Dark Moon
(Spirit Wild #3) Chanku spirit guide Igmutaka has known since the day he held the newborn daughter of Tala and Mik Fuentes in his hands, that she would grow up to be his. Unfortunately, no one thought to copy Mikaela Star on the message. After years of avoiding her overbearing spirit guide, Star has decided to return to Montana and face the beautiful and irritating man who has haunted her nights for much too long. But first, she takes a small vacation in California, where Igmutaka just happens to be waiting. Sunny Daye has known this day was coming. She and Ig have been lovers for years, but both of them accept that they are not meant to be a mated pair. When Igmutaka tells Sunny her man is "out there, and coming closer," she can barely contain her excitement. But Fen Ahlberg is not at all what Sunny expected--in fact, he is so much more that his mere existence will change the Chanku forever. |
This new edition of Dark Moon is the same story as the original--new cover, typos (hopefully) all caught, and a much lower price.
But Igmutaka is just as hot as he's always been! |
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This edgy, yet erotic, continuation of the Chanku journey that began in 2006 is definitely a must read.
Reviewed by Harper Jewel for Noble Reviews 
"Douglas continues her Spirit Wild series with this stellar entry where familiar Chanku shifters join new family members in the adventure. It’s an emotional roller-coaster ride..." Reviewed by Donna M. Brown for RT Book Reviews |
"...Ms. Douglas has written a beautiful story of love and destiny and shouldn’t be missed if you love her amazing voice and her incredible Chanku..."
Reviewed by Toni for Got Romance Reviews
Reviewed by Toni for Got Romance Reviews
Read an excerpt:
December 21, 2008, Kalispell, Montana
Igmutaka, spirit guide, puma shapeshifter, and currently a very nervous man, stood at the foot of the birthing bed, hands raised in supplication to his gods and the woman’s goddess. Tala Temple-Fuentes squatted amid the tangled sheets with her mate, Miguel Fuentes—a man who had long been Igmutaka’s charge—supporting her gravid frame.
Her other mate clung to her hand, gazing at her with such love and so much intensity it was almost as if AJ Temple planned to push the babes out himself.
There were two. The male—the one created from the seed of the white man—would be a strong boy. AJ was a good man, and his son would grow to be a powerful warrior, an ideal sibling for the child Igmutaka waited to meet.
The one who mattered to him most.
The girl child, the one born of Miguel’s seed, was to be the first female ever in Igmutaka’s charge. Her father, like AJ, was a powerful Chanku shapeshifter, a good, strong man. Called Mik, he was the latest in the long line of Lakota Sioux warriors who had looked to Igmutaka as their spiritual guide.
Always, Igmutaka had watched over the male progeny, but this child was different—not merely because of her gender.
He felt her strength, her power—the feminine power so different from that of the males he had guided. He’d been aware of this babe almost from the moment of conception. He’d known she was special, though he still didn’t understand how or why.
He glanced up. He’d been unaware of the bedroom filling so quickly. Other females—shapeshifters all—coming to share the pain and the joy of the one who labored, using their minds and bodies to ease Tala as she pushed the babies from her womb. Men arrived, ready to share in the celebration of new members joining their pack, but also generously taking on Tala’s pain.
It was all good. All as it should be.
Igmutaka focused once again on the mother.
She grunted and strained. He had no time to think, no time to question why he should be the one who slipped his hands beneath her straining body and caught the babe amid a wash of fluids and blood, caught her in his big hands and stared into eyes that saw him in a way no one else had ever seen him before.
He held the squirming bundle of new life as his own impossibly long years flashed before him. Hers so new and fresh, his beginning so long ago that most of his childhood was lost to memory. He knew he must have started in a time long past, though not as a babe like this. No, he’d not been a helpless child, born of woman into an ancient world.
He knew he’d been a puma cub. Born one amid a litter of siblings, though he had no memory of that life.
He’d been spirit far too long.
He’d only taken on a physical body again in the past few years, running as a wild puma so that he could interact with the Chanku shapeshifters who had called him from the spirit world.
Then, mere weeks ago, he’d manifested as a human male for the first time, the same male who stood here now, holding Tala and Mik’s newborn daughter. A beautiful, dark-haired girl child who would one day grow to be a strong and beautiful woman.
Adam, one of their healers, cut the umbilical cord, separating the newborn from her mother. One of the women quickly wiped away the blood and afterbirth on the child he held as Tala delivered the second babe. Twins. A boy and a girl. Both strong, healthy young.
Igmutaka bowed his head as he placed the newborn against her mother’s breast. Bowed to the babe and to fate, to the woman this child would grow to be.
A woman Igmutaka knew would change his life for all time.
~~*~~
New Haven, Connecticut, almost thirty-one years later
Star Fuentes heard the soft tone that signaled her mother’s call, checked the time and realized she still had a few minutes before her date was due to arrive.
She took a sip of her wine, flipped on the phone and smiled at her mom, a sixty-two year old woman who appeared to be in her late twenties. That was one of the wonderful things about being Chanku—aging slowed and practically stopped at the prime of life.
Tala’s mates looked just as young—early thirties at most—both of them so damned good looking it was hard for Star to think of them as her two dads. In reality, Mik was sixty-eight and AJ already seventy-two. As with all Chanku, each faced an unlimited lifespan with those same youthful bodies and minds.
Star quit woolgathering as Tala’s broad grin and sparkling amber eyes chased away the discontent that had followed her like a cloud over the past weeks. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
“You mean other than your fathers?”
Star slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from spewing wine on the small screen. “Too much information, ya know?”
Tala’s laughter sent a shaft of homesickness through Star. She hadn’t been home to Montana for much too long. She missed Mik, her biological father, and her other dad, AJ, her mom’s other mate. Hell, she even missed her damned spirit guide, but that was the last thing she’d ever admit.
“I just wondered when you were planning to come home.” Tala’s smile slipped. “I miss you, honey. You’ve been gone so long.”
“I visited last Christmas.” Short and not nearly enough time to reconnect with her mountain home. With her family. Her pack.
“You know that visit was much too brief, and you only let us talk you into it because it was your thirtieth birthday.” Her mom sighed. “Don’t you think it’s time to come back? You’re a pack animal at heart, Star.” Tala laughed, but Star felt the sting of tears in her eyes. “You can only stay away for just so long, honey. Even Jack misses you.”
“Jack said that?” Star rolled her eyes. “Now that’s hard to believe.”
“You’re not kidding. For your twin to admit something like that, well, it’s downright scary.” Then the smile slipped from Tala’s lips and she softly added, “It’s been almost fourteen years, sweetheart.”
Scrambling for yet another excuse, Star glanced at the stack of papers lying beside her computer. “I don’t know, Mom. I’m thinking of applying for another doctoral program. I’ll need to make the decision this week.”
“Star, don’t you think you have enough letters after your name? Don’t you miss the pack? Miss your family?”
