I'm Not Lion To You

Chapter 2-2

“Ma’am?” he called out. Naomi had taught them all the correct way to politely approach a stranger. It did usually put people at ease, especially women. He’d only had one woman get angry at him and say that she better not look old enough to be a ma’am. He’d apologized to the woman, and Naomi had shrugged and said not to worry about it when he’d told her about it later.

Find mate.

His lion paced and pushed and tried to growl in frustration. He tamped it down and told him to be patient. Scaring his mate wasn’t the goal. She was human after all.

He walked down the rest of the aisle and turned.

She looked up. Concern pulled at the corners of her eyes and mouth.

“Hi, I’m Kann.” He extended his hand, hoping to chase away some of the obvious discomfort.

“Hi.” Her voice was level and without enthusiasm. She didn’t take his hand either. “Did you need something?” She stood and studied him, a bright glitter of distrust flashing through her beautiful blue eyes.

“I was being friendly.” He was unsure why she was reacting to him like he was…stalking her. That’s how she was behaving. Like prey. He took a step back to give her more space, and then smiled confidently. Naomi was always saying he had a nice smile, though it was usually when she was trying to tease Col. “Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. You are just breathtaking. Can I help you find anything?”

“Breathtaking?” She c****d her head to the side just a hair, as if whatever she was thinking would work better if she looked at him from a different angle.

“Stunning. Gorgeous. Beautiful.” He grinned at the rising pink coloring her cheeks. Being more like a human male wasn’t hard. He could do this, he could be smooth. He could convince his soulmate that he was the right guy for her without freaking her out. “I could go on if you like.”

The woman gulped a breath but didn’t speak. Obviously, she was completely enamored by him. Her chin lifted, and he felt the heat of her gaze run over his body.

Kann yanked his hat off his head and stepped forward, quickly removing her Sherpa one and tugging his own knitted one down over her ears before she could react. “This one is too big for you.” He kept his voice soft and brightened with amusement. Humor always helped break tension. At least it did in the TV shows he watched with Naomi. He shoved the hat into his coat pocket.

Then he tucked a wayward strand of silky hair behind her ear and let his fingers drift along the line of her perfect cheekbones. She was stunning, and his. Fate had brought her to him and now it was his purpose in life to woo her to his side.

His lion purred in his chest.

The woman leaned into his touch. Only for a moment. But that moment gave him hope.

“I can’t take your hat.” Her tone was defensive and dismissive, like she was trying to get rid of him. She stepped backward, far enough that they weren’t touching, but not so far that he couldn’t still reach her.

He shook his head and tapped the tip of her cold reddened nose. “You need it more than I do.” Kann smiled broadly, hoping it would disarm her and relax her. It didn’t work. In fact, she continued to rile and freak out as Naomi would call it. The pulse in her neck beat faster and faster. Her stress manifested itself in little drops of perspiration on her forehead. She was scared. Of me?

“That’s Carl’s hat,” she snapped, her words biting like the lash of a whip. “I have to give it back to him.” She’d meant to scare him away with the harshness, but he didn’t scare easily.

“Carl? The bush pilot?” Disbelief inflated his words and Kann worked hard not to curl his lip into a snarl. Carl was married. Had a family. What the hell was Carl doing with this woman? His woman.

Mate. His lion growled again. Protect mate.

Something was going on and he needed to know what before he made any blunders that scared his mate away. He couldn’t protect her unless he knew what was upsetting her. It couldn’t be him. He hadn’t done anything but introduce himself.

“You didn’t tell me your name.” He hoped the question would distract her whatever was making her pulse rise and her breathing sporadic. He didn’t like seeing her stressed. “Can I help you find something in the store? I’m here a lot, so I know it well. Or I could introduce you to Henrietta. She was the woman who spoke to you a moment ago. She and her husband, Charles, run the Jenkins Grocery & Hardware. Where are you staying?”

“I—well—what about Carl’s hat?”

“I know Carl. I’ll make sure he gets it back, don’t worry. How can I help you?” He punctuated the last sentence with more emphasis.

