SHIFTER’S LADY

This one is for Ann Thayer-Cohen, who gave me the title and who is an
extraordinary moderator and a great friend. And, always, for Judd.

And to my readers—thank you! Please visit me at www.alyssaday.com
for excerpts, free downloadable screensavers, and a free short story for
members only—“Atlantis: In the Beginning”—and watch for Lord
Justice’s book, Atlantis Unleashed, coming soon!

Big Cypress National Preserve
West of Miami, Florida
Midnight

Moonlight silvered down through the branches of the cypress trees, shadowing the gnarled limbs and trunks into the menacing forms of ogres from a child’s nightmare. The blood tracing geometric patterns in the dirt was no specter of childish terror, but the very real damage from a vicious attack.

Swearing under his breath, Ethan circled the fallen panther—the sixth one attacked in two weeks—all the while scanning the chill winter’s dark for a glimpse of the unnatural predator who’d attacked it. He’d heard the animal’s screams of pain while patrolling more than a mile away and had immediately broken into a full-out run, but the attacker had disappeared into the winter night.

At least for this panther he’d been in time. This cat was still alive.

As the wounded panther—a good-sized male—lifted its head to snarl, Ethan drew his lips back from his teeth and preempted the cat’s defiance with a warning growl of his own.

“Sorry, my friend, I know you’re hurting,” he said, pitching his voice to the low rumble of an alpha male asserting its dominance over a pack member. “But if you won’t let me get close enough to help you, we’re going to have to go the tranq dart routine.”

Lifting his head, he scented the air again, memorizing the rank odor that had assailed his nostrils as he approached the clearing. His shape-shifter senses were preternaturally sharp, but even in his human shape, Ethan could track a scent trail. This one was distinct from any of his own pride, but it was somehow oddly familiar.

The cat on the ground snarled again, weaker this time. The gouges clawed out of its side and belly glistened a deep crimson-stained black in the moonlight.

Ethan took one last, long look around and dropped down into a crouch next to the animal. “It looks like the bastard who did this to you is gone. So let’s get you to someone who can help.”

The panther bared its teeth in one final act of defiance before Ethan grasped the sides of its face in his hands and stared into its eyes. He sent a mental touch into the cat’s mind, simultaneously muting the pain the animal was suffering and delivering a simple message: Pride-brother. Alpha. Help you.

As he lifted the heavy body into his arms, careful not to jostle the cat more than necessary, he uttered a grim promise. “I’ll get him for you, friend. Believe me, he’ll pay.”

Atlantis
The next morning

Marie stood on the emerald-hued grass and stared, nearly transfixed, at the white marble temple inlaid with jade, sapphires, and amethyst, memorizing it anew, though she’d lived and worked within it for more than three centuries of days. She wanted to burn its image into her very being, in the event—the almost impossible event, she reminded herself—that she were never to see it again.

Her temple. Her sacred responsibility.

The one she was abandoning.

Her breath quickened, and an obstruction the size of one of her favorite sea sapphires lodged in her throat. “Erin, I—”

Beside her, Erin sighed and shook her head, her blonde curls shimmering in the magically created sunlight that replaced the rays of a sun that had never dared venture so far beneath the sea. Erin put her hands on her hips in that peculiarly human gesture that both she and Prince Conlan’s beloved, Riley, favored when they were frustrated.

Humans. Marie marveled anew at the idea that she had two human friends, when no human before Riley had set foot in Atlantis for more than eleven thousand years.

“Not again, Marie,” Erin said firmly, tapping her foot in mock impatience. “We are not going over my duties in the temple one more time. As First Maiden of the Nereids for more than three hundred years, don’t you think it’s time you had a vacation?”

“But Lord Justice—”

Erin sobered, the playfulness fading from her face. “No one wants to find him more than Ven and I do, Marie. You know that Conlan and Ven and all the warriors have done nothing else but search for Justice since he…since he…”

Erin’s voice trailed off, as she visibly fought for control. “He sacrificed himself to that monster to protect me. To protect Ven and me. We will never give up.”

Marie hugged the shorter woman, offering up yet another silent prayer that Lord Justice yet lived. After admitting to the shocking truth that he was half brother to Prince Conlan and his brother, the Lord Vengeance, Lord Justice had offered himself to the vampire goddess Anubisa in exchange for his brother’s life. Marie had heard the tale of it many times but still could not comprehend the courage it must have required to voluntarily submit to the goddess of all Chaos.

Especially knowing of Conlan’s seven years of torture at her hands.

Erin took a deep breath and stepped away from Marie’s hug. “But life goes on. It always goes on. Women still come to the temple for help with their pregnancies and childbirth, and even though I am no temple-trained midwife, the gems give me the healing power to help them.”

Marie smiled at the understatement. “You are our gem singer, Erin. You sing the healing power of the stones to our women and babies. You healed Riley and the unborn heir to the throne of Atlantis. Do not discount your Gift.”

“I don’t discount it, or I never would have agreed to this. The responsibility for the unborn children of Atlantis is an enormous one, far too much for a single witch,” Erin replied. “Or at least it would be if you hadn’t trained me yourself, surrounded me with your very knowledgeable temple acolytes, and watched as I used my Gift to sing healing and peace to women in labor.”

Marie’s desire to visit her brother, Bastien, and meet his new love, Katherine, pulled at her, but still she was torn. “I feel as though I were abandoning my duties at a time when all Atlantis must work together.”

Erin’s blue eyes softened with sympathy. “I know. But you deserve this time, Marie. And your brother and Justice were very close, weren’t they?”

Marie’s lips curved into a smile. “Yes, always. Thick as jellyfish, those two.”

“Thieves.”

“What?”

“We say ‘thick as thieves,’” Erin said, laughing. “Although I must admit that thick as jellyfish makes more sense.”

Marie studied the witch who had captured Lord Vengeance’s heart and restored the glory of the Temple of the Nereids through her gemsong. Abruptly, she nodded. “Yes. You are correct. Bastien will be nearly insane with rage and worry for Lord Justice, and even more so from the frustration that he could not immediately join the search. I must go to him.”

Almost as if on cue, an icy wind swept between and around them and resolved itself into the shimmering form of Poseidon’s high priest, Alaric. He wore his customary black clothing, and the fire in his green eyes burned starkly in his drawn face. “Are you ready for the journey, Lady Marie?” he asked, his voice raspy as if little used in recent days.

“I am,” she replied, inclining her head to the priest. He carried such a weight of bitter anguish with him, but it was not the pain of injury or illness. She sensed it was an emotional suffering but would never presume to impose upon his privacy by asking, no matter the whispers that had circulated about Alaric and Quinn, the sister of the prince’s beloved.

If Alaric ever chose to share his anguish, she would listen. It was her role in life, and she had been content with it. To watch, to listen, to heal as best she could. Such a life was not without its rewards. She glanced at the temple one last time and smiled, then lifted her small travel bag from the grass at her feet and nodded again. “Please call the portal, if you would.”

Alaric merely stared down at her for a long moment before he spoke. “Know that I am against this journey, my lady. We face more danger Above than we have for millennia, so now seems to be a ridiculously foolhardy time for you to venture from the safety of Atlantis.”

Marie answered him with the respect due a warrior priest who had fought with and healed her brother and the rest of the Seven countless times, even though she’d thought this discussion finally put to rest when he’d agreed to call the portal for her. “As always, your opinion and advice are valuable. But I am not without defenses, as First Maiden. The goddess will not abandon me should danger threaten.”

When he looked as though he would interrupt her, she held up a hand to touch his arm. “I know, Alaric. I know. But he is my brother, and he has need of me, though he would never admit to it. I must go.”

He tightened his lips, and she saw the muscles in his jaw clench, but he said no more, merely lifted his hands in the air, closed his eyes, and called the magic. The magic of a high priest who was more powerful than any ever before anointed by Poseidon was truly mesmerizing to behold. The portal, sometimes capricious in how and when it responded, would never dare to disobey Alaric. On his command, the shimmering oval appeared first as a tiny gleam of light no larger than the palm of her hand then widened and expanded into an ovoid sphere sparkling with the effervescent colors of a thousand gemstones.

She’d seen it before, of course. She’d watched her brother and his fellow warriors, those elite who formed the Seven and protected High Prince Conlan, travel through the portal nearly as many times over the centuries as there were gemstones in the Temple. But the sight never failed to amaze her, and today even more so.

Today she was finally the one who would travel through the portal.

There were no farewells remaining to be said. No final instructions to be dispensed. She was simply ready, and so she smiled her thanks to Alaric and Erin and stepped into the portal. Into her new adventure.

Even as the magic surrounded her, Marie wondered at the chill that swept over her skin. The swirling winds of the transference whipped the murmured words from her lips as she spoke them. “Am I excited? Or simply afraid?”

Big Cypress National Preserve,
in front of Kat’s cabin

Ethan leaned against a tree about as far as he could get from Bastien without displaying overt rudeness, but he met the huge Atlantean warrior’s gaze in a shared moment of utter disbelief after Kat pulled the silver tube out of her pocket for the eighth or ninth time. The completely professional, cool, calm, and collected Katherine Fiero, highly regarded National Park Service ranger and daughter of the late alpha of the Big Cypress panther pride, was actually checking her lipstick in a hand mirror.

Like some kind of…female.

Then she bit her lip in a nervous gesture, and Ethan nearly laughed. He coughed, catching it in time, but she rounded on him and glared. “If you’re going to mock me, get the hell out of here. I don’t need any more witnesses to me making a fool of myself in front of Bastien’s only sister.”

Bastien blinked and then patted her shoulder as if she were an unruly cub. She whirled, her tawny hair flying, and snapped her teeth at the Atlantean, reminding both of the men that Kat Fiero was also a shape-shifter with the newfound ability to transform into more than one hundred fifty pounds of feral panther.

“Stop patting me. What if she doesn’t like me?” She’d tried to hide the fear behind her words, but Bastien clearly had heard it, too, since he stopped trying to talk to Kat and swept her up into a fierce embrace. The love and passion in Bastien’s expression made Ethan wish he were somewhere else.

Anywhere else.

Since Bastien and Kat had mated, or reached some Atlantean magical state that the warrior called the “soul meld,” the two had been inseparable. Their hunger for each other was so powerful that Ethan was sure even a man who wasn’t the alpha of Kat’s pride would have been aware of it.

Since Ethan was the alpha and had once entertained hopes that he and Kat would someday settle down with each other, being around the pair was something akin to taking a serrated blade to the gut. He gave them another minute, then growled his displeasure. “If you’re done groping each other, how’s the cat doing?”

Bastien released Kat but shot a warning glance at Ethan. “Perhaps you should concern yourself less with us and more with whoever or whatever is attacking your cats.”

Ethan snarled at him. “Don’t push your luck, Atlantean. I may respect your fighting ability and our alliance, but don’t even think about questioning my concern or efforts on behalf of my panthers. Shape-shifter or the single-natured.”

Bastien inclined his head. “As you say. None can doubt your commitment to the members of your pride or to your panther counterparts.”

Kat’s eyes narrowed. “Do I have to toss a little of my mojo your way, boys?”

Both men stepped back from her, lifting their hands in surrender. Kat’s Gift calmed aggression and sent waves of peace flowing through even the most antagonistic predators, and Ethan suspected Bastien didn’t want it used on him any more than Ethan did.

Ethan wasn’t in the mood for peace. “About my cat?”

“His injuries were really severe, Ethan,” Kat said. “Dr. Herman is the best, but he said it’s touch and go.” She shook her head. “If you hadn’t gotten there when you did…”

“Yeah. I’m a big hero.” Ethan forced the words out through clenched teeth. “Such a big damn hero that I’ve let five of our cats die. Maybe six now. Six out of a total population of Florida panthers of maybe ninety, max. At this rate, they’ll be facing extinction again, like they were back in ’55.”

“We’ll find him. Or them. Or it. Whatever is doing this, Ethan,” Kat promised.

“I, too, will assist you in your search,” Bastien added. “Until such time as my prince releases me from these political negotiations to join the search for Justice.”

The fury that burned in Bastien’s eyes at the mention of his friend and fellow warrior reminded Ethan that he was glad to have the Atlanteans on his side. “I understand what you mean about politics. But we have to lock in support among all the Florida shape-shifter coalitions so that they ally with us against the growing vampire threat. Organos proved that the vampire master plan to enthrall the shape-shifters has advanced far beyond what we’d suspected.”

Bastien’s eyes gleamed. “Organos died for his temerity, and so will any others that oppose us.”

Ethan started to agree, but Kat cut him off with a loud hissing noise. “Is that…is that it? Is that her?” she whispered, pointing to a spinning sphere of light that had suddenly appeared in front of them.

Bastien put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. “So it is. Finally you will meet my sister.”

The sphere stretched and lengthened into a tall, oval shape, and a fractured kaleidoscope of light shimmered like a starburst in the center of it. Suddenly, near the bottom, one delicately shod foot stepped through the portal and onto the grass, followed closely by the rest of the tall woman in her white dress. Ethan barely got a glimpse of the side of her head, her glossy dark hair bound up in some kind of intricate braid thing, before she hurled herself at her brother. Bastien whooped and yanked her off her feet and swung her around, shouting with joy. But Ethan’s attention snapped back to the portal when a second figure stepped through, this one ominously familiar: Alaric.

As Ethan nodded his head briefly to the Atlantean god’s high priest, the portal’s light winked out of existence. “Alaric. Be welcome among the pride,” he said in the formal words of greeting.

“I come as an ally and friend,” Alaric said, nodding in return. Ethan supposed after he’d seen the priest a few more times, he might get used to the man’s bizarre glowing green eyes.

Maybe.

Alaric suddenly froze, his entire body stiffening as his eyes focused on some faraway sight. Nearly a full minute passed before Bastien, caught up in greeting his sister, noticed.

“Alaric?”

Bastien finally allowed his sister’s feet to touch the ground again and hugged her, then looked at Alaric over her head. “What news?”

