“Sure thing.”
My son, third in command, is getting stronger. Eric thought it with pride as Jace left the bathroom with one final worried look at Eric.
Eric also sensed the restlessness in Jace, his need to prove himself in the hierarchy. Jace was third automatically, because he was Eric’s son, but Jace was getting to the age where he’d need to show he had dominance of his own, unconnected to his father’s position in the clan.
That might entail a fight with Eric, or a battle with any number of Shifters, including Graham. Graham’s arrival was triggering all kinds of issues.
Eric’s strength returned somewhat as he dried himself, got himself to his room, and dressed again, but the incident in the shower left him shaky. He needed to find someone to talk to about it, but quietly.
No one could know of the alpha’s weakness, not if Eric wanted to avoid even more dominance fights. And Graham would use the slightest excuse to push Eric out.
Eric kissed the worried Cassidy on the cheek when he emerged from his bedroom, telling her that Jace had made him feel better, then he walked out into the dark backyard to meet with Shane.
Nicole’s wedding was a whirlwind of flowers, music, excitement, and—for Iona—sadness. Nicole stood serenely at the altar in her slim ivory satin gown, Iona holding her bouquet of pink roses as Tyler and Nicole exchanged rings.
Tyler was still obviously stunned about being an unexpected father, but the look he gave Nicole when he slid the ring onto her finger was so loving that more eyes than Iona’s teared up.
At one point in the service, Iona glanced back over the packed church and faltered when she saw Eric in the last pew on the bride’s side. She had no idea when he’d slipped in, but once she spotted him, his presence shouted itself to her.
He wore a button-down shirt and suit coat that hid his Collar, so at first glance he looked like any other man attending the wedding. But the bulk of him filled his corner of the pew, which thankfully was otherwise empty. No one seemed to notice him, thank God.
When Tyler leaned to kiss Nicole, finishing the ceremony, Iona looked again for Eric, but he’d gone.
Her heart fluttered, and the itchy feeling she’d had since her encounter with him last night ignited again. She’d dreamed of Eric all night, waking up hot and sweating, craving him.
Staying awake had been just as bad, because she could remember precisely what his kisses felt like as he pressed her into the wall, the sounds of excitement he made while she stroked him, the exact size and feel of his cock in her hand.
She’d licked the palm that had held him, imagining she could still taste him on her. The spurt of his come had excited her. Thinking of it, lying alone in her hot bed, made her wet and aching, and she’d slid her hand between her legs to try to suppress it.
That hadn’t helped at all, and now, standing at the altar, in a church, she still wanted him. All this fertility—Nicole pregnant, the wedding ceremony, the flowers—all the symbols of matrimony and fruitfulness were driving her insane.
Even the fun of dressing up Nicole before the wedding and sharing her excitement hadn’t dampened Iona’s crazed longing for Eric. She watched the service and spoke the responses as though not really there, everything muted and fuzzy around the edges.
Only when she’d glimpsed Eric in the back had she seen clearly again, every nerve coming alive with the closeness of him.
Eric had said he’d go to the construction office to look at her blueprints. Then why had he come here? For the keys? Or another reason?
The organ started with the recessional, and Iona made herself pay attention. Nicole and Tyler sailed back down the aisle, married, Nicole stopping to kiss their mother, who was openly crying.
Iona waited for her cue to meet up with Tyler’s brother, Clay, and hurry out of the church with him. Clay leaned to her. “You look beautiful, Iona.”
“Thank you,” she said distractedly.
“Best man and maid of honor get to dance, you know.”
Iona, scanning the fringes of the crowd for Eric, barely heard him. “Sure,” she said.
Clay squeezed her arm. “Looking forward to it.”
Crap, what had she just promised? Eric was nowhere in sight, and he wasn’t in the crowd in front of the church. The tingling his presence triggered was gone as well.
Everything in Iona wanted her to rush to her red pickup and gun it to the office in hopes of meeting up with Eric there. But this was her sister’s wedding, for heaven’s sake. Nicole’s special day. Iona couldn’t just leave.
