Steam

  Kissed Zack and told him she loved him.

  He maneuvered them to the far side of the pool, safely away from the house. “I love you too, baby doll,” he whispered, low enough the three men gathered in the kitchen doorway couldn’t hear. “I will always love you.”

  Her eyes widened in surprise.

  He pulled her close and touched his forehead to hers. “Don’t you get it?” he whispered. “I’m your Watcher, you’re my Goddess. We’ve been together for only that damn bitch Baba Yaga knows how long. This life, I get to help you fulfill your destiny. No, we don’t get to sleep together this time around, but that’s okay. You’ve got those two brutes over there who love you, and I was lucky enough to find a fantastic guy who loves me. We’ll be okay.”

  Her bubble of anger popped. She sobbed against him. “I’m sorry, Zack. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  He rubbed his chin in her hair. “You’ll never hurt me. I’m your Watcher. Seems like I warned everyone I’m your official ledge-talker-offer dude.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” she whispered.

  He chuckled, then looked down at her, forcing her to meet his gaze. He stood six inches taller than her five-six. “Baby, I need to let you in on a little secret. I’m in your brain the way you’re in mine. I know about your life sentence from Baba Bitchhead.”

  She sniffled. “You do?”

  He stroked her chin. “Yeah. I know you tried to keep it a secret from me. Please don’t feel guilty. It’s okay. Just because we don’t shack up together in this life doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy what you’ve got.” He tipped his head toward the dragons. “I know I bust their balls, but they’re good guys. They love you. I couldn’t have picked better men for you if I’d gone on Craigslist and tried.” She snorted with laughter, prompting a smile from him. “There’s my girl.”

  They’d spent lifetimes together throughout the eons, with Zack as her Watcher, marrying her, dying when she did, being reincarnated every life to be together. Lina didn’t remember any of it until the Alexandr brothers walked into their lives eight months ago and fulfilled both their prophecy and Zack’s.

  She didn’t know before then that in every life Zack remembered and actively took care of her, fulfilling his role as her protector. Had the Alexandr brothers not shown up this time around, when she turned thirty-five Zack would have married her again and they would have lived happily ever after until the next go-round.

  To save Zack’s life after Edgar shot him, Lina had agreed to Baba Yaga’s terms. In exchange for her men—including Zack—finding happiness, Lina agreed to whatever cruel torture Baba Yaga would put her through.

  The cruelest torture of all—to know Zack would never again be hers despite their countless happy years together.

  Zack sat on a stone bench by the pool and pulled her into his lap. Even with her size sixteen frame, he picked her up as if she weighed nothing. Since her powers had awakened following her initial mating with the brothers, and now since his mating with Kael, Zack had come into his own supernatural strengths.

  “Sweetie, what do you see out there?” he asked, pointing to the backyard.

  She shrugged. “Thirty some-odd acres of mosquito-infested Florida woods. Why?”

  “Imagine a butt-load of shifters all in one place. Free to run around. Some need to hunt really big game. Know what they’ve got a ton of in Yellowstone?”

  “Bison. Elk. Moose. Bears.”

  “Right. Know what else they have in Yellowstone?”

  “Tourists?”

  He snorted. “Not that.”

  “Be a little more specific.”

  “Lots of wilderness. Open spaces. Places to run and shift and be yourself and never see another soul. They have two Gatherings a year, spring and fall. No one wanted to drag you out there for the last one because we all knew you felt overwhelmed. Okay, yes, the flagyer’s communication skills suck, I’ll give you that. I promise I’ll have a heart-to-heart chat with good ole Uncle Andel about not springing shit on you.”

  She knew the dragon men still watched from the safety of the kitchen doorway. She snuggled closer to Zack, enjoying the familiar feel of his arms wrapped around her. Before her life did a huge, crazy one-eighty, she thought Zack was gay, enjoyed spending several nights a week with him, and was thoroughly convinced she’d be marrying him at age thirty-five. They’d jokingly made a pact in college to get married if they were still both single, a pact she’d thought would come true.

