His voice was hypnotic and low. No one will ever call you ugly again. You wont be forced to hide or disguise yourself just to enter a grocery store. People wont stare because your face appalls them.
Tempting with promise, the lure dangled before her. But shed learned long ago that talk was cheap and men lied.
Theres a price, of course. I will bargain with you for it.
Alex yanked free her dagger and held it to the mans throat. I dont bargain.
Shocked, she watched him wave a hand, turning her dagger into a daisy. What the
Allow me to introduce myself. Lord Belaramos, local wizard, charmer and keeper of wild wolves. We can help each other, Alexandra. Despite your puerile powers, you can get something I need.
Alex dropped the daisy. Her fist smashed into the mans nose with a satisfying crack. He stumbled back and fell, blood streaming from his nose.
You little bitch!
The wizard directed power on her injured ankle, sending fire licking along the wound. Alex bit her lip to keep from crying out. Grayness clouded her vision, threatening to drag her under. Not now She fought against it.
She jumped on him, wrapping her hands around his throat and squeezing hard. I dont like the way you talk. Time to shut up.
You need me, Alexandra, he wheezed. Already the poison laced into the trap is working through your body.
Another lie. But she hesitated, just enough. He threw her off and rolled.
My traps He coughed. Each trap is coated with a potion to reveal the victims true nature, to prevent Dominic and his werewolves from posing as real wolves. Whatever a person wishes to hide is exposed.
He produced a hand mirror from his robes.
The wizards potion revealed her real face. Red runes swirled in an intricate pattern on her brow, chin and cheeks. She touched her hair, golden once more, curly and wavy.
Pretty hair. Butt-ugly face.
Panic surged in her mouth. Shed covered the tattoos with glamour, much as a mortal woman used cosmetics.
Alex summoned all her glamour to hide them. She squeezed her eyes shut. Opened them.
The runes still stood in ugly, stark relief.
She could no longer disguise herself. No longer hide her true identity from Dominic Farrell and capture him. The dream of freedom and a little cabin in the woods, payment for this assignment, vanished in the moonlight.
The antidote is here. Belaramos waved the vial.
Give it to me.
Uncorking it, he threw the contents. The liquid stung her eyes, dripped down her cheeks. Shrieking, she lunged at him.
And stopped, captivated by the image in the mirror he held out.
Alexandra of old full, sensual mouth, large green eyes fringed with golden lashes, flawless cheeks. The face of mens dreams, not their nightmares.
Her mothers face. Everyone said how much shed resembled her beloved mother, who had died when Alex was only ten.
Rubbing the potion on her cheeks, she stared, her chest tight with longing. For ten years, shed been forced to use glamour to hide her hideous face. But not even glamour could restore her original beauty. Thanks to her stepfathers curse, she would never look the same again.
Except now. Alex touched the glass in wonder.
Its really me, she whispered.
Time to test drive this potion. Alex resumed the glamour of a dark-haired woman with round cheeks. Seeing no runes, she patted her face in disbelief.
The potion will wear off in five days, but Ill give you more. Enough to be beautiful for the rest of your life. When you bring me Dominic Farrell. Alive or dead.
The pain in her ankle became a dull throb, equaled by the cold seeping into her bones. Belaramos promised her wildest dreams. Hes promised for the bounty.
A slow, cold smile, icy as death. A paltry bounty of what? Compared to having everything you ever dreamed of. Youll never have to run and hide from the world.
A lash of cruelty in that whisper. Youll never be ugly again. Bring me Dominic Farrell. You can still collect your bounty. Ill give you evidence you caught him, and the Society will reward you.
Who the hell are you? Why do you want him? she demanded.
Five days, Alexandra. You have five days. The wizard turned for the cabin, and soon, the lights inside winked out.
Leaving her alone in the darkness, and the rapidly dropping temperatures and a choice; to remain beautiful, or turn ugly forever.
