by Bonnie Vanak
“Water is fine,” she murmured.
Then she lifted her clear blue gaze to his and he saw the recognition spark. Robert fished out a bottle of water and handed it to her. Their fingers brushed, and the connection made his breath catch. There was something there between them. The sexual chemistry ran strong.
“Unless you prefer a glass. But I don’t have a stone pitcher like Cadeyrn,” he murmured.
A delicate flush tinted her pale cheeks. “This is fine. Thank you.”
He watched her take small sips, so unlike years ago, when she’d gulped down the water as if fearing he’d snatch back the glass. So much tight control, when all he’d seen last time was desperation.
Slavery would do that to you. It turned you into a machine—a cold, and calculating machine intent on making it from one day to the next. He knew and accepted this.
“There’s more if you want it,” he told her. “It’s all in the fridge. Help yourself.”
Then he went out the kitchen door to the lanai. Though south Florida remained mostly delightful through winter, there was a bite to the air that hinted of a cold snap. They’d have to take care of the nursery and all the plants.
Lady had already ducked through the dog door and sat there, looking hopeful. Guy, Robert’s beta, cooked hamburgers on a stainless steel grill the size of a coffin while his fiancée Helen sat at the table, reading a fashion magazine. Helen looked up and formally bowed her head. Guy flipped the patties into the air and glanced up.
“How’s the new addition to our happy household?”
Robert pointed at the grill. “Those done yet or you plan to turn them into charcoal?”
Guy raised his eyebrows at the remark, but slid a few patties onto a plate and handed them to Robert. “Testy today, boss? That time of month again?”
Robert growled and Guy hastily returned his attention to cooking.
He watched his beta push the meat around on the grill. “Rob, I need to talk with you.” Guy glanced over his shoulder at Helen. “Are you ever going to assign me any real responsibilities other than flipping burgers?”
His stomach tightened. “You’re my second-in-command. You have many responsibilities.”
“Oh sure. Patrolling the grounds, breaking up minor fights between the younger males. Nothing of real importance. You’re overworked and everyone knows it.”
Robert kept his tone mild. “What do you expect me to do?”
“Delegate!” Guy slammed the grill lid down and folded his arms. “You’re taking on too much, like a control freak. It’s gotten worse over the past year. Why can’t you trust me to help you with some of the daily activities? I can balance the books, handle sales, orders, everything. And every time a child stubs a toe, you go running. You can’t do it all.”
Robert bared his teeth and growled, letting Guy know he’d stepped over that invisible line. The beta dropped his gaze.
Robert felt a pinch of guilt. Guy was right, but damn it, he had a duty to care for everyone, make sure things ran smoothly.
Dropping a hand on Guy’s shoulder, he lowered his voice. “After you and Helen are mated, we’ll talk about your responsibilities. Right now I need you alert, obedient, and ready.”
Guy gave a brief nod.
Glancing down at the hopeful Lady, he added, “Please feed her. I have to take care of Aurora.”
“That’s all I’m good for,” the beta mumbled, but he headed for the storage bin holding the dog food.
After bringing the hamburgers inside, Robert fetched condiments, silverware, a tray of cheese, lettuce and tomato, and set them on the table, along with a plate of fresh buns. Aurora sipped her water, casting him sideways looks. Each time he set down a plate, she hastily thrust her hands beneath the table, as if reaching for the food would make her look ill-mannered.
Or perhaps someone had done something worse.
He piled a thick, juicy hamburger onto a plate, added a large scoop of potato salad and pushed the items toward her. “Eat,” he prodded.
Her stomach rumbled, but she sat, hands folded on her lap, staring at the plate. For a moment she reminded him of Lady when he’d first found her as a pup. Suspicious of food, and kindness, and wary of anyone who came close because she wasn’t certain if the outstretched hand would pet or slap.
“What’s wrong? It’s good food,” he insisted.
