by Reina Torres
She knew when True came to Mystic Mountain that she’d meet new people and make new friends, but she’d never thought that True would remain here. Never thought her friend would find a husband. A shapeshifter no less!
It seemed that things were changing in leaps and bounds for True and Katherine didn’t begrudge her friend a single moment of happiness. True deserved to be happy, ecstatically so. Still, moving to Mystic only made Katherine aware of what had changed between them.
After True’s brush with death, Katherine was sure that everything had gone back to normal.
Normal?
For a witch mated to a shapeshifter, what would that entail, really?
“Come on.”
Katherine felt True link their arms together.
“Let’s go sit down inside and wait for them to get it out of their systems.”
Nodding, Katherine fell into step beside her friend.
She wasn’t sure what else happened in the month since True had opened the Majestic bar at the Mystic Mountain resort, but she was beginning to realize that things had changed drastically between the two of them.
Before, they were always the first person to hear news from the other. And even though Katherine understood the strength of the bond between True and her mate, she hadn’t expected so much to change between the two of them.
For a moment, Katherine wondered if it had been a mistake to move to Mystic Mountain. Sure, she’d nearly done the deed in the grass with a hotter than sin shapeshifter, but maybe Locke was just that big of a horndog?
Fear and worry gripped at her heart, making her feet stumble beneath her.
“You okay?”
Katherine forced the smile back onto her face. She had more important things to think about for the moment. She’d let her mind and heart tie themselves in knots later when she was alone.
“Sorry, I think it’s the air up here. The altitude, you know?”
True gave her a look that spoke volumes, but she added her own words like she always did. “Sure. Right. Tell that to someone who doesn’t know you as well as I do, Kat.”
They climbed the steps up to the front door of the cabin and walked through the open doorway.
“Excuse his mess,” True explained. “I think he was asleep earlier when Xavier came to get him.”
Katherine looked at the disheveled bed, a single blanket had managed to hang onto one edge of the bed. The pillows looked like they’d all been bunched up under his head at some point, as if he’d hugged the stack in his sleep.
It was an endearing image in her head.
An image that her mind filled in for her with a spectacular view of his perfect ass and suntanned skin against pristine white sheets.
Oh yeah, that image was going to star in her dreams for weeks to come.
True sat down in a comfy chair that was tucked into a corner and gestured to its mate beside her. As soon as she sat down, Katherine realized that her legs were shaking.
Her world, it seemed, had turned upside down in just a few hours. What would the rest of the day be like? The week?
As she sat beside her old friend, Katherine knew that there wasn’t a way to go back and she didn’t want to. She had to focus on moving forward because they both knew that where they came from wasn’t a place that would welcome them back even if they wanted to return, and True had found a new life here. One that made her happy and offered her a future and a family.
Katherine could only hope to fit into her friend’s life again.
And maybe find her own future as well.
“So, do you want to explain why Locke was butt naked when we got here?”
Katherine didn’t even bother trying to hide the blush that all but baked into her cheeks. “I’d like to take the Fifth.”
“The Fifth doesn’t save you in this situation, Kitty Kat. Unless,” True leaned forward and gave her a curious smile, “you did something illegal. That might be even more fun to hear about?”
Katherine couldn’t help the smile that touched her lips. They could still banter like they always had, even if it was banter about herself.
“It was my fault,” she began and quickly continued on when she realized how True might take her meaning, “I arrived early at the shop and a sweetheart of a woman came out to greet me. She plied me with cake and some herbal tea and mentioned that it might be faster to come up here and get the keys from Locke. Save him a trip, you know?”
True’s eyes sparkled with something akin to mischief. “Let me guess. Curly salt and pepper hair and a strange furtive nature?”
Katherine nodded. “Exactly.”
“Wren!” True clapped her hands together. “I bet she knew exactly what she was doing.”
Shaking her head, Katherine tried to explain. “I’m sure she knew nothing of the kind. I doubt that sweet woman expected me to see a naked god of a man walking out of the pond, dripping water like diamonds off of his incredible body.” Once again, the image of Locke that popped up into her head flooded her body with a surge of arousal.
When True didn’t say anything, Katherine turned her attention squarely to her friend.
“First, water doesn’t drip like diamonds-”
Katherine opened her mouth to object, but True rolled right over her like a runaway train.
“And secondly, I’m sure Wren knew exactly what would happen. That woman has a sixth sense about a lot of things that happen around here. It’s better not to question how she knows. Instead, just know that she’s hardly ever wrong.” True smoothed her hands over her belly. “Was that all that happened? You walked up, he dripped diamonds and then… did he drip anything on you?”
Katherine heard her friend laugh and she felt True’s joy like a physical touch. She wanted to reassure True that everything was fine and that might have happened if she’d kept her mouth shut, but Katherine wasn’t always the best at leaving well enough alone.
Instead, she put up her hands in surrender. “No. No dripping at all.” With a sigh, she continued on. “By the time he lay us down in the grass, he wasn’t wet anymore.”
