by Bianca D'Arc
And what had he just called her?
“Red?” She rolled her eyes at him. “Come on, Stone. Can’t you find anything more original?”
He reached over and let a lock of her wavy hair curl around his finger. The smile stayed on his handsome face as his attention was diverted for a moment to her unruly hair that seemed to want to wrap around his calloused hand the way the rest of her wanted to wrap herself around his hard body.
“It’s like fire,” he told her, caressing her hair gently. The care he showed was unexpected for such a hard man. It was intriguing—and a huge turn-on—that Stone could be gentle with her. It made her wonder even more what he’d be like as a lover.
“It’s just hair. Red hair, I’ll grant you, and naturally that way, but it’s nothing special.”
His gaze shot back up to meet hers, even as his voice dropped to a low, intimate tone. “I beg to differ.”
Was she breathing? She thought she was breathing, but she felt so lightheaded…
A loud, piercing whistle shattered the moment. She looked out the window of the loaner car and saw heads popping up all around the lot. She hadn’t seen anyone but the guys working on her car as they crossed the yard, but there were way more people working out there than she’d thought.
Stone sighed. “Sorry, Red. That’s the boss. Are you going to be all right with this vehicle?”
Secretly glad for the moment of reprieve, she nodded as he moved away. “I’ll be fine. I’m used to the size, if not the luxury of this model. I’ll be okay to get home and make my way back here when my car is ready.”
“No need. I’ll drop it off for you tomorrow, if that’s all right. I couldn’t help but overhear a bit of your phone call.” He had the grace to look sheepish—or as sheepish as a man like him could manage. “You live with your granny, right? I suspect it’s not easy to leave her on her own for long periods, so I’ll bring your car back to you then drive this one back here, okay?”
She couldn’t quite believe what he was saying. What had she ever done to deserve this kind of special treatment? Was some kind-hearted deity looking out for her today? She had no idea.
“That’s incredibly kind of you, but you don’t have to—”
He held up both hands, palms outward to halt her objections. “It’ll be my pleasure. I’ll call you later to give you an update, okay? And if you have any problem with this vehicle at all, you call my cell.” He handed her a business card he produced from his pocket. “I wrote the number on the back. Don’t hesitate to use it.”
The whistle sounded again, and a few stragglers started heading for the office area where everyone else was gathering. It was an interesting way to get his employees together for a talk, but Diana just let it pass for the moment.
“Drive safe, Diana.” Stone shocked her by trailing the back of his fingers over her cheek, holding her gaze as if he wanted to say more… But then, he seemed to think better of it and turned to walk away.
Diana was left holding the card.
Eventually, she put it away in her purse and started the SUV. After a moment of checking out where all the various controls were, she started making her way cautiously out of the lot and back onto the road.
It had been a strange, wonderful encounter, and she almost wouldn’t believe all that had just happened…except for the vehicle she was driving. The leather steering wheel under her hands and the cold, cold air coming at her through the vents was a far cry from the plastic wheel and tepid air of her own car.
She ran the rest of her errands, then made her way home, basking in the unaccustomed luxury of the foreign car.
CHAPTER FOUR
Stone watched Diana drive away from inside the office. He knew he’d almost pushed her too far, but he hadn’t wanted to let her go. His inner wolf was whining at him to go after her even now.
“What’s going on?” Lance asked, coming up beside him and watching the tail lights of the Land Rover disappear onto the street beyond the lot.
“I’m not sure, but I may need some time off,” Stone said, turning toward his friend who was also the owner of the car lot.
“Sounds serious,” Lance observed. “Does it have anything to do with the rush job that I hear just about died at our gates an hour ago?” One eyebrow rose in question as Lance looked from Diana’s SUV—which very obviously didn’t belong in the yard full of high-end vehicles—then back to Stone. “It’s not like you to get all worked up over a domestic clunker.”
“It’s not the car, but the driver,” Stone admitted.
“I heard she’s pretty,” Lance smiled, softening his teasing words. As the Alpha wolf, Stone wasn’t used to anyone teasing him, but if anyone had the power and dominance to take such liberties, it was Lance.
“She’s…” Words failed Stone. He tried again. “She could be…” It was too soon to speak the very serious thoughts racing through his mind, but he had to say something. “She could be…very special. There’s something about her.”
“That’s what I always thought about Tina,” Lance commented quietly. “We’ve known each other since we were both in high school, you know. We didn’t really interact, but I was always aware of her. She was special, even back then.”
Stone had watched the relationship develop between Lance and Tina. Their mating had been cause for great celebration among the many shifters who called Lance’s car lot home. Stone thought it was funny that Lance hadn’t even known that shifters existed until his inner phoenix decided to make itself known.
Lance had been damned lucky to find Tina again, just when he needed her to ground him. Although she was a witch, she was a good person, and Stone had come to accept her, though usually shifters and magic users didn’t mix much. She’d been there for Lance, and her love had brought him back to them all after his first shift. Her presence kept him coming back after every magical flight, and he was getting better and better at becoming the power he had always been meant to be.
