“Is it?” I asked, forcing myself to keep looking straight ahead. I’d barely managed to keep my focus off Carrick all through my daughter’s labor and delivery, and I didn’t want to crack the moment it was over. If I did, I was likely to melt into a puddle of need on the hospital floor with the way I tended to act around him.
“Twice now, I’ve had you in my bed, but you ran as soon as you could each time.”
My head swiveled in his direction, and my hand shot out to cover his mouth as my gaze darted around the hallway to make sure we were alone. His dark eyes twinkled as he kissed my palm, and my wrist tingled in response to the feel of his warm lips against my skin. I yanked my hand away, disappointed yet again to not find a consort mark when I looked down.
Even though our situation was terribly complicated, I couldn’t help but yearn for Carrick to be the man the Goddess had chosen for me. If he was the one who was supposed to stand by my side, then the mark would have appeared by now. But that didn’t stop me from checking each and every time I was near him, especially since the darn tingles I felt in the exact place a consort’s mark traditionally appeared on a witch kept getting my hopes up.
“I didn’t run,” I huffed, lying my butt off because that’s exactly what I’d done. Both times. “I just had other places I needed to be.”
“You ran so damn fast; I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn you were a cheetah shifter.”
“There are cheetah shifters?” I gasped since I’d never heard of them before. Although witches and shifters had a long history of staying away from each other, I’d learned a lot about the shifter world ever since my daughter met her consort.
“Not so far as I’m aware.” His eyes twinkled with humor as he stared down at me, making him even more attractive. “But I don’t see why there couldn’t be.”
“You’re a pain in my ass,” I grumbled.
He trailed a finger along my spine until his hand rested over my butt. Then he squeezed and leaned forward to whisper in my ear. “What I want to do to your ass might hurt at first, but I promise that pain will be the last thing on your mind once I’m done.”
Oh.
My.
Goddess.
My plan to try to ignore him for as long as I could went flying right out the window. It wasn’t even remotely possible to brush him off when he went around saying things like that to me, making my panties spontaneously combust. Maybe I needed to skip the melting in a puddle idea and head straight for the nearest closet, dragging him with me. Except that was something I needed to at least try and avoid, for both of our sakes. Even if it was futile because he was so darn irresistible to me.
That didn’t mean I should just hop back into his bed, though. He was my daughter’s father-in-law, which meant he should be off-limits since I wasn’t his fated mate, and he wasn’t my consort. Those were the only circumstances where I could picture Selene understanding her mom having a relationship with a man who was such a big part of her life. All aspects of it, too, since she was the first witch to ever be appointed to the shifter council. She’d served with him on it for the past year, and I knew from all our conversations during that time how much she’d come to care for Carrick.
Shaking my head, I tried to clear the image of us wrapped together from my brain.
“Just because we slept together twice doesn’t make two our lucky number,” I disputed. It wasn’t exactly the smartest way to drag the conversation away from dangerous topics, but it’s what popped out of my mouth anyway.
“Considering I plan to make it three soon, I guess you’re right.”
“Carrick!” I gasped, stunned to find myself giving the idea of a third round with him serious consideration. Luckily for me, I was saved by Carrick’s family as they joined us.
“Twins!” two feminine voices squealed.
I turned and found Annora, Carrick’s daughter, and Finley, his oldest son’s mate, leading the charge towards the window. The rest of his family wasn’t too far behind. Parker, Annora’s mate, had his hands full with their daughters. Kyla was toddling behind a stroller, batting her daddy’s hands away each time he corrected her aim, which was pretty much every second step. Her baby sister, Riley, was sound asleep inside the stroller, despite the bumpy ride.
Behind them was Alasdair, the oldest of Carrick’s triplets. He had his and Finley’s baby boy, Ajax, settled on his hip as he ambled towards us with a huge grin on his face. Walking next to him was Braden, the middle of Carrick’s triplets. I smiled as he lifted his tiny baby girl, Zaria, out of her mommy’s arms. As soon as her daughter was settled, Tahlia raced forward to join Annora and Finley at the window.
