Winter's Dawn (42 page)

Max was walking down the hallway back to their suite when it first happened, the smell of something so decadent that he lost his footing when it wafted over him—And Max never lost his footing.

When he recovered from the slight trip, he turned around to scowl down the hallway and then paused to rub at his forehead. He sniffed the air again, trying to decide which of the unmated females in the palace could smell like that. Coming up with nothing, he decided that it was perhaps his imagination and the scent of Katrina and John still sticking to him that toyed with his senses.

He knew the smell—had known it for a long time.

Perhaps not quite that strong, nor that appealing, but he knew what it was. He would look back years later and goggle at how naïve he was for not recognizing instantly what had happened at some point while they were recovering from the silver poisoning.

It was as if his memory was tampered with. His common sense wasn’t putting the pieces together the way it should. He remembered the dream, figments of it, about the God of Winter and his demand for Max to lay down the sword. Maybe he just wasn’t ready for it to happen and had been readily ignoring what was blatantly obvious.

It wasn’t until he opened the front door to their suite that it hit him, not just the realization, but the smell that slammed into his senses, causing every nerve ending he had to stand on end. He reeled from it, stunned to the core of his being, because he never thought it was going to be that strong.

“Max?”

Max still had his hand on the doorknob. His eyes were wide, his legs shaky and he feared he might actually fall to his knees right there if he let go.

“Y-You’re supposed to be resting, Susie Bee,” he choked, his voice weak.

“Well, I would be.” Susie came around the corner, wearing only a bathrobe. “But, you’ve been gone a really long time to deal with a very simple problem. Care to explain what you’ve been doing?”

Max’s eyes rolled back. He plastered himself back against the door in a vain attempt to shield himself from the smell and remain standing.

“Gods.” He covered his face with both hands to block out her smell that was actually hurting him. Sheer, undeniable lust coursed through his blood as it rolled over him. He didn’t have to look in the mirror to know that his eyes were glowing silver. “You’ve got to get away from me.”

“Why, so you can go back to that bitch Katrina?”

Max lowered his hands and frowned at her. “What did you just say?”

“Did I stutter?” Susie asked, putting her hand on her hip and glaring at him. “I can smell her. The scent of sex is sticking to you and I am not happy about it.”

All he saw were her eyes that flashed silver for a brief moment in the dim light of the room. He had never been more lost for an answer in his life, but he did have the profound realization that he was way over his head.

“You’re in heat, Sue,” he told her bluntly.

She shook her head. “Really?”

“Oh, yes, really.” He let out a manic laugh. “There’s no question.”

“You’re sure?” She tilted her head. “I don’t feel different.”

“You’re acting different,” he said slowly. “And you smell real different. This door is keeping me on my feet.”

She pulled back, looking insulted. “Is it a bad smell?”

“It depends on how you define bad.” Max covered his face again, because he was having a really hard time focusing with her scent causing such havoc with his hormones. “But, it’s really strong.”

“Are you insinuating that I stink?” Susie snapped, her voice low in anger. “Gods, is this some sort of excuse to go back to that bitch Katrina? I can’t believe you would be with her while I’m still ill. That is low, Maxwell, even for you.”

“It’s not an excuse. If you really stop to notice the scent, you’ll see it’s not mine and I’d really like you to stop calling her a bitch. I hate that term.”

Her eyes flashed again. “Who are you talking to, Maxwell?”

“I am talking to an alpha female who’s in heat. Your hormones are making you slightly confrontational,” Max said, having no idea that he had just made the grandest understatement of his life. “I think you should take some of my pills.”

“Come here.” She waved him towards the bedroom.

He shook his head emphatically in denial. “That’s a bad idea. I’m older and you have to trust me on this.”

“Come here,” she growled, her eyes flashing again. “NOW!”

“Right.” Max pushed away from the door, following her into the bedroom. “Sue, you’ve got to take some pills, lots and lots of them. I need to get the doctors to give us more. I think you’ve been in heat for a while.” He looked to the bed, seeing the tray of food and remembering she had been eating raw. Somehow he hadn’t bothered to notice the significance of it while he was worried over her illness. “That’s why you’ve been eating my food. It’s been building up while you were recovering. Gods, how did I not notice this?”

“Shut up, Max!” Susie turned around to glare at him. “You are speaking and I did not give you permission to speak.”

He stopped then and pulled himself to his full height to look down at her. “Excuse me, Susan, but who are
you
talking to?”

“Go dominant wolf on me and we’re going to have problems. Really big problems.”

“We already have problems.
Really big ones
.”

Susie turned around and looked out the glass doors that lead to the terrace. “What is that, Maxwell?” she asked, pointing upwards. “What is that big, white thing in the sky?”

He frowned, tilting his head to look out the window. “That’s the moon.”

“And whose moon is it?”

He squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. “Shit.”

“I’m waiting?” she demanded. “I’d like you to tell me whose moon that is.”

“It’s your moon,” he said, his eyes still closed. “That’s your moon.”

“And what do you do with the moon?”

“I guard it.” He shook his head again and opened his eyes. “It’s your moon and I guard it for you.”

“That’s right.” Susie walked closer to the window, looking at moon pointedly. “It’s my moon. Now, tell me, Max, if I have been nice enough to let you guard my moon for me and take care of my people, what you are doing spending time with that bitch Katrina and reeking of her when you’re supposed to be here taking care of me while I recover? Next you’ll be off calling her sister and talking to her until four in the morning.
I’m not having it
.”

Max closed his eyes again as he searched desperately for patience. It was easier than he thought it would be. No one understood the wild, dangerous mood swings of an alpha wolf better than he did.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to get back,” he said in a pacifying voice as he took a cooling breath. “That was thoughtless of me.”

