“Hello, Jackie.” The smirk turned to a grin for just a moment, a flash of mischief and brotherly affection before the bored mask slipped across his features again.
“Fionn, meet my mate, Bianca. Darling, this is my brother, Fionn.”
“Enchanted,” Fionn replied, his bored expression belying his choice of words.
“Fionn! Behave,” Roisin scolded her youngest son as he rolled his eyes.
“Whatever, Mama.” Fionn rolled his eyes. “Now, what’s so important that Ted had to interrupt my afternoon delight?”
Bianca felt Jack bristling next to her, and she put a hand on his arm. “Let me handle this.”
“Fionn. I’m an albino. Whether or not you believe in the prophecies, you must be able to see that. I’m the first of the Ushers. I’m guided by another shifter, a Raven. Her name is Sara. She and her sister both serve as Guides. You’ve actually met her sister before.”
“Sara, bring her in the house.” She sent the thought to her Guide, and Sara and Annie walked through the front door.
“Annie?” The bored expression dropped from Fionn’s face, and it underwent a curious transformation. His eyes blazed with adoration and anger, his teeth bit at a full lower lip in a gesture that bespoke hope and despair.
The wolves around them shuddered as the force of his inner turmoil rolled through all of them. Bianca could feel it, too, a sense of fear and longing that fluttered through the man in front of her.
“Fionn.” Annie smiled at him, taking his hand. “It’s nice to see you again.”
“You came back for me.” He moved as if to draw her into his arms, leaning forward to press a kiss to her lips.
She pushed back against his chest. “No, Fionn. I’m not your mate. That hasn’t changed. I am not a wolf. I’m sorry, dear one. I’m your Guide.”
“Guide?” Fionn looked bewildered. “Love, I don’t care why you’re back, I’m just so glad you’re here now. I need you, Annie.”
“No!” she shouted. “Oh good grief, you never listen to anyone else ever, you stubborn prick! Fionn, that has to stop right now. You are the second Usher, and I am your Guide, not your mate.”
“What?” Fionn and Ted exclaimed together.
“You’re the second Usher.” Bianca smiled at him. “You have to Usher in the second change, just as I will Usher in the first.”
“But Annie…” Fionn’s voice was full of passion and anger. “I need you. My life is awful without you, empty.”
“Oh, Fionn.” Annie sighed. “Once you meet your true mate, your infatuation with me will fade, I promise.”
“I don’t want someone else.” He growled. “Don’t you get it? I’ve spent twenty years trying to find the tiniest thread of what I had with you with a someone else. But it’s always been you, Annie. What can I do to prove it to you?”
“Allow me to Guide you, as I should have been for the last twenty years. I’m not your mate. You’ll see. You need to let me in on my terms.”
“I’ll do what you ask,” Fionn agreed haltingly. “Not because I believe in this Usher nonsense, but because I need you in my life. I can’t live without you, Annie. Please don’t leave again.”
Bianca and Jack watched as Fionn sank to his knees in front of Annie, wrapping his arms around her legs and resting his head against her, his eyes closed.
“That’s a start,” Annie whispered. “Fionn, I need to shift so you can see for yourself who and what I am.”
“Here?” Ted asked.
“Outside is easiest for me. I’m rather large when I shift,” she answered.
Bianca took Jack’s hand, and they left the house first, Sara, Annie, Fionn, and Ted all following.
Once outside, Annie began to shed her clothes. Fionn’s smile grew wider and wider as more of her naked body was bared. Jack slapped him on the arm and shook his head. Fionn just shrugged. When her clothes were safe, Annie began to shift. As the others watched, sabled fur sprouted all over her body. She sank down onto all fours, and she began to shake, throwing her head back in a yawn that revealed powerful feline teeth and a raspy tongue. Before their eyes, a huge panther sat, watching Fionn. He strode over to her, knelt by her side. As he stroked the fur between her ears, her eyes drifted closed, and she purred her pleasure. Bianca sensed they were communicating silently, and she watched as Fionn’s face transformed one more time. If she’d been shocked at the transformation between bored playboy and lovesick adolescent, the next change that crossed his features was even more stunning.
