Rose sighed. “I’m definitely not leaving without my sister.”
Tansy stepped around Armand and moved up next to Rose. “I’m going back with Rose.”
Armand looked as though he wanted to say something, but remained quiet. The look he gave Tansy was one Viktor thought he recognized. He knew just how the other man felt. He was sure his own face held the same expression when he looked at Rose.
No other woman would ever do for him. He knew this as well as he knew his own address. He wanted Rose with her pain-inducing knees and acerbic tongue. He wanted to live the rest of his life knowing the woman before him loved him and no other, not that she merely tolerated him because of her sister’s boring parties.
Viktor not only wanted, he needed her love and respect along with her full, curvy body that was soft in all the right places.
Eventually, he would convince her that she was 44
his mate. Somehow, he would manage to ignite the spark of magic between them and Rose would finally see they belonged with one another. For now though, Viktor knew he must be content to know in his heart that the two of them were destined for each other.
Viktor stepped aside and swung his arm toward the door. “Shall we go now, dear heart?”
“I wish you’d stop calling me that.” Rose sighed as she moved toward him. “We both know I am not your heart.”
Viktor could have sworn he heard a whisper of her voice in his head that said, No matter how much I want to be. He dismissed it as wishful thinking and turned to her sister who bounced up between them.
The woman, always full of energy, seemed to ooze good cheer wherever she went. Viktor wasn’t sure why, but it had the opposite effect on him. He found it rather irritating to be around someone who was so damned happy all of the time.
Perhaps it was just because he needed his mate. Or maybe he just disliked perky women. He wasn’t sure.
“Can we stop on the way home and get something to eat? I’m starved!” She threw an accusing glare at Armand. “Our host for the last few hours neglected to feed us.”
Armand stepped closer, his hands behind his 45
back, no doubt to hide the fact that he’d just balled them into fists before he shoved them quickly behind him. “I beg your pardon! I told the kitchen staff to feed you two over an hour ago.”
Tansy raised her chin and stared him down.
“Well it never arrived. Maybe you should have more control over the people who work for you.”
She crossed her arms and tapped her foot with obvious irritation.
Viktor wanted to grin. If Armand thought to take one of the Flowers sisters as a mate, he would certainly have a merry chase that would keep him on his toes.
He looked at his own formerly wayward mate and raised a brow. “Well…are you ready?” He did hate to repeat himself, but he would repeat that a million times if it would convince her to accompany him.
Rose glanced at her sister and waved toward the door. “The food Armand sent up is in the room across the hall. The woman who showed me in here delivered it just before she brought me to you. You’re welcome to go grab a few bites before we leave.”
Tansy shook her head. “I don’t want that now.”
She sniffed, her chin in the air. “It’s cold by now.”
She looked up at Viktor and gave him a smile that may have made him take a second glance if he had not already been smitten by one of Rose’s 46
endearing scowls. “We’ll have Viktor stop and feed us on the way home.”
With a laugh, Tansy startled Victor by sidling closer, wrapping her arm around his and tugging him toward the door. The action brought her up against him and he felt her body heat as she pressed close.
What was she trying to do, get him killed? He heard Armand’s growl from across the room. He shot the other man a glance that he hoped Armand would interpret as a plea for help.
“You needn’t insult me by making advances on another in my presence, woman,” Armand said with another growl. “I will see you fed.”
“I don’t think so.” Tansy stuck her chin in the air, her bottom lip stuck out in a pretty, yet irritating, pout. “As a matter of fact, I don’t think I want you to take me anywhere.” She sidled closer to Viktor. “I like him better.”
In shock, Viktor did his best to extricate himself from Tansy’s grasp and attempted to back away.
He was right. She was trying to get him killed!
47
Chapter Six
Glaring at her sister, Rose realized that for the first time in her life, she actually wanted to kill Tansy. She imagined a slow, painful death for her sister as she watched her hanging all over Viktor like some sort of cheap tramp. What in the hell did she think she was doing? She narrowed her eyes, wishing for her wand so she could show Tansy a thing or two. Why didn’t she go get her own man?
Viktor was hers!
She paused at the thought. No, Viktor wasn’t hers. He couldn’t be hers, could he? She snuck a glance at the man who had insisted they belonged together from practically the first moment he’d seen her and sighed. She just didn’t know anymore.
Never in her life had Rose ever wanted a man the way she wanted Viktor. Taking a deep breath in an effort to calm herself before she did kill her sister, Rose continued to glare at Tansy as she hung off Viktor’s arm. Then she turned the same 48
glare onto Viktor who did absolutely nothing to stop it.
Rose felt her power growing stronger within her. Her fingers tingled and itched as some nearly uncontrollable force filled them. Her fingers, a conduit and outlet, burned and sparked with the need to release the pressure that built inside her.
Static electricity filled the air and everyone’s hair lifted away from their heads. It would have been comical had Rose not been so pissed or scared that she would harm someone.
