Christian steeled himself. Both man and wolf felt uncomfortable leading Roman into the sparsely furnished rental house. The wolf paced because it was his private lair, his den. The man tensed because he could easily imagine the luxury someone as ancient as Roman surrounded himself with.

It couldn't be helped. In less than twenty-four hours both man and wolf had gained a mate only to lose parts of her to others. Christian couldn't endure the thought of losing physical possession as well.

Take a shower with me before you go to work, Mystic's gentle voice whispered in his mind, freeing some of the anxiety knitted tightly in his chest.

He glanced at Roman and waved in the direction of the large-screen TV, the one item of outrageous luxury-though Christian considered it an essential-in his house. "Make yourself comfortable. I've got to get ready for work."

"Take your time," Roman said. "No doubt I can entertain myself with a nature program while Mystic plays the role of wife and helps you."

Mystic's amusement surfaced. "Don't get all hot and bothered watching lions mate and hunt on the Serengeti," she said.

Roman flashed his fangs in response, and picked up the remote control. "Would you suggest I watch golf instead?"

Mystic snickered and both her mates caught her ribald thought about Roman's ability to sink a hole in one. Roman said, "I can see you weren't spanked nearly enough as a little girl." He patted his thigh. "When Christian is safely off to work perhaps we'll remedy the situation. A few swats across your bare buttocks and you'll learn to respect your elders."

"At least you said elders and not betters. I'd have to stake you if you'd said that."

Roman laughed. "Stop playing with me or I will indeed grow hot and bothered before you're ready to deal with the consequences."

Christian pulled Mystic into the bedroom and closed the door. He glanced at the disheveled mess that was the bed. Images of what the two of them had done there before they left to hunt the wolves flickered across his thoughts and sent the blood pounding through his cock.

"How much time do you have?" Mystic asked. Her fingers pulled his shirt from his waistband then danced over his abdomen before slipping into his pants and grazing across the head of his penis.

Lust exploded in the center of Christian's body and shot outward. Fuck, he said and pre-cum escaped with the word.

Mystic's laughter was a breeze chasing away any thought of her other mates. Fuck. That's what I had in mind when I suggested a shower. She reached for his belt. Do you have time for bed and a shower?

His hands joined hers, helping with the belt, then the button, then the zipper until his cock was freed. "Mystic," he panted, his penis jerking as she wrapped it in the fingers of one hand while the fingers of the other found his heavy sac.

Christian speared his fingers through her luxurious hair and pulled her to him for a kiss. She opened her mouth and welcomed his tongue. She greeted it with the slide of hers, with teasing forays and retreats until he was hungrily eating at her mouth and moaning.

Mated less than a day and he was already completely ensnared and lost in his Angelini mate. He couldn't imagine life without her.

I hope you're never sorry you're one of my mates.

Christian ended the kiss so he could look into her eyes. How could I ever be sorry? The best I ever hoped for was one day I'd be lucky enough to find a human who could see the wolf and not flee in terror. Instead I got you and now I belong in a way I've never belonged before.

He stroked her cheek and let her feel exactly what she meant to him. He was completely humbled by how deeply she cared about his happiness and how much she feared he'd grow to hate their life together because she shared herself with Roman and Hawk.

It'll be okay, Christian said, once again finding it hard to believe he'd been forced into this role, into soothing his mate over the presence of other males in her bed. But he couldn't do anything else. The need to care for her was as urgent and essential as the need for air. "We'll make it work. Speaking of which..." He gently nipped her neck before setting her aside and stripping. "It's time to take a shower. Even the humans can smell sex and I'd like to keep my private life from being a topic of conversation."

Mystic kicked her own shoes off but wasn't fast enough when it came to the rest of her clothing. She yipped when Christian lunged for her, then laughed at her own canine sound as he growled against her skin and helped her get undressed.

She yipped again when he tossed her over his shoulder and swatted her naked buttock before cupping it in his hand. "Maybe Roman is on to something," Christian teased, trailing over the crevice between her ass cheeks before moving to her slit. "I think you need a good spanking."

