Loving Luna - All Grown Up

Chapter Fifteen - The Cell (4)

❤Darcy

Breakfast at the dining hall had been weird. Seeing so many different types of shifters had left me feeling a lot more vulnerable and all I wanted was to be back home. No one had explained anything to us and as we were led back to our cell, I avoided my two cellmates, Kou from The Grim Pride and Tora from The Desert Pride.

“Hey Darcy, what did you think about those dragons?” Kou asked once we had settled back into our cell. I shook my head.

“Honestly, this whole situation is weird,” I said as I sat down on the bottom bunker.

“Any idea how many different species there are?” Tora asked as she sat down next to me.

“Wolves, dragons, bears, panthers-”

“Panthers?!” Tora screeched out and I giggled as I nodded.

“There are three of them, how could you not notice them Tora? They were sitting right across from us?” I glanced over at Kou and cringed. He was going to be King of his Pride one day and already at the age of nineteen, he was full of himself. Needless to say, I didn’t like him.

“Woah, I would love to see them shift,” Tora said as she got comfortable on the corner of the bed. “I’d like to see them all shift,”

“And I am sure they would love to see us shift,” I added.

“Well of course, but we are just lions, we aren’t like those dragons who can fly!” she remarked excitedly. “I mean, did you see the chains on them? Damn,”

“I feel sorry for all of them, they have also been kidnapped, just like us,” I looked down at my hands and thought about the one boy who had caught my attention. “Hey, Tora,”

“Hmm?”

“Do you think it’s possible for interracial mates?” I asked her. Tora looked surprised by my question but then she slowly nodded.

“I mean, we should be with our own kind but who knows? Fate may have other things in store for us,” she said. I thought about what she had said and smiled. Maybe she was right. King Mitch would tell me to expect the unexpected and I relaxed back on the bed and closed my eyes. His face immediately filled my mind and I thought about his thick dark brown hair and his soft amber eyes. The way he had interacted with his own kind. The way he smiled and the way he had suddenly looked my way. He had been surprised or something but then he had smiled and holy hell! His smile alone would be the death of me! I couldn’t wait for lunchtime; I couldn’t wait to see him again and maybe this time I would gather up my courage and talk to him. Would he be ok with that? With a lion being interested in him. If I remember correctly, he was sitting with the wolves and for some reason, I found that extremely sexy. Oh my! I was getting all flustered thinking about him. I kept my eyes closed and my breathing even. Falling asleep with his sweet smile in mind was easy as pie.

 ❤❤❤

“Darcy, wake up,” I opened my eyes to see Tora standing over me. “Girl, you sleep like the dead!” she commented as I got up and rubbed at my tired eyes.

“I had the most amazing dream,” I stated. Tora nodded over at the gate and I saw a different man letting us out.

“Lunchtime,” Tora whispered. Kou slipped passed up and soon enough we where once more on our way to the dining hall. I was excited and I couldn’t wait to see him. “What did you dream about?” Tora asked when we walked in. I immediately searched the room and saw him standing by the service line. He was tall, nicely built, and the pair of light blue jeans he had on made his butt look amazing. “Earth to Darcy?”

“Hmm,” I hummed out as I rushed to the service line. There were about five shifters between us but that didn’t matter. I could feel the electricity between us. I kept an eye on him as the line moved. He looked great, just as he had this morning. He suddenly started looking around and I wondered who he was looking for and when his eyes landed on me and he smiled, I melted. When he was finished in the line, I heard him say to his fellow shifters that he would be joining them later. The mysterious wolf stood waiting for me. The closer I got to him, the hotter I felt. What the hell was wrong with me? I wasn’t even embarrassed by it. Finally, when I stood just to his left, he spoke.

“Hey,” he whispered, and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. His voice! So rich, so smooth, and so deep. It made my legs weak and my toes curl. I desperately wanted to look at him, but I feared that I would drop my tray. “Here, allow me,” he said as he reached out and took the tray from me. I followed him as he led me to a relatively quiet spot by the closest table. We sat down and I wasn’t sure if I should sit so close to him, but I didn’t have much of a choice since that is where he put my tray.

“Um…I’m Darcy,” I informed him, and he smiled.

“I’m Warrity but everyone calls me War,” he introduced himself and I blushed. I had not been expecting that.

“That is an unusual name,” I said as I looked down at my tray.

“Yeah, my mom and dad…well, let’s just say they are a bit nuts,” he said with a chuckle. “Oh! Do you like beans?” he asked, and I quickly shook my head. Apparently, since I had been so dazed by loverboy War that the only thing, I had placed on my tray was a mountain of beans.

“Um, yeah no, I’ll be right back,” I said as I got up. War stopped me and pushed his tray towards me.

