“Get a room,” Jet said. Something soft hit the side of my head.
I cracked open one eye and arched a brow at my assistant alpha. Easy for him to say—he was already married and expecting a rare werewolf-vampire hybrid baby.
He laughed.
“We have rooms downstairs if you need one,” Quinn, Tap’s assistant, said.
I forced myself away from my fiancée. “That won’t be necessary. We’re waiting for our wedding night.”
Jet snickered. “If you two last.”
Victoria pulled off my scarf and threw it at him.
“Thank you.” I kissed her cheek.
“Want me to do that again?”
“As much as I’d love to say yes, Tap wants to discuss decorations.”
Tap came around the corner, carrying a tray of empty glasses. “My sisters, who will be in charge of that, have been held up. Why don’t you two write them some notes? Then they can get started as soon as they arrive.”
“Sounds good to me.” I turned to Victoria. “Should we sit at a private table, away from the heckler?” I glanced over at Jet.
He laughed. “With as much as you’ve teased Zia and me, you have it coming.”
Victoria laced her fingers through mine. “Yes, let’s.”
“Don’t leave out a single detail,” Tap said. “If you do, those sisters of mine will fill in the gaps—and I can’t guarantee you’ll like what they come up with.”
“We won’t.” Victoria pulled me to a little booth in the back corner.
I slid next to her and put my arm around her. “I’m the happiest man in the world.”
“Then marry me now. We won’t have to worry about all these details.”
“These details are what’s going to make the best wedding—the one you deserve. You forget I’ve developed patience. Besides, what would I tell them at work if I took my vacation early?”
“You’re smart.” She raked her fingers through my hair. “You’ll think of something.”
I laughed. “Speaking of my job, I need to be there in the morning, so let’s get this figured out.”
“You’re no fun.” She pouted, but her eyes shone with playfulness.
“Then why do you want to marry me?”
She looked me over. “Because you look like this.”
Euphoria ran through me. I pulled her close, kissed her deeply, and ran my fingers through the length of her hair.
Victoria gasped for air. “And because you kiss me like that.”
I traced her jawline and let my thumb linger near her lower lip. “You mean like this?” I kissed her again, this time with more passion.
“Hey, now,” came Tap’s voice. “Customers are starting to complain.”
Victoria pulled away. “No, they’re not.”
Tap grinned and slid a couple drinks and a pad of paper to us. “You’re right. I forgot to mention you’ll need to write everything down on paper. My family isn’t big on technology. Need a pen?”
I reached into my inside coat pocket and found one. “Nope. Thanks for all this.”
“Think nothing of it. I’ll be glad to finally see you two married. I’ve seen a lot in my lifetime, and never before have I seen a couple face so many obstacles over so many years. And with you both being such good people, no less.”
Victoria snuggled closer to me. “It’ll make our happily ever after that much better.”
“I’m sure it will.” Tap smiled and headed for another table.
“You want to write?” I asked Victoria. “Your penmanship is so much better than my chicken scratch.”
“It isn’t that bad.” She took the pen from me. “Do you have any flower preferences?”
“I’ve always liked lilies. They come in so many colors. What do you think?”
“They’re beautiful.” She wrote on the paper. “Anything else?”
“What about what you want?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll add my preferences to the list.”
We discussed flowers, candles, tablecloths, lighting, food, and other details until my head spun and my stomach growled.
She pressed her palm against my stomach. “We’d better take care of that. My mom made stew. Or would you rather eat here?”
My mouth watered. “You had me at homemade stew.”
“Let’s head back, then.” She held up the pad of paper. “Hopefully this is enough for Tap’s sisters.”
I flipped through the pages. “We have five pages of notes. It’d better be enough.”
Tap came by. “Done already?”
Victoria kissed my cheek. “We have to get this one home to eat.”
“I have food.”
“Homemade stew?” I arched a brow.
He shook his head, took the pad, and glanced at the notes. “Quick fixins only. If my sisters have any questions, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks, Tap. For everything.” I helped Victoria out of the booth.
“If I run into trouble, you know who I’m calling.”
“Unless we’re on our honeymoon.” Victoria grinned and handed me my jacket.
I slid it on and turned back to Tap. “You haven’t heard from Soleil, have you?”
He frowned and shook his head. “A valkyrie in mourning could take a long time to heal.”
“Any idea where she went?” Victoria asked. “She left her phone in her room back at Moonhaven, so we have no way of contacting her.”
He put his hand on her arm. “She’ll come back when she’s ready.”
Victoria nodded, her eyes full of sadness. “I really want her to be a part of the wedding. She’s been such a big part of everything, you know?”
“I’m sure she’d love to, but she really needs this time. I know it doesn’t always seem like it, but her kind feels everything deeply. If I do hear from her, I’ll be sure to let her know about the wedding.”
A crash sounded in another room.
Tap groaned. “One of these days, I’m going to implement a ‘no mesmers’ rule.”
“Can’t you just tell them to keep their powers to themselves?” Victoria asked.