Lance was the focus of their larger Pack. Stone might be Alpha of the wolf Pack, but Lance was the Alpha over all of them. Stone hadn’t understood it before Lance’s inner phoenix had been revealed, but now, it all make perfect sense. Stone and his wolves—along with the other shifters of various species—had been drawn to the phoenix to both protect it and to gain protection from it. They were all stronger together than they were apart, and they’d formed a weird sort of multi-species family with a witch as den mother.
“I’m not sure Diana is to me what Tina is to you,” Stone told his friend as he turned away from the window. “But she could be.”
Lance clapped Stone on the back as they made their way into the gathering of their people. He cared about these people—even the bears, who were sometimes a bit irritating to his wolf senses—but his inner wolf was starting to scratch at his insides, wanting to follow Diana.
Soon, he promised his impatient furry side. Tonight, we’ll take a little run over by Diana’s place. And maybe we’ll learn a bit more about her and her granny.
*
Diana parked the luxury SUV and patted the door frame before leaving it behind. It was such a nice vehicle. Too bad she couldn’t afford something like it. Heck, she couldn’t even afford a new domestic car, much less something imported. But it was sure a nice treat for a change. She just couldn’t let herself get used to it.
Diana made sure to secure the garage before walking into the condo she shared with her grandmother. Oma would probably want to know all about her adventure, but first, Diana had to get a start on dinner. Oma couldn’t really handle cooking every day, so they split the duties. Diana would do anything that required chopping or lifting, and stove stuff was all Diana’s. But Oma could handle making sandwiches for lunch or things of that nature.
Tonight, they were having turkey Diana had prepared the other day, but she was making fresh side dishes to go with it. She’d become expert at portioning out things so that the two of them could use all the food before it went bad. It was difficult when mo
st items in the market were intended for families with lots of mouths to feed. Diana had to make judgments on what would work best for just the two of them, and if she judged wrong, she ended up wasting a lot of money they didn’t have on food that went bad before they could use it all.
Moving in with Oma had required a steep learning curve. Diana had had to figure out how to run a household that consisted of just two women, when one of them couldn’t really do much for herself anymore, and needed a lot of assistance. It had been a drastic change for Diana, who had been used to going wherever the wind took her, whenever the mood struck. Now, she had to plan every trip and every move she made around her grandmother’s wellbeing.
It was difficult, at times, but she didn’t begrudge Oma this time. It was an honor to help her grandmother, and frankly, sharing expenses made it possible to live in this nice, quiet community, which soothed Diana’s nerves. The low-rent neighborhood she’d lived in before was a lot noisier and less safe. Money was still tight, but by moving in together, they’d been able to pool their resources, so it was a win-win for both of them location wise.
Diana kissed her grandmother hello on her way to the kitchen. Oma was parked in her recliner in front of the television, as usual, but the elderly lady got up and followed Diana into the kitchen, which was unusual. Then again, today had been an unusual day all around. Diana bustled around the kitchen, getting things going while Oma took a seat at the breakfast bar and watched.
“So, what about this man you met today?” she finally said, a knowing gleam in her blue-grey eyes.
“Why don’t you tell me?” Diana challenged with a grin. “You’ve got that look on your face that tells me you saw something.”
Oma’s clairvoyance was sporadic, but strong enough that Diana was used to the signs that her grandmother had seen something. Diana had grown up knowing about magic. Oma came from a long line of witches, though the power often skipped a generation or wasn’t as potent in one generation or another. Diana herself didn’t have any magic to speak of, but she could sense it, sometimes.
Oma’s mother had been a true power. Diana had grown up hearing stories about her great-grandmother and the amazing things she could do, as well as the amazing people she had known. To Diana, shifters were the stuff of her bedtime stories, but unlike most girls, Diana had grown up knowing that such beings existed and weren’t just fairy stories.
Not that she’d ever knowingly met any. She’d suspected a time or two, but it would be the height of rudeness to just flat out ask an acquaintance if they could howl at the moon in animal form, whenever they felt like it. No, that wouldn’t do at all. So, Diana had kept her suspicions to herself and had just gone about her business.
Come to think of it…there had been something kind of wild in the men she’d seen at the car lot today. She wondered idly if maybe they were shifters of some kind, but she’d likely never know for sure. Oh, well. Maybe Oma has seen something that could help solve that mystery.
“He’s a magic man,” Oma said, her tone utterly serious, though there was a sparkle in her eye. “With a complex spirit and allegiances to powers even greater than his own. He understands things about the unseen world that we do not. Things that you, particularly, may need to know one day soon.”
Diana was used to her grandmother speaking in riddles when describing her visions, but that didn’t make it any easier. As always, Diana felt a bit annoyed with her lack of understanding. What did her grandmother’s words really mean? It sure sounded as if they were important, this time. More important than usual—especially for Diana. Was it a warning or simply a foretelling that her new acquaintance with Stone would last longer than just a day or two?
“The whole place felt special. I think there were wards on the entrance,” Diana admitted as she sat down for a moment near her grandmother.
“There probably were. I saw a man standing beside a being of fire and benevolence. And you were somehow connected to that fire being, but it was the man beside him that I saw most clearly. He’s interested in you. And he’s part of the puzzle of you, somehow.”
