by Bianca D'Arc
Margo stayed on the magic side of the house while the FBI was dealt with. For one thing, she was a Canadian citizen. While she’d worked ops in the U.S. before under the auspices and supervision of Collin’s company, Collin was keeping a lower profile this time, dealing with the bear family. So, the Redstones were taking the lead in dealing with the human law enforcement, and Margo didn’t really have a viable connection she could claim with them.
Neither did Gabe, but he was doing his part, out in the main hall that separated the two halves of the great house. If anybody became too nosey about what was in the other wing, he gently redirected them with a smile and subtle magic that made them lose interest.
The FBI had stationed a two-man team inside the human wing of the house to continue taking statements while the rest of their go-team had quickly taken off to apprehend the prisoners—the former captors—at the three hotels. It had been decided to leave the women in the house for the night, since they’d already settled in somewhat. The bonus there was that the government would be reimbursing Ezra’s employers for the use of the house and whatever incidentals, like food and clothing, were used.
Ezra was still with Theodora, but he hadn’t objected when Steve related all this information. Frankly, he didn’t seem to care either way. His sole focus remained on the bear woman who was now lying in bed, having been checked over by the medical staff. Ezra sat in a chair at her side, and a nurse checked on her every few minutes.
While the bulk of the FBI agents were off with some of Steve’s men, taking care of the prisoners, Collin managed to sneak Theodora’s parents in through a side door. Margo watched from the hallway as the distraught couple went into their daughter’s room and heard the happy cries and joyful sobbing that ensued. It was only then that Ezra came out of the room. Margo went to him in the hallway.
“She woke up, huh?” Margo asked gently, sensing Ezra was almost as raw emotionally as the women had been.
“A while ago. I was right to stay with her. She almost shifted before I could explain what had happened, but she remembered seeing me in the basement, freeing them all, so she listened. She wept when she realized she was free.” Ezra’s voice sounded choked with emotion, and Margo put a hand on his shoulder, to show support.
“We did a really good thing today, Ezra,” she told him. “You were a big part of that. If you hadn’t blocked Bolivar, he might’ve gotten away before we could stop him. Thank you. My Pack has been after that bastard for a long time, and I can now go home and report that he’s dead. There will be a great deal of satisfaction in the Stony Ridge Pack over that. I think I can safely say my entire Pack owes you a debt of gratitude.”
“It’s the least I could do,” Ezra replied seriously. “I’m only sorry it took us so long to finally track him down. But I guess we would’ve had a hard time facing Bolivar without Gabe. That man is a power. I had no idea. He seems pretty normal for a guy with that kind of magic inside him.”
Margo heard the deep respect tinged with awe in Ezra’s voice. Come to think of it, all the shifters had been tiptoeing around Gabe since the story got around about the way he’d disintegrated Bolivar and blew up a house with the mere flick of his finger. Margo had to hide a smile. Her man was Bad Ass.
Gabe was sort of enjoying door duty. He’d taken it upon himself to stand sentry in the hall and keep the FBI guys away from the magical folk. He probably could’ve set up a ward to do the same thing, but he was giving Margo time to miss him a little and maybe figure out what kind of mage he really was. She’d seen him in action now. Sooner or later, it would click in her mind that he wasn’t just the everyday garden variety magic user. He was a power. That had to count for something, even among shifters, and he hoped it would make Margo realize that they were meant for each other.
Yeah, right. If she hadn’t figured it out by now… Gabe tried to keep a positive attitude, but the letdown after the excitement of finally facing Bolivar was getting to him a little.
“Mind if I join you?” Trisha asked, surprising Gabe a bit. He hadn’t put any wards up in the hallway, despite his usual habits, so he hadn’t known she was coming.
“Your mate’s stealth is rubbing off on you,” he said with a friendly grin for the water elemental. “Have a seat.”