As he stood and faced the other wolves and Sara, his jaw settled with determination. His blue eyes blazed with intensity, and his personal magnetism, which had been so overwhelming when Bianca had first seen him, was completely unleashed. Bianca felt her knees wobbling, and she knew Jack felt it, too. As one, they bared their necks to his youngest brother.
Fionn stepped forward and took the tendon of Bianca’s neck between his teeth ceremoniously before doing the same with Jack. One by one, each of the wolves repeated the ritual. Behind him, Annie resumed her human form, a subtle smile on her lips as she threw her clothes back over her body. She stepped forward and took Fionn’s hand.
“You need to sever,” she told him.
He nodded.
“Patrick!” he called.
The last of the Murphy brothers emerged from the front door, a scowl on his face. He shuddered when he saw the transformation that had overtaken his youngest brother’s face. He dropped to his knees, baring his throat. Fionn took it and then stepped back.
“Patrick Murphy, I am severing myself and my wolf from Mid-Atlantic Pack.” Fionn spoke the formal words with a new gravity in his voice.
“Fionn Murphy, you are severed from Mid-Atlantic. You are now considered a rogue wolf,” Patrick intoned, for once not sounding arrogant. He seemed bereft. He threw his head back and howled.
“Oh, get over it, Paddy.” Fionn grinned at his older brother. “It was this or kill you.”
“How does he bear it?” Bianca whispered to Jack, remembering his pain at severing from the pack.
Jack shook his head, unable to understand.
“Perhaps because he is still surrounded by family? Perhaps Annie is anchoring him somehow?” Jack spoke to his mate’s mind, and she could feel that he was letting his brother eavesdrop.
“Both of those things, brother.” Fionn’s voice in Bianca’s head was warm and calm. “Annie showed me pieces of our future. I understand my place now, though I disagree with her statements as to our lack of compatibility. Bianca, you are as my little sister. I pledge my protection to you.”
Bianca blushed and smiled. “Thank you, brother.”
“Would somebody tell me what the hell is going on and why we are all suddenly compelled to offer obeisance to Fionn?” Ted muttered.
“Teddy, I’m the second Usher. I’m going to lead the wolves to unification.” Fionn smiled. “And I’m going to start by asking Patrick to agree to whatever Jack and Bianca ask. This is necessary.”
Patrick looked at him warily. “Well, I appreciate that you are asking me rather than ordering me, Fionn. Let’s go in and discuss it.”
Bianca sent a silent, “Let’s go,” order to Angelo and the other wolves who had waited at the gate. Their car came rumbling up the long drive, and Angelo hopped out. He immediately offered his throat to Fionn, and the obeisance ritual was repeated several more times as the other wolves came forward.
Finally, they all went inside, and Patrick led them to what looked like a cross between a dining room and a conference room. Bianca looked around and smiled as she realized it probably served the family as both.
“You’re right, mate.” Jack smiled back at her. “Here, we learn our table manners and also discuss how best to eviscerate our enemies.”
She rewarded him with a giggle that turned into a snort, and suddenly, they were both laughing. She looked up to see Fionn watching them, an indulgent smile on his face.
“You two are good together,” he remarked be
fore turning to take Annie’s hand in his again. His eyes closed, and Bianca knew that he was speaking to his Guide silently. She wondered for a moment about the feline mind. What would it feel like to have a powerful cat in her head?
“Jealous, lovely?” Sara teased. “I am a bird because you needed a guide with exceedingly long vision and a small physical presence. Annie is a panther because Fionn needs a guide who is powerful physically and compellingly beautiful. He and Mon are going to be the ultimate power couple. They’ll need Annie’s strength and magnetism.”
“Oh, Sara, honey, you know I wouldn’t trade you for your sister. She’s pretty awesome, and by awesome, I mean terrifying, but you are my dearest friend.”
“Great, so when do I get to see the hot girl on girl action?” Jack sent the thought with enough humor inflected that Sara and Bianca both blushed.
Bianca’s hand tightened on his; the heat of her resentment flared up between them again. She wasn’t ready to be teased about losing that part of her friendship with Sara.
