Mind Mates (Pull of the Moon Book 2) (32 page)

“Hardly,” Goodwin said. “The blame for his family’s ruin rests squarely on the Shootingstars themselves.”

“It was brewing for decades,” Linda said. “Generations, in fact.”

“The Shootingstar family used to be the crème de la crème of witch society.” The cat familiar held out his cup to Linda, who rummaged around in an end table drawer beside her. “But the years diluted their power.”

“Inbreeding.” Linda winked, pulling a whiskey flask from the drawer. She opened it with an expert twist and poured a slug of amber liquid into her familiar’s cup.

“Perhaps.” Goodwin swirled the cup then lapped quickly. “Ah. Perfect. Of course their matriarch insisted they were still a virile family and a force to be reckoned with. But some of the more ambitious Council families disagreed—and set about to prove it.”

Linda poured a bit of tonic into her own cup then offered the flask around. “The Council instituted the Contests—a sort of magic Olympics where witches tested their prowess against each other.”

The cat familiar said, “The ambitious families taunted the Shootingstars until they competed in the multi-element games—and surprisingly were soundly defeated.”

“Surprising only to the Shootingstars, I think.” Linda sipped tea a bit smugly.

“It opened the way for the Council to legislate a testing policy for Nostradamus University, so children couldn’t automatically get in based on their parents having been royals. Led by the Lower House, but after the Shootingstar embarrassment, the Upper House had to give in.”

“Matriarch protested, of course,” Linda said. “She managed to close down the Contests—but not the legislation.”

“Shootingstars were demoted from the hereditary Upper House. Of course, they hadn’t had a High Minister in generations.”

“If they’d had one whit of ambition or drive,” Linda said tartly, “they would have done quite well in the Lower House. But they didn’t.”

Gabriel frowned. “So our family was one of the ambitious group who pushed them out?”

“Oh no, dear,” Linda said. “The Light brothers hadn’t even participated in getting the testing instituted—they never were terribly political. But they did benefit by it, the first royals in the family.”

“That we know of,” Goodwin put in.

“Other factions drove the Shootingstars out. But the Light brothers took their place, and the Shootingstars considered it an affront.”

“That they were replaced?” Gabriel asked.

“That such an upstart clan could be called royalty. Also, well, bullies pick on those who can’t or won’t fight back. The Lights were easy targets because they wanted only to govern, not to protect their position. As I said, they weren’t political animals.”

“I actually think the Shootingstars would have understood political backstabbers better,” Goodwin mused. “Respected them, even.”

“So you see, dear, poor Ryder not only grew up with the message that he was entitled to money and power, but that the reason he lived without the prestige that was his right by birth, was the Lights.”

“Even though it wasn’t.” Goodwin lapped at his cup. “None of this was even a little bit your fault.”

“But I marginalized him,” Gabriel protested. “Beat him at every turn.”

“Your success probably didn’t help,” Linda said. “It made liars out of his parents.

“We have to pity him a little,” the auburn-haired familiar said.

“No we don’t,” Linda retorted. “He could have bettered himself with a little hard work. Representative, or even Speaker of the House. But as you see, Gabriel, not your fault. You can, with a clear conscience, renew Emma’s mating bond with you.”

“What?” Emma said. Oh, hell, now she was doing it.

“Illegal as hell,” Pan pointed out.

“Illegal doesn’t mean impossible.” Gabriel grinned. “As long as you have a wolf with girl parts and a witch with boy parts.” His gaze switched to Emma and his grin faded. “But whether my hubris caused this whole fiasco or not, I
am
obnoxiously flamboyant and have the car to prove it. You might not want to marry that.”

“M-marry?”

“Say yes.” His aunt clapped her hands, apple cheeks glowing. “I love big weddings. I have a perfect dress for you—”

“Wedding?” Emma stared into Gabriel’s face as if she’d find sanity there. “But we’re not even mated.”

“We don’t need to be mated to marry.” He smiled gently. “We only need to be in love.”

On the ferry back to Michigan, Emma shared a stateroom with Gabriel, intentionally this time. Discovery by the Witches’ Council was still a worry, but she remembered her mother, who hadn’t known to put aside her fears and worries while she could, and simply be happy.

For now, she and Gabriel were together, and Emma let herself be happy.

Sometimes consequences could wait.

The instant the door shut, his dark brows waggled suggestively as he reached for her. He’d put aside his glasses permanently. Bare, his face should have looked odd to her. But it didn’t, probably because in her heart, she’d seen him this way all along.

He cinched her into a dipped kiss. “I’m glad your mother and brother decided to stay in Matinsfield. Now we’ll have time alone together.”

She laughed. “Won’t we be detected?”

“Maybe. But the water and distance will make it harder. Besides, I can’t keep my hands off you.” He tore off her top and feasted on her breasts.

Just as hungry for him, she grabbed vest and shirt together and yanked up.

Their clothes came off, not with magic this time, but with sheer need.

When her pants hit the floor, the amethyst necklace and bracelet fell out with a whump. She caught sight of them and stilled.

He paused, following her gaze. “Is that how your brother controlled your mother?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

“Purple is the color of the mind. The amethyst is the gem to ensorcel if you want to influence thoughts. I think they also interfered with my locate spell until the power on them wore off.”

“They’re Ryder’s. Edge made a deal with him to get released from the Council jail. Ryder gave him the amulets in return for giving up Sophia and Noah. My mom swore loyalty to Noah when he became alpha, but Edge was jailed
before
the challenge.”

“You’re so clever.” He admired her breasts. “I love you, Emma Singer.”

The words thrilled her, but she couldn’t quite believe them. She pointed at her eyes. “I’m up here.”

