Ada's Protective Mate

by Jo Palmer

So he had come to the meeting with the sole purpose of scaring them back into their bickering place among the creature structure. Until he caught a whiff of the most divine scent ever smelled and saw the sultry lawyer stride into the conference room in a conservative tweed suit.

  No brownie had ever looked and smelled so good, and Nate should know, he’d tumbled dozens of the earthy creatures in his time. This one met his challenge with luminous eyes and an attitude that expressed her thoughts loud and clear. She would not bend beneath his glares and stance. He wanted to mark her, drag her close and strip away the ice and rigid attitude to find the warmth beneath. If she had any. He doubted the brownie did, and that made him tense and annoyed.

  Well damn. Destiny had finally thrown him a bone worth gnawing on for the next millennium and beyond. About bloody time too.

  At four hundred and two years of age, Nate had waited a long time for a mate. Though he was thrown at first to find her as opposing counsel in a pathetic land dispute case, he quickly recovered.

  After receiving such a cool response from his brownie, he decided to sit back, observe and learn a little about his mate. He ended up spending most of the meeting appalled, fascinated, enthralled, drooling with lust and working out a way to deal with the creature who seemed more rigid than a frigging corpse stiff with rigor mortis.

  He may have to call on one of the demons to broker a deal. The mere thought of that gave him chills. Demons were ornery creatures, and any deals made were always in their favor.

  The elevator doors shut, Nate scratching his unshaven chin in contemplation. How the hell did he get a brownie? Those creatures had very little sense of loyalty, if they had any at all. It was a sharp contrast to his own kind who were fiercely loyal, but he wasn’t a bloody moron. Destiny had given him a gift, one he was looking forward to tussling with again, but in a different way than across a boardroom table. Nope, Nate would rather spread her across it and enjoy those curves he spied beneath the uptight suit she wore so well.

  He gritted teeth as a part of him roared up and throbbed hard again. To distract himself, he growled at the werewolf standing outside the meeting room where the others were still packing up and squabbling.

  “Follow the brownie lawyer. Do not lose her and don’t you touch her unless it is to protect, or I’ll have your head on a frigging pole at the front entrance to the werewolf compound.” Nate ordered. “You got it?”

  Werewolf culture was vastly different from that of other creatures. Strength and attitude were what placed you in a position of authority, and Nate had both in abundance. He may be a prince, the Crown Prince of the Werewolf Clan, but he was also a fierce fighter. This werewolf guard showed respect and acknowledged Nate’s place in their structured order by meeting his eyes to show he heard and understood then dropped them and inclined his head to the side.

  “Yes, sir.”

  The werewolf left, and Nate stepped aside as the rest of the creatures from the meeting were shown into elevators. If he didn’t get out of the way fast enough, they’d jostle and trample him while arguing among themselves. Bloody creatures. Nico came to stand beside him.

  “What did you think?” He asked his old friend casually.

  “The two female lawyers are much more interesting than Chairman Hughes, Aidan, and this tiresome land dispute.” The elegant vampire waved a hand airily. “We have matters to attend.”

  They did, and Nate was annoyed about it, as he’d rather be chasing down the sultry brownie than working. He honestly didn’t think he could concentrate on work right now. His body was consumed with his kind’s instinct to hunt and claim his mate. It was hard to control his need and keep the little civility he bothered with.

  Werewolves, vampires, immortals, demons, and fairies received a recognizing jolt when seeing their mate for the first time, which he had the moment he sniffed the brownie’s scent. It felt like an electric shock coursed through his body and left him with the need to spread her across the conference room table and mark her. And yeah, do a bit of touching if she’d let him.

  A brownie mate. This was a shocker and would no doubt cause his father a few fits. But hell, once the old werewolf saw Ada, he’d be demanding grandpuppies immediately. And erecting a higher compound fence to keep her in, and her brownie relatives out.

  Nate’s eyes narrowed as he realized an important fact. Ada didn’t have the recognizing jolt upon seeing him. Brownies never did until they were bedded. Well hell, he was all for that. In fact, he was up, hard and ready to go right now!