“We may have a lead, Bastien,” Alaric said. “Conlan just contacted me. We need you now in the hunt for Justice.”

“Of course,” Bastien said, all but baring his teeth, his stance going to full-on alert. Ethan thought, not for the first time, that the warrior would have made a good panther.

“Marie, you must return to Atlantis and take Kat with you, so you’ll be safe while I’m gone,” Bastien continued.

Kat and Marie, whose face Ethan still hadn’t seen, both spoke at once.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Kat said.

“I only just arrived,” Marie pointed out.

Ethan raised one eyebrow. “Certainly my protection extends to your sister while you search for your pride-brother, Bastien.”

“Pride-brother? What a fascinating term,” Marie said, stepping out from behind Bastien. “It appears our societies have much in common, as the warriors in the Seven are as close as brothers, as well.”

Ethan had mere seconds to think that her voice sounded like crystal infused with laughter, and then he saw her face.

Enormous dark blue eyes gazed up at him out of the most beautiful face he’d ever seen. Her creamy pale skin begged to be caressed, and her mouth was wide and generous, with full, sensuous lips that sent a shiver of dark desire spiraling down his spine.

Marie was ethereal, almost otherworldly in her beauty. Equal parts of awe and craving shot through his nerve endings, and he struggled to put a tight leash on his inner cat, who wanted nothing more than to haul her off to a dark lair somewhere far from any others. But he was alpha, and he’d won fiercer battles against more desperate opponents than his own hungers. Convinced he’d tamed his beast, he held out his hand in greeting.

Marie smiled up at him, and the bottom dropped out of his world.

Marie’s senses sharpened to painful clarity as she locked gazes with the shape-shifter, and her breath caught, trapped in her throat and somehow entangled with the rapid beating of her heart. Her vision telescoped until Ethan and only Ethan was framed within it, the others having vanished into the perimeter of the sparkling haze swamping her whirling thoughts. Ethan stood before her, holding out his hand, and courtesy dictated that she take it in greeting.

But fear drowned out all thoughts of courtesy. Somehow, instinctively, she knew that by touching him, some hidden stillness inside her soul would be disturbed. Raucously awakened, perhaps never again to find quiet. An inner voice mocked her girlish tremors, and sheer pride and force of will combined to overcome her hesitation.

Bastien’s voice rumbled out from somewhere to her left. “Is there a problem?”

Marie lifted her chin, ignoring the concern in her brother’s voice. “I am Marie, First Maiden of the Temple of the Nereids,” she said to Ethan, proud that only the faintest tremor lay within the syllables of her speech. “I am honored that you welcome me to your lands.” She briefly touched her hand to his but pulled it away before she could react to his touch.

Ethan’s sensual lips had tightened at the sound of her voice, and he stared down at her with golden eyes darkened by some unknown emotion. The tawny hair, so similar to Kat’s, framed his face in thick waves that might have looked feminine on any lesser man, but only highlighted his stark masculinity. His sharp cheekbones, strong chin, and proud, straight nose all stated without words that this man—this shape-shifter—was a warrior, born and bred.

How fortunate that she was not drawn to warriors.

Especially not tall, lean, hard-bodied warriors who looked at her as though she were some particularly delectable dessert.

Ethan smiled slowly, a dark, dangerous smile that spoke of pleasures whispered in the shadows. Heat swept through Marie, and her lips involuntarily parted on a small sigh. Ethan’s gaze whipped down to her mouth, and he pointedly stared at it, his smile fading. The heat between them was palpable, cutting through the biting winter wind that carried hints of swamp and sea. Marie shivered, though whether from the chill or from the expression on Ethan’s face, she could not tell.

Or, at least, she would not admit. Not even to herself.

She deliberately turned her back on Ethan and faced Kat, the lovely, tall park ranger who was clutching Bastien’s hand and chewing the glossy polish off her lips. Marie held out her arms. “Forgive me, my new sister. The journey through the portal seems to have tired me. I am so pleased to meet you at last!”

Kat hesitated for only a moment and then flashed a dazzling smile that gave Marie much reassurance as to her brother’s choice.

“I’m so happy you’re here!” Kat said and then rushed forward to envelop Marie in an exuberant hug. “We have so much to talk about. I can’t wait to show you around.” Kat glanced at Bastien, smiling. “Bastien told me that this is your first trip out of Atlantis, ever. I can’t even believe how much you need to catch up on! We’re going to have a blast!”

Alaric cleared his throat. “Yes. Well. We must offer our farewells now, then. Bastien?”

Bastien’s eyes narrowed, and he crossed his arms. “Marie, you know I would prefer it if you return to Atlantis and reschedule your visit for a time when I could be here to protect you.”

From behind her, Marie heard an almost inaudible growling sound. Startled, she quickly turned around but saw only Ethan. However, it was a very different Ethan from the man who’d greeted her mere minutes ago. Gone was the sexy, speculative smile. His eyes were glowing golden flame, and his fists were clenched at his side. She blinked and watched the panther as he visibly forced himself to calm, straightening his hands and quirking his lips into a semblance of a smile as he stared at Bastien.

“As I said, Atlantean, I will protect your sister as my own. Do you doubt my word or honor?” His words dropped like heated stones into the sudden silence, and Marie felt the tension between the men shoot up to an unbearable level. “Even now, my pride-brothers surround this area to guard and protect.”

“I doubt neither, shape-shifter, but you would feel the same about Kat, and you know it,” Bastien returned, in a tone far more reasonable than Marie had expected from him. Evidently the liaison role he’d undertaken had affected him in more ways than merely touched the surface. The brother she’d always known would have led with his fists. This new brother used logic. Marie smiled at Bastien, delighted at the change.

“And yet Kat is now under your protection, and I am at peace with her decision, however wrongheaded it may have been,” Ethan said smoothly.

The interplay between the men was fascinating to observe, but for once in her centuries of existence, Marie was impatient with merely acting as observer. She held her arms out at her sides, palms up. “I find I have tired of being talked about as though the decision were not my own. Lady Kat, perhaps you will take me into your lovely home, so I might freshen up and be settled?”

Kat grinned and gestured to the small cabin. “It’s Kat. And I’d be delighted to, Marie. I have a feeling we’re going to be great friends.”

Marie crossed to her brother and stood on the tips of her toes to press a kiss onto his cheek. “Be well, and find Lord Justice. Do not worry about me. As I have repeatedly told Alaric, Conlan, and what seems to have been three dozen of your fellow warriors, I am not defenseless. The goddess protects her own.”

Bastien lifted her off her feet in a strong embrace. “I know this is true. Be well, and I will return as soon as we find Justice and free him from—”

Marie touched his lips with her fingers. “Do not speak her name here in this place. Names hold power, and I do not wish to attract her attention to your beloved’s home.”

Bastien nodded and stepped back, then bowed. “I will return as soon as I may,” he repeated.

Alaric, who had remained uncharacteristically silent, spoke up. “Send a message should you have need of me, First Maiden.” He bowed to her, then gestured with one hand to draw the portal to open for his and Bastien’s return to Atlantis.

Marie nodded her thanks, then turned to walk toward the cabin and give Kat and Bastien a moment for a private farewell. Ethan, who had remained standing behind her as if frozen into place, now blocked her path. He stared down at her, and the heat she’d felt earlier at his mere glance intensified until she wanted to lean into him and soak up his warmth, wrap herself in the flames that the touch of his skin must surely generate in her body.

She drew in a deep breath and forced her expression to one of calm amusement. “Must I have the same talk with you that I have had with my brothers so many times over the centuries? The one about individual responsibility? Where I explain in very simple words that I am no fragile Atlantean flower to be cared for and coddled in a hothouse?”

Ethan leaned forward slightly, his hands behind his back, and raised one silken, dark eyebrow. “Simple words might be a really good idea, beautiful,” he said softly. “Because I’m having a hell of a fight with my inner cat right now, who wants to carry you off, strip you bare, and lick all of that deliciously creamy skin of yours.”

She inhaled sharply as his words sent tsunami waves of shock and heat slapping through her nerve endings. Before she could summon a properly stinging response, he lifted a hand and touched a curl that had escaped her braids. “And as for individual responsibility, I intend to be completely responsible for seeing this glorious hair unbound and spread all over my bed. So consider that, Lady Marie, and maybe you’ll be the one who wants to run back to your hothouse.”

Her much-prized serenity completely deserted her. “You…you—”

“Yes,” he said firmly. “Me. Remember it.” Then he bowed to her, flashing another of those mocking smiles, and strode off, sketching a half salute toward Bastien and Alaric over his shoulder. Marie glanced at her brother, wondering if he’d caught the interplay between her and Ethan, but Bastien was talking intently with Kat. When she looked back toward Ethan, she saw nothing but a tawny blur disappearing through the trees. She finally let out the breath she had not realized she was holding and continued toward the cabin on knees gone suddenly weak.

Life with the landwalkers was going to be far more fascinating than she had ever imagined.

 

Ethan leapt into the trees, shifting as his feet left the ground. In panther form, he ran as far and as fast as he could, determined to outpace the overpowering hunger she’d awakened in him.

Marie.

The mere thought of her name sent another rush of heat through him, and the cat he’d become snarled and pushed harder, lengthening his strides, escaping from the subtle scent of sea and flowers that had surrounded her.

Needed to run. Further and further. Needed to run away from the woman who’d destroyed his equilibrium in sixty seconds flat.

Strip her bare and lick her skin? What the hell had he been thinking? Not two minutes after swearing his protection in front of her brother and the priest, he’d insulted and threatened her. He snorted and drew his lips back from his fangs, snarling again as he ran. Not only was he a damned fool, but he’d probably incited some kind of international incident.

Panting, finally nearing exhaustion, he slowed to a walk, padding on four powerful legs that were trembling faintly from the strain of the run. He looked around and stopped, recognizing the woods behind his house, the big-ass mansion that served as home and headquarters to the alpha of the Big Cypress pride. No wonder he was short of breath and suffering from a little muscle fatigue. He’d never run ten miles in such a short time.

Maybe lust was good for the metabolism.

He called to the magic that infused both halves of his dual natures and lifted his head to receive the transformation. As always, the shift came to him effortlessly, and he stood fully clothed in his human form afterward. Ease of performing the shape change was one of many indicators of shape-shifter strength, and he was alpha. Strongest of all the shape-shifters in Big Cypress. Rumored to be the strongest in all of Florida; perhaps in all of the southeast region.

“Yeah, big, tough alpha cat, running away from a female,” he muttered in disgust.

But some trick of the wind brought the faint scent of the sea to his panther-enhanced senses and—just like that—it was as though she stood before him again. He clenched his jaw as his cock hardened painfully in his suddenly too-tight jeans, and he realized that he’d been fooling himself.

Alpha or not, there was no way he’d be able to run away from this woman. Every fiber of his being was commanding him to turn around and run right back to her, but he refused to surrender to the impulse. Grimly determined to put the insane attraction behind him and get back to the serious business of discovering who or what was stalking his panthers, he strode toward his house.

So she was like some kind of crazy Atlantean catnip. He could resist catnip.

His cat snarled inside him, then rolled luxuriously, sending Ethan the sensation of warmth and silken fur curled around a blaze of feral hunger. The image of Marie’s creamy skin and dark, drowning blue eyes flashed into his mind, and he nearly stumbled.

Dammit. He was toast.

Marie sat in a chair at the kitchen table, hands folded in her lap, still trying to retrieve her usual calm, when Kat entered the cabin a few minutes later. Kat hesitated briefly in the doorway before seeming to come to some internal resolution. She stalked across the cabin’s warm and inviting living space, lush with wooden furniture and yellow and red overstuffed cushions. The sunlight from the window gleamed on Kat’s golden hair, as it had done with Ethan.

Ethan.

Stop thinking of him.

Kat stopped a few paces in front of Marie and took a deep breath. “Okay, here’s the thing,” she blurted out. “If you’re here to tell me I’m not good enough for him, well, I kind of know that. I mean, you guys are Atlantean nobility and all. Denal filled me in on how Bastien is really Lord Bastien and you’re Lady Marie. But I love him, and I’m going to fight for him.”

Marie raised one eyebrow and studied Kat for nearly a full minute before responding. Finally she smiled and stood so she faced Kat, their eyes on a level. “And of course that is all I need to know about you. You love him, and you’re willing to fight for him. From what I have heard, you were willing to die for him.”

Kat’s face reddened, but she didn’t lower her gaze. “He nearly died for me. Do you think I could do less?”

Marie hugged the woman who was truly worthy of her brother. “I thank the Goddess for you, Katherine Fiero, and that my brother has found you. Be welcome to our family.”

Something tense seemed to relax in Kat’s body, and she returned Marie’s hug. “Well…wow. Thanks. And welcome to my family, too. Which mostly consists of my pride, but I’m sure Ethan already welcomed you to that, as well.”

A rush of heat swept through Marie, and she looked down quickly before Kat could see the evidence of it on her face.

“What? What did he say to you?” Kat asked, suspicion heavy in her tone. “I know he can be kind of rough-edged, but he is a good man. I’m sorry if he gave you a bad impression—”

“It was nothing. I am, after all, accustomed to warriors and their arrogance.” Marie lifted her bag. “Perhaps I could settle in, and then we can have a talk?”

“I guess he’s not the only one with rough edges,” Kat said, grinning. “I’m sorry. Let me show you the guest room, and I’ll make some coffee. Then we can have a nice long chat.”

“I look forward to both the coffee and the talk,” Marie said, returning her new sister’s smile. As she followed Marie down the narrow hallway to the guest room, she reminded herself that she had more than three hundred years of practice in self-control. No arrogant alpha shape-shifter would be a match for her. Perhaps she would take him for a lover. He might be amusing for a few days.

A shiver raced down her spine at the thought of bedding all that lean, hard muscle. Staring into those burning golden eyes while he drove his body into hers.

