“Well, I think it all happened a really, really long time ago. I’m sure the prince wouldn’t know him.”
The others exchanged knowing looks.
“What?” Rena glanced at Kerry. “Am I missing something?”
“Richard and Salinda are over three hundred years old.” Kerry patted Rena’s hand and gave it a quick squeeze. “And they don’t look a day over thirty-five.”
“Another bonus of bonding with your mate,” Tati said. “You’ll hardly age.”
“That’s a perk.” Rena’s brows lifted, and she let out an awkward laugh. “No Botox needed.”
“If this Vito person is from the Fox Clan, then I would propose that Rena is somehow related to him.” William turned his ebony eyes to her, studying Rena intently, which unnerved her. “Perhaps you’re a niece or cousin of some kind.”
Rena rested her elbows on the table and put her head in her hands, letting out a long, slow breath. All of this would have been a hell of a lot easier to digest if Zander had stayed there to back her up, but he was probably sulking in his tent, thinking up ten different ways to introduce her to his brother.
“You okay?” Kerry rubbed her shoulder. “I know this is a lot to take in.”
“Yeah.” She lifted her head and gave Kerry a weak smile. “I’m just tired, and if you all don’t mind, I think I’m going to excuse myself and call it a night.”
“It’s all good, girl.” Kerry leaned over and pulled Rena into a warm hug. “Take it one step at a time, and don’t fight it. The universe has a way of working everything out, even if it’s not what you were expecting.”
“Thanks,” Rena whispered.
Chapter 17
Rena said her good-byes to the others after promising to join them all for a ride at the stables in the morning.
Once she was outside, the cool Montana air filled her lungs. It was far colder here than it had been back in Vegas, and the winds had picked up. The moonlight had been blotted out behind a bank of clouds, and based on the smell in the air, a storm was coming. A smile curved her lips. Zander had been right about her senses getting sharper.
Rena stopped for a second and closed her eyes. She tilted her nose to the sky and noted each of the scents she could identify. Hay. Horses. Earth. Cake from the party. A gust of wind rushed over her, and with it came Zander’s distinctly male scent, that mix of leather and musk. Rena shivered and wrapped her arms tighter around her before hurrying along the dirt road. Her senses weren’t the only part of her that was on overload. Rena’s heart was teetering on the edge of a cliff, and falling over into the abyss seemed all too possible.
When she rounded the bend, she was surprised to see the lights on inside their guesthouse. Her brow furrowed. She had turned them all off before she left, which meant Zander must be in there. Then, as if on cue, the son of a gun touched his mind to hers.
If you’re done chatting with your new buddies, we need to talk. His voice, deep and gruff, whisked into her mind suddenly and caused her to trip over her own feet. Now, Rena.
She regained her balance, and anger shimmied up her back, the intense surge of emotion causing her eyes to shift with a tingling snap. Rena stormed up the steps of the cottage and tore the door open before stomping inside. Zander was standing at the sliding glass door to the deck with his back to her, but he spun around as the door slammed shut.
“You’ve got balls, mister.”
“Excuse me?” He pushed his hair off his forehead before settling his hands on his hips. She noticed he was barefoot and wearing only a T-shirt and jeans. The man sure had made himself comfortable. “What’s the problem?”
“I trusted you,” she seethed. Her anger dissipated and gave way for the hurt beneath it, like sand spilling through an hourglass. “And you left me there. They started asking me questions about Vito and my heritage. You promised you wouldn’t leave me alone, and then you ditched me at dinner. And now you’re saying that you’re leaving in the morning. You’re just gonna split? That’s it? Poof. You’re gone?”
“If you would—”
“You don’t want to be my mate or whatever you want to call it, fine! But at the very least, I thought you were my friend.”
Rena closed the distance between them, each step punctuating her burgeoning frustration with him and the entire damned situation. The whole time, Zander remained silent, but his eyes had shifted, and the crimson orbs gleamed at her fiercely. His tall, muscular body loomed over her, but he didn’t make a move toward or away from her.
