The Mating Season: Werewolves of Montana Book 6

by Bonnie Vanak

  She didn’t have to choose until their time together had ended here.

  “What now? Is there anything to eat in your magick cottage?”

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  “Very much so. I haven’t been until now.”

  “A side effect of mortality,” he said cynically. “I am quite starved. Get dressed and I shall take you to dinner.”

  “There’s a restaurant here in your home?”

  “Only the best for you, my sweet.” He winked at her.

  A while later, they were seated outside at a round table in a clearing in the woods. Sprites hovered overhead, their brilliant iridescent green and blue lights twinkling amid the gathering darkness. Golden light glowed softly from the lanterns hanging from the trees and the single candle flickering on the tablecloth. A shaft of bright moonlight dappled the pines overhead.

  Tonight she’d chosen a silk gown of deep violet, embroidered with silver thread on the hem and sleeves and silver ballet slippers.

  In a black suit, white shirt and a red checked tie, Tristan looked like a young business executive, except for his shoulder-length hair.

  And the air of age shimmering around him, even in mortal form. He looked no older than 30, until you looked deep into his eyes and saw the shadows of his haunted past.

  Tristan leaned over and clasped her hand. “Does this please you?”

  “It’s lovely. How did you…”

  He gave an elegant shrug. “I created a world I thought you would like, my sweet. I wanted us to have a real date, just as mortal Lupines would.”

  “Mortal Lupines would spend their first date running in the woods, catching rabbits and belching.”

  His dark eyes widened. “Truly?”

  She laughed, glad to see she could tease this powerful wizard. “No. I went on a couple of dates, in Nia’s place. They were nothing like that.”

  “Did these Lupines respect you?”

  She smiled at his deep, protective tone and the frown wrinkling his forehead. “Yes. They were guys, but they didn’t try anything. It was just movies and dinner. One date took me to a rodeo. I really liked that. I didn’t get out much, as you know.”

  “And how does this compare to those dates?”

  He sounded the tiniest bit anxious, and that shredded the last of her shyness. “This is beautiful, Tristan. I adore the fairy lights.”

  He beckoned to a sprite, murmured some words and the sprite flew away. Moments later, soft music filled the air.

  Nikita laughed, recognizing the song. “The theme song from Titanic?”

  “One of your favorites,” he said in a husky voice, leaning forward. “I know all of them.”

  “Why? Have you been stalking me?”

  She asked this in a light, teasing tone, but deep inside, she wondered how Tristan managed to know so much about her in this life. His knowledge of her in their past life she understood. But I am not that Lupine any longer. She is gone, far gone.

  Solemnly he picked up her hand and laced his fingers through hers. “Never. I respected your privacy.”

  “Then how did you know this was my favorite song?”

  His hand left hers and he looked guarded.

  “No secrets, Tristan.”

  He picked up his wineglass and took a sip of the sparkling liquid. “In conversation with Danu, she informed me that your mother knew all about you. She’s always watched over you.”

  Nikita nearly choked on her own sip of wine. “My mother? She died shortly after I was born!”

  “I know. But she never stopped loving her girls.”

  Tears clogged her throat. “What else can you tell me?”

  “Each time you sang this song, it filled her with music. She knew how much you adored this song, just as she knew how you enjoyed the challenge of your studies in biology and science. Your mother was most proud of you.”

  She dared to ask the question what she’d wondered about since she’d jumped through the portal into the Shadow World. “Can I see her?”

  Regret filled his expression. “In another life, perhaps.”

  Though disappointment filled her, she was glad her mother had cared. “Tristan, why were you talking with the goddess about me?”

  He ran a finger down the stem of his wineglass. “To seek final permission to bring you here, to my home. It is forbidden to mortals. Though she had granted my request long ago when I became the Silver Wizard, I needed one last assurance.”

  He looked directly at her. “I would never do anything to harm you, my sweet.”

  She folded her hand over his. “I know that, now.”