No, she was candid above all things, even to herself. Especially to herself. There was definitely nothing amusing about him.

 

Marie filled her third cup of the rich Irish cream coffee that Kat had brewed, then replaced the glass carafe in its position, closed her eyes, and held the mug near her face to inhale the luscious aroma. “This is truly magnificent. I must bring some of it home with me when I return to Atlantis.”

Kat laughed and shook her head. “Better wait first and see what kind of reaction you have to that much caffeine. Three cups in an hour and a half may have you crawling out of your skin.”

They’d fallen into an easy friendship, as was only to be expected from two women who both loved her brother. Kat was passionate about her work, and her stories of life as a park ranger were fascinating and so completely different from Marie’s own secluded life in the temple that they raised a feeling akin to envy.

“You are so fortunate to have been brought up to such independence,” she said, placing her mug on the table. “The Goddess placed her mark on me when I was yet a child, and my family knew I was destined for the temple. My life was a regimented one of study and apprenticeship.”

Kat bit her lip. “I’m so sorry. Was it awful?”

“Oh, no, no. I don’t mean to give that impression. Free will reigns in Atlantis; though the Goddess marked me, I could have declined life as her maiden. But from the moment I stepped foot in the temple, her power infused me. My Gift is to heal and assist those women who are with child and their unborn children, and I am honored to fulfill that role.”

“Bastien said you were the boss?”

Marie laughed. “Boss? Not exactly. I am First Maiden, and my role is to lead and train the acolytes. Boss is such a funny human word, but I suppose some aspects of it apply.”

“Hey, don’t knock it,” Kat advised. “On Bosses’ Day, I send my supervisor a box of Godiva chocolates.”

“Chocolate? I could get used to the word boss for chocolate…”

A loud ringing interrupted their shared laughter, and Kat rose to pull a small silver telephone from her jacket pocket and snap it open. “Fiero. Yes. No, I have—but, that’s…Yes. Yes, of course.” She sighed. “Fine, I’ll be there in two hours.”

She closed her phone and muttered something under her breath, then turned to Marie. “I’m so sorry, but that was my boss, coincidentally. We’ve got a regional meeting tomorrow morning, and the person in charge of putting on an important presentation can’t make it. His wife just went into labor with their first child.”

Marie smiled. “Certainly that is more important than any meeting.”

“I agree, but it puts me in the hot seat. My boss wants us to meet tonight and go over his presentation so I can give it in his place tomorrow. I hate to leave you alone like this, but—”

“Do not give it another thought. I would love the opportunity to explore your beautiful lands, and I am very comfortable with my own company,” Marie said, attempting to reassure Kat even as she tried not to think about how vastly different her visit was turning out to be from what she’d imagined. Perhaps her misgivings back in Atlantis had been well-founded, and she should contact Alaric to return. She could visit another time, she tried to console the empty space inside herself. Just because her first adventure was not unfolding as planned—

Kat cut into Marie’s dejected thoughts. “I feel awful. We had so many plans—Bastien and I were going to take you to dinner at Thelma’s and introduce you around, and…Wait! I know. Ethan can take you. He told me last week he wanted the chance to get to know you while you were here.”

The floor under Marie’s feet seemed to shift at the sound of his name. Definitely not a good idea. “No,” she protested. “I’m sure he has many important duties. I can remain here or go for a walk by myself or even return to Atlantis and visit you when Lord Justice is safely returned home. It’s—”

Kat wasn’t listening, though, and was already speaking into her phone. “Ethan? Look, I’ve got to run out to an unexpected meeting, and I’ll be gone all evening. I was wondering if you—”

She flashed a brilliant smile at Marie. “You will? That’s great. I’ll…An hour? Sure. I’ll tell her. We were going to eat at Thelma’s and…Sure…I’ll tell her. Thanks!”

Kat snapped her phone closed. “He offered to show you around Big Cypress and take you to dinner before I even asked. You must have made some impression on him.”

“I don’t…Kat, I’m not sure…Ethan and I—”

Kat’s eyes narrowed. “What did he say? Was he rude to you? I’ll kick his ass for him, alpha or not, if he offended you. Ethan has this ‘all arrogant, all the time’ thing going on, because everybody bows down before him, and he needs to get over it. It’s nothing personal, though, if that matters.”

Marie laughed a little wildly. Nothing personal? He wanted to lick her skin! It could not be more personal than that, could it?

She needed to pull herself together. She was First Maiden to the Goddess of the Nereids, and she would not be thrown off balance by one…one…surly kitten.

“On second thought, Kat, exploring and dinner with Ethan would be lovely. I’ll just go change my clothes while you get ready for your meeting.” Marie rinsed her coffee mug in the sink, her thoughts already on what she would wear. So he liked her hair, did he? Had fantasies of it spread across his pillows? A slow, wicked smile spread across her face. Perhaps she’d let him see exactly what he’d been fantasizing about. As she walked down the hall to her room, her fingers were already busy undoing the dozens of intricate braids.

Ethan knocked on Kat’s door a good thirty minutes earlier than he’d planned to be there. So much for casual nonchalance. He’d tried to do some work, but memories of his too-brief contact with Marie had insinuated themselves into his mind. Flashes of her skin, her hair, her ocean-colored eyes.

That smile that had knocked him on his ass, figuratively speaking. He planned to have the upper hand this evening, though. Be the perfect gentleman. Calm, cool, and completely unflappable.

The door opened, and Marie stood there, smiling that perfect, kissable smile again. But he was prepared. He was unflappable. He glanced down, and the waves of her blue black hair and the dress she was almost wearing finally registered, and he sucked in a sharp breath.

“Holy shit!” Okay. He was flappable. He was flapped. He was what-the-hell-ever, but no way was she going out in public like that.

“Is that a common greeting among your people?” Marie asked, raising her chin and smiling. But underneath the smile was a hint of something else. Hurt, maybe. Nervousness.

“Damn. I mean, no, that is not a common greeting. I’m sorry, you just knocked me a little off balance,” he admitted. Then he stepped forward, forcing her to let him enter the cabin. He closed the door behind him and took another step toward her.

The polite thing would have been to maintain a courteous distance.

When she put that dress on, she should have known he’d have no chance at polite.

He deliberately dropped his gaze from her face and scanned her luscious curves in the silky dark blue dress. The neckline dropped low in some kind of draped fold, and the rest of it wrapped her waist and hugged her breasts and hips like it had been sewn around her body. The swing of the skirt caressed her legs just above her knees, and he wanted nothing more than to drop to his own knees before her, push the fall of fabric slowly up those silken thighs, and discover what exactly she was wearing underneath.

He lifted his head and stared down into her eyes. “Did you wear that for me?” he said, almost not recognizing the raspy words as his own voice.

The brave smile trembled on her lips, and she began to answer, then abruptly turned away from him and walked toward the kitchen. But the view from behind was just as sexy, and he had to shift his legs as he hardened painfully inside his pants. Waves of dark silken hair tumbled down over her shoulders and back, brushing against her rounded hips. The vision he’d had earlier of her hair spread over his bed came back to him in full force, and he had to remind himself to breathe.

She stopped on the other side of the table, as if using the furniture as a barricade between them. “It was simply a dress I brought to wear for dining,” she said. “Is it inappropriate?” She’d uttered the words in a tone of bored indifference, but the rapid pulse of her heart told him it was an act.

“You can’t lie to a shape-shifter, darlin’,” he said, putting a little southern drawl in the words. “I can hear your heartbeat. If you want to play games with me, I’m all for it. But be advised that I’m alpha for more reasons than physical strength. Are you sure you’re up to playing games with me?”

He’d moved closer to her as he talked, stalking her. His cat had the scent of prey in its nostrils. No. Not prey. Something more primal. More visceral.

Mate.

Ethan stopped midstride as the realization came to him. His cat wanted to lay mate claim to this woman. This Atlantean who was not even a shape-shifter.

No.

Hell no.

“No, I am not sure that I am up for your idea of games,” Marie said. “If you prefer, we can cancel our dinner plans, although I’m sure it would have been…pleasant…to spend time with you. But if the idea distresses you…” She shrugged. “Far be it from me to cause distress to the alpha of your pride, as you so continually remind me you are.”

He weighed and discarded responses and finally settled on the simplest. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?”

It was her turn to be caught off guard. He watched, entranced, as rich, rosy color swept up her neck to her cheeks and burned there. She tilted her head and examined the wood grain of the table, which was evidently fascinating. “I…No, you…Thank you. That is very kind of you.”

“No. It’s not,” he said flatly. “It’s not kind at all. It’s the truth, and I’m just wondering how many fights I’m going to get in if I take you out in public wearing that dress. You look like a man’s hottest fantasy come to life, and I know more than one of my pride who would lose their senses over you.”

She fisted her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Is that what women are to you here on the surface? Possessions over which to be fought by brainless men?”

He laughed. “Nice grammar, ocean girl. ‘Over which to be fought,’ huh? Never thought proper syntax would make me hot.”

Marie blinked, opened her mouth, and then closed it. Finally she started laughing. “You are incorrigible,” she said, her eyes sparkling with the shimmering depths of the sea at midnight under a rising moon.

He took a step closer and held out his hand. “I can live with incorrigible. How about I apologize for my unforgivable rudeness and we start over? I’m Ethan. Welcome to my territory. Would you like to have dinner with me? Somewhere away from any brainless men? Well, any brainless men besides me, of course.”

She hesitated, then placed her slender hand in his. “I am Marie, and I would be honored to have dinner with you.”

The touch of her hand sent something shining and razor-edged skimming through his nerve endings. His cat snarled and paced inside him, demanding to be let out to play.

To claim. Mate-claim.

But Ethan forced his animal half down and back, determined that the man would enjoy this evening. There was no possibility of laying mate claim to a nonpanther, let alone a woman who was not even a shape-shifter. This would simply be a pleasant meal among friends.

As he followed Marie out the door of the cabin, unable to look away from her gently swaying backside, he clenched his hands into fists and focused on the essentials.

Control.

Pleasant dinner.

No pouncing on the Atlantean.

Marie glanced back over her shoulder and smiled at him, and he stumbled, his inherent feline grace deserting him. Screw that. There was definitely going to be pouncing.

 

Marie tried to slow her breathing as she pulled her wrap around her shoulders against the chill of the late afternoon.

In. Out.

Calm. Focus.

She concentrated on the breathing exercises she’d so often taught to women who were with child. In. Out. Measured, even tempo. No flutters or hitches or gasps, no matter that the man following her was burning holes in her back with those shocking golden eyes of his.

She’d worn the dress in an attempt to get a reaction from Ethan, and it had worked so well she’d been caught completely off guard. She’d lived her life surrounded by warriors, so why was this one—this man who wasn’t even Atlantean; wasn’t even fully human—so different?

Maybe because Poseidon’s warriors treated her as a cherished sister, due to their friendship with Bastien. They admired and respected her, certainly, but none had ever desired her. At least not that she’d ever known. Her few love affairs had been with men from the scholarly life. Philosophers and historians. Gentle, learned men.

None of them had ever made her blood race the way this panther did. A thrill of pure electricity had sizzled through her blood at his touch when she’d finally dared place her hand in his. She’d pulled away from him as quickly as courtesy would allow, but not before she’d seen the shocked expression on Ethan’s face. This attraction traveled both directions on the path between them, and she was unsure if she could resist it for long.

She glanced at him again and wondered how simple black trousers and a white shirt could be so elegant, when she had seen the high prince dressed in full royal attire on ceremonial occasions. Ethan walked with the pure grace and deadly determination of the ultimate predator. Every line of his body flowed with sinuous movement, and if she narrowed her eyes, she could almost visualize the cat that he could become.

They stopped at his car, some sleek black vehicle that looked fast and expensive, based on what little she knew of cars, and she stared at him as he walked up next to her to open her door. Her breath caught in her throat as he approached, and she blurted out the first thing that popped into her head. “Will you show me?”

He raised an eyebrow and folded his arms across his thickly muscled chest. “Show you what?”

“I…Is it rude? Perhaps…never mind,” she said, then blushed as she realized that she was actually babbling for the first time in her life.

“We don’t stand on ceremony around here, Marie. Just tell me.”

He’d moved closer, so that he stood so near that his breath feathered across her hair, and the spicy warm male scent of him filled her senses, nearly making her forget what she’d been about to ask. She shook her head a little, to counteract the hypnotic effect he had on her, then drew up her courage and asked. “Your panther. I was wondering…Is it rude to ask you to show me the shape change? Or perhaps you would shift your shape in private and then show me the other of your dual natures?”

She was breathless by the time she finished, both from her own temerity and from his nearness. The heat of his body was enchanting her, calling to her, beckoning her to wrap herself in his arms and his warmth. She suddenly felt as if she’d lived her life in the cold and only he could rescue her from it.

Madness. She dug her nails into her palms to shake off the fanciful imaginings and return to normalcy, but he moved even closer until she was backed up against his car. He placed a hand on the metal on either side of her, bracketing her body between the heat of his arms and chest and the icy chill of the car’s metal.

“You want to see my cat, ocean girl? That’s a very personal request,” he murmured, leaning forward and breathing the words into her ear. She shuddered helplessly as heat flamed through her, then put her hands up to his chest to push him away. She was tall, and she was strong, but pushing against his chest was like pushing against the rock wall that bordered the palace garden.

He lifted a hand and tilted her face up to his with one finger beneath her chin. She looked into his eyes, unable to utter a word, and he searched her face for something, then stared fixedly at her mouth. Moments passed, and finally he stepped back from her, muttering an oath under his breath. “Maybe later,” he said roughly. “You make me forget myself, Marie. I’m not sure how to handle that.”

He yanked the car door open for her, then leaned in to show her how to fasten the seat belt, but his touch was brisk and impersonal. When he carefully closed the door and walked around the car to the driver’s side, Marie stared at him through the window and finally released the breath that had been trapped in her lungs.

