by Ann Gimpel
He peeled into the yard to see a very naked Renee clasped in Sarai’s arms. Stephan patted her heaving shoulders, and he realized she was sobbing. What in the goddess’s name had happened?
Exiting the Vette, he stopped dead, uncertain what to do beyond staring at Renee. Her body was exquisite, perfect. Shapely shoulders led to a delicately curved spine and the kind of ass he’d assumed had to be hiding beneath her tight jeans. The flare of hips and the globes of her ass stole his breath. His erection from earlier roared back, pressing uncomfortably against the front of his pants.
Niall crossed the yard to where he stood. “Good you came back. Sure and ’tisn’t safe for any of us to be alone. Stephan told Renee that, but she didn’t listen.”
“What happened to her?”
“Don’t know yet,” Niall replied. “She blasted into the yard, shifted, and when Sarai hugged her, she started sobbing.” He frowned. “I’ve known Renee for a long time. She’s not the crying type and doesn’t rattle easily, so I figure whatever it is has to be pretty bad.”
Grateful for something to think about other than his unruly appendage, Jeremiah said, “Should we get her inside?”
“Sarai and Stephan are on it.” Niall gestured toward them herding Renee into the house.
Jeremiah started after them, but Niall clamped a hand around his upper arm. “Let’s give them a moment or two. Long enough for Renee to get her clothes on and for you to jog a few laps around the yard.”
“That obvious, huh?” Jeremiah rearranged himself, but the front of his pants still looked as if someone had stuffed socks down them.
Niall snorted. “I don’t have to look. Shifters have very sensitive noses, and desire holds a unique tang.” He tugged on Jeremiah’s arm. “Walk with me. She was with you. What happened?”
“What didn’t?” He fell into step next to the jaguar shifter. “Once she found out I was as mage, she turned hostile. Peppered me with questions. Didn’t trust my answers. I’m afraid I grew a bit testy after she suggested mages should murder the miscreants who signed on to be vampire minions.”
“And then?” Niall pressed.
“She flew off. I was surprised when I returned and she wasn’t here, but not that surprised. She was angry. I’m guessing she has a temper and was venting it in flight.”
Niall creased his forehead in thought. “She may have been irritated, but she’s not one to hang onto a grudge. Of course, ’tis been a couple hundred years since I last spent much time with her, but she was one of the more even-tempered of us.”
“You knew her from the Old Country?”
“Aye, that I did. She’s always been a healer. Has the knack to coax chakras into alignment, and the sense to ease the dying to the other side when keeping them alive is an exercise in futility.”
“Is she a doctor?”
Niall angled his head to one side. “I don’t know. Not for certain. But I bet she earns her way at something close to it.”
“So do you,” Jeremiah pointed out. “Mr. Paramedic.”
“Sure and ’tis true enough, but she has a genuine calling. Me, I just enjoy a fast-paced job that’s never the same two days running. I’m not bad at assessing what’s amiss, but I’m less good at mending what’s broken.”
Jeremiah angled a pointed look downward. “I’m fit for civilized company now. Let’s go inside. I want to hear what happened, and I’d rather not hear it secondhand.”
“Good enough.” Niall clapped him on the back.
Jeremiah hesitated, but words forced themselves out before he could stop them. “Is Renee mated?”
“She wasn’t when we left the British Isles, but that could have changed.”
“What kind of man would send her here alone?” Fierce protectiveness raced through him, as much of a surprise as his question had been.
“Hard to say, mate. A man with a job, perhaps? One he couldn’t leave easily. Shifter women have an independent streak, though. Even if she has a mate, they wouldn’t necessarily be glued together at the hip.”
Jeremiah grinned crookedly. “I know what you mean. Our females are hell on wheels. I’m surprised we haven’t died out from them cutting our balls off.”
Niall laughed. “Och, women. Yet I wouldn’t wish to live without them.”
“Nor would I.”
They reached the front steps, and Jeremiah bounded up them. After knocking once, he strode through the door with Niall right behind him. Stephan, Sarai, and Renee sat at the kitchen table with a bottle of something that looked alcoholic between them.