  “I did discover a few secrets about you, and your twin.” An impish light danced in his dark eyes. “You two are gifted with extraordinary Lupine powers, as happens in the rare twin births.”

  “I doubt it. I’ve never felt it.”

  “The power has yet to manifest itself, for you are but a young Lupine. When you turn older, your powers will increase.”

  Their meals arrived. Nikita dug into her prime rib with great enthusiasm. It seemed fresher and more delicious than any other meal she’d ever tasted. As they ate, Tristan talked about cases he’d had in the past as the Silver Wizard, and about his favorite Lupines. Kyle, the ranch hand to Aiden Mitchell, was one of them. Kyle was half Lupine, half Satyr, who was fiercely loyal and had walked alone for many years before meeting his mate, Arianna.

  After dinner, they strolled back through the woods using the stepping stones cutting through the woods. Each time her foot landed on one, it chimed a note, and lit up. Delighted, she ran back and forth over them, as he watched with a smile.

  When they went inside his cottage, melancholy came over her. Dining with him brought back memories of the Lupine she had loved long ago. And too well she remembered the pain of watching him die, and soon, she would have to part from him all over again unless she chose to give up her family forever. It wasn’t fair, but life wasn’t meant to be fair.

  Tristan touched a lamp on the bedside table and it lit up with a soft golden glow. More magick. Tonight, she needed to create a special magick of her own with him.

  Niki turned to him, clutching a handful of his white silk shirt. “Don’t leave me. Make it so we’ll always be together in memory, Tristan, and I’ll always carry part of you inside me. Tonight, make me yours.”

  He searched her face. “Are you certain you are ready for this?”

  She nodded.

  Tristan had assured her he would never hurt her, and deep inside, her heart cried out for this moment. She trembled as he pressed a finger to his mouth and then to hers. The whisper of a kiss, the same gesture he had made on that long-ago wedding night.

  “I promise I will be gentle this time, my sweet, and give you as much pleasure as possible.” He brushed a kiss against the corner of her mouth, then placed his warm, calloused palm against her flushed cheek.

  Niki smiled and rubbed her cheek against his hand. “And I promise I won’t bite.”

  Laughing, he pulled her into his arms, where she belonged, where she had always belonged. He kissed her lips, then feathered little kisses across her cheeks. He dropped one singularly sweet kiss upon her nose.

  Then he took her mouth, gently probing against her lips with his tongue, until she parted for him. His tongue danced against hers, and she met his urgent thrusts with bold ones of her own. She knew this dance, though she was innocent, for her memory urged her onward. The dance he would initiate when he joined their bodies as one.

  Tristan feathered tiny kisses against the warm skin of her throat, licked the curve of her earlobe and lightly bit. Such a tease.

  Pulling away, she studied the pulse throbbing in his neck. “Biting me, wolf?”

  “Paying you back for our wedding night, wench.” He cupped her breast and lazily stroked a thumb across one hardened. “I plan to pay you back in ten times the pleasure.”

  Moaning, she clung to him, her fingers digging into the hard muscles of his shoulders. He n
uzzled the space on her neck where he had placed his possessive mating mark all those centuries ago. Her skin was untouched. That would change when he turned fully wolf and marked her, she thought with dizzying pleasure as his hand slid up to cup her breast.

  Everything consumed her in a whirlwind. Niki shuddered as he slipped her gown off her shoulder, baring her breast. He put his mouth on her nipple, swirling his tongue in hot circles, working wicked magic across her shivering body. He was a powerful wizard who belonged to shifters, but now, in her arms, he was hers. Exclusively hers.

  She bent her head to the crook of his neck, and ran her tongue along his warm skin, tasting him. Beneath her tongue his skin tasted slightly salty, mingled with the sweetest wine and it reminded her of that other time and place, when their first time together had been crude and hasty.

  He was not in a rush now. Indeed, Tristan took his time arousing her. She grew impatient, not he.

  Drawing from her inborn sensuality that was wholly Lupine, she slid the gown free of her body, and it spilled at her feet. Through the opened window the breeze fluttered the gauze curtains and caressed her now-naked skin.