“As to forgetting yourself, Ethan, you are not alone,” she whispered, wondering what she’d gotten herself into.

Wondering why she didn’t want to get out.

As they drove through the breathtaking lands of the Big Cypress Swamp, Marie spent several minutes acclimating to the novel experience of riding in a car. When she was sure her stomach would not rebel against the motion and the bumpy ride, she asked Ethan to tell her about this place that he and his kind called home.

“It’s a national preserve, protecting over 720,000 acres of swamp. Basically, the swamplands are crucial to the health of the Everglades, because they support the marine estuaries along Florida’s southwest coast.”

“It’s beautiful, and so diverse,” she observed. “I am so accustomed to the plant life in Atlantis that this seems very exotic to me.”

He pointed to a stand of trees along the side of the narrow road. “Those are dwarf cypress trees. We have a mixture of tropical and temperate plant life, but it’s not just the green and leafy stuff that’s so exotic around here. We’ve also got gator communities, bears, and, of course, panthers.”

She smiled. “Of course. Tell me about the panthers. I have access to your encyclopedias and other reference texts, but I do have some questions. Are panthers the same as cougars?”

“The Florida panther is a subspecies of cougar that has adapted to the temperature here. We’ve fought our way back from extinction for the panthers, but there are still fewer than a hundred remaining.”

She turned her head to look at him. “But surely there are others elsewhere?”

A muscle tightened in his jaw. “A few in zoos. But the Florida panther is still one of the rarest and most endangered animals in the world. Unfortunately, developers don’t care about that. Fortunately, on the other hand, we have Big Cypress. An adult male needs two hundred seventy-five miles of territory, but that can overlap with the females.”

Marie looked out the window, wondering why the subject of male territory was causing heat to rush into her cheeks again. “Females, plural, you said? And is that true of the male shape-shifter as well?”

“For some, it can be,” he said flatly. “I’m not one of them.”

Marie winced, remembering what Bastien had told her of Ethan’s mate who’d been killed by the vampire. “I am sorry, Ethan. I was not thinking. My condolences on the loss of your mate.”

There was a long silence, then finally he spoke. “Yeah. Well. Fallon deserved better than what I had to offer her and certainly better than how she died.”

Marie caught a glimpse of something large and golden red moving through the trees as they passed. “What is that? Is that one of your panthers?”

Ethan whipped his head to the side and then yanked the steering wheel to pull the car to a sudden stop on the side of the road, knocking Marie forward against her seat belt.

“I’m sorry. Are you okay?” He leaned over and grasped her shoulders, raking her with that intense golden gaze.

“Yes, of course. But why have we stopped?”

“We’re having a problem with someone or something attacking our panthers, and I’d like to check this one out. I’ll just be a few minutes. Stay here with the doors locked,” he commanded.

His tone conveyed his expectation of perfect obedience, and for some reason it irritated her. “Fine. I’ll stay here. But you might remember in the future that I am not a member of your pride, and my submission is not your right,” she snapped.

The edges of his lips quirked into a grin. “I’ll be glad to submit to you, ocean girl. Just name the time and place.” Then he leaned into her and pressed a quick, hard kiss on her lips. “I’ll be right back.”

In seconds he was gone, and Marie leaned back against her seat, pressing her fingers to her lips. She was, perhaps, in more trouble with this man than she’d realized.

She shook her head, suddenly remembering what he’d said. Lock the doors. She examined the side of the door, wondering which of the many buttons was the lock, but suddenly the door jerked open and a pair of denim-clad legs stood in front of her. Startled, she stared up and into the grim face and crazed eyes of a man who was very definitely not Ethan. “What—”

“Get out of the car,” he said, his quiet voice almost shockingly contrasting with his wild-eyed demeanor. “Now.”

“But—”

He leaned into the car, unfastened her seat belt and ripped it off of her, then grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled her out of the car. Marie fell hard onto the gravel road when her legs tangled as he pulled her off balance. The immediate sharp pain focused her thoughts and snapped her out of the dazed state of shock the man’s presence had caused. She evaluated him carefully. Taller than her, he was all muscle. Not someone she could hope to overpower. Dark auburn hair twisted in unkempt strands down to his shoulders, and his oddly pale yellow eyes burned with hate or some other equally intense emotion.

And—for whatever reason—it was directed at her.

“I’m not playing with you,” he said, still in that calmly polite tone that was so at odds with the fury raging in his eyes. Then he fisted his hand in her hair and yanked her head up painfully. “Stand up now, or I’ll kill you right there on your knees.”

Marie called on the Goddess for strength and courage and forced an expression of calm to match his to her features. “Of course,” she said, as she pushed up off the ground, ignoring the burning pain in her knees and hands where she’d scraped the skin off them. “Although I think perhaps you have the wrong—”

“Shut up.” He released her hair and lifted his hand, clenched into a fist. A hint of madness twisted his features into a caricature of their former calm. “I’ve never punched a woman in the face before, but I can make an exception for Ethan’s newest whore. Are you the slut he turned to after he let my pride-sister die? Or were you fucking him while she was still alive?”

Marie blinked, completely lost. “What? I don’t understand what you’re talking about. I only met Ethan today, and—”

He smiled at her and shook his head. “Wrong answer,” he said, almost patronizingly. Then he pulled out the knife.

 

Ethan ran into the trees, following the strong scent of panther. More than one—some were shape-shifters. Maybe he’d finally catch them. He leaped into the air and shifted, landing on the ground on powerfully muscled panther legs. The scent immediately intensified, since his animal senses were far superior to his human ones. There were many of them, and they’d been congregating in this area recently. The scent was different from that of his own pride, but familiar.

Maddeningly familiar. He stalked around the area, head down, trying to make sense of the myriad individual scents, when he heard a female scream from the direction he’d left Marie in the car.

Marie.

He snarled and raced back toward the car, feral thoughts of ripping his prey into shreds whirling in his mind. Rage nearly blinded him as he crashed through the brush with no thought of stealth.

If they’d hurt her, they would die.

He whipped through brush and bounded around trees faster than he’d ever moved before, heedless of the branches and thorns slicing grooves in his side through his thick fur. Throwing caution aside, he leapt through the grasses bordering the road and landed in front of the car, scanning the area as he did.

There were four of them. Three surrounded the car, while the fourth held Marie with an arm banded around her waist. He had a knife to her throat.

He had a knife to her throat.

Ethan screamed with primal fury, his panther nearly insane with a murderous rage. But he stopped where he was when the bastard pressed the tip of the knife into Marie’s tender flesh. Blood trickled down her neck, and Ethan swore he would exact vengeance upon them for every drop of it.

Every single drop.

The man holding her stared at Ethan and smiled. “Stay right where you are, Ethan. You wouldn’t want my knife hand to get slippery and press harder into her neck, would you?”

Ethan snarled again but held his position. He was fast, but not fast enough to get to them before that knife would slice through Marie’s carotid artery. She stared at him, fear and helpless anger on her face, and he wanted to kill them all for causing it. His panther wanted to rip their heads from their bodies and eat their hearts.

But then Marie would look at him with that same terrified expression.

He shunted the thought to the side. Focus. Get her to safety and then worry about the rest.

The man nodded. “Good boy. And I know it’s you, so why don’t we dispense with the bullshit and you shift back into your human shape, Ethan. We have a little business to discuss.”

Ethan knew that what little advantage he held in panther form was destroyed by the point of that knife against Marie’s neck. He instantly shimmered into the shape change and stood before them, fully dressed, in his human form seconds later.

The man whistled. “Very nice. Fallon told me you were the fastest at the change of any shape-shifter she’d ever met. Even faster than me, I’ll give you that. But not by much.”

The connection clicked in Ethan’s mind. “Fallon. That’s why your scents are so familiar. You’re Fallon’s pride-brothers.”

“Ding, ding, ding. Two points for the former alpha of the Big Cypress pride. I’m Travis, and I owe you blood feud for allowing Fallon to die,” Travis snarled.

Ethan inclined his head. “It is your right. She was under my protection when she died at the vampire’s hand, and I take full responsibility. But this woman has nothing to do with any of it. She is merely a visitor who arrived today.”

The three men surrounding the car had been edging their way toward Travis and now stood fanned out in a loose semicircle around him, staring at Ethan.

Travis laughed, the sound a chilling mockery devoid of humor. “You lie. I can smell you on her. You’re fucking her, aren’t you? How does it feel to know somebody you care about is hurting? That she might die?”

Marie started to speak. “You gain nothing by threatening me. He spoke the truth. I—”

Travis dug the point of the knife further into her throat, and she broke off with a strangled moan. Ethan roared out his fury and started toward them, but the three thugs blocked him from Travis.

Travis shouted his command. “Stop or I’ll kill her now. Just like I killed your precious panthers. Did you get my message? Or, wait, was it my half-dozen messages, delivered in the form of dead cats?” His chilling laughter rang out, and Ethan noticed that even Travis’s henchmen shuddered. A panther shifter who could murder cats of his own kind was worse than the lowest kind of scum.

Ethan froze, gaze locked on the knife point where it was sunk into Marie’s skin. “What do you want, Travis? Tell me now, and leave the woman alone.”

“I want you, alpha,” Travis said. “I call blood feud and alpha challenge upon you. Tomorrow night, under the full moon, we will battle for your title, your lands, and your pride. Dare you to refuse?”

Ethan stared at the Texas shape-shifter, assessing strengths and weaknesses. There was no option. Alpha challenge could never be refused. But if Travis harmed Marie any further, Ethan would kill him now.

He’d kill them all. Four to one was just another way to say good odds to an alpha who’d been trained by the best.

“I accept your alpha challenge, Travis, pride-brother to Fallon,” he said in the formal words of acceptance. “The blood feud will resolve itself at the challenge. Now let the woman go.”

Travis moved the knife away from Marie’s throat and shoved her at Ethan so hard that she fell, then signaled to his men and turned to run. “Enjoy your woman and your land while you can,” Travis shouted. “In twenty-four hours, they will all be mine.”

Ethan leapt the distance to Marie, lifted her off the ground, and cradled her in his arms. “How badly did he hurt you? Your neck, your hands, and your knees are bleeding. He’s going to die painfully for this, I swear to you,” he vowed, his hands almost compulsively clutching her to him.

“Ethan, please. It is not…I am not severely injured. Merely surface wounds. But I would like to return to the cabin, if you do not mind.” She was trying so hard to be brave for him, he could tell, but her breath caught in a hitching sob at the end of her sentence. She pressed her face into his chest, and he felt something cold and hard in his heart soften even while rage pounded through him.

Protective instincts far older and more primitive than any he’d ever known, even in his role as alpha, swamped him. He would protect this woman, no matter the cost. His cat snarled its agreement inside him, roaring out its claim. Marie was theirs to protect.

As he carried her to the car and placed her gently into it, he surrendered in his internal battle. No matter that it didn’t make any sense at all. Marie was his, and he would avenge every scratch, every bruise, every touch from that knife.

Travis was going to die screaming.

While Ethan made several phone calls warning his pride members of the danger and informing them of Travis’s alpha challenge, Marie spent the time in the car on the ride back to the cabin trying to overcome the terror that had frozen her into immobility in the encounter with Travis. Gradually, fury—both at herself and at Travis—won out over the fear.

By the time Ethan whipped the car into the small driveway in front of Kat’s cabin, anger definitely held the upper hand. She shoved the door open and stumbled out of the car, barely taking a step before Ethan was there, scooping her into his arms again.

“I am able to walk. These are minor injuries, Ethan. Please put me down,” she said and was dismayed to hear the tremble in her voice.

“Humor me,” he said, striding up to the door. He gently lowered her to stand at the door, then quickly opened it and lifted her again, not letting go of her until he reached the overstuffed couch. For a moment his arms tightened around her, and he dropped his forehead to hers. “Never again,” he muttered, and it had the ring of a promise or a threat. “Never again.”

He gently lowered her to the couch and headed for the kitchen. “I know Kat keeps a first-aid kit around here somewhere.” He flung open cupboard doors with barely controlled ferocity, and Marie sat where he’d placed her, just watching him, the tension in all that lean muscle somehow mesmerizing her.

“First-aid kit,” she murmured, realizing what he must mean. “Does that contain medicines to render assistance? If so, it is unnecessary. I have some small skill at healing even in matters not related to childbirth. Perhaps you could find a cloth for me to clean these wounds, though?”

He ran water in the sink and brought a small wet towel to her. “Here’s the cloth. But are you sure? You need antibiotics. Hell, you need to go to the hospital. What was I thinking?” He dragged a hand through his hair, looking every bit as wild-eyed as Travis had. Marie shuddered, not wanting that particular memory to surface just yet.

“No, I do not need the hospital or one of your human doctors. Although they are quite fine at their craft,” she tacked on, not wanting to offend him.

As she wiped the gravel and debris out of her wounds, she fought to keep from wincing too much, since every involuntary flinch seemed to sear through Ethan, as well. “It looks worse than it is, perhaps,” she lied.

“He hurt you,” Ethan said in a feral tone of voice she’d never heard from him before. “There could be nothing worse.”

Her anger at herself returned. “I was useless. I have the ability to call water, and I never thought to use it. I was rendered completely immobile from shock and fear.”

He lifted a dangling strand of her hair and tucked it behind her shoulder. “That’s nothing to be ashamed of, Marie. You’re not used to violence. I was damn near frozen, too, when I saw that knife pressed against your throat.”

She shuddered. “I have never been touched in anger of any kind, let alone harmed or threatened. The violence of it is soul-deadening, is it not?”

Ethan stood, clenching his fists and paced back and forth in the small space, as if the fury riding him needed some outlet before he exploded. “Yeah. It is. And those of us who live by violence wonder sometimes if there is anything left of our soul.”

She finished cleaning her wounds and folded the towel and placed it on the floor. “You echo the concerns my brother and his fellow warriors have all shared at times. But when there is no recourse but for violence, and it is done in the name of protecting the defenseless, surely the gods will forgive any stain upon the soul caused by the doing of it?”

