he thinks about it. Maybe he can come up with something I haven’t tried yet. My feelings or lack of aside, there is no way someone with her attitude and personality could be Pride Leader’s wife. She’d never put the needs of the Pride ahead of her own. That would have been the deciding factor even if I did have feelings for her.” And that was something that Melody should have known. Tony’s love for his Pride ran deep.

Pride responsibilities aside, personally, he wasn’t the slightest bit attracted to her. He had tried at first to be nice about it. When they had been in high school it had started innocently enough. She would want to go to the store and didn’t have anyone to go with her so he would take her. Once she started getting possessive and acting like it was a date he had stopped taking her. She had still shown up at his house at odd times. Then the phone calls had started when he refused to see her. He had gone from taking the calls to avoiding them and now he had her number blocked from his cell phone and had also informed his mom that when he was home, he wouldn’t be taking her calls.

When she couldn’t find him she always called his mother trying to find out where he was. Tony was sure that his mom wasn’t blind to what was going on. She had made several comments regarding Melody’s behavior but he had been certain that he could take care of the problem himself without her interfering. She made sure to let him know that if he did need interference all he had to do was say so. She had a certain amount of power within the Pride.

When the phone calls weren’t producing the results she wanted she had them moved to emails. Now when he saw her, he flat out turned her down for everything she said or hinted at wanting from him. They had purposely kept her from knowing about their Friday nights out but someone had obviously let it slip so he supposed that was over with now. He really needed to talk to his dad about it. It was already a sensitive subject because of her dad’s position in the Pride. Honestly, he was beyond feeling stalked so it was time to bring his dad in on the problem.

“You don’t think she is getting the ‘Fever’ do you?” Jackson asked very quietly. “No one really knows what the beginning signs are for the disease.” Getting the ‘Fever’ as everyone now called it was no laughing matter and everyone’s worst nightmare. That was usually the first sign before someone went rogue. Some lions, or even lioness’, though that was very rare, became so power hungry that they would do anything to get what they wanted. Even kill. Usually those hurt the most were family close to them trying to protect them. Sadly, by the time anyone realized what was going on, it was usually too late.

It didn’t happen very often. In fact, Tony couldn’t remember the last time they’d had a rogue from their Pride. They had come across several from the other two prides in the state. It was an option that Tony hadn’t even considered. He hadn’t wanted to consider it.

“I don’t know, Jackson. That will be something that I’ll ask Dad though. He’s seen it before, he would know for sure.” Tony pulled up to the gate and, taking his access card out and swiping it, he entered his code into the keypad and placed his hand on the sensor beside it.

That was one of the main reasons the Pride felt so safe. No one could get into the front gate without an ID card, handprint recognition and a security code. Only the Pride members living here had access. It guaranteed that Pride members where the only ones going in or out. To the outside world, there were just a very high-end subdivision. They were allowed to bring human friends, but only under supervision, though those humans never knew they were being watched every second they were within the gates.

The whole Pride was on alert while the humans were in the compound to make sure a cub didn’t get loose and accidently spill their secret by shifting in front of them. That way the only entrance they really had to guard was the back that leads to the forest. There were always no less than five guards on the back entrance. They also patrolled the forest to make sure that it was safe for the lions to run. It wasn’t one hundred percent safe in the forest due to poachers but it was better than not having a place to run at all. Some of the younger Pride members thought the precautions were over the top but with so many lives at stake you could never be too careful.

The gates opened and Tony drove through. As common practice, and more out of habit than anything else, he stopped and watched the gate in the rearview mirror to make sure it closed without anyone slipping through. It hadn’t happened yet but there was a first time for everything. They had cameras on the gate as well that were monitored twenty-four hours a day but when you are guarding a secret as important as theirs you took no chances. He lifted a hand to the guard that was sitting in the guard house watching the monitors before driving off.

They rode through a few streets before coming up to Jackson’s house. Tony pulled into the drive and stopped to let him get out.

