by Zoe Chant
For a few minutes, he convinced himself he could handle it. Then Sheena appeared at the bathroom door again, her damp curls dripping onto the shoulders of a plush white bathrobe that cocooned her from neck to ankles. She should have looked ridiculous, wrapped in a robe far too big for her. Instead, she was radiant.
And Fleance was lost.
“Shower’s free!” Sheena said brightly. Fleance jumped up. He still couldn’t let himself check the mate bond, but the clean, sweet smell of her as she stepped aside to let him into the bathroom was unavoidable. He wanted to—
No. He had to control himself. He’d spent too long a slave to his hellhound’s vulnerabilities. He wouldn’t let her become one, too.
He showered quickly, his nose twitching at the hint of sulfur as he opened the window to help clear the steam. Normal sulfur, he reminded himself. Not the stench that accompanied hellhounds.
When he finally pulled on fresh clothes and went back out to join Sheena, he felt like the shower had added to the weight on his shoulders, not released it. And the sight of Sheena setting out covered plates on the tiny dining table, still wearing the robe, did nothing to help.
He cleared his throat, intending to ask her if she wanted a few more minutes to get dressed, but something about the obstinate tilt of her chin told her that would be a lost cause. His pulse quickened, despite himself. A meal with his mate wrapped only in a robe, sitting overlooking a serene lake, snow-covered hills in the distance… It was picture-perfect. The sort of thing that belonged in a Christmas rom-com, not in his life.
“I brought the table in from the balcony,” Sheena said, distributing cutlery. “The wine list said this red was chosen with Rotorua’s unique aroma in mind, but I figured it would be even better without. Besides, I’ve had my quota of freezing my arse off today already.”
She flashed him a smile that was too quick for him to tell if it was genuine or not and sat down.
Feeling like he was moving through mud, Fleance followed suit. The table was so small their knees almost touched beneath it. Fleance felt his senses start to shut down out of self-defense—all of this, her, her scent, the fact that she was only wearing a robe, was all too much—except at that moment Sheena whipped the covers off the plates and the smell of their meal overwhelmed everything else.
His stomach growled. Sheena groaned out loud.
“I always forget how hungry shifting makes me,” she said, reaching for her knife and fork. “And I’m only a sheep—I hope I ordered enough.”
Fleance blinked. She’d ordered seared steaks and a seafood platter, and half a dozen sides including a heaped pile of steaming ravioli in butter sauce and a crispy noodle salad. Two slices of chocolate cake fought for space at the very edge of the table.
“I should have gone for the cheese platter, too,” she muttered, worried. “Oh, shit. I forgot you’re the one paying for this.”
“Don’t worry about—”
“I’ll pay you back, okay? As soon as I get my stuff back.”
“Really, don’t worry about it.” He caught her gaze and tried to smile. “What’s mine is yours.”
She didn’t look reassured. “Right. Well… it’s kai time. Food time. Let’s focus on that because whatever you’ve got to say, I feel like I’m going to need to hear it on a full stomach. Here, try these prawns…”
They both filled their plates. Fleance tried to focus on the food, which was excellent, but he couldn’t keep his attention away from her.
She was so beautiful. No, that wasn’t the right word, either. She was so… much. He already knew what she looked like, but that was a staccato series of impressions, hyper-focused by adrenaline and outlined in fire. This was the first chance he’d had to slow down and look at her properly.
Her freckled skin was a few shades darker than his—not hard, given he turned invisible in snow even without his hellhound powers—and her hair was an incredible mass of thick curls that just brushed her shoulders. Her eyes were a hazel brown flecked with gold that reminded him of that first intoxicating taste he’d gotten of her scent—like rolling hills of golden grass speckled with shadows.
But she was more than that. What she looked like, her scent—he’d known that within a second of meeting her. And then he’d discovered that she was the sort of woman who refused to run and leave him, who’d jump into a fight no matter how outmatched she was and try to help a man she’d only just met. A man whose job should be protecting her, not the other way around.