Katherine’s laughter died on her tongue when she saw the spark in True’s eyes.
“He laid you down in the grass?”
Oh no.
“He was just trying to prove a point, really.” She tried to make her tone light. Easy. “Nothing at all-”
“Locke walked out of the pond and laid you down in the grass.”
“Yes,” Katherine prayed that this was the end of it. “See? Nothing at all.”
“And he was laid out beside you?”
Katherine hesitated a moment too long and True’s always sharp mind made the leap on its own.
“He was on top of you?”
Her chin dropped to her chest and Katherine wished for the ground under her to open up and swallow her whole.
True rested her cheek on her hand. “So, he was getting to know you.”
Katherine sighed. At least True hadn’t used any ‘air quotes’ or their friendship would have been over at that moment. “Not really. Look, why don’t you tell me more about what it’s like here. Who are the people I’m going to meet?”
True sagged back against the chair cushion. “Come on, humor me! I told you he was a good-looking guy.”
“Good looking doesn’t even come close.” Katherine clapped a hand over her mouth and managed to mumble a few unintelligible words. “I’m just flustered, okay?” She lowered her hand slowly and hoped that her next words would bring an end to that particular conversation. “It’s not every day you see a man like that… all of that…” She let the words die out because she couldn’t seem to find the right explanation.
When she managed to meet her friend’s gaze, she saw more than a flash of satisfaction in True’s eyes.
“You knew,” Katherine shifted uneasily in her chair. “Is that why you wanted Locke to bring me my keys?”
True shrugged which was as good as confessing. “Okay, look. I had a feeling the two of you woul
d click. And if you didn’t, then no harm. I still get my best friend here and when the resort really kicks into gear at the holidays, we’ll have all kinds of hot shifters flooding into Mystic for you to meet.”
Katherine wasn’t sure what to say to that. Oh, she’d clicked with Locke all right. She just wasn’t sure what he felt. Arousal was one thing. She’d seen and felt that with other men, but she suspected there was so much more between them.
She just had to wait and see if Locke felt the same way.
Three
After the second time that Xavier’s panther knocked him to the ground, Locke had reached his limit. Sure, he knew it was playful… to a point. Normally, they could have gone for hours letting their animals run and wrestle, but this wasn’t one of those times.
Locke knew he was at a disadvantage. Xavier’s sleek, dark coat was an advantage in the woods. The deeper into the tree cover, the more he could blend into the shadows and use it as a natural defense. Conversely, Locke’s golden hide seemed to reflect even the slightest bit of light that descended through the trees.
He hadn’t even been trying to play the game in the first place. Locke and his lion had needed the run for other reasons. Reasons that had his heart beating beyond its normal cadence and the blood rushing through his veins roared through his ears.
He was all too aware of the woman who was likely waiting at his house. A woman who had woken up the best part of his soul. Since he’d failed True and Xavier, he’d listened to the dark, seething shadow that judged him and found him wanting. He’d let that into his head and listened to it, almost relentlessly realizing that it was just his due.
But the moment that he’d seen Katherine. Taken her scent into his lungs. The nagging voice that he’d struggled to silence with too many bottles of rotgut had met its match in the hungry growl of recognition that had rushed to the surface of his mind.
She made him want to fight for that control.
And she made him want to hope that he wasn’t destined to sit on the sidelines and watch as others found their happiness.
Katherine.
Slowing his pace, the lion turned and backed up, surveying his surroundings. He wasn’t alone. The birds had gone silent in the surrounding trees.
Shaking his broad head, he felt his mane shift against the back of his neck. It was usually a carefree gesture, a way to stretch the muscles through his shoulders and neck.
But it was also a lure.
Easing the tension in his body, the lion padded through the shadows with an easy lope, his gaze fixed on the stream up ahead.
The water was refreshing, clean and cool. It would taste like pure heaven across his tongue, but that wasn’t his only purpose.
He was hoping and waiting for his quarry to feel overconfident and yes, impatient.
They were both eager to return back to his home. That would work in his favor if he could keep himself focused for just a little longer.
You mean me.
His lion’s wry tone was all too human at times.
And you, his lion returned the thought, are too wild at times.
Locke couldn’t argue with him. They both knew each other’s best and worst traits. It wasn’t impossible to hide them even if he wanted to.
The lion had been his constant companion for as long as he could remember, and even though he had friends as close as family in Mystic, there were things he would never dream of telling Xavier or Aaron. He’d lost one brother and father already. The last thing he would do was chance losing his family here.
And yet, the darkness taunted him, you did just that. If Xavier had lost True-
A rustle of sound reached their ears, and the lion fought its natural instinct to react. Instead, he closed the distance to the stream, struggling to control his own movements and keep them easy and seemingly unaware.
Even as he lowered his head, it was all a part of his plan.
Locke wanted to say something to his lion, a psychic pat on the back for his plan, but he knew that would only be distracting the beast. He’d wait to congratulate him until they found out if their plan worked.
The lion only allowed himself the lightest lap of water, letting a thin sheen of it cross his tongue as he bade their prey to move closer.