So much it hurt to even think about it, but she wasn't ready. Not yet. A brisk knock on the door caught her attention. “Gotta go, Mom. My date’s here, but I promise to think about it. I love you.”
“I love you, too. The dads send their love. Sunny said to tell you hi.”
“Thanks. Give her a big hug for me, and the dads, too. Bye, Mom.”
“Star? Before you go, one last thing.”
“What’s that?”
“You can’t hide from him forever, sweetheart. Some things are stronger than we are, and he’s one of them. I love you.”
A shiver raced along Star’s spine as the screen went dark. In all the years she’d been away, her mother had never asked her to come home to stay, had never mentioned the real reason she’d chosen to live so far from the pack. Why now?
Besides, she wasn't hiding. Not really.
He knew where to find her.
Another knock brought Star to her feet and her womb clenched in what she knew was probably futile anticipation.
That was the problem with living among humans. Her Chanku libido ran circles around that of the average male. Fourteen years of less than satisfactory sex was probably reason enough to call it quits and head home, but damn it all, the risk was too great.
She’d gotten her spirit guide’s promise to let her live life on her own terms while she was away at school. Of course, he probably hadn't figured she’d make a career out of getting an education, but she knew that once she returned, he’d be right back in her life.
Taking over her life.
She’d grown up with two fathers, a concerned mother, an over-protective twin brother and a pack full of uncles and aunties watching out for her. None of them had threatened her independence the way Igmutaka managed with nothing more than a soft suggestion, a raised eyebrow, or the turn of a phrase.
Talk about frustrating. He protected her and guarded her against harm, which also meant protecting her from life in general. He’d also managed to keep all the eligible boys away at the same time, but that wasn't the worst part.
No, it was the fact he was absolutely beautiful, and she’d loved him. Loved him as only a young girl could love. Deeply, with all of her heart and soul. Tall and lean with smooth, bronzed skin, gorgeous green eyes and long, thick, dark hair, he had an androgynous beauty that would make him look as striking if he’d been a woman, yet there was no doubting the masculinity of the man. Nope. No doubt at all.
Star practically whimpered as she drew his image close. So beautiful as a cougar, with a sinewy grace that carried over to his human form. He’d rarely shown himself to her as a man, yet his was the face that filled her dreams, her fantasies, and her lonely nights.
Unfortunately, he didn't feel the same way. Igmutaka was her spirit guide, fated to protect her, not to bed her. She’d loved him without reservation from the time she could remember—first as a father figure, and then when she’d realized he was still young and sexy and she was definitely growing older and interested—as a potential mate.
He’d treated her as something fragile. Untouchable, and while she knew he wasn't celibate, he’d certainly kept his charge—the one he called Mikaela Star—that way. She’d not lost her virginity with a man until she finally left home for college.
She still didn't know what the big deal was.
She knew other Chanku women managed to have wonderful sex with humans, though they all eventually mated with Chanku, but she’d never once found satisfaction with a human male.
Not that she didn't keep trying, but since she’d rarely had the chance to have sex with another Chanku, and only on the rare occasions when one of the guys visited her in New Haven, she really had very little for comparison, goddess be damned.
She pushed Igmutaka and a lifetime of sexual frustration out of her mind and opened the door. Her date stood there, poised to knock a third time. He was tall and handsome, his smile as perfect as modern technology could make it.
And for the life of her, she couldn't remember his name.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” She flashed him a bright smile as she grabbed her bag and a soft wrap. At least as ready as she’d be with a man she hardly knew, but who, at least, wasn't her insufferable, sensual, pain-in-the-ass spirit guide.
~~*~~
Sunny Daye sprawled bonelessly over the long, lean body of her lover. He was gorgeous, absolutely spectacular in bed, and it just about broke her heart knowing he’d never satisfy that empty spot in her soul, the part of her crying out for a mate.
His long fingers stroked her left breast and then he playfully tapped her nipple. It tightened immediately, and she felt the touch between her legs as her womb rippled in response.
Supporting her upper body on her elbows, she raised her head and glared at him. Why in the hell couldn't he be the one? She’d known, though. Since the very first time he’d made love to her—the night he gently took her virginity so many years ago—that as much as she loved him, she couldn't love him that way. Still, the man could make magic when they came together. She sighed, flopped back on the mattress and arched into his touch. “I hope you’re planning to follow through with that.”
Igmutaka gave her a long, lazy smile, reached down and stroked his sizable erection with one hand. “Have you ever known me not to follow through?”
She felt her anger sliding away. It wasn't his fault he was absolutely perfect, and at the same time perfectly wrong. For her, at least. She knew the one he loved. Knew that, so far anyway, that love wasn't being returned. “Star’s an idiot.”
He grinned as he stroked a line from her throat to her pubes. “Mikaela Star is young. She has yet to discover her path. It will, of course, lead directly to me.”
“You sound so sure.” She laughed softly as his hands slid up her body and he stroked the sensitive skin beneath her breasts. “What if you’re wrong? What if she chooses another?”
Lying beside her, he teased the nipple he’d tapped earlier, working it gently with teeth and tongue for a moment before lifting his head. His lips were shiny—as slick and shiny as her nipple—and they parted on a soft smile. “Then I will kill the bastard.”
Sunny laughed. Ig was not really a killer...was he?
He grinned at her. “I've not told this to many, but it was foretold when she was still in Tala’s womb. I knew Mikaela Star was special when Tala carried her and we actually communicated before her birth. When Tala pushed her forth and she fell into my hands, I knew she was mine.” He gazed at Sunny over the dark red nipple he’d so skillfully aroused. “One does not question a gift from the gods.”
“I see.” She moaned as he lowered his head and began working on the other breast. After only a moment of pure bliss, Ig raised his head again.
“You are a gift as well, Sunny. Not for me, though. Your man is out there. I sense him drawing close. You will know him soon.” He tilted his head and frowned. “Very soon.”
My man? Soon? Sunny shoved herself up on her elbows so quickly she knocked Igmutaka aside. “Where is he? Who is he? How do you know?”
Laughing, Ig rolled to his back. “I don’t know the details. I just know he’s coming.” He sat up and his look grew pensive as he shrugged those wide shoulders. “Just as I know that tonight Mikaela Star is with yet another young man, another lover who will disappoint her. Before long, she will accept that I am the one who loves her, that I am the only one who can make her happy.”
The yearning in his voice was almost her undoing. Sunny ran her fingers through the thick hair tumbled across his forehead. “I know you’re not my mate, Ig, but you've never disappointed me, and you always make me smile.”
He leaned close and kissed her. Covered her small body once again with his much larger one. She arched beneath him, finding the broad head of his penis already pressing against her labia. With a slight tilt to her hips, she opened to him, felt the slick burn as he filled her, sliding that thick length all the way to the end of her vaginal sheath.
He was big and hard and fit her perfectly. He was funny and sweet, brave and powerful, and so beautiful he made her ache.
A perfect man.
Just not a perfect mate.
At least not for Sunny Daye.
