by JL Madore
"Yep. Soon."
I hung up and took a deep breath. Meg was going to be okay.
Reign walked over to his desk and set down his coffee and his pastry plate. The leather of his massive chair crunched and protested as he sank into the seat. "Sounds like you cleared the decks to stay a while."
Had I? No. I'm leaving. My breath caught at the thought. I didn't want to leave. Or did I?
I held his gaze and projected as much confidence as I could manage. "I need to give this deposition and then I'll figure out what's next."
"Well then," he said, with a devious smile. "Let's see if you and I can come to an agreement that's beneficial to everyone, shall we?"
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
With a shake of my hand, Reign gave me the green light to go back to Vancouver.
The deal wasn't all to my liking, but was simple enough. I'd stay with Bruin until after the full moon a few weeks from now. I would keep an open mind and learn about his world, and in return, Reign would replace the SIM card mysteriously missing from my cell phone and make sure I got to my meeting this afternoon. I had pushed for uncensored use of phone and Internet but, apparently, trusting me to interact with my world on my honor was a deal breaker.
I took what I could get. For now.
When I got back to my suite, I found myself wandering to the open connecting door to Bruin's suite. Had he gone out warrioring? Was he still a mess about Jade? We weren't in a place where he was obligated to explain his whereabouts to me, but still.
He wasn't going to be happy that I went to Reign. Nope. The Were-Alpha was definitely going to go grizzly when he found out.
I pushed the upcoming fight out of my mind and considered what I would wear to my interview. Nothing fancy in case trouble hit and we needed to book it. Professional yet comfortable. I fingered through the drawers and snagged a pair of khakis, a copper, silk, sleeveless top and a comfy pair of leather flats. Accessories left a lot to be desired, but I'd deal.
After turning on the shower I hung two fluffy white towels on the heated rack and caught a glance of myself in the mirror. I leaned in for a closer look. Huh. I'd swear my hair seemed shinier than usual. And my teeth looked whiter.
I peeled off my clothes and flung them toward the hamper with my toe. My legs looked good too. I'd never been concerned with weight, but this morning I looked almost athletic. I snorted at that. I was as athletic as a three-toed sloth in a pair of Nikes, but there was no denying it, my muscles looked toned.
In the shower, I took inventory of my body. I did look good.
Dressed, I grabbed my brush and started pulling it through the lengths of my hair.
The tap tap on my balcony door had my heart racing. Before pulling back the drapes, I peeked out to see who was there. Aust.
"Good morning," I said, stepping back so he could enter. Orville loped onto the balcony to climb his branch into the tree. "What are you doing up so early?"
Aust stepped in and looked around. "Naneth mentioned you were awake. I uh, I was having some difficulty finding reverie."
"I'm sorry, what?"
He raised his gaze and my skin tingled. His eyes were rimmed pink and bloodshot, his face paler than usual. He looked squeamish. "Our rest cycle is called reverie. It is similar to your sleeping. Of late, my meditation has eluded me—"
"Aust?" I stilled his milling hands and backed him up until he sat on the edge of the bed. "What is it? What's wrong?"
He closed his eyes.
I swept his golden waves back from his face and cupped his smooth jaw. "Hey, tell me."
He stood, paced to the bathroom door and whirled back around. "I need an honest opinion regarding something . . . of a personal nature."
"Okay, you have it."
"Sweet Shalana, help me," he gasped. The panic in his unusual, pale blue eyes had my heart tripping. "Other than Naneth, you are the only female who has truly seen to my soul. Jade and Lexi are sweet and very kind friends, but I feel more with you. A kindred belonging."
"I feel that too."
"You may not . . . once you hear me out."
He continued to pace, drawing quick shallow breaths, furrowing his fingers through his long golden hair. "My gift, as you call it . . . left me a pariah amongst my people. They shun anything of a magical nature . . . never accepted my abilities. To them I am . . . a miscreation—"
"Aust honey, you're hyperventilating." I rushed behind him as he fell to one knee and wrapped my arms around his chest. "Breathe with me. Come on. Earth Spirits, help us please."