Waited for the prey to put himself squarely in the trap.
Locke felt the odd prickle of sensation across the back of his neck.
Or perhaps it was his lion’s neck.
At times like this, when he was the visceral side of their pair, he felt the sensations of his lion. It was his turn to wait and let the lion act as it wanted to. As it would.
Something moved through the air, silent and full of intent.
They felt, rather than heard its movement, and at the last possible moment, crouched low to the ground.
Low enough and fast enough that the bulk of the body intent on taking them down sailed right over their heads.
The splash wasn’t nearly as satisfying as the outraged howl of the panther as it scrambled out of the stream on the other side, claws slipping on the smooth rocks and in the mud at the bottom.
Locke’s lion retreated, changing places with him as they rolled in the grass laughing at their friend.
“That’s right,” Xavier snarled at them from the opposite bank, “laugh it up while you can.”
He couldn’t quite manage to sit up as he continued to chuckle, but Locke turned his head to meet his friend’s narrowed glare. “Oh, I’ll be laughing for a long time.”
Xavier shook his head and water droplets sprayed out across the grass, some catching the sunlight coming through the trees making them almost sparkle with light. “Next time, I should just shove your head in the stream.”
Locke shrugged. “You can try.”
His tone was pointed enough that it must have pricked Xavier’s pride. His eyes went dark as his panther peered out at him.
Just for good measure, Locke let the lion rush back up to the surface to return the glare.
As their animals bled back into the background, the two men just stared at each other, shoulders and chests working as adrenaline surged through their bodies.
“I hope you’ve got your story straight.”
Locke looked at his friend askance. “What story?”
“You promised True that you’d take the keys to her friend.”
“I was going to. It’s not my fault she came to find me.”
“Right,” Xavier’s voice said it was anything but.
“After you left. I went down to the pond. I figured it was faster than the shower and cold enough to wake me faster than coffee. I was trying to save time.”
“And that’s how you ended up pawing at Katherine in the grass?”
Xavier’s words only confirmed that his friend had been closer than he’d thought. He would have heard Xavier’s approach if he hadn’t been nearly deafened by the rush of blood through his veins.
“That had nothing to do with my promise to True.” Locke shook his head and felt a smile ease some of the tension. “That was all… Katherine.”
He let the sound of her name echo through his head and rolled the taste of it across his tongue. He still wanted her.
He needed her.
Thirsty.
Hungry.
No need had ever been so great.
And yet, as he ached for her, he smiled.
There was hope.
Hope that was helping to silence the doubt and the guilt he was carrying around inside of him.
“So that’s it then?”
Locke swung his head toward his friend, watching as Xavier moved easy through the freezing water of the stream and climbed the bank toward him.
“What do you mean?”
Xavier sat down easily beside him and Locke felt more of the worry that had been plaguing him subside.
“I’m talking about Katherine. I have to hand it to True. She told me that it would happen.”
Locke looked over at his friend, carefully watching hi
s expression. “You didn’t think it would?”
“I was sure your head would be stuck so far up your ass you’d have a hard time seeing it.” Xavier’s easy shrug was as telling as his half-smile. “But I figured your lion would slap you upside the head so you wouldn’t miss what was standing right in front of you.”
Conflicting emotions welled up inside of Locke. Ignoring the soft laughter of his lion inside his head, he looked at his friend with a snarl. “So you knew, but you still showed up with your mate in tow? Did you want her to see me… to see her friend-”
“You think I wanted True to see your ugly ass naked?” Xavier’s eyes darkened with his panther and Locke could see just the hint of fang under his friend’s lip. “But you think there was a way that I could have stopped True from coming to check on you?”
Locke heard the resignation in his friend’s tone.
“The only way I could do that was to toss her over my shoulder and take her home. She wasn’t going to let me stop her any other way and… and I can’t do that. Not now.”
There were a myriad of emotions in Xavier’s voice.
Emotions that Locke had never heard before.
Emotions that showed him how much True meant to his friend. Oh, he knew that Xavier had met his match in True. That was something Locke had seen plain as day even when Xavier was struggling with the idea. But there was something more in his voice now. Something tender and strange in its own way.
“So, she is pregnant.” Locke didn’t need his friend to answer. “When did you find out?”
Xavier smiled and Locke had to look away. There was something intimate in the expression that Locke couldn’t understand… yet.
“This morning. Right before she told me to make sure you were going to remember to meet her friend.”
Locke heard the growl in his friend’s voice. Xavier had been put out by his ‘good deed.’
“Kicked you out of bed, huh?”
Xavier’s hands fisted at his sides and Locke knew he’d drawn blood by the scent of it in the air.
“Hey. I’m sorry. I’m not trying to piss you off.”
Nodding, Xavier eased the tension in his hands. “Yeah, I know. It’s just…” Xavier smiled, and his shoulder shook with laughter. “I don’t know what to do now. I want her as much as I always did, always will, but now? It’s different. Better. Scary in a way.”