“Uh, oh.” Tansy finally released Viktor’s arm and stepped back.
Armand grabbed her by the hand and pulled her behind him for protection, no doubt. “Kiss her, Viktor. Provide the conduit she needs to release her power safely. This is the one thing that will prove she is your mate.”
Why did everyone believe she was Viktor’s mate? “We’ve already kissed and felt nothing.”
She didn’t say that she’d been just as disappointed as Viktor. After two months of his pursuit, it was a letdown to realize she had been right all this time.
She hadn’t wanted to be right. This was one time when being wrong would have been okay.
One thing was certain. It was a good thing she had never gotten her hopes up. She would have been devastated. Rose bit her lip, trying to keep the power from leaking out and harming 49
someone. She looked at Viktor and wanted to cry.
Who was she kidding? She was devastated anyway.
“I have to get out of here before I kill someone.”
Or demolish Armand’s very nice business. She stared at Viktor for a minute, her heart breaking all over again. “Move out of the way. I don’t want to hurt you, but I need to get outside.”
Viktor didn’t move. He merely stood and stared back.
“Move!”
Shaking his head, Viktor moved closer. “We are going to try this again. Only this time, you will try to make the connection instead of fighting it every step of the way. You will try because you do not want to kill me or your sister.”
He stood in front of her now. Lifting his hands, he cupped her face and leaned down. “Open for me, my heart. Release your power through me. Let my ice cool the flames of your angry magic.”
“Don’t call me that. I’m not your heart.” Rose didn’t want him to call her that because she might miss it when he was gone. She couldn’t let him know she gave a damn. If she did, it would be that much harder to drive him away afterward.
Tears in her eyes for what she was about to do, Rose opened her mouth. She would kiss him because it was too late to do anything else. It was too late to run. Her magic was about to burst from 50
What was wrong with one last kiss?
Viktor pressed his lips against hers, the touch so gentle at first, she wasn’t sure she really felt it.
After a moment or two, he snaked his tongue into her open mouth, plunging and tasting her as he took her power into him.
Rose cried as she released her power, knowing the force would kill him. Her knees buckled beneath her as icy heat flared within her.
Mine!
The word burst into her mind as he continued to slant his lips over hers. His tongue plundered her mouth like some Viking gone berserk, touching, tasting her own as he continued to explore every inch. He moved slowly, so slowly, as though he savored every moment, every taste of her as he continued his sensual assault.
You are mine!
Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she realized the power that flared within her had driven her mad. No one would be safe ever again.
She knew he wasn’t her mate, yet she thought she heard his voice in her head. She had gone insane.
Someone needed to put her down like a diseased animal before she injured someone.
You are not insane, my heart. You are my mate!
The sound of Viktor’s voice was in her head again, just before she caught glimpses of him in 51
ancient times watching the construction of the Great Pyramids. He spoke with a man who had the power to heal, to love unconditionally—a man who had more power in his pinky than she and her sisters combined.
She saw him fighting men who appeared to be shogun warriors, and finally before he pulled away when the last of her power dispersed, she saw him as a Viking, the very kind of man he brought to mind when he kissed.
He stared down at her, his eyes filled with an emotion she couldn’t identify. “You are mine.”
Rose nervously licked her lips and looked everywhere but at him. He was in her mind, in her heart and somehow, in her very blood. She could no longer deny their connection and truthfully, she didn’t want to. Nodding, she cleared her throat. “I guess…I guess I am.”
Tansy clapped her hands and, as usual, bounced up and down. “I knew it! I knew it! I just knew if I acted like I wanted Viktor, you would blow a gasket.”
“What?” Rose stared at her sister for a minute, a new spark of anger filling her mind. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head. “I don’t believe you did that to me, you little dweeb.”
“Fungus,” Tansy shot back, a huge grin on her face.
Great. Now she’d never live this down. Tansy 52
would lord this over her the rest of her life. She just managed to make Rose realize she loved Viktor and now there would be no shutting the little creep up.
Dammit!
Viktor smiled down at her and Rose wanted to fan herself. Goodness, he was gorgeous! A lock of his gold-blond hair hung across his forehead, his silver-gray eyes sparkled with happiness and his smile…Rose sighed. His smile made him even more handsome. An hour ago, she would have thought that impossible.
He brought up his arm for her to take it. “Shall we go?”
Rose nodded and tucked her fingers into the crook of his elbow with a smile. “I would love to.”
For the first time since her parents died, Rose felt free. Free to live her life as she wanted and free to practice magic without worrying that she would harm someone. It was amazing how grounded she felt now that they had managed to bind themselves together, even superficially.
She knew it would take much more than that before she could trust herself with her wand. She would have to mate with him in the ritual way before she would have complete control, yet just knowing they were connected, that he could temper her power, left her feeling more relaxed than she’d felt in years.