"Try it and you'll be sorry." She wriggled but couldn't escape the press of his fingers between her thighs.

Christian set her on her feet next to the shower but his fingers remained buried in her channel. "You're aroused. I can smell it. I can feel it." He carried her hand back to his penis. "Do you want to know what that does to me?"

"I can feel it along the bond."

"I'll tell you anyway. I want to bury my face between your thighs and take you with my tongue. But my cock is so hard and the wolf is in such a frenzy to mate that it's all I can do to keep from forcing you onto your hands and knees and fucking you like a wild animal."

"Do it."

Christian shuddered in response to her words. He could feel her desire along their link as well as with the spasming of her cunt around his fingers.

She was like a drug and he was a hopeless addict. "I'm supposed to be getting ready for work," he said, "but all I can think of is your sweet cunt." He curled his fingers and found the most sensitive place inside her. He pressed and glided over it repeatedly until she was shaking, clinging to him and begging him to mount her.

"Do you really think I'll ever wish for another mate when the one I've got makes me crazed with lust?" he growled against her lips.

"No."

He smoothed over her clit with his thumb before turning her to face the bathroom mirror. His fingers remained in her slit as he repositioned her.

"Put your hands on the counter," he growled. "Watch what you do to me. Watch what we do to each other."

Mystic did as he ordered. She leaned over and grasped the edge of the counter, hardly recognizing herself in the sensuous creature she saw in the mirror. She blushed at how closely she resembled the female Weres who'd prowled the Zevanti compound in heat, their hair a wild mane hanging down to cover breasts crowned with taut nipples.

When she ducked her head Christian nipped her shoulder. "Watch," he growled.

She moaned in protest when his fingers left her channel but she shivered in ecstasy when they were replaced by the tip of his cock. His gaze captured and held hers in the mirror as he slid into her an inch at a time.

Mystic shuddered at the feel of him embedded deep inside her. Her body quivered with joy at the sight of him covering her.

We were meant to be together, he said as his hips began moving in slow thrusts. Now watch as you make me late for work.

Pure happiness flooded Mystic's heart at Christian's mix of dominant male and playful mate. She gave herself completely to him and watched as the images of their mating burned into her memory. She watched until the pleasure became unbearable and instinct forced her head down so he would bite her and make her cry out in release.

They showered afterward. It was a quick affair ending with the promise of a longer interlude the next time. Mystic tugged on one of Christian's shirts since her own were still at the hotel.

"You'll stay here for the rest of the day?" Christian asked Roman when they finally emerged from the bedroom.

Roman hit the TV remote and cleared the screen of a horse race. "For the moment I think it would be best if I was seen only after sunset."

Christian nodded and walked to the front door. He needed to get to the station and yet he hated to leave. "I've got to go," he said, pulling Mystic into his arms. "I have so many questions and I want to stay here with you, but I've got people counting on me and I'd like to find out what I can about the dead vampire."

She hugged him. "I'll be safe here with Roman."

For the first time Christian found himself considering the advantages of her having another mate. He was a man without a pack or even a human family to watch over her. It had never been important with a woman before because his relationships had been casual, but now, and in the future, when there were children-he could see why the Angelini always took more than one mate. There was safety in numbers.

He kissed Mystic then reluctantly pulled away. "I may still be working after the sun sets. Call if you leave the house."

"Okay." Her smile made his heart ache with love. "You be safe, too," she teased.

"I will be." He kissed her again then left.

Mystic moved to the window and watched him drive away. A small sliver of loneliness and loss pierced her as his car disappeared from sight.

She'd never considered before what it was like for human couples. The Weres worked and lived together. The vampires had their companions who most often slept when the vampire slept and were rarely out of sight when a vampire was awake. The Angelini had their mates and the link between them was so strong that even when they were physically apart, with a thought they could touch each other. None of them was ever truly alone.

