“We have no reason to doubt it,” Jett said somberly. “As distasteful as it seems.”
There was a moment of silence as everyone contemplated what that meant. Tahl’s hand twitched against her thigh.
“So this means Desi didn’t jinx your relationship with Peyton.”
Jett would likely frown on his sister shaking his mate until her teeth rattled in her head, so Desi contented herself with a death glare in River’s direction.
Tahl laughed. “Unless she cast a spell, I’d say that Peyton did that all by herself. It was never real.”
She couldn’t look at him and knew Marlene was looking anywhere else too. The weight of his hand lifted and she repressed the intense need to flee.
“Desi?” He’d turned to face her, two fingers gently lifting her chin. She forced herself to look into his eyes.
“I have an … ability, it seems.” Besides being able to shift.
“What kind of ability?”
“If I’m upset enough with someone I tend to say things—wish them on them—and they come true.”
“Okay,” he drew it out. “And that affected me and Peyton how?”
“I wished you the best and that you got what you needed.”
He shook his head. “You think you stuck me with Peyton?”
“No!” How thick was he? “I spoiled what you had with her.”
“I had nothing with her, Desiree. She compelled me, remember? It was all false.”
But she’d been nothing but resentful, aside from their … sexual interludes.
“I’d like to think I got what I needed,” he added. “But did you? Or do you still feel betrayed by tradition and destiny?”
“I told you I was saving myself for someone who deserved me.” His features tightened and his eyes grew blank, so she hurried to finish. “You’ve always been that man, Tahl, at least that was my hope. My pride got in the way. And my guilt.”
“Baby.” He took in a big breath. “Okay. I fucked up, triggering your heat. Not exactly conducive to building trust. But here on in you talk to me. Do you understand?”
“I do. I will.” He was asking a lot, but she’d try.
A throat cleared, and she stilled. Tahl’s eyes widened a fraction and she realized he’d also forgotten they weren’t alone. Hot color eased up her throat to flush her cheeks. Scarlet, if the heat was any indication.
“Simon is of the opinion you influencing the outcome of events in other people’s lives is unlikely.” Her mother dropped the bombshell with no particular inflection in her voice.
“What?” Desi leaned forward, thwarted by Tahl’s apparent need to keep his hands on her. “But you agreed with me!”
A faraway look on her face, her mother said, “You displayed no evidence of your heritage growing up, Desiree. Jett’s Fae side was apparent from birth, but he’s male, and his father is an Alpha. I suppose I wanted to believe you had the ability to influence others and it lent weight to the argument.”
Not for the first time, she wanted to choke her parent, and she felt River’s animosity clear across the room. Her friend opened her mouth but was cut off by her mate.
“You meddle, Mom. You cause trouble.” Jett’s features were set in uncompromising lines and Marlene flinched.
“I tried to reassure you, Desi, especially when you told me about your visions. I’d talked with Simon, you see.”
“Visions?” Tahl beat everyone else to it. “You have visions?”
“Just one. I had it twice.” She glared at her mother. “I’ve been a mess, thinking I’d…”
“Well, you still would have thought Tahl chose you second. Better you think you had some control over the situation.”
Furious, she blinked and then swallowed to avoid unloading on dear old mom. She loved Marlene, but it was hard to like the woman sometimes. Tahl was still muttering about visions.
“I saw myself standing over you with blood on my hands,” she told him. “Okay? And there might have been a moment where I wondered if I’d… Well, you know.”
“You were pissed off,” he concurred.
“Not that pissed off.”
“And it came true? The vision?”
“She packed your wounds, Tahl. It was like being in stasis, immobilized after Peyton compelled me, but I could see and hear everything as it played out. Desi’s hands were covered in your blood.” Jett drew everyone’s attention before they looked back at her.
Unable to bear the stares of shock and horror, she dropped her gaze. Tahl wrapped her up, his warm breath against her temple, as he asked, “What happened, Jett?”
“Peyton planned to kill us all, including you if you wouldn’t join her. Consort, I think she called you. Desiree shifted to stop her. Broke her spine. It was fucking amazing.”
Amazing? Her brother had looked anything but amazed when he’d left them the night before. Shocked, horrified, stunned, maybe. But amazed?
“I’d say that’s her true Fae heritage, Marlene,” Simon said.
“I don’t want to be different,” Desiree said, her voice small in the big space. Simon’s little lecture hadn’t been lost on her.
“It’s a big responsibility,” Simon agreed. “And one that appears to be brought about under extreme duress—and protectiveness. Hopefully, you’ll never find yourself in such a situation again. But I’d think it was worth it in this case.”
It was hard to disagree with him, this old Fae. She wondered if there were other things that went bump in the night and resolved to ask him what he knew.
“The only people aware you can shift are contained in this room.”
“But, Alpha Leaf—”
“Didn’t see your wolf. Only the aftermath, and he’s not inclined to question it too closely. You somehow got the jump on the threat. Period. She wasn’t dead, but thoroughly incapacitated.” Her brother paused. “This won’t go before the Council.”
Jett’s leadership was such that the final word had been spoken, and she let herself relax a little.