Oma had often spoken about how Diana was a puzzle. She was used to it by now, though the idea that there was something wrong, or different, about her had often troubled her as a child.
They talked more about the nebulous vision over dinner as night fell outside. After eating, Oma went back into the living room while Diana set the kitchen to rights. She puttered around, cleaning things that were already clean, thinking about everything that had happened that day. She couldn’t keep her mind from focusing on Stone. He was such an enigma, and a sexy one at that.
As she was about to leave the kitchen and join Oma in the living room, her senses sprang to life. Something was outside. Watching her.
She shut off the lights and sidled up to the window, looking out from the side to see if she could catch any movement out in the backyard. Eventually, her patience was rewarded.
There was a wolf at the back door.
CHAPTER FIVE
Diana crept into the living room and kept her voice low.
“Oma, there’s a wolf outside.”
Her grandmother didn’t seem surprised. “That explains a lot.” She set her needlepoint down on the side table and shook her head. “You’d better go let him in and give him something to wear. Mama always said their clothes don’t shift with them,” Oma advised.
“You mean he’s a shifter?” Diana just barely breathed the words.
“You know who it is, don’t you?” Her grandmother sent her a knowing look. “It’s the man from earlier. He’s come to call. Don’t keep him waiting. I want to meet him.”
Diana shook her head and grabbed a bath towel on the way past the bathroom then went into the kitchen. “I hope you’re right about this. Otherwise, I could get mauled.”
“You won’t get mauled,” her grandmother said in an exasperated tone laced with laughter. “You’ll see.”
“It’s a good thing I trust you with my life,” Diana muttered and threw open the back door.
When Diana opened the back door and caught Stone lurking on her back porch, he didn’t scent fear from her, only interest. His furry ears perked up and heard her sigh.
“If that really is you, Stone, then you’d better change and come on in. Oma wants to meet you.” She draped a large white towel over the rail to the back porch then retreated to the door, closing it behind her but failing to lock it.
Well, didn’t that beat all? She knew about shifters. What in the world did that mean?
Stone supposed there was only one way to find out. He shifted and grabbed the towel, wrapping it around his hips as he walked up to the unlocked door and opened it. There was no tingle of magic as he crossed the threshold, but that didn’t mean much. Maybe the magic in this house was more subtle than to have noisy wards on every entrance. He was definitely intrigued to find out what the story was with little red and her granny.
And here he was, their personal big bad wolf, come to call. Stone would have chuckled if he wasn’t so preoccupied with the scents in the house. Turkey dinner. He could still smell traces of it in the kitchen as he walked in.
He shut the back door behind himself then followed his senses to the living room where Diana was standing next to her granny’s recliner. He could see the resemblance, though the granny’s hair was white with a golden sheen. They shared the fine bone structure that marked them as relatives.
“Welcome, young man. I am Hetty van Dunk, and you’ve already met my granddaughter, Diana Pettigrew. You are a werewolf.”
“And you are…witches?” Stone asked, standing in the entry to the living room, wanting to get all his facts straight before he got in any deeper.
“Oh, not really. I mean, we both carry the genes but are a bit short on the talent.” Hetty’s words rang with truth, and Stone’s senses didn’t detect the various telltales of lies. “My mother was a very potent witch in her time, but I didn’t inherit her power. I only have a minor gift of clai
rvoyance, and it’s been showing me you—alongside a being of intense power who burns with the fire of Light.”
Well, if that wasn’t a description of Lance, Stone didn’t know what was. The old woman might actually have the gift of Sight as she believed.
“Your mother knew about my kind?” he asked, skirting the discussion of Lance for the moment.
He honestly hadn’t expected this sort of reception. In fact, he hadn’t intended to interact with Diana and her granny at all, but having been caught in the act, so to speak, he had little choice but to play out this scenario.
“Oh, yes. My mother served as priestess to a large flight of owls in Northern Europe in her day. She was friendly mainly with flight shifters, but she told me all about the other kinds of shapeshifters when I was growing up. She had hope I would follow in her footsteps, but as I reached maturity and didn’t develop any talent other than the clairvoyance, we both knew that path was not meant for me.”
“And you taught your granddaughter what your mother had taught you, even though she didn’t have the gift?” Stone inquired.
“My mother taught me first,” Diana put in, her hand on her grandmother’s shoulder in a show of support, or perhaps to offer comfort to the older lady.
“My daughter, Sophie, was more gifted than me, and my mother was still around while Sophie was young. Sophie learned a lot from her. Frankly, her power was more than I could handle, but it proved to me why my mother thought it was so important to pass on the knowledge in our line, even to those of us not as magically gifted. You see, we never know when a gift like my mother’s or my daughter’s will come along. Imagine how it would be for a witch to be born into a generation with no knowledge of what she was or the power she could wield.”
Stone thought about that for a moment while the old lady paused and realized the results wouldn’t be good. Such power could easily consume a person or cause harm to those around them. It had to be trained and controlled when it developed. Passing on the family heritage and the knowledge of Others was a good idea in this family, since the magic seemed to touch them so sporadically.