14
Gwen
I need to hold onto this man forever, Gwen thought. She meant it literally, though she supposed it might be difficult to conduct all of life from the all-encompassing warmth and comfort of Sam’s arms. Still, it didn’t seem like an unjust request now as she stirred to find herself cuddled up with Sam in the sheets. They’d made love a second time in his bedroom and managed to get themselves naked on the second try. Gwen found herself with pleasantly aching muscles and she smiled to herself and hummed, cozying up yet closer to Sam. He smelled so good. The specific somewhat musky scent of a lion shifter was both comforting and sexy. She wanted to drape herself in it and drape herself in him while she was at it. She rested her cheek on a firm pectoral and hummed again, delighted.
Sam chuckled, and she giggled as she bounced atop his shaking chest. “You make so many little noises. I like it,” he said, his voice gravelly from sleep. She sat up a little, leaning on her elbow, and looked at him. Her hair was a disaster, frizzed out black curls hanging over her eyes. He clucked his tongue and said, “Holy hell, you’re so sexy in the morning.”
She smiled slyly and kissed his chest. “Back at you.”
It was Saturday and neither of them had anywhere to be. Thought of that alone was enough to make her entire week.
“Would you like some coffee?” He asked, running a hand through her hair and stroking her cheek.
“Only if you bring it back to the bed,” she replied hopefully.
“Can do.”
“Mmm.” She kissed his chest again, hearing him do that little purr he was now famous for, and he climbed out of the bed. She bit her lip, getting an eyeful of naked Sam in all his glory; the trunk-like thighs and tight ass. Each muscle of his back was defined. She wanted to run her tongue along every little bit of it.
“I feel your eyes on me, you minx,” Sam said, just as he grabbed his robe from a hook on the door. He winked at her over his shoulder and she sighed, falling backward into the blankets and covering her face with a pillow. Her mouth hurt from smiling.
She got lost in the scent of him on his pillow for a moment, but on impulse she rolled out of the bed, wrapping a sheet around herself before padding over to the master bath. She found toothpaste and brushed her teeth as well as she could with her finger, spitting and rinsing. She poked around his bathroom but didn’t go into any cabinets. She found some lotion out that smelled like lavender and smoothed some over her hands and fussed with her hair in the mirror. She thought she looked a little disastrous when she looked at herself in the mirror, but she was too happy to wish she had her purse which was all the way back upstairs. Instead, she rushed back to the warmth of the bed and got cozy again in the sheets and chuckled to herself, feeling giddy at the memory of everything they’d done the night before and just as giddy at the occasional exuberant little burst of affection she felt in Sam’s direction every minutes or so.
There was a book by his bed, a history of medieval warfare that was about a thousand pages long and had a bookmark stuck in the middle of it. She wondered where he was hiding all his other books if he was reading things like that. He must have quite a collection.
“Coffee, m’lady,” Sam declared, padding into the room. With his impressive body and bearing and wearing his robe, he looked like a king. He sat down next to her and kissed her cheek as he handed her a mug of coffee. He smelled minty, and she took it as a good sign that he’d snuck in a secret toothbrushing as well. “It’s the funniest thing,” he said now as he sat back and she snuggled up against him, sipping her coffee. “There was a bottle of basil on the coffee maker.”
Gwen snorted at that and raised an eyebrow. “Is Arthur trying to tell you something?”
“Arthur’s not that subtle,” Sam said wryly. “No, it’s just… It’s like a clue. I’ll ask him, but… Well, the thing is, the wizard who cursed me’s name was Basil.”
Gwen yelped with laughter and slapped a hand over her mouth. Somehow Sam’s confused expression, as if he didn’t at all understand why that should be funny, made her laugh harder. “I’m sorry. Basil? You were cursed by a dark wizard named Basil?”
“Yeah.” Sam shrugged, sipping his coffee. “I don’t know. That’s just his name. He was trying to cast a spell of mind control on all the politicians around here. A few dozen of them anyway. So I fought him and I stopped his ritual. There was a crystal, a uh… It was called a cloud crystal. I smashed it. No more mind control. Then he whammied me with the Black Tulip.”
