by Dannika Dark
“Why?”
He averted his eyes. “It frightens them because I’m not like other Shifters; they don’t understand it. The last one tensed during the act and became so frightened it… it regretfully caused her pain. I immediately stopped, but she wasn’t receptive of my explanation, and I never saw her again.”
“It’s not something you can help.”
“The ritual is reserved for mates who trust each other. If the trust isn’t there, then it can be uncomfortable. I vowed to never again let myself feel that kind of unrestrained desire for a woman, not if it meant them experiencing even a moment of discomfort. But with you—with you I feel I can be myself completely. Had you been in heat, it would have given us children.”
“Well, that would have happened whether you had a superpenis or not.”
A laugh burst out of his mouth, and he threw his arm over his eyes. She pulled it away, realizing Prince was uncomfortable with spontaneous laughter, as if it revealed a weakness. Perhaps he felt it wasn’t permissible for a man of his authority to display an emotional reaction that could result in someone not taking him seriously as a leader. She’d seen it happen before, and maybe that was why her heart melted a little whenever she managed to draw him out of his shell.
“Pregnancy most often occurs with repeated intercourse,” he said. “Most mated couples will engage throughout her cycle, increasing her odds to conceive. The temptation can hardly be helped. With someone like me, it would only take one time.”
“So why isn’t everyone, um… built like you?”
He put his arm behind his head, and she imagined what he must have looked like as a man living in the fourteen hundreds. “Each pureblood family had unique traits that were lost over time as they mated outside their animal or with someone who came from a Shifter family with mixed heritage anywhere in their ancestry. I suppose Mother Nature phases out things she finds unnecessary.”
Kat kissed his chest and gave him an indulgent smile. “Chickens having wings is unnecessary. But that? That was really necessary. How about we do it my way next time?”
“I’m afraid to ask what that might involve.”
Kat eased up on her elbow and brushed the dirt from her chest, but it was pointless since she looked like someone who had crawled from the bowels of the earth. “I thought you liked the unexpected?”
He placed a reverent kiss on her lips, which she felt in her soul, and it mended all the jagged rips and tears from her past. “You are my unexpected.”
She gazed into his eyes, wondering if there was anything special about her, being that she was also a pureblood. She definitely didn’t shoot bullets with her nipples, although that might have made things interesting. Perhaps her bloodline simply wasn’t as pure as his.
He tapped her nose. “What are you thinking about?”
“Does it snow in Austin?” she asked, playing with the idea of settling down.
“Not often.”
She traced her finger down his jaw. “Do you think your friend can get me started as a PI? Nobody around here knows me; it would be like starting over.”
Prince smiled with closed lips, and she pushed the corners of his mouth a little higher. “I trust Reno will be able to help you build clientele.”
“So… is this a thing?”
He flipped her onto her back and ran his tongue along her neck and up to her ear. “This is most definitely a thing, alpha female.”
Kat threw her weight forward until she sat astride him, pinning his wrists to the ground. “We’ll see how this plays out, but right now, I need a shower.”
She stood up and strolled to the waterfall, dirt flaking off her body. There were drains in the floor to keep the room from flooding. “Your water bill must be high,” she said with a snort.
“It recycles. They change it a few times a week since it’s rarely used.”
Kat rinsed the dirt from her skin while Prince found a patch of grass and watched her, his impressive body glistening with sweat, pieces of dirt stuck to his sides and forearms.
“This is some setup you have down here.” Kat found her holster and strapped it on before getting dressed. “I don’t know anybody who puts dirt in their basement unless they’re a serial killer.”
“I would hardly call this dirt,” he said, waving an arm at his exceptional design.
Vines grew along the columns and walls, special lights were placed to accent the grass and plants, and it was more spacious than it appeared. The main room they were in walled off an adjoining room that had an obstacle course for their wolves to leap on and around.
Except for alphas, most Shifters blacked out shortly after their animal took over the shift, and thank God for that. Her wolf was a separate spirit connected to her own, so sharing consciousness at the same time would be maddening. The only thing she didn’t like was the unexpected surprises of where she wound up after a shift. Kat once woke up in a McDonald’s playground.
Naked.
So having an indoor facility for the wolves was pretty ingenious.
Those thoughts faded as she put on her clothes and wondered if Nadia was okay. What the hell did Vlad want with her sister?
“Kat?”
“What?” She looked up and Prince was standing before her.
“You weren’t answering.”
“What does he have against my father?”
“He resents Alex for having bought his own freedom. It might have been decades in the making, but Alex outwitted Vlad in the end.” After stepping beneath the water and rinsing himself clean, Prince shook out his T-shirt and pulled it over his head.
She tapped her chin. “I think my father stole something valuable of his. Vlad is behaving like a dog that’s searching for his favorite toy. Men who want revenge just do it; they don’t play mind games or they risk getting caught. When my father went missing, his cabin was ransacked. Vlad was looking for something.”
“If Alex has it, then surely he would have given it to him by now.”
