Night Play

Vane stood outside the bathroom in human form while Bride took a shower.

Tabitha had left a short time ago after threatening one last time to hunt down Bride's ex and hurt him.

If Vane ever laid hands on the bastard, there wouldn't be enough left of him for Tabitha to bother with. Not that he should feel that way. After all, if Bride hadn't been on the outs with the man, she wouldn't have been his tonight.

And he might never have known that she was his mate.

But that was human rationale and human rationale had no place in his animal world.

"I'm not human," he breathed, feeling the profound pain of that statement. At least he wasn't fully human.

No one, not even him, was really sure what he was.

He was a cursed hybrid who belonged to no real group. Half Arcadian, half Katagaria, Vane had been born in the native form of a wolf pup only to find his native form changed to human once he hit puberty.

He flinched as he recalled the day he'd changed over. The terror of it. The fear. The confusion. All of his life, he'd existed solely as a wolf, and then for a few months, against his will, he'd been locked inside a human body and unable to transform back into a wolf at all. His new body had been alien to him.

He hadn't known how to eat as a man, how to survive or to cope. Even walking had been difficult at first. He'd been assailed by human emotions and feelings.

Human sensations.

Worst of all, he'd been weak. Helpless.

Nothing had ever been more degrading to him than to realize he couldn't fight back. That he was completely reliant on his brother for survival.

Every night he'd prayed that come the morning he would be an animal again, and every morning he awoke to the horror that he was a man.

If not for Fang and Anya, his pack would have killed him. Luckily, his brother and sister had shielded him from the others and had helped him hide the fact that he was no longer a pure wolf.

For centuries he had hidden from everyone, even himself, the fact that after his puberty he held a human heart.

How could such a change even be possible?

Yet here he was: a living contradiction. A living impossibility.

And he was mated to a regular human.

Vane clenched his marked hand. He couldn't hide the truth of his physical being from the Fates. They had known what he was and they had sought to bind him to a human woman.

Why?

Life as a hybrid was hard enough. The last thing he wanted was to father children who would be even more outcast than he was.

Would they be human or Were-Hunter?

And all those arguments telling him why he couldn't mate with Bride didn't amount to anything when the human heart inside him craved the woman on the other side of that closed door.

Even now he could imagine what she must look like in there, naked. The water sliding against her pale skin as her hands slid over her body, soaping her thighs, her The wolf in him demanded he kick it down and claim her.

The man in him just wanted to hold her close and protect her.

He'd never been so torn. So confused.

So damned horny!

Vane trailed his hand over the cool silk pajamas that Bride had pulled out of one of her boxes and left on the chair beside the door. They held her unique scent of strawberry potpourri and woman. He lifted the top and inhaled the richness of her as his groin burned and strained.

It was all he could do to not go to her in the shower and take her again. But it wouldn't accomplish anything other than to terrify her.

She was human and knew nothing of his world. She knew nothing of him.

A wave of hopelessness consumed him. He didn't know how to court a human female.

Not to mention that his being mated to her didn't really affect her at all.

She could leave him and live a nice, normal life with another man. She could fall in love with anyone and bear that man's children.

Leaving her to that end would be the decent thing to do. By the very laws that governed his people, he couldn't force her to take him as her mate. His own parents were proof of that. For three weeks his father had kept his mother chained against her will. He'd brutally tried to force her into accepting a Katagari male as her mate.

No amount of violence had worked.

His Arcadian mother had refused, even after she'd learned she was pregnant.

To her, all of the Katagaria were animals who should be slaughtered without compassion. Vicious even by Katagaria standards, his father had never tried to show her any other side of himself.

Then again, his father had never had a more tender side. Markus was violent at best, lethal at worst. Vane and Fang both bore enough scars inside and out to prove that.

So the three-week window of mating opportunity had closed for his parents and left both of them frigid and sterile. Since then his parents had lived in open warfare with each other's people.

And with their own children.

"Don't look at me with that bitch's eyes, whelp. I'll rip your throat out." In fact, his father had spent the whole of Vane's life trying not to look at him. The one time Vane had met his mother, she had made her own position clear.

"My base form is human and that alone is why you and your Katagari brother are alive. I couldn't bring myself to kill you as helpless puppies even though I know I should have. But now that you're grown, I have no such compunctions. All of you are savage animals to me and if I ever see you again I will kill you as such."

Honestly, he couldn't blame her for that, given what his father had done to her. He had never expected kindness from others and so far he hadn't been disappointed. Except with the bear clan. He still didn't understand their tolerance of him and Fang. Especially Fang, who couldn't protect the bears or work for his keep.

Why would they take them in when their own wolf clan would kill them if they found them?

Vane let out a deep breath as the reality came crashing down on him. He was living under a death sentence with no pack to help protect or raise his young. No pack to shelter his mate. He couldn't expose Bride to the danger that was a daily part of his life.

No matter what the Fates decreed, he couldn't have a human mate. Bride would never accept him and his world. She didn't belong to it any more than his mother had belonged with his father.

They were different species.

His job was strictly to protect her until his mark was gone. Then she would free and he "I'll be a fucking eunuch," he growled under his breath, hating the very idea of it.

