Roar of Magic (7 page)

He whispered, “The grounds are fenced in if you want to go for a run.”

She stroked his hair and smiled. “That sounds like fun.”

He withdrew from her and left the bed, helping her to her feet. It took some effort to get her thighs together, but she managed a normal—if naked—gait by the time they were on the main floor and walking out through the garden doors.

Her shift was quick, and she ran across the flagstone until she felt the grass beneath her toes. She turned and waited for her mate as he turned into a very large lion, gold in mane and fur.

His tail lashed, and he slowly approached her. She stood her ground as he circled her.

She stepped forward and greeted him, cheek to cheek. They shifted it into a full-body rub, and when he started to make moves on her, she bounded away and ran to determine the edges of the property.

Two hours later, she stalked back into the house, steam trying to come out of her ears.

Leroc was behind her, apologising. “I am sorry. The beast wanted to mate, and I didn’t know it was against your wishes. Your beast seemed to be pleased with the effort.”

She glanced over her shoulder at the stripes that still covered his body. Her claw marks were healing. She had put her foot down, all over his face and back.

“Until the spike hit. It is a good thing that he was fast, or you would have a lot more to deal with than a few claw marks.”

He winced. “I apologise again.”

She nodded tightly. “I will get over it, but I am not going to shift into beast form while you are around during my heat. Lee warned me against pregnancy in beast form. I would be locked in as a lion until I came to term. Try explaining
that
to the fey court.”

Leroc nodded. “I can see that there is more that we should be briefed about before they set us on you.”

“Yeah. I am just learning this stuff as well, but I paid attention.” She grabbed a throw from the couch and wrapped it around her.

He nodded, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to it. “Can we start over?”

Anessa paused. “You want a do-over for a wedding day?”

“Yes. Your heat will necessitate our coming together, but when it is over, I would like one day to do it all over again and start fresh.”

She quirked her lips. “It is not the worst idea I have ever heard.”

“Do we have a deal?”

She nodded. “We do, and from this point onward, we will pretend that your beast didn’t jump mine.”

His eyes filled with relief. “I bind myself to my words.”

He closed his hand around hers, and a spark zapped between them. Anessa was going to ask about that vow later. For now, she needed to sleep in her mate’s arms.

“Come on, Leroc. Let’s get to bed. I am still not quite myself.”

They walked up the stairs to the bedroom, and she curled against him in the centre of the bed. A rocky start was still a start.

Evan smiled at her as she entered the shop. “Anessa, you are looking well.”

“Thank you, Evan. I am feeling well. Are you sure you are willing for me to return to work?”

He nodded. “Definitely. I have missed my goofing-off time. I am pining for it.”

“Pine no longer. Go on one of those long lunches that turns into an afternoon at the golf course. I need to fix my poor inventory.”

He stiffened. “I thought it was my inventory.”

She reached out and patted him on the cheek. “I know you did. It is a delusion that I fostered. Now, shoo.”

He grinned. “Glad you are back.”

Anessa ignored him; she was busy fixing the mess that he had created in only one week.

* * * *

Evan sat in Leroc’s home with the scryer from the mage’s guild. “Do you have it?”

Leroc nodded. “She brought a hairbrush from before her change, and I kidnapped it as soon as I could. She hasn’t used it since, so it should only have the shifter and mage imprint on it.”

The scry nodded and held his hand out for the brush.

Leroc handed the brush over and dimmed the lights, as requested.

He wanted to find Anessa’s parents and speak with them to see if they would be willing to attend the formal wedding.

When he had finally broached the subject of her upbringing, there had only been a litany of orphanages and group homes. No one had tried to take her out of her solitude, not even for a moment. It had been as if she had not existed. She had been fed and clothed, but her emotional attachments were basic. Her willingness to live with him was an astonishing stretch considering her fierce independence. Her return to work had not been a shock. It gave him the time he needed to look into what she couldn’t.

