by Tami Lund
“That’s the last time I saw her. The day she and Ben mated. He was from a different pack.” He pointed at the dark-haired young man in the picture. “The only reason she got to go with him was because of my standing within our pack. And even then, I had to accept a challenge from one of Quentin’s other guards in order to let her go.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means Quentin was fucked-up in the head, and he got off on making people’s lives miserable. He knew Felicia wanted to be with Ben, and he knew I cared enough about my family that I would do what I could to help her be with him. So he locked me in a cell with the biggest, baddest shifter in our pack and told me if I won, he would give Felicia and Ben his blessing and allow Felicia to leave with him.”
“She couldn’t just go? The pack master has to give his approval?”
Finn nodded. “I don’t know if you know how our mating ritual works…?”
Her pink-tinged cheeks told him she certainly did know.
“Well, even if you mate shifter style, you still have to have the pack master’s approval. He could have actually made the mating null and void, if he wanted to. He could have forced Felicia to stay in our pack and sent Ben back to his own pack.”
“I take it you won?”
Finn shook his head and continued to stare at the picture. “I got the shit beat out of me, and I nearly died. Quentin let her go anyway, claiming he never intended to say no, he just wanted to watch a good cockfight.”
“Oh my,” Cecilia said with a gasp, staring at him as he stared at the picture.
“Then, after she left, he informed me that I was strictly forbidden from ever visiting her, and if she ever came back to visit the rest of our family, he would never let her leave again. She sends me these photo books once a year, but I haven’t seen her in probably eight or nine years. I’ve never met my nephews.”
She touched his elbow. He gave a small start but did not pull away. “You could visit her now,” Cecilia pointed out. “I cannot imagine Tanner would forbid you. And if he does, you let me know and I’ll make sure he lets you go.”
Finn blinked at her. Was she really trying to be his champion? He didn’t need a freaking champion. He’d done just fine all on his own until now.
“I can handle it,” he said brusquely. Then he added, “Your clothes weren’t there. None of our clothes were there. So you’re down to three choices: go home wearing what you have on, I’ll go collect clothes for you, or strip naked again and go home that way. No, wait, that isn’t an option because I don’t want you to develop hyperthermia again.” Nor did he want to take the risk that some other guy would see her naked.
“How could our clothing not be there?” Cecilia wondered out loud, echoing Finn’s own thoughts.
Their clothes hadn’t just disappeared. Someone had taken them. There hadn’t been any tracks in the snow other than his and Cecilia’s, but he’d noticed the telltale signs that indicated someone had deliberately covered his footprints. And he’d felt the shimmer of Lightbearer magic, far too strong to be more than a few hours old.
He wondered if it was the same someone who’d tried to drown Cecilia while she’d been paddling around in her kayak. That wave had been far too big, compared to the rest of the lake. He had a bad suspicion that it had been magically constructed.
He wasn’t ready to speak his thoughts out loud yet, but he couldn’t help but wonder if someone didn’t have it in for Cecilia. If so, who? And why? He determined he would have to keep an even closer eye on her until he could figure out what the hell was going on.
“No idea,” he said with a seemingly nonchalant shrug. No point in worrying her, until he had real, solid proof. Once he did, though, he’d shove it in her face until she saw reason and made sure she actually watched her own back and paid attention to her surroundings and under no circumstances whatsoever traveled outside the coterie without him by her side.
Although, if his suspicion was correct, and the person out to get her was one of her own, well … Cecilia might soon discover she had a shadow all the damn time, whether she was inside or outside the coterie.
“I cannot believe this is happening,” she fumed, and then she stormed out of the room. When she returned again, she wore one of his two dress shirts with his single tie wrapped around her waist like a belt. She was so short compared to him that the tail of the shirt fell below her knees. On her feet, she wore his snow boots, which had to be a dozen sizes too big. They reached all the way to her knees, and she had to shuffle when she walked, or else they fell right off her feet. Finn tried hard not to laugh at the ridiculous image she portrayed.
