I continued to lie in bed, waiting for Aaron to “surprise” me with the breakfast he’d been preparing for the last forty minutes. Of course, given my hyper-acute hearing and overdeveloped sense of smell, his sweet gesture was rather futile. Surprised or not, no one had ever served me breakfast in bed before. Major points for my defense lawyer, wild-as-hell lover, very human semi-boyfriend.
The embers of an all too familiar pain ignited inside my chest. Aaron and I could never marry. Hell, we couldn’t even date out in the open. His very life depended on the pride never discovering we were anything more than co-workers. You’d think my high six-figure salary, doctorates degree and the sizable fortune I’d amassed would provide me with a certain degree of freedom. But as a Desert West Lioness I literally belonged to Sareph—the pig-headed Alpha of our pride who I loathed with ever fiber of my body. Not that that mattered. On my twenty third birthday—just over a year from now—I’d have to walk away from everyone and everything I knew, move in to his Dallas mansion and surrender myself completely to him, letting him breed me at will like a prized mare. It was enough to make stepping in front of a bus sound tempting.
I was so lost in thought that Aaron made it to the side of the bed before I noticed. He lowered the tray over my lap and pressed his syrup coated lips against mine. “Morning, sleepy head.”
Letting out a theatrical yawn, I stretched my arms out above my head and opened my eyes. I didn’t have to fake my ear to ear smile. “Oh my God, Aaron! How sweet!”
Between the large stacks of pancakes and Blueberry waffles there was more sugar on the plate than I’d voluntarily eat in a decade, and not a sausage link, strip of bacon or anything resembling meat in sight. I picked up my fork and dug in anyway. I’d almost polished off the waffles when my iPhone vibrated on the nightstand.
Aaron started to hand it to me then flashed a devious grin, spun away from the bed and hit the call button. “Katlin’s boyfriend speaking.”
I turned towards him, threw of of my pillows at his head, "give me that, dork. Will you ever grow up?"
ReplyDelete"Yes Mr. Walker, I'll tell her... ok, you too, goodbye". Aaron turned towards me with a serious look on his face. "What is it hun? Is everything alright?" A stupid little grin appeard. That was your dad. He told me to make sure that I give you a good hard spanking today, since it is your birthday.
ReplyDeleteLove it, Craig! See my next line below :)
DeleteI collapsed on the bed as a wave of fear tore through me. Besides the fact that it wasn't my birthday, I'd watched my father get slaughtered over ten years ago by a much younger and stronger male who'd challenged him for alphahood of my home pride in the Smokey mountains.
ReplyDeleteWhen I refused to pledge my loyalty to our new Alpha I was cast out, which is how I ended up in the Desert West pride to begin with.
Only one person was cruel enough to play such a sick joke on me. Sareph. And if I was right, Aaron and I were both as good as dead.