Her mind reached out to Christian's and a blush rose to her cheeks when she encountered the image of herself in the mirror as they'd fucked. She turned away from the window and allowed the connection to fade.

Roman was sprawled across the couch. As she approached he tossed the TV remote onto the coffee table.

"Alone at last," he said when she sat on the edge of a cushion. His hand went to her hip and settled there as if he was content simply to be in her company.

Mystic could feel his desire for her body and her blood. When he didn't pounce, a tension she hadn't been aware of eased. She immediately knew its source and wondered if he'd guessed at her old fears of being wanted not for herself but because she was Angelini and the magic gave a male no choice.

His masculine chuckle sounded in her mind. I am looking for an excuse to spank you. If you continue to doubt your own allure then you will feel my hand on your buttocks. With or without the Angelini bloodline you would draw men to you.

Mystic melted with his words. She wanted to believe them so desperately.

He took her hand and brought her wrist to his lips. Believe, he whispered in her thoughts as he kissed over her pulse and sent a jolt of heat racing through her veins.

She leaned in and he freed her wrist in order to tangle his fingers in her hair and draw her closer. Vampire flames danced in his pupils and promised an erotic experience that could be found nowhere else.

Mystic touched her lips to his. She opened her mouth and welcomed the sensuous slide of his tongue against hers.

I have waited centuries for you, he whispered in her mind.

His other hand cupped her breast and heat burned through the fabric of her borrowed shirt. Her nipples ached and she shivered with the need to feel his skin touching hers.

He responded by flicking the buttons free one at a time until the shirt hung open, exposing her naked breasts and uncovered mound. Please, she begged and he stripped the shirt off her.

She moaned when his hand returned to her needy flesh and his fingers caressed her areola before gently tugging and squeezing.

Lie with me, he said, using his grip on her hair and on her nipple to guide her down so she was stretched out at his side on the couch. He threw his leg over hers in a possessive gesture. She shivered at the feel of his clothed body against her naked one.

"You make it difficult not to pounce," he teased, leaving her lips to kiss along her jaw and down to her throat.

Mystic's breath caught when he licked over her wildly beating pulse. His fangs grazed her skin and she pressed against his mouth.

I was under the impression you might want to talk instead of make love. Tell me I'm wrong, Mystic, and I'll gladly give you what you seem to be asking for.

I do, she said, though she doubted the reprieve from the lust-induced magic of the Angelini would last for long. The need for constant physical intimacy would smooth over time, ride beneath the surface of their skins, but initially, in the early stages, they'd be driven to have sex time and time again in order to solidify and deepen the bond.

She laughed silently. Not that she needed any magic at all to desire her mates. Each one of them could easily star in her fantasies, and together...incredible, amazing, she could go on for days listing words to describe them.

Roman lifted his mouth from her neck with a chuckle. "I'm glad you find us all suitable."

"Very suitable."

Curiosity made her ask, "Do you know my fathers?"

"No, though no doubt that will soon change."

Mystic laughed. "No doubt. Be prepared to meet the parents as soon as they get back from Europe." She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips. "I think they'll like you very, very much."

"I hope you're right."

There was a nearly undetectable wistfulness in his voice, one she might not have noticed at all except for the bond she shared with him. "You've lived for so long," she said. "So much longer than my fathers and they've been alive forever. How have you lasted?" And stayed sane? Honorable? Her lips quirked upward in a teasing curve. Even lovable?

His smile and the look in his eyes made the muscles around her heart tighten almost painfully. "There were decades at a time when I slept, preferring the nothingness of death to the gray monotony of day after day that was the same wasteland of emptiness."

Roman's mouth found hers, captured it in a kiss. You are a gift, Mystic. A priceless one I will cherish always. With you my life became fresh and new, vital, exciting in a way it hasn't been in long centuries. And it will only get better as time goes on.

