Cupid's Light

by Tami Lund

  “Don’t kid yourself. He runs that coterie now. Olivia’s father is still the king, but Tanner calls the shots. It’s just that he has a nicer bunch of subjects to oversee.”

  “Maybe it will change with time.”

  “Maybe.” Rachel sipped her wine. “It would be easier to endure if you stayed here with me. I bet I could get Josh to talk Matt into moving in here. It would be easy right now, considering what happened to us this afternoon.”

  Adora blinked back sudden tears. It was time to be honest with her new friend. “Rachel, I have a confession to make. Once Matt is mated, I have to leave. And I won’t be back.”

  Rachel’s back stiffened and she sat up on the couch, staring at her. “What? Why not?”

  “I live in an entirely different world. One that is only accessible to Cupids.”

  “But you can come back. You said yourself you can travel pretty much anywhere, without having to use portals or whatever.”

  “Yes, but just because I can does not mean I will. When this assignment is complete, when I return home…” She grabbed her glass and took a gulp of wine. “When I go home, I’m certain I will be sent to the Procreation Chamber.” The idea of having sex with anyone other than Matt made her stomach roil in protest, and for a moment, she was afraid she would throw up all over the plush rug in front of the couch.

  “It’s past time for me to see to my other Cupid duties. I need to get with child, ensure my species can carry on our responsibilities to all the other species in the various worlds.”

  Rachel’s eyes widened. “But—but I thought—I thought you and Matt…”

  “Me and Matt?”

  Her human friend nodded. “Didn’t you…I would have sworn you two slept together. The way Matt looks at you. And he’s calmer now. Happier, too, well, at least until the debacle at that restaurant, and then Kat showing up. Who is she, anyway?”

  As startled as she was by Rachel’s guess that she and Matt had slept together, Adora had no interest in discussing the situation with her friend. So she seized upon the question in her statement instead.

  “Kat, I suspect, is Matt’s future mate.”

  “Kat? But what about Shay? Or better yet, you?”

  “Me?” Adora squeaked. “Not me. Cupids don’t take mates.”

  “I know you’ve told me that, but it doesn’t seem right. You’re perfect for him. Why can’t you break the rules?”

  “Well, rules exist for a reason…” Although if Rachel asked, Adora would not be able to give her the reason for that particular rule. No one had ever given her one, and she’d asked often since graduating from Cupid School.

  “It’s a stupid rule.” Rachel flapped her hand, as if dismissing the thought. “You’re a better fit for Matt than anyone else on that list you came up with. Or Kat. Especially Kat.” She wrinkled her nose.

  “Why do you say that? Did you see the way Matt reacted to her when she came into the room? I actually thought the exact opposite—that she might make the perfect mate for him.”

  “She looked like a slut.”

  “More like sex on a stick.” Adora drained her wine glass and snickered. Lifting the second bottle of wine Rachel had unearthed, she filled both hers and Rachel’s glasses. “And Matt noticed.”

  “Everyone noticed, Adora. Don’t read into anything you think you saw on Matt’s face. Even Shay was staring at her. And Matt looked more frightened than anything else.”

  Rachel had her lips on her glass when Jeannine stepped into view, hesitating on the threshold. “Will there be anything else, ma’am?”

  Rachel had had more than her fair share of wine by this point. “Oh Jeannine, stop it. You’re twice my age. It is really necessary to call me ma’am?”

  “You’re my employer,” Jeannine said, her stance stiffening.

  “So were Josh’s parents. I bet you didn’t call his mother ma’am.”

  Jeannine did not have a response to that.

  Rachel sighed. “Come on, Jeannine. I’m not the enemy here. What can I do to prove that to you?”

  Jeannine hesitated, and then apparently gathering her courage—or something else—she said, “Become a shifter.”

  Adora’s eyes widened, while Rachel said, “You know that’s impossible.”

  “Then leave our pack master, so he can take a shifter to mate.”

  Adora decided to take back her earlier thought that Jeannine was an important and necessary part of this household. Housekeepers were a dime a dozen, even shifter housekeepers. She hoped Rachel would remind her of that.

