“You want me to believe in the wonder of magic and yet it’s not just about wonder, is it? There’s danger and horror.” The monster in the closet. She closed her eyes and pulled away from him, taking big gulps of air and forcing it into her lungs.
“Danger and horror are not unique to magic,” Dario replied. “And magic is not to blame for the danger and horror. It’s the people who bend it to their will. Just as outside of Wishing Moon Bay, a person might choose to use a gun, or their fists to hurt another. A bomb to cause untold damage to people’s lives or start a war in which millions suffer.”
“You’re right.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I think I’m in shock, that’s all.”
“Which is completely understandable. Your whole belief system has been turned upside down.”
But it was more than that. The knowledge that magic was real, that the supernatural existed around her had awoken something deep inside of her, stirred distant memories.
The monster in the closet was real.
Chapter Six – Dario
“I should have been here.” Dario stared down at the snow-covered blankets and food items strewn among the runes carved into the snow.
“You couldn’t have known what was happening.” It was Helena’s turn to give comfort, which only made Dario feel worse.
“I could have been here early yesterday morning, but I didn’t hurry.” He lifted his arm and wrapped it around his mate. Her presence calmed him, soothed him, and he hoped the feelings were reciprocated when he touched his mate.
“Hey, it’s done. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”
“I didn’t hurry because part of me was jealous that Logan had found his mate first. How self-centered is that?” He let go of his mate and leaned down, grabbed hold of the fabric, and yanked it out of the snow. Helena caught hold of the other end and together they shook the snow and ice from Logan’s bedsheets.
“It’s understandable. When finding your mate is such a big thing to you, then it’s understandable you were jealous. I know I was when Penny told me Logan was the one with such certainty. She’d just come out of a toxic relationship with Milo’s dad, her heart was beaten and bruised, and yet there she was telling me she was in love again.” Her shoulders sagged and she looked tired as they folded the sheets and placed them on the ground before methodically searching through the snow for the discarded food.
“Why were you jealous?” Dario asked. “Because she had a new love or because she was brave enough to open her heart once more?”
Helena wagged a box of cookies at him. “Can you see inside my head?”
He half-smiled. “Maybe a little.” He picked up a couple of bottles of water, the liquid inside frozen solid. “You don’t strike me as the kind of person who resents her sister’s happiness. You care for her deeply. So, I presumed that you were jealous of her courage to open her heart.”
“It’s not as if I’ve closed myself off from love and relationships...” Helena’s expression grew more troubled. “I thought that Barry... I thought when he bumped into me in the street and then got my phone number...”
“You thought he might be the one for you, that fate had brought you together?” Now he understood her reaction. His temper flared, he wanted to track down this Barry and kick him in the groin, with both hind hooves.
“Yeah.” She laughed and her mood lightened. “I mean what kind of crazy is that? Just bumping into a guy like that?”
He chuckled. “Now, our meeting was fate, pure and simple.”
“See, you expect me to believe that our meeting is fate but that my meeting with Barry wasn’t. How do you know which was which?” Her mischievous grin didn’t have the desired effect.
“How do you know they were not both fate?”
Helena stood still and stared at him, her brow furrowed. “That hadn’t occurred to me.”
“As I see it, it’s like a chain reaction.” He gathered up the rest of the food, dumped it on the bedsheets, and then gathered the corners of the fabric together and lifted it off the snow. “Let’s get inside. I’ll light a fire and we can eat and make coffee. We’ll have to boil the water over the fire since there’s no power unless we use the generator.”
“We can manage without power, instant coffee is fine.” She followed him into the cabin where Logan had lived for the last few years. Dario wasn’t the only brother who had stepped away from society for a while. Logan had come here seeking peace and solitude. He’d only returned to town to run the hotel when Valerie asked him to while she had an operation on her leg.
Dario stamped the snow off his boots and stepped inside. The place looked like it had been ransacked. A fresh wave of guilt covered him. Last night could have gone terribly wrong and his brother might have lost his mate before they’d even had a chance to get to know each other.
If Logan had lost his mate, there was a chance they would all have lost Logan to a bitter deep depression that took hold of shifters who lost their mates. Dario had seen that depression before and would not wish it on anyone.
“So this chain reaction,” Helena began, as they set the items from outside in the snow on the counter. Together they sorted through them, placing them in keep or go piles. Some of the food was ruined, they would take it back with them and put it in the trash. If not, it might attract wild animals to the cabin.
“Yes. I believe that there was a series of events that occurred. Those events led you to be on the road this morning at the exact time I was there. Fate.” He waited for her to counter his words.
“I see it. If Barry hadn’t bumped into me and broken into my apartment, then I would not have decided to come and meet Penny. If Sophie hadn’t been such a witch, then Penny would not have been attacked and she would have met me on the road, and I would never have met you.” She held out her hands, looking pleased with herself.
“It’s all connected. We’re all connected.” He paused before continuing. “When you run with a herd, they move as one, we can sense the other horses next to us, a subtle change in direction and we all move. It’s like we communicate on a deeper level, a shift in speed, a change in terrain.”
