Chapter Seventeen

Sela didn’t know what to think anymore. Somehow, her grandfather was alive, and she couldn’t be angry about that. Her heart had broken when she’d seen her truck burning to ash, thinking her cherished grandfather lost to her forever.

How could she send these people away after all they’d done for her? Even if they hadn’t saved her grandfather’s life the way they claimed, they had somehow put out the fire that had obviously ravaged her home.

“What do you want me to do, Gramps?” She sighed. “I don’t know if I can believe it. Even coming from you.”

“What if you saw it with your own eyes?” The man she had pegged as Ceno’s father stepped forward, his hand extended. “I’m Geno, Ceno’s...” He paused and glanced at Ceno.

“The word you're looking for is dad, Papan.”

“Papa works, too, you know,” Sela said wryly as she took Geno’s hand. “I don’t want to seem ungrateful for what you’ve done, but you have to admit, the part about you being aliens is crazy.”

“They aren’t lying.” The one woman accompanying the seven new men stepped forward. “I’m Birgit Brewer. Ceno is my brother-in-law, and if he hadn’t tricked out my car with their weird computer system that made her sentient, I never would have met Reno.” She wrapped her arm around a man who was even taller than Ceno and Geno. It was easy to see by the white blond hair and their toothy grins, they were related to each other, though their father had amber eyes, not blue.

“I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “I just can’t believe it.”

“Maybe you would if they took you for a ride in their shuttle, or if Reno or Geno would do something... else to prove that they aren’t quite human.”

“Hell, I’ll do it,” Geno said just before he changed from a perfectly normal-looking human to something that resembled a light blue saber tooth tiger with darker blue stripes, complete with huge, curved fangs almost as long as her forearms.

“I-I...” She backed away and rubbed her eyes. “I can’t be seeing this.”

“You can’t be seeing it?” Her grandfather asked. “How do you think I feel? I knew they weren’t human, but I never thought they were animals.” He narrowed his eyes at Ceno. “You keep your weird alien paws off my granddaughter.”

“Sir,” Birgit said as she stepped forward and rested a hand on his arm. “Would you rather she ended up with another bum like that jerk you’ve been telling us about?”

“Jack,” Sela corrected absently.

“My brother-in-law will never cheat on her, never leave her and will always see to her well being. Now that I’m mated to Reno, I’m connected to him, and I know all of this to be true. They are good, hardworking men... er, shifters.”

“Ceno?” She glanced up at the man she’d already fallen half in love with. Her chest ached. “Tell me I’m crazy.” She gestured to Geno. “Tell me you can’t do that.”

“I can’t do that.” He shook his head. “Not yet. I won’t be able to do that unless your life is in danger or I’ve claimed you as my mate.”

“You haven’t claimed her?” Clyde shifted his gaze between them. “Does that mean what I think it means?”

“If you think it means they haven’t had sex yet, then you’d be right,” Geno said after he changed back into a man again. “At least they haven’t had claiming sex.”

“Hey! Why are you blue with stripes now?” Was this even happening? She fought the urge to rub her eyes again.

“You might as well see us as we really are.” Geno moved to wrap his arm around two of the young men flanking him. “This set of twins are Deno and Xeno.” He gestured toward two others. “This set is Ronin and Rowen.”

“Why are their names different from the rest of you?” Sela stared at the older version of Reno and Ceno.

“Their mother, Rowninda, is responsible for the names of the first four. Unfortunately, she died in childbirth with the mistaken belief she carried girls and refused to name her last set of sons before her death. Since that task fell to me, I decided to honor her memory by naming them after her... in a fashion.”

“That makes sense, I suppose.” She glanced toward her grandfather. “It still doesn’t explain why I haven’t fainted or ran into the house to fetch my grandpa’s shotgun.”

“It’s most likely because we bonded just a bit after the crash and while I carried you back here.

