by Renee George
In his role as master of the Pantheros & Co., Adam had only felt this hopeless once before. Who was Madeline Granger, and what was her connection to Clary? A pang of guilt swept over him. He wanted Madeline—her body and her heart. Dangerously so. He felt a possessive need with this strange and beautiful young woman he’d never felt with anyone else. Not even Clary. Guilt stabbed at him again, and he pushed the betrayal from his thoughts.
Madeline had said she was a sleepwalker, but surely these episodes were more than a medical condition. He lived in a world where the supernatural existed. He believed Madeline was connected to the paranormal somehow, but he was also convinced that she was unaware.
He lifted her into the cradle of his arms, drawing the sheet to cover her pale, milky breasts. She was a virgin, regardless of her desires, and he wouldn’t cheapen her by leering, and unfortunately, her pull on him was so strong, if she remained uncovered he would do more than look.
She moaned, her hips jerking against the crook of his elbow. Adam raised a brow. Whatever Madeline experienced in her trance had brought her a great deal of pleasure. A wisp of jealousy fluttered in his chest. She was his. His and Cage’s. If he could challenge her dream lover, he’d be fighting now.
She curled into his chest, nuzzling his warm flesh. Adam held her tighter as he climbed the few stairs into Alana’s trailer. When he placed her on the bed, Madeline opened her eyes and stared at him.
“Adam,” she whispered.
He stroked back a lock of hair clinging to her face. “I’m here.”
“What’s wrong with me?”
“I don’t know.” He leaned over and kissed her brow. “I’m not sure anything is wrong with you.” If she was of his world, as he suspected, these episodes of Madeline’s were a part of the manifestation of her abilities. “When did the sleepwalking start?”
“When I was thirteen.” She shifted onto her side. “The doctors called it sleepwalking, but I think it might be more.”
“How so?” He ran his fingers through her hair, keeping his voice soothing and calm. “Tell me.”
“Sometimes I dream about people, about things they have done… experienced.” A hot blush flushed her cheeks. She averted her eyes. “Only bits and pieces usually. At least until this year.”
“Go on.”
“I’m so embarrassed.” Madeline buried her face in covers.
Adam touched her shoulder. “I think it’s important, Madeline. Will you tell me?”
Her words were muffled through the blankets. “You and Cage.”
“What about us?”
Slowly, Maddie turned her head to face Adam. “I’ve been dreaming of you both for six months. It’s only gotten worse since I’ve been here. I see things.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “I feel things…”
The scent of her desire filled Adam’s senses. “Only Cage and myself? No one else?” He needed to know if she saw Clary as well. Maybe Madeline had a similar gift.
“No one else.” She blushed again. “It’s like I’m there with you… and him, but I’m not me. Though it certainly feels real. You call me Clary in the dreams.” Madeline gulped then licked her lips. “You asked me earlier if I was Clary. Who is she?”
Adam’s gut wrenched. “She was our lover. Our mate. Mine and Cage’s. She died six months ago.”
“Six months ago.” Madeline shook her head. “Didn’t you say the psychic, Madame Divine, died six months ago? Was she… Was she Clary?”
“Yes.” The word hissed from Adam’s mouth in a hot wisp of breath. He turned away from Madeline. It hurt to look at her. To want her so much, especially after learning of her revelatory dreams. “Her real name was Clary Sage.”
“She’s real? Clary Sage is a real person? How?”
Adam nodded, a sad smile tugging up the corners of his mouth. “She’d run from home for much the same reason I suspect you did. She was... different. Special. Clary wasn’t the name she was born with, but when you join our family, you can keep your given name, or you can give yourself a new one. Like a fresh start. Clary chose a fresh start.” He could see the millions of questions crossing Madeline’s expressions. He wished he had answers, but Madeline’s presence, her dreams just opened up more things unknown than known.
Madeline’s hand covered Adam’s. He glanced down at the brown-haired beauty. She made him feel so alive. What she said next surprised him more than any question could.
“I’m sorry for your loss.” Maddie intertwined her fingers with his. “You and Cage.
