Lee reached out and took my hand. Everything fussed around me for a second like being pulled though a black cloud. He let go as the room came into focus. I started to cough, my throat bone dry. He passed me a drink as I struggled to stop coughing.
"Humans and portals," Conrad said behind me as he appeared with Suri.
"I can hear," she said.
"Yes the adults are finished so you have your hearing back. Now I want to hear what you have been up to," Conrads father replied arriving. "And Lee for future reference remember not to move too fast with Mae through the portals or she will suffocate."
I was doing just that. Slowly my lungs were getting back to normal.
"Lee if you want to speak to Mae on your own go ahead. Conrad get me a drink please, Mae's is giving me indigestion."
Good, I thought as Lee grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the kitchen into an office type room.
"Did you not promise me to never attempt to take your own life again," he yelled.
I jumped as I was not expecting him to be so angry. He was furious!
"Did you not lay in my arms yesterday and promised me..."
"You promised me we would spend the weekend together..."
"One promise broken for the sake of the children is not something people get suicidal about!"
"I was already suicidal!" I yelled and burst into tears.
"I know you were before but I thought it was a moment of weakness and our conversation had proved to you that you are not alone."
"I didn't think..."
"What? You didn't think anyone would find you? I would find you Mae! I would have to walk in and find your body hanging or whatever method you decide to use to top yourself!"
"I...."
"How do you think I would have felt walking in to find you like that? You don't give a shit about me."
He turned away but I saw the tears race down a cheek.
"I do," I said reaching out to touch his shoulder.
"I've had a hard time too. I already lost my brother, a sister in law and our baby why would you want me lose you?"
"You had already lost me. I was sent away. No one even knew I existed."
"Bullshit! I knew."
"Well where were you? You never came near me until yesterday. You haven't had to give everyone you love up and be alone."
"I had to give up Suri and spent nearly a year without her."
"So have I!"
"You're not the only one whose been through shit! I nearly died in a car wreck protecting you all. I got married to someone who is terrified of me and only did it because she was spelled. You are not the only one who has been spelled. I was spelled into making a child with you. Spelled into fucking Stephanie who I hate so she could have my child. I nearly lost you one already. You were pushed over a balcony on our wedding night. Our wedding night! I nearly lost you then and we lost our baby!"
"I know!" I yelled.
"A baby we wouldn't have had if Suri wasn't using magic out of desperation to have us together. You knew that but wouldn't let me protect you from the Counsel."
"They were going to burn her!"
"No they wouldn't, I wouldn't let it!"
"You couldn't stop them. If Suri hadn't called Conrad I would be dust."
"You have no idea what I am capable of," he said fixing me with a look that made me think 'murder'. "And I don't want you to. No matter how may times I tell you I am in control of my other form and I will never harm you..."
"You sat on me, scratched and bit my ankle as you dragged me across the room. It is hardly the light handed approach Lee!"
"I'm sorry. It was a tense situation and other people have tougher skin."
"You shouldn't have your jaw around my ankle!"
"I said I'm sorry and I was punished," he said making me wonder who kicked his ass. "But lets get back on point. Why did you research how to taking your own life?"
"I was lonely, scared, hungry and cold. I'm sorry," was all I could think to say.
"Life is a gift. Don't you spend everyday wishing your sister was still alive?"
"Not anymore," I replied as I got teary again. "I wish I with her and the baby instead."
"And what about me and the children?"
"I thought maybe you were remarried and in love. At least that is how I pictured it."
"How you tortured yourself?" he snapped. "I am married to you. There has been no divorce so how the hell can I be married to someone else."
"I thought our wedding didn't count anymore so I could..."
"IT COUNTS!" he yelled. "YOU ARE MY WIFE, I AM YOUR HUSBAND, YOU KNEW LAST NIGHT BEFORE I LEFT BUT YOU STILL..."
I wanted to cower away in a corner as he yelled... almost roared the words.
"YOU ARE WEARING MY RING! WAS I TO FIND THAT ON YOUR CORPSE?"
I looked at my hand, I had forgotten.
"I HAVE ALREADY BEEN WIDOWED ONCE. I WILL NOT GO THROUGH THAT AGAIN. FROM THIS MOMENT ON YOU WILL BEHAVE AS MY WIFE, MOTHER TO THESE CHILDREN AND ALL DUTIES ASSOCIATED WITH IT."
