“You scared me. I didn’t see you when I first walked in,” gasped Kate as she wiped water off her lips with the back of her hand.
He nodded his head and stared at her with his dark eyes. It was impossible to make out the color from that distance in the dimly lit room. But she could feel the pull of them seeking answers from deep down inside her, trying to invade her mind. Could werewolves do that?
“Why don’t you ask me what you’d like to know?” she said boldly, which contradicted the knot forming in her stomach.
“I know all there is to know, except for two things. Are you ready to admit what you are and accept the consequences?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” she lied.
“Deep down, I think you do. Since Ethan hasn’t wanted to upset you, let me tell you what will happen now.” He paused and patted the seat beside him. “Sit closer. I don’t want to project my voice across the room and wake anyone up.”
Kate disliked being told what to do. But, in this case, she’d make an exception. Colin scared the hell out of her. Despite his pretty boy looks, darkness lurked inside him. She wasn’t sure how she knew. She just did.
“Thanks,” he said and hit her with a thousand-watt smile. All air suspended inside her lungs and she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. What a transformation. No mere words could explain his attractiveness. And something she couldn’t explain made her want to reach out and touch him.
He laughed. “Sorry. I sometimes forget the effect I have on females. It’s not intentional—trust me on that if nothing else. Now, where were we? Oh yeah. Do you realize your life will never be the same now that knowledge of your existence is known throughout the were-world? Troy had other enemies besides Gray. Even when Gray is out of the picture you will be in danger. Our enemies will use you to find Troy’s other surviving descendants. I don’t mean to frighten you, but torture is not a pretty sight. And trust me on this. Movies make it look infantile. You may not know it, but a connection exists between you and Troy’s other descendants. If you focus in on your skills, you can make contact through your mind, directly into theirs.”
Kate took another sip of water as a massive weight crushed her chest. His words about her being hunted frightened her enough, never mind the torture part. And she had a feeling the telepathy might take some getting used to as with everything else she’d learning about herself.
“The other thing you should know is Ethan and I are like brothers. We are the same age and grew up together in the same village in the English countryside. We went to court together and fought side by side in too many wars to count. I would do anything for him as he for me. Which brings me to my second question. What does he mean to you?”
His intimate question surprised her. “Where is he?”
Colin’s look implied stalling wouldn’t excuse her from answering. “He’s outside, patrolling the area. He called in reinforcements, just in case Gray attacks us here.”
Her pulse jumped and her eyes widened as they darted around the dark room. “Does he know of this place?”
“No, but you can never, ever, let your guard down.”
Kate forced herself to close her eyes and relax. Words jumbled inside her head, and she tried to make sense of them so she could tell Colin what Ethan meant to her. She cleared her throat and began. “I…ummm…this is harder than I thought.”
“Take your time. We aren’t going anywhere.”
“Jeez, that makes me feel better. Anyway,” she paused, “I’ve only known Ethan a few days.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“You’re right. The first night I met him I sensed a connection to him—a pull from way deep down inside my core.” She placed her hand on her stomach. “My body knew what my brain refused to accept. It was as though I’d known him my entire life. A calmness and safeness descends over me when I’m near him. When I found out what he was, part of me freaked.”
Colin remained silent. He didn’t need to speak. His one arched brow said it all.
“Okay, all of me freaked,” she admitted. “But tonight, the other part of me accepted and loved him all the more. He’s saved my life twice that I know of. Can I be honest?”
“By all means,” prompted Colin.
“The thought of living in your world terrifies me. I mean, what am I? What does all this make me? I’m not really a werewolf, but I’m not totally human either.”
Colin glanced at her, a puzzled expression on his face, and she knew he struggled with the answer. “There are many like you—some who never question why they are different and others who do. You are part of both worlds as we all are. By day I’m a corporate attorney in one of the largest international corporations in the world. By night I keep humans safe. Your day-to-day life will be altered, but many things will remain the same.”