She was someone who looked at Parker like he was a monster, and at Fleance like he wasn’t.
Somehow, in the years he’d been a shifter, he’d gotten the idea that the mate bond was the final step in finding your mate. Perhaps it was because theirs had sprung into existence so quickly—and the feeling of that happening, of Sheena’s heart seizing his with gleeful ferocity, still took his breath away—but all the mate bond told him now was how much he still had to learn about this woman whose soul was bound to his.
She deserved better.
Cold sweat broke out on the back of Fleance’s neck. Sheena gasped, and he realized he’d let too much slip. He was used to keeping his emotions hidden beneath the surface of his mind, but he hadn’t yet mastered keeping them from reaching Sheena through the mate bond.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “I’m still getting used to… everything.”
“It’s a lot,” she agreed. She licked a smear of sauce from the corner of her lips and helped herself to another serving of ravioli. “I mean… on top of everything else I’ve never even heard of shifters that can turn into animals that don’t exist. I’m still getting my head around it.”
“You haven’t met any mythic shifters before?” When she shook her head, Fleance whistled. “Hellhounds aren’t the half of it. Where I live now, Pine Valley—”
“Pine Valley? Is that exactly what it sounds like?” When Fleance nodded, Sheena snorted. “Good to know other countries are as good at naming stuff as we are.”
“It’s become something of a hub for mythic shifters. Makes sense, I guess, given one of the oldest families there is a dragon clan.”
Sheena almost choked on her drink. “Dragons?”
“The Heartwell clan lives in the mountains above the town. A brother and sister, and their families.” He hurried to clarify as Sheena’s eyes got wider. “Small families. They only have one child each, and Jasper’s mate isn’t a shifter, so it’s only five dragons.”
“Only five dragons.” Sheena sounded like she was testing out the words. “Only five dragons. Only five dragons. What next? Wizards?”
“Not that I wouldn’t pay good money to see a guy shift into a guy with a longer beard and a pointy hat, but—” He put his head on one side. “You did know dragon shifters exist?”
“No!”
“But…” Fleance waved out the window, where the lake was steaming gently. “This is Lord of the Rings country. You’ve got volcanoes, sulfur pools—how are you not crawling with mythical shifters?”
“It’s seriously mostly sheep.” Her eyes were still like saucers. “But… dragons?”
Fleance couldn’t help but laugh. “Our sheriff is a pegasus shifter.”
“Okay, now you’ve got to be joking.”
“He used to work with a guy who could turn into a griffin.”
“A—no.” Sheena folded her arms. “Seriously? I’ve never even heard of mythical shifters. Sure, there are stories about taniwha, but those are… taniwha.” His confusion must have shown on his face, and if he needed any proof that she was the other half of his soul, that was it. He would never have let his emotions show so easily in his old life. Now, he hadn’t even noticed how easily his mask had slid off.
Sheena unfolded her arms to gesture. “Taniwha are… They’re mythical guardians. Of waterways, usually. Actual myths, not real the way shifters are real, though don’t tell my cousin Aroha I said that.” Mid-gesture, her hands seemed to arrive near her head by accident, and she ran them through her curls.
“But… actual, real mythical shifters. Wow. The closest I’ve ever gotten to something like that is wondering if people could be shifters of extinct animals, or only ones that are alive now.” She looked at him, slightly worried.
“I’ve never met a dinosaur shifter,” he reassured her.
“Oh, just dragons and pegasuses and hellhounds. No worries.” She picked up her fork and stabbed another ravioli. “And… Are you the only hellhound who lives there?”
“No. It’s me and the rest of my pack. My alpha, Caine Guinness, and his mate Meaghan have lived there for a while. The rest of us are newcomers.” He didn’t mention that he’d slunk away without telling his alpha where he was going. But Caine was smart. He must have guessed.
So long as he doesn’t come over himself or send any of the others. Parker is my responsibility.
