“You’re off to a good start.” Her tongue met his in a tangled web of lust and love.
He rolled to the side, holding her tight against his body. He ran his hands up and down her arm, feeling her soft skin under his fingertips. He never wanted this moment to end.
But it had to.
“My sister’s magic is fading,” he said.
“I know. I can feel it. I also know you added a layer.”
He cocked his head and arched a brow.
“I can see it.”
“Really?” He kissed her nose. “I didn’t want anyone walking in on us, so I thought it best.”
“You’re smarter than you look,” she patted his chest. “We need to see if the book changed at all and get ahold of Chaz. We have to play this out, so we can get back to doing more of this.” She slid her hand down his stomach, brushing against his half-excited male parts.
He grabbed her wrist.
“Keep that up, and we might never leave this cabin.”
She sighed, kissing his chest. “I’m going to go shower. I don’t need to step outside smelling like sex.”
“Sure you do. That way everyone knows I’ve marked my territory.”
“Sweetheart, it’s the other way around,” she said as she shamelessly stood. Her naked body glistened in the light from the fan. “I don’t need any bitches sniffing around my man.” With that, she snagged her clothes and sashayed across the room.
Something told him that he might be King of the Wolfairies, but he wasn’t going to be king in his own house.
Not that he minded.
9
Cheryl’s body tingled as she remembered every tantalizing touch Dayton had dared to sprinkle her with. The aftermath of his lovemaking still caused tiny tremors even an hour later.
She raised the coffee mug and blew on the hot, bitter liquid. The book of images lay open on the table. The image of them in bed together now had a signature. The next image had darkened, showing them leaving the protection of the cabin in their wolf form. The following page had yet to evolve, but they both suspected it was the one where he took a couple of bullets.
She didn’t want that image to be etched in the book.
“Dayton? Cheryl? Can you hear me?” Chaz’s voice crackled through Dayton’s barrier.
“Loud and clear,” Dayton projected as he sauntered into the dining room smelling of fresh, clean soap and mountain air. “Are you ready out there?”
“We are, but you should know another Royal was murdered. We found him at the southeast corner. His body appears to have been dragged off the property,” Chaz said.
“Don’t we have security cameras there?” She leaned into Dayton when he looped his arm around her shoulder, kissing her temple.
“Whoever it was knew the angle of the camera and its capabilities. We have a list of potential suspects. Nico and Isadore are briefing them now on the plan. We’ll see who shows their ugly face.” Chaz had always been one of those guys that feared almost nothing. He ran into the face of danger, not from it. That really hadn’t changed much since he’d mated and had children.
If anything, it made him stronger and a better leader.
“I don’t like us walking out there like that. Whoever it is will come at Dayton with a gun. That could do some serious damage.”
Dayton squeezed her shoulder. “We have to do this, and you know it.”
“I know.” She nodded.
“All right then. Let’s get this show on the road.” Shifting in small spaces hadn’t been something Cheryl enjoyed doing. She’d always be the kind of werewolf who enjoyed getting a running start. Of course, that meant she had to strip down and run naked and that wasn’t always appealing. “We’ll be out in ten minutes.”
“We’ll be ready.”
She trusted her brothers with her life, and she knew they would do whatever it took to make sure the traitor was flushed out, giving way for the Winter Wedding ritual, sealing the fate of the Wolfairies and giving them the ability to shift and use magic outside the property line.
“No heroics.” Dayton took her by the shoulders and stared hard into her eyes. Sparks of protective fairy dust popped from his lashes. “We stick to the plan.”
“Until the plan doesn’t work, then we rogue.” She winked, though she wasn’t kidding. No plan ever worked out exactly as anticipated, and she’d already worst-cased it with her brothers and Isadore.
“The plan will work.”
“If you get shot, I’m not going to stand there and do nothing.”
“Just promise me you won’t do something crazy.” He batted her nose. “I sense your mind churning all the possibilities and all your potential reactions. I know you’re a formidable werewolf and can handle yourself, but you’re still the future queen and without you, I’d be nothing.”
“Now if we only had ten more minutes, you’d be getting lucky.”
He growled.
She patted his chest before taking a step back and removing all her clothing. She stood in front of him naked.
His gaze lowered from her head to her toes and back up. He licked his lips a good five times. “Is it crazy that I’m totally turned on about the idea of watching you shift?”
She tossed her head back and laughed. “Yeah. That’s crazy.” Crazy in a great way. She cracked her neck and back as she allowed her body to contort and morph into her white wolf form. She was the only one in her family that was completely white. As a child, it drove her batshit crazy, as an adult, she loved her wolf look. She could blend in with the snow during the winter months and in the summer, her coat kept her cool.
She stood proud in the middle of the family room. Her head only came to his shoulder, just like in
