Tom broke his gaze from his beautiful mate and turned a puzzled look at his brother. "No, but I can't ask him to be less than he is. I will always defer to you, but he isn't pack. He is Other."

"He's going to get his Other ass kicked if he doesn't learn his place."

Tom saw Jay's eyes glow. As the smaller man started a gesture he was certain would toss his brother on 22 *

his ass, Tom quickly grabbed Jay's hand.

"I'm taking him upstairs," he said quickly. "We'll be back down for dinner." Before his alpha could object, he dragged his mate upstairs. It would be a balancing act to keep his beautiful wizard from hurting his brother. The thought both amused him and scared him to his core.

"I could've taken him." The quiet confidence in his mate's voice told Tom he'd gotten Jay away from his brother just in time.

Tom pulled Jay up the stairs and into his suite. He locked the door behind them so no one would interrupt.

Privacy wasn't a big deal for pack mates, but he had a feeling his wizard would take a dim view of a wolf wandering into their bedroom while they were being intimate. The close proximity of his mate and his bed was enough to completely derail Tom's thoughts as his cock hardened and begged for attention. With a great deal of effort he focused on their conversation.

"It wouldn't be good for pack politics if you pounded my brother, even if he did deserve it." Tom pulled his lover close and lapped at Jay's throat, imprinting the flavor of his lover onto his soul. He knew in that moment, if he lived for a thousand years, he would never forget the taste of his mate. "I have to live with him for a while yet,"

he murmured against Jay's neck, reluctant to loosen his 23 *

grip. "A wolf can't live without a pack." Clutching Jay close, Tom swept Jay's sweet mouth with his tongue, hoping to derail his lover's line of questioning.

Jay leaned back. "Why is he alpha?"

"Because he's oldest," Tom said. That was how it worked in packs unless the oldest was weak. His brother might be an asshole sometimes, but he wasn't weak.

"You're stronger," Jay said.

Tom shrugged. "Maybe, but I don't have the need to be alpha." Struggling to get his mate to understand the delicate intricacies of a pack might be more difficult than he anticipated. It was hard to explain to an outsider something instinctive to a wolf. "You have to hunger for power to be an alpha. Be willing to sacrifice everything for the good of the pack. James has that hunger. I have never wanted to be top wolf."

Tom stepped forward and brushed Jay's hair away from his beautiful face. "The only thing I've ever wanted was to find the mate of my dreams and settle down."

Jay's smile was quick and bright, like lightning that dazzled and left the impression of its brilliance imprinted on the eyes. "So now that you found me, your life's complete?" The wizard's voice was teasing, but for Tom this wasn't a laughing matter.

He took Jay's hands in his own and looked into his 24 *

beautiful mate's eyes. "Yes. Now that I met you, my life's complete."

Jay blushed a brilliant rose color Tom found utterly enchanting.

Looking around the room, Jay frantically tried to think of something to say. Things were getting too serious, too fast. Jay was far from ready to settle down. Freedom was a new, hard won experience, and Jay was going to cling to it for as long as he could. However, it was one thing to know that he didn't want to be bound to another person and another to tell it to this man who'd waited his entire life for Jay to wander by.

Tom gave him a smile that brought new meaning to the word wolfish.

"I can smell your panic, my mate. Don't worry. I'm not quite ready to keep you for myself. An untrained wizard can be a dangerous thing, and I want you to be fully in control of your powers before you become one of the pack."

"One of the pack? I'm going to become a werewolf?" Jay couldn't keep the panicky tone from his voice. He had enough on his plate without worrying about 25 *

becoming a wolf.

Tom laughed, for a long time. Really, the tears weren't necessary.

"You can't become a were any more than I can become a wizard. You're either born one or not."

"It was just a question." Jay pouted. Although his father had ingrained languages and culture into his brain since birth, it occurred to Jay that his knowledge of werekin was strangely empty.

"Aww. Come here." Tom wrapped his long arms around Jay. He wondered if the cleaning staff would mind mopping up his puddle of goo. It was hard to keep his irritation when he was being snuggled like a favorite teddy bear. "You know that I would never laugh at you, my mate," Tom said, his deep voice low and intimate in Jay's ear.

"We don't know each other well enough yet for me to be aware of what you would or wouldn't do," Jay said snappishly.

Tom held Jay away a bit so he could look into his eyes. "I would never do anything to harm or humiliate you.

That is my vow from one mate to another."

"Do most werekin find their mate?" The question was gnawing at him. None of the other weres in the hall looked to be mated, but none of them expressed any 26 *

objections when Thomas said Jay was his mate either.

"No." Tom's smile was wondrous. He looked at Jay as if he'd found the best treasure ever. "Most werekin never find the one fated to be theirs. I was one of the lucky ones."

"What makes you think I wasn't the lucky one?" Jay was pleased with that statement. It didn't commit him to anything, but let Tom know that Jay found him attractive.