“There you are,” Stephan glanced their way. “Pull up a chair. I told Renee to hang onto her tale until we were all inside.”
Niall slid in next to his mate and wrapped an arm around her. Sarai turned and kissed his cheek.
Jeremiah shifted from foot to foot; his bold words about not wanting secondhand news festered. That might be what he desired, but not if it caused Renee pain. He’d done enough damage for one day since she’d flown into danger to get away from him.
He clasped his hands behind him and directed his words at her. “I would like to hear your story, but not if my presence unnerves or offends you.” He bowed his head slightly. “You were angry with me. It’s why you left—and the reason for whatever happened to you. For that, I am truly sorry.”
“For Christ’s sake, sit down,” Stephan sputtered. “If there was ever a time not to get lost in petty shit, this is it.”
“Are you agreeable with me remaining?” Jeremiah asked Renee.
She nodded once, curtly. “Stephan speaks true. I don’t like you, nor do I trust you, but everyone else here seems to. It’s good enough for me.”
He winced at her brash judgment of him but settled into the one remaining chair. For a healer, she didn’t bother to sugarcoat how she felt, but then neither had Ronnie, the eagle who’d pulled his bacon out of the fire.
“This won’t take long.” Renee picked up the mug in front of her and slugged back a goodly portion of its contents. “I was careless. Vampires trapped me.”
“Trapped as in cut off your ability to teleport?” Niall broke in.
Renee nodded. “They used mage magic”—she leveled grim green eyes at Niall—“to sully the ley lines’ energy. It snared me. First, it forced me out of the air and into my body, and then it formed a perimeter I couldn’t break through.”
Stephan whistled long and low. “Damn. They’re growing stronger.”
“No reason they shouldn’t,” Renee shot back. “They’re holding a bunch of mages captive with their magical centers forced open. They take what they want when they want.”
Jeremiah had instructed himself to listen. Just listen, but he fisted a hand and brought it down on the table hard enough to make the bottle and glasses rattle. “Cocky fuckers. Serves them right.”
“Who?” Renee asked coolly. “The vamps or your kinsmen?”
“They may share blood with me, but I do not call them kinsmen.” Jeremiah bristled. He wouldn’t dignify her jibe with further commentary.
“How’d you escape?” Sarai asked, inserting the question fast, before Renee could come up with another antagonistic remark.
She tilted her chin defiantly and sat taller in the chair. The motion pushed the mounds of her breasts forward.
Jeremiah couldn’t look away, and he hated himself for giving in to his need to stare. She was more than simply beautiful. With her squared shoulders and the resolute cast to her mouth, she looked like a goddess hellbent on vengeance. Beautiful. Terrible. Indomitable.
He craved her. Yearned to crush her against him and explore her body with mouth and fingers. His cock rose in response to his thoughts, and he was grateful the table shielded his lower body from sight. Niall had said shifters scented arousal, but no one was paying attention to him.
He’d lived alone his whole life. That wasn’t about to change. The status quo had always been good enough. It still was. He had plenty on his plate without adding the complications of a new relationship. Especial
ly with a woman who didn’t return his interest.
Renee had begun talking, and he focused on her words.
“I escaped because I played to their arrogance. They told me that since they’d tamed mages, turned them into magical cannon fodder, shifters were their next target. They want our animal forms, which totally got my bird spun out.”
“I can see where it would have been furious,” Stephan said.
“Keep talking.” Sarai crooked two fingers in a come-along gesture. “I still want to know how you outsmarted them.”
“They’re a bunch of chatty bastards. Told me they could fly, which was why my bird was particularly appealing.” She drained her mug, setting it on the table with a clatter. “I challenged them to fly with me, shifted, took to the air, and waited. Two of them took me up on my dare.”
This time, it was Jeremiah who whistled. Because he was impressed by her spunk. “Hell, woman, you have brass balls. There are at least half a dozen ways your ploy could have backfired on you. All of them would have meant your death.”
