Panthera Spelaea

I had been dreading what would happen when we all woke up, and I was going to find out. “Last night was a lot of fun, but it’s you that I love, Svetlana. I see us getting married, having children, and growing old together. How does Anna fit into that? Won’t she want to find a husband and start a life together?”

Svetlana pulled the dress down and adjusted it. “You don’t get it, do you? Anna loves you. I love Anna. There is enough of you to keep both of us happy, John. I think we proved that in spades last night.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I told her.

“I know. Hurt comes with betrayal, but you can’t betray me if we both choose to make her a part of our life together.” She molded herself to me as we hugged. “I’m hoping you’ll agree, but I know it might take time before you can accept that. Anna knows it too. She’s willing to let us be the official married couple, but she wants to be part of the marriage bed.”

It was a lot to take in. A wild night before getting married was one thing; this was a LOT more. I’d never even considered a polyamorous relationship before. “What will your parents say?”

“You can’t tell them, not until we are married and the time is right,” she said. “They wouldn’t understand.”

“And Anna’s family?”

“I don’t have family,” Anna said as she came out of the bathroom wearing a knee-length skirt and a print blouse. “I was the one who asked for last night, and I was the one who talked Svetlana into the idea of sharing you. If you have regrets, blame me and not her.”

“Come here,” I said. I gave Anna a deep kiss, pressing her hard to my body. “I don’t have regrets, Anna. I have questions. Right now, though, I need to get downstairs and say goodbye to my Mom.”

“I’ll go with you,” Svetlana said. “Anna, you should wait a few minutes and then take our bag down to the restaurant and get a table. It would be best if we were downstairs before my father wakes up.”

“And it would be better if Sergei didn’t see my girlfriend’s best friend walking like she’d been fucked into oblivion last night,” I added.

“Better for you,” Anna said with a giggle. “I’ll cooperate. You two get going.”

We walked out and took the elevator to the lobby, and Mom showed up a few minutes later. The airport shuttle was waiting. “I love you, Mom,” I told her as we embraced. “Thank you for coming.”

“I love you too, my baby. Marina has everything she needs to make sure you have money and support until this gets cleared up. Call me often, and make use of this time.”

“I will.”

Mom moved over and gave Svetlana a big hug. “Thank you for being so good to my boy. Take care of him, and let me know when he pulls his head out and gives you a ring.”

Lana laughed and hugged her back. “I will.”

She stepped back and handed the driver her bag. “Grandchildren. I want lots of grandchildren, you two, so I don’t mind you sneaking into his room last night. Don’t let this one go, John.”

“I won’t.”

We waved as she drove off, then went into the buffet restaurant and waited for Anna. The girls talked and drank coffee while I worked on breakfast number one. My appetite was back in high gear, and I craved food to make up for the prison time.

All evidence was gone by the time Sergei joined us. We all had big breakfasts before heading out to the car and truck. Plans changed with this; Svetlana wanted to spend some time talking to her Dad, so she went with him in his car. I volunteered to drive the small box truck, with Anna riding shotgun.

The phone said the trip was 325 km and would take just under five hours. I followed the car out of the city, the traffic not bad as we were going against rush hour flow. It worked out well for all of us. I got time to talk to Anna and get to know her better. Her mother died of cancer when she was six, and her father was a drunk. She’d grown up in Vyshny Volochyok, a dying city about halfway between Moscow and St. Petersburg. A teacher motivated her to study hard and learn other languages to escape the poverty surrounding her. “I followed her advice,” she told me. “I had no life in school. I studied all the time, not caring about boys or sports. I focused on earning the best grades and getting a scholarship.”

“That must have been lonely,” I said.

“It was worth it. My father died of cirrhosis my freshman year in college, leaving me with nothing. Between scholarships and working two jobs, I was able to finish nursing school in Moscow. My training and language skills landed me a job at Central Clinical Hospital, where I met Svetlana.”

“When I met you, Lana said you were a bit of a wild child.”

She giggled at that. “All those years of denying myself fun came to an end. I had a job, an apartment, and a big city full of hot guys.”

“And none of them interested you?”

“It’s not that easy,” she told me. “Plenty of partners worth a night, but few worth another. I was so jealous when Svetlana brought you home. You were handsome, young, kind, and courageous. Everything I was looking for, and she got you first.”

“Until now,” I said, and she smiled at that.

“Yes. Svetlana isn’t just a roommate; she’s my family, my sister. I love her too.”

