Prim and Proper Fate (Twisted Fate Series Book 2)

by Tami Lund

  “It’s because you don’t trust yourself to stay away from me, so you expect me to be the one to walk away.”

  Prim’s breath hitched. Damn it, he was right.

  “But here’s what I don’t get,” he said, almost thoughtfully, as he stepped up next to the bed and idly eyed the clothing and accessories perfectly situated inside the suitcase. “What are you going to do when I show up on your doorstep in eight months?”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because my mate will be fat with child, and probably won’t be in the mood to let me bang her anymore. Plus, I’m not even sure I’ll be attracted to her, since she’s all pert and cute right now and I’m not even attracted to her. Not sure how I’m going to manage to get it up when her stomach’s so big it gets in the way.”

  “Brandon, you aren’t that heartless, and you know—”

  He talked right over her, saying, “So I’m going to want a little strange. Well, not really strange. I’m going to want what I’m really attracted to. I’m going to want you.”

  Prim shook her head. “That’s ridiculous. She’ll be—”

  “So if I show up on your doorstep and tell you that I need a little release, and you don’t have the willpower to say no, where is that going to leave us, Prim? What happens then? How will you feel afterward, knowing you just helped your Chala’s mate cheat on her?”

  “Brandon, stop it,” she admonished. “You and I both know you won’t do that.”

  Brandon shrugged. “Okay, then let’s look at another scenario: how the hell are we supposed to produce more Chala and more Light Ones, when I won’t even be able to get it up enough to put my seed into her in the first place?”

  Prim rolled her eyes. “You never have issues with that.” It seemed to her he had an almost perpetual hard on.

  “I never have issues getting it up for you.”

  “Lily is a lovely girl,” Prim insisted. “And she resembles me, somewhat. If you are attracted to me, I see no reason why you wouldn’t be attracted to her. Not to mention the connection between Chala and Light Ones. You can’t tell me you didn’t sense it, after Gavin cut her.”

  “Actually, I sensed it the first time I spoke to her, on the phone. I sensed a sort of . . . familiarity, I suppose. There was nothing sexual about it. And she isn’t you, Prim. Not by a long shot. In fact, she’s more like Sydney than you, and Sydney’s like a sister to me. So if we connect the dots . . .”

  “Why are you being so difficult?” Prim asked. She threw her hands in the air and paced to the window and back. “This is the way it has to be, Brandon. Why can’t you see that? You and I should never have slept together in the first place. Fates and shifters aren’t meant to be together.”

  “Who are Fates meant to be with then?”

  Prim’s mouth formed into a thin line and she wrapped her arms around her waist. “I don’t know,” she finally admitted. “No one, I suppose.”

  “That’s just stupid,” he said flatly. “Everyone deserves to be with someone. Even Fates.”

  “Then I guess we should be with each other,” she snapped. “I suppose I could finally give in to Killian’s advances.”

  Brandon stalked around the bed, a murderous look on his face. “If you even so much as think about sleeping with that asshole, I’ll kill him.”

  “He’s a Fate. He’ll just regenerate.”

  “I will stalk him. And every time he comes back, I’ll kill him again.”

  “Oh for the love of the Fates, Brandon. Now you’re just being ridiculous.”

  “No,” he said. “You are.” He jabbed his finger at her chest. “You know we belong together, Prim. Why are you trying to deny it?”

  “Because it isn’t true,” she protested. “We aren’t even the same species!”

  “How come I can sense your feelings?”

  Prim waved her hand helplessly. “It’s because of Lily,” she sputtered. “You should be with her. It’s only natural you would feel a connection to her Fate.”

  “How come you can sense my feelings?”

  She dismissed that out of hand. “Same reason.”

  “How come you healed me so effectively?”

  Prim hesitated, just a fraction. “All Fates have the ability to heal.”

  “To varying degrees. But that isn’t your strong suit, is it? Sydney and Lily were still hurting today, while I feel like a million bucks. And I remember passing out from the pain last night, Prim. It was bad.”

