Shifter

by Lora Leigh

  ffering up yet another silent prayer that Lord Justice yet lived. After admitting to the shocking truth that he was half brother to Prince Conlan and his brother, the Lord Vengeance, Lord Justice had offered himself to the vampire goddess Anubisa in exchange for his brother’s life. Marie had heard the tale of it many times but still could not comprehend the courage it must have required to voluntarily submit to the goddess of all Chaos.

  Especially knowing of Conlan’s seven years of torture at her hands.

  Erin took a deep breath and stepped away from Marie’s hug. “But life goes on. It always goes on. Women still come to the temple for help with their pregnancies and childbirth, and even though I am no temple-trained midwife, the gems give me the healing power to help them.”

  Marie smiled at the understatement. “You are our gem singer, Erin. You sing the healing power of the stones to our women and babies. You healed Riley and the unborn heir to the throne of Atlantis. Do not discount your Gift.”

  “I don’t discount it, or I never would have agreed to this. The responsibility for the unborn children of Atlantis is an enormous one, far too much for a single witch,” Erin replied. “Or at least it would be if you hadn’t trained me yourself, surrounded me with your very knowledgeable temple acolytes, and watched as I used my Gift to sing healing and peace to women in labor.”

  Marie’s desire to visit her brother, Bastien, and meet his new love, Katherine, pulled at her, but still she was torn. “I feel as though I were abandoning my duties at a time when all Atlantis must work together.”

  Erin’s blue eyes softened with sympathy. “I know. But you deserve this time, Marie. And your brother and Justice were very close, weren’t they?”

  Marie’s lips curved into a smile. “Yes, always. Thick as jellyfish, those two.”

  “Thieves.”

  “What?”

  “We say ‘thick as thieves,’” Erin said, laughing. “Although I must admit that thick as jellyfish makes more sense.”

  Marie studied the witch who had captured Lord Vengeance’s heart and restored the glory of the Temple of the Nereids through her gemsong. Abruptly, she nodded. “Yes. You are correct. Bastien will be nearly insane with rage and worry for Lord Justice, and even more so from the frustration that he could not immediately join the search. I must go to him.”

  Almost as if on cue, an icy wind swept between and around them and resolved itself into the shimmering form of Poseidon’s high priest, Alaric. He wore his customary black clothing, and the fire in his green eyes burned starkly in his drawn face. “Are you ready for the journey, Lady Marie?” he asked, his voice raspy as if little used in recent days.

  “I am,” she replied, inclining her head to the priest. He carried such a weight of bitter anguish with him, but it was not the pain of injury or illness. She sensed it was an emotional suffering but would never presume to impose upon his privacy by asking, no matter the whispers that had circulated about Alaric and Quinn, the sister of the prince’s beloved.

  If Alaric ever chose to share his anguish, she would listen. It was her role in life, and she had been content with it. To watch, to listen, to heal as best she could. Such a life was not without its rewards. She glanced at the temple one last time and smiled, then lifted her small travel bag from the grass at her feet and nodded again. “Please call the portal, if you would.”

  Alaric merely stared down at her for a long moment before he spoke. “Know that I am against this journey, my lady. We face more danger Above than we have for millennia, so now seems to be a ridiculously foolhardy time for you to venture from the safety of Atlantis.”

  Marie answered him with the respect due a warrior priest who had fought with and healed her brother and the rest of the Seven countless times, even though she’d thought this discussion finally put to rest when he’d agreed to call the portal for her. “As always, your opinion and advice are valuable. But I am not without defenses, as First Maiden. The goddess will not abandon me should danger threaten.”

  When he looked as though he would interrupt her, she held up a hand to touch his arm. “I know, Alaric. I know. But he is my brother, and he has need of me, though he would never admit to it. I must go.”

  He tightened his lips, and she saw the muscles in his jaw clench, but he said no more, merely lifted his hands in the air, closed his eyes, and called the magic. The magic of a high priest who was more powerful than any ever before anointed by Poseidon was truly mesmerizing to behold. The portal, sometimes capricious in how and when it responded, would never dare to disobey Alaric. On his command, the shimmering oval appeared first as a tiny gleam of light no larger than the palm of her hand then widened and expanded into an ovoid sphere sparkling with the effervescent colors of a thousand gemstones.