“I’m not exactly a prize catch, you know. The cops are after me, I can’t get a job, and I turn into a murderous prehistoric lion occasionally.”

“None of that is your fault,” she told me. “You aren’t responsible for what the lion does any more than I am. I don’t know what happened in Siberia, but I saw him in action in the park. He’s not a mindless killer; far from it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been thinking about how he came out and what he did. First off, he doesn’t come out at random times; he’s smart enough to know he has to stay hidden.”

“The first time he came out in the park,” I said.

“Exactly. Your lion waited until you were in the dark, away from everyone in the middle of the night, then he hunted and came home. Nobody saw him. The second time he didn’t come out until he saw us in danger. Your lion came to save Svetlana and me, John. He didn’t attack randomly or try to get away. The lion wasn’t distracted playing with his food or lost in blood lust. He was calculating and methodical, John. Your lion identified the threats and removed them, starting with the people with the guns. How could he know those people were the greatest threat if he was a millennia-old reborn cat? He also knew somehow that he couldn’t let any escape to tell what they saw. Do you know what he did after the last man trying to run away was dead? He stopped, John. He sniffed the bodies to make sure they were dead, then he came over and made sure we were all right before he left. He knew he was protecting us, and it was like the lion knew he had to leave before more people showed up.”

“It’s a prehistoric animal, Anna. Isn’t that a bit too much to ask of it?”

“Most big cats aren’t sharing a brain with a human, John. What is to say it hasn’t been learning about this world through your eyes the whole time? You can’t remember what happened during your blackouts, but maybe you are working with it. You could train a lion all you want, and it wouldn’t do what yours has done to survive.”

I’d never thought of it like that. “You think it’s that intelligent?”

“It’s either learning very quickly in the background, or it can access your thoughts and memories. I think you need to find a way to communicate with it. A Vulcan Mind Meld or something.”

I chuckled at that. “You’re a Trekkie?”

“Only the original series,” she said.

I thought about it as we left the big city behind. The land was relatively flat and forested. “I felt him last night,” I started. I told her about the rumble and the warm feeling from my chest as I watched the two approach the bed. “My Lion approves of you. What do I do to make that connection?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe it will come with time or meditation? We should put you in a situation where it’s safe for him to come out and see if you can call him forward. Late at night in the woods with no one but us around.”

It was a lot to consider. We stopped for petrol about an hour outside of Rybinsk, and Svetlana joined us for the rest of the drive. “Mom sent me some apartment information, and Dad said he would take us out after lunch.”

“Do you plan to stay in Rybinsk for a while?”

“I think so. Anna and I have talked about this. Moscow is big and exciting, but it’s never been home, and you’re not welcome there. At least in Rybinsk, I have people who know me. There’s lots of forest land close by as well.”

Choosing an apartment when they didn’t have jobs yet didn’t strike me as right. “Do you have to move straight into an apartment? Could we store your things until we figure out what we want to do?”

“I think so,” she said. “The furniture and kitchen stuff can go in the garage, and I can store the clothes and shoes in my room we don’t need.” She made a quick call to her Dad to verify this.

“Staying with your parents will be awkward, and I can afford to stay in a hotel until we know where you are working and what we want. There has to be a nice hotel, right?”

Svetlana laughed a little. “Not Moscow nice, but there are some good ones,” she said. “We can talk about our options over lunch.”

“Like whether Dad is going to let you move into a hotel with your boyfriend and another girl?” Anna was smiling as she said it. “I’m good with staying with him if you’re stuck in your old room at home. I am getting paid to be his medical supervision, you know.”

“So am I, bitch, and I am NOT leaving you two alone in a hotel!” She got on her phone and started looking up hotels. “The Gostevoy Dom is one of the better hotels, and it’s within six blocks of five hospitals.”

“See if you can reserve adjacent rooms for a week,” I told her as I handed her my wallet. “That should be enough time to figure something out.”

Instead of adjoining rooms, she reserved a two-bedroom suite with a kitchenette and a jacuzzi tub. “We’re all set. We can unload at my parent’s house and head to the hotel tonight.”

“And you Mom might even believe the adjoining bedrooms thing,” Anna joked.

I didn’t care where we were as long as Svetlana and Anna were with me. “Do you think people will mind me living here?”

“I’m not sure,” Svetlana replied. “It won’t be as bad as Moscow, but it’s probably best if we lay low for a while.”