“And you think somebody who isn’t Arthur left a Basil clue in your kitchen?”
“More like a reminder than a clue, I guess,” Sam said.
“Well, shouldn’t you be a little more alarmed that somebody broke into your house?”
“You haven’t spent much time in the magical world, have you?” He smirked at her and her mouth dropped open. She pinched him in retaliation and he yelped.
“I am a shifter just like you!” She argued, but she was still smiling at him.
“Yeah, but you’re more assimilated,” Sam said, putting on a lofty tone. “I’m a guardian.”
She’d never seen him acting just a little superior. It was kind of cute because she knew very well he didn’t think himself superior to her, but she pinched him again anyway. “Of course you’re not assimilated. You just live in a mansion-”
“In the hills,” he said, blushing slightly. “So I can go on a run whenever I want to.”
“You live like a monk, by the way.” She rested against him again, and took another swallow of coffee. “How long have you lived here?”
“Five years,” Sam murmured. “The pride left me a lot of money.”
“It looks like you just moved here.”
“I know, I just…” He looked a bit sheepish, and she kissed his cheek. “Never got around to making it more like a home. Guess I’m not good at that stuff.”
“I think you could be,” she argued. She put her coffee on the nightstand and cuddled up to him. “This place just doesn’t feel like you at all. It feels kind of sad and cold.”
He looked at her funny. “I would think that would feel like me.”
“What?” She gaped at him. “Baby, you’re crazy. That’s not you at all. Your diary. Now that feels like you. All those pictures and postcards and scribbled drawings and things. If you made your house look like your diary, then you’d really have something. I could help you. I mean...if you wanted.”
“That sounds nice.” He kissed her hair, and she hoped he meant it. He deserved to live somewhere as warm as she found him to be, or at least as warm as he could be once he managed to open his mouth, like now.
“So tell me about this Basil?” Gwen said. “He’s still out there then?”
“Yeah, as far as I know,” Sam said, sighing.
“Hey, I just thought of something…” She sat up and turned to face him. “When you were in the hospital, the second or third time I went to visit you, I found your diary with a Post-It on it that said ‘read me.’ Like something from Alice in Wonderland. And I got a Post-It that pointed me to the Black Tulip curse too.”
“Seriously?” Sam’s eyebrows shot up. “Strange…”
“Yes. Maybe it’s the same person who put the basil out.”
“Somebody’s helping us,” Sam said. “Very quietly.”
“Well, if it’s the same person who gave us the Post-Its who also put out the basil, then we should probably be paying attention,” Gwen said.
“We?” Sam raised an eyebrow. “Listen, don’t get me wrong. Before you came along I spent most of my time in the void plotting vengeance against Basil for putting me there. But I don’t see why you should get involved.”
“Excuse me!” Gwen smacked his shoulder. “If you’re involved, I’m involved! And anyway, I’m a mountain lion shifter just like you. It’s about time I did some...protecting. Like the guardians of old.”
“Whoa, I’m a guardian of old,” Sam said. “Not dead yet.”
“Well
, teach me your ways, sensei.” She kissed the tip of his nose and he kissed her lips in retaliation.
“If we do this, you have to be careful,” he said seriously. He stroked her cheek and she saw that he was being genuine, adoration all over his face. “I can’t lose you, sweetheart. Not when I’ve just found you.”
“I’ll be careful,” Gwen said firmly. “But I want to help.”
“Okay, well...” He sighed. “The only problem is that I’ve been out for a year. Not sure where all my usual contacts who would know what might be happening with Basil have gone off to. What’s left of them anyway. I wasn’t the only casualty of Basil last time he was on the rise.”
The idea that there were others Sam had lost, even if they had only been casual friends, hurt Gwen’s heart. She hated to think of it. She hugged him abruptly, and he squeezed her and was quiet, allowing the comfort. She smiled to herself. It seemed like a good sign.