“Well, turns out I tossed the dice and won. Enough of their magic was diverted into flight, I was able to grab the offensive and cast a travel spell.” She skinned her lips back from her teeth. “If it hadn’t, I was fully prepared to kill myself.”
“Still carry that ensorcelled dirk, do you?” Stephan narrowed his eyes.
Renee nodded and poured more liquor into her cup. “I do, and I had it clutched in my fist, ready to use. That’s about it. A narrow call, but I’m here to fight another day. So’s my bird.” She turned the full force of her gaze on Jeremiah and added, “My bondmate is not in agreement with your cave lion’s plans to take on the vampires. It’s another reason we flew away when we did.”
He snorted. “Neither is anyone else. I got an earful while you were gone. All good arguments.” He pushed to his feet.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Stephan asked.
“To discuss this with the other mages. Where else?” He inhaled noisily, blew it out, and gathered his thoughts. “We have a big problem. But it’s multifaceted. We have to get rid of the mages who signed up for Vampire boot camp. Once we do that, the vamps will be easier to deal with.”
“They may sink back into oblivion,” Niall muttered. “No reason for them to be this visible with their usual level of magic. Humans would catch wind of them and out would come the salt and holy water and silver- and lead-laced bullets.”
“Regardless,” Jeremiah countered. “Step one is locating the mages. Once they’re dead—or magicless—they won’t be aiding vamps anymore.” He transferred his attention to Renee. “Your captors didn’t happen to mention how many mages were involved, did they?”
She shook her head. “I should have asked, but I was focused on getting away.”
“They might not have told you anyway.” Sarai patted Renee’s hand. “You’re staying with us.”
“And we’re staying together,” Niall said, his tone chilly and determined.
“Which means you’re taking a risk if you leave, and it’s not wise,” Stephan said to Jeremiah.
“Noted. But I’m not going to cower here until we come up with a solution.”
“We’re not cowering. We’re being prudent.” Stephan sounded annoyed.
“Fine. I’ll be prudent in Silverthorne. My kin have a right to know all of this, and it’s not a conversation I want to trust to either telepathy or my cell phone.” He nodded brusquely. “I’ll contact you and sooner rather than later. I have the beginnings of a plan in place to locate the mages the vamps are extracting power from.”
“What is it?” Niall asked.
“Yes. We can help,” Sarai chimed in.
Jeremiah held up both hands, palms outward. “I need to run it past the other mages, first.”
“’Tisn’t mage versus shifter, mate. Not anymore.” Niall’s words could have etched glass.
“Never said it was.” Jeremiah turned and hurried through the door and into the yard. He recognized situations where there was no winning, and this was one of them. His magic straddled two worlds, or maybe the magical strain powering both mages and shifters had finally come full circle and the two were about to become one again.
The door banged behind him. “Hold up for a moment,” Sarai called.
He turned to face her. “Apologies, but I have to do things in my own way. It’s—”
“Not why I’m out here,” she cut him off. “I’m going into town to my shop. I’m certain Niall will come with me, but that part isn’t important. I’ll be finetuning your chart and researching my source books. I’m the local repository for shifter lore materials, mostly because no one else wanted them.”
Jeremiah waited. She had a point, but it wasn’t obvious. When she didn’t add to her explanation, he asked, “Why tell me?”
She ran lightly down the porch steps to where he stood. “More courtesy than anything else. Don’t mind Renee. She’s spooked and casting about for a scapegoat. She’ll get over it.”
“Or not.”
Sarai raked her red hair away from her face. “I’ll call you if I find anything interesting. When will you be back here?”
“I wasn’t necessarily planning to come back.”
She chewed her lower lip, nostrils flaring with tension. “I don’t want to overreach myself before I check a few things, but we’ll need a common launching point for our offensive.” Sarai paused for emphasis. “An offensive that includes mages and shifters, which is why you returning is important. We’ll have to meet somewhere.”
He’d come to the same conclusion but was reluctant to include his kinsmen without talking with them and reaching a consensus. It was how they governed themselves: by discussion and democratic process.
“I understand, but I cannot speak for the others. Not my housemates in Silverthorne or the other mages scattered through this region.”