“Eat,” he ordered softly before he got up and re-joined the service line. I smiled as I looked down. White rice, gravy, beans, carrots, and two really nice pieces of lamb. Yum. I started eating as I glanced around the room. Other shifters had started to mingle a bit and I was somewhat relieved that I wasn’t the only one.

“Who are you?!” I looked up to see a relatively good-looking guy with shaggy blonde hair standing on the other side of the table.

“Um, I am Darcy,” I said softly. “Why? Who are you?”

“Zylla, dragon shifter, you?” he sat down, and I was tempted to tell him to leave. War would be back soon, and I wanted to be alone with him. Well, as alone as I could be.

“Lion shifter,” I informed him, and he shook his head as he started eating.

“Woah, lions, cats, dogs, and who knows what else,” he said between bites. I nodded, not really knowing what to say as I started eating. “So, where you from?” he asked.

“I’m from Shadow Husk Pride,” I said. This was the kind of conversation I wanted to be having with Warrity, not this Zylla guy.

“Nice, so um…that guy that was with you earlier, is he a lion too?” before I could answer, a low growling noise came from behind me, I turned around to see Warrity. He had the tray in one hand, and he was showing his teeth to Zylla as he growled loudly. Three others rushed to his side and they too stood their ground against Zylla. I looked back and almost laughed at his expression. He was scared, I could tell. He slowly stood up and left the table. I continued eating. Wolves are so territorial.

“Mine,” I heard War growl out before he joined me. “Are you enjoying it?” he asked, and I nodded as I tore into the lamb. How could I not be enjoying it? “Who was that guy?” Warrity asked me and I rolled my eyes. Not so much at him but more so at Zylla’s stupidity.

“Some dragon,” I said dismissively.

“Dragon? Well, he better stay away from what’s mine,” he said as he started eating. I wanted to question him about what is his but suddenly I felt shy. We continued eating in silence until he turned to me. “So, you are a lion shifter?”

“Yeah and you are a wolf shifter,” I stated, and he smiled.

“Yeah, so um…Darcy, what do you know about wolves?” he asked but I already knew where he was going with this.

“If you are referring to the fact that you have mates, then I am only going to assume that this connection we have is because I am your mate?” I watched him blush and it took everything in me not to reach out and touch his pink cheeks.

“Um…” he coughed loudly and then nodded. “Yeah, Darcy, you are my mate,”

“Well, that’s nice,” I said as I finished eating. I wanted to scream, to dance around, and to go crazy! I, Darcy Lass, lion shifter of The Shadow Husk Pride, aged eighteen, had finally met my mate. It was amazing and beyond what I had ever expected. Warrity looked unsure of himself but I smiled sweetly at him. He had no idea how badly I wanted this. I reached out and touched his arm. “It’s very nice,”

“Good, good, um…are there any male lions here?” he asked curiously, and I could pick up on the jealousy in his voice. He was adorable!

“Yes, one, but he is so self-involved and vain,” I explained. I didn’t want my mate to think anything funny. “He spends his time by himself. There is only three of us,”

“Oh, who is the other one?” he asked.

“Tora, she’s ok,” I said as I gazed into his eyes. I couldn’t believe it. Mates!

“Ok, well, if that male gives you any trouble…you tell me,” he said protectively, and I smiled. He was so sweet, but he didn’t need to worry too much about me.

“I will, but just so you know, I can take care of myself,” I said playfully. Warrity blushed and looked away. Suddenly the situation got serious and I leaned closer towards him. “Do you have any idea why we were taken?” I asked. So far, I hadn’t been able to come up with any reasonable explanations.

“No idea, do you remember what happened to you?” he asked as he faced me.

“I remember being at my Pride and I volunteered to go with a team to town for supplies. I was waiting by the truck when some guy came up to me. He wanted to know what the time was, and I reached into the truck for my phone, and then he hit me,” I said as I remembered it. “He looked like a normal guy, you know? I didn’t think anything odd about him asking me for the time,”

“Yeah,”

“However, now, of course, I see just how odd it was. I mean, who walks around without a phone?”

“True,”

“What about you?” I asked curiously.

“Actually, I was on the road, I had stopped at a diner for breakfast. When I was done, I headed back to my car and some guy showed me a map, asking for directions and then he hit me too. I woke up in the cell,” I could tell that he wasn’t happy, and I reached out and grabbed his hand. “My family is in here too,” he added softly, and my eyes went wide with surprise.

“What?”

“Yeah, my cousins, four of them,” he informed me, and I whistled softly.

“Woah, your family must be going nuts with worry,” I said as I thought about my own family. I did not doubt that they were going crazy, wondering where I am.

“Oh, trust me, if anyone is going to figure out what the hell is going on here, it is my family, especially my mom,” Warrity said with a chuckle. This made me curious about his family, but our time was up. As I followed Kou and Tora back to our cell, I thought about Warrity and his family. I couldn’t wait to see him again, get to know more about him and hopefully, I’ll get to meet his cousins.