  Instead, surprise skittered across Rachel’s features. “I thought shifters mate for life.”

  “They do,” Jeannine said. “When they mate with other shifters. I’m sure an exception can be made, considering this isn’t a real shifter relationship.”

  “It is a real shifter relationship,” Rachel said coolly. “Josh is a shifter, and he is in a relationship. With me. Shifter or not, I happen to be deeply in love with him, and no one is going to change that fact, not you or any of your cronies. I don’t care how much you hate me or loathe me or despise me. You’re stuck with me, so long as Josh is your pack master. I’m not going anywhere, Jeannine. Get used to it.”

  Jeannine reacted as if Rachel slapped her, jerking her head back as her face flushed with anger. Finally, she turned and stiffly walked from the room, slamming the door behind her.

  “You should fire that one,” Adora said, voicing her thoughts.

  “I wish. But who would replace her? Everyone else hates me, too. And I’m afraid to bring a human in here. I’m afraid of what they’d see. Plus, they’d get a lot of hostility, too. It isn’t fair to do that to someone else.”

  “I wish I could help you,” Adora said honestly. “And I really do wish I could stay…sort of.”

  “Sort of?”

  “My family is on Cupid’s Plain. If I stayed here, I’d never see them again.”

  Rachel leaned back against the couch and looked at her through eyes bleary from too much wine. “That sucks, Adora,” she murmured in drunken sympathy.

  *

  “They’re drunk.”

  Two hours later, Josh and Matt stood in the parlor, looking down at the two females, who were lying on the floor on their backs, with their legs propped on the couch, giggling like schoolgirls. Adora, who wore a skirt, had bunched it in her lap, so while her legs were on full display, at least her panties were hidden from sight.

  “We’re busy trying to figure out who the hell attacked them, and they spend the time getting drunk?” Josh asked in disbelief.

  “Look at it from the bright side,” Matt suggested. “If they weren’t getting drunk, they’d probably be doing something stupid like trying to find the culprits themselves.”

  “Good point,” Josh acknowledged.

  “Joshie!” a female voice called out from the floor. “Top Gun me.”

  Matt raised his eyebrows in silent question.

  “Haven’t you ever seen the movie?” Josh asked. “Remember when Goose’s wife tells him to take her to bed or lose her forever?”

  “Oh.” Matt rolled his eyes. “Right.”

  “And I’m taking that as my cue,” Josh said, his lips quirking. “Who am I to deny the lady?” He crouched, pulled his mate into his arms, and stood up again. “You’re welcome to stay here,” he said to Matt, just before he turned and swept out of the room with a giggling Rachel’s arm slung around his neck.

  Matt peered down at Adora, who lay on the floor looking up at him with wide, unblinking eyes. “What about you? Don’t you want to take me to bed or lose me forever?” he teased.

  “I want to take you to bed,” she replied. “But I don’t want to lose you forever.” She turned her head to the side. “Unfortunately, I can’t take you to bed, and I will lose you forever.”

  “I’m here for the taking,” he replied, determined to keep the mood light. “And you don’t have to lose me at all
.”

  But she was not in a playful mood. She rolled over onto her stomach and pushed herself into a seated position. “I’ve already lost you. I’ve found your mate. It’s tantamount to the same thing.”

  “Actually, they are two very different things. And after the way she acted tonight, I’ve lost all interest I may have had in Shay. Which, by the way, wasn’t much to begin with.”

  “That isn’t true,” Adora drunkenly argued. “You liked Shay.”

  “Yes, I liked Shay. But I didn’t have any desire for Shay. There’s a big difference, don’t you think?”

  “What about me? Do you like me? I know you think you have desire for me.”

  “I don’t think,” he said, losing patience with her drunken ramblings. “I know I desire you. And I like you, too. Very much so. Which room are you staying in? I want to spend the night with you.”

  “I’m drunk,” she said as she let him pull her to her feet. “Are you really going to take advantage of a drunk woman?”