“‘The rest of your pack.’ You keep talking about your pack, and alphas. What’s that about? And… you live on the other side of the world, and you somehow managed to turn up at Silver Springs the moment I needed you. How is that possible?”
Left unsaid: If he’d been a day late… He pushed the thought away and made his voice light.
“A hunch.”
“A hunch?”
Fleance met Sheena’s eyes and something shivered inside him. A door he hadn’t even known he’d kept locked trembled against its hinges.
“It was more than a hunch. I’ve known Angus Parker for a long time.”
“You’ve been chasing him?”
“I know his tactics.” That’s one way of putting it. So close to the truth that it’s an even worse lie. Fleance cleared his throat. “Parker has made a career out of using his powers to force people into corners so he could trick them into bad contracts. He started off by terrorizing individuals or small businesses into folding. But after a while, that wasn’t enough. A few years ago, he targeted Pine Valley. It’s a small tourist town, way off the beaten track. The perfect test case to see if he could take on a whole community.” Fleance stared at his wine glass, unable to meet Sheena’s eyes. “And it would have worked if there wasn’t another alpha hellhound already there. Caine Guinness caught on to what Parker was doing, fought him, and forced him to leave Pine Valley in peace.” He sighed. “Without another alpha to fight him, I don’t think even the dragons could have taken Parker out.”
“And you fought him then, with this Caine guy?”
Fleance hesitated. Parker bit her, but she’s already a shifter. She won’t turn. The thought wound itself eel-like around his spinal column. I don’t need to tell her everything. That Parker’s dangerous, yes, that I’ll keep her safe, yes… but I can keep the rest a secret.
Who I really am.
What I did.
What I came here to do, and failed to do, and what I’ll have to do now instead.
I have to lie to her. Because who would want to be tied to what I really am?
His shoulders tightened. No. Parker might have made him a monster, but he didn’t have to act like one. He wouldn’t be with her under false pretenses.
He looked across at her. Now that he’d soaked in what she looked like, finer details sprang to the forefront: the slight tremor in her hands as she sipped her wine; the dark smudges under her eyes and the way her expression sometimes slipped, just briefly, and one hand flew to hover painfully an inch above her leg where Parker had bitten her.
“You’re a sheep shifter, right?”
Her eyebrows went up. “Valais blacknose, present and accounted for. My whole family are. I can’t turn invisible, or—or make people afraid of things that aren’t there, or set fires that magically disappear. My special ability is being so bloody cute no one takes me seriously.” She bit her lower lip. “So, please, take me seriously. Tell me what’s going on here, or at least—tell me about yourself. Because right now I’m terrified. I left my wallet, my phone, everything back at Silver Springs and I don’t know what’s happening with my aunts, and…” She took a too-quick glug of wine and wiped a spill from the side of her mouth. “I know I sound like a scared kid right now but I could really do with some reassurance.”
“You don’t sound like a scared kid.”
“I feel like one.” She made a face. “I’ve spent the last three months convincing everyone who knows me that I can look after myself, and I didn’t even have to leave the country to find out that’s not true.” She bit her bottom lip. “I’m just glad you’re here. Whatever that arsehole back at Silver Springs had in mind… I wouldn’t have made it out without you.”
She thinks I’m some sort of hero, Fleance thought, guilt twisting in his gut. She doesn’t know that if it wasn’t for me, Parker never would have been here in the first place.
“If it helps, I’m certain your aunts are safe,” he said out loud. “I know the way Parker works. He’ll terrorize people, but he’s never left a body count.”
Sheena flinched at the words body count, and Fleance cursed himself. Before he could say anything else, she put down her glass with a clonk and rubbed one hand across her forehead.
“You know so much about who this guy is. Are you some sort of shifter detective, or something?”
Fleance’s throat went dry. He was meant to be telling her the truth, not letting her come up with tempting lies. But that was what he’d done for so many years: let his mind be smooth as a pond as he slid in Parker’s wake, not letting his alpha see any trace of his true thoughts.
