Winter Born Read online

“Damn, Dante,” Cas said from behind her. “That’s harsh. Last time you turned your brothers loose on a pack, they left no male standing.”

  “I know.” Dante looked back to her. “And so do they. Your sister and her friends are all safe now.”

  Pandora threw her arms around his shoulders and held him close. “Thank you!”

  He hugged her back, then kissed her gently.

  Pandora turned back to Sefia as another thought occurred to her. “What about your children?”

  “Their father is raising them, per Dante’s orders.” Sefia looked at Dante with glowing eyes. “Your mate took all of the women to La Costa and is paying for us to stay and be pampered there for as long as we like.”

  “And we volunteered to guard them,” Mike said, indicating himself and Leo.

  “Is that a good idea?” Pandora asked Dante. After all he and Romeo had said about the twins, she wasn’t sure whether having them as guards would be a help or a hindrance.

  Dante’s face mirrored her skepticism. “I personally don’t think so, but Romeo talked me into it. There’s a large number of the females who aren’t mated.”

  “And Dante owes us big after the filking fiasco,” Leo said irritably. “There weren’t any naked women there, just some guy singing about Star Trek and Romulan brew. It really pissed us off.”

  Pandora had to stifle her laughter.

  “Are you going to come with us?” Sefia asked.

  Pandora felt a lot more torn than she should have. Spending time with her sister at a resort or staying with a Katagari panther at Dragon*Con . . .

  There shouldn’t be a choice.

  So why did she feel this way?

  “It’s entirely up to you,” Dante said quietly. “I told you I wouldn’t interfere with your freedom.”

  “C’mon, Dora,” Sefia said, taking her hand. “We’re going to have a lot of fun.”

  Dante’s face was completely stoic and yet she sensed his sadness.

  “I’ll be back soon,” Pandora promised him.

  He nodded.

  “I’ll take them upstairs to my room to flash them to the resort,” Romeo said.

  Dante didn’t speak as he watched his brothers disappear into the crowd with Pandora and Sefia.

  He’d done a good deed and now he knew why he hated doing good deeds.

  They were painful.

  What did he get out of it? Not a damn thing except a pain so profound that he felt as if something were shredding his heart.

  “Here,” Ash said, handing him a beer. “Have a seat.”

  Sighing, Dante took the beer and grabbed the chair where Pandora had been sitting on his arrival. “I did the right thing, right?”

  “No,” Simi said as she wiped barbecue sauce off her chin. “The panther woman didn’t want you to leave her and now you made her go away. That was just stupid if you ask the Simi. Not that anyone ever does, ’cause if they did, then they would be smart. Some people are smart. But many, like you, are too stupid to ask me what I think. See?”

  “It’s not that simple, Simi,” Dante said, wondering why he was trying to explain himself to a demon who had no understanding of human emotions or animal relationships. “She doesn’t want me to own her.”

  “Well, the Simi doesn’t understand that. Owning’s not so bad. I own akri and he kind of fun.”

  Dante arched a brow at Ash who didn’t bother to correct his demon.

  Whatever. Those two were far beyond his understanding anyway.

  “I’m telling you, Faith,” a woman said as she and a friend walked by them. “There’s a portal in the handicap stall downstairs that allows people to drop in from alternate universes. I was in there with Amanda helping her with her costume when this woman popped in, holding an axe. She immediately popped back out.”

  Dante laughed at that, even though a fierce pain cut through him at the memory.

  Only his pantheress would be so bold as to defy his orders.

  “I better go pay for that axe before someone puts out an APB on my mate,” he said to Ash, Cas, and Simi.

  But as he got up and headed down to the dealers’ room, he couldn’t squelch the need he felt to find Pandora and bring her back.

  He wouldn’t do that to her.

  Dante was nothing if not a panther of his word.

  CHAPTER 5

  Pandora spent two days in La Costa with her sister and the other females while Leo and Mike tutored them well on how to use their powers. They also tutored some of the unmated females on things she didn’t even want to think about.

  But none of her newfound freedom made her happy.

  In fact, the longer she stayed here, the more her heart ached. Every time her gaze fell to her marked hand, she thought about the panther she’d left behind.

  No, she thought about the man. The one who had given her so much.