  “I–I—” She struggled with a response. “Your injuries were significantly worse than theirs,” she finally sputtered, and then her eyes widened, as she realized her mistake.

  “Yes,” he agreed. “They were.”

  Prim shook her head, denying it. “You don’t know what you’re saying, Brandon.”

  “Yes, I do. When a Light One finds his mate, she has the ability to heal him. And vice versa. I wonder if it goes both ways in our case?”

  “It doesn’t,” she insisted. “I’m a Fate. We do not mate with shifters. I don’t know why I healed you so effectively last night.”

  “Or why we fit so well together?”

  “What? In bed? You’ve never fit with any of your other bed partners before?”

  “Not like I fit with you. Fates, Prim. I can’t seem to last more than five minutes when we’re together, and I can assure you I’ve never been a minute man before, at least not since my twentieth birthday.”

  “I’m not sure that’s a particularly redeeming quality,” Prim said tartly.

  “It wouldn’t be, if you didn’t have the exact same problem. But every time I start to worry that I’m going to get there first, you come apart in my arms. Every time, Prim. That’s because we’re meant to be together. I don’t care what species we are,” he insisted.

  “I can’t do this, Brandon.” She abruptly turned and strode toward the door. He beat her there, pressing his palm flat on the smooth wood. He stood behind her, so close she could feel the heat radiating off his warmer-than-average body. Her body instantly began to hum.

  “Resist me, Prim,” he murmured, close to her ear. “Walk away. If you can, I’ll let you. I’ll mate with your Chala, like you want me to.” He stepped closer and his erection brushed against her quivering ass. She winced. Her breathing became erratic as her heart rate stepped up to a gallop.

  Brandon took his palm away from the door, but he did not step away from her. He simply stood there, waiting.

  When she stayed where she was for too long, she began to feel the doubt creeping into his mind. He was worried. He was really worried she could walk away from him.

  Which was utterly and completely ridiculous.

  With a small sob, she turned around and launched herself at him. He staggered, clearly not expecting quite that enthusiastic of a reaction. She hooked one leg around the back of his knees and pushed, and they fell to the floor together.

  “Fu— Ah, damn— Ah, Fates, that hurt!” he protested.

  “Don’t worry,” Prim assured him as she straddled his hips and grabbed his shirt and tugged it over his head. “I’ll heal you. Just lay there and let it happen.”

  “Uh . . . okay.”

  Prim gave him a catlike smile, and then she bent over and kissed him. He didn’t just lay there and let it happen. He participated. Enthusiastically.

  Lily was not at all pleased with her current position. Somehow, she’d ended up trapped in what she assumed was a library, alone with Killian, the sleazy Fate. She’d only been curious and wanted to read about the history of shifters. She was one, after all, but she knew precious little about her own species, or that other type, the Rakshasa. And now that she was forced to mingle with an entire pack of Light Ones, she wanted to know as much as she could about them. She’d always craved knowledge, and h
ad always turned to books for her answers. Probably a result of being raised on a desert island where there was no Internet or television.

  Unfortunately, the library turned out to be Killian’s bedroom, and Killian was under the very mistaken impression that if she was in his bedroom, it meant she must want more from him than to borrow a book or two.

  “I was looking for a book,” she insisted, yet again. She glanced out the window to judge the time, a trick Prim had taught her: use the position of the sun or moon to determine the time of day or night.

  Twenty minutes to go. Twenty minutes before she told Brandon that Sydney had gone to meet Gavin, and Brandon and Prim would race to her rescue, so Prim could curse Gavin and everybody could live happily ever after.

  “In my bedroom?” Killian inquired with fake politeness. His beady eyes watched her with the same hungry look all those stupid shifters gave her. She’d had very little experience with the opposite sex, but she’d already determined she was not in the least attracted to overzealous men. It was as if they had no sense of self-respect. How could she possibly commit to spending the rest of eternity with someone with no self-respect?

