SelkiesSeduction (9 page)

“But Wolfe’s not related to you.” The excitement in Trina’s
voice matched the sparkle in her eyes. “He’s not even a selkie.”

Nikki stared at her sister. “So?”

“What’s the matter?” Jack grabbed his wife’s arm, and looked
from one woman to the other.

“Your wife is having a nervous breakdown.” Nikki eyed her
little sister warily. “Maybe you should take her home.”

“Nikki and Wolfe can speak, mind to mind.” Trina hugged her
husband’s arm. “You know what that means!”

Jack turned to Wolfe, his brows shooting skyward. “Is that
true? You’ve bound Nikki to you?”

Wolfe stood in the center of the clearing, calmly facing her
family.

Yeah, explain the whole binding thing to them.
Nikki
turned to face him, her eyes glowing gleefully.
And we could communicate
before you did that so don’t try to pull some destined-to-be bullshit.

“Yes, Nikki and I are bound. It was necessary for me to be
able to protect her.”
And your family has no right to interfere. You agreed
to it. You may have issues, but deep down you know this is right.

Trina pivoted and took Nikki’s hands in hers. “And you’re
okay with this? I never thought you’d let yourself be bound, even to a man like
Wolfe.” Her expression sobered as she studied her sister’s quiet face. “He’s a
good man. He’ll do his best for you.”

“That’s not the point, and you know it.” Nikki kept her
voice low. No need to let the whole gathering hear what she had to say. “I can’t
do forever and you know why. I didn’t realize what I was agreeing to. I was
thinking more along the lines of one-night stand. You’re right, though. He is a
good man, which is why he deserves better than a fickle selkie who’ll leave him
and his children without a backward glance. As soon as the danger is past, I’m
going to make him sever the bond. It’s only fair.”

“You care about him, don’t you?” Trina spoke slowly. “Why
not give it a chance?”

Nikki lifted her chin and looked at Wolfe. Her voice
faltered, the whisper so low Trina had to strain to hear her. “Because I think
I really could love him. And it’s going to kill me when I have to break it off.”

“How the hell did you get her to agree to that? According to
Trina, the chances of her big sister ever getting hitched, let alone agreeing
to bind to one of the few remaining Druids, were less than nil. I know when she
sent you, she thought you two might hit it off.” Jack paused, and shook his
head. “But to bind to each other? Nah, that didn’t even cross her mind.”

Wolfe shrugged. Jack and Trina were good friends, but he
hadn’t been sure how they’d feel about his relationship with Nikki. “It was a
misunderstanding, but not one I’m willing to reverse. She didn’t realize the
implications when she agreed. Someone is after her though, and it’s a whole lot
easier to protect her if we’re bonded. I thought she knew what she was agreeing
to. Apparently she’s a bit hazy on the relationship between a Cosantoir and his
mate.” He let a tiny bit of accusation show in his voice.

Jack nodded. “Their mother left them when they were young,
and it seems like their father neglected that part of their education. Trina
had no idea what I was talking about when I asked her to bond with me. I think
she was humoring me right up until she felt the bond settle over us. I know she
tried to explain it to Nikki, but apparently she wasn’t entirely successful.”

“Not entirely successful? Hell, Nikki thought she was
agreeing to casual sex! Well, it’s done, and I have no intention of releasing
her even if I could.” Wolfe glanced over to where the two sisters were talking.
“I know we’re perfect for each other and she truly cares about me, but she
seems to think that she’s not good enough for me.”

“Yeah, their mother really did a number on them when she
left.” Jack shook his head sympathetically. “Nikki is dead set against any kind
of permanent relationship. She deliberately dated guys with commitment issues
all these years just so she never has to deal with it. I think Trina got off
easier because she was so young. She barely remembers her mother. Nikki would
have been five or six, so she took it hard. It’s tough when you think your
parent doesn’t care about you.”

“That explains a lot.” Jack pondered what he’d learned. “She
thinks she’s inherited some sort of bad mother gene from her mother, and she’s
terrified to even try to live a normal life.”

“Exactly!” Jack grinned. “And those girls have a stubborn
streak a mile wide. I’m happy I’m not in your shoes. Trina is already talking
about children. As soon as this dance season is over, we’re going to try for
our first.”

“Congratulations! You’ll make great parents.” Wolfe slapped
Jack on the back, genuinely happy for his friend. “And being an aunt might
convince Nikki that her fears are unfounded.”

Todd got up from the rock where he’d been sitting and
wandered over, looking like a sad lost puppy. Wolfe gave Jack a short shake of
his head, warning him to change the subject.

Todd looked from one to the other. “So do you guys have any
ideas about my sister? I know I should have paid more attention when she first
came to me, and I feel like this is all my fault. I need to find her.”

