“You never told me you’d met someone.”
“You were in the middle of your divorce. It felt wrong to tell you I was happy when you were in such a dark place.” Helena shook her head. “I know what you’re going to say. I know that you would have been happy for me, I really do. But it was a call I made. I figured that if the relationship lasted, I’d tell you about it when things settled down for you, if not then it made no difference.”
“What happened?”
“He was a very sweet guy. He treated me nice. With respect. He never pushed himself on me, if you know what I mean.” She sighed, recalling their dinner dates, of dancing in his arms, resting her head on his shoulder as he held her close. “I really thought I’d found a good guy. Someone with whom I could make a future. He had a good job in a similar field to me. We were a good fit.”
“Okay, so that’s the good, what’s the bad?” Penny asked.
“He wore this expensive cologne.” She inhaled and closed her eyes. “A mixture of exotic spice and musk. Very distinctive.”
“What happened?”
“The day you were due to arrive...” She put her hand over her mouth, her face pale. “After you called, I went home...”
“Honey, what did he do?”
“Nothing.” She shook her head. “Not to me.”
“Tell me.”
“I think he’d been in my apartment.”
“You think he had.”
“I could smell him. His cologne.” She shook her head. “I’d never invited him back to my place. We never got that intimate.”
“Do you think he let himself into your apartment?”
“Or maybe I just imagined it, in the same way I imagined that horse today.” She took a shuddering breath. “What if I’m going crazy? What if I’m losing my mind like Mom did?”
“Oh, wait, no. The horse, I’m almost certain you saw.” She glanced over her shoulder to check on Milo. “As for the guy, is there anything else about him that makes you think he would go into your apartment like that? Was there anything missing?”
“Not that I know of.” She shook her head. “I could have just imagined it. But the smell, it seemed so real.”
“Okay, well, you’re here now, you’re safe here in Wishing Moon Bay.” Penny nodded. “And when you go home, I’m coming with you.”
“No, you’ve already said you want to stay here. I don’t want to get in the middle of what you have with Logan. A real chance at happiness.”
“And that happiness will still be here waiting for me when I get back. Although, I suspect that Logan will want to come with us.” Penny got up and came around the table to hug Helena. “You’re not in this alone, I promise.”
“Thanks, Penny. I don’t know who else to turn to. I couldn’t call the police, they’d laugh at me if I said I can smell an intruder in my apartment.” Helena leaned on her sister. “I’m just scared I’m going crazy like...”
“Like Mom. I understand. But I don’t think Mom was crazy. Not really.”
“She used to believe in monsters in the closet and all that crap.”
“I think she just saw things differently.” Penny sighed heavily. “But that doesn’t mean what she saw wasn’t true.”
“Now you believe in monsters and magic?” Helena pulled away from her sister. “Where did that come from?”
“There are things about this town that I need to tell you,” Penny said cryptically. “But for now, let’s just drink coffee and eat these delicious pastries. The rest can wait.”
“I don’t think it can, Penny.” Helena was just about ready to bundle her sister and nephew in her car and drive out of town. But as Penny poured the coffee, Helena had a feeling she was right where she was supposed to be.
Chapter Two – Dario
“The horse lord returns.” Logan entered the hotel kitchen where Dario was devouring a plateful of Ivan’s food. He’d traveled all over the world but there was nothing like his brother’s cooking.
“Logan. I came as soon as I could.” Dario placed his plate down on the counter and hugged his brother. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks, Dario.” Logan patted his brother on the back. “And are congratulations in order for you, too?”
“Have I missed something?” Ivan’s sharp inquiry was met with a sheepish grin from Dario. “I have missed something.” His dragon shifter brother looked from Logan to Dario and back again. “One of you needs to tell me.”
“Dario, this is your news.” Logan let his brother go and stepped back.
“I have found my mate.”
“You’re joking!” Ivan shook his head. “You aren’t joking.”
“He’s not joking.” Logan’s eyes narrowed as he stared at his brother.
“Ivan tells me there was some trouble with a witch who kidnapped your mate.” Dario scraped the fork across the plate and glanced at Ivan. “Any more?”
“I’d forgotten how much you eat.” Ivan fetched a covered plate from the fridge and set it down on the counter. “Help yourself. It’s leftovers from last night.”
“Oh, leftovers, my favorite.” Dario peeled back the aluminum foil from the plate. “Spaghetti.” He inhaled deeply. “Smothered in your famous tomato and basil sauce, with just the right amount of garlic.”
“Dario,” Logan said sharply. “Explain.”
“Explain?” Dario heaped the spaghetti onto his plate. “Your tone hasn’t lost its sharpness.”
“Not when the subject concerns my mate.” He drew in a shaky breath. “And this does concern my mate, doesn’t it?”
“How does Dario finding his mate affect Penny?” Ivan recovered the plate and stowed it back in the fridge, his tone hostile.
“I’m sorry.” Dario set his fork down on his plate. “I am being insensitive.”
“Just explain.” Logan ran his hand through his hair. “Please.”
“Logan...” Dario nodded. “I was coming back here to meet your mate. Ivan called me and told me you had found her, and I dropped everything to come back. It’s a big occasion.”
