Her Lion Guard Read online

  Katy, however, lacked both the practice and the patience to deal with Jenna’s issues. Any prolonged interaction between the two tended to end in petty fights, closely followed by sullen silence. Working with them quickly became unbearable for the rest of the office. Schedules were changed about a month into Katy’s time at the Center and as it stood, the two shared only one shift per week.

  “Morning,” Jenna sniffed, setting her satchel on the desk to Mary-Lou’s right. Katy muttered something scathing on the other side and Mary-Lou suppressed a groan, wondering when it was decided that she was to be the middleman to Katy and Jenna’s incessant bickering. Saturday was now the longest and most pointlessly stressful day of Mary-Lou’s week.

  “Miss Smith.”

  Mary-Lou grimaced, then quickly smoothed her expression into one of polite blankness as she turned in her chair. The day was getting better and better.

  “Good morning, Mister Holloway,” she intoned.

  Mister Holloway straightened to more properly tower over her, mustache bristling over thin lips. Mary-Lou resisted the urge to stand up. She was taller than the portly man by more than four inches. It amused her to stare down at him as he attempted to “discipline” her.

  “We know what happened yesterday, Miss Smith,” the man grumbled.

  Images of sharp claws and snarling teeth flashed before Mary-Lou’s eyes. She grasped at the edge of her desk with a trembling hand, momentarily forgetting how to breathe. “Absolutely unacceptable behavior,” Holloway was saying when Mary-Lou remembered to listen. She nodded his rant along, trying to ward off panicked thoughts and think up a good cover story at the same time. “The Center will not stand for vulgar behavior, Miss Smith. You are expected to act professionally, no matter the situation!” the man finished with a flourish and oh, he was talking about the drunken trio!

  Mary-Lou grinned, goofy and dazed. “No problem, boss.” It was probably not the best of reactions, but at the moment she was too relieved to give a damn.

  Holloway studied her face with narrowed eyes, obviously suspicious. Unable to think of anything else to say, he spluttered something along the lines of, “You better,” before trudging back into his office and slamming the door. Katy flipped him off as soon as he was out of sight.

  “What happened yesterday?” Jenna demanded.

  “Some drunken assholes were messing up the exhibits. I showed them the door,” Mary-Lou said, not wanting to explain more than necessary. She had just managed to stop being angry about the whole thing.

  “Did you fight them?” Katy bounced on her other side, as always much too interested in physical confrontations. When Mary-Lou gave a small nod she crowed, punching the air in excitement, “Damn, girl! I wish I was there. Would’ve held a couple of them down for you!”

  Jenna rose to her feet and left to man the front desk, mouth pressed in a thin line. Katy scowled at her back, then quickly forgot all about her in favor of pestering Mary-Lou for details. It took some time and creative retelling for her curiosity to be appeased.

  The day went on rather smoothly after that. Mary-Lou lost herself in the familiar chaos of her work, contentedly working on three projects at once as phones and voices buzzed all around her. This was normalcy.

  Too bad it did not last past noon.

  “Mary-Lou,” Jenna’s nasal voice echoed in the office a bit after one, “There is someone here to see you.”

  Mary-Lou lifted her eyes from the month’s expenses report. “Is it my mom?” she called back even as she rose from her desk and made her way to the front.

  Bright blue eyes met hers and Marry-Lou stuttered to a stupefied halt in the doorway between the office and the reception.

  “Not exactly,” Jenna drawled.

  “Hello,” Jonas lifted a hand in what was meant to be a nonchalant wave, but came off goofy and embarrassed instead. Mary-Lou’s eyes narrowed; he let his hand drop.

  “Outside,” she ground out, storming out of the office and around the receptionist’s desk without a glance in his direction. Jonas followed after her meekly, nice shoes shuffling against the carpeted floor. A whistle and a low, “Hot-damn” echoed behind them and Mary-Lou groaned, not looking forward to the afternoon of pestering that was to follow.

  Mary-Lou did not lead Jonas outside but up to the fire escape and the stretch of flat, off-gray roof above the four-story building. The railing was high and the space deserted, making it a better place to discuss boundaries with handsome shape-shifters than the front of an office building during lunch hour. Mary-Lou leaned against one of the three chimneys that clustered in the very middle, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “What,” she asked, tone level and irate, “are you doing here?”

  Jonas smiled, momentarily distracting her with the appearance of two adorable dimples. Mary-Lou had been too disoriented and scared to observe him properly the night before, and as a result not prepared for attractive smiles and neatly-combed golden hair. The expensive suit – a deep-blue three-piece, vest and all – was outright unfair, on top of the man’s natural charm. At this rate, she would not even be able to be properly angry with his presumptuous ass!

  “Checking up on you, of course,” Jonas answered, taking a step toward her, “You were pretty shaken up last night.”

  Nope, she was good and angry regardless.

  “How do you know where I work?” she demanded, uncrossing her arms to point accusingly at his chest, “Did you follow me here? Are you stalking me now?”

