Luc: " Well shit... I didn't see that one coming. I believe it though. I mean I just felt it. But why hide it?"

"Aldi said it was for my protection."

"Make sense. If the other shifters knew about you when we were little, that could have caused a huge problem. But NOW! IT'S GREAT NEWS!"

"How you figured that Luc? I have enough on my plates as it is, I don't care to be the King of Kings."

"Yea Yea Yea... But it's good news now, because you are sure to win against Mathieu."

"Even without the extra power, I would have won against that loser. Even you could win against him."

"I'll try not to take offense... But in all seriousness, Mathieu is no longer the sniveling conniving moron he was when we were growing up. His dad did not willingly gave up his pride to him. He challenged his own father and almost killed the old man."

"Mathieu ??? That is hard to believe."

"He changed man, in more ways than one."

"Explain."

They walked towards his office, where he poured two drinks and sat them on the coffee table in front of his couch, where his brother was already perched with his legs up.

"Mathieu has been taking steroids."

Henri narrowed his eyes and shrug. So what if he was. That doesn't work on shifters.

Luc: " I know what you are thinking. But this isn't normal steroids. The man found a way to bioengineer a substance that can alter our genetic codes. He has gotten taller, and his muscles are comically huge. I mean it, they look funny but they are nonetheless huge muscles. "

" Why wasn't I informed of this Luc?"

"Dad told me no to bother you and that he'd handle it."

Henri scoffed and ran his fingers through his hair. I guess he didn't handle it then.

"Something else you don't know."

"What else?"

"Mathieu has been meticulously conquering smaller prides around Tanzania. So he basically runs the second biggest pride on the mainland. I guess he figured he was big enough now to move in on our island and take the throne."

"I have to talk to Natalia."

"So Lia really is your mate?"

"Yes, Aldi confirmed it."

"I felt it."

"What do you mean?"

"As soon as I met her, I felt it. You may not have taken the oath yet bro, but my cat already accepted you as our King, so which means she is to be our Queen. As soon as I met her, I felt the need to protect her.... And it doesn't hurt that she is drop dead gorgeous you lucky bastard! "

Henri groaned in annoyance. Another male and he'd be on the floor begging for his life. But his brother will never change, and he loved his brother. He also know he'd never try anything with-Lia? -nope kitten it is.

" What are you going to tell her? Are you going to tell her the truth? How do you think she will react?"

FOR goddess sakes!

"Non, I cannot tell her anything yet, except that there's an emergency and I have go back for now. This type of talk deserves more time than we have for now."

"I had your assistant fix up your luggage. As soon as the plane is ready again, we'll leave."

"Good thanks. Have Tony and Mark stay behind with her. They could stay in the shadows like they always are. I don't want to frighten her but I also don't want her to be alone."

"I'm sure once they found out she is our future Queen they will be more than thrilled to guard her."

"Don't tell them yet. Less people who know for now the better. Just have them guard her."

"Understood. Anything else you need to get done before we go?"

"Yes.

Leave for now. I must talk to with her. Let me know when the plane is ready."

"Riiiiiiiight! *talking*. Just make it quick."

He could be such a child sometimes.

Henri made his way to the bedroom.

He was nervous. He dreaded telling her he had to leave so abruptly. But when he opened the doors he became furious.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

She was fixing up her bags.

She was leaving him.

She can't leave him!

His chest tightened and beads of sweats coated his forehead.

Natalia got startled by his sudden outburst. It was the first time she'd heard him raise his voice like that.

"I was just getting myself ready. I figured our time together was going to get cut short."

"How..."

"It had to be important enough for our flight to change and get us back here so quickly."

She was too smart for her own good.

He sighed and sat on the edge of the colossal bed and beckoned her to come stand between his legs.

As soon as she reached him, he enveloped her in tight hug and nuzzle his nose behind her ear.

She smelled divine.

He didn't want to let go.

He didn't want to be away from her.

"I have to go back home, there's an emergency with dad."

"Oh... Is he OK?" Her voice was laced with worry, and he really appreciated her real concern.

He pulls her closer to him and have her sit on his lap.

"He is for now... But he won't be anymore if I stayed."

He was technically telling the truth, just not the whole truth.

"So that's it then..."

He could hear the disappointment in her voice and it brought him a slight bit of comfort knowing that she herself didn't seem to want to let go.

"Come with me" he whispered in her ear.

It was crazy to ask her. He didn't know why he asked her. He shouldn't have asked her given that he hadn't been able to tell her anything about who and what he was yet.

She was now straddling him with her arms around his neck. They held on to each other, both afraid that once they let go, it will be truly the end.

"Go with you where?"

"Tanzania...

Well to be exact, in a private island off of the coast of Tanzania, that's where we are from."

"B-bbut the french accent and..."

"Maman is french, and we lived in a small village in France for most of our lives with her for security reasons."

That's when she unhooked her arms around his neck to take a good look at him.

"Security reasons?

Who are you really?"

Like he thought before, she was too smart for her own good.

"Come with me and I'll tell you everything."

He meant it too.

But she was shaking her head no, and it took Henri everything not to beg, but instead he buried his head between her breasts awaiting her excuse as to why she wouldn't or couldn't go with him.

