(Thanks to reviewer Ereana who gave me a really great review for Paris's fanfic. And to all my past reviewers huge thanks too.)
Paris and Ariel flashed themselves immediately to the source of commotion. In the nursery where toys were scattered all over the carpeted floor and the walls had framed pictures of beautiful landscapes and Disney characters, stood Leona, Ariel's second cousin Deena, Ly and Aiyanna. Leona was holding a screaming baby and yelling while the dark headed woman held up a long wooden staff and was thrusting it in Aiyanna's direction, prodding her back into the corner. Aiyanna swiped her long claws at the pole and roared, Ariel ran to Aiyanna and blocked the cubs body with her own, both Aiyanna and Deena attacked at the same time, Ariel felt the pole hit her in the stomach knocking the wind out of her while Aiyanna's claws made shallow cut in the back of her thighs.
Paris gave a roar that could only be produced from a fully fledged male lion and ran at Deena, she held the pole up to ward him off but he grabbed it and threw it and her from him until she bounced off of the opposite wall, leaving a sizable dent. He advanced on her and Ariel fearing for her cousin's life managed to get her throat working again.
"Paris, no!" she heaved loudly, Aiyanna was laying shaking in the corner, Ariel wanted so much to soothe her but she could barely catch her breath. Paris moved back to her side and sat on the floor beside Ariel, he pulled her in to his lap and nuzzled her hair while he threw dagger looks over her head to Leona and Deena.
"Don't you dare look at us like that Katagaria!" Leona shrieked, "that animal nearly savaged my little boy! Had Deena not been here she would have ripped him to shreds."
Paris cut a glare at Ly, "is that what happened?"
Ly shifted uncomfortably under his stare then gave a nervous glance to her aunt and cousin.
"Well … not ex-act-ly."
"Ly, you little liar! That's exactly what happened!"
"What! Exactly! Happened!" Ariel roused herself enough so shout the words across at her aunt who winced.
"She was sniffing around Nikoli, but Nikoli was crying before she came near him -" Ly said suddenly before her aunt could answer. Paris gave a sardonic half laugh.
"Typical Arcadian's don't ever think there could be a reasonable explanation, just too eager to kill."
"How dare -" Deena began but Ariel who was at her wits end cut her over.
"He's right! Had you had the brains to think before acting you might have saved me a dig in the stomach and yourself a busted head and dented wall - which by the way your paying to be fixed!"
Deena looked literally apoplectic with anger, so much so that words failed her and she stamped from the room with a screaming Nikoli and an indignant Leona. Ly shifted from one foot to the other before Ariel gave her an irritated stare.
"You can leave!"
Ly looked immensely relieved and flashed herself out of the nursery, Ariel crossed the room on a crawl to Aiyanna who was shaking, Ariel raised her hand to run it over her fur but Aiyanna flinched. Ariel felt pain slice her heart, she just hoped Deena's actions hadn't permanently damaged Aiyanna and ruined all the work Ariel had put in to making her safe.
"Oh baby, don't. That wasn't your fault. It'll never happen again, I swear."
"Doubt that," Paris muttered darkly and winced when Ariel glared at him, Ariel coaxed Aiyanna into following her outside in to the garden, Paris followed them until she led them through a gate and into a secluded garden away from the rest. It was filled with long flowery arches and ponds, fountains and tall hedges, flourishing beds of flowers of all colours and scents had Aiyanna running dizzily around, chasing bee's and staring up trees at magpies and hummingbirds. She stared at frogs that hopped about on an artificial creek and swiped her paw through a small waterfall.
It was beautiful and soothing, like the woman next to him, the world felt right here, there was no danger of being hurt or abused, Aiyanna felt it and so did Paris.
Paris touched Ariel's arm and guided her to a stone bench, she sat gingerly, hissing as the movement irritated her wounds. Paris felt a flash of anger but he tampered it down and made her lean back so he could pull her top up and inspect her stomach. There was a circular harsh red graze where the end of the pole had struck he touched it lightly and Ariel gave a small whimper, he jerked his hand back.