But what else was there?

Keep her in chains like his father had done his mother? Beat her into submission? None of that would work. Besides, Bride was his mate. He couldn't find it in him to hurt her in any way. Unlike his father, he understood what "protective" meant.

Vane had spent his entire life guarding Anya and Fang. Taking their pack's and their father's abuse for them. He wasn't about to hurt the one person the Fates had designated for him.

He heard Bride turning off the water. Flashing back to wolf form, he forced himself not to go into the room where he would meet temptation.

But then, he didn't have to. Bride came out a few seconds later with a towel wrapped around her.

He ground his teeth at the sight of her standing there with the damp towel clinging to every curve of that damp, voluptuous body. Worse, the towel was too small and left a large gap of succulent flesh bared to his gaze.

She dropped the towel to the floor.

It was all he could do not to whine, especially when she bent over to sort through a box of clothes for her underwear.

Bride started at a strange sound from her new pet. Turning, she saw the wolf staring at her with an intensity that was extremely wild and disturbing.

A tremor of fear went through her. "You're not going to attack me, are you, boy?"

He came over to her with his tail wagging. He jumped up unexpectedly and licked her cheek, then bounded back to the other side of the room.

Well, that was weird.

Frowning, she grabbed her panties and pulled them on, then quickly dressed in her pajamas. They were a bit tight, which was why they were in storage. Her mother had given her a whole new wardrobe two years ago when she had gone on a liquid protein diet that had caused her to drop twenty-five pounds. It had worked, but within a year every ounce of the weight had come back plus another ten pounds.

Bride sighed and put the matter out of her mind. Screw Taylor and his diets.

Like her mother and grandmother before her, she was destined to be a round Irishwoman, and no amount of anything would ever change the fact that she was chromosomally damaged.

"I should have been born in the fifties when it was fashionable to be pudgy."

Sighing, she went over to the couch to sleep. The wolf came over to her and stuck his nose close to her own.

"Sorry, kid," she said, patting his head. "No room for you tonight. Tomorrow we'll get a real bed, okay?"

He nuzzled her face.

"You are good company, aren't you?" He seemed to like it best when she stroked him just under his chin. He closed his eyes and wagged his tail as she gently scratched him there. "So what am I going to name you?"

She thought it over, but only one name hovered in her mind "Don't be stupid," she said to herself. It would be ridiculous to name him after a one-night stand.

And yet "Would you mind being called Vane?"

He opened his eyes at that and licked her chin.

"Okay then, you'll be Vane Two. Vane for short, though."

Bride reached over her head to turn off the lamp, then snuggled down to sleep.

Vane sat in the dark, watching her quietly. He couldn't believe what she was going to call his wolf form. If he didn't know better But no, she didn't have any sort of psychic powers. Maybe she had just liked his name.

He waited for her to fall sound asleep before he changed to human form again and made sure all her doors and windows were locked. Once he was certain she'd be okay for a bit, he flashed from her apartment back to his room at Sanctuary.

It was pitch-black here, too. He opened the door and headed to the next room, where Fang was staying. As he'd been since the night Vane had brought him here, his brother was in wolf form, lying comatose on the bed.

Vane sighed wearily as he crossed the room.

"C'mon, Fang," he said, moving to the bed. "Snap out of this. I miss you, little brother, and I could really use someone to talk to right now. I have one serious problem on my hands."

But it was useless. The Daimons had taken more than his brother's blood.

They had stolen his spirit.

The shame of what had happened to Fang was more than the wolf could face. Vane understood that. He'd felt it himself when he'd found out he was human.

There was nothing worse than being attacked and not being able to fight back. He flinched as memories assailed him.

The first time he'd turned human had been in the middle of a fight with an angry boar. The beast had stabbed him so badly that he still felt a pain in his ribs if he moved the wrong way. One minute, he'd been a wolf, and the next he'd been on his back while the boar bit, clawed, and tusked him.

Had Fang not come along "Get up, little brother," he whispered. "You can't keep living like this."

Fang didn't acknowledge him at all.

Vane ran his hand over his brother's dark brown fur, then turned to leave him there.

In the hallway outside, he passed Aimee Peltier. In human form, she held a bowl of beef soup in her hands as she came from the direction of the stairs.

The only daughter of the bear clan, she was a tall, thin blonde with an exceptionally beautiful face. Her brothers had a full-time job keeping the human men from coming on to her whenever she helped out in the bar that was attached to the house.

It was a job they all took very seriously.

"Is he eating?" Vane asked her.

"Sometimes," she said quietly. "I got a little soup in him at lunch so I was hoping he might take some more tonight."

She'd been a godsend to him. Aimee alone seemed to be able to reach Fang.

His brother seemed somehow more alert whenever she was near.

"Thanks. I really appreciate your watching over him for me." In fact, she spent a great deal of time with Fang. It was enough to make him wonder, but Fang hadn't moved out of his bed once since the night Vane had brought him here.

She nodded.

"Aimee?" he asked as she started past him.

She turned.

"Never mind. It was a stupid thought." There wasn't anything between his brother and the she-bear. How could there be?

Vane continued on his way down the hall, to the stairs.

