by Bonnie Vanak
Gabriel’s house had changed as much as the store had.
A large, two-story structure, it boasted hardwood floors, cool mint-green paint, and colorful furniture suited to a Florida lifestyle. No dark colors anywhere. Even the kitchen with its stainless steel appliances had white cabinets and light granite countertops.
“No beanbags, or bookcases made from milk crates. Though the impoverished college student look suited you, this is much nicer. More comfortable.” She dropped onto a pastel-colored sofa in the living room.
Gabriel joined her. “I grew up.”
“Grew up, got a job, became responsible. All you need now is a suit and tie. And shoes.” She glanced at his bare feet.
He wriggled his toes. “Another thing we have in common, pixie. We like the earth beneath our toes, feeling the grass as we race through the open fields.”
“As long as that earth doesn’t have broken glass or used needles and there’s no cow manure in the open fields.”
A small smile touched his mouth. “I missed your feisty mouth. Twenty-five years is a long time, Sienna. You never called, you never wrote…” He put a hand over his heart. “I was deeply hurt, waiting by the phone, watching it grow cobwebs.”
Guilt winked inside her.
“I’m sure you were counting the seconds until I returned to you,” she said dryly. “Pining for me until you threatened to waste away, lonely and broken as a country western song. For the, oh, five minutes you missed me after I left.”
“The memories of you weren’t sufficient. I kept your picture under my pillow and kissed it every night.”
And then he sobered. “I did miss you, Sienna. You were good for me.”
She had no reply. Instead, she studied the plants upon the white oak bookshelves, the ivy in clay pots. Gabriel could coax life out of arid soil. It’s what had drawn them together.
After leaving him, she’d been torn in half, tempted to turn the car around and go back to him. But the stoic side of her knew she could never have a life among shifters.
Especially not with a panther like Gabriel, who was the ultimate tomcat.
Gabriel gave her a knowing look. “It was more than sex, Sienna, and you know it. It was a sharing neither of us has felt before.”
Sienna squirmed beneath his intent gaze. “It was my first time. Of course I never felt anything like that before. Like breaking with my tradition of being vegetarian. I’d say the same about eating a hot dog.”
He blinked hard, and a flash of hurt entered his gaze. Then he gave her a teasing look. “A hot dog, huh? A foot long? Or larger?”
“Gabriel…”
He turned serious. “We need to talk. Come on, I’ll show you to your room. It’s on the first floor so you don’t have to worry about climbing stairs.”
“And your room?”
“I’m on the second. You know me. I like to be on top.”
Grinning, he escorted her down the hall, giving her space, but sticking close. She’d always liked that about him. He didn’t treat her like glassware, but he appeared the instant she needed him. He was a real gentleman, when he wasn’t trying to seduce her.
Gabriel was amazing in bed. When he made love, he could make a woman forget her very name.
Females who’d eagerly sought his bed whispered of his lovemaking techniques, which sent them spiraling from one shattering orgasm into another. For all the pleasure, they longed for him to utilize the famous barb in his penis. Gabriel could employ the small hooked bit of flesh at will, using it to stroke inside a woman and stimulate her into an orgasm that would make her see stars.
But famous as the male panthers were for their sexual abilities, there were few of them. Last time she’d been here, there were only 40 panther shifters living in Gabriel’s clan.
“Where’s the rest of your clan? Have you added any young since I was last here?” she asked.
Gabriel paused before a closed door. His expression distant, he shook his head. “No young since you left us. No mated couples have succeeded in breeding. We’re becoming as extinct as the real Florida panther.”
Heartsick, she put a hand on his strong forearm. “Gabriel, I’m so sorry. What happened?”
He shrugged. “Probably too much in-breeding over the years. My clan has chosen to end it by partnering with other shifters or Others. One in my clan is mated to a human Mage. They just became mated and they’re hoping to get pregnant this month. That’s why the Blood Moon festival is so important. The Blood Moon bestows us with fertility and many of the females who seldom go into heat experience spontaneous ovulation with the full moon when they mate.”