Fionn efficiently settled the other wolves into their seats by rank. Patrick sat at the head of the table, with Ted at his right hand, and the other wolves sniffed and snarled and whined as they took each other’s measure. Finally, the major players were seated, with the remaining visitors from Amazon Pack lined up along the walls.
Patrick leveled a steely gaze at his brother. “Okay, Jack, this is it. What do you want?”
Jack squeezed Bianca’s hand, and she turned to face Patrick and gave him her sweetest smile.
“We want legitimacy, Alpha of Mid-Atlantic.”
Chapter Twelve
“OH, IS THAT ALL?” Patrick scowled. “I’m afraid I can’t grant your little pack legitimacy, Albina.”
“Of course not,” Jack intervened. “You can, however, convene a Wolves’ Council where the issue would be voted on.”
“How certain are you that the vote would go your way?” Ted asked, frowning at Jack. Of all his brothers, only Ted knew the size of Amazon Pack.
“We know.” Bianca smiled.
“I need to think about it.” Patrick sighed. “I’ve lost two strong wolves to you. I’m not certain I can handle losing anymore.”
“You’ve lost far more than two wolves to Amazon,” Fionn interjected. “However, you won’t lose more, provided their pack receives legitimacy.”
“What do you mean, I’ve lost more than two?” Paddy scowled again.
“Please, let’s not argue about numbers,” Angelo interrupted. “The fact remains, Amazon is a pack of diverse resources. We’re entirely self-sufficient. We don’t plan to poach from your pack, rather to grow our own pack the usual way. Patrick Murphy, you have nothing to fear from us.” He offered a dangerous smile.
“I see. However, I still am not about to make a decision without discussing it with my lieutenants in private. Mama, can you settle these guys in? Put Jack and Bianca and the two Guides in the house. The rest can stay in some of the guest houses off-site.”
At this, Kathy snarled. “I stay with my Guardians.”
Patrick looked at the little redhead with the same shocked wonder Jack had when he first met her. Jack realized that Kathy had been consciously avoiding Patrick’s notice and that he hadn’t even realized the redhead was in the room.
“Fine, little sister. Stay with your Guardians in the house—bunk in with Sara and Annie.”
“Thank you, brother,” Kathy replied with a wink.
Jack watched as Patrick’s look of shocked wonder turned to confusion as he realized he, too, had unwittingly adopted the little wolf as family. Jack shook his head.
“Oh hush, big boy,” Kathy teased. “Let a gal have her fun.”
Bianca and Jack lingered behind a moment to speak with Fionn.
“You are going to join Amazon?” Jack asked.
Fionn scrubbed a hand across his eyes, letting out a sigh. “Yes. Annie’s explained what my role is going to be. She’s also suggested a routine of cold showers until we get back to your—our territory. God, what a woman.” He grinned. “I wonder if she really meant it?”
“Yes. She did.” Jack frowned at his brother. “Fionn, I’ve met your mate. Until today, she was the strongest wolf I’d ever encountered. I still don’t know what exactly happened out there when you accepted your role of Usher, but you’ve overtaken her strength. Annie’s part of that, but she’s not your mate.”
Fionn sighed again. “We’ll see. I’ve spent the last twenty years trying to forget her, but she was always a part of me.”
“Let me, Jack,” Bianca whispered in his head. “Brother.” She took Fionn’s hand. “Sara and I were lovers for several years. We lived together, shared a bed, shared our lives, much as mates do. I’ve had a very close relationship with her my entire life. She has never been anything but honest with me. She prepared me for the eventuality of meeting my mate, reminded me frequently that our relationship was temporary, and that a stronger, more lasting relationship would come into my life.”
She smiled at Jack, her lavender eyes glowing with passion as she realized the truth of her own words. Somehow, in spite of her anger and the resentment she still felt, she had made room in her heart for this man, for the laughter he brought into her life, and the way he waited patiently, never asking her for more than she was able to give. He had given himself to her—as her mate, and more, as part of her task, from the very first.
