And yet he’d mated the previous night with Serafina; he’d been offered to her as a tool in the rites of the Sisterhood. The difference was, of course, that it had been her choice, as well as his.
While she hadn’t hand-selected him, she had trusted her Sisterhood to do so for her, and that seemed a sacred rite among their kind. He only hoped that, even if he never saw her again, she wouldn’t hate him—the anonymous man—for what he’d done. The truth was that he wanted to help her. He wanted to give her power, to offer her a chance to help her sister. And he would have taken her home with him, introduced her to his family—he would particularly have loved to introduce her to Lily—and shown her all the respect due a mate.
But this was not her way, and he had accommodated her needs while adhering to her traditions. He could only hope that he’d left her with something positive—that she’d enjoyed herself, the experience, and that it had done what it needed to.
The raven, perched near Circe, seemed to mean Rohan no harm, and as her head turned his way, Serafina’s sister smiled at him.
“Have you come to help?” she asked, as though she somehow knew who and what he was.
He chirped, wishing that he could utter actual words.
“It’s all right,” she said. “It’s only a matter of time before I leave this place, one way or the other.”
He hoped she was right. He wanted so badly to shift, to speak to her. But aside from the fright that a large naked man might cause such a woman, he didn’t want to risk her being caught in that situation, accused of conspiring to escape.
He flapped away, finding another window: this time, one which was open and devoid of bars, and he landed just inside on the floor, transforming into a mouse and scurrying forward.
He made his way down hallways, mapping out the route through the building as he went, taking note of which passageways were locked, where men stood on casual guard.
At the building’s exit stood a large man, a shifter to be sure. His scent was of a powerful, and he had clearly been through the Ritual already, initiated fully into his powers. This was one of the brutes who’d once taken a woman against her will, and Rohan hated him for it. As his mouse form scurried by, he heard the guard sniff, sensing his presence.
Quickly he ran around the nearest corner, immediately changing into the swallow again and flying off. All his life, Rohan had inhabited the forms of giant wolves and dragons, and now he was discovering the benefit of smallness. So, size didn’t always matter.
As he flew he made a difficult decision. He would go to Serafina, offer his help to her and to her Sisterhood, knowing that he was breaking a sacred rule of theirs. And so be it. Saving a woman’s life was more important than arbitrary regulations.
But there was more to it. He had to see her again. Her scent was still on his mind, if not on his body. And he was already addicted to everything in her, though they’d never even had a proper conversation. To leave now would be difficult, and he would only do so if she asked him herself.
And he hoped with everything inside him that she would do no such thing.
Chapter 16
An Indecent Proposal
“What are you thinking about, Paxx?”
Phist and his brother were walking through the woods towards the compound, protected both from the road and from the Guild’s prying eyes and keen ears.
Paxx stopped, leaning in towards his brother.
“I saw it last night: the woman Serafina, with a man. It was her Bonding ceremony.”
Phist raised his eyebrows, stunned at the revelation. That must have been a sight to behold.
“Her partner was one of our kind, but not one of us. Not from around here at all, in fact.”
“Who was he? How could one of our kind avoid the Guild?”
“I have no idea,” said Paxx. “But he was very powerful; I could feel it. He’s of the Old Blood. And she was with him willingly, happily. She wanted to be there.”
“Interesting,” said Phist, whose mind was moving to Serafina’s sister Circe. In the brief time he’d spent in her presence, he’d found himself quite fascinated with her but had never dared hope that a woman such as herself could find a man like him interesting.
“The Bonding is a powerful tool in their arsenal, and will grant her new powers. But it occurs to me that she might like more, now that her sister’s been taken away.”
“The powers that the Ritual would give her, you mean?”
“Yes. Normally, a woman like that wouldn’t look to the Guild for a potential mate, but I spoke to her in town and got the impression that she’s more open-minded than we might expect. I could seem somewhat more appealing to her if she knew with certainty that I wasn’t…”
“Loyal to our own?”
“Well, yes.”
“I suppose it’s worth a try. But you can’t get close to her to speak to her, can you? They’re very protective of their own, Paxx. They don’t let men like us wander into Ealdor.”
“True. But perhaps I can speak to the man who was with her last night. You know how the Bonding works: the Aspirant is with the male for a time, and then they part. He’ll be alone; they don’t remain together after the ceremony.”
“But how will you find him?”
“I don’t know,” said Paxx. “But I watched him last night, leaving, hiking into the woods. Something tells me that he’s not far off.”
Despite his status as a shifter unable as yet to shift, Paxx was known as an extraordinary hunter. Seldom did he fail to find anything he sought, whether it was a person, an animal or a spool of thread in a haystack the size of a church. His gift was uncanny, and the Guild valued him for it, sending him on frequent missions. And he hoped that it would help him to find the strange man in the mask now.
The truth was that he wanted most to ask the man what it had been like to find his way to the bed of such an extraordinary creature, but for now he would keep any personal questions at bay. First he needed to earn the stranger’s trust.
