by Lola Taylor
“So, my date from hell just up and vanished into thin air?”
“Something to that effect, yes,” he said without hesitation.
She laughed, sounding more than a little loony. This whole night had taken a turn toward the insane. She never should have come here.
“Somebody slipped something into my drink,” Danica said. “That’s it. I’m having some kind of hallucination. About creepy dude, my hot rescuer-”
“You think I’m hot?” he said with a smile.
She shrugged. “You can’t be real, so why the hell not? Yes. You’re hot. With a capital H.” She looked around and found her keys lying a few feet away. Falling to her knees, she snagged them then used a car hood to help pull herself up.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Gage said, following her.
“To the ER,” she said, trying to remember where she’d parked. It shouldn’t be hard. She was one of the few people who’d drove a car. “I need to get a bloodtest, see what kind of drug this is.”
“Your blood is fine,” Gage said, grabbing her arm.
She jerked free and rounded on him. “Don’t tell me it’s fine! I just freaked out and thought someone tried to kill me!”
“That’s because someone did try to kill you!”
“Oh, right. So says the hallucination. I’m probably standing out here right now talking to myself.”
“This is no dream.”
She stared at him. He looked so serious.
And so delectable.
Damn, my imagination can cook up a stud.
Her eyes dipped to his mouth. She swore she heard him take in a sharp breath, that his eyes darkened - then flashed gold.
Her mouth went dry. “I have to get out of here.”
She started to turn again when Gage grabbed her, this time by the wrist. “Wait. You’re not safe.”
“No shit? I’m in the middle of nowhere, I’ve clearly been drugged, and I should probably-”
All the warning she had was a strange tingling along the back of her hand before blue light lit up the area, shooting straight out of her.
Danica shrieked. “What’s happening?”
Gage swore, staring at her hand. “It can’t be…”
Danica held her breath, staring at the light, too afraid to move. This couldn’t be happening. Light didn’t just shoot out of people’s skin.
But it sure as hell looked like that was what it was doing. It was gone as quickly as it came, dissolving into a pretty, shimmering crescent moon marking. “What the hell?” she muttered when she’d recovered enough of her senses. She examined her hand, turning it every which way. Licking her thumb, she rubbed it against the mark. “It won’t come off! What the hell is this?” she said, her voice ratcheting up in pitch.
Gage sighed, looking grave and awed at the same time. “That, my dear, would be the Blood Moon Mark.”
“Am I supposed to know what the hell that means?” Danica said, tasting panic.
“It means,” Gage said, pulling her to him and staring down into her eyes, “that you are my mate.”
Chapter 3
“Excuse me, I’m your what?”
Gage stared at the Mark. I don’t believe it. “This can’t be possible,” he murmured. “You’re human.”
“Right now, I’m apparently high,” the woman said. “I need medical treatment.”
“You need to come with me.” He had no idea what the hell this meant, but he knew he would be a fool to stay here. There was a chance Onyx could come back to finish the job.
Gage started to pull her away when she dug in her heels and pulled back. “Whoa, cowboy, I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Her willfulness was not unlike the she-wolves he bedded. It was one of their more enticing traits. The promise of a challenge only served to pump more blood south of his navel. “Do I have to pick you up and carry you?”
She crossed her arms. “I dare you.”
Shouldn’t have done that.
He reached under her knees, lifting her into his arms as if she weighed no more than a feather.
“Hey!” She struggled, and he tightened his grip. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“You did dare me,” he said, smiling slightly.
“Put me down! Help!” A few men - all weres - came out of the bar, took one look at them, and chuckled.
“Oh, my God,” she said, digging her hands into her hair. “I’ve decided to have date-night in psycho central. You’re kidnapping me. You’re going to kill me.”
“I’m not going to kill you,” Gage said, rolling his eyes. “But that other man might.”