~~*~~
After a really nice dinner, they’d ended up back at his apartment, which was a good thing, especially since Star still hadn't recalled her date’s name. She finally spotted it on a framed diploma on the wall. Haydon. His name was Haydon Smith—she finally remembered meeting him in one of the libraries on campus.
Another good thing about ending up at Haydon’s apartment was that it was his place, not hers. She hated having to ask a man to leave after sex, but she had sex with a lot of guys and she didn't want them hanging around afterwards, especially when they never managed to leave her satisfied.
This guy hadn't even tried very hard, but he’d certainly managed to find his own satisfaction. More than once. Now he slept soundly, so she carefully lifted his arm off of her breasts and slid out from beneath him. As she turned away to get out of the bed, that same arm snaked around her waist.
“Leaving, Star?”
Well, crap. “Uh, yeah. I need to get home.” She glanced over her shoulder and realized he was wide awake, glaring at her for whatever reason.
“What if I don’t want you to go yet?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s late. I had a good time, but I really have to leave.”
His grasp around her waist tightened. He was a lot bigger than her, and he pulled her back across the bed and roughly nuzzled her neck. “Mmmmm. You smell good.” He bit her earlobe hard enough for it to hurt, but she refused to react.
He was really starting to piss her off.
“You know what the guys call you?” He tightened his hold around her waist. “The Ballbuster. Word is you can go all night and then walk away like it was nothing.” His voice dropped to a low, threatening growl. “I haven’t had all night yet, Star. You can walk away when I say you can walk. Not before.”
Now this was a first. She tried to break free of his grasp, but he merely held on tighter. His breath was hot as he spoke directly into her ear. “I think you owe me the rest of the night, don’t you, Star? That was a really expensive dinner.”
She’d managed almost fourteen years of world travel, college and grad school without guys acting anything but grateful after a night of sex. Plus, not a single man had ever guessed she wasn't human. Though the world knew shapeshifters existed among them, she’d chosen to guard her Chanku origins and keep her abilities secret from all but a select few on campus.
Maybe this jerk was a sign. Maybe Mom was right—it was time to go home. And she wasn't thinking of merely going back to her apartment.
She shifted. Even though the wolf came most naturally, she chose her cougar form, twisting her strong, sinuous body out of his grasp as her date suddenly screamed like a little girl and scrambled across the bed so fast he fell off the other side.
Star merely stretched out over the bed, hooked her claws deep into the mattress until the fabric ripped, hung her head over the edge and stared at him. Eyes wide, he stared back at her. She stretched one broad paw toward him and further unsheathed her long, curved nails.
Babbling, he scrambled backwards on all four until he hit the wall, so she crouched on the edge of the mattress and raised her hindquarters as if to leap. Snarling, she let a bit of saliva drip from her open jaws and flexed her muscles.
An acrid stench filled her sensitive nostrils as a pool of urine stained the carpet between his legs. Star chuffed, which was the closest her puma could get to laughter, spun about on the bed and shifted once more.
She didn't even look his way as she snagged her clothes off the floor and quickly dressed. Grabbing the door handle, she glanced over her shoulder. He was still sitting in a soggy, stinking heap on the floor across the room. She gave him her most disdainful look. “Don’t ever pull that stunt on a woman again, or I will hunt you down.”
Then she walked out of his room and headed back to her apartment.
Not quite the way she’d expected her night to end, but at least it hadn't been boring. And, if nothing else, it had helped make up her mind about the doctoral program.
Her mom was right. She had enough letters after her name, and she’d played the coward long enough. It was time to return to the pack, even if it meant finally having it out with her spirit guide. Igmutaka had been running her life for far too long—the fact she’d not felt comfortable returning home was proof she’d given him more control over her life than he deserved.
The fact he didn't love her was on him, and it was his loss, not hers. It was time for Star to move forward.
It was early morning when she finally reached her own apartment—still much too early to call Montana. She showered, grabbed something to eat, and gave her folks until six before she finally called home. Her father answered, and she almost broke down and cried when his beautiful face flashed on the screen. There was something so elemental about him with his dark skin and strong Lakota Sioux and Hispanic features, an innate power that few men wore as well. Only Igmutaka came close. She missed her dad. Missed her mom, missed her other dad AJ just as much.
“What’s up sweetie? Mom said she talked to you last night. Is everything okay?”
She thought about that, and realized that yes, it was absolutely wonderful. Finally. “Everything’s good, Dad. I've decided to come home, though not right away. I’m hoping for a chance to spend some time alone once I leave Connecticut. Is the cabin at Lassen free? I thought I’d go there for a week or so.”
“We’ll make sure it’s available. When do you need it?”
She loved that about her parents. No questions. They just did what they could to make her life easier. “It’s going to take me at least a week to get my stuff packed up and shipped, and probably another week to make the drive. If I can’t get out of my lease, I’ll have to sublet the apartment, but that shouldn't be a problem. It’s a great location.”
“It’s going to be cold at the cabin. No one’s been there for a while. I’ll have it stocked for you. Will you be flying to California or driving?”
“Driving. And Dad? Thank you. I love you.”
“I love you too, Mikaela Star. I've missed you. We've all missed you. Be safe. Come home to us as quickly as you can.”
~~*~~
Mik grabbed his coffee and walked out onto the deck. AJ and Tala still slept, but he’d had a feeling his daughter might call this morning. The connection between them had always been strong, but lately he’d felt her yearning for something she wasn't finding in her stuffy, academic world of New Haven, Connecticut.
Of course, anyone with half a brain would realize that what she really wanted, what she needed, was right here in Montana. In fact, it appeared that his daughter’s fate was strolling up the path to the house on four huge paws at this very moment.
Mik stepped back inside the house and poured another cup of coffee. It was waiting when the huge puma leapt up on the deck and shifted. Mik handed the cup to Igmutaka, who took it without a word and sat in the Adirondack chair beside Mik’s.
The two men sipped their coffee in silence, and Mik couldn't help but think of his grandfather and the council meetings among the elders, when the old men would sit around the fire at night and make decisions concerning the tribe.
The man beside him—though definitely Native American—didn't look like an elder. No, he was a beautiful man who appeared to be in his early thirties, even though he was technically older than any living thing, as far as Mik knew.
Right now, Ig merely looked conflicted.
Mik knew exactly what was bothering him, but he wasn't about to make this easy. Not for any man interested in courting his daughter, and certainly not for the spirit guide whose job it was to protect Mikaela Star, not bed her.
Igmutaka sighed and sat quietly for a few minutes. Then he set the mug aside and faced Mik. “You know why I’m here,” he said.
Mik nodded. “Tell me.”
Ig raised one dark eyebrow. “I should have known you’d give me a hard time.”
Shaking his head, Mik chuckled softly. “It’s too important to make it easy. A decision such as yours, the prize you seek, is not something to take lightly. Tell me what it is you want.”
