The hair on her arms stood as the growls began to rise, rumbling through the building, vibrating straight to her gut.
“This threat has returned. Only this time it’s on Earth and is working with outlaws who’ve begun to attack and kill Others on that plane. Seymeon has come to us with his ne’est to warn us, to see us prepared should the Magister break through the Veil and return once more. It will want to steal our magick, the essence of our beings. WE ARE LYCIANS!” He thundered this and it echoed up and up, booming from the walls as the warriors assembled howled in assent. “We are no one’s prey. We will be prepared, won’t we, Warriors?”
The entire room shook right down the foundations when the two thousand warriors shouted their assent to this question. Lark watched, utterly speechless and impressed by the way they reacted in unison. So much discipline.
Watching Simon do this, watching him as a warrior made her tingly right down to her toes. It wasn’t that she didn’t know he was a badass. Hello, she could still remember the way he’d cocked that giant fist and taken down her attacker with one blow. But this was different. This was Seymeon the Lycian, Seymeon the prince. It was unbelievably hot and appealed to her on so many levels it was totally disconcerting.
He was totally unexpected but everything she’d ever wanted. Honor. Decency. Strength. Integrity. All in a very hot, hard, muscled package in tiny shorts.
She was in big trouble.
“ARE you full? Would you like more food?” One of Simon’s sisters paused to check in on her. The room was full of people. At least two hundred sat at tables that ran the length of the space. The noise was nearly deafening, which was all right as she had a lot of stuff to think about and she didn’t really have to talk if everyone else was.
“I’m so full I might explode. I knew I should have worn a skirt today.”
Simon’s sister, um, Sarayah, yes, that was her name, laughed and sat, shoving Simon over. He barely noticed as he was telling some story to his brothers and laughing uproariously.
“You can unbutton the pants. No one will care.”
“Simon and I only started, um, seeing each other, whatever you call it. I can’t go getting lazy yet.”
“Seeing each other? He’s marked you. He called you ne’est in front of everyone.”
“Marked? Ne’est?” That had been the word he’d used with his father earlier. “What does it mean?”
Sarayah smiled, all mystery and coyness. “He didn’t tell you?” She shook her head. “Males are always surprising me with the things they do. Ne’est means key. You’re his key.”
“Key?”
“Yes, as in lock and key? It’s an ancient Lycian term for, um…” She thought a moment, clearly searching for the right term. “Like a chosen one. He’s marked you by holding you out as his woman in public. He’s been preening around since you arrived. He even growled at one of our cousins who stared at you too long. Can’t say I’ve ever seen him this way over anything before. Not even a weapon.”
This made Lark laugh. “I can see the other females here. Why would he choose me instead of one of them?”
“He is a Lycian warrior-class male. I’ve heard them talking about you. You’re a warrior too. You have calluses on your skin from holding a weapon. Scars from battle. This is irresistible for a male like my brother. It’s really one of the best things about being Lycian. After you showed Pere and my father your sidearm earlier I’m certain every male in this pack has a crush on you. They prize viciousness, self-reliance and skill with weapons. This means you can protect your family. Though I probably don’t have to warn you that Lycian males are incredibly bossy and will try to push you to do what they want if for no other reason than that they believe they’re right. Takes a fierce female to keep a Lycian male and children in line.”
Lark knew she blushed but couldn’t seem to stop herself. Lycians were remarkably blunt. Which took a little getting used to as Simon was far smoother when they were in Seattle. But she liked it. Liked knowing where she stood without any confusion.
“Well. Okay. I guess. I don’t really… I’ve only known him a short time. I… this is more than I can…”
Sarayah patted her hand. “It’s all right. I know we’re a little overwhelming. But I’m glad to meet you anyway.”
“Don’t you guys have you know, non-warriors? And if so, can they unbutton after a huge pig-out?”
Again the laugh. “You fit in here just fine. Yes. My mother is a healer. We’ve got teachers and mechanics and all that stuff. But everyone, and I mean everyone is trained. That’s how you protect the pack. If we’re attacked, we all respond. There is no hiding the women and children. This is pack; we all protect it to the best of our ability.”
Which made sense and she felt even better for putting together the block watch program back in Seattle. Get the witches of all stripes involved in their own protection.
“Interesting. And cool. It makes total sense to me. That way you’re giving people the tools to provide for themselves, even their own defense.”
“Each of us has our own skills and gifts, as well as our own weaknesses. If we all work together, we can fill in those spaces where others might lack and they do the same to us.”
Yes, that was community.
“This is what I’d like to bring to the witches. Preparedness.”
“I think you can.”
She wondered if that was so and realized she’d never worried about failing before. But of course world-ending stuff didn’t happen in her life on a regular basis. By this token, the random violence in L.A. seemed a sad parody of what she faced just then. The stakes were not just higher, they were monumental. And she had no idea if she could stop it.
She needed the why, damn it.
Simon leaned around his sister, leaning on her as he looked to Lark. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. “Yes, yes. Just thinking about work. Your sister was going to tell me stories about you as a young male.”