  “How’s Dante doing?”

  She paused outside the sliding glass door that led to Mike and Leo’s room. The two panthers were in there alone and she wasn’t sure which one was which. One of them was resting in a blue recliner, while the other appeared to have just ended a phone call.

  That one tossed a cell phone to the dresser before he shrugged. “Romeo said he’s still screwed up.”

  The one in the chair sighed heavily. “Yeah. I can’t believe he didn’t tell Pandora about his phobia.”

  “What phobia?” Pandora asked as she came through the door to confront them.

  The twins looked at her sheepishly.

  “It’s not nice to eavesdrop,” the one in front of the dresser said in a reprimanding tone.

  She was in no mood to take that from him. “And it’s not nice to talk about people either, but since you’re talking about my mate, I’d like to know what you mean.”

  The twins exchanged a pained look.

  “What do you think, Mike?” Leo was the one who’d had the cell phone.

  Mike leaned back in his recliner as he silently debated for a few seconds more. “Might as well tell her, I guess. I don’t see what it would hurt.”

  Leo let out a loud breath before he spoke again.

  He looked at her. “When Dante was a cub, he and his litter and a group of our cousins escaped their babysitter and went out prowling on their own. After a few hours, they got lost and one of the females with them got really scared because it was getting dark. She didn’t want to try and find her way back until morning so Dante agreed to stay with her and keep her safe. Our brother Sal told Dante he’d be back with help and then led the others off.”

  Pandora frowned at his story. “Why would that make him phobic?”

  “Because it was a cruel prank,” Mike said bitterly. “As soon as Dante went to sleep, Tyla snuck out and they all headed back home without him. Dante woke up alone and had no idea what had happened to her or how to get home. He was terrified.”

  Pandora was appalled at how mean his siblings and cousins had been to leave him behind. A cub on its own could be picked up by humans and put in a zoo or, worse, killed by any adult wild animal that came across it.

  “They left him there by himself for a solid week,” Leo continued with the story. “Every time someone asked about Dante, they made up some lie about where he was. When Donatello found out what they’d done, he went back to the woods to get him. He found Dante practically starved to death. He’d been living off scraps and having to keep predators away with no help. He was weak from exposure, but still he’d kept searching for Tyla, afraid something had happened to her.”

  His face sad, Mike shook his head. “Romeo has always said that that was what made Dante so damned selfish. After they returned, Dante was freaky about ever running out of food or trying to help someone. He started hoarding things and turning on anyone who threatened him.”

  Her heart ached for her mate. It must have been horrible for him to be afraid for his life while trying to find Tyla. And all because of a joke.

  “I hope Donatello punished them for what they did.”
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br />   Mike sighed. “He did, but the damage had already been done. Like Acheron so often says, there are a lot of things in life that ‘sorry’ doesn’t fix and that was one of them.”

  “Ever since then,” Leo said, “Dante can’t stand for anyone to leave him. He practically climbs the walls if he can’t account for his family.”

  “That’s why he went to find you two when you were lost, isn’t it?” she asked.

  Leo nodded. “His worst fear is to have someone he loves not be able to find their way home again.”

  Tears filled her eyes as she looked down at the ring Dante had given her when they mated.

  Now it all made perfect sense.

  Why he didn’t want a wandering Katagari female for a mate . . .

  Why he tolerated his brothers even when they drove him insane . . .

  Why he had freed her sister and the other women to travel with her . . .

  And why he had given her Donatello’s ring.

  Closing her eyes, Pandora conjured up an image of Dante.

  * * *

  Dante was watching the acid metal band on a TV monitor. But his mind wasn’t really on the act or the handouts and CDs on the table in front of him.

  It was on the fact that he should never have let Pandora go.

  You can’t keep her . . .

  He should have at least tried.

  But at least she wasn’t out there alone. He’d made sure that she would have her sister with her.

  A warm hand touched his arm.

  Grinding his teeth, Dante turned, ready to rebuff yet another woman coming on to him. He was really getting tired of telling them he wasn’t interested.

  But as he opened his mouth and his eyes focused on the beautiful face of his latest admirer, all thoughts scattered.

  It couldn’t be.

  Not this soon.

  “Pandora?”

