The Mating Season: Werewolves of Montana Book 6 (29 page)

But what of her twin? To never see her again? And now that she was finally freed from that basement, and could walk in the open among her pack, what of them? To never run free and wild as wolf with the pack, but remain here on Tir Na-nog.

A prison is still a prison, even if it is lovely.

Niki would not think of that today.
I’ll think of that tomorrow.
Shades of Scarlett O’Hara and
Gone with the Wind.

For tomorrow, even here in the sweetness of the heavenly afterworld, would come soon enough.

Fairy dust glittered in the air as their coach pulled up into the drive of Tristan’s white-columned mansion. The black and silver coach, pulled by four flying silver unicorns, had sailed through the air from the cottage in the woods, over glen and glade. Nikita had hung out the window, staring below at silver trees shimmering in the moonlight, and the green, blue and yellow lanterns hanging from each limb to light the way as a mark of honoring them as Tristan rested a possessive hand on her thigh.

A silver-haired Fae in a black and silver uniform opened their coach door and helped her descend. Sounds of violin, cello, harp and flute filled the air and lights blazed inside the mansion.

Tristan climbed down from the coach and thanked the Fae, and then took her hand. “Everyone is inside, waiting for us.”

His sensual gaze caressed her like a stroke of silk. “You look lovely.”

She twirled. The amethyst gown embroidered with silver stars came to a low V in the bodice and had capped sleeves edged with silver thread. Her matching high heels had diamond buckles and swirls of diamonds in the back, and felt like down upon her feet.

But Tristan took her breath away. In a black silk tuxedo and white shirt with tiny silver buttons, he looked dashing and sexy. Lifting her hand to his mouth, he kissed it.

“Shall we, my lady?”

As they entered the mansion, a footman clad in black and silver opened the door for them. He had short, stubby arms. Nikita thanked him and he nodded and flashed a huge smile.

“Welcome, my lady Nikita,” he uttered in a deep growl. “We have waited many long years for your visit.”

And then she did a double take as she gave him a second glance.

His yellow eyes were reptilian slits and his mouth filled with short, pointed rows of teeth.

As they cleared the door and entered the vestibule, she asked Tristan. “Is that a dinosaur?”

“Saul, a T-Rex shifter, who reduced his true form in order to serve as footman,” he murmured, taking her gloved hand. “He is one of the few of his kind here, so I gave him a permanent job at my mansion, where he could mingle with others and feel accepted. This is the eternal land of youth and beauty, and we shifters have been around for a very long time.”

“No wonder you worried about me reading dino porn. You worried the competition had a head start on your seduction games,” she whispered back, grinning.

Tristan threw back his head and laughed. He squeezed her hand tight.

Then they were entering the grand ballroom, standing atop a sweep of stairs with a polished silver banister lined with green vines, and violet and silver roses. Two fairies, their translucent wings beating the air, hovered on either side of them. Then their bare feet touched the marble floor and they transformed into human form, standing about five feet tall.

One black-haired with lovely sloe violet eyes, and one golden-haired with green eyes. Both wore pink tulle dresses with garlands of pink roses.

The dark-haired fairy turned to her and curtseyed. “Welcome, my lady Nikita. And Tristan. We are most honored to host this ball for you. I am Genita.” She handed Niki a silver rose.

It smelled as fragrant as a cup of her favorite cinnamon tea on a cold winter’s night. Niki thanked her.

The golden-haired fairy curtseyed as well. “I am Belleora, my lady. Welcome. We are so pleased you could join us.”

Belleora handed her a violet rose and Nikita thanked her. The aroma of bacon wafted from the rose. As she blinked in startled amazement, Tristan laughed and the fairies smiled.

“You are Lupine, my lady,” Belleora trilled. “A rose that smells of your favorite food can smell no sweeter.”

“Now, my sweet, open your palms and let the roses rest there,” he instructed.

She did and with a shimmer of iridescent sparks, they transformed into dragonflies, which flew off in a blaze of glitter. Niki laughed. “It’s lovely! Thank you,” she told the fairies.

A seven-foot tall majordomo in silver and black livery stood at the top of the stairs. “My lords, ladies and gentle folk, and folk of fang and claw, I bid you to welcome our honored guests, Tristan, the Silver Wizard, and his lovely lady Nikita!”

Guests waiting below broke into loud applause.

The majordomo suddenly shifted into a silver dragon the size of a small car. He breathed and instead of flames roaring from his mouth, fairy dust blew over the crowd below. Then the dragon beat his wings and flew, circling above the crowd, nearly touching the domed ceiling. He did a series of acrobatic flips and twists in the air, drawing gasps of wonder from the crowd.

Taking her hand, Tristan escorted her down the steps. As her feet touched each stair, it lit up with an ethereal blue light and played a musical note.

“Cedric is an ancient, a dragon from before even my time,” he told her. “He does everything in a theatrical fashion.”

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the crowd lined up on either side. Round tables covered with lavender and silver linens dotted the ballroom, and the dance floor looked to be made from parquet. Upon a raised dais, a twenty-piece orchestra of pointy-nosed goblins clad in tux and tail played.

“Goblins are notoriously lazy, but here they produce the sweetest music,” he said.

He gazed at her, his face expressive with both desire and concern. “As the guests of honor, we are expected to open the ball with the first dance.”

Aware of the curious gazes of the Fae, and shifters, she felt her stomach tighten. So many eyes upon her, the one who had never even gone to a formal dance.

“I don’t suppose they would be content with something I saw on
Dancing with the Stars
?”

He offered a tender smile. “I will lead, if you will, my sweet, and your steps will never falter.”

She had trusted him to bring her this far. Why not continue the journey?

At her nod, he slid one muscled arm around her waist, the other clasping her raised hand. A waltz. She had seen this enough times in movies. She could do this.

