Soul Mates: Scent (The Soul Mates Series) (22 page)

I am glad you are happy, mon amour.

When U2 finished their set, I applauded the loudest and Bono even gave Anna and I a shout out before they were sent back to the mortal realm. I was so touched that Tatiana had come up with something so amazing for our party that I had to give her a hug.

“I don’t know how you did it, but thank you,” I said, hugging her.

“You are quite welcome Max. It was my pleasure. They are quite good, for a modern human band.”

I laughed and sat back down as dinner was served. We ate and chatted with those around us. Afterwards Tatiana had the nobles each approach with their gifts.

The gifts were not your typical gifts given by humans to soon to be married couples, no these were very different. Not a crock pot or coffee maker among them. The first gift was from the Carling nobles, a bag of seeds, for trees that would grow amazingly fast and give one a sense of being in Ireland.

“Merci, we shall think of you when we plant them.”

The Carling nobles nodded and moved on so the next family of nobles could move up. It went on like that for nearly an hour. Until finally Auberon and Tatiana made their presentation, a key.

“A key?” I asked.

“Yes, young prince Max. A key to your own home; one for you and Anna, close to your parents, close to the Faerie Mound, fully furnished, and surrounded by forest.”

I hadn’t really thought about where Anna and I would live once we were married, once we had taken care of Frederick and all of the drama was over, but somehow I had figured we would probably end up heading up to Canada.

“Thank you Auberon, I hadn’t thought of where we were going to live.”

“I did not think you had. Now you do not have to worry about it. It is a secure location Max; and protected by Faerie.”

“It is too much King Auberon, Queen Tatiana; really you have already done so much for us…”

“Dear Anna, do not worry, it is our pleasure to do this for you.”

“Now I think it is time for some dancing,” Tatiana said with a smile and a wave of her hand.

Another band appeared and the lights dimmed and couples appeared on the dance floor. I took Anna in my arms and twirled her around in time to the music. “Are you happy?”

I watched several thoughts slide across her face before she finally answered. “Yes, I am.”

“What’s the matter Anna?”

“I didn’t know about the gift, the house. We can’t stay here always Max. Not if we are going to lead the Felidae.”

I nodded. “I know, I had the same thought. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have more than one home, split our time between the two. With the way we travel, it shouldn’t be a problem,” I said with a grin.

Anna returned my grin. “True, and with the dual mirrors the Durrin nobles gifted us, we should be able to keep a close eye on all that is going on in both places. You are right, I shouldn’t worry. It will work out.”

“I believe they had another use in mind for those mirrors, but you are right, for us that would be the most practical.”

“What use do you think they had in mind?” Anna frowned.

“I believe they use them for their nurseries. To keep an eye on their little ones and felt we may be needing them soon.”

Anna’s cheeks turned as pink as her lipstick.

We danced for a while, not wanting the evening to end. However, it was soon time to head to our room one last time in the Faerie Mound. Tomorrow morning I would have a final training session with Gideon and then Anna and I would be going back to the mortal world.

“Max, a moment,” Auberon stopped me as Anna and began to leave.

“Of course, Auberon. What can I do for you?”

“Tatiana and I would like Anna to have this.”

“What is it?” I mean, I realize it is a ring…”

Auberon smiled. It is a very special ring. It will enable her to see us in the mortal world when she is not with you. We do not gift many humans with this kind of magic Max. some like your friend Tony are born with it, but not many are given the gift of Fae sight.”

I took the ring Auberon held out and pushed it into my pocket. “Thank you Auberon.”

“Be careful Max. Sleep well, blessed dreams.”

“Yeah, thanks,” I said with a nod. “G’night.”

I caught up with Anna and put my arm around her as we left the banquet room. We walked quietly down the hall, just enjoying the quiet together. I leaned down and kissed her once we reached the door. “Go on in, I’ll change and meet you inside.”

“Non.”

“No?” I questioned.

“Non, you come in the room and just hold me tonight. I want you to be human tonight Max, not Jaguar.”