Not anymore. Not with her.
“I wasn’t part of Caine’s pack then,” he began.
“You keep saying ‘pack’ like I should know what that means,” Sheena interjected.
He frowned. “Sheep shifters are pack animals, aren’t they?” he asked.
“Uh, flock animals, sure.”
“Then you know that some shifter groups have particular… structures. Hellhounds are extremely pack-oriented. The alpha has control over all the subordinate hellhounds.”
Sheena scowled. Somehow, that made Fleance feel like he was on more solid ground. Her frown took over her entire face. It was a whole, all-in expression, everything that tentative smile hadn’t been.
“Control?” she asked. Even her voice was a frown.
“An alpha leads their pack. It makes sense they couldn’t do that without some sort of force. And with hellhounds, that force is magical. We all serve our alpha. And until Pine Valley, Parker was my alpha.”
Sheena gasped. “No.”
The smile that stretched across his face felt like a sick, sour thing. “When Caine defeated Parker, he took control of his pack, too. Me, Manu and Rhys.”
“Manu—isn’t that a Māori name?”
Fleance recognized the word—Māori were the indigenous people of New Zealand. Manu’s people.
“Where do you think Parker got the idea to use New Zealand as his bolt hole?”
Sheena leaned back in her chair. She’d gone pale beneath her freckles. “So you came here to… to…”
The truth. He groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. “To serve my pack. I thought, wrongly, that I could serve them best by coming here and dealing with Parker, but instead I’ve just let Parker know that the pack’s in a vulnerable position. Enough so that I would risk leaving them to come here and do something about him.”
Something. He had to stop dancing around it.
Bite down, his hellhound had told him. Finish him!
Sheena didn’t look reassured. In fact, every time he mentioned pack dynamics, or alphas, her expression became surlier. “Well, is he right about your pack being vulnerable?”
“Caine’s mate, Meaghan, is pregnant. Twins. She’s due later this month. If Parker did want to have his revenge on Caine for taking the pack from him, this would be the perfect opportunity. Everyone will be distracted.” Cold crept up the back of his neck. “And if it wasn’t for me, he’d have no idea.”
“But he still doesn’t, right? You didn’t actually tell him about the babies. Which, congratulations, by the way.” She
grinned, genuine pleasure sparkling in her eyes.
Fleance wanted more than anything to return her smile. Instead he shook his head. “Parker’s a cut-throat businessman. And his business is finding other people’s weak points. He doesn’t need to know what the vulnerability is, just that they have one. Any weakness is an opportunity.” His neck muscles tightened. “Parker might say he had no interest in his old pack, but I know better. And if there’s any chance that Parker might take back control of the pack—if he gets any power over Caine and Meaghan’s kids, or even over Rhys and Manu again—”
“Or you.” Sheena’s expression was caught in that uneasy space between extremes again. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it? Parker used to be your alpha, and everything you’ve said about him using his hellhound powers to do evil business deals… What did he do to you? I—ow.”
She winced. Fleance’s hellhound jumped to attention. *What’s wrong?* he asked quickly, and she raised her hands.
“Nothing! It’s—ow—just my leg. It’s itching really badly.” She made a face. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“It was yourself you interrupted.”
“You know what I mean.” She said it with a weak half-smile that looked out of place on her face. Her eyes were shining. Fleance looked away.
“Stop looking at me like I’m some sort of hero.”
“Why? You sound pretty damn heroic to me.” Her voice had an edge to it that went straight to Fleance’s core. “I can’t imagine that Parker having any sort of power over you was a barrel of laughs. But you still came here, to protect the people you care about.”
“And failed.” He worked his jaw, as though the truth was something he could physically spit out. Inside him, his hellhound whined. It didn’t want to tell her the truth.
Where’s your outsized sense of justice now? he asked it bitterly.
Sheena was still watching him. Not warily, but intently. He couldn’t meet her eyes.