"As much as I'd love to Henri, I cannot. Tomorrow is Monday and I have to get back to work. I've got a really important meeting. She is my biggest most loyal client and she has been patiently waiting for two weeks now, but I'm afraid she won't wait anymore. I can't lose nor delegate that account.

Without her I wouldn't have been able to become a broker so quickly and open my own business. She took a liking to me and decided to use me exclusively. Tomorrow very early, I will need to go set up some open houses for a few of her condos. " she went on to explain, feeling the need to.

Business was business and that he understood all too well.

" Then, stay here. Technically we still have a couple more days together as per our agreement. I'll try and wrap things up as quickly as I can at home. But you stay here. The chef will come by to cook your meals and..."

"You have a chef? How I've never seen him or her?"

"I wanted to be left here with you alone, so I gave the chef and everyone else some time off. And I also wanted to cook for you myself."

"Why are you so cute?" she said smiling.

"Cute?" he pouted at the word, which made her laugh and got up off him.

"Fine. I'll stay."

He was practically jumping for joy but remained cool and just gave her his winning smile of his.

Knowing she will be here, where she will be the safest calmed down his lion a bit.

"Good! There's so much I want to tell you and..."

His phone rang with his assistant calling.

"What is it Marie?"

His demeanor completely changed in a blink of an eye, from cute and giddy to her, to cold and brusque on the phone.

He went and pushed aside the heavy window curtains, then nodded.

"Have them get it ready as early as possible tomorrow. Thank you Marie"

During their travel times together, before their settled in Barbados, he took her to a few resorts and hotels that he and his family owned.

So she's seen that business side of him. But no matter how cold he sounded to those around him, she admired that he was never disrespectful. And it was really obvious that his employees greatly respected him. She'd catch them slightly bowing to him as they walked by.

"looks like we've got a few more hours to spare before I go. It's pretty bad out there with rain and ice, the flight has been postponed to tomorrow."

It wasn't ideal. He was going to be dead tired right before the challenge on Tuesday after being stuck on a 15 hour plane ride.

But he didn't care.

Right now all he could think of was that he was getting one last night with her, before he'd go and fight for his and his peoples' lives.

They spent the rest of the day eating junk food, watching movies at his home theater. They played, laughed, made out and when the night came they spent it in each other's arms.

She almost cried when they were done. He was so gentle with her, slow and meticulous. Made love to every inch of her with his mouth. Mapping every part of her that made her moan the loudest and stored them all into memory. .

Was that his way of saying goodbye?

But he asked her to wait! So this couldn't be a goodbye sex.

But she could not shake the feeling that he wanted to convey something to her.

The next morning early, after a few protests she finally agreed to have him drive her to her place in order to pick up a few things she will need to set up the first condo.

At this point, he was really close to just buying all of them if that'd mean she would be free.

But he also knew, she'd be furious at him.

She slid her keys to her apartment, and opened the door and let him in.

This would be his first time there.

It was a cozy place compared to his, but it was obvious that whomever lived there was proud of it.

"Make yourself comfortable handsome, I'll be right back."

It was tastefully decorated. Very few furnitures but it was still homey. The only real pop of colors was the deep red couch facing a fireplace with a mounted TV on top of it. And next to it a Doctor Who Tardis. When he opened the doors to it, he was surprised to see the cheer volumes of books it held. He immediately spotted the fantasy section with lots werewolves stories.

"Ah you found my books" she exclaimed when she returned back. She was carrying a few bags which he immediately took from her.

"It's an impressive collection and I like the Tardis." her eyes widened accompanied with a huge grin.

"Are you a whovian???" she asked suddenly way too excited. But he only chuckled careful to not reveal his nerd card yet.

"So werewolves? "

"Oh yea... I love these stories, they are mostly romantic fantasies though. There's something fantastic about such fierce beings turn into kitties when it comes to the love of their lives. "

He was beginning to relate.

"About kitties... No werelion stories?"

She stopped abruptly to think, putting a finger on her lips.

"Wow... I don't think I ever even thought about them. There aren't many books about werelion that's for sure."

He rolled his eyes feeling suddenly annoyed. He never really cared about the popularity of the wolves until now.

"Is that all you need" he asked ready to change the subject.

"Yup...I really appreciate you driving me here I know you have to go back home."

"Don't worry about it kitten, I still have some times, so let me drive you to the condo and help out. I want to squeeze every second I can with you."

"You are being too sweet Henri." she said then gave him a quick kiss. Anything longer and clothes would be flying.

20 minutes later, they've arrived in front of the newly renovated building. It seemed to be a nice place, in a good neighborhood.

He parks and went to her side and opened the door for her. She thanked him when getting off, and they made their way to the elevator.

His hands were full with the her bags that she needed to bring with her so she quickly add on a few things around the condos to make them feel more appealing to the potential buyers.

As they approached the first one she will be showing today, the door was already slightly open. By the look Natalia gave him, she was definitely not expecting anybody.

He put the boxes down in the hall, and placed her behind him. She rolled her eyes at him and his overprotectiveness, because she's quickly realized it had to be her client inside given she was the only other person who knew the codes to the doors.

Henri subtly took a long whiff scenting the place before going through the door. He smelled a female but there was something about her scent that was...um...familiar? And when he opened the door, and watched her quickly turn around to face whomever was coming in, he suddenly realized why her scent felt familiar and the revelation left him flabbergasted.