Rhianne’s face lit with laughter. She and Jaycee quickly became a well-honed team. Jaycee’s outfit was similar to Rhianne’s—leather pants and a silver lame shirt, though Jaycee wore motorcycle boots to Rhianne’s strappy high-heeled sandals.
The crowd surrounded them now, clapping time, encouraging the two. Both women were beautiful, hot, and could dance up a storm. Every male in here, and some of the females, must be drooling for them.
A tall, red-haired man pushed through the crowd, his eyes lit with rage. Ben knew he sensed the testosterone flaring from the guys ogling Jaycee, and the wolf in him wanted to come out and play.
Ben intercepted the man. “Keep it cool,” he yelled over the music.
Dimitri Kashnikov was a red wolf, tall and tough, a savage fighter. But this wasn’t a Shifter bar—he couldn’t go all Lupine and start slashing his claws around.
Dimitri growled, the sound rumbling to Ben through the music. Ben watched him force his eyes to flicker from the wolf’s, then Dimitri waded through the crowd to Jaycee.
He got behind her, his mate, and began gyrating with her, arcing her body inside his. Jaycee didn’t mind. She leaned back into him and caught his rhythm, the two becoming one in the dance. Their undulating was very sensual—no one dirty danced like Shifters.
Mate-bonded pairs. What could you do?
Ben made his way to Rhianne and caught both her hands in his to continue their groove. He wished he could fold himself around her as Dimitri did with Jaycee, to imbibe her warmth and her swaying body.
What the fuck was he thinking? Rhianne was Tuil Erdannan, the daughter of Lady Aisling, a woman who could raze this club and everyone in it by simply drawing a breath. If Ben touched her daughter, she’d crumble him to dust and feed what was left into a furnace.
But what a way to go.
Ben jerked his thoughts from their treacherous path. He had this dance, and he needed to enjoy it. His job was to protect Rhianne, that was all, and to return her home when it was safe. He didn’t have time to fantasize about the beautiful woman.
Why did it always have to be this way? Something deep inside him mourned. Ben always did his job. Had for a thousand years. Did it so others could walk unharmed, live their lives, find happiness.
Everyone but Ben.
The endless song finally drew to a close. Not that this club ever let the music stop. One piece segued into the next, which was equally thumping and harsh.
Jaycee gave a final twirl and laced her arm through Dimitri’s. “Okay,” she yelled. “Now we go talk.”
Dimitri had danced out his aggression and beamed his affable smile on Jaycee’s and Rhianne’s admirers. He could be smug—he was leaving with the hot Jaycee.
Jaycee led the way through the crowd and out into the street. It wasn’t much quieter here, with the roads and sidewalks teeming as the New Orleans night ramped up.
Ben suggested they walk to Jackson Square. As they strolled along, tourists rode past in horse-drawn carriages and bicycle rickshaws, bands and street performers did their thing, food carts sent aromas into the air. Couples walked hand in hand, or danced near the bands, just generally kicking back to enjoy life.
People moved aside for the group without realizing why, though Ben and Dimitri greeted strangers with warmth. They smiled back, happy and unafraid.
Jaycee found a vacant bench near the middle of the park, the fragrance of grass and late flowers floating around them. Lovers ambled by or blatantly kissed on the lawn.
“I apologize again,” Jaycee said to Rhianne as they settled themselves, Dimitri and Ben bookending the two ladies on the bench. “I smelled Fae and my instincts kicked in. My bad. I owe you a debt.”
Rhianne blinked. “Why should you owe me a debt? I stole your pants.” She stretched out a leg to admire the black leather, stones glittering.
Jaycee laughed. “I like her,” she said to Ben then returned her attention to Rhianne. “But I like your mom too, so I guess it’s natural. And hey, you look great in those. Ooh, nice shoes.”
Dimitri groaned. “Goddess, Jaycee, we didn’t come out here to talk about shoes.”
“Are you kidding? We should always talk about shoes. They’re perfect with the outfit. You have good taste, Rhianne.”
“I tried to find something worthy of your clothes,” Rhianne said.
“And you did a fantastic job. Stop poking at me, Dimitri. I swear, ever since he mate claimed me, he’s been all over my case about everything.”