"Sorry to be such a wimp," Ariel muttered, her face flushing, "I never could stand pain."
Paris was shocked when a he felt a tightness in his throat, he cupped her cheek. "You handle pain just fine."
They both knew that he wasn't talking about her physical wounds and Ariel pulled back from him, "I don't want to talk about it," she said harshly and Paris nodded, knowing now wasn't the time to press her.
"I've got to make a feel of your stomach, just to see if anything got messed up on the inside," he reached out and began to apply pressure to her stomach, feeling it all over.
"Forget about it," Ariel muttered, forgetting the pain while her body went molten with desire, "whatever's wrong has to be completely fatal for me not to heal."
"You might not worry about yourself but I do," Paris responded distractedly and when he seemed satisfied he bent his head and kissed her stomach gently, it made her gasp out a laugh and she felt his lips curve against her flesh. "Hmm, ticklish …"
He started to lick, long slow laps to her already purpling bruise, Ariel purred and lifted an uncertain hand and brushed it through his curls, she let his hair bury her hand and twine itself round her fingers fusing them together.
Paris pulled back to grin at her and was delighted when she blushed.
"Examination over," he said wickedly and in her head Ariel's mind said 'Ooh, why?' but what came out of her mouth was a rather teasing and flippant.
"So you think you're a doctor or something?"
"I trained under Hippocrates," Paris answered and watched Ariel's eyes go wide.
"Get out!"
"Serious," he said with a laugh, "a lot of the myths today name Hippocrates as being born earlier then he actually was. They got a lot of things wrong about him actually, anyway he was a crabby old bastard at times and he got a few things wrong but he knew his stuff."
"Holy shit!" Ariel was staring at him in awe, it was a look he never expected to receive from her, he yearned for it now that he had it and would miss it when it was gone. Ariel titled her head to the side and smiled sweetly, she reached up and ran her forefinger over his eyebrows.
"I like your eyes, Paris."
"Good to know you like something about me," he muttered and moved closer, so he could rub his whiskered cheek against hers, then against her shoulder, much like a cat did when it wanted petting. He felt that soft hand in his hair and to his pleasure he felt her dip her head and place a kiss on the back of his neck, it caused a loud purring noise to erupt from his chest.
He pulled back to stare at her, it was the first time she had shown that kind of affection towards him without it being drink induced or the effects of the mating season.
"Where are your pride, Paris?" Ariel asked and watched a sudden wariness flicker behind his eyes, it was gone just as quickly. Paris cleared his throat and his eyes searched the shrubs around them, Ariel shifted closer, ignoring the rough clawing from the stone at her wounds on the back of her legs.
"You don't want to tell me?" Ariel couldn't quite keep the hurt out of her voice and his eyes slashed to her full of remorse. "Its only fair seeing … seeing as you know about … me," she ended lamely.
Paris gave a half laugh and gave her a brief one armed sort of hug, it made her shiver and break out into goose bumps even under the midday sun.
Paris didn't know what to say, he had never discussed his past to anyone, not even Trey who he suspected had figured out most of it anyway. He didn't know if he wanted to tell her what he tried hard to forget. Her past pain had affected her so deeply that though she had tried to forget it, it had tainted every aspect of her life. He tried his hardest to escape his own.
I'm her mate, I have a right to know!
Paris laughed aloud again when his own words haunted him then Ariel put her hand on his arm, its warm weight shook him to the core of his being. A gentle hand, soothing and undemanding, touching him not in lust or anger but kindness. The rarity of it was something to treasure.
"Its okay, Paris," she said softly, "you don't have to tell me."
But I do, he thought as he looked at her. Not only because she had as much right to his past as he had to hers but because there was a part of him that wanted her to know. For them to be brought closer because of their long-ago hurts, two kindred spirits finding each other and comforting.