He made his way downstairs, across the foyer, and into the small antechamber where a door connected Peltier House to the Sanctuary bar next door.

It opened into the bar's kitchen where two Were-Hunters, Jasyn Kallinos and Wren, were guarding it innocuously from the human kitchen staff, who had no idea why no one but a select few could pass through the doorway to the other side. It was mostly because those of the bear clan who had young kept their cubs on the top floor of Peltier House. Occasionally, one of the cubs would escape their nurse and roll down the stairs.

The last thing the Peltiers needed was for someone to call animal control on them for the unlicensed zoo that made their house a home.

Of course the idea of a human coming in and finding a wolf, panthers, lions, tigers, and bears asleep in their various beds was rather amusing to Vane. Or better yet, the dragon who slept coiled up in the attic. Someone really should keep a camera handy. Just in case.

Vane inclined his head toward Jasyn, a tall, blond Were-Hawk who was one of the deadlier inhabitants of the house. The price on Jasyn's head made a mockery of Vane's death sentence. Mostly because, unlike Jasyn, Vane only killed when he had to. True to his animal predatorial heart, Jasyn was in it for the thrill of the kill.

Jasyn lived to stalk and to maim.

As Vane neared the swinging door that led out to the bar area, it was slung back. Kyle Peltier came running through it in human form like a bat out of hell.

Vane stepped back out of the way.

Remi Peltier, one of the identical quads with long curly blond hair, tackled Kyle to the floor just in front of Vane's feet and started slugging his younger brother. Kyle tried to fend him off, but it was impossible. Remi was a much older, stronger bear who loved to fight.

Vane grabbed Remi and pulled him away before he hurt the cub. "What are you doing?"

"I'm killing Gilligan," Remi snarled, trying to get past Vane to grab Kyle again.

"I happen to like the song," Kyle said defensively, wiping at the blood on his lips as he moved to stand behind an unamused Jasyn.

Wren handed the cub a towel to blot his face.

Remi curled his lips. "Yeah, but we don't just play that damned song for the hell of it, you idiot. Half the friggin' clientele ran for the door."

Mama Bear came in from the Peltier House side to see Kyle bleeding.

"What on earth?" she asked, taking him by the shoulders so that she could examine his split lip. "Mon ange, what happened?"

All maturity left Kyle as he faced his mother. He even let a portion of his short blond hair fall into his blue eyes. "Remi attacked me."

Remi twisted his arm out of Vane's grasp. "He played 'Sweet Home Alabama' on the jukebox, maman."

Nicolette rolled her eyes at her youngest cub. "Kyle, you know we only play that when the Dark-Hunter Acheron comes through our doors as a courtesy alert to our clientele. What were you thinking?"

Vane stifled a laugh. Acheron Parthenopaeus was the leader of the Dark-Hunters. He was a man of many dichotomies and unbelievable power, and most everyone Vane knew was scared shitless of him. Whenever he entered the bar, most Weres, and all Daimons headed for the door. Especially if they had something to hide.

Kyle gave her a sullen look. "That it's a good song, maman, and I wanted to hear it."

Remi rushed for Kyle's throat, but Vane pulled him back.

"He's too stupid to live," Remi snarled. "I think we should cut his throat and save ourselves the heartache."

Wren gave a rare laugh while Jasyn went stone-faced.

The human staff stayed wisely out of it, and went about their business as if nothing were happening. But then they were used to the brothers and their constant bickering among themselves.

Nicolette growled at her older son. "We were all stupid at his age, Remi.

Even you." She patted Kyle on the arm and urged him toward the door to Peltier House.

"You'd best stay away from the bar for the rest of the night, cher. Papa and your brothers will need time to cool their tempers."

Kyle nodded, then looked back at his brother and stuck his tongue out.

Remi made a bear sound that caused every human in the kitchen to stare.

The look on Mama's face said there would be hell to pay once she had her older cub out of the sight and earshot of the humans.

"I think you'd best head back to the bar, Remi," Vane said, letting him go. "Fine," Remi snarled. "Do us all a favor, maman. Eat your young."

This time it was Jasyn who laughed, then sobered the instant Nicolette gave him a gimlet glare.

Shaking her head, she told the kitchen staff to go back to work. Vane started for the bar.

"Vane, mon cher, wait."

He looked back at her.

She moved to stand by his side. "Thank you for saving Kyle. Remi has never learned to govern that temper of his. There are times I fear he never will."

"It's all right. He reminds me a lot of Fang. When he's not comatose anyway."

She looked down, then frowned. Lifting his hand, she stared at his marked palm.

"You're mated?"

He balled his hand into a fist. "It happened earlier tonight."

Her jaw went slack before she pulled him back into her house. She shut the door, then faced him. "Who?"

"A human."

She cursed in French. "Oh, cher," she breathed. "What are you going to do?"

Vane shrugged. "There's nothing to be done. I'll guard her for the duration, then leave her to her life."

She gave him a puzzled stare. "Why would you damn yourself to so many years with no woman or mate? If you let her go, you may well never mate again."

Vane started to leave, but she pulled him to a stop.

