Falling in Love with the King of Beasts

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*****

GAHRYE – Human World

He'd known she was angry about how she came to be in Anima. He supposed that even if she didn't want to change that, she had reason to be upset about being stolen from this life—especially if, as it sounded, her name had been sullied after she left.

And he'd seen Elia angry. He'd seen her fight. He'd seen her be dominant in defense of Reth, or to claim him.

But he'd never seen her like this.

He'd thought the night before it was to do with the pregnancy and all the stress. She was emotional and losing her self-control. Anyone would struggle after the things she'd been through in the past week.

But when he caught her wrists and had to wrestle to keep hold of her. When her eyes went wide and her voice grew rough… if he hadn't known better he would have thought…

Then when Shaw showed up in the worst timing under the Creator's smile, Elia erupted.

He'd meant to fight her just so she wouldn't hurt anyone—including herself. But when he was forced to throw an arm around her middle to keep her from launching at Shaw, he felt… he felt it under his arm.

Her back rippled.

And that was impossible.

"Elia!" he gasped and put her on her feet, holding her arms, forcing her to face him so his bulk was between her and Shaw. So she was forced to meet his eyes. "Elia, you REALLY need to calm down." This was impossible. She was human! Was it because of the baby?

"These people—" she roared.

"No, Elia, look at me," he said calmly, holding her gaze and refusing to let her push away from him. "You need to calm down if you aren't going to hurt… anything."

His head spun as she continued to fight and he continued to put himself in front of her. He had to be wrong. Maybe it was just this world, maybe things felt different here. It wasn't like he usually had his arms around Elia. Maybe he'd just felt—

Then she got frustrated with his intervention and she bared her teeth. "Let. Me. GO!" she snarled.

And for a heartbeat, as she spat that final word, her eyes turned gold.

Gahrye was so shocked he almost let her go. Instead, he gripped her harder and snarled. "NO!"

She blinked and her normal eyes returned, but Gahrye, in a fit of panic that she might shift into a lioness, right there, and with no practice, be unable to control the beast, rushed on, urgent. "You have to listen to me—there is something going on and you need to rest. Right now. I insist—I will carry you if I have to. I will be fulfilling my vow to your mate if I do. Are you listening to me Elia? Breathe. Be calm. Come back."

"Come back from where?" But it was the first words she hadn't growled or screamed since this conversation began.

"Think it through, Elia," he murmured, dropping his voice as he would for an Anima, to test her, knowing the others wouldn't be able to hear. "You were about to shift."

Her eyes slowly widened and her breath stopped. "I… No! That's not possible!" she said, the anger gone from her voice, which let Gahrye breathe a little easier.

"We don't know what's possible under these circumstances, Elia. So, what I'm saying right now is… you need to go back to our rooms to rest. We'll figure the rest out later, okay?"

She frowned, but nodded and Gahrye looked at her from the side. "Can I let you go? Are you going to stay calm even if you see… others?"

"Yes," she breathed, her eyes still too wide, but now fixed on his chest, as if she were searching her mind for something.

Gahrye nodded and turned, putting her under his arm, held her close to his side so he would feel if she started to lash out again. "I'm sorry," he said to Kalle. "We really do need your help, but she's been through so much. I'm going to take her upstairs and I'll come back down later when things are calmer."

"I could bring some materials to the room for you to look at there, if that would help?" Kalle said softly, frowning between him and Elia.

"That might… that would be good, actually. "I'm just not sure now's the time… could you come to our room in an hour and we can discuss what to look for then? I may have more information at that point."

Kalle nodded, then with a quick look at Shaw, she swallowed like she was gathering courage. "Are you… do you need any help?" she asked him quietly. "Right now, I mean?"

Gahrye's heart thumped at the look of concern on her face. For him. For a moment all he wanted to do was grab her and pull her into his chest, and tell her everything. But holding Elia close, he shook his head. "Thank you. I'll just… I'll speak with you later?"

Kalle nodded, and he ushered Elia out of the dining room and up the stairs. He waited until he was sure the others hadn't followed before murmuring to her, low, at a level only the Anima would hear. A level he'd never been able to speak with her before.

"Elia," he breathed.

"I can hear you. How can I hear you, Gahrye?" she whispered, so quietly.

"I don't know. The baby? Is there… we'll need to find out if we can find some information on this. It has to be the cub, right?"

"Aymora didn't say anything about… about me…"

"Your eyes changed, Elia," he whispered.

He felt her tense. As they walked up the hall, still plastered together, she blinked and swallowed, looked down at her own stomach, then back up at him.

"She's Anima."

"She's a lion," he said, shaking his head. "And your eyes went gold. Very similar to Reth's."

They made it to the suite and Gahrye pulled the key from his pocket, then opened the door, finally letting Elia go. She rushed inside and began pacing immediately. "It can't be," she whispered over and over again. "I can't… it can't be…"

"Well, it obviously can," Gahrye said, locking the door again, then turning to face her.

She stopped pacing and stared at him. "What. What can?"

He frowned. "You understand what I'm saying, right?"

"I do. But I can't… I can't even fathom that, Gahrye. That's… that's impossible. It can't be. I need you to look me in the eye right now and tell me exactly what happened out there. What you saw—what you think you saw. I need to know. I need you to say it out loud."

He stared at her and she stared back and it was as if neither of them had the courage to speak the words because…

"Gahrye," she said, and her voice shook in such a heartbreaking way that he wanted to scream at her—when was it going to be his turn to be comforted? When was he going to be the one who received? But he swallowed the selfish urge. "Gahrye," she repeated. "Tell me exactly what you're thinking, because I can't—"

"You're becoming Anima," he said with awe. "Somehow… impossibly, you're not just human anymore. You're becoming Leonine. And you…" he swallowed convulsively, shoving the words past his teeth. "You can shift."

A spear of pain shot from his chest to his toes at those words.

Followed quickly by the flames of resentment so strong they stole his breath.

*****

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