“Like a shoal of fish in the water.” Helena knelt on the floor and started picking up the canned food that had been dragged out of the cupboards.
“I’m glad Logan doesn’t have to see it like this.” Dario gathered up a discarded package of dried beans.
“I can’t even imagine how scared Penny must have been. Trying to save herself and Milo in the dark.” Helena stood up. “Why don’t you go and light the fire? I’ll finish up here. Although I doubt everything will go back in the right place.”
“I don’t think Logan will care too much. He won’t be living up here anymore.” Dario backed away, aware that his life was about to change in the same way Logan’s had.
“He has responsibilities now.” She glanced up at Dario from under her lashes. “What about you?”
“You mean what about us?” He gave a wry smile. “As two strangers, we have to figure out how our lives fit together.”
“And we haven’t even known each other for five hours.”
He closed the distance between them, and she squeaked like a startled mouse. “We have known each other our whole lives, we just didn’t know it.”
Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her close, their lips inches apart as their eyes locked together. He wanted to kiss her with every fiber of his being, but this was so new to Helena and after what Barry did to her, Dario didn’t want to push too far too soon and scare her.
Helena slipped her hands around his neck and cradled his head. “Are you going to kiss me?”
“I want to more than anything.” His eyes lingered on her lips and her tongue snaked out and moistened them. She wanted him, he was certain. But suddenly his ability to read body language with such certainty slipped away.
“What’s stopping you?” She inclined her head, her lips closer, so close he could taste her.
“No
thing.” He tightened his arms around her and closed the space between them. He brushed his lips against hers, a questioning kiss, giving her the chance to back off if that’s what she wanted.
It wasn’t. She nipped his bottom lip, teasing him until he groaned and deepened their kiss, his tongue brushing her lower lip. Helena opened her mouth and their tongues entwined. She tasted of coffee and Ivan’s pastries.
As they stood together in Logan’s cabin, he wished that they could stay there forever, just the two of them. He didn’t want to go back to town this evening, he didn’t want Helena to go back to her apartment and confront whatever darkness awaited her there.
And he was certain there was darkness. Each time she mentioned Barry, a shadow crossed her face. Did Helena know more than she was saying, perhaps keeping details to herself so Penny didn’t worry?
Or perhaps it was deeper, darker than any of them realized. Their mother knew of magic, but she’d kept it hidden aside from a few slip-ups. Why?
“I lost you for a moment there.” Helena broke their kiss and inched her head away for his. “What’s wrong?”
Dario shook his head. “Nothing is wrong, everything is perfect. I just wish we could stay here, the two of us, forever.”
“You would soon grow tired of me.”
“Never.”
“And we both have families, people we care about.” The darkness crossed her face. “And I have to find out what Barry wants. I need to know if he’s just a plain old human stalker or if there’s more to it than that. He came to my apartment on the day Penny and Mio were due to arrive.”
“The day their car broke down and they wound up in Wishing Moon Bay.”
“There’s that coincidence again. If we’re all connected then there’s a reason he was there that day, don’t you think?”
Dario nodded. “I just want to keep you safe, but you need to keep Penny and Milo safe. I get it.” He pulled her close again. “But a man can dream, can’t he? Dream of us and a simple life.”
“Oh, I am all for dreams.” She kissed his lips and shivered in his arms.
“You’re cold, I’ll go get the fire lit.” He crushed her to his chest before letting her go.
“I’ll fill the kettle and rustle us up something to eat.” She watched him as he left the kitchen area and went to the living room. He could feel her gaze on his back but even when he was out of sight, he could still sense her. She was a part of him, they were linked for all eternity.
Dario sank to his knees. As he built the fire, he did the unthinkable, he opened the part of his mind he’d closed off when he came to live with Valerie in Wishing Moon Bay.
It’s time we faced our anger, his horse told him. But the anger he held for his father was dimmer now, fading. Now that he’d met Helena, Dario had a new understanding of his father’s behavior.
I can’t imagine a life without Helena and we’ve only just met. How did our father feel when he lost our mother? Dario gripped the kindling so tightly he crushed the twigs in his hand.
Like his heart had been ripped out. His horse hung his head in sorrow.
Maybe it’s time we let go of our sense of betrayal, Dario said. It’s time we learned to understand our father and forgive him.
But never forget, his horse replied. If we are ever blessed with children, then we must promise to never follow the path our father followed. Death is not the answer when others love you and depend on you.
As the fire crackled into life, Dario stared into the flames and pictured his father, the most incredible black stallion he had ever seen. In that moment Dario was a child once more, who adored his father and worshiped the ground he trod on.
Dario had been so young when his mother died that he barely remembered her. He’d been eight when his father decided he could no longer live in a world without his mom and took his own life.
A year later he’d come to live with Valerie. Before Valerie, he’d counted himself as one of the unluckiest children alive. But being taken in by Valerie and raised alongside his adopted brothers had changed his outlook.
Now, meeting Helena reinforced the idea that he wasn’t the unluckiest man alive but the luckiest. He had everything and more any shifter could hope for.