The air around us stirred to life, warm as a stream in summer. I drew a deep breath, my lungs filling with the strength of the Earth Mother. Pressing tight to his back, I breathed for both of us. Slow in, then out, another monster breath in, and out. My hands on his chest registered as he matched my motion. More breathing. Now slower.
"You still with me?"
I felt his chest rise and fall in time with mine. After a moment, he straightened, drawing deep cleansing breaths. His cheeks were blotched red, his eyes moist.
"Aust, you're scaring me. Whatever it is, I'll help you get through it, I swear."
He kissed my hand and then, even though he didn't look sure, he stood, blew out a huge breath and untied the side of his tunic. Stripping his shirt from his shoulders he dropped it to the area rug by the bed, closed his eyes and did a slow runway turn.
"Oh. My. God."
Stripes.
Aust had stripes.
I gasped. Faint, gray and black tiger stripes had appeared on the surface of his alabaster skin. I stepped towards him, fingers out. No. Not his skin. They were hairs. Fine soft hairs swiped in wide brush strokes from his shoulder blades, around his ribs and down his chest.
"What am I to do, neelan?" The agony in his voice twisted in my gut. "The elders were correct. I am an abomination."
"What?"
"Do you not see? Other males, like Galan and Tham were called upon constantly to pleasure females. It is honor I have never received. Not once. Not one time in the four decades since my coming of age has a female desired me or asked for my company."
His voice quavered as he ran a hand down the stripes on his stomach. "Last night, when Jade needed help, all I could offer was to handle her schedule. What sort of male knows naught of pleasuring a female? I have nothing to offer."
"I'm sure Galan doesn't judge you, Aust. He's your family. You—"
"—shall never find a mate, never be loved or have young and I most certainly will never gain acceptance amongst my people."
"Aust stop." I cupped his jaw between my palms and held on tight. "Listen to me. If your community can't see that you're amazing, screw 'em. You are perfect. And beautiful. And sexy. You will find love because you are you."
I pulled back and stroked my fingertips along the stripe running across his heart and down to his ribs. It was pussy-willow soft. "Trust me. No hot-blooded female could look at you and not want to rub themselves all over you."
He canted his head, looking wary. "In truth?"
"Oh yeah, these are so erotic I can't even tell you. My only question is . . ." I stepped behind him, tugged at the waist of his fitted suede pants and peeked down, "how far south do these stripes go?"
Aust laughed as he spun and wrapped me in his arms. He pressed a kiss to the side of my head and held me there. "Gratitude, neelan. Verily, you are—"
I felt the presence of Bruin's bear even before the violent rumble filled my suite.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
He filled the connecting doorway, his body rigid.
My breath caught. "Bruin, before you freak . . . this isn't as bad as I'm sure it looks."
"Are you alone in your suite with a half-dressed Aust, telling him you find him sexy and wondering what he has underneath his leathers?"
"Yes, but—"
"Did you go behind my back and conspire with Reign to go to Vancouver even though you know you'll be a target of violence the minute you're there."
"Yes, but—"
"Do you wear another man's scent on your body, when the Fates have promised you to me?" He lumbered forward. His nose twitched as the muscle in the side of his jaw pulsed.
Aust scrambled to tug on his shirt. "Apologies Bruin, I assure you—"
Bruin snarled and lunged. Aust flew over the end of the bed and crashed to the floor. As I screamed, Bruin grabbed me and Flashed. The buzz in my head and tightness in my chest lasted only a second. I blinked. We stood on a precipice, high on the side of a mountain.
"Why did you do that?" I shoved him and stepped away from the ledge into a small, sparsely furnished cave. "You don't just get to push people around, Bruin. What if Aust is hurt? Take me back there, right now."
He raised a trembling hand, and I froze.
The air vibrated between us—the man fighting his animal side. I dropped my gaze and slowly lowered to kneel on the cave floor. Dominance in the wild is a tricky thing. Every gesture meant something and I didn't mind taking a submissive position if it helped him regain control.
