by Bonnie Vanak
He stood and went behind me, massaging my shoulders. I moaned with pleasure as he kneaded out the knots in my tense flesh.
“We know each other better than you care to admit, Sienna. Simply because we haven’t communicated in person for very long doesn’t mean we haven’t connected in a deeper, much more intimate way.” Grayson leaned over, lips warm against my ear as he whispered. “Much more intimate, although the reality has surpassed my wildest dreams.”
“Your dreams are pretty wild, big guy, so I’ll take that as a compliment.” I turned so he could kiss me.
Grayson pulled me upward for better access. He kept kissing me leisurely, sipping at my mouth as if we had all the time in the world and were totally alone.
Still, he hadn’t answered my question. I pulled away, the need to know urgent. “Why the added security? Do you anticipate problems? A turf war with another pack?”
The alpha smoothed back my hair. “No turf war. The packs in this area have been peaceful for decades. Just taking precautions to protect my own.”
I glanced down at the paperwork, saw writing in elegant script that glowed a little. “Spell casting?”
Understanding filled me. “Carmen’s parents aren’t at a conference for witches.”
“They are, but not for the express purpose of meeting with their former coven. They’re procuring potions we need. They’ll return and we’ll tighten our perimeter barriers. ”
“You’re warding the land with witch spells? That’s extreme. Why?”
“Certain magick forces are at work and I must secure the safety of all within my borders.”
Now he sounded like a politician. “Tell me about Carmen’s parents. This is a wolf pack.”
“They needed a place to live with their daughter, who was considered an outcast by the coven due to her lack of powers.” Grayson circled me and resumed the massage. “In case you have not noticed, my pack provides refuge to many creatures of magick other than pure werewolf shifters.”
With my powers suppressed it was difficult to ascertain the physiology of his pack members. I could tell some were different, but not exactly what was unusual about them.
“You offered refuge? Why?”
“Everyone needs a home, and I’m not a purebred snob like some of my brethren.”
Yet I sensed he hid part of the truth. “And you use their talents to safeguard your home. And increase your business profits.”
His chest heaved in a chuckle as Grayson drew me back against his body. “Clever Sienna. They share what they can, and in turn, they have a home. Is not the same true for any family living together?”
“Not mine.” I thought of my family, and my throat tightened. Not going there. So not going back in that memory.
“Your father was ambitious.” Grayson lifted the hair against my nape and gently pressed a kiss there. “I don’t remember details, only in one of the dreams we shared, you wept because your father kept you from playing.”
Tears threatened to rise up. I fought them as I fought the magick that ostracized me. “My father was a bastard.”
He rubbed his cheek against my skin. I shivered as his day beard slightly abraded my flesh. “My lovely Sienna, I would turn back time if I could, to keep you from pain. I can’t.”
He turned me around in his arms. “All I can do is offer what I have, here with us. With me. Consider this your new home, if you wish to stay here. Permanently.”
“I can’t. Thursday morning, I must leave.”
“Tell me why.”
I pressed the heel of my hand against my forehead. “I’ve already told you too much. My past keeps chasing me.”
“You can forget the past. Move ahead.” He kissed my mouth, but I could not relax.
Kallan was a clever tracker. He already found me at the strip club. It was a matter of time before he found me here. For three years, I’d evaded him because I’d kept a low profile.
The thought of sweet, innocent Carmen screaming in terror made me ill. I pulled away from Grayson.
“No one will harm you here. This is a safe place for you.”
No place was safe. “I’m not concerned about me, Grayson, only you and your pack. You saw what invaded the strip club.”
His expression turned inscrutable. “I know what it is, Sienna. What it’s capable of doing. But I want you to feel as if this is your home. It’s why we created the garden for you within our borders.”
“I have no home.”
“Make this your home. Stay here with us. Nicolas, Stephan and I would be happy to claim you as our permanent mate.”
