Cat's Cradle: String of Fate, Book 1

by Bianca D’Arc

“Would you mind telling me what that was all about?” Elaine’s tone was as stiff as her backbone.

  Cade breathed deep, searching for calm. “I’m sorry for embarrassing you in front of the others, but don’t ask me to apologize for trying to keep you alive.”

  “I’m all for staying alive, Cade. I just don’t understand why I can’t take a more active role in keeping me that way.” She held up one hand to forestall his reply. “I freely admit that you shifters have one up on us poor little humans strength-wise, but please remember I held my own against your werewolf friend. It wasn’t easy, and I did have luck on my side, but I prevailed in the end and lived to tell the tale.”

  “Granted, but try to look at this from my point of view. I know how everyone else on the team handles themselves in a fight. Ellie, I’ve never even seen you practicing in a dojo under controlled circumstances, much less in a real world situation. From a tactical standpoint you’re an unknown quantity. You can’t blame me for wanting to limit the potential variables if we have to fight our way out.”

  Elaine was silent for a minute, and Cade hoped she was giving his words due consideration.

  “I see your point. I don’t like it, but I see it.” Her posture loosened a tad as she turned to face him. “I want you to promise me one thing, and then I won’t bother you about this again.”

  “What is it?”

  “I want a chance to spar with you—or anyone you name. I want a chance to show you what I can do, so if it ever comes down to it, you won’t make the mistake of underestimating me again.”

  Cade respected the firm belief she had in her own abilities. A good fighter needed to believe in themselves above all. That didn’t mean she’d be a match for a shifter, but he had to give her points for bravery. Come to think of it, it would be good to let her go up against someone like Molly or even Steve, to let her learn how shifters really fought and how outclassed she probably was.

  “Fair enough,” Cade agreed without hesitation. “As soon as we have a spare moment—maybe tomorrow afternoon, depending on what the morning brings—we’ll arrange a little sparring match. It’ll be good practice for everyone involved, and I’ll get to see your knockout leg sweep.” He smiled, remembering the way she’d recounted taking Billy Bob down in that alley. Thank goodness she’d had the skill and luck to be able to escape. He’d never willingly put her in that kind of danger again.

  “Sometimes I forget we’ve only known each other a few days. With all that’s happened, it feels like I’ve known you forever.”

  Cade raised her hand to his lips for a gentle salute. “I feel that way too, Ellie, but I’m a Guard. I’ve trained most of my life for situations like this so I can’t easily overlook the reality that us, together, is something new and magical, but fragile too.” He hoped she could see the conflict in his soul. “You’re the first human female I’ve ever let myself get attached to, El. You’re the first female of any kind that I’ve considered asking to be my permanent mate. My panther knew you on sight. He’s been roaring for you since the moment he first scented you, but the man has to be more cautious.”

  “When Bonnie took me upstairs to look through her closet for something to wear, she gave me an earful about how you and I could never work as a couple on a long-term basis. She was pretty nasty about how humans and shifters rarely ever make a go of marriage.”

  Cade made a mental note to have a few words with Bonnie when the danger was passed. The tigre d’or female had no right to interfere with Cade’s personal affairs. She’d overstepped her bounds and elder or no, Cade would have something to say about it.

  But he had to admit that some of what she’d told Elaine was no doubt true. Shifter-human matings seldom worked in this day and age. Legends abounded of the distant past when his people had mixed more freely and successfully with humans. But since the creation of the Underground and the need to hide so completely in the modern world, such pairings happened less and less frequently and usually didn’t end well.

  “Bonnie has a big mouth, but it’s essentially true. Shifters and humans don’t have a good track record in the modern era though our history says intermarriage used to be commonplace. I haven’t figured out where we’re going, Ellie. To be honest, since the moment I met you I’ve felt like I’ve been in a whirlwind. I don’t know which way is up anymore and, if going back to my old life means I can’t have you in it, I’m not sure I want to go there. I don’t know what the future will hold for us. Hell, I’m not even sure what the next few hours will bring. All I’m asking is that you trust me to make the best decisions I can, knowing all the variables and talents of the people on our team.”

