by Bianca D'Arc
“While I have you here, Alpha, there’s something I’d like to speak with you about.” Miranda broached a subject she had been thinking about for many weeks now. Joe Nightwing was still with them, but she’d come to trust his level-headed judgment over the past minutes.
“What’s that?” Grif asked, casual yet alert.
“When I was being held prisoner, the mage often ranted about his Venifucus comrades and their plans. I was pretty incoherent most of the time but I do remember bits and pieces. I’ve begun writing down some of the things I remember him saying. They don’t make a lot of sense right now, but I thought maybe, once I have my notes in order, I could give them to you. I figured if anyone would be able to make heads or tails of his ramblings, it might be you—or maybe the Lords.”
Everyone at the table stilled. She knew it was presumptuous of her to even obliquely ask Grif to contact the Lords on her behalf, but really, that wasn’t quite what she was doing. She merely wanted someone to have the information—someone who was actively working to oppose the lunatics that were trying to bring the Destroyer of Worlds back to this realm.
At length, Grif spoke. “I would like to see your notes,” he admitted. “But I have to ask. Why would you give them to us and not to your people?”
“That’s easy,” she replied, feeling on firmer ground with his question. He wasn’t suspicious of her information, merely of her reasoning in offering it to shifters and not vamps. “From all I’ve seen, you guys are actively working against the Venifucus. My people seem to be more caught up in their own little power struggles at the moment. I don’t really know if the Master would care about my information. If it makes you feel better, I’ll give him a copy too, but I don’t have much confidence he’ll be able to do much with it.” She shrugged. “Mag told me that shifters have been gathering and sharing intelligence. I thought maybe my notes could help with that effort in some small way.” She felt a little silly, but she really did want to give her notes to somebody, somewhere, who might be able to figure out what it all meant.
“Fair enough,” Grif said after a moment’s thought. “I’ll be interested to see what you remember. You’re right. We are sharing intel, and every little bit helps. Thank you for offering.” He went back to his meal and the conversation flowed more easily from that point on.
When the shifters near the edges of the property began to disrobe and turn into animals, Miranda knew it was time to put on a little show of solidarity. Mag stood and stripped without a hint of self-consciousness. Of course, as gorgeously built as he was, he had no reason in the world to be self-conscious of his body. Miranda was glad though that she wouldn’t have to get naked in front of everyone. Her magic allowed her to shapeshift without having to disrobe.
It was a different kind of magic than the shifters possessed, but at the moment all that really mattered was that she could become the female cougar and run alongside her mate. Miranda focused her magic and transformed, well aware that everyone around them was watching while trying not to stare. She felt their approval when she took her place at Mag’s side and they loped off into the darkness together.
This was the first time she’d been able to run with him and their frolic took them around the perimeter of the Clan’s lands, through a few backyards and into the desert a bit before they eventually found their way back to Grif and Lindsey’s backyard. They chased each other, nipped and played, rolled around in the sand and batted each other with big paws that did no harm. It was a very freeing experience. One that she could not have imagined if she hadn’t lived it.
She finally understood the appeal of becoming a four-legged beast once in a while and running her cares away. She’d have to do this more often with Mag. It would do them both good.
When they returned to the backyard, only a few of the guests had come back. Grif and Lindsey were still out roaming around, but Kate and Slade were sitting on a bench under a tree near a spot of lush greenery that was only a little out of place in the desert climate.
Kate called a greeting as they neared. “I wanted to tell you,” Kate began as they drew closer, “I spoke with a close friend of Dante d’Angleterre’s, and he’s going to try to take some time to come out and meet you both. His name is Duncan and he’s a very magical being according to the High Priestess. I’m not really sure what he is, but the Lords vouch for him. They were the ones who suggested I talk to him in the first place.”
Miranda could feel Mag’s surprise and acceptance through their link. The fact that the leaders of all the were in North America vouched for this guy carried a lot of weight.
“We’ll look forward to meeting him,” Mag answered politely.
“He might be able to shed some more light on your cross-species situation. He’s well acquainted with the vampire-werewolf mating of his friends, Dante and Megan. The High Priestess hinted there was more to his story, but left it for him to reveal it or not.”
“A man of mystery,” Mag mused.
“Indeed,” the priestess answered with a grin. She stood and her mate followed suit. “It was good seeing you again. Don’t be a stranger, okay?” She reached up to give Mag a kiss on the cheek before sharing a brief hug and smile with Miranda. Slade merely nodded at them both as they took their leave.
Miranda was impressed that Kate seemed so at ease around her. There were few people who would dare come into her personal space once they knew what she was. The priestess was either brave or trusting. Maybe both. The more Miranda saw of her, the more she liked Kate. It was just possible, they could be friends. The thought intrigued her. Miranda hadn’t had a real friend in decades.
Mag put his arm around her shoulders, squeezing her close to his side. No doubt he had picked up on her slightly melancholy thoughts. He was such a good man. Such a caring mate. Instantly her feelings brightened with the love she felt for him.
“Let’s go home,” she whispered, knowing he heard her.
“Your wish is my command,” he replied, a slight growl in his voice.