“I love him.”
“I know you do. I wanted to hear you say it.”
The front door banged opened, Kate jumped up and Colin grinned at her.
“You knew he was coming?” she asked.
“Yup.” He tapped his ear and nose.
Ethan walked in and shot straight to her. He loomed tall, his muscles stretched tight. His hands clenched and unclenched by his sides and his eyes never left hers. She knew he would see all her emotions in her eyes. Right now she didn’t care if he saw it all, if he saw her love for him.
His eyes remained void of any feelings. He wouldn’t let her in. She eased back down into the sectional and waited. A knot formed in her stomach, and her hands clasped together on her lap.
He hunkered down in front of her and took her hands in his chilly ones. As his eyes warmed to a golden bronze, her lungs dispersed the air inside of them and she glimpsed the Ethan she first met.
“Are you still frightened by what I am?” he asked point blank.
“No. Maybe.” She shook her head. “Not really.”
“How are you?” he asked.
Taking her bottom lip between her teeth she half smiled. “Good, now that you’re here.”
He hit her with a sexy grin. “Really now?”
She nodded her head. “Really.”
He eyed Colin. “I’m getting some shut-eye. Keep a look out.” He didn’t wait for a response. With strong hands he tugged Kate to her feet and led her down the hall to the bedroom she’d slept in earlier. She should have known it was his. “Did you sleep at all?” he asked, his voice full of concern. Once he shut the door he undressed.
“Yes.” Her pulse soared at the sight of his nakedness. At all the hard, well defined muscles covering every inch of his body, his washboard flat stomach and his hard protruding cock. As her eyes roamed back up his body, she could barely make out where he’d been injured earlier that night.
“Are you coming to bed?” His voice deep and vibrating sensuality caressed her skin, causing it to tingle.
She undressed down to her panties and climbed in beside him. Ethan pulled her into his strong arms. Her head rested on his chest and the rhythmic beat of his heart soothed her.
“Tell me about yourself, your family,” Ethan asked as he rubbed his hand up and down her back and she snuggled in closer.
“Well, I’m an only child. My parents adopted me when they were nearly forty years old. I was what they called their ‘mid-life crisis miracle.’”
“Why?”
“Well, some people when they hit mid-life buy sports cars, travel around the world, have affairs, or get divorced and start over. My parents decided to adopt me.”
“They must be special to have raised you.”
“They are.” Kate raised her head and looked Ethan in the eye. “Nobody could have had more caring or loving parents. They supported everything I wanted to do, within reason that is.”
“Where do they live now?” he asked, never taking his dark inquisitive eyes off hers.
“Orleans on Cape Cod, where I grew up, and Fort Lauderdale during the winter months. They’re at their lovely beach front home now.” She paused, frow
ning. “I should drive to the Cape. After what happened the other night…”
Ethan wrapped his arms around her and gently tucked her head beneath his chin, rubbing her back once again. She appreciated his soothing touch. “Who will take care of them when they get old if something happens to me?”
“Nothing will happen to you. You’ll see them soon. I promise.”
If she would get any sleep tonight a change of subject was needed. “Will you tell me about Troy?”
“No one knows exactly how old he was when he died in 1425. Rumor had him at a thousand years old. Gray knows—seeing how they’re brothers—but he’s not sharing. With our greater sense of smell, we only need to get close to Gray to be given the proof of his ancient years. Once Troy and Gray were cursed bad blood existed between him. They were at constant odds because they both loved the same woman, Serena. She, however, chose Troy over Gray.
“Gray was exiled from their clan and swore vengeance on Troy, Serena, and whoever they created from their bond of love. One stormy night, Troy went out fighting with his other clan members to protect their territory. Serena had just given birth and remained behind with servants. Gray stormed the castle, killing the infant triplets Serena just delivered, but spared her life.”
Kate gasped, and her heart ached for this Serena she didn’t know. “How awful.”
