by Bonnie Vanak
Cost him his very life?
Tristan touched the petals of a white orchid and the flower grew brighter.
“What is she?”
The wizard looked away and Robert’s suspicions rose. “She’s not Mage, Tristan.”
Tristan looked speculative. “Aurora is quite special. Trust me in this. That’s all you need to know.”
He’d already seen Aurora’s ability to ward off burns. What other talents did she possess? “I trust you like I trust a politician to keep his campaign promises.”
The wizard gave a rueful smile. “You are wise, but in this case, I do promise Aurora is much, much stronger than your last Mage lover. She is, ah, not exactly what you think.”
Surprised, he watched the wizard’s face. Something was wrong here. Tristan knew much more, and chose not to share the information.
“She’s not Mage?”
“She is of their kind. But not of them.”
“That’s a typical answer, coming from you. You’re worse than a Chinese fortune cookie.”
“Without the hungry feeling an hour later,” Tristan agreed.
“You assure me that she is the one you told me of, the woman with the dragon’s mark, who will break the curse on my people for good as soon as I mate with her?”
“Aurora is the one who will break the curse.”
But the reassurance did not ease him. Each day, the warning signs increased. The dark magick was growing stronger than the good magick protecting them.
For a moment, he stared at the ground, wishing he could have done more. “I promised my people I would give everything, all I had, to keep them strong and safe.”
Tristan put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re a fine leader, Robert. A strong alpha, for one so young, with a good pack. Your father would be proud of his legacy.”
An ache settled deep in his chest. He had avoided thinking of his parents, and the loss of so many of his family. Gods, he still missed his father, his friendly smile and his love, his wise words of advice.
“Sometimes at night I’ll wake up and see a light burning in the kitchen. I’ll get up, half-awake and stumble in there, thinking he’s home from his business trip and we’ll share a midnight snack like we always do, and talk about the week. When I reach the kitchen and it’s empty, I realize he’s never coming back. And it’s like the day I lost him all over again,” he whispered.
“I told you one day you would not feel this pain, Robert.” Tristan’s fingers tightened on his shoulder. “It is the worst pain one can feel, to lose someone you love, as if your heart has been shattered like glass. But it does fade.”
Dimly, he wondered why Tristan sounded as if he knew that pain intimately. Robert drew in a deep breath.
He’d been broken too long to even try to offer anything to anyone. All his devotion remained with his people, ensuring their survival, their ability to procreate. He’d wanted, as a man wanted, but the shadows of Caroline’s destruction lingered into his dreams. She hadn’t been content to be his lover. She’d only wanted him in her bed for her pleasure, and then wanted his people and their rich, fertile lives to siphon away their life force to increase her dark magick.
“Cheer up, Robert. Life isn’t always what you think it is. Take Aurora as your mate, plant your heir in her belly. Do not fall in love with her. The results could be…bad.” With that little friendly warning, the wizard vanished.
“Thanks for the advice,” Robert muttered. He went outside, where Aurora had stopped painting, brush in hand, her entire body tensed. She was not Lupine and could not have overheard that little exchange, but certainly she sensed something amiss.
He sat next to her, rubbing a hand over his face.
“I saw the Silver Wizard decided to drop by.” She set down the paintbrush. “Are you all right?”
Waving a hand, Robert nodded. “It’s nothing. He threatened to turn me into a poodle. In a pink tutu.”
“You’re angry. Your face is all flushed.”
Giving a wry smile, he flexed his fingers. “Not quite. Dealing with a wizard is like working in the hot sun in a parka. Foolhardy…and in the end, your brain turns to cottage cheese.”
“Oh, I don’t know. It looked as if you stood up to him quite well.” Aurora smiled. “Then again, you’re an alpha and you can hold your own.”
The admiration in her sultry voice made awareness flare between them. He flexed his fingers again, wishing he’d avoided working in the shade house today. He thought about Tristan’s little warning and his stomach tightened.
“Don’t get idealistic about me, Aurora. I am a wolf who will do anything to protect his pack.”
