Authors: Anya Bast
Rafian looked from her to Lucas. “Kaitlyn, what’s wrong?”
She spoke without looking at him. “Lucas took advantage of a situation the night we were together, and then was stupid enough to admit it.”
Lucas withdrew the metal with a pair of tongs, setting it down to cool. Removing his gloves, he tossed them aside, walked to Kaitlyn, and lifted her so she was eye-level. In his massive arms, she looked like a doll. He murmured something too soft for Rafian to hear. She murmured back and Lucas held her closer, burying his nose in her hair and closing his eyes. Finally he set her to ground.
Kaitlyn took a step back from them both, a move that made tension knot in Rafian’s stomach. “One ground rule for the time we’re together. I want honesty from both of you, both in your words and actions. ”
“Always,” Rafian answered immediately.
“Forever,” Lucas replied. “In actions as well as words.”
Rafian shot an irritated glance at his friend. “Whatever Lucas did, he did it because he wanted you so badly, Kaitlyn. Not because he wanted to dupe or manipulate you.” Rafian paused. “He’s never been great with women.”
Kaitlyn smiled. “Yeah. I grasped that.”
The sound of paws on the ground outside the forge drew their attention. Torrent padded in on enormous gray wolf feet. He spoke to Rafian and Lucas through telepathy.
There’s been a Magi attack at the eastern edge of our territory. Bands of hunters have been spotted roaming the forest by the birds of prey. We’re asking all available to check it out
.
Liam lives out there. Is he all right?
Lucas asked.
We don’t know.
Kaitlyn shifted, looking uncomfortable. “Uh. Why is everyone suddenly so quiet and staring at each other?”
I’ll go check on Liam,
Rafian answered.
Lucas, you stay here and safeguard Kaitlyn.
Lucas nodded.
“Uhm…hello?” asked Kaitlyn.
Rafian leaned over and kissed her. “I’ll let Lucas explain. Right now, I need to leave with Torrent. Trouble with the Magi on the outskirts of our territory.”
He walked toward the exit of the barn right behind Torrent. Before he’d gone five steps, Kaitlyn put a hand on his shoulder. He turned and she launched herself into his arms, nuzzling his throat, and murmured. “Please be careful.”
Cupping her face, he forced her gaze to his and found tender regard in them…for him. His heart stuttered for a moment. Leaning in, he kissed her again, he whispered against her lips, “If I know I’m coming back to you,
I’m coming back.
”
Then he forced himself to leave.
Chapter Seven
Kaitlyn stood at the window and watched the snow cover the moon-silvered ground outside. Rafian had been gone two days. Where was he tonight? She couldn’t stop worrying.
“Your telepathy doesn’t work over long distances?” she asked Lucas who was building up the fire.
“No. We need to be within eye sight of each other.”
“And no cell phones.” She sighed.
“He knows how to take care of himself, Kaitlyn.”
She turned away from the window. “You’re not worried about him?”
Glancing up at her, he shrugged, then tossed the last log on the fire. “I have confidence in his ability to kick Magi ass.”
She hugged herself. “I hope you’re right.”
“He would love that you’re so concerned about him, but there’s no need.”
She chewed her lower lip. If something happened to Rafian, she would be devastated. He’d gotten under her skin in a major way. Vowing to stop obsessing, she walked toward Lucas. “Why can’t I use telepathy? I’m part Lycaon, right?”
“Yes, but you don’t know your animal yet. Once you shift for the first time, you’ll be able to mind speak just like us.” He stood, brushing off his hands.
“I won’t know my animal until I join symbolically somehow with you and Rafian, right?”
“Right. The vows need to be spoken and accepted. Then you get the magick.”
She sank down on the couch in front of the fireplace, enjoying the warmth, and tucked her feet beneath her. “Then why do you sound so certain I’ll ever know my animal?”
Lucas went very still.
“I have sisters on the flip side, you know. I’m very close to them. I have a career I’ve worked hard to build. What makes you both so sure I’m planning to leave all that?”
He drew a deep breath and took a swaggering step forward, grinning, “You’ll leave it all because we’re fantastically good looking and incredible in bed. Did I mention we’re modest? We’re that too.”
She grinned. “Uh, huh.”
Lucas dropped the exaggeration and sank down on one knee in front of her. “Actually, Kaitlyn, we think you’ll choose us for love. You could travel a hundred different worlds and never find two men who will love you as much as we will.”
She held his gaze for a moment, believing every word he said, then leaned forward and kissed him. He pressed her back against the cushions, his tongue delving deep into her mouth. His hands roamed a little, but he didn’t push them both over the edge, even though her body hummed at his touch. That told her that even though Lucas spoke of Rafian’s prowess in battle, he was concerned for him too.
They cuddled together on the couch in front of the fire, the snow gathering like a softly folded blanket around the house.
“Tell me about Doug,” murmured Lucas.
“Doug.” She sighed. “He loved me more than I loved him. I guess he knew that. When I couldn’t pretend I wanted to be married to him anymore, I decided to leave. The night I packed my bags, he went crazy and attacked me. I had to run to a neighbor’s house for help.”