I looked out upon the valley and tried to calm my emotions. The morning sun blazed, a golden curtain drawing across the treetops far below. It crept along the banks of a stream, glittered in the cascading waters of a waterfall and chased the shadows of night away. The sky as far as I could see swirled flamingo pink, warm and soft like a Cosmopolitan with streaks of garnet laced through nature's cocktail.
"Mika," Bruin said behind me, his voice not yet his own.
I rose to face his fury.
His jaw clenched so tight he should have been spitting teeth. He seized me. I'd never complain about the way Bruin moved his lips. He wasn't gentle. His mouth covered mine, possessive and demanding, his bruising kiss a smoldering blue flame burning low and hot.
Trapped tight to his chest, strong hands ran over my back, my butt, under my hair to grasp the nape of my neck. He growled as he nuzzled against my cheeks and neck. As angry as I still was, I almost laughed when realization dawned. He was marking me.
Never a dull moment.
After a long while and a lot of stroking, Bruin pushed away from me and stepped back. "You will be the death of me, Mika, I swear you drive me to insanity."
"I don't mean to." I crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly chilled with the absence of his body heat. He threw me a skeptical glance and I sighed. "Well, not usually."
He strode around the cave, not looking at me, pausing to touch things as he wandered. "Okay. Tell me, why was Aust undressed with you in his arms? I'm calm now."
He didn't look calm. The last word I'd use to describe him was calm.
Even still, I relayed the story from the beginning, from how inadequate Aust felt with Jade needing help, to how he woke with tiger stripes, to how he panicked, thinking no one could love him. "All I did was comfort a friend."
He ran his fingers through his hair and continued to pace. "Fucking Fates. The guy can't catch a break from their twisted sense of humor. First his father, then getting kicked out of his village and now this?"
I shook my head. "He mentioned his father was killed a few months ago and that the black band he and Elora wear around their necks are symbolic of their mourning, but that's all he said. What happened?"
"Cameron was struck down defending their village when Abaddon and a Scourge raid party kidnapped Galan's sister, Lia. Then, without his father there to defend him, they exiled Aust because of his affinity with animals and because his eyes had changed. They said they didn't want his evil in their village."
That boiled through my body like a raging fire. "His evil?"
Bruin gripped my shoulder, surprise plain on his face. "Mika? You're growling."
I am? I released my fingers from the fists I'd made and sighed. "These hormones are doing a number on me."
He nodded, the copper highlights in his hair catching the morning light. "On me too."
God, he was exquisite. Nipple-tightening, panty dampening perfection. Annnd the hormones were off again. I swallowed hard and tried to rein myself in. "What you walked in on—between Aust and me—was me teasing him a little, trying to make him laugh. That's all."
He scowled, closing his eyes. "In my head, I see that. I know Highbornes have strict rules about intimacy, but—"
"But you still attacked him."
Bruin barked a throaty laugh. "Baby, if I had attacked him, he would have bled. I just needed him away from you." His shoulders straightened and stiffened, reminding me, yet again, how massive Bruin really was. "I'm trying to hold back the effects of the Bonding, Mika, but let me make one thing clear—Weres don't share."
I shivered as a chill shot down my spine.
"Shit, you're cold. Your hair's still wet."
Bruin stepped into the shadow of the cave, lit a long wooden match and began touching the wicks of candles. On a hundred little ledges—where stone jutted out enough to set one on—there were candles. They had burned often enough that the dried wax flowed down the stone walls like ivory waterfalls cascading to the floor.
"This cave gets chilly. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."
"I'm fine. Where are we?" I examined the oval cave behind us. Completely self-contained, it reached about twenty-five feet deep and was half that in width, the floor strewn with a large pallet and covered in lush, overlapping rugs. Along the right, near the opening to the ledge, a wooden table sat with some old-fashioned quill tipped pens and ink. On the opposite wall stood an old, southwest cupboard.
"Welcome to my secret place." Bruin finished with the candles, the two of us lit by a warm golden glow. After snuffing the match, he stepped to the edge of the ledge. My heart lurched. For all my many devil-may-care adventures, heights were not among them. No sky diving. No bungee jumping. I wasn't even a fan of ladders.
