To Love a Shifter: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (92 page)

          George said dryly, “And so as your heartkeeper, I’ve shared my soul with you. I don’t think anyone else can claim me after that.”

          She spoke it so simply, with a kind of calmness unnatural to a human, prompting Silviu to ask curiously, “How do you take all this so easily?”

          George just looked at him.
Easily? Really?

         
Reminded of the way she had continuously slapped herself and thought she was on drugs, Silviu felt a grin tugging at his lips. “Well,” he amended, “Somewhat easily
after
everything then.”

          She took her time answering, picking her words with care. “My parents were the best parents any kid could ask for, but they weren’t…like…
normal
folks. My mother died early, when I was just twelve. She was just a plain housewife, didn’t like leaving the house, but she would tell me the most amazing stories every night.” She paused. “Well, okay, she liked
scaring
me every night.”

          He raised a brow.

          “She used to say that there’s a truth in every story. Because of her, I didn’t get to watch a lot of cartoons when I was young. Most times, I watched horror movies – The Thing, The Exorcist, The Birds, The Omen, Children of the Corn –
every
horror movie there was, we watched it together. She even got me to watch old Asian horror movies, before all those Sadako shit.”

          Seeing him wince at her last word, she said hastily, “Sorry.”

          “You curse too much,” he told her mildly.

          “Yeah, I know. It’s a self-defense mechanism.”

          Again, that arrogantly raised eyebrow.
I do not need to waste my voice to let you know that I desire for you to speak more,
it seemed to say.

         
Arrogant bastard,
George thought again with a mixture of irritation and amusement.

          The eyebrow went a notch higher.
Well? Where is the rest of the story?

         
Sighing, she continued, “When my mother died, my father became obsessed with archaeology, constantly going around the world to take pictures of tomb after tomb after tomb.” She nodded towards her camera on the opposite seat. “I got my love for photography from him. Anyway, basically, I was left alone at home, and most people thought my parents were nuts, the way my mom wouldn’t leave the house and talk to anyone and later, the way my dad kept searching for tombs. But I knew how bullies worked so instead of showing them I was scared, I pretended to be tougher.”

          Her lips twitched at the memory.

          The look on her face enchanted him, but even more so her courage, the way she lived her life, how she always took a bull by its horns.

          “I was enrolled in a Catholic school and no one there
curses.
Not even one. Not even the most stuck-up bitch or the strongest bully. So…to make myself untouchable, I, well, went all gangster and ghetto on them.”

          Silviu could only imagine what that meant. He said simply, “You are amazing.”

          She turned red and snarled, “Shut the fuck up.”

          He tugged her close and kissed her. “You are.”

          The carriage was slowing down. She looked at him hopefully. “Are we near?”

          He shook his head. “We’ll be resting in an inn for the night.”

          There was a strange kind of pause that made her frown. “What is it that you’re not telling me?”

          “This inn we are about to stay in…they are filled with…
creatures
.”

          “Creatures,” she repeated dumbly.

          “And…they are not used to being around humans.” He sounded apologetic.

          “Aaaand?” She kept waiting for the ‘but’.

          “So that they would not want to eat you---”

          “What the fuck?” Did he just say
eat
?

          “---we must pretend that you are a human pet.”

Checking in at Craving Inn on FourSquare.

#oldschoolinn #nocabletv #darnit

          Evil eyes watched every movement inside the Craving Inn, a rambling five-story structure that for centuries had served to shelter those who did not want to go through the toll ways that connected the dukedoms to each other at night.

          There were many reasons to avoid the toll ways, but there was one unspoken rule that everyone abided by when using the smaller and more dangerous inner roads.
Ask not, die not.

         
“You so fucking owe me for this,” she hissed.

          Silviu locked the collar around her neck. “You may punish me tonight.”

          She choked.

         
“Ilie is known in these parts and so it would not surprise anyone that he would be coming here with a human pet. You will have dinner with him and then afterwards, he will take you to our room, where I’ll be waiting.”

          She said just for spite, “I want my own room.”

          His eyes blazed even as he said calmly, “You will have your own room only on the day that I die.”

          George punched him in the guts, hard enough to make Silviu wince. “Don’t fucking say things like that.”

          “Then don’t say things that you do not truly mean either, milady.”

          “Asshole.”

          He tipped her chin. “Keep your head down, do not speak if Ilie says it is dangerous, do not look at anyone in the eye and for God’s sake, do not quarrel with him.”

          And then he kissed her, sucking her lower lip in before his tongue thrust into her mouth, boldly inviting hers to mate with him. Her arms went around him as she let the warmth of his kiss wash over her.

          Silviu barely managed to pull away. “Promise me you will do as I say.”

          “I’ll do my best.” Before Silviu could tell her anything else, she opened the carriage door and took the werewolf’s hand, letting him guide her out. She did not look back, knowing that no one was supposed to know someone else had been inside the carriage with her.

          She looked up at the werewolf, intent on thanking him for assisting them even though he was a marquis and Silviu was obviously just one of his many retainers or maybe a comrade from war.

          But when their eyes met, George’s words died in her throat. Again,
that look.
“Well, that’s a relief,” she muttered.

          Ilie raised a brow. “What do you mean?”

          “He says I should be worried about the other guests at the inn thinking I’m a free meal – but seeing how you look at me, I guess I don’t have to be worried. You look so hungry for me that you’ll probably kill anyone who even tries to take the smallest bite of my body.”

          George nodded thoughtfully. “He’s really devious, that one, making you guard me.”

         
As she walked ahead of him, Ilie was left staring after her, unnamed emotions gripping his heart and body. How fucking ironic was that? What every word the human girl said was true, but not in the way she thought he hungered for her.