Blinking, I took two steps back. “That’s a bit extreme. Sharing me?”
He swept a low bow. “We would be yours to command. Your devoted mates, to acquiesce to whatever you wished.”
Arousal flared in his gaze. “Except in bed. I’m afraid I have to dominate in bed, sweetheart. It’s my nature to sexually dominate.”
I licked my lips, the intense feeling spreading throughout my body, delicious heat curling between my legs. “And what would that be like, Grayson? I’m not a deli, now serving number three.”
“We’re a pack.” He took my hand, gave my fingers a long, slow lick. “We’ve learned to share. Nicolas and Stephan have learned patience and control, as have I. For you, we would be willing to wait our turns.”
Now his gaze turned dark, almost black with desire. “Or you could share all three of us in your bed at once.”
The idea intrigued me. Maybe I could make a home here, a real home. But trust seldom came easily to me.
“Why are you interested in me? I’m Fae.”
Something flickered in his gaze. “You call to us, Sienna. For reasons I can’t quite share yet, we need you.” He kissed my hand again. “As you need us.”
Solitude had been my companion for three years. I didn’t need anyone. Because when you needed someone, you became vulnerable.
A target.
“Let’s enjoy the week. I’m not ready to call U-Haul just yet.”
He nodded, but I sensed more secrets behind his intense blue eyes. “Very well. I want you to be happy here, Sienna. Feel free to explore the grounds, but do not leave beyond the barbed wire fence, under any circumstances. It’s not safe for you beyond our borders.”
So this was my prison? “I’ll leave if I wish.”
He made a little bow. “We won’t stop you. However, Nicolas, Stephan and myself will do everything in our power to persuade you to stay.”
Grayson dropped a kiss on the sensitive area of my throat and then nipped, the erotic bite sending waves of pleasure through me.
“Everything we can,” he added softly.
The week sped by and before long, it was Wednesday, my last day with the pack. Most of my days had been spent with Grayson and his betas. I met many members of the pack, and Grayson introduced me as Sienna, his friend.
He did not tell them I was Fae, and I didn’t volunteer the information. Why ruin a good thing?
Though most of the time I had company, there were times my boys left me alone to explore on my own. This morning as dawn streaked the leaden sky with brushes of rose and gray, I ventured on a long walk. I followed a dirt path through the woods to the perimeter.
At the back fence, I hesitated.
Grayson warned me never to leave the grounds.
But there was something in the dark woods that called to me.
The gate stood between myself and the forest beyond. I touched it and winced.
Iron. Iron hurts Fae.
The fence, however. Made from barbed wire and split rails, it looked strong enough, yet it could be easily breached. I wondered if it stood more as a marker to delineate Grayson’s property lines.
Why did he want me to remain on his land?
Sienna, a voice seemed to whisper to me.
The ghostly murmur stirred the power inside me. Before I could question it, I found myself climbing over the fence and walking on a narrow pathway toward the dark woods.
Leaves crunched beneath my boots and the ripe, pungent smell of earth filled my senses. Yet the further I walked, the more I became aware of a shift in the air, a heaviness. Thin and cheerful aspens gave way to thick fir trees, dark as those in a grim fairy tale where witches lived and feasted on stray boys and girls. The woods there were not welcoming. I could see flickers of odd energy patterns.
Aspen trees and brush flanked me as I hiked. I covered almost half a football field when a tingle rushed down my spine.
I looked around. That tingle was the presence of magick.
Growing near a fallen log close to the path, a clump of white mushrooms stuck their heads up shyly through the damp fallen leaves. Enchanted, I leaned close. Sprites often make mushrooms their home when it rains. As much as I needed to avoid the Fae, I missed seeing the pretty fairies and sprites that lived in the woods and protected the trees.
I reached down and touched a fungus.
It turned black and shriveled, falling to the ground.
Mouth dry, I stared at my fingers. They glowed blue with power. The faint whisper in the air became more insistent.
