by Ravenna Tate
“I don’t see why not. Human women do it every day.”
“And it’s a constant challenge for them.”
“Only you two can decide together what’s best for your situation.”
“That’s true.” Gillian returned to the walnuts for a few seconds before cocking her thumb toward the front door. “It can’t be easy sharing a room in this house. I mean, you have no privacy. Arizona and I only share the house with Fiera and Canyon, but I still feel like I’m doing something wrong every time we have sex.”
Makenna couldn’t help laughing again. “Are you kidding? In this house? I’m surprised Luke and Leah don’t let their children watch. They’re so open about it.”
“They really are. I’m glad to hear it’s not bothering you.”
“But it bothers you and Arizona.”
“Not him, only me.”
As if reading each other’s thoughts, both women glanced toward the two homes under construction. Despite the men working as much as possible, it would be at least three months before either house was ready for its intended occupants.
“Am I being silly not wanting to live in that beautiful home Arizona built on the other side of the village?”
“Oh my stars, no. I wouldn’t want to either. It happened in your bedroom, Gillian. All the wood cleaner in the world wouldn’t erase the scent of Josh and Ricky’s blood. Arizona would always smell it. You’d have to replace the entire floor, and even then, he’d see it in his mind every time he walked into that room.”
A shiver ran through Gillian that Makenna could actually see. “He said pretty much the same thing.”
“Then believe him. He is not upset about your need to move out of there. Please believe that, too. He adores you. He would do anything to have that day back so he could come home earlier and prevent the entire incident.”
“No one gets a do-over.” Gillian shook her head slightly, as if trying to clear her thoughts. “But enough about me. How are you? It has to be horrible having your entire village turn on you like that.”
“It’s nothing new.” Makenna mentally chided herself as soon as the words were out of her mouth. She was too comfortable around both Fiera and Gillian now. She’d need to watch that. Fiera could sense things Gillian would never pick up on, but Gillian was attuned to other subtleties, like voice inflection and tiny facial changes.
“Meaning what? They’ve acted like asses to you before?”
“Oh, they act like asses to everyone.” Gillian might realize she was brushing it off, but she’d had to say something. The people in her village already knew the truth about her. And now that she’d aligned herself with Stone and this village, they saw her as a traitor. Once they realized she was friends with Gillian, the danger would only increase.
Fresh guilt washed over her, as it did too often these days. She’d kept a huge secret from everyone, including Stone. Gillian and Arizona hadn’t guessed the truth. Neither had Canyon or Fiera. Keeping it from them was one thing, but she’d kept it from her mate as well. That was a huge deal.
What would she do when Stone found out? How could she tell him her real past while justifying why she’d kept something so important from him? Each day that passed made it more vital that he know the truth, but it also put one day longer between the time she’d met him, and the point where she finally told him the truth. How could she have let this happen? She should have told him right away. Every day she delayed only made the betrayal worse.
“Makenna?” Gillian’s voice was filled with alarm. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” She forced a smile to her face that she knew Gillian would never completely believe was real. “I’m fine. We’d better get these done or Leah’s schedule will be ruined.”
They laughed together, but it sounded as hollow as the story she’d told Stone about her past to Makenna’s ears. She had to figure out a way to make this right without losing the man she loved.
****
Two weeks after the meeting in the clearing, Stone arrived home from work earlier than usual on Friday afternoon, and told Makenna to pack a bag.
“What do you mean?”
With a grin that sent erotic images dancing through her head, he held up a piece of paper. “Belated mating gift, as Gillian called it. She and Arizona booked us into the same place they stayed the night he first mated with her. We have it until Sunday afternoon. They thought we could use some time away from all this for ourselves.”
“Oh, how thoughtful.” As much as the fact they could be heard by everyone when they were in their room together didn’t bother either of them, the thought of spending almost an entire weekend alone with Stone gave her delightful shivers.
Stone pulled her close and licked the wound on her neck. “If you’re not pregnant by the time we return, I have no clue what will get you that way.”
Those words pushed her from elated to worried in less than two seconds. She knew why she wasn’t pregnant yet—stress. Leah had been giving her herbs to try to keep her calm, thinking that was the issue, and Makenna had let her believe it. But the truth was that when a secret this huge loomed over your every waking moment, no amount of herbal concoctions would help.
For the past week, she’d been trying to find a time and place to tell him the truth, before that truth came back to bite them both in the ass. Maybe Gillian and Arizona had inadvertently given her the perfect opportunity with this generous gift?
But when Stone found out who she really was, would his erotic plans for their weekend be ruined? And even if they were, in the end, what was more important? That her mate know the entire truth about her, or that they have sex in a hotel suite where no one else would hear them?
“Where did you go just now?” He was watching her too closely.
“No place. Just thinking of all the fun we’re going to have.”
He kissed her on the mouth this time, with as much passion as he usually did. Makenna had never believed it possible to love a man as much as she loved Stone. She only prayed that when he heard the secret she’d carried all her life, she didn’t lose him.
