Shifter's Delight

by Lacey Thorn

  “Micah,” she smiled. “I thought I had lost you.”

  “Not so easily little cat,” he whispered.

  “You should not be so foolish brother,” Merced interrupted them and Lynx would swear that she heard anger in his voice. “You almost lost your life and yet still it would not have saved me.”

  “And yet here you are?” Micah stated.

  “No thanks to you,” Merced replied. “It was your little cat that breathed life into me.”

  Micah gasped and looked down at Lynx. “She breathed into you?” he asked and she was getting confused.

  “Yes,” Merced said and she could almost feel Micah deflating like a balloon. It must have shown on his face as well for Merced’s voice softened with his next words.

  “She did not know,” Merced said and placed his hand on Micah’s shoulder to give it a squeeze.

  “It matters not,” Micah said and easing her from his lap he stood. “The law is clear. What is to be is to be.”

  “Micah,” Merced helped Lynx to her feet as Micah stood.

  “Good to have you back brother,” was all that Micah said as he turned to the rest of the group leaving Lynx standing with Merced.

  “What just happened here?” she asked quietly looking up at the big man.

  “It seems that you and I will be having a talk little cat,” Merced said. “But first there are other things to see to.”

  She stood alone for a moment watching the ones around her. The joy on her sister’s face as Nado sat up and embraced Aurora. The way Domi’s face tilted into a half grin as Nado said something. The stance of the warriors that surrounded them and the look of pleasure on Aslan’s face as he took in his sister’s happiness. Then she focused on her Danuja. Brothers reunited and yet there seemed such distance between them. What had just happened? She knew that it had something to do with her and breathing into Merced. She wondered how long she would have to wait before finding out.

  She stood to the side between her sister’s mates Domi and Nado as Aurora gave her first speech as queen. It was amazing to witness. Her sister’s words were inspiring and Lynx could feel the pride in her heart as she watched the crowd’s faces. They loved Aurora. She was exactly what everyone needed. And when Aslan bent to his knee it was only natural that Lynx did as well. What surprised her was that Domi and Nado did as well as her Danuja Micah and Merced.

  She wanted to speak to them, one or both to get to the bottom of what had happened. All she had done was revive Merced and now Micah acted as if she belonged to his brother. It made no sense to her. But she was damn sure that she would have answers by night’s end.

  A crowd of warriors gathered around Aurora, and Domi and Nado stepped up beside her so Lynx took that moment to slip away through the crowd to the room she was staying in. She needed a moment alone to centre her thoughts and plot her next move. But it wasn’t meant to be.

  “Time to talk, little cat,” Merced said as he pushed his way into the room behind her. She must have been lost in thought to have missed the fact that he’d followed her.

  “Where is Micah?” she asked as she tried to look beyond the big man. Micah and Merced where big guys, both easily seven feet in height. She felt positively tiny in comparison.

  “It is only I for this talk,” Merced said and motioned towards the bed behind her. “Please have a seat.”

  She lifted her eyebrow at him. “I prefer to stand for now. And why is Micah not a part of this talk?”

  “He has chosen to remove himself for now,” was the only reply Merced gave.

  “And I thought I meant more to him after the other night,” she said wondering just what kind of game these two brothers were playing.

  “I’m not sure just what you shared with my brother,” Merced stated. “I can tell that you have not mated with him as your aura is still almost only you with no trace of him.”

  “My aura?” she interrupted.

  “It is the ring of life that surrounds you,” Merced replied. “When you are mated as your sister is, your life-force blends with that of your mates. That link provides a new stronger power.”

  “I don’t understand any of that,” Lynx said with a shake of her head. “So I’ll just have to take your word for it. But you did say that it was almost all me with no trace of him. What else do you see?” She meant who but wasn’t going to say that. Who else other than Micah could her life-force or whatever be linked with?

  “Me,” was the quiet reply that had her eyes jerking up to meet his.

  “You?” she whispered suddenly feeling light-headed and moving to sit quickly on the side of the bed. “Why would it be you? We have not touched.”

  Merced looked sad for a moment. “But we have, little cat. We have. Our life forces merged when you breathed your essence into me.”

  “You weren’t breathing,” she stated, anger filling her. “What was I suppose to do? Just leave you?”

  “I was in a trance,” he began but she cut him off.

  “So was Micah but I could see that he was breathing,” she yelled.

  “Do you know anything of the Danuja?” he asked.

  “Micah is the first that I have met,” she said. “I have heard of the powers that you can hold. Healers, mystics, sorcerers of great magic. But only stories.”

  “Micah is what you would call a healer,” Merced stated. “His magic is good, pure. He is also a reader which means that he can see your life-force and know if you are telling truth or lie, if you are ill or close to death.”

  “And you?” she asked almost afraid to know, somehow sensing that she didn’t want to know.

  “I am what is called Damikan in Danuja,” he said.

  “Damikan?” she repeated.

  He nodded. “I am more but my power is limited in my weakened state.”

  She took in the powerful male before her. This was a weakened state? “More?”

