The Lion Kings (novel): a BBW Werelion Menage Romance Read online

  Cage curled his fingers into fists. “I’m not your goddamned tour guide.” He sharply turned on his heel and stalked off.

  She stared at him as he disappeared behind the big top before erupting into a frustrated shout. It took a couple of seconds for her stomach to stop its jittery dance.

  “Girl,” she heard a woman call. She turned and saw Isis the snake dancer waving her over.

  Maddie cast one last glance where Cage had disappeared and rubbed her arms to ward off the shiver creeping across her skin. “Hey,” Maddie said.

  “Adam is looking for you.” She turned, and Maddie knew there was an expectation she would follow.

  Isis led Maddie to a small open area on the far end of the carnival, the opposite side of the parking lot. There were tables set up with folding chairs filled with men and woman of different sizes and obvious backgrounds. Her eyes locked on a large woman with a hairy face sitting with a very tall and broad man. His wide jaw and protruding forehead reminded Maddie of early Cro-Magnon man.

  The woman laughed and wrapped her arms around his narrow waist. He smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head. Adam was at the head of their table. He laughed as the woman said something Maddie couldn’t hear, slapped the giant on the belly, and then tilted her head at an angle to kiss him solid on his wide mouth.

  Adam quickly noticed Maddie, and patted the seat next to him. There was a plate of food already there, and she wondered whose seat she’d be taking. Cage’s? She took the seat down one from the full plate.

  The bearded woman raised a brow. “This your new stray, Adam?”

  Maddie said, “No,” at the same time that Adam said, “Yes.”

  The woman slapped the table and laughed, the rich sound filling the empty space around them. “I like her already.” She wiped a greasy palm on her dress and held her hand out. “I’m Marlena.” She stroked her facial hair with her thumb and forefinger. “The bearded lady, obviously.”

  “I’m Maddie Granger.” Maddie took the woman’s thick, chubby hand and gave it a squeeze. “Nice to meet you.”

  Marlena assessed Maddie for a moment then gestured to the giant man next to her. “This here’s my man Darren.”

  Their names were familiar—Marlena and Darren are at it again… In her dream, she’d walked past their trailer where they’d been having very noisy sex. Maddie’s cheeks warmed. “I… er… it’s nice to meet you both.”

  She felt Adam’s gaze, and she worried he’d think she was judging Marlena and Darren, the way she had with Isis and Carl. She didn’t want him thinking she was a really awful person, so she drew herself up and held out her hand to briefly shake Darren’s.

  Adam pushed the plate down in front of her. “Eat up. You must be starving.”

  He’d made the plate for her, and for some stupid reason, it made Maddie deliriously happy.

  She looked down at the scrambled eggs, more orange slices, and thick white peppered gravy over toast. The combined aroma made her mouth water and her stomach growl. Her hands shook at she picked up the fork next to the plate. “Thank you,” she said to Adam when she finally got the nerve to look at him.

  Her heart raced when she saw the easy smile that lit his dark-blue eyes. The color of midnight… On impulse, she reached out and covered his hand with her own. The warmth of his skin sent a shock of tingles up her arm. He raised a questioning brow, but didn’t move his hand away. He didn’t have to. Maddie snatched her hand back as if she’d stuck it in a mess of hot coals.

  “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, staring down into her plate of eggs, her appetite suddenly abated. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me.” Since she’d been at the carnival, she hadn’t wanted to leave. It was the first time in nearly six months that she didn’t feel the call of the road.

  Adam lifted his hand and sniffed the back of it. “Cage,” he said absently. He smiled, ignoring her apology. “Where are you from, Madeline?”

  “Maddie,” she corrected.

  “Madeline is a very beautiful name. A woman’s name.”

  Maddie’s woman parts all took notice of Adam. Her bits throbbed and her nipples perked. She definitely wanted him to see her as a grown-up. “I guess you can call me Madeline.”

  He rewarded her with a sweet smile. A smile just for her and her alone. Maddie’s appetite returned. She happily dove into the pleasingly good meal.