Iona slid away from Clay and went to Nicole, embracing her. “Congratulations, Nikki. Be happy.”
“I am happy.” Nicole had a hint of tears in her eyes, but she was mostly smiles. She leaned to Iona and whispered, “And maybe a little bit exhausted from last night. You threw the best party.”
Nicole didn’t know the half of it.
Time for photographs. They took forever, Iona having to stay close to be in her share of them. Then off to the reception for food, drink, cake, toasting the bride and groom, dancing, laughter, and talking. All the while Iona stood by and wanted Eric.
She shouldn’t. Eric was dangerous for her. But Iona was being pulled apart by instincts—one telling her to run as far from him as she could, the other telling her to grab him and have sex with him until she couldn’t walk.
Penny took Iona aside while everyone piled into cars to go to the reception. “You okay, honey?”
“I’m fine,” Iona said, still distracted. “I’m happy for Nicole, that’s all.”
“I know. I’m so sorry, Iona.”
Iona drew back, holding her mother, six inches shorter than her, by the hands. “About what?”
“I know it will be hard for you to find what Nicole has. A boyfriend, a fiancé, a wedding. Normal things.”
Worry about whether she’d have a normal wedding was so far from Iona’s thoughts that she started to laugh. “I’m fine, Mom, really.”
“I’ve seen you have to stand by while Nicole does everything every other girl does. And I know that if you do choose to marry, you’ll find a Shifter.”
Iona stared. “Don’t write me off yet, Mom. Maybe I don’t want to find anyone. I’ll run the business with you. I don’t mind. I like the work.”
Penny smiled. “I don’t know a lot about Shifters, but I know what your Shifter father told me. You’ll need a…mate…someday, and you’ll want to have children. It’s built into Shifters. And I saw how you looked at Eric.”
Iona flushed. “Mom.”
“It’s all right, sweetheart. You can’t help what you are. I wish I hadn’t fallen for your father, but at the same time, I’m so, so glad I had you.” Penny drew Iona close again. “What I’m trying to say is, if you want to run off to Shiftertown with Eric, I won’t blame you.”
“Why didn’t you?” Iona asked. “Become my father’s mate, I mean. Didn’t he ask you?”
“Oh, he asked me,” Penny said. “I refused. That’s why he left one night, and I never saw him again.”
CHAPTER TEN
Iona stared at her, this being the first time her mother had talked this much about the Shifter who was Iona’s father. “Why did you refuse him? If he was charming and handsome and irresistible, why?”
Penny looked evasive, her gaze straying to the cars filling up to head to the Bellagio for the reception. “It’s complicated.”
Iona tightened her hold on her mother’s hands. “Tell me. Please, Mom. It’s important that I know.”
Penny heaved a long sigh. “I didn’t go with him because I already knew your stepfather. Howard and I had…an understanding. We’d planned to finish college and then get married. I never thought I’d meet anyone who would make me betray him, but then I met Ross. I fell hard in love with him. I’d never felt like that before, and to be honest, I never have since.”
Iona had always known that Howard Duncan was her stepfather, but she’d grown up calling him Dad and loving him as much as s
he loved her mother. Howard had done all the dad things, like attending Iona’s soccer games, and teaching her to drive, and surprising her with a car on her eighteenth birthday. He hadn’t minded that Iona wasn’t his real daughter and was the child of a shapeshifter.
He’d loved Iona for herself, and that was all there was to it. Howard had been a wonderful man, and the family’s grief at his death had lasted a long time. They still grieved him.
“Mom, you can’t stand here and tell me you never loved Dad.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Penny flushed. “Of course I loved Howard. You know I did. What I had with Ross was different. But I knew I couldn’t give up my entire safe life to be with him. I was too scared and ashamed. I didn’t know at the time that I was pregnant with you. So I told Ross I could never be his mate.”
Iona imagined the Feline Shifter asking Penny to be his mate, looking at her like Eric looked at Iona. Intense, protective, compelling—telling her what would happen and willing it to be so.