Ethan’s large warm hand stroked her back. “Troy and Serena vowed to send any more offspring with the servants into the human world. In two years’ time, they did just that with two little wee ones. That very night, Gray killed Serena. When Troy found her body, he killed himself and joined her in the afterlife.”
“Are you telling me I’m descended from one of those babies?”
“Yes.”
“But I’m not a…”
“No,” interrupted Ethan. “But it’s been centuries since purebloods existed in your family tree. In our family tree. I also descend from Troy.”
Kate leaned up, looked him in the eye and gasped.
He placed a finger across her lips to silence her, and she scrambled to sit up as he continued. “I was born to were-parents. My mother descended from Troy’s line. Some in the shape-shifting world are born into it. Some are turned by other shifters. I need to tell you something.” He reached out and brushed a lock of hair over her shoulder. “Keep an open mind. You are not a werewolf in the total sense of the word. But, as you expressed in the car, you have some healing powers and an acute sense of smell as well.”
“I said that, didn’t I,” admitted Kate, batting her eyelashes.
“You also heard Gray speak to your mind from his. You possess the ability to mind-walk. Only Gray and descendants of Troy can do this. I suppose if Gray had any children they could as well. But I do not know of any being born.”
She wanted to know more about her mind-walking capabilities, but first there were other questions nagging her. “How come you don’t age? You look maybe, late twenties. Have you always looked this way?
“No,” said Ethan. “Let me try to explain. When children are born to were-parents, they are born human. When we reach the age of twenty-five, we either change or we don’t. If the full moon pulls out the beast and we turn, we never age again, on the outside that is. On the inside we age very slowly.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Kate asked, wanting to know every little thing about his life.
His body tensed beside her, and she witnessed his muscles contract and rise to the surface. “Yes, one of each,” he replied.
“Are they still…”
His eyes closed, and she watched his chest expand and subside from his deep inhalation. “No.”
A profound sadness came over her as though she shared the loss with him. “What happened?”
Ethan sat up and leaned against the headboard. “Thomas was the oldest, and he never became a wolf. He led a nobleman’s life. Being the firstborn to an earl, he inherited everything when my father was killed.”
Kate gasped. “How was your father killed?”
“He died during a battle with another pack. He and my mother were both killed when I was sixteen. Thomas became the Fifth Earl of Bancroft. He died at sixty-seven. He had a good life. My younger sister, Penelope, became a werewolf like myself and lived a good two hundred years. She died with her daughter, Madeline, in the Iroquois Theater Fire in Chicago in 1903. They had gone to the matinee showing of the musical Mr. Bluebeard.”
“My God, how tragic. Wait a minute, I thought…”
“Remember our conversation, fire kills everyone, even us.”
“Oh, I’m so very sorry.” Kate’s eyes watered up, blurring her vision.
Ethan reached for her, pulled her down beside him and spooned her. Every muscle in his body curled around her. She held her breath, afraid to move, afraid to disturb this closeness with him as she contemplated what he’d just confessed to her. How open and honest he’d been with her and how special it made her feel. Spending the rest of her life with him would not be enough. She wanted forever.
Chapter Ten
“Good morning, sweetheart.” Resting up on one elbow, Ethan watched Kate’s eyes flutter open, hitting him with green eyes the color of priceless emeralds.
“Morning,” she murmured in a soft, sleepy voice. “What time is it?”
He traced his finger up and down her collarbone and her eyes lightened with yellow. Does it matter?” he asked.
“Not if you say it doesn’t.”
“Doesn’t.”
Ethan rolled on top of her, careful not to put too much weight on her. He lowered his head, took her mouth with his causing a deep, guttural moan to came from the very depth of his body. She opened her mouth, letting him in, and he deepened the kiss, tasting all of her, their tongues mating as their bodies would soon do.
Kate’s taste…her smell…belonged to him for all eternity, just as he would belong to her—that was—if he could swallow the guilt and turn her. They were each other’s destiny, and he possessed the means to make it happen. Do it now, his brain screamed. But he ignored it.
