by Kym Grosso
“You did this? You attacked Dimitri’s mate?” Léopold accused, gripping her arm.
“Of course not. Why would I do anything like this? I keep these exits…passages for emergencies. Look at me, you know I’m not lying.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Dimitri yelled.
“I’m sorry,” Gillian managed, her voice barely audible.
“Gilly, you’re gonna be okay. Do you want to shift?”
“Can’t…I feel so weak.”
“It’s the silver.”
“The wolves…where are they?”
“Don’t worry about them. I’ll tell you when we get home.” Gillian attempted to push out of his arms but he held her tight. “Wait a second, cher. Leo, find out what happened…how these wolves got in here without us knowing. If that bitch over there doesn’t know about it, go down the chain, starting with Lacey. As much as I’d like to personally kill whoever did this, I’ve gotta get Gilly home. Can you get these assholes out of here? Give us some privacy?”
“Oui.” Léopold gave Lady Charlotte a hard stare and released her, gesturing for her to go. “You heard him. Get rid of your customers. Now!”
Lady Charlotte scurried into the hallway and began ordering everyone out of the area, funneling them onto the dance floor.
“Call Logan. We’ve got to secure that fucker over there. Keep him for his Alpha. I’ll ask Leo to clean up the rest. Can you shut that door?” Dimitri ordered.
“Ya’ll broke it off the frame. I’ll just,” Jake picked up the heavy wooden door and leaned it against the doorjamb, “there you go. No one can see in. Let’s get her to shift so we can get her the hell out of here.”
“Thanks, man. And thanks for back there…I couldn’t…aw, fuck. You know.” Dimitri shook his head, reliving how it felt to call on his wolf. The deafening silence was like a knife to his chest.
“We’ll fix this,” Jake said. He put his hand on Dimitri’s shoulder and then turned away to the sink and began to wash the blood off his hands.
“Hey, Gilly. You ready?” Gillian had fallen back asleep. He gently kissed her forehead and her lashes fluttered.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“That’s a girl. You go ahead and shift right here. I’ve got ya. Just remember not to claw me up. Go easy, okay?” he joked.
Dimitri smiled as she transformed. Elated that his injured mate had gone to her great cat, he stroked her fur. She roared and licked his face, letting him know she was healed. The magic of shifting never ceased to amaze him, even after having done it himself all these years. The spectacular sight of her tiger caused him to experience both pride and regret, concerned that she’d never be able to shift after their mating. No matter how many times he told himself that she’d be just as happy as wolf, his conscience warned him not to do it.
Chapter Seventeen
The smell of lavender bubble bath filled the air, and Dimitri took a deep breath into his lungs, praying it would calm the tension. He sighed, his heart heavy, as he massaged the shampoo into Gillian’s hair. As he sat behind her on the stool, he noticed that her thick dark hair was finally starting to shine through, the cheap dye fading away. Contemplating the night’s events, he knew they needed to have a serious conversation about their future.
During the car ride home, Gillian had been quiet. Except for a squeeze of his hand, she’d been essentially despondent. In the bathroom at Mordez, she’d eventually shifted back to her human form. While physically she’d been healed, he immediately knew her emotional wounds had not.
Dimitri had wrapped her in Jake’s coat and carried her out to his car where they’d met Logan. After filling him in on what had happened, the Alpha went to help Jake with the lone wolf who was still alive. By the time he and Gillian had arrived back to his house, Dimitri had received a text from Léopold about who’d led the wolves to Gillian. It came as no surprise that Léopold had needed very little interrogation time to affirm the identity of the individual. Apparently the wolves had paid Lacey a considerable amount of money to get access to Gillian. Léopold mentioned that she’d accused Ilsbeth of wrongdoing but that he hadn’t given her a chance to explain. Dimitri hadn’t asked what he’d done with her, the punishment he’d given. He knew the vampire wouldn’t think twice about killing a traitor. Incredulous, Dimitri didn’t feel an ounce of pity for her as she had to have known the wolves were planning on torturing his mate.