“I thought I could count on you,” she whispered shakily. “Boy, was I wrong.”
“Rena—”
“No, Zander!” She poked him in the chest with one finger. “You don’t get to say anything to me right now. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to let you into my life, let alone into my heart? I’ve spent almost my entire existence protecting myself, not letting people in, and keeping everyone at arm’s length. And then you came along and turned my entire world upside down.”
“Hang on—”
“No! You left me alone after promising me you wouldn’t, and then you have the nerve to bark orders at me, summoning me over here like I work for you. I don’t want to listen to you right now. I’m too pissed. I know you want to talk about your brother and me mating with him or getting him out of hibernation. But you know what? I don’t want to hear it. I’m going upstairs, and I’m going to take a shower.”
“We need to talk,” he growled.
“Too bad. You’ll have to wait. My back is killing me from riding on your damned motorcycle, and I need a good soak. Not only that, but I want to pretend for five minutes that my life hasn’t gotten completely out of control. I want to delude myself and act like I haven’t fallen in love with a man who is hell-bent on ditching me and giving me to his twin brother like I’m some kind of hand-me-down bicycle.”
She turned away with every intention of running upstairs, because the last thing she wanted to do was cry in front of him like some stupid, pathetic, lovelorn girl. Rena wanted to drown her tears in a steaming-hot shower, but Zander’s massive hand curled around her bicep, preventing her from going anywhere.
“Rena,” he whispered. “Please wait.”
Humiliation tinged with heartbreaking loss flooded her, because she could swear she detected pity in his voice. Rejection was bad enough, but pity? Oh, hell no. She would not let him feel sorry for her.
“No! Don’t you dare look at me like you feel sorry for me.”
“It’s not you I feel sorry for,” he ground out.
“Good. Because I’ll get over you,” she shot back. “It’s not even you that I’m pissed at. I’m disgusted with myself, because I did what I swore I would never do.” Rena yanked her arm free and shoved at his chest with both hands. “My life was just fine until you came barreling into it. I knew how to do that, you know? I knew how to be alone. I was an expert at standing on my own two feet and not needing anyone else. But now…do you have any idea what loving you has done to me?”
She sucked in a shuddering breath and, regardless of how hard she willed them to stop, the tears fell anyway, her body once again betraying her heart. Through the blur of tears, Rena’s gaze met Zander’s, and she braced herself for the rejection she knew was inevitable.
He didn’t love her. Or he wouldn’t. But did it matter?
Either way, he was not meant to be hers.
Unable and unwilling to see that look of abject pity on his face, Rena shoved past him and yanked the sliding glass door open before running outside. Blind with tears, she ran from the deck and out into the fields behind the house. She ran faster than she ever had in her life, and in the distance, she heard him calling her name, but Rena didn’t look back.
Thunder rumbled overhead, and lightning streaked across the sky, briefly illuminating the mountain ahead. Rain began to fall and pelted her face as the
wind whipped over her, mixing with her salty tears. Everything Rena had learned over the past few days raced through her head.
Zander. Vito. The dragons. Arianna.
Amoveo.
And finally, in her mind’s eye, she pictured a fox. Its eyes burned bright, glowing in the dark, calling to her like a lighthouse guiding home ships lost in the fog.
Power surged through her body as the winds picked up, whisking around her, and static electricity crackled over her skin. Lightning flashed as Rena pumped her arms and legs before leaping over a fallen log blocking her path to nowhere. Her body stretched, and her muscles tingled as she soared through the air, but when she landed on the other side…it was on four legs. Not two.
Rena skidded to a halt in the tall, wet grasses that flicked her in the face, suddenly and acutely aware that her center of gravity was far lower than it had been before. She regained her footing and rose to her full height. The grass, which moments ago had been at her knees, was now just below her chin. Her heart hammered in her chest, and her blood rushed in her ears like a river. When she went to lift her hand, she found herself staring at a small paw. Dark-red fur trimmed in brown covered her everywhere she could see. Driving sheets of rain poured down, and when she glanced behind her, she discovered a long, furry, white-tipped tail.
