“Are you sure I didn’t hurt you?” she asked. “The magic can get a bit rough when it’s unleashed like that.”
“Quite sure.” He chuckled. “That was quite a ride. I can’t wait for the next round.”
“If you think you can take it.”
He bared his teeth and lifted her all the way on top of him. She yipped as his wolfhood stirred against her, scenting its favorite prey. “Why don’t we find out?”
* * * *
She didn’t notice any difference then. Not during their second romp, nor during dinner, nor at any time during the long, serene night she spent happily curled at his side. The noticing came with the morning. Darinda blinked her eyes open to soft dawn sunlight and an odd but fully pleasant sensation humming at the bottom of her mind. Like the touch of another’s thoughts, only richer, strange and familiar at once.
Puzzled, she tried to shut it down. It wouldn’t go away. Alarm burst in on her. Could this be another mystic attack? Cautiously she prodded the alien, intimate presence.
Her probe awoke Roderick. He stretched and yawned and immediately tried to climb on top of her. “Good morning to you too,” he murmured against her neck.
“Stop. Don’t. Something’s not right.”
He came alert at once, his posture going to from passion to protective in one overall tensing of muscles, “In the house?” he hissed.
“In me.” She shut her eyes briefly, opened them again. She was no longer fully alone in her head. She gathered her defenses and stabbed at the intruder.
Roderick yelped. “What did you do that for?”
“I didn’t do anything. I—”
The presence in her head flared up and made itself known with a vengeance. Her hand flew to her mouth. “It’s you. You’re in me.”
He shook his head as the sting receded. “Not yet, but if you’d like…” He stopped. His eyes seemed to turn inward. Unexpectedly, he smiled. “Well. This is interesting.”
“No, it isn’t. It’s scary. Any link we had last night should have dissolved after…well, after. You’re still there.”
“I think I know what you mean. I feel like someone’s scratching me at the base of my tail. Rather pleasant, actually. As if...Lycaon bite it, you don’t suppose…?” He stared down into her eyes, wonder dawning in his own. “Mate bond.”
Her heart stuttered once. “But I’m not were. You said that couldn’t happen outside your own species.”
“It shouldn’t. That’s why humans are deemed safe for romps. But then, you’re not entirely human, are you? Your magic’s bridged the gap. I knew it. You are my chosen mate.”
“But that’s not—”
His expression clouded over. “Not what?”
She thought of the Queen of Hearts and the King of Spades. She considered his strength inside her, shoring up her own. His assets countered her flaws, and vice versa. Maybe such a fate wasn’t as horrible as she’d first imagined. “Not so bad,” she finished.
Roderick relaxed. “Well, this is certainly unexpected, but I can’t say I’m upset. Are you sure there’s no wolf in your line?”
“Positive. Mom’s a witch through and through. Her bloodline’s probably purer than yours. Witches are picky when it comes to mates.”
“What about your father?”
Darinda snorted. “If you knew Dad you wouldn’t even ask that. No, he’s human. Even he used to joke about it.”
“I find it hard to believe that any witch would be satisfied with a mere human as a mate. Didn’t you just say how picky you are?”
“Dad’s not a wolf and neither is Mom. This thing between us has to be some aberration. My magic’s a little mixed up just now.”
He smirked. “I wonder what could have brought that on.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” His presence inside her had already settled in and made itself at home. How quickly she’d adjusted to it. Frighteningly so. “How long does it last?”
“Mate bonding? For life. We stay together and raise a litter. That’s the point.”
She stiffened. “So I’m your property now?”
“Of course not. You’re my mate. We’re equals in this. It’s up to us together to provide for the pack and keep it strong. If anything…” He looked away from her. He didn’t quite wince. “If anything, I’m yours. Ultimately it’s the shes who decide who sires their pups.” His voice dropped to a desperate whisper. “Don’t let on.”
Darinda felt the smile bloom on her face. “No one will hear it from me. So…we’re destined to start a pack together. I’m not sure I can do that. Biologically, I mean. Genetically, there could be problems.”