  She’d seen it before, of course. She’d watched her brother and his fellow warriors, those elite who formed the Seven and protected High Prince Conlan, travel through the portal nearly as many times over the centuries as there were gemstones in the Temple. But the sight never failed to amaze her, and today even more so.

  Today she was finally the one who would travel through the portal.

  There were no farewells remaining to be said. No final instructions to be dispensed. She was simply ready, and so she smiled her thanks to Alaric and Erin and stepped into the portal. Into her new adventure.

  Even as the magic surrounded her, Marie wondered at the chill that swept over her skin. The swirling winds of the transference whipped the murmured words from her lips as she spoke them. “Am I excited? Or simply afraid?”

  Big Cypress National Preserve,

  in front of Kat’s cabin

  Ethan leaned against a tree about as far as he could get from Bastien without displaying overt rudeness, but he met the huge Atlantean warrior’s gaze in a shared moment of utter disbelief after Kat pulled the silver tube out of her pocket for the eighth or ninth time. The completely professional, cool, calm, and collected Katherine Fiero, highly regarded National Park Service ranger and daughter of the late alpha of the Big Cypress panther pride, was actually checking her lipstick in a hand mirror.

  Like some kind of…female.

  Then she bit her lip in a nervous gesture, and Ethan nearly laughed. He coughed, catching it in time, but she rounded on him and glared. “If you’re going to mock me, get the hell out of here. I don’t need any more witnesses to me making a fool of myself in front of Bastien’s only sister.”

  Bastien blinked and then patted her shoulder as if she were an unruly cub. She whirled, her tawny hair flying, and snapped her teeth at the Atlantean, reminding both of the men that Kat Fiero was also a shape-shifter with the newfound ability to transform into more than one hundred fifty pounds of feral panther.

  “Stop patting me. What if she doesn’t like me?” She’d tried to hide the fear behind her words, but Bastien clearly had heard it, too, since he stopped trying to talk to Kat and swept her up into a fierce embrace. The love and passion in Bastien’s expression made Ethan wish he were somewhere else.

  Anywhere else.

  Since Bastien and Kat had mated, or reached some Atlantean magical state that the warrior called the “soul meld,” the two had been inseparable. Their hunger for each other was so powerful that Ethan was sure even a man who wasn’t the alpha of Kat’s pride would have been aware of it.

  Since Ethan was the alpha and had once entertained hopes that he and Kat would someday settle down with each other, being around the pair was something akin to taking a serrated blade to the gut. He gave them another minute, then growled his displeasure. “If you’re done groping each other, how’s the cat doing?”

  Bastien released Kat but shot a warning glance at Ethan. “Perhaps you should concern yourself less with us and more with whoever or whatever is attacking your cats.”

  Ethan snarled at him. “Don’t push your luck, Atlantean. I may respect your fighting ability and our alliance, but don’t even think about questioning my concern or efforts on behalf of my panthers. Sha
pe-shifter or the single-natured.”

  Bastien inclined his head. “As you say. None can doubt your commitment to the members of your pride or to your panther counterparts.”

  Kat’s eyes narrowed. “Do I have to toss a little of my mojo your way, boys?”

  Both men stepped back from her, lifting their hands in surrender. Kat’s Gift calmed aggression and sent waves of peace flowing through even the most antagonistic predators, and Ethan suspected Bastien didn’t want it used on him any more than Ethan did.

  Ethan wasn’t in the mood for peace. “About my cat?”

  “His injuries were really severe, Ethan,” Kat said. “Dr. Herman is the best, but he said it’s touch and go.” She shook her head. “If you hadn’t gotten there when you did…”

  “Yeah. I’m a big hero.” Ethan forced the words out through clenched teeth. “Such a big damn hero that I’ve let five of our cats die. Maybe six now. Six out of a total population of Florida panthers of maybe ninety, max. At this rate, they’ll be facing extinction again, like they were back in ’55.”

  “We’ll find him. Or them. Or it. Whatever is doing this, Ethan,” Kat promised.

  “I, too, will assist you in your search,” Bastien added. “Until such time as my prince releases me from these political negotiations to join the search for Justice.”

  The fury that burned in Bastien’s eyes at the mention of his friend and fellow warrior reminded Ethan that he was glad to have the Atlanteans on his side. “I understand what you mean about politics. But we have to lock in support among all the Florida shape-shifter coalitions so that they ally with us against the growing vampire threat. Organos proved that the vampire master plan to enthrall the shape-shifters has advanced far beyond what we’d suspected.”

