Familiar Desires: 5 (Protective Affairs) (2 page)

“Alana, good to see you’ve made an appearance before us this
time.” Roger Davison, a wizard, leaned back in his chair and watched her. His
blond hair was combed back and looked like the typical businessman’s cut.

Alana recognized him as well as a few of the other wizards
on the Council. His remark infuriated her. The reprimanding tone was almost too
much. She held back from baring her fangs at him, but she wasn’t going to take his
attitude and merely forget it.

“Now, why would I make an appearance before wizards or even
let you know when I come into town. I informed the prowl and the Shifter Council
as I should.” She raised an eyebrow. She might be disconnected from the
protection of her prowl and the local wolf shifter pack at the moment, but the
ties and responsibilities still existed.

“You are a Familiar to two of the wizards here. You make an
appearance before us.” An older, black-haired woman surged to her feet and her
voice rose.

Alana had no idea who she was. Not really surprising, she
hadn’t met a lot of the witches in the area who weren’t her age. She pushed
down a rush of anger. What the woman said might be true in cases of most
Familiars, but not her.

They were her mates as well as her wizards. Familiars
matched and complemented a witch’s or wizard’s magic. In essence, they
strengthened each other. In her case, the bond might have formed, but they
hadn’t had a chance to talk about the ceremony or a future between them before
the relationship had been destroyed.

“Familiar in name only. They wanted nothing to do with me.
There were other things they found more important.” Alana narrowed her eyes and
took a step forward. “A Familiar is acknowledged and brought before the Council
to be accepted. There’s usually a celebration in acknowledgement of the union.
That didn’t happen so don’t tell me I had an obligation to contact you for
anything. I’m not their Familiar.”

Carson Samuels cleared his throat. The wizard’s lips
twitched. “We know what you did.”

Alana looked at the dark-skinned, black-haired wizard. She didn’t
feel quite as much animosity toward Carson as she did toward some of the others
at that end of the table. Mainly because he had been nice to her and tried to
help her when the relationship with Kane and Michael had ended almost as soon
as it began. She also thought if anyone could understand some of the
difficulties in a shifter and wizard mating, it would be him. He’d been born a
wizard, but had mated with his Familiar and was now also a shifter.

“I’ve never tried to hide it. I asked them to end it. Since
I wasn’t the one they wanted, they needed to be able to find her. They never cut
the connection between us. I had to find someone to do it, because I wasn’t
letting their pride ruin all of our lives.” She frowned at the people in front
of her.

They all looked so disapproving. Maybe in a way, they had
some cause, but they didn’t have the right. The Familiar bond had formed between
her, Michael and Kane. When she’d thought they didn’t want her, she’d left the
area. They were her mates, but witches weren’t bound by the same instincts and
urges as shifters. She hadn’t felt she could remain tied to them as Familiar
when they seemed to be dating someone else. While she’d still been gripped by
anger and hurt, she had found someone to sever the link.

She’d regretted cutting the Familiar connection, the magical
link between Familiar and wizard, but the reasons hadn’t been simple. When she’d
resisted sealing the Familiar joining, the strength of the attraction to them
and the physical sensations of the link had grown. She’d been angry, hurt and
jealous, but she’d almost been driven mad by the increasing effects of that
link. The intensity of that tie as well as the feeling of possessiveness
engendered by the mating only made the emotions more severe. It had taken time
for her to be able to think rationally about what happened between them.

She hadn’t realized the letter might not be real until after
the witch had broken the tie to Michael and Kane. The scene in the restaurant,
well, she wasn’t sure about that. It might not have been what she’d thought,
but that was something she’d have to work through with Michael and Kane without
the distractions of disappearances and a mission.

“We want to know the name of the person who did it.” Carson
drummed his fingers on the table and watched her steadily.

“Why do you need the name?” Alana knew better than to take
their request at face value.

“We have to talk to whoever you found to do it. There are
rules held by even those who don’t take a Familiar. Breaking a binding between
witch and Familiar is one of those things that should never be done and she
knew it.” Roger’s voice hardened. “Did she even tell you it was a temporary
fix?”

