And then he’d pin her wrists to the mattress and take her, slow but firm, and oh, so sweet…
Petros handed his empty glass to a server and placed an arm around her shoulders. “Forget him, glika.”
“Who?” she returned with a lift of her chin.
He chuckled. “No one.” His hand was caressing her bottom now. “How much longer are you going to make me wait, Valeria? I need you.”
She felt rather than saw Rui’s scowl. She ignored him to slide an arm around Petros’s waist. “Not right now. But later…”
There was a tug on her other hand. A plaintive voice said, “Mama Ria, I’m hungry.”
CHAPTER NINE
Adric eyed the banquet which had been set out under a second canopy near the dancers: plump oysters on the half shell, crab cakes on frilly little crackers, sirloin tips that looked like they would melt on your tongue like chocolate. Platters of roast chicken, crystal bowls of exotic fruits, and a whole table piled with breads, tarts and other baked goods that he couldn’t even name.
Beside him, Marjani gazed at the food in silent reverence. There had been days—not that long ago—when they’d have literally killed to get near even a tenth this much food. And all of it kept at exactly the right temperature by fae technology, colorful rings of light surrounding each bowl or platter to warm or cool it.
“Well, hell,” his sister drawled. “They didn’t have to go to all this trouble for li’l old us.”
Adric chuckled, but it was a forced, envious sound. They picked up plates and began filling them. He got a beer for himself and wine for Marjani and they seated themselves at an empty table. For a few minutes they spoke only in occasional murmurs, all their attention on the food. Adric tried to slow down, to savor what was truly a delicious meal, but he’d been hungry for too much of his early life. His instinct was to bolt it down before it could be stolen by someone bigger or tougher—or denied as a punishment.
At last Marjani set down her fork with a sigh of repletion. “It’s too bad the others weren’t invited. It seems wrong to be stuffing our faces like this when—” She halted and sent him a guilty look.
Adric forced himself to set down his own fork even though there was still food on his plate. “Everyone has enough to eat these days. It may not be fancy, but no one goes hungry.”
“I know, Ric. I didn’t mean—”
“I know.” He lifted a shoulder. “Hell, I wish the others could’ve come, too.”
He took a sip of beer and looked around him. A family had taken seats at the next table: the hot piece in the tight green dress who’d caused such a stir when she arrived, a bouncy little girl, and a man he recognized—Petros, the Greek sea fada who’d been spending a lot of time in the Full Moon Saloon lately. Adric had made it his business to keep an eye on Petros. He recognized a man sniffing out new territory when he saw one.
He turned back to Marjani. “Someday our people will be invited to these celebrations, too. The sun fae-Rock Run alliance doesn’t mean our hopes are dead.”
“Of course not. We don’t have to beat Rock Run to—”
He gripped her wrist, silencing her. “Not now.” He cut his eyes toward the family behind her.
She winced. “Sorry. Just remember there’s more than one way to skin a cat.”
“That’s what I keep you around for—to remind me.”
Marjani snorted but he could tell she was pleased.
He glanced at the family again. But no, it wasn’t a family after all. The little girl was calling the sea fada “Senhor Petros.”
His eyes narrowed. The girl reminded him of someone. That sharp little face and untamable black hair. It had been worked into a braid but already it was escaping to form wispy corkscrews around her face. Then it hit him. His nostrils flared. What he smelled made him freeze.
He lowered his voice to a level only Marjani could hear. “Find a way to look at that family behind you without their knowing. The little girl.”
Marjani nudged her napkin so it fell to the floor. As she bent to retrieve it, she took a long look at the girl. He heard her inhale, knew she’d discovered what he’d scented: the girl was a mixed-blood earth shifter.
When Marjani sat back up, her eyes were wide.
“Oh. My. God,” she mouthed. “Do you think—?”