“No, there won’t. Uncle Todd—”
Again he broke off. This time he actually blushed. “Uncle Todd what?” Darinda prompted. Roderick mumbled something. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”
“I said, Uncle Todd married a human.” He spat out the words in a rush. “Don’t you dare smirk. He was excised from the Registry for it. It isn’t something we’re proud of.”
“So the Chase line isn’t as pure as you’ve been beating me over the head with.” Darinda smirked anyway, right into the face of his glower. “And they had children?”
“Scads. Humans aren’t bound to a twice-a-year breeding cycle. They had to leave England. Mother drove them away. I think they moved to Montana.”
“Where he became a cowboy.” Darinda’s smirk softened into a tender smile. “Didn’t he?”
“Mother forbade contact,” Roderick growled. “We’ve kept in touch through the Internet. Mother doesn’t know.”
Her smile vanished quickly. “When your mother finds out about us, what’s going to happen to you?”
“I don’t sodding care.” He dragged her against him and kissed her fiercely, sparking her own full-hearted response. When he finally let her go, both were panting. “We’re mates now. Her, the coyotes, whoever wants to kill me, none of that matters. Whatever comes at us, we’ll face it, and we’ll win.”
* * * *
The flight from London seemed hurried in its touchdown, as if it couldn’t wait to expel its passengers. The first off the plane didn’t wait for expulsion. She didn’t wait for anything. Customs caught one look at her eyes and rushed her through without argument. Security didn’t even ask to see her passport. Once free of these annoyances, she plowed through the crowds like a steamer through the ocean. Even the dullest, most belligerent of the monkeys recognized the she-wolf in their midst and skittered out of her way.
“They’d better be here,” she snarled under her breath. “Snap it up,” she barked over her shoulder.
The young man in the too-roomy suit had finally found a cart for their bags. He scurried desperately in her wake. She pounded arrow-straight for the exit and never once looked back. The boy maneuvered through the mass of monkeys with a quivery voice and appeasing smile: “Sorry…sorry…sorry…”
Bernadette Chase had arrived in America.
Chapter 18
Darinda had just emerged from the shower when the downstairs phone rang. Roderick picked up. She thought she heard him yelp. A stab of hot rage pierced her through their link before he suppressed it. She cracked the bathroom door in time to hear, “Absolutely not! Who the bloody hell does she think she is? No, I will not—” The rest deteriorated into a spate of barks and snarls. She marveled that the phone didn’t melt in his hand, or shatter when he slammed the receiver down.
She started down the steps just as he started up. They met in the middle. Before Darinda could get a word out Roderick said, “Mother. She’s coming here.”
“Your mother? Here? You mean to Philadelphia?”
“I mean here, to this house. That was Aunt Letty. Mother arrived at the airport an hour ago. Eugene had to go get her. The Queen Mum insists on an audience, now. She’ll be here in twenty minutes. Less, if Eugene’s driving.”
Darinda glanced down at the bath towel wrapped around her body. “Short notice.”
“She likes to ta
ke her prey unawares. We’re lucky Aunt Letty was able to slip us a head’s up.” He herded her back up the stairs. “We don’t have much time.”
Darinda scrambled to keep ahead of him. One stumble and he’d run her down. “She knows about me, right?”
“She knows about the death threats, the bodyguard bit, everything. She knew when I phoned her the other night. Someone’s been keeping her apprised. Probably Eugene. Brown-nosing bastard.”
“There you go being paranoid again.” Darinda dropped the towel on a chair and yanked on underwear. “Your cousins checked out.”
“As far as murder goes. This is everyday politics.” He pawed through her closet and pulled out her tan slacks and the snug russet pullover with the brocade design. “Do you have anything dressier than this?”
“Only the gown you bought me, and that’s a bit much for this time of the morning.”
“This will have to do, then.” He thrust the clothing at her. “It had to be Eugene. He’s low rank. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”
She pulled on the slacks and the sweater. “She can’t know that we’ve, well, you know.”
