Prophecy Mates

by Mary Hughes

He frowned and bent to study the case closely. Frown deepening, he plucked his handkerchief from his breast pocket, picked a speck of something from the display case, wrapped it in the pocket square and tucked it back in. Always thinking, always observing.

  Dork. She smiled, watching his intent face. His handsome face. While the dork part of him was still inside, it was covered by a very successful façade. Athletic and gorgeous, and from the tailored tux and Ferrari, rich, too.

  Her smile faded.

  Rich, classy, and successful. He could do much better than her now.

  Doubt crept in. Sure, he’d always been there for her, was still there for her—but probably only as a friend.

  Then what would happen when he found out she was mated to him? Would he reject her?

  Because he’d find out sooner or later. Even if she didn’t tell him, the fact that she was always around, jumping into his bed, would.

  She’d have to tell him and hope he didn’t dump her as fast as Tommy.

  “You don’t look so good.” Daniel turned from the case and studied her with the same intense concentration. “Let’s sit you down.”

  “I am a bit unsettled.”

  He took her by the elbow. She was a strong, independent woman and wolf, but just this once, she leaned on his strength. Besides, her heels were killing her.

  They’d almost reached the back exit, and she was anticipating cooler, fresher air, when the door slammed open.

  Zeus.

  He barged in, panting and disheveled. From the disgusted expression on his cowled face, he’d been dashing up and down Lincoln Memorial looking for them the whole time they were in the closet.

  “Run?” she whispered to Daniel, almost glad, almost hoping for another closet and a chance to be together one more time.

  “No.”

  To her surprise Daniel shook his head with a low growl.

  He let go of her elbow, stalked across the gap, grabbed Zeus—and slammed him bodily into the wall.

  Astonished gasps echoed hers. She took a step toward Daniel, her heart racing, her skin tingling in anticipation… It startled her. Yes, her human was appalled, but her wolf was very near the surface, and it was panting in delight.

  Surprisingly, the expressions on the crowd of elegant people gathering around her and the two men were more thrilled than appalled, too. Even Ms. Classypants leaned forward, hands clasped in an age-old gesture of excitement.

  Daniel, anger radiating from every taut muscle, didn’t seem to care he had an audience. “I’ll give you one chance, Zeus. Leave her alone.” He bared his teeth, nailed the cowled man in the eye, and growled like a wolf.

  Shock radiated from Zoe’s very flesh. Daniel had an inner wolf? Challenging the brutal man now, when he’d run before, it seemed likely. From mating with her?

  She’d never heard of it before.

  Zeus glanced toward the exit, eyes measuring the distance. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The barest hint of a submissive whine entered his tone.

  Zoe’s wolf howled with glee.

  “Wrong answer.” Daniel grabbed the reeling man, shoved him back through the door, and strode out of the ballroom after him. The door slammed shut behind them.

  Zoe was so surprised, she delayed a split second before leaping to follow. She slid through the door silently, shutting it again as Daniel slammed Zeus against the far wall. The hallway was cooler, but heating up fast.

  “Why are you here?” He leaned into Zeus, using his greater height to his advantage, radiating rage into the cowled man’s face. “You already have what you want. Tell me everything. Now.”

  Behind Zoe, the door started to open again. The crowd seeks to join us. Her wolf approved—everything important was done in front of the pack, from mating rituals to alpha fights—but Daniel was obviously hanging onto his temper by a hair, and her human didn’t want witnesses if things got ugly.

  She twisted, caught a man’s face in the gap, shoved him back, and pushed the door shut, accessing her wolf’s strength to do it. No lock on this side, so she barred the door with her own body.

  Zeus surged forward from the wall. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

  “A pissed suitor.” Daniel planted his fist in the brutal face.

  Ripped cowl bounced against the wall, so hard stitching broke and a tuft of dark brown hair sprang out. The man’s nose gushed blood. “You fuckin’ bastar’. No’ again!”

  His hand, covering his nose, muffled the words. He raised the other hand, a wand in it. That spoke loud and clear.

  Howling moons, Zeus was a witch.