  CAGE snarled as he waited for Adam to arrive at the tent to practice their routine. They’d thrown in a few new tricks that needed to be perfected. Too kill time he did pull-ups on the lowered trapeze bar until his biceps burned. He let go, dropping the few feet to the center ring. That woman! His frustration grew with every minute Adam allowed her to stay.

  He’d marked her palm with his scent! How could he so callously scent another woman who wasn’t Clary? He paced with aggressive energy. He needed a good work out. Something to take the piss and vinegar, as Marlena liked to say, out of him. He began jogging the rings, his mind racing with every step. The woman had felt so good in his arms, so vulnerable and sexy. When she’d stroked his face, his instinct took over as he’d rubbed himself against her hand. Her supple thigh, her curvy body pressed against his, had made his cock jerk to attention. It had also snapped him out of the spell she put him under.

  Clary had been human, but she’d been an anomaly, like the rest of Pantheros & Company. She’d been a psychic—a real medium with the ability to foresee the future. His heart sank as he wished he could talk to her again. Hold her just one more time. Her death had left a hole in Cage, and it seemed nothing and no one could fill.

  Except when he’d held the irritating woman. Why did he have these feelings for this stranger, this human female, so frail… so much like Clary? Why did Maddie feel so right in his arms? Anger exploded in Cage and he grabbed the nearest item, a small wooden stand. He threw it across the ring, roaring his rage and loss and grief, as it shattered against the hard dirt floor.

  Adam ducked inside the tent before Cage could grab the next stand. “Calm yourself, brother.”

  Cage sagged to his knees, the rage sputtering until it was no more than an ember in his gut. Adam wasted no time coming to his side. He squatted next to Cage and put his arms around him. “I think she’s meant to be ours, brother.”

  “No,” Cage said with hollow denial. She felt like theirs already, but he couldn’t reconcile his new feelings for Maddie with his grief for Clary Sage.

  “We shall see,” was all Adam said. “Let’s practice. Or are you too tired?”

  “I’m ready.” Cage looked at Adam, holding back the unshed tears.

  Adam placed his hand on the back of Cage’s neck, his fingers massaging into the tightly knotted muscles. “I know you are.”

  ADAM hurt for Cage. He could see how conflicted his brother was over Madeline. She’d thrown Adam for a loop in the beginning, but now that he’d had time to think about her, and their connection to her, he understood that a true match rarely came along once in a lifetime. It would be foolish of him and Cage to turn away from a second chance out of loyalty to their lost love.

  His chest squeezed as he remembered Clary. He thought there would never be another woman after her, but this Madeline was proving that maybe the gods did know mercy. Cage would say if the gods were involved then Madeline was a cruel joke. She was so different from Clary. Clary had been docile, almost submissive—exactly what two dominant males needed in a mate. Her beauty was only rivaled by her generosity and kindness. She’d been able to soothe Cage in a way Adam couldn’t. He loved her for saving Cage from his own demons.

  Madeline was a different creature all together. If Clary had been sharpened steel, Madeline was a blunt edge. In a very short time, Adam learned she was quick to judge, quick to anger, and quick to passion. He smelled it on her with every encounter. Clary had taken longer to come around—a slow burn. She’d been uncertain about mating with two lion-shifters and becoming their queen. It had taken almost of year of courting for her to finally agree. Thei
r time as a trio had been cut short too soon. Nearly two years of pure happiness—he’d almost forgotten what Cage had been like before she loved them, before they’d claimed her.

  As he watched his brother torment himself over the loss, Adam knew Madeline would never replace Clary, but it didn’t mean they couldn’t learn to love again. When Madeline had touched his hand at breakfast, he could smell Cage’s scent on her. She would have had to have touched his face, and he would have had to release the oil from the tiny glands at the side of his mouth on purpose.

  What had happened in the short time it had taken Madeline to leave Alana’s trailer and find her way to the dining area? Cage was too keyed up to ask him now. Adam would wait until tonight. He’d wait until Cage relaxed next to him, where he could calm his brother if needed. He would wait.