Chapter 3
The woman was in trouble.
Dominic watched the last wolves vanish into the deep forest. The cold bit into his skin like an ice pick. He turned to his pack. Im going back for her. Go home.
Michael ran a finger over the black patch covering his ruined eye. No way, boss. Not alone. Belaramos will get you. This time it was too close.
Im not leaving her to die.
She followed you, Michael protested, as the others nodded in gruff agreement. Her fault.
And she saved that wolf. Go back to the lodge. A low growl rumbled from his throat. Hed been gone from home ten years, leaving Michael in charge. Upon his return, the pack immediately accepted him back as leader. But being alpha meant showing no weakness. Obey me or youll pay. And they knew the punishment would be harsh.
As his men started back, Dominic glanced at the full moon. The temperatures were plummeting. She wouldnt last long. He lifted his arms, willing the Change and shifted into wolf.
Senses exploded as everything sharpened. The womans scent, gardenia and ice, burned his nostrils. He could track her through an Arctic blizzard.
Bounding over the field, he followed the trail back to the wizards cabin. Outside the tall chain-link fence, he paused.
The steel trap was empty. The woman had escaped.
Muzzle lowered, he sniffed the ground, picking up traces of blood and gardenia and sour fear. There, toward the dead tree.
A pale of moonlight dappled the meadow beneath the trees spindly limbs. Dominic raced across the field. The scent grew stronger, making his blood pump strong and thick through his veins.
At the tree, he found her, curled inside the hollow trunk. Crimson dotted the ground by her foot. Dominic shifted back, clothed himself by magick and squatted down. Admiration filled him. She was a fighter, this one. Shed dragged herself into the tree to get warm. Gently he lifted her into his arms, her silky black hair tumbling over his arms. She moaned.
Youre safe now, he soothed.
Beneath his hands, he felt delicate bones, so frail he could snap them in two. But this hunter was tough. The facade hid an inner core of steel. A worthy opponent for a powerful wolf.
An equally worthy mate.
A distant rumble broke the quiet night. Dominic watched the four-wheeler approach.
I gave you orders to stay put, he snapped.
You gave orders to go home. If you wanted me to stay, be specific. Michael left the engine rumbling as he climbed off. He removed a thick wool blanket from the attached trailer and went to cover the woman.
Dominic growled, his possessive instincts going haywire at the thought of another man touching her. Michael backed off, holding up his hands.
Pax, boss. Was just trying to help, not stake a claim.
Pax, boss. Was just trying to help, not stake a claim.
With extreme care Dominic laid her in the trailer, climbed in and covered her with the blanket. He examined her ankle. Not broken, but bad enough.
As they headed for the lodge, the woman stirred a little and moaned. Dominic laid a warm hand on her icy cheek. Anger rose up in him, hot and swirling.
Hed like to break Belaramoss fingers, one by one.
Strength radiated from the woman. Hed felt it in the bar, beneath the cover of buxom redhead glamour. But it wasnt until hed caught a whiff of the scent shed failed to entirely eradicate that he could not resist. He had to kiss her.
Dominic bent over her, inhaling her delicious scent cutting through the metallic odor of blood. Deep inside he felt kinship with this woman whod risked her own life to save a wild wolf.
He wanted her, badly. His wolf howled at the thought of mating with her, climbing between her legs to mark her as his own. His incubus blood surged hot and thick with the remembrance of her sweet arousal in the bar as hed kissed her.
Down, boys, he murmured, cupping the womans cheek with a warm palm. Let her heal. Shes not ready to come to me. Not yet.
There would be plenty of time later for what both wanted.
Alexandra Kostra, he murmured, enchanted by the soft skin beneath his caressing thumb. Finally, Ive got you.
Alex was home, snuggled in her bed. Fragrant pine and delicious warmth surrounded her. For the first time since her stepfather threw her out, she felt peaceful.