“This is a dream,” she said, not even listening to him. “That’s it, I’m dreaming. This can’t be real. Nothing this effed up would happen to me in real life. My life is boring. Predictable. Safe.”
Gage sighed in agitation. “Well, for someone who’s supposedly so ‘safe’ and ‘boring,’ you sure do cause a lot of trouble.”
She scowled at him, but he smelled the desire wafting off her like perfume. His dick quivered, putting a hitch in his step. God, if he didn’t hurry up and get her home - and away from him - then he might just lay her off in the nearby grass and take her now and then.
Damn this mating fever!
He walked on with determination. His queen deserved more than a roll on the grass, even if most she-wolves didn’t mind it. He had to remind himself she was not a she-wolf, at least, not yet, though she would start exhibiting the traits of one since being Marked. Besides, he wanted her to want to mate with him. Call him old-fashioned, but he’d always had this image of true love and finding “the one” to spend his life with. Maybe this was his chance.
That is, if this wasn’t some cosmic mistake.
Once they got to his Audi, he tucked her into the backseat, and he slid in beside her. She didn’t go in easily; she kicked and shoved the whole time. It was cute.
When they were inside, he locked the doors right as she was reaching for the handle. She pulled, but nothing happened. “Is this the part where you break out the knife?”
If he rolled his eyes one more time, they were going to roll right out of his head. “For the last time, I’m not a serial killer.”
“Then you’re a rapist.”
“No.”
“Drug lord?”
“Really? We’re going to play this game?”
“This isn’t a game. This is serious! Why are you laughing?”
Lord help him. Maybe he should have let Onyx knock her out to save his sanity. He wasn’t even sure mating was worth this.
She crossed her arms, pouting and looking all the more adorable for it. The fact she looked adorable while being such a pain in the ass only irked him more. “I’m not laughing at you,” Gage said with all the care of speaking to a temperamental child. “You’re just overreacting.”
“Overreacting? Are you kidding me? I’ve been drugged and I’m having kidnapping fantasies!”
“Just keep telling yourself that, sweetheart,” he muttered, growing impatient. He pulled out his phone and pressed 1 on his speed dial.
Nik picked up on the first ring. “Hey, there, Master. Need me to bail you out of trouble with the little lady?”
“Onyx was here.”
“What?” Nik growled. Gage heard footsteps - the wolf was probably on his way out now. “What the hell is a Nightshade wolf doing here?”
“That’s exactly what I’d like to know. We’re in the car. Hurry.”
“We?”
“… the girl and I. I’ve Marked her.”
There was a moment of stunned silence. Nik swore, then the line went dead. A few seconds later, Nik climbed in the driver’s seat and revved the engine. “Crescent Manor, my liege?”
“Yes,” Gage clipped. His thoughts were too overrun by the girl to reprimand Nik’s use of a royal title.
Tires spun as Nik gunned the gas pedal. The woman toppled over, and Gage steadied her. She looked up at him through her dark
lashes. Her eyes were green, the color of summer grass. Staring up at him, she looked so vulnerable. He resisted the urge to pull her closer when she cleared her throat and blinked, then moved back over into her seat.
Nik pressed a button on the dash, and a wall of tinted glass rose up, separating the front from the back.
Gage almost begged him to keep it down, to not leave him back here with this crazy woman whom he was starting to doubt more and more was his mate. Too late, the glass closed shut. Gage looked at the woman, who sat staring straight forward with a blank look on her face and her arms crossed over her chest. “You’re oddly silent.”
“That’s because I’ve decided I’m dreaming. And nothing can happen to you in a dream, right?”
Gage felt pressure start to build between his brows. What he wouldn’t give for some aspirin right about now - or a very stout drink.
He caught movement from his eye. Her hands, which were piled in her lap, were trembling.