Gabe had positioned himself on the couch in a conversational grouping in the enormous front hall. The place was built on a grand scale with three-story ceilings and white marble and furnishings. He wasn’t sure if anyone had ever sat on this couch before, it looked so pristine.
Trisha smiled gently as she took a chair across from his couch. There was a small marble-topped coffee table between them and a plush white area rug beneath their feet, making the little nook cozy.
“I heard what you did. More than that, I felt it. That’s some talent you’ve got, Gabe,” she opened the conversation with a boom.
“Yeah, it runs in the family,” he replied, trying not to say anything that would incriminate him if a human overheard.
Flicking a finger at the archway that led to the human wing, he zapped a ward up that would warn him if anyone came from that direction. Trisha followed his motions with her eyes, and they widened as he set the ward in place.
“Neat trick,” she said, sounding a little breathless when he turned back to her. “That’s all the effort it takes, huh? A little flick?” She imitated his motion, but of course, nothing happened when she did it. If she’d been directing water, things might’ve been a little different, but she hadn’t put any power behind the motion.
“Yeah,” he agreed with a sigh. “I’ve had to learn to scale my motions carefully. Any bigger gestures, and…well…you know what happened earlier.” To Bolivar, he meant.
“You took him right down to atoms, they said.” Trisha sounded truly impressed.
Gabe frowned. “It’s not something I enjoyed, but his soul was cleansed of the evil of this life. That part made it a little more palatable,” he admitted.
“Your mother is a priestess,” she said, stating fact. “That must be why you’re so well grounded.” Was she thinking aloud? He wasn’t sure, so he didn’t respond. “To have such a power is a burden, but you carry it better than anyone I’ve ever known,” she told him after a moment. “I’m very glad to have met you and that Steve and I could help you free those women and bring the mage who helped imprison them to justice. If you ever need us again, just call us. We’ll be there.” Trisha stood and offered her hand. Gabe rose and took it, shaking on her words.
“Same goes,” Gabe replied, humbled by the offer.
She looked into his eyes for a long moment then nodded, letting go of his hand. “And now, I think you’ve got someone else you need to settle things with.” She looked over his shoulder, and he turned as Trisha walked away.
“Margo.” Gabe’s heart did a little flip as his lover walked toward him. She was moving like she was on the hunt, and he’d never seen anything sexier.
“Gabriel Llewellyn,” she said formally, walking to a stop right in front of him. She looked into his eyes and held his gaze, her expression serious. “You were totally holding out on me!” She grinned and slapped his shoulder as he laughed with her.
“I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you. It’s just become a habit. I don’t go around broadcasting what I am, any more than you do,” he told her quietly, capturing her in his arms and whispering his words near her ear.
She stilled, staying in his embrace. “Fair enough. I’ll give you that. But, here, I was worrying about you going up against a guy who throws lightning bolts when you’re like a nuclear warhead all on your own. You could have at least warned me.”
“I could’ve tried,” he admitted. “But it would have sounded like bragging. It’s something better experienced than talked about. In fact, I don’t really talk about it. Except with my dad. He understands.”
“Because he’s like you,” Margo whispered with dawning understanding. “That’s the Llewellyn legacy, right? You’re all overly endowed on the
magical scale.”
“Not all of us. Not to this extent. But yeah. It’s something passed down through the family, and it’s what has made us one of the more successful lineages on the side of Light. Even the Venifucus have trouble standing against us.”
“That’s amazing,” she breathed, reaching up to cup his cheeks in her palms. “You’re amazing, Gabe.” She kissed him, long and sweet, and when they finally came up for air, he had a suggestion to make.
“Shall we adjourn to our room for the night?” he asked.
“You mean go back to the hotel?” She looked adorably confused.
“No. I took the liberty of having our stuff brought up to the house by one of Steve’s runners. I’ll go back to the hotel room tomorrow and take down the wards and officially check out, but we’ve got a suite in the magical wing, close to this entry hall. I’m the door guard for the night, but I’ll just fling a few wards up, and we should be good.”