Nodding slowly, Ig agreed. “As you know, I have watched over your line for time beyond memory, always serving the firstborn male until the next generation is conceived. I guided your grandfather’s grandfather and his father, and all the men before him. I watched over your grandfather, and when his only issue was a daughter, I waited for the next male. Her son. That was you.”
Mik nodded. He remembered a time when he’d doubted his spirit guide’s existence, when he’d languished in prison and wondered if the presence he’d felt beside him truly existed, and if he did, why he’d allowed Mik to end up in a prison cell.
But that cell was the place where he had met AJ and had fallen in love. Where Ulrich Mason had found both men and helped them find their true heritage as Chanku shapeshifters. Had Igmutaka had a part in that? Mik had never asked.
He glanced up and realized Ig was smiling at him. “I did,” he said. “At least as much as I was able. So did your goddess. Years later, when you called me to help your packmates and I once again felt the warmth of living flesh, I found it impossible to remain a creature of spirit.”
Mik chuckled. “So you’re going to blame me for all of your problems?”
This time Igmutaka laughed out loud. “If I was going to blame anyone, it would have to be Mei and Oliver. It was their inability to mate because they couldn't shift into compatible creatures, that called me forth in the first place. I like them both, and I like my life as a man too much to complain. No, I’m merely stating the facts, that I was content as spirit until you and your people reminded me what joy could be had in a living, breathing body. But I still watched over you. And I was prepared to watch over your firstborn.”
“Even though you knew my firstborn would be female?”
Shrugging, Ig leaned back in his chair. “That threw me off at first. What did I know about watching over a female child? But the gods and your goddess decreed, and I obeyed. And then she spoke to me. Still in the womb, as yet unformed, and she spoke in my mind. Do you have any idea how amazing your daughter is, Miguel? How perfect?”
Mik turned and gazed out across the big meadow and remembered Star as a mere toddler, shifting into a wolf cub and then later that same day becoming a cougar. She truly was amazing. Brilliant, beautiful, and right now, terribly unhappy.
If Igmutaka could make her happy, Mik wouldn't stand in the man’s way. “Mikaela Star is special. She’s always been special.”
Igmutaka sighed—the sound of a frustrated male. “But why did she leave? I don’t understand everything of modern ways. Why did she force me out of her life?”
At least this was a question Mik could answer. He had, after all, mated his own very independent woman. “You watched over her too closely, my friend. Star has a mind of her own—a brilliant mind. She is an independent woman. A strong woman. You didn't allow her to test herself. To take risks.”
Ig bowed his head. “I was so afraid for her. Afraid she’d be hurt, afraid she would be unhappy...”
“Afraid of losing her?”
“That too, and yet that is exactly what happened. I pushed her away, and I lost her.” He raised his head and faced Mik, green eyes sparkling with tears. Mik’s heart went out to him—never before had he seen Igmutaka show vulnerability. The man could be stoic and strong, fun loving, even silly if the occasion called for it.
But not this. Never had he looked so completely lost.
Igmutaka nodded, silently admitting the power Mik’s daughter held over him. “I want the chance to try and win her back. To win her love. When she was young, I fought against that need, the need of a man for a woman. She was my charge, just a young girl, not a woman to warm my bed, and yet it took her leaving me to realize that was exactly what I wanted. What I need.
“A partner. A lover. A mate. One who can not only stand up to me, but stand beside me. This could be my only chance. I sense that she has chosen to return and I would like your permission to court her. To show her that I've learned, that I can stand beside her, not expect her to follow me, but to be my partner.”
Igmutaka was a strong, proud man. Mik wondered how much it cost him to speak the words in his heart. “You don’t need my permission, Ig, though I’m honored you would ask. Mikaela Star is her own woman.”
The spirit guide laughed. “You’re wrong, my friend. I want your permission, so that if I am successful and she chooses me as her mate, you will not have cause to disapprove.”
Mik had known this day was coming since Tala pushed his daughter out of her womb directly into the spirit guide’s capable hands, but he’d never imagined what it would feel like, to sit here and sense the desperation in the man’s voice, to realize how important this moment was to all of them.
Not merely to his daughter, to Mik, AJ and Tala, but to everyone. They were more than family. They were pack.
He reached for Igmutaka’s right arm and grasped him about the forearm. Ig’s fingers closed tightly around his arm, and Mik stared at the link they made. Finally, he nodded and raised his head. “I've believed since the beginning that you were destined for my daughter. You have my permission to court her. You do not have my permission to hurt her, to use your powers as her spirit guide to force her feelings or her decision, or to do anything at all that goes against her free will.”
Ig let out a huge breath of air. “Thank you. I would never hurt Mikaela Star. She was my charge, the one I watched over.”
Mik chuckled. “Except when she told you to get lost.”
Suddenly agitated, Ig shoved both hands through his hair. Then he tilted his head and stared directly at Mik. “She did more than that. I haven’t been entirely honest with you, Miguel. When she sent me away, she severed our spiritual tie. I don’t think she understood the power of her words, but my destined role as her spirit guide ended at that moment. I still watch over her from afar, but I am no longer truly her guide.” Again, he sighed. “I've not admitted that to anyone, and hardly to myself. I didn't want to accept the truth.”
But it explained so many things. “Ig, that changes nothing. Spirit guide or not, you've watched out for her, haven’t you?”
Ig nodded. “I have. I could take no other course.”
No, Ig would never give up on his charge, even one as headstrong as Mikaela Star. Softly Mik added, “She’ll be at the cabin in Lassen in about two weeks. She plans to stay there for a while. Said she needs time alone before returning to the pack.”
Igmutaka raised his head and grinned. “It’s been a long time since I traveled near Mount Lassen. It’s quite beautiful in the fall.” He stood, his naked body glistening in the early morning light, his beauty almost blinding. Mik was reminded of a conversation with his other mate.
AJ, a man who, until Tala, had always preferred the company of men, had said he found it fascinating that Igmutaka, the most beautiful and sensual man among them, had never appealed sexually to either Mik or himself. Now Mik fully understood why.
He’d always figured it was because Igmutaka had been his grandfather’s spirit guide, and then his own. Now he realized it was probably because Igmutaka was meant to be their son-in-law.
AJ would certainly appreciate the irony.
Igmutaka stepped away, but before he shifted, he glanced over his shoulder. “Please, do not tell Mikaela Star of my intentions. Somehow, I have to make her fall in love with me. I think my chances are better if she has no warning.”
Mik struggled not to smile. “Works for me, Ig. Good luck.”
The spirit guide disappeared and a huge cougar stood in his place. Rising slowly to his feet, Mik leaned against the deck railing and watched as Igmutaka bounded from the deck, trotted across the meadow and disappeared into the forest.
Tala joined Mik a few minutes later, hair still mussed from sleep, lips swollen from AJ’s kisses. “Come back to bed, sweetheart.” She stretched up on her toes to kiss him, and, tiny little thing that she was, he still had to bend to meet her lips.
“I heard the conversation. I hope he succeeds. Star has loved him since she was a child.”
“What?” Mik wrapped his arms around his mate. “If she loves him, why did she leave?”