Breaking the kiss, he lifted his head to look into her desired filled eyes. The words he desperately wanted to say vanished in an explosion of need as he entered her. Her head tilted back, exposing a long, delicate neck. She made soft gasping sounds, which fueled his lust. And when Kate wrapped her mile-long legs around his waist, forcing him deeper inside her, he thought he would die of pleasure.
Never once did Ethan take his eyes off Kate as he rode her. He wanted to see the exact moment she lost all reasoning. And when she shattered, she treated him to a show the likes of which he had never witnessed before. For as long as he lived, he would never forget the way she panted and moaned out his name. Nor would he forget when her now yellow-green eyes met his and how she gave him a peek into her soul right before the explosion lit up her eyes blinding him.
Ethan tried to prolong his release, wanting to bring Kate up one more time. He lost the battle as his body convulsed, and he rode it until he collapsed beside her, pulling her close to his heart.
Words lodged in his throat, and he didn’t know how to get them out. He never said, “I love you” to anyone other than family and close friends because he’d never loved a woman before. Now, having met Kate, he could understand all about love and the realization that his heart could never belong to anyone but her. His heart beat for her alone.
He kissed her forehead. “As much as I’d like to make love to you all day, we have a situation that needs solving.”
As his feet touched the ground, Kate shot out her arm and grabbed his wrist. Her eyes were wide with opposite emotions—amazement and worry. “When you’re with me, do your emotions and feelings…does everything seem magnified?”
“Yes,” he whispered.
After Ethan left, Kate sat up in bed, her legs stretched out straight, her hands resting on the bed behind her supporting her upper body, and she stared up at the ceiling and pondered her question. Thank God he answered the wa
y he did. She had wondered if those feelings were hers alone—although deep down inside she believed they were in this together. Her heart hummed and she giggled aloud with joy.
After she showered and dressed, she stepped inside the great room. There were dozens of people crowded into the area. The combined smells of coffee, steak, and eggs perfumed the air, which caused Kate’s stomach to rumble. How long had it been since she’d eaten?
Ethan stood near the front door talking to a male and female she’d never seen before. They dressed for war. In fact, as she scanned the room, everyone was dressed alike. They didn’t dress in fatigues. These men and women, loyal to Ethan, dressed in black leather. Their weapons seemed alien to her, except for the swords and daggers. Strapped across several chests hung silver disks similar to saw blades—only the blades loomed long, pointy, and deadly. Nowhere did she spy a gun. How odd.
After another sweep of the room with the frightening sight of all the people she knew to be wolves, her legs quivered and threatened to collapse. She hurried to an empty bar stool. She did not care who her neighbor was. Then it hit her where was Deanna? Her friend must be even more freaked out than she. Poor Deanna, she’d never explained anything to her last night. Hopefully Lucas eased her worries and fears, and not just in a sexual way.
Across the room Ethan gave her a quick nod and continued his conversation. “Great. Just great,” she mumbled as she realized she was on her own amongst the troops.
A tall, stunning, blonde woman dressed in black leather pants and a black vest approached her, holding out a steaming mug of coffee. “You must be Kate. I’m Monica. Have some caffeine, it’ll help. I just made a fresh pot and it’ll go fast. I can barely keep up with all the shouts for steak and eggs.”
Kate took the offered mug. “Thanks.”
“You look a little shell-shocked.”
“Do I?” Kate asked.
“Don’t be.” Monica gestured with her hand encompassing the crowd. “They live for the battle. They feed off it. There isn’t a soul among them who wouldn’t do anything for their leader. Even lay down their lives.” She paused and locked eyes with Kate. “That goes for you too. Ethan explained the situation and how important you are to our clan, and to the continuation of Troy’s line, and to him. We will all gladly die to keep you safe.”
Mystic Realms: A Limited Edition Collection Page 69