“How do you feel about the Oasis? Have you ever been back since that day?” she asked.
I shook my head. “No. I don’t even know what happened to the bodies of the lions. Ishtar swept in and scooped us away before I could do anything. Before I could even consider burying them.”
She was quiet a moment. “It will be okay, Zam. We’ve come this far. I can’t believe we would fail now.”
I wasn’t so sure she was right, and a line came to me from one of Shakespeare’s plays.
“And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe. And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot; And thereby hangs a tale.” I said the words slowly, feeling the truth of them for the first time.
Lila nodded, her eyes narrowed a bit. “That’s from As You Like It, isn’t it?”
“Yes. This story is far from over, Lila. I feel like we’ve only just begun to dig through the surface of what is going on in this world. All these fucking assholes before me thought they were protecting me, us, by keeping us in the dark, and all they’ve done is hamstring me.” I shook my head and Balder picked up his pace as he picked up on my irritation.
I struggled to keep my emotions in check as we rode on, and I began to see places from my childhood. At the very least, we wouldn’t be going through the village where the women and children were left to rot. I was sure there would still be bones scattered there, bits of huts, old gear worn and half covered by the sands of the desert. Nearly twenty years since that fateful day when our world had been torn asunder.
Near midday, a hill sat ahead of us and I stopped Balder at the bottom and slid off his back. “The Oasis is on the other side. We need to go up carefully since it is a common place for different species to stop and drink. It’s supposed to be neutral territory.”
Lila hopped off Batman and I set the two horses up, ground tying them. As well trained as they were, nothing short of a full-on attack would make them leave where they stood, waiting for me to call them. I gave them each an oat ball and then shifted to my cat form, dropping to all fours. The sand was warm on the pads of my paws as I bounded up the slippery slope, Lila at my side.
The last time I’d come this route, I’d chased Bryce, wanting to see the Jinn for myself. I looked to my left, and for just a moment, I was sure I saw him there, in his lion form, racing up beside me. He turned his head, winked, and then was gone.
Not gone, still with me, just not in the flesh.
Seeing him made me think of the Emperor’s promise. That he could give me my brother back if I would bow to him. My thoughts slid away as I slowed near the top of the dune and lowered to my belly to creep up the last bit. At the crest of the hill, I flattened my ears to my skull and peeked over the edge. Lila did the same, pinning her wings back to her sides and peering over the top.
The Oasis hadn’t changed a great deal, not really. The swaying trees were still thick on top with green foliage, and the palm fronds swayed. The ground was covered only in patches of life-sustaining plants, and there was no sound. Not even of water rippling against a shoreline. The water was near the center of the Oasis, so that part didn’t surprise me.
The wind whipped around us in a gust and I narrowed my eyes against the flying sand.
“You see anything?” Lila whispered.
“Nothing. Follow me, stick close.” I stayed on my belly and all but slithered over the top of the dune, sliding down the slope as quietly as I could.
Lila was beside me and as soon as we hit the flat of the bottom, I bolted across the open space to the cover of the first clump of trees. My heart pounded almost out of control and while I might have tried to tell myself it was the run across the open space, I knew better. The past reared its head around me, whispering things I didn’t want to remember in clear detail. I could see the lions moving around me, ghosts in my mind, the sound of their roars filling my ears.
Lila pushed against me, covering me with one wing. “Deep breaths. It is in the past, Zam.”
She was right, and she was wrong, but I did as she said and managed to get myself under control. I tipped my head up and sucked in a deep breath. There was no smell of Jinn, at least nothing that was recent. But there was something else that both caught me off guard and gave me a burst of hope.
“Lion shifter,” I whispered as I crept forward, following the smell. The scent was strong enough that there was no doubt the shifter was still here, but I didn’t recognize them. Male or female I couldn’t tell, and it was no shifter from my pride. I kept moving deeper through the Oasis until I found the edge of the water, and that was where the lion shifter sat.
Literally, in a lion’s form, but holy shit he was not what I expected.
Lila sucked in a breath a little too sharply and he whipped his head around, his solid black mane flaring. Black fur rippled as he stood and stalked toward us, mouth open as he scented the air.
Easily, he was as big as Bryce had been. Maybe larger, it was hard to say from the angle we stood.
A low growl rumbled out of him, and I immediately put myself in front of Lila. I couldn’t help it, my body puffed up and I arched my back, turning sideways. A hiss snarled out of me and I ignored the fact he probably couldn’t hear it over his growl.
His eyes widened and then . . . the bastard had the nerve to sit and laugh at me. “Shit, are you serious? You think you can take me on, little cat?”
“You think you want to mess with the alpha of the Bright Lion Pride?” Lila snapped as she shot into the air.
He grinned and yawned. “The Bright Lion Pride was wiped out a long time ago. As were most of the lions. There are no prides left.”
I glared at him and shifted so I stood on two legs. I pointed a finger at him. “Shift. Now!”
I put as much command into my voice as I could and he shocked me by doing as I said. He shifted to two legs, his eyes wide like he was as surprised as me.
He had black hair and eyes just as dark with a rim of gold. He was taller than me, built broad in the chest and narrow in the hip. He reminded me a bit of Shem in his form.
Lila squeaked. “He’s naked. Damn, I forgot about that part.”
I kept my eyes on his, hands on my hips. A naked body didn’t bother me. That was part of a shifter’s life.
I walked right up to him and jammed a finger in his chest. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”
He arched an eyebrow over dark eyes. “Who are you?”
“I asked first,” I growled, never lowering my eyes from his. I’ll give him credit, he tried to keep his eyes up, but he was no alpha. His eyelids flickered.
“Ford. From the Gold Creek Pride.” He lifted his eyes and grinned up at me.
“Zamira. From the Bright Lion Pride,” I said.
His eyebrows shot up. “Dirk’s pride? I heard that’s where the slaughter started.” I didn’t correct him, and he rambled on like the apparent fool he was. “Can I put my clothes on now?”
“No.” I didn’t look away from him. “What are you doing here?”
“Looking for a mate.” He eyed me up suddenly as if assessing my possibilities.
“Fuck off, she’s taken,” Lila snarled.
Before I could say anything, he threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, shit, I would never want a tiny little thing like you! I was looking because where there is one lion, there’s a chance there’s more.”
I arched a brow at him. “I suggest you leave. There are no mates . . .” A thought crossed my mind. He was looking for a mate. It wouldn’t hurt to have an extra pair of eyes at my back. Male lions when hunting for a lady would do anything to get their grubby mitts on them. Including stupid, dangerous things like walking into the enemy’s encampment. Assuming I could trust him.
Then again, he was being brutally honest at the moment.
I glanced at Lila and she shrugged, almost like she could read my mind.
“I’m about to go into the Jinn’s Dominion. They are holding three of my pride members hostage. Two females, one male.” I tipped my chin at him. “Might that interest you, playing the hero to two women?”
His eyes lit up. “Tell me they aren’t all teeny tiny like you and you might have my attention.”