No.
She ran her hands up and down her body, wincing under the slight pressure of her fingers. She was bruised all over. Her arm ached like it had been ripped from her body and reattached.
“I don’t remember anything.”
She thought her admission to this male would help ease her horror over the situation. She didn’t know why she thought that. He was a stranger. But not.
And she did trust Saul.
Perhaps it was the soul call, perhaps another reason. He claimed to have saved her yesterday. But even that memory as of right now was inaccessible.
“I know. I am sorry he took you from your mate, from your life. He will die for that transgression. I vow that on my life.” His tone dropped to a dark and deadly level.
“You said you have a home here. A tribe?” She knew what Exodus Day meant for their world. She knew her mate was gone. The soul call would not manifest for her in this male otherwise. But she didn’t want it. It was too much. Everything was too much.
She wanted to curl up and forget all the painful things she’d learned.
“It is a good place. With good people. They are happy. Two have children with their mate. We all take turns caring for the babies so the mothers can rest. It is how it should be.”
Lorelei nodded and then looked away from him. What he described sounded nice. Sounded like home where Tribes took care of each other like one big family. It was what she had with Tallix.
Had with Tallix…but didn’t have anymore.
“How will we get to your home? You said Rivian and his warriors hunt for me. You said they were waiting for the storm to pass. I don’t hear a storm.”
Saul’s voice dropped to a deadpan. “I intend to kill Rivian. I intend to kill every warrior with him. He is prince of a tribe that was greatly feared on our planet. They are cruel and dangerous and do not deserve to live.”
“I hope you do kill him.” The words slid off her tongue so easily. She wanted Rivian to die. All of them to die. Somehow they’d stolen her from Tallix. Killed him? She couldn’t remember and it would eat at her soul until she did. She wanted her revenge.
“If you feel capable, we should leave now. They will be closing in.”
She nodded and rose to her feet. “I can go.”
He pulled off the coat he was wearing and handed it to her. “Wear this. You don’t have enough on for this weather.”
She leaned forward and grabbed the coat, put it on and pulled it tight around her body. Everything inside her settled in an instant as his scent enveloped her. Warmth and male and musk and pine and safety were all wrapped up in that coat with her.
It wasn’t fair that another male’s scent brought comfort. It wasn’t fair that she’d lost Tallix a year ago and couldn’t remember what’d happened. Tears welled again. She wiped them away quickly, but not fast enough to evade Saul’s ever-present watchful gaze.
He opened the front door and led them outside into a white land. The air was so cold her face hurt. It was so different from the jungles and deserts of Reylea. How could he stand this?
“What is this?”
“Snow. Frozen water that falls like rain. This is what the cold season looks like in this land.”
She shook her head, still not truly understanding, but accepting yet another truth about the world she’d woken up into.
He closed the door behind them and then the air shimmered and immediately she was face to face with a huge lion instead of an enormous mountain of a man.
He padded closer and she didn’t move at first, but he waited, giving her the choice. It was better this way. She needed to touch him. The soul call made it that way. But not as a man. Not with the memory of Tallix in her mind. She couldn’t.
Lorelei reached a hand toward Saul’s snout. Her hand trembled.
Her fingertips grazed his black nose. The skin was so soft. So velvety and delicate.
Then a familiar sound happened.
A purr.
She remembered Tallix purring for her. How it comforted her.
Now this strange male did the same and it comforted her as well. So soothing against the painful and newly realized losses. She wanted to go back to the bed inside and stretch out and listen until she passed out, pretending she didn’t have a worry in the world.
Pretending that she hadn’t lost everything and everyone that she’d ever loved.
Maybe she could. Not go to bed. But maybe pretend. Just for a few seconds.
That everything was okay. That Tallix was at home waiting for her. That she wasn’t on a brand new world hunted by her mate’s brother. That she didn’t hurt.
Maybe.
For a few moments she could breathe the cold pure air surrounding her and believe that all was well.
5
Lorelei
Saul stepped down from the wooden platform in front of the structure he’d called a cabin. Into the white stuff. The frozen rain—snow.
It was nice to know what it was called, though if she’d been here as long as he claimed, she should’ve already known about snow.
But that piece of information was missing as well.
Everything before today was a massive blank space in her mind. It frustrated her and made her angry and she wanted to rip Rivian to shreds for what he’d done to her life. He’d separated her from her mate.
Perhaps that was why her mind was broken? Perhaps losing her mate had damaged her so infinitely that she refused to remember the horror of it?
She removed her hand from Saul’s mane and shifted into her lion to stand right next to him. It’d been so long. Well, it felt like it for her lion. Maybe it had been. Maybe it hadn’t.
Lorelei shook her huge head and roared gently, letting some of her frustration vent. She was so tired though. If Saul wanted her to run, she wouldn’t last long.
Saul’s big face nudged her. Right. He didn’t want her to roar. They needed to be quiet.
She hated that she feared Rivian and his warriors, but she did. And the last thing she wanted was for that bastard to get his hands on her again.
They moved off through the snow away from the cabin, but their jaunt was short-lived.
A lion blocked their way, teeth bared, a warning not to run. It was one. They could handle this lone scout. She took another step and curled her lips over her fangs, revealing her displeasure. A low rumble started in her throat and grew until it overflowed from her throat.
In the space of a moment, Saul’s posture changed from defensive to offensive.
Before she could take another step toward Rivian’s warrior, Saul was airborne, leaping toward the other lion.
The other lion leapt at the same time.
The two giants collided in the air and fell to the ground with snarls and a swirl of snow. Saul swiped out and knocked the enemy to the ground.
Rumbling growls vibrated through her body, tensing every single muscle. Copper scented the air. Blood was shed on both sides.
Then they were up, facing each other, mouths open.
It was like a dance to see who could get ahold of the other first.
Saul lunged then feinted, sweeping a paw out and knocking the other lion to the ground again. He clearly had more experience. Snow flew in every direction as their bodies twisted and turned. Saul ripped at the warrior’s belly and then tore tufts of mane from the other lion’s neck.