Zola's Pride (Southern Arcana, #2.5)

Zola spent years traveling the world, studying with supernatural martial-arts masters. Now, as the only lion shifter in New Orleans, she enjoys freedom from politics as well as success in running her own business—self-defense training for psychics, spell casters and other shifters.
Only one man knows why she left home at nineteen—Walker Gravois. He was there when her Seer mother, her mind twisted by magic, exiled Zola from the pride. More to the point, he stayed behind, shattering her young heart in the process.
When he appears on her doorstep after ten years of silence, Zola is nowhere near ready to trust again. But with Walker's life in danger—and the passion between them burning hotter than ever—she'll have to choose between the safety of solitude and the risk of opening herself to others once again.