Authors: Gigi Moore
How the hell had
she
snuck up on him? His brother he could understand, but how had he not sensed a full human, especially one with as unique a scent as Maia, who always smelled like patchouli and a hint of coconut?
Carson had wondered about Maia sometimes, if maybe she had shifter blood in her or was otherwise special. He thought maybe she was gifted like Mama Reni, a voodoo priestess who lived on the bayou and cast love spells upon request and for a nominal fee. Carson knew, because he had tried to solicit her services in his foolish youth before his mother found out what he was up to and put a stop to it. Maybe Maia’s gift, like Mama Reni’s, had something to do with her fey way.
“She didn’t give me a choice,” Sam said.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means I blackmailed him into bringing me out to meet with you two for a talk.” She tilted her head back to look at him and he got a look at her elfin face as light from the moon glinted down through the trees and cast a silver glow on her café au lait complexion.
A few inches shorter than Desiree and more than a few inches shorter than Tamara, Maia was the petite one of the three sisters but didn’t let it get in the way of her getting her point across.
She proved fearless, just like her sisters in this respect, Carson thought. “You shouldn’t be out here alone,” he grumbled.
She just silently arched a brow at him.
“Okay, so you’re not alone. But what makes you think you can trust Sam and me any more than anyone else on this ranch outside of your family?”
“Because I know you.”
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking you know us, Maia.”
“Actually, she knows us a lot better than you think.”
Carson stepped closer to Sam and growled
.
“What did you tell her?”
Maia stepped between them as if to protect Sam from him, and Carson gave her his fiercest glare with little effect. The lady didn’t blink or back down one bit, just lifted her cleft chin a tad higher.
“Don’t go getting all Neanderthal on the boy. He didn’t tell me anything. That’s the problem. You boys don’t like to talk about yourselves. But I have to tell you that it’s not going to sit too well with my sister.”
“See. I told you she didn’t give me a choice.”
“Look, Carson, I know all about you, and you don’t scare me. And if I didn’t know you as well as I do, I would have never pushed you and your brother toward my sister.”
“So her being out in the woods all alone earlier was your doing?” He didn’t know whether to wring her neck or kiss her.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Desiree has a mind of her own, but I’m not beyond giving her a little nudge now and again. Not that she always responds the way I’d like. She’s pretty stubborn, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“Oh yeah, I’ve noticed.” Stubbornness seemed to be another trait all three of the sisters shared, and right about now, Maia reminded Carson of Sam when he tried to convince Carson how right a relationship would be between them and Desiree.
Maia hooked her arms through Carson’s and Sam’s and led them deeper into the forest, toward the stream, like she knew where she was going. Her certainty made Carson wonder exactly how many times she had followed the same path and whether or not she had spied them on their nightly jaunts.
He followed her lead, curious as to how far she was going to take her bossy act, even though he knew damn well it wasn’t just an act. The sister actually thought she could tell him what to do! He needed to tell her she had another thing coming, and he would, just as soon as she let him go and he could get his head on straight. After being with Desiree with his brother, Carson’s head still reeled with what they had all done and what it meant.
Sam remained silent as the dead. It didn’t deter Carson from giving him the evil eye every few steps. Sam gave him the same look right back.
When they all exited the forest several yards from the stream, Carson started to feel a little less claustrophobic but no less confused.
What exactly did Maia think she knew about him and Sam if Sam hadn’t said anything to her? Had she seen them shift?
“I know you have a boatload of questions you want to ask me, and I’ll answer all of yours if you’ll answer mine,” Maia said as soon as they stopped and she released their arms. She smiled at them. “Let’s have a little show and tell.”
“Show and tell?” Carson exchanged a look with his brother.
“Yep. You show me what you look like when you shift.”
Carson glared at Sam, who shrugged.
“I didn’t tell her anything. I swear!”
“Then how the hell does she…” Carson paused and turned to Maia. “You do realize what you’re suggesting is totally ludicrous.”
“I’m not suggesting anything. I know what you are.”
“Have you told Desiree what you…think you know? Or are you just out here for your own morbid sense of curiosity?”
“No, I haven’t told Desiree. And of course I’m out here for my own
healthy
sense of curiosity. I want to see what she’s going to be dealing with—the complete, unvarnished truth.”
“You should have thought of that before you threw us all together.”
“I admit I acted a little hastily. But I figured if she got to know you the way I see you, she couldn’t help but like you.”
“The way you see us?”
Maia reached out and put a palm on Carson’s chest. His heart immediately sped beneath her hand. “The way I see your insides.”
“And how do you see them?”
“You both have good hearts and souls. You’re good, strong men, and you’re what she needs to help her heal. That’s all I was thinking about. I didn’t consider that she might find it a little difficult to handle the other part.”
“That we’re shifters.”