  “Hi,” she said with a smile that made him feel suckerpunched. “I missed you.”

  This had to be a dream. His pantheress couldn’t be back.

  He wanted to tell her that he’d missed her too, but the words wouldn’t come. All he could do was react.

  He pulled her into his arms and kissed her fiercely, letting her feel that every part of him wanted her never to leave him again.

  Pandora laughed at his heated welcome. “I think you missed me too.”

  Dante left her lips to take a deep whiff of her hair so that he could memorize and savor it. “You have no idea.”

  Actually, she did. She hadn’t doubted the twins before, but this thoroughly confirmed their story.

  She nuzzled his neck, inhaling the warm spicy scent of his masculine skin. “Want to get naked?”

  He laughed. “Yeah, but not here.”

  Pulling back from her, he took her hand and led her to a secluded corner so that he could flash them into his room.

  They were both naked and in his bed three blinks later.

  Dante couldn’t breathe as he felt the impossible softness of Pandora lying beneath him.

  Nothing felt better than her caresses. The fact that she was warm and welcoming. He slid himself inside her, and groaned at just how good she felt.

  Pandora savored his hardness inside her and now more than ever she was glad she was human and not a real panther. Her Katagaria cousins only sought sex when they were in heat.

  She could seek it anytime she wanted and she wanted Dante right now. Needed to feel his strong, powerful thrusts.

  But the human in her wanted even more.

  It wanted him with her forever.

  “Will you bond with me, Dante?”

  Dante froze as her whispered words went through him. “What?”

  She held her marked palm up. “I don’t ever want to leave you and I don’t want to live without you. Not for one minute. Bond with me, Dante, so that neither one of us is ever abandoned again.”

  He took her hand into his and kissed her as love for her overwhelmed him.

  He thrust against her hard and furiously as she repeated her vows to him and he returned them to her.

  This time when his teeth grew, he pulled back to stare down at her an instant before he sank his fangs into her neck.

  Pandora arched her back as the pain of his bite quickly turned to pleasure. Her head spinning, she sank her own teeth into his shoulder.

  For that one instant in time, every thought and emotion Dante felt coursed through her.

  Any doubt she’d ever had about him fled as she felt his love for her, and it ignited her own.

  This was what was meant to be.

  He was hers and she was his.

  She cried out as she came in a fierce wave of pleasure. Dante’s own growl of pleasure filled her ears.

  Joined together, they drifted through the ribbons of ecstasy until they were fully drained and spent.

  Dante collapsed on top of her and she cuddled him in her arms. “I love you, Dante,” she breathed. “And I promise I’ll never again leave you.”

  He smiled languidly as he stared at her. “I love you, too, Pandora, and anytime you want to leave, I’ll gladly go with you.”

  EPILOGUE

  In the Marriott’s lobby, Dante stood off to the side with Acheron while everyone at the hotel was packing up to leave. All the Klingons, Storm Troopers, fairies, and so on were now in normal dress with only scattered parts of their costumes evident as, one by one, they returned to real life.

  Dragon*Con was over.

  Just like Ash had promised him a year ago when he told him to come to Atlanta, it had been a remarkable weekend that would stay with him forever.

  “You knew Pandora would be here when you told me to come, didn’t you?” he asked the Atlantean.

  Ash shrugged. “There’s always room for error, but yeah. I did.”

  “You’re a scary SOB.”

  Ash laughed.

  Dante felt Pandora’s presence behind him.

  Turning, he saw her and Simi coming over to them.

  Simi was beaming as she carried a wide collection of bags. “I gots my last bit of shopping done,” she announced proudly. “You should be glad, Dante, your panther-woman don’t buy much.”

  “You know you could have spent whatever you wanted,” he said to Pandora.

  “I know, but all I wanted was this.”

  He frowned as she handed him a small wooden box. “What is it?”

  “Open it and see. I bought it just for you.”

  Dante opened it to find what appeared to be a bellshaped necklace. “I don’t get it,” he said.

  Pandora took the necklace out and placed it around his neck. “This is just in case you ever again have to fight someone else. Next time, I’ll know which panther you are and I won’t accidentally cut your head off. I plan on living a long, long life with you, Mr. Pontis. And no one, not even you, is going to stop me.”