Finally, they got dressed. Or rather Sam got dressed in his own jeans and t-shirt and Gwen dressed in one of his crisp white shirts and when he saw her bare-legged, his button-up swimming on her, the top few buttons open to reveal some bare decolletage, he growled again and swept her up in his arms. She yelped and laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck, and he carried her downstairs to the kitchen where he finally let her down on a stool.
She’d left her phone out and now she picked it up, finding that it was still clinging to a bit of battery life.
She had a few text messages and seeing one from Olive, she bit her lip and smiled. “I think I may know someone who might have a line on Basil.” She waved her phone, and he tipped his head in question. “Olive is having a barbecue.”
“I bought hummus and pita chips,” Gwen said when Olive opened the door. Her hair was now a bright violet, and her house was full of people. Or something like people. Gwen could smell the scents of several different types of shifters inside and she could sense the concentration of magic power in the house. “I also bought the good vodka.”
“You also bought a giant mountain man,” Olive said, raising her eyebrows at Sam who stood quietly behind Gwen, trying and failing not to be noticed. She took the proffered gifts and motioned for them to come in. “I’m Olive!”
They followed her through the crowd of people to her kitchen. She’d tidied things up but the place still felt a little cluttered in a warm way that made its guests feel comfortable, or at least Gwen comfortable there. The music was loud and thumpy but in the kitchen it was a little quieter.
“I’m Sam,” Sam said, offering his hand to Olive.
“Damn right, you are,” Olive said, looking him up and down.
“Hey, hands off, witch,” Gwen said, though she was smiling. “This one’s mine.”
Sam flushed at that, and she hugged him around the waist. “Where’s the meat?”
Olive nodded knowingly and let them out to the big, grassy yard she shared with the rest of her building. The party was really in the back, and people were dancing and talking in clusters under twinkling Christmas lights as slightly softer music played. There were three barbecues set up and big tables of food. There were also some wolves in the corner, tearing through a pile of raw meat.
“Lots of shifters means lots of meat,” Olive said, shrugging. “But lots of witches means lots of vegans. I needed multiple barbecues. What do you guys like?”
“Anything that once had a pulse,” Sam said.
“We also need to talk to you,” Gwen said. “About Sam’s curse? When you get the chance.”
“Sure!” She patted Gwen’s arm and said, “I’m gonna make us some drinks with that good vodka and get you guys some food. Go find a place to sit and we’ll talk. I got you.”
Gwen grinned gratefully and they found a deserted table in the corner where things were quietest. It was nice, Gwen thought, to be among people who knew who you were. It made her want to form closer ties with her people. She supposed Sam and Olive were a way into that.
“She’s nice,” Sam said, wrapping his arm around Gwen.
“Very nice,” Gwen said. “You wouldn’t be here without her.”
“Oh my God,” he muttered. “I haven’t thanked her.”
“You’ll have your chance,” she said, chuckling. She rested her head on his shoulder. She’d convinced him to go casual tonight, and he was wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt that hugged his muscles. Everyone in the place was looking over at him and she felt a sense of both pride and possessiveness as she nestled against him.
Mine, she thought. My mate.
“Here you go, friends!” Olive returned, somehow carrying two plates on one arm and two cocktails with her other hand. She set everything down and plopped down in the chair across from them, a beer somehow appearing in her hand.
Gwen muttered, “How did you-”
“Magic.” She smirked and took a sip of her beer.
Sam’s eyes went wide as he took in their plates; two piles of juicy steaks and nothing else. Fresh off the grill.
“You know your way to a lion’s heart,” Gwen said, taking the fork and steak knife stuck into the meat and digging in.
“Hey, are you guys excited for the solstice?” Olive asked.
Gwen flushed, embarrassed, and nearly spit out her sip of gin. She covered her mouth, chewing and swallowing. “Oh my God, I completely forgot.”
The summer solstice was coming right up. On the night of the summer solstice, mountain lions gathered in the hills to celebrate. There weren’t many community events for shifters and mountain lions in particular, but that was a good one. Gwen though, being very assimilated to human life, had only attended a few times. But she often intended to go.
Sam snorted a laugh and said, “Don’t feel bad. I didn’t remember either.”
“You’ve been in a coma,” Gwen said.
“Still.”
