Heart of a Warrior

by Theodora Lane

  Do what she could to survive. Had her mother thought the same? Fiona knew when it all went wrong for her mom—the moment that bastard Gary came on the scene.

  But it wasn’t the same for Fiona; she was in a better place in her life. Nic had told her he loved her, but he’d never asked her to marry him. And they never talked about what they would do if they just happened to make a mistake.

  They’d only had sex a couple of times. Either she was really fertile or he was very potent. Well, if they were an accident waiting to happen, her mother and father must have been a train wreck.

  She rubbed her tummy. True, it was an accident. They didn’t mean to make a baby. So how could she think this new life inside her was a mistake? Mistakes were to be erased. Wiped out. Destroyed.

  Who was she kidding? She couldn’t even destroy Ivan and Annie, and they were vampires for Christ’s sake! How could she even think of destroying her baby? Fiona pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them.

  I’m going to have a baby. She bit her bottom lip and tried to keep from smiling.

  Nic’s baby. She had to tell him, didn’t she? She’d always hated those women who never told the men about their children. Never gave them the opportunity to participate or not, just took the decision from them, robbing them, in a sense.

  She wouldn’t do that to Nic. He had to know; the only question was when. She needed some time to think about it and about how she was going to break it to him. She’d give them both a few months, and then she’d talk to him.

  Telling him about the baby would be the hardest thing she’d done since she told him she didn’t love him.

  Fiona left the bathroom. Ben and Jerry were calling her name.

  — • —

  “Who the hell is that?”

  Fiona put her spoon and the carton of Chocolate Decadence ice cream down with a growl and dragged herself off the couch to answer the pounding on her door. She was pissed at being interrupted. Where was her sword?

  Was it possible her hormones were raging so soon?

  She pulled her pink bathrobe tighter around her, pushed the hair from her face, and padded to the door in three-day-old, lime green socks.

  “All right, just a minute!” Forget the sword; she just might throttle the person on the other side of the door with her bare hands, except she was just too damn tired.

  Oh yeah, her hormones were raging.

  She undid the locks. “What do you want?” she grumbled as she pulled the door open.

  Nic stood there, hand raised for another battery of knocks, and their eyes met.

  “I’m not ready to talk to you. It’s too soon!” She tried to close the door on him, but Nic stuck his foot in the door, wedging it open.

  “I don’t care. I have to tell you something, Fiona.”

  “I’m pretty sure I know what you’re going to say, so don’t bother.”

  “I can kick down the door, you know.”

  She abandoned the door, flung herself on the couch, picked up the ice cream, and inspected what was left.

  Nic stood in front of her, his arms folded and muscles tense. The dark scowl on his face might have scared someone else but not her.

  Her gaze flicked up to him for a closer look. Compared to him, she looked good. Stubble covered his jaw, and there were dark circles under his eyes. A mixture of sweat and stale beer assailed her nostrils. At least she smelled better. Well, maybe.

  “I know you lied about Ivan and Annie.”

  “Cho told you? Figures. That rat.” Fiona winced and looked away.

  “Yeah, he told me. I wasn’t smart enough to figure it out.” Nic snorted.

  “Figure what out?” She dug around in the ice cream with her spoon, keeping her eyes on the near-empty carton.

  “What happened between us. I have something to say to you, and you’re going to hear it. Put down that ice cream and listen to me.”

  She tossed the carton and spoon on the table and crossed her arms. “Well, go ahead. Let me have it. I deserve it.” Sitting back, she closed her eyes and waited to hear the only man she had ever loved tell her how much he hated her for what she’d done to him.

  “All right. You have this coming.” He paused and took a breath. “I love you, Fiona. And if we’re going to get married and work together, we can’t lie to each other, ever.”

  Fiona opened her eyes and blinked back the tears stinging her eyes. “What did you say?” She looked at him, unbelieving.

  Nic dropped to his knee and took her hand.

  “Nic, what are you doing?” Had her heart stopped beating?