“I can’t eat until you do.” She raised her clear blue gaze to his. So very blue, like Caroline’s. But Caroline’s eyes had sparked with life and laughter, and later, with insanity as power filled her.
No laughter here in Aurora’s gaze.
“You’re my new master. It’s rude to eat before you do.”
Robert put two hamburgers onto his plate and slid into a chair. “I may be your master now, but I will soon become your mate. Eat, Aurora.” He gave her a stern look and picked up his own hamburger. “Now.”
“I seldom eat meat.” Aurora took a small bite, chewed and swallowed.
“Vegetarian?”
“Not by choice.” She stared at her plate, pushing the potato salad around with her fork. “My former owners never cared to serve it to me.”
“Your former owners, like the troll and the ogre. Cadeyrn gave you to them for a period of only three years. But the witch claimed you much longer.” Robert sipped his drink, aware of her delicate fragrance cutting through the hearty smell of grilled food.
Aurora sipped more water. “The witch negotiated with him for a longer term of my service. Twenty years.”
Surprised, he set down his hamburger. “A long time. Sounds like she didn’t want to give you up. Why did she?”
“She died. A bad spell backfired on her.” The napkin crumbled in her hand. “I wasn’t very unhappy when she passed. She wasn’t nice.”
An understatement, judging from the way her hand trembled each time she reached for her glass, as if she feared he’d snatch it from her. He would pair her with Susan, his only surviving sister. Susan ran the café that served the pack. She was tough, but fair and very obedient to his commands. His sister would ensure Aurora ate well. Most of all, he needed to keep Aurora away from the fields and the nursery, where he hid the pack’s darkest secret. Robert made a note to find out who had neglected to feed Aurora. It would not happen again.
Between bites of burger, he asked about her past, but received vague and polite answers. Of her former masters, the ogre had been the nicest. The troll had put her to work cleaning his silver collection, always polishing it daily.
She said little about the witch.
Robert polished off his meal and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “How would you like to work in the kitchen?”
Her expression shuttered and she folded her hands upon her lap. “Would I serve meals?”
“Not until you’re ready. We have a small café for breakfast and lunch that caters to the pack, but is open to the public one weekend a month, the only time we sell flowers and tropical plants. It gets busy during the tourist season. There are lots of Canadians and other snowbirds visiting the area during the winter.”
“Do you serve the tourists in the cafe?”
Robert leaned back and stretched out his legs. “They’re not on the menu, but a few of us prefer Canadians over easy, with rye toast on the side.”
For that, he received a real smile in return. It made him feel less like a bastard for keeping her, and more determined to coax another smile onto her pretty face.
For a moment he wondered about Cadeyrn’s motive in gifting him Aurora to beget an heir. The Shadow Wizard was sly and not generous.
And Aurora presented a very tempting package, even if she was a Mage.
He didn’t trust Mages. Not after what Caroline had done to his people.
Aurora was pretty, curvy and there was a spark about her that hinted of simmering passion. For a year after Caroline’s death, he’d remained celibate, but he was a male Lupine and his sexual appetite was strong. The affairs he had were always discreet and brief, with m
utual satisfaction achieved, then amicable partings. The women he took to his bed were outsiders, sometimes Skins, sometimes Others. They all understood that he had no desire choose a mate. They tried to convince him otherwise, though.
Robert ruled his pack and no one told him what to do.
He studied the Mage, male interest kicking hard. So pretty, and yet she had tremendous inner strength to have survived bondage for fifteen years. He could definitely bed her without any problem. Indeed, it would be a pleasure.
Fall in love with her? Doubtful.
Trust her? Never.
His experiences with Caroline had ensured he’d never trust anyone outside his own pack again. And he would not risk growing too close to her. The old wariness returned, along with instinctive distrust.
Never again would he betray his people.
As Aurora rose to clear off the table, he clasped her wrist, feeling the delicate bones beneath the smoothness of her skin. “Someone else will take care of it. Come with me.”