  Bastien’s eyes gleamed. “Organos died for his temerity, and so will any others that oppose us.”

  Ethan started to agree, but Kat cut him off with a loud hissing noise. “Is that…is that it? Is that her?” she whispered, pointing to a spinning sphere of light that had suddenly appeared in front of them.

  Bastien put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. “So it is. Finally you will meet my sister.”

  The sphere stretched and lengthened into a tall, oval shape, and a fractured kaleidoscope of light shimmered like a starburst in the center of it. Suddenly, near the bottom, one delicately shod foot stepped through the portal and onto the grass, followed closely by the rest of the tall woman in her white dress. Ethan barely got a glimpse of the side of her head, her glossy dark hair bound up in some kind of intricate braid thing, before she hurled herself at her brother. Bastien whooped and yanked her off her feet and swung her around, shouting with joy. But Ethan’s attention snapped back to the portal when a second figure stepped through, this one ominously familiar: Alaric.

  As Ethan nodded his head briefly to the Atlantean god’s high priest, the portal’s light winked out of existence. “Alaric. Be welcome among the pride,” he said in the formal words of greeting.

  “I come as an ally and friend,” Alaric said, nodding in return. Ethan supposed after he’d seen the priest a few more times, he might get used to the man’s bizarre glowing green eyes.

  Maybe.

  Alaric suddenly froze, his entire body stiffening as his eyes focused on some faraway sight. Nearly a full minute passed before Bastien, caught up in greeting his sister, noticed.

  “Alaric?”

  Bastien finally allowed his sister’s feet to touch the ground again and hugged her, then looked at Alaric over her head. “What news?”

  “We may have a lead, Bastien,” Alaric said. “Conlan just contacted me. We need you now in the hunt for Justice.”

  “Of course,” Bastien said, all but baring his teeth, his stance going to full-on alert. Ethan thought, not for the first time, that the warrior would have made a good panther.

  “Marie, you must return to Atlantis and take Kat with you, so you’ll be safe while I’m gone,” Bastien continued.

  Kat and Marie, whose face Ethan still hadn’t seen, both spoke at once.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Kat said.

  “I only just arrived,” Marie pointed out.

  Ethan raised one eyebrow. “Certainly my protection extends to your sister while you search for your pride-brother, Bastien.”

  “Pride-brother? What a fascinating term,” Marie said, stepping out from behind Bastien. “It appears our societies have much in common, as the warriors in the Seven are as close as brothers, as well.”

  Ethan had mere seconds to think that her voice sounded like crystal infused with laughter, and then he saw her face.

  Enormous dark blue eyes gazed up at him out of the most beautiful face he’d ever seen. Her creamy pale skin begged to be caressed, and her mouth was wide and generous, with full, sensuous lips that sent a shiver of dark desire spiraling down his spine.

  Marie was ethereal, almost otherworldly in her beauty. Equal parts of awe and craving shot through his nerve endings, and he struggled to put a tight leash on his inner cat, who wanted nothing more than to haul her off to a dark lair somewhere far from any others. But he was alpha, and he’d won fiercer battles against more desperate opponents than his own hungers. Convinced he’d tamed his beast, he held out his hand in greeting.

  Marie smiled up at him, and the bottom dropped out of his world.

  THREE

  Marie’s senses sharpened to painful clarity as she locked gazes with the shape-shifter, and her breath caught, trapped in her throat and somehow entangled with the rapid beating of her heart. Her vision telescoped until Ethan and only Ethan was framed within it, the others having vanished into the perimeter of the sparkling haze swamping her whirling thoughts. Ethan stood before her, holding out his hand, and courtesy dictated that she take it in greeting.

  But fear drowned out all thoughts of courtesy. Somehow, instinctively, she knew that by touching him, some hidden stillness inside her soul would be disturbed. Raucously awakened, perhaps never again to find quiet. An inner voice mocked her girlish tremors, and sheer pride and force of will combined to overcome her hesitation.

  Bastien’s voice rumbled out from somewhere to her left. “Is there a problem?”

  Marie lifted her chin, ignoring the concern in her brother’s voice. “I am Marie, First Maiden of the Temple of the Nereids,” she said to Ethan, proud that only the faintest tremor lay within the syllables of her speech. “I am honored that you welcome me to your lands.” She briefly touched her hand to his but pulled it away before she could react to his touch.

