by Mary Hughes
He roared, gut-deep, and came. Hot, jerking inside her, extending her own orgasm, rolling it longer, rippling it into infinity.
Her world went white. Noiseless except for a cotton mallet pounding a pillow drum, the thudding of her heart.
The terrible contractions eased. In their place…perfect peace.
She felt mellow, her muscles glowing, her brain clean and new. Sex was always good. But with Daniel it was amazing.
Opening her eyes, she caught sight of herself in the mirror.
She expected the heaving breasts, the flushed skin. Expected the sheen of perspiration and the weary but satisfied expression. Expected the big, happy pupils and thin corona of contented green.
But instead of satisfied peridot, her irises were emerald. Her mother’s mated color.
Mated.
The world dropped out from under her a second time. Her limbs trembled. Impulsively, she turned to Daniel, burrowing into his arms. He smelled like the best thing ever, like chocolate and flowers and bath oils all in one. Affirming, even if the color of her eyes hadn’t already told her, the truth.
Mated.
It was a disaster. She’d mated. No flowers, no candy, not even a dinner and movie.
Mated, without romance—her worst fear come true.
Chapter Eight
Daniel leaned back against the door, Zoe a warm, limp weight against him. He wrapped grateful arms around her. He felt wonderful, made new. Happy. Complete. That had been much, much more than sex.
With her, even in a janitor’s closet, it was making love.
“You have the key?”
Her voice came from the depths of his arms, muffled against his chest. He heaved a sigh. Well. Guess that was that. The joining of a lifetime to him was only more sex to her. Maybe not even great sex at that, since he was only human.
He released her, wishing the reluctance to leave his embrace was on her side as much as his, but not hopeful. Next time, he’d use his power.
Magic would give her an orgasm that would blow her mind.
If there was a next time.
Daniel’s shoulders slumped. His limbs were unaccountably heavy as he picked up his tux jacket and extracted the key from its pocket. A stink emerged with it, stinging his nostrils—the acrid stench of evil magic. He stifled his flinch and opened his third eye. On the ethereal, fingerprints glowed blood red on the key.
Damn and blast. Zeus had used blood magic to extract the key from Zoe’s lovely cleavage. The fingerprints were small, a woman’s, meaning the sacrifice was not Zeus’ own. Not death, thank goodness, or the bloody color would be tinged with black; but there was pain.
With a grimace of distaste, Daniel cleansed the stink off with a whisper of power.
Zoe rubbed her arms, goose bumps rumpling her skin. “Chilly in here.”
She’d felt him use his power? Usually, only another witch could detect magic. Maybe their lovemaking had attuned her to him…their sex, that was.
He handed her the key. “What do you want it for?”
“Masked ball, remember? Prize going to the most romantic man? The parchment. I still need the key to take the parchment from the case and give it to the winner.”
He winced. The prize for romance; the one he’d come for. The one he’d now definitely blown by behaving like her boyfriends in high school, only wanting to get in her pants, nothing else mattering.
All his sexual expertise, his skills in seduction, learned painstakingly over years—they’d all vanished simply at the sight of Zoe’s upturned hips.
“You pickpocketed it.” She lifted the key to her nose, sniffed it, and smiled. “I can’t believe, in the middle of all that chest-beating, you thought to lift it. You didn’t slug him in a testosterone rage…you did it for a reason. Because you were thinking.” Her smile warmed as her gaze rose to his. “You were always thinking. It was one of the things that made you special.”
Dorky really was a good thing. His shoulders straightened and his chest expanded. He felt like a king. “Thanks.”
Her green eyes glowed. He wanted to fall into their dark depths forever, swim in their emerald depths…
Emerald?
Wizards had a saying: “Power shows in the eyes.” It was true for magical beings from witches to shifters to familiars.
He blinked, but her irises didn’t change. The thin rings were definitely darker, no longer peridot. His heart beat faster as he got a strange idea. “What happened to your eyes?”
Her smile disappeared. “Nothing.” She turned her head away, shaking it, mahogany tresses rustling against her shoulders. “Sometimes I get emotional. It makes my eyes look darker.”
She was telling the truth; he knew from his arcane classes that some shifters’ eyes were as good as mood rings. An emotional bellwether. But he couldn’t help thinking—the most extreme emotion for a wolf shifter was mating.
He sucked in a breath, on the edge of something huge…
“I’m scared, Daniel.”
Everything—thoughts, hopes, fears—evaporated in the wake of her need, and he immediately reached out to comfort her.
His arms swished air. She’d already turned and bent to pick up her panties.
His gaze was drawn helplessly to the curve of her backside, but he was still determined to comfort her when she was ready.
She straightened, not facing him, obviously not ready.
Instead of pulling her into his arms, he patted her shoulder awkwardly. “Why are you afraid?”
“I’m thirty-nine.” She slid the wisp of lace up over her long, long legs, over her hips. “My biological clock is ticking extra-loud.”
“L-loud?” he croaked. The afterimage of her panties gliding up those long legs reduced his vocal cords to mush.
“Yes.” She hunted around for her dress. “Urging me to find a husband. Settle down.”
“And that’s a problem?”