“Go. Do what you need to. We’ll be in touch.”
“Thanks for believing in me.” He gritted his teeth. “Renee is probably convinced I’m on my way to sell all of you out to the highest bidder.”
Sarai patted his arm. “Like I said. She’s upset. She’ll get over it.”
The screen slammed, and Niall trotted across the porch and into the yard, a set of car keys dangling from one hand. “Stephan said to take the truck. You ready to leave?”
“Sure. After we offload what’s left of your stuff from the bed.”
Niall groaned. “Hadn’t exactly forgotten about it, but we didn’t quite finish that project, now did we?”
Sarai angled an indulgent glance his way and hustled to the back of the truck where she grabbed a box, set if off to one side, and returned for another.
“Let us know you made it home in one piece, eh, mate?” Niall punched Jeremiah lightly in the shoulder before joining Sarai.
“Do you need help?” Jeremiah asked.
“Nah,” Sarai replied. “Not all that much left.”
“I should know. I helped pack everything,” he retorted. “Sure you couldn’t use an extra set of hands?”
“Nope. Get moving. Sooner we get our ducks in a row, the sooner we can tackle those renegade mages.” Niall dropped a box, offered a thumbs up sign, and went back to unpacking.
Jeremiah strode to the Vette. Once inside, he fired the engine and guided the low-slung car down Stephan’s long driveway and out onto the interstate. His mind was full of Renee. Her luxuriant hair. Her shrewd green eyes that glittered like emeralds but could darken to a deep, mossy patina. Her long legs and curvy hips. When he recreated what her breasts looked like, the outline of her nipples stark against the thin fabric of her shirt, he drew himself up short.
His cock was achingly hard. So distended, his breath came fast. He hadn’t touched himself in months, but now wasn’t the time to remedy his sexless existence. He had bigger problems than his libido that had jumped its bounds and grabbed center stage.
To divert himself, he focused on his bondmate. “You�
��ve been quiet.”
“I made a mistake choosing you to bond with. You sold me out.”
Shock poured over his head like a bucket of ice-cold water. “Uh, I can see how you might feel that way.” He stumbled over the words, feeling blindsided. The last thing he needed was one more problem to deal with. A roar blasted out of him, reverberating through the car.
“Stop that!”
“Why should I? You stood by while the other shifters ripped holes in my orders. You’re my bondmate. It means you support me.”
Jeremiah took a measured breath. Should he have this conversation while driving? He could take things slow and see how they went. If he turned into a menace on the freeway, he could always pull to the shoulder.
He aimed for logic and a cool head before saying, “I can support you and not agree with how you want to proceed.”
Another roar. This one so loud it made his ears ache.
“Not how things work,” the cave lion shouted. “The other animals owe allegiance to me. Your job is to ensure they do as I instruct.”
“Even if it appears your marching orders are ill advised?” He winced. He should have quested about for a more diplomatic way of posing the question. Anticipating the lion’s ire, he signaled and pulled to the shoulder, killing both his engine and his lights.
He considered stepping outside the Vette but settled for pushing the passenger door open in case the lion forced a shift. He waited, but the beast was silent. He felt it close to the surface, though, restless and pacing.
Not knowing if it was the right thing to do, he said, “We’re new to one another. I know almost nothing about shifter magic, but nor do you understand how I wield power. We could help one another.”
“What do you have that I could possibly need?” the lion sneered, but at least it wasn’t commandeering his vocal cords to roar.
“Knowledge. I’ve been living in this world. You’ve been…elsewhere.”
“Even assuming I agreed with you—and I don’t—all your knowledge didn’t keep others with your brand of power from selling out to our common enemy.”
Anger bubbled hot. So much for a rational approach.
“You’re treating me just like Renee did. Assuming because a few mages were rotten turncoats, all of us are.” Fueled by ire he’d shoved aside during his time across the table from Renee, he kept on rolling. “You knew I was a mage when you bonded with me—without my consent. You knew about the vampire problem—and the mage power fueling it, yet you chose me to bond with. Why? Did you assume I’d be some tractable minion you could bend to your will?”