Lair of the Lion

restless, tossing their heads and sidestepping. Isabella could see their eyes rolling wildly as they scented a predator.
    She took a deep breath and let it out. "Nicolai." She said his name softly and lifted her gaze to meet his eyes.
    They blazed at her. Wild. Turbulent. Deadly. Flaming with passion, with fire. She refused to look away from him, to see him as the others saw him. "What did your madre do when your padre told her the truth?" The cold had been numbing her pain, but at her question, the paws flexed, and the claws dug deeper. Thin ribbons of blood trickled down her shoulder.
    "What do you think she did? She ran from him. She tried to escape. She couldn't even look at me once she knew what I would become." His voice was a raspy growl, as if his throat itself was altered and it was difficult for him to speak.
    "I look at you and see a wonderful man, Nicolai. I don't know what is happening here, but you are no beast without thought or conscience. You have tremendous control and the ability to think, to reason. I have no intention of running from you." She felt the claws retract. She felt the wildness in him subside.
    The horses felt it, too. They settled down and stood quietly, blowing softly, white vapor streaming from their nostrils.
    Nicolai looked down at her soft skin, and a growl escaped him. He swore viciously, brutally, clapping the fur to the wounds. "Isabella. Dio. I can't risk you, not for myself, not for the others. I thought if I didn't love you, if I didn't feel anything, you would be safe, but I've never felt so deeply about anything." He looked stricken, pale beneath his dark skin.
    "What have I done to you?"
    "You aren't risking me, Nicolai. Don't you realize that yet?" She pressed close to him, her lips finding his. He was stiff with his fear for her. "It is my risk to take. Mine alone. You can't force another to you. Love has to be freely given." She kissed him again, small kisses along the line of his jaw, the corners of his mouth, teasing, coaxing until he gave in because he couldn't stop himself.
    Nicolai gathered her close and welded them together, his mouth dominating hers, kissing her until fire raced between them, burning out of control, a storm every bit as intense as his turbulent emotions. His hands framed her face, and he stared down into her eyes. "I'm so afraid to believe in you, Isabella. If something goes wrong and I can't control it…"
    "What choice do you have?" Isabella tried to prevent her tiny shiver, but he missed nothing, not the slightest detail about her, and he pulled the furs close, tucking them around her. "You have to control it. Do you know how it happens? Why? Are you aware of it happening?"
    He raked a hand through his hair in agitation. "I have always accepted what I was born with. A gift, a curse—I don't know. The people believe the old legends, and they hope for a miracle. They think you're that miracle. I only know I have always been able to talk to the lions. They are part of me. I wasn't afraid of it or ashamed of it. I knew it made me different, and I knew mia madre didn't want anything to do with me, but I can't remember when she did, so it wasn't that bad a thing. Sarina and Betto were always there. And I played like any boy with my friends Sergio and Rolando."
    She leaned into him, because he seemed to need more comfort than she did. Her shoulders stung, the only reminder of what had happened. He was so charismatic that, without those small wounds, she would never believe it had. Somehow he managed to steal his way into her heart until she ached for him, ached for the pain reflected in his eyes.
    "Your padre?" she prompted.
    Nicolai sighed and gathered the reins into his hands. "He withdrew from everyone, became more savage until even I could not see the man mia madre planned to flee. He found out before she could leave the palazzo. He hunted her through the halls, up and down the stairs. She ran to the great tower, out into the small courtyard. I knew what might happen, so I followed him, to stop him, but he was too far gone. Then he turned on me." He touched the scars on his face with trembling fingers, a man remembering a boy's nightmare.
    He fell silent, staring out over the sparkling pond.
    "The lions saved you, didn't they, Nicolai?" she said softly.
    He nodded, his face hardening perceptibly. "Yes, they did. They killed him to save my life."
    "When you were a small boy, did the beast in you ever come out?"
    Nicolai shook the reins, and the