  “Well, if I knelt in front of those old men to give them my oath, I can do it when I ask the woman I love to marry me. I love you, darlin’. I don’t care if you let them go, I don’t care if you let the Devil himself go. I can’t stop loving you. I can’t stop wanting you.” He kissed her hands. “Even in that horrible old robe.”

  “But, Nic, I betrayed you. And I lied to you. Twice. I deliberately hurt you. How can you say you still love me?” Fiona’s tears ran down her cheeks. She didn’t deserve his love.

  “Because I do. When it’s all said and done, it didn’t change the way I feel about you. Forget it. It was my fault, anyway. I was too stupid, too pigheaded, to see you were right. Marry me. I want you by my side, every day and every night.” He stood and pulled her to her feet.

  She searched his face, his eyes, for any flicker of doubt, but she couldn’t find any. She leaned against him, melting into him as his arms enfolded her and pulled her tight to his chest. How could her heart stop beating in one moment and then leap for joy in the next?

  Fiona blew a puff of breath to ruffle her bangs. It was time. Nic had to be told. She became very serious, and she took his hands in hers. Now for the deal breaker.

  “Nic, we have to talk.” She bit her lip.

  “I don’t like the sound of that.” He frowned.

  “Nic. I’m pregnant.”

  “Pregnant?” He grabbed her by the arms.

  “Yeah.” He gazed over her head at the wall, so she continued, “I know this changes everything. If you want to take back your marriage proposal, I understand.” Waiting on him to speak was worse than waiting on the damn stick to turn pink.

  “A baby?” He looked at her. “Our baby?”

  “No, Nic. Me and the lizard.” She rolled her eyes and hit him on the arm. “Of course, our baby.” She wondered if this was sinking in at all. He could be so dense. Must be all the muscles.

  “Is it a boy or a girl?” He looked at her, his dark eyes so serious she wondered if there was a wrong or right answer.

  “Well, it’s too soon to tell. I’ll find out in a few more months.”

  “A baby?” Nic’s eyes glazed over like a catfish stunned by a two-by-four.

  Fiona spoke very slow and pronounced each word so he could understand. “Yes, a ba-by. I’m go-ing to have a ba-by.”

  They just stared at each other. Fiona couldn’t stand it anymore. She slugged him in the arm.

  “Say something, Nic! Anything! That you don’t want the baby. That you do. That you still love me, or you hate me. Just say something.”

  “I love you. I want our baby. I want to marry you. Does that about cover it?” His grin was so big that it dissolved into laughter. He swept her up in his arms.

  “I hope it’s a boy.” He kissed her.

  “Not a girl?” She frowned.

  “Okay, a girl. Just like you. I don’t really care, but I always pictured a son. If this is a girl, then maybe the next one will be a boy. Or the third.” Nic squeezed her to him, and her feet lost contact with the floor. “Hell, we could have twins for all I care. I should call Zeke, tell him the good news. I want him to be my best man.”

  Throwing her arms around his neck, she kissed him.

  “I love you, Nic, you big lug!”

  “You didn’t answer me. Will you marry me?”

  “Yes, I’ll marry you, Nicodemus.” She looked up as his mouth came down on her
s to crush against her lips. The fire burning inside both of them ignited. Nic sat on the couch and pulled her into his lap, still kissing her lips, her eyes, her hair, her neck. He loosened the sash of her robe and slipped his hand inside to cup her breast.

  “Promise me one thing?” He kissed his way down her throat.

  “What?”

  “You’ll get rid of this robe. And those socks.”

  “Nic?” He continued to nuzzle her.

  “Are you going to tell me your last name? I want to practice saying Mrs. Fiona…”

  He laughed. “It’s Marks. Nicodemus Marks, at your service.” He touched his fingers to his forehead in a salute. Then he pulled her back into his arms to kiss her. “Fiona Marks. Sounds good.”

  “I like it too. Nic?”

  “Hmm?” More kisses. She was definitely sitting against something wonderfully long and hard.

  “What will the Council of Twelve say about this?” She kissed his neck and edged lower.

  “Congratulations?”