Again, she lifted her blue gaze to his, and he saw a flicker of apprehension. She had her own trust issues, it seemed.
“I’ll show you the grounds, and then we’ll complete the blood oath ceremony.”
“Ceremony? Are you formal around here?”
Robert thought of the ancient rituals that were important to holding his pack together and keeping them strong, despite the curse. “It’s necessary.”
They went through the kitchen door outside, where Guy and his fiancé Helen were eating lunch on the lanai. He made a mental note to see to the final details of their upcoming wedding. Lady, sitting by the long glass-topped table, looked up and wagged her tail.
Robert glanced at the empty dog bowl. “Did you feed her?” he asked Guy.
His beta nodded. “You know her. She gulps down her meals. Dog’s a vacuum cleaner when it comes to food.”
It was an old habit. Lady had been starving and rib-thin when she came to the pack and though she was well-fed now, she always gulped down her food as if fearing someone would snatch it away.
He introduced Aurora as the new pack member who would be assisting them. Helen, a sweet-tempered and gentle Lupine devoted to Guy, smiled at Aurora.
“Are you a local?”
Aurora folded her hands before her. “No. My last home was a prison cell in an ogre’s home.”
“A cell?” Helen grew pale.
“I’m a slave.” Her glance at Robert was filled with resignation. “No matter how it’s couched in polite terms, that is what I am.”
His temper rose, but he curbed it. “That word is forbidden in this pack and on this property. I will not permit it. Do you understand?”
Blood drained from Aurora’s face and she gave a little nod.
“Rob, I’m sure she didn’t mean…” Guy began.
He gave his beta a sharp look and Guy shut up.
Then Robert forced a note of calm to his voice as he looked at Guy. “Does Aurora have everything she needs?”
Before Guy could answer, she spoke up. “I’m very self-sufficient. I have mostly everything I need in my luggage. When it gets here, I’ll be fine.”
He frowned. “When is your luggage supposed to arrive? Or am I to contact Cadeyrn about that?”
A loud whistling cut through the air. Helen shrieked as two large suitcases suddenly came hurtling out of the sky and dropped onto the grass near the lanai. Guy cleared his throat. “It’s here. Guess he heard you.”
“Air mail,” Robert muttered, as a helpless smile touched her face. “You know him. Strange sense of humor.”
He looked at Guy. “Assign someone to store Aurora’s things until she can pick them up later. I’m taking her on a tour.”
Robert put his hand on the small of her back. “This way.”
A flagstone pathway led from the lanai to a bricked walkway that threaded through the property. Robert went to the right, away from the stables and the abandoned barn that stored hay and feed supplies. The path snaked through well-trimmed grass, past the Olympic-sized swimming pool with its bricked patio, pool house, and tables with colorful umbrellas and comfortable chairs. Pine trees ringed the property, like green sentinels guarding the property.
After a few minutes the path forked again, the right trail leading to the fields holding acres of tropical plants and flowers. He took the left one, leading to the tall iron gate separating the private property from the public areas. The gate was unlocked when the store was closed, so he lifted the latch and they walked through, continuing down the walkway and through the garden.
Colorful air plants clung to the trees flanking the walkway, and various potted plants swung from the overhead branches. They walked on a wood bridge over a pond filled with water lilies.
Robert had personally designed the gardens, putting in the pond and flowers to attract the tourists, which distracted them from the distant fields accessible only to certain pack members. The tourists were usually impressed by the lavish gardens and seldom asked about the nursery far to the back of the pack’s property.
They reached the white gazebo in the garden’s center and climbed the steps.
“We host weddings here. For the pack and sometimes for the public, on special occasions.”
“It’s very pretty and serene. A lovely spot for a wedding,” she told him.
As Aurora gazed around the gazebo, he had an image of her standing in a flowing white gown, clasping a bouquet of flowers.