  Desire glittered in his dark gaze as he gazed upon her nudity. “You are so beautiful, lovelier than the vision I’ve held close to my heart for more than nine hundred years.”

  Tristan shrugged out of his suit jacket, undid his tie and sat on the massive bed to toe off his shoes. When he was divulged of all clothing, he stood before her, in quiet pride, tall, his muscles gleaming in the candlelight, his phallus erect.

  Her eyes widened, not in maidenly shock, but in fierce need as she beheld his rigid length. Noticing her stare, Tristan’s gaze twinkled.

  “Do you like what you see, my sweet? What are you thinking?”

  “I am thinking that I must have been quite mad to bite you that high on your leg on our mating night all those years ago. Or very accurate with my mouth because I truly could have done considerable damage and made you into a eunuch.”

  He laughed. “I trust you,” he said teasingly. “Do you trust me?”

  His gaze grew solemn. “Do you, Nikita?”

  She nodded.

  Tristan cupped her face with his hands. “I promise you, Nikita, I shall be faithful to you all my days. Even if you choose to remain mortal and return to Earth, I will never have another woman in my arms but you. You are the only one for me. I have waited 900 years for this moment to be one with you, and I would wait another 900 to have you back in my arms.”

  His tender pledge made her heart ache and her throat tighten. “Being with you now makes me forget all the pain of our past. Make it vanish forever, Tristan. Make new memories with me, ones I can carry with me through the ages.”

  “I will,” he whispered.

  Skin to skin. Nothing between them. No barriers. Seeing his naked, tanned flesh stretched over muscle and sinew, lowered all her inhibitions. Here, with her, Tristan was no longer a powerful wizard, nor a phantom from her past. He was living flesh and blood, a man who had longed for her, had waited for her.

  What woman could say her lover, her mate, waited nearly a millennia for her return? To laugh with her, hold her in his arms and make love to her and whisper his undying fidelity?

  With a small intake of breath, she touched him. Fingers trailing hesitantly at first over the silky hairs of his forearm, up to the curve of his bicep and then the muscles of his broad shoulders. Tristan remained absolutely still, letting her explore. To have this magnificent male at her power, to do with as she pleased…she was in control.

  Her fingers lightly grazed his flat abdomen, exploring the valleys and curves of his ripped torso, then she went lower.

  A single stroke along the rigid length of his erection, straining upward from a nest of black curls at his groin.

  A single droplet, like a tear, leaked from the rounded tip of his penis. She touched it and he trembled.

  Niki brought her finger to her mouth and tasted him. Slightly salty, with a hint of honey.

  His scent shot through her like liquid heat, arousing the most female and feral part of her wolf. Tristan smelled like fresh air on a summer day, newly hewn grass, cool water tumbling down a mountainside. She had always been more comfortable in wolfskin than human skin because only as wolf could she run free, escaping the confines of her luxurious basement prison.

  And then he gave a little mysterious smile and kissed her, cupping her bottom and squeezing and kneading. The hard, rigid length of him pressed against her soft belly as his mouth worked magick upon hers—reminding her that she was not in control after all. This wizard had enchanted her with his sensuality, and his devotion.

  Everything whirled around her: sensation upon sensation, the slickness of their fevered bodies pressing together, the mingling of his warm breath upon her flushed skin, her trembling fingers pressing against bone and hardened muscle.

  Tristan swept her into his arms and laid her gently upon the turned down bed. The soft golden glow of lamplight shone upon his naked skin.

  He drew her to the bed’s edge and parted her thighs, staring intently at pink flesh made wet, not by oil, but her own arousal. Then he put his mouth on her.

  She went rigid, shaking with pleasure, screaming out his name as his tongue swirled and licked over her clit, then slowly stroked between her wet slit. The ache became pummeling tension with each delicious caress. Niki gathered fistfuls of sheets in her hands and arched her back as his teasing strokes became more urgent. And then the tension riding low in her loins increased and she shattered, crying out and arching her back.