  The vampire was watching Nate with curious interest. The casual air of spoiled boredom Nico displayed often was not just for show, the vampire really was easily bored and a spoiled, pampered prince. He wasn’t as coddled and spoiled as one of their very close friends, a brother to them, the fairy prince Ace. Beneath the elegance, airs and graces lurked a lethal, powerful creature.

  Nico was very astute, and the way he was watching Nate showed amusement.

  “A brownie mate, how intriguing.” Nico smirked. “What will the king say?”

  Growling, Nate glared at the vampire who was more than a friend. They, along with a dozen other different creatures, had grown up together, had gone through the trials and triumphs of life, and formed an unbreakable bond. They were brothers, and with Nico, there was an even closer bond. They knew each other's ambitions, assisted to achieve these, and knew their darkest places. One whom they thought of as a brother had turned on them, and this was one of the matters that must now be dealt with. Nate and Nico had recently tracked the creature to New York with the hope of finding him before there were any more problems.

  They were sentinels, the strongest of their kind chosen to protect and serve Galdorcwide and creatures. They were basically similar to special forces operatives, or even the police. When there was a threat to Galdorcwide, creatures and their secrecy, sentinels dealt with it. Nate and Nico’s current assignment was to locate an ex-sentinel, Myles Byrnes, and bring him before the High Court. It wasn’t always possible to take a creature prisoner, and in this case, Nate was of the belief Myles would never come quietly. The result would be one hell of a fight. To be honest, he was looking forward to it. Myles had betrayed their sentinel vows and his brothers in arms, so Nate had a lot of pent-up righteous anger to work off. As far as he was concerned, bring it on.

  “He’ll accept…after a time.” Nate growled again, this time in frustration. “A bloody sneaky, disloyal brownie!”

  “A most alluring and gorgeous one. Congratulations, to have a mate is most fortunate.”

  “She’s as cold as ice.”

  Nico smiled fully. “Then you must find a way to thaw her. Come, a sighting has been made of the creature we hunt. Later we consider how the brownie does not like to lose a challenge. And how this can be used to our advantage.”

  That was a damn good point. Nate wanted to hunt his mate down and claim her, but it would be smart to get to know Ada first. She wasn’t a woman you pounced on and funnily enough, he found he liked that. Whenever Nate had considered over the years what his mate might be like, a smart creature walking beside him came to mind. It would certainly be interesting to hear her response to their being mates. He could just imagine her sharp tongue lashing him, though he’d rather put it to a much better use.

  Ada selected the Foo Fighters from her iPod’s playlist and turned up the volume. Today had been strange. She let out a soft sigh and let the music relieve some of the tension and unease she’d been feeling since leaving the vampire building a couple of hours ago. The few hits she’d received against the werewolf prince and leaving with a valid reason seemed to pale beneath the quelling look he gave her as she stood in the elevator.

  She’d felt like prey that had no hope of escaping. It was a feeling she didn’t like, one that made her think of ways to wipe the look off his ruggedly handsome face and regain the upper hand.

  Returning to the law firm after the waste of time land meeting, she went straight to work. At six, feeling she had
managed to accomplish something despite the interruption to her day, Ada caught the subway to her one bedroom apartment in Greenwich with the uncomfortable feeling she was being watched. She wouldn’t be surprised if she had been, Ada thought, pouring herself a glass of white wine. No one but Nev at the meeting knew who she was, Ada leaving Galdorcwide just before her eighteenth birthday for university and not mingling much outside the brownie community. They would want to know who they were dealing with, and who came into their territory. She may not like it, but she understood and accepted the necessity. They were creatures, they had different rules, and they needed to keep themselves a secret from mortals, and most of the time, from witches and warlocks as well.

  The meeting irritated her at the time, whereas now she was intrigued by the idea of besting the werewolves with their superior attitudes, especially the crown prince. Ada was smart and liked to stay abreast of everything she was involved in. While she hadn’t wanted anything to do with the land dispute case at first, she now looked at it as a way to get at the werewolves and obtain the always much desired upper hand. Just the thought made her smile and had her mind clicking over with plans.

