CHAPTER NINETEEN
The next morning, Sean made everyone pancakes, which he’d assured Graham were famous. Graham never thought he’d see the day he’d let a Feline into his kitchen to cook for him, but times were strange.
But nothing mattered anymore. Misty was alive. That was all he needed. Graham’s heart lightened when she came into the kitchen, looking tired but rested. Bandages bulked up her side under her tank top, but other than that, she moved with a sure step.
The cubs, in little boy form again, were happy to see her too—that is, when they could lift their faces from their plates of pancakes.
Andrea had been explaining that while Misty was healed once again, and she’d closed up Graham’s wound, he was still under Oison’s thrall.
“But you took the magic out of me, right?” Misty said, sliding into the empty place at the table. “Can’t you take it out of him?”
Andrea shook her head as she wrapped her hands around her cup of coffee. Andrea was a Lupine, a gray-eyed wolf who had agreed to mate with Sean, a Feline, in exchange for a safe move to a new Shiftertown. Somewhere along the way, the two had found the mate bond.
“The magic dust my father gave me counteracted whatever Fae magic touched you from the sword,” Andrea said to Misty. “Graham’s a different case. He’s under a complete Fae spell that seeks to control every aspect of him. I knit up his wound, but I couldn’t break the spell. I don’t have that kind of power, and my father doesn’t either. The magic that entered you, Misty, was incidental. The Fae is not after you.”
“Just Graham,” Misty said. She looked across the table at Graham, unhappy.
“Not just me.” Graham rejoiced that Misty was here to look at him at all, even with sadness and worry. Her brown eyes were free of pain, her face pink with health. “All Shifters.”
Sean said from the stove, “Liam told me about the connection between Oison’s sword and your Collar. I agree, we need to get the Collars off if the Fae have a big ‘enslave the Shifters’ plan. But, unfortunately, it's going slowly. The element we need to remove the Collars safely is rare. That’s why the research.”
“Yeah, I know,” Graham growled. “Why do anything when you can think about it for years, have meetings about it, talk about it?” He pinned Misty with a stare. “Too much damned talking.”
“Get over it,” Sean said. “Here you go, Misty.”
Sean flipped a stack of wonderful-smelling pancakes onto a plate and carried it the few steps to the table.
Sean and Andrea’s cub, Kenny, ten months old, sat at the table in a high chair borrowed from the Lupines next door. The cub, who would maintain his human form until about age three or four, had dark hair like Sean, and gray eyes like Andrea.
Matt and Kyle eyed Kenny speculatively. They didn’t like the little Shifter in their territory, even though Graham had explained the concept of guests to them. Kenny watched them, unworried, nonchalant, even. An alpha in the making.
Misty’s eyes lit when she saw the pancakes Sean set before her. She poured a stream of syrup over them and then dug in.
Graham would love it if Misty would look at him in the same eager way she regarded the pancakes. And then reach for syrup and pour it all over Graham’s body.
He tightened. His cock started rising, and Graham cleared his throat, moving in his seat, willing the thing to go down. Not that it mattered; Sean and Andrea would scent the change in his hormones right away. They already did, from the smirk Sean sent Andrea.
Misty didn’t notice, intent on her pancakes, stopping to dribble more syrup onto the stack. A sticky droplet clung to her lips, and it took all Graham’s self-control to keep from going over the table and licking it from her. Graham felt better since Andrea had patched him up—except for the continuing thirst—and his relentless need for Misty had returned, full force. Plus he’d mate-claimed Misty last night, which fanned the spark of his mating frenzy into a raging blaze.
“Want any more, Graham?” Sean asked, returning to the stove.
“No. Thanks.” Graham had conceded to eat a little, knowing he had to keep up his strength, but filling his stomach had seemed to make made the magical thirst worse. “Can you go now? I need to talk to Misty alone.”
Misty licked syrup from her fork. “Don’t be rude. They’ve traveled a long way, and they helped us.”
“And I’m grateful. Now I need to talk to you.”
Misty gave him the eye-rolling look, which warmed Graham’s heart, because she was alive to do it.