"How much do you actually know about Katagaria lions, Ariel?" Paris asked, then realised what a stupid question it was, of course she would have her own idea … that, he now admitted, wasn't entirely inaccurate. "I mean aside from Ramirez and his family."
Paris watched her mouth tighten and her nostrils flare, her jaw moved as though she was clenching her teeth, she took her hand from his arm and Paris immediately felt the absence.
"Not much," she admitted on a resigned sigh, "not much at all really. When - when I was mated I took little notice of the family I had gained. I only wanted to be with my mate and he kept me isolated from his pride."
Paris heard the venomous anger in her voice and knew it was directed inwards, after all this time she still blamed herself.
"You were young, Ari -"
"Don't Paris, its no excuse. Besides," she tried to smile encouragingly, "we were talking about you."
"Unfortunately."
Paris turned so he faced her fully and picked up her hand setting it on his arm again, Ariel looked down at it with the sweetest expression ever to grace a woman's face. "I was born in Athens an eternity ago to a pride that was … God, how the hell do I explain this! We hated Arcadians, okay. Every Katagaria does, I can't apologise for that. It's the way we were raised. But my pride was different."
He paused and stared into the hyacinths, he found it easier then looking at her face.
"To be human was a sin, it was defective and shunned. We spent as little time in human form as possible, choosing to eat as animals, mate as animals. You understand? We were extreme even by Katagaria standards. And when we were forced to change by going through puberty our human bodies, frail and weak from the transformation were torn apart, the lions would maul and tear at us in a frenzy that killed half the lions that had to go through it."
"Every full moon when we were forced by the pull of the moon to change, the elders were sent into a rage of self harming with whips and chains and if they didn't beat themselves they beat others. No one was spared, not female, not cub. It was vicious, cruel by even animal morality. Not even real lions came near us, the elders said it was because they smelt the taint in our souls and refused to acknowledge us because humans had caused them so much suffering. But you know what? It wasn't true. They refused to come near us because the taint wasn't the human soul … it was the sickness in their brains, the hatred in their hearts. Animals can smell that, Ariel. You know they can. And the natural lions feared what they sensed in my pride."
By this point Ariel felt her whole body shaking, she longed to pull her arm back and run for the shelter of her home, she didn't want to believe Paris would ever hurt her the way Ramirez did but she was willing to bet something as precious as her life on it. She didn't run, the pain and shame in his face was enough to keep her seat, she did however pull her arm back. Paris grabbed her shaky hand and held fast, bringing it to his lips and kissing her fingers, wrist, palm, knuckles.
"Please touch me," He whispered, his eyes and brow in her palm, "this is why I didn't want you to know about it, Ariel. I don't want you fearing me."
"Carry on with your story, Paris," Ariel whispered back, stroking his head once, "tell me the truth and I'll not fear you."
Paris let his mind wander back through the maze of his mind to his life as a cub in his fanatical pride. Like typical lion prides there was at least six unrelated males and over twenty females all related, they did this by exiling the males born or unmated within the pride.
Paris thought of his own family, his father had been the dominant lion within the pride but there was no paternal love they saved him from a lifetime of beatings. No such thing as compassion or mercy existed there, not even amongst the women, that's what made Ariel so special to him. He remembered the cruelty of his father with such clarity that even now it sent a chill down his spine, it was birthing season amongst the females and Paris had just gone through puberty and his first beating, he was weak and undernourished by being unable to fight for his food. The females were all in labour so the males were expected to hunt for themselves for the week, in animal form the females were all silent, they did not roar or growl yet the pain of childbirth was rife in the air. More frequently the sound of mewling from the newly born cubs sounded - then Paris went cold.
The squalling cry alien to the lions was heard and marching out of the birthing den came Paris's father Damascus and in his mouth was a new born human baby. Damascus dumped the baby at Paris's feet and the elder's gathered round, Damascus ignored them and continued to look at Paris, he transformed into human form and the whole pride held its breath.