She ruminated over this news. “How many panther shifters will participate? Are all the males I met now mated?”
“There’s only 9 males besides myself who’ve chosen to remain here. One is mated, but the others are not,” he said quietly. “The others went west to find mates among other cougar shifters. The rest of us are all alone. I’ve invited several other panther shifters from out west to participate in the Blood Moon festival for the guys so they can have partners, and hopefully, choose mates.”
“There are no other Florida panther shifters?”
“We have to choose among other species to avoid inbreeding.” He considered. “Mating with other shifters, or even Glythen such as the Elven, would strengthen our clan.”
“Are you suggesting I help you fill your gene pool?”
“If you’re offering,” he said softly. “Breeding with you would definitely help. And it would be quite pleasurable, trying to make babies with you.”
His intense scrutiny made her blush. Gabriel grinned and led her to a small, but tidy bedroom with serviceable oak furniture.
Deeply curious, she glanced around. “Where’s the bathroom?”
Halfway down the hall, Gabriel opened a door to a bathroom as large as her bedroom. One entire wall was glass, overlooking a tangle of cocoplum trees, yellow and red hibiscus bushes, and a small pond with a rock waterfall. The shower was smooth, polished stone with a low wall and twin shower heads, big enough for five. Total decadence.
Sienna examined the glass wall and the shower. “No privacy. You plan on peeking in on me when I’m showering?”
“No, I’m planning on others peeking on us while you and I are showering.” He smiled, the predatory grin of the cat who knew the prey was within his grasp.
Sienna stiffened. “Gabriel, we are not going to be lovers.”
“Darling, you can count on it.”
He escorted her down the hallway, out of the house. In the expansive backyard was a pretty little pond with lily pads, and a waterfall gushing down an artful arrangement of slate gray rocks. Palms and ferns flanked the circular pond.
“No mosquitoes or biting insects. One benefit of being a shifter living in the Everglades. Your magick keeps them away,” she told him.
Gabriel sat on the wide bench and patted the seat next to him. “Take a load off, pixie. Enjoy nature. You always refreshed yourself here.”
Refreshment last time resulted in three wild nights and days in his bed. Sienna sat on the bench, as far from him as possible.
“You can’t force me to have sex with you.”
“No forcing. Of your own free will. On the night of the Blood Moon festival, everyone gets naked together.”
“An orgy?” Sienna stared at him. “You want me to participate in an orgy?”
Gabriel gave her a level look. “Everyone pays a price for using the spring of Danu.”
“And that price is too high for me. I can’t.”
“Not even to get what you think is your heart’s desire?” Gabriel’s mouth pulled tight. “All you wanted was admittance to the king’s inner circle, his exclusive little clique of highborn Elven.”
“And if I have sex with you, I’ll be punished, again, only this time they won’t flog me and banish me for a month or two. I’ll face permanent banishment.”
“Flogging? I’d never allow them to touch you.” He sh
ook his head. “But banishment? Is that such a bad thing, to be exiled from people who don’t care about you?”
She sputtered. “Don’t judge them! They’re my people.”
“But you’d have so much more with me, someone who does care about you.” He ran a finger down her cheek, making her shiver with sensual awareness. “Someone who knows how to pleasure you all night long.”
Sienna pulled away, fighting the urge to lift her mouth to his. “You don’t know me.”
“But I do. I know the darkness inside you, the duality of your nature that you always fight. Your greatest desire is to become only light, a full member of the Elven of the Northern Light. All hail the great Elven who care only about themselves!”
She shook her head. “You mock what you do not understand.”
“I understand more than you think. You want to be rid of the power inside you so you can conform to their expectations. They need you to be pliant, the king’s Shadow Guard, a vehicle for them to use.”
“Who are you to draw all these conclusions about my life?”
Gabriel gave her a level look. “They want you to get rid of Terithen’s magick because they don’t want you having that much power of your own. So they tell you it will destroy you to motivate you into getting rid of it quickly.”
