Motor City Mage

by Cindy Spencer Pape

  “Well, don’t tell anyone. My reputation will be ruined.”

  She made an X across her chest. “Promise.” She studied his face before reaching up to flick a finger across his cheek. Her demeanor changed, and suddenly, the aggressive, in-your-face she-wolf was gone, replaced by the caring woman he’d always pretended not to see. “Damn, you really have been running yourself ragged. This demon thing—it’s a lot more serious than you’ve let on, isn’t it?”

  He shrugged, wishing he hadn’t noticed the softness of her hand in that miniscule touch. Just a flick of one turquoise-painted fingertip made his spine tingle in a way no one else ever had—not in his whole thirty-nine years. He didn’t have the faintest idea how to respond.

  “Tell me.” Her hand fluttered down to rest on his knee. Even through his heavy wool slacks, her touch all but seared his skin, he was that tuned in to her.

  This was bad. Why was he responding to her so much more strongly today than usual? And why was she being so kind and—well—tactile? He bit his lip as it occurred to him this was the first time they’d had any kind of conversation alone, rather than as part of a larger group. He couldn’t ignore her, pretending she was just one of the crowd. And werewolves were into touch. Which is why he’d typically stayed at the far end of a room from her. Now though, in the small space of the car, the dynamic between them was changing so fast he couldn’t catch his breath. “What was it you wanted to know?” He’d been so tangled up he hadn’t heard her question.

  “Last we heard, Nightshade was presumed dead and random species of demons were trickling into the city. I assume the Wyndewin have been busy rounding them up and trying to ship them home.”

  “Pretty much. Some of them put up a fight and end up dead, others suicide when they’re captured.” Like the one today from Vatsu—a plane so dry and arid the creatures came here just because of the water that abounded on Earth. They didn’t usually hurt anyone, but because they had scaly green skin and hooves and couldn’t shape-shift, they couldn’t be allowed to roam around freely. “Until we find the gate, there’s no way to send them home.”

  “That sucks.” She patted his knee and pulled her hand back. “I sometimes think it’s time for us to all come out, let the humans know that they’re not alone in this world. Then harmless beings like Vatsu wouldn’t be rounded up just because they look different.”

  “Me too.” The depth of her thinking made it impossible for him to maintain his self-delusion that she was flighty and self-centered. Fine. She’s not an idiot. Get over it and move on. Another layer of defense falls away. “But then I think about the Salem witch trials and the Inquisition. History hasn’t been kind to my people, let alone yours.”

  “No, silver bullets sure aren’t my idea of a good time,” she agreed. When she leaned across the armrest to lay her head on his shoulder it felt utterly natural on a physical level, though to Des, it was a near-cataclysmic shift in their relationship.

  This is why you’ve avoided being alone with her. Why you’ve deliberately been a jerk. Without an audience of family members, the attraction between them surged to new levels, and yet he was oddly comfortable in her company. Based on her relaxed posture against him, she felt the same.

  Heedless of his internal panic, Lana kept talking. “Though neither are extra-planar designer drugs. Those already did a number on my pack. You said they’re showing up on campus now? A human version?”

  “Yes.” Des dragged his mind away from his minor breakdown and back to the conversation about drugs. He saw his arm around her shoulder but couldn’t remember having moved it. Holding her soothed him in some inexplicable way, so he didn’t pull away. “They’re calling it demon dust. Tonight I need to go talk to a couple of street thugs I know, see if they can buy a sample for me to get analyzed.”

  “I can get you some.” She pulled back and looked up into his eyes. “I know enough people on campus who are always into the newest, latest high. It’ll be easy for me to get one of them to score me a couple hits.”

  “No.” The denial was instant and instinctive. “Stay away from this, Lana. Your pack has had enough trouble lately. You don’t want to get mixed up in any more.”

  She patted his chest. “Oh, chill out, tough guy. I didn’t say I was going to take the stuff. I’m not an idiot. But I am a student—nobody will suspect anything, I promise. My next classes are Monday. Right now everything’s pretty well shut down for the holiday, though there are a couple people I could probably call over the weekend.”