“Don’t you say a single word,” she warned him as she waggled a finger in his face. “I swear I’ll conjure a sword and show you how competent I’ve become since you began forcing us all to learn how to defend ourselves. I’m going home now. I’ll return your clothes at some point. Goodbye, Finnegan.” She lifted her head high and shuffled out of his house. He waited for the count of ten and then followed.
He followed her through the woods and as she skirted the path leading from his cottage to the village proper. He didn’t stop until he was at the edge of the stand of trees bordering the property around her parents’ cottage, and he didn’t turn away and return to his own home until she’d stepped inside. She would be safe enough within her own parents’ home, and he needed time alone to do some investigating.
Chapter 4
Cecilia managed to slip inside the back door and into her bedchamber without anyone seeing her—thank the lights. She knew she looked ridiculous, but she’d determined the dress shirt, belted with Finnegan’s only necktie, was slightly better than walking around in a pair of his sweatpants that she had to hold with one hand in order to keep from falling to her ankles.
She shed the clothes and boots, taking only the briefest moment to breathe in his unmistakable masculine scent, and then she pulled on a long-sleeved wool dress and a thick pair of woolen socks. The shower, snuggling in Finn’s bed, and her overzealous libido had all helped to bring her body temperature back to normal, but she still felt a little chilled, and the temperature outside hadn’t warmed all that much.
She brushed the tangles out of her hair and then took a deep breath, plastered a fake smile on her face, and left the sanctuary of her bedchamber to face the parents whose voices she heard drifting down the hall.
“Oh—what are you doing here?” she blurted when she entered the room. Samuel Parsons was sitting at the dining room table, sharing a casserole with her parents.
Cecilia’s mother, Lacey, gave her a reproachful look. “Cecilia Marie, do not be rude. Samuel stopped by and brought this delicious casserole. He made it himself.” She beamed, her smile full of pride. “Come, sit and join us.” She waved at the empty chair at the table.
Feeling trapped, Cecilia reluctantly sat and watched her mother scoop a mound of delicious-smelling casserole onto her plate. Deciding eating was necessary, even if the food was a blatant attempt at wooing her, she dug in.
“So where did you go off to this morning, dear?” Lacey inquired as Cecilia ate.
“Down to the beach,” she replied between bites.
Lacey furrowed her brows. “You’ve been at the beach for half the day? Doing what? It’s entirely too cold to go swimming anymore.”
Don’t I know it? Cecilia suppressed a shudder and shoveled more warm casserole into her mouth.
“Just, you know, hanging out on the beach.” Naked, with Finnegan’s overheated body wrapped solidly around hers. Too bad she had been lucid enough to say no when he propositioned her.
“I fell asleep.” In Finnegan’s delightfully comfortable and warm bed. If only he had joined her.
“That’s what you get for trying to catch the sunrise,” her mother chided. “You look flushed, dear. Are you feeling okay?”
I feel like I want to throw myself at Finnegan and beg him to use that feather on me.
“It’s probably because I just woke up.”
“I like to catch the sunrise too,” Samuel said, speaking for the first time since Cecilia joined them.
She nearly groaned. She and Samuel spent one night together about a million years ago. They parted as friends, and she had never considered pursuing anything more, mostly because at the time, she hadn’t been interested in anything else. The idea of him courting her now seemed so … awkward. And that was beside her determination not to mate with a Lightbearer.
Lacey smiled at him before commenting to Cecilia, “Next time, you should take Samuel with you. Then your father and I wouldn’t have to worry.”
Cecilia didn’t respond. Her parents spent more time worrying that she might be attracted to the wrong sort than worrying about her safety. Samuel, not surprisingly, was exactly the right sort. Lucky Cecilia.
“I’m going to head up to the beach house,” she announced after Samuel helped her clear and wash the lunch dishes.
