1 Chapter 1: An Alpha’s Burglary
Lilia POV
Thank the Goddess Brigid that Lilia Rolfe hadn’t sold the biggest smoky quartz sphere in her shop, the Bloodstone, no matter how much gold Dame Maddock, the richest woman in town, offered. Otherwise, Lilia would be dead. It detected the intruder right away.
She threw herself behind the pillar that supported that sphere, but she could still hear the robbers. Not again. Not another violation of the shop where she toiled until the candles in the streetlamps outside sputtered. Truly, this had to be the third time in a week.
Her blood boiling and her breath coming in fast, hard spurts, she clutched the crystal rod in her hand and channeled her power through a tiger’s eye crystal from the Southern Continent. The energy burst from the crystal in a lattice that closed up and created a barrier between her and the thieves. Ha! No one could get through that. Not even a shifter could.
She sensed her mother’s gentle, worried energy from upstairs above the shop, and mentally sent a warning thought to her mother, Ravyn. “DON’T COME DOWN.”
Ravyn, the strongest witch she knew, the one who single handedly defended this shop against an attack from evil warlocks accompanied by rogue shifters, lay upstairs, suffering from an energy-stealing condition that left her weak. A witch’s ailment. She could conjure enough energy to do simple healing spells and light candles, but she certainly couldn’t fight off the thief!
Lilia would defend her beautiful, brilliant, sweet mother.
She extended the barrier across the shop to protect the more valuable crystals from the thieves. How many were there? How many had gotten past her defenses? She couldn’t tell. The burglars moved around in a blur, confusing her eyes and her mind. Her graceful olive-skinned hands trembled as she completed the spell.
As she backed away from the barrier, something sharp stuck into her foot and she gasped, pain shooting through her. She lifted her foot, hobbling around, and knelt, picking up a single crimson-and-white rose bristling with thorns.
HE was here.
The door to the upstairs had a magic seal on it. No chance of anyone lurking up there and terrorizing her mother, thank Brigid.
She scanned the shadows covering the windowless, solid back wall of the shop covered by cabinets. “I know you’re here,” she shouted. “Show yourself.”
A white wolf, a streak of moonlight, charged the barrier and clawed at its crystalline surface. Lilia trembled at the ferocity in the lapis lazuli blue eyes and the snarling mouth. The massive wolf could easily make two of her.
A shifter. Why did it have to be a shifter?
She plucked up her nerve and approached the barrier, only to find that the beautiful and deadly white wolf had darted away. Good. Maybe now the wolf would leave.
CRASH.
Lilia’s lean, athletic body tensed as the barrier disappeared. She whirled, her turquoise eyes filled with worry at first, then blinking in confusion when the wolf licked his paw, soothing it.
Was he hurt?
Lilia’s mind screamed DON’T APPROACH, but her heart and her body pestered her to make sure that the wolf hadn’t been hurt. She tiptoed, the fabric of her long midnight blue robes whispering gently, and approached the wolf.
At the moment she drew near, the wolf’s face and snout flattened, turning human. Fur disappeared, replaced by pink healthy flesh. The body transformed into a lean, powerful human form–completely naked. No weapons.
He spread his hands, exposing himself in surrender. “You are either the kindest adversary I’ve met or the most foolish or the bravest, or perhaps a blend of the three. Your face is as pure and innocent as the moon.”
Lilia stepped back, indignation in her voice. “You invade my shop AGAIN and try to steal my crystals, and you think pretty words mixed with insults will make me forgive you?
She wouldn’t soften for his chiseled features, either. He had a confident chin, slender nose, and full lips, as well as thick dark brows that made him look serious in a compelling way. On his cheek, he had a mark like a crescent moon.
“I’m not the thief,” he said in a calm, cocksure manner. “Though I can see how you would think that. Notice I have no bag. No crystals on my person.”
With fingers trembling, she thrust the rose out at him. “And you left THIS just to spite me. I don’t know what you want with me or why you’ve been leaving roses and ominous notes, but I will coat one of these in silver and smack you with it.”
He shook his head. “Flowers would only be a distraction, enchantress.”
His even, unshakable demeanor made her begin to relax. She felt sincerity coming from him without knowing why. “Then you aren’t here to rob me?”