“I’m not. With you, I’m very, very much in touch with reality.”
The softness of her voice, the way she parted her lips, the darkening of her pupils—it all made his body tighten. He wanted her, oh, he did.
The hollowness inside him had begun to heal recently, but he could not grow close to her. Intimate in bed, yes, outside of it, no. The secrets would remain between them. She would always remain an outsider.
Seeing heat in Aurora’s eyes, he knew where this would lead—straight into his bed. Not once, but several times. He’d keep her captive in his arms until they both lay spent and exhausted with pleasure.
And she’d be pregnant with his child. But she was a frail Mage and he a Lupine who liked sex.
A lot of sex.
“What did the wizard want from you?”
A casual question. Robert shrugged. “It’s of no consequence to you.”
His brusque tone didn’t make her flinch. Aurora was built of sterner material. “He’s as diabolical as the Shadow Wizard.”
“I don’t know about that.” Robert traced a rune upon the table absently. “Tristan has been good to us.”
“He favors you?”
Arching an eyebrow, he remained silent.
Aurora pointed to the silver tattoo on his neck and his guard rose. “You bear his mark. Why?”
Too many questions. He stiffened. “Tristan and I have an agreement. It’s for the good of my people.”
“And the land, it seems.” Her gaze took in the shade house and the healthy plants thriving beneath the bright Florida sunshine. “I’ve seen what you have done here. What about the palms and other saplings you’re growing commercially? Can I see those?”
“No. Those back fields are off limits. I told you.” He struggled with his temper. “Must I tell you twice?”
Aurora shrugged. “I’m curious. I’ve never seen a tree farm before.”
“I’ll show you photos. There are dangers back there that catch the unwary.”
Such as a fire-breathing reptile that could turn you into ash…
“I suppose you allow only the experienced botanists and farmers back there.”
“It’s for the good of the people,” he said. And for their safety…
She gave him a shy glance beneath her long lashes. “You’re a wonderful leader, Robert. You care about them. I’ve seen how you play with the children, how kind you are with them.”
He must deter this adoration of hers now. She needed to know what exactly he was. He wasn’t going to be her lifetime partner, her confidante.
“Do you know what I am?” He began to strip. “I’m not your idealistic fantasy, Aurora. I’m not nice, nor kind.”
He watched her eyes widen, her gaze dart down to his crotch and the blatant evidence of his arousal, then dart away. Pink tinted her cheeks as she fiddled with the brush.
“I’m a vicious hunter,” he told her. “I am wolf.” Then he snarled.
Aurora cried out and jumped to her feet, backing away.
Bones lengthened as his body elongated, the change coming upon him swiftly. Fur rippled along his body. He felt the brief pain of his change, and then the rush of ecstatic pleasure. He leapt onto the table, knocking over the rooster, the bottle of paint. Crimson spilled to the ground, dripping like blood. He growled, the pure male need flooding him now, the
beast pawing and eager to get at her.
Robert didn’t let the man control the wolf. Wolf was pure instinct, fired with the need to mate and breed. Wolf bared his teeth at the female, scenting her. His cock slid from its sheath, long and ready.
Frustrated from months of self-imposed celibacy, the wolf wanted to mount and penetrate. His claws dug into the concrete patio table and gouged the surface. He knew what she saw: a powerful beast stronger than others, a wolf who could crush, and claw, and tear.
Then, with some effort, he leashed the wolf and all its feral sexual need. Robert the man controlled the beast, and forced himself back into Skin.
Naked, crouched, his palms flat against the table, he locked gazes with her. Muscles bulging, chest heaving, he kept growling.
Trembling, she stared back, her heart visibly pounding. But beneath the fear, he scented something equally powerful.
Desire.
“This is what I am, Aurora,” he said, his voice deep and guttural. “I lead this pack. I will do anything for my people. I will destroy and kill for them. Nothing is safe. My nature is violent and cruel. It won’t be flowers and sunshine, and pretty things when I take you. I could crush you emotionally. I could even kill you.”