  Ethan’s sensual lips had tightened at the sound of her voice, and he stared down at her with golden eyes darkened by some unknown emotion. The tawny hair, so similar to Kat’s, framed his face in thick waves that might have looked feminine on any lesser man, but only highlighted his stark masculinity. His sharp cheekbones, strong chin, and proud, straight nose all stated without words that this man—this shape-shifter—was a warrior, born and bred.

  How fortunate that she was not drawn to warriors.

  Especially not tall, lean, hard-bodied warriors who looked at her as though she were some particularly delectable dessert.

  Ethan smiled slowly, a dark, dangerous smile that spoke of pleasures whispered in the shadows. Heat swept through Marie, and her lips involuntarily parted on a small sigh. Ethan’s gaze whipped down to her mouth, and he pointedly stared at it, his smile fading. The heat between them was palpable, cutting through the biting winter wind that carried hints of swamp and sea. Marie shivered, though whether from the chill or from the expression on Ethan’s face, she could not tell.

  Or, at least, she would not admit. Not even to herself.

  She deliberately turned her back on Ethan and faced Kat, the lovely, tall park ranger who was clutching Bastien’s hand and chewing the glossy polish off her lips. Marie held out her arms. “Forgive me, my new sister. The journey through the portal seems to have tired me. I am so pleased to meet you at last!”

  K
at hesitated for only a moment and then flashed a dazzling smile that gave Marie much reassurance as to her brother’s choice.

  “I’m so happy you’re here!” Kat said and then rushed forward to envelop Marie in an exuberant hug. “We have so much to talk about. I can’t wait to show you around.” Kat glanced at Bastien, smiling. “Bastien told me that this is your first trip out of Atlantis, ever. I can’t even believe how much you need to catch up on! We’re going to have a blast!”

  Alaric cleared his throat. “Yes. Well. We must offer our farewells now, then. Bastien?”

  Bastien’s eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms. “Marie, you know I would prefer it if you return to Atlantis and reschedule your visit for a time when I could be here to protect you.”

  From behind her, Marie heard an almost inaudible growling sound. Startled, she quickly turned around but saw only Ethan. However, it was a very different Ethan from the man who’d greeted her mere minutes ago. Gone was the sexy, speculative smile. His eyes were glowing golden flame, and his fists were clenched at his side. She blinked and watched the panther as he visibly forced himself to calm, straightening his hands and quirking his lips into a semblance of a smile as he stared at Bastien.

  “As I said, Atlantean, I will protect your sister as my own. Do you doubt my word or honor?” His words dropped like heated stones into the sudden silence, and Marie felt the tension between the men shoot up to an unbearable level. “Even now, my pride-brothers surround this area to guard and protect.”

  “I doubt neither, shape-shifter, but you would feel the same about Kat, and you know it,” Bastien returned, in a tone far more reasonable than Marie had expected from him. Evidently the liaison role he’d undertaken had affected him in more ways than merely touched the surface. The brother she’d always known would have led with his fists. This new brother used logic. Marie smiled at Bastien, delighted at the change.

  “And yet Kat is now under your protection, and I am at peace with her decision, however wrongheaded it may have been,” Ethan said smoothly.

  The interplay between the men was fascinating to observe, but for once in her centuries of existence, Marie was impatient with merely acting as observer. She held her arms out at her sides, palms up. “I find I have tired of being talked about as though the decision were not my own. Lady Kat, perhaps you will take me into your lovely home, so I might freshen up and be settled?”

  Kat grinned and gestured to the small cabin. “It’s Kat. And I’d be delighted to, Marie. I have a feeling we’re going to be great friends.”

  Marie crossed to her brother and stood on the tips of her toes to press a kiss onto his cheek. “Be well, and find Lord Justice. Do not worry about me. As I have repeatedly told Alaric, Conlan, and what seems to have been three dozen of your fellow warriors, I am not defenseless. The goddess protects her own.”

  Bastien lifted her off her feet in a strong embrace. “I know this is true. Be well, and I will return as soon as we find Justice and free him from—”

  Marie touched his lips with her fingers. “Do not speak her name here in this place. Names hold power, and I do not wish to attract her attention to your beloved’s home.”

  Bastien nodded and stepped back, then bowed. “I will return as soon as I may,” he repeated.

