by Jen Talty
He shrugged his massive shoulders. “A voice told me.”
Right. A voice. Perhaps the wolf was really crazy.
“Why didn’t you communicate with me? Werewolves are capable of doing that with their own kind.” And witches were full of trickery, so this man, wolf, beast, or whatever, could actually be part of another plot to destroy the Wolfairies.
Well, he’d have to kill her first.
“I’m not a werewolf,” he said with a perplexed look.
“What are you, then?”
“A Wolfairy, of course,” he said as if she should have intuitively known that. He leaned against the dresser, his palms pressed on the wood top in a relaxed manner.
“Please. Now I know you’re full of shit.” The more she studied him, the more she thought she’d seen a picture of him somewhere before. It had to be in the research. “Wolfairies didn’t exist until my brother’s twins were born.”
He shook his head. “My sisters and I are all Wolfairies, only they don’t shift, and I don’t know why.”
“No. That’s impossible. I know your sisters. They are the mothers to the Wolfairies. They mated with my brothers, and they created a new species. It was all foretold in the Legend of King Lear.”
“King Lear was my father.” Dayton puffed out his chest. “My mother, Aria, was the last of our kind.”
“How do you know that?”
“The voice. It told me when they split my soul. The voice said that in order to protect my sisters, my mother went into hiding, pretending she was a mere human.”
Normally, she’d toss up her hands and walk away. This man was surely delusional.
Or not what he appeared to be.
“Do you know how your spirit became split?” she asked, excitement tickling her brain. She wanted to see where this liar would take the conversation. Her father used to tell her that the self-centered, and Dayton was definitely egotistical, always showed their hand if you kept the conversation geared toward them.
She could do that.
Maybe.
Dayton rubbed his temples. “That I don’t know.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
“Loaded question,” he said. “Before the wolf side saw you, all I knew was that I didn’t fit in anywhere in the world. I didn’t belong to a pack. I didn’t know I was half fairy until I ate Norse.” He waved his index finger in the air. “And I didn’t really eat him.”
“I beg to differ but go on.”
“Your presence triggered a need to get inside the farm. To cross the fog line. The pull so strong that if you hadn’t come outside when you did, I would have found my way inside.”
The reality of who she was dealing with took her heart and sank it into the depths of her inner darkness. “You killed Ralph. Why did you kill your sister’s father?”
“I did no such thing.” He folded his arms across his chest and pursed his full lips. “Who is this Ralph person?”
“Your sisters, Coral and Isadore’s, human birth father, only he was really a Royal Fairy and was helping to carry on the spirit of King Lear’s legacy.”
“Other than non-paranormal animals, I’ve never killed anything before, and I wouldn’t start now. I might have been an outcasted animal, but I like I’ve said before, I wasn’t, or will I ever be, a monster. I’m the opposite of an ogre.”
“A wolf killed him, and you’re the only one close to the farm that doesn’t have ties to it.”
He pushed off the dresser, closing the gap. His eyes narrowed. “I’m not a killer.”
She should be frightened. Didn’t matter that he was the spirit of the son of King Lear, being separated that long could have made him go bonkers or something. However, she found herself easing closer to him. She wanted to take a whiff of his fresh, hot spring scent. It was like being in a valley, in a natural hot tub, and inhaling the cold and humid air at the same time, lining your lungs with a breezy coat of relaxation.
She snapped her mind into focus. She wouldn’t allow herself to become mesmerized by his charm. “What were you doing by the property line?”
“Looking for you. And Norse.”
“I’m supposed to believe that?” Nothing he said answered any of the questions about the future. The only thing he’d done is explain where the other half of Norse had been.
Shit. That clarified a lot.
“I’ve been wandering these woods for centuries as a lone wolf with no pack. I’ve always understood humans and werewolves; I just couldn’t communicate with them. It was you who ignited my knowledge and thirst to reunite with Norse and meet my one true Queen.”
“Your what?” She shoved her finger in her ear and wiggled it. She’d heard him clear as day, but she wasn’t going to allow him to weave her into his plot of evil.
Oh, who the hell was she kidding? If he kissed her right now, she wouldn’t stop him. Curiosity killed the cat.
Well, she wasn’t a cat, that was for damn sure.
“You are my fated mate. The woman who will lead the Royal Fairies and the Wolfairies with me, making sure the future is secure for our kind. We will rule right next to the Alpha of the pack.”
“I hate to break it to you, big fella.” She patted his chest, letting her fingers linger a little too long. “My brother and his wife Daphne are the king and queen of the fairies, as well as being Alpha.”
“That’s a lot to take on. I’m sure your brother wouldn’t mind the help. Besides, my sister was not next in line. None of my sisters were.” He flattened her hand against his skin. “I’m the true King, and you are the only true Queen.” He trapped the part of her skin that Norse had burned. “See this?”
She squinted at the mark on the inside of her wrist. Defined dark lines dotted her arm. “That’s the Royal Fairy crest.” She swallowed. “That doesn’t mean anything.”
“Why would a half spirit, locked in a bottle, brand you?”
