Danny jerked awake, and sleep fell away from her like water slicking off of a rain coat. “What!” she shouted back, her voice hoarse from disuse. She blinked a few times, clearing her vision, and then rolled over in the warm bed. From the way the sun was coming in high through the gauzy curtains over the bedroom windows, it looked like it was late afternoon.
Imani stood over her, hands on hips, head shaking. “Girl, you’ve been asleep for fifteen hours.”
Danny frowned. “So?”
Ima cocked her head to one side and pursed her lips as if considering something for a moment. “You don’t remember what went down last night, do you?”
Last night? She was so sleepy, that trying to capture a short-term memory felt like trying to catch a dust mote on a windy day. She remembered… sharing a drink with Imani at the bar. And then a ride in Thor. And then….
Images of children and a dirty mattress assaulted her, forcing her bolt-upright in bed. “Charlie and Lily needed my help,” she said numbly, recalling everything now with horrible clarity. “It was awful.”
“Oh, Jesus, girl.” Imani was sitting beside her then, pulling her into her warm embrace. Danny stared off into nothingness as the memories continued to play through her mind’s eye.
“A little boy and girl. Ima, what the hell is wrong with people?” Danny’s voice broke then. She wasn’t expecting it. She had been on many rescue “missions” with Charlie and Lily, and she’d always been okay afterward. What was different this time? She felt slightly stunned and when she tasted the salt of tears on her upper lip, she was mystified by them.
“Honey, you wore yourself out somethin’ fierce,” Ima told her. Danny could feel the other woman shaking her head. “This sure explains a lot.” She fell into a brief silence and then her body seemed to still beside Danny. “Do you remember what happened after the rescue?” she asked.
Danny wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and sat up again. The images of the rescue faded and were replaced with a strange, heavy sensation. It sat low in her belly and grew warmer.
Motorcycle…. An accident….
Danny felt her jaw go slack and her eyes widen.
Werewolf.
“Oh holy mother,” she whispered. “I ran into Lucas Caige.”
“You did more than that, sugar,” Ima drawled. “You brought the big bad wolf home with you.”
Now she remembered. She’d thrown up a second shield after already having drained herself at the rescue. And then she’d passed out in her own car while trying to help Caige after he wrecked his bike.
“Oh crap,” she mumbled, dropping her face into her hands. On the upside, the shield must have worked because she was home safe in her bed instead of dead in a ditch somewhere, which is probably what she would have been if Caige had scented magic on her. He hated magic. He wouldn’t have harmed her himself; in general, werewolves weren’t outwardly aggressive that way. But he wouldn’t have helped her, either. And a passed-out woman on the side of the road in an expensive car was just asking for trouble.
“Well, that’s done,” Danny said.
“What is?” Ima asked.
“At least I won’t have to worry about crossing paths with him again. I made a kick-ass first impression.”
“Yeah, that you did,” Ima agreed, earning herself a dirty look from Danny. “But then again, some people are wise enough to see past those.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Danny noted the look that crossed Imani’s face. She knew that look. It meant she knew something Danny didn’t know. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Not much, sweetie. Just that mister tall, dark and hungry brought you home last night and almost didn’t leave.”
Danny sat up a little straighter. Her fingers found a thread in the quilt and began to pull at it. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, he was lookin’ at you the way you look at dark chocolate, Danny.”
“So?” She knew it was stupid, even as she said it.
“So, do I have to spell it out for you?” Ima threw her hands up in the air and rolled her eyes. “He was into you, girl. Like – way into you.”
“Bullshit,” Danny gave her a little shove. It was her turn to roll her eyes now. “There’s no way, Ima. He’s not that kind of guy. I mean… he’s not into people like me.”
“You mean women, honey?” Imani gave her a deadpan look.
Danny threw one right back at her. “Magic users, Imani.”