  “No!” Jonas lifted his hands in a placating gesture even as he moved closer, “I – okay, I might have asked around a bit, but I did not have a choice! I promised I would protect you.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” Mary-Lou grumbled, unconsciously rubbing at her arms. It was still early spring, and being this high up the air was downright chilly.

  Jonas leveled her with a considering gaze, then shrugged off his suit jacket. He leaned over Mary-Lou’s surprised form and covered her shoulders with the thick fabric. Mary-Lou felt warmth spread from her lips down to her chest and let her eyes drop to his hands curled in the lapels of the gray coat. Jonas lowered his head so his lips were by her ear and she shivered with something other than cold.

  “They are watching you,” he whispered.

  The pleasant warmth melted with his words, leaving nothing but bitter dread behind.

  “What?” she hissed, nails biting in the soft flesh of her palms.

  “They know who you are, and may already be watching you,” Jonas continued speaking at the same low tone, prompting Mary-Lou to look around in panic, “Not right now, not here,” he reassured, quickly adding, “but that won’t last long. Please listen to me when I say that you have to go!”

  “How do you know all of that?” Mary-Lou demanded, suspicion warring with dread, “I thought you are not one of them?”

  “That does not mean I do not know them,” Jonas shot back, “There are not exactly many of us and this is not the point! Do you really not understand how dangerous your situation is?”

  “I do,” Mary-Lou pushed past him, striding to the stairs without a backward glance, “And I thank you for your help. But this is my life, and I am not running away from it – not for anyone.” She paused at the top of the stairwell, “You are not obliged to protect me anymore.”

  “It is not that simple,” Jonas said softly, doing nothing to stop her when she disappeared inside.

  It took Mary-Lou a whole floor to realize that Jonas’ jacket was still draped over her shoulders. She hurried back upstairs, but found the roof deserted. There was no sign of the golden-haired man.

  Mary-Lou hung the garment on a metal coat hanger once she reached the office, ignoring the stares of her coworkers.

  “Mary-Lou!” Katy squealed, appearing out of thin air at her side, “How could you! Dating someone like that without so much as a word to your dear old friend! I am insulted!”

  “We are not dating,” Mary-Lou grumbled. It did not do muc
h to dampen Katy’s enthusiasm.

  “Not being attached was always my policy.” Mary-Lou rolled her eyes, cheeks soon heating up as Katy proceeded to trail after her and ask increasingly personal and uncomfortable questions.

  The rest of the office seemed to have learned all about the handsome stranger in the twenty minutes Mary-Lou was gone. The rest of the day was dedicated to ignoring pointed questions and snide comments uttered with varying degrees of disbelief. Mary-Lou tried her best not to feel too hurt by all of the surprised attention; she had not been aware that her lack of dating life was so well-known. Mary-Lou officially called quits when the two accountants on shift made their way downstairs from their third-floor office just to gawk at Jonas’ coat. She punched out a full hour early, ignoring Holloway’s threats to dock her pay.

  Mary-Lou walked home the long way around, Jonas’ words still fresh in her mind. Paranoid scrutiny lent the most familiar sights a disquieting aura, prompting Mary-Lou to break out in nervous sweat as she hurried down busy streets and past noisy restaurants. Safety in numbers, she thought as she darted through crowded sidewalks, good old pack mentality.

  She took to the alley once she reached her block, once again entering the house through the back door. Her parents would be out, Mary-Lou thought; they had a long-standing brunch date with another couple on Saturdays. The house should be empty.

  “Mary-Lou?”

  Should being the operative word.

  “Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?” Mary-Lou clutched Jonas’ jacket to her chest in a futile attempt to hide it, wincing as the action brought attention to its existence. Her parents leveled her with twin unimpressed expressions and Mary-Lou sighed, moving to join them in the living room.

  “I was a bit tired,” she hurried to explain as she sat on a loveseat across from the occupied couch. She did not want to make her parents worry any more than they already did. “So I decided to come home early. That’s all.”

  “One of your colleagues called,” Emma said, disregarding her daughter’s fumbling attempts at reassurance.

  “What?” Mary-Lou back-pedaled, not expecting that particular turn in conversation. “Who called? When?”

  “Just now,” Emma answered patiently. Her wrinkled hand tightened about Ronald’s, “She said you were in danger.”

  “I—” Mary-Lou could not believe it. After all she had done to keep her parents out of this! But who could have – she shook her head; that was not important at the moment. Mary-Lou forced out a chuckle, trying to smooth the concern out of her parents’ faces, “That was probably just a prank. You know how boring office work gets—”

  “Mary-Lou,” Ronald interrupted, voice steady and resolute even as his eyes glistened with worry, “Enough. Tell us the truth.”

  Mary-Lou hesitated, eyes darting from her father’s determined face to her mother’s earnest gaze.

  “Please, baby,” Emma implored, and she gave in. There was nothing else to do.

  “This will be a strange story,” Mary-Lou warned. She then closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began.

  “I was walking home from work…”

  CHAPTER THREE

  It took Mary-Lou all of fifteen minutes to realize that something was very, very wrong.

