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

  “I’m going to get something to eat,” Maddie said. Defending herself to Carl would get her nowhere. How could she explain to him that there was nothing trifling about her feelings when she didn’t understand them herself?

  She hadn’t planned to follow Cage, but she’d seen him again after the food stand, and the need to be near him, even if he didn’t want her around, overwhelmed her.

  BY midafternoon, Cage had successfully avoided running into Maddie. The sun was high in the Midwestern sky, and the heat made his limbs heavy. The humidity curled his hair and clung to his face. The crowds milled around the games—the balloon pop, the fishbowl, the penny toss, and other games of chance—hoping to win a Kewpie Doll, but usually walking away with nothing. Gus Manns, a tall, lanky man with red hair and shrewd eyes, delighted and entertained couples guessing their age and weight by a large scale. He was also one of the leopards in Adam’s animal tamer act.

  Gus threw a sly smile at Cage, a little nod, as an attractive blonde woman in front of Gus squealed with delight, nudging her man, as Gus purposefully under-guessed her weight. She beamed at Gus when he handed over a Kissing Lovers charm. Cage shook his head. Her date’s expression told Cage that Gus was going to get himself into trouble if he didn’t watch it. The swarthy Gus needed to remember they were strangers, and no cop would take his word that a townie started a beef.

  As co-ruler of their Pride, Cage had a responsibility to head off trouble. He raised a brow in warning to his long-legged friend. Gus laughed, a rich vibrant gale, but quit focusing on the woman. “Step right up,” he harked to passing groups. “If I can’t guess your age and weight, you win a prize.”

  Satisfied, Cage pulled his T-shirt up from his waist and wiped the sweat from his brow. When he lowered his shirt, his saw Her. Maddie Granger stood between the ticket booth and the ring toss picking apart a bouffant of pink and blue cotton candy, nibbling rolled up wads of the spun sugar as she stared in Cage’s direction.

  His lip curled in a snarl, and Maddie raised her brows. She didn’t stop looking at him though. Every time she took a bite of the cotton candy, she’d poke it in with her finger, not intentionally sexy, but damn, it made Cage’s lion—along with his libido—roar. He couldn’t deny his physical attraction to Maddie, which is why he wished he could stop thinking about her. The soft feel of her skin was etched into his memory, and he couldn’t wipe it out.

  A group of twenty or so townies passed between them, and Cage looked away. When he snuck a glance back at her, Maddie was gone. Her sudden absence shook him. He trusted Adam to know the right thing, trusted him above all others, but this girl—he worried she affected Adam’s better judgment.

  Cage stalked off the midway toward the blow off, a section of the carnival that was cordoned off until the after-show. A small hand slipped into his when he was safely beyond the barriers. He smiled, glancing down affectionately at Zaria. She was Adelaide Michael’s nine-year-old daughter. Her golden-red hair was the color of a morning sunrise. The small girl wore a pair of sun-bleached overalls with worn knees, and as always, mischief sparkled in her green eyes. Her mother was one of the after-show dancers, and more importantly, Adam’s sister. Unlike Alana, who danced with a snake, Adelaide did more of a standard burlesque act that drew a modest crowd.

  He lifted the girl to his hip. “Whatcha doing, bright eyes?”

  She tugged at his beard, as she was prone to do. “Mamma says you’re grumpy.”

  Cage narrowed his eyes. “She does, huh?” He poked the girl in her side, eliciting a giggle. “Mamma needs to mind her business.” He smiled to soften his words.

  Zaria giggled. “I’m gonna tell on you.”

  “Is your mom working, little bit?”

  “Yes.” The little girl nodded emphatically. She swayed back and forth as she raised her arms and tickled the sky. “She’s dancing.”

  Cage shook his head, still smiling as he rounded the corner to the after-show tent. Adelaide, in a wrap-around pale lavender dress that flattered her blond hair, slowly walked through her burlesque routine. She wasn’t in costume, so this wasn’t a dress—or undressed—rehearsal. The tune was Poison Ivy by the Coasters, and Adelaide always draped herself in vines for the show. He knew from experience, a lot of performance was mental.