In my dreams, I can feel how much you meant to her, how much she knew she meant to you. But it’s just dreams. Not real. Right?”
A swell of emotion choked Adam’s words. “I don’t think I can talk about this tonight.”
“I understand,” Madeline said as she began to withdraw her hand.
Adam tightened his fingers around hers. “I don’t think you do. I want to talk about this with you. I want to understand. I just need a little time to get my head around it.”
Madeline nodded, her expression relieved. She gave him a look that told him she was beginning to trust him. He’d always had that gift. He gave the people around him, the people he cared for, a sense of protection. Of safety. As he watched Madeline drift off to sleep, he wondered, if he couldn’t save Clary how could he ever hope to save Madeline?
CAGE tucked himself down between the bed and the wall. He’d almost shifted in front of Maddie. The urge to mate, and his internal fight against the impulse, had been strong enough to bring his beast to the surface. His lion roared with desire for the girl, but he was more than his animal. Wasn’t he? An involuntary shiver had started in his muscles when he’d denied the lion his prize and it hadn’t stopped since Adam had removed Maddie from the trailer.
The closed space usually helped when he felt like he was losing control, but not this time. His heart thumped against his ribs. The beating was so thunderous, he thought it would break his bones. Why did Adam let her stay? Couldn’t he see what she was doing to them? She was tearing them apart. Tearing Cage apart. He loved Clary, loved her like he’d never loved another, but this Maddie girl was ruining those feelings he’d so cherished.
With Clary, his desire had been a slow build. Her patience, her gentle submission, had drawn Cage. He’d responded to an instinctual need to protect Clary. She’d been fragile when Adam had taken her in, and Cage suspected she’d been fragile her entire life. Clary’s vulnerability had forced him to be less guarded and more open to her so that she would trust him. And with time, she did. She came out of her shell and trusted Adam and Cage with everything.
Cage forced back a choking growl of grief. Everything.
He put his face into the side of the mattress, smothering the hot tears cresting his cheeks. He was angry with Adam, with Maddie… with himself. When he’d taken Maddie’s breast to his lips, the soft fullness tightening at his touch, it was as if the world skipped a rotation. The wet heat of her desire made his breath catch and his cock swell with urgency. He licked his fevered lips, tasting her from his fingertips, all the while hating himself for his weakness. For his betrayal.
Why did Clary leave them? Why had she gone out that night alone? If she had just taken him or Adam with her, she wouldn’t have slipped into the rocky ravine. Cage pressed his fists into the sides of his head as he remembered her pale, lifeless body. The back of her head bled around her like an inky halo onto the gravel. She’d been walking too close to the edge and slipped over. The loose clod at the top confirmed the accident. So senseless.
Would she have lived if they had found her sooner? Had she died alone and scared? Had she wondered, in her last moments, why they hadn’t come to save her? Why they hadn’t kept their promise to keep her safe? The recriminations of the past surged in Cage, threatening to drown him in their murky depths. He focused on Clary, focused on what she was like when she’d been alive. He tried to remember her tiny hands, her lithe body, her rich, russet hair…
No, Clary had blonde
hair, not brown hair. Maddie had brown hair. Maddie with her full, luscious body. Her seductive curves extended from her hips to her lips. Her blue eyes framed by her long lashes added to the allure and mystery. Why couldn’t he keep her out of his thoughts?
Cage curled in on himself, determined to ignore the unwanted woman’s pull on him. He wouldn’t betray Clary. He wouldn’t replace her in his heart. He wouldn’t… Gods! The scent of Maddie’s body, of her arousal, permeated every inch of the trailer. Cage jumped up and began opening the windows. When fresh air didn’t help clear the room of her scent, he threw the bedclothes out the door. Even then, he couldn’t get her aroma, musk and earth, from his nostrils. No matter how badly he wanted to forget Maddie Granger, he couldn’t.
Cage rushed from the trailer and when the cool night air hit his skin, he willed his lion forward. The change, as always, felt like rapid relief. His beast didn’t feel the same regrets, the paralyzing shame. His beast would find a place away from Maddie and her scent, and he would finally sleep.