  Dark gaze glittering, he raised his head and wiped his mouth with the back of one hand. “You taste more fragrant and sweeter than the most honeyed fruit, like sweet nectar sliding down my throat.”

  He gently pushed her fully back upon the bed As she scrambled back to lie against the pillows, he moved over her trembling body, stretching out her arms and lacing his fingers through hers. This was it, then, no going back.

  She never wanted to go back, not into their past. This moment was exquisitely theirs, here and now.

  Tristan edged his lean hips between her thighs. Bracing his weight on one elbow, he took his rigid penis in hand, guiding it to her sleek heat. Breath tore from her throat as he pushed gently at her swollen, soaked folds.

  “Look at me,” he told her softly.

  And then he was inside her, joining them fully. She winced at the slight stinging pain. Tristan raised his head, his smoldering gaze locked to hers. Amid the primitive possessiveness there swirled such tenderness that her breath hitched.

  “Are you all right, my sweet?” He pressed a gentle kiss against her forehead.

  Niki reached up and cupped his cheek. “I am, my love.”

  He smiled and his expression grew intent as he began to move, his thrusts taking on new urgency. Blood sang through her veins as the pleasure intensified. A bead of sweat gathered on his forehead and then dropped upon her breast, as sparkling as a tear in the sunshine.

  Erotic pleasure gathered low in her loins as he plunged into her over and over, and she felt another orgasm claim her.

  He collapsed upon her trembling body. Emotionally overwrought, Niki stared over the taut curve of his muscled shoulder, tasting the salt of her tears, breathing in his rich, cedar and pine scent, feeling the cooling breeze through the windows dry the sweat on their joined bodies. His head dropped into the curve of her neck as he panted, his chest rising and falling.

  Awash with pleasure and sensual lassitude, she stroked his damp hair. Tristan, her greatest love. Bonding with him in the flesh had proven erotic and given her a sense of belonging she’d sought all her life.

  But she knew it would not last. For in less than ten days, she must return to the mortal realm.

  And he would remain here, forever.

  Chapter 16

  Tir Na-nog was like a fantasyland where all her dreams could come true, except for finally meeting her mother, and she’d set aside that disappointme
nt. For twenty-five years, Nikita had lived life as a shadow in a basement, and now Tristan showered her with attention. He seemed determined to make her happy.

  All the adventures she’d always longed to experience were at her fingertips, made possible by the wizard who made her burn with desire. He took her water skiing at a blue lake, expertly maneuvering a fast little boat as she skied. Pearl-colored dolphins leapt out of the lake as she passed, and peacock blue fairies skimmed the water, leaving glistening trails of fairy dust in their wake. She and Tristan went hiking in mountains that resembled the jagged peaks of Colorado she’d always longed to visit. They explored and traveled, all within the boundaries of his world. They even sipped chicory coffee at a small outdoor café in a city just like the French Quarter of New Orleans, but for the fact the coffee was served by a pink-haired ballerina who danced her way over to their table, coffee and beignets in hand.

  On their fifth day together, they went to a beach in his home territory. It was complete with a turquoise ocean, a hot yellow sun shining in the blue sky and a Tiki Bar. Fairies, acting as waiters, flew back and forth to serve tropical drinks with little yellow umbrellas.

  Lounging in a lavender bikini (her favorite color) on a beach chair next to Tristan, she read an historical romance novel that had long gone out of print. Tristan had a library bigger than the lost one at Alexandria, and anything she desired to read he could find. She poured through science journals she had never been able to access and biology papers about Lupines and their cell structure, and the magick within them.

  Yesterday they had spent a quiet afternoon at the cottage. He read the writings of Socrates while she indulged in Hawking’s A Brief History of Time.

  Once in a while he would look up and talk about a passage, and they’d argue about philosophy. Each time she brought up a point, he’d counter expertly.

  For each point he won, she had to lose a piece of clothing.

  And when she was fully naked, he stripped as well. He took her by the hand to the bed and they made the headboard slam against the wall as she clung to him and screamed.