“Nay.”
She dropped the flower and pulled a silver dagger from the sheath on her braided leather belt and raised it in a threatening way. “If you are, and if you shift again–”
“But I’m not here to do that.”
She raised a honey-blonde eyebrow as she gazed at his naked form, a vibrant contrast to the crystals surrounding him. “You certainly have nothing and nowhere to hide. Do you mind if I get you some clothes?” Many witches had no issue with nudity, but other beings definitely did.
“If it would make you more comfortable.”
“Nothing about this makes me comfortable.” She opened the door leading upstairs. “Wait here–and make sure nobody else breaks in.”
He offered a small smile for the first time. “As you wish. Your defenses are decent inside the shop, but a mere wolf pup could get inside. It’s no wonder burglars find your shop so tempting.”
She huffed, feeling several shades of warmth changing to hot and offended. “My defenses are the best.”
“Not if they’re destroyed by having pity on your enemy.”
She had no answer to that, especially since his clean, musky scent distracted her. “Who are you, anyway, and why are you here?”
“Dane Cresta, Alpha of the Evenhide Pack. I know you, Lilia Rolfe. I know you by your good works and your reputation.”
The Evenhide Pack. Her pulse quickened. Every witch worth her weight in gemstones knew the Evenhide Pack. The most powerful pack on the Northern Continent.
She sheathed her dagger and kept a grip on the cool, comforting clear quartz rod. “Interesting. Shifters tend to avoid cities.”
His startling blue eyes fixed on her exclusively, ignoring the wealth of crystals in the room. They lingered on her face.
Innocent, as pure as the moon? Hah. Too round for her liking. But since wolf shifters worshiped the moon and the Moon Goddess, she would take it as a compliment.
“I had my own reasons for braving this one,” he said.
“Reasons to do with me?”
“Entirely to do with you.”
“I think you need to be clothed for this conversation.” She made a low bow. “My Lord Alpha.”
“Just Dane will do.”
“Then for you, I am Lilia.”
She slipped through the door and shut it behind her. Not wanting to disturb her mother, she tiptoed up the narrow stairway to the row of hooks on the upstairs landing and snatched up one of the spare robes they kept for visitors. Easily discarded when her unknown visitor shifted back into wolf form.
The door hinges creaked as the door refused to swing open easily, maybe showing its age after several generations or perhaps trying to send Lilia a signal to stay away from this Dane Cresta, however benign he might seem at the moment.
Finally, the door burst open and she emerged into the shop where Dane wandered around as naked as a newborn and inspected her crystals. He paused before one of the display stands on which rested a locked case. “What’s in here?”
“Something more valuable than anything else in this shop.” She tossed him the pale gray robe and he leapt, catching it.
“The burglars cannot get past the lock?” He pulled the robe on. The garment, the color of a stormy sea, only accentuated his glistening black hair with streaks of gold.
“It’s enchanted.”
“Your door has magical wards and yet I slipped past them,” he warned.
She folded her arms. “And why did you do that?”
He sniffed the air. “I smell someone else here. The scent of weeping bittersweet. A feminine scent. I think your mother also works with you, continuing a family tradition?”
She put her hand on the hilt of the silver dagger. “Everyone knows that in the city, but we are far from Evenhide Pack lands. Why are you here?”
“Because shifters have tried to steal from you.”
“How do you know that?”
His eyebrows seemed alive, wiggling. “You coated that dagger in wolfsbane. Clearly, you expected shifters.”
Never bet against a wolf shifter’s superior senses. “I was prepared,” she admitted.
“I also expected shifters, and I’ve heard certain…rumors,” he said in a deep voice, as steady and hypnotic as a heartbeat. “That’s why I’ve come. To help you find these thieves, recover your stolen property, and deliver shifter justice to them since your laws are woefully lacking.”
A thrill of curiosity went through her. “You would help me find the shifters? Why?”
“I appreciate the beauty of crystals. And it’s a matter of shifter honor. We live in peace with witches. We don’t harm each other. Besides…I require something from you.”
Her breath caught. She didn’t know what to make of him. Candor mixed with mystery.
“And that would be?”
“Become my Luna. My fated mate.”
