The Mating Season: Werewolves of Montana Book 6 (12 page)

Tristan shot him a look.
You love squid.

I hate squid. Even deep fried, it’s mushy and fishy. Every time you served it to me and said it was a treat, I wanted to barf. And you’re reading my mind again. Stop it.

You never told me. I would have seen you had something much more suitable. Like leftover cow patties.

Sebastian laughed. When Skylar gave him an odd look, he cleared his throat and called for the bartender.

Tristan and Nikita ordered two domestic beers and four cheeseburgers, rare. Sebastian went with the usual fare for himself and Skylar: two imported beers and four burgers, well-done.

As they sipped beer and waited for their dinner, Sebastian explained the process of renovating the bar and expanding it to include an outdoor patio for summer and spring.

“We’re even doing pizza delivery, as soon as we find a competent driver,” he told them.

Tristan sipped more beer. “I’m looking for a new job,” he deadpanned. “I could deliver pizzas for you.”

Laughter erupted from Nikita. “He would be your fastest delivery guy, too. Imagine, Sebastian. Pizzas delivered hot in sixty seconds or your money back.”

Tristan’s mouth quirked in a rare smile. “Gives a whole new meaning to fast food.”

He and Nikita clinked their beer bottles. Fascinated, Sebastian stared at them, delighted with this whole new side of the wizard. Playful and relaxed.

It’s about damn time someone made you laugh, Tristan. You’ve been too damned serious lately. You’re so gloomy you’d make an outing at an amusement park seem like a day at a funeral parlor.

As Sebastian went to open his beer, it sprayed all over his shirt. Sputtering, he set down the bottle and saw Tristan sporting a sly grin.

Skylar kept staring at Tristan with avid fascination. When he raised a brow, she blushed. “I’m sorry. It’s your hair. With the silver tips, it’s so…interesting.”

An impish look came over Nikita. “He really should cut it. He looks like a hippie.”

“I’ve always worn my hair long,” Tristan protested.

“You should try something different. Maybe pull it back in a ponytail. Or a man bun.” Nikita raked her hands through his hair and he made a purring sound.

Then she pulled it up into a ponytail, secured it with a clip Skylar gave her, and Sebastian laughed. Tristan looked so resigned, he almost felt sorry for the guy.

The Silver Wizard glanced at the wide screen television and then down at his clothing. “No Skins here, only shifters. It’s safe. We need proper attire for this, my sweet.”

He waved a hand and clothed himself in a red and white baseball shirt and jeans, and then suddenly Nikita wore a baseball cap upon her head. She laughed as she tugged off the cap. “The Yankees? Tristan, please. My team is the Red Sox.”

“As you wish,” he murmured, and changed the logo on her cap.

She put it on and their food arrived. They ate, watching the baseball playoffs. Nikita took little, dainty bites of her burger, sometimes pausing to eat a French fry from Tristan’s hand. Absorbed in the game, she gestured, shouted and shook her head, much to his amusement.

“So you like baseball?” Sebastian asked Nikita. He swallowed a bite of burnt hamburger. “You’re a sports fan? I think Tristan was into sports nine hundred years ago. Gladiator games, maybe tussling with a samurai or two. He’s got the man bun down pat for being a samurai warrior.”

The wizard shot him a dirty look and removed the clip from his hair. It spilled down his shoulders. Tristan handed Skylar back the clip.

“I’ve spent a lot of time alone in my apartment, with the television for company. I grew to enjoy sports. It felt like I was almost there, cheering on my favorite teams,” Nikita said, her gaze centered on the wide screen above the bar.

Skylar exchanged a look with Sebastian, who turned to Tristan.

It’s a long story, dragon. Nikita’s family hid her away to keep me from finding her. There is a prophecy in the family that made them fear I would take her away and kill her.

Sebastian blinked.
You? You’re tough, but not a monster. What a stupid prophecy.

Then the wizard gave a real smile.
Thank you.

On the screen, the batter swung, and the umpire called him out.