  Half way through a turn, Adelaide noticed Cage. She went to the record player and carefully removed the needle arm from the forty-five. “Hey, there. Zar’s not bothering you, is she?”

  Cage gave the little girl a friendly squeeze and put her down. “Not in the least.” Being around the child always calmed his nerves. “Just the opposite.”

  “Well, good.” She held out her arms, and Zaria leaped at her mother, transforming into a medium-sized lion cub. Adelaide laughed. “Stop that, child. You’re getting too old and too big for that nonsense.”

  Zaria changed back to human. “Aww, mamma,” came her disappointed response. “I’ll never be too old or too big for fun.”

  Cage chuckled at that. “She’s got a point.”

  Adelaide smiled and glanced away. “Don’t encourage her.”

  At one time, Cage had considered Adelaide as a potential mate, but since she was Adam’s sister, and any mates of Cage’s would also be Adam’s, their coupling would have been impossible.

  It used to make him sad. Not anymore. Adelaide was beautiful, sweet, and kind—the same qualities that had drawn him to Clary—but Adelaide was also weak. She avoided confrontations, even when they were necessary, and she struggled when it came to making decisions.

  At seventeen, he and Adam had fought Adam’s no-good father to get Adelaide away from the same abuser who’d driven twelve-year-old Adam from home. When they brought Adelaide into the company, Cage had been instantly smitten with the wounded girl. He’d been ready to make a commitment. She was nineteen and pregnant, and he’d wanted take care of her, to raise her child as his own.

  Cage shook his head now at the memory. He would have been miserable in a relationship with a woman who couldn’t make a stand. He’d needed someone strong. Someone bold. Someone like... Maddie.

  Maddie. Why was she back on his mind? That woman haunted him with her gaze, her body, her lips... her heat. Cage rolled his eyes. So much for Zaria calming him down. He knelt before the girl. “You be good now.”

  She snapped her teeth at his finger then giggled again before running off.

  “She’s a feisty one, Cage,” Adelaide said with barely concealed pride.

  “She sure is.”

  “You like a feisty girl, don’t you?” she teased.

  Warmth rushed to Cage’s cheeks. Was he that obvious? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You must be losing your touch then, or at least your senses.” Adelaide lowered her voice and leaned in close. “I’m talking about the pretty young thing sneaking peeks through the tent crack.”

  With as much stealth as he could manage, Cage moved out of his stalker’s view. He rolled under the canvas, popping the stakes, and coming up on his knuckles and the balls of his feet. Maddie squeaked as he sprang up and pressed her into the outer wall of the dressing trailer. Her pale-blue eyes were wide with startled surprise.

  He leaned down, gripping her arms firmly to hold her still, and hating himself for the long drag he took of her scent. “Why are you following me?”

  Her body shook with adrenaline and excitement, and Cage had expected to smell both on her. What he hadn’t expected was the curiosity or the lack of fear. She wasn’t afraid.

  Maddie met his hard stare with her own, not flinching when he huffed his breath against her face. He asked her again, “Why are you following me?”

  “Because you keep running away,” she said plainly.

  “What?” Her statement felt like an indictment. “I would never run from anyone. Especially not a...” What was he going to say? Woman? Human? Beautiful creature? Goddess? All of them? None? He growled as the words eluded him.

  Maddie bared her teeth, the animalistic q
uality making Cage pause. “You have been running since the day we met. You can’t stand to be in the same two mile radius as me, let alone in the same square feet.”

  “Because I don’t like you.”

  Maddie’s lip quivered. “Yes, you do.”

  Bravely, she leaned forward, closing the small distance between them. The veins in his temples throbbed as heat from her body pressed into his skin. He closed his eyes when her fingers stroked his beard even as a snarl curled his upper lip. He could scent the rise of her passion, knew that if he reached down and slid his hand between her thighs, she’d be wet with her desire. This woman. This creature. Innocent and pure, yet so willing. Bold and brash, yet tender and loving.

  Maddie moaned, her lips pressing against his neck, and he realized his hand had dragged the hem of her dress up around her hip. He caressed the smooth, silk of her thigh, his fingertips skimming just under the elastic of her panties. She slid an arm around his waist, and breathed his name against his chest. “Cage.”