Holy shit.
Somehow, Rena had shifted into her fox, but she had absolutely no idea how she had done it. She sat down on her haunches, and her ears pricked up when she detected a familiar voice in the breeze.
“Rena!” Zander’s voice cut through the night and rose above the sounds of the storm. “Rena! Are you all right?”
Reacting on instinct and still somewhat stunned by her sudden and unexpected transformation, Rena reached out and touched her mind to Zander’s. Relief flooded her when their thoughts mingled with effortless familiarity.
I’m okay but…I’m furry.
A clap of thunder rattled the air, and Rena hopped up onto the log in an effort to have a better look at her surroundings. With her sharp night vision, it didn’t take her long to spot Zander, but even without the heightened sense, she would have seen the eyes of his dragon. He cut a towering, formidable silhouette, and when the lightning cracked across the sky, illuminating him from head to toe, the sight of him stole Rena’s breath.
The man was beautiful.
Wild. Dark. Dangerous.
His thick, muscular arms hung at his sides, and wet, shaggy hair clung to the sharp angles of his square jaw and high cheekbones as the wind whipped around him. The T-shirt he wore was completely soaked, a second skin showing off the dips and curves of his muscular torso. He strode slowly toward her, every inch of him taut and primed, as though ready to leap into action at a moment’s notice.
When he got within a foot of the fallen log she was standing on, lightning shot across the sky behind him in jagged, angry streaks. Rena held her breath as Zander crouched down, getting almost eye to eye with her. He folded his hands in front of him, his forearms resting on his thighs, and studied her with unnerving intensity.
Well…say something.
She sat on her haunches, her long tail curling around her out of instinct. Her wet fur clung to her in odd, unfamiliar ways, and she couldn’t help but recall bad hair days as a human. She’d be willing to bet this looked way worse.
Zander? I must look like a drowned rat.
“No,” he whispered. “You’re beautiful.”
Thanks. Rena held her head high, hoping to maintain some kind of dignity. But do you have any idea how I can turn back into myself?
“You are still you, Rena.” His lips lifted at the corners, and he tapped her snout. “Just a different side of you.”
A smaller and more vulnerable me… Now how do I change back?
“Close your eyes and picture your human form,” he murmured as he rose to his feet and took a step back.
That’s it? She cocked her head to one side. Are you sure?
“Yes. It’s not something you forget how to do.”
Like riding a bike?
“Exactly,” he said with a soft laugh. “Oh, and make sure to picture what you were wearing, your clothing. Otherwise—”
You mean if I don’t, I’ll be naked? Her eyes widened.
Zander said nothing but nodded curtly in response.
Great. Going from furry to nude would be one hell of a switch up, so she immediately thought of the outfit she had been wearing at dinner. Rena had her doubts that this would work, but since she had little choice other than to take his advice, she did as he instructed. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she concentrated on the image she had seen in the mirror tonight before leaving for the dinner. The wind and rain whisked over her furred body, but she kept that picture in her mind. Within seconds, the prickly, static-electricity sensation surged, and light flashed behind her eyes as her body erupted back into her human state.
One moment, she was sitting on the log. The next, she was all arms and legs, flailing in the air like a fish out of water. Rena would have fallen off the log and onto her ass if Zander hadn’t been there to catch her. His arms, like bands of steel, curled around her as he dropped to his knees and caught her midflail. As her head cleared and her center of gravity returned to normal, Rena became acutely aware of Zander’s body securely cradling hers.
Howling wind and rain raged around them as the soundtrack of thunder roared in time with wild streaks of lightning. Her heartbeat pounded against her rib cage, and Zander’s chest rose and fell alongside hers. It made her feel better to know she wasn’t the only one out of breath and that she had some kind of effect on him too. His glowing gaze, like two rubies shining in the night, wandered over her face lovingly.