  “Is Kael okay with this? He’s not jealous of me, is he? I don’t want to cause problems.”

  “No, sugar, he’s not jealous. Remember, he grew up with the prophecies. He knows I’m your Watcher. He knows I love you.”

  She closed her eyes and breathed deep, feeling calmer. “They’re scared shitless I’m going to set fire to something, aren’t they?”

  “A little ass-puckering fear’s a good thing to instill in a man sometimes, babe. It’ll help you keep them in line.”

  Chapter Two

  Brodey sat the breakfast table, a nearly-full bowl of Cheerios in front of him. He should eat. He needed to eat.

  His stomach and his raging hangover begged to differ.

  Ain walked into the kitchen, his expression guarded. He studied Brodey for a moment with his grey eyes. “We need to talk.”

  “Fuck you.”

  Ain pulled out a chair and sat. “I want you to go with Cail and Micah to the Gathering next week.”

  The original plan was for Brodey to stay behind at their Arcadia, Florida, cattle ranch and supervise the operations while Ain, Cail, and their cousin, Micah, travelled to Yellowstone.

  “Fuck. You.”

  Ain sighed, kept his voice quiet. “Brod, please. Don’t make me edict you.”

  Brodey glared at him. He tried to focus his bloodshot green eyes on his elder brother. “I’m Beta Alpha. Prime Alpha should be there.”

  Ain took a deep breath. “Please. Go, hunt, take out your aggression toward me on a bison or something.”

  “Get away, in other words.”

  “Yeah.”

  Cail stood in the doorway. Brodey looked at him. “I suppose this was your idea?” Brodey asked.

  “No, it’s Ain’s, but I agree.” Cail crossed the kitchen and sat with his brothers. “We didn’t want to make you break up with her. You know that.”

  Yes, Brodey knew. In the sober light of a Sunday morning, he remembered how quiet Cail had been after he took Celeste home that final evening.

  How Cail disappeared for two weeks, shifted, roaming the woods around their Maine Clan compound. Sometimes at night Brodey had heard Cail’s plaintive, heartbroken howls.

  How, decades before that, Ain had stoically remained silent when Brodey admitted he felt zilch for Janine, even though Cail had liked her.

  Triplet Alpha shape-shifters. What the fuck did they do to piss off the Goddess to deserve this? They could sleep with anyone they wanted, sure. But for their mate they needed a One.

  Because they were triplet Alphas, the same One.

  It was difficult enough for an Alpha shape-shifter in their Clan to find their One. Much less for three Alphas to agree on the same One.

  He also knew his brothers were right. They couldn’t have faked liking her if they didn’t feel it. He’d held out hope, dating Kimberlie for three months, falling head-over-paws in love with her. Dammit, how much more perfect could she be, a shifter, for chrissake! Okay, a feline shifter, but still.

  Cail, even though only fifteen minutes younger than Ain, was the Gamma Alpha. “Brod, please come with us. Micah’s already arranged a poker game. I’m not saying it’ll make you forget, I’m saying it’ll give you something else to focus on. Come on, bison! Since when did you turn down an opportunity to hunt something that big!”

  Brodey picked at his Cheerios. Two hundred and thirty-four years old and still single. He was tired of it. Tired of being alone. When he found someone to give his heart to, he couldn’t even do that. Not unless his two
brothers felt the same way.

  “Whatever,” Brodey quietly said as he stood and dumped his bowl in the sink. “I don’t care.”

  * * * *

  Ain drove them up to Micah’s house in east Tampa that evening. The men’s flight out of Tampa International to Denver would leave at four a.m. the following morning. Ain had already briefed their cousin about Brodey’s bad mood. Micah Donovan was a first cousin through their mother’s brother. He had dark brown hair and pale, ice-blue eyes. A little shorter and slimmer than them, he had the typical lithe wolf shifter body.

  Brodey disappeared into the guest room and closed the door behind him. Ain waved Micah and Cail outside to talk without Brodey hearing.

  “He’s fucked up,” Ain said. “He’s never been through this before, like we have.”

  “I’ve never envied you guys less than I do right now,” Micah said. “Poor bastard.”

