“Which president?”
“I will tell you later. Now, Teck will probably have dinner ready, but if he doesn’t, what would you like to eat?”
She shrugged. “Omelette and a salad?”
“I think that is manageable. I will have to contact the king and notify him of our connection. I am not sure what he is going to say.” He made a strange gesture with a twist of his lips.
“Why not?”
“I wasn’t precisely authorized to go in search of you. The king’s plan was to get warriors and other fey with a second shape to meet with their females if the seers could find one. I went in search of you on my own the moment that I was out of the medical facility.”
“Aw, how sweet and dangerous.” She smacked his shoulder. “You could have hurt yourself.”
“I would have been injured beyond words if you had found a shifter that you wanted to spend your life with. From the moment you came through that door, wordless and moving with confidence, I knew that the woman behind the fur was meant for me. When you tore the throat out of the guard, I knew it, but I also knew that I was going to have to work out before our first fight.”
She laughed brightly at that as they entered the house. The smell of dinner was in the air, and they went in search of its origin. The head housekeeper was working in the kitchen with easy moves.
“Lord Atherton, your meal will be ready in twenty minutes. Is your companion staying?”
“Teck, this is my mate, Lima Pellin. We will be making arrangements for a legal ceremony, but she is going to reside here from this point onward.”
“Are you sure, my lord? She looks a little skinny.”
Lima shifted her head and her right hand where she ticked her claws on the granite of the counter. She shifted back to her human face. “That is because I am waiting for dinner, Teck. I blame you.”
The housekeeper paused, blinked and laughed. “Ah. Now, it makes sense. My lord, she looks to be an excellent bitch.”
Lima held Lyros back while she laughed. “It is fine and very accurate.”
Lyros looked from her to his long-time friend, and he laughed. “Oh. Right.”
“Lord Atherton, your phone is in your office; it has been filled with messages congratulating you on your return.”
Lima blinked. “Right. Phones. I need to turn mine on and send my family a text regarding my finding of my mate. We both signed the documents before we came back, right?”
“We did. You are all nice and legally mine by the traditions of both our people.”
“Good. That could have come up to bite me in the ass. Shall we attend to a bit of paperwork before dinner?”
He nodded. “We may as well.”
Teck nodded. “I will call you when it is ready. No phones at the table.”
“Fair enough. Any other house rules I need to know?”
Teck chuckled. “I will make you a list.”
Lyros put his hand at her back and escorted her to his office. “I will have an office assigned to you, but in the meantime, you can share mine.”
“It isn’t necessary. All my communications come and go through my phone.”
She grinned and waved at him. “Go and do what you have to. I will get my phone and send that email before my mom has a chance to put her hand in.”
“Can you find the bedroom?”
She tapped her nose. “You will never miss a sock again.”
With a light heart, she went up to their bedroom and chuckled as she removed her phone from the charger where someone had plugged it in. She saw the message light flashing, but she typed in her announcement and sent it off to all of her relatives before opening any of the messages from her mother.
The venom in the letters should have melted her phone, but she ignored it and scrolled through them all, until the insanity had been unravelled. Yes, her mother had found her a mate, and he had been willing to pay an extraordinary amount. Knowing her mother, she had taken a deposit.
When Teck called, she plugged the phone in again and headed down to Lyros’s office.
She got in between him and his terminal and said, “Time for dinner.”
Since her breasts were in his face, he got to his feet, and they made it downstairs before the food got cold.
Teck looked at her. “How did you get him down here?”
“I used a distraction he couldn’t ignore.”
“I need to learn that trick.”
Lyros shuddered. “You really don’t.”
She laughed, and her hyena broke out for a moment. There were going to be moments of unrest as she settled into life with Lyros, but as long as she could blow off steam with the hunters, she would be able to manage. If not, she would have to take it out on her mate.
She hoped he was sturdier than he looked.
Chapter Ten
The reception after the small ceremony was enormous. It seemed that local businessmen and politicians took every chance they could to mix with the fey.
Lima was wearing a more culturally appropriate ivory dress for the wedding, and her mother was in the corner, scowling at everyone who came near her.
Lima ignored her mother and met and chatted with the local ladies who were interested in her sudden union with one of the more eligible bachelors in North America.
Many of the women she spoke to were under the impression that Lima was fey herself and that was what they wanted folk to think. If they didn’t know what she was, she wasn’t going to tell them.
The guests complimented her dress, the house, the arrangements for the reception, and Lima thanked them all. She had nothing to do with any of it. She had been off on a retrieval for most of the last few weeks.
Lyros was looking devastating as usual in another amazing tuxedo. If she didn’t miss her guess, he was currently speaking with the vice president.
Lima acted as hostess for another hour, and then, she excused herself to go into the portrait gallery.
The man had been watching her all day, and she was going to give him a chance to say his peace.
Lima found her favourite portrait of Lyros, with him sitting at a desk in a white laced shirt with the sleeves rolled up. His writing implement was a quill pen and an inkpot was sitting in front of him. His hair was a long braid that curved over one shoulder, and his expression was serious.