“Bonded!” Sela stepped back. Could she live with the fact that Ceno wasn’t quite human? Could she stand by her word and accept him as he was? If she refused to give him a chance to prove he was the one for her, wasn’t she just as bigoted as she’d accused a good portion of the people in Whitson of being? Did she even have a choice, or could he force the issue? “What if I don’t want to be bonded or claimed or whatever?”

“Then, I am honor bound to let you go.” Ceno shifted his gaze to the ground, and his shoulders slumped. “If it is what you want, I will leave here and never return. My father and brothers will see to your safety and find the gold for you.”

“You mean you wouldn’t just leave her to deal with Cal Johnson on her own, even after rejecting you?” Clyde seemed shocked at the revelation.

“Of course we wouldn’t. We’re honorable men. We have always been respectable and worthy of the women the Goddess has seen fit to pair us with.”

“I think you should give the boy a chance, sweetie.” Clyde patted Sela’s arm. “He seems sincere to me, and he’s much better than Jack, even if he’s got sex all wrong.” He shook his head. “The boy needs lessons if you ask me,” Clyde said to Geno. “He thinks chocolate is better than sex. That tells me he’s doing it wrong.”

“Chocolate?” Geno grimaced, his gaze shifting to Ceno. “I think the old man is right. If you think that, you are doing it wrong and you don’t deserve a mate. Give the girl up and go home.”

Was she going to let them talk to him that way, or was she going to stand up for him? Had she fallen in love with the man in such a short time? Was it possible? Was there really some all-powerful deity out there directing their lives and bringing them together, or was it all just a fantasy?

“You people are crazy.” She shook her head. “No. I’m crazy for believing all of this... this hooey. I’m absolutely nuts for thinking I could have fallen for a man in less than two days.” She turned and met Ceno’s gaze. “Hell, I don’t even know you, but I feel as though we’ve been together forever. It’s like I’ve known you my entire life, I’ve hoped for you, and prayed for you. I’ve even dreamed about you if I let myself admit it.” She rested her hands on Ceno’s forearms, her fingers gripping him tightly. “I can’t promise you I will agree to this... claiming, but I’m willing to get to know you better.” She smiled. “Why don’t we try to find this gold that Mr. Johnson is all fired up about?”

“You’ve got a deal.” Ceno grinned. “Can we seal it with a kiss?” His light blue eyes stared into hers, and he winked.

“I have no idea why I’m telling you this, but I think that wink of yours is damned sexy.” She grinned up at him, snaking her arm around his neck. “And why not? A kiss sounds like a good way to start. Who knows? Maybe we’ll decide it’s better than chocolate.”

“I’m willing to bet it is.” His face drew closer to hers as he held her gaze. “I don’t even care if we have an audience. The only thing on my mind at this moment is tasting your luscious lips and branding you with my scent if only for a bit.”

Sela couldn’t help herself. She ignored the others and shoved her fingers through his hair as he slanted his mouth over hers.

Time slowed, and their audience disappeared; it was as though they were alone in the world as he deepened the kiss. Her heart pounded, her breathing became erratic and still, his lips covered hers, coaxing her mouth open. He thrust his tongue inside, branding her. He passed his scent to her, telling the world she was his. Sela had never felt so alive, so owned. It was almost as though he claimed her with his mouth alone.

Her blood heated, like lava flowing through her veins. No one had ever made her feel the way Ceno did with just a look, a kiss. Fire raced through her veins, burning her from the inside out.

Could she resist him? Did she really want to? All her life she’d prayed, waited for a man like him. A man she could trust, love, and keep the rest of her life. Where else on Earth would she find a man who would never cheat on her, never leave her, and always keep her best interests as his first priority? Human men didn’t think that way.

Before she knew it, he was pulling away, nibbling her lips gently as he ended their kiss. It was over all too soon. Sela whimpered, needing the press of his lips against hers, wanting to accept everything he offered even before her mind caught up with her heart. It was obvious her body had already accepted him. How long before her heart and mind followed?