"What should I do, Nicolette?" he asked, using her real name instead of Mama, which most called her. "I'm a living example of why we need to breed within our own species. The last thing I want is to spread my disease to another generation."

She looked appalled by his words. "You are not diseased."

"No? Then what would you call it?"

"You are blessed, as Colt is."

He gaped incredulously at her words. That was one word he would never have applied to himself. "Blessed?"

"Oui," she said sincerely. "Unlike the rest of us, you know what it's like for the other side. You've been both animal and human. I'll never know what it's like to be human. But you do."

"I'm not human."

She shrugged. "Whatever you say, cher. But I know other Arcadians who have mated with humans. If you wish I could have them come talk to you."

"To what purpose? Were they mixed blood like me?"

"Non."

"Then what are they going to tell me? If my mate bears children, will they be human or wolf? Will they change base forms at puberty? How do I explain to a human mate that I don't know what our children will be?"

"But you are Arcadian."

He hated the fact that Nicolette, Acheron, and Colt could see what he'd been able to hide from others. He didn't know how they were able to detect him, but it seriously pissed him off. Even his own father hadn't known he was an Arcadian. Of course it helped that his father barely looked at him.

"Am I Arcadian?" he asked, lowering his voice to an angry whisper. "I don't feel the human side the way Colt does. How can I have been a wolf pup and then convert to human during puberty? How is that even possible?"

She shook her head. "Je ne sais pas, Vane. There is much in this world I don't understand. There are very few mixed bloods, you know that. Most humans who are brought in as mates are sterile. Maybe yours is, too."

That gave him some degree of hope, but he wasn't foolish enough to grasp it.

His life had never been an easy one. Every time he had reached out for something he wanted, he'd been slapped down viciously.

It was hard to be optimistic in a life where optimism had never been rewarded positively.

"It's a chance I can't take," he said quietly, even though a part of him wanted that chance with a desperation that frightened him. "I refuse to screw up her life."

Nicolette stepped back from him. "Very well. That's something that's completely up to you, but if you change your mind"

"I won't."

"Fine. Why don't you take the next few weeks and stay with your mate while she is marked? We'll take care of Fang in the meantime."

Did he dare trust that offer?

"Are you sure?"

"Oui, cher. You can trust some animals, even bears. I promise you, your brother is safe here, but your mate, she's not safe alone while she carries your scent on her."

Nicolette was right. If, as he suspected, his pack was looking for them, their scouts might find his scent around Bride. She would carry it as long as she bore his mark, and a trained Were-Hunter would be able to sniff her out.

There was no telling what his enemies might do to her.

"Thank you, Nicolette. I owe you."

"I know. Now go and be with your human while you can."

Vane nodded, then flashed back to Bride's side.

She was still asleep on her couch. Lying on her back, she looked extremely uncomfortable. Her legs were bunched up and she had one arm over her head while the other dangled off into nothingness.

Tenderness flooded him as he remembered the way she had looked as she came for him. The sight of her face in the mirror as he held her.

She was a passionate woman. One he ached to taste again and again.

Against his common sense, he reached out and touched her soft cheek.

Her eyes fluttered open and she gasped.

Bride sat up with a hiss as she thought she saw Vane standing over her.

"Vane?"

The wolf padded around the couch to sit beside her.

Confused, she looked around, then gave a nervous laugh. "Boy, am I hallucinating or what? Oh yeah. Looney Tunes, here I come."

Shaking her head, she lay back down and tried to go back to sleep, but as she did, she could swear she smelled Vane's scent on her skin.

For two days, Vane stayed in wolf form as he watched over Bride, but with every minute of it, he felt as if he were being brutally tortured. His natural instinct was to claim her.

If she were a she-wolf, he would be inside her even now, showing her his prowess and authority.

The beast inside him demanded the courtship. The human in him It scared him most of all. Neither part was listening to his cool, calm rationale. Not that he really had any of that where she was concerned.

Around her, he had a raging hormonal surge so profound it made a tsunami look like a toddler's wave pool.

His need to touch her was becoming so ferocious that he was even afraid to be with her now.

A few minutes ago, in wolf form, he'd run out the door to try and get a grip on himself before he returned to her shop for more torment. Every time she moved, it made his blood heat. The sound of her voice, the lick she gave her long, graceful fingers as she flipped through the pages of her magazines, it was all torture for him.

It was killing him.

You wish.

Really, he was beginning to. Death had to be preferable to this. Where were the assassin wolves when he needed them? Yeah, pain. That was the answer.

Nothing like severe pain to curb his sexual appetites.

Think of something else.

Vane had to get his mind off Bride and her body. More importantly, off what he wanted to do to and with her body.

Determined to try, he stopped in front of a small store on Royal Street. It was a doll shop, of all things. He didn't really know why he was here except one of the dolls in the window reminded him of the one Bride had in a box by her TV. "Well, don't just stand outside, young man, come on in."

A tiny old woman stood in the doorway. Her hair was gray, but her eyes were sharp and intelligent.

"It's okay, I was just looking," Vane said.

And then he caught a scent of something strange. A fissure of power in the air that was even stronger than that of a Were-Hunter.

Acheron?