“Someone has to keep you in line,” Dimitri rumbled. “Or try anyway.”
Jaycee ignored him. “So, Ben, what’s the deal? Did Dylan find you? I didn’t want to involve him, but Lady Aisling told me to, so…” Jaycee opened her hands in a helpless gesture.
“Yeah, he found us,” Ben said. “Wanted Rhianne to go back and be his pet spy. She said no. I said no. Hell, even Tiger said no.”
“Good for you,” Jaycee said approvingly. “Dylan is always eager to recruit people, whether they like it or not. Well, we’re here for you, Rhianne. Whatever you need.”
“You are very kind,” Rhianne said sincerely. “And you’ve already lent me your clothes.”
“I can find you much better things than that. There’s a boutique on—”
Dimitri’s groan turned into a growl. “And we didn’t come here to go clothes shopping.”
“Again, why not?” Jaycee turned on him. “You are such a shit.”
“Yeah, but you love me, baby.”
Dimitri used to stutter, badly, but after he’d mated with Jaycee, the stutter had faded until it was now almost nonexistent, unless he grew agitated.
Rhianne turned to Ben. “I have had a wonderful day, but perhaps we should go back to the house. We are safe there?”
“Yep. No one goes into the house that the house doesn’t want there.” Ben rubbed his upper lip. “Including me sometimes.”
Rhianne’s brow furrowed in worry. “Do you believe it might not let me in?”
Ben slid his arm around her, trying not to get lost in the curve of her waist, the warmth of her body. “I think it likes you. And when it likes you, it will defend you to the death.”
Rhianne did not look reassured. “There is a way into the house from Faerie, though. We came through it. Can others?”
“No, sweetheart.” Ben tightened his embrace, pleased when she didn’t pull away. “It will keep them out.”
“An uninvited Fae did get through once,” Dimitri said. “The house took care of him. It wasn’t p-pretty. But the dude had had me beaten and thrown into a dungeon, so he kind of had it coming.”
He grimaced in memory, and Jaycee leaned closer to him. Dimitri calmed instantly, his face smoothing. Shifters could ease each other with a mere touch.
Ben realized he was watching the two in wistful envy and rose abruptly to his feet.
“Rhianne is right. We’re starting to push our luck. Let’s go back. You two coming with us?”
Dimitri leisurely stood and pulled Jaycee up with him. “Yeah, we were going to ask if we could crash at the house. It’s a long ride back to our compound. We’re from Texas,” Dimitri told Rhianne. “From the very flat, very dry, very empty part. Which is most of it.”
“Crash?” Rhianne accepted Ben’s hand to assist her to stand. “Why would you crash yourself into the house?”
Dimitri chortled. “It’s an idiom. It means sleep, flop, snooze, get some kip.”
Rhianne listened carefully. “I see.”
“English is a hell of a language,” Dimitri said. “I learned it when an American family adopted me. I was confused for the first few years I lived with them.”
“That hasn’t changed.” Jaycee wove her arms around him as he feigned offense at her quip.
Dimitri leaned to her, and Jaycee rose on tiptoe and kissed him. The darkness gave them relative privacy, not that human couples weren’t doing the same thing forty feet away.
Ben drew closer to Rhianne as Dimitri’s and Jaycee’s kiss wen
t on. And on. Dimitri smoothed his hands over Jaycee’s hips, and she flowed up to him.
“They share the mate bond,” Ben said in Rhianne’s ear. “Have you heard of that? It’s a Shifter thing.”
“The mystical binding created by the Goddess found only by true mates.” Rhianne turned to Ben, her eyes flickering when she realized how close he stood to her. “It isn’t only a Shifter thing. Most creatures of Faerie can find it. Goblins included.”
Ben hadn’t heard that. “I’ve been out of Faerie for a thousand years, and I didn’t exactly have the chance to take a mate among my own people. I’ve thought once or twice that it might happen for me, but no.”
He recalled how he’d believed the mate bond had been forming between him and a Shifter woman, and his disappointment when he’d discovered he was mistaken. He hadn’t minded all that much—Kenzie had found great happiness with her gruff mate, Bowman—but he’d concluded that perhaps goblins couldn’t form it at all.