  This late on the day before Thanksgiving, the parking lot was mostly empty. Des closed his eyes and silently counted to ten. The sultry, cinnamon and clove scent of her, the warmth of her body and the tickle of her wavy hair under his chin weren’t helping his resolve. “We’ll discuss it more tomorrow,” he managed to mumble. After I go find my favorite drug-dealing snitch tonight. Then he could tell Lana it was all taken care of, so she didn’t need to ask around campus.

  “Anyway, you look like you need to unwind.” She feathered a touch across his forehead, which he knew probably held a crease or two from stress and fatigue. “Come back to the club with me. We’ll be slow tonight—I can promise good food and a place to relax.”

  “I should just go home.” Too bad though. The cook at the New Moon was good, and a meal there would be a huge improvement over the microwave dinners he’d been living on lately.

  “Dinner first. A real meal, with meat and vegetables. Or I’ll tell Elise you’re not taking care of yourself.” She sat up and buckled her seatbelt. “You can even eat back in the office if you don’t want to deal with the customers.”

  He felt the loss of her heat immediately, but he didn’t even want to think about that. To cover his discomfort, he started the car and backed out of the parking space. “So when is this bridal shower I don’t really want to know about?”

  “A week from Sunday,” Lana answered. “At Meagan and Ric’s place. I assume the guys will be getting together at Greg’s or Aidan’s to avoid the girly stuff. Though Aidan’s expected to show up at the end to smile and thank everyone, then load up the goodies.”

  “That explains why my parents are flying in from Vancouver that Saturday. Thankfully, they’re staying with Elise, so I’ll be able to work rather than entertain them.”

  “You mean you have actual parents? Funny, I’d always assumed you were hatched.” Her usual biting humor was softened to lighthearted teasing today, and for once, he couldn’t take offense.

  “Not according to my mother, anyway. Whenever I get out of line, she reminds me that she spent hours, if not days, in labor.” He shook his head and turned onto the busy Detroit street linking the campus to the club. “Which is bunk, of course. My grandmother was a healer like Mum and Elise, and assured me that Mum had no trouble whatsoever.”

  “Having healers in the family must come in handy,” Lana said. “I mean, lupines can regenerate most injuries by shifting, but they still hurt like hell in the meanwhile.”

  Des had seen Lana hurt and knew she’d been in agonizing pain before her werewolf recovery had kicked in. He’d been more impressed than he wanted to admit, especially since she’d then refused to allow him to help her, so he could tend to her human friend, Fianna, who couldn’t heal herself.

  He sighed. “I just hope the need for healing is over for a while. Now that the elven purity movement has been dealt with, and Beowulf and hopefully Nightshade are dead, maybe all our friends and families can go back to some semblance of a normal life.”

  Lana laughed again. “As normal as things get for couples that are mixed up Fae, lupine and Wyndewin?” Her expression sobered. “I hope so, too. Though I’m glad Elise will be there when both Meagan and Fee have their babies.”

  “I know she’s happy to do it.” For a long time his sister, a powerful healer, had denied her magic, and now that she was embracing it again, as well as being reunited with Fae lord, Aidan Greene, she was happier than she’d ever been.

  “Does it frea
k you out, knowing your sister is more or less immortal now?” After a lengthy gap in the conversation, Lana asked the question as Des pulled into the parking structure across the alley from the New Moon. “I can’t quite get used to the idea that Greg will live for hundreds of years once Fee gets her powers back. I’m happy for them, of course, but I can’t help feeling like I’ve lost them, just a little bit.”

  “I know.” He hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, but it did feel odd knowing he’d age and die while his sister and her husband wouldn’t. Once Fae life-bonded, both members of the couple would live out the longer of the two natural life spans, though if one was killed, the other would die as well. Lana’s cousin Greg had married Fianna Meadows, a Fae stripped of her powers. The two had expected to grow old together, since lupines had roughly human life spans. But after helping destroy the werewolf assassin, Beowulf, and a demon, the Faerie Queen had promised to give Fee her powers back as soon as the twins she was carrying were born. Apparently, full Fae often had difficult and dangerous pregnancies, whereas Fee was doing fine as a human.