The two of them stared at each other. “We can’t be sure,” he said in the same subvocal tones, careful not to look at the girl again. “We’ve been searching for three years.” Since the day Jace’s sister died and they realized her mate and daughter had disappeared. By the time they’d found them a year later, it had been too late. “Everything we turned up said that Merry died with her father in a house fire. That night fae, Tyrus, swore it was the truth.”
The fae had said it with a mealy-mouthed sorrow. But Adric had suspected he’d had something to do with it—Tyrus had practically reeked with satisfaction. Adric had itched to take him somewhere private and work him over until he confessed. But the man had been protected by two thugs and a powerful ward. Adric, on the other hand, had been alone, with his nearest man over a mile away—the only way Tyrus would agree to meet with him.
Adric hadn’t forgotten, though. Someday Tyrus would pay for what he’d done.
The night fae’s scent had held truth though. He believed Merry had died in that fire. But what if she’d somehow escaped?
“Why was it so important?” his sister wondered. “To kill the whole family?”
“I’d like to know that myself.”
“Still, if it’s true, Jace is going to be so happy.” Marjani’s eyes rounded. “Oh, lord. Should we tell him now?”
Jace and Lucas were hiding in the trees at the edge of the meadow—Jace as his cat, Lucas a wolf. They’d refused to let him go unprotected to a celebration packed with Rock Run warriors. Normally the sun fae’s wards would’ve kept them out, but the wards had been dropped in favor of patrolling warriors so that guests could enter the compound. And it would be a cold day in Hades before his best men couldn’t slip past a fae warrior.
“I don’t know.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “She smells right, but why the hell would she be living with the river fada?”
Then the woman in the green dress called the little girl Merry, and he had his proof.
* * *
Rui watched as Valeria and Merry headed with Okeanos toward the dining area. His animal was still urging him to drag the two of them away from the Greek fada, but the man knew that was a bad idea. Valeria had been furious when he’d interrupted her and Okeanos two days ago. If he wasn’t careful, he might lose her for good.
He strolled after them as he considered what to do. He’d never courted anyone, not even Valeria. There had been a spark from the instant they first set eyes on each other, a week after she arrived…
He’d returned from a job, another quiet, solitary kill, this one set up by Dion. He’d never liked this part of his work—give him a good, clean fight anytime—but this one had been especially difficult, a fae aristocrat who’d overreached herself and executed anyone who objected. Eventually two of her closest advisors had revolted. It was Rui’s job to make sure she disappeared without a trace. He knew she needed to be stopped, but he’d never killed a woman before. It had left him in a dark, dangerous mood.
So instead of returning immediately to Rock Run, he’d spent a few days in the ocean as his bull shark. He was one of the few river fada who could turn to shark, but it was a mixed blessing. It was why he was so good at tracking, but the shark was a tricky animal to control; there were times when it all but took over. The man was always present, making sure that his animal killed only for food, but both had taken a primal satisfaction in fulfilling that need.
Blood lust sated, he’d returned to the base, the animal in him appeased but the man eager for a woman. He’d showered and headed toward the dining hall.
That was when he’d come across her, standing at the intersection of two halls and looking around her uncertain
ly. He took in a heart-shaped ass framed by tight jeans and increased his stride. As he came up beside her, he angled his head and inhaled deeply.
Earth and spice and warm, sexy woman.
He knew right then he was going to do everything in his power to have her. “Boa tarde, senhorita. May I help you?”
She turned her head. “Sim, I—” Her eyes widened at finding him so close. Reluctantly, he pulled back but kept his gaze on hers.
Her eyes were the color of rich, dark chocolate. Time seemed to stop. For a few seconds all he could hear was the hard thump of his heart.
Then she blinked and he realized she’d swayed closer to him. She straightened and blushed, a pretty brightening of her smooth olive skin. “I’m lost. I was trying to find the dining hall.”
“And you are—”
“Valeria da Costa.”
“Rui do Mar.” He took the proffered hand, holding it a little longer than necessary. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“The alpha’s second.”
“That’s me. You’ve been here a while then?”
