“I do need—” Rhianne broke off, her throat swelling.
Ben stepped to her, looking straight into her eyes. “You need what?” he asked quietly.
Rhianne opened and closed her mouth, trying to find words to explain.
Then something her mother had said in their short conversation struck her sharply.
“Great-Aunt Freya’s plum pie.”
Ben blinked. “You need pie?”
“No.” Rhianne shook her head in exasperation. “My mother loathes Great-Aunt Freya’s pie. Aunt Freya styles herself a fabulous baker but most of what she makes is inedible. I thought Mother was joking, but—”
“But maybe she said it on purpose?” Ben’s brows furrowed. “Like a code.”
“A warning.” Rhianne released him, seeking her glass of wine.
“As in, it’s not safe to go home.” Ben regarded her in disquiet. “In other words, someone told her to summon you back. Three guesses as to who.”
Rhianne’s heart beat faster. “Only one person could challenge Mother for power.” She took a fortifying drink of the wine. “What do I do? Obviously, my fath— Ivor is with her, making her contact me. I speculate that is why she did not answer when I tried to call through the crystal before. She must have been battling him or trying to keep him from me ...”
“Fuck.”
“Indeed,” Rhianne said breathlessly. “I must aid her.”
Ben gently took the glass from her, set it down, and held her hands in a warm clasp. “It’s a bad idea for you to rush home and defend her. Your mother is pretty tough.”
“So is Ivor.” Rhianne spat the name. “I don’t know which is stronger, my anger at my mother for not telling me the truth about who my father really is, or relief that Ivor de Erkkonen isn’t him.” She swallowed. “But if anyone can best my mother, it’s Ivor. I can’t not help her.”
“Me, I’d be throwing a party to celebrate not having that bastard for a dad. But I wasn’t thinking about leaving Lady Aisling to his mercy. I was thinking I’d gather some Shifters, like Tiger and Dylan, maybe add a few bears for a really big throw-down, and go help her out.”
“You mean without me.” Rhianne glared at him. “Remember that Lily in New Orleans said the danger was greatest to you. That you need to be kept alive at all costs.”
“I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m pretty kick-ass,” Ben stated. “Your ex-father needs to be stopped. The hoch alfar are bad enough, but if he’s helping them—for his own benefit of course—things will be a whole lot worse. Let me go in there with Tiger and other badasses and take care of him. I’ll ask Zander to come with us. He’s a healer as well as a giant polar bear, so he can fix us if we get hurt.”
“Ben, you can’t.”
Ben’s determination became tinged with bafflement. “Why the hell not? We get rid of this asshole, and that’s a lot of problems solved. You hang out here with Liam and company, and once Ivor is out of the picture, you can go home and interrogate your mum about your real dad, have some terrible pie, and relax.”
“If you go to Faerie, I have to as well.”
“Because a psychic and Tiger told you I had to stay alive? Tiger will be with me. He’ll make certain of it.”
“No.” Rhianne closed her eyes and decided to toss the dice. “Because I’m forming the mate bond for you.”
Silence coated the room. It blanketed Rhianne, stretching between her and Ben, distancing them, though he hadn’t moved.
After a long moment, Rhianne cracked open her eyes to see Ben studying her with an unreadable expression. “How can you be?” His question was tense and quiet.
“I don’t know.” Rhianne clung to his hands so tightly she had to be crushing them, but he never flinched. “I didn’t even know I was Shifter. But I feel it when I look at you. It’s there. I’m not dreaming it.”
Ben’s swallow traced down his throat. “Baby, I’m not Shifter.”
“I know that.” Rhianne’s voice rose in agitation. “I had no idea I truly was, until I was locked in the room at the Shifter Bureau place. All I wanted to do was break out and find you. I needed you. I just knew, in that moment, that you were my mate. I didn’t even have to think about it. That’s what convinced me, in spite of everything I argued to myself, that I was Shifter in truth.”
Ben continued to watch her, his face a careful blank.
Was he pleased? Dismayed? Hopeful? Disgusted? Rhianne’s Shifter senses weren’t yet honed enough for her to read his body language. Tiger had been easy. Ben was an enigma.