“Well, I don’t know anything,” Olive said, shrugging. “I was just wondering if you guys were going. They say more and more shifters have shown up every year. Big event, I guess. Getting to be like Coachella.” Gwen snorted a laugh at that and shook her head. “If you do go, let me know what it’s like.”
“Hey, Olive,” Sam said. He cleared his throat and dropped his hands in his lap. Gwen could see him go from confident and comfortable to shy and vulnerable inside a second. “I never did thank you for helping me out-”
“Oh, that.” She waved a hand. “It was nothing.”
“It wasn’t nothing,” Sam said firmly. “I owe you a lot. If you’re ever in trouble or if you ever need anything...”
“He’s loaded,” Gwen whispered.
“Ha!” Olive blurted a laugh. “Well, I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Please do,” he said seriously.
They drank and talked a little about this and that and people came by to say hello to Sam because they’d met before here or there. Los Angeles, for anyone in the magical realm, really wasn’t that big. Gwen ate her steak and watched Sam shift from shy to friendly and from confident to a little nervous depending on who he was talking to. But when he’d turn and look at her again, she saw him. The Sam she knew was all of those things.
“Olive, we wanted to ask you something,” Sam finally said.
Gwen flushed. She was a little buzzed now and had almost forgotten their entire reason for coming outside of socializing. She let Sam take the lead.
“Shoot,” Olive said.
“Have you heard of a dark wizard called Basil?” Sam asked. “He’s the one who cursed me.”
“Basil cursed you?” Olive said, her eyebrows shooting up. “Wow. I’m kind of impressed. Sure, I’ve heard of him. He’s notorious. I’ve heard he’s hiding out nearby. Plotting something big. Well… That I haven’t heard. I saw it in my crystal ball. It’s kind of like my Twitter.”
Gwen snorted at that and asked, “Any info on where exactly he’s hiding?”
Olive squinted at her and said, “Well... Space?”
“Space?” Sam repeated.
“I like to keep tags on the bad guys as much as I can while staying out of it,” Olive said. “I have a daughter-”
“You have a daughter?” Gwen exclaimed. Somehow that had never come up.
“Yeah.” She pointed to a large multi-level cat condo across the yard where a Calico cat was asleep, seemingly unbothered by the music and noise of the crowd. “That’s her. That’s Stacey. I mean, I’m not crazy. She’s not a cat. She’s just a cat at the moment. She’s thirteen. Anyway, that’s why I stay out of danger when possible. So if you want to take out Basil, then by all means, be my guest. Anyway, yes. My crystal ball only said space. The word space. Didn’t actually say he was in space. But it did show me a lot of stars and planets and galaxies. It was pretty trippy.”
“Space,” Sam said, looking absolutely baffled.
“But you think he’s hiding out in Los Angeles,” Gwen said.
“Well, I don’t think he’s in space,” Olive said with a snort. “Make of that what you will. That’s all I’ve got on Basil. Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta put Stacey to bed.” She got her feet and collected the cat from her condo and made her way inside.
“Space,” Gwen muttered. “Maybe a building with a lot of space? A vacant space?”
“But she did see stars and galaxies,” Sam muttered.
“Oh, right. Already forgot about that.” She frowned and sipped her cocktail, leaning against Sam and staring absently up the hill. They were on the northside of Los Feliz Boulevard. She’d run up into the hills all over Hollywood a hundred times before. She’d even run up to the Hollywood sign and then shifted back to sit in the O and dangle her feet. She’d run all the way to the Observatory…
“The Observatory!” Gwen said, squeezing Sam’s arm. “Space! Planets! Stars! The Observatory!”
“Oooh.” Sam nodded. “Makes sense of the clue. But you think he’s hiding out in the Observatory?”
“Or near?” Gwen suggested. “Underneath it? There are lots of hidden cave entrances around there.”
“All the lions hang out right around there,” Sam said darkly. “It’s a hot spot. I wonder if he’s going after shifters. There aren’t a lot of guardians like me, but there are some. And we’re all mountain lions. What if he’s trying to wipe us out?”
Awakened Alpha Page 10