“But…”

“I don’t care. I trust you, I just want to be close to you, I need to be close to you. Please mon amour?”

I looked into Anna’s deep blue eyes and I could not escape the haunted look she was giving me. “All right, love. I won’t shift.”

Anna kissed the side of my mouth and ran off toward the bathroom. I watched her go with trepidation. I wanted her with such fierceness that I wasn’t sure I could trust myself in human or Fae form if we shared a bed together. I had never wanted anything or anyone so much in my life.

Mon
amour,
you
have
nothing
to
worry
about.
You
can
trust
yourself,
I
trust
you.
Anna’s words whispered through my mind.

“I’m glad you think so,” I said as she came out of the bathroom in her t-shirt and shorts.

I took care of my business in the bathroom and changed into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. I turned off the light as I climbed into the bed next to Anna and pulled her close to me and kissed her neck. “I love you, I have from the moment you walked into my life.”

“I love you too Max,” Anna whispered softly. “Now go to sleep.”

I listened to Anna’s rhythmic breathing and I knew that she slept as I held her cradled in my arms. She must not have slept well at all in the time that I was gone. I felt bad for causing her so much pain. I would do it again in a heartbeat though to keep her from seeing the nightmare creatures. I would do anything to protect her. My arms curled around her tighter, pulling her as close as I could get her, until she was practically lying on top of me. She finally rolled over and laid her head on my chest. It was still a few hours before I fell asleep.

“Max…”

I felt as if a cushioned bulldozer was jostling me.

“Max… get up! It’s morning. You have to go train with Gideon before we have to leave.”

The bulldozer finally managed to shift me off of the bed and onto the floor, where I lay still half asleep. “Five more minutes,” I muttered.

“Non! Non five more minutes, Max! Get up now!” Anna shouted and pounced on my back. “If you do not get up I shall have to do something dreadful!”

“Not dreadful at all,” I murmured as I flipped over underneath her and pulled her close to me. “Good morning, I could get use to this.”

Anna laughed and smacked my chest. “Max, stop playing around and get up. Gideon wants you at the training field.”

“Yeah okay, but just so you know I’m officially counting down the days…”

Anna leaned in close and kissed my lips. “As am I, mon amour.”

I stood with Anna in my arms, her legs wrapped around my waist. I backed her up against the wall and kissed her until I couldn’t breath anymore and then I kissed her for a few seconds more. “Good morning.”

“Good morning to you too, now get going.”

I sighed and changed my clothes with a snap of my fingers. “Happy?”

“Ecstatic. Now do go, or Gideon will come looking for you.”

I gave her one more hard kiss and strode out the door toward the training field.

As I stepped onto the field I pulled my blades out and prepared to do battle with whatever Gideon threw at me.

“Put them away boy.”

“You don’t have a battle planned for me?”

“Aye I do, but not yet.”

I sheathed my swords and approached him cautiously. It would not be unheard of for Gideon to play some kind of head game with me. “So what is on the agenda?”

“Daire was telling me about your battle with the Unseelie. I wanted to hear your account.”

“Oh, nothing much to tell. Five Unseelie, four armed, the first two landed and Daire and I took them out easily enough. Then the second pair hit the ground and I decapitated one while Daire split the other in half. The fifth was unarmed and female. We let her go.”

“How? How were you able to take on four Unseelie warrior guards and not get a scratch?”

“I don’t know. They weren’t that tough Gideon. Sure they were ugly and they had these massive tentacle things with swords flying at us, but… we just seemed to cut through them like butter.”

“Daire mentioned something else, just before the Unseelie arrived. What were you doing?”

I looked down embarrassed. “Communing with a tree I guess. Talking to the Earth goddess.”

“Gaia.”

“Yeah, that was the name I got. She is beautiful, Gaia, it was as if she was the tree. Like she was all the trees everywhere.”

“How were you communing with her?”

“The branches of the tree wrapped around me, around my arms.”