Looking at his woebegone expression, Wolfe felt guilty about
his earlier suspicions. The guy was just worried about his sister, and his
social skills weren’t great at the best of times. He hadn’t been stalking them.
It was just the newness of the mate-bond that tweaked Wolfe’s nerves.

“Let’s get the girls and see if the five of us can’t come up
with something.” Wolfe put his arm around Todd’s shoulder. “You can tell us
everything you remember.”

“What’s up?” Nikki gave Todd a friendly smile, but Wolfe
could feel her attention focused almost exclusively on him. Her heart leapt at
his proximity, squashing any thoughts of jealousy. She might not be ready to
admit it, but their bond was based on more than convenience. He just needed to
give her time.

“Todd’s going to tell us everything he remembers about his
sister’s disappearance, and hopefully we’ll come up with something positive for
him to do.” Wolfe sat down on a bench hewn out of a single piece of oak,
pulling Nikki down into his lap. She surprised him by snuggling in contentedly
instead of putting up a fight.

On the other side of the clearing, Jack raised his brows,
the beginnings of a smile curving his lips. Wolfe glared at him, daring him to
say anything.

He turned his attention to Nikki.
Comfortable?

Yes. You?

The little minx wriggled her bottom suggestively, causing
his shaft to harden, and Wolfe retaliated by sliding his arm around her, his
hand splaying over her belly possessively.

“So tell us about your sister.” Trina sat beside Jack, her
hand resting on his leg. Wolfe envied them their easy intimacy.

Todd sat on one of the stumps placed in the circle. His
lanky legs stuck out at an awkward angle from his body, making him look like a
hastily assembled doll. He clenched his hands on his lap and a look of anguish
spread across his angular face. “She’s been gone for almost two months now, but
I didn’t notice until I tried to contact her last week. She called me back in
June with some story about guys following her, but I didn’t think it was
serious. I told her it was all in her head, and that she’d be fine. She was
pretty; it was probably just some guy noticing a good-looking girl. No big
deal.” He gulped, tears shimmering in his eyes. “I just got a new job, and I didn’t
want to take the time to go down to San Francisco and check it out.”

“Tell us about this doctor you mentioned. If he seriously
wanted her to join his research project maybe he sent the man to convince her,
or to do a background check on her and see if there was some way to convince
her to change her mind. When did he approach her?” Nikki’s voice had a soothing
quality to it, a gift of her selkie heritage. Wolfe wondered if she knew what
she was doing or if it was instinctive.

“She met him at one of those charity fundraiser things for
the symphony. He introduced himself as Dr. Kvordic, but I’m not sure if that
was his real name. She said he had an accent, European, maybe German. She
thought he looked distinguished. He told her he knew what she was, but he
wouldn’t expose her. He wanted her to go back to his lab with him so he could
study her and understand her heritage. He promised her a good salary but said
she’d have to sign a confidentiality agreement because his work was so
sensitive, and she wouldn’t be able to contact any of her friends or family for
the duration of the contract. That part made her nervous so she turned him
down. She said he was nice about it when she said no. He didn’t threaten her or
anything, just gave her his business card and said to get in touch if she
changed her mind. It sounded like a legitimate offer, so she didn’t make a big
deal out of it. She only mentioned it to me because I asked if she’d had any
luck finding a new job after the mill laid her off.”

Jack leaned forward. “Do you have the number he gave her?”

Todd shook his head. “No. I looked around her apartment
after I realized she was gone, but she must have thrown it out. I couldn’t find
anything. I did some research on the internet though, and I found a Dr. Kvordic
who used to teach at U Vic. He had some unproven theories on supernatural beings
who live amongst us disguised as humans. He wanted U Vic to fund a research
project to identify and catalogue the supernaturals. They refused of course.
Academia is full of stuffed shirts who don’t believe anything that hasn’t been
proven for hundreds of years. They tried to get rid of him, citing mental
instability but he had tenure, and they couldn’t build a strong enough case.
Then about eighteen months ago, he suddenly resigned his tenure and
disappeared. No one’s seen him since. I have no idea if he’s the same guy or
not.”

“Sounds like it might be.” Wolfe looked around the circle. “Any
of you know anything about this guy?”

Nikki and Trina shook their heads, but Jack hesitated.

Wolfe tilted his head. “Yes?”

“This might be nothing, but there’s a rumor that a group of
European businessmen are planning some sort of world coup. It sounds a bit far
out, rich people setting up some superheroes to take over the world scenario.
The interesting thing is, they’ve been siphoning big money from their companies
and no one knows where it’s going. One of them had a little too much to drink
at a bar in Copenhagen one night and was bragging about the secret army of
super-soldiers they’re building. His companion hushed him up pretty quick and
hustled him out of there. The fact that they didn’t just stay put, and laugh at
him, points to it being at least partly true. Maybe they’re recruiting supernaturals
to fight for them.”