Maia nodded, and all Carson could focus on was that whole “heal” part of her speech.
What wound did Desiree need to heal from, and why did she need two strong men to help her do it?
“What about you?” he asked Maia instead. “Aren’t you afraid?”
“Would I be here if I was?”
“Why aren’t you afraid?”
“I’m not sure that I’m not afraid. I’m just a little more open-minded than my sister, and I think I might be able to handle what you are a little better than she will.”
“Maybe you’re giving her too little credit,” Sam piped up.
“Sam’s the hopeless optimist of the family, in case you haven’t noticed,” Carson said, and Maia laughed.
“Don’t apologize. He’s probably right. My sister has surprised me in the past, but on this, I’m pretty sure she’s going to be freaked out when she—”
“Finds out that she’s slept with a pair of monsters?”
“You’re not monsters!” Maia reached out and squeezed his biceps, her gesture and emphatic words heartening. “You’re just different.”
“Like you,” Sam said, and Carson stared at him.
“What the hell did I miss?”
“I have…visions. I’m psychic.”
So he had been right! She was special.
Carson saw Sam’s non-reaction to Maia’s confession and glared at his brother. “You knew about this?”
Sam shrugged again, a sheepish blush creeping into his cheeks. He wondered how long his brother had known about Maia’s gifts and why Sam hadn’t mentioned it before now.
Carson remembered their conversation after their little argument and fisticuffs in the barn and how Sam had seemed to be holding out on him.
This
was why he was so sure Desiree wanted both of them. He’d probably known about Maia’s abilities then. Maia had probably convinced him that his and Carson’s being with her sister was prophesized.
He didn’t understand why his brother hadn’t shared this with him. It wasn’t like he would have been skeptical, not with the backgrounds he and his brother both shared.
“So you see, there’s nothing too much out here that will shock me,” Maia assured.
“You hope not,” Carson said.
Maia folded her arms across her breasts. “Impress me.”
Carson didn’t think twice before he stepped back and shed his shirt.
“Carson, do you really think that’s such a good idea?”
He didn’t respond to Sam’s concerned tone. He just continued to disrobe, unashamed of his nudity. Why should he be ashamed? It was his natural state, after all, more natural than any other state he remained forced to maintain.
Carson forgot about all modesty or the fact that Maia was something like a sister-in-law—or she would be if Sam and he had anything to say about it—and by the time he got to the button and zipper on his jeans, he was on autopilot. He quickly slipped out of his pants—he and Sam never wore underwear—and began to change.
As his bones and organs rearranged and shifted to accommodate his new form, Carson felt slightly disloyal, letting Maia see him shift before Desiree, but this thought didn’t stop him from continuing. He was too far gone now to stop anyway.
Dense black fur sprouted all over his body as he fell on all fours, and paws and claws took the place of hands and feet.
Peripherally, he heard Maia’s gasp and then realized that Sam had shifted also.
Carson didn’t know whether it was the sights or sounds that shocked Maia the most. He imagined it was both. Any normal person would be shocked by hearing bones crunch and pop into and out of place, and he was sure it sounded a lot more painful to her than it felt to him. He had become accustomed to the pain after doing this so many times since he’d been a pup. He had learned to ignore the pain and accept it as a part of the shift.
By the time he and Sam had completely changed and were standing before Maia in their wolf forms, Carson fully expected her to make a run for it.
Far from running, Maia took a knee before them and opened her arms wide.
Sam went to her first, always friendly and eager to please, no matter what form he was in. He’d been the same way in the pack, whereas Carson remained wary, especially around Remy and Duane. He’d never gotten over the feeling that the alpha and his family saw his family as less-than because Mama was a hybrid. And then after Dad’s death, he’d felt like the pack pitied them as “the widow and her two mutts” rather than embraced them as true members of the pack to be loved and protected like the rest. His mother assured him that it wasn’t pity that he saw shining out of the pack members’ eyes but envy, because they saw Carson as a threat, a shifter who could challenge Remy where everyone else who’d tried had failed.
Carson wasn’t sure about all that, but he had to admit that he envied the easy way Sam had with people, the easy way his brother got along with and made friends with everyone, especially with Maia right then.
“Oh…you are so beautiful.” Maia fearlessly hugged Sam around the neck and buried her face in his thick brown pelt.
Carson listened to the awe in Maia’s voice and wondered what it would feel like to have Desiree bury her face in his fur. His big body shuddered from the image.
“Please come,” she said to Carson, and again, he felt strangely unfaithful as he stepped forward, like he somehow cheated on Desiree, letting Maia see this side of him first.
Like Desiree will ever see or accept you this way.
It was a miracle that Maia accepted them and wasn’t frightened out of her mind. Maybe there was something to be said for a fey, Wiccan sister-in-law.