“Your wards can repel people?” she asked, looking impressed.
“Honey, they’ll do whatever I want them to do. Simply report back to me. Repel. Hold. Stun. Kill. Whatever. A simple repulsion charm will keep any curious humans away without them even realizing.” He reached over his shoulder and flicked the tip of his finger at each entry point into the magical wing. “There. It’s done. Let’s go to our suite.”
Margo surprised him by tugging on his hand and breaking into a jog. They were both laughing as he directed them through the ward he’d just put up and toward the suite they’d been assigned.
EPILOGUE
In the aftermath of their first fast round of lovemaking, Margo leaned up on one elbow and looked down at Gabe. She had something to say, but she was very much afraid she’d waited too long to say it.
“I decided something a while back, and I’m a little hesitant to tell you in light of recent events,” she began, not really sure how to get her point across.
Gabe looked alarmed. “Margo, I have total control over my power. I’d never hurt you. Ever. It would kill me if I hurt you in any way.”
He was so serious. So endearing. And so wrong.
“No, that’s not what I meant. Recent events have shown me that you are probably the most powerful being I’ve ever met. Although, Bettina might come in a close second. Or the other fey who were at the wedding. Let me rephrase.” She tried again. “You’re the most powerful human—or part-fey—I’ve ever met. I’m messing this up pretty badly, aren’t I?”
He smiled at her, still puzzled but less alarmed if his expression was anything to go by.
“Just say what you feel. I’ll do my best to handle it.” His words were calm, but he looked like he was bracing himself for a blow. That wouldn’t do.
She leaned down and nibbled on his lips then pulled back. “I love you, Gabe.”
Holy crap. Had she just blurted that out? And, oh, dear Goddess, what was he going to think?
But Gabe smiled. He grinned so big he looked a little goofy. Goofy and utterly adorable. Dare she hope…?
“I love you too, Margo. I have for a long time.” He sat up and brought her with him, cuddling her against his chest. “Will you be my mate?” he asked in a rough voice filled with emotion.
She pulled back to look into his eyes. “Are you sure? Can you even form the bond like shifters do? I don’t know what the rules are for couples of mixed races.”
“There are no rules, sweetheart. The heart knows what it wants, and my heart has always wanted you.” He pushed the hair back from her temple. “Since the moment I first saw you, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to make you fall in love with me.”
“That long?” she breathed, enchanted by the idea that he’d been secretly plotting to win her heart all that time while she’d been stupidly resisting.
“If I’d known all I’d have to do is blow a few things away, I would’ve done it sooner,” he joked, but she felt a pang of regret in her chest that he didn’t understand.
“No, Gabe.” She pressed her palm to his heart. “That wasn’t what decided me. I’ve been kind of stupid, and I’ll hope you forgive me, but I realized when we confronted Bolivar… I realized I wouldn’t be whole anymore without you. I loved you before I knew the secret magic you hold. I’ve loved you all along and have just been too damned stubborn to admit it.” She lifted her lips to his and kissed him gently. “Can you forgive me?”
He rolled, taking her down onto the bed beneath him. “Always.” He kissed her and began making love to her all over again. “My mate.”
*
Thanks for reading Midnight Kiss. If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review. If you want to read more about magic, special kinds of shifters and their adventurous love stories, check out the newest sub-set of stories in my Tales of the Were series that starts with a story called Phoenix Rising. Scroll down for a sneak peek.
A complete list of all of my books, separated by series, follows the excerpt. You can also check out my website at WWW.BIANCADARC.COM. Or you can sign up for my new release list to be alerted when new books are released.
EXCERPT FROM PHOENIX RISING
©2018 Bianca D’Arc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter One
Lance didn’t know what was going on with him lately. Fire itched under his skin and the desert called as never before. He wanted to just go out into it and… What? Self-immolate? Fly like sparks up into the blazing sun? Lay down and die only to be reborn in the burning heat?
