“All women are like that,” Jaromil said.
“He’s right, dear,” Aunt Logan said, petting Mimi, who was sitting quietly in her arms, but glaring daggers at me.
If looks could kill, I’d be torn apart right now.
“Why are you protecting that murderer?” the werewolf asked Lucas, standing.
“She’s not a murderer. If you idiots had bothered to hear her out, you would know what really happened,” Lucas said, folding his arms across his chest.
“We saw. She killed her mate and the rest of our pack,” he spat.
“No, her mate attacked her,” Aunt Logan said, walking towards him, still petting Mimi.
“What?” he asked.
“He lost control, shifted, and tried to kill her. She protected herself and ended up killing him. Then, your pack came in, saw him dead, and attacked her. She should have been profusely apologized to, but you idiots tried to kill her instead,” Aunt Logan explained.
The werewolf scowled and stared at me in silence.
“I tried everything I could to get him to snap out of it. He was so far gone and attacked me, his mate, and he would have attacked any of you as well,” I said. “I never wanted to hurt him.”
“She mourned for a full year, in solitude. Then, she asked me to remove her memories,” Aunt Logan told him. “She was emaciated, had lice, and could barely speak when she found me.”
“Aunt,” I growled.
“We saw the videos,” he growled.
“You saw the videos after he had already started attacking her in their bedroom. The videos you saw only began once she had lured him out into a more open area, where she was trying to find a way to escape him or wait for the pack to come and rescue her,” Aunt Logan snapped.
“No. You’re lying,” he growled.
“You know they’re not,” Lucas said. “And now you’re realizing that you’ve lost dozens of your pack, chasing a woman who did nothing wrong.”
Aunt Logan opened a portal to the human realm and looked expectantly at the werewolf. He glanced at the kitten in her arms, but sighed, and stepped through the portal. It closed behind him, and I felt a weight lifted from my shoulders.
Lucas took my hand, and pulled me into the house. I let him lead me into the bedroom and sat on the bed as he closed the door.
“Now that the werewolves aren’t going to come after you, are you going to move back to the human realm?” he asked, leaning his back against the door.
“I don’t know if I can return to the human realm,” I said.
His brows furrowed. “What? Why wouldn’t you be able to return?”
“My totem,” I explained. “If I lose it, Jaromil said it could kill me to leave Faerie. He said I may not be able to leave Faerie anyway, despite having the totem.”
He growled, but not at me, I realized, as he stared over my head, and out the window behind me.
“I didn’t know you were fae,” I said softly. “I didn’t think you would be able to come here.”
“I don’t come here often,” he said. “Just because my work is all in the human realm.”
“What do you want to do?” I asked.
“Be with you,” he said and smiled.
I rolled my eyes. “Lucas…”
“You prefer Faerie, don’t you?” he asked.
I nodded.
“We should still test if you can leave Faerie or not,” he said. “Just so we know what you can and cannot do.”
“I agree,” I said with a nod.
“First, we need to eat. Then, we need to test it. Then, we can go to my house here in Faerie,” he said, and opened the door.
Aunt Logan looked at us from just outside the door. “Hello.”
“Eavesdropping?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips as I stood.
She shrugged. “It’s my house.”
I rolled my eyes, something I did often with my aunt.
“Do you have food?” I asked.
“No. We should go to the square,” she said.
I realized she was still holding the werewolf-turned-kitten.
“Are you really going to keep him as a kitten?” I asked her.
She scowled at me. “I certainly am! He tried to attack me when I was just sitting on the sidelines. He needs to be taught some manners.”
The kitten huffed, but lay docile in her arms. He looked so pathetic.
I reached out to pet him, and he hissed and tried to claw me. I jerked my hand back, and Lucas growled at him.
The kitten cowered away as Lucas lowered his face so it was level with his. “Listen here, Mimi. That’s my mate. You try to hurt her, and I’m going to hang you up by your tail for the hawks to get.”
Aunt Logan’s mouth dropped open, her face horrified. “You will do no such thing, Lucas!”
He smiled at her, took my hand, and led me from the house without saying anything in reply.
“What are you hungry for?” Lucas asked me as we walked.
I hugged his arm and kissed his shoulder. “I don’t care. Just food.”
He kissed the side of my head, and then went to one of the vendors to get us food. I sat down on the grass, relaxing and closing my eyes.
“You thought you were safe, didn’t you?” a voice asked behind me. I recognized that voice. It was the one who had called Lucas to warn about me.
I spun around, but Radomir grabbed me, and leapt through a portal he had created. I screamed and heard Lucas yell my name, but the portal snapped shut, cutting me off from Faerie.
As soon as we entered the human realm, my chest constricted. Pain burned from my ring, up my arm, and into my chest.
“Oh, looks like your totem won’t keep you safe in the human realm, after all,” Radomir said, smiling happily.
He had thin brown hair, a pointed nose, and pointed teeth. He was one of the lesser fae, with very little power, but extreme aggression.
“What do you want?” I growled at him, clutching my chest, and trying to breathe.
“Your death.”
“Why?” I had never done anything to him. I treated all fae, no matter what they were, equally.