“Only since last week. I’m visiting from Portugal.”
He gave a slow smile. “Then I’ll have to see that you…enjoy yourself.”
He scented her desire, knew she was interested in him. But she was a fada female. His animal had already sensed she wasn’t a dominant, but that didn’t mean she was a pushover.
She blinked again. Then her soft, full mouth curved in an equally slow smile. “And I might let you. But right now all I need are the directions to the dining hall.”
“No problem. I was on my way there myself.” Placing a hand on the small of her back, he guided her to turn left at the next intersection. “It’s right down here.”
It had only taken another couple of days before he had her in his bed.
And as he’d entered her that first time, they’d both felt it—a literally magical bond, its first tenuous strands unfurling in their hearts and reaching out for the other. The mate bond expressed itself differently for each couple, but both of them had known that the possibility was there.
Now that connection had been broken—although perhaps not as completely as he’d believed. She hadn’t had sex yet with Okeanos; he was sure of that. He’d have seen it on her face, smelled it on her. If the bond were still alive, it explained why not.
He watched as she strolled along between Okeanos and Merry, hips swaying in that pretty sea-colored dress, and bared his teeth in a smile. She was going to smell of sex very soon.
But it was going to be him, not Okeanos, who marked her.
Dion caught sight of him and excused himself from Cleia to approach him. Rui turned his attention to his alpha.
“Boa tarde,” Dion said. He gave a subtle sniff.
Rui raised his chin. “I haven’t had a drink since I heard you’d been kidnapped.”
“So I hear—and that you’ve reclaimed your place as second.”
“I had to. Luis was sick, and exhausted from worry about Xavier. Things were getting out of control. But if you have a problem with it, I’ll step down.”
Dion scrutinized him another moment and then nodded. “Then I owe you my thanks.”
“No thanks necessary—you’d have done the same thing.”
Rui glanced at Cleia, dancing with a cluster of tiny girls. She was literally glowing, her face radiant with what he knew was her true self, not the glamour she’d used to entice him and her other lovers.
“Congratulations on your mating,” he said, and meant it.
Dion followed his gaze. “I’m a lucky man.”
“Sim. She’s a beautiful woman. I’m just sorry I missed your mating ceremony.”
“Me too.” They shared a sidelong look of understanding, Dion letting Rui know there were no hard feelings. Sure, Rui had had Cleia first, but it had only been sex for him—nothing like the powerful, till-death-do-us-part love that it clearly was for his friend.
“So,” Dion asked, “can you do this? Because I can’t have a drunken ass as my second. What Cleia did today helped, but it’s up to you and me to bring Rock Run back to where it was. She may be my mate, but I’m damned if I’m going to beg her for help.”
“Luis already threatened to challenge me if I fuck up.” He met Dion’s eyes. “But I won’t. I’m going to do this. For you. For the clan. For Valeria—because I want her back. And”—he moved a shoulder—“for me.”
Because he couldn’t live like that any longer—and the only other choice was dying.
Dion searched Rui’s face. What he saw there must have satisfied him, because he smiled and clapped Rui on the back. “It’s good to have you back, irmão.”
Brother.
Rui’s stomach clenched. He slapped Dion’s back in return and then they were hugging. When they released each other, both their eyes were moist.
Dion shook his head. “Damn, I’ve missed you.”
“What can I say? I was an ass.”
“No argument here.”
“Fuck off.”
They elbowed each other—hard—and grinned.
CHAPTER TEN
Valeria wasn’t sure when she realized that the striking couple at the next table were earth shifters.
First she caught the man eying them. There was nothing unusual in that; fada instinctively kept a close eye on their surroundings—and these two were definitely fada. They had a shifter’s firm, muscled build, they moved with an animal grace…and when the man caught sight of Merry, his voice dropped to a subvocal level that only another fada could’ve heard.