Dimitri glanced at the gun Jake had given him. It sat on the sink counter, a cold reminder of his affliction. With his wolf unable to respond, he didn’t trust himself to be able to protect Gillian. Dimitri had asked Jake to stay overnight and expected him to return as soon as he was finished at the club.
The only saving grace, he thought, was that they’d safely arrived at his home without incident. His sanctuary, it was large and contemporary. The enormous bathroom and shower area, consisting entirely of glass walls, could be viewed through the master bedroom. An oversized tub sat centerpiece. While he rarely used it, he’d personally helped design the layout. The open area reflected his soul, no walls, no pretenses. What you saw was what you got.
“Dimitri.” Gillian’s soft voice broke his rumination.
“Lift your head up a sec,” he told her, turning on the water. He removed the hand-held faucet and sprayed away the lather. “All done, relax back.”
“About tonight,” she began, pressing the heels of her hands to her forehead.
“You defended yourself.” Dimitri wrung the water out of her hair, rolled up a towel and set it behind her head.
“They’re not going to stop.”
“That’s the idea. They’ll come to us and we’ll take care of Chaz.”
“You mean we’re going to kill him,” she said flatly.
“Yes. I’m not gonna lie about how things are. He’ll either give up and go home, which I doubt. Or he’ll come here and die on our land.”
“Lacey. She told me they paid her.”
“So I heard. You know, I’m friends with Leo, but vampires in general…I don’t trust them.”
“You slept with her.”
“Yeah, I did.” Her words burned deep, but he knew she had to get this off her chest.
“The thing is, in that bathroom, I talked to her. Lacey doesn’t want you or care about you. She reminded me a little of my mom’s cat. She’d find a mouse and she’d just kind of bat it around. She wouldn’t kill them. She just played with them for entertainment. Lacey is the same way. Tonight, she took perverse pleasure in causing you pain…for fun. What she did to me…that was about money.”
“It doesn’t matter why she did it. Sometime before she was turned, she learned right and wrong.”
“She wasn’t attached to you. She understood that you’d find a mate.”
“It was just a fling. It meant nothing. I thought that she got that. Vampires usually get it and so do wolves. Single wolves don’t make it a habit to fall for someone they’ve had sex with because they know there’s always a chance of finding their mate. There’s something innate that tells us it’s okay to fool around and we don’t get attached. It’s just how it is.”
“Ilsbeth didn’t get the memo,” Gillian said quietly. She submerged deeper into the soapy water.
“She’s a witch. She knew the deal from the very beginning. I tried to make it up to her, but she’s pissed.” Dimitri sunk his hands onto Gillian’s shoulders, massaging them. “I’m just sorry that you have to be privy to all this nonsense. You know you can feel the difference?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not the first person you’ve dated. Had sex with. This is different. And it’s not just the mating, Gil.” He paused, pressing his lips to her wet hair. “The heat, the passion we have is off the charts. But it’s not just sex, cher. It’s everything about us. The way I feel about you.” Dimitri cringed at how inarticulate he sounded, but his words eluded him.
“I care about you…too much,” she admitted, reaching up to his hands. “I get that you dated other people, but
what’s going on inside me; it’s like I’m feeling everything tenfold. I’m not a jealous person, I swear. But tonight I could have killed Lacey when she went to bite you. And Ilsbeth? She’s just a bitch.”
Dimitri laughed softly. “Yeah, that’s about it. But she’s a powerful bitch. So I’m trying to play nice.”
“Did you ever think that maybe she isn’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“Just something Lacey said.”
“You can’t really trust her, ya know. Tonight. Case in point.”
“I know.” Gillian turned around onto her knees, facing Dimitri. She pushed out of the water, her breasts dripping, and balanced herself with her hands on the side of the tub. “But maybe you shouldn’t trust the witch. Maybe she had something to do with you losing your wolf.”
“No, I know where I picked up this crazy bit of evil. I was there, remember.”
“But Ilsbeth was too. She had reason for you to lose your wolf. Witches can be with mortals, right?”