  4

  DURING the day, Maddie looked for Madame Divine, but couldn’t find her. The woman had given her the spooks, but she’d been Maddie’s only connection to the traveling company. She couldn’t find the small colorful tent that the fortune teller used to entertained customers at in Sedgwick County, and after a couple of hours, Maddie gave up the hunt. The rest of the afternoon, she went on a hunt of another variety. She spent the day trying to catch glimpses of Adam and Cage, alone or together, without them noticing. Occasionally Adam would catch her and wink. Cage made a point of never catching her.

  The damned brute.

  She was still smarting over the way he’d dismissively pushed her away earlier in the day. The way she’d reacted, the way her body had wantonly molded to his, embarrassed her. His rejection, especially when she’d felt his desire hard and thick against her belly, had stung.

  In the evening, the big top show astounded Madeline with its pageantry. She’d never seen anything like it in her small Midwestern life. The dwarf Carl, dressed in a royal blue with gold trim hat and tails, performed as ringmaster and used his booming voice to announce each attraction. The woman, Aleesa the Contortionist, who also did a high wire act, twisted her body like a pretzel. Maddie’s back hurt just watching her. And the clown act, their bumbling ways, the interaction with the delighted audience, had Maddie laughing right along with all the “townies.” The trapeze team had her breathless with their daring aerial flights, but she forgot them all when Carl announced, “The Lion Kings,” Cage and Adam’s only introduction.

  The nervous titters and the thrilled cheers after each gravity-defying feat of strength and balance made her giddy. And when the act ended and the audience roared their approval, Maddie puffed with undeserved pride. After, Adam stayed in the center ring while Cage ran into the vestibule where the acts exited and entered the big top.

  Carl, from the right ring, introduced Darren as Slow Hand the Strong Man, and the spot light shifted to the left ring. Maddie didn’t take her eyes off Adam who arranged circular wooden stands in a five point star around the center ring while the audience clapped and cheered with every new feat of strength from Darren. What was Adam up to?

  When Darren’s act concluded, the spotlight moved to back to Carl. “Hear ye, hear ye, one and all!” he called through a megaphone, his booming voice shaking the stands. “What you are about to see next, we ask that all patrons remain in their seats. Please keep the loud noises to a minimum. The next act is so dangerous no other carnival in the Midwest will attempt it. The Lion King, Leonidus the Magnificent, will demonstrate what it truly means to be…” His voice grew even louder and more dramatic as he swooped his hand toward Adam, the spotlight following his gesture, and said, “Kiiiiinnng of the jungle!”

  Adam’s hair, which Maddie had always seen tied back, now lay thick and full about his shoulders—a crown of hair. As if he wasn’t sexy enough already. Whew. His long locks made her knees wibbly.

  The audience stirred with nervous energy as two leopards, a tiger, a panther, a mountain lion, and finally a large lion with an orange mane wider than his shoulders padded out from the vestibule into the center ring. Where did they keep these animals? Maddie hadn’t seen any holding cages or pens when she’d looked around, but she hadn’t gone in to every tent or trailer.

  The beasts circled Adam as he held his hands out and turned with them. He raised his palms toward the ceiling after they gone around twice, and all six beasts jumped up on the stands and sat up on their hind legs.

  Maddie’s sharp intake of breath matched that of the people in the stands. Adam jogged around the circle and touched each animal, sending it back down into a crouch on the stand. Each trick the animals performed—walking a tight rope, jumping through a fiery ring, playing leap frog—brought delighted trills from the watchers as the cats obeyed every one of Adam’s commands without hesitation. Everyone in the stands held their breath, including Maddie, when Adam, for the grand finale, stuck his head inside the giant maw of the lion. He made each of the animals take a bow as the crowd rose to their feet, whooping their approval.

  Maddie rushed from the tent to go around back to the performer’s entrance. She wanted to tell Adam how much she enjoyed his act. Both of the acts—the hand acrobat act with Cage and the animal show. What she hadn’t expected was Adam to be rubbing his hands through the mane of the giant lion, who’d been the scariest of the six beasts, who was nearly as tall as she was. “Did you see the rubber-neckers, brother?” He cuffed the large cat on its nose and laughed. “We really gave them a show tonight.”

  The lion noticed Maddie before Adam did. The animal turned its head, its glittering unnatural eyes mirrored the moonlight as it appraised her.