Name and place. He could protect her much better if he knew what to call her other than mate. And he needed to know where she planned to stay. How could he watch out for her if he had to hunt her down? Plus, that would probably scare her more. She needed to trust him, needed to want him to be around.

He couldn’t force this. He couldn’t be like Col and get all growly and just tell her how everything was going to work out. She was already scared. He needed to be someone who helped her feel safe, someone she could ask for help.

“I—” she started to talk but stopped herself. Why couldn’t she have just gotten a few snacks without being stalked by a guy? Now he wanted to know her name. But if he worked for Jake, then he already knew. He probably had a picture of her and had been waiting this whole time. If Jake knew which plane she’d gotten on…gotten the flight plan. Oh God.

She gripped the handle of the basket on her arm tighter and glanced down the aisle. How long would it take her to get to the door? Or to the counter? She couldn’t possibly get around this huge guy if he tried to stop her…unless she drew her weapon.

No. That was the last thing she wanted to do in a tiny town. Jake would find her in no time if she caused a problem.

Unless he already knows and I’m just fooling myself.

This guy had asked where she was staying. What kind of person did that? Except a crazy one. Or a stalker-y one.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” The stranger spoke again, taking another step backward. His voice was kind and genuine and comforting, different from the suit-types that typically surrounded her like a school of sharks. “I just…I saw you and it surprised me.”

“What surprised you?” She couldn’t help it. The question just popped out, disregarding her current fear and mistrust of possibly every human on the planet.

“How I felt,” he said in a soft-not-soft voice, almost like he was surprised by what he’d admitted.

“How you felt about what? You don’t know me. I’m not telling you my name and I want you to leave me alone.” She tried to speak the words harshly, but it came out shaky and trembling instead. Penny hated being afraid. Hated feeling trapped. Alone.

She’d been alone for so long.

The light in the man’s teal blue eyes actually dimmed. His shoulders slumped. Penny couldn’t help but want to pat him on the shoulder and tell him everything would be fine.

She couldn’t. He was a stranger, who was coming on rather strong in her opinion.

Although, it wasn’t like she had a lot of practice. Men didn’t usually hit on her. She was all about getting down to the brass tacks of a situation. Stripping the barrel and making sure everything on the inside was in perfect order. Relationships were messy, and most men didn’t like that she was independent. Smart. Capable. All of the above.

Still. She cared. It was new to her. She was attracted to him also. More than any other man she’d met in her life. It was unsettling, and she really just wanted it to stop. She just wanted to lay low. Stay off the radar. That’s why she’d come to a town called Mystery. Population less than a thousand.

“You don’t feel anything?” He asked, his tone hopeful. The way he looked at her made her insides melt and for a brief moment she wondered what it would be like if she’d met him outside of her current circumstances. Would she be more apt to consider his advances favorably? Or was she—as her female office colleagues always said—completely oblivious to the race of men.

“Now is not a good time,” she finally answered.

“So that’s not a no then.” His voice rose, picking back up some of its original energy. He sidestepped and reached for the basket she was carrying. "Let me help you get your groceries. Then we’ll talk again another time.”

“You’re not going to follow me out of the store?”

“I would follow you to the end of the earth and back. But, if you don’t wish it, then I will find a way to respect your request, even if it causes me pain.” He gestured to the cereal boxes and crackers. “Anything from this aisle? Personally, I’m quite fond of the honey graham crackers.

Causes him pain? “Does that line ever work on anyone?” This guy was ridiculous. Surely, he didn’t think she was going to fall for dribble like that…except she had to admit, it was rather romantic to hear someone say it, even if it was a line. No one ever said stuff like that which made her even more suspicious.

“Line?” He tipped his head to the side. His blue eyes sparked again, and she could’ve sworn she saw flecks of metallic gold in them, stunning, really, and the intensity in his gaze. One look and she was warm, from her heart all the way down deep into her belly.

“Following me to the end of the world. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. We’re strangers.” She pointed to the animal crackers. She preferred them over the ones he’d mentioned.

“Animal crackers it is.” He grabbed her a box. “I find it amusing the things humans do to their food.”

Humans?

“To answer your question, I’ve never offered to follow any other woman to the end of the world. Only you.” He turned and performed an adorable flourish with his hand and a bow.