He shook his head. “It’s all or nothing with those guys, and you get a group of them together—it’s pure chaos. The ability to manipulate objects and people with their minds makes every last one of them obnoxious and conceited to the point of—”
Another crash sounded, this time followed by laughter.
“I gotta go.” Tap ran off.
“Poor guy.” Victoria turned to me. “Think we should help him?”
“Nah. He knows what he’s doing.” I put some cash on the table for the drinks and took her hand.
Glass shattered in the other room, followed by Tap cursing someone out.
I held back a laugh. “Ready to head home? Wait, don’t you have a jacket?”
“I did.”
“Did it catch fire or something?”
She laughed. “No. I was eager to see you, so I shifted and ran here.”
“You’re going to freeze walking in the snow without a coat.” I slid off my jacket.
“No. Then you’ll freeze. I could shift again.”
“Not twice in one day. It’s too hard on your body, my sweetness.”
She shrugged. “I could see if someone else left one in a cubby outside.”
“And have some shifter angry with us? No. Tell me where you left your clothes and I’ll bring them back here.”
“Are you sure? That’s a lot of trouble.”
I kissed her forehead. “It’s better than you getting sick.”
“You didn’t get sick after running through the snow in the buff recently.” She arched a brow.
“Let’s not argue, sweetness. I’m not going to risk you getting sick before the wedding.” I pressed my lips against hers. “Where did you leave your clothes?”
She explained where she left them—practically at Moonhaven.
“I’m definitely not letting you run that far without a jacket. I’ll be back in
a few.”
“Hurry.” She pressed her palms against my chest and kissed me deeply.
Chapter 4
Victoria
I sat at the bar and watched Quinn make drinks at lightning speed. He didn’t look my way once.
“What do you know about the stone?”
He nearly dropped the glass in his hand, but caught it. “What?”
“I saw you watching Tap and me discuss it. What do you know?”
Quinn placed half a dozen glasses on a tray. “I’ve got to get these to a group of harpies. If I piss them off, we’ll find ourselves buried under twelve feet of snow.”
“They can really cause storms?”
“You’d better believe it.” He hurried away.
I grabbed a napkin and folded it into the shape of a heart. Quinn wasn’t going to get out of telling me what he knew that easily. He had to come back to the bar some time.
A few minutes later, he did. He tried to ignore me.
“What do you know?” I demanded.
He stared at me. “That anyone with that expression only finds trouble. You have the fever.”
“I just want the stone.”
“Exactly.” He mixed a rainbow-colored drink.
“You know something.”
“Focus on your wedding.”
Anger burned in my gut. “Just tell me what you know.”
He shook his head.
“I knew you were holding back! What is it?”
Quinn looked around and walked over to me and lowered his voice. “I’m on break in ten minutes. Meet me outside.”
My pulse raced. Would that give us enough time, or would Toby be back by then?
“It’s that or nothing. Tap can’t know.”
“Why doesn’t he want you to—?”
“Zip it. Ten minutes.” He hurried away with another full tray of glasses.
My mind raced. What could Quinn know? Had he overheard something important? The Faeble was where Alex had learned about the stone. It seemed to be a place where shifters stopped while on their quest to find it.
The bigger question was why Tap wouldn’t want me to know. It had to be huge. What if Tap knew its location? He kept a great many supernatural secrets.
Finally, Quinn came back and set a tray of empty glasses down. “Hurry. But don’t go out with me.”
I nodded. He walked away. I counted to twenty before heading to the back door as nonchalantly as possible. Tap was too busy arguing with the mesmers to notice me.
Outside, Quinn stood under a tree, smoking a cigarette.
“You smoke?”
“You kill animals,” he quipped.
“When I’m in wolf form.”
He blew out a smoke ring. “Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.”
“What’s with you?”
“By telling you this I’m risking the wrath of a former troll king and several strong werewolf alphas.”
I tilted my head. “Toby doesn’t want me knowing?”
“He wants to focus on the wedding, but there are also other wolves after the stone. Ones who’ve threatened me if I share what I’ve overheard.”
“What have you heard?”
Quinn took a long drag and closed his eyes. Then he blew it out and stepped closer to me. “You didn’t hear this from me.”
“Of course not.”
He stepped closer, dropped the cigarette, and stepped on it. “The last group that came through was headed to Iceland.”
My eyes widened. It made sense. The land where all things supernatural began. “What else did they say?”
Quinn leaned closer. “Let’s just say they were following a hot, reliable lead.”
“Do you know where in Iceland?”
“It’s not that big of a place. I’m sure you can figure it out from there. You’re a lot smarter than those jerks.”
“If they’re so stupid, why do you believe them?”
“Because they’re greedy bastards.” He checked his watch. “I gotta get back inside. Iceland. That’s a helluva lot more than you had ten minutes ago.”
My pulse raced. “Thanks, Quinn.”
“Don’t mention it—seriously.”
“I won’t.”
He rushed inside. I paced, my mind racing. Snowflakes began to fall. I shivered, realizing how cold I was, and went inside. Loud laughter sounded from the mesmers’ tables. When I got to the bar, a cup of coffee sat in front of an empty stool.