  Elaine sat quietly for a long time, and he hoped she was seriously contemplating everything he’d said. He’d laid it all on the line. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but he’d do it in a heartbeat if he thought it would keep her safe. The predator inside him demanded her compliance but the man knew it would be better to have her willing cooperation.

  “Thank you for being honest with me.” She took his hand, and he felt his heart rise with hope. “I think I understand better now and I’ll do my best to follow orders like a good little soldier, but I have to warn you I’ve always been a free spirit and a bit of a troublemaker.”

  Her beautiful dark eyes lit with laughter, and Cade breathed a huge sigh of relief. She’d forgiven him for being such an unbending Alpha. Now maybe he could convince her to stay with him for a while after this was over. He hadn’t yet had enough of her and thought perhaps he never would. He was beginning to hope they’d have a chance to discover if they could be the exception to the rule—or not.

  “You’re a beautiful woman, Elaine Spencer, and I’m not worthy of you, but I hope you’ll keep slumming with me for a long time to come.”

  “That sounds serious,” she quipped, but her eyes held questions. “I hate to be a pain, but what about the biting? Ria seemed to think I shouldn’t let you off the hook until you’ve told me what it all means.”

  Cade gave her a dramatic sigh. “Oh, all right. Let’s go upstairs, and I’ll fill you in on all the sordid details.”

  Hand in hand they left the conference room and headed upstairs together. They passed Ray in the hall but didn’t see anyone else as they made their way to the suite that had become their private retreat.

  “When a shifter marks his lover it implies a mutual bond. In our case, it also states unequivocally that you’re under my protection. Any other shifter seeing my mark would know immediately that to insult you is to insult me. Considering I’m an Alpha, the threat of my displeasure should carry a lot of weight.”

  They sat near the table where they’d eaten breakfast by mutual unspoken agreement. Cade knew it would be too tempting to sit on the bed with her. If she really wanted to talk, the table was much safer.

  “Being an Alpha is that big a deal?”

  Cade had to suppress a grin. She knew so little about his people even though she’d been friends with a tiger her entire life. In a way it was sad the tigre blanche had never been able to be completely honest with her best friend. Elaine was the rare human who would have accepted and even celebrated their differences while still being Gina’s best friend.

  “Being an Alpha isn’t some kind of title we’re awarded. It’s innate. It’s how I was born. Some might say it was my destiny. The majority of shifters follow an Alpha Pride or Pack leader. In the normal course of things, I would establish my own Pride once I found a mate. Other pantera noir could petition to join my Pride, or once my mate and I had adult cubs, they could join by marriage. There are other ways, but those are the main ones. Everyone in my Pride would be subject to my rule, and I would be responsible for them. As Alpha it’s up to me to protect them and their cubs, to make decisions that allow them to flourish as families and individuals. It’s also the Alpha’s duty to settle disputes and dispense justice within the Pride.”

  “So it’s sort of like being king of all you survey.” Amusement danced in her eyes as she
teased him.

  “Watch it, you.” Cade tugged on her hair playfully. “That’s the normal course of events for an Alpha, but I’m relatively young and unmated. On top of that I’m a Royal Guard and close relation of the Nyx. With that combination, my life is a little different than the norm. Royal Guards are almost always Alphas and usually unmated. Bonnie and Ray retired recently because they want to start a family. Most consider being a Guard too dangerous when you also have cubs to protect, so a lot of Guards retire when they start their families.”

  “So Bonnie and Ray are both Alphas too?”

  “You’re catching on. Yes, they are and once they get pregnant, they’ll probably get out of this game altogether. Right now they’re helping out because of the fiasco with Billy Bob and Ria’s presence in their chosen hometown.”

  “I saw the marks on Bonnie’s neck when we were looking through her closet,” Elaine said quietly. “It looked different than the bites you gave me.”