  Since Aidan’s cousin Meagan was half Fae and her husband Ric was a full elf, that made three virtually immortal couples out of the group of ten who had been working closely together over the last few months. The only others besides Lana and Des who were mortal were her cousin George and his human mate, Jase Monroe, who were just back from their own honeymoon after a quiet wedding in Massachusetts. The fact that he and Lana were the only two singles in the group didn’t do a thing to help Des sleep at night. As if his unwanted attraction to her wasn’t enough, they constantly ended up partnered by default.

  It had to be a measure of his exhaustion that he found himself following her down the stairs and taking a seat at one end of the bar. The club was at basement level, with bare stone walls and grainy old photos of Detroit in the 20s, when the place had been a speakeasy owned by one of the Novak’s ancestors. Despite his wariness with the lupines, Des liked the New Moon, with its casual, anything-goes atmosphere, good food and local beer. Most of the waitstaff knew him, if not by name, then at least by face. For the first time in a week, he felt the muscles in the back of his neck start to relax.

  “Two cheesesteaks, double meat, loaded with peppers and tomato sauce but no onions,” Lana said to the college-age guy behind the bar. “Also fries, a couple garden salads and two large colas.”

  She even remembered he hated onions. How was he supposed to keep his distance when she wasn’t only gorgeous, sexy and smart, but also thoughtful?

  Remember your job. That helped. Some.

  She didn’t try to keep a conversation going while they ate. With her lupine metabolism, she dove eagerly into her sandwich and fries, polishing her plate, not picking at her salad like most women he knew.

  As the meal wound down, they began to chat. Des was unsurprised to find Lana was a voracious reader, but he hadn’t expected her to be a devotee of mysteries and thrillers. “I can’t believe you’ve already finished the latest Grisham,” he said. “I haven’t even picked it up yet.” Reading was one of his few actual hobbies. Besides martial arts, swimming, running and devouring world and local news programs, which were all job-related. Fiction was maybe his only form of relaxation.

  “You can borrow my copy if you want. I’ll just run upstairs and get it.”

  “I’ll walk with you, then head on out.” His parents had raised him to be a gentleman, after all. He stood and picked up his coat.

  “Then follow me.” Hips swishing, she preceded him out of the bar and up the three flights of stairs to her apartment.

  * * *

  Lana had climbed these stairs thousands of times in the years she’d lived above the bar. Sure, she’d only just moved up to the top floor, with its rooftop patio, after her cousins had moved out, but this was the first time she’d practically hyperventilated making the climb. She couldn’t believe Desmond Sutton was following her to her apartment.

  Too bad he didn’t plan to stay. The mage drove her crazy, but her body wanted his and had since the first day they’d met. Lana had been in a state of perpetual frustration since August. Even her favorite vibrator hadn’t done much to ease the ache.

  “I’ve got a few beers in the fridge, or I can put on some coffee if you want to stick around for a while. You still look dead on your feet.” She spoke over her shoulder as she reached the third-floor landing.

  “No, I want to go see if I can meet someone tonight,” Des said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I know somebody who should be able to get me a sample of the new drug.”

  She lifted one eyebrow and clicked open the lock without looking. “Oh? I thought I was getting you your sample?” Typical alpha male, no matter the species. Always certain the helpless little females couldn’t handle the simplest task. It had taken over thirty years for her to convince her cousins otherwise and that still didn’t always work. Protecting their women seemed to be an instinct for males the universe over. But Des couldn’t claim Lana as his woman and she had no interest in being subservient to any male, lupine or otherwise. She narrowed her eyes and glared.

  “You said you won’t be on campus until Monday.” He shrugged. “I’d already made plans to look for Luther tonight.”

  “So you never had any intention of letting me make the contact?”

  Des squeezed his eyes shut. “I assumed it was a backup plan. Luther is notoriously unreliable.”