But Imani wasn’t done yet. “I’ve known a lot of guys, girlfriend, and I’ve seen a lot of things. And I’ll tell you right now that as far as Lucas Caige is concerned, I know two things for certain. One, the man is fucking fine.” She shook her head and pretended to fan herself, muttering under her breath about the goddess-given attributes of one particular werewolf.
Danny bit the inside of her cheek and patiently waited for her to finish.
Finally, Imani put her hand down and looked her in the eye again. “And two,” she continued, as if she hadn’t paused, “he likes you. A lot.”
“How would you know, Ima?” Danny asked, sighing heavily.
“He drove your car home last night and returned it this morning freshly detailed. Not that it needed it, but that’s beside the point.”
“So, he’s a considerate person. No big deal.” There was a glass of water on the nightstand beside the bed. Danny took it and began to take a drink.
“No, that wasn’t,” Ima admitted, rising from the bed and smoothing out her skin-tight dress. “But bringin’ you flowers, a box of baked goods, a pound of freshly ground coffee, and refusing to leave until I agreed to make you meet with him tonight was a little bigger of a deal.”
Danny almost choked on the water, barely managing to get it down before it spilled over her lips. “You what?” she gasped, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and setting the glass down again with a surprised thunk. “Ima, how could you-”
“What’s done is done, Danny, so no use fussin’ over it. If I were you, I’d get up and get somethin’ to eat. I made stew and you’ll need your strength tonight.” Imani shot her a triumphant smile and then kicked it up a notch when the smile became a wicked grin.
“Ima, what the hell?” Danny couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I can’t believe you would do this to me! Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep two shields up at once?” Even getting as angry as she was in that moment was taking its toll on Danny. She had slept, yes, but she hadn’t eaten and magic wasn’t a calorie-free endeavor.
“I do, Danny.” Imani was suddenly serious. She sat back down on the bed and gently placed her hand on Danny’s arm. “But you’re a dormant and you’re dreaming about him. And if what you say about the second werewolf in your dreams is true and he’s too terrible to even consider, then you have two choices. You can either see this through with Caige or you can move to Siberia. But even then, you’ll still dream about them, and those dreams won’t get better. They’ll get worse. You know it as well as I do.”
Danny stared at Imani for a long while. She didn’t know what to say. The horrible truth of it all was that Ima was absolutely right.
Despondency crept in around Danny’s edges. “He’ll never accept me, Ima.” Lucas Caige had lost his brother to magic. He would never accept a witch as a mate.
“Never say never, honey. And I think you’re wrong anyway.” Ima stood up again and once more brushed herself off. She was gorgeous in a tight emerald green dress and emerald choker pendant. “Remember that an alpha gets bombarded with those feelin’s too. And I’d say Caige is about as alpha as you can get.”
Danny couldn’t argue with that. Lucas Caige was tall, dark and dangerous to the point that it leaked from his pores. Daniel Kane had been like that but he’d been a cop, and the fact that he was on the side of the law canceled out a bit of that “dangerous” feeling people got around him. Malcolm Cole was dangerous, in every sense of the word – but he was also famous and the public trusted famous peop
le for some reason.
Caige, however… was without bonds. He was unpredictable. A wild card.
“I want a shower,” Danny finally said, tossing the covers aside. A nice, long, hot shower would clear her mind and allow her to come up with some sort of plan.
“Fine, but you’ll eat, too, if I have to tie you down and spoon feed you.”
Danny laughed and stood. “You don’t have to bribe me with bondage talk to get me to eat your cooking, Ima.” She shook her head at her best friend. “I love your stew.”
*****
The stew was delicious. Danny sat at the dining room table, where Imani had placed the rainbow-hued array of wild flowers Caige had delivered, and finished off a second helping. Danny was about to go for her third bowl when Imani’s phone rang. Ima got up from the table and started fishing around in her purse for it. While she did, it occurred to Danny that she had no idea what time Caige was supposed to show up. She glanced at her watch: 6:46 p.m.
