Dawning of Light (6 page)

“It would definitely warm us up,” Finn suggested.

“N-no!”

“Why were you out there anyway?” he asked abruptly. “All alone at dawn? That water is probably thirty-five degrees. And I noticed you weren’t wearing a life jacket. If I hadn’t been here…”

“Why
were
you here?” Cecilia asked.

“It’s been a week since you’ve tried anything stupid. I figured you were due.”

“So you were stalking me?” The
stupid
comment hurt, but she refused to let him know it.

“Stalking’s kind of a harsh word. More like keeping an eye on you.”

“Stalking.”

“You really want to get petty about this? I just saved your ass out there.
Again
.”

“Did you see what happened?”

“Yeah.”

* * * *

It was not a sight he would soon forget. He’d followed her as she made her way down to the beach in the dusky predawn darkness. At the time he’d simply been curious as to what she planned to do. If she was meeting some guy, he planned to scare the shit out of the guy and run him off. Just for the hell of it.

When she’d waded out into the water and then climbed into the kayak, he’d been dumbstruck. Who the hell went kayaking out on Lake Michigan when there was snow on the ground?

Cecilia, apparently.

Then he’d watched, once again dumbstruck, as she turned around, caught in a glorious beam of sunshine, and tilted her head up to meet the sun.

Lightbearers and their sunlight
, he thought, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she looked, how serene. This was her peace, this was her small bit of freedom, her escape. This, he knew without having to ask, was better for her than anything she could hope to find out there in the human world.

That was when a massive wave came out of nowhere, like a tidal wave, ruining it all and sending Finn’s heart plummeting to his feet. He had known before it even happened that she was about to be flipped, and he immediately began racking his brain for what type of animal he could shift into to get to her out of there before she drowned—or froze to death. He’d shifted first into an otter and dove into the shallows, swimming as fast as his webbed feet would take him, until he was deep enough that he could shift into a dolphin, which he knew would be large enough to drag her back to shore.

When he’d striped her out of her clothes, his only thought had been to keep her from developing hyperthermia. But now that they were lying together, bodies snuggled tightly, arms and legs entwined, it was awfully damn hard not to notice the way her small breasts pillowed against his chest, and the way her legs were spread, so perfectly that with just the barest of maneuvering, he could push into her…

He quickly flipped her over, so that her back pressed against his chest, but that wasn’t any better. Now it simply felt natural to him. This was the way of the shifters, front to back. This was how a male shifter took a female when he wanted to mate with her. There was no ceremony, no frills, no engagement in his world. They barely did any more than sniff each other’s butts and had sex, and boom, they were mated.

Fucked-up, maybe, but that didn’t stop his body from craving what was simply a natural instinct.

“So what happened?” Cecilia’s voice pulled him out of his errant thoughts. “I wasn’t paying attention,” she admitted. “I didn’t think anyone else would be out on the water at this time of day.”

“Why were
you
out there?” he demanded harshly, even though he figured he already knew the answer. She had simply wanted the quiet, the tranquility, the sunlight. She’d probably done it a thousand times before. That didn’t make it any easier for him to accept. Not after watching her nearly drown.

“Two hundred yards from shore without so much as a life jacket—and in half-frozen water, no less. Who the hell goes kayaking when it’s practically winter?”

“Don’t yell at me,” Cecilia snapped back as she tried to suppress a shiver. “I just wanted to feel the sun, that’s all. I’ve done it countless times. Out on the water, as the sun comes over the horizon, it’s—it’s—”

“Seductive?”

“Yes. Good word. And I knew it would likely be the last time this season. I just needed it today, that’s all.”

He could sympathize, he really could. He just wasn’t very good at expressing it.

“Try, the last time ever. If I catch you out there on that water again—”

“You’ll what?” she challenged.

“Trust me, I’ll make your life damned miserable.”

She turned her head away, resting her cheek against his shoulder. She was still cold, but not nearly as bone-chilling cold as she was when he’d first dragged her out of the water and she was still wearing her wet clothing.

“How are we going to get back, without any clothing?” she finally asked.