“Hear my words, Max,” Susie turned around, her eyes flashing. “If you ever go to either of them again I
will
kill them.”

“I think you’d regret that,” he countered. “And it’d be nice if you’d hear my words. You are in heat and you are extremely confrontational right now. You need to eat more of the venison, take many pills and then go to sleep.”

“STOP SAYING I’M IN HEAT!”

Susie screamed and Max wasn’t really sure what happened. All he knew was he went flying against the wall, hitting it violently enough to crack the wood. He shook his head when he landed hard on the floor. He blinked several times before his eyes opened wide to stare at the destruction that was once their bedroom. All the glass windows and doors had shattered. Anything remotely breakable had been destroyed and all objects in the room, nailed down or not, had been blown away from Susie so that she stood in the center of a vast area that was completely clear of everything. Max gaped as he stared at her, still unable to believe what she had just done.

It looked like a bomb had just gone off.

The shock of it jarred another memory of Susie in the movie theater in wolf form. How had he forgotten something so life altering? Even in the face of her injuries he should’ve remembered her changing forms. Energy had burst out of her then too. This was some sort of horrible side affect from her hormones and the Gods didn’t do them any favors by fogging his memory of it.

“Dear Gods,” he whispered as he looked around the room and recalled how angry he used to get when he first got hormones. If he destroyed a room every time he lost his temper the palace would’ve been leveled a thousand times over. “We’re in trouble, Sue.”

Susie gaped back at him, standing rooted to the spot. “I—” she started, shaking her head. “Did I—”

“I didn’t do this,” Max told her, his eyes still wide. “I don’t even know how to do something like this. This is—”

“Oh Gods. Am I dangerous?” Susie covered her mouth. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Max stood cautiously, not all that anxious to get close to her. “And, yes, you’re dangerous. You just destroyed this room. Take some pills. They’re in the drawer of my nightstand. I have to see if the magic got out of the room.”

“Did I hurt someone?” Susie asked, her voice shaking in panic. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. It must be the silver. You were gone and I just started getting angry. Then you came back and I could smell sex on you. I’m sorry, Max!”

“Calm down,” he said slowly. “Take the pills and I’ll be right back.”

“Are you coming back?” she asked as tears rolled down her face. “Are you going to leave me?”

“I’m coming back,” he told her, his voice softening as he gave her a strained smile. “I wouldn’t leave you for anything and I didn’t have sex with Katrina. I walked in on her with someone else and the scent stuck to me. Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out.”

She nodded as she wiped at her face. “I’m sorry.”

“I know you are,” he said and then tilted his head towards the hallway. “I’ve got to go make sure everyone is okay, Sue.”

Susie wiped her eyes again. “Go. I’ll take some of your pills.”

“Lots of them,” he told her firmly. “I’ll get more.”

Max stepped out of the room and was surprised to see nothing was overly destroyed. He walked down the hallway, discovering that artwork had fallen off the walls, but other than that it seemed everything was mostly okay.

After being in that room, he half expected the palace to be crumbling.

“Maxwell!”

Max looked to see his father and Emma running down the hallway. Other doors were opening, wolves and humans were peeking their heads out. The palace was full for the running tomorrow and the Winter Solstice party that never happened.

“What is going on? Is Susan okay?” his father asked quickly as he reached Max first. “We’ve been attacked? It’s a bomb or—”

Max held his hand and spoke in a low tone. “It wasn’t a bomb.”

“The hell is wasn’t.” Adam seemed to appear out of thin air. In haste to get there his speed was more impressive than usual. His words were rushed as he said, “I need to get downstairs and see what’s going on. The queen?”

“She’s fine.” Max kept his voice low in hopes Susie was too distracted to hear him. “It wasn’t a bomb. It was Susie. She’s having some problems with—”

“Gods be blessed,” Adam interrupted him as he put a hand to his nose and looked around with wide, dazed eyes that flashed to bright silver. “What
is
that?”

Max rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling his cheeks heat in embarrassment when it occurred to him he likely smelled that strong to females. It was a horrifying moment for so many different reasons he could hardly sort them out.

“Oh, Maxwell,” Danielle sighed as she came up next to Adam. “Emma told me. I’m sorry. I know this is a night of mourning for you, but you have to understand that—”

“What happened?” Adam turned to Danielle, his eyes still wide as his voice dropped, “Is that you?”

“No,” Danielle whispered, her gaze still on Max uncertainly.

“Why am I smelling it then?” Adam sounded beyond shocked because mated wolves only smelled their partners. He turned to Max’s father. “Do you smell it?”

Max’s father’s shook his head in a quick, wolf-like manner and then rubbed his nose, doing a better job of being subtle. “I wish I wasn’t smelling it. I didn’t notice it before, but now—“ He lifted his gaze to Max. “We’re both mated. This is an issue.”

“Is that the queen?” Adam turned to look down the hall towards their suite. Then he pulled back, as if something occurred to him and voiced Max’s inner turmoil out loud as he glared at Danielle. “Do you smell Maxwell like that?”

“Adam,” Danielle chastised.

“Do you?” Adam barked. “Have you been smelling someone
not me
for three years? I didn’t know mated females could smell him. Did you know that, Douglas?”

“Okay, Adam, you’re still confrontational,” Max’s father started. “You need to take a deep breath and—”

“When I take a deep breath, I’m choking on pheromones. It’s like an artic explosion of them just went off in this palace.” Adam’s eyes were a wide, stunned silver that didn’t flash back. “Maxwell, you need to go fix that
right now
. You’re going to have males climbing the walls. All males. Mated males. Unmated males.
Rogues
. It must go out for miles from here.”