“Have a good run,” Jackson called as he got out of the truck. He shut the door and waved as he walked up the front walk.

They waved back and Tony pulled out of the driveway. He turned the truck toward the back entrance of the compound. Unlike typical subdivisions, the houses had fairly large yards which the cubs loved and so did the parents as it gave the cubs plenty of room to play and wrestle without destroying anything. As they drove through the streets there were several of the cubs out. Tony made sure to drive carefully in case one of them decided to dart out into the road at the last minute.

“You know, Jackson had a point about the ‘Fever’,” Drew said seriously. “Melody has been acting strange the last few months.” He paused to think about it. “Well, stranger than usual anyway,” Drew said with a smirk.

“I know. I honestly don’t know what else to do. It started out so innocently at first. The more possessive and demanding she got the more it turned me off. When we were in school it was a joke. I never took her seriously when she would spout all that wife and marriage stuff. I’d just brush it off and not think about it anymore. I can’t do that now. I don’t see her that way and never have. It’s getting serious.” Tony glanced over at Drew and then back to the road. He could tell Drew was worried about it too and that was a sign that something had to be done. Drew was very rarely serious so when he was, people stood up and paid attention. He was one of the most observant people Tony knew outside of his dad. He seemed to notice everything.

“I’m going to have a talk with Caitlyn tomorrow.” Drew took his friendship with Tony seriously. Not only because he would be Pride leader one day but also because while growing up, Tony had covered for him a lot when they would get into scrapes. Scrapes that Drew had gotten them into. Everything from pulling pranks on the other kids to taking Pride Leader Ronnie’s new truck for a spin without permission.

“Is that how Melody knew where I was?” The group of friends had been meeting at the mall successfully for two months without Melody finding out about it. That was the only condition that Tony had given them. He would be there as long as Melody wasn’t. It had been tricky the first week because Caitlyn and Tracey were Melody’s best friends but they had done it. After that supposedly Melody had just accepted it. They should have known better.

“Yeah. When we went to pick her and Tracey up at her house, Melody was there. We weren’t alone any after that for me to ask her what was going on but I will.” The determination in his voice told Tony that he would find out and Caitlyn would be very sorry she broke the one condition of the Friday night get togethers. They all knew that was the one time that Tony would let everything go and just enjoy himself.

“Just find out why before you condemn her. You know how off Melody’s been lately, how devious. Anything is possible.” They were quiet for a few minutes as they drew closer to the parking area for the back gate.

“What was the deal with that girl at the mall today?” Drew’s tone said that he was really curious about that. Tony couldn’t blame him. It was so unlike him to completely forget what’s going on around him.

“Her name is Lindsey,” he paused. Tony suddenly grinned and laughed in disbelief. “I don’t know her last name. I was so caught up in talking to her that I didn’t even get her last name.” He couldn’t help but laugh at himself again and shake his head.

Unbelievable. He had never been so distracted by anything that he forgot details like that. “There is something going on with her and I have no idea even how to explain it. It was like a,” he stopped, trying to think of the right word, “compulsion. I couldn’t stop myself from going over and talking to her.”

“Compulsion? As in fixation?” Drew asked. He raised one eyebrow and that smirk was back on his face. “Do I need to start calling you Melody?” he joked.

Tony slanted a glance at him that dared him to do it before turning back to the road. “You know what the strange thing was?” he said. He didn’t wait for an answer. “It started before I had even looked at her.” Just thinking about her sweet scent brought the attraction back in full force. He had left her almost forty-five minutes ago but her scent seemed to be burned into his memory. “There was something about her scent that caught me as I was walking through the mall. It took me a few minutes to figure out where it was coming from.”

“Her scent called to you?” Drew was astonished. He had never heard of that happening before.

“I know how it sounds. It’s crazy.” Tony had never heard of it and he was sure that if it had ever happened before his dad would have said something about it. Wouldn’t he? “And it wasn’t just her scent. She has the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen. The attraction was so strong it almost knocked me off my feet, literally.”

