1 Chapter One - The Lion

The Lion, Ch 1:

All stories start out simple, mine started out exactly like that. I was just a normal woman, getting on with her day to day nothing special. Till one day I met a man and my life would never be the same again;

I sighed as I stared out the office window in boredom. I wasn't interested in spreadsheets or reviews today, anything but those actually. Sighing out, I stared at the desktop waiting for the minutes to tick by. I was bored shitless at this stupid job. Only an hour till the weekend; thank god...

"Iylar, what are you doing?" Honey asked as her white bunny ears twitched, as her interest was piqued by my test samples that were in neat rows out on my desktop.

"Pretending I am elsewhere." I replied back softly. My eyes not moving off the horizon of the slowly setting autumn sun; its colours dying the sky hues of Oranges and Reds as the sun made its way to bed for the day.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic." Honey rolled her eyes and flicked her one floppy ear off of her soft featured face, nudging me to get back to work. We only had an hour or so left of the day but - By Lord - it has been a long one. I just wanted to get back home to relax and eat my sorrows away. I rolled my eyes in defeat and carried on writing up my Test Report, it needed to be done today anyway otherwise I would have to stay late...

"Much planned for this evening?" I asked Honey as her tail wiggled with excitement, since her results came out right the first time.

"I'm going to see Marcus..." She wiggled her eyebrows at me, causing a grin to creep over my face from her reaction.

"Marcus Lop? From the Research department?" She nodded at me a mischievous glint crossing her face.

"Yep, I didn't wear matching panties for no reason..." She winked in my direction as I felt my face heat up a little at her saying that.

"God, you're such a Rabbit!" I teased her and jokingly waved her away from me giggling a little.

"What can I say we Rabbits are good at multiplying!" She stuck her tongue out at me and winked. I rolled my eyes at her and glance about the work-place seeing everyone packing up for the end of the day. Looks like I should be doing that too... I glanced out the window longingly see the Bird-Hyed people flying home on their beautiful wings, after a long day at work. Annoyingly enough for us two-legged people we have to walk, or take the trains. I was one of the few who had a car... The last while of work went by quickly and I was out in the car park as soon as it struck 5pm. I wanted to beat the evening rush!

As I was scrambling to my car to throw all of my stuff in, to make my speedy get away... I glanced forward as I ran head-first into a suited, Strong, Lion-Hyde man.

"Shit, I'm sorry!" I mumbled as my paperwork went all over the concrete floor.

"Are you okay?" The man asked surprised by my sudden barging into him. I quickly dropped to the floor where I picked up all of the scattered paperwork. The golden-haired male quickly bent down to help me. His strong frame coming into view and I blushed slightly by the generous display to me. I nodded in answer to his question too flustered to talk to him as I rushed to pick up my paperwork.

"Here," The Lion mumbled and passed the papers he picked up to me.

"Thank you." I took the paper from him finally getting a look at his face. He was a stunning man, mid length hair curving round his face like a mane, as his soft onyx eyes gazed down to me in curiosity. His dark lion ears flicked a little and his dark furred lion tail came into view and swished from side to side. I could feel myself shrink at his gaze; he was definitely an Alpha, I could tell by his dark fur and slight fangs that just protruded out the bottom of his top lip.

"Gosh I am sorry; I don't mean to scare you." He smiled and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. He was a very handsome man; however his canines were slightly unsettling especially when they almost shined in the LED lights of the underground carpark. He held out his hand to help me off the floor. I stared at it hesitantly… I was unsure of him, but something inside of me said he was okay… One of the Alphas to be trusted… I reached out my hand and placed my dainty fingertips into his palms, my violet eyes coming to meet his dark irises.

As our fingers touched and our eyes met, there was an intense shock almost like electricity flinging through my hand, up into my arm and down into my chest. The force of it knocked me back onto the floor as I ripped my hand away from him shocked.

"What the hell?" I blurted out and pulled myself up to my feet staring the man down who was looking equally confused as I.

"I… I don't understand?" He mumbled his tail swishing side to side in clear frustration, his ears pinned back as his eyes pointed to me in an almost accusing way. I made that my opportunity to get the fuck out of there. I turned heel without saying anything and briskly walked the rest of the way to my car. Being with an Alpha alone is dangerous… a male Alpha even more so… "Hey – Wait!" The Lion called as I unlocked my car and dived into the drivers seat, throwing my bag and paper-work into the footwell of the passenger side I slammed my foot on the clutch to start the car and threw it into 1st gear. The Lion was walking towards my car holding out his hands to stop me, in panic I pulled away from my parking spot and shot up the ramp at the end of the garage and into the street. Earning me an aggressive honk from a car I pulled out in front of. My primal side taking over as I could feel my breath begin to return to normal after five minutes of driving. What the hell was that?!

I had never felt anything like that before. My first reaction was just to run away, although thinking back on it I probably should have at least stayed to talk to him... His face flashing through my memories the further I drove away from him. His Onyx irises burnt into my memory and a strong feeling hitched in my chest when I thought of my hand touching his. I need to call someone to talk to them about this. Using the control panel on my car to call my mother, I waited in impatience for her to pick up the phone; the dial tone ended, and the line clicked through.

"Hi there sweetie! Long-time no hear from, how's work?" I sighed in relief at Mum's soft tone. Thank god she picked up.

"Hi Mum, work is good. I actually called about something..."

"Oh did you now?" I heard her smirk at the other end of the phone. I smiled half-heartedly in response.

"Yes, it was actually about someone I met today."

"Ooooh who is it..." I heard her mumble almost excitedly. I rolled my eyes, both hands clutching the steering wheel my adrenaline still slightly high and the strange panging feeling returned back in the middle of my chest almost as strong as when we touched.

"I have met a man. A Lion-Hyde Alpha to be exact-" I started and then she cut me off with a swift; "Don't you go near those alpha's you hear me! They are nothing but bad news always getting into fights, overly aggressive and possessive. Not to mention all of those back alley deals they have a hand in." She snapped.

"I know but there's something I need to talk to you about-" I started again and was once again cut off.

"If I were you, I would stay the hell away dear. Your father and I don't want to see you dead in a ditch somewhere." Mum sighed. "Anyway what is it you wanted to talk about?"

"Don't worry about it anymore. I'll sort it myself." I replied I don't think she will listen even if I tell her the story. After all my parents have always hated alpha's.

"Oh ok honey, I need to make your father's dinner anyway. Can we talk later?"

"Sure." I forced a smile even though she couldn't see me, we both said our goodbyes and ended the call. Looks like I will have to figure out this one for myself.

I thought back to the Lion again… I couldn't get him out of my head… I just wanted to see him again. It made me shift awkwardly in my car seat almost itching to return back. He would have gone by now there would be no point. As I rounded the corner to home; I saw a sleek black saloon car, parked outside my flats door. Its lights were on and everything about it screamed money. I felt my blood run cold, is he here for me? Was this because of earlier? I could feel worry build in my body and my knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. I quickly parked up across the street. Being on the outskirts of the central city, meant for poor parking. Grabbing all my items and bags, I avoided looking at the black Saloon as I dashed across the room and back to home. As I was fumbling with the keys into the door, I heard a car door slam and a pair of feet shuffle on the ground.

"Miss White?" I man called.

And that was the day my life changed.