*
The sky turned dark. I lay on the blanket watching the stars sparkling like diamonds. The moon shone bright, spilling veils of ethereal light onto the mountains. Maybe it was my imagination, but the night seemed brighter here. Perhaps the mountains brought us closer to the moon.
A soothing calm came over me. The castle and the strain of being there had worn me down, and right now I couldn’t care less about Curran, Hugh, or Roland. The pressurized walls that had ground on me while I was there fell away. I just wanted to stay here, lie on my blanket, and be free.
Maybe if I was extra lucky, Hugh and Curran would elope together and take Lorelei with them while I was gone.
I would probably go back in the morning. But right now I just didn’t want to, and the thought of running away tasted so sweet, I was afraid to turn it over in my mind. I could disappear into these mountains and live a simple life: hunt, fish, grow fruit trees, and not have to worry about anything.
Atsany told us great stories of his people, of fighting giants and dragons, of great heroes—narty—and winged horses. Astamur translated quietly, sitting propped against a pillow.
“. . . the great Giant-adau saw the strange herd of horses in his pasture. He crossed his huge arms and bellowed. ‘Whose horses are these? They look like the narty’s horses, but the narty wouldn’t dare—’”
Astamur fell silent. Atsany blinked and poked the shepherd’s boot with his pipe. I leaned over. Astamur was staring at the mountain, his jaw slack.
I turned.
A massive beast dashed along the mountain apex. Huge, at least six hundred pounds, the creature covered the distance in great leaps. The moonlight traced his gray mane and slid off the thick cords of his muscles. He was neither beast nor man, but a strange four-legged meld of the two, built to run despite his bulk.
How the hell did he even find me?
Atsany jumped up and down, waving his pipe. Without taking his gaze from the beast, Astamur reached for his rifle. “A demon?”
“No, not a demon.” I might have preferred one. “That’s my boyfriend.”
Atsany and the shepherd turned to look at me.
“Boyfriend?” Astamur said.
Curran saw us. He paused on a stone crag and roared. The raw declaration of strength cracked through the mountains, rolling down the cliffs like a rockslide.
“Yep. Don’t worry. He’s harmless.”
Curran charged down the mountain. Most nonlamassu shapeshifters had two forms, human and animal. The more skilled of them could hold a third one, a warrior form, an upright, monstrous hybrid of the two designed for inflicting maximum damage. Curran had a fourth, a hybrid closer to the lion than to a human. I’d seen it only once before, when Saiman pissed him off out of his mind and Curran chased him and me through the city. It was the night we made love for the first time.
If he thought this would win him any favors, he would be seriously disappointed.
The giant leonine beast galloped down the mountain and across the grass, heading straight for us. The moonlight spilling from the sky set his back aglow, highlighting the dark stripes crossing the gray fur.
Twenty yards. Fifteen. Ten.
Atsany and Astamur froze, rigid.
Five.
The colossal lion jumped and landed a foot away from me, the dark mane streaming. The impact of his leap sent sparks flying from the fire. His eyes burned with molten gold. The powerful feline maw gaped open, showing terrifying fangs as big as my hand. Curran snarled.
I swatted him on the nose. “Stop it! You’re scaring the people who rescued me.”
The gray lion snapped into a human form. Curran jerked his hands up as if crushing an invisible boulder. “Aaaaaa!”
Okay.
He grabbed the edge of a big rock sticking out of the grass. Muscles flexed on his naked frame. He wrenched the boulder out of the ground. The four-foot-long rock had to weigh several thousand pounds—his feet sank into the grass. Curran snarled and hurled the rock against the mountain. The boulder flew, hit like a cannon ball, and rolled back down. Curran chased it, pulled another smaller rock out of the dirt, and smashed it against the first one.
Wow. He was really pissed.
Astamur’s eyes were as big as plates.
“I can get him to put those back after he’s done,” I told him.
“No,” Astamur said slowly. “It’s fine.”
Curran picked up the smaller rock with both hands and threw it onto the larger boulder. The boulder cracked and fell apart. Oops.
“Sorry we broke your rock.”
Atsany took the pipe out of his mouth and said something.
“Mrrrhhhm,” Astamur said.
“What did he say?”
“He said that the man must be your husband, because only someone we love very much can make us this crazy.”
Curran kicked the remains of the boulder, spun, and marched toward me.
I crossed my arms.
“I thought you were dead! And you’re here, sitting around the fire, eating and . . .”
“Listening to fairy tales.” Helpful, that’s me. “We’re about to have s’mores and you’re not invited.”
Curran opened his mouth. His gaze paused on Atsany. He blinked. “What the fuck?”
“Don’t stare. You’ll hurt his feelings.”
Atsany nodded at Curran in a solemn way.
Curran shook his head and pivoted toward me. “I almost killed B. The only reason she’s alive right now is because she had to show me where you fell.”
“Oh, so Princess Wilson let you out of the castle? Did she have to sign your permission slip? You got a hall pass, woo-hoo!”
“So this is what it’s about? This is your mature response—to go off into the mountains rather than talking about it and have s’mores with a gnome and a mountain man.”
“Yep.”
“What’s your plan for tomorrow? Brunch with a unicorn?”