The scent of pine and fresh rain grew stronger. Alex struggled to keep the feeling intact, knowing it would evaporate like morning mist.
Wake up, little warrior.
The deep voice stroked over her body like a velvet lash. She remembered the events of the previous night and braced herself for the burning pain in her ankle.
Alex opened her eyes as a light snapped on.
She was clad in a pair of soft flannel pajamas, lying in a pine bed big enough to hold five people. Moonlight streamed past plain white curtains, spilling on the soft white carpet. The room had crammed bookshelves and an enormous pine dresser. A fire crackled in the stone hearth.
In a handsome wood rocker, Dominic sat, regarding her intently. He looked sexy and dangerous, dressed in a thin black shirt and tight black jeans. Firelight glinted off his black hair and amusement danced in his bright blue eyes. He hooked his thumbs through the belt loops.
The sleeping princess awakens at last, in time for the handsome prince to give her the kiss shes longed for, he murmured.
Cold, cruel and intensely sexual, his body was hard and tempting. A woman would want to run her hands through those thick locks of dark hair, clasp him close as he devoured her mouth and laid her on the bed.
Alex shuttered the thought and made a quick assessment. No weapons. Hed stripped off her knives and gun. But she had the only weapon necessary. Her glamour. Dominic must never find out her real identity.
Try kissing me. I bite.
Promise?
I never make promises I cant keep.
Pity. I have several places on my body Id like your mouth on.
In your dreams. What am I doing here? And where is here? Alex scanned the room, searching for a weapon.
Dominic cocked an eyebrow. Saving you. You would have died out there. Youre in the House of Eros, the lodge of my pack.
Tension knotted her stomach. The infamous playhouse, whispered to host the darkest sexual proclivities. They said he had a basement with walls lined with fur, tables where he liked to tie up willing females and tease them until they screamed with pleasure.
Definitely not a hotel she wanted to stay at. Alex tested her ankle, rotating it around and winced. Still a little painful but healing. But that didnt make her helpless. Or stupid. Dominic advanced, his big body taking up all the space in the room. Alex fisted her hands, fighting the instinctual urge to turn from the sensuality flaring on his face. Remember his hands stroking slowly over her skin that first time ten years ago
She gestured to the pajamas with little pink bunnies on them. Nice clothing. Is this what you make all your women wear when you strip off their clothing?
They belong to Claire, a member of my pack. Freshly laundered. She and the other females undressed you and got you into bed.
He tossed back the covers, studied her ankle. It will heal. I applied a poultice of herbs and special lotion. Should be fine in a day or two. Dominic pulled the covers back.
You applied it?
With my own two hands. His voice dropped to a dark whisper. I enjoyed every moment of having them on you. Although I prefer my lovers to be conscious.
Her lower belly tightened as she thought of Dominic smoothing the lotion over her ankle, lingering and slow, a sensual caress as he rubbed and stroked.
Not. Going. There. Im not your lover.
You will be.
The arrogant certainty inflamed her. You underestimate me, wolf.
And you underestimate me, bounty hunter. Did you think you could hide your identity from me?
Her mouth went dry. How did you
Mirror, mirror on the wall, whos the ugliest of all? Where the hell was the mirror? Alex threw back the covers, craned her neck to see her reflection in the dressers glass.
Still the same glamour. Relief filled her as she sagged back onto the bed.
Alexandra Kostra. The most successful and ruthless bounty hunter for the Society for the Prevention of Malevolent Magick. Sent here to capture me and bring me back to demon prison. A very clever Fae whose glamour can fool even the most experienced targets. Its thought she is totally asexual and immune to my charms.
How did you know?
He tapped his nose. When I heard the rumors you were after me, I had my pack retrieve an item with your scent on it. I recognized you in the bar.
Alex resisted the temptation to check the mirror to make sure the wizards potion still worked. Dominic couldnt know her true identity or her real face. Her file had been kept secret in a locked, magick-free vault.