Soul Mates: Scent (The Soul Mates Series) (18 page)

“Yes, my King.” Daire replied from bended knee. I had not realized that he had dropped to his knee when we had arrived.

“Sleep well, young Prince Max and Consort Anna. Queen Tatiana and I look forward to breakfasting with you in the morning.”

“As do we, King Auberon, good night,” I replied as Anna and I followed Daire out of the Throne room.

As soon as the doors shut I heard Auberon tear into the noble that had been kneeling before him. I looked at Daire and raised an eyebrow.

“Lord Aelfdane. Apparently he has been cheating on his wife, Lady Dulcina… Auberon does not allow infidelity among the nobles… They are supposed to set the example for the rest of us. He is being stripped of his titles and most of his fortune. It will remain with his wife after Auberon dissolves their marriage. He will be left with very little.”

“That’s…”

“What he deserves… no less,” Anna said fiercely.

I glanced at Anna and suddenly wondered if there was a similar punishment in shifter law for cheaters… not that I would ever… but it would be good information to have.

“There is. Cheaters are ostracized from the clan. The elders do not have the power to strip them from their powers, but I will be having a talk with our goddess about that… surely she will give us the power to strip them of their shifting powers if they cheat on their mate.”

“Anna, love, you know that I would never, could never… I think it would be physically impossible to cheat on you.” I grinned down at her as I pulled her into my arms.

A slow sexy smile slid over her lips and her cheeks turned pink. “Oui, I know my Max. I feel the same.”

“If you two are finished, I will take you to your chamber now.”

Anna rolled her eyes and laughed as we followed Daire the rest of the way down the hall to the same chamber we had occupied the night before.

Our bags were already in the chamber and emptied. I opened the wardrobe to see our clothes hanging up next to each other and a feeling of home slipped over me.

“If you need anything else, just ring the bell. A brownie will come round and bring you whatever you need.”

“Thank you Daire.”

“Welcome.” Daire turned to leave. “Sleep well. Oh and Max, thank you for showing me the passenger travel flashing. I think I may know a way to make it work for the rest of us, if King Auberon will allow it.”

“Good luck with that.” I said, closing the door behind him and locking it. I turned to see Anna stretched out on the bed in her black leather outfit. She looked delectable.

I crawled up onto the huge golden bed next to her and lay down with my head on her stomach. “Is all of this real, or am I going to wake up and discover you are just a dream?”

She giggled. “I’m real enough and you are heavy… get off me,” she said pushing my head off her stomach as she sat up. “You are going to have to turn around so I can change.”

“Why?” I grinned at her.

“Because, we aren’t married yet, Max!” Anna blushed. “Now turn around.”

I turned around and listened to her stripping out of the leather and sliding on her shorts and t-shirt. “Can I turn back around yet?”

“Yes.”

Grinning, I flashed myself into some stripped pajama bottoms, not my usual nighttime wear, but I wanted to please Anna. While she hung up her clothes, I padded into the bathroom, brushed my teeth and took care of business before crawling back into bed. I heard Anna brushing her teeth a few minutes later and I waited for her to cuddle up next to me before I fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

Anna?

Mmm, yes mon amour?

Why
are
you
in
panther
form?
I asked as stroked her furry neck lazily while I attempted to wake up.

Because mon amour you talk in your sleep and you were a bit on the amorous side last night. I thought this might just be a bit safer. Now if you will excuse yourself to the bathroom I will change back and get dressed for the day.

I heard her giggling softly in my mind and I could not help but smile. “Amorous, was I? Hmmm, well I do finally have you all to myself uninterrupted for a whole month’s worth of nights… Did you really expect anything less?”

Mmm, non mon amour. Now go, Gideon will be waiting.

I sighed, climbed out of bed and strode to the bathroom. “You know, we could be married by Auberon now and it wouldn’t make a bit of a difference.”

Mon coeur, our joining must take place on your birthday, not only is it the day of your birth, but the thirty first of October is a day of power for the preternatural… did you not know this?