  “Not much to do about it,” Cail said. “Ain and I tried. We really did. That woman’s a total bitch. We couldn’t stand her. And she’s a feline shifter.”

  “I think I just threw up a little in my mouth,” Micah said, looking disgusted.

  Ain laughed. “Hairball?”

  “You’d think he’d know better than to get hooked up with a cat. They’re good for friends, not family.” Micah ran a hand through his hair. “What was going through his head?”

  The three men looked at each other. “Brodey the Bonehead,” they all said.

  * * * *

  Lina sat with a death grip on Zack’s right hand. Rick and Jan had agreed to Zack’s request to fly to Denver on Sunday, spend the night there, and then tackle the shorter flight to the Yellowstone Regional Airport in Cody, Wyoming, on Monday.

  They’d also agreed to back the hell off and let Zack handle Lina.

  “Why didn’t we drive?” she whispered, her fingers tightening around his. “Why the hell didn’t we drive?”

  “Can you imagine several days cooped in a car with Frick and Frack? You’d be frying their asses before we hit Atlanta.”

  She looked into his eyes and laughed, marginally relaxing. “Promise me we’re not going to die.”

  “It’s an easy flight, sugar.”

  “Can I have a drink? Please? Five or six?”

  “No. I don’t need a drunk Goddess to wrangle.”

  Jan and Rick nervously hovered nearby. Kael, the only calm one, was put in charge of making sure they didn’t miss their boarding call. Never having flown with Lina before, Rick and Jan thought Zack exaggerated her terror of air travel.

  One of these days, they’d learn to listen.

  * * * *

  Brodey’s mood didn’t lift during the flight to Denver. He didn’t speak during their layover, he just sat in the gate area and stared out the windows. Across from them he noticed four men and a woman. One of the men sat next to her. She had a death grip on his hand.

  Scared shitless.

  The two men standing nearby watching them looked familiar. Brodey closed his eyes, more to take his mind off his own troubles than anything else, and took a mental sniff.

  Dragons.

  His eyes popped open. Now he recognized them, the Alexandr brothers.

  So who’s the chick?

  Curiosity got the better of him. He stood and walked over, offering the terrified woman a friendly smile. He ignored the men, including the fourth, who walked over at his approach. Another dragon, he sensed.

  She was beautiful. And, he suspected, more than taken, if he read the situation right.

  Still…

  He knelt in front of her. “Hi there.”

  * * * *

  The hunky, green-eyed guy knelt in front of her. Jet black hair, hard body. Button up chambray shirt, tight faded jeans over his scuffed and worn cowboy boots. He’d been sitting with his twin and another guy and watching her off and on for a few minutes.

  There was something odd about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

  His eyes held her gaze. Zack went still next to her. She suspected he would have said or done something if this was a bad thing.

  “Brodey Lyall.” He held out his hand.

  She hesitantly shook. “Lina Zaria. Alexandr,” she hastily added. “Lina Zaria-Alexandr.”

  The man glanced at Jan, Rick, Kael, then Zack, before returning his attention to her. “Yellowstone?”

  She nodded.

  “Afraid to fly?”

  She anxiously nodded.

  He smiled. Something about the gesture soothed her. “May I?” He pointed to the empty seat on her other side, but he looked at Zack when he asked.

  Both she and Zack nodded.

  He sat. When she glanced across the way, she noticed the two men he travelled with now intently watched their interaction.

  “Ever been to Yellowstone before?”

  She shook her head.

  He started to tell her about the park, about the landscape, the history. His heartfelt narrative sucked her in, capturing her attention and, yes, feeding her desire to see the park from his eyes. The way he told it, she almost smelled the pines and heard the water in the river, the sound of the geysers erupting. Forty minutes later, when their flight was called, she’d relaxed, smiled and even laughed a couple of times. Zack might have actually regained feeling in his hand as her grip loosened.

  Brodey stood and started to walk away when she reached out and touched his hand. She felt a nearly overwhelming wave of sadness threaten to capsize her.