He crossed back to her and crouched down next to her. “I don’t know the answer to that. The doings of gods are far above my territory. But we need to get you to a hospital, please, Marie. Your neck is still bleeding.”

She drew a deep breath. “First may I hold your hands?”

He unclenched his hands and held them out to her. “That’s the best offer I’ve had all day.”

She smiled a little at his attempt at humor, then took his hands in her own. The healing was fairly minor, but she was weakened by the residual fear and the pain. She could amplify her healing powers through the strength of another, and she suspected Ethan’s strength was far and away powerful enough to assist her. “Please hold still and do not remove your hands while I do this. You will feel a faint warmth.”

He nodded, and she closed her eyes and called to the Goddess. “O, Goddess of the Nereids, it is your First Maiden who calls upon you. Please lend me your strength and your healing and your power, through my own small means and through the freely offered power of this man before me. Heal my injuries that I may serve you in full measure, O Lady.”

For a moment, there was nothing but the pain in her hands, knees, and throat, and the rapid beating of her heart, caused as much by the feel of Ethan’s hands in her own as by her injuries, she suspected.

Suddenly, the warm glow she’d experienced before in hundreds of healings swept through her body, focused and concentrated on the wounded areas of her skin. Even as the healing sent shimmers of sparkling heat through her, she watched the abrasions and cuts heal before her eyes. Ethan made some small noise, and she looked up to find his face mere inches from hers, his eyes wide.

“It’s like magic,” he murmured.

She smiled at him, invigorated by the healing power of her Goddess. “You who are part human and part beautiful, lethal cat would doubt the existence of magic?”

“Any man who looked at you could not doubt the existence of magic, Marie,” he said. His eyes darkened to a burnished gold, and he leaned forward and kissed her.

He kissed her, and the healing warmth exploded into an inferno. Flames swept through her body and her blood, and she was helpless to do anything but lean into his kiss. He never released her hands, but somehow she was on his lap and felt the hardness of his desire pressing against her.

Ethan’s tongue pressed against her lips, demanding entrance, and she could do nothing but accept him, surrender to the passion of his kiss, and moan at the rightness of it. He kissed her until she could not breathe, and then he lifted his head to stare at her, shock plain on his face.

She began to pull back, suddenly shy, still dazed from the intense hunger sweeping through her merely from the feel of his mouth on hers. But he shook his head and, releasing her hands, caught her around the waist and pulled her to him until not even a breath of air could have found passage in the space between them.

“Oh, no,” he said, voice husky. “Let’s try that again on our own, okay?”

She had a fraction of a heartbeat to realize that the Goddess had gone—the healing was complete—and then he caught her lips with his own again.

This time the fire was generated solely between the two of them, and she could not blame any of it on the healing warmth. Ethan kissed her as if she were a feast and he a starving man. He kissed her as though she were the prey and he a stalking predator. She succumbed, surrendered, clutching at his shoulders, wondering who was making that whimpering noise and then finally realizing it came from her own throat.

He left her mouth and pressed hot kisses to her throat, exactly on the now-healed spot where the knife blade had cut into her skin. “Never again, ocean girl,” he murmured so softly she almost didn’t catch the words. “Never again will anyone harm you. I swear this on my oath as alpha.”

He lifted his head and stared into her eyes, and something of enormous importance passed between them, but she could not decipher it.

Refused to decipher it.

Fear of drowning, of entangling herself in the depths of a passion so far beyond any that she had known, shivered a sheet of ice through her, and she pulled away from him. “Ethan. No, Ethan, stop.”

He instantly pulled back from her, his breathing harsh in the quiet room. “I didn’t mean to scare you, Marie. I’m so sorry. Damn, I’m no better than…Please forgive me.”

She lifted a hand, wanting to touch him, then clasped her hands together to resist the urge. “No, stop. You have nothing for which to apologize. We were both present and willing in that kiss.”

As the heat stained her cheeks, she forced herself to continue, cloaking herself in the protection of knowledge. “It is a normal response to the release of adrenaline in the body. Similar to the fight or flight mechanism. Attraction…magnifies in the face of danger.”

Ethan lifted one of her long curls into his hand and brought it to his lips, then let it fall back against her breast. “Trust me, beautiful,” he said, voice husky, “there is nothing normal about my reaction to you. And it started way before we faced any danger.”

He stood up and stared down at her, then shook his head. “Attraction. Now there’s a tame word. My insides are going to explode if I don’t lay you down right here and fuck you until you scream my name.”

Heat shot through her and pooled between her thighs as her body responded to the sheer hunger in his words. “I…I…”

“No. Don’t say anything. I’m sorry to be so crude. Pack up your stuff. You’re coming with me to my place until we can get you back to Atlantis and out of the way of Travis and his blood feud.”

“But—”

He sliced a hand through the air. “You’re going. I command you to leave my territories while there is danger to you.”

Anger shot through her, but she silently stood to comply with his command. As a visiting Atlantean, she could not jeopardize the treaty between their people by defying a command from the alpha.

He started to turn away, then whirled around and yanked her to him, controlled violence in his movement. “But hear me well, ocean girl. When this is over, you’re coming back, and we’re going to explore this thing between us.”

She lifted her head and gave him her iciest glare. “Hear me well, shape-shifter. You do not command the First Maiden of the Nereids. I am not one of your little kittens to be ordered about. You should consider that when you are issuing your various arrogant demands.”

“No, you’re definitely not a little kitten. But either you come back, or I’m coming after you, even if I have to swim the whole damned way. You should consider that.”

With that, he kissed her again, a fierce, claiming kiss that left her senses whirling and her resolve splintered. Then he pulled away from her and strode over to the door, pulling his phone from his pocket as he walked. “The sooner you’re packed, the sooner you can get away from my arrogant demands, Marie,” he said, and then began snarling orders into the phone.

She stood there, wanting nothing more than to slap his egotistical, superior face.

Wanting nothing more than to kiss his egotistical, superior face.

She did neither but simply turned to retrieve her bag as ordered, accepting the truth behind his words. There was certainly something between them that needed to be explored.

If she had the courage to do so.

Ethan led Marie through the throng of silent, wary shape-shifters clustered around the entryway to his headquarters and home. He nodded to William, his second-in-command. “My office in ten minutes. Try to reach Kat. Her cell was turned off when I tried. If it’s still off, track her down.”

Marie lifted her head, the strain of the afternoon evident in her pale and drawn face. “She’s with her…boss, if that helps, planning a meeting for tomorrow.”

William nodded and headed toward the back of the mansion and Ethan’s office, opening his phone as he went. Ethan stopped, realizing the necessity of introductions and some sort of explanation. He put his arm around Marie’s shoulders and scanned the group of his pride members who stared at her; some hostile, some neutral. All curious.

“This is Marie, Bastien’s sister from Atlantis. She came for a visit and is having the worst damn vacation on record,” he said bluntly. “I’m sure William has told you that Fallon’s pride brother, Travis, called alpha challenge upon me.”

He looked around, meeting each gaze, noting and appreciating the anger and loyalty on every face. “We need to return her to Atlantis until I take care of this little problem,” he continued. “In the meantime, I charge every one of you to protect her as if she were your own litter sister.”

A few gasps met his words and more than a few speculative glances were cast Marie’s way. But nobody even thought about arguing with him. Gregory, one of his fiercest pride-brothers, stepped forward. “I will guard her with my life, Ethan,” he vowed, dropping to one knee before his alpha and bending his head to bare his neck. “For the honor of the Cypress pride.”

Every panther there echoed the call. “For the honor of the Cypress pride!”

Marie stared around at them, eyes widened and lips parted slightly. She tilted her head to look into his face, and the floor shifted underneath him when his gaze met hers. The echo of passion from her kisses resonated through his body so hard and fast it was like a body blow. Only the presence of half of his pride prevented him from throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her to his bedroom to continue what they’d started on Kat’s couch.

He took her hand and headed down the hall toward his guest suite, then changed his mind and veered off to the left toward the master suite. “Now I’m a damn caveman,” he muttered. “Next I’ll shift into some kind of saber-toothed tiger.”

He realized Marie was almost running to keep pace with his long strides, so he slowed but did not release her hand.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“Nothing important. This is it. You can stay here until we can reach Alaric to come get you,” he said, flinging open the doors to his rooms.

She followed him into the room, then stopped. “It’s very…elegant,” she finally said.

He laughed. “Smooth and diplomatic, I’ll give you that. It’s a damn bare room.”

He looked around, trying to see the room through her eyes. Devoid of furniture except for a bed covered by a plain blanket, the space was huge and barren.

“Why does the prince of cats lead such a stark existence, I wonder,” she murmured, but she wasn’t mocking him. She’d spoken with concern and warmth in her tone. Two emotions he’d never expected to find in his bedroom.

He’d found lust there. He’d found callous indifference, spite, and—finally—hatred from Fallon. After she’d been murdered, he’d returned to the room in a killing rage and taken it out on the furniture. Every rug, painting, or piece of furniture she’d touched. He’d destroyed it all, clawing it to shreds in a towering fury. No matter what a heartless, cold woman she’d been, she’d been under his protection.

He’d failed Fallon.

He wouldn’t fail Marie.

“I got rid of anything she’d touched. Couldn’t stand to see it,” he admitted, walking away from her. Anything so she couldn’t see his face.

“You loved her that much?” The sympathy in her voice was like salt on the bloody wounds of his conscience.

“No,” he confessed, the words wrenched from a black and twisted place in his soul. “I didn’t love her at all. That’s why I couldn’t stand it. Maybe if I’d loved her, I’d have found a way to protect her, even from herself.”

Marie stepped up beside him and placed her hand on his arm. “Bastien told me of Fallon and her plot to work with the vampires against you and Kat. As a leader, you must know that you cannot save everyone. Some are destined to walk a dark path.”

Ethan stared down at her hand on his arm where it burned through his sleeve to his skin. To his nerve endings. “I don’t need your sympathy, Marie. I made my choices, and I have to live with them. But you don’t. Call Alaric, and let’s get you out of here.”

She jerked her hand away from him as if stung. “I did not offer my sympathy but my understanding. I see, though, that you require neither.”

Whirling around, Marie walked to the center of the room, graceful even in her anger. He wanted to race after her and yank her into his arms and never let go. Inside him, his panther purred its agreement with that plan.

Instead, he stood his ground and watched her retreat. She closed her eyes and lifted her face toward the ceiling, raising both hands, palms up, at her sides. A faint silvery blue glow whispered around her still form until she was bathed in light. A nymph rising from the sea in starlight.

He suddenly wanted her with a painful urgency. His body hardened to the point of pain. He scrubbed his face with his hand, disgusted with himself.

I’m nothing if not the king of bad timing.

After nearly three full minutes, Marie opened her eyes. She bit her lip and shook her head, then stood there heaving in deep breath after deep breath.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“This has never happened to me in three centuries,” she said, visibly trembling. “Alaric’s mental pathway is shut down. I cannot reach him. For good or ill, I cannot return to Atlantis.”

 

Marie sat alone in the vast, gleaming steel and stone kitchen, toying with the remains of a sandwich. She’d eaten nothing all day, but worry and concern had robbed her of what little appetite she’d been able to muster. The mug of hot tea failed to soothe her, as well. The abyss gnawing at her insides had nothing to do with food or drink but everything to do with her inability to contact Alaric or Bastien. Granted, her mental reach did not extend far enough to contact Bastien if they were more than a few hundred landwalker miles apart. But Alaric was so powerful that even the suggestion of contact from a fellow Atlantean was sufficient for him to receive the message.

Always in the past the high priest had immediately opened the pathway between them at her call. Now there was nothing. No sense of being blocked, simply nothing at all. As if…

As if Alaric no longer existed.

But she refused to even countenance that thought.

Ethan’s voice came from the doorway in that lazy drawl that he turned on and off seemingly at will. The mere sound of it shot liquid lightning through her.

“You hold that mug any tighter, and you’re going to break it.”

She refused to look at him, afraid her face would betray her reaction to him. “Then I will go to the mug store and purchase you a new mug. Conlan made sure I had some of your currency before I left Atlantis,” she said lightly.

“Really? How much do you think a special mug like that would go for?” He walked over to where she sat on a high stool, not stopping until she could feel his breath in her hair. “That’s a unique, genuine Miami Vice commemorative mug from 1985. Probably irreplaceable.”

She lifted the mug and examined it. “Who are these men with the oddly laquered hair? Are they heroes among your people?”

He threw his head back and laughed, and Marie watched him, fascinated. “Do you know that I have not seen you laugh like that before now? You become a different person when you laugh so freely,” she said, lifting a hand to touch the dimple that had appeared on his cheek.

The smile faded from his face. “I haven’t had much to laugh about, beautiful. I think, under different circumstances, being around you might change that.”

The room closed in on her, making the simple act of breathing difficult, but she decided to be bold, no matter the consequences. She would soon leave, never to return, more than likely. Her duties would not allow frequent or extended absences.

“I would enjoy the opportunity to bring you laughter. Under different circumstances, as you say,” she whispered.

Calling on the Goddess for quite a different kind of courage, Marie stood and took his face between her hands and drew it down to her own. “I’m going to kiss you now,” she said.

“I’m going to let you,” he replied.

Then she lifted her face and kissed him, but it was vastly different from the kisses they’d shared before. She touched her lips gently to his, coaxing and then persuading his response. He stood rigidly in her grasp, hands clenched at his sides, as though afraid to touch her and break the moment.

She reveled in the power of taking the lead in their caress and lightly licked the seam of his lips. He groaned in the back of his throat and immediately opened his mouth, tilting his head to more fully meld his lips to hers. She twined her fingers in his thick, silky hair and pulled him even closer, making a quiet humming sound of contentment as the kiss deepened.