“That’s for you,” Quinn said. “It’ll warm you up.”
“Thanks.” I cupped the warm mug and sipped. How would I get to Iceland? It wasn’t like I could just hop on a plane or jump into my Bentley. I’d also have to get there without anyone noticing my absence. I scoured my mind for ideas.
If only Soleil hadn’t taken off. She could teleport. But she wasn’t the only one who could travel instantaneously. The witches could travel with runes. Gessilyn’s coven came from Iceland—they had to have runes placed all over the country. Maybe one of them could help me out. That was probably my best bet, assuming they weren’t sick of helping us out. It seemed like we were constantly calling them.
After a while, someone touched my shoulder, and I jumped, nearly falling off the stool.
“Whoa, there.” Toby kissed my cheek. His hair was speckled white from the snow. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Sorry. I was deep in thought.” I brushed the flakes from his hair.
“No need for apologies.” He looked at me adoringly and held out my coat. “I put the rest of the clothes in your cubby out back.”
I shoved aside my thoughts of the stone and smiled. “What did I ever do to deserve someone as wonderful as you?”
“I ask myself the same thing all the time. I am pretty great, aren’t I?” He winked.
“You’re hilarious.” I shoved him playfully and snatched my jacket from him.
He kissed my nose. “I like to think so. You ready to go home?”
“Definitely.”
Something crashed at the other end of the bar.
Toby glanced that way. “The mesmers still giving Tap trouble?”
“Sounds like it.” I zipped my coat and slid my hand into his. We went outside. Fat, white flakes poured from the sky.
“It looks like we could have a blizzard.”
My stomach twisted. Had Quinn upset the harpies by going outside with me?
Toby turned to me. “It’s romantic, don’t you think?”
I pictured the twelve feet of snow Quinn had predicted. “It would be more romantic at home.”
Hunger filled Toby’s eyes. “Anywhere you are is romantic.” He pressed me against the building and wrapped himself around me. “The quiet of the snow only intensifies it.”
I was overcome by my love for him. I wrapped a leg around him and brushed my lips across his and then trailed kisses to his ear. He shivered, and I nibbled on the lobe. He moved his hands to the back of my neck and turned my head. He stared at me for a moment before anchoring his mouth to mine and devouring it with sweeping strokes of his tongue. I shuddered and gasped for air. “Still don’t like the idea of eloping?”
He ran his thumb across my lips. “Nope. But we really should get home. The flakes are coming down even faster now.”
I took a deep breath and glanced to the side. The flurries had intensified. Hopefully, Quinn could appease the harpies.
Toby laced his fingers through mine, and we ran through the heavy snowfall until we reached a thicker part of the woods, but even there plenty of snow made it through the forest.
At last, Moonhaven came to view.
Chapter 5
Toby
A nightmare woke me with a start. Gasping for air, I bolted upright. Sweat drenched my hair and dripped toward my eyes. I wiped it away and took a deep breath. Despite having just woken, my nightmare was nothing more than a blur. But the feelings lingered—terror and trepidation.
At least it had only been a dream. I lay back down and closed my eyes. My body
trembled, making me unable to shake the unease. After tossing and turning, it became clear sleep wouldn’t come. I pulled on an old hoodie, slid into sweats, and headed downstairs.
Light shone from underneath Victoria’s door. What was she doing up at this hour? Had she had a nightmare, too?
I rapped lightly on the door. Then I knocked a little louder.
“Victoria?”
Silence.
“I’m coming in.”
No response.
Dread squeezed me, but I pushed it aside. My nerves were already on edge from my nightmare. I turned the knob and let the door open on its own.
“Victoria?”
Nothing.
I walked in, covering my eyes until they adjusted to the light. Victoria lay sleeping on her bed next to her laptop. The browser had several tabs—I assumed wedding sites. But the open one had information about the wolf essence stone.
My stomach twisted in tight knots. She was growing obsessed with it. I clicked the other tabs—all were about the stone, except one that had facts about Iceland. Shaking my head, I closed the computer, and set it on her desk. She didn’t stir.
I brushed some hair from her face and kissed the corner of her eye. “Victoria?”
Her eyelids fluttered, but she didn’t wake.
“Let’s get you covered.” I slid my arm underneath her back and moved her to a pillow. Then I pulled the covers from under her and tucked her in. “Sweet dreams.”
She mumbled something and rolled onto her side.
I turned off the light on my way out and headed downstairs to the kitchen for a late snack. The mansion was quiet—even our resident vampire slept now that she was expecting. I stuck a piece of cherry pie in the microwave and found some vanilla ice cream in the back of the freezer.
As I ate, I watched out the window as snow continued falling. It was in moments like this that I missed my best friend the most. We’d had so many late-night talks over the years—sometimes talking for hours on end and other times sitting in silence. The silence around me without him was suffocating.
Who could I talk to about my worries? Though Victoria tried to hide it, I could tell she thought about the stone often. Sometimes in the middle of a conversation, her eyes would glaze over and she would go into her own world for a while.
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