“Get to the point,” Ivan told him.
“I was outside of Wishing Moon Bay this morning when a car came by and I got this feeling.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It knocked the wind out of me. Then I realized that whoever was in the car was special to me.”
“You are the horse Helena saw.” Logan rubbed his chin and turned away.
“Helena?” Ivan leaned back against the fridge. “Penny’s sister, Helena?”
“She is your mate’s sister?” Dario asked.
We had no idea, his horse told him. No wonder Logan is in shock.
But why the hostility? Dario asked.
Maybe he’s afraid we won’t take this seriously. We spend our days traveling the world. Running wild and free. A mate means settling down. A mate means family.
“Yes, she’s my mate’s sister.” Logan glanced toward the restaurant.
Dario could sense his mate, she was close, she was safe. That’s why he was in the kitchen eating, because she wasn’t going anywhere. The moment she did, he would follow.
He would follow wherever she went. They were bound together.
“And you are afraid I will…what?” Dario rolled his shoulders. If Logan planned to come between Dario and his mate, he was ready to fight his brother just as they had fought as children.
Grow up, his horse told him.
Logan believes I am not serious about this. He thinks I won’t do right by my mate. He’s wrong! Dario clenched his fists, then immediately relaxed.
“I’m afraid if we don’t handle this well that Penny and Helena might both leave Wishing Moon Bay.”
“Handle what well?”
“Penny had no idea that shifters or magic were real. That was a shock, and then Penny was kidnapped by a witch. Not exactly the best new experience of life here in town.” Logan went to the back door and pulled it open, sucking in the fresh air.
“That must have been traumatic. And n
ow you are worried that Helena might freak out when she finds out about shifters?” Dario asked.
“I am.” Logan turned back around. “We planned not to tell Helena since we figured this was a fleeting visit.”
“I am not going to hide who I am and what she is to me,” Dario replied hotly.
“That’s not what Logan is suggesting.” Ivan tried to smooth over the situation. “Listen, this isn’t like you. Either of you. You are not enemies. I suspect the nearness of your mates has elevated your testosterone. So just calm things down and let’s work this out together. Like brothers.”
“Ivan is right.”
“As always,” the dragon shifter muttered under his breath.
“We are in this together. We both want the same thing, for our mates to be happy and stay in Wishing Moon Bay.” Logan held his hand out to Dario. “Or wherever it is that you are living these days.”
“I have no fixed home.” He pressed his lips together. “I’ve spent the last few years exploring the world, joining with the few remaining herds that roam wild and free. I lost myself to that freedom. But now it’s time to start a new life.”
“So, you’re agreed. The plan is to make sure that Helena accepts that shifters and magic are real without freaking out.” Ivan looked up, at the same time Logan took two long strides toward the door leading from the restaurant.
“Penny’s coming.” He half-turned to face Dario. “We need to tell Penny about you and Helena.”
“No!” Dario shook his head. “When Helena finds out about us being mates, I want it to be from me. I certainly don’t want her to think we were plotting and scheming behind her back.”
“And I am not going to lie to Penny.” Logan’s shoulders rose as his muscles bunched. “Trust me, Dario.”
“Logan.” Penny burst into the kitchen but came to an abrupt stop when she saw Dario. “Hi. Sorry, am I interrupting?”
“This is Dario,” Ivan said quickly.
Penny’s eyes widened. “The horse shifter?”
Dario inclined his head. “It’s good to finally meet you, Penny.”
“And you.” She pointed at him as she drew closer. “It was you.”
“What was me?” Dario got the feeling no one needed to tell Penny about her sister being his mate.
“Helena said a horse suddenly appeared in front of her and steered her toward Wishing Moon Bay. She’d driven up and down the same stretch of road a half dozen times and never saw the turnout and then you...”
“And then me.” He inclined his head.
“You’re her mate?” The question was direct and one he could not deny.
“I am.”
“Oh.” She glanced over her shoulder toward where her sister was still seated in the restaurant.
“Oh, what?” Logan placed his hand on his mate’s arm. “What’s wrong?”
“That’s what I came to tell you.” Penny eyed Dario, not with suspicion, but with sympathy. “Helena is in trouble. At least I think she’s in trouble.”
Dario stepped closer to Penny, but Logan inserted himself between them. “It’s okay,” Dario told his brother. “I just want to hear what Penny knows. If my mate is in danger, then I intend to do whatever it takes to ensure her safety.”
“I know and I understand, but give Penny some space.” Logan patted his brother’s chest. “This is all new to her, remember?”
“I’m sorry, Penny.” Dario stepped back, his hands curled into fists. “This is all new for me, too. Having a mate. When I felt the connection to Helena in the car, it was like being hit by a freight train. It’s like being a teenager again when my first shift was close and the hormones in my body were out of control.”
“I understand.” Penny pressed her lips into a thin line as she switched her attention to Logan. “I assume that’s how you felt, too, Logan?”
“When I saw you walking down the street, I just knew you were the one. Then panic took hold. And my head filled with all these thoughts, what if you didn’t like me, what if you ran away and I never found you again. After so long waiting for my mate, it kind of makes you crazy.”