Perhaps that was a trait of goblins, to be able to hide their emotions away. Or perhaps a trait of Ben personally, learned after so many years of being by himself.
“You don’t have to be alone anymore, Ben,” Rhianne said softly. “I’m your mate.”
He shook his head slowly. “It’s not the same for my people.”
“I told you—remember? All creatures of Faerie form the mate bond, except the Tuil Erdannan. That’s what made me realize.”
“Rhianne.” Ben tugged her closer. His eyes remained still, unfathomable. “Remember what I told you. The hoch alfar want me dead. They killed everyone I ever loved, everyone I knew, and thousands who were strangers to me. What would they do if they realized you think you feel the mate bond for me?”
Rhianne jerked her hands from his. “What do you mean I think I feel it?”
“Seriously not my point.”
“Do you think I’m delusional?” Rhianne stared at him in disbelief. “That I don’t know what is going on inside me?” She banged her hands to her chest. “I know about the hoch alfar. I know that’s why you want to go to Faerie without me, but I won’t let you. We’ll face them down together, or hide from them together—whatever works.”
“Rhianne—”
“Do not tell me you will charge to Faerie and leave me behind. That is what this argument is really about, remember? We can yell at each other about the mate bond another time. Which I do feel, by the way. I’m not an idiot.”
“No, but you’re new to this.” Ben’s voice rose. “Don’t you think I want you to form the bond for me? What if you discover that it’s not true after all? That you’re forming it for someone else but don’t realize because I happened to be standing in front of you? Can you imagine that torture for me?”
Rhianne rarely let her anger fully surge—she’d seen the devastation her people could cause when they lost their famous tempers—but now fury flashed out of her. As when she’d been locked in the Bureau’s cell, she wanted to blast out the windows, grab Ben, and haul him away.
“Happened to be standing in front of me? Who the hell else would I be forming it for? Every Shifter I’ve met so far is already mated or a child. I feel the bonds, Ben. I see them.” Rhianne snatched at the threads in the air.
“I usually can see them too,” Ben said. “This time I don’t.”
“Maybe because you can’t see your own?”
“Oh, sure, a reasonable explanation. I believe you are feeling it, Rhianne, but I think it’s cruel of you to get my hopes up.”
“Cruel?” The Shifter in her began to snarl. “I’m being cruel to you?”
Rhianne felt her wings unfurl, her arms stretching out to become them.
“Um.” The hesitant syllable from the kitchen doorway snapped Rhianne’s attention from the growing inferno inside her. She lowered her arms, the wings receding.
Liam’s nephew, Connor, who was a younger version of his uncle Liam, had entered the kitchen.
With him, standing close, was the young woman Carly said was Tiger’s cub. She’d pulled her orange and black hair into a ponytail, but it was the only thing about her that was subdued. Her eyes, so like Tiger’s, darted between Ben and Rhianne. Rhianne sensed the wildness in her, one that could tear apart this place faster than any of them could, even if they combined their efforts.
Connor cleared his throat. “If you need a place to be private, and it sounds like you do, come with me.”
He crossed to the back door past a silent and nonplussed Ben. Tiger-girl followed, her gaze moving to Rhianne and staying there.
Rhianne saw intelligence in the tall young woman, raw, but there. She was no fool. Tiger-girl swept her gaze over Rhianne from head to toe, craning to see behind her back as though looking for her wings. Rhianne shrugged, giving her a small smile. Tiger-girl grinned then hurried out after Connor, not letting him out of her sight.
Ben caught Rhianne’s hand. She didn’t jerk away this time but allowed him to tow her along after Connor and Tiger-girl.
Conner went down the porch steps into the common area behind the houses. Dawn had broken, the gray sky flushed with pink light. Rhianne and Ben followed Connor and Tiger-girl around the house to a large built-on lean-to, possibly at one time meant to be a garden shed.
“Hey, Connor.” A young woman jogging on the common waved to Connor. The young woman, who looked to be in her very early twenties, wore shorts, tank top, and sneakers, good for running. And for Shifting, Rhianne realized. Easy clothes to take on and off.
The young woman halted and beamed at Connor, paying no attention to the rest of them. Connor glanced around at her. “Oh, hey lass. How are you?”
