THE MATING CLAIM: Werewolves of Montana Book 14

by Vanak, Bonnie

  “Our glamour is far more advanced than other Fae,” Gideon remarked dryly.

  Alia’s gaze sparkled with mirth. “Gideon likes to play tricks on all of you. He reasons if he can deceive you, he can deceive the cleverest of Fae.”

  Her pretty smile dropped. “Even those of our people who have turned to darkness.”

  The shop seemed filled with good, gentle light and energy. Still, an undercurrent of darkness lingered, much like a bitter aftertaste. He hated that Tara’s shop seemed tainted now due to Willow.

  “I should have known Willow was not a shifter,” he muttered.

  Gideon waved a hand and repaired the damage to Tara’s teacups and shelf. “Do not blame yourself, Drust. It takes many years to detect a clever demon disguising itself as an innocent.”

  He did not have years, nor months, he suspected. Darkness edged its way into the fabric of the mortal world and he needed to hone his powers and his intuition. Nodding at them as they set about chanting and weaving good, light magick into the coffee shop, Drust headed into the back room.

  Like Lacey’s shop, it was stacked with supplies – boxes of tea and cups, and in the middle of a circle of salt sat an unhappy dog. Lucky woofed and wagged his tail upon seeing Drust.

  He crouched down and rubbed the dog’s ears. Lucky whined and rested his head on Drust’s knee.

  “I know you miss her, boy. But you’re in excellent hands here. It would break her heart to see anything happen to you.”

  The pup’s woebegone gaze met Drust’s. He gave the dog a final pat, his chest hollow. “I know, buddy. Fear not. I’ll find her.”

  Tara and a much younger woman emerged from behind a door, carrying jars of salt and herbs. His nose gave an appreciative twitch. Good herbs, filled with lightness.

  But witch magick would not be enough to fend off a demon attack, not when the demons could vanish faster than wizards could fire at them.

  The younger woman had red hair and a sprinkling of freckles across her nose and cheeks. Her merry expression turned into fear. Boxes of tea spilled to the floor. Drust sighed and introduced himself.

  “I am here to help you, not hurt you,” he said in his gentlest tone, for this girl looked ready to bolt outside. “Gideon and Alia are in your front room, warding it with powerful magick to keep out demons and keep you and all your clients from harm.”

  “Danica, stop staring,” Tara chided. “Drust, this is my daughter. She’s not accustomed to our ways. She is a hair stylist and works mainly with Skins.”

  “You’re very… intimidating,” Danica blurted out. “Are all wizards like you?”

  Arching a brow, he thought of how Caderyn would terrify this young woman. Probably she would think her judge and guardian was the type to eat witches for breakfast and use their hair as dental floss. “Not quite. I’m the best looking.”

  Tara laughed, and Danica’s mouth quirked upward slightly.

  “Caderyn will be here soon to aid you. I must leave, but before I do, does the dog need any supplies?”

  Without waiting for answers, he waved a hand and five hundred dollar bills appeared in his palm. He handed them to a stunned Danica. “For Lucky’s care. I am certain Lacey would appreciate all you are doing for him.”

  “We don’t need the money. But thank you.” Tara took the money and started to hand it back.

  “Keep it. Consider it a down payment in good faith for all the business you will lose this week from lack of human customers.”

  Tara’s mouth compressed but she nodded. “Very well. Should we close our shop since it seems this is turning much worse than I had anticipated?”

  Normality was important in a situation like this. Not running away in fear. “Not necessary. However the Shadow Wizard may have other opinions. Listen to him.”

  Barely had he finished speaking when Caderyn materialized inside the back room. Tara gulped and bowed low, but Danica stared at him.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  “I am Caderyn, the Shadow Wizard, young Danica.”

  “Your hair,” she murmured, her gaze turning from terrified to fascinated. “I have never seen such amazing colors before. Do you mind?”

  Amused, Drust watched this timid witch set down her jars and approach the tall, scowling Shadow Wizard, touching his hair as if he were nothing more threatening than a poodle in need of grooming.

  Danica picked up a strand shaded in gray shadows and frowned. “Do you know you have split ends?”