Her hand smoothed up his arm and along his shoulder. Her fingers went unerringly to the chain he wore around his neck almost like a collar and then to the ancient scripted pendant, a gryphon hanging from its center. He hadn't been wearing it in the woods. But now he was and she could feel the pendant's enchantment and power.

Roman kissed down her neck. He stopped above her pulse, licked, sealed the place with his lips and sucked, making her feel as though her heart beat in his mouth. Will you become my companion as well as my Angelini mate?

Yes. There was no doubt in Mystic's mind that she would let him bind her to him in the vampire way. It would give him power over her, not as much as if she was purely human, but more than he might have over an Angelini who wore a hunter's tattoo. There were rules governing the relationship, laws that made her vulnerable when it came to vampire law but her mother was bound to her fathers and she would do no less.

Roman's pleasure surged through their link along with his intention to fully claim her while he had her to himself. His fangs pressed against her skin and her heart skipped and raced in anticipation of first his bite and then his blood.

But before he could pierce her skin her conscience forced her hand away from the companion necklace and down to his chest. She pushed in a silent gesture for him to stop.

For long moments he held her pulse hostage in his mouth. Mystic closed her eyes and knew she was no match for him if he decided to ignore her wishes.

A single touch, a small press of his will against hers and her conscience would retreat in favor of the ecstasy only he could give her. No being was immune to the pleasure that could be found in a vampire's bite but she suspected she found it even more enthralling because of her own vampire heritage.

I think maybe you are going to be a test to my patience, Roman said, releasing her from the threat of his bite but licking over the spot where her pulse jumped as if it was trying to return to him. He lifted his head and met her relieved gaze. You wish to delay until your other mates are comfortable with the arrangement they find themselves in?

"I think it would be best," Mystic whispered as she reached up to trail her fingers over his lips.

Her heart knew it was the right thing to do-for Christian who had steadied her and bolstered her confidence even though he would never have shared her with another if there had been a choice, and for Hawk, who had not cornered and trapped her when she'd been at the Zevanti compound though now she could admit what she'd denied then, deep down she'd recognized him as one of her mates.

"If you think it is best, then we will wait," Roman said, but not indefinitely.

She slid her other palm up his chest and lightly grasped the etched pendant again. Along their link she opened her thoughts and her heart so he knew she would welcome the day when she would wear the companion necklace.

"If you're not careful you'll bring me to my knees with your openness," he said.

"I think Estelle might have confided a time or two that the best place for a vampire mate was on his knees." Color flooded Mystic's face as she recalled her mother actually had quite a bit more to say on the topic, but all of it came under the heading of girl talk.

Roman's fangs flashed. He threw back his head and laughed. "Your secrets are not safe from me," he said, reminding her with his statement and his amusement of how thin the barrier between their minds was.

Mystic laughed along with him. It was impossible to resist though her face continued to flame.

"I suspect your fathers don't mind being driven to their knees by their Angelini mate. Nor would I mind if that's the service you require of me."

His seductive words curled in her breasts and womb. She released the pendant in favor of unbuttoning his shirt so she could explore his bare skin.

Roman rolled to one elbow. The lower part of his body pressed hers to the couch while his upper body hovered over hers, his open shirt teasing her sides. "Would you like me to bury my face between your thighs and pleasure you as your other mates have done?"

A wave of desire washed through Mystic and chased the residual humor away. Arousal flooded her channel and escaped to coat her swollen cunt lips and inner thighs.

His elegant masculine features tightened into a predatory mask that sent a thrill of feminine fear racing along her spine. "I can smell your answer," he said, "and it excites the part of me that doesn't crave your blood."

Roman lowered his head and took her lips. His tongue thrust into her mouth. The images in his mind told her it was a rehearsal for what he intended to do to her cunt. She moaned in reaction and he settled more of his weight on her.

Mystic felt the fierce animal need to dominate rage through him. He'd alluded to his beasts, but his easy manner and teasing quips reminded her of her vampire fathers and set her at ease. Now she wondered how she could ever have thought he was less intense than her wolves.