The tiny sound seemed to unleash something in Ethan, because he burst into fervent motion, clasping her waist with his hands and lifting her back onto the edge of the kitchen table. He thrust one muscled thigh forward to part her legs, then moved so that he was wedged between them, all the while still kissing her. One of his big hands shifted down to her bottom and pulled her still closer so that her dress rolled up and he pressed firmly against the heat at the juncture of her thighs, nothing but his trousers and the silk of her underclothes between them.

She put her arms around his neck and murmured some sound that meant, Yes, definitely yes, oh please yes, and he wrapped his other hand around the nape of her neck and deepened the kiss.

When they finally broke free to catch their breath, Ethan wore the same shocked expression he’d had before when they kissed, and she hiccupped a little as her laughter fought its way out past her gasping breaths. “You look like I feel, shape-shifter. Did the world tilt on its axis a little for you, too? Or does my penchant for drama, as my brothers call it, overtake me?”

His sensual lips curved into a smile, and she tried to stop thinking about how she’d like to feel those lips all over her body. She had to focus. They were in crisis from all sides, and thinking about how good all that lean muscle would look—totally nude—was not helping.

Heat rushed through her at the thought, and her body convulsively jerked against him. He literally growled, like the panther that he was. “You need to stop doing that, or I’m going to take you right here on this table, ocean girl. And drama, hell. The world didn’t just tilt, it bounced clear off the damn axis.”

She flashed a seductive smile at him, filling it with the promise of everything she wanted to do to him. She knew the timing was bad. She knew the adrenaline response might be responsible for his reaction to her.

She wanted him anyway.

“If circumstances were different, as you say, I might take you right here on the table,” she whispered.

His eyes gleamed, then narrowed, and his hands tightened on her. “Just what am I? Some kind of vacation fling?”

She blinked, dumbfounded, then began laughing helplessly. “Vacation fling? What does that even mean? This is the first occasion on which I have ever left Atlantis in the more than four centuries of my existence, so that would not say much for my powers of attraction, would it?”

His jaw dropped open. “Four centuries? You’re more than four hundred years old?”

Her laughter died in the face of his obvious disbelief. “I have four hundred and seven years. Are you disgusted with the idea of kissing one so much older than yourself?”

“I suddenly find the idea of doing it with an older chick quite appealing,” he said, an evil grin lightening the planes and angles of his face.

“An older chick? That cannot be an appropriate term, young man. Perhaps you should learn to respect your elders.” She tried for a stern voice, but the fact that she couldn’t seem to stop running her fingers through his hair may have ruined the effect.

He put his hands on the bottoms of her thighs and lifted her up off the table, still grinning. “Can I respect you while you’re naked?”

She heard the wildness in her laughter and realized she walked the edge of hysteria. “Ethan, please. We need to figure out what to do.”

He gently let her down, still holding her so close that she had to slide down the length of his body. Both of them were breathing hard by the time her feet touched the floor. But he stepped back from her, evidently agreeing with her assessment. “You’re right. We need to figure out our plans. The first thing we need to do is get you out of here.”

They both turned toward the kitchen doorway at the sound of pounding feet approaching. Ethan pushed Marie behind him and pulled a very lethal-looking dagger from a sheath at his side.

William burst into the room. “I’m sorry to disturb you, Ethan, but we’ve got trouble. Travis called for reinforcements. He sent a message that the representatives of all the prides in the western region are on hand to make sure we follow the ancient rules of alpha challenge. Nobody gets in or out of pride lands until only one of you is left alive.”

Ethan held the phone a good six inches away from his ear. “Kat. Kat. Kat!”

On the other end of the line, Kat finally quit yelling and took a breath. “Yeah. Sorry. But this ignorant fool says they aren’t going to let me back onto Big Cypress for two days! He actually had the nerve to knock me aside when I tried to get my Jeep past him. What exactly is going on?”

Deadly rage raced through Ethan at the thought of one of them harming Kat. “Are you hurt?”

“What? No. No, it was nothing. He just kept telling me to ‘phone home,’ for whatever that’s worth. What is going on, Ethan?”

He filled her in on the attack on Marie, the alpha challenge, and the rules about any of them leaving or entering pride lands. Kat started swearing. In spite of everything, he had to laugh. “Kat, those are words I didn’t even know you knew.”

There was a silence on the phone. “Do you really want to discuss my language right now?”

The brief flicker of amusement died, and the alpha in him took command. “No, I don’t. But here’s what I want you to do. Can those thugs hear my side of this conversation?”

“No,” she replied. “In fact, I’ve been walking back to my Jeep while we talk. What’s up?”

“I want you to find somebody impartial. Maybe Jack. We need a witness who doesn’t belong to any of the factions that have wanted to take over pride lands in the past.”

“Jack the weretiger? The one Bastien knows?” Her voice cracked on her mate’s name. “Oh, Gods. Bastien. When he finds out I allowed his sister to come to harm…”

Ethan snarled. “I’m the one to blame, and I’ll take any punishment he wants to dish out. I deserve it. But believe me when I say that no one else will lay so much as the tip of a claw on her skin and live.”

There was another silence on the line. “Ethan? I’ve known you since I was a child, and I’ve never heard that in your voice. What exactly is going on between you and Marie?”

He turned his gaze toward the chair where Marie sat wrapped in the blanket from his bed, and she looked up at him at that instant, as if his thoughts had called to her. She was so beautiful it almost hurt him to look at her—art made flesh and infused with grace.

He’d failed her.

He could never deserve her.

“Ethan?” Kat’s voice in his ear yanked him back to more pressing matters.

“Find Jack,” he repeated. “I want a neutral observer. They’ll be forced to let him in. You’ve got less than twenty-four hours, Kat. Do your best.”

“I’ll find him,” she promised. “If you hear from Bastien—”

“Marie hasn’t been able to establish contact with him or with their priest. When she does, I’ll get a message to him to contact you.”

He could almost hear through the phone lines her battle to focus on what needed to be done. “Fine. Call me if you can. I’ll get Jack here if he’s anywhere on the eastern seaboard, Ethan.”

“I know I can count on you. You’ve always been one of the strongest of the pride, even before you discovered your ability to shift, Kat Fiero.”

“Take care of her for me, Ethan. She’s my sister now.”

He looked over at Marie again. “I will protect her with everything I am, Kat.”

As Ethan clicked his phone closed, he repeated his promise. Turned it into a vow. “With everything I am.”

 

Several hours later, Marie struggled to wake from a dark and terrifying dream in which bears battled panthers, and the strange lizardlike creatures the landwalkers called alligators snapped at the flesh of the vanquished. She abruptly sat up on the couch where she lay, realizing that it would not take a dream-speaker to translate that dream for her. She was caught in a battle between opposing predators, and her gentle gifts of healing wouldn’t be of any assistance at all to him.

To Ethan.

She watched as he stood at the table in his starkly furnished strategy room. Other than the couch where she’d finally dozed off, only a few scattered chairs, a desk, and a large table covered with charts and papers decorated the spacious room. He’d called it his office, but she’d been in the palace war room and recognized this place as its twin in purpose. Ethan’s men surrounded him, discussing strategy and plans for the upcoming challenge. As if he felt the weight of her gaze upon him, he turned those golden eyes toward her, and his heated stare pinned her in place, stealing the very breath from her lungs.

He’d spoken truly when he named attraction a tame word for what lay between them. If attraction were a single hearth flame, this was a conflagration. An inferno of raging desire. It made no sense at all, and yet it made all the sense in the world.

Some attractions defied logic. Isn’t that what the women who came to the temple had told her time and again? Even her brother, when he’d described his newfound love for Kat, defiance mingled with hope that she might understand and embrace her new sister.

Bastien, who’d always underestimated himself, finally came fully into his own when he found a warrior woman to stand at his side. But she, Marie, was no warrior. The best she could manage was a few simple tricks with the calling of water.

Her gift was to heal and to aid in childbirth. So unless Travis decided to go into labor during the challenge, she thought bitterly, there would not be much she could offer.

A noise alerted her to movement, and she looked up to see the pride members filing out of the room, nodding as Ethan issued last-minute instructions.

“William, take a team and relieve the first watch,” Ethan said.

William nodded. “Get some rest. You’ll need it. The intel says Travis is one of the most powerful alphas in the central part of the country.”

Ethan bared his teeth in a terrifying mockery of a smile. “Then maybe he’ll offer some sport before he dies.”

Marie gasped at the overt ferocity in his voice, and he stood, head bowed, for a long moment before he turned to face her. As he crossed the large room toward her, she shivered at the intent plain on his face. He wanted her and was prepared to lay siege to her defenses.

She was unsure if she had any defenses left to raise against him.

He sat next to her and lifted a hand to twine in her hair. “Did you get a little rest?”

“I think I must have slept for a while. It has been a very long day, and I did not sleep well last night, with the excitement of the journey ahead of me.”

His lips tightened. “Not exactly what you thought it would be, is it? I’m really sorry, ocean girl. Once we get this little problem out of the way, I’ll wine and dine you in the very best restaurants.”

She considered the leap for a moment before deciding to brave it. Life was fraught with potential danger. This courageous man would fight for his pride members, his lands, and even his life in fewer than twenty hours.

In the end, the leap was really only a very small step. She leaned her face into his hand and pressed a kiss to his palm. “I don’t need the best restaurants, Ethan. Right now, I would be honored simply to be alone with you.”

A crystalline moment stretched between them, lasting so long that she was afraid her offer had been misguided. Then something in him seemed to snap, and he lifted her onto his lap, pulling her to him so tightly that she could barely take a breath.

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying, Marie?” he said, rasping out the words. “That you will be mine, if only for this night?”

The moment was too huge to comprehend; too crucial to some inherent need in her soul to acknowledge. Instead, she found refuge in levity. “Well, perhaps. But only if you will respect me while I’m naked.”

He shouted out his laughter and jumped up with her still in his arms, as though she weighed nothing at all. Then he bent to kiss her and poured so much longing and hunger and need into the kiss that she was dizzy long before he released her to stand on her feet.

“I want you right now, ocean girl. But I won’t take you here in my office. I want you in my bed.”

She nodded, and he caught her hand in his own and pulled her, half running, down the hallway to his rooms. When they arrived, he kicked the door shut behind him and then locked it. She caught her breath, transfixed at the predatory cast to his face as he stalked her across the room.

“Wait,” she said, breathless with anticipation, with longing, with a trace of fear. “I want…” She ran to her bag and dug in the bottom for the colorful scarves of Atlantean silk she’d brought with her, thinking perhaps she would wear them to some event with Bastien and Kat.

She tossed the scarves, rich with gold, silver, turquoise, and so many other jewel colors, onto his bed and spread them on his stark white pillows and sheets.

“Let me bring some color to your life, Ethan of Florida, as you have brought heat and desire to mine.” Her words were brave, but she stood trembling. Afraid the flames that ignited in her body whenever he touched her would consume her.

Afraid that one night would never be enough.

Knowing that one night was very likely all they could ever have.

But desire triumphed over fear, and she held up her arms to him. “Be mine for this night, Ethan. Let Atlantis meet the dual-natured, and both be the better for it.”

He did not say a word but started toward her. Slowly, stalking her. Letting her see the full weight of his hunger on his face. He pulled his clothes off as he came, so that by the time he reached her he was entirely nude, his enormous erection jutting up between them. Her eyes widened at the sight of his powerful body sculpted into lean muscle.

“It’s time, ocean girl,” he whispered. “I want to kiss every inch of your skin right this minute. In fact, I may very well die if I don’t get my hands and my mouth on you in the next sixty seconds.”

She leaned forward and traced one finger down the planes of his chest and abdomen, and he shuddered. She bit her lip and took the leap over the precipice.

“Then perhaps you should remove my dress.”

 

Ethan stared at Marie, unable to believe his ears. Unable to believe that the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen was offering herself to him with the same courage she’d shown when she’d questioned his authority. When she’d defied him. When she’d laughed at his attempt to order her around.

Somehow, this gentle healer had displayed greater strength than the meanest and baddest of his pride-brothers. Maybe it was her gentle touch that had stolen its way into his heart.

“Your dress. Right. I might be able to manage that.” He reached out for her, hoping she didn’t notice that his hands were shaking. Touched the silken folds of her dress and, underneath, the silken curves of her skin.

“I love this dress,” he said. “But it has to go.”

He bent to grasp the hem of the dress on both sides of her endless legs and then stood, pulling the fabric with him. She moved to make some adjustment, and the top of the dress fell open, helping his clumsy fingers complete the job. In seconds, the dress was up and over her head, and she stood in only a few tiny scraps of dark blue lace.

The sight of her sent all the blood in his body rushing to his cock, which jerked and strained toward her. His inner cat agreed with the sentiment, growling its hunger and need.

“Holy crap,” he said, grinning like a damn fool. “If that’s the Atlantean version of ladies’ underwear, I bow down to your superior race.”

She tilted her head and flashed a smile filled with the power of ages-old feminine seduction and newly discovered heat. “Do you like it?”

“It makes me want to purr.”

Marie laughed. “I’d like to make you purr, warrior. But first, I’d like to feel you touch me.”

He didn’t need to be asked again. Ethan swept her up and onto the bed, rolling with her as they fell so that she landed on top of him, trapped by his arms. “I plan to touch every part of you,” he promised.

“Less talking, more touching,” she said, and then she nipped at his bottom lip. The sharp touch of her teeth ignited the flames that had been stirring in his blood, and he pulled her head down to his and took her mouth.

 

The predatory heat in his eyes exhilarated Marie. No gentle coupling, this—she wanted flame and fury and the sea-struck lightning of tempest-force winds. He’d torn her undergarments from her body as if he had to see her totally nude or he’d die from the wanting. Then she’d taken the aggressor’s part, she who had never taken the initiative in bed sport, and actually bitten him. She felt as though the panther side of his nature had communicated itself to her soul, and she, too, wanted to snarl and bite and dig her nails into his back, leaving no doubt in his mind that she was laying claim to him as well.