The old woman smiled at him. "Come inside, wolf. There's someone I think you want to talk to."

She held the door open as he entered the small, dark shop, lined with shelves and cases of custom-made dolls. Without a word, she led him behind the counter and through a set of heavy burgundy curtains.

Vane drew up short as he saw the strangest sight of his entire four hundred years of life. The mighty Dark-Hunter Acheron Parthenopaeus sat on the floor of the back room with his legs crossed as he played dolls with his demon companion and a human infant.

Vane couldn't move as he watched the infant girl sitting on Ash's bent, leather-clad knee while the Dark-Hunter held her there with one large hand on her belly. Dressed in a frilly pink pinafore and black Mary Janes, she was beautiful, with short, dark auburn curls and a plump, angelic face.

Ash held a male doll in his right hand while the little girl chewed on the head of a red-haired Barbie that looked strangely like the Greek goddess Artemis, who had created and ruled the Dark-Hunters. The demon sat in front of them holding a blond doll. The demon herself had black hair with a red stripe in it that matched Ash's hair perfectly.

"See, I knew baby Marissa was quality people," the demon said to Ash.

"Look how she eating the head off the redheaded Artemis doll. Simi needs to teach her to belch fire, then introduce her to the real heifer-goddess herself."

Ash laughed. "I don't think so, Sim. Marissa isn't quite ready for that, are you, sweetie?"

The little girl reached up and placed a wet hand to Ash's chin as she laughed at him. Ash playfully nipped at her hand while the demon took his doll and made it dance with hers.

"I think my doll needs a pair of horneys, akri," the demon said to Ash. "You think Liza will make me a demon doll like me?"

Horns appeared instantly on the doll's head, along with red and black hair. The demon squealed in delight. "Oh, thank you, akri. It's a Simi doll!"

Cocking her head, the demon looked at the little girl in Ash's lap. "You know, Marissa is a cutie baby, but she be even prettier with horneys too."

"No, Sim, I don't think Amanda or Kyrian would appreciate getting their daughter back with a pair of horns on her head."

"Yeah, but she look so so deprived without them. I could make them really pretty. Maybe pink to go with her dress?"

"That's okay, Simi."

The demon pouted. "Oh pooh, you no fun, akri" She held up the male doll.

"See this, Marissa? Okay, now here's what happens when he make Barbie mad.

She gets her barbecue sauce and she eats him."

Ash quickly took the doll from Simi's hand before she could place it in her open mouth. "No, no, Simi. You're allergic to rubber."

"I am?"

"Don't you remember how sick you got when you ate those tires off the truck that made you mad?"

The demon looked really disappointed. "Oh. Is that what made me ill? I thought it was because the heifer-goddess was there."

Ash placed a quick kiss to the top of the baby's head, then handed her to Simi. "Watch Marissa for a few minutes and don't eat her or let her eat anything."

"No worry, akri. I would never eat baby Marissa. I know how much you would miss her if I did."

Ash gave the demon an affectionate hug before he got up and sauntered over to Vane. Tall and lean, Ash was the epitome of a young man in the prime of his life. There weren't many people taller than Vane, but Ash was one of them.

And it wasn't just his height that was intimidating. There was something primal and powerful about the Dark-Hunter. Something that even the animal in Vane feared.

Even so, they had known each other for centuries. In fact, Ash had been the one who had helped Vane to find his mother. To this day, Vane wasn't sure why the Dark-Hunter had helped him.

But then, no one understood Acheron Parthenopaeus.

"You know, it's not nice to spy on people, wolf."

Vane snorted at that. "As if anyone could ever spy on you." He looked back at the demon and little girl. "I never pegged you for a babysitter."

Ash glanced down at Vane's hand, then met him with a level gaze. There was something extremely disconcerting about Ash's liquid silver eyes that swirled with mystical power and ancient knowledge. "I never pegged you for a coward."

Anger sizzled through Vane at the insult. He lunged at Ash, only to have the Atlantean spin out of his reach.

"Don't." That single word carried enough command to give Vane pause.

Ash looked over his shoulder to the old woman who was still standing in the opening of the curtains. "Liza, would you fetch Vane a cup of tea, please?"

"I don't drink tea."

"Liza?"

"I'll be right back with it." The old woman went out into the shop.

"I don't drink tea," Vane reiterated.

"You'll drink hers and you'll like it."

Vane's gaze darkened again. "I'm not one of your Dark-Hunters, Acheron. I don't dance to your command."

"Neither do they. But that's neither here nor there, is it?" Ash cocked his head as if he were listening to something that only the Atlantean could hear.

"You're seeking answers."

"I don't need anything from a Dark-Hunter. Ever."

Ash let out a slow, deep breath. "I'm sorry about Anya, Vane, but it was meant to be."

Vane curled his lip at the offer of sympathy; his heart was still broken over her loss. "Don't talk to me about fate, Dark-Hunter. I've had it with that subject."

To his amazement, Ash agreed. "I know the feeling. But it doesn't change what's going on inside you, does it?"

He cut a glare at Ash. "What do you know about it?"