I nodded.
"YOU WILL NEVER DISOBEY ME OR BREAK YOUR WORD AGAIN! IS THAT CLEAR?"
I nodded. "Ye... yes," I stammered.
He stared at the floor and tried to steady his breathing as part of me wondered if any minute now I was going to be staring at a lion.
"I'm watching him, just stay still," I heard Conrads father say in my head.
I wanted him to appear and stand between us as a shield.
"Let him calm down a second. You are not in danger. Take a seat so he knows you are not leaving."
I couldn't move.
"You are just feeling the force of his authority. He is actually being very gentle with you but as his wife you are part of his pride and he will rein you in when necessary. There was a time when you thought he was suicidal remember? You ran straight to him, claimed him. He is claiming you so take a seat."
I moved to the chair behind me and sat down.
"Quietly and calmly ask him the question you've been dying to know the answer to," he said into my mind. "It will help him cool down by explaining himself and not focus on his biggest concern... you."
He'll bite me, I thought back.
"I am right here and he would never harm you. You need to start believing that. Now ask him."
"Why couldn't... you see me. Where have you been?" I managed to splutter out at speed.
"I was not in this world to be able to come see you. I have only been back six weeks and everyday I have spent begging the counsel to be able to see you. I asked Conrad to watch over you as soon as I could. I spoke to Wendy and she said she hadn't heard from you. You moved without leaving a forwarding address. She said you were back at University so I tracked you that way. You're not built with a homing beacon, I have to know where you are so I can request that Conrad be your guardian and have it approved. It's like going to court and putting you under police protection. I've spent all my time since you walked out that door trying to get you back home. Taking my punishment, serving my time and yesterday when I had to break my promise to you I dragged our daughter out of bed and pushed her through a closing portal to keep you company. What if she had got there and you were hanging or had cut your wrists or something," he asked.
The thought was horrendous.
"I'm sorry," was all I could think to say.
"We have been through a life times worth of shit together, Mae but we have always been there for each other. The first time I saw you in that hospital room we comforted each other and I had never held anyone other than my daughter for as long as I can remember. Holding you I realised what I was missing out on. Having that person who is there, no matter what. Always there with open arms ready to make all the bad shit disappear just by cuddling you. You're that person for me."
"You are for me too."
"It doesn't feel like it. You accused me last night of making you feel bad for being human. How do you think you make me feel when I can't be myself with you? When you fear me, I know you are trying to conquer that fear and I admire you for it but I am a lion. I protect this world. I was born to protect it. My children will do the same as have all my ancestors. Lions are in the stars lighting up the night sky, on pyramids, in tombs, on the gates of palaces and houses for protection."
I knew he was right but still I couldn't help the way I felt.
"Surely you like films with lions like the Wizard of Oz, Lion King or Lion, the witch and wardrobe. What about Thunder cats and Madagascar you can't fear them, they are cartoons. Leo the lion from the films was one of my ancestors and a poser."
I laughed and began to relax a bit.
"Being a lion is something to be proud of. I have a lions pride and marrying a Grayson is a great honour in our world, let alone the privilege of being born as one. Most crests have a lion on and can be linked back to heritage and dynasties, or given to someone as a name for achievement in battle like Richard the Lion heart. He had arranged marriages like we do. He had an illegitimate son he married off to his ward to continue his legacy. We keep the lines strong and if that means a love less marriage for some then so be it. That is why your sister being human was such a shock but she was bring back what was needed. Humanity. She loved the history of Lions and that is how she met my brother."
I pictured her posing over a mummy in a tomb, she loved that stuff.
"Look back in history to Egypt, where the sphinx is the head of a human and the body of a lion. Who do you think they were depicting? My ancestors go back thousands of years. That is what you have married into along with your sister. You've seen pictures of a sphinx with a Pyramid on their backs, it is the weight of the world on their shoulders. They are male or female. My brother died before his time but my sister will take his place when her time comes, as will the twins. Lions are a power symbol. My name is Lee, it short for Leonidos which means son of lions. I am the lion that protects this world. I can't change what I am and I wouldn't want to. I know the importance of what I am, who I am and the duty I perform. You can change who you are if you want to. You can become more than human. Your sister did."