"I was created a beast and changed by death into an even deadlier predator. For centuries there was no gentleness in me at all, no reason to even pretend to be human."

"I don't believe I wished for a human mate," Mystic teased, sensing that underneath his words was a worry she wanted only the vampire he'd become and not the beast he'd been born. "I don't believe I've cowered in fear or cried in disappointment at finding myself mated to big bad wolves and a gryphon once known as Korak."

As quickly as the tension and aggression had risen in Roman, it flowed away. He lowered his head and took her lips again, this time in a gentle kiss. His amusement soaked in with his heat. You tame me with your courage and your acceptance.

She wriggled her hand between his open shirt and his side. But do I tempt you? You're still wearing clothes while I've got none.

We can remedy that.

Roman rose to shed his clothing. When he returned to the couch he straddled her hips and caressed her slowly with his eyes. "Now where were we?"

Mystic's nipples tightened under his perusal. Her abdomen quivered and her cunt lips parted further as his attention lingered between her thighs.

"You are exquisite," Roman murmured. His fierce erection and taut features were outward proof of the desire she felt along their bond and yet a small trickle of doubt and uncertainty played havoc with Mystic's heart as the images of Roman as Christian had often seen him at Fangs-surrounded by blonde humans with long legs and large breasts-cast doubt on her own beauty in his eyes.

Roman leaned down and put his hands on either side of her head. His eyes glittered with deadly vampire fire. I will punish you if you continue that line of thought. They were nothing to me. You are everything. "Touch your breasts. Offer them to me and see just how beautiful I find you."

She blushed at his carnal demand. The heat that suffused her was a curling mix of desire and shyness.

Now, he growled, and she heard the lion's rumble in her mind.

Mystic licked her lips and regained a small measure of her inherent confidence when his cock jerked in response and glistened with escaped arousal. She placed her hands on her bare stomach and slowly slid them upward. Her breath grew short just watching his face tighten with savage intensity.

Both of them inhaled sharply when her hands cupped her breasts. Like this? she asked, watching him through half-closed eyes as she teased her thumbs over hardened nipples.

Little minx, you're going to go too far.

I'm just obeying my mate.

A heady rush of power filled her when she felt Roman struggle to keep from pouncing. She promised herself she would never again doubt her own appeal and allure as she angled her face so she could lick over a dusky nipple. Does this please you? Or should I beg for you to suck them?

Roman's breath came out in a pant. He slid backward, angled his face so he could lick over her wet areola. She met his tongue with her own. Teased him further by letting him feel it glide over silky feminine skin and puckered flesh.

I warned you, he said, latching onto her nipple, his teeth and mouth sending hot spikes of fire to her cunt and clit.

Lust consumed Roman. It was a feral roar in his head and heart and cock. It was a wildness that had nothing to do with Angelini magic but everything to do with the passion he felt for his beautiful, brave mate. Centuries of existence seemed too short a period of time to spend with her, especially now, when his body burned and hungered and needed.

Roman fed at her breasts. He sucked and laved and bit and reveled in the way she writhed and pleaded.

The scent of her arousal filled his nostrils until even the heady pleasure he found at her breasts couldn't keep him from kissing downward and burying his face between her thighs as he'd offered to do earlier.

He moaned against her wet flesh. Inhaled her. Tasted her.

Her clit was a tiny erect presence he couldn't ignore. He sucked it into his mouth and swirled his tongue over it. He shared a fantasy with her while he was doing it, showed her images of the two of them pleasuring each other orally at the same time-him suffering the lash of her tongue on his cock head as she experienced the feel of his on her small, swollen knob.

Roman very nearly slid them off the couch and onto the floor when he felt her willingness to take him into her mouth and turn his fantasy into a reality. He very nearly spewed his seed when he left her clit and plunged his tongue into her slick channel.

He tongue-fucked her until she orgasmed, then did it a second time before lifting his face from between her thighs. "When I'm with you, I lose myself completely. You chase away all thought."

