To Love a Shifter: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (32 page)

One month after the ending of The Werewolf Prince and I…

“Mama.” Little Dylan beamed at Misty before gurgling the same word.

The others laughed as Misty’s eyes widened in shock at what her baby brother said. “Did you guys teach him that?”

Kelly opened her mouth to answer but closed it quickly at the warning look sent by her twin. Kevin was probably right. It just wasn’t the time yet to talk about Domenico. Misty might not appreciate learning that Dylan spent every night in their brother-in-law’s bedroom, with a freaking prince as his nanny.

And a few nights ago, Kelly herself had overheard Domenico teaching Dylan to say that very word. She had also forgotten how extraordinarily strong a Lyccan’s ability to pick up scents was, which allowed Domenico to catch her red-faced at the doorway.

Instead of giving her his infamous tight-lipped look – like the one he had when he discovered Kelly sneaking out of the Moretti compound to date the quarterback of her school – Domenico had simply given her a heartbreakingly wry smile and said, “It might help keep the other men away from Misty while I’m…not around.”

The memory made Kelly bite her lip very hard.

As she adjusted the yawning Dylan on her lap, Misty caught the look of worry in her sister’s face. “Hey. Is everything all right?”

Kelly bit her lip harder. To prevent herself from crying, she busied herself playing with her hair and fiddling with the sunglasses perched on her nose. The words “shining, shimmering, splendid” from the
Little Mermaid
song immediately came to mind on her first sight of the realm of the Faeries. Even though it was a late Sunday afternoon and sunlight could not penetrate the realm’s protective shield, everything was still so glaringly…bright. Here, the grass shone like emeralds, the skies were the color of sapphires, and the lilies that floated on a nearby pond sparkled like diamonds.

She watched her sister smile and laugh with her other siblings. She so badly wanted to ask if Misty truly didn’t want Domenico back anymore. But Kelly couldn’t make herself say the words, not when the answer frightened her. She had never believed in true love until she had seen Misty and Domenico together. She needed a little more time to cling to her hopes…even if they’d one day prove false.

“I’m just worried about school,” Kelly finally mumbled when Misty kept glancing at her worriedly.

“Oh.” Concern darkened Misty’s gray eyes. “Is it anything I can help you with?”

Kelly forced a grin. “If you can teach me the latest routine for cheerleading---”

“Forget I even asked,” Misty answered hastily, making everyone laugh again.

A Faerie guard came then, his sudden appearance making Kelly start in surprise. She just couldn’t get used to how
stealthy
these Faeries were. And they got to be invisible outside their realm, too! Those were very cool abilities, and she didn’t want them to be cool. More to the point, Kelly didn’t want Misty to think they were cooler than Lyccans.

Misty nodded and when the uniformed Faerie retreated, she said in a very casual tone, “Your Lyccan escort’s here.”

Kevin shook their other siblings awake. The younger ones had fallen asleep after gorging themselves on fruit pies, dried fruit candy, and just about every dish that could be made with fruits. One thing Kelly could say about the Faeries’ realm: it was without a doubt a dieting cheerleader’s paradise.

Nicole was awake now. She rubbed her eyes, opened them, and yelped. “Shiny!” Nicole gasped, quickly looking down. Her eyes scanned the array of dishes spread on the blanket of their impromptu picnic and she sighed in relief as she found her shades between the milkshakes and cheese platter.

“I don’t understand how you can stand to live here, Misty,” Nicole mumbled as she grabbed her shades. “And without sunglasses! Everything’s so…
sparkly.
It’s like living in the belly of Edward Cullen.”

Misty raised a brow. “I thought you weren’t going to read
Twilight.
”

Nicole turned red. “That was before I learned stuff like vampires and werewolves were real.”

Kelly paid close attention to Misty’s face when Nicole mentioned the word ‘werewolves’, hoping for a reaction – anything that would make her feel more hopeful.

But Misty only smiled. “Don’t forget Faeries. You should also check out books about Faeries and see if they have any inkling of truth in them.”

A little while later, when it was truly time to go, Misty asked the twins to stay behind. “We didn’t get to talk much about…what’s happening…because of the kids.” Misty took a deep breath. “I’m hoping you could all move in here with me.”

Before Kevin could say anything, Kelly blurted out, “I…don’t think it’s possible.”

Her twin gave her a questioning look.
What are you doing?
Kelly didn’t need ESP to read what that look meant. She gave him a look back, one that said just two words:
Trust me.