“As long as it doesn’t involve you, it’s fine with me.”
“So really? That’s it, just like that.” Curran turned around. “Wait a minute. Where is Hugh? Shouldn’t he be flexing for you?”
“I’m surprised you noticed.”
He squeezed his hands into fists. I picked up a grapefruit-sized rock and handed it to him. It went flying. Home run, Beast Lord style.
“I noticed. I just can’t do anything about it.”
“You know what the difference is? Hugh can stand there and flex all he wants. I can’t control what he does. I can control what I do and I don’t encourage him. You let her parade in front of you naked. You told me you had no interest in her and then you invited her to sit at the table in my chair. You went on a little rendezvous with her where you explained how you were lonely and cried about all the sacrifices you made by being with me.”
His eyes sparked with gold. “You. That was you on the balcony.”
“You spend every waking moment with her, while I get told endlessly that nobody has to answer any of my questions, because I’m clearly on my way out and she’s on her way in and since we’re not married, I’m easy to replace.”
“You want to get married? I’ll marry you right now. Is the gnome a preacher, because I’ll do it.”
“That’s a hell of a proposal.”
“What did he say?” Astamur asked.
“He wants me to marry him.”
Astamur relayed it. Atsany waved his pipe and Astamur translated back. Ha!
“What?” Curran snarled.
“Atsany says you’re not ready for marriage. You don’t have the right temperament for it.”
Curran struggled with that for a second.
“Let me know if your head’s going to explode, so I can duck.”
“We’re not married because every time I bring up marriage or children, you freak the hell out.”
“I don’t!”
“Three weeks ago I asked you if you wanted to have kids. You looked like you were ready to bolt.”
“I had just come from watching a child go loup for hours while trying to comfort her mother.” I waved my arms. “You know what, you’re right. Let’s have kids. Let’s have a brood of them. And when my asshole father comes through Atlanta burning it to the ground, we’ll both cry together as they die. Or worse, maybe our kids will be human.” I put my hand on my chest. “Heaven forbid.”
“Really? Human? What am I?” he snarled.
Ouch. “You’re a special snowflake, that’s what you are.” I mimicked Lorelei. “But they can never join you on a hunt. What torture . . .”
He stepped forward. “We’ve been together a year. How many times have you seen me hunt?”
Umm.
“How many times, Kate?”
“None.”
“That’s because I don’t hunt. I’m a male lion. I weigh six hundred pounds. Do you really expect me to scamper through the brush after deer? When I want a steak, I want a damn steak. I don’t want to chase it around the woods for two hours and then eat it raw. I have food brought to me, and the only time I get off my ass is when something threatens the Pack. I’ve been on exactly one hunt in the last three years. I went because I had to go, and once they ran off, I found a nice warm rock and had myself a nap in the sun. Do you know when the last time I really had to hunt to survive was? After my parents died. Until Mahon found me half-starved.”
I stared at him.
“Hunting together is something young werewolves do when they’re trying to learn how to work in a team. Most shapeshifters don’t cavort around in the woods, unless the urge to kill something strikes them. Do you have any idea how hard it is to actually catch a deer on foot? There is a reason why humans are the most successful predators on the damn planet. Lorelei doesn’t know this, because she’s young and naive and she has never been outside her uncle’s wolf pack. She never had to survive weeks in the forest, eating worms, mice, grasshoppers, and whatever other shit she could catch because she’s starving and desperate. She thinks every pack in the world follows the same pattern, but you know me. You know better. Or you should.”
I opened my mouth.
“I’m not done. Hugh understands this. He made that farce of a hunt because he gets off on making us run through the woods, fetching meat for him like we’re subhuman, like we’re his dogs, and then when we bring it back, he gives the one who debases himself the most a treat. If I didn’t have to keep Desandra breathing, I wouldn’t have gone. I just want to know, is that what you think of me? Am I a fucking dog to you?”
“No, you’re the man I love and who is supposed to love me back. Instead, you spend all your time with another woman. Apparently you pulled the plug on us and forgot to forward me the memo.”
“Am I with her now?”
“Where were you this morning when I went to speak with the packs?”
His eyes told me I’d hit home. It hurt. “Don’t bother to answer. I always thought that if you decided we weren’t working out, at the very least you would have the decency to tell me up front.”
“I’m thirty-two years old,” he said. “Women have thrown themselves at me since I was fifteen. Do you honestly think that Lorelei has anything I haven’t seen before?”
“She has the Wilson name.”
“And she can stick it up her ass for all the good it will do her. I don’t need to ally myself with Ice Fury. They’re four thousand miles away. What the hell would I do with them?”
He did have a point, but I was too mad to admit it. “Whatever.”
“Not only that, but if I wanted that pack, I would go to Alaska and take it from Wilson, and I would take everything in between me and him. I don’t need Lorelei. And even if I did, what does she have, Kate? She isn’t an alpha; she has no concept of leadership or obligations. She isn’t her father, and she doesn’t get to claim his accomplishments as her own because he happens to be her dad.”
I was suddenly so tired. “So let’s review: she didn’t impress you with her personality and brain, she has no strategic value, and you don’t really want to get into her pants.”
“Yes.”