“Oh, man. You’ve got it bad. If she were lion I’d say she’s your mate but she’s human.” Drew shook his head in wonderment as he laughed. “Maybe we should have made a bet about you instead of poor Nathan.” The evil laugh he gave really worried Tony but he knew that Drew would never breathe a word of any of this to anyone unless he told him he could.

They pulled into the parking lot and got out of the truck. “I’ve got something,” Tony said emphatically. “And I’m going to find out what it is.” He reached into the back and opened the lid to the storage compartment he always kept there with extra clothes and other supplies in it.

“What do you mean ‘you’re going to find out’?” The frown that Tony heard in Drew’s voice had him looking over at him. He was looking at him in amazement while taking his shoes off at the same time. They didn’t have to undress to make the change but it saved on clothes because they ripped if they weren’t removed first.

Tony shrugged. “I’m meeting her tomorrow night. I need to find out what this is between us.” He leaned over, unlaced his boots and took those and his socks off.

Drew threw his shoes and socks into the storage compartment and pulled his shirt up over his head and off. Quizzically, Drew looked at him. “What does it matter? She’s human.” He felt the need to state the obvious. He held his hand up when it looked like Tony was about to blast him. “Don’t get me wrong, I like humans just as much as the next guy but you know it’s frowned upon to date them. For no other reason than so our races’ secrets stay that way.”

“Exactly. If she was a changeling like us I could understand it.” He paused to think for a second. “Well, maybe not understand it but I could pass it off as this mating thing but she’s human. I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s more than attraction. It’s magnetism. Like my body recognized hers and I've barely touched her. Hell, Drew, I felt it before I had even seen her. Her back was to me when I finally figured out where the scent was coming from.” He was trying to be as honest about it as possible. He trusted Drew with his life and knew that whatever they talked about would never be repeated. “I already feel like she’s mine. Just the thought of another male getting near her makes me want to rip something apart.” He shook his head, completely perplexed. He pealed his shirt off and tossed his shoes and shirt in the compartment together. Tony put his hands on his hips and just looked at Drew. “I just met her an hour ago. How is that possible?”

Drew shucked his jeans and boxers, balled them up and put them with the rest of his cloths. Closing his side of the storage compartment, he leaned against the truck and starred at Tony across the bed thoughtfully. “Knowing it’s that strong should you really be going to meet her?”

Tony thought about it for a few minutes while he finished undressing and put the cloths in the compartment and shut it. He leaned against his side of the truck. “How can I not? How else am I going to find out what this is? I was planning on asking Dad if he had ever heard of it happening before but I can’t do that if I don’t know what it is to describe it to him.”

“That’s a good point.” Drew straightened back up and stretched. “Are we going to do this or not?” He started bouncing around, not able to contain his excitement.

“Let’s do it.” Tony felt the adrenaline pumping through his system and made a mental note to log their run into the computer later.

Stepping back from the truck he let the change take him. It started with his skin tingling as fur covered his body and hair sprouted from his neck and head as his mane came out the same color and thickness as is brown hair. He could feel his bones and muscles popping and snapping as they changed and reformed into the lion he was born to be. He could feel his tail developing from the small of his back. Transforming his face, his jaw and nose elongated to form the muzzle. Teeth ached as they became larger, sharper. As soon as his whiskers formed he automatically began picking up more information around him. Finally dropping onto all fours, Tony felt his tail twitch in the wind. Where once he had stood now was a large predator. In truth the change had only taken seconds where sometimes it felt like longer.

Another lion came around the truck, his coat darker as Drew’s hair was red. Tony roared to show his dominance. It was an urge that he couldn’t deny. Drew’s large head bowed submissively, acknowledging Tony as his leader. Together the two lions raced off into the forest, both anxious to stretch their legs and feel the freedom that only this form could give them.