“What do you mean temporary? I felt the severing of the
connection.” She felt a jolt of alarm go through her. The Council wasn’t averse
to trickery, but it usually didn’t concern the rules they went by with magic.
“Why now?”

“Why now? It’s the first time you’ve been in front of us. We
know it’s a woman from the feel of the magic. She must go before her own coven
for what she’s done.” Roger drummed his fingers on the tabletop.

Michael and Kane were her mates. Unfortunately for her,
mating was biological for a shifter. A human or wizard felt some of the
attraction, but wouldn’t feel the intense certainty and desire until the
transformation was nearly complete. It was different than being than being
their Familiar. The Familiar bond was about the match of magic and enhancing
the abilities of both witch and shifter, as well as bringing those people
together. Some Familiar ties were strong and some weak. Some led to a mating,
others didn’t.

On top of that, a witch or wizard didn’t form an immediate
connection, not even with a witch-mate. The witch-mate bond took time and
proximity to form. In most cases, the witch-mate connection built between two
people. Male twin wizards were the exception. When twins found their
witch-mate, both men discovered that link with the same woman, forming a triad.

Michael and Kane hadn’t seemed to want to discover if she
was their witch-mate. Even though there was every possibility she was because
of the strength of their Familiar link.

If a witch or wizard wanted to date someone else, they could
do that. Many witches married someone who wasn’t their witch-mate. Alana had
known herself well enough to realize she couldn’t stand back and watch while
Michael and Kane dated someone else, especially after her reaction to seeing
Kane with that woman in the restaurant. She couldn’t be their Familiar if she
had to stay away from them. So she’d decided to break the tie so they might be
able to form another Familiar bond.

“Yes, it was cut, but the ability to link is still there and
always will be. Even being in the same city will reestablish it with enough
time. They could have done something like what your witch did and later formed
another connection, but it would never be as strong as the one they have with
you and you would have never been able to be in the same area together again.
It’s why it’s not done.”

Alana took a step back and tried not to scream. The Familiar
connection reforming would be a distraction she didn’t need. She hadn’t felt
even a trace of their magic since the witch had done the spell. Well, other
than the fact that she still had the abilities she’d gained through binding
with them. She’d never been able to discover why that remained. She knew the Council
would lie about this without giving it another thought. The only problem was
she couldn’t see what they’d gain from the deception.

None of them had wanted her to leave the area, her family
included. They’d said to wait and see. At the time, her decision had seemed so
clear to her. The only way for her to go. She knew what she’d seen and she knew
what the letter had said. The fact that one of them meant to marry a woman
without the other had surprised her. As far as she knew, that had never
happened in any wizard twins who were part of the group of witches who took
Familiars. It hadn’t changed her mind though.

Alana remembered being so angry and hurt. She hadn’t waited
for an announcement that one of them was to marry. She knew she couldn’t do
that. Both of those men were her mates, as well as her wizards. She couldn’t
stand by and let some other woman touch them without wanting to tear the other
woman apart.

The physical and mental effects of their magic joining with
her had nearly made her crazy. She was almost certain they experienced the same
thing. The tingles, almost as if she touched a mild, live electrical current,
had rippled over her skin constantly. Any thought of them increased the
sensation and the urge to be near them. When she’d left Devoe, the feeling had
intensified. She’d only seen two choices—go back or find a way to break the tie
between them.

If they hadn’t been her mates and the binding between them
hadn’t been so strong, maybe she could have stayed and waited to see what would
happen. That wasn’t the case though. They were her mates and the binding
between them was very strong, very sexual and she wouldn’t share.

She’d rather have nothing of them than make do with whatever
bits they reluctantly gave her. It was why she hadn’t been home for more than a
handful of brief visits in nearly nine years. Her mother had been thrilled when
Kane had apparently changed his mind about marrying the witch and had called to
tell her they were still single and asking about her.

That hadn’t made any difference to Alana. She’d waited for
them to give up and sever the connection as she’d repeatedly requested. At the
time, she hadn’t been willing to settle for half measures. Considering the kiss
she’d seen, she had been convinced she was their second choice. She’d wanted
true mates who would stand at her side. It wasn’t until much later she’d had
doubts. When they continued asking about her, she’d talked to Michael and Kane.
The conversations had only led her to question what she’d seen and whether
there was more to it.