His eyes softened. Of course she was scared. The poor woman had been viciously attacked, and now she thought she was drugged. Given the situation, he would probably overreact too if he were in her shoes. The strange sense to chase her fears away and make things better overcame him. With too many other things on his mind to think about it, he reached over and grabbed her hands, taking them into his own. Her hands were so delicate compared to his, so soft. “Don’t be afraid,” he said gently. “I will not harm you.”
“Why else would you take me, if not to have your way with me?” she said simply, though he caught a quaver in her voice.
He winced. “I promise you, my lady, I have no intention of hurting you.”
She stilled somewhat, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. “I need water, to help flush this stuff out of my system.”
“You’re not drugged,” he insisted, “but I shall have Mary give you some ice water once we get to my house. I’ll have her draw a hot bubble bath for you, as well.”
She stared at him, mouth open in shock. “You have servants?”
He looked away. “Yes. It comes with the title.”
“Are you like a CEO or something?”
He snorted. If she was pretending not to know anything about the Underworld, she was doing a good job. Then again, most humans weren’t aware of the supernatural creatures that walked the earth alongside them. “Something like that,” he said.
She seemed to be calming down, her curiosity taking over. “If you’re such a big shot, what was a guy like you doing in a bar like that? It didn’t exactly scream opulence.”
“That was the beauty of it,” Gage said, letting go of her hands now that they’d stopped shaking. He leaned back in his seat and stared pensively out the window. “I came from a normal family. I had to fight my way to riches and power. I guess I wanted to be reminded of home.”
She cocked her head at him, blinking as if surprised. The way her blonde hair shone in the moonlight coming through the window… was she aware how beautiful she was?
He blinked. First, he thought she was crazy, now he was getting all sentimental over a little moonlight? The fever sure did behave in strange ways.
“What’s your name?” he asked, trying to distract himself.
She swallowed, staring back at him unblinkingly. “Danica. Danica Williams.”
“Gage Johnson,” he said, offering her his hand. She stared at it, then reluctantly took it. At the last minute, almost as an afterthought, he brought it to his lips and kissed it. “A pleasure, Danica.”
She shivered. Her coat had been nearly ripped off during the assault, as had her sheer blouse. The lace bra was see-through, showing a tight cherry nub begging for Gage to suck it. He watched it round and harden to a point, her breasts rising and falling as her breath quickened.
Without meaning to, he found himself leaning in to her, his hand reaching for her waist.
Her pupils dilated. He could smell the lust coming off her, as surely as his own suddenly saturated the car. She licked her lips as his mouth hovered closer to hers. “Might as well enjoy the fantasy right?” she whispered, closing her eyes.
He stalled. Oh, he could give her a fantasy, all right, as he had many she-wolves. Fantasies were what he specialized in. Except for tonight.
Squeezing his eyes shut while he composed himself, he leaned back against the seat.
She opened her eyes and blushed when she realized he wasn’t about to kiss her. Falling back with a “hmph,” she crossed her arms and said, “Weird. What type of fantasy doesn’t allow you to control it?”
He groaned. This was going to be a long night.
Chapter 4
An uncomfortable - albeit, lust-charged - silence stretched between them for the rest of the drive. Danica had no idea what to believe right now. Part of her thought, “Break the windows, stupid! Get the hell away from this guy!” and the other part of her was content believing this was some kind of half-baked fantasy her drug-addled brain had cooked up. After all, there weren’t such things as men with glowing eyes, claws for hands, or razor-sharp teeth. It had to be drugs. In a few hours, she’d probably wake up to the sound of her alarm, press snooze a half dozen times like she usually did, and finally drag her ass out of bed to barely make it to her day job from hell.
She sighed, leaning her head against the cool glass. In a way, the fantasy was fun, if not confusing. It was the most excitement she’d had in a long time, like something out of a movie or one of the romance novels she read where the handsome knight showed up to save the beautiful princess. If only someone would save her from her loneliness. She didn’t like to admit it, but she missed Seth. No, not Seth necessarily, as a boyfriend. She missed the friendship she’d had with him before they decided to try dating and things went to hell.