They were thinking along the same lines. A frisson of heat coursed through her body as she picked up on his very naughty thoughts. Thoughts that mirrored her own. She couldn’t wait to get home.
The first time they came together was hard and fast, and up against the wall in the garage. They were too hot to wait until they got in the house.
The second round was only a little less intense, and still in the garage. Mag laid her across the hood of his Lamborghini and admired the way she made the expensive Italian sports car look even better. He drove into her, reveling in the feel of his mate under him, willing to do whatever he wanted.
By the third time they joined, they’d finally made it inside the house. Mag had paused only long enough to secure the alarm system before depositing Miranda on the sheepskin rug in front of the fireplace in the living room. He lit a fire and before the embers had turned to flames, she had wrapped her arms around him. She unbuttoned his shirt from behind, tugging it off over his shoulders while he made sure the fire would be safe enough while they were…distracted.
Miranda took control this time, and Mag was more than happy to let her push him onto his back on the soft sheepskin. She worked her way down his body, undressing him as she went. When she had him naked, she did a little strip tease of her own, though her clothes were already in delicious disarray due to their earlier activities.
Both naked, she returned to him, straddling his legs to give him an enticing view of her body. She smiled, teasing her fingers over his skin, working their way up his thighs to the erection that stood hard and proud at the apex.
She didn’t disappoint. Her soft hands felt marvelous on his most sensitive skin. She squeezed him, moving close and allowing her hair to brush the tops of his thighs as she lowered her head. The combination of sensations was subtle and exhilarating.
When her lips closed over him, Mag only spared a moment’s thought for her fangs. They hadn’t dropped, and he didn’t expect them to. Not while she was going down o
n him. Miranda wasn’t sadistic, and she was in his mind, in his heart. He trusted her. He also knew she could sense his thoughts—especially when they were making love.
Some guys might get off on the idea, but it wasn’t something that appealed to Mag. He’d never been all that kinky, though his fellow shifters probably considered having sex with a vampire pretty kinky all by itself. The thought amused him, but a second later, all thought fled his mind as Miranda started to suck.
“Damn, baby,” he whispered, throwing his head back on the soft sheepskin. “That feels so good.”
She hummed in agreement and he felt the vibrations against his cock, increasing his pleasure. She was blowing his mind…among other things. But he didn’t want to come without her. Watching and feeling her come increased both of their pleasure. The connection between their minds meant that the pleasure they felt mirrored back and forth between them, increasing the total effect for both of them.
He lifted her by the shoulders, easily handling her slight weight. Mag had always been strong—shifter strong—but now he had increased abilities due to his new mate. He knew she gained from being with him too, so he didn’t feel any guilt about it. Hell, it came in handy at times like this. He was able to position the very willing Miranda to his exact desires. Over him. Ready to receive him.
He’d leave the joining up to her, letting her decide when and how to take him. Fast or slow, it was up to her. But he’d made it clear without words that he wouldn’t be coming alone this time. Not ever again, if he had anything to say about it.
“So that’s the way you want it, huh?” Miranda smiled at down at him, her hands on his chest. “I suppose your wish is my command, lover.”
She sank onto his cock, taking him by storm. Fast and tempestuous seemed to be the order of the day as she began to ride him. He helped, guiding her hips and lending a little bit of his strength to help her keep up the pace she’d set.
It was fast and hard, mind blowing and fantastic in every way as she began to shudder over him. He came with her as her pleasure echoed through their connection, triggering his. He followed her into rapture that went on and one between them, their minds, hearts and souls connected on a primal level that elevated them both to the stars and beyond.
They lay together in bed sometime later, both bare and breathing hard after an orgasm that had only come a little slower than all those that had preceded it. A trail of clothing led from the living room to the bedroom. Miranda had tried to gather up the bits they had discarded in front of the fire, but Mag had distracted her with kisses and she’d managed to drop most of them on the way to the bedroom. She smiled as she thought about how it must look.
Never in her life had she been so hot for a man.
“And you never will be again, love. Only me,” her mate purred at her side, his hand idly stroking her skin.
Something occurred to her. “You heard me?”
Mag leaned up on one elbow, looking sexier than any man in history, she was sure. His golden eyes gazed down at her with a sexy, satisfied, almost feral light of both cougar and man. He was amazing.
“Glad you think so.” He leaned down to kiss her, long and slow. When he broke the kiss and leaned back upward, her whole body was humming. “And yes, I do believe we’ve had a breakthrough. I heard your thoughts clear as a bell. In sentences, not just emotions or stray words.”
She smiled and reached up to stroke his stubbly cheek, then tackled him so that she was on top. He laughed. Her big, predatory cat liked to wrestle and seemed to get off on the fact that she was as strong as he was.
“You’re getting quicker too, have you noticed? Just a fraction, because bloodletters are already faster than just about any creature, but you’re gaining the sure-footedness of my cat, which makes you even faster. Have I told you how much I’m enjoying the effect my blood has on you, baby?” He stroked his fingers over her hips and lower, to squeeze her ass. She loved the way he handled her body, his movements so sure, so perfect.