“I would have loved to have seen the look on Camden’s face when the doctor told him there was a second baby,” Braden chuckled.
“Yup, I was just telling Audra how two must be our lucky number, what with the surprise appearance of Nyssa and all,” Carrick drawled, making me snort since we both knew he had really been trying to drive a completely different point home when he’d said it.
“Nyssa,” Finley sighed. “I love it.”
“What’d they name my nephew?” Alasdair asked.
“Our nephew, you mean,” Braden corrected him.
“Nixon’s a baby, not a toy for you boys to squabble over.” Carrick glared as he chided his sons, and even that made me melt a little more—just like pretty much everything else about him did.
“Finally Ajax will have another boy to play with.”
Finley turned and glared at her mate. “He loves his girl cousins, too. Don’t be a chauvinistic pig.”
“Yeah,” Tahlia piped in. “Don’t make me show you exactly how capable girls are.”
“You heard my woman,” Braden chuckled. “Don’t make her embarrass you.”
“Like she did to you when she almost broke your nose and put you on your ass the night you met her?” Carrick asked.
“Dad!” Braden grumbled, while the rest of us laughed.
I listened to their chatter surrounding me as I peered through the window at my two, tiny grandbabies. Nixon and Nyssa were in bassinets next to each other. Nixon had almost a full head of dark hair, just like his daddy, while Nyssa had a few wisps of strawberry-blonde hair that was almost an exact match to the shade on my daughter’s head.
My daughter. Their mommy.
My baby girl had two babies of her own, a consort who adored her, and the big shifter family that came with him. It wasn’t what I’d pictured for Selene when she was little since witch and shifter unions were unheard of back then. But I wouldn’t change it for anything, not when she was elated with the life she was building. A life she’d worked hard to get, and one I’d do anything to protect—including putting a stop to whatever it was that was going on between Carrick and me.
“It’s good you’re back in town.” The deep, masculine voice startled all of us and had us turning away from our avid inspection of the twins to find Damien standing behind us, with his gaze latched on me.
Carrick didn’t seem to like that much. I heard the air he breathed in as his chest puffed out before he stepped in front of me, blocking me from Damien’s view. Not that it did a lot of good considering the dragon shifter was insanely tall. He just cocked his head to the side and looked at me over Carrick’s shoulder.
When the rumbling noise coming up Carrick’s chest hit my ears, I placed my palm between his shoulders and rubbed in soothing circles. Since I was a particularly strong water witch and his body was made up of more than half water, I was able to send energy through my hand to help calm him.
Once he relaxed, I moved to his side to face Damien. The dragon shifter’s eyes were dancing with humor—and an awareness which made me incredibly uncomfortable. I didn’t want to even begin to guess what he thought he knew about Carrick and me, especially not while we were surrounded by his family.
Chapter Three
Carrick
I didn’t like the way the dragon shifter was looking at my woman—and there w
as no doubt in my mind that’s exactly what the beautiful high priestess with strawberry-blonde hair, green eyes, and curves that fit perfectly in my palms was. Mine.
Sure, she’d run from me twice, but that didn’t make her any less mine. Nothing would; not even the fact that she wasn’t my fated mate. Fate could go screw herself for all I cared, considering the woman she’d paired me with and all the shit she’d pulled to harm my family. I knew what I needed better than anyone else, and it was Audra. No doubt about it.
“You’re the only guy I know who could manage to start a fight in front of a nursery full of newborn babies,” Tahlia chastised Damien, although her words were softened by the teasing glint in her eyes and the hug she stepped forward to give him. They’d formed an odd friendship during her time spent as an agent for the shifter council, and she was one of few people he seemed willing to take shit from. “Stop pushing Carrick’s buttons and come look at my adorable new niece and nephew.”