“Your aunt only has one weakness,” he said. “You.”
He picked me up, tossed me over his shoulder, and walked out of the abandoned warehouse we’d teleported to.
I moaned as the pain increased. Would this kill me? Would I die being away from Faerie?
He tossed me into a car and said, “Drive.”
“They’ll come for you,” I told him, wheezing now.
“I’m counting on it,” he said, smirking.
I lost consciousness for a bit, but woke as he carried me into a house. We looked to be on the outskirts of a popular city, but I had no clue what city or where we were.
“Your ability to breathe is worsening,” he commented. “I hope you don’t die before your mate and aunt show up.”
I wanted to call him some of my favorite names, but breathing was taking all of my focus.
He dropped me on the floor inside the house, which smelled like jasmine, and I was glad he’d at least dropped me onto a rug. My body had turned cold, but he lit a fire near me, and it helped keep the shivering at bay.
“Did you know that your aunt was mated before?” he asked me.
I couldn’t reply, and he knew that.
“A real smug fae male, that one was. But, he got what was coming to him, and was killed during one of our wars. It was me that killed him,” he said.
No wonder Aunt Logan hated this guy.
“She cursed me, took away the one thing all men can’t live without.”
Oh, holy gardens! She’d made him unable to have sex.
“She’s going to fix me, or you’re going to die,” he said.
I was going to die even if she did it, but he didn’t really care one way or another about me. I was just a means to an end.
Someone knocked on the door, and he stood with a smile. “Ah, that must be our guests.” He turned to his right and
said,” Answer it.”
I didn’t know who he was talking to, because I couldn’t see them, and hadn’t seen anyone when we came in.
The door opened, and I heard Lucas’s growl, and then footsteps.
“Milena,” Lucas called.
“No, no, Mr. Alonze,” Radomir said and clucked his tongue.
“What do you want, Radomir?” Aunt Logan asked. “You haven’t taken enough from me? Now you want to take my niece away, too?” Her voice cracked, and my heart hurt for her. No wonder she had never mated again.
“Lift your curse, and you can have your niece,” he said.
“How about I tear your head from your body, and then we’re both happy,” Lucas growled.
“You don’t have much time. It seems she can’t leave Faerie,” he said.
Lucas tried to move forward but hit a transparent wall. He roared, and punched the wall, but it just shimmered and held.
“Fine,” Aunt Logan said. “I’ll remove it.” She held out her hands and chanted something.
Radomir’s body glowed, and then he gasped and laughed joyously. “Pleasure doing business with you,” he said. He leaned over me, a dagger in his hand.
“No!” Aunt Logan and Lucas yelled.
“Sorry, dear,” he whispered in my ear.
Lucas shifted, and roared, fire coming out of his mouth, and suddenly, the wall shattered.
Radomir leapt away, dagger in his hand, and eyes wide in fear.
Lucas stood over my body, his roar shaking the floor beneath me.
“See, this is the problem with stupid men like you,” Aunt Logan said, coming to stand next to me. Her eyes were glowing, and she looked celestial. “You don’t know when to give up.”
Radomir yelled something, and several people ran into the room, attacking Lucas and Aunt Logan.
“Take her back!” Aunt Logan ordered Lucas as she killed one of the men and turned to another who had tried to stab her in the back.
“Aunt…” I gasped. I didn’t want to leave her here. She could die.
Lucas stabbed several people with his stinger, and then shifted, and picked me up. He yelled something, but my ears were ringing, and I could no longer hear anything. Aunt Logan came to our side and tapped my face, which wavered.
Once we entered Faerie again, my magic returned, and I could breathe again. I lay in Lucas’s arms, gasping in deep breaths.
“Is she okay?” Aunt Logan asked, bending over to look at me.
“Let’s avoid human realm trips for a bit,” I requested. “They’re not nearly as fun as they used to be.”
She chuckled and rested her hand on my cheek. “Deal.”
“Did you really remove his curse?” I asked her while Lucas stroked my hair silently.
“No, I just let him get a little stiffy for a moment. In an hour, he’ll be right back where he was.” She smiled and added, “And in two months, he’ll be dead.”
“You put a death curse on him?” I asked, shocked.
She rested her hand on my cheek and smiled. “No one touches my family and gets away with it. I knew he would run once we broke through his barrier, and I wanted to ensure he never came after us again.”
I hugged her while still in Lucas’s arms. “You’re the best Aunty a girl could have.”
“You remember that when it’s Christmas,” she said, patting my back. “I’ve got a list a mile long!”
The three of us laughed, and I relaxed for the first time in at least a decade.
Epilogue
“Mimi, stop stalking me,” I growled, spinning to face the kitten who was suddenly licking a paw. I glared at the kitten, knowing damn well he had been about to attack me.
Lucas picked him up by his tail and held him upside down. Mimi yowled and frantically waved his little paws. “I’ll hang you up as promised,” he said. “Stop stalking my mate.”
“Oh, let the little beasty have his fun,” Aunt Logan said, taking Mimi from Lucas. “He can’t really harm you anyway.”