53
* * * *
Viktor looked down at Rose and smiled. He’d never seen her so relaxed, so…carefree may be the word. The lines around her eyes had softened since their kiss. Her adorable frown was gone, replaced by a smile that could brighten the darkest of nights. He sighed when he realized he loved this woman so much he was even thinking in clichés.
He pulled her into his arms and held her close, surprised for a moment that she didn’t put up a fight. It didn’t matter. None of it mattered now that they knew they were destined to be together.
He’d known it all along, of course. It was just a matter of convincing Rose of that fact.
You weren’t certain either. Had you been certain, you would have kissed me like that a long time ago.
Just the thought of her answering him through their bond was enough to make him want to shout with joy. Instead, he opted for leading her from Armand’s home and business before the other man remembered that Tansy had rubbed her scent all over him. The last thing he needed right now was a challenge. Viktor didn’t want Tansy. He had never wanted Tansy. It had always been Rose.
He took a deep breath and drank in her unique scent. No one smelled like his Rose, no one could 54
make his stomach clench and his heart beat the way she could just by being near him. He closed his eyes and thanked everything that was good that after almost ten-thousand years he had finally found his mate.
Viktor wanted nothing more than to carry her off to his lair where he could make her his with no interruption. Yet he knew he must take her back to Drake’s. As much as it chafed, Drake was Rose’s only male relative present and as such, had the last say in their pairing. He owed Drake that courtesy. He wasn’t worried that Drake wouldn’t agree, he just disliked the delay.
Even though Viktor knew there was no real hurry now that they had bonded through their kiss, he still couldn’t wait to make Rose truly his.
He wanted to have her close, to protect her from the evil that would harm her and her sisters.
He thought of the cab driver they’d found face down and unconscious. The women must have felt threatened to use their magic on him. None of them, save April and Tansy, used any form of magic at any time outside of their monthly practice sessions. Shifting his gaze to Tansy, he was certain she had incapacitated the driver, even with the absence of fire.
He couldn’t say he blamed the others for abstaining from the practice. At their last session two weeks ago, Tansy had accidentally set one of 55
Drake’s garages on fire and managed to singe all of the hair off Martin Baccus, Drake’s personal assistant. He fought the urge to smile at the thought. The man still looked ridiculous with no eyebrows.
Taking Rose by the hand, Viktor paused as the connection between them blossomed. He felt her emotions, her fear at using her powers even though she felt him grounding her. The palm of his hand warmed against hers to the point of pain as their connection grew.
In a hurry to get back and get Drake’s final word on the matter, Viktor pulled Rose from the building and headed for his car. Tansy giggled behind him and he shot a glance her way. One thing he’d learned while frequenting Drake’s home over the last few months was to never ignore one of that woman’s laughs—it usually preceded some minor catastrophe.
Armand had her in a loose hold, his fingers wrapped around her wrist. Smiling, she turned to look at her sister. “I think I’ll stay here after all, Rose.” Turning, she gave Armand a teasing glance. “Armand has promised me dinner some place nice.”
Viktor turned his attention to the other man.
“You will protect her?”
Nodding, Armand bowed. “With my life.”
“Call Drake if you leave his presence,” he 56
instructed Tansy.
If she had been any of Rose’s other sisters, he would have insisted on escorting her himself, but he knew Armand and the worst he would do was break the girl’s heart. Besides, Drake’s abused household needed a break and if things were as he suspected with Armand, the other man would soon regret his decision to woo Tansy Flowers.
57
Chapter Seven
Rose let Viktor drag her from the building and escort her
to his car. She stared at the red sports car for a minute, unable to keep her amusement from showing. “Compensate much?”
Viktor took her by the shoulders and gently pushed her back against the car. He pressed the full length of his body against her and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Does it feel like I have anything to compensate for?”
The heat of his breath against her ear had warmth washing over her as tendrils of delight winged through her system. She could feel every hard inch pressed against her as his tongue snaked out and traced the shell of her ear.
Swallowing thickly, she forced herself to answer. “Uh, no.” Rose turned her head away and tried to push him back. “From what I can see…er, feel, there’s nothing for which you should feel the need to compensate. Nothing at all.”
Rose’s face burned as he reached around, 58
opened the passenger door and helped her into the car. She was no innocent, but she had never felt such…intensity for a man before in her life.
Whether it was her emotions alone she felt or Viktor’s as well, she had no idea. Rose knew one thing though. It was all a bit overwhelming.
They hadn’t been in the vehicle more than a few minutes when Viktor’s phone rang.
“Wolonczech. State your purpose.”
“Wow. What a way to answer your phone.” She grinned at him to let him know she was teasing.
Viktor glanced at her for a moment, winked then turned his gaze back to the road. “You did what?”
Uh, oh. That didn’t sound good at all.
He sighed and pulled off the road and turned around. “Yes. I realize the implications. This just couldn’t have come at a worse time.” Viktor sighed, flipped on his right turn signal and slowed to make his turn.
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