“You are so beautiful.” For a moment he stood lost in wonder, self-restraint no longer needed. “I don’t think you understand how beautiful you are.”
Rae flushed, aware she was lying there in nothing but her socks. Zander’s slow gaze on her body made her feel beautiful—no longer the awkward Lupine who never could keep up with her agile and graceful Feline brothers.
Zander’s look told Rae he liked what he saw of her curved but compact body, flyaway dark hair, and eyes that were plain gray, without the brilliant colors or soulful darkness of other Shifters’. He ran his fingers across her throat, down between her breasts, and over her belly to the swirl of hair between her legs.
“Beautiful and strong,” he said. He slid his hands to the creases of her thighs and nudged her legs apart, coming to stand between them. “Staying away from you has been hell.”
Rae swallowed, the feeling of his jeans against the sensitive skin of her inner thighs hot and exciting. “The mating frenzy can be hard to fight,” she said in a hoarse whisper.
“It’s not the mating frenzy.” Zander’s thumbs found her opening, caressed it. “It’s you. You save my life, you ease my pain, and you act like you don’t know why that’s special. No one ever saved my life before, Rae. Only you.”
His hands warmed her skin, his touch exciting her and making her thoughts blur. She figured he meant she’d saved him in the bar fight when she’d slammed the sword into the shotgun, keeping Zander from being hit point-blank. He’d still been shot, but only grazed. The scar from that wound had faded, barely discernible now on his tanned flesh.
“I didn’t want them to hurt you,” she said shakily. “You were my ride.”
Zander’s smile spread across his face—his real smile, which only showed up when she surprised him. He leaned to her and kissed her deeply, then took his mouth down her body in the path his fingers had traveled.
Rae sucked in a breath when he pressed an openmouthed kiss to her most intimate place, and another when he abruptly rose from her. Rae was suddenly cold without him and lifted herself on her elbows, a protest on her lips.
Before she could speak, Zander stepped out into the front room but was back almost immediately, the Sword of the Guardian in his hands. He took both pieces from the sheath and laid them across the dresser, the broken pieces fitted together.
“What will we need that for?” Rae asked in surprise.
“An idea of mine. The runes where it’s broken say the couple gets reunited.” Zander’s eyes sparkled as he came back to her. “I bet I know what those two did when they found each other again. Maybe it’s what will put the sword back together.”
Rae blinked. “And that’s why you brought me here?”
“It’s one reason I brought you here.” Zander cupped Rae’s face. “I have a lot of other things on my mind.”
He leaned to kiss her again, but Rae drew back. “I don’t like it . . . watching.”
Zander looked puzzled, but just then the sword made a faint ting, as though it were laughing. Zander grimaced and swung away into the bathroom. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”
He emerged with a towel and dropped it over the sword, which went silent. Without another word, Zander stripped himself of his jeans and underwear and returned to her.
The next kiss wiped away Rae’s doubts, fears, and worries. She lay back as he came down to her, the bed embracing them both. Zander kissed her face, her throat, his weight covering her but not oppressing. His body was protective, wanting, not demanding or subduing. Zander was with her, taking care of her.
He moved his mouth to her breast, covering it. Rae groaned as she slid her foot up his leg, wanting to pull his heavy cock inside her but not wanting the warm sensation of his mouth on her to cease.
Zander circled her nipple with his tongue, then licked between her breasts to her throat. He lifted his head and kissed her, his mouth hot from her breast. At the same he drew one finger firmly along her opening. As Rae jerked hard with pleasure, Zander slid himself inside her.
Rae lost the kiss as she gave a strangled cry, the amazing feeling of him robbing her of breath. Zander filled and spread her, a tight fit, but Rae also had the instant and striking sense that he’d been made for her.
Zander growled low in his throat, his eyes half closing. “Goddess, I knew you’d feel good, but I never thought . . .” He groaned as he slid another inch inside her. “I want to stay in you forever . . .”
Rae wanted to quip that it would be impractical but she couldn’t, because she wanted that too. Forever in Zander’s warmth, hearing his deep voice as he loved her, that rumble of it vibrating her whole body.
