CHAPTER ONE
The New Year’s Eve party was rockin’, and Gabe was very pleased with the results of his planning and scheming over the past few days. They’d managed to cobble together a respectable band between the shifters and those of his family who played instruments. He’d even found a werewolf DJ among Margo’s Pack to fill in when the band needed a break.
Family members from both sides took turns singing, and everyone cheered them on. It was a good old-fashioned party with plenty to eat and drink. Gabe had sourced that stuff locally, as well. He’d financed this little shindig as a gift for his sister’s wedding.
Deena was pretty much tied to her farm because of the animals she’d taken in and her very special and demanding magical gift. She did best away from crowds of humans and living more or less sequestered on the farm with her animals. Which was why she and her new mate, Josh, hadn’t gone away on a honeymoon trip.
It had to be a little bit of a drag for them to still be surrounded by the whole extended family at this point, but Gabe hoped the party would help make up for it in some small way. Besides, after New Year’s, most of the wolf Pack would probably start heading back to Canada. His family would head back to their homes, as well. They’d all gathered here for Deena, but the newlyweds probably wanted some alone time, and the celebration of their mating had stretched on long enough.
Gabe, though… He had plans.
He wasn’t going home with the rest of his family. Nor was he going to allow one wolf in particular to go off without him. No, he was making plans to go on a manhunt with the luscious Margo. Where the trail would lead them, ultimately, he didn’t know, but he was eager to find out.
Not only did he want to help capture or permanently neutralize the mage who had done so much harm to Josh’s family, but Gabe wanted to spend time with Margo. That he could do both at the same time was a win-win, as far as he was concerned.
“You did a great job with this party.” A female voice came from Gabe’s side. He looked over to find Jacki Mahigan—Evie’s mother and matriarch of the wolf Pack—coming up beside him.
“Thank you, ma’am. I’m glad it all worked out. Did you have any of the shrimp? I’m sorry I didn’t order more. I had no idea your family would be so fond of seafood.” Was he babbling? Maybe. But this woman was somewhat intimidating.
Gabe had grown up in a family full of strong females, but human magic was old hat to him. Shifter magic… Now, that was something different. For some reason, it set him a little on edge, but in a good way. It was exciting. Sort of.
If he was being honest with himself, it was Margo that he found exciting. The rest of the wolf Pack was still a bit of an unknown quantity. In dealing with magic users, Gabe had learned to be cautious until he fully understood the group dynamics in any new situation. Meeting the Mahigan family of werewolves was no exception.
“We’re pretty serious carnivores, and sometimes, it’s nice to mix it up with seafood since we live inland,” the Alpha female told him. “Don’t worry, you did great, and everyone’s having a wonderful time.”
Gabe had already said thanks, so rather than repeat himself, he nodded respectfully. They stood side-by-side for a few minutes, watching the proceedings in companionable silence. The Alpha female seemed to be happy, which made Gabe happy. Her Pack had been through a lot of sorrow. They deserved a bit of happiness.
“You’ll have to run fast to catch up with our Margo,” Jacki said out of the blue after they’d been standing there some time. Gabe was surprised, but not in doubt of his ability to woo the magnificent Margo.
“When something is meant to be, it’s meant to be,” he replied softly, knowing the werewolf woman would hear him with her sensitive shifter hearing.
He could see her head turn toward him in his peripheral vision, so he swiveled his head to meet her gaze. It wouldn’t do to show a lack of confidence to the predator that lived inside the petite woman—especially since Gabe was feeling the hand of fate on his shoulder where Margo was concerned.
“I didn’t believe it before I met your sister, but your people can form mate bonds like mine, can they not?” Jacki wanted to know. Her stance said she wouldn’t go away until she had the information she wanted.