Rhianne slowly lifted her hand and placed it on his chest. Her fingertips stirred tingles in his blood, and a painful dart of longing lanced his heart.
“I believe it will happen for you, Ben.” Rhianne’s whisper was soft in the warm darkness. “You are a champion.”
She said the last words in Tuil Erdannan, ones he knew. Champion for the Fae was the highest honor, a person who would sacrifice themselves without hesitation to save others from harm.
Ben supposed the word described him. He’d sacrificed his entire life, not because he was special, but because he needed to make up for the exile and death of his people that his actions had caused. He never would make up for it, he knew, and the despair of that drove him on. He also knew that if he ever gave into the despair he’d not survive.
“Champion.” The word emerged from his mouth tinged with irony. “If you say so.”
Rhianne touched his lips. “I do say so.”
Ben sensed the mate bond that wove between Jaycee and Dimitri as they stood locked in their embrace. He could see it, the glistening threads that bound them in love.
He couldn’t stop himself. Ben slid his hand under Rhianne’s hair, and she moved closer to him, her breath touching his face.
Ben closed the small space between them and kissed her.
Fire ignited, the spark searing through his body. Their lips met simply, no prolonged, intense kiss, nothing like what Jaycee and Dimitri did. A light touch, the satin of Rhianne’s lower lip brushing his and opening something inside him.
Ben wove his fingers into her thick hair, the silk of it heavy. When she unbraided it, it would wrap her like a cloak. Ben could happily lie tangled in her tresses.
Rhianne was the first to end the kiss, drawing back slightly but not pulling away. She gazed at Ben with her brown eyes brushed with black, her face still, as though she strove to tuck her emotions away.
Ben tried to release her and found that he couldn’t. Giving up, he tugged her to him and kissed her again.
When Rhianne made a tiny sound in her throat, Ben’s heart pounded like a freight train. He wanted to take her down to the grass, open the silky blue blouse and discover her firm body inside. He only kept himself still by massive effort.
He deepened the kiss, drawing the tip of his tongue along the seam of her mouth. He wouldn’t delve inside, not now, not here. But tasting her—the sweetness of powdered sugar, the bite of ale, the spice of herself—flooded even more fire inside him.
Making love to Rhianne would be the most powerful thing that ever happened to him. And it was completely impossible.
The thought knocked through him, but Ben couldn’t make himself release her. Rhianne’s hand rested against his chest, right over his heart. She’d implied that he, a creature of Faerie, could find the mate bond, something Ben thought would elude him forever. He wasn’t certain she was correct, but he was grateful to her for believing.
Her hair tickled his fingers as Rhianne came ever closer. Her body fit to his, her soft thighs against his hard ones. Ben wanted to sink into her and never come out. His cock, plenty stiff, rested against her abdomen, its wanting obvious. She couldn’t not feel that.
Rhianne drifted from their kiss, a tiny smile pulling her lips. She’d felt his cock, all right. And she smiled.
Ben smoothed her hair from her forehead. He should say something, tell her they couldn’t do this, walk away.
Instead, he kissed her again, lightly this time, the incandescence of it melting him.
He felt two hard stares and glanced up to see Jaycee and Dimitri watching them with Shifter focus. Ben gently stepped away from Rhianne, who kept her chin up and stared right back at the two, daring them to say a word.
Shifters didn’t like people who looked straight into their eyes. They interpreted it as a challenge, usually one involving teeth, claws, and blood.
On the other hand, Ben had a feeling few existed who could meet the gaze of a Tuil Erdannan and live.
Jaycee and Dimitri were giving it a try, but Ben could see them begin to falter under her scrutiny. Rhianne showed no fear, which was wise, with Shifters.
Ben rubbed his hands together. “We could stand here all night and have a staring contest, or we could return to the house and throw back some brews.”
Dimitri recovered first, his perpetual good nature returning. “Brews sound good. Meet you there?”
“Let’s go,” Ben agreed.
Jaycee gave Ben and Rhianne one final sharp look then she and Dimitri strolled off together, Dimitri sliding his arm around Jaycee. His hand wandered to her butt, and Ben heard Jaycee’s voice rise in admonition. Then she grabbed his ass, provoking Dimitri’s laughter.