She’d never really liked the idea of fated mates. She preferred the idea of finding the perfect mate and taking her time getting to know him, making sure the choice was hers and only hers.
Not some cosmic shift in the stars.
Dayton certainly changed the way she looked at the world around her. She should be working on finding a way to lock Dayton back up. At the very least, she should be working on a plan to reach her brothers and let them know what little she’d found out so far.
“You’re reading too much into that,” she said.
He arched a brow. “That image you showed me when you had me locked in that cage. That was of you and me on the farm. It’s constantly changing, based on our actions and the actions of something out to hurt us, though I’m not sure who the threat is, yet.”
“How do you know?” she asked.
“Your thoughts tangled with mine while Norse and I were trying to merge. And I can see the painting move and change. It’s like watching a movie. I suspect soon you will be able to see what I see.”
“I think you’re full of shit.”
“Really? Because you kept thinking you should be utterly terrified, but you believed, deep down, I would never hurt you.”
She blinked. Her mouth opened and closed with her lashes.
“You can’t tell me I’m wrong, can you?”
“That proves nothing.”
He cupped her chin. “What does this prove?” His full lips brushed over hers with a tender sweep like a feather duster clinging to a ceiling fan.
Raising up on tiptoe, she gripped his neck as their tongues met in a wild frenzy of lust. She sucked it deep into her mouth, letting him touch every crevice. And she was in total control of herself. It had been a long time since she had a hunger to be desired by a man. To have her body worshiped and her mind treated like an equal. However, right now, she didn’t care what he thought about her intellect. She only wanted to selfishly take herself to a place she’d only fantasized about. Even a dead woman would want to sink her fangs into his flesh.
His arms circled her waist and
once again, he lifted her right off the ground.
Only this time, she wasn’t about to argue.
And it still didn’t prove anything. She shuddered, feeling his warmth enter her body through every pore. Fairy dust filled the room like sparklers. Everything she thought about her life was instantly replaced with visions of a world where Dayton was the center of her universe. The sun rose and set with him.
She jerked her head back. “No fucking way.”
Dayton had the audacity to wink. “I might be new to this world, but it’s impossible for a creature that is part wolf not to know when they have met their fated.”
“Fuck,” she muttered.
“I’d prefer to call it making lo—”
She poked him in the chest. “I liked it better when you didn’t talk.” She squirmed until her feet hit the ground. “We’re stuck in here for a few hours, so I’m going to make the best of it by—”
“Making love?”
“Get your head out of your ass.” She stomped off toward the kitchen. Once she claimed a mate, or one claimed her, as a wolf, they had to accept.
Sadly, she accepted him and that sealed the deal. No going back now.
Chaz was going to kill her.
Dayton might kill Chaz, since he was pronounced King by legend, not birthright.
Oh, this was fucked up. She needed to find all the answers before Coral’s protective wrap disappeared and her brothers came face to face with Dayton.
“Where are you going?” Dayton called.
“I’m going to do some research. There are books here that I haven’t had a chance to look at, and they might have some answers or explanations.” Or ways to reverse mating.
“That sounds so boring. Don’t you think it would be more exciting to get to know one another, naked.”
“I’ve seen you naked.” She plopped herself at the table, hoping her cheeks didn’t flush bright red. “Besides, you’ve got two hands. Get to know yourself.”
He burst out laughing.
“Go ahead and laugh, but that might be the only action you’re ever going to get being mated to me.”
4
Dayton fell back on the bed. He rubbed his temples. The pain between his ears had subsided to a dull throb, but it still drove him crazy.
Though not as much as…shit. “Hey. What’s your name?” he yelled, staring at the ceiling. Hundreds of images collided in his mind. It was like getting a crash course on thousands of years of history.
“Take a wild guess,” she responded, her words dripping with sarcasm.
He deserved that.
A slow smile spread across his face as he visualized her running through a meadow, her long, dark hair flowing in the breeze. She wore a white sundress where the sleeves gently glided off her shoulders. Her skin soaked in the sun, and fairy dust danced as she left a small trail of it behind.
“If I guess wrong, then I’m for sure going to be in the dog house,” he projected, not wanting to raise his voice. For years, he longed to communicate with someone.
Anyone.
He could hear conversations between humans as well as other paranormal creatures. He understood them, regardless of language. But he’d never been able to form words, either verbally or in his mind. The disconnect from all living things had been torture. There were moments Dayton thought he might go literally mad, especially in the last few moons. He’d pace along the property line, seeing her through thick fog. Hearing her thoughts of loneliness.
Or maybe it was sadness that tore through her heart.
He remembered the first time they made eye contact. He’d made himself known, and she froze right in the middle of the fog. He could poke his head through the fog if he’d wanted to and he’d known that.
But he didn’t want to frighten her away. He enjoyed looking at her and wished he could express how she eased the insanity that grew darker in his soul.
And he wanted to do the same for her.
He also remembered, as Norse, how being around her made him feel young again. It eased the centuries of pain his heart and soul had to endure.
