Cupid's Light

by Tami Lund

  “How is this a good thing?” Since the episode at the Zebree household yesterday morning, Rachel had determined she disliked the entire family, Shay included, despite the fact that first Shay, and then Steve had showed up at the pack master’s house and humbly begged his forgiveness.

  “It isn’t my forgiveness you should be seeking,” Josh had coldly replied, while Rachel stood by his side and glared at the groveling shifters and Adora had hovered in the background. “I’m not one of those weak you think should be weeded from the pack.”

  Shay had started to cry at that point, fat crocodile tears that had somehow tugged at Josh’s heartstrings, if not Rachel’s. But Josh apparently had never been one to suffer crying women well.

  Steve had flinched as if Josh hit him, and inquired as to what he could do to make it up to his pack master. Josh promptly assigned him to volunteer at one of his favorite nonprofit organizations. The one Rachel used to work at.

  “Because Matt still needs to be mated to someone, and she’s the most obvious choice,” Adora explained to her new friend.

  Rachel made a face. “No she isn’t. If you won’t consider him for yourself, then I think you need to look outside the pack, at non-shifters. Humans, maybe. Or Lightbearers. I bet there are plenty of available, good-hearted Lightbearers in Tanner’s coterie.”

  Adora shook her head. “I can’t consider him for myself.” Even though that was exactly what she wanted to do. She could admit it now, at least to herself. After that glorious coupling with Matt, despite the sour way in which it ended, she could now admit she’d done it again.

  She’d fallen for her assignment. And despite what he may have insinuated the day before, it was the pheromones. Matt had been unable to resist her because of the scent of sex she emitted, and she hadn’t resisted him because she was a fool.

  A two-times fool who wanted to be foolish again. Her insides turned to liquid at the thought. As usual. She’d been walking around in a state of constant arousal since she flew away from him the day before. She’d been half afraid to come back to the pack master’s house, and had been both relieved and disappointed that Matt had decided to keep his distance. When she had wandered into the dining room in search of breakfast, without any prompting, Rachel said, “He and Josh went to work at the hotel this morning.”

  “I can’t,” Adora repeated, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “Why not?” Rachel asked, questioning the hard and fast rule all Cupids had to adhere to.

  “Our job is not to fall in love. Our job is to help others fall in love. The closest I am allowed to get are those moments when I’m in the Procreation Chamber, attempting to beget another Cupid to bring into the world. I am not even allowed to have sex with the same male Cupid more than a few times, to ensure we do not start to develop feelings for one another.”

  “That’s just stupid.”

  Perhaps, in Rachel’s world, it was. And she was lucky for it.

  “Can we talk about something else, please?” Adora used her spoon to drown fresh raspberries in her oatmeal. She had lost her appetite even before Jeannine had offered the concoction, but she had not wanted to hurt the housekeeper’s feelings, so she’d accepted the steaming bowl and joined Rachel for breakfast.

  “Fine. Let’s talk about my overbearing, overprotective husband—er—mate.” Huffing out a sigh, Rachel stabbed a sausage link and shoved it into her mouth.

  Adora smiled. “What has he done now?”

  Rachel tossed the fork onto the table and crossed her arms. “I told him I wanted you and I to go shopping today. You would think I wanted to go walk through mine fields set by the Taliban, the way he reacted.”

  “He only means to protect you. Which he does because he cares.”

  “It isn’t like masked killers wander the streets in the middle of the day. And that murder over the weekend—that isn’t normal. I highly doubt it’s going to happen again anytime soon, and I’m sure the police will figure out who did it, and they’ll be locked up. They already have leads.”

  “Do they?”

  Rachel nodded. “I read it online this morning. The father was dealing drugs on the side. Fine upstanding citizen exterior, but turns out they lived way beyond their means, so he dealt drugs to keep up with their spending habits. They suspect it was someone he worked with in that capacity. Nothing, by the way, to do with shifters or Lightbearers or shifters hating humans. Nothing.”