“Yes, it’s me,” said Ima as she took the phone from the dining room and into the kitchen. Danny’s gaze narrowed. She didn’t like the look on Imani’s face. It was filled with worry and distrust.
Under her breath, she whispered a few choice words of incantation and was suddenly privy to Ima’s entire conversation. It might have been wrong, but Danny never claimed to be a saint.
“… tonight. If she doesn’t show up, he’ll pitch a fit and that’s a frightening thing,” came an accented male voice through Imani’s phone.
“Don’t I know it,” mumbled Ima. “But that’s just too bad. She has other plans for tonight. You’ll have to tell him.”
“You want me to be the bearer of bad news to Alberich? I don’t think so, Imani. Get her down here or you tell him yourself.”
Imani’s patience was obviously wearing thin. She sighed heavily and when she spoke next, her voice was very tight. “Listen Sasha, Danny has a chance at something really good tonight, and I’m not gonna let her blow it just because that spoiled brat of a coven leader decides he wants—”
Ima was cut off as Sasha, a twenty-seven year old wizard, asked, “What does she have going on?”
“None of your business!”
On the other end of the line, Sasha sighed as well. Danny felt sorry for him in a way. Sasha had the disadvantage of having slept with Imani in the past, which was wonderful for him at the time, but which also put him in a position of some subservience with the beauty. “I’ll see what I can do,” he said. “But this won’t end well. I have a feeling.” With that, he hung up and Imani was quiet.
Danny imagined that the woman was trying to regain her composure. She wouldn’t want Danny to think anything was up. But as soon as Ima walked back into the dining room, Danny bombarded her with questions.
“What did Sasha want?”
Ima stopped mid-step and raised both brows. Then she put her hands on her hips and shook her head slowly. “Now that is just plain unladylike, eavesdropping that way. Especially when you’ll be needin’ all of your strength to put up your shields.”
“Oh well,” Danny shrugged. “Now what’s going on?” If Alberich had given some sort of edict that all of the coven needed to be somewhere tonight, it was the perfect excuse not to see Lucas Caige. Which Danny actually felt ambivalent about…. On the one hand, he was so hot it was sinful. But on the other, it made her insides feel strange just thinking about him. Spending an entire evening with him might just do her in.
“It was nothing.” Ima blew it off and threw her phone back into her purse.
“See, now that’s the thing about magic,” Danny said, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms over her chest. “You can’t lie about a conversation to a witch who just listened in on that same conversation.”
“Yeah, well, if you knew what we had been talking about, you wouldn’t have to ask.”
Danny pursed her lips to keep from smiling. Ima had a point there. “Please just tell me.”
Again, Ima sighed and plopped herself down in the chair opposite Danny. “Fine. Alberich wants everyone in the coven to attend the festival tonight. I told Sasha I’d be there but that you were busy.”
Danny mulled that over. “Did he give you a reason? Is something wrong?”
“He didn’t say. But it doesn’t matter. Like I said,” she finished, tightening her voice a little to show she was serious, “you’re busy.”
Danny cocked her head to one side and pinned Ima with a hard stare. “Speaking of which, what time did the werewolf say he would be huffing and puffing outside of our house?”
“Seven.”
Danny’s eyes widened. “But that’s ten minutes from now!”
Outside, the sound of a Harley’s engine drew closer. It was an unmistakable kind of roar and it stilled Danny in her chair. Across from her, Imani smiled a brilliant, white smile. “The boy is early.”
Danny slowly stood up, at once feeling helpless. She hadn’t even brushed her teeth yet! With that thought, she bared her teeth, waved her finger at them, and at once tasted mint on her tongue. She ran her tongue over her teeth. Clean and smooth.
“I saw that,” smirked Imani.
“It means nothing.”
“It means you care,” said Imani, as she began to shield the house once more in order to prevent Caige from scenting their magic.
“I don’t care,” Danny insisted.
“Bullshit.”