And Barry was not going to rob him of that. History would not repeat itself. Dario planned to live into old age and beyond with his mate at his side.
Chapter Seven – Helena
“This is cozy.” Helena sat on a cushion, her legs crossed as she sipped a hot cup of coffee and crunched potato chips.
“I promise our next date will have real food.” Dario ate a cookie and looked up at her. He was stretched out on the rug in front of the fire, reminding her of a primal beast as the fire cast a red glow across his features.
“I am enjoying having junk food forced upon me.” She grinned. “I expect if we cracked open some of the cans of food in the cupboards, we could have rustled up something healthy and nutritious, but where’s the fun in that?”
“I like your way of thinking, although usually I treat my body as a temple and eat healthily.”
She sniggered as she eyed his body. “I could certainly worship at your temple.”
“Then my efforts to keep myself trim and toned have been worth it.” He rolled onto his back and lifted his shirt to reveal a toned six-pack. “Of course, I had plenty of free time on my hands to focus on myself and my body.” He pulled his shirt down and turned onto his side. “Now I have you to care for and provide for.”
He reached out and brushed her hair off her shoulder, his fingertips lingering on the exposed skin of her neck. Her nipples hardened and she was glad she hadn’t stripped off her sweater. As beads of perspiration formed on her brow, she fanned herself.
“The fire is making me hot.”
“And I thought I was responsible for the flush across your neck.” He trailed his fingers lower, skimming the neck of her sweater.
“I do not usually sleep with men on the first date.” She sighed heavily. “I have never slept with a man on the first date. Not in the first month.”
“I do not want to be responsible for you lowering your standards.” He raised his hand and stroked her cheek before breaking contact with her.
Helena placed the bag of chips on the coffee table and slid down onto the floor, her body pressed against his. “Everything about you raises my standards.”
“I don’t want you to regret anything about our relationship,” he whispered as he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers.
“I think I might regret it more if we don’t...” She licked his lips, before kissing him harder, her hand sliding across his chest, lingering on the hard buds of his nipples.
Dario groaned. “You are a temptress, threatening to break my resolve.”
“You don’t want me?” she purred.
“More than you could ever know, but so much has happened in the last few hours, your beliefs have been rocked. I don’t want this to be something...something you think you want. A distraction.”
“You have been distracting me since I first saw you on the road.” She lifted his shirt and stroked his toned abs, her fingers lingering over the ridges of his six-pack muscles.
“You know what I mean, Helena. I want our first time to be special. I want you to want me for me, not just because I’m here.” He raised his head and looked at her, his eyes smoldering hot. “Not because I’m insanely attractive and incredibly sexy.”
Helena chuckled. “You sure know how to break the mood.” She pulled her hand back and slid his shirt down over his stomach. “You’re probably right. Although, believe me, I don’t think I would regret sleeping with you.”
“You wouldn’t. But I might.”
“Why? Don’t you want your mate? Isn’t the whole point of us being made for each other so that we can make love and procreate?” Her jaw tightened. “Okay, I get it. We know nothing about each other. I don’t even know if you want children. You have wandered the world running with horses for th
e last couple of years, so you have no job, no way of supporting a family...”
“Okay, maybe we should have just made love and dwelled on my good points rather than getting hung up on my bad ones.” He sighed and sat up. The spell was well and truly broken.
“Hey, I was not taking a shot at you.” She reached out for his hand and pulled him down beside her. “I’m just trying to look at it objectively.” She placed her hand over his heart. “You want us to have a connection beyond the physical. Which you already have. I don’t. If we made love now, it would be purely physical for me.”
She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.
Dario slid his arms around her. “That’s pretty much it. I want you to want me for me. I guess I’m old-fashioned. Making love should be special, I’d like us to get to know each other a little better first.”
“I agree. So tell me about yourself. Let’s start with you being adopted by Valerie.” Her eyes locked with his. “Unless you’d rather not talk about it. I completely understand if it’s too personal, too difficult.”
His lower lip trembled and for a moment Dario reminded her of Milo when he was upset. “I’ve never really talked about it. Not even with Valerie. She knew my history when she adopted me, and even though she encouraged me to talk about my parents, I never did. I shut them out. I shut out the pain.”
“I’m sorry.” She took hold of his hand and kissed the back of it. “Why don’t you tell me about Wishing Moon Bay. Or your favorite place in the world.”
“No, I want you to know about my parents. It’s part of who I am. It’s part of the man you are going to spend the rest of your life with.” His voice hitched.
“Hey.” She pressed her body against his, cupping his face in her hands. “Take your time and if it’s too much, just stop. I’m not going anywhere.”
“My father was a shifter. A horse shifter. The gene gets passed down from parent to child.” He held her gaze. “So, if we have children, and yes, I want children. More than anything I would love to have a child with you.”
“Good to know.” She threaded her fingers through his.
The Horse Shifter's Mate: A Wishing Moon Bay Shifter Romance (The Bond of Brothers Book 2) Page 5