The Mating Season: Werewolves of Montana Book 6 (35 page)

On Aiden’s ranch, everything ran like clockwork. She’d been given a room in the lodge near her sister and Aiden, but despite the fact that Nia was just down the hall, Niki had never felt so alone.

Even on a ranch surrounded by Lupines, her own people. Aiden and Nia had combined the Blakemore and Mitchell packs and made them into one strong family.

But she still felt like a stranger.

To keep herself busy, and keep the nausea in her belly under control, she embarked on a project to take all the family photos of her family and scan them into the computer, and then put them into an album. She also studied the history books Gideon had sent to given Aiden to give to her, books crammed with stories and etchings from the days when she and Tristan had lived, and loved, as mates.

After a light lunch of crackers and ginger ale, she turned the pages of parchment and studied the etchings.

One in particular caught her eye. It was of a tall, slender Lupine. She was stately and handsome, but had an ethereal quality about her that was not Lupine. Niki read the caption under the image.

Camilla, mate to Drust.

Her friend, who had laughed with her, had shared confidences with.

They had grown close, as Tristan and Drust had. Camilla had been a good friend who kept the loneliness at bay.

Her stomach grumbled, reminding her that she had eaten little today. Closing the book, she stood. Niki headed for the kitchen in search of something more substantial than crackers.

Pregnancy as a Lupine was a bitch, she thought humorlessly, hunting through the refrigerator for raw meat. As Lupine she craved meat, but her hormones had affected her body. It didn’t help that she was still adjusting to the high levels of gravity, and that food here tasted heavier and different than in Tristan’s home world.

Niki found a package of raw chopped meat. She removed it and put it on the counter, deciding to fry a rare hamburger. Unfortunately, her stomach clenched. Bolting for the sink, she threw up. The retching continued for a good ten minutes. Miserable, she wiped her mouth and then drank a glass of water.

“You know I have the perfect solution to morning and afternoon sickness.”

She looked up to see her twin standing in the doorway.

“I thought you were out riding with Aiden, fixing the fence posts.”

“Cowboy’s job. I came here to check on you. I’m worried, honey. You don’t look so good.”

“I don’t feel so well, either,” she admitted. “This pregnancy business is hell on my body.”

“I have just the thing. An old wives recipe. From an old wife.” Nia rummaged through the refrigerator and withdrew a shiny red apple.

Niki looked dubiously at the fruit. “An apple a day keeps the OB-GYN away?”

“Lupines don’t require much fruit, but this is loaded with vitamins and it will quell your nausea.”

Taking the apple, Niki examined it. It was shiny and pretty, but her sharpened wolf senses, even more honed since her visit to Tir Na-nog, warned her that something was odd about this fruit.

“Oh, go on, eat it! It won’t kill you. And then I’ll cook you a hamburger. You need the meat.”

Nia seemed very put out at her hesitation, so Niki bit into the apple. She sat at the table, chewing, as Nia removed a frying pan from the cabinet and set it on the eight-burner stove.

But the taste of the apple seemed tinged with something nasty. Niki set it down on the table.

“What’s wrong?” Nia demanded. “I’m trying to help you, Niki.”

“You’re not the wicked queen trying to poison Sleeping Beauty, are you? It tastes funny.”

The joke fell flat as Niki looked at the apple again. Several white worms began to crawl out of it. Suddenly her stomach muscles tightened and her heart began racing.

Too fast.

“It’s a bad apple,” she whispered.

“Like you are,” Nia agreed cheerfully.

She wondered why her twin looked so mirthful. And then her stomach clenched hard again and a bout of dizziness seized her.

Nia’s face became a blur as her twin released a malevolent laugh.

“What did you do to me, Nia?” she whispered.

And then weakness overtook her as she struggled to stand. Niki tumbled to the floor, unable to move.

He had a score to settle with Gideon’s sister.

Tristan materialized inside the enormous living room of Gideon’s Irish castle.