“Is he going to grow?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “Nope, he’ll be this adorable little kitten the rest of his life.”
“How long do werewolves live?” I asked Lucas. “Like two hundred years?”
He nodded. “Poor bastard.”
“Are you sure you won’t just move in with me?” Aunt Logan asked, her lip out in a pout.
I hugged her and kissed her cheek. “Sorry, but I’d rather have some privacy with my mate.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t mind your noises,” she said with a smirk. “Judging from the screams the night you mated, he’s quite good at what he does.”
Lucas laughed, while I blushed.
“I’ll come visit next month,” I promised her, hugging her one more time before heading towards the road.
Lucas hugged her and waited as she whispered something in his ear. Whatever it had been, he threw his head back and laughed louder than I had ever heard him laugh before.
“Bye. I love you!” she called to me.
I turned back away, not wanting to know what she had said. Knowing her, it was about our sex life.
I made it out of town and realized Lucas hadn’t caught up to me. I turned around, expecting him to be behind me, but he wasn’t there. “Lucas?” I called. I heard rustling from the tall grass to my left and turned to look in that direction. The grass stilled, almost as if a sudden breeze had moved it. Only, I hadn’t felt any breeze.
I smirked and faced forward again. My mate was stalking me.
I tugged the backpack up higher on my back, gripping the straps as I prepared to dodge his attack.
He leapt out of the grass, paws outstretched, but claws sheathed.
I threw my backpack in his face and dashed into the grass to the right, ducking down so the shoulder-height grass could hide me.
Lucas roared happily, and I heard the grass behind me moving.
I dashed back onto the road, checked to make sure he had grabbed my backpack, and began walking normally again, whistling.
He stalked me to the right, and I was only able to see the glow of his eye between grass blades occasionally.
“If only I weren’t a poor, defenseless maiden. Surely, if anything attacked me, I would have no way to protect myself,” I said, putting the back of my hand to my head dramatically.
I heard a chuff of laughter from my right, and then a rush of movement behind me. I spun around, but he wasn’t there. I turned around slowly, then squealed when his human face was right in front of me.
“Boo!” he said and grabbed me around the waist.
I squealed again, struggling against him, but gave in, and wrapped my arms around his neck. “You win. You caught me.”
He kissed my lips, and then smiled. “Winning is what I do,” he said.
We walked for a full day before finally coming to the suburban housing area where Lucas lived. He took me inside his two-story house, carrying me across the threshold like a human bride. The house was furnished in burgundy colors, which gave it a homey and warm feeling. I liked it. It definitely felt like Lucas, and that made it even more welcoming to me.
“Welcome to your new home,” he told me, smiling.
“You know what they say about men with big houses, right?” I asked, teasing him.
He arched a brow. “That we have big pocketbooks?”
I laughed and shook my head. “That you’re compensating.”
He scoffed. “It hasn’t been that long that you could have forgotten.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s been a few days, perhaps it shrunk.”
He carried me through the house too quickly for me to look at anything, up the stairs to the second floor, and into a room with a giant four-poster bed, dresser, and an attached bathroom that had polished marble on the floor and walls. He tossed me onto the bed and snarled as he stood at the end of it.
“Clearly, you need a reminder of what your mate can do,” he told me and locked his bedroom door, turning with a flo
urish. “Perhaps a week in bed will help you remember.”
“A week?” I asked, chuckling.
He shrugged. “Okay, two weeks.”
“We’ll die of starvation,” I pointed out, though, it might have been worth it.
He walked to the dresser on the other side of the room and opened a cabinet door disguised as two drawers. Inside was a stash of canned foods and protein bars. “I’ve got enough stocked up for a month at least.”
“Now you’re talking my language,” I purred. “A month sounds good.”
He prowled around the bed, his eyes never leaving mine. “A month isn’t enough,” he said. He jumped onto the bed, his arms and legs on either side of me where I lay on his bed. “Let’s stay here the rest of our lives.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and smiled. “Sounds perfect.”
About the Author
Catherine Banks is a USA Today bestselling fantasy author who writes in several fantasy subgenres under two pseudonyms. She began writing fiction at only four years old and finished her first full-length novel at the age of fifteen. She is married to her soulmate and best friend, Avery, who she has two amazing children with. After her full-time job, she reads books, plays video games, and watches anime shows and movies with her family to relax. Although she has lived in Northern California her entire life, she dreams of traveling around the world. Catherine is also C.E.O. of Turbo Kitten Industries™, a company with many hats including being a book publisher and Etsy store full of nerdy fun.
Also by Catherine Banks
Song of the Moon (Artemis Lupine, Book One)
Kiss of a Star (Artemis Lupine, Book Two)
Healed by Fire (Artemis Lupine, Book Three)
Taming Darkness (Artemis Lupine, Book Four)
ARTEMIS LUPINE THE COMPLETE SERIES (Books 1-4)
* * *
Pirate Princess (Pirate Princess, Book One)
Princess Triumvirate (Pirate Princess, Book Two)
* * *
Mercenary (Little Death Bringer, Book One)
Protector (Little Death Bringer, Book Two)
* * *
Lion About: A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance: Virgo Page 10