“She was right, Fionn. What I feel for Sara, the tenderness, the sweetness of it, it’s a huge part of how I have become who I am. But Jack is a part of me now that can’t be torn away. Our mate bond has joined us so completely, we can’t be apart. Likewise, your feelings for Annie, while full of passion and, yes, love, they’ve shaped who you’ve become—but they are different from a mate bond, which you will realize just as soon as you meet Monica and she completes you.”
“I don’t want your Monica,” Fionn growled.
“I know.” Bianca squeezed his hand reassuringly. “But you will.”
With that, she turned away from him and followed Jack up the stairs to the room that had been his since childhood. His scent in the room swept through her. It was earthy and strong, his clothing hanging in the closet, the sheets of his bed still rumpled from the last time he’d slept here. She looked around at the almost Spartan quarters—there was a bookshelf, filled with worn paperbacks. A model airplane hung suspended from the ceiling. A desk with a single chair sat in a corner, a filing cabinet on one side, and a gun safe on the other. A laptop computer sat closed upon his desk. A framed black and white photograph of a howling wolf, his breath freezing in the air, hung beside the window.
“Oh, Jack.” She felt the thrill of anticipation, of wanting and being wanted, but more than that, she felt her wolf acknowledging everything he’d come to mean to her. She could feel his presence in the room with her and turned to see him watching her.
“This room is so very you.” She sighed, sitting on his bed.
He stalked toward her, his expression leaving no doubts as to his intentions. Placing a hand to either side of her, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, pushing her back against the bed. As the familiar surge of lust and tenderness rolled through her, Bianca looped her arms around his shoulders, tugging his weight down upon her. With a growl, he tore her shirt from her, cupping her breasts with his hands.
“I want you,” he murmured into her white hair, breathing her scent.
“Take me,” she replied, tugging at his jeans.
Quickly, he stripped them both and then reached between her legs to feel her already slick and ready for him.
“Please.” She reached for his hips, settling him between her legs. She captured his lips with her own as he slid inside her in one smooth thrust.
“Aaahhhh…” She sighed into his mouth, feeling his trembling need.
She began to rock her hips against his, pushing him into her rhythm, the overwhelming sensations of friction and heat curling through their bond. She could feel the in
tensity of his love, the sureness of it, and she nearly sobbed with the joy she felt as she realized that she could requite it. She tugged him close, opening her mind and soul to him, letting him feel everything she felt. He reached between them with one hand, urging her passion along with the slide of his fingers against her clit. The ache inside her threatened to explode, pushing at her from within.
“Come for me, White Wolf,” he whispered, and she felt her body reacting to his words as she shattered around him. She heard his shout of fulfillment as he followed a few moments later, his body driving hers up the bed with the ferocity of his thrusts.
As he collapsed beside her, he tucked her head onto his shoulder and pressed a kiss to her temple.
“I’m sorry I was so impatient,” he murmured.
“No, it was perfect. Just what I needed. Wild and intense.” She snuggled closer to him. “I needed you like that as much as you needed me.”
“I know, I could feel it, but I love you so much, I just want to make you come over and over again.”
“Jack…I need you to know…”
Before she could finish, a knock sounded at the door.
“A minute!” Jack grumbled, throwing his jeans on and then tossing his shirt to Bianca, who slipped it over her head and tugged the bed sheets around her waist. When he was certain she was covered, he crossed to the door and opened it. His brother Ted brushed past him into the room.
“Hey, Bianca.” Ted smiled at her, obviously ignoring the smell of sex as if he frequently walked in to see a half-naked woman in his brother’s bed. “Jack, we need to talk. And I’m blocking again, so don’t try and touch my mind. It makes it harder.”
Jack closed the door behind Ted and gestured to the chair by the desk. Ted straddled the chair backwards, his arms crossed casually over the back of the chair, facing the bed. Jack sat next to Bianca on the bed, pressing a kiss to her hand.
“How are you blocking him?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know exactly. I figured out a long time ago that I could keep secrets from other pack members. I didn’t do it consciously at first; it was more something I did when I was embarrassed or afraid. I began to realize what was happening, and I started trying to control it. Eventually, I got to where I could close off my thoughts entirely, not just my emotions. I kind of make my head invisible.” Ted frowned. “No, that’s not it exactly. I can’t explain. But it’s not without effort.”
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