by Ann Mayburn
As he helped her out of the helicopter onto the landing pad near the barn, she took in the cream and yellow painted three-story country manor, and the surrounding flower gardens.
“Wow, it’s so pretty. And big. This is your place?”
He held her hand and grabbed her backpack, leading her closer to the house. “This is our place, for as long as you wish to stay here. The home is large, built to house multiple generations of big farm families back in the days when everyone had at least a dozen children. I’ve had workers fixing it up, and adding some surprises.”
“Surprises? What kind of surprises?” The bounce in her step made him smile.
“If I told you that wouldn’t be any fun, now would it?”
The rising sun caught the golden highlights in her brown hair, and he marveled at the Queen he’d been blessed with. Dressed in a pair of black yoga pants and an oversized t-shirt, she was still so sexy his dick hurt. Her fragrant arousal filled the air, practically stroking over his cock. She was wet from their kiss, and he longed to taste the cinnamon honey between her legs.
He slung Synthia’s backpack over his shoulder and tugged her after him. “Come with me.”
As he led her inside, he glanced around and hoped she approved of the country décor. “We can change anything you want.”
“Change it?” Her voice was dazed as she spun a slow circle in the three-story foyer, her gaze tracing the stairs leading up to the second and third level. “This is the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen. I mean, look at that chandelier.”
“That chandelier came over with the original family from Britain in the early 1700s. Before that, it hung in a manor in south London. The lady of the house insisted it come with them when they left behind life as minor nobility to seek their fortune as landed gentry here in the Colonies.”
Her delighted smile made him want to sweep her up into his arms so he could feel her glowing happiness up close. “I love it.”
Pride filled him, and he couldn’t help puffing up his chest. “I am glad you’re pleased.”
“This is…” she took a deep breath, her breasts pressing against her shirt, her nipples thick and hard. “The air smells so good out here. I mean, I know there’s pollution in Fairfax, but I didn’t realize how bad it was until we got out of the car. I can smell…life. Where are we?”
“About twenty miles north of the town of Luray.”
“Really? Like the Luray Caverns?”
“Yes.”
“Wow, I didn’t know we’d traveled so far. I guess flying by helicopter really cuts down on commute time.”
She was adorable. There was something very sheltered about Synthia, and it made his drive to protect her stronger than even his newfound libido. The clear majority of his body wanted him to christen their new home by pleasing the Queen in every room of her new house. His brain, however, noted how tired she was. Not only had the recent trauma drained her, she was still recovering from being unconscious for weeks on end.
Plus, they needed to be careful. Benjamin, his steward, had made sure the estate was clear before they arrived, but he never knew who was watching him. Already he’d taken a great risk coming to get Synthia, but Aidan would need her—and she wasn’t safe at home. Danjal had always been a threat to shifters, but he’d never seen ones as focused as the pair that had attacked Synthia’s house. When her aunt had texted him that his Queen was under attack he’d raced to her side. Thankfully Benjamin was already here to watch over Aidan. Nevoj had planned on retrieving Synthia tomorrow, so his Beta didn’t wake up alone.
“Nevoj,” she looked up at the house, then the land around them. “How did you afford all of this?”
His heart gave a little stutter as he said, “I’m the Bissonnette heir, Synthia. The inheritor of Queen Talia’s fortune”
Holding his breath, he waited for her reaction.
Once again she surprised him by frowning, then rubbing her head. “Right, I’m sure I should know who that is, but right now I’m running on fumes.”
Forcing his arousal back, it was harder than he’d anticipated, he managed to walk past his Queen without molesting her. “Come on, we can talk about that mess later. Let’s get you fed.”
“Is there somewhere I can wash up while you make breakfast?”
“What makes you think I’m the one that’s going to be cooking?”
She blushed such a pretty pink that he was tempted anew to find out if her whole body flushed like that. Her smooth, golden brown skin glowed in the sunlight, but he could still see the faded bruises and his libido calmed down. She needed him to care for her, and her needs came first.
Holding up his hand to stop her stammered apology, he hefted her pack higher on his shoulder. “I’m just kidding, follow me, my Queen.”
That adorable shy look she gave him would be the death of him, but he held her small hand in his, liking how tiny she felt compared to him. In his old form he’d been near Synthia’s height of 5’7, but now he could easily rest his chin on top of her head. Thankfully, despite her smaller size, the Goddess had blessed his Queen with a more than generous ass that filled up his big new hands nicely.
Giving himself a mental smack, he forced his mind off the raunchy fantasy of how her ass looked right now as she climbed the light wood stairs.
When they reached the third floor, he opened a pair of double doors.
“This is the Queen’s day wing.”
She looked a little shocked and he slid his arm around her waist. “Day wing?”
“Your bedroom, of course, is below ground. These are your rooms to enjoy. A place where you can have your privacy anytime you wish. All of your mates will respect this as your space.”
Her body pressed into his as she gave a cute pout. “But I don’t want my space.”
“Right now, no. But someday you might feel the need to breathe, and I want you to have these rooms as your refuge. You are, of course, allowed to invite in whoever you wish, but your mates won’t intrude on you here. Sometimes in large families, privacy is hard to come by. And being brought up as a human—well, some of our ways will seem strange to you. Ted says you’re the kind of person who likes to decompress in silence, in her own space, so I made sure you had a safe zone like that here.”