River took Marlene into the kitchen, ostensibly to make some food and coffee, while Jett asked Simon to accompany him to his office. Desi suspected her brother meant to garner as much information as possible from the man, rather than rely on their mother. It wasn’t really Marlene’s fault. She’d been orphaned at a young age, growing up in foster homes before meeting Jett’s father, and she had her own, strong ideas. Ones that didn’t necessarily mean obeying her son, even if he was Alpha.
The union with River’s old Alpha was still shrouded in mystery, at least for her and Lizbeth, born long after Jett and to a different male, and while they knew their mother wasn’t human—or shifter—she knew as little about her Fae heritage as they did. Desi stared after Simon, hoping to pick his brain.
“Jett has to do what’s right for the whole pack, baby. He’ll need to know things you won’t have an interest in. But I’ll see to it that you and Simon have some time together.”
“That’s important to me.”
“I know.” He hugged her close.
“What’s your take on me shifting?”
“Besides saving my ass?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Having a mate who can shift has to be weird.”
“You concern yourself with the damnedest things, woman.” He looked at her, gaze steady and open. “I’m shifter. I can shift. Seems only fair you can too. I love you, Desi. In any shape. Any form. Any mood.”
She melted, trusting in him. “I can be a bitch sometimes. Difficult.”
“Part of your appeal, although I can do without those figurative stabs through my heart.”
“I love you, Tahl.” Okay, she’d already told him he had her heart, but saying those words made her breathless.
“Sweetest thing you’ve ever said.” He set his mouth over hers and kissed her, a slow tasting that built until he was devouring her, savoring her very essence as she surrendered.
As they both replenished their supply of oxygen, he rested his forehead against
hers. “Still want that party?”
“I do.”
“I want you.” He ground his erection against her pelvis.
“You have me.”
He growled at her tease, and she gave into the imp of mischief riding her. Dipping around his tall body, she flew out of the room, running up the stairs with long, lithe strides. She gloried in the lightness, her burdens released and shared.
Tahl caught her outside one of the bedrooms, whirling her into the space, the door swinging shut behind them. “Running from my wolf again, baby?”
The fact that they were in her brother’s house should have deterred her, but she found she didn’t care. “You caught me. Again.”
Shoving a hand through her hair, he tugged her close, taking charge, and her wolf rebelled. Perhaps it was riding the victory, but for once Desiree and her animal were of the same mind. She folded to her knees, her fingers efficiently dealing with her mate’s fly.
His engorged cock pressed through the opening, encased in the fabric of his boxers. She dealt with them too and admired the long, thick shaft, crowned with such a wide head as she grasped him. Silk over steel.
“Jesus, Desi.” His fingers clenched in her hair, the slight sting arousing her, pushing her on.
Leaning forward, she tentatively ran the flat of her tongue over the corona, savoring the tang of his seed. Tahl gave a sharp intake of breath, and his thighs tightened. Recalling how he’d explored every inch of her with his tongue, she went on her own survey, tasting and licking, nuzzling and nibbling.
When he was shifting in place, clearly unable to maintain much control, she set her mouth over him and took as much of his cock as she could, feeling him in the back of her throat. Remembering his leisurely strokes when he fucked her, she mimicked the motion, drawing back and then dipping ever deeper as she took him.
“I’m gonna come, baby.” He fumbled at her hair, ineffectually tugging her away.
Her jaw aching, she sucked hard as she retreated and was rewarded with a hot, salty surge of his seed, spurting over her tongue. She swallowed frantically and released him, his sated cock still hard, glistening wet. Giving it a little pat, she glanced up at him—and froze.
His wolf stared back and hers rose to greet him. She didn’t feel the least subservient, reveling in her power. Gradually, his subsided, his chiseled lips lifting into a beatific smile. “That was indescribable. Feel free to have your way with me whenever the urge strikes.”
He tucked himself away and offered a hand, tugging her to her feet, pressing a kiss on her mouth. She closed her eyes the better to savor the moment.
“I think we’d better join the others.”
She checked herself in the mirror. Flushed face, swollen lips, and sex hair. Tahl looked … relaxed, but otherwise normal. Great. But did she really care if everyone knew what they’d been doing? When they knew her secret? It hardly seemed to signify. “I’m starved. Eating for two. Or three.”
He went on point, blinking at her. “What?”
“Made you look.”
He chuckled. “You never disappoint, baby.”
Epilogue
Twins didn’t run in either of their families, so maybe she shouldn’t have teased Tahl about carrying more than one pup. The ultrasound had confirmed the doctor’s speculation and her mate’s joy had been tinged with speculation until she reminded him she didn’t keep secrets anymore. Unless she was keeping one from herself.
She loved the boys, little Dominic and Duncan, but she desperately wanted some time away from the house and alone time with her mate. The man in question strode in, wearing a pair of broken-in jeans and a soft, button-down shirt. He’d rolled the cuffs back to display his impressively muscled forearms, and while she appreciated the show, her gaze drifted lower, to those jeans.
“Desi!” Tahl’s mouth dropped open, a look he could pull off given his handsome face. “What are you wearing?”