Sienna, Sienna.
The grounds seemed to call to me in a siren song. Traces of haunted energy pulsed in the air. In the distance I could see an abandoned shed, perhaps once used to store firewood.
Fae are sensitive to energy attached to places, especially structures surrounded by nature. Fionn Fae can siphon negative energy lingering in abandoned buildings and use it to empower themselves.
Most use it to gain power over others.
I had no desire to gain power.
Lingering seemed imprudent. Trembling inside, I returned back to the house for breakfast, determined to forget what happened.
After breakfast, I headed downstairs to the rec room for a promised game of ping pong with Carmen. Voices sounded from the basement. Good. The other kids were there playing as well. Watching children play games would soothe my jumbled nerves.
Why did Grayson insist on me joining his pack? The sex had been terrific, and I still felt all three of them between my legs, but there was more to being someone’s mate than sex.
Sex drove the mating instinct, but it took cooperation and trust for a pack to survive. Just as it did for a Fae colony, and I knew what happened to a colony when someone gained more power than others.
How would everyone here react if they knew exactly what I was?
The recreational room ran half the house, a clear indication of Grayson’s devotion to the pack’s children. A bar, its cabinets locked, sat off in a corner with tables for the adults enjoyment.
But when I reached the large screen television console, where five boys and girls played an intense video game, I didn’t see Carmen.
“She left when we told her she was too little to understand the game,” one boy said.
“Where?”
He shrugged. “I dunno. She went to the woods, I guess. She’s been spending a lot of time there today since her parents left.”
Gooseflesh broke out on my arms. The woods seemed harmless to shifters and Fae, but the woods contained power. I had felt it on my earlier walk. The dark forest was no place for a child without power or the protection of an adult guardian.
I went to find Grayson.
Minutes later, the pack organized a search, for no one could find Carmen.
I was no tracker, so I helped organize the search in pairs, and made sandwiches and poured water into Camelbaks for the others. Grayson, Nicolas and Stephan were efficient in doling out responsibilities, impressing me with their teamwork. Two pack members shifted into wolves to track, accompanied by another pack member in human form equipped with a radio to touch base with Grayson.
Eager to help, I carried two extra backpacks with supplies and a basket of food to the edge of the pack’s property line I had walked just after dawn. The pathway to the edge followed a worn trail through the meadow, and then you entered the woods. These woods, with the thick fir and maple trees, seemed welcoming and soothing, their scent refreshing.
Someone had set up a canopy and folding table in a clearing, so I dumped the backpacks on it and the basket of food.
I could hear shifters searching the pathway beyond the pack’s borders. The gate stood open.
Since there was little else I could do, I returned to the house, glad to be away from those dark woods. There was something not right about that area, and all my Fae senses drew me toward the forest, while my common sense warned me away.
Hopefully Carmen had wandered off to play nearby.
But two hours later, still no sign of Carmen. Lines of strain showed on Grayson’s face as he paced the back porch. The children who’d been playing downstairs sat nearby as another shifter read them a story.
“I should have kept an eye on her. Her parents trusted I’d take good care of her,” Grayson muttered.
“It wasn’t your fault. She was playing downstairs and the other children didn’t want her.” I glanced at the boy who hung with the others outside, chewing his lower lip.
The alpha’s gaze sharpened. “They’ve been warned not to do that. Carmen is already cognizant of the fact that she’s different.”
He beckoned to the other children, who drifted over, faces sullen as if expecting punishment. Grayson squatted down to their level. The oldest, the boy who’d told Carmen to leave, couldn’t have been more than eleven.
“I’m not going to discipline you all today. But you need to know you did something wrong. Carmen needs to be included in your play. You must make her feel welcome and part of our family. Especially you, Jason, since you’re the eldest,” he told them.
“She wasn’t included in the practice hunt,” Jason burst out.
“And that’s even more reason to make her feel welcome when you returned from your lessons,” Grayson said, his deep voice carrying a warning note.