Sean clattered his cooking accoutrements into the sink. “Eric and Liam will want you with us when we question the Fae.”
Liam had found the Fae-blood human he’d promised to round up at the Shifter meeting, Sean had told him last night. Eric and Liam had stashed him in Eric’s hideaway out in the desert, ready for interrogation.
“I’ll come out later,” Graham said.
“And Graham really needs to talk to Misty alone,” Andrea said. She rose and lifted her son out of the chair. “We’ll take the cubs out too.”
“We will, will we?” Sean asked. But he didn’t look annoyed, he looked amused. “If you say so, love.” He dried his hands and came to bend over the cubs. “Want to go walkies?”
Matt and Kyle growled, Lupine for Who is this fool?
Andrea laughed. “Come with me, little loves. We’ll go play. Don’t worry about Sean. Though I know he smells like a cat.”
Matt and Kyle started eagerly out after Andrea, bumping into each other as they went. Sean shook his head, took up the high chair, and followed. “You want to watch yourself with this mate thing,” Sean said to Graham as he went. “The females, they take over.” He glanced from Graham to Misty, grinned, and strolled out of the house.
Graham left the table and locked the back door. He went out and locked the front door as well. Dougal had gone out early and had his key, but Graham didn’t need his guests deciding to charge back in while Graham was having a heart-to-heart with Misty.
When he returned to the kitchen, Misty was washing the dishes again.
Graham paused, remembering what had happened when he’d come up behind her doing dishes the last time. He pictured how he’d wet her with the spray then licked her skin, how he’d drunk her, how she’d made him feel incandescent joy.
He was rock hard again—not that he was ever very flaccid around her.
“Leave it,” he said.
Graham knew she wouldn’t stop, and Misty didn’t. “It’s not a lot,” she said. “Sean’s much neater than you are.”
“He must be a joy to live with,” Graham said. “Neat and clean, Irish accent, bloody Feline grin.”
“He is pretty good-looking,” Misty said without turning around. “I can understand why Andrea is madly in love with him.”
“He’s Feline. She’s Lupine. It’s wrong. Of course, she’s got Fae blood in her, which probably messed with her head.”
Misty stacked the clean plates in the drying rack and started scrubbing down the griddle. “I know you’re thankful they came and helped. You’re just being a shit. You can’t not be one.”
“It’s traditional with me.”
Graham leaned on the counter next to her. If he came up behind her, he’d bend her over, lift her skirt, and do her right there. To hell with dignity.
Misty cleaned, rinsed, and dried the griddle and rested the heavy thing back on the stove. It was the kind that stretched across burners, using the stove beneath to heat it. She washed her hands, dried them on the towel, then hung the towel neatly on the towel ring that had come with the house.
“What did you want to say, Graham?” Misty asked. “If you’re going to meet with Eric, I need to get back to my store. I have a ton of things to do.” She let out her breath. “I hate to leave you alone, but Eric can take care of you. Sean looks pretty capable too. I’m going to try to find Ben, and ask him again about curing you. I should have Reid talk to him with me—”
“Misty, would you stop?” Graham thrust his hand over Misty’s mouth. She looked up at him over his large fingers, indignant. “First, your brother went to your store with Xavier, plus I sent Shifters to help out. You don’t need to worry about it. Second, you’re not talking to that Ben person without me there—who the hell knows who he is? Third, I need you here.”
And now Misty was getting mad again. She moved her head so she could speak. “No, you need to go with Eric. If we both work on this problem today, we can pool our information later.”
But that would mean Misty not being here when Graham got back. “You have to stay,” he said. “I mate-claimed you.”
Misty’s eyes widened. “You what?”
“Mate-claimed. It means—”
“I know what it means. I’ve hung around Shifters long enough.” Misty spun away from him, her skirt swishing. “It means you’re saying you want me to be your mate and do the ceremonies. And have me live with you and have your kids—cubs.” Misty ran out of breath and stopped. “Are you insane? I know everyone expects you to mate with a wolf Shifter. One of your wolves even tried to attack me, remember?”