She snared her dress and stepped into it. “Well, if I marry a man now, how will I know if it’s because I truly love him? How will I know he loves me, and it’s not just because I jumped him? I won’t have any romance to compare.” She paused pulling the dress up. Her shoulders were knotted, her spine stiff. “How will I know, years down the road, if my husband truly loves me, or if it’s just sex keeping us together?”
“But romance isn’t the same as love.” Even as he spoke, her words echoed in his mind. They made no sense, but the sadness, the fear behind them was very real. Need kicked him, the need to understand, to help. Was she not telling him everything? Maybe because she thought he was human, she couldn’t say what she really meant, and he’d have to read between the lines. Her hormones were urging her to settle down…stars. Did she mean her wolf? Again her words echoed, but now he heard the meaning behind them.
My wolf will force me to take a mate. Sex and pups forced on her, without choice.
Suddenly he understood.
The key was important because it unlocked the parchment.
The parchment was important because it unlocked romance.
Romance was important because she thought it would unlock the secrets of her heart.
He started dressing, too, infinitely sad. Zoe, with all her experience and guts and smarts, didn’t understand herself in this one key area.
It was vital he get the parchment—the world as we know it will end—but, this was Zoe. More, it was a hurting, vulnerable Zoe. Anyone else, he’d use all his talents in seduction, learned from a hundred beauties, and bedazzle her until she gladly gave him the prize.
But Zoe would lose the key to her own heart. He wouldn’t hurt her that way.
Then she turned, holding the key out to him, her vulnerability, her soul in her eyes. “On second thought… Take it. It’ll be safer with you.”
Words clogged his throat. If she’d handed him her physical heart he couldn’t have been any more honored—or terrified. He swallowed, hard.
Here was the means to take the parchment. And because she’d handed
it to him willingly, he had the permission.
She’s giving the key to me.
It would hurt her forever. How could he do that to her?
The world as we know it will end. How could he not?
“Daniel, please?” She offered the key again.
Neither mattered. She needed his help.
He answered as he always had. “Yes, or course.” He took the key and tucked it again into his unburned breast pocket. “I do understand what this means. You can trust me.”
She exhaled a loud whew and smiled, her relief palpable.
He could never abuse her trust. It nailed a decision that, if he were honest with himself, he’d already made. He needed that parchment, yes. But he knew from high school what it was like to be hurt badly. He’d never do that to another soul, much less Zoe.
He’d have to find another way to get the Quatrain.
Zoe was surprised how relieved she felt, giving up the key to Daniel—her mate. She turned her back to him in a silent request to zip her dress, just as her wolf pulled back its ears and growled.
She jerked to attention. “Something’s wrong.”
Daniel gave her an efficient zip. “What?”
“I don’t know…wait. Shouting.” Coming from the ballroom. “Feet running. Hear that?” She turned.
He cocked his head, listening. “Now I do. It’s getting louder.” He threw on the rest of his clothes.
She’d started toeing on her shoes when a voice cut through the rest, high, tight.
“Zoe! It’s gone.”
Dorine. Zoe hobbled to the door, barely slowing to scoop her heels in with a finger.
Daniel, fully dressed and immaculate, was already opening the door.
The planner ran down the hallway, ducking into each open doorway as she passed. “Zoe, where are you?”
“Here.” She waved and trotted toward her.
The moment Dorine caught sight of her, the planner’s face crumpled with relief. “I only turned my back for a moment, I swear.”
“What’s gone?” Though, from the cold weight in her gut, Zoe knew.
“The parchment.”
“Show me.” She grabbed Dorine’s elbow, surprisingly lean with muscle, and tugged her toward the ballroom. Daniel followed.
“I don’t know what happened. The case is open and I can’t find the key—”
“You left it in the lock.”
“Oh.” The woman’s cheeks flushed. “I’m sorry.”
Zoe could smell the stink of emotion coming off her, shame and the bite of rage, probably at the thief. “It’s all right. I found it when the party started. I locked the case and took the key.”
“Then how—?”
“I lost it, too.”
They reached the ballroom, where a crowd buzzed around the front table. “Damn my paws,” Zoe muttered. “My romantic evening, ruined.”
“Not at all.” Daniel clasped her shoulder. “This will only add to the mystery and intrigue.”
Sure enough, as Zoe neared, champagne and speculation both flowed freely.
“I heard it was stolen by a famous cat burglar.”
“I heard it was a lost duke, reclaiming his inheritance.”
“The Queen of Heart’s lover, lost for years at sea.”
Zoe shook her head with a rueful smile. Daniel was right. The theft, far from detracting, had made the party that much better.
“Maybe the loss is a good thing now,” Dorine said. “But what about at midnight? What if the parchment is never found? How will the Queen of Hearts bestow her prize?”
Zoe’s optimism waned. Dorine was right. Success was a fickle thing.
The planner shook her head. “Maybe the servers know something. I’ll go ask.” She left.
Zoe managed to wedge her way into the center of the gossipers. The case below the fountain was open.
Empty.
Seeing that void brought the loss crashing home. Her eyes prickled. Her prize, gone. She wasn’t sure if she meant the parchment, her dreams of romance, or her right to choose her mate.