As Tristan swept them around the ballroom, she fell into his steps, her feet not tripping, and she laughed for the sheer enjoyment of the moment. At last, she danced in an opulent ballroom and wore a lovely gown, with starlight shining down upon them as they danced.

In his arms, she felt so secure and safe and cherished.

I could stay here forever.

You cannot, unless you never wish to see your twin again
.

The thought cut through her joy like a knife slicing through butter. She pushed it away, determined to make the most of this, her first dance with Tristan.

He leaned closer and whispered into her ear. “I shall enjoy a different dance with you later, my lady.”

Heat suffused her skin. Fingers tightening on his firm, muscled shoulder, she let him sweep her away, just as he’d swept her away at the ranch, swept her into a new and strange and exciting world.

Applause sounded as they finished their dance. She curtseyed and Tristan bowed. The T-Rex shifter who had acted as footman at the door called out, “Well done!”

Silence draped the ballroom, and she saw the slight disapproval on the faces of other guests. Some Fae protocol broken?

The hell with that. This was her dream, and in her dreams, everyone, even lizard shifters, were treated with utter respect.

Nikita left Tristan and went to Saul. She took his tiny, clawed hand and curtseyed to him. “Thank you, for making me feel welcome.”

She kissed his cheek.

Saul went beet red and then another round of applause broke out in the ballroom.

When she rejoined Tristan at their table, he leaned back, his eyes focused only on her. As if they were not among more than a thousand guests in his enormous ballroom.

He leaned forward and covered her palm with his. “Thank you for acknowledging him, Nikita. Saul has often felt left out at affairs like this. His upbringing was rather…crude.”

“No one should feel left out.” She remembered the loneliness in the basement when her twin, as pack leader, went running with the others and she was forced to remain behind.

Tristan stroked her fingers in a slow caress. “You always did treat all with fairness and diplomacy. From the simplest peasant ogre to the highborn, you looked upon them equally.”

As dancers took to the floor and swirled around them, she noticed Fae with silver hair and Lupines who looked half-human, half-wolf milling about the guests and asked him about them.

“Everyone takes the form that pleases them when they wish. Here, one does not worry about shifting accidentally in front of Skins. Only in the Midnight Kingdom can shifters assume their true form and mill about freely from city to city,” he said.

She’d heard of vague tales of such a kingdom, where Dark Fae and shifters co-mingled, and their magick was most powerful, and dangerous.

“I thought that place was legend,” she remarked.

“It is truth.” Tristan nodded as a blue fairy in shimmering tulle flitted by and trilled a greeting.

Another fairy flitted over, offering them a silver tray loaded with delicacies. She selected a sea scallop wrapped in bacon and bit into it with a sigh of pleasure. As she ate, several Others came to their table to greet them.

Tristan greeted each one with warmth, spending several minutes inquiring about them, his concern obvious. Yet even in mortal form she felt the aura of his power ringing him like a lighthouse beacon, where the others were pale moonlight in comparison.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a tall, bearded man clad in a blue velvet tunic, cobalt leggings and doeskin boots. He stood on the sidelines of the ballroom, looking at the scene with brooding eyes.

“Drust,” she said, touching Tristan’s arm. “I’m going to ask him to dance. He looks so lonely.”

Tristan kissed her cheek. “Enjoy yourself.”

When she went to him, the dragon shifter looked wary and startled. Nikita offered a wide smile.

“I seem to recall a time when I danced at many great balls in Castle Baldwin, and one such dance was with you. Would you do a kindness and dance with me?”

Drust bowed low. “It would be my pleasure, my lady Nikita.” Then, in a lower voice, he added, “I owe you much more than a mere dance. It is my greatest wish that I could make amends some day for failing to watch over you and safeguard you from harm after Tristan died.”

He danced with effortless grace, twirling her around the ballroom, her skirts flying out, but he kept her at a courteous distance. Her fingers tightened on his shoulder.

“Are you settling in here? This place is heavenly, but I can imagine it takes some adjusting after the Shadow Lands.”

“The Shadow Lands were hell for me,” he confessed, expertly cutting a turn. “The land can turn the hardiest of souls, the strongest of men and dragons, inside out. Only those with truly strong spirits, and courage, survive past their memories to move onward to Tir Na-nog.”

“Tristan was pained while we were there,” she admitted. “He must have suffered much.”

He looked down at her, his look expressive with regret. “He had the memory of you to guide him here. You have always been the only one for him, from the moment he saw you in the market square two years before your mating day. He told me, ‘Drust, look at that lovely Lupine. See how gentle and yet spirited she is? She is the one for me. I know this.’”

Nikita blinked. “According to my dreams, which are memories, ours was an arranged match. He scarcely knew me. He knew of my father’s landholdings, and the forest-rich territory. That is why he mated me.”

Drust laughed, a deep sound that held much amusement. “Did you ever stop to think who did the arranging, my lady? Tristan cared not for territory. Or licking the white ass of that foul bastard, Emer. He wanted you. He would have given anything to have you, anything to make you happy. You had given away some of your wares to a group of Lupine children who went hungry and ignored by Others. He said to me, ‘Drust, she is so lovely. Each time I see her my heart feels lighter. She is the woman who can make me the Lupine I know I can become, if she is by my side.’

“Your true beauty was not your looks, but your soul. He recognized this, and knew you belonged together. It happens at times with Lupines, this soulmate recognition. It happens far less with dragons.”

A warm tenderness came over her as she glanced over at Tristan, talking with Saul. And then new memories surfaced, the flower garden Tristan had planted for her when she wistfully mentioned longing to see the blue wildflowers each day. How he had moved her entire family into the castle at his own expense when he caught her crying one night because she missed her kin. And how he’d taught her to read, when she longed to become educated.