  Caderyn looked helplessly at Drust, who silently laughed.

  “Danica, stop it. Back off,” her mother chided. “The Shadow Wizard is here on matters other than hair styling. Do you forget he is our judge and we need his guidance in the matter of demons?”

  “Oh,” she said softly. “My bad.”

  Caderyn frowned. “No, you are not bad.”

  “It’s a modern expression, my friend. Don’t worry. You’ll learn.” Silently laughing, Drust waved a hand and dematerialized to Lacey’s house.

  It didn’t take long for him to see that she’d packed a suitcase and left. Her aging car was gone as well.

  She couldn’t have gone far. Transporting the book required her human form. Lacey’s car was old and lacked sufficient power for speeding.

  Drust headed for an alley, and shifted into dragon. Taking to the air he flew toward the Everglades.

  Halfway across the state, he spied her red car, parked in the lot of a recreational area. A truck with an empty boat trailer was the only other vehicle.

  Lacey sat on the edge of the boat ramp, head resting on her knees.

  He landed in the parking lot, clothed himself in jeans and a forest green short-sleeved shirt and boots, and headed for her.

  “I knew you would find me.” A heavy sigh fled her. “Better you than something or someone else, if I’m to die.”

  A little surprised, he sat next to her. “Do you think I came here to kill you?”

  “Why not? I broke a big rule, stole a book and ran away from you. Just do me a favor. Make it quick. I hate pain. I mean, I really hate it.”

  Almost absently, he put a hand on her back as if to stroke her. She winced and jerked away. For a moment he thought she was afraid of him, and then insight struck him.

  “Take off your shirt,” he told her.

  Trembling, she buried her face into her knees. “No.”

  “Lacey.” He used his gentlest tone. “I will not hurt you. Take off your shirt.”

  “Fine. You could force me into it anyway, or remove my clothing.” With an angry huff, she tugged the bright pink T-shirt over her head. Beneath it she wore a white lace bra, but as pretty as that lingerie was, it held no interest for him.

  A deep hiss escaped him as he gently turned her around and saw the deep groves carved into her skin. No wonder she felt bitter at life.

  Drust touched the scars, his fury rising as he remembered reading her file. Even though he knew the answer, he needed to hear it from her. “Who did this to you?”

  A bitter laugh. “My foster mother, the woman I’ve vowed to give the same treatment to. Part of the reason I wanted the book. But now…” she sighed again and shrugged back into the shirt, still averting her gaze.

  When her eyes closed, Drust put a gentle hand on her back, sending healing tendrils of power into her body. Not only was she depleted of magick, but as he’d feared, the book was draining her as well.

  A deep sigh fled Lacey. Tension fled her as her muscles relaxed and a little smile touched her mouth. He kept sending the positive energy into her for a few moments more. With each pulse of renewing energy he directed, he felt warmth flow back into him.

  Not any warmth either. This was purely sexual. Troubled, Drust pulled his hand away.

  Her eyes flew open. “Wow. Thanks. That felt terrific. Better than a Swedish deep tissue massage.”

  I give good massages as well, but you would have to be naked for that. Blinking, he scowled at the thought. He provided healing energy, nothing more
. Would have done the same for any of his charges in distress.

  And yet he could not deny Lacey was different, and the connection between them strong and sexual.

  Nor could he deny the overwhelming feeling they had known each other intimately in the past. Yet it made no sense. He remembered every detail of his mortal life. Why could he not remember her if they had been lovers?

  Her eyes widened. “Hey, you’re wearing regular clothing. You look good. Not as ancient as you usually do.”

  “Thank you,” he said dryly.

  “Just kidding about the age. But the shirt especially, you look much more relaxed. Almost like a normal dragon shifter.” Lacey frowned. “Except that…”

  She tugged at the shirt’s open neck, exposing his birthmark. “It’s glowing. Does it always glow?”

  Glancing down, he recoiled. “Never.”

  Acting on intuition, he pulled her shirt collar down to see her dragon birthmark. It glowed as well.

  Lacey bit her lip. “What does this mean?”