The words were casual, what Connor might say to anyone who happened by. The young woman brightened. “I’m doing just fine. Missed you at the party last night.”
“Busy.” Connor turned from her to fit a key into the padlock of the shed. “Shifter stuff with my uncle. You know.”
“I do.” The young woman sidled closer, completely ignoring Ben, Rhianne, and Tiger-girl. “You’ll be doing his job one day. I bet you’ll be awesome.”
“Shew, I hope it’s not too soon.” Connor jiggled the key in the lock. “A good many years from now. I want to enjoy myself first.”
The young woman giggled. Tiger-girl, who’d been watching with narrowing eyes, abruptly stepped between the Shifter woman and Connor. Hands on hips Tiger-girl sent forth a growl that rippled the still air. The message was clear.
Stay away.
The young woman paused, studied Tiger-girl, and took a few steps back. “Anyway. See ya, Connor.” She pivoted and jogged to the green, continuing her run.
“See you.” Connor, his attention on the lock for the whole conversation, hadn’t noticed a thing.
The lock clicked and Connor swung open a door. “Here you go.”
He stood aside and let Ben and Rhianne enter, Ben going first, as a Shifter male would. Rhianne found herself in a surprisingly large space, with two couches on either end of an empty wooden floor. A television had been mounted on one wall, and beneath it sat a bookshelf strewn with books and magazines.
“Tiger-girl and I come here a lot,” Connor said as Ben and Rhianne halted awkwardly in the middle of the room. “We spar. Or catch up on vids between bouts.”
Rhianne glanced at Tiger-girl, who hovered behind Connor’s shoulder. She was almost as tall as Connor and shared his restless athleticism.
“Sparring?” Rhianne asked, brows rising.
“Yeah.” Connor returned her questioning gaze, his innocence unfeigned. “Tiger-girl’s good at natural fighting, but we’re both learning to fine-tune our skills. She’s going through her Transition, and it helps her to spar. She’s also learning how not to kill me.” He sent a fond grin behind him.
Tiger-girl’s joy at his attention went beyond fondness. If Rhianne hadn’t had to worry about her own problems, she would love to stay in this Shiftertown and watch their relationship progress.
The thought that she truly would love to stay here jolted Rhianne. She squeezed Ben’s hand uncertainly.
“You two could use some sparring time yourself,” Connor said. “Enjoy it. I’ll let you out when you have everything resolved.”
He and Tiger-girl quickly ducked outside, and Connor slammed the door. Ben dropped Rhianne’s hand and rushed to the exit, but before he reached it, they heard the click of the padlock snapping into place.
Laughter, both male and female, floated to them, and then receded. Ben turned and faced Rhianne, the two of them left alone with their demons.
Chapter Nineteen
Ben studied Rhianne across the space of the room. She was so beautiful, with her red hair falling out of a sloppy braid, her face both animated and creased with exhaustion, her body tense.
Her words about the mate bond had filled Ben with delirious hope, one he feared to hold on to, couldn’t allow himself to consider real.
Shifters found the mate bond right and left, or so it seemed, but never with Ben. He was alone, had been for a thousand years. His solitude had left an imprint on him, a deep furrow in his psyche that he couldn’t shake.
“I suppose we have to hash this out,” he said, throat tight.
Rhianne glanced at the door. “You know we can easily escape this room. You thought nothing of tearing metal bars out of solid stone.”
True, a flimsy door wouldn’t stop Ben if he wanted to flee. “I know that. You know that. Connor probably knows that too. But we should talk.”
Rhianne folded her arms, which pushed up her chest under the loose shirt. “There’s nothing to talk about. We were not talking, in any case. We were shouting.”
“Figure of speech.”
“I wish you spoke Tuil Erdannan better. I could explain. This English is flimsy for conveying what I mean.”
“Goblin would be better too. But it would take us a while. Our words get long. We add endings to words every time we want to tack on an explanation. They can become massively multisyllabic.”
Ben hoped to make her smile, but she only watched him, grim-faced.
“Shall we shout more?” she asked. “You cannot go to Faerie alone.”