“She’s aware we’ve been alone together in the house for several days, that I have—had—a penchant for human partners, and I’ve broken the engagement she arranged. She’s bright enough to tot up the score on her own. She doesn’t know the Duquesnes deceived us or that Coraline’s a coyote, or that you’re my mate.”
“When are you planning to spring that on her?”
“The minute she walks through the door.” He grinned, and the look was scary to see. He was indeed his mother’s son. He tugged at her clothing to get the fit just so then passed her her hairbrush. He himself made use of her comb. “She’ll charge in with fangs bared. We want to look our best for the assault.”
“You expect me to—”
“Stand by my side, where a mate belongs. No warning, eh? See how she likes it.”
“I meant,” Darinda said, “do you expect me to use my magic on her if things get ugly? Which is sounding more likely by the minute.”
“That won’t be necessary. She’s my mother. If anybody’s going to rip her throat out, it’ll be me.” If she’d taken his smile for scary before, she discovered now how far off she’d been. “A wolf can only take so much.”
To cover her misgivings, Darinda attacked her hair and got it into a semblance of decency. “Let’s keep the bloodshed to a minimum, huh? I hate having to dish out physical violence before I’ve had my tea.”
“You haven’t met Mother. Five minutes and you’ll be looking for a wall to slam her into.”
He stiffened. Darinda got the impression of ears pricking. Seconds later she also picked up the sound of a car in the drive. “Eugene,” Roderick said. He gave her outfit a final tug, straightened his shirt collar and checked his cuffs, and took her arm. She barely had a chance to snatch up her ever-present shoulder bag. “Show no fear. She thrives on it. Here we go.”
They descended the stairs together. Before they reached the door it swung open. Eugene poked his head inside. “Hey, Rod.” He spotted Darinda and lost his watery smile. “Lycaon help us. Rod, shove her in the closet or something before—”
There wasn’t going to be any “before,” because the entrance of the rest of the pack cut him off. Darinda needed no introduction to the she-wolf in the lead. Those were Roderick’s eyes boring a hole through her skull, Roderick’s mouth twisting up into a snarl of loathing. She was shorter than Darinda had expected. Her eyes came level with Darinda’s chin. Somehow one missed the lack of height in the face of all that presence, which seemed to expand to take over the room. “What’s that doing here?”
“Now, Detty, you promised you’d be nice.” Aunt Letty entered in a servile crouch, reduced to subordinate status in her own den. The look she sent Darinda behind her sister’s back was equal parts welcome and apology. “This is Darinda Lowell, Roddy’s bodyguard. We told you about her, remember?”
Letty took another step then was halted by the rigid line of Bernadette’s back. Unnoticed, or perhaps ignored, one last wolf slunk in. Nearly as tall as Roderick but far more spindly, he had the Chase features but softer, unfinished. This, Darinda deduced, would be Roderick’s younger brother. She dredged his name out of her memory: Orrin. He shot her a glance then looked down at the carpet. Eugene, equally unnoticed, silently shut the door.
“The witch,” Bernadette said, combining acknowledgement and dismissal in two snapped syllables. Darinda felt her hackles rise. She had no chance to retort, because Bernadette had already directed the full force of her attention to her son. Her smile was anything but motherly. “Roderick.”
Roderick stood unbowed. Un-submissive. Annoyance flashed in Bernadette’s eyes. He returned her smile in kind. “Mother. What brings you to America?”
“You know bloody well why I’m here. I went to great lengths to find you a suitable mate. If you think I’ll stand by while you cast that aside for some silly little simian chit—”
That’s it, Darinda thought, and readied her air geller. Attuned to her emotions, Roderick smoothly stepped in front of her, blocking her spell. “I see you’ve not been fully apprised of the current turn of events. Coraline Duquesne is far from suitable. I’ll leave it to Ellis to explain to you why. As for Darinda, she is neither simian nor a casual fling. Darinda is my mate.”
Every other wolf in the room stopped breathing. Bernadette stood in mounting fury, the rest in mounting panic. Eugene whimpered. Aunt Letty elbowed him sharply. “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I could certainly go for a good cup of broth. Darinda, would you come help me in the kitchen, dear?”