For one terrifying and thrilling moment she rose over him to conquer him, but then the predator in Ethan took command, and he growled low in his throat, then roared out a feral claim. He was alpha and master of his domain; he was fiercely primitive.

He was everything she’d never wanted and never known, and she was drowning in the sensation of him.

Ethan set his mouth on her and licked and kissed and bit her skin from her lips to her chin and then down to her neck. He bit the juncture where her neck met her shoulder, and she cried out at the electric current that sizzled down through her body. Her nipples tightened and hardened nearly to the point of pain, and then suddenly he moved down again and ran his tongue across one stiff point, and she cried out again. He lifted his head, a look of such fierce triumph on his face that the mere sight of it caused creamy heat to pool between her thighs.

“I warned you I would taste every inch of you,” he repeated, his voice so rough that the sound of it rasped across her sensitized nerve endings. “I always make good on my promises.”

He lowered his head to her breast and sucked one nipple into his mouth, licking and kissing it, then sucking it so hard that she cried out as the shock waves from the pull of his mouth sent arrows of knife-edged desire driving through her body. With his fingers, he caressed and pinched her other nipple, switching back and forth between the two until she was writhing on the bed beneath him, nearly mindless with hunger.

“Please,” she moaned. “Please, it’s too much, Ethan. Please.”

“Not yet,” he said. He moved back up the bed and kissed her again, eating at her mouth until she thought he’d devour her, his hands stroking and caressing every part of her except for the center of her need. She returned the favor, frantically shaping his rock-hard biceps and the sculpted muscles of his back and bottom with her hands. Every inch of him was lean and hard and purely male.

He drove her to a fury of desire and insanity until she finally grasped his thick, glossy hair with both hands and yanked his head back from hers. “I need you now,” she said; it was her turn to issue commands.

Victory shone in his eyes, but she did not feel conquered by it. Rather, she felt herself the victor as well.

“I need you, too, ocean girl. I need to taste you and make you scream my name.”

She shook her head and tried to prevent him from moving down her body. “No, there is no…That is not necessary. Although that form of lovemaking can be pleasant, I—”

He froze, and stared at her in patent disbelief. “Pleasant? Pleasant? Who have you been…?”

Then his eyes darkened to the color of molten gold, and he bared his teeth in a grimace. “Never mind. I don’t want to hear about any other man in your bed. Not now, not ever. Instead, I’m going to make you forget any other man ever touched you.”

In a swift motion, he settled himself between her thighs and draped them over his shoulders. Before she could say another word, he put his mouth on her.

She screamed his name when she came.

 

Ethan didn’t give her time to float back down from the spiral. Marie’s body was still spasming with aftershocks when he positioned himself between her legs and held his cock so that the thick head nudged its way into her creamy liquid heat. She tasted like spice and honey, and every muscle in his body was demanding that he drive every inch of his cock as far into her as he’d go.

But he waited, muscles trembling from the effort it took to hold back. Hunger and violent urgency raged inside him, but he refused to take her.

He wanted her to surrender.

“Marie? Beautiful, you need to open your eyes and tell me yes right now before the animal takes over from the man. Because I need to be inside you more than I have ever needed anything in my life.”

She opened those glorious eyes that shone like the midnight sky and, for one terrifyingly long moment, she didn’t respond. When he was damn near frantic, she slowly smiled at him. “That was far more than pleasant; you spoke truly.”

He laughed, but it was wild laughter that skirted on crazed. “Marie? Honey?”

“Yes, Ethan. I say yes.”

He roared some unintelligible sound as he drove into her so far and so fast that his balls slapped against her ass when their bodies met. She bucked, arching up against him, and cried out.

But what she cried out was, “More.”

He thrust into her, desperately urgent, riding her body to the heights of an ecstasy he’d never known. Every inch of his body strained to press against her lush curves. Every inch of his cock strained to press into her welcoming sheath. He felt her body tense under his and slipped his hand between their bodies, rubbing his fingers against her slick wetness and then finding her clit and pressing it rhythmically as he continued to drive into her.

She cried out again when he touched her, and then her movements grew more and more frantic. “Ethan, Ethan, Ethan.”

He closed his eyes to focus on the feel of her, the silk of her skin against his. Her soft wetness as it welcomed his hardness. She arched into him, and he felt the orgasm wrenching through her body, and then she put her teeth on his shoulder and bit him as she came.

The feel of her teeth called to his inner panther, and it screamed its pleasure and approval. Ethan felt his body tighten and harden further than he thought possible. Then the world did bounce clear off its axis, and something inside him shattered. He exploded inside her, coming so hard that he cried out from it, shooting hot jets of his semen deep into her womb.

When he finally collapsed beside her, his softened cock still inside her body, he took a minute to try to remember how to breathe. He lay there, dazed, wanting nothing more than to fall asleep with this woman and then wake up still inside the warmth of her body. As the smile spread across his face, a gentle, cool wetness distracted him, misting across his head and body. He blinked his eyes open, and immediately regained full awareness.

Because Marie was glowing again; shimmering with that silvery blue light that had surrounded her when she’d healed herself. Except, this time, she also seemed to be making rain fall.

From his ceiling.

Marie swam up through waves of sated pleasure and contentment to the sound of her name.

“Marie? Ocean girl? We seem to be having a little unexpected weather pattern,” Ethan said. His voice was full of laughter, and she opened one eye to see what had amused him so. A drop of water splashed on her nose, and she gasped, then sat up in the bed and stared around, bewildered.

It was raining. Indoors. She lifted a hand to feel the raindrops and realized a second truth. She was glowing.

“Oh! It’s me,” she gasped.

Ethan laughed out loud, then pulled her back down into the circle of his arms. “I kind of figured, with the Atlantis thing and all,” he murmured into her ear. “It’s fascinating, but maybe you could stop it before the bed gets soaked?”

She felt the heat sweep through her face as she blushed. “Of course.” It was only a matter of a moment to focus on cutting off the water she’d unconsciously channeled. Then she turned her focus inward, and the glow on her skin faded.

“I’m sorry. I never…I’ve never done that. Called water without knowing it. I don’t know how—” She stopped babbling, caught by a random thought. “It is true that intense emotion can sometimes trigger our abilities, so perhaps passion? I should write this down.”

Ethan’s arms tightened around her. “I have a better idea, my beautiful scholar. Why don’t you write it all down later? The adrenaline reaction stuff you told me about earlier, the raining, the glowing. All of it.”

He smiled, and there was much of smug male triumph in it. “Be sure to spell my name right in the ‘passion causes rain’ part, okay? E-T-H—”

She shoved at his chest, smiling in spite of herself. “I think I’ll remember your name. I’ve certainly used it enough times this night.”

He rolled onto his back, pulling her with him, and she felt his penis hardening against her leg. “How is that possible? Are you able to rouse again so soon due to your dual nature?” she wondered aloud.

“No, this is all you,” he said, tangling his fingers in her hair. “Why don’t we see how many more times you can call my name?”

She kissed him until she was breathless, then lifted her head. “You are very arrogant.”

“Yeah, I am,” he agreed lazily. “But maybe this time you’ll call a thunderstorm.”

Then he rolled her underneath him and was anything but lazy for a very long time.

 

Ethan stood at the window, looking out at the spectacular view of Big Cypress. Dawn’s first warm glow touched the tops of trees, ribbons of light with gilt edges, like packages waiting to be opened by eager children.

The comparison led him to thoughts of the children of the pride, who looked to him as a role model for how a modern shape-shifter could interact with other shape-shifters, with the humans and, now, with the Atlanteans. Trying to work toward common goals and against common enemies.

What if Travis’s mind worked like Fallon’s had? What if he planned to take Ethan’s pride and turn it over to the vampires? Organos was dead, but it never took long for another bloodsucker to pop up and fill a vacuum.

“A peacock feather for your thoughts.” Her warm voice soothed and caressed him, bringing a smile to his face and a shimmer of interest to parts of his body that should have been limp with exhaustion.

He turned away from the window and took a moment to study her. In the faint morning light, she glowed like a jewel among her colored scarves that lay scattered across his bed.

He’d always have fond memories of those scarves.

He leapt across the space that separated them and dove onto the bed, catching her in his arms. “Peacock feather? We say penny. Don’t the peacocks protest?”

“We only offer peacock feathers that are found lying about, silly man. We don’t go around plucking palace peacocks.”

“Plucking palace peacocks? Now say that three times fast,” he murmured, bemused by this woman and her exotic expressions. Her exotic experiences. Hell, she’d made it rain in his bedroom.

Three times.

He kissed her neck and inhaled deeply, drawing the scent of warmth and sex and ocean-kissed skin into his nostrils. His scent was on her, too, he realized. The thought of it pleased him more than it should have.

He was getting possessive about her, and he had no right.

Which pissed him off.

“What does time have to do with it, anyway?” he demanded.

She blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

Cursing himself for a fool, he jumped up and off the bed. “You should. Beg my pardon, that is. If you think you’re going to just use me for sex and abandon me. Go back to Atlantis.”

A slow smile spread across her face, and she sat up, not bothering to lift the sheet to cover herself. He found himself hypnotized by the sight of her creamy breasts, their rosy tips pointing up at him.

“I confess I am delighted at the idea of being thought seductive enough to use you for sex,” she purred, laughing at him.

But, no. She was laughing with him, he realized, and it was very different. Her laughter was inviting and welcoming, not mocking. He suddenly felt a cold, black mass in his chest rip open and let air and warmth and her own gentle summer rain into his heart.

It scared the crap out of him.

But it was a day for courage. He almost laughed. Facing Travis didn’t scare him at all. Putting his heart on the line terrified him.

“If I win this challenge, will you give me a chance? Will you promise to give us time to know each other?”

There. He’d said it. Now the ball was in her court. If Atlanteans even played ball in courts.

“When you win this challenge,” she replied, “we will take all the time we need to know each other. You have my word.”

He nodded, a fierce joy rushing through him. He would win this challenge, and he would prove to Marie that she belonged with him. Easy.

“So now I prepare,” he said.

She lifted her chin and tried to smile. “Now you prepare.”

Marie spent every one of the hours from dawn until midnight with Ethan. She watched him as he ran command sessions concerning everything from evacuation of the women and children to more mundane issues, such as emergency plans for the enormous business infrastructure that he and his team administered for the pride.

Kat called in every hour, reporting on her quest to find Jack, asking how Marie was faring under the strain, and inquiring about Ethan. Marie recognized Kat’s ever-deepening worry for her pride members and friends and attempted to give solace. But there was little she could do over the telephone, and the barriers were still in place that blocked Kat from returning home.

She used Kat’s phone calls as a reminder of sorts, and attempted to contact Alaric and Bastien each time she hung up with Kat. But every try was met with the same blank deadness. Empty space with no trace of either of them. She pushed the fear aside, to worry about later. First she had to get through the day and Ethan’s challenge. Then she would find a way to contact Atlantis.

Alaric and Bastien were still alive. She knew it.

If anything about that long, long day surprised Marie, it was discovering the presence of so many moments of peace in the middle of planning for a war. For war it would be, she discovered, were the unthinkable to happen and Travis to defeat Ethan. William and the other warriors of the pride made it clear that they would challenge Travis, one after another, until he lay dead on the ground of the challenge circle.

She’d thought there would be more bluster. More of the hearty “Of course you will win, Ethan” directed toward their alpha. But the panthers were nothing if not pragmatists, as she supposed should be expected from a species walking the edge of extinction. If the pride alpha fell, another would take his place. It was the natural order of things.

“Damn the natural order of things!”

“So fierce, ocean girl,” Ethan said softly from behind her, startling her. “What’s on your mind?”

She whirled around. “You’re on my mind. This stupid challenge is on my mind. It’s only two hours until midnight, and you’re talking about bank accounts with William. Shouldn’t you be training or something?”

A fleeting smile crossed his face, then he stared solemnly into her eyes. “I love that you’re worried about me, but there’s no need. I’m going to make damn sure that Travis doesn’t live through this. He sealed his fate when he put his hands on you.”

“Stop it! It was nothing,” she insisted. “You saw how easily those scratches healed. Do not risk yourself for such a petty reason.”

He bent to kiss her. “It wouldn’t be a petty reason, trust me. But there is so much more to this. The alpha challenge is a longstanding tradition among my kind. I can’t refuse it, or my own pride would relieve me from command. Survival of the fittest applies to shape-shifters more than to any others.”

“Ethan, I feel so useless. Please give me something to do.”

“You mean something more than you’ve already done? Like helping that woman who was having labor pains? Or comforting the children who’ve taken refuge here with their mothers? Or offering logical, calm advice in any of a dozen discussions I’ve had today?”

She shook her head. “They were false labor pains brought on by stress. It will be more than a month before she delivers that baby, the Goddess willing.”

Ethan took her shoulders in his hands. “Here is what you can do for me. Get out. If the worst should happen, and—”

“It won’t. Don’t even think it,” she said, refusing to hear him say the words that spoke of his possible defeat and death.

“Marie, you have to listen to me. If the worst should happen, the new alpha must offer safe passage to anybody who wants to leave the pride. Travis is insane, but the reps from the other prides will force him to do this. That’s one of the reasons I’d hoped to get Jack here, too, but it doesn’t matter. There are enough of them with honor that you’ll be safe.”

She shook her head wildly, not wanting to hear it. Unable to bear the thought that the man she’d only just discovered could be torn from her after only the span of a day.

He caught her head, trapping it in his hands so that she was forced to look at him. “If I’m defeated, promise me you’ll get out.”

She stared into his golden eyes that burned with determination and realized her assent would relieve some measure of his burden. “I promise.”

He studied her as if to measure the strength of her promise, then, evidently satisfied as to her sincerity, he nodded. “Then now we prepare.”