  “That is unimportant right now,” he said. “What I want to share with you is important though and it has to do with you and I.”

  “What about you and I?” she questioned.

  “In Danuja culture there are certain things that can only be shared between mates,” he began. “And once they are shared, a link, or bond, is formed between the two.”

  “And?” she prompted when he stopped. “What does that have to do with you and me?”

  “One of those things is the mating ritual,” he stated and looked down, not meeting her eyes. It made her want to laugh. Would he be so uncomfortable during the act? “Not just the mating of bodies but that of mouths as well.”

  So that was why Micah had not kissed her. She had wanted his kiss and he had kept it from her, perhaps to save her from stepping into what she didn’t understand. She caught just the tail end of what Merced was saying but it was enough to have her head whipping up.

  “What did you say?” she demanded.

  “I said like what we shared,” he repeated softly.

  “I heard that part,” she informed him. “It’s the first part that I need you to repeat.”

  He gave a weary sigh and finally looked at her. “I said that the other form of mating is the blending of souls or spirits and this is achieved by sharing your breath or life essence with another. Just as you did with me.”

  “But I didn’t know,” she stated shaking her head. “I didn’t know.”

  “I understand that and as such I will not hold you to anything,” he smiled and nodded turning from her so that she could not see his face, his eyes, his feelings. “But I will warn you that such a sharing is sacred among the Danuja and especially to someone thought as a holy man.”

  “Micah?” she must have breathed his name aloud because she saw the sudden tension in Merced’s body.

  “Yes, Micah,” was the terse response and she sensed that she had angered him in some way. Without turning to her he moved quickly back to the door and pulled it open. “Now if you will excuse me, I have much to do.” And with that he was gone.

  If sh
e would excuse him? Oh, hell no! You didn’t just come in and tell someone basically that you were mated and then leave. And if he was more than Micah and this meant so much to Micah then what did it mean to Merced? She had wanted answers but Merced had filled her with more questions. And she’d be damned if she waited around for one of them to follow her again. She knew where Micah’s room was. She remembered it well.

  Throwing her door open she moved down the hall towards his room and the unmistakably angry voices that were coming from inside. Shifting to enhance her hearing she pressed her tabby ear against the door.

  “Do you love her?” Merced’s voice carried and it was angry.

  “It does not matter,” was the reply and Micah’s voice lacked the energy that she associated with him.

  “Of course it matters,” Merced thundered. “Everything matters.”

  “She has mated with you,” Micah said quietly, almost too quietly for her to pick up.

  “And yet she hasn’t,” Merced said. “It is not me she wants. It is not my name she whispers.”

  “And yet it doesn’t matter,” Micah insisted. “I am Danuja and am bound by that. Her breath is in you and that is all that is of importance now.”

  “Do you think this is what I would have wished for you?” Merced sounded anguished. “Do you think I can’t feel your pain, the way your heart aches for her?”

  “Do I love her?” Micah yelled. “Do I wish that it was me she breathed into? Yes, damn you I do. But what good will that wish do me? Where will that get me? What does that knowledge do for you? Does it make things better or worse for both of us?”

  “And in this we are both screwed, my brother,” Merced stated with a laugh that contained no humour. “I find myself mated to a woman that I cannot claim. One that my brother is in love with. With all my power I cannot change what now is. The fates have conspired and it is I that they laugh at.”

  “Woo her,” Micah said. “Teach her to know you and she won’t be able to do anything but love you. She is a woman worthy of the Damikan. She will inspire great love in all who meet her.”

  “And what of you my brother?” Merced asked with a sadness that clenched around Lynx’s heart. “What is to become of you? Do you move on to someone else? Do you have to watch me every day with the woman you love?”

  “That is more than I can do,” Micah stated. “Even for you. And it is more than you should have to bear. She will forget me. I was but a moment in her life. You can be her life.”

  “What did you share with her?” Merced asked.

  “A moment,” Micah replied. “Just one incredible moment. Do you love her Merced?”

  A long sigh filled the air. “Perhaps,” he answered. “Her spirit already fills me. I could love her but it is not her wish.”

  What if it was her wish? What if she did want Merced? And why did she have to choose between them? Why couldn’t she follow in Aurora’s footsteps, in the footsteps of many of the classes of people on their island home? Why couldn’t she mate with both men? And why the hell were they having this conversation without her?

  Chapter Four

  She shifted back to human form and burst into the room. Micah and Merced were on opposite sides of the room. The tension was even thicker on this side of the door but Lynx no longer cared. They were not allowed to make decisions about her life without including her. And it was best to make them aware of that now. Somehow she had sealed her fate when she had used her breath to revive Merced. That was fine. She was a big girl and she would accept that. But not without making Micah a part of it as well. In her opinion the fact that Micah had tasted her pussy was more of a tie than sharing air with Merced. They would just have to accept that.

  “You think it’s okay to just make all the decisions for me?” she demanded slamming the door behind her. “Do you love her? I’m so sorry brother. Well boo fucking hoo,” she stated. “This is my life you two are discussing and deciding and I think I have a say in it as well.”

