Pride by Candace Blevins Page B

wherever he wanted. He owned me — I’d just been fortunate to have never come to his attention, before.
    “Then I suggest you submit like a good little lioness and convince me you’ll do as you’re told, even when I’m not around to supervise.”
     

Chapter Two
     
     
     
     
    He made me leave my truck at the office, and he drove us to my house. He took my keys from me as we walked down my sidewalk. He unlocked my door, walked in, and then stood there a few seconds, making sure I wouldn’t presume to walk into my own home without an invitation.
    I stood at the door, my head lowered, and after a few seconds, dropped to my knees. Thank goodness my home is surrounded by woods, with no close neighbors.
    “You may crawl in, and kneel beside the door while I look through your home.”
    What’s mine is his. He was making sure I knew. Shoving it in my face.
    I didn’t argue.
    And I tried not to get pissed off. Honest , I did. I reminded myself of the rules, of what he could do to me, of the fact he could take me home with him, make me leave my life behind. Or, he could send me to another pride. One where I might be bottom of the pecking order.
    None of it worked, though, and as I listened to him looking through my closets, opening and closing my drawers, tapping at keys on my computer, I grew more and more pissed.
    So when he asked for my computer password, I took a good five seconds to answer. I tried as hard as I could to keep from answering at all, but his energy was so strong, so powerful, I couldn’t resist the order.
    I knew I’d pay for those five seconds, though.
    When he finally came back into my living room, he sat in the chair I usually sit in, and looked at me a few seconds before he said, “Sit on the sofa, Jessica.”
    “Jessie. I go by Jessie, Your Highness.”
    “You don’t think I know what you go by? I’ll call you by the feminine version of your name because I’m the man in the room, and I’m pretty sure you and I both know I’m going to have to demonstrate just how much of a man I am, and how much of a woman you are, right? You’ve already told me it’s how you assert your dominance to the other women. You know how it works.”
    Yes, I did, but I wasn’t used to the male lions talking to me about it. They usually just tossed me around, did as they pleased, and then ordered me to cook them something to eat.
    “I do, Your Majesty.” I wanted to ask him to just get it over with, but for once, I held my tongue.
    He sighed and leaned back. “Do you know how old I am?”
    I shook my head and he said, “Answer out loud, Jessica.”
    “I don’t know how old you are, Your Majesty.”
    “I’m a little over eight hundred years old. I originally fought for Amakhosi to save the woman I loved. When I took on the mantle, I gained long life, but she didn’t.”
    “Woman? Your Majesty? She was human?”
    He nodded. “But that isn’t the point. The point is, I’ve been King of the Lions for a very long time, and for a while, I lost my humanity. A good friend helped me find my way back, and I try hard to balance my human side with the lion’s.”
    “Is that why I’m sitting on the sofa, and not the floor?”
    He smiled. “Glad you have a brain in that hard-headed skull of yours. The point is that we know what has to happen, but I’d rather not rape you. Lions in the wild don’t see it as rape, and there have been periods of time I didn’t, either. Now, I do. I’ll let the lion’s instincts take over if I must, the hierarchy can’t be fucked with, or bad things happen. However, this’ll go a lot easier if you submit.”
    “So, if I submit, you won’t hurt me?”
    He didn’t try to hide his apparent sadistic streak. “Oh, no, it’s going to hurt no matter what. The only question is how bad it’s gonna hurt.”
    I hadn’t used a term of respect in my last sentence, so I started with one, now. “Your Highness, you know I’ll be fighting the lion’s instincts, too, but I’ll do