The naked human male before him was Paris's father but Paris would never have known it, this was the first time he had seen his father like this and it was then, oddly enough that he deduced that he must have got his features and hair colour from his mother. Though he had never known her in human form. The man before him was tall and lean like Paris but he was dark haired and blue eyed, the hair fell in a scraggy mess into Damascus's eyes. To be in human form was to present a vulnerable side of yourself, Damascus was about to do or say something drastic to the pride, by doing this I human form showed them his willingness to die should they see fit.
"Transform before me," Damascus growled and Paris and the elder's did as he commanded without a second thought, they all stood naked and shabby looking, their hair matted and unkempt, their skin filthy, Paris included.
"You see this that lies at your feet?" Damascus asked, toeing the baby that was still bawling at the top of its lungs. Paris had felt an inexplicable urge to bed down and try to comfort it, to hush it or take it back to the mother. Anything for it to stop making that awful noise.
"This is a human boy. A birth defect, a badness in blood and genes has caused my mate to produce this thing!" He spat at the child and Paris gaped and stared down at his brother and without thinking he bent to it, before his hands could reach him however Damascus gripped Paris's hair and yanked him back.
"If you touch him you will die. I have dealt with the bitch that bore this abomination! I will do the same to you should you test me."
Damascus's voice was deadly, hatred and menace that frightened Paris so as a young cub resounded in his head.
"Do you - great and wise elders - think me less worthy since I have spawned such a despicable creature?" Damascus asked prowling the circle of elders, looking straight into the eyes of each. "Do you think now it is time for another leader?"
There was a rustling of noise from the gravely voices of the elders and Paris looked up to see his fathers white face was livid with rage, none dared to oppose him but spawning a human child could seriously damage his status.
"It is my decree that this filth die today, if something this vile should cometh from my on lions I would rather be a eunuch then create such monsters. I hereby command that to show my loyalty to our pride I sentence the human to death by the hand of his brother!"
Paris stared up into his father's face and his mind went black with rage, how could his father be so cruel and sadistic? It was then that Paris knew there was something wrong with all of them, he could not allow an innocent to die because of what he had been born. Many a night he had sat and debated with himself the legends of the Katagaria and Arcadian and scenarios played out in his head. Could he kill something that could not harm him, something that had no concept of what it was in the world let alone what Paris was, all because of the way it had been born. He would not do it! Nor would he allow it to be done!
"Never!" Paris roared and bent to scope the child up, as he did so he felt like he had been hit with a battering ram at his side and was knocked to the floor. Paris looked up to see his father in lion form before he charged. The fight that ensued was one of the bloodiest of Paris's life and he had never seen one equal to it in violence and hatred.
"Did you kill him?"
Paris looked up from Aiyanna sniffing at the honeysuckle to see Ariel staring wide eyed at him, her face was so pale and frightened looking, yet her voice was steady and calm. Paris cleared his throat.
"Not that day. I wasn't old enough or strong enough then but I went back after a couple of years, he had moved to Asia with the pride. I cornered him alone down by a river and we fought. I enjoyed killing him."
Ariel shivered, he didn't sound completely sane when he said that but she could not blame him for what he did.
"What … what happened to your brother?"
Paris did not feel the single tear gather on his eyelash until Ariel's finger gently wiped it from his face, he sniffed in a manly way before getting up and striding to the pond.
"I got him out," Paris sounded casual and nonchalant but there was an underlying anguish and guilt in his voice that caused Ariel to ache. "He died. I had no idea how to take care of humans, let alone babies. I came to learn that they are even more fragile then the actual full grown ones. Anyway I was found by a bunch of Arcadians with his dead body, he died during the night -"
Ariel felt her lip tremble, she could see him now laying protectively beside the brother he had fought and killed and got exiled for to keep him alive. She could see Paris's lion form cradling his small human boy to his chest, trying to warm him with his fur.
