Chapter Twenty-Five – Molly
Had it been five minutes? I couldn’t remember. I’d been trying so hard to keep the count in my head, but I’d lost track at about one hundred “Mississippis,” and other thoughts had quickly staked out their territory.
I wrung my hands as I came back from the kitchen, came to a stop in front of Heidi’s bedroom door. My heart seemed to be beating three or four times its normal rate, bop-bop-bop-bop, despite having not done a single thing to get it going. I mean, I’d never seen a lion before, let alone up close.
Five minutes? Oh geez, had it been five minutes already? Or had it not been long enough?
Her room was silent.
I raised my hand, went to rap on the door with my knuckles. I paused, less than inch away from the door. What if I interrupted whatever he was doing, or hurt him somehow by surprising him?
Arms back around my body in a comforting, nervous hug, I made my way back down the hall, retracing my steps back to the kitchen. I stopped at the end, turned on the balls of my feet, and stared back down at the hallway.
One more lap couldn’t hurt, could it?
It was too unreal to think about all the stuff Luke had already told me. Magic, unicorns, demons, faerie tales being real, and my best friend being taken by some creature. And to top it all off, here he was. Some kind of lion creature shifting into his animal form in my friend’s room.
But then I thought about that perfectly normal, human body of his. And by perfect, I meant perfect. Light tan, chiseled muscles, and a six-pack that could make a dead woman sit up and beg.
He looked human, didn’t he? Or, well, human enough.
I bit my knuckle as I closed my eyes, remembered exactly what it had felt like to be held by him. How warm and comforting it had been, how secure.
And that’s when I realized my heart was beating even faster than before. That the nerves weren’t just nerves about seeing him like this, that they were nerves for other reasons, that the butterflies migrating from one end of my stomach to the other weren’t just because of what he was. They were because of who he was, and what he already meant to me.
I opened my eyes as I came to a stop in front of Heidi’s bedroom door.
I reached out and knocked.
No answer.
“Okay, Luke,” I said, my voice barely wavering. “I’m coming in.” With a nod to myself, I turned the door handle, pushed open the door, and stepped inside.
My mouth dropped open, my eyes widening to the size of grapefruits. Still gripping the doorknob, my fingers slowly began to drop from the brass handle one by one by one, till my hand slapped against my thigh.
“Oh…oh my goodness.”
Even having been told what to expect behind this closed door, some part of me had just scoffed at the idea that this was possible. But now, that part of me was slinking out of the room and trying not to look foolish.
Because here he was. He hadn’t said one word of untruth.
At all.
Lion-Luke stood there, staring out at me through golden eyes, his face set within a reddish-gold mane of fur. His shoulders came up to my waist at least, a bundle of raw muscle and regal might, and I knew within a heartbeat’s space of time that this was real. This was the real freaking deal, and I wasn’t in Arizona anymore. Not the Arizona I knew, at least. His thick tail, at least as thick as my wrist, swished first left, then right, back and forth, seemingly to confirm the fact.
“Luke?” I breathed, barely able to form words.
He nodded, and I almost fainted. I’d never seen an animal really nod, not with the kind of intelligence that filled those eyes. Sometimes, with animals, you could almost imagine there was real intellect hiding there, that they were just trying to fool us humans. But after witnessing Luke in his animal form, I knew I’d never have that fanciful thought again.
Luke didn’t move, didn’t come towards me. He just looked at me with those soulful, golden eyes of his, his tail finally slowing to a stop.
I took a step forward, a timid movement where my toes and the ball of my foot seemed to search for the ground in front of me, my hand outstretched towards him.
He sat back down on his haunches, licking his big pink tongue over his powerful jaws.
For just a moment, I felt what a zebra must feel, my heart lurching to a near stop as his eyes stayed focused on me. But, still, I pushed on, his words resonating in my mind. About how he was in control, that he was still Luke Oldham, beneath all the fur and all the muscles.
He didn’t move another inch as I slowly crept forward, hand outstretched. He only purred loudly enough to make my hand practically vibrate as I stroked a hand over his coarse, red and brown mane, as I ran my fingers through his thick shock of fur.
Luke rose languidly, as if he were being careful not to disturb me, and rubbed his head across my hand. The action was almost tender, as if he were communicating his care for me in the most lion-like way he could.
A tremor went through my body as I realized that, yes, this really was Luke Oldham. That he hadn’t somehow just pulled a fast one on me and David Copperfielded a full-grown male lion into my roommate’s bedroom. That this was, in fact, genuine, and I wasn’t just dreaming.
“You’re beautiful,” I whispered, stroking my hand over his giant, fuzzy ear. “Amazing.”
He nudged me again with his hand, and, somehow, I knew it was time for me to leave. That this moment between us was over for now, and he needed to change back. At the end of the day, none of this was about him or me, or even us. It was about my friend Heidi, and getting her home safe. And we still had work to do.
“I know,” I said, my voice still not louder than a whisper. “I know.”
He growled a little and nudged me with his head, pushing me towards the door.
Squealing with laughter, I took a step towards the hall, saying, “I get it, all right? No need to get rough.”
Moments later, I was back outside, my mind only barely registering what I’d just seen. It had been amazing, awe-inspiring, life-changing. Most importantly, I knew I’d never look at the world the same ever again. And, somehow, I knew I’d never look at another man the same way, either.