*****
Lucas eyed the well-kept façade of the two-story house in front of him as he shut down his bike and dismounted. He knew he was early, but it couldn’t be helped. “Danny” was eating a hole in him. He had been capable of thinking of nothing but her since he’d first laid eyes on her when she had pulled over to help him.
It made no sense. The woman had passed out on him, of all things. But there was something about her.
He had never seen eyes like hers, that was certain. They were mesmerizing. But it was more than that. Her body was killer; her voice was husky and sweet; her smell was…. There was a vanilla caramel scent that rode the surface of her being like icing on a cake. But underneath was a scent that was familiar to him, though he couldn’t place it for the life of him. He just knew he liked it. A lot.
Lucas pocketed his key and ran a hand through his hair. Maybe he had been on the road too long and this was all just his imagination. Or, maybe it was the Florence Nightingale effect – but backwards. He chuckled softly and shook his head. He may as well just face facts. He had exchanged all of a handfull of words with her and he was already smitten. In fact, he couldn’t stay away. He’d returned twice already that morning – once to return the car, and a second time to bring “provisions.” He’d wanted to repay her kindness to him.
Or at least that was what he’d told her roommate. Who was fucking hot, too.
But not like Danny. Again, he wondered what her name was short for. Her roommate had refused to tell him, which was admittedly a little odd. But everyone had their little quirks.
Lucas made his way to the front door and knocked on it with his gloved fist. He was sure they’d heard him pull up on the bike, so he was hoping it had given them enough of a warning that they would forgive him for being early. As he waited for them to answer, he also hoped that he was right about Danny.
Given the kind of car she drove and her rather reckless trust of him to bring her home last night, he had deducted that she was as free a spirit as any woman he’d ever met. If he was right, then she’d be okay with taking the bike for a spin.
He’d just purchased the bike that morning and had paid the sales associate to drive it to Danny’s house for him when he’d dropped off her car. In the meantime, he was having his other motorcycle repaired. It was pretty much totaled but it was a classic, and he felt strongly about things like that.
The door handle jiggled a little and Lucas heard no fewer than three locks slide free on the other side. He hid his smile. The locks might have deterred any human not willing to break a window, but they woul
dn’t have done squat against a werewolf.
When the door opened, Lucas expected to be facing Imani, the woman he’d been dealing with for the last twenty-four hours. But instead, Danny herself stared back at him with her kaleidoscope eyes.
At once he found himself breathless. It had only been a day, and though he couldn’t get her out of his head, he seemed nonetheless to have forgotten how beautiful she was. That silken black hair, those impossible eyes, those full lips…. As she had been when he’d seen her last night, she was wearing jeans. Once again they seemed painted onto those long, lean legs below that tiny waist. He felt his blood warm as his gaze traveled over her body. Her blouse was filmy and ethereal and framed a décolletage of skin that glowed, it was so smooth. Across her collarbone and against the hollow of her throat hung the same necklace she’d worn the night before. It was a simple, thin gold chain with a tiny gold charm of Thor’s hammer.
His gaze traveled back up to her face, where he lost his breath yet again. She was watching him expectantly, no doubt annoyed with his blatant ogling. But the corners of her perfect mouth were turned upward in amusement.
“Hi,” he finally managed, feeling absurdly stupid. “It looks like you’re feeling better,” he ventured. “I’m glad.” He smiled and hoped the sincerity of his words would make up for the bad behavior of his inner wolf.
Danny bit her lip; stark white against deep pink, and Lucas felt himself go hard.
“Thank you for the flowers,” she said. Her fingertips lightly brushed her neck, as if she was nervous. He caught her scent again – vanilla and cupcakes – and his gums ached. “They’re beautiful. How did you know I would like wild flowers?”
He’d chosen flowers that matched the different colors in her unusual eyes. It had been a fancy. Lucas shrugged. “I didn’t,” he admitted easily. “I took a guess.” But an educated one, he thought. Everything about you seems wild.
She smiled, flashing those white teeth. “Good guess.” She stepped aside and gestured to the hall beyond. “Please, come in.”