  Her type of fun. And to achieve her type of fun, Ada researched Galdorcwide’s old land laws, the division that took place centuries ago, the creatures who decided upon the allocation and the werewolf clan. Each of the important players, anyway. Today she briefly scanned the ruling and was able to utilize a few of the more prominent laws, now she was delving deeper. Thus far she’d come up with a few interesting facts and was actually looking forward to the next meeting, for there she fully intended to show a bias in favor of the wolves with backup proof.

  Score one for the brownies. About bloody time.

  With a glass of white wine on the desk in the corner of her lounge room, files open, computer on, Ada settled back for a few hours of work then would indulge in a relaxing shower. Friday may be dating or bar night for numerous people and creatures, a fun night out at the end of the work week, but to her, it was personal time that she used to catch up on bill paying, research and anything else that required attention. On Saturdays she normally went grocery shopping and took a brisk walk through the city, perhaps catching a movie or browsed the shops. Some Saturday nights Ada went out to dinner with Remi. When her friend didn’t feel like dating that was. Or had plans to loosen Ada up with bar hopping and flirting.

  Immortal creatures had to plan well into the future, if you were a planner like Ada. And when living outside Galdorcwide, there were dozens of problems and issues that must be dealt with. One was always looking only midtwenties, despite being older. This meant having to change jobs and locations approximately every five to six years to avoid drawing attention and making humans suspicious.

  Moving constantly was an inconvenience and caused problems career-wise, as she could never stay long enough to gain a senior position. Humans, she had found, could at times be reluctant to place those they considered to be young into higher, responsible positions, even if that person was intelligent, put in long hours, and was brilliant at their job. There were those who got ahead by using money and influence, which Ada would not do. She liked to achieve her goals the right way and had a plan this time that would get her up the next step on the lawyer ladder.

  Over the next hour, Ada worked solidly on the legal argument with Writs and Affidavits drawn up, evidence stacking up on the desk beside her and the wineglass emptied long ago. When caught up in work she never stopped for breaks. As she was printing off an old declaration of land allocation one of the Galdorcwide Council clerks had emailed her, the telephone rang. She let the call go to answering machine. Remi teased Ada a few times over still having a house phone and answering machine, but though she enjoyed newer technology, she found an answering machine to be useful. It was a simple device and often with work her cell phone needed to be off during meetings and while in court.

  Ada collected a few new folders from the cabinet behind the desk and the labeling machine to organize the piles of work. Plus she had the external hard drive she would save everything to and keep copies on her computer for quick, easy reference.

  Ada was possibly a little too over prepared and zealous.

  Remi’s voice stopped Ada with her finger over a button on the labeler.

  “Ada! Darn it! I know you’re home—pick up! OK, OK, I may have run into a bit of a problem—yikes! Shit! Ada, help! That darn witch spell didn’t work, the warlock is breaking into my apartment—” There was a loud crash and Remi’s voice filled with horror. “Holy Fates, he’s not a war—”

  The line went dead, the machine clicking off.

  Destiny and Fates! For a split second Ada stood motionless at her desk, not so much shocked by Remi’s call and that the warlock was breaking into her apartment, the imp was notorious for having overly enthusiastic admirers. No, Ada’s shock had everything to do with the absolute horror and terror in her friend’s voice.

  Remi was never concerned about her stalkers, unlike Ada. The imp often laughed, stating they were harmless. If one did annoy her, she simply used imp magic to get rid of him. This warlock was not going away, and magic did not appear to have any effect on him. No longer immobile from shock, she very quickly locked the files in a desk drawer, flicked her computer off, and dashed across the lounge for her handbag and coat. Thankfully she’d changed into pants and a light, long sleeve turtle neck when getting home. The suit she wore today was not the most convenient for wearing on a rescue mission, the skirt interfering with swinging a kick to the warlock's groin. Whether creature or human, a good hard, swift kick to a man’s groin did the trick when wanting them to back off.