Jay wasn't quite ready to help Tom pick out curtains, but he didn't want to crush the guy either, especially if he might finally get some hot sex. Living with his father had been inhibiting in more than one way.

Tom watched his mate for a long while. There wasn't a werekin in the pack who wasn't jealous of him at this moment. Not only had he found his mate, but Jay was also an extremely hot wizard. His mate had so much power that Tom could feel it prickle across his skin like a live wire. How much of that was the mating connection and how much was pure Jay, Tom didn't know, but he was willing to dedicate the next sixty years trying to figure it out.

Jay leaned forward and kissed Tom, short-circuiting every thought in his brain. Heat poured down his spine as 27 *

the lip-to-lip contact spread warmth throughout his body.

Reluctantly, Tom broke the connection.

"We can't."

"What do you mean we can't? Of course we can."

Jay stroked a hand through Tom's hair, and he damn well almost came from the contact.

He loved being petted.

No! He had to focus. Shaking his head, he pulled away from his lover. Tom took a deep breath. "We can't have sex until you promise to be mine forever."

"What!" Jay stood up. "But we just met!" he shouted. "And you promised." He pointed an accusing finger at Thomas.

Tom shook his head. "If I have sex with you, we will be mated for life because you are the one destined to be mine. However, if you decide you don't want me later, I am doomed to spend the rest of my life alone. I won't be able to have sex with anyone else for the rest of my life because my body will always be yearning for you."

Jay frowned. "And if we don't have sex?"

"I can eventually match with another mateless werekin and, although I will always yearn for you, I can have a semi-normal life."

"So if we fuck and I dump you, I've literally ruined your life."

28.

Tom nodded. "Yes."

Jay let out a shaky breath. "Well, as long as there isn't any pressure."

"I don't mean to make you feel bad," Tom rushed to say. "I'm telling you this so you know, when I say we shouldn't have sex right away, it isn't because I'm not insanely attracted to you. I think you're the most beautiful man I've ever seen. I'm saying we can't have sex right away because, when we do, it will be permanent and I will never let you go."

Jay looked at Tom for a moment, his face a study of concentration. "Since you are putting all your cards on the table, I guess I should too."

Without warning, Jay stripped off his shirt and turned around.

Tom sucked in his breath at the sight.

Jay's back was completely covered with raised symbols. Symbols branded into his skin. Someone had burned this beautiful man over and over. Thomas couldn't even think of how much pain was caused by those repeated brandings.

"Each wizard is born with a Diviner in attendance, a magic user who can read the wizard's future. My mother had a bad heart and died at my birth, passing her magic to me. The Diviner told my father I would die, due to magic 29 *

sickness, if he didn't perform the Rite of a Hundred Flames.

Determined not to lose me, like he'd lost my mother, my father agreed. Every third month of my life, since birth, my father branded me with a piece of his magic, binding his life force with mine so I would be strong enough to live. At age twenty-four, I reached one hundred brands, and my father's life force gave out."

"By the goddess." Tom blinked back tears as he thought of the tremendous pain his beautiful mate had gone through already in his life. He reached out to touch Jaynell, only to have the wizard step back. Jay turned to face him, his face so sad that Tom could almost feel his pain strumming between them.

"What I'm trying to tell you with my story is that two people have already given their lives so I might live. It would kill me if you were to be the third. I'm a bad bet, Thomas. I know you're excited to find your mate, but I'm dangerous. I don't have the magical power of one person. I have the magical strength of three. I could lose my temper and kill you."

Tom couldn't take the separation any more. He stepped forward, wrapping his arms around his sweet mate.

"They willingly gave their lives because they wanted to, Jay, not because you made them. Do you know what that story tells me?"

30.

Jay shook his head.

"The story tells me you had two amazing parents who knew you would grow up and do great things. I'd like to be the person to stand at your side while you do them."

Tom leaned down, kissing Jay on the lips, keeping the embrace sweet and light. "We'll take it easy, my mate.

As much as I yearn to claim you and keep you as my own, I don't want you to stay with me out of obligation or pity.

When I claim you, it will be because you have decided that I'm the only one for you, not because you want to spare me a lifetime of pain. I won't be one more burden on your soul."

With one last hug, he released the man he was certain already held his heart. "Just promise me that while you're deciding our fate you won't go to another. I can understand waiting, but I might not be able to handle another man touching you. I don't want to leave the campus strewn with the bodies of promising wizards."

The smile he got was breathtaking for its sweetness.

"That I can promise," Jay said. "Right now, I just want to concentrate on my studies and we'll see where we stand after some time together."

This was going better than Tom could have hoped.

His mate hadn't run screaming. He considered that a promising beginning.

31.

"Let's go down and tell the driver to take you home.

I hear you have an early morning class."

"I have my entrance exams tomorrow," Jay confessed with a sheepish smile. "I have to find out what level they want me to start at."

"I'm sure you'll do well." After all, didn't he just say he had the magic of three people?

32.