“Okay. Well, you’re gonna need to deal with that crazy and fast.” Penny’s firm tone alerted him to the presence of danger. Not here in the hotel, but somewhere danger threatened his mate. That was the reason for Penny’s sympathetic gaze. Her sister’s problem was now his problem.
“What’s wrong?” Logan asked gently. “Did something happen to Helena other than a wild stallion jumping out in front of her car?”
“I think so. Before she came here, a man...he seems to have inserted himself into her life.”
“Inserted himself into her life?” Dario frowned.
“He literally bumped into her on the street. He then called her at work even though she never gave him her phone number. She’s a grown woman and had no reason to be suspicious of him. She figured it was a cute gesture. She really liked him...” Penny placed her hand on Dario’s arm. “I know this isn’t easy for you to hear.”
“If you’re expecting me to celebrate my mate being in love with another man, then no, this is not what I need to hear.” He shook his head and turned from Penny, pacing the kitchen.
“She isn’t in love with him if that’s what concerns you,” Penny told him. “If anything, it’s the opposite.”
“The opposite.” Dario spun around to face her, his feet planted hip-width apart as his anger simmered below the surface. “What happened? Did he hurt her?”
“No, he never touched her.” Penny’s forehead creased as she shook her head. “And maybe it’s nothing but Helena doesn’t scare easily.”
“She’s scared?” Dario headed toward the door leading to the restaurant. “I should be with her.” Every part of him wanted to hold his mate in his arms and tell her it was all going to be okay now that he was here to protect her.
“Slow down a second, Dario.” Ivan grabbed his brother by the arm and spun him back around to face Penny. “Let’s hear the rest of it, shall we?”
“A couple of days ago, Helena went home, and her apartment smelled like this guy’s cologne. Expensive cologne.” She locked eyes with Dario. “And before you think...those kinds of thoughts, the guy had never been back to Helena’s apartment. There’s no way the place should have smelled of him.”
“On her clothes?” Logan asked. “Expensive cologne can linger.”
“Since when did you wear expensive cologne?” Dario asked.
“I don’t. But we have guests who do, and the scent can linger for days. So what if Helena went on a date with this guy and it rubbed off on her clothes? It might have been on her coat or her purse.” Logan spread out his hands in defense as the others looked at him. “Hey, I’m trying to make sure we check out all the alternatives before we unleash a territorial stallion on the world.”
“She isn’t my territory, she’s my mate,” Dario told his brother.
“Believe me, when you have a mate, anywhere she is is your territory.” Logan inclined his head toward Penny. “I try to keep it under control, but when I first found out you were my mate, it was hard not to rip the head off any man who so much as looked at you let alone talked to you.”
“I’d say I didn’t notice but I’d be lying,” Penny answered smoothly.
“So what happened now?” Ivan asked. “We can’t just dismiss what Helena believes happens.”
“Does she have any idea why he might have gone to her apartment?” Logan asked.
“No, she had never met him before he bumped into her. And while they were dating, he never acted unusual, never questioned her about anything that raised her suspicions.”
“Could it have to do with work?” Dario asked.
“She doesn’t have any information on anything that would warrant anyone going into her apartment.”
“What if it’s not about Helena?” Ivan asked. “What if this is purely about the apartment itself? Perhaps there was something hidden there that the guy needed. He might have wanted to
gain access by dating Helena.”
“She didn’t take him back there. That’s what she said, and she has no reason to lie. We tell each other everything. If she took a guy home for sex, she would tell me,” Penny insisted.
“What if he had access to her keys and got one duplicated?” Logan asked. “That way he could get in and out without arousing her suspicions.”
“Stop!” Dario held up his hands. “This is a conversation we need to have with Helena present.”
“Dario is right.” Penny hugged herself as she turned back toward the restaurant. “You should come and say hello, Dario. And then I suppose we should tell Helena all about shifters and all the other magic that exists in the world.”
“How do you think she’ll take it?” Dario asked.
“That I don’t know.” Penny half-turned to face him. “Our mother never told us the monsters under our beds didn’t exist. If we were scared of the monsters in our closets, she’d put up a talisman to ward it off. That’s probably why I thought I recognized the talisman Milo found in the attic.”
“Your mom knew magic and monsters existed?” Dario asked. This might be easier than he’d feared.
“Maybe she did. But we just thought she was a little crazy.” There was that sympathetic look in Penny’s eyes. “If anything, our mom’s behavior made Helena resentful toward anything supernatural. She even hates watching fantasy shows or movies.”
Dario’s heart grew heavy. This might all be a lot harder than he’d ever expected.
But Helena was his mate, and they were destined to be together. Somehow, he’d make her understand that magic was wonderful and shifting was a gift.
And that he would love her to the end of time.
Now, doesn’t that sound like something a stalker might say? His horse chuckled.
Growing up, Dario had learned to be strong. He’d fought and played with his predator brothers, never giving in or backing down. But nothing had prepared him for the challenge his mate posed.
And the stakes could not be higher.
Other Books By Harmony Raines
Other Books By Harmony Raines
The White Wolf of Wishing Moon Bay Page 25