 

Two hours later, Ethan strode past the ring of shape-shifters who surrounded the newly formed arena. They’d carved the space out of a dense spot of swamp forest only a few miles from his headquarters. He spared a moment of regret for the fallen pines and dwarf cypresses that had been hastily chopped down to form the challenge circle.

“What part of nature preserve don’t you bozos understand?”

Travis laughed that high, skittering laugh of his again. “You won’t have to worry about little details like that after tonight, Ethan. You’ll be as extinct as your pathetic Florida cats.”

A deep rumbling voice thundered from out of the shadows. “Neither of them are extinct yet, Travis of the Texas panther pride. And if you keep talking so casually about the extinction of your own kind, you’re going to piss me off.”

Travis snarled at the sound of the newcomer, but Ethan threw back his head and laughed. “Jack! Never thought I’d be so glad to see a tiger.”

The hugely muscled weretiger strode into the circle as the wary panthers backed away from him. No matter how fearless, no panther was going to be a match for a shifter whose true shape was a five hundred pound tiger.

Jack shook Ethan’s hand and then turned to greet Travis. But Travis snarled at him and backed away. “Get away from me. You stink of the jungle.”

Jack’s eyes narrowed, but his smile never slipped. “Nice manners. Lucky for you I’m Switzerland in this challenge.”

Travis stripped off his shirt and threw it to the ground. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s neutral,” Ethan said. “Just here to observe and make sure that all the rules are followed.”

Travis sneered at them. “Is that so? Maybe Switzerland is a little too late.”

The sound of dozens of guns being cocked echoed through the clearing, and Ethan, Jack, and Ethan’s pride members all crouched into position, ready to shift and face the threat.

“Oh, better wait for your girlfriend to join us, Ethan,” Travis said, his eyes glittering with malice as he pointed to the path Ethan had just traveled.

Ethan sensed her before he saw her. Marie.

The bastards had Marie.

Primal rage poured through his body at the sight of the two men dragging her into the circle, her beautiful hair tangled around her. They shoved her to the ground, and Ethan moved to help her, but Travis wagged a finger at him as the two thugs both pointed pistols at her head.

Marie held up her hand as if to tell him to stand down, no sign of fear on her face this time. She was far tougher than she knew.

“They can shoot faster than you can leap, Ethan,” Travis said. “So now we fight, without the help of your tiger buddy. And after I rip your intestines out and wrap them around your head, I’m going to fuck your woman right here on the ground next to your dead body.”

A red haze of intense fury washed over Ethan’s vision until he was nearly blinded from it, but he forced it back. Forced cold logic to wrest control from his rage.

He couldn’t make a single mistake in the coming battle. More than his own life depended on it. If they hurt Marie…But he forced the thoughts back. He needed icy logic and cold control.

Ethan looked at Jack and made a nearly imperceptible gesture, subtly signaling that he didn’t think they could rush the guns and win. Jack returned the gesture, agreeing.

“You want to fight or stand around boasting, Travis?” Ethan went for the emotional reaction. “Fallon always said you were all bluster and no balls.”

Travis screamed a high, thin scream of pain and anguish. “I loved her! I loved her, and she left me for you. You never loved her, you bastard. You let her die. So now I’m going to kill you, and my men are going to shoot every member of your pride if they so much as twitch.”

Marie spoke up from where she knelt on the ground. “Is this your idea of justice and fair alpha challenge? Even I, who am new to your ways, know better.”

Travis raised his hand into a fist and started toward her, and Ethan charged him. But before he could reach her, Marie rose fluidly, lifting her hands into the air. “You will never strike me again,” she said, and a wall of water sparkled into the air surrounding her, appearing from nowhere, and burst outward in all directions, throwing the two thugs backward and to the ground and knocking Travis back a half-dozen feet.

Travis regained his footing quickly, though, as the sounds of fighting overwhelmed the circle. Ethan’s pride-brothers had taken advantage of the momentary distraction to turn on the interlopers and disarm many of them. A few scattered gunshots split the night air, but screams and snarls predominated.

Ethan leapt to Marie and pulled her into his arms, relief swamping him. “I think you might be alpha, ocean girl,” he said, keeping an eye on Travis to make sure he didn’t pull any guns from hidden pockets.

Before she could answer, Jack was there next to them. “I’m guessing you have some unfinished business over there. I’ll watch out for your woman.”

In an instant, Jack shimmered into his tiger shape and curved his giant form around Marie.

“Stay with the tiger, Marie. This won’t take long,” Ethan promised. Every instinct he had demanded he stay with her, but honor and tradition forced him to finish it.

“You demanded an alpha challenge,” he called out to Travis, who was clearly preparing to run away. “Now that we’re back to even odds, you’ve got one.”

Travis stopped and stared at him, suspicion twisting his face. “It’s a trick. Why would you agree to the challenge after this?”

Ethan stripped off his shirt. “Because those ancient traditions you corrupted actually mean something to me.”

“Fool! All that stupid honor. Fallon always said it would get you killed,” Travis taunted him, circling around, looking for an opening.

“We’ll see, won’t we?” Ethan waited for the challenger’s leap and followed it, shifting in midair, as Travis did the same. They were well-matched, he observed with a coldly detached corner of his mind. But then he didn’t have time to think anything else, because the battle was on.

 

Marie watched, awestruck, as the two mighty cats met in a resounding clash of sound and fury. Ethan’s tawny panther was slightly longer than Travis’s red cat, but they were closely comparable in breadth and muscle. Terror for Ethan paralyzed her even with the tiger preventing her from moving.

She gasped as the two panthers rolled over and over across the circle, biting with deadly fangs and tearing with lethal claws, until both of them were bloodied and torn. Travis smashed a paw across Ethan’s face, and Marie’s legs moved as if to take her to them, but she found her way blocked by a quarter ton of snarling tiger. For a moment, her heart leapt into her throat, but Jack looked up at her out of the tiger’s eyes, and she calmed.

Somehow the sounds of fighting from outside the circle didn’t register with her enough even to make her fear stray bullets. Every ounce of her consciousness was fixed on the life-or-death battle taking place in the circle before her.

The red panther screamed again and managed to escape from underneath his golden foe, and Travis started running, trying to escape. Ethan chased him down and pounced, and again the battle was joined as the two tried to literally rip each others’ throats out. Claws flashed silver and ivory in the moonlight, and blood stained the cats’ fur with black shadows.

Marie raised her hands to call water again, unable to stand idly by and watch Ethan die, but the tiger butted against her legs with its huge head. As much as she hated to acknowledge it, she understood what Jack was trying to tell her. For her to interfere would be just as wrong as it had been for Travis’s villains to do the same.

“But he’d better finish this quickly, Jack, or I’m going to do what I can. I’m past caring about ancient rules,” she said, not knowing if the tiger could even hear or understand her. Every slice of claw or fang in Ethan’s flesh screamed pain in her own.

The red cat gathered itself for a mighty leap and landed on Ethan’s back. The golden panther fought madly, twisting and bucking to get his deadly enemy off his back, but Travis sank his fangs into the side of Ethan’s neck, and Ethan crashed to the ground, hard.

Marie screamed as Ethan fell, but before she could move, the golden cat rolled his body over with a jerking motion and ripped his neck out of Travis’s mouth. Then Ethan reared back on his hind legs and smashed a mighty paw across Travis’s neck, ripping his throat out. The gushing spurt of arterial blood seemed to draw attention to itself by its very silence, and the sounds of battle around the circle slowly faded away to nothing.

Travis fell to the ground, obviously dead. As he fell, he slowly shifted back to his human shape. Ethan, still in cat form, stood near the body, head hung low, panting heavily.

Marie shoved past the tiger and ran to Ethan, falling to the ground in front of him. The cat raised its head, and Ethan stared out at her through its eyes.

“Now I may finally offer assistance,” she said, and she put her hands on him and called to the Goddess. As the healing warmth spread through her hands and into his body, she watched as the vicious wounds in his sides healed. The silvery blue light of her Gift combined with the golden shimmer of his shape-shift, and he returned to human form.

For several frozen seconds, kneeling on the ground in the middle of the blood-scented darkness, Marie tumbled over the edge of conscious reality and into Ethan’s soul. Images from his life rushed through her, and she felt his anguish at Fallon’s death and his self-loathing at having failed to protect so many of his pride from the vampires and from Travis. She gasped as the window to his deepest emotions opened up to her, and the strongest image she encountered was her own face.

She fell back as the healing ended, staring at him in shock. His own expression mirrored hers. “I saw your soul, Marie,” he said in a hushed tone. “I fell into your soul.”

Then he seemed to snap out of a trance and leapt to his feet, pulling her with him, while he scanned the circle for further danger. Jack, again in human form, and William, sporting a bloody scratch down the side of his face but otherwise apparently unharmed, strolled up to them.

“Report,” Ethan snapped out, staring at his second-in-command.

“We kicked their asses,” William drawled. “I’ll give you a full report tomorrow, but we’re going to turn these lawbreakers over to the reps from the other prides.”

Jack nodded in agreement. “They claim they had no idea what Travis was planning, which is probably true. Anyway, if they take Travis’s goons off our hands, there can never be any suspicion of unfair dealing on your part.”

Ethan considered their words, then nodded. “Fine. Casualties?”

“Nothing but a few scratches on our side,” William said. “Nothing, at least, that the change didn’t heal.”

“If I can be of service, I have some skill with healing,” Marie offered.

“Nope. You’re done doing anything but resting, ocean girl,” Ethan said, all the arrogant command back in his tone.

Marie bristled and started to argue, but he bent down and put an arm under her knees and the other one around her shoulders and scooped her up against his chest. “Please,” he murmured, for her ears alone. “I need you.”

“Well, since you put it that way,” she said, putting her arms around his neck, “how can I refuse?”

A week later

Marie awoke slowly to the smell of coffee and stretched luxuriously before she opened her eyes. She sat up and looked around Ethan’s bedroom, pleased anew at the changes to the formerly stark and barren space. She’d cajoled and teased her panther into painting and hanging light fixtures, though he’d left the shopping to her and Kat. Now warmth and color filled the space, and it was a retreat that they’d enjoyed for many hours of the night and even occasionally during the afternoon, after they made their daily trip to Dr. Herman to visit the now nearly healed panther.

Since she’d heard five days earlier from Alaric that he and Bastien were safe but still on the trail of Lord Justice, she’d been able to relax and enjoy this respite from worry. She’d firmly placed to the side any thoughts of what would happen between herself and Ethan when she had to return to Atlantis.

The door opened, and the coffee smell that had woken her entered the room in the form of a tray carried by a very sexy alpha male panther. “Good morning, ocean girl. I thought you might need some caffeine, after you kept me up all night.”

“I kept you up? Whose idea was it to try out every item of furniture?” She tried to sound indignant, but it came out as sleepy satisfaction. How the man could be so deliciously edible even in simple jeans and a white shirt was beyond comprehension. She tried not to think about how she must look, with her bed-tangled hair.

He placed the tray on the bedside table and leaned over to kiss her, then sat back, the smile fading from his face. “This is it, then.”

A sudden lump formed in her stomach. “Yes, this is it. Alaric arrives to transport me back to Atlantis this night. So we have several hours.”

He swore under his breath. “I don’t want several hours with you. I want several years. Several lifetimes, even.”

She caught her bottom lip in her teeth, then sighed. “I feel the same way about you. I never thought—you are the alpha, and Kat warned me—”

He interrupted her. “Kat warned you because of the way I was before I met you. But now I could never touch another woman, Marie.” He took her hands in his. “You’ve touched my soul, ocean girl. I don’t know how it happened, or even how it happened so fast, but there it is. I don’t know how I’m going to let you go.”

“The soul-meld takes whomever it will, Ethan, as you know. But free will reigns over all. You are…You may seek another if my absence—”

He cut her words short, his golden gaze burning into her as he frowned. “I don’t ever want to hear you say anything like that again. Whether you’re in my bed or thousands of miles away, you’re still mine. Don’t even think about forgetting that.”

She tried to smile. “Still such a surly kitten, mi amare. I thought I’d tamed some of that arrogance by now.”

“Never tamed,” he said, his voice husky. “But always yours.”

She felt the tears spill over her eyelashes. “But I must leave. My duties…I cannot abandon the temple, even if some part of me might wish it.”

He pulled her into his arms. “And as much as I might want to, I would never ask you to abandon your responsibilities. If anyone can understand responsibility, it’s me. But somehow it helps to know that some part of you thinks about it. For me.”

They’d discussed the matter frequently enough, and sometimes with Kat, too, that they both knew how unlikely it was that Poseidon would ever allow him entrance into Atlantis. Perhaps at some time in the future. Certainly not now.

“I offer you my vow, Ethan of Florida,” she said, putting all of her love for him into her gaze. “We will find a way.”

“We will find a way,” he repeated. “I offer you my vow, as well. I love you, ocean girl. Remember that every time you look at that ring.”

She glanced down at the flawless diamond on her left hand, a symbol of a promise, he’d said when he’d offered it the night before. A tingle of curiosity made her wonder how it would resonate with the gems in the temple and what song Erin could sing from it. Surely such a beautiful gem, which held the promise of unending love, could sing powerful healing.

“You’ve got your scholar face on again,” he said. “What’s percolating inside that beautiful head?”

As his laughter rumbled in his chest against her cheek, she looked up to find his golden eyes filled with heat. Shimmering silvery blue light began to sparkle and swirl around her, and she fell back onto the bed, pulling him down with her.

“We have all day, my beautiful, fierce panther,” she said, lifting her face for his kiss. “Can you think of any way we might spend it?”

He kissed her with leisurely skill and tenderness until she gasped for breath beneath him. “Oh, I’ve got an idea or two,” he drawled. Then he cast a glance up at the ceiling. “Do you think I should get an umbrella?”

It took her a moment, but then the peals of her laughter rang through the room.

Together, she silently vowed, they would refuse to be daunted, no matter what peril the future might hold. Love and laughter would help them to surmount any obstacles. The shape-shifter had found his lady, and she had finally come home.