  “I do not know. But as long as it does not hurt you, I’m certain it’s fine.”

  Fine for her. Not for him. Never had his birthmark glowed. Drust suspected it had to do with the energy he’d transferred to her. Yet, in times past when he had done the same with other dragons, he felt nothing.

  All he could deduce was that he felt a powerful sexual desire for this dragon. Lacey was off limits. Surrendering to his base male needs meant breaking honored vows to never compromise his integrity and treat female dragons with anything other than impartiality.

  Power was his to control.

  Power to aid, and power to destroy.

  Easy for him to take advantage of a vulnerable dragon who looked to him for either mercy or succor. Equally dangerous was to fall for a clever, manipulative dragon who wanted to take advantage of him and trade sexual favors and companionship to evade true justice.

  I don’t want to fall in love. Love makes one weak and I cannot afford to be weak. If I fail in my duties, Danu could return me to the Shadow Lands.

  The mere thought of spending eternity in that barren wasteland, alone with his thoughts and broken dreams, sent nausea spiraling through him.

  Lost in thought, Drust leaned away from Lacey. She swung her legs over the side of the boat ramp.

  “What am I going to do about the book? Can’t I just give it to you?”

  “No,” he said absently, watching an alligator swim lazily through the canal. “It’s much more complicated. But I shall find a solution.”

  “I’m great at creating problems, but lately, not at solving them.” She sighed and pushed a hand through the long fall of her hair. “I’m hungry. Wish I had stopped to grab a bite, but all I could think about was escaping. Not that it ever provided answers.”

  Food was one easy problem to solve. “Then lunch it is.”

  Drust waved a hand and a red and white checked tablecloth appeared on the ground next to them, along with a wicker picnic basket. Her eyes widened.

  “Wow, you’re better than a drive-through, wizard.” Lacey peeked in the basket. “Oh yummy, ham and cheese sandwiches, salad, watermelon and grapes, sweet tea, even cups and napkins and lemon cake for dessert. A real picnic!”

  Her head tilted. “How did you conjure all this? Did you just pull it out of some wizard manual?”

  Warmth seeped up from his neck into his face. “No, I like to watch cooking shows in what little spare time I have.”

  For a moment she stared at him, but instead of bursting into laughter at his confession, she pinked as well. “I do, too. That’s pretty cool. A member of Brehon who watches the Food Network.”

  “Much more eclectic than Tristan, who watches Animal Planet, But he is a wolf shifter.” Drust winked and she laughed.

  It gave him great pleasure to watch her dig into the basket with abandon. Lacey bit into a sandwich and sighed with pleasure. “Definitely don’t stop watching those cooking shows. This is great. Brie instead of cheddar makes a ham sandwich. But aren’t you eating? I hate to eat alone.”

  He selected a few grapes, eating them by tossing them into the air and catching them in his mouth.

  Lacey laughed. “You always did eat those like that, and I figured one day you’d miss, but you never did.”

  A frown wrinkled her forehead. “That’s odd. Why did I say that?”

  Silence draped the air between them. She looked to him for answers he could not give. Instead, he broke the tension by taking a sandwich and biting into it. Fresh sweet ham and Brie. The taste lingered on his mouth.

  I wonder what she tastes like?

  Shaking off the thought, he pointed to the canal and an alligator sunning itself on the grassy bank on the opposite side.

  “Lacey, have you ever seen an alligator dance?”

  A pointed look. “Seriously? How?”

  “Magick.” Sandwich in one hand, Drust waved his other hand. The gator slid into the water and then began to rise above the surface. His short, stubby legs began to kick at the water as the reptile hopped and skipped in an Irish jig.

  She laughed. “That’s pretty cool. It doesn’t hurt him?”

  “No, but they get grumpy after and need a reward.” Drust waved another hand and the gator slid back into the water, climbed up the boat ramp and eyed their picnic.

  Lacey slid backwards a little. Remembering how the copperhead bit her, he realized her fear.

  “He won’t hurt you. Give him this.” Drust handed her a large slice of raw beef.