And they were strangers, yet Paxx felt a bond with him, an inexplicable connection. Just as he felt for the woman Serafina. It was almost as though they’d known one each other in another life.
The thought of it all frightened and invigorated him at once: It seemed now that his mates were out there, and he’d seen them; he’d even spoken to Serafina, offered his protection.
But she didn’t seem to want to have anything to do with him, and who could blame her?
As for the man, Paxx needed to offer him a proposition. He could only hope that doing so wouldn’t get him killed.
* * *
Rohan knocked on the door to Hedy’s house quietly, hesitant. For the first time in his life he felt shy, like a teenaged boy about to ask a girl on a date. And yet this was far more serious: he wanted to impart the information he’d learned about the Guild’s compound, to help Serafina in her quest to find her sister.
The door opened, Hedy’s now familiar face greeting him. But this time there was no warmth, no smile.
“What is it that you’re looking for?” she asked, not naming him, not acknowledging her familiarity with him.
“I’m looking for Serafina,” he said. “I have information for her.”
“You can’t do that,” she began, leaning forward to whisper. “You shouldn’t be here. You know that.”
“I played by your rules last night,” he whispered back. “I did what you asked.”
“Oh, and it was ever such a sacrifice, I’m sure,” she shot back. “Such a burden to lie with a beautiful woman.”
“Hedy, who is it?” asked a female voice from inside the house.
“No one,” said Hedy. “Just a lost soul who doesn’t belong.”
A moment later Sera stood next to her friend, her faithful ferret wrapped once again around her neck.
When the young woman’s eyes took Rohan in she gasped, freezing for a moment before regaining her composure. She reminded herself that she wasn’t meant to know that he
was the man who’d been with her the previous night.
“I met you,” she said. “That is, you came to my house, the other day…”
“Yes,” he said, looking at Hedy for a moment before continuing. Her face denoted defeat; by now she knew that she’d lost this battle. There was no way to get Rohan to leave if Serafina wanted him there.
“Forgive me,” continued Rohan, his eyes locked on those of the woman he’d so enjoyed a few hours earlier. “But I heard about your sister’s abduction. I wanted to offer my help. I’ve been to the Guild’s prison; I’ve seen its layout.”
“Have you become one of them?” asked Sera, knowing full well what the answer was.
“No, of course not,” said Rohan. “The little I’ve learned about them is that they’re misguided at best, depraved at worst. The traditions where I’m from are rather…different from theirs. I have nothing but disdain for their methods, to say the least.”
“Well, you may as well come in and have some tea,” said Hedy, taking off for the kitchen, her badger loping along at her feet.
As Rohan entered, Sera shut the door behind him, turning back to face the man. He was covered up now, another tunic coating his tattooed back and his muscular front. But she knew what she’d seen, and she’d now recognize those broad shoulders anywhere. Even his scent was familiar, causing an ache within her, the reminder of what it had felt like to have him inside her.
“Please,” she said. “Have a seat.”
Rohan sat down on the couch, his hands feeling its softness as he did so. “A modern piece,” he said. “Where did this come from?”
Hedy replied from the kitchen. “A friend,” she said. “An old, old friend, from another time in my life.”
One of Rohan’s eyebrows rose in wonder. Was she a leaper, too? Could she move through time and space as he did?
“What are you two talking about?” asked Sera. “What do you mean, ‘modern?’”
Rohan looked at her, a twinkle in his eye as he resisted smiling. Part of him wanted to grin with his memories of the previous night, of how she’d felt, tasted, smelled. The pleasures that he’d gained from her flesh, from entering her, his body giving out in the end after he’d exploded inside her.
But there was more: he wanted to share with her. To tell her everything, to let his mouth erupt in a stream of tales about his childhood, his family, time travel, dragons, all of it. And he wanted to know her. To learn where she’d come from, about her sister, their home life. Her hopes and dreams.
“It would be difficult to explain,” he said, pushing all of the other thoughts aside for the time being. “And might take too long right now. I’m here to help you. Maybe one day when we have your sister back, I can tell you more about it all.”
“I’d like that,” she said, her shy smile melting him from within.
This was not the woman he’d met that first day, who’d so quickly shut him out; this was a woman inviting him in. And yet, he thought, she didn’t even know that he was her masked lover. That it was he who’d explored her with his mouth. She couldn’t know.
“So what can you tell me about Circe’s whereabouts?” she said at last, regaining her composure, her voice’s timbre changing to business. “Tell me about the prison. I need to get her out of there, and soon.”
“She’s being held in a large stone building, tucked deep inside the woods on the other side of Salem. It’s solid, and has many locked doors within. Large men guard it, I’m afraid.”
“If you could draw me a map, I’d be very grateful.”
“A map? What do you intend to do with it? A map won’t get you by those men.”
“It might just,” she said, smiling again, though this time the smile was mischievous. What was she thinking? Was she that powerful?
“If you go there, want to come with you,” he said. “I can be useful.”
