Shadow of the Wolf

warming her. Her bedroom window faced away from the rising sun so she just knew she’d overslept. She stretched, thinking about the day ahead. Thank the Lord and Lady her job allowed her to telecommute; otherwise she’d be in deep shit for sleeping so late.

She opened her eyes, smiling at the start of a new day.

A pair of golden brown eyes smiled back.

Lana shrieked and almost fell out of the bed, but the man attached to the pretty eyes caught her.

“Good morning to you, too.” The man jiggled his finger in his ear with a grimace.

Chris. Right. She put her hand on her chest. Her breathing still wasn’t back to normal. “Crap.” Why hadn’t she remembered Chris? She hadn’t been that out of it, had she? “What time is it?”

“About nine o’clock.” He stretched lazily, displaying an amazing amount of bronzed skin. The sheet dipped enticingly low. She had to resist the urge to help it along, the memory of the gorgeous body underneath taunting her. He rolled towards her and shrugged, the sheet dropping enough that she could see his hip bones. “You were so tired I decided to let you sleep. If you want to be pissed about it, go ahead, but I did what I felt was right.”

She nodded and tried to drag her libido back into line, but the image of his naked body had bought a condo in her brain and moved in to stay. Damn that sneaky morning sex. Tricky dog. “What day is it?”

“Friday. Why?”

She winced. “Crap. Tomorrow’s the wedding.”

She bit her lip as Chris’s entire body tensed. “Wedding.”

“Um. Yes. Kelly Andrews and Dennis Littleton.”

“Who? And why are these people worth your life?”

“Kelly and Kerry are twins, and two of my best friends. Dennis is … a nice guy?”

She smiled at him hopefully, but was pretty sure this was one battle she wasn’t going to win. “Wednesday’s party was for Kelly. It was her bachelorette party, remember?”

“Who does a bachelorette party in the middle of the week?” Chris flopped back against the pillows, his arms behind his head.

“It was supposed to be a surprise party, except the bride wasn’t all that surprised. I think her twin spilled the beans.”

He grunted, the frown on his face darkening, possibly thinking about the half-naked men she’d supposedly partied with the other night. She didn’t dare tell him about the twenty bucks’ worth of ones she’d shoved into some masculine g-strings. Her wolf would have a major hissy fit if he found out.

“Yup. Brides do that little thing called getting married. It usually happens on a Saturday or Sunday, depending on your religious preferences. Frankly, I’m partial to Friday nights myself. The rates are cheaper and the religious people are more available.”

Chris was already shaking his head. “We can’t go. It’s too dangerous.”

Lana sighed. “I don’t think I have a choice. I’m a bridesmaid, and Kelly, the bride?

She’s mundane. I can’t exactly call her and tell her I’m dropping out of her wedding due to a bad case of evilwizarditis.”

Chris growled. “Well, you’ll have to come up with some reason for dropping out, because your life is more important to me than a party, even a wedding.”

“There’s no way she can replace me last minute.” She ignored the incredulous look he gave her, concentrating on how to get out of this particular little pickle. “Besides, I gave my word.”

His eyes closed. “You gave your word on what?”

“That I’d be there to keep Kerry from pushing Dennis too far.”

“Dennis is the groom?”

“Yup, and a man with a bigger stick up his rectum has never been found. Kerry loves yanking his stick, too, and Kelly gets stuck in the middle.”

“So you promised Kelly you’d stand in between Kerry and Dennis?”

“Not quite. I promised Kerry I would. See, Dennis makes Kelly happy, but drives Kerry nuts. She can’t help herself, but she doesn’t want to make Kelly upset on her wedding day. And I have to say Dennis is a good sport about it usually.”

“Huh.” He reached over and pulled Lana on top of him, thus proving once and for all that, yes, he definitely slept naked. She could feel his steely erection poking her thigh, distracting her from the wedding. “If Cole knows about your family he knows you’ll be at the wedding tomorrow. You might as well wear a dress with concentric circles on it and yell ‘shoot me now!’”

She thumped her head down on his bare chest with a groan. “What do I do? They’ll never forgive me. I have to be there.” She settled in, soothed by the sound of his heartbeat. “We have to make this work, Chris. It’s important to me.”

“All right, Lana. If it means that much to you, we’ll work something out.” He stroked her back, his tone thoughtful. “Remember what I said about how wizards work their magic?”

“Yes?”

“It’s entirely possible he already has something in place for the wedding. Actually, it’s highly probable he has something in place.”

“Do you think it would be something that happens whether or not we show up?”

“That would be the question. If it’s something triggered by our presence, then we need to avoid your friend’s wedding like the plague. But if it’s something meant to go off at a specific time and place, regardless of our presence…”

“They’d be sitting ducks. Two families of mundanes under magical attack.” She grimaced. “Not even Cole would risk the karma backlash on something like that, tame warlock or not.”

“That little storm he pulled up didn’t start right over us, sweetheart. Odds are good he’s already hurt innocents.” His fist clenched in her hair. “What the fuck is wrong with him? He has to know there’s no way the king will name him his heir once he gets wind of this!”

“Unless he hopes the king will be so far gone by the time he does that it won’t matter anymore.”

Chris frowned. “The council would act. There’d be a civil war, those loyal to the new king, those who oppose the very idea of how Cole was crowned. It would throw us into total chaos.” He gasped. “Could you not squirm, sweetheart? I’m really trying to be good here but all I want to do is fuck you until we both scream, and I figure we should wait on that until after we talk.”

Lana froze.

“Damn.” His laughing groan was rueful. “Me and my big mouth.”

She closed her eyes. He wanted her, she wanted him, but damn it, they had too much to do! “Not this morning. Okay?”

She could feel every muscle in his body tense. “This afternoon?”

She looked down into his hopeful face. Damn. Puppy dog eyes. “We’ll see.”

His eyes closed on a swiftly muttered prayer of thanks before giving her a deep, hungry kiss that curled her fingers and toes. Her fingers weren’t too upset about that, since they were currently curling into warm, hard man.

Which was why the slap on her ass was so surprising. She reared back with a yelp.

“What was that for?”

“You need to move. You’re late for work, and we have a wedding to prepare for.”

“What about the danger?” She damn near swallowed her tongue when Chris got out of the bed and stretched, completely uncaring of his … oh boy. Pretty. Her fingers were itching to glide over all that smooth skin and drag him back into bed.

“Do you think Annabelle can keep my brothers in line?”

He walked towards the master bathroom, yawning. She tilted her head, enjoying the flex of his ass. “Hmm?” He turned. She suddenly found herself confronted by the most tempting bit of man flesh she’d ever seen. Not overly long, not too fat, it looked like mouthwatering perfection. The fact that it belonged only to her was finally beginning to sink in.

His wicked chuckle dragged her gaze from his cock, now standing at full attention, to his face. “Can Annabelle