“I heard Lyccan guards talking. They say the vampires are all around. If we move here, it’s going to be a big thing…they could know about it and we could be ambushed.” Kelly felt extremely guilty at the sad and appalled look in her sister’s eyes.

“Shick,” Misty whispered, seemingly more to herself than anyone else. Her shoulders slumped. “I never even considered what kind of trouble I’d bring you guys into---”

Kelly shook her head quickly. “No, no, don’t blame yourself, Misty. None of us would trade our lives now for anything in this world. Even with all the threats…we’ve never been happier. You know that, right?” She ignored Kevin’s look and continued, almost desperately, “You remember how we felt so much more complete with Domenico around?”

Misty froze.

Shit. Shick. Shit. Kelly was so torn apart by the look on her sister’s face she was completely confused about which bad word to use.

“Misty---”

Her sister squeezed her hand, and Kelly fell silent, understanding everything that Misty was telling her without words. Misty was the kindest person Kelly had ever known. The strongest, too, and it was that steely spine of Misty’s that told her not to talk about Domenico Moretti anymore. Most people thought her older sister was a wimp, a crybaby, but most people were stupid. They couldn’t see the real Misty, the one who had singlehandedly brought them up and made sure their selfish cold-hearted foster mother didn’t turn them into screw-ups.

“I just want to be sure you’re all okay there.”

“You do not have to worry about us anymore, Misty.” Kevin’s voice was quiet and firm, a far cry from how young he had sounded before he turned Lyccan. “We just want you to be okay, too. To be happy.”

“I am happy
here,
Kevin.”

Kelly looked away, not wanting anyone to see how Misty’s words scared her. She understood that Domenico did something unforgivable to Misty, but she also believed with all her heart that every person deserved a chance for atonement. Misty herself had taught her that. She used to teach Kelly that every morning, telling her over breakfast – which was basically just cereal and water in those days – how Kelly should take the higher ground whenever other girls in school posted nasty comments about her online.

“We’ll visit you every weekend,” Kelly promised. “But for now, is it okay if we just stay where we are?” The hurt in Misty’s eyes made Kelly want to take her words back but she managed to stay silent. She had to do this. With every day that her family stayed with the Morettis, Misty would also be forced to remember that she had once loved a man named Domenico Moretti. 

After, Misty kept her smile in place as she continued waving goodbye to her siblings. When they disappeared completely from view, Misty immediately broke into a run, gasping when she reached the beautiful brick house that Daryl shared with his lover Milo.

She raised her fist to pound on the door heavily, but with Daryl opening the door right away Misty almost ended up pounding on his face.

“Whoa!” Daryl grimaced. “That bad?”

“Please” was all Misty could say.

Daryl stepped aside to let her in and locked the door behind them without a word. The silence persisted as they walked to a small room kept hidden at the back of the house, away from prying eyes, its doors hidden behind a full-length gilded mirror.

It was dark inside the room, with Daryl only lighting a lantern that created a tiny halo of golden light. She sat on one armchair while Daryl sat next to her. “Are you sure?” he asked, worry lining his voice.

“I need this, Daryl. Please.” Misty didn’t like how desperate and needy she sounded but knew it was exactly how she felt. It had taken all of her control not to cover her ears every time her siblings talked about Domenico.

“Open your hand then,” Daryl said quietly.

Her fingers uncurled. She closed her eyes. She did this every night and had already memorized every step of the routine. Her heart started to hammer in a horribly twisted mix of fear and excitement as Daryl placed a burning-hot crystal on her palm. Her fingers closed around it, wrenchinga gasp from her throat.

The crystal, imbued with Faerie powers, allowed her to replay and experience just one day of her life. And every night, she made the same choice.

The festive sounds of a ball played in her mind like a fading melody, the laughter and music, the chatter of familiar voices, all of it making her heart ache with painful nostalgia. This was the night that ended it all.

Her breath caught when she saw herself smiling up at Domenico, listening to what he had to say like he was her god. How beautiful he was. And how exquisitely stupid and foolish she had been to believe he truly loved her!

Tears blurred her vision, and when she blinked them away, Rafaella was already there.

“When we say ‘mated’ we’re not talking about sexual intercourse, you idiot. We’re talking about mating as the true joining of two mates…of you becoming like us.”

Even in her memories, the sound of Rafaella’s laughter was poisonous, but it wasn’t what brought the tears back to her eyes and tore her apart. It was the look on her face that night---the moment Misty had the painful inkling that Domenico Moretti would be breaking her heart.

“You may love me, Domenico…but you don’t love me enough.”

