[Southern Arcana 3.0] Deadlock (22 page)

A touching domestic scene, if you didn’t think too closely about the fact that the baby’s father had died, a senseless sacrifice to the Conclave’s rabid fear of Michelle.

Alec knocked on the doorframe. “Mind some company?”

“Nah, come in.” Luciano looked up, a measure of quiet sympathy on his face. “I got tired of pacing.”

In this case, solidarity didn’t make Alec feel much better. He dropped into an armchair and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Worried about Michelle?”

“Unavoidable, I think, but she knows how far she can push herself.”

Michelle was young, but John Peyton would have secured his daughter the best tutors money could buy. Alec forced his thoughts away from all the things that could go wrong and focused on the baby. “How is he? No problems from him showing up early?”

Unmistakable pride and affection lit Luciano’s face. “He’s good. Better than we’d hoped, for being so early. AJ’s strong.”

The phone call when he’d heard about the birth came back to him. AJ. Aaron Junior. Alec didn’t know enough about babies to know if the infant took after his tiny mother or his hulking father. AJ looked small, but not fragile.

Strong, just like Luciano said. Just like both of the kid’s parents. “I’m glad. I heard him yelling this morning, all the way from the guesthouse. Demanding little fellow.”

“I’ve been trying to run interference. Let Michelle get a bit more rest.” The baby yawned, and Luciano stroked his cheek. “It’s hard for her to let someone else take care of him.”

“All things considered, not surprising. But she trusts you.”

“Yes.” After a moment, he looked up, contemplative. “Mahalia said Carmen’s family was responsible for the spell. Her uncle?”

“Her father, more likely.” Alec’s fingers curled toward his palm before he could stop them. “Her uncle’s playing a different game. Ready to make a move on that open Conclave seat.”

“Sometimes I think Derek should have taken it. He’s a good person, and he could have done good things.” He smiled ruefully. “Then I remind myself that he would have been miserable, him and Nick both.”

Derek had challenged a Conclave member for love and vengeance, not out of any desire for power. “He couldn’t have changed the world on his own. Rock the boat too bad, and you’ll get challenged out of your place eventually. Whole damn system’s built to keep the power where it is.”

“I used to believe that. Now I wonder if it’s only what we tell ourselves so we can sleep at night.”

Alec lifted one eyebrow. “You took yourself out of the running pretty spectacularly.”

“Yes, I did.” His eyes were shadowed in the firelight. “I married the Seer. Even if that ends, they’ll never trust me with any power now. And as much as I’d like to say I did it all for Michelle and AJ, I was selfish too. I knew exactly what I was doing.”

For the first time, Alec looked at Luciano—really
looked
at him—and didn’t see a kid. A man stared back at him, one who’d struck out on his own. Set his own path.

Of course, it made him feel old. He smiled anyway. “Honestly? I feel better knowing you’ve got a little selfish in you. Can’t really trust selfless people.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” The baby fussed, and Luciano unwrapped the blanket around his upper body. “Cesar Mendoza will never land that seat on the Conclave, not unless he plays dirty. The bad part is that’s about as likely as the sun rising and setting.”

“All I care about is keeping Carmen safe from it. I can deal with the rest of it when the Southeast council gets done picking over each other’s bones.”

“The most they could hope for is to marry her off to someone, make an alliance. That’s not likely.”

He’d thought the same thing before he’d realized how far her father would go. “Let’s hope.”

Luciano tilted his head. “You think the spell was a bid for power?”

“I think I can’t think like someone who’d sacrifice everything and anything for power, so I can’t discount any possibility.”

He nodded slowly. “Makes sense. Either way, it’s a mess.”

“That it is.” Alec fell silent, watching as Luciano soothed the fussy baby. Soon enough, AJ’s protests quieted, and Alec leaned back in his chair. “You’re good with him.”

“He’s my son,” the other man said simply. “Maybe I’m not supposed to think of him that way, but I do.”

For once, Alec chose his words carefully. “I’d say the only one who should have any say in how you think of him is his mother. Screw the rest of the world.”

“Michelle says that a shapeshifter son needs a shapeshifter father.”

Because some things were instinct, but some had to be taught. Even to those who came into being shapeshifters as adults, like Derek. Like Andrew. “I think Michelle’s right. AJ’ll be better off than I ever was. Or you, for that matter.”