She walked into the large, fifteen hundred square foot tower room with an expression of pure awe. “This is amazing.”
There were massive windows on the curved outer wall that made up the tower portion of the room, while the interior walls held doors that led to a immense bathroom and equally large closet. In the main area they’d set up a library and hobby room of sorts. Her friend Diana had helped them out with this part, and he’d been glad he made the effort. When Synthia looked at him like he’d given her the sun and moon, he felt a rush of pure joy unlike anything he’d ever known. He would die to have her look at him like that every day for the rest of his life.
“Nevoj,” her voice trembled. “It’s perfect. Thank you. I mean, it’s insanely too much, but it means so much to me that you thought of me like this. Thank you.”
Ahh, she was so different from most of the hyena Queens. They’d have laughed at this place, and demanded he build them a castle. His Queen looked at it and saw the same thing that he did, a home. The kind of home he’d always wanted. Not a grand mansion filled with glitter and gold, a shiny façade to hide the putrid truth. He wanted a house that they could be a family in, a real one that would love and care for each other the way a den should.
Her sweet nature made his heart ache and while he hated some of the shit she’d endured as a human, he was grateful she’d been raised outside of the shifter culture. Hyena Queens had become so rare they were now coveted, and turned into rotten bitches in most cases. Oh, there were good Queens out there, and a few Ladies with the potential to be good Queens, but most of them set his teeth on edge. Every time he met a spoiled new Lady he’d been profoundly grateful that he hadn’t felt the call to serve.
Not like he did with t
he young beauty that now owned his heart.
He wanted to sink to his knees before Synthia and feel the caress of her hand through his hair. The pheromones she was giving off were addictive bliss, but he had to get back to watching over Aidan. Nevoj didn’t want to chance his friend waking up without him there. Nadia had helped him through those first rough days of adjusting to his new body, and he didn’t want his friend to go through the punishing emotions he’d endured when he woke without his Queen.
Clearing his throat, he took the backpack into the bathroom and placed it on the gold and cream stone counters. “I’ll leave this in here. I’m sorry to rush you, my Queen, but we need to return to Aidan.”
She put down a book she’d been examining. “Aidan?”
“You might remember her as Nadia. I believe you said she smells like blueberries? She’s your Beta and she’s going through her change.”
The book slid from Synthia’s fingers with a thump. “Right now?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Nearby. But it’s okay, we have time enough for you to shower and eat. Afterwards we’ll go to where Aidan is resting and sleep there.”
She glanced out at the rising sun. “I don’t know, it’s pretty bright.”
“Trust me, you’ll sleep.”
“Okay, let’s go. I don’t like the thought of her—um, him being alone.”
A little while later, smelling of the pomegranate body wash he’d bought her and full of pancakes and bacon, a very sleepy Synthia followed him down the path through the woods.
“The main reason we bought this house is for access to the caverns beneath the property.”
She stumbled next to him, and he caught her hand in his own, helping steady her. The softness of her skin was sheer pleasure to touch, and the erotic energy surrounding her fed his need to feel her naked against him. He’d never realized how much his new body would crave his mate, and he wanted to lick the light misting of perspiration on her neck. Maybe it would taste spicy and sweet, like her cinnamon and sugar scent.
“Caverns?” she gave an excited little hop. “What kind? How big? Where do they connect? What are they made out of? Oh, maybe they’re connected somehow to the Luray Caverns!”
Her instant, almost childlike excitement, then hot blush of embarrassment reminded him of the gawky young woman he’d first met. It was easy to look at Synthia now and only see one of the most stunning women ever created. He had to remember that she wasn’t born conventionally beautiful, and didn’t have the confidence that often came with possessing exceptionally good looks. From everything he’d learned about his Queen, she had very low self-confidence in certain situations. He could understand, she’d been brutally bullied in high school, and had to deal with knowing she was different from the rest of humanity without knowing why.
She still curled into herself with a protective hunch when she felt uneasy. As if she were physically bracing for a blow. It pained him to know that in a way, she probably was. Synthia was a very compassionate, empathetic woman. While that was a great gift, it was also a burden. On some level, she absorbed the feelings of people around her. No doubt when she was the focus of intense hatred it had wounded her to the soul. Those kind of emotional injuries took a long time to heal, and Nevoj promised himself that he’d work together with his other mates on building up her self-assurance. Her enemies would use everything they could to tear her down. Just the thought of anyone bruising her tender heart sent him into a rage.
“Nevoj?”
“Yes, my Queen?”
“Can we slow down a bit? I’m in no shape for a jog right now.”
To his chagrin he realized his strides had increased to the point that Synthia had to trot next to him to keep up. “Forgive me.”
He swept her into his arms, her little squeal of surprise making him smile. “Put me down!”
“No.”
“I’m heavy.”
He snorted. “My Queen, I know you’re still learning about shifters, but Alpha males are extremely strong. I can literally lift a car with the proper positioning. Carrying your slight warmth is no harder than carrying a pillow.”