  “You will not be held accountable for your actions,” Merced stated. “You are unaware of our culture.”

  “And you know everything about mine?” she asked.

  “Yes,” both men answered and it threw her for a minute.

  “Well good for you,” she finally replied. “But you can know all you want about the culture and still not know a person. I am more than my culture. More than their ways and beliefs. I am a woman, a shifter. You cannot classify who I am.”

  “Touché,” Merced answered with a twitch of his lips.

  “No one is leaving this room until I get some answers,” Lynx stated crossing her arms over her chest and standing before the door. It would have been laughable under other circumstances to think that someone of her stature could keep Micah and Merced in the room if they didn’t want to remain. But both men just nodded.

  “What is it you seek?” Merced asked.

  “Answers,” she replied. “Answers filled with truth and honesty. No speaking in riddles or explaining so that I don’t understand.”

  “As you wish,” Merced stated.

  “And damn it I am not just talking to you,” she yelled glaring at Merced before turning to Micah. “I expect you to be a part of this conversation as well Micah.”

  He inclined his head towards her but did not voice a response and she wanted to go up and smack his chest in frustration.

  “What is it that you wish to know, little cat?” Merced asked.

  What to pick? There were so many things that she wanted to know, that she needed to know. What did she pick first?

  “Who are you Merced?” she asked. “What does the title Damikan mean?”

  The brothers looked at one another and Merced gave a weary sigh, his hand going to his forehead and stroking across it as if he was in pain. Finally Micah chose to speak.

  “It means that he is king,” Micah stated. “And now you are queen.”

  Holy crap! No way in hell was she a queen. She could feel her head shaking back and forth in denial and couldn’t have stopped it if she wanted to.

  “I already said that you would not be held responsible for what you didn’t know,” Merced stated.

  “And what about you?” she asked. “Will you be able to mate with another? To choose a more worthy mate as your queen?”

  “There is no one more worthy than you,” Micah stated and there was anger in his voice. “A woman who places family higher than self. A woman who stands for what is right and just instead of taking the easy path. A woman who has already shed blood for a battle which is not her own.”

  “It is all of our battle,” she replied. “And more blood than mine has and will continue to spill until Wilhelm is stopped.” She turned to Merced. “But you have not answered my question.”

  His hand was on his forehead again. Once more it was Micah who spoke.

  “He is king and upholds our laws and customs with no exception. He will take no other as mate,” Micah answered.

  “And you?” she asked. “Will you take a mate?”

  “I believe I already answered that when I said that no woman is more worthy than you,” Micah said.

  “And what of what we shared the night before?” she asked softly. “Can that mean so little then?”

  “Never,” he swore while Merced looked on with curiosity and perhaps a bit of sadness. “What we shared is a memory that I will hold in my heart forever.”

  “Merced is Damikan, or king as you say,” she switched gears. “So as his brother what does that make you?”

  “My twin,” Merced said. “And as such the Damisau of our people.”

  “Damisau?” she queried.

  “He is the religious leader of our people,” Merced answered.

  “So wait,” she said as things began clicking in her head. “Micah said that his people sent someone to speak with Aslan. Why would they send their king?”

  “Why ask another to do what you are unwilling to do? And who better to speak with a king than a king?” Merced spoke
softly.

  “But that makes no sense,” Lynx stated baffled. “Who would lead your people if something happened to you? As it obviously did!”

  “Micah would,” Merced answered.

  “And here he is as well,” she shook her head. “Who is leading your people now? What if neither of you returned?”

  Merced sighed. “Next in line would be Mordecai.” He turned to Micah. “I assume he is liaison in our absence?”

  Micah nodded.

  “I take it Mordecai is a brother?” Lynx asked.

  “Yes,” they both answered.

  “How many brothers do you have?” she asked.

  “There are twelve of us,” Micah replied.

  “Twelve,” she exclaimed. Good grief that was a lot of children.

  “And we have six sisters,” Merced offered.

  “Eighteen children?” she could feel how big her eyes were.

  “That is not so many in Danuja culture,” Merced replied but there was a definite twinkle in his eyes.

  “I may be a shifter,” Lynx replied. “But I don’t plan on having litters of children.”

  Both of them laughed and it was nice to see. There was a camaraderie between them that she sensed had always been there. At least before she had entered their lives.

  “So how quickly do you return to your home and your people?” she asked.

  “When the threat is gone,” Merced answered. “There is much that Aslan does not know, much that I can make him aware of.”

  Lynx crossed to him and let her hand reach up to cup his face. “I can only imagine the hell you must have suffered at his hands.”

  Merced’s eyes closed and he seemed to shudder at her touch as if he were starved for it. Six months in a solitary cell suffering who knew what kind of torture. She wanted to hold him, to comfort him. Something had passed between them in that moment when she leaned over and shared her breath, actually even before that during the brief moment he held her to his chest while she was in tabby form. She could feel it when she stood beside him. As if she knew him, his soul, in a way that none other did.

  “I would die to keep you from ever knowing,” he replied.