Sarayah laughed gaily. “Oh, let’s do.”
Simon got a look. “Let’s not.”
“Uh oh, he thinks I don’t know that he most likely nailed three-fourths of the women here he’s not related to. As if I have no ability to watch and see how females react.”
His sister thought this was uproariously funny but Simon didn’t want Lark spooked. Well, any more than she already was. He caught the wariness in her gaze, even as she clearly enjoyed herself with his family. Yes, yes, he probably had nailed quite a few of the females in this very room, but none of them expected more than a few nights of passion and they all certainly understood what his father told them when he purposely referred to Lark as his ne’est. He hadn’t really been expecting that. But Cross Leviathan did nothing without a reason. He underlined Lark’s importance and her connection to their pack as well as to the Leviathan family. She was theirs.
She most likely had no idea of this. He’d skirted the subject when she asked him earlier when he’d told his father what she was to him. But she was bright and sharp and he knew once she got him alone she’d ask. Or worse, get sick of waiting and ask Sarayah instead. And while he loved his baby sister and knew she’d never say or do anything to harm Lark, he wanted to tell her himself.
“Go back to your family. I promise not to ask to see photographs of you learning how to use the potty or anything.” She winked and it made him laugh.
“I’ve eaten so much I think I need a walk. The torches on the paths are all lit. Would you like to see the lake?”
Her eyes lit with the same excitement she’d shown over many things in his world. He liked it a lot that she reacted this way. Seeing it through her eyes had also brought home to him just how much he’d missed visiting. How much he’d missed his parents and family. How much he wanted her to be part of this aspect of his life as well.
“I don’t want to take you away from your family. We can go for a walk any time.”
Sarayah got up. “You’ll want to see the path. It’s really p
retty. And believe me, there’ll still be a hundred people here six hours from now. Plenty of family to see when you return.”
He sent his sister a grateful look and she melted off to another group, leaving him free to sidle closer to Lark. He liked the way her lids dropped just a bit and the speed of her pulse. “You know I can hear your heart beat faster when I get close to you.”
She licked her lips. “My heart likes you.”
“I like that compliment.” And he did. “Walk with me. Let me show you my favorite places.”
She allowed him to help her to stand and then he folded her into his side as they walked through the doors out onto the expansive lawns between the house and the lake just beyond.
As he’d said, torches lit the path ringing the lake. Lighting the way home for the rest of his family and the other pack who lived nearby. A signal to anyone around that Leviathan watched over this place and would brook no incursion upon it.
“Wow.”
He took her hand and they began to walk. He should have known she wouldn’t be the strolling type. She walked as fast here as she did back on Earth.
“This is so beautiful. I love the reflection of the flame against the water. The moon in the center. Gorgeous. Like a painting.”
Pride warmed him. “I think so too. When I was a boy and I’d get into trouble or make too much mischief around the house, Mameri would send me out to run the lake twice. I’d come back with my energy expended and tired enough to manage.”
“I like her. Your mother. I like the way she and your father are together.”
“They’re strong.” And had been a great example to him as he’d grown up. His father had been pretty notorious in his younger days. Even when he was with Simon’s mother he had other wives as was part of their accepted custom.
“When my mother died, Tila was already part of our household. She and my mother were close, which I know seems odd to you, but our culture is what it is.”
“I get it. And I respect that. As long as you have no such notions about me tolerating you dallying with anyone else. I don’t like to share.”
He knew his smile was lecherous, but he couldn’t help it.
“Cross was married to my mother. He loved her in his way. But he’s bound to Tila. There’s a difference.”
They’d wandered away from the house but could see it in the distance, could hear the magic of laughter and talk, of the clink of glasses and silverware.
“Yeah?”
“Would you like to know the difference?”
“Yes. I like to know things. Makes me less off balance. You leave me off balance.”
“I love your honesty.” He shook his head and drew her to a bench set back from the main path. “This is my favorite spot. In the daylight you can see to the Silver Mountain range. Beautiful.” He sat and put an arm around her. “Also it’s out of sight. Easier to steal kisses from young ladies this way.”
“Are you taking me to your make-out spot, Seymeon?” Amusement danced over her features, lightening his heart immeasurably.
He liked hearing her say his given name. Especially here.
“I told you I couldn’t remember the last time I didn’t get what I wanted.” He bent to steal a kiss and she ran her fingers through his hair as he did and hummed her satisfaction when he broke away.
“Tell me the difference. Sarayah already told me ne’est meant key. But I don’t know the whys.”
“My father had a wife and several different women he loved. Many of them lived right here on our land. They helped raise each other’s children. My mother, I’m told, was joyful and happy, content with her life and the sisterhood she felt with them. But when she died having me, he broke. She’d been his since they were children. Of course he didn’t act on it until they were both of age. But she was his best friend in many ways. His most valued confidante. And she was gone.”
Lark took his hand, tangling her fingers with his.
