Love of a Lion

Chapter One

"Lilith! You ungrateful child!"

Lilith scurried towards her hiding place in her room, where she knew her stepmother could not find her.

She quickly crawled inside her small cupboard, praying that she would be safe from her stepmother's anger from something she could not control.

She held her small hands over her mouth, avoiding making any sound to tell where she was hiding.

She can hear her stepmother yelling and cursing her name with her things being thrown around her room.

One thing she knew her stepmother wanted from her was her hard-earned money from her three paid jobs to give to her stepsister Paisley.

Lilith stayed in her cupboard, waiting for her stepmother to leave her room after finding the hard-earned money she saved for her college institution at the local college in Raleigh.

A few hours have gone by, and Lilith carefully crawled out of her hiding place, quickly gathered her bag and left her childhood home far away from the abuse she endured for years.

Without thinking about where she would move, she left east of Raleigh for a small town where many shifters and humans coexisted in one community.

She quickly took the long bus ride to Sun Valley, where she knew her life would start fresh away from the hatred and fear of being different from the rest of her town's female population.

She arrived in Sun Valley and headed towards the town center, where she would look for somewhere to stay for the night.

Lilith quickly found a small inn and could pay for a few nights.

Then, she would find work and a place to call her own since she has yet to live independently.

Lilith woke up in a cold sweat from her dream, drenched from the nightmare of her past she wanted to forget.

She quickly got out of bed to prepare for the day, seeing that she would be opening the café with her friend and boss.

The Mating Event was around the corner, and everyone was celebrating and finding their shifter mate during the spring and winter festivals.

After a while, she quickly dressed and left her one-bedroom apartment she afforded on her wages as a café worker.

She quickly ran down her steps and started her journey with her hair braided down her back. She was wearing one of her floral dresses and holding her tiny handbag.

"Hey, Lily, can you quickly get your apron on?"

Lily nodded to her friend, and the boss quickly grabbed one of the black aprons she wrapped around her waist before she started her shift.

"Jazmine, I think we need to replace the coffee maker," Lilith told her boss shyly after peaking into her office.

"Not again. Alright, I will contact the distributors to get the machine fixed," Jazmine whined, pouting at her friend, who was giggling at her antics.

Lilith left her friend to call the people who needed to come and replace the coffee machine that had been causing problems for the last few months.

It was around closing time when Lilith left her friend at the café; since her shift was finished, she returned to her apartment to rest from the long day.

After shutting and locking her door, she finally made it home and set aside her things to start making her food and watching television.

She grabbed the blanket and sat down with her plate of food, turning on the TV to watch a movie when her phone went off.