"I may have been a fili," said Lorcan, "but that didn't require me to be celibate." He put his arm around me and I relaxed. The tension dissolved and I enjoyed the easy affection. "By the time Ina reached me, the disease was in its final stages. I cared for her, but it was too late to save her. One night, she attacked me."

"It seems you keep getting attacked by those who are supposed to love you."

"Yet I'm still here." He smiled. "I didn't kill her, Eva. She walked into the dawn."

"Sometimes grief changes you. It makes you better or worse. Maybe Koschei needed someone to blame for his loss. Maybe he was always a little crazy and losing Ina was what broke him."

"Maybe." He kissed me. "I have to go, love. We have another meeting with the board. We also have to make preparations for the Ancients."

"They're coming here?"

"Right now, it's the safest place to host a conference."

Between the increased patrols, uber-magic spells, and full-time vigilance of Ruadan, Broken Heart probably was the safest possible place for any paranormal being.

"They'll discuss what to do about Koschei. No Ancient has ever gone droch fola, and no one knows what will happen to the Family line if an Ancient dies." He stood up and I stood with him.

He kissed me lightly, then rose into the air.

I wanted to shout: That's it? Where's the romantic gesture? The claim of undying love? The marriage proposal?

Instead, I watched him until he disappeared, feeling bereft.

The countdown to the demolition of my home ticked to zero.

That night, I sat down on the porch steps for the last time and petted the squirrel that had scurried into my lap.

Tamara and I had tried to get back to the way things had been before, but we were both changed.

We held a small memorial service for Johnny Angelo, though he had no grave. Jessica had declared that the old movie theater on Main Street would be restored and renamed Johnny Angelo Theatre. She even planned a weeklong movie marathon featuring all of Johnny's films.

I looked over my shoulder at my empty, forlorn house. All the books were now installed in the Consortium library. Tamara and I had picked out a nice ranch-style house within the compound. Not only would it give us extra security, but it was also near the school.

The Consortium council wasn't convinced I would be a good teacher, but with Jessica and Lorcan advocating for me, I had been given temporary teacher status. School was starting late, the second week of October. The first of the month was only days away and I had a lot to do. I was really nervous, but excited, too. Mom always said that when G.o.d closed a door, he opened a window. I guess the library was my closed door and the school my open window.

Still, I was grappling with the idea that tomorrow evening the house would be torn down and a security tower built.

Tamara had stayed at our new house. She was painting the walls of her bedroom dark purple and mourning the loss of Durriken.

He and his family had gone on another hunt, but he promised to return before Christmas. He also gifted her with a BlackBerry.

The boy could slay vampires and text-message. Now that's talent.

I guess the reason I had returned was not only to say good-bye to the house and to this chapter of my life but to see if Lucky would show up.

I missed him and worried that he had gotten hurt or worse. But maybe he had moved on. What I really hoped was that he had found his mate and was out in some lovely forest making puppies with her.The relationship between Lorcan and me remained affectionate, but he kept me at arm's length. At least that's the way I felt. I do not know why I was so scared to tell Lorcan the truth about my feelings. I didn't want to be rejected, but mostly I didn't want to hear him say that he didn't love me.

As I continued to wallow in angst, I heard a howl.

I plucked the squirrel from my lap and put him on the stair. He chittered at me, obviously chewing me out for displacing him.

The soulful noise came again and I hurried into the yard and looked at the woods. Lucky bounded out of them, running toward me with joyful abandon. He slowed considerably when he reached the yard and stopped a couple of feet away.

I'm glad you're here, I sent to him. I missed you.

He sat on his haunches and yipped.

Then he started to change. The fur seemed to suck into his skin. His snout shortened and his limbs lengthened.

Within moments I was looking at Lorcan.

Chapter 29

"Oh, my G.o.d." Shocked, I stared at him. "You're Lucky? You're a lycan?"

He uttered Gaelic and a pair of faded blue jeans and a gray T-shirt appeared on his body. I noticed the concession to color; he had been retiring his mourning look.

Lorcan stood up, his silver gaze on mine. "It is the last thing I needed to tell you." He stepped toward me, gauging my reaction, but honestly, I was too stunned to move. My gorgeous wolf was... Lorcan?

"It started a couple months ago. The first time, the change just... happened. After that, I learned to control it. When I walked around in wolf form, I felt compelled to visit you. You emit this... pulse that attracts the animals." He looked at me, his emotions shining in his eyes. "You were so beautiful and so kind. I watched you, Eva. I watched you and I fell in love with you." He looked uncertain now. "I have never found anyone like you. I want to spend forever with you."

Had some part of me known that Lorcan was Lucky? I don't know. I only know no other man had ever meant as much to me as he did. "Will I turn into a wolf, too?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. Will it matter, Eva? Will this be the one thing that keeps us apart?"

Was this why he couldn't commit to me? I wanted to laugh, to shout, to cry. I crossed the s.p.a.ce between us and went into his open arms. He leaned down to kiss me and the flame of desire licked through me.

"I love you, too," I said.

"I want to bind with you, Eva."

"Here? Now?"

"If you can accept all the things I have done, if you can accept who I am, and still love me... then, please, Eva. Marry me."

"Yes." I kissed him again. "Yes!"