His body tightened. “What did he do to you?”
She shivered, remembering the look on Doug’s face. He’d turned into a man she hadn’t recognized. “He gave me a black eye, twisted my arm.” The physical injuries hadn’t been the worst part, though. It had been the emotional betrayal.
When Lucas spoke, his voice was a low growl. “For the first time, I wish I could cross the veil and bite someone.”
“Some good came out of it. After I divorced Doug, I took self defense classes. I can protect myself now.”
“Yes, I remember,” he said drily.
She gave a soft laugh.
Sometime in the night, after they’d both dropped off to sleep, the front door burst open. Lucas launched himself off the couch and was between her and the intruder in a heartbeat. She pushed up, seeing the dark shape framed in the doorway. The figure took a step forward, into the dying light of the fire, and she shot from the couch and into Rafian’s arms.
He grunted a little when she made impacted, but Rafian’s arms came around her. “I’m so happy you’re okay,” she breathed, nuzzling the fabric of his shirt and the enjoying the warm, solid flesh beneath it.
“Just bruised and scratched.” He dropped his head and kissed her long and deep. “But I’m much better now.”
She and Rafian walked closer to the fireplace and she saw that all his exposed skin was marked with smudges of blood and dirt. After Rafian sat on the couch, she went to get a warm soapy cloth.
Lucas leaned up against the mantle. “How many hunters were there?”
“Enough.”
“Enough to invite to lunch? Enough to overrun our lands? How many is enough?”
Kaitlyn sank onto the couch next to Rafian and began to clean the blood and dirt away. She didn’t think he was badly hurt, but she wanted to make sure.
Rafian exhaled, his tired eyelids at half mast.
“Enough to cause a whole bunch of trouble. Enough of them too near our territory for comfort.”
Lucas grunted. “Did you find Liam?”
“He was easy to find since he left a trail of body parts.”
“Damn. That was Liam, though, thoughtful until the end.”
Kaitlyn’s movements faltered. “Do you have to joke about this?”
“Yes,” the men replied in unison. “Makes it easier,” finished Lucas.
She shuddered. “I’m just glad you came back all right, Rafian.”
“The Magi are gone now. We lured them off to the southeast.” Rafian smiled, his teeth flashing in the dim light. “Into the Bardian Mountains with a blizzard on the way.”
“Any Lycaon casualties?” asked Lucas.
Rafian’s smile faded. “Beside Liam, we lost three to magick. Theren, Alexander and Marshall.”
Lucas hung his head, swearing softly in a language she didn’t recognize.
Rafian took a much needed shower, after assuring Kaitlyn that he didn’t need any stitches for the cuts he’d sustained. A good sleep, he told her, would heal him. Apparently that was one of the perks of being Lycaon. One she would also gain, if she decided to stay with them and tie her existence to theirs permanently.
Therefore, it was a perk she would never enjoy.
It was still the middle of the night, so the three of them curled up in one of the massive beds in the house, Kaitlyn tucked securely between the two men. She laid her head on Rafian’s chest and Lucas curled around her back, tucking her into his strong arms.
She drifted off to sleep, safe, warm and protected. Despite the threat of murderous magick wielding hunters in this world, she had faith that these men would never allow harm to come to her.
* * * * *
She woke before either of the men the next morning. After enjoying the warmth of their bodies, she slid from the bed, clipped her hair up and headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. The house was chilly and she was happy for the heavy sweater she’d found in the bedroom. It was one of the men’s and was far too big for her, but it smelled delicious. From the mingling of leather and wood smoke, she deduced it must be Lucas’s.
Locating eggs—they looked like regular chicken eggs and she was really hoped they were—and bacon, she fried up a bunch of it. Both Lucas and Rafian ate a tremendous amount of food. Outside the window, the world was covered in a blanket of snow, white, silent, and peaceful. She watched as a clump of snow fell with a thump from a heavy evergreen branch. This place was so different from Chicago.
She missed her sisters and it killed a part of her deep inside that she couldn’t get word to them to tell them she was all right. Her boss would be worried too, but, she had to admit, she really hadn’t been thinking much about work lately. She’d thrown herself into her career as a way to cope after her divorce, but it wasn’t what she really wanted to do with her life. Perhaps that issue would bear a closer examination when she returned.
Strong arms came around her from behind, rocking her back into a broad chest. She inhaled the woodsy, wild scent of Rafian and sighed happily. It was going to be so hard to leave these men.
“It smells good in here,” said Lucas from behind them.
She stepped away from Rafian reluctantly to find Lucas shirtless and stretching. She raised an eyebrow. “You get the breakfast, I get the view. Fair trade off, although probably a little more fair to me.”
She served up breakfast and nibbled on a piece of bacon as the men ate. Then they got dressed and spent the morning in the forge, producing the metal wares they sold in the village for their livelihood. She spent the day in a peaceful bliss, exploring the grounds, visiting with the men and tiding up around the house. It was a good day, cold, cozy day with fires burning hot in every hearth in the house and a stew simmering slow on the stove, filling the home with yummy deliciousness.