“Strike? Strike? He’s out? Are you insane?” Niki stood up, waving a fist at the wide screen. “He was safe, damnit. Safe! Drop dead, you stupid jerks!”

Face flushed, she suddenly pointed a finger at the television screen.

Skylar gasped and Sebastian felt his heart drop to his stomach.

Holy dragon droppings.

The opposing team had all fallen down, as if they were all dead.

Horror filled Niki’s expression as shocked gasps rippled through the bar. “Oh dear goddess, what did I do?” she whispered.

Tristan stood and flicked a hand, and the players all stood up, looking stunned, but normal. The television announcer was saying something about a sudden heat stroke.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Huge tears swam in Nikita’s blue eyes. She hiccupped and looked miserable.

Tristan pulled her against him. “Hush, my sweet. It is all right. Everything is fine.”

He gently kissed her cheek, then her mouth, and kept making little soothing sounds, even as the television monitor showed that everything was fine: the players kept playing and the audience no longer gasped in stunned shock.

Tristan had set everything to rights. The Silver Wizard stroked Nikita’s hair, his gaze filled with sympathy.

“My poor Niki,” he murmured. “You did not know. It is not your fault.”

Then he looked at Skylar and Sebastian. Skylar kept gripping his hand, squeezing so tightly that Sebastian winced.

“Nikita has some of my powers,” Tristan said slowly, “and does not yet know how to control them.”

Sebastian felt a stab of deep pity. Nikita was Lupine. She’d only wanted to come to a bar and feel a sense of normalcy, with a beer and a burger, watch a baseball game.

Not zap the opposing team with a stream of power that toppled them to their knees.

They finished their meal, with Sebastian desperately trying to make small talk about the improvements Skylar had made to the compound, and how the clan was moving on to other economic opportunities. But Nikita looked woeful and Tristan’s expression remained grim.

Finally, Tristan pushed back his plate. “Thank you for dinner, Skylar and Sebastian. We should return to the compound so we can talk.”

Meaning:
I’m getting serious now.

As they started to leave the bar, Skylar took one look at Nikita, who kept staring at the polished bar.

“Pleasure before business. You’re our guests and we rarely have visitors these days. I need a mani-pedi afternoon.” Skylar turned to Nikita. “Girls’ night out, only during the day.”

“What is a girls’ night out?” Nikita asked.

“When we leave the men to discuss boring things like sports and ruling the world, and we paint our toenails bright pink.” Skylar hooked her arm through Niki’s and Sebastian had never loved her more. “You and me, Niki. We’re going to gossip about men and dragons, and have our nails painted and drink wine just like a pajama party.”

Nikita brightened. “I’ve never been to a pajama party. My twin sister, Nia, has often spent the night and we’ve watched television, but Nia was always too busy to do girl stuff.”

“Well, you’ll love a mani-pedi. First thing I did in restoring the castle was add a day spa. We’ll do the whole routine, even a massage.”

Tristan and Sebastian smiled. Sebastian silently applauded his mate for her generosity in making Nikita feel normal again.

As the women chattered and climbed into the back seat of the Lexus, Sebastian glanced at Tristan.

“You can’t coddle her. Or protect her from everything,” Sebastian said softly. “She is a very unique Lupine, Tristan. But she is her own person.”

She is indeed special.
The wizard’s gaze went soft as he stared at Nikita.

That is what love does, Sebastian thought with grim amusement.
It makes the most powerful wizard into a slave. I wonder if he knows it?

I am not a slave,
Tristan responded, irritably.
I am a Lupine who has longed to see and touch his mate for hundreds of years. Nikita and I were married in the Dark Ages, before I became the Silver Wizard.

Sebastian fell quiet on the ride back to the castle. He wondered what the wizard wanted from him. And what would be the cost this time?

Tristan felt Sebastian’s worry as clearly as he felt his own mate’s anxiety lessen, the more she talked with Skylar. He sent tendrils of calming energy into the air.

Sebastian would be upset enough when he found out the real reason for this visit.