“Maybe not. You said my father outwitted him after decades of patient waiting. Giving a man like Vlad what he wants wouldn’t guarantee my father’s freedom but only secure his death.”
Prince pulled up his briefs and jeans, his wet hair clinging to his neck. “He has two daughters to worry about. Why would he put your lives at risk, knowing that time would only reveal your existence?”
She covered her eyes, pacing in a circle. “Oh God, Charming. I don’t know what to do.” Kat lowered her hands and looked at him guiltily. “What if he called? I’m down here rolling around in the dirt and—”
“Taken care of,” he assured her. “My phone is in my pocket, and I can guarantee if anyone had contacted the house, my men would be down here faster than you could catch your breath.”
“I can’t just sit here. It’s not in my nature.”
The sound of water trickling from the ceiling above and splashing on the stony floor muted out small noises.
Kat wiped a rogue tear away before Prince saw it. She knew she needed to rest or she’d be useless, but during the quiet moments, her mind wouldn’t stop thinking about Nadia. Patience was necessary in her line of work and had always been something that came naturally to her. But this was personal, something that made time her enemy. Her eyes were heavy-lidded and her body weak.
The room spun when Prince lifted her off her feet and carried her toward the stairs. His strength was unmatched, and she felt silly for feeling so protected in his embrace when she needed no protection.
“What are you doing?” she mumbled, resting her head on his shoulder.
He headed up the stairs, breathing a little heavier. “You try so hard to be strong, but sometimes you need to be weak.”
“That makes about as much sense as eating soup with a fork.”
“It’s the only way someone can take care of you the way you deserve to be.” Prince kicked open the door and moved quickly down the hall, ascending another flight of stairs. “I want you to let me take care o
f you. Give me one night to protect you and see that you’re fed. Let me bathe you until you’re clean and then put you to bed.”
Kat chuckled quietly. “My bad habits are rubbing off on you, Charming. You rhymed.” She curled against him, warming to his soft words and generous offer. “And then?”
“And then my wolf will guard you until dawn.”
“What if someone tries to come in?”
He answered without hesitation. “Then he’ll die.”
She believed him. This wasn’t about seduction; Prince was wooing her the way a Shifter pursued a mate. It was an honor to have a wolf guard your bed while you slept or bring you food from a hunt. It was an instinct and tradition among mated couples that dated back as far as anyone could remember.
When he entered his bedroom, he closed the door and leaned against it, still holding her in his arms. She felt at home when she looked into his mismatched eyes, deciding she couldn’t pick a favorite between the two. They each were different, but both looked at her with the same affection.
“Charming?”
“Yes?”
“I’m probably going to cry a little bit, so I need you to let me do that without any judgment, or else you can leave the room. I know how men freeze up like a pipe in a snowstorm when women get emotional.”
His words were nothing but a gentle breath. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Chapter 11
Prince checked on Kat for the fifth time since shifting back to human form. Morning light crept up the balcony and made the bedroom look as if it were spun from gold. The night before had surpassed any he’d spent with a woman in all his lifetimes.
Kat let him bathe her and rub scented oils on her skin. She shared small talk with him while they ate a meal together—tomato-basil soup and fresh-baked bread. But her appetite wasn’t what he’d grown accustomed to, and after finishing only half her meal, she wanted to lie down.
Sleep didn’t come quickly, so he made her a glass of warm honey water with cinnamon. She protested at first, claiming it looked like puddle mud after a hard rain, but a sip was all it took to convince her otherwise.
In the secrecy of darkness, Kat had wept in his arms. Wept for what he imagined was the fear that she might never see her twin again. Prince offered no words of comfort because there were none. He knew the emptiness of losing a sibling, and sometimes the only remedy is to grieve. Once her tears subsided, she fell asleep in his arms. Kat had a peculiar habit of kicking all the covers off. It seemed that the only thing she wanted covering her body was him. He stayed that way for a while to make sure she felt his protection, because the power emitted from an alpha wolf was all-encompassing, like a blanket. After what seemed like an hour, he finally shifted. Prince remained aware for as long as he could stay awake, and when he chose to sleep, his wolf took over the duty of guarding his love.
His love. Not someone else’s; not an abstract idea, but a woman he wanted at his side, in his bed, leading his pack, and sharing his meals. A woman he would kill for. A woman he barely knew and yet felt a timeless connection between them that he couldn’t ignore. That was love, wasn’t it?
Prince had acquired respect, power, and wealth over the years. He possessed more sway with the Councils and higher authority than most, and damn if he was going to sit idly by while Vlad ripped apart lives once again.
When Kat finally awoke, she was herself again. Strong, determined, resilient. Despite her claim of being shy, she approached the balcony nude and opened the doors, her body suffused in sunlight.
Prince was seated quietly in his chair, memorizing every line, the subtle way she would shift her hips, her dark hair blowing back from the gentle breeze, the sublime way sunlight touched the edges of her body until it glowed, and the regal way she turned around and settled her luminous eyes on him like a lover to a mate.
“I love watching you,” he said offhandedly, resting his head against his closed fist.