“She fed you her energy, it gave you added strength, more power than any Seelie or Unseelie can even imagine,” Gideon said softly as he studied my face. He gazed deep into my eyes and nodded. “Yes, I can see it. It hasn’t left you. I don’t think it is going to either. It was a permanent transfer of energy.”

“What do you mean?”

“Max have you tried changing forms lately? Or have you stayed in your Fae form since meeting Gaia?”

“I was going to shift last night, but I didn’t. I stayed in my Fae form, why?”

“I think you will find that both your Jaguar form and your human forms are a bit altered.”

“How do you mean?”

“I can’t say for certain, I think you may have to shift to find out.”

I thought about it for a moment and decided that Gideon was right. The only way to discover the truth was to do it. So without a second thought I opened the door in my mind to the Jaguar part of me and suddenly I was Jaguar.

“Wow,” Gideon blinked at me and backed away.

I tilted my head at him wondering what the difference was. I didn’t really feel any different. I put my head down and noticed my paws seemed just a tad bigger than I was used to.

“Max, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I think you have grown about half a foot and gained about 20 pounds of muscle.”

No
way!
I thought as I gave him a barking cough. Well that might not be a bad thing considering I had a lion to fight. I decided to see if I was still as agile as I had been and so I ran and leapt into the nearest tree. I think I was even faster and leapt even higher than I ever had before.
Cool!
Anna,
you
are
not
going
to
believe
this
…

What is it mon amour?

Come, out to the training field.

Where are you? I’m here.

I’m in the tree.

I watched Anna watching me as I leapt down from my branch, her eyes appreciative of my form. A slow sexy smile spread over her lips and her breathing came faster, as did her heartbeat. I stalked closer to her and rubbed myself against her.
Shift!
I demanded. I wanted to run with her and play with her.

“No!” Gideon shouted grabbing Anna’s arm. “You can’t. If you shift now… can’t you feel it? There is something… magic in the air… fertility…”

Anna glanced at Gideon, her eyes glazed, torn between her need for me and listening to reason.

I heard Gideon’s words and I suddenly felt the magic too. Someone wanted us to lose control in our shifter forms. If Anna were to get pregnant in shifter form, the babies would be born wild, more panther than human. I was not going to let that happen. I immediately found the door in my head to the human side of me and stepped through.

“Thank goddess!” Gideon said, but the magic wasn’t gone… it was still in the air and Anna was still looking at me as if I was the last drink of water on the planet and she was dying of thirst.

I held out my hand and Anna came to me. She encircled my neck with her arms and pulled herself up my chest, wrapping her legs around my waist and burying her face in my neck. It took all of my will power and then some not to flash us somewhere private and have my way with her. I just held her, my eyes squeezed tightly shut until the magic passed with Gideon jabbering in our ears the entire time.

“Auberon is going to have their heads! How dare they try something like this!”

When I felt the magic fade I finally asked, “Who are you talking about?”

“The Nyx! Bloody Sprites! What do they think they are doing? They could have messed everything up!”

“The Nyx? Is that another noble family?”

“Well, no, they are Sprites, not Seelie, but they live here in the Faerie Mound too.”

“And you think they conjured this fertility magic?”

“It is their kind of magic. Blessing happy couples with lust and fertility is their specialty.”

“Then they didn’t mean any harm, they were gifting us with their blessings. Bad timing perhaps, but no harm no foul.”

“Do you have any idea what could have happened if Anna had shifted?”

I stared at Gideon. “Why in the hell do you think I shifted back to Fae? I was perfectly content as a Jaguar. I know the consequences Gideon. I will protect Anna from everything, including me.”

“Well, it seems you have quite a bit of will power as well as more muscle and length as a Jaguar,” Gideon replied blowing out a breath. “Want to check your human form?”

“Guess we’d better.” I set Anna down, but kept her close to me. I slid my ring off of her finger and back onto mine. “Well?” I asked after a minute.

“Max, mon amour, you look as if you have been working out for months,” Anna said with an appreciative grin.