CARL watched Adam and the new girl, Maddie, through the curtained window of his trailer. A lithe hand massaged his shoulder.
“What do you see, love?” Alana’s accented voice warmed his blood.
She was from the India, born in the Himalayas. She was stunning in her human form, but her other form, a snow leopard, was just as unique and beautiful. Carl was a panther, and he fell for Alana the day Adam brought her into the company. She’d been captured and smuggled into United States as a young cub. A rich man outside the Chicago area purchased her for his exotic wildlife preserve. She’d learned to speak English from the men who guarded her habitat, but she never lost her accent.
“I don’t understand what Adam sees in that girl,” Carl finally said. “She’s human. Not one of us.”
“Clary was human too,” Alana replied. “She was still one of us.”
Carl growled. “She’s not Clary.” He didn’t trust humans as a rule, and this Maddie girl had such a strange hold on Adam. Plus, she put Cage on edge, and that was never a good thing for anyone.
7
I GASP as the lion carefully walks to me. His mane is a kaleidoscope of thick shocks of dark umber, copper, and black hair. I still my trembling hands to keep from reaching out to pet him. He sits back on his haunches and stares at me—his expression almost questioning. I brace my courage and nod. He lowers his head inches from my stomach. I hold my hand out and he rubs his forehead against my palm. I can’t keep the smile off my face even as a nervous laughter bubbles from my throat.
In the next second, his mane is transformed to pale blond. His golden maw has disappeared, replaced by smooth skin as his features melt into Adam. Magnificent, beautiful Adam. His midnight eyes capture mine in a gaze that asks the question: Will I accept him? Can I?
The answer: Yes.
MADELINE woke from the dream in a cold sweat. She opened her eyes, disappointed when she found herself once again alone. She sat up, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders. The brush of the fabric across her nipples brought back sharp memories of rough tongues dancing along the sensitive tips. Had it all been a dream?
Again?
Heat swelled between her thighs—an insistent aching need. Two men. One dark. One light. Both intoxicating. Whether awake or asleep, she couldn’t shake them from her thoughts. She remembered the look on Cage’s face as he’d scrambled away from her. He’d been physically repelled by her.
Madeline sighed. That part hadn’t been a dream. Unfortunately. She should leave the carnival. Put as much distance between her and this madness before she did something really stupid—and really wonderful—like take two men she barely knew as lovers. She rarely had dreams with metaphors, but she couldn’t get the lion out of her head. It made sense that she’d see Adam as a real lion. She’d watched him tame one right on stage. The subconscious mind could blur reality and fantasy.
She stroked the palm of her hand, fingertips dancing where the lion had rubbed against her sensitive skin. With her eyes closed, Madeline could almost reimagine the metamorphosis. It had been strange and magical. She wanted to kneel with Adam, to let him take her in his powerful embrace, to let him keep her safe and loved and wanted.
Had she ever felt that before? Safe? Not since her sleepwalking incidents started. Loved? Her parents, yes. Certainly.
A stab of regret lanced Maddie’s heart. Why hadn’t she called her parents to let them know she was all right? At first, she’d been afraid they’d try to talk her into coming home. As the weeks then months passed, she worried they’d never forgive her. They wouldn’t have understood her need to leave. Hell, she didn’t understand it herself. The only thing she knew when she drove out of town was that if she hadn’t left she’d have gone crazy. Their love wasn’t enough. What she needed from them was complete acceptance—and that, they’d never been able to give.
But Adam and Cage and the rest of the carnival could accept her. They knew what it was like to be different. To be made outcast. They had created a whole family from societal rejects—and for the first time in her life, she felt as if she could belong somewhere.
Maddie had never felt wanted. By the time boys were interesting to her, she’d already become the town anomaly, and the boys weren’t interested in her. No one wanted to date Mad Maddie. Her hometown wasn’t the problem, but she hadn’t worked out how to run away from herself. To top it all off, the way she felt about Adam and Cage made her heart pound, her hands tremor, and her knees go weak. She had a terrible suspicion this was the vestiges of desire at best, and at worst—love.