  Within half a minute she was out the door and, unlike this morning at the law firm, used the stairs instead of the elevator and put on a burst of supernatural brownie speed. Brownies may not be the most loyal creatures around, but when they loved someone, loyalty did not even come close to touching on what they felt and what they’d do to help and protect.

  For twenty years Ada and Remi were the best of friends. She adored the uncomplicated, free-spirited imp, and it was Ada who saw Remi’s potential when others overlooked her, thinking her just a cute, nonsense creature. Remi was far from that. Strong, capable and smart, Ada had no doubt her best friend would one day end up a better lawyer than she was, and Remi had high ambitions to be a Galdorcwide judge, which she would definitely achieve.

  Once out of the stairwell she slowed her pace to a hurried walk through the foyer, nodding at the doorman as he jumped up and held open the front door.

  Dammit! She would need to catch a cab across town to Remi’s apartment. It would probably be quicker if she ran, but it was a big no-no to use super speed and magic in front of humans unless you could ensure no one would remember. And she needed to get to Remi as quickly as possible. Who knew what the warlock would do as retribution for the imp’s rejection? Warlocks and witches could be greedy and self-oriented. It was said they would plot against their own mothers to get what they wanted, which was mostly material wealth unless they cared about someone deeply. Even then it was iffy. Not all warlocks and witches, these were extreme cases, but their kind valued momentary gain.

  “A cab, Ms. Gerritsen?” The doorman hurried out after her to the edge of the pavement.

  “Yes, thank you, Simon.”

  Simon, the doorman, scanned the oncoming traffic on the busy street, Ada impatient and worried, her heart pounding in fear for Remi. As long as she did not think of Remi being hurt, she could concentrate on getting there fast. Though they were immortal creatures this only meant they lived a very long time unless killed. They did not get diseases or have any real illness unless it was of the magical variety, but they could die if they were wounded badly and did not receive treatment or have shelter, time, and protection to recover. Ada bit back a groan at spotting the man approaching her with a takeout bag and bottle of champagne. Fates and damnation! Would the sleazebag not leave her the hell alone?

  “Ada, you
didn’t forget our date, did you?” Carl, the irritating sleazy lawyer standing in the way of her promotion, and now getting to Remi, smiled as he reached her and held up a bottle of champagne.

  Ada somehow managed to restrain herself from snatching the bottle and spraying the contents over his expensive suit. Just. She took a calming breath and checked the traffic. Simon was now watching her and Carl instead of looking out for a taxi. Damn.

  “There was no date, Carl.” Ada said tightly. “I emailed anything you needed for the case this afternoon.”

  Carl gripped her arm as she half turned her back on him dismissively. Ada’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

  “We were going to discuss your promotion over dinner. You do want a promotion, don’t you?” His tone was smug, smile triumphant.

  Ada paused. The human’s eyes were dilated, and his breath smelled of alcohol, but she was more concerned about his attitude. Carl thought he had a hold over her, and he wanted to use it. He was disgusting, but worse, she had a bad feeling he’d done this type of thing to women before. Brownies didn’t like being taken advantage of, and they didn’t like others to be either, unless they were doing it. Carl needed to be taught a lesson. As soon as she got Remi back and dealt with the warlock, Ada would teach sleaze ball lawyer Carl a little retribution. He’d soon get over his ego inflated ways.

  “Ms. Gerritsen, can I assist?” Simon asked quietly, obviously prepared to step in as muscle.

  As if she needed assistance dealing with Carl, though it was nice of Simon. She would have to be nicer to him in the future. She would start by returning his greetings.

  “Thank you, no.” Ada dropped her voice. “Carl, if you do not remove your hand and yourself, I will inform Mr. Stokes of this incident.” She smiled ever so nastily. “He does so appreciate my input. And I’m sure he’ll be very interested to know exactly how it was you came by my home address, and the informer for the Styler case.”

  Not giving the bloody leech a chance to argue, Ada gripped the hand he had on her arm and exerted a little pressure. The human sleazebag who gave lawyers a bad reputation cried out sharply and lurched back. The champagne and takeout fell as Carl reefed his hand from her tight hold. Ada felt a small amount of satisfaction from the wary, shocked look he cast her.