It was adorable. Whenever she saw that expression, she moved between him and his computer. He never failed to appreciate the distraction.
“You were supposed to be mine, Lima.”
She turned, and her stalker approached with a feline gait.
“I really doubt that. The seers saw me with Lyros, and here I am.”
He grabbed her arm. “I paid for you.”
Lima looked into his slightly mad gaze. “That was bad planning on your part. I would really let go if I were you.”
“If I can’t have all of you, I will at least take a taste.”
That was it. He leaned in, and she brought up her right arm with her spectral blade gleaming and ready. “Back off, jackass. If you want the money back, take it up with her, but don’t for a minute think that you ever had a claim on me.”
He saw the blade and scowled in confusion. “What is that?”
“Spectral blade. Do you want to know what it does?” She stabbed him in the chest and grunted as his hand pulled at her left arm when he fell. There would be bruises.
He was out cold, and she walked quickly to find Teck.
“Yes, lady?”
“There is a man who, uh, collapsed in the portrait gallery. He needs to be ejected with prejudice.”
“Yes, lady. Did he hurt you?” Teck looked angrier than she had ever seen him. He was staring at her arm. She looked and small red welts were on her skin.
“Damn. I had hoped it wouldn’t show.”
Teck leaned forward and pressed his mouth to her arm. She waited as the tingle of energy went through her.
When he raised his head, the marks were gone. He wiped his mouth. “You really don’t
taste right.”
“I know. Thanks for this, Teck. Now, back to the party.” She gave him a wink and patted his cheek before turning to face her guests.
Lima made her way through the gathering and slid her arm into the curve of Lyros’s. She smiled brightly, and his nostrils flared.
“Are you enjoying your party?” The vice president smiled kindly at her.
“It is lovely. Those who have come to wish us well are so very kind.” She smiled shyly and watched the man flush and his chest puffed out a little.
Her allure as a fey was something that she had fun with, but Lyros put his hand over hers and gave it a squeeze, telling her to reel it in.
She sighed, and the music started as the sun went down. Lyros looked at her. “They are playing our song. Please, excuse us.”
He nodded to the men he had been speaking to and led her off to the dancefloor, taking her in his arms in front of those assembled.
Lima bent to catch the loop in her train and slipped it over her wrist. When he started to move, she moved with him in a slow and rocking motion.
“Why do you smell like cat and goblin?”
“The cat was the man that my mother sold me to. Apparently, he was dumb enough to pay for all of me up front. The goblin was Teck healing the claw marks on my arm. We were in a hurry.”
They moved with the music in sweeping turns as they conversed.
“Where is he now?”
She smiled slightly. “I ran him through with the spectral blade and told Teck to eject him.”
“If he comes back, I will deal with him.”
“I don’t think he will be back. He is going to try to get the money back from my mother, and that is not going to have a happy ending for him. She’ll tear his throat out.”
“Good. But know that if he comes back here, there is one less shifter in the world.” He paused. “How did he get here?”
“He was invited. His name is Mark Ingliss.”
“Damn. Yes, he was on my list.”
Lima laughed, “Well, I knew he wasn’t on mine.”
They continued to dance until he bent her back and kissed her in front of those assembled.
Lima trusted that he wouldn’t drop her and returned his kiss with enthusiasm until he stood her upright again. With a smile and a wave to those assembled, she left the dancefloor with her husband to continue the reception.
Lima held her hair to one side as Lyros nibbled his way down her back, undoing the endless line of buttons that led to her tailbone.
“I swear, if you ask me about my scars tonight, you are a dead man, elf or not.”
He chuckled against her skin as his lips followed his hands. “No, I have a deliberate focus tonight.”
She let her hair go when she felt the heat of his lips below her shoulders.
She closed her eyes and memorised every touch and whisper between them as he removed her gown, undergarments, petticoats and stockings. Her shoes had been the one thing she could take off on her own.
He lifted her from the cage of fabric and settled her down on the bed. His own clothing flew off him in a wave of magic, and he moved over her.
Lima gripped the headboard when he moved his head between her thighs, and she held on as he used his tongue and fingers to push her into her first release of the night.
She was still catching her breath when he moved up her body and slid into her, stroking deep with rocking motions of his hips.
The night was endless with pleasure peaking over and over again. He moved away from her and turned her, bringing her to orgasm for the whole night.
She was exhausted and limp when dawn crept through the windows. The smile on her features told a story to the pillow that she didn’t want to get out.
Be careful what you wish for, because if you wish for stamina with an elf, he might just have it. Oddly enough, she was not regretting the wish.
Author’s Note
Well, that was fun. In our next book, I tackle Pathway to Love, the story of Dromer and Ida. They were first mentioned in Batty for You when I had no intention of mixing the shifters and fey. Oops.
I hope that their story can have folks cheering for them getting together.
Thanks for Reading,
Zenina Masters
http://www.zeninamasters.com
About the Author
Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.
An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.
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