A Promise on White Wings (Wiccan-Were-Bear) (12 page)

Lorene helped her stand and said to Danika, “You can keep the book, child.  If you want to discuss anything with Bitty, just call anytime.”

Danika hugged both ladies and thanked them for their time.  She held the book tightly to her chest and followed Chance and Jes out of the office.  They said goodbye to the two young Wiccans who were running the front of the store where anyone could buy Wiccan supplies or set up appointments for readings and spell castings, and walked out into the fall sunshine.

She kissed Jes on the cheek as he opened the passenger door for her.  “Thank you for taking me to visit Bitty and Lorene.”

“You’re welcome, little bird.  We all need to find out where we came from.”

When they were all in the truck, Chance turned the engine on and pulled out of the parking lot.  “I’m sorry you weren’t able to find out what happened to your parents, love.”

“I wish I remembered them, but I’m not sorry for the life that I had.  Mama took good care of me, and if it weren’t for the den I might never have met you both.”

Jes said, “So the name Jance?”

She laughed.  “I think it’s a combination of Jes and Chance.  Do you like it?”

He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.  “I like it a lot.  But I love you.”

“I love you, too, Jes.”

Chance cleared his throat noisily, and she laughed and leaned his way and kissed his cheek.  “I love you, too, you old bossy lion.”

They arrived back at the house, and Ley met them at the front door, bowing regally as he usually did and greeting them all warmly.

“Your father left a message that some supplies were delivered to his home and he would like you to call him.”  Ley said as he shut the door behind him.

Chance leaned over and kissed Danika.  “I’m going to run over and see what he’s talking about.  I wasn’t expecting any deliveries.  I won’t be long.”

He disappeared out the door and Jes said, “Want to see something neat?”

“Of course,” she said, smiling up at him.

They walked from the grand foyer into the kitchen and out the back doors into the garden.  He pulled off his shirt and tossed it onto the steps, and she wiggled her brows.  “I thought you meant something
neat
, not something devastatingly sexy.”

He grinned and his black wings slid from his back.  “Come on up.”  His wings flapped quickly and he rose into the air.

“Up where?”

“The roof.”

She hummed in her throat and took off her shirt, leaving on the silk cami.  She watched Jes fly up to the roof, marveling at how easy he made it look.  She was definitely better at flying now than she had been, but she envied him his expertise.

“I think you need to give me more lessons, Jes,” she said as her wings slid from her back.  The odd feeling as the wings moved through her skin took some getting used to.  It almost felt like something electric was pushing out of her body, making her skin tingle and her body hum.

“Get up here, woman,” he laughed, perching on the edge of the roof and looking down at her.  In that particular pose, he looked a bit like a gargoyle, and she chuckled.

She flew up to the roof and overshot Jes by several feet, and he grabbed her arm as she whizzed by him and pulled her into the safety of his arms.  “Landings.  We’ll practice landings next time.”

Their wings touched as he held her, and she hugged her arms around his neck and kissed him.  “This is very cool.”

“Yes, love, but I didn’t bring you up here for that.”  He sat down on the rooftop, and she joined him.  Their wings brushed together, and it made her feel as if they were holding wings as well as holding hands, as their fingers entwined.

“When I was a kid, I used to climb up here when I wanted to be alone.  I could see everything in the nest and around us, and no one knew I was up here except for Ley, of course.  Can’t get anything by that old fellow.”

It was really a breathtaking view.  Inside the brick wall that surrounded the nest’s territory, trees and fields were dotted with homes and businesses.  The garden was below them, each tree, shrub, statue, and flowerbed chosen by his grandfather especially for his grandmother.  She loved the history of the garden and didn’t know that she could be so happy digging in the dirt every day.

She leaned on Jes’ arm.  “In the vision, I saw myself with twin girls and they were playing in the garden, making crowns out of flowers.”

“And you were pregnant, too?”

“Yeah.”

“I wish I could have seen the vision, too.  I’m thankful that going to see the Wiccans helped you to find out about your past and showed you a picture of the future.”