“I’ll walk you there,” Samuel suggested, which her parents naturally thought was a marvelous idea. Since her options were to hang out at the house with Samuel and her parents or let Samuel escort her up to the beach house, she decided to go with option number two. Hopefully, she could ditch him once she found Olivia.
So Samuel escorted her down the flagstone path and up the stone steps built into the side of the cliff, to the front door of the king’s beach house. Unfortunately, he didn’t stop there, but followed her inside. Even more unfortunate, he stayed.
* * * *
“Lights above, that man does not take a hint,” Cecilia complained when she and Olivia returned to the entertainment room after finally escorting Samuel out the front door.
Shortly after he moved into the beach house, Tanner had overseen the remodeling of this wing of the house. What had once been a series of small parlors was now one vast room, complete with a movie screen covering one wall and a full-service wet bar in the corner. Unlike most other windows in the house, the ones in this room had curtains that could be pulled to block out the light, thus making movie watching more enjoyable.
“He didn’t do anything overtly annoying today,” Olivia commented as she pulled two bottles of water out of the glass-front refrigerator behind the bar. She walked to the couch, handed Cecilia one of the bottles, and then sat down next to her.
“He did seem to be on his best behavior,” Cecilia admitted. “But I know what he’s up to.”
“Are you not ready to settle down at all, or is it just Samuel?”
“Both,” Cecilia replied. “Although, in truth, it’s mostly the idea of settling with a Lightbearer.”
“We are not all like your parents, Cici. In fact, I would say the vast majority are not.”
“That isn’t the point. I don’t want to give them the satisfaction. It will be like letting them win, and I refuse to do that.”
“You should not allow them to influence your decision like this,” Olivia chided. “What if the most utterly perfect Lightbearer came along, but you refused to see it, because of your parents?”
“I don’t think that will be a problem. Look at you. You have always been the good one of the two of us, and you went against your parents’ wishes and mated with Tanner.”
Olivia’s hand lifted of its own accord and rested on her slightly rounded belly. “My parents have finally come around. I still cannot believe my father publicly proclaimed my pup as his heir.”
“Good for Uncle Sander,” Cecilia said fiercely. If only her parents were half as open-minded.
Olivia smiled. “Did I tell you he asked me just this morning if he could perform the Lightbearer union ceremony? He said it would make him feel better about our relationship. It was such an awkward conversation, because I knew he knew exactly how we’d already mated. In the way of the shifters, I mean.”
Mating in the way of the shifters. An image of Finn popped unbidden into Cecilia’s mind. “You two do it that way all the time. At least every time I’ve walked in on you, that’s what you’re doing.”
“That’s how Tanner likes it. He says to a shifter, it reaffirms the connection between mates. It’s the most intimate way to be together. A shifter’s way of saying ‘I love you,’ maybe?”
“He doesn’t tell you he loves you? He just—you just make love shifter-style and know how he feels?”
“Oh no,” Olivia assured her. “He says the words, don’t worry. Constantly, it seems, now that I’m carrying his pup. Like he never wants me to forget it—as if I ever would.” She smiled. “It’s hard to explain. I think in his mind, he needs that connection, I mean really needs it. Not that I mind, because, ho boy, I promise you, there is nothing quite like—well.” She blushed furiously and fanned her face with her hand. “Suffice it to say, we are both quite satisfied with that aspect of our relationship.”
Cecilia laughed. “I can tell. And I doubt you’ll ever get bored of each other.”
Olivia sobered. “Is that what you are afraid of? Getting bored?”
“No. Maybe. I don’t know. Yes, a small part of me worries about getting bored. But honestly, I’m just not ready, Olivia. And even if I was, how would I ever find a mate, with Finn stalking me at every turn?”
“Stalking you?” Olivia laughed.
“Yes,” Cecilia insisted, although in truth, this morning, it had been a good thing he’d been stalking her. If not, she might very well have died out there in the lake. “Speaking of men, where is Tanner?” Wherever he was, if he wasn’t with Olivia, he was likely with Finn.