“I guess I’ll have to make sure I stay away from them then.”
She shrugged.

That shouldn’t be a problem. She was going to be busy while
she was here and hopefully, the investigation wouldn’t take long. Finding out
if they could be together, that would have to come later. She wanted to be able
to completely focus on them and their reactions, not find moments between
completing a mission.

“Not going to happen, Alana.” A hand landed on her shoulder
and the sound of a deep male voice surprised her.

Alana spun on her heel to confront the person who dared to
give her orders. Two men stood in front of her, nearly shoulder to shoulder. She
recognized them, but couldn’t be completely certain if it was Kane or Michael
who’d spoken. They were tall, certainly over six feet, but she couldn’t be
certain about how much over that.

At five eight, she wasn’t accustomed to feeling dwarfed, but
they managed it and not just in height, in bulk. Their hair was a glossy black.
One had long hair, which hung around his shoulders, and the other’s hair was
conservatively cut. They still had that golden surfer-boy skin, which came
naturally to them. And those deep-blue eyes. Those eyes had drawn her to them
when she was eighteen. By the time she’d left, she’d cursed the attraction to
them.

Their broad shoulders looked sturdy enough to carry massive
loads and certainly any worries she might have. They’d packed on some muscle
since she’d last seen them. She searched for some way to tell which man was
Michael and which was Kane. The twin with short hair had on a black t-shirt,
dark-blue jeans and black loafers. The longer haired twin looked a little more
casual in a blue t-shirt, faded jeans and white tennis shoes.

“You don’t tell me what to do.” She narrowed her eyes on the
two men. They stood side by side and looked ready for a battle.

“I’m not telling you to do anything. I’m simply stating a
fact. We’re not letting you ignore the link between us and walk away with it
unformed. We’ll make sure it resurfaces. You’re our Familiar and it’s past time
that you took that position.” The man with the black t-shirt and short hair
took a step forward. His eyes lightened with emotion, silver flaring through
the blue.

“I told you the last time I talked with you that if this is
just about settling, then I’m not willing to accept that. Anything else will
have to wait. I’m here for an investigation.” She encompassed both men in her
gaze. Her fingers itched to touch them, just to reassure herself that they were
real.

Alana wanted to bound over to them and throw her arms around
them. That wasn’t something that was going to change. The desire to hold and be
near them wouldn’t fade ever. The two pains in her ass were her mates. Her cat
wanted to rub all over them, push them to the ground and claim them.

She needed more than sex though. She wished for a home, love
and a life with them at her side. Although she hoped to be able to have
everything with them, now wasn’t the time to try to grab it. This might be
dangerous and she didn’t want them in danger.

“This isn’t about settling, Alana. This is about claiming
what is ours and ending this distance you’ve stubbornly put between us. You
never even told us you were leaving or why you did it.” The man in the blue
t-shirt hooked his thumb in his belt and swept his gaze down her body in a
frankly possessive sweep.

“One night you were in our arms and two days later, you were
gone.” The man in the black t-shirt took a step toward her.

“If you were so impatient to see me, you could have called
me, but we all know you didn’t.” She swept her eyes over both of them. They
genuinely seemed confused.

“Why did you leave?” the man in black asked. His voice was
tight and he leaned forward.

“You know why I left. One of you wrote the letter.” She
frowned. Maybe she could discover the truth about that a little sooner than she’d
planned. She had her doubts, but until she knew for certain, she’d always
wonder.

“What letter? When?” The man in blue frowned. He
straightened and seemed even bigger than ever.

“The day after the night we were together. It arrived at my
house.” She put a hand on her hip and glared at them. She’d had her doubts
after receiving the letter. Now, years later, she had even more. Had they
actually written it? Did they mean what it said?

She really didn’t know that much about them. They were older
than her and came from a prominent family. With that in mind, she’d gone to
find them and discovered Kane having that intimate little encounter with a
woman. There was no doubt that those two were definitely more than friendly.

“And you just believed whatever it said?” The man in blue
tilted his head and raised a brow at her, as if doubting her intelligence.

“Before this goes any further, which one of you is Kane and
which is Michael, because you’ve changed a little.” Alana held up a hand and
deliberately ignored the question.