And now he could hear her thoughts. She wondered if she could hear his too.
“Can you hear me now?” he quipped, like the old cell phone commercial. He hadn’t said it out loud, but she’d heard it. She giggled and her heart felt a kind of joy that only this man—her One—could bring.
“I love you so much, Mag.” She lowered herself onto his body so that he was not only inside her, but so that she draped over him, her curves fitting so perfectly to his hard planes. The wetness of her tears mixed into the kisses she placed all over his face and throat. “You are my life. My everything. My One.”
“You are the same to me, sweetheart. My mate. There will never be another you.”
Their lovemaking was slow this time and so incredibly sweet. She rocked on him until they were both nearly incandescent with passion. Then he took over, rolling them so that he could bring her to the highest point of pleasure and hold her there, on the precipice, before finally allowing them both to tumble over together.
They lay together after, replete in each other’s arms, basking in the closeness and the love. Dawn was approaching and she would sleep for the day while her lover did daytime things that they could never share. She felt sorry for herself for just a moment, but then thanked the Mother of All for giving her such a man. He could share her nights and still live in the sun. Miranda would never take that from him. She was glad he could still live a normal life in the daytime world, even if she could never join him under the sun’s rays.
She went to sleep with that thought, and a prayer of thanks to the Mother Goddess uppermost in her mind.
Chapter Twelve
When the call for help came in, it was unexpected. Mag and Miranda were both tapped as liaisons for the first time within hours of each other. Mag got the heads-up in the afternoon and sure enough, when Miranda woke after sunset, there was a message waiting for her as well.
Mag had gotten her a new cell phone and laptop weeks ago so she could get back into the swing of things with her business interests. She’d called her lawyer and accountant the night after they’d gone to the wine bar, and made them aware of her return to the States—or such was the excuse she’d used for her long absence.
She was pleased to learn that they had taken very good care of her finances while she’d been away, and were just as glad to have her back at the helm to give them further direction. She had spent a few hours here and there over the past weeks reestablishing her online presence, with Mag’s help, and after their meeting with the Master, she’d been given special numbers and email accounts by which to reach him. The Master left her a message when her very first official job as liaison presented itself.
Mag greeted her with a kiss at sunset that evening. He also brought her up to speed on a situation involving his next oldest brother, Steve.
“Some wild stuff has been happening with Steve and his lady,” Mag told her as they began their evening. “She was targeted by someone—a human, they think—who apparently killed that vampire downtown a while back.”
It wasn’t often an immortal was staked so publicly. The few times it had happened in the past, the entire vampire community in Las Vegas had felt ripples of unrest that lasted for weeks, until the perpetrator was caught. This time was no different.
The Master had contacted Grif directly when the murder had been discovered. After they’d discussed the problem leader to leader had she and Mag been called. Should anything further develop, as liaisons, they were going to be on the front lines of it.
Mag had met the woman in his brother’s life briefly. Steve had called him early one morning, desperate for a little familial support when the gal’s father and brother showed up at Steve’s house out of the blue. After meeting them, Mag could see why even his fearless brother Steve had called for backup.
It turned out that Trisha was not only the sister of one of Steve’s human Army buddies, but she was also his mate. That little fact changed everything. She had apparently been raised to blend in with humans, but had
an incredibly magical dad. Steve’s Army friend turned out to be a non-magical half-brother, but he was very protective of his little sis. For that matter, so was their dad—an active duty, Navy Special Forces admiral.
Mag had met up with Grif and Slade before going to Steve’s house. Slade had greeted the admiral and his step-son as old friends. Grif also knew them both from his days in Spec Ops. He’d introduced Mag and when the admiral got a good look at him, he’d felt the full weight of the man’s scrutiny.
“This is Mag,” Grif had said. “He’s been liaising with the bloodletters for us.”
“And letting them nibble a bit too, it appears,” the admiral had quipped with a hard glint in his eye. The handshake the older man had delivered had been brutal, but Mag had learned to deal with big bad Alphas early on. His family was full of them. He wouldn’t be cowed by this man, even if the admiral was reputed to make Navy SEALs cry like little girls on a regular basis. The admiral stared at the bite marks on Mag’s neck and asked a whole lot with a single word. All he said was, “Voluntarily?”
Mag nodded under the older man’s stare. “She’s an old friend,” he’d replied, adding a bit of Miranda’s story.
“Just be careful not to give her too much,” the older man had cautioned. “Vampires are unpredictable creatures at the best of times.”
Mag didn’t want to contradict the man, so he let it go. He knew Miranda’s heart. She was his mate and he was her One. What the admiral didn’t know…well…it didn’t really matter. Mag’s relationship with Miranda was private. And just about perfect, as far as he was concerned.
Mag had listened to the discussion and reported his information on the unrest in the vampire community when asked. When the admiral heard that the Las Vegas vampires were searching for a man who’d staked one of their own by night, plans began to form. Then Slade had revealed his intel. They knew the perpetrator’s name, and that he was a low-level magic user. It seemed the Venifucus was involved to some extent, which Mag reported back to Miranda that night.