  Sweat sheened from his skin. He squeezed his eyes shut even as his hands continued to roam her luscious body. He needed Maddie—needed her so much he hated her. Hated himself. His lion roared in his head with rage and fury at his denial. Give in. Take her. She is ours, it demanded. She is ours.

  With an angry shout, Cage lifted Maddie from the ground, backing her against the trailer when her legs wrapped him. He claimed her mouth, conquering her with his tongue and lips. She tasted like cotton candy and lemonade, and the sweetness only heightened his furious need.

  Maddie responded with the same fire, thrusting her tongue into his mouth with flagrant demand. Cage sucked the tender flesh, ravaging her with a kiss hard enough to bruise. He dug his fingers into the soft mounds of her buttocks, and she whimpered against his mouth in total surrender.

  His heart hammered in his chest, threatening to explode him from the inside out. He could feel his beast stirring just under his skin. So close. So close. Her nails raked down his arm, and she ground her sex against his pulsing, rigid cock.

  Cage dropped to his knees, Maddie on his hips, and threw his head back. He barely heard her noise of protest over his own heaving breaths. His face changed—widening at the cheeks, his forehead protruding, and his nose flattening. The sharp points of his human canines turned into fangs and his nails into claws.

  Maddie hadn’t noticed, not yet, and if she kept undulating her hips on his lap, he wouldn’t be able to stop the shift. “Maddie,” he growled.

  “Cage,” she whispered, rubbing her face against his beard.

  “Stop.”

  She rocked her hips into him again.

  He gripped her arms, trying not to tear into her delicate skin. “Stop,” he said with more force, and then pushed her to the ground.

  The hair on his arms was already turning to a dense golden fur as the sound of his own rushing blood drowned out her voice.

  He ran.

  8

  THE pleasure Maddie felt in Cage’s arms was no match for the pain of his departure. Her lips swelled from his bruising kiss, and her cheeks burned from the friction of his beard. She touched her fingers to her mouth, trying to remember every detail. He had wanted her. Maddie had felt it in his kiss. Cage could make a thousand denials. He could scream from the top of the big top how much he didn’t want Maddie, but the proof of desire had been prominently evident.

  Okay. She had followed him. The harder Cage pushed her away, the more she wanted to be near him. Tracking him from the midway hadn’t been easy. Maddie had been so pleased with herself when she caught up to him. When he’d taken the little girl into his arms, a swell of emotion akin to pride and love washed over her. Cage had looked so natural with the child. After the initial feelings, though, a different emotion crested... jealousy. Was the child Cage’s? Was the mother his as well?

  The smile on his face when he’d walked with her into the tent, had something deep inside Maddie demanding the same attention. To her shame, she’d walked around the outside of the tent until she found—or so she thought—the perfect place to hide.

  Maddie observed the woman in the pale dress walk through the steps of a dance routine with a mechanical precision. She was blonde, her glossy locks falling over her slender shoulders. Her dress accented every curve of her figure, and her midnight blue eyes shined like two polished obsidian stones in the low torchlight. Her easy glide across the stage hypnotized. And the familiar way in which Cage had talked and teased with the woman—Adelaide, he called her—made Maddie’s teeth grind.

  She’d been upset enough that when the little girl jumped in her mother’s arms, it looked like she’d changed into an animal. Of course, that couldn’t have been what happened. Maddie had never had her dreams interfere with her waking life, but she suspected they were having a larger effect on her than she’d ever experienced before.

  Then Cage had caught her in the narrow space between the tent and trailer.

  A sharp barking sob tore from Maddie’s lips. She pressed her hand over her mouth, not willing to give her shame more voice. With as much courage as she could muster, Maddie drew herself up from the ground, and dusted the dirt from her dress while helpless anger forced tears to her eyes.

  Cage’s passionate rages were almost as bad as Adam’s cold control. Both men wanted her, she could feel it to the depths of her soul, but neither of them seemed willing to risk their hearts. Maybe she should leave. Go back home. The feelings she had for Adam and Cage threatened to overwhelm her. She feared if she stayed longer, the fire she carried for them both would burn her to ashes.

