Soul Mates: Scent (The Soul Mates Series) (31 page)

“Of course Sire.”

I grabbed Anna’s hand as she started to follow the shifters back into the room. She turned and smiled up at me, that sweet oh so sexy smile she knew made my knees weak. I pulled her close to me, breathing in her scent, trailing kisses over her neck and jaw. I nibbled on her earlobe and I felt her pulse jump. I grinned as I nibbled my way to her delectable lips. Her breath was coming fast and shallow as I pressed her closer to me and kissed her, caressing her silky lips with my tongue before dipping between them to taste the velvety softness inside. I never wanted to stop kissing her.

“My Prince.”

Don’t think I didn’t hear Daire, I did. I just ignored him. I figured he would go away eventually.

“My Prince, your sister is watching you intently,” Daire said softly. “from only two paces away.”

I broke the kiss, breathing hard. “Daire, would it have been too much to ask that you direct her attention elsewhere? She is only two after all. How hard could it be?” I could hear Anna’s amused giggle in my ear as she hid her face in my shoulder.

“We tried, my Prince. There is no distracting her. She says she has something to show you.”

I sighed, pulled Anna’s face up from my shoulder, smoothed her hair and smiled at her. “Okay, Abbey, what did you want to show me?” I asked turning around.

“Max! You done kissing Anna?” Abbey asked her little innocent eyes all lit up and interested.

Anna laughed.

“Yes, for the moment. Now what did you want to show me squirt?” I asked picking her up.

“Down Max! Gotta be down!”

I set her back down. “Okay, you’re down. Now what is it Abbey?”

Abbey smiled her Cheshire grin, looked down at her hand and pulled a ring off of her finger. “Look at me Max! Look it! Abbey Pretty Faerie Too!”

The next couple of weeks were a blur really. Anna and Tatiana were preoccupied with wedding stuff. Mom and dad were at the Faerie Mound pretty much daily with Abbey, trying to figure out how to deal with a two year old who knew how to disappear for real and could make trees and flowers bloom pretty much on command. Who knew what other skills she had but hadn’t yet discovered?

It turns out Auberon was the one who showed Abbey the ring on her finger. Mom and dad were
pissed
to say the least. The flashing, well that she picked up on all on her own. Once Daire and Cole had flashed her out of the house and to the entrance of Faerie, well Abbey decided she’d enjoyed it so much she just made it happen again and again.

Secretly I have been enjoying the chaos of it all. Life is messy, and hard. I still have to go to school everyday, mom and dad are insisting. Anna is going with me. She never really went to a real high school, so she is enjoying the experience.

We’ve been up to Quebec a couple of times to talk to our people. It went pretty well. Apparently our reputations preceded us, thanks in part to Seth Tigris. They even threw us a surprise engagement party while we were there. And I finally met Anna’s mother and siblings.

All of these thoughts passed through my head as I stare up at the almost full moon. I was headed to Tony’s for a little bachelor party, just me and him and some classic action movies, but really all my thoughts were on Anna and the wedding. Tomorrow at midnight Anna and I will wed beneath the hunter’s moon. And I couldn’t wait to make her mine completely. My brain was so utterly distracted by thoughts of her that I didn’t register the Unseelies’ approach until they were on me.

I was on the pavement screaming in pain before I knew what hit me. I knew Anna could feel my pain and I knew she would be sending reinforcements, I just prayed it would be soon enough.

I pried my eyes back open in time to see a spiked tail speeding toward my forehead. I flashed myself out of the way just in time. Gathering my breath I calmed myself and drew my sabers, healing my wounds as I went.

Six Unseelie creatures surrounded me, all vying for a piece of me it looked like. They seemed to be squabbling amongst themselves trying to decide who should get the next hit at me.

I really didn’t want to hang around waiting to see what they decided. I sprang forward quickly, using my sabers like scissors and sliced off the head of the closest Unseelie. One down, five to go.

I spun swiftly out of the way as another spiked limb swung toward me like a club. I back flipped out of the way, up and over the Unseelie, stabbing downward through it’s skull. Two down, four left.