  She realized it came from him. This time when she looked into his eyes, she felt his crushing despair, barely constrained.

  Grief.

  “Thank you, Brodey,” she softly said. Now she understood. He’d sensed her nervousness and tried to keep her mind on what lay ahead, not her fear of the flight. “Will we see you there?”

  He smiled and glanced at Jan and Rick. “Probably, if you guys are supposed to be at the poker game.”

  Behind her, she felt Rick and Jan relax. “Dude, that’s where I know you from,” Rick said. He reached over and shook Brodey’s hand. “Dammit, it’s been a long time.”

  Rick and Jan followed Brodey and chatted with him for a moment. Kael hung back with Zack and Lina.

  Zack arched an eyebrow, curious.

  “He’s really sad,” she whispered, fighting tears at the memory of his pain. She’d felt it as if her own. Another new funky power? “Something really bad just happened to him, yet he took the time to help me relax.”

  Zack smiled. “I know. I felt it, too. He’s a good guy.”

  “Is he…one of us?”

  He nudged her forward toward the line queuing to board. “No, sugar. You just met your first wolf.”

  * * * *

  Brodey ended up sitting across the aisle from Lina and the man she kept a tight grip on. Zack Armstrong wasn’t romantically involved with her, but there was something going on between them. Zack also wasn’t a dragon shifter.

  Jan and Rick, the two guys who kept nervously watching her like they expected her to explode at any second, felt like her mates. They weren’t treating her like a little sister, not from the looks Brodey caught them giving her.

  The fourth man, Kael, kept his eyes on Zack.

  And they say wolves are weird?

  Brodey occasionally offered Lina a friendly smile. Cail had ended up with the window seat. Halfway through their flight, Cail nudged Brodey and sent him a thought.

  “What’s going on with her?”

  Brodey shrugged and closed his eyes to nap. He didn’t know. Their Code of the Ancients decreed they couldn’t get involved with someone else’s mate. But when he touched Lina’s hand…

  For the first time since telling Kimmie goodbye, he’d almost felt normal. Not like he wanted to jump Lina’s bones. Calm, settled. Peaceful.

  He gave up trying to figure it out.

  They parted ways at the Cody airport, each group renting vehicles to make their way to the park. At the baggage claim area, Lina finally let go of Za
ck and walked over to Brodey. She offered him her hand. Again he felt that sweet, calm sensation settle over him.

  “I hope we get to spend time together in Yellowstone,” she said.

  He smiled. “Me too.”

  Only reluctantly did he let go.

  * * * *

  She desperately needed a bathroom break. Not just to pee, but to decompress. Alone in the bathroom, the icy temperature of the water coming out of the tap shocked her when she splashed it on her face.

  “How was your trip?”

  She screamed as she turned. Baba Yaga, in her incarnation of a middle-aged woman, stood there in navy blue slacks and a grey blouse, not a hair out of place.

  “What the hell are you doing here?”

  She coldly smiled. “Zaria, I am always around. Did Zack not tell you that?”

  “What do you want?”

  “To tell you you’re doing fine and to trust your instincts. They will serve you well over the next few days.”

  Lina’s heart raced in her chest. The last time she’d faced down this…woman, it’d been eight months ago, after agreeing to Baba Yaga’s terms to save Zack’s life. “What is going on?”

  “You are embarking on a journey. I told you once you’d completed the connection with your men that you would face changes and trials. Took you long enough to figure that out, Goddess.”

  Lina blushed. The “completed connection” in question was asking her men to take her at the same time the other night. Damn great sex, but also apparently the trigger to releasing her new powers.

  She thought about Brodey. “Why did I feel that way about Brodey Lyall?”

  Baba Yaga changed back to the crone. “You are a compassionate Goddess. You feel the pain of others. Such is your lot in life, and only one of the many things you can do.” The crone disappeared.

  Fuck. She sooo didn’t need this.

  Zack drove the rental SUV, only because Lina couldn’t stand the almost instantaneous bickering that cropped up between Jan and Rick over who would control the keys. She grabbed them from the rental car counter and thrust them at Zack, effectively ending the argument.