She thought of Jance and Venture, who were spitting images of their fathers.  “It’s strange to think of a child of mine being powerful enough to be King.  I never pictured myself as anything special before.”  In the den, she had been the stranger.  The one who had been taken in.  Knowing about her history as a
madter
, she was relieved to know that she had been loved by her parents and hadn’t been abandoned on purpose.  She wished that she had known them.

Jes squeezed her hand a little tighter.  “You
are
special, Danika.  Not because of your heredity, or because you are going to be the mother of a King, or because you’re mated to two Kings, but because you’re unique, beautiful, kind, and sweet.  That makes you special, and that also makes me extremely lucky to have you as a mate.”

Her heart melted.  Her all-business mate was sweet and romantic, and she liked having this time alone with him.

“So, when you were hiding up here, what would you do?”

He looked out over the territory.  “Think, mostly. Daydream.  When I was older and Tonik and Revere would follow me everywhere, I would hide up here from them and throw rocks at them.”

She laughed.  “Jes!”

He chuckled.  “They were total pains.  I think it’s in the
little brothers manual
.”

They sat on top of the roof for more than an hour, and Jes shared his childhood exploits with her.  She told him of the sweet times she’d had with Mama, learning to cook and sew and going for long walks in the woods.  Danika knew that she would have loved Jes and Chance.

They flew down to the ground together, holding hands, and then she practiced her landings in the garden while Jes watched.

Chance joined them after dealing with a supplies order that had been meant for the market and not the lions’ homes, and the three sat out in the garden and talked about their future and about the vision she’d seen with the Wiccans, and later, they made love in their room and she fell asleep, safely nestled between her mates.

Chapter 12

He glanced at the clock and realized it was nearly eight p.m.  He’d missed dinner.  Which wasn’t abnormal over the last month since Danika had come into his life.  The lions were adjusting to life within the community and the falcons were slowly accepting not only Danika and Chance as their leaders, but also the lions as part of the nest.  Although it wasn’t official – the nest and pride were still separately ruled groups within the community – Jantha had opted to take on an advisory role and to let Jes and Chance hash things out.  According to Danika’s vision, they had a while before his son would be able to bring the two groups together as one cohesive unit, and he had a feeling that until that happened, a lot more lions and falcons were going to be joining in mating groups.

He felt Danika before he saw her, when she stepped through the office door with a wicked little smile on her face.

“Hello sweetheart,” he turned to face her as she sauntered through the doorway.  She flicked the door shut with the tip of her finger, leaning back against it with her hands behind her back.  He heard the lock click, and every muscle in his body went tight and hot.

“Hi, Jes,” she breathed his name.

“You look like you’ve got wicked things on your mind, sweet love,” he said, turning in his chair as she came around his desk.

“Not wicked,” she purred.  Grasping his hand, she drew him from the chair and over to the couch.  “I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

“Have you?”  He chuckled, knowing that she was never far from his thoughts, either.

“Of course.”

He sat on the couch and she straddled him, her knee-length skirt riding up her legs with the motion.  Her hand slipped between them, and she rubbed his cock through his jeans.  Her mouth touched his, and the sweet scent of her arousal spiked in the air between them as their lips parted and their tongues touched.  She played her free hand through his hair, twisting the curly locks between her fingers as her hand continued to rub up and down his length.  His hands pressed the outside of her thighs, underneath her skirt, and smoothed around to her ass, finding her without panties.  He smiled inwardly as she deepened the kiss, arching her back and pressing herself more firmly against his hands.

He felt her hand tugging at his zipper, and she made a frustrated sound at the back of her throat.  He eased away from the drugging kiss and undid his jeans, lifting his hips from the couch and shoving them down his thighs.  She grasped his cock with one hand and kissed him, her mouth hungrily melding to his as though she couldn’t breathe right unless their lips were touching.  She fisted his cock and stroked him from root to tip, rubbing her palm on the head the way that he liked, and he slipped his hands up the inside of her thighs.  She trembled slightly and sucked on his tongue with a small moan, as he rubbed his thumb on her clit in slow circles and pushed a finger into her hot, wet pussy.