  Mary-Lou told her parents the entire strange, horrifying story: Cautiously at first, then with increasing gusto, she recounted every single dark, scary thing that had occurred the night prior. She told them about the graffiti, the song, the men and women who became other in the glow of a tremendous fire. She told them of the chase, of running blind through a dark forest, of meeting a man and hiding together in a damp cave. All terrible, alarming things that should have sent her parents screaming for the police – or at least for a psychologist.

  Emma and Ronald Smith did not blink an eye.

  There was no mistaking their worry – the tightness about her father’s eyes, the trembling of her mother’s hands did not escape Mary-Lou’s attention. However, their concern was not accompanied by cries of disbelief, nor was it darkened by fear for their daughter’s sanity. The news of people capable of shifting into animals did not seem to move them at all.

  Understanding left a bitter taste in Mary-Lou’s mouth.

  “You knew,” she said and waited for denial, for confusion, for any other reaction but the quiet acceptance with which they faced her. Mary-Lou felt betrayed, felt stupid and scared and bereft as she stared at the people she had known all her life just to wake up one day and find them strangers.

  “What else is there?” she rasped, numb. When her parents remained silent she shook her head, a sad smile twisting her lips. “Don’t lie to me,” Mary-Lou pleaded, “Not anymore. Not after this.”

  Her mother looks pained, her father stiff and sullen beside her. Mary-Lou felt anger burn her throat, felt ready to beg, to scream – to do whatever it took to break the painful silence.

  “It was not their secret to tell.”

  Mary-Lou let out a whine of surprise, eyes too-wide as she stared into a pair of striking blue eyes. Jonas smiled at her, a bit pained, and moved further into the room.

  “What the hell—” Mary-Lou’s voice hitched, eyes darting from Jonas’ sheepish figure to her parents. “How do you know him?” A terrible thought struck her and she gasped, “We aren’t related, are we?”

  “What?” Jonas exclaimed, voice tinged by a mixture of horror and disgust, “No! Why would you even think that?”

  “How am I to know?” Mary-Lou grumbled, “An awkward crush on what turns out to be my brother would fit perfectly into the paranormal soap opera this whole thing is becoming.”

  Jonas was silent for a moment, then cautiously asked, “You have a crush on me?”

  “Children!” Emma exclaimed, successfully preventing an angry outburst by a very flustered Mary-Lou, “There is something important that we must discuss.” She looked at Mary-Lou, expression pained, “It will not be easy to accept, but it is the truth and it must be said.”

  “You should have had this conversation a long time ago,” Jonas rumbled. He quieted quickly, if grudgingly, when Ronald leveled him with a stern glare.

  “Mary-Lou, sit by me,” Emma beckoned. Mary-Lou moved to sit between her parents, heart fluttering anxiously in her chest. She let her mother envelop her in her arms, sighing out a defeated, “Tell me.”

  Emma cleared her throat, hands unsteady as they moved to stroke her daughter’s hair. “It is about your birth parents,” she began, not too surprised when Mary-Lou immediately moved to pull away.

  “You said—” Mary-Lou stopped herself, all too aware of how foolish she seemed. Her parents had not told her about the existence of fucking shape-shifters; was it truly surprising that they had lied to her about knowing her birth parents, as well?

  It did not make the deceit any less painful.

  “Tell me,” Mary-Lou repeated, posture stiff and face unhappy. She would listen to them. She would listen, and then she would decide what she is to do about it all.

  “Your birth parents,” Emma tried again, words stilted and unsure. She would rather keep this from her still, Mary-Lou saw – keep lying to her. What twisted kindness. Mary-Lou forced herself to stay and listen even as everything in her longed to escape. “They were – are,” Emma corrected herself, “like Jonas.”

  “What?” Mary-Lou startled, eyes darting to Jonas’ still figure. Blue eyes captured hers for a moment, narrowed in consideration. “You mean they are—”

  “Shape-shifters,” Jonas offered, “Yes, they are. Irma is a tiger-shifter, and Jonathon – a coyote. I have had the honor of changing alongside them for many years now.”

  A dull, deaf darkness seemed to descend upon the room with each uttered word. Mary-Lou felt faint.

  “Irma and Jonathon?” she mumbled, “Those are their names?”

  “Irma and Jonathon Stevens,” Emma confirmed. Fear flickered in her eyes but Mary-Lou did not care to comfort her, could not think well enough to comfort herself. “We were cl
assmates, all four of us, and friends for many years. It was not until much later – after you were born, dear – that they confided in us. Someone had been threatening them, threatening you. In the end, when it became truly awful, they were forced to ask for our help.

  Your parents loved you very much,” the older woman finished, almost pleading.

  “So much they left me with you,” Mary-Lou laughed, the sound hysterical and high. “Am I going crazy?” she wondered, “Is this a dream?”

  “Mary-Lou,” her father grasped her arm, voice sharp and urgent, “Snap out of it. You are fine.”

  “Am I?” Mary-Lou twisted out of his grip and rose, stumbling back and away from the couch, “How exactly am I fine? You have just told me that my parents are not only alive, they can turn into fucking animals—”