He jumped from the table, stalking toward her. But her gaze turned heated and the flush of passion tinted her face. Aurora licked her mouth again, the gesture shooting straight to his groin. “I can handle it.”
Robert waved a hand, conjuring a long-sleeved blue ragged chambray work shirt and grubby jeans to clad his body. Hell, he should have donned a suit of armor, given the want in her eyes.
Not that it would do any good. For he wanted her just as badly, too. It would make for several nights of erotic pleasure. But his natural caution reined in lust.
What was Aurora and why did he sense that she wanted more than her freedom, something that could destroy his people for good?
Chapter 6
She had never felt this longing before.
At first when she saw Robert without his shirt, Aurora told herself staring at him was to confirm the presence of the silver dragon tattoo. It was a beautiful marking, covering his entire right shoulder, snaking down his strong bicep. She’d only caught a brief glimpse of it previously when he’d shifted from his wolf form.
And then she kept staring at his half-naked body, the triangle of dark hair stretching from one brown nipple to the other, the ripple of muscles on his flat abdomen, and the line of hair marching down to the waistband of his jeans…
It vanished past his silver belt buckle, down into the bulge of his crotch. She stared at that as well, wondering if the rumors were true about alpha Lupines and their penises.
So much for objective analysis of the dragon tattoo.
Robert turned her on, as if he’d yanked at the rusty tap of her desire and now it flooded out, wet and gushing, preparing her body for sex.
All she could think about lately was sex.
For all her adult years, she’d tempered her body’s natural drive as the Mages had taught her to do as a child. Discipline and focus. Even when she entered puberty, and the hormonal rush had been so intense she cried at times, she had tamped down lust.
No longer.
Aurora had never wanted a man as badly as she wanted Robert. The space between her legs felt empty and wet. Last night she’d dreamed of Robert making love to her, his warm mouth covering every inch of her skin with kisses, and then he’d mounted her.
It had not been gentle, nor sweet.
It had been everything her sexually suppressed body had wanted all these adult years, since puberty had opened a floodgate of female hormones.
She did not fear him.
She feared her own desires, and trusting him. Because sex was one thing. She could have sex with him, but fall in love, shuttling aside her quest?
Emily’s childish voice screamed through her brain. “Aurora, please, I want to stay with you!”
Emily had been so sweet, innocent. Her life came first. A promise was a promise.
But she wanted Robert, and the sharp longing stabbed her with erotic awareness. Especially now, the way he stared at her as if he wanted to rip off her clothing and take her here and now. Cover her with his strong, muscled body, and thrust deep inside…
Robert trailed a finger down her cheek and she shivered with arousal. “Cadeyrn gave you to me as a slave. I want you as a woman.”
“When? I agreed. You can do with me what you wish,” she whispered.
Robert studied her, his gaze darkening. “Soon.”
Two lines dented the space between his brows as he pondered her. “You’re an enigma, Aurora Seville. You’re not afraid of the wolf. We Lupines are very aggressive when it comes to sex. And I don’t make love. I fuck, plain and simple.” He drew in a deep breath. “A lot. Especially because I’m alpha… I need sex and I’ve denied myself this past year, focusing on my pack’s needs.”
She liked his aggression. The dormant part of her had thrilled to the domineering alpha, for she could envision him in the bedroom, taking charge and fulfilling her wildest sexual fantasies.
“I’m not afraid,” Aurora told him. The wolf had turned her on with his raging need, his sexual aggression. Deep inside, she knew this was bad, for it meant she could reveal her true nature to him, but for too long she’d been suppressed and frustrated.
“You should be.”
His expression tightened as he looked down, rubbing his thumb along the seam of her lip. The gesture spoke of need, not affection. Couldn’t he hear the rapid pounding of her heart, sense the quickening of her blood? Some inexplicable force had drawn them together, the sexual chemistry scorching the air between them until every cell of her body sang with awareness.
Staring at his mouth, she leaned up and parted her lips.
He kissed her, his lips moving gently over hers, and then he increased the pressure. It felt wonderful, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning into his strong body.