  “Which means we are perfectly safe to go shopping.” Maybe some good old-fashioned retail therapy was just what they needed. Humans had such a wide range of wardrobe options. She supposed, if she couldn’t manage to complete this assignment and thus lost her wings, that would be one positive to living in this world.

  “I agree completely,” Rachel said as she leaped from her chair. “Let’s go.”

  Because Rachel was still not used to having an influx of cash at her disposal, they went to an outlet mall located about fifty miles north of her home. Rachel said it would help relieve Josh’s worry because she wouldn’t be anywhere near where the murders happened, while Adora liked the idea because it meant they wouldn’t be anywhere near a pack of shifters. Putting distance between herself and anything that reminded her of Matt was definitely a wise choice right now. Kept her from making dumb ones.

  They shopped for hours. Rachel managed to forget her poor roots, and joked that she’d made a serious dent in Josh’s bank account, thanks to full rein with her very own debit card, which was linked to his checking account. After delighting Rachel by magically transforming her Cupid currency to dollars, Adora managed to leave the mall with far more clothing and accessories than she’d arrived with.

  “I hope it all fits in my bag when it’s time to go home,” she fretted as they parked and headed toward a nearby restaurant to eat an early dinner.

  Rachel smiled. “You can leave anything you’d like at my house. That way you have an excuse to come back and visit.”

  Adora managed a smile that she feared was more of a grimace. Cupids did not return once their assignments were complete. There was no need, from the Assigners’ perspectives. But she did not have the heart to tell Rachel as much.

  They’d parked in the far back lot of what was clearly a popular restaurant. While no longer pouring, rain still spit from dark clouds, and they both lifted the hoods of their coats and put their heads down as they hurried toward the building.

  The cars were parked haphazardly, and the two women had to weave their way between vehicles to get to the restaurant. They should have been more alert, but with their hoods up, they didn’t see nor hear the two masked men who leaped from either end of a large panel van, effectively trapping the two women in the small space. Both were so taken by surprise that they stopped walking and stared, unable to believe they were being attacked.

  “Oh no,” Adora whispered, comprehending their situation first. Her stomach churned with that all-too familiar nauseous feeling. For her, this was an easy escape. She had magic, and could use it to simply vanish into thin air, at least as far as these men were concerned.

  But Rachel was human. She had nothing but her wits. As far as Adora knew, she didn’t even carry a can of pepper spray in her purse.

  Adora grabbed Rachel’s arm, twining her arm through the other woman’s, determined their attackers would not separate them.

  “We aren’t alone,” Adora said in a wavering voice. “Our mates are right behind us.”

  One of the masked men snorted. “Yeah, right, lady. We’ve been watching you for a while. We know you’re alone.” He grabbed the handle on the van and gave it a tug. When the panel pulled open, he said, “Get in.”

  Adora shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  Rachel said, “No way.”

  The guy shrugged. “Suit yourself. We don’t have to do this the easy way.” He started forward, and his partner did the same, quickly closing the small space between them.

  He grabbed at Rachel f
irst, and she wrenched her arm out of his grasp. He instinctively slapped her for her efforts. Adora gagged and then promptly vomited on his chest.

  “Oh fuck,” he screamed as he stumbled backwards while his arms windmilled and the green puke dripped onto his pants. “Gross!”

  “Run!” Adora screamed, following her own advice and dragging Rachel along with her. The fact that the second guy daintily danced around small puddles of vomit before attempting to give chase was possibly the only reason he didn’t catch up to them before Rachel and Adora reached the truck and flung themselves inside. Rachel cranked the engine and tore out of the parking and Adora clung to the oh shit bar, her heart beating in her ears.

  *

  An hour later, the two women sat meekly side by side on a couch in the mansion’s main parlor while Josh railed at them for their stupidity, and Matt, who’d appeared at his side a few minutes after they’d arrived, paced the length of the room with such determination, he was probably going to wear a path in the carpet.