On Earth, the Crimson Wizard had created a castle as a home, but it held no warmth. Gideon lived in the past more so than any other of the Brehon.

Until Tristan knew Mara had been dealt with, he could not rest easy. The Fae could destroy Niki, and the babe inside her.

The heavy door opened and Gideon walked inside, his lovely sister on his arm. Tristan whirled, his temper rising.

“You could have knocked,” Gideon said mildly.

Tristan ignored him and looked directly at the Fae who had caused so much grief, the woman whom he now suspected of killing Nikita in her former life. Not that he had proof.

“Mara. I asked Gideon to bring you here. You sent those wraiths after her in the Shadow Lands.”

The Fae’s blue eyes widened. “Tristan, darling, I have no power there.”

“Do not lie,” he warned. “You sent the worm after her before she entered the Shadow Lands and you sent your wraiths to harm her once she was there.”

Gideon narrowed his eyes. “Only an evil Fae, one who’s sold his soul, can command such power from beyond. And such a Fae would carry a mark on his hands, a pointed star on his palm. Mara, show him your palms.”

She did, opening her hands. No mark. It could be Fae glamour, but still…

“It is not my glamour,” Mara said, sighing. “I shall drop all my glamour so you can see.”

Suddenly her face began to change and then the full ripe, red mouth became thin and tight. Pink scar tissue marred one perfect cheek. Mara opened her palms.

They remained unmarked.

Tristan stared as Mara assumed her glamour once more. “I am hundreds of years old, wizard, and I have seen much. I choose not to share my scars with the world.”

He could almost feel pity for Mara, but for one daunting fact.

“That does not excuse the evil you did to my Nikita. It was you who hurt her. I saw this in my visions…you brought her the potion that killed her in her past life. You are the one who found the dragon eggs and when I refused you in my bed, you sought your vengeance and betrayed me to Emer!”

Gideon stiffened. “Are you accusing my sister of Nikita’s murder?”

Tristan looked at Mara’s velvet-clad feet. “If the pointed shoe fits…”

A snarl came from Gideon, but Mara shook her head. “Brother, please. Hold your temper.”

“You wanted to seduce me. And after all these years, you expect me to trust you are my ally, and bear no ill will toward me? You are Fae, Mara. Your people hated mine,” Tristan said.

“Wait a minute,” Gideon began.

But Mara held up a hand, silencing her brother.

Mara looked at him, and for the first time, Tristan noticed how sad she appeared. “I had no ill will for you or your mate, or even for your people, wizard. My brother asked a favor of me, and I agreed, for not all Fae bore shifters the same ill will as Emer. I did not give you the dragon eggs because I wanted you in my bed.”

Arms folded, he waited.

“Oh I teased you, because you were so serious.” A twinkle lit her gaze, reminding him of her impish streak. “You still are. But I had enough lovers. I helped you because you needed an edge in the war, an edge to win over Emer’s forces. Many of us had tired of Emer’s dictates, and saw shifters as friends, not slaves. Gideon could not aid you directly.”

The Crimson Wizard rested a hand upon his sister’s shoulder. “But I chose not to heed the call of Emer as well, when he cried out for justice to me while fighting your forces.”

A shadow crossed his friend’s face. “As their judge and guardian, I could do nothing but ignore the cry of my people because I knew their fate. They had brought this upon themselves. I, the guardian and judge of Fae, was helpless to prevent their own downfall. All I could do was issue warnings, warnings Emer chose to ignore.”

And then Tristan knew that his friend had been a true guardian of justice, and how deeply he had hurt during the Drakon War, listening to the constant screams of the Fae as the shifters defeated them, and doing nothing. Because Gideon knew it was for the best, even though he felt grieved and anguished. Gideon had suffered, much as his sister had suffered.

“I am sorry, Mara,” he said stiffly. “Will you forgive my accusations?”