“It is? I had no idea.”

I think that is another reason you are so magically gifted mon amour.

“Could be, I never really thought about it,” I turned on the shower and went back to the door, I didn’t really want to close it, but I wanted to give Anna some privacy to change, so I pushed it till it was just slightly ajar.

I
believe
Gideon
has
something
special
planned
for
today.
Anna’s voice floated through my mind.

What do you think he is planning? He seems to think I have mastered the Broadsword, is he going to move on to a different weapon?

Perhaps, perhaps not. We shall just have to wait and see. Though I fear you may not like it.

Then
maybe
you
better
tell
me
what
it
is.
I frowned as I finished washing the soap out of my hair. Turns out Fae hair takes a lot longer to wash, I almost wished I had taken my ring back from Anna, but there wasn’t a point since I was just going to have to take it off again to breakfast with Auberon and Tatiana.

No, I cannot be sure mon amour of what he has planned, it is just a feeling and it is not a bad thing for you to know. You do need to know, but it is for them to tell you.

I stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. “Anna, do you know how frustrating it is to have you tell me that? Now I am going to go through breakfast worrying about it. And for another thing, when are you going to tell me about this mind talking thing? Technically it is Friday…”

Anna laughed, but then as she caught sight of me in a towel her face changed and took on a more heated look… slowly she came toward me, as if she were stalking me and my breath caught in my throat at the look in her eyes. She slid her fingers up my arms and around my neck and down my wet chest.

I could barely breathe. “Anna…” I whispered.

“Mmm…” she murmured, her tongue darting out to catch a drip that was trailing down my naked chest. Slowly, cautiously she moved up on her toes and licked my neck and my jaw and then my bottom lip.

I couldn’t resist her anymore. I dropped the towel and encircled her waist, pulling her hard against me as I captured her lips, consuming her in a passionate kiss. I could feel my hardness pressing against her, and it was enough to make me realize my nakedness. I wanted her with an undying passion, but I could wait, I would wait, at least until we were married, before I took her to bed. With that thought I broke the kiss, grabbed my towel and covered myself.

I turned around to catch my breath because if I continued to look at her I was going to go back and finish what we started. “We’ll take turns. I don’t want you to have to be the one always in panther form,” I finally said when I could breathe normally.

I felt Anna arms come around me from behind, and her cheek on my back. I sighed and turned around. “It is not too much longer mon amour. Seven weeks is nothing in our lifetime.”

“I know,” I said with a smile. I kissed her forehead and pulled out of her arms. I flashed us both into suitable clothing for breakfasting with Auberon and Tatiana; a pretty spring dress of pink for Anna and suit for myself. “We should go. I don’t want to keep them waiting. Tatiana doesn’t seem like a patient woman.”

We walked hand in hand to the banquet room, where we had dined the evening before. Breakfast was set up buffet style and smelled delicious.

“Glad you decided to join us young Prince Max, Consort Anna, did you sleep well?” Auberon asked.

“Very well, thank you,” I replied.

“Do help yourself to whatever you desire. If you don’t see something you want, you have but to ask and Nehavina will fetch it for you.”

“This will do very nicely,” Anna answered for us as we filled our plates with thickly sliced ham, strips of bacon and links of sausage.

Anna shook her head as I added scrambled eggs and fried potatoes to my plate as well. It just smelled so good that I couldn’t resist it. “Is Gideon waiting on us?”

“I don’t believe he is back yet, he went to recruit some help for your training,” Auberon replied. “Daire will inform us when he is returned.”

I relaxed a little, thinking perhaps this is what Anna was trying to tell me this morning or rather not tell me. Gideon had gone to get other Felidae to help me train. Well that would be just fine. I could use all of the help I could get. “Auberon, I want to thank you for everything you are doing for Anna and me. It is more than I could have wished for.”

“Well, I am not with out an ulterior motive Max. I am hoping you like it here so much you come and visit often and bring the rest of your family,” Auberon replied.

“You mean Abbey,” I said frowning.