The hardness of him found her open spaces, filled her, completed her. Rae lifted her hips and Zander slid all the way in, easy for him because she was so slick. Rae wanted him with her body, her heart, her soul.
Mate, the wolf inside her said joyfully. The other part of me.
Zander gazed down at Rae, his eyes dark with raw need. He pressed a long kiss to the corner of her mouth as he began to thrust.
Even if he is a bear, the wolf said with a grin, and then Rae lost all sense of words and thoughts.
* * *
Zander surrendered to the incredible sensation of being inside Rae. She opened to him all the way, welcoming him, no holding back. Rae didn’t do things by halves—she gave all of herself.
She was giving all of herself to him now. Zander’s hips moved as he tried to be inside her as far as he could, greedy for her and her heat.
The loneliness that was Zander’s life splintered and fell away. All the pain he’d sucked into himself, all the grief when he’d failed to heal someone, even the joy when he’d helped them, was gone on the breath of the wind. Nothing mattered in his past, or his future. Only this present mattered with Rae beneath him, her gray eyes darkening in passion.
Rae was also sweet, soft, and sexy, and Zander lost himself in the hot joy of her. To hell with the world and all its crap. He was with Rae, who gripped him tight, squeezing his cock inside her. Let the frenzy come. Screw it.
Zander growled as he sank into the bed with her, Rae’s eyes the most beautiful sight in the world as she gave in to desire. Zander thrust, and thrust again, every slide in and out an astonishing thing. If any experience in his life had been this good, he didn’t remember it. Nope, nothing had ever been this good.
He drowned in Rae’s scent, her touch, the noises she made as they rocked together. She was beauty itself, and she was sassy and strong, and Zander would never have enough of her.
Rae gave a sharp cry as her climax engulfed her, then she went crazy, kissing him, crying his name, dragging him deeper and deeper inside her.
Zander gave her what she asked for, bracing his fists on the bed as he drove into her, Rae’s feet planted on his backside and pulling him in. He grew dizzy as his coming surged up and then smacked him hard.
He heard his voice tearing through the room, Rae’s answering cries, and the faint shimmer of the sword on the dresser. Then every sound was swamped by the roaring in Zander’s ears, though he heard the snarls in his throat.
I love you, Little Wolf.
Zander had no idea if he shouted the words or his mind only filled with them. The sounds coming out of his mouth were incoherent, and then he no longer cared.
Rae had hold of him, her coming strong, and Zander matched it. They clung to each other, kissing, crying out, kissing again as they fell together, joined and whole.
Rae laughed languidly at him as her head touched the pillows, one finger coming up to brush his face. Zander realized before he crashed down beside her and headed for oblivion, that she was wiping away his tears.
* * *
When Zander peeled open his eyes, the sun had moved, his throat was raw, and every part of him was sore. Rae lay beside him, stretched out on her side as she watched him, a half-full glass of wine in her graceful hand.
“Are you back with me?” She smiled down at him then took a sip of the bl
oodred wine. “I was trying to decide whether to eat all the food or be nice and leave you some.”
“Eat it,” Zander said, his voice a croak. “I’ll live on being with you.”
Rae’s gray eyes lit with amusement. “That will only last until you get hungry. Here, have a cracker.” She shoved a piece of flatbread spread with herbed cheese into his mouth.
Zander’s throat closed up but he managed to chew and swallow, then take the wineglass she lifted from the nightstand and held out to him. He gulped wine, refraining from coughing, then set down the glass and wiped his mouth.
“Did it work?” he asked. He gestured to the towel-draped sword. “Did it go back together?”
“I don’t know,” Rae said. “I’ve been afraid to look.”
Her eyes held trepidation, worry that he wanted to wipe away. Zander heaved himself up, pushing aside the quilt she must have tucked over him.
“All right,” he said. “We’ll look together.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Zander didn’t let himself speculate, hope, or pray. He stepped to the dresser and plucked the towel from the sword.