“My cottage isn’t too far from here, and it’s fairly secluded from the others. I’ll carry you and we’ll make quicker time. Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be, I guess.”

He stood up and scooped her into his arms. She snuggled into the heat of his chest, and he forced himself to ignore the jolt of magic that zapped through his system.
Like a drug
, he thought.

When he was younger and stupider, he and a few buddies had discovered catnip. The herb had seductive powers to shifters. It also made them think they needed more and more and more. It was highly addictive stuff. Finn had only tried it a handful of times before he quit. He liked to be in control, and when one was snacking on catnip, one was definitely not in control.

He raced through the sand, up over the dunes, and through a swath of trees until they came upon a small cottage that was indeed secluded from all the others. It was almost entirely surrounded by trees and sat near the edge of the coterie.

When he decided to make this place his home, he specifically chose this cottage for its seclusion. It was close enough to feel part of this motley pack of magical beings, but far enough away that he didn’t feel uncomfortable around a bunch of magical lightbearers who weren’t quite ready to accept him into their lives in the first place.

He hurried through the back door and strode through the basic three-room cottage until he stood in the bathroom, and then he placed her on her feet in the tub. “What are you doing?” she asked as she braced one hand on the wall and the other on his shoulder.

“Giving you a hot shower, to help get your body temperature elevated again.”

“You should shower too,” she protested.

He nearly groaned—had she just asked him to get into the shower with her? There was only so much a man could take of a naked Cecilia Druthers. How the hell he’d ever considered her too skinny was beyond him, now that he’d gotten a solid look at what she looked like without clothing. He’d never realized how incredibly beautiful the female body could be, and he’d seen plenty of naked women in his life.

But there was something about Cecilia, something about her body. It was baffling for any number of reasons, not the least of which was that until that moment, he would have considered himself a breast man, the larger the better. Now, Cecilia’s small, pert breasts seemed utterly perfect to him.

Her hips didn’t flare, either, like most of the shifter females he’d hooked up with. Whether it was true or not, male shifters often theorized that a female shifter’s hips were designed for grabbing, when a male was ready to mate. Suddenly, he didn’t much care for that theory. With Cecilia, she was tiny enough that he could wrap his arms around her waist and hold her tightly against him, while he pressed into her from behind, if he were so inclined to mate with her.

Damn it, what the hell was wrong with him? He shook his head, pushed away thoughts of doing naked things with Cecilia Druthers.

“I will—when you’re done,” he growled. He reached into the tub to twist the knob, and Cecilia hooked her arm around his and pulled. He stumbled and leaped into the tub to keep from slamming his head against the wall.

“Fates—are you trying to kill me? Is that the thanks I get for saving your ass?” he snapped at her.

“No,” she replied, far more calmly than him. “I’m trying to save
your
ass. I’m no healer, but I can tell that your body temperature is too low also. You need this shower as much as I do. We’re both already naked, and we’ve seen everything there is to see. So just turn on the damn water already.” Her teeth were beginning to chatter again. He cursed and turned around and did as she said.

He nearly groaned out loud again when she sighed with utter bliss as the steaming hot water hit her skin.

“Sorry,” he said when he realized how hot the water really was. “I like my showers really hot. Let me turn down—”

She grabbed his hand as he reached for the knobs again. “No, it’s perfect.”

He turned back around and saw that she stood under the spray, eyes closed, a small smile on her lips. The spray was beating on her chest, turning her breasts red and causing her nipples to peak. He had the most insane urge to dip his head and suckle one of those nipples. What would she do if he tried?

What the hell was he thinking? He shook his head and then elbowed her out of the way so that he could get under the spray of water.

Cecilia Druthers? Really? He’d rather…He’d rather what?

“If you don’t stop touching my ass, Cecilia…” He ground out the words through clenched teeth.

“You’ll what, Finn?” she challenged him. “This shower is helping, but maybe you were right earlier. Maybe there’s a much more efficient way to elevate both our body temperatures.”

Was she seriously suggesting…?

“I was experiencing a moment of temporary insanity out there on the beach,” he said. “This is as hot as it’s going to get between us, Cecilia.”