  “But I’m not.” She heard the faint growl in her own voice. “Not that you seem to believe that.”

  “I’m used to handling things on my own.” He shoved his hand through his short, jet black hair. Even aggravated, he was the most stunning man she’d ever met, even more so than any Fae or lupine she knew, with his blend of European and Asian features. He was tall, like his British-Canadian father, but with the dark coloring of his Chinese mother and strong features that were probably a mix of the two. His eyes had just a hint of an epicanthic fold, giving him a permanent bedroom look that made her want to lick her lips—or his. When he wasn’t pissing her off. “Besides, I already have the contacts in place. I’ve been doing this for a living for the last fifteen years.”

  “Yes, well, I’m not exactly some fragile young flower either. Or have you forgotten the whole fur and fangs business? I can demonstrate if you need a reminder.” She snarled and thought about shifting, just so she could bite him on the ass. Hard.

  “I haven’t forgotten a damn thing.”

  Voices drifted up from the stairs below them, along with footsteps. Des pressed forward, backing her into her apartment before he kicked the door shut behind them.

  “Then why the big stick up your ass? It’s not as if you even like me. What’s it to you if I get into it with some lowlife drug dealer?”

  “Oh, maybe that your cousins will rip my freaking throat out?” He stalked even closer, until the back of her legs hit the sofa. “Or that my sister considers you a friend?”

  “So? That doesn’t make me helpless.” Every nerve on edge, she looked up into his eyes, which had gone so dark they flashed like obsidian fire.

  “And it doesn’t make you a professional, either. Leave it alone, Svetlana.” He leaned forward and put his hands on either side of her on the sofa back, bracketing her in. His face was only inches from hers, so she could feel the warmth of his breath.

  Lana glared up at him. “Make me.” Nobody was allowed to call her that—not even her parents. The only person who’d ever gotten away with it was her grandfather, and he was dead.

  “Fine.” Moving more swiftly than she expected for a human, he closed his arms around her and kissed her.

  Lana’s body responded on pure instinct as she grabbed him and flipped them both down to the couch, the maneuver made easy by her werewolf strength and Des’s amazing agility. Sprawled atop him, she returned his kiss as forcefully as it was given.

  Des didn’t let her stay on top for long. Nearly as strong as she, even without lupine abilities, he flipped them both until his weigh
t pressed her back into the sofa. Neither of them broke the kiss as their tongues dueled for dominance. Lana clutched the lapels of his charcoal wool suit, but let go when her claws started to emerge as her arousal went into overdrive. Instead, she used her palms to push the jacket off his shoulders so she could run the flats of her hands down his sleekly muscled back. He shrugged and the jacket landed somewhere on the floor next to the couch.

  Des’s hands weren’t still, either. While one hand cupped her chin, with the other, he pushed her snug turquoise sweater up to bare her beige lace bra. He cupped one of her breasts and Lana groaned into his mouth. She wriggled, thrusting herself more fully into his palm and tugging his dress shirt out from the waistband of his trousers.

  “This is a bad idea,” he murmured as his lips left hers to trail down her throat.

  “Worst ever.” Lana hummed as his mouth found her breast and began to suck on the aching tip through the thin fabric of her bra.

  “Lift up.”

  She did and he pushed her shirt and bra over her head in one slightly awkward movement. Not wanting to waste more time, she undid the top two buttons on his shirt, loosened his tie, and pulled that off while they were at it. Her jeans and boots, his slacks and shoes soon followed. He even had the presence of mind to pull a condom from his wallet and roll it on before he lowered her back to the red leather sofa.

  “You’re such a Boy Scout,” she murmured against his throat as she licked a line along his collarbone. She wrapped her legs around his waist, moaning in pleasure as his thick erection found her entrance and slid slowly in, filling her until her eyes rolled back in her head.

  “Complaining?” He bent his head to suck one of her breasts into his mouth as he began to move.

  “Not a bit, though I have it covered, too.” Somehow it was important that he knew she wasn’t that reckless. While she wanted a family someday, it certainly wasn’t while she was still in school and with no long-term relationship in sight.