As she pulled Damien forward to the window, Braden sent the dragon shifter an irritated glare. He moved quickly to join them, pulling his mate close to his side in a not-so rare display of possessiveness that just made Damien chuckle and Tahlia shake her head.
“So my dad can get all growly at Damien for no apparent reason, but I can’t remind the guy who loaned you his home that you’re happily mated?” Braden protested.
Oh, I had a reason all right. It just happened to be one only Audra and I knew about. But if I had my way, that was going to change. And soon.
“That was forever ago,” Tahlia groaned, elbowing him in the side. “And it was because of a council mission, not anything romantic, for fuck’s sake. Get over it already.”
“I’ll never get over anything that has to do with you, honey.”
“You’ve turned him into a teddy bear,” Damien chuckled before addressing Braden. “You have nothing to fear from me. I know she’s your mate and that you make her happier than I’ve ever seen her before. I’m glad she has that with you. She’s a good woman, one I’m still indebted to, but I’ve never seen her as anything other than a colleague and friend.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” Tahlia grumbled.
“I do,” he disagreed, and I couldn’t help but wonder again what had happened during the mission where they’d met that had made the dragon shifter feel like he was in her debt. “But that’s not why I’m here. As wonderful as it is to meet the newest additions to the McMahon clan, I came because I need to speak with Audra.”
“Me?” Audra gasped from beside me, sounding as surprised as I felt.
“Yes, you.”
“Then you’ll be talking to me as well,” I insisted, threading my fingers through Audra’s.
“Did I ask for your help?” she hissed, her gaze darting towards my family as she tried to tug her hand out of my grasp.
“No, but you’re going to get it anyway,” I growled, dragging her away from the group and down a quiet hallway, not giving a damn about how it would look to everyone. I assumed Damien would follow since he needed to talk to her, and I was right. When I stopped and turned around, he was right behind us. “What do you need Audra for?”
“Council business.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t have anything to do with the shifter council,” Audra argued.
“But I do, seeing as how I’m a member of the council and have been for quite some time,” I pointed out.
Damien ignored me and focused on Audra. “We both know that’s not true, considering what you’ve been doing for the last nine months.”
“Poppycock.” Her version of a muttered oath would have made me laugh except I didn’t like the implication behind Damien’s statement.
“What the hell do you know about what she’s been up to?”
“More than you,” the dragon shifter replied. “Even though you’ve been keeping tabs on her.”
I couldn’t deny it, not when it was true. It had taken every bit of my control not to chase after her once I’d realized the witch business she was attending to after the holidays had taken her out of the country for an extended period of time. Knowing she was so far out of my reach drove me crazy. Both sides of me—the man and the bear.
“You were?” she breathed out, looking up at me with wide, emerald green eyes.
“Of course I was.” I rumbled softly.
“Are you really surprised?” Damien asked her, his eyes doing that funky fire swirling thing that always freaked me out. “Considering what you mean to each other, it shouldn’t come as a shock.”
“I—He—We—” Audra stuttered, at a loss for words.
I, on the other hand, didn’t suffer from the same predicament. “What the fuck do you know about Audra and me?”
“Enough to know I don’t really want to answer that question.”
“The last time you were all cryptic and your eyes swirled with fire—” I broke off abruptly, my eyes jerking towards Audra. The outcome the last time around had been Selene mating with Camden. I didn’t see how the same would ever be possible between Audra and me because our situation was completely different since there was no fated mate in my future. Then again, a year ago I never would have guessed that a witch would be my son’s mate either. They’d managed to do the impossible, so maybe we could, too.
Damien’s eyes darted towards Audra and back again before he gave a slight shake of his head and switched the topic of conversation back to why he wanted to talk to her in the first place.
“When you were asked to visit the largest covens around the world as an emissary of the Council of Four, I don’t think they hoped for the outcome you delivered.”
