Dark and Damaged: Eight Tortured Heroes of Paranormal Romance: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (113 page)

The dragon’s magick was fading. If the dragon died, the pack would perish, unless the curse was permanently lifted. And by mating with Aurora, he would do exactly that. Except he could never trust her, because Mages were dangerous.

But with the arrival of this strong, brave female, he’d felt more than the need to protect his people. He found himself needing again, as a man needed in the dark of night. Needing the softness of a woman’s skin against his own, chasing away the pain and the screams inside him, needing to slip between her thighs and lose himself in the erotic pleasure in her body. And then he felt a tingling down his spine that had nothing to do with sexual energy, but a warning of enormous power. He dropped to the ground in a crouch, turned and growled.

“Nice cock.”

Clad in black leather trousers and a black jerkin, the Silver Wizard stood between the rows of bromeliads. His long, black hair was tipped in silver and his handsome face quirked in a knowing smile.

Robert returned it with a cold look. “Thank you.”

“I was referring to what Aurora has her hands on, though I suspect she desires to stroke something besides that rooster.” Tristan began to levitate and sat cross-legged, looking like a genie about to either grant a wish…

Or create a curse.

Robert had had enough of those, thank you very much.

“What do you want?” He straightened, but kept his gaze trained on Tristan. Once he had made the mistake of turning his back on the wizard while engaged in conversation. His reward was a sharp zap of energy to his buttocks. It had stung for days.

“I’m here to ask why you haven’t taken Aurora to your bed yet.”

Anger shot through him. Robert fisted his hands to keep his claws from emerging. “You snooping on me?”

“Not quite. On Aurora. I visited her last night. Her scent still indicates she’s a virgin.”

“What the hell were you doing in her bedroom?”
How dare he interfere?
Aurora was his, not the pawn of some slippery silver bastard. Now Robert’s claws did emerge, and a growl rumbled deep in his throat. He took a step forward.

Tristan held out a hand, continuing to hover in the air. “Pax. I was dreamsdropping on her.”

His rage quelled only a little, Robert forced back his wolf. “Spying. You entered her dreams to spy on her.”

“It was quite entertaining.” Tristan craned his neck and looked at Aurora. “She really likes you. She really does! Shall I pass her a note in study hall? Or do the modern thing and text her a selfie of you?”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“Come on, tell me. You like her, you really do!”

Robert shrugged.

“Then why do you have your shirt off where she can see you?”

“I’m hot.”

“You’re hot and bothered. You want her, Robert. She wants you. So do as nature calls.” Tristan snapped his fingers and an opened bag of seed floated over to him. The wizard dipped his hand into it and let the seed spill from his splayed fingers. “Make a baby.”

“No one tells me what to do. I will not force her.” He had to gentle her, coax her into his bed. For there was the formal bedding ceremony, and the cold remoteness of that could dampen her ardor for good, and leave her scared.

He didn’t trust her, but didn’t want her scared, either. He wanted her aware and aroused and willing.

Robert strode forward, grabbed the plastic bag from Tristan and set it upon a wood bench.

“It’s not force if she wants it, too. And judging from her dreams last night, she really, really wants it.” Tristan fanned himself with his hand. “Aurora is true to her name, hot as sunshine.”

“It will happen at the right time, of her own free will. Or not at all.” He struggled with his feelings. He knew what it was like to be enslaved, to never have the freedom to truly do what one wanted, to always be under the command of another. Even if it was for the right reason.

He still hated it.

“Yet you must sire an heir.” Tristan hovered in the air, his dark eyes filled with sympathy. “You lost your heir when your niece Molly went with her mate to Aiden Mitchell’s pack. You must conceive a new heir. Soon.”

Robert slammed a fist against a post and the shade house shook. “Why are you interfering? I bound my life to you, not my godsdamn cock!”

“Watch your tongue.” Tristan leapt to the ground, as if the air were a shelf he’d sat upon. “I am still your judge, and you are accountable to me. And to the ancient laws.”

“I need time.”

Tristan raised a dark brow. “You’re Lupine and sex comes as naturally to you as breathing.”

He would not, could not, fall in love again. And the connection between himself and Aurora, that minute spark he’d sensed, warned him that he could very well lose himself in her.