  “That’s because what you saw was a mating mark.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  Cade shifted in his seat. “I was very careful not to break your skin when I bit you. Each time we make love and you agree to the bite, the drive will grow stronger in me to want to bite harder and deeper.”

  “That sounds painful,” she said, but Cade heard the catch in her voice. He felt the same little gasp in his gut that made him want to find out exactly what it would be like.

  “Pain mixed with pleasure so intense you barely notice anything other than the ecstasy. At least that’s what my father told me when he explained the facts of life.” Cade grinned, showing his teeth to her in a calculated display meant to flirt. Among shifters a showing of teeth often prefaced a steamy interlude. But Ellie was human. He had to keep reminding himself of that incontrovertible fact. That he had to remind himself at all was worrisome and divine all at the same time.

  “I bet he said something like ‘don’t bite a girl unless you mean it’, eh?”

  Cade should have known she’d see the humor in things. She was a positive kind of person he was coming to discover. She tended toward optimism, while he too often took the other extreme. She was good for him, in that way—and in so many others.

  “Something like that,” he agreed, but he had more to explain. He’d promised he would give her the details before they went any further, even if what he told her made her turn away. He had to be honest with her. He had to take the chance.

  “I’ve bitten you more than once. The first time I lost my head. I admit it. It wasn’t my proudest moment.” He tried to look regretful, but he really didn’t regret a single minute of making love to Elaine. “The second time, I asked—and although you probably didn’t know what you were agreeing to, which was a somewhat dirty trick on my part—you agreed. The first bite started something, the second made it stronger. Though I didn’t break the skin, the panther wants it. Hell, he demands it. If we continue down this path, it could lead to lifelong bonding. Mating.”

  “But we can’t. Humans and shifters don’t mix if Bonnie is to be believed.”

  Cade rubbed his forehead with one hand. “I don’t honestly know what to do about this, El. All I think we can do is take one day at a time. Maybe this will sort itself out somehow. Or maybe we can coast along for a while as we are, putting off any major decisions for later. I’m just not sure about that. But I am sure I want to be with you. I want you in my bed, and I want to make love to you as often as you’ll let me.”

  Cade was gratified when he looked up and saw the fire in her eyes. His passion wasn’t misplaced. She had just as much desire for him as he did for her. But of the two of them, she was probably the more cautious. She visibly tamped down her response, opting to continue talking.

  Cade could have groaned, but he’d promised. He’d explain anything and everything she wanted to know. He owed it to her after the way he’d taken advantage of her ignorance the first few times they’d made love.

  “And the mating mark?” she asked, getting him back on track.

  “Results from a special bite given only when both parties intend to join for life. Breaking your skin with my teeth would let me taste drops of your blood and the enzymes in my saliva would enter your body, never to be removed. The level of certain enzymes in our systems increases exponentially when a shifter wants to mate. Nobody knows exactly how, but even a full-fledged break-the-skin bite at other times won’t form the unique mate bond—only when the shifter wants it, body and soul.”

  “So you bite me full out and drink my blood. I thought that was a vampire thing.”

  “Only a small amount of blood is actually spilled, and we don’t crave blood or need it like bloodletters do. It’s a totally different thing. But we are hunters, top-of-the-food-chain carnivores. We don’t shy away from blood. We like the taste of it. If you were a shifter, you’d bite me and if we’d agreed to mate, you’d want that reciprocal bond of my blood and your enzymes in me. Because of the enzymes, that kind of bite leaves a different kind of mark when it heals. Those are mating marks.”

  “So Ray has the same marks Bonnie has?”

  Cade nodded. “If you saw his neck, you’d see Bonnie’s marks on him, yes. They’re joined for life. There’s no such thing as divorce among shifters.”

  “So there’s no going back?”