But they weren’t from Rock Run. After two years, Valeria knew everyone by sight, if not by name. These two were dressed in the funky, Caribbean garb favored by the Baltimore earth shifters—the woman in a colorful tunic over brown leggings, the man in a copper-and-black print shirt.
After a searching look at Merry, the man was careful not to look their way again. Too careful. Uneasy now, Valeria angled her body to shield Merry from his view.
Next the woman managed to take a look, even though her back was to their table. As she leaned over to retrieve her napkin, the quartz hanging from a cord around her neck swung free from the bodice of her tunic. Every hair on Valeria’s body stood on end as the woman straightened up and tucked the quartz back into her tunic, her gaze on Merry. Expressions flicked across her face—amazement, joy—almost too fast for Valeria to be sure she’d seen them. Then she turned back to her companion.
Valeria shot another glance at the man. Now she was looking for it, she saw he also wore a leather cord around his neck, with the telltale lump beneath his shirt.
She swallowed dryly. Just to be sure, she gave a surreptitious sniff. They were earth shifters, all right, the difference in their scent from a water fada’s as obvious as that between a puma and a dolphin. She’d only missed it because it had been masked by Merry’s jaguar scent.
She set down her fork and turned to Merry. “Finish up, sweetheart. It’s time to go home.”
Merry stuck out her lower lip. “But I want ice cream.” She pointed to where a server stood behind a table with a dozen different kinds of sorbet and ice cream.
“Merry,” she said sternly, then glanced at the earth shifters and gulped. “You can have some at home. If you’re good, I’ll let you have a chocolate, too.”
The pout disappeared. Merry’s face took on the shrewd expression of a street vendor. “One of the good ones? From the box?”
Valeria nodded.
“All right.” Merry hopped off her chair and pumped a small fist.
“I’ll come with you,” said Petros.
“No, no.” Valeria barely glanced at him as she came to her feet. “You don’t have to leave yet. We can get a ride with someone else.”
He rose to his feet as well. “I’ll take you,” he said, tight-lipped.
The earth shifter male was watching them openly now. He was frankly gorgeous, with a lean, hard body, spiked-up dark hair bleached blond at the tips,
and an arrogant smile that said he knew exactly how good-looking he was. Despite his youth, he carried himself with an air of authority. Everything about him screamed high-ranking dominant.
Their eyes met. His bored into hers, the flat, predatory bronze of a mountain lion sizing up its prey, and suddenly he wasn’t so good-looking anymore. Just menacing.
“Ric?” murmured his companion. “Maybe we should—”
Valeria missed the rest as a buzzing filled her head. Lord Adric. All the clues pointed to it: earth shifter, dominant, even the fact that he’d been invited to the mating ball when no other earth fada were present.
Panic wrapped tight fingers around her throat. Forgetting Petros, she glanced around blindly for help.
“Look, Mama.” Merry tugged on her hand and pointed up. Dusk was approaching. All across the compound, fae lights had started to twinkle on in a variety of hues—gold, silver, pink, amber. They floated several yards above the ground, bubbles of light illuminating the white canopies from inside and creating a fairytale setting as they spread out across the meadow.
Valeria shot them a quick, distracted glance. “They’re beautiful, querida.” But the interruption broke through her panic. She had to calm down. If Adric saw how agitated she was, it would only confirm his suspicions. “But it’s time go now.” She took Merry’s hand and started for the exit.
Petros grabbed her arm. “What the hell?”
She swung around to face him. Lord, she did not need this right now. “I’m going home. It’s getting late—Merry—”
“She’s fine,” he growled. “It’s not going to hurt her to stay up late one night.”
Valeria’s jaw tightened. “Let me go, Petros.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m tired of you teasing me. One minute you want me, the next minute, you’re running away. If you leave now, we’re finished. There are other women who’d be more than happy to—”
She jerked her arm free. “Then feel free to find one. Because as of right now, we’re through.”
His face darkened. “By the gods, I just might. You think I haven’t seen you making cow eyes at him when you think no one is looking? The man doesn’t want you, baby.”
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