  “It’s best wishes for the bride, congrats for the groom.”

  “What about ‘mazel tov’?” His thumb brushed her nipple, and she wiggled against his erection.

  “With those old guys, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  “We have to tell Cho.” Fiona sat up.

  “Cho can wait.” Nic stood and pulled her to her feet. “But I can’t.”

  Nic picked Fiona up, tossed her over his shoulder, and headed down the hall.

  She tapped him on the back. “Nic, you stink.”

  He tapped her bottom. “Fiona, so do you.”

  He stopped at her bedroom door and then backed up to the bathroom. Pushing open the door with his foot, he stepped inside and then lowered Fiona’s feet to the floor. He started removing his clothes as she began to pull her robe and socks off.

  She turned on the water in the shower. Naked, they stepped in, and warm water splashed over their bodies. Fiona picked up the soap, began to lather it in her hands and then spread it all over Nic’s chest.

  Nic leaned back against the tiles, enjoying her touch as she scrubbed him down.

  “God, Fiona, I missed you.”

  Her hands gentled as she washed his jutting cock. It was more beautiful than she remembered, thick, brown, its tip like velvet.

  “I can see that.” She resumed her scrubbing as she moved to his thighs. He had the most beautiful body she’d ever seen, and it was going to be hers for the rest of her life.

  “Nic, I need you.” He took the soap from her and spread thick lather over her, starting with her breasts and then gliding lower, sending her liquid heat surging.

  Falling to his knees, he kissed her belly and then ran soapy hands over it.

  “Making love won’t hurt the baby, will it?” Nic frowned up at her.

  “No, Nic. It won’t hurt the baby.”

  “Good. I don’t want to hold back. Not right now.” He covered her dark mound with soap, his fingers questing between her folds.

  Fiona’s body called to his and he answered her.

  — • —

  Far away, a lizard danced on the branch of a tree.

  — • —

  Farther away, in a dark room below the lowest basement of the Smithsonian, the Board of Elders met. There were five new members, all females, who, according to their first vote, from now on were to be referred to as women, not “females” and not “bitches.”

  The males refused to change their designations. One of the women had moved for it to be “jerks,” but it was stricken from the records before being seconded. The males had kept the majority. Still, times had changed, power had shifted, and heads had rolled. It had been business as usual.

  The meeting came to order. The secretary, a thin, pale vampire who’d managed to keep his position since no one else wanted it, read the minutes of the last month's meeting. They were seconded and approved.

  The director of the Board, a powerful vampire who had held on to his position for the last two hundred years with cunning, wit, and ruthlessness, rose to address both the new and old members.

  “Is there any new business?” His deep voice rumbled off the brick walls of the room. Looking down the long table where the other twelve members sat, he waited.

  Lila pushed back her chair and stood to address the Council for the first time as a new member of the Board of Elders.

  “The murderers of Marcos, one of the most respected and longtime members of this honored Board, and the other slain brethren, must not be allowed to go free. Vampire and mortal alike, they must be hunted down and punished.” She looked each of the Board members in the eyes.

  “I call for vendetta.”

  About the Author

  Theodora Lane was born in the South and raised by her grandmother, who taught her the art of the backhanded compliment, how to make sweet tea, and that you can never have too many husbands, just not at the same time.

  By day Theodora lives an unassuming life, having lunch with the ladies, attending baby showers, and playing refined card games. By night, she writes wickedly sexy and funny stories, hangs out in bars, and gathers ideas for her next book.

  http://www.lynnlorenz.com/about-thedora/

  Taliesin Publishing thrives on introducing you to new authors and stories. If you enjoyed this book, please continue reading for excepts of two additional stories we think you’ll love. And if you do, please spread the word.

  Tarnished by Becca Jameson

  Coming August 1, 2013

  Chapter One

  “Have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Mackenzie Rogers snorted in her sister’s direction and took another bite of her Lucky Charms. No matter how old she got, she’d never be too old for the perfect bite of marshmallows and cereal.