  “No. No going back once the marks are made. Although with us I’m not sure how deep a mating bond would really go. My parents always taught me that mates needed to be near each other. The enzymes create a physical bridge between them. When mates are apart, they begin to crave one another, sometimes to a very serious extent. They can get irrational if kept apart too long and will attack anyone who stands between them and their mate. With a human in the mix, I’m not sure if the bond would be as strong, though there are some schools of thought that say it would produce an even stronger than usual bond because of the intricacies of human body chemistry. Some of our shifter doctors have studied this stuff, but I’m not an expert.”

  “Sounds like you’ve given it some thought.”

  She smiled at him, and he felt his heart lurch. If truth be known, he’d spent a lot of his free time looking into the matter since meeting her. He’d read through the findings of shifter doctors who’d put forward various theories on the subject and learned the intricacies of inter-species mating was an up-and-coming field of study. Apparently population specialists had figured that if shifters didn’t start to mate with humans again, eventually many of their clans would die out for lack of members.

  Weres had been known to mate humans more often than big cat shifters and seemed to have suffered no ill effects on their bloodlines from it. Cade took that evidence as hope for his relationship with Elaine—if it went that far. It was early days yet but if his panther had any say in the matter, Elaine Spencer would one day bear his cubs.

  The thought gave him pause.

  “I’ve looked into it.” He reached over to tuck her hair back away from her face. “Strangely enough, I’ve developed a fascination with the topic of human-shifter mating of late.”

  She gave him a sultry smile. “Well then, why don’t we give you a chance to do some hands-on research?”

  Cade loved her playful side and loved even more her willingness to accept him—and all his many faults. He stood and swept her into his arms, startling a yelp from her as she scrambled to steady herself by wrapping her arms around his neck.

  He strode over to the bed and lay her down upon it. She pulled the pretty caftan up over her hips and he did the rest, flinging it across the room before attacking his own buttons. Elaine worked on his zipper while he ripped the last few buttons clean off his shirt. Her touch made him impatient and unable to wait.

  With a growl, he took over, slinging off the pants and throwing them after his ruined shirt. Elaine grinned at his lack of control, spurring him to even greater action.

  He ran his hands down the sides of her body from shoulders to knees, loving the soft feel of he
r skin against his palms. She had the most luscious skin. He could stroke her for hours, but there were more important things to do. Namely, her.

  Cade licked his lips as he crouched over her. She made room for him, eagerly spreading her legs so he could kneel between.

  “I’ve thought about almost nothing else but this since this morning. If I haven’t managed to say it well enough before, I’m crazy about you, Ellie.” He looked deep into her eyes. “I’ve never felt this way before about anyone.”

  “Oh, Cade.” She reached up and stroked his cheek. Her eyes held mysteries and so much caring, it made something inside him turn over and resettle in newer, more powerful lines. “I’m crazy about you too.” She lifted to give him a quick, tender kiss, then whispered, “Let’s go crazy together.” A saucy wink fired his blood, revving his engines for more.

  “How do you want it, Ellie?”

  She wasted no time, pushing at his shoulder until he gave way. They rolled until she was astride him, over him, tantalizing him with her beautiful body and killer smile.

  “I want to do you this time, Cade.” Her sultry whisper nearly made him tremble as she leaned in to nibble her way down his neck to his chest. When she hesitated over the place where his neck joined his shoulder, rubbing lightly with her comparatively blunt teeth in the place where a shifter mate would leave her mark, Cade stiffened with fierce arousal.

  “Ellie…” His voice was a low growl of warning as she tested his limits of control.

  “Mmm.” Her breath sent soft puffs of air against his skin, making him shiver. “I love it when you growl at me.” She punctuated her words with gentle, biting kisses down his pectoral muscle. “And I’ve been wondering for a while what it would take to make you roar.”

  “Keep doing that, and you’ll find out.”

  When she licked over his nipple it was all he could do not to grab her head and hold her still. She was temptation made flesh—a beautiful creature sent from the heavens to entice him with her alluring ways. He wanted to roll her over and plunge into her, but he’d agreed to let her have her way this time. The need to hold back might kill him, but he’d die with a smile on his face.