“What did Ross do?” Iona asked softly.
“He took it hard. But in the end, he understood. He said he’d fooled himself thinking I’d go off with him.” Penny shrugged. “And then he disappeared. By the time I knew I was going to have you, I had no idea where to find him.”
Iona thought some more, processing this with the knowledge—or half knowledge—she’d grown up believing. “Mom, you didn’t marry Dad until I was five.”
Penny heaved another sigh, old regret in her eyes. “I know. I told Howard the truth, all of it, when I found out I was pregnant. I couldn’t lie to him. He was very, very angry—he had every right to be—and he went away. I thought it was over for good. I had you on my own and didn’t meet Howard again until five years after that.”
“I remember.” Iona recalled with precision, though she’d been such a small child, meeting Howard for the first time. She remembered how his kind eyes had widened when he’d looked at her, how he’d crouched down to hold out his hand to her.
She’d liked his blue eyes and his smile, how gentle he’d been with her. Howard and Penny had sat up well into the middle of the night talking, not only that first night, but many subsequent nights.
Finally, Iona had said, in front of both of them, “Mom, why don’t you and Howard get married? He could be my dad, and he wouldn’t have to drive home at three o’clock in the morning.”
Penny had been embarrassed, but Howard had said that Iona was very smart. A few months later, Penny and Howard had married, and a few years after that, Nicole had come along. They’d been one smiling, happy family.
One smiling, happy family with a daughter who had to turn into a panther every so often or go crazy.
“If you decide to go to Eric,” Penny was saying, releasing Iona’s hands, “I’ll understand.”
“I haven’t decided anything.” Iona took a step back. “I don’t want anything about what I am to blow back on you.”
“I can take care of myself, Iona.” Penny smiled. “Have for years.” She glanced again at the line of cars. “Nicole is waiting for you. It’s her day—let’s be happy for her.”
“Iona!” Nicole was shouting from the limousine. “Come on!”
“Go,” Penny said sternly.
Iona let out her breath and kissed her mother’s cheek, her emotions still swirling, and scurried away to pile into the back of the limo amid satin skirts and too many flowers.
The reception at the Bellagio was in one of the grand ballrooms. The food was good, and Iona caught herself taking helping after helping. Even Clay stared when the tray went by and Iona shoveled another ten canapés onto her plate.
She told herself she was upset by her mother’s revelations, trying to reconcile what she’d learned today by stuffing herself. But she knew that wasn’t quite true. She’d been hungry like this all week.
Nicole should be the one wanting to eat, with the baby. Iona wasn’t anywhere near pregnant, unless Shifters could be impregnated by kissing. And touching. Licking, biting…
She shivered and popped a canapé into her mouth, whole. No, Shifters made babies the usual way. She’d been shown that when she’d held Eric last night, the pulses of his seed spilling over her hands.
Shifters made babies—cubs—with sex. The mating frenzy, Eric had told her, shutting themselves away from the world and making love like crazy, not coming out for days.
Then what was the matter with her? Iona’s metabolism was burning up, and she was so hungry.
She polished off her canapés and grabbed another handful while Clay was giving his best man’s speech. After that was dancing. Iona had a tissue at her eyes for Nicole’s entire first dance with Tyler. Nicole was so beautiful, so happy. She even smelled happy, the scent of her perfume and excitement overlaid with the scent of her pregnancy.
Iona’s skin itched as she cried, and she had to force herself not to scratch. What the hell had Eric done to her?
Dancing helped a little. Iona did her obligatory dance with Clay, then she whirled around the floor with her friends, male and female, working off her restlessness. She hoped to exhaust herself so she could sleep tonight, but it didn’t work. She just got more hungry.
Finally, as twilight darkened the wide desert sky, Nicole and Tyler left for their honeymoon. Iona joined the throng behind the hotel, and Nicole threw her bouquet.
The bouquet of roses and baby’s breath flew up into the air, tumbled end over end, ribbons streaming, and landed right in Iona’s hands. She squeaked, jumped back, and dropped it.