“It doesn’t have to mean anything.”

“It’s not happening.”

“I’m okay with one-night stands.”

“Shut up, Cecilia.”

“Fine,” she snapped, and she angrily pushed aside the shower curtain and climbed out of the tub. Feeling a combination of relief, guilt—and strangely enough, disappointment—Finn stood in the shower by himself until the water temperature began to dip into uncomfortable territory. Only then did he turn off the shower and climb out of the tub.

He quickly dried himself with a thick terry-cloth towel and then wrapped it around his hips and secured it there—no more walking around naked while Cecilia was around—and stepped out of the bathroom.

She was asleep in his bed, all but buried beneath a mound of blankets that she’d obviously pulled out of the closet. Her wet hair, dark blonde against the stark white pillowcase, fanned out behind her head. He sighed and brushed a lock out of her face. She turned toward his hand, nuzzled it for a moment, and then turned back to the pillow and sighed softly in her sleep. Finn pulled his hand away and looked at it.

What the hell was he going to do with her?

* * * *

She slept until noon, and they started arguing five minutes later.

“I am not going home wearing your clothes,” she protested.

“Would it be better if I went to your house and informed your parents that you’ve been sleeping naked in my bed and could I please have a set of clothing in which to send you home?” he retorted.

They were both on edge, a combination, no doubt, of her near drowning, the freezing cold, the close proximity of their naked bodies, and the resulting mutual desire that had gone unfulfilled.

Finn might be ten times a jerk in most situations, but taking advantage of females was not one of them. Cecilia, he was certain, had been under duress when she’d propositioned him in the shower earlier, just as he had been when he’d propositioned her out on the beach. The two of them—together? It was madness.

They could barely stand to be in the same vicinity half the time. While he was reasonably confident her spitfire personality would translate exceptionally well in the bedroom, what happened afterward? They’d probably fight, she’d get her feelings hurt, and it would end on a bad note. Not good, considering they were more or less stuck together in this coterie. He wasn’t about to let her go wandering off into the human world on her own, even if she pissed him off ten times till Tuesday.

Besides that, he was honest enough to admit that he still held his own personal deeply engrained beliefs that shifters should mate with shifters, and lightbearers should mate with lightbearers. Sure, he’d slept with Daisy, but they’d both gone into the situation with the same expectation. Daisy wanted a mate as much as he did—which was not at all.

And sure, Tanner and Olivia were making a go at it—a very real, honest go. Hard to deny those two were in love, the sort of intense, bone-deep, undeniable love that few were given the privilege to experience. Beside the fact that they could hardly refrain from banging each other every chance they got, they looked at each other with utter adoration in their eyes. Definitely in love. Definitely forever.

And he was pretty sure Lisa Bearrans, another shifter from Quentin’s pack who had moved to the coterie, was banging that pansy-ass Dane Metaldyne. Dane had once been Olivia’s betrothed, until Tanner had essentially handed over his entire fortune to the king of the lightbearers so that his kingdom would not go bankrupt. Some might suggest he’d bought Olivia’s hand from her father, but the truth was, they were already mated when he did it, and besides, only a precious few beings were even aware of the circumstances anyway.

Lisa hooking up with a lightbearer bothered Finn a little because he’d known her mate, Freddy, who died four months ago at Quentin’s hand, shortly before she gave birth to her second pup. But Finn figured it was just a rebound, plus, Dane had helped her whelp her second pup, so she undoubtedly felt some kind of obligation to him. He was so vastly different from her mate, though, that Finn could not imagine it would last long. Lisa would eventually turn to her own kind, when she was ready to settle down again. That was what shifters did.

Considering she was the only female shifter—other than her young daughter and Tanner’s mother—in his vicinity these days, Finn had actually been trying to convince himself that he might be interested in her. It was hard, though, because she’d been with Freddy for so long, that he couldn’t get thoughts of the two of them out of his mind. Plus, she’d always been a little plump, which normally he didn’t mind in the least. But ever since he started spending time in Cecilia’s company, he found himself drawn more and more to females who were tiny and petite—like Cecilia. The thought made him scowl.