  Finally, apparently tired of lecturing, Josh grabbed his mate by the arm and all but dragged her from the room. Matt hardly noticed their exit, so focused was he on Adora.

  “What are you thinking right now?” Matt asked her.

  “That I hope Rachel is quick to forgive, because I suspect Josh has some very intimate plans for her right now.”

  He charged across the small space, leaning down, one hand braced on the back of the couch and the other clutching the arm, effectively trapping her.

  “I know exactly how he feels,” he said, his breathing choppy. “I feel like someone I care about could have been lost today, too.”

  She pressed her palm to his chest. His heart beat steadily, but his blood was running hot, and desire surged through his body at her touch. He could see the reflection of his glowing eyes, swimming in the depths of her own.

  “It isn’t the same, Matt,” she started to explain, but he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to listen to her excuses. She’d been in danger, and he hadn’t been there to protect her. But she’d survived, and now all he could think about was coupling with her, getting as close as physically possible. It was a shifter’s inborn reaction when something bad happened to his mate—no, his—someone he cared about. He cared about Adora. Whatever she wanted to believe, he cared.

  And he needed her. He needed to feel her, to reassure himself she was healthy and whole and safe and…his.

  Okay, not his, not like that. Not in the way his body craved. He could resist that, surely. But he couldn’t resist her, not entirely.

  Pushing against her hand, he leaned into her, pressing her into the couch cushions and covering her body with his own. He touched her everywhere, her face, her hair, her neck, her breasts. His fingers trailed down the length of her side and wrapped around her waist for a moment, before continuing on to cup her ass and pull her closer, letting her rub against his erection while his tongue plundered her mouth. He couldn’t get close enough. It was never enough. The mindless need he’d felt yesterday had nothing on this, this feeling of want mingled with fear over what could have been.

  Lucky for him, she reacted in kind, tearing at his shirt, impatiently tugging it out of the waistband of his pants and popping a few buttons in her haste to get it off his body.

  “Somebody could walk in any minute,” he mumbled against her lips, even as he pulled her skirt up to her waist and slipped his thumbs into the waistband of her panties.

  Adora waved her hand in the air, and a clicking noise echoed, bouncing off the walls. “Locked,” she said, lifting her behind so he could slip her panties off her legs.

  “Like the boots,” he murmured, sliding his hand down the length of her leather-clad leg, and then smoothing it back up again to cup the apex of her thighs. She arched against him, begging with words and body for him to do it already.

  “I will,” he promised.

  She pushed him onto his back and climbed into his lap. He grabbed her hips and she wrapped her hand around his shaft and together they guided their bodies toward that most intimate of connections, and Adora groaned as she sank onto his erection.

  As he pumped away, her words of encouragement became louder and louder, so he grabbed her and pulled her down, holding her there and kissing her, swallowing her screams and grunts and moans, hardly giving her a chance to breathe, as their bodies worked furiously, pumping hard and fast, trying to touch that magical plain that could only be reached through coupling.

  They found it together, as he surged upward and she pressed down, and for that brief moment in time, he understood exactly what she meant when she said each person was only one half of a whole, and they needed a mate to be complete. He understood completely.

  “I don’t want anyone else,” he murmured when they’d finally settled back to reality and lay sated, with her wrapped securely in his arms. “I only want you. And don’t tell me it’s the pheromones,” he warned when she lifted her head and looked as if she meant to protest.

  “When Rachel called Josh and said the two of you were attacked, I thought for sure my heart was going to explode, and I couldn’t calm down until I saw for myself that you were alive and well. That isn’t just sexual desire, Adora.” He squeezed her more tightly when she attempted to pull away.

  “Let go,” she demanded, and he reluctantly did as she said. She climbed off him and quickly and efficiently dressed, while he took his time, waiting for whatever excuse she was preparing now, ready to be annoyed because as far as he was concerned, there wasn’t a damn thing wrong with a shifter and a Cupid being together.