Mystic snickered as he crawled up her body. "Do you want me to share some of Estelle's pithy comments about a man's reasoning ability and whether his big head can outthink his little one?"

Roman laughed against her lips as his cock slid home. Your mother has much to answer for. It's a good thing there is plenty of time to eradicate her influence and reeducate you so you'll have the proper respect for your mates.

Mystic wrapped her legs around his waist and rubbed her tongue against his. When it comes to my mates, I think you'll find I'm a very willing student.

He groaned and began thrusting. His amusement faded with each ripple of her channel against his penis. It was replaced by a soul-searing desire to be one with her.

"Come with me," he whispered, flooding the link between them with his desperate need for release.

Mystic shuddered underneath him. She answered his carnal call by spasming around his cock and milking him of his seed as orgasm shimmered through her.

They remained on the couch in the aftermath of passion, their bodies touching, sated for the moment, content. "Do you have a house here?" she asked as her fingers explored the muscles on Roman's arm.

"There is no place I call home."

She moved so she could look at his face. "Do you mean that literally or do you mean you don't have a place in Vegas you call home?"

"I own properties all over the world but they're investments I visit only occasionally." He traced her eyebrows. "The gryphon was created not only to hunt vampires but to guard territory and possessions. Even though I became what was once my prey, early on I found if I lingered too long in a certain place or acquired things of value, both became a deadly trap my enemies could use against me." Roman smiled slightly. "Now I have a mate and I will settle wherever she chooses to settle."

Mystic worried her bottom lip and wondered what would happen if Roman became territorial and possessive. The last of the gryphons had faded into mythology well before her fathers were either men or vampire. And though both of them were ancient in her eyes, the past Roman spoke of was lost in a gray cloud of history even her parents considered irrelevant.

Roman laughed softly. Am I destined to hear the words ancient and irrelevant hurled in my direction whenever you're displeased with me? Do not fear for the future, Mystic, or worry about your other mates. My tie to you makes them important to me and I am no longer purely gryphon.

Mystic let her worry slide away. The magic that made her Angelini would not choose the wrong mates for her. They would all adjust and adapt and find a way to live together.

She trailed her finger over his collarbone and down to his tiny nipple. He covered her hand with his and she could feel what her touch did to him.

Blood rushed to his cock and his heart rate sped up, but it was so much more than physical desire. A deep-seated pleasure and contentedness filled him.

Despite all of the blonde Barbies who'd paraded through his life, it was this closeness and intimacy he craved. She snuggled against him more tightly and let her mind wander until she remembered Christian's comment about Roman not being able to walk in the sun previously. She thought about Roman's own acknowledgement that it would be better if he wasn't seen until after the sun set. "How can you be out during the day?"

Roman hesitated for only a moment before touching her mind with his and sharing what had transpired at Brann's estate when he went to see Syndelle.

Mystic watched the images unfold in a riot of emotion. She was thrilled by the prospect her fathers might one day walk underneath the sun again. But she was terrified at what having the ancient vampire creation magic return could mean for them all.

"Do you think this is why the Angelini have gathered?" she asked.

"I don't know. I think it's likely that some of the ancients have sensed something, or experienced premonitions." He rubbed his cheek against her hair. "Several times I thought I felt the magic of the dark mage brush against me. Each time I told myself I'd imagined it. But now I wonder. It is something I'll speak to Brann about." He smiled against her forehead. "I didn't do it when I saw Brann last because I was stunned by my encounter with Syndelle, then consumed with the need to locate you."

Roman cupped Mystic's chin and forced her gaze to his. "You are young and don't wear the tattoo of an Angelini hunter. You don't have the protections the tattoo and the ceremony to gain it bestows on one of your kind. Will you let me weave safeguards against others invading your mind and seeing my memories of what transpired with Syndelle?"

"Yes," Mystic said and let her awareness of anything else fade as she moved freely toward the blue flames that danced deep in his pupils and didn't go out until she was completely entrapped in his will.