  She hadn’t thought about her car or her clothes or anything since she’d arrived a week earlier. Would they still be at the motel? She’d hidden money in the door panel of the Woody—what little she had left. Would it still be there? If not, she might not be able to leave if she wanted. If her car was gone, she could get a job in the nearby town as a waitress or something until she could make enough to get her a bus ticket. What she really wanted was to call her mom. Adam kept throwing up walls, and Cage kept pushing her away. She needed to talk to someone who wouldn’t do either.

  “You all right?” a soft, feminine voice asked.

  Maddie jerked her head. It was the woman from the tent, Adelaide. “What?”

  “Are you all right?” she asked more slowly, and let her poignant gaze travel from Maddie’s head to her toes.

  Maddie flushed. She imagined she looked disheveled mess. Her cheeks flamed. Had this woman observed her and Cage? He she watched Maddie’s self-abasement in his arms? Her willingness to give everything over to man who loathed her? Had this woman then witnessed her humiliation?

  Maddie couldn’t meet the blonde’s eyes. “I’m fine,” she finally said. “I really am.”

  Adam stepped behind the tent, his large body filling the space and blocking the afternoon sun. His expression was a mixture of sympathy, confusion, and concern. “Madeline?”

  The deep timber of his voice broke the tenuous dam she’d built to hold her emotions in check, and when he neared, Maddie threw herself against the warmth of his body and huddled in as fat tears rolled down her cheeks. “Oh, Adam.”

  ADAM swallowed hard, unable to decipher the jumble of emotions sweeping over him. Some may have been his own, but he knew, instinctively, that most of what he felt was coming from Madeline. He stroked her hair as she wept.

  Why was Adelaide here? Had she said something to upset Madeline? “What happened?” he curtly asked his sister.

  Her frightened eyes darted toward the tent as if looking for an exit before she replied. Adam immediately regretted his tone. His sister had been through so much, especially the years when Adam hadn’t been around to protect her. He softened his expression. “Do you know why she’s upset?”

  “I don’t know.” Adelaide fidgeted with the emerald ring on her middle finger, a nervous habit. It had been her mother’s and she never took it off. “I think it’s because of Cage.”

  Adam raised a brow.
He could smell Cage all over Madeline along with her residual desire. He leaned back, lifting her face from his chest so he could get a good look at her. Madeline’s cheeks were red, her lips swollen, still wet from a thorough kissing. Adam’s chest rumbled. She stared up at him, her eyes shining like glittering amethysts, as she wore the evidence of her encounter with his co-ruler.

  “Did he hurt you?” Adam asked in a gauged manner. He didn’t believe Cage would physically hurt Madeline, but his brother had skirted the line of control since her arrival.

  “No,” she said, sniffing. She wiped her eyes with the back of her arm, slowly disengaging from Adam’s embrace. “Well, my pride maybe.”

  Madeline’s pride wasn’t the only pride Cage hurt with his actions.

  “No one ever died from a wounded ego,” he finally said. He looked at Adelaide, who still seemed to be scoping out escape routes. “You’ve met my sister?”

  The wide-eyed stare of surprise pleased Adam. He continued to watch as she shrugged off the wounds from her encounter with Cage and narrowed in on Adelaide.

  “We haven’t been properly introduced,” Adelaide said. Her tone was warm and gentle.

  “Adelaide, this is Madeline. She’s... visiting with us this week.” He hoped she would stay.

  His sister twirled the end of her hair, another nervous habit. “Nice to meet you, Madeline.”

  Madeline blushed. “It’s really nice to meet you, Adelaide.” Adam wondered at the relief in Madeline’s voice. “Like a real sister,” she said after a momentary pause.

  Adam frowned. “We have the same father.”

  Adelaide spoke up before Adam could say more. “The young woman’s upset.” She took Madeline’s hand—a gesture of comfort. “You should probably track Cage down. I’ll take Madeline with me. Besides, I’m intrigued.”

  “By what?” Madeline asked.

  “By you, of course. You seem to have our two fearless leaders tripping all over themselves.” She smiled, and cast a shy glance at Adam.