It sat there, winking in the sunlight, still in two pieces. Rae let out a sigh and thumped down on the bed.
“Damn it,” Zander said softly. He had hoped this would work because he had no fucking clue how to fix the bloody thing. A human swordsmith or even a Shifter one might ruin it—it needed Fae magic.
But no way was he going to open a way to Faerie to look for a Fae swordsmith. They had sword makers there, but the chances of coming across a trustworthy one willing to fix a weapon originally forged to thwart the Fae were tiny. None of Zander’s stupid ideas were panning out.
Rae sat down on the side of the bed, lifted the wine bottle she’d left on the nightstand, and refilled the two glasses. She held one out to him.
“We could always try again,” she said.
A beautiful woman, bare to the sunlight, holding out a glass of ruby-red wine and suggesting, with all sincerity, that they should have sex again was difficult to ignore. Her gray eyes caught and held sunlight and warmth.
What idiot would be fool enough to resist her? Zander plucked both glasses from her hands and set them firmly down on the nightstand. Then he snaked his arms around Rae and took her mouth in a warm, afterglow kiss.
Rae slanted him a sly smile as he eased her down to the bed. At the last minute, Zander rose and twitched the towel over the sword, then returned to Rae and her warmth.
* * *
They tried again, and again. And then again. After the fourth time, Rae thought she’d be exhausted, but her body seemed to be giving her an endless supply of energy.
Or maybe it was simply the joy of being with Zander. He’d go from playful and funny to tender and slow, touching her with warm hands while he gazed into her eyes. Then to crazy and rough, grabbing Rae by the hips and flipping her over to enter her from behind. That time had Rae screaming and clawing at the covers, in the most astonishing pleasure she’d ever known.
After crackers and truffles to fortify themselves, Zander loved her again, gently this time, his strokes long and slow. Rae lay back and basked in him, knowing that the heat around her heart might mean the mate bond was forming. She said nothing, knowing it would devastate her if he didn’t feel the bond in return.
No matter what they did, though, the sword remained broken. Zander at one time left it uncovered and they put up with its hum, though Rae stopped paying attention once their lovemaking turned fervent.
The blade never fused together. The two of them giving in to mating frenzy obviously didn’t have anything to do with the sword.
They stayed in the cabin through the night. Zander ordered out food and then went to the road to fetch it so the delivery person wouldn’t come to the cabin itself. Zander said he called Eoin as well, telling him he’d keep Rae with him—to train, of course.
Her father would know exactly what they were doing out here, Rae was certain. Eoin wanted them to mate, but Zander had said not a word about the mate-claim, ceremonies, nothing.
Zander was un-Collared, free to come and go as he pleased—Rae wore a Collar and was bound to a Shiftertown. As Guardian, she was doubly bound. She wouldn’t be able to leave for long stretches at a time in case she was needed. Zander mating with her under sun and moon would tie him to a Shiftertown where he didn’t want to be. Rae doubted he’d easily give up his freedom.
As they ate warmed-over pizza at the front room’s table in the gray light of dawn, Zander told her about his phone conversation with Eoin.
“The leader of the Idaho Shiftertown couldn’t tell him much,” Zander said. “He’d heard of the incident with Carson and his wife, but by the time his trackers could get north to investigate, the ferals had gone. They followed the trail for a while but lost them and didn’t want to go too far into the wilderness. The Idaho Shiftertown leader said he’d put feelers out but he couldn’t find any more information. His Guardian looked into it as well.”
Rae nodded as she listened and chewed pizza. Tomato sauce, cheese, and pepperoni tasted surprisingly good at five in the morning after a night of sex, especially chased with warm red wine.
“Is that why you didn’t want to go with my dad to the meeting?” she asked when she finished. “Because you knew the leader didn’t know anything?”
Zander shrugged. He’d resumed underwear and T-shirt while they ate, thin fabric stretching over his hard body. Likewise Rae had put on her tank top and undies, not wanting her bare skin smeared with pizza grease.