And where the hell were these thoughts coming from?
He’d always been a little…odd. He’d had a hard time growing up and in school. He’d been one of the bad kids. The kind that grew up to ride a motorcycle and live on the outskirts of town in what was basically an industrial area. It wasn’t that he was stupid. Far from it. He’d hidden his intelligence from the other kids and tried to fit in at first, when he was little, but he’d soon tired of it all and just started acting out. He’d become the loner. The recluse. The kid everyone thought was a mental case.
Everyone except maybe Tina. The girl with the sad eyes that watched him almost constantly. Her gaze had made his shoulders itch all through senior year, though they’d never said more than a few words to each other.
She wasn’t one of the popular girls, but she had a group of quiet friends with whom she hung out. They didn’t mix with him and he stayed well clear of them, but he noticed her watching hm. A lot. And he couldn’t help but be intrigued by the fact that the pretty, shy girl, seemed to be attracted by the bad boy biker.
He hadn’t acted on it. No, he wouldn’t do that to her. The idea of contaminating her with his inner turmoil didn’t sit well with him. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy after all.
But thinking about high school and the girl he hadn’t seen in years was getting him nowhere. Lance got on his bike and set out across the desert, riding the lonely highway to god-only-knew-where. He had an itch under his skin that only the sun and wind might cure.
Tina couldn’t believe her luck—all of it bad, lately. She’d been enduring one minor calamity after another for a while now. The latest was being broken down on the side of a lonely stretch of highway in the middle of the desert. Great. Just great.
She got out and opened the hood of the car, wondering if there was some sort of magic that might help her get the mechanical beast going again. She was staring at the metallic innards of the engine when it roared.
Okay, it wasn’t her engine that roared, but she definitely heard an engine roaring. She looked up to find a motorcycle headed her way. She wondered if the driver would stop. Then she wondered if she wanted him to stop. She was way out here all alone, after all. Taking help from a stranger—one who drove a motorcycle that roared like the devil—might not be the wisest move.
Regardless of her feelings, the bike started slowing, coming to an eventual stop behind her recalcitrant vehicle. Something about the rider’s aura seemed familiar, but that was ridiculous. He was still a good ten yards away when she thought
she recognized his walk. She remembered that walk…
Holy crap. It was him. Lance Fiori. Her high school crush. And damn, he’d filled out really well over the intervening years. The magic she had always sensed in him was a little closer to the surface now. She wondered how that had played out for him. She hoped he’d come to terms with the wild energy inside him and was stronger for it. He’d always seemed a little lost to her in high school, though they’d never really interacted. The large size of their graduating class had made it easy enough to avoid him, and he’d never sought her out—much to her secret disappointment.
But now, here he was, her knight in shining armor, as it were. He even had the trusty steed, albeit a mechanical one. She wondered if he’d recognize her.
Tina took off her sunglasses and tried not to squint as he drew closer. She got her answer when his step faltered a bit. He had recognized her! His next words proved it.
“Tina Bradbury?” He made it sound like a question, but she knew he was just as certain as she was.
He came right up to the side of the car, looking at her as she faced the engine, and met her gaze. He lowered his sunglasses as well, giving her a peek at those startling blue eyes that had always reminded her of the sky at its brightest. Energy crackled in his irises. Magic and power. Little lightning bolts that only she could see.
“Lance,” she acknowledged him, knowing her voice was a little breathless and powerless to do anything about it. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Stranger things have happened,” he agreed easily. “I’m just not sure where or when.” He sent her the rare dimpled smile she’d only seen a couple of times before.
She was glad her hands were still gripping the edge of the car because it made her knees go weak. Wow. The boy had been the stuff of teenage fantasies, but the man he’d grown into was another beast altogether. His aura was potent. Secure. More intense than it had been at eighteen. Way more intense.