As they pulled up to the castle, he looked around with appreciation. The compound was breathtaking, with sweeping views of the valley below the beautiful gardens and proud stone buildings that housed the people. The castle was fashioned from blue limestone, with towering walls and circular turrets. Wide, open windows were cut into the two turrets on the castle, probably designed to allow a dragon to fly inside. Green plants and flowering bushes grew around the castle.

They went inside to the formal living room. Plush burgundy chairs and a leather sofa were arranged before a rock fireplace large enough to roast a pig. Vases of fresh flowers sat on the polished tables. Skylar had turned the castle into a home.

Their mating had been a good choice, he thought. And the outcome of Sebastian’s last assignment, for he had assigned the dragon to teach Skylar all about becoming a dragon.

Sebastian had black curls that spilled down to the collar of his starched white shirt, angular features and burning blue eyes. The silver dragon tattoo that indicated he served the Silver Wizard, as did the rest of his family, curved from his neck down to his right shoulder.

Skylar: ah, there was a rare jewel. She was, in fact, a royal blooded jewel dragon, with waist-length curls of brown, ash, blonde and red tumbling down her back. She had a light dusting of freckles across her cheeks and moved with a certain regal bearing.

“Would you like anything to drink?” Skylar asked, ever the polite hostess.

Her mate, on the other hand, cut to the chase before they could even sit down.

“What do you want from me, Tristan? Another two hundred years of indentured servitude?” He softened the words with a smile.

But Niki sputtered. “You enslaved him?” She turned with an accusing look at her mate.

“It was that or watch the Shadow Wizard turn him into dragon dust. I saved your pretty ass, Sebastian.”

Sebastian now grinned broadly. “My mate would say it’s an ass worth saving.”

Then his smile dropped. “Why are you here?”

“I need a favor.”

Sebastian blinked. “You, the mighty Silver Wizard? The man who turned me into a tiny dragon, only as large as an alligator, and made me live in scales for fifteen years, so a woman could kill me and cut out my living heart? Yeah, Wiz, I’m all about doing you a favor.”

“It does seem rather drastic,” Tristan agreed. Then he drew Nikita forward, his hand resting possessively on the small of her back. “This is what you did, Sebastian. Your dragon’s heart created a potion that saved my Nikita from death.”

Tristan glanced at her. “My sweet, why don’t you go with Skylar and start on your spa day while Sebastian and I talk?”

Skylar looked worried. “Is this about Alex?”

Nikita turned to her. “Who is Alex?”

“A dragon shifter,” Tristan cut in before Skylar could answer. “Sebastian’s cousin, Prince Alexander. He is missing.”

Sebastian’s mouth tightened. “My cousin, who’s enamored with another woman and not the one he’s supposed to marry. I hope the hell he didn’t run away.”

“He is in the Shadow Lands,” Tristan told him.

Nikita frowned. “I thought only the dead could enter the afterworld.”

“There was a little glitch.” He gave her a gentle smile. “Go, enjoy yourself. I shall explain everything later.”

When the women had left the room, he and Sebastian sat on the sofa.

Awe filled Sebastian’s blue eyes. He hoped the dragon would agree to his proposal, for he needed his permission.

One simply did not take a knife to a dragon’s mate and hurt her, even if one was the Silver Wizard.

“So… I saved Nikita’s life? With my dragon’s heart, before you made me whole and mortal again?”

“Without your dragon’s heart, I could not have made the potion, for giving our blood would not be enough to keep her body corporeal and admit her to Tir Na-nog. I am taking her there through the Shadow Lands. It’s the only way Nikita can access the afterworld without dying.”

“And while you’re in the Shadow Lands, you’re going to convince Alex to come home, right? He’s got to marry Princess Sabrina soon and if he doesn’t show his face at the palace, Sabrina’s father, King Horace, will regard that as an insult. It could break the truce between the clans. Ole Horace is a stickler for protocol and formality.”

“Alexander is a stubborn dragon.” Tristan was diplomatic. “Xavier visited him and told me Alexander does not wish to return. I cannot force him back, for in doing so, I could damage his earthly body. He must return of his own free will.”