  “Absolutely,” he assured her. When she didn’t move fast enough, he took a page from Josh’s book and scooped her into his arms. She curled against his chest, much like Tanner’s pup had done to her that day they’d all been sitting around in the library, waiting for the party to start.

  He recalled that moment, when he’d watched her handle the child with such grace and ease, as if she were born for the role of mother. But didn’t all females have some sort of inborn knowledge when it came to pups? Maybe. But some were more clearly defined than others. Adora was one of them. She would make a wonderful mother someday.

  He didn’t stop to consider why he was having such fanciful thoughts. He went with the moment, enjoyed the feel of her in his arms, the fact that she was not resisting him and talking of leaving and going back to Cupid’s Plain, a place where he could not access her.

  Placing her on the bed as gently as if she were made of the finest, most delicate china, he slowly stripped her of her clothing, kissing each bit of skin he exposed as he went. By the time she was naked, she was panting and begging for more, writhing and twisting her hands in the blanket while looking up at him with doleful eyes. Despite his own eagerness to couple with her, he stood next to the bed and stripped out of his own clothing, not allowing her to touch him as he did so. Her eyes dilated with each limb and expanse of skin he exposed.

  When he finally joined her on the bed, he continued to touch her, to hold her with reverence, his gentleness only serving to increase both his passion and hers. Lying on his side, with her on her back next to him, he let his hand wander the length of her body, until he cupped her sex, stroking with languid movements. She spread her legs, tossing one over his hips, while one hand clung to his side and the other slid down to cover the hand intimately touching her. Using the pressure she provided as a guide, he slid two fingers in and out of her sex, working her as her hips bucked and her moans grew louder and louder.

  She screamed, the sound torn from her throat, and she practically levitated off the bed as she climaxed, squeezing his wrist while he continued to stroke her. After a few moments, she shoved his hand away and pulled him on top of her, grasping his erection and guiding him to her opening. Her eyes wide open, their gazes locked as he pushed into her, her body accepting him, wrapping around him, enveloping him as if they were meant to be like this. Two halves of one perfect whole.

  “Your eyes,” she said while their bodies moved in sync. “They always glow when we’re together like this.”

  When he found his release a short time later, he swore it was the most explosive climax he’d ever experienced.

  And when she curled into his side and fell asleep, Matt wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her tightly, and wondered how in the world he could keep her here with him, without forcing her to leave her family behind. Because one thing was certain: he could not imagine his life without this woman sleeping at his side.

  Chapter 9

  WHEN Adora and Matt entered the dining room, Rachel was seated alone at the vast table. It was an unusual sight. Generally, this early in the morning, the mansion was overflowing with shifters taking advantage of whatever Jeannine had whipped up for breakfast.

  Rachel waved at the buffet of breakfast food on the sideboard. “Help yourself and come join me. Josh had to go to the hospital, and then he’s heading over to the hotel.”

  Adora slathered a biscuit with strawberry preserves and added a helping of fruit, while Matt loaded his plate with a variety of meats and scrambled eggs. As she seated herself across from Rachel, Adora asked, “Is everything all right? Why did he go to the hospital?”

  Rachel sighed and pushed away the newspaper she had been reading. “One of the children in the pack injured himself—”

  “Who?” Matt demanded as he dropped into the chair next to Adora.

  “Josh said his name is David. I don’t know everyone’s names yet,” she added for Adora’s benefit.

  “Yeah, David’s forever pulling dangerous stunts. Sometimes I think his parents would be better off locking him in the basement until he outgrows this phase,” Matt said before shoving a forkful of eggs into his mouth.

  Slipping out of her chair and dodging Matt’s arm when he attempted to touch her as she passed, Adora returned to the sideboard and filled two glasses with juice. Matt accepted one of the glasses with such a blinding smile, she nearly tripped over her own feet before plopping back into her seat.

  The memory of their torturously sweet lovemaking from the night before hit her, and she stubbornly pushed it away. They should not have coupled—again—and she certainly should not have enjoyed it as much as she had. She should not have had fantasies of sharing a bed with Matt every night for, well, ever, until she’d fallen into a deep, relaxed sleep, either.