Laughter echoed among her friends. “Don’t be afraid of it, Iona,” they said. “Take it, girl!” “You’re next, you know it.”
Iona picked up the bouquet with trembling hands, smoothing the ribbons. “I’ll keep this for you, Nikki.”
Nicole laughed, kissed Iona’s cheek, and waved good-bye. She was going. Off to Hawaii to lie on a beach, while Iona carried on without her.
One of Iona’s friends grabbed her hand. “Party time. Let’s go out to that Shifter bar, you remember it? The one where the Shifter guy tried to pick you up?”
Iona did remember her utter shock when Eric had sat down next to her that night. His presence had blown her away, and she hadn’t been the same since.
Iona disengaged her hand. “No thanks,” she said, as politely as she could. “I’m tired, and I need to look in on some work. You all have fun.”
They protested and cajoled, but in the end, they gave up. Iona was a pathetic workaholic, in their opinions, but they laughed when they said it. Iona gave the bouquet to the care of her mother, walked away from the celebration, got into her red pickup, and drove to the office.
The gate at the site was locked, but Iona had the keys with her. She unlocked the padlock, being careful about keeping dirt and grease off her pretty satin gown. She drove the truck through the gate, parked, and went back to lock the gate after herself.
The sun had gone, but floodlights lit the back of the site to prevent theft of costly equipment and supplies. The trailer office was dark and looked deserted, but Eric’s motorcycle was parked behind it.
Iona’s heart beat faster as she climbed the steps and opened the door.
Eric looked up from her desk. He’d taken off his coat and hung it on the chair and rolled up his sleeves, baring sinewy forearms. Iona drank in his male scent, fresh like the night.
The blueprints for the new Shifter houses were spread over the desk in front of him. The lack of light didn’t seem to bother him, but Eric was Shifter. He’d be able to see well in the dark.
He got up and came to Iona as she shut the door. Without speaking, Eric put callused hands on her elbows and ran his hands up her bare arms.
The itchiness eased, but a new hunger flared. Eric gathered her to him, tilted her head back, and kissed her. His tongue chased hers, his lips slow, savoring. The frenzy of last night was still there, but not quite the same. Iona tasted something a little different in him, though she wasn’t sure what.
&nbs
p; Eric pressed his thumbs to the corners of her mouth, opening her to him. This kiss was warm, loving, taking its time. The Shifter called Ross must have kissed her mother like this—leisurely, confident, knowing he’d wooed a woman to him against her better judgment.
When Eric eased the kiss to its end, Iona nestled against his shirt, closing her eyes to hear the rapid beating of his heart.
“Why were you at the wedding?” she asked. “Someone might have seen you.”
“I didn’t want to miss a family ritual so important to you,” he answered, voice rumbling beneath her ear.
Why did that idea please her so much? “I’m happy for Nicole. Sad for me.”
“I know, sweetheart.” Eric smoothed her hair. “Humans make weddings about families going their separate ways. Shifter weddings are about drawing new family in.”
Drawing family in. That sounded so nice. Throughout Nicole’s childhood, Iona had protected her little sister as much as Nicole had protected her. Saying good-bye to Nicole tonight had been hard. No, not hard. Impossible.
But Nicole would be back, and Iona would surprise her with her remodeled house, and they’d visit each other all the time. All was not lost.
Right now, though, the good-bye felt like finality.
She drew back from Eric, liking the comfort of him too much. “How did you get in here? Everything’s locked up tight.”
“Because I’m good, sweetheart. Let me show you what I want you to do with the plans.”
He led her by the hand to the desk and turned on the light—for her benefit—and spread out the blueprints.
The houses the architect had designed were simple, nothing complex for Shifters. The basic house was a long rectangle, with a living room and kitchen taking up one end, and a hall leading to three bedrooms taking up the other. A bathroom nestled between bedrooms one and two. That was it.
“Simple is good,” Eric said. “We can do false walls in two of these closets that will open to steps down to the underground rooms.”
“Underground rooms? What underground rooms?”
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