He tightened his hand around the lion carving. He needed to keep his shit together. Sage. Sage needed him to keep his shit together.
He rolled his eyes and ground his teeth, but he answered the alpha’s unspoken question. “He wants me back.”
Trent turned his head slightly. “And you said…?”
“Fuck you.” He turned a narrowed look on his alpha. “You want me gone? I’ll go. In the meantime, stop trying to fix me.” He lifted a middle finger and turned to stalk back into the barn.
The man snorted. “No, I’m not the one doing the fixing. Sage is.”
Rhys snapped to a stop. Irritation pounding away in his temples, he turned to face the other man with a low growl on his lips. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m not going to warn you away from her. Look how that worked out with Dash and Colette. Now I’ve got the fucking bears as in-laws, of a sort.” Trent scowled. “You need to be careful with her.”
“You think I’m going to hurt her?”
“Not on purpose.” Trent turned his head to fix one eye on him. “Does she know everything?”
Rhys rolled his shoulders to cut the tension. Fuck this talking bullshit. He didn’t want threats from Lindley. He didn’t want advice from Trent. “No,” he snapped. “Not everything.”
“She needs to know.”
A familiar boil started in his middle as his lion padded through his head. Claws swiped and slashed at his insides, upping his irritation with every stroke. He whipped the knife through the air at the nearest fence post, then sent a rock sailing with a well aimed kick.
“Anyone else want to share their fucking opinions?” he roared at the others in the mouth of the barn.
Silence. Glorious, delightful, accusatory silence.
Rhys slid his eyes closed and let his lion take his skin.
Fuck, he wanted to be anyone but himself. Sage deserved more.
Chapter 20
Sage practically buzzed from head to toe as she rolled one ankle, then the next. She shot a look at the clock in the kitchen, then denied she’d done it for the thousandth time. The afternoon had passed into evening, then into complete darkness. Sprinting back and forth between excitement and panic wouldn’t make the minutes pass any faster.
But when they finally ticked down, she’d see Rhys again.
Sage flashed a small smile at her toes, then forced herself to straighten and own her happiness. And that was what she felt. The strange tingling in the pit of her stomach, paired with the stretch of her lips and soreness in her cheeks. Smiles were easier than ever, and she didn’t need to fake them. She was happy.
So strange after so long spent not wanting to feel anything. Now she couldn’t wait until she got the next hit, be it in the form of a secretive smile over the heads of the pride, or sitting at one end of the couch with him on the other as they watched something on TV.
He was acclimating her to his touch. Little brushes of his hands here, breath against her skin there. Even when there wasn’t any physical contact, he made his presence known. How could she ignore the hulking white lion walking with her in the dark?
There, too, he was reeling her in. Or maybe she was doing the reeling and he was the one slowly closing the distance until they were as near as the first night he walked her home.
She almost couldn’t believe it’d been two hundred and sixty-four days since she’d arrived on the ranch. No, wait, sixty-five.
There was something a little thrilling about not having the correct count in her head.
A sharp knock on her door killed her thoughts before she lost herself in the memory of the white lion at her side. Sage whirled around, hand going to her throat. She relaxed enough to breathe again, but the automatic panic made her lip curl. She was so tired of expecting the worst at every little noise.
Right on cue, Kyla barged inside.
Sage spun away again to hide her annoyance. Irritation bubbled in her middle. She pressed her lips together to keep it from spilling outward.
Then her eyes fell on the lioness Rhys had given her. Crouched low, paw raised, that animal wouldn’t let something stay unsaid when it really bothered her. She’d raise her claws and stick up for herself.
She scuffed her toe against the floor, then set her jaw and lifted her eyes. “Canyoustopbargingthroughmydoor?” she asked in a rush.
Kyla cocked her head. “What was that?”
Fuck. Sage dragged down a deep breath, then let it go slowly. She could do this. If she could strip down and play with herself in front of the biggest, meanest lion in the pride—and ask him to do the same!—she could ask Kyla for a little privacy. Easy peasy. “Can you please stop barging through my door?”
Kyla blinked, shook her head, then blinked again. “Oh my goodness, Sage, has that been bothering you this whole time? I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Here, let’s try this again.”
She spun around and took three quick steps toward the door, but Sage caught her wrist before she stepped outside. “Not now. Just… in the future.”
Kyla cocked her head and smiled broadly. “He’s good for you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sage felt her cheeks flame.
“Oh, okay, sure. Definitely not the big, scary lion who has apparently gifted you one of his carvings.” Kyla pointed to the lioness sitting on her counter.
Sage nearly cursed. Or reached for it to hide it behind her back like a child and a cookie she wasn’t supposed to have. Maybe it’d work now that she was an adult.
Kyla squinted at the carving, then looked back at her. She took one giant, dramatic step closer, then jabbed a finger in her direction. “This is you!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she repeated. Try as she might, she couldn’t stop the grin splitting her face. Or the heat flooding her body. “It could