"Everything." Ash crossed his arms over his chest as he watched him with a gaze that set Vane on edge. "Life would be so easy if we had all the answers, wouldn't it? Will your pack come for you? Will Fang be normal again? Will Bride ever accept you as her mate?"

Vane went cold at his words. "How do you know about Bride?"

He didn't answer. "You know, humans are amazing in their capacity to love.

Don't sell either one of you short because you're afraid of what might happen. Instead, maybe you should focus on what will happen if you leave her."

That was easy for him to say. He wasn't the one being hunted. "What do you know about fear?"

"Enough to teach a lifetime course on it." Ash looked past him to see the infant standing up beside the demon on wobbly little legs that were still learning how to support the baby's weight. "She's beautiful, isn't she?"

Vane shrugged. He was far from an expert on what made a human child beautiful.

"Hard to believe that if Kyrian hadn't had faith in Amanda and in their future together, she would never have existed at all. No one would have heard the beauty of her little laugh or seen the preciousness of her smile Think about it, Vane. An accountant who only wanted a normal life and a Dark-Hunter who thought love was a fable. If Kyrian had walked away, he would still be living alone as a Dark-Hunter. And Amanda, had she managed to survive the Apollite and Daimon who were out to steal her powers, would probably be married to someone else by now."

"Would they have been happy?" Vane wasn't sure why he asked that question.

Ash shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. But look at their baby. She's going to grow up the daughter of a sorceress and a Dark-Hunter. She will know things about this world that few people ever do. For that matter, she already does. Now imagine if she never existed. What would the world have lost without her?"

"What has it gained with her?"

Ash didn't hesitate to answer. "It has gained a truly beautiful soul who will grow up to help anyone who needs it. In a world full of malice, she will never do harm. And two souls who have never known love now have each other."

Vane scoffed at that. "Have you ever thought about writing romance novels, Ash?

That might wash in fiction, but let me tell you about the real world. That little girl will grow up, have her heart broken, and be used by people out to take advantage of her."

"And her parents will tear the heart out of anyone who tries it. Life is a gamble, Vane. It's harsh and painful most of the time, and it's not for the timid. Spoils go to the victor, not to the one who doesn't even show up for the battle."

"What are you saying?"

"I think you already know. Will Bride have a better life without you? Who's to say? Maybe there is some human out there who can appreciate her. But will he ever appreciate her as much as you do?"

No. Vane knew it deep in his heart. Her tender touch was priceless to him. "What if I get her killed?"

"Death is inevitable for humans. She will die someday. But the real question is, will she ever live?" Ash started away, then paused. "Will you?"

Vane stood there in silence as he thought over what Ash had said.

Liza returned with the tea and Vane thanked her before he tasted it.

Much to his dismay, Ash was right. It was good stuff and he did like it. Ash picked the baby up and turned back toward him. "You know, there's always the possibility that Bride might not accept you. Meet her as a man, Vane. Give her what your father never gave your mother. Let her see the man and the animal and then let her decide for herself."

"And if she leaves me?"

"Is that what you fear most?"

Vane looked away. Damn Ash for his sagacity. No, his worst fear was that she would accept him and that he wouldn't be able to keep her safe from his enemies. "All you can ever really do, Vane, is give it your all and trust that everything will work out."

"Do you really trust the Fates?"

Ash's answer surprised him. "Not at all. They make mistakes just like everyone else. But in the end, you have to believe in something." Ash cuddled the baby to his chest. "So what will you choose?"

Ash's question hung in Vane's mind as he made his way back to Bride's shop. He didn't know what choice to make and Ash hadn't really helped.

In wolf form, he nosed his way in the door of her boutique. Since he'd moved in with her, Bride had made it a habit to leave the shop door ajar any time he left. As if she knew he'd be back.

She'd also made him a comfortable pallet behind her counter so that he could lie quietly and watch her while she worked. And he did like to watch her, especially when she interacted with other people. There was a kindness to her that others he'd known lacked.

He particularly liked to watch her with Tabitha. The two of them were extremely amusing. At least when they weren't discussing how much every member of his gender, with the exception of their fathers, sucked.

He half-expected Tabitha to attempt to neuter him just because he was male. Right now, Bride sat on her wooden stool beside her register as she finished eating half of a deli sandwich.

"There you are," she said, smiling at him. "I was wondering what happened to you."

She held out the other half of her sandwich and let him eat it from her hand. Vane finished it off, then placed his head in her lap. She stroked his ears and the tenderness of it shattered him.

Maybe Ash was right. Didn't he owe it to both of them to at least give her a choice? Vane Kattalakis had never allowed fear to govern him. But then, he had never lost anyone he loved until eight months ago.

In one night, he had lost everything.

Gods, he was so tired of being alone. So tired of not trusting anyone.

Of having no one to laugh with.

Maybe Bride was his future.

Maybe he would try this and see.

But how?

What did humans do to court each other?

Bride sat on her stool as she cleaned up after her lunch and tossed the garbage in the trash can. The last two days had been horrible as she put her tiny apartment in order and did her best to forget Taylor and his cruelty. Except the rat bastard had yet to return her stuff.

"Please don't make me have to go and get it," she said as she reviewed a catalogue for new merchandise by her register.