“Because she wanted her independence more than she wanted a bossy lover. She has her pride. If you’ll recall, Igmutaka pushed her away. She had a horrible crush on him, and he kept her at arm’s length.”
“She was just a kid!”
“She was seventeen. A young woman who, in many cultures, would have already been wed. The power of a woman’s love isn't any less because of her age, but it’s a moot point, now. She’s no longer a child, and I think Ig has learned a little bit more about women from Sunny. The timing is much better now.”
“I guess.” Mik wrapped his arm around her waist. He guided Tala back inside and down the hall to their bedroom. “I think your timing is excellent, by the way.”
She merely grinned, grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the big bed where AJ waited. The day was early, and Mik figured he’d done his part to help his daughter’s love life along.
Now it was time to concentrate on his own.
December 21, 2008, Kalispell, Montana
Igmutaka, spirit guide, puma shapeshifter, and currently a very nervous man, stood at the foot of the birthing bed, hands raised in supplication to his gods and the woman’s goddess. Tala Temple-Fuentes squatted amid the tangled sheets with her mate, Miguel Fuentes—a man who had long been Igmutaka’s charge—supporting her gravid frame.
Her other mate clung to her hand, gazing at her with such love and so much intensity it was almost as if AJ Temple planned to push the babes out himself.
There were two. The male—the one created from the seed of the white man—would be a strong boy. AJ was a good man, and his son would grow to be a powerful warrior, an ideal sibling for the child Igmutaka waited to meet.
The one who mattered to him most.
The girl child, the one born of Miguel’s seed, was to be the first female ever in Igmutaka’s charge. Her father, like AJ, was a powerful Chanku shapeshifter, a good, strong man. Called Mik, he was the latest in the long line of Lakota Sioux warriors who had looked to Igmutaka as their spiritual guide.
Always, Igmutaka had watched over the male progeny, but this child was different—not merely because of her gender.
He felt her strength, her power—the feminine power so different from that of the males he had guided. He’d been aware of this babe almost from the moment of conception. He’d known she was special, though he still didn’t understand how or why.
He glanced up. He’d been unaware of the bedroom filling so quickly. Other females—shapeshifters all—coming to share the pain and the joy of the one who labored, using their minds and bodies to ease Tala as she pushed the babies from her womb. Men arrived, ready to share in the celebration of new members joining their pack, but also generously taking on Tala’s pain.
It was all good. All as it should be.
Igmutaka focused once again on the mother.
She grunted and strained. He had no time to think, no time to question why he should be the one who slipped his hands beneath her straining body and caught the babe amid a wash of fluids and blood, caught her in his big hands and stared into eyes that saw him in a way no one else had ever seen him before.
He held the squirming bundle of new life as his own impossibly long years flashed before him. Hers so new and fresh, his beginning so long ago that most of his childhood was lost to memory. He knew he must have started in a time long past, though not as a babe like this. No, he’d not been a helpless child, born of woman into an ancient world.
He knew he’d been a puma cub. Born one amid a litter of siblings, though he had no memory of that life.
He’d been spirit far too long.
He’d only taken on a physical body again in the past few years, running as a wild puma so that he could interact with the Chanku shapeshifters who had called him from the spirit world.
Then, mere weeks ago, he’d manifested as a human male for the first time, the same male who stood here now, holding Tala and Mik’s newborn daughter. A beautiful, dark-haired girl child who would one day grow to be a strong and beautiful woman.
Adam, one of their healers, cut the umbilical cord, separating the newborn from her mother. One of the women quickly wiped away the blood and afterbirth on the child he held as Tala delivered the second babe. Twins. A boy and a girl. Both strong, healthy young.
Igmutaka bowed his head as he placed the newborn against her mother’s breast. Bowed to the babe and to fate, to the woman this child would grow to be.
A woman Igmutaka knew would change his life for all time.
~~*~~
New Haven, Connecticut, almost thirty-one years later
Star Fuentes heard the soft tone that signaled her mother’s call, checked the time and realized she still had a few minutes before her date was due to arrive.
She took a sip of her wine, flipped on the phone and smiled at her mom, a sixty-two year old woman who appeared to be in her late twenties. That was one of the wonderful things about being Chanku—aging slowed and practically stopped at the prime of life.
Tala’s mates looked just as young—early thirties at most—both of them so damned good looking it was hard for Star to think of them as her two dads. In reality, Mik was sixty-eight and AJ already seventy-two. As with all Chanku, each faced an unlimited lifespan with those same youthful bodies and minds.
Star quit woolgathering as Tala’s broad grin and sparkling amber eyes chased away the discontent that had followed her like a cloud over the past weeks. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
“You mean other than your fathers?”
Star slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from spewing wine on the small screen. “Too much information, ya know?”
Tala’s laughter sent a shaft of homesickness through Star. She hadn’t been home to Montana for much too long. She missed Mik, her biological father, and her other dad, AJ, her mom’s other mate. Hell, she even missed her damned spirit guide, but that was the last thing she’d ever admit.
“I just wondered when you were planning to come home.” Tala’s smile slipped. “I miss you, honey. You’ve been gone so long.”
“I visited last Christmas.” Short and not nearly enough time to reconnect with her mountain home. With her family. Her pack.
“You know that visit was much too brief, and you only let us talk you into it because it was your thirtieth birthday.” Her mom sighed. “Don’t you think it’s time to come back? You’re a pack animal at heart, Star.” Tala laughed, but Star felt the sting of tears in her eyes. “You can only stay away for just so long, honey. Even Jack misses you.”
“Jack said that?” Star rolled her eyes. “Now that’s hard to believe.”
“You’re not kidding. For your twin to admit something like that, well, it’s downright scary.” Then the smile slipped from Tala’s lips and she softly added, “It’s been almost fourteen years, sweetheart.”
Scrambling for yet another excuse, Star glanced at the stack of papers lying beside her computer. “I don’t know, Mom. I’m thinking of applying for another doctoral program. I’ll need to make the decision this week.”
“Star, don’t you think you have enough letters after your name? Don’t you miss the pack? Miss your family?”
So much it hurt to even think about it, but she wasn't ready. Not yet. A brisk knock on the door caught her attention. “Gotta go, Mom. My date’s here, but I promise to think about it. I love you.”
“I love you, too. The dads send their love. Sunny said to tell you hi.”
“Thanks. Give her a big hug for me, and the dads, too. Bye, Mom.”
“Star? Before you go, one last thing.”
“What’s that?”
“You can’t hide from him forever, sweetheart. Some things are stronger than we are, and he’s one of them. I love you.”
A shiver raced along Star’s spine as the screen went dark. In all the years she’d been away, her mother had never asked her to come home to stay, had never mentioned the real reason she’d chosen to live so far from the pack. Why now?
Besides, she wasn't hiding. Not really.
He knew where to find her.
Another knock brought Star to her feet and her womb clenched in what she knew was probably futile anticipation.