“I don’t know. You’re awfully conspicuous. If you’re spotted…”
Rohan laughed. Before her eyes he vanished, as though disappearing into thin air, his clothing falling to the floor. But then Sera noticed some movement by her legs: suddenly a tiny gerbil stood before her on the couch. Nyx licked his chops hungrily, staring at the creature.
“You…you can change,” she said, picking him up and allowing him to scurry about her hand before putting him down on the floor. The gerbil transformed into an enormous wild cat; light grey, bright-eyed, staring at her intently as he stood in the middle of Hedy’s living room.
“Dear goddess,” said the old woman, who was just emerging from the kitchen, nearly dropping her tea cups on the floor. “You’d do well to warn an old lady before shifting like that. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a wolf in my house.”
She threw a blanket over him and he shifted; he was Rohan again, concealing himself as he dressed. “Sorry,” he laughed. “Just wanted to point out that I can in fact be of use.”
“How did you do that?” said Sera.
“I’m what’s known as a shifter, a shape-changer. It’s in my blood and that of my ancestors. There are many like me in this world, though it seems that our existence has been kept from you.”
Sera looked at Hedy, her jaw slack. The old woman looked unsurprised, but annoyed at Rohan for the revelation.
“There is such a thing as a man who can change into an animal?” Sera asked. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, given what I see Nyx do on a daily basis.” She scratched the ferret’s head as the creature leaned on her, a little afraid of what he’d seen.
“There is such a thing, yes,” laughed Rohan. “And as I said, there are many others—the men of the Guild, for instance. I believe it’s the reason they want you, and probably your sister, as well.”
“I don’t understand. Why would someone like you want someone like…” Serafina began, flushing as she remembered just how much he’d wanted her the previous night. Of course, she wasn’t supposed to know that.
Rohan looked to Hedy, who stood by, observing silently. She nodded. “You may as well tell her,” she said. “I can’t exactly keep these secrets from her or the other Aspirants much longer—particularly if the Guild comes at us in full force.”
He began, “At a point in our adult lives we—shifters—perform a ceremony known as the Ritual,” he said. “In which a woman bonds, mates, rather, with two men. All three are strengthened and linked, usually for life. It is a sacred ceremony, or rather it is meant to be, and it should come from an attraction and something far deeper. There is a force that brings mates together that I cannot explain.” He refrained from any mention of the Bonding; after all, he wasn’t supposed to know that the rite even existed, let alone that he’d been her very willing partner.
“But the Guild is abusing the Ritual, using women for their own selfish gain, to empower their men without regard for the woman’s well-being or her very life. That is not the original intent behind the ceremony, and nor is it ethical. Not to mention that the ceremony itself is far more effective if the woman in question is willing, caring. She must give herself over freely and happily, or the bond does not fully occur and there is no real guarantee of its results.”
Sera was still mulling over the first bit of information. “You’re telling me that a woman of your kind has two male mates?”
“Yes. Not only my kind, though. Sometimes the woman is human, like yourself. Even a human possesses qualities of value to a shifter; particularly one such as yourself, who seem to have certain skills that a shifter might like to share.”
Serafina thought she would faint from the notion. Two Rohans. Two men, two tongues. Two cocks. Dear goddess.
“Well, Rohan, let me consider your offer of help, since you are so very full of surprises. Would you come by tomorrow? I need to see you again.” Her words held more meaning than she’d intended to let on. But it was the truth: she wanted to see him again; in fact, she never wanted to stop seeing him.
“All right,” he said, though the words inside his head were, Yes, of course I
will come by tomorrow. And the next day. And the next. And every day until you invite me into your bed once again.
* * *
He woke in his forest cabin first thing in the morning to the sound of twigs snapping outside. Someone was close by, and from the scent of things, a Guild member. A shifter, perhaps. The smell of his flesh was familiar.
“Who’s there?” Rohan bellowed, preparing for a fight as he pulled on a pair of trousers. He slipped to the front of the house and opened the door, stepping outside, the ground moist and cold under his bare feet.
From the woods before him stepped a young man: the same light-haired one that he’d observed from above when he’d hunted for the Guild’s hiding place. One of the two who had spoken against his own, wanting to take the group down from within.
“You,” he said. “You’re one of the Guild. What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you,” the man said. “For many reasons, but the first of which is that I want to find out who you are.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to understand how any man of your breeding has managed to avoid recruitment into the Guild. How it is that they haven’t dragged you into their ranks.”
“I suppose it’s because I haven’t been here long, and they haven’t yet found me.” Not to mention that I would leap away to another century if they attempted such a thing. “The way I’ve heard you speak of them, you’re not overly fond of them; in fact, it sounds as though you would like to overthrow your leaders. Is this true?”
“I…I shouldn’t speak of such things with a stranger,” said the man. “Particularly one who appears to have been listening in on my conversations without my knowledge.”
“So come in and stop being a stranger,” replied Rohan, gesturing for him to enter the house. Paxx walked in, looking around for some any evidence that the place posed a danger and found none.
Illusions: Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (The Seekers Book 1) Page 11