“Are you going to stay in the bedroom? Or are you going to come out here and help me go through all this shit. We only have a few hours before your sister’s wrap dissolves and my brothers come barging in with their fangs out and guns loaded.”
He closed his eyes and hung on every word that slipped into his mind. Her voice reminded him of hot fudge coating a piece of angel food cake.
Not that he’d ever had the decadent desert, but he was sure he’d love it. Anything was better than the raw meat and garbage his wolf side had been surviving on his entire existence. How his fairy self had survived on nothing but air and blood, he couldn’t comprehend.
“Do we have food?” he asked.
“My brothers made sure the place was stocked full of dog food.”
He growled as he jumped to his feet. She was going to need her strong personality and her dry humor when they stepped from this cabin and the Royal Fairies bowed to their true King and Queen.
Oh boy. She would put him out to the dog house if she found out he could easily punch through his sister’s protective wrap. Having his fairy half live inside Coral, he knew exactly how strong her abilities were.
But they still didn’t hold a candle to his now that he was whole. If the world thought fairies were powerful, wait until they saw what a Wolfairy was capable of.
He stepped into the kitchen area. Other than the bedroom and bathroom, the cabin had an open layout. She sat at the kitchen table with a pair of black glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. An old, very large book was spread open in front of her. Her long fingers flipped the page as she gnawed on the end of a pencil.
“Are you going to tell me your name?” Her beauty humbled him, and it wasn’t her physical appearance that took hold of his soul. Her spirit wormed itself into the essence of his being. She was the accumulation of all the years he spent trapped between a young girl’s mind and the body of an oversized wolf.
She glanced up at him. Her pink tongue darted from her mouth, licking her plump lips. “You really don’t know? That’s shocking because you seem to know everything.”
The wooden legs on the chair screeched across the floor when he pulled it back. A bowl of fresh fruit taunted him. He’d never eaten anything as a human, and his mouth watered.
He pointed to the succulent food. “I know that’s an orange. I know we’re in Vermont. I know my sister’s names are Daphne, Isadore, and Coral, and I know Coral quite well after having lived inside her…oh, that’s how I know all this.” He snapped his fingers in the air. “Hang on. It’s coming to me.” He dug deep into all the wisdom and knowledge Norse had gathered during his adventures living inside his sister’s spirit. “Cheryl.” He slapped his hand on the table. “Your name is Cheryl.”
She cocked her head. “So it is.”
He reached out and tucked a piece of her silky hair behind her ear.
She jerked her head to the side and narrowed her stare. “Don’t do that.”
“Ever? Or just until you get used to the idea that we’re fated mates.”
She glared, shooting daggers at his face.
He held his hands in the air. “I’m sorry. I meant nothing by it.”
“All men say that.”
“I’m not all men,” he said, searching her dark eyes for a truth he prayed didn’t exist. While Norse existed in Coral, he’d seen the way some men treated their women and he’d wanted to kill them, but the only power he had was to protect Coral.
“Did someone hurt you?” He’d make it his mission in life to make that person pay for laying one single finger on his fated mate.
“No,” she said with a nasty bark.
“But someone tried,” he said between gritted teeth.
“Hey. You nearly killed me, so look who’s talking.”
Bile rose from the pit of his gut. He could never hurt a creature like Cheryl, especially since they were fated. But t
hat wasn’t only the half of it. He cleared his throat. “Do you really believe that considering how I’ve treated you since I escaped?”
She sucked in a deep breath, letting the air out slowly through her lips. She had to agree he’d been mostly respectful. Perhaps playful for mates, but that meant she accepted the mating. Something she needed to look more closely at. She could reject it, and so could he, and if the cosmos were willing, they’d survive the loneliness of knowing someone was there, but they didn’t want them.
The cosmos were never willing.
“Look. For all I know, this is some trick and you’re playing with me to get information and then when you have what you want, you’ll rip me to shreds,” she stated matter-of-factly. “And then kill my family as if they were gravy.”
“Do I look like a guy who wants to hurt anyone?” He batted his lashes like he’d seen Coral do many times when she’d been a child.
“Looks can be deceiving. If we opened the dictionary and turned to the definition of sexy, you’d be the description.” She covered his mouth with the palm of her hand. “We’d probably also find you under cunning.”
He brushed his lips against her soft skin.
She yanked her hand back. “Really? You’re a pig.”
“No. I’m a Wolfairy, and you said I was sexy, and you are irresistible.”
“Oh please. Start resisting. Trust me, it’s possible.” She rolled her eyes. “Nothing worse than a conceited werewolf who thinks he’s a new creature.”
“I don’t think. I know.” He liked feisty women. Or at least, he liked this one. “And come on. You’re into me.”
“Finding you attractive doesn’t mean anything other than I’ve got eyes. A dead woman would want to sink their fangs into you just because you’re eye candy.” She flashed a big grin. The kind little girls did right before they stuck their tongue out.
If she did that, he’d have to catch it with his tongue.
Gently, he took her by the wrist, setting her hand on the table. “You were attracted to me when I was a smelly, unruly wolf.”
“What? I was not.” She glanced between him and the picture.