  Her stomach dropped out her bowels. Witches were bad news. Daniel was in danger. Even a wolf shifter couldn’t beat a truly powerful witch. But Daniel…

  Simply punched Zeus in the nose again.

  The witch’s wand fell from his hand, hitting the thin carpet with a dull clatter.

  For a stunned second, Zeus stood there, eyes wide. Zoe was equally stunned.

  Daniel wasn’t. He grabbed the witch’s raised wrist, twisted to put his hip into Zeus’ waist, and neatly flipped the other man to the ground. Whump.

  Zoe’s wolf howled in approval. Even her human body flushed with triumph. Not only had Daniel bested a witch, he’d done so easily. His fluid fighting appealed to both the wolf and the woman.

  “Now talk.” Daniel bent to reach into Zeus’ jacket pocket, snatched the man’s crisp white handkerchief, and stuffed it against his face. “The parchment. The key. Everything.”

  “Yeh! O’ay.” Zeus’ chainsaw voice was muffled by the handkerchief. He scrambled to his feet, reeled, and braced himself against the wall. “Jus’ no more hitting.” He slurred it, hih-in’.

  “No promises. Talk.”

  Zeus shot him a black look but started talking. “I wanted the parchment.” Wah-hed duh par-men. “I tried to magic the thing out of its case. No go. So I light-fingered the key from Lady Boobsalot.” He grinned. “Like fondling king-size pillows—”

  “One more word like that, and I’ll throttle you,” Daniel said.

  Zeus swallowed hard, grin dropping fast. “The key opened the box, but I couldn’t touch the damned thing. Some sorta jinx. So I got a mundane chick to try to take it, but even she couldn’t touch it.”

  “It’s a geis, asshole,” Daniel said. “Cut to the chase. I don’t want to know how you failed. I want to know how you succeeded.”

  An evil glint sparked in Zeus’ eye. “I didn’t, asshole. You think I have the Quatrain? I don’t. Sucker!”

  Zoe’s heart took a nose dive. Yes, her parchment was missing, and yes, the only suspect didn’t have it. But more, there was a magical geis on it—and Daniel knew it.

  Her hero had a lot of explaining to do.

  Chapter Nine

  Daniel flashed open his third eye and scanned the brutal-faced man on the ethereal. Zeus was telling the truth. Damn and blast. He shoved away in disgust.

  Only to see Zoe, her gaze narrowed on him.

  All the blood drain from his body.

  She stood at the door, barring it, the one he though he’d locked magically. She’d potentially heard everything.

  Including bits that could tell a clever wolf a helluva lot about both her parchment and himself.

  Time for distraction. “He doesn’t have your prize. Let’s go.” Striding to her, he took her arm and tried to urge her back into the ballroom.

  She refused to move, a bad sign.

  “What did Zeus mean?”

  “Mean?” His stomach froze in his belly. “Well, that we’ll have to look elsewhere for it.”

  “No, what did he mean, he tried to ‘magic’ the parchment out?”

  He gave a nonchalant shrug. “Light-finger. Pickpocket. You know, magic fingers.”

  “I see.” Her raised eyebrow, winging above her mask, said she did see, too much.

  He grinned, considering the possibility of using sex as a distraction. Okay, new plan. Don’t take her back to the ballroom. Take he
r but to the prep room. Throw her onto the couch and distract the hell out of her. Something inside him howled with approval.

  “What about that name he used? That’s the second time he called the parchment the Quatrain.”

  His stomach dropped out his toes. Thunderation, he was too late.

  Her emerald gaze was particularly narrow, searching his face. “Do you know what that is, Daniel? The Quatrain?”

  He swallowed hard. He couldn’t lie. He never even considered it, though he knew dozens of convenient, Council-approved misinformations.

  But he’d never abuse her trust that way, especially not after what they’d shared in the closet.

  Yet what was the alternative? Tell her he’d come to the party because he was like all the rest of the testosterone hulks, not really interested in her, only the prize she offered?

  The truth might hurt her. That was unacceptable.