"They beat me, tortured me, kept me captive, shaved my mane -" Ariel couldn't stifle a gasp, to cut the mane of a lion male was the worst shame and insult to both an Arcadian or Katagaria, she saw Paris wince at the sound. "That's how the rumours of me being a child murdering slayer got about, I've been on the most wanted list ever since, even though I killed every single Arcadian who saw me with my brother's body. They pronounced me insane with the trelosa, a bit like Aiyanna I suppose - but Savitar knew the story, its probably one of the only times he's ever not been impartial. So I was never convicted by the Omegrion."
Paris felt as if he were drowning in his shame, he didn't need to see her face to know her reaction to him now, she must be disgusted by him, he's weakness. He'd told her about his mane being shaved! Why? Thank God she wasn't Katagaria, a lioness on hearing such a story would attack the lion in question thinking she could kill him in a fight because he had been so shamed and even if she hadn't known about the shaving, the fact that he hadn't killed his father then and there would cause her to attack.
Actually when he thought about it the lioness's he'd grown up with would have attacked because he had failed to kill his brother, he would even put big bucks down on betting his mother had willingly let his father take her life to forgo the shame of having produced a human child from her womb.
Shit the world was a crazy place!
All of a sudden he felt so tired, not only was his strength waning from the effort it was keeping him in human form for so long but the brief reliving of the day of his brother's birth, even in memory, left him completely drained. Unexpectedly the strength of two arms encircled his waist and he felt the light pressure of a head resting between his shoulder blades, soft breasts crushed against his spine. Paris looked down at the hands that were crossed over his naval and took them in his own, he moved them up so they were splayed over his heart. A heart that ceased to beat for him anymore, it beat now for Ariel and for her alone, how could she have consumed him so easily? How could she have made him love her so deeply? In literally days he had fallen for her, so hard and fast he was dizzy from it. He wondered whether he'd ever had a choice in loving her because since that first moment he had seen her in the Omegrion he had been captivated. His dormant heart had awakened and tried to claw its way out of his chest in an effort to surrender itself to her care.
Could she ever love him? Would she ever try?
"You know more of me now then anyone on earth has ever known of me," Paris said shivering from the weight of her slight body pressed against his back.
"And I am honoured, Litarian," Ariel purred in his ear, "forgive me for being so hard on you."
Paris turned in her arms and moved his hands to cup her face, his thumbs rubbed over her full lower lip and he was thrilled when she kissed the pad of his thumb.
"I forgot. How are the wounds on your legs?"
"Huh?" Ariel said stupidly, no woman could make a coherent sentence with a guy as handsome and sexy as Paris looking at her like she was his personal Jesus.
"Have your legs started to heal?"
She nodded dumbly and couldn't stop herself from stepping forward into his embrace, he wrapped his arms around her, immediately welcoming her into the fold and shelter of his body. Ariel was finding it hard to believe how easy she had become with him, how her inherent mistrust of all male lions withered away to dust when he was near. The way his eyes had looked when he had told her of his life, the expectant look waiting for rejection in his eyes. It had torn at her, broke down her defences and caused her heart to cry. She wanted to comfort him and make him smile.
God was she pathetic!
Paris pulled back and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, loving that she smiled when he pulled back to look at her instead of frowned, loved that she now chose to caress instead of hit, he breathed in her scent.
"May I sleep with you tonight?" Paris asked quietly, his eyes never leaving her face, he saw the sudden fear and suspicion skitter across her face and waited, her body stiff and her breathing a little uneven, Paris was about to pull back while cursing himself for moving to fast but Ariel hung on. She gripped his vest tightly, bunching it in her fist as if for courage, she nodded.
"Only to sleep, baby," Paris whispered, using a finger to tilt up her chin, "just to be close to you and hold you tonight?"
"That'll be fine," Ariel replied quietly, while she swallowed convulsively to stop herself throwing up with fear. She needed to get over this, she needed to live again. She hadn't known just how much she had needed it until she had met Paris, and now?
Now it wasn't just about need anymore, now it became about want.