That was the problem with living among humans. Her Chanku libido ran circles around that of the average male. Fourteen years of less than satisfactory sex was probably reason enough to call it quits and head home, but damn it all, the risk was too great.
She’d gotten her spirit guide’s promise to let her live life on her own terms while she was away at school. Of course, he probably hadn't figured she’d make a career out of getting an education, but she knew that once she returned, he’d be right back in her life.
Taking over her life.
She’d grown up with two fathers, a concerned mother, an over-protective twin brother and a pack full of uncles and aunties watching out for her. None of them had threatened her independence the way Igmutaka managed with nothing more than a soft suggestion, a raised eyebrow, or the turn of a phrase.
Talk about frustrating. He protected her and guarded her against harm, which also meant protecting her from life in general. He’d also managed to keep all the eligible boys away at the same time, but that wasn't the worst part.
No, it was the fact he was absolutely beautiful, and she’d loved him. Loved him as only a young girl could love. Deeply, with all of her heart and soul. Tall and lean with smooth, bronzed skin, gorgeous green eyes and long, thick, dark hair, he had an androgynous beauty that would make him look as striking if he’d been a woman, yet there was no doubting the masculinity of the man. Nope. No doubt at all.
Star practically whimpered as she drew his image close. So beautiful as a cougar, with a sinewy grace that carried over to his human form. He’d rarely shown himself to her as a man, yet his was the face that filled her dreams, her fantasies, and her lonely nights.
Unfortunately, he didn't feel the same way. Igmutaka was her spirit guide, fated to protect her, not to bed her. She’d loved him without reservation from the time she could remember—first as a father figure, and then when she’d realized he was still young and sexy and she was definitely growing older and interested—as a potential mate.
He’d treated her as something fragile. Untouchable, and while she knew he wasn't celibate, he’d certainly kept his charge—the one he called Mikaela Star—that way. She’d not lost her virginity with a man until she finally left home for college.
She still didn't know what the big deal was.
She knew other Chanku women managed to have wonderful sex with humans, though they all eventually mated with Chanku, but she’d never once found satisfaction with a human male.
Not that she didn't keep trying, but since she’d rarely had the chance to have sex with another Chanku, and only on the rare occasions when one of the guys visited her in New Haven, she really had very little for comparison, goddess be damned.
She pushed Igmutaka and a lifetime of sexual frustration out of her mind and opened the door. Her date stood there, poised to knock a third time. He was tall and handsome, his smile as perfect as modern technology could make it.
And for the life of her, she couldn't remember his name.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” She flashed him a bright smile as she grabbed her bag and a soft wrap. At least as ready as she’d be with a man she hardly knew, but who, at least, wasn't her insufferable, sensual, pain-in-the-ass spirit guide.
~~*~~
Sunny Daye sprawled bonelessly over the long, lean body of her lover. He was gorgeous, absolutely spectacular in bed, and it just about broke her heart knowing he’d never satisfy that empty spot in her soul, the part of her crying out for a mate.
His long fingers stroked her left breast and then he playfully tapped her nipple. It tightened immediately, and she felt the touch between her legs as her womb rippled in response.
Supporting her upper body on her elbows, she raised her head and glared at him. Why in the hell couldn't he be the one? She’d known, though. Since the very first time he’d made love to her—the night he gently took her virginity so many years ago—that as much as she loved him, she couldn't love him that way. Still, the man could make magic when they came together. She sighed, flopped back on the mattress and arched into his touch. “I hope you’re planning to follow through with that.”
Igmutaka gave her a long, lazy smile, reached down and stroked his sizable erection with one hand. “Have you ever known me not to follow through?”
She felt her anger sliding away. It wasn't his fault he was absolutely perfect, and at the same time perfectly wrong. For her, at least. She knew the one he loved. Knew that, so far anyway, that love wasn't being returned. “Star’s an idiot.”
He grinned as he stroked a line from her throat to her pubes. “Mikaela Star is young. She has yet to discover her path. It will, of course, lead directly to me.”
“You sound so sure.” She laughed softly as his hands slid up her body and he stroked the sensitive skin beneath her breasts. “What if you’re wrong? What if she chooses another?”
Lying beside her, he teased the nipple he’d tapped earlier, working it gently with teeth and tongue for a moment before lifting his head. His lips were shiny—as slick and shiny as her nipple—and they parted on a soft smile. “Then I will kill the bastard.”
Sunny laughed. Ig was not really a killer...was he?
He grinned at her. “I've not told this to many, but it was foretold when she was still in Tala’s womb. I knew Mikaela Star was special when Tala carried her and we actually communicated before her birth. When Tala pushed her forth and she fell into my hands, I knew she was mine.” He gazed at Sunny over the dark red nipple he’d so skillfully aroused. “One does not question a gift from the gods.”
“I see.” She moaned as he lowered his head and began working on the other breast. After only a moment of pure bliss, Ig raised his head again.
“You are a gift as well, Sunny. Not for me, though. Your man is out there. I sense him drawing close. You will know him soon.” He tilted his head and frowned. “Very soon.”
My man? Soon? Sunny shoved herself up on her elbows so quickly she knocked Igmutaka aside. “Where is he? Who is he? How do you know?”
Laughing, Ig rolled to his back. “I don’t know the details. I just know he’s coming.” He sat up and his look grew pensive as he shrugged those wide shoulders. “Just as I know that tonight Mikaela Star is with yet another young man, another lover who will disappoint her. Before long, she will accept that I am the one who loves her, that I am the only one who can make her happy.”
The yearning in his voice was almost her undoing. Sunny ran her fingers through the thick hair tumbled across his forehead. “I know you’re not my mate, Ig, but you've never disappointed me, and you always make me smile.”
He leaned close and kissed her. Covered her small body once again with his much larger one. She arched beneath him, finding the broad head of his penis already pressing against her labia. With a slight tilt to her hips, she opened to him, felt the slick burn as he filled her, sliding that thick length all the way to the end of her vaginal sheath.
He was big and hard and fit her perfectly. He was funny and sweet, brave and powerful, and so beautiful he made her ache.
A perfect man.
Just not a perfect mate.
At least not for Sunny Daye.
~~*~~
After a really nice dinner, they’d ended up back at his apartment, which was a good thing, especially since Star still hadn't recalled her date’s name. She finally spotted it on a framed diploma on the wall. Haydon. His name was Haydon Smith—she finally remembered meeting him in one of the libraries on campus.
Another good thing about ending up at Haydon’s apartment was that it was his place, not hers. She hated having to ask a man to leave after sex, but she had sex with a lot of guys and she didn't want them hanging around afterwards, especially when they never managed to leave her satisfied.
This guy hadn't even tried very hard, but he’d certainly managed to find his own satisfaction. More than once. Now he slept soundly, so she carefully lifted his arm off of her breasts and slid out from beneath him. As she turned away to get out of the bed, that same arm snaked around her waist.
“Leaving, Star?”