If she did, she was taking Tabitha with her just for the sake of vengeance.

And if Tabitha happened to bring a tire iron well, it wasn't as if Bride could keep her from it. It was a free country, after all. And if the tire iron ended up falling against Taylor's kneecaps a time or two or three dozen, well, accidents did happen.

Relishing the thought, she reached down and petted her wolf behind his ears and felt instantly better.

Over the last two days, Vane had become her constant companion. He sat even now behind the register at her feet, completely content just to be with her. If only she could find a man so loyal.

The door to her shop opened.

She looked up to see Taylor coming inside. Her heart stopped. He was tall and good-looking in that phony TV sort of way. He wore a pair of khakis and a black Ralph Lauren polo shirt.

He strode into the store like he owned it. Like he hadn't carelessly broken her heart just a few days ago.

"Hi, Bride," he said with that perfect capped-tooth smile of his. "Are you alone?"

Her wolf started to growl.

"Hi, Taylor," she said, reaching down to touch and soothe her companion.

"Except for my pet, yeah."

"Pet?" He peeped over the counter to look at Vane, who was now on his feet with his ears laid back.

Taylor stepped back. "That's a hell of a pet you have there. Did your dad give him to you?"

"What do you want?" she asked. "I know you didn't just come to shoot the breeze with me."

"I've, um, I've got your stuff outside and wanted to know what to do with it."

She looked outside to see a small moving van parked behind Taylor's red Alfa Romeo. "You were supposed to have it here two days ago."

He made a disgusted sound at her. "Yeah, well I've been busy. You know, I actually have a life."

She rolled her eyes at him as anger took hold. "You know, I do, too."

"Yeah," he said with a laugh. "Eating bonbons and watching TV is so time-consuming."

She gave him a reproachful glare. "You are such a jerk. What did I ever see in you?"

He held his arms out as if he were presenting himself to her and smiled.

"Same thing every woman sees in me, babe. Face it, we both know you'll never have another guy who looks as good as me interested in you."

Vane leaped at him.

"No!" Bride snapped, but it was too late. The wolf had already latched on to Taylor's arm.

Taylor screamed out in pain.

She grabbed the wolf and pulled him back. Vane strained against her, barking and snarling ferociously as he finally let go of Taylor's arm.

She pulled him into the back room and locked him up.

Taylor held his bleeding arm to his side. "That's it. Consider yourself sued."

"Don't even try it," she said, her own temper snapping as she came back to where he was standing. "You were on my property. I'll tell the police you were threatening me."

"Yeah, right, who would ever believe that?"

"Any anchor person at the other two stations who hate you as much as I do."

His face went pale.

"Yeah, Taylor," she said evilly. "Remember who all the little fat chick knows in this town. I'm the last person you want to screw with."

He turned on his heel and went outside.

Bride followed him and heard him yell at the movers, "Just dump her shit on the street."

"Don't you dare!"

"Do it," he snarled at the men.

To her instant chagrin, the movers opened the back of their truck and started putting boxes on the curb.

Bride was aghast. "I'll pay you three hundred dollars to take it to my apartment around back."

The movers passed a look to each other, then nodded and headed for her gate.

"I'll double whatever she offers you to leave her stuff on the street like the trash that it is."

They set the boxes back on the curb.

"You unbelievable bastard!"

He opened his mouth to respond, then closed it as a motorcycle came roaring toward them.

Bride frowned as the rider jumped the curb in front of the Alfa and parked it right outside her shop. The instant the rider removed his helmet, her heart pounded.

It was Vaneand not the furry one.

Dressed in a black leather jacket and faded jeans, he looked good enough to eat.

And his rugged handsomeness made a mockery of Taylor's pretty-boy features.

Taylor stared at them as Bride closed the distance between them. Vane put the kickstand down, then slung a long, masculine leg over the bike. In one fluid move, he pulled her against him and kissed her like something out of a movie.

"Hi, Bride," he breathed against her lips.

She smiled up at him. "Hi."

"Who the hell is this?" Taylor asked.

Vane gave him a once-over that said he didn't think much of Taylor. "I'm her lover, who the hell are you?"

Bride bit her lip as happiness tore through her. She could kiss him again for that.

"I'm her boyfriend."

"Ah," Vane said. "You're the skank dickhead." He looked back at Bride. "I thought you threw this loser out."

She smiled even wider before she cast an evil glare at Taylor. "I did, but he came back begging."

Vane looked over her shoulder at the movers, who were quickly piling her furniture and boxes on the sidewalk. "What are they doing?"

She drew a ragged breath at Taylor's cruelty. "Taylor is paying them to leave my stuff on the street like trash. Whatever I try to pay them to take it to my apartment, he's going to double it."

Vane looked less than pleased by that. "Really?" He lifted his chin. "Hey, guys?"

They paused to look at Vane.

"Ten thousand dollars to take her stuff inside and put it wherever she wants it."

The tallest of them laughed. "Yeah, right. You got it on you?"

Vane left her side. He pulled his cell phone off his belt and handed it to the man. "Press one and it rings Wachovia. Ask for Leslie Daniels, she's the bank president, and give her your bank and account information. She'll wire it instantly into your account, or to Western Union if you prefer."