Wolfe frowned. “It would have to be a pretty small coup.
There aren’t that many supernaturals in the world, and our talents are pretty
specific. We Druids can Dream Walk and manipulate the natural world, but we
don’t have the size to do well in hand-to-hand combat. The werewolves have the
size and aggressive instinct to be fighters, but they lack the ability to
formulate a strategy. Dwarves take the concept of lack of teamwork to a whole
new level. Wouldn’t take much to neutralize the lot of us. In order to build an
army you’d have to have over fifty percent of the supernaturals cooperating and
the chances of that are slim to nil. Hell, you can’t put a werewolf and a dwarf
in the same building without them trying to kill each other. They’ve been at
odds for centuries. There’s no way you’d get all of us to fight on the same
side. We tend to have serious trust issues.”

“True.” Jack shrugged his shoulders. “But there’s probably a
kernel of truth in there somewhere.”

“Usually is,” Wolfe conceded. “We need to look into it
further. I’m not sure this has anything to do with the men we saw at Nikki’s
house, but I’ll pull in some IOUs and see what I can find out.” He looked over
at Todd. “Any chance your sister would volunteer for some kind of military
operation?”

Todd shook his head. “Not Sasha. She’s tiny and never really
been very healthy. Hard to picture her as a soldier.”

“She might be some sort of intelligence backup. It’s worth
looking into.”

Todd nodded. “Anything’s worth looking into. Sasha’s my only
family. Our parents died in a car accident about five years back. I should have
paid more attention to her. It was my duty to look after her.”

“What about the man she thought was following her? Can you
tell us anything about him?”

Todd shook his head. “Not really. She said she noticed it a
couple of times, when she was out shopping or job hunting. She’d catch a
glimpse of the guy, and half an hour later, she’d see the same guy in a
different part of town. When she tried to make eye contact, he’d duck into a
crowd and she’d lose sight of him. Then she’d see him again, watching her from
across the mall. She didn’t really describe him, just said he was creepy. It
really spooked her. She had deadbolts installed on her doors, and one of those
security systems.”

Jack laid a comforting hand on Todd’s shoulder. “Don’t
worry. We’ll find her for you.” He looked at Nikki. “And we’ll make sure we
keep you safe. Until we know what’s going on, you don’t go anywhere alone.
Anywhere.”

“I think that’s my line.” Wolfe’s voice had an edge to it. “I
appreciate your help and concern, but she’s bonded to me whether she likes it
or not. I’ll look after her.”

Trina looked at Nikki and rolled her eyes. “Men. Sometimes
they remind me of the roosters on that farm we used to visit, puffing out their
chests and trying to impress the hens with their bravado.”

Nikki looked at Wolfe, and broke into peals of laughter. He’d
never heard such a beautiful sound. He grinned at her. “Well, I sure hope you’re
impressed.”

She grinned at him. “I’m not sure. Maybe you should fluff up
your feathers a bit.”

Smart-ass!
But he grinned back at her.

“Can I get in touch with you in the real world?” Todd stood
up and stretched his scrawny arms over his head. “I need to get back soon. I’m
working tonight, but I’d really appreciate knowing if you find out anything.”

Wolfe hesitated. No one knew the location of his tree house,
and he’d just as soon keep it that way. Besides, it wasn’t as if it had a
street address. Turn left at the big birch and walk until you see a lightning-struck
pine was as close as he could get. “Give me your phone number and one of us
will be in touch when we find something out.”

Jack gave him an assessing look but didn’t say anything.
Wolfe knew he’d have to answer for this when Todd left. He wasn’t sure why, but
he just wasn’t comfortable with Todd knowing where to find him.

“Sure.” Todd looked embarrassed. “I know you don’t know me
or anything, but I really appreciate this. My sister is all I’ve got.”

You’re making him feel bad.
Nikki’s reproving voice
echoed in his head.

Too bad. Your safety comes first. Besides, neither of our
houses are safe right now. I’ll let him know what we find out. I promise.

“We’ll keep in touch. I promise.” The soothing tone of Nikki’s
voice seemed to relax the young man. He gave her a grateful smile.

“Thanks. Now I really have to go. Bye.” Turning, he tripped
over an exposed root, catching himself at the last moment before he crashed to
the ground.

Wolfe wasn’t sure when he’d seen a more clumsy man. Todd
took the term geek to a completely new level.

Be nice!
Nikki shifted on his lap, and he winced. He
had the hard-on from hell, and her warm bottom wasn’t helping it any.

Todd’s face turned red, and he mumbled his goodbyes again
before rushing off into the forest.

“That’s one strange young man.” Jack shook his head. “I’m
not sure what he’s going to do if we don’t find his sister. He’s so sure it’s
his fault. I wish there were something more we could do for him.”

“How does he manage to Dream Walk?” Wolfe stared at the spot
where Todd had disappeared. “He’s not a Druid or I’d be able to feel him.”