Reclaiming the space was a small step forward, but no journeys worth taking finished so quickly. There was still a daunting mountain to climb to get her shit together, but she’d started clawing her way to the top with the changes to the bedroom.
No, she corrected. Not the bedroom. Her dance studio.
Chapter 16
Sage wrapped her arms around her middle and stomped over the landscape. Exhaustion shot up her sore feet and legs with every step, but she didn’t turn back home. Her mind was still too active and on fire to find sleep in the bed she’d relocated to her living room.
She’d stretched and practiced for a full two hours that night, but nothing had calmed her head. Even when she slipped out of her homemade studio, she’d still felt as restless and trapped as when she entered.
What had Rhys told her? Maybe the cat made more sense than she was willing to admit?
She’d worn out her human half. Now she had to give a little something to her shifter side. She’d hoped getting out under the wide open would ease some of the caged feeling, but even the great expanse of sky and stars overhead hadn’t lessened her discomfort.
They were still trapped, even if the boundaries of the cage extended to the edge of the Crowley territory.
No. She wouldn’t let the hopeless feelings whisk her away. She’d spent eight long months stuck in that pit of despair. She still had a ways to go before she reached the top, but every inch upward was another ton of weight left behind.
In the week since her father’s demand of her return, she’d spent a good number of hours in her new studio. She’d started easy and slow, working her way through the lessons she used to give to children and beginners. She was years out of practice and needed to rebuild the foundations, but the burn in her thighs was evidence of progress.
Progress, too, was made with the others. She couldn’t stay fluttering on the outside forever. She needed to feel eyes on her, say more than a handful of words, and actually live.
Kyla still barged through her door without waiting for an answer, but she was taking steps. Direct confrontation wasn’t in the cards yet, but she was grabbing hold of that irritation instead of letting it slip through her fingers.
She was grabbing hold of fur a little more, too.
Her lioness slunk through her head, tip of her tail twitching. The animal still wasn’t ready to make the jump into the real world, but she was more present. She didn’t flip between frightened and angry as much, either. Maybe, just maybe, they could be one and the same again.
Sage missed her.
Something caught her foot and she pitched forward, barely catching herself. She stumbled to a stop and shook her head clear. Clothes. Not the edge of a viper pit or a simple root poking up from the ground. She’d tripped on a pile of clothes.
“Shit,” she whispered. Sage breathed deep and scanned the darkness. No sounds reached her ears and only one scent filled her nose.
Strangely intoxicating, that scent. Baked earth like all the lions she knew, but there was a sweet spiciness underneath. Like a hot mocha with cayenne pepper sprinkled over top. Her mouth watered every time she dragged those notes deep into her lungs, and the hard edge of her tangled thoughts smoothed down to let her breathe freely.
Without thinking, she knelt and grabbed the shirt folded neatly on top. Eyes sliding closed, she pressed the soft cotton to her nose and breathed him in.
Savage lion. Rabid beast. Dead eyes, bloody claws, scarred hide. Rhys wasn’t weak. He wasn’t afraid to swipe a paw against anything that bothered him. He had a strength she envied.
Something scratched at the back of her brain and she jerked upright. Footsteps sounded in the darkness, and they strode right for her.
Swallowing down her squeal, Sage dropped the shirt on the pile of clothes and darted behind a cluster of trees. She slammed her hands over her mouth and nose to quiet her ragged breath right before Rhys mounted the hill.
She didn’t know what she expected. Him calling out to her, maybe. Simply grabbing his things in his teeth and moving on was up there, too. He wasn’t dumb; he had to know she’d been there. Recently, to boot. Her scent would still be in the air, on his clothes, and in a clear trail to her hiding place.
The night stayed utterly still long enough for her heart to start racing. What the hell was he waiting for? Her to move first and admit she’d been sniffing his things like a freak? Not fuckin’ likely.
She should go. Just put one foot in front of the other and keep on walking. She was as much a Crowley as Rhys. They both had rights to nighttime strolls through the territory. Besides, keeping him at her back was the polite and decent thing to do.
Sage froze when she heard the first crack of bone. A low swirl of energy rushed right for her, raising the hair on the back of her neck. Unless he had special powers and left piles of clothes around to confuse anyone keeping tabs on him, he stood absolutely naked only a few yards away.
She shouldn’t look. She knew she shouldn’t. It was improper. Indecent. More than a little pervy. Lindley would blow a gasket if he knew someone had spied on her.
Feeling like she’d been body snatched, Sage twisted around the trunk.
Rhys stood in all his naked glory. Even the sky seemed to agree to the show as the clouds parted and lit him up in the weak rays of moonlight.
Her lioness rammed forward with all the strength the beast had hidden away. The male