“There are a few theories floating around, but most of us believe it has something to do with the mix of fey blood and human magic in our ancestry.” Gabe kept his words low so as not to share this conversation with any of the other nearby werewolves. “All that magic, along with the fact that the Goddess takes more interest in our family than in most others, seems to lead us to our perfect mates. Like my sister, Deena, found your grandson, Josh. Surely, you’ve noticed how strong their bond is?”
The Alpha female looked over at the couple dancing a few yards away. Deena and Josh were gazing deeply into each other’s eyes, as if only they two existed in the entire world. Their devotion was easy to see, and the magic that swirled around them was something Gabe had seen before among the members of his family who were mated. That was a bond that would last the ages.
“What does it look like to you?” Jacki surprised him again by asking.
“Magic,” Gabe replied. “Swirling. Meshing. Twining together in ways that will never be undone. Utter devotion and perfect partnership.” He looked back at Jacki. “Isn’t that what mating among your kind is like?”
Her head tilted to the side. “Something like that, but it’s not visible to the eye. Not the same way you see the magic. It’s something we sense.”
“And what do you sense when you look at Deena and Josh?” Gabe challenged.
The Alpha female smiled gently as she looked at the young couple. “Mating,” she said softly, then turned back to meet Gabe’s gaze. “You’re right. They are as mated as if they were both shifters. So, tell me. Is that what you wish for with our Margo?”
Gabe swallowed, knowing Margo’s Pack was important to her, and vice versa. He would have to be straight with them, no matter what. The last thing he wanted was to alienate the Alpha female. A direct question deserved a direct answer.
“She draws me,” Gabe replied boldly. “I feel the pull of the bond that could form, given the slightest chance. I am compelled to be near her.”
Jacki regarded him for a long time then finally nodded. “Then, I wish you luck, young man. She is a strong woman, but I sense you’re no lightweight either. If she wants you, I doubt the Pack will raise any objection. Your family has been good to ours.”
“That goes both ways, ma’am,” Gabe said politely. “Your family is part of our extended family now, through this marriage. I hope to draw the ties even closer if I can convince Margo of what I believe in my heart.”
“Then, why are you standing here talking to me? Go out there, boy, and get her.” Jacki shooed him toward Margo, who stood on the other side of the dance floor, watching the crowd and talking with some of the others.
It was nearing midnight, so Jacki’s prodding fit very well with Gabe’s plans. He wanted to be the man holding Margo at midnight. He wanted to start their New Year off with the first of many kisses they would share…but he had to time it just right.
“May I have this dance?” Gabe asked Margo as he approached.
Gabe had arranged with the DJ, who had taken over from the impromptu band, to play a few slow dances around midnight. The werewolves seemed to universally enjoy dancing, so the chances were good that Margo would agree to his request. If she didn’t, he still planned to be at her side at midnight. He’d prepared a few topics of conversation to keep her talking until the countdown. He had it all worked out.
Margo tilted her head and gave a moment of thought to Gabe’s question. He was asking her to dance? While Deena’s family was mixing and mingling pretty liberally with the wolf Pack, those dancing were mostly wolves. The occasional human couple would try their luck with the slower songs, but for sheer rambunctiousness, you couldn’t beat a werewolf Pack.
“Are you sure you’re up to it?” Margo asked the all-too-human—okay, he was a tiny bit fey, too, but mostly human—male.
She looked pointedly at the mosh pit that passed for a dance floor as the younger set jammed to some noise they called music. Margo wasn’t old, but she was a little more discerning than her teenage Packmates.
Gabe held one finger to his temple and squinted as if listening to something only he could hear. “I predict a sudden change in tempo coming…right about…” He nodded to the DJ, and like magic, the music changed. “Now.”
Margo had to laugh. He’d set her up for that, but she couldn’t fault him. The music he’d chosen was perfect. A gentle, almost sexy beat that two people could dance to. Together. Not jumping around in a crowd, but face to face, body to body. Close. Intimate.