  “As long as he doesn’t mistake my arm for food.” But she threw him the meat and the gator gulped it down. Then it slid back into the water again and swam away.

  “You shouldn’t feed them. It will start acquainting humans with food,” she chastised.

  Drust grinned. “I am not human. Besides, the meat contains a memory eraser. He will have no idea of anyone feeding him.”

  Picking up a bottle of tea, she uncapped it and drank. “Come here often, wizard, to hang with the gators?”

  “I have been here before. It’s a good place to mediate and think about things.”

  “And how come cooking shows?”

  He told her how he’d found himself confused and bewildered by the modern world after living in the Shadow Lands for centuries, and to better acquaint himself with the odd, new world, he turned to television cooking shows. Food spoke a universal language.

  “And we dragons love to eat.” She wiped her mouth and eyed the grapes, and then helped herself to some.

  When she finally sighed with satisfaction and shook her head as he offered dessert, he shut the picnic basket.

  “Lacey, we need to talk.”

  Her contented expression tightened. “I know. The book. But you need to know something first, Drust. Something, or someone, has been tailing me since I left the east coast. Something dark and nasty. I can feel it in the air, like you can sense a gathering thunderstorm and you know it’s going to be a bad one.”

  Not surprised, he switched the conversation. “Why were you running away?”

  “It wasn’t running away from as much as it was running to. I was headed to the west coast. It’s quieter there, and the few times I’ve visited, sitting on the beach clears my head, unlike the beaches here.”

  It made sense. He often did the same in his castle in North Carolina.

  “That book… I don’t know where it came from, but it’s changed. It’s… evil.” She traced a line on the blanket. A protective rune. Drust doubted she even knew what she was doing, the gesture seemed automatic.

  “Yes, it changes people.”

  Two huge green eyes, feathered with long, black lashes stared up at him. “It’s the real reason you had to kill my father, huh? Because it turned him into that madman?”

  Feeling as if he’d made a breakthrough, Drust nodded. But he felt no triumph or joy in this. Her father, the one man she’d searched for her entire life and had held onto hope they could have a relationship, was gone.
>
  “Show me where you put it,” he told her.

  They walked to the car after he waved away the picnic basket and the blanket. Dragonflies dipped and swirled around them, light glistening on their wings. One landed on Lacey’s shoulder. When he took a second look, he grinned.

  “Hold out your finger, Lacey.”

  When she did, the tiny creature landed on it. Lacey stared and then laughed. “It’s a fairy!”

  “Sprite.” He summoned a bit of blue energy and fisting his hand, turned it into glitter, and then flung it over Lacey. Immediately the swarm of sprites landed on her, lapping up the glitter like children grabbing sweets.

  “They’re so cute! Do they live out here?”

  “Some do. They’re usually nocturnal, but are attracted to wizards and our power. They can bite if provoked.” But the sprites seemed to adore Lacey, hovering around her, resting on her shoulder and head and arms even after the last of the glitter had been consumed.

  Unsurprised, he watched them take off, dancing around her as moths caught up in a flame. Lacey’s gurgling laughter echoed through the air as she twirled, flinging out her arms and dancing with them. She was like a Fae herself, carefree and luminous. Sunlight glinted off her head, picking out streaks of gold and amber in her long locks. Fresh air and sunshine had restored her, filling her cheeks with color and her eyes with life. Drust felt need tighten his body as he watched her dance and twirl with abandon. That sharp wit, way she wasn’t afraid to stand up to him, had intrigued him from the beginning.

  But now he saw the woman behind the tough armor she threw up to protect herself from the world’s cruelties.

  When the sprites flew off, whispering good-bye in their tinny voices, Lacey ran a hand through her hair. “That was fun.”

  “You looked to enjoy yourself.”

  Then the light vanished from her eyes and her entire body sagged. “I love life. I wish… I wish I didn’t have to die because of that damn book. I wish I had more time to enjoy every single second.”

  Her voice dropped to a bare whisper. “I wish I wasn’t such a screw-up and my life had been different. I’m too young to die. Drust, do I really have to die because my father handed me a book that I should never have received? You’re an all-powerful wizard. Is there anything you can do?”