Chapter Four
As they drove to Seattle and the Beecher’s Loft at Inn at the Market, Makenna could hardly sit still. She hadn’t had as many occasions as Stone to ride in cars or visit Seattle, so everything she saw was new. The delighted grin he kept giving her each time she pointed something out to him helped put her mind at ease, and made her pussy soaking wet.
As tempting as it was to simply fuck him into next week as soon as they arrived, she’d already made up her mind that she was going to tell him who she really was before he touched her. Otherwise, the guilt would consume her. She wanted the next time they made love to be one in which he finally knew all her secrets. She only prayed he still wanted her once he listened to her story.
After they checked in, she walked out onto the balcony and breathed in the late October air. It was chilly, but shifters ran hot, so she didn’t mind the crisp, fresh breeze. And right now, she needed plenty of it to clear her head.
“There’s a view we rarely get to see.” Stone put his arms around her from behind, and Makenna moaned softly as desire raced through her. He made it very difficult to concentrate on anything except his touch.
“The mountains are breathtaking from this vantage point,” she said. “So is the water.”
“We’ll have to invite Arizona and Gillian over for dinner when our home is built. Like every weekend for the rest of our lives.”
His words made her smile, which felt wonderful right now. “I’m sure they don’t expect anything in return. They’re kind people that way.”
“They really are.” As he turned her around to face him, her breath caught in her throat at the look of adoration in his dark eyes. Stone was the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen. From the second she’d looked into his eyes that night in the forest, she’d known he was her mate.
As impossible as this seemed right now, she would hang onto that truth while she told him
the story. Because nothing in their world was as sacred as their mating law. A mate was a mate, and no one person or thing in either world trumped that reality.
Even though she was only eighteen years old to Stone’s age of twenty-nine, Makenna understood that trust was essential in any relationship. Without it, all the love that went along with recognizing your mate meant nothing. If he no longer trusted her after she told him this, they’d both spend a life of loneliness and regret. She’d rather die than watch that happen.
When he started to kiss her again, she squirmed out of his arms and walked back into the main room. Her entire body trembled now. She had one tiny chance to get this out before she succumbed to his seduction. Not that it would take much effort on his part. All he had to do was look at her and she was ready to open her arms and legs for him.
She had already made them flavored tea, just the way he liked it, so now she took that thermos out of her bag and poured some into two glasses provided by the hotel. He took a seat next to her on the sofa, but she scooted away from him a bit so she could face him. After handing him his glass, she took a deep breath.
“Stone, I love you. Please know that.”
“You’re kind of scaring me. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong. I have something to tell you about my past. About my family.”
“Anything that’s in your past doesn’t matter, Makenna. I love the person you are today.”
“This matters.” She took a long sip of tea before placing the glass on the coffee table so she wouldn’t accidentally drop it as she spoke. Where to begin? “You know the story of Nanette Davis’s arranged mating with Amasa Medina, correct?”
The suspicious look Stone gave her sent nasty shivers down Makenna’s spine. He’d guess the truth long before she voiced it. “Yes. Everyone in the village knows that story, but what does it have to do with your past and your family?”
“Her father, Thomas Davis, was human. He mated with Talia Grantham, a leopard shifter. Thomas and Jarvis Medina, Amasa’s father, arranged the mating when Nanette and Amasa were infants, so the families could combine their business assets.”
“And in doing so, they broke mating law.” His voice was filled with impatience. “Makenna, I know all this. Now tell me what it has to do with you.”
“Hold on. I’m getting there.” She took another long sip of tea, but couldn’t stop her hands from shaking. Stone wouldn’t miss that. “The way your people know the story, the Grantham family disappeared around the time Nanette was a toddler. Some speculate it has to do with the legend, meaning that when Jarvis and Thomas did what they did, they angered the old ones.”
“You mean the vampires?”
“I mean the vampires, the gods, whoever people think bring down evil on our villages. A leopard family got involved not only in human business dealings, but in breaking mating law. And they did this with a human family that was already known for its shady business practices. From there it only grew worse, until Hawke, Amasa and Nanette’s oldest son, tried to force Fiera to mate with him so he and his family could gain control of her family’s business.”
When Stone took her hands, she wasn’t surprised at the quick look of alarm that crossed his features. She knew her skin was cool by now. Fear did that to her. “So far, you haven’t told me anything I don’t already know.”
“I realize that. I’m only making sure you have the same background I do. Did you ever wonder what happened to the Grantham family?” That much, she didn’t know.
“Sure. There are a lot of rumors, beginning with what you hinted at. The vampires came back and killed them all. Other rumors say they ran off to another country, or at least to the other side of this one. Some say they all died of a horrible disease, or killed each other. The list goes on and on.”
“They have almost died out, but not for any of the reasons you listed.”
They stared into each other’s eyes for long moments while Makenna listened to her own heartbeat hammering in her ears. Could he hear it, too? Had he guessed the truth already? Would she really have to say it out loud?