“Yeah, but…”
“What happens when you lose your beast? You’ll essentially be human. Maybe you’ll continue not to age, but you’ll still be vulnerable like a human. No shifting. No pack. No mate.”
Dimitri’s blood pumped hard as Gillian formulated the accusation that had grown from the seed Lacey had planted. He shook his head, and wiped his hands on his towel. Here he had a beautiful wet and naked woman in his room but they were discussing evil that had no bounds. He swore to himself that before the night was through, they’d be back to making love instead of talking about his exes.
“Just listen,” she persisted. “If you weren’t wolf, then you wouldn’t need to mate. She could be with you…there’d be nothing stopping you from being with her.”
“Except for the fact that I don’t love her. I wasn’t even close to falling in love with her, so there’s no way that would happen,” he argued. He laughed as he spoke, amused at how Gillian didn’t know how much he liked her. “I want to be with you, Gilly. Not because you’re my mate, either. I mean, sure, that’s what brought us together. But you’re brave. And you don’t give up. I want to be with you…just you.”
A smile broke across Gillian’s face at his confession.
“I want to mate with you now,” she declared. “I don’t want to wait.”
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Dimitri found himself saying. He’d kill to mate with her, but that was exactly the problem; her tiger would die.
“Why would you say that? No, forget it, I know why. Is this about me?” Gillian splashed hot water over her chest, trying to warm herself.
“Of course it’s about you,” he snapped, torn about what to do. He didn’t want to hurt her any more than he already had.
“Tonight I heard a howl…” She looked down into the bath, then slowly lifted her gaze, aware that she’d dropped a bomb. “I heard…I think it was my wolf.”
“You what?” His voice grew louder. He shoved out of his chair, and began to pace, plowing his fingers through his hair. “This is crazy. We haven’t mated yet. There’s no way…we must’ve done something…what about your cat? I saw what you did to that guy tonight. A wolf couldn’t do that by itself. And when you shifted, you were a cat. I saw your tiger with my own two eyes.”
“I don’t know what’s happening, but I know what I heard. Before Lacey came into the bathroom I was all by myself.”
“You know what this means?” he huffed, concerned about her feline.
“I’m changing. I can already feel it.”
“Because I marked you, goddammit,” he said, flooded with guilt.
“I let you. I wanted it as much as you did,” she insisted, fingering the area where he’d bitten her. “It’s done. And there’s something else…something I haven’t told you.”
“What?” he asked, scrubbing his face. Goddess, what hadn’t she told him? When she didn’t answer, he approached the bath and sat down in front of her, resisting the urge to take her in his arms.
“I should have told you…I just didn’t want you to want me because of it. Chaz, he knows. It’s what he wants. It’s why he won’t give up.” Her voice cracked.
“I don’t know what you’re about to tell me but we’ll deal with it. What is it?”
“My mother told me…Jax thinks that…”
“Fucking Jax knows this secret and you haven’t told me? Honesty, it’s all I ask,” he yelled. Dimitri could forgive many things, but lying wasn’t one of them.
“Just, please let me finish. I don’t even know if it’s true. It’s like this urban legend about our breed. But Jax thinks it’s true. He knew my father, so maybe he saw it firsthand.”
“What?” His patience grew thin.
“Supposedly when I mate, the person I mate with…”
“Me. I’m the person you’re going to mate with, Gilly. You’re mine,” he asserted.
“You…you’ll take on attributes of my tiger. I lose my cat, but somehow you get them…like gifts. You’ll be stronger. Your teeth, your claws, they can change. You’d still be a wolf, but you’d gain her strength.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Léopold had mentioned that she might have gifts but he’d always thought whatever it was had to do with her healing abilities.
“I’m not joking. I lose my ability to shift to tiger. Well, we don’t even know if that’s true but I can feel her fading already. My mate, on the other hand…you, you’ll be able to call on her.”
No longer able to restrain himself, Dimitri took her by the arms, gently pulling her upward, until they were inches apart, face to face. “Why, Gilly? Why after all this time did you keep this a secret?”