“A very squishy pillow,” she muttered.
Squeezing his hands where they sank into her lush curves, he nodded. “Very squishy.”
“Hey! That’s not nice.”
Glancing down at her, he placed a quick kiss on top of her head, breathing in the scent of the shampoo he’d purchased for her. It was a special shifter kind, made to compliment a shifter’s natural scent instead of covering it up. To his nose she smelled both fresh, and delicious. The more he was around her, the harder it was getting to keep moving instead of fucking her.
“Synthia,” he said, his voice so rough with arousal he had to clear his throat. “If I meant calling you squishy as a negative thing, then yes, it wouldn’t be very nice. But I mean it only in the best of ways. You feel so good I can barely walk, a soft, perfect armful of woman. Your ‘squishyness’ is everything I ever dreamed my mate would feel like.”
“That’s sweet, but also weird.” She went quiet as they walked deeper into the forest, the wind rushing through the trees around them. “When you said you dreamed about me? I think I dreamed about you as well. I recognize your voice.”
“Really?” He ducked beneath a low-lying limb from a pine tree, “What was the dream about?”
The lovely flush of red spread over her cheeks again. “Oh, nothing really.”
“Come on, tell me. Please.”
“I dreamed that we had a daughter together,” she said in a soft smile. “A beautiful little girl.”
“A daughter.” His chest squeezed tight with intense longing as he imagined being a father. “What did she look like?”
“Well, she had my eyes, and a mix of your skin tone and mine, and she had a mix of your hair and mine. Black, silky, curly ringlets. They were so soft against my cheek.” Synthia closed her eyes, an expression of complete contentment settling over her lovely face. “We were in…I think we were in the house you just showed me.” Her eyes flashed open, and she struggled in his grip. “No, I’m sure of it. Her bedroom was almost identical to that turret room you just showed me, but the view out the window was different. A forest instead of the river. Is there another room like that?”
Setting her down on her feet, he kept his hands on her hips as she stared up at him with wide, frightened eyes. “Yes, the turret on the other side of the house.”
“Oh my Goddess. I dreamed about this place. Why did I dream about this place?”
“Having dreams about the future is not an unheard-of gift among shifters.”
“Gift, right gift.” She nibbled on her thumb before saying, “Wait, is it like having a foretelling?”
“Foretelling is a witch gift, but they are somewhat similar. The witch’s gift of foretelling gives them glimpses into several possible futures, but shifters dreams tend to be of probable futures. Your dreams show you what will happen if we continue on our current path. A witch’s dreams will show her ten possible and equally probable futures, the various outcomes that could result from a single decision being made one way or the other.”
She rested her face against his chest, her body softening into his. “This is crazy.”
“To you it may be, but I assure you shifters view the ability to dream of the future as being a great benefit. They tend to happen when you’re approaching a crossroads of your life, a major event where your actions will have a ripple effect on your future. Have you had any other dreams that were as intense as the one about our daughter?”
“Yes. I dreamed of a man on a beach with me, then another of me attending a birthday party for our oldest son while our daughter ran around with her toddler friends. In the birthday dream I was pregnant again, but I had a feeling this time it wasn’t your child biologically, not that it mattered. I could just….feel an echo of my other mate’s soul in the baby.” They started moving again, and he held her hand, unable to be n
ext to her without touching her.
“So we have a daughter, a son, and a baby on the way?”
Laughing, she turned to him, the light gold sparks in her gaze flaring like millions of burnished stars. “If my dreams are true, at some point we will. Goddess, this is all so bizarre. I mean, you’re a stranger but I remember what it felt like to have your arms around me. I remember what it feels like to have loved you for years, yet love you more every day.”
“You love me?”
“Well, not yet, but I remember loving you.” She paused for a moment and reached up, stroking his cheek. “And I can’t wait to love you again.”
“You will,” he promised as he gave her a brief kiss. “I’ll make sure of it.”
They moved on, their footsteps almost silent on the dirt trail. When the mound of stones leading to the cavern entrance came into view, Synthia’s excitement returned. The scent of her happiness was a balm to his soul, and he took deep breaths of her intoxicating pheremones.
“Oh, that must be it! How big are the caverns?”
“Huge. We’ve mapped out over two miles of connecting caves so far.”
“Wow. I’ve heard of these hidden networks, but the entrances are usually on private property so I haven’t had a chance to explore. I mean, sometimes people will give us permission, but for the most part people don’t like strangers mucking around on their land.”
“Considering hyena shifters own most of the property containing caverns, I’m not surprised.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Our people tend to have two homes. One above and one below ground. The main house is built over a small series of caverns. It’s where we’ve made the bedrooms.”
“In the caverns, below the house?”
“Yes.”
“No way.”
“Yes way.”
“That is so cool!”
When they reached the entrance, Benjamin, Nevoj’s steward, started walking up the slope. In his hundred and fifties, the robust man had a ready smile and a sense for organization that left Nevoj in awe. He was considered a submissive, low ranking hyena, but Nevoj found him invaluable. With whiskey dark hair and a full beard, he looked more like a lumberjack than a steward who spent his days happily polishing silver and organizing the estate.