I was aware that Audra had been meeting with the high priestesses of at least a couple dozen covens over the last nine months, but I hadn’t known someone had sent her to do so. “The Council of Four?”
“It’s comprised of four of the most powerful witches, one representing each power—earth, water, fire and air,” Damien explained. “They serve a similar purpose as the shifter council.”
“They sent you around the world as some kind of emissary?” I asked Audra. “For what? What did they hope you could accomplish for them?”
“To smooth things over,” she sighed. “There were rumblings in the witch world about Selene’s mating with Camden and how her powers increased. Quite a bit of misinformation was being spread out of fear. So many of the covens have never had contact of any kind with shifters, not even dragons since they’re so rare. Being told that a witch was now mated to a bear shifter was a shock to many, and it sent ripples through our community.”
“So they just threw you to the wolves and hoped you could make it better?” I bit out. “You’re her mom, didn’t anyone stop to think some of the hate could spill over to you?”
“I’m perfectly fine. Nothing like that happened,” Audra whispered, sliding her hand up my arm to grasp my shoulder and squeeze it. At the feel of her hand on me, I started to calm a bit.
“Quite the opposite, in fact,” Damien added. “Audra was the perfect person to broach the subject since she’s a well-respected high priestess. Plus, she’s the only witch with a familial connection to shifters besides Selene. Who better to try to persuade other witches that this is a positive change for all of us than one of the two witches who passionately believes it to be true?”
“I had to go. For obvious reasons, it couldn’t be Selene.” She waved her hand towards the nursery. “I couldn’t trust someone else with the situation, not when the outcome was vitally important to my daughter and grandbabies. It needed the right touch, and I was the only one who could do it.”
“Your touch was more than just ‘right.’ It was perfect. The majority of the behind the scenes grumbling has died down because of you,” Damien complimented her. “It’s only the die-hard exclusionists who are causing any trouble now.”
“I’m not surprised she did a first-rate job of it, but that doesn’t mean I have to like that she was sent in the first place.
”
“Well then you’re probably not going to approve of what I’m about to ask her, either.” My entire body tensed up when Damien turned to Audra with a serious look on his face. “Will you step into Selene’s shoes with the shifter council?”
Chapter Four
Audra
“Me?” I was just as shocked as I’d been almost a year before when I’d learned that the leader of the council had asked my daughter to take a seat on it. “You’re joking, right?”
“Do I look like the kind of guy who plays around when it comes to important shit?”
I scanned his body from head to toe, all six feet and six inches of him. I took in his shortly cropped, dark hair, shining green eyes, firm lips, and ridiculously muscular frame. “No. Now that you mention it, you don’t look like much of a kidder to me.”
A deep growl rumbled up Carrick’s throat, and he elbowed his way forward until he was blocking my view of the dragon shifter. His display of possessiveness was to be expected from a bear shifter when it came to their mate, but not over a woman they’d only slept with twice. It didn’t make sense—nothing about our situation did. But I didn’t have time to worry about it. Not with Damien’s surprising announcement hanging over me.
“Why do they want me?”
“And why wouldn’t they?” Carrick grumbled.
His sudden about-face made Damien chuckle deeply, while I bit my lip to try to stop myself from giggling like a much younger woman would have. But the way he’d said it, as though anyone would want my help, made me feel downright giddy. It wasn’t as though I wasn’t used to having people believe in me. My coven absolutely did. So did my daughter. But knowing Carrick did was...different. Somehow more, even though it shouldn’t have been.
It wasn’t the right time to contemplate what my mixed up feelings meant, though. Not with the way Carrick was glaring at Damien, with his fists clenched so hard at his sides that his knuckles were white. If I didn’t intercede, and soon, a fight was bound to break out between the two of them. I moved to Carrick’s side and wrapped my hand around one of his fists, tugging gently until his fingers opened and I was able to slide my palm against his. When I felt some of the tension ebb from his body, I turned my attention to Damien.
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