I felt a spike strike my leg and I screamed at the pain of it, like someone had just driven a steel railroad tie through my shin. I swallowed the pain, flashed behind the creature that had struck me, stabbed him through the middle and pulled with all my strength as I split him in half. Three down, three still to go. The odds were getting better.

I flashed again, landing about five feet from the remaining Unseelie. I held one saber out in front of me, the other above my head. “Who sent you?”

They stared at me as if I was as idiot. Of course I knew who had sent them. I just wanted to hear them say it. Knowing why would be nice too, of course. Not that they had to have a reason, they were Unseelie, that seemed to be the only reason they needed.

“Okay, so is there a reason the Queen of Air and Darkness chose tonight to send you all after me?”

“Of course heir. The Queen always has a reason. It has been fore told. You will conceive a child on the hunter’s moon. We are here to see that does not happen.”

I grinned. A child, for Anna and I, I thought.

“My Prince! Watch out!”

I ducked as another spike came hurtling toward my head. I wasn’t about to let these creatures win. I flashed out of the way as another swing of a spiked tail came my way. I flashed back in front of the creature that had tried to pound my head in and with another scissor slice, I took it’s head and half it’s body as well. Two more left and Daire was already dealing a death blow to one of them.

I turned on the last creature, stalking it. It was backing away, looking like it was ready to run. I had half a mind to let it, but then again they had been out to exterminate me before Anna and I could create a child… my mercy died with that thought. I flashed behind the creature and it backed right into my blades. I pulled them up and split him in two, slicing right through it’s heart.

I was soaked with blood and breathing hard by the time the rest of the Fae warriors made it to our side. They looked around at the six dead Unseelie and then at Daire and then at me.

“My Prince, did Daire…?”

“By the time I reached our Prince he had already killed four of the Unseelie.”

The Fae warriors stared at me, their faces filled with horror and awe. “My Prince, you should not be outside without Fae warriors. It is unsafe. The Unseelie…” said a young voice from behind the large Fae warriors.

The warriors parted and I stared at the youngest warrior who dared to try and tell me that I could not walk outside without protection.

“Christian, I suggest you take a look at what our Prince has just done to these Unseelie. Because if you continue that thought, you may find yourself laying next to them,” Thane said dryly.

Christian swallowed hard, stepped forward and inspected all of the Unseelie. His face paled and his eyes dropped just before he fell to his knees. “Forgive me my Prince. I did not know you were so skilled. I…I’m so sorry…”

I put my hand on Christian’s head and he looked up at me. “Next time, gather all of the information before you speak, lest someone think you an imbecile.”

“Yes, my Prince.”

“Clear away this mess, I don’t want Anna seeing any of this. It’s bad enough she felt some of it. And do we have a way of getting a message to the Queen of Air and Darkness?”

“My Prince, just speak it. It is night and she
is
the Queen of Air and Darkness after all. Any message to her is carried on the night wind.”

“Of course,” I said gathering my thoughts. I turned to find the direction of the wind. “Queen of Air and Darkness, hear me now and hear me good! You’re assassins failed! You could send more, but I will be even better prepared next time they arrive. So my suggestion to you is to stop this now, before you go to far. Because I can guarantee that the next time you come after me or one of mine, I will start hunting you down!”

I turned back to the warriors and helped them finish getting the parking lot cleaned up. When we had finished, it still wasn’t too late to go to Tony’s so I jumped in my Vette, cranked the engine and smiled at her relaxing purr.

The ride over to Tony’s was quick and painless. I pulled up in front of his decked out for Halloween house. I couldn’t believe what Tony’s mom had done to it. There were hay bales everywhere, with scarecrows sitting on them, bats swinging from the trees, a mechanical witch stirring a cauldron on one side of the porch and Frankenstein and Dracula were playing chess on the other. All very strange. Of course that was nothing compared to the inside.

Cobwebs hung from the ceiling in all colors with little plastic spiders in them. Skeletons decorated the walls and every table top contained a jack-o-lantern. “So, I see your mom went all out this year for Halloween,” I said with a straight face.