"First, there is the Claiming." He put his hand on my neck and said, "You are mine."

Heat flared on my skin. I put my hand on Lorcan's neck and said, "You are mine."

When I drew my hand away, I saw my ruby symbol fused to the middle of a rose.

"If Tamara accepts me as her"-he gulped-"father, then I will claim her as well. But only if she wants me."

"She will," I a.s.sured him. "She knows a good man when she sees one."

He nodded. "Then there is the Word-giving." He drew away from me slightly and stared into my eyes. "Eva, I promise to honor you, cherish you, and love you for all my days."

"Not just a hundred years?"

"A hundred years won't be long enough, a stoirin."

Grinning like a fool, I said, "I promise to honor you, cherish you, and love you for all my days."

I felt something electric arc between us. The magic of love was binding us together.

"Finally, there is the Mating." He scooped me into his arms. "I know that there is one piece of furniture left in the house."

"That's true. The sleigh bed."

Lorcan took me into the house, carrying me all the way to the bas.e.m.e.nt, where my luxurious bed with all its pillows and soft sheets waited. Rose petals were strewn on the floor and the bed. Red and pink fairy lights danced above the bed.

"When did you do this?" I asked. It was the most romantic gesture I'd ever seen.

Lorcan smiled as he put me on the bed. He cupped his hands and whispered in Gaelic. Then he opened one hand and showed me the gold ring. The rose in the middle had been carved from a ruby.

"Ruby was my mother's name," I said, as my eyes ached with the need for tears. "That's why it's my symbol."

He slipped the beautiful ring onto my finger. "I love you."

"I can see that." I took a giddy moment to look at the ring, then gestured at my clothes. "Get rid of the clothes so we can do Step Three."

"As my wife commands." Another Gaelic spell was uttered and suddenly we were naked.

We lay together on the bed.

Lorcan took my mouth in a gentle caress. My lips were pliant, willing, and he deepened the kiss, thrusting his tongue inside to mate with mine. His hand slipped through my hair. I reveled in each tender gesture, each slow sensation caused by his patient tending of me.

His lips moved down my throat, lingering at the base. He trailed a path to my b.r.e.a.s.t.s, raining tiny kisses over each of them, cupping them in his hands to bring them closer to his mouth. His warm lips closed over one erect nipple, and pleasure shot through me.He cupped the breast, which was still throbbing from his attention, and gently twisted the nipple. I gasped at the pleasure-pain invoked. As he pinched the still-wet nipple with his thumb and forefinger, he wrapped his lips around the taut peak of the neglected breast and sucked hard, nipping the end with his teeth.

I pressed closer to him, suddenly ravenous, needy. My hands glided over his smooth chest. I felt the ridges of his stomach muscles, the firm skin of his thighs, and the roundness of his a.s.s. One hand cupped his b.u.t.tocks, the other touched his c.o.c.k, pressed against my stomach. With one finger, I stroked it from base to tip. I encircled the head, then slid my hand down its firm length.

He suckled, licked, nipped. I touched, stroked, and squeezed.

Lorcan's hand coasted down my stomach and found the nest of curls at the apex of my thighs. He gently pinched my c.l.i.t between his thumb and forefinger, released the tiny nub, and pinched again.

I moaned.

He laved my nipples and slipped two fingers inside me. I moved in rhythm with his strokes and pressed his head against my breast, wanting more from him. He bit my nipple and the rough edge of his teeth sent pleasure cresting through me.

"I want you inside me," I said.

He parted my thighs and entered me slowly. I wrapped my legs around his waist and drew him in deeper.

With one hand, he captured my wrists and raised my arms above my head. With the other, he steadied himself. His c.o.c.k filled me, his motions slow, steady, and tender. Oh, so tender.

His mercurial gaze captured mine. "I love you."

"Then show me."

He increased his pace, his strokes deep and sure. Still he held my wrists. I bucked against him, my c.l.i.t throbbing.

A moan escaped his lips and he bent to sink his fangs into my neck.

My body went from slow burn to explosion. I was awash in need, desire. A buzzing climbed my spine, then zipped down again, sensation after sensation vibrating from my core.

The o.r.g.a.s.m burst inside me, so brilliant, so pure, I cried out, caught in the web of pleasure.

Lorcan's ragged cry of release echoed mine.

We collapsed against each other, and he drew my hand down. He kissed my palm. "Now that I have you as my wife and that we will be a family, do you know what I am?"

"Hmm. What?"

He grinned. "Lucky."

Epilogue

Honoring the maiden's wishes, the prince tended to her throughout the evening. As her breath shallowed and her eyes fluttered closed, his heart squeezed in grief.

"I will stay with you and await the dawn," he promised. How could he fear dying when he was with the other half of his soul? "What is life," he asked the maiden, "without love? I would rather have this one night with you than another thousand years."

A beautiful glow emanated from his lady. The heat and light were filled with such all-encompa.s.sing joy, he feared it not.

As the radiance subsided, he found the maiden awake. He helped her to sit up and she cupped his face. "I was cursed,"

she said. "I was told that only a man who walked the night and who swore his devotion to me could break it."

Overjoyed, the prince took the maiden into his arms. "You were worth the wait," he whispered.