More Than Just Baser Instincts.

"Elaine... Thank you," Leonard murmured, placing his sons in my arms. "I really can't tell you how much Arianna and I appreciate this."

I juggled the children until they were cradled carefully, and I nodded absently. "Just get on that plan of yours. I don't want to stick around much longer at all."

"I heard about the mating... If it helps, you might not conceive the first time. And they won't know that until a week later."

It had been my hope that I wouldn't have to ask about lion mating rituals and pregnancies. But I guess this was my reality now.

"Leonard, how fast will they know? If I'm pregnant, I mean."

"With Arianna, they drew blood from her after three days had passed. They checked again the next day. On the fifth day, the hormones were already there. It just depends on the lioness, I suppose. But if the tests come back negative by the end of the week, it means you're in the clear—until you mate again the next day." Leonard looked down. "There's a lot of protocol for this. Gerald is very...concerned with his population statistics. And keeping any possible revolt down, not that anyone is crazy enough to do such a thing."

"So you see why I need to get out of here as soon as possible?" I grumbled, but my sour mood was hard to keep when the babies in my arms were cooing loudly and grasping at each other's fingers. "You two are ridiculous monkey-men."

"Arianna said you had this motherly look about you." He smiled meekly. "They'll be better off with you, until this situation gets squared away."

"Quince wants eighteen children. But... I just want his children, not a number of cubs." I played with their little fingers for a moment. "If I do...mate, if I can't get away in time... Will Quince feel it?"

The look on his face said it all: he showed me pure torture, like the last thing he wanted was to give me the answer to that. I glanced back down to the cubs, swallowing the heart that had risen in my throat.

"I imagine it will be a strange feeling in his gut at first, like something is wrong. But then... He's a smart lion. He'll know what it means when it feels like his heart is being cut out with a blunt knife." A hand suddenly fell to my shoulder, a comforting gesture that did not make my skin crawl. "He made that connection when he marked you. I doubt he'll be fannying around, not when he knows that your father planned a backup mate."

"I never wanted him to get hurt. If I had known that marking me would put him through so much, I would have denied him completely. But he didn't tell me what it was really about, just that it would show that we're mated..."

Leonard laughed softly. "I marked Arianna. Back when her father was still contemplating her mate. Once a female is marked, she can't be remarked. He didn't really have much of a choice but to pick me. It's a security thing, Elaine; I doubt he would have let you come here if you weren't bitten first."

Leonard moved to the small crib that was in the corner and grazed his fingers over the mahogany before turning back to me.

"If it means anything, not everyone here has given up on the sanctity of mates, Elaine. Not Arianna, not me, not your mother... A lot of the lions here do what I did: find their mate, stake a claim, and just wait for Gerald to pair them out of convenience." Mates were not supposed to be convenient. "We're not a backwards people—our ruler is backwards."

"I know," I mumbled, rising carefully to my feet. "Leonard, I was an only child when I came here. But now I have a sister. And a brother. Thank you for everything you're doing for me."

His smile was still feeble, but it looked more genuine as he hesitated in the doorway.

"Stay strong."

In the newly silent room, I sighed as I moved to place the two little boys in the crib. They reached up and caught my fingers in their mouths. Their gums gnashed at my hands, but it was cute how they thought they could take me.

"As if you little munchkins could hurt a big, bad lion," I teased, smiling softly.

"I hope you'll take such good care of our cub," Tiberius murmured, his lips pressed to my neck and his arms snaked around my waist. My skin bristled when he kissed my shoulder tentatively.

"Tiberius, I won't kill my mate like this."

"You'll kill me if you keep acting like this," he muttered resignedly, flipping me around but refusing to release me. "I don't want to have to...force myself on you, Elaine. That's the last thing I want. Can't you just be reasonable?"

"There's nothing reasonable about this," I hissed, watching my hands as I pressed against his chest. "Now get away from me."

"Elaine," Tiberius growled, narrowing those dead eyes of his. "Stop testing me."

"Then stop touching me."

"Gerald said that if I could get you to stop being so impossible, we could stay an informal couple. But you're still impossible! I tried to help you, Elaine! But you won't let me help you!"

"What are you talking about?"

He pulled me closer, staring into my eyes soullessly. I could never love a White lion, not with that inhuman stare... I only prayed that Quince did not see this when he looked into my eyes.

"You'll sleep in my arms tonight, but I swear to you that we won't mate. Not just yet. We still have four more days."

"You'll not sleep in my bed!"

"It's that or you can sleep in mine!"

Bile rose in my throat, and I scrambled to push him away. This was not going to happen! Never!

"Get out," I growled, giving one final push that made him stumble backward. "Get out, get out, get out! Now!"

"That wasn't one of the options," Tiberius warned.

I shirked away, but his hand had already latched around my wrist. A protest was on my lips.

But suddenly something else was there. My eyes shot open, and I thought I was going to retch! I squirmed against him, screamed against his punishing and intrusive kiss that just felt so horribly wrong! His hands were pulling on my hips, trapping me against him and making movement impossible. While my eyes were open and narrowed, his were open and indifferent.

There was the obvious bad taste in my mouth and my skin crawled wherever he touched me...but there was also something else. A pain in my chest, like someone was literally stabbing my heart out.

I marked Quince. So did that mean that when he felt my pain and was hurt by it, I felt the pain shoot back to me? This pain was certainly not my own, but it made me want to cry out in desperation—in betrayal.

But then this sense of urgency rushed over me. Did he know what was happening?

I closed my eyes as a tear broke free and rolled down my cheeks. Tiberius finally wore himself out, seemingly, because he pulled back to brush the water from my face.

"I'm sorry, Elaine; I really am," he mumbled, kissing my cheek chastely. "I didn't ask for this either."

I stared at my hand, which was wrapped up in a much larger hand, before my tired gaze moved back to Tiberius. His back was to me as he pulled me across the room.

"Let's just get some rest, okay? I'm...really, really tired. Of everything."

It was the worst night's sleep of my life.