If she were honest, it wasn’t the fact that one of them had
sent her that letter or what was in it. The bonding had just happened. Even as
young and naïve as she was, she didn’t expect them to be ready to acknowledge
it the moment it happened. She hadn’t even been sure if she was ready for it.

No, it was seeing the other woman in his arms. Thinking
about that day brought it all back.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Alana shifted nervously as she looked around the room. She
needed to talk to Kane or Michael about the letter. There was something not
right about it. For the most part, she wanted to know if they had sent it.
Michael’s secretary had said he’d be at Sasha’s, an upscale restaurant on the
edge of Devoe, but it wasn’t Michael who sat at the table covered with a white
cloth.

Kane looked different from the relaxed young man she’d met
last night and it wasn’t the buttoned-up white shirt and dark-blue tie. His
shaggy, black hair was somewhat tamed. He seemed tense and worried. He glanced
toward the other side of the restaurant, but she didn’t see anyone moving
there. As Alana watched, a red-haired woman strolled over to him and leaned
close to whisper in his ear. She slipped onto his lap, bumping the table
slightly. Her arms curved around his shoulders and her lips covered his.

Alana’s hands bunched at her sides. Anger began to rise and
a flush spread over her cheeks.

“Is something wrong?” a male voice said.

Alana couldn’t look away from the two people in that chair.
She felt her claws pushing through her flesh. My mate! Possessiveness and anger
roared through her and a deep, wrenching pain tightened her throat.

“Alana,” the male voice again spoke and this time a hand
touched her shoulder.

She growled again, but turned to look at who was brave
enough to bother an infuriated leopard. The older man had black hair and
dark-brown skin. His brown eyes held concern. She knew him. He was Carson
Samuels, a wizard and part owner of the lodge.

“Alana, why don’t we step back into the hostess area? We can
talk more easily there.” Carson gently urged her to go with him.

Alana went with him, because she didn’t know what she’d do
if she kept looking at the men. The urge to protect the bond with her mates was
so strong that she wasn’t sure she could keep control.

Once they were out of sight of the main dining area, Carson
turned to her. “Is something wrong?”

He knew there was. He could see it, but she realized he
wanted to get her to focus on him. It didn’t help calm her down, but she did
understand it.

“He’s my mate. They’re my mates.” She took a deep breath,
trying to get a little control of herself and of the urge to rush in there and
rip the woman away from him.

“Who? Do they know it?” Carson frowned and glanced back
toward the dining room.

“Kane and Michael. Yes, they know. We found out last night.”
She clenched her fists again and her claws dug into her palms as her anger
rose.

“And he’s not alone.” Carson grimaced.

A growl rumbled through her at the words, but tears burned
the back of her eyes. “No. Maybe he doesn’t know what he wants, but seeing
them… I want to rip into her and him. I can’t see it again.”

“Come with me. You won’t have to see it.” He urged her out
of the restaurant.

She went. If she didn’t, she was going to rip that woman’s
face off. As they stepped out onto the sidewalk, she drew in a shuddering
breath. She hadn’t ever thought she’d be so close to losing control.

Kane was obviously interested in that redhead. She didn’t
understand how he could be with that woman after experiencing the strength of
the ties between them. He’d felt the connection happen. She’d seen it in his
eyes last night. How could he feel that and then hold another woman? Alana
shook her head. She couldn’t make them want to be with her.

“Don’t do anything rash. Give it a little thought before you
make any decisions.” Carson put a hand on her shoulder. “This is as new to them
as it is to you.”

“How am I supposed walk around town when he’s dating her?
How am I supposed to keep control if I see them on the street?” She glanced at
the restaurant.

* * * * *

A hand touched her shoulder, drawing her back to the
present. Alana turned her head and bared her teeth at the man who’d touched
her. He held up his hands.

Thinking about that day still hurt. After feeling the force
of their link, she’d known there was something powerful between them. Even if
she hadn’t realized it as soon as she smelled them, the intense connection of
their Familiar bond would have assured her that they were her mates. A deep
sense of betrayal had sliced through her when she’d seen Kane with that woman.
While she might have been thinking about coming back to see if a relationship
between them was possible, she wasn’t going into it with lies and old feelings
still festering. She had a mission to complete now, but she wanted the truth
out there and she wanted to know why they’d done it.