The man looked skeptical, but did as Vane asked. As soon as he asked for Leslie, his eyes bulged.

He looked at the rest of the movers and then went to the truck to pull out his checkbook.

Vane winked at her.

A few minutes later, the mover came back and returned the phone to Vane.

"She wants to talk to you to make sure you're Mr. Kattalakis."

Vane took the phone. "Hey, Les, it's me Yeah, I know." While he listened, he passed an angry glare at Taylor. "Tell you what. Make it fifteen thousand for them. They seem like damn decent men Yeah, okay. I'll talk to you later." He hung up the phone and looked at the movers.

The one in charge offered him a nod of admiration. "Okay, guys, you heard Mr. Kattalakis. Be careful with the lady's stuff and put it wherever she wants it."

Vane passed what could only be called a shit-eating grin toward Taylor.

"You feel like doubling it now?"

Taylor started toward them, but the feral look on Vane's face made him take a step back.

Taylor raked them with a disgusted curl of his lip. "You're welcome to the fat bitch."

Before she could blink, Vane had Taylor thrown across the hood of his car and his hand wrapped around his throat.

Bride ran to them while Vane beat Taylor's head against the hood.

"Vane, stop, please! Someone will call the cops."

Snarling, Vane let him go. "You ever insult Bride again, I swear I'll rip your throat out and feed you to the gators in the swamp. You understand me?"

"You're crazy. I'm swearing out a warrant for you."

Vane smiled tauntingly. "Please try it. All I have to do is press two on my phone for my attorney. I'll slap you with so many suits for so many years, your grand-kids will be the ones who go to court."

Crawling off the hood of the car, Taylor narrowed his eyes, but he clearly knew he'd been outmaneuvered. His breathing ragged, he grabbed open his car door, got in and squealed off.

"Hey, lady?" the mover asked. "Whenever you're ready to show us where to put this stuff, please let us know."

Bride left Vane long enough to open the gate and show them to her studio in the back. When she came back, she found Vane leaning against the side of her building, looking at the moving van.

Her heart pounded. "Thank you," she said quietly. "I'm really glad you came by when you did."

He reached to toy with an idle curl she had lying on her shoulder. "Me, too."

"I, um I'll have to make payments to you for the movers."

"Don't worry about it. It's a gift."

"Vane"

"Don't worry about it," he insisted. "I told you, money has no real value to me."

How much money would he have to have to be able to say that about fifteen thousand dollars? And why would a guy this rich be hanging out with her?

"Well, it has value to me and I don't want to be obligated to you for anything."

"You're not obligated to me, Bride. Ever."

"No, I have to pay you back."

"Then have dinner with me and we'll call it even."

She shook her head at him. "That's no way to pay you back."

"Sure it is."

She opened her mouth to respond, then remembered her other Vane. "Oh no, I have to go get my wolf. He'll be beside himself!"

Vane went pale at her words, but she didn't notice since she was already headed back into her store.

He looked around to make sure the movers couldn't see him, then flashed himself back into the closet in the back room as a wolf.

He had barely made it before she opened the door.

"There you are, boy," she said, kneeling down to pet him. "I'm so sorry I had to put you in here. You okay?"

He nuzzled her gently.

She gave him a tight hug and then stood up. "C'mon, baby, I have someone I want you to meet."

Vane ground his teeth at her words. How on earth could he meet himself?

He was powerful, but that was beyond even his abilities.

Instead, he bolted for the half-open door and kept running until he was sure she was out of sight.

Bride went running after her wolf.

"Vane!" she called, rushing to the door. She couldn't see a trace of him anywhere.

"You called?"

She jumped, then turned to see the human Vane behind her. "No, my wolf"

"Is named Vane?"

She opened her mouth as her face heated. "It's a long story."

He just smiled at her.

Oh Lord, how did she get herself into these predicaments?

"Well, I wouldn't worry about him. I'm sure he'll come back."

"I hope so. I've gotten kind of attached to him."

Vane's heart sank. That was the last thing he wanted her to tell him. But in truth, he'd gotten attached to her, too. Something that was lunacy.

He dropped his hand from her hair even though what he really wanted to do was pull her into his arms and kiss those lips. Both parts of him wanted nothing more than to strip their clothes off and rub himself against her. To feel her soft skin sliding against his. Taste her flesh with his tongue Bride swallowed at the look on his face. He stared at her as if she were a cake he was about to devour.

No man had ever given her such a hungry, needful look. She was paralyzed by it.

"Hey, lady?"

She jumped at the mover's call. "Yeah?"

"Where do you want us to put the bed?"

She looked up at Vane. "I'll be back, okay?" He nodded. She left his side and felt his hot, heavy stare on her the whole way as she went to the movers.

Vane struggled to breathe as he watched her walk away from him. That woman had the best-looking ass he'd ever seen. And he loved and hated the way she wore her hair up. Tendrils of it hung down, grazing her neck, making him want to lick every inch of that tantalizing flesh.

Did all wolves feel like this with their mates? Or was it something about Bride?

He didn't know for sure. But he was now human with her. God help them both.