And then what? Cadeyrn was a sly one. He didn’t trust that the wizard gave him Aurora as a true gift. Perhaps she was the wizard’s spy. What if she deceived him as Caroline had? Betrayed him and cost him more than his pack?

Cost him his very life?

Tristan touched the petals of a white orchid and the flower grew brighter.

“What is she?”

The wizard looked away and Robert’s suspicions rose. “She’s not Mage, Tristan.”

Tristan looked speculative. “Aurora is quite special. Trust me in this. That’s all you need to know.”

He’d already seen Aurora’s ability to ward off burns. What other talents did she possess? “I trust you like I trust a politician to keep his campaign promises.”

The wizard gave a rueful smile. “You are wise, but in this case, I do promise Aurora is much, much stronger than your last Mage lover. She is, ah, not exactly what you think.”

Surprised, he watched the wizard’s face. Something was wrong here. Tristan knew much more, and chose not to share the information.

“She’s not Mage?”

“She is of their kind. But not of them.”

“That’s a typical answer, coming from you. You’re worse than a Chinese fortune cookie.”

“Without the hungry feeling an hour later,” Tristan agreed.

“You assure me that she is the one you told me of, the woman with the dragon’s mark, who will break the curse on my people for good as soon as I mate with her?”

“Aurora is the one who will break the curse.”

But the reassurance did not ease him. Each day, the warning signs increased. The dark magick was growing stronger than the good magick protecting them.

For a moment, he stared at the ground, wishing he could have done more. “I promised my people I would give everything, all I had, to keep them strong and safe.”

Tristan put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re a fine leader, Robert. A strong alpha, for one so young, with a good pack. Your father would be proud of his legacy.”

An ache settled deep in his chest. He had avoided thinking of his parents, and the loss of so many of his family. Gods, he still missed his father, his friendly smile and his love, his wise words of advice.

“Sometimes at night I’ll wake up and see a light burning in the kitchen. I’ll get up, half-awake and stumble in there, thinking he’s home from his business trip and we’ll share a midnight snack like we always do, and talk about the week. When I reach the kitchen and it’s empty, I realize he’s never coming back. And it’s like the day I lost him all over again,” he whispered.

“I told you one day you would not feel this pain, Robert.” Tristan’s fingers tightened on his shoulder. “It is the worst pain one can feel, to lose someone you love, as if your heart has been shattered like glass. But it does fade.”

Dimly, he wondered why Tristan sounded as if he knew that pain intimately. Robert drew in a deep breath.

He’d been broken too long to even try to offer anything to anyone. All his devotion remained with his people, ensuring their survival, their ability to procreate. He’d wanted, as a man wanted, but the shadows of Caroline’s destruction lingered into his dreams. She hadn’t been content to be his lover. She’d only wanted him in her bed for her pleasure, and then wanted his people and their rich, fertile lives to siphon away their life force to increase her dark magick.

“Cheer up, Robert. Life isn’t always what you think it is. Take Aurora as your mate, plant your heir in her belly. Do not fall in love with her. The results could be… bad.” With that little friendly warning, the wizard vanished.

“Thanks for the advice,” Robert muttered. He went outside, where Aurora had stopped painting, brush in hand, her entire body tensed. She was not Lupine and could not have overheard that little exchange, but certainly she sensed something amiss.

He sat next to her, rubbing a hand over his face.

“I saw the Silver Wizard decided to drop by.” She set down the paintbrush. “Are you all right?”

Waving a hand, Robert nodded. “It’s nothing. He threatened to turn me into a poodle. In a pink tutu.”

“You’re angry. Your face is all flushed.”

Giving a wry smile, he flexed his fingers. “Not quite. Dealing with a wizard is like working in the hot sun in a parka. Foolhardy… and in the end, your brain turns to cottage cheese.”

“Oh, I don’t know. It looked as if you stood up to him quite well.” Aurora smiled. “Then again, you’re an alpha and you can hold your own.”

The admiration in her sultry voice made awareness flare between them. He flexed his fingers again, wishing he’d avoided working in the shade house today. He thought about Tristan’s little warning and his stomach tightened.

“Don’t get idealistic about me, Aurora. I am a wolf who will do anything to protect his pack.”

“I’m not. With you, I’m very, very much in touch with reality.”