Anger surfaced and she gritted her teeth, trying to control her emotions. Losing control wouldn’t gain her anything. “Terithen killed innocent Sprites and Fairies and would have killed Samantha, King Cael’s daughter, if Sam hadn’t found the strength to stop him. I don’t want to be like that. His dark power feels like cement drying in my soul.”
Gabriel slung a hand over the bench, his gaze narrowing. “Power isn’t corrosive. It’s benign. It’s the person using it who chooses to make it light or dark. Terithen’s personality turned his magick evil. It was not the magick that was evil.”
He’d steered this conversation onto a road she’d stepped onto at times. Deep inside, Sienna feared continuing and finding a winking gem of truth. Did King Cael wish her to cleanse her soul of dark magick because he didn’t want Sienna to become more powerful than other Elven?
Such thoughts terrified her because it meant shaking loose every belief she’d held since childhood. It meant those she’d trusted her entire life couldn’t be trusted.
“Terithen was corrupted by the amount of magick he held.”
“No, he was corrupt. But his magick, held by someone who wasn’t evil, could be used for good.” Gabriel drew his brows together.
“Sienna, imagine a fire hose able to deliver thousands of gallons of water and a person trapped by roaring flames. Point the hose at the trapped person and you could seriously hurt them. Point it at the fire and you save their life. I daresay Terithen used his powers to put out the fire at one point.”
She went cold all over. The king’s son and heir had been a friend once, united with her as they worked to restore blighted areas to their natural state. She’d seen Terithen extinguish a forest fire by calling down the rains and ending the drought that had plagued a Midwest area. The locals had been able to plant crops, and jobs were created for the once-dying town. He wanted no praise from his father, only shrugged it off as part of the job.
Ever since making love with Gabriel, she’d felt disillusioned and frustrated living a shadow life. Touching him, sharing her body with him and feeling loved had given her wholeness. But she wasn’t permitted to have relationships with men. Such relationships would distract her from performing her duties as the king’s Shadow Guard.
Gabriel had his clan and a world where he belonged.
She had a world where she wanted to belong.
But would they ever accept her?
For years she felt like a hungry, homeless person standing outside a restaurant, staring through the window at those dining in splendor. Gabriel didn’t know what it was like to want something so badly you’d do anything, even sacrifice a little of your soul, to gain it.
“They are my people. Cael is my king and my master. They respect me.”
Gabriel’s look became filled with contempt.
“They never respect anyone different and you’re a Shadow Elf. Do you truly wish to belong to an exclusive club where they strip away all your individuality? Where you remain a shadow of your real self?”
He had the freedom to go where he wished, do as he wished. He did not understand the constraints of her life.
The water in the pond began to churn as she clenched her fists. “Easy for you to talk, panther. You don’t know what it’s like. You have the power to do as you please!”
Affected by her fury, the pond boiled furiously like water heated over a burner. Gabriel dropped to his knees and tried rescuing a lily pad, but steam hissed and he withdrew.
Horrified, she stared at the pond as it slowly returned to normal. The water had nearly dried, the waterfall no longer ran and the lily pads were scorched.
Running a hand through his thick hair, Gabriel sighed. “Good thing I removed all the koi last week when I cleaned the pond.”
Guilt arrowed through her as she crouched down beside him, staring at the burnt lilies. “So pretty,” she whispered, touching one. “I did this. The darkness inside me killed it.”
“Your anger killed it, Sienna. But it will grow back, if you direct healing love at the plant. That power also resides inside you. You only use it when King Cael orders you to use it.”
Gently, he pulled out a dead lily pad and placed it in her lap.
Grief pinched her heart as she studied the sad remains of the plant. Gabriel was wrong. She could not restore life with Terithen’s dark magick, only bring death.
Sienna gently replaced the lily in the dried pond. “I can’t.”
“You can, but you won’t try.”
“There’s no use in trying, not when I know all I can do is destroy with this power.”