“And she’ll be disciplined. Things are different now.”
“What things? No, they’re not.”
Graham looked into Misty’s stubborn eyes and knew the truth. Everything was different. His life had changed the moment Misty had turned to him on the barstool at Coolers and asked, You a Shifter?
“I’ve been lying to myself,” Graham said. “I thought I could keep it cool with you, go out with you for the fun of it, to enjoy being with you. Then say good-bye when I chose a mate. But I can’t. Letting you go is something I can’t do. All right?”
When Graham had mate-claimed Rita, she’d nearly passed out in shock that the son of a clan leader had chosen her, then she’d recovered and thanked him for the great honor.
Misty only stared at him and didn’t look honored at all. “You can’t change your mind like that.” Her voice was shaky. “I know your Shifters won’t shrug it off and say, Oh well, our great leader knows best. They’ll fight you.”
“I’m prepared for that.”
“I’m so glad. What about me?” Misty pressed her hands to her chest. “I’ll have to fight too. That Shifter woman—Jan—who tried to attack me, was very angry. And her Collar didn’t go off, so that won’t slow her down, will it? And what about the other women who hope they can be with someone so high in Shiftertown? I’ve learned a lot about Shifters since I started dating you. You’re a good catch, apparently, and they’re not going to step aside so I can have you.”
Graham gave her a growl. “What you don’t understand is that I’m alpha. They do what I say.”
“And what you don’t understand is how someone not alpha thinks. Sure, they’ll obey you—until they can figure out a way to get rid of me, permanently. Or replace you with someone who will do what they want.”
“And you don’t understand how leaders get chosen. I have to die before another one takes my place.”
“Exactly my point.”
Graham started to say that would never happen, but he stopped. Of course, it could happen. Challenges for leadership had occurred a lot in the wild—not to Graham, but to others. It happened less often now, but Collars were gradually coming off and some Shifters were hoping for changes. Liam Morrissey had fought his own father and won, thus replacing him as leader. Dylan Morrissey was a hard man with a lot of experience, so Liam besting him said something.
Graham didn’t think any of the Lupines here could win against him, but now Graham had been spelled by a Fae.
“They’re not going to kill me,” Graham said, trying to keep his voice steady. “Eric won’t let them.”
Then again, when Graham had arrived here last year, he’d been a total shit to Eric. But Graham had been fighting to keep his position, fearing Eric would force him out. Graham couldn’t stand the thought of having to be a kiss-ass, so he’d been a dickhead instead. Had Eric forgiven Graham enough to help him stand against his angry Shifters? Graham wasn’t sure.
“And anyway,” Misty said. “We should figure out this Fae problem first.”
“No, I want to do this mating now, before the Fae problem kills me.” Graham started to reach for Misty then forced himself not to touch her. “I want you mated to me, to know we’re bound. Don’t you think that will make me stronger?”
“No, I think it will be more distracting. Having to learn to integrate our lives, plus trying to get your Shifters to go along with it, will take a lot of work. Throw in trying to find a cure for this spell—that’s lot to put on your plate.”
“Damn it!” Graham’s roar burst out. “What distracts me is seeing you around, with your gorgeous legs, and your lips I want to suck on, and your scent driving me wild. The touch of a mate heals—did you know that? It’s why you’re up and walking around today. Andrea’s cure wasn’t working until I took it away from her and dosed you myself. I need you. Even if we get rid of this Fae, not being with you is killing me.”
He faced her, his hands clenched. Misty’s lips were parted, red and kissable.
“Graham, I want to be with you too,” she said in a rush. “But I don’t want to make things hard for you.”
“Well, too late. I’m already hard for you.” Graham grabbed her hand and pressed it against the front of his jeans. “This is what you do to me, every time I look at you.”
“That’s just lust.” Misty didn’t move her hand, which warmed his blood. “Wanting. I want you too.” She smiled a little, and Graham’s frenzy skyrocketed.
Graham gripped her shoulders. “I need you. It’s killing me. Don’t refuse the claim. Please, don’t leave me alone. Again. Please.”