“I’m sorry. I know I should have told you but…”
“It didn’t make any sense why Chaz was after you. He’s doing all of this just so he can steal your power?”
“Yes,” she nodded.
“Did your father do this to your mother? Did he hurt her?”
“No, no. She loved him. She always made sure I knew how much he was loved…how much he loved me. They knew when they mated that this could happen.”
“You haven’t answered my question, though. Why didn’t you tell me about your gifts? Did you think I’d steal from you?” He felt her shiver, and pressed her to his chest.
“No. Yes. No, it’s not like that. I’m just afraid. I didn’t want you to want me so you could be Alpha.” She tried to pull away but he held her still.
“We need to get one thing straight, darlin’. I chose not to kill Chaz that night. I don’t want to leave to be Alpha of someone else’s pack. I don’t want to be Alpha of my pack either. If I wanted to challenge Logan to be Alpha, I could do it any damn day of the week. But I don’t. Dealin’ with the weight of the pack is something that Logan took on when Marcel died and he’s got a load of responsibility on those shoulders. Our pack has had enough upheaval in the past twelve months. What I did choose was my position as his beta, supporting Logan, because I love him. It’s where I’m most needed in our pack.” Dimitri took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe she’d hidden the truth from him, thinking he’d want her gifts. His Alpha knew what he was capable of when it came to a battle of strength, but when Logan agreed to lead the pack, Dimitri had made a deliberate decision to support his friend. “Gillian, do you think so little of me that I’d be just like Chaz? That I’d take a mate just so I’d be able to sprout tiger fangs? Seriously?”
“You don’t understand. I had to be sure…after what happened with Chaz. I didn’t know you.”
“I’m not like Chaz. And you know it.”
“I just…I just wanted to be loved by someone. Not because I can give them something. Or because of who I am. I hate this mating thing…I just want to be able to choose on my own who I love. I don’t want some stupid fate thing to take over my life. I want you…I want you to choose me for me,” she cried. “Is it so much to ask? Don’t answer because there is no other way for us.”
“Gillian, I can’t change our circumstances. We are who we are.”
“In here.” She pounded her chest with her palm. “This is what should matter. I needed to know that you liked me for me, not because I can give you something.”
“Goddess, you know I care about you. Why do you think I’m worried about mating you? I don’t want to hurt you. To know that I’ll be the reason you’ll lose your ability to shift…I just don’t know if I can do that to you. It’s not fair to you.” He cupped her face, his thumb tracing her bottom lip.
“All I know is that I can’t lose you,” she responded. “If we mate, there’s still a chance I can give you my gift. This thing with Ilsbeth. What if she did this to you on purpose?”
“What does any of this have to do with Ilsbeth?”
“Because maybe she has no intention of really healing you. Think about this. If she’s so powerful and all knowing, why did she have to bring in someone else to help her? Maybe she’s just waiting this thing out…waiting for your wolf to die. If there’s no wolf, then she certainly doesn’t have to worry about you finding or at this point, keeping your mate. Once your wolf is dead, there’s no reason to mate with me.”
“Listen, I’ll be the first one to admit that Ilsbeth was pissed at me, but I don’t think that she’d go that far.”
“Really? What makes you think she wouldn’t? She’s not just a little bit upset with you. I saw the way she was looking at you…the way she touched you and no matter what you say, she still wants you. I may not know witches very well but I know when a woman is jealous.”
Dimitri sighed, thinking it had been one hell of a night. As much as he loathed to admit it, Gillian’s theory had merit. A pit of disgust curled in his stomach as he realized that Ilsbeth could have done this to him on purpose. The night he’d come out of hell, having saved Logan’s daughter, Ilsbeth had given him a look of pity. At least that’s what he’d thought at the time. Maybe it was guilt for what she’d done? Anger boiled inside him as he gave the situation new perspective.
“Even so, the sorcerer seemed legit. I’ve got to give his spell a try. There aren’t many options left on the table.”