The man took the brush, ground the hair into a paste, placed a segment of the paste on a chained pendant, and the rest of it was smeared on the edge of a mirror.

The mirror was on a stand, and it was visible to all. The scry began to mumble and power snaked from his hands to the edge of the mirror. The paste glowed, and an image of Anessa came forward. He concentrated, and Anessa grew younger until she was an infant and then disappeared. The process took twenty minutes, but after she was a child, there was an image of two people, side by side.

The woman had brown hair and eyes that were a vivid blue; the man had rich blonde hair and deep chocolate eyes. Both of them looked young, and their features were definitely Anessa’s.

Evan lifted a heavy camera and took a series of photos while the image was held.

The photos emerged immediately, and the auras around the couple told the tale. The young woman was the shifter, and the young man was the mage.

Evan whistled. “That is unusual. Normally, it is the women who chase the shifters.”

“Thank you for this. I will take the image to the shifter council and see if the woman can be identified.”

Evan nodded. “I will look into the mage. I should have a name for you later today.”

“Gentlemen, thank you very much. This is going to help me make a good impression with my new bride.”

The scry looked around at the house that was the centrepiece of the hillside with its connected grounds. “Is she insane?”

Leroc looked at the man and arched his brows. “My bride looks beyond physical comfort. She wants a place to belong with a man who understands what she is and where she has come from. Anyone can offer her comfort; I want to offer her a future.”

The mage blinked and obviously didn’t understand. Leroc couldn’t explain it any better than that. If a tree had solid roots, it could reach for the stars; if it had shallow roots, it could still grow tall, but it would never be stable and last into the centuries.

When he looked at Anessa, he saw the centuries and wondered what they would bring.

Leroc knocked on the door and smiled politely at the woman who answered the door. “Madam, my name is Leroc Alberthswitch. I called earlier.”

The woman looked behind him and swallowed nervously.

“She is not with me.”

The woman looked both relieved and disappointed. “My family is out. Please, come in.”

He entered her home and followed her into the kitchen. He sat at the counter while she prepared some tea.

“Your name is Miranda Leabo Exeter?”

She nodded. “Most folks call me Randy. I was Miranda Leabo when I had the baby. I still don’t know how it happened.”

“Shifters and mages can breed; they just tend to result in powerless beings. That is not the case with her.”

She nodded. “He brought her to the hospital and slipped her into a bed with the rest of the babies. He said she just looked at him with those huge, dark eyes of hers when he left her there. There were a few days of queries in the newspaper, but we were four states away with nothing to connect us.”

Leroc nodded. “Does your family know about it?”

Miranda dragged in a deep breath. “They know I had a baby. They don’t know that the father was a mage.”

Leroc winced. “So, you would not be willing to meet with her.”

Miranda poured the tea and set the cup down in front of him. “I don’t know. I have to tell my family first. They need to know.” She sighed and fidgeted. “Why are you seeking me out?”

He smiled. “We have been matched and bonded at the Crossroads. She is now carrying fey, mage and shifter power within her.”

Miranda teared up. “She’s a shifter? Is she an armadillo?”

He blinked. “No, she is a lion. A lovely golden alpha female.”

“A lion? Oh my. I never thought I would have a random. As soon as I have told my family, I would love to meet her. It is just taking a bit of getting used to. Now, are you sure she wants to meet me?”

“I will verify it with her. I will warn you, I have also spoken to your lover at the time. He is also interested in meeting her and pursuing a relationship. If you attend our wedding, you will probably run into him again.”

“Wedding?” She smiled hopefully, and it was Anessa’s smile.

“Yes. Though we were bonded at the Crossroads, I wish to dig myself out of a hole, and I thought a formal wedding might be the way out of my predicament.”

Miranda looked at the clock and then leaned forward. “Tell me about her. I want to know anything you can spare.”

Leroc smiled. “She is beautiful, strong, opinionated and determined. Her upbringing has not been particularly kind, but she emerged from it with grace and beauty.”

