To Love a Shifter: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (48 page)

She did her best not to blush, knowing that it was a night of hot, beautifully drugging sex that had her cheeks blooming and her lips rosy. She cleared her throat. “Lysander, we have to talk.”

He shook his head.

She was startled. “Excuse me?”

He grinned. “I didn’t say anything.”

Misty rolled her eyes. “You’re acting like a kid.”

“Am I?” His smile was almost as blinding as Domenico.

She blinked.

Lysander laughed. He left her momentarily to return his sword to its scabbard and gave it to another soldier. “Shine it then return it to me in person.” When he looked back at Misty, she was frowning at him in confusion.

“Lysander,” she began.

“Yes?”

“I really need to talk to you.”

He knew that. And he had a feeling that he also knew what she was about to say. His chest felt tight. Had it only been a few days ago when Misty had first come into his life? He had been so arrogant then, thinking that he could have her in his bed. Instead, she had ended up taking his heart.

Misty cocked her head to the side in confusion. “You’re acting weird.”

Was he? Maybe. Love did feel weird to him.

“Lysander---”

He said abruptly, “Be my slave for today.”

Her eyebrows shot up.

“Do whatever I ask of you – and I promise it will always be something that won’t harm you or anyone in any way – and if you agree, then I will listen to you tonight.”

She bit her lip. It was such an odd request, and she just couldn’t see what Lysander would get from it. “You promise?”

“I swear it on my parents’ graves.”

