ROMANCE: LION SHIFTER ROMANCE: Luring The Lion (Lion Shapeshifter Paranormal Fantasy Romance) (BBW Lion Shifter Romance) (6 page)

Fallen

Chapter 1

Katie woke up in a very luxurious hotel room feeling rather ordinary.  The day before she had competed in front of 50,000 fans in the world championship for speed skating.  She won the gold medal, as expected of her. For all her twenty-seven years she had always done exactly what was expected of her.  Her parents were well off and had provided her with the best private instruction, private schooling, and a life that on the whole would have been envious of anyone else.  But it was all she knew. 

    And now she realized that the competition no longer intoxicated her, and the never ending pursuit of fame and fortune has lost some of its glamor.  She had achieved both long ago.  Now, after winning her third straight world championship, she faced an existential crisis.  What to do with life when you have already achieved everything you have already set out to do?

There was a knock on her door.  It was her manager, Pete.

“Katie, you have interviews scheduled for the rest of the day, starting in one hour.  I just wanted to make sure that you are ready to leave here in about thirty minutes.”

“Thank you,” replied Katie. Pete was always helpful and friendly toward her, and she liked him.  Everyone treated Katie well.  But what if she got injured and could no longer skate?  Would her manager still be there?  The possible answers sent a shiver down her spine, and she quickly put the thought out of her head. 

As she was getting ready to take a shower, she looked at herself in the mirror.  She was five feet and eight inches tall.  That was three inches taller than her childhood idol Bonnie Blair, and taller than most of her speedskating competition.  It gave her an advantage, she thought.  Her body was lean and muscular.  So much so, that she knew it scared off a lot of guys.  They wanted to be the more dominant person in the relationship, the strong one, and the leader.  Katie couldn’t help that she was built the way she was and that years of dealing with the limelight had made her self-assured, almost cocky.

As she showered, she thought of the guys that did have the courage to pursue her.  They were the playboy types, the pickup artists.  They would use their canned openers and social tricks to try and lure her in. But Katie saw past the facade.  They were not real alpha males.  They weren’t as confident as they liked to appear.  The whole show was an act.

She got dressed for her interview.  Part of her wished that she didn’t have to look so darn fancy all of the time.  But that is the life that she knew, and what her publicist wanted.

Katie knew the type of guy that she would really be interested in would be too busy following his own dreams and having fun to worry about meeting girls in a club or a bar.  But finding such a guy seemed impossible, like nothing more than a fanciful dream.  For now, Katie would dabble with the occasional playboy.  But the emptiness of it was rotting her soul away.

Katie ate breakfast in the hotel lobby.  The servers were polite, attending to her every need.  The meal was luxurious, just like everything else in her life.

She got in the back of the limousine with her manager.  “We did it, Katie.  All of the hard work has paid off and today you just get to gush about your achievement.  We are all very proud of you,” Pete said smiling from ear to ear.

We did it?  Katie never understood why people thought that they took part in her accomplishments.  “I’m in heaven,” said Katie sarcastically.  The first time she won the world championship, the next day she was enthusiastic.  She was elated.  But now there was no such feeling.

“What are you going to do to celebrate?” asked Pete. 

“I’m not really sure, I haven’t given it much thought,” replied Katie, looking at the people walking on the sidewalk outside the limousine.  That wasn’t true.  She had thought about it or rather dreamed of it.  But her thoughts were her own.

    “Well, you know that you will be asked that same question a hundred times today.  I just wanted to make sure you had something in mind.”

    Katie knew this of course.  She nodded, trying to be polite.  But why should she respond or say anything else.  Hasn’t all this happened before?

    “Is everything alright, Katie?  You know that I can have these interviews canceled or postponed if you want.  You are the boss and the queen of the ice.  I can do whatever you desire.” Her manager was very much a sycophant.  A sincere one, but a lackey nonetheless.

    “No, it’s alright.  I want to go on with the interviews.  I think I know what I will tell them.  Perhaps I am just tired is all.  Or maybe…nevermind.”

    Her manager didn’t talk the rest of the drive.  By now he knew her well enough to know when she wanted to talk and when she just wanted to be left alone.

    Katie entered the media room where the interviews were being conducted.  There were, of course, dozens of reporters from every newspaper and magazine in the country.  When she was younger, the site would have made her nervous, and she would have hardly been able to talk.  The only thing she would have been able to say were the typical canned responses that any athlete gives.  Katie grew to hate the cliches; ‘all the training paid off,’ and ‘I owe everything to my team,’ and ‘I am just happy to be able to compete and do what I love.’

    “We shall start with questions,” said the mediator.  Every single reporter in attendance raised their hand.  He pointed at one reporter. “Katie, first of all, congratulations on winning the world championship again.  But now that all of your hard work has paid off, what will you do to celebrate?”

    Katie laughed inside.  Nothing but cliches.  As relaxed as if she were in her home talking on the couch, she responded. “Thank you for the question.  Well, I have given some thought as to what I might do to celebrate, and what my life might look like going forward.  And though I don’t intend to quit skating for good, I am going to take a hiatus for a while.  I am going to go backpacking.”  The media audience giggled, but Katie seemed to have a glow on her face when she said those last words.  She didn’t know what would come of it if anything.  But suddenly, right there in a middle of a press conference, she suddenly knew what to do. There are new adventures to be had, and that thought excited her very much.

Chapter 2

    A week later, Katie was on a flight to Europe, all packed and ready to go backpacking in the Alps.  She didn’t know what she hoped to find but knew that there was something in her life of fame and fortune that she could no longer breathe.  It was a world of quid pro quo, this for that.  People could get things from being nice to her, and that is why they treated her well.  The fakeness bothered her.