  Not that Killian wanted the rest of eternity. No, he just wanted one night. Or, most likely, a couple hours. Or maybe only a few minutes? She was woefully inexperienced with the ways of men and their desires and urges. Prim had taught her more than she ever cared to know about beauty rituals, but she’d completely avoided giving Lily any knowledge whatsoever about the opposite sex.

  “What you don’t know, you won’t crave,” Prim had told her once, when she caught Lily filching one of her romance novels.

  Lily supposed there was something to that bit of advice. She certainly didn’t crave Killian. Not in the least.

  “I didn’t realize the library was in your bedroom,” she said.

  “Yes, well, it is.” Killian snapped his fingers and the lights dimmed perceptibly.

  Fates save us from, well . . . Fates, Lily thought with an internal sigh.

  “It’s awfully hard to read in the dark,” she pointed out diplomatically.

  “You and I both know you have no intention of reading in here.” He walked toward her, slowly, unbuttoning his shirt as he did so.

  “I don’t?”

  “Of course not,” Killian assured her. “Although why you chose to wait until we arrived here to give in to your desires, I have no idea. I would have much rather stayed on your island.”

  Give in to my desires? Which desires are those?

  She stood up from the desk chair where she’d been sitting, inspecting the titles of Killian’s books. Ten minutes to go. She should probably begin to search Brandon out. She hadn’t seen him in a while. He could be anywhere.

  “Where are you going?” Killian asked, stepping into her path, effectively blocking her exit.

  “I need to speak to Brandon.”

  It was clearly the wrong thing to say. Killian’s face contorted in anger. “First Prim, now you? What the hell is it about that shifter?”

  “I’m not—”

  “What? Sleeping with him? I should hope not. It isn’t right that he should be doing both the Chala and her Fate. Although frankly, it’s an abomination he’s sleeping with Prim at all. She’s a Fate, for the love of it all. Fates shouldn’t sleep with shifters.”

  Lily gave him an incredulous look. “Wait. Isn’t that what you’re trying to do with me?”

  “Yes, but it’s different.”

  “How so?”

  “You’re a Chala.”

  “Isn’t a Chala a shifter?”

  “Well, technically yes, but—”

  “But nothing, you hypocrite! What will it take to get through to you? Prim is in love with Brandon, and I’m–I’m–well, I’m not sure what I’m doing, precisely. But it certainly isn’t sleeping with you. Now if you’ll excuse me.” She held her head high and strode purposefully toward the door. He grabbed her arm as she tried to sweep by.

  “Chala, listen to me. That shifter is all wrong for her. It’s as bad as that Rakshasa, sleeping with the other Chala. This pack is just wrong. I can’t help but think we should wipe you all out and start over.”

  Lily wrenched her arm away from him. “If you wipe all of us out, there is no starting over,” she said coldly. Even she knew that. She and Sydney were the last Chala left. If one of them didn’t procreate, well, Killian just might get his wish–if his wish was to annihilate the Light One population. And if that happened, eventually, the human population would be wiped out, as the Rakshasa freely used them as entrées. And then all there would be left were Fates. Which, she supposed, might finally make Killian happy. Maybe then Prim would give him the time of day.

  “No she wouldn’t,” Lily said, finishing her thought out loud. “I suspect that if Prim had to choose between you and William, she would choose William. At least he knows what the word ‘no’ means.” She gave him a small shove and Killian stumbled a few feet, his mouth working soundlessly.

  As she hurried out of the room, she couldn’t help but wonder: why was he still hitting on her? Gaya had cursed him solidly back on the island, so he couldn’t do anything about it if he wanted to.

  With less than ten minutes to Sydney’s deadline, Lily hurried through the house, heading outside to the training field, where she assumed she would find Brandon.