Mara looked sly. “The mighty Tristan, at my power. Oh, I don’t know what to do.”

“Mara,” Gideon warned. “Play nice.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Maybe if you make it up to me with a chocolate ice cream cone. I do adore chocolate. More than I like sex.”

I don’t care if you like eating cockroaches as long as you stay away from me and mine.
He waved a hand and two chocolate ice cream cones appeared in her hands.

Mara blinked at him. “Two cones?”

“Enough to keep you busy for a while.” He gave her a stern look. “And a warning—stay away from Nikita.”

She waved a hand, chocolate dripping over her fingers. “I have no intention of getting near her. Wolves bore me. You’re forgiven, Tristan. Enjoy your bride. Ta! I’m off now.”

Then Gideon’s sister gave him a critical look. “Tristan, you must know that all Fae are not your enemy. But watch out for those who are. Looks can be deceiving.”

Then the Fae vanished, leaving Gideon and Tristan alone. He looked at his friend, deeply troubled. “If Mara did not poison Nikita, and neither did Drust, who did?”

“I know not.” Gideon paced the room. “It means whoever hurt your Nikita in the past, and tried to hurt her in this life, is still out there.”

Tristan searched his memories. As usual, they were clouded with images of Nikita. He concentrated, and the images cleared. The Fae were powerful and clever.

Looks can be deceiving.

Horror pulsed through him. “Gideon, all Fae have the ability to employ glamour…and can disguise themselves.”

At once his friend looked stunned. “Someone imitated Mara, to implicate her in poisoning Nikita. Another Fae. But who would have cause to injure Nikita? Even King Emer saw her as no threat.”

But who? He wanted to rush down to the Mitchell Ranch and check on Nikita. Tristan went to the mirror hanging on the wall and waved his hand, conjuring a window to Nikita’s present.

As always with anyone he loved, the vision was watery and indistinct. But he could see through the opaque veil enough to know Nikita was in the kitchen with her twin, Nia.

He waved his hand again and conjured the past. Again, it was fogged. Yet one face did come more sharply into focus.

And then it was as if the cloud cleared entirely from his mind and he could see miles down a foggy road, into the past and into his former life.

Fae. Fae could glamour, and imitate anyone.

Even a beloved twin.

Nikita was in real trouble.

Tristan turned on his heel. “I know who it is. And she’s with Nikita now.”

“Wait,” Gideon cried out. “Tristan, you cannot interfere in Nikita’s fate!”

Tristan ignored him. He dematerialized into time and space, knowing his mate faced her killer from the past.

He prayed he was not too late to save her.

Chapter 21

She was dying, killed by someone looking like her beloved twin.

Nia’s body suddenly rippled like water, or a mirage. Her twin no longer stood over her, laughing.

Instead, a stranger with ash brown hair, a long nose and a thin mouth regarded her with a cold smile. “The apple tastes good, does it not?”

Her throat constricted. “Who…where is Nia?”

“I have no fucking clue, you bitch wolf. But I know where you are headed. Straight to hell, where you belong. Where you should have gone the
first
time I killed you.”

And then a long black gown appeared on the woman’s body, and her hair was twisted up in a silver snood.

“
Camilla?
Drust’s wife?” She struggled to breathe. “You were my friend.”

“Friend? I pretended to be your friend so I could get close to you. I have been waiting for this moment ever since I discovered you would finally be freed from that silver bastard’s protective grip.”

“Why?” Niki gasped. “I did nothing to you.”

“You did nine hundred years ago! I would have been the rightful would-be queen of the shifters, if not for your damned mate leading the shifter army. He made Drust second-in-command when Drust should have been the leader! All the riches and glory and power would have been mine! I vowed Tristan would never be the ruler of the shifters. It was I who told Emer of the dragon eggs and betrayed Tristan. But he had to die without issue, so his son would never seize power. You had to die as well.”

“It was Mara…” Oh gods, … Air, she needed air.