Daryl snatched the crystal from her hand, forcing her back into the present.

Misty found herself on her knees, heavy sobs racking her body.

Daryl gathered her in his arms. “Oh, Misty. You have got to stop torturing yourself.”

She shook her head even as the excruciating pain of her memories continued to squeeze her heart like a vise with thorns. “I can’t, Daryl. I need to learn how to stop loving him.”

“Misty, Misty, oh my God, Misty!” Daryl came running into the courtyard, his two-inch wooden sandals making clopping sounds on the brick ground. He skidded to a stop – just to kiss his partner, Milo, on the lips.

The love shining in the gay couple’s eyes made Misty’s own eyes burn, and she hurriedly looked away, trying to distract herself with the shimmering beauty of her surroundings. Because that was how everything was here in the realm of the Faeries – shimmering. Probably the only thing that wasn’t shimmering was her heart, which had been crushed to pieces by a no-good---

No, no, no
. She wasn’t going to get to that. She wasn’t going to be melodramatic about it. That part of her life was over.

Daryl finally managed to pull himself away from Milo. “Misty, oh my God---”

The alarm in his face finally got to her, and the sword she had been holding fell from her suddenly nerveless fingers. She had been spending most of her time in the realm of the Faeries practicing her sword-fighting skills, finding some strange sense of peace with the clashing sound the swords made. She didn’t have to feel when she was fighting. It was…peaceful.

“What is it? Is it my family?”

“No. Well…not really…there’s been an attack against the Lyccans and one of their kind was tortured.” His eyes were bleak. “It’s your sister-in-law…Estrella.”

~~~

After sixteen months of licking her wounds, Misty finally left the realm of the Faeries. As the emissary and liaison officer of the Faeries for the Lyccans, it was her job to make sure that the pact between the two races would be carried out.

The whispers and stares began the moment she walked inside the majestic main hall of the Lyccan Council. She climbed the grand staircase to the committee office on the second floor, where Daryl’s father, the Castellano pack leader, waited.

“Misty,” Aurelius greeted her warmly. The white-haired old man gave her a slight bow.

“Sir,” she said, returning the bow with one of her own. She didn’t want to do it, but courtesy made her go through the motions. That bow wasn’t because she was the Faeries’ chosen emissary. It was because she was still Misty Moretti in his eyes, wife to the heir of the Moretti pack leader.

Just the thought of anything associated to Domenico Moretti
hurt.

“How are you?”

“I’m fine.” She gave the older man a reassuring smile. He was one of the few Lyccans she trusted. Everyone else…was suspect. She told herself she had to feel that way about them, that she couldn’t be naïve about them anymore. She still remembered every painful second of the last time she had been in Lyccan Hall, when Rafaella had shown her how foolish she had been. How
gullible.

The doors crashed open behind them. Aurelius turned, but Misty didn’t because she knew who it was. She wished she didn’t but the way her skin prickled told her that no matter what, she still wasn’t able to ignore his presence.

“Misty?” His voice – even though it sounded ragged now – was tortuously familiar.

She took a deep breath before turning around. Without looking straight at him, she murmured, “Domenico.”

Domenico stared, heart hammering in his chest, unable to believe that after sixteen long months of estrangement he was finally seeing Misty again.

Yet she was
different.

It…unnerved him, but at the same time, it attracted him. Everything about Misty made his heart constrict in complete desire.

Damn it, he had missed her so much in the months she had been gone and yet now, she didn’t look as if she cared one whit about their estrangement. Had he truly lost her for good?

She seemed taller, more beautiful, and ethereal. Something about how Misty looked right now nagged at him. He studied her more carefully, or at least he tried to do so when every instinct he possessed urged Domenico to haul her into his arms and never let go. Misty wore a white voluminous one-shouldered dress that fell just a little past her knees in an asymmetrical hemline. The Misty he knew would never have worn something so elegant before, but
this
Misty carried it easily, as if she was born dressed like---

A Faerie.

She looked like a goddamn Faerie.

His fists clenched. If the Faeries thought Misty was theirs, they were in for a goddamn surprise. Domenico had given her time to heal from the scars he had stupidly inflicted, but he knew in his heart he would take her back. If she didn’t want to, that was too fucking bad. Because he would have her back in his life, and he would do whatever it took to make that come true.

“Misty, may we talk privately?” He spared the older man a glance. “Aurelius?”

When the old man left, he turned back to his wife.

~~~

“Look at me, Misty.”

The command in Domenico’s voice struck something inside her, making it impossible for Misty to resist his order. Reluctantly, she lifted her gaze to meet his and almost gasped at what she saw.

