Shadow of the Wolf(21)

"Any musical preferences this morning?"

She sighed. "Something cheerful, please."

"Cheerful it is."

She pulled up the next set of figures she needed to work on, slowly  losing track of the man across the desk. It wasn't until she'd finally  entered the last of the numbers that she realized what had been  bothering her about the music he'd put on. "They Might Be Giants?"

He blinked, pulled from his own work, his eyes barely focused. "Build a little birdhouse in your soul."

She snorted delicately. "More like a doghouse."

"Why would I be in the doghouse?"

"How did I wind up naked in your bed again?"

"Sleeping with your clothes on makes you rumpled. Rumpled makes you  uncomfortable. Therefore you needed to sleep without clothes." The  innocent act he was trying to pull was completely ruined by the sexy  grin lurking around the corners of his mouth.

"Really?" She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.                       
       
           



       

He sat back and tried to look offended. "It's not like I broke out the  webcam at any point during your semi or total nakedness, you know."

"Did I hear the word naked?" Gareth sauntered in, a can of soda in one  hand and a smirk on his face. He settled on the edge of Chris's desk,  looking back and forth at them. "Well?"

Chris was scowling at Gareth. "Lana's naked is no concern of yours."



"I know where you keep your webcam." Gareth took a sip of his soda and watched Chris.

Chris looked over at Lana. "Remind me to hide it. Last thing I want is us plastered all over some porno website."

"That's because you're a good dog, unlike some people who may need a trip to the p-o-u-n-d."

She'd leaned forward, whispering the spelled word, hiding her mouth from Gareth and waggling her brows.

"So I guess you don't want to know that I just heard back from the high council?"

Chris's head whipped around so fast Lana was surprised he didn't hurt himself. "And?"

"The king is considering a Beckett, all right." Gareth bent closer. "But it's not you."

The relief on Chris's face was wonderful to see. Lana had no desire to be the next wizard queen.

"Thank the gods. Any idea who he has in mind?"

Gareth shook his head. "They wouldn't say, but when I explained what was  going on, they assured me you weren't the one. However, they did  confirm that Cole was originally the Godwin. They're going to let the  king know what's going on. Odds are good he won't be in the running for  long."

"Crap." Chris sat back and rubbed wearily at his face, settling his  glasses back on his nose when he was done. "This isn't over. If the king  dies before withdrawing Cole's name, he could have a legit-imate claim  to the throne."

"Nope, not over by a long shot." Gareth sat back, looking more serious. "I think it's time to call in the cavalry."

Chris shivered. "Not yet."

"Who's the cavalry?" Lana saved her work and shut down for the day, logging out of her company's servers.

"Our brothers."

"Brothers? I thought you only had Daniel." She sat back with a grimace.  The chair wasn't the most comfortable one in the world, and hunching  forward to work on the laptop for the second day in a row had her back  calling her all sorts of filthy names.

Chris frowned. "Why would you think that?"

"The Registry only listed Gareth, you and Daniel."

"Huh." Chris rocked back in his chair. The brothers exchanged a look.  "Nope, we have another brother, and Gareth's right. We need to call them  in."

"Why? Wouldn't that put them in the line of fire too?"

Gareth stood and walked to the window. "I think it's time. They need to  be aware of what's going on, and we definitely need to  …  tell …  Guys?"  There was an odd tone in Gareth's voice. He stared out the window,  horror growing on his face.

"What?" Christopher stood, the look on his brother's face pushing him to his brother's side.

Gareth pointed. "Look outside."

Lana joined them out the window to see what Gareth was looking at. Chris  was stunned, the sight of what was rolling towards them leaving him  speechless.

"Holy fuck." Lana leaned forward, wide-eyed at the huge bank of storm  clouds racing in their direction. Lightning arched from cloud to cloud  in a dazzling, lethal display. The clouds were a sickly greenish gray.  "That's no ordinary storm."

The brothers exchanged glances. "It's Cole." Christopher pulled Lana to  him protectively, tucking her under his arm. "We need to stop it before  an innocent gets hurt."

Gareth started to disrobe, much to Lana's obvious delight. Christopher  turned her and blocked her view of his almost naked brother. "Open the  window. I'll go scout and see what I can find out.

Maybe he's holed up nearby."

Christopher opened the window in time for Gareth, now in wolf form, to  leap through. He landed on the ground a story below and took off with a  brief bark up at them.



*

"Whoa." He couldn't help himself. He slapped Lana on the ass. "What were you doing looking?"

She rubbed her ass. "Hello! Hunk getting some naked time. You expected me to not look?"

"When we have a few free hours we're going to have to explore this whole concept of naked time."

He strode for the door. "Make yourself at home. I'll be in my work room trying to figure out what the hell Cole is up to."                       
       
           



       

"I might be able to help."

He smiled back at her. "Wizard and witch, remember, sweetheart?" He  frowned. He couldn't keep doing that to her. She'd more than proved  herself, no matter how much he wanted her to stay out of it. "No. I know  you held off the wolf in the car. If you want to try and work it out on  your own, feel free. But without knowing Cole, you'll be at a serious  disadvantage." He couldn't protect her while he tried to unravel the  storm, but he knew someone who could. "If you're really planning on  trying something, see if Annabelle can help." When he'd last seen  Annabelle she'd been attempting to scry once more on Cole, but she'd  drop it in a heartbeat if she thought Alannah was in any danger.

Lana's grin looked almost evil. "Oh, I think I can come up with something that will brighten Cole's day."

He strode back to her and chucked her under the chin. He was worried.  What if she tried something when he wasn't there to protect her and  Cole's protections lashed out? Maybe encouraging her isn't such a good  idea. "Stay out of trouble."

She blinked up at him, all sweet innocence. "Trouble? Moi?"

He couldn't keep the slow smile off his face. "You're going to drive me  insane, aren't you?" He didn't let her answer, just took advantage of  her open lips to lay siege to the inside of her mouth.

She was absolutely delicious. He would never get enough of her taste. He  threaded his fingers through her thick hair, holding her in place while  he slowly devoured her mouth. After only a moment's hesitation, her  lips joined his in the dance, moving against his own in a shy  exploration that had him weak in the knees and rock hard in seconds. He  realized he'd never tire of the sweet moans that poured from her mouth.  The fact that her kisses were still shy after the incredible sex they'd  been having was, to his mind, a good thing. It meant she was taking it,  taking them, seriously.

Lightning lit the room, followed by the booming crash of thunder.  Christopher pulled back, allowing himself to linger for just a moment.  He stared down at her, amazed at how quickly his little witch had wormed  her way into his heart. From the dazed look on her face, perhaps she  was finally starting to see him as something more than a wizard, too.  Maybe she was finally seeing him as a man.

It was going to be a pain doing spell work with a hard-on, but if Cole's  games were going to be stopped, he'd have to get to work. "Stay inside  where it's safe, sweetheart. Please. I don't want you outside where Cole  could find you."

He waited for her to nod, but was forced to accept her shrug. Vaguely  dissatisfied, he headed to his workroom to try and untangle the knotted  roots of Cole's storm, hoping that Lana was smart enough to stay safe.



* * * *

"Chris?" "Hmm?"

"Can I borrow some feathers?"

He blinked, looking up from his big old book in the middle of the table.  Cute glasses were perched on the end of his nose. He looked incredibly  intelligent and sexy, like one of those hunky college professors girls  dreamed of getting and never actually did. Those glasses were probably  going to be the final nail in her denial's coffin. "Feathers?"