  His brain fought to work through the icy slush of his emotions. It was clamoring, There’s a way. Dork. Always thinking, even now.

  If only he could turn back the clock. Tell her the truth the moment he knew her identity. The right thing to do, but stupidly, he couldn’t get past the fact that then, she’d never have made love with him.

  But since he hadn’t told her, he was in a horrible spot, with no good way out. He wanted to bash his own head into the wall, needing a solution that wouldn’t hurt the one woman who mattered, but his idiot brain still kept spitting up tell her the truth…and the truth was, he was just a nice guy to her, a dork, a handy penis for a bit of sex and not particularly good sex at that.

  Why would she be hurt if I told her I’d come for the parchment? Because my ego needs her to care that much?

  He stopped breathing.

  She might be angry, but she wouldn’t be hurt. He’d be hurt, yes. His chest would have a cratering hole, but that was inconsequential.

  So tell her the truth, explain the Quatrain and the world-burning need not to let it fall into the wrong hands. She’d come to the right conclusion, he was certain. She’d give it to him.

  And march out of his life forever.

  He gritted his teeth. Didn’t matter. Whatever was best for her, he’d live with.

  “Walk with me.” He took her arm and turned her toward the prep room.

  Zeus stumbled away, maybe looking for first aid. He no longer mattered.

  Daniel led Zoe along the corridor. Behind them, the door slammed open, the curious filtering into the hallway, but they no longer mattered either.

  In the prep room, he locked the door, then, to be sure, checked behind the screen. His gaze lighted on the couch, where they’d battled for top. He smiled faintly. Never again, after this. His stomach churned unhappily.

  When he was sure there were no physical ears, he checked again for other bugs, both magical and mechanical. The room was still clean.

  He found a couple chairs—he thought for exactly one second about that couch, but if they were to get any talking done, that was out—and sat her down and began.

  “You know your parchment has visible writing?”

  “Yes. Four words. Heart, mind, soul, and key.”

  “There’s invisible writing, too. The magical version of disappearing ink.”

  “Magical ink…?” She eyed him.

  He met her gaze steadily and saw when awareness solidified.

  Her eyes widened, those gorgeous emerald eyes, and her hand covered her bosom in an uncharacteristically feminine response. “You’re a witch?”

  The sight of her slim, pale hand resting against the rounded pillows of her breasts—yes, Zeus was right, damn him—made Daniel want to replace those fingers with his own. Or his mouth…

  And bring the Witches’ Council Enforcer down on both of them.

  He dragged his brain from his pants. “Yes.”

  She shook her head in wonder. “I’d already figured Zeus was, but you…wow.”

  “Which reminds me…it probably won’t be an issue for you, but don’t say anything about what happened between us in the closet. To anyone.”

  “Why?”

  “Do you know about the Witches’ Council?”

  She nodded. “They’re secretive, but I’ve heard stories.”

  “Well, if the Council finds out we’ve made lo…I mean had sex, they’ll try to erase your memory.”

  “And you?” Her eyes narrowed on him. “Will they do anything to you?”

  “They might execute me. But there’s a more important matter.”

  “Execute?” The word practically exploded from her. “What can be more important than you dying?”

  “The world dying. If your parchment falls into the wrong hands, it could happen. It’s why I originally came tonight, before I knew you were here. Before I knew the parchment was yours. When the ink is treated with the proper spell or potion, it will reveal the Avignon Quatrain, lost prophecy of Jean-Dion d’Avignon.”

  “A prophecy?” She put her hands on her knees and laughed. “Vague, sinister-sounding nonsense.”

  “Most are. This one, not so much.” He took her hands in his, trying to tell her through touch how vital this was. “This one comes from the greatest wizard of history. Avignon’s predictions are specific, and they all come true.”

  Her emerald gaze searched his face, her smile fading. “You believe it. You believe all this. All right, then, if my parchment has this prophecy, why haven’t you used magic to get it back? To read it? Come to think, if this Quatrain is so famous, why don’t you already know what it says?”