          Fuck no.

          He hungered for her in the way that a man could only be desperate for a woman’s touch. He wanted to fuck her, his hidden desire for her so strong it was beyond what was right. And yes, he would kill anyone who dared touch her in the inn, but in the end he would also do what he was meant to do, taking her to the man who already owned her.

          Maybe she was right about that, too. The Duke of Brimstone was indeed devious, if he had chosen Ilie precisely for the reason the human girl had cited.

          George stopped, looking over her shoulder in askance. “Well,
milord
?” she asked in a mockingly sweet tone. “Aren’t we going in yet?”

****

          So far so good, considering how she still had all her limbs intact,
George thought twenty minutes later as one of the kitchen maids served them their food, its mouthwatering scent making her stomach grumble so loudly it had the kitchen maid looking at her, startled.

          Adopting a pitiful tone, she mumbled, “I am sorry. It is just that Master wears me out every night that I am in need of sustenance after.”

          Ilie choked on his mug of wine.

          The kitchen maid, who was also human, looked at Ilie accusingly. “That is against Chalysian rules for keeping pets,
sir
.” She spat the last word out before turning to George with a sympathetic look. “Just tell me if you are hungry for more, I will make sure to prepare it quickly, my dear.”

          When the kitchen maid left, Ilie glared at his companion. “Nice work.” Didn’t she fucking understand they were supposed to be inconspicuous? It was why he had deliberately chosen a corner table in the darkest area of the inn’s dining hall. With their backs against the wall, no one would be able to sneak up on them from behind. His view of the area was also all-encompassing, allowing him to see any threat coming their way.

          But all that fucking hard work – wasted.

          George looked at him innocently. “Master, why are you so mad at me?”

          “Yeah, man, why
ya
treating her so badly?” the vampire from the other table demanded. He was clearly a vampire, as the red-colored liquid in his glass mug could only be blood.

          He was tall, old, and gnarly, but what surprised George the most was his language. Everyone she knew in Chalys, even her half-demon lover, spoke like Shakespeare. How in the world did this vampire end up here talking like a tough New Yorker?

          At his words, George looked at Ilie again, this time with her best woe-is-me expression.

          This time, he looked like he was just a second away from devouring her. He bared his fangs.

          She jumped on her seat. “Master! What big teeth you have!”

          The vampire laughed, as well as the werewolves on the table next to his.

          “This is what you’re into these days, Marcovici? Some role-playing in the bedroom with Little Red?”

         
So she was righ
t, George thought. The werewolves – and she had guessed they were by the color of their eyes – had indeed recognized the marquis and were suspicious of his presence.

          She had taken a gamble, wanting them to think she was the marquis’ shameful secret, and George had a feeling she had succeeded, albeit not in the way she had originally planned.

          Ilie’s expression smoothed as he raised his mug in greeting to the other wolves. “It was just a whim, but this new pet of mine is proving to be difficult to tame.”

          The wolves leered at her.

          This time, George didn’t need to pretend to be scared. She scooted close to Ilie. “Master, I’m afraid!”

          The wolves laughed.

          Ilie said in a cold sweet voice, “Now, now, my pet, they are just like me. What would you say if I were to share you with the others, hmm?”

          Her eyes threw daggers at him even as she said, “No, Master. I only want to belong to you.”

          Something in his body clenched at the words.

          Her eyes widened.

         
Fuck.
Whipping his head away, he looked at the wolves with a regretful expression. “I’m sorry. It seems my human pet only wants my touch.”

          “Yeah, seems like it.” One of the older wolves looked at her curiously. “Is this your first time, being a pet?”

          She nodded slowly, realizing that Ilie was not going to answer for her. In truth, her mind was still whirling at what she had seen in the marquis’ eyes. “Master acquired me on a bet.”

          “Ooh, good win there, Marcovici.” The others nodded in agreement.

          Since they were all looking at her expectantly, as if wanting to hear more about her experiences, George tried to think of something else to say. “I, umm, heard that…well, you see, I’m worried that you all eat humans?”

          They nodded readily.

          Ah fuck, so Silviu really did mean what he said!

          The horrified expression on her face must have gotten to them, prompting a man with glistening skin from yet another table to tell her reassuringly, “Don’t worry. We won’t eat
you.
We’re civilized folks here, unlike the rest of Chalys. We only eat those straying into the Woods after dark.”

          She tried not to gulp since last night
she
was one
of those strays.

          “Everyone else is forbidden. We make sure to stay on the Duke of Brimstone’s good side, being that he’s the only one worth following around here.”

          “I am very happy to hear that, kind sir,” George said, meaning every word. She paused, trying to contain her curiosity.

          Ilie sighed. “He’s a merman, darling. It’s why his skin seems wet.”

          The said merman’s chest puffed with pride. “Is it your first time to see one?”

          She nodded, her eyes wide as she took all of him in. “Do you, err, grow fins when you go back into the water?”

          “Just one,” the merman answered.

          “How about a bear shapeshifter? Ever seen one before?” The hulking man from the bar asked.

When she started to shake her head, he got off the stool with a grin and immediately transformed into a nine-foot bear, overturning tables in the process.

          “Dammit, Morton! When will you fucking remember you always break things when you turn?” The bartender growled. “Go out and change back!”

          The bartender, who had stubbed horns protruding from his head. And when he turned to face her, his long pointed tail curled up behind his back, so long that its tip reached the top of his head.

          Seeing her staring at him openmouthed, he grinned. “Let me guess. You haven’t seen a lower level demon before? You’ve only seen the noble ones like Marcovici?”