“I don’t think we have to be exactly like our kids,” Luciano argued. “Any more than we have to be exactly like our parents.”

Not a curse he’d wish on either of them. “Michelle’s no less that kid’s mother because she’s different from him. That doesn’t mean it won’t be easier on both of them to have someone around who knows what a shapeshifter boy goes through growing up.”

“I’ll be here.” A statement of fact more than anything else. Of intent.

Yep, Luciano was a man now. A man with a son, even if he wasn’t one he’d fathered. “Good for you. I mean it.”

A rustling from the hall drew their attention, and Mahalia walked in, moving slowly, and sank heavily into the rocking chair beside Luciano. “I’m getting too old for this.” She peered over at Alec. “Everything’s done. It worked.”

Alec was on his feet and halfway to the door before he realized his presence might not be welcome yet. “Can I see her?”

She waved him away. “Go. She’ll be glad to have you nearby.”

He found Carmen in the room where they’d cast the spell, conversing quietly with Michelle. The Seer rose as soon as he came in, a tired but pleased smile curling her lips. “She’ll be just fine.”

Carmen looked pale and exhausted, with dark shadows under her eyes. “Alec.”

Michelle moved toward the door. “I’m going to check on AJ. Call me if you need anything.”

“Thanks.” When she’d gone, Carmen patted the sofa. “Michelle and Mahalia said everything went well.”

He sat and lifted both hands to her cheeks, cradling her face. “You look beat, sweetheart. You okay?”

“Yeah.” She leaned into his touch and closed her eyes. “It wasn’t so bad.”

A lie, and it hurt him. “But it’s over now, right?”

She stroked his hands, almost as if in apology, as she nodded. “Done. The magic’s protecting me now. Even if I’m bitten, nothing will take.”

He’d dreaded the possibility of disappointment, but none came, only relief that she was safe. He smoothed his thumb over the soft skin of her cheek and smiled. “Good. That’s good.”

After a moment, she exhaled a single short breath. “It is, isn’t it?”

“If that’s what you want.”

“It is.” She dropped her head to his shoulder with a weak laugh. “That, and maybe a nap.”

This time, the tenderness the words evoked wasn’t instinct. Just her, and the growing awareness that he couldn’t blame magic for the quiet tug of affection.

Later, he could be scared. Now, he needed to take care of her. So he gathered her against his chest and rocked to his feet. “A nap it is. We’ve got time before dinner.”

Her arms slid around his neck, and she brushed her lips over his jaw. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, honey.”

Chapter Thirteen

Dinner was a boisterous affair, redolent with relief and celebration. Luciano had helped Gus cook, and every bit of available space on the table was laden with food and wine.

Carmen barely tasted any of it with the distraction of Alec’s leg pressing against hers and the hot weight of his stares. The way his hand brushed hers, gentle but firm enough for her to know it was no accident.

“Okay, that’s it.” Mahalia wagged her finger at Carmen and Alec as she reached for a nearly empty wine bottle. “You two, go.”

Alec’s sharp spike of satisfaction gave lie to the casual drawl of his words. “You kickin’ us out, Mahalia?”

She snorted. “Luke’s too polite to do it.”

Luciano began to clear plates from the table. “Leave me out of it, May.”

“We’re going,” Carmen cut in, unable to stifle her laugh. “Going right now, and we’ll see all of you in the morning. Alec?”

Alec turned his attention to Michelle, who presided over the far end of the table with AJ in her arms and a sleepy but satisfied smile on her face. Under the table, his fingers found Carmen’s as he smiled. “Thanks, Michelle. I mean it.”

The Seer’s perfect, serene expression didn’t falter, not even when Carmen felt the stinging bite of her pain. “Take care of her,” was all Michelle said. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

The quickest path to the guesthouse was through the back door, and Carmen wrapped her sweater more tightly around her as they walked out under the stars. The night was crisp, clear.

Beautiful.

Alec didn’t speak, and neither did she. There was a silence inside her, a peace that she hadn’t realized had been disrupted until that afternoon. Now, freed from the low, constant buzz of magic, she could think again.