Once again, Maddie dressed in clothing that wasn’t her own. The fabric was a pale gray with vibrant blue forget-me-nots that intensified the color of her eyes. She wasn’t sure if the shift was Isis’s or someone else’s, but it fit her well enough, and even more, the dress flattered her figure. Since new underwear didn’t grow on trees, she’d been hand washing the one pair she came with. She slipped the panties on, glad she’d set them to dry before her moonlight dalliance in Adam and Cage’s trailer.
Could her ties to Clary Sage or Madame Divine as she’d known the woman be real? Was she somehow experiencing the dead woman’s memories? Or was this some kind of wishful thinking on her part. A fantasy she wanted so badly, she’d connected all the wrong dots.
The fantasy was wonderful. She sighed. Even now, the memory of their hands on her body, their lips on her breasts made her ache. As Maddie left the trailer and made her way toward the kitchen tent, she fought back the urge to cry. How could two men make her feel so cherished and unwanted at the same time? Near them or away, Maddie’s feelings never wavered. She wanted them. Both of them. But if the feelings weren’t reciprocal, she didn’t stand a chance.
MADDIE wasn’t sure how she ended up on the fairway. After breakfast—a quiet, somber occasion without Adam or Cage—she’d gone wandering without a plan. Marlena, the bearded lady, had been kind enough to give her a carnival token. She told Maddie it was an all-access pass to the games, rides, and the food stand.
She been walking automatically without any thought to where she might end up, so when a strident blonde woman shoved past her and sent her crashing to her backside. Maddie landed hard with a sharp yelp. She took the small hand offered, as the woman pulled her to her feet.
“Pardon me,” she said. Her green eyes narrowed as her mouth curved into a tight smile. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” Maddie said, rubbing her stinging palms. She’d scraped them when she reached back to brace her landing. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. She hadn’t been paying attention, and the collision could have been her fault.
At that, the woman’s smile grew. “It’s all right, sweetheart. No harm done.” The blonde extended her hand again. “I’m Alice, Alice Deckard. And you must be the infamous Madeline.”
Maddie took the woman’s hand again.
“You think you’re so special,” Alice screams. “You’re not!” She grabs me roughly by the arm, but I don’t pu
ll away. I know her past. I’ve seen her future. I am special, which is why she’s scared of me. Her hair is pulled back in such a tight braid, I can’t tell if it’s her animal peeking out at me or her frail humanity. It doesn’t matter. She doesn’t matter.
“They are waiting for me,” I tell her.
Rage, tempered by fear, changes her expression to something less than human. “Go,” she growls. “But this isn’t the end, Clary.”
As she storms away, I am consumed with pity.
Maddie blinked. The vision blurred away. She blinked again, and Alice’s voice, hollow like an echo, penetrated the fading episode.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“Yes,” Maddie lied. She jerked her hand away from Alice. “Fine. Fine.” Had she finally lost her mind completely?
“Everything all right here?” Carl asked. His appearance seemed to surprise Alice as much as Maddie.
“I think my sugar might be low.” Maddie inwardly groaned. She didn’t know why she said that, except she’d heard Ms. Ellis, an older woman who’d lived on her street, say it whenever she felt bad.
Carl crossed his arms, and the stern look on his face added inches of authority to his short stature. “Best to remedy that then.” He peered at Alice. “You have work.”
“Yep,” Alice replied. “Nice to meet you, Madeline.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the massive figure of Cage. She turned her head to look at him, sharp enough to give her a crick. Absently, she raised her hand to the strained muscle.
“I don’t know what you’re playing at, girl,” Carl snapped.
“Me?” Maddie didn’t know what he was talking about. “I’m not playing at anything.”
“Cage is dangerous. And he’s in a mood today. If you won’t do what good sense tells you and leave this place, then it’s better if you leave him alone for the moment. He’s not a man who takes to someone trifling with him.”