She said quickly, “Then it’s a deal.”

~~~

Domenico reread the missive uneasily. The atmosphere in the realm was fraught with fear, and in a way it explained why the Faeries wanted his army out of their world. Until their Alliance was firmly in place, they did have a right to distrust him and all the other outsiders.

But still he remained troubled.

“I hesitate to pressure you, Highness, but the High Circle is adamant that they leave immediately.”

Domenico said finally, “It will be done.”

Ivory curtsied, maintaining her bow a few seconds longer than usual but it did not even tempt a single gaze from the prince. Hiding her offended pride and rage behind another demure smile, she murmured, “Thank you for understanding, Highness.” She paused. “I also just wanted to tell you…I’m sorry.”

He raised a brow. “For what?”

“I had forgotten to consider your feelings when I suggested a betrothal between Lady Misty and Sir Lysander.”

Domenico unconsciously crushed the missive in his hands. He cracked his knuckles several times, using it to will his rage away. “It was…her choice, and I respect it.” But it better fucking be a part of a grander plan, Domenico thought, or all hell would break lose.

If it did turn out that Misty was indeed taking her revenge on him…

It did not matter.

He would still love her, and he would still want her to belong to him forever.

The rest of the day passed more quickly than he anticipated. Domenico had thought the time would pass slowly, with Misty not at his side, but instead he had been busy, having received additional reports from spies sent to him by Caros. The boys had spotted more vampire activity near the Midways, possibly heralding another surprise attack.

Did the vampires seek to ambush his army? Were they waiting for Domenico or Misty? It put him on edge, not knowing where they would strike. The vampires he had killed last year were organized but not in this scale. Hunting down Matteo’s murderers had been more a matter of time but required little strategy. And yet this ---

“Do we head back home, Your Highness?” The lieutenant heading the Moretti army asked.

“No,” he said finally. “Stay hidden in the Midways. I want you to be ready to go battle at the first cry.”

The Main Hall rang with the noise of laughter and conversation when he came back, with the most esteemed Faeries gathered together for dinner. When he walked inside, the first thing he did was to look for Misty.

And what he saw made him stumble to a stop.

Misty was seated on Lysander’s lap, a smile on her pretty face, and her arm around his neck as she opened her mouth to let him feed her.

Gay or not, that man did not have the fucking right to have his woman – his princess – on his lap.

Lysander fed her another bite. Misty giggled.

No.

It was as if she sensed his heart crying out to her, and her head turned sharply towards him, their eyes meeting.

For once, Misty’s gray eyes were completely unreadable. And then she was looking away, smiling at Lysander again, her voice hitting his senses like a silken whip as she said huskily, “Feed me another.”

Domenico turned away, almost losing his balance in his haste to get out. He didn’t understand what was happening, but right now all he cared about was getting as far away as possible from the sight of Misty seated on another man’s lap. She had asked him to trust her but to what extent? And for what reason? Was there even a fucking reason aside from revenge?

Outside the Main Hall, he struggled to breathe, feeling like the air around him was poisoned.

It took Domenico a while to realize that someone was calling his name.

He refocused his gaze, his chest still tight with pain. “Jayme?”

Jayme Cavalier’s gaze narrowed as he studied the other man. “You almost appear happy to see me.” And that was a hell of a shock. The last time they had met, Domenico had wished him to perdition for daring to flirt with his wife. Or rather his ex-wife now.

“I came to visit Misty,” Jayme said by way of explanation.

Domenico jerked his head towards the Main Hall. “She is in there. You’ll find her easily enough.”

“Because she’s the most beautiful woman inside?”

Because she was sitting on another man’s fucking lap.

But Domenico couldn’t bear the say the words out loud. He nodded jerkily. “I’ll see you around.”

“Jayme!” Misty jumped off Lysander’s lap and ran to her friend. She knew it would seem as if she was extremely excited to see the Cavalier’s heir apparent, but it was mostly because she just couldn’t bear to spend another second longer sitting that close to a man – when that man wasn’t Domenico.

He chuckled as she reached him, bending down to kiss her cheek. “What is it with this realm? First, it was Domenico looking practically happy to see me. And then you---did you miss me that much?”

Misty forgot what she had to say at the mention of Domenico. Oh God, she hadn’t let herself think of how it would be for him to see her on Lysander’s lap. She tried to rationalize it to herself at the start. The ends justifying the means and all that, but somehow it didn’t feel right. She was beginning to appreciate how difficult it had been for Domenico to constantly balance his decisions and making sure that he would choose the lesser evil.

She forced a smile. “It’s not the realm,” she teased. “It’s just you.”

Jayme smiled back, but he had also noted the stiff set of her shoulders and knew something was wrong. “Care for a walk or would lover boy back there be jealous?”

Her eyes widened. “He’s just a friend.”

He raised a brow. “Really?”

She nodded quickly. With another smile, she said, “Let’s walk?”

They walked towards her house since she also wanted to introduce Jayme to Daryl and Milo.

“Do you think you can tell me what’s wrong now?”

Misty almost burst into tears. She said shakily, “Just like old times, hmm?”

“Misty, tell me,” he said gently.

She shook her head. “I can’t…not just yet.”

He sighed. “All right. I won’t pressure you. But – tell me at least this. Is that man---”

Misty said flatly, “Jayme – whatever you saw, it’s not…he’s
gay.
”

He stared at her for a moment and then he said just as flatly, “He’s
not
.”

“He is.”

“Why are you so sure?”

“Daryl said so.”

Jayme said grimly, “I think we should have a talk with your friend. Now.”

They took a quick detour to get to Daryl and Milo’s home. Daryl was the one to open the door. Before she could greet him, Jayme beat her to speaking. “Hello, I’m Jayme Cavalier – Misty’s friend.”

“I know you,” Daryl said immediately, wide-eyed. When he had still been in Lyccan society, he had remembered how the girls in his school sighed over him and made him their locker pinup crush.

“That’s nice.” And then without further ado, Jayme asked, “Is Lysander Allard gay?”

Daryl made a face. “It’s just a disguise.”

Misty’s eyes widened. “B-but you said he was!”

Daryl frowned. “I did?”

“Yes! The first day we saw---”

His face cleared up. “Oh, you mean when you were assigned as his co-ambassador? I was sarcastic, duh.” Daryl’s smile faded when he saw the horror on Misty’s face. “You believed me?”

“I asked him several times, too,” Misty said dully.

“He was lying,” Jayme said grimly, “and I don’t think he’s lying without any reason.”

She said slowly, “Jayme, is it okay if I leave you here for a moment? I have to…”

“Would you like me to accompany you?” Jayme asked quietly.

She shook her head. “No. This is just between me and him.” Oh, oh God. She had thought he was gay. Somehow, that had made things better…but now that she knew the truth. Oh my God, if Domenico ever found out---

~~~

Lysander’s head snapped up when the door to this work chamber in the Main Hall flew open and a huffing Misty appeared at the doorway. He smiled at her, his chest easing like always every time he saw her. There was something infinitely relaxing about Misty, making him wish he could keep her by his side all the time.

“Misty---” His smile faded when she looked at him brokenly.

She knew.

“Why did you lie to me, Lysander?”

He walked towards her, and he could see that her first instinct was to move away from him. Somehow, that made him angry and he welcomed the rage because it allowed him to forget the guilt weighing on him.