“We have all the time in the world to come to a decision, there’s no reason to rush things.” He skimmed his hand over her hair, his fingers caressing her cheek before he brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. She stared up into his eyes. For a moment, they were the only people in the world.

“Are you two finished, or should someone ready a room for ya?”

“Gramps!” Sela stepped back, pressing her hands against her blazing cheeks.

How in the world had she forgotten so many people were watching? She’d never been an exhibitionist before. Why now?

She crossed her arms, hoping to hide her hard nipples. Evidence that Ceno’s kiss had affected her more than she was willing to admit at such an early juncture. Not that the show they’d put on would tell a different story.

“How do you plan to find the gold you’re looking for, son?” Geno asked as he changed the subject with a wink in her direction.

“Did you bring the star analyzer with you?” Ceno glanced at Reno.

“I would have, but I couldn’t find it.”

“Shit. It would have made finding any large deposit of gold easy.”

“Sela can find it. I know she can.” Her grandfather stepped forward with a grin.

“Gramps.” She shook her head, her hand held up, palm out. “Don’t even think about it. That was a stupid little trick you and Dad always set up, and you know it. Half the time I can’t even find my keys. What makes you think I can find gold?”

“Because your keys are never really hidden from you. They’re in the house, right where you put them. The gold is hidden on this land somewhere. Whether it’s deep in the mountain, the river, or buried in the dirt. Concentrate, and you’ll find it.” He leaned closer to Geno. “And that’s only one of her powers if she would only allow herself to embrace them.”

“Parlor tricks, Gramps. You know as well as I do, Dad always planted the location of the hidden objects in my subconscious while telling me bedtime stories. I haven’t found a single hidden object since before he died.”

“It’s because you’ve never tried to find something that was truly hidden.” Her grandfather grasped her arms and met her gaze. “Try. Just this once, put your mind to it and try. What have you got to lose?”

“My dignity?” She sighed at his crestfallen expression. “Oh, okay.” She crossed her arms with a scowl. “But I reserve the right to say I told you so when it doesn’t work.”

“It will work. You were always better at it than your grandmother, and she was the strongest finder I’d ever met before you.” He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “Now, close your eyes and concentrate. Where’s the gold on our land?”

“Okay. Here goes nothing.” With a sigh, Sela closed her eyes and did as her grandfather instructed. Slowly she blocked out everyone and everything around her, just as her father coached her to do when she was younger.

First, she envisioned her property, visualizing the portion of the map around their spread. White sparks filtered through the darkness in the upper right corner, turning silver and then gold. They spun in a circle, multiplying until thirty or forty spots of gold shot out in different directions and hovered over several spots on the map, blinking.

“I can’t.” She shook her head. “There are dozens of them. I don’t know if any are real.”

“Concentrate on finding the richest deposit of gold on your land,” Ceno suggested. “Perhaps there’s more than one.”

Sela took a deep breath and cleared her mind. Again, she visualized her property on a map. Again, she brought up the many sparks, even though she concentrated on finding just one.

The sparks spun. First, there were dozens, all appearing as bright white lights in her mind’s eye. After a moment, some disappeared, their lights growing weaker as others turned to silver before fading into the dark recesses of her mind. Still, three remained, as bright gold lights, blinking in three disparate parts of her property, until finally, two of them faded away, leaving just one in an area she knew well.

“My playhouse.”

“Your playhouse?” Her grandfather said as she opened her eyes.

“Yes.” She nodded. “It’s a cave I used to play in as a child. I never told you or Dad about it because I figured you’d both have a cow and two chickens if I ever told you I’d been playing house with my dolls in a cave.” She shook her head. “I don’t remember seeing any gold, but then, I never went too far past the entrance. I wasn’t a brave child, and I had no flashlight.”

“Let’s investigate, shall we?” Geno said, waving his arm toward the barn. “We parked inside. We didn’t want anyone seeing our mode of transportation come morning.”

Reno threw the doors wide, and Sela gasped. “Is that a spaceship?”