“Here.” Darius came in with a wrench, a towel, and a bowl of warm water. “Whatever you're going to do, hurry. Niyarvirezi already has lions looking for you.”
“Tell everyone to hide,” I said to Darius. “I'm not leaving any of you like this; by tonight, you'll all be free.”
Darius gaped at me and then joy filled his features. “Yes, Tima!”
As soon as that bitch shows her face, you take her magic, Vervain, Al said. Don't give her a chance to attack you. When you have all of it, you'll shift into a lioness. You'll claim this territory and the Pride, but then you must remember your true form in order to become human again.
Remember my true form? I asked as fear shot through me. I'm going to be a lion?
You've done this hundreds of times before, V; you got this.
“Okay,” I said determinedly as I knelt beside Kirill. “I'm going to soak your leg with water to try and loosen the blood.”
You should have thought of that the first time.
I didn't? I asked in horror. Did I just yank it out?
Yep; that was hard to watch.
“Fuck,” I muttered. “What a moron I was.”
Kirill's head shifted to look at me.
“Just give it a minute to loosen the metal,” I said to him. “It looks as if your flesh has fused to it. I'm going to undo the screw first.”
Kirill huffed and laid his head back down as if he trusted me completely.
“I can't believe this is happening,” I whispered.
I loosened the bolt, and when the flesh around the metal had softened a bit, I gave it an experimental tug. Kirill growled and lifted his head again.
“Yeah; it's still going to hurt,” I said. “But I don't think we have enough time to let this soak longer.”
Kirill seemed to be listening to something, and then he turned to me and nodded. I yanked the bolt out before he could prepare himself, and he yipped in pain; curling up in a fetal position as he shifted to human. And then, there he was; my beautiful Kirill. His long hair gleamed like spilled oil over the curves of his muscles, and when he opened his eyes, their intense blue gleamed through that silky, black curtain.
“Tima,” Kirill said roughly as he reached for me.
I have no idea what came over me; I just went into his arms and started making out with the naked man on that bloody, worn floor. His lips tasted like home to me, and his arms felt perfect around my body. Kirill's hands held my face as if I were the most precious thing he'd ever touched, and when I laid my hands to his chest, I could feel his heart beating rapidly.
“I've dreamed of you,” he said in a Russian accent as he drew back. “Tell me your name.”
“Vervain,” I whispered.
“Vervain,” he repeated as he closed his eyes and sighed. When Kirill opened his eyes again, he was smiling peacefully. “You drew me out of my madness slowly—in my dreams—and zen you came and freed me. I feel as if I've known you forever.”
“I feel it too,” I said as I laid my hand on his cheek.
Kirill covered my hand with his and said urgently, “Tell me you're taking me vith you. Vherever you go, I vill follow.”
“I am,” I said immediately. “I'm claiming the Pride and then we're going home.”
Kirill smiled brilliantly.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Niyarvirezi screeched.
I didn't even hesitate; I just latched onto Niyarvirezi's magic and pulled for all I was worth.
Chapter Eleven
I was lost to the lioness at first. Once I had all of Niyarvirezi's magic and had shifted, I killed Niyarvirezi with a quick swipe of claws to her throat. That would have been enough for me, but it wasn't for the lioness. We could feel all of our lions; their relief, their deep gratitude, and the echo of the pain they'd suffered at the hands of their goddess.
It was too much to take in one blow. I roared with fury and tore into Niyarvirezi's chest. I felt my Pride gathering around me—filling the room and the hallways beyond—and their need for satisfaction consumed me. I knew it was to be either sex or violence, and there was no way that I was going to have sex with all of those men.
So, blood would have to quench their desires.
I tore out Niyarvirezi's heart and consumed it before the Pride; a physical representation of what I had taken from her and what I had become. I was their heart now, and I would protect them from people like her. Then I stood back and let the lions feast.
As I watched, I had another memory; a memory of a memory, actually. I was standing over Niyarvirezi's corpse—about to eat her—when I remembered what a man had said to me; about how the Froekn don't feed on human flesh. I frowned and pushed it away. The Froekn were children of the Viking Wolf God, Fenrir—and they killed for money. Yep; they were werewolf assassins. Why their practices would have any influence over me was baffling.
Kirill—still in human form—laid his hand on my lion head and leaned against my side. He had no need for blood; he'd already found satisfaction within our bond. So, we stood together and watched our family take their vengeance. That in itself was satisfying.
“Niyarvirezi?” Demeter's frantic shout echoed down the hallway toward me.
No doubt, she couldn't get past all of the lions who were waiting their turn to get their pound of flesh from the dead goddess.
“I zink it's time you returned to your true body, Tima,” Kirill said gently. “Do you know how?”
I nodded; I had to remember my body. I brought up an image