  “You’re kidding, right?” Kathleen stopped midstride between the fridge and the table. “You aren’t really going to skip the gathering, are you? Mom and Dad will have a fit.”

  “They can fly a kite for all I care. That stupid bi-annual event makes me want to vomit. No way in hell am I going to participate in such a farce again this year.” Mackenzie took another bite, crunching into the cereal and spooning up a balanced combo for her next bite.

  Kath took a seat next to Kenzie and grabbed for the red box of sugary goodness. “Hey, you ate almost all of this.”

  Kenzie smiled through a mouthful. “Uh-huh.” She swallowed. “And it’s the last box too.”

  “Who peed in your cereal this morning?” Kath scowled.

  “Nobody. I’m perfectly happy. I have a nice human boyfriend, a college degree, a job, and plenty of friends. I’m about as fantastic as a person can get.” She smiled at her sister. “I sure don’t need to attend some match festival to find some barbaric mate. Been there. Done that. Have the mental scars to prove it.”

  Kathleen narrowed her gaze at Kenzie. “I don’t know what happened to you two years ago, but that was last time. How do you know this gathering will be the same? You were only twenty-one last festival. Now, you’re more…mature…sometimes.” Kath ducked when Kenzie swung at her sister’s head, managing to swat her on the top.

  “And now I’m wiser. Older. Less stupid. And in no need of a matchmaking service. Boyfriend, remember? Human boyfriend. Sexy, human boyfriend who has a job and likes me for who I am.” Kath had no idea that Kenzie’s mental scars went way deeper than just the last gathering. The events of two years ago paled in comparison to what happened four years ago. Mackenzie kept those details to herself, buried deep inside.

  “Really? And who does he think you are exactly? Have you told him about your tendency to shift into a wolf now and then and run free in the forest?” Kath grinned big.

  Of course Kenzie hadn’t told him anything of the sort. And she never intended to. “What makes you such an expert? How many guys have you dated, smarty pants?” Kenzie knew her sister hadn’t dated a single guy. She was just twenty-one herself.

  “That’s why I’m going to the gathering, smarta
ss. Dating humans is a pain in the butt. It can’t go anywhere long term. Sure, you have a degree and a pseudo-job, but your human boyfriend is a farce, and all those friends you claim to have are really his.” Kathleen’s honesty was over-the-top.

  “When I need your opinion next time, I’ll ask for it.”

  It was tough being a shapeshifter and living among regular humans. Stressful at best. Downright annoying most of the time. Wolves could scent almost anything. Fear. Anxiety. Stress. Arousal… It gave them both an advantage and a disadvantage. It sucked royally when Kenzie was out with friends and realized one of them didn’t like her. That was why wolves tended to mate with their own kind. It was so much easier than dealing with the nuances of the human world.

  But Kenzie had no interest in following wolf tradition and allowing some supposed ruling of fate to determine who, where, and when she mated. It sickened her. She was in control of her own destiny. Definitely.

  And lately, things were looking up. Darrell adored her. He was the first man she’d ever dated who truly enjoyed her company, didn’t pressure her to have sex, and smelled fantastically of…well, Darrell. Nothing was going to ruin the human high she was enjoying.

  “Have you told Mom and Dad this decision yet?” Kath tipped her bowl and drank the rest of the sugary milk.

  “Nope.” She was putting it off.

  “We’re leaving in about an hour, ya know. For the opening day.”

  “Yep. And like I said, have fun.” Kenzie scooted her chair back, letting it scrape against the floor with an annoying screech that always pissed her sister off.

  “Mackenzie Renae, how many times have I asked you not to do that? It scratches the wood floor and…” Kenzie’s mother, Carina, paused midsentence. “Why aren’t you dressed?”

  Kathleen chuckled. “’Cause she isn’t going with us.” She ran from the room. The bitch.

  Their youngest sister, nineteen-year-old Cassidy, came in on her mother’s heels. “What’s going on? Why is Kath running?”

  Kenzie’s mother didn’t look amused. As Kenzie deposited her bowl in the sink, her mother stared her down. “Tell me this is some sort of joke? What, are you sick?”