Miranda grew nervous. “She wasn’t adopted?”

He shook his head. “She was not.”

Miranda sat down next to Leroc. “I always thought she would be adopted. She was so bright and lovely.”

He smiled. “She has come through just fine. Her name is Anessa Prin, by the way.”

Tears were tracking down Miranda’s cheeks. “It’s a pretty name.”

He wanted to comfort her, but she needed to work through this. “It is a lovely name, and she is a lovely woman. If I am lucky, she will be carrying our child already.”

“Your people are okay with this?”

“My people are desperate to incorporate more magic into our bloodlines and increase the size of our families. We are dying out, and it is women like Anessa who will help bring us into the future. The shifter council agreed that we could seek mates amongst the willing, and an enchantment balanced my power with Anessa’s. We are on equal footing.”

Miranda nodded. “Well, my kids are coming home from school, so I will ask you to leave before they arrive. Leave me your number, and I will be in touch as soon I can.”

Leroc produced a business card and got to his feet. “Thank you for seeing me.”

“Thank you for coming. I mean it. I just need time.”

Leroc transported to his home before he could say something that was unfortunate. Miranda Leabo and Harbin Welks were both living with the thought of Anessa as a regrettable incident in their youth, similar to drinking underage. It was something to learn from and not tell their children about.

Anessa was a secret, and neither one was keen to risk upsetting their current families in favour of making her feel wanted or respected.

He heard her car pulling into the drive, and he worked to calm himself. She didn’t need to know that he had contacted her people until he found out if they were willing to be honest about who she was and what she was. Until they were willing to step forward, he was going to be her family.

* * * *

Anessa rubbed her hands together as Lee helped her with her gown. “Thank you for doing this.”

Lee grinned. “I am practicing for Amelia’s big day. I am pretty sure that she is going to end up with someone at the Crossroads.”

“You have a few years yet.”

“The time goes so fast you won’t believe it. First, you will have a baby, and then, it will be asking for the car keys. Blink and you miss it.”

Lee stood back. “There. Perfect. Are you ready?”

“I am ready.” Anessa turned and followed Lee out the door.

Leroc’s cousin, Ambro, handed a bouquet of flowers to her. Amelia got a basket of petals, and she straightened her small shoulders, ready to march in at the signal. She had just mastered walking and she wanted to show it off.

Lee guided her daughter to the garden doors and nodded to the bandleader. Music began to play, and Lee walked down the aisle with Amelia strutting behind her, tossing petals to the left and right.

Anessa squared up in the doorway and started to move the moment that Amelia was next to her mother.

She looked at Leroc and took a step on the floral path, passing friends and her newly found family. While it was touching that Leroc had sought out her birth parents, she only needed him. His efforts on her behalf told her that she was important to him, and he proved it every day in a thousand little ways, including taking her fishing and putting the bait on her hook while he fly fished upstream. The moment she needed more bait, he was at her side, no matter where he was in his fishing meditation.

As she stepped toward him, she fought the urge to run and throw herself into his arms. It was hard to hold back but delayed gratification was becoming a game with them. This entire ceremony served two purposes. The first purpose was to legally bind them in the human world, and the second was the extended foreplay of being together, bound together, unable to sneak off and enjoy themselves. They had challenged each other, and they were trying to see who broke first.

Anessa finished her walk and stood next to her mate, waiting until he was her husband. She had a number of things planned to tease him during the reception, and all she had to do was get through the ceremony.

Patience was a virtue, but she was feeling far from virtuous.

It was amazing how far one little shock had gotten her. It had taken her all the way to the future.

I didn’t put it in, but she was pregnant; she had a daughter and the name was Patience.

Crossing my fingers that you enjoyed this one... the next book already has admirers based on the cover art, and now, I have to live up to it.
Feathers, Fur and Fey
is the tale of the current griffin and her search for love and the problems she faced when she found it.