“Come in and we’ll talk.”

She shook her head.

“Misty, I won’t ask again,” he said tightly.

“I just want to---” She let out a little cry when he moved with lightning speed, and the next thing she knew he had roughly pulled her inside while slamming the door shut.

“You’re hurting me!”

He let her go with a curse. Lysander exhaled sharply. “I’m sorry.”

She rubbed her wrist, knowing that there would be a bruise on it the next day. “Why did you lie to me?”

“Why do you think?”

“I don’t know, Lysander. It’s why I’m asking you.”

“How can you not know?” he demanded. She opened her mouth to answer but he shook his head in angry frustration. “How could you be so fucking blind not to realize that I’m in love with you?”

Misty stumbled back against the door, unable to believe what Lysander had just said.

“You’re not going to say anything?” He wanted to laugh as she continued to stare at him silently. For so many years, women had begged him to fall in love with them. For so many years, he had considered love as something only fools indulged in. And now that he had bitten the bullet, the only woman he had ever loved could not say a thing.

She could not say a thing because she was that…
horrified.

Lysander closed the distance between them, and he felt her tremble as his hands landed on each side of her face, effectively imprisoning her in his arms. “I love you, Misty,” he said raggedly. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

She looked at him sadly. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too.”

Her eyes widened.

He kissed her. She started to struggle, but now that he had nothing to hide Lysander did not hesitate to use his strength to keep her in his arms.  His lips forced hers to open, and as he started to kiss her more deeply the salty taste of her tears seeped in.

Lysander jerked away.

Misty covered her mouth, her eyes wide with horror as she stared back at him.

“GO!” Suddenly he was ashamed of himself. He had almost fucking forced himself on Misty! He had professed to love her and yet he hadn’t even cared to listen to her and honor her.

She shook her head.

“What the fuck do you want, Misty? I get it. You don’t love me. I’m sorry I forced myself on you, so now GO!”

She did want to go. She didn’t like the fact that he had used force on her but even so she didn’t hate him. Despite his lies, Lysander had been her friend and Misty didn’t want to throw it away without even attempting to fix things between them.

“Lysander.”

He flinched at hearing her call his name.

She whispered, “If you were made to choose between staying here in this realm and me, what would you choose?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

Misty smiled, pointing out tremulously, “Domenico did that for me, you know. He threw everything away just to be with me.”

“I didn’t fucking say no yet, did I?” he snarled.

“But Lysander, you didn’t say yes either.” She waited for her words to sink in and when Lysander lowered his head, she continued gently, “You’re not in love with me, Lysander. I think…your heart just reached a point that it was ready to love and I was just at the right place and time.”

“You’re wrong,” he said finally when she continued to look at him.

“I’m right and you’ll soon know it for yourself. I promise you that.” She walked back to his side, tiptoeing to kiss him on the cheek. When she pulled away, a twisted smile had touched his lips.

“Goodbye kiss?”

She shook her head. “Second chance kiss.” As she opened the door without looking, Misty missed seeing Ivory turn around the corner, nearly running in her haste to ensure that she was not caught eavesdropping.

This was what she had been waiting for, Ivory thought. Finally, the Master’s plans would be fulfilled.

~~~

Domenico was waiting at her front door and she hurried to him. She had this crazy urge to spill everything out, to cry on his shoulders and just let him fix everything that was wrong in her life.

He cupped her chin, his eyes hard as they scanned her face. “You’ve been crying,” he accused.

Misty laughed. “And you’re going to punish me if I was?”

“What happened?” he demanded.

She shook her head.

“Were you with Cavalier?”

She grasped the excuse desperately. “Yes.”

Misty did not fool him one bit. Worse, he could smell Lysander’s scent all over her, and it meant that she was lying to him. The knowledge nearly sent him to his knees. Was he really too fucking late? And was this all a fucking trap to avenge herself for the heartache he had caused her?

“Domenico?”

She looked so beautiful, so heartbreakingly innocent when she stared up at him like that.

It was too late.

It was just too fucking late.

Even if all this was a trap, the most elaborate of plots to hurt him, it no longer mattered. Domenico could not live without her. If allowing her to fool him would give him more time to spend with Misty, then he would take it with his eyes wide open, his heart ready to bleed.

She swallowed when Domenico still didn’t answer. She couldn’t help asking, “Domenico…you believe me, don’t you?”