  But he wasn’t there. Unfortunately, a small contingency of other shifters from their pack were, and it took her far too long to extract herself from their clutches, as they all attempted to one up each other in an effort to impress her. She wanted to scream at them, “It doesn’t work! Stop showing off, if you want to impress me!” But she didn’t.

  Sydney’s life was on the line, and she’d run out of time. She had to find Brandon and tell him where she was. He had to save her. She rushed back to the house and nearly collided with William, who was carrying a bag of trash out the backdoor at the same time.

  “Whoa, Lily, slow down. Something wrong?” He glanced over her shoulder, as if he expected someone or something to be pursuing her.

  “I have to find Brandon,” she said in a rush.

  William’s face took on a worried look. “Why?” he asked sharply.

  “I just need to talk to him.”

  “About what?”

  “Why are you so concerned?” Lily demanded with exasperation.

  “I just . . . Have you, you know, decided on a . . . mate?”

  Lily gave him an incredulous look. “Are you insane? Of course not. Now, where is Brandon? I really, really need to speak with him.”

  “Oh, good. Not that you wouldn’t make a lovely couple, but honestly, I think Prim deserves her happily ever after. That’s why I’m so relieved.”

  “Okay, great. Now, do you know where he is?” Lily squeezed her hands into fists to keep from grasping his shoulders and shaking him. The Fate was not exactly one to get right to the point.

  “I suspect he and Prim are upstairs. But they probably don’t want to be—” His words were cut off when he simply . . . disappeared. The bag of trash he’d been carrying dropped to the floor with a thud.

  Lily blinked. “William?” she asked uncertainly. And then she realized what happened. “Oh no!” Sydney must have summoned her Fate. Which meant she was in trouble.

  “Brandon,” she shouted as she raced through the kitchen and practically flew up the stairs. She flung open the door to Prim’s bedroom and came to a skidding halt. Her eyes widened and her mouth formed an O as she stared at her Fate, sitting astride Brandon’s hips, as he lay on the floor, a few feet from the door. His fingers dug into her backside, his glowing gaze was glued intently on her face, and Prim rode him as if she were the champion bull rider at the rodeo.

  “Oh,” Lily said.

  “Shit!” Brandon win
ced and grabbed Prim, pulling her down on top of him, as his gaze darted around the room, no doubt searching for something to throw over top of them to hide their nakedness from Lily’s eyes.

  “Lily, I can explain,” he sputtered, but Prim interrupted.

  “Lily, I have something to tell you. Brandon and I are, that is, we’ve decided . . . we’re—”

  Lily waved impatiently. “Yes, yes, I know. You’re sleeping together. You’re madly in love with each other and you plan to be together forever. But we have more important issues right now.”

  Prim used a bit of magic to summon the sheet, which she used to wrap around herself.

  “What about me?” Brandon protested when Prim climbed off his lap.

  “Lily, turn around,” she commanded.

  Lily turned around. “Listen, I have something important to tell you.” She could hear Brandon scrambling to his feet and presumably getting dressed.

  “I assume we’ll continue this . . . soon?” he asked Prim. If the situation weren’t quite so desperate, Lily might have snickered at the way Prim’s cheeks reddened. She didn’t think she’d ever seen her Fate blush before.

  “I can’t believe you knew,” she said to Lily. “And you’re really okay with it?”

  “Can we discuss this later?” Lily asked.

  “If we’re discussing it later, then go away, so Prim and I can finish what you interrupted.”

  “Brandon, really,” Prim admonished.

  “You guys aren’t listening to me,” Lily complained.

  “Yes, we are,” Prim said. “You told us you’re perfectly fine with Brandon and I being together. I was really worried, you know. I intended to try to mate you to him.”

  “Me?” Lily squeaked. “But I don’t want to mate with Brandon.”

  “Well, that’s a relief,” Brandon said sarcastically.

  “Yes, well, we’ll have to start discussing who you should mate with, unfortunately,” Prim said with regret in her voice.