  He wasn’t remotely expecting her next words.

  “They were shifters, Matt.”

  He gave her a sharp look as he pulled his shirt over his shoulders and tried unsuccessfully to button it. “The ones who attacked you?”

  She nodded.

  Shit, this was a game-changer. “Did you recognize them?”

  Shaking her head, she said, “No. They were wearing masks. I’m sure Rachel has no idea, but I could tell by their scent. They were definitely shifters.”

  “From my pack?”

  “I don’t know. I could only tell what species they were. I’m sorry.”

  Matt furrowed his brow. “Don’t be. Although this isn’t good. She’s the pack master’s mate. If those guys are from this pack, that’s fucking treason. Except we have no idea if they’re our own or not. How the hell are we supposed to keep Rachel safe if we don’t know who we can trust?”

  “You have me.”

  With a wry look, he said, “Okay, your tendency to puke at the slightest act of violence may have saved your ass this time, but we can’t count on that, Adora.”

  Pursing her lips, she rolled her eyes. “I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about my magic. My ability to tell if people are trustworthy. Trust is one of the key ingredients to a successful match, you know.”

  Yeah, he knew. And he trusted Adora. He also respected her offer to help. “I can’t believe you’re offering to use your Cupid magic to help us find out who is trying to get at the pack master’s mate. Doesn’t that go against your code of conduct or something?”

  “I do not believe this sort of situation has ever been spelled out in our training manuals. We don’t tend to become involved in conflicts like this. Either my Assigner is not paying attention or she is more worried about me losing my wings than I thought. Otherwise, I would have expected her to pull me from this assignment by now.”

  Pull her from the assignment? Matt resisted the urge to pull her into his arms, to cling to her as if that might keep the Assigner away. Instead, he ran his hands through his hair, no doubt leaving it standing on end. He was due for a cut, so it probably looked pretty damn scary right about now.

  “And since she isn’t, I want to help. Rachel is my friend, and I cannot stand the idea she might get hurt.”

  “So what do you propose we do?” He cocked his head and watched the elatio
n spring onto her face at the realization he was not condemning her offer to help. He liked that he could so easily bring her joy. It made him want to do it again. Repeatedly.

  He wanted to ask her to stay. He wanted to say the words, “Don’t go.” Except he couldn’t. She had a job to do, and if she didn’t do it, she’d lose her wings. He wasn’t selfish enough to ask her to give up her home, her friends, her family.

  Damn, he wished he was so egocentric.

  He didn’t want her to leave, because he wanted her for himself. Yet he knew he had to let her go because he wasn’t a selfish bastard. Yet in order to let her go, he had to find a mate—and convince Adora he was in love with that other woman.

  What a fucking conundrum.

  The doorbell chimed, and he grabbed Adora’s arm, instructed her to, “Stay here,” and wasn’t at all surprised when she ignored his command.

  Jeannine reached the door before they did, swinging it open and inviting Shay inside. She stepped into the foyer, smoothing the front of her thin sweater and jeans, her gaze sweeping over first Matt then Adora, before she sniffed the air. Matt watched her eyes narrow, and he knew she smelled the scent of his and Adora’s coupling, which still clung to them like morning dew on a flower. Adora realized it, too, he figured, because she waved her arm in a wide arc and murmured something under her breath and then the scent was gone.

  He would have told her not to bother, except he knew Shay was on the short list of potential mates. Despite the fact they’d hooked up twice, he knew Adora still believed she could help mate him to someone else. He should believe it, too. Otherwise, Adora would lose her wings, and it would be his fault that she would never get to go home again.

  What if that happened? What if she couldn’t go home?

  Could he help her forget? Would she even let him try? Cupids, according to Adora, did not take mates, were not supposed to fall in love. The way she looked at him, the way she responded to him when they made love, told him differently. Whether they were supposed to hardly mattered, when it came to complications of the heart.