“How do you know that?” His voice was guarded, as if he was afraid to ask anything right now.
“My last name isn’t Dallas.”
There was no response. He merely watched her with an expectant look. At least it wasn’t an angry one.
“It’s Grantham. The same Granthams from whom Talia and Nanette were descended. I know the Granthams have almost died out because I am, with the exception of Hawke’s siblings, the only shifter left with Grantham blood in their veins. Talia was my great-aunt on my father’s side.”
****
An odd, rushing wind sound had invaded Stone’s head, as if there was a storm brewing off the coast and he could hear it coming, long before anyone saw the clouds forming. He’d had this sensation only once before, when he was nine years old. He and his father had cut down a large tree deep in the forest they thought was dead, only to find a family of bats had been making their home inside it.
The resulting chaos as the bats flew in a frenzy around them, desperate to find another place to nest, hadn’t frightened Stone. Even the sound their wings had made, like the one now inside his head, hadn’t been scary. The incident instead had made him profoundly sad because he and his father had inadvertently ruined the home of hundreds of other animals. He’d had bad dreams about it for weeks afterward.
That’s how he felt right now. Like he’d disturbed something ancient and sacred hiding in a place that never should have been uncovered. He had to control his anger with Makenna long enough to find out why she’d lied to everyone. “Is that where Talia’s family went? To the village where you now live?”
“Yes.” Her voice came out as a whisper.
“The reason you fled…” His thoughts were all jumbled up but he had to get this out. “When I caught you that night, following the group, you told me you were in hiding from the people in your village because you had been falsely accused of stealing from one of the Elders’ wives.”
The anguish on her face tugged at his heart, but this was too important to back down on. Makenna had told him she worked in one of the Elders’ homes, cleaning and cooking for them. The Elder’s wife had misplaced a piece of jewelry handed down in her family for generations, and she had accused Makenna of stealing it.
Since Makenna had been unable to find the trinket anywhere in the house, she had no defense. She had fled rather than face imprisonment and public flogging, which had been a certainty if she stayed. Not to mention the loss of her income. No one in the village would have hired her for any job after that, and she would have starved.
“I know that’s what I said, but the truth is I ran from the village weeks before I met you for a different reason.”
“So you lied to me about that, too. Did you ever work for this couple? Was that part true?”
“No. I made up the whole story in case anyone found me from another village and began asking questions.”
Stone rose and began to pace the loft. He was at a complete loss for words. He’d sat in that cabin and told his friends to stop asking her questions because he believed her story. He’d been trying to protect her from having to relive it again, and he hadn’t wanted his friends to look on her as a thief. In retrospect, having them think she was would have been preferable to this.
“Makenna, you lied to me. You let me sit there and perpetuate that lie in the Benedict cabin when my friends pushed you for the reason you fled your village!”
“Oh, Stone … I am so sorry. Please let me tell you the whole story.”
Clearly, she was not only still terrified of the people in her village, but genuinely contrite for the lies she’d told him. He could sense that much in her voice and in her body language. She was his mate, but he prayed this story was not only the truth, but something so monumental that the reason for keeping it from him was justified.
“Tell me, then. Everything, Makenna. Hold nothing back this time.” It was so
difficult to hold his anger in check right now, not to mention the horrible sense of betrayal he felt.
“I won’t. I promise. After the Granthams came to our village to hide, hardly anyone in the family mated. They were too afraid to do anything that might draw attention. That’s why they changed our surname. They wanted no connections left.”
“Perhaps they should have gone further than twenty miles, then?” Stone took a deep breath. Becoming sarcastic with his comments wouldn’t fix this.
“I don’t know why they chose that village. No one ever told me, and I never asked.”
“Well, your parents must have mated.”
“Yes, of course they did. They were one of the few couples who did, but I have no siblings. When people in the village asked where the Granthams had come from, they lied and said they’d been living in another village that was now too close to where the humans were cutting down trees to build a housing development.”
Pieces started falling into place, but instead of making Stone calmer, it sent the sensation of glass raining down from the sky into his brain. Questions bubbled up like oil from beneath the earth’s surface, but he held them all for now. He wanted her to keep talking so she got the entire story out. She’d been holding this in all her life, and he knew without asking that he was the only person she’d ever trusted with it outside of her own family.
“But then the truth came out when the Medina women came to our village after fleeing yours. The entire story of Nanette and Amasa came out, and everyone wondered who the mysterious Grantham family were, and where they had gone. It’s the golden eyes, you see.”
Stone released a long sigh. Of course. He’d been captivated by them at first glance, but they were distinctive. No other leopard family he’d ever seen had them.
“Anyone old enough to have seen my family around for the past seventy-five years would remember the golden eyes. We all had them. My family came to that village when Nanette was a toddler. The people in your village told Nanette her mother had died from a fever, but of course that wasn’t true. She and her family fled your village after Talia and her mate, Thomas Davis, got into a terrible argument over the arranged mating.”