Her inner wolf woke up and took notice of the male in front of her. While her furry side still wasn’t sure what they thought about him, neither of her forms could argue with his choice in music. The wolf liked the beat, which sounded like the rhythm of a heart. Soothing. Warm. Home.
Gabe held out his hand to her, and Margo felt compelled to take it. He led her toward the dance floor, which had been abandoned by the teens and reclaimed by the older couples. She and Josh wouldn’t be the only ones dancing. Far from it.
She stepped into his arms and was immediately entranced. He knew just how to lead her, just how to touch her. He was a good dancer. Masterful, yet not pushy. Margo often had problems following anyone’s lead. She was too Alpha herself to take kindly to being led, but there was something about the way Gabe held her that made it less of a battle for dominance, and much more of a cooperative thing. Two bodies working together to achieve beauty of movement and harmony of minds.
The two of them together just worked. She didn’t know how or why. They just did. Something she totally hadn’t expected. Not in a million years.
Margo mixed with humans at times in her work as a private investigator, but she seldom socialized with them outside of work. Following leads in investigations was one thing. Hanging out with humans for fun was something altogether out of her experience. She’d never imagined this kind of situation, but her cousin had gone and married a human mage. Okay, Deena was a little fey too—as was most of her family—which made them somewhat special, but at heart, they were still humans who wielded magic.
Generally speaking, shifters didn’t socialize with mages or vampires. All of the supernatural races kept mostly to themselves. Although, more and more, Margo had been hearing about marriages like Josh and Deena’s that crossed the lines and merged different kinds of magic. There were a lot of theories floating around about why that was happening so much right now.
Most of the theories were kind of scary and involved preparation for the coming of evil into the world. The priestesses were all giving out warnings to be on the lookout for agents of evil. The Lords who governed shifters all over the world had also put out warnings and requests for information about anything happening that was out of the ordinary. The Lords and priestesses were collating the reports. Margo wondered what they would find.
She supposed they would all hear about it eventually. Frankly, her mind was wandering, in search of distraction from the way Gabe’s touch made her feel. She was trying so hard to ignore it, but the sensations were cutting through her attempts to distract herself.
She’d been trying so hard to not feel the things being in Gabe’s arms evoked that they’d sort of snuck up on her. Her body moved with his of its own volition. Her breasts pressed against his chest, her legs rubbed up against his as they moved together in time. Her fingers wove into the hair at the back of his neck as she twined her arms around his strong shoulders.
How had she managed to wrap herself around him? Damn. She should have kept her wits about her. Gabe Llewellyn was pure seduction. He had a magnetism about him that she couldn’t explain. He drew her in ways she didn’t fully understand.
There was the draw of a handsome man, of course, but there was more to it than that. If she’d only been dealing with plain old male-female attraction, he would have been easier to dismiss. This, however, was something much stronger. Something she had never dealt with before.
It confused her inner wolf. It confused her human mind, too. Gabe set her senses on fire, and she couldn’t explain why to her own satisfaction. He was a mystery. And there was nothing Margo liked more than a mystery. Hell, she’d become a private eye because of her fascination with solving puzzles, figuring out riddles and finding things—and people—that were lost.
Right now, she was lost to all reason as Gabe danced her around the edge of the dance floor to a dark spot where the lighting didn’t quite reach. Was it on purpose? She had a sneaking suspicion it was. Gabe had planned this party down to the last detail. Sure, he’d had lots of help, but this whole shindig was his baby. He’d probably deliberately set up this dark corner, and the way he’d maneuvered her into it was darn smooth, if she was being honest.
She’d go with the flow for now. See where it led. If he tried something she didn’t like, she was strong enough to take care of it herself. Being a werewolf meant having superior strength and senses. Margo was in no danger physically from the human mage. It was her heart she had to worry about. She didn’t want to lose it to a man who couldn’t commit to her the way she needed. Only a were mate could form the kind of bond she needed. Of that, she was convinced.