  Alaric, who had remained uncharacteristically silent, spoke up. “Send a message should you have need of me, First Maiden.” He bowed to her, then gestured with one hand to draw the portal to open for his and Bastien’s return to Atlantis.

  Marie nodded her thanks, then turned to walk toward the cabin and give Kat and Bastien a moment for a private farewell. Ethan, who had remained standing behind her as if frozen into place, now blocked her path. He stared down at her, and the heat she’d felt earlier at his mere glance intensified until she wanted to lean into him and soak up his warmth, wrap herself in the flames that the touch of his skin must surely generate in her body.

  She drew in a deep breath and forced her expression to one of calm amusement. “Must I have the same talk with you that I have had with my brothers so many times over the centuries? The one about individual responsibility? Where I explain in very simple words that I am no fragile Atlantean flower to be cared for and coddled in a hothouse?”

  Ethan leaned forward slightly, his hands behind his back, and raised one silken, dark eyebrow. “Simple words might be a really good idea, beautiful,” he said softly. “Because I’m having a hell of a fight with my inner cat right now, who wants to carry you off, strip you bare, and lick all of that deliciously creamy skin of yours.”

  She inhaled sharply as his words sent tsunami waves of shock and heat slapping through her nerve endings. Before she could summon a properly stinging response, he lifted a hand and touched a curl that had escaped her braids. “And as for individual responsibility, I intend to be completely responsible for seeing this glorious hair unbound and spread all over my bed. So consider that, Lady Marie, and maybe you’ll be the one who wants to run back to your hothouse.”

  Her much-prized serenity completely deserted her. “You…you—”

  “Yes,” he said firmly. “Me. Remember it.” Then he bowed to her, flashing another of those mocking smiles, and strode off, sketching a half salute toward Bastien and Alaric over his shoulder. Marie glanced at her brother, wondering if he’d caught the interplay between her and Ethan, but Bastien was talking intently with Kat. When she looked back toward Ethan, she saw nothing but a tawny blur disappearing through the trees. She finally let out the breath she had not realized she was holding and continued toward the cabin on knees gone suddenly weak.

  Life with the landwalkers was going to be far more fascinating than she had ever imagined.

  Ethan leapt into the trees, shifting as his feet left the ground. In panther form, he ran as far and as fast as he could, determined to outpace the overpowering hunger she’d awakened in him.

  Marie.

  The mere thought of her name sent another rush of heat through him, and the cat he’d become snarled and pushed harder, lengthening his strides, escaping from the subtle scent of sea and flowers that had surrounded her.

  Needed to run. Further and further. Needed to run away from the woman who’d destroyed his equilibrium in sixty seconds flat.

  Strip her bare and lick her skin? What the hell had he been thinking? Not two minutes after swearing his protection in front of her brother and the priest, he’d insulted and threatened her. He snorted and drew his lips back from his fangs, snarling again as he ran. Not only was he a damned fool, but he’d probably incited some kind of international incident.

  Panting, finally nearing exhaustion, he slowed to a walk, padding on four powerful legs that were trembling faintly from the strain of the run. He looked around and stopped, recognizing the woods behind his house, the big-ass mansion that served as home and headquarters to the alpha of the Big Cypress pride. No wonder he was short of breath and suffering from a little muscle fatigue. He’d never run ten miles in such a short time.

  Maybe lust was good for the metabolism.

  He called to the magic that infused both halves of his dual natures and lifted his head to receive the transformation. As always, the shift came to him effortlessly, and he stood fully clothed in his human form afterward. Ease of performing the shape change was one of many indicators of shape-shifter strength, and he was alpha. Strongest of all the shape-shifters in Big Cypress. Rumored to be the strongest in all of Florida; perhaps in all of the southeast region.

  “Yeah, big, tough alpha cat, running away from a female,” he muttered in disgust.

  But some trick of the wind brought the faint scent of the sea to his panther-enhanced senses and—just like that—it was as though she stood before him again. He clenched his jaw as his cock hardened painfully in his suddenly too-tight jeans, and he realized that he’d been fooling himself.

  Alpha or not, there was no way he’d be able to run away from this woman. Every fiber of his being was commanding him to turn around and ru
n right back to her, but he refused to surrender to the impulse. Grimly determined to put the insane attraction behind him and get back to the serious business of discovering who or what was stalking his panthers, he strode toward his house.

  So she was like some kind of crazy Atlantean