    So, she determined that while she was backpacking she wouldn’t tell anybody about her accomplishments.  If someone recognized her, so be it, but she would make no attempt to flaunt her fame.  This was going to be a level of anonymity that she had not experienced in a while.

    When her plane landed, she hailed a taxi.

    “Where are you going?” the cab driver asked.

    Katie told him the address of the hotel she was going to meet her group at.  The taxi driver then proceeded to try and make small talk with her.  Is this what people have to deal with in real life?  Part of her wished that she had her limo in which she could sit in the back by herself away from the concerns of ordinary people.  But then she saw the base of the mountain, as she approached the hotel. 

    The view took her breath away.  She rolled down the window of the cab and leaned her head out to get a better look. The mountain seemed to tower over the world. It was at the same time beautiful and ominous.  The idea of conquering the mountain seemed to her both exciting and terrifying; she knew that it would not be something she would soon forget.

    “Thank you for the ride,” she told her driver.  She gave him a generous tip and then walked into the hotel.  There was already a group of people assembled. 

    “I think that everybody is here,” said a rugged looking man who looked to be around thirty years old.  He was a bit taller than average, powerfully built and handsome in a rough and masculine way.  “The first thing that we are going to go over is the purpose of this trip, and who I am.  My name is Jake Clarke, and I have been a mountaineer for over ten years.  I have climbed Everest, and K2 and try to do one of the 8,000-meter summits once a year.  This trip will not be nearly the same difficulty as those, as we will be at less than half of that altitude, but there is always a danger when one is facing the elements of nature.  So that is why I am here.”

    Katie nodded her head slightly.  I can get on board with this guy, she thought.

    Jake continued, “Our purpose is to allow amateur backpackers a chance to get close to the elements, and experience nature in its most raw form.  Your safety is our highest priority.  We will be staying at various small villages in the mountains.  If everyone follows directions and uses common sense, the trip will go without incident.  And I think that is about it, so let’s make sure that we have everything that we need for the trip, get a good night of sleep, and we will get started first thing in the morning.” He wished everyone a good evening, and with that, he turned and walked away.

    A guy sitting near Katie was glancing over at her.  Katie noticed him but didn’t want to attract any attention.  He came over to her.  Katie sat there, feeling awkward as she stood beside her.

    “Your first time doing anything like this?” she asked.

    “I’ve backpacked a few times before, but nothing too serious,” he responded. 

    “Cool, I guess you help me out then.  So, what do you do?”

    The man looked directly at Katie.  “I am a lawyer,” he responded.  “And what about you?”

    Oh great, Katie thought to herself.  She suspected that she knew his type.  “I drive a Zamboni.  You know the things that…”

    “Ya, they clean the ice, I know,” he interrupted.

    An interrupter, I knew it.  I know the type a mile away, Katie thought, rolling her eyes mentally.  “Ya, exactly.  You are so right, and you have such great intuition, you took the words right out of my mouth.” She flashed a fake smile.

    The man smiled smugly, “Well, you know as a lawyer I have to be very astute at reading my clients and witnesses and even the judge.  Actually, reading people is one of the most important parts of being a successful lawyer.”

    Katie could barely stand to listen to him.  It was always the same.  A guy would try to impress her with his job and accomplishments as if she was supposed to reward the fact that he made a lot of money with a date or a kiss. 

    “Your parents must be very proud of you,” said Katie sarcastically.  “I think I am going to check into my room.  It has been a long day, and I want to get sleep for tomorrow.”

    “I’m Lance.  I will see you tomorrow,” he said.

    Katie tried not to scowl at him.  She didn’t want to exchange names or even have anything to do with him.  “I am charmed to meet you, Lance.”  Katie was partly ashamed that she blew him off.  She figured that it would wiser to maintain an amicable relationship with everybody so that the trip was not socially awkward.

    I come all the way to Europe to get away from the superficiality of modern life, and the first guy I meet is Lance. Lance... Lance.  Does it get any more cliche?  Katie got into her hotel bed and thought about the day that was ahead.  There would be adventures to be sure, but she feared that there would be too many encounters with guys she would rather not meet.  She wondered if that was just inevitable for an attractive female in today’s world. 

Chapter 3

    The next morning all the backpackers met again in the lobby before sunrise.  Katie sat down at an empty table, trying not to make eye contact with anybody.  Jake got up to speak.

    “I hope that everyone slept well.  You will find that sleep is one of the most important things on this trip.  We will be away from a lot of modern conveniences, or what I like to call, distractions.  So sleeping well, eating right, and feeling good will be of the utmost importance, as will fellowship with each other.”

    Katie thought that Jake was a little bit too optimistic to be believable.  He was getting paid to make people have fun.  She was sure that he was fake, just like everyone else that she had known.  But maybe she was too cynical.  She hoped that she was.  For she knew that it would be nice to have found one genuine person in this world. Or didn't they exist?

    The group took up their packs and started on the hike up to the first village.  They would not be doing any summiting, but they would still be spending a few nights in small cabins so that they didn’t have to go back down to the bottom every day. 

    Katie tried not to think about Lance, but she noticed that he kept looking at her.  It was bothersome, but she knew that she was the prettiest girl in the group of two dozen, so it was expected, if not welcome. 

    “So, Katie,” said Lance.  “Are you ready for a few of the pointers that you wanted?”

    That I wanted?  This guy just doesn’t get it. 

“Oh ya, Jake.  I am in fact glad that you mention that, because I was becoming quite fatigued, and I am sure that, with your insight, I will be able to walk up the mountain without the same level of discomfort.”