“Well, she is Fae. And if she is anything like you, she will be highly skilled.”

“Maybe, but Auberon she is only two.”

“All the reason more to start bringing her around now so that we can get her acclimated to us,” Auberon said with a calculating smile. “Plus we would be able to tell what her strengths are and help her perfect her Fae talents.”

I sighed. “I will talk to my parents about it, but I am not promising anything.”

“That is all I ask Max,” Auberon smiled again, “for now.”

It was the “For now” that had me worried as Daire came in to let us know Gideon had arrived with his recruits. “We should go; I don’t want to keep Gideon waiting.”

Anna took my hand and without even a pause I changed our clothes to something more appropriate for training. I was getting really good at quick changes and I heard Anna laugh as her clothes changed from the spring dress to that of tight black jeans, a fitted purple tee shirt and killer, stiletto black boots. I equipped us both with wrist daggers and cross swords on our backs. For myself I chose black jeans and a white tee with combat boots. Strapped to each thigh I had another couple of daggers. I wanted us prepared for whatever we were walking into.

Whatever I thought we were walking into, I wasn’t prepared enough. Gideon stood in the center of the ring we had practiced in the day before with a large blue-green dragon on his left, an eight foot tall black, grizzly bear on his right and a huge silver wolf at his back. I could feel my heart beating twice as fast as I tried to contemplate the sight of an actual dragon, let alone one speaking English as if he was born doing it.

“What in the hell?” I said under my breath. “How is this possible?”

“Mon amour, be calm. They are shifters same as us, well except for the wolf. He is Lycan. They will explain in due time I am sure if you are nice.”

“What do you mean if I am nice? I’m always nice, Anna. How did they get to be shifters?” I asked, my eyes narrowing as I thought about the ramifications of what I was seeing.

“It is not my story to tell, mon coeur. It is theirs; you must ask it of them.”

I sighed. “Fine,” I said as I strode forward, confident that I was about to get my butt kicked and handed back to me on a silver platter.

“Oh good, you are here. I’d like you to meet Thomas Draco, Taliriktug Ursidae, and James Angelis.”

As he introduced them, each in turn returned to human form and stepped closer towards me. I nodded at each one, and remembered not to show fear. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Call me Rik,” Taliriktug said holding out a very large tanned human hand.

“Nice to meet you Rik.”

“Tom will do,” Thomas said holding his hand out as well.

I shook Tom’s strong, pale hand. “It’s nice to meet you as well Tom.”

I waited for James to come forward with some friendly gesture, but he hung back, rolling his eyes at our easiness with each other.

“Can we get on with this? I have other things to do today besides train some nobody whelp so he won’t get his head torn off by a lion.”

“You don’t have to stay, I’m sure there’s nothing a dog can teach me that a bear and a dragon won’t take care of,” I said cockily.

He had me in a headlock before I could even blink my eyes, he was that fast. “You think so?”

“That’s enough! James let go of the young Prince Max and we will get started.”

“Prince? As in heir to Auberon? Really? What did you do Prince to piss off a lion?”

I glared at James. “Don’t call me that. I’m not Auberon’s heir. And the lion wants my mate, and he’s not going to have her, got it?” I said flashing across the ring and shoving a dagger under James chin before he could move. “Did I tell you I learn fast?”

James laughed. “Okay, Max. I won’t call you Prince, you won’t call me dog, and we’ll teach you how to fight like a shifter.”

Gideon sighed. “Shifters and their tempers will be the death of me. Now if you are quite finished would you all shift forms and begin?”

Soon I was learning what it was to grapple and fight with tooth and claw. Luckily because of my Fae blood I healed quite fast, even faster than most shifters. Broken bones healed in seconds, cuts and other wounds in mere milliseconds. However the deep gash across the middle visited on me by Rik’s claws took a bit longer to heal and it hurt quite a bit while I waited that whole three minutes. Turns out he had ripped open several internal organs with his lethal claws and if he hadn’t stopped he probably could have torn me to shreds and I wouldn’t have healed at all.