“I know that. I’m talking to these beauties…” he kissed each, “…because I know what language to use.” He glanced up at her. “I’m not always sure with you.”

“What do you mean?”

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” she said automatically.

He laughed. “I can always count on that.” Then he grew serious. “But how do you truly feel…about me?”

She tried to understand what he was really asking. “I was mated to you. I’m about to be mated to you again.” She paused. “Which you’d know if you looked at my eyes instead of my headlights.”

He laughed again, but immediately sobered. “We’re on the same page this way. Sexually. And I know I can make you happy in bed. But everywhere else—”

“I love you,” she blurted.

It was impulsive and a little berserk but totally worth it when his wide eyes snapped to hers.

So she took him by the face and said it slower, more deliberately. “I love you, Gabriel Light.”

“Even after hearing what I did to Ryder?”

“Even after. Especially after. Because you found out something about yourself you didn’t like, and you changed it. Do you think Bruiser ever did that, or my brother? Or even me?” Her spirits plummeted. “I should be asking you that question. How can you love me, knowing what I’m capable of? What I reveled in?”

“Like this.” He laid her down on the bunk and positioned himself between her raised knees.

Disappointment stabbed her. He was avoiding the topic. Which meant she wouldn’t like his real answer.

Then she sighed mentally.
I am putting aside my fears and worries and, while I can, I’m simply being happy.
“You know, last time we were on board, I wondered what you’d look like here.” She drank deep of the sight of him between her legs. For the record, his skin was darker, and he definitely not only filled the gap between her thighs, he spread them until her knees nearly touched the bed.

“Last time we were on board, I wanted so badly to be here I shook with it.” His fingers slid onto her sex, each digit like two of hers, hot, thick, driving along the nose of her swelling clit with singing power.

She was right, Gabriel was one of a kind. His size, his strength, his tangy smell…her pussy plumped, clit shaft rising, yearning up into his fingers for more.

As he stroked her below, he kissed her above, her neck, her shoulders, her breasts. His lips teased like soft feathers, until her skin prickled with perspiration and turned rosy.

“More,” she whispered.

He fastened onto a nipple and suckled, driving shafts of pleasure through her. Then he used
teeth.

Her sex clenched under his strokes. She lifted her hips into his driving thrusts, his fingers skidding along her sex, already gushing its pleasure. Soon her thighs were glistening with need.

When she was bucking against his hand like a box of premature fireworks, he shifted. Just as she was about to protest, he fit himself to her.

“Last time we were on board, I wondered who you were thinking of as you climaxed.” He drove inside her slick pussy, his thick erection filling her, stretching her.

“
You,
” she gasped as the first ripples of orgasm hinted at what was coming. Huge, dark, shockingly strong. Much like Gabriel himself. “You…little…eavesdropper…” Her words were punctuated by his heavy thrusts, each stoking a furnace of lust and love.

“Didn’t mean to.” His muscles sheened as he pumped into her. His tang intensified, driving her own arousal higher.

She’d waited months for this scent, him excited by her, and now it was perfect. She could even sense the receptive softening of that spot where her mating bond to him once had pulsed. Where their magic joined. She wrapped hands around his ribs, feeling the muscles tighten and ripple under her palms.

Sweat broke out on his forehead. “I got stuck in here, invisible. But once I was…” His chest bloomed with arousal. “I wouldn’t have traded it for heaven itself.”

“Sweet talker.” She grabbed his head and kissed him, thrusting her tongue into his mouth as he thrust into her. “I can talk sweet too.
Come.
”

She goosed the word with a flex of her internal muscles—and a mental kiss to their bond-place.

Roaring her name, he came. His tugging balls pulled against her, urging her…no
demanding
that she join him.

And she was falling, falling in a star-studded sky, the beauty of the heavens filling her sight.

“Looks like you didn’t have to trade anything for heaven,” she whispered. “And neither did I.”

When she woke, Gabriel was lying beside her, head propped up on one arm, staring down at her, love warming his eyes and a besotted smile on his lips…lips which slowly straightened, serious. “Emma. Your eyes…they’re gold. You’re mated again.”

She gaped at him, staring into his warm blue-green eyes
.

“But gold?” She blinked. “They can’t be. That’s a royal color.”

“Royal, like alpha?” He tugged bed sheets until he had a tail enough to cover her and wrapped her tight. “I guess Advanced Magical Creatures doesn’t know everything. Explains Noah’s eyes.”

“No, you don’t understand.” She lay in her cocoon as he extricated himself from the covers and stalked off to the bathroom. His naked form in all its glory made her forget words.

The flush a moment later recalled her. “I’m not royalty. My mother is in the line of betas. My father was an iota.”

“Your ancestor was alpha iota.” He returned, carrying a fluffy white towel, and tossed it to her before sliding under the covers. “Sunmane the Wise and Simon the Powerful were both royalty. It makes sense that Fezz Singer was too.”

Fezz, a prince of iotas… Who knew who was in the Singer woodpile?

“Then why didn’t it show until now? Why weren’t my eyes silver or some other color of a royal bloodline?”

“The writing in his journal was locked away from prying eyes. Maybe there was a hide spell on his line that hid your royal blood. Jayden said something about all the modifications connected with the key resetting if we used it.”

“So two good things were freed, your sister and my heritage?” Emma smiled.

He smiled back. “Though I wish we hadn’t had to destroy the journal in the process.”

Her smile faded. Her father’s beautiful art. She’d just have to try to keep it fresh in her memory, but mourned that her children—that
their
children wouldn’t see it.

And that thought brought wonder back into her heart.
Their
children, hers and Gabriel’s. Swallowing against a whole tide of feelings, she gazed into his love-warmed eyes…and blinked in surprise.