Wingless And Damned (The Damned Series) (4 page)

Anne obviously sees the absurdity going on between us and gives us both a motherly look with a gentle smile.

“I have wanted the two of you to meet for some time. I’m happy Lea popped in when she did.”

Alexander and I looked at each other and smile as I recognize she is trying to set us up. Not being able to help myself, I break out into a fit of giggles.

Alexander breaks my silly giggles. “Apparently Lea, my aunt has plans for us. I myself would like to get to know you better. It isn’t every day I get to meet a beautiful
Fae. Let us take a walk after we finish our coffee.” He smiles at Anne so sweetly and then gives me a smirk.

It isn’t like me to be taken back by a handsome man; all the men in my kingdom are the
most good looking. Smiling, I nod in agreement. I can’t help but wonder what my aunts would think if they were here. Would they mind that I am taken with this mere mortal? I rush to finish my coffee and as I down the last drop, I see Alexander seems to be doing the same.

“Thank you, Anne. The coffee was wonderful. I shall return when Alexander and I are finished getting to know each other.”

Looking at Alexander, I notice he has a smile on his face as he hugs and then kisses his aunt on the cheek. He Whispers something into her ear, which makes her smile from ear to ear. Making a quick exit, I hope Alexander hurries with his goodbyes. Just as I start getting impatient, Alexander shows up with a basket of some sort.

He notices I furrow my brow as I wonder what his plans are.

He takes the moment to close the distance between us, smiles and says, “It’s a picnic basket. I have no nefarious plans of any sort. I really just want to get to know the beautiful Lea.”

Smiling at his compliment, I take his extended elbow and we walk to the field. I can’t wait to hear his story.

Chapter Six

As Alexander lays the blanket out, he can see I am too nervous to sit. He looks at me and nods to the blanket, smiling wickedly at me. I feel the heat rising deep inside.

Clearing my throat, I ask, “Alexander of the
Neuri tribe, how long has Anne spoken of me to you?”

If the shocked look on his face is any indication, he never expected me to ask that question.

“Aunt Anne has spoken to me many times since I was very little. Often of the most beautiful Lea. So of course, I was intrigued by you showing up today. Today is my thirtieth birthday and it is the day I am officially the leader of the Neuri tribe. My ceremony is this evening. I do hope you will come.”

My smile quickly fades to frustration as I realize I can’t be at his ceremony tonight, I have a family dinner I have to go to. My aunts will be very disappointed in me if I miss it. Then I remember I am twenty-five years old and if I don’t want to go to a family dinner I really don’t have to. I smile “I would love to go with you!”

I notice movement in the trees and stiffen. I thought I was going to be able to sit back, relax, and get to know this sexy man.

Alexander notices my demeanor has changed, “It’s okay, they aren’t here to harm us
. They are here to protect me. I promise.”

I can’t help but smile and ask, “What do you mean protect you? Why do you need protection?”

He smiles and places his hand over mine. “I am the leader of the Neuri tribe. I have to have protection wherever I go. They aren’t beasts; they are werewolves.”

Immediately pulling my hand back as I start sliding away from him. He looks at me as if I have lost my mind, and maybe I have. I am on a lunch date with a werewolf! I muster the courage to finally speak. “You’re a werewolf?”

He nods his head “This evening I take my rightful place as the tribe’s leader. Why is this shock to you? You are a wingless Fae. I have been told of a wingless Fae who is meant to be my mate. This Fae is meant to break the curse of my people. I believe that Fae to be you!”

My breath seems to catch in my chest as I get up as quickly as I can. I feel the tightness of my breath lodging in my chest with every step I take. My inadequate speed brings me to the field just as the werewolves emerge from the woods coming right at me. Alexander easily catches up to me. As he tries to turn me around, he is faced with my
Fae crystal meant to ward off evil. Unfortunately, for me, my crystal doesn’t see him as evil. Taking that as a sign I could be wrong about him, I give up and drop down in the weed infested field.

I look into Alexander’s crystal blue eyes and say, “I give up. Why do you think I am the wingless
Fae you are to be mated to and what do you mean break the curse of your people?”

He seems to think for a moment. “I was born to be mated to a wingless
Fae, and if the legends are true, the wingless Fae doesn’t know she is a princess of the Neuri tribe. She was the first to have been born after the curse. The original witch gave her over to two female Fae when her mother died. Without this princess, all Neuri children will be born with this curse and on the eve of their twenty-sixth birthday, they will transform into werewolves from that day on. The only reason we exist is to fight the Strigoi who have ravaged our people from the beginning of time. This wingless Fae I speak of is over two hundred years old. She is the only creature in the world that can kill the elder Strigoi. My dear, if I am correct about you, and I am sure I am, you a huntress!”

The air around me is feeling very thick as I take in everything he just said.
No way is this true
. Just then, as if in a dream, I hear a voice in my head telling me,
you know it’s true.
Everything is starting to make sense. I am the only wingless Fae in all of Nalla Vareim. My aunts keep telling me everyone has their story. They sure do hate it every time I want to come to the mortal world.
Maybe, just maybe, he is telling you the truth
. I know I have to know more.
If this is true, what do I have to do?

“I’m not saying I believe you, but what does this entail?”

Alexander looks to be contemplates what I’ve asked him. “Once we are brought together as a mated pair, we will become a hybrid—half werewolf, half Strigoi. We must become hybrid because it is the only way we will be able to kill the original Strigoi.”

Once I have a moment to take it all in, I finally grasp the situation I find myself in. I look
at Alexander. “How do we find out if I am the Fae of your legends?”

He smirks. “Well, we can fuck. We will know as soon as we are finished.”