“I’m Michael,” the man in the black shirt said with a smile.
“You don’t happen to have the letter still do you?”

“It might be in the things in my parents’ house. I didn’t
take it with me.” She shrugged. “It wasn’t only the letter though. It was what
I saw that day too.”

“Were you just not ready to be a Familiar? All you had to do
was say something and we would have given you time.” Kane frowned.

“I don’t know if I was or not, but I know you weren’t or
have you forgotten who was in your lap, kissing you that afternoon at Sasha’s.”
She glared at both of them. “I might not have been sure of a lot of things, but
that definitely made my decision. You can’t be so jaded that you’ve forgotten it.”

She wasn’t going to let them put all the blame on her so
they could look good in front of their Council. They were the reason she left. She
wasn’t going to force even the Familiar connection on them when they didn’t
want it.

If they’d needed time to think, all they had to do was ask.
Sure the attitude she’d received every time she’d called home had irritated
her, but it was the fact that no one even asked her why she felt so strongly.
No, it was always the same thing.
Come home to your wizards. Aren’t you
finished playing around?

Both men’s mouths fell open and Michael looked over at Kane.

“You know the redheaded woman who was your sister’s friend?”
She knew of their sister Gina, but because Alana’s relationship had been so
brief, she hadn’t even formally met their family. Gina had been a year ahead of
her in high school, but had surrounded herself with other witches and hadn’t
associated with shifters at all.

The woman in Kane’s lap had been one of Gina’s friends. The
woman hadn’t looked uncomfortable there at all. Alana saw the moment the light
went on in their heads. Did women crawl all over them so often that they couldn’t
remember when it happened? It might have been years since it happened, but
Sasha’s wasn’t the type of place where that type of behavior was normal. It
should have given them some clue.

“It wasn’t like how you interpreted it. She was on my lap,
but she was trying to stay there while I was trying to get her off me. I can
see why she did it now. I didn’t then. As for the letter you mentioned, that
wasn’t me and I’d bet Michael doesn’t know anything about it either.” Kane
stood tall and his eyes met hers steadily. “I wasn’t there to meet her. Michael
was running late and I was there to talk with one of his clients until he could
get there.”

“Yeah, that really looked like a business meeting.” She
folded her arms across her chest and rolled her eyes. Still, she knew it could
be the truth. It had taken a while, but she’d come to believe that there might
be more to that scene than what it looked like.

“Don’t give me that doubting look. I was trying to think of
ways we could make a relationship work when we were all so young. I wasn’t
going to mess with any other female. Add to that, I couldn’t afford to take a
woman on a date there at the time. If you’ll remember, I was still a college
student. Boy genius here was the only one of us in business then.” Kane cocked
his thumb toward Michael.

Michael elbowed him and sent a sharp glance toward his
brother. Alana didn’t need an explanation for that nudge. Michael was obviously
still a little touchy about his intelligence and how it had set him apart from
everyone else when he was young. He’d gotten into more fights when he was a
teenager than a lot of the shifter boys.

Kane wasn’t lying. She could smell it. It wasn’t some
aha
moment. She didn’t automatically believe they wanted her as she did them. Maybe
some of that was doubt and insecurity, but she felt the intense pull to her
mates as a shifter. They didn’t. Because of her decision to sever the Familiar
link between them, that was even missing.

His response did cause her to wonder about a few things
though. Who else would send that letter? Not to mention how did they set up
that scene?

She’d talked to Michael and Kane a few times over the years.
After a while, she’d begun to question what she believed. With all the details,
there were some obvious holes. She knew with enough preparation a witch could
make her see what they wanted her to in that restaurant. But the question was,
why they would do it?

Kane had a point. That place was out of his price range at
that time. She hadn’t had the information then. Seeing that woman on his lap
had sent her into a rage that had carried her for months. By the time it had
faded, she’d been too stuck in the way she saw things. She’d wanted only to get
on with her life. It had taken time and a little more maturity than she’d had
at eighteen to see a different perspective of the situation.