Who was this guy?

Only me?

Her luck with people was just shitty. She didn’t read people well. She just saw problems and fixed them. But with people…people confused her and took advantage of her.

But none of those people in the past looked like this guy. Sounded like this guy. Made her feel what this man did. Ever. She’d never once truly wanted to reciprocate flirting, but right now she wanted to touch him. She wanted to feel his body next to hers. He looked strong and safe and good grief she was being ridiculous. Daydreaming about a stranger, who could be stalking her for Jake at this very moment.

“I don’t suppose I have earned the knowledge of your name yet.” He gave her a coy cat-like smile. She was his saucer of milk. That she could read quite clearly, not that he was trying to hide it. “I could just continue calling you beautiful, gorgeous, stunning, my destined soulmate.”

“Soulmate.” An unladylike squeak slipped between her lips. “That’s not a thing.”

He hummed a low note in his chest. She stared. It was almost like he was...purring. But people couldn’t purr or have soulmates. All the stress was affecting her mind. That had to be the answer. This guy was just flirting with her and being sweet and she was freaking out and losing her s**t. Which never happened. She was always calm and collected and organized.

Until she’d witnessed multiple murders.

She’d been afraid if she waited until tomorrow to leave Anchorage that she wouldn’t have made it out of her apartment alive. Bile rose up in her throat and she coughed as the b****y memory flooded through her mind again. Those people. They never had a chance.

She wouldn’t have a chance either, if Jake caught her.

“Beautiful?” His voice was soft and comforting. His hand was on her arm. He was bent over looking up at her with a worried expression. Genuine worry. Genuine care. There was something about the way his tone had caressed the word beautiful that made her hesitate to completely write him off. He was hypnotic, but she couldn’t afford any distractions right now.

None.

“I’m fine.” She rolled her shoulder and slipped from beneath his touch. “Please, just leave me alone.” She moved further away from his warmth, missing his presence the moment she did. It was crazy. He was a stranger. He could be working for Jake, stalling her…distracting her until he got her alone and then. Bam. Dead.

She shuddered out a breath.

“Kann.” A female voice called from the front of the store. “Are you bothering customers?” A moment later, a middle-aged woman about five-foot-five with a short bob of silver hair and hot pink wide-rimmed glasses popped around the corner.

“No, Ms. Henrietta, I was trying to help.”

The older woman walked straight up and patted Penny’s arm. “You doing okay? I saw you get out of Carl’s delivery truck. You one of his kids? Or just hitching a ride?”

Penny shook her head, unable to speak. The shopkeeper knew the drop-dead gorgeous man talking to her? That took off just the tiniest bit of worry. If he was really from Mystery, then he couldn’t work for Jake. Right? She desperately wanted to believe that he had no association whatsoever with Jake Vicenti.

“No matter. Privacy is important too.” Henrietta turned back to the man she’d called Kann. He’d introduced himself, Penny had just been so nervous with him trailing her through the store, she’d forgotten. They had been standing together when she’d first come inside.

Henrietta turned to face the large man and had to tip up her head to make eye contact with the giant. “You leave this nice young woman be if she asks you to. Hear me?” The little old lady pointed a finger up at the man like she was scolding her own son.

“I wouldn’t dream of bothering anyone.” He hugged the shopkeeper and then turned all of his attention back to Penny.

Penny’s face heated in response to his comment. Again.

The older woman gave Penny another once over. “Kann can be intense, but he’s as harmless as a housecat. Such a softy. Don’t you love his hair. Only some men can pull off long hair,” Henrietta kept talking. “You should see his friends, all of them, just downright gorgeous, like they stepped off a superhero movie set.” The storekeeper put her hand against her chest like she was fanning herself. She gave Kann another smile and walked off, leaving them alone again at the end of the cracker aisle.

Penny swallowed. Another problem she hadn’t truly considered. A town no bigger than a barely visible dot on the map meant everyone knew everyone. Which meant everyone was going to want to know who she was… she couldn’t stay right in the middle of town, even if it was the most convenient. She needed to be out on the edge. Away from people. Away from the line of sight.