Domenico was staring at her as if he wanted to eat her alive, his gaze roaming all over her body as if he was already undressing her, as if he was already thinking of all the ways he could sink his cock into her.

One part of her was glad – that meant he desired her, didn’t he? But the larger part of her was cynical. In the end, he had never desired her enough, never loved her as much as he thirsted for revenge against his father.

“How are you?” His voice was guttural, as if he was having a hard time holding his emotions back.

Misty frowned. That was
not
like the Domenico Moretti she knew. The old Domenico had been cold and aloof, perfectly in control, manipulating everything to the very end. Swallowing, she answered only when she could be sure her voice would be steady. “I’m okay. I hope everything’s okay with you, too.”

Her voice was cold and sweet, just like a Faerie, too. It made Domenico bristle. The Faeries were not going to have her. She was his, for better or for worse. She was the princess meant for him…for Lyccans.

Misty remembered one of the reasons why she was here and her heart immediately softened in concern. “How is Estrella?”

“She’s…coping.”

“I hope I may see her later.”

He frowned. “Of course you can. She’s your sister-in-law.”

Her head jerked up. “Domenico---”

He could feel himself going cold. “No,” he said flatly.

She shook her head. The old Misty wouldn’t have argued. But she wasn’t that foolish and submissive anymore. “I mean it. I want the cutting of ties to take place now that I’m here.”

“Well, you’re not going to get it,” he snapped.

She acted like she didn’t hear him. “I’ve thought this through. You’re worried about what others would say, right? You can tell them that I begged to come back. I won’t argue. I just want things to be over in any way---”

“No!”

He had shouted.

Misty was stunned. Domenico never shouted. He wasn’t the type.

Domenico tried to keep his fury under control, but God, hearing Misty personally demand a separation made him want to kill someone. “It’s not over between us,” he gritted out.

Saddened eyes met his. “Of course it is.”

His usual impatience got to him, and Domenico strode toward her. Misty tried to back away, but she was too slow and he was too fast. In a second, he was gripping her hands, forcing her to look at him. “Misty, I want another chance.”

“There’s no need,” she said tonelessly. “I gave you what you wanted---”

“I don’t care about anything but you!” he shouted.

“And you expect me to believe that?”

This time, she had shocked him.

Because she wasn’t the type to shout either and here she was, doing just that.

Taking advantage of his apparent shock, Misty wrenched herself away from Domenico. “I want the cutting of ties,” she told him tightly. “This time, if you’re not going to present it to the Council, then I will.”

~~~

Misty was still trembling as she entered the private hospital suite where Estrella Moretti had been confined for two nights already. Memories of her earlier confrontation with Domenico was messing her up internally, making her feel things she no longer wanted to feel. Domenico had stalked off after their argument and she couldn’t believe how painful it was to see him go. It just proved one horrible truth. She was still so, so stupidly in love with him. It was embarrassing.

But…she had to be strong. She had to.

“Misty!” Her sister-in-law’s face brightened upon seeing her.

Pushing her dark thoughts away, Misty summoned a smile as she rushed to Estrella’s bed and hugged the younger woman. “I’m so glad to see you’re okay.”

“More or less,” Estrella said.

When Misty pulled away, she was sad to see that although the girl was smiling, it didn’t reach her eyes. Misty stroked Estrella’s dark hair. “I swear, if I ever come face to face with the monster who hurt you, I’m going to cut him to pieces.”

The whole room became silent.

She colored.

“War freak?” Alessandro, one of Domenico’s younger brothers, finally asked. “The Faeries, the gentlest race of all, turned you into a war freak?”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Misty made a face. “Hahaha.”

“Seriously, what happened?” Alejandro, twin to Alessandro, asked.

She beamed proudly. “I’m now a Level 2 swordswoman!”

The twins whistled in appreciation.

“Really?” Emilia, the baby of the Moretti family, gasped.

Esmeralda interrupted, “But don’t you have to be, like, graceful to do that?”

Misty’s eyes narrowed. “Are you implying something?”

Everyone became silent again.

“Well…” Esmeralda hedged, and the whole room erupted into laughter once more.

The door opened and Domenico came walking in, and the room fell silent for the third time. Try as she might, Misty couldn’t stop staring at him. He had changed into a white cotton sweater, sleeves pushed up to his elbows to reveal his muscular arms. His tan-colored corduroy slacks had a semi-loose fit, like his sweater, but even so they failed to detract from Domenico’s sheer sexiness.