Well, crap. “Uh, yeah. I need to get home.” She glanced over her shoulder and realized he was wide awake, glaring at her for whatever reason.
“What if I don’t want you to go yet?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s late. I had a good time, but I really have to leave.”
His grasp around her waist tightened. He was a lot bigger than her, and he pulled her back across the bed and roughly nuzzled her neck. “Mmmmm. You smell good.” He bit her earlobe hard enough for it to hurt, but she refused to react.
He was really starting to piss her off.
“You know what the guys call you?” He tightened his hold around her waist. “The Ballbuster. Word is you can go all night and then walk away like it was nothing.” His voice dropped to a low, threatening growl. “I haven’t had all night yet, Star. You can walk away when I say you can walk. Not before.”
Now this was a first. She tried to break free of his grasp, but he merely held on tighter. His breath was hot as he spoke directly into her ear. “I think you owe me the rest of the night, don’t you, Star? That was a really expensive dinner.”
She’d managed almost fourteen years of world travel, college and grad school without guys acting anything but grateful after a night of sex. Plus, not a single man had ever guessed she wasn't human. Though the world knew shapeshifters existed among them, she’d chosen to guard her Chanku origins and keep her abilities secret from all but a select few on campus.
Maybe this jerk was a sign. Maybe Mom was right—it was time to go home. And she wasn't thinking of merely going back to her apartment.
She shifted. Even though the wolf came most naturally, she chose her cougar form, twisting her strong, sinuous body out of his grasp as her date suddenly screamed like a little girl and scrambled across the bed so fast he fell off the other side.
Star merely stretched out over the bed, hooked her claws deep into the mattress until the fabric ripped, hung her head over the edge and stared at him. Eyes wide, he stared back at her. She stretched one broad paw toward him and further unsheathed her long, curved nails.
Babbling, he scrambled backwards on all four until he hit the wall, so she crouched on the edge of the mattress and raised her hindquarters as if to leap. Snarling, she let a bit of saliva drip from her open jaws and flexed her muscles.
An acrid stench filled her sensitive nostrils as a pool of urine stained the carpet between his legs. Star chuffed, which was the closest her puma could get to laughter, spun about on the bed and shifted once more.
She didn't even look his way as she snagged her clothes off the floor and quickly dressed. Grabbing the door handle, she glanced over her shoulder. He was still sitting in a soggy, stinking heap on the floor across the room. She gave him her most disdainful look. “Don’t ever pull that stunt on a woman again, or I will hunt you down.”
Then she walked out of his room and headed back to her apartment.
Not quite the way she’d expected her night to end, but at least it hadn't been boring. And, if nothing else, it had helped make up her mind about the doctoral program.
Her mom was right. She had enough letters after her name, and she’d played the coward long enough. It was time to return to the pack, even if it meant finally having it out with her spirit guide. Igmutaka had been running her life for far too long—the fact she’d not felt comfortable returning home was proof she’d given him more control over her life than he deserved.
The fact he didn't love her was on him, and it was his loss, not hers. It was time for Star to move forward.
It was early morning when she finally reached her own apartment—still much too early to call Montana. She showered, grabbed something to eat, and gave her folks until six before she finally called home. Her father answered, and she almost broke down and cried when his beautiful face flashed on the screen. There was something so elemental about him with his dark skin and strong Lakota Sioux and Hispanic features, an innate power that few men wore as well. Only Igmutaka came close. She missed her dad. Missed her mom, missed her other dad AJ just as much.
“What’s up sweetie? Mom said she talked to you last night. Is everything okay?”
She thought about that, and realized that yes, it was absolutely wonderful. Finally. “Everything’s good, Dad. I've decided to come home, though not right away. I’m hoping for a chance to spend some time alone once I leave Connecticut. Is the cabin at Lassen free? I thought I’d go there for a week or so.”
“We’ll make sure it’s available. When do you need it?”
She loved that about her parents. No questions. They just did what they could to make her life easier. “It’s going to take me at least a week to get my stuff packed up and shipped, and probably another week to make the drive. If I can’t get out of my lease, I’ll have to sublet the apartment, but that shouldn't be a problem. It’s a great location.”
“It’s going to be cold at the cabin. No one’s been there for a while. I’ll have it stocked for you. Will you be flying to California or driving?”
“Driving. And Dad? Thank you. I love you.”
“I love you too, Mikaela Star. I've missed you. We've all missed you. Be safe. Come home to us as quickly as you can.”
~~*~~
Mik grabbed his coffee and walked out onto the deck. AJ and Tala still slept, but he’d had a feeling his daughter might call this morning. The connection between them had always been strong, but lately he’d felt her yearning for something she wasn't finding in her stuffy, academic world of New Haven, Connecticut.
Of course, anyone with half a brain would realize that what she really wanted, what she needed, was right here in Montana. In fact, it appeared that his daughter’s fate was strolling up the path to the house on four huge paws at this very moment.
Mik stepped back inside the house and poured another cup of coffee. It was waiting when the huge puma leapt up on the deck and shifted. Mik handed the cup to Igmutaka, who took it without a word and sat in the Adirondack chair beside Mik’s.
The two men sipped their coffee in silence, and Mik couldn't help but think of his grandfather and the council meetings among the elders, when the old men would sit around the fire at night and make decisions concerning the tribe.
The man beside him—though definitely Native American—didn't look like an elder. No, he was a beautiful man who appeared to be in his early thirties, even though he was technically older than any living thing, as far as Mik knew.
Right now, Ig merely looked conflicted.
Mik knew exactly what was bothering him, but he wasn't about to make this easy. Not for any man interested in courting his daughter, and certainly not for the spirit guide whose job it was to protect Mikaela Star, not bed her.
Igmutaka sighed and sat quietly for a few minutes. Then he set the mug aside and faced Mik. “You know why I’m here,” he said.
Mik nodded. “Tell me.”
Ig raised one dark eyebrow. “I should have known you’d give me a hard time.”
Shaking his head, Mik chuckled softly. “It’s too important to make it easy. A decision such as yours, the prize you seek, is not something to take lightly. Tell me what it is you want.”
Nodding slowly, Ig agreed. “As you know, I have watched over your line for time beyond memory, always serving the firstborn male until the next generation is conceived. I guided your grandfather’s grandfather and his father, and all the men before him. I watched over your grandfather, and when his only issue was a daughter, I waited for the next male. Her son. That was you.”
Mik nodded. He remembered a time when he’d doubted his spirit guide’s existence, when he’d languished in prison and wondered if the presence he’d felt beside him truly existed, and if he did, why he’d allowed Mik to end up in a prison cell.
But that cell was the place where he had met AJ and had fallen in love. Where Ulrich Mason had found both men and helped them find their true heritage as Chanku shapeshifters. Had Igmutaka had a part in that? Mik had never asked.
He glanced up and realized Ig was smiling at him. “I did,” he said. “At least as much as I was able. So did your goddess. Years later, when you called me to help your packmates and I once again felt the warmth of living flesh, I found it impossible to remain a creature of spirit.”