Or maybe all three. Her chest hollowed, and she barely suppressed a shudder.
Daniel must’ve caught it anyway, because his arm came around her shoulders, warming her.
He leaned in and murmured in her ear. “Are you all right?”
She shook her head. “It’s nothing.”
“I know you better.”
He turned her to face him. His star-shot blue eyes were as serious as she’d ever seen.
“It’s okay. We’ll find the parchment.”
He’d figured out the problem without her saying a word, and he’d help her. Despite already having gotten sex, despite not really needing anything more from her. She needed; he provided.
As he always had.
Why had she not appreciated that? None of her high school boyfriends had lifted a finger on her behalf. Even her adult men friends were only helpful before sex.
She’d taken Daniel’s support for granted—worse, had considered it something of a turnoff. Family helped you out, and girlfriends. Who wanted a boy more like family or a girlfriend?
That kind of thinking had gotten her the pregnancy scare. Now she knew better. Now she knew dependable and supportive was the sexiest thing a man could be, because with the right man, sex could be lovemaking, and scares could be joyful surprises.
Because the other name for a man who was also family and friend?
Husband.
Desire ignited her veins like a lit fuse. She wanted that, wanted a husband, one who’d make a home with her. A family.
Tethered to Daniel’s star-shot gaze, she nodded. She meant more than they’d find the parchment… Husband.
His return smile only held relief. “Good.”
He dropped his hands and turned toward the case. He hadn’t seen it. Preternaturally aware of her needs, this once, he’d been blind.
Unless he’d seen it and was rejecting it. Rejecting her.
Like Tommy, damn it.
No. Daniel is different.
No, he was a human, and a man. Besides, a human as her wolf’s mate? Scauth would never accept him. She wiped at suddenly itchy eyes.
Although, if Noah became alpha, he might. Noah might accept them as mates, and…and her wolf might, and Daniel…
He turned from her to study the open display.
Her chest froze. Daniel might not.
“The glass isn’t smashed.” He touched the case. “That means a key was used to open it. Not your key, because I have that.”
She smiled through her unshed tears. Whatever her feelings, whatever his feelings, he’d help her, and he’d get the job done. At least she could rely on that. “Zeus?”
“That’s my guess.”
“But how? You took it back before he could use it.”
“He must’ve made a copy.”
“Why chase us then?”
“I don’t know.” His lips pursed in thought.
He had insanely kissable lips.
Stupid mated wolf. She shook her head at herself. “But why make a copy if he had the original?”
“Also a good question. Is there only the one key?”
“Yes. The display case is from my motorcycle store, for sunglasses and goggles. I lost the spare months ago and haven’t had time to make another.”
“Your party planner?”
“I gave her the original.”
“Hmm.”
He frowned and bent to study the case closely, picking out a speck of something. Always thinking, always observing.
Dork. She smiled, watching his intent face. His intent, handsome face. He’d been a dork, and while that part of him was still inside, it was covered by a very successful façade. Athletic and handsome, and from the tailored tux and Ferrari, rich, too. Her smile faded.
Rich, classy, and successful. Doubt crept in. Sure, he’d always been there for her, was still there for her—but probably only as a friend. Yet, she was mated to him.
<
br /> Mated without romance. Her body iced. Her worst fear come true.
And what would happen when he found out? Would he reject her? Because he’d find out sooner or later. Even if she didn’t tell him, the fact that she was always around, jumping into his bed, would.
She’d have to tell him and hope he didn’t dump her as fast as Tommy.
“You don’t look so good.” Daniel turned from the case and studied her with the same intense concentration. “Let’s sit you down.”
“I am feeling a bit unsettled.”
He took her by the elbow. She was a strong, independent woman and wolf, but just this once, she leaned on his strength. Besides, her heels were killing her.
They’d almost reached the back exit, and she was anticipating cooler, fresher air, when the door slammed open.
Zeus.
He barged in, panting and disheveled. From the disgusted expression on his cowled face, it was obvious he’d been dashing up and down Lincoln Memorial looking for them the whole time they were in the closet.
“Run?” she whispered to Daniel, almost glad, almost hoping for another closet and a chance to be together one more time.
“No.”
To her surprise Daniel shook his head with a low growl.
He let go of her elbow, stalked across the gap, grabbed Zeus—and slammed him bodily into the wall.
Astonished gasps echoed hers. She took a step toward Daniel, her heart racing, her skin tingling in anticipation… It startled her. Yes, her human was appalled, but her wolf was very near the surface, and it was panting in delight.
Surprisingly, as the crowd of elegant people gathered around her and the two men, their expressions didn’t seem so much shocked as thrilled either. Even Ms. Classypants leaned forward, hands clasped in an age-old gesture of excitement.
Daniel, anger radiating from every taut muscle, didn’t seem to care he had an audience. “I’ll give you one chance, Zeus. Leave her alone.” He bared his teeth, nailed the cowled man in the eye, and growled like a wolf.
Shock radiated from Zoe’s very flesh. Daniel had an inner wolf? Was that why he was challenging the brutal man now, when he’d run with her before? How could that have happened? From mating with her?
She’d never heard of it before.
