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“You don’t know what you’re getting into. You will follow him, Tameca!” she shouted, suddenly near to tears. Tameca stared. Her sister couldn
’t have been lovers with him, could she? No, please! She had dismissed it when the thought first came, but her sister was about to cry. Did she care for Marcus herself? Or maybe she knew he would travel and that Tameca would go with him.
“We won’t be gone forever, if I go.” She crossed the room to her sister and hugged her. “When are you going to let me be an adult, Renee? When I’m thirty?”
Renee wrapped her in a bear hug and kissed her. “Tameca, I’m one of them.” Her voice sent vibrations into Tameca’s cheek. Fearful of what her sister had just said, she focused on the sound of the words replaying in her mind rather than their meaning. Her sister pulled a tissue from a pocket and wiped her nose before she took Tameca’s hands.
Marcus almost bowled her over. “You will not take her from me. I’ve waited too long to find her.”
Renee rolled her eyes. “Relax. We’re going to the bathroom so I can explain to her what I should have years ago.” Her shoulders slumped when she turned back to Tameca. “I didn’t want you to choose the same path I did. I know the ache of having one of them for a mate—and the anguish of losing him. I thought that if I kept you away from Marcus, it would be fine. But he knew from the moment he first saw you. Out of respect for me, he didn’t push. I made him promise to leave you alone until I taught you, eased you into this.”
“But Renee didn’t tell you anything. She didn’t teach you a damn thing about our people, our ways,” Marcus snapped.
Tameca looked back and forth between them. “What are you talking about? You work for him. That’s it, isn’t it? Why would he show you any amount of respect other than that of employer-employee?” Tameca braced herself. “Did you two have an affair, and now he’s ready to move on to your younger sister?”
Renee looked like she was about to gag. “Spare me. No!” Her brown eyes darkened before she lowered her gaze to the floor. “I was his older brother’s mate. His name was Lucas.” She choked on the name, and tears flooded her eyes.
Tameca gathered her sister close. “He died? That’s why you won’t get close to anyone, why you go out with guys only for a good time, nothing more. Did losing him destroy you that much, Renee?”
Her sister nodded and pulled her toward the door. “I’ll tell you when we’re alone. Come on.”
“Wait.” Marcus stopped them again.
“Marcus, look, I said I’m not going to walk out with her. You and I both know I can’t get away from the family for long. They’re in my blood.” She turned to face Tameca. “Soon to be in hers, too.”
Tameca’s head began to spin. “W-What? My blood?”
Renee removed the cat ear comb from Tameca’s head and held it in trembling fingers. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Yes. After tonight, there’s no turning back, so you must know what you’re dealing with.”
Marcus pulled Tameca into his arms. He opened the cape to slide his arms around her middle. Tameca pressed closer. He kissed her, then pushed her head to his shoulder. “Corbin can help her to see what this is about faster than just telling her. It’ll also help her to understand what and who we are, to embrace us—me.”
Tameca lifted her head. As she looked into Marcus’s eyes, she got the impression that her leaving him at this juncture would hurt him, but she didn’t know why. They had just met. She’d thought of sleeping with him only to get the V off her chest, not to be bonded. Yet, after touching him and having him kiss her, she actually craved the bond. It had to be magic or something to skew her judgment.
Tameca cast a glance at Corbin, who seemed more interested in how he could have sex with Pat while he waited for Marcus to bond. She wondered why he had to bond in the first place. There had been so many writhing bodies tonight she couldn’t have counted them all. From the blaring music still pumping from the ballroom, she was pretty sure the party was still going on. Marcus’s people were insatiable.
“Corbin!” Marcus called.
He looked up, sighed, and set Pat on her feet. Tameca caught a glimpse of his staff hanging out of his pants. Marcus turned her head to face him, and she remembered he kept saying she couldn’t have another man until after they had bonded. Did that mean she could afterward? Did that mean he’d be sleeping around, too? These were questions she had better get clear before she made any decision. If she fell in love with Marcus, that kind of lifestyle would only mean heartache. Maybe that’s why Renee seemed so wounded.
Marcus snapped his fingers for one of the two guards to come to him. Oddly, when he twirled Pat into the man’s arms and that man nibbled at her ear, she was hooked to him instead.
Tameca gaped, her mouth falling open. Marcus liked to nibble her ears. “That’s your spell?” she croaked. “A bite on the ear?”
Corbin chuckled. “No, it’s a stress reliever.”
“What?”
“We . . . bite. A delicate little flower like yourself and your friend could never endure that unless we were bonding. So, to ease the ache to bite, we nibble.” He shrugged. “Now, then.” He slapped a hand down on her head. “One mind-meld coming up.”
She shrieked, and he laughed.
“Kidding. Just kidding.”
Tempting a Wolf
Chapter Eight
In the same wooded area, before the lake, Tameca slipped her shoes off and waded into the cool water. The moon watched over her, almost as if she were its child. And if she were honest with herself, she would admit that she felt its pull but had no idea how to answer.