I notice he finds it amusing to make me squirm. As I try to regain my composure I warmth in my cheeks meaning I’m probably blushing at his crass comment. I’m not a school girl anymore so I have no idea why the mention of us fucking would make me blush. “And the other way of finding out is?”

A genuine smile crosses his sexy lips. He licks them so slowly my panties become wet. It doesn’t help when I instantly picture him licking me. He notices I am flushed and quickly says, “We can go to the tribe leaders. They would know if it is you that I seek.”

Nodding my head in agreement, Alexander grabs my hand and we start off toward the dark woods. I hear warning bells in my head as I step into the freaky woods. Alexander tightens his grip on my hand when I start to lag behind.

“We are safe. Nothing will get us. Our friends are all around us.”

When we break through the tree line, I notice a little village with small cabins just up ahead. He leads me to the largest of the cabins. We walk inside and he closes the door with a loud slam. He directs me to the loveseat next to the fireplace. Grateful, I nod my head and take a seat. I start to unwind but have no idea why I am feeling such a strange comfort since stepping into the village.

Alexander must have guessed what I was wondering because he said, “It’s pack magic. We are in the safest place to be, other than Nalla Vareim of course.”

As he finishes reassuring me, I feel a veil of grogginess lowered over my head. I can’t think; I feel as if I’m asleep. The last thing I remember is Alexander rubbing my shoulders as I nestled into the nook of his strong arms. Home is all I can think. Then the world disappears on me.

* * * *

I awake to find myself in a very comfy, warm bed with…
What the hell is in the bed with me!
I poke at it and it stirs. I rub my eyes once, and then twice, thinking I’m still dreaming. Pinching my own arm, I hear a mumble as Alexander sits up and slowly rubs his arm in the same place where I pinched myself.

“Ouch that hurts! Please don’t do that!”

Confused, I crawl to the end of the bed and draw my knees to my chest. I look down and see I am in a beautiful nightgown. One I have never seen; it is made of the softest red satin I have ever laid my eyes on. Glancing up at Alexander, who was now staring at me with a smirk, I see he is wearing nothing from the waist up. I have to fight the temptation to look under the blanket to see what he has going on down there. He has a huge tribal eagle tattoo over his heart and for some reason I can’t take my eyes off of it. As my mind wanders, I heard Alexander laugh. Finally, I can’t take it anymore. “
What
the fuck is going on?"

When I curse, I see him wince as if it hurts his sensibilities. "You feel
me
? How do
you
feel what happens to
me
? And the last thing I remember is sitting with you on the couch, how did I get in this bed with you?” I flail my arms in exasperation.

He slowly crawls across the bed, holding his hands up as if to show he has no intention of hurting me. I see he is wearing nothing,
absolutely
nothing at all! I gasp when I think that he was in bed with me like naked. Then I realized I had been naked at one point also. I stammered, “How did I get—”

He cut me off
, “I didn’t dress you. Your lady-in-waiting did. No, I didn’t try anything fresh with you, not that I was not tempted to.”

I think I actually saw a slight blush when he said the last part. I know I certainly felt the warmth of a blush on my cheeks. In my confused
state, I wonder
why do I even care that he wanted to see me naked?

I have always known I am quite attractive to a certain type of man. I never was big on being miss girly-girl but I do like being a woman. I guess you can say I am my own kind of lady. I have quite a few tattoos, which I love. They follow the contours of my body. They were made especially for me. I have long black hair halfway down my back, very dark brown eyes, high cheek bones, and very white skin that tans extremely well.

Once I caught my thoughts, again I see Alexander staring at me in a puzzled way. It was as if he was listening to my inner turmoil and not understanding the point of it. At that thought, I smiled. Then I decided to play with him and see if it would answer the question of whether or not he was listening to my thoughts. As I was about to start having another inner dialogue made just for him, he spoke up.

“I know you don’t want to gut me and yes, I can hear your thoughts. Yes, you are abrasive sometimes but I have received so much information in the time you were asleep. I can
answer all your questions.”

“Can we get a cup of coffee while we talk please?”

He pushed a button on the wall next to the bed.

A lady walked briskly into the room. She looked very Native American. He asked for a fresh pot of coffee with vanilla cream and pastries to be brought into the suite for us.

I smiled at her but she kept her eyes down and just nodded her head at him as she walked away. He turned to me and took my hands into his and just smiled.

Baffled I realized I actually didn’t have the urge to pull my hands away for some reason. It dawned on me I didn’t want to pull my hands away because it felt like they found their home. I nervously looked around. It looked like someone had transplanted a five star luxury hotel room into this small cabin in the middle of Alexander’s village. The walls are a cream color that seems to reflect the light from the
overhanging small chandelier. The cream colored ceiling seems to have rainbows reflected from the light radiating onto it. The small love seats in the sitting nook in the corner of the room appeared to have the same beautiful cream color. The carpet seems to be a very deep shag the same color as the rest of the suite
, Man, someone here likes the color cream.
Standing up I pretend to stretch my arms to the ceiling, as I lean across the thresh hold of the sitting suite so I can get a better look at the four poster king size bed in the other part of the suite, a wicked smile starts turning up my lips. The metal rails of the headboard would make it fun to handcuff someone to. Pleased with myself, I let out a light giggle to only be brought back to the stark reality that
I’m not alone!
Alexander seems entirely too amused.

The maid brought in the coffee, vanilla
cream and an abundantly stacked basket of pastries and berries with real butter and real whipped cream in their very own beautiful dishes. My mouth hung open in awe as I looked over the spread that took no longer than fifteen minutes to put together.
There is a lot of explaining for him to do
. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, Alexander laughed out loud and smiled.