by Kimber White
“There’s no way to tell just yet,” Payne answered. “It may have been natural causes. It may not. We’ve uh...taken care to return a different diamond over to her estate. It took a little special magic of our own, but her estate is being handled by humans. To them, the diamond they have will seem like the real deal.”
The real diamond was in my breast pocket. I pulled it out.
“This can never see the light of day again,” I said. “It’s too dangerous to be held by any one shifter, let alone an army of them.”
“You’re right,” Payne said. “We’ve all come to the same conclusion.”
I covered the diamond with my hands. I had my own revelation for Payne. “There’s one consolation,” I said. “The Ring’s plan wouldn’t have worked. After the warehouse, Meg and I decided to try and destroy it. I tried to smash it with Dragonsteel. It wouldn’t...uh...let me.”
“Wouldn’t let you?” Payne and Lena spoke at once.
“It can’t be destroyed,” Meg said.
Payne buried his face in his hands.
“So, we came up with another plan,” I said. “We’re going to hide it somewhere no one will ever find it.”
“Where?” Payne asked, then stopped himself. He knew my mind without the need to read it. The fewer people who knew about the diamond’s final resting place, the better.
Payne gave me a slow nod. “I trust you to do the right thing, then. Both of you.”
“What about this dark magic?” I asked. “The spell that allowed that black-eyed shifter to vanish. The spell they used to boobytrap poor Alonzo Fry. That can be tracked.”
Payne nodded. “I have a few leads on that. It’s better you don’t know all the details, but Milo’s following up on one for me. He left last night.”
A spike of fear went through me. Meg put her hand on my knee.
“I can’t thank you both enough,” Payne said. “You didn’t just keep that stone away from some very bad people. You helped me save three shifters from suffering the same fate as a lot of good men I once knew in Kentucky. Those three betas from the warehouse can be rehabilitated in time. They have a long road ahead of them, but I’m hoping as they recover, they’ll remember more about who did that to them and how to help us fight it.”
“That’s good news,” Meg said. “I’m just sorry for my father’s part in all of this.”
Payne nodded and his eyes dropped. Meg wasn’t looking at him when they did. My heart sank. I was afraid this was coming.
“I got a few answers about him,” Payne said. “From the shifter I subjugated.”
Meg’s eyes flicked to meet Payne’s. I tightened my grip on her hand.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I need to know.”
“It looks like he’d been selling info to the Ring for years. Every magical item that came into your grandfather’s shop. Most of it was useless to them. But, a few weeks ago, he visited your grandfather and he must have been told about the Kingsblood.”
Meg’s jaw dropped. “Gramps never told me that. I had no idea.”
“I assumed as much. Meg, this is going to be hard for you to hear, but the beta shifter was assigned to your dad. He followed him for days. He went with him to your grandfather’s house once and tried to persuade him to divulge Dorothea’s name.”
Meg blinked back tears. “He didn’t. My grandfather knew what would happen.”
Payne nodded.
Meg put a hand over her mouth as the truth slammed into her. I felt it like a bag of bricks against my own chest.
“They killed him,” she said.
“It looks that way,” Payne said. “Maybe not directly. The wolf said he never laid a finger on your grandfather. But, they threatened to hurt you. You grandfather got pretty upset. His heart gave out.”
She rose from the couch. Her tears flowed freely. “So, they didn’t kill him. But they didn’t call for help. They just left him there to die. My God. My dad knew I’d be the one to find him in the morning.”
I think if her father were still alive, I might have killed him myself for the pain this caused her.
“He was a warrior,” Payne said. “Emerson Crossley Senior was the first line of defense against the Ring on this one, Meg.”
Through her tears she nodded. “He was. God. And he knew it. He was willing to die before he’d let that diamond fall into the wrong hands.”
“He’s a hero to me,” Payne said.
“And to me,” I said rising to meet Meg. She let me take her into my arms.