Kat clutched her heart and quickly tiptoed to the bed, putting on her flannel shirt. “I didn’t see you there. You kind of blend in with the furniture.”
“I’ve been told that I’m wooden.”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to call you wooden, but you are a little antique,” she said, a playful lilt in her voice. She left the top four buttons undone and gracefully approached him. “Just so you know, I don’t do this with other guys.”
“Make love?”
She sat on his lap and kissed his neck. “I meant crying, letting someone give me a bath and feed me, the oil massage… although that was one of the highlights.”
“Incomparable to what we did in the basement?”
A smile touched her lips. “I like you, Charming.”
“Like?”
He bristled at the word, because the way he felt for her was indescribable—a word he longed to hear from her lips.
Kat dodged his glare.
“I have many years ahead of me, Kat, and so do you. I’m going to guess you’re already aware of this.”
She nodded and rested her left arm over his shoulder. “My father told us we were purebloods. I believe that’s why he was destroyed by our mother leaving, since it’s so hard to find another like us. Not that he wanted more kids or anything, but I guess he thought old royalty should stay together.”
“Did he love her?”
“Maybe it was a mating of convenience at first, but I think he fell in love with her. I just don’t think she loved him back.”
That made Prince’s heart stop. He’d given her everything a male could in one night, but was that enough to make a woman give a man her heart?
“Anyhow,” she went on, “I don’t think she hated us. On one hand, I think she was selfish to leave her children, but on the other hand, we were better off with our father. We grew up in Russia under the protection of my father’s pack. He wouldn’t have wanted my mother dragging us around the country with her new mate like a band of gypsies. I just wish she would have at least visited us instead of cutting all ties.”
“How long did you stay?”
She nestled against him, circling her finger against his bare chest. “Until we were about nine. Then Papa wanted to move to America. The pack was divided, but most of them came along. When we came of age, Nadia moved back to Russia. She got a job at a prestigious museum, but I think she really went back to find our mother. After ten years, she moved here but didn’t want anything to do with living with a pack.”
He was saddened by this story—that two girls were estranged from their mother most of their lives. “And your mother is still in Russia?”
She nodded. “How come you don’t talk to me like you do with Nadia?”
He brushed her tangled hair away from her face so he could read her expression. “I’m not certain what you mean.”
“On the rooftop, you were Mr. Chatty with her, but I always feel like I’m doing all the talking when we’re together.”
He squeezed her gently. “I spend too much time talking. It’s refreshing to hear what you have to say. And besides, your sister’s version of conversation is stilted and about superficial things. She’s not as forthright as she perceives herself to be.”
Kat flattened her hand on his bare chest. He liked the feel of her in his arms, the casualness of the way she showed her affection.
“You have to catch her in a good mood and she’ll open up. Sometimes she’s so concerned about what other people will think about her that she doesn’t know how to talk to someone. I don’t care about opinions. I say what’s on my mind and you either like it or you don’t. Maybe I’m too blunt and cuss too much…”
He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and she lifted her chin, silently demanding one to her lips. He obliged, but only on the corner of her mouth. “It wasn’t long ago I would have found a woman with your tongue crass and offensive.”
She nibbled his bottom lip and purred, “How do you like my tongue now?”
“I’m not sure. Let me taste…”
Wh
en their kiss deepened, Prince stirred with arousal.
Kat abruptly pulled back and patted his chest. “Not now. I have too much on my mind.”
“I had no intentions of the sort.”
She wiggled her bottom, creating a delicious friction between them and causing Prince to throw back his head and suck in a sharp breath. Kat placed a kiss on his Adam’s apple and then beneath his chin. “Could have fooled me. Get dressed. I want to tear this town inside out until I get my sister back.”
“I’ll bring you my laptop so you can review his files.”
“Thanks,” she said, easing off his lap. “I don’t think he’ll have anything in there that’ll reveal his whereabouts, but I’m pretty sure there’s enough incriminating evidence to turn over to the higher authority.”
“He’s already deemed an outlaw. What purpose would that serve?” Prince rose to his feet and frowned.
Kat put her hands on her hips and stuck out her leg. “If he’s slave trading, then he’s got juicy info in those files. Not only will it lead to more arrests and putting those criminals where they belong, but it might lead to finding and freeing some of the victims. Imagine all the people out there who think the world has forgotten about them, and they’ve given up all hope. It’s good to know at the end of day that I helped someone, but I don’t always get that feeling with this job. They don’t usually offer me cases to bust up rings since I don’t have a partner. Plus, let’s face it,” she said, turning on her heel, “the higher authority is predominantly male, and most of them still believe a woman can’t do a man’s job.”
“Men have been fools since the beginning of time.”
“I want that on a T-shirt.” Kat stepped into a clean pair of underwear and jeans he’d left for her, giving him an appraising glance. “You should dress like that more often.”
He looked down at his silk pajama bottoms.
“I like the whole sexy long-hair thing you’ve got going on. And the bare-chested pajama ensemble is a good look on you. Especially barefoot.”
He glanced down at her, closing his brown eye and squinting with the other. “Are you mocking me?”