  Maddie gulped hard, her pulse racing, as the predator stared her down. Her instinct was to run, but she’d never out run the lion if he chose to go after her. She held up her hand, mimicking Adam’s movements from the ring. If it were able, she could swear the lion wore a quizzical expression on his face. Maddie approached with deliberate slowness, fighting back the fear gathering in her belly. When she was less than two feet away, she nearly collapsed into the fetal position when the lion’s hot breath puffed against her palm.

  “Nice kitty,” she whispered. She didn’t think her words would do any good with the cat, but it made her feel better to hear her own voice. “Good boy. You don’t want to eat me. I’d taste terrible. All chewy and gristly.” She’d been so focused on his wide, toothy maw, she hadn’t bothered to look at his eyes. When she did, Maddie dropped her hand to her side. They were a rusty, amber-brown color… so much like Cage’s eyes.

  “Impossible,” she said, taking a step back.

  The lion stepped forward. A low growl rumbled through his chest.

  “Enough!” Adam snapped. Both the lion and Maddie turned their attention to him. He held the tuft of the beast’s tail in his hand. He gave it a tug. More gently, he said again, “Enough.”

  The lion snorted his irritation, but with only a slight hesitancy, he turned away from Maddie and loped away.

  She clutched her chest. “I thought he was going to eat me.” She watched the lion disappear behind the big top. “Is he coming back?”

  Adam ignored her question. “You shouldn’t be back here, Madeline.”

  His dismissive tone gave her pause, but she’d gone to the performers’ entrance for a purpose. “I… I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the show. You were magnificent.”

  Adam smiled a crooked smile as he shook his head. His pale blond hair fell over his broad muscular, chest. He was the kind of man who could make gods weep with envy. He stroked his fingers through the crown of his hair pulling it back away from his face. Those dark, dark eyes seemed to drink her right in. Adam crossed the distance between them and cupped Maddie’s chin in his hand. He tilted her head, bending down until his face hovered inches from her own. Those luscious lips of his, so tantalizing, mesmerized her. She rose on her tiptoes, hoping he would kiss her.

  He didn’t.

  “It’s not safe out here, Madeline.”

  Still worried about the wild creature loping off into the night, Maddie nodded. “Not with a lion run
ning around wild.”

  Adam shook his head, but couldn’t keep the hint of a smile off his lips. “I’ll walk you to the trailer.”

  She couldn’t keep the disappointment off her face when he let her go, but much like the lion, she sighed her irritation, and with only the tiniest bit of reluctance, followed Adam to Isis’ trailer.

  “Do you know what happened to Madame Divine?”

  Maddie ran smack-dab into Adam’s backside. He turned and grasped her upper arms. His large hands squeezed her almost painfully. “How do you know about her?”

  “I met her once.” She felt her eyes wide as his intense gaze bore into her. “I told you the carnival came to my county. I visited her then. Has she moved on?”

  “She’s dead.” Adam’s voice was hard, unforgiving.

  “Oh.” Maddie bit her lower lip to still its quivering. “Oh,” she said again. “I’m sorry.”

  “When did you talk to her?”

  “It was around six months ago.”

  Adam couldn’t have looked more stricken if she’d suddenly stabbed him in the heart. “What did she say to you?”

  “Nothing big.” Why was Adam freaking out? Maddie’s nerves had her rambling and rising to a higher pitch. “She tossed some runes. Said I’d live an unexpected life. Exactly what I’d expect a carnival psychic to say.” She didn’t tell him about how weird Madame Divine had gotten at the end of the session. There were a few minutes Maddie couldn’t remember, or how she’d gone home with a dire sense of foreboding. “When did she die?”

  “The night before we left Sedgwick.” He was staring at Maddie like she’d grown a second head. “She fell and hit her head.”

  The raw emotion in his eyes was almost too much for Maddie. It wasn’t her fault the woman died, but she’d obviously hit a nerve for Adam by bringing up a painful reminder of loss. “I’m so sorry. I… I didn’t know.” She’d had such a feeling of impending doom when she’d gone home that night, but it wasn’t possible one thing had anything to do with the other… had it?