“I have no idea, actually. Finn stopped by earlier, and he and Tanner disappeared into my father’s library for a short time, then Tanner came and found me and told me they were going out. I figured they were going to go practice with the guards.” She shrugged, not concerned in the least.
Ever since Quentin was killed and Tanner had moved into the beach house with her, Olivia discovered a new appreciation for life within the coterie. She was happy to—finally—live the life her parents had wanted for her from the beginning. Of course, they hadn’t intended for her to be mated to a shifter, but at least she was settled and carrying the heir to the kingdom in her womb. That was something, right?
Cecilia stayed through dinner, and then she bade her goodbyes to Olivia and her aunt and uncle and headed home. Samuel waylaid her halfway. Maybe she had two stalkers.
“Hey, Cecilia,” he said as he fell into step with her.
“Are you following me, Samuel?”
“Actually, I was on my way to the tavern. Would you like to join me?”
The tavern was in the village square, at the base of the cliff. The only way he could possibly be on his way to the tavern was if he’d just come from a practice session with Finn and Tanner. That was entirely possible, so Cecilia tried really hard not to be annoyed.
“No, thank you.”
“Why not? Plans with that shifter?”
Something in his tone gave her pause. She stopped and turned to face him. “No, actually, I have no plans with shifters or otherwise. I’m just tired, and frankly I want to be alone right now. And to tell you the truth, I’m really tired of your matchmaking attempts. I’m not interested, Samuel. I’m sorry if that injures your pride, but I am just not ready to consider taking a mate, okay?”
Samuel blinked at her, looking faintly bewildered. “Who said anything about mating? I mean, certainly, I guess, maybe, someday. But really, I just wanted to have a drink. No strings attached.”
Guilt hit her. “Really? You aren’t, you know…” In truth, he had not done anything that could be construed as matchmaking. It wasn’t at all outside the norm to have a pint with friends at the tavern. Perhaps she had been reading into his actions.
“I just want to buy you a drink. I have no intentions beyond that,” he assured her.
She sighed. “Okay. One drink.” It was better than going home and dealing with her parents. Practically anything was better than that.
* * * *
Tansy Gorman was one determined Lightbearer.
She’d even been so bold as to drop very obvious hints about her preference for having sex animal style.
Not on your life, Finn thought as she batted her eyes and trailed her pink-painted fingernails along his arm. He wasn’t interested in taking a mate at all, but especially not with Tansy. He could tell she was a high-maintenance female, the sort who expected him to cater to her every whim, probably without complaint, too. No doubt she intended to use sex as a means to capture herself a mate, but once she had him, she’d quickly lose interest. A woman who expected him to keep her entertained, not complain, and then wouldn’t even reward him with hot sex afterward?
Not on your life.
He wasn’t even sure how he’d ended up sitting across from her in this brightly lit, glass-enclosed tavern. Wait, yes, he was sure. He’d been trying to get his mind off Cecilia. Off what her body had felt like, naked and curled up in his lap. What she’d looked like in the shower, and sound asleep, buried under the blankets in his bed. As badly as his body craved Cecilia, he figured the very last thing he should do was pursue that craving. Bad things happened when a man gave in to that sort of temptation.
His brother, Reid, had once been strapped to Quentin Lyons’ favorite pool table and whipped until his back was a bloody, mangled mess, because he’d given into the temptation and screwed one of Quentin’s many paramours before the former pack master had been done with her.
Bad things.
What Finn needed was to get laid—with someone else. He needed a quick, mindless fuck with someone other than Cecilia Druthers. He’d paid another call on Daisy, but she’d given him the cold shoulder, probably because she’d recently hooked up with someone else. The scent of lovemaking had been strong in her cottage.
He’d then wandered over to the tavern, more looking for a drink than a good time. He’d ended up with both. At least, he could, if he was willing to take Tansy up on what she offered.
“Shifters don’t really care to do it that way,” he smoothly lied, while he lifted his mug and drank deeply of a dark, thick beer. The Lightbearers sure know how to make beer.