“I figured he wouldn’t have found out anything about the ferals,” Zander said. “If he had, he’d have sent word to other leaders in the area, which includes Eoin. But asking around lets Carson and Ezra have something constructive to do instead of sitting around thinking about their troubles.”
Of course. Zander was trying to take care of everyone at once. “So how are we going to find them?” Rae asked. “We promised Carson.”
“I’ve put a lot of people on alert, both Shifters and human, about the ferals who hurt the Carsons, asking far and wide if anyone has any info. Sean is keeping you out of the Guardian Network to keep you safe from other Guardians but that doesn’t mean he can’t do searches of his own. He’ll find something.”
“Miles witnessed something similar, you said.” Rae shivered. “It’s horrible. Why would Shifters go after other Shifters?”
Zander grunted a laugh. “You’re young and cute. Shifters used to tear each other up all the time. Clan wars, mate challenges, hierarchy changes . . . Shifters have a history of violence. We were originally bred as fighters, remember. Battle beasts for the Fae.”
“Yes, but that was a couple thousand years and many generations ago.” Rae took another swallow of wine. “I hope we got over it.”
“Mostly.” Zander wiped his fingers on a paper towel and closed the empty pizza box. “But there’s a kernel of savagery inside every Shifter, no matter how long we’ve been around. That’s why Shifters go feral. They become the battle beasts and can’t snap out of it. I healed a feral not long ago.” Zander quieted, his eyes going still. “It was horrific. I healed him, but then I was mindless. I wanted to kill, to rip apart everyone in sight. Since I’m a big-ass bear, like you say, I was unstoppable. A fearless cub—a little boy one-tenth my size—was the only thing that took me down.”
He shuddered, his remembered terror touching Rae. She set down her plate and glass and reached for his hand. Zander didn’t hide his grateful look when he closed his fingers over hers.
“You weren’t feral,” Rae reminded him. “It was only your healing gift giving you hell.”
“I know that.” Zander’s grip tightened. “But I might not have come back from it. It was easy to slip to the other side, and I don’t have a Collar to stop me. Shifters can look human but we’re not. We’re all one step away from the savage.”
“Except for the cubs,” Rae reminded him. “We take care of them—even my dad picke
d me up and took me home with him, when he had no idea who I was, who my parents were. You stopped yourself for a cub, you said. Tell me about him.”
As Rae had hoped, the mention of the cub made Zander’s haunted look recede. “Cutest little polar bear you ever saw,” he rumbled. “Name of Olaf. I thought about asking to adopt him but he’s so happy living with a bunch of bears and humans, all of them smitten with him, that I didn’t have the heart to take him away. So I visit him. Maybe when he’s older I can teach him about being a polar bear. He’s an orphan, like you. Maybe I can be the clan he never had.”
Zander would do that, Rae saw. He’d take care of the cub, like he took care of everyone else.
“You’re a softy,” Rae said. “For a big-ass bear.”
Zander’s eyes took on their usual glint, his fear and his relief evaporating. “You watch who you’re calling soft, Little Wolf.” He shoved aside the plates, glasses, and pizza box, reached across the table, and dragged Rae onto it. “You’re going to pay for being so nice to me.”
He didn’t bother with Rae’s tank top or his T-shirt. He yanked off their underwear and started loving her on the polished wood of the tabletop. Rae laughed as his thrusts came hard and fast, then again when they rolled off to the floor.
Neither of them worried much about it. Zander slid back inside her and Rae sank into him and let the happiness come.
* * *
Zander dragged himself off the bed a few hours later. They’d retreated to the bedroom for a deep sleep after their frenzy in the living room, and now someone was banging on the front door.
Rae opened sleepy eyes but Zander signaled her to stay put, grabbed his samurai sword, and strode out. The scent on the other side of the door was Shifter but Zander drew the sword before he glanced out the window to see who had approached.
Like polite Shifters, they stood a few yards from the cabin, just inside the flower garden. They’d announced their presence and now waited to be admitted to Zander’s territory. The cabin was Zander’s territory at the moment—renting a place for a few days counted.
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