  “It was lost for centuries. And tonight, I couldn’t take it. No creature of magic can. There’s a geis on it, tying the parchment to its owner—to you. I also can’t read it without a potion or spell. I’ll probably need to physically touch it.”

  She arched a brow at him. “Then how do you know my four-word parchment is your four-line Quatrain?”

  “A family seer said so. She also said if the wrong wizard gets his hands on it, it’ll be the end of magic as we know it.”

  She tried a laugh. “What’d I say? Sinister-sounding.”

  He hated to frighten her, but in this case, not knowing could hurt her worse. “Yes. But also specific.”

  “Not that specific. What does end-of-magic mean? Shifters lose their ability to shift?”

  “Maybe.” He shook his head in wonder. Faced with a frightening world of power beyond her own, yet she was asking smart, practical questions. “Or maybe witches will be unable to manipulate magic. Or maybe the whole planet goes poof. We simply don’t know. Zoe, we have to secure the Quatrain. You must believe it.”

  One brow raised. “I don’t have to believe, actually.”

  “Zoe, please—”

  “But you believe it. That’s good enough for me.”

  He blinked, amazed.

  “Okay, let’s locate that parchment. When you found Zeus had the key, did you use magic? Maybe you can do the same spell or whatever,” she twinkled her fingers at him, “to find the parchment.”

  He was filled with awe. She wasn’t panicking, wasn’t angry he hadn’t told her, wasn’t fighting him. She was simply listening, accepting. Planning.

  Beautiful, practical, and smart. If it weren’t for the Council’s ban, she’d be the perfect wife for him.

  His bones rang with the truth of that.

  “Yes. A magical find. But the starting point is the glass case. I can’t do magic in the ballroom with all those people watching.”

  “You used my napkin to find the key, though, right?”

  Smart. “A representative item works best with a living resonance—a hair, a fingernail. The key was resting against your skin, and we blotted that essence onto the napkin. So, too, I’d need personal residue from the thief.”

  “No convenient nails or hairs dropped?” She snapped her fingers. “What about fingerprints or sweat?”

  “Good thinking. But when I examined the case, I didn’t find anything. The thief must’ve used gloves.”


  “Damn. Then what can we do?” Her gaze on him was warm. She trusted him, trusted his dorky brain to think of a plan.

  “Remember when I examined the case after the theft?” He smiled, about to pull the best magic trick of his life, because she was his audience. “I found this bit of trace.” He pulled out his handkerchief, carefully unwrapped it to show a single cotton thread.

  “From a glove?” She grinned. “Nice.” She stood. “Okay, let’s find my parchment.”

  He shook his head. “I need something from you first.”

  “Something from me?” Her brow furrowed in worry. “What?”

  His gut dropped with what he was about to do. She knew he was a wizard now. He’d tell her about the Council’s taboo on shifter/witch sex. Since he couldn’t keep his hands off her, he needed her to have restraint for both of them.

  Though it would save both their lives, he ached at the thought of never seeing her again.

  Ah, hell. Since he’d lied by omission about being a witch, she probably would be happy to do this.

  “A promise this thing between us never happens again.”

  Chapter Ten

  Zoe’s heart vaulted into her throat, pulse pounding like a drum. Staring at Daniel, feeling suddenly, unexpectedly exposed, despite her mask, she sank back into her chair. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m a wizard, Zoe.” His blue gaze, underlined by his dark mask, was stern. “You’re a shifter. Coupling between witches and wolves is forbidden. Death-sentence forbidden for me, as I said before. I hope we got away with it this time, but if we do it again we’re courting disaster.”

  Pain stabbed her. “Why did you have sex with me then?”

  His cheeks reddened, but he answered gently. “At first, I didn’t know you were a shifter. And then, frankly, I didn’t care.”

  He wanted her. Hope ballooned. “But if I need your help—?”

  “Zoe, it’s your life on the line, too. The Council is not lenient on this subject. I can’t risk it.”

  The rejection sliced her, and she drooped. “No witch has had continuing close contact with a shifter? Ever?”

  “Well…”

  Just one word, but it was enough to bring hope back. She hung onto that word like a lifeline, her heart beating painfully.