Tony shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Yeah she freaked out a little when she came home and saw the cleaning crew you sent. I think she is in denial and this is her way of dealing. I mean really dude, Pixies? You couldn’t just call
Merry
Maids
?”

“Wait, you are a Sióga Feiceann, a psychic, your mom is a psychic too right? Why did it freak her out if she already knew about us?”

“Dude, mom’s not a Sióga Feiceann. She’s not even a real psychic. Don’t tell her I told you, by the way, she’d kill me. I got my abilities from my dad. Mom is real good at pretending. Sometimes she even gets it right. Most of the time I guide her.”

My jaw dropped. “All these years, every school fair, town event even her tea shop? All fake?”

“Well, mostly yeah. Mom has some talent, she can read tea leaves pretty accurately and the cards. But the other stuff, the important stuff… nope, that’s all me.”

“So she saw the Pixies and flipped out?”

“Pretty much, until she decided it was a cleaning crew of kids in costumes pretending to be Pixies. Then she decided since Halloween was so close to just start decorating. The spider webs went up today. I wish she’d stop already.”

I laughed, I couldn’t help it.

“So, tomorrow’s the big day, are you nervous?”

“Nope. I think I have been waiting my whole life for this.”

“Still, how weird is it going to be going to school on Monday as a married man?” Tony laughed.

A fake look of horror crossed my face. “No, really. We aren’t going to tell anyone at school except you, because you are in the wedding and you’re my best friend, and the only one who can actually see all of the guests,” I said with a laugh.

“Yeah, but dude, you’ll know, you know?”

I shook my head at his logic. “Yeah, I know and I say bring it on. I’m ready. If it involves Anna, I’m ready for anything.”

“So, I was looking at the cards before you got here…”

“Oh yeah?” I asked half fearing what he was about to say.

“Yeah,” Tony said with a grin. “Anna is definitely your soul mate. And don’t be surprised if you… err…well Dude, I hate to break it to you, but I hope you and Anna were planning to have a family like soon… cause it’s coming, like fast.”

I grinned. “I know.”

I stood beneath the twinkling lights that lit the trees, the hunter’s moon hung huge and red in the sky, and I waited for Anna to walk down the red tapestry aisle that Tatiana had created in the woods out of rose petals. Our friends and families sat on either side of the deep red aisle as they too waited with anticipation for Anna to begin her journey to me.

Tony, Daire, Cole and Thane stood at my side. I glanced at Auberon who stood one step higher than us, ready to marry Anna and I as soon as she reached us. Tatiana signaled the music to begin and after a moment Anna started up the aisle on her father’s arm looking like a walking dream.

Her white gauzy dress floated around her as if held up by tiny little pixies, the diamonds sewn into the gown sparkled and twinkled almost as brightly as Anna’s gorgeous blue eyes. She looked luscious and innocent all at once. A crown of holly and ivy decorated her dark tresses, which she had left down for me, knowing how much I loved when she wore her hair down.

David placed Anna’s hand in mine and I swelled with pride that she was mine and no one else’s.
I
love
you
Anna.

Anna looked up at me and smiled her sexy sweet smile.
I
love
you
too
my
Max.

And then Auberon began the wedding ritual of the supernatural. We swore before God, before the goddess Diana, on the lives of our people and to each other that we would love one another for eternity. Nothing, not even death would break our bond. And then Auberon asked for the rings and Tony was handing me the ring I’d had made for Anna.

I slid it on her finger, “From this day forth, until eternity, you are my mate. I will love, honor, cherish and protect you even beyond death. You are my life Anna. I love you.”

Anna smiled and squeezed my fingers. She picked up the ring she had chosen for me and slid it on my finger. “I have searched from one end of the Earth to the other for you my Max, my mate, my love. I will follow you where ever our life leads us. I will love, honor, cherish and protect you even beyond death. For you too are my life Max. I love you.”

Auberon smiled as we both glanced up at him. “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss your bride,” he said, and I did, with every ounce of passion and love in me. As the kiss went on, and on, Auberon attempted to clear his throat to get us to break apart, with no luck. “Well, it seems the only thing left to do is… May I introduce Mr. and Mrs. Max Fergus?”