“This is where we’ll be mated.”
“When?” A muscle ticked in her cheek.
“The full moon. Another four weeks.”
“Oh! That long?”
Amused, he shook his head. “Eager to settle down?”
Her perfect mouth twisted in a wry smile. “I’m eager to get on your health insurance plan. Slavery has limited benefits.”
He started to smile, then stopped. This witty Mage could wrangle his heart, twist him around her finger. His responsibility remained to his people, and that was his sole purpose for mating with Aurora. His heart remained buried with the pack members he’d lost, forever cold and dead. Breed a new heir? Yes. But he would not fall for Aurora, when he must remain vigilant and devote all his attention to his pack.
He pointed out a turquoise building towards the front of the property. “That’s the store where we sell plants to the public, and there’s a small café where you’ll eventually work. We have four short-order cooks, several wait staff, and a café manager, Susan. She manages the daily business and oversees the main meals when we eat together as pack.”
“Susan?”
“Your new supervisor. My sister.”
Interest flared in her eyes. Aurora turned around and pointed to the distant fields and green houses. “And your botanical gardens and the fields where you grow plants? Do you ever open those to the public?”
“No. Those are private.”
In the distance, silver-white smoke rose on the horizon. Damn. Robert tensed as Aurora craned her neck. “Oh no! You have a wildfire.”
“It’s just workers burning the sugar cane on a nearby farm.”
“Maybe we should check it out. It looks close.” She pointed to the back fields.
Wariness filled him. No Mage would ever access those again, not after how Caroline had poisoned the land. He took her hand, feeling the connection flare between them once more, and tugged her toward the gazebo’s front, away from the sight of the botanical gardens. “There’s nothing to worry about. And the back fields on our property are forbidden to all but a few select pack members. There are dangerous snakes and poisonous spiders. You’ll be working in the lodge’s kitchen at first, and then at the café.”
“But maybe I can help with cultivating the trees back there. I learned from the ogre—”
“No!” he growled deep in his throat and she backed away, her face paling. Robert drew in a deep breath.
“Do not question me on this again, Aurora. Understand? It is for your safety.”
&nb
sp; She gave a shaky nod, glancing over her shoulder at the distant fields, but he firmly guided her down the steps and toward the grotto, to complete the blood oath.
Aurora would never discover the secret on his pack’s property, the dark secret that kept them fed through hard times and protected the pack from harm.
No matter what it took, he must ensure the survival of his people. And himself…
Chapter 3
Her master was so young for all the responsibility he carried. So much weight rested upon those muscled shoulders.
She could not think of him as anything but her new master, nor herself as anything but his slave. Bondage had been her reality for too long. And no matter how kind he seemed, she knew better than to trust a man who wielded absolute power over her.
Just like the witch had.
She’d hoped he’d be kind, but he’d growled at her when she’d asked about working the fields. Another reminder to distrust this powerful wolf.
Aurora cast a sideways glance at the Lupine who would become her mate upon the next full moon. Nearly a month away, and only weeks from Em’s twenty-first birthday, the deadline she faced for saving her sister
Time was running out. She had to complete the task Cadeyrn had demanded of her, or Emily would die. Her sister must live, no matter what.
Tension mounted in her, and she slowed down, trying to distract herself. Trying to enjoy the scent of the flowering trees, the freshness of the air. And the cedar and spice aroma wafting from the male who walked slightly ahead of her.
Robert had the wiry strength of a long-distance runner, not the bulk of other muscled male Lupines. With a panther-like grace, he followed a gravel-lined pathway leading to the east side of the property. The rolled-up sleeves of his blue shirt displayed dark hair dusting his forearms. Her gaze flicked downward to his jeans, the tightness of his ass as he walked.
Such grace in his stride. Aurora wondered how he’d perform in bed, all that power and smoothness as he opened her legs and buried himself deep inside her…
A flush heated her cheeks. Time enough for that later.