“You’ve done all you can do,” Payne said. “I’m honored to call both of you my friends. I’m sorry some of this was hard to hear. But, you have each other now. And I know you’ll make sure that diamond never falls into the wrong hands again.”
Meg pulled away. She sniffled and nodded. She shook Payne’s hand, sealing her promise. At that moment, Meg was just as much a part of Wolfguard as I was.
I was proud of her. So was Payne. I shook his hand and we said goodbye. We still had more work to do.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Meg
On a crisp October morning, I married my love on the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan where he first marked me as his mate.
Leo stood tall and strong in his tux. He chafed a little at the collar and I laughed as I walked toward him holding my bouquet of red roses.
He was nervous. His eyes glinted blue. The perfect match to the sapphire I wore on my ring finger, circled in diamonds. He gave it to me a month ago right here on the shore on the night of the last full moon.
“Be my wife,” he whispered.
I didn’t have to answer. He didn’t even really have to ask. We knew each other thoroughly; our minds and hearts were one.
I let him claim me again and again that night, just like the first one. I found strength I never knew I had as he opened me, caressed me, made me his.
My mate. My man. My wolf. Now, he would be my husband.
I had no father to give me away and I felt just the tiniest tinge of melancholy. Not for him. My father died for me so long ago. Maybe he was never really there at all. I missed my grandfather though. He would have loved Leo. As the breeze lifted my hair, it felt like a kiss. Then, I knew Grandpa was there all along. He was right here in my heart.
I had the Kalenkov men to give me away. They were a formidable group. Each of them matching Leo in power and strength. There was Valentin. His new wife Willow dabbed a tear from her eye as she stood at the end of the beach path we’d made for an aisle.
Beside her stood Leo’s sister, Grace. She had welcomed me with open arms the day we met just a few weeks ago. She looked more like her cousin, the dark-haired Milo. He was the only one not here today. I knew it weighed on Leo. But, he was out there somewhere, trying to learn about the dark magic that swirled around us all.
Leo’s cousins Erik and Edward flanked me. Twin, blond pillars with devastatingly good looks and mischievous smiles.
Leo’s father Andre stood beside him. Our marriage would receive the blessing of the most powerful Russian wolf pack. He brought a woman with him named Avelina. She had a magic of her own that left me awestruck. She had platinum hair and a timeless face. She could be thirty or seventy, I couldn’t tell for sure. She kept a watchful, knowing eye on us all. It was as if she held some secret she wasn’t yet willing to share.
We said our vows. I couldn’t remember the words, only the feeling. Love. Unity. Trust. Family. I was part of one again after all.
Later, we all danced under the moonlight. The first touch of fall painted the leaves of our little forest in brilliant brushstrokes of red and gold.
Leo had just laid out the posts for where the workers would pour the foundation on our forever home come spring.
Michigan City. It was perfect for us. I had just closed on a commercial property in town. Crossley Antiquities carried too much baggage now. My grandpa’s brothers owned the name. But, they didn’t own me. I was a Kalenkov now. My new store would reflect that.
&nb
sp; “Happy?” Leo said. I sipped champagne and walked barefoot with him along the beach.
“You know I am. I never thought I could be this happy though.”
Leo smiled and pulled me against him. His hand cupped my breast over the satin bodice of my dress.
I blushed. “Leo! Your family is just a few yards away.”
“Shh,” he said. “They’re all shifters. They know how this goes. Besides, if you don’t let me take care of you soon, you won’t be much good to anybody by the time we cut the cake.”
I made a playful slap at him. He was right though. That familiar, rising heat poured through me.
I lifted the hem of my dress. The tide was coming in. I let it rush over my bare feet. Leo was barefoot too. He’d rolled up his pant legs.
“You’re sure it’s deep enough?” I whispered.
Leo held me close. “It’s deep enough.”