The ground beneath them rumbled and shook slightly. Robert tore his mouth away and muttered.
Desire turned into a fluttering, cautious hope. “What was that? Florida doesn’t have earthquakes.”
“If there’s a violent quake off the coast of Cuba, we can feel the ground move.” Robert smoothed back her hair. “It’s nothing for you to worry about. You ok?”
He meant the kiss. Aurora watched him, seeing the passion that had flared in his eyes turn to a shuttered look. He was hiding something.
“It was wonderful.” No lie, kissing Robert made her long for more. She felt wickedly alive and free.
What a joke. She would never truly be free, no matter how many blood oaths Robert signed.
Power stirred in the air, a subtle flutter of electrical current. Hairs stood on her nape. Perhaps this was why the earth had moved. The Shadow Wizard approached. She wanted to believe it was something else, but didn’t dare raise her hopes.
Robert tensed and placed a hand on her arm. “Steady. He’s coming. I can feel the change in the air.”
She could as well, but letting him know that meant compromising her true identity. So Aurora waited.
Droplets of gray mist descended from the sky, only this mist was charged with crackling electrical energy. The Shadow Wizard materialized before them.
Dressed in black leather pants, the wizard was bare-chested. Two leather straps crossed his muscled chest and were held together with a brass ring. Twin swords were sheathed in leather scabbards upon his back. His eyes, seemed dark as pitch, flickering with gray shadows like mist. Long, dark blond hair was tipped with dark strands. An intricate tattoo of ancient Celtic runes covered his right shoulder and right bicep.
He barely glanced at her as she bowed her head. Robert did not bow his head. He bristled, as if resenting the interruption. She liked his bravery, and his refusal to compromise.
She didn’t have that luxury.
“What are you doing here? I don’t recall issuing any invitation
s.” Robert spread his legs and his arms wide, as if blocking her from a possible attack.
Cadeyrn ignored the alpha. The Shadow Wizard stepped aside and stared at her with his cold, dark eyes as she finally lifted her gaze. And for the first time since knowing him and making his devil’s bargain, she was afraid.
“I will talk with you, Aurora. Alone.”
“No.” Robert stepped protectively before her, but Cadeyrn flicked a finger and sent the Lupine hurling backward.
Aurora cried out as Robert hit the ground sprawling and then gasped and rubbed his throat. But the wizard gestured to her and she followed. They walked among some rows of palm saplings. When Robert was no longer in sight, Cadeyrn stopped and regarded her.
“Have you found the dragon yet?”
“No. Do you know where it is?”
The wizard whirled around, his gaze turning gray and unfathomable. “You must rely upon your instincts. You are a dragon seeker, one of the last of your kind. I will not help you, but if you bring me the dragon’s beating heart as a gift, I will set you free.”
His voice dropped into a deep whisper that raked over her raw nerves. “Think of it, Aurora. Free at last forever. I will destroy the collar so no one can use it against you, not even myself. Free to choose, to care for your sister.”
“Forget my freedom! What of Emily’s?”
Cadeyrn wrapped a hand around her neck, and squeezed lightly. Air fled her throat and she gasped, feeling his immense power dwarf her. Lungs that had functioned fine began to compress. Aurora grew lightheaded. But she refused to drop her gaze. She could not allow this wizard to have the upper hand in this. “You promised…”
“That I did.” He released her and she dropped to the ground, gasping, dragging in blessed lungful’s of air. “Emily shall be free from any blood bond to me if you bring me the silver dragon’s heart.”
Rubbing her throat, she looked up. “Why is it so important to you?”
He scowled and for a moment she feared he’d squeeze her throat again, only this time never let go. But instead the wizard turned around and gazed at the distant trees. “The dragon is important to me. That is all you need to know. You are a dragon seeker. Now seek. When the full moon turns ripe and round, you are free to lie with Robert, and let him fill your belly with his seed. But unless you bring me the dragon’s beating heart, Emily remains a prisoner of her fate. She will be enslaved to me.”