The softness of her voice, the way she parted her lips, the darkening of her pupils - it all made his body tighten. He wanted her, oh, he did.

The hollowness inside him had begun to heal recently, but he could not grow close to her. Intimate in bed, yes, outside of it, no. The secrets would remain between them. She would always remain an outsider.

Seeing heat in Aurora’s eyes, he knew where this would lead - straight into his bed. Not once, but several times. He’d keep her captive in his arms until they both lay spent and exhausted with pleasure.

And she’d be pregnant with his child. But she was a frail Mage and he a Lupine who liked sex.

A lot of sex.

“What did the wizard want from you?”

A casual question. Robert shrugged. “It’s of no consequence to you.”

His brusque tone didn’t make her flinch. Aurora was built of sterner material. “He’s as diabolical as the Shadow Wizard.”

“I don’t know about that.” Robert traced a rune upon the table absently. “Tristan has been good to us.”

“He favors you?”

Arching an eyebrow, he remained silent.

Aurora pointed to the silver tattoo on his neck and his guard rose. “You bear his mark. Why?”

Too many questions. He stiffened. “Tristan and I have an agreement. It’s for the good of my people.”

“And the land, it seems.” Her gaze took in the shade house and the healthy plants thriving beneath the bright Florida sunshine. “I’ve seen what you have done here. What about the palms and other saplings you’re growing commercially? Can I see those?”

“No. Those back fields are off limits. I told you.” He struggled with his temper. “Must I tell you twice?”

Aurora shrugged. “I’m curious. I’ve never seen a tree farm before.”

“I’ll show you photos. There are dangers back there that catch the unwary.”

Such as a fire-breathing reptile that could turn you into ash…

“I suppose you allow only the experienced botanists and farmers back there.”

“It’s for the good of the people,” he said.
And for their safety…

She gave him a shy glance beneath her long lashes. “You’re a wonderful leader, Robert. You care about them. I’ve seen how you play with the children, how kind you are with them.”

He must deter this adoration of hers now. She needed to know what exactly he was. He wasn’t going to be her lifetime partner, her confidante.

“Do you know what I am?” He began to strip. “I’m not your idealistic fantasy, Aurora. I’m not nice, nor kind.”

He watched her eyes widen, her gaze dart down to his crotch and the blatant evidence of his arousal, then dart away. Pink tinted her cheeks as she fiddled with the brush.

“I’m a vicious hunter,” he told her. “I am wolf.” Then he snarled.

Aurora cried out and jumped to her feet, backing away.

Bones lengthened as his body elongated, the change coming upon him swiftly. Fur rippled along his body. He felt the brief pain of his change, and then the rush of ecstatic pleasure. He leapt onto the table, knocking over the rooster, the bottle of paint. Crimson spilled to the ground, dripping like blood. He growled, the pure male need flooding him now, the beast pawing and eager to get at her.

Robert didn’t let the man control the wolf. Wolf was pure instinct, fired with the need to mate and breed. Wolf bared his teeth at the female, scenting her. His cock slid from its sheath, long and ready.

Frustrated from months of self-imposed celibacy, the wolf wanted to mount and penetrate. His claws dug into the concrete patio table and gouged the surface. He knew what she saw: a powerful beast stronger than others, a wolf who could crush, and claw, and tear.

Then, with some effort, he leashed the wolf and all its feral sexual need. Robert the man controlled the beast, and forced himself back into Skin.

Naked, crouched, his palms flat against the table, he locked gazes with her. Muscles bulging, chest heaving, he kept growling.

Trembling, she stared back, her heart visibly pounding. But beneath the fear, he scented something equally powerful.

“This is what I am, Aurora,” he said, his voice deep and guttural. “I lead this pack. I will do anything for my people. I will destroy and kill for them. Nothing is safe. My nature is violent and cruel. It won’t be flowers and sunshine, and pretty things when I take you. I could crush you emotionally. I could even kill you.”

He jumped from the table, stalking toward her. But her gaze turned heated and the flush of passion tinted her face. Aurora licked her mouth again, the gesture shooting straight to his groin. “I can handle it.”

Robert waved a hand, conjuring a long-sleeved blue ragged chambray work shirt and grubby jeans to clad his body. Hell, he should have donned a suit of armor, given the want in her eyes.