She released his cock and pushed his hands away.  “I want to come around your cock,” she whispered against his lips.  Her eyes were so blue they were almost glowing.  He growled in his throat and cupped her face, bringing her lips back to his as she guided his cock into her body.

She sank down onto his cock with aching slowness, and he groaned deeply, swiping his tongue along hers.  When their bodies were joined completely, she began to rock on him.  He let his hands drop down to the front of her blouse and undid the buttons, shoving the material off her shoulders and lifting her breasts from the cups of her bra.  As she rocked on him, her fingers digging into his shoulders, he sucked and licked at her nipples, raking his teeth along the sensitive buds.

Her pussy began to clutch at him rhythmically, and he knew she was close to coming.  With a last lick to her nipples, he gripped her hips and pressed her close, grinding his hips up into hers until she came, shouting his name and raking her nails down his arms.

With a quick move, he pinned her under him on the couch and fucked her hard, holding her hands above her head and stretching her body underneath his. Pounding into her, he lowered his head to her neck and bit her at the place where her neck and shoulder met.  She shrieked as she came a second time, and he followed her into oblivion.

Sliding to the side of her body, he cradled her close and kissed her forehead.

“That was...wow,” she said with a rough voice.

He grinned.  He loved to make her almost speechless with passion.  And he definitely loved to hear the satisfaction in her voice and feel her body tremble against him as the pleasure faded.

“I am the luckiest male in the world to have such a sexy, willing mate.”

She lifted her head and kissed him.  “I love you, Jes.”

“I love you too, Danika.”

They rested in easy silence, holding each other, until she drifted off to sleep.  He righted their clothes and then carried her to the master suite where Chance was watching television on his iPad.  The lion grinned at him and pulled the covers back, and between the two of them, they disrobed their sleeping mate and covered her up with a blanket.

For a moment, Jes paused at the edge of the bed, thinking about the work left undone in the office.  If he went back there, he wouldn’t be back in the bedroom for hours, and then he’d be up at dawn once more.  The work never ended for him.  If it wasn’t something with the supply business, it was something with the nest.  He loved being the leader and providing for his mate, but he hated to be away from her.  And what sort of example would he be for his future children if he worked all the time?

Chance said with a low voice, “Something wrong, Jes?”

Deciding that he would find a way to delegate some responsibilities so that he could work normal hours and spend more time with his mate, he pulled his shirt off and tossed it aside.  Shucking his jeans, he climbed into bed next to his mate and said, “Not at all.  I was just thinking that it’s time for me to start delegating.  We’ve only been mated a month, and I feel like I’ve missed half the time with her.”

“I’m here for whatever you need,” Chance promised and Jes knew the male was sincere.  He could still lead the nest effectively – probably better than he did now – if he focused on a few responsibilities and let his brothers and a few other members of the nest handle the rest for him.

Saying goodnight to Chance, he closed his eyes, pulled Danika a little closer, and fell asleep, thoughts of sleeping in filling his mind.

For the first time in he didn’t know how long, he slept past dawn.  He woke up to Danika snuggling into his side and giggling softly as Chance kissed down her back.  Danika smiled broadly at him when she saw he was awake, and said, “I couldn’t believe my good fortune to wake up between two such sexy males.”

He was feeling pretty fortunate himself.

As he and Chance made love to Danika, he marveled at the rightness of the situation.  He had never expected to share a woman again, but he couldn’t imagine a world where Chance wasn’t also Danika’s mate.  She needed both of them, and they both needed her.

Two years ago he thought that he had lost everything of value.  But the past month with Danika had proven to him how shallow his past feelings had been and how glad he was that he had waited for his mate and not forced himself into a mating with someone he didn’t love.  The sweet little female in his arms was worth the years of loneliness because he’d never be lonely again.