“That’s what you think. But trust me, pixie, I’ve seen what Elven can do with black magick.”
“How would you know?” she asked.
“I spent time at Cael’s court while you were in Portland on assignment.”
The news surprised her. “Why? I thought you didn’t like Elven.”
“I needed to ask Cael something,” he said vaguely. “While I was there, I saw a light Elf who had little power of his own absorb dark magick through a spell. The Elf was experimenting with Cael’s permission. And this Elf managed to use that dark magick to heal a section of forest that had a beetle infestation. He used a pure Light Elf as a conduit.”
Gabriel’s gaze softened. “You can accomplish much good, if I teach you.”
She bit her lip, fighting the faint hope rising inside her. What if Gabriel were right? What if she could use Terithen’s dark magick like a fire hose and direct it for healing instead of destruction?
Then she remembered her task. Always do as the king directs you, and do not question otherwise, her mother had instructed when she’d left Sienna in the care of the Royal Court.
“No. I’m here to use the spring of Danu, not take lessons, Gabriel.”
Disappointment crossed his expression, but he stood and brushed off his jeans. A door inside the house slammed and someone cursed loudly. Gabriel tilted his head. “Sounds like George is back.”
She followed him to the kitchen. A barrel-chested bald man in a wife beater shirt and khaki pants rummaged through the stainless steel refrigerator, his thickly muscled arms covered with tattoos.
“You finish closing up shop?” Gabriel asked.
“Willow cashed out. She did great. So I let her finish closing up.”
“Why aren’t you helping?”
“Got hungry for a small snack.”
Astonished, Sienna watched George withdraw an entire raw chicken, toss it up in the air and catch it like a basketball.
“George, put down my food,” Gabriel ordered.
The man slammed the refrigerator door, and let the chicken drop to the floor. Grinning, he waved a hand and
shifted into an alligator.
Sienna’s mouth went dry. No matter how many times she’d witnessed the transformation of beast shifters, it always left her slightly afraid. But she knew the beast shifters, knew if she showed fear, they would scent it.
After decades of never displaying emotion in the political firestorm of the Fae King’s court, she knew how to keep a poker face.
The gator opened its jaws and swallowed the raw chicken whole.
Gabriel shook his head. “There goes my dinner. At least he left you all the vegetables.”
The gator grinned, showing rows of pointed teeth.
“Don’t get ideas or I’ll turn you into a cluckagator wrapped in bacon. Everything tastes better with bacon. Even your gnarly hide,” Gabriel warned.
Sienna’s mouth worked as she held back a laugh, her previous grief now gone. Gabriel’s jocular threat diminished the power of the fierce beast shifter.
George the gator ambled out of the kitchen, but not before giving Gabriel a one-clawed salute that clearly indicated, “Fuck you.”
“Nice guy. You’re still friends?”
Gabriel nodded. “He’s ornery and only Willow seems to calm him down, but George is the best protector of the ‘Glades for miles. He knows every inch of the swamp, alerts me when the water levels are low and poachers are trespassing. In turn, I alert the Skin authorities.”
“He lives here?”
“No, I bought him a house nearby. George was homeless. Some stupid Skin thought it would be dandy to torment a gator by stabbing him with an ice pick. He was laid up for a while and lost everything he owned.”
Touched at Gabriel’s thoughtfulness, she shook her head. “You’re very unusual. Not many shifters would grant refuge to other shifters, predator or prey.”
He glanced at her. “It’s a necessity, Sienna. We all band together for protection from development, the Skins who live here and tourists.” His mouth quirked. “Sometimes I think the tourists are the worst, with those hideous lime green shorts they wear.”
Then his gaze grew tender and he touched her cheek. “Although you’d make any crazy outfit look better.”
Her breath hitched. Sienna leaned against his touch, closing her eyes for a moment. It had been too long since anyone touched her with tenderness. For too long she’d shuttered her feelings, never showing herself to the outside world. She was the stoic Shadow Guardian, always devoted to duty.