Nothing doing. She’d edged out from behind Roderick and had the bitch dead in her sights. Bernadette’s yellow glare held enough venom to boil a king cobra alive. Roderick’s tension vibrated painfully along her nerves. His emotions, more so than her own, prodded her to attack. On some level Darinda recognized this. Another, more primitive level urged her to stand by her mate and strike down the common enemy that threatened them both.
Both weres quivered on the verge of shifting. There’d be definite bloodshed between them unless Darinda struck first. That she’d take a healthy measure of satisfaction from it was purely incidental.
Except Letty stepped between them and ruined her aim. “Please,” Letty said. “We’re all upset over all that’s been happening, and Detty and Orrin have been on a plane for hours. We could do with a minute to catch our breaths.”
“Not with that in the house.” Bernadette said. “Apes embroiled in our affairs. The idea. Roderick, I’ve turned a blind eye to your escapades for far too long. The marriage was supposed to fix all that. I suppose a portion of this debacle is my own fault for indulging you. That ends now. We can still salvage this. Get rid of your chew toy”—she spat that toward Darinda—“and get Ellis Duquesne in here now. We’ve got pack matters to resolve.”
Roderick’s lips pulled back. He surged forward. Aunt Letty planted herself firmly in his path. “Oh no you don’t,” she said, with a force that surprised both Darinda and Roderick, and caused Bernadette’s eyebrows to climb. Eugene whimpered again. “Either of you. Not in my house. Detty, dear, why don’t you have a seat? You too, Roddy, there on the sofa. Let me get you something. Darinda, be a dear and give me a hand in the kitchen, would you?”
Her look was half order, half entreaty. Bernadette appeared ready to jump at somebody, and Letty was closest. Darinda touched Roderick’s hand, nodded fractionally at the sofa, gathered up her simian dignity and strode into the kitchen, with Letty padding at her heels. Bernadette made a comment Darinda deliberately pretended not to hear.
Aunt Letty wasted no time. She shut the door and told Darinda, “I’m so sorry, dear. You have to go.”
“I can handle her.”
“Yes, I’m sure you can. That’s the problem.” Aunt Letty licked her lips. “Detty can be difficult at the best of times. That’s how alphas are. Especially solitary alph
as. She wasn’t so abrasive when she had Roddy’s father to help shoulder the load. She feels she needs to run everything, and everyone. Roddy’s the same way.”
Darinda had to nod at that. “So I noticed.”
“They also won’t tolerate challenge. Your species doesn’t matter. She’s recognized a threat. Another alpha. That’s why I had to have Eugene bring me and not Charles. It’s a wolf thing. It can be a bit confusing to outsiders.”
“No, I get it. Your sister’s a queen bitch who’s used to getting her own way and tromping on everyone else. Well, I don’t stand for tromping. That’s a witch thing. Generations of relatives getting burned at the stake will do that to a person. Roderick needs me. I won’t just up and abandon him to that —that mother of his.”
“You’re going to. You have to. This is Roddy’s fight. If you involve yourself in this, I’ll be ages getting the blood stains out of the carpet. And Roddy will resent you for the rest of his life, because you took away his chance to settle rank with his pack leader. Oh, he’ll never show it, of course, but it will be there, eating away at him. You do love him, don’t you, dear?”
“Of course,” she started, and broke off, startled. Of course. It had begun with that first handclasp, all the way back at the airport, and crept up on her like Springsteen stalking mice in the storeroom. The cards knew what her solitary, secretly lonely soul yearned for, and told her when she’d found him. As usual, it took her forever to catch up with what the deck already knew. She didn’t even try to fight her blush. “It’s that obvious?”
Aunt Letty smiled and tapped her nose. “It is to this old snoot. Oh, I know why you came up here and entangled yourself in a were war. It wasn’t because we were paying you. The sparks that shot between you two! I thought you’d set the drapes on fire.”
A London Werewolf in America Page 23