“I’m glad those two got together,” Ben said. “Drove us all insane before they did, though.”
“You really like them.” Rhianne fell into step with Ben as he led her back across the square, making for his storage room.
“Jaycee and Dimitri? They’re good kids.”
“I mean all the Shifters.” Somehow her hand was back in Ben’s. “You say you’re alone, but you’ve made friends with them, become one of them. I hear they don’t easily let anyone into their packs or prides. Or clans, or whatever they call them.”
“You’re right, they don’t let many in.” Ben let out a breath, her kiss still tingling on his lips. He noticed they studiously avoided mentioning it. “When Shifters stopped being suspicious of me, they accepted me. Mostly. They’re still suspicious, but that’s Shifters.”
“Understandably. They have to be very careful. The Fae almost destroyed them, and the humans fear them.”
“Yep.” Ben squeezed her hand. “You be careful. Shifters can be loyal to the death, but they’re also deadly. They’re not quite sure what to do with you yet.”
“I won’t stay here forever.”
Rhianne spoke with confidence, but Ben remembered that same confidence when he’d first arrived in the human world. He’d assumed he would figure out how to survive here for a time, and then return home and avenge his people.
Before he’d known it, centuries had gone by. Surviving had turned to existence, which had turned to settling in. He’d lived here longer than he ever had in Faerie, and he wasn’t certain now if he wanted to return to Faerie permanently.
They fetched the purchases from Ben’s storage room and walked on to where Ben had parked the motorcycle. Rhianne still said nothing about the kiss, or much of anything at all.
Did she regret it? Ben sure as hell didn’t. Rhianne was a beautiful woman, ready for loving. Tuil Erdannan, true. That could make for some complications, but since Ben’s whole life was complicated, why should he think this would be any different?
Ben stashed their things in the saddlebags, and they mounted up. Rhianne wrapped her arms around him less hesitantly than before, leaning into him as he turned the motorcycle to head out of the city.
All the way out to the haunted house, Rhianne’s warmth poured over him. Ben had tasted her, forbidden fruit, and he wanted to taste her
again.
When they reached the house, Jaycee and Dimitri were already there. The two waited on the porch, lounging together on the swing where Ben had sat with Rhianne that morning.
Ben led the way inside. The house opened its door readily for him, then closed softly once they’d entered, the locks clicking into place.
Dimitri revealed that he and Jaycee had changed their minds about Ben’s offer of beer. “We decided we were tired after the long trip from Texas,” he said, glancing at Jaycee. “We’ll head up to bed.”
“Good night,” Jaycee said, cutting off any chance for debate.
She marched up the stairs, and Dimitri, with a wave, took the stairs two at a time behind her. Dimitri and Jaycee had a bedroom reserved for them here, and soon the door closed behind them.
“I hope you brought earplugs,” Ben said to Rhianne, resting his arm on the newel post. “When they start in, they rattle the walls.”
Rhianne’s brows rose. “Are they going to couple?”
Ben huffed a laugh. “Of course they are. They’re mate bonded. They like sex. They were probably so horny by the time they got here they didn’t want to do anything else.”
“Then we should leave them to it.” Rhianne wandered down the hall to the veranda’s door at the end.
Ben followed her out into soft darkness, the scent of roses lingering. Moonlight streamed over the trees behind the house, lighting the path below.
Ben thought Rhianne would linger on the veranda, but she stepped down its stairs and started around the house, Ben behind her.
“Where ya going?” he asked lightly.
“To the garden Tiger showed me. It was beautiful. A fine place to look at the stars.”
Ben agreed that the rose garden, old and venerable, was a lovely thing. He got ahead of her on the path, preferring to lead in case of danger.
They entered the garden, moonlight like a pool of silver, the Big Dipper stark in the sky, planets hanging out on the ecliptic. The rose bushes were dark in the night, late roses rendered a stark white.
“Some of these bushes are more than a hundred years old.” Ben gestured at the climbing roses on the wall, feeling the need to babble something. “One or two even more than that.”
The Last Warrior: Shifters Unbound Book 13 Page 9