It might be all right for Josh. He wasn’t a full-blooded Alpha werewolf. Her cousin’s father was totally fey, which made Josh a half-breed. His new mate was also part fey, and somehow, they had connected in the forever kind of way most shifters dreamed about. The strange mixed bloodlines had worked for them, but Margo didn’t believe a true mating could happen for her with a man who wasn’t a shifter.
Gabe sure was pretty to look at, though. Handsome as sin and twice as compelling. He danced like a dream and touched her in a way that made her feel special. Respected and desired, all at the same time. It was heady stuff.
She rested her cheek against his shoulder. He was just the right height for her, and he was a lot more muscular than she’d expected for someone with no animal inside him. Was she a shifter snob? Maybe. But Gabe was quickly disabusing her of her unflattering notions about humans.
The music cut out, and the DJ—her cousin, Barry—started to speak.
“Ten seconds to midnight. Everybody, countdown! Ten. Nine. Eight…”
Gabe didn’t let her go, despite the lack of music. Instead, he looked down into her eyes and held her tight while he counted down with the rest of the crowd. Margo was mesmerized by the look in his eyes. Was it some kind of magic spell? She wasn’t sure, but she couldn’t move. Further, she didn’t want to move.
What?
“Three. Two. One. Happy New Year!” Barry shouted, and everyone cheered.
Then, Gabe moved closer, his lips leaning into hers, and then… They were kissing while Barry put on a recording of Auld Lang Syne, and everyone sang along, rocking and cheering while couples kissed in the New Year.
Sweet Mother of All! The man could kiss. Sparks ran through Margo’s system as her brain short-circuited and her blood was set on fire. Gabe’s kiss affected her like no other she’d ever experienced. Was this the way all humans kissed? All mages? She suspected not. Just like every other thing about him, Gabe’s kiss was a law unto itself.
At length—and not before he was good and ready—Gabe ended the kiss and pulled back slightly. His blue eyes bore into her like lasers. She could actually see the magic swirling in them, marking him as more than human. Or maybe that was just her imagination? She wasn’t sure. Her senses were scrambled by pleasure overload.
All from just a kiss. Wow. That had been one stunner of a kiss.
“Happy New Year, Margo,” he whispered in a low, sexy tone.
“Happy New Year, Gabe,” she answered automatically, still dazed.
He reached behind him to one of the small tables that had been set up around the area and brought out two half-filled champagne glasses. He handed her one, keeping one arm around her and raised his glass.
“May every day be as bright as this moment, and may all our dreams come true.” He clinked glasses with her, and then, she drank with him, moving robotically as her mind tried to deal with this charming side of Gabe.
He was like some sort of suave secret agent type all of a sudden. Was this the real Gabe, after all? Had she not given herself a chance to get to know him over the past days while the two families had been together celebrating so much happiness?
“Who are you?” she asked, voicing her thoughts aloud after they’d sipped the champagne.
Her question apparently caught Gabe off guard because he barked a laugh that made her want to join in. She watched him chuckle, still wondering how she hadn’t noticed this rather compelling side of him before. Sure, she’d been well aware of his hunky exterior and his willingness to work with her Pack on the party plans. She’d even noticed how good he was with the pups. He was patient and kind with the Pack’s smallest and most curious little members.
What she hadn’t observed was the mature male animal that knew just how to push a woman’s buttons to get the desired result. It was pretty clear he’d planned this little interlude right down to the champagne bubbles. She was flattered and a bit miffed that she hadn’t realized he’d been leading her into a trap of sorts. A very sexy trap with a very sexy man waiting for her inside it.
Hmm. We’ll just see about that.
Margo was an Alpha female. She wouldn’t be so easily cornered. If he really wanted to catch her, he was going to have to show a bit more effort than this, though she had to concede this had been a really good first try. Her inner wolf was impressed by his cunning, which was definitely a stroke in his favor. Maybe she’d give him a chance to chase her a bit and see where it would lead.