Ben’s frustration mounted. “Not alone. With Dylan, Tiger, and Zander. They’ll make sure I come out alive.”
“While I wait here? Tiger himself told me to take care of you. He called you the last warrior.”
“I know he did. I wish I knew what the hell that meant.”
“As do I.” Rhianne threw out her hands. “He didn’t exactly explain.”
“Tiger never does.” Ben tried to calm himself and think. “He could mean that I’m the last goblin warrior alive, but then we met Millie, who I’m sure could hold her own in battle. In fact, I’d like to shake some answers out of her. Is she for us or against us?” He broke off. “Not important right now. Tiger could also mean I’ll be the last one standing in the next Shifter Fae war. Goddess, I hope not.”
Ben ran a hand through his hair, fear forming like ice in his veins. He didn’t want to be a last warrior at all. That would mean that everyone he knew and loved had died around him. It had happened to him once. He’d never bear it if it happened again.
Triumph abruptly entered Rhianne’s eyes, which made Ben nervous. “I know, I’ll tell Tiger not to leave me behind.” She lifted her chin. “That will do it.”
“Depends on Tiger, doesn’t it?” Ben returned. “He might decide it’s best that you stay here.”
“Somehow, I don’t think so.” Rhianne’s mouth twitched, making Ben want to kiss it. “Very well, we’ll let Tiger settle the matter.”
“Sure thing.” He trusted Tiger’s judgement, though if Tiger chose against Ben’s judgement, he’d dispute that long and hard. “Are we done arguing then? Want me to yell for Connor?”
“Then there’s the issue of the mate bond.” Rhianne’s tiny amount of amusement deserted her. She issued him an arrogant Tuil Erdannan glare, which made her even more beautiful. “The one you believe I don’t understand.”
“Because it’s complicated.” Ben let his usual stoicism fly to the wind, releasing the words jammed inside him. “You dangle this mate bond in front of me, and at the same time imply I’m going to be the last man standing. Meaning I lose you. I can’t lose you, Rhianne. I’ve just found you. It will kill me to lose you. Mate bond or no mate bond—it will devastate me. Rip me to shreds. Might as well let the hoch alfar do that for me, or you
r dear father.”
“You don’t have a choice.” Rhianne grabbed at her T-shirt, right over her heart, and yanked at it as though trying to tear what she felt out of her. “I don’t have a choice. I realized I had the mate bond when those Bureau men separated us. I needed to charge out of there and find you. Because I couldn’t be without you. When I saw you, I saw the magic between you and me. Maybe you don’t feel it, maybe you never will. I don’t know how this works. All I know is I can’t be without you …”
Her face crumpled, and she broke off.
“Love.” Ben was across the room, gathering her into his arms. “I’m not trying to hurt you. I never want to hurt you.” He stroked her hair, held her trembling body. “I’m so scared of losing you, of the mate bond winding me up in it and not letting me go. I’ve seen what happens to others when the bond is broken.”
“It’s too late for me.” Rhianne’s words were muffled in his shoulder. “I never even knew you before you lifted me out of that cell. Now I can’t be without you.”
“I am pretty irresistible,” Ben quipped.
Rhianne raised her head, her brown eyes swimming with tears. “You always make fun of yourself.”
“Keeps me from breaking down.” Ben’s smile faded. “Keeps me alive.”
Rhianne kissed him, her soft lips meeting the grim line of his. Ben gave up trying to hold on to the shards of his sanity and kissed her fully.
His heart gave a sudden dark throb and squeezed hard, as though breaking down a barrier to force the mate bond through. He feared the bond as much as he longed for it, but for this moment, the longing overwhelmed his self-preservation.
Ben brought his hands up under Rhianne’s heavy braid of hair, stroking her as he sought her mouth. She grew frantic under his touch, fingers sinking into his shoulders as though she never wanted to let him go.
Mating frenzy. She had it all right.
Goblins had a sort of mating frenzy themselves. Not the ferocious one of Shifters, the Goddess’s way of making certain they had more little Shifters, but a need that delved into his soul. Beings that lived for many centuries knew how to love fiercely.
The Last Warrior: Shifters Unbound Book 13 Page 20
