Serengeti Lightning

Chapter Ten

Michael tipped back in his chair and studied the liquor in his glass. He wasn’t much of a drinker, and he hadn’t had much tonight, but commiserating with Landon, even with Ava there acting as referee and defender of the female gender, had loosened the tension in his shoulders considerably. He felt almost human again.

Until the door slammed open and Mara appeared on the threshold looking like the Queen of the Underworld ready to drag him back to Hell.

“How dare you,” she shouted, her eyes locked on him as if there was no one else in the world. “I can’t believe I was actually starting to trust you. Do you actually expect me to believe you would be a good mate, a partner, if you go behind my back to the Alpha at the first sign of dissent?”

Michael blinked at her, his ability to form words and arguments lost in the face of her stunning rage. He’d never seen Mara so out of control, outside of the bedroom. Part of him wondered if this was a good sign, even as the majority of him tried to play catch-up and figure out what the hell she was so angry about.

“How dare you presume you have some claim over me. I am not a possession. You don’t own me.”

“I never said I owned you.” He surged up out of his chair.

Ava and Landon stood by, watching the show in silence.

“No? Then what are you doing here? Why did you come running to the Alpha when I wouldn’t give you your way?”

Michael opened his mouth, but Mara didn’t give him a chance to speak.

“Don’t bother explaining. Just listen up. This is my life and you are never, never going to have any part of it, is that clear?” She didn’t wait to hear his answer, spinning on her heel and running out of the bungalow, the door slapping shut behind her.

Ava shifted from one foot to the other. “Michael, I’m so—”

“Don’t.” Whatever she had to say, he didn’t want to hear it. He’d heard more than enough for one night.

What the fuck was that? She stormed in here like a Valkyrie, out for blood, and then ran out. Always running. Always pushing him away with one hand and stringing him along with the other.

She didn’t get to do that anymore. He wasn’t going to let her. Michael was sick of being teased and toyed with. She wanted it to be over between them? Fine. It was going to be over.

But not until he’d said his piece. She didn’t get to blindside him and run away from him this time.

Michael roared, the shift taking his body to lion form with a sudden painful jerk. He lunged forward, his speed fueled by anger as he sprinted into the night. He caught the scent trail of the female and raced down the path after her. She was headed away from the residential compound, into the pasturelands beyond. He didn’t care. Wherever she went, he would catch her.

He knew the moment she realized he was following her. He felt the soft pop of pressure as she took her own feline form. He poured on the speed, knowing she would be faster and more evasive as a lioness. That knowledge only reinforced his determination to catch her.

She was fast, but he was faster. He could see her ahead of him now, her sleek, sandy form little more than a shadow streaking across the dusty plain. The heady satisfaction of a successful hunt began to pulse through his blood as, with each leaping stride, he grew closer to his prey.

He closed the distance, gauging her speed, and leapt. His paws struck her shoulders. Her feet flew out from under her and they rolled in a flurry of snapping teeth and swiping paws. She snarled and fought like a hellcat, but size and blind rage were both on his side.

He sank his teeth into her scruff, pinning her beneath his bulk. She hissed angrily but stopped struggling, her breath panting out onto the dirt raising puffing dust clouds.

He eased his teeth off her, making sure he kept his weight pressing her into the ground. He shifted back to human form, trusting she would follow suit. If she stayed in feline form, she could easily get away from him, but she must have known he would only shift again and come after her. Michael could keep this up all night.

Mara shifted beneath him. Both of their clothes had been destroyed in the change, so naked flesh pressed warm against naked flesh. Michael’s body immediately took notice, but his thoughts were still fogged with anger, not lust. He flipped her onto her back so he could look into her eyes, then pressed his forearm across her shoulders and used his legs to pin hers. She would hear him out. He would make sure of it.

Mara swiped her tongue across her lower lip, her eyes wide but unafraid. “What do you want?” she asked defiantly.

Michael kept his voice low and controlled. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so angry, but he didn’t want to risk an involuntary shift. He would say his piece, tell her every thought burning through his mind, and then he would walk away.

“I’ve begged you to say,” he said darkly. “I’ve done everything in my power to prove I deserve you, to be good enough for you. That changes now. I am sick of being treated like a child because I feel things strongly and my lion rides close to the surface. I am more than just my deficiencies. I deserve to be with someone who recognizes that. Someone who respects me in a way you never have.”

The last you broke something open inside him. Michael growled, staring into the greenish-brown eyes he would have sold his soul to protect only twenty-four hours ago.

“Maybe it’s you who doesn’t deserve me,” he snarled. “Maybe you aren’t some poor lonely creature who hasn’t been lucky enough to find love, but rather someone who refuses to give any piece of herself to anyone else. Maybe you are the reason you’re alone. Incapable of accepting love into your heart. Always in control. Always thinking. Maybe, just maybe, my passion isn’t a curse, but something to be admired. Cherished. I would rather break my heart a thousand times than live in the cold, safe bubble you’ve built for yourself.”

The smug hauteur in her eyes had chilled to something harder, but she made no move to push him off or speak.

Weariness weighed on him, that little speech more exhausting than running a marathon. But he wasn’t quite done yet. There was one last thing he needed to say.

“Mara, I love you.” There was no affection in the words. Just a flat, hard fact. “But if you can’t see that I’m worth staying for, I hope you leave tonight. Right this minute. Pack your things and go.” Michael swallowed, forcing himself to say the last words. “Do me a favor and never come back.”

He rolled away from her, shifting form with the movement and coming to his feet on all fours. He didn’t wait to see her reaction.

He’d clung to their relationship so hard for so long and now it was over. The finality of it felt strange, heavy and light at the same time. His chest was tight, his head floating.

Michael spun on his tail and ran. He didn’t know where he was going. Anywhere. Away from Mara. Away from the permanence of that last moment. Away from the end of them.