Bruin noticed my apprehension and stepped back to the chair and ottoman looking out over the valley. He sat on the front edge of the chair, pulled the ottoman between his knees and materialized a brush in his hand. "Mika, sit. Your hair will tangle if we don't brush it out."
I took my seat in front of him. "What does a Talon warrior know about tangles?"
He leaned against my back and spoke quietly in my ear. "In another life, I used to have a twin sister. Gemma's hair was lighter than yours, not quite as long, but crazy curly. As litter-mates, it was expected that we take care of one another. I didn't do a very good job."
The ache in his voice stole my breath. "Tell me. How did you find this place?"
With my eyes closed, I sat while he brushed. Starting at the crown of my head, Bruin worked the brush back, gently tugging through my tangles. "One evening, about six months after Reign brought me home, I watched the sun set over the valley. From the edge of the forest on the western ridge I saw the silhouette of a massive bird disappear behind this rock formation."
He held out his hands in front of me, his arms wide. "She was a beast. Her wing span must have cleared six feet, easy. She soared across the sky with a fox kit clenched in her talons. It made me wonder if she had a nest."
"So, you decided to climb out and see?" I looked down and shuddered. Jagged rocks snaked along the trickling stream, winding through the forest. "It must be a five-hundred-foot drop. Are you crazy?"
"I was thirteen and heartbroken. It seemed perfectly logical at the time." He leaned against my back and reached over my shoulder, pointing out a ledge where the thatched remnants of a long-forgotten nest still clung to stone. "When I edged my way over, I came around the bend and a golden eagle perched right there, eviscerating her kill. It was amazing."
I scrunched up my face. "Charming."
He chuckled, the vibration of his laughter penetrating my back.
"So, who knows about this place?" I asked.
The brush continued to move smoothly through my hair. "Just me. And now you."
I wasn't sure how to process that. "Not Jade or Lexi or anyone?"
"No. Well, Jade probably knows but I've never told her so she's never brought it up."
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br /> "Then how—"
He placed the brush on his muscled thigh beside me and worked his fingers through my thick mane. His hands felt wonderful as they gathered my hair at the back of my head and pulled it into a ponytail. "When Jade heals people, she sees bits of their thoughts and memories. Everything you never wanted people to know is open for her to absorb. She's very discreet. She'd rather not have that particular side-effect, but she does. I don't even think about it anymore. You see, Jade is . . ."
When his hands dropped away, I turned. The pained expression he'd worn last night had returned. I squeezed his thigh. "Granted, I don't know anything about your world, but I read people. Galan and the others love her. They'll take care of her."
He met my gaze and I was taken aback, his eyes far too glossy. "She should have a choice. The fucking Fates constantly mess with us. You and me, Gemma, Aust and now Jade."
"Galan said it's temporary. In a week, she'll be back to normal and maybe she and Galan might be expecting. That's good, isn't it?"
He scrubbed a hand over his jaw. "That woman in the lounge last night—the one draping herself over anyone and everyone—that wasn't Jade. That wasn't my sister. You don't know her yet, but Jade is strength, tempered with sweetness. She's not a lusty vixen who struts in front of a room full of people and then takes a handful of consorts to her bed. She's passionate, but private. She'll be horrified when she hears what this fucking Yearning fever made her do."
"It's not her fault. Everyone knows that. She can't change it any more than we can."
He shook his head, a light dimming in his eyes. "No. We can't change anything. We're marionettes and the Fates pull our fucking strings to make us dance. Someone needs to get at those bitches and show them what it's like to lose the right to choose, to lose yourself a piece at a time, to be forced . . ." He froze, his hands balled into fists at his sides.
"Bruin. What happened? What are you really talking about here?"
He stood and stepped to the ledge, the distant rush of the waterfall filling the silence. "Too much to recount. Scourge raiders have taken a toll from everyone who lives at Haven—most of the realm, really. Abaddon, their evil master, promises immortality and strength beyond imagination to those who follow him."