  “We need a healer,” Rachel announced, drawing Adora’s attention. “We need to convince one of Tanner’s Lightbearers to move down here. Do you think he’d give one up?” she asked, looking at Matt.

  He shrugged. “No idea.”

  Rachel pursed her lips. “This is ridiculous. Every time someone gets hurt or every time a baby’s delivery doesn’t go perfectly, someone gets rushed to the hospital and Josh has to go hover over them and make sure the hospital staff doesn’t figure out they aren’t human.”

  “It’s been this way for as long as our pack has lived amongst the humans,” Matt pointed out.

  “Yes, but it’s stressful and time-consuming. Needlessly so. If we had a healer here, I think it would make everyone feel better.”

  “Those in the pack who don’t like humans aren’t much more enamored with Lightbearers, you know.”

  “No, I don’t know,” Rachel argued. “I remember the first time I saw Olivia and Alexa. Everyone was fascinated with them. With me, they just…scowl all the time.”

  Adora opened her mouth, ready to defend her friend, to argue that her observations were not entirely true. Not all shifters treated her that way. But Rachel spoke up, cutting her off.

  “What about the one who’s dating a shifter? He’s a healer, isn’t he?”

  “Dane?” Matt frowned. “He’s a pansy. And I don’t know if you’d call what he and Lisa are doing ‘dating.’ More like sleeping together.”

  Rachel waved away his comments. “Either way, she’s a shifter, right? Maybe we ask her and Dane to move to this pack.”

  “Lisa isn’t from this pack.”

  Rachel huffed out a sigh. “But maybe she wants to live near a pack, instead of in a coterie. Isn’t that a shifter thing? To want to be around other shifters?”

  Matt shoved a thick slice of ham into his mouth and didn’t answer until he’d finished chewing and washed it down with a slug of orange juice. “Usually, that’s true. But really, it’s about being part of a pack, not necessarily that it’s shifters. The coterie is Lisa’s pack now. I’m not sure she’d want to come down here.”

  “Why not?”

  “Her experience wit
h pack life was very different from how it is here. Josh is a fair and just pack master, easy-going and laid back. So were his parents, and theirs before them. Lisa’s pack master wasn’t. From what I understand, he was something of a dictator. Plus, he killed her mate. It’s possible she doesn’t want anything at all to do with other shifters.”

  Adora fought the wave of nausea swamping her at the mention of Lisa’s pack master killing her mate. Matt noticed and nudged her glass of water closer to her hand. “Sorry, babe. Take a drink. I’ll stop talking about it.”

  She drank while the nausea shifted to warm fuzzies. She liked the way he called her “babe.” Glancing at Rachel over the rim of the glass, she noticed her friend smirk at her, so she dropped her gaze to her plate.

  “I’d still like to call him,” Rachel insisted.

  “I don’t think he’d fit in here,” Matt argued. “I told you, he’s a pansy. And besides, you can’t make decisions like this without Josh’s approval. And you can’t just call up another pack master and ask if you can inherit one of his pack. That isn’t how it’s done.”

  “I’m Josh’s wife—er—mate. I don’t have to ask his permission. And even if you think I do, I’m going to ask Dane if he’s interested first. It’s not a communist state up there, is it? Dane is free to come and go as he pleases, isn’t he?”

  “Actually, Tanner’s upped the security recently. Unknown shifters have been sniffing around the coterie, and once upon a time, shifters had a habit of killing Lightbearers, not mating with them. So no, I don’t think Dane is free to come and go as he pleases, at least not at the moment.”

  After Matt devoured his breakfast, he let them know he needed to go into work at the hotel that was owned and managed by Josh, and which employed a fair number of the pack. Rachel had told Adora she used to moonlight there as a weekend housekeeper when she and Josh had first met, but had since quit to focus on taking college classes and helping Josh manage the donations he contributed to various nonprofit organizations. Far cry from working two jobs and still not always making ends meet, she’d said with a dreamy smile. Adora was so glad she’d found her happily ever after.