"What?"
"I would never ask you to give up your humanity. I am only telling you another option which would help you in my world and this marriage."
"What did my sister become?" I was shocked and intrigued.
"You will have to ask Uncle."
"Did he change her?"
"No, he can arrange it though. What about Conrad and his father what do they do?"
"It's too complicated to explain at the moment."
"How could he give me permission to come here with you. Won't the Counsel come and..."
"No, he is above the Counsel."
"And Suri is his Linage."
"Yes, they are relatives on my mothers side."
"Your mother is a demon?"
"In part," he replied.
"That explains a lot," I said making him smile.
"She's not that bad."
"Some Sphinx have wings. What is Conrad?"
"Ahhh," I said piecing it together. "Your gene splicing. My mother hit the roof at me dating a missed race guy she would flip at my marrying and lion man."
"Lion man, really?" he asked unimpressed with the name.
I grinned. "How come Suri isn't a lion?"
"Why does Willow have blonde hair and Bay brown. It's how we are made. Her genes chose my physical attributes and her mothers gifts. I may have planted the seed but nature decides what we become."
I felt a stab of jealousy at the woman who made Suri with Lee and wished I had. I hated the thought of him being married to someone else and having a wedding night where he made a baby... oh be rational!
"What are my choices on what I could become?" I asked.
"It would depend on your heritage. Somewhere inside there is a dormant gene and sometimes in moments of crisis and war, these recessive genes can activate. Say I was killed protecting this world and my sister is too young. When I die someone else is chosen and sometimes it is an illegitimate child who has grown up with no knowledge of who they are or it is several generations back where someone like Suri had children and they carry the gene. It s never pretty when that happens as I've had to train all my life for the horrors I face."
"You say 'when you die' as though it will happen soon."
"My brother is gone so I am alone for the most part. The chances of my surviving long term are not good so I am keen to make the best of the time I have left."
Shit, here I was feeling suicidal and he is just hoping to last the next fight. "We are in a right mess."
"Yeah but we will always be there for each other."
He pulled me up off the chair as we shared one of our amazing cuddles.
"Don't ever do that to me again," he whispered against my hair.
"I won't and I am sorry for taking my life for granted when you are fearing for yours."
"Don't worry I am not entirely on my own but having to worry about you is a distraction I could do without."
"The feeling is gone now."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah I'll give up more blood to Dracula out there if I have too," I replied.
He smiled.
"Before it was like an all consuming thing, filling my chest with loneliness and desperation. It was suffocating me. Now it fells like someones emptied it and I can breathe again. I can start filling it with other things."
"You can fill it with love for me," he said grinning at me.
"Oh I plan too but there's already a hell of a lot of that in there," I replied which earned me a kiss.
"We've got to get this marriage right, make it so strong that no one dare interfere with it," he said.
"We will so long as you don't keep shouting at me in your lion voice, it scared me," I replied. "I know it was for my own good and I totally deserved it but I don't want to fear you. I promise I will look at all the options. I'll talk to Uncle and whoever else. Then 'we' will sit down and make a decision as man and wife on whether I stay human."
"I'm happy with human," he said shrugging as though he didn't care what I was.
"My other fear is that having said that, someone will turn up and say 'no, she's human, get out'. Then I'll be alone again and pining for you and the kids."
"We will discuss those fears and get it all taken care of. I will try not to use my 'lion voice'," he said frowning at my choice of words. "But in the meantime, Suri has been up to something. I need to deal with it. I am sure it means they have to get my permission to remove a memory or she's been spelling in her sleep again."
"Spelling in her sleep?"
"Yeah some people sleep walk, she sleep spells," he said with a certain amount of pride. "You know what it is. Tell me what I am walking into."
"Oh no, I want to see your face as my jaw hit the floor with such a clang it woke the dead for a minute," I said.
He rolled his eyes. "She is a nightmare!"
"It's funny but naughty. Easily resolved," I said wanting to ease his anxiety.
He sighed. "Give me a kiss for good luck," he said pouting his lips.
I was happy to oblige before we walked out to the kitchen hand in hand to face the music.