The house was dark, but the moonlight through the curtains showed her the way. She led Alec into the bedroom and gasped when he slammed the door behind them and spun her to face it. “Carmen.”

No fear, even when he startled her, because he would never, ever hurt her. “Alec.”

“Nothing in there but you.” His hands landed on her shoulders and skated down, stripping away her sweater. When his fingers returned, they curled around her wrists and guided her arms up until her palms pressed flat against the door. “No magic. No instincts but what you’ve always had.”

“Just me,” she agreed, turning her head. “This is what you get.”

“I’m not muddled anymore. Not fighting through the damn mating urge.” He rocked forward, until she could feel the length of his erection even through their clothing. “I’m this hard for you.”

Whatever else the spell might have done, it hadn’t been the only thing drawing them together, and she shuddered at the reassurance. “Lift up my skirt and touch me, and you’ll know how much I want you.”

He chuckled, a low, dark sound that raised goose bumps on her skin and sent a tingle of arousal racing through her. “No. No orders from you, not tonight. None of that half-assed, out-of-control mating bullshit.” One hand slid up her arm and then twisted in her hair, urging her head to the side. “Give yourself to me.”

Her heart began to pound, and the mere thought of it weakened her knees. If he hadn’t placed her hands so deliberately on the door, she would have sank back against him. “Completely?”

“Everything.” A tickle of his breath was the only warning before he closed his teeth on the side of her neck with a low growl.

She almost fell anyway. “Everything.”
Tonight. Forever.

His tongue stroked over the place where he’d bit her, hot and soothing. “No shields.”

Nothing between them. “All right.” Carmen closed her eyes and bit her lip. The habit of rebuilding them took effort to ignore, effort that would divert her attention away from him.

But she could let him in.

Slowly, she pulled down one wall, brick by brick, and built it back up around Alec. “They’re not down,” she whispered, “but you’re inside.”

Satisfaction swelled through him and curled around her as he released her hair and stroked his hand down her back, her dress barely protecting her from the heat of his touch. “I like being inside.”

“In more ways than just this?” she teased.

His hand splayed wide across her ass. “In more ways than you’ve seen.”

The implication made her catch her breath, and she wondered—for one tiny sliver of a second—if she was ready to belong to him, body and soul. Then the doubt fled, replaced in a heartbeat with the knowledge that she already did.

She rubbed the back of her head against his shoulder. “Show me now. No shields, mine
or
yours.”

Leather whispered across metal. “Go lay on the bed. On your back. Leave the pretty little sundress on.”

When she turned, he was pulling his belt from its loops. An image rocked her—of being bound to the bed, at his mercy, while he pleasured her.

Bed.
She was shaking as she crossed the room and slid onto the mattress, but she hesitated on her knees. “My shoes?”

“Off.”

She kicked them to the floor and stretched out like he’d instructed, her arms at her sides. “Like this?”

The corner of his mouth kicked up as he finally slid his belt free. “You know better.”

How would she survive? Arousal already throbbed, heavy and low, in her belly, and it intensified when she raised her arms and crossed them at the wrists.

A moment later he was there, twisting the leather around and around as he leaned down to brush her lips in a teasing kiss. “You really
do
know better. Nothing new here, is there?”

She strained toward him because she couldn’t help it. “Some wolves like it more than others. The dominance, and the submission. So do some humans.”

“Mine’s not a human thing.” He buckled the belt around her wrists and traced one finger down her arm. “I’m all wolf, honey. One-hundred-percent alpha bastard.”

“And mine’s not entirely a wolf thing,” she warned. “I don’t need it all the time…but sometimes I just want to let go.”

He curled his finger under the strap on her sundress. “Whenever you want.”

He meant it. Carmen rubbed her cheek against the inside of his wrist and hummed with pleasure at the warmth and protectiveness that surrounded her.

“That’s right.” The strap fell back against her shoulder, and the touches that followed were slow. Deliberate. He stroked her through the bodice of her dress, never giving her skin-on-skin contact and never lingering in one place for too long.

Her breasts tightened under his fingers, her nipples hard against the cotton of her dress. She tried to hold still but squirmed anyway, desperate to relieve the gathering ache. “Alec.”

“Carmen?” His touch vanished, and he gathered his shirt in his hands and stripped it over his head.