“Tila is a healer, as you know. So she came to him, expecting nothing. Only giving. They’d been lovers of course, he had children with her as well. But now she became something else to him entirely. She became ne’est.”
Recognition lit her features.
“Yes. She became integral to him in a totally different way. A way that set her apart from any other woman. He marked her, much like I have with you.”
Tension tightened her muscles. “Marked? Like the hickeys and bite marks you’re so fond of leaving?”
A shiver went through him. “Yes. But not just that. When a male Lycian marks a female, he takes her as his mate. Not just as his wife, not as his girlfriend or the mother of his brood. He holds her out in public as his. As his commitment and his responsibility. And, I suppose, as his treasure.” He brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. “And then they performed the binding ritual. They are part of each other in a way very few can be. Very few choose to be. The werewolves have their fated mates and their own transmission of that mate bond. Lycians choose to make that binding. It is unusual and special and forever. That’s how it’s different and that’s why your being here on a bench I smooched some young females on a few centuries ago is different.”
She blinked up at him. There was fear on her features. Excitement too. Wariness. Much like everything else, she needed to process.
“I’m not ready for all this.” She swallowed and licked her lips. “You’re… I never expected you and I don’t entirely know what to make of you. Aside from the obvious. I like you. I like being with you. But there’s a huge jump from that to being someone’s forever anything. You can’t just spring this on me without telling me and expect me to roll with it. You didn’t even discuss this ne’est business with me before you announced it to your entire family. I don’t like not being consulted about important stuff, Simon.”
“I know Earth has rules about dating and marriage and all that. I respect that. But I’m not human and I’m not from Earth and I’m not going to be satisfied with anything less than the connection you and I are meant to have.”
She swallowed hard and licked her lips again. “Well, you’re going to have to be satisfied with all I can give you right now.” She pushed back and for some inexplicable reason it made him hot for her all over again, even as he wanted to growl at her stubbornness.
He laughed then. Of course he had to fall for the woman who would insist on doing things her own way. “This is what they call irony.”
“Also, let’s add that I’m not your type. I don’t want you to tie yourself to me and then regret it when you see Meriel all put together and manicured. Or every night at your club when it’s filled with women who’d be happy to jump on your wedding tackle anytime anywhere.”
“Wedding tackle?”
“Your penis. Anyway, I’m not that. I don’t think I can be. I’m a mess and I color my hair on a whim, wear clothes I buy at garage sales and I like to wear wrist warmers.”
“I want you. What you are makes me want to beat my breast and howl at the moon. You are a warrior. A goddess. I want Lark, not anyone else. Look, you don’t need to make any decisions right now. I want you to know what I expect. I’m a demanding male. It’s important that you know this. But I won’t pussyfoot around the topic. I want you and I want you forever. Whether this is sudden to a human or not isn’t my concern, though I respect that you might want to think it over. But when we kick this Magister’s ass, I will be coming for you and for our forever.”
She looked out over the water as did he, just listening to the night and being with each other.
“Does it hurt?”
“Does what hurt?”
“This binding thing?”
He laughed. “No. I don’t think so anyway. I’ve seen the ritual performed a few times. It didn’t appear to be painful. It’s a spell, much like those you perform. We’ll be connected. The spell simply opens up that path between your magick and mine and ties us together.”
“And you won’t be expecting me to allow you to bed othe
r women and have kids with them? Because that won’t be happening.”
He laughed again at the violence in her tone. “No. I want you. Only you. Kids, yes. A whole bunch of them. But only you.”
“Way to put me at ease, Simon. Hey, let’s talk about mortgages now!”
He snorted and tried not to laugh, but he failed. “I’m not trying to scare you. I just know what I know. I’m old enough to say that with utter surety.”
“Then you’ll have to back off and give me the space to say the same.”
He did sort of snarl that time and she gave him what she called the side-eye. “It’s silly to pretend you’re not the woman I want. And it’s silly for you to play human when it suits you.”
Her brows flew up and he knew he’d said the wrong thing.
“Don’t you even say stuff like that to me. You wanted honesty and then hid this ne’est stuff from me. And I told you exactly how I felt and what I needed. I gave you what you asked for so you don’t get to try to guilt me for it.”
He needed to remember she had sharp claws. Still, he knew by the time they’d defeated this threat, she’d be his. Hell, she was his now. He squeezed her to him.
“You’re even hotter when you get mad. I apologize for not telling you about the ne’est stuff and for telling my father first. I was proud and excited and I forgot about what I should have done.”
He got to her in a way she found herself utterly defenseless against. If he was just some dude working her to get her into bed, it’d be one thing. Or just some bossy guy who wanted to take over and own her.
But he wanted her. All of her. And he wanted her to know him. All of him. He was offering her roots and though he had no real way of knowing it, roots were the one thing she desired most. First with Meriel and the job offer and now this. Only this was better. And scarier too, she supposed.
“I have a lot of history here. This place is part of who I am and why I do what I do sometimes. I’d like to visit more when all this is over. Have you get to know me through my family and maybe understand my culture more. I’d like to know your family too.”