Cherished, she thought. This must be what it feels like to be cherished by another person.
Zander embraced her firmly, but beneath the unyielding strength, she sensed tenderness, and the combination of the two was almost more than Rena could bear. Ever since she could remember, she had railed against the storm of her life. Fighting. Clawing and scratching her way to survival. She often wondered, on those nights she was on the street, alone and cold, what it would be like to feel completely safe.
Now, staring into Zander’s glowing gaze, with his arms wrapped around her, Rena finally knew.
Tears stung her eyes as the swell of emotion collided with the physical sensations, and for a brief moment, Rena thought she could drown in it. She became acutely aware of each spot where his heated flesh met hers. One of her arms was draped around his neck, and before she even realized what she was doing, her fingers were threading through the damp strands of his hair. Her other arm was curled between them, and she had gathered the wet fabric of his T-shirt in her fist.
“Nice catch,” she whispered shakily.
“Thanks.” The word came out in a shuddered rasp, and his arms tightened around her almost imperceptibly. “You’re a quick learner.”
“I’m still annoyed with you, you know.”
Rena licked the cool raindrops from her lips, and his gaze lingered on her mouth. The heated look in his eyes sent a shock directly to her core. All she could think of was having his lips on hers.
“Won’t be the last time, I’m sure.”
“Why?” She trailed her fingertips over his scalp, delighting in the feel of his wet hair as it slipped through her fingers. “Plan on having a lot of fights with your sister-in-law?”
“No,” he growled.
Rena’s breath rushed from her lungs on a gasp as he swung her body like she weighed nothing at all and laid her out beneath him on the thick blanket of wet grass. In a blink, he was over her, his arms on either side of her head, caging her in, and the hard, heavy length of his body settled between her legs, as though that was exactly where he belonged.
Always.
“No.” It was a whisper this time. His voice was gruff
and hesitant as the lightning lit up the ebony sky behind him, but he was taut, firm, and hot above her. He pinned her to the ground with body, mind, and spirit. Rena couldn’t have moved even if she had wanted to.
And she definitely didn’t want to.
The sharp angles of his jaw and the glow of his eyes created a ferocious expression, but when another shot of lightning flashed, it lit up the tenderness that lurked beneath. In that instant, with a single rush of power from nature or the fates or her own heart, Rena saw Zander’s true face.
He was a ferocious protector with gentleness at his core.
A man hiding a beast.
Rena wondered fleetingly whether the beast contained more gentleness than the man. Perhaps when his dragon was banished, buried deep beneath the surface, it dragged some of Zander’s tenderness down with it.
How else could the man have survived all these years?
Alone.
She lifted one hand from his chest, where both of her palms had landed, and cupped his cheek with quaking fingers. The scruff of his unshaven jaw rasped against her flesh in wicked little streaks. His eyes fluttered closed as he leaned into her touch before pressing a kiss to the inside of her hand.
“No to what, Zander?” she said on a shuddering breath. Rena tangled both hands in his hair, her fingers curling around the wet strands. Wanting nothing more than to pull him closer. To feel him everywhere. “Please…tell me.”
“No to the fates,” he said. “He can’t have you, Rena.”
Zander tilted his hips and pressed the hard length of himself against her heated core. Rena opened her legs, giving him better access, and sighed a wave of pleasure, and need curled in her gut.
“From the moment I saw you, I’ve wanted you for myself. I’m a selfish bastard. Because…”
Zander pushed himself off her and knelt between her legs. For a split second, Rena thought he was going to put the brakes on again, but her fears were dispelled when he tore his wet shirt off over his head and tossed it aside. His bare chest was slick with rain and glistened in the flashes of the storm. Rivulets of water trailed a path over the dips and valleys of his muscles, catching in the dark line of hair that disappeared under the waist of his jeans. With her enhanced vision, she could see every scar, each one a chapter within his lengthy life story. Rena ran her fingertips along the ripples of his stomach muscles, which contracted and flexed beneath her touch.
Undiscovered Page 26