“But Carmen isn’t like us.”
“We all have abilities. Some are different than others. You five are shifters. Carmen is a witch. We’re still a pack.”
“A witch without power,” Jason muttered. “Everyone else has magick. Those without magick are useless. They don’t belong here.”
Grayson took his chin between his fingers and stared him down. The boy paled. So did the others.
“Carmen is young and has yet to come into any kind of power. Even her parents aren’t certain if she will have strains of magick, but she’s the daughter of two powerful witches. You, Jason, are the son of a shifter and a psi human. You may not have magick, but be entirely human. Should I throw you out of the pack if you do not shift into a wolf when your time comes?”
Tears glittered in Jason’s eyes. “Please don’t do that. This is my home.”
“As it is Carmen’s, so treat her kindly, with respect and never forget that.” He released Jason and frowned. “Tomorrow at school, you’ll help Carmen with her sums. It’s the least you can do for your earlier unkindness.”
“Yes, alpha,” the boy whispered.
Much as I admired how Grayson handled that matter, I couldn’t help my worry. What if Carmen didn’t return?
The wolves could track her easily through scent, but they’d lost the trail in the acres of woods between the pack territory and the campground. Carmen could be anywhere. Worst, if she got near the river…
I had abilities the shifters did not. Fionn Fae can see the residual energy left by a person’s aura as if we were a thermal imaging machine. Months had passed since I’d had to use this talent.
Now was a good time to test it out.
“I’m going to look for her.” I grabbed a water bottle and a backpack.
“No.” Grayson caught my arm. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Too dangerous? A little girl is out there and it’s getting dark in a few hours. And it’s too dangerous for me?”
Grayson led me down the porch stairs. When we were on the brick pathway, out of earshot of the children, he spoke in a low voice.
&
nbsp; “Too dangerous for you, Sienna. The worst that could happen to Carmen is she is eventually found. Much worse can happen to you if you stray beyond our borders. The land backs up to the campground you asked about.”
“I can take care of myself. She’s just a baby.”
“A baby familiar with pack life. A baby who wasn’t attacked by a deadly Fae.” Grayson fisted his hands. “It’s not safe.”
His radio crackled. Grayson spoke impatiently. “What?”
Stephan’s voice came over the receiver. “We found her scent and then we lost it. Not even Nicolas can pick it up again. She’s vanished into thin air.”
Four other shifters who’d returned from the search looked upset.
The alpha’s shoulders slumped. “Damnit. I’ll have to call her parents. They can cast a spell to find her… if only someone could read residual energy aura traces!”
“I can.”
Everyone stared at me, except Grayson, who stared at his radio as if it held the answers.
“I haven’t done it in years, but I can do it. Especially since she’s a child with a pure aura and no magick.”
Grayson’s gaze darted to the woods. He nodded.
“Very well. I’m coming with you,” he decided.
No protest from me. In truth, I was glad of his company because those woods seemed sinister and eerie, with overtones of darkness.
We set out, Grayson leading the way in wolf form, his lips pulled back in a snarl, as if challenging any entity that might jump out at us between the trees. As we drew closer to the area where the quaking aspens met dark forest, the uneasy feeling grew stronger and the heaviness lingered in the air.
I’d felt this sort of heaviness before. It indicated traces of powerful enchantment, the ghosts of tragedy. Once in my travels I walked through a Civil War battlefield that had seen numerous deaths. The same miasma of violence and grief lingered there, so much that when I saw a ghost in gray cross the field, I was not surprised.
Growling, Grayson loped ahead of me. I halfway expected to see spirits floating among the thicket of pine trees.
As we reached the thicket of menacing fir trees, I called to Grayson. “Stop.”
He turned and in doing so, shifted back to human form, jeans, a long-sleeved polo shirt and hiking boots appearing on his body almost instantly. “What’s wrong? Did you see something?”