Weeks ago, the same night he proposed, we’d come out here together. Me, Leo, his sister Grace and her husband Gideon. It was then I learned the last secret of the Kalenkov family.
Gideon was a dragon-shifter. His four brothers as well. Avelina, the regal woman with the white hair and secret smile, was their mother.
It was she who I allowed to hold the Kingsblood Diamond.
“This is made of dragon’s blood,” she said, her tone flat, expressionless. There was pain inside of her. I could feel it. I wondered what kind of awful dark spell had been used to crystallize that blood and turn it into this stone. She handed it back to me.
“And I trust you both to do what needs to be done with it.”
So we did.
With the diamond in his hand, Leo was invincible. He dove to the bottom of the lake while Gideon and I waited on the deck of the yacht we rented. Leo buried the thing deep. When I felt his lungs give out, I signaled to Gideon. Cloaked in magic I couldn’t see, he dove in and pulled Leo up.
Gasping, smiling, Leo emerged and I took him in my arms.
“It’s over,” he said. “Gideon Brandhart is never going to tell that secret, just like we’re never going to tell his. Dragon’s aren’t real, after all.”
Leo winked at me.
He felt very real and very hard as he pulled me against him. He was right. Neither of us would be much good to the others if we didn’t sate this urge and soon.
“Do you feel it yet?” he asked, looping his arm through mine.
My smile widened and I couldn’t hold back my blush. His hand cupped my breasts again. He had been the first to notice the new fullness there.
“Sometimes,” I whispered. I pulled his hand and laid it flat over my stomach. I closed my eyes and held my breath.
Magic.
Leo gasped. His eyes flashed. They twinkled just like the ones we’d hung around the tents where the reception was still going on without us.
“He’s strong,” he said.
“He might be a she, you know,” I said. But I knew he was right. Leo’s seed took root two weeks ago. We were keeping it our secret for now.
“I love you,” he said. “Now let me show you how.”
He swung me into his arms. As the waters of Lake Michigan lapped at his feet, he took me behind the dunes. The lake held all of our secrets, as Leo made me his once more under the light of the moon.
Up Next from Kimber White
CLICK TO LEARN MORE
It’s up to Milo Kalenkov to find and quell a rogue, dark witch who’s been wreaking havoc for the Wolfguard Protectors. When he comes face to face with her, he’ll be in for the fight of his life and his heart at the hands of the most alluring, powerful woman he’s ever known.
Don’t miss Kiss of Midnight, the next sizzling book in the Wolfguard Protector Series.
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Books by Kimber White
Wolfguard Protectors
Shift of Fate
Echo of Magic
Kiss of Midnight
* * *
Dragonkeepers Series Page
Kissed by Fire
Tempted by Fire
Marked by Fire
Claimed by Fire
Freed by Fire
* * *
Mammoth Forest Wolves Series Page
Liam
Mac
Gunnar
Payne
Jagger
* * *
Wild Ridge Bears Series Page
Lord of the Bears
Outlaw of the Bears
Rebel of the Bears
Curse of the Bears
Last of the Bears
* * *
Wild Lake Wolves Series Page
Rogue Alpha
Dark Wolf
Primal Heat
Savage Moon
Hunter’s Heart
Wild Hearts
Stolen Mate
* * *
Claimed by the Pack Series Page
The Alpha’s Mark
Sweet Submission
Rising Heat
Pack Wars
Choosing an Alpha
The Complete Series Box Set
About the Author
Kimber White writes steamy paranormal romance with smoldering, alpha male shifters and kickass heroines (doormats need not apply). She lives on a lake in the Irish Hills of Michigan with one neurotic dog, her sweet, handsome son, her fire-breathing warrior-princess of a daughter, and the most supportive husband any writer could hope to have (seriously, he just took said son, daughter, and dog out for a boat ride so she could finish this book in peace!).
She loves connecting with readers. Sign up for her newsletter for the latest word on her new releases. You’ll get a free ebook as a welcome gift.
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