“This little outfit?” She minced toward him, taking care to twitch her hips and make the little pink skirt flare. The more pronounced curve of her hips caused the garment to ride up her thighs even higher, and she somehow smothered a smile when her mate’s eyes flared.
Her breasts, larger with the advent of the babies, were barely contained by the blouse, and she knew her new, lacy, pink bra showed seductively behind the white fabric. The effect of her movements was slightly challenged by the pink thongs slapping over the floor, but he could give her points for trying.
“Fuck,” he groaned, passing a big hand over his fly. “Jeans suck when you’ve got a hard on.”
“I take it you like it, then?” She posed, fingertips sifting through her hair.
“You’d look good in a paper bag. Maybe we should stay in.”
“No way, buddy. We’re going to have dinner someplace where baby food isn’t on the menu, and dancing afterward is. Nothing fancy, not dressed like this.”
“I can’t believe you kept that outfit, baby.”
“First thing you ever gave me? Besides your cock? Of course, I kept it.”
He choked and then laughed, before crossing to his dresser. Carefully removing the contents of the middle drawer, laying them on top, he lifted the paper lining the bottom. Plastic crinkled. “I kept these. Interesting you took two tests.”
“You kept my pee sticks?” She felt her eyebrows trying to climb up past her hairline. “Eew.”
“They’re in a baggie.”
“Still.” She tried to tease him past the moisture blurring her vision.
“Don’t, baby. I can’t deal when you cry. Don’t.” He tossed the sticks on the dresser and rushed her. She sniffled into this shoulder, hoping she hadn’t ruined her makeup.
The doorbell chimed, and she felt how torn he was. Stay and soothe? See who was at the door? “Go. I’m fine.”
She put the little baggie back where he’d secreted it, and carefully layered the clothes on top, easing the drawer shut. When she made her way to the living room, Cassie had her coat off and Tahl was finding her a hanger.
“Hi, Cass. I can’t tell you how appreciative I am that you’ll watch the boys tonight.”
Cassie gave her a sweet smile that didn’t hide her drawn features or the shadows beneath her dark eyes. “I’m happy to do it. With the kids away with River and Jett, that house is far too big for me.”
“You’re not alone in it, are you?” Tahl immediately reacted. “You can stay here.”
Desi hid her wince. They were about to start the addition on their current house, adding two more bedrooms in anticipation of a least one more child. To say things were a little crowded with twins was an understatement, her office now a nursery and the living room inundated with kid stuff. Cassie would have to sleep on a blow-up mattress.
“I’m not alone, Tahl. Jett would never allow that. Benjamin is in charge.”
There was a wealth of implication in those four words and Desi scrambled to decipher a few of them. Tahl’s eyes narrowed as he focused on Cassie. “Are you okay?”
“Me? Sure, I’m fine. Just a little tired is all. But not too tired to be careful with Duncan and Dominic!”
“I’m not worried,” she reassured the young female. “They’re sleeping right now and might stay that way until we get home. If not, there’s breast milk in the fridge to heat and some food. I labeled them.”
“Everything is labeled, Cassie. Everything. And readily available.” Tahl’s fond smile took the sting out of his comment. Who knew she’d become OCD after delivering their children? It was the only way she could stay on top of mothering, working and, let’s not forget, sating an extremely randy male shifter.
“It’ll be nice to not have to worry.” Cassie looked around, and patently ignored the pinging of her cell.
“Want to get that?” Tahl was anal about answering phones, viewing them as a possible lifeline.
“I’m good. I know who it is. I’ll call back later.”
Looking askance, he nodded and searched through the closet for he
r coat. “I’m taking Desi to Georgie’s. She has a craving for diner food and they have a jukebox.”
Cassie looked between them and laughed. “Have a good time. I’ll call if anything happens, I promise. And I’ll answer your calls.”
Rushing back to check on her sleeping babies, she patted the little, upturned bottoms and leaned in to press a kiss on each tiny forehead. Tahl laid a hand on her ass, and she squeaked, again wondering how he could move so silently. Together, they stared at the little creatures they’d made, smiling as Dominic pursed his tiny mouth and hitched higher. Duncan twitched as if in response to his younger brother.
“We could stay home. Order in. Dance in the living room. Cassie can run interference with the little guys.” Tahl worked an arm around her and tucked her up against his side. His scent comforted her and she pressed closer.
“We’d probably shock that little shifter, and I suspect she needs some time by herself.”
“Then let’s go, before I remove that little skirt, and find out what you’re wearing beneath it.”
“Anticipation is good for you,” she teased, before slipping from his grasp and hurrying to the foyer.
Watching him stalk toward her, his gait somewhat impaired by an obvious bulge below his waistband, she took a moment to appreciate her good luck. Tahl’s expression changed from that of lust and possession to tenderness, love shining in those gem-like eyes.
Taking her arm, he escorted her to their respectable SUV, the Camaro and her sports car garaged in deference to the additions to the family. He handed her in, leaning to steal a kiss that she willingly gave.
They’d both been undone by destiny, and in the best possible way.
The End
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