That weird prickling sensation went off inside her head, and she looked over to find Gage staring at her. He looked away at the last moment. She crossed her arms, smiling smugly. “I caught you.”
“What?” he said, trying to sound bored.
“I caught you staring.”
“I was looking out your window.”
“Because yours wasn’t good enough?”
He gave her a bland look, at which she smiled wider. She stared at her hand. What kind of guy kissed a girl’s hand? She thought that kind of stuff only happened in movies. Her loins tightened as a shiver of desire rolled through her, and she decided to do what she did best when she was nervous: ramble. “So, were you, um, raised around here?”
“Up north, in Kentucky.”
“Oh. I’ve never been there.”
He smiled, casting her a sideways glance. “You’ll have to go there someday.”
“With you?” she wanted to ask, but kept her mouth shut. The thought of going off alone somewhere with her knight-in-shining-armor made her sex tingle with anticipation. Her shoulders started to relax. This dream was kind of fun, like a date. Typical she could only get a date with a dream guy.
How sad is that?
“Are you from Arkansas?” Gage asked in that deep, silky voice. Lounged in the seat with the top few buttons of his shirt open and his elbow propped up under his chin, he looked like he was posing for a magazine cover.
Her mouth began to water. “Um, yeah. Born and bred,” she said lamely. She felt stupid for admitting it. He seemed like such a worldly man. If he didn’t think of her as a country bumpkin before, he surely did now.
To her surprise, he responded, “Nothing wrong with that. I would have stayed put myself if I could have.”
It was an almost imperceptible shift, but still something she picked up on from judging people’s moods her whole life. His expression became guarded, and his jaw tensed, like he was erecting an invisible barrier between them. She had the sense that whatever had caused him to leave hadn’t been good.
Wetting her lips, she was scratching her brain for another “safe” topic when something white shone from her peripheral vision, and she turned her head.
She blinked. “Holy
shit.”
It sat on a hill in the distance - and they were heading right toward it. It was the biggest house Danica had ever seen. No, scratch “house” - this was a “mansion.”
Greek sculptures lined the drive, alternating with tall, perfectly primed bushes. A huge fountain stood in the center of the wraparound driveway, and spotlights shone on the Greek columns holding up the balcony that stretched across the front of the manor. A marble sign out front said “Crescent Manor” in elegant script. The driveway was made up of that expensive pea gravel she always saw on the TV at rich people’s homes.
“Wow,” Danica breathed again as they pulled up to the staircase leading to the sweeping porch. “This is where you live?”
“Do you like it?” Gage asked, sounding hopeful.
“It’s beautiful,” Danica said, still taking it all in. It beat the hell out of the roach-infested shack she called home.
The driver, a wild-looking man with tats all over his arms, opened the door for her and offered her his hand. “My lady?”
What was with the formal talk? “Er, thanks.” She took his hand and let him help her out. His eyes darted to her chest. With a blush, she realized her blouse was still hanging off her shoulder. Covering herself up quickly, she stepped aside as Gage got out and growled at the other man.
He grinned and held up his hands. “Easy, there. You know I wouldn’t dare.”
“Then keep your eyes to yourself.”
Gage put a hand on the small of her back and guided her up the stairs and across the porch.
And he took the princess back to his castle….
The door opened before they’d even gotten close. A middle-aged man clad in solid black with a red tie stood there, bowing as they passed. “Welcome home, sire. I trust your trip was pleasant?”
“As always, Malcolm.” Gage smiled warmly at the butler, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “Would you mind telling Mary to prepare the Crystal Room and to draw our guest a bath?”
“Certainly.” Malcolm’s eyes fell to Danica’s hand, and he stilled. “I don’t believe it. You found her.”
She looked at her hand, at the shimmery blue moon. “Oh, this? Yeah, I must have gotten drunk and tattooed myself or something. Pretty crazy, huh?”