Mik chuckled. “So you’re going to blame me for all of your problems?”
This time Igmutaka laughed out loud. “If I was going to blame anyone, it would have to be Mei and Oliver. It was their inability to mate because they couldn't shift into compatible creatures, that called me forth in the first place. I like them both, and I like my life as a man too much to complain. No, I’m merely stating the facts, that I was content as spirit until you and your people reminded me what joy could be had in a living, breathing body. But I still watched over you. And I was prepared to watch over your firstborn.”
“Even though you knew my firstborn would be female?”
Shrugging, Ig leaned back in his chair. “That threw me off at first. What did I know about watching over a female child? But the gods and your goddess decreed, and I obeyed. And then she spoke to me. Still in the womb, as yet unformed, and she spoke in my mind. Do you have any idea how amazing your daughter is, Miguel? How perfect?”
Mik turned and gazed out across the big meadow and remembered Star as a mere toddler, shifting into a wolf cub and then later that same day becoming a cougar. She truly was amazing. Brilliant, beautiful, and right now, terribly unhappy.
If Igmutaka could make her happy, Mik wouldn't stand in the man’s way. “Mikaela Star is special. She’s always been special.”
Igmutaka sighed—the sound of a frustrated male. “But why did she leave? I don’t understand everything of modern ways. Why did she force me out of her life?”
At least this was a question Mik could answer. He had, after all, mated his own very independent woman. “You watched over her too closely, my friend. Star has a mind of her own—a brilliant mind. She is an independent woman. A strong woman. You didn't allow her to test herself. To take risks.”
Ig bowed his head. “I was so afraid for her. Afraid she’d be hurt, afraid she would be unhappy...”
“Afraid of losing her?”
“That too, and yet that is exactly what happened. I pushed her away, and I lost her.” He raised his head and faced Mik, green eyes sparkling with tears. Mik’s heart went out to him—never before had he seen Igmutaka show vulnerability. The man could be stoic and strong, fun loving, even silly if the occasion called for it.
But not this. Never had he looked so completely lost.
Igmutaka nodded, silently admitting the power Mik’s daughter held over him. “I want the chance to try and win her back. To win her love. When she was young, I fought against that need, the need of a man for a woman. She was my charge, just a young girl, not a woman to warm my bed, and yet it took her leaving me to realize that was exactly what I wanted. What I need.
“A partner. A lover. A mate. One who can not only stand up to me, but stand beside me. This could be my only chance. I sense that she has chosen to return and I would like your permission to court her. To show her that I've learned, that I can stand beside her, not expect her to follow me, but to be my partner.”
Igmutaka was a strong, proud man. Mik wondered how much it cost him to speak the words in his heart. “You don’t need my permission, Ig, though I’m honored you would ask. Mikaela Star is her own woman.”
The spirit guide laughed. “You’re wrong, my friend. I want your permission, so that if I am successful and she chooses me as her mate, you will not have cause to disapprove.”
Mik had known this day was coming since Tala pushed his daughter out of her womb directly into the spirit guide’s capable hands, but he’d never imagined what it would feel like, to sit here and sense the desperation in the man’s voice, to realize how important this moment was to all of them.
Not merely to his daughter, to Mik, AJ and Tala, but to everyone. They were more than family. They were pack.
He reached for Igmutaka’s right arm and grasped him about the forearm. Ig’s fingers closed tightly around his arm, and Mik stared at the link they made. Finally, he nodded and raised his head. “I've believed since the beginning that you were destined for my daughter. You have my permission to court her. You do not have my permission to hurt her, to use your powers as her spirit guide to force her feelings or her decision, or to do anything at all that goes against her free will.”
Ig let out a huge breath of air. “Thank you. I would never hurt Mikaela Star. She was my charge, the one I watched over.”
Mik chuckled. “Except when she told you to get lost.”
Suddenly agitated, Ig shoved both hands through his hair. Then he tilted his head and stared directly at Mik. “She did more than that. I haven’t been entirely honest with you, Miguel. When she sent me away, she severed our spiritual tie. I don’t think she understood the power of her words, but my destined role as her spirit guide ended at that moment. I still watch over her from afar, but I am no longer truly her guide.” Again, he sighed. “I've not admitted that to anyone, and hardly to myself. I didn't want to accept the truth.”
But it explained so many things. “Ig, that changes nothing. Spirit guide or not, you've watched out for her, haven’t you?”
Ig nodded. “I have. I could take no other course.”
No, Ig would never give up on his charge, even one as headstrong as Mikaela Star. Softly Mik added, “She’ll be at the cabin in Lassen in about two weeks. She plans to stay there for a while. Said she needs time alone before returning to the pack.”
Igmutaka raised his head and grinned. “It’s been a long time since I traveled near Mount Lassen. It’s quite beautiful in the fall.” He stood, his naked body glistening in the early morning light, his beauty almost blinding. Mik was reminded of a conversation with his other mate.
AJ, a man who, until Tala, had always preferred the company of men, had said he found it fascinating that Igmutaka, the most beautiful and sensual man among them, had never appealed sexually to either Mik or himself. Now Mik fully understood why.
He’d always figured it was because Igmutaka had been his grandfather’s spirit guide, and then his own. Now he realized it was probably because Igmutaka was meant to be their son-in-law.
AJ would certainly appreciate the irony.
Igmutaka stepped away, but before he shifted, he glanced over his shoulder. “Please, do not tell Mikaela Star of my intentions. Somehow, I have to make her fall in love with me. I think my chances are better if she has no warning.”
Mik struggled not to smile. “Works for me, Ig. Good luck.”
The spirit guide disappeared and a huge cougar stood in his place. Rising slowly to his feet, Mik leaned against the deck railing and watched as Igmutaka bounded from the deck, trotted across the meadow and disappeared into the forest.
Tala joined Mik a few minutes later, hair still mussed from sleep, lips swollen from AJ’s kisses. “Come back to bed, sweetheart.” She stretched up on her toes to kiss him, and, tiny little thing that she was, he still had to bend to meet her lips.
“I heard the conversation. I hope he succeeds. Star has loved him since she was a child.”
“What?” Mik wrapped his arms around his mate. “If she loves him, why did she leave?”
“Because she wanted her independence more than she wanted a bossy lover. She has her pride. If you’ll recall, Igmutaka pushed her away. She had a horrible crush on him, and he kept her at arm’s length.”
“She was just a kid!”
“She was seventeen. A young woman who, in many cultures, would have already been wed. The power of a woman’s love isn't any less because of her age, but it’s a moot point, now. She’s no longer a child, and I think Ig has learned a little bit more about women from Sunny. The timing is much better now.”
“I guess.” Mik wrapped his arm around her waist. He guided Tala back inside and down the hall to their bedroom. “I think your timing is excellent, by the way.”
She merely grinned, grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the big bed where AJ waited. The day was early, and Mik figured he’d done his part to help his daughter’s love life along.
Now it was time to concentrate on his own.
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